Disclaimer: All the characters herein, with the exception of some random extras, are the intellectual property of Eiichiro Oda and all the companies involved with publishing and production of the One Piece manga and anime. I just twisted 'em a bit.
Spoilers/Warnings: This story will eventually encompass the entire first season of the anime, which is up to about halfway through volume 11 of the manga, just so you know. This is an AU, so many things have been changed/altered/warped to suit my needs. Also, there is some language and violence.
Pairing: None. However, I like subtext, so you can probably find hints of just about anything, if you look for it.
Dedication: To the OP at the fanforall at LJ, for requesting a cowboy AU and spawning this in my brain. Many thanks to Dandy Wonderous for beta-ing.
A/N: Name order for all characters has been westernized. Don't like it? Tough cookies! I do not claim to be an expert on anything involving gun fighting, the old west, or the cavalry. I did some very basic research for some of this, but I probably got lots of stuff wrong. Humor me!
Part 22- Betrayal
Luffy tipped his hat back as he strolled casually into town, whistling a tune softly. Unlike Usopp's trip down the main street, there were people out and about. Impassive eyes watched Luffy pass, but no one called out or approached. That is, until he passed what must have once been the town jail. It looked more or less like every other jail Luffy had ever seen, except the sign had been removed from this one.
"Haven't seen you around here before," mused a man leaning against a post. Luffy immediately recognized that this man either was or had been an authority figure. It was an air those sort of people gave off unconsciously. He had a bandage on his neck. "Just passing through, I suppose?"
"Yup," Luffy agreed. "Sure is awful quiet 'round here!"
The man looked like he was considering responding to that, when both men heard horses approaching. They turned to see a group of riders. The man in front wore a prominently placed marshal's badge. Luffy also thought he looked a bit like a rat, but that was neither here nor there, really.
"Are you the former sheriff, Genzo?" the marshal asked. Apparently, he had a knack for identifying authorities, too. "My name is Marshal Nezumi. I've been told you know all the residents here?" Genzo nodded. "I need you to show me to one of the local farms. Family by the name of Dunn?" Say... Wasn't that Nami's last name?
"What reason could you have to go out there?" Genzo frowned.
"Official business." The marshal's smile was disconcerting, to say the least.
***
Nami stormed past the farm house on her way to Bellemere's grave. She paused at the woodpile to give it a few sharp kicks. She bit back a scream of frustration and took a few deep, calming breaths.
"Relax," she ordered herself. "You're so close, now..." Almost involuntarily, her eyes drifted to a small shed behind the main house. It wasn't used for much of anything on the farm, except storage space. A trapdoor in the floor concealed a very special hiding place indeed. Nami gnawed her bottom lip and started to walk toward the small burial plot, when she heard a voice.
"Nami?"
"Genzo?" Nami whirled around. "What are you doing here? Why..." she trailed off when she noticed that Genzo wasn't alone. He was accompanied by a group of riders and, much to Nami's annoyance, Luffy. She pointedly avoided acknowledging the boy.
"Nami Dunn," Marshal Nezumi addressed her in a cold, formal tone, "it has been brought to my attention that stolen money may be on these premises."
Nami clenched her jaw and glared at the marshal. She, of course, recognized him as the man with whom Arlong regularly met. It wasn't difficult to deduce from where his tip had come.
"Anything on this property belongs to me and my family," Nami seethed. "You have no right!"
"That's not for you to decide, now is it?" Nezumi sneered down at her. He broke eye contact to address his men. "Search this whole area thoroughly." His men obediently dismounted and began to fan out.
This indignity, on top of everything else, was the final straw for Nami. With an inarticulate bellow of rage, Nami lunged back toward the woodpile and grabbed ahold of the axe resting nearby. She swung wildly at the closest man, the back of the axe head connecting with his forearm with a satisfying thunk. He fell back, clutching the injury, expression shocked, and Nami turned toward her next target. Then a gunshot brought everyone to a standstill.
"Stop making this more difficult than it has to be, Miss Dunn," Nezumi insisted. He had fired the warning shot up into the air, but now he trained his revolver on the enraged girl. Nami reluctantly let the axe fall from her hands. "Continue searching," the marshal barked.
Nami watched helplessly as the men tore through the area around the house, leaving no stone unturned. She managed not to react when they started looking through the shed. Maybe they would miss the trapdoor.
"Sir, are you sure it's here?" one of the men asked. "You'd think we'd have found something by now..."
"It's not going to be sitting right out in the open, idiot," Nezumi scolded, rolling his eyes. "Five hundred thousand dollars is a substantial sum, however, so it will take up a certain amount of space. Keep looking!" If Nami had held any lingering doubts about where Nezumi had heard about her stash, the fact that he knew the exact amount involved would have dispelled them.
"We found it," a voice called from within the shed. Two men emerged, carrying a trunk between them. They set it down and flipped open the lid, revealing bundled stacks of bills. Some were significantly worse for wear, but the sight remained an impressive one. At a nod from the marshal, the trunk was closed and latched. The men started to bring it over to a pack horse.
"No," Nami shouted, forgetting about the gun and diving toward the chest, "I won't let you take it!"
"Foolish girl," Nezumi scoffed, shaking his head, and prepared to fire. Just as the shot rang out, a figured pushed Nami out of the way.
"Nojiko!" Nami gasped, recognizing the figure that had tackled her to the ground. She also noticed the bloom of fresh red on her sister's shoulder.
"We have what we wanted," Nezumi told his men. "Let's go." The marshal decided it would be prudent to make his exit while Nami was distracted.
"Nojiko," Nami repeated in a sob, shaking her sister's uninjured arm. "Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine," Nojiko sat up, grimacing. "I think it's just a graze." She turned an angry glare on the red head. "What were you thinking, Nami? It was only money! You know that's not worth dying over!"
"You know very well it wasn't 'only' money," Nami retorted. "All those years... I was so close!" Nami curled into herself, hands threaded in her hair. Nojiko started to reach out a comforting hand, but was stopped by one on her own shoulder.
"Come on, Nojiko," Genzo urged, "let's go let the doctor take a look at that shoulder. Give Nami a little space."
Nami didn't notice when they left, or the fact that Luffy hadn't.
"So close," she mumbled it like a chant, rocking slightly, "so close." Then she brought her hands down to her sides and clenched both fists, surging to her feet. "Damn you, Arlong!" She yelled it into the empty sky.
She looked down at her fisted hands and scowled. Her hands and her gift with maps were what made her valuable to that monster. She walked over to the wall by the wood pile and slammed her fist into it. She winced slightly at the sting, knowing she had struck hard enough to bruise the knuckles. She gritted her teeth and punched again, and again. Even when she noticed the bloody smudges left behind on the wall, she struck again.
Finally, a hand grabbed her wrist firmly, preventing her from doing any further damage. She wiped away the tears she hadn't even realized had been streaming down her face with the back of her other hand and looked over to meet Luffy's eyes. She saw sympathy there, as well as a fierce determination. She had seen that very same look once, right before the fight at the Bar K.
"Luffy," she sobbed the name like a plea. After all she'd done to Luffy and the others, the terrible way she had treated them, she hated to ask for anything, but at the same time, a part of her knew that the offer of assistance had always been there, waiting. "Help me..."
When he didn't respond immediately, she closed her eyes and slumped forward. Then she felt something light and slightly scratchy placed on her head. She blinked, realizing Luffy had given her his hat. The hat that he had told her was so important to him. She looked up to find him grinning broadly at her.
"Of course we'll help, Nami." Nami realized that the other three men were standing behind him. They had arrived with Nojiko, but kept back, out of the way. Each bore the same determined expression that had graced Luffy's face so recently. "Right guys?"
"I am ever your humble servant, Miss Nami," Sanji agreed, bowing.
"Arlong's got it coming to him," Usopp stated. "Besides, I still owe you one!"
Zoro locked gazes with her. They both knew he'd never say as much out loud, like the others, but he cared. "Let's go bring some pain," he said instead.
Nami watched them go, walking down the road in a line, and managed a smile. The spark of hope she'd thought lost when Nezumi took her money crackled back to life.
End Notes:
There is no tattoo in this AU, so I went with another sort of self-destructive anger.
Zoro's last line is rather ridiculous and it doesn't really fit, but I'm too lazy to be bothered with changing it...