Do You Believe It? That Sword Will Bring a Miracle / Nami Returns Home; The First Notes of Resistance

"Is that so~~"

An hour later, Aokiji boarded a warship bound for the East Blue.

Meanwhile, Garp, who was still beating up Luffy in Foosha Village in the East Blue, also received Harry's call.

Each of the three Admirals had their own jurisdiction. Akainu Sakazuki was responsible for subjugating the New World, Kizaru served as a mobile force, and Aokiji was in charge of the Four Blues.

It was not hard to imagine why Smoker could be stationed in Loguetown—because he was Aokiji's subordinate.

Before Aokiji became an Admiral, Garp had also handled some of the Four Blues' affairs. Harry, who had been stationed in Loguetown for nearly ten years, was Garp's subordinate.

During this period, Dongze had brought him considerable military achievements and had never acted arrogantly, which made him quite agreeable to Harry.

Following the principle that recommending talent deserved a reward, Harry planned to recommend Dongze to Garp.

"Vice Admiral Garp! I discovered an extremely talented swordsman in the East Blue..."

"Is that so!"

"A genius from the East Blue!"

"Hahaha!!"

"I understand."

Do you believe it? That sword would bring miracles

"Hmm~~~"

"You're awake!"

Robin sat beside the bed, reading a miscellany.

When she saw Nami wake up, she greeted her.

Looking at Robin, Nami's tense heart finally relaxed.

Earlier, in the cabin, she had truly hated that bastard to death. In the end, it was Robin who comforted her. If Robin had not been there, Nami might have broken down completely.

Robin was nine years older than Nami. Robin was now in her early twenties, while Nami was only twelve or thirteen. Lacking maternal affection, Nami instinctively wanted to grow close to this kind older sister who cared about her.

"It's all right now! Everything has passed!"

"Mm!"

"Where am I?"

Nami's large eyes darted around twice as she began surveying the entire room. She could tell that she was aboard a ship.

"It's the gentleman's room! But he usually isn't here, so I sleep here!"

Nami's eyes filled with confusion. "The gentleman?"

Robin covered her mouth and giggled. "That's right! The man from before. The gentleman is a famous Pirate Hunter in the East Blue!"

"Ah~~~~ Him?"

Nami's face was full of disbelief. Remembering that man's methods, she could not connect Dongze with those one-track-minded Pirate Hunters no matter how hard she tried.

Suddenly, Nami's eyes lit up. Looking at the leather chests casually placed in the corner, she stammered, "Sister! Are these...?"

Seeing Nami's expression, Robin smiled lightly. She understood Nami's current feelings very well.

"They're Beli! There should be around five hundred million. They're all bounty money the gentleman exchanged at the Marines!"

"Five hundred million??"

"Ah!!"

"I'm going to die! I'm going to die!!"

Hearing Robin's words, Nami could not help screaming.

Her eyes instantly turned into the shape of Beli. What she lacked most right now was money. Earlier, she had even been thinking about getting some from those unscrupulous merchants.

Or she could wait until those pirates fell asleep, then quietly steal the treasure aboard their ship.

Now that she saw all those Beli sitting there completely unguarded, her heart raced like a startled deer and would not calm down.

"By the way, Sister, what's your name?"

Robin thought for a moment but did not tell her real name, even though Nami was only a child.

"Xiao Yi! And you?"

Hearing Robin's answer, Nami struck a lovestruck pose. "Kawaii! My name is Nami!"

Seeing Nami act like that made Robin somewhat bashful. Calling herself by that name really was a little embarrassing, considering she was already in her twenties.

"Xiao Yi, what happened to that pirate ship from before?"

Robin paused. "Do you still have something on it?"

Hearing Robin's question, Nami did not know how to answer for a moment. She had not left anything behind, but she wanted the treasure those pirates had left behind—and she wanted the Beli in the corner too. How could she bring that up to this kind older sister?

"Ah! No~ It's just..."

Robin sighed. "That's good! Mr. Dongze already sank that ship to the bottom of the sea!"

"Huh~~"

At those words, Nami shuddered. She had already taken all that treasure for granted as hers. Now that so much treasure had sunk into the sea, it felt to money-loving Nami as though someone had cut out a piece of her flesh!

Robin, who had wandered outside for years, was extremely experienced at reading people. Calling her an old hand would not be an exaggeration. Seeing Nami's current appearance, she formed a guess.

"Hehe!"

"Little Nami, do you want that treasure?"

Nami replied listlessly, "What good would wanting it do? It's already at the bottom of the sea!!"

"Wah~~~"

Robin laughed again. It was the first time she had met such an interesting girl. "It's in the storage room!"

Before Robin could recover, Nami shot into her arms and hugged her. Robin stared blankly at her. That speed was simply absurd.

"Say, Xiao Yi, where are we going?"

"I don't know! The gentleman is steering!"

"He knows how to sail a ship too?"

"Haha, Little Nami, don't underestimate the gentleman. He's a genius!"

"Hmph, he's just a bad guy! But for the sake of the Beli, I'll forgive him for now!"

"Haha! Haha! Hahahaha!"

"By the way, Little Nami, I forgot to ask earlier. How did you end up on that ship?"

The reason was a deeply painful memory for Nami, just as Robin was unwilling to recall the fiery-red Ohara buried in the depths of her memories.

At first, she had not planned to tell Robin. But after hearing that Dongze was a bounty hunter, seeing the enormous amount of cash aboard the ship, and finding the older girl before her so kind, she wanted to give it a try.

Where the Qin and Han once passed, sorrow remained; palaces became dust. In prosperity, the people suffered; in ruin, the people suffered.

As the situation changed, both pirates and Marines brought immense misery to the villagers of Cocoyasi Village.

As she listened to Nami's account, the tragedy involving the entire Cocoyasi Village gradually unfolded before Robin.

The Fish-Men's brutality, their vile claims, the villagers' reactions, Nami's actions, the Marines' movements, and that agreement caused Robin's mood to sink to the bottom.

Nami was still young and only described what had happened. She had not seen the connection between Arlong and Captain Nezumi, but Robin, who had already experienced the darkness of the world, could sense that something sinister was certainly hidden beneath it.

By the end, a rare trace of killing intent surfaced in Robin's eyes. It was the first time she had felt that those Fish-Men deserved to die!

Arlong's group had crossed her bottom line with what they had done.

Just like the phrase she often had on her lips: "To be born human is truly shameful..."

The premise behind her expressing that view was being born human. The Fish-Men's slaughter of humans had already crossed that line within her—the line of being human.

After remaining silent for a long while, Robin reached out and rubbed Nami's head. With a sigh, she asked, "Why don't you try resisting?"

"Perhaps the next moment will be different!"

At those words, Robin's emotions became a tangled mess. She had learned this truth from Dongze. Hadn't one of our great men said, "Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth"?

Nami shuddered at the words. Before she realized it, both hands had wrapped around her own arms. "They'll kill me! I've already lost Bellemere. I can't lose anyone else!"

Robin sighed softly. She now roughly understood why Dongze had schemed against this little girl earlier.

Those villagers oppressed by the Fish-Men might have become just like the little girl before her, no longer knowing how to resist.

But the more things were like this, the darker the ending would likely be. If they would rather die with honor than live in disgrace, perhaps the Fish-Men would not have dared act so brazenly.

She could even foresee that if the villagers' spirit was not awakened, then even if Dongze kindly saved them this time, the village would remain the same the next time it encountered a similar situation.

Giving someone fish was not as good as teaching them how to fish.

Thinking of this, Robin spoke with an extremely complicated expression. "Little Nami, have you ever considered that even if you gathered that hundred million Beli, what would you do if the Fish-Men went back on their word?"

Nami shuddered again. Of course she had considered that possibility. If it really happened, what could she do? That was why she did not dare think about it and had always avoided that terrifying future.

"I..."

Robin said meaningfully, "That man can help you."

Since Dongze had not killed the little girl along with the others and had even gone to such lengths to scheme, the clever Robin had already guessed that this little girl must be special to him.

That was why she had said those words.

Nami seemed unconvinced. "Can he beat him? Arlong is a great pirate with a bounty of twenty million! A Fish-Man's strength is twenty times that of an ordinary human. He can lift an entire house with ease! His teeth can even bite through steel!"

"Even though he's a bastard who bullies women, I still don't want him to die at Arlong's hands!"

Robin's gaze froze slightly when she heard Nami. She remembered how Dongze had chased her around and beaten her earlier, slicing apart a giant sail dozens of buildings in size with a single strike. There had also been that enormous Sea King that had surfaced, probably as large as a small town.

If someone like that still could not win, the Fish-Men would have conquered the land long ago. What need would there have been for the World Government?

"He should be able to beat him!!"

"But he's very stingy!"

"He always says, 'Ah, what a pity! I can't win!'"

Remembering that freak who had said "I can't win" three times in succession before cutting a pirate ship in half with one sword, Robin could not help muttering sarcastically.

"But he's a gentle man. If you gain his approval, Arlong won't be anything to fear!"

"Do you believe it? That sword can bring miracles!"

Chapter Twenty-Five: Nami Returns Home, The Opening Note of Resistance

"She's gone!"

"Mm!"

"She even took one hundred million Beli from you, sir!"

Listening to Robin's gloating, Dongze's head was covered in black lines.

"You just let her take the money and leave? You prodigal woman!! That was one hundred million Beli! I have to kill seven or eight pirates to earn that much!"

Hearing Dongze's words, Robin's pretty face reddened.

Suppressing her embarrassment, she replied, "Wasn't that exactly what you meant?"

After saying that, Robin secretly glanced at him.

Dongze was stunned by her words. He turned around and carefully examined the girl beside him.

She had light-red hair, a slicked-back style, sunglasses, brown pupils, large eyes, a ninety-five-point appearance, and a perfect figure. Though she was only just over twenty, she was already curvaceous and alluring.

Yet beneath that exquisite face was an IQ of one hundred and fifty. During the few days she had spent with Nami, the clever Robin had understood everything at the slightest hint. She had actually guessed his intentions.

He gave Robin a meaningful look. "Robin, secretly prying into a man's thoughts is a dangerous thing!"