I think this fic pretty much proves I can't follow my own deadlines. At least I said to myself I wouldn't follow the 15 days idea too strictly. At least the chapter is done, and I was satisfied with it.
With all surviving pirates knocked out and tied up, Luffy, Sabrine, Zora, Carina and Nami left Boodle and ChouChou at the broken old store and went down the street, aiming for the plaza where Buggy was.
The group of pirates and thieves walked with neutral faces, they didn't seem particularly mad, but somehow this made their presence even more threatening.
"So... what's the plan?"
Carina asked, trying to make the environment less stiff, and also to understand how they should move when facing the infamous pirate. Sabrine and Zora looked at Luffy, Nami and Carina also did the same, and waited as the captain seemed to consider a few things.
"We should take him down and give him and his crew to the old man. They will make good use of his reward."
Nami stopped right on her tracks hearing that. She thought about what he said again and again, trying to make sure she didn't heard it wrong. She had to have heard it wrong, it just didn't make much sense for a pirate to go to such lengths to help people he never meet.
"Wait, what did you just said?"
The red-haired asked Luffy, and as he turned his face to look at her their eyes meet. While Luffy saw eyes filled with doubt, distrust but also a deep fear and even some despair. Maybe it was just instinct, but Luffy knew he had an amazing instinct, and he was always good at judging and sensing what people felt.
And as for Nami, when she looked at his eyes she saw nothing of what she expected. She had dealt with a lot of pirates, and killed a good amount of them. Most of which had their eyes tainted with their own desires, they looked less human and more like animals that only gave voice to their wishs and instincts, never bothering about the consequences for others.
She didn't suffer most in the hands, the worst thing that happened to her all this years was almost getting shot after being stabbed, but she saw clearly what they did with others. That was the whole reason she took an axe after all, it felt like a weapon that was brutal enough to deal with scum like that. Even if she hated admitting it, she started to understand why her... "boss"... dispised humans.
However, she saw nothing of that on Luffy. His eyes looked almost clear, maybe not exactly as innocent as those of a child, but there was a sense of honesty there, like he didn't lie. His eyes didn't looked tainted, like the said pirates she saw before. At the same time she clearly a deep self confidence, she knew those eyes. The eyes of someone that would never bend their will, of someone with a strong and burning desire.
"I mean, Buggy's head values a lot, right?" Luffy's question was genuine, and Nami could see that because he looked at Sabrine for confirmation. The blondie nodded with her head and Luffy continued. "I am sure it will be enough money for them to pay for what they lost."
The explanation couldn't be simpler, but for Nami it almost sounded like the most absurd thing she ever heard in years. Carina looked at all that with great interest, innumerable things seemed to be passing through her mind. Sabrine had a small smile of pride because of Luffy's word and Zora had an expression of content, both because of her captain and because of Nami's reaction to it.
"B-but, why?"
Luffy looked at her in doubt for some moments before answering.
"Because I feel like it."
He answered shrugging and went on to soon get to the plaza. Sabrine got to his right side, hugging his arm, and Zora took a look at Nami before accompanying Luffy on his left.
"Hahahahahaha." The red-haired looked at the side to see her partner laughing. "You know your face is priceless right now?"
"Shut up."
Nami answered having to get satisfied with not giving much attention to Carina. The purplenette laughed some more and rushed to Nami's side.
"I get you though. Your world vision just broke, I can't blame you for this partner. But, those three are nice, aren't they?"
Just by her tone Nami already knew Carina had second, or even third, intentions. The red-haired looked at her partner, trying to predict what she was thinking.
"What are you planning..."
Carina gave her a sly smile before explaining.
"I have a strong feeling that we could ally with them. Just think about it, they are talking about taking Buggy down, one of the worst three pirates of this Blue. And they probably can do it, Luffy can control lightning for god sake! Imagine how easier things will be for us if we get on their side."
The red-haired had no choice but to think about it a little, and indeed, Carina was right. Years of accumulated hated for pirates wouldn't disappear obviously, but for now she could go with the flow and maybe follow her partner's plan. If those three turned out to indeed not be as the scum she is used to, so Carina was probably right... as much as Nami didn't like to admit it outloud.
"Fufu, what are they planning?"
Sabrine whispered in her boyfriend's ears as she watched the duo of thieves with the corner of her eyes. The two had no idea the couple was aware of their small exchange. Luffy smiled at her, Zora was at their side, also paying attention since she still had her guard up around the two thieves.
"Nothing much, they will want to stick with us after this."
Hearing that Zora raised an eyebrow, she didn't have much problem with purple haired thief, but the other one annoyed her a little, especially with how she obviously viewed them, or treated Luffy.
"Are you ok with this?"
She asked, after she would still hear the captain's decision in the end.
"I don't see why not, they might even help us. And if they are as good thieves as they seem to be, might even give us some more berries."
Luffy said, making Sabrine satisfied with his reasoning and Zora only shrugged, it's not like the two could harm them in anyway.
"Wait!" Suddenly Nami's voice got to the ears, she had a demanding tone. "Since you are helping us, you three can get some part of their treasure, but there is one thing that I can't give you!"
'Some of their treasure? But we are doing most of the work...' Zora thought to herself, but didn't say it outloud. Buying a fight with the red-haired would just be a waste of her time, and she knew it. And since the woman was only asking for one specific thing, she didn't really care.
"And what would it be?"
Sabrine asked with a friendly expression, subconsciously letting Nami a little more relaxed.
"A map, a map to the entry of the Grand Line, that's what I want."
She wasn't sure what would be their reaction, since they were pirates and Luffy declared that he wants to tbe the King of the Pirates, it was obvious they would have to go to the Grand Line, sooner or later. So, she was betting her lucky a little, because that map was worth a lot, there was no way she was going to let this chance slip like this.
Zora was a little surprised, Sabrine mouth opened a little and Luffy eyes seemed to turn into stars.
"Do you know how to read maps?" Luffy suddenly appears holding Nami's shoulders, his eyes shining and his smile full of amazement. Got by surprise Nami almost reacted getting to her axe, but stopped herself when noticed the genuine excitment in Luffy's voice. Curious, she didn't grab her weapon but pushed his hands from her shoulder.
"Of course I do, I am the best navigator on this whole blue."
She said, not being able to hide the pride on her skills. The fact that Luffy seemed even more impressed, excited almost in a childish way, not only helped with her ego, but made Luffy look a little better on her opinion.
"Seriously? Do you wanna join my crew?"
With the exception of Sabrine, his question got everyone by surprise. Zora eyes went wide with how direct and blunt Luffy was, though she should already have expected that from him. Carina had a similar reaction, but fastly a cheky smile formed in her mouth, while she thought to herself how it was nice that she barely had do any work. And Nami had to question if that straw hat wearing pirate had any common sense or sanity on his mind. And Sabrine only gave a small laugh, that was completely inside expectations for her.
"Of fucking course not! Maybe you are a little off the curve, but I think I was pretty clear with the bit of not liking pirates!"
She said taking some steps back from Luffy and waving her arms from one side to the other, in a denying move. This of course didn't made Luffy any less hopeful.
"Wait, wait, let's not make any harsh decisions Nami!" Not wanting to let this opportunity slip between her fingers, Carina gets in front of Nami, making signal for both her partner and to not take things too fast.
"Carina-"
Before the redhead could complain, the purplenette put her hand in front her face, asking to let herself speak for now.
"What she is trying to say is that, maybe instead of joining your crew right ahead, we could form a alliance first. And later we could decide on joining or not. What do you think Luffy-san?" She really didn't want to let this chance pass. With someone like Luffy, they could probably make stacks and stacks of monney, and this to put lightly. She just didn't agree on completely joining the crew because of Nami's reaction.
"Who said we want you? Luffy, are you sure about inviting these two?" Zora had her arms crossed as she voiced her complains. Even if they needed a navigator, she wasn't much with her captains choice for it.
"Don't worry about it Zora, we can trust Luffy calls on this regard." Sabrine on the other hand was much calmer as she put her right hand on the swordswoman shoulder. She knew and was with Luffy for much longer, and trusted him completely, so of course she would also trust him even when he does abrupt calls like that.
Zora scratched her head and sighed. The blondie was right, maybe she only knew them for a few days, but it was clear to her how Luffy acted and the type of person he was. She wouldn't trust the two thieves for now, but she would respect the captains decision. It was what she could do, for someone that already showed much more trust and respect for her than most people did before.
"So, what do you say Luffy-san?" Carina asked with her hopes high. If they actually partnered up, the two might get even more treasures from Buggy than if they did not, after all with that trio decided they didn't want to share, what would the two do? Not that they looked like the type to do it, even so, Carina prefered to be one step ahead.
"Sure, shishishi, that's nice for me."
The captain said putting his hands behind his head with a light laugh. He seemed to be much higher spirits now that got two new potential crewmates.
A small vein popped on Nami's head, more because of Carina than the pirates, or Luffy. She understood her partner reasoning, and it indeed gave them benefits. That was not the part that annoyed her, the part that slightly annoyed her was Carina cheeky expression as she looked at her.
"Wanna say something Nami?"
She knew that face, that was Carina always acted whenever things went her way.
"No, it works for me as well."
The navigator contented herself with that answer. She could get some small revenge later either way.
"Nice, we have a strong navigator and a cool thief! Today is going great!" Neither of the thieves could fight against the subtle blush Luffy's sudden words gave them.
'The fuck is this pirate?' Nami could only ask to herself, as they finally went to deal with Buggy.
...
Buggy was simply bored the hell out of his mind. He lazily laid on his cheap knock off of a royal throne, wondering why his crew was taking so damn long. He was already getting tired of that island, and the more they stayed, the more the risk of marines showing up was real.
"Fuck, are they lost or something?" He said, as he better positioned himself on the throne. He looked around and pointed to an underling that was near him. "Hey, you. Go there find out what those fuckers are doing! Tell them to come back soon, because I plan to end this trip with a bang!"
The blue haired pirate said with a grin, getting up on his throne with his fists tightly closed. His grin was wild and mad, but it was more due to his than the wish of destruction.
In front of him there was his biggest creation, and the one he was the most proud of. His own personal cannon wasn't just a big version of the normal weapon. The potent, destruction power and even the reach of it far surpassed a simple, bigger cannon. It was at minimum fifteen times more powerful than a normal one, and it was barely three times bigger than the usual.
Sure, Buggy had to spent a little on it, but it was all worth it. He never was the muscles of the operation, so he had to put his money on something, and at least he had the brains to it. And he let a lot of brain to not waste money in vain, ever expense he had as for a purpose and somehow served him. Of course, he only used money when he couldn't get what he wanted in other ways.
His thoughts however were interrupted when the underling he sent to take a look at the town came back flying, hitting one of their tables and breaking it. Some blood dripped from the man's head, he was uncounscious, but seemed alive.
"What-"
"HEY, YOU FUCKING BIG RED NOSED FUCKER, COME HERE OR I WILL PUNCH YOU SO HARD YOUR NOSE YOU GET EVEN BIGGER!"
A strong and rough voice resounded through the whole plaza, breaking the silence. The remaining Buggy pirates tensed up and paled. With the corner of their eyes some of them paid attention to their captain's reaction. And Buggy was not taking it too well.
With his face getting as red as his nose and several veins popping head, some even thought if it would be a good idea to call the medic of the crew, since it seemed like the captain was about to have an attack.
"WHO IS THE MOTHERFUCKER THAT GOT TIRED OF LIVING?"
Buggy screamed as he rushed to the entry of the plaza, on top of the stairs. He looked down, fastly finding the ones that dared to insult him.
He saw five people, a two meters tall man and with an annoyingly similar straw hat in his head. On his right there was a blondie holding his arm and on her side a green-haired woman with swords. On his left there was a red haired woman, fuck this wasn't going to be a good day, with a mechanical arm and an axe. On her side there was a purple haired girl, that looked at him as if he was a gigantic bank to steal from. He knew because he already had that same eyes.
"The only one tired of living is you, Buggy. What Shanks would think if he knew that's what you've been up to, huh?"
Luffy didn't need to use lightining to shock the clow pirate. That worked just fine.
"THE FUCK YOU SAID YOU FLASHY BASTARD? THE FUCK YOU MENTIONING THAT RED-HAIRED SUCKER FOR?"
While both Nami and Carina put the fact that both of those two seemed to be connected, by an Emperor of all people, in the back of their mind now, they enjoyed the blue-haired pirate, nightmare of the sea, seeming to have a rage attack.
"I mean, since you are an old friend of him I thought it would be cool to meet you. But now I am kinda pissed."
Buggy however paid attention to nothing of what Luffy said, he seemed to be obsessive looking at Luffy's most prized possession on his head. He was gritting his teeth and his head was getting redder and redder.
"Captain, I don't know what you did, but I think you are breaking him."
Zora was impressed with how little Luffy had to do, to how furious Buggy currently looked. To piss off one of the biggest pirates on the East Blue by just standing it was almost an achievament of it's own. The greenette looked more bored than anything. The fact that Buggy was one of the three worst of the East Blue tells more about the sea than about him.
"Wanna take them out or wait to see what they will do?"
Sabrine shared the same feelings as Zora. Since they already saw Buggy, they could end this soon.
And Nami and Carina were watching mindfully, waiting for their opportunity to act.
Watching this small exchange of theirs, Buggy felt like he lost years of his life just by rage. He had so many veins popping up on his forehead that doctors would be scared of his anatomy.
"BLOW THIS FUCKERS TO OUTER SPACE!"
The clow screamed to the top of his lungs, probably loud enough to be heard on the whole island. His underling, what he had left of them, fastly went to work under.
"Shouldn't we start moving?"
Carina asked, a little worried with the crew that went out of a circus could be planning on doing.
"Nah, it's gonna be alright. Wanna see what they can do."
But Luffy obviously gave no care. He gave them all the time on the world as he let his hand wonder through Sabrine's hair, something the blondie clearly enjoyed. Zora had her arms crossed, not moving with half her attention on the couple and the other half on the clowns.
"I would like to be carefree like this..."
Nami on the other hand wasn't having as much of an easy time, holding her axe with some annoyment and gritting her teeth.
"PAY ATTENTION YOU FLASHY FUCKERS!" After some quite seconds, Buggy's voice reached their ears once again, making the trio lazily look up. "BEHOLD MY MASTERPIECE!" He proudly declared standing on what probably was the biggest cannon the five of them have ever seen, and that was pointed to them.
Nami and Carina paled, they looked at each other than at the pirates. Their first reaction was to run but when they took one step back they remembered what Luffy could do. Suddenly that big piece of metal that could shoot a sphere wasn't so scary anymore.
"What do you think?" Luffy asked to his girlfriend, to find her looking with shining eyes at the cannon. He grinned, already knowing how this would go.
Buggy was screaming something about that being his strongest weapon that even the Grandline would fear or something among those lines. No one was paying much attention to him.
"You guys should probably take some steps back." Luffy warned, then gave Sabrine a kiss on the cheek, making the other have slightly blushes, that were barely visable.
"You heard the captain." The blondie said happily, pulling Zora. Her eyes were shining and she had a hard a time holding back her laughter.
"Something happened?" The swordswoman asked, wondering what made her vice-captain so happy.
"I am about to get a present."
With Buggy laugh his lungs out of air, and Luffy simply standing in front of the cannon, while the other four were few steps away, the shoot was finally taken. If metal could scream, it would probably sound like that. Nami and Carina hands went to blokc their ears, they could already feel the after effect of the shoot zooning on their minds.
A strong blow of wind pushed through all of them, raising columns of dust. While Buggy expected a scenary of destruction and Zora, Nami and Carina expected Luffy to use the magnetic aspects of his powers, they all got surprised.
At the moment the the shoot was taken Luffy simply raised his hand. What they saw wasn't destruction or he using his powers. He simply holded that sphere of metal that could set a path of destruction on this island. If looked carefully they would notice small bolts of electricity around the sphere, but even so, Luffy had actually used his physical capabilities to hold that thing.
Zora gulped with wide eyes. She already knew Luffy was strong, but this was simply getting on another level. She looked at him with awe. If she had any shadow of doubt about following Luffy before it was gone now. She knew that going along with him would make her stronger. If there was anyone for her to go along with, it had to be the future Pirate King.
Carina knees failed and she feel to do floor. Her body was trembling and her pupils couldn't get smaller. But slowly a smile started forming on her lips.
'I found the jackpot! He is simply amazing! Fuck, if I stick with him I bet I will never have to worry too much about anything ever again!'
Her eyes had already turned into stars and a small saliva got out of the corner of her mouth. She was too distracted to notice Sabrine looking at her with the corner of her eyes, with a small smile on her lips.
Nami let her axe fall to her feet as everything became silent. She was pale, cold sweat running through her body. She didn't want to think about it, she tried to block this thoughts, but it was harder and harder. He had electric power, he could hold a weapon of mass destruction with bare hands and wasn't as bad of a pirate.
After eight years, when she was probably few months or even weeks of completing her goal, she found this living monster in human form. Was this some joke? Fate decided to play with her give some hope? Or it would false hope? She didn't know, and she was a little to scared to know now.
And Buggy was scared shitless. Most of his underlings screamed running that Luffy was a monster and that they would die. The captain however was stuck, not literally, but he was too astonished to move. His chin had fallen to the floor, not in a descriptional sense, but actually had fallen to the floor. Didn't surprise Luffy or Sabrine, since Shanks had told the dark haired boy about his "old friend powers" and the other tree were still too busy trying to process what Luffy did to notice.
Snot runned down his nose, at least he didn't look pale since he already used white make-up.
"Yoshi. Let's leave this here." Luffy casually commented putting the iron ball on the ground, and giving it a few taps, making sure it would stay still. "And now..."
The bottom of his body turned into a bolt of lightning. To others eyes Luffy moved so fast he seemed to teleport, suddenly showing up in front of Buggy, with currents of electricity around him. The dark-haired only gave the clow time to do one last comment.
"Huh. Who would have thought? He truly is a flashy fucker!"
Was Buggy's last comment as his consciouness was cut out.
...
After getting over their shock the pair of thieves fastly moved to get all values the Buggy pirates had collected through their activities. Both Carina and Nami had shiny eyes seeing the total of ten million berries in their hands.
Boodle had arrived few moments later after Buggy's defeat, not wasting a second to tie the blue-haired pirate whole body. The mayor had been warned about Buggy's ability, so he wasn't willing to take chances.
"Fifteen millions... boy, I... I don't know how to thank you!"
With tears and gratitude Boodle thanked him from the bottom of his heart, bowing to Luffy and the others.
"Shishishi, it was nothing. No need to think too much about it old man."
"You should call the marines soon. If word gets out that Buggy was captured, they will get here in the blink of an eye. Talking about them, we should get going, right captain?"
Zora said getting closer to Luffy as he spoke with the mayor. Since she had a lot of experience as a bounty hunter, she had a good idea of how the Navy would act once they heard how one of their worst three got captured.
"Yeah, you are probably right. You two are coming with us, right?"
Carina was ready to put her hand up, showing every bit of disposition that she had to join them. The best part was that she didn't have to fake that at all.
"Yes."
Surprisingly enough however, Nami was the first one to answer. She had a serious face but looked some nervous and confused.
Carina looked at her with surprise, she didn't expect her partner to be so straightforward with this. To be honest she was still expecting the red-haired to show some unwillingless to join or ally them.
'Though, I can guess why she would change her mind.'
Zora had a raised eyebrow. The changing though not abrupt was curious, so she would attempt to keep an eye on the red-haired.
Luffy only smiled, getting a great thief and a navigator at once could only make him happy.
A lightly pull on his shirt took him out of his thoughts and made him look down to meet Sabrine's of expectation.
"Lu, can we get it?"
Her eyes were shining as she pointed to the cannon of the old Buggy Pirates. The blondie looked at that weapon as it was a big gift she could barely wait to unwrap.
"Sure!"
And of course he wouldn't be able to say no to her pleading face.
"Hey old man, can we get a boat? It doesn't need to be too big, I think a fishing boat would be enough."
Boodle adjusted his glasses and looked at the cannon Luffy was pointing to. He really wasn't planning on keeping it and he doubt the marines would ask about it.
"That's the minimum I can do for you! Just give me a second."
The old man soon put himself to run to let the boat ready for them. He could explain the situation for the others later, he knew they wouldn't mind, and even if they complained, fuck it. They saved their town, they could afford giving them a small boat.
"I think we should get the ammo for that too, before leaving."
Carina suggested, trying to show her good will.
"Already working on that."
The purplenette looked to the side to see Sabrine and Zora coming over carrying packs of what she could only assume to be the ammo of the cannon. She also could only wonder how heavy they really were since the two were caring them like they weighted nothing.
"They will need a little bit of a redesign, but I think that after a few hours I would be able to make more, with some improvements even. We just need the resources."
Sabrine commented happily. For her christmas had got way earlier. It would have been more perfect if they had ther resources to do more of those ammos now, but it seemed like Buggy already spent all of those on the ones on their hands.
"Didn't know you were that much into weapons." Zora knew that just having spent a few days with them there was no way she would know them completely, but seeing Sabrine that was usually so calm and contained acting so excited was a bit of a surprise for her.
"Not a big fan of cold weapons, but any type of fire gun I am more than happy to have. I like to use them, study, diseamble and reasemble. I can do a whole lot of things with it."
She explained to Zora that nodded while hearing. Though she didn't exactly share the enthusiasm for the same type of weapon, she did understand the feeling because of her swords. Next them Nami heard everything, and was looking at her axe. Maybe she also understood them. And understanding and relating with pirates as still something new for her.
Without even having to get on the plaza, Luffy used his electromagnetic powers to raise the cannon and carried it to the port. The Buggy pirates ship was already a small point on the horizon. They were already fighting themselves to death to decide who would be the next captain since all of their big names were taken out. Those would probable be the last days of the crew.
And, after a few minutes, now with a second boat with the cannon tied to their main boat, the crew took sail.
"So, where to know captain?"
Carina asked with a smile from ear to ear. Becoming a pirate wasn't how she thought her day would originally go, but she was convinced this would turn out well. She would discover not too far in the future that she was right.
Nami looked at him with curiosity, Zora with a neutral but loyal expression, and Sabrine with a gentle smile that told him she was just waiting his orders.
"Actually, there is an island asked me to take a look at."
He said laughing with old memories, and even the bloondie looked curious to what her boyfriend was talking about.
...
One woman alone was standing on the beach, looking at the vast sea and the moving waves with her curious brown eyes. She was tall, though if she standed next to Luffy would still look smaller, had a slightly tanned skin, probably due to standing under the sun light for quite sometime. She also had long and blonde hair that was slightly moving thanks to the wind.
Her clothing was simple and looked hand made, mostly being made of raw leather and leafes, only working to cover her legs until the knees and her noticeable chest.
Her eyes ere filled with curiosity as she looked at the sea, seeming to think to be wondering about numerous things.
"Are the islands out there like this one?"
I think that was a better way to deal with Buggy, don't expect much difficult for a long time, even on the Grand Line probably. I am just going to attempt to go all out on making this Luffy was broken as I can, and I couldn't even start yet since this beginning has nothing for him to even have to raise a hand to do. Next chapter I plan on show more of them, wanna use some good amount of the time just focusing on the characters. They might get to Syrup Village next chapter, it will depend on how the chapter goes and it's lenght, but the arc itself will only happen on chapter five. So, what next chapter will be? I am curious to see who do you guys think is the girl at the end and where she is.
Reviews:
YGReader: Thanks. About Nami, in general, even if I didn't use the discarted idea, she would probably end up with a similar attitude either way. I just used it because I think the metal arm and axe are cool, and give good options to develop later, adding with what we already have her buffs.
PraetorXYN: What can I say? I like genderbending. Though I probably won't use the ideas you mentioned for this fic, I will still keep with what I want to do, I did got interested on it and might do another fic with it later on. Maybe you will enjoy that one more. Out of curiosity, who would be good characters to substitute Usopp? I think I can have enough ideas for the others, but I am not so sure about a shooter.
NinjaFang1331: Thank you, glad you liked.
Thanks for reading, if you enjoyed please review, follow and favorite.
