"Bellemere, you know what?"
"Arlong's been defeated. The village is finally free!"
"And I... am going to become a pirate!"
"If you were still here, you'd support me, wouldn't you? But even if you didn't, it wouldn't matter. I wouldn't listen to you anyway!"
"Hehe!"
After saying that, Nami fell silent and remained that way for a long time.
Suddenly, a voice came from behind her.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
"That voice..."
Nami turned around and saw Xia Chen watching her with a warm smile a short distance away. He slowly walked over and sat down beside her.
"Xia Chen? What brings you here?" Nami's voice held delighted surprise.
"I noticed our navigator wasn't at the banquet, so I came out to look for her."
"What did you talk to your mom about?"
"Lots of things. Pretty much everything that's happened."
"That's good. Your mom would be happy if she knew how you were doing now!"
"I think so too!" Nami winked at Xia Chen, then spoke with a smile.
Suddenly, Xia Chen's gaze settled on Nami's arm. He stared blankly at it and couldn't help asking:
"That tattoo of yours..."
"Oh, this? It's a design made up of a tangerine, a pinwheel, and a sun!"
Hearing Nami's answer, Xia Chen was momentarily bewildered. Of course he knew those were the three images tattooed there.
But the problem was... why was there an extra sun?
He remembered that in the original story, Nami only had a tangerine and a pinwheel tattooed on her arm, didn't she?
The pinwheel commemorated her hometown, Cocoyasi Village, and the tangerine commemorated her mother, Bellemere.
So what was this suddenly added sun for?
But Xia Chen didn't ask Nami what the sun meant. Perhaps there was something new worth commemorating.
For a while, silence settled between them.
After a long while, Nami said, "I'm planning to leave all the hundred million Beli I've earned over this time to the villagers. Life has been pretty hard for them under Arlong's oppression all these years."
"All right!" Xia Chen nodded, then said:
"These villagers can be proud of getting Beli out of your hands. After all, who doesn't know you're a total miser?"
"Anyway, is a hundred million Beli enough? If not, I've got a tiny hundred-million-ish bit more!"
Hearing the first half, Nami was about to pinch Xia Chen, but the latter half left her completely stunned. She couldn't help asking blankly:
"You have a secret stash?"
"Hey, hey, hey, what do you mean, a secret stash? I'm not even married. That's completely the wrong term!"
"It's just a tiny hundred-million-ish bit of funeral savings I put away now and then. Nothing worth mentioning!" Xia Chen waved a hand, a humblebragging expression on his face.
But the next second, Nami lunged over, grabbed him by the neck, and shook him hard as she demanded:
"Where did you get the Beli?"
"Stop... stop shaking me!" Xia Chen felt his stomach churning.
He had stuffed himself with food and drink at the banquet. Being shaken so violently all of a sudden made him feel like he was about to throw it all up.
Nami stopped shaking Xia Chen, but shifted her hands to his collar instead. At the same time, she glared fiercely at him and demanded:
"Tell me the truth. Where did your Beli come from?"
"Um... can I not say?" A bead of sweat ran down Xia Chen's forehead as he spoke with a guilty expression.
"No! Out with it!"
"(⊙o⊙)..." Looking at Nami's increasingly ferocious glare, Xia Chen really wanted to slap himself.
That's what you get for opening your big mouth!
Couldn't you just keep your treasure to yourself? You had to blab. Don't you know not to flaunt your wealth?
I must have said that because I drank too much. Drinking really does ruin things!
Xia Chen said slowly, "I took a little bit from Kuro before, and then a tiny hundred-million-ish bit from Arlong Park this time. And lastly, do you remember that Marine who came the day before yesterday?"
"The one who looked a lot like a rat?" Nami asked after thinking back.
"That's right! I got a tiny hundred-million-ish bit of Beli from him too! It really wasn't much!"
"How much is 'not much'?" Nami immediately pressed.
"Five million Beli?" Xia Chen tentatively offered a number.
But Nami said nothing and simply stared fixedly at him.
"Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm really not lying. It really is..."
"Fine, it's actually ten million Beli!"
Nami still said nothing, continuing to watch him quietly.
"No, I'm really not lying. It really is only..."
"Twenty million Beli!"
Some time later, Nami stared at the huge pile of treasure before her with shining eyes, while Xia Chen, on the other hand, was rather speechless.
Nami turned to Xia Chen and said sarcastically, "Mr. Xia Chen, you're truly amazing!"
"You managed to get a hundred million Beli in such a short time. If it were me, who knows how long I'd have to keep receiving charitable donations to get this much!"
"Also, I was wondering why there wasn't any treasure on Kuro's ship last time. Turns out you got there first. As expected of the pioneer of receiving charitable donations, you really do act fast!"
Hearing Nami's mocking words, Xia Chen said nothing and merely shot her a resentful look. Unwilling to give in, he asked:
"You should at least give me ten million out of that hundred million Beli, right? Otherwise, that's a bit unreasonable."
"This is the fruit of all my hard work!"
"Hmm..." Nami considered for a moment, then said, "You have a point!"
Xia Chen's eyes lit up.
"Right? I think it's a very good point too!"
"In that case..."
Nami took a stack of Beli, roughly a hundred thousand, from the huge pile of treasure on the ground and handed it to Xia Chen.
"Here, this is for you. Not a Beli more. Any more would be unreasonable!"
In an instant, Xia Chen's rage meter shot up so fast that he was about to turn into a Super Saiyan.
A few breaths later, Xia Chen slowly suppressed the anger inside him. He looked at Nami, snorted, and snatched the hundred thousand Beli from her hand.
No reason to turn down free money. A hundred thousand Beli might be a little less than I'd like, but if I keep saving, it'll add up. Wealth is built through accumulation!
Then Xia Chen looked at Nami and grumbled, "You can carry this whole pile of treasure back yourself. Hmph!"
Then he slowly turned and headed down the hill. He was leaving this place of heartbreak!
Watching Xia Chen's indignant departing figure, Nami couldn't help laughing aloud.
Why does Xia Chen somehow seem a little cute?
Then her gaze involuntarily fell on the sun tattoo on her arm. A trace of tenderness flashed in her eyes.