By dawn the next morning, Norton and the others had reached land.
As soon as they came ashore, the attendants immediately headed into town to gather supplies and make preparations for the next voyage.
Sea Kings were faster than ships, but riding one was anything but comfortable. A single moment of carelessness and you could fall straight into the sea.
After reaching land, even the pirates had to rest for quite a while. As for the nobles and noblewomen, many of them were still vomiting.
Only Norton and Sanosuke remained completely composed.
Norton was fine because of his overwhelming physique, while Sanosuke had grown up enduring all kinds of harsh conditions and had long since gotten used to it.
"Is Nami still collecting the scattered treasure?" Norton looked around but didn't see her anywhere.
Since the ship had fallen apart, the treasure that had originally been stored in the hold had been scattered all across the Sea King's back. Since noon yesterday, Nami had been busy gathering and recovering as much of it as she could.
Once they reached land, the Sea King fled, and the wreckage sank into the sea. If she wanted to keep searching, she'd have to dive underwater herself.
"Yes, my lord." Sanosuke bowed respectfully. "Shall I bring her back?"
After everything that had happened, Sanosuke had truly come to acknowledge Norton from the bottom of his heart. Even the way he addressed him had changed.
Norton waved a hand.
"Forget it. That money-grubber won't be satisfied unless she gets every last bit of treasure back."
"Understood." Sanosuke lowered his head.
Norton wasn't worried about Nami running away.
If she wanted to run, she could try.
She could flee the man, but not her home. As long as Cocoyasi Village remained under Arlong's control, Nami would never truly leave the East Blue.
Norton was waiting.
Waiting for Nami to ask him herself.
He wanted to win her recognition fair and square through his own strength and presence.
Still, it was a shame that the ship had been wrecked by that stupid fish, he thought.
That ship had already become his, only for him to lose it almost immediately after gaining it. Now he'd have to find a new one, or he wouldn't be able to continue sailing.
The nobles and noblewomen began leaving one after another. Before departing, they all stopped to say goodbye to Norton.
"Hurry up and disappear, you useless lot," Norton said, merely waving them off.
The nobles and ladies looked awkward, but none of them argued back. After two days together, they had already grown used to Norton's sharp tongue.
"We'll leave the chefs and shipwrights in your care. Farewell, Mr. Norton. We sincerely hope we never meet again."
The nobles and ladies waved their farewells to him.
Among them, only the highest-ranking noble—the duke, remained behind instead of leaving immediately.
After the others had gone, the duke finally walked over to Norton.
"Mr. Norton, thank you for everything."
Norton glanced at him.
"Why are you still here? Don't tell me you want to join me. I've got no use for dead weight on my ship."
The duke coughed awkwardly.
"Of course not… Mr. Norton, your ship is gone. If you want to set sail again, you'll obviously need a new one. As it happens, I know a highly skilled shipwright."
"If you need one, I can introduce you."
Norton raised an eyebrow slightly.
"Didn't expect you to actually be useful."
"You're not trying to trick us into handing back the property you lost, are you?" At that moment, a dripping-wet Nami appeared beside Norton, eyeing the duke warily.
She had gone through a great deal of trouble to recover all that treasure. Her skin had practically turned pale from soaking in the water so long.
"Miss, please don't insult me," the duke said with a frown. "My family's wealth is vast. I'm not interested in such a trivial sum."
For other nobles, it might have been a considerable amount of money. But to a duke, it was barely worth mentioning.
Even this travel ship had been one of the duke's personal assets.
"Good," Nami muttered.
The duke could barely bring himself to look at the orange-haired girl with that obvious money-loving expression on her face.
Turning back to Norton, he said, "Please wait a moment, Mr. Norton. A carriage will be here shortly to take us into the city."
"You're from this island?" Nami asked.
"Yes," the duke replied with a nod.
Still suspicious, Nami rose onto her toes and leaned close to Norton's ear.
"Can this guy really be trusted? What if he's planning to call people in to capture us?"
The other pirates had noticed what was happening too. They were now Norton's men, so naturally they'd be following him.
"Do I look like someone who'd be afraid of that?" Norton said with a smile.
Nami thought about it, then nodded.
"Fair enough. Then I'm counting on you to keep me safe."
After waiting for a few minutes, a whole convoy of carriages came thundering in from the horizon. As they drew near, their speed gradually slowed.
At last, the procession came to a smooth halt before them.
A butler dressed in an immaculate tailored suit stepped down from one of the carriages. He swept his gaze over the group, and the moment he spotted the duke, he hurried over in a fluster.
"Your Grace, I arrived late!"
The duke merely responded with a quiet "Mm," then allowed the butler to help him into the most luxurious carriage in the convoy.
"What a fake," Nami muttered under her breath to Norton. "The moment he gets back to his own turf, he starts putting on his grand noble act again."
After climbing into the carriage, the duke pulled back the curtain and stuck his head out the window.
"Mr. Norton, please come aboard. Your subordinates may ride as well—but kindly keep them under control."
Norton nodded, then turned to the pirates.
"All of you, get in."
The pirates climbed aboard while gawking at everything, touching this and that like complete bumpkins. It took them quite a while to get settled. The butler and coachmen's faces twitched, unable to hide the contempt in their eyes.
Still, none of them said anything.
These were the duke's guests. It wasn't their place to comment.
"This gentleman, aren't you getting in?" the butler asked Sanosuke, who was still dressed like a ninja.
"No need. Let's go."
With a slight bend of his knees, Sanosuke leapt up onto the roof of the last carriage.
Trying to look cool? the butler thought to himself.
Norton and Nami boarded the duke's carriage, and the convoy started moving. It picked up speed quickly, the scenery outside the window sliding backward in a blur. The duke drew the curtains and lit a stick of incense.
The carriage, however, didn't become dark.
The oil lamp on the table and the sunlight filtering through the curtains kept the interior softly lit—warm and private without being harsh on the eyes.
"Where exactly are you taking us?" Nami asked warily.
"To my castle," the duke replied softly.
"Aren't you supposed to be introducing us to a shipwright?" Norton asked, confused. "Why are we going to your castle?"
"Because that shipwright is at my castle," the duke answered.
"A lady?" Nami looked startled. "Aren't shipwrights usually men?"
Shipwrights had to do plenty of physically demanding labor, so they were almost always men. Nami had never heard of a woman becoming a shipwright.
"There are women too." The duke poured himself a cup of tea and sighed. "To be honest, Mr. Norton, the shipwright I intend to introduce to you… is my daughter."
"Your daughter?!" Nami was stunned.
The daughter of a duke—a shipwright?
No matter how she thought about it, that didn't make any sense.
"Now that's interesting." Norton's curiosity was piqued. "I'm a pirate. Don't tell me you're planning to hand your daughter over to me or something?"
"Of course not!" the duke said hurriedly. "I only want you to take the ship my daughter built!"