Chapter 10: [10]Nojiko & Nami First apparence
Chapter 10: [10]Nojiko & Nami First apparence
[Edited.]
Ren's journey towards Cocoyashi Village continued without any problems, and after more than a day of sailing at top speed, Mayn came running to him.
"S-Sir, we have arrived..." he said in a trembling voice as he bowed his head; he didn't dare to look at Ren.
Ren raised his head and looked at Mayn without expression. He had just gone up to the deck and taken a rest after finding one of the random rooms and closing the door to it as a precaution.
"We've already arrived? I see..." he said boredly and began to yawn while stretching his limbs.
He raised his head and looked at the island in front of him, which was the Conomi Islands archipelago where Cocoyashi Village was located. In fact, Arlong not only controlled Cocoyashi Village, but also many similar villages and collected money from them every month.
100,000 Berries for adults and 50,000 for children.
"Arlong, that Fish-Man must be very rich now after all these years of robbing citizens... Right?" Ren thought internally, and a plan began to form in his mind on how to get Arlong's
money.
"So... sir... C-can I go??" Mayn asked nervously and expectantly; he hated Ren so much, but he was more afraid of him.
"Yes... Take one of the boats on the ship, some food, and get out of here quickly."
"T-thank you, sir!"
Mayn turned and started running quickly to escape from this ship to freedom.
But he didn't know that as soon as he turned around, Ren had already taken out his gun while trying to hit him with a single bullet to the head.
*Bang!*
Ren fired, and the gullible pirate's body fell in front of the door that led inside.
"Nice shot!!" Ren laughed, then reached next to the corpse and saw a bullet-sized hole in the back of the pirate's head.
"I'm improving my skills day by day~"
"When will the system add the 'sniper' skill along with 'tempest kick' and 'God of weapons"?"
[Ding! Congratulations, host, for regaining your shooting skill. Congratulations for obtaining the 'sniping' skill!]
"Is this system reading my mind or something?" Ren said suspiciously.
[...]
The system didn't answer and remained silent. Ren didn't care about the matter anymore and opened the Status.
"Status," Ren said.
Name: Ren Konabar.
Age: 27.
Physical Strength Level: 5300 (E).
Combat Skills: [Tempest Kick (Low)], [God of Weapons (Low)], [Sniping (High).]
Skills: Weapon Knowledge (High), Sniping (High).
Devil Fruit: None.
Girlfriends: None.
Crew Members: None.
Bloodline: None.
Not many things had changed except for a slight increase in physical strength due to Ren constantly training his body while waiting to reach Cocoyashi Village.
The sniping skill was also added, and his level was already high from the beginning. This is the first high-level skill that Ren obtained!
"Now I'm more confident to kill Arlong and his crew without help. All that remains is to sneak onto the island."
He wasn't stupid enough to try entering the village with the ship. Once his ship was spotted by the enemies, the Fish-Men would rush towards it and sink it. Then it was known that the Fish-Men are a race that doubles in strength in water; he would be in a very hard position. In addition, he was human and needed to breathe to live.
Ren entered the ship, changed his clothes, and put the clothes he bought from Loguetown into the infinity space.
A blue light came out of his hand, and this light quickly covered the entire ship. In the next moment, the ship disappeared, and there was no longer a place for Ren to set foot.
*Splash!*
He fell into the sea and started swimming towards a hidden corner of the island without attracting attention.
He was going to hunt the sisters... cough, to help the village... for humanity!
...
Cocoyashi Village, Tangerine Farm.
A medium-sized girl with light blue hair, beautiful black eyes, and tan skin can be seen.
A large heart tattoo was inked on her right arm and chest. She was wearing a beige sleeveless shirt, blue pants, and purple sandals. Moreover, she appeared to be wearing pink lip gloss.
This beautiful girl, who appeared to be in her twenties, was Nojiko. As usual every morning, she went out to take care of the tangerine farm that she inherited from her adoptive mom,
Bell-mère.
Although she was smiling while watering the lemon trees, behind that smile was deep sadness and hatred.
She hated the Fish-Men, and she hated herself for being weak and allowing her little sister to go through suffering that a little girl couldn't bear. This suffering continued to this day. She also hated the Marines who neglected her village and allowed the Fish-Men to do whatever they wanted on this island, enslaving humans as if they were gods.
If it weren't for her little sister who worried so much about her and didn't want to leave her alone in this cruel world, she would have left this world a while ago.
"Hi, miss... Do you have anywhere I can get some warmth..." Nojiko suddenly heard a male voice and looked in the direction of the voice.
There was a handsome man standing there. Although she was surprised at how handsome he was, she looked at the state he was in.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
His clothes were completely wet, and drops of water were dripping from them every second.
He looked as if he had just emerged from the bottom of the sea.
This person was Ren, who swam to the island and came to Cocoyashi Village while avoiding
the eyes of the Fish-Men.
He wanted to surprise Arlong and his crew.
"You... I've never seen you here before... You're not a Citizen from the island, right?" Nojiko
stopped what she was doing and then looked at the handsome man in front of her, trying to remember his face, but it was useless.
"Yes, I'm not from this island..." Ren was about to make up a story about how his boat sank and he had to swim to this island, but Nojiko's voice quickly interrupted him. "Anyway, you have to dry your clothes before you get sick. Come on in, and you also have to leave the island before Arlong's men see you." She motioned for him to enter the house. Ren didn't refuse the invitation of this beautiful girl, whose identity he naturally knew. He quickly entered the house, and Nojiko told him to use the bathroom to dry and change his
clothes.
"I don't have any male clothes... don't you mind wearing girls' clothes?" Nojiko said while
laughing a little.
Ren's lips trembled slightly, and he quickly told her that he had spare clothes. Nojiko was confused but allowed him to do whatever he wanted while she went to prepare some tea.
....
Ren was now sitting opposite Nojiko, who was looking curiously at his beautiful black clothes. She didn't remember that he was carrying anything in his hands, but she didn't ask him. "Drink this tea and leave the island then. Do you have a boat?" Nojiko said and then took a sip
of tea.
"No, my boat was broken, so I swam to this island." Ren made up a story on the spot.
"That's a problem..." Nojiko frowned slightly.
"By the way, why do you keep insisting that I leave the island? Is there something going on
here?" Ren asked.
Nojiko sighed and then decided to explain to this person who seemed older than her but maintained the appearance of a twenty-year-old young man.
She told him that she was an orphan and that a woman had found her on the battlefield, along
with another girl who became her sister; the second girl was called Nami. That woman was a Marine who was wounded in a battle against pirates. Her name was Bell-mère.
She also told him about Bell-mère, who decided to adopt her and Nami, then returned to her hometown, Cocoyashi Village, and lived her days happily with the two children, watching them grow year after year.
"Even though Bell-mère wasn't rich, she supported us with the little money she earned from working in tangerine farming. She always tried to meet all our needs..." Nojiko began to remember those beautiful days, which she considered the best days of her life with her sister
and her sweet mother.
"But... everything changed when Arlong and his crew of pirates arrived here. They imposed taxes on people for their lives, and whoever refused to pay died."
"Bell-mère sacrificed herself for me and Nami... she didn't have enough Berries left to pay for
her life, and Arlong killed her...!"
Nojiko had already begun to cry. She usually wasn't like this, but upon remembering her tragedies, she could no longer contain her feelings.
Ren looked at the beautiful girl in front of him with pity. He wasn't a cold-blooded killer, although he could be cruel to people who deserved it, like pirates.
He was someone who valued relationships and family love if it was between people who deserved it, like Nojiko, Nami, and Bell-mère. Those three were a happy family before Arlong and his men arrived. They destroyed this happy family just because of their hatred for
humans.
Ren didn't care about Arlong's past or his deep enmity with humans. He decided that he would make that fish and his crew regret being born in this world.
"And it didn't just end there... Arlong, that son of a bitch, forced Nami to join his pirate crew
and threatened her that he would kill all the villagers if she didn't draw the maps he wanted.
He promised her that if she brought him 100 million Berries, she could buy the freedom of
Cocoyashi Village."
"Because of this, Nami became a member of the Arlong Pirates and had the Jolly Roger of the Arlong Pirates tattooed on her shoulder."
Thinking of the suffering her little sister was still enduring, tears welled up in Nojiko's eyes,
and she could no longer continue. She felt embarrassed to be crying in front of someone she
had met only a few hours ago, but she continued to cry while covering her face with her hand,
her body trembling.
Ren, in his previous life, had often listened to victims of terrorist organizations or kidnappings and tried to comfort them after saving them. The situation wasn't much different this time. When he saw that this girl was becoming emotionally unstable, he got up
beside her and hugged her.
"?!!!"
Nojiko felt a warm embrace calming her down. She resisted for the first few seconds of the embrace but soon found herself calm and immersed in this strong feeling of safety.
She, who was usually cold to anyone other than her sister and her uncle "Genzo," allowed a
man she had recently met to hug her tightly, but she cherished this strong feeling of safety.
Bam!
The sound of something colliding broke him out of his stupor. She looked around and saw a beautiful girl with orange hair staring at her.
The door was wide open, which led to great shock. There was a large bag that had caused the
loud noise a moment ago. It seemed to be full of treasures.
"Nojiko...?" Nami said in disbelief.
As for Nojiko, she remained frozen in place, unsure of what to do, even forgetting that Ren
was still holding her.
Ren was also shocked, and all he could hear was himself cursing.
'Fuck, I really need Observation Haki as soon as possible!'
But he didn't let go of Nojiko's waist; the feeling was good and soft in his hands... cough, no!
He was genuinely and sincerely comforting Nojiko...
Or maybe not?