Journey to Raftel Chapter 3 (Patreon)

This was a Tier Reward, friends and fans! The Muse took me and I was able to just write this out! Amazing!

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Journey to Raftel! Sailing for Orange Town! Whom will we find there? I think you know! Is the Clown in any way prepared for what is coming? What about after the fact? The crew will be sailing for their next destination and thigs have already changed so much. Maybe something else will change too?

If you’d like to become a patron and get access to these chapters earlier, just head on over to Pat re on and add a /Kairomaru after the com.

Make sure to thank the patrons that make these stories possible by checking out the Patron Plaque on my profile!

So without further delay, please enjoy.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 3 – Orange Town, Buggy, Trust

“We’re making good time.” Nami smiled as she compared her map to where she’d determined their position to be. “That wind ability of yours is coming in handy, Luffy.”

“No problem, Nami.” Luffy grinned back as he shrank his staff down and put it back in his barrel of possessions. Whenever the winds died down naturally, Luffy would pull out his staff, return it to full size, and then conjure enough wind to fill their sails and keep them sailing at top speed.

They were just over a day out from Shells Town and making better time thanks to Luffy. They’d probably arrive in Orange Town tomorrow between late morning and early afternoon. Zoro was inside the cabin, napping, as there wasn’t much to do on the fishing boat they’d received. Luffy was amusing himself by balancing on only his tail. Nami would check their course at regular intervals and spend the rest of her time either chatting with Luffy or looking through her stash of Beri from the trip.

“100,000… 200,000… 300,000…” Nami counted out the Beri in stacks of ten. The highest denomination Beri bill was 10,000. Stacking ten together and counting by the hundred-thousand was the easiest way to total it up. “900,000… 1,000,000… 1,100,000…” She was wrapped up in her counting and didn’t really pay attention to Luffy moving towards her. The straw-hatted man was quiet as he placed his tail behind Nami and then used it to support his full weight. Now he was sitting just over her head and looking down at Nami counting her Beri. “9,900,000… 10,000,000… 10,100,000…” Luffy stifled his snickers as he waited for Nami to finish counting and notice him. It was a harmless prank, but it would alleviate his boredom for a bit. “11,300,000… 11,400,000… 11,500,000… That’s great, over ten percent in this trip and I haven’t even been gone a month.” She whispered to herself.

“Why do you need 100,000,000 Beri, Nami?” Luffy questioned curiously.

“Aaahhh!” Nami whirled around and slapped Luffy in panic.

“Ow!” Luffy rubbed his cheek. “What was that for?”

“You startled me!” Nami pointed at him angrily, her teeth appearing sharp.

“I just wanted to surprise you,” Luffy pouted at her. “Then you said something about your Beri being over ten percent and I got curious.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Nami turned away and gathered up her money. “You don’t need to know.”

“Is this the thing you have to do before you can join my crew permanently?” Luffy inquired curiously as he sat cross-legged in the air, still only supported by his tail.

“Just drop it, Luffy.” Nami refused to look at him.

“But you’re my nakama, Nami,” Luffy looked at her back confused. “If you need help, you just have to ask.”

Nami bit her lip to keep herself from reacting. Why did he have to care so much? They’d only known each other for a few days!

“Well, I guess our crew has its first goal then, getting 100,000,000 Beri for you.” Luffy shrugged to himself only to jerk backwards slightly as Nami whirled around with a look of shock on her face.

“What do you mean?! Do you know how much 100,000,000 is?!” Nami yelled at him, her face a mix of emotions. “I’ve spent the last eight years of my life stealing, saving, and scrimping just to gather almost 80,000,000! You can say that so easily because you don’t know how hard it is to get that much!”

“So is that 80,000,000 with or without what you have right now?” Luffy blinked at her outburst. He didn’t like seeing Nami like this, a mixture of angry, sad, and desperate. It wasn’t right in his eyes. He looked over at his barrel of possessions.

“What does it matter to…you…?” Nami trailed off as she followed his line of sight to his barrel of possessions. “No…you…you wouldn’t really.” She shook her head back and forth slowly, her orange hair swaying with the motion. Seeing her reddish-brown eyes welling up with tears, Luffy moved over to Nami and pulled her into a hug. Nami didn’t think, she just wrapped her arms around Luffy and cried. The orangette poured out all of her pain, frustration, anger, sadness, and desperation into Luffy’s red vest.

Luffy said nothing as he held Nami. He let her cry into his vest as he rubbed her back and wrapped his tail around her. The orangette had been holding this back for a long time, probably. It would be for the best that she was allowed to cry and get her emotions out. As Nami held onto him for several minutes, Luffy offered her his support without words. Only when Nami’s tears became quiet sniffles did Luffy speak again.

“I would, Nami, you’re my nakama.” Luffy assured her again.

“But you don’t even know what it’s for…” Nami mumbled into his chest.

“It’s important to you and that’s all that matters.” Luffy’s simple response made Nami briefly hug him tighter.

“It’s to buy back my village,” Nami spoke up, still in his arms. “I can buy back the village and all of our lives if I give him 100,000,000 Beri all at once.”

“Who?” Luffy pulled back to look Nami in the eye. He didn’t like seeing them all red and bloodshot from tears. They looked better when she was happy.

“Arlong…” Nami growled out the name of the person she hated most in the world.

“The fish guy?” Luffy tilted his head as he remembered one of the biggest names in the East Blue. “He’s got a 20,000,000 Beri Bounty, right?”

“That’s him,” Nami practically spat. “Arlong ‘The Saw’, a Fishman Pirate that took over the Conomi Archipelago when I was only eight.”

“So he wants 100,000,000 Beri for your village?” Luffy got a nod in response. “How much do you have now?”

“With what I’ve collected on this trip so far, I have about 80,000,000 in total.” Nami exhaled heavily.

“Hmm, I can cover the rest, but are you really sure he’ll keep his word?” Luffy looked her dead in the eye. His eyes were glowing with the golden light of his ‘Fiery-eyes Golden-gaze’ ability.

“He…he’s never broken a deal about money before…” Nami spoke even as her hands fisted into his vest. His eyes told him she was lying, but he could’ve figured that out on his own. She wasn’t lying to him, but she was lying to herself. “He’ll honor our agreement.”

“But he’ll come back and do it all again, won’t he?” Luffy figured out the most likely scenario this Arlong would employ to honor his agreement without giving up anything.

“…probably.” Nami admitted after several seconds of silence. She’d long suspected that Arlong had some kind of loophole to get around their deal. But she had nothing else to hold onto for hope. Not until now.

“So what do you want to do, Nami?” Luffy asked her with the most serious look she’d seen on his face since they’d met. “Do you want to pay him and hope he leaves?” He stood up, unwrapping his arms and tail from Nami, and walked over to his barrel of possessions.

He removed the top and reached into the barrel with his right hand. What he pulled out was a small chest. He put the lid to the barrel back on and moved over to the still sitting Nami. He held the chest out to her and then opened the lid. What sat inside was a fruit that had the shape of a pineapple. That’s where the similarities ended though. It was covered in red swirl markings, was dirt brown on the bottom and black on the upper two-thirds, the crown of leaves at the top weren’t even green, but a mixture of red, orange, and yellow. It sort of looked like pictures Nami had seen of an erupting volcano, just in the shape of a pineapple.

“Or do you want to fight and take back your village yourself?” Luffy questioned as he held the chest open for her.

“Luffy is that…?” Nami’s sharp mind quickly deduced what she was looking at. What Luffy was offering to her freely, with only his desire to help her, nearly brought Nami to tears again.

“It’s a Devil Fruit that I’ve had for a long time.” Luffy confirmed for her. “It was the one of the first treasures that I ever acquired.”

“Y-you can’t just offer me this, Luffy.” Nami shook her head as her hands clenched on her orange skirt. “No one is this nice…no one…”

“I’m nice to those that deserve it.” Luffy reminded her with a grin, bringing her memory back to when she’d called him out after helping Coby.

Nami met his gaze for several seconds, her eyes searching his. She saw nothing but acceptance in his dark eyes. Slowly, she reached into the chest and picked up the Devil Fruit. She looked over the fruit again, noting how bizarre it looked and wondering how anyone could mistake one of these for a regular fruit of any kind. She brought it up to her lips slowly. Nami knew the legends of the Devil Fruit. Most people had heard the tales. Once she did this there was no going back, she’d never be able to swim again. She’d sink like an anchor for the rest of her life. All to gamble on what power this fruit held within it. Throwing away all worry and doubt, she took a large bite of the fruit and chewed it.

“Mmmnnrrrggghhh!” Nami nearly wretched as she chewed the flesh of the Devil Fruit! It was so horrible! Like ash, dirt, and rock on the tongue, mixed with an intense and equally horrific spiciness! No wonder it was called a Devil Fruit! Only a devil could come up with something so utterly revolting! She swallowed it down half-chewed and gagged. Coughing and hacking at the horrible taste, she glared at the fruit in her hands.

“Oh, yeah, sorry, forgot to warn you that they’re the worst-tasting things in the world.” Luffy looked sheepishly at the disgusted look on Nami’s face. Seeing Nami going in for another bite, he stopped her. “You only need a single bite; you don’t have to eat the whole thing.”

“Oh thank the Gods!” Nami threw the Devil Fruit as far as she could off the boat. It splashed into the waves and then sank quickly.

“Shishishishi!” Luffy chuckled at her outburst. “Now we just have to figure out what your power is.”

“How do I do that?” Nami looked to him for instruction.

“No idea,” Luffy shrugged, making her eye twitch at his response. “My fruit was a Zoan, so I kinda just felt it out with instinct. I’m not sure how to make a Paramecia work, or Logia either. At least I’m pretty sure that’s what Grandpa called the other two types.”

“Should’ve known this wouldn’t be easy.” Nami sighed with her hand on her forehead. “Well, we don’t know that my Fruit wasn’t a Zoan…so I guess I’ll try ‘feeling it out’ like you described it.”

“Good idea!” Luffy pounded his right fist into his left palm with a smile.

For the next few minutes, Nami leaned against the cabin wall and tried to feel anything different. She thought of many things, her mind flitting from one topic to the next. She wanted to figure this power out. It would be useless if she couldn’t use it! She just wanted to finally change the status quo in her life, was that so wrong?! She felt a heat within as her thoughts focused on changing things. Was this what Luffy had meant about feeling it out? Nami mentally grabbed at the heat she felt and willed it to come out into the open!

“Whoa! Nami that’s cool!” Luffy clapped at the change the woman had gone through before his eyes.

“Huh?” Nami blinked only to notice flames licking at her skin from where her hair was. She swiped at the flames, but realized that they didn’t burn her at all. They merely felt warm to the touch. “What in the world?” She quickly stood up and looked over the side of the boat to see her reflection in the water. “Is my hair on fire?!”

“Yep!” Luffy nodded without a care in the world. He rummaged in his barrel of possessions for a second, putting the small chest back inside, he pulled out a small mirror and showed it to Nami.

Nami took the mirror from Luffy and gazed at herself. Her orange locks were interspersed with actual flames! Her hair wasn’t burning, but seemingly producing fire! Her reddish-brown eyes had turned a bright yellow, seeming to glow with power. With a desire to see more, Nami pushed her power further. The wind began to pick up and Luffy looked around at the sudden change. The orangette began to let off an immense heat, a haze forming around her. Her skin took on a tanned complexion and then literal lava began to form from her body!

“Uh, Nami, the boat is going to burn!” Luffy warned her warily as the heat and flames increased when she fully transformed. The wood around Nami was starting to turn black and smoke was rising from it.

“Huh?” Nami blinked her yellow eyes before realizing what she was doing simply by standing still while transformed. “Sorry!” She yelped and just like that she reverted to her normal state. The heat and flames vanished and a shake of her arms cast the remaining lava droplets into the sea. “What was that? I was still human, right?”

“Hmm, I thought Zoans were supposed to be animals?” Luffy looked perplexed, but Nami had clearly transformed into some other kind of being. So it had to be a Zoan, right?

“I mean, technically Humans are still animals.” Nami looked at her hands, remembering the flames that had flowed over her skin without pain. “I’ve never heard of a human producing fire or lava though.”

“You messed with the wind too!” Luffy offered with a smile. “It suddenly changed and shifted when you transformed all the way.”

“So that’s fire, lava, and wind that my power produces or affects?” Nami looked more perplexed at the information. “What the hell did I turn into?”

“Not sure, but you still looked like you. Or your body shape didn’t change at least.” Luffy noted of Nami’s power. Aside from the flame-producing hair, the bright yellow-eyes, and the tanned skin, she’d still looked like Nami.

“Oh?” Nami raised a delicate eyebrow at Luffy. “Paying attention to my body are you, Luffy?” She wasn’t going to let an opportunity to tease slip past her. She was on a bit of an emotional high at the moment from all that had happened in the last hour. “Do you like what you see?” Nami put her hands behind her head and struck a pose to flaunt her curves.

“Yes.” Luffy answered with a smile. So simply and factually that Nami couldn’t help but grin. It was such an honest response that it carried no lecherous undertones, just a simple statement of fact.

“I’m glad,” Nami smiled at him with her eyes half-lidded. “You’ve done so much for me, Luffy. I can’t help but feel like you deserve a reward.” She sauntered over to him with a grin, placed her hands on his chest, and leaned against him. This time when she felt his tail wrap around her waist she merely grinned at him.

“Uh…am I interrupting something?” Zoro questioned with his hand still on the doorknob to the cabin door. He’d clearly stopped mid-step upon seeing the two of them embracing.

“Maybe?” Luffy replied as he looked at the swordsman.

“Yes.” Nami was far more direct as she shot a glare at Zoro.

“…sorry?” Zoro apologized only for it to be waved away by a chuckling Luffy.

The trio went back to lounging around on the deck as they continued to sail towards Orange Town. Nami was leaning back against Luffy’s chest, both his arms and his tail lazily wrapped around her waist. She was trying to get a hang of her Devil Fruit while they had nothing better to do. Zoro was the look out and was passing the time by doing arm curls with the small anchor as his dumbbell.

“If I only transform part of the way, then I shouldn’t burn anything, I think.” Nami looked thoughtful as she felt out her new power again. “But that means getting up and I’m comfortable~” She laid her head back onto Luffy’s left shoulder with a grin.

“Shishishishi, no problem Nami, just give me a second.” Luffy made an odd gesture with his hand. Some of his fingers were extended and some were curled, but what caught Zoro and Nami’s attention was that Luffy’s body was covered by a red aura for a moment before it faded from sight. “It’s fine now, practice all you want.”

“What was that, Luffy?” Nami looked curious about this new ability.

“Fire Avoidance Charm, keeps me from being burned by any type of fire or heat.” Luffy explained with a grin.

“Is there any power you don’t have?” Nami giggled as she let her partial transformation take over. Her hair flowed as flames emerged and harmlessly licked at Luffy’s exposed skin and his red vest. She began to experiment with calling up small amounts of fire into her hands to start. If she wanted to fight and take back her home from Arlong, she needed to get control of her Devil Fruit power.

It was the next day before the trio’s leisurely sailing was interrupted. It was Luffy on watch this time and the first thing he noticed was the black sail with the Jolly Roger on it. It looked vaguely familiar to him too.

“Pirate vessel, off the starboard side!” Luffy called down from the top of the small cabin. “The Jolly Roger is kinda familiar, but I can’t place it.”

“Hmm?” Zoro picked up Luffy’s bound stack of Wanted Posters and flipped through it. “Here it is…Buggy the Clown; he’s got a 15,000,000 Beri Bounty. That must be a scout boat or something for the main ship.”

“I’ll go see what’s up!” Luffy grinned and cleared the entire distance to the other boat in a single leap.

“That will never, not be weird.” Zoro shook his head.

“That’s only a fraction too, since he didn’t even go into his Hybrid Form.” Nami reminded the green-haired man with a chuckle.

-Buggy Scout Ship-

“What the hell?!” One of the pirates cried out.

“How’d you do that?!” The second pirate demanded.

“Shishishishi, don’t worry about it!” Luffy smiled widely at the three pirates in the boat.

“This is Captain Buggy’s turf! We'll be taking all your valuables. So hand them over now!” The apparent ‘leader’ ordered as the three pirates pulled out weapons.

“Turf? You mean he’s set up on an island around here now?” Luffy cocked his head to the side. “He must be pretty confident if he’s staying in one place for so long.”

“Captain Buggy has more power than any mere run of the mill pirate!” The leader of the three smirked. “With it, our crew is going to sail for the Grand Line and plunder all of the treasures there!”

“That’s interesting, but I don’t recognize any of you, are you just grunts without a bounty?” Luffy questioned the three, not even realizing that he was insulting the pirates to their collective faces.

“What’d you just say?!” The pirate on the left demanded as he brandished a saber.

“I don’t think this fool realizes who he’s messing with!” The pirate on the right pointed his pistol at Luffy.

“His funeral!” The leader agreed as he pointed his cutlass at Luffy.

“Well, from where I’m standing, it looks like you three have something that I do want.” Luffy grinned as he spotted a wooden chest sitting against the wall of the small cabin the pirate boat had. It was actually fairly similar in design to their fishing boat.

“Where are you looking, fool?!” The pirate with the saber lunged forward. He was rewarded with a back fist to the face as he went flying overboard.

“Bastard!” The pistol-wielding pirate cursed as he pulled the trigger. The shot missed entirely as Luffy was no longer there. The pirate screamed as Luffy picked him up by the scruff of his shirt and tossed him dozens of meters away and into the drink.

“W-Wh-What the h-hell are y-you?!” The leader was backed up against the cabin door and fumbling for the knob.

“An Adventurer!” Luffy grinned as the pirate finally found the handle to the cabin door and fell inside in his haste to get away. With a chuckle, Luffy picked up the chest and noted its weight. “I’m taking this, thanks!” Luffy leapt powerfully from the pirate vessel. His jump was so strong that the boat cracked nearly in half from the force. That was entirely on purpose and Luffy laughed as he rocketed back toward his boat. A quick summoning of a ‘Somersault Cloud’ below his feet to slow him down, and Luffy landed gently on the deck of their boat. “Nami, I got you a present!”

“That was quick.” Zoro noted how fast Luffy had dealt with the, now sinking, pirate vessel.

“Shishishishi!” Luffy snickered as he showed Nami the chest.

“Thank you, Captain~” Nami purred out Luffy’s Title while giving him a seductive gaze. “You’re going to spoil me at this rate.”

“Lovebirds.” Zoro rolled his eyes as he took over the lookout position.

“Now let’s see what we’ve got here!” Opening the chest Nami’s eyes turned into Beri Symbols as gold, jewelry, and even stacks of large denomination Beri bills were piled inside. “Score!” She cheered as she started sorting through it with a happy giggle.

“Glad you like it.” Luffy chuckled as he sat behind the laughing orangette. He grinned as she leaned back against him. Nami took all of the stacks of cash and started counting them. She hummed in contentment when she felt Luffy’s arms and tail wrap around her waist again. As she counted, Nami was also sorting the bills by value. Luffy kept up for a while and was surprised at the amount the small scout boat had managed to acquire. “I’ll start checking the treasure.” He picked up a golden trinket and activated his ‘Fiery-eyes Golden-gaze’ to check whether it was real or not.

“Thank you, Luffy.” Nami turned her head and kissed his cheek without a thought. It had just felt natural to do so and she went with that feeling.

“No problem, Nami.” Luffy smiled as he blinked and put the trinket into what would become the ‘real’ pile.

“Those morons had a nice haul for such a small ship. Just over 800,000 in Beri notes and this gold and jewelry should be roughly 1,500,000 give or take a bit.” Nami commented on their new spoils with a grin. “We should put it with the rest of the money I guess.” She moved to get up only to be held slightly tighter by Luffy. His left arm left her waist and pulled a single hair from his head. In a puff of smoke a second Luffy appeared. The clone took the chest of counted and organized treasure into the cabin where the rest was kept. Nami laughed at Luffy using his power for such a simple task, just so he didn’t have to let go of her. With a grin on her lips she snuggled back into his chest and hummed in approval when she felt his arms and tail tighten gently around her waist.

“Seems strange for such a small boat to have so much treasure; doesn’t it?” Zoro remarked a minute or two later.

“It does, but those three back there did say that Buggy had established this area as his turf.” Luffy informed his nakama with a shrug.

“That means he’s sticking around on an island nearby.” Zoro noted with a thoughtful look on his face.

“According to the map, the only island in these waters is the one that Orange Town is supposed to be on…shit.” Nami groused as she realized that their destination had probably been taken over by the Buggy Pirates.

“Maybe they were retrieving a buried treasure stash for Buggy instead?” Luffy mused on the treasure he’d taken for Nami and the crew.

“Regardless, if a 15,000,000 Beri Bounty is just going to sit still in one place, it’d be a shame to pass it up, right?” Zoro smirked at his new Captain.

“Shishishishi, yep, let’s keep going!” Luffy chuckled brightly. “Nami can get some practice with her Devil Fruit while we’re there.”

“I’m not sure I’m ready to fight just yet, Luffy.” Nami mentioned as she lay against him.

“We’ll have you fight the grunts then, they shouldn’t pose much of a challenge.” Luffy assured her with a confident smile.

“Maybe,” Nami sighed, feeling all too comfortable in her current spot. Like a cat lazing about in the sunlight coming in through a window.

“Huh, aside from Buggy only two of his men have Bounties and neither of them is impressive.” Zoro mentioned as he looked at the three Wanted Posters. “Cabaji ‘the Acrobat’ sits at 3,500,000 Beri and Mohji ‘the Lion Tamer’ is at an even 3,000,000 Beri.”

“Well, we’ll build up our money a bit more before heading to the Gecko Islands for a ship then.” Luffy shrugged from his spot leaned up against the edge of the boat with Nami in his lap.

It was a few hours later, just after noon, when Nami spotted land. After consulting her map and determining that this was the island they were looking for, the three Adventurers prepared to dock. They secured their belongings and money, tying the barrels and the chest together so they could be moved as one unit. When they sailed into the harbor, they quickly noted the large ship docked there. Heavily modified, the Carrack had four masts and was painted with various circus designs. It actually looked like someone had set up a circus tent on the ship and the Jolly Roger flying from the masts let everyone know whose ship this was.

“Looks like they did set up shop here.” Zoro mentioned making Luffy and Nami nod in agreement. Carrying their possessions with them, the three set out into the town proper and quickly noticed its abandoned state. Not a single person remained in the town at all. Several of the buildings clearly showed signs of having been broken into and ransacked.

“There’s not a single person in this whole town.” Nami muttered, her face turning grim. “You don’t think they’re all…”

“If they are this Buggy guy won’t live to see tomorrow!” Luffy promised with a growl, getting Zoro and Nami to jerk their heads towards him. The look on Luffy’s face was one of pure rage, nothing like his everyday cheerful look at all. “I don’t mind taking a thirty percent cut to his bounty.”

“Well, let’s see if we can find anyone before we jump to conclusions.” Nami advised as they walked down a street. “Since we made such good time here thanks to Luffy’s wind ability, we didn’t have to worry about running out of provisions.” She still shot the straw-hatted young man a look for all the extra food she’d prevented him from sneaking during their voyage to Orange Town.

Luffy, wisely, faced the opposite direction and tried to whistle innocently.

They were walking down a long road when they came across a white dog sitting in front of a store. The sign on the building read ‘Pet Food’ and the small dog stared at the three of them sharply. Not sure what to make of the lone dog, the three looked between each other.

“Hey, who are you people?” A fairly old man with glasses and puffy hair asked. The old man had brown leather armor strapped to his body over a yellow shirt and a shoddily made spear strapped across his back.

“Who are you, old guy?” Luffy cocked his head to the side, completely ignoring that the old man had asked him first.

“I'm Mayor Boodle! I'm the village chief!” Boodle answered before turning to look at the dog and the store it sat in front of. “I came by to feed Chouchou.”

“Why is he over here by himself?” Luffy questioned since everyone else in town had apparently fled. Boodle’s head lowered as he told the three all about how his friend had been the owner of the store before he’d gotten sick. After finding out that Chouchou’s owner had passed away, Nami couldn’t help but speak up.

“But why hasn’t anyone told Chouchou that his owner isn’t coming back?” Nami questioned the old Mayor.

“We have, Chouchou knows my friend isn’t returning. But this store was their dream; it’s a precious treasure to them both. Chouchou won’t leave it.” Boodle explained getting an understanding nod from Luffy.

“Oh the poor thing, he's hurt.” Nami gasped noticing the various injuries on the small dog, partially hidden by his fur.

“The Pirates come here occasionally; trying to take food from the store, they have a massive lion with them. Chouchou tries to fight them off.” Boodle growled as his fists clenched until his knuckles turned white.

“You're a good boy, aren't you? You keep protecting your treasure!” Luffy encouraged the small dog, getting a bark in return. Nami couldn't help but smile at Luffy petting Chouchou. He seemed to understand the small dog’s feelings quite well.

A loud boom went off and startled the group. They all watched as an entire row of houses was blown apart and the massive amount of dust and debris that was kicked up. After the noise had stopped reverberating in the air and the dust had cleared a bit they could see the extent of the damage.

“What the hell was that?!” Nami exclaimed, seeing the devastation left behind.

“It’s that damned cannon of theirs!” Boodle roared out at seeing more of his home destroyed by the Buggy Pirates. “It’s got some kind of special, red cannonball that is much stronger than normal. They’ve been using our town to test it!”

“Wait…” Zoro held out his arm with his index finger extended. He traced a line through the devastated area and grimaced at where his finger pointed. “I don’t think the houses were their target.”

Luffy leapt straight upwards to check if Zoro’s assumption was correct. When he hit the apex of his jump he looked towards the docks. Seeing the entire pier that their boat had been moored at gone, Luffy growled as he dropped back to the ground. “I’m going to beat him even harder now.” Luffy promised with anger. “There was still food on our boat!”

“That’s not the problem here.” Nami face-palmed. Trust Luffy to get angry at the wrong thing.

The quartet started as they heard something huge stomping through the streets. Turning, they spotted an absolutely massive lion that had green fur and a purple mane. It was far larger than any average beast. It stood almost as tall as a man at the shoulder. Its’ fangs and claws were larger than knives and it rumbled threateningly at the four people and one dog in front of it.

A man with what looked like white fur covering his body was riding on the lion’s back. Oddly enough, he appeared to be wearing a weird furry hat that went around his chin with teddy bear ears on top.

“You shouldn't have bit me, you damn mongrel! I’ll burn that damned store to the ground right in front of you!” The man yelled out as he and the lion stopped in front of the group. “Eh, who the hell are all of you?” He demanded looking over the group. “It doesn’t matter; appearing in my way was a fatal mistake! I'm Mohji, the Beast Tamer of the Buggy Pirates! Kill them Richie!” The lion roared and swung a huge paw at Luffy but it was stopped with a single raised hand.

“That store is Chouchou's treasure.” Luffy glared, as the man and the lion started to sweat. The pair had never met someone capable of stopping the lion’s power. “You weird-eared bastard!”

“This is my hair you jackass!” Mohji yelled back a vein pulsing on his forehead.

“Why don’t you burn instead, bastard!” Nami roared as her eyes glowed yellow and flames escaped her hair. With a swing of her arm, a blast of flames was released. The torrent of fire passed straight down the length of the street. Both Mohji and Richie disappeared within the blaze before Nami quickly reined in her temper so as not to set what was left of Orange Town on fire.

“Damn,” Zoro whistled at the power that Nami had unleashed.

The road they were on was blackened from the flames, the cobblestones letting off wisps of smoke. Halfway down the street lay the burned forms of Richie and Mohji. No one could tell if the two were still breathing from this distance. Boodle’s jaw was nearly on the ground so he probably wasn’t going to be asking any questions until he fixed that.

“Did I…did I just kill him?” Nami blinked at what she’d just done.

“I’ll check,” Luffy jumped the distance easily and checked over the man and lion. “They’re still breathing!” He yelled back to his nakama.

“Good, we’ll get the full bounty if he’s alive.” Zoro nodded to Nami.

“That wasn’t really what I was worried about, Zoro.” Nami glared lightly at the swordsman.

“What in the world are you youngsters?” Boodle finally managed to speak after what he’d just seen.

“We’re Adventurers!” Luffy declared as he landed back in front of the group. “We’re here to collect the bounty on Buggy the Clown and turn in his crew.”

“So you’re like Bounty Hunters then?” Boodle questioned for clarification.

“Sort of, but that’s only part of it.” Luffy was about to explain his Adventuring Crew to the old man before Zoro stopped him.

“Later, Captain, we’ve still got the rest of the pirates to deal with.” Zoro reminded while motioning towards where the cannon fire had come from.

“I'm done with this!” Boodle declared loudly at seeing these youngsters stepping up to fight the Buggy Pirates. “I can’t stand it anymore!” The old man started to shake from his fury. “Over forty years ago, I was forced to abandon my village when pirates came and destroyed it! We were all forced to watch as our homes and lives burned! But we persevered! We sailed here and started to rebuild and Orange Town has only grown since then! What right do these damned pirates have to come and ruin all of our work! To stomp on all of our hopes and dreams?!”

“I get that, old man.” Luffy nodded, getting a raised eyebrow from Zoro while Nami’s eyes widened. “But sometimes, it's better to rely on friends. You and Chouchou should go round up the rest of the townspeople. This won’t take too long.” He assured as he started walking towards the only part of town that wasn’t silent, Zoro and Nami quickly followed after.

“Can you watch our stuff, Mayor?” Nami called back as she followed Luffy and Zoro.

“Um, yes, alright!” Boodle nodded as he looked over the tied together barrels and the chest that was secured on top. He had no idea how they were carrying around such a thing. It looked incredibly heavy.

The noise and music coming from the large tavern could only have been caused by the Buggy Pirates. The pirate crew was apparently still celebrating their takeover of Orange Town. Why they felt the need to blow the town apart bit by bit escaped Luffy though. Zoro had seen his fair share of sadistic pirates while bounty hunting over the last few years and wasn’t too surprised by the Buggy Pirates’ behavior. Nami nearly ground her teeth, having seen such wanton destruction every time Arlong lost his temper and destroyed a village on one of the Conomi Islands.

“Look at them, partying like destroying people’s lives is something to celebrate.” Nami growled before she looked at Luffy. “I’m taking everything they have. There won’t be a single Beri left when I’m done.”

“You should leave a bit of it for the townspeople, so that they can rebuild afterwards.” Luffy replied as he stared up at the roof of the tavern where the party was taking place. Nami quickly agreed to that suggestion. He had a point; these people would need money to rebuild their homes after this was all over.

“So how do we want to do this?” Zoro questioned his nakama. He didn’t have much experience working in a group.

“Well, let’s get their attention.” Luffy chuckled before pulling his shortened staff from the belt loop on the left side of his shorts. With a quick spin it had returned to its normal length. A split second later and it was well over thirty meters long. With a manic grin, Luffy swung the staff downward with the full strength of his Hybrid Form. The tavern was split into two clean sections from the strike and the resounding crashes of everything that had been split by the staff falling to the floor followed. The Buggy Pirates went into a confused panic for a moment before their Captain stepped out of a tent and barked at them to calm down. The man had blue hair, an orange captain’s hat and coat, a red and white striped shirt, light green pants, and pointy clown shoes. His most notable feature was the large, bright-red nose on his face.

“Who the hell are these flashy bastards?!” The Pirate Captain roared angrily, staring down at the trio on the street.

“Who told you that those colors go together?” Nami cringed at the sheer clashing of the man’s colorful outfit.

“These flashy nobodies come in and ruin my party. Then they insult my clothes to my face. I'm so mad I can barely speak.” The clown's face was a rictus of rage as he clenched his fists.

“Captain, how about I go down there and teach these fools a lesson?” A man with long dark hair asked. He wore white pants and shoes with no shirt. He had a large, long, white-and-blue checkered scarf wrapped around his neck though.

“Hey! You stupid clown! Get your dumb, red nose down here so I can flatten it!” Luffy yelled out before Buggy had a chance to respond to his subordinate. Every single member of Buggy's crew suddenly had wide eyes and sweat began to run down their faces. Buggy trembled for a moment, his own jaw clenched so tight you could almost hear his teeth grinding.

“Fire the Buggy Ball! Fire!” Buggy roared out, sending spittle flying from his anger. A cannon was rolled over to the edge of the rooftop and aimed at Luffy. It fired a moment later with a thunderous boom.

“Luffy! Get out of the way!” Nami panicked as she dove for safety while Zoro stared at his captain in disbelief. Did Luffy think he could take a blast like the one that had leveled all of those houses?!

“Cannonball?” Luffy laughed as he raised his hand and snatched the red, metal ball out of the air. “You think this little thing will work? My Grandpa threw rocks bigger than this at me for training! He threw them a lot faster too!”

“What the hell is this flashy bastard?!” Buggy screamed as his eyes bulged out in shock.

“Here, you can have this back!” Luffy grinned and with a strong pitch threw the red cannonball back at the Buggy Pirates. The explosion was even louder than the one they had heard earlier. The entire tavern collapsed from the force of the blast ending up as a heap of broken wood and stone.

“Luffy, you moron!” Nami yelled as she grabbed him by the front of his red vest and started shaking him back and forth. “Don’t you ever worry me like that again, Mister!” The concern in her gaze was still clear, despite the agitation that was mixed with it.

“Sorry Nami.” Luffy apologized as he scratched his cheek sheepishly. He didn’t mean to make her worry. To him that cannonball was more like a toy than a weapon.

“Also…what would you do if their treasure happened to be up there?” Nami questioned with a smile that unnerved Luffy.

“Umm, sorry?” Luffy grinned nervously at the fiery Navigator.

“Idiot…” Nami sighed at him before flicking his nose.

“After all of the crazy shit I’ve seen you do, that really shouldn’t have been surprising.” Zoro shook his head with a chuckle. Luffy laughed along with him as the dust and smoke began to clear.

“Nami, you're up first. I don’t think I took them all out with their own cannonball.” Luffy pushed her forward a little bit.

“Alright, I get it, but you better help me if I get in over my head!” Nami fluidly assembled her staff from the pieces she kept hidden beneath her skirt.

“You won’t need that.” Luffy somehow plucked the staff out of her hands before Nami could react. “This is about practicing with your Devil Fruit, remember? I’m confident that you’re great with this staff, but you need practical experience with your Devil Fruit if you want to get better.”

“What if I lose control?” Nami questioned him, worried that she might inadvertently set the entire town ablaze with her new power.

“I’ll step in and calm you down, don’t worry, Nami!” Luffy encouraged her with a wide smile. “If you’re worried about collateral damage, then focus on controlling your power, don’t just let it all out at once.”

“Look at these flashy punks, acting like they aren't afraid of us.” Buggy was revealed holding up two of his burned crewman with disembodied hands. His handless arms were crossed in front of him, while his hands were floating freely.

“He has a Devil Fruit!” Nami exclaimed as she saw the clown-themed pirate’s power.

“What the hell are you doing, you bastards?!” Luffy roared angrily. “How could you use your nakama as shields like that?!” The pirates ignored his question entirely.

“This is the biggest humiliation our crew has ever faced, Captain Buggy.” The black-haired man was holding yet another crewmate, a rather fat one, in front of him as his shield. The rest of the crew that weren't unconscious roared in agreement as they all pulled out various weapons; clubs, swords, knives, and even a few pistols. The clown-themed pirates raised their weapons in the air while roaring out their battle cries.

Luffy seethed at the Buggy Pirates. He was sorely tempted to take them all out himself now, but he knew Nami would need this experience. His Navigator needed to learn all that she could about her Devil Fruit powers. Fighting these weak pirates that weren’t even able to gain bounties would be good practice for her.

“Don’t worry, Nami, I’ll jump in if anything goes wrong. I won’t let them hurt you.” Luffy grinned. “Once we’re all finished up here, we can take their treasure and then drag them all in for a big payday!” Nami’s eyes turned into Beri Symbols and Luffy cracked up at the smile she had on her face.

“What do you mean our treasure, you flashy thieves?!” Buggy roared with his bloodshot eyes bulging out of his head.

With a roar, the pirates charged forward and Nami tapped into her Devil Fruit again. Her hair alighted with fire and her eyes were a radiant yellow as she gazed at the men. Several of the pirates skidded to a halt at seeing what was obviously a Devil Fruit power. In their panic, Nami raised her right hand, her palm facing the pirates. A blast of flame roared from her hand and engulfed them all. Screams could barely be heard over the fire and Nami quickly cut off her power.

“Damn it!” Nami cursed at the blast she’d let off. “That was way more than I wanted!” The dozen or so, severely burned, men wouldn’t be fighting for the foreseeable future.

“You didn’t burn anything else though!” Luffy praised her with a wide grin.

“Huh,” Nami looked around and noticed that she hadn’t set anything else on fire with her attack. “I didn’t, did I?” It was a step in the right direction at least!

“What the hell kind of Devil Fruit is that?!” Buggy demanded even though he’d taken a step back in shock.

“You damn bitch! I’ll make you pay for harming my crew!” Nami heard a roar behind her. She spun to look, only for the sound of metal meeting metal to ring out as Zoro held the dark-haired man’s blade back with one of his own.

“Oi! What kind of swordsman attacks from behind? Don't you have any honor?” Zoro questioned the long-haired pirate before sending him backwards with a swipe of his sword. The two swordsmen stared each other down while Nami backed away from the ensuing fight.

“That was great Nami! I told you that you could do it.” Luffy laughed brightly as he wrapped his arms around her waist and spun her around in celebration. Nami let out a startled yelp before realizing what was going on and giggling slightly. She couldn’t help it when she saw Luffy smiling like that. It was only a second later she realized that she’d returned to her normal form without noticing.

“Thank you, Luffy, but I still have a long way to go.” Nami knew that if she’d gone even a little bit further with her power, then everything behind the pirates that had charged her would be a sea of flames right now.

“We’ll work on it!” Luffy grinned at her, before turning a cold glare onto Buggy. “Keep your hands to yourself, big nose!”

“Tch!” Buggy’s hands, which were each holding three knives, reattached themselves to his wrists. He’d been attempting to assist Cabaji in his fight, but he’d been spotted and now was under the straw-hatted brat’s attention. “Don’t talk about my nose, you little shit!” That hat of his was bringing up old memories and it was pissing him off.

“You…you’re Roronoa Zoro!” The black-haired man exclaimed as he looked the green-haired man over. They all finally noticed that, yes, this weirdo was riding a unicycle of all things. “My name is Cabaji, Chief of Staff of the Buggy Pirates. As another swordsman, I look forward to taking your head.”

“I know who you are, idiot.” Zoro glared at the pirate. “You have a bounty on your head, why do you think we’re here?”

“I’m aware of your reputation, Roronoa Zoro! Now prepare to feel the true power of the Buggy Pirates!” With that Cabaji sprang forward, racing towards Zoro on his unicycle. “Acrobat Technique: Old Man's Flame!” Zoro jerked back in shock at the sudden gout of fire. Thanks to the distraction Cabaji's foot lashed out, the pointed toe of his shoe striking directly into Zoro's ribs. The green-haired man grunted at the blow and stumbled back a few steps.

“What the hell was that? Tricks and kicking? You really don’t have any honor as a swordsman, do you?” Zoro had quickly steadied his feet, glaring at the pirate all the while.

“Honor? I have no need for that. All I need is victory! Acrobat Technique: Murder Case in the Hot Spring's Steam!” Cabaji laughed before he started spinning and hopping around on his unicycle, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“This guy is pissing me off.” Zoro growled trying to see through the dust cloud being kicked up. A blade shot out of the cloud, which Zoro blocked with his left sword. Then came another kick, but Zoro had expected more of the same from Cabaji. With a quick step back the kick missed entirely. Zoro's eyes darkened as he saw his opponent through the thinning cloud of dust. “You bring shame to swordsmen everywhere, you coward. Facing all three of my swords is more honor than trash like you deserves, but I’m ending this now.” Before Cabaji could retort he heard Zoro make his attack. “Oni Giri!”

Cabaji's left shoulder, left side, and right arm opened up in a spray of blood. Zoro appeared behind the falling man, who was unconscious before he even hit the ground.

“Cabaji!” Buggy called out in horror as he watched his Chief of Staff fall in battle.

“Shishishi, nice fight Zoro.” Luffy congratulated his swordsman.

“That wasn't even worth my time. He was more clown than swordsman.” Zoro snorted at the weak showing.

“You flashy, bastard thieves.” Buggy's face was shadowed by his hat. “How dare you do this to my crew? I'll kill all of you! Bara Bara Cannon!” His hands, both still clutching three knives between their fingers, were launched at Luffy and Zoro at speed.

“Slow.” Luffy commented just as Buggy registered the pain from his hands.

“Aaarrgghh!” The clown-themed pirate cried out in pain. It felt like both his hands and just been smashed by rocks! He looked for his separated limbs only to find both of them on the ground and all six knives scattered.

“Are you sure that you’re worth 15,000,000 Beri?” Luffy questioned as he swung his staff and it extended rapidly.

“What?!” Buggy was cut off as the high-speed swing caught him on his right arm. A loud snapping sound was heard as his arm fractured, the blow continued and forced his arm against his side, the force transferred and he felt his ribs crack. The next thing that Buggy the Clown knew was a blur of colors and the whooshing noise of wind blowing passed his ears. He felt a distinct impact before his world went dark.

“Luffy! We’re trying to take down the pirates, not the town!” Nami yelled at her Captain after his swing had sent Buggy rocketing through two houses.

“Well, that didn’t take much...” Zoro noted as he looked around at all the beaten pirates.

“Shishishishi!” Luffy chuckled as he pulled some hairs from his head and blew on them. In multiple puffs of smoke, a dozen Luffys now stood before the trio. “Pick up the pirates and take them to their ship. Make sure they’re tied up.” The clones were quick to begin rounding up the beaten, burned, and broken Buggy Pirates.

“I’m going to loot their treasure. I’ll be sure to leave a good amount for the villagers to get back on their feet though.” Nami smiled as she made her way over to a tent that was set up behind where the destroyed tavern used to stand. It seemed rather suspicious and Nami would bet that it was where Buggy stored his plundered treasure.

At the docks, Luffy was looking at the ship of the Buggy Pirates. “I’m taking this.” He decided with a nod. It wouldn’t do to leave it when they could turn it in along with Buggy and his crew for some extra Beri, after all. He directed one of his clones to put their possessions on board the Carrack.

“Luffy!” Nami yelled out as she came running down the pier. She had a rolled up piece of paper in her hand. “You won’t believe this!”

“What’s up, Nami?” Luffy questioned his Navigator curiously.

“Look at this map!” Nami unrolled the paper to show Luffy a map with one island on it and what looked like the Red Line.

“What is it?” Luffy looked at Nami for an explanation.

“It’s a map to the Grand Line!” Nami smiled brightly at him. “This island is Polestar Island, where Loguetown is! This over here,” She pointed to the waterways connecting in the center of the Red Line. “Is called Reverse Mountain, it’s the entrance to the Grand Line!”

“So we can get to the Grand Line now?” Luffy grinned at the thought. To find the One Piece and claim the greatest treasure in the world, he’d have to find the final island on the Grand Line, Raftel.

“Yep!” Nami smiled back. “I always knew you had to stop at Loguetown to get to the Grand Line, but I never knew how to enter it properly.”

“Well, we have a few more things to do before we head there, but now we know how to get there when we’re ready!” Luffy was ecstatic as he picked Nami up and spun her around with a laugh.

“Luffy!” Nami yelped as he picked her up. “Stop that, you monkey!” She was already starting to laugh along with him though.

“Oi, lovebirds, are we heading out sometime today?” Zoro yelled down to them from the deck of the Buggy Pirate’s ship. The swordsman had a smug grin on his lips as he teased them both.

“Shut up, Zoro!” Nami barked at him with her teeth suddenly looking sharp and pointed.

“Shishishishi! Set sail!” Luffy cheered even as he put Nami in a Bridal Carry and leapt onto the huge ship easily.

Their next destination, the Gecko Islands!

-End Chapter-

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Well, well, well now! Look who has a Devil Fruit of her own! Which one did Nami eat though? She has Fire, Lava, and Wind powers and apparently stays humanoid even when fully transformed. Sounds to me like she might be in possession of a very special Zoan Fruit!

Arlong better watch his back!

The fluff is beginning! Yay!

The Buggy Pirates weren’t much compared to Luffy and crew’s power! But they’ll make a nice payday! You can see the Beri Symbols in Nami’s eyes already!

Now onto the Gecko Islands!

How much more will change in this story as the Butterfly flaps its wings?

Keep reading to find out!

Until next time, later!