Chapter 4: An Orange-Haired Thief, in Orange Town
Luffy was back on the seas, but not in high spirits. After his fiasco with Alvida and Morgan, he was itching for an actual fight. He spent so much time at Marineford that he'd forgotten that ordinary people were weak. And that's not even mentioning Koby.
"Haa, I already miss him," Luffy said dejectedly.
*SMACK*
He then slapped himself
"Snap out of it Luffy! You're probably going to see him again, besides he should be with the Marines living out his dream." Luffy was and is still surprised by how quickly the two bonded. It was that bond that was guilt-tripping him over an imaginary scenario.
'I've swept the deck just like you asked, captain!' said the imaginary Koby in a salute.
Luffy had a disgusted expression "Urgh, that is not right"
*RUMBLE* *RUMBLE*
*KRAK-BOOM*
Luffy quickly turned around to see a massive storm creeping upon him.
"W-what the heck?! I thought I was in the east blue!"
He quickly closes the sheets so as not to lose control of his tiny vessel. He then whips out two oars and starts rowing away from the storm as fast as possible. But as he's paddling he hears several cries for help.
"IT'S A SHIP!"
"AHOY!"
"WE'RE OVER HERE!"
"Shipwrecked survivors at a time like this?! Are you serious?!" Luffy had looked over his shoulder to see three heads bobbing above the water with flailing arms.
"I'M NOT STOPPING! GRAB AND CLIMB IN!" was the only thing the poor lads hear as they saw a boat barreling down at them
"AAAAAHHH!" they all said in unison
-o-
"Dang, you all managed to hang on, impressive stuff!" the pirates turned around from catching their breath to a boy sporting a smug-ass grin
"YEAH! NO THANKS TO YOU!" the three survivors yelled out.
"HA! HA! HA! You guys are pretty-!" Luffy was enjoying himself until he got a good look at the jolly roger one of the men sported on his cap.
"...you gentlemen wouldn't happen to work for 'Buggy the Clown' by any chance would you?" Luffy said in all seriousness but still sporting a smile on his face.
"Huh, how d'ya-" one of the goons spoke before realizing what was on his head. "Oh yeah."
That same goon started talking again. "Well since you know who we work for it'll make things go a lot faster, hehehe."
"Everything you have is ours now brat"
"Surrender peacefully or else"
The other two chimed in. but all three of them unsheathed their cutlasses, all of which turned a shiny black.
'Dang, they're all just low-level scrub but they all know Haki. Guess that's to be expected they're all part of an emperor's crew. on top of that, we're all on a tiny boat.'
"Sounds like fun!" Announced Luffy with excitement. 'Aside from the Haki part. I hate fighting people with Haki."
-o-
"W-we're all very sorry!"
All the goons were beaten, blue, and swollen and two of them were unconscious. Luffy didn't have a scratch on him but was out of breath.
'Damn I almost fell off like a hundred times, and I would be a lot more injured if it weren't for my body. I hope this doesn't become a trend,' Luffy thought.
He was being pushed during this fight. He couldn't nor wouldn't lie about that, but he wasn't pushed to the point where he was forced to rely on his devil's fruit or his… 'Haki'.
"So… why are you guys out here in the east blue? Shouldn't you be in the grand line with the rest of the monsters" Luffy sat back and asked.
"..." The lackey who was still awake was hesitant to answer but gave in after going through his choice.
"Fine!... We're here because of our leader, Cabaji-sama." the one with the cap spoke up
"Cabaji, as in the 'Circus Master Cabaji'?" Luffy's inquiry was filled with exhaustion and dread
The grunt nodded
"We're here to make some quick cash and dip ASAP"
"...Quick cash?"
"Yeah, well… the boss has a competition with Mohji-sama. Long story short, Big Boss has 'quotas' that everybody meets to prove their worth. And whatever someone makes, the boss gets 30%. Due to this, there are a bunch of factions who work together and pool their wealth, and Cabaji-sama and Mohji-sama make a competition out of it."
"And the leaving, as well as why you'd come to the east blue?"
"Well the due date is soon and even with an eternal pose, it'll take a month or two, to make it back to home base and most of the treasure we get is loot we steal from the navy or other pirates. But grand line opponents are a pain in the ass so why not go outside the grand line we thought. We already visited the other blues and this was the last."
"So… he's here, Cabaji?"
"No, no of course not. He has more important matters to deal with, there's no way he'd come out to the east blue to check on us. We're only division eight out of seventeen."
Luffy's expression didn't change but internally he was jumping for joy.
'Hwooo! Oh, thank Vegapunk! Holy cow, I don't think I'm mentally prepared to fight a commander of an emperor yet'
…
…
…
"What the fuck are you doing?"
Luffy was snapped out of his thought by the grunt's comment
"NOTHING! …*Ahem* final question, how did you end up in the water?"
"That bitch!"
Luffy was caught off-guard by the sudden hostility
"We were coming back from a good haul only for that bitch to play 'damsel in distress' and then summon that storm!"
"Wait, what?"
"There was no way she could've just predicted that storm. We're grand-line pirates for crying out loud yet it still caught us by surprise. The only explanation is that she's eaten a devil fruit."
Luffy processed all the information together to create a plan to go off of.
"...alright I've decided!"
"Huh?"
"You guys have some sort of base to stash all your goods right?"
"...yeah?"
"Okay, lead me there"
"WHAT!"
'Wanna be thrown overboard with your hands and legs tied up?"
"...Dammit"
-o-
This was a good day for Nami. She scored not only twenty-seven million from the pirates from this morning but an additional forty-three million berries from the suckers she just left in the dust. It was risky as all hell but worth it. Though that's how it's been lately. So what if things get more dangerous, a couple of scrapes and bruises are nothing compared to the torture she and her village endured.
Her newest risk was heading to orange town to rob the pirates staying there blind. When she heard about it she immediately knew this had to be her next mark. The situation hit too close to home. So what if they were an emperor's crew, they were still human; and she's been surrounded by monsters since she was ten.
-o-
"Okay we're here"
Luffy looked around. They made land at a beach with the town being a short walk away.
"Thanks, bro. Oh! By the way, I was never planning to throw you overboard"
"...what"
"Yeah, that was just to make you go along with me. But I did plan for you not to be awake by now…"
Before the goon had any time to react Luffy had blitzed him knocking him out without a sound
"Can't have you running around like a headless chicken, shi shi shi!"
Luffy began his leisurely walk around town searching for all the loot the pirates had stashed.
Unfortunately due to the buildings blocking his vision, he couldn't see the two large ships docked at the port.
-o-
*HAH* *HAH* *HAH*
"GET BACK HERE"
This wasn't going according to plan at all.
If someone told Nami that these guys were Fishman in really convincing human costumes she'd believe them in a heartbeat. These guys were way too fast and way strong. The only reason why she'd outmaneuver them is because of her parkour skills. But the clincher was how they already seemed to know she was there and the way their blades and parts of their body turned a shiny black. Just like Arlong and his-
*KRAK-BOOM*
"WHOA! WHOA! WHOA!
*CRASH*
"aagh"
The building she just lept on turned into splitters and pebbles before she even reacted causing her to fall straight to the ground. On the bright side, she wasn't hit by any of the shrapnel.
The guy with bolts coming out of the sides of his head spoke up"He! He! He!, how'd you like that girly? That was my super special move: 'Tough rock throw'! He! He! He!".
'That the hell!' Nami thought to herself on the ground. 'I thought that was a fucking cannonball! It was muscle-for-brains throwing a rock!?'
"Dang Captain. I know you're an absolute powerhouse but it still surprises me each time I see you in action." said the man with the checkered bandana.
"For real! But there's something even better to look at right in front of us." the last man, the one with the yellow plaid shirt
All the men looked at Nami like she was a piece of meat and started walking toward her.
'No please…' she closed her eyes
"HEEEEEEYYY!"
All those present looked toward the source of the sound. It was a boy about roughly about a hundred meters away or three hundred thirty feet. They couldn't make out all the details, only that she was wearing a red shirt with blue pants and a hat.
"Damn, what does this kid want-?"
The pirate with the bandana spoke up, only to be interrupted by a knee being firmly planted in his face and sent flying back into a building creating a sizable creator on impact
"B-BUTCH!/B-BUCTH!"
Both the other guys yelled out in concern
Nami, however, was speechless
She could barely make out his silhouette and before she could even react the boy was already past her. Hell, she didn't even react until she heard the two pirates yell out their comrade's name.
What did she do then? Well, she continued doing what she had been doing for the past eight years of her life.
"B-BOSS! YOU CAME TO RESCUE ME!"
She lied
"I'll get out of the way so you can get rid of these guys!"
She then got up and ran away
"Huh? Boss? Me?" was all Luffy could muster
"H-hey! Get back here!"
"Forget about her Frank! We got her boss right in front of us. Since he took butch down so easily he should be worth a lot."
"Yeah… yeah you're right!
You could practically see the berries signs in their eyes as they approached Luffy
'Really? This again?... At least this time it'll be easier to handle them"
The two pirates ran up to him swinging their Haki-coated swords down on Luffy. Luffy caught the two blades and melted them in the process, subsequently burning the hands of the goons
"Argh!"
"Fuck!"
They both recoiled in pain, their hands already forming blisters
"Dammit! He's a fruit user, Captain!"
"Way ahead of you!"
He coated his fists in Haki and lept toward Luffy at an insane speed, shattering the ground as he jumped
"Don't underestimate me!"
Luffy lit his hand and then made a slashing motion toward Frank and the other pirate. They both braced themselves with haki expecting a blow, a blow that never arrived.
"...Hah! Was that supposed to do-"
They lowered their guard, and that's when It hit them. It was a delayed attack meant to lower both of their guards and their Haki and catch them off-guard, knocking both lackeys out.
"I'm sorry you were saying?" Luffy had bent to the side and cupped his ear as if to hear better. And he did it all with a shit-eating grin
"On snap! I forgot to call out a name. Uh… Blazing Blade? No, too simple, Infernal Guillotine? Didn't I use Guillotine as a name today?... uh... How 'bout-"
"Argh, son of a bitch!"
Luffy was interrupted by Frank, who looked like he'd gotten up from a long nap. He was trying to get himself off his back
Luffy had walked over, tossed his slipper off, and planted his foot firmly in his face shoving it back into the ground
"For what's about to happen to you, I'd suggest coating your entire body in haki"
Frank coated himself nearly instantaneously
*KA-BOOM*
Luffy had created an explosion originating from the base of his foot. The same foot that was placed on Franks's face. Needless to say Frank wouldn't be waking up any time soon. Luffy didn't make it out unscathed either.
"*koff* *koff* Damn, nearly killed me just then. Note to self: watch out for oxygen, too much flame, or to close off an explosion and I'll suffocate to death." Luffy said just under his breath
"Wow! You're pretty strong aren't you, not to mention that fire of yours, yeesh! Would not like to be on the receiving side of that."
Luffy looked up at the voice he had just heard. There he saw a girl with ginger hair and strange clothing. She wore a sleeveless v-neck with three stripes over her torso, two around her collar, and two at the base of wear her sleeves should be. Moving down she wore a skirt with two circles on each side. But under that skirt, she wore ripped uneven jeans that didn't even reach down. And one of the legs had white and orange striped leggings while the other didn't and wore thick leather boots. But the thing that caught his eye the most was an axe strapped to the back of her waist. An axe that had a long piece of rope attached to the end of the handle and a cutting edge that was long. That's not even mentioning the scars she wasn't bothering to hide.
"Uh… who're you?"
"The name's Nami! I specialize in many fields of expertise, and one of my specialties is robbing pirates blind. Wanna team up with me?"
"Robbing pirates?"
"Yeah, that's right! I steal treasure from pirates, If we teamed up together we could make a fortune!"
"I don't wanna team up with you"
The bluntness of the answer caught Nami off-guard. What snapped her out of the shock was the sound of Luffy's feet walking away
"H-hey! Wait a minute!"
-o-
"What the hell is this?!"
Cabaji had heard a massive explosion in the distance and went to check it out. Despite being one of the 'Masters of Festivites' he decided to wait for a bit; only a fool would rush head-first into danger, and Cabaji was no fool.
"BUTCH!"
"FRANK!"
"CAPTAIN!"
The men part of division 8 ran towards their comrades and captain.
"My, my, Cabaji! you have quite the situation on your hands. First the stolen gold, know this~".
Cabaji turned around with a menacing glare.
"By any chance, did you teach one of your pets to breathe fire or make explosions? By the way, where is Riche?"
"If you're insinuating that I had Riche attack your men, you're much more foolish than you let on."
Cabaji reached for his sword to slice Mohjis head off for that comment but quickly shut down. After all, he wouldn't want to break the boss's rule on infighting now, would he?
*...!*
. As much as he hated Mohji he couldn't deny his faithfulness to the captain, faithfulness that rivaled his own, that was the whole reason for their competition; to prove themselves to the boss.
"Fine! I'll give it to you Mohji. You're not that much a sleazebag that you would attack my men, but you are just at fault in this situation if you let the culprit who did this walk away scot-free".
"Of course, no one gets away with screwing our crew. I'll have Riche sniff them out. In exchange for me keeping this a secret from the captain, I'll be taking 30% of what your entire faction has accrued so far"
"...Fine"
"B-Boss! You can't be!"
"However, that's only if you capture them first. On the other hand, if we're the ones to get to them first we'll be taking that 30% out of your cut."
"Deal"
Both Masters of Festivities turned around in an instant
"RICHIE!/BOYS!"
-o-
"Is this considered breaking?"
Nami turned to face Luffy
"You just beat up three crew members of an emperor's crew but you're more concerned about breaking?"
"First, it was six. Secondly, those guys deserved every second of that beatdown. The poor guy whose house this is probably doesn't"
Said Luffy complaining about the morals of breaking into some random person's house while also pulling out a chair and putting his feet on the table, making himself at home.
'This guy's a real piece of work…huh?'
"Six? You didn't already pick a fight with these guys, have you?"
"Yeah, three guys stranded in the middle of the sea saying some women stole their ship and summoned a storm with devil fruit powers. You would happen to know anything about that would-?"
Luffy looked up at Nami to see her making a smug and satisfied face.
"Oi! Why're you drifting off in the middle of a conversation?! Didn't your mother ever teach you that!"
This comment almost gave Nami whiplash at the mention of her mother.
"Oh, uh… sorry!... Now, why would you be looking for this...mysterious woman?"
"To get her to join my crew, duh."
"Crew? Wait you're not a pirate are you?"
Luffy grew that same smug and satisfied expression with a side of haughtiness on his face. He then immediately jumped on the table and crossed his arm.
"You're right on the money! You're looking at the future pirate-!"
*PUNCH*
*CRASH-POW*
"NO WAY IN HELL AM I JOINING YOUR CREW!"
Nami jumped on the table and punched Luffy square in the face sending him crashing into the ground. Luffy is on the ground cradling his broken and bleeding nose.
"Urgh, h-how did you do that?
"What you surprised that a girl can hit that hard? Don't be that surprised or else your stupid might show you damn-"
"No, not that! Wait, no… Exactly that! How did manage to hurt me?! It should be impossible for anything to hurt me!"
Luffy was bragging to Koby yesterday about how he was invulnerable due to the gomu, lonsdaleite, and Lugarite his body had fused with. His devil fruit should've also absorbed the force of that hit too! How did this girl manage to get a good hit?
Nami in the meanwhile was just plain old confused. Luffy didn't sound like some arrogant egotistical pirate who had their worldview shattered, he sound genuinely shocked and curious.
"W-well I'm not exactly sure about what you're talking about, but to me, it just felt like I was punching a normal dude"
'...wait. WHY AM I BEING ALL APOLOGETIC FOR?! THIS KID'S A PIRATE!'
"Hm… m'kay"
Luffy got back up on his feet and snapped his nose back into place. the hand that was on his nose began glowing blue. Just then two blue ethereal snakes had leaped from the back of his palm and into his face.
"W-what the?!"
He then removed his hand showing the snake circling his broken nose with a bright flame- the normal colors of flame this time- engulfing his nose. And within moments Luffys nose had been completely healed. With a front-row seat to this display of pyrokinesis, Nami stood there with her jaw on the floor.
"What that your devil fruit ability?! I thought you made explosions!"
"Huh? No, my powers aren't that boring. I ate the Pyro Pyro fruit! I can produce and manipulate all forms of heat at will, I can also disassemble or reassemble anything I touch!"
"What, no that can't be true. You just used fire to heal yourself, fire doesn't work that way. It burns stuff not heals stuff. And the later part what does that even mean and how does it relate to pyro-stuff"
Luffy pinched the bridge of his nose
"Not this again" he quietly said under his breath.
"Okay, I can see how you're confused but let me get something clear. I said I can produce and manipulate all forms of HEAT. what you're thinking of is FIRE. Fire and heat, while sharing a lot of similarities, are different"
Luffy looked at Nami to see that she was deep in thought.
"Okay, I'll give some examples, take-"
"So does that mean you can take control of lighting or create mirages?"
Luffy was snapped out of his thought due to Nami's comment. But he wasn't mad he was incredibly grateful. Grateful that he didn't have to explain his powers for the millionth billionth time. Hell, he was tearing up.
"Oh! Sorry I didn't mean to EH! Did it mean that much to you?! I'm-"
"No, no, don't take it the wrong way. I'm just happy that you understood what I said." Said Luffy while wiping the tears from his eyes
"But I still don't get it though. How did you heal your nose through only heat?" Nami asked
"Um… well… this where it gets into the more nerdy stuff" Luffy's face began redding due to embarrassment "So whenever someone gets injured their cells divide and multiply to heal and close up an injury. What I'm doing is accelerating that cell division and metabolism. Muscles, epidermis, dermis, nerves, nerves ending, and even organs can be healed this way. Speaking of nerves I also controlled the signals in my body and brain so I won't feel pain"
A very excited Luffy turned towards Nami. His excitement quickly dwindled when he saw her expression or lack thereof. Nami was completely expressionless and had her hand on her chin.
"Ah sorry I went on a whole rant, what I'm saying is-"
"You can use your flames to amplify the natural human regenerative process. And the reason you could control those signal is that their just electricity, the electricity that you can control"
Luffy was once again caught off guard and then starstruck.
"And I'm guessing the reason you snapped your nose back into place is the same reason people use splints for broken noses or casts for broken bones. If they aren't lined up properly they'll heal in the wrong position."
"Ah…" Luffy had only known this girl for ten to fifteen minutes, but in that time showed more understanding than his siblings, grandpa, or anyone else back at home. Marineford and his dad were the exceptions but he didn't really like it there and he only talks to his dad once a year so, by Luffy's logic, they don't count.
"That's the general gist of it right- huh?!"
Luffy grabbed both of Nami's hands and clasped them between his own and got on his knees looking up at Nami.
"PLEASE JOIN MY CREW!"
"NO WAY! LET GO OF MY HANDS!"
"You're perfect for my crew. You not only have a strong devil fruit, but also actually understand what I'm saying, AND you don't make fun of me for being a nerd!"
"THREE THINGS! Firstly, if you hung out with some decent people maybe you wouldn't be made fun of! Or become a pirate! Secondly, I don't have a devil fruit! And Lastly, FIND SOMEBODY ELSE!"
"Uh, TwO tHiNgS~," Luffy said in a tone that was marinated in sarcasm. "Firstly, I don't have any friends! I only hang out with my family. Secondly-"
"Dang that's pretty sad"
Luffy was cut off by Nami's sudden pity
"You don't have any friends and you're bullied by your own family. On wonder, you turn to the life of a pirate"
Luffy didn't need observation haki to see the amount of pity coming from Nami
"Well I had two friends but my first friend went missing when I was just a kid and I met my other friend yesterday but also said goodbye to him yesterday. I was also the only one in my family who had an actual education."
*Sniff* *sniff* "you poor thing" Nami said while dabbing her eye with a napkin
"STOP FEELIN' BAD FOR ME!" Luffy yelled out with indignance
From Namis's perspective it was a little weird though. He was yelling at her with a massive smile on his so she couldn't take him any seriously. Any time he didn't have a blank face, he had a smile. It was kind of creepy. Hopefully should have to see his face anymore that she had to
"Hah.." Luffy calmed down before remembering he was going to say more stuff
"And SECONDLY, what do you mean you don't have a devil fruit? The guy on the boat said that you summoned the storm with your devil fruit ability"
"How did you conclude that the woman who summoned the storm was me?! How do you not know that the lady is still out there"
"When I talked about the lady joining, you talked about how YOU weren't going to join."
"Urk!"
"Not to mention you were bragging about how you took those guys down.:
"I DID?!"
"No, but your face did, and you just confirmed you are the 'Mysterious Lady'"
"...Dammit
Luffy sat back down in the chair put his feet on the table and put his hand behind his head and adopted the smuggest impression one could imagine.
"Not gonna lie I'm kind of a genius~. If you wanna get on your captain's good side you better start now. I'd suggest talking about your devil fruit"
Nami rolled her eyes so hard she could've unscrewed them. She then pulled out a chair for herself and started talking,
"I'm not joining your screw-"
Luffy pouted"
"- and for the last time I don't have a devil fruit. I never summoned the storm"
Luffy opened his mouth to speak
"And before you say anything-"
Luffy closed his mouth
" I just have a… talent for feeling the weather. Temperature, pressure, substances in the air, the flow of the wind and water, etc, I can feel 'em out like they were the back of my hand"
"... you can't tell me all that stuff and expect me NOT have you on my crew as my navigator."
"Will you shut up about-!
*KA-BOOM*
The side of the house had been completely blown away. Standing the hold of them was a large group of circus-themed men. In the front was a figure that Luffy and Nami quickly recognized when the dust settled.
"So you're the ones responsible for my men's injuries." Said the green-haired Master of Festivities.
-o-
Hello everybody! I'm back, but I haven't any milk. I'll be sure to pick it up during my next monthly absence. In all seriousness though, I apologize for the lack of chapters. School and life got in the way, I also didn't feel very motivated to continue writing as well. I knew I was gonna continue but I wasn't sure when. That was until yesterday. Yesterday I watched one piece: Film Red, and it reignited my passion for this project and spent today working on and finishing up this chapter. I also decided to change the name of Luffy devil fruit to the 'Pyro Pyro fruit'. The original name kind of spoiled a future plot point later in the story, and readers of Fire Force could pick up on it, or at least the general idea of what I was aiming for(That's what I think at least). I'll try to be more consistent with uploading new chapters so expect a new chapter every 1 or 2 weeks in a best-case scenario. In a worst-case scenario expect the new chapter every 1 or 2 months. We're still in the east blue so I wanna aim for 20 chapters AT MOST when it comes to the east blue saga, ideally 10-15. And sorry for the dialogue-heavy chapter, you can expect the next chapter to have some more action in it. That's all for now and remember, "work hard and study well. Eat and sleep plenty". Until next time this has been BillyBobGoat, signing out.