CH 25

saw the wanted poster." Luffy said, stopping her in mid sentence. She tensed up as he walked closer. "Nami...please. What's wrong?" Nami stared at him before she looked down. She started trembling again as Luffy stood in front of her, waiting for an answer. It felt like forever before she let out a sigh and looked up at him. She had a sad look in her eyes as she slowly pulled the sleeve up on her left shoulder, revealing Arlong's mark.

"You remember that hundred million berris I'm trying to get?" she asked in a low, calm tone.

"Yeah."

"It's for my village." she said. She started telling him what happened to her eight years ago. How Arlong and his crew came to her island and took over, killing anyone who didn't pay a tax. She told him how her mother sacrificed herself so that she and her sister could live. Luffy noticed her eyes were welling up as she went on about how Arlong saw one of her maps and decided to force her to work for him. She was close to breaking down when she finished telling him about the deal they made.

"So you need that money to pay that Arlong guy to buy your village's freedom?" he asked.

"That's right." she said as a few tears fell from her eyes. She rubbed them away as she looked back at him. "After eight long years, I've almost collected enough berris. Just one more trip, and I'll have enough."

"Is that so?" Luffy asked. "And what about the rest of your island?"

"There's nothing I can do about that." Nami said in a sad tone. "It was just for my village. After I buy it from Arlong, he'll leave and never come back to the village. Everywhere else on the island...?" was all she said. She couldn't stomach the idea any further. No one should have to suffer like she did.

"Why don't I help you?" Luffy asked, pulling her out of her thoughts.

"What? I thought you were helping me get enough money." she said.

"I meant with the rest of the island. It's clear this Arlong fishman isn't gonna stop." Luffy said as he crossed his arms.

"What are you saying Luffy?"

"I'm saying that after we get a chef, we go to your island and I kick Arlong's ass." he said with a grin. Nami's eyes widened in horror at his idea.

"What?! No way! He'll kill you!" she screamed. She was about to say something else, but stopped when Luffy put a hand on her shoulder.

"You've seen how strong I am Nami." he said with a smile. "I can beat him." Nami just stared at him. She had seen Luffy fight. But she had also seen Arlong and his goons plow through everyone who went agaisnt them when they first arrived. She backed away from Luffy a few steps before shaking her head.

"It doesn't matter how strong you are." she said. "No one can beat Arlong." Luffy looked at her as she gazed at the ground with a sad look in her eyes. He sighed before he smiled at her.

"We're here!" they heard Johnny shouting. Nami wiped her eyes as she and Luffy walked towards the front of the ship. They all saw the floating restaurant Baratie as Johnny looked back at them all. "What do you think?"

"It's amazing." Nami said.

"That's so awesome!" Usopp cried out.

"I told ya guys. Right?" Johnny said before they heard a bunch of noise coming off the side of the ship. They all turned to see a Marine vessel sail next to them. "Marines?!" Johnny said before he and Yosaku hid behind the door.

"You think they'll fire at us?" Usopp asked in fear.

"Great." Zoro mumbled "Just what we needed."

"When did they show up?" Nami asked as someone came out onto the deck of the marine ship. He looked at the pirate ship with a bored expression.

"I've never seen that flag before." he said before he held up his hand at them. "I'm Marine Lt. 'Iron Fist' Fullbody. Who is your Captain?"

"I am. My name's Luffy." Luffy said.

"I'm Usopp. Got it?" Usopp said, which annoyed Luffy all over again.

"We got our pirate mark yesterday." Luffy continued.

"And I am the one who painted it." Usopp said before Luffy looked at him.

"Usopp." Luffy said as he pointed at the flag. "See the flag?" he asked as he pointed at his hat. "See my hat? What part of 'I'm the Captain' don't you understand?" As they talked, Fullbody spotted Johnny and Yosaku.

"You two!" he called. "Aren't you those bounty hunters that go after small game?" he asked before he chuckled. "Caught by no name pirates huh?"

"WHAT?!" they screamed in outrage. They began shouting at him, which he ignored before he held his thumb down.

"That bastard ignored us!" Yosaku said before Usopp shouted that they were aiming a cannon at them. Everyone looked to see a cannonball fly towards them.

"I got it." Luffy said as he held his hands up to catch the cannonball. Johnny and Yosaku stared at him as their jaws hit the deck. Luffy looked at the ball before he looked back at the marine ship, then to Zoro with a smile. Zoro grinned as Luffy pulled his arm back and threw the cannonball right back at them, causing a bit of an explosion on deck. "Fire on my ship will you?" As the marines ran around to put the fire out, the Strawhats tied their ship up and entered the restaurant.

"Welcome to the Baratie, ya darn crooks! Name's Patty." said Patty in a happy tune. "Six in your party?"

"FOOD!" Luffy screamed, getting everyone's attention.

"I'll take that as a yes." Patty said as he led them to a table. "What'll ya have?"

"Like I said. Food." Luffy said with a laugh as the others order some food. Patty started walking away before Fullbody burst into the restaurant looking pissed. He glared around until he saw Luffy and his group before he stomped towards them.

"You filthy, no-name pirates! In the name of the Marines, I'm arresting you for attacking my ship!" he bellowed before a blond man in a suit stood in front of him. Luffy looked and smiled, knowing exactly who it was.

"If you wanna arrest them," Sanji said as he breathed some cigarette smoke out. "Wait until after we've fed them. Alright?"

"Who are you?" Fullbody asked in an annoyed voice. "Like I care if they're customers. They're pirates! They're not getting any food for wh-" was all he said before receiving a kick to the jaw.

"As long as they're in here, they eat." he said with a dark look on his face.

"What's going on here?" shouted a voice from the stairs. Everyone looked to see Chef Zeff walking down the stairs to see why everyone was yelling.

"Sanji's beating up customers again!" Patty yelled.

"This joker here tried to prevent some customers from eating. What am I supposed to do geezer?" Sanji said as he looked at Zeff with a bored expression.

Zeff walked over before kicking Sanji in the face with his left foot. "Quit picking fights with the customers Sanji!" he said before he turned to Fullbody and kicked him towards the door. "And you, GET OUT OF MY RESTAURANT!" Everyone watched as Fullbody landed like a ragdoll near the door as a marine burst through with a scared look on his face.

"Lieutenant Fullbody. That Krieg pirate has escaped!"

"What?! How can that be? He was on the verge of starvation when we found him three days ago. We haven't fed him yet, so how can he still be moving?" Fullbody screamed as the other customers were muttering in fear about Don Krieg.

"He escaped while we were busy with the fir-" he said before a gunshot went off. The marine fell to the ground, revealing a thin and tired Gin standing in the doorway. Everyone looked at him with expressions ranging from fear to blank as Gin stood there. Luffy looked at Gin as memories of what Gin did to keep Sanji alive came to his mind as he smiled.

'Looks like I have two people from here to recruit.' he thought.

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