OPSR: Chapter 08 (Patreon)

I could already feel the effect that using the bike to travel had on my body. It was a great workout on top of a faster travel method. I had run out of food on my trip here, so I needed to find something to eat and somewhere to sleep. Yawning as I didn’t get much sleep on my boat, I was sore, tired, and ready to go to bed, even with hours of light left.

I couldn’t just go straight toward the orange grove without a reason… But my stomach was so empty it was growling. Maybe I could go steal some oranges and get caught doing so, then I’d be able to meet them without just walking up like a complete weirdo. Before I could start my plan, someone noticed me walking up to the grove and stopped me.

“Hey there, little one. What are you doing heading toward the village's orange grove?” Turning to see the sheriff… Crap, what was his name? Genzo? I think that’s right. “Oh, hello, sir. I’m looking for food. Who do I talk to in order to buy oranges?” I had come up with the plan to get caught stealing oranges… But I could have just walked up and asked to buy some in order to break the ice…

I made my way up with Genzo; he needed every excuse he could get to visit them, even showing a boy all the way to their house just for a chance to talk to Bellmere. The two girls were outside working, and the smile dropped off my face when I saw Nojiko. They both appeared to be the same age, anywhere from ten to twelve. In the original, Nojiko was a year or so older, but the thing that stood out was her missing arm and leg.

She was staring me down as if waiting for me to notice and flinch away from her appearance. But with a mind older than my body, the smile only fell off my face long enough for me to realize she must feel insecure about it, and I met her with an even bigger smile, which made her look away, embarrassed. Genzo knocks on the door and out walks Bellmere… 

Her face was covered in scars. That’s what was different about Genzo: Genzo was tortured by Arlong and had scars all over his body. In this universe, Bellmere and Nojiko were hurt much worse by the kingdom's destruction… Probably. It really didn’t detract from her beauty; she wasn’t wearing the modest set she wore in the show, but a tank top exposing most of her chest and belly, only barely covering her modesty. Tiny booty shorts that only went halfway down her thigh before they stopped.

Meeting her with a similar smile to her daughter, Genzo smiled like an idiot as he spoke with the overenthusiasm of someone talking to their crush. “Hey, Bellmere! It’s good to see you again! I'm here because…” He stopped and looked for me before pushing me forward. “He’s here because he wants oranges to eat.” 

I spoke now as if I wasn’t coming up with bullshit on the fly. “Yes, I’d like some oranges to eat right now, but I’m also a professional chef on the new restaurant boat that’s nearby. It might benefit both of us if we secured a supply of fresh oranges for our meals in the future.”

I wanted to have a reason to come back regularly, at least to start making myself known to Nami. She was by far, bar none, the best navigator in the entire series, and it wasn’t even close. Shiki built a gigantic navigator team out of fear of the storm that put the ship's wheel in his head. Nami outclassed the best crew by herself. Everyone else on the crew I wanted, but I needed Nami.

That was while she was also focused on raising one hundred million bellies to pay off Arlong. Imagine if she focused solely on being a better navigator. That’s why I needed to get the thunder fruit sooner rather than later. Devil fruits altered the lineage factor in people; just consuming any devil fruit would make you stronger over time, and the lightning fruit suited her weather-sensing abilities perfectly.

I did a bit of talking, ate some oranges, and went to sleep. Before I left, I left after giving them gifts as well. Working almost all night, I only got a few hours of sleep before I finished it. Making my way back, they were already outside working again. Bellmere outside was moving large baskets of them as it was their harvest day. These fruit trees worked differently from the fruit trees on Earth. They’ll always be producing fruit to consume, no matter what time of year.

It meant every month or so, they got these big yields where they’d struggle to sell all their oranges before they spoiled. Very rarely did a merchant ship come by and buy her entire yield, as a monocrop with no supply chain, they could pay her far under the fruit's true value, and I would need to fix that before Arlong showed up. If they got paid even twice as much, they’d have a few million belly by the time Arlong came.

“Hey, you two girls, come over here for a moment.” They came over with curious expressions on their faces. I had their gifts hidden this time. Every time I gave gifts, I thought of new ways to make it better. Next time, I’d spend more than a day on their gifts, maybe even wrap them. Pulling out Nami’s first, I handed over the book.

“I did a bit of research on something you like, and I have a book with me that might help you out.” She picked up the book and read the title. “Basics of navigation? Thanks, but I have this already…” “Ah, sorry, when I go to bigger towns, I’ll look for other books for you about navigation then.” With the promise, her face lit up into a smile.

“Thank you. I love navigation and…” She stopped, wondering if she should continue before she gained enough resolve to. “I want to make a map of the entire world,” I asked out of curiosity. “Aren’t there world maps already?” “Yes, but they aren’t nearly accurate. I want to make a much more accurate map than the current one available on the market.”

She was happy enough just talking about her dream, and I got to pulling out her sister's gift. This was what kept me up all night last night. I put it on the ground, and all of them looked at the mechanical thing oddly, so I had to explain what it was. “This is a prosthetic leg. I’m sorry I only had a single night to make it, so it isn’t the best, but it has to be miles better than the peg leg you have right now.”

Everyone held their breath as they thought of the ramifications of what I just said. Nojiko moved over to me in a daze as I helped her take off the peg she was using and guided her on how to put on the prosthetic. It was very mechanical-looking; she had lost her leg slightly below her knee, so she had full maneurability, and with the way I made the prosthetic, when she grew, she could adjust the length of the leg.

As she stood up and tried to feel the difference. Adjusting her balance before standing solely on the prosthetic. She looked at her mother and sister with a giant smile on her face as tears began to form in their eyes. When the two sisters dove at me, slamming me into a deep hug, I wasn’t expecting it. I wasn’t expecting Bellmere to come over, still crying, and join the hug as well. 

Nojiko’s voice cracked as she spoke through tears. “Thank you… Thank you so much. I wanted to go with my sister and protect her while she made the map, but with my missing arm and leg… I would have only been a burden.” I smiled as I rubbed both the little girls' heads, my shirt now soaked with their tears. One dud gift and one good one, I’d have to spend more than a day working on her arm prosthetic before I’d feel comfortable giving it to her as a gift.