The Immortal And The Thief

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"Wait… Stop for a moment, please" Nami pleaded as she gestured for Eric to stop, making the immortal man lower his hand and stay silent.

After he did that, Nami let out a long and faintly exasperated sigh, before she began massaging her temples with an annoyed expression, evidently having a lot in her mind at the moment.

However, gradually, she was able to sort out her thoughts and turned to look at Eric with suspicion in her gaze. Asking finally the question that had haunted her since the beginning of Eric's proposal. "... What exactly do you mean that you will kill him for me?"

Eric looked at her with confusion.

"What do you think it means?" He asked back with sarcasm. 

The meaning was pretty explicit. Why was she even confused about it?

Noticing the sarcasm, Nami frowned before she narrowed her eyes at Eric. "I asked it because you can't possibly think that you'll be able to kill Arlong," She said disdainfully as she looked at him from head to toe with doubt in her gaze.

At that, Eric raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

When she heard the question, Nami stared at Eric dumbfounded.

Then, her eyes darted towards his bare upper body, which after his training arc of dying a lot in the shark and serpent's stomach, had turned pretty muscular compared to how thin it was before that. However, as she did so, no hint of shyness was visible in her eyes. 

"I admit that you look fairly strong" Nami complimented, but immediately after that, she shook her head and crossed her arms. "... However, being fairly strong is far from enough to kill Arlong"

Then, she turned around and walked towards the rudder to control the ship. Turning her back on Eric as she waved him off dismissively. "The Baratie isn't that far away yet. So, stop being stupid and get out of this ship while you still can"

After that, she fell silent and expected to hear the sound of someone jumping out of the ship and falling into the water.

However, the only thing that reached her ears at that moment was the sound of someone sitting on the floor and laughing faintly.

"I don't think I will" Eric said as he put his arms behind his head.

"You…"

Upon hearing those words, a vein sprouted on Nami's face.

She turned around and shouted at Eric, who had taken on Zoro's resting spot to sit down. "Don't be stupid! I've seen countless guys like you! They all think they stand at the top, and that no one can beat them, but in the end, none of them amount shit in front of Arlong!"

Her fist then tightened as she looked at the floor. "You may think he is not that strong, but he is on a different level from us… Fishmen… They are monsters"

"Some of them are…" Eric suddenly agreed with her, making Nami look back at him with a relieved expression, believing that maybe he had reconsidered his intentions of killing Arlong.

… Only to be disappointed with Eric's next words.

"... Just not Arlong"

That small choice of words hit a nerve on Nami, who finally snapped and looked at Eric completely fed up with his obstination despite her warnings.

"He is not strong?! Then what the hell are all these years that I've suffered under him?! What are all these years that the people of my village have suffered under his tyranny?! Are you saying that the person who subdued us and robbed us of our freedom… was a weakling?!"

"Yep"

That startled Nami, who wasn't expecting Eric to answer so confidently.

However, just as she was about to shout at him further, Eric spoke first.

"Tell me this first, Nami… If Arlong is on a completely different level from humans, why isn't he going out there to conquer the world? If he is really as strong as you claim, why is he settling with just that small group of islands that your village forms part of?"

"How do you know—?" She tried to ask how he knew about her name. However, Eric didn't let her finish.

"Why do you think that he lays low, even to the point of bribing a marine branch to overlook his presence in your home, when he could very well silence him and kill anyone who comes to investigate if he was as strong as you say?"

Nami found herself at a loss of words. Unable to answer any of those questions.

Eric, nevertheless, gave her the answer she didn't want to hear.

"Because he is just a weakling. A little rat who went to live among those weaker than him so that he could play king, and delude himself into thinking that he was one… All while hiding away from the eyes of the true monsters out there that could easily squish him like a bug if they were to find him"

He then let out a sigh, before sneering in amusement. "You think Arlong is invincible? Nah, he and his crew are complete cannon fodder in the world out there… It's just that the level of strength in this part of the world allows him to play as king despite being a weakling" Eric then shot Nami a confident smirk. "Which is why killing him won't be that hard"

When Eric finally finished mocking Arlong, Nami took a bit to internalize Eric's words, her mind in complete turmoil.

After all, the man she had been dreading her entire life was being called a weakling, a scared rat, a delusional man who went to play king among those weaker than him.

The image she had of him was clashing with the one she was being told.

After a while, however, she turned to look at Eric with a frown, still unable to believe everything he had said. 

"You talk as if you were super strong" She said with a snort, thinking that maybe the man in front of her was simply being too arrogant.

However, unbeknown to her, a faint glimpse of hope could be seen in her eyes at that moment. The hope that, maybe, and just maybe, Arlong was actually nothing special… And that, maybe, the man in front of her would be actually able to bring that monster down.

"Me?"

Unfortunately, her hopes were quickly shattered. 

"Nah, I'm weak as hell" Eric said while he innocently flashed her a thumbs-up.

That caused Nami to almost trip.

However, she managed to stay on her feet and turned to look at Eric with an irritated expression.

"Then why are you even saying that you will kill him?!"

Eric gestured for her to calm down before he smiled reassuringly. "I said that I'm weak, but I never said that I was weaker than Arlong…" Then, he flexed his arm with a confident expression. "I'm not completely sure, but I think killing Arlong should be possible for me"

Nami ignored his attempt at looking strong and instead facepalmed. "You do know he has his whole crew beside him, right? Even if you somehow manage to fight on equal grounds with him, you will be killed as soon as the rest of them join the fight"

"Well, I guess you're right, that will be a pain in the ass…" He said, looking faintly annoyed at Nami's words.

However, that expression didn't last long, as it was quickly replaced with a serene expression once again. "Though, do you remember what I said to Usopp when he asked me how I had survived being inside the serpent's stomach?"

"You know Usopp?" Nami asked with a raised eyebrow.

Eric shrugged and smiled knowingly. "I know a lot of things"

"Uh huh…" Nami shot him a deadpan seeing that he didn't plan to answer that question seriously, before recalling how he had also called her out by her name earlier. "My name included, right?"

Eric simply nodded at her question but didn't say anything, making Nami squint her eyes at him before she decided to shrug the matter off and go back to the main topic.

She massaged her temples as she reminisced the day when Eric appeared. "What you said to Usopp when he asked you how you had survived, you say? I recall you weren't very specific. You simply said that you managed somehow" She said, looking at Eric with a frustrated expression.

Eric, however, shook his head in response before she shot Nami a confident smirk. "I told him that I survived because I'm fairly hard to kill"

Nami Deadpanned. "What…?"

Nevertheless, Eric didn't comment much else on the matter.

"Whether they will be able to beat me or not, depends on whether I break first, or they do… And let's just say that the last opponent who fought me in a battle of wits ended up having his brain turned into my breakfast"

Then, he extended his hand at her again. Offering a handshake.

"So, what do you say? Deal?"

…

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|A day later…|

…

Nami was navigating the ocean, observing the treacherous weather, and making sure that the ship wouldn't divert from its course.

In not too much, maybe just an hour or so, they would arrive at Cocoyashi village.

As such, Nami's heart at the moment was filled with nervousness and anxiety.

Would Arlong keep his part of the deal? Would he really free her village as promised?

Would the 100 million berries she had gathered truly satisfy him, and make him fulfill his promise?

…

Before, she had blindly believed that he could. Thinking that even if he was a cruel and despicable bastard, he was one who at least never broke his promises.

He had made that clear through the years.

However, after her discussion with Eric yesterday, a new way of seeing Arlong sprouted in her mind, even if very faint.

What if that strange guy was right? What if Arlong was truly a weakling who ran away from the strong in the past, and came to bully her village out of pettiness?

If that was the case, then his constant promises of being a man of his word would be way less believable.

And if that was the case…

… The possibility of that bastard taking away her money without fulfilling his part of the deal was highly likely.

However, upon having that thought, Nami quickly shook her head and erased it from her mind.

He had to fulfill his part of the deal.

He had said that he was a man of his word, and during the entire decade that she had been serving under him, she never saw Arlong go back on his word.

Why would he do it now?

…

Would he do it now?

"..."

Nami looked at her hand and squeezed it into a fist, feeling her strength, and frowning deeply as she stared at it.

… Was there truly someone out there with the power to make Arlong hide in fear like a powerless little kid?

The man whom she saw as an unsurpassable wall and her tormentor for life… Was there someone who could truly squish him like a bug out there in the outside world…?

She glanced at the man who had told her that.

He was currently lying on Zoro's resting spot, taking what appeared to be a nap, even though soon he would be fighting to the death with the pirate who was rumored to be the strongest pirate of East Blue, aside from Don Krieg.

-Snore…-

He was so carefree that Nami couldn't help but wonder if he was speaking the truth about Arlong's actual strength or if he was just an ignorant bounty hunter who was too arrogant for his own good.

However, after a while of staring at his peaceful face, she shook her head and shrugged the matter aside. 

"What stupidity"

It wasn't important.

Whether he had been saying the truth or not, didn't matter to her.

As agreed yesterday, she was just gonna drop him off at Arlong Park so that he could fight Arlong like he wanted, and she would go on her way after that.

If the idiot died or not, it didn't matter to her. Her objective had not changed.

She had to go fetch her hidden money, and then buy Cocoyashi's village from Arlong.

What if he managed to kill Arlong as he had said, you ask? Pfft, right.

Everyone who came here to fight Arlong had said the same thing.

They all blindly believed the results of their efforts, thinking that thanks to them there was no foe they couldn't defeat. Only to later be met with the harsh reality. Realizing at the end of their lives that all their efforts were useless in front of the true might.

She had learned long ago not to get her hopes up. She was not so lucky.

And while a bit of hope might have sprouted in her heart earlier, seeing how the man seemed to know so much about her and Arlong, she quickly shut down that feeling.

After all, she didn't want to feel disappointed when she walked into Arlong Park and saw his corpse lying beside Arlong's feet.

-Snore…-

However, upon hearing the sound of the man snoring carefreely, a pensive expression appeared on her face.

She had seen countless people die. She was far accustomed to death by now.

However, sending someone to their death still left a bad taste in her mouth.

Especially when she didn't even know his name.

So, after thinking it over for a few minutes, she left the rudder and walked towards the sleeping man.

-Snap, snap-

And, after snapping her fingers in front of him, she woke him up.

"Uh-huh…? Oh, what's up" Eric asked as he scratched his eyes groggily.

"We are close to arriving" She said plainly, falling silently for a moment, before then walking to the ship's railing and leaning against it, ending up face to face with the sleepy guy.

"Why are you doing this?" She suddenly asked, catching him by surprise, as he didn't seem to be expecting her to initiate a conversation.

However, upon pondering her question, Eric simply shrugged his shoulders as a smile found its way to his face.

"For the money"

She looked at him baffled. "You're risking your life… for money?!"

"Yup"

Her theory of this guy being a dumb bounty hunter was seeming more and more likely the more she talked with him.

Of course, she wasn't one to criticize his motives behind his crazy objective, After all, she herself loved money more than anyone else, and she could move Heaven and Earth just for that materialistic good… But she didn't think she would go as far as risking her life just for money.

… Unless her very life depended on money.

Nami looked at the guy with curiosity.

"Why do you need money?"

That question made Eric smile.

"I plan to conquer the world, and the first step to achieve that is gathering money"

When she heard that stupid reason, Nami felt her eyebrow twitch. 

"So you are risking your life to that extent, simply because of that unrealistic goal?!"

At that, Eric looked at her with annoyance.

"It's the meaning I decided for my life, and as long as I can achieve it, I'll gladly die for it"

'—Though, it's not like I can die…' Eric swallowed those words.

Then, he pointed accusatorily towards Nami. "Besides, who's saying I'm risking my life?"

"Aren't you?" Nami looked at him strangely.

Eric simply shrugged. "As I said, I'm fairly hard to kill"

That didn't suffice with Nami, however.

"That's like saying you're immortal until proven otherwise" She scoffed.

Eric sweatdropped a bit at that, but he didn't let it show on his face.

"Chill, if I thought I was risking my life I wouldn't be doing this in the first place" He gestured at her to calm down.

Nami didn't look all that convinced though.

"I don't know if you are telling the truth, or if you are just dumb" She shook her head. "And all of this simply for "conquering the world"…"

Eric frowned faintly when he heard that.

"What, is my motivation lacking in your eyes?"

Nami shrugged as she smiled faintly. "It's not that, it's just… When fighting a pirate such as Arlong, whose name is known all around the East Blue, and is regarded as one of the strongest, one would think that there would be other reasons for doing it besides a simple goal"

"Like what?" Eric narrowed his eyes.

Nami thought for a bit as she leaned her head on her shoulder. "I don't know… a tragic backstory, an unyielding sense of justice, hate towards pirates, a love story with a marine lady that you have to impress… something like that"

Eric raised an eyebrow at that.

However, in the next second, he began observing Nami from head to toe, his gaze turning sharp all of a sudden.

"You want me to have a better goal?" He said as he began standing up. "Then how about you promise me a reward after I'm done with that fish?"

When Nami heard that, her eyes widened for a moment.

However, she recovered her composure fairly quickly, letting out a scoff as she looked at him.

"I didn't think you would be one of those kind of gu—"

She was interrupted, however, when Eric approached her and cornered her against the railing, his eyes landing straight on hers as she towered faintly over her.

"Is that a yes, or a no?"

"..." Nami fell silent, an almost imperceptible blush appearing on her face as she looked at the man in front of her with a wry expression.

Then, she clicked her tongue, saying "Tsk, so much for dissuading you" as she rolled her eyes.

However, upon turning to look back into Eric's golden eyes, she understood that no matter what she did, the guy would fight Arlong regardless.

And, as she glanced at him, unknowingly, a small glister of hope began growing in her heart.

Maybe… and just maybe, he would kill Arlong?

That sounded crazy, but with how sure the guy seemed… It almost seemed real.

As that thought passed by her mind, Nami's eyes widened, before she pushed Eric away and walked back towards the rudder.

Of course, not without leaving a few words for him.

"Well… if you actually manage to take down Arlong, the man who has been making my life hell during the past few years, I guess…" Nami heaved up a sigh, as she muttered that last bit of her sentence "... I guess I could consider it"

When he heard that, Eric smiled widely

"Now, that's what I call motivation!"

Then, his eyes landed on a small spot in the distance.

He walked on top of the Going Merry's goat figurehead, before pointing with his finger ahead. "Cocoyashi village ahoy!"

Nami simply stared at him from behind with a dumbfounded expression.

"What's wrong with this guy…?"

…

-To Be Continued…-

(A/N: Tried to make it as smooth as possible. Let's hope that didn't come out cringe.

Also, I really resisted the urge to make a Nah, I'd win moment in this chapter. Watching JJK is already affecting my brain

Kenjussy where)