Just as Tom carried Nami out of the Arlong Pirates' stronghold, Luffy and Sanji—along with Yosaku—officially set sail from the Baratie for Cocoyashi Village, having defeated the "Strongest in the East," Don Krieg.
Yosaku, who had been clamped in the shark's jaws, was carried by the charging shark all the way to the Baratie, where he was luckily rescued by Luffy and the others.
Yosaku then told Luffy that the place Nami went was terrifying and needed his help. Thus, Luffy also decided to head for Cocoyashi Village.
And Sanji had finally made up his mind to join the Straw Hat crew, setting out to sea to find the legendary "All Blue," an ocean that gathered ingredients from all four seas.
Initially, Sanji was unwilling to leave, wanting to repay Chef Zeff's kindness. But Zeff and the other Baratie cooks used every means to make him pursue his dream.
First, they all banded together to isolate Sanji. Second, they said his cooking was terrible. Third, they picked fights with him.
Understanding Zeff's intentions, Sanji finally made his decision. At the moment of farewell, Sanji initially wanted to leave without saying goodbye.
But Zeff couldn't help saying something that seemed extremely ordinary: "Don't catch a cold."
Hearing this, Sanji could no longer maintain a cold expression. Hot tears finally streamed from his eyes. He turned, knelt toward Zeff, and kowtowed heavily, shouting with extreme gratitude:
"Thank you… for taking care of me for so long! I'll never forget this kindness in my life!"
A person's life has many farewells. Some choose to leave silently. Others loudly vent their inner emotions, crying freely. Sanji chose the latter.
With Sanji's joining, the Straw Hat crew's members, counting Nami, now numbered six.
As Luffy and Sanji, guided by Yosaku, headed for the Grand Line, Tom carried Nami to a small grove of trees.
When Tom was taking Nami away from the Arlong Pirates' base, to Tom's surprise, she actually shouted to the fish-men: "Save me!"
At first glance, it seemed Nami was being taken completely unwillingly by Tom, calling for help from the fish-men.
But Tom also noticed that when Nami shouted that, she actively hugged him, holding on tightly.
So whether Nami's "Save me!" was meant for Tom or was a real cry to the fish-men, only she knew clearly.
After leaving the stronghold, Tom quickly hoisted Nami onto his back and ran at full speed, taking advantage of the fish-men's shock at his line-swinging escape.
"Put me down. What do you think you're doing?" Seeing the wound on Tom's right shoulder still bleeding, Nami's tone unconsciously softened.
When she first saw Tom and Zoro covered in bandages, she thought, like Zoro said, they just had no clothes and used bandages as a substitute. She hadn't realized they were truly covered in injuries.
This puzzled Nami. When she left the Baratie, she clearly saw Tom gaining the upper hand against Don Krieg. So where did all these wounds come from?
Unfortunately, Nami didn't know that most of Tom's current injuries were left by Mihawk.
Mihawk's attack had left many deep, though not fatal, sword wounds on Tom and Luffy that weren't easy to heal.
"I'm annoyed. Don't ask stupid questions. Can't you really see what I'm doing? I'm protecting you!" Tom said to Nami on his back.
"You shouldn't have come for me. Put me down. I can handle those things myself." Nami pressed her lips together, hesitated for a long time before speaking.
"Woman, is your brain sick? Handle what? Handle nothing!" Tom, already furious, swore at Nami for the first time.
"You idiot, what gives you the right to scold me like that? Don't you know acting so recklessly could get you killed anytime!"
Hearing Tom scold her, Nami, who had been thinking of being gentle, instantly reverted to her true nature.
He's covered in wounds yet dared to come alone to Arlong's base for me. Isn't that seeking death?
Nami also understood why Zoro was easily captured by the fish-men—likely because of his wounds.
Part of Nami's lack of confidence in Tom stemmed from seeing Zoro, of similar strength, captured. Tom alone would likely be in grave danger.
Plus, Zoro was still in the fish-men's hands. If they learned Zoro and Tom were crewmates, and Arlong used Zoro to threaten Tom, they'd be finished.
Nami clearly remembered the events at Shells Town. Then, Captain Morgan and his son Helmeppo used hostages to threaten Tom. If Luffy hadn't jumped out in time, those people wouldn't be alive now.
You don't have such good luck every time, someone coming to save you at the critical moment.
That's why Nami wanted Tom to leave the Arlong Pirates' base quickly, even attacking him to drive him away, so she could later find a chance to free Zoro.
Nami could determine Tom didn't know Zoro was captured for a simple reason: throughout the entire time at the base, Tom never mentioned Zoro's name.
If Tom really knew Zoro was captured, Nami estimated he would have shouted outside the stone gate:
"Nami, I came to find you! Are you in there? Zoro, I came to save you!"
It could be said Nami understood Tom quite well.
But Nami hadn't expected Tom to take her with him when he left, and to smash Arlong with a rod. This made her very uneasy.
Tom first punched Arlong hard, then hit him with a rod—it could be said he had made an enemy of him. If they met again, how much fighting strength could the already wounded Tom muster?
Nami felt uneasy. She just wanted Tom to escape from here, escape from Cocoyashi Village. As long as Arlong couldn't find him, he'd be safe.
Regarding her own affairs, Nami still held great hope of solving them herself. She was almost done collecting 100 million Berries. With that money, she and her village could gain freedom from Arlong's control.
Eight years ago, Arlong made an agreement with Nami: if she brought him 100 million Berries, he would grant her and Cocoyashi Village freedom.
According to Arlong, when it came to money-related agreements, he would honor them even to death. In these eight years, Nami indeed hadn't seen Arlong violate any money-related promises, and so chose to believe him.
There was no other choice. Nami and her village lacked the strength to oppose Arlong. Even the Navy couldn't handle him. So Nami could only choose to believe Arlong. It was a helpless situation, but at least it gave her hope for the future.
"Listen, woman. I'd rather die than live without dignity like you do!" Tom said to Nami on his back.
"That filthy fish insulted you like that. You were clearly angry and unwilling, and you could still endure it? The you I knew before wasn't like this. What are you afraid of? Or have you become a masochist who likes being scolded?"
"You big idiot! You don't understand anything at all!" Nami was truly provoked by Tom's words.
Being with Arlong these eight years—haven't I suffered enough humiliation?
Being with the person who killed her mother, forcing a smile every day, using her best skills to work for him—this was already the greatest humiliation in the world. How many people could endure it?
But Nami endured it. Clinging to that faint hope, she persevered for eight years. Such mental toughness was beyond ordinary people.
Looking at Tom carrying her forward, remembering his words, Nami felt her nose sting, overwhelmed with grievance. In her anger, she bit down hard on Tom's neck.
"WAAAH!!!" Tom felt a sharp pain from his neck. "What are you doing, you vampire? Let go!"
"Because I don't understand anything, that's exactly why I can't let that filthy fish keep bullying you! Do you even understand?!" Tom seriously suspected Nami was part dog, biting him so hard.
"I don't understand, and I don't want to! Put me down, or I'll beat you up!" Nami saw the clear bite marks she left on Tom's neck, froze for a moment, her face inexplicably reddened, but quickly said coldly.
"What an unreasonable woman!" Tom stopped. Seeing they were in a small grove, temporarily safe, he put Nami down from his back.
"Ah!!!" As Tom set her down, Nami's foot just touched the ground, and she let out a cry of pain.
"What's wrong?" Tom turned to see Nami was barefoot. Apparently, when set down, she stepped on something sharp and pricked her foot.
"You really are stupid. Why didn't you wear shoes when running away?" As soon as Tom said this, the fed-up Nami punched his head.
"It's all your fault, you idiot!"
In fact, Nami wasn't wearing shoes precisely because of Tom.
When rescuing Zoro from the seawater pool, Nami had taken off her shoes before jumping in. Before she could put them back on, Tom showed up.
Then things happened too fast. Before Nami could put her shoes on, Tom forcibly took her away.
Seeing the grove floor had many sharp objects, Tom picked Nami up, found a patch of soft grass, and sat down.
Then neither spoke. Nami was thinking, while Tom sat with his back facing her, doing who knew what.
The wind blew gently. Nami, calming down, carefully recalled everything that happened. She realized that when Tom took her from the Arlong Pirates' base, she felt an unprecedented lightness inside. It was just that Tom's words were too irritating, preventing her mood from improving.
Sitting on the grass, Nami glanced at Tom's back several times. She sighed softly, just about to quietly leave to return to Arlong and rescue Zoro.
But as she tried to stand, Tom grabbed her foot and slipped a straw sandal onto it.
"See? The straw sandal I made fits perfectly." Tom saw the sandal fit Nami's foot neither big nor small, just right, and said with satisfaction.
"You can make these?" Nami saw the sandal looked somewhat rough on the outside but felt quite comfortable to wear. Her heavy mood lightened, and a smile unconsciously appeared on her pretty face.
"Of course. I learned as a kid." Tom said proudly.
"I knew a stingy woman would have small feet. So any one I made would fit you."
Nami's face darkened. She had been about to sincerely thank Tom, but now she wanted nothing more than to beat him into a pig's head.
Many women have small feet. By your logic, are they all stingy? You super blockhead!
Nami took a deep breath, calming herself, forcibly suppressing the urge to beat someone up. Her beautiful eyebrows furrowed, and she asked Tom curiously:
"What are those striped things on the sandal? Snakes?"
"I'm glad you have the courage to call them snakes." Tom scratched his head and smiled at Nami.
"I originally wanted to weave a butterfly from grass on the sandal; it might look better. But I couldn't make a butterfly shape no matter what, so I gave up."
"So you weaved a snake on this sandal? That's ugly. Normally, women don't like snakes, right?" Nami said, her forehead full of black lines.
"Yeah, so I didn't make a snake. Those striped things on your sandal are actually earthworms." Tom told Nami.
"You and Usopp are both so timid. Putting a snake on your sandal would scare you to death. See? I care about you, okay? But no need to thank me. Hahahaha!"
Hearing Tom's words, Nami's face completely darkened.
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T/N :
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