Forgive her lack of experience, but she had never seen anyone defeat an enemy with a flick of their fingers before.
In that case, did that mean she could...
Perhaps something had occurred to her, because Nami ran straight up to the three of them and said to Xia Chen:
"Let's work together!"
"Well, you'll have to talk to my captain about that. I'm just the vice-captain!"
"There, the one wearing the straw hat!"
"(⊙o⊙)..."
Nami then turned to Luffy and asked again.
"Let's work together!"
"No!" Luffy said, picking his nose.
"Huh? Why not?"
"There's a really nasty guy called Buggy in this town. Let's go steal his treasure together!"
"No!" Luffy gave the same answer.
At this, Xia Chen couldn't stand watching any longer.
If this kept going, they might just keep repeating those same few lines.
So he spoke up:
"If we work with you, what can you bring to the table?"
"Honestly, with your strength, you wouldn't be any help at all, and we'd still have to share the treasure with you! I don't see what you're worth!"
"Uh..." Hearing this, Nami suddenly had no idea what to say.
Xia Chen was telling the truth. With his strength, he had no need to bring her along.
Then what could she use to win Xia Chen over?
Hmm...
Just then, Xia Chen's pointed words reached her.
"Of course, if you know navigation or something like that, we could consider it!"
"Hmm?"
(☆▽☆)!
"I'm great at navigation, much better than plenty of navigators!"
"Really?" Luffy grew excited beside them.
"Then join our pirate crew! We need a navigator right now!"
"You... you're pirates?" At those words, Nami's previously enthusiastic expression instantly darkened.
"Yeah! Because I promised someone I'd become the Pirate King!" Luffy said, taking off his straw hat.
"Then forget it! Pirates are what I hate most, and I won't join a pirate crew!"
"Huh? Why?" Luffy asked, refusing to give up.
"Come on, join us! Our pirate crew is really nice!"
"Nice pirates? I've never seen a single good pirate!" Nami said disdainfully.
"Pirates... are nothing but a bunch of bastards who take over other people's villages and oppress the villagers!" Nami said through gritted teeth, full of hatred.
"We wouldn't do anything like that! Just join us! A navigator is what we need most right now!" Luffy invited her again.
Nami was about to refuse when the voices of a group of pirates suddenly came from outside the window.
Nami walked over to the window and looked out, her expression turning grim.
"I need to find a way to shake them off!"
Then, as though something had occurred to her, Nami walked over and said:
"All right, I can join you, but first we need to..."
With that, Nami took out several ropes, intending to tie Xia Chen and the others up.
"Hey! Wait!"
Xia Chen hurriedly stopped her.
"There's no need for that. We can just charge straight in!"
What a joke. With strength like his, how could he possibly let himself be tied up to meet Buggy?
In the face of absolute strength, all schemes and tricks were mere trifles!
"Huh? Are you sure? Buggy is really strong. He's a big-name pirate with a bounty of fifteen million!"
At her words, the corner of Xia Chen's mouth twitched slightly.
The East Blue really was the East Blue. Even someone with a fifteen-million bounty counted as a big-name pirate.
"It's fine. We're really strong!"
"Right, Luffy, Zoro?"
"Heehee, of course!"
"So let's go straight to him!"
With that, Xia Chen headed outside, only to stop suddenly at the doorway.
"Oh, right. Where's Buggy?"
Xia Chen's Observation Haki was only at the beginner level right now. It couldn't cover a wide area yet, so he couldn't sense Buggy and his men either.
Nami: ...
"Follow me!" Nami waved a hand and walked out.
"Oh~ We're going to meet the pirates here? I'm feeling kind of excited!"
Luffy said with a grin.
Then the group followed behind Nami.
Some time later~
They arrived at the foot of a building.
Nami pointed upward and said, "Buggy and his men are up there. Let's make a battle plan!"
"A battle plan? No need!" Xia Chen said calmly.
Then he reached out toward Luffy and Zoro and grabbed their collars.
Then...
He threw them straight up.
"Xia Chen, one day I'm definitely going to cut you down!"
"Tch~ What an empty threat!" Then Xia Chen turned his gaze toward Nami.
A drop of cold sweat immediately rolled down Nami's forehead.
"I... I can take the stairs. I don't need such a convenient way of getting upstairs!"
Xia Chen bared his teeth at her. "The stairs are too slow. Don't worry, you're a girl. I won't throw you!"
"Oh~ That's good!" Nami breathed a sigh of relief, but before she could finish, she discovered that Xia Chen had grabbed her collar and lifted her up.
Then...
They flew!
"Aah!!!"
One minute earlier...
"What? You let the thief get away?"
Buggy stared furiously at the three underlings in front of him.
"S-sorry, Captain Buggy!"
"She has a boss who can fire invisible bullets. We were no match for him!"
"Look, we've still got wounds on us!" As he spoke, the pirate lackey lifted his clothes to reveal his wounds.
"Hmm? Invisible bullets?" Buggy stroked his chin in thought.
"Could he be a Devil Fruit User?"
After thinking for quite a while without coming to any conclusion, he stopped thinking about it. Instead, he continued staring at the three pirates and grinned viciously.
"I only care about results. Since you let her get away, you can die!"
With that, Buggy prepared to activate his Chop-Chop ability, but a sound interrupted him.
"Aah!"
"Hmm? Who's shouting?" Buggy stood up and asked.
Then his underlings outside seemed to spot something and instantly scattered.
The sight infuriated Buggy.
"Hey, you..."
Bam! Before Buggy could finish, the tent overhead suddenly caved in, and then someone came crashing down onto him.
"Pfft!"
Buggy was instantly crushed to the ground, his face making intimate contact with the floor. His big red nose in particular was squashed flat.
Buggy's anger burned even hotter. He was going to hack the person who had landed on him into pieces.
He was just about to get up when...
"Aah~"
Another person fell, landing squarely on top of him as well.
This pressed his barely raised body back down again, even harder than before.
One had to give Xia Chen credit for his technique: both people had been thrown along the exact same trajectory.
Precision strikes were the name of the game!
"Luffy, thank goodness you were there to cushion my fall! That bastard Xia Chen!" Zoro said bitterly.
"Actually, you'd have been fine landing somewhere else too. The ground is soft!" Luffy said happily.
"Seriously?"
"Of course! Look, it's even a little springy!" As he spoke, Luffy stood up and bounced a few times on the spot.
"Hmm? Let me try!"
Zoro tentatively stamped his feet a few times too.
"Huh? It really is! I wonder what the floor here is made of. It's so soft!"
Just as they were having a grand time stamping on it, the "floor" beneath them suddenly moved.
Then a furious roar rang out.
"Of course it's... made of my flesh, you two bastards!"
???
Luffy, Zoro: Holy crap, the floor... actually talked!