Author's Note: Okay, after a long time without updates, I began to feel guilty as I get emails notifying that some people added this story to their alerts, favourites etc. First of all, thank you! I'm glad you guys like these one-shots.

When I was thinking a subject to write about – the last few manga chapters didn't give much inspiration, though the latest one looks good. I hope this 'haki' thing will be explained further – I noticed this possibility. (Yeah, Luffy's nearly-suicidal fighting in these chapters bothers me.)

Hope you like it!

Fate of Pirate Kings

Nami had this... curiosity and confusion with a dark undertone of can-it-happen-to-us ever since she heard the true story of Pirate King's death from his first mate. What kind of a joke was it? The strongest man in the world, the man who sailed all waters, who fought numerous battles and survived them all died because of an illness? An incurable, unexplainable illness at that?

Okay, literally, he didn't die from the illness but executed. Still, he was going to die from it if he weren't got caught and executed. And he got caught because he was ill and knew he was going to die. Then again, he wouldn't –

Anyway! The question remained the same, how could such a strong man be overtaken by an illness?

Of course it might have started as something like a cold or an exotic and extinct bug biting you because you were exploring an ancient forest with your skin showing. Nami had evidence that such actions can lead to nearly-incurable diseases. Maybe the Pirate King didn't have a doctor that knew the cure. Nami highly doubted it.

On the other hand, she shouldn't doubt it because Gol. D. Roger died from a disease and if his doctor knew the cure, he would have cured his captain. Then again, one would assume that the doctor of Pirate King's ship would know the cure to all illnesses. Except incurable ones, of course. And that was what happened to the Pirate King. But if his doctor would have been a competent one, he would have known the cure –

Whatever, Nami hissed. Her mind kept wandering in circles today! Ultimately, Nami didn't think the problem was with the doctor. She believed the problem was with the illness.

Well, of course there was a problem with the illness! Two, to be precise. It was incurable(one) and unexplainable(two). The fact that it was an illness itself was a problem! No, she wasn't talking about those; there was something very wrong about why, out of all people, it was the Pirate King that got this illness. It wasn't like there were tons of incurable diseases around for people to have – as far as she was concerned – and while one might argue that for someone as adventurous as the King of the Pirates, it would have been easy to find one of them, Nami didn't think a man as strong as him would get ill so easily. It was similar to how Nami got ill from a bug bite in Little Garden while Luffy didn't get bitten or caught anything although he was wearing shorts and a sleeve-less vest.

Nami took a deep breath and released it with irritation. The point she was trying to reach was that she believed the Pirate King himself created the illness.

No, no, of course he wasn't some sadistic or masochistic guy – as far as she knew from the legends – and he wasn't a scientist as well. Nami was fairly certain that he didn't have scientists and laboratories to create diseases in his ship as well. That wasn't what she meant; she meant that his body got ill because he pushed it too far beyond the limits.

How she could sound so sure? Because she had a Pirate King-wannabe as a captain and watched how he ignored all physical limits of his body in a battle and fought with it as if he was using a weapon that can be repaired. Or if broken, he could buy a new one.

Wasn't this the definition of Gear Second and Third? His crew was always astonished at their captain's determination, stubbornness and how he never gave up; however after they leaned the systematic behind his gears, their fascination slowly but surely turned to horror. Especially after Chopper explained how Luffy's actions shortened his lifespan considerably, hiding the cold fact under loads of medical terms.

They all tried to warn Luffy against it, who, much to their shock, knew the effects of his gears. As expected, whatever they said didn't stop Luffy from using them in fights.

It was a sore spot for the Straw Hats but they turned a blind eye to it; they were going to ignore the fact until it became a critical issue. It was how they were and would have continued that way until Nami saw another aspect in the story of Gol. D. Roger.

Filled with dread, she thought about her captain. What if Pirate King got ill because he pushed his body too far and in the end, his body gave in? Would it happen to Luffy as well?

Was it the fate of Pirate Kings?

One thing was for sure, Nami didn't like this at all.

Possible ways to prevent this fate? Stop Luffy from using his gears... impossible. Then, get strong enough that Luffy doesn't have to use his gears often.

Yeah, that was what Nami was doing right now. In some strange sky island that studied weather, Nami was using her opportunity to get stronger.

She was sure her crewmates were doing the same.

There was no question that they were going to meet and sail the waters together again. There were also minimal questions that their captain was going to be the Pirate King. They were working hard so that Straw Hat Pirates, the future Pirate King's crew, would stay together longer.

She sighed. She hoped Luffy – wherever he was – wasn't overexerting his body too much.