An Improper Encounter

"Ding! Congratulations! You have completed a side quest and received 50 experience points and 5,000 Beli!"

Listening to the system notification, Zero was a little dissatisfied and complained once again about how stingy the system was.

As an aside, the battle on that Marine island had ended quickly. When Colonel Morgan tried to attack Luffy, Zoro had beaten him to it and defeated him first!

Afterward, when the three of them prepared to leave, the people on the island gave them an enthusiastic farewell.

Not long after they left that island, Luffy began telling the other two about where his hat had come from.

From meeting Red-Haired Shanks, to accidentally swallowing a Devil Fruit, to Shanks saving him when Luffy was in danger but losing an arm in the process—Luffy's tone was calm, but both of them could feel the weight carried by the hat in his hand.

Hearing this, Zero sincerely said to Luffy, "Come to think of it, Luffy, your hat was given to you by Shanks, one of the Four Emperors. You'd better treasure it!"

"Four Emperors?"

Luffy and Zoro questioned it at the same time.

Zero realized that the two of them did not yet know about the Four Emperors, so he explained the current composition of the world's strongest powers. When he mentioned the Seven Warlords and the Four Emperors in particular, Luffy's eager expression made Zero want to laugh.

"So Shanks is such a powerful pirate. Then one day, I have to surpass him!"

"Haha, I believe in you, Luffy. You'll definitely lead our pirate crew to make its name resound throughout the world!"

Encouraged by Zero, Luffy laughed and waved his fists, his eyes bursting with firm conviction.

At that moment, Zoro suddenly asked Zero, "Zero, how do you know so much? Where did you come from?"

"Uh..."

Zero did not know how to answer. Luffy, beside him, was about to say something too, but his attention was suddenly drawn away by a large bird overhead.

"Food!"

"Hey, Luffy, what are you doing?"

Zero recalled a certain scene and hurriedly grabbed Luffy's raised arm, but—

"Watch this, Rubber—"

By the time Zoro reacted, Luffy had already stretched out his arm and grabbed the bird. Then the bird bit down on Luffy's head and carried him away, along with Zero, who had accidentally been dragged up by Luffy. They flew farther and farther away...

"Get back here! Don't run!"

In a sparsely populated town, a pretty girl with short orange hair was running for her life, chased by a group of pirates armed with swords and guns. Looking closely, she was clutching a brown paper sheet tightly in her hand. It was hard not to connect it with the pirates chasing her.

"Damn it! If we don't get that sea chart back soon, Captain Buggy will kill us!"

"Yeah! You damn thief, stop right there!"

Hearing the cries of the pirates behind her, like a pack of hungry wolves, Nami was nervous but remained calm as she searched for an escape route. After all, this was not the first time she had faced something like this.

Bang!

A violent explosion suddenly rang out overhead, making Nami and the pirates behind her stop and look toward the sky in unison.

"Ahhhhh!"

Nami was still trying to identify where the sound had come from when she realized that a shadow seemed to be covering her. The shadow grew larger and larger, and by the time she tried to run, it was already too late!

Bang!

Bang!

Two impacts of different intensity rang out. One was Luffy crashing straight into the ground, while the other was Zero landing.

With his Level 4 Hand-to-Hand Combat skill, Zero tried to land in as safe a posture as possible. After all, he was not like Luffy, who had Devil Fruit powers. The impact of the fall was unavoidable, but he had reduced it as much as he could.

"Cough, cough!"

Zero struggled to climb up from the ground, but then he felt...

Looking up, an eye-catching cleavage filled his view. Higher still was a familiar pretty face.

"You! What are you doing?!"

Nami shouted angrily at Zero and instinctively raised her hand to slap his face. But after enduring attacks from countless people, Zero's dodging skills were already maxed out. With a slight tilt of his head, he avoided Nami's attack.

Then he smoothly grabbed the hand she had yet to lower, wrapped his right arm around her waist, and gave a slight pull!

"Ah!"

Nami cried out in surprise and found herself already standing. Her body was nestled against the man's chest like a little bird.

"You, let go of me!"

Nami struggled free from Zero, backed away several steps, and watched him with wary eyes.

Zero shook his head. Just as he was about to explain himself to Nami, movement came from behind him. He happened to see Luffy send the last standing pirate flying, while all the others were already sprawled unconscious on the ground.

Nami was astonished. She had not expected this unknown Straw Hat brat to be so strong. Immediately wanting Luffy as her protector, she glared at Zero and darted straight to Luffy's side.

"Uh..."

Zero watched helplessly as Nami lured Luffy away with food. He could only shake his head in resignation, lamenting that the supplies they had prepared on the Marine island had been far too few, then quickly followed after them.

Inside a house, Luffy was stuffing his face while Zero stood by the window, boredly watching the scenery outside. Yet his gaze seemed to keep drifting toward the lovely figure behind him.

Zero was also wondering whether he should find an appropriate time to apologize to Nami. She was, after all, the anime goddess he had always adored. This kind of encounter was far too likely to offend someone!

"The people in town were all afraid of Buggy and ran away."

"Then we can just break into their homes."

"You're so rude. I'm a thief who specifically targets pirates..."

Nami still wanted to argue her case. Luffy looked directly at Zero and asked curiously, "Zero, have you heard of this Buggy?"

Zero nodded.

"Yeah. He's known as Buggy the Clown, has a bounty of 15 million Beli, and is a famous pirate in the East Blue. He's also a Devil Fruit user."

"Huh, such a high bounty? And he's a Devil Fruit user like me? Sounds like this Buggy is pretty strong, hahaha!"

"Yeah. I heard he has the Chop-Chop Fruit. He can split his body into many pieces, so he's pretty troublesome as an enemy."

"Oh, I see!"

Although Luffy was surprised, his mouth did not stop moving.

Nami looked at Zero with surprise. She had not expected this man to know so much. Especially Buggy the Clown's Devil Fruit ability—he even knew that so clearly. It made her increasingly curious about just how Zero had learned all this information...