Goodbye, Bellemere

Well, the upcoming battle had little to do with Aaron, so let's speed things up.

Hachi aimed his ultimate move, Blade Storm, at Roronoa Zoro.

Unable to dodge in time, Zoro immediately sought outside assistance and borrowed swords from Yosaku and Johnny.

With three swords in hand, Zoro was truly a genius of the blade. After being defeated by Hawkeye, his swordsmanship had advanced even further. He unleashed his ultimate move, Three-Sword Style: Three Thousand Worlds, instantly killing Hachi. Two of the Arlong Pirates' three top officers were now gone!

As for Sanji, after Kuroobi lured him into the water, Sanji was first mocked and brutalized in every way possible. But Sanji was worthy of being one of the main characters. His protagonist aura erupted, and he plugged Kuroobi's gills so he could not breathe, dragging him out of the water. In the end, he kicked Kuroobi into doubting his life with a barrage of midair kicks, instantly killing him.

Tch, one after another, they were all instant kills. The three top officers really were aquatic creatures.

They were all so watery!

Meanwhile, the true main character, Luffy, engaged Arlong in a grueling battle. They traded blows, fists and kicks flying as they fought to their hearts' content. In the end, Luffy brought down a kick with enough force to split Arlong Park, striking Arlong directly on the head and killing him with a concussion, ending the battle.

And thus, the Arlong Pirates were destroyed, and Cocoyasi Village was finally liberated.

Mm... fast-forwarding complete.

On the night the Arlong Pirates were destroyed, the Straw Hat Pirates received an enthusiastic celebration.

Cocoyasi Village welcomed Luffy and the others with the highest standard of hospitality.

Delicacies from land and sea, a bonfire party, beautiful women dancing—everything was there.

The entire village was holding a buffet feast.

Roronoa Zoro had already drunk five young men under the table, and judging by the look of him, he could easily drink another ten under!

Meanwhile, Sanji watched the group of beautiful women dancing, his eyes turning into hearts with excitement. Panting heavily and sticking out his tongue, he immediately ran over to dance with the girls.

...No, Sanji's swaying waist and the limbs moving along with it held a strange kind of magic beneath the bonfire's glow.

It was actually pretty good-looking.

"Hahahaha! Sanji, what kind of dance is that?! Hahaha—cough, cough, cough!" Luffy, who was stuffing himself nearby, saw Sanji like this and burst out laughing before he had even swallowed the meat in his mouth. Naturally, he choked, his face turning purple.

"Luffy, try this... Luffy! What's wrong?!" Usopp had been about to offer Luffy a piece of meat, only to be frightened by Luffy's dead-fish expression.

"Ah, ah—cough—ugh!" Luffy gestured wildly at his throat, signaling for Usopp to help.

Usopp brought the edge of his hand down hard on Luffy's neck. More specifically, right on his Adam's apple.

"Cough—ha!" Luffy spat the chunk of meat far away, then patted his chest in lingering fear. "Ah, that was close, that was close. I almost died."

"You don't chew your meat?!" Usopp stared in shock at the flying piece of meat, then abruptly turned back to Luffy.

"I laughed too suddenly and didn't have time to chew it. Hahaha, ahahaha." Luffy scratched his head and laughed. "But Usopp, what did you call me for?"

"Oh, right! Hurry and try this melon! It seems like it tastes like meat!"

"What?! Let me try it!"

And where had Aaron run off to?

"Here!" Aaron carefully handed the freshly made hamburger to the customer.

At that moment, Aaron was standing at the entrance to Cocoyasi Village.

A stove stood in front of him, and beside it was a chopping board piled with ingredients such as meat, cabbage, tomatoes, and more.

Aaron held a spatula in his hand, constantly frying the meat patties in the pan. Once they were done, he tossed them into the air and swept his spatula toward the ingredients. Several flashes of silver light passed by, and a complete hamburger was finished, landing steadily on Aaron's spatula.

Yes, Aaron had borrowed tools from the villagers and was setting up a hamburger stall here!

Partly because it was Aaron's hobby, and partly because he wanted to further test exactly how powerful his spatula was.

The results were gratifying.

The crowd packed tightly around Aaron's stall, which was the greatest affirmation he could have received.

Slice, slice, slice, slice!

More and more people came for hamburgers, and Aaron grew more and more excited. His movements became faster and faster until, in everyone's eyes, it seemed as though hamburgers were appearing out of thin air!

After working at high speed like that for half an hour, Aaron finally served everyone. He collapsed limply onto the chopping board, looking exhausted, his eyelids drooping.

"Ah! I should bring one to Nojiko!" Suddenly, he jerked his head up, hurriedly stood, lit the stove, and made another hamburger. Without caring whether it was hot, he grabbed it and ran up the mountain.

Nami sat hugging her knees, smiling as she stared at the grave before her without saying a word.

"Nami, you've been here all afternoon. Aren't you going to celebrate with your companions?" Nojiko emerged from the woods nearby and asked Nami.

Nami did not answer. She quietly looked at the cross. "Hey, Nojiko."

"Bellemere must be happy, right? We finally managed to survive." Nami spoke softly.

"Mm. That way, Bellemere can go to heaven in peace." Nojiko also looked at the grave as she answered gently.

"Uh... I don't think she went to heaven." Suddenly, an unwelcome voice interrupted the sisters' remembrance. Both of them turned back and glared.

Aaron slowly walked out of the woods, pacing as he occasionally stared intently at the grave, his expression extremely nervous.

"Aaron, what do you mean?" Even if he was a companion, Nami would not allow anyone to insult her mother. She rebuked him coldly.

Aaron cautiously glanced at the grave, then looked at Nami with a pale face. "If your Bellemere is a woman with dark red hair tied in a single ponytail..." As he spoke, he pointed at the upper part of the cross and swallowed. "...then she's right there."

So what I saw back then was real! And why is she still there?! Aaron wailed inwardly.

In Aaron's view, the woman was watching Nami and Nojiko with endlessly gentle eyes. As if she sensed Aaron's gaze, she turned her head and gave him a faint smile.

Aaron's face turned even whiter!

"What?!" Nami and Nojiko both looked over, but above the cross, aside from the round moon and the sky full of stars, there was nothing.

"Are you saying Bellemere became a star?" Nojiko looked at Aaron in confusion.

Nami understood Aaron better. She suspiciously glanced at the cross, but still saw nothing, so she turned to ask him, "Aaron, can you really see Bellemere?"

Aaron nodded frantically. Then he glanced at the cross again. "Ah! She smiled at me again!"

"Then do you have a way for us to see her too?" Though she still could not quite believe it, Nami excitedly grabbed Aaron by the shoulders and looked at him with hopeful eyes.

If it's true, if it's true! I... I can see Bellemere again...

"...Why do you want to see a ghost? Ghosts are so scary, why would you want to look at her? Ah, why can I see ghosts? Ah! She smiled at me again!" Aaron rolled his eyes and nearly fainted.

Seeing this, Nami decisively punched Aaron. "Stop talking nonsense! Tell me if there's a way!"

"Even if you say that, I... wait!" Aaron thought hard, then his eyes suddenly lit up as he recalled looking inside his body before and seeing that it was full of water.

He quickly spat into his hand, caught it, and held it out to Nami. "Here, Nami!"

"..." Nami's anger level: 50%.

She forced down the urge to beat Aaron senseless and barely managed to ask, "Aaron, what does this mean?"

"Once, when I looked inside my body, I found that most of it was made of water. And since I can see ghosts, I think my bodily fluids should have the same function." Aaron declared confidently.

Yes, Aaron's bizarre logic had appeared again.

"So you don't know whether it'll work either?" Nami's anger rose: 55%... 60%... 70%... 85%... 99%...

"Mm! But I think there's a very high chance it'll work..." Aaron said seriously.

"Work my ass!" Nami's anger level: 100%. Nami erupted. Nami's passive skill activated! Damage against allies increased by 100%! The effect was outstanding! Aaron was no longer able to fight.

"Hmph!" Looking at Aaron, whom she had beaten to tears, Nami snorted. She bent down and wiped away his tears. "It's bodily fluid. Aren't tears bodily fluid too?"

Then Nami looked at the tears on her hand. "Hey! How do we use this stuff?"

"Waaah! Sniff! You should be able to just rub it on your eyes," Aaron answered through tears.

"Honestly, if this doesn't work, you'll regret it!" Nami gave some tears to Nojiko, then rubbed them evenly and gently applied them to her eyes.

She blinked, allowing the liquid to seep into her eyes bit by bit, then slowly opened them.

At first, everything was a little blurry, but it gradually improved under the moonlight. She slowly moved her gaze toward the cross.

Then she saw someone.

She saw someone she had believed she would never be able to see again in this lifetime.

"Bellemere..." Nami covered her mouth in shock, but tears slid down her face uncontrollably.

Bellemere looked at Nami and Nojiko with a little helplessness and surprise in her eyes, but there was even more of that tenderness as broad as the sea. She tilted her head and quietly looked at them for two seconds, then narrowed her eyes and smiled. "Yo! You can see me now?"

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

"Melon ham, melon ham!" Luffy looked around at the bushes, trying to find the melon ham he could not stop thinking about.

...So why had he somehow ended up in the woods while searching? Did he think melon ham was a fruit that grew on trees?!

"Hm? Hey, old man, what are you doing?" Luffy spotted Genzo peeking out from the bushes nearby and shouted.

"Shh!" Genzo trembled in fright. Seeing that it was Luffy, he quickly raised a finger to signal for him to be quiet.

"Hm?" Luffy walked over in confusion and discovered that Genzo was watching Nami, Nojiko, and the others. Aaron was also under a tree, tightly hugging the trunk.

"Nami? Old man, you're watching Nami!" Luffy asked.

"I told you to keep it down!" Genzo shouted quietly. After falling silent for a moment, he added, "Hey, kid!"

Aaron noticed a subtle change in his spatula:

"Hm?"

"If you take away Nami's smile, I'll definitely kill you!"

"Hm? I won't do that," Luffy said.

"Do you understand?!" he suddenly roared.

"I understand." Luffy was nearly confused by him as well.

"Who's there?!" Nami suddenly asked.

"Oh no!" His shouting had been too loud, and Nami had noticed them!

"Mr. Genzo? Why are you here?" Seeing who it was, Nami relaxed her guard and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Ah... I came to take a look." Genzo smoothly changed the subject. "But why are you crying in front of Bellemere's grave? And Nojiko too... hm?" Then he saw Aaron hugging a tree nearby and roared, "Hey, brat! Did you make Nami cry?"

"That's not it, Mr. Genzo!" Nami hurriedly said. "It's Aaron. Aaron can let us see souls. I can see Bellemere now!"

"Nani?!" "Nani?!" Genzo and Luffy exclaimed in shock at the same time.

"I didn't know you were so amazing, Aaron! Hurry and help me too, I want to see what souls look like!" Luffy said excitedly.

"Ahem! Friend, could you help this uncle too? Uncle can give you candy." Genzo, on the other hand, was much more bashful.

"Seriously, why does everyone want to see ghosts? This is just ghostly!" Aaron complained with his head lowered. He did not dare lift his head and look at that ghost's strange smile again.

"Ptoo, ptoo!" He spat twice into his hands, extending one toward Luffy and the other toward Genzo. "Just rub this on your eyes."

"Oh, okay!" Luffy rubbed it around, then applied it to his eyes.

And Genzo...

Genzo looked at the puddle of saliva, then raised his head and looked at Nami and Nojiko strangely.

"..." Nami raised her fist.

Aaron, you were courting death!

.