NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5: Decision
The small boat sailed bravely across the sea waves under the calm, dark night.
In the small, cabin-like room, Xun lay lazily with a blanket covering his lower half, his eyes full of mischief as he watched the resentful Nami steering the rudder.
"You're really greedy. You got hundreds of millions of beli, but you're still so resentful."
Nami snorted, deliberately ignoring the eye-catching figure of Xun through the slightly open door.
"Pervert!"
She scolded him in a low voice, her cheeks blushing as she continued, "Anyway, just who are you? You barged onto my boat and refuse to leave. And you still lounge around the boat naked! I've never met such a shameless person!"
In truth, Nami was overjoyed by the massive wealth she had gained—so much so that she thought she might be dreaming.
After all, she had met a super handsome young man who made her heart flutter, obtained hundreds of millions in gold, jewelry, and beli, and was now dealing with this strange guest. But her embarrassment and shyness made it impossible to confront him properly.
She didn't even know his name, origin, or destination.
To make things worse, it wasn't until later that she fully registered the fact that he was still naked, which made her even more flustered.
After all, she was still a young girl, and this was her first time seeing something so… terrifying.
The whole situation was absolutely crazy.
"My bad, I didn't introduce myself properly. I'm Xun, 17 years old, a traveler. As for why I ended up on that deserted island without clothes... well, that's a story I'd rather not talk about…"
"What about you? Why is such a young lady sailing alone in these dangerous seas? Are you a young pirate dreaming of finding the One Piece?"
Xun joked, but his words were met with a sharp glare and a shark-toothed Nami.
"Pirate?! That's the last thing I'd want to be!!"
Nami exploded, glaring at him fiercely before proudly declaring, "I'm Nami, a sea thief!"
Xun stared at her speechlessly.
"Is there any real difference between a pirate and a thief? Aren't they basically the same?"
Nami retorted, gritting her teeth.
"Of course not! I steal from pirates! I'm not like those vicious pirates who kill, loot, and steal from civilians."
Xun already knew about her background, but her willingness to tell him about it so openly was surprising—it meant she wasn't overly on guard against him.
Still, Xun wasn't completely shocked. His charm worked differently from others. It didn't drive women crazy at first sight, which would have been unnatural. Instead, it acted like a slow-acting poison: subtle at first, but gradually irresistible.
That's why Nami could still resist throwing herself into his arms, even with his transcendent allure.
"Hm, so you're a good person," Xun muttered.
Nami nodded, as if it were obvious.
"Of course…"
Xun suddenly asked, unsure of the current timeline. He decided to probe further about Nami's destination.
"Where are we headed now?"
Nami looked frustrated.
"I originally planned to disembark at the next island and take a passenger ship to relax a bit. But who would've thought I'd be unlucky enough to get caught in a storm…"
"Now I can only sail aimlessly and choose my next route after figuring out where we are."
Xun's lips twitched.
'No wonder my luck value increased a little,' he thought.
By now, Xun had pieced together the situation. If he wasn't mistaken, this was the beginning of the story—the most suitable timeline for his plans.
He briefly considered joining the Straw Hat crew to harvest more of the luck value but dismissed the idea. He didn't like Luffy and had already chosen a better route for himself.
Since he shared part of this world's protagonist aura, it only made sense to take full advantage of it.
After all, when he arrived in this world, time in his original world had paused. Even if he stayed here for decades, nothing would change when he decided to return.
So, he quickly proposed, "How about heading to Shells Town? If I'm not mistaken, it should be nearby."
Nami eyed him suspiciously but wasn't particularly surprised. She assumed he was from the surrounding islands and familiar with the area. In truth, though, luck was on his side, as always.
Nami snorted but began assessing the surrounding weather, seemingly trying to detect if any islands were nearby.
Xun didn't bother her further. He closed his eyes and entered his mindscape, preparing to skim through knowledge that might help him on his next journey.
Inside his mindscape, his attention was drawn to a certain pinkish light shimmering in the sea of laws.
"Hm, is this because of the Sube-Sube no Mi?"
Xun could sense that compared to this light, the Devil Fruit was negligible—less than 0.0000% of its power.
He realized that if he wanted to interact with these laws, he would either need to comprehend them randomly or use a Devil Fruit as a medium.
After a brief glance, Xun shifted his focus to the library.
Though he was incredibly powerful, with a physique that could rival or even surpass Charlotte Linlin or Kaido, his combat experience was virtually nonexistent.
In this world, people appeared to have normal human bodies and could be killed easily by muskets. Even superhumanly strong individuals like Garp could be injured by sharp swords or bullets.
Their running speed and senses were ordinary by human standards, yet their bodies could explode with thousands of times their apparent strength.
Not to mention the universal panacea of Haki, which could create miraculous effects.
If there was one thing that stood out, it was their resilience. Xun suspected this was due to the latent Haki within their bodies.