At that moment.
With the appearance of an unfamiliar pirate ship, the entire scene fell silent.
That was because a familiar face appeared aboard that unfamiliar pirate ship!
Olig and the others widened their eyes.
Nami's breathing quickened as well.
They had seen that face only a few days ago!
The impression had been incomparably deep!
There was no way they could be mistaken!
Natsuya, whose bounty of one hundred million Beli had instantly surpassed Arlong's, making him the most wanted criminal in the East Blue!
"It really is him!"
"There's no mistake!"
"He's Natsuya!!"
At that moment, one of the Beast Pirate Crew's pirates pulled out the wanted poster they had received a few days ago and cried out in shock.
For a moment, everyone was dumbfounded.
They had actually encountered Natsuya!
That legendary man whom the Marines had immediately placed a bounty of one hundred million on!
Meanwhile, Natsuya's gaze fell on Nami.
"Is that Nami?"
Though she was much younger, that delicate face, distinctive hair color, and the sly aura she was already gradually revealing could not be wrong.
He had not expected to run into Nami.
But on second thought, it did not seem strange.
There were still several years before Luffy set sail, and Natsuya was in the East Blue as well. Since Nami traveled all over the East Blue, it was perfectly normal for him to encounter her.
It was just that Nami's current situation seemed rather grim.
As Natsuya was thinking this, the pirate's cry reached him.
Hm?
Natsuya raised an eyebrow. After a moment's thought, he activated the Door-Door Fruit's power.
He reached forward and grabbed, and a wanted poster instantly appeared out of thin air in his hand.
On the other side, the shouting pirate froze and stared in disbelief at his now-empty palm.
Ignoring the pirate's astonishment, Natsuya looked at the wanted poster in his hand.
When he saw what was written on it, he immediately smiled.
"What a grand gesture."
Natsuya instantly understood the World Government's intentions.
They wanted to spur more people into taking his life.
Still, placing a bounty of one hundred million Beli on him right away was truly giving him too much credit!
After all, even among pirates, very few had received such a high bounty the first time around!
Even Big Mom's first bounty had been less than one hundred million.
Natsuya estimated that this amount had already attracted the attention of quite a few people.
It was only because he was currently in the East Blue. If he had been on the Grand Line, people would probably have come looking for trouble the very day the wanted posters were issued!
Yet realizing this did not change Natsuya's mindset in the slightest.
The same words still applied.
As long as he developed the Door-Door Fruit to its fullest potential, he would have no need to fear whatever methods the World Government used or whoever his enemies might be.
Thinking of the Door-Door Fruit, Natsuya looked at Nami again.
Come to think of it, although only a few days had passed since that battle, he had made further progress in developing his fruit powers.
And perhaps he could test those advances on Nami?
"Captain, what do we do!?"
"Are we still going over there?"
By then, the Beast Pirate Crew had fully come to their senses and anxiously turned to Olig, their leader, for an answer.
Given the current situation, they did not dare act rashly.
Olig, however, could only smile bitterly to himself.
Go over there? Was he insane?
He was a Monkey-Monkey Fruit user, not a Ship-Ship Fruit user!
Facing someone who was very likely far stronger than himself, how could he possibly dare approach!?
But Olig was unwilling to give up Nami when she was right before his eyes!
However, while Olig hesitated, Nami had already made the wise choice.
She paddled her small boat toward Natsuya's pirate ship!
At that moment.
Hope shone in Nami's eyes.
Natsuya's bounty was ten times Olig's, and his strength was clearly far more terrifying.
But strength did not determine personality.
With his handsome face, Natsuya looked much easier to get along with than Olig.
More importantly, she had nowhere else to go. If she stayed where she was and let Olig catch her, there would be only death waiting for her.
Moving toward Natsuya might instead offer her a sliver of hope!
"Damn it!"
"She's going over there!"
When the Beast Pirate Crew saw what Nami was doing, their expressions changed drastically.
Olig's face darkened, his expression shifting unpredictably.
"Are you Big Brother Natsuya? Please save me, those pirates want to kill me!!"
As soon as she drew close, Nami pleaded to Natsuya in an affectedly sweet voice.
Natsuya could not help but laugh.
Just as he was about to say something, Olig's voice came from the other side.
"Is that Brother Natsuya over there? I'm Olig, captain of the Beast Pirate Crew!"
"I'm a monkey-man who ate the Monkey-Monkey Fruit, and my nickname is Beast!"
"Don't listen to that woman's nonsense. She's the notorious thief Nami. She stole my money, so I'm pursuing her!"
"Brother Natsuya, could you please help me stop her!"
As he spoke, Olig, transformed into an ape, forced a strange smile at Natsuya.
Hearing that, a peculiar look flashed through Natsuya's eyes.
A monkey-man of the Monkey-Monkey Fruit?
Was there even such a Devil Fruit?
Uh, he did not seem to have heard of one.
But then again.
Oda's setting where ability users introduced themselves like that was really awkward.
Luffy being a rubber man who ate the Gum-Gum Fruit was one thing, but what the hell was a monkey-man who ate the Monkey-Monkey Fruit!?
And then there were candle men and bomb men later on. Enough already.
If that was the case, then how was someone who ate the Human-Human Fruit supposed to introduce themselves?
Hello, everyone, I'm a human-human who ate the Human-Human Fruit?
Then what about Natsuya?
Door-man???
Fine, Natsuya would rather die than say such a cringe-inducing introduction.
Fortunately, that ability-user self-introduction setting seemed to have been discarded later on. Otherwise, Natsuya really would have scratched out a three-bedroom apartment with his toes.
Back to the point.
Olig was clearly unwilling to let Nami go just like that.
So he gathered his courage and tried to negotiate with Natsuya.
Of course, the most important thing was that Nami had lied, which gave him an opportunity to make an issue of it.
Thinking of that, Olig secretly smiled.
In his view, Natsuya probably would not think much of a small pirate crew like theirs.
But if it was merely a favor done along the way, he should not mind, right?
At that moment, Nami's little face changed upon hearing his words.
But she reacted quickly and soon came up with an excuse.
"Big Brother Natsuya, don't believe him! He attacked a merchant ship, and I'm one of the victims!"
Naturally, Natsuya knew exactly what had happened.
But as he looked at the ape Olig had transformed into, an idea suddenly came to him.
It seemed that, just like Nami, Olig could serve as a target for testing his abilities?
Before you continue