Early in the morning, at the break of day in Loguetown, a ship with black sails blended in with the countless others sailing in those waters. Despite its imposing design, it seemed to blend easily among them.
"Well, what can be expected in a world full of water..." Seeing the large number of fishing boats, luxury ships, cruises, and other vessels in the various ports, Noah had a real glimpse of a water world.
"I know I'm going to regret asking this, but..." Nami approached him while her fingers moved lightly, traces of wind around her doing what she wanted.
"Am I here to cause trouble?" Noah understood her question and smiled, "Well, not that I want to. But it's better to prevent than to cure. We don't even know how much my reward is yet. It may be that the captain here is already waiting for me."
"And that's why I brought this!" Nojiko came out of the ship with a black bandana and glasses. She approached Noah and put these things on him without even asking him, "And there, you're unrecognizable. Well, not so much, but still it would be hard for someone to know who you are."
"I know you guys like to dress me up, but am I not drawing too much attention like this?" Besides this extra charm of accessories, Naoh was also well dressed thanks to them.
Wearing a white tank top underneath, he was dressed in a red jacket with black details in a very attractive medieval style. His pants were also of a darker brown leather, looser and well-constructed, and his boots matched the rest of the outfit. And with the sword at his waist, Noah only needed to wink to charm a beautiful woman.
"And do you think we'd let you go out looking any less handsome than this?" Nami looked at him with a smile, and even she thought he was too irresistible like this.
And it's not as if she and her sister were any less well-dressed. Nami was wearing a short blue skirt that looked flashy with her big butt, and also an almost social shirt that covered her big breasts. And Nojiko was wearing blue jeans with straps that went over a white top, showing her perfect belly.
Even though both were wearing overly provocative clothes, causing a bit of jealousy in Noah, they would actually be wearing one more thing in secret. Without showing this to him, both would be wearing diamond rings on their left ring finger, which they got from the pile of gold they recently stole.
They knew it would still take some time for this step to be taken, but they wanted to show their loyalty to him in one way or another.
"Well, we're all nicely dressed, that's what matters." Nojiko played down the matter and slightly adjusted his jacket. The ring was not yet on her finger and she would put it on after leaving the ship, or it would spoil the surprise later.
After that, they finally managed to find a space in the port, a distant and hard-to-reach location. It was hard to get there, but quite easy to leave with the Wind Manipulation and Navigation skills they had. The ideal place to dock and run.
And before everyone got out from the ship, they held a small meeting on the main deck.
"What are the plans for today?" Nami asked as she looked at him. Despite knowing well what she would have to do in the city, Noah is the one who says what will happen today.
"We have some things to do in the city, and I just want to stay here two days before leaving. So Nojiko, you are a good negotiator, so try to look in the city for someone willing to buy our gold. Also keep attention to find a weapon shop that works for you two. Nami, new clothes, equipment and supplies will be with you. I have some of my own things to do, so I will also be busy."
"Alright, you can count on me. It will be like stealing candy from a baby. I'm going first then." Nojiko had a huge smile on her face, already knowing how she would navigate in this city.
Going to Noah, she gave him a quick kiss before winking at Nami and jumping from the edge of the deck to the wooden floor of the port. With her strength and Wind Manipulation, it was impossible to get hurt with this.
"So I'm also going, captain." Nami walked up to Noah with a smile and hugged him.
Despite being upset with Nojiko, she took advantage of being alone with him to pull him to her and give a more passionate kiss. And only when she was satisfied did she let go.
"Bye bye, sweet." Winking at him, she also jumped from the ship and began to enter the bustling city of Loguetown.
"Women..." Noah sighed and smiled, with a relaxed heart, 'They are the best!'
Jumping off the ship, not caring if anyone would be crazy enough to commit the sin of stealing it, he began to enter the city.
And thinking about women, he soon remembered something very interesting about the city.
"Well, why not try to find her here?..."
"...Miss Tashigi."
°°°
Each following their own path, the three were in different parts of the city, adjusting to how things would be.
Nojiko, tasked with selling all the unusable gold for trade coins, started exploring various markets around the city. She gathered information from renowned banks to the black market. After hearing all there was, she made a decision which turned out to be unfavorable for both.
Despite seeming like a safe transaction with the Banks, all the fees, interests, and charges that fell on the transaction made the calculated price much lower than expected. And about the Black Market, the chance of this causing a problem that would result in death and mess would be very high. God save the souls of these poor wretches of Noah.
And following the best form of transaction, she began to converse with large retailers and merchants who worked with gold itself, like jewelers and the like. As there were about 300~400 kg of gold there, she managed to divide it among three different jewelers for a total value of ฿40,000,000.00. That was ten million berries more than they expected.
She had to return to the ship with some representatives of the jewelers and in about three to four hours the negotiation was concluded. And all that money went to the ship's safe, since they still had about three million berries each for shopping.
After that, she went looking for a decent weapon store for her needs.
Simultaneously, Nami was also keeping an eye on the city and its movements. Despite her task being the ship's supplies and related stuff, she was quite worried about Noah's bounty. After all, if it was indeed very high because he almost killed a captain, then they needed to be very careful.
Still, she went through various stores, whether they were clothing, various equipment for daily needs, and also in the city market to acquire more supplies.
About the clothes, she followed her feminine instincts, and background conversations, to find two ideal places. The first was Rebecca Hanberg boutique, where she bought some high-class clothing items for her and Nojiko, buying some suits and other accessories for Noah. And soon after, she bought another large amount of clothes at Antique House, which sold more casual and everyday clothes, but still being very fashionable.
For the various tools and instruments, this ranged from scissors to cut hair to ropes to tie sails and so on. The mental list she had was very large, and she had to go to a large material store to get everything at a good price.
Lastly, she made a minor grocery purchase as the supplies on the ship were not used up. While at the city market, she visited a fish shop named The Fisherman King Uotome, and bought their largest fish, a blue-finned elephant tuna. She planned to prepare it as a celebratory meal for their travel to the Grand Line.
And after finishing her tasks, which took a few hours to complete, she went to look for Nojiko to change her wooden staff. With her power increasing more and more, she would need something better than good wood to beat other people.
°°°
While the girls were doing all this, Noah was walking calmly through the city of Loguetown, enjoying the scenery.
'Why is my reward taking so long to be announced? Normally it would already be distributed throughout East Blue, but I don't see it anywhere...' A little upset with the delay, Noah was aimlessly walking through the city, not even wanting to go to the Pirate King's Execution Platform.
Unbeknownst to him, the Marines controlled the release of this shocking news, despite the assumption that everyone should already knew. Given the delicate nature of the case and its significant implications, they chose to withhold it during the investigations into Nezumi's death.
"Well, there are so many places to visit..." Coming out of his 'I don't have reward' depression, Noah cracked his neck and started going in a direction he had studied well, "Even if I don't want to take for myself, I will still take a look at those swords."
The moment he decided this, two huge men appeared in front of him. One of them is a thin and tall man with short purple hair, a wide mouth and his tongue sticking out. While the other is a bulky and muscular man with brown hair tied in braided pigtails.
Each of them was dressed in strange and worn-out clothes, and also carrying swords at their waist, showing that at least they were skilled with it. These were Koze and Packy, the thin and the fat one, respectively.
"Hey, guy with glasses! I think you're going into the wrong part of town. Isn't that right, Packy?"
"That's right, Koze. We were waiting for a person, but we ended up getting hungry. So hand over all the money for our lunch, black bandana!"
"…"
'And I was begging that you wouldn't come...' Watching them with indifferent eyes, Noah just nodded in disappointment.
Obviously he had already noticed them, but it was like noticing any other citizen in the crowd. It just so happens that these ones had intentions that made it clear what their next moves would be.
"HEY, aren't you listening, jerk? I said to hand over all the damn money-" Koze was looking at the short muscular guy when suddenly he felt an invisible hand gripping his throat.
"Cut the bullshit, okay?" Noah, who was controlling the wind around Koze, effectively expelling the oxygen from the place, prevented him from breathing. And suddenly looking at Packy, he continued, "Just leave me alone, before the Marines has to come pick up your bodies."
"You!" Watching Koze suddenly run out of air, Packy looked scared at Noah, but still did not back down. His simple head did not seem to calculate the level of danger in his actions when he pulled the huge sword from his waist, "Release Koze!"
"Wrong answer!" Noah released his control of the wind, unsheathing the sword in an instant.
Shing!
And with just one parry, Noah guided Packy's sword straight to the ground, a skill that required concentration and dedication that the two airheads couldn't understand. But it certainly brought fear to them.
Noah suddenly disappeared from where he was when he appeared behind Koze and swung his sword. At the last moment, he turned the sharp blade and hit with the non-lethal part of it, causing Koze to faint. And soon after he did the same with Packy, which was not very difficult.
And the reason he hadn't been more brutal and used the blade was that, first of all, he wasn't a sick psychopath who would kill anyone. And secondly...
"Sir, lower your sword!" Calling Noah, a black-haired woman in a navy coat ran towards him, her hand on her sword. But as soon as she got to him, she just smiled kindly and politely, "I am Tashigi and I am part of the Marines. I saw you acting in self-defense, so you don't need to worry about the consequences. I hope you haven't hurt yourself."
"Oh, my..." Noah smiled from ear to ear as he sheathed the sword and bowed slightly.
"It's a huge pleasure to meet you, Tashigi."
¨¨¨¨
Author Note: Don't forget to check out P@treon!
The chapters are posted earlier for Everyone and Free Members receive alert emails!
[email protected]/mrblackwing
