Red Vest and Freckled Face

Second.

Unable to refuse Simon's warm hospitality last night, Duen stayed over at his house. As usual, he woke early in the morning, but the slightest movement when he woke instantly roused Nami from the other corner of the bed. The first thing she did was count the Beli in the black backpack beside her.

Looking at Nami's small back, Duen casually weighed the money pouch he carried with him, slung his broad blade over his back, and left the room.

He had slept fairly soundly that night. He did not care that much about money, but he could not live without it either. Being with a master thief like Nami, he had to stay somewhat guarded. After all, their relationship was still built on financial interests.

Simon stood in the hall, dressed in relatively formal clothes. He kept adjusting his tie in front of the mirror and looked utterly refreshed.

After a simple greeting, Simon left without a worry, leaving Duen and Nami alone in the house.

Was this guy simple-minded, pure-hearted, or had he already come to trust them completely?

Duen shook his head, went to the washroom to fill a basin with water, washed his face, and then headed for the kitchen.

Nami came out of the room. Her nose twitched as she caught a faint scent from the kitchen. She poked her head inside, saw Duen's back, and asked in surprise, "What are you doing? Cooking?"

"Yeah."

Duen answered softly, then lifted the wok and gave it a toss. The golden rice scattered through the air like specks of starlight before dropping back into the wok in an instant.

Sizzle—

The iron wok let out a searing hiss, and an irresistible fragrance immediately filled the entire kitchen.

"Mm..."

Nami groaned for a long while before saying, "Rice got in my hair..."

The motion of Duen's spatula stiffened for a moment. Then he calmly said, "No work of art is flawless. Even my fried rice cannot achieve that, so this kind of defect is normal."

Nami froze for a moment. "Are you an idiot?"

"Get out."

Duen let out a pleasant laugh, though it somehow made one's skin crawl.

Nami shrank her head back and hurriedly retreated from the kitchen.

Amid the banging sounds of wok and spatula colliding, Duen soon emerged from the kitchen carrying two steaming bowls of egg fried rice.

He then placed the egg fried rice on the table.

Nami, having washed her face, came out of the washroom with her black bag in hand. Putting on an obedient look, she sat across from Duen and looked at the appetizing egg fried rice without asking anything.

Duen pushed one bowl toward her. "Here, eat."

"Then I'll dig in."

Nami grinned, picked up a spoon, and put a spoonful of fragrant rice into her mouth. After chewing twice, her eyes lit up. "I didn't expect your cooking to be so good!"

"Didn't expect it, huh..." Duen said. After Nami took another bite, his tone abruptly shifted. "There are plenty of things you didn't expect. For example, this bowl of ultimate golden egg fried rice costs one hundred thousand Beli."

Negative emotion points from Nami +96...

"Cough! Cough!" Nami immediately choked on the rice. Her face turned red as she struggled for a few moments before swallowing it. She hastily pushed the egg fried rice back. "You think adding 'ultimate' before egg fried rice means you can charge an outrageous price? I don't want it anymore. Take it back!"

"You've already eaten it."

"Food eaten by a beautiful girl has greater added value."

"You think your saliva is some divine nectar?"

Duen mocked. Seeing Nami remain stubbornly on guard, he pushed the bowl back toward her. "I was joking. I'm not some heartless merchant. How could I charge you one hundred thousand Beli for a bowl?"

"Really?"

"Really!"

Only after hearing Duen swear so earnestly did Nami lower her guard slightly and pick up her spoon again, just about to put it into her mouth.

Duen smiled sweetly. "A bowl should cost at least two hundred thousand Beli."

Negative emotion from Nami +68...

Nami immediately put down her spoon and stared at the ill-tempered man before her with a face full of black lines. She spat out two words: "No way!"

"I'm teasing you. You're way too wary. This bowl is on me, but there won't be a next time."

After saying that, Duen began rapidly eating his own portion. In no time, he swept the bowl clean.

Then he stood up and said, "After you finish eating, wash the bowls. I'm going to practice my sword swings. Wait here for me."

Two thousand sword swings.

This was a habit Duen had cultivated over many years. Standing on the spacious second-floor balcony, he raised his broad blade, brought it down in a fierce slash, then raised it again after recovering his stance, repeating the cycle over and over.

One thousand seven hundred sixty-six...

One thousand seven hundred sixty-seven...

Duen practiced until he was drenched in sweat. Suddenly, a clamor of objects being knocked over and people shouting came from the alley diagonally across from him.

Turning to look, he saw a boy of about thirteen or fourteen with a straw hat hanging around his neck by a cord. Dressed in a red vest and holding a huge chunk of bread in his mouth, the boy seemed to be charging out of the alley corner in a panic. Yet his face always carried an innate optimism and confidence.

"This guy is..."

In the brief moment Duen was stunned, the boy in the red vest had already run more than ten meters away.

Duen leaped down from the second-floor balcony to the ground below and immediately chased after the boy without another word.

When he reached the alley corner, he sensed something and glanced sideways. Another boy, with freckles on both cheeks, was rushing anxiously toward the alley entrance.

"So I was right."

Duen thought to himself. He stood at the corner without moving aside, blocking the way ahead. The instant the freckled boy drew near, he reached out to grab him.

The freckled boy was extremely agile. The moment Duen reached for him, he changed his running path. As their bodies crossed, he instead placed a hand on Duen's shoulder and vaulted more than two meters into the air like a leapfrog, landing on the ground. He looked back with a wide grin. "Sorry, coming through!" With that, he continued fleeing forward.

Observation Haki?

The thought flashed through Duen's mind the instant the other boy evaded him. He watched a massive group of servants, cooks, and waiters charge down the alley in a cloud of dust.

He immediately turned around and accelerated after the freckled boy and the red-vested boy.

No doubt about it... These two had to be major figures in the pirate world: Fire Fist Ace and Straw Hat Luffy!

"Don't run!"

Hearing shouts from behind, Ace looked back and saw Duen rapidly closing in. Frightened, he suddenly sped up. Within a few breaths, he caught up with Luffy ahead of him and said anxiously as he ran, "Luffy, they're catching up! Run faster!"

"It's all your fault, Ace. You were dawdling," Luffy said with a sulky face, turning his head in dissatisfaction.

Ace's face darkened. "It was obviously you, idiot! You ate too much and made them suspicious. Otherwise, we would've gotten away already!"

"They can dine and dash with such righteous confidence. They really are brothers..."

Hearing the two of them bicker ahead without the slightest concern for their image, Duen burst forward at full speed. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, he closed another four or five meters.

But Ace and Luffy were clearly experienced. They made a sharp turn and cleverly darted into a side alley.

Duen instead charged a little too far ahead of the alley, then hurriedly turned back and followed them inside, sweating inwardly. "Just how practiced are these two..."

After weaving through countless twists and turns, they finally rushed into a straight road. Duen was just about to catch up when a tall horse-drawn cargo wagon emerged from the cross street ahead, its white canvas completely blocking his view.