…
I shifted the bundle Pelli had packed me farther under my arm and reached slowly toward the coin pouch Rusk had given me.
Nami's pole snapped forward.
The metal tip stopped under my chin.
"Slowly," she said.
"I am moving slowly."
I stared at her.
She stared back.
I carefully pulled out the pouch and shook it once. Coins rattled inside. Nami's eyes followed the sound with the focus of a hunting animal.
"Currently?" I said. "A deeply embarrassing amount."
"Give me the pouch."
"No."
The pole pressed harder against my chin.
I looked down at it.
Then back at her.
"No," I repeated.
Nami's smile became considerably less friendly.
She hopped down from the crate, landing lightly in front of me, and held out her free hand.
"Fine. Name."
"Kai."
"Full name."
"Just Kai."
"That's not a full name."
"It's the full amount of name you're getting."
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
I watched the exact moment something clicked behind them.
She lowered the pole by half an inch, studied my face more carefully, then reached into the small bag hanging against her hip.
She pulled out a folded piece of paper.
Oh.
That was probably bad.
Nami unfolded it and held it beside my face.
My own wanted poster stared back at me.
Nami looked from the poster to me, then moved it slightly closer to my face.
I leaned away.
"Could you not?"
"It's definitely you."
"I look much better in person, no?"
She just scoffed.
"It says you attacked your Marine base," she said, ignoring my question.
"They attacked me first." I shrugged
"And killed your commanding officer"
"She was awful."
Nami stared at me for several seconds.
Then she folded the poster.
"You're an idiot."
"That's a little harsh."
"You walked into a Marine-controlled port with a bounty like this."
"For the record, I didn't walk in; I arrived on a merchant ship."
"That doesn't make it better."
"It wasn't a particularly legal merchant ship."
"That makes it worse."
I thought about it.
"Yeah, fair."
Nami tucked the poster back into her bag. Her grip on the pole had loosened, though she still kept it ready. She was looking at me differently now.
"So," she said carefully, "why were you following me?"
"Because you're Nami."
Her expression did not change.
The pole struck my ribs.
Clink.
The metal bounced off with a hard vibration that travelled back through her hands.
Nami stared at the pole.
Then at my ribs.
Then at me.
I rubbed the spot anyway, mostly out of principle.
"Ow."
"That didn't hurt you."
"My pride is far more bruised than my ribs."
"How do you know my name?"
"We should probably discuss that somewhere less alley-shaped."
The pole came up again.
"Kai."
"Right. Straight to the point."
Her face was calm, but the air around her had changed completely. The playful thief who had asked for my money had disappeared. Her feet were planted properly now, her weight balanced, her eyes watching my hands.
I should probably ease into this.
Be gentle.
Avoid saying anything that would sound completely insane.
"You work for Arlong."
The pole drove toward my throat.
I caught it before it connected.
Nami twisted immediately, trying to tear it from my grip, but I held it between two fingers. Her eyes widened for a fraction of a second before hardening again.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"You're stealing money to buy Cocoyasi Village back from him."
Her knee came up toward my stomach.
I turned slightly and let it glance off my side. Nami released the pole, ducked beneath my arm, and pulled a short blade from somewhere inside her clothes.
The point stopped against my kidney.
Or tried to.
It pressed into my skin without breaking it.
Nami's breathing had changed.
"What are you?" she whispered.
"Currently? Helpful."
She pushed harder.
The blade bent slightly.
We both looked down at it.
Nami slowly pulled it away.
"That was a good knife," she said.
"Sorry."
"You're paying for it."
"I'm literally offering you a fortune."
That got her attention.
Only slightly.
I released her pole and stepped back, raising both hands so she could see them.
"I'm not with Arlong. I'm not with the Marines. I'm definitely not with Marlo Crest."
Nami's eyes flicked toward the alley entrance at the name.
Good.
She knew him.
"I think I know what you're doing here," I continued. "And I know why you're doing it"
"You don't know anything."
"I know Arlong promised to sell the village back to you."
Her jaw tightened.
"I know you've spent years stealing from pirates."
Her fingers curled around the bent knife.
"I know you're trying to reach one hundred million berries."
Nami moved, her sorta bent knife being placed against my throat again.
Her voice dropped.
"Who told you?"
"No one."
"Then how do you know?"
"That part is complicated."
"Make it simple."
"I can't."
"Try."
"I know things." I shrugged
She stared at me.
I stared back.
"That is the worst explanation I have ever heard," she said.
"I'm aware."
"Are you following me for Arlong?"
"No, do I look like a fish?"
"Did someone from Cocoyasi send you?"
"No."
"Are you a Marine spy?"
I pointed at the wanted poster sticking out of her bag.
Nami glanced down.
"Right," she muttered. "Stupid question."
She backed away, though the knife stayed raised. Her eyes moved over me again, searching for the angle. Nami didn't trust me. She probably trusted the bent knife more than she trusted me, and the knife had just failed at its only purpose.
"So what do you want?" she asked.
"To rob Marlo Crest blind."
Silence.
Noise from the street drifted through the alley. Carts rattled across stone. A merchant shouted about fresh fish. Somewhere nearby, the goat from earlier began screaming again.
Nami blinked.
"What?"
"Marlo Crest. I want everything."
"You followed me into an alley because you want help robbing Crest?"
"Basically."
"You opened by revealing that you know the most dangerous secret in my life."
"I needed your attention."
"You already had my attention. I hit you with a pole."
"Your full attention."
Nami closed her eyes.
For a moment, she looked like she was considering whether one hundred million berries was worth tolerating the continued existence of people like me.
Then her eyes opened again.
"Why Crest?"
"He's rich, corrupt, involved with illegal shipping, and his face annoys me."
"Have you met him?"
"No."
"Then how does his face annoy you?"
"I've seen it stamped on things."
Nami's expression flattened.
I cleared my throat.
"I also had a ledger connecting him to stolen cargo, bribed Marines, false shipping records and a bunch of other shady stuff. I lost it when my boat sank."
"Of course your boat sank."
"That's not relevant."
I continued.
"Crest has warehouses all over the port, private guards on every other street and enough money to own half the local Marine command. There's something valuable hidden here. Probably several somethings."
Nami lowered the knife at last.
"And you want me to find them."
"I want you to plan the robbery."
"Why?"
"Because you're Nami."
"You keep saying that like it explains anything."
"It explains a lot to me."
"Stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Talking like you already know me."
I stopped.
There was genuine anger behind that one. Fair.
From her perspective, I had appeared out of nowhere, announced all her secrets and expected her to continue the conversation because I had a large bounty.
I rubbed the back of my head.
"Okay," I said. "You're right."
That seemed to surprise her more than anything else I had said.
"I don't expect you to trust me," I continued. "You shouldn't. I'm giving you a deal."
Nami crossed her arms.
"I plan the heist. You take the risk."
"We split the money."
"Seventy-thirty."
"Fifty-fifty."
"Eighty-twenty."
"You went the wrong direction."
"Eighty for me."
"I understood what you meant."
"Then why are you arguing?"
"Because I'm also participating in the robbery."
"Your plan was to walk through the front door, wasn't it?"
I said nothing.
Nami stared at me.
"It was."
"I didn't say that."
"You were going to walk into Crest's building and start punching people until someone showed you the money."
"There were other details."
"Like what?"
"I might have asked first."
She turned away and pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Ninety-ten."
"Absolutely not."
"You bring nothing to this."
I pointed at myself.
"I am the thing I bring."
"That is not worth half."
"I have a bounty higher than every pirate currently terrorising this sea."
"A bounty proves the World Government hates you. It does not prove you're useful."
"They don't print numbers like that because someone stole a pie."
Nami glanced at the poster again.
She knew I had a point.
I stepped closer.
"Help me rob Crest, and I'll take out Arlong."
Every trace of amusement left her face.
She studied me quietly.
I let her.
There was no point filling the silence. She needed to decide whether I was lying, delusional or strong enough to make the lie useful.
"You've never met Arlong," she said.
"No."
"You don't know what he is."
"I know he's a fish-man."
"That isn't what I meant."
"I know."
Nami looked toward the street, checking that nobody had wandered close enough to hear us.
"Arlong isn't some dock thug you can knock over for pocket money."
"I know."
"He has an entire crew."
"I know."
"They're stronger than humans."
"I know."
"You don't know anything!" she snapped.
The words struck harder than the pole had.
Her breathing was tight again. Her knuckles had gone white around the bent knife.
I kept my voice level.
"You're right. I haven't lived under him. I haven't watched him control everything around me. I don't know what that feels like."
Nami said nothing.
"But I can still kill him."
Her eyes returned to mine.
I pointed toward her bag.
"You've seen the poster. That bounty came from one Marine branch. They shot me, stabbed me, crushed me and threw everyone they had at me. I walked out."
"That doesn't mean you can defeat Arlong."
"No. This does."
I held out my hand.
The wheel mark along my skin turned slowly.
Nami looked down.
I reached across, took the bent knife from her fingers, and dragged its edge across my palm. The metal scraped against my skin and failed to cut.
Then I tightened my grip.
The blade folded in half.
Nami watched closely. She was impressed, even if she would rather have swallowed the knife than admit it.
"I get stronger against anything that fails to kill me," I said. "Arlong can hit harder. He can be faster. He can drag me into the sea and try whatever fish bullshit he wants. If I survive long enough, he loses."
That was a little more confident than the seawater situation deserved.
We would solve that later.
Hopefully.
Nami's gaze remained on the crushed blade.
"What do you get from killing him?"
"Experience."
She looked up.
"That's it?"
"And money."
"There it is."
"And possibly a boat."
"From who?"
"Unclear."
"You're terrible at this."
"I'm offering to kill the man controlling your village."
"You're offering to try."
"No." I met her eyes. "I'm offering to win."
That silenced her.
For a few seconds, Nami looked younger than she had when I first saw her. The confidence, the grin and the constant calculations loosened slightly. There was exhaustion underneath them. Years of it.
Then it closed again.
She held out her hand.
"Seventy-thirty."
"Sixty-forty."
"Seventy-thirty, and you deal with Arlong."
"Sixty-forty, and I deal with Arlong."
"Sixty-five."
"Deal."
Her eyes widened.
"Wait."
I grabbed her hand and shook it.
"Business partners."
"You agreed too quickly."
"Did I?"
"Yes."
"That sounds like a you problem."
Nami tried to pull her hand back.
I held on for another second, I think I was still fanboying.
She kicked me in the shin.
Clink.
I released her.
"Stop doing that."
"You stop being annoying."
"Impossible."
"I'm beginning to understand why your bounty says dead or alive."
…
Nami's first contribution to our new partnership was explaining that my plan was terrible.
Her second contribution was explaining it again with diagrams.
We sat at a table in the darkest corner of a small tavern near the southern warehouses. Nami had acquired a map of Port Tragedy, though she refused to explain where it came from. Considering the owner of the tavern was currently searching through his office and swearing about missing documents, I made an educated guess.
Crest's main estate sat uphill from the docks behind a stone wall, several guard posts and enough private security to occupy a small island.
I tapped the estate.
"So we go here."
Nami slapped my finger away.
"No. Crest keeps his public records there. Tax documents, shipping licenses, legal accounts and whatever else he wants the Marines to find."
"So the money isn't there."
"Some will be, but not enough. I got here about a week ago; so I've checked out the nearby warehouse"
She moved her finger toward a warehouse positioned between Crest's private dock and the Marine storage district.
"This building receives almost no cargo during the day, yet the guards change every four hours. The western wall was repaired recently, the roof has three extra vents, and every cart leaving it rides lower than when it entered."
She really has an eye for details huh.
"The outer patrol passes every nine minutes. There's another pair inside. Crest's men use red armbands, but they recognise one another, so stealing uniforms won't get us far."
"Then we knock them out."
"We avoid them."
"We could avoid them after knocking them out."
"No~! Bodies get noticed."
"Not if I hide them."
"Where?"
I looked around.
Nami waited.
"Somewhere…hidden."
She stared at me with a level of hatred normally reserved for natural disasters.
"We enter through the roof," she said. "I pick the lock on the door, open the office and find the storage records. You stay behind me, touch nothing, and deal with anyone we cannot avoid."
"Easy."
"If you say that again, I'm leaving."
I leaned back in my chair.
"This partnership feels one-sided."
"You need me."
"You need me too."
"I need your fists. They require less conversation."
"That was mean."
"That was the intention."
I smiled.
…
We moved after sunset.
Port Tragedy remained busy at night, though the respectable businesses closed and the less respectable ones turned on brighter lanterns. Drunken sailors filled the streets. Crest's men stayed near the warehouses, checking wagons and collecting payments from anyone trying to move cargo without permission.
Nami led us along the edge of the private dock and through a narrow space between two storage buildings.
Then she pointed upward.
The warehouse roof was three storeys above us.
"There," she whispered.
I looked up.
Then at her.
"You want me to throw you?"
"No."
"I could throw you."
"You are not throwing me."
"It would be faster."
Nami pulled a rope and hook from her bag.
"Some of us prefer methods that don't involve being launched into buildings."
She swung the hook twice and threw it. It caught the edge of the roof on the first attempt.
I nodded.
"That was cool."
"I know."
Nami climbed first.
I waited until she reached the roof, then jumped.
My hands caught the ledge beside her.
Nami nearly slipped.
"What the hell?"
I pulled myself up.
"You were taking too long."
"I was climbing!"
"You're very good at it."
"That does not make it faster than jumping."
She looked over the edge, then at the ground below.
"You could have carried me."
"I offered to throw you."
"That is different."
"Not meaningfully."
Nami opened her mouth, reconsidered how much energy she needed to continue, and walked toward the vents. The alarm line was almost invisible. A thin wire ran beneath the nearest roof hatch and disappeared into the building.
Nami found it in seconds.
She worked a small tool beneath the fastening, loosened the wire, tied it around a nail, and carefully opened the hatch.
No bell.
No shouting.
She smiled.
I smiled too.
"We're good at crime."
"Quiet."
We slipped inside.
The first guard never saw us. Nami waited until he passed beneath the rafters, then dropped behind a stack of crates and signalled for me to follow.
I landed slightly harder.
The floor groaned.
Nami glared at me.
I mouthed an apology.
The guard turned.
"Who's there?"
Nami pointed at him.
Permission granted.
I crossed the distance before he could draw his weapon, caught him by the front of his shirt and tapped his head against a wooden support.
He went limp.
Nami stared.
"What?" I whispered.
"You barely hit him."
"I'm learning restraint."
"You cracked the support."
I looked behind him.
A thin split ran through the wood.
"He has a durable skull."
"Move."
We hid him between several sacks and continued.
Nami opened the first office in less than ten seconds. After picking the lock, she searched through drawers while I watched the corridor, pulling out documents, checking seals and discarding anything useless.
Then she stopped.
"What?"
She held up a page marked with Crest's seal.
"Payments to the Marine quartermaster," she whispered. "Monthly."
"Bribes?"
"Probably."
The next drawer contained shipping records. False cargo weights. Missing crates. Medical supplies purchased by the Marine command and redirected into private storage. Weapons marked as damaged, then sold to pirate crews.
Crest had not simply bribed the local Marines.
He had built his business inside them.
Vale had done the same thing on a smaller scale. Uniforms, paperwork and authority wrapped around whatever cruelty made money.
Nami noticed my expression.
"We take the records," I said.
"They'll slow us down."
"Then I'll carry them."
"You're already carrying food and socks."
"I need the socks."
She stared at me.
I opened the bundle Pelli had given me and began stuffing documents beside the bread.
Nami shook her head.
"You are the strangest criminal I've ever met."
"I'm not a criminal."
"You're currently robbing a warehouse."
"I contain multitudes."
We found the concealed door behind a shelving unit.
Nami spotted the scrape marks on the floor. I moved the entire shelf aside while she watched with open annoyance.
"You could have waited for me to check for traps."
"I didn't see any."
"That is not the same as checking."
The stairs beneath it led underground.
At the bottom was a steel door with three locks.
Nami looked genuinely pleased.
"Oh," she whispered.
I had seen that look before.
It was the same way I looked at an opponent who was about to demonstrate a new attack.
Nami knelt.
The first lock opened.
Then the second.
She paused at the third, adjusted her tool and pressed her ear against the metal.
Click.
The door swung inward.
Rows of chests filled the chamber.
Crates stamped with false Marine seals sat against the walls. Weapons, jewellery, medicine, rare alcohol, stacks of bundled notes, and enough loose berries to make the room shine under the lanterns.
Nami stopped breathing.
Her pupils widened.
I waved a hand in front of her face.
"Nami?"
She slapped it away.
"Don't touch me."
"You disappeared for a second."
"I'm fine."
"You look emotional."
"I said I'm fine."
She walked toward the nearest open chest and sank both hands into the coins.
Her entire body trembled.
"This is beautiful."
"Should I give you two some privacy?"
"Shut up and find bags."
We worked quickly.
Nami filled two large sacks before deciding they would be impossible to carry without being noticed. She emptied them, filled four smaller bags, emptied two of those, then began calculating the value of gems against their weight.
I searched the crates.
One contained weapons.
Another held medicine taken from Marine stores.
The third carried bottles marked with the Arlong Pirates' symbol.
I stopped.
"Nami."
She turned.
I held up one of the bottles.
The colour left her face.
She crossed the room, snatched it from my hand and checked the mark herself.
"Crest trades with him," she said quietly.
"Looks like it."
"What is it?"
"No idea."
She opened the crate farther.
Documents were packed beneath the bottles. Nami tore through them until she found a list of shipments and payments.
Arlong Park.
Several deliveries.
Weapons, alcohol, navigation equipment and information on merchant routes.
Nami read the page twice.
Then folded it and placed it inside her shirt.
"That one's mine."
"Fine."
She looked back at the wealth around us.
For the first time since I met her, the calculations behind her eyes became desperate. She could see the total. Every coin in the chamber was another piece of her village. Another year of stealing cut away.
"How much can we take?" she asked.
"Probably all of it."
Nami looked at me.
I looked at the chests.
She looked at the stairs.
Then back at me.
"You cannot carry an entire vault through the streets."
"I could carry several chests."
"And every guard in Port Tragedy would see you."
"They're going to see me eventually."
"No."
She grabbed my arm before I could reach for the nearest chest.
"We take the gems, the high-value notes and whatever records matter. Then we leave the same way we entered."
"That feels less satisfying."
"It keeps us alive."
"I'm very hard to kill."
"I am not."
That stopped me.
Nami released my arm.
"Right," I said.
She nodded once.
We began filling our bags.
For nearly six full minutes, everything went perfectly.
Then someone upstairs laughed.
The sound travelled through the ceiling, deep and loud enough to shake dust from the beams.
I froze.
Nami continued packing gems.
The laugh came again.
My stomach dropped.
No.
There was absolutely no chance.
The universe would not do this to me.
Heavy footsteps crossed the warehouse above us. Men began shouting orders. More boots entered from the front. A familiar voice complained loudly about being dragged away from dinner.
Nami looked up.
"What is it?"
I raised one finger.
She listened.
A Marine officer spoke somewhere near the warehouse entrance.
"Vice Admiral Garp, the inspection of Crest Shipping was not scheduled until tomorrow morning."
"I was bored tomorrow morning!"
The laugh followed again. "Bwahahahaha"
My body went cold. NO FUCKING WAY!
Why is this motherfucker here?! Of all places!
Nami stared at me.
"Vice Admiral Garp?"
"Yes."
"The Hero of the Marines?"
"Yes."
"The man who fought the Pirate King?"
"Yes."
She slowly closed the bag in her hands.
"Can you beat him?"
"No."
The answer came out so quickly that she blinked.
"No confidence speech?"
"No."
"No adapting?"
"I need to survive something before I adapt to it."
"And you don't think you can survive him?"
"I think he could punch me so hard that my wanted poster would update by itself."
More footsteps moved across the floor above us.
A second voice joined the conversation.
Marlo Crest.
I had never heard him speak before, but no normal person sounded that comfortable while lying to a Vice Admiral.
"This is an unfortunate hour for an inspection," Crest said smoothly. "My staff have already completed the day's inventory."
"Great!" Garp replied. "Then they can do it again."
Nami grabbed both of her bags.
"We leave now."
"Agreed."
We hurried toward the stairs.
Then the steel door slammed shut.
Nami reached it first and tested the handle.
Locked.
"How?"
"The shelf upstairs," she whispered. "Someone moved it back."
"That shouldn't lock this door."
"It does if the mechanism is connected."
I stepped forward.
"Move."
Nami moved.
I punched the centre of the door.
The metal buckled outward with a violent crash.
Silence fell upstairs.
Nami slowly turned toward me.
I lowered my fist.
"Subtle," she whispered.
"I solved the door."
Every bell in the warehouse began ringing.
"Someone's in the vault!" a guard shouted.
Garp laughed.
"Thieves stealing from thieves! Now this is an inspection!"
Nami looked at the stairs.
Then at the bags.
Then at me.
I could see the plan changing behind her eyes.
That should have worried me more.
"We split up," she said.
"No."
"You're too recognisable."
"You have orange hair."
"I have a hood."
"You should have mentioned the hood earlier."
Nami grabbed the smaller bag and shoved the larger one into my hands.
"There's a drainage passage behind the western wall. I saw the outlet during reconnaissance."
"You said there was no second exit."
"I said there was no useful second exit."
"That sounds useful now."
"It's narrow. You won't fit."
I looked down at myself.
Curse my massive body.
Nami ran toward the back of the vault and kicked aside two crates. Behind them sat a narrow iron grate.
She pulled out a tool.
I looked toward the stairs.
Guards were already descending.
"Nami."
"Keep them busy."
"That was not part of our deal."
"It is now."
She opened the grate.
I grabbed her shoulder.
Nami spun, and something clicked around my wrist.
I looked down.
A metal cuff had closed around me, specificall it was a seastone cuff.
The other end was attached to the handle of the largest chest in the room.
I stared at it.
Nami slipped out of my grip.
"You did not."
"I'm sorry."
"You handcuffed me to the money?"
"They'll look at you first."
"That does not improve this!"
She squeezed through the grate with the small bag of gems and notes strapped against her back.
I yanked the chain.
The chest scraped across the floor.
Nami paused inside the passage, only her face visible through the opening.
"For what it's worth," she said, "I might take you up on the Arlong offer."
"Nami."
"If you survive."
"Nami."
"And I'm keeping the sixty-five per cent."
"You have approximately three seconds to reverse this betrayal!"
She smiled.
It was the same sharp little grin she had worn when she hit me with the pole.
"Business partner."
Then she reached outside the grate, grabbed the alarm cord running along the wall and pulled it.
A second set of bells erupted directly above my head.
"You little rat!"
Nami disappeared into the passage.
The grate slammed shut behind her.
I heard her crawling away while guards flooded down the stairs.
There were twelve of them at first.
Then eighteen.
Crest's men filled the doorway with swords, pistols and red armbands. Marines appeared behind them.
Everyone looked at me.
Then at the chest cuffed to my wrist.
Then at the ruined door.
I raised my free hand.
"This is not what it looks like."
One of the guards pointed at the open vault.
"What else could it possibly look like?"
"That's a really good question."
The floor above us cracked.
Everyone stopped.
A heavy impact shook the chamber. Stone split. Dust fell from the ceiling.
Then a section of the roof collapsed.
I watched a large figure drop through it, land between the guards, and straighten slowly.
Grey hair.
A white Marine coat.
A broad chest and arms that looked capable of folding battleships.
Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp brushed dust from his shoulder and looked around the vault.
His eyes passed over the guards.
The stolen Marine goods.
The broken door.
Then they settled on me.
I stood very still.
Garp reached into his coat.
For one terrible second, I thought he was about to pull out a weapon.
He pulled out a rice cracker.
He bit into it and studied my face while chewing.
Then his eyes brightened.
"Oh!" he said. "You're that brat from the poster!"
Every Marine in the room turned toward me.
I looked at the narrow grate Nami had escaped through.
Somewhere beyond the wall, I could faintly hear her running away with my share of the money.
Garp cracked his knuckles.
The sound echoed through the vault.
I looked back at him.
This was going to suck.
…
End of Chapter!
Word Count - 4671