Cat Burglar Nami

Tears still lingered in Nami's eyes as she thought gently to herself.

She continued toward Arlong Park.

Pushing open the battered gate, Nami poked her head inside. The first place she looked was where Li Mingyuan had been resting not long ago, but he was nowhere to be seen now.

Carina was gone as well.

It seemed they had finished resting earlier than she had expected.

"Um, is anyone in there?"

Out of caution, Nami did not enter the main building to look for them directly. Instead, she called out tentatively.

Her voice, slightly hoarse from crying so hard earlier, echoed through Arlong Park.

Very soon—

"Oh? You're back already."

The man's voice came from the third floor of the main building. "I thought you'd talk with the villagers for a while."

Nami instinctively looked up toward the source of the voice. At the gaping hole in the outer wall, smashed open during Arlong and Li Mingyuan's earlier fight, a man sat leisurely on the edge, which looked as though it could crumble and send him falling at any moment. He basked lazily in the sun.

Compared to the blood-covered state she had seen him in before, he had now washed up and changed into what looked like clothes meant for a casual vacation.

He wore a thin floral shirt on top and loose, oversized shorts below, along with a pair of sunglasses that pushed back part of his bangs. His well-defined face and sharp eyes were clearly visible.

Perhaps because her gratitude was stronger than before, or perhaps because he simply looked cleaner and clearer after tidying himself up, Nami suddenly felt that Li Mingyuan seemed much more handsome than he had when she first saw him.

"Hey! Is your name Li Mingyuan?"

Nami waved and shouted up at Li Mingyuan, "Thank you! For defeating the Arlong Pirates and saving us!"

"We'll never forget this kindness for the rest of our lives!!"

Nami stared intently at Li Mingyuan. When he heard her thanks and nodded at her, a broad smile immediately appeared on her face. She continued shouting:

"The village is holding a banquet next! If you're free, come join us! Everyone wants to see you and thank you in person!"

"And although it might not mean much to you, I have some savings! On behalf of Cocoyasi Village, I'm willing to give it to you as a reward!"

"Hm?"

Li Mingyuan, who had merely been casually nodding in response to her thanks, immediately straightened up at those words.

He stopped sunbathing at once, turned fully toward Nami in the distance, and lightly pushed off with both hands before leaping down from the hole in the building.

In no time at all, he floated down like a great bird and landed lightly in front of Nami.

"You want to give me money? Seriously?"

Li Mingyuan could not help asking.

He had never imagined Nami would say something like that to him.

Anyone who had watched One Piece knew how much Nami loved money. What was more, she had just said she wanted to use her personal savings to thank him on behalf of Cocoyasi Village.

At this point, Nami's only savings were the money she had been gathering to fulfill her one hundred million Beli deal with Arlong. Even if she had not yet reached seventy million, she surely had at least fifty or sixty million Beli.

It was one thing to pay him as thanks, but she wanted to use her own money to express everyone else's gratitude.

Was the world ending tomorrow or something?

It was precisely because the news was so shocking that Li Mingyuan suspected he had misheard. That was why he had jumped down to confirm it again.

Unfortunately—

Nami quickly confirmed it once more in response to his question.

"Yes. More serious than anything."

Nami was not surprised to see Li Mingyuan jump down in front of her.

She merely studied the man before her more carefully. After engraving every detail of him deep into her mind and making sure she would never forget his face, she met Li Mingyuan's eyes again and responded solemnly, "I have some savings. Originally, I was preparing to use them to buy the village back from Arlong. Now that you defeated Arlong and saved the village, this money should naturally go to you."

"And I heard from Carina that you're a bounty hunter?"

"More or less."

Li Mingyuan recovered from his shock and replied reluctantly.

"Actually, I already know that Carina was caught after trying to steal your money. And besides that, Carina might think she hid it well, but for someone like me, who has a complicated history with her, her guilt and nervousness are impossible to hide. I'm guessing that although she has some kind of agreement with you right now, she doesn't actually have much confidence in it."

Nami sighed. "So, at least for the sake of my gratitude, I hope you can treat Carina a little better from now on. Even if there's some issue between you, please spare her when things don't go well."

Hearing that, Li Mingyuan looked intently at Nami before him.

Nami remained calm, meeting his gaze openly without the slightest hint of timidity.

Seeing this, Li Mingyuan fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

"Fine. I'll agree to that."

"Really?"

Nami asked in delighted surprise.

"Honestly, I had already started to suspect Carina's behavior. You're right. She was far too nervous, nervous enough that even I could see it clearly."

"But strangely, she acted perfectly normal right up until we entered Arlong Park. It was only after I dealt with Arlong and showed my strength that she started acting so strange."

"Anyone could tell something was clearly wrong."

Li Mingyuan snorted and raised a brow. "She probably thinks she has no chance of escaping from me now and has no choice but to fulfill her promise. And maybe, just as you said, she thinks she can't keep that promise? Either way, the unnaturalness was far too obvious."

"If your thanks satisfy me, then agreeing to your request is no big deal. I'll consider how to handle Carina depending on the circumstances. After all, I just got Arlong's head, so I'm in a pretty good mood right now."

"Thank you for your mercy."

Nami let out a sigh of relief and looked at Li Mingyuan with a bright smile. "Just as I thought, despite the impression you give on the outside, you really are a good person."

"...By the way, may I ask how much Carina tried to steal from you before she got caught?"

"Fifteen million Beli."

"Ugh! Fifteen million Beli? That much!?"

Nami rubbed her temples and muttered with a headache, "Wow... no wonder she looked like that."

"That idiot Carina."