The one who had intervened was Minato Namikaze, who had arrived using the Flying Thunder God. Fortunately, he had left a Flying Thunder God Kunai near the port, allowing him to reach Nami in time to save her.
As Minato finished speaking, a kunai struck the pirate Dick's palm. The tremendous force drove him straight into the ground, pinning him there.
Minato turned and picked up little Nami. As for the two pirate underlings who had been keeping watch, he had already knocked them flat along the way.
"Ah! It hurts, it hurts!" The pain of having his palm pierced by a sharp weapon made Dick cry out. "Kill him!"
The pirates around them swarmed forward, weapons in hand, intending to hack Minato to death.
Minato sighed softly. "Strength isn't meant to let people bully the weak." Several kunai quietly slid from his palm.
With sharp whistles, the kunai pierced the ground all around the pirates.
"How dare you hurt our captain? You're dead!"
"You can't even aim your hidden weapons!"
Facing dozens of attackers, Minato remained unruffled. He spoke softly,
"Flying Thunder God: Instant Slash!"
A dazzling streak of yellow light shot through the space around them. Each flash of yellow brought a spray of blood, creating a cruel sort of beauty...
The watching villagers stood like stunned living fossils, their jaws hanging so low they looked as if they were putting on a comedy routine.
After just a few breaths, the moving figure in the midst of the battle came to a stop. The pirates stood motionless, as though an Immobilization Spell had been cast on them. Only Minato remained standing alone, his clothes fluttering gently.
"Strength isn't what I wish for, but I don't object to fighting violence with violence."
Minato sighed softly. The pirates around him then fell one after another, like dominoes, and lay still without a sound.
Dick looked at the corpses of his men covering the ground, his whole body going cold. But years of living by the sword gave him the courage to lunge at Nami, who stood frozen in place. He clamped a large hand around her slender neck and snarled,
"Stop, or I'll kill her!"
Minato slowly turned around. Not a speck of dust marked him; he looked as if he'd just come back from an outing. His calm expression sent Dick into an even greater frenzy.
"Let me go! Once I'm back on my ship, I'll release the girl. Otherwise, we all die!"
Dick only wanted to survive. He stared fixedly at the man before him, the one who had filled him with such overwhelming fear.
If the man backed down, Dick swore he'd leave the East Blue and never return once he escaped! As for revenge, those who'd died were a bunch of idiots. What did Captain Dick have to do with them?
Just as he was plotting, he was horrified to find no one standing in front of him. Where had the man gone? Instinctively, Dick clenched his right hand, ready to take them both down with him... But a blade pressed against his throat, leaving him afraid to move. To his despair, the hostage in his grasp had vanished.
"Sorry, you were too slow."
Minato appeared behind Dick, one hand at his throat and the other holding little Nami. Nami's fear had given way to astonishment and admiration.
"Little Nami, close your eyes."
Nami obediently closed her eyes when she heard him. This uncle has a pretty nice voice.
Minato ended the pirate Dick's wicked life. If Dick had the chance to start over, perhaps he'd never show up in the East Blue again...
After the pirates' attack on the village, the people of Cocoyasi Village were deeply grateful to and respectful of Minato. On these troubled seas, most ordinary people suffered from pirate raids.
Villagers felt great goodwill and respect toward anyone who could drive off pirates and protect their village. If that person was also handsome, sunny, gentle, and kind, they'd want nothing more than to send the prettiest girl in the village to win his heart.
That was Minato's situation. If he hadn't kept insisting that he was married and already had children, the young women in the village would have devoured him with their eyes.
That evening, Cocoyasi Village held a banquet to celebrate the survivors of the pirate attack. The people of this world seemed used to pirate raids and the loss of life. Sadness didn't weigh on everyone for long. Instead, they rallied, brought out the delicious food from their homes, and started the festivities.
The new moon rose over the village square.
The people of Cocoyasi Village gathered around a bonfire, singing and dancing. Minato held a glass of juice as he watched them dance merrily, a hint of a smile on his lips.
Nami watched Minato sitting nearby with his juice and quietly went over to him. Maybe it was because he'd saved her, or maybe it was for some other reason, but Nami felt drawn to him. The way he'd stood between her and danger had seemed so dependable.
"Uncle Minato, why are you drinking juice? Don't grown-ups all drink alcohol?" Nami's big eyes were full of curiosity.
Minato smiled. "Haha, I'm just not used to drinking."
"Whoa, this meat is yummy!" Nami handed him a roasted leg of meat from the table.
Minato looked at the food, which was bigger than his face, and couldn't help breaking into a cold sweat. "Uh, thank you, Nami, but I can't eat any more."
"I barely saw you eat anything. Someone as strong as you must eat lots and lots of meat!" Nami looked as if she knew everything.
Minato smiled wryly to himself. People in this world had incredible appetites. Ordinary people ate far more than people in the ninja world, and the stronger someone was, the more they ate!
Of course, the reverse wasn't true. And little Nami ate as much as an adult, by his reckoning. So he explained, "I'm already full. You just didn't see me eat."
Nami stopped urging him and bit off a big chunk of meat herself, enjoying it immensely.
Minato saw little Nami's cheeks puffed out as she ate, with a bit of meat still clinging to them. He smiled, unable to resist patting her head, then took out a handkerchief and wiped away the crumbs.
Little Nami obediently stopped chewing. Her eyes narrowed like a cat being gently petted on the head by its owner, her face full of contentment.
"Uncle Minato, you're so nice!"
Thinking of what her adoptive mother, Bell-mère, had told her, Nami asked Minato, "Uncle Minato, did you want to eat the oranges from our house? We have lots and lots. You can have them all."
"Haha, thank you, little Nami. The oranges from your home are delicious." Minato picked up an orange from the table and smiled. "But what I'm looking forward to most is the oranges you grow yourself."
"But... Bell-mère said it'll take a long, long time for the oranges I planted to grow and bear fruit," Nami said, frustrated.
"That's all right. When they're ripe, invite me over, and I won't hold back!" Minato gently pinched Nami's cheek.
"Okay! Then let's pinky swear. A hundred years without changing our minds. Anyone who lies is a big liar!" Little Nami's young face wore a serious expression.
"All right." Minato held out his hand. Their little fingers, one big and one small, hooked together, sealing their promise.
After making the promise with little Nami, Minato took out a kunai and handed it to her. The words "Sword of Shinobi Love" were engraved on its handle.
Little Nami curiously turned the kunai over in her hands and asked, "Uncle Minato, what's this?"
"It's a keepsake for our promise. When your oranges are ripe, I'll use this kunai to find you, and we'll keep our promise."
Minato explained, "It's very sharp, so you can use it to protect yourself. Just be careful not to hurt yourself with it."
When little Nami heard that it was a keepsake for their promise, her big eyes filled with delight. She loved the kunai, and her little head bobbed up and down like a nodding doll.
Watching her, Minato smiled like a proud father and thought, Having a little girl doesn't seem so bad, either. Should I think about giving Naruto another little sister? But I can't do that on my own, Kushina...
Under the enchanting night sky, Minato spent the night lost in thought amid the laughter and chatter.
The next day, Minato said goodbye to the villagers, who tried hard to persuade him to stay, and boarded a merchant ship bound for Foosha Village in the Goa Kingdom.
Among those gathered on the shore of Cocoyasi Village to see him off, little Nami clutched the kunai Minato had given her and watched the ship sail away, reluctant to see him go. Although they'd known each other for only a few dozen hours, young Nami already admired Uncle Minato deeply. He'd protected and taught her like a warm father figure, reminding her of the father she'd lost when she was very young...
Meanwhile, after leaving Cocoyasi Village, Minato didn't linger. He boarded a merchant ship and headed straight for Foosha Village in the Goa Kingdom.
In his cabin aboard the merchant ship, Minato took out the mission item and examined it. He'd previously sealed it inside a scroll. As it happened, he'd discovered that the Reincarnator Assistant had added a new feature not long after his last mission: for 500 points, he could unlock its built-in one-cubic-meter storage space, which could hold any non-living objects.
But points were precious to him, and scrolls could already store some commonly used items, so he hadn't unlocked the feature yet. He'd definitely do so eventually. After all, the storage space could be upgraded with points, whereas sealing scrolls were essentially a form of Summoning Technique: items were placed in the scroll's space using Sealing Jutsu, then summoned back out. Their capacity was limited, and they required carrying specially made scrolls, so they were of limited use.
Minato couldn't understand the existence or purpose of the Main God Space, but that didn't stop him from making use of its many conveniences. In fact, Zhu Shen had exchanged for the storage space simply to help Reincarnators complete their missions more easily.
Back with Minato, he carefully examined the purple, pineapple-shaped Devil Fruit in his hand. He mused,
"Since ninjas can upload ninjutsu to earn points, maybe points don't just come from missions and ninjutsu." After asking the Reincarnator Assistant, Minato confirmed that Devil Fruits could also be exchanged for points. He quietly decided to step up his search for them.
Two days later, Minato arrived at Foosha Village in the Goa Kingdom.
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