Journey to Raftel Chapter 10 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Journey to Raftel! The Straw Hat group sails towards Cocoyashi! Nami feels ready. Arlong and his Fishmen goons are all going to pay for what they did! The eight years of suffering that the people of Cocoyashi have been put through ends today! Vengeance for a mother taken from her daughters.

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

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Chapter 10 – Suffering ends in Fire

The chefs of the Baratie were all outside on the fins to see Reiju and Sanji off. As the siblings exited the restaurant, a path was made by the chefs directly to the Going Merry. Zeff followed the two outside after a moment and watched as they headed for the ship that would take them away from the restaurant that they’d started together. He saw Patty and Carne leap forward, each wielding one of the oversized spoon weapons.

“We’ve been saving this up for years!” Patty declared loudly, the giant spoon in his hands swinging forward like a baseball bat.

“Say your prayers, Sanji!” Carne brought his oversized spoon down like a sledgehammer on the blonde.

A blur of motion from Sanji and both of the other cooks slammed into the wooden deck bleeding and bruised from a barrage of kicks. Sanji continued to walk towards the Going Merry as if nothing had happened at all. Reiju merely smiled at one last act of rambunctiousness from the Baratie. It seemed like nothing would really change too much around here, even with them gone.

“They never had a chance.” One of the other chefs tapped Patty’s twitching form with the toe of his shoe.

“Alright, let’s set sail.” Sanji called up to Luffy as he stood at the end of the gangplank.

“Is that okay?” Luffy tilted his head. “Don’t you want to say goodbye?”

“It’s fine.” Sanji waved it off.

“Hey, Sanji, Reiju.” Zeff spoke up and both siblings turned to face their surrogate father. “Take care of yourselves, okay?” He smiled fondly at the two little brats he’d saved so long ago.

“Chef Zeff!” Sanji couldn’t have stopped the tears if he’d wanted to. They flowed like a river as he dropped to the deck and bowed his head to the floor. “All these years that I’ve lived under your damn roof! I owe you, my life! I’ll never forget you!” Tears appeared at the corners of Zeff’s eyes at Sanji’s declaration.

“Thank you for taking care of us for so long…father.” Reiju also had small tears forming in her purple eyes as she looked up at Zeff.

“You little brats.” Zeff ducked his head and wiped at his eyes as the tears came forth.

“Damn it, I’m gonna miss you!” Patty sat up with tears pouring form his eyes.

“I’ll miss you, too!” Carne also had tears falling from behind his sunglasses.

“We’re all gonna miss you!” All of the cooks at the Baratie admitted as tears flowed freely from everyone. “It’s so sad!”

“Sentimental fools…” Zeff hid a sniffle as he watched the sendoff. “A parting like this should be done quietly.”

“Goodbye, you shitty punks!” Sanji stood up to face the other cooks.

“We’ll miss you, Reiju!” The cooks cried out, practically ignoring Sanji entirely.

“I’ll miss you all too.” Reiju wiped her eyes and gave them her best smile.

“We’ll miss you the most, Reiju.” One cook proclaimed.

“Yeah, Sanji too, I guess, but mostly you!” Another cook agreed.

“Hey!” Sanji barked at the other chefs with sharp teeth. “You lousy punks!” He had a wide smile on his face even through his supposed anger though.

“We’re off! Set sail!” Luffy called out as Reiju and Sanji walked up the gangplank with their bags of possessions and boarded the Going Merry for the first time. The gangplank was raised and the sail lowered to catch the wind. Sanji and Reiju waved goodbye to their home until the Baratie was out of sight.

“Come with me, Reiju, I’ll show you to the Women’s Quarters.” Nami motioned for the pinkette to follow her.

“Come on, Sanji, pick out a bed for yourself!” One of Luffy’s many copies practically dragged Sanji towards the Men’s Quarters.

“I can walk, shitty Captain!” Sanji yelled at the copy as he was dragged along.

“Were you two hiding this whole time?” Zoro looked flatly at Johnny and Yosaku.

“No…no, Big Bro Zoro…we were…” Johnny waved his arms in front of himself.

“Protecting the ship!” Yosaku declared with a nod.

“Yeah! Yeah, that’s it! We were protecting the ship!” Johnny quickly agreed with his partner.

“Nah, they were hiding in the Men’s Quarters.” A copy of Luffy informed the green-haired swordsman casually as he walked past.

“Grk!” Yosaku and Johnny nearly choked at being called out.

“I’m surprised you two haven’t given up bounty hunting.” Zoro sighed at the two who were now looking down at the deck in shame. A stinging pain from the wound Mihawk gave him across his chest made Zoro grimace slightly. He’d need a bit for this to heal. Reiju had some medical knowledge and skill, having been the one to patch up the Baratie cooks after fights, but she wasn’t a doctor. The best she’d been able to do for him was some very basic sutures and bandages along with painkillers.

-Dinner Time-

“Whoa!” Luffy had sparkles in his eyes at seeing the kitchen table loaded with food of all types. “It’s a feast!”

“It’s smells amazing!” Nami beamed at the delicious cuisine.

“Since it’s our first day as crewmates, Reiju and I decided to celebrate a bit!” Sanji smiled widely, mostly at Nami. “So, I’ve cooked up the best feast I could with the ingredients that Zeff gave us!”

“I only helped a bit,” Reiju waved off with a smile. “Sanji is Zeff’s direct student. You’ll not find anyone that cooks better than he does.” She assured her new crewmates with a grin.

“A toast!” Sanji raised a wine glass, mimicked by Reiju and Nami, while Luffy, Zoro, Yosaku, and Johnny raised their flagons. “To new friends and our journey to fulfill our dreams!”

“Cheers!” Everyone toasted before knocking back their drinks. The evening was filled with cheer and good food, a truly great day with new nakama.

-The Next Day-

The weather was fair and clear today and the course Nami had plotted to her home archipelago was the fastest there was. It took advantage of every current and the most common weather patterns of this part of the East Blue to propel the caravel towards their destination. It had only taken Johnny and Yosaku about half the day to figure out the direction they were headed in. This prompted both bounty hunters to nearly panic and ask why they were headed for ‘Arlong Park’ of all places.

“Didn’t you say you wanted to go to the Grand Line?” Yosaku questioned the monkey-like Captain. “This is literally in the opposite direction!”

“Yeah Bro Luffy, the pirate that rules over the Conomi Islands is terrifying!” Johnny tried to explain, but both were pretty much ignored by Luffy.

Luffy was more interested in getting to know his new nakama even better. Putting them through the daily training had revealed that both Sanji and Reiju could keep up. Much to Nami’s chagrin since she was still the one most worn out by the end of it. Not to say that the Navigator wasn’t doing much better than when she’d started, it was like night and day when compared to her first day of training. Even now, as both bounty hunters tried to warn him about Arlong, Luffy wasn’t really concerned.

“Bro Luffy!” Johnny exclaimed with crocodile tears running down his face. “You never told us why you’re going to ‘Arlong Park’! The Arlong Pirates are Fishmen! They’re super strong! The Captain of the Arlong Pirates makes Don Krieg look like a guppy in comparison!”

“Don’t you know how Arlong came to be in the East Blue?” Yosaku questioned. “He was released into the East Blue because of an agreement between the World Government and the Shichibukai ‘First Son of the Sea’ Jinbei!”

“What’s that got to do with Arlong?” Luffy questioned, even he knew that just because someone was part of a strong crew, didn’t mean they were strong themselves. As Johnny and Yosaku tried to explain to Luffy why it was a bad idea to challenge Arlong, the straw-hatted young man barely paid attention. His focus was almost entirely on Nami, who was standing at the bow of the Going Merry and looking towards the horizon. She was determined to free her village and the entire Conomi Archipelago from Arlong. Luffy could only smile at the fire (both figurative and literal) that had been growing inside of his lover since they’d met. His attention was pulled back towards the Bounty Hunter Duo as they were finishing up their reasoning for not challenging Arlong.

“So, you see, Bro Luffy, it’s really for the best that we steer clear of the Arlong Pirates.” Johnny finished with Yosaku nodding along. But both of them froze up when they saw the serious look on Luffy’s face.

“The Conomi Islands are Nami’s home.” Luffy started and both bounty hunters gaped at him. “Arlong has enslaved her people, her family, and even killed her mother. She wants to kill him and avenge the suffering that they’ve had to live through for the last eight years.” His gaze sharpened and both bounty hunters broke out into flop sweats. Luffy left Johnny and Yosaku to head over to Nami.

“Hey, Luffy.” Nami smiled as Luffy’s arms wrapped around her waist from behind.

“Are you okay, Nami?” Luffy questioned as he held her and watched the horizon.

“More than okay.” Nami leaned back into him with an unidentifiable look on her face. “Every time I think about that bastard, I feel the heat inside grow. I need to do this, Luffy. He took everything from us, lorded his power over us, and made all of us suffer for his amusement. I won’t be able to move past this until he’s dead.”

“We’ll help however you want us to, Nami, I promise.” Luffy squeezed her a little tighter for a moment.

“Thank you, Luffy.” Nami turned in his arms to capture his lips in a kiss. The two enjoyed their lip lock for a long moment before pulling back with smiles on their faces.

“Lunch!” Sanji called out from the kitchen doorway.

“Yeah!” Luffy exclaimed happily as he swept Nami off of her feet; literally, as he now had her in a ‘Princess Carry’ while he leapt towards the kitchen for lunch. Nami laughed brightly as they flew through the air with her arms wrapped around his neck. He was such a lovable goof and she adored him for it.

“It’s not fair!” Sanji sobbed as he beat on the edge of the cabin with his fist. “That stupid, shitty Captain! So lucky! It’s so unfair!” A large black cloud formed over Sanji’s head as he kept lamenting that Luffy and Nami were together. Zoro raised an eyebrow and gave Sanji a wide berth as he entered the galley/helm/kitchen cabin for lunch.

Reiju merely rolled her eyes and lightly swatted the back of her brother’s head as she passed him. “Calm down. You have an entire ocean to look for a woman that’ll put up with you, little brother.” She entered the galley without another word.

“Top notch support there, Reiju.” Sanji huffed at his older sister’s lack of concern for his troubles.

-Cocoyashi ~ Next Afternoon-

“We’ll dock just a bit away from what used to be Gosa Village.” Nami informed her nakama as she showed them a map of her home island. It was a map that she herself had drawn from memory, it wasn’t her best cartography work, but most shops would still sell it because of how accurate it actually was.

“Used to be?” Reiju asked curiously.

“Shortly before I started this trip, someone in Gosa Village wasn’t able to pay Arlong.” Nami growled, her face showing her displeasure at the memory. “Arlong flipped out and destroyed the village. Just to prove he could, or maybe he just felt like it, the bastard literally flipped every building in the village upside down one-by-one. No one lives there anymore so it isn’t patrolled much by Arlong’s crew.”

“Seems like an overreaction to me.” Sanji stated before he exhaled the smoke from his cigarette. “This shitty bastard is going down.” Nami grinned at the chef’s declaration and nodded.

“Damn right he is!” Nami exclaimed, her eyes shining with a vengeful yellow glow. “Anyway, from Gosa will make a quick stop by my and my sister’s house. I want Nojiko to see this, to see Arlong and all his crew taken down, she deserves it just as much as I do.”

“Since you’re planning to take care of all the Fishmen by yourself, is there anything that we need to do?” Zoro questioned Nami with a look that said he’d do whatever it took to help. He may not be one-hundred percent healed up yet, but he’d still fight if needed.

“Surround Arlong Park and make sure none of them escape.” Nami looked at her nakama with a smile. “That’s more than enough.”

“That’s easy enough.” Luffy grinned since he could use his copies for that job easily.

“Do we know that all of the Fishmen will be at this Arlong Park when we arrive?” Reiju brought up a good point. “If they’re oppressing the entire archipelago, then wouldn’t they be more spread out?”

“Not today,” Nami shook her head with a malicious grin. “Today is the day that Arlong meets with the Marine Captain that’s supposed to be in charge of this area of the East Blue. He entered into a deal with that bastard Nezumi a long time ago. The rat-faced prick gets a hefty payoff each month on this day. Thanks to Luffy’s ‘Wind’ ability, we were able to get here on time.” She explained to her crewmates. “Arlong always has the whole crew nearby just in case Nezumi ever tries to double-cross him. This is the only day the entire Arlong Pirates are gathered together each month.”

“If we have a Transponder Snail, then we can call the Marine Headquarters for the East Blue and have them deal with a traitorous Officer.” Sanji suggested, having dealt with his fair share of annoying Marines over the years. “I can’t imagine the higher-ups know what’s going on here or they’d have dealt with it already.”

“It would keep us from running afoul of the Marines, at the very least.” Zoro agreed, since they didn’t plan to become outlaws or anything.

“I plan to spare only one of the Fishmen, his name’s Hachi; he’s an Octopus Fishman with white hair. He’s just a guy that’s fallen in with a bad crowd. He’s too scared of Arlong to directly go against him, but I’ve literally watched him give money to people who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to afford Arlong’s ‘tax’ that month. I’ll show him mercy for the mercy he’s shown the people of Cocoyashi.” Nami looked as if she was seeing something far away while she recalled her memories of the one kind-hearted Fishman among the entirety of Arlong’s crew.

The Straw Hats docked not to long after their ‘strategy meeting’. Walking through the destroyed Gosa Village had made all of them more than ready to beat the hell from these pirates. Johnny and Yosaku were tagging along, the bounty hunter duo visibly shaking as they took in the ruins of Gosa Village. The crew arrived to Nami’s home not too long after leaving the destroyed village behind.

It was a simple home, square-shaped and made of treated beige wood planks with plenty of windows. It had a tiled roof with orange clay tiles, and a single smokestack for what was probably a woodstove popping out of the top. The house was surrounded by a grove of mikan trees, all of them bearing the orange fruits in various stages of ripeness.

“This is where you live, Nami?” Luffy hadn’t seen such a large orchard before. Back in Fuusha Village, their main grain was wheat that was ground into flour by the many windmills.

“This is home.” Nami smiled at the happier memories she had here, before Arlong had come. The orangette felt the heat inside flare up as she thought about that bastard again. “Come on, my sister should be here.” She led them up to the front door and knocked on it before letting herself in. “Nojiko, I’m home.”

“Welcome home, Nami….” Nojiko trailed off seeing the other people with her sister. “…I didn’t know that you were bringing guests.”

“They’re my crew, Nojiko, my nakama.” Nami informed her sister as she started introducing each of them in turn. It wasn’t until she got to Luffy that Nojiko’s eyes widened to epic proportions.

“Wait… C-can you…run that by me again?” Nojiko requested Nami to repeat her introduction of her captain.

“This is my Captain, Monkey D. Luffy, he’s also my lover.” Nami introduced Luffy to her sister again with a smile as she leaned against him. Luffy’s tail was quick to gently wrap around her waist.

“Lo…Lover?!” Nojiko stuttered out as Nami nodded while Luffy smiled widely at the bluenette woman.

“I’m going to destroy Arlong Park, Nojiko.” Nami informed her sister with a fierce look on her face. “Gather up the villagers for me, everyone deserves to see this.”

“You’re going to…how?!” Nojiko grabbed Nami by the shoulders and shook her a few times. “Everything you’ve ever tried to get rid of that bastard has failed! Don’t do anything that could send Arlong over the edge. What if he hurts you?” The tattoo-ed woman wrapped her little sister in a hug. “Aren’t you close to buying our freedom? Why not just finish that?”

“Because Arlong will just come back.” Nami returned her sister’s hug. “He purposefully left a loophole that he could exploit in our deal.” She pulled back to look into Nojiko’s eyes. “If I hand him 100,000,000 Beri in cash, he’ll leave Cocoyashi and we’ll be free. That was the entire deal. There’s nothing in those words that prevents him from just coming back and enslaving us all again the very next day if he decides to.”

“Nami…” Nojiko looked like a she’d lost hope, nearly sagging to the floor if Nami didn’t have hold of her shoulders.

“I’m going to deal with him for everything he’s done to the Conomi Archipelago.” Nami made Nojiko look her in the eye. “He’s going to pay for everything that he’s taken from us.” A blaze could practically be seen in Nami’s gaze. “I’ll kill him for taking mom from us.”

“Nami.” Nojiko couldn’t find any other words to say as she saw the dead seriousness on her little sister’s face.

“As for how I’m going to do it?” Nami grinned at her sister. “Thanks to this lovable goof,” She winked at Luffy, making the young man chuckle. “I have the power to take care of myself now.” She raised her hand in the air, palm facing upwards, and a flame appeared. It grew bigger and bigger without end from seemingly nothing. The main room of the small home became sweltering for a moment before Nami made the flames disappear.

“Wh-What was that?!” Nojiko demanded halfway between shock at the display and in awe that Nami could do such a thing.”

“My Devil Fruit…we’re not sure what it’s called yet, but it’ll be more than enough to deal with Arlong and his crew.” Nami smiled at Luffy warmly. “Luffy gave it to me. Despite how valuable they are and even though he’d only known me for a few days. He freely handed me the power to fight for myself, and our freedom.”

“I’ll round up the villagers then.” Nojiko agreed, what else could she say in the face of that? She nearly tore out of the house at a run to get to everyone that she could on the island.

“Let’s go…we need to make sure we get there in time to catch Nezumi.” Nami led the small group down the dirt road that led into the village proper and Arlong park after that.

-Arlong Park-

“Here, this month’s cut.” A banded stack of Beri was placed on the table between two men. “Take it.” The speaker was a large, muscular, light blue saw-shark fish-man whose most distinctive trait was his saw-shaped nose. He had long, black hair reaching down to his shoulders. On his head he wore a brown ushanka hat. He also had a fin on his nape, surrounded by his hair, and his gills were located on both sides of his neck. His old Sun Pirates tattoo was on the left side of his chest, while his personal Jolly Roger was tattoo-ed on his left forearm. This was Arlong ‘the Saw’, a pirate with a 20,000,000 Beri bounty and the tyrant of the Conomi Islands.

“Chichichi…you certainly know how the world works.” The Marine chuckled as he took the stack of money. He was a slim, dark-haired man with a strongly mouse-like appearance. His eyes were constantly narrowed, while his facial hair consisted of a thin goatee and six long, wire-like whiskers on his upper lip. His Marine uniform was rather heavily customized, with the standard cap converted into a mouse-eared cowl, connected to a buttoned-up greatcoat that reached to his feet, accessorized with a belt and blue epaulets. This was Marine Captain Nezumi of Marine Base 16. “You have my thanks.” He stiffed the stack of cash into his long coat with a greedy smile.

“Shahahaha!” Arlong let loose a deep laugh. “Don’t be so formal! Money makes the world go round!” He stopped laughing after a short moment and just looked at Nezumi. “Money is good. It’s the only thing a man can believe in.”

“To be sure.” Nezumi agreed even as he quickly glanced at both of the Fishmen flanking Arlong. The Ray Fishman in the black karate gi was Kuroobi, worth 9,000,000 Beri. The blue Fishman with the extended lips was Chew, a Smelt-whiting Fishman with a bounty of 5,500,000 Beri. The corrupt Marine knew that the three Marines he’d brought with him would stand no chance against any of the Fishmen. Truth be told, should anything go south, Nezumi was planning to use them as meat shields so that he could escape.

“Shahahaha!” Arlong laughed again. “You know, I don’t much care for humans, but you’re not bad. You and I speak the same language.”

“Well, that concludes our business. I must be going…” Nezumi stood up from his chair. “It looks bad for a patrol ship to dock here overnight.”

“Always in such a hurry.” Arlong motioned to a bottle of liquor on the table along with two glasses. “Have a drink with me. Let’s live a little. If anybody tries to squeal on you, then I’ll gut them!”

“No…I’m afraid I really must excuse myself.” Nezumi shook his head at the offer.

-Outside Arlong Park-

“This place really stands out.” Luffy commented as the Straw Hats stood outside the gate of Arlong Park. Already dozens of his copies were surrounding the building to prevent any escapes. The villagers of Cocoyashi were starting to gather as well and Nami smiled at seeing Nojiko and Genzo among them.

“There’s a Marine Ship at the port.” Zoro noticed the vessel so close to the pirate stronghold.

“Probably that scumbag that Nami mentioned.” Sanji tsked at the bastard that had left Nami and her people to suffer.

“Should I knock?” Luffy looked at Nami curiously.

“Go ahead.” Nami grinned as her eyes began to glow and flames alighted amongst her orange locks.

Luffy raised his foot and then kicked forward in a picture perfect front kick. The gates of Arlong Park were torn from the wall and sent flying into the compound. Two Fishmen were nearly brained by the steel doors and only jumping out of the way had spared them. In a short time, they would come to realize that being taken out instantly might’ve been preferable.

“What the hell?!” Yelled a Fishman startled by the sudden attack.

“What’s going on?!” Another cried out after seeing his crewmates smashed by the doors.

“Nezumi?!” Arlong growled at the Marine, thinking he’d been backstabbed and that was why the mouse-like man had been in such a rush to leave.

“Not me, my men are all on the ship aside from these three.” Nezumi shook his head in denial while pointing at his three subordinates.

“I’m home.” Nami called out loud enough for everyone to hear. All of the Fishmen looked at the young woman only to blink (some even rubbed at their eyes to make sure they were seeing her correctly) when they saw her flaming hair and brightly glowing eyes.

“Nami?!” Arlong snapped angrily at the orangette. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

“Taking revenge for everything you and your lot have put us through over the last eight years you worthless bastard!” Nami shot back, her glowing yellow gaze drilling into Arlong.

“You got some kind of Devil Fruit and think you can beat us?” One of the Fishmen chuckled as he walked up to Nami. “You’ve only made yourself weaker to us who thrive in the water!”

For a brief second everyone was able to see flames appear on the Fishman’s clothes. In the blink of an eye the flames had become a localized inferno focused entirely on the single pirate lackey. He screamed in agony for only a second before he was silenced. In mere seconds he’d been charred black with heat that exceeded what most flames could hope to produce. The still burning husk fell to the concrete as Nami continued walking forward.

“What the fuck?!” Chew gaped, an odd look given his extended lips, as he saw what Nami had done.

But Nami wasn’t done, not by a long shot. She delved deeper and deeper into her Devil Fruit. All over the plaza of Arlong Park, one Fishman after another suddenly burst into the intense flames seemingly out of nowhere. Charred, burning husks fell to the ground one after another as clothing and hair instantly turned to ash and flesh blacked to resemble charcoal from the heat. Smoke and steam wafted off the corpses as Nami continued to stalk forward.

Amid this chaos of death and flames, Nezumi and his three subordinates panicked and tried to run. But it didn’t seem to matter where they ran, there was always another Fishman that was bursting into flames. Surrounded by the screaming, the burning, the dying, and the dead, Nezumi was seconds away from soiling himself. A sharp yank on the scruff of his coat and he was flung outside of Arlong Park. His three subordinates hit the ground one after the other seconds later.

“Don’t move.” Sanji glared down at the corrupt Marines. “Give me any reason at all, and I’m liable to kill you shitty bastards myself.”

“Wh-What? I…I’ll have you know that I’m Marine Captain Nezumi of Marine Base Sixteen!” Nezumi tried to exercise his authority but Sanji’s dress shoe cratering the ground right in front of him stopped any protest.

“I know exactly who you are.” Sanji nearly growled. “I’ve heard what you’ve done here. What you’ve let happened to Nami, her sister, and all of the people here. It makes my blood boil.” The blonde had death in his eyes as he stared down the cowardly Marine. “So, like I said, give me even the smallest reason to end you, you piece of shit.” Nezumi could only faintly squeak in fear, much like his namesake.

“Water! Get to the water!” One Fishman screamed to the few remaining that hadn’t been torched to death. He leapt headfirst towards the safety of the sea…only to be met with a pyroclastic blast of lava that covered the three pools that led out to the ocean. The water instantly boiled from the molten earth and the leaping Fishman disappeared amidst the lava. The few remaining skidded to a halt, snapping their gazes over to Nami in fear.

“Goddess Pele?” One of the eldest villagers whispered in shock at seeing Nami fully transformed. None of the wide-eyed crowd heard them though.

“None of you are escaping.” Nami intoned with finality, her skin now tanned as flames wreathed her body. Lines that almost looked like intricate tattoos had appeared on her skin, glowing like magma beneath the earth. Her orange hair appeared longer, but the length was nothing more than flames burning in the wind that had kicked up.

The last of Arlong’s subordinates screamed as they each burst into localized torches and died. Their burning husks joined the rest of their crewmates on the concrete as Nami was hit by a water bullet fired from Chew. She staggered back a step, but locked her gaze on the blue Fishman.

“How? You should be dead!” Chew exclaimed as Nami had no visible injury on her body. “I hit you!”

“Not very well.” Nami was engulfed in flames and the fire moved like a bolt across the distance between them. “This is for all of the villagers you’ve killed over the years.” She growled as her palm touched Chew’s chest like a hot branding iron.

“ARRRRAAAGGGHHH!!!” Chew screamed before going silent as a burning spike of tephra blasted through his chest and out his back. The half-molten rock hit the far wall and shattered it from the force. Chew fell backwards with a smoking hole through his chest.

“Nami!” Kuroobi threw caution to the wind and attacked with his strongest Fishman Karate technique. “Senmaigawara Seiken!” Nami dodged around the full-power punch by making excellent use of her natural flexibility.

“You’re proud of how many innocent people you’ve killed with your fist, aren’t you?” Nami’s glowing yellow eyes glared hatefully at Kuroobi. “Try mine.” Her fist slammed into his stomach, and normally Kuroobi would’ve laughed such a strike off. However, Nami’s fist currently exceeded 1,800 C thanks to her Devil Fruit. “YAAAARRRGGGHHH!!!” His screams of pain were cut off as lava erupted through his stomach and burst out of his back. The dead Fishman lay in a pool of cooling lava, the molten rock scorching whatever it touched.

“Damn Devil Fruit!” Arlong had been beaten by Devil Fruit users before. But this was Nami! The scared girl that he’d enslaved since she was ten! How the hell had she changed this much in only the two months or so that she’d been gone on one of her regular money-collecting trips?! He didn’t even have time to try and grab his Kiribachi sword with her glowing eyes locked onto him.

“Arlong…” Nami growled as heat billowed off her. The air around her wavered so intensely it warped the sight of anyone that looked at her. “Arlong…!” Nami stepped closer and Arlong, much to his own shock, instinctively stepped back. “Arlong!” The ground beneath Nami’s feet heated up, letting off steam and smoke as it softened and slowly began to glow. “Arlong!!!” Nami leapt at her tormentor in fury, the ground around her bursting into lava as Arlong used his greater size to grab Nami in midair.

“Grrrrnnnnggghhh!” Arlong swore he felt his teeth crack as his hands burned just from touching Nami. He used all of his strength to throw her away from himself. The transformed woman went sailing across the plaza and bounced off the ground once before her back hit the far wall. “Damn it….” Arlong hissed in agony as he looked at his blackened hands. Steam and smoke were rising off his torched flesh and he couldn’t feel them anymore as the nerves were burned beyond any hope of recovery.

“ARLONG!!!” Nami’s rage was bordering on the psychotic at this point. Eight years of suffering after having to watch her mother’s murder at the hands of Arlong. Rage, hatred, grief, disgust, loathing, and a myriad of other emotions that she’d had to repress or suffer through silently were erupting forth unstoppably like a volcano. The navigator was engulfed in flames and dashed across the plaza again.

“Shit!” Arlong leapt to the side to avoid the incoming blaze that was Nami. He staggered a bit, but got his footing as he tried to run. He was in sight of the eastern wall before he stopped dead. Atop the wall surrounding Arlong Park were dozens of monkey-like guys, all of them wearing the same straw hat and looking at him with cold rage in their eyes. He briefly recalled seeing the guy standing at the gate watching the slaughter of his crew. “How? What are you?!” Arlong roared at the multitudes of the same man.

“Just an observer.” All of the Luffy’s answered simply, not taking their eyes off of Arlong.

“ARLONG!!!” Nami’s flaming body nearly slammed into the Fishman’s back.

“Gah!” Arlong had juked to the left, but he’d still been clipped by the charging woman. He was lucky that his opened shirt hadn’t caught fire from the instant of exposure to the hat and flames that surrounded Nami.

“Do you remember?” Nami was suddenly in front of Arlong, a burst of flames obscuring his vision for a second. Her hand clamped down on Arlong’s left shoulder, making the Fishman cry out in agony. “Do you remember when you forced this filthy mark onto me?!” She grabbed her own left shoulder. “When you took me from my home, had your fucking goons hold me down, and then practically carved your damned mark into my skin?!” The sizzling of Arlong’s shoulder being cooked from her touch was drowned out as he roared in pained rage, and then punched her with his ruined right fist. Nami skidded backwards, hacking slightly from the punch. Her feet left trails of molten earth behind from the heat of her Devil Fruit and lava began to appear on her form, slowly covering her as she took a deep breath.

“Gah…hah…fuck!” Arlong panted in agony as he looked at his left shoulder. The flesh had a blackened handprint on it that sank down into the muscle itself. He only now noticed that his yellow shirt had burned away at some point during their brief exchange.

“Suffer…like you made all of us suffer.” Nami raised her hands and from them an eruption of lava blasted forth. Arlong didn’t even have time to scream as he was blasted into the air at a sharp angle. His screams were drowned out by the rushing molten rock and the rumbling that seemed to be shaking the ground as Nami roared out all of her fury, hatred, pain, and loss.

Arlong was blasted through the topmost floor of Arlong Park, his burned and mangled body fell out of the other side of his stronghold amidst a wave of lava. He crashed down onto what little concrete was left, cratering it with his body. The cooling lava was beginning to turn black as it slowly transformed into basalt, and encased parts of the dead Fishman’s body. As the top floor of Arlong Park burned in a raging inferno, its owner lay dead just outside, barely recognizable after paying for the suffering that he’d caused for so long.

“Arlong…” Nami stalked forward, the ground around her becoming molten as lava fell from her body and flames leapt form her hair. “Arlong…Arlong…Arlong…” Her rage-induced focus was broken when a hand was placed softly onto her shoulder. The sheer fact that someone could touch her seemed to snap Nami out of her hyper-focused state. She turned her head to see Luffy looking at her.

“It’s over, Nami. He’s gone.” Luffy informed his lover. “You got your revenge. He can’t hurt anyone you care about anymore. He can’t take anything from you or anyone else. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

“Luffy…” Nami muttered as all of the lava, fire, and heat stopped. The remnants of molten earth fell from Nami’s body as she turned to face him fully. She gently wrapped her arms around his shoulders and laid her head against his chest. The last traces of her Zoan transformation disappeared as she listened to his heartbeat.

“You did it, Nami.” Luffy wrapped his arms around her and his tail around her waist. The two just held each other for a while. There was no reason to do anything else in their minds. It was a few minutes later that they pulled back from each other. “Better?” Luffy asked softly, a small smile on his face.

“Better.” Nami nodded, her eyes brighter than before, as if a darkness within had finally been removed.

The couple walked back into the plaza to find the only survivor of Nami’s rampage, Hachi, being held at sword point by Zoro. Seeing Nami walking towards him, Hachi broke out into a flop sweat. He’d tried to call for Momoo earlier, but before he could trumpet for the Sea King, this human swordsman had a blade at his throat! He knew he should’ve left Arlong years ago. Honestly, he shouldn’t have joined up when Arlong split from Jinbei to make his own crew. He’d done what he could to help, but he’d seen a lot of innocent people die at the hands of his Fishmen crewmates. If Nami wanted to kill him…then he couldn’t really blame her.

“Hachi…” Nami looked at the kneeling Fishman. “I’ve seen hat you’ve done over the years.” Hachi bowed his head, not taking his eyes off the ground. “You were the only one that showed even a modicum of kindness to us. Even helping those that were short on money to make their monthly ‘tax’ payments.” Hachi looked up at that. He’d been as discreet as he could be when doing that! Even Arlong had never found out in all the years he’d been doing it! “You showed compassion and mercy when none of the other Fishman did. For that, I’m showing you mercy now.”

“Huh?” Hachi blinked in shock at what Nami had said.

“Leave, Hachi.” Nami motioned towards the sea. “Leave the Conomi Islands, take Momoo with you, and never return. This is your one and only chance to start over somewhere else, so please take it.”

“N-Na-Nami!” Hachi nearly slammed his head into the ground as he bowed as low as possible. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry for everything! I should’ve done everything I could’ve to stop Arlong earlier! But I was a worthless coward!”

“I know…you were scared, everyone was.” Nami looked into Hachi’s eyes as the Octopus Fishman raised his head. “But Arlong is dead now. We can all live better lives now. That includes you, so please, just leave and find someplace where you can live a more honest life. It clearly suits you far more than being a pirate.”

“I…yes, I will.” Hachi slowly stood up. “For what its worth, I’m truly sorry.” He apologized again. “I’ll take Momoo with me, probably head back to the Grand Line. Maybe I can find something to do with myself there.” He turned to bow to the residents of Cocoyashi in apology. He walked with the eyes of the villagers on him the whole way to the sea. He could feel their scorn and knew that many would never forgive him for what he’d done and been a part of, but he wouldn’t snub Nami’s mercy. They’d never see him again; he’d make sure of it.

“Arlong Park has fallen!” Genzo was the first to finally break out of the almost trance that many of the villagers had been left in. “Spread the word throughout the islands! We’re finally free!”

“YEAH!!!” The crowd of villagers cheered loudly and several ran down the street. Some were looking for boats to sail to the other islands in the Archipelago, while others were going to tell those that hadn’t come to see the fight that they’d won.

Amidst the sudden rise in emotion, no one seemed to notice the large Marine ship that had appeared on the horizon.

-End Chapter-

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Fire and death!

That’s what you get for making Nami and her people suffer for eight years, you bastards!

The incarnation of nature’s fury that is Nami saw to that! Is her Devil Fruit really a Volcano Goddess? Would that make it the Hito Hito no Mi – Model: Pele?

Luffy is able to snap Nami out of her seeming blood rage. Love is a wonderful thing, isn’t it?

Now a new Marine vessel is sailing toward Cocoyashi. Who could that be?

Perhaps a noncorrupt Marine? If so, how fucked is Nezumi about to be?

Keep reading to find out!

Until next time, later!