Sitting on the grass, Nami hugged her knees, staring blankly at the straw sandals on her feet.
Just as Tom was about to ask the dazed Nami beside him to explain her connection to the fish-men, he sensed numerous people approaching their area.
"Shh!" Tom grabbed Nami's hand, made a silencing gesture, and whispered, "People are coming. Let's hide."
And so, Tom led Nami into a nearby thicket.
Nami looked at Tom crouching beside her, her heart in turmoil. On one hand, she finally had a chance to be alone with Tom and wanted to stay with him longer. On the other, she wanted to return quickly to find a chance to rescue Zoro and see what action Arlong and the others would take.
Even though Tom's words could be incredibly irritating at times, Nami, who knew him quite well, had a coping method: a solid punch, and her mood would become refreshed.
"Judging by that human's escape direction, he likely went to Cocoyashi Village. If anything happens to Nami now that she's been taken, it would be a significant loss for us."
"I never trusted her much when she joined us eight years ago. I don't care if she lives or dies." A fish-man with protruding lips and another with fin-like cartilage on his elbows walked by, talking, followed by several other fish-men.
"Nami can't die yet. I still need her to draw sea charts of the entire world for me." Arlong, walking at the front, turned to the fish-men behind him. "Listen up! This time, besides properly punishing those lowly humans for hiding weapons, search the surrounding area thoroughly. Find that guy who dared invade our territory! I'll kill him with my own hands!"
Nami, hiding in the bushes with Tom, heard the grim killing intent in Arlong's tone. She glanced sideways at Tom beside her, her face turning deathly pale.
Tom, peeking through the gaps in the bushes, watched the fish-men swagger past on the main path not far away, thinking about what to do next.
Glancing inadvertently at Nami, he saw her face was extremely pale. He was about to ask what was wrong when he saw a colorful snake, flicking its crimson tongue, crawl to her feet.
Tom suddenly understood, thinking Nami was pale from fear of being bitten.
Hmm, she's not as timid as I imagined. At this critical moment, she can remain calm under pressure. To avoid discovery, she restrained herself from screaming. I really underestimated her before.
Next time I make her straw sandals, I should put a big snake design on them. That might make her jump around happily for days.
Thinking this, Tom looked at Nami with an expression full of admiration. The snake had crawled onto her foot, and she only changed expression slightly. For the sake of the bigger picture, she made no sudden movement. Such courage was truly no less than a man's.
Why is this idiot staring at me like that? Nami saw Tom staring intensely at her with admiration, which felt inexplicable. Has his brain finally clicked, realizing my charm?
Before Nami could think further, she felt something cold brush against her foot. She slowly looked down and saw a snake that had crawled onto her foot, swaying its head and constantly flicking its tongue at her.
The snake was brightly colored with a triangular head—clearly highly venomous. Nami was immediately scared out of her wits.
What made it worse was she seemed to see another snake crawling over from the side.
Tom, watching Nami, saw her face change abruptly upon seeing the snake. Her body moved, mouth opening—clearly about to scream.
Tom hurriedly covered Nami's mouth and nose, preventing any sound. If the not-yet-distant fish-men discovered them, it would be troublesome.
But while tossing the snake from Nami's foot, Tom didn't notice another venomous snake, colored like the bushes, leap out and bite his right hand, leaving two distinct fang marks.
At first, Tom was a bit worried about the bite, but he felt no physical discomfort and didn't pay it much mind.
A while later, after the fish-men were all far away, Tom breathed a sigh of relief. He said to Nami, whose mouth and nose he still covered, "Good thing I covered your mouth in time. Otherwise, it would have been bad."
Silence. Nami gave no response. Tom found it very strange and checked on her. The result shocked Tom greatly.
"Nami! What's wrong?!" Tom panicked as he picked up the breathless Nami, leaped from the bushes to a clearing, and desperately shook the unconscious Nami. "Hey, wake up! You're not going to die, are you?"
Placing his fingers under Nami's small, straight nose, he felt no breathing at all. Tom was so shocked his jaw almost dropped, completely stunned.
Did I cover her mouth and nose too tightly and suffocate her? That can't be. It wasn't even a full minute. She couldn't have suffocated so fast.
Tom felt his mind go completely blank. Moments ago, he was thinking how to help Nami. Now, she seemed dead in his arms, apparently because of him. What kind of situation is this?
It must be said, at this moment, Tom was shocked beyond belief.
He shook his head forcefully several times, looked at the seemingly lifeless Nami, took a deep breath, and forcibly calmed himself.
Nami must be savable. Even if she's not breathing, it's only been a minute or so. She can't die that easily.
Staring at the motionless Nami in his arms, Tom grew increasingly anxious. He didn't know Nami hadn't suffocated from him covering her mouth and nose.
When Nami saw the venomous snake on her foot, she was overly frightened. Before she could catch her breath, Tom tightly covered her mouth and nose, causing her to pass out from holding her breath.
"That's right! CPR! I need to give her CPR now!" A lightbulb went off in Tom's mind; he immediately had an idea.
A man of action as always, Tom pried open Nami's mouth and began administering CPR without hesitation.
Several minutes later, Nami groggily woke up. Opening her eyes, she saw Tom leaning in as if to kiss her mouth. She was instantly petrified.
The first thought that popped into Nami's mind was to punch the guy into next week. The second was that she must be dreaming.
Fresh from an unconscious state, Nami's mind was completely chaotic.
What is he doing?
How dare he?
He actually dares!
Feeling the warmth of another person on her lips, Nami's newly cleared eyes widened abruptly. Her breathing stopped, both hands clenched tightly, and sweat unknowingly formed in her palms.
Remembering she and Tom had been mouth-to-mouth several times before, Nami sighed inwardly. Along with inner bitterness, a trace of sweetness quietly surfaced. These complex emotions intertwined, leaving her at a loss, wanting only to forget all worries.
Forget it. It's not our first time. Consider it a final farewell keepsake.
Nami slowly closed her eyes, thinking that if the guy dared take further advantage, she would immediately jump up and beat him to death.
"What's going on? I've done it dozens of times, nearly a hundred. Why does she seem completely unresponsive? Am I not doing it forcefully enough? Or is her mouth too small, making it ineffective?" Tom looked depressed at the tightly closed-eyed Nami in his arms. He'd given her nearly a hundred rounds of CPR. Why wasn't she waking up? It puzzled him greatly.
What?! Nami was shocked internally upon hearing Tom. So he had already kissed her so many times? And from his words, he wanted to do it more forcefully? And he dared to complain her mouth was small? This guy was courting death!
Learning this fact, Nami's face instantly turned red, her heart filled with both shame and anger, fists clenched tightly.
Nami, who thought it was only once, was completely enraged.
Under Tom's astonished gaze, Nami suddenly opened her eyes wide and glared at him like lightning.
Before Tom could cry out in joy at Nami coming back to life, her face flushed like sunset clouds, she sprang up rapidly, raised her fist, and gave him a brutal beating.
Smack! Thud! Wham! Bang! Pow! Clang!
With her face red with shame, Nami kept punching, angrily saying, "What do you take me for?! Taking advantage of me when I wasn't paying attention like that! Don't you think you've gone too far?! I clearly, I clearly to you—"
Before Nami could finish, the bruised and battered Tom said, "Sorry. I did accidentally slip my tongue into your mouth a few times. Really sorry. I didn't do it on purpose."
Such things occasionally happened during CPR. Tom thought it was perfectly normal and said so quite frankly.
Hearing Tom, Nami was instantly dumbfounded. According to him, hadn't she and this guy engaged in some rather intimate kissing?
"Go die!" Nami punched Tom flat on the ground, then covered her face in shame and ran away at top speed. She wished she could stuff Tom into a crack in the ground so she'd never see him again to avoid embarrassment.
"What's with that woman? I went through so much trouble to save her, and she throws a tantrum." Tom climbed up from the ground, watching Nami's gradually receding slender figure, saying unhappily. "What an idiot!"
"Find a safe place to hide! I'll come find you soon!" Tom shouted at Nami's retreating back. He'd never seen Nami run so fast and didn't know if she heard him.
Why would you come find me? To bully me like that again? Don't ever come looking for me again! Nami deliberately made a detour, not running directly toward the Arlong Pirates' base. Otherwise, Tom would surely chase her. That's why she did this.
Tom saw Nami didn't respond but noticed she wasn't heading for Arlong's base. He didn't think much of it.
Now, the most important thing was to follow those fish-men. Weren't they heading in Usopp's direction?
Tom felt it was necessary to check what Arlong and his group intended to do and was a bit worried Usopp might clash with them.
With Nami not by his side, it was actually more convenient for him to act alone.
But after taking only a few steps forward, Tom felt a wave of dizziness, his whole body weak, muscles aching. He couldn't stand steady and fell to the ground.
What the… Since when were Nami's punches so strong? A few hits, and I can't even stand. This can't be a joke, right?
Tom lay weakly on the ground. It was indeed the first time Nami had ever beaten him this badly, but it shouldn't have left him like someone seriously ill, as if on the verge of death.
Nami probably never dreamed that a remark she made in anger to Tom would almost come true.
Nearly ten minutes later, Tom still lay on the ground, his face turning dark. He now understood this was due to the earlier bite from the dark green venomous snake. He hadn't expected the venom to lie dormant in his body for minutes before suddenly erupting, catching him off guard.
Meanwhile, Luffy and the others, sailing toward Cocoyashi Village and eating Sanji's food on the boat, encountered the giant Sea Cow Mohmoo, which Tom had punched flying earlier.
Elsewhere, the now calmed-down Nami had taken advantage of Arlong's absence, snuck back to the Arlong Pirates' base, and freed Zoro.
As for Tom, lying on the ground with his entire skin turning black, he could clearly feel his life force slowly slipping away. His vitality was steadily weakening.
Hmm, this is troublesome. If this continues, I'll die!
Tom had never imagined he could be pushed into a desperate situation by a mere venomous snake.
Gathering the last bit of strength in his body, Tom clenched the dirt on the ground, rolled over, propped himself up with one hand, and slammed the ground with the other, gritting his teeth unwillingly.
"I don't want to die here! My life isn't so miserable that it should end because of a mere snake venom!"
As he spoke, green stripes had already spread across Tom's body. His face was covered in hundreds, thousands of thin green lines.
These green stripes wriggled and crawled like living things on Tom. To counteract the snake venom, the immune cells in his body were growing at an extremely fast rate.
The root cause of poisoning was insufficient immune capability against the toxin.
Under the effect of his Devil Fruit ability, Tom's immune cells grew hundreds of times faster than normal, greatly enhancing his immunity to the snake venom in a short time.
Several minutes later, Tom's body slowly regained strength, and his complexion returned to normal. He had gradually adapted to the venom.
"What kind of ability is this?" Tom stared blankly at the green stripes crawling across his hand. "The venom's effect on me is getting weaker and weaker. This feels like injecting myself with anti-venom serum."
"Whatever. The important thing is I survived." Tom brushed off the dust on his body, stood up, and said happily. Then he headed in the direction Arlong and the others had gone…
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T/N :
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