Ten minutes later.
Shano crossed his arms with a dark expression, staring at the younger sister in front of him.
"...I just looked down for a second, and when I saw her, she had already eaten half the Devil Fruit in my hands! This little idiot even thought I'd snatch it back from her, so she gobbled down the rest in a few more bites!" Nojiko huffed angrily from the side, tattling away.
Nami squatted on the ground looking pitiful, both hands raised in surrender. "Big bro, I was wrong, I really know I was wrong... urgh!!"
Before she could finish, her expression twisted, and she turned her head to vomit violently. Her little face scrunched up miserably—this Devil Fruit really tasted horrible!
"She really is dumb," Kuina sighed and held her forehead. "She doesn't even know the basic fact that a Devil Fruit takes effect with just one bite."
"What?!"
Nami stared blankly—there was such a rule? Then wasn't all that suffering for nothing?
"You said you know you were wrong," Shano said blandly. "Then explain yourself—what exactly did you do wrong?"
"I-I shouldn't have snatched the Devil Fruit Nojiko found..." Nami mumbled with her head lowered, not daring to meet Shano's gaze. "Devil Fruits are rare and valuable… They can make someone stronger. It's just… it'd be a waste if I ate it…"
"Hm?"
"And, and!" Nami quickly added, "I shouldn't have asked Gin to bring me here! I should've left him to guard the ship! If some bad guy sneaked onto it, we'd be in big trouble…"
"Don't change the subject!"
Shano's patience snapped. "Is that what I'm asking? How did you sneak onboard? What tricks did you use? And how did you hide it from Bell-mère?"
"It was… the Log Pose…" Nami's voice was barely louder than a mosquito.
"The Log Pose? You tampered with it?"
Shano was stunned for a moment, then quickly caught on. He let out a furious laugh and grabbed Nami by the back of her collar like a kitten, lifting her up.
"Oh, clever little schemer, aren't you? And what about home? You've been gone for over ten days, right? By all rights, Bell-mère should've called me ages ago!"
"I-I told her!"
Nami stuck her neck out stubbornly, kicking her legs around in the air. But when Shano glared at her, she deflated like a balloon.
"I did tell her… I said I was bored and wanted to stay at Isshin Dojo for a while, so she asked Ken-san to escort me. He even secretly followed me and only left after seeing me enter the dojo gates."
"But then… I snuck out the back door, stole Uncle Koshiro's cola-powered little boat, and followed you guys…"
"Now you're even stealing things?"
Shano roared, voice rising an octave. "Who taught you that?! How dare you do something like this?!"
"It was the only reliable boat I could use!" Nami protested with a wronged look. "And it's not really stealing! I brought the boat to Kuina-sis, didn't I?"
"She's not wrong about that," Kuina sighed, massaging her temples. "But I better call my dad before the kids at the dojo keep searching for the missing boat."
"Yeah, go ahead," Shano nodded and casually tossed a Den Den Mushi to Nami. "You too. Go call Bell-mère and explain everything!"
"Okay…"
Nami didn't dare argue. She was tossed to the side and obediently started dialing.
Between an angry mom thousands of miles away and an angry big brother right in front of her...
She shuddered a little—her brother was probably scarier.
...
Not long after.
Nami hugged the Den Den Mushi and returned to where Shano and the others were moving treasure and loot.
"What did Bell-mère say?" Zeff teased as he hefted two large crates of liquor. "Want us to send you home right now?"
"She won't," Shano said as he sorted through a pile of treasure chests, shaking his head slightly. "Uncle Zeff, you might want to start preparing one more portion of food for every meal. Looks like we're about to get another glutton on board."
"Eh??"
Nami stared wide-eyed at Shano. "I haven't said anything yet! Big bro, how'd you know?!"
"Because that's Bell-mère for you," Shano replied calmly without even looking at her.
"Let me guess—first she chewed you out, then said something dramatic like, 'If staying at home every day is hard for you, it's even harder for me. So if you want me to be happy, you ungrateful brat, go follow your brother and chase your dream! Don't you dare come back and make me upset!' Made you cry like crazy, huh? Even made you wanna slap yourself in the middle of the night?"
"…"
Nami stood there, stunned, muttering, "He got it word for word…"
"When did you learn Observation Haki?" Zeff asked in confusion. He'd just noticed the faint signs of wiped-away tears at the corners of Nami's eyes.
"I don't know Observation Haki," Shano shook his head. "Didn't I already say—"
At that moment, Nojiko walked over with another crate. Hearing this, she rolled her eyes and sighed in unison with her brother:
"Because that's Bell-mère for you…"
Zeff scratched his head in confusion. He really didn't get this family. Better get back to work.
"So… Big bro…" Nami carefully peeked at Shano's expression from the side, "You mean… I'm allowed to stay on the ship?"
"If you want me to send you back, I can."
"Please don't!" Nami shook her head quickly, then asked hesitantly, "But… you're really not mad anymore? You're not mad that I ate the Devil Fruit?"
"When did I ever say I was mad about that?" Shano frowned.
"Eh?"
Nami froze. Thinking back carefully… her big bro really never got angry about the fruit. He was mad about her sneaking out.
"I know what you were thinking."
Shano snorted and leaned down to tug at her cheek. "You didn't want to be a burden. Thought that if you ate the Devil Fruit, you'd at least be useful, and that way no one would kick you off the ship. Right?"
Her skin was soft and smooth, no longer the chubby baby face from back then. Shano lost interest after a few squeezes and let go.
"Y-yeah…" Nami mumbled. Looks like keeping secrets from her big brother really was impossible.
"Idiot," Shano said irritably. "This is my ship. Even if you do nothing but eat and sleep all day, who the hell would mind?"
"Big bro…"
Just as Nami was starting to feel a tinge of emotion welling up—
"Ugh, look at you. You reek and your clothes are in rags. Must've suffered a lot along the way, huh? Good. Let that be a lesson. Next time you even think about sneaking off, you'd better remember this. Now go. Follow Nojiko back to the ship and take a good soak. And don't think this is over. There's plenty of punishment waiting for you."
"Bingo! Bathing is priority one. Even Gin's about to pass out from your stink, Nami," Nojiko teased with a grin. "Come on. The ship has a proper hot spring bath—it feels amazing."
"…"
Looking at her disgusted brother and her gently smiling sister...
Nami stood there, blinking. For a moment, it felt like she was back in the carefree days of childhood in the orange grove.
After drifting alone at sea for half a month, exhausted and lonely, her nose stung a little.
She took a deep breath, raised her head, and showed her bright smile again: "Mm!"
...
Shano stood silently, watching his two sisters walk away, a thoughtful look in his eyes.
So it was the Flame-Flame Fruit, huh?
A Logia-type ability—it was quite rare and valuable.
He had no intention of eating it himself. It didn't suit his fighting style, and he had no need for it right now. If he ever wanted to boost his physical strength later, he'd probably choose a Mythical Zoan-type instead.
As for the Flame-Flame Fruit, if this hadn't happened with Nami, he'd just planned to give it to whichever crewmate was interested.
But now...
Shano looked into the distance at Nami's figure, chattering as she walked beside Nojiko, and chuckled softly.
This might not be so bad either.
At the very least, with Logia powers, in the first half of the Grand Line, there would be very few people who could even hurt her.