21 Chapter 21

Third Person's PoV:

Last night,

As the sun had already set, and the interesting crew of misfit were tucking themselves in for bed, a certain blonde was thinking about what to do.

He witnessed their navigator staring at the wanted poster of 'Saw Tooth' Arlong a couple days ago, and knew that Nami would steal the Merry anyway once Don Krieg came. Although he tried to avert Nami from taking such actions, there was no helping it.

Josh thought that Nami was similar to a certain lonely archeologist in a way. Although what 'she' went through was much worse than Nami, they both had a deep seated trauma about something.

The woman's trauma is about the 'Buster Call', while the cat burglar's trauma is the Fish-man pirates. Even after everything that the archeologists saw and went through, she feared the 'Buster Call' more than the devil itself. This can be said to be the same for Nami.

Although they themselves know that it's an illogical fear, trauma like that are instinctual and hard to get rid of, to say the least. This, however, does not help his current situation.

Deciding on taking action before the whole thing went down, Josh approached his captain.

"Oi Luffy, can you come with me for a sec?" The blonde asked. They were currently in their shared room, with all of the boys getting ready to turn in for the night.

The rest of the guys watched curiously at the two conversing men, while the captain in question turned to face Josh.

"Uhh, Sure?" Luffy had no clue why his Nakama was suddenly calling him, but it didn't worry him one bit because he trusted all of them, this is evident by the wide smile on his face. There were very little things that could make the happy-go-lucky man lose his innocent smile.

Walking down the corridor and back up to the deck of the Merry, Luffy couldn't help but ask, "So what are we doing, Josh?"

"I'll let you know when we get there." Was the only reply he got.

They went up even further by climbing the stairs and finally reached Nami's room. With a knock from Josh, the door was cautiously opened by a smiling (fake) Nami. Luffy noticed this and slightly furrowed his brows.

Earlier,

Nami was in her room. The thief had been contemplating about her course of action.

When she first partnered up with the pirate crew, all that was on her mind was robbing them blind, just as she had done countless times. Never in her wildest dreams would she imagine to get this attached to the band of strange pirates.

Not only did they not steal, rob, pillage, ****, or destroy...err...destroy more. They even saved a couple of islands from other pirate crews and corrupt marines. Their actions could even put some upright marines to shame. The only thing they did that can be considered as a 'crime' in the eyes of the world, is their insistence on calling themselves pirates and raising up a Jolly Roger.

This crew changed her entire out look on what a pirate is. Nami even enjoyed herself and truly laughed and smiled from the bottom of her heart.

Then there was the blonde. Josh instantly saw through her and knew her problems, and even volunteered to help her out. While this stirred something she'd long forsaken inside her, the girl resolutely refused.

They were her...friends. Real ones! All through out Nami's life, the only person that can be considered a true friend is Nojiko. She doesn't even count as she is her sister. On Cocoyasi, there weren't a lot of people her age, and even if there were, they surely wouldn't want to associate with her due to her status. She didn't want any of them to die and risk the lives of her beloved villagers.

On several occasions, she was called a "witch" by people who thought that she joined the Arlong pirates for money. Although that was the image she wanted them to see, it still hurt her.

Her face went cold when she thought about having to return to Arlong Park to avoid Arlong's ire, which he would turn towards the residents of the Conomi islands.

Just as the woman resolved herself to part ways with her only joy out in the sea, she heard a knock that startled her. Remembering the blonde that once visited her in her room at night, she put on a smile to hide her internal feelings. Unknown to her, the unusually perceptive Luffy caught it.

To Nami's surprise, it wasn't just Josh this time, there was also her idiot captain. She widened the door to let them through.

Nami's fake smile faltered slightly when she saw the serious expression on Josh's face. 'Does he know what I'm planning!?', She questioned herself. This startled her, because the man always seemed to know what she was thinking. She shuttered at the thought of him having the ability to read minds...for all she knew, Josh might as well have the power.

Nami sat on her bed like before while Luffy plopped himself down on the wooden floor. Josh remained standing as he looked over the other two.

"So..what're we doing in Nami's room, Josh?" A confused Luffy asked. He could feel the slight tension in the atmosphere when looking at his two crewmates but he had no clue why.

"Nami, I think you should tell Luffy..." Josh said, trying to urge the orange head. In his opinion, this was the best course of action. Any day now, Don Krieg will arrive and Nami would take off with the Merry, leaving behind the crew as to not involve them.

If the girl told Luffy her problems and get him to agree to not interfere unless she asks him to, then most of Josh's worries would be long forgotten.

"I...d-do I really have to?" Nami stuttered out. She was very hesitant on letting her deepest secrets known to her one and only captain at heart. She had no clue how Luffy would act if she told him everything about herself. Josh nodded. This was crucial for him as he has plans to tell them a certain something on their way to Arlong Park if Nami doesn't run off by herself.

"Tell me what?" The only ignorant person in the room questioned. Now he was really confused. He didn't ask his crewmates about their past or anything related to them because he knows that they will tell him if they needed to. All that mattered to the raven haired teen is the fact that they were his cherished comrades.

With a tired sigh, Nami once again recounted her own past and the deal with arlong to Luffy. At first, Luffy was still confused about the whole situation, but as the story went on, an emotion was stirred within him.

If Luffy was confused before, no one would be able to tell now. The strawhat wearing boy had an extremely grim expression on his face. His upper face was hidden within the shadows of his hat and his lips were tightly locked in a frown.

In the original work, the captain never truly knew the full story behind Nami's past, but now, he knew everything. Now that he knew, his reaction to the whole situation was completely unknown to even Josh.

An eerie but deadly silence hung in the atmosphere once again, in fact, it was much more so than earlier.

When Luffy finally lifted up his head and revealed his face, all one could see is utter rage. On his forehead, there were large visible veins that threatened to pop a blood vessel.

When Nami saw his expression and felt the sheer rage come off of him, she felt slight fear and regret. A single trickle of sweat slid down the side of her pale face. She thought that Luffy was angry with her for lying to all of them the entire time.

Although she knew Luffy to be someone not like that. In her moment of insecurity, that was the first thing that ran across her mind. It was the most logical thing to her. She had been planning to betray the crew all along after all. But she should've known better to put 'Luffy' and 'logic' in the same context.

"Where is he!? I'LL GO KICK HIS ASS RIGHT NOW!!" Contrary to Nami's expectations, but completely predictable, Luffy yelled out in rage. His voice was so loud that even Zoro and the others who had been trying to sleep heard it.

Nami let out a breath that she didn't know she was holding as the girl sighed out in relief.

Luffy got up, walked towards Nami, and placed both of his hands on her shoulders. "NAMI! We're going to that bastard fish and kick his ass!" He said again, but this time, it was much quieter.

"Didn't you hear what she said? We can't go deal with arlong now." Josh finally let his existence known again. With both of their attention on him, he continued, "I shouldn't have to tell you this, Luffy. Have faith in your Nakama, don't you agree!?"

Luffy lets go of Nami's shoulders and slowly nodded. He uncharacteristically took a deep breath to calm himself down. Once Luffy got his bearings, he stepped out of the room without a care for anyone else and silently went back to sleep. What was he thinking about? Maybe even Oda wouldn't know...

The remaining two watched Luffy exit the room silently. From the corner of his eyes, Josh could see a stroke of tear fell down Nami's cheeks. "I advise you with the same words as Luffy. Trust us Nami!" Josh said. Honestly, he was getting a bit tired of all these little drama that was going on.

It wasn't like he was an expert in these areas, on the contrary, he's had very little drama like this going on in his previous life. On the island, it was impossible to have drama with animals...unless one got creative..? Anyway, all this time, Josh has been going off of his memory and guts to deal with Nami.

"I..I-I'll take a small dingy back home s-so none of you will get invol-" the hysterical cries of the navigator was cut off by a loud bang that was caused by the wall of the room breaking.

This was caused when Josh momentarily lost himself a bit in frustration and punched through the wall of the room, startling Nami. He calmed himself once more and sighed, "Nami, I'm getting tired of the back and forth we have between us that always end in no results. If you dare leave by yourself, I'll storm Arlong Park by myself and damn the consequences!"

Josh was truly tired of the unnecessary drama that have been going on for far too long now. He felt slightly regretful at being the first to go back on his words of advice that he "sagely" told to his crew mates. There was no mistakes, Nami hated him now...Josh was crying internally at the lost relationship that he built up with the petite girl.

The blonde had his back turned to Nami and was about to silently walk out the room like Luffy, only in a much worse mood.

Just as he took his first step, something that he didn't think would happen, actually took place. Nami, ran up to the blonde and hugged him from behind. Her face was firmly buried in his back, and soon, he could hear sniffles. Although he didn't feel his skin come in contact with something wet because he was wearing a few layers of clothes, but he was sure that the girl was crying.

Josh just let Nami be like that for a few minutes and heard a very faint "Thank you.." once the girl let go. He was only able to pick it up because of his devil fruit's ability to pick up the electrical sound waves in the air.

Without saying anything, Josh left the room. The difference is the smile on his face. He had no clue why Nami was thanking him when he threatened her, but that didn't matter to him anymore. At least everything worked out.

'Hmm...why do I want to help her so much anyway?', Josh thought to himself. He is currently back on his own bed and listening to the snoring of everyone around him. Without being able to find a proper and valid answer, he pulled up his blanket and closed his eyes.