I don't own Ranma or One Piece curse the gods… What I do with the characters though, that's all me.
Once more this has been edited by Hiryo and me, which means there will no doubt still be small mistakes throughout. Thanks also again go to Riniko22 for pointing out a dozen or so mistakes in the last chapter. They have now been corrected, as have the ones in this chapter!
Oh, some reviewers have mentioned pairings: I will say at this point that the only pairing set in stone is Raffy/Robin. Nami might or might not join them, and Margaret might or might not join them. I also have really liked Sanji in this latest canon arc, and his sister joining the crew eventually might be freaking hilarious LOL.
This is going to be the last chapter of this story until near the middle of November, so I can put out the next three chapters in a group once more. Then I will continue to do so in groups of three or two until we are caught up to where the story will be by the end of November: the end of the Alabasta arc. Barring how a poll goes at that point, I will then put this story up as one of the choices in my monthly small story poll.
Chapter 3: Getting to Know You
While Luffy and Nami were diving for Buggy's parts, and Zoro took the opportunity to kip out and Makino went to find the mayor. This wasn't difficult, though convincing a few of the townsfolk who had apparently come to search for him that she wasn't a pirate was a little more time consuming. Nonetheless, she was able to without too much trouble after which she led them to the area where the unconscious or dead pirates of Buggy's crew were scattered.
Zoro after all was using swords so not killing someone with them was a little more difficult than with Luffy and his fists. He hadn't gone out of his way to kill, but hadn't made any effort not to either.
"Oh my God! They cut off that pirate clown's head, look!" said one man in the crowd, pointing at where Luffy had set Buggy's head.
"Well not exactly," Makino said sweatdropping slightly as she wondered how to explain Buggy's rather odd Devil Fruit power.
"That was quick," said Zoro as he woke up from his nap. "Where's the booze?"
"This isn't my bar so how should I know?" Makino asked with a laugh, gesturing to the townsfolk. "Besides, didn't Buggy and his crew take over the restaurant? Check in the rubble."
Zoro looked at the demolished building, what was left of it from Luffy's initial attack, and scowled. "Too much work."
At that point Nami pulled herself out of the water onto the quay, reaching down to haul up some parts. Luffy followed, pulling herself out of the water easily with the final two pieces of Buggy's legs. "Anyone have a barrel handy?" the redhead asked.
The mayor gaped at him then looked around. "Where's…"
At that point the unknown redhead slapped a hand over his mouth, covering the distance between them in a single blink. "Easy there, I'm Luffy, I just have a sort of curse with water. Go with it, I'll stay in this form for a while until we're out of here. You didn't tell anyone I was a guy did you?"
Mayor Boodle looked at the redhead askance, though if that was because of her tale or because of her proximity, she couldn't tell. Eventually Boodle nodded, and Luffy let him go just as the townsfolk were about to take umbrage of her manhandling their mayor. "No, I didn't tell them anything. Makino-san found us only a few minutes after my friends found me."
"Good. And keep Zoro's name on the down low okay, Call him Green-head for now." Luffy breathed a sigh of relief. Staying in female form while earning bounties was still a good idea, but wouldn't have done any good if the marine had come to question the townsfolk about who actually had beaten Buggy. That this would also hopefully make it so fewer people suffered when the World Government began to backtrack Luffy after he became a big name was just a side benefit.
Nami had been close enough to hear all that and had to nod at the impromptu planning Luffy had just used. Now if he, she, could only think ahead like that all the time I might actually start respecting him, er her, gah that's going to be irritating. Shaking that thought out of his mind Nami quickly went off to find Zoro and tell him to hide one of his three swords, since that style was his calling card, at least among the marines.
A few moments of explanation later, Luffy filled a barrel with seawater before dumping Buggy's parts into the barrel. With his entire body immersed in water like that, Buggy would have no strength or ability to act out even if he woke up from the beating Luffy had given him.
In the meantime, Makino and the townsfolk had gathered up the rest of the pirates, tying them up or laying them out as the case may be. A little over half of the pirates had been killed in the battle, including the odd swordsman who had faced Zoro, though surprisingly Mohji had been found alive and soon was tied up with the rest of the still-living pirates. His lion had disappeared, but since the townsfolk had confiscated most of the pirates weapons, he was no threat to them now.
The barrel of Buggy parts drew many a glance from the townsfolk, but Luffy, Makino and Zoro all ignored it, with Luffy and Makino corralling the mayor and his chief shipwright to peruse the construction yards. Even Nami ignored it for the most part busy as she was with moving through the restaurant the pirates had taken over to look for valuables.
Zoro followed her, ostensibly to make certain that she didn't steal any of the local's valuables, though he got the impression that wouldn't happen. The girl might have some of the moral flexibility of a pirate, but she did have standards, at least when the right thing was pointed out to her beforehand. Instead, he spent most of his time searching for booze, becoming quite happy when he found a few undamaged bottles easily despite his earlier pessimism.
About an hour later Nami looked up from where she was arguing with a few of the townsfolk about how much it would cost to rebuild the town, and therefore how much she could take from Buggy's ill-gotten gains, as Luffy and Makino returned with Boodle and his chief shipwright. "Any luck?" she asked, scowling at the man she'd been talking to before turning away entirely.
"Not much," Luffy said with a shrug. "They took apart all of the ships here to repair their own, and despoiled a lot of what was left."
"I can't say sorry enough," Boodle replied shaking his head sadly. "I realize that my townsfolk really couldn't have done anything. But we still took your money in good faith and now we have nothing to show for it."
Luffy shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's not your fault, it's Buggy's. And he's going to pay for it and a lot of other things too."
She shook her head, but there was a small smirk on her face. She really liked the delicious sort of irony behind a would-be pirate turning in other pirates for their bounty in order to pay for his/her pirate activities. If not for the whole bowing and scraping to the World Government she could almost see the point of becoming a Shichibukai. Not that I could at this point of course, I bet I won't even be invited to join until I beat the crap out of few of the Shichibukai themselves.
Luffy knew he/she could beat at least one of them, but that was more in the case of a rock paper scissors battle. If the battle happened near the water, Jinbei the Knight of the sea would win. If it didn't, Luffy would win. Their strength matched up like that. The others Luffy didn't know much about save Mihawk and his on again off again feud with Shanks. And the only reason he knew about those two was because both his grandfather and Shanks respected Jinbei's sense of honor and Shanks had mentioned Jinbei a few times as someone Luffy would probably get along with. The others Luffy thought might be beyond her for now until she had fully mastered Haki, since according to what little info she had on them they all had Devil Fruit powers.
"Actually," she said thoughtfully staring at that large ship in front of them. "Nami, Makino, you both've been aboard the Big Top. Is it seaworthy?"
Makino shrugged her shoulders, but Nami nodded firmly. "Say what you would about them as people, but Buggy's crew did very good work repairing that ship. All it needs is some more work on the canvas, and then bit of work on its topmast finished and it'll be ready for the ocean. Why?"
"Well, it's a huge ass ship, and frankly it's also a durable one despite whatever happened to it to send the Buggy Bunch here. I think it'd be a good ship at least for a short period of time."
"It's a little big for four people," Nami said doubtfully staring up at it then at the redhead and Zoro before shrugging. "If you two think you're strong enough to see to the rigging alone, I'm all for that I suppose."
Zoro shrugged, taking a swig from one of the sake bottles he'd liberated from the wreckage of the restaurant. "I see the point of trying at least, but those pirate marks have to go."
"A new paint job is a must," Luffy agreed with a nod.
"Leave that to me," Makino said quickly. "I've seen your sense of color schemes Luffy, they don't make any sense whatsoever to anyone else."
Luffy shrugged, but Boodle smiled. "As thanks for your help with Buggy, I think we can all pitch in on that," he said looking over at his townsfolk nearby. All of them shouted and cheered in agreement, eager to help their saviors.
Luffy smirked nodding her head towards the crowd. "In that case, while you lot are working on that I'll take the dinghy and Buggy's head to the nearest marine base, though even the dinghy will need its canvas replaced just in case."
"That means you'll need a navigator," Nami cut in, sidling up to the redhead with a smirk. "And I'll only charge you a measly 80% of the bounty for it."
"And that you'll be dealing with them rather than me." Makino giggled, looking at her young friend. The fact this would put their reluctant navigator into close confines with Luffy and his magnetic personality also amused her.
"Yeah, that's a downside to this plan, but if you want ta handle the painting, and I'll agree you're better at that stuff then me…" Luffy shrugged. "I can deal with it for a short amount of time anyway.
After saying that, Luffy turned to Nami a smirk on his face as she leaned up to whisper to the other girl. Thanks to his brother Sabo he was a lot wiser about money in this life than he'd ever really been in the last one, but he (currently she) liked to think that even the Ranma who had arrived in Nerima wouldn't have fallen for that kind of thing. "I thought we already went over this once? Well if you want to renegotiate, how about I don't charge you rent once we get on the ship, you keep all of Buggy's treasures minus the stuff we're leaving for the townsfolk, and you get 10% of Buggy's bounty."
"Thirty!" Nami replied quickly. "And no rent," she added after a moment glaring at the shorter redhead.
Luffy smirked insolently up at her, shaking her head. "No rent, and I'll throw in all the musket balls and other training things will need for free, but 15%."
Nami's eyes narrowed, and Zoro looked up quickly, having heard the magic word, or rather one of a few in his lexicon. "Training?"
Luffy nodded. "That's the other part of having a ship that big, we'll have a lot of room for us to train in. Zoro, while Makino's getting the hull painted, I'll leave setting up a training room for us to you."
Zoro grinned evilly, and Luffy matched him. "My pleasure captain."
Within an hour Nami and Luffy had taken Nami's dinghy and set out towards the nearest marine base. Nami of course knew where it was, always taking note of such things as necessary in her line of work. Thankfully she had never actually stolen anything in this area, so she should be alright coming along.
Behind them, the townsfolk went to work not only on trying to rebuild their town, but repainting and finishing the work on Buggy's ship. Makino chipped in with the work on Buggy's ship, directing the paint job. Zoro however decided to put his part of the job off for a bit to work on a few of the training exercises Luffy had already told him about.
Almost as soon as they were out of sight of the land, Luffy had reheated a bit of water and changed back to his male form. This made Nami realize that she was now stuck on a ship alone with a pirate. A nice one it must be said: the more time Nami spent around Luffy, the more she came to realize that he was a very unusual pirate. But he was still a pirate!
After Luffy had finished pulling the sails around under her directions, settling the ship onto the course Nami had ordered the silence soon became awkward. Finally Nami simply blurted her question out, the question that had bugged her ever since their first meeting and was at the center of her problem with Luffy. "Why do you want to be pirate? I mean you've talked a time or two about it and I know you knew some pirate but really why did you choose to become a pirate, why do you have this dream of yours?"
"Well why did you want to be a navigator?" Luffy asked cocking his head to one side.
Nami frowned, looking away and Luffy quickly held up a hand. "How about I tell you why I want to be a pirate, and you can decide afterward if you want to tell me about your own dream to be a navigator okay?" he asked softly.
Looking at him from out of the corner of her eye warily Nami paused but nodded, her inquisitiveness and curiosity getting the better of her. Besides she could always just not tell him afterward right?
"Why did I want to be a pirate? I suppose you could say there were a few things that made me consider it. First, I love my freedom. I'm not one for following rules, and I'm not one for obeying orders." Luffy began.
"You don't say? Is that why you seem to regularly break the laws of physics every chance you get?"
"Part of it," Luffy chirped in reply, a smug smirk on his face.
Nami shook her head with a laugh, but looked at Luffy seriously as he went on. "I also promised a man I would become the Pirate King, I already had that as my goal, and the promise on top of it just made it all the more important. He saved my life, he saved Makino's life, and besides…" he said with a sudden fire in his eyes that for some reason sent Nami's pulse to racing, "To become the Pirate King means you're the strongest in the world, the strongest and the freest of them all, and that's what I want to be. Free, and able to protect all of my precious people whatever happens."
He went on to describe Shanks, the impact the pirate had on his life, and why he had become such an important, almost parental figure in Luffy's life. Nami shook her head more than once during the tale. Finally she shook her head angrily. "Enough, I get it, just move on okay?"
On the one hand, Nami had enjoyed some of the stories, on the other hand, hearing Luffy talk about Shanks made it all the more obvious that she had really gotten shafted in terms of the type of pirate she had run into. On the other hand there was something else on her mind. "Whoever your grandpa was he was an utter idiot for leaving you that long."
Luffy shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time he's been called that, nor the worst thing anyone's ever called him. Now, it's your turn."
Nami looked away quickly, frowning as she thought through what she wanted to say. Eventually she told him about her adopted mother Bellemere, always encouraging her and her mapping skills, about her desire to make a map of the entire world. She said nothing about how badly that desire had been warped, how much she had lost because of it, or anything about Arlong. That was her cross to bear.
Despite that, even the childish dream she related to Luffy without all that background was enough to make him whistle in appreciation. "That's an amazing dream, almost as ambitious as mine or Zoro's."
"And that's all that is, just a dream," Nami said sharply shaking her head. "I've other priorities now. Dreams can only last for so long before reality sets in."
Luffy fell silent, frowning as he looked at Nami's body language and her face, which had closed down yet again. "Nami," he said softly, "I'll say it again, I'm your captain now, as your captain, it's not only my duty but my pleasure to help you face whatever you are having trouble it with. You don't have to face it alone."
Nami scoffed looking away. "Coming from a pirate, your word means nothing at all." Even as she said the words though Nami realized they rang hollow. But Luffy really believed his own words, and for some reason, Nami had to struggle not to believe them too.
Luffy shrugged his shoulders. "I was simply stating a fact when I said there is no pirate on the East Blue that can match me. There are nothing but weaklings in this ocean ever since my grandpa left. I would've thought my beat down of a former Grand Line pirate like Buggy would've convinced you of that."
Nami seized on the opportunity to change the subject, unwilling to really believe Luffy was telling the truth about that. She had seen his strength, but she had also seen Arlong's, and his strength was simply inhuman. "Who's your grandpa, you say that as if he's a real power in the world, even in yourmind."
"My name Monkey D. Luffy should've given you a clue," Luffy said with a grin.
Nami's eyebrows furrowed. "I don't get it."
"Monkey D. is my family name." Luffy said, his smile widening slightly. "Come on, you're smart enough to know the movers and shakers in the world, put it together."
It took Nami a few moments, but then her eyes widened and she paled, pointing a trembling finger at Luffy. "That's, you can't be serious! Monkey D. Garp, he's your grandfather?!"
"That's precisely what I mean." Luffy said with a grin.
"He was in East Blue! That's impossible! He's one of the greatest Marine heroes, why would he be in East Blue?!" And if he was in East Blue why didn't he step in to save me and my family!? she thought with more sadness than anger. Am I cursed or something?
Luffy shrugged. "He wasn't ever here for very long, barely a week at a time frankly, and the last time he was here was five years ago or so." His face became grim. "The World Government had to get him out of the way, had to return him to HQ and keep him there I suppose. He was too much of a straight arrow to go along with what happened and even after hearing about it he might've made trouble if he was allowed to."
"What happened?" Nami asked, forgetting her own troubles for a moment. Besides, she was logical enough to realize that if Garp was only in this ocean for a week at a time, then unless he had a reason to come to her islands, there was no way he'd find out about Arlong and his taking the island over.
Luffy scowled, turning away to stare out over the ocean. His mind however treacherously brought him back to that time. "I lived on Fuchsia Island and…"
Flashback:
Luffy, Ace, and Sabo were running through the Grey Terminal, a miles wide area outside of the only true city on the island, as Luffy began to kick off her high heels, peeling off her dress in the same movement. Ace and Sabo both looked at her, blushes on their faces before they turned away shuddering dramatically and muttering under their breath. "God dammit Luffy, you have to stop doing that!"
"Suck it up ya perverts!" Luffy said, splashing herself with warm water. "Remember I wasn't the one who came up with this plan!"
"Still it worked," Sabo said, turning back now that Luffy was once again in his male body, and pulling on his shirt and trousers as he ran. He shook his head as the boy flipped himself up onto his hands for a moment hopping along on one hand as he pulled his pants on over his upright legs with his other. Sometimes Luffy's dexterity and body control could still astound him, even if Sabo's own dexterity was well beyond his years.
"True," Ace said with a grin, patting the large duffel bag over one shoulder. "I still can't believe they fell for that though, the forgery work we had done on those papers was the real clincher I have to say."
Luffy shuddered shaking his head as he finished pulling on his pants, thankful beyond words that no one had thought to check whether or not he was wearing underwear under that dress. He was of course, but boxers not panties. "I still find it bizarre that they were willing to pay so much for 'my hand'. Not, that I'm not worth it or anything, but buying another person is still so wrong to me. Even if it's just marriage licenses or anything like that. Smacks too much of slavery."
That belief did not consider the issues Luffy had with it that were entirely due to his previous lifetime as Ranma. The money though and Sabo's plan was too good to ignore. The individual made up in the story they sold the nobles they'd just scammed wasn't real, and Reisha looked nothing like Luffy's female body since they had dyed his hair purple, given her a pushup bra and contacts to turn her eyes green. Need to remember to remove those when we get back.
"Preaching to the choir little bro," Sabo said with a groan. "The only difference between contractual marriages and slavery is that one of them is more open about its depravity than the other."
"Look on the bright side," Ace ordered, once again patting his backpack. "At least those two families not only have paid for it, but now look like morons for going along with the idea. I'd love to see their faces when they realize not only that Reisha isn't in her room anymore, but that nothing about her, not even her home island, is real!"
The money in the satchel amounted to around 7 million beli, which was a noble's ransom almost. It had been paid off to them by not one, but two families in a day as the dowry paid to the family of 'Reisha', a noblewoman from a family with a connection to the ruling family of 'Yokohama' (Luffy came up with the name) who were looking to use her to create an alliance between their family and a foreign family in order to open more trade between their islands. Having done it twice in one day was risky, but not as risky as trying it a second time after word could get around the first time. But even so they had nearly been caught hence their haste in leaving the city.
With that money the three of them could purchase both a way off the island and pay for their first ship. That was what this had all been about, the next stage to starting their dreams of becoming pirates.
Now that they were well away from the walls of the city the three of them slowed down, and Ace nodded to the other two, who nodded back spreading out slightly either side of him. Ace was the one carrying their precious cargo at the moment, which meant the other two had to play scout. The Grey Terminal was dangerous after all. It wasn't just junk out here but all sorts of undesirables, or rather what and who the nobles of the island thought were undesirables, were out here.
Some of them were simply families or people who didn't quite fit with the 'cleanliness' model of the city, for one reason or another. Others were shop-owners and other merchant sorts that had been bought out by nobles who wanted their property.
But then there was the third sort: thieves, cutthroats, murderers, and of course bandits. So long as it happened out here no one in power cared and a lot of people, even if they hadn't been forced out here for being bandits or suchlike originally, turned to that kind of life in desperation. Living on the edge out here was tough on anyone and morality wouldn't put food on the plate.
Sometimes Luffy pitied the people in this area and longed to help them but the corruption was set in so hard, and there were so many people who would rather prey on one another then take handouts, that there was precious little he could do. There were a few families he helped occasionally, hunting food for them and so forth in the jungles beyond the Grey Terminal, but that was it.
Worse, there were a few gangs that felt they owned the Grey Terminal, and while Luffy thought the trio could challenge them now, as young as they were it would still be a very close run thing. Worse, the man who all those gangs answered to, a man named Bluejam, had it out for Ace and Sabo ever since they had a run-in with one of his lieutenants a few weeks back.
Luffy hadn't been involved in that one, busy with his own training at the time and helping Makino out at the bar. But he heard about it later, and knew that even being back in the Grey Terminal at all right now was a bad idea.
Still, at least it paid well, he thought to himself allowing his eyes to stray from scanning the area around them to the bag on Ace's back.
Because he was so concerned about his surroundings Luffy heard a whispered conversation nearby, the speakers behind several piles of the junk that made up both the ground everything else around them. He held up a hand, flicking his fingers in an intricate pattern, and Ace stopped immediately with Sabo doing the same thing on the other side of him. Wordlessly both of the older boys moved towards Luffy. He held up two fingers again before wiggling them around indicating that there were two people talking.
Sabo had the best hearing of all of them, and he moved quickly to Luffy's side and up the hill of junk. holding up a finger indicating the other two should wait.
On the other side of the large amount of junk was a small family of four, three men, one older man and two boys both older than the three boys currently listening, and an aged woman. Of course, figuring out her actual age would've been impossible under the dirt and grime, but she was bent with age anyway.
"I don't know what it is," said the man, shaking his head. "But those bandits under Porchemy, they've been moving things around everywhere all around the Grey Terminal, even in areas they don't control!"
"I've told you before not to notice what goes on with that crew, they're bad business!" replied the woman wagging a cracked and broken ladle at the older man. "I don't care what they're up to so long as they don't bother us. We survive out here by keeping our heads down, remember that. I don't want a repeat of last year's beating." Her voice had started out stern, but ended tremulously, and she reached out to grasp the man's hand staring into his eyes soulfully.
The man nodded quickly, but even so said "I understand, but I'm just wondering if we maybe should pick up stake and move on. Whatever they're doing, it can't be good can it?"
"That's sensible at least," the woman said nodding her head and looked around their small campsite, shaking her head. "It's not as if we have much to move after all. You heard your father boys, let's get a move on."
Frowning Sabo slowly and carefully slid down the large mound of junk, entering the small hideaway Luffy and Ace had quickly excavated out of the junk pile to hide in while they waited. Reporting what he heard, both he and Luffy turned to Ace. Both of them knew he was better at figuring out what was going on with small bits of information than either of them.
But even he couldn't figure out much from that small a bit and the slightly older looking boy shook his head, long black hair falling into his eyes for a moment. "We need to find out what they're moving around. Bluejam might be a bastard, but he's a smart one. I don't like anything he's involved in."
"That bastard deserves a kicking." Sabo muttered, shaking his head under his overlarge felt hat, his eyes narrowed angrily as he gripped his pipe.
Luffy frowned shaking his head. "I think we need to look into this, but as good as we are you think we can take down his gang?" Luffy had been itching to try for a while, but his Rokushiki weren't that good yet besides his air walk, and while he was immensely strong for his body, that was only for his body. He'd learned in that fight in Makino bar not to rely on his skills and to remember that he was still a young boy, with a young boy's limitations.
Ace and Sabo looked at one another then slowly nodded. To them it wasn't as much about helping the people out here. Though they would admit to feeling somewhat sorry about the civilians' plight, neither were the type to play hero. But the idea of getting Bluejam back for his attempts to hunt them down had a certain appeal.
"Okay, here's what we'll do then. Will head to our hiding spot, hide the cash, eat something then come back here tonight. Luffy, you'll be on point for that." Luffy was easily the best one among them for sneaking around, even here in the junk lands. Luffy simply moved silently, able to put his feet down in such a way that the junk wouldn't even move, something that only Sabo could come close to.
Ace couldn't quite control his feet that well. But Ace was by far the strongest physically of them all, having taken to Garp's (actually Ranma/Luffy's) strength training better and more intensely than either of the others. He'd even begun armament haki training, and carried it further than Luffy had so far, though he hadn't awakened any Haoshoku Haki like Luffy had. But then again, since Luffy couldn't control his that didn't really matter.
That night, Luffy led the way through the Grey Terminal towards where they knew Bluejam was currently using as his base, stopping occasionally as they overheard voices in the distance this way or that. Nonetheless, with Sabo's hearing and Luffy leading the way, they were able to sneak through without anyone seeing them.
Once nearby, they took up a position outside a large warehouse made of rust covered steel slats, rotting wood, and junk like the rest of the Grey Terminal. Moving around the back of it, they hid themselves in the shadows of the building near where two of the slats didn't quite meet. There they stared inside, leaning in close to see what they could overhear.
Inside, all three boys were astonished to see a few of the dapper city guard surrounding a man that could only be a noble. He was a thin, effeminate man with a thin mustache and a sneering countenance. The man held a handkerchief up to his nose, while before him the larger forms of Bluejam and his lieutenant Porchemy sat.
Bluejam was a tanned man around the same height as Garp, though not as wide in the shoulders. He was still stronger than and just as fast as any of the three boys observing him in secret. He wore an old marine outfit, ripped and torn in places, with a sabre and pistol on his belt. His eyes were dark and almost dead looking. He called himself a pirate captain, but as far as Luffy knew he had never actually been out of the Grey Terminal.
Porchemy was slightly taller and broader than his boss, with a tattoo visible along one side of his body. His head was wrapped up with a bandage covering where his ear had been. According to rumors about the Grey Terminal Bluejam had cut it off for the man having been beaten by Ace and Sabo a few weeks ago. It was only the fact he hadn't actually been carrying the cargo, money extorted from the rest of the Grey Terminal's inhabitants, that had saved his life. The two of them had attacked him the day before the collection day.
"You're certain you've moved enough of those barrels around? This has to go off without a hitch," the prissy man was saying, his voice nasally even for the fact that he was holding his nose like that. He also looked somewhat familiar to Luffy, who glanced at Sabo.
Sabo caught his look and stared hard at the man, looking over to Ace for a moment. He looked at the man too before slowly nodding his head saying that he recognized the man too. "Could we have run into him on one of our capers inside the city?" He whispered, and the other two shrugged.
"It's done," said Porchemy for his boss. "We've spread those things as far around the Grey Terminal as possible, and hid them well too."
"So our business is concluded, so long as you have the other half of our money, we will finish our end later today," Bluejam said his voice a rumble, deeper than his subordinate's.
"Of course, here it is," said the man shaking his head and gesturing to one of the guards, who pulled out a large suitcase. The boys could barely see what was inside, but Luffy guessed by the size of the suitcase it might hold more beli than the trio had taken that morning.
Porchemy nodded to one of his men, who moved over and took it. "In that case, our business is concluded. Just be sure you've told the gate guards to let us in, or else…"
"Of course. Don't worry your place in Goa is assured. You'll be met at the gate with a letter of nobility just as promised. But are you certain you won't take that other job I mentioned? Bringing that boy back to his family would double the money I paid you for helping us with this plan." The noble asked, actually sounding as if he was addressing Bluejam as an equal.
Bluejam shook his head, his eyes narrow over his wide mouth with its odd spaced teeth. "No. That boy and the two he runs with are too damn good at sneaking around. I'd have to attack the mountain bandits in their own lair to be certain of finding them. And unless you're willing to give me some of your City Guard for the job…"
Narrowing his eyes, Luffy looked at Sabo, as did Ace. The boy had been open with them about his past after they had demanded to know how he knew so much about moving within the nobles. But the idea that his family might have wanted to bring him back was new, and Luffy wondered how they had missed hearing about 'Reisha's' brother when they were running their scam.
The noble shook his head and Bluejam nodded. "Didn't think so. No, there's no way I could capture that brat Sabo alive. Killing him might be easier if we can catch him here in the Grey Terminal, would that do?" He laughed then, a nasty, cold sound in the warehouse. "Then again, since the Grey Terminal isn't going to be here tomorrow, that's not going to happen."
"Indeed, though his death would serve just as well, the family only wish for him to not embarrass them further, running around with the rabble." The nobleman smiled thinly, shrugging her shoulders as Sabo stiffened in rage and, though he hid it well, a bit of sadness. "In that case I will see you this evening, my fellow nobleman."
Bluejam actually smiled at that, and the nobleman turned away moving off quickly with his guards.
Ace leaned forward whispering into his little brother's ear. "We'll wait until that man and his guards are well out of here then ambush the gang." Luffy was going to object, saying they should go after the nobleman, but Ace went on. "We can add the money to our pile, and figure out what the hell's going on from Porchemy and Bluejam. They'll know wherever this stuff, whatever they were hauling, is hidden. I don't like the idea of the Grey Terminal being gone, we gotta figure out what that means."
Luffy nodded, and they waited there. A problem occurred however because as they waited, more and more of Bluejam's men joined him, until there was a full forty or so men, near his entire gang. Luffy scowled, looked at his friends who both still nodded sharply, and he nodded back. This was going to be tough, but they were all raring for a fight now, eager to see if their training paid off.
Without another word Ace brought his fist forward, the fist gleaming black for just a few seconds as he smashed it into the side of the warehouse. The rusty metal shattered, almost exploding inward from the point of contact.
Amid the shouts of shock and pain from within, Luffy and Ace had jumped through the hole with Sabo right behind them. Sabo whirled his trusty pipe over his head, bringing it crashing down onto the first gang member turning towards them, while Luffy leaped up over his head to kick out hard smashing both of his feet into another man. Using that impetus Luffy threw himself sidewise into two more men. Hammering them aside he landed directly in front of Porchemy as he rose from his chair. Bluejam was elsewhere within the warehouse, out of Luffy's sight right now, so Porchemy would have to do.
Cripple the most dangerous target, come back and finish him off later. His thoughts cold Luffy's fist lashed out catching the man in the side of his knee. He wasn't holding back either, against these opponents he couldn't afford to.
Porchemy screamed as his knee shattered, pitching him forward into it a kick from Ace who whirled through the fight. He fell unconscious to the ground, but as he did Bluejam appeared from deeper in the warehouse, his sabre in his hand as he fired his pistol at Ace, who dodged at the last second, grimacing as the bullet furrowed his upper arm.
Sabre whirling over his head, Bluejam closed on Sabo who dodged aside at the last instant, letting it thump into the ground. He couldn't dodge that kick that came a second after however, which sent Sabo flying backwards into a few of the thugs, who grabbed him, and hurled him down to the ground where he and several of the others began to kick him mercilessly. "GAHH!"
"Get away from him!" Ace was on them in a second, purling them off their friend, while Luffy got between the two brothers and Bluejam, leaping up into the air and staying there dodging this way and that using Air Walk. Normally he wouldn't be allowed to do that, he had promised his grandfather he wouldn't show off the Rokushiki skills he learned already, but in this situation he needed them.
Ace took a single shot from someone deeper into the warehouse grunting as it the bullet hit his thigh, nearly taking him to the floor. But it didn't and his punch took a man who had tried to bring down a club on him in the guts. Behind him Sabo got to his feet, his pipe in hand lashing out to take another man. That man flew backward, his ribs cracked.
That was the last thing Luffy could notice about that fight as Bluejam was on him. He was faster and stronger than any of the other opponents Luffy had faced yet in this new life of his, and he had yet to regain the speed and power of his old life yet. He had a few more tricks of course, but none that he had mastered just yet save the Soru and Geppo.
Even so, it was enough. Every time Bluejam swung his sword Luffy wasn't where it would land. Occasionally it got close, and once it even gave him a light cut along one arm, but Luffy's ability to move in midair was up to this task. His return blows smashed into Bluejam's defense, but the man was decent at dodging and did so after the first punch that he didn't nearly deadened his elbow.
Then a lucky blow caved in his eye. "Damn you!" Bluejam howled, once again bringing his sword forward.
But Luffy this time canceled his Air walk, ducking under the blow. A blow to the man's gut doubled him over, but Bluejam took it, his sabre slicing downward forcing Luffy to dodge to one side. Off balance slightly from his punch the slice still cut Luffy along his side, but the wound looked a lot worse than it was, and in retaliation Luffy's fist crashed into Bluejam's face hurling him backwards unconscious.
Ace moved to his younger brother's side, his face bloody from a lucky punch which had flattened his nose. His arm was also bleeding somewhat, but that was all. Sabo joined them quickly, and he was the worst off, limping and black and blue. But none of the gang members were upright, with only Porchemy and a few other wounded screaming or whimpering here and there in the torch-lit warehouse. "So… I guess we're getting our answers out of Porchemy now?" Ace asked, looking at the mangled face of Bluejam.
"Yes, exactly, that's why I crippled him." Luffy replied, to which both his brothers rolled their eyes, smacking the younger boy over the head.
The quickly made their way over to the tattooed gangster, with Ace going down on one knee in front of him. Of the three of them Ace was easily the most dangerous looking, he could get a look in his eyes that just would chill your blood. The look in his face right now was a very good example of said. "What the hell did Bluejam mean about the Gray Terminal not being here? What has that noble been having you doing?"
"Screw you punk," Porchemy growled.
Luffy looked away unwilling to look while Ace reached down to the man's ruined knee, his hand hovering over it for a moment. "Want to rephrase that?"
"It doesn't matter anyway!" Porchemy growled. "You'll never find them all in time!"
"Tell us anyway." Sabo ordered, bringing his pipe down to rest on the man's shoulder.
"You, you're the one, the noble brat who ran away? Why the fuck, why'd anyone want to ever give that life up!? Hah, but it doesn't matter." Porchemy glared at Sabo for a moment then grinned like a death's head. "You want to know why? Because the nobles are going to burn the Grey Terminal to ash!"
As the three boys stared at him in horror Porchemy went on seemingly taking delight in their horror. "They've got some big World Government bigwig coming in and they need all this trash gone. Bluejam made a deal, we do their dirty work, no way could they place the gun powder in the Grey Terminal without everyone here knowing what was going on. Then, we get paid and a place in the city! Bluejam becomes a noble, and the rest of us become his retainers. It would've been so glorious…"
"Where did you put it all?" Luffy asked angrily, grabbing the man by his throat and lifting him off the floor. All his worries about torturing information out of the man had just left his mind, and he was left with a sense of urgency and growing dread.
"Heh, I don't know, I only know the places where I personally put a few of the kegs, the rest of the gangs followed Bluejam's orders, but I doubt even he knows where they all are buried. And even if you tried you'd never find them all. The party's supposed to start tonight, whether we're at the gate or not!" Porchemy laughed again, right up until Sabo smashed his pipe down on top of his head.
Luffy let the unconscious gangster slide to the floor of the shack, looking at his two brothers. Even with the memories of his last life to call upon, Ranma/Luffy had no idea what to do. Ace and Sabo too seemed at a loss. Neither of them had the same urge to defend complete strangers as Luffy did, but neither were they heartless and there were at least a thousand people living in the Grey Terminal. "What do we do now?"
It was Sabo who finally got them over their shock. "We need to stop them. Didn't that noble say that Bluejam was the one who organized everything, that must mean the other gangs are the ones who are going to light these gunpowder barrels. We have to take them out!"
End Flashback
"… We were able to take out two more of Bluejam's gangs before the others started to light the gunpowder barrels on fire. And then the City Guard began to fire into the Grey Terminal from the walls. It was hell, and a lot of people died. All because the nobles wanted to impress the Tenryubito." Ranma shook his head, his hands clenching and unclenching. "We did our best, but it wasn't enough."
Nami's face had first been amused at Luffy's description of his crossdressing, wondering if maybe the two of them and Makino might be able to pull off similar scams in the future. Then as the story went on her expression had segued into one of pure horror. "Why, in god's name would anyone, so many people, I just… why!?"
"Good question," Luffy replied with a scowl. "Like I just said, it was all to show off to the Tenryubito. The country was under review or something like that, and they had to get rid of anything 'ugly' before the bastard in question arrived. They didn't care about the lives of those already living there, it was a simple means to an end to them. We never discovered how many people died in that fire, but at least we know Bluejam and most of his men went up with their victims."
Actually, Luffy knew that a lot of people had lived through the fire that otherwise wouldn't have not only because of his and his brothers' efforts but because of unforeseen help from Luffy's father and the Revolutionary Army. Indeed, if not for the Revolutionaries and Dadan, the boys might not have been able to escape the conflagration themselves.
"I talked to my grandfather about it when he showed up again." Luffy said instead, going back to the questions that had started his tale. "I asked him if the Marines would go after the nobles or the Tenryubito and he just shrugged and told me to put it out of my mind."
Luffy scoffed spitting over the side of their small boat. "I think the moment he said that, he knew he'd just lost any chance of me being a Marine. He stopped training me after that but I had already seen all of the Rokushiki skills, even if I couldn't do most of them just yet. So that's when I decided that being a marine just wasn't for me. And it's also why I was so hard on Coby."
Nami nodded, her mind in turmoil from Luffy's story. She thought she knew evil, but even Arlong was small change in comparison to something like that. My god, and those people call themselves nobles?
It took Nami a moment to recover during which Luffy simply sat in silence, letting her regain control of herself. "I, I guess that it sort of makes sense that you'd want to be a pirate if the Marines couldn't do anything about something like that, but why didn't you become a revolutionary? Aren't they supposed to be fighting the fight against the World Government?"
"I could have I suppose," Luffy said with a faint smile, not giving any further hint about how close that decision had been, or why. "But again I'm not one for following orders or rules. Freedom and chasing my own dream is just as important to me than doing what I think is the right thing. So yeah, that's why I became a pirate."
Nami nodded slowly again, still taking it all in. Then she frowned. "Wait, what were your older brothers' names again?"
"Ace and Sabo." Luffy said with a faint smile still on his face, though it had become much warmer and markedly less crooked.
"That wouldn't be Fire Fist Ace would it?" Nami asked, her eyes slowly becoming the size of dinner plates. She didn't know the other one, but that one she definitely knew!
Luffy's smile widened and Nami threw her hands up over her face groaning as she leaned back kicking at him lightly with one of her legs. "How the hell do you know all these big names!? Shanks, Garp, and now Fire Fist Ace, one of Whitebeard's Unit Commanders?!"
"Yeah I know," Luffy laughed, shaking his head. "Don't know how that happened, he left on his journey two years back. But he sent me a message saying his dream to make me Pirate King had changed, he wants Whitebeard to be the King now. I gotta wonder what the Fire Fist thing is about though."
"Dreams again?" Nami said trying to put some scorn in her voice, but not succeeding at all.
"Exactly," Luffy said seriously, catching her leg when she tried to kick him in the shins again, patting her calf lightly before letting it go.
For some reason that mild touch caused Nami to blush, and she shook her head again. Just because they were alone out here didn't mean she could act like that, and she really didn't want to do anything that Luffy could take as a come-on. Admittedly he seemed a little naïve when it came to girls, at least judging by the way he refused to look at her at a time or two when she was trying to influence him with her body and Makino seem to trust him.
But Nami didn't have the familial relationship that the two of them seemed to have, and he was still a pirate. Nami was proud of the fact that there was one thing she'd never sold off and had yet to even give away, and she was going to keep it that way.
"So now that I'm done breaking your mind, let's talk about training," Luffy said after a few moments of silence.
Nami frowned but nodded. "I suppose that works. Is there any training we can do while on this ship?"
"Yep, In fact I think it's the best training you can get given your combat style. You dodge a lot, and this style will help you. It's called Kami-E and it allows you to sort of slip around attacks, as if the wind from the attacks push you away from the attack itself. It's all about predicting, sensing how your opponent's going to move and being ready for the attack, bending around it. It's a step down from what I would call Haki perception, but it's a damn good starting point."
The next few hours Nami went through the training as Luffy call it. She called it torture. He took small pieces of wood from the two spare rows and tossed them randomly at different parts of her body. Then as she was dodging them he would move in almost too fast for her to follow and flick out with a finger here and there at her body with punishing force. Not enough to bruise but certainly enough to sting. And of course he stayed away from her chest, which she was thankful for.
"I hate you," Nami's said, growling the words and thumping Luffy on the shoulder as they sat down that evening.
They would arrive at the Marine base in around three days, it wasn't a big one, but it would have enough money on hand to pay for Buggy bounty, hopefully anyway. It was the same one where the ship that had taken custody of Alvida had come from, but Luffy hoped they wouldn't meet with the same captain. He was already too suspicious of Luffy for his liking.
"No you don't," Luffy said cheerfully. Man, is this how my old man always felt training me back when I was Ranma? If so that explains quite a bit. "Trust me, you'll get it soon. You're already dodging a few of the attacks I was tossing at you near the end there."
Nami growled angrily at him, but subsided as he moved over to the edge of the boat. For a moment, she thought about pushing him in. She could do it of course, sneak up push him in, sail on and take the bounty for herself. It would be enough to almost put her over the amount she needed to buy her town from Arlong. But there were a few considerations stopping her.
First was the practical. She wasn't at all certain that Luffy wouldn't feel her coming up behind him, and no matter how nice he was an attack like that would probably set his teeth on edge at the very least. Two, even if she succeeded in pushing him in Luffy had impressed her all along with how impressively strong and durable he was. He could probably simply swim after her faster than the boat could move under wind power.
And three, she just didn't want to. Luffy was too nice, too nice to be a pirate, too nice for her to hate like she should because of his dream. But he was so strong it was kind of intimidating at the same time.
"Do you think I'll ever be as strong as you?" Nami asked before she could stop herself. Even though she knew Ranma wasn't as strong as Arlong, there was just no way that was possible, being stronger on her own and maybe valuable enough to win her town some more rights was a good idea.
"Depends on what you mean by strong." Luffy said, pulling his hand out from the water and showing her a fish. She gaped and he laughed. "A little trick I learned from another pirate acquaintance. A few of the people on his crew, they're always hungry, so fishing like that is kind of a must."
"I'm not even going to ask," Nami said dryly making a given here gesture.
The two of them fell silent as she chopped up the fish and Luffy got out a few other supplies, putting food together quickly. Then they just sort of sat there, staring out over the waters, each lost in their own thoughts, wondering how to take the conversation from here.
Nami abruptly broke the silence. "That heist you mentioned, I've done the same kind of thing a time or two. One time, I fooled this sheriff guy. He had a thing for gingers, plus he'd just confiscated some old, really expensive paintings. Anyway, I…"
The night passed like that with Luffy telling stories about how his curse had gotten him into trouble, and Nami telling stories about famous heists she'd done. Neither of them were willing to talk about deep topics again, or at least Nami wasn't, not yet, not with a pirate. But it was hard for her to remember that Luffy was a pirate at all when they were just talking like this. When you saw that smile under that straw hat and those blue eyes the idea the young man before you was a pirate was the furthest thing from your mind.
For his part, Luffy once again found Nami very good company. She was a little domineering when it came to ordering him about when the wind or current changed. But considering that Luffy didn't know anything about navigation Luffy was willing to let that go. Some of her stories about her past heists made him laugh aloud at how stupid men could sometimes be.
So the three days passed as the two of them continued to get to know one another. Watching Ranma practice his skills by bouncing along beside the boat or swimming along in female form after training with him Nami determined that yes, signing up with Luffy until he raised his pirate flag for real was a very good idea.
Luffy in turn laid out his basic plan. He would spend two or perhaps three months in the East Blue collecting bounties and training with Zoro while also possibly recruiting other members for his crew. Then he would head to Logue town, the town where the Pirate King had been executed, the town of the beginning and end, which also served East Blue as an entrance to the Grand Line. There he would buy the best ship he could, before heading on to the Grand Line. He hoped to have a cook by then, and possibly a shipwright, a full-time navigator and a purser by then, though the purser wasn't a necessity.
His plans seemed sound to Nami, even if this whole idea of becoming Pirate King wasn't.
If they stuck to that plan and Luffy proved up to the challenge of the bounties like he said, then Nami knew she could earn the rest of the money she needed and then some. And, said a small thought in side of her head more than once, maybe if you see Luffy in action some more, you'll begin to believe him when he says he can take on anyone in East Blue. Maybe he'll earn your trust too, not just your interest.
On the morning of the third day Nami noticed some telltale telling her they were within a few hours of the marine base. When she informed him, Luffy quickly dumped himself with cold water, changing into his female body. Nami then watched in something approaching amused shock as the redhead, without any sense of female modesty, quickly changed in front of her, getting back into the same near-cowgirl outfit she had been when they first met. Huh, so she's a natural redhead.
Just as Nami predicted two hours later they were close enough for the lookouts on top of the marine base they were approaching to see them. From far ahead of them cannon blasted out, the watchers on top of the Marine base warning everyone that there was a small ship approaching.
Moments later, a few sails appeared over the horizon, a marine schooner coming towards them. Seeing it was a small sloop with only two people aboard and they were girls of all things, the ship simply moved around them, as the lieutenant in charge shouted, "State your business!"
"Bounty hunters here to drop off a bounty," shouted Luffy, her voice a bellow that seemed incongruous coming from her short frame.
The man nodded, and turned around, gesturing them to follow his schooner in, joining a second schooner tied up to the wharf. This base was a stand-alone marine base, with no local civilian population on the island to support it, so it's base was more open, with farming areas set up around a freshwater well, a few cannons set up on short towers on either side of the bay. Nami noted it wasn't deep enough to handle a full Marine galleon, hence the schooners, which were normally used as the eyes and ears of the larger vessels.
He was there when they came ashore, along with the base commander, an older man missing an eye and a leg, with a massive scar visible running down from his neck to below his shirt. "Your name and the name of your bounty?" the older man said briskly, as another marine held up a bounty book and two more brought out a table.
"Buggy the clown is the bounty, and Ranko is my name," Luffy said, pulling out Buggy's head.
A few of the Marines took a quick step backwards at the sight, but the captain was made of sterner stuff, leaning down and frowning at it. He took it from Luffy turning it over to look at the neck, which didn't look like it had been cut.
Before he could ask, Luffy pulled out the large barrel containing the rest of Buggy's body. "He's got a devil fruit, allows him to part his body somehow to avoid attacks. Keep his body in enough seawater and he can't even wake up. So long as you keep it that way, you shouldn't have any trouble with him until he's jailed or whatever you lot will do with him."
"What about the rest of his crew?" The schooner captain asked.
"Taken down by my team and me." Luffy said with a shrug. "They're over at Orange town, but we've also taken their ship. Unfortunately, we haven't found any of their loot. They'd apparently just stowed it someplace, then got nearly sunk by a storm and put into Orange Town a few weeks ago."
Luffy tried to keep his irritation out of his voice, but he didn't succeed entirely and more than a few of the Marines grabbed their weapons tighter as they stared at the small yet very angry sounding redhead. "He destroyed a ship I'd ordered, so I'm taking his."
The older man simply nodded while the younger set scowled at that news before he sighed. "So long as we can collect the other pirates from his crew there, that's fine."
"About half of them died in the battle, including his first mate, Caba-something?" Luffy said with a shrug. "Otherwise they're there. If you want to examine the bodies of the dead by this time I'd imagine they been buried so that's your problem."
The marines all frowned at her manner even further, but backed down as Luffy's blue eyes went around them, challenging each in turn, a challenge none of them were willing to take up. "I'll just go get your money for you," the older man said with a sigh gesturing to one man came forward already carrying several bags. "You do good work, and that info on Buggy's Devil Fruit will save a lot of effort."
They counted out the money over-the-counter, and Luffy held back a giggle as Nami hugged each bag to her in turn, crooning at it as if the bag was a baby before setting it lovingly down in the hold. "Pleasure doing business with you," Luffy said as they finished with sardonic smirk, tipping a pretend hat towards them before hopping back into the boat.
A second later Luffy kicked off away from the wharf, and then took up the paddles paddling them out of the small bay. Once out, she followed Nami's orders to set up the sails, and they were away. Looking over at the orange haired girl she laughed. "Are you just going to sit there and hug those things all day?"
"Yes," Nami said giggling a little as she held the large bag of coins to her. "Just a little more," she said, not even noticing she had said it aloud, though Luffy did.
Luffy filed that away for now before trying to make a joke of it. "Okay, do you want some alone time with the money?"
He wasn't joking later on as Nami actually made a bed of the money to sleep on. Right, of course how silly of me to think that any person I asked to be part of my crew would be normal. Luffy thought, sighing as he stretched out once again in his male form.
OOOOOOO
That evening the old marine commander stared across and the ocean in the direction the small ship had taken as it moved out of sight over the horizon, pulling the spyglass away from his eye. There is something about that redhead, something strangely familiar and off-putting in her smile. Then there was her stance. As if surrounded and outnumbered 120 to 1 she had been the one in command of the meeting not us. I would've tried to haggle, but something told me that would be pointless, and possibly a bad idea.
"Tell me, did one of these sketchers get a good look at her?" he asked aloud, looking over at his second-in-command. "We might want to keep an eye on her in the future. She's definitely one to watch if nothing more than for her skills..."
OOOOOOO
Jumping up onto the quay in Orange Town Luffy stared up at Buggy's former ship, shaking his head slightly. "You know, I knew you were going to have it repainted, I just didn't think you'd be so thorough."
"You like?" Makino asked, smiling proudly as she gestured at the townsfolk's handy work.
Buggy the clown's ship had originally been painted a garish purple color along with orange highlights in places particularly around the cannon holes. Near the front, it had a circle like a target on the front, with three smaller cannons sticking out on little swivels, the purpose of which Luffy didn't really understand when he had first spotted them. Until he realized they were to be used only after the ship was actually docked. At that point you would be able to fire down and forward, to give your men cover fire. It was actually a better idea than Luffy would have thought coming from Buggy, but then again the man was a Grand Line vet, which he had shown in their fight.
Now the whole thing was painted dark blue, with a few white streaks here and there. It's white canvas sails were now painted dark green scales and the bounty flag, a Beli sign on either side of the marine symbol, painted on the largest sail.
"It looks good," he said nodding his head. "The repairs are all done?"
"All done," Makino said with a nod. "The townsfolk have been especially helpful, we got all the repairs done within a day of you leaving. The paintwork took a bit longer, as did provisioning the ship. Though we don't have as much cannons as I would've liked, we had to take a few of them out."
"That's a little irritating," Luffy said but then shrugged. "I figure so long as we can return fire in some way, that's fine. After all I can always close with whatever ship we meet up with. Besides, to fire the cannons we'd have to man them, and I don't know about you, but I can certainly find a better way to spend my time in a fight. Where's Zoro?"
"Do not speak to me about Zoro!" Makino scowled, flaring up angrily. "He never even tried to help until we got to rearranging the interior of the ship and even then every afternoon he went off alone to train. Whenever I tried to find him he'd disappear as soon as he walked around a corner!"
"Oh my God he really is Ryoga come to life again," Luffy murmured to himself shaking his head.
"What was that?" Nami asked, cocking her head at him.
Luffy shook his head. "Nothing. So are you and Zoro ready to go, Makino?"
"If you can find him we can go, I've given up looking for them because every time I do we just get lost again." Makino replied tartly, then smiled brightly at Nami, moving over to link her arm with the other girl. "Why don't you go and do that, and Nami and I can have a bit of girls talk. Unless of course you aren't staying with us?"
"I've decided to give it a try for now," Nami said, prevaricating slightly.
Luffy nodded, his own voice nearly overriding hers. "She's agreed to stay with us until Logue Town at least. She still won't tell me what she needs all that money for though, other than using it as a mattress."
"A mattress?" Makino asked cocking an eyebrow at the younger girl.
Flushing angrily Nami pointed at Luffy. "At least it keeps me asleep through your damn snoring, that'd be enough to wake the dead!"
Makino laughed, and Luffy laughed too, leaping up onto a nearby rooftop and away before the mayor, who had been hurrying down the dock towards them could reach him. The older man looked after him for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders and looked at Makino and Nami, ignoring the odd looks they were getting from the other townsfolk. "I take it he's satisfied with our work?"
"Extremely." Makino said with a smile. "We'll be going as soon as he finds our fourth crew member." Turning to Nami she asked, "Did the Marines say when they'll be by for the prisoners?"
Nami nodded her head. "They said they'd route one of their schooners out here as soon as possible. In fact I'm surprised we beat them here. It might be a good idea to move on before they get here."
Luffy returned moments later, with Zoro trying to catch up to him, only not moving nearly as fluidly over the rooftops as Luffy did.
They leaped down onto the wharf talking about some kind of training that Zoro had been doing, the green haired older boy nodding his head seriously as Luffy described something in his legs patting his thigh and knee occasionally. "If you're up to that point," Nami and Makino heard as the two boys closed, "then we'll start an upper body next, and start some real spars whenever we can. Full on spars might not be a good idea on a ship, even one this size, but we can still try."
Zoro nodded. "Have you been inside yet? Come on, I'll show you the exercise room before we go, just in case you can think of anything else we could add."
The Big Top had originally had two decks devoted to its broadsides, but this was no long the case. The first deck had been turned into an exercise room. There were a few benches laid out, with weights made of fused together cannonballs, and amusingly enough two actual cannons with a bar set underneath them. There was a heavy mat set on the floor near the entrance, several dozen swords arrayed along one wall, and a few other pieces of random equipment.
"Nice," Luffy said approvingly looking around before pointing at the swords. "Why're they here though? You offering to teach Nami and Makino sword fighting?"
"Feh, that would be a waste of time. Neither of them have the drive necessary, and they've already got weapons anyway. If you order it I might teach them how to hold a knife right, but that's about it." Zoro shook his head, gesturing down to his belt were he wore all three of his swords on one side, with the white-hilted blade in pride of place at the top. "I've gone through a lot of swords since setting off on my journey. They tend to break if I use them with my full strength. This way we've got a few spares."
"Makes sense, good thinking and don't worry, I'm pretty sure Nami and Makino both can point a sword in the right direction as it is." Luffy nodded, still looking around, underplaying Makino's skill by quite a bit, but it was true that she really wasn't a swordswoman. "Hmm… did you grab up any of the musket balls from Buggy's crew?"
"No just the cannonballs, why?"
"Good training tool for Kami-E and eventually Haki, the black skin technique you saw Makino use." He grinned at Zoro. "It's possible to arm your body and your weapons with your spirit in a way, making them superstrong, and you can refine the technique to add to your sword's cutting power, or so I've heard. I'm not a sword user, so I haven't gone that far with it."
Zoro's eyes lit up eagerly. "When do we start training!?"
"I'll start you off with more katas for your upper body when we're out to sea, but you'll switch off legs and upper body day on day off. Since I assume we'll be fighting at sea a lot of the time, Geppo is essential to have a full range of movement." Luffy frowned, looking at the other young man. "I don't know if you'll like the Kami-E technique, but you might want to look into it too. It's basically dodging with style, but incredibly useful for that. Soru is good for closing or getting away from enemies, and is a must to learn Geppo and Rankyaku."
Luffy went on to explain the second technique he wanted all of his crew to learn from the Rokushiki as he already had to Nami. But as he had thought, Zoro wasn't as interested in learning that just yet. He wanted to concentrate on the more offensive styles and the Tekkai, which played to his own style. After saying that, Zoro cocked his head. "You've mentioned five techniques, what're sixth?"
"Shigan. Shigan's a killing technique, changes your finger into a spear basically." Luffy shrugged. "I don't use it except in dire circumstance, and I'd prefer not to teach anyone how to. Not only is it too dangerous to use except in life or death situations but of the Rokushiki, it's the one which will bring the most attention on anyone who knows it. Knowing the rest can be explained away, but that technique is only taught to really high ranking marines or World Government sanctioned assassins. I'd prefer we don't bring that kind of attention down on ourselves just yet."
Zoro frowned thoughtfully, tapping the white-hilted sword for a moment. "I see your point. I can kill if I have to, but going out of my way to learn a technique designed for murder is a bit much. Can learning it help me toward this Haki thing?"
"No. Kami-E can for Kenbunshoku, as can Tekkai and Geppo for Busoshoku, building up your strength, durability and ability to anticipate attacks. But Shigan can't help you with any of those. In contrast Rankyaku can get you used to using long range-speed based attacks: it's basically waves of air pressure that you can use to attack from long range, which I bet you could learn to use via a sword."
"Then I won't learn it." Zoro shrugged then clapped Luffy on the shoulder. "Come on, let's get out of here, the sooner we do, the sooner we can start training."
Luffy laughed and the two men walked up onto the deck. Nami and Makino were already there directing a few of the townsfolk as they loaded up the ship with food and other supplies. Makino had even thought to ask for a few medical supplies just in case. She knew Luffy's training could be extreme, and had seen Zoro was pretty much the same way.
Sidling up to Nami he tapped her on her shoulder, cocking an eyebrow. "Just want to make sure, you did leave them enough treasure to pay for repairing the town right? I'm not going to have to search yer room, frisk you or anything to make sure?"
"Hah, you wish I'd let you frisk me." Nami said, shaking her head and leaning forward slightly to let Luffy look down her shirt.
He blushed and looked away, causing her to smirk in amusement before she sighed and answered more seriously. "You convinced me that taking everything Buggy had would make us just as bad as he was, so yes, I left enough for them to pay for the repairs to the town." Just the town, and even that she'd haggled over with the mayor and others a lot before leaving with Luffy to the marine base. But Buggy's bounty had made her happy enough to not come back to it after they returned.
Manning the sails with just four people on a ship this large would've been an issue if either Luffy or Zoro were normal people. They weren't and with the two of them on the sails, Nami shouting orders on how she wanted them, and Makino at the tiller, they were soon on their way out of the small harbor, even taking the time to wave goodbye to Mayor Boodle and his people. They had all gathered at the docks to wish the foursome well.
Zoro chuckled as he took a break from working the sails, looking up at Luffy from where he was pulling some of the ropes taut. "This is kind of weird, we're technically pirates, and we're getting a hero's farewell? I don't want to be a hero!"
Luffy shrugged his shoulders. "I've never considered myself a hero, I mean I know I'm a selfish bastard sometimes, but why don't you want to be one?"
"Exactly! A hero would share his sake, I want to keep it all to myself." Zoro said with a grin.
Luffy blinked then laughed as their ship continued on its way.
True to his word Luffy began to train Zoro that afternoon, putting him through the first stages of his upper body exercises, then seeing how far he had gotten with his leg strengthening exercises. While Zoro was working on that, Luffy grabbed Nami from where she had taken over the captain's quarters and put her through her own exercises to teach her Kami-E.
Later that evening as Makino set out food around the mainmast, Nami glared at Luffy, rubbing at her sore side. Next to her, Zoro leaned against the mainmast staring out over the ocean, occasionally sipping from a mug of ale as he rubber his thigh with his other hand. "You are a monster, you know that. First wooden chips, now musket balls?"
"Hey, I only mixed in two musket balls this exercise, and you dodged one of them. That's incredible progress for only six days work." Luffy laughed before looking at her bruised side. "Do you want me to do something about that?"
Nami's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What would you do?"
"We've got some ointment, I could rub it into the bruise, it might make you feel better." Luffy shrugged as Nami shook her head, flushing slightly. "Suit yourself."
He took a long draft from his drink, which wasn't alcoholic unlike the mugs in the other's hands. Makino refused to let him drink most of the time, which he thought was rather unfair considering he couldn't remember what he had done to make her scared of getting him drunk in the first place. Shaking that thought off, he looked over at Zoro. "What's up with you?"
"Just thinking, I can think of a lot of ways the upper body strength will come in handy, but I'm just trying to picture how to work being air type mobile into my style." Zoro's eyes flicked over to Luffy. "How long did it take you to work it into yours?"
"Well I'm not a swordsman, and I was trained in a style that lends itself to remaining in the air." Luffy replied, smirking internally. Understatement of the century. "As for you, I can see your point since you won't have stable footing to work with. But I can't help you much there, sorry."
"It's fine, just the training you're giving me is already helpful. I wouldn't want to take more handouts anyway."
"They aren't handouts Zoro, we're crewmates now." Luffy replied firmly. "That means we help one another, not only live on the same boat. We help one another get stronger and in turn that will help all of us achieve our dreams."
Zoro looked at him for a moment, saw the conviction, the eagerness in Luffy's expression then laughed as Nami looked away, trying to hide how that little speech had impacted her. "Fine, but I have to tell you I'm going to be bored just with these exercises. Tomorrow I want to spar with you for real, I want to see how far I really need to go before I'm ready for the 'real world' as you put it when you freed me."
Wincing Luffy looked around at the Big Top. "Well, it was a nice ship while it lasted." Both men laughed, clinking their glasses together and drinking a long draft each before Luffy turned to Nami. "So, navigator-chan, where do you think we should go from here?"
Flushing slightly at the nickname Nami reached out to slap Luffy upside the head, glaring at him, her guilt caused by his speech gone for the moment. "Don't call me that!" As he rubbed the back of his head and smirked unrepentedly at her she sighed, pulling out a small map.
It was one of her own maps of the East Blue, and wasn't what she would call a map. It was very basic, more of a memory aid than a real map. It just had some notations here and there on currents, local normal weather, wind speed, the outline of a few islands and so forth, all of it written small so as to fit on the parchment, which was a square whose sides were only about the size of her forearm. That way it was easy for her to cart along with her on her travels.
Looking over the younger girl's shoulder Makino whistled appreciatively. "This is amazing Nami-chan."
"This is nothing, just a few notes, not nearly enough detail to be a real map." Nami replied, waving off the compliment even as she preened slightly. Despite all the trouble she had gone through thanks to her navigation skills it was still nice to have someone see how good she was at it.
Rolling the map out on the deck she put small pebbles at each corner before, without any kind of preamble or need to look for landmarks, put her finger precisely where she knew the ship was currently. "We're here. There are two islands within less than a day's sailing excluding Orange Town, but neither of them is inhabited. If we had to stop for provisions I'd recommend we do so, but as it is, there's no need."
Luffy leaned forward, looking at the map but couldn't make much out of it other than the outlines of the islands, small marks on the map here and there. "If we're really going around looking for bounties, we should head northeast from here, towards these islands over here. Rumor has it that the Woonan pirates left a treasure in this area, and there are a few pirate crews operating there trying to find it. One of their captains, El Drago, has a bounty of eleven million beli, and his second in command is a swordsman who has his own bounty of eight million."
"Swordsman?" Zoro said, leaning forward intently, his face lighting up with eagerness.
Nami nodded, rubbing her hands together mentally. Her cut from those bounties would give her enough money to finally pay off Arlong. She traced out the route to those waters, then circled them with her finger, showing where the Drago pirates were supposed to be operating. "I think it's the best bet not just because of that rumor but because of the rumor about the Gold Pirate Woonan's treasure being there. I've even got a map that's supposed to show the island where it's buried!"
Then she sighed, visibly reining in her enthusiasm. "But again, that's only rumor. The only certain sighting in the area, the only one I know the source of and would trust, is about another pirate, the Itou pirates, and their captain only has a measly million bounty."
Reaching into her ki-enlarged sack Makino pulled out a book of bounties, ignoring Nami's bulging eyes as she saw the older woman stick her entire forearm into a small waist pouch. Rifling through it, Makino found the bounties in question and set them aside before pulling out the two highest bounties known to be in East Blue. "I think we should try to start from the top, after all the more high end bounties we get the more money we have, then we won't have to do so many."
Catching a glimpse of Sawtooth Arlong's bounty, Nami almost panicked her face hardening noticeably for just an instant before her self-control came back. None of the others caught this thankfully, and when she spoke her tone was almost nonchalant. "I don't have any information about the fishman, so unless anyone else does?"
She waited with baited breath and breathed a mental sigh of relief when no one took her up on that gamble. Just because he was a pirate was no reason to guide Luffy right to his death after all. "Well since the big name's location is unknown, we could look for the Krieg pirates. Mind you, He's not called the Pirate Admiral for no reason, he's got an entire armada of fifty ships, so going after him would be a bad idea too, unless we could somehow sneak in, take him out and leave."
Nami caught an odd sort of knowing smirk on Luffy's face as she said that, but he didn't say anything.
Instead Zoro spoke up. "That only means he's got numbers on his side, numbers alone don't mean anything, or else we wouldn't have been able to get away with taking on Buggy's crew." He smirked suddenly, tapping his swords. "I bet that we could take them on easily enough."
"Thankfully I have no idea where they operate, so we don't have to feed your raging insanity," Nami said, shaking her head. Then she went on to outline what she knew of the local weather, and reiterated again what the best idea for them would be in the short term.
Eventually she stopped looking at Luffy. That was what she remembered later, looking at Luffy waiting for his decision. Because it was that moment where Nami knew she had first acted as if she felt Luffy was her captain.
"Nami's right about that being our best bet, but I think Makino's got a good point about starting at the top. I had a chance to check out Morgan's marine base, and he had some information on Krieg, who all the marines in East Blue are supposed to avoid now thanks to his numbers. The rumor said that he was going to try to enter the Grand Line himself, so he would be…" Luffy trailed off, looking at Nami.
Nami quickly oriented herself on the map again, tapping the far south eastern tip and tracing a large circle around it. It did include her own home island, but Nami figured that was safe enough given the amount of area it covered. "Around here then. But if we're going to be searching for them, then I think we need to set a time limit on how long we look. And if you're just going to barge in like you did with Buggy, you can count me out right here!"
"We'll think of something later, let's move toward that area anyway, we'll see what happens." Trouble tends to find me even if I'm not looking for it, so if I do go looking for it, trouble, in this case pirates, should find us all the quicker.
Nami shrugged. "So long as the ship doesn't sink with your madness I'm fine with that." unsaid was that she would take all their gold with her if that happened, but instead of getting angry or anything else, Luffy simply laughed again.
"We've told you before Nami-chan, there is no pirate in East Blue that is a real threat to Luffy." Makino said, laying a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "That includes Krieg with all his numbers. Or do you not remember the amount of damage a well-placed Rankyaku can do?"
Zoro grunted, smacking a fist into a palm as he did as if that hadn't occurred to him, while Nami frowned before getting it. "Oh, Luffy can just bombard them from the sky then? I completely missed that idea." She stuck out her tongue, rubbing the back of her head, looking rather cute for a moment. "My bad."
Such a tactic wouldn't work on Arlong of course, so Nami once again ignored Makino's words about how strong Luffy was. But maybe against someone who just relied on numbers it would. "Okay, in that case we should take this course here…"
The group broke up soon after going about their various tasks aboard or in the case of Zoro, back to training. After pulling the sails around in the right direction Luffy took the lookout position as Nami retired to her room to update her charts and Makino took the tiller.
Taking a break to stretch her legs Nami Looked around the room she had taken for herself, shaking her head. Any other pirate captain would have taken over this room and kicked her out to join the rest of the crew, but Luffy hadn't even blinked when she moved in, not seeming to care at all. He's such a weird guy, even if you ignore the curse. And really nice too, and strong…
Shaking her head again Nami slapped her cheeks, trying to get that thought out of her mind. Stop it Nami, as nice and even funny as Luffy is, he's still a pirate, and still not strong enough to face Arlong. No one is, or else the marines would have moved against him already. Especially if one of their heroes was in this water.
Nami's mind tried to treacherously replay Luffy saying his grandfather had been recalled because he didn't like some of the things happening in East blue, but Nami ignored it, repeating the mantra that had kept her going for so long. Just a few more million beli, just a few more and you'll have enough money to buy the village. Arlong won't go back on his deal, he just won't, you're maps are too important. Remember that, remember what all this is for…
OOOOOOO
The next morning after sleeping strangely well for her first time aboard a new ship Nami woke up to a crash from further forward. Grumbling and pushing herself out of her bed, she moving down the ship's hall into the mess, only to stop and stare.
Zoro's head and upper body had crashed through the wall separating the kitchen and mess from the training room Zoro had made, and as she watched he grunted, trying to push himself out. To one side, and acting as if she hadn't even noticed, Makino hummed to herself as she moved around the kitchen preparing breakfast.
The green-haired woman turned, smiling at Nami and gesturing toward the table, small for a ship this size Nami thought. Obviously the rest of the crew was supposed to eat in their bunks or out on deck while the officers used this table. Nami noticed the woman had already set out a plate of bagels.
"We really need to get a cook at some point Luffy. I am fine with doing the cooking for now, but I don't know enough about dietary needs at sea or about using leftovers and unusual ingredients to make food to keep the position." Makino said, joining the other girl at the table. "Food's on."
"Finding a cook good enough for the crew of the Pirate King isn't exactly like picking up apples Makino," Luffy said, his voice heard through the hole made by Zoro's head. "He has to be good enough both at cooking and looking after himself for the position. Now are you gonna pull yourself out of there so we can continue Zoro, or was that all you got?"
Growling angrily Zoro broke himself out of the hole enlarging it by several feet. "Hah, you wish!"
"Oy, stop breaking our ship fool!"
"You're the fool, fool, you're the one that kicked me into the freaking wall!" Zoro roared back, his swords flashing out only for Luffy to dodge around them like he was a feather in the wind.
"True, well at least we weren't planning to keep this ship for long." Luffy mused, then lashed out with a punch that nearly caught Zoro in the face despite telegraphing it.
With that he charged towards Luffy and Nami turned away as the sounds of battle echoed into the kitchen. "Is it going to be like this every morning?"
"Maybe when we're not otherwise occupied." Makino laughed. "You'll have to get used to the sounds of combat and training if you spend any time at all with us Nami-chan. Luffy loves training like you apparently love money."
"I don't love money!" Nami replied before her lips quirked and she shoved the older girl in the shoulder lightly. "I just tell it that to get it into bed."
Makino laughed and the two fell into an easy conversation, picking up where they had left off the evening previous before Nami asked Makino to tell her how she and Luffy met. That segued into how Luffy had fought to protect Makino and her bar from mountain bandits, and how Shanks had saved them. Realizing at that point who the man Makino was searching for and why, Nami could only shake her head, astonished she had ever thought Makino was normal like her.
Going into the Grand Line to find one of the Yonkou in order to… what, castrate, marry, yell at? Whatever her reasons, going to sea to find a Yonkou at all is crazy as hell! She looked up as Zoro's body crashed through the weakened hole. He skidded backwards across the floor, his two swords crossed with the one he was holding in his mouth, grunting under the impact before regaining control of his feet and charging right back through the hole. What kind of crew have I joined up with here?
Sighing Nami finished her food and after helping Makino clean up went to take a shower. The Big Top had a large water cistern, so they could actually have showers instead of bathing in sea water, which always made Nami itchy for days afterwards. The shower area had been designed for the entire crew of course, there being no women among Buggy's crew. But it was still a decent shower.
She stood in the shower, letting the warm water cascade down her body, soaking her orange hair as she enjoyed the moment of pure bliss. Just now, she refused to think, refused to let any of her thoughts about this crew, about her goal or her troubles bother her. She just wanted a moment to simply enjoy her shower, ignoring the ongoing noise of combat to her side.
This moment was swiftly interrupted as Luffy's head erupted out of the wall. Zoro had gotten a lucky blow in, and though Luffy had blocked the sword, he could do nothing about the momentum, stuck at the time too close to the forward facing wall of the training area which abutted the back wall of the shower area. Luffy's fist had been smashed into his chin smashing his head back and up in turn.
"Damn that was a good blow Zoro, but I, I, Ieee…." Luffy trailed off, his eyes taking in the form in front of him.
His head was currently at about waist level with Nami as she stood below the shower head she was using, his head thrown back in a way that almost forced him to look up at her. From this angle he saw the lower side of her breasts, wet and jiggling slightly from her shock and the shower, capped with dark pink nipples barely visible from here. Beyond that view, was Nami's face framed by hair matted to her head by the water, staring down at him in shock which was quickly giving way to anger. "Er… would it help if I apologized?"
"You, you, you pervert!" Nami shouted slamming her fist down on his with the superhuman strength of enraged women everywhere. Then as Luffy groaned from that punch she leaped backwards, punching out hard once more.
Luffy's head came out the hole in the wall like a cork shot off a bottle his entire body catapulting backward slamming him into an unsuspecting Zoro. the swordsman had taken the time to step back, resting lightly from their spar. "Gahh, what the hell Luffy?"
Luffy tried to quickly untangle himself, his head throbbing and a large bruise appearing on his head. "Fly you fool, fly!"
"What?"
Then Nami trooped into the training area, an aura of red and orange all around her, her face screwed up into an expression of rage that Zoro could only label as demonic. Zoro hadn't thought much of her before this, certainly he had never thought she was scary, or threatening at all. He found himself reevaluating that belief now.
She stood over them, her fingers cracking. "You two…." Then she punched forward, slamming her fists down on both their heads, sending them down to the floor before grabbing them by their shirts and, once more showing a strength Zoro had never expected from her, hurled them towards the staircase leading down into the training area from the deck. "Take it outside!"
As the two young men grumbled and disentangled themselves Nami huffed angrily then froze, realizing she had just assaulted not only the Pirate Hunter Zoro, but a pirate captain. Even setting aside the fact they thought she was part of their crew, no pirate captain in their right mind would put up with that from anyone.
But to her shock Luffy simply walked up the stairs, ignoring her and rubbing at his sore head with Zoro following. It took a few moments for Nami to realize that not only had they listened to her, but neither had even seemed to care about their own dignity, or putting her in her place. No, not like normal pirates at all.
That night Nami walked out onto deck, intent on relieving Luffy at the tiller only to stare into the sky, feeling the wind on her skin. She swiftly turned around shouting down that hatch. "Makino and Zoro get up here, we're about to enter a storm front!"
As the other two raced up on deck Nami moved forward, staring out into the night then down at the water passing by the ship before holding up a finger gauging the wind. "Alright, the wind is coming from north, northwest, Zoro, on the mainsail, Luffy keep at the tiller, I'll join you there, Makino, you join Zoro on the sails, we'll want…" Nami continued on barking orders like a veteran seaman as the others leaped to obey her, none of them even arguing let alone the ostensible captain aboard.
The storm hit about five minutes later just as Zoro and Makino finished their work. At Nami's direction Luffy had turned the ship slightly, and the wind hit the sails pushing them taut quickly and moving the ship along. She looked over as Luffy began to laugh even as he changed forms, the rain activating his curse. The now redhead grinned at the taller girl, still holding the tiller easily on course despite the loss of height. "Well, isn't this fun Navi-chan?"
"Don't call me that!" Nami shouted back to be heard over the storm, shaking her head at the other 'girl's' attitude. "And how can you be having fun? This ship might be large, but it's obvious why it got so badly damaged before we met Buggy and his troupe! "
"Meh, if I die in a storm, that's all my life was worth, not that I think a mere storms enough to see off anyone aboard this ship now!" Luffy replied, laughing. "Besides, moments like this make you feel alive Navi-chan, this is an adventure!"
Nami gaped at the redhead for a moment in silence before her face broke out into an unrestrained grin as she laughed, forgetting all her own problems for now.
OOOOOOO
Despite Nami's concerns the Big Top weathered the storm. Despite that, Luffy was forced to realize that for a ship this size four people was just not a large enough crew. There were too many jobs that needed doing for too few hands. In calm waters they could handle it, but not in a storm.
"So we might have to ditch this ship faster than I thought," Luffy concluded, nodding to Nami who had been the one to broach the subject a second ago. All of them were now sitting out on the deck while Makino watched the tiller. "That sucks."
"It's a tough ship, tougher than I thought, but yes, we need more crewmen to really control it," Nami reiterated, fighting back an urge to yawn. "We can make do for now, but the closer we get to Logue Town the more uncertain the weather becomes. I can spot storms coming, but actually doing something about them would take more men, and the storms in that area would make last night look like a slight drizzle."
"No way, this ship is the perfect size for our training!" Zoro objected. "We'll just need to rig up some pulley system or something? Or maybe you can do some actual work for a change girl instead of just giving us orders."
"Excuse me!?" Nami growled. "Just where the hell would you be right now if not for me huh? I was the one who saw that storm coming, and I have to order you lot around since none of you have enough seamanship to sail out of a tub!"
Just then there was a 'sploosh' noise followed by a low whistle and Luffy looked around in surprise. "What was that?"
OOOOOOO
"Ship off the larboard bow! It looks like a large galleon, but it's got Bounty Hunter marks on the sails captain!"
"What've I told you about calling me that, Kuro's the only captain of the Black Cat pirates." The speaker was a tallish, thin man with an equally thin goatee wearing large sunglasses and a coat that looked right out of the disco age. He was twirling two chakram around on his fingers at the moment as he stared up at the lookout who had finally spotted the enemy. "Have they seen us yet?"
"No captain, they don't seem to have a lookout of their own, they are simply following a course south and west. And I can't be sure at this distance, but there seems to only be four people aboard!"
"Weird, but not our concern. If they are moving off like that, I say we let them go and continue on our own course. Kuro's expecting us to be close by soon and we don't want to mess up one of his plans do we?" He shuddered at the idea of failing his bloodthirsty captain, all too easily remembering how Kuro had faked his own death after slaughtering an entire crew of marines bar the one he had chosen to be 'his' killer.
"Oh come on captain Jango, their ship is huge, and there's only four of them aboard! They must have lost most of their crew in a fight recently, and no way could four people fight that galleon!" Said a third voice, a large, obese man dressed up, disgustingly enough, as a catboy, complete with ears, feet and claws. Despite the coedic look however, his claws looked sharp. "We haven't had a good raid ever since Kuro left, this could be our chance. And Kuro's plan was for us to arrive there tomorrow anyway, we've got time."
Jango the hypnotist slowly nodded. "Alright, let's do it. Helm, bring us around and lets close. I want a few warning shots fired first, then go for the kill!" there was a roar from the rest of the Black Cat pirates all around him, and he turned back to the fat man. "Get you brother up Bucchi, just in case we need you."
OOOOOOO
"Huh, so we're under attack," Luffy mused cocking his head as he stared at the rather bedraggled looking galleon with the furry demon creature on the prow bearing down on them. It had fired a single shot from its sole forward facing cannon, and was now trying to turn to bring its broadside to bear.
"We must look like easy marks I suppose, but that ship looks as if it's crew has seen better days," Zoro replied, sounding just as calm as his captain. "And I've never seen that pirate mark before."
Makino shook her head, moving to take up the tiller. "I think I have. Not certain where though."
"AAGHH, how can you three be so calm, they're attacking us! Someone fire back at least!" Nami shouted, grateful they had furled their sails earlier as they took a break.
Luffy shook his head. "Nah." He jumped into the air flashing a leg out lazily to smash a cannonball aside with a Rankyaku. The ball blew up as the blast of wind hit it and he tchhed. "Still not up to cutting iron darn it."
Zoro watched this intently, looking between where Luffy's attack had flown and his own blades, imagining it, his shoulders and arms tensing and un-tensing. Interesting, and cutting iron hmmm…
"Well then just bounce over there and do something about them!" Nami ordered, pointing at the ship.
Laughing Luffy nodded, hopping into the air. "I'd challenge you to see which of us beat more of them Zoro, but I suppose you can just wait here until the fight's over if you want to."
"Haaah? Was that a challenge captain?" Zoro asked, but Luffy was already off bounding away through the air, and Zoro growled angrily as the other ship began to turn, its cannons firing one at a time as the Big Top entered their firing envelope. "Damn it."
"I thought you were training in Geppo, Zoro," Makino asked from the tiller as Nami moved over to him.
"I'm not up to hopping that far." Zoro shrugged. "But at least I can man the cannons if you two can turn us in that direction."
"Well since you said yesterday you learn more actually fighting, why don't you get to it!" Nami said her voice at first sweet before turning into a growl as she pushed him in the back and over the side of the ship.
"Gah you witch!" Zoro roared as he fell towards the churning ocean. Getting his feet under him, Zoro quickly began to kick rapidly. Despite his earlier protest he was able to bounce there in place for a few moments as he stared up at Nami.
"The attacking ship is that way," Nami said helpfully, pointing in that direction. "And Luffy's already started, I'd suggest you get a move on if you want to really give him a run for his beli in that challenge he issued Zoro."
"Damn witch, going to get back at you for this!" Zoro roared, before moving in the direction Nami had indicated. Unlike Luffy's flight his was far more haphazard, and he sunk several times to just above the waterline, but he still made progress, hopping through the air like a, as Makino put it later, 'drunk rabbit'.
"Ah, that made me feel better for some reason," Nami mused, which caused Makino to laugh.
Luffy had taken out the other ship's masts first, a single Rankyaku blasting through all three to crash alongside the ship, pulling it to a halt as they smashed against the side of the ship. Having seen what Nami did, and laughing at the other man's misfortune Luffy waited, dodging any muskets balls coming his way easily but otherwise just keeping the pirates attention on him until Zoro arrived.
He shuddered a little at seeing so many people wearing furry demon paraphernalia. Two of them in particular had taken it to extremes, not at all helped by the fact they were damn ugly. "Some kind of fetish group or something?"
Zoro arrived then, smashing face first into the enemy ship's side, skittering downward for a moment, his last kick not having carried him in the direction he had wanted it too. "Graah!" Eventually though he righted himself, bouncing up high enough to grab at the bulwark and haul himself over onto the ship.
"Get him!" Shouted a pirate and several dozen men raced for an opponent who they could actually grapple with, unlike the bastard bouncing in the air who had taken out their sails.
"Come and get me then!" Zoro roared, taking out two of his swords and smashing or battering them aside, shouting up at Luffy. "I'm going to get that witch for that!"
"Meh I think she was right, you do learn more actually fighting than doing the exercises. But I suppose to be fair we'll have to have her fight the next pirate crew we meet." Luffy mused, alighting on the deck.
Immediately he began dodging this way and that as pirates gleefully rushed him, thankful he had actually come down where they could get at him. their thankfulness ended the moment he started to attack in turn, hurling them around with punches or kicks that left the target feeling as if they had just been hit by a cannonball. "Besides this way we can have that contest. Seven."
"Five, six! What about stakes?" Zoro asked, continuing to cut through the crowd of pirates.
"Hmm, how about being the girl's gofer when we get to a city where they can go shopping? Nah, that's too cruel. Hmmm… twelve, bragging rights not enough... I'll have to get back to you on that one."
With that Luffy ducked his head as a chakram of all things zoomed through the melee around him to nearly hit his head. It bounced off the shattered remains of the mainsail behind him to smash into his head, sending his head forward slightly. Over the din of battle he heard a voice shout out "Yes, did you see that, that was awesome!"
Shaking his head from the impact which hadn't even been enough to make him activate Tekkai, Luffy caught the chakram before it hit the deck, using it to smack aside or block the swords still trying to cut at him. "It's only awesome if you call it!" He shouted.
The voice replied allowing Luffy to pinpoint where the speaker was. "Oh that's bullshit maANN!" the voice broke off dodging to one side when Luffy hurled his chakram back at him. The chakram whirred through the space his chest had previously occupied to smash into the afterdeck behind him.
"Captain Jango they're too strong!" A crewman wailed.
"Nyaban Brothers, take that swordsman!" Jango shouted holding up his other chakra from a string. "The rest of you look at this!" The crewmen not currently engaged with the two invaders turned and looked, and Jango the hypnotist smiled evilly. "When I say Jango, you all will be superstrong and feel no pain, one, two, Jango!"
The men around him roared as their muscles burst through their shirts and they charged forward with a will, all hesitation gone. But as Jango made to step back, a hammer came through the air to smash into the side of his head, knocking him down and out. His crew however didn't even notice caught up in the ongoing battle.
Bucchi and Sham raced forward, unable to use one of their better ploys, which was to try and look unthreatening in order to close and use their Cat Thief skills. But in a battle like this they didn't have enough time and with Zoro already engaged with their crewmates they simply charged forward, using the mix of speed and strength that had made them the chosen ship guards of the Black Cat pirates.
Zoro found himself pushed back for a time, forcing him to change from using two swords to his normal three for the first time in the fight. He looked on in shock as the crewmen all became superstrong, attacking with more power and even speed than before. But after so much training with Luffy over the past few days it wasn't enough to overcome Zoro.
Blocking several blades at once he smirked around Kuina's blade at them all, laughing evilly. "This is nothing against the captain's training, Tatsumaki!" With that shout he hurled his body around in a tight spiral, his swords moving so quickly they conjured up a tornado which grabbed the pirates around him and hurled them away, slashing and blasting. Many of them fell into the ocean alongside the ship, others smashed into the deck here and there, but all of them were out of the fight. "Twenty-nine!"
Buchi and Sham found themselves facing Zoro alone now, and before they could move he was on them. "Onigiri!" Sham was able to dodge this fast, but very straightforward attack, but Buchi went down, his massive frame cut and bleeding horribly.
"Buchi! Curse you to Davy Jones, I'll gut you forRR!" At that point Luffy interrupted the remaining fetishist by using a random crewman as a club. The crewman's skull smashed into Sham's and both of them went down in a heap.
Looking over at Zoro, Luffy smirked. "Thirty-two, and it was two for one!"
"Oh shut up, I just sliced fifteen of them in one go!" Zoro riposted, and the two continued, making short work of the crew while Nami and Makino, with a lot of difficulty it has to be said, turned the Big Top around.
Looking round at the remains of the ship Luffy shook his head. "Who the heck were these guys anyway?"
Picking her way through the debris Makino began to flip through a book of known pirate marks Garp had given her along with the bounty book, staring up at the flag then around at the ship. "These are the Black cat Pirates I think. Their captain was captured several years ago and executed it says here. Odd that they are still in the area, I suppose this hypnotist fellow took over. He has a bounty though, 9,000,000 beli."
"Good money then." Zoro shrugged his shoulders, cracking his neck explosively as he stared down at his swords, one of which had broken. His white sword however remained as pristine as ever. "I figured I'd need replacements, just not this quickly. The speed and power of my strikes is different even after so short a time training with you Luffy."
"We'll have to see about getting you some better quality blades Zoro. If we get to the point where you can use Armament, even doing that to a regular weapon will eventually destroy it. For now, Nami, Makino…" Luffy paused looking around. "Where'd Nami go?"
"All that for nothing!" shouted Nami's voice and Luffy and the others turned to stare at the afterdeck where Nami had just appeared, kicking one of the pirates through the open doorway to land in the heap of his unconscious companions. "They've got nothing down here! Barely a thousand beli all told, and they don't even have much food."
Frowning Luffy shook his head. "Weird, but we're not in the business of solving minor mysteries like that, and Makino says their captain had a high bounty anyway Nami so cheer up. Where's the nearest marine base from here? Don't tell me it's the one we were at before, that'd be irritating."
Pulling out her trusty map once more Nami positioned herself by looking over the side at the current and up to the sun for a brief moment before nodding, making Luffy's admiration for her skills grow further. "I think we have a few choices here. There's a nearby town, but it's doubtful they'll have any World Government reps., so no way to pay off the bounty. We could dump the rest of the crew there though."
Tracing out two routes she frowned imperceptibly as one of them took their ship far too close to the area she knew Arlong kept to. "There was a marine presence operating in these oceans here, but it's chancy if we'll catch them. Or yes, we can return to the same marine base as before, there aren't that many bases around you know. Unfortunately that is probably the only sure bet. Unless you want to head to Logue Town now, start using that as a base for further bounty work."
"No, I'm not bothered about the rest of the crew, and we've got more than enough supplies. We can give our coordinates to the marines, let them come and clean up after us again. Dump their cannons and the rest of their weapons over the side. Tie up those two fetishists and bring them along just in case, but the rest can stay here." Luffy shook his head. "As for using Logue Town like that, no, that's just asking for trouble given the size of the marine presence there. I suppose we'll just have to go back then."
The other three nodded, and they broke up to various tasks, unknowing of the plans and destinies they had just derailed so innocently.
End chapter
And canon is my plaything MWAHAHAHAH. Anyway, here is where even the crew starts changing further with Luffy and co. not meeting that box guy or going to Ussop's island. Their reasons for both were the same, the need to stock up, and in this fanfic, Raffy (Ranma/Luffy) doesn't have the bottomless need for meat that Luffy had. He might have gone looking for Yassop's son too, but Raffy wasn't nearly as close to him, and indeed didn't really like him much in comparison to the others in Shanks' crew. And no pirates equals no plan for Kuro, though he and Ussop would undoubtedly have their falling out regardless. Still, I'll show what happens with Kuro in the next chapter, I have plans there, oh yes…
As always I hope you all enjoyed this, and please review.
