Away from all the drama happening around Ren.
Logeutown city, smoker office.
"You haven't found any trace of him yet?!" Smoker shouted angrily at the Marine and he was smoking his cigarette as usual.
"T-that's…"The Marine stiffened when he heard Smoker scream.
"It doesn't matter, keep searching the city and if you don't find him, just stop and inform the other marine branches in East Blue with a picture of Ren and all his information.If we don't have any pictures,just draw them!"
After hearing Smoker's instructions,the Marine left the office quickly, but before closing the door he heard Smoker's voice again: "Also,Tell Tashigi to come to my office."
"Okay, sir!"
After a few minutes, a beautiful young woman entered the room and gave Smoker a military salute.
"Smoker-san, is Ren-san really the thief?" Tashigi asked directly.
She didn't really want the nice guy she met and enjoyed chatting with him to be the thief that all the marines in logeutown were searching for.
"That person is very suspicious. He suddenly appeared and caught a pirate, He probably fabricated the identity of the bounty hunter."
Originally, I just wanted to keep an eye on him for a bit and I wasn't sure he was the thief, but after he disappeared, I sure now!"Smoker blew out the smoke from the cigarette and spoke angrily.
By the way Tashigi, I remember that you talked to him a little, Right? Did he say anything to you that might be useful in reaching him? Try to remember."
Smoker looked at Tashigi and was waiting for her to speak.
"This..." Tashigi began remember remember her conversation with Ren, but she didn't tell Smoker about Ren's answer when she told him why he didn't join the Marines, just because that information wasn't useful, not like she was worried about him or something.
She was making Excuses for herself.
She quickly widened her eyes and seemed to remember something, then said out loud: "Sword user!"
"What?" Smoker frowned and asked the reason for this sudden scream.
"He told me that he is a swordsman and uses a sword when I was talking to him..."She said this with a strange expression. She knew that this could be considered conclusive proof that he was the thief if combined with the rest evidence.
"That's it!There's no doubt that any swordsman would love to have such an excellent sword, although we don't know how he knew yubashiri's place, but that doesn't matter now, I just have to think of a way to retrieve the sword and catch him!" .
Smoker got up from his seat and looked out his window at the big city in front of him.
"I will arrest you no matter what...and I will not rest until I see you behind bars!" He said in a loud voice, which demonstrated his insistence.
As for Tashigi, she was feeling conflicting feelings. She thought in her heart: 'Why?! Everything about justice was a lie?! You are a thief and a criminal and you are talking about justice?!'Although these were her inner thoughts, her heart didn't hate him so much and she didn't know why, she just felt a little disappointed and let down.
"Why...."
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Syrup village.
"The pirates are coming..."
"Everyone,listen to me!!The pirates are coming..."
"Run, everyone! The pirates are coming..."
"*Gasp* The pirates *Gasp* are coming!!!"
This was none other than Usopp,who arrives and disturbs the villagers every morning by repeating this phrase, but no one believes him.
"You damn brat, you're here again!"
"Wait, you stinky brat, don't run away!"
"catch him and beat him!"
The angry villagers followed Usopp, who was running away as fast as he could while laughing.
On the same island, specifically inside a luxurious palace.
A beautiful young woman with blonde hair sat in a wheelchair while looking at the birds from the window of her room.
The girl looked sick,her face was pale and cold as if she was suffering from a lack of nutrition.
She heard the sound of someb coming and knew it was breakfast time, but she wasn't happy in any way.
Outside the room,the palace servant Klahadore was pulling the dining cart with a cold expression.
But before he reached the room, he suddenly stopped, then looked around and didn't find anyone around him. Then he took out a white powder from his pocket and put it in the soup.
Then he swirled the soup with a spoon to hide the traces of white powder.
He continue as if nothing had happened, then arrived in front of his young lady's room.
*knock knock knock.*
The beautiful young girl heard a knock on the door and said in a weak voice:"Klahadore, come in."
Klahadore entered and when he saw her on the wheelchair looking towards the window, he said anxiously: "Ojou-sama... you should rest a little."
"It's okay, Klahadore, I'm fine."Kaya smiled at her considerate servant.
She was happy to have someone like him to take care of her.
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"Bye, guys!"
"I will come back to visit you when I become the Pirates King!"
A young man wearing a straw hat wearing a red shirt and blue shorts said while smiling stupidly.There was a wound under his right eye that had been stitched up.
"Be careful on the road, Luffy!"
"Don't forget to eat much meat!"
The crowd cheered warmly for the straw hat boy, but quickly fell silent when they saw a huge monster behind him preparing to eat Luffy and his boat.
But at this moment, Luffy shouted, "Gomu Gomu No:Pistol!!"
He punched the sea monster and knocked him unconscious.Then the crowd screamed in greater excitement than before.
"I will become the Pirates King!"
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"If you don't have money...So Why you're here?!"
A person dressed as a chef shouted angrily, then hit the poor man who wanted to eat without paying and threw him out of the restaurant.
"I apologize for the inconvenience, my dear customers, please enjoy the food here~"he said with a business smile that completely contradicted his expression a moment ago as he beat that person.
"OY, you bastard,you're scaring the customers," a voice comes behind patty.
"Nani?! Repeat what you said, Sanji?!"Patty said angrily towards the blond haired man called Sanji.
"I said that you scare customers.Didn't you hear what I said? Are you deaf?!"
"Huuh??! Do you want to fight?!" Patty responded angrily and they were about to fight.
"You bastards!"
They suddenly heard the voice of an angry old man and quickly turned around to see an old man with one normal leg and the other wooden, walking towards them angrily.
"Bam! Bam!"
He kicked them hard and kicked them out in front of the customers, then apologized to them for the inconvenience.
The people in the restaurant were silent. They all had one question on their minds:
"Is this really a restaurant?! Didn't we enter a pirate ship by mistake?!"
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Back at cocoyashi Village Inside Nojiko and nami's house.
Nojiko,Nami,and Ren were sitting in front of the table while Ren was quietly sipping his drink and looking at Nami, who was staring at him with a strange look.
"So this is what happened..." Nojiko explained to Nami who this person was, how he got here, etc. Just as Ren had already told her his name after the "small" incident, and likewise she told him as well...even though he knew...But he had to feign ignorance.
"As Nojiko said, leave this place before Arlong's men see you here and you have been killed." Nami said to the man who was drinking tea as if he were in his home.
There was no response from Ren.
After five minutes of awkward silence, Nami actually lost her patience and immediately shouted, showing her fiery personality: "You! Can you hear me?Answer me!"
"..."
No response from Ren.
Just as Nami was about to scream again, Ren opened his eyes and looked at her. Nami immediately fell silent. She felt like this man was looking into the depths of her soul. She felt that in front of this person she had no secrets and could be read like an open book.
Combined with his handsome face, Nami was very Surprised. She was still a teenage girl and if she saw a handsome man, she would naturally hesitate to yell at him. Just like the men love beautiful women, the womens love the handsome men.This was common sense in any era or world.
"Thank you for the tea, Miss Nojiko."Ren smiled softly at Nojiko, the latter smiled slightly and seemed to have forgotten the previous incident already.
"And also...cough, I apologize for the previous incident. You seemed to be in a bit of a difficult situation and I couldn't bear to see a beautiful girl crying and not do anything.Cough, I apologize again." She soon heard Ren's words and her smile turned into an expression. From the shame and embarrassment on her brown face.
"Ann, you don't have to be so serious about this." She replied ashamed, and it seemed as if she was hinting to him that he could hug her more, or was it just his imagination?
'System, are you sure I don't have any seduction skill or anything like that?'Ren asked in his mind.
[The host doesn't have such a skill yet, but it isn't impossible to obtain it in future rewards. If the host wants my personal opinion, your current charm is already enough to captivate any girl, and if you combine this with a seduction skill, the effect will be doubled.]
'Is this harassment... Miss System?'Ren joked a little with his system who kept praising him.
[...]
The System,she wanted to scream like a teenage girl and say: I will not praise you anymore!Stupid host!
But she couldn't, she had to maintain a cool facade... yes,cold...
" guys,If you're done flirting with each other, leave quickly, Ren-san."Nami said, but this time she wouldn't scream like before. She didn't know for herself why she spoke so politely to this man in front of her.
"N-nami! Who's flirting with who?!"Nojiko scolded her feisty sister with a subtle blush on her face.
On the other side, Ren had already thought of an excuse to stay on this island in order to implement his plan and attract the sisters to his crew. He opened his mouth and said:"I have no way to leave the island right now. I will stay somewhere until I find a solution to the boat problem or I will Wait until a ship comes here."
After hearing Ren's words, Nami immediately frowned and said, "No ship will come to this island...They are all being sunk by Arlong and his men."
Nami, whose Nojiko told her that she had spoken to Ren about Arlong and their story with him, didn't hide her hatred for Arlong in her words, but she didn't know why her older sister, Nojiko, spoke about her problems to a man that she only knew him for a few hours!
As for the fear that Ren would inform Arlong about Nami and her hatred for him? She didn't care at all. Firstly, she didn't hide this even when she was in Arlong Park, and secondly, even if Arlong knew that she hated him, he wouldn't do anything to her, because she is the one who draws maps for him and comes he brings him precious treasures on every trip he takes, and Arlong will probably kill this person if he goes to see him.
Of course, these were just Nami's thoughts and none of this could happen.
Ren suddenly stood up and said to Nojiko with a smile: "Miss Nojiko, thank you for letting me rest in your house, and also thank you for the delicious tea~"Then he winked at her.
"Wait, where are you going?"Nojiko asked in confusion.
"Of course I will look for a place where I might find a boat or something like that."
"There is no such place. Every place on this island is under surveillance,and if your boat is seen, Arlong's men will kill you. It is better for you to stay hidden here!" Nojiko said firmly.
"Nojiko!"Nami immediately shouted, trying to reason with Nojiko. She didn't want this strange and...handsome man to stay in their house.
"What, Nami? Do you want him to leave the house to his death?" Nojiko looked at her sister, she didn't want to cause the death of this handsome man. Although she didn't care much about aesthetics, her instinct as a woman did.
"This...Nami remained frozen in place when she heard Nojiko's question."
Ren, finally spoke up and said, "Is it really okay for me to stay here with you? I'm afraid I'll be a burden...Well I have some money here. I wonder if that would make Miss Nami allow me to stay in this house for a few days until I find a solution to my problem?
A bag of money appeared in Ren's hand out of nowhere, greatly surprising the two sisters.
"!!!"
"Where did this money come from?!"Nojiko couldn't help but ask
"You can stay here!"Nami, whose eyes had turned into Belly's shape,had already attacked Ren, trying to take the money, but she didn't succeed because Ren had evaded.
"Wait, hey, I said I'd cover for Miss Nojiko not for you, Miss Nami.." Ren teased the orange-haired girl a little.
"Give me the money...come on!"
"No."
"Give me my money!"
"When did it become your money? It clearly belongs to me."
"Nojiko...tell him to give me my money!"
"Nami~it's not your money"Nojiko replied as she enjoyed teasing the girl with Ren.
When she thinks about Ren, her face quickly turns red.
'No, I...as long as Arlong is alive, I will never live happily even if I want!'Her smile quickly turned into a frown and sadness.
But she soon felt a strong hand tapping her shoulder.
"Don't worry, Miss Nojiko...everything will be fine."Ren said in a confident tone.
"Stop flirting with my sister!...and give me my money!"
"No"
Nojiko looked at this scene and couldn't stop her sweet laugh from coming out of her mouth.
"Hahahahahahahahahahaha~"
This was Nojiko's first heartfelt laugh after many years, since Belle-Meré's death.