Chapter 029

"If you didn't come here to arrest Arlong, then you all better get off this island!" she continued. "Arlong will sink your ship if you don't!"

"I wonder about that," Nezumi responded lazily. Nami's blood froze. "Hey! Haven't you found it yet? I'm not asking you to find a needle in a haystack! This is 100 million Belly we're talking about!"

Genzo and Nojiko both wore the same horrified expression. "You…how did you know it was that much?" Genzo asked quietly.

Nezumi scratched his head, noticing his slip-up. "Oh, that? I just had a hunch that it was in that ballpark," he said with a devious smirk.

Nami trembled with rage. This…this transcended corruption. She couldn't even think of words to describe this. She slowly made her way towards the Marine, oblivious of everything else that was happening, as Nezumi ordered his men to make sure they didn't interfere with the search again. She didn't notice the resigned yet resolved look that manifested in Genzo's eyes. She didn't notice as Nojiko scrambled up behind her to hold her back. She didn't notice the pistol that one Marine pulled from his holster and aimed at Nojiko.

The gunshot never went off, though. Genzo and Nojiko, as well as the villagers that were starting to gather around, watched in shock as every single Marine fell over onto the ground, unconscious. "What?" was all Nojiko could say. She had just realized the danger they were in when one Marine aimed a gun at them when they collapsed. "What on earth just happened?" Muttering broke out between the villagers.

A small part of Nami's mind was reminding her that she knew exactly what had just happened, but she ignored it in favor of running in the direction of Arlong Park. Arlong. She knew what his game was. He knew how close she had been. Even though these Marines had failed, something would happen to her money before she returned from her next trip, and there was nothing she could do about it. Arlong!

She reached the gates and stomped towards him in a frigid rage. "Arlong!"

"Oh, it's our navigator! What can I help you with, Nami?" he asked, despite knowing full well why she was there.

"What did you do!? You said you wouldn't break our promise, no matter how long I took! And yet you send Marines to confiscate my money!?"

"Break my promise?" he asked in a bored tone. "When did I break my promise?"

"Don't bullshit me! Those Marines you sent are unconscious in the ground of our village right now! You can't deny it!"

Arlong looked a little surprised at this information. Useless Marines…no matter. It's not as if I don't know where she keeps it. It won't be here when she comes back next time.

"Oh, those Marines. Yeah, I sent them," he stated casually. "So, tell me. When exactly did I break our promise?" he asked with a dark look. Tears started to form in Nami's eyes and he laughed maniacally. "It certainly would be unfortunate if anything happened to all that money," he continued. "But you know what our agreement is. Unless you hand me a total sum of 100 million Belly, I have no obligation to set your village free." He continued laughing as Nami ran out Arlong Park, tears trailing down her face.

I have to stop them. As angry as she was, there was only one thing she could do. By now, Genzo would have informed the entire village of what happened. She couldn't let them throw their lives away now, after everything they'd endured.

She arrived back in Cocoyasi Village and sighed in relief. Genzo was still rallying the villagers. She hadn't missed them. At the sight of the cheap swords and pitchforks in their hands, Nami wanted to puke. What were they trying to accomplish?

She forced a smile onto her face as she tried to convince them to wait a little longer, that it would be easier to collect the money this time around, but they would have none of it. They were getting ready to leave when she pulled out a knife in desperation. "I won't let you go! You'll just be throwing your lives away!" she screamed as she faced Genzo.

"We know," he said simply. Nami choked as he reached out and grabbed the edge of her knife with his hand, and the tears escaped her again as blood poured down his fingers. "Leave this island, Nami," he said, before walking past her. She fell to her knees as they all did the same. She was defeated. Completely and utterly defeated. Everything she had worked for was about to be thrown away. She took one look at the tattoo on her arm before gripping it with her other hand, wanting nothing more than to rip the abomination off of her skin. She grabbed the knife as her desperation made way for anger and prepared to stab the horrid mark, willing it to disappear.

"Arlong!" she shouted through tears as she started to thrust the knife towards her shoulder. A firm hand stopped her and pulled the knife away, and she looked over her shoulder. Luffy.

"What do you want?" she whispered. He was silent. She hadn't seen him since Baratie, and seeing him again now just increased the pain tenfold. There was no way he wouldn't act, she knew instinctively. Did she have to lose him too? Would he just be another one of her failures, lured here by his irrational loyalty to her, only to die? Was that her fate? To watch those around her throw their lives away for her sake?

"What do you want?" she repeated, louder this time. "You know nothing. You have no idea what this village has been through all this time!"

Luffy didn't correct her as he banished the thoughts of the people of a certain town being burnt alive like trash that were flickering through his mind. "Whether I know or not is irrelevant," he said. "Because I can see you suffering right in front of me either way."

"Go away!" she screeched as she broke down into sobs again. Luffy felt the weight of the world on him. He knew that preventing this would have had its own consequences, but that didn't make it any easier. It truly was a heavy burden. Did he have the right to make decisions like this simply because he knew what would happen afterwards? He had prolonged Nami's suffering in order to gain her approval to crush Arlong. Was it worth it? Should he have let Zoro cut him down from the beginning, even if it meant Nami would scorn them?

He tried to imagine his crew without Nami in it. He couldn't. Was he being selfish? It wasn't just for the benefit of the entire crew that Nami would come with them. Her dream was to draw a world map. Eventually, that dream would draw her to places that had never been catalogued before. The chances of Nami making it through the Grand Line alone were extremely slim, even if she got stronger than she ever had in the previous timeline. In addition to that, the thought of Nami traveling the seas alone any longer made his chest ache.

"Luffy…" she whispered as she finally looked up at him. "Help me…"

Luffy had come back to change things. And yet, there were some things he wouldn't do any differently even if he came back a thousand times. He took off his hat and placed it firmly over her head. His arms tensed as he walked in front of her, itching to get a crack at something. He stopped, raised his head, and shouted to the heavens.

"Damn straight!"

Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku were waiting for him nearby. "Let's go," he said as they walked by, and they all looked up.

"Right."

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