"You have two choices then."
Luffy grinned, a mischievous expression that held a hidden cruelty. He protected his lower body with Armament Haki, as if anticipating a kick that might come at any moment from the woman in front of him. His eyes pierced Nami, trapping her with an unexpected intensity. "Join my crew, or die. Pick one."
Shock was clear in Nami's eyes. Letting me choose? She had no choice. Luffy's fist, which had defeated the fat pirate captain, was irrefutable proof. To refuse meant death. Nami could only nod repeatedly, her head bobbing up and down like a puppet on a string. "Okay, I'll be your crewmate, but you have to keep your promise…"
Luffy nodded, but then he suddenly froze. It wasn't because of Nami, but a voice that echoed in his mind:
[Ding, the host has successfully forced someone to join. Pirate King Beauty confirmed: Cat Burglar Nami!]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining one comprehensive anime lottery draw. Do you want to draw immediately?]
"Draw!"
[Lottery has begun!]
Inside Luffy's mind, a lottery box appeared. A red ball slid out, indicating he had won a Skill. After the mental screen vanished, a long-unseen memory flooded his brain. He saw many scenes piled upon each other, and in his memory, he used an ability that felt so natural, as if it had been a part of him since birth.
[Ding, congratulations to the host for obtaining the space-type skill: Hundred Meter Teleportation!]
Luffy's eyes widened, shining with excitement. "Hundred Meter Teleportation? That sounds amazing!" He clicked on the introduction to read it.
[Hundred Meter Teleportation (distance can be increased): Within a hundred meters, no matter the obstacle, go wherever you want. Source: Dragon Ball's Instant Transmission!] [Skill automatically optimized: No stamina consumption, no mental power consumption, teleport as much as you want.]
"!!!"
Luffy was astounded. This ability was too incredible! Unlimited teleportation. If he met an enemy he couldn't defeat, he could just keep running. With this skill, his combat power would surely skyrocket, and his life-saving ability would multiply.
Even if Observation Haki could predict it, so what? By the time the enemy had made their prediction, Luffy would have already moved to several different places, making him completely impossible to follow. As long as his attack power was strong enough, he could take down an enemy in one second! In the blink of an eye, their head would be gone. Wasn't that terrifying?
After tasting the sweetness of this reward, Luffy's eyes were ablaze. He stared at Nami intensely. "Let's go, get on my boat!"
Nami shivered. That gaze felt like a predator locking onto its prey. "…Okay." She got into the boat. She was still young, she couldn't die. Arlong was still alive, and Coco Village hadn't been saved yet. Nami still had many dreams to fulfill.
[Female crew member +1 detected, crew member bound: Nami. Please make her feel touched, Host.]
Make Nami feel touched? The moment of the fight at Coco Village was the most fitting, Luffy thought.
"You're very obedient."
The two of them were squeezed into the small boat, propelled only by a single paddle, so close they could touch each other. Luffy, who was usually carefree, rarely restrained himself, and suddenly whispered, "Hey, Nami, become my official companion. I'll always protect you!"
Thump-thump—
Seeing Luffy suddenly get serious, Nami's heart inexplicably beat a few times faster, but it quickly returned to normal.
"Alright."
Nami agreed verbally, but in her heart, she was cursing Luffy up and down. Being handsome is great! Protect me? What, do I need you to protect me? You fool!
Fortunately, Luffy couldn't hear what Nami was thinking. If he knew Nami's thoughts, he would definitely kick her off the boat. Did you think I'd be so open-hearted with just anyone?
"So, Captain… what do we do next?" Nami asked.
"Go to the East Blue Marine Branch. You row the boat," Luffy answered casually.
"WHAT? You're telling me to row the boat? You…"
"You're going to scold me again?" Luffy interrupted with a small smile.
Sailing on the sea was proving to be boring! Especially now that Luffy had to act as the rower, he could only reluctantly obey Nami's orders.
"Hey! You stupid rubber man! Where are you rowing! You're going the wrong way!" "You bastard! Put more power into it! The paddle will break because of you!" "You can't even row a boat, how dare you become a pirate? So useless!"
In less than half an hour, Nami showed her true colors and began yelling. Luffy's eyelids twitched. Damn it! She needs a lesson!
Luffy frowned and was about to glare at her, but Nami immediately stopped. She gave an unnatural glance, and whistled, as if observing Luffy's expression from the corner of her eye.
Ah~ this little clever one.
"So, is there no other way to get the boat moving?" Luffy stopped his rowing. Even if he wasn't tired, rowing like this all the time was quite boring.
Nami snorted, placing her hands on her hips. "How could there be? Whose fault is it that you didn't steal that fat pirate's ship earlier? Now this little boat can only be rowed!"
"Gomu Gomu no…" Luffy thought for a moment, then suddenly stood up.
Nami was startled and took a step back. "Hey! What are you doing? Didn't you say we were partners? You can't kill me!"
Luffy ignored her, lay down immediately, and put both of his hands into the seawater.
"Propeller!" After saying that, he began to churn!
The seawater was nothing to him; he wasn't afraid even after eating the Devil Fruit. In the blink of an eye, the boat's speed increased significantly, and now he only needed to control the direction.
Nami was utterly stunned. Could it really be played this way? Yet she couldn't help but say, "You can only keep that up for a while. The East Blue Branch is very far away, can you maintain that all the way?"
"If I get tired, I'll just rest for a bit."
While playing in the water, Luffy turned to Nami, who was steering. "Since you've admitted that we're on the same side, let's introduce ourselves."
"You first."
Nami snorted lightly and casually replied, "Nami, eighteen years old, loves money, loves tangerines. Speaking of family…"
Seeing Luffy staring at her attentively, Nami quickly changed the subject, "My dream is to see a world map with my own eyes and then draw it myself!"
At this point, Nami lowered her head. Thinking of the shadow of the Arlong Pirates still hanging over her hometown, could she ever fulfill this dream in her lifetime?
Luffy noticed Nami suddenly stopped talking and calmly said, "My name is Luffy, I have a grandpa, and an old man outside. As for my dream…"
"Wait!" Nami suddenly found a loophole in his words. "You haven't said your age!"
"Eigh… eighteen…"