Long time no see.
Sorry it has taken me so long.
I hope to update more now!
If you all want me to continue and update faster I'm gonna need more reviews because otherwise it might be awhile.
Sorry, that was a bit rude.
In short: I was stressed about school, a friend of mine broke a really important promise, and I kinda lost all my inspiration for this story for awhile.
I want to try and continue it more, but I need the motivation so please review for me!
That sounded better.
Thank you for sticking with it, and enjoy.
"So she has to pay a 100 million beli ransom so that she can buy the town back from Arlong?" Luffy repeated what I told him.
"Yup." We had been walking for quite awhile, and I'm pretty sure we were gonna walk by the destruction path of the boat any moment now. I looked to Luffy and noticed a huge grin spread across his face.
"What's that grin for?" I questioned, nudging his arm.
"Oh nothing." Luffy chuckled.
"That is so childish of you." I smirked, poking him hard in the arm. He reached up and rubbed at the spot I poked as he turned and gave me a pouty face.
"That's not all true. I can be mature." he pouted.
"Yeah right!" I scoffed. I moved to hit his side with mine, but tripped. I stumbled and landed on Luffy's back as he passed me. We both crashed to the ground and began laughing as I rolled off him and thought of what we just argued about. After a moment he jumped back to his feet. He then held out a hand. I took it and he immediately hoisted me up. Then I heard it. It was faint, but I could hear someone talking in the distance. From what they were saying it must have been a small group of fishmen.
"What's wrong?" Luffy asked, waving a hand in front of my face.
"I need your shirt." I ordered, turning directly toward him and reaching out a hand.
"You need my shirt!" He grabbed his shirt tightly as he jumped away from me.
"Yeah, and my dad's hat." I continued. I gave him a very commanding look and we kept eye contact until he sighed and took off his hat. I watched as he took his shirt off and handed it over to me. I grabbed it and quickly spun. With my back to Luffy I quickly pulled off my shirt and pulled Luffy's on. With his shirt buttoned up I pulled my hair up and folded it onto my head as I placed the straw hat on. I turned back to Luffy.
"You better have a good reason for taking my clothes." he scoffed as he turned on his heel and started walking again. I quickly ran after him and stuffed my shirt into his back pocket. He grumbled angrily as we walked together in silence.
Within moments it came into sight. Dead ahead of us was the destroyed path of the boat. Across the rice fields was the boat debris and a group of three men investigating it.
"I've already been seen by the fishmen so an encounter like this could mean trouble for me. Is that a good enough reason to take your clothes?" I pointed out, adjusting the hat to hide my eyes. Luffy didn't respond. A couple more steps and suddenly I saw the figures in front of us, and they were indeed fishmen.
"Oh wow. They must be fishmen." Luffy commented in awe as we continued walking. I slowed my pace and moved behind him so we wouldn't take up too much of the road.
We quietly continued walking, straight on past the fishmen. Each of the three stood at least a good three feet or more taller than us. We were almost in escaping distance when one of them yelled at us.
"Hey, you two! Wait!" His voice was slightly menacing. Luffy stopped, and I walked to the right side of him before stopping.
"Huh, you mean us?" Luffy asked, turning around.
"Who are you, and what are you doing on this island!?" the fishman ordered us. I glanced over my shoulder. They had all turned to us, and one that resembled an octopus was yelling at us.
"Why does it matter to you?" Luffy gave a snarky reply as I kept silent.
"Well it's just that we don't get many visitors." The octopus man replied.
"Oh, well my name's Luffy, and this is Taka. We're just passing through." he answered. I looked back forward and waited to leave. Frankly, they were kinda intimidating.
"Passing through?" The octopus seemed thrown off. Luffy turned and grabbed my wrist. We slowly began walking away as the octopus continued. "Have a nice time!" We had gotten a good distance away, and I suspected we'd be home free!
"Hey smart ass, where are you going?" I spoke too soon, but Luffy continued walking.
"Heck if I know." Luffy replied.
"Nice to meet you!" I hollered back as we continued walking.
"So are they part of Arlong's crew?' Luffy asked, now that we were out of earshot.
"I don't know for certain, but my best guess is yes. I didn't want to risk getting caught by them." I mumbled the last sentence.
"Well, as soon as we know they can't see us, gimme my clothes back." he ordered quietly.
"Yes sir, captain sir." I teased.
We walked for another hour or so and I had given him his clothes back and I was back in my grungy shirt and trashy shorts. We soon found ourselves walking into a town. People scattered the road and the spaces around it, but they had all stopped and were staring in the direction of something in the distance.
Walking along the road heading toward us was a ship's worth of Marines and a man who resembled that of a sheriff, but he had a pinwheel on top of his hat. Luffy stopped and I watched as his jaw dropped and he began to sweat. He couldn't have been nervous over the Marines could he? It was like he was choking on his own throat by the sound he was making, but he just seemed completely frozen.
"Luffy?" I asked, stepping in front of him and looking him square in the eyes.
"So why do the Marines want Nami?" I heard the sheriff ask as he and the Marines all walked past us. The man who looked to be leading all the Marines resembled a mouse or rat. The Rat Marine Man chuckled slightly, but it sounded weird almost like a 'chi chi chi chi' type noise.
"Your job is to lead the way, quietly." he ordered the sheriff as he passed. Luffy had broken out of his fix and watched as the men all walked away from us.
"A hat pinwheel, where in the world did he get that?" I took a moment to stop and slap my palm to my forehead. "IT'S SO COOL!" I looked up and watched the sheriff man leave.
"It is kinda cool." Instantly Luffy and I both made eye contact.
"We need one for the ship!" we both exclaimed excitedly.
"If we put it on a bottom that allows it to freely move, we can tell where the wind is going!" I continued my thought. Luffy nodded excitedly as we both continued to ponder the idea, estimating how many we would need to decorate the ship, as we walked to the edge of the road between a couple houses. Luffy leaned against a palm tree as I layed on the grass beside him.
"A pinwheel, huh." Luffy muttered aloud. I cracked open an eye and looked over at him. "I just thought of a new move." He had a goofy grin on his face as he looked up. I immediately sat up and turned to him.
"Lucky! I haven't been able to come up with any new moves in almost a year!" I whined.
"Doctor! Doctor" Luffy and I both turned and looked at the commotion in the middle of the road.
"What is it?" A man came running down the road. He had on what looked like a lab coat. He ran up to the group of people gathering not to far in front of us.
"Nojiko's been shot." the first voice replied. Nojiko was shot!
"By who?" the second questioned.
"The Marines." That's when I noticed Nami kneeling in the middle of the group with two other people. One must have been the doctor and the other looked to be the sheriff from earlier. I saw someone laying in between the three of them.
"Nojiko was shot by the Marines?" I mumbled under my breath. The group around them began mumbling and their words were unfocused. I looked over to Luffy to see him smiling. He quickly jumped up and ran over to the group, ending up right behind Nami.
"Hey! Nami!" he smiled and waved. I jumped up and ran towards him, stopping just beside him and looking over at Nami. Nojiko lay on the ground at her feet. "What's up? Need help with anything?" He had a huge happy smile plastered across his face.
Nami instantly turned and glared at the two of us. I stood my ground and met her menacing gaze.
"Why are you still here?" Luffy's smile became a frown and he looked rather frightened as Nami stepped forward and grabbed the front of his shirt. She yanked him forward and directly to her face. "STAY OUT OF MY BUSINESS! GET AWAY FROM OUR ISLAND!" she yelled. I quickly stepped out of the way as she threw Luffy behind her and took off running. I felt the need to go after her, but looked back at Luffy and Nojiko.
Luffy walked back across the road to the tree after getting up and I bent down beside the doctor and the sheriff to help see to Nojiko.
"Shot in the shoulder correct?" I asked the doctor as he looked to me confused.
"Yes." he replied.
"How far was the shooter from her, and what supplies do you have?" I questioned.
"He was originally aiming at Nami, and Nojiko got in the way. He was only several feet away." the sheriff with the pinwheel answered.
"It's an easy task so everything can be done here. What's your name?" the doctor asked as I was about to get up and walk away.
"I'm Takara. Good friend of Nojiko and Nami. I wanted to help here, but it seems you have everything under control." I smiled before getting up and walking over to Luffy.
"What's her problem?" he pouted as I took a seat beside him.
"You didn't leave when she told you too." I replied.
Luffy and I had been sitting around for nearly an hour after the Nami incident. That's when the entire town began crowding the streets. They all held weapons and I even saw Nojiko and the doctor getting involved. The sheriff seemed to be the one in charge of it all. We paid it no mind until Nami came back.
"EVERYBODY WAIT!" Nami walked into town with a huge smile on her face, but it seemed fake. "Calm down." she was also chuckling breathlessly as she walked up to everyone. "It's not that much money." You could tell that she had run all the way here. "I can get it back in no time." she kept insisting, trying to convince everyone. "I'll take care of it don't worry. It'll be easy this time! I'm used to it. I'll be fine. Just relax. Everything's okay." You could hear the lies piling up, one after another compared to when she was lying to me. "Hey, it's nothing compared to back then. Come on everyone. I'm perfectly fine." I watched as the sheriff stepped forward and gave Nami a hug. She looked surprised.
"You've done enough. You have to know that there is no point now." I could hear the sheriff whispering to Nami. "You struggled so hard. Carrying our lives on your back this whole time. I can only imagine that joining them must have been more painful than being stabbed through the heart. You fought very well." I looked over at Luffy to find that he had dozed off. I stretched out my arm and swung it behind me, instead of hitting the tree it hit him square in the chest. He coughed and lurched forward.
"Don't doze off you Rubber Head." I quietly shouted. He quickly looked up at me, still holding his chest.
"Bone Head." he grunted.
"Idiot." I muttered.
"Klutz." Our eyes met and we smiled for a moment before looking back at the event before us.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" the sheriff yelled at Nami, who was holding a knife at the crowd. She froze as the sheriff turned and lifted his sword up. "Move out!" Nami looked like she had been crying as she watched, stunned.
"We may not win, but we will give em hell" the doctor continued. The crowd cheered as it began moving down the road towards Arlong Park.
Nami collapsed to her knees, the knife dropping to the ground beside her. The entire crowd had just run past her to, what may be, their demise. Luffy stood up and I quickly did the same. I followed him as he walked towards Nami. I stopped several feet before he reached her and watched as she scratched at the Arlong tattoo on her shoulder.
"ARLONG!" she screamed. Suddenly she grabbed the knife and began stabbing the tattoo over and over. She screamed 'Arlong' each time she stabbed the tattoo, which had become a rather bloody wound. After about 8 stabs Luffy had come up behind her and grabbed the arm with the knife, stopping it in the air above her head. Nami continued to cry as she looked back at us.
"Luffy." her voice was quiet and gentle, compared to how she had spoken to him earlier. The world was quiet as they stared at each other. Her hand released and the knife dropped. Luffy then let go and stood over Nami. "What do you want?" Nami questioned Luffy. "You don't know anything about this. You don't know what's been happening on this island for the last 8 years."
"Nope, I don't." Luffy answered
"This has nothing to do with you. I told you to leave this place."
"Yup, you sure did."
"So leave." Nami ordered as she threw sand back at him with the arm that hadn't gotten stabbed. "I told you to leave! Get outta here!" She continued to throw sand back. "Get outta here now! Go! Go away! GO! Go! Go." Nami stopped throwing the sand and started crying as she looked at the ground. After a moment she reached a hand up to muffle her crying. We waited until she lifted her head up. "Luffy… help me." she looked back at Luffy with tears going down her cheeks. I watched as Luffy took his hat off and placed it on Nami's head. I stood there stunned for a moment. He almost never gave away his hat to people. I was an exception since the owner of the hat was my father. Nami looked surprised too! Then again Luffy never gave up on his friends, especially after they asked for help.
"Of course." Luffy walked past Nami and down the road. "That's what friends do." Luffy took a deep breath, and crouched down. He quickly stood up and threw his hands above him. "HE'S GONNA PAAAAAY!" Luffy screamed.
I quietly walked up and kneeled next to Nami. I wrapped an arm around her shoulder, placing my hand just above the wound.
"Through thick and thin, nothing will keep us apart… right sis?" Nami quickly spun around and hugged me, her arms going around my neck. I gently squeezed back as she sobbed into my shoulder. "I knew you were lying the entire time. Although it hurt, I still trust you." I whispered. I quickly and gently pried her off and stood up. She continued to sob as I then ran after Luffy, who had started walking down the street towards Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp who had shown up at some point. I quickly caught up and walked beside Luffy.
"Let's go." Luffy ordered.
"Right." Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and I answered. We all started walking towards Arlong Park. I could see the town standing just outside the gate leading in. Just past them in front of the gate was Johnny and Yosaku! We walked in a line together. Zoro, stood beside Luffy, than Sanji, next Usopp, and finally me. We walked silently, all with a single goal in mind. We were gonna help Nami. Then I came up with an idea.
"Luffy, I have a new move and it involves you Usopp. So I'm going in first," I commented. I elbowed Usopp and had him take out his slingshot. He aimed it straight above our destination. I turned my bones to light density and jumped up. I created a small ball attached to a spike, leading up to my left heel. Usopp quickly grabbed it, set it in his slingshot and in a moment he had launched it off. I went flying high up into the air as the crowd below split for everyone else to walk through. As I soared above the Arlong Park I could see dozens of fishmen all waiting around. I could barely see the toes of Arlong's webbed feet. In three hits I watched as Luffy broke down the concrete gate and looked in at Arlong. I took a deep breath and curled into a ball, wrapping my arms around my knees. Using the bone I made the ball spike out of I stretched it out and around me once I was in the perfect spot. I changed my bones to high density and felt myself drop straight down. I felt myself crash through a roof or two and land directly into the concrete. I quickly released the bone back into my bare feet and looked around. I sat in the center of a deep crater, or it was more of a hole, directly behind Arlong's chair. Luffy sat over by the gate, directly to my left. I quickly jumped out of my hole and stood waiting for Luffy's orders.
"Now which one of you is Arlong?" he questioned, clenching his fist.
Sorry it took so long.
Please review!
I hope to be updating more frequently now.
Thanks for reading!