Advance or Retreat

"No, she's still alive..."

Simon set down his wineglass and awkwardly wiped the alcohol from the corner of his mouth. Then a bitter smile appeared on his face. "But we haven't kept in touch or met for a long time now. It's probably been a year... no, two years, I think. I can't remember clearly..."

"Since you two were so close,"

Nami's curiosity had been piqued, and she asked kindly, "Why did you stop contacting each other?"

"This... is the world of adults."

Duen poured himself another glass, closed his eyes, and took a contented sip as he spoke in a world-weary tone.

Nami curled her lips. "You're not qualified to say that."

Duen said solemnly, "You can't judge someone's age by their appearance. If I told you I was already thirty this year, what would you think?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Simon's eyes widened in disbelief. "What? I never would have guessed that Mr. Duen was already that old!"

Nami was somewhat used to Duen's unreliable nonsense and replied calmly, "Don't believe him. If he says the Pirate King isn't dead, is Gol D. Roger supposed to crawl out of his grave?"

"If the Pirate King could crawl out, he'd have to rename himself the Skeleton King."

Duen said, steering the topic back, "So, what exactly happened between you and your childhood sweetheart?"

Simon had been smiling at their banter, but after hearing Duen's question, his smile gradually faded. After a brief moment of thought, he slowly said:

"My father originally ran a shipyard. After more than ten years of building up a good reputation, the business kept improving. But later, he was deceived and ended up owing a huge debt. He could only sell the shipyard at a low price, and from then on, he never recovered."

"Actually, it was around that time that Elena and I began seeing each other less and less. I developed an intense inferiority complex. I was afraid to face her again."

Simon fell into deep thought for a long time. Only after Duen and Nami waited quietly did he continue, "Elena's family was even better off than mine had been before we fell on hard times.

When my father was still running the shipyard, her parents didn't say much about the two of us. But after everything changed... just like in those books, a poor boy and a rich young lady can't be together. Rumors and pressure from the outside world can crush everything..."

After a brief silence, Duen said, "But if her attitude had also changed with the tide, you would've given up long ago. You wouldn't be this troubled, would you?"

"She disagreed with her parents and kept insisting. But... I couldn't. I was afraid I couldn't make her happy, afraid I'd make her live a hard life with me. So I resolutely decided to become a sailor."

In the world of the Pirate King, being a sailor was among the most dangerous professions. While sailing the seas, it was very easy to encounter pirates. If you were unlucky, getting killed on the spot was nothing unusual. Accordingly, the pay was much higher than in most other professions.

"What happened after that?" Nami asked.

Simon said, "Sailors don't have that much free time. Once you put out to sea, you have to stay with the ship. Days, months, years... time is no longer under our control, and many things become beyond our power."

"Perhaps, in that boundless sea... even my heart lost its way along with me..."

He poured another mouthful of wine down his throat.

Nami rested her cheek on her hand, her expression tightening as she became immersed in that faint sorrow, unable to pull herself free.

Duen, however, remained calm. "Losing your way isn't necessarily a bad thing. A poor boy should live like a poor boy. Why provoke someone from a different world? You exhaust yourself in the end and gain nothing."

"Negative emotion value from Nami +111..."

Nami puffed out her cheeks, deeply dissatisfied with Duen's words, or perhaps refuting his values. "Life should be about striving forward. If you don't work hard, if you don't try, then you'll be trapped for your whole life... dragging those around you into an endless hell of darkness as well."

She seemed to think of something at the end and paused, but after a momentary dip, her spirits quickly recovered.

For adolescent girls, innocent love always held a fatal attraction. Like the appearance of a prince on a white horse in a terrifying forest, it was even more dazzling than the first ray of dawn at the boundary between night and day.

Even she, carrying a burden heavy enough to nearly crush a person, had once felt such a desire quietly sprout in her heart.

"Thank you!"

Simon nodded heavily. Faced with Duen and Nami's completely opposite advice, a faint realization emerged within his confused heart.

Duen faced Simon, but the corner of his eye glanced toward Nami. In a tone directed at the matter rather than the person, he said, "If you can't tell what can be done from what can't, and only know how to rush forward blindly, sometimes even a bloody head won't bring any reward."

"But it can bring valuable experience for the next time you move forward." Nami raised her chin and stared fearlessly at Duen's profile.

Duen turned his head to meet her gaze. "Do you have to argue with me?"

"I'm merely stating my own view."

Duen silently took out a stack of Beli, placed it on the table, and pushed it toward Nami. "Take back your opinion."

"No problem!" Nami's eyes lit up as she accepted the Beli.

Duen said, "What a person with no principles..."

"Uh..."

Simon, the one involved, could not make heads or tails of the strange way the two interacted. Yet he did not find it abrupt in the slightest. Instead, it felt oddly harmonious.

"Would Elena and I... be like this too?"

The thought flashed through Simon's mind. Suddenly, he felt as though a hand had reached through the dusty window in his heart and begun wiping the glass clean bit by bit.

And outside that window, a slender figure was gradually coming into focus. She had always stood there and had never left.

"Actually, I never gave up. Wasn't the goal I worked so hard to pursue all for the moment I could meet Elena again..."

Slowly, a smile appeared on Simon's face. With firm conviction, he said, "I know what I need to do!"

Duen shrugged and no longer discouraged him. He smiled slightly. "Then I can only wish you good luck!"

Their wineglasses clinked together, and clear wine splashed outward.

Late at night.

The thoroughly drunk Simon arranged a room for Duen, then drunkenly collapsed over the table and began snoring.

Duen was not drunk, and neither was Nami. After entering the room, they exchanged a glance and tacitly lay down on opposite corners of the bed, sleeping in their clothes.

They had only closed their eyes for a moment when a hand stealthily reached out from the shadows.

"Don't get any ideas about that Beli."

As Duen's voice fell in the silent room, Nami quickly withdrew her hand.

The night was deep and still, the moon dim and hazy, and everything had become silent.