Chapter IV: Stabbed by Buggy? Who? When?

Luffy and Zoro argued back and forth until they agreed on their best course of action...which basically involved reaching out as far as they could with their Observation Haki. If they found any human auras, then they found an island. Simple enough. As they wandered around aimlessly for a while just to cover more area, Luffy was the first to sense them. They were faint. 3 auras just a little beyond the horizon. Zoro couldn't sense them yet; his Observation Haki was weaker, but as they got closer he confirmed Luffy's findings.

As the island came into sight, Zoro spoke up. "I still say I had that under control. We just had to keep going left in the end."

Luffy let his blatant disbelief show on his face, not really caring anymore. "You know Zoro, I've been thinking about this for a while, but if we continuously went left, wouldn't we just be going in a circle?"

Zoro scoffed. "As if I'd go in a circle trying to go in a straight line. What do you take me for, Luffy?"

Rather than dignifying this with a response, Luffy instead opted to jump out of the boat, hovering in the air using Geppo as he faced Zoro.

"Try to keep up," Luffy said, grinning as he knew that Zoro could not perform the technique, having never bothered to learn it. He shot off in the direction of the island as Zoro developed a tic over his eye and started rowing furiously.

He reached the town pretty quickly, and Sky Walked around a bit, taking in the sights. He was high enough so that civilians weren't likely to take notice. Then again, he knew this island was the one they were searching for by now, and he also knew that there were more than just civilians in town. As if reacting to this revelation, a cannonball came into his peripheral vision. It was aimed right at him. He could have maneuvered out of the way pretty easily, but he quickly came up with a better idea, a devious smirk adorning his face. This seemed familiar, so if his timing was right…

He took the cannonball head-on and got shot down, landing with a crash onto the ground and making a hole in the pavement. Four witnesses stopped running and looked at his unmoving form, one in curiosity, and three in slight sympathy. Captain Buggy must have targeted the guy, whoever he was. Well, never mind that. The three armed men turned to the fourth person, who was by no means armed unless you counted the map in her hand. She prepared to run again when the alleged corpse stood up and dusted itself off, attracting their attention again.

"Shoot first, ask questions later, huh? I guess I shouldn't expect anything less from that clown," the man who was very much alive said to himself. The girl's eyes widened as she immediately recognized him. Now she really couldn't stay. She had enough troublesome people to deal with at the moment.

"Boss!" she shouted with feigned glee. The pirates looked from new arrival to her and back to the new arrival. "You're here," she continued. "Great! Mind taking care of these guys for me? I got the map, so I'll head back to the ship." Luffy watched, amused, as she hastily retreated without giving him time to potentially refute her words. Not that he would. Actually, he was planning on hold her to the statement that he was her boss now. He honestly wasn't surprised that Nami had beaten them here despite the fact that they had left first. She had no doubt gone in an actual straight line to get here. Still, this was pretty lucky.

The pirates quickly rounded on him, completely missing the sharp turn that Nami took as she sprinted behind the houses to their left. "So you're her boss, huh? I guess we can just take you to Captain Buggy, then." Luffy scoffed. "Sorry, I already have an appointment with Big Nose, and I'd rather only make one trip." The pirates looked outraged and slightly fearful at the disrespect the man showed, before falling into unconscious heap on the ground.

Nami climbed one of the rooftops to get a better view of the fight…which was over. The three men had been beaten easily. She smirked. If she could get a monster to fight her battles, why shouldn't she?

"Hey, you!" she called. He looked up at her and she waved. "Nice job down there! You kicked their asses!" She hesitated, then added, "Mind if I treat you to some food? I have a proposition for you!" Luffy nodded in agreement. Despite knowing what this would lead to, he wasn't about to turn down free food.

As Nami led her an abandoned house, Luffy frowned in thought. He knew what he could say to get Nami to join them, but he wanted her to follow him out of loyalty and trust, not out of mutual need, and he didn't even entertain the thought of manipulating her. Taking advantage of what he knew about his future crewmates would make him feel like the scum of the earth. No, Nami needed to follow him out of her own free will and he needed to provide her with a place where she belonged. Anything less would make him no different than Arlong.

So it was with that line of thought that Luffy sat down and resigned himself to the plan that was forming in his mind. It was a reckless plan, but Luffy was a reckless person, and he could hardly imagine that they'd be in any danger even if Nami repeated her exact actions from the previous timeline.

And so far, she was doing just that. The only difference was that she still hadn't told him her name. She suggested that they work together for a while. She had navigational skills he needed, and he could really throw a punch. When Luffy asked if she would join his crew, she hesitated, and said that she would only join temporarily. Satisfied for now, he mentioned that they were pirates. He didn't miss the hardening of her eyes, but she went on as if the information didn't matter.

Her proposition was to infiltrate Buggy's base of operations together and split their treasure 60/40. Luffy found it pretty hilarious that she would suggest an uneven split of the profits when she wasn't actually planning on keeping her end of the bargain. He wondered if that was just thrown in to make it more believable. But that was Nami for you. Cunning, opportunistic, and, taking into account that her plan involved both of them getting away, slightly naïve. But that would change soon enough.

Luffy heard her out and agreed to the plan. Nami didn't tie him up with ropes this time. He briefly wondered why, but quickly dismissed it as Nami recognizing that he wasn't as stupid as he made people believe. But while they walked towards the area that Buggy's crew was occupying, a small grin stretched across Luffy's face as he realized that Nami had adapted to this minor detail, and simply planned to betray him when they got there.

Luffy nearly laughed at the thought of her naïveté as they continued to walk, but caught himself. Nami wasn't stupid. Far from it. Her true problem was that she was blinded by her preconceptions and common sense. She thought ahead, but she didn't account for all the possibilities like, say, Robin did. Something that she didn't account for could really throw a wrench in her plans, even a trivial detail like her not having the strength to carry that much gold.

She also didn't account for the fact that Luffy could beat the crap out of Buggy's crew while tied up and blindfolded, but that couldn't really be expected of her. A few pirates took notice of them as they walked into the plaza, and signaled their captain. Buggy showed up and looked at them with no small amount of hostility. This was the bitch that stole their map and that annoying boss of hers. When his henchman had returned and made their report, Buggy had refrained from flaying them alive, deciding to save it for the thieves. They were certainly making this easy, though.

"What do you flashy bastards want? I hope you're here to return the map you stole!" Nami took on a devious grin as her plan unfolded. In no more than a few seconds, Luffy's hands and torso were tied up with a rope that seemed to come out of nowhere. She really was good at this.

"That's right! I'm sick of working for this guy. I've come to return the map and join your crew. You can have my boss as a gift," she shouted. Buggy looked thoughtful at this turn of events, and then started laughing. "I guess you're not as stupid as I originally thought! What's your name then?" Nami straightened and gave him the same fake name that she had given Luffy.

Figures. Pirates soon surrounded Luffy, and he rolled his eyes.

This was the part where he'd have to show restraint. Luffy wasn't really good with restraint. In fact, when two thugs shoved him in a cage that he easily remembered, he couldn't help but knock them out with a blast of Conqueror's Haki. This could have been a problem had they not been drinking so much, but as it was, the surrounding pirates just laughed, thinking it was simply the effect of the binge. Nami's eyes narrowed, but she dismissed it in favor of scanning the area discretely. She quickly located a key that she was pretty sure was to the cage, the map of the Grand Line which was handed to Buggy after she had surrendered it, and a heavily guarded building that was most likely their treasure vault.

"All right, everybody! I'm in a flashy good mood right now, so drink to your heart's content in celebration!" The pirates roared in approval at Buggy's announcement, and Nami smirked as she started drinking as well. She would be the only one without a hangover after this, and it would be all too easy for them to get away with the treasure and the map, which she would gladly take for herself before fleeing the island. All according to plan.

Her confidence faltered, however, as she took note of a dozen pirates shoving a huge cannon into the middle of the plaza. "And now," Buggy shouted, "I think a demonstration of our power and the glory of the Buggy pirate crew is in order." He turned to Nami. "Call it an initiation," he said as she looked on apprehensively. The pirates lit the fuse of the cannon, which was facing the direction of the town, and fired. Nami's eyes widened as the cannon ball blew threw several houses, completely destroying them. She quickly realized why all the houses in the area were abandoned.

She turned back and realized that they were now pointing the cannon towards the cage Luffy was in. She rounded on Buggy. "Wait! What are you—"

Buggy was grinning widely. "Like I said, call it an initiation. To prove your loyalty, I thought it would only be fair if you got the honor of disposing of that pathetic former boss of yours." Nami's eyes widened further.

Oh, this cannot be happening.

Luffy watched as the pirates loaded the Buggy ball into the cannon and Nami stuttered nervously, trying to convince Buggy that this really wasn't necessary. Buggy handed her a match.

"Do it," he said simply. Nami broke out into a cold sweat and she turned back to Luffy, who could see she was torn.

"I wonder, do you have the resolve of a pirate? If not, you'll never get far in this crazy world of ours," he told her.

Nami's face darkened. "And what's that? The resolve to kill without a second thought?" she spat.

Luffy shook his head and grinned ferally. "The resolve to put your life on the line." Nami's hands trembled as her options were spelled out for her. She could fire the cannon and survive, proving that she was no better than the common scum that populated the world, or she could face death and stay true to her convictions.

She was broken out of her thoughts as a pirate grabbed the match from her hands. Her eyes hardened as she found her resolve. She would never be like one of these common murderers. "Come on, don't you know how to light a match? You just—"

He was abruptly interrupted mid-sentence as Nami's staff collided with his face and he was thrown back onto the ground, cursing in pain. The surrounding pirates looked outraged at the act of betrayal, but Buggy just sighed and got his knives out. He was disappointed, but he'd been expecting as much.

Luffy looked on with interest but decided that he'd seen enough. This was getting dangerous for Nami very quickly. He broke out of the ropes and shoved his foot up through the top of the cage, with disconnected from the bars and landed in a crumpled heap on the ground behind the cage. This caught pretty much everyone's attention, but they quickly lost sight of him as he jumped up into the air and let loose another blast of Conqueror's Haki, this time targeting all of the pirates in the area. Bodies fell to the ground left and right until the only ones left standing were Nami and Buggy. Nami looked around in shock at the phenomenon and at the new development. He could have escaped at any time? What is he playing at? And what did he do just now?

Meanwhile, Buggy was fuming. He recognized the King's Will when he saw it. How could this nobody thief possibly possess the same power that Captain Roger and uncle Rayleigh had? Even Cabaji had fainted! Regardless, it didn't matter. He was no pushover. He had sailed the New World and witnessed clashes between gods. He wouldn't have survived this long if he had never gained an immunity to the ability. It would take more than that to bring him down.

"Hey, Luffy! I finally found you, you bastard!" Everyone turned to the new presence that had made itself known, and Luffy laughed.

"I'm impressed, Zoro! Who knew that you were capable of finding anything?"

Zoro brushed off the insult and replied, "It was easy. I just went to the noisiest spot on the island, knowing that's where you'd be. Looks like you've caused quite the commotion." He smirked. "You know, I half-expected to find you tied up and in a cage." Luffy glared at him halfheartedly. Was this revenge?

Nami, although frantic by this point, easily made sense of the comment. Had Zoro been there this whole time? How long had he been shadowing them? She was about to voice the question when a very angry Buggy interrupted them.

"Don't ignore me, you flashy sons of bitches!" He addressed Zoro. "You! You're Pirate Hunter Zoro, aren't you? What the hell are you doing here? Have you come for my bounty?"

Zoro looked at him lazily. "Nope, not interested."

Buggy grinned. "Oh, but you see, I'm interested. After I take you out, I'll be that much more famous," he said, twirling his knives in his hands.

Zoro sighed. "Fine. Come on then." Luffy chuckled, remembering how this went last time, and Zoro shot him an annoyed look.

Buggy made his move. "Bara Bara Cannon!" Buggy's hand quite literally flew off of his arm and headed for Zoro. Nami's face was pure comedy. What the hell is going on? She felt incredibly out of her depth again. But that wasn't as surprising as what happened next. Zoro disappeared before her eyes and Buggy let out a pained yell. She looked over at Buggy and saw the blood seeping from the wound in his side, where Zoro had evidently just cut him.

How? The word echoed through Buggy's mind as he lost consciousness.