The next morning.
Sunlight streamed through the cabin windows, falling upon Carina.
She was curled up in a cage in the corner, covered only by a thin blanket, revealing the phrase 'already seen' tattooed on her abdomen and rows of densely packed kanji characters for 'correct' on her legs.
Incidentally, the blanket she was using had been placed over her by Makoto.
All the girls, seeing this, couldn't bear to look directly.
Yotsuba covered her eyes, muttering softly, "So scary..."
Kotonoha turned away expressionlessly, but the tips of her ears flushed slightly red.
Chika, however, leaned closer, tilted her head, and started counting: "One, two, three, four..."
Reze patted her shoulder. "Stop counting. Let's go have breakfast."
Their gazes towards Nami now held a touch more wariness.
Even though this girl was physically very weak, she was certainly ruthless.
Makoto, though, was quite pleased.
Although Nami's behavior was a bit extreme, compared to the saintly 'forgive everything' character in the original work, she was acting much more like normal human.
During breakfast.
Nami put Carina back on her leash, locked her in the cage, and placed a dog bowl in front of her.
"Eat."
Carina looked at the kibble in the bowl, tears welling in her eyes, but she lowered her head and began eating, one bite at a time.
'Wow, she really intended to keep her like a dog.'
Even Robin, who had the best relationship with Nami in the original work, couldn't quite bear to watch.
She walked up to Makoto and asked quietly, "Commander, isn't this... a bit too extreme?"
Makoto glanced at her and smiled.
"Once she calms down after a while, it should be over."
After all, Nami was still quite the saintly type. She was only doing this because she was currently very angry. She would probably soften up in a few months at most.
Makoto didn't really care how she punished Carina, since Carina hadn't betrayed him in the first place.
During breakfast, Nino, who had acquired the Flame-Flame Fruit's abilities, became the center of discussion among the girls.
"Nino, try this!"
Chika held out a sausage.
Nino rolled her eyes at her, produced a small flame from her fingertip, lightly grilled the sausage, and handed it back.
"There."
"Wow! So convenient!"
Chika took a bite, her eyes sparkling.
Although every girl who joined Makoto's harem received benefits to some extent, it was quite rare for someone like Nino, who had just joined, to immediately gain a new power.
Itsuki, curious, leaned closer and asked, "Nino, why did you choose the Flame-Flame Fruit? Didn't you say before you wanted a Mythical Zoan?"
Nino blushed slightly, glanced at Makoto who was drinking coffee, and whispered, "Makoto recommended it."
To be honest, with Nino's talent, reaching the level Ace had in the original work would already be impressive. Giving her an even stronger cheat would be meaningless.
After all, Makoto couldn't think of any Devil Fruit, like the Bake-Danuki Fruit, that was both incredibly powerful and required little of the user.
After careful consideration, the Flame-Flame Fruit was the best cheat available for Nino at this stage.
And although it was countered by the Magma-Magma Fruit, Nino rarely argued with Yotsuba anyway. As long as she wasn't inferior to Miku, it was fine.
Miku sat opposite, drinking her miso soup expressionlessly, but her ears were perked up high.
Hearing Nino say 'Makoto recommended it', she couldn't help but pout inwardly, but didn't say anything more.
Perhaps seeing that Makoto was in a good mood, Nami approached him.
She lowered her head, twisting her fingers, and told him everything: how the Arlong Pirates had occupied Cocoyasi Village, the death of her foster mother Bell-mère, and how she had been forced to become a thief.
After finishing, Nami looked up, her reddened eyes pleading. "Commander, please kill Arlong and free my village."
Before Makoto could answer, Teddy Devil leaned over from the side, grinning.
"That might not be so good. After all, that Arlong guy just gave the Flame-Flame Fruit to Boss. It wouldn't be right to kill him so soon."
Dolphin Devil nodded in agreement. "Yeah, yeah, that would be too inhuman."
Gorilla Devil: "Even though we're not human."
Hearing this, Nami panicked.
She turned to Makoto, her voice trembling. "Commander! I... I'm willing to do anything! Just promise me you'll kill Arlong! Please!"
Makoto looked at her and asked in return, "If you want revenge, why do you need someone else to do it? Why don't you do it yourself?"
In many One Piece fanfics, the way to win Nami over was to kill Arlong for her. But Makoto wasn't interested.
Killing such a waste would cheapen him.
Hearing this, Nami felt even more wronged.
If she had the ability to kill Arlong, did she think she would have spent all those years running around stealing things?
Makoto suddenly remembered something.
He reached into his item inventory and pulled out a pale white Devil Fruit. The patterns on its surface resembled flowing clouds.
Logia type - Smoke-Smoke Fruit.
"If you want revenge, use this."
Seeing the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, Megumi, Utaha, and the others felt a bit dazed.
They remembered that this fruit had been with Makoto all along.
It was one of the first Devil Fruits they had obtained after arriving in this world, but no one had eaten it because Makoto had said it was among the weaker Logia types.
But Makoto suddenly realized that the Smoke-Smoke Fruit might actually be quite suitable for Nami.
First of all, the very ability of a Logia to 'elementalize' would be enough for her to slaughter Arlong and his crew.
Secondly, Nami's fighting style in the original work involved controlling the weather with her Clima-Tact. Smoke, in a way, was similar to clouds. Perhaps she could develop new techniques with it.
Nami looked at the Smoke-Smoke Fruit before her, stunned.
"Ca-can I?"
"Yeah, no one else wants to eat it anyway."
Makoto nodded.
Nami took a deep breath, picked up the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, and bit into it.
"Ugh—"
Her face instantly scrunched up.
Suddenly—
A soft 'poof' sound rang.
Nami's body transformed into a cloud of white smoke, dissipating, coalescing, and dissipating again in the air.
"S-so this is the legendary Logia type..."
Nami looked at her semi-transparent smoky arm, her eyes filled with wonder.
She reformed into her human shape, knelt before Makoto, and bowed deeply.
"Nishikawa-sama, thank you!"
"It's nothing."
Makoto waved his hand. "Go on."
Nami stood up, the flames of revenge burning in her eyes.
Makoto had no interest in Arlong and his crew. He let Nami go alone.
Nami thanked Makoto again, then boarded a small boat. Activating the Smoke-Smoke Fruit's ability, jets of air-like stream shot from the boat's stern, propelling it forward rapidly.
A long trail of white smoke stretched across the sea's surface, quickly vanishing over the horizon.
Watching Nami use the Smoke-Smoke Fruit's ability, Makoto remembered the ships Yu had destroyed in Loguetown.
"Saeko."
"What is it, Makoto?"
Saeko walked to his side.
"Go to the Marine base here. Give them some money as compensation for those ships."
Makoto suddenly recalled something. The Smoke-Smoke Fruit had been eaten by Nami. He wondered if that guy Smoker was a Devil Fruit user? Would he be comparatively weaker than in the original work?
Saeko nodded, took a treasure chest filled with jewels from the item inventory, turned, and left.
Seeing this behavior, Robin's expression changed slightly.
She hadn't expected this King of the World to have such a surprisingly good temper… he was even willing to compensate.
While waiting, Ace walked up to Makoto and asked, "After Nami returns, where are we going? Back to New Amazon Lily first?"
Makoto thought for a moment, then shook his head.
"Let's go after Big Mom first and get the Soul-Soul Fruit for Alice or Erina."
Makoto was well aware that Alice and Erina had wanted the Soul-Soul Fruit from the very beginning.
Robin, and Carina still locked in her cage, secretly swallowed when they heard this.
'To move directly against an Emperor?'
'That was quite a bold move.'