"He killed a Marine."
The pregnant silence of the regularly scheduled bounty update meeting was broken, every other Marine grumbling along with the sudden statement.
"It was just Nezumi," another branch manager protested, trying to shake the tension off that had invaded the room. "If it were anyone else, I'd be as enraged as you, but he did all of us a favor by culling that rat." He spat, clearly unsatisfied with the lack of response from the fellow gathered marines.
"Not the brat. I meant Arlong," the first man intoned, gesturing at the poster of the Fishman. "Belle-mere. She's one of ours from ages ago, she was marked as MIA after dealing with one of the coup attempts at…" The branch manager blinked. "...God we've had so many that I've forgotten which one."
Brannew silenced the meeting by slamming the blackboard behind him with a fist, the heavy thud echoing out like a rung bell. Generally, as a Lieutenant Commander, he'd not have the authority to pull a stunt like that and get away with it. But in the bounty announcement meeting, he only had to answer to Admirals and above; the branch managers were currently his lowers.
He breathed slowly as the managers settled down, looking back at the bounty posters and pictures of the two ex-marines. "As I was saying," he started, standing at attention once more, "Monkey D. Luffy, as he self-identified in the report from Lieutenant Fullbody, reportedly defeated and then killed Arlong with apparent ease, according to the intel from the Conomi Isles. 'Almost playing with his prey,' as they put it.'' He placed a hand on the bench in front of him and shot a look back to the gathered branch managers. "His crew of four people decimated the entrenched Fishman threat of over forty men in the span of a single fight that took less than thirty minutes."
The words hung in the air, the managers looking around at each other. That thought was scary. Fishmen, even if lower than humans, were several times stronger than the average man. Averaging one to ten in east blue. To imagine a crew so small, so young, defeating a significant number of them, all of whom had the home-field advantage in a direct, head-on confrontation…
They were looking at another crew of monsters.
"The worst part is, we hadn't even known about Arlong's occupation of the Conomi Isles because his location had been hidden by the filthy traitor." Brannew slammed his fist over Nezumi's picture instead of saying his name. The marine had refused even to call him rat or any other name; even now, referring to him seemed to enrage the presenter. "Who in turn has also been killed by this newcomer, along with most of the marines under his command."
A wave of grumbling swept the room. It wasn't a rare thing for a marine to die to pirates, but whenever they did, it was always personal for the Navy.
Nezumi challenged that notion even in death. No one wanted to remain associated with him.
"Along with these two… actions, there have been reports of Monkey D. Luffy being behind Buggy the Clown's missing head, and the defeat of Axe-Hand Morgan. And, if the intel we received from the men that handed in Kuro and his crew was correct, even their defeat was at the hands of this new menace in the East Blue." Brannew took a breath and slammed his hand to the blackboard again, this time slapping a new bounty onto it.
The cheap paper portrayed a single picture of Luffy, smiling widely at the camera, winking at it with one hand on his straw hat. The very same image Cocoyashi had used to celebrate him as their hero.
"In little over a week, this pirate has caused more than enough trouble for our brothers in East Blue, defeated more than one crew that had broken the 10,000,000 berri threshold, and killed our own; their betrayal notwithstanding, they were Marines. Considering these facts, I see no other option but to set his bounty here. It might be unheard of as a starting bounty, but this meteoric trajectory the reports have been outlining strikes me as even more so." He paused for the weight of his words to sink in.
"His evil must be cut at the roots before it gets a chance to sprout, or worse, to spread. We cannot afford to be complacent with potential as high as his. We'll be sending out this poster to the bases in East Blue starting today, and will be adding him to the mass bounty postings in tomorrow's paper. With that, the East Blue's Bounty update has been completed, and this meeting adjourned."
All marines present nodded curtly and took a swig of sake from their prepared lunch. It had been tradition to have the East Blue announcements last, before their lunch, as they were typically short and stress-free. But this time, it had dragged long, causing the cooked fish to be cold by the time they'd managed to end the meeting.
Every single one of the branch managers had the same thought as they dug into their cold food.
Just what the hell is this guy capable of?
"...Seriously? He did that?"
Nami couldn't help but get a Cheshire grin on her lips at how utterly envious Nojiko was looking, even as her eyes widened, part of her sister not believing her recount of the early morning activities with her new captain. The thief nodded, leaning on her palm as she rested her elbow onto the table.
Nojiko's eyebrow twitched, smirking slightly in an attempt to save face, as she leaned back in her seat. "Are you sure you're not remembering wrong 'cause you were too out of it on your first time? You're not romanticizing to try and pull one over on your big sis?"
Nami's smile grew even wider. "Pretty hard to misremember something like that," she supplied, loving the sense of superiority it brought.
Nojiko clicked her tongue and pouted, finally admitting defeat by puffing up her cheeks in the most childish outburst Nami had seen from the older woman. She had to clamp her hand over her mouth to keep herself from bursting into a fit of giggles.
"And you're not willing to share?" Nojiko asked, half-jokingly. "C'mon, sis, give me a little love too!"
"Nuh-uh," Nami rebuffed, before bursting into the fit of giggles that had been fighting for its life since the two sisters made their way back home. "It'd be weird, Nojiko, you know that."
"Yeah, yeah," her older sister brushed it off, giggling along and running a hand through her blue hair. "I'm not your type anyway."
Nami laughed harder, slapping the table.
That sound of merriment was what greeted Robin as she finally made her entrance to the small house again. "Oh good, Nami, you're back."
Nami waved with a free hand as another clamped over her stomach as she doubled over from laughing too hard.
"Robin, right?" Nojiko asked with a smile, gesturing at one of the seats. "You wanna join in on the Tales of Nami?" Nojiko asked with a nearly predatory grin. "Sounds like your captain is a really good lay."
Robin blinked at the offer, then slowly turned to face Nami.
The laughter died in Nami's throat as she slowed down and blinked, staring at the table before looking up at Robin.
The two crewmates just stared at each other for a moment.
Nojiko coughed into her hand, steadily growing uncomfortable with the increasingly deafening silence. "...was that supposed to be a secret?"
Nami blinked, brain needing a little longer to chain together a response. "...I- well, didn't quite think I'd get this far, if I'm being honest. Just something impulsive… But that's how all first times are, right?"
Robin blinked, a slow blush starting to bloom on her cheeks as she swallowed dryly. "...indeed."
Nojiko made a sound close to snorting, her eyes widening along with her smirk as the realization hit her.
"Oh my god, you're a virgin."
Nami choked on her spit, doing a double take between the older women. "No way-" she shot a look to her sister and then back to Robin, who was blushing up to her ears at the sudden statement. "How…?" was the last thing that slipped from the navigator's mouth before silence regained its hold of the room.
All three girls silently looked at each other.
"I think I left some books in the town library," Robin announced to no one, suddenly exiting the house as quickly as she came.
Nami and Nojiko looked at each other as the assassin left their home. "... she's… surprisingly bashful, huh?"
Nami nodded with a shrug.
"Wait… We don't even have a library."
Sanji was feeling mysteriously pissed as he cooked even more food for the impossibly late captain he'd decided to follow to the Grand Line. He knew the captain wasn't the most punctual of people, considering how he was in Baratie…
Then again… wasn't Nami with him that time? He blinked slowly, his brain supplying something that was highly suspect. And he disappeared with Nami this morning, alone.
"Food!"
Luffy's sudden outburst derailed that thought, the cook shooting a look over his shoulder "If you were that hungry, why were ya so late, shitty vest?"
"Marines at the port," Luffy answered with a simple shrug. "Pretty sure it was the pink-haired one you kicked into the wall."
"Huh. Leftovers," Sanji hummed, shrugging before continuing food prep. "Did ya kick him back onto his boat?"
"Oh, that would've been cool!" Luffy chuckled, leaning back with a smirk Sanji could hear in his voice. "But nah, he didn't wanna fight, seemed cooler this time around, so just let him go back."
Sanji smiled as he took a long drag of his smoke. "I suppose I kicked some sense into him, eh?"
Zoro appeared in the kitchen then, almost certainly not en route to wherever he'd meant to go, cutting off whatever response Luffy was about to give. "Knew you'd be in Nami's place."
Luffy, decidedly, didn't inform the swordsman that the shared kitchen they were in was on the other side of the town from Nami's house. Or that her house was not even in the town. Instead, the younger man jumped to his feet and hooked an arm around the swordsman's neck, the previous conversation fully forgotten. "Zoro! How's the wound?"
"I think the Tangerine Vodka they gave me healed it," Zoro answered, a roguish smirk on his face. "Also here, you forgot your mascot, captain."
"Don't call me a mascot, you flashy bastard!" Buggy screeched.
Luffy only laughed, grabbing the head again, and placed him on the table.
Zoro's eyes sharpened as he shot a sidelong look to Luffy. "Usopp is a little worried about…" the swordsman didn't elaborate further, glancing at the still-cooking Sanji.
Luffy hummed gently. "He's still new."
Zoro grunted in the affirmative and stumbled to the wall, sliding down with his back pressed against it and almost instantly falling asleep.
Buggy and Sanji shared a look.
"...you two are just inhuman," they groaned in tandem, exasperated with how the two could converse with just so little.
Don't think about it.
The phrase had turned into a chant in Robin's head. She couldn't get over what she'd heard in Nami's home.
And now, she was getting fixated on it.
Don't think about Luffy's…
She paused and ran a hand over her face, breathed in deep, then let it out slowly. The slightly uncomfortable expression she had melted away, replaced with the same cryptic look she wore everywhere.
She took a few steps before the mask broke again, a soft blush spreading on her cheeks.
Maybe I should've just listened in…
Usopp was back on the Merry, doing a once over of the ship, testing the rigging, seeing if any nails were coming off. Keeping himself busy, and alone.
The battle replayed in his head again, and now after the party he was thinking clearer. He'd let Robin do the heavy lifting, only taking up his weapons when she had asked him to.
He'd not done enough. He was nowhere close to being even at the start of the path of a brave warrior of the seas.
Sighing deeply, he sat down on the deck of the Merry, running his hand over the smooth boards, listening to the soft creaking of the caravel as it bobbed with the gentle waves. He thought about how he'd doubted Luffy the moment his captain had done something remotely suspicious.
Like spending time with his own crew.
He understood the reasons why he had, but looking back at it, none of it sat well. Luffy's character was cut clean. As mysterious as he could be, he seemed to say everything that came to mind. Plotting didn't even sound like something his captain could do, and he'd gone and compared him to Kuro. Made him feel dumb just thinking about it.
If anything, he probably looked more like a spy with his over-the-top cowardice and refusal to act until called upon. He'd still joined the fight, but he still felt bad that he had to be goaded into it.
Both acts felt like he'd betrayed the trust the crew had in him. And it just felt terrible.
He groaned, rolling onto his back and looking up to the blue skies. "Following someone else… trusting and being trusted… all of it is just so new and foreign… you feel the same, right Merry?"
The boat creaked with the soft lapping of waves.
"Do you think we'll make it through it?"
The small caravel continued swaying. Usopp laughed to himself. "You're right. We'll just have to ride the waves as they come, huh, buddy?"
"Captain Smoker, sir!"
The rocks held up with tendrils of smoke toppled to their sides, the captain slowly placing the last stone he was holding onto the tiled floor of his office with a tired sigh. He turned to the interloper in his office.
"...yes?"
The officer froze, seemingly too scared to actually say whatever he'd slammed the door to his office for. He never understood the issue with his men. Why would they even slam the door if they feared him so much? Did they fear him but not respect him?
"Is there something wrong with my face…?" he mumbled, plucking the two cigars out of his mouth and running a hand over his head.
"N-no sir!" the officer barked, a line of sweat running down his brow. "I- we've received a new bounty from headquarters!"
Smoker slowly placed his cigars back into his mouth and breathed deeply, letting the smoke billow out with a sigh. "We get those every morning. You don't have to panic and run up to here, petty officer."
The marine looked embarrassed, scratching the back of his neck with an embarrassed chuckle. "Ah, sorry sir. I've just never seen a bounty that high in this Blue."
Smoker paused, taking another drag from his dual cigars. He turned to give the officer a side-eye, curiosity dubiously raised at his claim. East Blue was a calm sea, other than this specific junction, the last island before the Grand Line; His territory. Whenever there were dangerous dumbasses, they usually ended up passing through here.
"Did they up Arlong's bounty?" he grumbled, cracking his neck and rising to his feet. There was little he could do about it if they had, he didn't have time to galavant around the East Blue to track down the elusive fishman.
Still, part of him suspected he'd find the sharkman in the Conomi Isles. Nezumi's stories and his reports never added up.
"N-no sir, someone new."
That shocked the captain, causing him to twist his head to the side as his eyebrows pulled together. The officer took a step back with fear. "I- I'm sorry, sir I thought you'd want to know as fast as possible!"
To shoot past Arlong in one go, a dark horse like that didn't bode well.
"Show me," he commanded.
"So what's the plan, Alvida-sama?"
Alvida shot a glance at her crew. Buggy's people had fully fallen in line by this point, and they were thirsty for blood for the man that had defeated their captain, and hurt her.
She rubbed over her stomach again with a growing blush, gazing out towards Loguetown, a dot in the horizon.
She loved strong men, and she had no problem testing Luffy one last time before she cemented him as hers. "We sneak into port and walk in the shadows. If that man is anything like I know he is, he wouldn't lose his chance to see the platform."
Mumbles broke out between the men.
"We'll find Luffy where the Pirate King last laughed."
"Ah."
Genzo looked away from the grave he was kneeling in front of, turning to nod at Nami before turning back. He didn't need to look at her long to know what she was going to do.
"Coming to say goodbye?" he hummed, eyes slowly scanning the blue horizon beyond the wooden cross that had marked Belle-mere's final resting place. "She'd be proud of you."
Nami walked up next to the old sheriff, placing another tangerine next to the one he'd placed on top of the grave marker. "Maybe, maybe not. I'm going off to become a pirate, after all."
Genzo laughed, though the smile didn't quite reach his eyes as he looked down at the grave. "Girlie, there is nothing on this planet you could do to have your mother not support you." He raised the bottle he'd brought along. "Wanna share one last drink with her before you leave?"
Nami chuckled softly, and took a seat next to him, looking at the bottle. With a smile, she took a sip, then poured another over the grave. Genzo smiled at the sight, got up and left, leaving the mother and daughter alone.
Then, she started telling her story.
Starting with the day when a man fell into her boat.
