บท 7: Chapter 07

Luffy and Zoro argued back and forth until they agreed on their best course of action...which basically involved reaching out as far as they could with their Observation Haki. If they found any human auras, then they found an island. Simple enough. As they wandered around aimlessly for a while just to cover more area, Luffy was the first to sense them. They were faint. 3 auras just a little beyond the horizon. Zoro couldn't sense them yet; his Observation Haki was weaker, but as they got closer he confirmed Luffy's findings.

As the island came into sight, Zoro spoke up. "I still say I had that under control. We just had to keep going left in the end."

Luffy let his blatant disbelief show on his face, not really caring anymore. "You know Zoro, I've been thinking about this for a while, but if we continuously went left, wouldn't we just be going in a circle?"

Zoro scoffed. "As if I'd go in a circle trying to go in a straight line. What do you take me for, Luffy?"

Rather than dignifying this with a response, Luffy instead opted to jump out of the boat, hovering in the air using Geppo as he faced Zoro.

"Try to keep up," Luffy said, grinning as he knew that Zoro could not perform the technique, having never bothered to learn it. He shot off in the direction of the island as Zoro developed a tic over his eye and started rowing furiously.

He reached the town pretty quickly, and Sky Walked around a bit, taking in the sights. He was high enough so that civilians weren't likely to take notice. Then again, he knew this island was the one they were searching for by now, and he also knew that there were more than just civilians in town. As if reacting to this revelation, a cannonball came into his peripheral vision. It was aimed right at him. He could have maneuvered out of the way pretty easily, but he quickly came up with a better idea, a devious smirk adorning his face. This seemed familiar, so if his timing was right…

He took the cannonball head-on and got shot down, landing with a crash onto the ground and making a hole in the pavement. Four witnesses stopped running and looked at his unmoving form, one in curiosity, and three in slight sympathy.

Captain Buggy must have targeted the guy, whoever he was. Well, never mind that. The three armed men turned to the fourth person, who was by no means armed unless you counted the map in her hand. She prepared to run again when the alleged corpse stood up and dusted itself off, attracting their attention again.

"Shoot first, ask questions later, huh? I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from that clown," the man who was very much alive said to himself.

The girl's eyes widened as she immediately recognized him. Now she really couldn't stay. She had enough troublesome people to deal with at the moment.

"Boss!" she shouted with feigned glee. The pirates looked from new arrival to her and back to the new arrival. "You're here," she continued. "Great! Mind taking care of these guys for me? I got the map, so I'll head back to the ship." Luffy watched, amused, as she hastily retreated without giving him time to potentially refute her words. Not that he would. Actually, he was planning on hold her to the statement that he was her boss now. He honestly wasn't surprised that Nami had beaten them here despite the fact that they had left first. She had no doubt gone in an actual straight line to get here. Still, this was pretty lucky.

The pirates quickly rounded on him, completely missing the sharp turn that Nami took as she sprinted behind the houses to their left. "So you're her boss, huh? I guess we can just take you to Captain Buggy, then." Luffy scoffed. "Sorry, I already have an appointment with Big Nose, and I'd rather only make one trip." The pirates looked outraged and slightly fearful at the disrespect the man showed, before falling into unconscious heap on the ground.

Nami climbed one of the rooftops to get a better view of the fight…which was over. The three men had been beaten easily. She smirked. If she could get a monster to fight her battles, why shouldn't she?

"Hey, you!" she called. He looked up at her and she waved. "Nice job down there! You kicked their asses!" She hesitated, then added, "Mind if I treat you to some food? I have a proposition for you!" Luffy nodded in agreement. Despite knowing what this would lead to, he wasn't about to turn down free food.

As Nami led her an abandoned house, Luffy frowned in thought. He knew what he could say to get Nami to join them, but he wanted her to follow him out of loyalty and trust, not out of mutual need, and he didn't even entertain the thought of manipulating her. Taking advantage of what he knew about his future crewmates would make him feel like the scum of the earth. No, Nami needed to follow him out of her own free will and he needed to provide her with a place where she belonged. Anything less would make him no different than Arlong.

So it was with that line of thought that Luffy sat down and resigned himself to the plan that was forming in his mind. It was a reckless plan, but Luffy was a reckless person, and he could hardly imagine that they'd be in any danger even if Nami repeated her exact actions from the previous timeline.

And so far, she was doing just that. The only difference was that she still hadn't told him her name. She suggested that they work together for a while. She had navigational skills he needed, and he could really throw a punch. When Luffy asked if she would join his crew, she hesitated, and said that she would only join temporarily. Satisfied for now, he mentioned that they were pirates. He didn't miss the hardening of her eyes, but she went on as if the information didn't matter.

Her proposition was to infiltrate Buggy's base of operations together and split their treasure 60/40. Luffy found it pretty hilarious that she would suggest an uneven split of the profits when she wasn't actually planning on keeping her end of the bargain. He wondered if that was just thrown in to make it more believable. But that was Nami for you. Cunning, opportunistic, and, taking into account that her plan involved both of them getting away, slightly naïve. But that would change soon enough.

Luffy heard her out and agreed to the plan. Nami didn't tie him up with ropes this time. He briefly wondered why, but quickly dismissed it as Nami recognizing that he wasn't as stupid as he made people believe. But while they walked towards the area that Buggy's crew was occupying, a small grin stretched across Luffy's face as he realized that Nami had adapted to this minor detail, and simply planned to betray him when they got there.

Luffy nearly laughed at the thought of her naïveté as they continued to walk, but caught himself. Nami wasn't stupid. Far from it. Her true problem was that she was blinded by her preconceptions and common sense. She thought ahead, but she didn't account for all the possibilities like, say, Robin did. Something that she didn't account for could really throw a wrench in her plans, even a trivial detail like her not having the strength to carry that much gold.

She also didn't account for the fact that Luffy could beat the crap out of Buggy's crew while tied up and blindfolded, but that couldn't really be expected of her. A few pirates took notice of them as they walked into the plaza, and signaled their captain. Buggy showed up and looked at them with no small amount of hostility. This was the bitch that stole their map and that annoying boss of hers. When his henchman had returned and made their report, Buggy had refrained from flaying them alive, deciding to save it for the thieves. They were certainly making this easy, though.