I don 't pay a whole lot of attention to the fight as it 's going on around me, but I do butt in to yell, 'that guy fights dirty, for the record! ' when Cabaji moves to take on Zoro. He just throws me a thumbs up over his shoulder.

The mayor takes my temporary distraction as an excuse to attempt escape with renewed vigour. 'Hey! You wanna jostle the injured person? You keep tossing and you 'll undo all your hard work! ' The mayor just makes wordless grumbling in response.

The whole experience is not unlike the time I tried to ride a mechanical bull, but much less fun since I have a hole in my side and I 'm sitting on top of an old man, and I 'm not getting $20 for doing it this time.

It doesn 't take long for Zoro to suddenly plop down next to me with a sigh. 'You done with the unicycle guy already? ' I prompt.

Zoro sets his swords to the side. 'Yeah ' the Captain can handle the clown. '

I nod. 'Cool, cool. You wanna sit on this guy for me? I 'm not actually very heavy. '

Said guy makes a very frustrated noise into the ground. I pat his head in sympathy, but that just seems to rile him up more.

'Yeah sure, scooch down. ' Zoro parks his ass right on the mayor's back while I shuffle to sit on the pavement.

I gingerly stretch my side with a groan, 'for an old-timer he sure is wily ' '

'I am right here! ' he grouses.

'You know Shanks?! ' comes Luffy 's yell from where he 's fighting Buggy.

I turn to Zoro with a lazy grin. 'What do you wanna bet he 's talking about Red-Haired Shanks, the Emperor? '

Zoro scoffs. 'No shot he knows someone so famous. The Captain is good, but he 's not that good. '

My smile slides into a smirk. 'You 'd think, huh? So we on? Say ' 1,500 berri? ' He just reaches out a hand with a pitying shake of his head.

Poor sucker.

Luffy goes crashing through a building. 'Poor sucker, ' Zoro muses.

I turn back to him with an offended look. 'So when he goes crashing through a whole fucking house he gets up

fine,

but when I smack into one it debilitates me? '

Zoro just shrugs, 'I don 't think you should use Luffy as any kind of example, he 's fucking ridiculous even by my standards. '

I roll my eyes at him. 'If you had been the one stabbed you would have taken a 30 minute power nap and gotten up fine. '

He shrugs one shoulder and scratches at his neck. 'Maybe. I 'm also a little bit ridiculous, by normal people's standards. '

'No shit ' ' I murmur. We look out upon the fight impassively.

'Yaknow, ' I start conversationally, 'I really wanted to join a circus when I was younger, but I 'm starting to think it 's not all it 's cracked up to be. '

Zoro raises an amused eyebrow. 'Really? '

I nod. 'Yup, wanted to juggle professionally. '

Zoro 's scoff is drowned out by Luffy screaming, 'you bastard! ' We turn to see him holding his straw hat, now sporting a new nick in the brim.

'Uh oh. '

Luffy stands, shaking in rage. 'No one damages my lucky hat and walks away from it alive! ' Luffy furiously whips his head forward. 'This hat is my treasure! Anyone who so much as lays a finger on it is gonna pay! '

Then Buggy does the stupidest thing to ever be done

ever.

He stabs the hat.

I immediately flatten myself to the ground. 'Zoro, hit the deck, it 's about to get nuclear

out here. '

He snorts. 'The kickback from that

isn 't gonna reach all the way over here. '

I squint at him. 'Obviously. I was being

funny

. It was

humour.

Don 't know if you 've heard of it. ' He sticks his tongue out at me. I do the same.

I tune back into the combatant 's conversation to hear, 'yeah, we were apprentices on the same ship! '

I shoot a bewildered look at Zoro. 'The implications of that are fucking mental. '

He raises an eyebrow. 'Are they? '

I nod fiercely. 'That means this goddamn idiot sailed on the

Oro Jackson

. Like the

King of the Pirates

ship

. '

Zoro chokes on air. 'Please tell me that 's more of your terrible humour. '

'Nope! ' I say, popping the P.

The rest of the fight is a little boring to be honest. Me and Zoro watch the idiocy, and the mayor remains blissfully silent and unsquirming under Zoro 's weight.

We get to see Luffy nail a sandal clad foot into Buggy 's junk, so today hasn 't been a total waste. Buggy then goes on a long storytelling rant about how he got his Devil Fruit by being fucking stupid and Shanks being hilarious.

Then his upper half lunges for Nami and the bag of treasure she 's sneaking around with. I wave Luffy 's attention to myself and mouth to him, 'kick his balls. ' He gives me a bring grin, winds back his leg and once again cracks his sandal into Buggy 's crotch.

I love this guy.

'I think the 'D ' in his name stands for Dick Kicker, ' I tell Zoro.

He smirks at me. 'What 's yours mean then? '

I finger gun at him. 'Detective! ' He snorts.

Luffy tells Nami to drop the treasure to which she scoffs. 'No! Drop the money and go? No way, why should I leave my treasure behind?! '

Zoro turns to me. 'Should we be worried about her hangups about money and stuff if she 's gonna be joining us? '

I dismissively wave a hand. 'Problem for later. '

The three of them chase each other around for a while, and eventually Luffy manages to hit Buggy so hard he flies clean across the island.

'Ok, you can let him up now, ' I tell Zoro, who rolls off the mayor with a shrug. I think I hear a couple bones cracking ' 'Also please help me up. '

He heaves this long world weary sigh and I almost feel bad for the amount of shit he 'll go through. But then he hauls me up so fast I almost topple right back to the ground and I silently resolve to make his entire life much harder than it has to be.

When the three of us get over to Luffy and Nami, she 's giving him the map of the Grand Line. 'Does this mean you 'll join our crew now?! ' Luffy asks with stars in his eyes.

'I told you I 'm never joining a pirate crew! But okay. Staying with you seems profitable enough, ' Nami smirks, 'just remember this, I 'm only joining you because it 's in my interest! '

Luffy just grins at her. 'Sure! ' Then he turns to us with his big smile. 'Ok, we 're leaving now! Got the map and got a navigator! '

'Alright, if you say so Captain, ' Zoro agrees.

The mayor just sighs and rubs the back of his neck. 'I guess I have to thank you youngsters. Probably couldn 't have gotten rid of that Buggy bastard without you ' '

Luffy laughs. 'Shishishi, don 't worry about it! I just wanted to beat the guy up! '

I give the mayor a bland smile. 'He 's a very simple guy. '

'Hey! Are you outsiders? ' comes a call from the veritable horde of townspeople that for some reason none of us noticed approaching.

The mayor pushes to the front of our group with a hand up. 'Don 't worry! They got rid of the pirates! '

The mayor and his people reunite and exchange a few words while Luffy turns to us and jerks a thumb in the direction of our boat. Guess we 're leaving then.

We leisurely walk through the destroyed streets to the docks, passing Chouchou and giving him nods on the way. When we get down there it 's to two boats; the one we sailed in on and Nami 's.

'This is your boat? It 's great! ' Luffy cheers.

Nami just shrugs. 'It 's alright. I stole it from some idiot pirates. '

'That 's a big mouth you got! ' a familiar voice yells from inside it.

The three stooges me and Zoro rescued earlier pop up out of the boat. 'Never thought you 'd see us here huh?! '

Nami makes some nervous giggles and Luffy curiously tilts his head. 'You know these guys? '

I butt in at this point. 'She 's not the only one. ' The three weirdos finally seem to take notice of Zoro and me. Knife guy lets out a high pitched shriek, grabs his buddies, and immediately books it into the town.

'Huh. Maybe I 'm intimidating too? ' I mutter, turning around to see the last vestiges of a harsh glare on Zoro 's face. My expression falls flat. 'Nevermind. '

Nami hops on her boat and we plop back in our own, then we push out of port. 'Hey, is that Buggy 's mark on your sail? ' Zoro asks.

'Well, this is his boat. I 'll get rid of it sometime, ' Nami shrugs.

'Hey wait! Youngsters! ' the mayor's yell sounds from shore. 'Thanks! We 're in your debt! '

We all exchange smiles while Luffy laughs and yells back, 'don 't worry about it! Take it easy! '

'Thanks for patching me up! ' I holler. The mayor laughs and gives me a thumbs up.

Then Nami seems to notice the distinct lack of a treasure bag in our boat. 'Did ' did you leave the treasure back there?! '

Luffy smiles wide. 'Yeah! '

Nami 's entire face twitches. 'That was worth around 5 million berries, you idiot! '

Luffy 's face scrunches up. 'But they need the money to fix the town, right? '

'That was

my

treasure! Do you know how hard I worked to steal it! ' Nami tries to shove Luffy 's head underwater. Me and Zoro burst into laughter while they continue yelling at each other.

'She 's perfect, ' I smirk at Zoro. He huffs out a laugh, then hands me a wad of paper. I look at him curiously then back at the stack.

Oh, shit.

'Dude? ' my voice cracks.

He raises an eyebrow. '2,500 berri, as promised. You won our bets so it 's yours. ' My eyes widen and I hug the cash to my chest. He furrows his brow at me. 'Why do you look so surprised? Did you not think I was gonna hold up my end of the bargain? '

I let out a breathless chuckle and shake my head. 'No, not that. It 's just ' this is the first berri I 've ever made, if you can believe it! ' His face says he either doesn 't believe that at all or is flabbergasted as to why it 'd be true.

In the grand scheme of things it 's a paltry sum. It 's chump change. Could buy me a meal, round of drinks, and not much more.

But something about actually having the currency of this world '

Feels good.

'Are you gonna cry over winning a bet? '

'No! Shut up! '

' ' ' '

'There 's no way we 'll make it to the Grand Line like this, ' Nami announces.

I have to agree. 'Coby was right, even with a navigator now we 're still severely understaffed. '

'Yeah, and we need more meat! ' Luffy nods empathically.

'And booze, ' Zoro adds.

'Shut up! Not what I meant! ' Nami yells, upper body lunging across our two boats. 'The Grand Line is crawling with pirates in search of the One Piece, and they all have ships that are way better than this! '

'And we don 't have a whole crew. ' Luffy scratches his head, rocking back and forth on the bow of our dinghy.

Nami starts counting off her fingers, 'no crew, no equipment, and barely a ship! There 's no way we 'd survive. '

'Yeah, we need a cook. And a musician! ' Luffy proclaims.

'A musician? ' Zoro laughs.

I wag a finger in his face. 'Hey man, don 't diss music. It 's super important on a pirate journey. ' He just rolls his eyes.

Nami heaves a sigh. 'A little to the south of here is a populated island. We might be able to get some supplies and a real ship there ' '

Luffy throws his hands in the air enthusiastically. 'Fresh meat at last! '

'Don 't forget the booze! ' Zoro adds.

Nami's eyes bug out. 'Is that all you think about?! '

I just shake my head and mumble. 'You 'd barely be able to legally drink where I 'm from ' '

Zoro gives me a curious look. 'And where

are

you from exactly? '

My heart clenches and I avert my gaze. 'Ah, that 's a little ' complicated. ' This seems to intrigue Nami, who leans across the ships, arms folded. I meet her gaze head on. 'It 's not anywhere you 'll find on a map, and probably not anywhere I can ever return to. ' Her eyes widen and I hear Zoro make an upset noise beside me.

There 's silence across the two boats as that sinks in. 'Is that why you were crying when we first met? ' Luffy asks from the bow, not turning his view from the ocean.

'Yeah ' ' I murmur, slumping down into the dinghy.

'Is it just really hard to find? ' Nami questions, curiosity and a little bit of desperation in her tone. 'Or was it destroyed? Like a Buster Call ' '

'Nami, ' Luffy interrupts, an edge in his voice I am entirely unaccustomed to.

Nami jumps a bit and Zoro tenses up beside me. 'Sorry ' ' she mutters.

I force my face into an easy smile. 'Nah, I 'm sorry. Didn 't mean to bring the mood down! Where are we headed again? Uh, Gecko Islands? '

The look Nami gives me says she knows damn well what I 'm doing. 'Yeah. That should be the closest. '

I nod, 'Cool, cool. '

There 's another long moment of silence. 'Ok. Zoro, I 'm gonna nap on your man tiddies now. '

'You 're gonna what on my

what? '

' ' ' '

I actually

do

end up napping on Zoro 's chest, out of what I assume is pity. Eh, worth it. Those things are fucken comfortable.

I jolt awake what I think is a few hours later. The sky is dark and there 's only the dull light of a hooded lantern on Nami 's ship that lets me look around for the source of my sudden consciousness.

I identify it as Nami herself quietly settling down near the bow of her ship, a guilty look shot in my direction as she registers she woke me.

I untangle myself from Luffy's rubber limbs, which had wound around both me and Zoro when he joined us at some point. I carefully, and very slowly so as to not take an untimely dip in the drink, hop ships to Nami 's slightly nicer boat.

'You mind? ' I whisper, gesturing to the open space next to her. She gives me a small smile and nod. I gingerly slide to the floor, mindful of my side.

I am fucking amazed by how fine I feel for it not having been that long since I was slashed open.

'I 'm sorry if I pushed too hard earlier, ' Nami interrupts my inner dialogue.

I quietly scoff. 'Oh please. I 'm not gonna fault you for poking at my past, it 's much less interesting than you think. ' She raises an eyebrow. 'No seriously. My life was fucking boring until I met Luffy. '

The eyebrow lifts further. 'You said you 're from an island that 's not on any map. I think that 's pretty spectacular. '

I shake my head. 'It 's not that cool. Hell, it 's not even good at times. It had problems and issues out the wazoo and honestly ' I feel horrible that I like it better here. ' She looks at me with clear surprise written on her face. I meet it with a grimace of a smile. 'Yaknow, I 'm probably the only person in this world who knows anything about where I 'm from. And still ' I can 't help but hate it just a little. '

Nami is quiet for a second, then whispers more to the night than to me. 'You don 't have to love everything about where you 're from. One good memory, one person, or one beautiful place. That 's all you have to love about it. '

I study her for a moment, wondering if I should say something. 'It 's hard carrying an entire place on your back, huh? '

Fuck it we ball.

She lets pure horror light up her face for but a moment before it 's locked behind a mask of resigned amusement. 'Am I that obvious? '

I just huff and shake my head. 'When people speak from experience, I tend to listen. Plus, detective. '

Quiet once again reigns over the two ships, silent in the night. 'How about this, ' Nami starts, staring straight up, 'I 'll tell you one thing I love about my home, and you tell me one you love about yours. That way we can both lighten each other's load just a little. '

'Sure, ' I murmur into my knees with a smile.

'Ok ' My favourite place in the world is a tangerine grove right outside my childhood house. I used to hide away in that grove for hours ' ' she lets out a wistful sigh. 'Ok, your turn. ' I contemplate for a bit. Nami seems to take the prolonged non-response as judgement. 'Or not, it 's ok if you don 't want to ' '

'My favourite place, ' I interrupt her, 'was the pet store fish aisle. ' I can see Nami 's face scrunch as she tries to keep it together, but a snort still slips out. 'No, I 'm serious. I spent so much time there the employees knew me by name. That 's not normal

for pet stores where I 'm from. '

'Why the hell did you go to a pet store to stare at fish? ' she asks through muffled giggles.

I raise my eyebrows, still smiling. 'Dude, I was landlocked my entire life, if I wanted to stare at fish this was the best option! '

She grins at me, incredulous. 'Why would you even want to stare at fish? '

I laugh just a little too loud in the quiet. 'I just

really

liked fish. I wanted to be a mermaid so bad when I was a kid. '

'I thought you wanted to join the circus? ' comes Zoro 's voice from the other boat.

Both me and Nami shriek in surprise, waking our captain who mumbles out, 'the meat man ' ' before promptly falling back to sleep. The three of us burst into uncontrollable wheezing.

'Fuck, my side! '

I hiss between laughs, stab wound setting off sparklers in my nervous system.

I 'm getting waaaay too attached to these lunatics.