"I can't believe I let myself get annoyed into joining such a shitty Captain," Sanji grouched. It had been an hour since they started on their way after Nami. One of the bounty hunters had joined up to get Sanji and Luffy to the right place. Not that he was much use, too busy treating his wounds received due to his method of transportation.
Luffy was poking those wounds with his staff, "Hey Yosaku, do you heal from injuries using booze like Zoro?"
"W-what?" The bounty hunter stuttered in disbelief, "No one does that, not even Zoro-aniki!"
"Ehhh? Really ?" Luffy asked, tilting his head to the side. He knew for a fact that when he ate meat he healed up, and when he drank milk it helped his bones. Zoro said that booze healed him, so why would he lie about that. "I don't know why my First would lie about that, so you must be the liar."
Luffy poked the wound a little bit harder, the bounty hunter given a pained yelp.
"How close are we to where Nami is?" Luffy wondered out loud, his slight worry increasing. Even though he knew that there wasn't much that his crew couldn't handle. Plus, both his First and Usopp were there with Nami.
"Not too long, only a few more hours." Yosaku supplied, finally finishing bandaging his wounds. He then stood up and stared down Luffy, "More importantly, don't you think you're treating this a little too lightly? Nami took your ship, she betrayed you, and for that Fishman of all people."
Luffy had never given any thought to how he would deal with a traitor. If someone was part of his crew, they wouldn't. They were his crew. It seemed the bounty hunter didn't understand, "Nami is my navigator, even if she stabbed me in the back, I would still forgive her. Besides, Nami isn't that type of person. There is a reason she's doing what she did, and if I find out that anyone hurt my navigator I'll beat their ass!"
"If she literally stabbed you in the back, you would forgive her?" Yosaku asked, in disbelief.
"Yep! She definitely had a reason for doing it."
"Why?! What kind of pirate captain are you?" Yosaku asked, his eyes widened
"Ehh? How should I know, that's what the crew decides. If I'm a good captain, they will know, if I'm a bad captain, they will know." Luffy tried to explain.
Someone who wasn't a Captain can't understand.
"You have a very unique take on what it means to be a captain, Shitty Strawhat," Sanji whispered to himself. Before coming to the decision the passengers were getting hungry, "I'm making lunch, what do you want?"
"MEAT!"
...
...
...
"So this is where the witch went..." Zoro spoke to himself, hand placed over his swords as he ran his eyes along the island. Merry was there, undamaged by whatever Nami had gotten herself mixed up in. Throughout the voyage here, Zoro had been drinking booze and resting. It went leaps and bounds in helping his wounds heal over. Making the First Mate healed enough that he wanted to fulfill his captain's orders. Sure, he thought that the red-head wasn't trustworthy, but if Luffy wanted her, his captain would have her.
"W-we should probably just keep a low profile and just... Sneak in and grab Nami and Merry," Usopp suggested. The sniper not looking forward to being in such a strong enemies territory.
"No need, let's get ready for a fight," Zoro announced, flicking Wado from its home.
"Didn't you listen to anything Johnny said?! Fishman are dangerous, we can't just straight up fight them. Especially not when you're so injured!"Usopp protested, biting at his nails in worry, "B-besides that, Luffy ordered me to look out for you and to make sure that you were healed so –"
"Captain said to give me enough booze, you didn't even do that right," Zoro complained. Usopp believed that Zoro needed to spread out his consumption of the booze. As if Zoro didn't understand his own healing best, "Besides, these guys aren't even that tough. I've killed a lot of fish before."
"These aren't normal fish!" Both Usopp and Johnny protested.
Usopp walked closer to Zoro, standing right next to the man. The swordsman eyeballed the island with a hungry, bloodthirsty glint to his dipped his voice low, trying to reason with the swordsman, "Think about what the Captain would want ."
This caused Zoro to pause.
Luffy tended to put safety over his want for a good fight. He had shown with his fight against the marines when one of the bounty hunters was still injured. Thus, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that his Captain would prefer that the situation was dealt with using words instead of swords.
But it didn't stop Zoro from wanting to test his mettle against these so-called Fishman.
Still, Luffy had sent them out before knowing the full situation...
"Fine, we'll do it your way." Zoro accepted, allowing Wado to click back into its home and taking his hand away from his swords, "Oi! You fish seen Nami around here!? My Captain wants our navigator back!"
"Eh? Who are you talking to Zoro?" Usopp asked, worried.
"There are two fish over at the dock. You wanted to talk it through so –"
"NOT LIKE THAT! YOU INSULTED THEM!" Usopp exclaimed, looking toward Johnny with a deep set worry in his eyes, "Do you think that they heard him?"
The two Fishman jumped into the water and swam over quickly.
Too quickly.
"THEY TOTALLY HEARD HIM!" Usopp screeched, his hand flying toward his slingshot and holding it aloft as the two Fishman boarded.
"Stupid human, as if we are Fish, we are far superior to even your race, the idea that you would insult us, which one of you said it?!"
Zoro opened his mouth to reply, but Usopp elbowed Zoro's stomach. In this panic, forgetting the swordsman's wounds when it came to saving their lives. If Zoro opened his mouth, they'd get into a fight, that was for sure.
"My friend here has an infection causing him delirium! W-we sailed here because we heard that there might be a doctor. We humbly apologize for any insults our stupid meathead friend might have caused. He doesn't have the intelligence of such a higher species, so he's far more susceptible to such, uhm, weakness!" Usopp rambled off, bowing low with his eyes closed, hoping that his head wasn't about to be chopped off. Sweat rolled down his face as he waited for the judgment of his words to be caste.
"Eh, maybe we should just let them be. Look at that one, his legs are shaking it's a miracle he can stand. Plus, the one that insulted us is clearly too sick to have meant it, besides we have a party to get to, Nami is back after all! It's been awhile."
"Fine..." The other Fishman agreed, throwing another look toward the group. Then, with a plunge, both of them were gone back into the ocean, swimming away and speeds a human could only dream of.
Usopp was grabbed by the jacket and met with a glaring Zoro, "Don't ever do that again."
"O-O-OKAY!" Usopp agreed, nodding his head up and down so fast it was a miracle it didn't come straight off.
Zoro released Usopp and rubbed the back of his neck. He could have taken those fish, they didn't even seem that strong. Even as injured as he was, they would have stood no chance.
Speaking of wounds...
Zoro looked down at his chest, noticing the spotting blood on the new bandages. Usopp opened it up a little bit with that elbow. Shaking his head, Zoro headed back to the stores and grabbed another bottle of booze. Usopp couldn't complain about rationing when he was the one that caused the problem.
Opening the bottle as Usopp tied the boat to the dock, Zoro hopped out and started to walk, "Alright let's find the witch."
"Do you have any way of knowing where she is exactly? We should probably, you know, avoid the Fishman. I have an allergy to them you know, could cause me to fall dead. That's part of the reason I tried so hard to avoid fighting before. Hahahaha..." Usopp trailed off, as Zoro stared at him disbelieving.
"Well, let's go that way." Zoro, pointing toward the road fading into the distance, "I have a good feeling about that place."
The Swordsman wanted to scold the new member for his cowardice words. He refrained, however, if his Captain had a problem with it, then he would take care of the issue himself.
Usopp swallowed, but followed after Zoro as the swordsman led the way. Johnny took up the rare, fine with following Zoro. After all, they would never meet up with a Fishman if Zoro was leading the way, in all likelihood they'd somehow end up on a completely different island.
...
...
...
"So cool... Ushi! Join my crew!"
After this declaration, Luffy got into a staring contest with the massive sea cow that was before them. Luffy was determined not to lose, minutes passed, the cow blinked, and nodded his head. Luffy's mouth stretched in a huge grin as he turned toward Sanji with happiness bright in his eyes.
"Sanji look! We got a new member! Ushi is super strong!"
The blonde and the bounty hunter looked at the staff user with shock. It wasn't normal, getting one of the beasts of the sea to join your crew. Still, the proof was in the pudding, Ushi, as it seemed to now be named, looked ecstatic being a part of the crew.
"Well, if we ever run out of meat, I guess we have more options." Sanji stated, sticking a cigarette in his mouth and walking to the kitchen, "Time to welcome a new crew member."
Sanji came out a few minutes later with a huge piece of meat. Luffy lunged forward, but Sanji thrust out his foot and kicked his greedy captain away.
When there was such good meat nearby, Luffy wasn't capable of concentrating enough to use the mystery power to avoid the hit, but before he could go for the meat again, Sanji had already given it to Ushi... Luffy pouted, but the rules of the table ruled all, and Ushi got the meat fair and square.
"Ushi! Could you bring us to the island that way?" Luffy asked, pointing toward the direction Nami had gone.
Ushi looked worried, even started to sweat, but nodded his head in agreement.
A few moments later, they had the boat connected to Ushi's horns and they were taking off at high speeds.
Luffy's delighted laugh could be heard an ocean away.
...
...
...
Nami walked forward because that's what she did, she walked forward despite, everyone she'd trampled over. Before long there were those gates in front of her those dreaded, ugly pieces of architecture. But... they still blocked off her hell, stopped most of it from overflowing into everything she wanted to protect.
KATAKATAKATA -
The sound of light, but fast running against the dirt road erupted behind her. Followed with a war cry from a childish voice with the hatred she'd heard so many times before, "Hey you, get out of my way! I'm here to kill Arlong!"
Nami turned to look at the child, tilting her head not allowing the child to see any emotion she might have had. Not that she was feeling any at this moment, she felt empty. How much longer was she going to feel this way before she finally met her goal, or was it hopeless as it felt? More familiar words started to leak from the child's lips, "He killed my father! Move out of the way, if you don't, I'll kill you too!"
Enough.
Nami pulled out the pieces of her staff between her fingers and bashed them against the child's head. To save him from himself not that he would know that. Not that it made her any less guilty when the child whimpered as he hit the ground and dropping the sword he was holding carelessly in his hands.
"Arlong doesn't have time to deal with punks like you. If you understand, then get lost. You're nothing compared to him, no one can touch him. No one can hurt him. No one can beat him. Accept this hopelessness and move on."
But she still couldn't resist the urge to throw money to the child, "Take that and go take care of yourself."
" DAMMIT! "
Nami ignored the cries of the child as she walked into her hell and the doors slammed shut behind her.
...
...
...
Zoro looked around, confused.
They weren't getting anywhere. They'd been walking for hours and somehow they hadn't left the beach yet. This island had some sort of idiotic and confusing geography, how the hell else would you explain something like this. Of course, unbeknownst to the swordsman, Usopp and Johnny were quite happy with this arrangement. Following such a directionless person kept them out of danger for now, and that was a saving grace that both of them appreciated.
"Tch, I've only been going left this whole time and still haven't run into anything, how big is this godforsaken island ." Zoro bit out.
Usopp managed to cover a laugh, luckily it wasn't noticed under the weight of the swordsman's aggravation.
It continued for hours, walking around the beach and Usopp was starting to get tired, same with Johnny. But Zoro kept walking, stating that they wouldn't stop until they could do what the Captain wanted of them. Dragging the two along to the left as he was before. Too stubborn to admit that he could be wrong - Either that or truly not knowing any better. It was because of this exhaustion Usopp assumed that he was hallucinating. He blinked, but sure enough, a Sea King of some sort was gliding through the water straight toward the island. It even seemed to be carrying some sort of harness in its mouth, a makeshift job that was more a simple rope than anything else.
Usopp blinked at it a few more times.
The image didn't go away.
"Nee, Zoro, I don't suppose you see that Gaint Sea King coming straight for us, do you?" Usopp asked, not able to take another step, his knees shaking in place.
"Ehhhh?" Zoro questioned, before looking the same direction as Usopp with momentary wide eyes. A grin stretched across his face, "I was starting to get hungry, It seems like the sushi is serving itself now."
He clicked his sword out of place.
"NAMI! WE'RE ALMOST THERE!" A familiar voice screamed, as the boat that the Sea King carried catapulted forward. Ushi coming to an abrupt stop, going any farther would result in its own beaching. The ship went flying, screams paired with joyous laughter erupting from within.
The ship hit the beach with a devastating CRACK as the wood hit the beach, the impact sending sand flying everywhere and the wood bent toward the ground.
SKRRREEEK
The wood, which had caved inward exploded out with a horrible screech before flying everywhere. Leaving the occupants visible, and spread across the beach. Monkey D. Luffy, was already on his feet dusting the bits of sand off his jumpsuit. Once he got rid of the majority of granules he turned toward the sea and waved, "THANKS USHI! WE'LL MEET UP WITH YOU WHEN WE'RE READY TO LEAVE!"
Ushi seemed to nod his head toward Luffy before sinking into the water, its eyes lighting up with joy at the praise. Usopp watched the whole thing with his mouth wide open, jaw dropped, unable to comprehend what had happened in front of him. The blonde chief who had been with Luffy groaned as he pulled himself out of the sand. Sanji had been embedded within the sand from the force of the boat hitting the beat. "Shitty Strawhat nearly got us killed and we aren't even on the Grandline yet."
"LUFFY!" Usopp couldn't contain himself anymore and fell forwards in shock.
Luffy looked over toward the sound of his sniper and saw his other crew members, what a relief that was. Except there was still one missing.
"Where is she?" Luffy demanded.
Zoro, Usopp, Sanji, and the bounty hunters stiffened at the tone that he used. It was unlike anything they had heard from him before, but god did it make him sound like what he was. A Captain. Usopp sat up from where he fell and scrambled to his feet, resisting the urge to emit word vomit with excuses and bullshit. Words he knew, KNEW that his Captain shouldn't have to deal with considering the current situation. It was Zoro who spoke because it was his responsibility he was the first mate who had failed his Captain's orders.
"I couldn't find her," Zoro admitted, his voice stoic, his posture straight. He was willing to accept any punishment his Captain saw fit.
Usopp couldn't resist his lip warbling - If Zoro could admit to something like that, why couldn't Usopp open his mouth. It wouldn't be hard to accept his part of the blame. To admit he hadn't taken the situation seriously enough. The fact that Nami was in trouble and Usopp was letting Zoro walk around in circles because he was afraid of danger. He couldn't spit it out, he was too much of a coward, but he promised himself no longer. He had a crew to live up to now. He had to be braver. More fearless. Stronger.
Luffy tilted his head to the side, he wasn't happy. That had less to do with the fact that Zoro hadn't found Nami, and more to do with the fact that he wanted his Navigator back and didn't want to wait. So he looked away from the crew members he had with him and looked inland. Faint, oh so god damn faint, he could feel her in the distance. It would be out of his range, but he had spent enough time with Nami to be sensitive to her. It would be easy to sense any of his crew. Never before had Luffy been more happy for the existence of the mystery power, and he vowed to himself to practice it more. It was becoming clear that all his current abilities weren't going to cut it. No matter how strong he was compared to the weaklings on his home island or even the rest of the East Blue. There were greater dangers waiting for him. A realization that made him want his Navigator back even more. After all, how was he going to face those dangers without her to lead him toward the fun in the first place?
"Found her. Let's go." Luffy said, but his tone wasn't as commanding as before. A statement, less of a command, but it didn't stop Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp immediately falling into step with him.
Behind they left two bounty hunters, too shocked from what they had seen from that goofy person they'd met.
The farther into the town that they walked, the more Luffy started to worry. These people felt weird, something was off. It kind of reminded Luffy of Goa, but it was more blatant. Normally Luffy likes more obvious things but... He wanted his Navigator back, she shouldn't have to experience a place like this.
They walked through the town square, and it was hard to not notice how downtrodden the people of the town were. Sanji felt uncomfortable especially, it reminded him of back home. Where his father had such an iron fist on the area that the people were never comfortable or happy with anything they had. Zoro looked toward his Captain when realizing the mood of the area. Seeing his Captain's continued determination, solidified his own even more. They were getting their Navigator off this island.
Usopp didn't notice at all.
Luffy stopped walking and titled his head to the side, confirming what the mystery power was telling him.
"She's in there," Luffy said, pointing toward an unassuming building, "Maybe I should just break the door in..."
Luffy mused to himself. He raised a fist, but before he could commit to that plan, Sanji interjected, "Think a bit more shitty Captain. If she's safe you'll make Nami-swan angry, and I won't forgive you."
Zoro felt his eyebrow twitch in aggravation, the new cook didn't have a respectful way of speaking to his new captain. That didn't mean he wasn't right, so he added, "The witch would be pissed ."
Luffy pouted because they were taking the polite route, and that always took more time.
Still, he knocked on the door, and a woman with purple hair opened it and peeked outside. Luffy stared at her for a second, "Give me my navigator back."
"Excuse me?" She said, looking confused.
"I want my Nami back! I don't know why she left but I need her to come back and I sense her in there. Give her back."
"Stand aside Nojiko I'll handle this." Came a familiar voice from behind the purple haired woman.
Luffy immediately relaxed and the smile which had left him since he'd come to this island slammed back onto his face. Nami was okay, she was there, she didn't seem hurt, everything was going to be okay. Something unraveled in each of the other Strawhat pirates as well, and something felt like it was back in equilibrium.
"I don't know why you losers followed me here, but take a hint." She spat out, "I took your ship and took off without a word along with all your money. That's called robbery, and that's what I do to all idiots like you. Now leave, I spent enough time with you, and I'm sick of the stupidity that you spread."
Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji stiffened, but Luffy grinned brightly.
Nami gritted her teeth, this idiot, why was he still looking at her like that?
Something wet landed on Luffy's face. The Captain crossed his eyes and tried to look at what it was. Nami glared at him, her lips going back to rest. The trio of crew members was shocked because Nami wouldn't have spit on him, that was too far.
Luffy started to laugh, "That's so gross Nami, I wasn't expecting that from you."
As he laughed, he hooked his arms behind his neck and looked right in her eyes, not even bothering to wipe it off his check. A little bit of spit didn't matter to him, but Ace and Sabo had told him girls didn't do that sort of thing, so he was a bit shocked. Still, his Navigator would be different from normal girls.
"Would you just leave! You stupid, stubborn, strong-fisted MONSTER! I don't want you here! I left you for a reason, accept it!" Nami screamed at him, her eyes were dead, no emotion was showing, despite what her voice was saying.
"SHUT UP!"
Luffy screamed even louder than her. Drawing the attention of several people on the street that weren't already paying attention. Usopp winced, assuming that even their goofy captain had finally hit his limit of what he would take. Would he attack her? Zoro kept his expression even, and Sanji forced himself not to step in. Even though he wanted to scold his new Captain for talking to a woman like that, it wasn't his place to interrupt what was going on right now.
"I hate people who fake things it's so confusing, tell me what you want," Luffy demanded, much calmer.
"I already did!" She spat out, this time much less literal.
Plit
Even such a small sound drew Luffy's immediate attention
"Then why are you hurting so much?" Luffy gritted out, confused, and upset as his Navigator's blood dripped onto the floor. Luffy looked at it with disgust. That was meant to be inside her body, and it was a mark of his failure right now that it was laying there on the ground. Luffy moved forward and grabbed her hand, not willing to let it go on longer, and forced her fist to relax. Not hurting her, but it stopped Nami's response. Within Luffy's hand now was hers, but it was smearing his with blood that was dripping around her hand. Blood originating from the area her nails had dug into her palm. She hadn't even noticed.
That didn't change her determination.
She wrenched her hand back and glared at him, how dare he see through her, no one had, she was okay she just needed a bit more then it could all be over, "WOULD YOU -"
A fist hit the top of her head, lighter than it had been on Coby, even lighter than it had been for Usopp, but her knees still hit the floor. When had her legs become so weak? Why couldn't she stand?
"Tell. Me. What. You. Want." Luffy spoke each word slowly as if she was the idiot.
"Enough." The purple haired woman spoke, stepping forward and falling to her knees next to Nami. Grabbing Nami's hand into her own, gently pulling it from Luffy's, uncaring of the blood as she held it, "Enough Nami. It's enough. You've done enough. You've given enough. Let yourself have something for once. All of us are sick of seeing you suffer like this."
Nami could feel her lip loosen, quiver, as she tried to hold back the floodgates. These people, the few people that she had somehow grown to trust... Her Captain who she had spat on... Still looking at her with determination to help her. She couldn't understand. Tears leaked from her eyes, she couldn't stop them, this was what that Fishman left her as, a useless mess. Before she knew it, she couldn't help the full-blown sobs that were leaving her. Luffy rubbed the back of his neck, confused, but with the urge to beat someone's ass and having no outlet for it.
Nami didn't stop sobbing, even as she was pulled to her sister's chest. Even as she heard her sister speaking, telling her Captain the secret she'd held for so long. She couldn't bring herself to speak as Nojiko sent her Captain to his death.
Huh?
Her Captain -
When did she start to think of him like that?
"There is a pirate named Arlong that came to this island a long time ago. He did horrible things -" Nojiko started to explain, hoping that these people would be the ones that could finally help her sister.
"Stop it." Luffy demanded, his eyes focused on his Navigator's sobbing form, "I don't care about any of that. Tell me who's ass I have to beat!"
Nojiko would have laughed at any other time. This was the simple man that her sister had grown to trust. But regardless of the simplicity, the caring was there, and that was all that mattered.
"Fine then, yes, you'll have to beat Arlong's ass to make her feel better." Nojiko adjusted her words to better fit helping the Captain, "But it won't be easy. He has tons of officers, they are strong, superior to humans in every way possible -"
But the four were already walking away, Luffy leading them in the direction of Arlong's base. They fell into step with him, serious, determined expressions on each of their faces.
...
...
...
Usopp walked forward. There was a purpose in his steps that he'd never felt before. A strength that filled him like never before. He once thought, even minutes ago, that if it came to something like this, he'd run the other way. Instead, he stepped after his Captain as though he belonged there.
He looked over at the equally as resolute blonde and swordsman. They were so determined that they weren't so much as glancing away from their target.
It wasn't long before they were standing at the gates of Nami's hell.
Luffy slammed his staff into them, and they crumbled before him as he stepped in and the dust settled.
"Which one of you is Arlong?" Luffy demanded.
"That would be me." Arlong proclaimed. Fury flashing across his face, "And what do you think you're doing you obstinate huma-"
Before he could finish, he was punched straight through four layers of concrete.
"YOU MADE MY NAVIGATOR CRY!"
And the three other Strawhats shared that sentiment, realizing their place in this battle. They wouldn't let any of these weak underlings bother their Captain in his fight. Zoro turned toward the clear swordsman of the group with a bloodthirsty grin, a melee fighter squared off against Sanji, finding him the bigger threat, which left Usopp to... Well... Everyone else.
For a second Usopp felt worried. He swallowed it down and forced his knees steady, pulling back his slingshot, and getting to work.
Everyone faced off against their opponents, and the fight was on.
...
...
...
Nami had stopped sobbing and looked forward, her mind blank, her emotions emptied.
Luffy...
Captain...
He was going to fight Arlong for her. Going into what was certain death because he assumed that Arlong hurt her. He didn't even know the story, he knew nothing of the situation. It didn't matter to him. All that mattered to him was the blood on her hands.
Hicc
Another dry sob escaped her but so did a realization. If they were going to die for her, shouldn't she be there too, shouldn't she be with them returning every bit of loyalty. She had spit in her Captain's face, literally, and they were still out there she needed to at least be there. She couldn't fight, not them, not with what they'd done, but she could be there. She owed her Captain to at least see the outcome.
So Nami put one foot in front of the other. Eyes dried and her face smoothed out as she walked toward the entrance of her personal hell. Townspeople gathering around the commotion in front of gates to the Park. She pushed herself through the crowd. Many of them moving to the side once they saw her, till she could finally see what was happening. Rubble, her hell had never been so disordered before. Arlong embedded into a wall, although he looked as smug as ever even as Luffy glared at him, fist extended. The other Strawhats were currently fighting. Not Luffy, Luffy was listening as Arlong spat out the poison that nearly brought back her sobs. A poison that Luffy had every right to believe after her actions.
"I see, you're confused. You think that woman is your navigator, but you have it confused. Just like everyone else, you fell for her lines pathetically." Arlong laughed as he pulled himself out of the rubble. Unruffled by the strength the human had shown, "She does this to everyone she meets. The thief fools them and steals from them for us. For me. You see, Nami is mine. Don't worry though, so long as she keeps making maps for me, she'll be the best-treated slave to ever exist."
Nami heard these words and tears leaked from her eyes.
She'd known, of course, never fooled by their false camaraderie, but to call her a slave, even if that was what she was -
"She's free."
"What?" Arlong questioned, not having heard what the human said.
Luffy gritted his teeth and something rolled out of him. A feeling he remembered from when Zoro had gotten hurt, "I said NAMI IS FREE! "
The power exploded outwards, and Fishman fell over. Only the top officers were still standing. Those top officers were also thrown by the power, thrown off balance. Most of the townspeople also fell over in shock, unable to stand up to the will power of the furious young Captain.
Nami was smiling, forget tears, she was, wasn't she. She was free to make her own choice now. Luffy had made that possible, his strength, his determination, it was freeing her to have the same. God the relief was beyond anything she could have ever wanted.
But Luffy didn't stop at words, it wasn't enough. He would destroy this whole place! This place that dared to assume it could hold his Navigator, that thought it could enslave her. He ignored Arlong and turned toward the building. Holding his staff in one hand and feeling energy churning within him. Pushing it outward, moving his arm at high speeds, so much so that it created that sharp wind tunnel that was so familiar, "Sutōmusuingu"
The building split and crumbled. Only after it completely hit the ground did Luffy turn back toward Arlong. The Fishman looked on in shock as the building came to pieces. Charts flying in the air like snow created out of the blood of a navigator. Unusable, crumpled, ripped sea charts that were his way of securing the future he wanted for his people. The future where they finally showed the humans who were the superior species. Arlong could feel his teeth breaking from how much force he was using as he ground them together. The might of his fury settled on his shoulders.
Before he could turn to the object of his fury though, he was abruptly slammed into the ground by a staff.
Luffy stood over the Fishman leader. Eyes still raging, pupils constricted in anger, "Now I can focus on beating your ass."
And the fight was on if you could even call it that. Luffy was beating the Fishman bloody while using every ounce of training he'd gotten from Gramps to ensure that he didn't get hit once. There was only one goal in his mind right now. This person who thought himself so much better than his Navigator would realize how weak he was.
Arlong was soon buried so deep into the ground that he couldn't get up within minutes. The staff user wasn't even out of breath. Unless you counted the pants he was giving, but those were only a futile attempt to calm his anger.
...
...
...
Everyone stood still and watched the slaughter. The fight on both sides freezing as they watched the complete destruction.
Zoro gave a wild grin at the beating his Captain was giving out. He turned toward the Octopus, "So you see your future, will you run? It won't matter, you're the hunted one now, I won't let an opponent out of my sight until I've defeated them."
Not after losing last time and earning the mark of shame currently on his chest.
The Octopus turned away from the fight with a scowl, "Your Captain humiliated mine. I will defeat you for what you've done to my brethren."
Zoro's respect for this particular Fishman rose. He had admiral loyal to his Captain and his people. The man might actually have the dishonor of living through this fight. He placed a sword into his mouth, no more talk, Zoro told himself, now was the time for action. His other two swords, held firmly in hand as he walked toward the fight. The Octopus copied the gesture. Both shutting their mouth and mind of anything other than a swordsman's determination. Zoro watched as his opponent lifted six swords and raced toward him.
Sloppy.
Unrefined.
Zoro broke his guard easily, "Oni-Giri"
The attack was dodged. Zoro's flexible opponent using weird malformation of his naturally flexible body. A human would have several joints disengaged from the way that the Octopus had fluidly moved his limbs.
Good, an enemy that wasn't so easily defeated. The perfect opportunity to try his new attack then, Zoro decided, getting even more fired up. No one he'd come across in the East Blue other than his Captain had dodged an attack like that.
They exchanged a few more blows, but the Octopus made the first mistake. Being impatient. Zoro saw that in his movements. Even such a small inconsistency was enough. The first mate immediately attacked with everything he had. It was an idea that had come from seeing his Captain fight. The man had used the wind to his advantage, he'd turned it into blades. So, what if Zoro created a storm of blades swift as the wind. His arms moved as though he'd practiced the move thousands of times. The reality was that he was a master swordsman. Even new moves had a practiced feel to them, "Santoryu: Tatsumaki"
The attack exploded outward with devastating effect. Hatchi fell to his knees, defeated, if not dead from the whirling attack. Even completed, it whipped around the whole of the Park with it's staying power. A force comparable to that of a small tropical storm condensed -
"Tch, not good enough." Zoro scolded himself, putting his swords away. Scowling, he resisted the urge to press a hand his wound. The swordsman could tell he'd popped a few more stitches, but it wasn't important right now. His new duty to the crew came first. But the battle was done on his side, so he sat down and started to watch their newest member fight his own battle.
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Sanji faced the opponent before him with a clouded mind.
It had been quite the day.
That shitty new Captain of his had actually annoyed the blonde into joining his pirate crew. Sanji wanted to come to some sort of regret. It had only been a few hours and he was taken into this whole mess, risking his life. But the only emotion there was the stirrings of trust. It was annoying, how much of a hold that new Captain of his had gotten in such a short amount of time. How could you resist in the face of how loyal he was back, how far he would go for his crew members. Luffy looked ready to go to war because of a woman crying. How could Sanji not give loyalty to a man like that? That was what had lead to Sanji facing this opponent in front of him. Determination to match them all in his eyes as he went to battle for a woman he'd only briefly met.
Not all the emotions he currently felt even, but more for what he knew he'd come to feel for these people.
Sanji inhaled through his cigarette as he eyed the Fishman. It would be easy work, this overconfident piece of shit would fall before him. Having said that, Sanji didn't particularly feel like playing around with the person who was part of the reason that beauty was crying. So he wasted no more time. Letting loose on his opponent, not even bothering to use any more powerful attack. Overtaking his enemy with the fast and furious speed of the assault. Sanji could feel his hands scuffing on the concrete floor. It was a feeling he was familiar with, dealt with it for years. You had to when learning this fighting style. Still, he put his hands into his pockets after the fight was over. The beauty didn't need to see even the slightest injury on their side.
She had gone through enough.
The cook stared down at the fallen Fishman with a glare, "Scum like you isn't worth the time of day, that's what you get for making a woman's tears fall to the ground ."
Sanji stated, his tone cool and empty of the fury his attacks had.
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Usopp faced his opponent, and for once his legs weren't shaking. There was too much to prove, too much on the line. Nami was depending on them, Usopp couldn't let her down, nor his Captain, not again. Sure, his fooling around hadn't caused anything horrible -
It could have.
Nami could have died in the time he'd spent on that beach not telling Zoro where they should go. Sure, the bounty hunter was there too but it wasn't his responsibility to look for Nami, it was the crews. It was Usopp's job to follow his Captain's orders and he had ignored them for something as tiny as cowardice. There would be setbacks, Usopp knew that, but if you don't take that first step toward changing. He wanted to be worthy of being on that ship with the rest of them. To share those good times and laughs that were so easy between Luffy and Zoro.
"I AM THE SNIPER KING! NOT EVEN A FISHMAN LIKE YOU CAN STAND UP TO ME!" Usopp declared, boasting as though there was actual strength to back it up.
The best attack Usopp had, lying to himself so that he could continue on without falling into panic.
He pulled back his slingshot with a smirk, and he was a pirate now, there was no such thing as a dishonorable move, right? Not when it came to their Navigator crying. Usopp let his fist unclench, and so did the special attack pellet he made. It sped out of the slingshot at record speeds. Harder than Usopp had ever fired before. It fell apart, disintegrating right in front of his opponents face.
Right in front of his opponent's eyes.
The particles made contact, and immediately the pirate before Usopp let out a cry of surprise as he was blinded.
'Now's my chance,' Usopp thought to himself. He reloaded his slingshot. This time not with a special attack, but rather, with a weighted ball. Something old fashion, nothing flashy, he needed to knock his opponent out not annoy him. So that's exactly what he did. The Fishman couldn't exactly dodge when he was blinded after-all. The enemy fell defeated, another among all the others that their crew had taken out. Usopp looked around at the battlefield before him. Every Fishman was laying broken and defeated, and it almost looked like no Strawhat had a scratch on them. Was that the power of fighting for what you believed in?
It was a clear and definitive victory for the Strawhat pirates.
"LET'S GO TO SEA, NAMI!" Luffy screamed into silence.
They all looked toward their Navigator, and she was crying, but these were a different sort of tears. She sniffled and wiped her eyes, and nodded with a pure sort of happiness. It made all the worry, all the panic, all the anxiety more than worth it. At least, far as Usopp was concerned. She let out the happiest sound of confirmation any of them had ever heard.
"Thank you, Luffy." She said.
Luffy, who had finally calmed down. His aggravation long since having leaked out looked her in the eyes. And then gave that grin they were all coming to love, "Of course!"
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The celebration was on.
After a fight what other option was there but to party. And God did the people know how to throw on. There was booze, meat, everything that one could want. Luffy's mouth watered the second that he could smell the first whiff of that meat. All of them were together, laughing, joy in the aftermath of the battle for their lives and for the life and happiness of their Navigator.
Luffy took the rules of eating to a whole new level. It wasn't normal, wasn't human, how he somehow managed to blow himself up like a balloon filled with meat. But somehow that made it more comical. By the time that the meal had finished everyone in the village had heard of the meal rules that had been learned from Dadan and his Gramp's teachings. Not, of course, that they decided to go with them, but they did laugh at the fact that an adult had made them in the first place.
At some point, the night started to wind down and Luffy walked around, stretching himself and waiting for his body to go back to its skinny form, "Oi, kid !"
Luffy blinked toward the older man that was yelling, though he did look around to make sure he was the one being spoken to.
"She's leaving with you so you better put her happiness above even your own!"
Head tilting to the side, Luffy looked at the man before grinning, "You remind me of someone back home. Shishishishi. You don't have to worry about Nami, she's my Navigator. My important and precious nakama, I was always taught that those are the people that come first. After all, what kind of Pirate King would I be if I couldn't protect those close to me first."
Luffy didn't wait for the man to reply, walked away and started toward the Merry.
Once he got there he was greeted with the sight of his first, relaxing on the deck of the ship. His swords placed carefully beside him. Though it had seemed like the swordsman was napping, his eye squinted open, "Captain."
"First." Luffy returned, a friendly grin on his face as he plopped down next to the man. Removing his hat and placing it to the side.
"We got our Navigator back," Zoro stated, before going back to sleep.
"Yeah, we did." Luffy grinned out, with tired elation before following his first to sleep.
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The next day was a busy one, filled with a bossy Nami preparing to leave. She wanted trees on the ship. Wanted them at a certain place at a certain time to pick her up. Wanted some of her personal charts and compass' to come with, along with charting papers with the exclamation, "I want to create a map of this world !"
"Shishishishi!" Luffy erupted at the statement of his Navigator's dream, "I like that goal."
Hours later, they waited for Nami to come onto the ship. All of them looking over the coast toward the island, where the people had gathered to see Nami off. It was Luffy who noticed it first and erupted into a fit of snickers. His crew members looked confused but Luffy didn't bother to explain. Nami came into view after having pushed through the crowd and got on the ship. Once on board, she turned toward the people of the island. Before opening her arms and letting her ill-gotten goods fall to the floor.
"THAT BRAT!" Luffy heard the man who had spoken to him scream at the top of his lungs. But they were already moving forward, and the only reply that man got was the laughter on the wind.
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Author Note: Urgh, this is a hard chapter to write. It just feels like such an abrupt mood switch from a light-hearted Luffy to this. Plus I'm not sure how well I gave the characters consistency or kept them in character. I'm kind of happy with the end result either way. My biggest issue was figuring out how it fits with their characters to feel such an immediate connection to Luffy, of course, the Nami arc really can cement that feeling. So I wanted to really bang the idea out while trying to give character development. Urgh, just let me know how you feel about it if you would because I'm feeling really insecure about it.
God the Usopp bits I'm SUPER unsure on, but Usopp is hard to write in fights! Has me over here super confused on what to do.
EITHER WAY! Hope you guys like the update, now I'm off to hopefully write the next chapter of Two Captains. Fingers crossed!
(EDIT) 28/05/2019: Smoothed over the grammar, I accidentally posted the unedited version. I also added a few paragraphs to smooth over some of the emotional transitions the characters experience.