A/N:
The One Piece is REAAAAAAAAL
Gin stared on as the man that had flung his captain away gave first aid to his crewmate, tending to the wounds inflicted by that Hawk-eyed man.
Not only had the red-vested captain defeated Krieg so utterly, but his crewmate had also managed to battle the very same swordsman that had decimated their entire armada, faced off against the same blade that had split their galleon, and somehow managed to come out alive.
What little fighting spirit he had died in his chest as he faced out to the debris that had covered the sea in front of him. The rest of his crew were still clinging onto the chunks of wood, watching with apathy. What little was left of their spirits had died with the loss of their flagship.
Swallowing his pride, he jumped into the ocean, deciding to help the survivors.
Zoro groaned under him as Luffy continued laying down sutures on the massive cut that went from his right hip to his left shoulder, his currently needle-like fingers piercing the swordsman's skin with ease, pushing the stand of silk through and pulling it taut with repetitive motions, pinching and tying the stretchy strand of protein together with ease, letting the interaction with water lock the knots securely into place.
He needed to thank Makino again when he got back to Foosha, teaching him stitching was saving his crewmates already.
Satisfied with his work, Luffy placed his other palm against the wound, pushing out even more Dragline silk as he moved his hand back and forth, creating a tight pattern that stuck to the uppermost layer of Zoro's skin, securing the wound in make-shift gauze. It was by no means perfect, but the swordsman would live. "You're still kicking there, Zoro?"
"It'll take more than a mere flesh wound to put me down, Captain," Zoro hissed through gritted teeth, managing to stay conscious throughout the entire process. Luffy grinned with pride, his chest feeling full at the sight of just how tough his swordsman was.
"I wouldn't mind some booze though," Zoro admitted with a grimace of a smirk.
"We poured everything we had on you to clean your wound!" Yosaku wept morosely, still looking at the patch of white silk that Luffy had covered Zoro's wound in with wide eyes. "What the hell is that, Luffy-bro?"
"Spider stuff," Luffy mumbled, flexing his still inhuman hand. "Did you know they have these cool claws that pinch their mystery ropes? Cool ain't it?"
Johnny looked at the clawed hand, still dripping with Zoro's blood. His sunglasses fell off his face, and he fell back, thumping against the railing before he collapsed onto the deck. Yosaku seemed close to following his partner in bounty hunting.
Zoro laughed tiredly. "Captain, you're gonna kill them."
"Booze," Zeff offered, passing a bottle to Luffy.
"Thanks, gramps!" Luffy said with a grin, slowly helping Zoro to a sitting position. With his assistance, the swordsman took slow and steady sips of alcohol. He was pretty sure that was not what he was supposed to do as first aid, but he couldn't deny Zoro's vice.
That would've been like someone denying him meat.
Those monsters.
Zeff crossed his arms, and faced out to the debris populated by the sad remains of the Krieg pirates. "You're his captain, right?" Luffy nodded, eyes on the broad back of the one-legged cook. "From one captain to another… Take care of my shitty eggplant."
"...wait, are we picking up that perverted cook?" Zoro grumbled, shooting an accusing look at Luffy. It looked like the very idea was hurting him more than the wound Mihawk had painted across his torso.
Luffy smirked. "He's a good fit for the crew, you'll get along well."
Zoro groaned, and slammed his own head back against the wall, knocking himself out.
"Has the danger passed?" Nami called out, looking up to the crow's nest. Honestly, she was impressed that Usopp claimed that he could make out more than mere dots. Even after borrowing his goggles, she'd struggled to make out the eye of the fish-like figurehead of Baratie.
Okay, maybe they'd let the Merry drift a little too far from the restaurant, but considering that whatever caused the destruction had cut a galleon in half, she thought it was an apt reaction.
Now, if only she didn't have to argue with Usopp for the span of five minutes to get him to actually look, that would've been perfect.
"Everyone's moving around, I think I see Luffy on the corner… looks like they're picking up the rest of the Krieg pirates too…" Usopp relayed, leaning slightly off the nest with his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth as he tried to focus down on what was going on. "Oh I think they're prepping to set sail!"
Nami and Robin took cursory glances at each other, before looking back and seeing that Usopp was correct, the sails of Baratie opening up slowly and starting to catch wind.
"Meet them halfway?" Nami asked Robin.
"Your call, First Mate," The archeologist mused with a smile.
"Oh c'mon, how do you know about that?" Nami almost growled.
"Cause you're bossy enough to be the captain!" Buggy's head shot back from his spot tied to the mast.
Nami rolled her eyes. "Usopp! Get down, we're reefing the sails, gonna let them catch back up to us!"
"Aye aye, first mate!"
Nami growled.
"Patty stop fucking around with the prisoners and man the sails!" Zeff roared, the fighting cooks running around the deck as the floating restaurant of Baratie started to do what it was built to do, and set sail once more, leaving behind the wreckage of the Krieg flagship. "We're heading south until the currents carry that wreckage away! Someone get me the Denden Mushi! The papers aren't gonna find out on their own!"
Sanji stood there, still trying to process what Zeff had told him, what he'd seen in that fight between the two swordsmen, and how wise the red-vested teen sounded during their conversations.
Follow our dreams, my shitty son.
He gritted his teeth, biting through the cig he'd managed to place back into his mouth, the lit tobacco dropping to the ground and almost burning the floorboards before he got back to his senses and stomped it out.
"Did you mean it?"
Zeff blinked, turning away from the chaos of the fighting cooks running around the deck. "I thought you were going to listen to me this one time."
Sanji grumbled, and glared the older man in the eyes. He still struggled to believe the words he'd said. "Did you mean it, you shitty chef?"
Zeff's chest puffed up with pride. "Go with the kid already."
Sanji huffed gently and spat out the filter before he swallowed it. "Don't beg for me to come back later."
Zeff smiled proudly.
"Guys, over here!"
Zoro grumbled as he cracked an eye open, seeing Merry floating side-by-side with Baratie, Luffy jumping up and down in an attempt to get the attention of their crew.
Which was unnecessary, considering Robin was staring right at him with a slightly amused smile. "Oh my, Swordsman-san seems to have lost his shirt."
"Had to tear it off!" Luffy explained, shooting a glance back at Zoro. "How's the wound feeling, Zoro?"
"Sticky," he grumbled, attempting to sit up, Luffy helping him up with a hand under his right shoulder. "I was woozy while you patched me up, the hell is this shit?"
"Dragline silk!" Luffy explained unhelpfully, with a cocky grin. "Should stretch enough to let you move without ripping, and still keep your skin pinched together while you heal."
"Goddamn Devilfruits…" Zoro grumbled, letting himself get carried closer to Merry.
"They are very useful, aren't they?" Robin mused, crossing her arms and forming a bridge out of bloomed limbs between the two vessels. "Welcome aboard Captain."
Luffy looked at the bridge, then back to Robin. "Nah, that might hurt you." He pulled Zoro into a princess-carry, making the other man grumble and blush as the young captain crouched, his legs popping and contorting as he took a small hop onto the deck of Merry. "There!"
Luffy stood there, laughing as he took in his ship once more, eyes landing on Buggy as he looked to the mast, then locking back onto Nami checking the wind and a compass.
Having enough of being manhandled, Zoro growled, gripping the captain by his vest. "Let me down, " Zoro insisted quietly, his teeth gritted and cheeks blushing.
Laughing even more at his embarrassment, Luffy gently laid the man back onto his favorite napping spot. "Rest up! Mihawk didn't pull his blade much."
"Mihawk?" Buggy questioned from his spot tied to the mast. " Dracule Mihawk?"
"Who's that?" Nami asked, closing the map and placing the compass in its spot by the helm, starting to breathe easier at the sight of Luffy back on board.
"The greatest swordsman of the seven seas!" Buggy screeched, wiggling in his spot. "Green-hair dueled him!?"
"Yep!" Luffy cheered, smirking at them. "It was an awesome fight, sorry you all missed it!"
Nami paled. Usopp screeched about another illness that didn't exist. Robin only giggled at the giddy response.
Johnny and Yosuke crawled up the deck at that moment. "Is big bro hanging in there?"
No one paid them any mind as they continued their conversation.
"He… survived a fight with Mihawk?" Buggy mumbled, shock in his voice. "How?"
Luffy shrugged with a grin. "Hawk-eyes liked him, let him live to fight again someday."
"Oh my," Robin mused, looking at the sleeping form of the swordsman, even as the man was hounded by his worried old bounty-hunting partners. "Sounds like his skill was recognized by Mihawk. Most impressive."
"I look away for one minute!" Nami growled, rubbing her forehead. "And Zoro tries to kill himself with the greatest swordsman on the planet!"
Luffy laughed, "It's his dream, it can't be helped!"
"I guess…" Nami sighed, starting to follow the broken logic Luffy operated in. "...Are we heading out now, captain?"
"Soon," Luffy offered with a smile, walking up and gently pulling her into a side-hug. "We'll set off tomorrow morning, Sanji's coming along."
Nami looked at his hand on her shoulder, then leaned against him comfortably.
Sanji stopped on his way out, hearing Zeff inhale over the sounds of jeering and goodbye's from the rest of the cooks who had been a better part of his life.
"Don't catch a cold, twerp."
He breathed through his nose, trying to calm himself. His mouth twitched, feeling the urge to laugh, to cry, to do everything in between.
With a sob, he followed his emotions, and his head slammed against the deck as he bowed down to a man who he wished was his true father. "Zeff! I'll never forget what you've done for me!"
The older man disguised his own sniffle with a cough, running his hand under his nose, "Fool. Men say their goodbye's silently. Get outta here, you eggplant."
Sanji sobbed and laughed, nodding as he walked up the gangplank into his new home, greeted by his new crew.
Zeff smiled as the small ship departed, Sanji starting to chase their dream once more.
It took Sanji thirty minutes, and a few polite smiles from both Robin and Nami to bounce back, setting his stuff into the large room under the deck that was set-up as the men's sleeping quarters before he climbed back up to the kitchen, taking stock of what little they had before he cracked his knuckles and got to work.
"I've prepared you some desserts!" Sanji cheered a few hours later, noodling his way next to the spot where Robin was reading her book, and Nami sunbathing close to the older woman. Curiously, Luffy was hanging out around the two, sitting on a railing.
Sanji didn't care where the shitty red-vest was sitting, but it seemed like the rest of the crew did, taking curious glances every now and then at the peculiar spot.
Robin accepted the desserts with a cordial smile, passing Nami hers. The navigator took a spoonful of the parfait Sanji had prepared before her entire body twitched. She heaved softly, holding the back of her palm against her mouth before passing the desert up to the man sitting on the railing.
Luffy looked at her with concern when he noticed the dessert getting offered to him, his eyes sliding down to the cup in her hands before accepting the snack.
Sanji blinked at the sight, torn between getting depressed that his dessert was pushed away with so much disgust, or getting angry that his new captain was eating what he'd prepared specifically for the orange-haired beauty.
"Sorry, Sanji… It's just the scent…" Nami mumbled, shooting Sanji a sad smile, and everything was fine once more. A beat passed, and she huffed. "I should tell you all what happened."
"No need," Luffy chipped in, shooting a serious look at Nami that was ruined by the stains of whipped cream on the side of his mouth. A hand bloomed out of the railings to wipe it off.
Sanji blinked at the occurrence, then his eyes slid to Robin who'd taken a particular pose. She gave him a knowing smile with a shrug.
Their captain didn't even budge, still looking back at Nami as if he was trying to fight what was weighing her shoulders down with his eyes alone. The cook could appreciate that.
"Arlong made you cry. That's all I need to know."
Sanji's face darkened and he almost bit through his cigarette once more. "I'll sauté his fishy ass! How dare he make such a beauty cry!"
Nami looked away from Luffy for a moment to shoot a glance at Sanji, before looking back at her captain. "I want you to know everything."
Luffy hummed, sounds of gears almost audible as he thought it through. "Robin, the sails if you could."
With that, the sails were reefed, Merry bobbing up and down slowly on the waveless waters of East Blue. The small crew gathered on deck. Usopp took a seat on the staircase, Buggy held up against his chest with two hands, Zoro and his old friends on the floor right below the stairs, and Sanji found himself leaning back against the mast with a smoke between his lips.
"We're listening," Robin assured with a gentle hand grasping the navigators.
Nami looked down at the hand and squeezed it back gently, nodding at the older woman and taking a breath in. Then paused, looking out to the sea. "I don't know where to even start…"
Luffy hummed, sliding off the railing and walking over, taking a seat next to Nami's chair. He leaned his head back against her thigh, looking away from her. "Wherever feels right," he offered.
Most of the crew looked on with raised eyebrows at the action, but its effect was clear, Nami's shoulders slumped and her breathing got easier, a smile tugging on her lips as she placed a hand on the captain's head. Their navigator took another breath and started retelling.
"I…wasn't born in Cocoyashi. I was brought there when my mother adopted me." Her eyes left the spot on the horizon and slowly turned down, looking at her hand in Luffy's hair, avoiding everyone's gazes.
"I was just a baby when my sister found me in the rubble of a town ravaged by war, and my mom—a navy official at the time—adopted us on the spot, sailing back to her village and hanging up her coat," Nami continued, smiling mournfully, gently combing her fingers through Luffy's hair. "I… never appreciated our family while I was growing up. With how poor we were, I always thought my mom saw us as burdens. Thought she'd be happier without us, get to eat a full meal…"
She paused as Robin gently squeezed her hand, the young navigator shooting the hand a glance and smiling at her friend before ruffling Luffy's hair a little more. Seemingly pulling the strength to continue from the black locks between her fingers. "We had a massive fight over that—after I'd stolen some navigation books and said things I couldn't take back in a tantrum… God…"
Nami let out a sob as she grew quiet. "That was really the last thing I said to her…"
Everyone let her recollect her thoughts once more, not even the waves daring to break the silence.
Nami sniffed with resolution, and started rolling strands of Luffy's hair. "That was the day he arrived."
"...Arlong?" Buggy murmured, already dreading where this story was going.
Nami nodded, swallowing a sob down with a shudder. "The same day I had my last fight with my mom, he took over the Conomi Islands. It took them only a day to fully occupy everything… and when it became clear no one could fight back, he… he made his way through the villages, demanding that we buy our lives. 100,000 Berries per adult, 50,000 for children…"
Nami looked like she was reliving the same horrors, shuddering as she pulled her legs close to herself, trying to occupy less space, even as she refused to let go of both Robin and Luffy.
"And well… we were poor. What little savings we had was 100,000 Beri… Mom offered that to Arlong while me and Nojiko hid."
"That's… you had to hide that you were related?" Usopp mumbled, horrified at the prospect.
Nami shook her head with a sob. "No. Belle-mere… Mom wouldn't have that. She gave them the money while the rest of the village tried to hide us. Told Arlong to his face that the money was for me and my sister." She took in a gasping breath and shuddered again. "Even while facing death… she couldn't deny that we were her daughters…" she mumbled, letting out a broken smile with a sob. "Arlong accepted, and they were about to leave, telling the village that they'd host the execution later."
Everyone's eyes widened as they realized what that entailed, Buggy's teeth clicking shut as the pirate held in a sob of his own, trying not to recall that fateful day back in Logue town.
"...That's when they found my maps," Nami sobbed, truly starting to break down. "His fishmen pirates were impressed. And they said they'd take me. In return, let my mom live." Nami's hand on Luffy's head stilled and she pulled it up to cover her eyes, leaning her legs against his head to keep the contact. "Mom… couldn't accept that and fought back. Managed to push Arlong down and almost shot his head off… but couldn't pull the trigger when she saw me and Nojiko. She couldn't bear to let us see something like that… and Arlong bit the rifle she shoved into his mouth clean off."
Nami took a gasping breath, trying to ignore the sickly sweet scent of rot that was creeping back into her senses. "They shot her in the stomach… tied her on a cross on the town square. Made us watch as she died on it, and even after that… her body was left there to rot." Her hand landed on her nose, pinching the bridge of it as she tried to combat the stench of rotting meat that was invading her so relentlessly. "They… they beat anyone that tried to take her body down nearly to death."
Luffy's fist crashed into the deck, almost punching a hole through the wood. The captain's eyes were shadowed even in the daylight, rage pulsing out of his body almost visibly.
"They— He said… she was a symbol of our inferiority. That she was to stay there to remind us where we stood now." Nami continued with a gulp, not noticing the reaction in her grief. "I… went to them, and begged them to pull her down so we could at least bury her. Arlong told me that her corpse was his property now and he could do whatever he wanted with it," she mumbled, remembering just how scared she was when she walked into their den. She suppressed a shiver and swallowed some of her sobs as she prepared to relay the offer he'd given her. "H-he said that I could 'buy' her off him. That I could earn money by making maps for him."
"It took me twelve days of sleepless map-making to buy my mom's corpse back… to finally give her a proper burial…" Nami swallowed, tears shedding more openly now, snot and dribble running down her face. She didn't care how she looked, she couldn't. Not now. "—And then he offered to sell me my village. For 100,000,000 Berries I could buy everyone else's freedom too." She laughed madly at that, her cheeks split in a smile that looked like it hurt, her eyes hidden by the shadow of the straw hat still on her head. "For the last eight years I've been working for him… stealing from pirates while I was on excursions to map out more of East Blue," She pulled her sleeve up and revealed the fishman pirate's insignia marring the skin of her shoulder. Their mark, visible for the rest of the crew to see.
Her jaw seemed to set, and her manic laughter died in her throat.
"I've been a crewmate for the pirates that killed my mother since I was ten," she growled, remembering her living nightmare. Her grief and sorrow gave way to rage as she clawed at her skin, attempted to tear a chunk of her own shoulder off and take that hellish mark with it.
Luffy stopped her efforts with a hand clasping hers.
Nami shuddered and was pulled out of her thoughts and her past, blinking as more tears fell off her cheeks. Finally, she looked up to see that Luffy had stood up at one point, and was looking at her with the same look he had when she first revealed her village's imminent danger.
Her heart clenched.
"S-sorry Luffy…" she sobbed, voice cracking. She didn't even know what she was apologizing for.
Luffy silently stared at her. Trying to figure out what he should do. Everyone around them felt the same sentiment.
Giving in, he listened to his gut, and silently picked Nami up out of her seat. The woman flinched in his arms and coiled her own around his neck in an attempt to not fall. Slowly she realized that was unnecessary; she knew inherently that Luffy wouldn't let anything hurt her anymore.
That knowledge settled in as he took her spot and sat down on her chair, hugging her against his chest like she was a glass sculpture. For the first time in years, she felt safe.
"You did what you could," he whispered, gently rubbing a circle on her back, attempting to console her the best he could.
Nami almost melted against him after hearing those words, looking into his eyes as her hands balled up his vest, tears falling down her cheeks and onto the fabric like waterfalls. "I… don't want to be alone anymore…"
"You aren't," Luffy assured softly, tightening his grip around his navigator, and looking off to the rest of his crew.
Buggy's head was sobbing on its side, Zoro's hand was shaking as it gripped Wado's hilt, Sanji was mumbling about how much salt he'd need to properly cook a fish that size, Usopp looked ready to kill… and Robin?
Robin had the most dangerous smile he'd seen in his life gracing her face.
"Should I unfurl the sails now, Captain?" she offered sweetly. The same tone Makino had before she put the fear of god into Shanks that one time.
Luffy looked down at Nami, noticing that her breathing had leveled out. "Guess that tired her out…" He mumbled and looked back at Robin with a nod. His eyes locked onto Buggy's head as he watched Usopp apologize to the head for dropping him.
"Would you set up guards along the coast?" Luffy asked, breaking the banter between the sniper and the clown.
"Don't lump me in with those…" Buggy started, before sniffling one last time. " I wouldn't. From the sounds of things, they must have paid off the marines to look the other way… but this… Flashy fish might like having his men terrorize people personally. I wouldn't put it past him."
"Fishmen are ten times stronger in the water," Robin added, dropping her arms down and taking a look at Nami's sleeping form in Luffy's lap. "I say we don't risk them attacking us before we secure Merry."
Luffy hummed and shut his eyes. When they opened once more, they were golden and ringed, much like Mihawk's. "I'll keep an eye out just in case. Rest of you…"
He grinned, his teeth sharper than usual.
"You know what to do."
A/N:
people were hounding me about Arlong shooting Belle-mere on the head since I implied something different a while back
let's just say I wasn't going to let the bitch ass fish not be an utter bastard.
hope y'all are ready, cause the Arlong fight's gonna get visceral
