Chapter 1
Ron didn't know what happened, he only knew he was..h.i.t by a speeding truck and flew out. When he regained consciousness, he found himself inexplicably in the middle of the sea, wrapped in currents, toward the unknown.
The extreme fatigue of his body prevented him from swimming properly, he could barely use a little of his remaining physical strength to float himself on the surface of the sea to save himself from sinking to the bottom.
When he thought things could not get any worse, waves that appeared from time to time choked him. Accidentally drinking a large mouthful of seawater, tortured him. Within an hour, his body had reached its limits.
Fortunately, by the time his physical strength was almost exhausted that he could not support himself anymore, an island appeared in front of him.
Even though he had no strength left, Ron twisted his body as hard as he could, relying on the current, to drift towards the island.
As the island got closer, the survival instinct made Ron's nearly overdrawn body seem to have a rush of physical strength, as he smacked his arms in the water and paddled, and rushed towards the coast.
Wouch!
After a wave of continuous rolling, Ron rushed to the sh.o.r.e, finally hit the beach. His mouth and nostrils were filled with sand. However, the joy of survival was more than enough to wash away all his discomfort.
Ron reluctantly rolled, made himself face up, and gasped violently. At the same time, his eyes were full of confusion.
"What is this place?"
'How could I suddenly appear at sea?'
Ron couldn't remember what exactly happened before he appeared here. His mind was chaotic, as if some memories were missing. The more he thinks about it, the more pain he feels.
He couldn't remember how he ended up here. Ron finally gave up thinking, and looked around, trying to determine where he was.
However, at a glance, aside from the icy sea and the golden sandy beach, there were only some strange buildings on the rear of the island. Although it looked vaguely familiar, he could not remember what it was.
After thinking about it for a long time, Ron's thoughts were gradually disrupted by hunger.
"I need to find something to eat …"
Pressing his empty belly, Ron barely supported himself and got up. He felt that in his current state, if he didn't find something to eat soon, he would definitely meet his end.
But before Ron could stand up to walk towards the island, a figure appeared behind him, quickly approached him, grabbed him from his s.h.i.+rt, and dragged him directly to the island.
"?!"
Ron was shocked and tried to struggle, but the power of the hand grabbing him was so great that he could not be able to escape even in his best conditions, let alone when he was weak and almost dying.
Ron tried to open his mouth to yell at him, but his voice was extremely hoa.r.s.e and powerless. He barely uttered a word, which the other side didn't seem to hear.
"Cannibal? Wildman?"
These words popped out of his mind, which made Ron feel terrified, and what made him even more frightened was that the figure that he saw when he barely turned his head. A light purple colored skin, obviously, not a normal human skin color.
Moving his eyes in horror, he looked at the head of the man, but saw nothing similar to human hair. A strange thing like tentacles, which was still twisting, attached to his head.
"OH MY G.o.d!"
"What the h.e.l.l is this creature? what the h.e.l.l is this place?!"
Ron's eyes widened to their limit, revealing an inconceivable look. He was telling himself that he was either dreaming or hallucinating. The severe pain he felt being forcibly dragged, the pain he felt in his b.u.t.t, made him realize that he wasn't dreaming, it was reality!
As Ron tried to struggle with all
"Boss Arlong, I found a human on the coast, washed up ash.o.r.e."
When the purple creature started to speak, the language he spoke was not familiar to Ron, yet strangely he could understand it.
Especially the first word uttered by the other side, it made Ron stupefied.
"NANI?! Boss… Arlong?"
The inexplicable and familiar appellation made incert.i.tude occupy all of Ron's heart. From shock, the pain of his nearly falling apart body was forgotten.
He looked hard at the inner side of the courtyard, and saw a familiar and strange figure on a reclining chair, his eyes became a little dull.
"It is really that guy! The fish-man Arlong! It is almost exactly the same as I remember… is this…the…the world of One Piece?!"
Ron focused his eyes hard to make sure he was not mistaken, and he finally believed in what he saw.
This was one of his favorite worlds. He had countless fantasies of him coming here. He wasn't expecting to actually come to this world!
Sitting in the reclining chair, Arlong opened one eye, glanced at Ron on the ground, and said: "washed ash.o.r.e? We're not a shelter here. Well, follow the rules here. A human should pay 100,000 Berries. "
The fish-man Kuroobi in the courtyard said, looking at Ron, who was completely soaked, wearing only a s.h.i.+rt and shorts: "this guy doesn't have money…"
"Then kill him." Arlong said in a lazy tone, he did not expect to get any money from such a person who was washed ash.o.r.e.
It was a simple conversation between Arlong and Kuroobi, yet, it poured cold water on Ron, who was a little emotional.
Ron, who was familiar with the plot, knew that the phrase ‘kill him' was not a joke. He really wanted to get rid of him!
Coming to the world of one piece certainly made him happy and excited, but this development was a bit overwhelming for him! It was sad that his adventure could come to an end! Without him being able to touch a devil fruit!
There was a frenzy of thoughts about a way to survive, but the fish-man was obviously not going to give Ron time to think.
At this time, Ron's body was falling apart. It was difficult to struggle, not to mention escaping. He wouldn't be able to do that even if he was intact, facing a non-human, a Fish-man monster like Arlong.
Watching Kuroobi smas.h.i.+ng down the Mace in his hands, Ron could not resist, nor struggle, he could barely move his arms.
But just as the Mace was about to fall, a crisp voice came.
"Wait!"
Kuroobi stopped subconsciously, and the Mace stopped less than of a foot in front of Ron. Even though Ron had a strong mind, he almost suffered a cardiac arrest.
Reluctantly moved his head and looked in the direction of the sound. He saw a 14-year-old girl appeared there, with short orange hair, pet.i.te and cute. He instantly recognized her ident.i.ty from the first glance.
"It is Nami-chwaan!"
She looked like she had around 14 or 15 years old.
In other words, the current time should be about three or four years before Luffy went out to sea. Based on Nami's age, Ron roughly guessed the current timeline, and at the same time, he felt a little relieved.
Although Nami did not know him, but knowing Nami's personality, she wouldn't let him be killed casually by the Fish-men.
As long as he survives this immediate crisis, he was confident that he could survive with the understanding of the world, and even cross the sea.
"Oh, she is back."
Seeing Nami appears in the courtyard, Arlong got up from the chair and grinned, "you have been out for so long … If you didn't show up, I was going to send someone to find you."
Nami frowned and glanced at Ron lying on the ground. At first, she thought that he was a villager of Cocoyasi, so she stopped Kuroobi without hesitation, but it turned out that he was a stranger.
"What's the matter?"
Nami looked at Arlong and frowned.
Arlong spread out his hands and said, "Nothing. A guy washed ash.o.r.e by the waves, I don't know where he came from. He has no money! And according to the rules here, he has no right to live if he can't pay."
As he spoke, Arlong grinned, and said, "Hey, Kuroobi! Don't kill him in the yard, we will get blood everywhere, throw him out first!"
"Okay! Boss Arlong."
Kuroobi responded stupidly, reached out and picked Ron up, and dragged him out of the courtyard.
However, hearing Arlong's words, Nami thought of her adoptive mother, Bell-mère. Seeing Kuroobi pulling Ron out, she could not help but take a deep breath and yell, "Stop it."
"Huh?"
Arlong looked at Nami and said with a smile, "Do you want to spare his life? It is a pity that rules here can't be abolished casual…Unless he can pay up 100,000 Berries to survive."
In fact, it did not matter if Ron was killed or not. He was just a refugee who suffered a s.h.i.+pwreck. It did not really matter if they let him go. But the only thing was to leave Nami with the idea that the rules could not be broken. That was the most important thing.
Otherwise, one would be released today and another one tomorrow. Wouldn't it seem like the entire village could be spared in the future?
"…hmm" Nami glanced at Ron, it was a sure thing that he could not have a single Berries hidden.
Although Nami had agreed with Arlong to redeem the Cocoyasi village with 100 million Berries. At that time, she only had 300,000 Berries obtained from several trips to the sea. If she wanted to save Ron, then she had to spend 100,000 Berries at once.
Although they were complete strangers to each other, Nami could not bear watching Ron get killed in front of her eyes. In addition, Arlong's words just aroused her memories of Bell-mère.
Ron calmed down while Nami was struggling.
Even if Nami didn't save him, he had already thought of a way to get away, but it would be too risky.
One hundred thousand Berries.
For Nami, who was only 14 or 15 years old now, she took a lot of risks and expended a lot of energy to get that amount of money.
A few seconds pa.s.sed as if it was a few years.
Nami finally made a decision. She took a deep breath, took out a stack of banknotes from her pocket, and said, "Here is his share. I'll pay for him."
"Well … You're really generous."
Arlong grinned, reached out to take the stack of banknotes, waved at Kuroobi, and said, "Okay, this man's life is yours."
Looking at this scene, Ron took a breath and turned his eyes to the blue sky.
Kind, smart, soft body, sweet tone.
She was great.