Chapter III

The waves crashing against the hull of the ship carried the same sonority they had before, when she'd tried to steal the Going Merry and flee from Baratie restaurant while the others were occupied with the mess with the pirate Don Krieg.

Keyword being "tried".

Tried, because she failed to realise those pirate hunter brothers were still on board. Tried, because she'd failed to successfully stop them from fleeing and rousing the alarm and tried because once the first mate of the Straw Hat Pirates put a foot inside the Going Merry, all her plans were slashed to smithereens. It had been relatively simple with the pirate hunters. Even though one had managed to escape, she'd had no trouble subduing – what was their name? - Yosaku and Johny? Even when the small fishing boat had somehow – and she still couldn't figure out how it had done it – caught up with the larger Caravel that was the Merry and Usopp had jumped aboard, she was still reasonably sure she would be able to somehow turn the situation to her advantage.

Then the Pirate Hunter Zoro had come.

His had been a sight to see and not in a good way either. His clothes were heavy with the weight of blood in them, seeping from the ugly wounds in his torso. From all accounts it was a feat that he had been able to stay conscious, let alone step into the ship by himself. If she were honest to herself she had been hard pressed to leave them then, given the grievous state of his injuries. But then he had given her a frigid look, grabbed one of his katanas and asked in a rough voice for her to give him a very good reason for him not to separate her head from her shoulders. He had done so matter-of-factly, as if he were commenting on the weather, which made it all the more terrifying.

She had not been prepared for that. They behave so differently from other pirates, actually helping people, that she had not really realised how dangerous they could also seem. At that moment she had had an inkling of what their opponents felt and saw when faced with Roronoa Zoro, and if this was what it felt like, then she never wanted to be in the same position against Luffy. She had been so out of sorts she still had not managed to provide a satisfactory answer when the Captain of the Straw Hat crew stepped aboard a few hours later.

Luffy had stepped onto the bridge of the Going Merry, where Usopp and Zoro had been keeping her under unwavering watchful eyes, followed by the blond chef who had served them back on the floating restaurant. Sanji was his name, she recalled. She had been so emotionally dishevelled she hadn't even been able to recall his name then. But what made it worse was the look Luffy had given her. It hadn't been his usual smile with sparkling eyes, but then she hadn't been expecting it to be. However, it hadn't been a loathsome glare either. He just looked at her with a blank face, as if he were seeing a stranger or not seeing her at all and it had made her want to throw herself at his feet and beg him to shout at her, to berate her and be mad, because this silent treatment was killing her inside.

Instead, she'd ended up confessing everything about Cocoyasi Village and Arlong.

Which brought her to her current situation.

Nami closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of droplets on her face, as the waves crashed against the bow of the Merry, launching foam and water into the air, and revelled in the liberating feeling of, for the first time in years, not having to worry about the future of her home-town. Arlong was gone, buried under tons of rubble and concrete, his Park of terror destroyed, his band of pirates disbanded and defeated. A new regiment of marines was being dispatched to her island, under new management and things were finally looking up.

All thanks to Luffy. All because of a chance encounter and a hasty team-up against Buggy.

It had been so easy a decision on what to do with her life now she no longer had to pass the days agonizing over how to free her town from oppression. It hadn't mattered that she had only known them for a short while – just a few weeks, barely two months at that. There was nothing for her to do in Cocoyasi any more. The Straw Hats had become her friends, her family. The Burglar Cat had become a pirate. Nami privately wondered if she should be bothered by how little that bothered her.

The sound of footsteps alerted her for the presence of someone else on the deck. The flip-flops slapping against bare feet told her the identity of the trespasser. There was only one person who wore such footwear in the entire ship.

"You're supposed to be asleep." Luffy commented, crashing against the balustrade and balancing a plate with meat pie in his hands.

She wasted no time in retaliating.

"So are you."

"I went and raided Sanji's fridge." he said with a smile, showing her a large piece of pie as if presenting proof for an outrageous statement.

"I'm surprised he didn't spot you entering the kitchen." Nami remarked. Even within only a few hours of dealing with the man, it was impossible not to spot how extremely possessive Sanji was when it came to the kitchen. The other thing that instantaneously became apparent was how much of a womaniser he really was. And while Nami would never have qualms about using this character flaw for her own advantage, she had to admit it could be tiresome, some times.

"I might have laced his wine, this evening." he admitted unconcernedly, "he needs rest, anyway. He and Zoro both. Their wounds from the fight at the restaurant hadn't healed when we got to Arlong, yet. And I wont tolerate sub-par meals just because he's not up to his usual self."

Nami looked at him as if he were a rare animal.

"What about you, dummy?" she asked incredulously, "in the space of a week you managed to engage in battle and defeat the two most notorious pirates in East Blue. And you got yourself buried under a layer of rocks as well! You need resting too! What are you doing up?"

"I'm the Captain!" he stated with an odd sense of pride and responsibility, "It's my job to make sure you guys survive to achieve your goals. If I can not make sure Zoro becomes the best swordsman, Sanji reaches All Blue, Usopp becomes a great warrior and you draw a world map, what kind of Pirate King would I be?"

Nami stared at him for a few seconds absorbing the reality that he actually remembered the goals of his entire crew. This was so against his carefree character, he actually had to wave the pie in front of her face for her to realise he was offering her some of it.

"What." she mumbled somewhat incoherently, instinctively dodging the food.

"I said, 'do you want some?'" he repeated.

Nami accepted the food with a mildly numb expression, before blurting out a question that had been in her mind for some time since the start of the conversation.

"How the hell did you manage to drug the drinks?"

The rubber man gave her a most sly grin.

"See, there's this plant on the slopes of the mountains back home. You can only find it near the pine-trees up the very mountains. Boil five leaf in a half a gallon of water and that things puts even a bear to sleep!" he should know, he'd done it first hand.

"And you expect me to believe you've been keeping those weeds in your pockets the entire trip here?" the question might have come out a bit more acerbic than she'd liked, but the Captain didn't even appear to have noticed it. She had been so used to working alone that she still had trouble with her interactions with other people.

"Of course not. It's of no use dried up." he explained, munching on the pie and spitting little bits of it as he tried speaking with a full mouth.

"Close your mouth when chewing!" she admonished reflexively.

Luffy shrugged indifferently and continued on, heedless of her recommendation, "But, they did have it on the floating restaurant. It's used as a spice, when dried up, I guess. I palmed a few and brought them with me."

"You stole them." she accused, finishing her slice.

"Like you have any room to talk." he retorted, looking faintly amused.

"That's different!" she asserted defensively, this time with genuine acidity.

"How the hell do you figure that one out?" Luffy asked, still acting as if he found what she said funny.

"I'm not a pirate!" she almost barked, "I stole because I needed to! Because I had to get money to free my village. But Pirates! You pirates steal just for the sake of stealing. For the love of causing chaos and destruction! For your own sick amusement and to hell with the suffering of innocents!"

She was getting really worked up. Her hands clenched into fists, her arms ram-rod straight alongside her body and a scowl in her face that made her look like she'd just bitten a particularly nasty lemon. Luffy looked at her silently, he too having finished the pie, until the girl's posture started to slowly change. Her angry countenance slipping into an ashamed grimace as Nami suddenly found herself trying to look anywhere but his face.

"I... I'm sorry." she finally managed, "I hadn't meant to blow up on you like that." she took a deep breath and continued, almost as if she had difficulty saying the words, "You didn't deserve it."

Luffy didn't answer and, after a small moment of silence, Nami lifted her head from where she'd very interestedly been examining the cracks on the wooden floor and found him still staring at her with that unnerving stare.

"There's nothing to apologise." he started, slowly, as if he hadn't quite decided what he wanted to say, "I think I understand what you're going through..."

"Oh yeah? How come?" she challenged, again more forceful than she meant. What was going on with her mouth tonight?

When he answered, the words came slowly as if he had to pull them from great depths before the memories came to surface and Nami noticed that his eyes gained an absent quality, as if he was seeing things that weren't there. This made for quite a picture as it was unusual for someone like Luffy, who tended to live in the present, to be assaulted by any kind of introspection.

"Back when I was a kid – I meant when I was younger!" he corrected when he saw the face she was making, "there was this boy we used to run around with. He was part of the nobility of the place but he wanted to sail the seas and see the world. So one day he built a raft and made out to the sea. But because he had painted a skull on a black banner, like a real pirate, the people of the town shot him down with the help of the marines. The point I'm trying to make is, for a long time I hated the marines – and most especially I hated the nobles who blew up a kid, blew up one of their own, because they didn't agree with his principles. So I would snap at everyone that made a better living than I did and soon enough I was angry at almost everyone. Eventually, and with the help of some people, I realised that I couldn't keep on with that outlook in life. Especially when I saw the faces of his parents at the funeral. Sure they were jerks but they wanted the best for their kid. And eventually I came to understand that not all people are the same. Not all nobles are trash. It's the same with pirates."

He lifted a hand to stop her from interrupting when she made to speak.

"I told you when we faced that dude with the knifes for nails that they were misguided. They were misguided because they just cared about getting as many riches as they could, even going as far as lying to a young woman who was sick. Buggy," he smiled at the distaste that jumped to Nami's face, "was the same. He only cared about treasure and both their crews saw nothing wrong with using shipmates to protect themselves." he started drumming his fingers pensively on the balustrade, "they do not understand what it means to be a Pirate."

"And you do?" Nami could not help but ask.

"Being a Pirate is about freedom." he stated resolutely as if he had thought about it several times before, "It's about not being restricted. I think that's what gets in the Marines' way about us: that we want to live our lives without their interference. They don't like people living out of their control."

Nami frowned, "That's surprisingly deep."

He barked out a laugh, "My Grandpa was the same way. Boy did I have trouble getting away from him and leaving to become a Pirate! What I'm trying to say is: yes, there are guys out there who are pirates and care nothing for others. There are guys out there who oppress innocents and destroy just for the sake of it. But that doesn't mean we have to be the same." he stated, a glint of excitement starting to make his way to his eyes and taking her along with it even with her reluctance, "I want us to see the World. To conquer the Grand Line and live a life of Adventure! To travel all seas and find the secrets there are to find. If we find One Piece along the way, great! If we don't it doesn't matter so long we had fun getting there! If we find someone in need of help, we can give it. If there's someone in need of safety, we can protect them. I want us to be free! Free to achieve our dreams without anyone saying it's impossible or that we can't do it. I want to see you all achieve your dreams and the get mine! I want us all to be the best of friends, to be the tightest family there can be. If this is something you can get behind, then I guarantee you are in the right boat, right now." he paused dramatically before splitting his face in a childish, excited grin, "Nami: Are you with me?"

Nami just laughed. A surprised laugh that swept away the moodiness.

"You idiot." she commented, surprised to hear the fondness in her own voice, "Of course I am! What would I be here for if I weren't? I don't know what got over me to snap at you like that."

"You had a hard week."

She nodded, "But there's one condition!"

"Oh?"

"Yeah: I get to handle the finances."

You could practically see the money filling in her eyes.

"Sure. But we put our safety before personal riches." he argued back.

"I can agree to that." she said.

Luffy smiled.

"Good!" he exclaimed, giving her a pinch on the arm and earning a swat on the back of the head that almost made his eyes jump from their sockets, "I'm going to sleep."

He waved at her and made his way towards the castle of the ship, all the while murmuring erratically,

"We're devils and black sheep, we're really bad eggs.

We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot..."

Nami watched him go with a smile stuck on her face. They were good people, she decided. Especially Luffy. When they stopped in Rogue Town, before entering the Grand Line, she'd have to get him a gift. For his time. For his help. To show her appreciation.

Her decision made and her heart much more lighter than ever before, Nami made her way to her quarters, finishing, "Yo ho, Yo ho, a Pirate's life for me..."

Luffy waited in darkness for Nami to pass him by, before silently making his way back to the kitchen. The door was closed but, through the crack between it and the floor, it was possible to see the flickering light of a lantern.

"It's me." he said, gently knocking on the door once.

There was the rasping of a chair and then Sanji was there, letting him through. The lantern burned on the top of the table and cast shadows in both theirs and Zoro's face, adding to the feeling of mystery of their little conspiracy and making it feel as if they were all ghosts.

Luffy took the seat on the top of the table, as was his due as the captain, so that the green haired swordsman stood at his right side, while Sanji went behind him to the kitchen's counters, busying himself preparing some late sake.

"Seems everything went as well as it could have gone, Captain." Zoro commented in his rough voice.

"Yeah." Luffy agreed, before adding, "Zoro, you don't have to call me Captain all the time. Luffy will be enough – it's my name. I meant what I said to her about us being a family."

The Pirate Hunter shook his head.

"I know. And I respect that, Luffy. But I will call you captain in front of everyone else, whether you like it or not. There has to be a well established hierarchy, or else there would be problems. You're the Captain. Your word is law on this ship. Anyone who has a problem with that cannot stay on this crew. And as your first-mate, it's my job to remind people of that fact."

"I agree." Sanji corroborated, setting a tray on the table. There were three cups and a smoking bottle of hot beverage on it, waiting to be drunken. The cook idly blew a torrent of smoke to the air and leisurely sat down opposite to Zoro, "I'll call you by the name in informal situations and such, but if there's someone we don't know personally among us or if we are in any kind of trouble, Captain is the way to go."

"Fine, fine, whatever you guys say." Luffy said, shaking his head in exasperation. "but I was worried for a moment there. I thought she was going to ask to leave."

"Yes," Zoro agreed, "It seems that some of her issues were not resolved with the destruction of Arlong's Park."

"Well that's to be expected." Sanji stated matter-of-factly, "Nami-chan spent her entire life seeing the atrocities those monsters did to her friends and family and then was forced to actually work for them? There was bound to be a lot of pent up anger in her. And I don't think she's spent it all. In my opinion, what's happened is that Luffy just convinced her to not see us in the same light as the Arlong and the others."

"I didn't try to convince anyone." the Straw Hat Captain exclaimed rather forcefully, "and I meant every word I said to her."

"I wasn't saying otherwise, Captain." Sanji defended himself placidly, "But it's good your speech assuaged her fears any ways – I meant eased her fears," he clarified at Luffy's face.

"Why can't you guys speak like normal people?" Luffy complained, hating how whiny his voice sounded.

"It is not a character fault to be cultured, Captain." Zoro stated, filling their cups, "And you'd do well to become as such too: it makes it easier to convince people to respect you."

Luffy laughed in spite of himself, "Right. Well thanks for the help any ways. I probably wouldn't have caught up with the problem if you hadn't said anything Zoro, Sanji." he said, nodding to each of them in recognition.

"Just doing our jobs, Captain." Zoro replied easily, "After all, family helps each other."

"We sure do!" Luffy agreed, slamming his fist on the table and lifting the glass in the air.

The three men clicked their glasses together in a wordless toast and said in unison, before downing the drinks in one go:

"Drink up me 'earties, Yo ho!"

A/N.: The third chapter of Devil. As I'm sure everyone noticed, there was quite a skip between this one and chapter two. This is because I think it unnecessary to recount things as they happen in the Manga/Anime. So, in this early stage, you'll be treated with the bits that deviate from cannon or that are used as character development. As the story progresses it will change consistently from cannon and the storytelling will be fluid and connected. This will happen after getting to Grand Line. The crew members will be the same, but I can't guarantee they'll meet in the same way :-)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter and if you think it worthy, leave a review or ten.

And, as always, sorry for any mistakes.