Chapter 21

All Together?

"Nami, why are you—?"

"That's not important! Got it!?" Nami yells back at Maxwell. "Just leave before you get yourselves killed," Nami leaves them with the door open.

"...What do you think Zoro?" Maxwell looks at the swordsman for his opinion.

"...Well, I do need a shirt. How about we look around," Zoro gets up and straps his sheath back in place.

"Somehow I knew you were going to say that..." Maxwell chuckles and follows his friend out of the cell.

The two pirates walk around the corridor until they exit the building and are back into Arlong's courtyard. However, while Arlong did leave, there were still fishmen that had stayed back. "Hey! What are you two doing out of your cell!?"

"You take the ones on the left, I take the ones on the right?" Maxwell asks his friend.

"Works for me," Zoro rushes the fishmen with his katana. Ready to cut them down.

Maxwell creates a Static Cage, trapping the fishmen inside, zapping and dragging anyone who tried to leave. He also creates an Ice Wall to cut them off from the water. Normally ice wouldn't be a problem for fishmen but the unbearable cold kept them from punching it. Maxwell fires arcane bolts from his staff, easy pickings for him, keeping them all in one place. The fight was relatively simple.

With the fishmen defeated, Maxwell turned around and saw Zoro in the chair. He'd taken a shirt off one of the fishmen.

Zoro reclines in the throne, "Sigh... Even is she tells us to leave, we don't have anything to do outside of here..."

Maxwell approaches, "Perhaps. But we did promise Luffy that we'd bring her back."

"Jeez...," Zoro sighs. "Seems like we got ourselves tied up in a pretty complicated mess."

The sound of a trumpet goes off, outside the watergate. The two companions look at each other and head over to investigate.

"That's strange..." Hatchan mutters, holding a whole hog spit roast, "What's with him? Roasted pig should be his favourite! Maybe he already ate his meal...? Well, I'll just eat this then!"

Zoro grabs onto the top of the wall and looks over, "Was that you who blew that trumpet just now?"

"Nyu!" Hatchan flinches over his shoulder, "W-Who are you!? Who, me? I'm Hatchan! You can call me Hachi!"

Maxwell climbs up to look at him too. "So you're a fishmen too?" Zoro asks the octopod.

"Yup, yup! I'm a charming octopus fishman! I feel like I've seen you before... Are you with the marines? Or are you a guest?"

"Guest?" Zoro eyes Maxwell as he gestures to go on. "Yeah... I'm probably more of a guest. Got an escort too." He points at Maxwell with his thumb.

"Hello!" The mage waves.

"But you know Arlong's not here right now."

"Yeah, he's not. Where'd he go?" Zoro wonders.

"It seems that this long-nosed intruder got away fro us. We already have two of his companions tied up here, but Arlong went to Cocoyasi Village to go catch the other human!" Maxwell"s eye twitches at the octopus. They were the supposed companions Hachi was talking about, and didn't realize it was them.

Zoro sighs a little relieved Usopp got away. So asks Hachi, "How can we get to the village?"

Hachi brings out this giant pot, "Get on! You're a guest, aren't you? I'll give you a lift!"

Zoro and Maxwell look at each other. Hachi seemed harmless enough, so they climbed over the wall.

Maxwell looks over at the roast, "...You mind if I take a leg off that boar? I'm a little hungry." He really wasn't, but he needed something to eat to rebuild his muscles again.

"Sure! I don't mind. Moomoo ain't here anyways."

They get in the pot, Maxwell with his roast, and Hachi swims down and pulls at the ropes around their vessel.

"We're here!" Hachi had brought them to the docks. "This is Cocoyasi Village! Arlong should be here somewhere."

"Alright, thanks." "And thanks for the food!"

"Don't mention it!" Hachi takes the pot and swims off, "Take care! And come visit again! Bye now!"

"Yeah..." "Stupidity is rather apparent in this world, huh?" "Well, he's a strange one alright."

Zoro and Maxwell turn around and look at the village. It was certainly a coastal paradise. Square wood houses, palm trees, umbrella tables, rock rimed roads. It would be an ideal place to live, if it weren't under Arlong's control.

"So that saw-nose is in this town too, huh...?"

"Let's look for Usopp first. He's probably further inland."

Maxwell and Zoro run up the road and notice how empty the town is. They saw that there was a scuffle, so Arlong was probably gone. However that doesn't stop them from running up the road. One side, was filled with rice paddies, while the other was jungle.

Zoro heard something as they run, "What's that sound?" Maxwell focuses and notices it too. The sound of rushing water, and then a crash. "The hell was that? Did someone drop a bomb or something?"

"Sounds more like an impact," Maxwell slows down, trying to listen.

"Well in any case, we have to hurry up or Usopp will be—" A sail boat crashes through the forest.

"AAAAAHHHHH! Oh! Zoro!" "Bro!" "Luffy...!" "How the hell!?"

The boat skids on the ground and catches Zoro in it's path. It does across the rice paddies and crashes against a hill!

"Zoro! Luffy!" Maxwell runs after the boat towards the crash sight.

"The hell do you think you're doing!?" yells Zoro, getting up for being sidelined.

Luffy dusts himself off, "What do you mean? We've come to get Nami back. Haven't you guys found her yet? Where's Max, Usopp, and Johnny?

"Of all the Maker Damn entrances you have to make," Maxwell comes up to the group, "you had to come in flying!?"

"Hey! Max!" Luffy waves at the mage.

Sanji looks down to see Yosaku head down in the wreckage, "Hey, you alright?" Yosaku manages to pull himself out.

"Wait, Usopp? Oh crap! Now's not the time to be wasting time!"

"Hm? What's wrong?" Luffy asks Zoro.

"If that idiot got himself caught, he's going to be—" "He was already killed!"

Everyone turns their heads to see Johnny by the road, "It's too late. Brother Usopp... was murdered by Sister Nami!" The guys all look at him shocked. Had Nami really killed Usopp?

"Wait, are you serious Johnny?" Maxwell asks the bounty hunter.

"I'm sorry, but it's true. She killed Brother Usopp."

Luffy runs up to Johnny and punches him. "Say that one more time, and I swear I'll kick your ass!"

Maxwell, Zoro, Yosaku, and Sangi run after him, "Luffy stop! It's not as if Johnny's the one at fault here!"

"Well he's making up bullshit!" Luffy yells back, "There's no way that Nami would kill Usopp! We're crewmates!"

Johnny yells in Luffy's grip, "It's fine if you don't believe it...! But I saw it with my very eyes...!"

"Just who did you call crewmates, Luffy?" Nami appears on the road. Luffy let Johnny go to look at her. She had her staff out, "What did you come to this island for?"

"What're you talking about? Aren't we crewmates? We've come for you, of course!"

"Well you're nothing but a nuisance," she crosses her arms. "And crewmates? Don't make me laugh. It was nothing but a little stupid cooperation." Luffy looks at her surprised.

Sanji blushes and waves his arm, "Na... Nami! It's me! Do you remember me? Let's set sail together!"

"Shut up! Can't you see you're making things more complicated by butting in!?" Zoro yells at the cook.

"What was that? Don't you know love is a hurricane!?" Sanji gets into Zoe's face.

Johnny points at Nami, "I told you! She's a witch!"

"I'm beginning to wonder if I should be offended by that or not..." Maxwell mutters to himself.

"If it means she can get her hands on the treasure hidden in her village, she'll gladly join the Arlong Pirates and even kill!" Johnny turns to the rest of them, "She's a cold-blooded witch, through and through! You've all been deceived from the start! And I swearI saw her stabbing Usopp!"

Nami acts like she doesn't care, "...So what? Would you like to try and avenge him?" Johnny looks at Nami, grimacing. Maxwell however notices the glove. It wasn't there before.

"Let me tell you one thing. After the idiotic stunt that Maxwell and Zoro pulled, Arlong wants them and their companions dead. No matter how monstrously strong you may all be, You're no match at all for the real monster."

Maxwell steps forward, "Nami, where's Usopp?"

"At the bottom of the ocean."

"That's it, I've had enough of you!" Zoro runs up to throttle Nami.

"And I've had enough of you!" Sanji kicks at Zoro, but he ducks just in time.

"Does a swordsman harm ladies as well, Roronoa Zoro?" "The hell did you just say? Don't butt in when you don't know the first thing about anything!"

"ENOUGH!" Maxwell stomps his staff.

An Ice Wall springs up between the two monsters, "What the—!" "The hell, Max!"

"If you're going to fight then take it somewhere else!" Maxwell looks back at Nami, "We don't have time for it."

"That's right! If you're going to fight, why don't you do it somewhere other than this island?" Nami calls out. "I'd rather not have outsiders stick their noses in this island's affairs anymore!"

"Do you still not get it!? I only stuck around with you for the money! And now that you don't even have a cent, I couldn't care less about you! If this is about the ship, I'll give it back. So go find another navigator and go search for your little One Piece or whatever! Now get off this island! You eyesores!" Nami leers at them, "Farewell."

"Nami...," the guys can only look at her. But Luffy doesn't get with the picture and falls backwards.

"Ah! Brother Luffy!?"

Luffy puts his hands behind his head, "I'm gonna take a nap."

"A nap!? In this emergency!? In the middle of the road!?" The bounty hunters yell. Maxwell doesn't take his eyes off Nami, and walks around as Luffy makes his distraction.

"I don't feel like leaving this island yet, and I don't really care what's going on this island either... And I'm sleepy. So I'm going to sleep."

"FINE! DO WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT! YOU CAN DIE FOR ALL I CARE!" Nami turns around to run, but is caught be Maxwell. He eyes the glove and sees a trail of blood run down. She tears of his grip, "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME!"

She runs away, and none of the others move from the road. "Looks like we're staying," Maxwell takes a seat.

"You're all out of your minds!" yells Yosaku. "It's just as that insane witch said! Brother Usopp's been killed, and Arlong's out to get us! Just what reason do you have for staying on this island any longer!? I, for one, believe what Johnny said he saw!"

"It's only been a short while, but I'm afraid this is where we must part. We have no desire to be hunted down and killed by Arlong!" Johnny amends.

"Fine," says Zoro.

Johnny and Yosaku then leave, saying their farewells.

"Well... What now?" Sanji asks. He had sat down against a tree while they were waiting on Luffy.

"Name's hand was bleeding," Maxwell states.

"What...!?" Sanji turned to the mage. This also caught the other's attention. "Then why the hell didn't you say anything!?"

"This island... It's precious to her. I think Nami would do just about anything for it. She can act like a ice queen all she wants, but she cares about this place. It's her home."

Sangi sighs and rest his head against the tree, "...Do you really think Nami killed Long-nose?"

"Who knows?" said Zoro. "Maybe after I called her small-time, she got so pissed off that she really did kill him."

"Small time!?" Sanji lunges at the swordsman, "Nami's breast's aren't small time!"

Zoro blocks his kick, "Is that all you can think ab..."

"Eh?"

"Ah..."

Usopp's head was stuck between Sanji's foot and Zoro's sheath. "Well he's alive." "Maybe not for much longer..."

"Usopp!"