The Going Batty planted its gangway on Loguetown's harbor, and four out of five Straw Hats disembarked.
"You're not coming, Luffy?" Usopp asked as he glanced back at the luchador chef. Luffy was squatting on the railing of the ship, hunching over to peer into the waters below.
"Soon, gotta check for fish around here first. Nami told me to" he explained as he continued staring into the sea, looking for movement.
"There's no reason to waste money on fish we can get for free" Nami stated without looking back at either of them. "We'll split up to get supplies, so remember not to let anyone overcharge you! Meet back here in a few hours. Oh, and be careful not to attract any attention! There's a Marine base on the island, and from what I hear there's a really scary guy among them. He's apparently obsessed with pirates with bounties though, so you should be good if you can divert his attention to someone who has one."
Usopp stepped in front of Nami, holding his hands together. He looked down at her for a second, taking a deep breath before he began talking.
"On the topic of drawing attention to ourselves… why exactly did you dress up like that?"
Nami had enveloped herself in a full black cloak, and was bent forwards almost to the point of shoving her own face into the ground. Her straw hat was resting on her neck with the cloak over it, concealing it as a hunched back. She clutched a gnarled staff in one hand, using it to support herself as she walked.
"You look like you're about to offer a princess a poisoned apple" Franky commented.
"I'm the only one here with a bounty, so I have to stay in disguise" Nami explained plainly. "Especially with that bounty-obsessed Marine skulking about."
She put on a shaky, creaky, high-pitched voice as she continued speaking.
"And nobody would suspect a frail old woman of being a dangerous, beautiful pirate like Straw Hat Nami~"
"For an old woman, you sure do have a youthful face" Usopp added, leaning over to get a good look at Nami's face. Indeed, she had put on no makeup or anything to truly sell the disguise.
"Shush. If I just stay hunched enough, nobody will see my face."
"If you did that all the time, it'd be an improvement" Usopp insulted under his breath, turning away from Nami to giggle at his own joke. A bonk to the head from Nami's staff proved he didn't say it quietly enough.
"Young 'uns these days, no respect for their elders."
"I'm two years older than you!" Usopp grit his teeth at Nami while shaking his arms.
"Are you really sure about this, Nami?" Chopper spoke up, nervously touching his front hooves together. "If you're so worried about the Marines recognizing you, why don't you just stay back at the ship? We can buy you anything you need."
Nami sighed, and looked towards the town.
"There's something I have to do here by myself. Don't worry, I won't let the Marines won't catch me. So if things go bad, just get back to the ship and get ready to cast off."
"Hey, I see a big fish!" Luffy called out before diving into the water.
Some time later, Franky and Chopper were walking through the bustling streets of Loguetown. Franky had a piece of paper in between his thong and hip, with a list of assorted materials for bombs and guns.
"I hope they won't feel suspicious about us buying so much dangerous stuff" Chopper gulped. "Think they'll figure we're pirates?"
"Eh, I doubt they'll care" Franky shrugged. "They wouldn't have much business without pirates, after all. We're not staying here anyways, Nami wants to save money on paying for a hotel."
"That's true. Would be nice to sleep on dry land for a bit, though" Chopper shrugged.
"Well, captain's orders and all. I also get the feeling she's getting impatient with reaching the Grand Line. So why did you decide to tag along with me to buy stuff?"
"I'm thinking of trying to use some different weapons, two metal rods rather than one staff. And you're the one who knows the most about metal and such, so I figured you could help me find something that's strong and conducts electricity well."
"Of course! Whether it's metal, gunpowder, tech or anything in-between, you can turn to…"
Franky began rolling his fists as he leaned forwards, then suddenly stood up in his iconic Super-pose. One leg outstretched, one bent, torso leaning to the side, arms up and wrists touching.
"FRANKY!"
"I thought we were supposed to not draw attention to ourselves" Chopper pointed out weakly as a sweatdrop appeared on the back of his head. He saw some movement in the corner of his eye and turned to look, only to see…
"ACK! MARINES!" Chopper yelped, significantly louder than Franky had been.
The frightened Mink was quickly pulled aside by Franky grabbing one of his antlers, getting out of view from the approaching Marines. Luckily the group of Marines didn't seem to notice or bother with them. Chopper and Franky, hidden partially behind a corner and some civilians, watched the approximately dozen Marines walk past. Mostly recruits, but there was one who stood out among them: a tall, muscular fish-man in a white cabana shirt imprinted with the Marines' logo all over. He had a frown on his face, and suspiciously glanced side to side.
"That's Captain Arlong!" some of the surrounding civilians could be heard muttering.
"He's even scarier than I thought!" "I hear he demands the bounties for pirates he captures, even though he's a Marine!" "Guess that's why he hasn't been promoted in some time…" "What a greedy bastard, only interested in money!" "He doesn't even spend it, just hoards it."
"Oh no…" Chopper whispered. "What do we do?! That Arlong guy is probably going after Nami!"
"I heard there's some pirates that docked on the south harbor. At least twenty of them, two with bounties!"
"Nevermind… it's got to be someone else." Chopper sighed in relief.
"Still, I think we should hurry up and get what we need. This place is starting to become a powder keg!"
When residents of Loguetown need equipment or materials for construction they may turn to the hardware store Peeply Toolu. A modest shop with good wares and a helpful, if a bit overly serious, proprietor by the name of Peeply Lulu. At the moment, the store's stock of hammers and mallets were being inspected by a certain long-nosed pirate. Usopp had found that his own had gotten a bit too light, not able to give the kinds of impacts he needed against stronger foes.
Unfortunately, the hammers on display just didn't give Usopp what he wanted. Most of them were even smaller and lighter than Usopp's, since the general use for a hammer is to hit a nail into wood and not fight superpowered pirates. While there were several that were bigger, even they weren't that much better. Even the few sledgehammers there had too small heads with too long handles.
Usopp sighed, scratching the back of his head.
"Guess I'm out of luck…" he shrugged, before he suddenly noticed something in the corner of the store. It was barely visible behind some shelves of nails and screws, with no price tag or anything. "Wait, what's that?"
"That? It's some junk I got saddled with some months ago."
Peeply Lulu, the store owner, approached Usopp with his arms crossed in a casual, yet stern, manner. A mustachioed, muscular man with sunglasses and an unbuttoned, sleeveless shirt that revealed the intricate tattoos on his chest. A small part of his hair was sticking up like a spike, which he reached up to push down… only to have a different part of his hair stick up instead.
"It's supposed to be a sledgehammer, but it's so big and heavy nobody can even use the darn thing. Who needs a 5-ton hammer? I think I'm gonna need to pay someone to get rid of it."
Usopp walked over to the hammer without saying a word. It consisted of a thick wooden stick almost as tall as Usopp himself attached to a chunk of black metal with the size and shape of a barrel. The head was on the floor, with the handle resting against the wall of the corner. Dust and even a spiderweb implied that the hammer hadn't been moved since it arrived. Nevertheless, Usopp reached forth and grabbed the handle with one hand. He closed his fingers around it, and with only the faintest tensing in his muscles he lifted the 5-ton hammer into the air. Dust flew off it as Usopp raised the hammer above his head, with Peeply Lulu looking entirely stoic as he watched. However, the fact that he now had around a dozen hair-spikes sticking up from his head showed his true feelings.
"This'll do. This'll do nicely~" Usopp grinned, hefting the hammer up and down. "So, since you don't want it anymore, I'll gladly take it off your hands for free."
"You can have it on one condition: do not use it in my store" Peeply Lulu demanded, as he reached up to press his multiple hair-spikes down.
"You got a deal!"
Usopp walked out of the store with his newfound hammer resting on his shoulder and a smile on his face.
"A free weapon! This should make Nami happy" the pirate said to himself. "Mmh… and it leaves me some cash to buy snacks."
Right then, several hooded figures in cloaks rudely pushed Usopp aside as they walked past. He stumbled forwards, then turned to sneer at the figures as they hurriedly turned around a corner.
"Hey! Watch it!" he growled at them, shaking his fist angrily. He huffed and turned to leave, but couldn't shake the feeling that the hooded figures looked familiar somehow…
Before he could think too much about that, however, Luffy showed up. The chef was damp from his earlier swim, and looking quite grumpy.
"There wasn't a fish. Just a big woman" Luffy grumbled before Usopp could even greet him.
"Yeah, hate it when that happens" Usopp nodded, deciding not to question it. "The food market's this way."
Elsewhere, in Loguetown's town square, people were beginning to hurry up with their daily chores. A storm was approaching, and few wanted to be caught outside. Nami had just arrived in her old-woman-disguise, hunched over and using a big stick to walk. She craned her neck upwards to look up towards a wooden platform raised up by a metal scaffolding. She felt a light chill down her spine, already knowing the history of that platform.
"That's… the execution platform. Where the Pirate Queen Emerald Rouge died…" she muttered to herself. Nami felt like she had to see it. She didn't have a logical explanation for it. Maybe it was a form of showing respect to the one she wanted to be like, or even surpass? Some form for morbid curiosity?
"This town square was the last thing Rouge ever saw. Wonder what the last thing I ever see will be."
After staring for a bit longer, Nami felt satisfied. She sighed and began turning around.
"Shouldn't stay too long. Someone might recognize m-"
She was interrupted when she accidentally hit her head against someone's side.
"Ah, s-sorry about that…" Nami apologized, in a high-pitched old woman voice.
"That's sexual harassment."
"Wait, wha-"
Before Nami could get an answer, she got hit instead. The orange-haired captain was flung backwards and landed on her side on the ground, her cloak falling off her. She quickly looked up to see her attacker, who was also tearing off a cloak of her own. A slender woman in a red and orange musketeer's outfit, adjusting her glasses as she looked down at Nami.
"Kalifa…" Nami frowned as she put her hand against the ground to push herself up into a sitting position. As she did, though, her hand slipped and she fell back to the ground. She looked at her hand to see if she had anything on her palm, but what she actually saw was… unexpected. Her hand was glossy, her fingers stuck together and her entire hand had a soft, round shape. In fact, her entire body was like this! She looked like some kind of strange inflatable balloon version of herself.
"I only just got here, and you're already making a fool of yourself" Kalifa huffed as she crossed her arms.
"We'll see… who's a fool… when I… GET… UP! GRRRGH!"
Nami continuously tried to stand up properly, but every time she slipped back down. Kalifa couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at this pitiful display. The blonde pirate extended her arm, and it quickly became covered in soap bubbles.
"This is the power of the Bubble Bubble Fruit" Kalifa declared, swiping her arm in front of her to create a flurry of bubbles for dramatic effect. "Your strength has been cleaned right off your body, leaving you in this vulnerable state. Can't even stand up to defend yourself…"
Kalifa reached to her hip and grabbed her whip, swinging her arm straight up and whirling her weapon around with a flourish.
"Now, we-" slap "-can-" slap "-get-" slap*"-to-" slap "STOP SLAPPING YOUR ARM!"
As Kalifa talked, Nami had been slapping at her robotic arm over and over. She had an annoyed expression on her face, if she was repeatedly trying something that was supposed to work but didn't. Her metal arm was pointed straight at Kalifa with a clenched fist. Finally, something clicked. Despite Nami's slippery palm she managed to pull back a portion of the forearm, and released it. Her robot arm's knuckles opened up, and…
BOOM
Gunpowder ignited within each knuckle-hole, sending forth an explosion directed straight at Kalifa. Kalifa was briefly engulfed by the smoke cloud before flying out the back of it, launched by the explosive force. Nami was pushed back by the very same force, her slippery body sliding along the plaza away from Kalifa. Around her she could hear people screaming and stampeding, trying to get away from the battle.
"Ok, got some distance… gotta figure out a way to get out of this-"
Before Nami could finish her thought, she slid straight into something bit and kinda ticklish. It felt a bit like she had gone into a bale of hay, a bale of hay that was lifting her into the air. Looking to either side of herself, she recognized the pink mass holding her up.
"YOYOI! I have captured our foe!"
Nami could hear Kumadori's voice bellow out below her. He was using his hair to scoop her up and lift her, sincy any other method would be tricky with how slippery she was. He soon put her down though, letting her slide off his hair and onto a raised platform. Nami immediately realized where she was. On top of the execution platform.
"This is what Rouge saw…" Nami thought to herself before snapping back to reality. She wasn't alone on the platform. There was a towering man in a suit standing next to her, hands in his pockets and his face covered by a mask resembling a macaque with sunglasses. Nami tried once more to get up… but it was futile. She was too weakened by Kalifa's Devil Fruit, and her new explosion-modification only had one shot which she had now spent. The skies darkened, and a low rumble signaled a storm approaching. Below her, Nami could hear Kanjuro start making a big, overly dramatic speech, telling the townspeople who hadn't fled yet to witness Nami's execution. Along with verbally painting her as the absolute worst.
News of the commotion spread rapidly, reaching the ears of both Straw Hats and Marines. Tensions quickly rose all over town, as approaching storm clouds shrouded the area in darkness.
"What do we do? Nami was in the center of town!" Chopper asked Franky frantically, who frankly was looking a bit frangible. The two of them had their arms full of bags with supplies, looking back and forth trying to figure out where to go. After thinking for a moment, a bead of sweat making its way down the side of his head, Franky spoke up.
"I… we gotta go back to the ship. I can't do much unarmed, and we need to get the ship in order."
Chopper opened his mouth to speak, but Franky prematurely shut down any objections.
"It's what Nami ordered us to do."
"R-right!" Chopper nodded with newfound determination. "Captain's orders! She told us she wouldn't let the Marines catch her. We need to be ready to leave as soon as possible."
The two Straw Hats nodded at each other, before they began hurrying down the emptying streets towards the Going Batty. Elsewhere, Usopp and Luffy were rushing towards the town square.
"Didn't Nami tell us to head back to the ship if something went wrong?" Usopp pointed out as they ran.
"Yeah, but I have three reasons for not listening! One, the square is very close! Two, I wanna see the place the Pirate Queen died! Three, I wanna fight someone."
"I noticed none of those reasons involve helping Nami…" Usopp groaned, glancing at Luffy.
"Why would she need help?" Luffy asked in a confused tone, tilting his head.
"You're right about that. Let's just hope that Arlong guy doesn't cause any problems."
Speaking of that Arlong guy, he and a squad of Marines arrived in a dark, shadowy alleyway near the town square, only to find the plaza tightly guarded by a group of pirates. The pirates were holding a large group of people hostage, forcing them to witness the scene unfolding on the execution platform. What's worse, they were also being forced to listen to Kanjuro prattle on.
"-this WICKED witch shall finally taste the sweeeeeeet oblivion of-"
"Should we go in?" one of the Marines asked Arlong, who watched the scene with a frown.
"Not yet. Going by bounties, Borsalino over there is a much lower threat than Nami. If we let him take her out, it will be easier for us to mop up the rest. Just hope he leaves enough of a body for me to turn it in for her bounty…"
Suddenly, on the other side of the plaza, several pirates were sent flying through the air. Usopp and Luffy had arrived, and were tearing a path through the pirates standing guard.
"Ah, to hell with it" Kanjuro growled through grit teeth as he saw the commotion. He turned up towards his captain and yelled at him to "Just go ahead and off her!"
There were a few awkward seconds of silence.
"Hm? Oh, riiiiiiight…" Borsalino muttered as he raised his leg up. Nami was still completely smoothed out and weakened, unable to muster much if any resistance. She looked across the plaza, seeing the gathered crowd, her friends coming to help… and the Marines skulking in the shadows in an alleyway.
"Huh… looks like this is it. Sorry, guys. But…" Nami said softly… before the corners of her mouth moved upwards. Her lips parted, showing a set of brilliant white teeth. The crowd watched in surprise as Nami showed them all a wide grin! "I was right! I didn't let the Marines catch me!"
Borsalino brought his foot downwards, his sole gleaming with explosive light. But right before his leg impacted Nami's skull, the entire plaza shook violently. Everybody present struggled to stay standing as the town square trembled, parts of the ground even cracking, fissuring and tilting. The execution platform in particular ended up getting catapulted into the air by two of the platform's legs suddenly being significantly higher up than the other two. The beams broke apart, and both Nami and Borsalino were sent sailing into the air.
"EARTHQUAKE!" someone in the crowd yelled, though thankfully the quake seemed to stop after the initial shockwave. At this point the pirates present got completed overwhelmed as the crowd stampeded out of the square, trampling or shoving aside the guards. With the situation having gone completely off the rails the Marines rushed in as well to arrest the pirates.
The storm had finally reached Loguetown, and rain began falling over the plaza. Nami was on her back, lying amidst rubble and broken cobblestone in the middle of the town square. As the raindrops landed on her supine body, the strength-sapping smoothness Kalifa had applied onto her was washed off. The orange-haired pirate let out a trembling sigh as she felt her strength return to her body, and soon managed to sit up.
"Nami!"
Nami turned her head to look, seeing Usopp and Luffy run towards her through the fleeing crowd. She flashed them another smile, which quickly soured as their expressions of relief and joy were replaced by sudden terror.
"LOOK OUT!"
Nami looked up, seeing Arlong leaping at her. The muscular fish-man Marine was wielding a giant black pole with a katana handle, and six large saw-toothed patterned blades lining the pole. It resembled a strange mix of a saw, a sword and a shark's teeth. Even more frightening than the weapon was Arlong himself, his pupils and iris having become thin vertical ellipses marked by an intense fury. Nami leaped backwards, narrowly avoiding the saw-toothed weapon being brought down towards her. The sword cleaved deep into the ground, creating several smaller cracks around the new cut.
"Seriously?! If you're looking for a quick bounty, that guy over there's easy pickings right now! He's worth a couple million" Nami gestured towards Borsalino, whose legs were sticking upside down out of a pile of rubble.
Arlong didn't reply. He lodged his weapon, Kiribachi, out of the ground, bringing up a small rain of bits of cobblestone. Raising his weapon to lunge again, he was interrupted by a massive 5-ton hammer slamming down on his skull, making him arch his back forward while his shoulders cringed upwards. At the same time a pair of strong arms wrapped around Arlong's torso, then promptly flung him backwards in an arc, so his back slammed into the ground.
"Mariscos Suplex!" Luffy yelled out, as the cobblestone around him cracked from Arlong getting smashed into them. Luffy let go and stood up, hopping forwards so he'd be right with the other two.
"Didn't you say everything would be fine?" Usopp whined, clutching his new hammer in both hands as he looked around at the chaotic scene the town square had descended into.
"Argue later! Now we get out of here!" Nami ordered the two, grabbing both of their arms and dragging them along as she started hauling ass. Usopp and Luffy quickly began running alongside her, escaping while the Marines were occupied with the crooks of the Kalifa and Borsalino Alliance.
Or at least, that's what they were hoping for. Mere seconds after rushing out of the plaza and into an adjacent alleyway, the three Straw Hats noticed Arlong charging after them. The fish-man had recovered quickly, and forced the pirates to leap aside as he lunged into the air to slam Kiribachi down towards them again. He wasn't even looking at Usopp or Luffy though, his eyes were fixated entirely on Nami.
"God damn it! We're not wasting time fighting you" Nami yelled at the Marine captain, who simply scowled at her. Not long after he dislodged Kiribachi from the ground, he had to raise up one arm to block an incoming hammer swing from Usopp. Arlong grit his teeth, the impact visibly hurting and making him lean backwards. With one hand holding his weapon and the other occupied by Usopp's hammer, Arlong was left wide open to Luffy leaping forwards into a dropkick against the fish-man's muscular torso. The sawshark fish-man grunted as he slid back while remaining upright.
"I don't think he's gonna give up… both of you, go that way. I'll lead him away, and meet you back at the ship" Nami told Usopp and Luffy. Before either of them could protest, Nami cut them off. "That is an order, as your captain. Besides… I've got a little mobility trick neither of you do."
With that Nami pointed her left arm down an alley, and fired off her rope-attached hand. The hand caught something, the rope went taut, and Nami went flying. Usopp and Luffy immediately booked it down another path, and as expected Arlong went straight after Nami.
"Phew… I know money's great, but this guy is seriously hungry for my bounty!" Nami muttered, peering over her shoulder to see Arlong barreling after her.
"On the platform…" Arlong thought to himself. "When she was about to be killed. She grinned. I've only seen that kind of grin in such a situation once before. During Emerald Rouge's execution. That Nami… she grinned just like the Pirate Queen did. I can't let her get away!"
