"U-hee-hee… When I went to buy a backpack, there was a bookstore next to it," Carina said, lips curling up as she smiled at El."So I just went in to see if there were any books I liked, and then I saw this magazine—so I bought it."
She looked at him proudly."What's more, after I bought it, I heard Nii-san's decision."
"This magazine is a real-time ranking published by the biggest newspaper in the East Blue. They record the pirates in the East Blue every month and rank them."
"In here, there's not only a list of newly famous pirate crews, but also a list of powerful pirates whose bounties are close to—or have already broken through—ten million Belly…"
She paused for a moment, then continued:
"Some of the strong pirates are very mysterious. The magazine only has their names; some don't even have photos. It's pretty crazy."
"In other words, these guys are able to block information about themselves. So even the largest newspaper in the East Blue doesn't know where their crews are based. They only know that their reputation is so loud that the entire East Blue has heard of them."
After saying that, Carina snatched the magazine from Nami's hands, flipped to a certain page, pointed at the first profile, and said:
"For example, this guy—Arlong. He and his crew are all fishmen. Rumor has it they came from the New World."
"It took them less than half a year to become the strongest new pirate group in the East Blue this season, and Arlong became the fastest pirate to break past a ten-million Belly bounty."
"They say he's already somewhere in the East Blue, ruling over a place he calls the 'Arlong Empire.' But since there's no photo or other clear intel, we don't know if that information is reliable or not."
"Still, pirates like Arlong who stay low-key are relatively rare in the East Blue. Most of the rest are idiots who crave fame and don't realize how dangerous it is once their location is exposed…"
Carina was speaking smoothly and confidently, but she didn't notice that the moment she mentioned the name Arlong, Nami's body stiffened slightly.
At the same time, a vicious hatred—utterly out of place on the face of an eight-year-old girl—twisted her expression for a brief instant.
That hatred echoed clearly through El's ability.
It had been less than half a year since Nami's adoptive mother was killed.
This point in time was when her hatred burned at its strongest.
What made it worse was that Arlong had not yet fully revealed his true strength, still towering in Nami's mind as an invincible monster.
Nami wanted Arlong dead. Every moment of every day.
The reason she had clung to El's thigh without hesitation was because, in him, she saw not only the hope of one day earning 100 million Belly, but also the hope of killing Arlong and saving her village.
If she had understood what El's power meant in this world—if she'd fully realized how high he stood—even with her gentle nature, molded by the people of Cocoyasi Village, she might have already begged him for help.
El knew all of this.
But he did not offer help on his own.
Because instead of relying on others, it was better to rely on herself.
When El recruited Carina and Nami, he never intended for them to be mere decorations.
If they were just pretty vases that could only watch from the sidelines—or worse, become burdens—then even if their auras didn't disgust him, El, knowing how dangerous this world truly was, would rather sail alone.
That was for their sake… and his own.
He had recruited them because he believed they had potential worth cultivating.
Even though El had forgotten a lot of minor details from One Piece, those were all trivial bits.
The important main events, and the scenes that had left a deep impression on him—those he had never forgotten. And after being reborn into this world, they were engraved even deeper into his memory.
If he remembered correctly, around this point in time, there was another Devil Fruit—one of the strongest types—lying unclaimed on an island somewhere in the East Blue.
(Want to guess which one?)
Carina and Nami were only eight years old. El himself was only eight.
He wasn't in any hurry to rush into the Grand Line. His plan was to find some time to take Nami and Carina to that island, locate that Devil Fruit…
…and then give it to Nami.
So she could take revenge on Arlong with her own hands.
To avenge someone by yourself… was far better than asking someone else to do it for you.
Only by personally striking down the source of her hatred could Nami's heart undergo that kind of "butterfly-like" transformation—
A crucial step for awakening Haki in this world.
Because of that, El had already decided:
He would never kill Arlong for Nami.
"…Looks like I've found a treasure," El said, pretending not to see the change on Nami's face. He raised his thumb toward Carina and praised her cheerfully.
His admiration for Carina was genuine.
With such advanced thinking, she truly didn't seem like an eight-year-old child.
Seeing Carina, El couldn't help but think of Nico Robin, the thinker of the original Straw Hat Pirates, who carried a 79 million Belly bounty at eight years old and spent twenty years fleeing around the world.
Of course, the reason Robin could become the Straw Hat crew's chief strategist was that by then she was already twenty-eight.
Twenty years of being hunted had given Nico Robin an overwhelming wealth of experience—far beyond what Carina, a child from the "weakest sea," could have.
Even so, Carina was a natural-born tactician.
Her exceptionally flexible mind—like her unique laugh—was a talent bestowed on her by the world itself.
Thinking of that, El became even more determined:
Once he found that unclaimed Devil Fruit, Nami would be the one to eat it.
And as for Carina, he would find a Devil Fruit that truly suited her.
"U-hee-hee…"
Carina had no idea what El was planning.
After being praised by her Nii-san just as she'd hoped, the clever girl felt a deep sense of satisfaction.
When she had teamed up with Nami before, Carina had always been the one in command.
Unlike Nami—who bore the heavy responsibility of saving her village—Carina carried no such burden.
She had chosen the path of a thief simply because she lacked strength and could only rely on her wits to survive.
In her heart, there was a kind of confidence and pride that Nami did not yet possess.