They sat in silence for hours, two old lions preparing for one last hunt, unaware that a raven was already circling the mountain, its black eyes recording their every move. Leaving the mountains, Lufi and Zoro traveled to a sprawling estate on the edge of a booming trade city, the home of the world's most renowned cartographer. Nami was surrounded by gold, fine silks, and maps that were sold for the price of small islands, yet when Lufi walked through her doors, she looked at him as if he were a ghost bringing a debt notice. "No", she said before he could speak, her voice trembling despite the authority she carried. "I have a life here, Lufi. I have security. I have a world that doesn't involve cannons and sea kings."
Lufi didn't argue; he simply laid the map of the Bones Island over her desk, covering her pristine charts with the grimy, blood-stained parchment. Nami's professional curiosity fought with her common sense, her eyes scanning the impossible currents and the hidden reefs that the map promised. "The gold here... it isn't just gold, Nami", Lufi whispered, leaning in. "It's the treasure that the world forgot. The kind that makes the Pirate King's hoard look like pocket change." Nami looked at the map, then at the calloused hands of her old captain, and finally at Zoro, who was leaning against the doorframe looking bored. The lure of the unknown, coupled with the promise of a payday that would defy logic, shattered her resolve. She grabbed her climate baton, a relic of their youth, and tucked it into her belt. "If we die, I'm charging your estate for the funeral", she snapped, but the grin on her face was purely pirate.