章 8: "My answer is yes."
---
"420,678,600 berries! Not bad, though it's not as much as I expected." Elian exclaimed as he saw the amount of money now stored in his system inventory.
As he stared at the total amount, he couldn't help but feel a bit underwhelmed. Sure, 420 million berries was a lot, but he had hoped for more, considering how long Arlong had been extorting the villagers.
"Guess he must have spent quite a bit, plus that bastard marine captain also took a 30% bribe to ignore Arlong's actions in this village." Elian thought.
After the celebrations ended the previous night, Elian had woken up early, long before anyone else in the village. Determined to find Arlong's treasure, he headed to the spot Arlong had mentioned.
After searching the area Arlong had described, he found the hidden treasures and collected all of it into his system's inventory. While the amount was still impressive, it was clear that more than half of Arlong's wealth had been spent.
[Congratulations! You performed an act of greed:
Stole Arlong's treasure, which was originally the villagers' money, totaling 420,678,600 berries.
+420 coins!!!
+ 4 gacha tickets!! ]
"Oh, a lot less than before. But it makes sense since I've become much stronger than I was when I first came to this world." Elian lamented. But he didn't feel down about it and happily accepted the rewards.
——————
A few hours later, Nami and Elian were ready to set sail; they couldn't stay in Cocoyasi Village any longer, as the marines might come for them at any time.
"Ah, finally, everything is ready. Let's go, Elian." Nami said as she packed up her stuff and was ready to go.
Both of them started walking towards the seashore where their boat was.
When they reached the seashore, they could see every villager of Cocoyasi waiting for them.
"Big brother! Why are you leaving so fast?" A small kid came running towards Elian; he had a green hat on his head, and Elian remembered him from the anime.
He was the kid whose father got killed by the Fishmen, and the kid had tried to fight and kill the Fishmen with a small knife. But now, Elian had come to Cocoyasi sooner than the Straw Hats and defeated Arlong and his crew before they could kill this kid's father.
"Chabo, we can't stay here. The marines will come anytime for Elian; that's why we need to go." Nami explained while patting Chabo's head.
Chabo's face was saddened, but he cheered up. "Ohhh... Okay—beat up all those bad pirates just like you did to Arlong!"
Nami and Elian both nodded at him and went to the other villagers, taking necessary supplies for travel from them. The villagers wanted to at least give something to their savior, but they didn't have much, so they just gave what was important for travel. Then all the villagers started thanking Elian again for saving them.
"This is the last chance, Nojiko. You can't wait anymore. Go and tell him that you want to go with them." Genzo encouraged Nojiko, both of them standing a little far from the croud.
"B-but—uhh, okay, I'll try." Nojiko said hesitantly. For her, Elian was practically a stranger, since all they did was talk for a couple of minutes. Asking him to let her join his crew was embarrassing because they weren't that familiar.
She went towards Elian, who was surrounded by other villagers at the time.
"Eh, Elian, my answer is yes." Nojiko muttered, confusing Elian and everyone standing there. Everyone started looking at Elian and Nojiko suspiciously.
"What do you mean, yes?" Elian asked hurriedly, wondering what Nojiko was trying to say.
Nojiko noticed everyone's weird gazes; her face blushed as she understood that they had taken her answer for something else.
"It's not like that, everyone! And Elian, did you forget the question you asked me when we met for the first time?" she said, clearing up the misunderstanding and asking Elian.
Hearing her, Elian remembered that he had asked her to join his crew if she wanted to know his secret. But he had only asked that jokingly, as he knew she wasn't interested in becoming a pirate.
Originally, Nojiko hadn't wanted to because she felt she didn't have any special skills nor was she powerful enough to become a pirate.
But after witnessing how strong Nami had become because of Elian, she wanted to become powerful too. She had felt so helpless and powerless for the last eight years when her little sister tried to save their village, but she couldn't do anything and just watched.
And just joining his crew to become powerful was too good to pass on. Plus, she could stay with Nami and look after her.
"Oh, so you agree to join my crew? Nice!" Elian said, happy with it, even though he didn't expect this. He had selected the lust theme, so he was going to make his own harem; so naturally, there was no reason to reject a beauty like Nojiko.
"What!!"
Everyone was shocked, including Nami. The villagers' murmurs grew louder as they tried to process what they had just heard.
"Nojiko, are you serious?" Nami asked, her eyes wide with surprise. She hadn't expected her sister to want to leave the village.
Nojiko nodded. "Yes, I am. I've thought about it, and I don't want to be left behind. I want to be strong, like you, Nami."
"Alright then, if that's what you want, I'm with you. Let's make our dreams come true together." Nami said, cheering up.
Elian smiled, pleased with how things were turning out. "Welcome to the crew, Nojiko! We'll make sure to get stronger together and have 'fun' on our journey."
Everyone cheered up, congratulating them.
"Well, Nojiko, go and pack up your stuff. I'll need to upgrade my boat since it only supports two people right now." He had originally planned to upgrade his ship when he reached Syrup Island, but now the situation has changed.
Nojiko was confused and wondered what Elian meant by *upgrade*, but she still complied and went to get her stuff.
After that, Elian asked the villagers for extra wood—around 100 kilograms. It wasn't a huge amount, so they quickly gathered the wood and gave it to him.
Elian, after acquiring the wood, went to his boat and started feeding all of the wood into the boat's mouth, shocking the others as they wondered how. Elian told them it was because of a devil fruit.
Soon, he met the requirements for upgrading the boat as it shined in white light and changed its shape, like a Pokémon evolution from an anime he had watched in his previous life when he was a kid.
[ Congratulations! The boat has leveled up!
Boat (unnamed)- level 1 → 2
Upgrade condition: feed wood to the boat (1 ton)
Or upgrade directly with 100 coins.]
The boat became slightly bigger, but it still wasn't enough, so Elian decided to directly upgrade it using 100 coins.
The boat shined again, and this time, it became a lot bigger. The boat was larger and sturdier, with a solid wooden build and a room at the back for steering. It had a spacious deck for carrying people and supplies, along with a small cabin below deck where the crew could sleep, though they would need to adjust from the looks of it.
[ Congratulations! The boat has leveled up!
Boat (unnamed)- level 2 → 3
Upgrade condition: feed wood to the boat (10 tons)
Or upgrade directly with 250 coins.]
The changes looked like a lot more wood than just 1 ton was used. Elian thought feeding wood was just for show, and the boat changes a lot more with every upgrade.
'Guess, I still don't know much about him despite staying with him for several days.' Nami thought as she looked at how the boat changed magically.
Nojiko appeared a little later, then all three of them went towards the boat, ready to set sail.
Take care of yourselves!" one villager shouted.
"And make sure to come back and visit!" added another.
With their farewells said, Elian, Nami, and Nojiko boarded their boat. As they set sail, the villagers waved them off, their shouts and cheers slowly fading into the distance.
As the boat moved further away from the shore, Nojiko looked back at the shrinking silhouette of Cocoyasi Village. "I'll miss this place." she said softly, a hint of sadness in her voice.
Nami put an arm around her sister's shoulders. "We'll come back someday; this isn't goodbye forever."
Elian, steering the boat, smiled as he looked at them. He had finally set sail on the sea; all he needed now was a pirate flag and a bounty to officially become a pirate...
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