One Piece: The Strongest Trait System novel Chapter 51

Chapter 51 - [51] : [BONUS] - The Straw Hat Pirates Resolve!

~ As Usual. Bonus Chapter Every 300 Powerstones :)

~ Thank you, This is the Bonus Chapter For Hitting 900 Powerstones~

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East Blue, Cocoyasi Village.

This island was the heart of the Arlong Empire, the domain ruled by the pirate Arlong, who carried a 20 million Beri bounty.

Here, humans were treated as inferior beings, subjected to the violent rule of Arlong and his Fish-Man crew.

Within the Arlong Empire, every village was forced to pay tribute based on population: 100,000 Beri per adult, 50,000 Beri per child.

Failure to pay resulted in death.

Nami's adoptive mother, Bell-mère, possessed only 100,000 Beri. Choosing to save Nami and her other adopted daughter, Nojiko, Bell-mère paid for their lives with her own, murdered right before Nami's eyes.

Afterwards, Arlong recognized Nami's exceptional talent for navigation and cartography.

To force Nami to draw sea charts for them, Arlong made her a promise: if she could gather 100 million Beri, he would sell her hometown back to her.

And so, at the tender age of ten, Nami began her life as a pirate-robbing thief, continuing until this very day.

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Aboard the Going Merry, the expressions of Rowen and the crew were grim.

Although Rowen already knew the story, hearing it directly from Nami, seeing this beautiful, incredibly strong young woman finally break down sobbing before him...

Even the flickering Conqueror's Haki in Rowen's eyes began to burn with uncontrollable fury.

"I-I didn't want to involve you guys, Arlong and his crew are Fish-Men! Their physical strength is naturally ten times greater than humans! They're real monsters! I originally planned to handle this myself—" Nami choked out between sobs, looking up at Rowen, biting her lip.

Even though she had witnessed Rowen's strength these past few days...

Even after seeing him defeat Krieg with a single punch...

Even after witnessing the incredible clash of Conqueror's Haki between Rowen and the legendary World's Greatest Swordsman, Hawk-Eyes Mihawk...

The psychological scars from her childhood ran too deep. After the initial emotional outburst, Nami still couldn't be absolutely certain that Rowen and the others could defeat Arlong and his crew.

After all, the trauma was immense. In Nami's mind, Fish-Men were the true monsters of this sea; humans were simply no match for such creatures.

The reason she hadn't left earlier was because of Rowen's words—telling her to rely on him, that he would risk his life for her.

But Nami hadn't intended for Rowen to actually fight for her.

She had planned to make some other excuse, just to say a proper goodbye.

Nami didn't want to disappoint Rowen—the man who spoke such kind words to her, treated her so gently, protected her throughout their journey.

At the very least, they deserved a proper farewell.

During the days Rowen spent training Luffy and the others in Haki, Nami had been racking her brain, trying to come up with a plausible excuse to leave gracefully.

But Nami knew she was only deceiving herself. She didn't want to leave. She didn't want to leave Rowen.

However, during Rowen's Haki training sessions, he had also explained some realities of the Grand Line.

Only then did Nami learn that Fish-Men—creatures she viewed as unbeatable monsters—were actually treated as slaves by humans on the Grand Line.

She learned that legendary races far stronger than Fish-Men, like Giants, truly existed on the Grand Line.

Yet, even with beings as powerful as Giants existing, humans still ultimately dominated the seas.

She also learned that before the power of Haki, sheer physical strength meant little.

Someone without Haki facing a Haki master, the outcome would be just like Krieg facing Rowen: utterly powerless.

This applied even to races like Fish-Men.

And Haki, was a power that only became common in the New World, the second half of the Grand Line. It was extremely rare in the Four Blues, even in the first half of the Grand Line.

Arlong and his crew did not possess Haki.

Finally, when Rowen and the others decided they would head for the Grand Line tomorrow, Nami resolved to tell Rowen the truth.

Initially, however, Nami had only intended to share her story, still hoping to resolve the situation with money.

But Rowen's gentle understanding, his simple acknowledgment of her suffering ("You've been through a lot")... caused years of suppressed grief and pain to finally burst forth.

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That possibility... she hadn't dared to consider it.

Or perhaps, she hadn't allowed herself to.