Chapter 16: Tangerines

Boarding Tyr's boat, the little group started sailing aimlessly.

"Why don't you have a map and a compass?" Ace got worried when he saw Tyr just cruise around.

"Let's just go wherever the sea takes us. Hmm, maybe we should go to the calm belt and get tons of sea kings?" Tyr laughed and they paled.

"N-no, please no." Luffy was a little traumatized by the life and death experience with a sea king.

"Okay, but I'll definitely go swimming there sometime." Tyr nodded sagely. It would be a nice exercise, trying to avoid sea kings.

"How about we go a little faster?" Tyr put his hand in the water and the water started to boil.

He then expelled a jet of flames from his hands for thrust, accelerating them violently.

"Ahhh! Warn us first!" Ace held on to Luffy and they dropped on the deck so they won't suddenly fly overboard.

"I did, stupid. And where's the fun in going slow?" Tyr got the hang of it and used just the necessary amount of fire so they could sail around like a speed boat.

They visited a couple of islands and the boys definitely had an adventurer's spirit.

The two of them looked at everything new with sparkling eyes.

"I feel like I'm island hopping. Though the distance of the islands is massive." Tyr mumbled.

"Tyr! Can you tell us stories about the grand line!?" Ace was interested in the fabled seas where peril is always present.

"The grand line huh? I'd bet that normal people would have a much harder time trying to cross it." Tyr remembered the red line.

They were able to cross it easily as Zephyr had a marine battleship that can go through the calm belt.

But normal ships needed to make a detour through the reverse mountain.

A part of the red line with weird properties. As the currents go upwards instead of down, hence, the name.

"Awww, I thought you had cooler stories about the place." Luffy was disappointed.

"Hmmm, well. Remember Hancock, Sandersonia, and Marigold?" Tyr asked them and they nodded.

"We beat up pirates over there, pretty cool right?" Tyr smiled and their eyes shone.

"Really!? Were they strong!?" Ace asked immediately.

"If I remember correctly, the guy we defeated has a bounty of 42 million bellies. He was pretty ass though." Tyr shrugged.

"Wow, you're so cool!" Luffy couldn't comprehend the bounty and just thought big numbers mean strong.

'Hah, I can't tell them that I snapped that guy's neck.' Tyr had a sheepish smile on his face.

Not to mention that the Boa sisters exterminated his whole crew.

"Hmm? This island is?" Ace was acting as the navigator as he definitely thought it was a bad idea to sail without a map.

He looked at his little map and identified where they were.

"Conomi islands? The biggest village there's called Cocoyashi." Ace informed Tyr.

"I guess we can stop by here. We've been sailing for a few months already." Tyr shrugged.

They docked at the island and investigated the island.

A girl about the age of Luffy bumped into Tyr and he raised a brow.

"Sorry, mister!" She apologized and quickly ran away.

"That kid... She's a pickpocket." Tyr let her steal his wallet. He could see it from a mile away.

"WHAT!? How are we going to buy food!?" Luffy was enraged.

"Hah, people have different circumstances Luffy, come on. Let's go check out why she did it." They quickly followed her and saw the orange haired girl count her spoils.

"Wow... That guy was loaded!" She giggled as she smelled the money she got. Tyr's wallet was thick as hell after all.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Tyr suddenly appeared behind her and his enormous frame overshadowed her.

She squeaked and stared at Tyr in anxiety. "H-hello, mister... D-do you need something from me?" She gulped and Tyr had to teach her a little something.

"You know, criminals have to be punished right?" His hand bursted into flames and she backed into a wall with fear.

"I won't do it again! I promise! Please don't kill me! Here's your money!" She screamed in terror.

"Big bro, I think she learned her lesson..." Ace winced as Tyr can definitely be really scary if he wanted to.

"Hah, seriously. Why'd you even steal in the first place? You don't look like a street urchin." Tyr inspected her and she looked clean.

"Uhhh, we're poor. Mom only eats her tangerines from her orchard too. I only see her eat something else rarely." She said sadly.

"I see..." Tyr sighed, poverty is definitely insidious. It was like tar that can be inescapable once it got a good grip on you.

'Though I'm glad that her mother seems to cherish her.' Tyr nodded at the girl's mom in respect.

The girl wasn't emaciated and she looked normal. Though she got into a pretty unsavory hobby.

"Come on, let's get you to your mom and let her scold you. Did you learn your lesson?" Tyr raised a brow at her and she nodded.

'She definitely didn't.' Tyr could feel her emotions with his haki.

"Listen, uhh?" Tyr didn't know her name. "Nami." She introduced herself.

"Nami... Do you have any idea how small your world is?" Tyr grabbed a brick and clenched his hand.

It broke into a thousand pieces. He then opened his palms and showed that he pulverized it into a fine powder.

Nami backed off in fear. "Guns don't work on me, normal blades will just bounce. And you might just meet more guys like me. Stronger than me even." Tyr held her shoulders.

"So be careful, those guys might not be as tolerant as me. Do you understand?" Tyr asked her again and she nodded vigorously.

"I mean, Ace and Luffy here would beat the shit out of anyone in this village." Tyr pointed at the two.

Ace was sleeping while standing, a snot bubble on his nose. As they learned that he had narcolepsy.

Meanwhile, Luffy was picking his nose. He then sniffed it and wiped it off on Ace.

"Them?" Nami was doubtful. "Yeah, that one can beat tigers to death with his bare hands. While that one can wrestle wild boars." Tyr laughed at her reaction.

"Come on then, let's get you home and out of trouble." Tyr carried her so she won't run away suddenly.

"O-okay, but I will be in trouble." Nami winced, thinking of her mother.

"Well, you will be. But it's better than to be in trouble by being caught. Call me Tyr by the way, let's go." Nami pointed the way towards her home and they saw a small house that had an orchard.

Tyr knocked on the door and a blue haired girl that was a bit older than Nami opened it.

"Mom! Nami brought home a huge guy!" She quickly ran inside and Tyr smiled wryly.

"Well, big bro Tyr is huge." Luffy agreed and Ace was still baffled by his size. After all, he was younger than him.

They then saw a woman with fuchsia hair. Styled into a modified mohawk. Making her look like a punk rocker girl.

"Nami!?" She appeared with a broom and thought that a bad guy caught Nami.

"Hello, I am Tyr. This little rascal here tried to pickpocket me. So I'm here to bring her back here." Tyr greeted and she went wide eyed.

"NAMI!" The woman grabbed her and spanked her butt.

"Ahhh! I won't do it again! I promise!" Nami cried out.

"S-sorry about her sir... I'm Bellemere, thank you very much for not doing anything to her." Bellemere bowed deeply.

"None of that now, I taught her a lesson though." Tyr shrugged and Bellemere stared at Nami.

"Tyr's really strong, mom! He pulverized a brick effortlessly!" Nami told her what happened.

'He what? Then this guy must be as strong as an ensign at least...' Bellemere started sweating.

'I only reached a rank of a petty officer.' Bellemere remembered her days in the navy.

"Said she stole because you guys were poor." Tyr sighed and Bellemere looked downcast.

"Can't we do anything, big bro?" Ace asked him.

"Hmmm, well. Tangerines are pretty tasty, want to taste some, boys?" Tyr was pretty sure that they haven't tasted one yet.

"Is it really good? But it isn't meat." Luffy was doubtful.

"It's nice and sweet, refreshing too. How about a 100 bellies a piece?" Tyr winked at Bellemere and she was shocked.

He was buying them for ten times the market price.

"I... I can't possibly accept that." Bellemere shook her head.

"Think of it as an investment. We'll have a little discount later when we visit this village." Tyr could understand her pride.

But he looked towards her little girls and Bellemere bit her lip.

"Thanks for your patronage! Come on Nami, Nojiko. Let's gather the tangerines for a nice pay out!" Bellemere smiled at them.

"Really!? Can I buy books on navigations now, then!?" Nami had a goofy smile on her face.

Nami ran to the orchard and Bellemere followed her so she won't hurt herself.

"I'm watching you... Stop trying to seduce mom." Nojiko squinted her eyes at Tyr.

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm five years old." Tyr raised a brow at her and Nojiko's jaw almost dropped on the floor.

"Ahhh, yeah. That's true, I'm actually the oldest here." Ace raised his hand and Nojiko just stared at them weirdly.

After that, Nojiko followed her family with a weird look on her face.

Tyr and the boys entered their cozy home. "Why not help them a bit so you guys can eat all the tangerines you want? I'll make some fruit tea with it too." Tyr urged them to follow.

Being a celestial dragon, he of course had expensive tastes. And he busted out some tea that costs tens of thousands of bellies.

Without much to do, he located the kitchen and also began baking some cookies infused with tangerine juice. Seeing some at the table, he used them.

After an hour or so, they came back in and Luffy was stuffing his face with tangerines.

"You're right! They are tasty!" Luffy was all smiles and Ace had grass on his face.

"What happened to you?" Tyr raised a brow. "He suddenly fell flat on his face!" Nami laughed and Nojiko chuckled.

"Oi!" Ace glared at them and Bellemere twisted their ears.

"Don't make fun of him! That's most likely a disease or something." Bellemere looked at Tyr.

"Ahh, yeah. It's pretty harmless though. He just loses consciousness sometimes." Tyr shrugged.

'How is that harmless?' Bellemere got worried for them.

"What's that smell though?" Nami sniffed the air.

Tyr then took out a tray of newly baked cookies from the oven with his bare hands.

'He's definitely not normal...' Bellemere blinked.

"Some cookies, yeah? Ace, restrain Luffy before he shoves them all into his mouth." Tyr chuckled and Ace tackled Luffy who was eyeing them dangerously.

"Wow... You sure have a lot of talents, Tyr." Bellemere was impressed as she took a bite.

"Stop flirting with him, mom." Nojiko still wasn't convinced that he was younger than Ace.

"Ara? Are you jealous? Maybe I should pay him with my body for not selling Nami." Bellemere teased her.

"Lady... You should know that I'm probably younger than your daughters." Tyr deadpanned at her.

"Yeah! Gramps said that he was one, two... Five years old! I'm four?" Luffy counted slowly.

"Are you serious?" Bellemere suddenly felt awkward.

"Yeah, I don't have my birth certificate with me. But I'm still pretty young." Tyr shrugged.

Bellemere winced. "Here's some tea, relax. Nobody expects it. The payment too." Tyr gave her wads of cash from his backpack.

"T-this... This is like a million bellies at least." Bellemere frowned.

"Then expand your business, can't have this little rascal complain all the time that you're poor. Then help the other villagers if they need a little assistance as well." Tyr sipped his tea elegantly.

"T-thank you. You don't know how much this means." Bellemere bowed.

"Eh, don't make such a fuss about it. I just have a lot of money to burn." Tyr shrugged.

They then had a small party and Tyr's group needed to sail again.

"Tyr! Thank you!" Nami beamed at him and he smiled.

"Stay out of trouble." Tyr waved at them. "Thank you for helping us." Nojiko warmed up to them and smiled.

"Make sure she stays out of trouble, Nojiko." Tyr laughed as Nami was like Ace and Luffy.

"Come back again! I'll definitely repay this debt!" Bellemere waved goodbye.

They then left the area. "There they go." Bellemere still thought it was just a fever dream.

"They're nice people, mom." Nojiko smiled warmly.

"I can finally study navigation!" Nami beamed and they grinned at her.

"Yes you can, make sure to thank them when they come visit again." Bellemere ruffled her hair.

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Thanks for reading everyone, ciao.