Chapter 8
"Jepack, look! There's a small wooden boat slowly approaching us!" Guina exclaimed in surprise.
The East Blue truly lived up to its reputation as the safest sea in the One Piece world. They'd been sailing for three full days, seeing nothing but endless blue ocean and the yellow sails of their own ship. Now, finally, another vessel appeared—though it hardly looked like a proper ship. Still, the sight brought a spark of excitement to everyone on board!
"Jepack, is that… a person lying on the small boat?" Guina asked, squinting.
"I'll check it out." Jepack said, using Geppo to leap over to the drifting boat.
Lying there was a girl dressed in somewhat rustic clothes, but her face was strikingly cute—almost breathtaking. She appeared to be unconscious from severe dehydration.
"It's the Little Thief Cat, Nami! And these shiny things… probably stolen loot from somewhere. She's dedicated—even passed out, she's still clutching that bag tightly!"
Jepack immediately recognized her. This was one of his absolute favorite female characters from the One Piece world: the tragic girl who had been stealing overseas to save money and free her village from the tyrannical fish-man Arlong.
He quickly pulled a bottle of mineral water from his system storage and tried to give her a sip—but in her deeply dehydrated state, the water just dribbled out the corner of her mouth. She wasn't swallowing.
"Sorry about this… but to save you, I have to use this method!!"
Jepack focused, taking a gulp of water into his own mouth. He leaned toward Nami's lips. Perhaps the earlier water had revived her slightly—her lips now looked moist and glistening.
The moment their mouths met, he gently pried her lips open with his tongue, pressing against her teeth to keep them parted, and carefully fed the water into her unconscious mouth.
After two or three mouthfuls, he felt something soft and slippery brush his tongue.
Realizing she was starting to recover, he stopped and gently rowed the small boat back to the Ten'en (Heavenly Abyss), then carried both Nami and her tightly gripped treasure bag aboard.
What Jepack didn't notice: as he scooped her up in his arms, her long eyelashes trembled faintly, a soft blush spread across her cheeks—then she slipped back into unconsciousness.
"This girl's unconscious from dehydration. Guina, can you give her some more water?"
Back on deck, Jepack handed Nami and the remaining water to Guina.
"Leave it to me!" Guina said, taking over and carefully feeding her.
By now, Nami had regained some awareness. She began swallowing on her own as the water was given.
"Jepack, look—her eyelids are twitching! I think she's waking up!"
Guina pointed out the subtle movement.
Just then, Zoro emerged from the cabin. "Who's this? What happened?"
"I'm not sure," Jepack explained. "We spotted a small boat drifting. When I went over, she was passed out, so I brought her back."
As Jepack spoke, Nami's eyes fluttered open. She looked around in confusion. "Where… am I? Who are you people? I remember being on my own boat… Why am I on yours now?"
"We're new adventurers who just set sail," Guina quickly explained. "We saw your little boat, noticed you unconscious, and brought you aboard. We just gave you some water—you probably felt it."
"I see… Thank you. Um… have you seen my big bag? The white one?"
Even upon waking, her first concern was the treasure bag. Money really was her lifeline.
"There—right next to you!"
Jepack leaned against the mast and pointed to the large sack beside her.
Her gaze snapped to the bag, then she clutched it tightly and glanced back at Jepack.
He's… kind of handsome, leaning like that.
She thought, then unconsciously licked her slightly moist lips, a faint blush returning to her cheeks.
Guina didn't notice anything odd—she just assumed it was the water bringing color back to Nami's face.
Zoro, however, stood silently with a suspicious frown, clearly thinking something.
The silence felt awkward, so Nami quickly spoke up: "I'm Nami. Thank you for saving me! You're not pirates, right? I noticed your flag doesn't have a skull on it."
"Beautiful lady! We're definitely not pirates. You can call us travelers or adventurers—whatever you like. I'm Jepack, captain of this ship and a very helpful handsome guy!"
Jepack said with a wink, gesturing to Guina. "This is Guina—she's an amazing swordswoman!"
Nami glanced at Guina, then asked, "And the green-haired handsome guy?"
"Oh, right—almost forgot. That's Zoro. He's just a temporary idiot on board. Don't mind him."
Jepack shrugged casually.
"You jerk! You wanna fight?!!"
Zoro roared, drawing his swords and charging at Jepack with a white slash of sword energy.
Jepack used Soru to flash-step aside effortlessly.
The white blade energy slammed into the ship's railing—BOOM!—shattering a large chunk of it.
Jepack immediately drew Ten'en in response!
"Both of you—stop messing around!! If you damage my ship again, I'll dismantle you both!!"
Guina shouted furiously, clenching her fists as if ready to punch them on the spot.
Jepack sheathed his sword quickly and stared out at the sea, muttering: "Hey, I didn't even swing—who broke it can fix it."
"You damn Jepack!! One day I'll send you flying!!"
Zoro grumbled, sheathing his swords and stomping off to the cabin to grab repair tools.
"Hee hee hee~~!"
A light, bell-like laugh rang out. Jepack turned to see Nami covering her mouth, giggling.
When she noticed his gaze, she quickly hid her smile, but her eyes sparkled with amusement.
"You guys are so funny. I wish I could have fun companions like this to adventure with on the seas!"
She said dreamily, gazing out at the ocean with longing.
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