Lister shared a few drinks with everyone, then left. Without him there, the pirates seemed to play even wilder and more unrestrained.
Nami and the twelve girls were also celebrating on deck—celebrating both their escape from slavery and their new start in the Money Pirates. When they saw Lister return, they all stood.
"Captain!"
"Sit, all of you. From now on we're shipmates on the same boat—no need to be so stiff," Lister said with an easy smile, trying to put them at ease.
Lister understood their situation. He also knew that awe doesn't fade quickly, so he wasn't in a hurry. He went to sit beside Nami and smiled warmly. "I don't know your names. Will you tell me?"
The twelve girls looked at each other, a little nervous, each waiting for someone to be the first so the others could follow.
"I'll introduce them," Nami said. She understood Lister. Earlier she'd already noticed that the way he looked at a pair of twin sisters wasn't the same as how he looked at the other girls, so she started with the twins. "The older sister is Yulan, the younger is Jingxiang." As she spoke, she pointed out which was which. Even so, you could still spot differences between them. The elder sister was gentle and refined, with a natural, genuine air.
Hearing Lister's praise, the twins' cheeks reddened slightly.
As Nami went on, she explained that the crimson‑eyed girl hadn't been taken by slavers at all; she'd been sold by her parents. In that kind of family she had been nothing but a burden. Later, from the traffickers, they learned her parents had sold her for only a hundred thousand Beli. The violet‑haired girl gave Lister the impression of a mix of natural airheadedness and nerviness—unforgettable. Their names were Hongmei and Xiaozi. Lister felt the names didn't quite match their looks and temperament, but he didn't object and accepted them readily.
He chatted with the girls for a good while, but in front of him they were as constrained as the pirates, so finding it dull he went back to the vice‑captain's quarters first.
After who knows how long, Nami returned to find Lister reading training notes left by predecessors. Lister smiled, walked over, and pulled her into his arms. Nami rolled her eyes at him, but didn't refuse.
Time flew; a few more days passed. At last, Lister began working on ultra‑fast thinking. Over this stretch, his understanding of the Swift‑Swift Fruit had deepened. Relying on that understanding, he carefully guided the fruit's power into a certain layer of his brain.
In an instant, he seemed to enter a wondrous state. His mind felt more agile; even things long forgotten flashed back one by one. He grabbed a book from the shelf and began to read. His eyes skimmed ten lines at a glance, and he forgot nothing. He read faster and faster. In under five minutes, a book of more than a hundred pages was finished, its knowledge fully memorized and digested.
Holding down his excitement, he took another. Four minutes later, it too was done, and its contents were once more remembered and made his own. He took a third; this time he finished in three and a half minutes, every bit of knowledge clear in his mind. Growing more absorbed, he couldn't stop, and reached for yet another. This time, he'd only made it halfway when a wave of dizziness hit. He knew it was the backlash of overtaxing his brain. At the same time, his body signaled weakness and hunger.
Lister had already told Michelin to prepare a large amount of meat. At his shout, the twelve girls hurried in, each carrying a platter. He couldn't keep up a gentlemanly front; he grabbed a bone‑skewered hunk and tore in, swallowing a five‑catty piece in just a few bites. With his body replenished, the negative symptoms eased.
"Like a great roc riding the wind in a single day, soaring ninety thousand li."