One hour later, at home.
"Let me go over the things that happened during the month you were out at sea, and you help me confirm, see if I got anything wrong. First, your height suddenly shot up more than ten centimeters?"
"Yes, I hit puberty and grew. That's normal, right?"
"You won the Kendo Tournament on Asakura Island?"
"Yes, I accidentally took first place."
"You also uncovered a huge conspiracy on the island and became a well-known figure in the East Blue?"
"Yes, but I'm not that famous. The attention comes and goes—people will forget about it soon."
"And then you became a billionaire!!!"
"Yes, four hundred million Beli. I took out fifty million, the rest is still in the bank. Here, the card is right here."
Bell-mère took a deep breath, trying hard to calm down. But when she looked up and saw the muscular man in front of her, her vision went dark, and she fainted backwards.
Shano quickly caught her. "What's wrong, Bell-mère?"
"I'm fine. Let go. I need to digest this on my own…"
Bell-mère sat cross-legged on the carpet, staring blankly at the coffee table for a long time.
After taking the glass of water Shano handed her and gulping it down, she finally started to accept reality.
"I knew it. I told you, didn't I?" she muttered. "There's no way a kid like you has ordinary blood. It must've started awakening as soon as you came of age. Your parents must be some incredible figures. Maybe even royalty…"
"No, I don't think it has anything to do with bloodlines?"
Shano was confused. "I just won a championship and made some money. It's all good things, so why are you taking it so hard…"
"I'm talking about your height! Height!! Growing during puberty is fine, but who grows over ten centimeters in one month?!"
Bell-mère angrily punched Shano's shin. "What the heck! Do you know? While you were gone this month, I knitted you two sweaters, three pairs of thermal pants, and half-finger gloves and full-finger gloves…"
"Now none of it fits! You can't use any of it! I'll have to take it all apart again, boohoo…"
So that's why she's sad!
Shano held his forehead, and then noticed the thick stack of newspapers on the wooden shelf next to him. He couldn't help but ask, "You still bought newspapers every day while I was gone?"
"In case you missed any while you were out. Didn't want you to miss something important."
Bell-mère pouted. "But I didn't read them. Just kept piling them here. That whole uproar on Asakura Island, I only found out from the neighbors talking about it. I couldn't sleep that whole night."
"What about Nami and Nojiko? How did they react?"
"What do you think?"
Bell-mère snapped.
She herself was worried but also a little proud. Tossed and turned all night without sleeping.
Nami and Nojiko didn't think that much. They were beyond excited. Especially Nami—she nearly jumped to the sky.
She ran from one end of the village to the other bragging, wanting everyone to know her big brother had become someone amazing in East Blue.
Even the big white dog at the village gate got its ears tugged daily while she shouted, until it started running away with its tail between its legs whenever it saw her.
As for the two parakeets the neighbors kept, they now loved to squawk phrases like "My bro! Champion!" and "My bro! Hero!"
Shano was sweating after hearing all that.
Seems like even the chickens, ducks, and geese in the village might start looking at him differently.
He shook his head, grabbed the stack of newspapers, and sat down on the couch.
He was just about to read through them to see if there was any news worth paying attention to—
When suddenly, the door creaked open just a sliver. A small, dirty orange-haired figure tiptoed in, shoes in hand, sneaking behind the couch toward the bathroom…
"Get over here!"
Bell-mère barked, "You think I'm blind? You think I can't see a little mud-monkey sneak into the house? And you think I didn't see the two lines of dirty footprints on the floor?"
Crap! Missed a spot! Nami turned and saw the two black shoe prints on the ground, slapped her forehead in frustration—if she knew earlier, she would've snuck in through the kitchen window instead!
"Tell the truth. Where'd you go? Didn't you say this morning you were going to the bookstore to read?"
"I didn't lie, Bell-mère! I really did go to read at first, but the bookstore is too small. I already read almost everything I'm interested in, like navigation books and sea charts and stuff… Huh? Bro?!"
That's when Nami, with her head down, suddenly noticed someone lying on the couch. The moment she saw that familiar face, her eyes widened in surprise and joy.
"When did you get back?!"
She cried out and jumped into Shano's arms, raising her hands to pinch his cheeks. "You didn't even call me home! So mean… Ow! That hurts!"
She had charged too fast and bumped her nose into Shano's solid chest. Pain shot through her nose, and she almost teared up.
"Tut tut tut, turned into Buggy now."
Shano teased, seeing her red and swollen nose.
But when he looked down and saw his shirt covered in mud, and then turned to the mirror to see two dirty handprints on his face—his smile froze, and his expression darkened.
"Heehee~ Nyeh~"
Nami made a face proudly, "Serves you right! Who told you to sneak off that morning without saying goodbye to me or Nojiko!"
"I didn't want to make you two cry."
Shano wiped his face hard with a towel, grumbling, "Besides, I was okay with Nojiko. But you, you troublemaker—if you came to the harbor that morning, you probably would've snuck on board the ship when we weren't looking. I'm not dragging a little burden around with me."
"Who are you calling a burden! I've grown a lot now! I'm strong! Just now, two monkeys in the mountain teamed up and I still beat them up so bad they ran away!"
"Monkeys in the mountain?"
Bell-mère instantly picked up on something. Her expression turned angry. "Hold on! You got yourself this dirty because you went into the mountain to fight monkeys?!"
"I had no choice!"
Nami blinked innocently. "I showed them the newspaper photo and told them my brother was the champion, but they just kept eating fruit in the tree and rolled their eyes at me. I got so mad I threw a rock at them, and then we fought."
This brat!
Bell-mère was fuming. She grabbed her by the ear and dragged her to the bathroom. "Go wash yourself up properly! Seriously! If this happens again, you'll see what I'll do! I'm not asking you to be like Shano, but when will you ever be as well-behaved as Nojiko?!"
Creak—
The door was pushed open again. Shano on the sofa and Bell-mère at the bathroom door both instinctively turned to look.
A dirty, blue-haired girl stood in the doorway. Her face bruised, pants torn in several spots, and missing a shoe.
She saw Shano and her eyes lit up, but the moment she met Bell-mère's killer glare, she shrunk her neck and gave a sheepish smile.
"Um, there's a reason for this! I was talking to the big goose at the village gate about Shano, but halfway through it lost patience and tried to run, so I fought it… I almost won…"