In the training room, Nami and Nojiko were in combat training, each refining their combat tactics with the new weapons they bought. In the distance, Noah was quietly absorbing red orbs after red orbs.

Sitting cross-legged, Noah had a furrowed brow. The amount of pain he was feeling was higher than he could imagine right now.

The Refinement of the 12 Main Meridians, which was actually a refinement of all the meridians of the body, was something that should be simple for any ordinary human being, since everyone carried that.

'Why the hell is this hurting so much?' Without making any pain grimace, Noah was comparing this pain to the first time he was torn apart by the psychotic Green Wolf.

It was not as if he was just refining the meridians, but also creating them and expanding at a terrifying speed. And that was exactly what was happening in his body.

The veins and channels that carried Spiritual Energy were being refined and enlarged, while the Spirit Energy channels were also being expanded! This meant that the two types of energy were being circulated in his body and their capacity and potency would be greatly improved in the future!

Whatever Haki Noah's crew would learn in the future, these would be stronger and longer-lasting than those of the same level, and this would give them a huge advantage.

And finally, after a few hours of refinement with a large amount of energy, Noah completed the refinement of the 12 Main Meridians, making them as perfect as the rest of his body. His body improved even more, becoming more refined and with a natural mystic glow.

"Have you finished already?" Nami suddenly stopped her baton when she smelled the peculiar smell again. And soon after, she pouted, "That's not fair, you're already way ahead!"

"Nami, we just told him to get stronger. What did you expect?" Nojiko laughed at her sister's grace and put the two flintlock pistols in her thigh holsters.

The two of them had also just completed the refinement of the Five Viscera, spending the rest of the time training combat and Wind Manipulation. In this way, the two, now at Level 7 (Six Bowels Refinement), were just two steps away from Noah, who had just entered Level 9 (Ren/Du Meridians Refinement).

"I'm going to take a shower." Noah got up after taking a deep breath. And after a quick bath, he left the bathroom, "Do we have anything else to do in town?"

"Well, practically nothing. If we wait too long, your reward might even come out while we're here and the Navy might try to attack." Nami thought a little before answering. Practically everything on her shopping list was eliminated, even a nautical chart to reach the Red Line.

"Do you guys want to go out then? Walk, eat and have fun, who knows?" He paused for a moment, finding it quite necessary to do this before starting to sail again.

Despite his invitation, the silence that followed in the environment was almost deafening. And when he thought something was wrong, two bodies immediately knocked him to the ground, holding him firmly.

"Noah..." Nojiko's voice sounded softly in his ear, "You-"

"You took too long to invite!" And Nami interrupted, clearly a little annoyed with his delay in asking.

°°°

Walking through the streets of the city, the trio drew a lot of attention due to their appearance and stature. Men and boys drooled and tried to contain themselves when looking at Nami and Nojiko, who were possibly the most beautiful women they had ever seen. Meanwhile, women and girls had hearts in their eyes while discreetly flirting with Noah, not drawing as much attention as the others.

"Yes, yes, our crew is very small! This is going to be a big problem in the Grand Line, which can have groups of pirates in droves!" Nami had an ice cream cone in her hand as she continued the topic that was being debated by them. And besides, she was very close to Noah, literally leaning on him.

"It's going to be very complicated to increase our crew. We can cook and fight, and anything else won't be too difficult to learn with our abilities. It'll be more a matter of will..." Nojiko added a comment while taking a bite of her meat snack.

"Well, it would still be good to fill positions. A cook, a shipwright, someone who knows how to handle money well. The list goes on for a while. Not to mention it's more fun if there are more people." Noah let his harem imagination run wild at this moment, already imagining exactly each of the targets for his future crew.

"Yes, more people…" Nami rolled her eyes at him, "As if you weren't thinking about more women in the crew!"

"And is it forbidden? I'm the captain." Noah shrugged, indifferent to Nami's angry glances and Nojiko's not-so-friendly smile.

"You don't even try to hide it, huh." Nojiko felt like pinching him, and she did.

"My grandpa used to say: Honesty is the way to a good heart." Skillfully dodging the pinches coming from both sides, Noah just smiled at them.

°°°

Some time later.

"Well, I think I've had enough of East Blue for me. I want to get out of here soon and find a good fight…" Imagining what the world would be like outside of such a calm sea, Noah was already feeling his hand itch for a good fight, "It seems like getting involved in deadly fights every night is affecting my psyche."

And indeed it was, but it wasn't that harmful.

Walking through the streets of Loguetown while eating a type of chocolate roll cake, without straying too far from the spice market where he asked the girls to go for a moment, Noah yawned from "fatigue", wondering if he could sleep later while they were heading to the Grand Line.

But, to his misfortune, things took a 360º turn instantly in front of him.

"Noah D. Avery, stop exactly where you are!"

A shout sounded at the same moment a large number of marines emerged from the buildings and alleys around, and all the city's citizens immediately became frightened and ran away.

Standing where he was from start to finish, Noah just calmly watched as everyone raised their rifles to him, the marines' gazes carrying some kind of anger and disgust. And turning to see who called him, he was slightly puzzled by their quick action.

Standing at a distance was a tall man with white hair, smoking two cigars in his mouth and spreading the smoke around. Dressed like what would be described as a delinquent sailor, he looked with undisguised anger at Noah. His name is Smoker, and he is the Captain of the Marine Base in Loguetown.

And beside him was his assistant and apprentice, Tashigi. And without a doubt, her gaze at Noah was of shock and mainly sadness. The way she trembled as she held the handle of her katana, but without unsheathing it, showed how she didn't want to be there at that moment, facing him in that way.

"Can I help?" Still with an indifferent face, he looked at Tashigi for a while before looking back at Smoker. From his calm demeanor, it was obvious that he already knew what was going to happen.

"Noah D. Avery, wanted for the murder of a Navy Captain and for causing disturbances in the Conomi Islands in collusion with the Arlong Pirates, a reward has been put on your head. Surrender or we will force you to do so!" Smoker spoke angrily as he threw his wanted poster in the air.

Being carried by the wind, Noah easily caught it and took a look at his own reward.

"Hehe, this marine folk really know how to do things..." Reading the list of charges that accompanied his poster, among them accusing him of having worked with the Arlong Pirates and betraying and killing them shortly after, he just casually threw the bounty paper in the air afterwards.

And looking deeply into Smoker's eyes, he just smiled.

"This is going to be interesting."

°°°

"Do you think Noah will like this seasoning? He never talked about spicy things..." Nami was carrying a small bag in her hands as she walked down an alley with her sister. They had just left the spice market.

"Well, he loves sweet things. His taste is more on this side than spicy things, I guess." Nojiko thought a little before answering, and then laughed, "But for someone with fire powers, all pepper is cotton candy."

"Makes sense." Nami couldn't help but laugh a little.

Anxious to leave the city, they sped through the alley when suddenly they saw some people running towards them. And when they made way for them, some screamed in panic.

"Pirates, run!"

"There's a dangerous pirate ahead, even the Base Captain came to get him!"

"If you fear for your life, don't go there!"

And it didn't take much thought before Nami and Nojiko looked at each other and understood what was happening.

Jump! Jump!

Following the escape plan that Noah had previously explained, they began to jump from wall to wall in the narrow alley and soon reached the building's rooftop. And after walking to its edge, they could see in the distance a group of marines surrounding a pirate.

And this pirate was obviously Noah.

¨¨¨¨

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