Vuurvlieg, you inspired 10k out of me! Praise Aslan, your review was so thoughtful and awesome and made me enter that frightening haze writers go to when they somehow managed to produced an entire chapter without realizing it.
I had wanted to include everyone precious to the Straw Hats, which meant figuring out how Koshiro, Zeff, Nojiko, Kureha and Laboon got to Raftel. But I also really wanted to include Hancock and Crocodile, so after counseling a fellow writer I'm close to online, I decided to put a cap on 22 people: Law, Sabo, Shanks, Garp, Shirahoshi, Crocodile, Hancock, Katakuri, Rebecca, Coby, Carrot, Dragon, Smoker, Sengoku, Vivi, Dugong, Ivankov, Carue, Aokiji, Marco, Bartolomeo, Yasopp.
Got stuck in the middle due to the fight scenes. I realized in the middle, when I think of epic moments in my favorite anime, One Piece got kind of… way off. I mean, in Naruto, what I thought epic moments there would be Naruto vs Pain, Naruto vs Gaara, Naruto vs Orochimaru (dammit, why can't it have been Naruto vs Sasori in the Gaara Retrieval Arc, I really love Sasori) and especially that Naruto vs Sasuke in Shippuden when they were water "sparring" and Sasuke manipulated Naruto's hand for both of them to make a single hand sign. In Kuroko no Basuke and Haikyuu, Kuroko revealing new tricks and Hinata and Kageyama doing freak quicks. In Code Geass, Lelouch winning mass scale battles by destroying the entire field itself and Lelouch working together up with Suzaku working together to disable Fleija. In 07-Ghost, all Teito vs Ayanami. But in One Piece? I love the fight scenes – watching the way Luffy uses his flexibility and instincts to deal with multiple enemies going at him is awesome, especially Luffy vs Katakuri (so far. Things EXPLODE in Whole Cake Island Arc. Ah, Oda-san! One Piece is amazing, even if you say you've become a great but a stupidly slow one. ONE PIECE IS STILL 70%), but the top epic moments that comes to mind in this anime is Luffy freeing Ace in Marineford, Luffy screaming at Robin in Enies Lobby, Luffy coming into New World's dangerous, dangerous ocean with a whole family of whales! So I watched several of their episodes, and I noticed, in all those other anime, the grand shaking battles could take most of the entire episode or even more than one volume; in One Piece, even though the fights are damned important too, rarely do they take more than 10 minutes. Personally, I think that it's because in most shounen battle anime, the fights are there for the character to grow stronger, but in One Piece, the fights are just a part of the journey, they add an element of awesomeness into the story but it's the journey us one piece fans are looking forward too.
Note, that the rant above is not me saying One Piece is better than Naruto (but it's definitely better than Bleach, tch, dead people get sent to Soul Society where the hell is Ichigo's mother or his grandparents or their many, many, many dead family. The lore's very limited to Gotei and Rukongai's kind of got shoved off like the civilians in Naruto except that Bleach can't use Naruto's perfect excuse being ninja life is too ridden with paranoia that civilians living a comfortable life would rarely understand or take no offense if someone suspects friends to be traitors or if their hands keep straying to their weapons), but that One Piece differs greatly in this aspect. I could point out Luffy's goal being different from Naruto's in which to be the Hokage Naruto has to be strong and wise and whatever it is a leader must have but to be the Pirate King means the pirate crew must be amazing, so One Piece is more character story-driven than Naruto's personal story of overcoming obstacles and even though if you squint they can be the exact same thing. One Piece places more emphasis in the fun adventure while Naruto and Boruto place more emphasis in 'becoming stronger'; and even then, this is still not me saying One Piece is better than Naruto because they're both handling shounen elements differently so stop ranting at me about Naruto being better, Seishun, your arguments won't work, my personal preferences involve freedom, adventure, and friendship, not leadership, abstract good vs evil, politics! (I know you said friendship is a big element in Naruto but I am DISAPPOINTED in the series the moment Naruto accepted Jiraiya's offer to train him OUTSIDE of Konoha despite telling Sasuke that he can be strong INSIDE the village. BAMF Dai-Nana-Han happens way too late.)
Always love it to hear my story made another's day a tad bit brighter, Nachuu, DeadlyMind-07, kuromi123, Crazed Aj, 1995hzq, Dark Punxysaur, northwind132. Sdkop21, Layla Riddle, StrongGuy159. Hopefully, I will be able to make El Pirato's too by the time we hit that arc. I hope this chapter's humor satisfies your wonderful mind, SakuraS41, and I totally love it to know whenever I nailed their characters. Joy of most fanfiction authors, really. Lightningblade49 OH MY GOD, you guessed the entire motivation behind this story. BlackGryphon101, your suggestions are awesome and noted. #DFTBA
Be Careful About Who Sees What Where
Td03
The sixth sense he developed from years of fighting helped Garp to know that someone meant to trip him. A foot shot out in front of his leg, but instead of what they must be expecting, Garp stopped short from running forward to approach where his grandson was and his blond grandson stumbled in surprise.
"What was that for, brat?"
Garp received a petulant 'tch', the kind they make when they're embarrassed and being obstinate. "Don't think I already forgot about Lu driving himself into a whirlpool, crazy old man."
"And you're blaming me?" Garp questioned.
"I went through SOME of your training," Sabo deadpanned.
In the boat they acquired from Shells Town, Zoro was leaning on the ship's mast, one arm securing his swords. Luffy was surrounded by numerous papers which, much like his own body, were tainted by paint. Upon inspection, they were the boy's attempts to draw his Jolly Roger. Along the bowsprit and shrouds, plump, small black-capped white birds with panda-like eyes fluttered around, pecking off the bread crumbs either Luffy or Zoro had thrown towards them. Most likely, it was Zoro.
Luffy examined the papers again before dumping it to his side. He blew a raspberry to show his annoyance. "I still can't make the one I want."
"Your imagination's too big," Zoro commented, "Jolly Rogers are supposed to be intimidating. Your drawings are..."
They were floating on the ocean surrounding the two, and not all of them felt the need to huddle closer just to see Luffy's messy attempt to design his pirate flag – especially the marines. The ones standing near them: Bartolomeo, Hancock, Garp, and Sabo, and the ones who are tall enough to glance at the paintings over everyone's heads: Shirahoshi, Katakuri, Ivankov and Marco, could see that Luffy's drawings were all very bright. Some were truly amazing, but they just don't scream a pirate flag. Some were very poorly drawn to the point they may have been scary enough to be a pirate flag.
Luffy leaned on the boat's side, suddenly extremely bored. After a short while, he looked like someone who had just given up on trying to pick out shapes from the clouds. He didn't seem to mind Zoro staring at him.
Zoro was evaluating him, really. Particularly his skin. You could tell from someone's skin whether they have spent time fighting or if they have never done any weight lifting beyond heavy groceries. Luffy's skin was a disaster and showed the world he was used to taking punches. His muscles were solid too. Not the kind Zoro has – the ones you get from dedicated and repetitive training, but the kind of muscles one acquires by endless fists given and fists received. He wondered about the scar. It was too neat to be accidental, and Zoro figured he had been abused at some point, except that Luffy lacks all behavioral indicators that clue people one has been abused.
"I'm hungry..." Luffy moaned.
Law looked at the empty paper bags strewn around them, and predicted Luffy had eaten his fill not long ago.
Zoro yawned in reply. "Eat the birds then."
The birds crowed angrily and flew away from them.
"They're way too tiny."
"When are we going to reach land?"
"We go where the wind takes us," Luffy answered, ignoring Zoro who choked up on his own saliva. "I'm sure we'll find land... someday."
"What the hell—" Marco choked. "Yikes."
"Between Zoro who has no sense of direction and Lu who doesn't give a thought about planning," Sabo said, "It's like a story of the blind mice."
"He doesn't prepare at all?" Aokiji wondered.
"Luffy? Planning?" Vivi snickered.
"Oh, I wouldn't know," Carrot perked up. "Law managed that impossible feat."
"How stupid are you?" Zoro asked. Said. Asked?
This is what Sabo said is called a rhetoric. It has a question mark at the end, but you are not meant to answer because the person who is asking it already knows the answer.
"That's a rhetorical question!"
"For a man who wants to be the Pirate King, it's strange that you don't even have any navigational skills."
"For a man who hunts pirates, I thought you'd know the way around."
"I never called myself a pirate hunter," Zoro said. "I went out to sea looking for a man. But the roads changed and I got lost, so I had to rely on turning in bounties to survive."
"Oh, so you're just lost," Luffy said, his voice calm and controlled, but the undertone made Zoro's skin itch.
"What? No! No, I'm not lost. This—This is—" Zoro scowled. "I don't have a good answer."
"Pfft," Shanks snickered.
"You're so dumb."
"Don't say that!" The green-haired man yelled furiously. "You're the who's lost! Geez, a pirate who doesn't know how to navigate and you want to sail through Grand Line? You should hurry and find a crew mate who knows how to navigate!"
"And someone who can sing! And another who can cook! And—"
"Idiot! Wha—"
Leaping off the paddles' handles Luffy jumped on him, "Shhhh!" Luffy cut him off with a finger to Zoro's lips as he spotted something far above them. It was a bird. "There's a bird! A big one!"
Zoro swatted Luffy's finger away. "So?"
"Let's eat that bird!"
"How are you going to catch it? We don't have guns."
"Guns?" Luffy looked at him. "Why would we need guns? We can just catch it!" The boy latched onto the sail's pole. "Gum Gum Rocket!"
Zoro watched his captain fly up high and right into the path of the bird. Spectacular aim, but no thought in planning whatsoever, which is why instead of catching the bird, the bird caught him in its mouth.
While some laughed good-heartedly, some were mostly exasperated. Sabo didn't even blink. Luffy getting eaten was a pretty common occurrence.
Zoro growled. He just saw his captain got eaten by a bird passing by. But somehow, he didn't feel like his piracy was over. Instead, this just felt like the beginning. He put his foot down and began to paddle furiously.
"Luffy-voy and Zoro-voy are separated," Ivankov commented, "Who are we going to be witnessing?"
It wasn't long to find out. The scene didn't blur, instead they merely slide along with Zoro who was paddling to reach Luffy and the bird. He's paddling quite fast. Of course, Shirahoshi was the first one to spot the three men drifting nearby.
"OI OI!"
"Stop the boat!"
"Help us!"
Zoro broke his gaze from his captain and looked back on his shoulders to see three men trying desperately to stay afloat. The swordsman growled in irritation, "I don't have time to stop! You guys get on yourselves!"
And Zoro didn't stop paddling. In fact, he went even faster actually, and the three men were knocked away by his force, somehow managing to latch onto the sides and climb aboard.
Shanks jumped up in glee. "Hahahaha! He ran them over!"
"Oi!" One of the man said. This time, he was acting menacingly. He had drawn his sword, and his friends pulled an ugly face too. "Stop the boat! This is the pirate Buggy-sama's territory..."
Oh, now Shanks took notice of their attire. The man threatening Luffy's swordsman wore a hat with Buggy's Jolly Roger on it. "Oh man. They met Buggy this early."
Zoro turned around to face them, sporting a scary expression. "What."
In an instant, two had taken handle of the paddles and the one in the middle dropped his sword and instead clasped his hands and all three of them smiled awkwardly. "Hehehehe, w-w-we didn't know you were the Pirate Hunter Zoro!"
"Ugh," Yasopp grimaced at how easily cowed those three were.
"You three made me lose track of my friend! Paddle faster! If I don't find him, you're dead!"
"Aye!"
"Hmmm."
"..."
"Hmmmmmm..."
They continued to follow Zoro (their positions just slide along actually).
"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..."
"Oh, for God's sake, what is it?!" Smoker scowled at Emporio Ivankov.
"Ah," the man unfolded his arms. "I am merely curious how loyal Zoro-voy already is to Luffy-voy." The okama nodded to look wise but only looked stuck-up. "Logically, Luffy-voy getting eaten by a bird should have discouraged Zoro who was just recruited not an hour ago or so."
"That's because Luffy-senpai is awesome!" Bartolomeo shouted.
"Ignoring that highly biased input," Law drawled. "I don't see how that's such a curiosity."
"Well, what do you think then?" Law's former Warlord colleague goaded. Law wasn't sure who was more irritating, her or Crocodile.
He scoffed. "Mugiwara-ya just have an innate sense to recruit crazy people. The kind of crazy that makes adults abandon their entire life plans just to go along with his whims."
That actually made Coby smile. "Following their journey from the news," and from rumours. Coby had been frequently trying to follow their trails whenever the marines got word of their location. Once they arrive to an island, some of the time, they'll get reports of sightings of Straw Hat. Most of the time, the reports were useless, because somehow the crew were all over the bloody islands. "They're certainly irresponsible."
"Like they're living days that ended in childhood," Bartolomeo said with no small amount of wonder.
"Wild and free," Shanks grinned too.
"Wild and free, his crew mates, sure," Law grumbled to himself. "Lu-ya's more like a barely controlled hurricane."
"Oh, yeah, why were you three swimming in the middle of the ocean?"
"That girl!"
"Yeah! That bad girl!"
"But, she's real cute too!"
Everything blurred again, but they were still in the middle of the ocean. They surrounded a boat just like Luffy and Zoro's, but the ship's flag was black and sported Buggy's Jolly Roger.
"Yahoo! Buggy-sama will greatly reward us!"
"Who knew that tiny ship would carry so much loot!"
"Oi! What's that little boat doing there?"
"I spot someone lying limp there!"
Unable to identify the person far from him, Sabo was struck with curiosity. Could using kenbunshoku haki work on this 'false' reality? Flicking out the enormous presence of the people also witnessing Lu's pirate journey, Sabo pinpointed to the person by the small ship. It didn't take long for him to recognize that it was Luffy's navigator.
Vivi gasped. "Nami!"
"Nami-chin!" Shirahoshi exclaimed. "Oh, no, what has she been through?"
"It's a girl! Hey!" One shouted once they drew closer to Nami's boat. "You almost dead?"
From their insistent tugging, Nami finally woke up groggily. "Erm... Ah... Someone... I actually found someone..." She weakly tried to sit back up. "P-please help me. Give me a cup of water? I was in a shipwreck... A small piece of bread would be nice t-too." She weakly pointed to the treasure chest beside her. "I'll give this to you, just please save me..."
Shirahoshi stared in confusion. "That doesn't seem like Nami-chin at all. How had she become the person who loves money so much?"
"I don't think Nami-ya's actually that desperate," Law said. The doctor saw the ghost of a smirk. He knew a con when he sees one.
They grinned. "Sure! We'll help ya! But we'll see the treasure first!" All three of the Buggy pirates hopped over to Nami's boat and circled around the treasure chest, ignoring Nami who was still begging for water. "To get another treasure chest so soon! Lucky!"
"I'm glad you like it so much. I'll give you the boat too as a bonus!"
"WHAT?!" They yelled in shock, both from the fact that the weak, starving and dehydrated girl was actually quite healthy and just stole their boat, and the fact that her treasure chest was actually empty.
Everyone pitied those three and even Sengoku was having a tough time to keep himself from smirking at the girl's trick.
"Oh, watch out for those clouds~" Nami sang. The turbulence intensity in the atmosphere had exceeded the threshold, and the microscopic water droplets collision rate will greatly increase, "They are storm clouds, you know? If I explain that cumulus cloud floating your way, your brains would probably explode from information overload! So I'll simplify it to you: The wind will pick up... and your boat will sink!" As if it was a magic word called forth by a witch, they were showered by an abrupt rainstorm, one violent enough that Nami's small boat were quickly overwhelmed by the weight of the water.
"Bye bye~ I'm taking your treasure!"
Sabo whistled in appreciation. He had to learn very hard to master navigational skills, but Nami seems to be a natural at it. Such a tough job, but she made it look so easy.
The quick shower gave away from existence, and the sinking ship suddenly lost the water drowning it. The three Buggy pirates were no longer screaming in fear, but hid their terror behind false smiles as they cower before Zoro.
"So you got tricked," Zoro said with the same calm voice Luffy had used on him, the one that was so condescending the receiver's skin itches.
"If I find her, I'll kill her!"
"We have got to get our loot back from her!"
"If we go back with nothing, Buggy-sama will be angry!"
Zoro blinked. "Who's Buggy?"
"Haven't you heard of Buggy the Clown?!"
"Oh, I heard of him. He's the best guy for birthday party tricks, right?"
Shanks spluttered in glee. Oh, Buggy! A clown for kids' birthday parties! Oh, the redhead clutched his stomach. It's so terrible Buggy's not here with us! He has got to KNOW that!
Ivankov didn't agree with the Yonko's glee. Buggy would sooner slice them with swords than play a clown.
"He's our pirate leader!"
"He's a dangerous man! He ate one of the Devil Fruits!"
Zoro hummed, finally interested.
The ship blurred again, appearing as a very big ship this time.
"Hmm, so that's Buggy's Big Top," Shanks stated. He had only ever seen it in its heavily damaged form.
Law, Vivi and Carue should be used to right-in-your-face colors after traveling on the Straw Hat's ships, but Buggy's Big Top was still an experience.
Big Top was a brightly colored ship, giving off a circus-like feel (thank God the purple-painted wood wasn't awful). It sported some circus tents on the ship too. The figurehead was a yellow elephant, but its trunk was installed with a couple of bombards, ranging from three to five feet in length. A familiar redhead was climbing up the ship's keel, and was reaching up to get a hold of one of the gun port holes.
Finding what she was definitely attempting to do interesting, they walked closer in curiosity to see whether she'll succeed or not. Ask them now and they would definitely say Nami was a spectacular thief, but "back then", none of them knew.
Orange eyes glanced inside the keel. She found no one, or rather, confirmed there was nobody inside the ship and that every single one of the Buggy Pirates were situated on the decks, settling down to enjoy their beverages for the next hours and egging whoever was the weak and humiliated one for the week just so they could make themselves look stronger. Nami giggled excitedly. "Not in education, employment, or training, and that lady think my life is hard?" Nami said to herself, "She's just a normal wife with a normal husband who never knows what it is in the seas." She gave no regard to the shouts on the upper deck, but Nami was vigilant all the same – she doesn't understand why some people just doesn't lock their windows or balcony doors but it made everything easier – when entering Buggy's captain's cabin.
Out of habit, all the warriors present started taking note of all sharp objects within reaching distance, any obtrusive items or suspicious things – field reconnaissance a battle-ready person would do every time they enter an unknown territory. It took one to three seconds for them to realize they and everything around them exists on different planes.
It was insane for a young teen like her to sneak inside a cabin belonging to the dangerous pirate who has been terrorizing so many towns, but a young teen such as herself was an exception. The planning, the sneaking, the lock-picking, the key-searching, the escaping completely without anyone noticing that she had stolen what were theirs and they were all now hers – it made her high, and Nami was aware it was a dangerous adrenaline addiction that she was indulging. "Robbing assholes blind is so much fun."
Vivi glanced at her redhead friend in worry. She kept looking back to the door, expecting it would suddenly open to reveal a Buggy Pirate and Nami would have to deal with whoever they are all alone without other Straw Hats. She felt a furry hand tap her shoulder and turned to see Carrot. "Don't worry, Princess," the mink's bunny ears twitched, "no one's near Nami. They're all above the deck."
"Worrying would not affect anything either," Marco commented. "All of this happened in the past. We all know the Straw Hats are perfectly fine."
Turning slightly to eye the Zoan user, Vivi opened her mouth, but quickly bit her lip. Oh, boys. They don't know what life is like for a female. Every second around others without protection made women keenly aware of the possibility someone would force them to do vile things. Witnessing Luffy, and Zoro, an hour ago hadn't made her worry. Luffy was just, he was so strong, this worry she has had not crossed her mind. But now, seeing her friend, back to when she relied only on her cunning and never persistently bugged Zoro to train her to develop some strength, Vivi was worried to witness... bad things. Nami was very pretty after all...
Nami wasn't advancing towards Buggy's desk in a straight line, but instead circled the room towards it, idly letting her eyes roam. Whenever a particularly fancy trinket – money, jewelry, weaponry that would sell quite nicely – caught her orange eyes, her hands became as quick as a snake and the items were safely stored inside her shirt and skirt's outer and inner pockets.
Law almost gave the Cat Burglar an applause. She stitched those pockets herself. Seems she took her profession as a thief very seriously.
Nami examined the desk for a moment before picking up a steel tea lid. Pivoting on her front leg, she opened the drawer in a gentle manner which was soon betrayed by her greedy fingers snatching up the parchment stored inside. Nami put the tea lid back, the item of no use – she had picked it just in case Buggy the Clown was the kind of smart and complicated man to put a trap such as an automatic gun mechanism to protect his drawer but alas, Buggy the Clown was not that sort of careful man.
As though it was a precious artifact, Nami unfurled the parchment with care and exploded into a grin. "Yessssss, the navigation chart to the Grand Line!"
"She's been planning to leave for Grand Line this early?" Vivi questioned worriedly.
Crocodile quirked an eyebrow. "Going to the Grand Line at her level?"
"Too ambitious for her own good," Law said. "Then again, so is Mugiwara-ya and Roronoa-ya."
"He really knows how to pick his crew," Sabo marveled. Even Dragon found himself giving a small smile.
Continuing on, she opened the door.
And saw a head painted in chalk-white and two hands covered in white gloves floating in front of her, yellow-lensed eyes locking with hers.
Both the thief and the clown screamed.
"Oh, no! I didn't hear anything!" Carrot exclaimed. She forgot about Buggy's powers that enabled him to cut himself into pieces and fly from A to B, thus avoiding making any sounds of feet stepping on the floor.
"Nami, just swat him away like a fly!" Vivi yelled.
"Nami-chin, run!"
Nami didn't run, she jumped. Right out of the window because she remembered the Big Top was docked near the decks and there were barrels and crates below her.
"Do all thieves jump like that?" Sabo wondered to himself. He and his brothers always freaked Makino out whenever they blatantly showed their lack of regard for heights and sharp angles.
Clutching the navigational chart tightly in her hands, she made way past through the streets which were empty due to the Buggy Pirates terrorizing the people to cower inside their homes, three Buggy Pirates hot on her tail.
"You can't run from us!"
"Get that bitch!"
"Stop!"
"THIEF! THAT'S MY MAP!" Buggy yelled, his head and hands finally attached to his body above the decks.
"Buggy-sama!" One of the Buggy pirates alerted, his hands on a binocular. "There's an unknown flying object in the air!"
"ARGH! SHOOT IT DOWN!"
"AYE!"
Freshly loaded since this morning, the Buggy Pirates shot the cannon and hit their target perfectly. The unknown flying object crashed right between Nami and the three Buggy Pirates. The unknown flying object actually looked like a certain someone.
Marco did applause at this. "Ace's little brother can certainly make fantastic first impressions."
"Mmmfufufu, Ve didn't vell from the sky too, did ve, Crocodile-buru?" The Okama nudged the sandman with an elbow. If he were a normal sized human, Ivankov would have nudged Crocodile's side but with him being three feet more than Crocodile's eight feet high, his elbow poked the man's cheeks instead.
The smoke from the impact revealed a heavily injured bird and a perfectly fine Luffy. Having been inside the bird's mouth, Luffy didn't have a speck of dirt, but he certainly smells like seawater, but thankfully, didn't reek of fish. "Who the heck shot me with a cannon?" Luffy grumbled, but his frown dissipated once his hand confirmed the safety of his hat on top of his head. "At least I have finally gotten out of that bird!"
An idea crossed Nami's mind. She scrambled up from her knees, discreetly tucking the navigation chart in her shirt,to clasp her hands and smiled at the new guy who just fell out of the sky, "Oh, Boss!"
"'Oh, Boss'?" Bartolomeo repeated.
"Oh, I know what she's doing," Law smirked.
"She's certainly fast to take advantage," Marco added, also aware of Nami's ploy. "Nice."
"You're finally here! Please save me, Boss!" Then the girl turned tail and ran away, "I'll leave everything to you!"
Nami who was grinning deviously passed through Dragon's body as if she were a ghost.
Everyone else were preeeeetty curious how the man himself was feeling towards the Straw Hat navigator who just tossed his son under the bus, but his facial expression didn't betray any.
Everyone else were recovering form the shock of seeing someone literally fall out of the sky. "She's getting away!"
"We don't need to chase after her. Her Boss is right here!" One Buggy Pirate pointed to Luffy who was still watching the redhead fleeing the scene, and he caught Luffy's attention.
"Who're you?"
"You're her Boss!"
"Give us back the map!"
Luffy cocked his head in confusion. He didn't have any map and he wasn't any female's boss.
His confused face was something Sabo was very familiar with. He bet his hat Luffy was thinking that maybe the Buggy Pirates mistook him for someone else, completely ignoring their hostility.
Sengoku wasn't certain whether Straw Hat even noticed their hostility.
Then it happened. One of them made a grave mistake.
One of them knocked Luffy's hat off.
It was a mistake that made anyone familiar with Straw Hats' rage against any slight against the Straw Hat of the Straw Hats tense just a little bit.
The pirate practically felt the anger fueling Luffy's punch to his face. The force made him crash to the rabble ground, and he had to choke out some dust and knocked off tooth that was a little more than a bloody pebble. Having taken his revenge, Luffy gracefully put his hat back on. "None of you touches my treasure."
"You bastard!" The pirate's crew mate hurtled to the straw hatted teen. Each were downed by Double Pistols.
"Wow!" Luffy lifted his head to see the same redhead sitting idly on a balcony above. He guessed she had watched the entire thing. "You're so strong! You were barehanded but those swords were nothing to you!" She continued.
"Who are you?" Luffy asked, not impressed by the praise.
"Nami. I'm a thief who steals from pirates," Nami introduced herself. "Robbing assholes blind gets my blood running. The fighting's fun, but I didn't want to deal with it. Thanks for that! Hey, why don't you join me?"
"I have no reason to join you," Luffy turned around.
Bartolomeo and Vivi's jaws dropped.
"I admit, I didn't expect that-buru," Ivankov gasped.
Yasopp put a hand under his chin. "It's pretty funny how unimpressed he was with Zoro too."
Shanks shrugged, answering his sniper's question 'What did Nami did to make Luffy recruit her?' that went unspoken.
The blunt dismissal didn't deter her. "Hey, wait!" To close the distance between them, Nami gracefully jumped off the balcony. Catching up to the boy, she heard Luffy's stomach growl. "Hungry?"
Luffy affirmed.
This is her chance! "How about I treat you?"
Nami? Treating other people? As in, spending money for them? Vivi marveled.
And for that matter, buying Lu-ya food? Law resisted the urge to pinch himself.
Brown eyes lit up in delight. "Really? Thanks!"
Nami nodded rapidly. She figured he was a nice guy but she was still careful whenever her back was turned. Nami led Luffy to a house nearby. "There's the fridge. Help yourself."
Luffy whooped happily and raided the refrigerator. Nami spotted a plate filled with bread on the table in the kitchen and after checking it wasn't stale or housing an insect or mushroom, she ate them while watching the boy wolf down the food inside like a starved man. How odd, he certainly didn't have any problems when beating up the Buggy Pirates. Plus, his body looked very healthy.
Suddenly, the light weight in her hand disappeared. The bread instantly jumped from her hand and into Luffy's mouth. "Hey! You didn't have to steal my food!"
He steals EVERYONE's food.
(And by some miracle he keeps finding people who WOULD feed him.)
Luffy ignored her rebuke. "You live here alone?"
"I don't live here. Or this town, really," Nami answered truthfully. "The locals here ran away because the Buggy Pirates terrorized them. Some are still around but, they just hide in their homes and wait for one of the docks to clear to sail away."
Ah, Vivi relaxed their shoulders, releasing a tension they didn't realize to have conjured. The Cat Burglar was just giving Luffy other people's food.
"Why isn't anyone around?"
Nami stared. Didn't she just— "I just said they're avoiding the pirates! Weren't you listening?!"
"Oh, so you're stealing from these houses," Luffy said, quite hypocritical for the one eating what she's 'stealing' from said houses.
"The food were just lying around! Might as well not waste it," Nami dismissed. "And don't compare me to some petty house thief. I only steal from pirates!"
"But a thief's a thief right?" Luffy asked.
The way this boy is dismissing her… Nami set her jaw, scoffing. "When it comes down to it, technically I'm not even one. None of the money I steal is going to end up mine anyway."
"Oh, you're hunting? How much?"
Something must be possessing her to keep answering him. He just asked so earnestly. "100 million berry." He didn't react to the figure. "I'll get it. No matter what," Nami insisted.
"Kay," Luffy swallowed the entire content of the bucket of yogurt. His teeth didn't even chatter from cold. "What do you need all that money for?"
A little bit pissed, Nami just said, "Secret."
"How are you going to get all that money?"
"If you have a map to the Grand Line," Nami crossed her arms, and stopped herself from sighing in relief when she felt the paper brush against her skin inside her shirt, "One hundred million berry isn't a dream."
Shanks knew somewhere, Anchor and his nakama were also watching this. He bet Nami's regretting to see this. Everyone does when they see exactly how mistaken and naïve they have been in the past.
"You a navigator?"
Nami smiled proudly for herself. "You're looking at one of the best navigators around."
"You're joining my pirate crew!"
Her attitude changed drastically. "When flowers start growing in hell!" She thought he was a nice guy, but clearly his whole—thing—whatever was just a friendly act. A pirate! "You're a pirate!"
"Yup," Luffy acted as the situation wasn't spiraling down, tenderly touching his straw hat. "I promised the man who gave me this hat that I would become a great pirate."
"W-wha…" That's such an earnest answer, such a good answer, but she couldn't believe such a nice promise was meant for him to become evil! A pirate!
Vivi cringed when Nami scowled coldly.
Bartolomeo's eyebrows rose, "Nami-senpai really hated pirates."
"Hey, is there more of this orange juice here?" The boy lightly slammed a glass he just emptied.
"You want some orange juice?"
"Thanks!"
"The jugis over there," Nami spat out.
Undeterred, Luffy leaned back from his seat in front of the refrigerator and bend backwards until his fingertips reached the jug, even though he could have just stretched himself. "Why do you hate pirates so much?" The self-proclaimed pirate asked.
"After what they did—!" Nami cut herself off. Shit! Why does she keep answering this boy! She slammed both of her hands on the table, making Luffy's fond expression disappear. "I hate pirates more than anything in the world! I only love money and tangerines!"
Luffy disregarded her. "Oh well." His hand opened the bottom drawer of the fridge and to his delight, more food!
He blinked. Will this be a recurring theme? "It is rather strange to see how he easily dismisses them." They all agreed with Katakuri's assessment. Because, Monkey D. Luffy had never shown the kind of attitude he used to most people, especially persistent marines, the sort of attitude of giving absolutely no fucks until you feel like your nothing but a cannon fodder, towards his nakama. Besides his amazingly terrifying habit to leave chaos everywhere, Straw Hat was famous for sticking up with his crew through heaven and hell.
Luffy put his whole attention to his food, and most likely didn't notice Nami giving him a positively evil smile. "You know what? I change my mind."
"Really?" It was uttered by a mouth filled with food. Only five minutes and the refrigerator's bare.
"Yeah, if you accept my conditions. I'll think about joining your crew."
"Hmmmmm, I have to repay you for getting me lunch anyway."
Law's lips twitched violently.
"I want you to meet Buggy the Clown."
"Kay! Let's go!" Kicking off the chair, Luffy ignored it crashing against a stool and headed for the front door.
His arm was caught by Nami, "Hey, wait! I gotta bring something first." Nami let him go to scour a nearby room, and came back with several length of rope. "Now, we go. Follow me."
An amused look crossed Luffy's face. "Follow you?"
"Yes," Nami said with no mind, and hoped she didn't show him her surprise at the weird question.
"What's with the rope?"
"Duh, it's rope," Nami rolled her eyes. "How do you think we're going to climb up Buggy's ship, fly?"
Law's palm met his forehead. But, contrary to what he just predicted, Luffy didn't manhandle Nami to demonstrate his 'Gum Gum Rocket'.
The walk was surprisingly short, and they were unexpectedly lucky to have missed any Buggy Pirates lugging around or trying to 'coax' frightened townspeople outside of their cellars and attics. The thief and the pirate arrived in front of what looked like a pub, but it could be something entirely different with the circus tent on top of the big building.
"This is where the pirates are staying at. Here, quick – and stay put," Nami wrapped him up with the rope. The girl was almost tempted to laugh at the pirate's naivete. After securing the knot, she encircled her wrist with the other end of the rope to make sure Luffy won't run away. "Now lay down okay," she instructed gently. Luffy let her knock him to the ground with her knee to his back and tightened the ropes around him again. But then she yelled out, "Idiot!"
Luffy was confused. "What are you doing?" He yelled.
Sabo peeked through his fingers – his hands having covered his face. In shame? Certainly not in fear, but…
"This is how they met?" Vivi squeaked. "She certainly never mentioned this…"
"I know the Nami of now but if this is how she was back then Lucy's really amazing to have changed her so much," Rebecca wondered.
Yasopp took a step to draw the princess of Dressrosa's attention. "I'm just wondering, why do you keep calling him 'Lucy'?"
"I met him when he was an old man," she said with a straight face.
"Oh, if this continues, you'll see why, anyway!" Carrot beamed.
"What is Nami-senpai going to do to Luffy-senpai?!"
There was a brief commotion after Nami's exclamation, pirates in various state of dresses spilled out of the bar. They all at least held onto a recurring theme: circus performers. Each were eccentric. Then a man came out, dressed in the most typical fashion of a clown with a giant red nose, white-painted face and lips covered in red.
Buggy the Clown. 15 million berries.
"What is going on here!"
The redhead slipped her hand in her skirt and showed the clown pirate the navigational chart to Grand Line. "I'm returning your chart and captured you the guy who ordered me to, Buggy the Clown!" Nami said, conscious that every men here were watching her. Seeing Luffy's upset look at her lie, she stuck out her tongue at him.
Sengoku wanted to despair. "So… easily captured…" Why can't his marines ever managed this?!
"I see," Buggy grinned. "You're obediently returning the map to me. Why?"
A beautiful smile appeared on her face. "He's very stupid! Let me join the Buggy crew!"
Shanks applauded her. Someone had to. "Just look at Buggy's face."
"You do realize she sold Anchor off, right?" Yasopp questioned. His captain sometimes got a little too dim to realize things…
"It's not as if any of this will matter that greatly," Aokiji said, and the pirate returned the marine's pointed look.
Smoker sighed. "Bloody Straw Hats…"
Perfectly amused to the point he couldn't stop laughing for a minute, Buggy let her be part of his crew, and Luffy was promptly hauled inside a cage with steel bars, complete with a lock. At least it wasn't rusty. Luffy tched in annoyance, "I don't want her in my crew anymore!"
"Wait, so he was still trying to recruit her?" Hancock blurted out. It was in vain, but, she had been hoping Luffy had dismissed that woman. And that whatever character reformation she obviously went through to be such a loyal crew member would take a while longer.
God. It had been bad enough stewing in jealousy when it was just the swordsman and the marine boy.
Happy by the recovery of his map, Buggy emptied out the cellar of whoever the fuck previously owned the bar. Nami certainly wasn't intimidated from being surrounded by such large men. In fact, she was having fun drinking them down the table – though there were no tables and just crates and a bunch of stuff since they're partying on the roof – and winning bets.
Shanks pitifully continued to try lifting a beer bottle. His hand just kept passing through it.
While some was perfectly okay to just stand (or float? Shirahoshi still wasn't sure what her body was doing) like ghosts among the partying crew, most preferred to stick to the unoccupied floors due to their position being away from the stupid drunk men. Coincidentally, that was also where Luffy's cage was placed on.
The semi-aquatic marine mammal stood the closest to Luffy, admiring how the boy was gnawing his teeth on the steel cage bars. Dugong was kind of amazed that human teeth could be that strong. Law had to take a second to distance himself from Luffy's ridiculousness to realize Luffy's teeth and gums were a lot more malleable than normal human mouth.
Side stepping another drunk Buggy Pirate, Nami approached Luffy. "How's it going~?"
"Let me out!" Luffy wanted to bang his head against the bars to free himself but then he remembered he still had his hat on and he was hesitant to damage it. "I'm hungry too! Give me some food, at least!"
Nami exhaled and throw a look behind her shoulder. Everyone was too drunk and Buggy wasn't paying attention to anything, so she walked over to the table of food – unknowingly passing through Sengoku and Katakuri when she tried to avoid the Buggy Pirates' drunken pathways. Yasopp turned to see his captain sporting a sad face, the beer bottle he was trying to get a sip on in vain snatched by a random Buggy Pirate – and came back to Luffy's cage with a plate of whatever she just randomly snatched from the mass of bodies dancing and brawling.
She knelt to put a chicken meat into Luffy's mouth, but considering the plate was very close, the boy's head shot forward and he practically inhaled the chunks of chicken cuts. Nami cursed and in her shock, the plate fell off her hands and broke into pieces on the floor.
"You," Luffy chewed, entirely unbothered by the few pieces of glass near his exposed ankles. "You're a nice person. Yum. I guess I'll let you join my crew."
Ivankov laughed while beside him, Hancock, crossed her arms in annoyance.
"He makes it sound as if she was asking him to join his crew," Smoker smirked. Watching him instead of directly dealing with him proved to be amusing, actually.
Nami snapped at him, "I told you I don't want to join your crew, damn it! Don't you realize your situation?! You're probably going to be sold as a slave!"
"What!" Luffy was shocked.
Crocodile was mildly shocked the boy didn't choke on his food.
"I don't wanna be a slave!"
"Then keep still. If my plan works, I'll unlock you and let you run away."
"BWAHAHAHAHA!" Buggy came from behind – though Luffy and everyone watching knew he was approaching. "You've got yourself a pretty good follower there!"
"She's not my follower."
"Ah, yes. I completely forgot that she just BETRAYED you! BWAHAHAHA." Buggy ignored the girl scooting away in favor of getting closer to the thief's boss, smirking to intimidate him. "Even if she returned my map, you still told her to steal what is MINE! So you're getting what you deserve!"
Luffy wasn't intimidated. Actually, he didn't seem to realize he was even in danger. "Oh, you're letting me go?"
"Yeah I'm letting you go—YOU THINK I'M THAT STUPID?!" Buggy drank his glass empty and threw it to a nearby wall, "BOYS! Prepare the 'Buggy Special Cannon-ball!'"
Sengoku snorted in distaste. Years of dealing with pirates, and he was still surprised by how narcissistic they can get.
"Watch this!" Buggy rapped the cage and directed Luffy's attention by pointing to one of his men holding a seemingly ordinary cannon-ball, unique only due to having been given to some poor fellow forced to paint the Buggy JOLLY ROGER on it. "The Buggy Special Cannon-ball's power!"
They couldn't help but notice exactly where Buggy was aiming.
Yasopp wished Buggy could see his ex-cabin mate's disappointed look.
The cannon shot. Packed inside the average-looking ball was tremendous amount of explosive power. If it were a normal cannonball the round shot would just make spherical holes through some walls before getting stuck in the debris. But it was aptly named for a reason, and it shot through an entire row of houses. Made of wood, all eight individual house blocks were ruined, the bottom floors not surviving after being crushed by the top floors and their own roofs.
Vivi clenched her fists. "There are—there are still some people in these houses." Dugong and Carue frowned and tried to support her. The others were, well, honestly, they were… used to such destructive whims.
They continued to watch – not like they were able to do anything else, really. But any previous humor had vanished and Dragon was more than aware everyone was tense. The marines were reminded that they were destructive pirates and their hackles visibly raised.
The Buggy Pirates cheered, and their Captain swatted aside the pirate who had destroyed the houses to position the cannon so that the artillery's muzzle was pointed right at the straw hatted boy. "The power is so great, it can wipe out this tiny town in one shot! The powers I have gained from my Devil Fruit assures my future success at the Grand Line!"
Shanks wanted to facepalm, but opted to try to find a seat to sit down. Unfortunately he fell on his butt.
Garp stared. "And you're doing…?"
"I forgot we can't touch anything here!" Shanks tched and crossed his legs, visibly upset.
Crocodile sneered. At both of the ex-Roger Pirates.
"Now," Buggy finally turned his attention to his latest recruit, who was frozen like a statue. "It's your turn."
She looked at him, sweating. So Buggy continued, "You shoot your ex-boss to show me your loyalty and sincerity. Get rid of your old boss once and for all!"
"Nami-chin's not going to!" Shirahoshi yelled out of nowhere, but it was a sentiment Vivi wholeheartedly agree with. Law, and Rebecca too, would agree… but they know the strong woman who could fry you with the very thunder, not the thief who relies on trickery to weasel her way up, still possessing the naïve mindset that she could take on Grand Line just because she has the navigational chart to head there. Still, the mermaid clearly had faith.
"Kill that guy… Me?" Nami said quietly.
Luffy just looked at them.
Nami looked back to Buggy, her flailing hands betraying her nervousness. "N...Captain Buggy! I'm just fine forgetting about him! I don't need to kill him! Let's just drink some more! We were having fun!"
"Kill him."
She stood still, numb in fear. She wasn't sure what she was seeing, but she could hear all the Buggy Pirates shouting shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, SHOOT, SHOOT, SHOOT, KILL HIM—
"You're hands are shaking."
Nami's vision focused on Luffy who was smiling.
"That's what you get for only being half prepared to mess with pirates."
The fuse was there. "Prepared? Prepared to take a human life so easily? Is that what it takes to be a pirate?" Nami asked. Why was she even asking for an answer?
She just needs to lit it to burn down the gunpowder.
"No."
Which will explode violently.
"You gotta be prepared to risk your own life."
And propel the cannon straight at Luffy.
"Oi, new kid, stop wasting your time!" A Buggy Pirate snatched the matchbox in Nami's tense hand. "Don't you know how to light a fuse?"
Or she can take on these fucking pirates.
. o . 2 . o .
April 20
Admonishing the Pirate Hating Thief
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AN/Grammar Time, don't run! For aspiring writers (and all ya English and Literature Students using fanfiction as an excuse that you're studying the English Language), this is useful!
For some reason, the adjective 'unbothered' is underlined in red by fanfiction. But as far as I know, it's a legitimate word that means showing or feeling a lack of concern about or interest in something.
In Eastern Europe, large cannon were known as bombards and were used by Dubrovnik and Kotor in defence during the later 14th century. The first bombards were made of iron, but bronze became more prevalent as it was recognized as more stable and capable of propelling stones weighing as much as 45 kilograms (99 lb). Documentary evidence of cannon in Russia does not appear until 1382 and they were used only in sieges, often by the defenders. It was not until 1475 when Ivan III established the first Russian cannon foundry in Moscow that they began to produce cannon natively.
'If I had told you the answer, I would have been cheating. If I had run the race, I would feel accomplished.' In both sentences above, the "if" clause contains a form of the past tense of the verb. There is one exception to this rule, however. If the verb in the if clause is "to be," use "were," even if the subject of the clause is a third person singular subject (i.e., he, she, it). 'If I were a rich man, I would make more charitable donations.' Remember, though, that this exception applies only to unreal conditionals—that is, situations that do not reflect reality. (Hint: unreal conditionals often contain words like "would" or "ought to.") When you're talking about a possibility that did happen or might be true, use "was" and "were" as you normally would. 'If I was rude to you, I apologize.'
Emporio Ivankov : 378cm (12'5). He tends to sometimes proclaim the exact opposite of a statement he has just said, with people believing this is his sense of humor, such as saying that he would not mind being called "Crap", before hastily announcing that he would not be referred to as such.
Recommendations (Awesome fictions I've read while writing this chapter)!
Because Peter Said So written by Rolletti. A fanfiction about Chronicles of Narnia showcasing the four monarchs 'forcing' England to adapt to them.
Worlds Collide written by IF-HBomb. A Sword Art Online story where Kirito and Asuna returned to the Other World, but in their 'Now' World bodies.
Searching for a Saviour by UnicornsThatGamble. Unlike the two above, this One Piece story is packed with some epic action, and my word, Luffy is so... all adjectives I can think of would count as a spoiler but this is a truly amazing piece particularly when you're still reeling over the brotherly AceLu feels TwT
Awesome scene from Strawhat Theater: The Captain's Privilege written by Andrew Joshua Talon
"...For free?" He asked.
"Well, I won't want payment in money~," Nami said suggestively.
"What in?" Luffy asked.
"She's truly shameless," Nyon observed.
"You haven't seen her drinking," Zoro commented.
"Or stealing," Franky added.
"Or changing," Brook said.
"Or dealing," Usopp quipped.
"YOU CAN ALL GO TO HELL!" Nami screamed.