5 Chapter five- tears and broken promises

Gabriel grinned as he shook Luffy's hand happy that they could come to an agreement so easily, this arrangement would work well for them both as it would give him freedom to do as he liked as well as a good relationship with the Straw hat crew.

"good, so why don't you tell me what you're doing here, shore leave?" Gabriel asked as the handshake ended.

Luffy shook his head, "just waiting on my navigator to finish whatever business she has going on, and then we can set sail"

Gabriel nodded, "sounds good to me, but you are aware this is one of the islands that the fishman Arlong has under his thumb right, he's original from the grand line and rumour has it he has the local marines in his pocket as well"

"I've heard his name a few times but I didn't really care to pay attention, is he strong?" Luffy asked.

Gabriel nodded, this Luffy seemed to be a bit smarter and attentive than what he was originally expecting him to be, but he just chalked it up to the system again, "yeah, from what I've heard, he's got a twenty million bounty, one of the highest around these parts, but he shouldn't be anything the future pirate king or a future Yonkō can't handle, you wanna call dibs if we have to fight him"

Luffy grinned, "oh yeah, he'll be mine"

Gabriel thought for a moment before grinning himself and nodding, "fair enough but I call dibs on the next big guy we come across" he called knowing that would be Alabasta and Crocodile.

Luffy nodded, "fine by me, after that it'll be whoever calls dibs first"

Gabriel nodded in agreement as well but both their attentions were caught by the sound of a gunshot in the distance.

"Wonder what that was about" Luffy asked curiously as they both looked in the direction that the sound came from.

Gabriel frowned, if he remember correctly Arlong used his connections to the corrupt marines in this area to cease the hundred million berries that Nami had saved up to buy the village back from him, and in the process the crooked captain had fired off a shot at Nami but instead hit Nojiko in the back. She survived of course due to the marine being a crap shot. That must have been what they heard just now.

"Probably nothing to worry about," Gabriel responded while internally making a mental note to kick Nezumis' ass if he ever crossed his path.

As he thought that another bell sounded in his ear and a screen popped up in front of him and he had to suppress a smirk when he read the contents.

New quest available

New quest: dealing with a rat

Goal:

Kick captain Nezumi's Ass

Gain a bounty of your own

Reward: 40,000Belli, 200AP

Mentally Gabriel accepted the quest before turning back to Luffy.

"So what do you wanna do while we wait for your navigator to finish up," Gabriel asked as he put his hands behind his head.

"I dunno, I was enjoying my nap before but now I'm just anxious to get out to sea again" Luffy grinned.

Gabriel nodded, "yeah, I'd suggest we spar, but if we have to deal with Arlong and his crew later it's probably best to save our strength, fishmen are tough,"

Luffy chuckled, "you're just afraid I'll kick your ass"

Gabriel smirked, "okay then wise guy, how about this then, once your navigator is finished with her business and we're ready to head out to sea, then you and me can spar, and we'll see who'll get their ass kicked"

"Deal" Luffy said grinning like a maniac.

Gabriel nodded back at him, but then movement caught his eye and he saw Genzo come running into the village carrying Nojiko in his arms with Nami nowhere in sight.

"Looks like something happened" Gabriel commented gesturing Luffy towards the pair that were met by other residents of the town who came to help.

"Yeah I wonder what happened to her, that's Nojiko, Nami's sister" Luffy said with a hint of worry in his tone.

"Your navigator?" Gabriel asked getting a nod in return from Luffy.

"Yeah, I hope Nami is okay" Luffy said before sighing, "I didn't want to pry into her personal life to much but now I think I should have"

"You were respecting her privacy, nothing wrong with that," Gabriel assured him.

Luffy nodded but remained silent as the pair of them just stood and watched on as word began to spread to the rest of the villagers about what had happened and tempers started flaring.

It wasn't long until an angry mob had started to form, villagers armed with whatever they could cobble together, knives strapped to wooden poles, pitchforks with their tips sharpened, wooden hammers with long bodies and all sorts of other things.

Gabriel shook his head seeing them all, he knew that none of them would do any good against fishmen who were likely all armed with swords and pistols, they would be crushed. But he could tell they knew that and didn't care, it was the looks in their eyes, they had had enough of suffering and wanted it to end whether that was by freeing themselves by killing the pirates who ruled over them or by dying at their hands.

Just as the mob was growing to a head with Genzo leading it getting ready to march on Arlong park, Nami appeared on the road from the other side of town.

"Wait! Everyone!" She cried to get their attention.

Gabriel looked to Luffy, "your Navigator?" He asked for confirmation, he already knew but wanted to keep up the act.

Luffy just gave a single nod of confirmation as they both watched her from the sidelines.

Nami quickly approached the towns folk and started to try to talk them all down, desperate to not let them throw their lives away when there was another option.

Gabriel sighed and shook his head, he knew it wouldn't work, both from remembering how the canon went and from the looks in their eyes. They were doing it for her as much as for themselves, to free her from the burden she had carried all these years.

The looks in their eyes made Gabriel clench his fists in agreement and understanding anger, he knew how much Nami had suffered under Arlong, and he wanted to make the bastard pay as well.

The mob gave a final cry and marched on around Nami regardless of her words just as he knew they would and began walking off to Arlong park.

Luffy and Gabriel remained silent off to the side even as Nami collapsed in the middle of the road. Gabriel continued to watch on while Luffy approached her as she lifted the knife that she had pulled out before and began to stab the tattoo of Arlongs mark on her left shoulder.

She had only managed one stab before Luffy caught her fist and made her drop the knife. The whole scene was a powerful one that Gabriel knew would stick with him even more now that he had seen it first hand. And he didn't have to wait much longer before he watched Luffy place his straw hat atop Nami's head before walking back towards him only to stop and yell to the sky with a voice full of anger and determination.

"He is gonna pay!!!!!"

As he walked on Luffy glanced at Gabriel who just nodded in understanding and moved to join him as they continued to walk down the road where they came across Zoro, Sanji and Usopp all waiting.

"Let's go!" Luffy said in a hard voice

"Right" was the only response the three of them gave before they joined them walking towards Arlong park. Each of them with a hard look in their eyes.