A/N: Sorry if this chapter goes by a bit too quickly, but the events before they end up in the grand line aren't going to be very detailed. Also, as you can tell from this chapter, I'm not one to write overly intricate fight scenes. They're just not my thing and adding any more to the fight just felt like unnecessary padding.
Dealing with Pests
Zoro glared at Nami as they sailed to their next destination.
Nami's normal goofy grin was replaced by an uncharacteristic apologetic and nervous smile, "I'm sorry! Okay?"
"Sorry? You're not the one who had to spend the night rotting in a Marine prison cell!" His glare intensified.
"Hey! I got you out of there as quick as I could. How was I supposed to know that the bounty office would have heard about your arrest back in Shell Town?"
"You said that you were getting my records cleaned!" Zoro snapped at her.
"I did! Hence, when they called up Shell Town, they learned that the charges were dropped. It was only one night. Besides, shouldn't you be happy that you had extra time to sleep?" Her grin was fast returning.
"Sleep? Do you have any idea how uncomfortable those handcuffs are?"
Nami rolled her eyes, "Like anything could stop you from sleeping."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Didn't you say we'd be there soon?"
Nami's annoying smile now filled her face, "Yup! There it is." She pointed to the island directly behind Zoro, who turned around, getting his first look.
"So, this is where you grew up? Doesn't look like much. Why would that Arlong guy even bother with it?"
Nami's smile completely disappeared, replaced by an uncharacteristic scowl, "Because he's a coward!" She took a deep breath, "In truth, it's an easy target. It's a fairly large island, but it has a low population. Its main exports are only agricultural, so it's easy to replace any missing commerce. The Marines simply don't care what happens here. They sent one ship here when it first happened, but after that was destroyed they just decided it's easier for them to allow him free reign than do anything about it. In fact, I bet if he were human, they would have declared him a king and made the whole arrangement official. It's just not politically correct to a call a fishman a king, though in all but name that's what he has become. It's been eight long years since he arrived and the only presence from the world government has been in clear support of him."
Zoro continued to look at the island, "I guess that makes sense. So, captain, do we just charge in wherever this Arlong guy is and beat him up?"
Nami grin retuned, though silghtly lopsided, "Zoro, you need to remember what I keep telling you. Use your brain. Beating him in a direct fight may be possible, but it is not the best way to go about things."
Zoro grunted, "I don't see why not." He grinned, doing his best to annoy her as much as she annoyed him, "I doubt we'll have too much trouble."
Nami frowned, "Don't you dare make light of this! This isn't something I'm going to take chances with. I need this to work. He will not hesitate to kill either of us."
Zoro put his hands up in surrender, "Alright, I get it. You've got some sort of plan. Mind telling me what it is?"
Nami rolled her eyes, "Just follow me." She anchored the boat in a small cove, hiding it from easy view.
—
*Five Days Later*
"I can't believe you're actually doing this." Zoro stared at Nami.
"What? Don't you think it will work?"
Zoro grumbled, "Oh, I think it will work alright. It's just absolutely crazy."
"If it works, then it obviously isn't too crazy." Nami grinned.
"Just make sure it doesn't end up killing us."
"Yeah, yeah, I'm real good with this stuff."
"You say that about everything."
"And have I ever been wrong?"
Zoro sighed, "Whatever. Just tell me when it's time to attack."
"Won't that be rather obvious?"
"I mean, before that."
"Oh, then I guess It's time right now, the fuse is already lit."
Zoro's eyes went wide, "Don't you need to cut the string?"
"Wait a second. The timing with the others needs to be perfect."
"You're cutting it pretty close."
"Now!" Nami cut the string holding back the make-shift catapult in front of her, launching something directly inside of Arlong Park.
After a few seconds of waiting, Zoro commented, "Shouldn't we have heard something by now?"
*BOOM!*
Zoro clamped his hands over his ears, "Damn, that was loud!" He turned and saw a giant plume of smoke rising up from where he assumed Arlong was. "Where the hell did you get those explosives!"
Nami's grin threatened the tear her face in two, "I learned a bit about making bombs from a friend of a friend. Besides, it wasn't that much, most of that smoke is from the ones we put under the walls."
"You… made… Ugh! Never mind, of course you made the bombs. You can do anything."
"Now you're getting it."
"So, time to go in and beat up whatever's left?"
"Yup. It's finally time to end this."
—
Arlong grunted as he pulled himself out of the rubble that was Arlong Park. He surveyed the damage, looking at the many dead bodies of his underlings scattering the area. Noticing some movement, he smashed a nearby slab of stone, freeing the struggling form of Hatchan underneath.
The octopus fishman pulled himself to his knees, tears streamed from his eyes, "Who would do such a thing? Such a careless waste of life. What kind of evil could be behind this devestation?" He barely managed to dodge the sword that slashed through where is head had been but a moment ago, "Agh! My hair!"
Hatchan tilted his head as he looked at the swordsman who had nearly sliced his head off, "Hey! That wasn't very nice! I'll forgive you if you help us find who did this to the place though."
Arlong growled, "Hatchan, just shut up." Turning to Zoro, "I take it Nami hired you to take us down? I had really hoped that the girl had finally learnt her place. I don't know if I'll be able to forgive her for massacring my people." He would have continued, but was interrupted when he was suddenly struck in the head and smashed into a pile of rubble.
"You definitely won't be able to forgive me, Arlong. You'll be dead." She calmly stated. Her face remained expressionless as Arlong got back on his feet,.
"Girl, you've gotten stronger. You've definitely been holding back these past few years." He spat some blood on the ground, "A weak human like you only has a couple of ways of getting strong enough to punch like that. No matter how good you are though, it's still not enough to beat me. If you stop this foolishness right now, I'll let you live. Otherwise, you and everyone on this pathetic island is dead."
Nami's emotionless glare, intensified into a hate-filled scowl, she looked like she was about to say something, stopped herself, her calm determination returning. She charged at Arlong, barely noticing the swords of Zoro and Hatchan clashing nearby, she was swinging her hand down, about to throw something at Arlong's feet, but her hand was caught mid-throw, in the crushing grip of Arlong's webbed fist. Smoke exploded from her hand as he caught it. "Haki. The color of armaments. Impressive." Commented the grinning fishman, "But even with that, your weak body can only hold up to so much. You obviously know as much or else you wouldn't be attempting cheap tricks to distract me. I don't see what that smoke bomb was supposed to accomplish."
Nami's face never faltered as she attempted to free her arm from the impossibly strong grip.
Arlong looked away for a moment, and his menacing grin grew even bigger, "Ah, it looks like we're welcoming another guest."
Nami chanced a glance to the side and her eyes widened in horror. The fishman known as Chu, was holding her struggling sister, "Nojiko!"
Arlong chuckled, as he squeezed Nami's arm tighter, "Did you really think I wouldn't know you were up to something? I had no idea it would be something of this scale, but I do like to be prepared. You do seem to have such attachment to this one, we both know you won't let her be harmed. Give up now, Nami. It's over." Seeing her still defiant face, he motioned to Chu, who begain to raise a knife to Nojiko's neck.
Nami's face lit up in fury, she screamed, "No!"
Arlong's grin changed to surprise as he felt the intense force coming from Nami. It wasn't anything he couldn't handle, but it certainly surprised him. He frowned as he noticed Chu's eyes rolling into the back of his head, and then he felt a sudden pain in his chest. That's the last thing he ever felt.
As Arlong's grip relaxed, Nami was about to rush to Nojiko's aid, but before she could do anything, a fist came out of nowhere slamming into Chu's face.
Nami blinked, as Nojiko easily freed herself now that the fishman had been knocked away, she turned to see the fist fly backwards towards the one face that she didn't want to see, "Nami! I'm here to help!" It was Luffy riding on top of that ridiculous giant Lion.
Nami growled, "Help? You could have hurt Nojiko!"
Luffy tilted his head, "Huh? But that guy was going to hurt her."
"He was unconscious!"
"He was standing!" Luffy shouted back.
"I had just knocked him out!"
"Well how was I supposed to know that?"
Nami took a deep breath, managing to reign in her temper, "Luffy… Sorry for yelling, I guess I do appreciate the gesture, but it really wasn't necessary." Nami ran over to Nojiko to make sure she was okay.
Luffy turned to see a heavily breathing Zoro standing over the battered bodies of an octopus fishman and a ray fishman, "So where's this Arlong guy?"
Zoro turned to him, then turned toward the dead body of Arlong and pointed.
"Aww, he's already dead? I came here to save the island for Nami so she wouldn't keep running away."
After being reassured that Nojiko's injuries weren't serious, Nami approached Luffy, "And who told you about me and Arlong in the first place?"
Luffy pointed behind him, where a blond man in a suit and a curly-haired boy in overalls were approaching.
The curly-haired boy shouted in agreement, "Yes, I, the great Captain Ussopp know much about the infinite tales of the sea! No tale as sad as the fate of Commi island can escape my notice!"
Ussopp's shouts ended, after a swift kick to the head from the blond man, who grabbed Nami's hand, "What he means to say, my beautiful Nami, is that I overheard some traders who used to live here bemoaning the fate of the island. They mentioned a young girl named Nami joining the pirates in an attempt to save them all. When our dear captain mentioned your name, I knew that such a wonderful girl as he described could be no other than the fearless young maiden from the tale. As soon as the connection was made, we made haste to come to your rescue." He finished by planting a kiss on the back of her hand.
Nami's eyes were wide as she heard this, causing Sanji to think she was touched by his words. However the backhand across his face quickly broke that assumption, "Gah! I should have dressed like a boy today. I don't know how you did that, but turning your eyes into hearts had to be the creepiest thing I've ever seen!"
As Nami wiped off her hand, Luffy caught her attention, "So now that Arlong is dead, you'll join my crew, right?"
Nami frowned, "No. I've told you before and I'll tell you again. I'm not joining your crew. Besides, I'm the one who killed Arlong, not you."
"But he died right when I arrived, that means it must have been me!."
"I had just poisoned him, you idiot, it just took a while before it stopped his heart."
Luffy looked like he was about to insist, but he noticed something in her eyes, instead he pouted and then asked, "But still, why won't you join my crew?"
Nami sighed, pointing above Luffy's head, "That hat, it used to belong to Shanks, didn't it?"
Luffy nodded, "Yeah, you know him? Do you know where he is?"
Nami nodded, "I met him when I was young. Just after Arlong arrived. After he caught me stealing from his ship, Shanks decided to help me deal with Arlong. He could have done it himself pretty easily, but I think it's like that teach a man to fish saying."
"Fish? He taught you to fish?"
Nami blinked, "Never mind that. He helped me get strong enough so I could defeat Arlong myself. I didn't see him often, but once every few years he'd find me and teach me a bit. He also introduced me to some other people who could help me get stronger. I think he had a habit of helping kids in need achieve their goals. He mentioned you a few times. Monkey D. Luffy, the kid he gave his hat to. The young kid that reminded him of himself at that age. He'd always encourage me to get better, and he certainly knew I could take on Arlong, but I could tell from his smile and his eyes, he didn't believe I could actually achieve my real dream. Not really anyways. He didn't tell me outright, and he always encouraged me, but he didn't think I really had enough potential."
Luffy frowned, "What's your real dream?"
Nami shook her head, "It doesn't really matter. The point is, he didn't think I'd be able to do it. He didn't think I'd have the ability to make fundamental changes in the world. It wasn't that he didn't want me to, it's just he didn't think it possible. But he did think you had the potential. The way he talked about you, he couldn't wait for you to get out there and become Pirate King. He gave me hints that I should try to join you if I ever met you, but I just can't do that. It might be selfish, but I need to prove to myself that I can change the world in my own way. I couldn't live with myself if I didn't try. I'd consider joining you, but our goals are too different, we'd only get in each other's way."
Luffy, as impossible as it sounds, actually looked thoughtful for once, "Okay. I don't think I really get it, but you can't join without giving up on your dream." He smiled wide, "So, after your dream comes true, then you should join!"
Nami giggled at that, "Or maybe if your dream comes true first, you could join my crew."
Luffy turned up his nose at that, "The Pirate King doesn't join other crews."
Nami smirked, "I thought the Pirate King did whatever he wants."
Luffy nodded and smacked his fist with his other hand, "Oh yeah! I guess that could work."
Nami reached a hand forward, "So, I won't join your crew, but we can still be friends."
Luffy's smile grew to equal Nami's as he reached to shake her hand, "Sounds good to me."
