Watching little Nami disappear into the depths of the jungle with a blink, Icey’s mouth twitched involuntarily, somewhat speechless.
They were honest businessmen, not the kind of pirates who wreaked havoc!
Ahem, even though King does have a somewhat imposing appearance…
“What? Pirates are coming? Where, where? Could it be that glasses guy from the Black Cat Pirates a few days ago? They followed us here?!”
Aqua took on a serious fighting stance, her wise eyes darting around, trying to identify the “pirates” the cute little girl mentioned.
King awkwardly scratched his head and apologized, “Well, she might have mistaken me for a pirate.”
“Huh?” Aqua tilted her head in incomprehension.
“Let’s go, check out the village ahead.”
Icey led, walking towards Cocoa Village on the yellow dirt road.
Aqua exchanged a glance with King and followed behind him.
Dense jungle lined both sides of the yellow dirt road, with many wild coconut trees rising from the ground, their dark coconuts hanging.
“Icey, what are we doing here? This place looks quite backward no matter how you look at it.”
Aqua surveyed the surroundings, her eyes revealing a puzzled expression.
“We’re short of fruits on our ship, and this place happens to produce oranges.”
Icey squinted his eyes, enjoying the refreshing scent in the air.
Compared to the rough and turbulent sea voyage, he preferred this grounded comfort!
“However, that little girl just mistook us for pirates. Is it okay to go over there now?” King cautiously asked.
“We can just clarify the misunderstanding. After all, we’re potential customers in their village.” Icey smiled.
During the conversation, the view ahead suddenly cleared, and the narrow yellow dirt path reached its end.
“Th… There are only three, three pirates?!”
“Damn pirates, there’s nothing valuable in our village to steal, you better leave!”
Under the leadership of the guard Genzo, the villagers of Cocoa Village gathered together with shovels and sticks, their faces tense as they stared at Icey and his companions walking from the direction of the beach.
“Excuse me, you’ve misunderstood. We’re not wicked pirates but businessmen running a floating restaurant at sea.”
“Coming here, we just want to buy some fruits like oranges from you. Of course, if there’s meat or beer available, that would be even better.”
Icey stepped forward, explaining their intention straightforwardly.
Although these villagers held weapons and looked tense, they posed no threat to him.
Most of his attention was on Genzo, the guard with a windmill hat.
With his thick beard and no scars left by fishermen on his face, this guard seemed different from the timid villagers, his sharp eyes and steady breathing contrasting their trembling hands clutching weapons.
“Ah, I see. Sorry, it seems we’ve misunderstood.” Genzo said in a deep voice.
Although the blond man with a scarred left eye among the three did indeed look like a pirate, he sensed no hostility from the young man leading them, and the outstanding blue-haired girl didn’t seem like a vicious pirate either.
With the guard speaking up, the villagers breathed a sigh of relief, putting away their weapons and wiping the sweat from their foreheads.
“It’s okay; children make mistakes; it’s normal.” Icey approached Genzo and extended his hand, “Icey, from the Floating Dream restaurant.”
“Genzo, guard of Cocoa Village. Welcome.” Genzo shook hands with Icey, then turned to shout towards a dark corner nearby, “Nami! Come out, they’re not pirates!”
Hearing this, Nami, the cat in the corner, walked over with her worn-out shoes, tightly hugging the book about sailing in her arms.
“Sorry, I misunderstood you.”
Nami raised her head, apologizing softly to Icey and his companions.
Although Bell-mère’s way of teaching was relatively simple and rough, Nami still understood the basic manners, albeit not much more.
Just like when she stole the book from Nojiko’s office, she would turn around and say thank you with a smile…
While apologizing, Nami cautiously glanced at the blue skirt on Aqua.
‘Wow, what a beautiful skirt, just like a princess!’
‘If only I could wear such a skirt too.’
Her big eyes revealed genuine envy.
Nami was still wearing the old clothes once worn by her sister, Nojiko.
“Ah, it’s okay. If you don’t attack us, we’ll fight back.”
The clever Aqua completely ignored the changes in Nojiko and Nami’s faces, bending down to pat Nami’s orange short hair with a smile, “Icey, look, such a cute kid, just like that little brat Luffy!”
“Hey, what’s your name?”
Caught off guard by this sudden question, Nami hesitated momentarily before answering, “N-Nami.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she quickly reacted and jumped back, not letting Aqua touch her head.
“Ahem.”
Genzo coughed lightly, looking at Icey, “You mentioned buying oranges just now, right? Well, Nami’s family grows oranges. Do you want to go to their house and have a look?”
As a poor household in Cocoa Village, Genzo knew how difficult it was for Bell-mère to raise Nami and Nojiko.
So even though other villagers were growing oranges, he wanted to introduce the business that came to their door to Bell-mère first.
The villagers watching from a distance shared the same attitude — otherwise, they would have already come forward to introduce their products!
Icey glanced at the nervous Nami clutching the book with both hands.
It must be said that compared to the beautiful navigator who would control the finances of the Straw Hat Pirates twelve years later, she seemed incredibly naive and adorable, aside from being cute.
After all, she hadn’t yet experienced the pain of losing her foster mother to Arlong.
“No problem, Nami, right? Can you lead the way?”
Upon hearing this, Nami lowered her head and stood still, not intending to lead the way.
“What’s wrong, Nami? If we can sell the oranges in Icey’s place, you might be able to buy new clothes!” Genzo thought Nami didn’t understand.
Nami hesitated, finally unable to resist the temptation of money, and said softly, “But I just ran away from home.”
Because of the problem of food and old clothes, she had just argued with Bell-mère.
In her stubborn nature, going back now would be extremely embarrassing.
“Our demand is quite large, so if the deal goes through, maybe you can buy new clothes.” Knowing Nami’s current family situation well, Icey said something she couldn’t refuse no matter what.
“Really? Then hurry up and follow me!”
Sure enough, the hesitation and conflict on Nami’s small face vanished in an instant as she happily ran towards her home direction.
Become a Patron read up to 30 chapter ahead public release ^_^
Please join Discord Server so we can talk ^_^
