Greetings, everyone! If you read Wrath of Ohara, you might remember me saying I was inspired by a fic involving Nami finding the One Piece. Well, I got permission from the original author to do my own spin so here we are! This first chapter is based off of his original first chapter, or at least the first half. Now, one thing to keep in mind, this will get dark. If you don't want to see one of the Straw Hats go onto the dark side and start wrecking stuff, then I understand if you pass on this one. But for me? This is gonna be fun!
Last note: If you're curious to read the original version and compare, you can find it by going here on DeviantArt: corruptionwriter/gallery?q=pirate+goddess
Wealth. Fame. Power.
Gold Roger, the king of the pirates, obtained this and all else the world had to offer, and his final words drove countless souls to the seas: "You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place! Now you just have to find it!"
These words lured men to the Grand Line in pursuit of dreams greater then they ever dared to imagine! This is the time known as the great pirate era!
And now we will see it draw to a close...
The mood was high aboard the Thousand Sunny, even with the cannonballs barely missing the ship. Sanji was back safe and sound, they had managed to evade Big Mom and they had the wind in their sails! They even had a new crewmate to welcome! Carrot, the rabbit mink girl, said she was dying to see more of the world and hopped on the chance to join. Another victory for the Straw Hat Pirates.
There was one problem: the five Marine battleships trying to attack them.
Thankfully, they had found a route along a rocky archipelago with fog to cover their escape. The few cannonballs that got too close were bounced away by Zoro's swords, Sanji's kicks and Luffy's elastic blows. And with Jinbei at the helm, Franky readying the Coup de Burst as soon as they cleared the outcropping, everything was looking smooth.
So much, in fact, that many of the crew had already started celebrating. Usopp and Chopper were already dancing in joy and taunting the Marines.
"Keep it down!" Nami ordered, "Do you want them to fire on us more?!"
"S-Sorry…" they both muttered, nursing their smoking bumps. The redhead just stomped off, studying her maps to make sure they were still on course. She glanced around, thankful the cannon fire had stopped. They needed to escape now before the wind turned against them…
A shame no one else seemed to realize that urgency. Honestly, she loved these guys but how long had they been on this confounded ocean?! The Grand Line, especially this half, had weather that could flip like a coin. The only sensible one besides her seemed to be Robin, calmly leaning against the main mast for the chaos to die down.
The navigator looked towards the bow and saw Luffy, eagerly reaching out to a giant fish that flopped out of the waves. Nami's palm met her face.
"The next King of the Pirates, everybody. Always thinking with his stomach…"
"Uh, guys? A little help?!" Luffy's arms were rapidly being dragged towards the water as the massive mackerel fought for dear life. Zoro rushed over to help him but something else caught their attention.
Black clouds swarmed overhead. Lightning signaled a flash flood of rain. The placid seas bucked like a herd of buffalo.
"Oh crap, where'd this storm come from?!" Luffy cried.
"YOU IDIOTS!"
"Everyone, brace yourselves!" Jinbe warned, hanging on to the wheel for dear life. Franky rushed to grab the rudder. Sanji and Zoro, snapping at each other all the while, were ready at the ropes to change course at a moment's notice. Luffy had rushed in to grab Carrot, the rabbit girl terrified, and held her close. Chopper and Usopp dashed inside with Robin quickly behind them. Brook, as per usual, was more concerned with dancing on the waves like a madman.
And Nami… Was currently panicking as she was in the air one moment and underwater the next. She was ripped away from the ship by the raging currents, her lungs burning as she was dragged further into the depths. She pled for someone to rescue her but how long would that take? She panicked, her mind drifting towards her friends, her sister and village, her mother Belle-Mere, anything to fight off the despair in her heart.
"Ugggghhh… My everything…" she moaned miserably, colder than she could ever remember being. Nami slowly forced her eyes open, white grains of sand filling her vision. A violent cough wracks her body, seawater spewing out of her mouth. Once she finally feels right to breathe again, Nami forced herself to her knees.
She looks around the beach she's washed up on. Aside from the lapping waves and sand, the entire coast is one dense jungle. Not another soul in sight.
"Okay… I'm alive…" she admitted, "That's got to count for something…"
She slowly stood up on her feet and faced the ocean. Clear blue skies only broken up by bands of wispy clouds. The waves are gentle as they hit her feet. Nami wrings out her soaked orange hair, trying to formulate a plan.
"Okay, so no sign of the ship, or the crew… Which means that they very well could have been swallowed by that storm without me… No, no, no, don't go there! They're tough, they're smart… Well, most of them are smart… They'll find me, that's the important part!"
Nami, thankfully, had plenty of experience with roughing it and living off the land. Even if it was by force, she had tons of times where she had to scavenge for food and make due with little resources. And at the very least she had her Clima-Tact! She could summon rainclouds for water and shoot lightning to scare away predators!
She reaches down to pull it out of her waist holster, but only grabs air. She tries again and again, her hand growing more frantic until she looks down and sees it missing.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!"
And once she finally runs out of breath screaming at the heavens, she goes back to rambling.
"Okay, so I don't have my best and ONLY weapon… No, no, I lived without it before! I can do it again!"
She then marched off into the jungle, trying to ignore her still shivering body and the dread as she didn't see a single sign of civilization. All she had to do was a build a fire, find a source of fresh water, find a reliable food source, find/construct some sort of shelter and hopefully find a replacement weapon before nightfall and without attracting any predators!
"Well, it's either do all of that or panic and never see my money, friends and home every again so OFF WE GOOOOO!"
She was thankful for a mostly clear path through the foliage and looked around for any fruits, edible plants she recognized or even another person. Nami treaded the beaten path until it opened to a small dirt clearing where she was shocked to find some kind of altar. And too massive to be natural given it was five-stories and intricately designed.
The stone columns and steps were shockingly bright, somehow a pristine white despite long exposure to the elements. Nami approached slowly, eyes darting to find anyone and seeing none. She noticed the bizarre symbols engraved in the columns, the total silence around her. Not even insects or birds. It was almost like the island was waiting for her…
The navigator slowly climbed the steps, her soaked shoes squelching each time. She desperately wanted her Clima-Tact back just in case anything was hiding behind the pillars. But soon she wouldn't care about that once she set her eyes on what this temple was protecting.
Sitting on a four-foot tall pedestal in the center of this marble pavilion was the strangest fruit Nami had ever seen. A bundle of grapes but each fruit almost looked like a glass bead, or soap bubbles. The bunch was topped with two golden leaves for an even more mystical allure. And despite resembling soap bubbles more than food, her stomach gurgled in need.
As soon as she touched the first piece, she knew she needed this. She was eating all of these. The first fruit touched her tongue and she tasted nothing. She swallowed and could feel it roll down her throat and drop in her stomach. No flavor, no satisfaction, nothing to actually cure her hunger. Nami instantly went for another. The cold didn't matter, her fear didn't matter, nothing else mattered except devouring every last grape until the stem was bare.
She could only focus again once she was done. The navigator saw that the naked stem was gold just like the leaves but it quickly withered into a black husk. Now with that done, Nami could turn around and properly get something accomplished.
"WHAT IN THE BLAZES?!"
Nami whipped around and soon saw an old, stout man with eyes so far out of their sockets that Chopper would probably want to study him. His white robes billowed in the gentle wind and his aged white hair was tied into an elaborate knot, alongside his footlong beard. Something about his posture and tone told Nami that this usually composed man was cracking by the second.
"Of all the rotten luck!" he cursed, "I take a few extra minutes for lunch because the grandkids stopped by and Elaine made my favorite dessert and this happens! Oh, may the heavens above forgive me! Curse you, lemon squares!"
"Whoa, whoa, slow down!" Nami waved, "Who are you, where am I and how the heck did you just get here?!"
The old man instead rushed up to the pedestal, his eyes instantly filled with tears at what was once the treasure he was guarding.
"Oh Roger… I'm so sorry… You went to spread the message and I failed you at the last minute…"
"Huh? 'Roger?' You mean the King of the Pirates? You knew him?"
The elder scoffed. "'Knew' him?! I entrusted my life's work to him! The prophecy was clear! A D. was supposed to be led here by his love of adventure so he could claim the One Piece and set the world free! But no! Some floozy in a bikini happens to grab it the exact minute I take my eyes off of it!"
In any other circumstance, Nami would have clocked anyone who called her a tramp. But then it all started clicking. Roger… The treasure on that alter… The One Piece…
"Oh my god…" she gasped, "This is Raftel… And that was…"
"Yes, congratulations! You, a complete nobody, just became the King of the Pirates… Or Queen, in your case."
"Okay, listen here, I get that I'm not some heavy hitter but I'm a pirate too! I'm a navigator for one of the biggest crews on the Grand Line!"
"Oh, whoop de doo… Tell me, what's your bounty right now?"
"66 million beri!"
"Ahaahahaha! Roger's cabin boy was worth more than that! Try harder, missy!"
"My name is Nami, not 'missy' and most certainly not 'floozy!' And who are you to tell me I'm a nobody?!"
For the first time, the man's eyes tightened. His frantic gaze became focused, sharp as steel. "Do you have the faintest idea what you have now? The power at your fingertips? The One Piece is not some vault you can raid. It is infinite potential, grand enough to topple the Emperors and the World Government alike. The last person who had it… Shaped the very world as it is now…"
Nami could feel every syllable resonate. He was speaking the absolute truth. "Okay then… If it's so valuable, why did Roger leave it instead of taking it for himself?"
"Running out of time, he was. Said he would have loved to if his illness wasn't numbering his days. Alas, all he could do was pass on the word. About the fabled treasure that would drive countless souls to reach here… Until a worthy wielder arrived."
She looked down at her hands. She had "infinite potential?" She didn't feel any stronger. She tried flexing her fingers but no lightning, no animal transformations, no gold appeared.
"And now it's all for nothing," he moped, falling to his knees, "A no-name lass who's more concerned with money swooped in and took it…"
"Will you stop belittling me, please?!"
"And why shouldn't I?!" he yelled, leaping to his feet, "It's not like decades of work was just lost! Oh wait, it was! 24 years I've waited on this island for Roger's proper follower! I promised him that I'd guard the One Piece 'til my dying breath! If he could see me now… Bamboozled by a little girl, not even a captain of a ship…"
The old guardian wept to himself. Nami had to admit she was starting to feel bad. She never would have taken it if she knew the truth.
"Well… I suppose there is one option left…"
He reached inside his robes and pulled out a dagger. Nami stepped back as it was pointed at her heart.
"Wait, hold on now!" she pled but the man's patience was gone.
"The One Piece sleeps in you now. All I have to do then is kill you and it'll return to its rightful place. Who knows? Perhaps your captain is the one to claim it?"
Nami's face turned red. This man had insulted her, laughed at her face and now was threatening her life?! That was the last straw! She could feel all her anger building in her core as he stepped closer. What right did this geezer have to attack her?!
"Get away from me!" she yelled but he advanced. She backed away towards the edge of the alter, her heels almost over the edge. If he really did guard this island, he would know the jungle inside and out. And he'd proven very nimble for his age already.
"I said back off!"
"Some pirate you are. Afraid of a little knife! You most certainly aren't a D. To think this is the ruler of the seas!"
"Grrrrrr…!" All of her anger, her will to live, her burning desire to see her home again… It all throbbed in her soul until it finally exploded.
"ENOUGH!"
A wave of force rippled through the air from Nami, smacking into the old man and making him drop his weapon. He fell to his knee and tried to steady his breath.
"That… That willpower…" he stammered, "Could it be…? She is the one after all…?"
"What the…?" Nami had no idea what happened either. And yet, strangely enough, it felt natural. Like it was just a part of her she never knew she had but always did.
"Conqueror's Haki…" she realized, "Did I get it from the One Piece?"
"No, the power slept in you all this time… The One Piece's purpose is to grant its user the ability to grow in strength and skill indefinitely."
Indefinitely? Forever, getting stronger? Nami looked at her hands again, this time in wonder. Was that all true? And if so, how?
Once again, an idea formed out of nowhere. Like something egging in her gut, she walked over and touched the old man's forehead. A small but electrifying rush passed through her, making her hair stand on end. Now she looked inside herself and felt something new.
She closed her eyes and suddenly felt a new line of sight open. One of brightly colored auras that gave away intention as much as location.
"Observation Haki…"
That same will now coursed through her muscles, filling her body with power. She channeled the feeling into her arm and watched in awe as it turned a gleaming black.
"Armament Haki…"
She then glanced at the old man, now kneeling before her. His old wrinkled face was now filled with reverence.
"Very well done. Now you understand the power you possess. I am Tenmetsu, guardian of the One Piece and user of the-"
"Port-Port Fruit…" Nami finished, before suddenly disappearing in a flash. She was back on the beach she landed on, staring at her own footprints. Her eyes lit up in glee, realizing she could literally go anywhere she'd ever been! She popped back to Cocoyashi Village, accidentally terrifying her sister by appearing on their porch. Before Nojiko could even speak to her Nami was gone again. Now she stood atop the Drum Rockies, snowflakes landing in her still wet hair.
A beanstalk in the Upper Yard of Skypeia. The rebuilt doors of justice from the rebuilt Enies Lobby. The Whole Cake Chateau. She finally settled on the he royal palace of Alabasta, basking in the desert sun and letting her clothes dry.
Once she was satisfied, she appeared right in front of Tenmetsu again. Now his head grazed the altar floor.
"Hmm, that fruit of yours has a limit of ten jumps per day," she shrugged, "Still pretty useful."
"Exceptional," he complimented, "I am deeply sorry to have misjudged you, Nami. You are the successor I've waited so long for."
Nami then stepped down from the altar, her mind buzzing like never before. She gained all three forms of Haki, she had her own Devil Fruit. And aside from the Conqueror's Haki, all of it came from Tenmetsu.
"That's what you meant by infinite potential. Anyone I touch, I gain their powers. I can take their Haki, their fruits, their fighting styles, and add them to my own…"
"Even I don't know where the One Piece came from but I do know its purpose. Those little grapes now sit within your body, ready to infinitely expand and contain the multitude of powers you'll acquire so the curse of the Sea Devil doesn't tear you apart."
His eyes, now so kind and wise, looked up to her in amazement. "Go now, Queen of the Pirates. Make the world yours…"
Nami's gaze looked down upon him. A dark, sadistic smile filled her face as she unleashed another wave of Conqueror's Haki. Tenmetsu crumpled on the floor, overwhelmed by her presence.
She then strode off the alter, her mind racing as she realized exactly what he meant. The world could be hers now… Anything she ever wanted. She could easily stand on her own and chart out the entire world.
"No, that's too small…" she said to no one, "I know what I want now…"
When she returned to the beach, she eagerly watched the coastline. The churning waters of the Grand Line stretched out for miles without another island in sight. It all seemed so expansive before. Just an hour ago this sea very nearly killed her. Now?
"I want to rule these seas… I will show everyone why I am Queen of the Pirates…"
So... Yeah... Nami might be just a little drunk with power. And, spoiler warning: It is going to get MUCH worse. Tune in next time for the Queen to take her first steps into ruling.
Thank you all so much for reading! Feel free to leave questions or comments below.