Feast Fires and Rebirth, a Brand-New Design

In the One Piece world, most arcs had an iconic ending point.

That was, after everything ended, there would always be a feast.

The Straw Hat Pirates started in the East Blue, passed through Alabasta, Sky Island, Water 7, and countless later arcs. No matter what, as long as the great battle ended in a stage-by-stage victory, there was always a celebratory event afterward.

After actually crossing over here, Li Mingyuan found that this was indeed the case. There had been a feast after he dealt with the bandit Dick in the previous village, and now that the Arlong Pirates had been defeated, there was another feast as well.

Compared to the celebration in that small village last time, though, this one was on an entirely different level in both scale and revelry.

The flames flickered as Li Mingyuan swirled the wine in his cup, occasionally exchanging a few words with Nojiko beside him. In his slightly hazy gaze, the laughing figures of the villagers were reflected.

"Not a bad sight."

Li Mingyuan murmured with a smile, his voice too low for anyone nearby to hear.

He had been the main character at both feasts, but Li Mingyuan was clearly enjoying this one far more than the last. At last, he could comfortably immerse himself in the role of a lifesaver.

After all, the bandit Dick and his family were utterly incomparable to the Arlong Pirates. The Fish-Men were stronger in practically every way, and even Li Mingyuan had needed to expend quite a bit of effort fighting them.

In the end, Arlong had bribed the Marines and was still the highest-bounty pirate in the East Blue. If the situation here were reported truthfully to the Marines, a bounty exceeding one hundred million would probably not have been a problem. Having put so much effort into wiping out the Fish-Men, Li Mingyuan finally felt that he had truly saved someone this time.

That stronger sense of immersion was an important factor in allowing him to integrate more deeply into the worldview of One Piece and experience emotional changes of his own.

Li Mingyuan enjoyed this feeling very much.

After seeing off another group of nervous villagers who had nonetheless gathered their courage through drink and come over to thank him, Li Mingyuan relaxed against his chair and let out a long breath scented with alcohol.

"Hehe, that's wonderful. It looks like you're quite satisfied."

Nojiko watched Li Mingyuan's expression and covered her mouth as she laughed happily. "At first, I was worried you might not come. You're such a powerful bounty hunter, so you've probably seen far grander scenes than ours. Even if you did come, I was worried there might be something you didn't like."

"As expected, beneath that somewhat cold exterior, your heart is much warmer. Now I can finally rest easy."

"Oh, right. Since we have the chance, would you like to try these tangerines?"

Now that no villagers were crowding around Li Mingyuan, Nojiko seemed to remember something. She searched through her pockets, then somehow pulled out several tangerines and placed them beside Li Mingyuan's wine cup.

"These are tangerines that Nami and I cultivated ourselves. They're delicious."

Nojiko blinked and enthusiastically recommended them. "It isn't the season when they ripen in large quantities yet, but these were carefully selected. They're filled with our heartfelt gratitude."

Tangerines cultivated by Nojiko and Nami?

Li Mingyuan looked at the tangerines before him, thought for a moment, then sat up and picked one up to peel. For one thing, he was curious what Nami's tangerines from the manga actually tasted like. For another, he had eaten plenty of meat and drunk plenty of wine, so some fruit would be a nice change of pace.

After peeling the tangerine, Li Mingyuan put it into his mouth under Nojiko's expectant gaze and savored it carefully.

"Delicious."

After a while, Li Mingyuan swallowed the tangerine and gave his verdict.

"I don't know much about fruit, but at least the taste really is excellent."

"I can feel your sincerity."

Li Mingyuan looked at Nojiko as he spoke.

Although Li Mingyuan had yet to eat anything particularly unpleasant in the One Piece world, perhaps it was an illusion, but the tangerines that carried Nami's memories and childhood did seem exceptionally sweet and refreshing in his mouth.

It was as though he had truly tasted a certain emotion within them, leaving an endless aftertaste on his lips and tongue.

"Right?"

Nojiko beamed, her face full of pride.

Meanwhile, just as Nojiko and Li Mingyuan were eating and chatting casually—

Carina, who had been warned by Li Mingyuan not long ago and thus did not dare wander too far away, finally seized the gap when the villagers were no longer surrounding Li Mingyuan. After great difficulty, she pushed through the crowd and squeezed into the seat beside him.

Seeing Li Mingyuan eating and drinking to his heart's content, she immediately felt her irritation rise.

"Seriously, I rushed all the way over here, and he's acting like he didn't notice me at all! Could he really be that drunk? Even if I'd run away earlier, he might not have noticed at all?"

A trace of regret surfaced in Carina's heart. She figured that even if she had realized the situation earlier, she would not have dared test whether she could successfully escape from Li Mingyuan. Still, if she had known, she at least would not have had to play a pushing marathon with those fanatical villagers.

In all that time, she had barely eaten or drunk anything. Instead, she had nearly used up all her strength in that tug-of-war.

She truly could not understand where a guy with such a cold demeanor got so much charm that so many villagers would crowd around him. Even when they came only to thank him profusely, he would at most nod and say a few words in response. Yet even so, the villagers happily dragged Li Mingyuan off to drink with them.

If it were her, even if Li Mingyuan had done her some enormous favor, she would never dare go up and speak to him while facing that cold expression.

It was terrifying, okay?

"Sigh, it looks like coming over here was completely unnecessary. Aren't you eating just fine without me?"

Carina pulled out a chair beside Li Mingyuan and sat down. Looking at him, she complained, "Nami's sister is so pretty too. With her sitting beside you, drinking and chatting, aren't you happier than when you were with me earlier?"

"So you came over."

Li Mingyuan looked at Carina beside him as though he had expected her all along. In an indifferent tone, he casually replied, "Why didn't you bring over the food and wine from the other table? We could have kept eating here."

Carina rolled her eyes and said speechlessly, "Next time, just say what you want directly. How was I supposed to know you still wanted to bring it over and eat it? Since you weren't there, I couldn't exactly waste the food, so I finished it all. Thanks to you, I've had quite a lot to drink now."

"Honestly... you drink so slowly, so why did you pour such a full cup earlier? I'm getting a little drunk now."

Carina waved a hand in front of her face.

Only then did Li Mingyuan suddenly notice that Carina, who had been calm and drinking steadily before, had become much more flushed. Her eyes were also glimmering repeatedly.

On the cargo ship, Carina had looked like a disheveled sailor, so he had barely remembered what she looked like. But after she washed up at Arlong Park, the girl revealed a delicate face no less beautiful than Nami's. She carried a slight tomboyish air, and her hair was a brighter shade leaning toward purple. That was why Li Mingyuan had not been able to stop himself from staring at the transformed Carina for quite some time on the pirate ship earlier.

Carina's true appearance had already impressed him, but now, looking at the flushed Carina before him with the faint scent of alcohol around her, Li Mingyuan found her even more striking.

That special charm already carried some of the allure of the songstress thief Carina from One Piece Film: Gold.

"...Not bad."

Li Mingyuan gave the same assessment he had given after tasting the tangerine earlier.

As Carina turned to look at him in confusion, he casually picked up the wine cup from the table and took another huge gulp.

He set down the wooden cup with great satisfaction, and the contentment on Li Mingyuan's face quietly deepened.

The feast continued.

As time passed bit by bit, the atmosphere did not fade. Instead, it grew even more fervent.

Li Mingyuan understood this very well. In the original story, Cocoyasi Village's celebration had lasted a full three days and three nights. Even if the effect he brought was not as explosive as the Straw Hat crew's, it would still have a considerable impact. At the very least, this feast ought to last two days and two nights.

What was happening now was only the beginning.

Li Mingyuan continued drinking and making merry with the villagers, immersing himself in the atmosphere and becoming more and more absorbed in the feast.

Yet at the same time—

In another, slightly quieter part of Cocoyasi Village, something else was happening unnoticed.

"Can it be removed?"

"Completely removing it is unlikely. Some scars will remain no matter what. That's just how tattoos are."

Such a conversation was taking place inside a room in Cocoyasi Village.

Nami lay face-down on a bed. Hearing the bearded middle-aged man's words beside her, she lowered her eyes with a slightly downcast expression.

That afternoon, after separating from Li Mingyuan and the others, she had returned to the Tangerine Grove with Nojiko. She organized all the treasure she had accumulated so far, preparing the portion she would give Li Mingyuan as a token of gratitude.

During that process, her penny-pinching nature had flared up for a while. The village and Tangerine Grove both needed money right now as well, so after struggling with it, Nami had initially wanted to set aside a large sum from her savings for herself. But then she remembered Carina's face. After hesitating again and again, she finally compromised, deciding to keep only part of the money and give all the rest to Li Mingyuan.

By the time she finished sorting everything out, it was already getting late.

Looking at the sky, Nami considered it and felt there was no rush to attend the feast. Besides, Nojiko had already attended in her place, so whether she showed up now made little difference. In the end, she went somewhere else first.

This place.

One of the few clinics in this small village.

After hearing the man's words beside her, Nami instinctively clenched the tattooed spot on her shoulder and murmured, "So this mark can never be completely erased for the rest of my life..."

Scenes from the past kept emerging in her mind. They were memories of when she had still been with the Arlong Pirates, of the moment when she had been branded with the pirate tattoo. She had been in unbearable pain then. She clearly did not believe herself to be one of the Arlong Pirates, yet in the end she had been marked with something like a brand of ownership. No matter what, she would never be able to escape the Arlong Pirates' influence for the rest of her life.

Yet at that very moment, the one who appeared before her when she was close to breaking down was her sister, Nojiko.

"It's nothing. It looks pretty, doesn't it?"

"That way, I'll be the same as Nami too. Hehe."

With a tattoo even larger than Nami's, Nojiko had smiled and said that to the stunned Nami.

Nami would probably never forget what happened that day for as long as she lived.

Thinking of this, Nami closed her eyes, then opened them again.

"Doctor, could you tattoo another design over this one for me?"

"Hm?"

The man beside her looked at Nami in surprise.

"This one."

Nami raised a sheet of paper in her hand and showed it to him. On it was a brand-new design.

A design combining a windmill and tangerines.

That was right. Since she had long known that a tattoo was something that would stay with her for life, Nami had hated the Arlong Pirates tattoo countless times in the past. How could she not have considered the possibility that it could not be completely removed? She simply had not dared try removing it while the Arlong Pirates still existed, so she had never truly confirmed that fact.

Her question now was merely exploratory. Although she was still disappointed that it could not be fully erased, Nami had already prepared herself for that possibility.

This new tattoo had been her plan from the very beginning.

"What do you think? Can you do it?"

Nami's lips curved upward.

Even without the Straw Hat crew's salvation from the original story, and even without Nami desperately stabbing at her tattoo with a knife as she had in the original, the result was still the same. In the end, Nami from different timelines still shared the same feelings.

To cover the Arlong Pirates tattoo, the things most important in her heart were still the windmill and tangerines.

And so, she created this special tattoo design once more.

Seeing the paper Nami presented, the doctor could not help shaking his head with a laugh. "Of course I can."

"Since you've made up your mind, then let's do it."

Time quietly passed in this clinic, somewhat removed from the feast's clamor.

No one knew how long it had been.

As the night grew deeper and the noise at the center of the feast faded by more than half, Nami walked out of the clinic. With the new design on her shoulder, she looked ahead in good spirits.

On both sides of the road she had come down, villagers who had gotten drunk and fallen asleep were lying everywhere.

The unrestrained revelry had not only vented their emotions, but exhausted all their energy as well. Without even returning home, the villagers slept wherever they had fallen, every face wearing complete relaxation and joy.