"..."
Nami stared at the warrant in a daze, completely petrified.
Shano and Nojiko were silent, sympathetically patting her shoulder.
After just two pats, the two exchanged a glance, then turned their heads simultaneously, bodies trembling slightly as they held back their laughter.
"Meow?"
Glutinous Rice Cake got interested, climbed onto Nami's head, lying on top, tilting its head to carefully examine the warrant featuring itself.
"Meow~"
Glutinous Rice Cake nodded in satisfaction, extending its tail to tap the photo, as if to say—"Look, how photogenic I am!"
"..."
A hashtag slowly appeared on Nami's forehead.
She took a deep breath, trying hard to suppress the anger about to explode, but her voice still trembled uncontrollably:
"Glutinous Rice… Cake…"
"Get down here!!!"
She reached up to grab Glutinous Rice Cake on her head, but the little guy was quick, swiftly rolling away, jumping onto her shoulder, blinking innocently.
"Meow?"
"Stop playing dumb!"
Nami ground her teeth, "Why is all my credit being taken by you?! So, are you the Flame-Flame Fruit Ability User, and are you worth a hundred million Belly? Are all those Navy Headquarters bastards blind?!"
Finally caught, Glutinous Rice Cake had its cheeks constantly deformed by Nami's hands, feeling wronged and teary-eyed.
Ah Yin, lying by the railing, wagged its tail cheerfully, watching this scene with glee.
Heh heh, it's great, now I'm finally not the one suffering all this.
What's Brother Silver so smug about?
Shano couldn't stand it anymore and gave Ah Yin a kick, sending it overboard.
"There's no point in explaining so much to it, it doesn't understand anyway."
Shano rescued Glutinous Rice Cake from Nami's hands, cheerfully placing it on top of his head, "See, you usually let it stick to you all the time, rarely separating, so the Navy probably thought the flames that day came from it."
"So, the Navy mistook Glutinous Rice Cake for a flamethrower, and you're the one holding the handle."
Smoker exhaled a smoke ring, speaking softly, "Tsk, a cat tree, huh…"
"Go to hell, Smoker!"
Thud!
Nami, unable to bear it, punched Smoker on the head.
Smoker suddenly had a bruised and swollen face, his cigar flying out. He covered the swollen bump in disbelief:
"This doesn't make sense, how did you hit me without using Haki?"
"Didn't I tell you that fire restrains smoke!"
Nami clapped her hands, feeling much better after venting, but when she saw her warrant still listing just eighty thousand bounty, her face fell again.
"There's still a chance."
Nami held the warrant, walking to the bow of the ship, gazing firmly at the distant sea, "There's definitely still a chance, in the next battle, I'll definitely prove…"
Prove what?!
Nami suddenly tore the warrant to shreds, scattering it into the sea, shouting through tears:
"There's no next time! I'll never care about warrants again!"
Just you wait, Navy Headquarters!!!
Sooner or later, I'll personally follow my brother to Marinfanto, turning the entire harbor into a blazing sea of flames, let's see if you can still mistake my ability!
"This grudge… has already broken through the stratosphere."
Everyone looking at the orange-haired figure ahead instinctively shivered.
It seems wise not to provoke her too much in the coming days.
"By the way, Smoker," Nojiko turned to ask, "what's your bounty? We skipped over it directly, and you haven't mentioned it yet."
"It went up a little."
Smoker withdrew his gaze from Nami's back, glancing at the warrant in his hand, "It's a hundred and sixty million now."
"Damn it, it's still so much more than mine!" Nojiko fumed, asking, "What about Uncle Zeff and Sister Robin?"
"Like Ah Yin, old Zeff's bounty hasn't changed, after all, he didn't make a move that day, which makes sense, as for Robin…"
Smoker rifled through the warrants, raising an eyebrow in surprise, "…Strange, it seems there's no mention of her."
"None? How is that possible?"
Nojiko, unwilling to accept it, searched for a while herself, but indeed found nothing.
"It's plausible,"
Smoker pondered, "After all, Robin didn't act that day, and because she was in the desert, she wore a local-style sunhat and sunglasses the whole time, probably unrecognized by reporters, so Navy Headquarters wouldn't know Robin was on our ship."
Robin sipped her coffee, her gaze calm, saying nothing.
"What is it, are you thinking, oh, as expected, I'm still not considered part of this ship, but it's better this way, at least someone with a dark past like mine won't burden these guys."
Shano sat down across from her at the round table, laughing:
"Relax, it won't be a secret for long. I'm actually curious about the expression on the World Government's face when they find out you're on my ship, no matter how frustrated they might be, there's nothing they can do."
"..."
Robin's fingertips trembled slightly, the black coffee rippling.
She looked up at Shano, wanting to refute him, but ultimately found herself speechless.
Clearly, she'd always been the one hiding silently, observing others.
But this black-haired boy who brought her aboard, always seemed to effortlessly see through her careful thoughts.