Chapter 4: Nami: The Thief That Steals From Pirates!
"Say, is there any place to eat around here?" Luffy asked, holding his stomach as it rumbled. After all the work he'd gone through to get that bird, and here he was, still without food.
"Quit screwin' around kid!" One of the men in front of him shouted, swinging a fist in an attempt to punch him. Luffy was warned by both his haki as well as the man's sudden anger and was able to easily back-bend out of the way, the punch gliding safely over him. The fist went a little too far forward, however, and the man's hand collided with Luffy's hat, sending it flying back.
Luckily, the string Zoro had retied earlier for him kept it from falling off, instead lightly tugging around Luffy's neck as it attempted to fall, but failed. Anger overtook Luffy as he straightened again, placing the hat back onto his head as he glared at the man who'd hit it.
"Don't touch my treasure!" He shouted, reeling back his own fist back and punching the man, sending him flying.
"Bastard!" The two others shouted in unison, pulling out sabers and running towards Luffy.
"Gum Gum Pistol!" Luffy called, sending both of his fists forward and hitting the two before they reached him. The two fists landed squarely on their faces, knocking them both out and sending them crumbling to the ground.
Luffy watched them a second, taking in the mutedness of their emotions until he was satisfied that they were down for now. A breeze blew past him and he smelled that ever-present smell of berri and tangerines that had been following him constantly, and he turned his head to look towards where the smell was coming from.
On top of the roof of the building beside him, he saw the orange-haired girl from before peeking down at him with wide eyes. She'd had a bit of worry in her, but once she saw the two knocked out thugs, she calmed, and instead, greed filled her.
"Wow! You're really strong!" She called to him once she noticed he had spotted her. She jumped down to the balcony of the building while Luffy continued staring, still not sure how he felt about the woman.
"You beat people with sabers barehanded!" She elaborated.
"You never answered my question from before," Luffy told her, ignoring the other comments because he was still curious about whether this woman was following him or not. Had the Whitebeards sent her to watch him? He didn't know how likely that was- they knew how much he didn't want help or assistance- but he also knew how worried they all were about him.
"What do you mean?" She asked in confusion, remembering that the teen had asked her something, but she'd been too caught up in getting away from the pirates that she hadn't really been listening.
"Are you following me?" Luffy clarified, crossing his arms over his chest as he eyed her. She furrowed her eyebrows at him and put her hands on her hips.
"Following you? We've never met before, why would I follow you?" She asked, wondering how he'd come to that conclusion.
"You were there at that lady pirates ship, Alduma, and then again at that Marine Base Island," Luffy told her, only confusing the woman further. He hadn't felt any lies from her previous statement, but she also hadn't denied following him yet either.
"Alduma? Do you mean Alvida? You were there too? And the Marine Base Island... wait- are you following me?!" She asked in irritation. Luffy could feel that this woman clearly hadn't known he'd been at the same places as him so he smiled.
"Nah, never mind. Anyways, who are you?" He asked, previous misgivings gone now as he realized it really had just been a coincidence.
"I'm a thief who steals from pirates. My names Nami, what about you?" She asked, leaning forward on the balcony railing as she officially introduced herself. Luffy could feel a bit of cautiousness in Nami, telling him that she wasn't as comfortable around him as she'd been moments ago, but he had just told her they were at the same places at the same time and apparently he'd been the only one to notice.
"Me? I'm Monkey D. Luffy, nice to meet you!" He greeted with his D smile. He could feel a recognition now, but also a turmoil like she didn't know how she recognized it.
"Monkey D. Luffy? That names familiar, but why?" She asked, more to herself than to Luffy. He was about to answer her when his stomach growled again, reminding him once more of his hunger.
"Oh, I just remembered. I'm starving..." He said as he held his stomach. Nami was snapped from her musings at Luffy's words and she jumped down from the balcony.
"Why don't I treat you to some food?" She asked with a smile, and even though she was still wary of Luffy, he could feel that she wasn't as cautious as before.
"Really?!" Luffy asked as he beamed at her, shocking her with his sudden enthusiasm.
"Y-yeah..." She replied, stepping away a step at how eager the teen was.
"Yosh! Let's go!" Luffy cheered, letting Nami walk in front of him to lead the way. They walked down the street, neither of them talking as they did, and eventually they stopped in front of a house, Nami letting them in. Luffy was quick to beeline to the table, sitting while Nami went to the fridge and began digging around in it.
Soon enough, a sandwich was placed in front of Luffy and he ate it all in one bite, Nami watching with slightly wider eyes than normal from where she sat on the edge of the table.
"Yum! Do you live alone in this house?" Luffy asked, looking to Nami as he spoke.
"I don't live in this town. Everyone here ran away because of Buggy." She told him, eyes still wide, and Luffy felt no lies from her statements.
"Then you're a sneak thief."
"How rude!" Nami exclaimed indignantly.
"I'm a thief who only steals from pirates! Don't compare me to scumbag sneak thieves!" She chastised, clutching a roll of paper tightly in her hand.
"But a thiefs a thief," Luffy said plainly despite the woman's irritation.
"My goal is to earn 100 million berries, no matter what it takes." She said, looking off towards the wall and standing up straighter.
"What do you need that much for?" The straw-hatted teen asked because 100 million was a lot of money.
"Its a secret! But with a map of the Grand Line, 100 million is a real possibility!" She said, turning away from Luffy who began eating from the basket of bread on the table. He looked to the woman's back, feeling that deep hatred rumbling in her from before, but he couldn't figure out what it was directed towards.
Normally, it was easy to figure out who people were directing their emotions towards. Luffy didn't exactly know how he did it, but it was like a sixth sense. When someone felt love, he could feel that it was directed towards their child or happiness towards a gift. With Nami though, he couldn't feel that. The hatred she felt was tied into the words she was saying, and it definitely had something to do with this secret, but Luffy couldn't figure out exactly what it was.
"A map? Are you a navigator?!" Luffy asked after a moment of trying to decipher the mystery being presented to him but having no luck. Nami turned to face him, grinning again.
"Much more skilled than your average navigator!" She boasted, Luffy feeling her confidence and believing her words.
"Oh, that's perfect! Do you wanna be our navigator?!" He asked, standing from his chair and smiling widely.
"Really?" She asked, leaning forward on the table with a wider smile now.
"Yeah! Our new pirate crew member!" Luffy exclaimed, arms out wide in excitement. There was a sudden shift in the woman's emotions from greedy and happy to angry and hateful.
"No!" She suddenly exclaimed, making Luffy frown.
"So you're a pirate?" She asked, standing straight again.
"Yeah. I swore to the person who gave me this straw hat that I'd gather a crew and become a pirate!" He said, smiling as he took his hat off and stared at it. Nami slammed her hands back on the table causing the plate on it to clatter and bounce.
"There's nothing I hate more in this world than pirates! I only like money and tangerines!" She said fiercely, Luffy only frowning and blinking to her as he put his hat back on.
The hatred was back again, stronger than before, and the truth in her words deterred Luffy from pushing the subject anymore. As much as he wanted- and needed- a navigator, he could feel just how much Nami despised pirates, so he wouldn't force her to join them.
After all, if a doctor from the facility asked him to join them, he would adamantly refuse too.
"I should have known someone strong like you was a pirate. Just my luck." Nami said to herself as she gripped the map tighter in her fist, and then it slackened, her eyes widening.
"W-wait a second. Monkey D. Luffy? As in 11097?" She asked, finally recognizing the name now. She'd seen both the bounty poster and the news about the boy over the years, and it had still taken her this long to click the pieces into place. To be fair, however, the last report on 11097 and his brothers mentioned that they had been deep into the Grand Line, so it wasn't as if she was expecting him to pop up here in the East Blue.
"Oh, you know me too?" Luffy asked, sitting back down and resuming his eating. The fear and nervousness were beginning to be a usual occurrence now that Luffy was willingly outing himself to people in the East Blue, and he knew he should get used to it, but he couldn't.
"Know of you?! Everyone knows about the kids that escaped from the mental hospital years ago! The Marines have been after you ever since, but you joined the Whitebeard Pirates!" She exclaimed, standing a good few feet away from him now, eyes glancing to the door as she contemplated running out.
"It wasn't a mental hospital. Geez, does everyone think that?" Luffy asked, stopping in his eating momentarily, annoyed that he had to keep correcting everyone.
"What do you mean? The news said-"
"The Marines lied. My brothers and I escaped a facility, not a mental hospital. Pops saved us and kept us safe because the Marines tried taking us back." Luffy told her, resuming in his eating once more.
Seeing that the teen wasn't attacking her, she calmed slightly, though she was still ready to bolt from the room at any second.
"Facility?" She asked, curious.
"A bad place run by the government. We escaped and the Marines were worried we'd tell people about it so they started trying to capture us all again." Luffy explained briefly, frowning as he ate. Nami said nothing now, trying to figure out if she was being lied to or not.
"Aren't you a Whitebeard Pirate though? What are you doing in the East Blue? Whitebeard doesn't have any claim here." She said next, her body still tensed in preparation to flee. Luffy nodded in answer.
"I'm not here for Pops. I left the crew to start my own." He said, and even though Nami was curious about that, wondering if that was even allowed, she heard shouting outside.
Walking over to the window- still wary of Luffy- she peeked out and saw two of Buggy's goons standing on the street below, talking about her and how they'd yet to find her. Her eyes drifted back over to Luffy who was finishing up the bread and smiled, figuring out how she could use him to his advantage.
The sudden greed from the girl overpowered her fear and nervousness as she walked back over to the straw-hatted teen.
"Well, I might consider joining as your navigator if you agree to consider conditions!" Nami said cheerfully, grinning slyly as she did. Luffy could feel that there was a hint of truth to her words, but overall she was lying, like how Sabo taught him to tell half-truths to keep from being caught telling lies. The fact that she was willingly agreeing to join him after having so much hatred for pirates also confused him, but he decided to see where this was going.
"What are the conditions?" He asked, watching the girl who faltered slightly under his gaze, her fear rising only slightly before being covered again by the greed.
"I want you to come with me to see Buggy the Pirate." She started, still smiling, but it was smaller than before. Luffy could feel she wasn't lying, which only confused him more.
"But!" She exclaimed, pulling out a rope and letting it unravel to the floor. She had Luffy stand, hesitating one more time, before tying the teen up who let it happen.
"Why am I tied up?" He asked.
"It's just a rope. Is there a problem?" She asked, sweating slightly- the fear back again.
"Nope. Let's go meet this Buggy guy!" Luffy said with a smile, knowing the rope would be no issue if he needed to escape it.
The two made their way through the town and straight towards the large mass of people that Luffy could feel. Once they reached it a man dressed strangely walked over to a blue-haired guy and announced their arrival, the man's attention turning their way as they walked over to him.
Luffy could still feel the greed in Nami, the small bit of fear and nervousness, but mostly the confidence as they paraded through the many pirates on either side of them.
"That's them! She's the one who stole the map!" One of the pirates Luffy had beaten up earlier exclaimed, pointing to them. Nami, grinning, pushed Luffy forward. He fell, unable to catch his footing, and laid on the ground.
"I've captured the thief Buggy the Clown! Here's your chart back!" She said as she walked up to the man, holding the map in her hand.
"I appreciate it. But why the change of heart?" Buggy asked from where he sat in his chair. Nami handed the map over before backing away back towards Luffy.
"My boss and I had a fight! I'm fed up with him! Please let me join your crew!" She said with a smile, hands behind her back as she looked to Buggy. Despite how cheerful the orange-haired woman looked and sounded, Luffy could feel the tornado of contradicting emotions in her and he wondered how she was able to act so well. Whenever he tried doing that, everyone always knew.
Buggy began to curl in on himself and the surrounding pirates all became fearful and worried.
"C-Captain Buggy is getting angry!"
"He's gonna use his devil fruit powers!"
"Devil fruit?" Luffy muttered as he watched, knowing that the man was actually amused rather than angry like the others had assumed. He was more focused on the fact that he apparently had a devil fruit.
He hadn't expected that.
Buggy suddenly started laughing loudly, the pirates around them letting out breathes of relief as he did, and Luffy could feel the relief in Nami as well despite the fact that she didn't show it.
"Fed up, huh? You're a flashily amusing girl! I like you! You can join my crew!" Buggy said to Nami, the girls smile changing into a softer look of the relief that she was feeling, and then gleeful.
Immediately, Luffy was picked up by two nearby pirates, Buggy examining him.
"So this is your boss then, huh? Doesn't look all that- wait!" Buggy said, eyes widening in surprise and making Nami freeze.
"Monkey D. Luffy?! Whitebeard Pirate, 11097, Monkey D. Luffy?!" Buggy asked, everyone turning to look at Luffy with wide eyes and dropped jaws. Nami looked nervously between Luffy and Buggy before forcing another smile.
"That's right. He left the Whitebeards and came here. He wanted a map of the Grand Line so I agreed to get one for him, but as I said before, I got fed up with him and tricked him instead." Nami said, lying through her teeth. Buggy observed her for a minute before looking to Luffy.
"You left Whitebeard?" He asked Luffy. The teen could feel Buggy's confusion and even fear but nodded.
"Yup." He said, not saying any more than that. He couldn't lie like Nami, so he would stick to the truth for now. Besides, he still had no clue what the redhead was up to.
Silence reigned as everyone processed this new information, but eventually Buggy was grinning again.
"A bounty of 350,000,000 berri and it's ours for the taking! Flashily appreciated girly!" Buggy said to Nami who grinned back.
"Put him in the cage! Careful though, his bounty is alive only!" Buggy told the two pirates holding him up, and they nodded, pushing him into a stone cage nearby and locking it.
Buggy stood from his chair, getting a closer look at Luffy and laughing maniacally.
"I feel great today!" He said cheerfully. Turning to Nami he addressed her again.
"Girly, what name do you go by?" He asked.
"Nami!" She told him. Buggy turned to the pirates around them, arms outstretched.
"Alright! Let's hold a welcome party for Nami here! Celebrate flashily!" He called, everyone cheering in excitement at his words.
And party they did. Food was eaten, drinks were passed around, and the pirates entertained each other by running on barrels or juggling.
Back at Buggy's seat, he sat and ate while Nami sat at a table in front of him.
"What's wrong? This party's in your honor! Eat up!" Buggy told the girl, taking another swig of his drink.
"Yes! Thank you!" Nami agreed.
Meanwhile, Luffy- who was forced to smell and look at the food so tantalizingly close to him- was stretching his arm out in an attempt to grab something to eat. Right before he could reach something though, his arm began snapping back to him, and he pouted at the unsuccessful attempt.
"Damnit!" He said to himself with a sigh. At least the surrounding emotions were all happy ones.
"This is flashily great! Men! Prepare a special Buggy Ball!" Buggy said with a laugh, everyone cheering as they began setting up a cannon. They pointed it just beside Luffy's cage and a pirate with a red cannonball with a skull on it loaded the cannon with a grin.
"All set sir!" The man called to Buggy who stood nearby with a grin. Nami was watching with a small look of worry, glancing to Luffy who was watching it all as well.
"W-whats about to happen?" She asked Buggy.
"Observe the might of the Buggy Ball!" Buggy told her before ordering the cannon to be lit. The pirate did so, and within seconds the cannon was going off with a loud boom, the cannonball practically whistling through the air before it busted down a whole row of houses. The pirates cheered and laughed while Nami gaped in shock.
"Truly flashy. With Buggy Balls and Devil Fruit powers, I can conquer the Grand Line! Right, Nami?" He asked, turning to look to the girl who composed herself, smiling to him and nodding.
"Y-yes! Of course!" She agreed with a small laugh.
"I'm the one who's gonna rule the Grand Line." Luffy suddenly said, drawing everyone's attention.
"What?" Buggy asked.
"I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!" Luffy told him, face blank and void of emotion as he spoke.
"You idiot!" Nami said in anger while Buggy seethed.
"I can see why you're sick of him, Nami!" The pirate said, Nami laughing nervously again and pointing to the teen in the cage.
"Yeah! He takes the world too lightly and misunderstands everything! I couldn't put up with it anymore..." She laughed.
"Naturally!" Buggy agreed.
"If it weren't for his bounty being alive only I'd flashily have you use a Buggy Ball on him right here and now!" Buggy said, Luffy still feeling the anger in the man. Nami faltered at the words but was relieved she didn't actually have to do that.
"Start the party up again!" Buggy called, everyone cheering once more as they did just that. Nami sighed in relief while Buggy went to sit back in his chair. Glancing around quickly, Nami made her way over to Luffy's cage, crouching beside him.
"Idiot, don't anger him!" She hissed, making sure no one was paying attention to them. As much as she hated pirates, she didn't want to be apart of anyone's murder today.
"Why?" Luffy asked dumbly. Nami frowned at that.
"Because he could kill you!" She said angrily.
"That's what happens when you take on pirates," Luffy told her matter-of-factly making her glare at him.
"What? Kill people like its nothing?!" She hissed, only getting more and more annoyed as the conversation went on.
"No. You have to have the resolve to put your own life on the line." He told her with a grin. Her scowl fade and instead making her frown.
"What're you doing over here?! Come on, join the party!" One of the pirates said with a laugh as they pulled Nami up from where she was, dragging her back into the party. Luffy watched her carefully, but he wasn't worried, not when he could smell a familiar scent of steel and polish heading their way.
It was only a few more minutes later that he could see Zoro walking over to him.
"Zoro!" He called with a giant smile. The man looked to him, taking in the fact that he was both tied up and in a cage.
"How'd you find me?" Luffy asked, tilting his head as he asked, the pirates around them slowly realizing that Zoro was there.
"What do you keep playing around for? First, some bird runs off with you, and now you're inside of a cage?" Zoro asked with a raised eyebrow, one sword over his shoulder.
"It's pretty interesting, actually," Luffy said as if they weren't surrounded by pirates.
"Zoro?"
"T-That's what he just called him, right?" The pirates asked amongst each other.
"So you're Zoro? What do you want? Are you here to take my head or his?" Buggy asked with a grin as he stood back up.
"Neither. I'm not interested. I gave up pirate-hunting." Zoro said, not even looking at Buggy as he stood in front of Luffy's cage.
"I'm interested, though! Killing you will increase my fame." Buggy said. This time Zoro looked over his shoulder at the man, glaring.
"I wouldn't try it. You'll die." Zoro said to him.
"Oh, that so?" Buggy asked as he began flipping a knife in one hand and held four others between the fingers of his other hand. Zoro sighed.
"Guess words aren't enough for you." He said, the pirates cheering around them.
"Get 'im, Captain!"
"Captain Buggy!"
"Buggy! Buggy! Buggy!"
The two prepared to fight, Zoro placing a sword in his mouth while Buggy removed the big orange cape he'd had draped over his shoulders. Within a matter of seconds, Buggy began charging at Zoro, but the swordsman didn't move, instead moving into another stance.
"Die flashily!"
Buggy didn't even hit Zoro as the swordsman sliced the pirates limbs off, the pirates cheering as he did and Nami looking away. Luffy watched with a frown, noticing that despite the fact that the man was lying in pieces on the ground, Buggy was feeling no pain and he wasn't unconscious either.
"He had no resistance to him at all..." Zoro said as he sheathed his swords and walked back over to Luffy cage.
"He's not down yet, Zoro," Luffy said, still frowning as he stared at the pirate Captain. The green-haired man raised an eyebrow, also looking to the man again.
"What do you mean? He looks pretty down to me." He said, but as he did the surrounding pirates began laughing ominously at them. Zoro eyed them shiftily and unsheathed one of his swords again, eyes glancing back to the Captain.
"H-huh? Their Captains been killed, but they're laughing?" Nami asked from a few feet away, watching in confusion. Zoro was about to ask what was so funny when he saw Buggy begin moving out of the corner of his eye, the man reassembling as if he hadn't been cut in the first place. One of the hands didn't reassemble though and instead shot right at him.
Thanks to his fast reflexes, Zoro blocked the attack with his unsheathed sword.
"H-his arm!" Nami said in shock, hands to her mouth and pale as she watched the disembodied arm fly back to Buggy, and replace its self.
"The Bara Bara no mi. That's the name of the Devil Fruit I ate! I'm a chop chop person who cant be cut!" Buggy exclaimed, the pirates cheering again at his words while Buggy laughed.
"His body reattached itself!" Nami said.
"A chop-chop guy?! You mean he's a monster?" Luffy asked, despite the fact that he himself was a rubber person with heightened sense of smell and the ability to see people's souls and feel their emotions. Oh, and he could see their memories too.
"Buggy! Buggy! Buggy!" The pirates chanted, throwing their fists and swords in the air as they did.
"Attacking from behind is unfair! Big nose!" Luffy shouted to Buggy, annoyed that the man had attempted to stab Zoro in the back. Everyone blanched around him at his words, the pirates frozen in shock and fear.
"Who's... got a big nose?!" Buggy shouted in anger, detaching his arm again and sending both it, and the knife it held, towards Luffy despite the Alive only bounty.
"Luffy!" Zoro shouted as he tried intercepting the knife, but not making it in time. It didn't matter though because the teen caught the knife between his teeth, glaring at the blue-haired clown and biting down, destroying the knife.
"Buggy! I will kick your ass!" He said, glare turning into a grin at the thought. Buggy began laughing again at that, confidence filling him.
"Kick my ass? You're a real riot! You're stuck in a cage, and I'm going to kill Zoro here, you know! I'd kill you too if it weren't for your bounty being alive only! How should I have my ass kicked in this situation?!" Buggy asked, the pirates laughing at his words.
"Its no use... its all over..." Nami said to herself in worry, sweating a little.
"I refuse to die!" Luffy exclaimed before laughing, Buggy watching in surprise.
"Run! Zoro!" Luffy shouted to the swordsman, Zoro looking at him in shock.
"Wait! He came here to save you! What're you gonna do?!" Nami said, confused why Luffy would want the only help he had in this situation to leave him. Luffy only continued grinning to Zoro, understanding slowly morphing onto the man's face.
"Understood!" Zoro said. Nami tilted in shock and Buggy flew into a rage.
"Impudent fool! As if I'd let you escape!" He screamed, jumping at Zoro and forcing the swordsman to block his quick attacks. Buggy gained some ground on him, but then Zoro crouched, cutting Buggy's torso from his body before jumping through him and running the opposite way.
"Fool! Your Three-Sword Style has no effect on- Hey! Listen when people are talking!" Buggy shouted over his shoulder as he noticed that Zoro wasn't listening anymore and instead running right for the cannon.
Getting underneath of it, Zoro pushed it up, flipping it around to face Buggy and his gang. Nami ran up to Zoro, swiping up the matches from the pirate that had lit the cannon earlier.
"Oh crap! The cannons pointed this way!" The pirates shrieked.
"Light it!" Zoro told Nami, noticing the matches in her hand.
"R-right!" Nami said, sparking one of the matches.
"Wait, wait, wait! There's still a special Buggy Ball in there! Nami, I thought you were on our side!" Buggy shouted. Ignoring the words, Nami lit the fuse, only making Buggy's eyes bulge in both rage and fear.
"You lit it!" He shouted.
"Wait! No! Stop! Stop!" The other pirates shouted, Nami covering her ears and shutting her eyes.
/\/\/\/\/\/\/\
Luffy laid down in the cage, staring blankly ahead of him.
"Ne, Zoro, that was a close one," Luffy said, his swordsman carrying his cage on his back and taking them through the town.
"How'd you know he wasn't down yet? Did you know about his fruit?" Zoro asked as he struggled to carry the cage, the process slow going.
"I felt it," Luffy said as if it was something everyone could do.
"Felt it? Never mind. Who was that girl anyway?" He asked him next, deciding that his Captain was weird in more ways than one.
"Oh, shes our navigator!" Luffy said with a smile, which quickly turned into a thoughtful look.
"At least, I think so. She said she would be." He said, still confused by Nami agreeing to be a pirate after telling him how much she hated them.
"That's some good news at least. Another crew member and we'll actually get to islands." Zoro said, stopping in front of a store where a dog sat.
"Whats with this dog?" Zoro asked after he set the cage down in front of the animal.
"Dog!" Luffy exclaimed happily, grabbing onto the bars and sticking his head out at it. He began moving the cage forward by rocking it back and forth, slowly making it move. The dog stared at him, and he stared back for a minute before pulling his face and trying to make it react.
"Ne, Zoro, this dogs not moving at all!" Luffy told his swordsman who moved to sit on the step of the store they were in front of.
"Hell if I care, it can do what it wants!" Zoro said as he rested, tired after carrying his Captain through the town in a stone cage.
"I wonder if it's dead?!" Luffy said, still grinning as he looked back at the dog. He stuck his hand out, poking it on the head, and the animal immediately lunged toward him, biting his face.
"Oww! Oww! Oww! Oww! What're you doing stupid dog?!" Luffy shouted, struggling to get the dog off his face while Zoro stared in shock.
"Do you know the situation we're in right now?!" Zoro shouted in annoyance. Ignoring the swordsman, Luffy finally managed to get the dog to let go of his face, the animal returning to its previous spot and sitting, unmoving once more.
"Damn dog!" Luffy muttered, laying back in his cage. Nami's scent wafted over to him and he sat up, turning to watch the woman walk towards them.
"Heya, navigator!" He greeted her.
"I guess you can have this since you did get me out of that situation!" She told him, tossing Luffy the key to his cage with a nervous smile, a fear in her that she hid well. The key landed in between Luffy and the dog and he grinned.
"Oh! The key to the cage! You went and got it for me?!" He asked Nami with a smile.
"Don't get the wrong idea! I just didn't want to wind up owing you!" She said with a hand on her hip. Zoro smiled, watching as Luffy went to grab the key.
"I'm saved!" The teen cheered, but right as he was about to pick it up, the dog did instead, swallowing it. Nami sweat dropped, Zoro's eyes widened, and Luffy became furious.
"Stupid dog! You ate the key! That's not food! Gimme it back!" Luffy said, reaching to grab the dog but being stopped by the bars. He frowned, taking deep breaths, before sighing.
"Oh well." He said, making both Zoro and Nami look at him.
"Oh well?" They asked, wondering if Luffy understood the situation he was in or not.
"I'll just break the cage," Luffy said with a shrug as if it were obvious, coating his hands in armament haki and blasting through the bars, leaving the front of the cage wide open. Zoro and Nami's eyes widened and their jaws dropped.
"What the hell was that?!" Nami shrieked in surprise, not having been expecting that strength. She should have known though, the teen was a notorious pirate after all.
"You could do that the whole time you ass?!" Zoro asked, having half the mind to slice his Captain up right there and then. He'd just lugged both Luffy and the cage through the town, and it turned out it hadn't been necessary in the first place.
Luffy stepped out of the cage, laughing.
"Shishishi! Yup!" He said, hands on his hips as he grinned his D grin at the swordsman.
"Hey, you young'uns!" A new voice shouted, distracting them.
"Who're you old man?" Zoro asked, his previous anger at Luffy fading as he addressed the new person.
"I'm this towns mayor! Who're you?!" The mayor asked as he walked up to them. He took in the scene before him, Luffy standing in front of a now destroyed cage and glaring at the dog, muttering about stupid dogs. He also noted that Zoro looked worn out and Nami still looked surprised.
"I take it Buggy went after you folks too?" He asked, Zoro and Nami nodding while Luffy turned his attention back to the man. The dog yawned and the Mayor looked back to him.
"Hello to you too Chouchou." He said with a smile, the dog barking at the mayor.
"So this dog's name is Chouchou?" Nami asked, getting over her surprise and kneeling down to pet the dog who's tail began wagging.
"Whats it just sitting here for?" Luffy asked, still miffed that the dog hadn't been all that nice to him.
"It's guarding the shop," The mayor started, telling them the story of Chouchou's previous owner and how he'd owned the pet food shop behind them. He told them of his theory on why Chouchou still stayed, how the shop had been his previous master's treasure, and by the end of it he was sitting beside Zoro, smoking his pipe while Luffy watched Chouchou with a frown.
No more could be said when a loud rumble shook the town and they all turned.
"What was that?" Nami asked, the Mayor shooting up from his spot.
"It's him! Beast Tamer Mohji!" He shouted, freaking out behind Nami.
"What do you mean, 'Beast Tamer'?" Nami asked, turning to the mayor, but the man was beginning to run off.
"W-wait! Hold on!" She shouted to him, but the man was already disappearing behind the houses, running into the alleys and leaving them behind. Nami let her outstretched hand fall, sweat dropping.
Another rumble shook the ground and she turned to look at it, shuffling closer to Zoro and Luffy who were both looking towards the rumbling as well.
"Somethings here," Zoro said, stating the obvious as he unsheathed his sword. Nami hid behind him while Luffy tilted his head, all of them watching as a large lion rounded the corner, a man riding on top of it as they stalked closer.
"Who're you?" Luffy asked as the man and lion stopped in front of them.
"I am Beast Tamer Mohji, a member of the Buggy Pirates. I'm here to bring you back to Captain Buggy, 11097, along with you're friends Pirate Hunter Zoro and the thief, Nami."
Welcome back everyone to an early chapter! As I said last week, I wanted to try and get this extra chapter out seeing as all this craziness in the world is a bit of a downer. I hope this chapter will brighten your days like your reviews brighten mine!
So, we officially met Nami and Buggy in this chapter! There wasn't any real fighting yet, but the next chapter will be the big showdown between Luffy and Buggy. As you can see, the changes- while small- are already happening. Thanks to Luffys abilities he was able to warn Zoro about Buggy and as a result the swordsman remains unharmed. As we progress, those small changes will become larger, more noticeable changes.
As always, I hope you all continue to stay safe and healthy! Wash your hands, sanitize and practice social distancing. Be the introvert I know you all can be.
Anyway, thank you all so so much for the amazing, thoughtful reviews, as well as all the support you show me and my stories. I'll see you all next week with the next chapter and the conclusion to Orange Town!