Chapter 208: Interactions with Nami

The night grew deep, and the door to Nami's room was pushed open gently; the little cat burglar with orange hair ran out stealthily.

"I have no idea where that guy is staying... Slippery-Slippery Fruit, here I come!"

It must be said that Nami lived up to her title of cat burglar; she was already a top-tier thief in the East Blue. Even with injuries on her body, her movements remained agile and nimble, landing without a sound, and she easily pried open one door after another.

"How strange... Why can't I find it? Could it be that this guy doesn't live in the village?"

After searching a full circle without finding any sign of Uchiha Feiyu, Nami couldn't help but feel puzzled. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, her expression turning somewhat dejected.

"If I can't find it now, there will be even less of a chance in the future..."

After stealing the Devil Fruit on the island, Nami could set sail immediately. With her navigation skills, she truly didn't believe anyone could catch up to her.

But if she set sail with Uchiha Feiyu, even if she obtained the Devil Fruit at sea, she would have nowhere to run!

"Forget it... I'll just have to find a way tomorrow. My injuries will probably take another two days to heal, and besides, that merchant ship isn't repaired yet."

Having gained nothing, Nami turned her head and went back to rest. At this moment, on a large tree on the outskirts of the village, Uchiha Feiyu's figure was revealed as the leaves rustled.

"I have to say, this cat burglar is too impatient. She's planning to steal things and slip away on the very first day. It's a good thing I haven't returned everything I learned at the Ninja Academy to those Chunin teachers, otherwise, if she had found me just now—that wouldn't have been fun!"

The things taught at the Ninja Academy were too basic and not very useful in the Naruto World. After all, everyone was a super-powered ninja with chakra; techniques like concealing one's presence, creating camouflage, or untying knots and picking locks were nowhere near as useful as the myriad of ninjutsu powered by chakra, serving only to enrich a Genin's repertoire.

However, in the One Piece World, these skills shone brilliantly. Before mastering Haki, such techniques were the pinnacle for ordinary people, and deceiving a little cat burglar like Nami was naturally a breeze.

Of course, this also had to do with the personalities of people in the One Piece World. If you picked any random ninja from the Naruto World, they would be considered clever, cautious, and full of tricks among these pirates.

Over the next two days, although Nami tried her best to inquire about Uchiha Feiyu's whereabouts during the day and snuck around at night looking for the Devil Fruit, unfortunately, in front of the well-prepared Uchiha Feiyu, she naturally ended up with nothing.

So much so that by the third day, when her injuries had recovered, she looked listless, and even had dark circles under her eyes.

"Nami, your energy doesn't seem to be doing so well, does it?"

Uchiha Feiyu, with a faint smile on his lips, leaned against the door frame and looked at the exhausted Nami, asking in a tone that sounded almost mocking.

"Ahahaha... That's probably because I'm a bit happy thinking about how I'm about to become a rich person!"

Nami forced a smile and chuckled twice, her gaze fixed firmly on Uchiha Feiyu's waist, where a small square box sat—clearly where the Devil Fruit was kept.

Uchiha Feiyu swayed the box at his waist slightly, and Nami's eyes followed the box in a circle. When she came to her senses, she saw Uchiha Feiyu looking at her with a half-smile, his hand gripping that "Village Good Sword" he had snatched away.

"Hehehe... I'll go check on how our ship is doing..."

Seeing the look in Uchiha Feiyu's eyes, Nami shrank her neck and hurriedly turned to run away.

Seeing Nami, who had the heart of a thief but not the guts, scared off just like that, Uchiha Feiyu shook his head, shouldered a large bag of supplies "gifted" by the villagers, and walked out of the village with a swagger.

After he left, the villagers in the village all wore expressions of having survived a disaster; some were so agitated they burst into tears.

There was no helping it; first, they were beaten up by the initial female pirate, who killed quite a few people, and later, because they wanted to reclaim the Devil Fruit, many had their legs broken by Uchiha Feiyu, who then forced them to repair the ship and prepare food. The residents of this island had been living in dire straits these past few days.

Now that Uchiha Feiyu was finally about to get lost, it would be strange if these people weren't happy.

After inspecting the ship and confirming it was fully repaired, Nami and Uchiha Feiyu set sail. After adjusting the sails, she looked at Uchiha Feiyu, who was exercising on the deck, and asked:

"Are we going to Loguetown next? It's quite prosperous there; there should be plenty of people willing to buy this Devil Fruit!"

"Although Loguetown is the starting point from the East Blue to the Grand Line, it's mostly just pirates there. Selling an ordinary Devil Fruit to pirates who pursue strength is naturally the best choice."

"However, something like the Slippery-Slippery Fruit is most attractive to women among the nobility and royalty, and they are also the ones who can afford it."

Uchiha Feiyu answered while doing push-ups:

"If you aren't willing to go to the Sabaody Archipelago, then we can only sell it to those nobles and royals. By the way, you've been hanging around the East Blue for so long, do you know if there are any underground auctions or places like that?"

"Uh, how could I possibly know about such a place? When it comes down to it, I'm just a little cat burglar. Stealing some pirate treasure is already my limit. Provoking a major power like an underground auction would get me hunted down miserably, right!"

"And here in the East Blue, I don't seem to have heard of any underground auction houses or anything like that..."

"Is that so?"

Hearing this, Uchiha Feiyu was not surprised and nodded slightly:

"That's probably because the East Blue is a sea of peace! Only in chaotic places can underground auction houses thrive."

"Isn't the East Blue chaotic enough already?!"

Nami snorted and said, as if thinking of something:

"Pirates run rampant, and the Marine is not only useless, but they are also birds of a feather with the pirates..."

"You must be talking about Colonel Rat and the Arlong Pirates!"

Uchiha Feiyu stood up, took off the dozens of kilograms of weights from his body, and said calmly:

"That can only be said to be your own bad luck. As far as I know, there are indeed many in the East Blue Marine who don't act like humans, but to be as abstract as Colonel Rat, there really is only that one."

"Plus, with Arlong's background as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, many times the upper echelons of the Marine want to downplay the matter, so there really aren't many in the entire East Blue as unlucky as you all."

"You... you guy, do you know what Arlong has done?"

Nami widened her eyes and looked at Uchiha Feiyu; how did it feel like this guy knew everything about what happened in Cocoyasi Village?

"Come on, even so-called Fish-Men need to trade! Just because the ordinary people in Arlong Park can't go out to sea doesn't mean those Fish-Men have no interaction with the outside world!"

"In the East Blue, the number of people who know about Arlong and his gang of evildoers, while not large, is definitely not small—it's just that they are either indifferent or simply lack the strength to meddle in this business."

"Looking at you, you don't seem to be working for Arlong willingly. Is there a story behind this?"

Nami was silent for a moment, then snorted:

"Even if I told you, would you have the strength to meddle in this business?"

"I probably can't handle it, but at least I know where the people who have the ability and the willingness to meddle are..."

Hearing this, Nami froze for a moment, turned to look at Uchiha Feiyu, and then gritted her teeth and said:

"That's easy to say, but that's Arlong the Fish-Man! Didn't you say he has some background as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea? Who would go and meddle in this for a few villages?"

"How can you guarantee that someone will definitely lend a hand, and how can you guarantee they will definitely be a match for Arlong?"

"Heh,"

Uchiha Feiyu glanced at Nami sideways and sneered:

"Believe it or not, it's up to you. I went through a lot of trouble to see that you were pitiful and wanted to do a good deed. But looking at you like this, you have quite a few symptoms of Stockholm syndrome; have you already gradually integrated into the perpetrator's position because of fear?"

Nami's body shook, and she lowered her head slightly, as if she had suffered a great blow, slowly sitting down on the deck and curling into a ball.

"You have no idea at all... how terrifying Arlong and his gang are... you have no idea about anything at all..."

After a good while, Nami finally felt her emotions settle down; now that she was able to calm her mind and think rationally, she suddenly realized that this was absolutely an excellent opportunity.

It was true that Arlong was powerful, and the innate qualities of a Fish-Man were indeed far superior to those of a human, but to say that the Arlong Pirates alone could stand against the Marine was a joke through and through.

Not to mention the high-level Marine strength that Nami had never seen and only occasionally heard of, the Marine's millions of troops alone could drown the Arlong Pirates alive if each of them just spat once!

"Just asking for some intelligence, looking for some outside help... it should be fine! When the time comes, as long as I report it anonymously, no matter what happens, the matter won't involve me, nor will it involve everyone in Cocoyasi Village!"

Thinking of this, Nami raised her head and asked:

"Feiyu, where is the... person you mentioned!?"

She saw that the deck was empty; Uchiha Feiyu had already walked into the captain's quarters and disappeared without a trace.

Damn it, does this guy not know how to give me a little time to adjust my mindset?

Nami walked angrily to the captain's quarters, pushed open the door, and seeing Uchiha Feiyu, who was bare-chested and busy eating and drinking, her breath hitched.

"Have this guy's muscles grown a bit more? It feels like in just these few days, his physique has changed, and his muscle definition has become even fuller..."

"Come to think of it, he seems to have been exercising every day lately. Is it because being robbed by pirates sparked his determination to exercise and become stronger?"

Uchiha Feiyu, who was eating, saw Nami walk in suddenly, picked up the plate directly, devoured all the food in big mouthfuls, and then set the plate down on the table.

"What is it? What do you want with me?"

"Um, that person you mentioned earlier... the one who is capable and willing to meddle in other people's business, who exactly is it?"

"Heh... sorry, I don't want to tell you now!"

"Don't be like that, I was wrong just now, okay? Just tell me! At worst... at worst, I'll let you touch me!"

Nami walked straight to Uchiha Feiyu's side, pulled down her collar to reveal a glimpse of her cleavage, and began to seduce him with a charming look on her face.

"Sorry, not interested!"

Uchiha Feiyu snorted; he wasn't some novice who had never tasted meat, and he felt absolutely nothing toward Nami's crude attempt at seduction.

After all, the pirates in this world were all thick-skinned; when seducing these pirates, Nami didn't need any technique at all, and without practice, she was naturally far inferior to the ninja of the Naruto World.

"Damn it, what exactly do you want?!! Don't tell me... don't tell me you want me to sell my body?"

"Hmm... if your idea can really take down the Arlong Pirates, and you are also willing to give the Slippery-Slippery Fruit to me, then I wouldn't mind letting you take advantage of me a little..."

Watching Nami's expression, which suggested she was letting him take a huge advantage, Uchiha Feiyu gave a light snort and said:

"You think quite highly of yourself, don't you? Do you think you're made of gold? Worth a Slippery-Slippery Fruit?"

"You are in such a hurry to collect money, could it be because of the Arlong Pirates' mission? Let me guess, did the Arlong Pirates get a hold of your weakness, which is why you have no choice but to work for them? Is it your family, or is it your hometown?"

As Uchiha Feiyu analyzed it point by point, Nami's expression crumbled bit by bit, and in the end, she radiated a sense of utter dejection:

"Has anyone ever told you that you are a very annoying guy!! Does getting to the bottom of things like this give you a lot of pleasure!"

Uchiha Feiyu leaned back in the chair behind him, crossed his hands, and looked at Nami with a smile:

"I have to know something about you before I can decide whether or not to help you!"

Nami was silent for a moment, then finally let out a long sigh:

"I'm really afraid of you... didn't you ask me earlier today if I had any stories? Since you want to listen, then I'll tell you about my situation!"

While speaking, Nami found a sofa in the captain's quarters to sit on, grabbed a bottle of rum sitting on the table, opened it, and gulped it down.

The previous owner of this body had a bit of a tolerance for alcohol, but Uchiha Feiyu himself did not drink, so there was quite a bit of liquor stored in the captain's quarters, which now benefited Nami, the female drunkard.

"Haa~~"

After a bottle of liquor went down, Nami wiped the corner of her mouth, her face slightly flushed, and then she looked at Uchiha Feiyu and began to tell her story.

The story was not complicated.

A once happy family suddenly fell apart one day due to the invasion of Arlong and his gang.

And for the sake of her hometown, Nami had to draw sea charts for the Arlong Pirates while trying every possible way to swindle and deceive her way to 100 million Berries, hoping to buy back Cocoyasi Village from Arlong.

(End of this chapter)