With a slight tremble, Noah suddenly woke up in the night. Felling the cold sweat running down his body, he used a bit of wind to dry himself off.
After spending a few days inside the PHD, he was finally killed due to fatigue by some large Green Wolfs. He could have escaped, but he had already gathered enough orbs and was extremely tired from so much fighting and spending his Spiritual Energy.
And when he was about to move, he remembered that he had company now.
On each side of him, Nami and Nojiko were firmly hugging him while they slept. Their naked bodies reminded him of the previous night, in which they took very good care of his motionless body. Honestly, he felt a little exploited.
And without wanting to wake up both of them, Noah was only able to move his arm towards his mouth and consumed a large red orb that fell from one of the Green Wolf leaders and returned to strengthen himself.
And as the hours passed, Nami and Nojiko finally woke up together, hugging their warm "pillow" underneath them even tighter before stretching.
"Yawn, good morning..." Nami yawned lightly as she cracked her back and sat up in bed. Her ample and pinkish breasts swayed a bit, but she didn't hide from anyone.
"Good morning..." Nojiko muttered lazily, scratching her head and clutching the "pillow" even tighter. She wrapped her legs around him more securely, even going over a certain weapon.
And Noah, who was watching all of this, just smiled with a sense of accomplishment.
"Did you sleep well?" He hugged Nojiko and ran his hand over her bottom before adjusting her on his chest. And his other hand also suddenly pulled Nami to him, "Did you dream of me?"
"Hehe, the best dream of all." Nami lightly kissed him, not wanting to give more details about her dream. But the keywords were children, marriage, happy life and even more children.
"Can we bring our things here? This room is so big…" Nojiko got up on top of him, showing off her mature and tempting body, and asked with puppy dog eyes.
"You can, it's not like I've forbidden it." And shrugging, Noah casually agreed to this. It would be much easier when he wanted to have fun with them. The only risk was him waking up in panic and accidentally hurting them.
"So it's settled!" Displaying the most beautiful smile possible, Nojiko deeply kissed him before getting out of bed and putting on her panties, "I'll make breakfast!"
"I'll get us back on course, so I'll be on the deck." Nami laughed at how her sister was and just kissed Noah on the cheek and also got up. As she put on her panties, she didn't hesitate to tease him.
And watching the two leave the room, he sighed with joy.
"Life is a paradise..."
°°°
With the Black Artemis back on course, Noah and the girls had just finished breakfast when they returned to training.
As they had spent practically the entire previous day fighting against the Trump Pirates, the amount of combat experience was already at an acceptable level. For Noah, this wasn't a problem because he could spend several days hunting and fighting non-stop in the PHD, which kept his body control and fighting tactics sharp every single day.
But the same couldn't be said for the girls. The previous day was actually much better for improving their combat power than three days of training alone on the ship. This would only cease to be a problem when they finally managed to enter the PHD and fight day and night there, improving their skills to the maximum.
In this way, they focused more on the use of red orbs and wind orbs for now. And as Noah was very close to finalizing the current Wind God Art, he left all the smaller Wind Orbs for them. So the amount they could absorb was very high currently.
As the hours passed on the ship, even before lunchtime, Nami and Nojiko, who always consumed the red orbs together, managed to break the barrier at the same time while fighting. As the black goo came out of their pores, they knew they had passed the Six Bowels Refinement and now would go to the 12 Meridians Refinement!
After taking a good bath, they looked at each other in front of the mirrors and noticed subtle changes in their bodies, as if they had become younger internally. As if everything was working correctly. Not that they were very old or full of problems to begin with…
And Noah, who had been consuming red orbs non-stop since he woke up, ran out of resources midway through the Ren/Du Meridians Refinement and decided to continue training his Fire Manipulation. A little more and he could reach the end of the stage and trample everything until Full Refinement, beginning to hunt the Male Flame Lions and even the stage Boss!
°°°
After all this, when Nojiko began to prepare things for lunch, Noah and Nami were on the deck. While she was drawing some maps, he was in a meditation position comprehending the Fire God Art.
At that moment, as Nami was measuring some items, she noticed a small boat in the distance, surrounded by seagulls. It was far enough away that the squawking sounds didn't reach her.
Trying not to awaken Noah, she warned Nojiko about it and they decided to change course for a moment. Anything abnormal at sea needed a bit of investigation, as it could ultimately mean other things.
But her effort not to distract Noah from meditation was doomed to fail when he finished using the Fire Orb and naturally noticed they had changed direction.
"What's the problem?" Rising from the ground, he looked around and asked Nami, who was at the helm. And it was on that look around that he noticed the seagull siege in the distance, "Oh, that thing. Roasted seagull meat?"
"No, thank you." Nami immediately refused, rolling her eyes at him.
"It looks like a boat from here. I think there's someone inside, you can't see properly." Nojiko, who was constantly training her sight and aim, naturally managed to see with a bit more clarity the situation in the distance. But as there were many seagulls, it was hard to see what was inside the boat.
"Whatever it is, it's good to take a look." Noah commented lightly as he used his Wind Manipulation to boost the sails and make the ship move faster.
And soon they discovered what was inside the boat that attracted so much attention from the hungry seagulls.
A small girl lay unconscious in the boat, her expression pale and weary. She was dressed strangely; her long dress was mustard yellow, with maroon sleeves and hem, adorned with mustard-colored circles. A dark maroon sash matched her undershirt. Her brown eyes were closed and her blonde hair was tied back in a thin braid. Her skin was fair, and she wore red shoes.
Without thinking about any danger, Noah descended down the hull staircase and took the girl from the small boat before climbing back up with her. And after walking to the kitchen, he laid her on a small couch they had gained on Clockwork Island.
"What was this girl doing in the middle of the sea?" Nojiko said as soon as Noah put her on the couch, preparing a glass of water and some cold medicine, in case the girl needed it.
"Maybe it was during that storm. It lasted a few hours for us because we sped up the ship, but considering the amount of clouds, it must have affected many regions for a few days." Nami remembered the storm they faced after departing from Loguetown.
"But that's already been four days... has she been at sea for so long?" Nojiko, realizing the gravity of the situation, was a bit shocked. For an ordinary child, four days was almost the exhausting limit of hunger. And she spoke from her own experience.
"No, at most two days." Noah said after looking at the girl for a while, "Even so, it's a long time for someone to stay at sea. Prepare another portion for lunch, she can wake up at any time."
"All right." Nojiko looked at Noah's face, which carried a serious expression, and just nodded before going back to the kitchen, 'Is it my impression or is he worried about her?'
"I'm going to stay on the deck, there might be someone looking for her. Will you keep an eye on her?" Nami asked, sharing a worried look with Nojiko over Noah's expression.
"Yes, I'll stay around here."
After Nami went out to the deck, Noah and Nojiko stayed in the kitchen preparing lunch while the little girl continued to faint.
For some reason, Noah was a little restless as he tapped his feet on the floor, his gaze fixed on the girl. But after a while he just shook his head and sighed.
'They are not the same person, idiot ...'
Nojiko, who watched his actions, adopted a worried expression, wanting to talk to him about what was happening.
But when the smell of the food spread in the air, which was very fragrant due to the high culinary skill that Nojiko developed, the girl's nose moved a little. And after taking a big breath in the air, she really opened her eyes!
"What...where…" Still weak after spending a long time without eating properly, the girl opened her eyes and spoke faintly. Still, her nose continued to smell the air firmly, moving her head in the direction of the smell. And that's when she saw those two strangers, "Who…"
"Calm down, calm down. You are still weak from hunger." Nojiko saw that she had woken up and walked over to her, offering her a glass of water, "You've been at sea for a long time."
Despite the little girl still being weak, she managed to move correctly and sit on the couch. And taking the glass of water, she drank everything until it was empty. It had been a long time since she had drunk such good water.
After a few more glasses of water, the girl's appearance improved a bit before she finally began to speak.
"Thank you so much for helping me." She looked around for a moment, the wooden walls scaring her a bit. Her eyes moved from the beautiful blue-haired woman to the big, strong man afar, her heart unsure of what to feel, "Can I ask where I am?"
"You are at the Black Artemis." Nojiko smiled and sat next to her. And looking at Noah, she began to introduce them, "My name is Nojiko, and that big guy over there is Noah, captain of the ship. There's also another woman named Nami, who's on the deck. And you, what's your name?"
"My name is Apis and I'm from Warship Island." Feeling calm with Nojiko's warm and sweet speech, Apis looked at Noah before turning her gaze back to the woman, "Miss, are we far from my home?"
At that moment, when she revealed her name and where she was from, that's when Noah realized the situation he was in. And his expression twisted for a few milliseconds before he just sighed.
'Not again…'
¨¨¨¨
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