Arlong had dismissed the brat with the straw hat as a nuisance. Someone he needed to kill in order to break Nami completely of any thought of resistance. He had assumed this "Luffy" would be a simple matter to deal with.
He had been wrong. So painfully wrong.
While he had been able to smell the fact that the captain Nami had put her hope and dream into was a woman, nothing prepared him for the sheer protective fury of the girl with the straw hat. It was as if the sky itself had decided to empower a single girl who would not hesitate to put her life and dream on the line to end Arlong and all he had built completely, rending everything right down to the foundations.
There was more than just Haki in the girl's fists. There was power and fire and a sense that nothing would stand in her way once she set her mind to something. An unshakeable resolve that would result in the mountains crumbling and the seas turning to dust before she wavered in her convictions.
As Arlong felt that fist punch him through the building, he could only muse belated at the poor luck of having that resolve turned against him to the point it would take a miracle if he came out of this alive.
Also, he had to wonder how the hell she knew he had been part of Jinbei's crew and that it was because of him that the Marines had allowed this travesty to continue for so long. He was sure no one would trace his former captain back to him!
Nami POV
If Nami had any doubts about Luffy before, they died when she saw the sheer unshakeable resolve in his eyes. There was a fire in them that said he would move heaven and hell before he allowed anyone to stop him.
And that was before she saw the sheer devestation the surprisingly scrawny captain unleashed on her own personal hell.
The fishmen didn't stand a prayer, though she had a renewed appreciation for the odd swordsman Luffy had picked up along with Sanji.
She would never mistake Takeshi as "harmless" again. Not after witnessing the other teen easily kill several fishmen without a second thought with a dark smile on his face. There was a sort of darkness that was inside Takeshi, one only tempered by the unwavering loyalty he had for Luffy.
Nami really wanted the story behind that. She knew there had to be one.
Usopp was a coward, but he eventually managed to pull up enough courage to actually be useful for once. Luffy had him reading up on carpentry and books on how to repair and maintain ships at the moment though. Considering Usopp acted as though the Merry was an extension of the girl who gave the ship to them, he took to the temporary role of "shipwright" with a gusto.
Nami had to feel a little dark satisfaction as Luffy beat the living shit out of Arlong without showing too much strain. It was beyond strange seeing the scrawny teen able to fight and win against Arlong as if he were a bug.
She wasn't complaining though, not by a longshot.
It felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders when Arlong Park was destroyed, though she had to wonder why Luffy left Hachi alive.
Either way Nami was extremely grateful for what Luffy did for her. He didn't even care that she had 'betrayed' him so often, or that she had basically stolen his ship.
He was like the sky to her. He accepted everything she was and demanded nothing but herself in return. A strange warmth filled her down to her bones when she hugged him tightly, too relieved at Arlong being gone to register anything but the fact she was finally free.
Luffy hugged her tightly, letting Nami use them as an anchor in a world that had suddenly dropped out from under her. Once Nami fully registered that she was free, Luffy had no doubt she would come home and be part of the crew properly.
The look on Nami's face when she found out Luffy had asked the villagers to add special planters for her tangerine trees made her day.
"Welcome home, little sister," said Takeshi with a grin.
Nami beamed, before the words registered.
"Excuse me? I'm older than you!" said Nami, trying to hide her annoyance. Out of the crew, Luffy was amusingly enough the youngest. Even Takeshi was a few months older than Luffy.
Takeshi laughed.
"Yeah, but you're the newest Element to Luffy's Sky."
Nami's annoyance turned to confusion.
"Element?"
Takeshi rubbed his head sheepishly.
"That warm feeling you get? It's something like a glue to people like us. It provides a sense of grounding and belonging. It tells us that no matter what, we'll always have a place to call home. That's what the Sky is, a place where everyone is welcomed and accepted for who and what they are. Regardless of their faults," said Takeshi.
Nami blinked. That...made a strange sort of sense.
"So if Luffy is the 'Sky' then what does that make you?"
Takeshi's grin was not reassuring, if you were on the wrong end of it. Fortunately Nami had established herself as a permanent ally, so it didn't terrifying the hell out of her.
"I'm the Rain that hides the tears that the Sky sheds, washes away anything that would put blood on their hands, and soothes the pain they might feel," said Takeshi without hesitation and no little sense of conviction.
Nami blinked and really looked at Takeshi. She had assumed he was just another swordsman, like Zoro, but now?
She realized he was much more than a mere swordsman. He was a Sword.
And Luffy was the hand that wielded it. Nami had the weird sense that it was the left hand, and that he was still looking for what to hold in his right though.
Very strange.
With Luffy
"You want me to what?" said Nojiko in disbelief.
"I want you to join the crew. Mostly to balance out the number of girls to guys, but also so I have another rational voice that can help out when things go to hell," said Luffy bluntly.
"But why me?"
"Nami is a great navigator and a good person. But let's face it, she tends to lose sight of reality if money is involved. It's not a bad thing, but that quirk could potentially cause trouble later and this way she has someone she knows is on her side against the guys on the crew," said Luffy. "And don't get me started on the bias against girl pirates. I'm sure she would appreciate having a friendly face that she knows will have her back against that sort of nonsense."
Nojiko stared at Luffy in disbelief.
"You're a lot more perceptive than you look, aren't you?" she asked.
"Let's just say I have a rather personal reason to hate the fact that everyone seems to think female pirates do a lot of sleeping around or are generally useless," said Luffy annoyed.
That got Nojiko to stop and look at Luffy properly. An expression of sympathy crossed her face.
"How long?" she asked.
"What?"
"How long have you been hiding the fact you're really a girl?"
Luffy winced.
"Over a decade at least. I got pissed because Shanks kept calling me a 'bunny princess' and the way Gramps was trying to marry me off to a Marine captain to act as a freaking housewife since I refused to sign up. I'd rather suffer the annoyance of hiding my gender long enough to be taken seriously as a major player than put up with half the shit Nami almost certainly went through once she hit puberty. The only one who found out was Zoro though... I plan to see how long it takes them to pick up on it," admitted Luffy.
Nojiko's expression firmed. She would have considered it for Nami's sake, as Luffy raised several valid points...but the fact that their own captain was hiding her gender just to be taken seriously was enough to convince her.
She wondered how Nami would react to having a 'little sister', or even if she would pick up on the fact her new captain was a girl as well.
Should be highly entertaining.
"That being said I fully intend to dress up when we hit Loguetown. There's someone I plan to meet up with. One perk to pretending to be a guy all the time is no one expects to see you in a dress, shishishi," said Luffy grinning.
"Well then you'll need an experienced hand to help hide the scar under your eye, now won't you?" said Nojiko.
Luffy shook her head.
"Makino-nee made sure I was well versed on that subject. The most I plan to ever use that for is to hide the scar and maybe add a bit of color. Should have seen Zoro's face when he realized I actually had make-up on me, as well as a few female outfits."
Zoro had blushed rather thoroughly the one time he saw Luffy in a dress, mostly because her clothes were drying at the time. The fact she didn't change her behavior at all didn't help.
She still couldn't figure out why so many people tended to react weird when she wore that light summer dress and put on a little bit of make-up. Though she preferred a clear coat on her nails, since it was easier to hide. Besides, it was such a pain putting it on when the ship was moving.
When they reached Loguetown, most of the crew dispersed to do some shopping. Luffy and Nojiko hung back a bit, claiming Luffy had forgotten something important and Nojiko was helping them look for it.
No one noticed the cute girl leaving the Merry Go or Nojiko slipping into the crowd to find Nami. She had hopes to get a few new outfits that would fit Luffy, especially since she did a measurement of the younger girl's bust size and Luffy had shown clear discomfort at getting a fitting.
Luffy headed towards the agreed meeting point and waited. She didn't have long.
"Sabo-nii!"
She tackled her brother in a hug.
"You got even cuter while I was gone. And since when do you wear make-up?" teased Sabo.
"Makino-nee showed me so I at least knew how to do it. I mostly just hide the scar though," said Luffy.
She noticed the other person next to him.
It was Dragon.
To say the atmosphere was tense was an understatement.
"Tell me why," said Luffy.
"We were performing several high risk operations and moving constantly. The odds of someone noticing an infant were too high. I left you with Garp both to keep you safe and to keep your heritage quiet so the World Government wouldn't hunt you down like they did Roger's son or that girl from Ohara. I wanted you to at least grow up happy and safe, even if it meant I wouldn't have a hand in raising you," said Dragon, not beating around the bush.
Sabo had warned him Luffy appreciated the blunt truth as opposed to lies. She could tell if he did and it wouldn't endear him to her at all.
Luffy stared him in the eyes and he could sense he was under a very thorough sense of judgement. To his relief, he passed.
"I don't blame you for what you did. I just wanted to know your reason behind it. That being said I'm more likely to call Shanks my father rather than you, simply because at this point we're more like complete strangers than anything."
"Fair enough," conceded Dragon. It was better than he hoped for, since Luffy didn't seem to hate him for leaving her with Garp. And he knew Shanks was a relatively honorable man for a pirate who had more of a hand in her upbringing for however brief it was.
"That being said I would not be opposed to helping out your people occasionally like giving them free passage to any islands they plan to hit, even if we're just dropping them off to a well traveled port. Just don't get us directly involved in your operations," said Luffy.
Dragon was surprised at the offer. Very few would be willing to help them, especially knowing who and what they were.
Sabo however grinned.
"Besides, this way you two can at least mend some of the bridges that were burned by the fact you had to leave her with Garp. I'm sure one of our guys could pass on letters or something if we take you up on that, or even pictures."
Luffy perked up at that.
Dragon was just glad his daughter was willing to give him even a small chance into her life. He half-expected her to hate him for abandoning her like he had.
Then again he was unaware of the fact she remembered her past life and the lies that filled it thanks to her "father", who treated them as nothing more than 'toys' he could take down from a shelf and play the devoted family man at his own conviences and forget about later.
Compared to Iemitsu, Dragon was several leagues a better father. Which was the main reason Sabo had more or less made him have this meeting with Luffy in the first place. He knew she wouldn't hate her birth father for what he did.
"And before I forget... happy belated birthdays Lu," said Sabo, handing her a box.
Luffy looked inside and beamed at him. There were more snails and several more scrapbooks for her collection.
"These are for you, Sabo-nii," she said, handing over one of her copied books. Sabo grinned at her.
"Now, I believe someone was planning to see the execution tower?" said Sabo, reminding her of the time.
Luffy's face blanked.
"Crap, I almost forgot about that and I still need to stock chocolate and my medicines."
"I can get that and slip it on your ship before you leave," said Sabo. "Which one is it?"
"The caravel with the sheep's head. Look for the straw hat," said Luffy.
She promptly went to get changed, and the difference was staggering. It was a good thing she hadn't done more than hide her scar and put on a different hat, because otherwise Dragon would have great trouble recognizing her at all.
"Do you really have to hide your gender?" he asked.
"Considering the bias against female pirates, hell yes. Once I start making enough waves I'll drop most of it, but for now it's necessary. Besides, I have the sneaking suspicion Shanks did something that is going to annoy me later."
Sabo's face suddenly went 'innocent' and Luffy's eyes narrowed at him.
"You know something."
"Know? More like I have blackmail and proof you're almost certainly going to punch him for it when you find out," cackled Sabo.
Luffy was going to be so peeved when she found out about "The Bunny Princess and the Sea Crown" series. It was an adventure series told from the perspective of a bounty hunter and the main character fit Luffy to a tee. She was determined to become the "Queen of the Sea", and to prove girls were just as strong as boys when it came to fighting.
Drove the Marines crazy trying to figure out what the hell Shanks was playing at when he wrote it, but anyone who knew Luffy realized who the main character was and started saving up the books for blackmail later. The only reason the World Government allowed it was because the main character was a bounty hunter rather than a pirate.