"So hot… Isn't it almost winter? Why is it this hot!"
The small single-cabin sloop sailed on the sea. The three of them huddled under a sun umbrella, and Carina said to Karl, "Karl, how about you hop down and tow the boat so I can enjoy the sea breeze."
"No. I'm not hot anyway."
Karl, sipping iced juice, rolled his eyes.
"Must be nice—not only blades and bullets can't hurt you, even heat and cold don't affect you," Carina said enviously.
Hearing that, Karl corrected, dissatisfied, "That's not all—boundless strength, lightning speed, and limitless stamina."
"Yeah, yeah, I know your body's like a monster's. Enough?" Carina mimicked his eye-roll.
"Blades and bullets can't hurt you, heat and cold don't affect you, boundless strength, lightning speed, limitless stamina…"
At that, Nami counted the keywords and stared wide-eyed at Karl. "Plus that world-ending spear of light—doesn't that make you invincible?"
"In the East Blue, sure."
Carina's face grew serious. "But step outside the weakest sea, and there are still countless people stronger than Karl."
"There are people stronger than Karl?" Nami was incredulous.
"Of course. Unlike you, who only kept your eyes on the East Blue and on scraping together a hundred million, I did my homework."
Carina pulled out a notebook from who-knew-where. Inside were yellowed clippings, slivers cut from newspapers of unknown years, the information reading like a story:
"\[A power that raises tsunamis and quakes, sinking a fleet of more than a dozen ships with a single strike—the strongest man in the world…]"
"\['Red-Haired' Shanks vs. 'Hawk-Eye' Dracule Mihawk—cleaving mountains and parting seas, a duel of great swordsmen…]"
"\['Marine Hero' Monkey D. Garp flattened eight mountains just to practice his punches…]"
"\[…]"
Pointing to the clippings, Carina said, "These reports all come from the world's most famous World Economy News Paper. The lines were written by its current president, 'Big News' Morgans. When I cut them out, I looked at the related photos—the realism could scare you to death."
Seeing Nami's dazed face, Carina raised a finger and conjured a transparent barrier, then added, "The legendary treasures of the sea exist. My power is the Paramecia Barrier-Barrier Fruit. Its hardness is such that even Karl's brute force can't break it."
"Those world-famous powerhouses are surely Devil Fruit users for the most part. Their abilities likely surpass mine."
"This world is far bigger than I imagined," Carina said gravely. "I refuse to keep my vision limited to the 'countryside' of the East Blue."
Her words shook Nami deeply.
Karl looked at her with approval.
Before this, to let Carina grow on her own, Karl rarely showed the 'smart' side of himself in front of her.
If the choice turned out wrong, Karl—confident he could handle the aftermath—would let mistakes become experience, making her better and better.
So Karl had never told Carina much about the Grand Line.
Only last year did he say, "Once we're a bit older, we'll enter that great sea called the Pirate's Graveyard."
After that, the intel-hungry Carina deliberately spent a year gathering information on the Grand Line.
Newspapers and books, consulting those old-timers who claimed they'd been there…
With no teacher, Carina relied on self-study and life experience to grow this far.
Give her a teacher—or a library—and she could become a fine scholar.
Right now, Carina was Karl's own Ben Beckman.
After one voyage that kept shattering her worldview, Nami's confidence in saving her village grew.
After days at sea,
the small sloop finally entered the waters ruled by the "Arlong Empire."
Foreign ships were quickly discovered by the sea cow Momoo that roamed these seas to "handle outsiders."
"Such a big sea cow. A Grand Line sea beast—it must taste good!"
Staring at the sea cow several times larger than their sloop, Karl's appetite surged. His infinitely evolving physique seemed to warn him not to waste this "experience."
—Boom!
Without hesitation, Karl sprang up, rising to the height of the sea cow's head.
His small fist crashed down on its skull.
In an instant, a tangible shockwave roared out.
As the vortex expanded, the sea cow's head flattened and sank layer by layer into its body from top to bottom.
With a wet pop, something like an internal detonation went off. Blood mixed with chunks of something sprayed upward in pillars.
"Protective barrier."
Seeing the downpour of blood about to swamp the whole boat, Carina hurriedly formed a transparent hemispherical barrier over the sloop.
Karl and the blood-rain landed on the barrier and slid off into the sea.
"Good thing we had that, or we'd be changing boats."
Hauling himself aboard, Karl didn't blame Carina. Instead, he looked regretful. "Meals have been good lately. Looks like I got stronger again."
"…"
Carina and Nami were both speechless at Karl's "humblebrag."