Hush, Heroes Fear Being Watched

"Judging by appearances alone, you might be bigger and stronger than most people, but how exactly did you defeat those Fish-Men? Fish-Men should be far stronger than ordinary people like us."

Nojiko's probing question reached Li Mingyuan's ears.

He looked up at her.

"Curious?"

"Of course! You're the hero who saved us. Naturally, I'd be curious about how you did it."

Seemingly without any sense of distance, Nojiko showed no nervousness around Li Mingyuan. She even sat down on the edge of his lounge chair, blinked, and leaned toward him.

"Hey, can you tell me? How you wiped out the Arlong Pirates."

Nojiko casually nudged Li Mingyuan's shoulder and asked with a smile, "Do you know how many people have tried to resist the Fish-Men over the years, only for their entire villages to be slaughtered?"

"Even Marines from outside turned a blind eye to the Fish-Men, and bounty hunters were no match for them either... Rumor has it that this group of Fish-Men came from the Grand Line. Weren't you afraid when you fought them?"

Li Mingyuan narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Nojiko, who was leaning over him.

He did not immediately answer the girl's question.

Instead, just as Nojiko had examined him earlier, he began examining her.

Her exceptionally charming appearance, paired with that distinctive complexion, gave her an unusual air of temptation.

"Hmm, slightly tan skin."

Li Mingyuan stared at Nojiko's complexion and thought, Looks like the character design is based on the TV anime version.

Anyone who had watched the East Blue arc of One Piece would probably have some impression of Nami's tan-skinned, short blue-haired older sister.

She had not only helped Usopp escape the Fish-Man Pirates' pursuit and taken a bullet for Nami, but had also helped Luffy breathe while he was trapped underwater. She had a fair amount of screen time and was a strong, dependable character.

Mature, cheerful, steadfast, and visually appealing to plenty of people.

What few people knew, however, was that Nojiko in the One Piece TV anime was like the tan-skinned Robin from the early anime. Though their skin tones looked natural and charming, those colors had been created by the anime. In the original manga, both Nojiko and Robin had perfectly normal complexions.

In the anime recap special, Nojiko's complexion was corrected. Robin's skin tone was likewise adjusted back to white after the Sabaody Archipelago arc, two years later in the anime.

Although losing that complexion bonus made some people feel less strongly about them, many others thought the adjusted skin tones suited those female characters better.

Li Mingyuan did not particularly care about that.

The reason he had noticed Nojiko's skin tone was mainly because it made him think of something else.

For now, Zoro's situation showed that the manga storyline definitely held the dominant position in this One Piece fusion world. Yet since the anime and manga followed the same main plot, its influence seemed no lower than that of purely anime-original material. Otherwise, Nojiko's skin tone should have leaned toward her manga design rather than remaining tan.

"Even insignificant settings that were absent from the manga might be retained after the worldviews were fused. If that's the case, then the anime's habit of stretching manga fight scenes to fill runtime, causing certain characters' strength to rise or fall, might also exist in this world."

"When I leave Cocoyasi Village and reach the next stop, I'll need to pay attention."

Pulling back his wandering thoughts, Li Mingyuan continued staring at Nojiko.

"Afraid? Would a person fear livestock far weaker than themselves?"

"At least for me, that's impossible."

Li Mingyuan replied blandly, "Nami was present the entire time. If you're really curious, just ask her directly. Personally, I don't particularly want to recall a battle that had nothing special about it."

"As for the victims you mentioned, all I can say is that it's regrettable. But now that the Arlong Pirates have been dealt with, there shouldn't be anything left to make the survivors sad in the future."

"Hehe, you're very confident in your own strength."

Nojiko nodded and praised him. "No wonder you dared to come and take on the Arlong Pirates."

"In other words, is this the composure of a powerful person people talk about? Is that it?"

"That's nice."

Sitting on the edge of the lounge chair, Nojiko watched the inlet that had been dyed red with blood, gently swinging her legs. "Nami and I used to discuss countless times how we could get rid of these Fish-Men, but no matter what we did, we couldn't change anything."

"If only we'd had strength like yours back then."

After that wistful final remark, Nojiko stood from the chair with a smile, as if nothing had happened.

She waved toward the other villagers observing the situation at the entrance to Arlong Park.

"Everyone~ You can come over now! This is the benefactor who helped us get rid of Arlong!"

"If you have anything to thank him for, you can tell him face-to-face now!"

Nojiko cupped her hands around her mouth and called out happily.

The villagers, who had been secretly watching Nojiko's conversation with him and worrying about Li Mingyuan, could no longer hold themselves back upon hearing that. Ignoring the terrifying scene within Arlong Park, they rushed toward Nojiko and Li Mingyuan one after another.

They knew that, given the situation, the only person likely to be inside Arlong Park was the bounty hunter from the rumors. Still, remembering Nami's earlier instructions, they had not dared approach rashly before Nojiko, who was closest to Nami, confirmed the situation. They did not want to ruin things.

Now that Nojiko had confirmed it, they had no more reservations.

Seeing this, Li Mingyuan let out a soft sigh. He knew his brief leisure time was about to end after all.

"You just wanted to test what kind of person I was, so you took the initiative to come talk to me, didn't you?"

Li Mingyuan looked up at Nojiko and spoke.

"Don't be so cold."

"Isn't it perfectly normal to ask about someone when you're simply curious about your benefactor?"

Nojiko replied with a light laugh. Then she leaned down again, bringing her lips close to Li Mingyuan's ear. "But there's something I've wanted to tell this benefactor since earlier—when you talk to girls, don't keep staring all over them. It's a little too obvious."

"I don't mind, but you should remember to be more careful around other girls."

With that, Nojiko straightened up and left.

Li Mingyuan was left surrounded by the villagers, watching her retreating figure in momentary disarray.