6 Chapter 6 - The Truth About the Conomi Islands

Knock! Knock!

After knocking on Nami's house door, Noah waited a bit. He already knew they were awake at this time, especially because the rest of the village was already. And just as he expected, shortly after Nojiko opened the door.

"Noah, good morning!" Nojiko, who was really expecting a visit from him, smiled and looked at him appreciatively. 'Is it just me or has he become even more handsome? And was he this muscular, with this... dominant aura?'

She honestly felt her heart beat a little faster seeing his beautiful green eyes, but decided to disguise it with a cough, "Come on, come in. It's a little cold now."

"Good morning, Miss Nojiko." Noah smiled back at her, but did not enter. Seeing that Nami did not seem to be there, he asked curiously, "In fact I came to speak with Miss Nami about some things, since I plan to leave today."

"Nami left for the grove a while ago, but she should be back soon." Unable to explain why she was feeling a bit angry now, Nojiko extended the invitation again, "I'm making breakfast now. Since it's your last day here, I insist on inviting you. And don't refuse this time."

"I wouldn't dare. I didn't say it yesterday because it was the first time we met, but your food really is delicious. It's been a long time since I ate something like this." Entering the house, he was guided by her to the table.

Noah was honestly being sincere now. On Earth he only started eating quality food after getting his first job, and after discovering a special talent for video games, he no longer had time to eat anything other than delivery food. It was good, but homemade and well-prepared food is incomparable.

"You said you were on a luxury ship before you came here. Didn't they serve any good food there?" Nojiko served a cup of mikan juice and sat in the chair opposite him.

"For the passengers? Definitely. But for the kitchen assistants? Well, it would be lucky to have fried onion with tomato for lunch. Every ingredient counts when you're at sea." Noah was already prepared for something like this. And considering he woke up among the bodies of the cooks, why not implement the story?

"Well, then I should say you were lucky to escape from there?" Nojiko laughed at him and rested her chin in her hand, wanting to talk more with him, "Living at sea must be a very magical experience, but I prefer the land. I can grow my food and I don't have to worry about whether some monstrous creature is going to attack me at any moment."

"I think that's exactly the magic of the sea. The dangers and adversities that can make you stronger." Noah took a sip of juice and continued as he looked at her, "The safety of the land comes exactly from the fact that we have already mastered how to live on it. Therefore, the sea is like any other place if you have what it takes to live in it."

"You have your stories at sea, I imagine." Nojiko noticed that Noah seemed to have some kind of past with this, but decided not to delve too deep.

"We all do." In fact, he didn't. He only had a past similar and an eloquence he developed to stay alive in society. Coming to the world of One Piece was actually the second time he saw the sea personally in his life.

During this moment of understanding they were having, the door suddenly opened and Nami appeared, her clothes a bit dirty from wet soil. She was carrying an mikan in her hand that she was eating, and wore a shirt that covered her forearms. As soon as she saw Noah, her eyes showed a bit of surprise.

"Noah? What are you doing here? I thought you had already left." She didn't say this with the intention of hurting him, but because she believed he should have gone to another village, as she didn't see him around at night.

"Well, I came to talk about some things with you, and your sister offered me breakfast. So here I am." Noah slightly raised the juice cup to her.

"This is so like her." Nami rolled her eyes at her sister, who was smiling at her, and went to the table. After she sat down, she looked at him, "Let's have breakfast first, we can talk later."

"As you wish." Noah agreed, since he was also not in a hurry.

°°°

"So, what would you like to talk about?"

Nami was in front of Noah at the table, after they had already had breakfast. Nojiko was in the orchard taking care of the orange trees, so only the two of them were there.

"Miss Nami-"

"You can just call me by my name. You are very polite." Nami lightly waved her hands. Despite liking the way he was polite, it seemed strange when she considered that he had already been to her house twice.

"Nami, could you tell me a little about the Conomi Islands?" Noah smiled at her and went straight to the point. He didn't want to beat around the bush any more than he already had about her situation.

"What do you mean?" Hearing his question and noticing his more objective curiosity, her heart beat a little faster with nervousness.

"I followed your advice from last night and tried to explore the island a bit more and of course, I didn't go very far because it was already night. Even so, I still climbed to a high point and the only illuminated places I noticed were a small navy base and some place on the east coast of the island. Since I'm just a stranger, I decided to ask you to make sure where I was going."

"Oh..." Nami calmed down, but didn't let it show. Realizing that he must have noticed the existence of Arlong Park, but didn't actually know what was happening there, she immediately offered, "I can guide you to the village I mentioned. In fact, I was about to go there and get a boat myself."

"Yes, of course." Noah casually nodded in agreement, but soon his face became serious. Looking deeply into her eyes, he asked after some silence had passed between them, "Nami, what's wrong with this island?"

"What?" Caught off guard by his seriousness, she choked a bit, "N-nothing's wrong with the island. It's like any other-"

"Nami, I'm not stupid. It could be my instinct screaming or the many years I've spent trying to survive with my life on the line." Noah stared at her again until he felt there was a crack in her behavior, "I know there's something wrong here, something wrong with this village, and something wrong with you. I'm not forcing you to tell me, and I'm not even expecting you to ask for help. I'm just extending a hand."

With the silence filling the room, Nami and Noah found themselves staring at each other for a long time. He could sense that little by little, the barrier that was preventing her from saying anything was slowly crumbling, but she held firm.

And to completely break it, he needed to give one last push.

Rising from the chair, Noah picked up his sword next to him and started walking to the door without looking back.

"Nami, I'm grateful for saving my life. Even if it was by chance, it's thanks to you that I'm standing here and now." Holding the doorknob, he managed to hear a sound of repeated beats that Nami's foot was making on the floor, "So, regardless of what's happening, even if you don't want to, I'm going to find out what's wrong with this place."

As soon as he turned the doorknob, he heard the noise of the knocks stop and she spoke to him.

"Don't dare. Don't you dare risk your life." Her voice seemed to carry a bit more feeling than usual. Memories of his mother were coming involuntarily and causing some tears to fall.

At that moment, the doorknob turned and the door opened, with Noah taking a step back. Nojiko, who had just come in with a basket of mikans, saw Nami crying and Noah standing with a serious face and gripping the sheathed sword tightly.

"Nami, what's happening here?" She didn't try to make any assumptions based only on what she was seeing. Despite what it seemed, she noticed no sign of a fight and the way Nami was crying was very familiar to her.

"Nothing." Nami wiped the tears from her face and looked at her sister as she shook her head. After pulling herself together, she looked at Noah, "Since you want to know so much, then I will tell you."

"You should have done this from the beginning."

°°°

After that, Nami and Nojiko began to tell him the entire story of the Conomi Islands after the arrival of Arlong and his pirate crew. From their cruel acts, fraud, and murder, everything was revealed about how rotten they were and how far they had already come with their objectives.

They told about the horror of their kind, the Fish-man, and how they were far superior to ordinary humans like them. The strength discrepancy was ridiculous, and any opposition to them had a confirmed death sentence. They also talked about Bell-Mére and how she died to save the lives of the two.

"And are you part of his crew?" Noah pointed lightly to her left sleeve, to the great surprise of the two women.

"I have cartography skills that are useful to him. That's why he forced me to join the crew." Nami revealed a look of disgust on her face, already tired of pretending. Since he already knew everything up to this point, she was no longer worried about keeping up appearances.

"And what are you hiding in the orchard?" Noah raised his hands when he received her annoyed look, "And don't look at me like that, I just found it strange that you were so dirty from the earth while your sister comes out of there immaculate."

"It looks like he caught you there." Nojiko looked at Nami with a smile, knowing that she would be forced to reveal the secret to someone else.

"I'm saving money to buy the village. I made a deal with Arlong and he agreed to leave the village alone if I gave him ฿100,000,000. I have been robbing pirates for eight years to achieve this goal." Shrugging her shoulders, Nami looked at Noah to see how he would react to her last sentence.

"You're smart. I would do the same." Well, in fact, he did the same. Stealing to feed himself was something natural for him. But after remembering this, he just smiled at them, "I have a much better proposal for you."

"And what would that be?" Nojiko asked curiously.

Noah just shrugged and smiled at them, who felt a slight shiver run through their bodies.

"I'm going there and smash his face."