Chapter 69: What Did You Eat
"You wouldn't come to us for no reason. If this is about a deal, we don't really care for money..."
Robin stopped mid-sentence and glanced at Nami.
"I... I don't like money either."
Nami felt a bit guilty, sensing something was off.
Su Xiao waved his hand and pointed at Luffy.
"Wake him up. What I want to discuss with you requires your captain's decision."
"Impossible. Luffy is exhausted. Say what you have to say directly."
Sanji clearly disagreed, but Zoro nudged Luffy.
"Green-haired idiot, what are you doing?"
"Stupid cook, something's wrong."
Sanji thought for a moment and nodded. In times of crisis, Sanji and Zoro's decisions were sometimes quite similar.
"Then let's wake Luffy up."
Zoro pushed Luffy a few times, but Luffy showed no reaction, still sleeping and eating at the same time.
Sanji stopped Zoro, signaling that he would handle it. He picked up a chili pepper and placed it in Luffy's hand.
Luffy took the chili pepper with his eyes closed, stuffed it into his mouth, and crunched it down.
Three seconds later, Luffy's eyes suddenly flew open.
"So spicy!"
Luffy was jolted awake by the spiciness, his tongue hanging out. Sanji handed him a glass of milk, and Luffy felt much better after drinking it.
Just woken up, Luffy was a bit dazed. Zoro explained the situation to him, and Luffy's expression turned serious.
"I remember you. You're the guy from the top of the Judicial Tower."
"That's right. I want to talk to you about something."
"What is it?"
Su Xiao took out his pocket watch and checked the time. There were still two hours until the Marines arrived.
"Go negotiate with the Marines on my behalf. I'll give you an item, and you hand it over to them. They'll give you two things in return. Bring those two things back to me, and the deal is done. This is the Den Den Mushi to contact me."
Su Xiao placed a Den Den Mushi on the table.
Luffy frowned. He understood what Su Xiao meant—they were to take something and trade it with the Marines.
"I don't know the reason, but I refuse."
Luffy flatly rejected the idea.
"Remember, the person you're trading with is a young female Marine under twenty-five. If something seems off, destroy the item immediately."
Su Xiao continued describing the process.
"I already said, I refuse."
Luffy lowered his straw hat.
"You won't refuse. Trust me."
"No, I will refuse."
Su Xiao chuckled lightly. "The trade itself isn't dangerous, but be careful not to be followed by the Marines afterward."
Luffy stood up and looked Su Xiao straight in the eye.
"This doesn't sound like a good thing at all, so we're not doing it."
Su Xiao nodded. It indeed wasn't a good thing.
"So, your companions' lives don't matter either?"
As he spoke, Su Xiao took out a high-grade alchemy bomb, transformed it into a snake-like shape, and tossed it out of the house.
Boom!
A deafening explosion rang out, shattering all the glass windows on one side of the house.
With a thud, Nami fell to her knees, pressing her hand against her lower abdomen and muttering, "How could this be..."
Luffy didn't understand what was happening, but Sanji sensed something wrong and quickly approached Nami.
"Don't come near me!"
Nami shouted, quickly retreating to a corner of the room, trying to stay as far from her companions as possible.
"What is this..."
Sanji looked at Nami in confusion as she gasped for air.
"That bomb... I swallowed one. It's inside my stomach."
Nami's voice trembled, but she subtly moved closer to Su Xiao. It was a smart move, reducing the chance of Su Xiao detonating the bomb.
"As you can see, help me complete the trade, and I'll remove the bomb from her. The deal is happily settled."
Su Xiao got up and walked toward the door. He didn't bother asking if Luffy agreed—he knew the other party would.
"Wait."
Zoro suddenly spoke up.
"I'll do the trade."
"Fine. You were my first choice anyway."
Zoro nodded. Luffy clenched his fists but said nothing. He wanted to go, but he had no combat strength left, his entire body exhausted, barely able to walk.
"Let's go."
Su Xiao looked at Nami. She hesitated for a moment before slowly walking toward him. With a bomb inside her, she couldn't stay with her companions for now.
"Nami."
"Don't go."
Nami paused, turned back, and smiled at the others. Even though she had a bomb inside her, she felt this trip wouldn't be dangerous.
"It's okay. I'll be back. Soon."
With that, she left the house and followed Su Xiao into the distance.
After leaving the building, Su Xiao looked around, searching for a high vantage point to observe the entire area.
A tall red building caught his eye—it was almost the highest point in all of Water Seven.
Nami followed closely behind Su Xiao, and soon they reached the rooftop of that building.
Su Xiao took out a telescope and scanned the surroundings. The view was good. Even in an emergency, he could jump off and escape through a waterway below, leading directly to the sea.
Nami stood silently behind Su Xiao, secretly pulling out her Clima-Tact, her sly big eyes fixed on the back of Su Xiao's head.
Su Xiao, who was observing the area, stiffened and turned to look at Nami. He hated having someone stare at the back of his head—it reminded him of being teleported by Reincarnation Paradise.
"Bubu, watch her."
Bubu Wang rushed over to Nami, eyeing her warily.
Nami glanced at Bubu Wang's size, then at her own slender arms and legs, and obediently curled up on the rooftop.
"What exactly do you want to do?"
As soon as Nami spoke, Bubu Wang stood up, baring his sharp fangs.
"I... I didn't move!"
Bubu Wang studied the long-legged woman before him. She was being very dishonest, and Bubu was not pleased.
Su Xiao walked over to Nami and looked at her. "Time is running out. Lie down."
"Huh?!"
Nami looked shocked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"I... you, don't come near me."
"Less talk. Take off your clothes."
"Ha?" Nami grew even more frightened.
Su Xiao frowned. His words were indeed easy to misunderstand.
"Don't misunderstand. I just need to examine your body structure."
Nami was stunned. She had never heard anyone describe forcing a woman into... that... so refreshingly straightforward.
"I'm not misunderstanding. Don't come near me! If you come any closer, I'll jump off the building!"
"I'm just removing the bomb. Lie down!"
Nami fell silent. She seemed to have misunderstood something. After hesitating for a moment, she obediently lay down.
Su Xiao stepped forward and pulled open Nami's clothes. Nami's eyes widened, and she immediately began to struggle.
Su Xiao pressed his knee against Nami's fair, flat abdomen and placed his finger on her chest.
"Help~!"
After struggling for a moment, Nami realized something was off. Su Xiao wasn't making any further moves, but now her upper body was exposed, which was too embarrassing.
"Stop breathing. Your breathing is interfering with my perception."
Nami bit her lip, closed her eyes, and held her breath.
A minute later, Nami was getting lightheaded from lack of oxygen.
"Haah~, haah~." Nami gasped for air, her flushed face returning to normal.
She tentatively asked, "Did you get it out?"
Su Xiao looked at Nami in surprise. Something was wrong.
"What did you eat earlier? It looks like some kind of gel."
"I ate some sticky rice cakes."
Hearing Nami's words, even Bubu Wang rolled his eyes.