Nami's Colors

"Hm? A distressed girl?"

Kael frowned.

For some reason, after hearing Tiga's report, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

It was as though this wasn't the first time he had encountered something like this.

"That's strange."

After muttering to himself, Kael still nodded and said,

"Go tell Coby. Have him rescue that girl and bring her aboard the Tiga."

No matter what, it was still a life.

Kael could be utterly cold-blooded when dealing with pirates who robbed and plundered.

But if it was an ordinary civilian in distress, then of course he would help if he could!

What's more... she was a girl in distress!

Girls in the pirate world—those who knew, knew.

There were practically no ugly ones!

Having received his orders, Tiga immediately flashed away to find the hardworking errand boy, Coby.

As for Kael, he briefly sorted through his inventory interface.

They were all junk, but since the inventory system had unlimited space, he might as well stockpile some junk.

Who knew whether it might come in handy someday?

However...

With a thought, Kael still materialized the sexy prisoner's uniform, casually flung it aside, and tossed it beside the trash bin in the corner of the room.

"I don't want the stockings and girls' outfits in my inventory getting contaminated by that thing."

After muttering softly, Kael got up and headed outside to see what was happening.

At this moment,

With Coby and Tiga working together, they had already rescued the distressed girl and brought her aboard the Tiga.

But when Kael saw the girl, his brow suddenly rose.

Her short orange hair hung straight down, beaded with glistening droplets. Her blue-striped sailor uniform had turned translucent from being soaked through, clinging tightly to her body and outlining her perfectly curved figure, making her fair skin clearly visible.

Her smooth, slender legs lay weakly sprawled on the ground, leaving her looking defenseless and enticing.

"Huh!?"

The instant he saw her, Kael let out a low cry.

"This girl... isn't she Nami?"

East Blue, short orange hair, a girl, drifting alone across the sea in a small boat...

Put all those traits together, and her identity was practically confirmed!

Kael's eyes flashed.

With Nami's top-tier talent for navigation, the possibility of her suffering a shipwreck in the calm waters of East Blue was infinitely close to zero.

Which meant...

She was planning to sneak aboard the Tiga to steal something!?

A scene suddenly flashed through Kael's mind.

He remembered!

No wonder he had felt that strange sense of déjà vu just now!

It seemed Nami had used this exact method in the anime to successfully trick three idiots from Buggy's pirate crew!

I was planning to go find you, but I never expected you to come right to my door! Kael was delighted.

He had originally had plans for the Arlong Pirates and Colonel Nezumi.

And since he had already reached Cocoyasi Village, there was no way he would let a top-tier navigator like Nami, with curves in all the right places, slip away!

At that moment, all the bad luck from his earlier lottery draw vanished from Kael's heart.

Maybe this was the law of conservation of luck!

He strode directly toward Coby. With a thought, he deliberately chuckled.

"Oh? She's actually quite a pretty little girl?"

"Coby, see if she can still be saved."

"If she can, lock her in a cage and sell her to slave traders."

"If she's dead, check whether her kidneys are still usable. Hurry up, cut them out, and preserve them."

"Ah?!"

Coby, who had been preparing to rescue her, froze.

He stared at Kael in astonishment.

Since when was his captain such a ruthless character!?

Little Tiga, on the other hand, seemed to share Kael's thoughts and instantly understood what he was trying to do.

The little boy's voice immediately turned low and sinister.

"Captain Kael, this girl seems to have stopped breathing. She probably only died recently."

"If you ask me, we should cut out her kidneys quickly. They should still fetch a good price!"

"Kehehehe..."

Nami, pretending to be unconscious: ???

What the hell!?

What kind of ship had she boarded!?

Nami was utterly horrified!

She hurriedly coughed twice, preparing to wake up.

This wouldn't do.

If she kept lying there, who knew what might happen!

"Cough, cough..."

"...Where am I?"

Her confused eyes slowly opened, only to see a pink-haired boy holding a long blade.

"Ah!!!"

Nami screamed in fear. Remembering the conversation she had just overheard, her face immediately filled with terror.

She hurriedly sat up, braced both hands against the ground, and pushed herself backward inch by inch.

"Big brother! Big brother! Don't do it!"

"I'm still alive!!!"

Nami shouted in panic.

But soon, she sensed that something was off.

Nami had originally assumed that whoever had fished her out of the sea would be some vicious-looking pirates.

After all, she had spotted this pirate ship from far away.

Combined with that conversation just now, it had made her heart pound with fear.

Yet the people before her now were a young man with a mischievous grin, a child whose face was hidden beneath a hood...

Even the sword-wielding boy who had frightened her was now staring blankly, not looking threatening in the slightest.

"You..."

Nami froze for a moment, then immediately realized that she might have been played.

But when she focused her gaze on Kael, her pupils suddenly contracted!

Wait!

Wasn't this Kael, the great pirate who had been causing such a stir lately!?

Could it be that she had actually stumbled onto the Dusk Pirates' ship!?

In an instant, the fear in Nami's heart vanished completely!

In its place, two golden lights suddenly burst from her eyes.

The gold of money!

After all, on the black market, even an accurate location of the Dusk Pirates was already being bid up to five million Beli.

And that was with demand far exceeding supply!

If she could infiltrate this pirate crew, then secretly sell the Dusk Pirates' location to the black market...

Wouldn't she strike it rich!!!

Kidney harvesting? Slave trading? They were obviously just trying to scare her.

Having wandered the seas for so many years, Nami could tell at a glance what kind of people stood before her!

Her thoughts raced, and Nami quickly put on the appearance of a frail, pitiful young woman.

"Th-thank you for saving me."

"I accidentally encountered a whirlpool at sea and almost lost my life."

"Could you please give me some water?"

No one could say no to a delicate, pitiful girl!

That was the experience Nami had accumulated over many years!

However...

In response to her request, Kael merely grinned.

"Water? We certainly have plenty..."

As soon as he spoke, he reached out and materialized a sheathed long blade from thin air, then flicked it directly toward Nami's left arm.

Before Nami could react, her already slippery wet sleeve was flipped upward.

In an instant!

A shark tattoo on her fair skin appeared before everyone.

Nami's expression immediately darkened.

Damn it!

Instinctively, she yanked her sleeve back down, trying to cover the mark she never wanted to see.

Yet Kael acted as if he had not noticed her embarrassment at all and asked bluntly,

"The symbol of the Arlong Pirates?"

"Are you one of the Arlong Pirates?"

"I'm not!"

Like a startled rabbit, Nami immediately denied it. She curled herself up as though that could make her feel safer.

"Don't be nervous." Kael's tone suddenly softened.

"Even if you were a member of the Arlong Pirates, we wouldn't do anything to you."

As he spoke, he materialized a green long coat from thin air and draped it directly over Nami's translucent sailor uniform.

He had seen enough already.

Now, he decided to be a decent person!

Kael pondered for a moment. "As far as I know, the Arlong Pirates are a pirate crew made up of fish-men. They are extremely hostile toward humans, even disgusted by them."

"For Arlong to recruit you, it means you must possess some extraordinary talent!"

Kael rested a hand on the ship's railing, grinned, and looked at Nami with sincere eyes.

"So..."

"Would you like to switch sides and join my pirate crew!?"