章 9: Part three - Nami 1/4

Infiltrate the pirates? Easily! Wait until they have some great prey? No problem! Of course, because of her excessive beauty, unable to leave anyone indifferent, constant hints and harassment are annoying. However, there is nothing to be done about it, she has such a heavy burden that she had to bear throughout her life, but she has long since put up with it. What's next? Steal the loot? Pfft! It's harder to take away candy from a child! All pirates are stupid to the point! They are not at all like her, so smart and beautiful that she just "ah"! Run away with the loot? It is no longer so simple here, and at this stage, sometimes certain difficulties arose.

For people who themselves constantly steal or take away everything from everyone, pirates were surprisingly greedy bastards! After all, you yourself have just recently stolen the gold you are being stolen, so the question is, where does so much righteous indignation come from? Why not give all the stolen gold to one beautiful, smart, charming, cute and generally excellent and perfect girl in every sense? She really needs it more! True true! Honestly, she is a well-mannered girl, she will not lie. Unfortunately, as already mentioned, all the pirates were insultingly greedy bastards, and in no way wanted to voluntarily part with all their gold. Not that it ever stopped her, but it annoys, annoys ...

- Stop, thief! How dare you deceive our captain ?!

- Do you know what you did ?!

- Stop! Otherwise it will only get worse!

If Nami hadn't been in the process of running away from the pirates shouting after her at that moment, she would definitely have let out a heavy sigh, full of weariness. She had long despaired of understanding why all pirates are so alike. How many she has robbed, and the reactions are always the same. You can say she was tired, and wanted variety. However, all these thoughts did not prevent her from analyzing the current situation, and looking for ways to salvation ... at least conditionally. In fact, Nami had thought of an escape plan, with her prey, even before the theft began. Yes, not one plan, but several at once: otherwise there is nothing in her case. One single mistake can cost too much, where her own life is far from the first place. Again, even if the escape plan is carefully thought out, this does not mean that it cannot be improved, so to speak, in the process of execution. Improvisation is our everything! In this case, there are fewer problems. Especially when you don't need to make any special efforts to improve the plan.

Her quick and involuntary assistant, as it usually happened with them, caught her eye himself. Strong and not particularly law-abiding in appearance, perhaps another bandit or pirate, that is, an ideal choice for a victim ... in the sense of an assistant! She said victims? Assistant, of course! Tall, broad shoulders, remarkable green hair, and a whitish scar that crosses his left closed eye. On the guy's right ear swayed three gold pendants with clips, a dark green robe open on his chest, tied around the waist with a red belt, on which three swords were held at once. A black bandana tied around the left shoulder, black trousers tucked into black boots, a spicy haramaki visible from under the robe. Although, of course, most of all in the newly-minted assistant was attracted by his three swords ... three swords ... For a moment Nami experienced some vague sense of anxiety, but she immediately brushed him off. When a mob of pirates is chasing you, it would be surprising not to feel the slightest disturbance. In the end, anything could happen in life, and even carefully thought out plans had all the chances to fly to hell because of some one, insignificant, trifle ... Actually, this time, this is how it all happened. Although, calling a lost and bored Zoro a trifle is a sure way to heaven.

Nami had no idea who exactly she decided to contact this time. The girl did not even suspect that at the very moment when she saw the swordsman walking towards her and decided to make him her unwitting assistant, her further fate took a sharp turn, rushing in an absolutely incredible direction. And although, in the end, her fate would have made this turn anyway, with her actions she significantly accelerated the originally anticipated events. However, right now, Nami was still blissfully unaware of her imminent future.

- Boss, Boss! - she happily waved her hand, not realizing that, right now, this gesture of her is tantamount to the ritual of invoking the Devil himself. - How glad I am that you are here! A slightly out of breath girl stopped in front of Zoro. "They're chasing me, so I'm counting on you! - And making sure that her pursuers are close enough, she added in a ringing voice: - Boss, I leave them to you! Give them the heat!

And with these words, Nami, giving Zoro a beaming smile, slipped past him and rushed ... well she did rush nowhere. Frozen with a raised leg, instantly pale girl froze in place, afraid to breathe again. Sliding her eyes to the side and up, she saw the indifferent gaze of brown eyes directed at her pursuers. As if the guy did not hold anyone by the throat with his paw, the grip of which, according to her subjective sensations, was much better suited to an iron grip than to a human hand. And yet, any other time she would have tried to immediately chatter the guy who grabbed her, or, in extreme cases, would have tried to escape, but not now. The grip seemed too familiar to her, instantly awakening too many buried memories. Very bad memories. Only for a few seconds, but Nami again felt like a ten-year-old girl, twitching helplessly in the arms of that bastard, Arlong. And those seconds were enough for her pursuers. When she pulled herself together, all paths to salvation were already cut off: she was surrounded. Or would it be more correct to say they were surrounded? The guy who grabbed her was somehow in no hurry to loosen his grip.

- Hey brother, thanks for catching her for us, - the healthiest pursuer said to Zoro.

- Do you think we should really thank him? - another was puzzled.

- Yeah, she called him her Boss, didn't she? - The third asked.

- Then why did he catch her? - The first one reasonably objected.

While a dozen men, taking Zoro and Nami in the ring, enthusiastically fought among themselves, the green-haired swordsman slowly looked around. Weathered sunburned faces, powerful pumped-up figures, sabers in hand, bandanas on their heads, and, most importantly, pirate flag tattoos tattooed on the bare shoulders of some men. Then Zoro squinted at the girl in his hand, and then at the small sack into which she gripped with a death grip. After a little thought, he, continuing to hold her by the throat, slightly lifted her off the ground and, shaking her slightly, lowered her back. The situation immediately cleared up. In a sack, almost equal to the weight of the girl herself, after whom the crowd of pirates so stubbornly ran, there could only be gold. Amendment. Gold stolen from pirates. And given what exactly Zoro had been up to for the past year since he went to sea again, he didn't even have to guess who he had caught.

- "Cat-Thief" Nami, right? - He asked the girl.

Nami's eyes instantly took on a perfectly round shape.

- W-what ?!

- You're Nami, aren't you? "Cat-Thief" that robs pirates, right? - The swordsman asked patiently.

- Um… - she mumbled indistinctly.

Nami began to feverishly figure out who Zoro was and how he could know her name and nickname, and how all this could threaten her. She was especially worried about the mentioned nickname! Under it, she was known among the pirates whom she once robbed. Did she run into her former victim? Moreover, Zoro seemed familiar to her! Or not? Has she ever crossed paths with him at all? And if she did, how did you manage to forget the meeting with such a memorable person? Nami's thoughts ran like crazy. She struggled to analyze all the facts she knew in order to be able to come up with an unambiguously correct answer that would help her stay alive.

She already could not escape, and, having confessed, options appeared. First, and most unlikely, she can be helped. What about? What if she stumbled upon a good Samaritan or an ardent pirate hater like herself? True, as Nami honestly admitted to herself, it sounded like frank delirium even in her own head. Life has never been so generous to her, so where should she start now? The second option was that she was caught by a mercenary who was promised a bounty on her head. The third option was not much different from the second. Its essence was that the swordsman who seized her was somehow connected with the pirates she once robbed. For example, a new team member. Not old anyway! After a moment's thought, she firmly believed that she would never have been able to forget Zoro if she had actually met him in person. As a result, without coming to any one, unequivocally correct conclusion, she decided to take the risk and tell the truth:

- Yes, I'm Nami! - she confessed after a somewhat prolonged pause, sincerely hoping that the unknown swordsman was not ordered to slaughter her on the spot.

Now she could only hope for luck. The first scenario would be ideal, but very unlikely. That is why the girl was preparing for the implementation of either the second or third option. And feverishly pondering what she would do if the swordsman decided to carry out the fourth - the one where she would be killed on the spot. If the swordsman starts pumping the rights to give it to him, then, almost certainly, a mess will begin, and then she could have a good chance to escape. Wouldn't a swordsman fight while holding her by the throat? And so that Zoro began to fight, and did not try to slaughter her on the spot,

Nami decided to add fuel to the fire:

- I have a bag full of gold and it's all yours if you help me! - She blurted out.