Promoted to Captain

Under Nojiko's gaze, Nami set down the bundle in her hands.

"There's roughly eighteen million Beli in total. Even taking into account how Arlong and the others squandered money over the years, it's still tens of millions less than I expected. There may be other places where they hid treasure, but this is all we could find. Do you want to count it? Or, if you want, we can search Arlong Park again with you."

Nami stared intently at Li Mingyuan and spoke seriously.

Hearing Nami's voice, Li Mingyuan, who had been somewhat lazy-looking until then, took off his sunglasses and looked over from beside the lounge chair.

He looked at Nami and the heavy bundle beside her, then raised his eyes to look at Nami and Carina.

Li Mingyuan's expression remained calm.

"There's no need to count it again. Since you say this is all there is, then there probably won't be any mistake."

"As for searching Arlong Park again, even if there really is some treasure you missed, if you couldn't find it despite being part of the Arlong Pirates, then there's a good chance my efforts would be wasted too."

"You've worked hard, Nami. Carina too."

Li Mingyuan's words echoed in everyone's ears.

As though he did not care about the treasure-filled bundle at all, Li Mingyuan did not even open it for a glance. His gaze remained fixed on Carina and Nami instead.

The two women, who had been extremely unfamiliar with him at first, were now both watching him intently, carefully paying attention to and observing his reactions.

That fact put Li Mingyuan in a very good mood.

Because it fully showed that he was no longer an insignificant presence to them.

After learning his name and understanding what he meant to them, they had formed a connection of mutual awareness. They would be affected by his emotions and thoughts, and react and change because of every action he took.

His initial goal—using the defeat of the Arlong Pirates to establish a connection with Nami—had been perfectly accomplished.

Now that the villagers had been sent off and the spoils had been counted, Arlong Park was basically like a dungeon Li Mingyuan had already cleared. There was no value in staying any longer.

Then.

It was about time to leave this filthy place covered in corpses.

"Whew..."

Carrying Arlong's head, Li Mingyuan rose from beside the lounge chair and rolled his neck a few times.

He had taken a brief walk with the villagers earlier and had no desire to keep relaxing for now.

So he might as well get back to business.

"Next, Carina and I will leave Arlong Park for a while."

Li Mingyuan glanced at Nami and Nojiko. "If I keep carrying Arlong's head around, it'll stink sooner or later. Besides, before coming to Arlong Park, I had several other Arlong Pirates officers held by someone else. Carina and I will retrieve those stored heads, then go to the nearest Marine base and collect the bounties."

"Of course, I know the nearby islands are all under Arlong's control. Even going to the nearest Marine base and returning will take some time, so it'll probably be late when Carina and I get back. You don't need to wait for us. Enjoy your hard-won freedom however you want, and let your emotions out however you need to."

"Also, if possible, take this treasure you sorted out for me with you when you leave. I don't have any channels to handle it, so it won't be easy for me to sell. It would be best if you could help me exchange it for cash."

Nami looked slightly surprised upon hearing Li Mingyuan's words.

"You're going to collect the bounty? Now?"

Nami hesitated instinctively, but seeing Li Mingyuan's calm eyes, she still nodded.

"Alright. I'll go back and tell everyone in the village. But if you aren't there, many people who want to see what their benefactor looks like will probably be disappointed. If possible, I still hope you can come to the banquet."

"As for cashing in the treasure, don't worry. Leave it to me. They're all small matters."

Nami looked frankly at Li Mingyuan, a relaxed smile on her face.

Li Mingyuan was not surprised that Nami agreed to his request. He merely turned his gaze toward Carina beside her.

"Then, Carina, do you have anything else to take care of?"

"If not, come with me now."

Li Mingyuan lifted Arlong's head in his hand and naturally extended an invitation to Carina.

Carina, who had been hiding beside Nami and keeping silent the entire time, immediately looked flustered when Li Mingyuan looked at her again. Her face showed the expression of someone who knew trouble was coming.

"You're going to collect the bounty? But even the nearest Marine base isn't on this island. Do you have a ship to get there?"

Thinking about being alone with Li Mingyuan again made Carina feel immense pressure, but she still put on a concerned expression as though she were thinking of him. "And we don't know the currents or sea conditions in these waters. Without a nautical chart, how will the ship even get there?"

On the surface, it was a reasonable question. After all, everyone knew that in the world of One Piece, you could not go anywhere without a ship, and without nautical charts and a Log Pose, a ship would be lost at sea.

But Li Mingyuan had already predicted Carina's prediction.

He had suggested that they go together because he wanted more time in contact with her. At this point, how could he possibly let Carina slip away?

"A ship? Doesn't Arlong Park have one?"

Li Mingyuan raised an eyebrow in surprise and looked in another direction.

Carina instinctively followed his gaze.

Then, in the next second, her eyes widened in shock.

"A ship?! Huh, seriously?"

Carina said in astonishment.

At some point, a huge sailing ship had appeared outside the gates at Arlong Park's sea entrance, its bow fitted with a serrated nose like a vicious dragon's!

"That ship, if I remember correctly..."

The moment Nami saw the vessel, she furrowed her brows and muttered.

"That's right. It's the Arlong Pirates' ship, the Shark Superb."

Nojiko, who had merely been listening to Li Mingyuan and the others with interest, sighed at that moment and looked at Li Mingyuan. "You... where did you sail that ship out from? Don't tell me you slipped away from the villagers earlier just to do this?"

"Ever since the Arlong Pirates stationed themselves on this island, I haven't seen that ship around here in a long time. I never thought I'd see it again."

Nojiko looked dazed as she watched the enormous pirate ship outside the sea entrance.

It seemed a little strange that a pirate crew made entirely of Fish-Men still needed a ship to sail the seas, but the Arlong Pirates did indeed have a pirate ship.

Even Fish-Men needed somewhere to store goods and supplies. If everything stayed underwater, most of what they plundered would be ruined. Not to mention that some food would spoil after entering the water. Fish-Men might not starve just because they ate underwater supplies, but that did not mean they could not have more options.

Seeing everyone's different reactions to the pirate ship before them, Li Mingyuan remained unmoved. He too stared at the vessel, though he found Arlong's sense of aesthetics somewhat distasteful.

Just as Nojiko had guessed.

After taking a lap around with the villagers earlier, he had specifically gone looking for the Arlong Pirates' ship when he returned, then used the knowledge he had learned while sailing aboard the cargo ship to bring it out.

After all, time spent on the return trip was still time. For Li Mingyuan, rather than walking back and wasting that time, it was more convenient to handle something from his plan along the way.

As for why he had thought of taking the Arlong Pirates' ship.

It was simply because it had been part of his initial plan from the very beginning.

Since Li Mingyuan had known from the start that it was Arlong, he had naturally considered how to maximize the benefits of this trip. Taking the Arlong Pirates' ship was merely one link in the plan. In the end, he had long known that he could not spend his life sailing on other people's ships. If he wanted to go to the Grand Line, he would need a ship of his own sooner or later.

So was there really a better choice than the pirate ship of the Arlong Pirates, who had come from the Grand Line themselves?

After defeating the Arlong Pirates, the ship naturally became his spoils of war. No one would object to him handling it. Besides, even if he made some modifications later—such as removing the unnecessary exterior decorations born from Arlong's taste, or adjusting the cabins according to his personal preferences—it would still save far more money than preparing a ship himself.

After all, if he truly built a ship from scratch, then based on Li Mingyuan's understanding of his own character, he would definitely insist on the very best. Ships could be cheap when poorly equipped, but once they were fully outfitted, the costs would become terrifying. Based on the purchasing power Oda established, where 1 Beli was roughly equal to 1 yen, and Water 7's listed price of 500 million for a warship—not even its construction cost—the money in his hands would probably not be enough even if multiplied tenfold.

Rather than buying one himself, he might as well get one that he would not feel bad about damaging and make do with it for now.

"The Shark Superb? So this ship has a name."

"Sorry. Maybe this ship brings back unpleasant memories for you, but I'll modify it later. For now, we'll just have to make do with it."

Li Mingyuan looked at Nojiko and Nami. "I've already taken down its pirate flag, and replaced the sails marked with Arlong Park's name using the spare sails. Since Arlong and the others didn't often take this ship out, unless someone remembers it very clearly, they probably won't recognize it as a pirate ship."

"As for nautical charts and a Log Pose, the ship has those too. We could set sail immediately without any issue. But although I've been learning navigation lately, aside from some basic operations, I still don't really know how to sail. On top of that, this ship is unexpectedly large. It'd be difficult to handle alone, so someone with extensive experience at sea is still very important."

"What do you think, Carina? This is a rare chance for you to show off. Don't you want to prove yourself?"

Turning his head, Li Mingyuan looked meaningfully at Carina as he spoke.

Carina's entire body trembled.

She forced herself to look at Li Mingyuan, smiling even more miserably than if she had been crying. "Since you've prepared everything already, that really is more reassuring than anything else."

He had put it that way. Did she dare object?

Still, the two of them were going to sail such a large ship... Thinking of that, Carina shivered. Some terrible memories seemed to surface in her mind. Li Mingyuan would not really make her do everything alone again, would he? Handling such a large ship by herself could really kill someone.

Li Mingyuan still had to return to the cargo ship sailors and bring along the heads of the remaining two Arlong Pirates officers. If it came down to it, she could only swallow her pride and ask Li Mingyuan whether they could temporarily hire some sailors to come with them.

Hopefully, it would not come to that.

Carina prayed silently in her heart.

Seeing that no one else had any objections, Li Mingyuan finished explaining the upcoming arrangements and no longer hesitated. Taking the lead with Arlong's head in hand, he boarded the pirate ship.

Considering all the time needed for the back-and-forth travel, the schedule ahead was unexpectedly tight.

Normally, with all the nearby islands under Arlong's control, there should theoretically be nowhere to collect the bounty at all. The nearest reliable Marine base would likely take several days to reach.

But Li Mingyuan, with his advantage of knowing the plot, knew that there actually was a Marine base nearby. It was simply a base that had been bribed by and colluded with the Arlong Pirates—the Marine base under Captain Nezumi.

Most people who knew the plot would not want to deliberately get close to such trash, lest they get tainted by the bad luck. But Li Mingyuan only wanted to collect a bounty. Especially since he was carrying Arlong's head, and Arlong had colluded with Captain Nezumi, there was no way the man would dare act presumptuously toward him. Since that was the case, it was better to do things as quickly as possible.

In any case, they were all trivial matters.

"So this means I'm a captain now."

Li Mingyuan chuckled as he stood at the very front of the ship's bow, atop the serrated nose resembling Arlong's.

The sea breeze brushed across his face, and for a moment, he felt utterly refreshed.

"Carina, I don't know much about matters aboard a ship, but you've been alone at sea for many years. And thieves often have to act alone in small boats, so at least you understand the sea better than I do."

"Treat me like an ordinary sailor and direct me while we sail this ship together."

Li Mingyuan turned back to look at Carina behind him. After startling her badly, he said, "My stamina should be a little better than that of an ordinary sailor. I can probably do the work of around ten sailors?"

"Uh, direct you? Me?"

Carina pointed at herself, then at Li Mingyuan, her face full of disbelief.

After boarding the ship, she had already darkened her face when she saw Li Mingyuan leisurely enjoying the view. Judging by his posture, she had assumed she would be doing all the work again. Did captives have no rights at all? Did he have to order her around this much?

It was such a large ship, and he was really going to make her handle it alone? Could it be that Li Mingyuan truly knew nothing whatsoever about sailing and believed she could manage the ship by herself?

No matter what, it was far too absurd.

Just as she could no longer bear it and stepped forward, intending to discuss captive treatment with Li Mingyuan, he suddenly turned around and said those words to her.