The Little Thief Cat, Nami

East Blue, aboard a pirate ship decorated with a swan's head and hearts.

"Big Sis Alvida, there's a treasure chest floating over there!" the lookout suddenly shouted.

"Then hurry up and fish it out!" said a short, stocky, freckle-faced woman, waving a massive iron spiked club.

"Remember to send it to my room!" the short woman ordered imperiously.

"Yes!" Upon receiving their captain's command, a group of sailors quickly hauled the wooden chest aboard.

Why did all the men on the pirate ship submit to the tyranny of a woman? Could a woman who could casually swing an iron club weighing several hundred kilograms be ordinary? This was the weakest sea, East Blue.

"There's a barrel over there too. It should have wine in it, right?" A sailor on deck pointed at the sea. Although this was not the Grand Line, ships still occasionally suffered wrecks or pirate attacks, leaving plenty of supplies floating on the water.

"Koby! Take this barrel to the storeroom later!" the sailor said to a timid boy with glasses after the barrel had been salvaged.

As for the wooden chest they had recovered earlier, they naturally carried it to the captain's room themselves. How could they casually give such a chance to impress her to someone else?

"Yes!" the boy with glasses replied weakly.

This was the ship of the Alvida Pirates, a pirate crew from East Blue. The short, stocky woman from before was the ship's captain, the infamous female pirate of East Blue, "Iron Mace" Alvida. She was a wanted criminal with a bounty of fifty thousand Beli. Though the amount was not high, the Alvida Pirates were one of the most notorious pirate crews in the area.

The crew all called her Big Sis Alvida, while she claimed to be the most beautiful woman in these waters. In the original story, she became a true beauty after Luffy blasted her away with a Gum-Gum Bazooka and she ate the Slip-Slip Fruit, but there was no point judging that now, since the plot would differ somewhat from the original.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Cannon fire rang out from outside, but their ship was not under attack. They were attacking a merchant vessel they had happened across. What pirate crew did not rob ships that crossed their path? Luffy's kind of pirate, who only went on adventures, was an exception. Strictly speaking, the Straw Hat Pirates did not have the style of proper pirates.

"Charge!" The instant Alvida's pirate ship drew alongside the merchant vessel, the pirates excitedly boarded the other ship. Their goal was money and treasure, but anyone who resisted would be executed on the spot.

Before battle-hardened pirates, the guards aboard the ship were simply no match. Pirates generally did not kill people without reason, but guards were an exception. Of course, that also depended on the pirates' mood. If they were in a bad mood, robbing lives along with wealth was hardly unheard of.

When the merchant captain realized that the pirates trying to rob them were the Alvida Pirates, he tried to speed up and flee, but ultimately failed to escape. The captain also knew that his ship's weapons might handle ordinary pirates, but against the Alvida Pirates, surrendering was the only choice. Otherwise, the entire ship would be slaughtered.

The guards aboard, however, were not so fortunate. These pirates lived with blades at their throats. Anyone aboard deemed even remotely dangerous could not be allowed to remain, so the guards naturally became targets the pirates had to eliminate.

With the guards gone, only ordinary people remained on the merchant ship. The pirates gathered them together. Anyone who dared to hide under such circumstances would only be killed.

"Huh? Where did that girl go?" A man suddenly realized that his dance partner had vanished. They had only just met, but she truly had been quite a beauty, especially with that neat orange hair and well-proportioned figure. Still, he did not care much. Faced with vicious pirates, everyone only had eyes for themselves.

Naturally, no one on the merchant ship noticed that they were missing a passenger, and the pirates knew even less. What the pirates did not expect was that there was now an extra person on their own ship: an orange-haired girl.

"Treasure, treasure, where are you?" the orange-haired girl muttered to herself. She was the missing passenger from the merchant ship, the Cat Burglar Nami, who specialized in stealing pirate treasure. Judging by the situation, Nami had slipped onto the pirate ship while Alvida led most of her crew away to seize the merchant vessel's wealth, planning to rob the robbers. She was highly experienced in that line of work.

As a result, Nami spotted a very conspicuous treasure chest in Alvida's room. Delightful stars appeared in her eyes, but when she eagerly opened it, her expression quickly became just like Luffy's—there was actually only a person inside.

Ever since the chest had been salvaged, William had been considering how to seize this ship. Or perhaps he could ambush its owner the moment she opened the chest?

But William had never expected that the person who came would not be the ship's owner, but Nami. He had actually run into two members of the Straw Hat Pirates in a single day? Was it fate, or merely coincidence? He had also never imagined that his first meeting with Nami would happen under such circumstances.

Still, Nami truly was a beautiful girl. Her neat short orange hair and exquisite features were practically flawless, making William unable to stop himself from looking at her a few more times.

"So there's no treasure inside after all," Nami sighed in disappointment.

At the same time, William, who had been captivated by Nami's beauty, was snapped back to reality by her words. As expected of a money grubber!

Clack! Nami completely ignored William's presence and shut the treasure chest without hesitation.

How practical did someone have to be to ignore everything except treasure? Back in the darkness, William was utterly speechless. Sure enough, there was not a single reliable person in the Straw Hat Pirates.

But given Nami's character of only stealing ill-gotten wealth, along with the cannon fire from earlier, he was probably aboard a pirate ship.

Fortunately, this was the weakest sea, East Blue. As long as he recovered his strength, he should be able to take this ship with brute force alone. Besides, most of the pirates had likely gone off to kill and loot, which gave him a chance to recover.

"Who is this woman? Is she a thief?" Pirate A entered, saw Nami, and warily questioned his companion.

"She actually dared to set her sights on Big Sis Alvida's treasure?" Pirate B leered at the lone Nami, but upon remembering how terrifying his captain was, he still drew the blade at his waist. Nervously, he said, "Good thing Big Sis told us to come back and inspect that treasure chest. Otherwise, if she blamed us, that huge iron club of hers could smash us all to death in one hit."

Alvida? Could that be the short, fat pirate aunt Alvida?

Before William could kick open the chest lid, he heard the pirates' conversation and realized that Nami's theft had failed. It seemed that his appearance had already begun changing the plot.

Still, William felt somewhat touched. It appeared Nami had shut the chest earlier because she had sensed someone approaching the room, allowing William to avoid disaster. After all, he looked quite miserable right now. Though he had gotten some food from Luffy, his mental state was still not very good. If the pirates found him, he would definitely suffer.

"Beauty, let us teach you a lesson!" one pirate said with a lecherous grin. On the ship, they were constantly stuck around that freckled old hag Alvida. Meeting a beauty on Nami's level, even an ordinary girl would have made their hearts race.

"I hate pirates like you the most. You think you can teach me a lesson? Don't make me laugh!" Nami pulled out the three-section staff strapped to her thigh and immediately assembled it into a long pole.

Bang! The pirate who had first tried to take advantage of Nami never expected her to strike first. He was knocked unconscious to the floor by the long staff. Nami might have been a girl, but she was one of the officers of the Arlong Pirates. How could she have no fighting ability at all?

"You woman, you dared to ambush our companion?" Clearly, the pirates had never expected Nami to attack them, but pirates were pirates. The remaining two no longer looked down on her just because she was a woman.

"Stubborn women never end well. But before you get a taste of Big Sis's iron club, we'll make sure you have some fun first," one pirate said obscenely as he drew the sword at his waist.

"Perverts!" Nami cursed, but she did not dare underestimate the two pirates. Their strength was not much, but she was only slightly stronger than them. Facing two at once would be difficult for her.