Boy With a Scar

Chapter 7: The Girl with the Darkness Within

"So boring..." whined Luffy, sprawled out on the bottom of their small boat, unenthusiastically watching the clouds.

"I wish I had some booze..." seconded Zoro, leaning against the side of the boat with his three swords propped against his shoulder, lazily observing the sky.

The straw hatted teen sat up. With a small frown marring his face, he scanned the horizon around them. A small fleck in the ocean caught his attention. He squinted. "What's that?"

The swordsman followed his captain's line of sight. "Isn't that people in the water?"

Luffy hummed before grinning. "Let's go fish them out. Maybe they know where the next island is."

Zoro just shrugged indifferently.

The three castaways noticed the approaching boat and started yelling and waving their hands. Once it was close enough, they swam to it and climbed inside. Both pirates watched them impassively, not even moving from their sitting positions.

"Ahhh, I thought I was gonna die!" wailed one man with a black cap.

"Yeah, floating in the sea for a day and night is not fun," agreed the brown-haired man.

"Whew... Thank God!" exclaimed the third man with orange, curly hair.

The first one eyed their two savers and then drew his saber. "How lucky of us for you to come save us," he grinned smugly. "We're the crew of Buggy-sama and this is his territory. We're taking over this boat!"

Zoro glared at him. Luffy shoved his pinky into his nose, suddenly lifted a leg and kicked the man across the dinghy. The poor bastard smashed into the bowsprit, flipped over it, and splashed back into the water. The teen flicked a booger after him.

The brown and orange haired men just gawked at the boy. Their brains were trying to comprehend the fact that his leg had just stretched.

Luffy prepared to kick out the two others, but Zoro stopped him.

"Wait, I have an idea." The swordsman stood up and cracked his knuckles, at the same time showing them a devilish smile. "My captain and I have been drifting around for several days now. Would you be so kind as to bring us to the nearest island?"

xxx

Nami knew she was in trouble. As her foot suddenly twisted painfully in her mad rush through the empty town, and she fell down to the ground grazing her knees and elbows, she realized that 'trouble' was an understatement. She was in deep shit.

Just yesterday everything was going so smoothly. She tricked some wannabes pirates and sailed off with their boat and their treasure. After that, she successfully stole the map to the Grand Line from Buggy and almost got away with it. Almost.

There was no distraction that Nami could have used to shake her pursuers, so she was left with only one option – to give the map back. Her life was far more important than a map, which she could easily steal back again. So the thief threw it to the pirates who tried to catch her, and while they were busy with that, she fled.

Unfortunately, Buggy sent his lackeys to guard every exit from the town as soon as he got his map back. There was no escape and no mercy for the thief.

She really should have left this ghost town right after her successful escape. Why she decided to stick around for longer, she had no clue. Nami was aware that greed someday may be her demise. She just hoped that it would happen after she freed Cocoyasi Village, together with Nojiko, Gen-san and other people who were dear to her.

The thief was able to hide through the night without being spotted. She even had a plan on how to escape, but at the last moment that stupid lion and his owner had to notice her.