Norton raised a hand to stop the seven, turned, and led the way toward the coast.
"Let's go. There's no need to waste any more time on this island. We still have to find the pirates who stole Zoro's swords," Norton said without looking back.
Zoro pushed away from the wall he had been leaning against and followed Norton. The seven exchanged glances, then followed as well.
Seeing this, Nami hurriedly whispered a few instructions to Nojiko before running after them.
"Hey! Nami! Where are you going?!" Genzo shouted after her.
"I'm going to see Bellemere! Then I'm heading out to sea with Norton!" Nami called back.
"Stop right there! You can't become a pirate!!" Genzo immediately grew frantic.
"Save your breath. Nami won't listen." Nojiko stepped forward and patted Genzo on the shoulder.
"What did she just tell you?" Genzo shot Nojiko a troubled look.
"Nami asked me to divide all her remaining treasure among the people on this island who suffered because of Arlong," Nojiko said softly. "She also said she'd already promised to be Norton's navigator."
Genzo fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, "How long has it been since that day? Five years? Or ten?"
"Five years. It's been five years since the day Arlong brought disaster upon us," Nojiko said quietly.
"Five years... so Nami's only fifteen now?" Genzo pressed a hand to his aching head. "I knew it. I just can't feel comfortable letting a child that young go adventuring at sea!!"
Unfortunately, as children grew older, they developed plenty of ideas of their own, and adults could no longer stop them.
At dawn the next day.
The White Pearl set sail from Cocoyasi Village's bay!
When the villagers of Cocoyasi and the nearby villages heard that the hero who had defeated Arlong was heading out to sea, they all flocked to the harbor to see Norton off.
The cooks and shipwrights aboard the White Pearl carried crate after crate of supplies onto the ship, all gifts from the villagers.
Though everyone had struggled under Arlong's oppression, once the day of liberation arrived, they all felt they ought to properly thank their savior.
Notably, before leaving, Nami also said a proper farewell in her own way...
She stole the wallets of everyone at the harbor!
The villagers of Cocoyasi didn't mind too much, though.
The people from the other villages were a different story. Their curses were truly vicious.
As the White Pearl slowly pulled away from the dock, Nami grinned at the bustling harbor, waved the banknotes in her hand, and playfully stuck out her tongue.
"Goodbye, everyone!"
Funing emerged from the cabin with a book in her arms. "Norton! Where are we going next?"
"Let's have a meeting first!" After a moment's thought, Norton led the way into the cabin, casually draping an arm over Funing's soft shoulders and taking her right back inside.
The group followed Norton into the meeting room one after another.
The White Pearl had five levels in total, including the deck, which was the fifth level.
The meeting room was on the third level, two levels down after entering from the deck. Located beneath the helm platform, it was spacious, with more than a dozen gold-trimmed, red velvet armchairs arranged around an enormous round table.
Apparently, when Funing designed this room, she had wanted the ship to have a place where its leaders could hold meetings.
On the dangerous seas, they needed to exchange information promptly to keep such an enormous ship sailing safely.
"Funing!" Norton plopped down in the largest red velvet armchair. "This room's great! Let's improve it later! I want to turn it into an aquarium!"
Norton remembered that the Straw Hat Pirates' ship in the original story had a room like that, surrounded on all sides by transparent glass. Sitting inside, they could look through the glass into an enormous fish tank.
Norton wanted a room like that too. The White Pearl was bigger than the Thousand Sunny, so there was no reason it couldn't be done.
"Turn it into an aquarium?" Norton's idea dazzled Funing for a moment. "That actually sounds possible! Let me think about how to do it!"
"We can discuss it later! We need materials first!" Norton grinned. "We don't even have a pirate flag yet! We can take our time with all of that!"
Sanosuke, Zoro, and Nami entered the meeting room in turn and took their seats.
Norton glanced around. There were still plenty of empty seats, leaving the meeting room looking rather vacant.
But Norton didn't invite anyone else inside. He intended to reserve this room for future gatherings of the ship's officers. Anyone else would be barred from entry.
"As of today, the Norton Pirates are officially founded!" Norton gave a brief opening statement and raised his wineglass.
"Yeah!"
"I'm only joining temporarily!"
"Haha, who cares about that! Cheers!"
Sanosuke, Zoro, Nami, and Funing raised their glasses in turn. The glasses clinked together, spilling their contents onto the round table.
"My lord, what are your next instructions?" Sanosuke drained the water in his wineglass.
"Simple!" Norton grinned and slammed his wineglass onto the table. "Now that we've founded a pirate crew, I'm going to make it the biggest and strongest there is!"
"The White Pearl still has far too few people! We don't have nearly enough manpower at our command! I want more subordinates!"
They had suffered such heavy casualties just dealing with a mere Arlong. He could hardly imagine what would happen once they entered the Grand Line.
He had too few rank-and-file fighters!
Norton couldn't personally handle everything and lead every charge. He was here to be a king, not a hired fighter.
He could shoulder the dangers his subordinates couldn't handle. But if he had to personally deal with every pitiful weakling who came knocking, that would be beneath him!
Norton wanted not only to become the greatest king, but also to build the strongest team!
A team that, in most situations, could fend off any danger without him needing to step in!
"We'll start with the East Blue! I'm going to subjugate the East Blue! Bring every pirate crew with a name worth mentioning under my command! Build an enormous pirate fleet!"
Manpower was essential to founding a nation. Otherwise, even if he reached the New World and seized enough territory, he wouldn't have enough people to manage it.
The pirates of the East Blue were somewhat lacking in quality, but with a little training, they could still be useful!
In any case, Norton regarded these villains as expendable. The only true core members aboard this ship were the officers who had earned his approval.
"You're planning to conquer the East Blue first?" Zoro raised an eyebrow.
"That's right!" Norton's lips curved upward, his eyes gleaming.
"As far as I know, the more famous pirate crews currently in the East Blue include the Spade Pirates, the Black Cat Pirates, the Buggy Pirates, the Krieg Pirates, and the Arlong Pirates..."
Funing dipped her quill into the ink and wrote the names of several pirate crews on a sheet of paper.
"We've already defeated the Arlong Pirates!" Nami said proudly.
"Then that leaves these few as the more famous crews..." Funing tapped her chin with the shaft of her quill. "Apparently, thanks to Garp the Hero, almost all the pirates in the East Blue with bounties of several tens of millions of Beli or more have been wiped out."
At the mention of Garp the Hero, Norton's gaze shifted slightly.
He actually looked forward to Garp coming after him. That CP0 agent from before had been too weak to give him his fill.
Why was it so hard to get his fill?
"So our next plan is to bring those pirate crews under our command?" Funing tapped the table to confirm.
"That's right! From now on, we'll actively search for those crews, then bring them under our command!"
"We already have the strongest ship. Next, we're going to get the strongest pirate crew in the East Blue! The strongest companions!"
"And one more thing! Calling me captain is too commonplace!"
Norton looked over Sanosuke, Funing, Nami, and Zoro's faces one by one.
"From now on, call me King!"