Takes place between Loguetown and entering the Grand Line


"Have you found her?" whispered the tall man to the short man.

"Not yet," the short man whispered back, his eyes shut tight. "Wait . . . I see a new ship . . . I'll try to see inside it . . ."

"Hurry it up, will you?" the tall man said.

"Oh, be quiet," the short man snapped. "Let's see . . . I see four men in hammocks . . ."

"And clearly one of them is the princess," the tall man said irritably. "Only report relevant things, you idiot!"

"Hush!" the short man said snippily. "I haven't fully examined the ship—oh!"

"Do you see her?" whispered the tall man eagerly.

"There's a young woman on a bed in another room," reported the short man. "A short-haired redhead!"

He opened his eyes, blinked a few times, and grabbed a photograph lying face-down next to him and his companion. He examined the photograph and grinned. "It has to be her! We found her, after so many years! The king and queen will be so pleased!"

"We must go tonight!" exclaimed the tall man in a loud whisper. "How close is this ship?"

The short man shut his eyes again and concentrated. "It appears to be . . . perhaps 30 or 40 kilometers away!"

"Let's hurry," whispered the tall man. "If we head out now, we can be back before dawn!"

"Perhaps the king and queen will give us a raise at last?"

"Perhaps!"


The daybreak following this mysterious conversation, Sanji was finishing breakfast for everyone on the Going Merry.

"And voila," he muttered to himself, sprinkling salt over the omelets. He stuck his head out the door and yelled "Nami-swan! Breakfast is ready! Hey, morons, that goes for you too!"

The men entered the kitchen almost immediately, Luffy naturally being the first. They sat down and waited impatiently for the meal.

"Y'know," Usopp said, "I was thinking, maybe we should start having a lookout at night. What if someone were to attack?"

"Good idea," Zoro said. "You can be the first."

"W-What!? But what if I get attacked!?"

"Then we will have suffered a great loss," Sanji said dramatically.

"Saaaanji!" Luffy whined. "We're hungry!"

"I refuse to serve the food until Nami-swan shows up!" Sanji protested. "Where is she? You don't think something happened to her, do you?"

"Oh, I'm sure she's fine," Usopp said. "Maybe she didn't hear you. I'll go get her . . ."

He rose and left the kitchen, heading for Nami's room below. A couple minutes later he returned, looking worried. "Um . . . she's not in her room, guys."

"What!?" Sanji yelled.

"Did you check anywhere else on the ship?" Zoro asked.

"Well—no, but—"

"Let's go!" Luffy yelled. "Search the ship for Nami! And then we can have breakfast!"

"Nami-swaaaaan!" Sanji yelled like a war cry.


"Well, after about thirty minutes of searching every nook and cranny on this ship," Zoro said, "I think we can safely say that she's not here."

Sanji began crying. "Nami-swan . . . where could you be, my darling?"

"Maybe . . . she decided to go back to her hometown after all?" Luffy suggested quietly.

Zoro and Sanji seemed to consider this, but Usopp shook his head.

"No," he said. "Both rowboats are still here. She didn't leave on her own."

"So she was kidnapped, maybe?" Zoro said with a shrug.

"If she was kidnapped," Sanji snarled with a fiery look in his visible eye, "I swear that I will not rest until I hunt down the villain who took her and beat the crap out of him!"

"This is exactly why we need a lookout!" Usopp exclaimed. "If someone had been standing watch last night, this wouldn't have happened!"

"Yeah, Usopp," Zoro said, "why weren't you standing watch? You could have prevented this."

"H-Hey! I only meant—"

"Usopp, you damn bastard . . ." Sanji growled, glaring at Usopp murderously.

"Oh, come on!" Usopp yelled. "It's not my fault! Every one of you was asleep too!"

Sanji dissolved into tears again. "You're right . . . if only I had been more of a man; I could have prevented this . . . Nami-swaaaaan . . ."

"We just have to go rescue her, right?" Luffy said. "If she was kidnapped, we just have to find the guy who did it and beat him up."

The others stared at him.

"Uh . . ." Zoro said. "Yeah, I guess."

"A stopped clock is right twice a day," Usopp muttered.

"Okay!" Luffy said cheerfully. "So we just have to go to the nearest island and ask if they've seen her!"

"Yeah!" Usopp said. "To the nearest island we go!"

"To the nearest island," Zoro echoed.

. . .

". . . Um," Usopp said, "does anyone here know how to navigate properly?"

Luffy and Zoro shook their heads.

"Nami-swaaaan . . ." Sanji wailed again, burying his face in his hands.