"This place… looks like a Marine Lieutenant Commander's room!"
Seeing the Marine uniform hanging neatly on the wall, Red pondered aloud.
Although it couldn't compare to Colonel Nezumi's office, both the decor and furnishings of this room were still refined and rather luxurious.
It was clearly the quarters of someone with a certain status within the base.
However, Nami seemed as though she hadn't heard Red's reminder at all.
Her eyes filled with confusion as she walked straight toward the long sword before her. Only when she firmly grasped the blade did that faint, itching throb in her heart finally fade away.
And in the very next second, delight burst across Nami's face.
Because that sensation—she knew it well.
It was just that this was the first time she had ever felt it in the real world!
So…
A thought flashed through her mind, and Nami immediately turned toward Red.
But before she could speak, Red beat her to it instead.
"Congratulations, Nami!"
"It looks like your Pickup Ability is even stronger here than it was in the Pokémon world."
Clearly, the strange state Nami had just entered was the result of her Pickup Ability activating.
What Red hadn't expected, though, was that an Ability which merely let her occasionally pick up items in the game world…
Had turned into something like a treasure radar after arriving in reality.
A gleam of excitement flashed through Red's eyes as he smacked his lips in satisfaction.
No wonder Nami's Ability had never reacted before—she'd been staying on the Going Merry all this time, never encountering any treasures at all!
"Just as I thought—it is Pickup!" Nami exclaimed with sparkling eyes, grinning.
She grabbed a lightning-patterned scabbard from the sword rack—its style matching the blade—and smoothly sheathed the long sword before handing it to Red.
"This is the first time I've ever picked up a treasure…"
"Later, let Zoro take a good look and judge this sword's quality!"
"No problem." Red smiled faintly. "A blade stored like this has to have a name to it."
"Mm-hmm!"
Nami nodded enthusiastically.
She didn't use swords, nor did she understand them, but that did nothing to diminish her thrill and excitement.
Pickup Ability?! Treasure radar?!
She absolutely loved the Pokémon world!!!
If she weren't afraid of being misunderstood by the always gentle, big-brother-like Red, Nami would've hugged him and kissed him on the spot!
After securing the sword, the two of them continued searching the room, uncovering several million Beli along with various pieces of incriminating evidence related to Colonel Nezumi. Then they resumed exploring the Marine base.
Sometimes, betrayal really does come from those closest to you.
No one knew what that Lieutenant Commander had been thinking, but he had secretly taken a large number of photos documenting Colonel Nezumi's collusion with the Arlong Pirates.
It saved Red and the others an enormous amount of trouble.
...
...
The commotion at the Marine base didn't last long.
By the time Red and Nami had finished sorting through everything they wanted, Luffy's group had already defeated all the Marine soldiers.
At that moment, the entire base had fallen eerily silent.
Soon after, the Straw Hat crew returned to the Going Merry, each person carrying a massive sack of treasure, laughing and chatting all the way.
The lightweight sailboat changed course and set off once more toward Cocoyasi Village.
Having finished the job, they departed quietly, hiding both themselves and their names.
...
...
Moments later, inside the Going Merry's storage hold.
Watching piles of Beli and glittering jewels spill from sack after sack and quickly form a small mountain, Luffy let out an excited shout:
"Shishishi~! There's so much treasure!"
Despite having little interest in money itself, Luffy couldn't contain his joy at such a massive haul from their very first group operation as pirates. He bounced around like a kid on sugar.
But just as he reached out for a golden crown, Nami's Clima-Tact snapped through the air and smacked his hand aside.
"Stop messing around! I'm organizing our spoils!"
At some point, Nami had put on a pair of glasses. She wore a white, tight-fitting top that accentuated her curvy figure perfectly.
After chasing the captain away, she returned to her notebook, jotting down figures with intense focus.
As time went on, the golden light in Nami's eyes only grew brighter, even piercing through the lenses like searchlights shining over the jewels.
Meanwhile—
Red took the long sword Nami had picked up and went to find Zoro.
"Here, Zoro. Take a look at this sword."
Clang!
Red casually tossed the blade over.
Zoro froze in surprise when called over so suddenly.
But the instant his hands wrapped around the hilt, a flash of lightning burst through his eyes.
"This sword…"
Slash!
It was as if a bolt of lightning cut through the air.
In Red's hands, the blade had merely been handsome. In Zoro's grip, its presence transformed completely.
Just watching the way Zoro drew it, Red felt a wave of danger wash over him.
Clang!
The sharp blade slid free.
In an instant, the lightning-shaped patterns along the sword came alive, blooming with fierce blue electricity!
Of course, this wasn't due to any special ability of the blade itself.
It was simply the visual effect produced by the stimulation of Zoro's sword intent and Pokémon energy.
After playing with it for quite some time, Zoro finally sheathed the sword, grinning broadly as he praised it:
"A good sword!"
"I can feel it—this blade has a natural affinity with lightning!"
"Using sword techniques combined with Thunderbolt, their intimidation power would increase by at least twenty percent!"
"That strong?!" Red blinked in surprise, then laughed. "Then it really is an excellent sword!"
"Now I'm just curious whether it's reached the ranks of a Ryō Wazamono."
There were countless fine blades in the world.
But the ones truly remembered by swordsmen were only the Fifty Skillful Grade Blades, the Twenty-One Great Grade Blades, and the Twelve Supreme Grade Blades!
Anything else, no matter how well-crafted, merely fell under the general category of fine swords.
"Whether it's a Ryō Wazamono or not, it suits me perfectly," Zoro said with satisfaction.
He removed the long sword he had picked up from the Arlong Empire and replaced it with this lightning blade at his waist.
At that moment, Nami finally finished tallying up their total haul. She suddenly let out a piercing scream that drew everyone's attention.
"T–Twelve hundred million Beli!!!"
"Oh my god!!!"
"What? 1.2 billion Beli?!"
"From all the treasure we carried back?!"
Nami's shout instantly pulled everyone over.
Even Usopp, who was steering next door, and Sanji, who had been preparing lunch, hurried into the storage hold.
Nami held up her notebook with trembling hands.
Although she'd estimated beforehand that it might exceed one billion Beli, seeing the actual total still left her stunned.
Not long ago, she had been struggling desperately to scrape together the 100 million Beli demanded by the Arlong Pirates.
And now, she was in charge of an amount this terrifying.
This was… like a damn dream.
"With this money, we can buy better cannons and make more ammo!" Usopp muttered excitedly.
Sanji also lit up, calculating whether they could stock higher-grade ingredients on the Going Merry—and maybe upgrade his kitchen tools while they were at it.
Zoro subconsciously glanced at the single ordinary sword left at his waist and thought:
"A decent fine blade only costs a bit over a million Beli…"
"With this much money, Nami won't possibly begrudge that, right?"
"And if she does… I'll just have Red help plead my case!"
"A banquet! A banquet! Guys, let's throw a party!!!"
Though he had no real sense of what 1.2 billion Beli meant, Luffy threw his arms wide and shouted with joy, swept up by his friends' excitement.
His suggestion was immediately met with unanimous approval.
And just like that, what was supposed to be a normal lunch turned into an all-out celebration feast.
Sanji, the Straw Hats' only cook, bustled back and forth nonstop, a bright smile never leaving his face.
But where there is joy, there is also trouble.
While the Straw Hat crew laughed, ate hotpot, sang songs, and enjoyed life on the seas…
Inside the ruined Marine Branch 16.
The base's deputy officer, having just awakened from unconsciousness, had already connected to a Den Den Mushi and was shouting himself hoarse:
"Hello?! Is this Marine Headquarters?!"
"I have an urgent situation to report!!!"
Thank you all for your continued support with your votes!!!I'm out at the moment—will thank everyone one by one in the next chapter!!!
(End of Chapter)