Strawhat Luffy with the heal heal fruit

by ulfark

Luffy, before setting out, eats not one but two devils fruits... and lived. He sets out earlier then planned, and with a different mindset. He found out early on that not everything is 'rainbows and sunshine' and happy endings don't come cheap, and that small fact changes his whole life. OCs introduced along with the canon crew. Rated M for violence.

14. Chapter 14 A helping hand

Chapter fourteen a helping hand

Vera pov

She woke up in bed slightly disoriented and confused on how she got there. Not knowing where you were was always a big warning sign for any girl, especially for Vera. After blinking a few times she recognized that she was in her own room aboard the Red sky. Despite the fact she had slept in it for the last couple of days she still hadn't gotten used to it. It was odd but she somewhat missed the comforting iron bars surrounding her. The same went for her sea stone cuffs, she missed the reassuring weight on her arms and legs. It was like a constant nagging feeling something was missing.

Speaking of her arms, what happened to her right arm?

She sat up gingerly cradling her still tender arm. It felt unfamiliar, like it wasn't really a extension of herself.

She hoped the feeling would pass soon or maybe it was because the new muscles weren't as strong as she was used to. Yeah that could explain why she had a hard time coordinating her arm around. That was a interesting thought, if Luffy could re-grow a arm with a different muscle composition than the original then could he build a stronger one on purpose?

With enough practice he might even learn how to switch out body parts as they wear down, prolonging life or rejuvenate people. She drooled at the sum people like Whitebeard would pay to regain their prime as soon as word spread about Luffy's ability.

Sadly at their current strength, Whitebeard would word it as a favor and practically force them to become a member of his crew to work for him. The marines would be no different only worse, she doubted they took the same care with their men as Whitebeards famous proclamation of them being his sons.

Luffy was getting more interesting the more she learnt about him. She tested out her arm some more and concluded it didn't hurt moving it around. So she got up out of bed to explore a bit, though she kept it in the makeshift sling.

She wandered through the corridors looking for Luffy to show her gratitude to him. Now that she had some time to calm down. She realized how close to being a cripple she had been due to her stupid mistake. She had to remember to check her surroundings before turning into titanium dust next time.

She sighed, it had been her dust form that had lured Alexander to her in the first place because it confirmed logia powers and now it had nearly succeeded in turning her into the one armed girl. That would have been awful, putting aside mundane concerns and combat efficiency, just think about her bounty poster! She would get labelled as 'The one armed monster' or something . A freak show name wasn't her preferred method of going into the history books.

She bumped into Miria as she went around the corner. She instinctively grasped her right arm double checking it was still all right. Miria didn't miss this seemingly meaningless gesture.

"Oh I'm so sorry! I didn't hurt you, did I?" she immediately apologized

Wait what, Miria apologized to her. That couldn't be, where was the snarky comment or the veiled insult. After a moment of double checking she hadn't travelled to a alternate universe she realized that Miria was worried about her because of her arm. Well she had to admit it wasn't every day someone lost their arm and re-grew it in less than five minutes.

"Nah I'm fine. You're only hurting my pride, by treating me like frail little princess" she baited

Miria smirked "Well a stranger might make that mistake by just looking at you. But we both know better don't we?"

Called me frail check and a veiled insult that I'm a bloodthirsty monster double check, good Miria was back to normal.

"Still better than people assuming it's a finishing move when they kick me between the legs, huh butch"

Judging by her face she just realized I called her a dude and made fun of her fight with Lexy boy, good.

"Be that as it may, at least I don't have boys running away from me on sight" Miria fired back

Hmm that had to be a reference to Spiny but why should that bother her? She must be reaching, meaning she was winning.

" If he couldn't handle it it's his loss but Luffy seems capable and all too interested"

Miria grimaced at that, she had to admit it was a low blow but all is fair in love and war, especially war.

"I wonder about that, he might not feel the same after you sent him into a coma"

Wait what..

Vera dreaded the answer but needed to know "What do you mean coma?"

"Well after healing you, he passed out and hasn't woken up yet. And doesn't look like he will anytime soon. Based on how long he had to recover from previous healings, he could be out cold for another week or two. " Miria explained

Damn now she really needed to repay Luffy somehow, this might be fun.

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Luffy pov

Vera's surgery had been a success but came at a high price, Luffy had been bedridden for over a month. Luckily Vera had been willing to nurse him back to health after she finished recuperating from her own injury. It was kind of insulting that someone with a lethal injury like a missing arm actually was up and about faster than him with basically nothing more than a little fainting spell. A fact Vera took great pleasure in reminding him off, a lot.

He had been informed that Coby had escaped while he was busy with reforming Vera's arm. So at least one good thing came from this or as Vera put it a colossal fuck up on Miria's part.

Vera was under the not so mistaken impression that Coby would spread word that they were pirates and send the marines after them. Normally he wouldn't worry too much about marines after him seeing as being a pirate that came with the territory. However he didn't like it when they only started when he was unconscious for a month. He wanted to enjoy playing hide and seek, not have the game be over before he knew it and not even get a memo before he died.

The only unequivocal success had been the news that Miria had been able to barter Alvida in exchange for membership into the Tencredi gang. It was a bit annoying that they had to miss out on the bounty and only got a small finders fee. But it was worth it, if they got the Intel they needed and besides Alvida was only worth about three million anyway. She was a classic case of more bark than bite, so it wouldn't matter in the long run. Still he would have liked a bit more pocket money to buy some more meat to speed his recovery along.

"Here's your breakfast master" quipped Vera as she walked in with a makeshift nurse costume holding a breakfast tray with a conspicuous absence of meat.

She was really getting into this nurse routine. She placed the tray on a nearby side table just out of reach, tantalizingly close. He looked at her face and could see the faint amusement at seeing him squirm. He would've stretched but Vera and Miria had forbidden it for as long as he was bedridden, because it might prolong his condition. Well that and he had trouble lifting his arms for extended periods of time. He might drop his breakfast on the floor if he wasn't careful. But even that wouldn't have stopped him if it wasn't a thin soup again. He wasn't quite prepared to lick the floor to Vera's twisted amusement.

Regardless of that, Vera had fun provoking him into trying to grab it and then berating him for doing it. It was a lose-lose kind situation for him, so he just lied there waiting for Vera to get her fill.

After a excruciating minute Vera had enough "Now lets see" she walked to his bed and stopped beside his head to replace the moist towel on his forehead. He glanced up as she did so to enjoy the view.

He was pretty certain she had been doing that on purpose while knowing full well he couldn't move enough to do anything about it. But he couldn't care less, some forms of torture were very welcome.

She felt him up to check his temperature. "Still a bit high Luffy, I guess more bed rest is in order"

Luffy just shrugged he was confined to this bed for at least another week judging from the complete lack of strength in his legs. It was like he had run non stop a three day marathon. They were so tired that he couldn't stand under his own strength.

This had been extremely uncomfortable when he had to go to the bathroom leading to the girls seeing a lot more of him than he got to see of them. He believed in equal trade in those situations so he was a bit miffed about it. Luckily the sponge baths Vera was kind enough to give him went a long way towards making it up. He just hoped he could return the favour someday.

"So any clues yet about the Tencredi's ?" asked Luffy

He wanted to know as captain and to have to something to think about in his boredom but at the same time hearing stuff he couldn't do anything about annoyed him as well.

"Well Miria is still taking it slow. She has been promoted up the ranks from nameless flunky to nameless goon. The difference being she gets more face time with her superiors."

Luffy sighed it was going to take forever to infiltrate the mob like this.

"Cant she hurry it up! We cant sit around here forever" Luffy asked impatiently

"Oh and why would you want that. You need to be somewhere Luffy?" she teased and poked at his legs through the thin fabric of his blanket.

"Yeah, I'm late for a appointment to shove my foot up your ass" retorted Luffy

" Really Luffy, of all the things you could shove up there. You chose that" she teased again looking more amused than ever.

Luffy didn't quite follow what she was on about so just kept quiet so she could elaborate.

"…"

Vera seemed disappointed by his lack of reaction meaning it was the right choice. Still maybe he should ask Miria about it, so he knew the next time it came up.

"Maybe you need to reconsider your priorities Luffy?" Vera mused

Luffy grabbed the chance to steer the conversation back into familiar waters "I agree, you still haven't told me why Miria is so slow in digging up any dirt"

Vera sighed and said simply " They don't trust newbies."

"Can't we make them trust her somehow?" asked Luffy

Vera shrugged "Unless we start causing some trouble for the mob and Miria steps up to deal with us. She wont get promoted in a hurry. But with you bedridden we cant do that. Besides it would look suspicious if right after hiring her. She jumps the ladder because they get attacked. "

Well that made a lot of sense, so unless there were a lot of new grunts she really would stand out too much. New recruits making it up the ladder fast were always subject to rumors. The problem was that she couldn't be the tallest tree because a strong breeze could topple her easily. She hadn't yet had the time to create alliances to protect against parties that felt passed over. Best case scenario was a bit of insubordination and worst case they might kill her if they thought she was a spy. Luffy decided to just be patient and gather more Intel passively. But in the mean time he would really like to see some of his old friends.

Luffy sighed "Can you at least put me in a wheelchair and roll me around town? I'm getting stir-crazy up in here"

"It'll be my pleasure master" great she went back to her maid/nurse routine.

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Vera couldn't find a wheelchair so settled for putting plenty of blankets and a pillow in a wheelbarrow.

"It's a good thing I'm rubber or my ass would be killing me" grumbled Luffy

"You want me to slow down or do you want another pillow perhaps?" asked Vera

Luffy looked at Vera's pillows and decided he definitely wanted to lie on them but wasn't about to tell her that. " Just push me into that bar over there, so I can get a drink to numb it"

Vera inquired" Aren't you a little too young to drink Luffy?"

Luffy shrugged" Old enough to kill old enough to drink and besides I don't really wanna drink. I just want to catch up with Makino and get a feel for what's been happening around here"

" What, you don't trust me to tell you the truth " Vera said with a crooked smile

Trust her? Definitely not, especially not with the truth. If there was one thing Vera liked messing around with, it was the truth. She could tell you nothing but the truth but still tell you nothing but lies. If she really wanted to, by simply changing her phrasing of it. He would trust her with his life but never would he trust her to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. Wait actually he could, he meant to say the spirit of the truth and not just the letter of it.

"Vera we both know, I trust you to tell me what you want me to hear. Which isn't what I want to hear" Luffy put a lot of emphasis on the you to get his point across.

She smiled precariously" So you're calling me a liar and you don't trust me"

Crap, gotta run damage control.

"Off course not, your nothing but truthful and I trust you to twist it to your advantage but I don't feel like unravelling your knots"

" Lazy bastard, you'll never get a girlfriend with that kind of attitude" Vera quipped

"Are you saying all girls are that truthful?"

Vera smiled "Maybe"

That's just great, maybe he could still bat for the other team.

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Miria pov

Grey terminal

She was nostalgic for the days when all she had to do was mop the same square meter every single day. It may have been pointless work but at least it had better working conditions than her current job. Putting aside the possible germs she could catch just breathing here, the very ground she walked on was liable to collapse because it merely consisted of trash upon trash.

Every day that passed was a day she edged closer to Vera's side of the argument. Which was basically kidnapping everyone who looked shady and interrogating them until they cracked or spilled the beans or even both. She had objected due to issues of efficiency in time and effort but after seeing what passes as a human being around here. She was getting less and less picky about her methods.

This city was like a odd mirror, on one side you had mostly decent people but shitty living conditions and on the other side shitty people and decent living conditions. And following this pattern at the centre you had god awful people in ridiculously luxurious living conditions. It was like they followed the rule that the worse of a person you are, the better in life you will have it.

Well the unwritten rule that is, everyone inside the gates wanted to keep up the pretence they were nice and respectable people despite sneering at starving people in the streets or worse calling the guards to have them removed.

After quickly realizing the city was inundated with propaganda and she lacked the clearance to enter the inner circle, she moved to the grey terminal. Stupid Luffy and his objections to becoming nobility. This would have been so much easier if she had a middleman to do some snooping for her or at least a bartending job to eavesdrop on conversations. Instead she had been forced to be recruited by the local gangs who were the iron fist who kept the population in line for the nobles.

The people of grey terminal and the outer city outnumbered the privileged elite of the inner city and would rebel if they weren't constantly distracted by one thing or another. For grey terminal it was another tragedy in a long line of those to keep the population in survival mode. The Tencredi gang provided said tragedy for a fee, it was the reverse of bread and games for the people. They made themselves look like saints and pointed the finger elsewhere for the reason for their misery while also calling it their own fault.

They spread the idea that with hard work one could reach a better living standard. But this false hope was nothing more but a distraction because the gangs would destroy anything and anyone who actually managed it. It was sickening to be a part off but also the only chance to get close to the ones calling the shots.

Already she was being glared at on sight by anyone living in grey terminal and she couldn't blame them. Heck she almost wouldn't mind if they gathered a mob to lynch her.

Luffy had said the nobles living on his home island were corrupt and evil but he might have actually understated the severity of it. She was even entertaining the thought of bypassing Vera's idea and just commit a massacre of the inner circle and be done with it. She was sure she would have Vera's vote and Luffy might even be convinced but that would make them instant criminals so her own selfish desires stopped her from doing it.

She only hoped the people of grey terminal could forgive her.

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Vera pov

She had to admit it was a strange sight seeing someone get carried into a bar in a wheelbarrow. Getting carried out was at least somewhat understandable but seeing someone die-hard enough to come drink when he couldn't even walk was unusual.

So she didn't fault anyone for staring at Luffy but she did mind the stares directed at her. Maybe her current outfit to coax a reaction out of Luffy wasn't suited to this little town with their family values. Luckily they followed the saying 'if you cant say anything nice don't say anything at all' well the women followed it. The men however seemed to follow 'if you cant say anything but lewd statements don't say anything at all'.

It came down to the same thing but men especially drunk ones needed that clarification and it seemed these were at least housebroken.

"Hey Makino how are you?" greeted Luffy loudly

She heard a piercing shriek from a twenty year old girl who immediately started fussing over Luffy as soon as she spotted him. That she could understand and tolerate but she dared question whether she was taking good care of Luffy.

Vera defended herself "I may not be a old hag but I know plenty to take care of my master"

A not so subtle insult, but she was under a time constraint. She couldn't think of something better when Makino suggested she take care of Luffy instead of her. Well at least the master part would distract her. So she could think of something better and give Luffy a hard time, always a worthwhile endeavour.

"Luffy what on earth have you done, don't tell me you bought her from slave traders! "

She shrieked in outrage

Oh this was just too easy to pass up

"No he didn't, he just stole me from them and for that I'm eternally grateful" she made puppy dog eyes at her for added effect.

Technically all true, she did get rescued but with her status as property it was basically stealing. And she was grateful for the attempt even if she did the last part herself. She may never have gotten the chance to steal the key if not for his interference.

Luffy shot her a betrayed look and judging from that clenching fist he felt like socking her, oops.

That little tidbit really sent Makino into a frenzy "Monkey D Luffy have you gone out of your mind! You don't steal from slave traders. They are the most vile and cruel people in all the seas and could have killed you or worse! And there's no telling if they're not still after you and will target this village just for retribution" her eyes already darted desperately back and forth the room as soon as she realized she shouldn't have yelled that last part, looking for strangers and travellers who might spread the word.

Huh that was actually a good point, the surviving slave traders might target Fuusha village in retaliation after getting their act together. Good thing no one knew who Luffy and Miria were or where they were from.

" I didn't steal her, I rescued her along with a bunch of others and I kicked those slave trader's ass. "

Ohh bad move Luffy

"That's even worse, now they will certainly come here for revenge. I need to warn the mayor to start evacuating the town. You stay put young man while I sort out this mess." Makino commanded

Luffy sputtered a few words of protest but they died in his throat. Vera decided to be merciful and help him a bit, mostly because she didn't want to listen to a whole town complaining about them later on.

Vera reassured her " You don't have to worry so much miss Makino. Luffy took me away during a internal coup in the slave trader camp. Meaning they were and are severely disorganized and never got a good look at him so they wont come after us."

That reassured Makino a lot and it was also the truth, there was a internal coup planned by her and others, Luffy just kick started it ahead of schedule. He definitely took advantage off it and no one lived to tell someone what he looked like , Except for the slaves.

"Oh, you sure?" after getting two confirming nods she relaxed and asked other annoying questions. Luffy shot her a grateful look and she shot one back that he owed her.

True she had made that mess herself but that didn't mean she couldn't profit off it.

When they switched to checking up on how different people were doing. She tuned out the conversation because she didn't follow who they were talking about.

"…"

She wondered at which marine base Coby would wind up at.

"…"

Hopefully it would be along Luffy's planned route because she doubted she could get permission for a detour.

"…"

"So Vera, Luffy tells me you two met on his fishing trip how did you meet"

Huh wait what, damn she should have paid more attention to what they were saying. Okay Vera think, is this a trick question? Luffy was nodding at her, so maybe that was some line of bull he just fed to her. He must have convinced her the slave trader camp was just a joke in really poor taste.

" Yeah, I sold him some fishing bait when he stopped over on my island and I decided to come along for a sightseeing trip."

She looked over to Luffy to see if this matched with what he said and judging by the calm smile on his face it was. Makino and some other guys seemed relieved as well. So maybe that was what Luffy was going for?

"You're awfully young to be setting out on your own. How did you get your parents to agree to this?"

That condescending bitch she wasn't bitching about Luffy setting out, now did she? Hmm lets see should she go for the 'dead parents routine' to shut her up or feed her a story about how her parents trust her. After thinking about all the annoying pity looks she would get in the future. She chose the reckless parents approach.

" My parents moved around a lot for their jobs. So they saw it as a right of passage to do one on your own. So they easily agreed to me going island hopping, after all East blue is the safest sea of them all"

Makino nodded along but didn't seem to buy it. No matter, so long as she didn't put up a fuss or go snooping later, it was fine.

After a few more minutes of polite Q and A, Makino left to attend some other customers.

"Thank god ,that's over with " Vera said in relief as she climbed onto a bar stool.

"Me too, thanks for staying polite by the way"

Vera threw a glare back over her shoulder "Contrary to popular belief, I can go through a whole conversation without threatening bodily harm."

Luffy shifted uncomfortably in his wheelbarrow" Sorry I didn't mean it like that"

Vera shrugged "Nah it's fine, don't worry about it. But why are you glad its over?"

"Felt uncomfortable lying to her"

" Then why did you do it dumb ass? She already bought the truth. You were in the clear, until you decided to go do it again" Vera asked as she grabbed a glass and filled it up while Makino's back was turned.

Luffy gave her a disapproving look but didn't say anything against it. " Some guy started questioning me. He didn't believe that I actually did half the things I claimed I did. So they all thought I was boasting. After that they just made up their own little story what I did on my fishing trip that sounded more plausible. And when they caught you not paying attention they roped you in to confirm my bullshit"

"Then why were you nodding at me to agree to what she said"

"Because you saw how worried she was. When she thought we actually did that shit. I didn't want to break her out of that fantasy world. She was desperately clinging to something to not make it true and I just couldn't bring myself to snap her out of it."

Vera took a sip from her stolen booze and admitted "Huh, that's actually kind of sweet of you Luffy"

"I agree" said a new orange haired speaker

"Its not every day that someone wont take the credit for what they did, so as to not worry their loved ones. " the new girl complimented

"Thanks, and you are" asked Luffy

"I'm Nami, I couldn't help but overhear your tale and I have a proposition for you if you're interested"

Vera inserted herself in the conversation before she started feeling awkward" I'm Vera by the way and you already know Luffy. So what kind of proposal do you have?"

"Well you must have realized that the distribution of wealth on this island is a bit lopsided."

"Of course its kinda hard to miss, with the trash on one side and the gold on the other"

"Exactly, this unnatural balance is forcefully maintained by the nobles who benefit from it and I just happen to know a way to… "

"You got an in with a noble and want to steal from him huh" interrupted Vera rudely

"If you want to be crude, then yes I do" Nami admitted unabashedly

Vera grinned" That's good, because we were thinking the same thing"

They weren't, but Vera wanted to know what Nami had come up with so wanted to display some willingness to participate.

Nami quirked an eyebrow in interest "Oh, what plan did you come up with then?"

"Nothing much for now, we just placed a man inside their enforcers to give us inside information. We weren't planning on making on any real moves until I get out of this wheelbarrow" Luffy covered for her. It would look odd if he didn't have a clue what she was talking about.

"Not a bad start and it'll come in handy later on, but why are you in a wheelbarrow in the first place"

"Because of injuries from our last fight, it wont leave a scar but I'll be bedridden for another week still"

Technically that was true though you couldn't call Coby setting her on fire and running off before she could kill him a true fight. She really was going to kill that little pyromaniac one of these days for that.

"Well that shouldn't be a problem then, I got a son of a noble wrapped around my finger. He is taking me to a debutants ball in a few weeks. Every highbrow noble will be attending, so I need you to rob them blind at that time" Nami proposed

Interesting that put all the risk on them and no input from her except information, they may have gotten somewhere else.

" And what would be your part in this?" asked Vera sceptically

"I'll be confirming attendance from the party with my den den mushi. So you don't hit the wrong house"

Vera had to suppress a scoff about needing to avoid the weak nobles. If she really wanted to, she could rob them and just kill them if they saw her. But that was sloppy and bound to attract the attention of the marine big shots and someone was almost guaranteed to be overlooked. She had just gotten out of one cell and wasn't eager to be put into another so a more graceful approach was probably best. Besides this method took more skill and was more fun than just mindless violence.

"Sorry but I think you got the wrong idea here. We don't want to rob random nobles but the particular nobles who run the Tencredi crime syndicate" replied Luffy trying to keep the main objective in mind. Before they agreed to a side goal that may screw up their purpose here.

"Hmm ambitious huh" complimented Nami " I have some information about who is connected to them but they are a lot more security conscious. So you might be out of your depth. Especially if you want to keep a low profile, so you don't worry Makino or cause trouble for her"

Hmm was that a threat. Nah she didn't seem like the kind off girl who would do that.

"That's fine, give me what you have on the Tencredi crime syndicate and I'll help you rob the soft targets deal" proposed Luffy

Nami smiled "Pleasure doing business with you Luffy" holding out her hand to shake on it.

She had to intercede before Luffy sold them into practical slavery

"Now that we are in agreement. What is our cut of the loot?"

The girl looked like she hoped to avoid this particular conversation for as long as possible. She was right, the girl did intend to rip them off.

"How about seventy- thirty?"

"That sounds fair, seeing as we are doing the majority of the labour" agreed Vera pleasantly before she could suggest the thirty for them because it was her idea.

Nami wasn't amused " Please I could find anyone to do it, the only reason why I don't do it myself is because I cant be in two places at once"

"True, but you can't find anyone actually competent on such short notice" Vera countered

" What kind of proof do you have that you're as good as you say? "

"How about a little demonstration " said Vera with a mad glint in her eye

Nami immediately backtracked " There's no need for that'" she reassured

Ahh it was good to be a psychopath.

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Nami pov

That blond girl gave her the creeps when she offered to give a demonstration. That look in her eye told her it was going to be a demo of her fighting skills rather than her thievery skills. It went unsaid what she would use for her demonstration but she had a feeling who it would be.

"There's no need for that" she quickly reassured

She turned to the guy in the wheelbarrow for help. God that sounded ridiculous but she didn't have a alternative.

"Luffy a fifty-fifty split sounds reasonable right?"

She didn't like even pretending to give up even one percent of her treasure but if it was what I took to get these nutcases onboard then so be it. It didn't really matter in the end anyway, she was going to screw him either way.

"Yeah sounds good" he replied disinterestedly

Great she was dealing with one of those idiots who didn't care about the money but the thrill and doing the right thing. Those were always less likely to try and hunt her down.

"So, when do I get to meet your inside man?" Nami asked trying to keep her hopefulness out of her voice.

It was a always a good idea to have one of the people who were going to be hunting you down on your side. They could give all kinds of help in small ways, like misdirecting forces or overlooking your hiding place or if you're lucky declaring you falsely dead.

Sure you had to pay them off in advance most of the time and again after to ensure they did the job, but it was worth it. But crucial was actually knowing what he or she looked like, or it made things way too complicated during clutch time.

She had once revealed herself to the wrong person because he seemed reluctant to try and kill her, turned out he was just plain lazy. It was a good thing he was also out of shape or he might have actually killed her.

"You don't, not until you show us your info on the Tencredi nobles" answered the blond menace

Damn she knew the value of the identity of the inside man. She could have bargained that identity in a pinch if she needed to or even use it to blackmail them. With this being their hometown they couldn't just up and leave like she could.

"Fine I'll tell you" she sighed In defeat

She started telling them all she knew about the nobles which wasn't much but the guy seemed satisfied, the girl not so much.

She couldn't really help it, there was a limit to how much you could squeeze out of a guy without sleeping with him. And there was no way she was spreading her legs for those bastards even if it would raise the money to buy back her village practically overnight.

They ended up talking long into the night, long after they were done swapping info and just enjoyed themselves. It was nice cutting loose with someone her own age who knew she was a thief and didn't care. Sure she was still acting but there was only minimal effort going into it. It was a welcome relief from the forced smile, she had to put on her face whenever she had to stomach the presence of those nobles.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow then" said Nami only slightly buzzed thanks to her large alcohol resistance.

She was looking forward to their partnership.

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Miria pov

She came home from a hard day of squeezing the last dregs of dignity out of the common people. She was beat and only wanted to get a nice cold drink and put her feet up while listening to some fun anecdote about how Luffy's day was. Listening to Vera torture him was a lot more fun than getting the first person experience.

Only when she came home she was greeted by drunken lyrics, at least she hoped so. Because people shouldn't sound so awful when they're sober.

She spotted Luffy drunk off his ass in a wheelbarrow, well at least that imagery made sense but why was he out of bed in the first place. She wondered where Vera was, she listened to the horrible screeching and drunken giggles and found Vera lying on the ground next to the main mast. She was luckily still decent, so nothing untoward happened here. Thank god, she didn't want to deal with any concerned parents from the village about their sons being corrupted, or their daughters.

She gently woke Vera up, by which miria meant she didn't kick Vera too hard in the side. She was pretty sure she didn't break a rib, so it was fine. Vera opened up her eyes and glared at her, how predictable.

"You better have a damn good reason for interrupting my beauty rest Miria"

"if I had to wait for that, I couldn't wake you up till I was old and grey"

" So, you can afford leaving me alone for one more week cant you"

Yeah she kinda set that one up didn't she.

"Whatever, why is Luffy trying to drink the wooden railing"

Vera sat up and took a better look "Huh, he must still think he's back at the bar"

Miria felt a headache coming on "And why pray tell is that a valid explanation?"

She really didn't want to know the answer to this. But she was curious nonetheless

Vera proclaimed proudly "Because he took several shots out of my bellybutton there"

Miria doubted the validity of that statement. Vera probably said it to mess with her, to draw some kind of reaction out of her. Two could play at that game.

"So you finally found your true calling as a bar slut or tramp depending on what it says on your resume"

Vera misinterpreted the resume part as a veiled whore insult "Hey at least people would pay to spend time with me unlike you. They pay you to get rid of you"

That kinda stung especially since she did get bribed several times today to leave people alone. Sure it had to do with being a member of a gang and not her personally but a nugget of truth to any insult no matter how twisted was annoying.

"Miria you're back, join us!" Luffy luckily interceded

Miria welcomed Luffy's intrusion in her latest catfight with Vera especially seeing as she was losing that one. Well at least she got to kick the uppity bitch.

" Sure, but hear me out first" Miria replied

Luffy stopped chugging and started wobbling in place. Well at least he was making an effort to try and pretend he had the brain capacity right now to comprehend what she was saying. She didn't really want to waste her time on a Luffy as drunk as a skunk. But now that she was put on the spot, she had no choice.

She decided to stick to the essential facts " I got promoted today and found out who the leader is of the gang, a guy named Porter."

"Great so we just need to kill him and interrogate the nobles in charge"

"I think you mean interrogate him and kill the nobles" corrected Miria

"That's what I said"

Yeah definitely a waste of time, telling him now.

"I'm going to bed we'll discuss this further in the morning" she excused herself and already started walking towards her warm comfy bed.

"Oh okay ,then you can meet our new friend at the same time"

"Huh who are you talking about Luffy" she asked but didn't really care about the answer but she had to be polite.

"This girl we met at the bar called Nami"

Oh so just some random strange he liked. She so did not need to hear this shit right now

"We got to talking and guess what. She wants to rob the nobles just like us!" he said a little too loudly

Miria was all over him in a flash, clamping his mouth shut.

"Luffy not another word about this. Until I cant get drunk off your breath got it"

He nodded and she let him go. He gave her the stink eye and went below decks hopefully to sleep it off. Hey wait he was walking ,crap either that meant he was healed or he drank so much he couldn't feel the pain. Well luckily he could heal himself so it didn't matter much if he caused permanent injury, right?

"Smooth move using the situation like that to feel up Luffy, how'd it feel?" teased Vera as soon as Luffy was out of earshot

Crap she thought or hoped Vera had gone back to sleep. Turns out she was just waiting for the right moment to strike. She cursed the moment she ever tried to explain the concept of a ninja to her.

"Shut up, I was just making sure not everyone knew what our itinerary was for the next few weeks"

Though Miria wasn't sure since when robbing the nobles had been on the itinerary. Maybe she missed a memo when she was out stomping on the downtrodden.

"Uhuh a simple slap would have shut him up just fine, but you had to go the extra mile to make sure he couldn't speak. " she teased

"Better than your version of burning a hole in his pants to make him want to runaway"

She noticed that touched a nerve so she continued

"How's it feel to have even the most resilient man runaway in fear from your mere gaze. I remember a story like that from my childhood. What was she called again, oh yeah Medusa"

That really pissed of Vera if that glare of hers really could turn people to stone she better strike a good pose soon, because it wasn't pulling any punches. Okay she went over the line but Vera called her old and… yeah she had no excuse. She had better apologize before Vera was done cataloguing all the ways she could extract an apology.

"I'm sorry Vera that was over the line" she apologized and reached out her hand to shake on it

Vera just glared at her hand for a minute before stomping of not saying a word. Yeah she was definitely going to feel that in the morning.

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Nami pov

Couple of days later

She was busy trying on her dress for the debutants ball. Trying to make sure she had just the right amount of cleavage to make her date putty in her hands, but not enough to scandalize the old hags in attendance.

She tried different combinations of pushing them together, or just showing more leg. After that came the decision of going for a stylish bun or for a more sexy look with her hair down, which could backfire immensely.

She wished she had more hair to make the bun work better. She ended up going for her hair down with a little accessory in it to keep it from being plain. She knew that most of the girls were going to end up with wavy curls but she didn't have the length for it. Sometimes it paid to be the odd duck out but she doubted it was one of those times.

After that were her shoes, which had to match her dress but the dress had to match his suit and he hadn't told her anything yet about that. Seriously why couldn't guys understand the importance of the right dress.

She looked impatiently at the clerk who was busy measuring her up. So they could get her measures for the preliminary dress designs. Some worked better with certain colors but the colors depended on the previously mentioned suit. He'd better not wait till the last moment to pick a suit and force her to pick a dress of the rack. She swore some guys did it on purpose, so they wouldn't have to buy a custom dress for their girlfriends.

Getting a custom dress was the least that slimy bastard could do for the huge favor, she was doing him by gracing his arm. Though the several tens of millions BelIis would certainly make up for it but he didn t know that.

She sighed, this score had been the largest so far and the most time consuming in setting up. If she failed it was almost a guaranteed execution. But there was no way she could raise one hundred million belI without taking some risk, before she died of old age.

Most pirates only carried a few million belI in these parts. She would have better luck in the grand line where inflation was through the roof, due to all the pirates taking their loot there and dying. It was like a weird kind of tourism effect and a definite drag on the economy of the other four seas. The marines helped somewhat by redistributing it through wages but overall it was only getting worse over time.

She herself predicted that in a few years the government would introduce a new currency exclusive to the grand line. So they could manipulate the exchange to keep the economies competitive.

She would have done it herself long ago to take away the pirate fortunes. She would laugh at the look on their faces when they realized they couldn't only exchange their belli's at a marine base. Tough luck getting back out with a bounty on your head. They would still have their gold to barter with but their money would become worthless when everyone started trading in the new currency.

But more importantly it could help with the problem of force concentration to catch pirates in remote areas. Though most pirates died on the grand line hence its nickname the pirate graveyard. It also had many losers who came back to their home seas and lived a life of luxury and impunity because the local marines were too weak to deal with them and HQ couldn't sent out high ranking marines out to play a game of cat and mouse with them.

She knew this fact well, after all It was the reason why Arlong had chosen East blue to settle down in. his fortune from the grand line allowed him to live as a king and the protection money was just a fun allowance. He didn't really need it but did it as a pastime and to prevent him from ever going broke.

If she was in charge she would have declared belI's as a currency only usable in the grand line to keep them there rather than being forced to spread out her troops to hunt down the strays causing trouble in the backwater countries.

The only reason why the world government hadn't done so, as far as she could tell was to enforce the feeling of unity and loyalty the world had towards the government. The government seemed to despise every form of decentralization and preferred to keep all the power centralized in one spot near the red line and Mariejoia. It was like they feared disobedience as soon as the respective seas got their own representative governments, which started with their own currency.

It made sense because a currency was one of the signs of a separate county but still couldn't they get over their pride to help the people. Though she also had to admit the thought of a possible world war between the rebelling seas and the grand line would be so disastrous as to be unmentionable, so maybe they preferred small time pirate attacks over that.

Though it was a cold hard truth to swallow that you had to be unhappy for the happiness of the world. She sometimes wondered how many others suffered under that same logic. By the looks of Grey terminal they all suffered for the happiness of the nobles rather than some ideal of world peace.

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Author notes

Take nothing seriously from the Nami dress shopping scene I just sucked it out of my thumb. I have no clue what matters when picking a dress and no intention of finding out.

About Vera re-growing her arm just like that, I can only shrug. I intended for them to have realistic wounds. I never argued they had to be lasting because it gets annoying when I can't say and she hit him back with her right arm, wait scratch that with her right stump. Though that being said there will be times when limbs come off and Luffy cant heal them and they might have to cauterize on the spot and walk around with a peg leg for a while.

Because Luffy can't do major surgery while being chased by marines. He will get better at it over time but he will keep a downtime regardless to prevent over use. Best case scenario is him and Ivankov working together to boost his powers to heal the Whitebeard pirates which will shave years of his life.

I thought about how funny a one armed Vera could be but I'll leave that for another time. I haven't found enough inspiration yet for the necessary jokes. I mean one armed monster wasn't nearly creative enough. I think I need to read some quality Mad eye Moody fics.