Chapter 8: A New Member

"Mhm." Nami nodded and introduced her to Link, "This is my partner, known as Carina the 'Cat Burglar'."

Carina greeted Link as well. "A pleasure to meet you, Lord Impaler."

Evidently, Carina had also recognized Link.

"Likewise."

Link smiled, nodded, and asked, "Are you part of an organization?"

"No, I'm not." Carina shook her head. "I've been scouting targets here for a while, preparing to find a way into the New World."

Nami asked, "The New World? What's that?"

Knowing how isolated the East Blue is, Carina didn't mock Nami this time. She explained, "The New World is what people call the second half of the Grand Line."

"Because of the Red Line, the Grand Line is divided into two halves. The first half is considered a pirate graveyard by those of us from the Four Blues, but to people from the New World, it's considered a paradise."

"The New World... that's the true pirate graveyard. It's the strongest sea, ruled by the four Pirate Emperors."

Although she understood, Nami didn't have a full grasp of it, only remarking with a slight dawning of realization, "Oh, I see."

Seeing her expression, Carina knew Nami was a complete novice who would need a significant amount of time to adapt, or perhaps some firsthand experience, to truly integrate into this great sea.

Link, for his part, was very impressed with the young woman. Despite being in the first half of the Grand Line, she seemed very knowledgeable about the New World and even had plans for it.

Link extended his hand to Carina and made an offer. "Since you don't have an organization, how about you join me?"

"Join you?" Carina was slightly taken aback, then her heart fluttered with temptation.

Since entering the Grand Line, Carina had relied on her extremely sharp mind and excellent information-gathering skills to quickly adapt to its rhythm, and she had yet to suffer any losses.

But by the same token, she hadn't achieved anything significant either.

When she was broke, she would steal from some pirates' wallets. To get to other islands, she would either go alone or use her outstanding social skills—or her 'Cat Burglar' techniques—to hitch a ride on other ships.

For years, Carina had felt more like a tourist in the first half of the Grand Line.

It was only recently that Carina had finally found a goal.

She had learned that in the world's largest entertainment city in the second half of the Grand Line, there was the 'Tesoro Treasure,' containing three hundred billion Beri in cash.

Whoever could obtain that treasure would be the world's number one thief.

This treasure gave Carina a goal to strive for.

Her original plan was to find a way into the New World, then join the world's largest entertainment city and slowly gather intelligence.

There were only two ways to enter the New World.

One was to coat a ship and enter Fish-Man Island like the pirates do, then proceed from Fish-Man Island into the New World. The journey was extremely dangerous, a near-certain death for those who weren't strong enough.

The second was to abandon your ship and cross over the Red Line at Mary Geoise, but that required paying an astronomical fee.

Carina had chosen the latter, but she couldn't afford it.

Through the intelligence she had gathered, Carina learned that factions flying the flag of the Donquixote Family had to pay a tribute to the family at regular intervals.

These tributes would be collected by a Donquixote Family representative in the first half of the Grand Line and then transferred to the person in charge in the New World via the Mary Geoise platform.

Carina's plan was to infiltrate that representative's team, allowing her to cross at Mary Geoise without paying.

But the appearance of her former partner, along with Link's invitation, gave Carina a new idea.

Although she was in the first half of the Grand Line, Carina still kept up with the news from the East Blue.

She knew a great deal about Link, the "Impaler" who had emerged last year and quickly made a name for himself.

Especially after being caught years ago by Mad Treasure, user of the Paramecia-type Clank-Clank Fruit, Carina had spent years studying Devil Fruits. She knew Link was the user of the Logia-type Forest-Forest Fruit and understood the standing of Logia-type Devil Fruits.

With his strength, he was an invincible presence not just in the weakest sea, the East Blue, but also in the other three seas and even the first half of the Grand Line.

If she joined him, she wouldn't have to rack her brains just to survive anymore. She could just cling to this powerhouse's leg like Nami.

Safe sailing, no longer alone, while still pursuing the thrill of stealing the 'Tesoro Treasure'?

As Carina hesitated, Nami's eyes lit up. "That's right, Carina! If you don't have a team, come with me!"

Having resolved their past issues, Nami placed great trust in her former partner, Carina.

If she hadn't met Carina early in her career, Nami might not have survived until now.

The exceptionally talented Carina had taught her the art of thievery, leading her to steal wallets and treasures from one thug and pirate after another.

Without Carina's help, Nami could never have saved eighty million Beri in eight years.

Without Carina, she might have died long ago.

Therefore, Nami was extremely grateful to and trusted her partner.

Now that she had found a new powerhouse to rely on, Nami wanted to share him with her former one.

Looking at Nami's sincere face, Carina made her decision in an instant.

She grasped Link's hand and said with a grin, "Ushishi... Then I'll be in your care, Captain!"

"Just call me Link, like Nami does."

Link smiled and released her hand, then asked, "How long have you been here? Have you been at the docks the whole time?"

The extremely sharp-witted Carina seemed to instantly guess Link's purpose and couldn't help but smile. "I've been here for over half a month. In that time, I've learned about every pirate who hasn't left."

Hearing this, Link's gaze toward Carina grew even more appreciative.

He also smiled meaningfully. "Then I'll have to trouble you to lead the way, Carina."

"No problem."

Carina immediately took off her cloak, revealing a practical athletic top and shorts underneath, perfect for a quick getaway. Her figure, and the generous size of her assets, were more developed than Nami's at present.

Her assets, in particular, were a full size larger than Nami's.

Evidently, Carina, who had never suffered thanks to her intellect, hadn't mistreated her body by saving every penny like Nami, so she had developed better.

Seeing Carina, who was the same age and had once been just as 'unremarkable' as her, now so 'well-endowed,' Nami couldn't help but grit her teeth.

As if noticing Nami's gaze, Carina proudly puffed out her chest before taking a notebook from her waist pouch.

Flipping to the most recent entries, Carina walked on Link's other side and reported in a low voice, "The magnetic field of this island takes a week to set. This exact timing has filled the island with business opportunities."

"Every week, a new batch of pirates comes through here."

"Some of these pirates buy an Eternal Pose to leave early, while others stay here to gather information on the Grand Line and make thorough preparations."

"Right now, there are four pirate crews on this island with bounties in the tens of millions, all of them vicious criminals from the Four Blues."

Hearing this, Link asked, "Which pirate crew has the highest bounty?"

"The one with the highest bounty is the Saw-Blade Pirates from the North Blue. Their captain is a mutated human nearly five meters tall who wields an incredibly exaggerated saw-blade. Before even entering the Grand Line, he had a bounty of 57,000,000 Beri in the North Blue—'Saw-Blade' Arnold."

Carina flipped to a specific page, on which a card-sized wanted poster was pasted. It was for 'Saw-Blade' Arnold.

Then, Carina continued, "This pirate crew is extremely brutal. Besides the captain, there are three other officers who are also pirates with bounties in the tens of millions and millions."