The sea breeze billowed the sail, and the small boat advanced slowly across the water.
Nami was looking at the compass, occasionally adjusting the boat's heading. Xinan curiously asked, "Nami, where are we going?"
"Orange Town!" Nami replied, confirming the direction of the needle.
"Orange Town? What are we going to do there?"
Although Xinan remembered the general plot and that Nami debuted in Orange Town, his memory of the East Blue arc wasn't perfectly clear, so he asked Nami in confusion.
"To steal treasure, of course! I'm a thief who specializes in stealing pirate treasure, and I heard Buggy the Clown has a navigation chart to the Grand Line!" Nami introduced herself confidently.
Hearing this, Xinan sweated a little. Nami truly regarded thievery as a glorious profession.
"Alright, you'll have to work hard then! I'll always support you. If we run into any enemies, leave them to me."
As he spoke, arcs of electricity sparked around Xinan's fist.
Nami was happy with Xinan's encouragement, but seeing the electric arcs on his fist made her less so. That was a Devil Fruit worth over 100 million Berries. To a money-lover like her, 100 million Berries was far more important than a Devil Fruit.
Of course, the main reason Nami wasn't happy might have been that she couldn't get a share of the Devil Fruit's power.
The sun hung high in the sky, and the sea breeze was strong. Nami was constantly exposed to the sun and wind at sea, yet her skin remained so beautiful—she was truly a natural beauty.
Sailing is boring!
There's no entertainment, and the view is endlessly blue. It gets extremely monotonous after a while.
So, Xinan began to dote on Nami.
"Nami, are you hot?"
"No, I'm fine."
"Nami, are you thirsty?"
"No, I'm not."
...
Although Nami kept refusing, she couldn't resist Xinan's persistent doting.
Soon, a sun umbrella was propped up on the small boat, and a small table was set out with two glasses of juice and some fruit.
Xinan now had Nami nestled in his arms. He gently massaged her hand with one hand, while the other climbed onto Nami's cute 'little bunny,' gently kneading it, his nose inhaling the girl's faint natural scent.
Feeling something hot pressing against her butt, Nami's face flushed with shyness, even though they had already been intimately acquainted. She scolded him, "Idiot, do you think about anything else all day?"
To Nami's accusation, Xinan just chuckled, "It's only because you're too beautiful! You grab most of my attention. And I'm not useless! I know a bit about mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, and literature. I even know how to use the sextant and draw sea charts, which is what you were just doing."
In the world of One Piece, where education levels are generally low, Nami is practically a scholar. All the subjects Xinan mentioned were ones Nami had studied, and drawing sea charts was her specialty.
Hearing Xinan boast like this, Nami, whose face was flushed from Xinan's teasing hand, asked suspiciously, "Is that true? Didn't you lose your memory? You don't even know the basic prices between islands. Are you making this up?"
To counter Nami's distrust, Xinan immediately explained how to use a sextant, along with its basic mathematical and optical principles.
"See, I wasn't lying! Even though my memories are gone, the knowledge in my mind is still here."
Xinan showed off to Nami proudly, his handsome face full of confident smiles. Nami looked at him with surprise.
Xinan wasn't boasting to Nami just to show off; he wanted to leave her with the impression that he knew a little about everything. Compared to the other Straw Hats (excluding Nami and Robin), Xinan's knowledge was undoubtedly very high.
By showing off to Nami, Xinan was also preparing the ground so that later, if he said anything surprising, it wouldn't seem so abrupt, as a slip of the tongue could reveal plot details.
Before their intimate relationship, Xinan had restrained himself well, but now that they were involved, he found it harder to control himself. Xinan wasn't sure if it was the Devil Fruit's doing, but seeing the girl instantly sparked a rush of desire.
"Idiot, you can't... Mph... One million Berries!"
At first, Xinan only held her hand, but soon he kissed Nami's sweet lips, and his hand slipped inside her clothes. Unable to resist, Nami could only threaten him with money, but Xinan, already heavily in debt, was beyond caring.
Given Nami's cunning and sharp 'little thief-cat' personality, she shouldn't have been so easily manipulated by Xinan.
But the unfortunate truth was that Xinan was a walking, talking human aphrodisiac. Not only did his Devil Fruit ability give him a handsome face with devastating power over girls,
but the scent he emitted was also an aphrodisiac for women. If a woman spent enough time with him and absorbed enough of his hormones, she would eventually be at his mercy.
The ability was shameless, but who said he was a virtuous gentleman?
Just as Xinan was about to lift the girl's shirt, the small boat shook violently, as if something had crashed into it.
Hitting something on the sea is never a good thing; they might have encountered a Sea King attack.
While there are no large or medium-sized Sea Kings in the East Blue, there are many fish bigger than the Lord of the Coast.
As a Devil Fruit user, Xinan was a landlubber on the sea. If a Sea King flipped their small boat, it would truly be game over.
The collision jolted Nami, who had been dazed by Xinan's teasing, back to reality, and she instinctively hugged him tight.
Xinan and Nami were sitting at the bow, and their view of the stern was blocked by the cabin. A small fishing boat flying a pirate flag suddenly burst out from the side.
Three pirates wielding swords came into view: one was a skinny man with sunken cheeks and a hat adorned with a skull, another was a skinny man with an afro, and the third was fat.
The three yelled at Nami and Xinan, "Hey, stop your boat and hand over all the valuable treasure! We are subordinates of Buggy the Clown!"
Seeing these three oddballs, Xinan's memory stirred. If he remembered correctly, these three guys were first tricked by Nami into giving up their treasure and boat, and then they were later beaten by Zoro.
Of course, none of that mattered now.
For a man who had polished his weapon and was about to mount his horse, being interrupted was the ultimate taboo; it could even cause impotence.
Xinan didn't give the three men a chance to utter a second word.
He held Nami with one arm and opened his other hand, aiming it at the trio. Arcs of electricity crackled from his palm.
"Palm Thunder!"
BOOM!
Electric light flashed, and the lightning pierced the air, creating a muffled peal of thunder under the bright sun.
A blue-white bolt of lightning erupted from Xinan's palm, splitting into several thunder-spears that instantly struck through the bodies of the three pirates.
The pirates were left with varying degrees of burn injuries, with lightning-spread patterns visible on their skin and their hair standing on end. Their bodies fell limply into the sea.
Plop! Plop! Plop!
Xinan's sudden move startled Nami. Generally, people in the pirate world exchange at least a few threats before attacking, so someone like Xinan, who acts immediately, is rare.
"Xinan, why did you just kill them!" Nami cried out.
"They had swords and were trying to rob us. I'm sure this wasn't their first time doing this," Xinan replied simply.
Nami, who had grown up under the shadow of pirates, understood the cold truth in Xinan's words and ultimately chose to remain silent.
Xinan had been trembling after witnessing a killing only last night, yet now he acted without hesitation. People change, after all.
If you wield a powerful weapon, a desire to kill will naturally arise.
Many times, the only reason we restrain ourselves from doing something is simply because we lack the ability.
Having eaten a Devil Fruit and gained tremendous power, Xinan was getting a little carried away.
Of course, his decisive action was also because, in Xinan's subconscious, most pirates were not worth pitying.
If he were to attack an unknown Marine, Xinan might not be able to do it.
Marines aren't all good, but most of them still serve to protect civilians.
Xinan, who grew up revering the People's Liberation Army, held a deep respect for those similar to them—the Marines. He wouldn't easily deliver a killing blow to a Marine.
Nami herself had been involved in killing, so Xinan's quick action was just a bit too decisive for her.
In the original story, these three guys were tricked by Nami into losing their boat and treasure and were hit by a storm she calculated. Their boat capsized.
If Zoro hadn't appeared later, those three would have ended up as fish food anyway.
Regardless, death always makes the atmosphere heavy.
Xinan changed the subject and said to Nami, "People from the Buggy Pirates showed up here, which means we'll be in Orange Town soon. Also, they had a treasure chest on their boat!"
Hearing the words "treasure chest," Nami instantly reverted to her greedy self, and the silent look in her eyes immediately turned into $$ signs.