Chapter 14 - Arlong Park
"Will you two stop already?" Sanji sighed in annoyance eyeing the two bounty hunter brothers as he served food to everyone, including Zoro who had regained consciousness. "Every time you see me, you start crying"
"B-But, it was so~ beautiful!" Johnny and Yosaku cried, still remembering the teary farewell that had taken place at the Baratie.
"Yeah yeah… Why are you with us, anyway? Aren't you two bounty hunters?"
"We found them dying at sea because of scurvy before we came to Baratie," Usopp answered on their behalf.
"Scurvy?!" Sanji gasped, "How the hell did you get scurvy? Don't you know to eat enough fruits?"
"The idiots had no idea what scurvy
even was," Nami interjected and an enraged Sanji sat them down and gave a long lecture about the important food items that needed to be consumed while at sea. And the two actually diligently listened, while taking down some notes too, and thanked him by the end of it.
"Anyway, we'll get off at any island you stop at next," Johnny said before looking around at the sea curiously and asking, "Where are we headed to? This is not the way to the Grand Line I think"
Luffy and Nami exchanged a look before Nami averted her gaze and Luffy understood that she didn't want the whole crew to know yet. "Another stop before we head to the Grand Line. You'll see when we get there" he answered and the others didn't think too much about it.
"
Sooo…" Yosaku drawled, "Are you really planning to head to the Grand Line with only five people?"
"Yep!"
"Aren't you underestimating the Grand Line too much?" Johnny asked, "I get that you've been there but you yourself told us that it wasn't as a pirate, but a ride given to you…"
"Nah, it's okay. We'll pick up more crew members on the Grand Line"
"We already have one right? Your genius inventor friend," Usopp said thinking back and pointing at Nami's shock staff, "The one who made that"
"Yeah, not sure when but she'll join us on the Grand Line somewhere down the line"
"
She? Another woman? Yes!" Sanji predictably cheered with a perverted grin, "Thank you, God! I now get to serve two beautiful ladies! Hehehe I wouldn't mind if it's just the three of us!"
Luffy gasped and the drink he was drinking burst out through the wrong pipe, leading to a fit of coughs. But in spite of that, his lips twitched upwards in amusement.
'Oh god! It's his own sister!… Should I say something?'
"Drink slowly, you glutton," Nami said passing him a paper towel.
"Umm, Sanji…" Luffy began, wiping his face, "I get that you're crazy about women in general… But… about the other crewmate… don't speak of her that way, okay?"
Everyone perked up at that with unbridled interest.
"Why? Is she your girlfriend or something?" Nami asked eyeing him.
"No… but… just saying… that you shouldn't fantasize about her like that…" Luffy tried but failed miserably to explain himself.
"Heh, I don't care. A woman is a woman. I'll think whatever I want… Oh! Mystery genius inventor girl, how I want to meet and serve you! I'm sure your beauty is just as heavenly as your mind!"
'Well, I tried at least…' Luffy easily gave up realizing that this was a golden opportunity for a long prank.
"Well~" Luffy drawled with a smile as he retrieved a recorder and held it in front of him, "In that case, would you mind if I record whenever you profess your undying love to her?"
That sent alarm bells ringing in Sanji's head and the rest became extremely curious about the identity of their mystery crew member.
"Why?" Sanji simply asked.
"No reason. Just wanted her to know that such a valiant man is singing her praises, that's all. You don't mind, do you? You will recite the same to her face when we meet her after all, so what's the harm in me recording it?"
"Well… nothing really…" Sanji stood thinking hard not able to refute his logic, and so did the rest.
"Is she really old?" Nami guessed.
"Early twenties"
"Is she ugly?" Usopp guessed.
"She's
sizzling hot"
That got a grin out of Sanji, and also the bounty brothers.
"Married?" Zoro guessed from where he was lying down, bandages wrapped around his chest.
"Nope"
"Boyfriend?" Yosaku asked before adding, "The over-protective type"
"She's single"
"Hates men?" Nami guessed.
"Just the normal amount"
"Oh! Do you like her?" Usopp continued.
"Yes, but not as a romantic partner"
"Over-protective parents?" Zoro continued, "Who would, you know, get in the middle of their relationship or kill anyone who looks at their daughter the wrong way"
"When did this become about relationships? We were just talking about Sanji singing her praises. And the answer is No."
'She wants her whole family dead if possible' he added in his head.
"Bad girlfriend material?" Yosaku continued.
"Again, not talking about relationships here… And No. We flirted a lot and she's a pretty caring person… in her own way," he added as an afterthought remembering how she would randomly inject poisons into him. "She'll be a great girlfriend if you could overlook some…
quirks"
That only made the rest even more curious as to what kind of person their mystery member was.
"If it's none of that, then I have no idea why you would want to record him…" Nami trailed off finally giving up.
"Maybe she just doesn't like being praised?" Usopp offered. "So, if you record and make her listen to it, she'll beat him up?"
Sanji only grinned and that made Zoro cringe in disgust. "That will only make this horny dog happy"
Sanji's grin instantly morphed into annoyance as he glared at Zoro. "Oi! Watch it!"
"Wipe that grin off your face before you talk to me!"
"
Oh-hoho looks like someone's still grumpy after their humiliating defeat"
Zoro glared at him, his one sword coming out of its sheath, "Watch your tongue. Or I'll cut it off"
"Try it. You can barely even stand"
"Stop it, both of you!" Nami interjected causing Luffy to groan.
'They were this
close to their iconic nicknames! History was about to be made! Now, I gotta wait more…'
"Well anyway, you'll see her when you see her I guess. So Sanji, I'm recording you even if you say no"
Sanji forgot about the swordsman and thought about the mystery crewmate. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold back when he meets her eventually and if she really was as hot as Luffy made her out to be, then it was a guaranteed thing that he would swoon over her.
'Maybe Usopp is right. She's someone who probably doesn't like to be praised,' He mused before becoming sure of that reason.
'That won't do! She must know that she is a goddess, and I, Sanji, will valiantly make her feel like a goddess!'
"Sure, go ahead!" Sanji declared and Luffy grinned wider.
"Alright! Now, let's have a celebration party for Sanji joining!" Luffy cheered bringing out a guitar and before long, he was singing "
SWEET~ HOME~ ALABAMA!" at the top of his lungs while cackling internally.
———
"Luffy, look!" Nami came up to her captain, who was sitting on the figurehead, with a bounty poster in hand the next morning. "Lizz apparently got a bounty. A double bounty no less…"
"Yeah, she called me last night to gloat," Luffy said as he took it from her and studied the poster. It showed Lizz and Bomby standing side-by-side - Bomby with a manic glee in her eyes while throwing bombs and Lizz with a tired look as she seemingly held Bomby back. "Twin sisters, Bomby and Lizz. 15 million each"
"Guess the Marines thought they were sisters huh?"
"Yeah. Technically, her bounty is 30 million now. The highest in East Blue… Ugh, she kept teasing me last night saying how she was pulling ahead of me"
"Heh," Nami chuckled, "It'll be a headache for her now. Who the hell
wants a bounty on their head?"
"Are you an idiot? Of course, a pirate's gotta have a bounty! Can't wait to get my own!"
"…Of course you do…" Nami tiredly shook her head with a sigh before changing the topic, "So what are they doing?"
"They left for the Grand Line today itself in the early morning actually. She called me just before they went to Reverse Mountain and we promised to meet up somewhere down the line"
"Ah okay…" Nami nodded and leaned on the railing with a worried look on her face. "All this talk about going there… any future plans after today… it all just feels…
unreal to me… Like I'm making up plans that I'll never get to execute…"
"You worry too much," Luffy waved her concerns away, "Just think of it this way - You'll either be free today and you can do whatever the hell you want with the rest of your life. Or you'll die today and well, you'll be dead, so no need to worry any more"
"Wow, what a great pep talk," Nami drawled sarcastically.
"Well, after we talked that night, you were the one who cried her heart out and even slept on me, so I'm pretty sure I'm gre-"
SMACK!
"Don't word it like that!"
"Shishishishi"
She sighed but knew he was joking around to bring her mood up and it actually did work. Alas, it went down again when loud shouts came from the below deck.
"Do you know where you're going?!" Yosaku yelled coming up on deck along with Usopp, "You guys are heading into Arlong's turf! Turn the ship back now!"
Nami and Luffy looked at each other and sighed.
"We can't keep it from the rest any longer, Nami"
"Yeah I know… I'll tell them," she said full of reluctance. Luffy was one thing as he was the most easy-going and kind-hearted person she had ever met but she was worried that the rest of the crew might just think that she was burdening them or taking advantage of them.
They both made their way to where Johnny had joined Yosaku in their freak-out session while Usopp was trying to calm them down.
"Calm down, guys," Luffy intervened.
"Big Bro Luffy! You have to turn the ship back now! You're heading into Arlong the Saw's turf!"
"I know. Exactly why we're heading there"
That only caused them to freak out even more. "
ARE YOU INSANE?! What are you planning to do there?"
"Take him do-" Luffy was saying when Nami nudged him, reminding him that the plan was to just give Arlong the money. "Umm… stuff"
"No no no! You're gonna get killed! I know you took down Krieg with ease but he was a human. Arlong is a
Fishman and he is from the Grand Line! He's in a whole other league and infinitely stronger than Krieg! You cannot beat him!"
That only caused Nami's anxiousness to rise and Luffy knew there was no way she could talk about her situation now.
"Calm down, you two," Zoro sighed after he came up onto the deck hearing the loud shouts, now able to walk without opening up his stitches.
"Big Bro Zoro! You have to convince Big Bro Luffy to turn back! Arlong is bad news!"
"Look, we have some business to deal with there. If you're scared, just take the boat and leave"
Nami perked up and stared at Zoro before looking back at Luffy questioningly, still not aware that Zoro had heard them talking. "You told him?"
"No, I overheard you two talking that night," Zoro answered and Nami's face slowly flushed in embarrassment.
'Another person heard me crying?!'
"For what it's worth," he said coming up to her and giving a reassuring pat on the shoulder, "I want to cut up that bastard right this instant. But I'll respect your wishes and follow your plan"
Nami gaped at him, stunned at the display of affection. She didn't think he was the kind of person who would care too much about other people's feelings… but she should have known that he was a very caring person. After all, the first time she had seen him, he was suffering hunger and abuse for a little kid he had just met once.
"Zoro's a total softie on the inside," Luffy whispered to Nami but it was loud enough to be heard by Zoro. Nami giggled with a nod while Zoro blushed and cursed "Damn captain!" before he started chasing Luffy around the deck which only caused Nami to laugh more.
"Umm… mind filling us in?" Usopp asked and Sanji nodded, looking curious.
Nami sighed, but after knowing she had the support of both Luffy and Zoro, she wasn't that anxious anymore. "Okay, let's go to the kitchen"
A minute later, everyone was gathered at the kitchen table and Nami began. She didn't go into too many details like she did with Luffy and just told them that her island had been taken over by Arlong, the deal she had made to buy her village back, and the fact that after 8 years, she had finally managed to collect the money. Seeing her distressed face, the others could fill in the blanks that her story was way more tragic than she let on, but they didn't pry.
By the end of it, Usopp had a solemn look and reassured her, telling her that they would be with her all the way, Johnny and Yosaku were bawling their eyes out and asking for forgiveness for telling them to head back, and Sanji was fuming in anger yelling "How dare that bastard do this to a beautiful angel like Nami-swan?! I'll kill that bastard!"
Nami quickly put a stop to it though. "No! We're doing it my way. I'll give him the money and he'll leave. That's it!"
"Wha?! No way are we letting that bastard walk away unharmed!" Sanji argued.
"Listen to her guys," Luffy spoke up, "We'll do it her way. It's her fight that she's been fighting for 8 long years. Let her finish it"
"What?! You of all peop-"
"When he betrays her and breaks the deal, we'll stomp his crew to the ground." Luffy finished and Sanji nodded with satisfaction.
"
If, not when" Nami protested.
"No arguments from me," Luffy said and she sighed in frustration looking at the others' faces. She could see that all of them, including Usopp, were hoping that Arlong would break the deal.
'They don't know him. He'll surely keep his word when it comes to money.' She told herself for the millionth time and reassured herself.
Their conversation ended when the ship suddenly lurched as if it had hit something and everyone quickly filed out of the kitchen to see what was going on… only to find a sea monster that was just a bit bigger than the Merry in front of them. It resembled a sea cow, with green patches all over its body, a gold nose ring on its big, round nose, and two horns protruding from its head.
"M-M-MONSTER!" Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku screamed holding onto each other.
"A sea cow?" Sanji said calmly.
"Momoo!" Nami yelped in shock, her face paling.
"You know the cow?" Zoro asked.
Trembling in fear, she pointed at it "I-It's the monster Arlong brought back from the Grand Line. He uses it whenever he wants to destroy any town"
"It's cute," Luffy commented and the cowards screamed at him "Not the time to make jokes, idiot!"
"Looks like it's hungry," Sanji noted seeing how it was sniffing the air and looking towards the kitchen.
"Please don't eat us!" the cowards screamed while Sanji went into the kitchen and came back with some food.
"Here, eat up" He held out the food to the sea cow but it opened its maw wide and tried to eat Sanji along with the food he held. Sanji just kicked it hard, making its head snap sideways.
"Hey! Why did you attack it?!" Usopp screamed.
"The bastard was trying to eat me too!" Sanji growled.
The sea cow, after regaining its senses, glared at them and was about to attack them, but Luffy jumped on its head and stomped on it once. Feeling the immense power from just that one stomp, Momoo's anger melted away and got replaced with fear.
"Don't hurt…"
'Ooh, I can hear it!' Luffy cheered, his hours of meditation and trying to use his Voice paying off.
"It's fine. We won't hurt you," Luffy gently patted its head, and it whined in response. "You'll give us a ride though," he added before looking at Sanji, "Bring some rope. We'll tie the ship to the cow"
Sanji complied and went to bring some rope while the rest, other than Zoro, gawked at the sight of a small human taming a huge monster. The rope was soon brought and they quickly tied the Merry to the sea cow.
"Alright! Full speed ahead to Arlong Park! Go Momoo!" Luffy yelled and Momoo started pulling the ship at a really fast pace.
'Should reach the place long before Genzo's life is threatened'
"The hell is happening right now? This is insane…" Yosaku muttered disbelieving his eyes.
"Maybe this is some elaborate dream we're having?" Johnny suggested.
"No. We just have to accept that those three are actual monsters in human skin." Usopp said nodding sagely.
Nami stood next to Luffy at the bow as he commanded the sea cow, her mouth open and eyes wide, not able to believe that the 'Terrifying Grand Line Monster' she had been so scared of was being used to pull their ship now. Hope finally started rising in her.
———
The island was soon visible and Luffy told Momoo to stop before it crashed into the island and sent the Merry flying. He had been listening to what the cow said the whole way and it was pretty much something along the lines of 'I'm hungry', 'Want food', 'Don't hurt me', 'That smells great', and 'Thank you' when they actually gave it food for helping them out. Momoo happily ate the food before diving back into the sea and Nami sailed the ship the rest of the way discreetly, making sure no fishman saw them.
"We'll be secretly entering the island, okay? I'll take you guys to my house and you'll stay there until I say otherwise. Understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" came the response.
They soon docked near what Nami said was Gosa village and the others, except the Monster Trio, gawked at the flipped houses, growing confused and terrified at the same time.
"What the hell happened here?" Usopp asked shivering.
"This is what happens to a town when even one person fails to pay the tribute," Nami said in a solemn tone, wanting them to understand that Arlong was too powerful.
Everyone silently walked through the empty village seeing the destruction that had befallen it and after they passed a forested area, they came across a blue-haired woman walking in front of them.
"Nojiko!" Nami yelled getting her sister's attention. Nojiko turned around and they saw that she was carrying a badly wounded kid in her arms. His legs, torso, chest and half his face were covered in bandages, and his clearly broken arm was in a sling.
"Na-chan," Nojiko smiled seeing her sister but her smile dropped when she saw everyone behind her. Nojiko studied all of them as they walked closer before settling her gaze on Nami. "You were gone for so long this time? Anything happened? And who are these people?"
"Oh! This is a joyous day that let me meet such a bea-" Sanji began as usual but was cut off by Nami.
"Stop. Let's go home. I'll explain there," Nami said and Nojiko nodded looking weirdly at Sanji before they started making their way towards their home.
"What's with the kid?" Nami asked as they walked eyeing the kid who had his head down the whole time.
Nojiko sighed. "He was from Gosa village. His dad was killed… I found him lying outside of Arlong Park today, beaten up badly… Took him to Nako and got him treated just now. Kid says he wanted to avenge his father's death by killing Arlong and so charged into their base…" She shook her head with a sigh, "He's lucky to be alive"
"I see…"
The kid finally lifted his head looking at all of them and when he saw Usopp, he got enraged and pointed at him with his good arm. "I'll kill every last one of you fishman bastards!"
"Me? What did I do?!" Usopp protested in confusion.
Nojiko smacked the kid on the head. "First off, look closely. He's human," she said looking at Usopp before noticing his long nose and adding "Just barely though…"
"Barely?!"
"And what did I tell you about throwing your life away?! Didn't you say you still had your mom?"
The kid, called Chabo, quietened down and again hung his head down in frustration. Luffy didn't know who the kid was and didn't remember him from the story either, but he was in the story. In another timeline, Nami would have been on the island when the kid tries to charge into Arlong's base and stops him, but here in this reality, Nami was with Luffy, so there was no one to stop him from entering the base and hence, got beat up.
Luffy sighed with his arms crossed, wondering if he could have saved this kid's father if he had just confronted Nami sooner and came here much earlier before Gosa was destroyed. He honestly didn't remember the village until he saw it and only now, did he vaguely recall that such a village was indeed present in the story too.
Besides that, he thought about the kid's words of wanting to kill every fishman he sees and sighed imagining this kid growing up and maybe hunting down fishmen indiscriminately because of his bad experiences with them… Similar to what Arlong and the others were doing right now. Just continuing the circle of hate.
'This sure is complicated and messy…'
Luffy had a dark look on his face while thinking and Nami mistook it for him being angry at Arlong for hurting the kid. And knowing his track record, she was afraid he would charge right up to their base right then and there but thankfully, he stayed silent and they soon reached a tangerine grove with a house in the middle.
A few minutes later, they were settled in the kitchen of the house with Nojiko offering to make them tea, which was quickly taken over by Sanji, and she finally sat across from Nami asking what was going on
"Well, introductions first," Nami began, "Guys, this is my sister, Nojiko" They all waved at her saying hello. "And Nojiko, this is…
my crew"
Nojiko became confused but kept a neutral face, wondering if Nami was in some sort of trouble.
'Did she con these people and now stuck with them? Is she in some kind of trouble? Should I act here? What should I act as? C'mon Nami, give me some clue as to what I am to do?' She thought discretely looking for any signs.
Nami knew what she was thinking and chuckled. "I'm not conning them or anything… They really are my crew. Luffy there is the captain. This is Zoro, Usopp and Sanji. These two are Zoro's old bounty hunter friends we're just helping out currently," she said pointing to each one as she introduced them and Nojiko only became shocked and confused.
"Y-you joined another pirate crew? D-do they know…?" she trailed off eyeing Nami's shoulder.
"Yeah, I told them everything," Nami admitted, which further shocked Nojiko. Her sister had
never opened up to anyone other than her, so suddenly finding that she had not only joined another pirate crew, which she hated the most in the world, but also opened up to them… Nojiko just couldn't believe it.
"I know what you're thinking. But these are good people… The best I've ever met… That idiot there," she pointed at Luffy, "broke down my common sense… not to mention, my sanity too… He's my captain and after we're done with Arlong, I'll go with him to the Grand Line as his navigator." She declared with a small happy smile and Luffy beamed.
"What happened Nami?! What are you saying?!" Nojiko screeched, "You're choosing to follow another pirate?! And what do you mean after you're done with Arlong?" She gasped, "Did you finally manage to collect the 100 million?"
"Yep. All 100 million! And more," Nami grinned, "We can finally be free, Nojiko!"
Nojiko just gaped at Nami, not able to process everything. Luffy saw that they would need to talk alone so decided to give them some space.
"We'll give you some alone time. C'mon guys, let's explore the tangerine grove"
"Don't you dare pick and eat them off the trees! Only the ripe ones need to be plucked," Nami chided before pointing to a basket filled with tangerines in the corner, "Take what you want from there"
"Thanks, Nami!" Luffy didn't stand on ceremony and picked up a bunch of tangerines.
Suddenly, Chabo spoke up. "Is it true? Can we finally be free from Arlong?" He asked hopefully.
Nami gave a small smile and ruffled his hair. "Yeah, just a few more hours. Keep quiet until then, okay?" She said softly and the kid nodded enthusiastically.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Do you have a doctor here? I want them to take a look at Zoro"
"I don't need no doc-" Zoro began to protest but Nami cut him off.
"Yeah, I'll go get him, wait"
"I can do it!" Chabo volunteered.
"Okay. Just bring Nako here. Tell him the patient was cut by swords." The kid nodded and soon left the house.
"Oi, don't I get a say?" Zoro growled. Luffy and Nami both said "Nope!" in unison and Zoro just sighed knowing they wouldn't listen to him.
"Alright, let's get out," Luffy, his hand filled with more than a dozen tangerines, left along with the rest, leaving the two sisters alone.
"Was all that true?" Was the first thing Nojiko asked and Nami chuckled.
"All true. You won't believe the adventures I've had, Nojiko… It all started when an idiot jumped into my dinghy I stole from a pirate ship…" Nami began narrating her experiences ever since she met Luffy.
As the story progressed, Nojiko couldn't believe all the stuff her sister had been through. A guy who can apparently catch and kick cannonballs, a powerful shock staff which she had used to take down entire pirate crews and also a huge lion, meeting Doppelgangers who were probably her distant cousins, crazy devil fruits… But more than anything, Nojiko was shocked at the way Nami talked about everything. With excitement, laughter, animated gestures, unrestrained
joy… For the first time since their mother died, Nami looked genuinely and truly happy.
"Looks like you found friends, Nami…" Nojiko said with a smile, almost tearing up.
"Yeah, I did" Nami smiled too and was about to continue when they were interrupted by loud shouting coming from the living room. "…As much I like them, they drive me up a wall sometimes," Nami sighed getting up to see what the commotion was and Nojiko giggled following her. They came outside to see Nako scolding Zoro, yelling at him to not move so much and calling him an idiot for even walking with such a deadly cut on his chest.
"How the hell did you even get such a cut in the first place?!" Nako yelled exasperatedly as he disinfected his cuts.
"Idiot asked for it," Sanji scoffed.
"Watch it, punk" Zoro growled.
"The hell did you just say, bastard?" Sanji growled back.
"Well, he's not wrong. You just showed Mihawk your chest and basically asked him to cut you," Usopp added and flinched when Zoro glared at him.
"… It's a reminder" Zoro softly said.
"Huh?" Nami was confused but Zoro didn't elaborate on it. She turned towards Luffy knowing that he would know what he meant.
"It's a reminder Mihawk gave him to make sure he never forgets the difference in their strengths. And also to remind him that Mihawk acknowledges him and will be waiting for him at the top"
"I see…"
"But was it worth it?" Sanji scoffed, "Almost dying? And for what? Just to get an acknowledgement?"
"Are you kidding me?" Luffy asked incredulously, "Hawky is the World's Greatest. You just don't understand the significance of that title. There are only a few swordsmen he acknowledges as his equals and they are all in Shanks' league. Thousands of rookie swordsmen have challenged him to a duel and he has
never ever acknowledged anyone. Zoro is the
only one. The only person in the entire world to earn the respect of the World's Greatest as a rookie. And that scar is the proof. It's a badge of honour!"
Zoro beamed at the praise, nodding with satisfaction.
"Well, damn" Usopp and Sanji got a glint of respect, although Sanji would never admit it aloud.
"Big Bro Zoro! You're so amazing!" The bounty hunter duo chorused.
"See what I meant when I said he's a suicidal bastard?" Nami sighed, "And Luffy is a greater suicidal bastard"
"Looks like you'll have your hands full dealing with them," Nojiko giggled along with Luffy while Nami groaned.
The happy mood soon changed when loud screams could be heard coming from outside, alarming them.
"I'll go check it out. You guys stay here," Nami said and quickly went for the door, not waiting for an answer. She headed to the streets with Nojiko and saw a large gathering of people gathered around Genzo, along with Arlong and a few Fishmen. Nami's heart almost leapt out of her chest when she saw Genzo being lifted up in the throat and she ran towards them.
"ARLONG!"
"Oh? If it isn't Nami," Arlong smiled showing off all his sharp teeth. "You were back?" He asked still holding Genzo by the throat, "Why didn't you report in?"
Luffy stood on the branch of a tree watching everything play out and just looking at the way Arlong mockingly talked at Nami was enough to make him want to attack him that instant itself.
"I just got here… Why are you threatening Genzo?"
Arlong got an evil glint in his eyes and smiled sadistically. "Well, you see, this human here was found in possession of a weapon. And you know the law, Nami. Possession of a weapon is a clear sign of rebellion. It's a threat to our dominion and will just cause unrest and disturbance in
my lands. So, I'll have to make an example out of this human to make the rest understand what happens to those who rebel!"
Nami stayed silent, glaring at Arlong, whose sadistic smile only widened. "Are you unsatisfied with what I'm doing Nami? Would you rather I destro-"
"This village isn't yours anymore." She stated calmly cutting him off.
Arlong's smile dropped and he frowned "…What do you mean by that?"
"I have the 100 million," she said, her lips slowly widening into a catty smile as Arlong's smile dropped. "I'm buying this village back"
Arlong lost all composure and dropped Genzo, forgetting about him completely.
"All the money is right there," she pointed at her house, "Ask your stupid men to come pick it up right now" Nami spat and revelled in the shock she was causing in her tormentor. "What's wrong, Arlong?" She tilted her head innocently, "You're not going back on your word, are you?"
Arlong finally came out of his shock and put on a fake smile. "Of course not, Nami. You finally did, huh? Very well. Bring the money to my base and we'll make it official"
"Okay, I'll be there soon. Now, leave
my village and never set foot here ever again"
"Haha! Take your time. Let's go," Arlong said to his crew and turned around to leave. His fake smile instantly dropped and his eyes narrowed in anger.
'Guess I wasn't keeping a close enough eye on her… Now, how to keep that puny inferior human under my leash…' He remembered a map that Kuroobi had found in Nami's room which indicated where all the money she had collected was buried and also remembered then the rat-faced Marine and got an idea. He smiled sadistically and quickly went back to his base and called Nezumi.
———
"Nami? Is that true? Did you really manage to collect 100 million?" Genzo asked in disbelief as soon as Arlong left.
"Ye- Wait! You knew about it?!" Nami asked incredulously.
"Yes Nami, none of us believed for a second that you would willingly work for that bastard"
"They kinda made me tell them the first time you went on a run," Nojiko sheepishly confessed coming up to her.
"Then? All these years…?"
"We just didn't want to burden you with our troubles. We wanted you to run away as soon as possible so we thought that if we acted like we hated you, you would one day leave this place… but you never did…" Genzo started tearing up and many of the other villagers also started crying.
'They didn't hate me…?' Nami took in all the happy faces of the villagers and became teary-eyed herself.
30 minutes later after many villagers personally came up to Nami, apologized and thanked her, Nami was back in her house making Luffy dig up the money she had buried under one of the trees. He quickly unearthed the bag, brought it into the house, and dumped all the contents on the floor. Stacks and stacks of money bills, jewellery, gold, and gems littered the floor.
"Damn, this sure is a lot of money" Sanji commented, "Are you really sure we should even
entertain the idea of giving him all this money? I just want to go and kill him right now"
"Yeah, me too" Zoro agreed.
"C'mon guys, we're doing it my way. If we do this without fighting then all the better. And Zoro! You're in no condition to fight right now!"
"Shut it, witch! I'll fight if I want to"
"Don't talk to Nami-swan like that, you stupid swordsman!"
"Shut it, you love-struck ero-cook! I'll send your head flying!"
"Try it, mosshead!"
'Ooh, there it is! The historic moment!' Luffy grinned, immortalizing the moment in his mind.
"Shut it! Both of you!" Nami yelled smacking them both on the head and they stopped fighting with Zoro grumbling and Sanji swooning.
"You guys sure are…" Nojiko thought for a moment for the right word, "Colourful"
"That's a tame way to put it," Usopp said with a sweat-drop.
The room then descended into silence where only the sounds of rustling paper could be heard as everyone got to counting.
"Count it carefully, guys. I don't want to give that bastard even one berri more than necessary"
"Yes, Nami-swan!"
Luffy soon got bored though and stopped, leaving it to the rest to them, while he scooted closer to Nojiko. "Hi" he whispered.
"Hey" she whispered back with a smile.
"Sooo… got any embarrassing childhood stories about Nami?"
A mischievous grin spread across her face. "Oh yeah,
tons"
"Shish-Ow" A piece of gold had hit him on the forehead, courtesy of Nami.
"What are you two whispering about?!"
"Oh, nothing much," Nojiko said nonchalantly before whispering "Later" to Luffy, who snickered with a nod, and Nami watched the two with irritation thinking Luffy was flirting with her sister.
Soon, the counting was done and all the stacks of bills were arranged neatly on the floor with jewellery and other things arranged next to it. "103 million in total!" Nami breathed reverentially.
"Man, that's a lot of money," Yosaku sighed, "We could never see this much money even in our wildest dreams"
"We could have actually made a ton more easily," Nami sighed solemnly. "We didn't really steal much from the pirates you know… like Clockwork Island, the Bear guy had so much, but we didn't take even a single berri"
"The people there would have needed that to rebuild. Plus, it's theirs in the first place"
"Yeah, I know. We did the same for Eldaraggo too. He alone would have covered the amount I needed…"
"If we turned in all their bounties, we could have had way more," Zoro added and when Nami thought about it, her mood dropped.
"You're right… Alvida had 5, All four of the Trump siblings had bounties ranging from 7, 5, 3 and 2 million, Buggy had 15, Eldaraggo had 8, Kuro had 16, Krieg had 17, Gin had 12… I'm sure I'm forgetting more… but that alone makes… 90 million… in just bounties…"
She hung her head down. "Just over a month and we could have made that much… Makes my 8 years look like nothing huh?"
"Nami…" Nojiko hugged her from the side, "Don't say that. You were a child when you started"
"Yeah," Luffy agreed, "There was a time when I couldn't do anything against an 8 million bounty, you know…"
"Yes, Nami-san," Sanji said calmly for once, "If you started now, how long do you think it would take you to collect 100 million?"
"Umm… with all the experience I have now, 2 years would be sufficient. And if I had the shock staff? Even less…"
"See? No need to feel bad. Adult you is obviously better than younger you. That's a great sign that you've grown a lot. You should be proud"
Nami nodded with a smile. "Thanks"
"From that whole conversation," Usopp said gawking at Sanji, "I'm most shocked that you can actually talk normally to a girl!"
"Right? Even I'm shocked" Zoro added with a smirk.
"Anything for my Nami-swan!" Sanji twirled around.
"And he's back to his normal perverted self…" Johnny said with a sigh.
Luffy was laughing when he saw a lot of people coming towards the house through the window. He spotted Genzo, a few villager, and a lot of Marines including the rat-faced Marine which caused him to sigh.
"What is it?" Nami asked seeing Luffy sigh and came up to the window too along with Nojiko.
"The Marines?" Nojiko tilted her head in confusion. They opened the door only to be greeted by Genzo who had a solemn expression but was cut off by the rat-faced Marine.
"Chichichi… I'm Captain Nezumi of the Marine's 16th branch. And you must be Nami, the criminal"
"A criminal?… Well, I am technically an Arlong pirate. So what? Do you really want to displease Arlong by doing something to me?"
"Chichichi A pirate? I have no idea what you're talking about… Don't worry, we're not here to hurt you, but I have received reports that you're a thief! My sources say that you only steal from pirates, so this is an unusual case…" He got a smug smile on his face as he continued, "But a thief is still a thief. The loot you stole belongs to the people it was originally stolen from. Therefore, you must surrender it to us - The World Government"
"What?!"
"Let me make it clear. Hand over all the treasure! Men, search the place!"
"Yes sir!" The other Marines began entering the house but Nami knocked out a couple of them with her staff before they could enter.
"Stop! What do you think you're doing?! You can't just barge into somebody's house like this!"
The Marines kept trying to enter and Nami struck a few with her staff but there were too many for her to stop by herself. "Stop it! Is this how the Marines operate?! The Arlong pirates have been terrorizing this island for years! He's killed hundreds of people and wiped out entire villages! He's enslaved everyone on this island! Why don't you do something about that?! Instead, you're here prioritizing some petty theft! Is this how the World Government does things?!"
Nezumi still had an evil grin on his face. "Chichichi criminals have no right talking so high-handedly, little thief! Ignore her and continue the search!"
"That money is for the villagers! How dare you take that away?!" Genzo yelled getting into the fight too.
"Why don't you get lost?" Nojiko also screamed at them. "If Arlong finds you here, he'll attack you too!"
"Arlong? Attack us? Chichichichi I wonder what you're talking about…"
"Sir! There's a huge pile of cash and treasure in the kitchen!" came a Marine's voice from inside the house.
"Chichichi!" Nezumi laughed entering the house forcefully and his eyes became greedy when he saw the money laid out perfectly."Ah! The hundred million! All neatly arranged, ready for us to take it! Chichichichi!"
Nami gasped and paled. "H-How did you know it was a hundred million?"
"Hm? Just a lucky guess Chichichichi!" Nezumi laughed not even bothering to hide his allegiances.
"… Arlong is doing this… you're working for him…" Nami realized and her body started trembling with rage.
"Oh? I don't know what you're talking about. We're just Marines performing our civic duties and persecuting thieves"
"Why you corrupt bastards!" Genzo screamed gritting his teeth.
"How could you take orders from a pirate?!" Nojiko yelled while trying to comfort Nami.
"Chichichichi" Nezumi was just laughing when suddenly, a hand gripped his shoulder. He instinctively turned around and came face to face with the most terrifying pair of eyes he had ever seen in his life and his body involuntarily started shaking when the grip on his shoulder increased.
It was Luffy who was looking blankly at him. He and the others were just quietly watching everything going on but had had enough. Seeing Nezumi torment Nami, Luffy felt like he wouldn't be satisfied with just punching him as it would be over in a second, so decided to put the fear of the devil in him.
"Wh-who are you?" Nezumi's shaky voice asked.
Luffy increased the pressure on his shoulder a
crack! followed by a scream followed.
"Sir!" The Marines inside the house panicked and raised their guns at Luffy, but he didn't bother looking at them and concentrated solely on Nezumi.
"I'm sure you've heard of the phrase 'A fight to the death', but have you heard about 'A fight to the pain?'" Luffy asked out of nowhere.
"W-w-what are you d-doing? W-we're the M-Marin-" Nezumi tried to talk, but his voice was too shaky to be comprehensible.
"Johnny, Sword," Luffy said, one hand holding onto Nezumi's shoulder while he held the other hand out and Johnny wordlessly gave him his sword.
"Let him go or we'll shoot!" One of the Marines yelled but he wasn't even acknowledged and they couldn't actually shoot with Nezumi in the way.
"I'll tell you what a fight 'to the pain' means," Luffy continued as he waved the sword in front of Nezumi's trembling eyes, "It means you and I fight. If you win, I die. But if I win, you get to
live… But! It'll be on my terms… And what are my terms, you ask? Well, let me tell you. First, I'll cut off your legs… right below the knees," He moved the sword to said areas as he talked, "Then go your hands, just below your elbows… Then go your teeth. Each pulled out, one by one," His voice got deeper and deeper as he continued, "as
painfully as possible until you have no teeth left… Then I'll cut off your tongue…"
Nezumi's trembling legs couldn't hold him up anymore and he started to keel over, but Luffy grabbed him and held him up by his shirt while he continued pointing the sword at each area he talked about, "Then, I'll stab your right eye, then your left, then goes your nose… Your ears though?" He smiled, "Your ears you'll keep, and I'll tell you why. It's so that every shriek of every child who sees your
hideousness will be yours to
cherish… Every babe that
weeps at your
approach, every woman who cries out
'Dear God! What. Is. That. Thing?!' will reverberate in your
perfect ears!"
Tears were pouring down Nezumi's eyes by that point as his whole body shook in fear and his lips moved trying to say something, but all that came out were whimpers. Unfortunately for him, Luffy wasn't done yet.
He gradually modified his voice from deep to demonic as he continued, "
That. Is what 'To the pain' means… It means that I leave you in anguish, wallowing in freakish misery forever and ever. And I'll make sure that you'll live a long LONG life… Do you understand, you RODENT-faced. MISERABLE. VOMITOUS. MEWLING. WASTE. Of Space?"
Nezumi almost fainted with his eyes rolling back into his head but Luffy grabbed his other shoulder and another
crack! sounded, making him scream and snap back to consciousness.
"If you do understand, tell your men to get off the island," Luffy ordered, his voice back to normal, and Nezumi shivered nodding vigorously. He turned around to see that a few of his men were still inside the house, but they had backed away and were pressing into the far wall, terrified of Luffy.
"D-di-did y-you n-not h-hear him?!"
Luffy's face scowled in disgust when every single Marine instantly ran away without giving it a second thought, leaving behind Nezumi alone.
"P-please don't hurt me…" Nezumi begged, "I only did what Arlong told me to do… I have no ill intentions… if I hadn't done it, he would have killed me!"
"Rat-bastard," Luffy crouched down coming face to face with him, "I was here the whole time. I saw you taking immense pleasure while you tormented my friends"
Nezumi started sobbing more, both his hands dangling uselessly by his side, but Luffy had had enough fun. He just chopped him on the neck and he dropped to the floor unconscious. He then lifted him up and threw him out of the house, high and far. His body flew quite a distance before crashing into a tree in the forest and he fell, disappearing from sight.
"Shishishi…Hahahaha!" Luffy laughed turning back to face the rest. Usopp, Sanji, Yosaku and Johnny flinched and stepped back while Zoro gulped but held his ground. To the side, Nojiko and Genzo looked terrified while Nami was looking at him in shock.
"Umm… too much? I just dislocated his shoulder, that's all"
Zoro took a deep breath and sighed. "You were quoting something again, weren't you?"
"Yeah! That dialogue is from
The Princess Bride! Guess it became too scary when I started using my demon voice huh?"
While Sanji asked "Quoting something? What does that mean?" to Usopp, who started explaining, an enraged Nami pounced on Luffy, pushing him to the floor before screeching right into his ears. "Don't joke around at a time like this! And that was way too fucking scary!"
"Ow! Ow! My ears!" Luffy groaned closing them up with his hands while wondering if Nami was a banshee. "I was just having fun…"
Nami sighed letting it go as he actually got the Marines to leave without taking her treasure… but she soon remembered Arlong's part in it and the rage and frustration came rushing back in full force. She was about to go to Arlong Park when Nezumi first confirmed it, but Luffy's sideshow had distracted her.
She got up from Luffy about to run to Arlong Park, but Luffy caught her hand.
"Nami… he just broke the deal," Luffy calmly said standing up.
"I know!" She snapped at him trying to pull her hand away but Luffy held onto her. "Let me go!"
The others stayed silent, waiting for her to give permission, and Nami knew that what she was doing was pointless. She stopped pulling away and her whole body trembled in rage and fear understanding the implications, understanding that Arlong never intended to keep his word, understanding that she would never be free from him if nothing was done…
"…I don't want you to die…" Nami softly whimpered, her eyes glassy.
"You know my answer, Nami"
She slowly nodded and after taking a deep breath, quoted him. "You can't change anything if you aren't prepared to stake your life on it…"
Luffy grinned and seeing how her hands were still shaking, took off his hat and placed it on his navigator's head. Her eyes drifted upwards to see the brim of the hat and her hand automatically went to touch it. She felt the rough texture of the hat, remembering all the times Luffy had told her about his greatest treasure… And now he had given it to her.
"Let's go" Luffy said to Zoro, Usopp and Sanji, who were all happy that Nami had finally agreed to fight and they started to go out.
"Wait wait, you guys are going to fight Arlong and his crew?" Nojiko cut in, "Don't be suicidal! Just take Nami away from here!"
"Yes, just take her away please!" Genzo also begged, "Nami seems to trust you, so I'll leave her to you"
"No…" Surprisingly, Nami was the first who denied them. "No," she said again, her hands going from the hat to her shock staff. "No, we'll fight them. If we win, we win. If we lose, we just die together!" she stated happily. Her crew agreed with grins while Nojiko and Genzo were stunned at her words.
"Give me a minute, guys. I need to get some steel wires," Nami said and a couple of minutes later, she was walking through the village along with her crew, with a shock staff in hand and a roll of steel barbed wire hanging off her waist.
The news had spread to the entire village and they were following behind the Strawhats, with Johnny and Yosaku getting the task to keep them all out of their way.
——o———o———o——
"We sure screwed Nami over,
chew!" Chew laughed clutching his stomach along with the rest of the Fishmen.
"I can't wait to see the face of despair on that bitch!" Kuroobi laughed, "I hope she comes cryi-"
BOOM!
All noise abruptly stopped and their eyes turned towards the loud sound only to find cracks forming in the gates of Arlong Pa-
BOOM!
A second loud sound was followed by the gates shattering and they flew into a row of Fishmen that were unfortunately in its path. From the newly created hole, a man in a red vest and blue pants entered the Park with a blank look on his face. A second figure emerged from the smoke - one they all recognized, Nami with a straw hat on her head. Three more people followed them and they also saw the entire village at the gates with make-shift weapons in hand.
"Who the hell are you?!" / "How dare you?!" / "Nami's with them!"
"Nami?" Arlong growled, "What's the meaning of this?"
"What do you think, you piece of shit?" Nami replied twirling her shock staff. "We're here to take you down"
There was a beat of silence before all the Fishmen started guffawing with laughter.
"DID YOU HEAR THAT?! HAHAHAHA!" / "SHE'S GONE CRAZY!" / "LITTLE INFERIOR HUMAN THINKS SHE CAN BEAT US SUPERIOR FISHMEN! HAHAHA!"
Arlong was also laughing loudly until he noticed that someone was standing next to his throne.
"Hm? Who ar-"
Luffy's fist connected with Arlong's cheek, the force flinging him off his throne and sending him flying off and crashing into the far wall of the compound. The wall didn't stop his momentum though and he crashed through it, smashing the wall into bits, before his body carved a trench along the ground for a good distance before finally grinding to a halt
Again, all laughter abruptly stopped.
"
Arlong!"
"Human scum!" / "You must be mad!" / "You'll pay for this!" Many Fishmen pulled out their swords and weapons and lunged at Luffy.
Zoro lunged right into the group of Fishmen with two swords out, which he had already borrowed from the bounty duo brothers, and many Fishmen fell with cuts on their bodies while some got flung away and crashed into their own comrades.
At the same time, Sanji also jumped into the middle of Fishmen and doing a hand spin, launched powerful kicks that flung away Fishmen, and they also crashed into their comrades.
Witnessing the two's formidable display of strength, many took a step back in fear, which lead to them clustering into little groups that were physically in contact with one another.
Few of them instinctively stepped back in fear after witnessing the two's formidable strength and ended up unintentionally colliding with others, thus clustering into small groups that were physically in contact with one another. Nami seized that opportunity to electrocute groups of Fishmen together and soon, more Fishmen fell, their bodies convulsing.
And finally, three Fishmen were hit with rotten eggs, courtesy of Usopp's
Rotten Egg Star causing them to yell "Eww! Did he just throw eggs at us?!"
Arlong slowly got up from where he had crash-landed and walked back with a scowl on his face, only to be shocked when he saw lots and lots of his men were down. His eyes flashed dangerously as they fell on Nami and the four men with her, who were calmly talking amongst themselves.
"Did you seriously just egg them, Usopp?" Sanji asked incredulously. "Don't waste food like that, you asshole!"
"T-they weren't just eggs, they were
rotten eggs. Besides, that was my special 'Smelly Bomb'! I'm saving my lethal ammo for the real fight! T-these are just small underlings, so you guys take care of them!"
"Then why even throw eggs at them?" Nami asked with a sweat-drop.
"I-I wanted to join in too!"
'And look cool!'
"Whatever," Sanji rolled his eyes.
All the villagers standing right outside the blown-off entrance were earlier telling Johnny and Yosaku to get out of the way so that they could fight too, but they had adamantly held their ground saying that they would just get in the way. But after Luffy sent Arlong flying, followed by the rest showing off their prowess, especially Nami, they stopped arguing and looked on in astonishment.
"What's Nami using?" Genzo asked shocked.
"She called it a shock staff. Something her captain gave her apparently…" Nojiko said noting how confident Nami looked.
Arlong finally made his way back and stood with his three officers.
"Nami… Looks like you found some slightly strong humans and now think you can take us down? Think you can betray us?!"
"Oh shut up! I know it was you who sent those Marines to steal my treasure. You're scum who can't even keep his word… Besides, I was never a part of your crew, so go fuck yourself, you abhorrent, disgusting, self-centred piece of shit!"
"Wow, been holding back a lot huh?" Luffy chuckled.
"You have no idea how much I wanted to curse these fucking motherfuckers right to their faces all these years!" Nami growled, "And hearing you curse out Nezumi kinda made me want to do it too…"
"Shishi, it's good," Luffy said always happy to see how small things he did changed the story and the people around him.
"Nami-swan! You look so beautiful even when you say such words!" Sanji swooned around.
"Nami…" Arlong growled, all his veins bulging in fury at seeing what he thought was his obedient slave acting out. But before he could say anything more, Luffy again stepped up to him and he froze, glaring down at him. "And who the hell are you?!"
"Luffy. A pirate"
"A pirate eh? Do you any idea wh-"
"You kinda make me sick," Luffy calmly said as he punched him and sent him flying out of the Park again.
"You?! How dare you?!" Chew, Kuroobi, Hachi and a few other fishmen all roared in anger.
"SHAHAHAHA!" Arlong laughed loudly and this time, quickly made his way back. "You think you puny inferior humans can do anything?! Hachi, call Momoo now! He's more than enough to take care of these bastards! And Nami, I'll make sure to kill each and every one of your precious people in the village right in front of you!"
Nami gulped, feeling fear rising up in her, but managed to not look away.
Hachi soon blew his elongated mouth like a trumpet. "Come on out, Momoo!"
"Wow, that's pretty great how you can use your mouth like a trumpet," Luffy suddenly complimented him.
Hachi stopped and stared at him before bashfully smiling and rubbing his head. "Oh!
Nyuu, Hehehe, thanks!"
"Can you imitate other instruments too? Like a trombone or a saxophone or maybe even a flute?"
"I can do a trombone and I can kinda get the sound of a saxoph-"
"HACHI!" / "LUFFY!"
Shouts from respective crews put an end to that conversation and it was perfect timing too, as not even a second later, Momoo rose from the waters, terrifying all the villagers, but the Strawhats just looked on uninterested.
"Momoo, kill them!" Chew ordered but the sea cow flinched when it saw the Strawhats.
"Hey, Momoo!" Luffy waved at the sea cow and it looked conflicted about whether to be scared as Luffy and the others were really strong or happy as they had given it tasty food as a parting gift earlier.
"You know Momoo?" Chew asked in confusion.
"Go back. You don't want to be a part of this fight," Luffy told Momoo and it nodded before instantly turning its back and started descending… at least until it heard Arlong's voice.
"Momoo, what are you doing?" Arlong snarled making it shiver. "If you want to run away, go ahead"
'There will be consequences to your actions though' went unsaid but the threat was clear in his voice.
"
Scary!… I'm sorry!" Momoo's voice reached Luffy and he sighed just as it rose from the waters and tried to attack them.
"Move back guys," he first told his crew before charging at Momoo. "Sorry for this Momoo" He jumped high in the air and kicked it right under its chin, making its head snap upwards and causing its whole body to rise up out of the waters because of the sheer force. Luffy jumped to its tail fin and grabbed it midair before eyeing all the Fishmen with a grin.
"Sea Cow War Hammer!" Luffy yelled just as he brought down the poor sea cow on some of the Fishmen. They didn't have a chance to even scream as it was just too sudden and unbelievable and as a result, they got flattened into the ground like a pancake. Luffy didn't let up for even a second as he lifted the sea cow back up and used it as a war hammer to flatten all the remaining Fishmen.
BANG! BANG! CRACK! BANG! BANG!
Most got caught up in the attack as it was just too fast, but a few did manage to run away. It wasn't as effective as the Pinwheel attack which took out pretty much all the Fishmen except for the officers, but the ones who did manage to escape were too terrified of Luffy after his stunt to try anything, so they were out of the fight too.
"Tch. Don't hog all of them!" Zoro complained.
"Yeah, leave some for the rest of us!" Sanji yelled in irritation.
"Ah… I'm okay with it. Just take them all down!" Usopp commented with a thumbs up. Nami, on the other hand, was too stunned to even move. She had imagined all of the Fishmen ganging up on them and making the fight difficult, but Luffy had so easily taken out everyone in just a few seconds, that too, using Momoo as a hammer, which she couldn't have imagined in her wildest dreams.
The villagers looked in equal parts shock and horror at the magnificent display of strength and felt hopeful for the first time.
Luffy finally stopped after whipping poor Momoo around ten times and threw it back into the sea where it slowly sank. Arlong, the three officers and a handful of fishmen were left standing by the end. "Shishi don't worry guys. The strongest are still left"
"
Nyuu, What you did to my comrades wasn't nice!" Hachi yelled angrily pointing at Luffy.
"Looks like we'll have to get involved," Kuroobi spat irritated.
"Don't get cocky, humans," Chew said with a cocky smile, "The three of us are Arlong's officers and the strongest ones here,
chew. You don't stand a chance against us!"
"Ah good then," Zoro nodded happily. "Let's do this!"
"Arlong, you shouldn't get involved," Kuroobi said placating his captain, "As angry as you are now, you'll just end up destroying this whole place if you fight, so please, leave this to us"
"Shahahaha! You're right. Go ahead and kill these filthy humans!"
Luffy didn't care and walked towards Arlong, ready to give him a beating, when Hachi lunged at him with two swords drawn while yelling "This is for Momoo!"
Luffy didn't slow down and Zoro intercepted Hachi's swords. "Oh, a swordsman huh? Great, I was looking for a good opponent to test some things. You'll fight me!"
"
Nyuu who even are you?!"
"Roronoa Zoro!" Zoro declared as he pushed Hachi's two swords back.
Luffy slowed down to a stop.
'Test some things?' He wondered observing Zoro.
"You're the infamous Pirate Hun-" Kuroobi was saying when Nami suddenly charged at him with her staff in a thrusting position. Kuroobi saw her coming though and quickly jumped back, having seen the power of her staff already. Nami didn't waste a single moment as she spun around and aimed for Chew who was standing right next to him, but unfortunately, Chew also jumped back before her staff could reach him, causing Nami to click her tongue in annoyance.
"Why you bitch?!" Kuroobi growled, "Just because you have some weap-"
"How dare you call Nami-swan a bitch?!" A furious Sanji came flying in at Kuroobi who blocked his leg with his oversized fins.
"
Chew You think you can defeat me, Nami?" Chew said in a mocking tone.
"Alright, you guys! Fight!" Usopp yelled standing all the way back near the blown-off entrance.
"Usopp!" Nojiko suddenly yelled in alarm and he turned around just in time to see a sword coming down on his head. He yelped in shock jumping back and the sword barely missed cutting him in half.
"Tch! Almost had him!" One of the three Fishmen who he had egged earlier was standing there staring him down.
"You bastard! We smell so bad because of you!" The other two also came up to attack him. Usopp's knees started shaking and he couldn't think of anything other than that they would kill him, so ran straight out of Arlong Park, past all the villagers while screaming his head off. "
GYAAAAAAAAHHH!"
"Hey wait!" The three Fishmen tried to run after him but by the time they reached where all the villagers were, he had run far off.
"Did that idiot just run away?" Sanji asked incredulously while Zoro frowned with a dissatisfied expression. Luffy just stared towards where Usopp had run with a blank look and Nami kinda expected it already. He was the only 'normal' person on the crew after all.
The three Fishmen clicked their tongues in dissatisfaction but when they saw all the villagers right in front of them, especially Nojiko who was the one who had warned Usopp earlier, they grinned. "Guess we'll have to satisfy ourselves by killing you guys!" One of them said with a dark grin and was about to take a step towards them when someone interrupted them.
"FLAME STAR!" Usopp's loud voice rang in the air before one of them was hit with a projectile that engulfed him in flames. "SMELL STAR!" Another yell followed by stink bombs (rotten eggs) hit the other two.
"Your opponent is me! Come at me, ya bastards!" Usopp yelled full of bravado and the three, who were really pissed at him now, charged at him. Usopp again screamed his head off in fear and ran away but the three Fishmen chased after him, taking the fight away from Arlong Park.
That brought a smile to the other Strawhat's faces knowing he hadn't just abandoned the fight.
"Uhh, are you sure he'll be okay by himself?" Nami asked with concern.
"Yeah, don't worry," Luffy waved her concerns off, "He'll manage"
Some of the other stragglers tried to advance towards the villagers too but before even one of them could, a stone flew and hit one of them square in the face making them fall unconscious instantly. Eyes turned towards Luffy, who was sitting cross-legged near the Arlong Park building, and they gulped seeing the warning look he gave them and stayed in place.
"Shahahaha!" Arlong laughed as he sat down on debris a bit behind Luffy, both having come to an unspoken agreement to fight after their crew's fights were done. "Not even gonna help your crew? You think these humans can take on my officers? You think
Nami can take on Chew? Shahahaha! This will be hilarious to watch!"
Luffy didn't bother answering him and focused on what Zoro was doing.
———
'Cut nothing… cut nothing…'
Zoro was struggling not only because his wounds from Mihawk were opening up but also because he was trying to achieve whatever the hell it meant to 'cut nothing'. The fight with Mihawk was humiliating, to say the least, and he hated that he not only lost the fight but had also lost his cool in the middle of the fight. He thought that if he had just fought with a steady mind, maybe he could've gained something.
'Can't not
show progress… after all those hours of spars… after all the training and advice I got…'
So, he swung his swords at Hachi, who came at him with two swords, and blocked all his attacks but didn't go on the offensive. The bandages wrapped around his chest were being dyed red every time he moved and he also kept losing balance sometimes, which left him open to attacks and also got hit, but he pushed forth not just to defeat Hachi, but also to evolve his swordsmanship to the next level.
'Breath of things… cut nothing… cut steel… there are swordsmen who can cut nothing…'
"
Nyuu! Hey, what are you doing?" Hachi yelled looking at Zoro, who remained verbally unresponsive.
"Damn! I knew it… his wounds haven't healed yet…" Sanji grit his teeth looking worriedly at Zoro before his eyes turned to the side to see Nami fighting with Chew and again got worried.
Nami also kept glancing at Zoro from time to time, cursing him for still choosing to fight with such severe wounds, but that of course meant she got distracted. Chew punched at her and she barely managed to block it with her staff but the blow flung her backwards making her crash into the compound wall.
"Why you stupid fish!" Sanji roared charging at Chew, but Kuroobi took that chance to punch him in the gut. Sanji managed to bring a leg up to block the attack but got pushed back. "Ugh… Nami-san, are you okay?!"
"Yeah yeah," Nami staggered to her feet using the staff as a support stick.
"Hahahaha! You still think you have a chance?
chew… Guess I'll have to hit you again and again until you understand"
"How dare you talk to a lady like that, you crap-fish?!" Sanji roared at Chew.
"Sanji," Nami said staring at Chew, "Just focus on your fight… I want to do this by myself"
"Nami-san…" Sanji trailed off before nodding while Chew only laughed harder at Nami.
"You act rather chivalrous for calling yourself a pirate," Kuroobi scoffed at Sanji. "How half-assed can you be?"
"Oh? Would you like to test my half-assed chivalry then, Mr Fish? Despite what you may think, I've spent most of my life around pirates"
Kuroobi sighed, "Looks like you fools don't understand the difference in level between us…"
"Yes,
chew. And you have first-hand experience to know that, don't you, Nami?" Chew chuckled as Nami stood across from him. "You've seen us destroy multiple battleships! You think some little electric staff can hurt us? I just have to swat it away from your hands!"
"Try it, asshole!" Nami snarled just as Chew lunged at her. She held the staff in a defensive position in front of her and Chew punched aiming at the staff. Nami ducked, crouching on the ground, and just as Chew's hands passed over her head, she thrust the staff upwards and made contact with his hand. She turned the dial up at the same time, but unfortunately, Chew got electrocuted for less than a second before he yanked his hands away. He stepped back, creating some distance between them and Nami cattily grinned at him. "Looks like someone's scared"
"
Chew don't get cocky, bitch!" Chew growled spitting on the ground.
"Nami-swan~ That was so wond-" Sanji's twirling got forcefully stopped by Kuroobi's punch and Sanji ended up crashing through the compound wall, making a hole in it, and landed on the street outside.
"Heh," Kuroobi smirked, "All that talk and he gets taken down by a single hit. Well, I suppose it was to be expected. I'm a 40th-degree master in Fishman Karate after all!"
"That idiot," Nami sighed before looking over at Zoro and got really worried as he seemed to be struggling. That was a mistake though as Chew saw that she was distracted and threw a punch at her. Nami managed to point the tip of the staff at him hoping to scare him away, but he sidestepped coming to her right side before punching her in the stomach. She barely managed to swing the staff to take the blow, but the punch landed on her waist flinging her away and she landed a few feet away on the ground.
"NAMI!" Nojiko, Genzo and the villagers yelled in alarm. Nojiko and Genzo wanted to go help her but were again stopped by Johnny and Yosaku. "You'll just increase her burden if you go there," Johnny said and that shut them up. "Besides, Big Bro Luffy hasn't moved, so that means she's more than fine" They all looked at Luffy and he indeed looked calm.
Meanwhile, Arlong laughed in glee. "SHAHAHAHA! That's all it took to take them all down! Looks like you're the only slightly strong human in your crew!"
He waited for any response but Luffy didn't even bother acknowledging him and seemed to be engrossed in watching all the fights. He got irritated and looked at Hachi. "Hachi, finish that swordsman already"
"Okay!
nyuu Roronoa Zoro, I'll show you why no human will ever be able to beat me in a swordfight! I'm the second-strongest swordsman on this island! They call me Hachi of the Six-Sword style!" Hachi declared as he brought out and held six swords in his six arms. "Think about it mathematically, even if you are using three swords, there's no way you can win against my six swords!"
Zoro smirked and finally spoke. "Hoh… Is that so?" He then dropped the two swords Johnny and Yosaku had given him and only held Wado with both hands. "I'll defeat your six swords with my one sword. Come at me"
'THAT GODDAMN IDIOT!' Nami screamed in her head as she observed him while still on the ground. She then looked at Luffy and he was just looking on calmly in anticipation.
'Ahh those suicidal bastards…' she cursed them in annoyance before calming down and sighing.
'Well… Luffy will deal with it. Let's concentrate on my fight'
Chew and Kuroobi were distracted by Zoro's fight too, so she took off the steel barbed wire that was hanging off her waist and eyed an unconscious Fishman that had been flattened into the ground by Luffy's earlier attack. She tied one end of the wire to the fishman's arm before spreading the remaining length of the wire around him.
She then got back on her feet again with a groan and only her arm was scrapped and bloody with the rest of her body relatively unharmed. It hurt where she was punched in the gut and she was sure a bruise would be there, maybe even a cracked rib, but she didn't care at that moment and pushed through the pain.
"Oi, crap-fish," Sanji walked in at the same time she stood up, looking almost unharmed except for his forehead which was bleeding. "If that was 40th level, then the old geezer's kicks were 400th level"
"Hmph…" Kuroobi scoffed, "I never imagined that there's a human in East Blue that could take the full force of my punch and still live"
"I reckon there are lots, especially at a certain restaurant"
While they bantered, Chew and Nami's fight also resumed.
"Oh…
chew, You're up too, Nami?" Chew smirked looking at her. "Back for more, I see…"
"Yeah, come at me, ya bastard!"
Contrary to what it looked like in all her previous fights, Nami didn't recklessly fight knowing that Luffy would always watch her back. She recklessly
tested attacks knowing Luffy would watch her back and protect her if something went wrong.
Before Luffy came into her life, she generally avoided fights and even if she ended up having to fight, she only used safe and sure-to-land attacks with her bo staff. But ever since that fateful day she met Luffy, he had made her feel powerful beyond her wildest imagination. The first time she had used her shock staff, she got drunk on its powers and recklessly charged into the fight, but Luffy was there watching her and making sure she didn't get hurt. In every subsequent fight since then, she had quickly come to realize that Luffy was her safety net. No matter how crazy and recklessly she acted in a fight, he always made sure she was safe.
So she recklessly tested all sorts of tactics and attacks. Some of her attacks worked, some failed miserably but since Luffy was there to take care of her, she did it again with slight changes in her footwork or something similar the next time. Nothing she learned was flashy like Zoro's attacks but what she did learn was how to read attacks from opponents, how to respond to them, how to pull an enemy into her pace, how to distract them,… and so on, and she had learned to do that effectively in a fight.
"You filthy human! Stop dodging,
chew!" Chew screamed in irritation as Nami kept avoiding all his attacks, while slowly backing away.
"You can't even hit that 'filthy human' you stupid-face!" Nami taunted as she backed away and guided him towards her trap.
'Make sure to keep your staff up and pointed at him so that his eyes are up too and he doesn't look down… keep yourself in his field of vision so that he won't see the wires… taunt him so he charges without thinking… think on your feet, don't let him pull you into his pace… do it slow, don't let him realize that you're pulling him into a trap…'
Luffy smiled as he watched her gracefully manipulate Chew into her pace and finally reach the place where she had set up the barbed wires on the ground. She carefully, but discreetly, walked over it making sure she didn't get tangled in the wires herself and successfully got over them. Chew chased after her, trying to punch or kick her and finally, he stepped into the mess of wires.
There were tons of debris because Luffy had smashed and cracked the ground, so it was well-hidden and everyone was too concentrated on Zoro when she had set it up. A couple of stragglers had seen it, however, and just before they could yell out a warning, Luffy had thrown large rocks at them, shutting them up.
"Wha?!" Chew finally looked down, saw his feet caught on wires and tried to walk it off but that only entangled him in the wires more. He eventually staggered and fell to the ground, his legs getting tied up.
Chew groaned as he looked up and saw Nami's staff coming at him. He quickly pushed off the ground with his arms and landed back a few meters away from her, ending up in a sitting position. "You set this up?" He scowled before laughing. "So this was your plan… Make me fall and electrocute me, huh
chew… Well, looks like you missed your chance. Even if my legs are tied up, I still have my arms, so come near me if you dare, you inferior human!" He yelled with his fists raised.
"Nah," Nami drawled with a smile as she causally twirled her staff and touched the end of it at the unconscious Fishman around whose arm she had tied one end of the barbed wire to. Chew saw it too, panicked and the thought of 'Have to untangle myself from these wires' formed in his mind but before he could act on it, Nami turned the dial up.
BZZZZZZTTTT!
"G
GYARRRRKKKKK!"
The unconscious Fishman's body jerked, electricity coursed through the steel wires, and Chew's body started convulsing violently as Nami turned the dial up to the maximum intensity level.
"Chew!" Kuroobi yelled trying to go help him but Sanji stopped him.
"Oi, where the hell are you going? Don't disrupt Nami-san's fight!"
"You! I don't have time for you!" Kuroobi yelled before punching him using Fishman karate again, but Sanji bent backwards to dodge it before kicking him right under his chin, sending him flying back.
Nami electrocuted Chew for way longer than necessary, even after it seemed like he had lost unconsciousness (It was hard to tell with his body jerking violently after all) and only stopped after she was satisfied.
"Nami! You did it!" / "Way to go, Big Sis Nami!" The villagers and bounty hunters cheered and she smiled at them before collapsing to her knees, clutching her waist where she had been hit. She slowly reached for the hat that had ended up dangling on her nape during the fight and placed it back on her head with a small smile.
'I beat one of the terrifying officers on Arlong's crew…'
She looked at Arlong and revelled seeing an extremely pissed-off expression on his face, and smirked at him before turning her gaze to Luffy, who was looking at her with a smile too.
———
Kuroobi glowered at Sanji as he alternated his gaze between him, the defeated Chew, and Nami. "Seems like you're underestimating us too much! You're no match for my superior Fishman Karate!"
Sanji jumped back just as Kuroobi threw a punch at him before lunging at him with a sidekick aimed at his abdomen. Kuroobi blocked his kick with his elbow fin and Sanji grit his teeth knowing that his skin was strong. But it wasn't a big deal for him. He just had to kick harder at all his weak points after breaking through his defences. He had been distracted as he was worrying over Nami but now that she had won, he focused on his fight. He did glance towards Zoro from time to time and even though it looked like Zoro was losing badly, he was sure Zoro was trying something given how excited Luffy looked.
"Stomach Drop Kick!" Kuroobi growled as he drove his ankle into Sanji's stomach, who got bent in half at the sudden attack.
"Don't blame me because you keep getting distracted!" Kuroobi said as he brought his heel down on Sanji's back. "Fire Flower Heel Drop Kick!"
Sanji got flattened into the ground as Kuroobi slowly lifted his leg off of him with a smirk, but it died when he saw Sanjigetting up instantly as if he was unharmed.
"Still alive huh? Well, let me show you the true essence of Fishman Karate. What I used to send you flying earlier was my 100-tile smashing true punch. I'll use my ultimate technique - The 1000-tile smashing true punch! Your chances of survival are zero!"
'Time to end this' Sanji blew out a wisp of smoke before going for the attack. It was too fast for Kuroobi to react and he felt Sanji's foot on his collarbone before he could even react to it.
"Collier!"
"Gah!" Kurrobi groaned in pain, not able to believe that it was a human that the kick had come from. But before he could think about his next move he heard Sanji saying "Epaule!" before feeling a debilitating kick on his shoulder.
Sanji did not give him a chance to recover and continued the onslaught carrying the momentum from one attack to the next, thus increasing the overall strength of his kicks.
"Poitrine!"
"Collete!"
"Selle!"
"Gigot!"
"W-why y-you…" Kuroobi stuttered barely able to stand or get into stance. "T-take my ultimate te-"
"MUTTON SHOT!"
Sanji gave the last kick right on his midsection and Kuroobi flew backwards, crashing into the Arlong Park building making a life-size hole of himself in the wall.
"I guess you won't be needing any dessert…" Sanji said as he relaxed his nerves before looking at Zoro's fight again which was still ongoing.
"Sanji! You did it!" Nami cheered happily and Sanji snapped his neck at her and found that she was near the entrance with Nojiko.
"Big Bro Sanji! That was amazing!" Johnny and Yosaku praised and the other villagers also threw in some praises.
"Anything for you, my beautiful Nami-swan!" he predictably swooned going to her side, but got serious again and looked at Zoro, "Umm… what exactly is happening there?"
"As far as I can tell, Zoro seems to be on the verge of figuring some technique out and Luffy is watching with excitement," Nami said blankly staring at the fight.
"Is he an idiot? Why now of all times? Isn't he badly hurt?"
"Yes! I can't believe he's fighting in that state!" Nako interjected from behind them. "I want to drag him back here right now. Look at all that blood he's losing! It's a miracle he's still alive!"
Just then, a beaten-up Usopp showed up. "Hey, guys!"
——Flashback——
Usopp was lying on the ground in a pool of his own supposed blood.
"Tch, this guy was only good at running away it seems," a Fishman with wide protruding teeth clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Yeah, he's so weak. Nothing like that monster that whipped Momoo…" a Fishman with prominent pink lips shivered in fear remembering Luffy.
"Let's go back. I'm sure Arlong has already killed all of them…" said a third Fishman with a fin on his head.
"Ugh, I'm gonna smell so bad!"
"You always smell bad"
"Shut it!"
Usopp slowly opened an eye and saw the three Fishmen going away and cheered happily in his head.
'Haha, it worked! Thank god I made this ketchup star blood… Wow, that was terrifying. Fishmen sure are a dangerous race. They can flip entire houses! And three of them came after me too! THREE! There's no way I could've won that!' He thought internally as he finally sat up after seeing that they were far away.
"I do feel sorry for Nami but I'm sure Luffy can take care of the rest," He said aloud with a grin before looking down at his body. "Hmm, I wish I had a few more battle scars. How should I spin this tale? Ooh, I should smear dirt all over myself to make it seem like I was in a fierce battle!" he laughed and started smearing himself with dirt thinking about all the epic stories he could come up with.
"Hmm, what should I say when I get back… 'Sorry guys I tried but I ended up losing'?"
~You're already a part of my crew. Come aboard!~
"Or maybe 'I almost won guys, but the three of them used cheap tricks and caught me off guard!'"
~I prefer death to defeat~
"Ooh, how about 'We've all fought well'?"
~We're doing this my way!~ ~Listen to her guys, it's her fight she's been fighting for 8 years~
"'It was a really close fight'?"
"……."
'Dammit! I'm so pathetic!' Usopp cried hitting himself in shame and rage. He finally made up his mind to fight and with tears in his eyes yelled out at the top of his lungs. "STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU STUPID FISHMEN!"
The three turned around in surprise. "He's alive?" / "Was he just pretending earlier?" / "Good! Now, we can kill him!"
Usopp flinched and his body wanted to run away seeing the three's glare directed at him but he willed himself to stand his ground.
'Pirates put their lives on the line for their dreams!'
"Come at me all at once, you three bastards!"
'Luffy and those guys live like there's no tomorrow. That's why they're so fearless and laugh so wholeheartedly!'
Usopp pulled out the new special explosive pellet that he had made on his way to Cocoyashi. He had picked up Krieg's spear before they left Baratie, intent on finding out what the explosive he stored in the spear was. Once he did, it was easy to create a pellet out of it- well, he called it a pellet but it was more of a bomb the size of a baseball that exploded on impact. He hadn't tested it though, so there was no guarantee it would work.
He aimed the bomb at them and launched it at the biggest of the three, who he called WideTeeth in his head. The bomb landed square on WideTeeth's head… and nothing happened. It just hit him before dropping like a rock.
"Dammit! It didn't work!" Usopp yelped as the three growled, charging at him. He assigned names - PinkLips and FinHead to the other two Fishmen as he ran into the trees to hide.
"What's with that guy?" PinkLips sighed, "One moment, he's yelling bravely and the next he runs away…"
"Let's just find and kill him!" WideTeeth growled.
Usopp hid behind a tree as the three entered the forested area too. Again, every instinct told him to hide and run away but he pep-talked himself.
'The moment I stepped off the village and joined Luffy, I should've thrown away stupid notions like peace and security! I want to stand as equals
with the others! If I run away here, then I don't deserve to sail with them or call them my crewmates!' Usopp resolved himself.
"Found you!" FinHead yelled spotting Usopp from a distance and came running at him, destroying all the trees in his path.
"Gyaah!" Usopp screamed trying to get away but he was body-slammed by FinHead, making him go flying back. A tree stopped his momentum and he collapsed to the ground, his back feeling like it had broken.
He didn't have time to gather her bearings as he looked up, only to see FinHead running at him. He reached into his bag and pulled out the first thing he got his hands on - which turned out to be a bottle of booze.
"Take this!" He yelled throwing it at him, and it shattered on FinHead, drenching him with alcohol.
"Ugh, eggs first and now alcohol. Are you just throwing your lunch at me?"
"Who the hell eats rotten eggs, ya bastard?!" Usopp couldn't help but rebuke before pulling back his slingshot. "And take this! You do know that alcohol burns right? Deadly Fire Star!"
The pellet landed accurately on his forehead before he was engulfed in flames.
"AHHHH!" FinHead screamed as he burned. PinkLips ran up to him in a panic to put the fire out while a furious WideTeeth lunged at Usopp.
"How dare you do that to our brethren?!" WideTeeth kicked at Usopp, who hastily jumped away but the Fishman's sharp nails grazed the side of his waist slashing him in the stomach.
"Hey, the fire isn't going out!" PinkLips yelled and WideTeeth turned around to go help.
Usopp looked at his waist in horror when actual blood spilled out but forced himself to calm down when he discovered it was just a shallow cut. He sat up again and saw that PinkLips and WideTeeth were trying to put the fire out on FinHead who was screaming and rolling on the ground.
The fire almost seemed to be dying out, so he quickly took out another alcohol bottle- his only remaining one- and threw it right on PinkLips. The bottle hits its target, the alcohol spilled onto PinkLips and also a bit on FinHead too, thus burning him up again. Usopp was immediately going to follow it up with a Fire Star to burn PinkLips too, but the fire from FinHead ignited PinkLips too.
"GAHHH! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!"
"Bastard!" WideTeeth roared wanting to squash Usopp to bits but he had to save his two screaming friends first. He looked around everywhere and when he saw that they were near a lake, he quickly picked up FinHead by his legs, which wasn't on fire, and threw him into it. He quickly followed it up by throwing PinkLips into the lake too and sighed in relief when the fire went out on both of them.
"Uh-oh…" Usopp paled when WideTeeth turned and charged towards him with furious eyes.
"Usopp's Rubber Band of Doom!" He yelled and WideTeeth flinched, stopping and closing his eyes with his hands up defensively.
'Wow, that actually worked?'
"
I AM A BRAVE WARRIOR!" Usopp hyped himself up as he ran straight
at WideTeeth and just as he opened his eyes, threw chilli powder into them. He had planned to make some Red Chilli Star pellets, but hadn't had the time and just had chilli powder in his bag, so he had done the next best thing. "HAHA! HOW DO YOU LIKE MY CHILLI…
throw? ATTACK?"
"AHHH! THAT BURNS! YOU BASTARD! STOP PLAYING DIRTY!"
"YOU GANGED UP ON ME! THREE-ON-ONE! YOU'RE THE ONE PLAYING DIRTY!" Usopp then pulled out his hammer and brought it down on his head. "USOPP HAMMER! USOPP HAMMER! USOPP HAMMER!"
WideTeeth eventually fell with multiple bumps on his head and tears in his eyes after Usopp kept up the barrage of attacks. After making sure that WideTeeth was down, Usopp collapsed onto his back panting hard. "I did it… I DI-"
PinkLips suddenly appeared in his peripheral vision and he rolled away yelping in shock just as PinkLips' leg came down where he was a second earlier. PinkLips was charred but looked like he was still conscious.
"You! I'll kill you!"
"Gyaaah!" Usopp screamed as he ran away into the forested area again with PinkLips chasing after him.
"Where are you? Come ou-" He was screaming but Usopp suddenly dropped upside down from the branch of a tree and shoved all the rotten eggs he had left into his mouth and eyes.
PinkLips managed to slap Usopp hard across the chest just before the eggs went down his throat. Usopp flew and landed on the ground a few feet away, just as PinkLips collapsed to his knees gagging and retching.
Usopp was tired like never before but he forced himself to move, telling himself that he could rest all he wanted after he was done. His body reacted and he walked up to the puking PinkLips and brought his hammer out. "USOPP HAMMER! USOPP HAMMER! USOPP HAMMER! USOPP HAMMER! USOPP HAMMER! USOPP HAMMER!"
A minute of blows later, Usopp dropped his hammer and collapsed to the ground, completely spent. "Hahaha…hahah…HAHAHAHAHA! I DID IT! I ACTUALLY BEAT THREE FISHMEN! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR THE GREAT PIRATE CAPTAIN USOPP! DON'T YOU DARE UNDERESTIMATE ME!"
——Flashback End——
"Usopp!" Nami cheered happily but winced when she saw all the wounds on him. "You okay?"
"Yeah. I forced myself to come here, but I don't think I can move any more," Usopp sighed as he sat down before grinning at her and Sanji with a peace sign. "Guess what? I took them all down!
I did! Three Fishmen attacking all at once and I came out on top!"
"Unbelievable…" Nojiko commented.
"Wow really?" Nami asked disbelievingly but she knew he was telling the truth. "Good job!"
"Heh. Knew you had it in you," Sanji patted him on the back sitting next to him.
Usopp then looked inside the Park before hesitantly asking, "Uh so, why is Zoro struggling… and why is no one helping?"
"Who kno-" Sanji was saying when Luffy suddenly stood up with a grin.
"Oh looks like whatever Zoro was trying to achieve either happened or failed…" Nami trailed off and watched in bewilderment as Luffy picked up a large piece of debris, and cracked it in his hands just as he threw it into the air… the debris broke off into multiple pieces of rock, big and small, and headed right over… over…
Nami and everyone else gasped loudly seeing where it was heading and yelled in unison. "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU THROWING IT
AT ZORO?!"
———
While all the fights were going on, Zoro was completely focused on his own battle, knowing Luffy would take care of everything else. He heard things, knew what was going on around him, but didn't bother thinking about anything.
"
Nyuu, I thought the famous Roronoa Zoro would be a worthy opponent but looks like you're extremely incompetent!" Hachi complained, again to get no answer. He usually liked to banter during fights, but Zoro was as unresponsive as a rock.
"I'm ending this! Octopus Leg Miracle Swords!" Hachi lunged at him with six swords in a circular formation. Zoro waited until the tips of his blades were right in front of him before slashing his single sword at all of them while twisting his body. He managed to deflect five of the swords, but the last one slashed him right across his chest and he fell to his knees.
"
Nyuu Almost deflected all my swords. That was really impressive!" Hachi praised his enemy and thought the fight was over but Zoro stood back up, his eyes completely focused on Hachi.
Hachi kept talking, yelling attack names, yelling at him that he was ignoring him, yelling that he shouldn't be so rude, body slamming him… but Zoro didn't care. Or rather, he didn't have the strength to care. He was at death's door, with all the wounds from Mihawk opening up on top of all the new ones Hachi gave him. Plus, he was using one sword against Hachi's six, so each time Hachi attacked, he focused on blocking only those strikes that would be fatal. And so, non-fatal wounds kept accumulating on his body… but enough non-fatal wounds would also lead to a fatal ending. He kept trying to sense Hachi's attacks rather than see them, tried to concentrate on his breathing as he tried to sense the breath of his surroundings, whatever that meant. He had started attacking too, but Hachi's six sword defences were solid and he managed only shallow cuts on him.
"…Listen Zoro. There are those who can cut nothing in this world. And the same people can cut steel too with the same sword. The pinnacle of swordsmanship is the power to protect what one wishes to protect, to cut what one wishes to cut…"
His sensei's words and Luffy saying the same things reverberated in his head. His thoughts were interrupted when Hachi came at him again and only three swords were blocked while the other three slashed his chest. He collapsed to the ground, feeling like he was on the verge of dying, but he controlled his breathing and tried to keep a steady head observing his surroundings as he got up again.
Zoro's head buzzed, his body screamed for rest and wanted to fall, his eyes wanted to close, and his heartbeat…
He didn't know it at the time, but that's when Luffy threw all the rocks over his head. All Zoro saw was that many rocks, big and small, were about to fall on him. His body automatically moved a few steps and he casually stood idly while the rocks fell all around him, not even a single one hitting him.
"ZORO! ARE YOU OKAY?!" He heard distant shouts but didn't care as he observed his surroundings. He hadn't just dodged all the rocks falling on him, he had moved to where he
knew it wouldn't fall.
'This isn't the first time I'm in this…state… I've felt this feeling before. Everything around me was eerily silent, my heartbeat sounding like distant thunder. It was like I was standing at the gates of Hades… I could feel
the rocks around me just now. Sounded like they were… breathing. Is this it? Rocks, trees, the ground itself. I can feel them all breathing… So, this is what sensei and Luffy meant…'
"
Nyuu what is this? Infighting?" Hachi whined again at not getting a good fight.
Zoro didn't know what he was talking about but observed Hachi's swords and could feel them breathing before looking at all the rocks strewn around him and felt them breathing too.
'Cut what I want to cut. Cut only
what I want to cut… It's my will… My blade should cut only cut what I want
to cut… Channel my will through my blade…'
He slashed at a nearby rock without putting too much power behind it and the rock split open in half like it was butter. He then looked around for anything soft like paper and suddenly a large palm leaf came flying at him. Zoro slashed at the leaf with his sword and it simply fell down with not even a scratch.
'I see…'
Luffy was the one who had thrown the palm leaf when Zoro looked like he was looking for something like it. But that action had
everyone confused.
"What the fuck is that guy doing?!" Nami hissed.
"Maybe he's… Yeah, I got absolutely nothing" Usopp sighed not able to come up with some fantastic story that would explain his behaviour.
"Octopus," Zoro finally spoke, silencing everyone. "Sorry for ignoring you. Come at me. I'll fight back"
"
Nyuu, finally! Yes, let's test it! My six swords against your one sword!" Hachi held all six swords such that they were pointing at a single spot and charged at Zoro. "Six Sword Style. Octopus Pot Stance. New Yea-"
"One Sword. One Strike." Zoro waited for him to come to him and just before he got skewered by the swords, he swung Wado in an arc. "Lion Slash!"
All six swords got
cut. Zoro had shattered plenty of swords before due to sheer strength, but this was different. All six swords were clearly cut where he wanted them to be cut.
Zoro wanted to follow it up by slashing at Hachi and taking him out, but he felt his concentration slipping and felt the state he was in slipping away from him. He hastily kicked off the ground and slashed at Hachi, the slash deep enough that he was done for with that single strike.
Hachi fell on his back, blood gushing out from his chest, and at the same time Zoro staggered on his feet and fell forward… and Luffy was there to catch him.
He leaned into him and relaxed on his captain's shoulder but clicked his tongue in annoyance seeing the cut on Hachi's chest. "It's an unrefined cut"
Luffy eyed the slash too and nodded, "Yeah, but you sliced apart the swords though"
"…It was such a fleeting moment of clarity…" Zoro said as Luffy walked him to the others. "I'm already forgetting the feeling… the state…"
"You just arrived at the starting line," Luffy chuckled as he reached the others and gently laid him down on the ground. "You'll have to train some more to do it on command"
"Move!" Nako pushed past everyone and let out an unholy shriek when he saw Zoro's condition. "
YOU MOTH&@#(*@##@-" A really long string of curse words, unfit for a doctor, came out of his mouth as he began treating him.
"Well, that was new…" Nami commented. "I don't think I've ever seen you curse, Nako"
"Wow…" Luffy whistled in appreciation. "You kiss your mother with that mouth, old man? I gotta learn some of those words"
"
AND YOU!! DON'T GET ME STARTED ON YOU! WHY THE HELL DID YOU THROW ROCKS AT YOUR OWN CREWMATE?!"
"Oh, that was you, Luffy? I was wondering why so much debris started falling on me out of nowhere. Thanks for that"
"Shishi no problem"
"
WHY ARE YOU THANKING HIM, YOU #@&%=+&#£$€{§"
"Down, Nako…" Genzo patted his shoulder calming him down.
"
GRRRAAAHHHHHHHH!"
An unholy rage-fueled growl reverberated in the air, this time much louder, much angrier, much more
primal. Eyes turned towards the one responsible for it and they saw Arlong standing in front of Hachi.
"
YOU FILTHY INFERIOR HUMANS DARE DO THIS TO MY BRETHREN?!"
All of Arlong's crew had fallen in a very short interval. All the fights had happened simultaneously, so first Chew lost to Nami. Kuroobi lost not even a minute later by Sanji's hands, and then just a few seconds later, Usopp arrived saying he had defeated all the Fishmen that had went after him. Not even 20 seconds later, Luffy threw rocks at Zoro and a minute later, Hachi was taken out.
Seeing his crew drop like flies one after the other in less than 3 minutes, that too by normal filthy humans, had amplified Arlong's rage. All the hope that the villagers felt seeing the Strawhats taking down the Fishmen vanished into thin air when they saw Arlong's rage-filled eyes.
Luffy turned back to the others and saw the terrified, horror-filled eyes on all of them, especially on Nami's face. "I still haven't fought him huh? Guess I forgot where we were for a second there…"
"You forgot?!" Sanji and Usopp comically snapped.
"Yeah, seeing Zoro, I thought we were in another country," Luffy said as he stood up. He patted Nami's head, making the hat sit tighter on her head before giving her a reassuring smile and went to face Arlong. Nami's hands involuntarily pulled on the hat as she watched him go. From what she had heard Arlong was stronger than everyone put together on his crew… well, Luffy was the same too if she thought about it.
"I'LL MAKE YOU PAY! I'LL MAKE YOU ALL PAY! ESPECIALLY YOU, NAMI! FOR BRIN-"
"Oh shut up, Arlong," Luffy said in a tired tone and Arlong turned his glare on Luffy. "There are lots of things I want to say to you. How you don't deserve to wear that mark," he said pointing at the Sun Tattoo on his chest, "How you're a disgrace to everything that Tiger stood for, a disgrace to that symbol, how much of a coward you are, how you've unintentionally started-" Luffy stopped himself from saying anything more and sighed shoving the thoughts of Otohime, Hody and all the others events that were flashing in his head.
He sighed running his fingers through his hair, "Well, all that doesn't matter. There are only two reasons I'm here today"
"
Human, what did you just say about Big B-" Arlong furiously hissed but Luffy didn't let him continue. He jumped on Arlong, grabbing his nose. "First reason -
You killed Bellemere!"
He yanked on his nose, flipped and whipped him into the ground. "Second reason," Luffy growled anger flashing in his eyes, "
YOU MADE MY NAVIGATOR CRY!"
Arlong didn't get a chance to say anything as he was whipped again and again into the ground before Luffy swung and threw him at the Arlong Park building. Arlong crashed through the walls, landing inside the building and Luffy jumped into it right after him.
The onlookers soon heard shouts from Arlong trying to say-no,
yell something but he kept getting cut off by a loud crash followed by screams and groans. They were almost in a trance, some even wondering if they were dreaming.
Nami felt a hand on her shoulder and she turned to face Nojiko, who had disbelief written all over her face. She opened her mouth to say something but shut it not able to come up with anything to say. The situation unfolding before their eyes was just too unbelievable and at the same time, everything they had ever hoped for.
"
Ugh… easy there, doc," Zoro hissed when Nako applied a bit too much pressure while stitching him up.
"Ah sorry… just…" Nako, who was looking at the building in shock, looked back down at him, "…you know…"
"Yeah…"
"It's your fault for getting so hurt," Sanji taunted him while they waited for Luffy to come out.
"Shut up…" Zoro sighed, not in the mood for bantering as he saw the fight was moving to the upper floors of the building.
"I don't know what you achieved," Nojiko said wincing at Zoro's wounds, "But did you really have to push yourself so hard when you had…
him?"
Zoro stared at the building for a few seconds before answering. "It's precisely because he's there that I pushed myself so far"
Nami came out of her reverie before staring down at Zoro. "What does that mean?"
"I quickly want to become someone he can lean on," Zoro said resolutely. "Right now, he's babysitting the rest of us. Giving us opportunities to fight and grow, showing us the path to strength… I don't want to waste it…"
"Umm the guy fell into the sea yesterday because he was trying to dance on the figurehead and had to be fished out of the sea cause he can't swim," Sanji said with a sweat-drop.
Zoro chuckled, "Well, I didn't say he's not an idiot"
Nami giggled before turning back to the building as she thought about Zoro's words. "You're right…"
"Well, you think about all that later, witch," Zoro said with a smile, "For now, just enjoy watching your tormentor get beaten up by an angry Luffy"
Nami smiled with a nod while also tearing up with happiness.
The next instant, Sanji's foot came down on Zoro's chest. "Don't call Nami-swan a wit-" His words died in his throat when Nako glared dangerously at him.
THWACK!
"I'm sorry, sir. Won't happen again," Sanji politely bowed to him causing the other three Strawhats to lightly snicker.
Things finally changed when Arlong came bursting out from the middle of the building and crash-landed on the ground with his sword - the Kirabachi in his hands. He was in a miserable state. Blood poured out from petty much everywhere, one of his hands seemed to be broken, he couldn't even stand and was leaning on one knee while he wheezed, and he kept spitting blood through his broken-no,
shattered teeth.
Luffy jumped out a second later and they all expected him to have the look of someone on a vengeful path, but Luffy looked happily at them. "Hey guys, look! I got shark teeth!" He grinned showing off the sharp shark teeth he had apparently gotten from Arlong before putting it in his mouth and clamped it open and shut like he was playing.
They all face-faulted. "Take some things seriously, dammit!"
"Shishishishi"
"No wait, did you rip Arlong's teeth out?!" Usopp shakily pointed out.
"No no, he did it himself. They grow back apparently"
"Inferior human…" Arlong croaked out, his voice hoarse. "You… are a filthy human! I… I am a superior Fishman!"
Luffy took one step forward as he took the shark teeth dentures out and Arlong flinched before he quickly jumped into the pool. "Shahahaha! You made a huge mistake by letting me jump in, you inferior human! Now that I'm in my element, there is no way can defeat me!" Arlong yelled, getting his bravado back now that he was in water. "I'll show you! I'll show you the difference between us! I am from a superior species! You are from an inferior species!"
Luffy just played around with the shark teeth dentures while Arlong yapped on. The villagers wanted to warn him that Arlong would be stronger but they felt like it wouldn't matter much. And as predicted, when Arlong yelled "SHARK ON DARTS!" and flew out of the pool, his sharp nose aiming to pierce Luffy, he just grabbed the nose and abruptly stopped his entire momentum.
Arlong's eyes trembled as Luffy stared back into his eyes and started panicking when he felt his nose being bent. "My nose! My nose is the strongest! There's no one who ca-" He stopped speaking and screamed when his nose was bent upwards by Luffy in a single instant. Luffy then let go and Arlong collapsed on all fours panting hard with tears in his eyes. "You! You… YOU!
GRAAAHHH!"
His eyes became bloodshot, he looked like he lost all his reason and became a raging beast that recklessly charged at Luffy. Luffy caught him by the nose again but Arlong clamped his mouth shut on his hand. Luffy immediately pummeled him into the ground making him groan in pain which released his hand. Arlong recklessly got up, charging at him again and Luffy flipped him back before jumping on one of the upper floors of Arlong Park. With his sword in hand, Arlong swung it at him, wrecking his own building before the attacks continued as Luffy kept jumping up and up to the higher floors and Arlong chased after him.
The two again disappeared inside the building when they reached the top floor and things were relatively silent for a while. They could still hear vague words being exchanged but they couldn't make out what exactly they were saying. Very soon though, something came flying out of the top floor.
BOOM! CRASH!
Arlong was launched straight out of the building and he fell all the way to the ground, his teeth crushed, nose bent, eyes rolled back, a couple of limbs broken, and he was unmoving as he lay in a crater created by his fall. The villagers became elated seeing Arlong in that state and it was finally settling in their minds that Arlong had been defeated. Nami moved her eyes from the broken Arlong to the upper floor from where she was expecting Luffy to come out, but he didn't.
Instead, a desk came flying out next. Nami's eyes widened seeing the desk while the others got confused as to why Luffy was still up there. A bookshelf came out next and Nami's hand covered her mouth, realizing what he was doing.
"What's he up to now?" Sanji asked confused when more and more things came flying out, as did the others.
Nami watched the desk she had been forced to make her charts on fall to the ground, shattering into a million pieces on impact. The shelves shattered, the chair shattered, and many maps and charts fluttered in the air all around the building as every single item in that room - in that
prison - came crashing down and shattered into pieces.
Seeing Arlong lose made her feel like her tormentor was being punished but watching what Luffy was doing with the room, watching all those things get destroyed felt like her own shackles were being destroyed and she was finally being freed from her prison.
'Thank you Luffy…' she cried, grateful and happy tears pouring out her eyes.
The building soon started to rumble as Luffy seemed like he was rampaging inside and cracks formed from the top of the building down to its foundation.
"What's going on?!"
"The building is coming down! Everybody, move back!"
"But Luffy's still in there!"
The building started collapsing in on itself and soon, Arlong Park fell with a resounding crash. Everyone watched with worry when the rubbles settled wondering what had happened to Luffy but he suddenly burst out of from all the debris, covered in dust and some blood.
"NAMI!" He yelled looking straight at her and declared "YOU'RE FREE!"
"Mm" Nami nodded wiping away the happy tears that uncontrollably came out.
"ARLONG PARK HAS FALLEN!" The villagers cheered ecstatically as they embraced, danced, and celebrated.
Luffy watched them all with a grin as he came down from the broken remains of the building before he caught sight of the Marines standing in the far distance, observing what was happening. When they saw that Luffy was looking at them, they screamed in terror and tripped over themselves as they ran away.
"Heh, looks like you put the fear of devils in them huh?" Sanji smirked as he came up to him and watched the Marines run away too.
"Shishi yep!"
Nami walked up to him and plopped his hat back on his head while giving him a shaky
barely-able-to-hold-back-happy-sobs grin. Luffy returned the grin, they high-fived and she was about to say something but couldn't when Luffy was body-slammed by Nojiko and a few other villagers.
——o———o———o——
"Shouldn't we call those Marine guys?" Genzo asked eyeing all the Fishmen who were being rounded up and tied up with chains by Luffy.
It had been a few minutes since the fall of Arlong Park. Nako had dangerously insisted that everyone get a check-up from him and leave his sight only after he was done with him. Only Luffy and Sanji were let go after he was done while the others were made to stay under his care, especially Zoro, who was bedridden.
The celebrations were already starting, news of their freedom was being sent to the other villages and people seemed to be in a festive mood when Genzo came up to Luffy asking what they should do with all the Fishmen. Luffy intervened then and tied up all of them with a chain.
"Nah, don't worry about it. I called someone to come get these guys," Luffy said as he dragged all the Fishmen and started making his way outside the village.
'I hope he comes!' He thought excitedly,
'If not, I'll just hand them over to the Marines…'
Genzo perked up in surprise. "You did? Who?"
"Someone who'll make sure that these guys won't ever hurt another soul again," Luffy said and Genzo nodded letting it go. Luffy dragged them to Gosa village and after flipping one of the houses upright to make a temporary cell, threw them all in.
It was late at night when the party was raging on and he was stuffing his face with raw ham melon that he received the call from the person he was waiting for.
"Hello… …Hey!… …You're already here?! Wow, that was fast… …Yeah, we're done with him… …Okay, come near the village where the houses are flipped… …Yeah, that one. You already were on the island huh?… …Okay, see you soon"
Luffy slipped out of the party and quickly went to Gosa village to the temporary cell where he just sat leaning on the house, waiting for
him to show up.
"Who is that?!" Arlong's hoarse voice came from inside the house, having heard Luffy's footsteps.
'Looks like he's regained consciousness huh?' Luffy thought but didn't respond.
"Arlong, please stop. You shouldn't move with all those injuries," one of the Fishmen said but Arlong struggled against his chains trying to break out of them. "I am a Fishman! How dare that inferior human beat me like this?! He must have used some trick! I'm sure of it! That bitch Nami must have gotten her hands on some strong new poison and slipped it in my food!"
Luffy couldn't help but chuckle at that.
"WHO'S LAUGHING?!" Arlong roared as he struggled against his chains. "I'll kill you! I will get free from here and I'll kill you, you filthy humans!"
"Arlong, you'll hurt yourself more, please stop," Hachi pleaded, but Arlong didn't settle down.
"Don't worry, everyone. We'll all get out of this and we'll create the Fishman Empire! We'll show these filthy humans an-"
Luffy opened the door then and sat at the entrance with his arms crossed as he studied the inside that was illuminated by the moonlight.
"YOU?!" Arlong roared. "IT'S ALL YOUR DOING! HUMAN SCUM! What kind of trick did you us-"
"I wasn't gonna interfere, but I heard something really funny and strange just now. You said something about creating an Empire? Did you really mean that?"
"Of course, I did, you human scum! I
am going to cre-"
"Why didn't you until now then?" Luffy cut him off again and Arlong glared at him. "You guys have been here for
eight years. And what did you do in all that time? Conquered a grand total of…
One island. Well, a tiny archipelago technically, but you get my point. If you really did have any intentions of creating a Fishman empire here, I think you'd have done more, don't you think? So, I'm gonna ask you again, did you ever really have any intention of creating
anything?"
"I have nothing to say to you, you filthy human scum!" Arlong spat.
"Dodging the question, huh? What about you guys?" Luffy asked turning to Chew and Kuroobi, who both spat the same thing Arlong did.
Hachi, on the other hand, gasped loudly, sucking in air like a vacuum, before nodding vigorously, "The human's right! We could have put so many more islands under our rule if we wanted!… Why didn't we?" He tilted his head thoughtfully before turning to his captain "Arlong?"
By the looks some of the other Fishmen were giving Arlong, they also seemed to be thinking the same, but the saw-toothed bastard just scoffed. "You guys wouldn't get it! We needed mo-"
"If you're not gonna, let me answer," Luffy interjected, "You see guys, Arlong here was scared shitless. Scared that if
someone heard what he was doing here, his life would end. So, he made sure to keep his operation small, bribed the local Marines so that the higher-level Marines never figured what he was up to…"
"Bastard!" Arlong scowled, "Filthy human scum spreading lies! Don't listen to him!"
"Who?" Hachi asked regardless, even though he should have realized the answer by then.
Before Luffy could answer though, a huge figure suddenly appeared behind him. The towering build of the person covered the entire door frame and stopped any moonlight from entering the makeshift prison. The silhouette he had against the backdrop of the moonlit night created a terrifying visage in everyone's eyes. Adding to that the fact that everyone recognized the figure instantly and also noticed that the person was
furious, they gulped in fear.
"
ME!" The towering man growled answering Hachi's question just as Luffy looked up at him with an excited smile.
"J-Jinbe?" Arlong stuttered, fear clear in his eyes.
Jinbe, the Knight of the Sea and Captain of the Sun Pirates, scowled before jumping over Luffy and pummeled the saw-toothed Fishman's face into the ground.
——Flashback——
One Month ago. When Luffy called Sengoku after defeating Ganzack
"
Hello?" Sengoku's voice came over the snail.
"Yo Sen, it's me!"
"
You again? It hasn't even been like two weeks since you last called me," Sengoku grumbled, his voice clearing taking an irritated tone.
"Aww, I can't call you whenever I want?"
"
Get to the point, brat, or I'm disconnecting"
"Okay okay, I have two things. First, the base I'm calling from, it's abandoned apparently. People on this island were enslaved for a few years under a pirate called Ganzack. I just defeated Ganzack and freed the people, but they'll still need a good Marine presence here. Send someone good"
"…"
There was a brief silence before Sengoku sighed deeply, "
…Okay fine, I'll look into it"
"
First, that Makino woman calls asking us to investigate and remove a corrupt Marine Captain," Tsuru's voice came over the snail next, "
And now you. Are you doing our jobs for us now? I thought you were gonna give us headaches?"
"Shishi well, that'll come later. For now, the main point I called - I need a favour"
"
A favour? What makes you think we'll do you
of all people a favour?"
"Please? It's important"
Sengoku took a few moments to think about it before sighing again, "
Well, you did just free an island… I'll hear you out at least. What is it?"
"Great. I want you to call Jinbe"
"
Jinbe?" Sengoku said surprised before scowling, "
You think this is some service I'm running for you here? Why the hell would I do that? And why the hell do you want to get in touch with Jinbe?!"
"Hear me out. You've heard of Arlong, right?"
"
Arlong? Hmm, the name does seem familiar…"
"
It's that Fishman that was imprisoned," Tsuru reminded him, "
Jinbe asked that he and a few other Fishmen be let go when he became a Warlord"
"
Ah, that's right… So, what about him?"
"Well, he's here in East Blue hurting people. I'm gonna take him down soon and I want Jinbe to come pick them up"
"…"
"
Kid," Tsuru was the one who spoke up first, "
You gotta give us more details here. First off, Arlong is hurting people in East Blue? How so?"
"He basically demands tribute from people and kills them if they don't pay"
"
I see. Well, leave it to the Marines," Sengoku intervened, "
Tell us where he is and we'll send in a unit"
"I'm pretty sure the Marines in East Blue know where he is, some of them at least. When he arrived here 8 years ago, he destroyed five battleships. I don't know how many more have tried over the years, but I'm sure many Marines have been killed by him. Do you really want to send more of your people just to get killed by him? I told you I'll take care of him, so let me do it. I have a personal grudge against him"
Tsuru gave a long sigh before agreeing with him.
"Well, Arlong is from the Grand Line after all. Our people in East Blue might not be able to handle him. And we're already stretched thin as is with New World and Paradise… We don't have the resources to spare to handle something that small happening in East Blue"
'Something that small huh?' Luffy smiled bitterly. Nami's entire childhood was destroyed because of the 'something that small'… But he couldn't actually refute that. The world was so vast and filled with events similar to what was happening on Cocoyashi after all…
Sengoku's sigh brought him out of his thoughts. "
Well, fine. You are taking down a pirate for us… I'm pretty sure I already know the answer to this, but do you want to become a Warlord? Knowing Garp and your brother, you'll no doubt start causing waves when you come to the Grand Line. If you're gonna do stuff like taking down evil pirates, then you can do that as a Warlord"
"Shishi in your dreams, Senny"
"
Yeah, figured as much. Your brother was offered the title too, you know. He said the same thing… Well, anyway, let's get back to this topic. So, you're gonna take down this Arlong guy. Why do you need Jinbe? You can just leave them at the nearest Marine Base"
"Hmm well, I don't want them turned into slaves"
"…
What do you mean?"
"I know about the Human-Fishman history. I know about Sabaody. I know what happens in Mariejois… Maybe the Fishmen arrested here will be sent to prison, but there's a chance that they'll be sent to the Celestial bastards too. I don't want that to happen, so I want Jinbe to take them"
He didn't remember if their fate was ever mentioned in the story but Arlong or any of the others weren't there when Luffy broke into Impel Down. Maybe he was in some other part of the prison and he just didn't run into them, maybe they had all died at some point, maybe they were in some other prison altogether… or maybe, they had been taken as slaves. He recalled how Mjosgard had gone to Fishman Island to retrieve his 'property' - The Sun Pirate slaves that they had released when Jinbe became a Warlord - and that was more than enough reason to suspect some other Celestial bastard could also do the same. And as much as Luffy hated Arlong, he didn't want him and his crew to become slaves to the Celestial Dragons.
Silence had descended in the room again for quite sometime before Sengoku's irritated voice came from the snail. "
That damn Garp! Looks like he filled your head with all these things! 'Stupid grandson', my ass!"
They, of course, assumed that Garp was the source of Luffy's knowledge and Luffy didn't bother to correct it. He was only amused wondering what kind of conversations they would have with Sengoku accusing Garp that he lied about Luffy's stupidity and Garp having no idea what the hell Sengoku was talking about.
"
Kid. I need you to understand that the Celestial Dragons are like our bosses. You can't just call me and ask me to do something that goes against them. Why the hell would you think I would ever agree to this?"
"Hmm really? I thought this wouldn't be a big deal at all… How would they even know what happens here? Just do this quietly"
"
Kid, you and I are enemies. And you yourself are directly telling me all this… that's almost the same as telling them. I honestly can't understand as to what's going through your head right now"
"Hmm… Well, I'm gonna play on your feelings a bit right now, okay?"
"
Wha-?"
"I think you have a conscience. I know you have to overlook, partake in, or straight-up order some really fucked-up things on a daily basis. So, I'm assuming that if you can get away with it, you'll
also overlook, partake in, or straight-up do some things that
prevent some of those fucked-up things from happening. I know for a fact that Gramps does, so I'm assuming you do too… No, forget assuming, I'm
hoping you do that. Cause I don't know how someone like you will be able to sleep at night if you don't."
"…"
Tsuru burst out laughing and Sengoku grumbled under his breath. "
You sure have a way with words, kid. It's rare to see Senny this befuddled"
"
It's like talking with Garp all over again!" Sengoku snapped, "
That bastard also keeps doing stuff like this, and leaving me to cover it up!"
"I'm just asking you to call someone who will take pirates as prisoners. I'm not asking you to cover up anything, you know. I just don't want some corrupt Marines to sell them off as slaves"
"
Shut up! Garp has a ton of achievements, so he gets a pass! But you?! You're a pirate! And you have the audacity to talk about having a conscience! I can't decide if I should be angry or laugh that a fucking pirate is telling me this!"
"Oh c'mon, Sen. You used the terms 'evil pirates' earlier in this very conversation. That establishes that you recognize the existence of good pirates too"
"
PFFTAHAHA! He got you there, Senny!" Tsuru only laughed harder and Sengoku hurled some colourful curses at Luffy, and also Garp before finally calming down with a sigh.
He grumbled a bit more but with Tsuru siding with Luffy, finally agreed to call Jinbe for him. Luffy cheered having gotten what he wanted. Of all the reasons he had told them, there was one main reason that he had left out. A selfish and simple one - He just wanted to meet Jinbe.
His thought process went something along the lines of -
'Man, I want to meet Jinbe. I have to wait so long to even see him though… Hmm, wait. Maybe he would come here to East Blue if he heard about Arlong? Yes, he definitely would! How could I let him know though? Hmm… Oh! I can ask Sen. But what reason would I say? Hm…' And then he thought about what would happen to Arlong, didn't remember if they were ever mentioned again in the story, thought they might become slaves… and so on. Thus, he ended up coming to very valid reasons to justify his request, which lead to this call and he excitedly waited to hear Jinbe's voice.
Unfortunately for him, he had to wait a bit more. Sengoku called Jinbe using another transponder snail
aand… it didn't connect, much to Luffy's growing irritation with the communication system of his world. "
Well, guess we'll have to send a carrier bat. Tell us the message, kid"
"Alright," Luffy sighed.
"
Shouldn't take too long. Carrier bats are quite fast," Tsuru said taking out a pen, "
Go ahead"
"Hey, Jinbe. This is Monkey D. Luffy, Future Pirate King."
"
Should we really put the pirate king part?" Sengoku complained but Tsuru chuckled and told Luffy to continue as she wrote it all down.
"I'll get right to the point. I want you to come to East Blue. As for why? Saying the name Arlong should make you understand…"
"He came here eight years ago. Took over an island, demands tribute every month - 100,000 for an adult, 50,000 for a child. If even one person fails to pay up, he not only kills that person but also every single person in that village"
"
Good lord…" Tsuru sighed.
"Now, I know after reading this, you'll want to come to East Blue and take care of this problem, but you're
not allowed to. - Highlight that part, Tsuru - Why? Well, that's because the island he took over is home to a friend of mine. She was 10, living with her sister and her mother when Arlong came. They were poor, so they couldn't afford the 200,000 Arlong demanded. They only had 100,000, so the mother chose to sacrifice her life so that her two daughters could live and Arlong shot her in cold blood right in front of her daughters. My friend is talented in drawing maps, so Arlong took her- A 10-year-old girl, branded her, and for the last 8 years, has forced her to work for him… work for the same man that killed her mother… She has fought for the last 8 years, trying to gain her freedom back and she finally sees a way to do just that and she will see to the end of it…"
"…I'm not blaming you, Jinbe. I just want to you understand that this is her fight. He's destroyed her life and so, how and when Arlong falls will be decided by her and her alone… The only reason I'm asking you to come to East Blue is because there's a chance that they might end up as slaves after they're arrested. And I don't want that to happen- even to my enemies. Just under a month from now, we'll deal with Arlong and if you're free, come by to East Blue and call me to pick them up. If you can't, that's okay too. I know you're a busy man. I just want to inform you and I'm sure that you'll make sure that they all don't get enslaved…"
"Again, I really don't blame you for what Arlong did. And it's not your fault… The end, I guess. Just include my number in the message too."
"
Wow… so this is the grudge huh?" Tsuru sighed, "
Hit him a couple of times from my end too"
"Shishi will do. Thanks, Tsuru"
"
Add this at the end too," Sengoku spoke up, "
Jinbe, I know it was your condition to release Arlong. But he has committed a crime again. If you are going to East Blue to pick them up, I want you to bring them straight to prison"
"
Okay done"
"Thanks for doing this, Sen" Luffy said gratefully.
"
…Hope you aren't gonna keep using me like this"
"
Oh come on, Senny," Tsuru interjected and Luffy could feel that she was smiling wide. "
If he's gonna do stuff like this, then I'm 100% behind him. Hey kid, if you have a request like this again, call me directly. Here's my number," she said and gave her number out.
"
…I'm getting a headache now…" Sengoku sighed, while Luffy and Tsuru laughed, before he added seriously, "
Call me when this thing happens. I'm letting you do this, but I still want to know what takes place"
"I don't think I can. I have to call you from a Marine Base always to connect to you, and I won't be in a Marine Base when it happens"
"
Just call a nearby Marine Base and ask someone to connect to me by giving them my number that you have. That's it"
"Oh… right, that works… Why didn't you tell Makino this? She said she usually had to go to the Goa Kingdom's Marine Base to connect to you"
"
If I told her that she could do that to reach me, she would have called me like ten times a day and screamed at me every time!"
"Shishi yeah, I guess. Well anyway, thanks for this. Bye-bye!"
"
Goodbye brat" / "
Bye Luffy"
Luffy disconnected the call before sighing deeply.
'That sure was tense… I didn't like talking to him like that… even if it was in a message. I hope Jinbe isn't too distressed… I hope he comes though!'
——Flashback End——
'Oh yeah, Sen asked me to call him, didn't he?… oh well,' Luffy shrugged as he watched his future helmsman repeatedly punch Arlong into the ground.
"You bastard! You haven't changed at all even after all these years! You have only become worse!"
"Alright, big guy," Luffy said grabbing his fist and pulling him back, "Calm down"
Jinbe stopped, huffing and puffing and tried to calm himself down as he swept his gaze across everyone there. The other Fishmen cowered at the sight of Jinbe glaring down at them and Arlong was down wheezing and coughing, barely alive.
"Let's cool you off," Luffy said as he pulled Jinbe out of the house and Jinbe didn't protest. Once they came out, Luffy properly saw Jinbe in all his glory. The first thing he noticed was that Jinbe was big.
Really big. Vertically and horizontally too, but it was by no means fat that covered his body but pure muscle from which he could feel radiating strength. When he pulled Jinbe just seconds ago, he could already tell that he was no match for him. He would lose miserably if he fought him. Another humble reminder to him that he was nowhere near strong enough to stand with the monsters of this world.
"Well, I wish it was under better circumstances but it's really nice to meetcha, Jinbe!" Luffy said giving him his signature wide smile, shaking all other thoughts away.
"You must be Luffy," Jinbe said looking downcast before he kneeled down.
Knowing what he was doing, Luffy immediately grabbed him by his shoulders and stopped him before he put his forehead to the ground, "First off, as I told you in the message, you're not to blame for this"
"No, you do not understand. I knew there was a chance he would do something like this, and yet,
I let him go… This
is m-"
"Okay okay, just relax, will you?" Luffy said pushing him up. "I'm not the victim here. So there's no point in this. My friend was the one who suffered… Her name is Nami. I want you to meet her and all… but…" he trailed off turning towards Cocoyashi village in the far distance which was lit up by festive lights and faint music and cheers could even be heard.
"She's celebrating right now," Jinbe sighed with an understanding look as he sat cross-legged. "She probably hates me… and her mood will only sour if she sees me"
"Well, all she has heard is that you released Arlong into East Blue. She doesn't know you, does she? If she does, I'm sure she'll like you"
"Know me, huh?"
"Yep. You can give her an explanation the next time we meet. I don't want her to be bogged down with learning about all the messed-up history between humans and fishmen today. She's gained her freedom after years and at this moment, I want her to be happy with no other thoughts…"
"I understand… It's that orange-haired girl, is it not?"
"Yeah… You were watching the fight? I was looking for you, but couldn't see you anywhere"
"Yeah, I was underwater in the sea outside… I was ready to intervene if any of you couldn't handle it, but you were plenty strong"
"I see. I wasn't sure if you were even gonna show up, but you were already here? When did you reach East Blue?"
"Just a couple of days ago. As soon as I received your message, I swam as fast as I could, used whale sharks and sea currents to make the journey faster… I spent the last two days observing Arlong and the others… it was truly horrible. If you hadn't said anything about this being your friend's fight, I would have bashed his skull in…"
"Thanks for holding it in"
Jinbe nodded solemnly before looking at him questioningly. "How exactly do you know about me… and everything else?"
"Long story. I'll tell you when we meet on Fishman Island"
Jinbe just nodded accepting his answer. Luffy somehow had connections to Sengoku too, so thought he had some sensitive identity and didn't pry. "Well, thank you for stopping Arlong and bringing this to my attention," he said getting up to leave.
"No no, c'mon, we only talked about depressing stuff. Let's hang out a bit more," Luffy whined as he caught his hand and started leading him away from the village towards the shore.
"Umm okay," Jinbe couldn't help but let out a light chuckle seeing him acting like a child.
"I heard you fought my brother. How is he?" Luffy asked as they slowly walked together.
"Your brother?"
"Ace"
"…Fire-fist Ace?" Jinbe gasped surprised, "You're his brother?!"
"Yep!"
"You're that man's brother…" Jinbe trailed off studying Luffy carefully before smiling, "Well, sorry to say this, but I hated your brother. At the beginning, at least"
"Shishishi he burned down Whitebeard's flag, didn't he? I don't blame you"
Jinbe agreed with a smile. "Yes, I chased after him for that. When I finally caught up to him, we fought for five days. I gained respect for him as a warrior then. And when Whitebeard came, he told his crew to run while he stayed behind. That's when I gained a bit of respect for him…"
"Hmm"
"Whitebeard accepted him as a son after defeating him. Even then, I still hated him as he apparently kept trying to kill Whitebeard," Jinbe said but then started laughing, "But then, it became a sort of a joke. I couldn't visit the Whitebeards often but whenever I did, Ace's different attempts at trying to kill the old man and miserably failing were always a fun conversation topic!"
"Really? Like what?"
"Hm. I'm sure you know about Ace's narcoleptic episodes"
"Runs in the family"
'Even though we're not blood-related'
"You too?!"
"Not as much as him, but sometimes, yeah. Shishishishi"
"Wahahaha! Well, Ace dozing off while he waited for Whitebeard to show up somewhere ended up in him falling overboard many times, getting sucked into a tornado somehow… I'm sure many stories were exaggerated by the others, but still, it was fun hearing of his exploits!"
"He got sucked into a tornado?!" Luffy laughed along with Jinbe.
They kept chatting for a long time, shifting from Whitebeard to the Sun Pirates and also some matters regarding the Ryugu Palace. Luffy confirmed some things he knew from the story while also keeping the topics light-hearted and fun. He thought about telling Jinbe about Otohime's real assassin and Hody's schemes… But in the end, decided against it. With Vander Decken knowing a
major secret about Shirahoshi, really bad
what if? scenarios played in his mind and he was reluctant to take any chances.
Jinbe was pleasantly surprised by the mysterious human known as Luffy. He was expecting an angry reception given what had happened, but not only did Luffy not show a slick of hostility towards him, but was actually extremely friendly with him like he was talking with an old friend.
He couldn't help but smile and laugh along with him as they kept chatting about random topics that, given the context of their meeting, should have been impossible. He did try to ask why he was being so friendly with him to which Luffy's response was to look at him like he was stupid and ask "Why would I not be friendly with you?"… And Jinbe had no answers. At some point, he even forgot why he had come there in the first place and just enjoyed his time with Luffy.
"Well, I'll be taking my leave," Jinbe said after a long time, "It was very fun spending time with you, Luffy"
"Yeah, for me too!" Luffy grinned as they both started making their way back to the temporary cell. When they reached the place, Arlong again lashed out.
"YOU GOVERNMENT DOG! I should've known you were behind this! The minute that filthy human started talking about Big Bro T, I should've known! You bastard! Couldn't fight me yourself, so you hired a human?!"
"What is he talking about?" Jinbe asked turning to Luffy.
"Oh, I told him that he doesn't deserve to have the Sun symbol on him. Also told him that Tiger would be disappointed in him"
Jinbe's eyes widened with surprise.
'He knows Big Bro T too? Just who is this?'
"GRAAH! THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW ABOUT BIG BRO T?!" Arlong roared before Jinbe could talk.
"An adventurer, creator of the Sun symbol, a Hero… He saved close friends of mine too who were in Mariejois at the time of the attack. I have nothing but respect for him and I'm telling you - He
will be disappointed by what you've done here"
"You filthy human brat! You have no idea what you're talking about! You don't know the suffering we've been through!"
"Shut up, Arlong," Jinbe glowered, "What the boy says is true. Big Bro T would be utterly disappointed in you"
"I don't want to hear that from you, you fucking sellout! You're the one who's become the Government's dog!"
"And what did you do, Arlong?" Luffy interjected, "You enslaved an island that is totally unrelated to all the suffering you went through. Then became buddy-buddy with guys like that corrupt rat-bastard who, by the way, are exactly the type of people who hunt down Fishmen as slaves. You stayed here, built a replica of Sabaody, asked for tributes from people, killed them like they were nothing if they didn't follow your orders, branded Nami… Does that sound familiar?"
"You're trying to live a life like those Celestial Dragons" Jinbe finished and Arlong instantly spat at them.
"Bastard! I'm nothing like them!"
"Yeah well, no one can be as bad as them. But still, if you weren't afraid of Jinbe and didn't need money from the people here, I'm sure you would have started slave trading and whatnot"
"Bastard! I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kil-"
"He's right," a new solemn voice entered the conversation and all eyes turned to Hachi who had his head down.
"Hachi! What are you saying?!" Arlong growled.
"Big Bro T would've hated that we've done something like this,
nyuu… especially what we did to Nami… to a child…"
"Did you forget what happened the last time we saved a filthy human kid?! Big Bro T died because of that child!"
"It wasn't her fault"
"She's a human! That's enough to make her guilty! She's just like every last one of those filthy humans who killed Big Bro T!"
"Actually, that little girl practices Fishman karate now" Luffy interjected.
"You know her?" Hachi asked perking up in surprise.
"Yeah, Koala"
"And she's learned Fishman karate?! A human has?"
"Yep! She also goes around the world freeing slaves of all races and fighting against what the Celestial Dragons do," Luffy informed before turning to Arlong, "
She's carrying on Tiger's will.
She's honouring the Sun symbol and what it stands for. Unlike
you, who are just sullying it and degrading it…"
Arlong finally lost his mind as his eyes became bloodshot and he thrashed around like a raging beast roaring nonsensical threats at Luffy.
"I don't think he'll learn…" Jinbe sighed as he walked up and punched Arlong in the face sending him into unconsciousness. The rest had remained silent the whole time, some with their heads down, either afraid of Jinbe or feeling guilty… or possibly, both.
Hachi kept glancing at Luffy thought as if wanting to ask something and Luffy, guessing he wanted to know more about Koala, answered, "She teaches Fishman karate to others too"
"She does?" Hachi brightened up, "I kinda got attached to her when she was with us
nyuu. So she's doing good now? That's good!"
"Yes, she was quite a nice kid," Jinbe also nodded with a smile.
Hachi nodded enthusiastically turning towards Jinbe, but when their eyes met, Hachi lost the enthusiasm and hung his head low in shame again, causing Jinbe to sigh and look away.
He then started dragging all of them towards the shore with Luffy walking beside him. "You have my word that Arlong and the others will never hurt anyone ever again"
Luffy smiled bitterly. "They've already unintentionally done enough damage…"
"What do you mean?"
"Earlier during the celebration back at the village, I heard a few kids talking. One kid's father was killed by Arlong very recently… The kid was saying that when he grows up, he'll kill all the Fishmen he sees"
Jinbe froze mid-step before sighing darkly. "…And I've seen some of the fishmen kids back home, who were influenced by Arlong, say that they want to kill all the humans they see when they grow up…"
'He's done much worse than that…' Luffy added thinking about Otohime's death. He was again tempted to reveal it, but held back worrying over how it would affect Shirahoshi.
"He's done the exact opposite of what Big Bro T's dying wish…"
"Yeah…"
"…You know what his dying wish was?"
"Something along the lines of don't taint the next generation with hate"
A confused Jinbe again questioned him. "How do you know that? Even if you know and heard about us from Koala, she wasn't there where he died either…"
Luffy grinned at him. "I'll tell you when I come by Fishman Island"
Jinbe sighed, wanting to know more and more about Luffy, but knew he wouldn't be getting any answers that day. They soon reached the shore and Luffy watched in amazement as Jinbe whistled and a few large whale sharks gently emerged from the seas, and so did Momoo.
"Hey Momoo, sorry for earlier," Luffy said feeling bad when he saw that Momoo was shivering as it looked at him.
"It's okay, Momoo," Jinbe said with a smile as he threw the chain at one of the whale sharks and it caught it in its mouth. It then descended back into the sea pulling all the Fishmen along and Momoo and the other whale sharks dived right after them.
"Well, Luffy, I'm extremely curious about your identity. How you know everything about me, Tiger and so much more… But as you said, I'll wait until you get to Fishman Island for answers"
Luffy silently held out a hand and Jinbe took it with a smile.
"I know I'm a nobody right now with zero achievements to my name so you might think I'm just a kid just mouthing off nonsense…but…" Luffy said as he looked into Jinbe's eyes with resolve and released his Conqueror's Haki at full blast.
Jinbe flinched before his eyes went wide with shock. "Y-you're a Co-"
"Otohime's will, Tiger's will, I promise that I'll help you carry it too"
Jinbe stared at him in bewilderment and shock, but also felt a sliver of excitement run up his spine.
'Just who are you? How will you help me? Why will you help me? What are your reasons?' A multitude of questions came to the tip of his tongue again but he just nodded.
Luffy smiled as he stopped releasing his Conqueror's and let go of his hand.
"Okay then… I'll be waiting for you," Jinbe said as he got ready to jump into the sea.
"One more thing," Luffy stopped him, "You can let Hachi go"
"Hachi? Really?"
"Yeah. His childhood dream was to open a takoyaki shop right? Let him do it near Sabaody"
"Why?"
"Well, he's mostly innocent. Just got dragged along with the bad crowd, I guess… Besides, I have a feeling that the takoyaki he makes will be delicious and I want to eat it when I come by Sabaody!" He declared, his mouth literally watering, causing Jinbe to sweat-drop.
Jinbe chuckled shaking his head. "Wahaha! I don't understand you at all…Well, guess I'll have to wait. See you!"
"See you soon!"
Jinbe dived into the sea and Luffy hoped he had alleviated his mood just a little bit at least. He stared at the sea for a while with a blank look before slowly making his way back. He didn't feel like partying though, so just aimlessly walked around the forest.
———
Some time later, he spotted his navigator walking alone in the forest too looking like she was searching for someone. His blank face instantly lit up when he saw her and he grinned as he suddenly appeared next to her, making her yelp in shock.
"You idiot! Stop doing that already!"
"But your reactions are so cute though. I can't get enough of them!"
"Grr! Stop it!" She snapped smacking him on the head and as always, he took it with a laugh. "Where were you anyway?" She asked with a huff. "I was looking everywhere for you"
"Just handing off Arlong and the others to a friend"
"Oh… I heard that you chained them up and took them somewhere… so your friend? Who are they?"
"I'll introduce you to him in the future. And don't worry, Arlong won't be hurting anyone"
"I see…" Nami nodded with a smile and decided to forget about Arlong. "Well, c'mon, let's head back to the party. There's loads of food waiting for you"
"You go ahead. Feel like just walking around right now…"
"Oh… well, in that case, come with me then. Need to introduce you to someone"
"Someone?"
"You'll see"
"Okay"
Nami started leading the way as the two slowly walked through the forest.
"So even you have times where you just want to enjoy the peace and quiet huh?" Nami asked with a smirk.
"Shishi sometimes yeah. Who doesn't?"
She hummed in response and they stayed silent for a few seconds before she softly said, "I never got a chance to say thank you"
"You don't have to"
"But I want to… but at the same time, I don't want to because it feels too… little, too small…"
"Good god… you think too much"
"Hehe, I guess so…" She chuckled, but didn't say thank you because she knew Luffy didn't like stuff like that. He would much rather see someone he saved live their happiest life possible, and she promised herself that she would do exactly that. Chase her dream, do everything in her power to help Luffy become the Pirate King, and live the best life ever.
"You know, I've been thinking…"
"About?"
"Training… I need some too," she said causing Luffy to give her an incredulous look and she hastily added, "Not like Zoro! God, no. I can't do such intense and harsh training… but like battle strategy, learning new tricks and techniques, tricking an opponent… and other things like that"
"What brought about the change?"
Nami tilted her head with a thoughtful expression. "Well, I think it started when I met you… You gave me the shock staff and for the first time in my life, I felt powerful. I
was powerful. Taking down pirates who had given me so much trouble on the seas for all these years… That feeling… I can't get enough of it! And today, I took down one of the officers who I had been terrified of for so long…"
She had a wistful smile as she recalled all her battles. "Honestly, I don't want to forget that feeling. And I also know that enemies are gonna get stronger in the Grand Line… so," she stopped and stared at Luffy with burning determination, "I want some training"
"Sure," Luffy smiled and she beamed. "You need a better weapon too," he added as they started walking again.
"Yeah, this," she held her shock staff up, "is just a one-trick weapon huh? I'm thinking of asking Usopp to build me another one or modify this one"
"Good"
They came out of a clearing and reached a cliff which overlooked the beautiful sea. Luffy realized who she wanted him to meet when he saw a grave on the cliff which was nothing but a mound with a cross on it.
"Bellemere huh?"
"Yep"
Luffy smiled as they both sat down in front of the grave.
"Hey Bellemere, this is the Luffy I talked about"
"You talked about me?"
"Yeah well, I don't know why but you did seem pretty angry that Arlong had killed Bellemere too so thought you should meet her at least…"
"What do you mean you don't know why? Bellemere must have been a very cool mom!"
"Why do you say that?"
"You still love her, so she must have been"
Nami giggled at the logic and nodded, "Yeah, she was the best…"
Luffy agreed with a smile when a very cool breeze swept over them at that moment and Nami shivered. "So cold tonight…"
"I don't have a jacket on to give to you"
"I wasn't expecting one!"
"Shishi, well, I got the next best thing," Luffy said as he scooted closer to her and activated Gear 2, the hot steam rising from his body instantly warming her up.
Nami became dumbfounded as she stared at his body for a few seconds before sighing, "What exactly is up with your body, Luffy? I thought I was seeing things back on Baratie, but you're actually
steaming?" she said running her fingers over his hands, "What the actual fuck?"
"Shishi well, this is a direct effect of my devil fruit"
"Tell me what your fruit is already!"
"Nope"
"Tell me!"
"Noppity nope nope nope!"
She groaned as she turned her gaze to the grave. "Now do you understand what I meant by this guy is crazy? Forgot to mention that he has no concept of personal space either"
"Wow, you complained about me to your mom?"
"Well," Nami laughed, "I guess it could be seen that way, yeah"
"Rude." Luffy shook his head as if disappointed before putting his hand on the cross, "Hey Bellemere, my name is Monkey D. Luffy, Captain of the Strawhat Pirates. And I guess I'm stealing your daughter away to become a pirate"
"Idiot~" Nami drawled smacking him lightly, "You don't have to phrase it like that"
"Also, your daughter is a handful. She keeps smacking m-"
"Hey! You complaining about me to my mother now?!"
"You started it. Let me tell you Bellemere, she keeps smacking me, yelling in my ears like a banshee - I even suspect she has eaten the Banshee-Banshee Fru-"
"Hey! Stop it!" Nami giggled as she tried to cover his mouth but Luffy chuckled, grabbing her hands and keeping them away from his mouth as he continued complaining.
"She even bit me once!"
"It's your damn fault!"
"And she keeps saying 'It's your fault!' again and again knowing full well that Zoro and I have a game where we take a shot each time she says that. I suspect she's trying to get me drunk!"
"Slander!" Nami playfully yelled in protest before doing all the things he just accused her of. She smacked him on the head, got close to his ears and yelled into it like a banshee, then grabbed his hand and bit it, before devolving into a fit of giggles as she yelled "It's your fault! Hehehehehe"
"Nami?" A sudden voice interrupted the two and they both looked back to find Nojiko and Genzo staring at them.
"Oh hey, guys!" Nami cheerfully waved as they came closer and stood behind them.
"What are you guys doing?" Genzo asked, his eyes flashing dangerously at seeing the two's close proximity.
"Just introducing Luffy to Bellemere"
"Oh?" Nojiko smirked teasingly as she pointed at how Nami was almost sitting on Luffy. "Doesn't look like you were
just introducing him"
"We were just playing around…" she said slowly separating from him, "It was cold, so he was just warming me up"
The two's eyes widened and Nami realized how that sounded and quickly backtracked, "No no! Not like that. His body's strange. It's hot and steamy-"
The two gasped loudly and Nami's face flushed with embarrassment realizing what she was saying sounded even worse.
"You should stop talking, Nami," Luffy nonchalantly butt in, "You're just digging your grave deeper"
"Shut up!" Nami hit him hard, "It's all your fault!"
"Another shot…" Luffy chuckled as Nami got up and stomped away with a flushed face and a giggling Nojiko running after her.
Genzo stayed in place though and if looks could kill, Luffy would have a hole drilled through his heart right then and there, given the way Genzo was glaring at him.
Luffy gulped, suddenly feeling like he was back in high school when he had been caught by Serena's dad while sneaking into her room late at night.
'Nope. Not me… wrong universe'
"Umm, we really were just playing around," Luffy said as Genzo kept up the glare before he walked up and sat down next to Luffy, his eyes not leaving him for even a second.
'Yeahhh, not letting this happen!' Luffy thought and before Genzo could open his mouth, Luffy started speaking, "Listen, I know you're her father figure, so let me say some things first. Nami likes me. And I like her too. Is it love or something that'll blossom into it eventually? I have no clue. We've just started our journey, so it's
way too early to decide those kinds of stuff. Regardless of what happens, as her Captain, I'll protect her with my life, make sure she achieves her dream, always keep her happy and make sure she never loses her smile."
Genzo was stunned at his declaration. It was everything he wanted to hear but him saying that with no prompt left him a bit speechless. He sat in silence for a while before grunting "Do you promise?!"
"Yeah, I promise!"
"Good!"
He sat idly and awkwardly for a couple more seconds, with a serious face still, before he stood up, nodded at him and only when he turned his back and started walking away did he allow a small smile to grace his lips.
'Well, I handled that waaay better than Leo did. In your face, brother!… Not that Nami is my girlfriend or anything…'
Luffy chuckled shaking his thoughts away and then laid down next to Bellemere's grave, staring up into the beautiful star-studded sky. His eyes eventually fell on her grave and memories of the time he had visited Rouge's grave on Baterilla came to his mind where he was sure he had heard Rouge's voice and had also
felt her running her fingers through his hair.
'Would it work again?' He wondered before slowly closing his eyes and deciding to give it a try.
"…Hey Bellemere. If you're somehow listening, I'm making those promises to you too… I'm going to become the Pirate King and I want to explore every corner of this world, so her dream is tied with mine too and she'll definitely achieve it…"
"…Anyway, just wanted to let you know that your daughter's in safe hands. Nami is an amazing woman and what little time you had spent with her has shaped her personality in a good way… Well, not entirely if I'm being honest. She did pick up some
moves from you. She acts cute and all when she wants something… Wonder where she got that from huh? Shishi I know how you used to say 'I'll pay you with my body' to Genzo. Pfft~ You should've seen the face on Genzo when a 10-year-old Nami used the same line on him Pftthahaha!…"
———
The Dead Club, Buffer Space
"UWAHHHH! UWAAAH! SANJI HAS MET SUCH NICE PEOPLE!" Sora's loud cries reverberated through the mansion, her tears gushing like a water fountain out of her eyes as she reread the Baratie and Whole Cake Island arcs.
"Will someone shut that damn woman up!" Bellemere huffed in irritation.
"Yes, this is getting too out of hand," Olvia commented calmly but her brows were furrowed in irritation too.
"I-I'M SOWWY!" Sora choked back a few sobs and Serena was instantly next to her, patting her head in comfort.
"It's okay, it's okay," she placated her before glaring at Olvia and Bellemere, "How could you say such things to her?!"
"Oh please, it was fine the first few times," Bellemere scoffed, "But she keeps reading and rereading the same thing and keeps crying every damn time! This is probably like the 20th time she's cried over the same thing!"
"33rd" Olvia supplied the correct number.
"As if you two weren't sobbing messes when you read about your children!" Serena shot back and the two froze, coughed, and averted their eyes making Serena grin.
"Ugh, it's not like I don't get it, alright," Bellemere huffed before going to comfort Sora while Olvia just sat in place with an understanding look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, go ahead, cry all you want…" she said patting Sora's head and Sora hugged Bellemere as she continued sobbing.
A few minutes later, Sora was sleeping like a baby after having cried her heart out and Bellemere, Olvia and Serena went to another room making sure not to disturb her.
Serena sighed as she closed the door. "You all are gonna be bringing the mood down for a while huh? Banchina just read Enies Lobby, cried and is sleeping in another room"
"Oi, don't blame us, brat! These are our lives we're reading about…" Bellemere rebuked.
"Yeah yeah, I understand. Guess we gotta wait until all of you are done reading the whole thing to make this place lively… It's just too depressing right now"
"Yes, true" Olvia agreed.
"Again, we can't read it all in one sitting! It's so damn long!" Bellemere said with a sigh.
"Yeah yeah, fake fan!"
"I'm not a fan! I'm a character
in the damn book!"
"Hehe, still can't get over it huh?"
"Ugh… well, it is what it is, I guess"
The three walked into the living room of the mansion and found Leo, Kuina and Hiruluk hanging out near the window.
"Hey, whatcha guys up to?" Serena asked.
"Just explaining what the internet is to these guys"
"Heh, I miss it so much"
"I still don't get it though… whatever information you want is in the air? How does that make sense?" Kuina asked.
"No no," Serena said and took over the explanation while Olvia got Leo's attention.
"I finished"
"You finished?"
"Reading everything"
"Damn, you're really fast," Bellemere commented, "I'm still starting Grand Line"
"Well, you were stuck on reading Arlong Park for days on end," Leo chuckled, getting a smack from Bellemere, before he faced Olvia knowing what her next question was gonna be, "You want more?"
"Yes"
"Well, there aren't more. Luffy was still fighting Kaido in Wano when I died, so that's where it cuts off. I begged White for more, and so he
graciously gave me chapters until the end of Wano knowing it was cruel to leave us hanging in the middle of the arc like that. It was just a few chapters though so guess he didn't mind… And that's all we're getting"
"So Robin saying Pluton is in Wano and getting no more after that is better?"
"Shishi well, it is what it is. There are tons of restrictions to what we can actually get made here, you know"
Olvia sighed. "Why though? It's not like these are getting generated from your memories. Why can't White just…
pluck stuff from your universe?"
"And why the hell doesn't he show himself to the rest of us?" Bellemere added, "I want to see what a god looks like!"
"Ladies, ladies, I don't have answers to your questions. I'm sure we'll learn soon enough, so just hang out and have fun. Here, let me show you the wonders of what massage chairs are!"
Five minutes later, multiple massage chairs were built by robots right in front of their eyes and five minutes after that, everyone was moaning in pleasure while they sat in them and let the massage chairs do their thing.
"Oh god, this is heaven~" Bellemere purred in ecstasy.
"Leo… put on some good music~" Hiruluk
sang and Leo complied, pushing a few buttons on a remote and soon, a classical piano piece started playing over the home speakers that were installed everywhere in the mansion.
"Is that Canon in D?" Olvia asked.
"You know it?! You guys had Johann Pachelbel too?" Leo asked curiously.
"No, it was composed by James Palseky in our uni-"
"There they go again, comparing stuff from respective universes again," Bellemere sighed.
"Hey, it's interesting and also sometimes funny! Did you know that your Ibell Peace Prize is our Nobel Peace Prize?!"
"Wow, so interesting…" Bellemere drawled sarcastically, but the two ignored her and continued.
"Ah yes, we were talking about this earlier," Olvia said with interest, "What exactly did this Nobel person do?"
"Oh, he inve-"
Bellemere tuned the two of them out and just relaxed on the massage chair. A few minutes later, just as she was drifting off to peaceful sleep, she started hearing a voice. It sounded like faint faraway whispers at first but it became clearer and clearer with time, and soon, she was able to make out clear words.
"-and she paused listening to all the pirates laughing at her. And then
she turned the dial up and zapped them! You should've seen the faces of all the Krieg pirates. Shishishi! And Nami-"
Bellemere slowly opened her eyes.
———
Conomi Islands
"-And Nami smiled at all of them while they looked at her… like she was a…witch…" Luffy trailed off when he felt a familiar warmth spreading over him. He still kept his eyes closed and soon, he felt slender fingers running over his face and heard an ethereal voice say
"Open your eyes, brat"
Luffy's lips curled up into an ecstatic smile as he recognized the voice and his body shivered with excitement. "I really want to, but I'm afraid you might disappear if I open my eyes though…"
"Oh, just open 'em, brat!" The voice snapped before he felt a little slap on his forehead.
"Like mother, like daughter, huh?" He chuckled as he slowly opened one eye and came face to face with a translucent figure hovering just inches above him. It was a very faint figure, barely translucent, but he could make out the smile on her face, and also the unique hairstyle she had. And when she didn't disappear, he smiled wider and opened both eyes.
"Hey, Bellemere. Nice to meetcha!" He greeted as he sat up and the translucent figure smiled back at him.
"…"
"…"
"Wow" /
"Wow"
"I'm here"
"You're here"
"I was dead and now, I'm back here"
"Well, doesn't look like you're
here here"
"Right…" she nodded looking down at herself,
"No body, it seems… so just as a soul? Can I, like, enter my body again?"
"It's been eight years, so I don't think there's anything
to enter?"
"True. How about your body?"
"Try it?"
"Not at all afraid of possession?"
"Not really. It'd be
so cool if I could house other souls inside my body!"
"Heh, I can already tell you're insane. Anyway, I don't think it works like that. I can already feel something pulling me back…"
"I see… you're very calm given the situation"
"My mind is still processing this…"
"Right"
"…"
"…"
"Wow!" /
"Wow!"
"I'm actually here!"
"You're actually here!"
"How
am I here?"
"I thought you'd know"
"No idea. I was just hanging out with your brother and I was dozing off when I suddenly felt like someone was talking to me. I opened my eyes and here I am"
"You were hanging out with my brother?"
"Yeah"
"
My brother?"
"Yeah"
"Leo?"
"You got more? I'm only at Little Garden still"
It only took a moment for things to click in Luffy's mind. "…You're reading the manga"
"Hehe yeah, I'm reading the manga"
"In the Soul Plane?"
"Just outside the Soul Plane"
"The Buffer space?"
"Yeah"
"White pulled you out"
"White gave Leo the power to pull people out and Leo pulled me out"
"Wow… Haha! Wow! THAT'S GREAT!" Luffy cheered throwing his hands up in joy. "I thought it could be a possibility! So Leo is pulling you guys out and you guys are what? Just floating around in space?"
"We got a mansion. With robot helpers and all!"
"Oh cool! So, you're like a ghost club?"
"Dead club"
"Right… Haha! This is so amazing! How's Leo?! Is Ser-"
"Okay, okay, I know you got loads of questions but first tell me about Nami and Nojiko. You saved them? How are they?"
"You've read the manga. This is just after Arlong Park fell"
"Yeah, but you're different, right? Future knowledge and all? Leo said that your adventure will be different"
"Ah yeah. Well, many things have changed and are new… but nothing much changed here for Nami and Nojiko. Arlong's down and both are safe and happy"
"Oh thank god…" Bellemere sighed in relief.
"Wait, you guys aren't watching me?
"No. We can't watch you"
"Really?"
"Not for a lack of trying. Leo asked White but he apparently isn't answering"
"Huh" Luffy deflated a bit wondering why he sometimes felt like he was being watched then. He shelved the top for now and concentrated on Bellemere. "So what do you guys do up there?"
"It hasn't been that long since we uhh… 'woke up.' So it's still pretty depressing given all the…"
"Tragic backstories, yeah"
"Yeah. We're still reading our way through the story. Only Olvia finished reading the whole damn thing"
"Like… the whole story? Until the end?"
"No, until the end of Wano. She was saying that it stops when Robin finds Pluton in Wa-"
"AHHHHHH!" Luffy screamed plugging his ears. "DON'T TELL ME! I DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED ANYMORE!"
"Hehehe okay okay, I won't say anymore… Stop plugging your ears… I won't say anything more… hey brat, open your ears!… Oi!"
SMACK!
"Ouch… getting hit by a ghost, that sure is new. Shishishishi"
"Why ouch? Aren't you made of rubber?"
"Ehh makes people feel better if I react like that"
"Right… Leo did say you're smarter than what you let on"
"Shishi well, enough about that. How many of you are up there?"
"Just six for now from our universe, plus Serena"
"Ooh let me guess - you, Sora, Hiruluk, Olvia, Banchina and Kuina?"
"Spot on. You and Leo are on the same wavelength… Guess that memory transfer thingy wasn't a joke huh?"
"Shishi nope!"
"Sigh, this whole thing is so weird… anyway, tell me more about Nami"
"Sure." Luffy again began telling her about all the things Nami had done since he had met her and Bellemere gasped, cheered, grumbled (that she got hurt while fighting), and laughed.
"…She'll do great in the future too. Navigation - she's gonna be the best, not much to say there, but in fights, she's always part of what's called the weakling trio in the story, but I think our Nami will be different. I know a few weapons we can get from our future enemies that will help her a great deal, so she'll be stronger too!" Luffy reassured with a smile.
"I see. Good then. Thanks, kid… for saving my family, being there for Nami, giving her a place she can call home, and giving her a chance to follow her dreams…" Bellemere said ruffling his hair lovingly.
"How's Noji?"
"Haven't talked to her much, but she's good too. She's great in the future too. It was mentioned in just a page but she had opened up a huge tangerine business or something… I think… And Genzo. HAHAHAH In Nami's bounty poster, she's doing a sexy pose in a bikini and Genzo freaks out about it, but also has an enlarged picture of it hung in his house. HAHAHA!"
"HEHEHEHEHE Oh god! I can totally see that happening… and also…" The spirit who was gently ruffling his hair until then yanked it hard.
"The hell do you mean Nami's bounty poster?!"
Luffy sweat-dropped. "Umm… she's a pirate you know… and we do some pretty crazy things… so it's inevitable…"
"…Sigh… guess I can't do anything about that… You better protect her with your life or else when you die and come here, I'll make your afterlife a dying hell!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Luffy saluted and laughed. "Shishi you know, you're like the second dead mother I've promised that I'll take care of their child"
Bellemere yanked his hair even harder.
"Two?! You're two-timing my daughter?!"
"What?! No no! The other was my brother, Ace's mother… Wait! Nami and I don't have a relationship like that either!"
"What? My daughter's not good enough for you, Mr Future Pirate King?!"
"No no, she's amazing! She would mak-… Wait! What am I saying? I have no such intentions for now… Ugghhh!"
Bellemere started laughing after his little outburst and Luffy sighed before joining her a couple of seconds later. Bellemere gently patted his head with a grin,
"Well, I can't be there for her, so I'm leaving her to you. Take good care of my daughter please"
"Okay. I promise"
"Looks like my time's up. I feel something pushing me back now for som-" She paused when she saw two people in the far distance and Luffy turned around to see them too.
It was Nojiko and Genzo who were walking towards them but when Bellemere saw their eyes meet hers, they froze in place.
"Can't you hold on just a bit longer? I'm sure they want to talk to you"
"No, it's because
they're coming closer that I'm being pushed back"
"Oh, so it works like that"
"I'm pretty sure you're the one who kinda pulled me down here. Can you do it again?"
"Hmm, I'm not sure how this works. Maybe because I was in the Buffer space, so I have a connection to it? Maybe the Voice of All Things is playing a role here too?"
"Basically, you have no idea"
"I have
no idea. But I think I have to be near the specific person's grave. I did it to Rouge once before - didn't have a conversation like this though"
"Well, alright. Then, give those two these messages-" Bellemere said before she told Luffy her final messages for Nojiko and Genzo… which had Luffy bursting out in laughter.
"Well, kid, it has been a pleasure meeting you," she said kissing his forehead,
"Go crazy, alright?"
"Shishi okay. Oh, two messages from me. Tell Sora that I've befriended Reiju and she hasn't joined me yet, but she'll be on my crew one day"
"Her daughter, right? Man, she's gonna flood the room"
"A crier huh?"
"I suspect her eyes are a fountain"
"Shishi and second message. Te-"
Bellemere flickered once and when the two looked back, they saw Nojiko and Genzo had finally come out of their shocked frozen states and were dashing towards them.
Bellemere gave them a wide smile and a wave before she blinked out of existence.
"…and the second message I couldn't say…" Luffy sighed but shrugged it off and just watched as Nojiko and Genzo came closer.
"Did I see that right?! Was that Bellemere?!" Nojiko shrieked.
"I saw her too!" Genzo shrieked back.
After appeasing Nami, Nojiko just wanted to sit at the grave again and Genzo followed, only to find the shocking scene. The spirit was faint but they could recognize the shit-eating grin and unique hairstyle anywhere.
They finally reached Luffy, panting hard and looking around everywhere before settling their gazes on Luffy.
"Hey, guys. Sorry she couldn't stay"
"How?! That was Bellemere just now?! Her ghost?! Where is she now?!"
"Yes, that was Bellemere's spirit. I can somehow talk to dead people"
The two looked at Luffy incredulously with jaws hanging wide open.
"Just sit down. I'll explain," Luffy said and the two followed obediently. "Well, just think of me as a psychic. The truth is weird which will just confuse you to no end, so let's not do that. This is actually just the second time I've been able to talk to a 'dead' person and the first I've been able to have a conversation"
"How is that even possible?!"
"Ehh… long story. You wouldn't believe me, so let's skip it. As I said, just think of me as a psychic who can talk to dead people alright? Bellemere had some last words to give you so I'm explaining a bit…"
That brought them out of their stupor.
"Why didn't she just wait for us?! We were right there!" Nojiko yelled with tears in her eyes.
"She wanted to. But as you got closer, she felt herself being pushed back… From what I can speculate, it seems living souls don't like dead souls and kinda reject and push them. I'm kinda special in that regard, so not affected by me, I guess"
That did nothing to calm her down but Genzo gently rubbed her back, placating her. "This is too crazy so let's skip over the 'how' bit… What did she say?"
"First to you," he said pointing at Nojiko, "'Take care Noji. You've become so beautiful and strong, always being there for Nami and the others. I'm so so proud of you and I love you'"
"Bellemere," Nojiko cried, "I love you too"
"And to you, Gen!" Luffy grinned which sent alarm bells ringing in Genzo's head, "'Take care of Noji and when you die and come here, I'll reward you with my body'"
Nojiko and Genzo blinked for a second before Nojiko burst out laughing falling to the ground clutching her stomach while Genzo's face burned with a dark crimson hue as he cursed "
THAT DAMN WOMAN!"
Luffy and Nojiko laughed at the blushing Genzo for a full minute before finally calming down.
"That sounds like Bellemere, alright" Nojiko smirked wiping her tears away to which Genzo grumbled curses at her.
"What else did you talk about?" Nojiko excitedly asked Luffy.
"Well, I just told her about myself and promised her that I'll take care of Nami and all… Told her how Nami and you turned out, told her about some of the adventures we had…"
"I see…" She slowly crawled towards him and gave him a tight hug "I don't know how this is all possible… but thank you so so much!"
Luffy hugged her back with a smile before saying, "Thank
you too, Nojiko"
They separated and Nojiko looked at him questioningly. "What for?"
"You saving Nami on that battlefield when she was a baby and going to Bellemere…" he said getting a gasp from Nojiko, "I don't know if she ever told you but Bellemere had decided to die on that battlefield that day. But seeing you saving a baby you didn't even know and seeing Nami's carefree smiles and giggles, and then seeing you smile even through your tears… She found a reason to keep living. You saved two lives that day, Nojiko"
She seemed to know already but still cried recalling it and Genzo smiled softly as he rubbed her back.
"And getting tattoos so that Nami wouldn't feel too bad about her own," Luffy continued only making Nojiko gasp harder and cry harder, "You were always the mature one even when Bellemere was alive. Shishi, she feels a bit embarrassed about that actually… She knows all that you've done here and she's really really proud of you"
Happy joyful sobs overwhelmed her, causing her body to shake uncontrollably with emotion, and Genzo quickly brought her into a hug with tears in his own eyes.
'I got way too much to tell Noji. Tell her that I'm really proud of her and love her. Tattoos, battlefield, her always being the mature one that it even made me feel embarrassed… And you add more things that'll have her happy sobbing like a baby!' Was Bellemere's message to Nojiko, and now Nojiko was happy sobbing like a baby.
His job done, Luffy left the father-daughter pair with a grin.
———
Luffy woke up the next day, feeling more refreshed than he had ever felt before. It was like a whole new world had just opened up to him, knowing that all the people that had died in the story in horrific and tragic ways were being taken care of by Leo. There were only six for now, but he knew Leo would pull out more eventually.
As for his new power, he didn't think much of it. It only worked at the grave of a specific person he knew and cared about, and there really weren't many graves available out there. Plus, he could only hold a conversation with Bellemere because Leo had already pulled her out of the Soul Plane. If not, he suspected it would be like with Rouge. He didn't know what the rules of that place were and he didn't care much either. That was Leo's adventure. Maybe when he died, he would get to meet him and all the others too? He shrugged, just happy to know that they were all up there somewhere.
He went to the kitchen to make himself some coffee and stared at everyone still sprawled out drunk on the floor. After his talk with Nojiko and Genzo, he had gone back to the party only to find all his crewmates were passed out drunk and thus, had brought them all back to Nami's house. He had gently tucked Nami into her bed upstairs while the rest were thrown in the living room.
The smell of the coffee made them slowly wake up, groggily groaning, and a few minutes later, they also came to the kitchen to drink water or eat something. Luffy cheerfully greeted them with a loud 'Good morning!' which had them snapping at him to not talk so loud before Sanji started making hangover drinks. Nami eventually came down too, relatively sober than the rest.
They were all eating and talking when Nojiko came in with a bright smile on her face humming to herself. She spotted Luffy and her face brightened up further. "Good morning, Luffy!" she enthusiastically greeted him ignoring everyone else in the room.
"Morning, Noji" Luffy greeted back with a smile. She came up to him, hugged him tight, kissed him on the cheek and said "Thanks for last night. It was the best night of my life!"
Luffy just hummed with a smile before she carried on as if nothing had happened, humming to herself before picking up some food and left saying "Going to Genzo's house"
Luffy kept on eating but soon noticed the silence in the room. He looked up to see that all his crewmates were staring at him, mouths ajar. "…What's up?"
"YOU DAMN SHITTY CAPTAIN!" Sanji cried.
"
YOU SLEPT WITH MY SISTER?!" Nami shrieked, a hallucinatory volcano erupting behind her.
At the same time, Sanji came in with a flying kick while yelling "HOW DARE YOU SLEEP WITH A BEAUTIFUL ANGEL LIKE NOJIKO-SAN?!" which Luffy just dodged, causing Sanji to go over his head and crash into a wall.
"Wait what?! What are you talking about?!"
"What did you do with her last night?!" Nami demanded stomping towards him, "And why is she so happy?! And you called her Noji!"
"Ah… we just talked a bit that's all"
"BULLSHIT!" Nami screamed and came at him to strangle him but he escaped, running and hiding behind Zoro.
"Zoro! Help me!"
"What?! I'm terrified of the witch too. Besides, you deserve it, you playboy"
"Wha? Et tu, Zoro?!"
"Well, it's the truth," Zoro smirked.
"Yeah, you slept with Moodie and now with Nojiko just a couple of days later. You
are a playboy," Usopp added, nodding sagely.
"Moodie was a le-"
Nami smacked Luffy hard on the head, bringing a close to that conversation, and was about to continue hitting him, but Luffy backed away.
"Wait wait, it's not what you're thinking! Even Genzo was with us! Ask him! The three of us were together!"
"Then why was she so happy?! Why did she say it was the best night of her life?!"
"Why are you asking me?! Go ask her!" Luffy yelled before running out of the house while Nami screamed at him to come back.
———
After three days of partying on the island, the Strawhats were finally ready to leave. Zoro was in a stable condition on day 2 itself but Nako had
dangerously insisted that he take another day off and also insisted that he not get into any fights for a month at least. (Zoro and Luffy both had laughed in his face at that and gotten a beating)
All the Strawhats except Nami were standing on the Merry while the rest of the villagers were at the shore to see them off. Johnny and Yosaku also said their goodbyes and they were only waiting for Nami to show up.
"You think she changed her mind at the last minute and decided not to come with us?" Usopp asked.
"What?! No way! She's 49.5 percent the reason I'm here! My beautiful Nami-swan will definitely come!"
"49.5?" Luffy asked while holding out a recorder.
"Yes, another 49.5 percent is for the beautiful mystery genius inventor crewmate of ours!" Sanji sang twirling around and Luffy chuckled as he got the recording.
"Is this gonna blow up in his face?" Usopp whispered.
"Imagine the most hilarious thing you can think of and multiply that by a billion times. That's how hilarious it's gonna be when you all finally meet her," Luffy answered and Usopp snickered going "Can't wait"
"SET SAIL!" came Nami's loud shout drowning out every other voice in the vicinity.
"Nami? What?" The villagers became confused when Nami started running.
"Well, you heard her, prepare to set sail!" Luffy ordered as he started raising the sails.
"Hey, are you really sure? Doesn't she need to say goodbye?" Sanji asked.
"Nah, it's her goodbye. Let her say it however she wants"
"Nami!" / "Nami! Don't leave like this!" / "At least let us thank you properly and say goodbye!"
The villagers pleaded with her to stop but Nami weaved through the crowd and ran to the shore. She reached the shore and jumped onto the Merry, landing perfectly on the deck. The villagers still called out for her to stop, but they stopped when they saw a ton of wallets and purses falling out from under her shirt.
Quickly checking for their own wallets and finding them missing, they realized what Nami had done.
"Take care, everyone~!" Nami drawled with a smug grin.
"YOU ROTTEN LITTLE THIEF!" they yelled in unison. "YOU TRICKED US!"
Nami laughed loudly and so did the other Strawhats while the villagers yelled at her to come back and return their wallets, but it soon turned into farewells.
"BYE, NAMI!"
"STAY SAFE, NAMI!"
"COME BACK ANY TIME YOU WANT!"
"GOODBYE, EVERYONE!" Nami yelled waving at them with a bright smile. "I'LL BE OFF NOW!"
"STRAWHAT! YOU BETTER KEEP YOUR PROMISE! BOTH OF THEM!" Genzo yelled.
"COME BACK SOON, LUFFY! I'LL BE WAITING!" Nojiko yelled happily waving goodbye.
Luffy gave them both a thumbs up with a grin.
The first promise he had made Genzo was the one about protecting Nami's smile. The second promise, which he had made to Nojiko too, was to somehow let them talk to Bellemere.
They had grabbed him the subsequent nights too and asked him to summon Bellemere again while they hid in the bushes far away, but it hadn't worked. And the two were left disappointed. So, he had promised them that by the time he came back, he would have learned how it worked and if it was even possible to let them talk to Bellemere.
And hence, Nojiko's enthusiasm in wanting Luffy to come back soon so that she can talk to her dead mother… But to the Strawhats who had heard the 'best night of my life' comment, it seemed a
little different. Luffy gulped feeling piercing gazes from some of his crew.
"Damn playboy…" Usopp grumbled.
"Shitty captain!" Sanji cursed through gritted teeth.
Zoro stayed silent but looked at Luffy with amusement.
"Even my sister…." Nami said darkly before walking up behind him and was about to grab his neck but Luffy ducked out of the way. "Tell me what you did with her, or I'll throw you overboard!" She threatened regardless.
"Not this again… I told you to ask Noji"
"I did!" She hissed feeling irritated at his use of a nickname for her sister, "And she told me it's a secret between you and her! When I pressed on, she told me to ask you! And you tell me to ask her! For the last two days, I've been running around you two! And I'm getting no answers! What did you two do?!"
"Ugh…" Luffy sighed, "C'mon, it's your farewell. Say goodbye to your home. Who knows when you'll get to see it again…"
"Tell me now!"
Luffy rolled his eyes before pointing in a random direction, "Look! It's a dinosaur!"
While Usopp and Sanji fell for it and looked, Nami lunged at Luffy yelling, "I'm not gonna fall for that!"
"Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed as he ran and Nami chased him around the deck.
———
East Blue Marine HQ
It was early in the morning when people were lazily coming in to work that they received a strange call. "Hello," a Marine picked up the snail and talked in a bored tone, "East Blue, Marine HQ. Please state your rank and purpose of call"
"
D-D-D-DEMON!" was the first word that was said - no, screamed, and the Marine grumbled in irritation.
"What the he-"
"
T-THERE'S A DEMON! A DEMON!"
"Fuck you, whoever you are! Stop prank calling!" The Marine spat and cut the call. Just a few seconds later, the snail rang again and he picked it up.
"
HOW DARE YOU HANG UP ON ME?!"
"Ugh, listen man, it's early in the morni-"
"I'M CAPTAIN NEZUMI OF THE 16TH BRANCH!"
"Well, you should've opened with that then instead of yelling demon like a crazy person"
The other end got silent and the fear in Nezumi's voice was back. "
I-I-I need to issue a bounty on a demon!"
"A bounty on a demon?"
"
A DEMON! YES!"
"A demon?"
"
YES! YES! HE WAS A TERRIFYING DEMON!"
"Right"
"
YOU DON'T BELIEVE ME?!"
"Well, you are shouting about a demon. Are you one of those people who say that there are mole people living at the center of the planet?"
"
NO! I SAW A DEMON!"
"Uh-huh… Do you have the picture of this demon and its name?"
"
YES! I'm sending it now! Issue the highest bounty on this demon! He dared to attack me and I'm sure he'll attack humanity soon too!"
"…good god, you are psychotic," The Marine sighed as the pic-snail received the image and printed it. It showed the image of a kid in a straw hat with a wide smile looking directly at the camera. "It's a kid"
"
NO! DON'T LET HIS APPEARANCE FOOL YOU! HE'S A DEMON!"
"And what exactly did this demon do?"
"
HE TOOK DOWN ARLONG'S WHOLE CREW!"
"Okay, now we're getting somewhere. His name?"
"
DEMON LUFFY!"
"Yeah, I'm not calling him Demon Luffy. We already have a Demon Child epithet for someone else. So, it's just lazy branding by us if we called him that"
"
BUT HE'S A DEMON!"
"Right. Give me more details"
"
H-He's a demon!"
"Anything other than that, please"
"
He's a demon!"
"…Goodbye." he said cutting the call. He didn't know what had happened, but looked like Nezumi was mentally scarred.
'Not my problem…'
The snail rang again a few seconds later and he picked it up, "Are we ready to talk like normal adults?"
"
Yes! Yes! Just issue a bounty on this demon!"
"Tell me what he did, or I'm cutting the call and won't receive it again"
"
Okay!"
"Good, now start from the beginning…"
A/N: Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it!
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