A Fruitless Start

One Piece Belongs to Oda.

Chapter-4 Tales of the East

…..

There is a price for fame, bad or good, for criminals, the ones not good enough to not be caught or do something so big that they can't walk with normal people anymore, they are chased, pursuited and only able to find reprieve on places in the margins of the law or if they have enough power that no one wants to mess with them. In the East Blue, the best example of this is Don Krieg and also once upon a time (she feels angry just remembering) Arlong. Then there is the good kind of fame, you are adored by the people, all want to meet you and all want you to be their friend. That is what she is seeing in action right now with Luffy, who is surrounded by nobles looking for his opinions or something.

He has been invited to a party(the birthday of the crowned prince Statty or something), and she was there to be arm candy(ha, as if) but surprisingly Luffy doesn't need that much attention. Sure it was a fight to put him in proper clothes, a tuxedo, and to leave his hat with his mother but here they are, dressed in a fluffy green dress borrowed from Makino, Nami can't believe that she is on a room with the leadership of the East Blue, kings, queens and other politicians and most of them wanted Luffy's attention, there is no denying that he may be insane or dumb(or a genius pretending to be either for a laugh at everyone else expense) but there is no doubt that he has a charisma which many of these politicians are atracted to.

Even now, Nami just needs to stay behind and watch while Luffy keeps attracting and impressing the nobles with a story or another, dancing with some of the children and laughing at a joke or another. Nami is impressed and notices that only a few of the nobles, like the crowned prince and his fiance, are looking at him with disinterest or disdain, but that was fine.

Moving swiftly she asks the direction of a toilet from one of the servants, no one will bother her for she is the company of a hero(Luffy hated the title but until he became a pirate he was stuck with it) with the benefit of being as noble as he was for only such great company can be with such a great person…she is the evil one and is about to pull a heist. Hiding in an empty room, she takes off the dress for the pants she had and a dark shirt, ready to do what she does best: steal.

Moving fast and avoiding any prying eyes, she looks for any valuables that can be taken with minimal effort, not to steal all of it, just enough and in a way that nobody would notice. Finding the guests rooms, she moves fast, plenty of the guests have jewels with them both in their rooms and on their persons at the party but the rich always bring more than they should. Rings, necklaces, earrings, anything really, that can be hidden on her clothes or Luffy's pockets are taken. She wished she could take all but there is a risk by being greedy here, if too much is taken an alarm can be sound and they can be caught or if she goes after too big of a bank she will have no place to hide it.

In the past she only stole from pirates but moving from room to room all the while dodging the weak security is making her realize that if she went after corrupt nobles before she would have made the 100,000,000 belly easily in a year or two. Not all rooms were stolen of course, she had enough of a conscience to let be the kind ones, known by their good government, or the ones who brought children and may have one thing or two that is precious for them. Paying attention to the rooms helps to determine the ones more humble or the ones with family. But the king of the Goa Kingdom and any of his retinue are free game, from the story that both Luffy and Dadan told, they deserve to get ripped off.

The prince's personal room is a cave of luxury with many expensive items, from paints to the covers of the bed lined with gold. Opening his closet she sees a portrait of him, surrounded with fake flowers, gold and the inscription 'future king' "Yep, going to steal a lot here" after all you got to have a code of what to do or not and hers include a clause of 'steal from the idiots, arrogants and criminals' she is sure he falls in some of these categories.

Going back to the room she let hers(Makino's) dress she checks once again for anyone, she sees nothing "Perfect" getting in, she ties her loot on a couple of bags and ties them to her waist, others on her legs and on her back, even then there were still small bags to carry. Good thing she had a partner on this operation. Getting properly dressed and moving with grace(carrying so much treasure is not easy but years of stealing gave her more strength than needed) all the while holding on her hands, close to her torso below her chest, a couple of thousand belly in jewelry and other stuff. Finding Luffy was easy, he was at the buffet still talking with some people but looking disinterested now.

"Excuse me, you all hogged my date too much for the night and he owes me a dance" she affirms and most accept easily and the ones that don't she ignores and drags Luffy away from their eyes.

"Hey Nami, having fun?"

"Yes indeed. Can you put that in your pockets?" he doesn't hesitate as she gives him some of the loot. By the end of the night they are being escorted out by some guards none wiser of the missing things for the time being.

"Hope you had fun, this party was kinda boring" Luffy comments when they are away from the earshot of the castle.

"What do you mean? You looked like you had fun."

"Nah, the dances were boring and I had to do most of what Makino told me. About being polite." Well, slow dances were common at these events. "And no one told me any good stories, they just wanted me to tell mine and I couldn't tell everything" admitting that he was raised by mountain bandits would be bad. "I ended up telling them about my time with gramps the most and I really don't like to remember that."

"You could have told them about Arlong" she kinda likes Luffy's description of the fight.

"I did, more than once it's just hard finding new ways to say slow but not weak" because to him that was all it was, "I had fun but they wanted more descriptions and Makino said 'Don't punch in a tuxedo you will ruin it' how can I describe if I can't show my punches."

"Huuu, fair point."

"They also wanted me to deal with a dastardly Bugsy guy"

"It is Buggy, and he is relatively famous" they keep moving, until a corner of a street close to the walls of the city, where Nami takes a key from the dress and they enter a small house. Not big but for the number of windows it had two floors with two rooms on top and an entrance that served a dining room, kitchen and planning room.

"Is he strong?" Luffy starts to take the tuxedo taking care to not damage the clothes.

"Go to your room before you start to change, jeez ever heard of personal space."

"But you are…" then he sees she had other clothes beside the dress "Ohh…ok." And he moves to his room.

"What is the point of having a safe house if you don't use the space?" he wanted to live with his family and she gets it, even they understand that Luffy is now a public figure, beside this house which is only temporary(and most importantly cheap), she had to buy(with his money) a house on his village and had one more build on his training ground(after Momoo, Spot was just a small scare) all small temporary bases to plan, rest and to keep her treasure until they had a ship and Luffy can become a pirate in one and a half years.

Separating the treasure she started to calculate the profits when Luffy comes back with the bags he had, it was a good collection of gold and jewels "So I was wondering" Luffy starts to say "You need to train".

"And why…"separates a necklace for her personal collection "should I? You are the one who will fight".

"Nami, Shanks told me the Grand Line is super dangerous," he focused on her face "You at least need to dodge".

"What I need is to plan for our next voyage, after the island with strange animals we still need to map a lot of the East Blue".

"Makino warned me about this, you are distracting me" yes she was. He will fight, she will steal that was the deal. "Look it's just dodging if after that you want to learn anything else-"

"I won't be your sparring partner Luffy, you have Spot for that" Dadan is right, she needs to be firm or else she will be dragged in some insanity.

"It's just dodging then, just to be safe please…."

She caved "FINE, but no punches and no training like your grandfather trained you." she is going to regret this.

"YES, don't worry Nami. I have lots of ideas, by the time we are done, you will be dodging with your eyes closed." At that moment she felt a shiver on her spine. She will regret this.

…..

She regrets this "LUFFY STOP THROWING ROCKS AT ME" yep she really regrets this. Spot on the other hand is just happy for not being the target of training for the boy for once.

"This is the best way, just focus on dodging" he then throws three more of which Nami dodges one and gets hit on the back by two, getting up she starts to run around again while Luffy gives chase. Finally she gets on the house.

"SAFE SPACE, SAFE SPACE, SAFE SPACE" she covers her face but no rock goes her way, finally she looks up and sees Luffy smiling at a distance "I SAID NO TRAINING LIKE YOUR GRAMPA DID".

"But we are not" he lets go of the rocks and starts to get closer, Nami waits for him before punching him in the face, he falls a bit but recovers quickly "What? We are not, you know what stuff he made me do" that is fair, this training is taimer.

"Yes and he is insane, don't change the fact that your training hurts".

"You said no punches, and after that no kicks I can only do stones".

"Why are we training again? So far, you were the only one who fought".

In the last four months they have gone on a few voyages, always returning in less than a week, exploring as many islands as they can before starting the pirate journey, with Luffy status as a hero, they get many privileges. Gone were the days of stalking and stealing from pirates….she still does it when they find some but that was for her, not her village.

"It's because I worry for you silly." he smiled while saying that but she isn't buying it.

"You still want someone to train with, don't you?" she asked with a sceptical look.

"Don't mean I'm lying" she will give him that, he can't lie to save his life.

"Fine, but can we start a little bit slower?"

"Shishishi, sure" it was as fast as before and she punched him again later but at least she was getting better at seeing it coming, almost as if she could guess when he would throw.

…..

Coby couldn't guess his day would be that much insane, it all began when he was cleaning the warehouse on Alvida's uncharted island, he saw a beautiful girl in company of a boy just barging in, for a whole minute he panicked and after explaining who the island belonged to and why they shouldn't mess with her the girl just said "Hey Luffy, look at that, there is someone for you to beat up today."... what was he supposed to say after that?

After introducing themselves (Nami and Luffy, explorers, bounty hunters and definitely not pirates yet, confusing Coby after that last one) Coby told them his story and his dream, which Luffy called him a coward and the Nami called him a 'poor idiot' with a shake on her head.

Five minutes later Iron Mace Alvida (5,000,000 dead or alive) is tied up ready to be delivered to the marines at their earliest convenience and since he wanted to be a marine, they offered him a ride on a decent size boat, certainly big enough to carry Alvida. After traveling for a bit Nami suggests that they dropped the pirate in one base and Coby on another so the marines don't discover his bad stroke of luck and brief tenure with the pirates.

And that is what they did, Coby can't help but be excited as they approach Shells Town for soon he will be a marine, Luffy is happy for him since he is following his dream and told the guys on the base to ask for Garp to help with Coby's training. The shock that Coby received when he figured that the Garp which Luffy was talking about was not only his grandfather but also the legend of the marines 'Garp the Hero' Gold Roger fated rival was huge, Luffy hitted him on the head for insisting on the importance of this and Nami explained later that Luffy didn't care for his 'gramps' fame, Coby could respect that.

The next day they arrived on the territory protected by the famous captain Morgan, the man who ended the reign of the pirate Kuro of the thousand plans and the things there gave Coby perspective, the population was terrified of just saying the man's name and his son goes around doing whatever he wants. The second one of the son's guards hears Luffy's name he drops everything and asks him to deal with Morgan.

Five minutes later, Axe-hand Morgan is down, said axe broken and he completely knocked out and all it took was one punch…..ONE PUNCH FROM A GUY HALF MORGAN'S SIZE. Nami claims that now the marines of the base owe her 10,000,000 belly and everyone there panics until Luffy talks her out of it.

By the end of the day Coby has joined the marines, he and Morgan's son Helmeppo were starting from the beginning and one day Coby will reach his dream of being a great marine.

…..

Dadan was helping Makino take care of Nami's tangerines, something the girl begged and even paid them to do(she didn't even try to cheat them and paid a fair price).

"Dadan, can you help me later at the tavern?" Makino still would go open it in the afternoon to the night the tangerines just need some attention during the day.

"What kind of help do you need? Is any reporter bothering you?"

"Don't even remind me of that, you were the one who raised him more why I'm the one they have to know about?" she sounds exasperated finishing checking her side of the fence, so animals couldn't get to the fruits.

Dadan can't help but laugh at the question "Do you want the people to know that their 'hero' was raised by bandits?" she looks at Makino with a raised eyebrow "Garp would have our heads".

"Maybe yours." she smiles while the bandit shuts her mouth "But that is not the problem today. After Luffy gained fame, the Dawn Island has been receiving a lot of tourists and my tavern is running out of booze." The explanation makes sense, business on the island is going up and up with a celebrity in their midst "Since there is a good chance we run out, I would be glad if someone was there to expel the drunkards and others who will take offense by the lack of drinks".

"Yes", Dadan wonders," because this time there is no kind pirate to save the day and idiots come from many places, not just mountains", finally she sighs "Humf, fine I will be there, going to call some of the boys as well."

Makino smiles in gratitude, there was a time she would hesitate to ask such things from the bandit but not anymore, not after hearing from Luffy about the woman basically accepting being his mother(not that she would say it to the bandit face).

…..

"CATCHING LEAVES" Luffy is having fun, his opponent is strong, not the strongest, only Arlong can claim that for now but strong nonetheless, the guy dodges Luffy's attacks and tries to counter using his tonfa with a cannon ball at the end, which Luffy blocks.

Around them, there is a raid or a pirate attack on a port town in which he and Nami were using as a base to explore this island, more to the side Luffy can hear Nami fighting many pirates, she is dodging all their strikes and countering with her staff without any problems and Luffy can't help but think his training was better(and safer) than his gramps.

Focusing once again on his opponent he has a gray jacket and looked like he didn't sleep much, he had a symbol on his clothes but Luffy doesn't care "Hey, can't you be my training partner?" he asked while dodging a swing from the tonfa.

"Are you insane Arlong's Bane, this is a fight, take it seriously" he says in mid swing and again Luffy dodges this time following with a punch straight on the face of the guy.

The two keep moving, throwing attacks one after the other, a swing of the tonfa, ducking to dodge it then answering with a kick to the legs, the guy jumps back and pulls a shotgun from his belt. He takes aim and shoots and Luffy blocks using his Haki on his chest where the bullets would land. The guy looks stunned for a bit and tries to shoot again and, using his two hands this time, Luffy stops every shot saving energy by using a smaller area.

Discarding the gun, the man goes for a second tonfa and rushes at Luffy, who keeps the pace, dodges "ROCK SMASH", the man rolls out of the way but this time Luffy pursues after hitting the ground.

Nami just has finished the last guy and starts to look to help some civilians caught in the mess, "SOMEONE NEED HELP? SCREAM IF YOU DO" while she goes around she notices that there is a small militia trying to repel the pirates, she charges at the invaders from behind and starts attacking using her staff, on the head, chest, arms, anywhere to help the militia to get some advantage.

After the pirates are beaten, one of the officers stops "Thank you ma'am, we-".

She interrupts "No time for thanks, there is a fire starting and the pirates are still spread. We have to move on." They follow her and start helping the townsfolk and suppressing the pirates.

Meanwhile, the fight between the straw hat and the other man is still going, both sides trying to outlast the other but Luffy still holds back, this man had skill and Luffy tried to observe and learn how he moved, the tonfas are heavy and every time he hits the ground it splitted and broke. Another dodge from Luffy and then a kick on the ribs of the man, he almost lost his balance but recovered, just not fast enough, the straw hat got close enough "RISING WIND" the upper cut hits the chin and the guy flies a bit before hitting the ground.

Getting up, bleeding he prepares to charge again but notices the situation of his crew around him, many were being taken down by the forces of the port and this raid is getting too hard to be profitable "RETREAT" he orders all of his man "GET TO THE SHIP, RETREAT", all pirates hear the command and start moving to the pier and to the galleon anchored there with cannons preparing to shoot. Seeing that his opponent was moving to escape, Luffy rushed to pursue, just as a tonfa hit the side of a house and cut off the way.

Once enough pirates were on the galleon it opened fire on the town, all in it diving for cover or anything similar. Luckily the bombardment was short, a distraction to stop any attempt of pursuit and enemy fire of possible cannons.

After the fight, the dead were accounted and prepared to be buried, while a tragedy, the fact that Monkey D. Luffy was there and stopped the situation from getting worse, made headlines, since he managed to repel(not alone but he chased out the lider) a galleon belonging to the armada of Don Krieg he gained another title: Strongest Man in the East. A dig at the Don who lived to say he was the strongest.

…..

Nojiko is selling her tangerines in big lots these days. Ever since Arlong's defeat and the opening of the ports of the Conomi Island business are going up.

She can't believe how much the pirates were ruining the island before, both with the tributes and with the policies of selling for their allies. Before it was a fight to sell something and the greedy bastards backed by the pirates knew that the inhabitants of the island were always on a back foot and had to fight for scraps and the denial of a sale could spell death to the person with no money.

Now, she will have to hire some help to get her tangerines in time, lots of ships are taking the route for this place even if it is not for the products they can offer.

"And here we have the tree where the mighty Arlong was chained" stated one of the guides of the island, the advantage of a big event happening in a place is the creation of an economy that this island didn't have before, tourism "While he was our prisoner, the hero Monkey D. Luffy watched like a hawk and stopped any fish-men from trying to escape."

Nojiko couldn't help but almost laugh at that one, Luffy was around sure but he stayed close to the fish-men just for a bit before going to talk with her sister and then he went to explore for a while.

She sees Genzo approach, "I kinda miss you pinwheel you know?" she starts the banter.

"Yes and it is where it should be now". He used that to make Nami smile and now that the girl is free and following her dreams Genzo believes he doesn't need it anymore.

"If you say so." Getting her money she prepares to go back to her house, "Are you sure it is a good idea to tell the story like that?" She refers to the fact that Luffy is being treated like some avenger who saw their suffering and came to save them.

"I tried to complain with the 'Tourist Guides Of Conomi' but they insist that is the best bet for branding" because Luffy will love the stories they are spreading about him being the ultimate hero or something.

"We know Luffy is not going to like that" she sings it a bit making Genzo flinch.

"Well he took one of ours so we can use his reputation for our benefit." He wanted Nami to stay but both knew that now she was going to make her dream come true.

"Well I'm going home for today, see you tomorrow Genzo" she starts to leave with a smile saying goodbye to all on her way. Life is good now on the Conomi Islands.

…..

The duo of non-pirates is sailing on the waves, with some guidance of the winds, they search for a new island to explore and map, Nami is debating about making copies of her maps for sale, either the government or a rich entrepreneur who would want to build a town or something. With Luffy's assistance, they had found a good number of unexplored or unmarked islands which could gather some interest.

Luffy on the other hand is fast asleep with his hat on his head covering his eyes, she wonders what he dreams about those times and how he can sleep so fast, they barely left the port and he just closed his eyes and was out like a light.

Anyway, soon it will be time for them to return to Dawn Island and for a moment she wonders if she should set course for Conomi instead, Luffy wouldn't complain about her visiting her village and family and it would be nice to see everyone again.

Suddenly she notices two things, first is an island on the horizon and second beyond said island is a bridge, but not any bridge, a huge one that goes beyond the island and keeps going beyond her view.

She never saw anything that big before and she wonders why such a colossal bridge existed in the middle of the ocean. "Luffy, wake up" she moves to wake up her partner, he would want to see this.

Yawning Luffy stretches a bit before speaking "Nami, did you find any new island?"

"Yes but take a look at what is beside it." and when he sees the huge bridge he starts to smile and turns to her, she also smiles a bit and says "Yep, it's a new adventure".

"ADVENTURE HAHAHA" with Nami's navigation, it wasn't long before they would reach the island and to a new place to map and explore.

…..

AN: This chapter is a bit of a experiment of using concepts of arcs that wouldn't give much of to write about and resume them together with other stories for the sake of plot because, let's face it, everyone knows about Morgan and his attitude, or about Alvida and writing them would take time that can be used for the next chapter.

It's not to say that all which happens here is unimportant, it just wouldn't make for much of a bigger story so, for the sake of not being redundant they were covered in a simpler way here.

The next chapter is going to start an original arc using a place which Oda created as a source for the story but with my own villains and developments.

Next Chapter: Battle with a Bounty Hunter at the Wolf's Mouth.

Until next time.