Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball or One Piece

This chapter was so long, I ended up splitting it up into two, so you get two chapters this week, gentlemen

"There it is!"

He said brightly in reference to the gigantic triangular structure towering over a small island, the place of Nami's upbringing according to the cat burglar herself. There didn't seem to be anyone much more powerful than Buggy via Goku's senses. Their energy signatures were a little bit higher, but it wasn't by much. To be fair, though, they may have been skilfully concealing their true power. Nami seemed sure of their strength. She didn't even really want him going to her home village to confront these apparently awesomely powerful individuals, but Goku would not be deterred so she reluctantly pointed him in the general direction to Commi Island and told him which landmark to look out for.

She was right when she stated it was hard to miss.

Arlong Park struck out like a sore thumb in an amusement park, which was particularly fitting since the massive triangular tower with five Chinese-esque tiles fitted on each floor seem to resemble one.

"Let's see," Goku observed, scanning the other beacon Nami advised him to go to first, "Nami said I should check in with her sister first which should beeeee," He drawled, spotting the aforementioned landscape; a field of tangerines, "Right there!" He hopped off nimbus, landing on the doorstep of a small tropical hut, "Made it."

He only had to rap the door once before he found a pistol abruptly shoved in his face, "You have two seconds to tell me why the hell did you drop out of the sky before I put a bullet in your face," A feminine voice testily demanded.

Goku ignored the non-lethal weapon (to him) in favour of assessing the girl's features and matching them up with the ones Nami gave him about her sister. Her light purple hair cut low with a bang near her left eye, red ribbon wrapped around her head and a distinctive swirl pattern tattoo covering much of her right arm before extending across her ample chest was perfectly in line with the description of Nami's older sister.

"Careful where your eyes drop there, buddy," Nojiko quipped with a roll of her pretty dark green eyes when Goku's gaze presumably fell to her breasts.

Goku ignored the snark and fired off into a bright greeting, "You must be Nojiko, right?" He smiled, calmly lowering her gun.

She blinked, confirming as much, "I am?"

Goku could see the burning flames of confusion raging in her eyes and was on hand to try and extinguish them, "I just met your sister Nami a while ago. She said If I wanted to fight someone strong I should come here to Cocoyashi Village, so here I am!" He brightened, fisting his hips. His demeanour dimmed, one hand coming off his hip to dab a finger on his chin in innocent curiosity, "Gotta say, there doesn't seem to be anyone strong around here."

Nojiko massaged the bridge of her nose in mild exasperation, "That girl... what is she thinking leading weirdos here?" She muttered underneath her breath, pinning Goku with a stare of light annoyance not particularly aimed at him, "Well come in, uh," She said, trying to feel for his name.

"Son Goku!"

"Goku-san. I'll pour you some coffee."

Goku followed her inside with his countenance crinkling up in a grimace.

"I hate coffee."

A Warrior on the Unknown Seas

(Flashback – Half an Hour ago)

"You really can't join my crew, huh?" Luffy stated more than asked, face falling in a slight depressive frown.

Goku tucked his arms behind his head, using his insouciant nature to shield himself from the power of the dreaded puppy-dog-eyed look, "Sorry," He said apologetically, although his signature breezy laugh suggested he wasn't really sorry, something Luffy was quick to call him out on.

"Liar!" He pouted, puffing out his cheeks like a pair of balloons.

A pair of raised palms warded off his childlike annoyance, "Guilty," Goku snarked with a giggle, "I just wanna fight the strongest." The idea of being apart of a crew did intrigue him somehow, but he couldn't imagine himself being anyone's subordinate. If he was going to be a part of a crew, he would have to form his own. Still, he did like Luffy. If anything, 'like' was probably understating just how much Luffy had endeared himself to the martial artiest. Luffy was like his kindled spirit matching him plate for plate in eating and sharing his same devil-may-care outlook on life. Had the two lighthearted, lovable goofballs of all things adventurous met during their childhoods, they were sure they would've considered themselves brothers in everything but blood.

They got along like two peas of the same insatiable appetite pond, eating as much as every resident of Orange Town put together individually. After they had finished all but devouring the town's yearly food supply in one night, the two got to talking about their abilities. It was here Goku learnt about the mysterious Devil Fruits Buggy assumed he ate. He was surprised Luffy didn't know anything about the apparent "Logia-type" fruit eaters when he brought it to his attention. He ventured to guess some Devil Fruits were an extreme rarity.

Hell, Devil Fruit themselves were supposed to be a bit of a myth in this world if Nami and Zoro's word was anything to go by (and Goku didn't have any reason to suspect they were lying to him. He was naïve by nature) Luffy's rubbery body was the first confirmation they had ever gotten that Devil Fruits even existed. They had heard of them but without actual proof they wrote them off as a fairy tale.

No two Devil Fruits were ever the same according to Luffy, which went a long way to explaining Buggy's vastly different Chop-Chop powers in comparison to Luffy's Gomu-Gomu abilities. They sounded awesome to Goku until Luffy admitted he could no longer swim, which turned out to be an unfortunate side effect of devouring the Gomu-Gomu fruit. Apparently, anyone who ate a Devil Fruit lost the ability to swim and were weak to all forms of water, too.

Any interest Goku had of potentially consuming one for himself flew out the window. He liked jumping in the ocean and finding a fish to eat and he also had no desire to acquire yet another weakness after permanently getting his tail removed.

Still, the prospect of fighting significantly stronger Devil Fruit users than Buggy was an exciting one to Goku.

"There you go with that weird desire of yours again," Nami sighed, palming her forehead in irritation. Goku blinked at her and since she had his attention she might as well sarcastically offer him an easy solution, "Geez. If you really want the strongest guy to fight just go to my hometown."

Goku perked up, "Where?"

Now it was Nami's turn to blink, "Huh?"

"Where's your hometown?" Goku asked bluntly.

Nami vacantly blinked again, staring flabbergasted at the boy's innocently curious gaze. She hadn't expected to be taken seriously, but seeing as he was patiently awaiting an answer she hesitantly gave it to him, "...Uh, Cocoyashi Village, on Commi Island," She said, noting Goku's nod, quickly followed by a raised finger. She was quickly on hand try and nip his intrigue in the bud before he could ask for directions, "Listen, I don't think you should go after all. Forget I said anything!"

"But you said If I wanted to fight the strongest guy I should go there."

"I was joking!"

"Geez Nami. Why are you so scared about Goku going to your home village?" Luffy enquired, perceptively seeing through Nami's hesitance to inform Goku were her home was with crossed arms and a tilted head. Nami lasered her finest threatening glare at Luffy, but it rolled off of his back like water, "It's not like we don't already know he's strong. You saw what he did to the ocean like the rest of us."

"Yeah, I can handle myself," Goku said, backing up Luffy's point.

Nami attempted to soothe the migraine she could feel developing dealing with the stubborn big eaters with a lithe finger pressed against her temple, "Look, you might think you're hot-stuff and all, but Arlong-!" She abruptly covered her mouth when she realised she had let slip of the one she was trying to persuade Goku away from, but the damage was already done.

"Who's Arlong?" Goku asked, leaning his head to a tilt and crossing his arms.

A wide grin of the smug, self-satisfied nature emerged on Luffy's face, "He's the strong guy you don't want Goku to fight, right?!"

Goku's own face split into an eager grin of his own. He startled the girl by taking a leap toward her, muscled fists pumped in front of his excited gaze, "Tell me!"

"Tell him!"

"Tell the man!"

"TELL HIM!"

Even Zoro and all of Orange Town's residents had joined in with the coercion of Nami. "Tell me, tell him, and tell the man" all merged into "tell us" as the cat burglar found herself overwhelmed by the endless demands drumming in her ears, tears gathering in her horrified pleading eyes; both of her hands barricading her mouth for dear life.

"TELL US!"

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!" The girl finally relented, if only to stop the obnoxious chant. Goku flashed the V-sign at the delighted villagers before fist-bumping an equally elated Luffy, much to Nami's displeasure. She did her best to ignore everyone basking in her acquiescence and levelled the wild-haired fighter with a hard, grave glare, "If I'm going to tell you where my village is then you have to swear to me you'll run if things get dicey."

Goku knew just how grim the situation must've been at her village just from the severity of her eyes alone. It was clear she didn't just hold this Arlong-guy on a pedestal, she feared him. Really, she didn't even want him confronting this supposedly monstrous entity but was coerced into doing so. He at least had to respect her wishes here.

"Don't worry, I will," He pledged, expression now devoid of its previous levity, "If this Arlong-guy really is that strong and it turns out I can't handle him, I'll just fly away."

Multiple heads turned in his direction.

"Whoa. You can fly?!" Luffy asked enthusiastically, playing spokesman for everyone who wanted confirmation of Goku's ability of flight.

Goku looked at his eager expression blankly before he realised the lighter than air technique wasn't even common in his own world let alone in an foreign one, "Yeah, I can fly," He freely confessed, leaving jaws on the floor when he levitated criss-crossed at Luffy's head, "I like riding on nimbus more cuz it's faster, but I can fly myself, too."

"Whoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Luffy yelled, countenance lit up like a Christmas tree and arms excitably thrown over his head, "That's so cool!"

"No way," Zoro murmured.

"I've never seen anything like it," Nami whispered, "How in the world are you flying?"

"Oh, it's pretty easy once you get the swing of it." Goku casually assured, explained with all the ease as if the miraculous feat of flying was none harder than riding a bicycle.

Nami's face reflected as much, wearing scepticism like a weapon, "Uh-huh," She droned sarcastically. Goku chuckled, free-and-easy, and presented her with a winning smile, fisting his hips. "Ahhh…" She sighed, palming her forehead before running a hand through her shoulder-length orange locks. Any excuse not to point him in the direction of her village had been blown out of the water now, "Fine. Listen up, to get Cocoyashi Village…"

End of an Era Part 1

End of Flashback

"So, I followed Nami's directions and came straight here," Goku finished retelling the events which led him to Nojiko's and Nami's home, leaving out his extravagant finisher of splitting the ocean to frighten Buggy and his crew into submission. He wasn't one to toot his own horn. He was a man of action, not of words.

Nojiko displayed impressive tolerance during the boy's abridged version of the Orange Town ordeal, lightly sipping small amounts of her streaming coffee through the simplified tale of Goku chasing the bad guys away. A cup of orange juice was in front of him. Of course, Goku had left out many details including the exploding building, the crushing of Buggy's cannon with his bare hand and the carving of the ocean so it was no surprise that Nojiko didn't so much as raise an eyebrow at the flying boy's simplistic story of apparent heroism.

"You should've heeded Nami's advice," She inputted between a sip of her coffee, delicately rising the white cup to her pouty lips.

Goku blinked blankly, "Why?"

Nojiko looked at him through hooded eyes, "Do you want to die?"

"…No?"

"Then there's your answer," She quipped, drinking another tiny bit of coffee again.

She really didn't like that confident smirk which formed on the young man's face, like her warning had only verified his reason to fight Arlong, "So he's that strong, huh?" He wasn't really asking.

She demanded testily, "Did you not hear a word I just said!?" Goku jumped a little in surprise when she slammed her cup on the surface of her table, droplets of steamy liquid spilling on the surface as she did. The steam flowing up from the cup unintentionally embellished Nojiko's mask of fury, "You're going to die a gruesome death if you step to Arlong like that." Here, she hugged her arms, shivering, "Or worse."

Curiosity had Goku's full attention like a student willing to learn he could, "Worse than dying?"

Nojiko didn't mince her words, unyielding in her stare, "Yes."

"How?"

A shadow of intent covered one side of her face. Goku sensed the undoubted sadness drenching her entire spirit, "He'll…" She trembled, choking down a sob, "…He'll enslave you and make you pay a reoccurring tax just to stay alive. If you fail to make even one payment he'll kill you."

Goku's expression hardened. Nojiko wasn't sure if his deathly quiet glare was a good or bad thing. She wanted to believe it meant he understood he couldn't stay in Cocoyashi Village if he still desired his freedom but her gut-feeling told her that wasn't going to be the case.

"So he's a bad guy," He declared, getting a limp nod from the girl who hadn't expected this seeming goofball to turn so serious, "I think I get the picture now." He said and stood abruptly, a harsh grinding noise echoing in the kitchen.

"…You do?" Nojiko whispered.

"Yeah, I do," Goku assured, downing his cup of juice and before coolly making his exit.

"Where are you going?" She asked, although she already knew the answer. The way he held himself, with such definitive purpose, told her everything she needed to know.

But still, Goku explained in a straight-forward manner, "To fight Arlong."

"You can't. Wait!" She dashed from her original seating spot in front of the boy, moving in front of him but this time with her hands firmly planted on his toned arms. Had she been in a better frame of mind she would've melted feeling such beefy forearms, "Are you crazy? After everything I've told you, you're still going to risk your life? For what?"

"I am." Goku said, striding forward despite Nojiko's best efforts to keep him rooted to the spot, her heels sliding back, "And I'm doing it 'cuz I want to."

Nojiko gritted her teeth, desperately digging in her heels to halt the boy's forward, casual charge but to no avail, 'He's strong,' But just overpowering a fragile girl like her didn't mean he was strong enough to take down Arlong, "Do you even know how strong Arlong is?"

Goku stopped, much to her relief, "How strong is he?"

Nojiko laughed; a harsh, unpleasant sound ripping out of her throat, "Strong enough that bullets don't affect him."

"Oh? Is that it?"

"What do you mean 'Is that it?' The guy can deflect bullets! How can you possibly hope to stack up against that?"

"I can deflect bullets," Goku stated as though it were a simple fact of life, gently easing Nojiko aside.

"Huh?" Nojiko blinked, quickly barricading Goku's path again, "Wait a minute? You can deflect bullets?" She asked, askance. Goku nodded and a mask of scepticism formed over Nojiko's pretty face. "Prove it."

Goku cupped his chin with his finger and thumb, pondering the demonstration he could give to prove his bullet-timing and invulnerability before a seed of inspiration sprouted in his head, "Ah, I got it." He smiled, retracing his steps back to Nojiko's kitchen. The young woman blinked, following after him.

"What are you-?" She started, watching him reach for her gun she left on the table before pointing it toward his own temple. Her eyes widened exponentially, "What the hell?" She threw herself forward, launching herself onto his arm and pulling the weapon away from his head, "Are you an idiot?!"

Goku shrugged, "Well, how else was I supposed to prove bullets don't affect me?"

"Alright, alright! I get it. You're apparently invulnerable to bullets. Now, put the gun down please," It didn't sound like she was convinced but Goku could tell she was uncomfortable with the idea of him shooting himself in the head to prove his invulnerability to bullets so he didn't push the matter further, relaxing his arm and allowing the girl to take the gun from him, "Thank you."

Goku ignored her and single-mindedly headed for the front door, exiting Nojiko's home.

"Wait damn it!" Nojiko said, putting her gun away before dogging the boy's steps outside, "Wait!" She pleaded, slamming both of her hands on the doorframes. Goku turned his head over his shoulder with inquisitive eyes, already half-way from the small hut. Nojiko stared him down through shadowed eyes of desperation, "If I tell you Nami's story, will you leave?"

Goku approached her, gently setting a hand on her head, causing her to flinch, "You don't have to explain anything. I'll feel it out."

"What are you-?" Nojiko breathed out, feeling oddly at ease despite the muscled hand atop her crown, "Wait! Can you… read minds?"

Goku nodded, "Just relax for a sec." She obeyed with a mute nod, mystified and intrigued all at the same time at the boy's apparent otherworldly ability to see into people's memories.

Goku closed his eyes, easing a small amount of his Ki into the girl's mind. Nojiko shuddered on reflex but did not dare move an inch, allowing Goku to submerge himself deep into her turbulent sea of memories, searching through them like an archive of films rolling before his inquisitive gaze.

And he saw it all.

The horrifying war an infant Nojiko had survived, finding a baby Nami, meeting her surrogate mother on the field of battle, Bellemere's warm hearted acceptance as the girls's mother after the former solider braved the raging seas to take the young girls to her home of Commi Island, the three living in poverty resulting in Bellemere having to hand down Nojiko's old clothes down to Nami much to the girl's resentment and the unfortunate tragedy which ruined all their lives.

Pure wrath clouded Goku's vision when he arrived at the scene of the humanoid creature of the sea subjugating the entirety of the village with his crew comprised of other humanoid sea-based entities. They abused what little power they possessed by being mildly super powered to lord over a village, forcing them to pay a life tax just to stay alive. This was where the family's poverty came back to haunt them.

Bellemere only had enough funds to spare herself or Nami and Nojiko together as a child's tax for half that of an adult's. The girls were originally going to sneak off the island before the monstrous Fishmen could spot them, but Bellemere – she just couldn't pretend not to have any kids. To the proud young lady, Nami and Nojiko were her daughters and she would be damned if she lied about the fact. And so, battered and bruised and with a crushed arm from Arlong's cruel beating, Bellemere bid her girls a heartfelt goodbye before being mercilessly shot in the head.

The nightmare only got worse from there. Arlong's subordinate had found Nami's impressively drawn map and as such found an interest in her talent. He took her away and made her his subordinate and even promised that he would free her village if she acquired one hundred million Belis.

"That monster!" Goku seethed, removing his hand from Nojiko's head.

Nojiko gasped, eyes widening at the intense look of pure, unbridled fury on the laid-back boy's face. In all this time she had spent interacting with him, she figured an easy-going bubblehead like him was incapable of expressing such raw anger, "Did you-?" She hesitated.

Goku nodded, a calm scowl setting itself on his normally placid countenance, "I saw everything." He emphasized. Nojiko flinched at the barely restrained storm blazing in his eyes. Softening his gaze, Goku sat an comforting hand on her shoulder, eliciting another flinch from her until she relaxed into his touch, "You've been through a lot. I'm sorry." He gazed ahead into the horizon through narrowed eyes, "I'm gonna end this now."

The sincerity of his words and actions gave her comfort. He expressed sorrow and remorse even though he had nothing to be sorry about, just to bring her some small amount of solace for the suffering her and her people had endured all these years under Arlong's merciless heel. She was so left mystified by his charismatic aura she hadn't even noticed his back drifting further and further from her transfixed gaze until he was nothing but a dot in the distance.

"Wait!"

XxX

(Elsewhere)

XxX

On the open seas near aimlessly drifting in a gentle current was Luffy's crew, mostly because they forgot to ask Goku for the map to the Grand Line. They had a destination in mind in Syrup Village thanks to the residents of Orange Town but they weren't entirely sure how to get there. It was supposedly wasn't far, so Nami was content letting the gentle current of the ocean carry their vessels ahead. Part of her contentment to their current situation was due to her being in her own head, lost in her own thoughts.

"Did I really make the right decision?" She mumbled to herself, pressing her knees to her respectable sized C-cup breasts and partly lowering her head in a ball of worry, 'Just don't die, Goku. Just don't die.' A harsh, scolding tap shoved into her forehead got her to snap her head back up, a look of bewilderment decorating her features, "What was that for?"

"You worry too much!" Luffy clarified brightly, reeling his stretched out appendage back in with the snap of a elastic band to fold his arms back behind his head, ankles crossed, "Goku is gonna be fine," He glanced up, envisioning his new friend riding on that awesome cloud he really needed to have a go on with a smirk, "A guy like that won't lose to anyone."

Nami blinked, staring with a profound confusion at the nuance of Luffy's credence in Goku. She didn't think the fun-loving airhead was capable of such deep thought but to suffice to say, she got the suspicion he was doing exactly that.

Zoro groaned, pulling her attention to his sprawled-out form in her boat. "I agree with Luffy," He said, backing up his captain, "He has something to prove." He could relate to his fellow nineteen-year-old in that respect. Both of them wanted to fight the strongest in their respective arts: Zoro to be the greatest swordsman and Goku, to fulfil his existence.

"I just don't get it," Nami insisted.

"What's not to get?" Zoro asked, turning onto his side and ignoring Nami's pout of annoyance, "He wants to fight the strongest to be the strongest, because it's his dream."

Nami gasped, realization flashing before her eyes, "His… dream?" She uttered, slowly. Unbidden, a lost memory of her past self resurfaced, playing in her mind like an old film, "I want to draw a map of the whole world." A chibified version of the cat burglar stated, voice breaking in front of a grave beside a younger Nojiko.

Luffy chuckled at the look of comprehension etched onto her face, "Shishishishi." A smile warmed his face, "Believe in Goku." Nami regarded his wholesome grin blankly before nodded just as vacantly.

"I kinda don't have a choice."

Onwards to part 2