Why did I ever agree to this?
Yet another person's blood was on her hands; why didn't she ever learn?
I wasn't as if you could have stopped him, another small voice tried to rationalize, but Nami wasn't hearing it. She hadn't even tried to. Instead, she'd allowed herself to be pulled along knowing full well what an impossible longshot the plan was. Only wishful thinking had lulled her into the belief that any assassination attempt on Arlong would be successful.
Never again, she vowed belatedly as she hastily filed the markings off her snail and removed the receiver. She found a remote patch of woods and shoved the creature into the damp hollow of a fallen tree trunk where she could be sure it would happily remain. She quickly ran back to Arlong Park.
By the time she returned, bursting through the East Gate, the fishmen had already managed to put out the majority of the fire. Bane's broken body lay sprawled on the ground while Arlong towered above him, soaked and tattered, illuminated by the moonlight and the fading embers. Several other crewmembers arrived from the waters, having seemingly just learned of the unfolding events.
"Arlong-san! What's going on? Who's that? Why's the fort on fire?" They peppered their wordless leader with questions.
Nami came to a stumbling halt as she approached the soggy form of the deceased man she'd spoken to only twenty minutes earlier, staring momentarily transfixed into his lifeless eyes.
"W-w-what happened here," she stuttered through the lump rising in her throat.
Arlong's gaze suddenly turned on her, withering her insides. His skin appeared blistered and discolored beneath his singed and tattered clothing. She quickly began to piece together what had happened as she meekly took a step back.
Once the fire was out, the other pirates slowly gathered round the dead man.
"A bounty hunter?" Shioyaki mused aloud.
Hitchin crouched down, holding the man's head up by the hair. "Yeah, he looks kinda familiar to me - what's the name of that guy that went missing a little while back? Morlock..Bates?" He snapped his finger, trying to conjure up the name he was searching for.
"Bane Murdock," Nami heard herself say. She did her best not to crumple beneath the scrutiny of every eye immediately leveled at her.
"Yeah, that's it," nodded the remora-man.
"Leave it to the teenage girl to know," scoffed Shioyaki.
"Can you believe the balls on this guy," Take exclaimed, "Who the hell did he think he was? What a fool!"
All at once Arlong threw his head back and burst into a wild peal of laughter. "So, here's the bastard who's been skulking on the outskirts of the archipelago - I was wondering when he'd finally get around to visiting!"
Nami's eyes bugged out. How long had he known of Bane's presence and when did he found out?
"Wait a minute Arlong-san, are you saying you knew this guy was here all along and you still let him sneak in and set you and The Park on fire," gaped Gaylord, the eel-man.
"This?" Arlong gestured to himself, then at the blackened face of the fort, "This ain't nothing!"
"Is your hand bleeding," asked Hitchin.
Arlong barely spared a glance at his oozing palm before undoing the front of his pants and jetting a stream of urine onto Bane's head.
Nami looked on in abject horror as the dead face was spattered by Arlong's piss in the final act of humiliation.
"So it goes for all human filth who try to defy their betters," jeered the shark, giving the corpse a kick in the ribs once he'd finished. He turned and sauntered toward the front of the charred building as the others looked expectantly on. "Drag his carcass down to the town square - let those damned villagers figure out what to do with their fallen savior."
"Will do, Captain," muttered Take.
"And where the hell's Kaneshiro?"
"Pisaro's already gone to fetch the rest of the crew, including all the officers," Hitchin stated.
"Excellent," Arlong turned back around, wearing a defiant smirk, "cheer up brothers, we rule this place! And soon, we'll rule this whole fucking ocean!"
She had to hand it to him - Arlong could rouse his men even under the dourest circumstances. The gathering of fishmen immediately picked up the boisterous shout, roaring their triumph into the smoky night. She, on the other hand, felt an old familiar dread sinking to the bottom of her stomach.
Arlong's cold stare the moment she'd entered the courtyard rattled her very core. He may not have known, but he highly suspected.
She looked on regretfully as Take dragged Bane's body away. Despite whatever personal opinions she had about the brash bounty hunter and his decisions, he didn't deserve this kind of treatment. Desperate for something to do, Nami walked toward the smoking fort and began collecting the sooty blankets scattered like shrouds over the ground, when something caught her eye near the edge of the pool.
The baby den den mushi was certainly worse for wear after having endured the brunt of the explosive fireball. Nami, who'd been with Bane when he'd first acquired the surveillance creature, had every reason to believe it held incriminating evidence against her in its memory banks. She hastily reached down to retrieve it before anyone else noticed.
"What you got there, Nami?" The girl jumped as Hitchin appeared behind her. "That looks like a cameko."
"Uh yeah, I guess. It's all burned up, though. I was just gonna throw it away..."
"Give it here," he snatched it from her hand, "Arlong-san! Come take a look at this!"
"Where'd this come from," demanded the shark as he examined the small, singed animal.
"I found it laying on the ground," admitted Nami, "Probably dead."
"That's a surveillance den den mushi," Hitchin declared to the captain, "I'll bet that bastard tried to record his attempted assassination of you for proof."
"Like a snuff film? How gross!" scoffed Nami, "Let's get rid of it!"
Once again, Arlong fixed her with a caustic look. He turned back to Hitchin, "How can we view the footage?"
"Uh, well, I guess we'd need a proko for that," Hitchin replied.
"Fine, let's get one."
"Okay, but they're not that easy to come by in these parts," supplied the remora, "it might take a while."
"I'm sure you can manage it," grinned Arlong. He relinquished the den den mushi back to Hitchin, "And make sure you take care of this thing in the meantime - don't let it die on us."
"Ehhh, I'll - yeah ok, Captain," the flustered fishman replied, pocketing the snail.
"Arlong-san!"
The splash of numerous pirates leaping onto the gangway suddenly filled the park. Nami spotted Kuroobi, Choo and Hachi along with dozens of others arriving belatedly to the scene.
"What the hell happened," exclaimed Kuroobi, squinting through the smokey darkness.
"Didn't Pisaro fill you in already," asked Arlong. His head whipped around until he spotted the goldfish-man he was searching for. "Kaneshiro! Come take a look at the damage."
The shipwright, however, was already rushing toward the fort. "Someone! Bring me a light," he demanded.
"Nyu! There should be one in the study..." Hachi hesitantly approached the burnt-out doorway.
"No don't! I'll just grab one of those blasted torches," grumbled Kaneshiro, sprinting off to get one.
"Captain!" Renado called, striding from the pool directly over to Arlong, "You need immediate medical attention!"
Arlong looked at his agitated shipwright, then around at the rest of his bewildered crew. "Alright, let's make this quick," he groused, allowing the doctor to lead him to one of the pavilions.
With that, Nami was left frantically wondering what her next move was. Hitchin had already rushed off before she could swipe the den den mushi back and now she'd lost track of him in a compound teaming with angry fishmen scrambling in every direction. The entire scene reminded her of a trodden-on ant hill. She thought back on Bane's astute observation: Arlong's arrogance was indeed his biggest weakness. Regardless of the shark-man's dismissive attitude toward the incident, this was truly a demoralizing event for a crew and captain who'd always seen themselves as untouchable.
Following such a humiliation, Arlong was certain to prove even more dangerous than ever. Nevertheless, Nami needed to get ahead of his delayed reaction to the shocking (and almost successful) attempt on his life if she wanted to come out on the other end still intact. Above all, she needed to get her hands on that surveillance cameko before her true level of involvement was revealed.
Dawn would arrive soon enough. The troubled teen once again began clearing the debris from the courtyard as crewmates continued to rove furiously across the grounds.
000
There was no sleep to be had by anyone for the remainder of the night and into the next morning. Only sheer anxiety and adrenaline kept Nami going through it all. Kaneshiro had announced that the damage to the castle was primarily superficial in nature thanks to the quick action of the crew members who'd smothered the flames.
Arlong, meanwhile, tarried at the pavilion only long enough to have his wounds tended before immediately calling the crew together for a rousing speech on the endurance of fishmen and their destiny to inherit the earth. After whipping the crew up, effectively dispelling the somber mood, he assigned out tasks to the majority of them before calling a meeting with his officers (excluding Nami).
The girl watched the foursome from the corner of her eye as they huddled near the entrance, speaking in hushed tones while she attacked the blood stains over the pavement with a scrub brush. Her mind cycled through an inventory of items in Bane's possession that could possibly implicate her once discovered. She wasn't sure where he'd ultimately stowed his 20 million, but it seemed inevitable that the fishmen would eventually discover it - a thought which sickened Nami. Nothing else in particular occurred to the conspirator that might directly trace back to her involvement; she could only pray she wasn't overlooking anything.
Nami looked up sharply as she observed the gathering begin to disperse. The three officers headed off, Hachi and Choo diving toward the South Gate while Kuroobi -sparing her a nasty look over his shoulder - headed out the East Gate. She watched Arlong pace across the patio and flop into one of the lounge chairs.
Tossing her scrub brush back into the bucket, Nami got to her feet and plodded over to the brooding sawshark.
"Is it safe to go inside by any chance," she asked, sidling up to his elbow.
His eyes cracked open, swiveling toward her, "Why do you care to know?"
"Well, I do have a quota to meet," she reasoned, "and I think I've already done everything I can do out here."
For the first time, he seemed to notice the surrounding yard, "You been cleaning?"
"Only since I got here," she replied evenly.
"Well, ain't you an industrious little helper," he snarked.
"Arlong, why are you picking on me," she sulked, "I'm a member of this crew too; I'm also affected by this."
His gaze, sharp as chips of blue ice, lingered on her for a long moment. "Nami," he finally grinned, "why don't you just come out with it? I ain't stupid. Did this Bane Murdock coax you into bringing him here - possibly through force? I won't be angry so long as you're honest with me."
"I can see where you might get that idea, but I know better than that by now," she quipped, "There's no way I could ever believe that man was strong enough to stand a chance against you. I'm not stupid either, y'know - I know no human can defeat you."
Arlong chuckled, "Well, I'm glad you've finally learned your lesson, because if I find out otherwise, I'll have no choice but to teach you the hard way." He reached out his large hand, swallowing her head in a friendly pat that, with one swift clench, could crush her skull as easily as a soft melon.
Nami's stomach knotted at his touch.
All at once, Arlong's sharp eye cut toward the teen's badly scraped arm and leg. He grabbed the hem of her tank top, yanking it up.
"Hey!" she cried; hands clasped over her exposed breasts.
"What happened here," he asked, tracing a finger down her scab-encrusted midsection.
"I scraped myself - what of it," she demanded.
"Quite a scrape," he muttered, carefully studying her torso, "what were you doing?"
An irrational part of her believed he somehow already knew everything - that he could see straight through her and was just waiting for her to fall into his trap.
"Stealing treasure, like I always do," she answered evasively.
"Where from?" He pressed.
"What's with the questions," she complained, attempting to pull her shirt out of his fist, "it's not anything unusual - I'm always getting injured! 'What pirates' doesn't even matter!"
"Where did you go," he continued, dragging her face closer to his own, "Why won't you just tell me? I wanna hear what happened."
"Arlong-san!"
The shark-man jerked his head in the direction of Kaneshiro's voice. The goldfish crossed the yard, balancing an enormous stack of lumber above his head.
"I've collected enough lumber for the repairs," he announced, dropping the pile in a heavy thud on the ground.
Arlong's grip on Nami loosened as his attention shifted toward the shipwright's latest contributions. "Ah! Good to see the town's people chipping in to help out in our time of need."
"They sure did," smirked Kanesiro, taking a swing from his flask, "Now we can get to work."
"Nami was also wondering if it was safe to get back to work," remarked Arlong, turning back to her with a grin.
"Like I said, the fire didn't have a chance to do any serious structural damage," Kaneshiro waived dismissively, "so feel free to go inside."
"Any word from Hitchin yet," pressed Arlong.
"I don't think he's returned yet, Captain. He did say it could take a few days..."
Shaken, Nami gladly took the opportunity to leave the fishmen to their conversation and retreat upstairs, away from Arlong's suspicious and unpredictable demands. With everything so up in the air it was too risky of her to hang around and inadvertently give away damning information about herself - especially if Hitchin did succeed in finding a proko.
Once upstairs, she set to work at a hectic pace, a mind swimming with desperate schemes to prevent the surveillance footage from ever being played and one eye on the horizon.
000
"What the hell is wrong with you fishmen," shouted an outraged Genzo at the ray-man who'd pinned a gasping Dr. Nako against the front of his own office building.
"I suggest you stay out of what doesn't concern you, sheriff," Kuroobi spoke down to the enraged policeman in a dangerously calm tone.
"You kill a man and dump his body in the middle of our street first thing before the sun is up," continued Genzo uncowed, "then, immediately afterward, you start stripping our lumber supplies. Now you're outright attacking our citizens in broad daylight! Didn't you just get your damned extortion money? What more do you want?"
"Gen-san!" A concerned Nojiko ran up to his side. Meanwhile, a large gathering of villagers was quickly forming around the altercation.
Kuroobi glanced around at the restless crowd, his dark eyes daring any of them to try something. His glare returned to the man who'd first called him out, "Let me remind you that we fishmen conquered and rightfully own these islands and everything on them. We've graciously allowed you humans to carry on with your everyday lives, but that's at our sole discretion. That means that when I walk down this street - my street - I'd better not catch some upstart old fart giving me a side eye." With that, he ground the elderly doctor even harder against the wooden siding until Nako gasped in pain.
"Leave him alone; you're nothing but a bully," cried Nojiko as Genzo hastily stepped in front of her.
Kuroobi smirked as his gaze fell on her. "As it happens, I actually did come here for a specific reason: to get some information on the agitator who tried to burn down our park last night. I wonder if you'd know anything about that, tangerine girl."
"Are you referring to the dead man," shot back Genzo, "because he was a complete outsider that had nothing to do with anyone on this island!"
"Let her answer," Kuroobi demanded, finally dropping a wheezing Dr. Nako to the ground and rounding on the sheriff, "What are you - her father? She's old enough to speak for herself."
"What are you implying that I know," rejoined the sixteen-year-old, standing her ground as Genzo continued to shield her from the fishman.
"Oh, I'll bet you know a lot of things," the pirate walked casually around the fuming Genzo until he loomed directly over her. "Doesn't that little sister of yours still visit your house quite a bit? I'm sure she also faithfully tells you about all of her schemes?"
Nojiko swallowed hard. "That girl quit being my sister after she decided to become one of you! She may come by my house from time to time, but it's only for practical reasons and we barely speak. She certainly isn't telling me about any schemes."
"I wonder about that," sneered Kuroobi. "If I were to ask her directly, she'd probably say something similar. But what would happen if I brought you back to Arlong Park and threatened to feed you to Momoo? I bet we'd get some answers then."
The crowd, including Genzo and Nako, began to buzz like kicked a hornet's nest.
"If you wanna take Nojiko-chan, you're gonna have to get through all of us first," a man shouted.
Kuroobi glanced around to find the owner of the voice, but the villagers stood unified in one mass of humanity against him, and he could not discern any individual agitator. The shrewd ray-man could sense the growing shift from fear and confusion to smoldering rage among the gathered. Although he had no concerns about his own ability to wipe out the lot of them, he wisely discerned that using such excessive force would inevitably come at a steep price.
Worst case scenario: he abducted the girl and Nami truly didn't care enough to save her own sibling, allowing her to be devoured rather than divulge any damning evidence against herself. Kuroobi could easily imagine her being so cold-hearted. Meanwhile, he'd have needlessly goaded a riot during a time when the spirits of the crew were already low. Many villagers would have to die, affecting their finances and causing fishman morality to slip even further. Arlong would be furious with him for taking such actions on his own.
His glare shifted across the monolith of angry villagers. "Everyone loitering in this street right now had better to get back to whatever business you have while you're still able to leave of your own accord," he snarled, giving the lavender-haired girl a final meaningful look before stepping away from the doctor's office and striding past the throng.
Attempting to glean any useful information from Cocoyasi's inhabitants had always been a lost cause. Kuroobi, who'd only ventured into the village at Arlong's bidding, already knew who was responsible, as did Arlong, who needed to finally get over his infatuation with the cunning cartographer and wise up to the real danger Nami posed if left to her own devices. He hoped this time his old friend would finally listen to him and restrict her to the map room permanently - or at least until she'd fulfilled her usefulness and could be disposed of.
While uncertain whether her mouthy, tattooed elder sister actually was Nami's weakness, Kuroobi resolved to keep a close watch on both girls until he knew for sure.
000
Nami popped her head through the open window as soon as she heard the cries greeting Hitchin's return. Nearly five days had passed since he'd left The Park in search of a proko. Quickly abandoning her charts, she trotted down all four flights of stairs to find the crew members gathered round their nakama as he entered through the South Gate rowing a small boat. Sitting across from him in the vessel was the largest den den mushi she'd ever seen.
"Nyu, looks like your mission was a success," exclaimed Hachi, pulling his craft over to the edge and removing the giant snail.
"What took you so long," Choo wanted to know.
Hitchin released a weary sigh, "I told you they were hard to come by, but I got back as quick as I could!"
"Well, wouldn't y'know Arlong-san ain't even here right now," chuckled Pisaro, "so we're still gonna have to wait a little longer."
"I wonder what he actually thinks he's gonna learn from that cameko," mumbled Kaneshiro from one of the lounge chairs.
"After all this trouble, I'm interested to see what it shows too," Hitchin remarked with a stretch. "There been any more excitement around here while I was gone?"
"Sure! You won't believe what we discovered on that bounty hunter's boat," laughed a herring fishman. "Almost twenty million berries!"
From her space in the doorway, Nami quietly ground her teeth as the fishmen bantered about their unearned windfall which should have been sitting in her own trove at the moment.
"Why don't we go ahead and start setting up the projector, so it'll be ready when Arlong-san gets back," suggested Take.
"There's no rush," shrugged Hitchin, turning toward the fort, "Besides, I'm starved. I'd like to grab some grub first."
"Excuse me!" Nami chose the very moment Hitchin walked through the doorway to simultaneously slide past him in the other direction. She was more than a little disappointed in the next instant when her seamless pull came up empty. She turned back around, scrutinizing the remora as he plodded heedlessly toward the galley. One way or another, she needed to locate the surveillance den den mushi and lift it off him while there was still time.
"Welcome back, Hitchin! How would you like a rum and orange juice?"
The fishman in question raised his eyebrows at her, a pork leg halfway to his mouth as the surveyor plopped a glass in front of him.
"I just came down to make one for myself and I thought you might like one too."
"Uh, thanks," he grunted, taking a bite before picking up the orange-tinted alcohol.
She took the seat beside him on the bench holding up her own glass. "Cheers!"
Together the two of them drank.
"Not bad," remarked Hitchin, smacking his greasy lips.
"It's definitely my favorite," Nami replied. She leaned her head back a moment to enjoy the cool breeze coming through the open window. When she straightened up again the pirate had fixed her with a slightly perplexed expression.
"What's gotten into you, anyway? You seem to be in an oddly cheerful mood."
"Oh, do I?" She slid the strap of her tank top back into place and flipped her hair off her neck, "I guess it just feels nice to take a break from hunching over a desk all day."
"No doubt," he smirked, taking another sip.
Nami's eyes skimmed down his half-buttoned shirt and slacks with the cuffs rolled up mid-calf. She saw no apparent indication of a den den mushi stowed anywhere on his person. When she glanced back up again, it was back into his own quizzical gaze.
"So where did you finally end up finding a proko," she quickly asked in an attempt at casual conversation.
"Well, as you probably already know," he began, immediately warming to the subject, "I have lots of connections - including some in the Navy, which owns the majority of all exotic den den mushi to be found in these waters. That being said, they're usually not too keen to let them go..."
She'd already thoroughly searched through the crew's quarters and various belongings only to come up empty. If Hitching didn't have the snail physically on him, then she had no idea where it could possibly be.
"...and there it was, in the middle of the wreckage, heading straight to the bottom. So, I grabbed it, threw it into one of the dinghies, and rowed back here."
"Wow, you took on that whole pirate ship by yourself," she leaned forward, managing to muster some genuine admiration.
"It wasn't such a big deal; I've done it plenty of times before," he smirked into his glass.
Nami's brow furrowed, "But do you know for certain that it'll be compatible with the surveillance den den mushi?"
"Of course it will," he scoffed at the question, "Don't you think I know what I'm doing?"
"It's not that!" She blinked up at him, "I've never even seen one before, so I'm not quite sure how it operates. Did you have to bring the baby with you to make sure?"
"No, I didn't bring it," Hitchin returned to his ham, "I was swimming the whole first half of the trip and that snail can't go underwater."
"Ohhh, then that's why you had the proko in the boat when you came back! So, what did you end up doing with the cameko while you were gone?"
He quirked an eyebrow at her, "Since when are you so fascinated with den den mushi all of a sudden?"
"You make everything sound interesting when I talk to you, Hitchin - you know so much," she forced a smile, certain he'd find her flattery as convincing as Hachi's signature got-your-nose magic trick.
"Oh, you really think so? Well, I guess you're right," he chuckled, much to her astonishment. "I am somewhat of a tech-expert if I do say so myself..."
"Hitchin!" Choo abruptly burst into the galley.
The reactive remora-man glanced around in alarm, "Eh? Wha-what?"
"Arlong-san's back; hurry up - chu!" He marched unceremoniously back out again.
"Yeah, okay," the other fishman got to his feet to follow, he turned to Nami, "We can talk more later - let's go."
The girl swore under her breath but mustered a nod, following after him.
Nearly all the crew appeared to be gathered, with others gradually trickling in from the water. Arlong, still dripping from wherever he'd returned from, stood in the middle of the patio with an equally wet Kuroobi next to him. The large den den mushi had been positioned facing the wall on the opposite end of the courtyard, a small table sat beside it - presumably intended for the baby den den mushi to sit on.
"There you are, nakama;" grinned Arlong at Hitchin's appearance, "We're all waiting to watch the movie! Where's the cameko?"
"Welcome back, captain - mates..." Hitchin, the man of the hour, gave a dramatic bow to his public as if ready to unveil a long-awaited masterpiece to fellow aficionados. His glance cast around those gathered until it fell upon one individual in particular. "Gil! The cameko - you've still got it don't you?"
"...You mean the snail you gave to me before you left," the pufferfish slowly replied.
"That's the one," answered Hitchin with a snap, pointing at his sluggish crewmate, "where is it?"
Gil thought for a moment, then reached behind his back, pulling something out of his sash. He approached and extended the battered creature towards Hitchin. "I kept it in a safe place like you asked," he explained.
Nami couldn't have been more stunned if she'd been slapped. Had it really been on the big lug the entire time?
"Great, let me just get this set up now," Hitchin got to work connecting the two snails.
She could feel her heart trying to hammer out of her chest as she, along with Arlong and everyone else, anxiously awaited whatever footage was stored within the cameko's memory. For the hundredth time, she attempted to guess where the slimy little spy might have been stationed in the house. Almost certainly it would have been facing into the living room where Butler's death took place as well as where she'd sauntered in from the back patio. How long did the film last? Did it also include her escape with Bane on its footage?
"How's it coming," Arlong, who'd settled into his chair, asked after a few minutes.
"Aaand we're good to go," announced Hitchin with a final flourish. The pair of snails sat side by side with the large den den mushi's eyes suddenly flickering and lighting up.
Nami was utterly screwed.
From the proko's glowing eyes, a scene projected onto the fort wall. Nami immediately recognized the view into Butler's den and kitchen from high above the stairwell.
The crew erupted into cheers as the long-anticipated show finally began. The girl glanced over at the small surveillance creature which let out a soft sputter. At first it appeared nothing would happen on the monitor after serval minutes passed with no movement whatsoever, then all at once, a familiar blonde head appeared into the picture.
Several of the crew hooted as the bikini-clad woman descended the stairs, holding a hat in one hand and a towel in the other as she plodded away from the snail's location and made a right toward the kitchen.
"Aw come back, baby," cried Shioyaki.
"Shahaha," laughed Arlong.
The footage once again lapsed into a lull with only the elderly housekeeper popping in and out of view as she tidied the house. The fishmen gradually began to talk amongst themselves, however Arlong's attention remained doggedly fixed on the projection in front of him.
Nami didn't realize how tightly she was clenching her fists until she felt her nails stabbing into her palms. She longed to kick over the table holding the surveillance den den mushi and bolt from Arlong Park as swiftly as her legs would carry her. Of course, she couldn't do either of those things. She was trapped - completely surrounded by the enemy.
Once again, the snail let out an almost inaudible sputter. Nami's eye traveled to the small animal before shifting slowly up the towering form of Kuroobi standing watchfully behind her. The Ray held her in his dark scowl for an intense moment before her attention was promptly drawn back to the front by a wave shouts and applause.
"Alright! She's back!"
"Aw, but she's all covered up now!"
Nami's stomach dropped like a stone as she beheld her own likeness moving across the side of the wall. The stolen robe wrapped around her, while the wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses completed the haphazard disguise. Dry-mouthed, she watched herself scurry toward the stairs and brusquely out of the picture.
"Are we even sure that's the same broad," muttered someone uncertainly, "She don't look as shapely."
"Who knows? Maybe he's got a harem," snickered a second.
No one had recognized her yet, but Nami was not out of woods. She knew what was coming next. When she descended those stairs again there would be no mistaking her identity or who she'd come with.
Watching the housekeeper head up directly after her own retreating image, Nami glanced around for any last-ditch distraction she might employ to prevent her inevitable ruination. She suddenly found herself hoping for the fire-damaged porch roof to collapse on top of them.
The girl's head snapped up as the crew promptly erupted in shouts and boos. Nami attempted to steady her own breathing as Bane, along with Butler's armed guards entered the picture.
"Hey Hitch - what's with the sound on this thing," complained Pisaro, "we can't hear anything they're saying!"
"I'm not sure," admitted the projectionist, "maybe it's an issue with the proko; it did get exposed to some saltwater."
Despite her desperate situation, Nami watched in somber astonishment as her recently defeated co-conspirator skillfully overcame his half-dozen attackers using their own weapons.
"Damn..." muttered Choo under his breath.
Damn indeed.
Time was running out. There was no chance for her to sabotage the cameko with Kuroobi standing like a guard dog between her and the slimy little invertebrate. She was left with no option but to lean on every ounce of charm and appeasement she could possibly throw at Arlong.
He won't kill me; she tried assuring herself...even though he can certainly do plenty to make me wish I were dead.
After what seemed an eternity, Nami looked miserably back up at the projection. The dead lay strewn across the living room as the fishmen muttered excitedly over the massacre they'd just witnessed. Any moment now, the snail would capture her descent down the stairs alongside Bane.
"Eeeeegh!"
Nami jumped, eyes darting in every direction for the source of the alarming, high-pitched wheeze.
"Eh? What's wrong with this thing," demanded Arlong, sitting up and scowling at the softly screeching den den mushi.
"I-I don't know," offered Hitchin, leaning down to examine it.
Bane's head reappeared in the picture just as the proko's glowing eyes began to flicker. She watched him cross into the living room and spotted the very top of an orange head right as the baby den den mushi abruptly coughed and keeled over, toppling off the table. The proko's eyes went dark in response; the footage instantly vanished as their link broke.
The young thief stood frozen in disbelief as the pirates around her muttered in annoyance at the interruption.
"Hitchin! What the hell happened?"
"I have no idea, Captain! The cameko just went down all of a sudden - Hey Gil!"
"Yeah," replied the puffer-man, taking a step forward.
"What did you do to this thing? I told you to look after it while I was gone!"
"I did look after it," exclaimed Gil, "I kept it with me all the time!"
"You didn't take it in the water did you," frowned Hitchin.
"Nope! I remember what you said, so I left it with someone else if ever I went into the water," declared the rotund fishman, "and then I took it right back when I returned."
"And did you remember to feed it?"
"Acourse! ...Mostly."
"Forget it!" sighed Arlong, angrily getting to his feet, "Renado - where are you?"
"I'm right here," the crew's doctor gruffly replied from the corner of the patio. He pushed his way through the men and stood before the captain.
"Take a look at this damn thing and tell me what's wrong with it," he snatched up the fainted den den mushi, shoving it at the nurse shark.
"I'm a doctor, not a zoologist," groused Renado. Nevertheless, he inspected the animal closely for several moments before handing it solemnly back to Arlong. "He's dead."
Arlong gazed nonplussed at the lifeless snail in his hand, then back at Renado, "Are you sure?"
"Fairly certain!"
"But how did it happen," insisted Kuroobi. His glance flicked predictably in Nami's direction.
"As best as I can tell," sighed Renado, "it was probably a combination of the fire exposure, not being properly taken care of, and I'm sure constantly being crushed against Gil's salt-encrusted skin and clothes didn't help matters either."
A heavy silence fell over the gathering, only for Arlong to burst into unexpected peals of laughter.
"Well, that's how it goes, then," he chortled, his crew gradually taking up the guffaw until it echoed across the courtyard.
"And our captain easily beat that upstart bounty hunter," crowed Hitchin, relieved at Arlong's apparent dismissal of the cameko failure. "He probably thought he was invincible until he came against us!"
"You got that right," cackled another, "what else is there to see? I just wish we coulda watched the part where Arlong-san kicked his ass!"
As the fishmen continued joking and laughing, two notable exceptions did not join in the mirth. Kuroobi remained scowling down at the deceased snail while Nami gazed traumatically at the now blank parapet as if expecting her own image to reappear upon it at any moment.
000
Over the next day, Nami's nerves gradually recovered once she'd fully processed the night's incredible occurrence. The merciful gift she'd been given with the cameko's sudden death had also provided her just enough cover to successfully put Arlong's suspicions to rest and clear her name once and for all. At last, she no longer had to live under the constant threat of damning evidence being brought down upon her. She no longer had to continually suck up to Arlong and the other members of the crew and could go back to actually sailing across the sea in search of treasure.
With renewed determination, she awoke bright and early to begin packing. Although she'd failed to secure Bain's share of the loot before Arlong's men got their hands on it, she took heart knowing there was only 30 million left to go. At her current rate, she was on schedule to hit her goal within the next year.
While carrying a few remaining articles to her boat, the girl spotted Arlong walking along the beach in her direction. Nami thought nothing of it. The mercurial fishman was known to make random appearances on days when she set out. She crossed over the dock, stowing her remaining supplies inside her boat before stepping back out to find him standing on the shore, staring back at her.
"Looks like I caught you just in time," he called out as she walked onto the platform.
"Yeah? What is it," she asked.
Without responding, Arlong leapt into the lapping waves, reappearing by the side of her boat. Nami watched in dumbstruck horror as he calmly punched his fist through the hull and began ripping the craft to pieces as if it were no more than a toy made of matchsticks. Sputtering to find her voice, she finally shrieked aloud.
"S-Stop! Arlong STOP! What are you doing?"
Arlong didn't stop until the boat had finished sinking to the bottom along with all of Nami's supplies and personal belongings. He then hopped casually onto the platform.
"Why," she choked out, barely holding back a sob as he crossed the dock and stood in front her.
"Now, now," he chuckled, ruffling the top of her head, "There's no need to be so upset. The only reason you ever had that boat in the first place was because I gave it to you. Don't you understand by now that everything you have - including your very life, belongs to me? I don't have to give you an explanation."
Much to her chagrin, hot tears began spilling down her cheeks. Nami wrenched away from him and sprinted toward the beach.
"You can't win 'em all, kid," he shouted after her retreating form, "You gotta lose sometimes!"