Chapter 28

"Oh no, Bellemère, what should I do?" Nami sat in a daze. She still hadn't realized that the man with the strange stripes on his face next to her was Eden. She was deeply conflicted and felt utterly disheartened.

Usually, the sight of a few knives whizzing past her head would have frightened Nami, but right now, her main focus was on wanting to kill the man lying beside her.

Where did that idiot Eden go?

Nami couldn't recognize the man with one red and one gold eye as Eden. She wondered if this man had disappeared.

She didn't notice that the man beside her was wearing the same clothes as Eden. If she had noticed that, she wouldn't be so confused.

Eden was happy, thinking, "Great, now Nami and I are even. It's true that having no debts feels the best."

Seeing the satisfied smile on Eden's face, Nami thought he was secretly pleased because he had taken advantage of her.

The strange intertwining of red and orange stripes on his face made his smile look even weirder, and her anger flared up as she raised her fist to hit him.

Just then, Eden saw Buggy's upper body floating in the air, rushing towards them with a knife in his hand. He quickly pushed Nami aside. "Watch out!"

Nami, who was about to punch Eden, was suddenly pushed aside. Although it wasn't a big deal, Eden accidentally touched her in the process.

Everything happened so fast that Eden didn't notice, but Nami did.

Already feeling disheartened, Nami completely froze, maintaining her raised fist like a statue.

Eden found it odd that Nami didn't move at all, but he didn't have time to think about it. He had to deal with Buggy.

"All the treasure is mine. You two won't take a single coin," Buggy said, his eyes filled with killing intent as he flew towards Nami, who was blocking Eden.

Nami, still sitting on the ground, remained motionless. Eden, feeling uncomfortable, was about to stand up quickly when Nami suddenly grabbed the treasure bag beside her.

With a dark expression, she stood up and fiercely swung the heavy bag at Buggy. "Don't joke with me. You can't take my treasure!"

"Argh!!!" Caught off guard, Buggy was hit in the nose by the bag of treasure. His nose, already swollen from Eden's punch, now hurt even more, making him scream in pain.

Buggy hadn't expected that his words about the treasure would provoke Nami, bringing her back to life with full vigor.

In Nami's mind, treasure was truly important.

Eden hadn't even had a chance to act when Nami solved the crisis. Feeling the chilling aura emanating from her, he shivered.

This woman, who seemed so lifeless before, became full of energy when it came to treasure. I should make sure not to owe her any money in the future, or life will be tough.

Eden thought as he looked at Nami's graceful figure.

"You did a great job. Now, put down what you're holding and get out of here quickly, or he'll keep chasing you," Luffy shouted, seeing that Buggy, though hurt, wasn't seriously injured and that Eden's movements were slow. If Buggy chased them, it could be dangerous.

"You want me to drop it? Keep dreaming. Why should I give up my treasure?" Nami tightly held onto the treasure, speaking with determination.

"Your treasure?" Buggy's face darkened, clearly displeased with Nami's words.

"Of course, I'm a thief who specializes in stealing pirates' treasures. Once it's in my hands, it's mine!" Nami said confidently.

"Well, you have a point," Luffy agreed.

"Ridiculous! My treasure is mine. Do you think stealing it makes it yours? Is there something wrong with your head?" Buggy fumed.

"A bad guy lecturing others?" Nami's words left Buggy momentarily stunned. "What?"

"I'm not so low as to be lectured by a pirate," Nami said, sticking out her tongue cutely.

"You don't want to live, do you?" Buggy's face darkened with killing intent.

"Watch my move, Bara Bara..." Just as Buggy's upper body floated in the air and he was about to attack, he suddenly felt an intense pain. He looked down to see Luffy kicking his body hard.

At the same time, Eden grabbed Buggy's upper body and slammed him to the ground.

"You're a good guy for helping us out," Luffy said, seeing the man with the strange striped face save Nami.

"You two bastards..." Buggy, writhing in pain on the ground, glared at Eden. "I don't know who you are, but I'll remember your face. I won't let you go!"

"You two are talking nonsense. Don't you recognize me?" Eden felt uneasy. From Luffy and Buggy's reactions, they seemed not to recognize him. He continued, "You forgot? I was the one who punched your red nose even redder."

"Shut up! So it was you! How did you turn into a monster?" Buggy, preoccupied with Nami, hadn't noticed Eden's significant change in appearance. Despite his pain, Buggy was enraged.

"What? You're Eden?" Luffy, holding his head in shock, looked at Eden's face, noticing the moving stripes and changing eye colors. "How did you do that? It's so cool! I want to do that too!"

Before Eden could figure out what Luffy meant, he heard Nami mumbling, "It's good that it's him..."

"What do you mean by 'it's good that it's me'?" Eden asked, turning to Nami. As soon as he spoke, Nami punched him in the head. "You idiot! You look awful! Change back!"

Eden was bewildered. From Luffy's reaction, it seemed his appearance had changed significantly, making Luffy excited. But Nami called him ugly. That was unbearable.

"What are you doing? My appearance doesn't need your judgment," Eden said, crouching and holding his head.

Nami, reminded of Eden taking advantage of her earlier, got angry again. She wanted to hit him, but then found his back familiar.

Hesitating, she heard that he was Eden. Initially relieved, she then thought, why am I happy? I was the one who was taken advantage of!

Eden's questioning made her even angrier, leading to the punch.

"Judging by your body's changes, it must be the power of a Devil Fruit. But you can't control it, which is why you look like this. It's laughable. Without mastering your Devil Fruit power, how can you go to the Grand Line with that Straw Hat kid? It's like going to your death," Buggy mocked.

Eden's heart sank. Buggy wasn't entirely wrong. Without controlling his Devil Fruit power, how could he survive in the Grand Line?

What is this power? I had no idea.

Feeling troubled, Eden heard Buggy's taunting laugh. Suddenly, a white dog appeared in front of Buggy.

"What do you want, dog? Are you looking to die?" Buggy, unable to move, faced Chouchou eye-to-eye.

Chouchou bit down on Buggy's big red nose.

"You damn dog, let go of my nose!" Buggy cried, tears streaming down his face.

"Did I change back?" Eden mentally tried to revert to his original form and asked Nami.

"No, you look even worse!" Nami said, seeing Eden's face now mostly covered in red stripes with orange stripes disrupting the symmetry.

"Wow, that's so cool, Eden! Keep changing! Your Devil Fruit ability is amazing!" Luffy's excited voice reached Eden's ears.

"You idiot, what are you doing? Get rid of that big red nose now!" Eden saw Luffy standing beside him, watching him change faces while ignoring the incapacitated Buggy.

"Oh, I almost forgot about him." Luffy, shaking his arms, approached Buggy, who was struggling with Chouchou.

"You're so weak, you can't even beat a dog," Luffy said honestly, seeing Buggy get bitten by Chouchou.

"Shut up! If you hadn't used dirty tricks to hit my weak spots, I would have dealt with that dog," Buggy yelled in pain.

"Oh, so you can beat a dog," Luffy realized, his words making Buggy angrier.

"You damn Straw Hat brat, I'll get you!" Buggy's upper body flew into the air, launching a fierce attack on Luffy.

While Luffy and Buggy fought, Eden asked Nami again, "Did I change back?"

Nami saw that Eden's face was now symmetrical but his hair was standing up as if struck by lightning. "You look worse, idiot!"

"Oh, Eden, your hair looks like a broom, haha!" Luffy laughed, seeing Eden's new appearance.

While Luffy laughed, he didn't notice Buggy's lower body sneaking up on him, a knife protruding from his shoe, ready to stab Luffy's back.

"That was close," Luffy dodged Buggy's attack but got a small cut.

"You idiot, take this seriously! Get rid of him!" Eden, frustrated with Luffy's antics, felt his blood pressure rise. Suddenly, blood spurted from his wounds as he almost burst a blood vessel...