Alvida

William, hiding inside the treasure chest, felt deeply displeased after hearing the pirates' vulgar remarks. Whether Nami had truly been covering for him, a stranger she had just met, or not, the fact that she had not betrayed him even while at a disadvantage was enough for him to play the hero and save the beauty.

Bang! Though William's body was still weak, he had once been a Marine colonel. With all his strength, he kicked the chest lid flying, and it smashed into a pirate rushing at Nami, knocking him unconscious.

"Who are you?" The other pirate was luckier. He took a step back at the last second and avoided it. But how could a pirate lack courage?

Even though he was the only one left, he still raised his blade and glared viciously at William, who had suddenly appeared before him. In his mind, he would rather lose a fight than experience Alvida's iron club. Besides, it was not as though he was guaranteed to lose.

"Watch out!" Nami hurriedly warned him.

Yet William did not move at all. Instead, he merely frightened his opponent with a single look.

The pirate's raised blade was less than thirty centimeters from William. One more downward swing and William would be wounded. Yet the pirate's body would not move. His entire body was even trembling.

Though the pirate kept screaming in his heart, Kill him! his body could do nothing except tremble. He could not even make a sound.

Perhaps this pirate was not afraid of death. Perhaps he was not afraid of William at all. Perhaps he still hoped he could kill William by luck. But he could not control his own body.

At the same time, Nami was so frightened that she fell onto the ground, muttering inwardly, What just happened?

Just now, Nami had seemed to see a gigantic beast, yet William's body had not changed in any way. Had she imagined it?

Three seconds later, the pirate rolled his eyes back and collapsed unconscious.

"Who are you people?" Hearing the commotion, the other pirates still on the ship discovered their fallen companions and warily looked at William and Nami.

"Bounty hunters? Leave your heads behind!" The pirates charged at William and Nami with their blades. In their minds, Alvida's iron club was more terrifying than anyone else.

"So fast!" William snatched a blade from one of the pirates. In an instant, he cut down every pirate who had rushed over to support them. He had not expected his body to retain such quick reflexes even in this weakened state.

In martial arts, speed was invincible. Even if he had forgotten every technique, his body was still the body of a strong man. These ordinary pirates moved far too slowly in his eyes. Moreover, neither his strength nor speed was something ordinary pirates could compare to.

However, William, already weak to begin with, finally collapsed backward when his stamina ran out.

"Hey! Are you alright?" Nami immediately got up and caught William, keeping him from falling to the deck.

Grrr, grrr! Hearing the familiar sound from William's stomach, Nami looked at his bloodless, gaunt face and thought, How long has it been since he last ate to be starving this badly?

Treasure was important, but this man had saved her life, hadn't he? Nami found herself torn. One was hard-to-come-by treasure, and the other was her savior. It was truly difficult to choose.

In the end, however, Nami made her choice. She first dragged William to the kitchen, intending to make him her free bodyguard after he recovered so he could protect her while she collected the treasure.

William was very strong. Ordinary pirates were no match for him. In particular, the scene of him saving her just now had left Nami with a good impression of him. At the very least, she did not think he was a bad person.

"You recovered really quickly." Nami looked at William in surprise and realized that he was actually quite a handsome young man. But his appetite was no joke. He had nearly eaten all the food in the kitchen.

The reason William could eat so much at once and recover so quickly was entirely due to the powers of his Devil Fruit. Having lacked food for so long, his body desperately craved nourishment, and after eating, his digestive ability had been pushed to its limit.

At the same time, Zoan Devil Fruits possessed powerful recovery abilities. Though it was nowhere near as powerful as Devil Fruit Awakening, William had not been injured. He had merely lacked stamina, so he recovered quite quickly.

"I've finally regained my strength!" The food he had eaten with Luffy earlier had only barely kept him from starving to death. Now, he had truly recovered.

Even if he had not regained his former strength and knew none of his techniques, Alvida, with her bounty of only 5 Beli, and her pirates were no match for him with just his brute strength and Devil Fruit powers.

Originally, William had planned to "borrow" a ship and a navigator from Alvida. As long as they helped him find a town where he could live, that would have been enough. But now that he had encountered the even more capable Nami, there was no need to "borrow" anyone from Alvida. Was there really a better navigator than her?

"You've got your eye on the treasure aboard this ship, haven't you?" Hearing William's words, Nami immediately grew tense. In this world, murder for treasure and repaying kindness with hatred were hardly uncommon.

Especially for a girl like Nami, who had lacked a sense of security since childhood, her vigilance was greater than anyone's.

"Don't be nervous. Take all the treasure you want. In exchange, take me to a nearby town. Deal?" William set down his drink.

"You don't want the treasure?" Nami asked in surprise. Though she was delighted inside, she was not a girl who would be fooled so easily.

"Just treat me to a meal when we get to town." William felt that if he did not make some kind of request, Nami's cautious nature might keep her from believing him.

"Of course! My name is Nami!" Nami immediately made an OK gesture. Wasn't having a powerful, free bodyguard exactly what she had wanted? As for treating him to a meal, she could just find a cheap place later. Besides, although William's clothes were somewhat dirty and messy, the fabric was clearly not ordinary. He was obviously no ordinary person.

"My name is William! I'll deal with the pirates on the ship first, then we'll leave quickly." William did not want to stay aboard this ship for another second. He did not want to run into that idiot pirate Luffy again, much less become his companion.

"Then I'll go look for my treasure!" With William as a reliable bodyguard, Nami's courage grew as well.

William and Nami had already agreed that once Nami got the treasure, they would leave immediately. William's job was to draw the pirates' attention.

To keep the pirates from discovering Nami in the cabin, William had to stop every pirate on the deck. Yet there were only a few pirates left on deck.

That was because someone had stolen William's job. But that voice was far too familiar, wasn't it?

Could it be? It couldn't be him, could it?

What a coincidence. Whether it was that voice just now or that manner of speaking, weren't all those traits Luffy's?

"Yo? William, you're still alive!" The oblivious Luffy noticed William while fighting Alvida and actually greeted him.

Not good! That was William's first thought. He had been trying to avoid Luffy, yet Luffy had still found him. But what did Luffy mean by "you're still alive"? William glared furiously at Luffy, his face full of black lines, and felt a sudden urge to kill him.

"Who's that brat? How did he get onto my ship? And you, brat, don't get carried away!" Alvida turned to look at William, who had suddenly appeared on her ship. Seeing that no one was stopping him, she knew the pirates on the ship had clearly been dealt with. Wanting to end the battle quickly, Alvida raised her iron club and smashed it viciously at Luffy.

In Alvida's eyes, Luffy was simply too arrogant. Greeting someone else during a fight? Even laughing and joking? What did that mean? It meant he completely looked down on her. Who was Alvida? She was a female pirate with a bounty of 50,000 Beli in the East Blue!

Yet neither the "amnesiac" William nor Luffy, who had only just set sail, took the experienced pirate Alvida seriously.

"You're not even dodging? Die, brat! What?" Alvida had initially been delighted to see her iron club hit Luffy, but she was soon frightened by the uninjured Luffy.

"Mr. Luffy!" Seeing the Luffy who had constantly encouraged him get struck in the head by Alvida's iron club, Koby despaired.