It didn't take long for Nami to learn the basics of flying.

It's not that Yamcha was a good teacher, it was more like she was just a lot smarter than the average person and managed to pick up on all that knowledge in less time than normal. Of course that didn't mean she could do it perfectly, as she still was a novice in regards to ki control, meaning that Nami could not fly too high, for too long and definitely not as fast as her new teacher.

Still, Yamcha was quite satisfied with her progress. Maybe, he could even make her his first martial arts pupil. Master Roshi, Goku and Tien have all trained their own students, so it only made sense that he got himself one, he thought, provided there'd be enough time for that. However, right now Yamcha and Nami were pretty close to reaching their destination, where the duo would most likely have another battle in their hands, so at the moment he had bigger worried than passing down his knowledge in martial arts.

As they saw the island in the distance, Yamcha noticed how the orange haired girl's expression had changed. She now looked very serious, and also somewhat worried. "What's the plan once we dock the ship?" He asked, crossing his arms. "We go straight to Arlong Park, it's the headquarters of the scumbag pirates who have been terrorizing the island for years." The martial artist could feel the intensity of the hatred in Nami's voice as he heard her utter those words. "Alright then." He answered, closing his right hand into a fist. "It won't take long, I promise!" Yamcha assured her, confidently. Nami didn't seem to share in his enthusiasm, but still managed to nod and crack a small smile.

Once the duo set foot on the island, they immediately set out flying, with Nami guiding Yamcha to where Arlong Park was located. The two flew through the forest for a few minutes before arriving at that big structure in front of a massive pool. There, many members of the fishmen pirates could be seen handling their businesses while Arlong, the captain, sat in a chair giving orders. Yamcha had never seen creatures exactly like those fishmen before, but in his world humanoid animals were common, the King was a dog after all, and he'd met multiple weird types of aliens. It was safe to say that the former desert bandit wasn't too taken aback by the appearance of his new foes.

"Those bastards are the fishmen pirates." Nami explained, pointing at Arlong with her finger. "The big blue one with the sawfish nose is the captain, Arlong." Yamcha listened, nodding as the girl concluded. With a reassuring, cocky, smile, Yamcha touched down to the ground at Arlong Park first, with Nami following right behind.

As they saw those two figures coming from the sky, the fishmen were understandably startled, and Arlong quickly rose up from his chair, a tad surprised. "What the hell? Nami?" He asked, confused as to where she had come from. Had she eaten a Devil Fruit? He thought. That had to be the explanation.

The orange haired girl didn't even dignify him with an answer, instead staring daggers at him. "Arlong, right?" Yamcha started speaking, getting into his battle pose. "Your days of terrorizing the lives of the people of this island are over!" He spoke with newfound confidence, not being able to sense much danger from any of the present fishmen with his ki. They were stronger than the clown's posse, but still not a match for Yamcha.

Arlong's expression quickly changed and he started laughing. "SHAHAHAHA!" The other fishmen laughed as well. "I see. So this is what this is all about, it seems that Nami found herself a hero. Those inferior humans never learn…" He commented, in a mocking tone. "I won't kill you for this Nami, you're way too valuable. However, you will be punished severely for this little stunt. Maybe I should tax the villagers a bit more?" He made a menacing grin.

That was the last straw, Nami truly couldn't stomach this anymore. And so, the girl looked at Yamcha with pure rage in her eyes. "Do it." The girl said, trying her best to maintain her composure.

As Arlong and his crew laughed, sure that Yamcha wouldn't be able to defeat all of them together, they barely noticed that the former desert bandit had already started to make his move, and before the captain could even react, Yamcha had used his super speed to get at point blank distance of him, and deliver a devastating palm strike to his chest. The attack had a bit of a delayed reaction, but after a few instants, Arlong was sent flying in the direction of the park's outer wall, crashing on it with full force, resulting on the formation of a huge hole in it and raising a massive cloud of dust.

It took a while for the other fishmen to realize what had just happened, and Nami watched as all those smiles disappeared from their faces. Suddenly taking the situation seriously, they all drew their weapons and went out to attack Yamcha from all sides at the same time. The numerical advantage, however, was meaningless, as they weren't able to connect a single blow, with the desert bandit dodging every single strike as if doing that was the most natural thing in the world for him.

"Who the hell is this guy!?" One of the pirates questioned, right before getting his face caved in by one of Yamcha's punches. The warrior's counterattack was brutal, with each punch or kick of his breaking multiple bones in the fishmen's bodies, quickly rendering all of them unable to continue fighting. Most just collapsed to the ground either unconscious or due to extreme pain.

Nami watched in awe, as that crazy man who thinks he's from another world swatted away the terrifyingly strong pirates who had murdered her adoptive mom and made her life a living hell for all these years like they were annoying little insects. Her soul getting quickly filled with hope that this nightmare would soon finally be over. Soon, Yamcha stood tall with every single fishmen lying on the ground, incapacitated. With his job done, the man turned to Nami and gave her a "thumbs up" with a satisfied smirk.

However, Nami quickly realized that Arlong was right behind him, getting ready to attack the warrior from the back with his sword, a furious look on his already bloodied face. The girl's face turned to pure horror, and she screamed. "Behind you!" With this, Yamcha quickly turned back and delivered a precise elbow to the captain's chest, breaking all of his ribs and stopping his heart.

As Arlong's lifeless massive body fell to the pool, Nami finally managed to breathe a sigh of relief. Yamaha though, didn't seem all that fazed by the experience. "That sword would probably break on contact if he'd hit me with it, but thanks for the heads up anyway!" He explained, nonchalantly, in a bit of a goofy tone. He was lucky that Arlong wasn't all that strong in comparison to him, after all, Yamcha knew that he had this little problem of getting easily distracted in battle; it'd even gotten him killed in the past, by a Saibaman no less.

With her tormentors finally having been beaten, Nami fell to her knees, tears filling up on her eyes, the girl slowly but surely realizing that her nightmare had finally come to an end. Many years of suffering, many years of being forced to work for the person she hated most, all of it would now be nothing but a thing of the past.

Yamcha took a few steps in Nami's direction, not knowing exactly how to react or what to say to her. The girl cried tears of joy for a few moments, but quickly got up to her feet again, turning to face the scar faced fighter. "Yamcha… thank you!" She said, full of gratitude, making him crack a goofy smile. "Well, how about we go break the good news to the people of the island?" He suggested, with Nami quickly nodding excitedly. The two of them then once again rose to the sky and went flying, with the girl guiding him to Cocoyashi Village.

-x-

After Nami told everyone in the village about what had happened, Yamcha was hailed as a hero. It really was something new to him to have all those people thanking him and praising him for his accomplishments, after all, he spent most of his life either robbing travelers in the desert, training martial arts or traveling around with Puar. And you know what? The former bandit liked that new feeling quite a lot, the feeling of being well appreciated by all those people.

At night, the people of Cocoyashi threw a big party to celebrate them being free from the evil pirates. There was a lot of drinking, singing and dancing, and Yamcha was the center of it all. Nami arrived a little late with her sister Nojiko, because she was getting her tattoo touched up so it wouldn't be the fishmen pirates' jolly roger anymore.

They partied until late at night, when almost everyone had either gone back home or passed out from drinking. Nami and Yamcha though, were still up, making small talk at a cliff close to the village that had quite a nice view, overlooking the ocean. The duo sat there beside each other, watching as the waves broke at the beach down below, the full moon in the starry sky controlling the quiet ocean tides. It was a beautiful scenery, befitting of such a happy occasion.

"Hey Nami, I've been thinking…" Yamcha started to speak, looking at the sea. "I know we had a deal and all, but maybe you should stay here with your sister." The girl raised an eyebrow, quite surprised. "You seemed quite happy back then with the villagers, I don't think it's right to take you away from them." The former bandit spoke from the heart, after all, he knew that Nami had just met him, and he surely didn't know how long it would take for him to find a way back to his world. Could be years even.

In response, the orange haired girl gave him a smirk. "Thanks, but I'm going with you anyway." She answered, then taking a small breather. "My dream is to draw a map of the whole world, and I'm never gonna get to do that if I'm stuck on this island for my whole life." She winked. "I like it here a lot, those people are my family, but it's not just about my debt with you. And besides, how are you gonna get around without a good navigator?"

Yamcha laughed. "If that's what you want…" She was right, he could fly but what would be the point of being able to move fast if he didn't know where was the place he wanted to go? He thought, laying back in the grass, resting his head on his open palms. "So, what's the plan now?" The warrior asked.

"I have a small fortune in treasure stored away that I was gonna use to buy the village from Arlong." Nami started to explain. "But now, since I don't need to do that anymore, we should use the money to start bankrolling our new voyage." The girl continued, showing off her planning skills. "We'll load it all into the ship we stole from Buggy, restock in supplies here at the village, and then make our way to the Grand Line."

Yamcha was intrigued. "Grand Line? What's that?"

"You said you were teleported here by a magical dragon, right? Well, the Grand Line is a place shrouded in mystery, where we have rumors of many weird things going on." Said Nami. She still wasn't sure if she believed that Yamcha was telling the truth, or even if he wasn't a bit crazy, but still, after what he'd done for her, she decided to at least give him the benefit of the doubt, she owed him that much after all. "So if there's some place we could get clues about your situation, my money would be on the Grand Line."

Yamcha nodded as he heard that explanation. It did make sense, and it's not like he had any better ideas being from a completely different world than that one. "Alright, it's settled then." He decided, as the duo kept listening to the beautiful sounds of the waves below the cliff.

"One more thing…" Said the former bandit. "You picked up pretty quick during our flying lessons, so that means you probably wouldn't have much trouble learning the rest too."

"Hey Nami, wanna be my student?" He asked, once again with a goofball smile plastered in his face.

The girl thought about it for a few moments, she already knew how to fly, and he thought that she could learn all of that really crazy speed and power. It seemed like quite the no-brainer, because if Nami managed to get as strong as Yamcha was, no other Arlong would ever be able to intimidate her. "I'd love to!"

-x-

The duo spent one more day in the village after that, loading all the treasure into chests and supplies into barrels and crates inside their ship. Yamcha had also asked a tailor in the village to make a gi similar to his own, with the turtle school kanji on it, for Nami to use during training. After all, that was an important tradition of the turtle school.

Once everything had been taken care of, the duo once again set sail, this time for Loguetown, the island of the East Blue that's closest to the Grand Line.

To be continued…