Chapter 15: Preparing for the Next Voyage.

Chapter 15 - 15: Preparing for the Next Voyage. On a quiet night, a lively five-person feast was being held at Bellemere's house. Just having barbecue was too plain, so Bellemere made many other dishes with Beast King meat. Tonight, all five of them were very happy, enjoying a life of eating meat to their heart's content. Not everyone could enjoy this. In this world, the lower-class people struggled daily for food and shelter, and they were used to such a life. "Ah~ I'm so full..." Nami and Nojiko lay on the grass, squinting their eyes and rubbing their round bellies, with satisfied smiles on their faces. On the other side, the two adults had drunk quite a bit of wine tonight. A tipsy Bellemere started teasing Genzo. Genzo couldn't handle it and quickly ran back to his house, using the excuse that it was late. His face was already red from embarrassment. "Um... Bellemere, I'll clean up the rest. Let me help you inside to rest." Ryuen couldn't help but say, seeing the tipsy Bellemere. "Mm~ Ryuen, you're so reliable. Then... hic... I'll go back first." Bellemere hiccuped and staggered to her feet. "Don't worry, Bellemere, I'll clean everything up!" Ryuen quickly went over to support her and helped her back. When he came back out, Nami and Nojiko were already fast asleep on the grass, with little bubbles forming and popping on their noses. Ryuen had no choice but to carry them both into the big bed in the room. "Sigh... I'm really too hardworking." Ryuen said helplessly, looking at the mess in the yard. But then Ryuen moved like the wind, cleaning up so quickly that in just ten minutes, the yard was spotless! Looking at the clean yard, Ryuen was very satisfied and went back inside to take a bath and sleep. The next day, before dawn, Ryuen woke up early as usual to train. Now that Bellemere had agreed to let him and Nami go out to sea often, their household expenses wouldn't be a problem anymore. There were plenty of pirates and evil nobles on the sea, and Ryuen thought they could be targets for robbing the rich to help the poor. After all, their family was quite poor, with only Bellemere as an adult worker, and Genzo, who counted as half. Ryuen planned to make Nami's name as the little thief cat famous on the sea again while they enjoyed their adventures! Now, a thousand pounds of weight was no longer enough for Ryuen's daily training needs. He had also decided that if he got Marine Rokushiki, he would first train in Soru. So today, he started training his leg agility, hoping it would help with Marine Rokushiki in the future. The morning passed quickly, and before he knew it, the sun was high in the sky. Ryuen finished his last set of exercises under the blazing sun. Inside the house, everyone was up. Early in the morning, Bellemere and Nojiko took the extra beast king meat to sell. Beast king meat was rare, and Bellemere thought it would fetch a good price, especially from the merchant ships that went out to sea every morning. These merchants were some of the wealthiest people on the sea. Little Nami was now studying alone in her room, preparing for the trip out to sea in a month. Since Ryuen said they were going to Loguetown, as the navigator, she had to ensure they got there safely. Hardworking little Nami! When Ryuen got home and saw Nami studying, he quietly started eating breakfast. Nami was a natural weather expert! As long as her knowledge about the climate is solid, she can give the best instructions no matter what dangerous weather they encounter at sea. "Ryuen, is that you?" Nami's voice came from the room. "Huh? Yes, I saw you drawing, so I didn't disturb you." Ryuen was a bit surprised and replied towards the room. "Come in, I have a question for you." Little Nami's childish voice called out again. "Oh, okay." Ryuen pushed the meat on the table into his mouth and walked into the room. "I'm here, what's up, Nami?" Ryuen asked curiously. "This morning when I was taking a bath, my body suddenly went limp. Is this because I ate the devil fruit?" Little Nami stopped drawing and pouted. This morning, when she jumped into the bathtub with a splash, she suddenly felt her body go limp. The weakness only went away after she climbed out of the tub. Bellemere and the others weren't home at the time, and it scared her. She remembered Ryuen saying that eating a devil fruit would make you cannot swim. So she wanted to ask if what happened today was related to that. "Yes, after eating a devil fruit, even taking a bath can make your body go limp." Ryuen answered honestly. "What? Ryuen, how will I take baths in the future?" Little Nami was so upset she almost cried. She didn't expect that eating a devil fruit would mean she couldn't even take a bath. "It's okay, Nami. As long as you get stronger, you won't feel so weak when you take a bath. So, Nami, you need to train with me from now on." Ryuen said seriously, seeing Nami's pitiful look. "But... but I don't want to train, it's too tiring..." Little Nami pouted and frowned. She saw Ryuen training every day, getting up before dawn, and lifting heavy stones that she couldn't even budge. Ryuen saw through Nami's thoughts and coaxed her: "Nami, you can start with simple exercises. Think about it, if you get stronger, we can go to more fun places. And you don't want to feel weak every time you take a bath, right?" "Then... then I'll try starting tomorrow?" Nami asked tentatively. She thought Ryuen made sense. If she got stronger, they could go to more places. "Yes, it's decided then. I'll start training you tomorrow." Ryuen was overjoyed. He had been worrying about how to get Nami to train, and now the opportunity came so quickly. "Alright, I got it." Nami said with a sad face, as if she had accepted her fate. At that moment, they heard Bellemere and Nojiko coming back. "Nami, Ryuen, we're back! Guess how much we sold the meat for today?" Nojiko burst into the room excitedly. "How much?" Hearing the word "berries," Nami got even more excited than Nojiko. "We sold all the Beast King meat to the merchants for a total of 1 million berries!" Nojiko said proudly. "1 million berries? That's so much..." Nami was shocked by the number. It was a real 1 million berries, enough to cover their family's income for a year! Even Ryuen didn't expect the Beast King meat to be so popular. He thought it would sell for at most a few hundred thousand berries. A savings of 1 million berries was not easy to come by. Their family was now considered wealthy in Cocoyasi Village!