Nami stepped out of the cabin and basked in the early morning sunlight feeling invigorated and refreshed. The breeze was gentle and cool; the skies were clear, and the weather looked perfect, just right and peaceful. It was a perfect and serene early morning… and then she started hearing shouts and giggles.
"Goddamit! " Play me one more time!" she heard Zoro yell, which was followed by the 'Shishishishi' laugh she was starting to like a lot, before Luffy's voice said, "You won't find out anyway." What's the point?"
"I will! I just need time!"
"Excuses, excuses… Oh hey, Nami. Mornin"
Nami walked over to them, curious to see what they were arguing over, and gave them a blank, deadpan look when she found the two sitting across from each other playing thumb war out of all things.
"I can't believe it," Nami said, standing next to Luffy with her hands on her hips, "What are you guys, eight? Why are you playing such childish games so early in the morning?"
"Ugh, shut up!" Zoro snapped, "Let's go again, Luffy."
"Sure"
The two played for a couple more rounds, and each time Zoro's thumb got pinned down and he got increasingly frustrated. "What is it?! I can't figure it out!"
"Shishishishi"
"Let's continue!"
"You kids are so noisy this early in the morning," Makino said sleepily, walking out of the cabin. "What's the ruckus?"
"A couple of children playing, that's all."
"Playing?" Makino asked, and after watching the two play for a couple more rounds, she chided Luffy, "Luffy, you're cheating."
"How?!" Zoro almost screamed in frustration.
"Shishishi, that's the game. He knows I'm cheating, he just has to figure out how"
"Huh," Nami blinked, "But you won fair and square though… I saw you guys playing"
"Now do you understand?" Zoro sighed, "It almost seems like his thumb momentarily becomes longer. It's an illusion, but I don't know how he's doing it…"
"Pfft~" Makino stifled a laugh, understanding why Luffy was having so much fun. He was indeed just stretching his thumb just a millimetre for just an instant when he was going for the attack to pin Zoro's thumb down, and thus, Zoro was losing. Zoro already knew the answer that his thumb stretched, and yet, he was breaking his head over it.
Zoro glared at the laughing Makino, realizing that she knew the secret and that he was missing something very obvious and basic…but he just couldn't figure out what. And neither could Nami, as she just tilted her head thinking hard about it.
"Anyway," Luffy chuckled, getting up, "Think about it. We have all the time in the world."
"Fine, fine."
"You know Zoro," Nami said, getting his attention, "Based on the rumours, I thought you would be this bloodthirsty bounty hunter who goes around killing for pleasure… But you're nothing like that"
"Haah I never called myself a bounty hunter in the first place. I left my island in search of a man but then I couldn't find my way back. I had no choice but to turn in some bounties to earn some money"
"Oh, so you just got lost!" Luffy laughed.
"The big scary pirate hunter was just looking to make living expenses because he got lost!" Makino teased and Nami giggled nodding her head.
"SHUT UP! You don't have to say it like that!"
"Shishishishi don't worry Zoro, I'm just as bad at navigating too. Once, I spent a fortnight trying to search for an island that was supposed to be two days away…and I didn't even find it in the end"
"What?! How the hell did you get so lost?!" Nami said bewildered.
"I didn't get lost exactly. I didn't know how to read currents so they just kept blowing me off course and I ended up on some other island… man that was so frustrating"
"And you call yourself a pirate. Never heard of a pirate who can't navigate…" Zoro said while Nami sighed exasperatedly.
"Don't worry. That's why I found the best navigator!" Luffy declared pointing at Nami and she sighed already used to Luffy's compliments on her navigational skills, but a hint of a prideful smile did show on her face.
"Anyway," Nami changed the topic, "We should be at Flint Town in a couple more hours"
"Okay good," Luffy nodded and spotted a News Coo flying over them just then. He got its attention, bought a newspaper and started leafing through it, while Makino set to cooking with Zoro helping out and Nami sunbathed.
"Makino, you cook please," Nami interjected, "No offence Zoro, but your cooking is just as bland as Luffy's. It's fine for a few times, but eating the same every day is tiring"
"As long as it's edible, that's enough" Zoro grunted.
"You just made her point," Makino said with a smile.
"It's not like she's any better"
"I'm better than you at least!" Nami snapped.
"Calm down now," Makino said feeling like the mother of the group.
"Well fine, I'm just decent," Nami conceded, "But still, Makino's the best among us"
"Yeah, why don't you become the cook of the crew?" Zoro asked.
"I can make only a few dishes very well. I'm not good enough to make things for an entire crew 24/7. Besides, I'm not fit for life on the seas… Have you seen me fight?"
"Hmm I guess not," Zoro nodded. "I still don't get why you're here then"
"Just accompanying Luffy for a bit. I missed him and haven't gotten to spend much time with him in recent years, so I'm here… Why? Are you that against the idea of me here?" Makino asked slyly.
"No no, just asking" Zoro placated accepting the answer. He had thought that she was a civilian back in Shellstown but when she had come with them, he had gotten confused as Luffy had said that only Nami and he were the crewmates. She had given the same answer of 'I wanted to spend time with Luffy, so I came' when he had asked then and he still didn't know her real reason. He didn't mind her much though. Even though she didn't have any strength, she was just as fearless as Luffy was, so he didn't mind her company. While the three talked, Luffy was intently reading the newspaper.
"Any new developments with the situation in Flint?" Makino asked when she saw him lost in the paper.
"No… There's no update… It still says that the Marines are looking into it…"
"I hope your friends are okay…" Makino said and Luffy nodded, not even sure if his 'friends' were real.
The situation was about a certain town called Flint where all the people had disappeared overnight with no one having any idea of where they went. Two different pirate ships were also found at the docks, so they had initially assumed it was a pirate attack, but the pirates too were nowhere to be found. It was bizarre and no one knew what had happened but what had caught Luffy's attention were the names of the two pirate captains of the ships that were found at the shore - Crescent-moon Gally and Six-Sided Spiel.
Luffy remembered the two other versions of Romance Dawn Oda had drawn other than the canon one in which the main antagonists in each version were the two pirates mentioned. The two versions were just one-shots and also had a different girl each, who were just previous draft versions of Nami, but they were still their own person with their own history.
One was Silk. A blonde girl who considered the townspeople who raised her as her treasure as she was just a baby who some pirates had abandoned in that town. Luffy didn't remember much other than bits and pieces of Gally showing up at her town and stealing everything, Silk saving Luffy from drowning, and him returning the favour by destroying Gally'sship, defeating him and getting all the treasure back to Silk. He also remembered that this version had concepts of Morganeers and Peace Mains, basically Bad and Good Pirates, which were terms that didn't even exist in his reality.
The other one was Ann. A blue-haired girl with a huge panda-like bird she called Balloon, who she considered as her treasure. Again he only remembered bits like him meeting Ann in a prison cell, Ann saving him from drowning, Spiel stealing Balloon and flying away on a broomstick, and him repaying the favour by rocketing himself to Spiel and rescuing Baloon for Ann. This version had the concept of Black magic, which again wasn't a thing in his reality.
His origin story was also different in one of those versions with Garp, who was a pirate, being the one who had inspired him to take up piracy and also the one who had given him his hat. (He had rolled on the floor laughing for five whole minutes when he first recalled that.)
Luffy had actually seen the two pirates' bounty posters back in Loguetown, and it had taken him quite some time to remember why their names seemed familiar. Once he recalled the different Romance Dawn versions though, it had him thinking that if those pirates were real, then it was possible that Silk and Ann were real too.
And that thought had made him paranoid as to whether only one out of the three- Nami, Silk, or Ann, could exist in any reality or whether all of them could exist. The thought of Nami not existing, and Ann/Silk taking her place in his journey made him worried because if that was the case, then he would always compare Ann/Silk with the story Nami from his memories and as a Captain, and also a person, that would be a horrible and a very unfair way to treat to Ann/Silk.
He knew he was overthinking it, but once the thought occurred, he couldn't shake off the anxious feelings and wanted to confirm Nami's existence as soon as possible so that he could have a peace of mind. Thus, him leaving early in search of her and when he finally did find her, he had felt a massive weight lift off his chest.
But while leaving Shellstown, the news of Flint Town and the two pirate ships were mentioned in the papers, and since he already knew Nami existed, he was only excited to see if Silk and Ann were real too. 'Would they look alike? What are their stories? How would they affect him, if at all?' He had so many different thoughts about them and thus, they were heading to where Spiel and Gally's ships were found, i.e., Flint Town. It also didn't seem like the events that had happened in the one-shots had happened in reality as both pirates were found together and also disappeared along with the townspeople. Were Silk and Ann somehow present in that town and disappeared too? He had to know.
And thus, he had told Nami to set a course for Flint town. That was four days ago and they were currently just a couple of hours away from said island. 'C'mon Fate, give me a great adventure I know nothing about!'
——o——
A couple of hours later, they finally spotted the island where Flint Town was situated and also the expected two pirate ships, but there were also three Marine ships and a multitude of smaller ships and boats populating the shores of the island.
"Looks like they've put up a blockade," Luffy sighed when he saw that the Marines were patrolling the border of the town on foot, not allowing anyone in. They could dock at the island but the closest anyone could get to the actual town was just the borders where supplies were being sold.
"Guess many are here to see what happened," Zoro commented seeing that the people on the multiple boats were just gossiping.
"So what now? I don't think they will listen if we say we knew someone on the island…there's already a long line of such people over there," Makino said pointing to a group of people who were gathered just outside the patrol area and were crying their eyes out.
"I'll just sneak in and see what the situation is," Luffy announced just as they docked.
"I'll go check out the pirate ships then," Nami said eyeing the two ships, "They might have left some treasure"
Makino decided to go with Luffy while Nami coerced Zoro into going with her and the two teams split up.
"So how do we sneak in?" Makino asked as she and Luffy stood behind the people who were begging for any information from the Marines about the townspeople's whereabouts.
"Don't worry about that," Luffy grinned grabbing her hand and leading her behind a tree. He then scooped her up in a princess carry, and without giving her a chance to think, used Soru to just run past the patrol. He made it to the inside of the town and stopped behind a building to observe what was happening.
"I still get dizzy when you do that," Makino mumbled as she leaned on him for support while Luffy peeked from behind the building. "I've only seen your grandpa be able to do things like this…"
"Yeah, it's used by high-level Marines actually. Stupid gramps could have taught it to me when I was young…" he grumbled before sighing and talking about the town, "Don't see any blood anywhere, so they weren't killed at least"
"Looks like it," Makino also commented seeing the town. "So how exactly do we find out if your friends were here or not?"
"I'm not sure…Let's look around more," Luffy said and grinned, "Ready for another round? I'll be going faster"
"Yes yes," Makino sighed tightening her hold on him. Luffy kept using Soru to explore the town while hiding from any patrolling Marines trying to see if anything would grab his attention until he saw a restaurant bar. His memories got jogged as he recalled that Silk worked at a restaurant too and that's where his story counterpart met her. And so, he made his way to the inside of the bar and finally stopped.
"Luffy~" Makino whined as she got down from his arms and staggered on her feet, feeling nauseous.
"Shishi take a minute," Luffy chuckled as he made her sit on a chair before he started looking around. It was a fairly normal restaurant bar and he didn't find anything that would indicate Silk was there, that is until he saw the pictures hung up on the wall.
"I can't believe I forgot to ask, but who is this friend of yours anyway?" Makino asked feeling better and coming up to him, just in time for him to spot a blonde woman who seemed familiar in one of the pictures.
"Her!" Luffy cheered finally knowing that Silk was, in fact, real but then his eyes fell on the rest of her body and his eyes shined with fascination. "Oh wow"
She actually didn't look like Nami much, but she was a bit similar with a much more angular face, a much better physique fit for a nimble fighter, blonde waist-length hair that was tied up in a ponytail and most importantly of all, the fact that had him really excited, was that she had a metallic left arm!
'Metal-arm Nami! Or Silk in this case I guess' The early concept art of Nami by Oda had her having a metallic left arm while wielding a huge oversized axe, and it looked like Silk was the one who had the metallic arm in this reality.
"Who is she?"
"Hmm it's complicated to explain, but she's a friend I guess…Her name is Silk"
"I see. So what now? Your friend is in many of these pictures so guess she lived in this town"
"Yeah…now we gotta find out what happened to the people in this town"
Makino observed the pictures with a pondering look on her face before saying "Let's go upstairs. Judging by the photos, I think she lived in this restaurant itself"
"Yeah maybe"
The two then made their way up the stairs and reached the first floor which had a small corridor leading up to two rooms. They went through the first room and found it was the room of a middle-aged man, who was most probably the restaurant owner.
The second room however had Luffy oohing and aahing in excitement as he felt like he had entered a steampunk workshop. It was a room filled with all sorts of tools and equipment used for blacksmithing, except for a furnace. The floor was littered with gears, screws and all sorts of materials, while the walls were adorned with all sorts of weapons like swords, crossbows, axes, flails, and so on. The scent of oil was heavy in the air and in one corner of the room, there was a workbench on which sat a metallic arm. He excitedly went to examine it and found it to be quite light-weight and even though some parts were rusty, it was an intricate creation with all sorts of gears and mechanisms which he didn't understand.
He soon found a retractible blade on its side and on its top was a hollow rectangular cavity which just seemed like a hole. He observed the weapons hanging on the wall and noticed a block piece of metal sticking out at the handles of all the weapons and understood. He picked up a crossbow and slotted the block-shaped piece of metal sticking out at the handle into the block-shaped hole in the firearm and it clicked in place. 'So, she can switch between weapons…'
"Whoa…" Luffy breathed in awe.
"Looks like she's quite the innovator"
"I want her." Luffy instantly made up his mind to make her join his crew. But then again, the townspeople were her treasure, so would she even leave them? 'Well, I don't know much about this reality's Silk. Let's just find her and ask'
"Y-you want her?" Makino asked bewildered.
Luffy gave her an amused smile, "You know what I meant"
"Well, with the way you keep flirting with girls, I actually don't"
"Shishishi take it up with Leo. It's his influence and I can't help it"
"Oh don't worry, I will," she said calmly but she had long since vowed that if there was such a thing as an afterlife, she would find Leo and torture him until he begged for mercy for corrupting her poor, innocent Luffy. She was the second person after Reiju to make the same vow, and they were just the start.
"Well anyway, we need to first find out what the Marines know to get a grasp of what happened here"
"And how will we do that?"
"I think that's their temporary base so I'll just sneak in," Luffy said as he looked out the window. A bit further away in a big building, multiple Marines were going in and out while some guarded the place, so it seemed like they were using that as a temporary base. He was planning to just Soru in and find out what all he could, but he spotted a couple of familiar faces and his eyes lit up, "Smokey and Tash are here!"
"…You don't even have to point out who Smokey is." Makino giggled when she looked outside and spotted the Marine with two cigars in his mouth. "Who are they?"
"Marines I met back in Loguetown. I think I'll just go and ask them"
"Really? Won't they be surprised if we suddenly pop out?"
"It'll be fine. They're good Ma-" He stopped when something else caught his eyes. Just at the entrance of the temporary Marine base was a huge cage where a huge bird was locked up. The bird was white with black wings, an elongated yellow beak and had black colouring around its eyes that made it look like a panda.
"Balloon!" Luffy whisper yelled.
"What?"
"That huge caged bird! Its name is Balloon. That means Ann was here too!"
"Ann?"
"Another friend. Looks like Ann and Silk were both here!"
"And the bird is Ann's friend?"
"Yeah. But why have they caged Balloon? And it looks sad and dazed"
"It looks hurt too"
Luffy only then noticed that one of its wings had streaks of red. "Think it saw what happened here?"
"Maybe… Maybe it got hurt while trying to protect Ann from whatever made the town disappear?"
Luffy sighed "We won't get anywhere with just speculation. Let's go ask Balloon"
"Okay. Let's hope Smokey is feeling friendly today"
"Nah, he's always grumpy" Luffy chuckled.
"Joy"
The two descended downstairs and walked outside the bar without any warning. A couple of Marines spotted them as they walked out and shouted "Intruders!" while levelling their rifles at them. That alerted the rest of the Marines around and soon, multiple rifles were levelled at them. Luffy made sure Makino was fully behind him and also stood close to her in case any of them fired at her.
"We're friendly!" Makino yelled starting a dialogue.
"How did you get in?!"
"We snuck in duh" Luffy deadpanned.
"Luffy! Don't be rude!"
"Strawhat?" a gruff-sounding voice said from towards their base. Smoker had also heard the shouts of 'Intruder' and was now standing just outside the entrance, along with Tashigi.
"Hey, Smokey! Nice to see ya again! You too, Tash!"
"What are you doing here?" Tashigi asked bewildered.
"Had a couple of friends who were in this town and they've disappeared too. You guys weren't letting us come in so we snuck in"
Smoker sighed "Leave this to the Marines kid. Go home"
"Not until I can talk to Balloon"
"Balloon?"
"That panda bird you've caged up," Luffy said pointing at the poor bird. "It's the partner of one of my friends who disappeared. Let me talk to it and then we'll leave"
Smoker saw the bird and alternated his gaze between Luffy and the bird, unable to decide whether to let him talk to it or not.
"Hey! I'm the Captain here!" another Marine popped up from inside the base before he could make up his mind and looked challengingly at Smoker. He then turned to Luffy and Makino while looking extremely annoyed.
"I'd have you two imprisoned for trespassing in an investigation zone but you know this stupid bird?! It has been a real menace to us ever since we came here! It hurt a few of my men too! How will you compensate me for that?!"
"I don't think civilians are expected to pay for stuff like that," Makino said calmly observing the clearly corrupt Marine captain. "If you get hurt on the job, then go ask your superiors for compensation"
Not expecting her to talk back, the Marine captain glared at Makino threateningly "How dare you raise your voice against a Marine captain?! Men, arrest this woman on charges of assault!"
Luffy stepped up cracking his knuckles not saying anything.
"Captain Getyin," Smoker spoke up, "I didn't see any assault here. So if you arrest that woman, I'll let the superiors know she was brought under false charges"
The Marine captain, who was apparently named Getyin, grit his teeth in frustration. "You have no jurisdiction here"
"I'm just gonna report it as a witness, not a Marine Captain"
Getyin glared at Smoker for a couple of seconds before throwing his arms up in frustration as he turned back to Makino and Luffy. "Take the damn bird and get lost!"
"Sure," Makino said with a sweet smile. Luffy chuckled knowing he would be out of a job by next week as Makino would definitely call Sengoku and insist he does something about him.
Luffy then walked up to the base along with Makino, uncaring of all the other Marines who had since lowered their rifles. He stood in front of the cage and studied the bird carefully.
"Balloon?"
Balloon perked up slightly but seemed to be in a daze for some reason.
"Seems to be drugged," Makino commented before turning to one of the nearby Marines "What did you give it?"
"Umm…"
Another person in a doctor's coat who was standing nearby spoke up "Just normal tranquillizers. It was making too much noise, so we had no choice"
"Can you bring it out of its daze?"
"Sure, but it'll be loud," the doctor said as he came up and started preparing an injection shot.
Meanwhile, Luffy looked at Smoker and Tashigi still standing by the door observing him. "What have you guys found?"
"As I said, leave it to the Marines, kid"
"My friends might be in trouble. Please?"
"No"
"Fine" Luffy grumbled pouting slightly. "What are you guys doing this far from Loguetown anyway?"
"We were responding to a distress call by a pirate-attacked cruise ship and were on our way back with the captured pirates when we heard of this place," Tashigi explained, "Thought we would check it out since we were close by and help if needed since a lot of people went missing"
"Ah okay." He wanted to tease Smoker with something but the doctor had prepared the shot by then and injected Balloon. The bird seemed to slowly regain its consciousness as it blinked repeatedly, but when it saw that it was in a cage in the middle of unfamiliar faces, it come out of its daze, started screeching and banging on the cage with its uninjured wing and beak, jerking it violently.
"See what we meant by noisy?" the doctor said covering his ears.
"I'll kill that damn bird if it doesn't shut up or is out of this building in the next 5 minutes!" Getyin screamed from somewhere inside the building.
"Balloon!" Luffy yelled trying to placate it by placing his hand on its beak, "Balloon! I'm a friend of Ann!"
Balloon bit his hand harshly and Luffy kept repeating the same words a couple more times before it finally heard him and stopped, observing Luffy carefully.
"It's okay," Luffy reassured petting it gently with his other hand. "I'm Ann's friend. I'll get you out of here, don't worry"
Balloon slowly opened its beak letting his hand go and pitifully licked his hand as it nodded.
"Good. Do you know what happened here? Was Ann here?"
Balloon nodded vigorously and started squawking continuously while moving its beak. "GWAHH! GwaHH!"
"You know I can't understand you right?" Luffy deadpanned and Balloon stopped squawking hanging its head down in defeat.
"Shishi it's okay, we'll communicate another way. Let's get you out of there first," Luffy said and looked at the Marine with the key to the cage. "It's calm now, open it. Balloon, don't make a scene" He added the last part towards Balloon and it nodded.
"Wait," Smoker suddenly piped up "If that bird knows what happened, then we can't let it go"
Makino glared at him "Really?"
"We didn't know it was a witness," Smoker calmly said but felt an inexplicable trace of fear when Makino glared at him. "…Ma'am"
"We're sorry, ma'am" Tashigi placated, "But we are trying to find out what happened here too. It would help us if the bird could give us any information that would help us track down the missing villagers"
Makino looked at the pleading look on Tashigi's face and sighed calming down.
"It's okay, Makino. Unlike the other bastard, these two are good Marines. We can trust them," Luffy said directly looking at Smoker and his eyes twitched in annoyance.
"Yeah okay," Makino relented. The cage was soon opened and Balloon stepped out, immediately sticking to Luffy's side while cautiously observing the rest. It snapped its beak a couple of times making a loud SNAP! sound at some of the Marines, who stepped back in fear.
Luffy ruffled its feathers trying to calm it down and noticed the badly wounded wing. "You can't fly?"
Balloon shook its head sadly at that.
"So you tried to get the Marines' help by trying to tell them what happened, but they didn't listen and then you got angry, so started attacking?"
Balloon nodded glaring at the nearby Marines, who took another step back in fear as they averted their eyes.
"It's fine now," Luffy placated, "More importantly, we need to track down Ann, so we need you to tell us what happened. Can you write?"
Balloon shook its head. Luffy paused for a second and looked at Smoker, "Can you tell us what you've found out so that we can ask the right questions? If not, we'll be playing the toughest game of charades ever"
Smoker wanted to tell him to get lost and get the information from the bird themselves, but seeing how the bird stuck to Luffy's side, he knew they wouldn't be able to do it. Besides, it was his fellow Marines' fault who had abused the bird so he knew he didn't have a choice. "Fine," he grumbled before telling them to follow him to another room.
5 minutes later, Luffy, Makino and Balloon were standing around a round table, along with Smoker, Tashigi and a few other Marines. Getyin was also in the corner but didn't acknowledge anyone. There was a map of the island on the table and all its surrounding islands with various paths marked.
Smoker started without wasting much time "Slavers"
Makino and Luffy weren't shocked as they kinda expected it so didn't react much except with a brief nod. Smoker thought Luffy would at least flinch or show some reaction as he had been enslaved himself but he just stared at him asking him to continue, and so he did.
"There were signs of a struggle in various places, but no large amounts of blood. So safe to assume they were all captured alive. Drag marks indicate that the people were dragged towards the shore where there was another ship besides the two pirate ships"
"How do the pirates tie into this?" Makino asked.
"That's what's confusing us," Tashigi continued, "We thought first that the pirates were the ones who tried to capture the people but as you know, they all disappeared too. We think there was a third pirate group which betrayed the two and enslaved them too"
"Wait, is this island affiliated with the World Government?"
"…Yes… Why is that relevant?" Smoker asked.
'Okay doesn't seem like Tequila Wolf then' Luffy concluded and answered him, "You're not ready to hear the answer to that, Smokey"
Smoker's eyes twitched in irritation but Luffy moved on and addressed Balloon. "Was there another pirate group here?"
It shook his head.
"Any other group of people?"
Nod.
Luffy thought about the One-shot where Ann and Balloon had been captured by Spiel on his boat and wondered if that had happened, so he asked it.
"…what were you and Ann doing here anyway? Were you captured by Spiel?"
Balloon nodded vigorously.
"So Spiel came independently to this island?"
Nod.
"Was the other pirate group already here?"
Nod.
"They fought?"
Shake.
"They joined hands?"
Shake.
Luffy thought for a moment. "They tried to steal you and as a result, you and Ann were able to escape?"
Nod, nod.
"Why would they try to steal that damn bird?" Getyin piped up suddenly.
"Hmm, not sure actually," Luffy answered not remembering the reason from the one-shot before continuing, "Then the third group showed up while you were trying to escape?"
It nodded and pointed outside the window to where the restaurant was.
"The restaurant?" Luffy asked surprised, "You took refuge there?"
Nod.
"Did you meet Silk?"
Enthusiastic surprised nod.
"Who's that?" Smoker asked.
"A friend who lived at that restaurant" 'Ooh, so the two lookalikes met!'
"I see"
"Okay, so Silk helped you take refuge while the two pirate groups ran around the village trying to find you guys?" Tashigicontinued.
Nod.
"The villagers panicked and all hid inside their homes?"
Nod.
"The third group of people showed up and started attacking then?"
Shake. It then slumped down and acted as if it fainted, and quickly got up again.
"You fell asleep?" Luffy picked up again.
Shake. It made a circle over the whole village.
"The whole village fell asleep?"
Nod. Then it patted itself and opened its eyes wide.
"Everyone except you fell asleep?"
Nod.
"Sleeping gas over the entire town, but it didn't affect you?" Smoker suggested.
Nod, nod.
"We would have found any residue in the air if that was true," Tashigi said before turning to one of the Marines wearing a lab coat, "I didn't see anything about it in the report. You didn't find any, did you?"
"Um no…we haven't tested the air…yet…"
Smoker, Tashigi, Luffy and Makino sweat dropped. All the people in a whole town were kidnapped without much bloodshed, so that should have been the first conclusion that they should have made and tested the air.
Getyin coughed into his hand "We just found out it was slavers this morning, so we didn't have much time. Besides, we have our hands full with all those annoying people crying at the shore!"
Hearing that only made Makino's resolution to make sure Getyin was stripped of his title stronger. Luffy moved on turning back to Balloon. "So you tried to fight them off when they tried to kidnap Ann, Silk and everyone else?"
Nod.
"Did you see their faces?"
Shake.
"Gas masks?"
Nod.
"Distinct mark?"
Nod.
"We'll get to that later. Did you see where they went?"
Nod. It then pointed to the shore.
"Another ship was there?"
Nod.
"Pirate flag? Marine flag?"
Shrug.
"Marine flag?" Tashigi said confused but Luffy didn't acknowledge it and moved on.
"Any idea where they went?"
Nod. It then pointed at itself, made an eating gesture and then flexed.
"Umm…"
It repeated the action again and Luffy tilted his head in confusion. It then took a fruit from a nearby table, ate it and then flexed.
"Ate something and become powerful?" Tashigi suggested unsure.
"Ah! Devil fruit!" Luffy realized, "You ate one?"
Nod, Nod.
"The bird is a devil fruit user?!" Getyin piped up excitedly but everyone ignored him. Balloon then patted itself and made flapping action with just one wing and then looked all around.
"Are you trying to tell me what your devil fruit ability is?"
Nod.
"Can it help us track down Ann and Silk?"
Enthusiastic nod.
"Great!"
It repeated its action of flapping with one wing and looking all around.
Luffy tilted his head thinking about it. "Do you need to be able to fly to track them down?"
Shake.
"You can point where they are?"
Nod, nod.
"Something like a track-track fruit?"
Shrug.
"Bottom line, you can act like a compass pointing to where Ann is?"
Enthusiastic nod.
"Great!" Luffy cheered. "Point the way then!"
"Gwaahhh!" it cheered happily finally being able to get its point across and pointed in the south-eastern direction.
"That was quicker than I thought. Good job, Luffy!" Makino praised.
"Yes, thank you Strawhat," Smoker also added. "We should mobilize and go in that direction as soon as possible"
"Yes," Getyin said standing up. "The reinforcements should be here in around 4 days. We'll set out as soon as they come"
The only 4 sane people there- Luffy, Makino, Smoker and Tashigi, plus Balloon snapped their necks at him simultaneously.
"Are you serious?!" Makino yelled. "It's already been four days and you want to wait for four more?! Any trail might've gone cold by then"
"GWAHH!"
"Stay out of Marine business, woman!"
"Captain, she has a point." Tashigi also piped up. "We can't wait for that long"
Getyin scoffed. "This isn't some small slaver group we're dealing with. They kidnapped an entire town, so they might be a big group. We need more people. I'm not risking my lif-Ehem! my men's lives on this"
"We aren't waiting. We're going right now to find them" Luffy stated.
"Sure, get lost. But the bird stays of course. I don't know why two pirate groups were fighting over it, so we need to first check why before releasing it"
"Not because it'll help us track down the missing townspeople?" Tashigi asked bewildered.
"…Of course, that too!"
"Oh please. You just think it's valuable because it ate a devil fruit and want to make a profit by selling it yourself," Makino scoffed.
That made Getyin flinch slightly and he glared at Makino dangerously while bringing his rifle up, levelling it at her. "How dare you accuse a Marine of such pettiness?!"
"Nope," Luffy just stepped in front of Makino.
"Stop!" Smoker yelled bringing the quickly deteriorating situation to a standstill. He first turned to Getyin and said "You're pointing a rifle at a civilian. Stand down" but Getyin refused to do so.
Smoker then turned to Luffy "We can't let the bird go. We need it to point us in the direction of the people"
"If you guys agree to leave in the next hour, then sure, I don't mind. But waiting for four days? During which they might be sold off, tortured or killed?… Not happening"
Smoker grit his teeth in frustration knowing he was right. He turned back to Getyin who was still glaring at Makino. "The boy is right. We need to start the search as quickly as possible"
"Captain Smoker, I've been lenient enough till now, but you're crossing the line. This is my area and I'm in charge here. You have no jurisdiction here, so you don't get to make decisions. I say we wait for 4 days for reinforcements, so we wait for 4 days. That's final. If you don't want to stick around, then kindly leave. I didn't ask for your presence here either way"
Smoker glared back at him and Tashigi looked ready to blow a fuse staring at Getyin as she gripped her Shigure tightly. There was silence as tensions rose in the room.
"Let's just leave, Luffy" Makino said breaking the silence.
"And what makes you think we'll let you do that?" Getyin scoffed.
Makino put her arms around Luffy's neck as he grabbed her by the waist with one hand and grabbed Balloon with the other. "Enjoy your last days as a Captain," she said without breaking eye contact before they suddenly disappeared from right in front of their eyes. The Marines looked around frantically trying to find where they were but Luffy was out of the building and heading towards the shore.
"Is he a devil fruit user too?!" Getyin screamed, "Find them now!"
"Yes sir!"
Meanwhile, Luffy hadn't gone far and hid behind a building that was just a block away. He dropped off both Makino and Balloon and said "Give me a minute" before he went back to the temporary Marine base, right inside Getyin's office. He didn't have time to go through the documents there, so he just glanced at a few before stuffing them all inside his sling bag. Job done, he was just about to leave when he saw a bag full of treasure lying in the corner of the office. Thinking that Nami would like it, he grabbed it on his way out. He then went to Silk's restaurant, grabbed the metal arm and a few weapons and put them all inside another bag before going back.
"Okay, let's go!" Luffy said appearing before Makino and Balloon again and they started making their way towards the shore. But he suddenly spotted Zoro and Nami coming towards their direction while taking cover behind buildings, so popped up next to them while carrying two bags, Makino and Balloon, making them flinch in surprise.
"Hey guys, what's up?"
"Will you stop always doing that?!" Nami snapped snappy as always.
"GWA-" Balloon suddenly piped up excitedly when it saw Nami but it stopped midway and tilted its head curiously at Nami.
'Ooh did it think she was Ann? Shishishi guess Ann looks like Nami at least. It's gonna be fun when they meet!'
"I found them! They're here!" a voice yelled from behind them before anything could be said further and the four, plus Balloon, turned to see Marines quickly mobilizing behind them.
"Luffy," Zoro smirked as they all started running away with Makino and Balloon in Luffy's arms, "You weren't kidding when you said that she always shouts and gives away our position when we're trying to be stealthy huh?"
"It's his damn fault!" Nami snapped.
"Another shot!" Luffy, Zoro and Makino cheered in unison.
"Shut it!" Nami smacked the swordsman.
"Moving on," Zoro said sending an irritated glare at the navigator, "What's with the bird?"
"I'll explain later. We need to run away first"
"No wait!" Nami interjected, "I think the Marines took the treasure from the pirate ships. We can go ch-"
"Here ya go!" Luffy grinned as he handed her the bag of treasure and she just blinked looking at the treasure before her face bloomed into a huge smile as she looked back up at Luffy. "You're forgiven for always scaring me"
"Thanks!" Luffy chuckled as they ran but he noticed Zoro was somehow suddenly running perpendicular to them. "Zoro, this way!"
"Oh," Zoro stopped before changing direction and coming back to them while Luffy chuckled seeing his legendary sense of direction in action. They soon made it to the shore, jumped into the boat and Nami quickly unfurled the sails while Luffy and Zoro grabbed the oars and started paddling away.
Just as they got far enough, Smoker and Tashigi showed up at the shore having figured out that the two would leave the island now that they had Balloon.
"Strawhat, stop!" Smoker yelled.
"Oh! Hey Smokey!" Luffy yelled back, "Sorry but we can't do that! We've given you the general direction so make do with that!" And while grinning added, "Today's the day that you'll always remember as the day that you almo-"
Unfortunately, he couldn't finish his epic escape line when he heard a loud thud right next to him and turned to see Zoro collapsed on his knees while he gawked in Smoker's direction as if he had seen a ghost.
"…K-Kuina?" he breathed.
'OHHH…forgot about that…' Luffy looked back at the shore and saw Tashigi standing right next to Smoker and didn't know what to do. Should he stop and let Zoro talk to her? They were far by then but he still didn't mind going back.
Zoro noticed Luffy looking at him quizzically and quickly composed himself as he sat back down inside the boat.
"…Do you want us to stop?"
"No need… Just my eyes playing tricks on me that's all," he grunted and turned his gaze away from the island. Luffy thought for a moment but shrugged accepting his answer as those two would meet in Loguetown either way and started rowing again.
Meanwhile, Smoker wanted to just use his powers to drag them back, but what would he do after? Getyin was right in saying that he had no jurisdiction and the best he could do was let his superiors know about it and hope they would send someone else to take over the case.
"Sir, are we letting them go?" Tashigi asked agitated.
"Do you want to tell them to wait for 4 days doing nothing when their friends might be in danger?"
"No! But… we can't let them just go. They might put themselves in danger"
"Oh don't worry. Something tells me that the Strawhat can take care of himself…and that green-haired woman was…" He was about to say scary but held himself back. Him being scared of a woman half his size who didn't look like she had ever trained in combat was illogical and embarrassing to admit. "…well she looked like she knew what she was doing. So hopefully, they'll be smart enough to pull back if they stumble across something big…"
"…I see…"
"Let's do what we can. We'll let HQ know that the captain here is incompetent and tell them to assign someone better. And fast"
"Yessir!"
———
"So the bird is pointing the way?" Zoro asked confused, "How though?"
"I know birds have a sort of internal compass but that's for places, not people," Nami added. "So how exactly is it pointing to your friend?"
"Gwahh!"
"Some kind of track-track fruit I guess," Luffy answered, "Not sure which one exactly"
"…what?" / "Track fruit? What does that mean?"
"He's talking about devil fruits," Makino answered while she bandaged Balloon's injured wing, "Balloon has eaten one."
"Devil fruits?!" Nami gawked, "That myth is real?!"
"Really?" Zoro asked surprised too. "And animals can eat it too?"
"Yep to all questions just now"
"You're kidding, right?" Nami said looking at Balloon skeptically. "I've heard some horror stories of devil fruits transforming people into…well, devils. Thought they were scary stories parents tell their children"
"Yeah same here," Zoro chimed in, "Heard it gives supernatural abilities and turns people into hideous monsters. They were baseless stories until today"
"Ooh ooh," Makino piped up excitedly, "Is it time for Professor Luffy to make an appearance?"
"You know it!" Luffy smirked as he stood at the bow of the boat and adjusted his imaginary glasses, making Zoro and Nami sweat-drop but they went along with it in favour of learning whatever he had to say.
"Okay listen carefully kids. There are three main types of devil fruits…" Luffy began explaining the three types and how powerful each one was, by the end of which, Zoro and Nami were even more skeptical.
"This all sounds too far-fetched. You're just making stuff up, aren't you?" Nami said with a peeved expression. Zoro didn't say anything, but judging by his expression, he was of the same opinion too.
"Professor Luffy!" Makino raised her hand and Luffy nodded saying, "Yes, my most prized pupil" making the other two and Balloon give them a deadpan look.
"Why don't you show them your powers?"
"Nah, I decided not to use my powers until we get to the entrance of Grand Line"
"Ah I see"
"Wait a minute! You've eaten one too?!" Nami exclaimed before her eyes widened in realization, "Your superspeed! That's because of a devil fruit!"
"That explains it." Zoro nodded concluding the same thing too, "But you also stopped bullets… Can you get two abilities if you eat two fruits?"
They had of course asked him about how he could do the stuff he did and instead of giving them a straight answer and overwhelming them with information about Rokushiki and Haki this soon in the journey, he had chosen to let them figure it out themselves. He was going to tell them soon though.
"No no," Luffy denied their guesses, "Superspeed? That's a cooler way of putting it… but even you can do it with enough training. And people can't eat more than one devil fruit. You'll explode. And I mean 'explode' in quite the literal sense…at least that's what I've heard"
"Wha?! It has to be! No one can just run that fast!"
"I'm living proof that one can"
"That's probably a devil fruit power!"
"Shishi my devil fruit power is much cooler!"
"…which is what exactly?"
"Let's play a guessing game! I won't use it until we reach the entrance of the Grand Line, so you have time to guess until then"
"You and your stupid games…" Nami sighed, "It's gotta be superspeed. You're just lying…or devil fruits are not real and you're just messing with us"
The banter went on for a few minutes with Makino watching Luffy and wondering why he liked to make so many silly conversations with the other two. It wasn't just for this, but he would bring up so many random topics and discuss them while making lots of silly and pointless conversations. He was the same before and when he was alone with her, too, but with Nami and Zoro, it was just a bit too excessive. She added this question to a growing list of queries she wanted to ask him about, but had no idea how to broach the subject.
"Okay, okay, you'll just have to see it to believe it. I'm sure we'll run into another user soon enough, so you'll see then." Luffy concluded, and they sighed in acceptance. He wanted to have some fun playing pranks on them with his powers, so he didn't want to reveal it just yet.
——o——
A few hours passed with Nami guiding them to where Balloon was pointing when Zoro suddenly perked up. "Looks like our follower finally got impatient."
"Yeah, looks like it," Luffy said as both men turned their gazes to where a lone boat was following them from a distance.
"We're being followed?" Nami asked surprised.
"Yeah, ever since we left the island. They've kept just out of range most of the time, but I've spotted them a few times"
"Hmm, looks like a small dinghy with just one person on it," Makino said looking through a pair of binoculars. "You think it's that Getyin bastard?"
"Nah, he wouldn't come alone… Slow the boat down, Nami. Let's see who it is"
"Okay"
A few minutes later, the boat came closer and they could finally see the occupant on board. The person was wearing a full-body blue cloak which even hid their face with a hood, so they had no idea who it was but the person was looking right at them.
Luffy waved at them hoping to start a dialogue, "Hey there!"
The person chose that moment to suddenly jump towards them and with an outstretched leg brought it down on their boat. Luffy intercepted with his own leg and the two clashed. Luffy was surprised when he actually got pushed back, but it was just momentary as he wasn't expecting the person to be staring, so hadn't put much into the attack. When he used more of his strength to push back, the person also seemed to get surprised and used his leg as a jumping pad to jump back into their own boat.
'Whoever it is, they're strong!' Luffy became excited at the prospect of meeting someone strong and his face betrayed his joy as it split into a grin. The person landed back in their own boat, also seemingly surprised at the strength as they flexed their leg.
Luffy jumped off his boat as he didn't want the others to get caught in between if they fought there and took the battle to the other boat. As he landed, the cloaked person stared at him in wariness.
"I don't know why you're attacking but you're strong!" Luffy said cracking his fingers with a grin.
The person chose that moment to remove their cloak and revealed themselves to be a woman in her early twenties with vibrant dark blue hair flowing down to her waist. She was wearing a simple white shirt, and knee-length pants and on her ears hung helix-shaped earrings that swayed gently in the wind. Her eyes were the same vibrant blue as her hair and currently, they were furiously glaring at him. Luffy had absolutely no idea who she was but her face seemed familiar for so,e reason. He went through all the fillers and movies he could remember but her face didn't ring any bells. She was strong though, so he was happy that a strong unknown person had popped up.
"Give me back my sister!" the mystery woman hissed.
"Your sister?" Luffy tilted his head puzzled. All his battle lust was on hold for now as he saw that she was furious at him. He first had to clear up whatever misunderstanding she had and then ask for a fight. "Who's your sister? I have no idea who you're talking about or why you think I took your sis-"
"GWAHH! GWAAH!" Balloon's happy squawking interrupted them. The two turned towards Balloon, stared for a second at its happy squawking and then looked back at each other.
"Balloon is your sister? I haven't taken her or anyth-" Luffy began.
"Don't play dumb with me! You kidnapped my sister! Where is she?!"
"Listen, you can have Balloon back. I didn't kidnap her"
"Not Balloon, you dimwit! Where's Ann?!"
Luffy's eyes widened in realization as he studied her face and finally realized why it seemed familiar. Even though he couldn't tell right away, when he looked for similarities between the two, he could see a semblance of Nami's face in hers. "You're Ann's sister?"
"So you do know her," the woman hissed as she brought daggers out of seemingly nowhere and started attacking Luffy with impressive speed and accuracy. Luffy barely managed to dodge the attacks on the small boat where either couldn't move much, but he wasn't using his Observation.
"Hey, stop. Let's talk," Luffy said as he kept dodging and deflecting her attacks and the woman got increasingly frustrated. After a minute, she jumped back and put some distance between them while looking at Luffy warily. "You're strong… who are you?!"
Before he could answer, Balloon's loud squawks again interrupted them.
"GWAAAH! GWAAAH!"
"LUFFY! I think the bird is saying not to fight!" Makino yelled and when the two looked towards it, Balloon was panicking while shaking its head and making an X with its wings.
Luffy looked back at the woman who was also looking at Balloon curiously before she turned her gaze back to Luffy but was a bit calmer. "Balloon says not to fight…"
"Yeah. Let's talk? We're friendly"
The woman nodded slowly after taking a moment to consider and looking at Balloon once again. They waited until the two boats got closer and once they were parallel, Balloon jumped into the woman's arms and nudged her lovingly while Luffy went back to his own boat and sat beside Zoro puzzled at the new person who showed up.
"I'm assuming you didn't know Ann had a sister?" Makino asked.
"Yeah… well, I kinda don't know Ann either," Luffy said awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. He realized that apart from that one short 40-page story regarding Ann which he vaguely remembered, he had absolutely no idea about her life.
"Wait what?" Nami said puzzled, "Isn't the whole reason we came here because of your friend?"
"It's complicated…"
Meanwhile, Balloon was trying to convey something to the woman with its wings and squawks and the woman actually seemed to understand.
"Guess we owe you an apology for attacking you," she said after Balloon was finished.
"Nah, don't worry about it"
"Let's start over then. My name is Lizz. I'm Ann's older sister"
"I'm Luffy. Nice to meetcha!"
The others also introduced themselves and her gaze lingered on Nami for a bit.
"What?" Nami asked.
"No… it's just… You dress just like my sister and kinda look like her too…"
"Oh"
"…Anyway, " she shook her head getting back to the topic, "Balloon tells me that you saved him?"
"You can understand him?"
"Kinda. Spent a lot of time with him so can understand basic stuff at least. So, can you elaborate? We followed Ann's trail here and saw you running away with Balloon. So, we assumed you were one of the pirates who kidnapped her"
"You mean Spiel?" Zoro asked.
She snared at the name hatefully. "Yes…he wiped out our whole village because he wanted Balloon"
Balloon's head hung low and Lizz ruffled his feathers assuring him it wasn't his fault.
"So that's what happened…" Makino said sadly. They then took turns and explained how they learned what happened at Flint Town.
Lizz sighed deeply rubbing her face in frustration. "First pirates and now slavers? What kind of shit luck do we have?… What about the Marines?"
They then explained how Getyin was waiting for four days before acting and thus, they had taken matters into their own hands.
"Stupid Marines! Can't depend on them when the time comes!" Lizz spat hatefully. But she soon shook her head getting rid of such thoughts and focused on the important matter. "So, Balloon can point towards Ann, so we should be able to track her down…"
Balloon nodded enthusiastically.
"Point towards her how?" Nami asked wanting to know if what Luffy said was true or not.
"Oh he's eaten a devil fruit," Lizz answered and Nami gaped again.
"So it's true?!"
"You don't know devil fruits exist?" she asked curiously.
"Just gave them the explanation of the different types, but I guess they won't believe it until they see one with their own eyes," Luffy answered and Lizz nodded in understanding.
"Anyway, we just gotta wait now huh?" Lizz said with a sigh and leaned on Balloon to relax. She then looked at Zoro for a second before asking, "You're Roronoa Zoro, aren't you? Are you guys bounty hunters?"
Zoro nodded before saying, "Not a bounty hunter anymore"
"We're pirates!" Luffy answered.
"Pirates?" Lizz muttered in surprise and everyone except Luffy was surprised by her lack of wariness at the term pirates. She was confused though, "I don't get your relationship with Ann. I don't think she's ever mentioned you all… Sure, she snuck out of our village sometimes on Balloon's back, so she would be with Balloon outside the village. But Balloon also has never seen you. Just where did you meet Ann? And how did you become close enough that you're willing to risk your life to go against Marines and also head into- what I assume will be a slaver hideout?"
The others turned to Luffy and he sighed internally not knowing how to answer that question. Lizz also understood that he was the only one who knew Ann and looked at him expectantly too.
"Hmm," Luffy tilted his head from side to side trying to think of how he could explain the situation. "It's complicated…"
Luckily for him, Lizz sighed sadly as she ruffled Balloon's feathers and came to conclusions herself. "Did she tell you not to say anything to me?" she trailed off sadly, "I know we haven't been getting along for…" she paused and chuckled darkly, "years now… but if she befriended pirates, I thought she would tell me…" She sighed deeply, letting it go, "Okay, we won't ask…"
'Did I get pulled into some family drama right now?' Luffy wondered but was also glad that he didn't have to explain anything right now. He quickly changed the topic. "Hey hey, you up for a spar after all this is over?"
Lizz smirked as she nodded, "I wanted to ask the same, too! You're quite strong to be able to dodge all my attacks."
"You use daggers?" Zoro asked, curious about her fighting style, too. He was also impressed by her speed and accuracy during the short spat she had with Luffy and wanted to fight her too.
"More of a chaotic fighter actually. We'll show you when we're on land!" she grinned excitedly, and Luffy and Zoro matched her grin.
"You're a battle maniac too?" Nami sighed.
"Kahahaha, Yep!"
———