Outside Saint Laurent Noble Academy, Oykot Kingdom's capital, afternoon.
The academy's gilded gates reflected a dazzling glare in the languid afternoon sunlight. Gothic spires and reliefs spoke of a hall of learning's solemnity and the weight of history. Yet beneath that solemn exterior, undercurrents had long since corroded its foundations.
Fourteen-year-old Nami, carrying a canvas schoolbag washed almost white, had been cornered in the shadows of a secluded corridor beside the gates. Tall stone pillars broke the sunlight into scattered patches, but none of it could brighten her mood.
Three people blocked her way. They attended the same school but seemed to live in another world. Their leader was Omar, a marquis's second son. Tall for his age, he wore a well-tailored academy uniform bearing his family crest, his blond hair meticulously combed. Yet his blue eyes gleamed with lechery and arrogance utterly at odds with his station.
On his left stood the youngest son of a city defense commander, thickset and brutish-faced. On his right was a maritime tax official's son, lean and shrewd, his eyes darting about as though calculating something.
Without the threat of the Arlong Pirates, their adoptive mother Bellemere had poured everything she had into sending both Nami and Nojiko to the finest school in the kingdom's capital. She had even accepted some help from her old Marine friend Nambos, hoping knowledge could change their fate as "war orphans."
However, the noble academy's steep tuition, miscellaneous fees, and pervasive class barriers soon left the already impoverished family struggling to breathe. Considerate Nojiko had volunteered to drop out, claiming she "wasn't cut out for studying." She returned to the Orange Grove in the Conomi Islands to water their hopes with her sweat alongside Bellemere, barely keeping Nami in school in the capital.
Even with discreet help