A Thief is a Thief
-x-
Ten year old Nami was on Arlong's pirate ship, the vessel hadn't been used to build Arlong Park yet. Arlong sat in his throne and a depressed Nami was standing next to him. She'd just seen her mother die, the villagers get dominated by the fishmen, and Arlong sink five marine ships like they were nothing.
"What's wrong little girl?" asked Arlong as he took a drink from his glass of grog, he spared the orange haired girl a quick glance and put his glass down, "I bet it's the village. You want it left alone."
"..." Nami didn't answer, but that was exactly what she wanted. She didn't want anyone else to die like Bellemere.
"Then how about this," Arlong offered, "Let's make an agreement, okay?"
"An agreement?" Nami repeated.
"That's right," Arlong replied, "gather up one hundred million berries then bring it to me. Do so, and I will let your village go, in addition to giving you your freedom."
"Promise?" questioned Nami.
"I promise," Arlong vowed. "I'm the kind of fishman that would rather die than break an agreement concerning money. I don't even care how long it takes you. I will honor our agreement."
Nami agreed. She spent the next eight years robbing pirates of their treasure. It started slowly, but she grew more experienced over time. Until now, eight years later, she nearly had the one hundred million berries. All her hard work was finally going to pay off.
-x-
Down at the beach, Nojiko was just finishing telling Usopp and Sanji Nami's tragic story. "Ever since that day eight years ago," Nojiko concluded, "no one has ever seen that girl cry, and she has never asked anyone for help. She doesn't want anyone to get killed like our mother was."
"She was ten years old?" questioned Usopp, "And Nami decided to fight alone in that situation?
"Can you understand what a painful choice that was for her?" asked Nojiko.
"So to make enough money and save her village," Usopp summarized, "She decided to join the people who killed her mother?"
"That villain made my darling Miss. Nami suffer!" Sanji exclaimed, "I, Sanji, shall beat him to death!" BONK! "OW!" Nojiko lashed out and whacked Sanji on the head.
"I came to ask you not to do that," said Nojiko, "If you keep raving about 'your darling Miss. Nami' the pirates will get suspicious and all of Nami's efforts will be undone. Don't cause her any more pain. That girl fights alone. For her, the most painful word is 'friends'."
-x-
"What are you talking about?" asked Nami.
"How much more do you need?" Y/N repeated.
"Around three million..." Nami guessed, "I should be able to get that in one more job."
"That's not much," Y/N remarked.
"To most people it is," Nami pointed out. "But you're right... I'm almost there. Soon, these eight years worth of work will finally pay off. I'll be free, and so will my village."
"And I don't suppose I could convince you to let me help?" questioned Y/N.
"I'm not a charity case," Nami insisted. "I started this on my own, and I'm finishing it on my own."
Y/N shook his head, "You're so stubborn."
"Oh yeah! Well what would you know!" Nami demanded.
Y/N sat up and looked absolutely serious, "I know that everyone else on the crew sees you as Nakama. You say the word, and I know that all of us, that's me, Luffy, Usopp, Sanji, and even Zoro, would be willing to get on our boat and beat the snot out of every pirate crew we came across until we got the money you need. That's what I know. But I also know you won't accept our help."
