Kitsune no Himitsu

I hadn't noticed anything strange at first.

Not because I wasn't paying attention or didn't care but because I already knew that my crew was a rather unusual one. If I went around suspecting every single person every time they started acting a little strange, I wouldn't sleep for the rest of my life. In my mind so long as no one planned to throw themselves overboard or something equally as stupid, I felt little cause for concern in the personal matters of the others. Of course they were my friends and if they needed help, all they had to do was ask and I would gladly lend a hand.

But they had to ask. I hated being imposed on and hated doing the same to others. That was an iron rule of mine; keep to your own business unless you've been asked not to. That's how I usually play it and it works pretty well for me. However, sometimes you just can't overlook things. This was one of those times. After a few weeks of witnessing some rather un-Nami like behaviour, even I couldn't just stand back and watch idly.

It started around the time we left Inari Island. Nothing about that place particularly stood out or anything. It was just a secluded area, save for a village or two. Originally, we had planned to leave once the log pose had set, which apparently was meant to take only two days, but in the end we stayed for almost a week. Reason being that Nami had insisted that we stay for a bit longer, and by insisted I mean forced. The excuse for her selfishness was that fact that we rarely landed on such a peaceful summer island, where we could put our feet up for a while without interruption.

Admittedly it did seem to be a good idea at first, I mean who could argue about having to vacation on a sunny, marine-free island beach. But of course nothing could ever remain peaceful when we were around for too long. A few days after our arrival, the villagers started getting a little restless and by the end of the week they were downright hostile. I don't quite know the details but we were rushed off the island quicker than Luffy could swallow a stack of meat.

"What was that all about?" I asked Nami once we had set sail. She smiled sheepishly at me and waved her hands in a show of innocence, but when I insisted she snapped.

"How should I know, I didn't do anything!" she screamed unexpectedly.

"I didn't say you did..." I answered. She then smiled back at me, in what looked like embarrassment. Thinking back, it should have occurred to me at that moment that Nami was acting needlessly apprehensive, but at the time I had but it down to Nami being Nami. Nothing she did was unreasonable in her eyes.

"Oh well, I was getting bored of that place anyway." I said to her, trying to relieve some of the tension. It worked on some level, but she answered a bit too quickly for my liking.

"Exactly, so was I! So it's fine this way."

"Oh? But I was so sure you wanted to stay longer, since you insisted so much."

"I did?"

"You did."

"Look, will you just drop it. They wanted us off the island now we're off. There's nothing to it." She said and emphasized her point with a flippant hand wave. "No point staying when we aren't wanted."

It was at that point that I started to get suspicious. Nami was a smart girl, I'd give her that, but what she didn't realise was that sometimes that smartness could get ahead of you. If she thought I hadn't noticed anything strange about her reaction she was sorely mistaken.

After dinner that evening, I took my time to question the crew about the island, one by one, though I ended up getting pretty much the same response from everyone.

"I dunno, I was playing on the beach. Hey do you wanna play hide and seek with us?"

"Yeah I know what you mean, those villagers were acting awfully weird. But Nami was the last one to go. Maybe you should ask her..."

"Piss off idiot! I don't have time for this."

"Um, sorry I out was playing on the beach with Luffy, maybe you should ask Nami instead."

"I'm sorry I can't help you, I was on the ship the whole time. Perhaps they discovered that we were pirates and they wanted to slaughter us?"

"Nope didn't see a thing bro."

"Yohoho I may have angered them when I asked to see their panties."

No one other than Nami seemed to know the reason for our sudden departure. Usually I would let something this trivial go. Nothing came of it after all. But something told me there was more to this than met the eye and so I had decided I pursue it. Little did I know that I would discover much more than I bargained for.