Stepping onto the shore, Rowan patted Luffy's head with a light chuckle. "Alright, brat, stop grumbling. Your Great-Grandpa isn't exactly a professional navigator. It's a miracle we arrived in one piece."
"If it weren't for the fact that I've spent decades roaming these seas and have a mountain of experience, we'd both be in the water right now trying to catch fish for sashimi. Actually, we probably wouldn't even have the strength for that. We'd just starve to death on the open ocean."
"Huh? Starve to death at sea?" Luffy looked horrified. "Is... is it really that scary?"
Luffy didn't fear death itself very much. But the idea of wasting away from hunger... he shivered just thinking about it. That was truly terrifying.
Rowan spoke with grave earnestness. "Every year, countless people lose their lives at sea due to all sorts of accidents. Almost every day, someone starves out there because they ran out of food. Setting sail isn't as simple as you think."
"Then when I set sail, I'm definitely going to find the best chef on the sea! And... what was that other one you mentioned? Right, a navigator! I'll find the best navigator, too, so I never have to starve," Luffy declared, his eyes full of longing.
Gurgle...
Suddenly, Luffy's stomach staged a loud protest. He rubbed his head sheepishly. "Great-Grandpa, can we fill our bellies first?"
"You insufferable brat..." Rowan shook his head in total helplessness.
They had been traveling for less than a day—how could he be this hungry? It wasn't like they had left empty-handed; they had packed dry rations from Ririka. But those rations had been demolished by Luffy almost the moment they cleared the harbor. Rowan had even given up his own share just to accommodate the boy's appetite, yet the brat was still crying for food.
This appetite was beyond monstrous. But then again, Rowan mused, if the boy didn't eat this much, where would that incredible recovery speed come from? Was it a natural, instinctive form of Life Return?
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Rowan clapped Luffy on the shoulder. "Fine, let's go. Let's find something to stop that noise in your gut."
Rowan pulled out some aged tobacco leaves from his pocket, crushed them into his pipe, and lit it. He took a deep, steady drag before releasing his Observation Haki to scan the island. Having gotten a sense of the surroundings, he led Luffy inland.
Ten minutes later, Rowan led Luffy to a small cottage.
The house was tiny, and its exterior could only be described as weathered and worn, but it looked meticulously clean. Directly in front of the house was a sizeable tangerine orchard. It was harvest season, and the trees were heavy with golden-orange fruit.
However, Luffy didn't give the delicious-looking tangerines so much as a second glance. All he wanted was meat! Mountains of meat!
"Hey! Anyone home!" Under Luffy's confused gaze, Rowan banged on the garden gate and shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Great-Grandpa, can't we find a tavern? What is there to eat in a tangerine orchard? We can't fill our stomachs with just fruit, can we?"
Rowan shot Luffy a sharp glare. "If you can produce a thousand Berris right now, I'll take you to a tavern for steak myself."
"Huh? Berris..." Luffy scratched his head. A thousand Berris wasn't a fortune, but he didn't have a single coin on him.
"You brat, you want a feast but have no money? Do you think you'll run into a situation like on the last island every time? Out here, it's not like Foosha Village. If you try to eat for free, you'll get a thrashing!"
"I guess we'll do it your way then," Luffy muttered, shutting his mouth.
But as he watched Rowan pounding on the gate, he couldn't help but think: How can we get full on just tangerines? It's all Great-Grandpa's fault for forgetting the money.
Great-Grandpa is so old... could he have that 'dementia' the adults in the village talk about? He actually forgot to bring money when leaving home. What if his condition gets worse in two years? Does that mean I won't be able to set sail because I have to stay and take care of him?
Luffy felt a sudden wave of anxiety. He desperately wanted to be a pirate, but he couldn't just leave his "aba-aba" senile Great-Grandpa alone in Foosha Village.
Rowan had no idea Luffy was mentally picturing him in a nursing home. He was simply waiting for the owner of the cottage to appear.
Inside the cottage.
Nojiko, who had been fast asleep at the table, bolted upright at the sound of the knocking. she sprinted to the door.
"You're back! Nami!"
However, when she threw the door open with joy, her face fell into disappointment at the sight of an old man and a youth standing there.
"Little girl, we haven't had a proper meal in days. Could you spare some food for a pair of travelers?"
"Haven't eaten in days?" Nojiko looked at them skeptically.
The pair looked incredibly strange. The old man, smiling at her with squinted eyes, looked full of energy—not at all like someone starving. If he claimed he could knock out an ox right now, Nojiko wouldn't doubt him for a second. The youth beside him, however, looked so drained and limp that she could believe he hadn't eaten in days.
Still, while they were just an old man and a teenager, was it wise for a lone girl to let two strange men into her house?
As Nojiko hesitated, the old man suddenly seized a moment when she was distracted and slipped past her into the cottage. In the blink of an eye, he was seated at the dining table. He even turned back to thank her. "Thank you so much, girl! If it weren't for your kindness, we might have met our end out at sea."
"Aah?! Great-Grandpa, how are you so fast! Wait for me!" Seeing Rowan dive in, Luffy assumed there was food waiting. He dashed in after him.
But when he saw a table with only a few tangerines and a kitchen with cold pots and pans, Luffy's spirit wilted again. He slumped onto the table, face down. "Meat... I want meat..."
It took Nojiko a long time to recover from the intrusion. She let out a helpless sigh. "Fine. But I don't have much food. I can only offer you one meal."
Rowan nodded with a smile. "That's plenty, girl. Just one meal is fine."
Nojiko nodded and went into the kitchen. Before long, she brought out some food. It wasn't the meat Luffy had been dreaming of—just some bread and a few simply heated sausages. In fact, these weren't even meat sausages; they were made of duck blood and starch, processed to have a faint meaty flavor. This was already considered "good" food in Cocoyasi Village. What Nojiko usually ate was far more meager; otherwise, she wouldn't be so thin.
Despite the lack of real meat, a starving Luffy began to bolt the food down. Rowan, by contrast, ate with a bit more decorum.
Nojiko stood by the table, watching Luffy stuff his face like a starving ghost. "Exactly how long has it been since you two ate?"
"I've lost count," Rowan said with a sigh.
Luffy didn't answer. Before they arrived, his Great-Grandpa had told him that when begging for food, he had to look as pathetic as possible to be successful.
"Where did you come from? Why travel so far?" Nojiko was confused. Why were an old man and a boy drifting at sea for so long?
After swallowing a piece of bread, Rowan said, "We're from Foosha Village in the Goa Kingdom. We've come here to take care of some business."
"Business?"
"Great-Grandpa said there's a group here called the Arlong Pirates. He's here to find those pirates," Luffy chimed in between bites.
"What did you say? The Arlong Pirates?!"
At the mention of the name, Nojiko instantly recoiled, her face turning into a mask of intense suspicion. "Who exactly are you?!"
Meanwhile. On the other side of the island.
At Arlong Park, the stronghold of the Arlong Pirates, two purple-skinned fish-men were chatting.
"Tsk, tsk. This is the life. Coming here with Arlong-san was the best decision I ever made. Back on Fish-Man Island, low-level fish-men like us could never dream of this. Right, Number Six?"
"Definitely. I'm never going back to Fish-Man District. It's either getting bullied by others or taking heat from the higher-ups."
"We've only taken twenty islands and it's this good. If we take over the whole East Blue, this place will be paradise!"
"Arlong-san said once our power is stable, we'll head back to Fish-Man District and bring all the brothers over. We'll take all the humans' land for ourselves!"
"Yeah! And the Sea God Row! Hmph, that old man Neptune always looks down his nose at us. I've hated him for years!"
"True, true. And Princess Shirahoshi... man, just thinking about her..."
"Oh, right. It's the first of the month. Enjoying ourselves is fine, but we can't forget the task Arlong-san gave us."
"How could I forget? Don't worry, I've got it all arranged. the boys are already out collecting the money."
Suddenly, the two stopped talking and looked out at the sea.
Glub... glub... glub...
A string of bubbles rose from the depths. The fish-man called Number Six looked confused. "Hey, did any of the brothers go for a dive today?"
"No..." The other fish-man scratched his head with a squid tentacle. "It's the start of the month. Everyone is in the villages collecting tribute. No one has time to be in the water."
"Maybe it's a new recruit Arlong-san called in?"
As they debated, the surface of the water suddenly erupted. A dark shadow leaped out of the sea.
Clack-thud.
The crisp sound of wooden geta hitting the deck reached their ears. When the two fish-men saw the face of the newcomer, their expressions froze in shock.
"Jinbe-san?!"
In the hearts of the fish-man race—especially those from Fish-Man District—the man with the highest prestige wasn't King Neptune. Neptune was the King, but to the hundred thousand fish-men at the bottom of society, "First Son of the Sea" Jinbe was the true leader.
Jinbe was not only a powerful pirate with a bounty over 400 million, but he was also the second captain of the Sun Pirates, succeeding the legendary Fisher Tiger. Tiger's bounty had only been 230 million; Jinbe's was nearly double that!
Even though Jinbe had recently accepted the World Government's summons to become a Shichibukai—leading many to whisper that he was a traitor to their race—his status on Fish-Man Island remained transcendent.
Seeing Jinbe leap onto the deck, the two fish-men didn't know how to react.
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