Nami had found Usopp sitting by the broken walls by the upper cabin. He had sat there, crosslegged, staring at the hole in the cabin wall. "Usopp.", she had hesitated when she saw that he must have been crying, judging by the dried marks on his cheeks. Then she had layed a hand on his shoulder. "Usopp"
The sniper had not reacted.
"Usopp", Nami had said again, "Usopp, come. We have to take care of the repairs. Merry can't stay like this."
This had finally caught the long-nose's attention. He had stood up, dusting off his pants with his hand. Without a single remark, he had followed the red haired girl off the ship and in direction of the little town on the island as they had set off again in search of a shipwright.
That was where they were right now. Yet again. The last time they had gone out to seek help in rebuilding their ship, they had been interrupted by a loud crash, that had no doubt come from the harbour. Usopp, fearing it been the Merry, had urged them to return. How right he had been...
Nami shook her head to dispel the horrible images that were creeping up in her mind. She had to focus on the mission at hand. Find a shipswright and somehow charm him into reparing Merry, preferably for little berry. With all the damage that had been done to the ship, she preferred not to imagine how expensive the repairs would otherwise be.
She looked around discreetly. Normally, one would expect to find a shipyard near the harbour. However, they had not been able to find one where they had docked. The people she had asked had pointed her vaguely in the direction of the city centre without heeding her question about a name or a location. So they wandered more or less aimlessly around the bustling market square of the small town, trying to obtain information from the people passing by.
"Excuse me, sir, I have a question...sorry, this will only take a second...hello can you please stop for a moment? I just want to ask you a quick question...please sir, I...pff...so rude, what's wrong with the people here?" Sighing with annoyance, Nami stopped and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Was it just her imagination, or were people deliberately avoiding them?
She turned to Usopp and was about to suggest that they find a bar in the hope of having better luck with the drunkards when a loud noise caught her attention. It almost sounded like music.
"Is that..."
- "A fanfare," said Usopp, who seemed just as surprised as she was.
"Yes, but here?" Nami looked around the small town in wonder. She wouldn't have expected so much festivity and culture in this rather run-down place.
"Well, I'm sure word has spread like wildfire that we've arrived here and now they want to give me a proper welcome. Who wouldn't feel honoured to have the great Captain Usopp around them?" Nami smiled slightly as Usopp began his story, who was almost beating his chest with feigned pride.
"Get down, you idiots! Quick!" a voice hissed from Nami's right side and as she turned to look, she noticed a woman kneeling on the ground next to her, staring at her almost pleadingly out of the corner of her eye. All the people in the marketplace were kneeling on the ground as well, Nami realised with astonishment.
'What...why...?' Nami stammered. Then the fanfare sounded again, much closer than before, and more out of instinct than conscious thought, Nami pulled Usopp, who was still lost in his own made-up adventure stories, to the ground. The sniper protested at the sudden change in his posture, but fell silent when he too realised the situation in the marketplace.
'Wha...what's going on?' he whispered to Nami as he obediently knelt on the cobblestones of the market square.
"I have no idea," Nami whispered back, lifting her head to catch a quick glimpse of the marketplace, which felt incredibly risky.
"Shh." the woman next to Nami hissed again and for some strange reason, the redhead complied.
The fanfare now sounded very close. Now Nami could also hear the stomping of several boots on the cobblestones, which seemed to be walking at the same pace. Sneaking a glance at the passing parade, she saw several dozen armed individuals who looked quite menacing and not very finely dressed. They didn't look anything like what you would expect people in a fanfare parade to look like. They looked so simple and brutal.
"Like pirates," Nami muttered, realising how contempt for the kind of pirates like Arlong rose up in her. Luffy may have shown her that pirates could be good, but that didn't mean that there weren't still arseholes among them. And those people there had scumbag written all over them.
She watched as the strange little parade passed through the alleyway formed by the townspeople, who continued to kneel on the ground with their heads bowed, making no sound. Finally, the footsteps stopped. Nami tried to crane her head up a little more to keep watching the group, but it was in vain. She wouldn't be able to see them without sitting up, but she'd better not do that now, her inner voice vehemently discouraging her from attracting the attention of this obviously violent group.
A loud, muffled knock indicated that someone was knocking impatiently on a wooden door.
"Ulfic! Come out! Master Blackear has a message for you!"
For a few seconds there was a dangerous silence. Then, in the midst of the silence, there was a deafening creak, presumably the sound of a door opening.
"Here I am. What can I do for you?" said a deep voice and a cosy feeling spread through Nami.
"Tsk. Let's skip the pleasantries." The first speaker, who was probably the leader of this pathetic parade, replied. "Your last two tributes were at best meagre. However, Master Blackear was gracious enough to give you the opportunity to make up the shortfall in Berries. You have until the end of the week."
"What? That is impossible! We can't give you that much! If we do that, there won't be enough left to provide for ourselves," the desperation in the man's voice was all too clear. Nami clenched her hands into fists. This all sounded awfully familiar to her.
"I didn't ask for your opinion. This is an order from Master Blackear himself."
A low, outraged murmur went through the motionless crowd, but was soon stifled by the loud voice of the parade speaker:
"Quiet! You'd better consider yourselves lucky. Normally an offence like this is punished severely."
Nami heard an uncoordinated stomping of boots.
"Ulfic! until the end of the week! We will be back!"
With that, the parade of blackmailers marched off, past the silent crowd in the market square and away from the square. Only when their footsteps were merely a distant echo across the square did Nami dare to move.
"What was that?" She mumbled more to herself. Usopp shrugged his shoulders just as cluelessly.
"That was Ildur, one of Blackear's men. They come every month to ... handle governance matters." The thoughtful hushed whisper came from the woman who had knelt beside them, the dirt of the floor still stuck to her skirt and face. She looked so young under all the dust and worries, Nami realised with surprise.
"He didn't seem very friendly," Usopp said, "believe me, I'm a well-travelled, renowned warrior of the sea, Captain Usopp is my name, and I've met a lot of people, friendly and unfriendly, and this guy is the latter sort, I'm sure of it. Who is this Blackear bloke anyway? I've travelled around the world at least twice, and today is the first day I've come across his name."
"Ssh" the woman hastily put a finger to the stunned sniper's mouth and cast a cautious glance around, as if expecting an attack at any moment. When nothing happened, she relaxed a little and took a few steps back, regarding the two straw-hatted pirates with a strange look. "You are not from here. Tourists, I suppose. Do yourselves a favour and leave this island while you still can. This is not a good place."
"What do you mean 'not a good place'? What is happening here?" Nami chimed in, icy shivers running down her spine at the young woman's words.
The woman gave Nami a sad look, then shook her head. "I've already said too much. I should go."
This said, she turned to leave, her head bowed and the first step taken, when Nami grabbed her by the wrist.
"No, wait..."
This woman was the first and only person who had spoken to them for more than a few seconds, albeit curtly. Not only that, but she had warned them when the strange parade had come and now again. She apparently cared about the fate of others. This was their chance, maybe even their only chance! She had to try!
"Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude with my questions. It's just... even if we wanted to, we can't get out of here right now. Our ship isn't seaworthy, unfortunately. That's why we're looking for a shipwright. Please, can you help us?"
For a brief moment, Nami thought the woman would leave her question unanswered and simply walk away, but then the woman sighed and pointed her index finger at the largest building in the entire marketplace. "We don't have a shipswright. Aron is normally responsible for repairs of all kinds here in the village. I've just seen him go into Ulfic's house... Ask for him there."
Nami's face brightened. They had finally got some useful information. She thanked the young woman many times, who merely waived her off and turned to leave.
"Good luck!" she said and that sad look crept into her eyes again for a short moment. Then she walked away.
"I don't like this city, Nami," said Usopp, who had half hidden behind Nami and was looking around anxiously.
"Neither do I," Nami said and looked after the young woman, lost in thought. "All the quicker we should find this Aron and get the Merry going again."
The thick wooden door swung open with a loud creak and Nami and Usopp burst into the room.
"Stop! You can't just walk in here!" A guard came stumbling in after them and grabbed Usopp by his arm, but the sniper jumped, screeching, to escape the grasp and hid under the huge table in the centre of the room.
"Forgive me, Ulfic, they ran right past me," said the guard to the man who was sitting on a chair at the other end of the table, surrounded by three other men and who was observing the scene in front of him with a perplexed expression. A huge moustache hung above his lips. This and his calm but determined demeanour reminded Nami strongly of Genzo from her beloved Coco Village.
"Don't blame yourself, Daro. I'm sure you did everything you could," said the man who apparently went by the name of Ulfic. He turned his gaze to Nami, as Usopp was still hidden from his view by his position under the table. Nami was tempted to join him there, away from the uncomfortably piercing eyes.
"Who might you be?" Ulfic's fingers drummed thoughtfully on the armrest of the chair and Nami swallowed hard. "You're not from here. That much is clear. Nobody in our village has orange hair like that."
"You... you're right," Nami stammered, her hands kneading nervously at her T-shirt. "We're not from here. We're...sailors and we've just arrived here. Unfortunately, our ship has been damaged and we um... We're looking for a shipswright. We were told we might find one here."
Ulfic nodded, and without taking his eyes off Nami, he pointed with his index finger at the man on his right. "That would be Aron. He's a carpenter, not a shipwright, but I haven't seen anything yet that he hasn't had repaired. I'm afraid that's all we can offer you. We have a bit of a shortage of craftsmen ourselves, as you may have noticed."
"Yeah..." Nami thought of the young woman in the dirty clothes and the run-down houses. Lack of craftsmen, you could certainly say that. Her gaze fell on Aron, who had his hairy arms crossed in front of his chest and was looking at her sternly and sceptically. She did not blame him for being mistrustful. After all, the citizens of this town had obviously already been through a lot.
"Ulfic," the man on his left whispered in his ear, but loud enough for Nami to hear, "We spotted a pirate ship with a straw hat on the flag in the old harbour this morning. What if that's the crew?"
Shit. Once again, Nami's forehead was covered in sweat. She had meant to hide this. They didn't know how people here on the island reacted to pirates. A fearful whimper came from under the table, which didn't help to boost anyone's confidence in them.
"Oh well, look at that. So that's the kind of sailor you are. Is that right?" the man addressed stopped drumming his fingers on the table and stared at Nami even more insistently, if that was even possible. She almost felt as if he was going to poke holes in her. What was she supposed to do now?
"Uhm...yes, that's right. We are pirates, but we are not here to cause any trouble... Eh, I mean we are good people who just want to repair their ship and continue on their journey. We are just like any other travelers to you and we can pay you as well if you help us repair our ship." Nami smiled and tried to appear trustworthy. Whether or not she succeeded, she wasn't sure.
Ulfic's sudden laughter broke the tension, and Nami felt herself relax. "Well, you're a fine bunch of pirates." Still chuckling, Ulfre leaned under the table, "Whether you're pirates, sailors, or underworld thugs, a paying customer should never be turned away, right boys?"
The other men, except for Aron, joined in the laughter and Nami felt Usopp's hand clutch her leg as he scooted closer to her at the edge of the table.
"Thank you. We truly appreciate your understanding," Nami smiled. She then began to answer a few questions about the condition of the ship. With each answered question, Aron's expression grew more and more serious."
"You've been hit by quite a storm there," said Ulfic sympathetically. "What do you think, Aron? Is it doable?"
Aron stroked his beard with a thoughtful expression on his face. "Doable, sure, everything is doable somehow, eh? We just need a lot of wood, good wood, so that it doesn't collapse again in the next storm. Old Michal still has a lot of wood lying around in his barn that we could make good use of. But with the amount... I mean, I'd have to see the damage in person to be able to say for sure, eh? But it won't be that cheap, I can tell you that much."
Nami fumbled nervously for the purse in her pocket. Hopefully they weren't asking too much. With the big shopping trip and the cost of medical care for Luffy and Zoro, their budget had been somewhat reduced. "How much do you estimate the costs to be?"
"As I said, it's difficult to say without seeing the damage. ...You said a hole the size of half this wall, eh? Mmmh just with the amount of wood I think we'll need we're looking at at least 40 million berries. And that's assuming old Michal isn't stubborn and sells us the wood at market price, eh?"
Nami swallowed. She suddenly felt very hot. She didn't have that much left anymore.
"40 million berries? That much?" shouted Usopp, who had just dared to come out from under the table, but immediately disappeared under it again when he noticed that everyone was staring at him.
"I um...I only have about 20 million left, I'm afraid." Nami admitted, avoiding the gaze of the men. "But maybe we can repay your service another way. Maybe we can help you deal with that Ildur-guy when he comes back." Nami nervously kneaded her T-shirt. It was daring, but it was the only idea she had. The only thing she could offer them in exchange. For a moment, she had thought about offering them one of Zoro's swords, but she probably wouldn't survive that if Zoro woke up and found out. If he woke up...
"That's kind, but unless you can conjure up the remaining 15 million berries out of thin air, you can't help us," Ulfic said with a tired smile.
"No, no, not help with money. That's not what I mean," Nami took a deep breath. "I mean, we could help you defend against this Blackear guy's gang in exchange for you repairing our ship. Our captain is very strong. He can help you ... drive them away for good."
When Nami looked up, she thought the men's jaws would almost fall off in surprise, so stunned were they staring at her. "Girl, watch what you're saying. Don't talk about things you don't understand, eh," Aron said, crossing his arms over his chest again.
"No offense, young lady, but I don't think this concerns you," Ulfic said in a stern voice. "Besides, we have no interest in escalating the situation."
The man on Ulfic's left side leaned in to his ear again, this time with a soothing tone. "Ulfic, if these kids are part of the crew of the pirate ship with the straw hat flag, then they might belong to that new gang said to have defeated Axe-Hand Morgan. Maybe there really is a chance for us to finally free ourselves with their help."
"That was Luffy, our captain," Nami looked up in surprise at Usopp, who had finally come out of hiding und was standing next to her. "He wants everyone to be okay. Always. He also saved my home from evil pirates, as well as Nami's home. If anyone can help you free yourselves, it's Luffy." Nami nodded in agreement.
With a strange expression on his face, Ulfic examined the two Straw Hat pirates for a moment. Then, he shook his head. "I can't believe I'm doing this, but whatever. If things keep going this way, we won't have anything left to lose soon anyway. Alright. We have a deal."
Nami shook his hand in relief. Thank goodness! They had made it! At least for now. Now all they had to do was explain to Luffy why they had started a war with a gang on this island.