"Good! Very spirited!"
Arelon grinned wide.
Then, putting on an exaggeratedly serious expression, he barked:
"Navigator Nami of the Straw Hat Pirates, listen up!"
"As the vice-captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, I hereby order you…"
"Find a hotel for these two idiots and get them settled—"
"Then come shopping with me!!!"
"Y-Yes sir!"
Under the power of money, Nami responded with firm determination—
but then froze.
She blinked blankly.
"Shopping!?"
Half an hour later.
After helping Luffy and Zoro find a hotel and ordering an entire table of food, Arelon led Nami to the streets of Shells Town.
Though several years of Morgan's tyranny had left the town a shadow of its former prosperity, a starved camel was still bigger than a horse.
With a Marine base stationed here, the shops were fairly well stocked—enough to satisfy Arelon's needs.
"So you brought me shopping just so I could haggle for you!?"
Nami stared at him in disbelief, then looked at him with speechless contempt.
Arelon rubbed his hands with an embarrassed smile.
"Please, please~ I really don't have experience with this."
"That's why I need a seasoned veteran like you!"
"Unbelievable~"
Nami sighed helplessly.
"A bunch of grown men… and none of you can even buy things properly?"
"Fine, tell me—what do you want to buy?"
"Ah!"
Arelon stroked his chin in thought.
"Actually, it's not much."
"Daily supplies… training equipment… oh, right!"
"And most importantly—we need a ship!"
"A ship!?"
Nami raised a brow.
"Don't tell me… you don't even have a ship to go to sea with!?"
"That is correct!"
Arelon clapped his hands.
"As expected of the brilliant Nami!"
"Brilliant my foot!"
Smack!
Hand on her hip, Nami slapped her forehead.
"No ship, yet you're shouting about being Pirate King and world's greatest swordsman…"
"How much of an idealist does one have to be!?"
"Hehe, can't help it~"
Arelon laughed awkwardly.
"We literally just set out."
"Anyway, let's solve the ship issue first!"
Nami frowned.
"Don't say I didn't warn you…"
"If you don't have extra funds, a few million Berries won't buy you anything decent."
"No problem."
Arelon had expected this.
"I just need a temporary ship with a deck. Somewhere for Luffy and Zoro to move around."
"I've already had my eye on one from another island—it'll be scrapped in a few days anyway."
"What!?"
Nami stopped dead, staring at him in disbelief.
"You mean… you're spending several million Berries…
just to have extra space while sailing!?"
"You—"
She choked off the second half of her sentence—
"Are you out of your mind!?"
But Arelon simply shrugged with a carefree smile.
"Mhm? What's the problem? It's only a few million Berries."
"Only… a few million…?"
Nami bit her lower lip in shock.
"Do all rich people talk like this? You're begging to be punched."
She remembered the blood and tears it took to earn her first million.
She suddenly wanted to kill this man.
If I could beat you, I would've already done it!
She silently cursed him in her heart.
Just then, Arelon—walking ahead—suddenly stopped.
Nami froze, startled.
Did he… read her mind!?
But Arelon turned around slowly, eyes full of concern.
"Nami, you seem to… care a lot about money?"
"…Huh?"
Nami was confused, but answered instinctively:
"Of course! Who doesn't love money?"
"No."
Arelon shook his head firmly.
"Lots of people like money—
but your craving for it is different."
"So…"
"You have some huge problem that needs a massive amount of money to solve, right?"
"I—"
Nami stopped walking.
She lifted her head abruptly and met his gaze.
The sea breeze brushed her tangerine hair, making it flutter lightly.
And for some reason, looking into Arelon's deep, dark eyes—
she felt as if he could see through her entire tragic past.
People on the street hurried past them, paying no attention to the pair standing still.
"So…"
After a quiet pause, Arelon spoke again.
"I was right, wasn't I?"
He stepped closer and stood before her.
"I don't know what you've gone through these years…"
"But I want you to know this—"
"Whether it's me or Luffy,
we genuinely want you as our companion."
"So if you're in trouble,
just depend on us."
Arelon lightly patted her shoulder in reassurance.
"You've seen Luffy's strength."
"We don't even put the Marines in our eyes."
"Do you really think, in this tiny East Blue,
there exists a problem we can't solve?"
"Anyway, think it over."
"And don't let it get in the way of your job, because…"
"I really can't haggle!!!"
With that, Arelon grabbed her arm and marched forward.
As someone who knew the plot, Arelon of course understood where Nami's pain came from.
But rather than pretending ignorance and waiting for a dramatic moment,
he wanted her to be the one to open up.
And after seeing Luffy's power, she was bound to reconsider things.
How long until she'd set aside her worries and ask them for help?
Not long, Arelon believed.
Though small, Shells Town had everything it needed.
Because of the Marine base, there were even three small shipyards.
They were independently run by shipwrights, building small fishing boats for locals and occasionally doing repair work for the Marines.
After Nami unleashed her master-class bargaining skills,
Arelon successfully bought a second-hand small sailboat for 3 million Berries.
The hull was a little worn, but it had a decent deck and enough cabins for each of them to have a small room.
After buying the ship, Arelon and Nami continued shopping at full speed, gathering a large haul of daily supplies and—
Evening.
Luffy and Zoro, full of anticipation, ran with Arelon and Nami toward the port.
There, an unremarkable small sailboat was moored quietly.
But—
Both Luffy and Zoro suddenly stopped.
The excitement in their eyes shifted into pure bewilderment.
At the shoreline, Zoro asked first, pointing stiffly at something on the deck.
On that not-so-large deck sat four massive metal lumps, arranged in pairs, each pair connected by a thick steel bar.
Just from how deep the small boat sat in the water, one could tell these things were absurdly heavy.
"…What is that?" Zoro asked.
"Ah?"
Arelon paused, then smiled slowly.
"That's the barbell set for you and Luffy. I had the steel shop owner use all the materials in his warehouse to forge them on rush order."
"This is the best they could make right now. Once we get to Loguetown, we can see if they have better materials to upgrade them."
"..."
Zoro fell silent for a long time.
Then he spoke slowly:
"You… don't sound satisfied."
"So… these are for us?"
"Of course! Do I—or Nami—look like we could lift them!?"
Arelon rolled his eyes with full confidence.
Zoro stared at him stiffly.
As if saying:
"Do I look like I can lift that!?!"
~~--------------------------
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