Here we go, last chapter of the Arlong Park Arc, hope you enjoy :)

Wealth, Fame, Power…

Chapter 36: Salvation

Nami stared at Luffy with her eyes bulged open in shock, was he serious? Was he really leaving the decision up to her and the village?

She gazed deeply into his solid onyx eyes, trying to find some kind of hesitation in them. And when she saw none, she gulped as she turned her attention to the unconscious fishman at her feet.

What was she supposed to say? This was all so sudden, and the decision was huge for just one person.

But it's not just on one person. Nami remembered, turning around to see the whole village approaching her from behind.

Nojiko could easily see the hesitation in her sister's eyes, and she really couldn't blame her. She knew her well enough to know that they were thinking the same exact way right now. Sure, they would love to see the piece of crap who killed their mother and imprisoned them for years, dead and in the ground. But now that the decision was actually in front of them like this… It wasn't so easy.

Everyone had now gathered around Arlong's limp form, many of the villagers still couldn't believe that their life long tormenter had been taken down. Especially by someone as non-imposing as Luffy. But for now, those thoughts were on the backburner, because clearly, there were bigger issues at hand.

Luffy now had his back completely turned in defiance, satisfied with his decision to leave this up to Nami and her people.

Nami shuddered once again when she looked down at the fishman for a second time. Even going as far as to audibly gulp.

And when everyone least expected it, a blue hand twitched against the ground it was laying on.

Everyone jumped back a few steps in fear when Arlong suddenly lifted his head up to meet their gazes. He looked even worse than they had originally thought. His face in particular looked increasingly disturbing with his lack of nose, and now even teeth.

And before anyone knew it, the battle scarred fishman was reaching up hesitantly to the one human he'd put his trust in for all of these years.

"Nami, please… Just kill me…"

Nami trembled at the cold and lifeless tone behind Arlong's words. What the hell was this!? Now he wanted to die?

"My brethren… I want to join them. Tell… Tell Jinbe I'm… I'm sorry."

Nami didn't get a chance to respond to his bone chilling last words though, because without any further delay, Genzo was in his face, his loaded gun placed right on the fishman's forehead.

"Oh don't you worry you son of a bitch, I plan on blowing your brains out all over this place," he said darkly, pressing his index finger to the trigger. "This is for Bellemere you monster!"

Arlong only smiled creepily at the man, his toothless and bloody gums only amplifying this further. "Heheh, good job, you got your revenge. But now you've gotta keep living with her being gone. But don't worry, I'll say hi to her in hell once I meet up with all my comrades again."

It was at this moment that Nami realized her next course of action. So much evil, and so much hatred and spite in one single person… There was a special place in hell for people like Arlong… But he wouldn't be reaching it just yet.

The navigator quickly thought back to an instance a while ago that she could compare directly to this moment in front of her. It was back when they were still in Syrup Village and Luffy was fighting Kuro.

She still remembered the goosebumps that she got when Luffy said those eye-opening words.

"A CREW IS SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE FAMILY!"

Back then, all she could think about was how different Luffy was from the ruthless Arlong. But now that she was looking more closely, maybe they weren't such opposites like she first thought.

While Luffy was a lot cooler of a guy than Arlong could ever be, she could at least see how deeply they both cared for their friends.

Something that she would now have to thank the rubber man profusely for.

But for right now, she could use this so-called 'weakness' to her advantage.

"Genzo wait!" She called out, stopping the sheriff right before he could hold down the trigger.

He looked back to her with a serious expression on his face and his teeth grinded together in fury. He honestly couldn't think of anything he'd rather be doing then smearing Arlong's guts all over the place.

But he held off, because his Nami called to him.

"Don't do it…"

Genzo's serious expression turned into one of pure shock. "WHAT!?"

Nami didn't hesitate to continue on. "If we have to live with Bellemere's death, then he has to live with the deaths of all of his fallen crew. Trust me on this, I know what it means to him."

Nami couldn't help but meet Luffy's eyes while she talked, becoming more and more confident as he gave her an approving glance.

He would have done the exact same thing in her shoes.

Genzo shot up from his previous position, ready to argue the orange haired teen's decision, but another protest quickly outshined him.

"Why you little brat! Don't you even think about th-"

"See!" Nami yelled, pointing out Arlong's actions to the rest of her village. "He knows it too! This is what's best everyone! He can suffer all on his own in prison for the rest of his life!"

Everyone watched the orange haired teen with curiosity spread out across their faces. This was actually starting to make sense. So much so in fact, that someone had now stepped forward from the crowd to speak up about the matter.

"Hell yeah! Let him suffer like he's done to us!" A young boy wearing a green beanie proclaimed. "He killed my dad, and now I have to live without him! So now you get see what it feels like, you big bully!"

"Hey, yeah, Nami and the kid have a point!"

"Yeah, it does make sense. Let's make sure this bastard never sees the light of day ever again!"

Nami smiled at the now raging villagers behind her logic. Even Nojiko seemed to be on board with it if her big grin was anything to go off. The only person who appeared unsure now was Genzo. He just couldn't seem to let go of the pent up anger inside of him like she, Luffy and the rest of the villagers had. She couldn't blame him though, had it not been for the rubber man and his kindness, her decision might have been flipped on its head right now.

"Y-you… You bitch!" Arlong screamed, lunging out for the orange haired teen with all the force he could muster up.

Which in the end, wasn't a lot, because his attempt was immediately shut down by a grinning Luffy stomping his body back onto the ground. "Shishishi, that's not a bad idea Nami. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to kill him either since I'm not all worked up anymore."

The navigator matched the boy's sheepish grin happily, she was even about to respond back, but someone beat her to the punch.

"I'm here Arlong, where's my money-ahhhh!" A man shouted in shock as he entered Arlong park.

The whole crowd wasted no time in turning to the interesting man. Yes, that was definitely one way to describe his appearance. The man, if you could even call him that, was a meek looking one. Whiskers were protruding from his face and he had a sly look about him as well. He also appeared to be a marine officer, perhaps a captain even. Because of this, he and the small army behind him were all in uniform.

"W-what the hell is going on here! Who are you people!?"

When no one answered, the marine officer just looked around more closely. His eyes eventually landed on the teenage boy with his foot pressed on Arlong's back as a sign of victory.

"Oh, I see…" The man's demeanor instantly calmed, a sly and dirty smirk growing on his face. "Arlong has been beaten by the local militia here, how wonderful."

Nami narrowed her eyes at the man, he sounded more sarcastic than happy for them.

"In that case, allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Captain Nezumi from the marine East Blue division! And with the authority bestowed upon me, I will be confiscating any and all of the left behind treasure that previously belonged to the Arlong Pirates… No need to thank me."

"What!?" Nami sprang up. "All my money!"

Some of the villagers were also taken aback by the strange news.

"Is this some kind of joke!? Now's your chance to take in Arlong you scumbag!"

"Yeah! What kind of marine are you!"

"Where were you when we needed you!"

"We won't let you just take what Nami worked so hard for!"

Snickering at all the outcries, Nezumi prepared himself to speak again, only to be shut down by an angered Luffy emerging out in front of the crowd.

"Hey! Marine guy! My name is Monkey D. Luffy, the man who'll be King of the Pirates one day, and my crew and I were the ones who took down these bastards. So we get all of their treasure! And if you've got a problem with that, then I'll be happy to take you all on right now!"

"W-what!? Arlong was beaten by other pirates!?" The marine captain stuttered. He would have never guessed that in a million years.

Nezumi stood and thought over his decision for a moment. On one hand, this boy did seem true to his word. That was obvious by how bloody and beaten he looked. Would he seriously be able to take on a squad of fresh marines in his condition?

…

"Grrr, damn it, fine. but i'm gonna make sure that you become a wanted man after this!" This was better in the end for Nezumi, if this guy really did take down Arlong, then he wasn't gonna risk anything on him. Even if he was half dead already.

Luffy smiled when some marines made a move to restrain and pick up Arlong, along with any other fishmen that were still alive. And soon, when they were all on their way out, he felt the familiar sensation of his hat touching his head and smiled even bigger.

"Here's your dirty old hat you moron," Nami joked, giggling lightly when Luffy turned around to face her.

"What? Dirty?" Luffy asked curiously, reaching up to take it off his head so he could look it over. After inspecting it for a few seconds and finding nothing wrong, the boy decided to take a huge whiff of the inside, hoping he would find the problem.

"Mmmm, tangerines, what are you talking about Nami? It smells way better than before!"

The navigator couldn't help it when her cheeks heated up at Luffy's stupid comment. "Ugh, shut up you moron! That's not what I mea-"

But before she could finish, she felt his head dunk right into her chest, his severe amount of blood loss finally taking its toll and knocking him out.

Wow, he's heavier than I thought he'd be. She thought to herself as she held him up. She really did have a long list of things to thank him for. Hell, he could barely even stand up straight and he was ready to take on a whole crew of marines just for her money. King of the Pirates… Call me crazy, but I'm starting to believe it, you idiot.

The following days in Cocoyashi were quite eventful indeed. As soon as word hit the streets that Arlong was down and out, celebration became the norm everywhere on the island.

As for the Straw Hat Pirates, they were all in recovery mode for now, and everyone could definitely agree that it was well deserved.

"Shishishi! That's so cool Usopp! You did all of that on your own!?"

"You bet I did! You should have seen me Captain! I was shooting like the wind, and there was nothing any of those crappy fishmen could do against the mighty Usopp!"

"I call bullshit, there's no way you killed four of those guys without any help," Sanji muttered from the side of the room. He was already in a bad mood to begin with, since the doctor of the island wasn't letting him smoke inside where they were all sitting.

"Ask anyone! I'm the hero of the village! I even have my mighty battle scar to prove it!" The long nosed teen defended. Even going as far as to point to his cheek where a small band-aid was placed.

"GAH! Shut the hell up Usopp!" Zoro screamed in agony from the table where he was currently getting stitches. "You wanna get some real damn scars!? Just you wait!"

Usopp instantly shot up from his seat to hide behind Luffy. "Hehe… Um, g-good one Zoro, haha."

"Oh yeah, and speaking of scars, I hope my arms will recover from all the burns from before. I can barely even feel them after that fight. Especially after you put on all that cold cream, doctor guy."

Said doctor wiped his brow and turned away from the swordsman, having finally finished his last stitch. "Don't you worry kid, that cream was made for third degree burns, and what you had was way less severe. It's probably that weird body of yours, it heals really fast."

Luffy beamed at the man. "Yeah, and I'll feel even better after I get a bite to eat."

"Hah perfect, you all just let me know if you need anything else. I'm gonna go work on Nami's shoulder now. But you're all free to go and join the party."

"Yay, meat!" Luffy yelled as he sprang out the door.

"Doctor wait!" Usopp yelled suddenly. "Are you sure about me? This wound on my face is really starting to burn!"

The doctor just laughed the boy's question off like a joke. "You'll be fine son, it's your buddy here that really got it bad," he said, pointing at Zoro. "You better not move around too much alright greenie? That means no extracurricular activities with any of our fine women, you got it?"

Zoro scoffed and put his head down. Just how undisciplined did this guy think he was.

"Wait, you guys have other babes around here besides Nami!?" Sanji swooned, hearts once again appearing in his eyes.

The old medic got a lecherous look in his eyes before pushing his glasses further up on his nose. "Well my boy… Let me just put it this way… I wish I was your age right about now."

That was all the encouragement the blonde boy needed to throw himself out the window of the doctor's office. If things went his way tonight, he would be scoring big time.

Puffing his chest out and preparing all of his best stories, Usopp walked out into the party as well. Ready to show everyone what a brave warrior he really was.

The party was truly gargantuan, raving on for almost four whole days. Zoro didn't end up joining in until the second day since he wanted to make sure his wounds were at least stable first. After that though, he drank until his urine was coming out as pure alcohol.

Sanji had girls all over him on the first day, and boy was he a happy camper. You couldn't catch him without a smile on his face. But that soon went up in flames when all the girls found the man who saved them when they were in a pickle.

That was when they all immediately flocked to Usopp and his brave stories of the deep blue sea. He kept going on and on about how brave and incredible he was, and they ate it all up. See, much to Sanji's disappointment, Usopp had the advantage of having the entire village see his fight, something that the blonde boy simply could not compete with.

Luffy was a whole other story… he was easily the most popular pirate in all of Cocoyashi at the moment. And it wasn't just with girls either, everyone seemed to love him. Which was to be expected of course. After all, this was the guy who took down the big bad Arlong. Who wouldn't love him?

The rubber man didn't seem to care at all about all the people around him though. All he could focus on throughout the four days was how much he could stretch his cheeks full of food.

And finally, Nami. She didn't come out until the fourth and final night on the island. And when she did emerge, she was branding a similar, but very new, design on her shoulder. This one however, was something that actually meant something to her, and something she could take with her forever.

And now that it was done at last, she could join the party with the rest of the village.

But she couldn't really bring herself to go out and have any fun.

It had been so long since there was any peace in

This village, and so now all she wanted to do was sit down and take it all in.

And that's exactly what she did.

With a calming and relaxing sigh, the navigator took a seat on the porch of a house and just watched the party.

She watched them all closely, being almost ninety percent sure that Zoro was flatout drunk. And she giggled softly when she saw a bunch of girls sitting around Usopp and looking at him dreamily, with Sanji off to the side crying. And lastly, her eyes landed on Luffy.

Luffy…

She really couldn't believe a person like him even existed. Like c'mon, who has a near death experience every few days and then just laughs it off by stuffing his face?

He really was a weirdo.

But she couldn't help but be intrigued by him. What was his thought process like? And why was he always so straightforward all the time?

She must have been quite lost in her thoughts too, because she didn't even notice that her sister was sitting right next to her now, watching her sightline.

"He's cute."

Nami shook out of her thoughts in a hurry and looked at her sister oddly. "Uh, what?"

Nojiko just smiled and repeated herself, still staring at the rubber man. "He's cute, but in like a little brother kind of way. I don't really see what's got you ogling him like that."

"Wh-what!? Nojiko!? I wasn't ogling him!"

"Well you were doing something all right," the blunette joked.

When Nami just looked away instead of responding, Nojiko continued. "Aw c'mon Nami, don't tell me that's all it takes for you. He saves you once like a knight and you're already into him? That's pretty lame."

Nami turned back to her sister with her cheeks red. She was not gonna just take this lying down. "Don't be stupid Nojiko, unlike you, not all of us have our minds in the gutter all the time. I just think he's interesting, don't you? I mean seriously, he just took down the strongest pirate in these waters and he hasn't talked about it at all. How many people do you know like that?"

Nojiko blinked rapidly and looked back to her sister. Wow, she actually had a point there, most pirates would brag about something like that all the way to their grave. "Oh wow, you're right."

"Yeah, I know I'm right Nojiko. I wanna find out how he got like that. I wanna find out more about him. Because I've never met a real pirate who was actually a good person, you know?"

"Wow Nami, that's actually really mature of you," Nojiko complimented, standing up and getting ready to leave.

Nami grinned sheepishly. "Aww, thanks Nojiko, that really means al-"

"But just remember, if you don't wanna wait around forever, you better make the first move, boys are stupid!" The blunette laughed as she ran off.

Nami sat there and contemplated the words she just heard before jumping up in anger with her fist raised. "Damn it Nojiko! You're lucky I'm leaving tomorrow!"

The very next day, the straw hats were ready to depart. Everything was in order, and the five members were all on board, ready to push off and set sail.

Nami was just finishing up her goodbyes to everyone while Zoro and Sanji argued. Usopp was saying his goodbyes too, but was having a bit of trouble telling all of his fangirls that they couldn't come aboard the ship.

All in all, Luffy was truly satisfied with his crew. And now that he had enough people, he would be sailing for the Grand Line in no time at all.

Still though, a few words stuck with him from the previous night before. They were from the sheriff guy. He told him to protect Nami and to never make her cry, and Luffy couldn't have agreed more. He would do anything for Nami, just like he would for all of his crew. He would die for all of them in a heartbeat.

Luffy was about to continue his serious thoughts further, but his stomach began to grumble. They had just pushed off and were now a decent ways away from the village. And while Nami was still waving goodbye to her home, the straw hat teen decided to go for a risky move.

Stretching out an arm, the rubber man plucked a tangerine off of the grove that Nami had brought with her. But just as he was about to drop it into his mouth, the worst came to pass.

"Oh no you dont!"

In the blink of an eye, Nami was on him, not hesitating at all to swing her fist right at his skull with all of her might.

"Ow!" Luffy shouted, grabbing his head where he just received the blow. "What gives Nami!? I was just hungry!"

"Yeah? Well you're always hungry, so have Sanji make you something. This was the only little section of tangerine grove that Arlong didn't destroy, so I'm not gonna let you eat it all to hell."

"Well you didn't have to hit me so hard," Luffy grumbled.

Nami just looked at him oddly, as if remembering something. "Wait… I thought I couldn't hurt you before because you were rubber?"

Luffy, along with everyone else on the ship looked at the navigator with wide eyes. She had a very valid point right there.

"Woah… you're right. I can't feel pain unless I get cut."

But Nami was seeing this from a completely different angle, a much more devious one. She quickly got a hefty smirk on her face as she raised her fist again.

"Ouchie! Stop that Nami! How are you doing that!?"

But that didn't stop the girl from chasing him all around the ship, effectively paying him back for all the times he had annoyed her before.

"Ah! Ouch! Owie! Someone stop her! She's a witch!"

And of course the rest of the crew could only laugh their asses off.