Buggy's grin was manic.
Luffy's was worse.
The ruined street had become a blur of motion as the clown captain and the rubber boy clashed back and forth between shattered buildings and broken stone.
"YOU LITTLE BRAT!" Buggy shrieked, both arms detaching from his shoulders as they shot forward like cannon fire. "STOP DODGING!"
Luffy leaned backward so far it looked physically impossible, Buggy's spinning knives whistling inches above his nose.
"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed. "Stop missing!"
Buggy's detached feet kicked off a nearby wall while one hand grabbed a chimney for leverage, twisting his body through the air at a bizarre angle.
"Chop-Chop Festival!"
Knives flashed from every direction at once.
To anyone watching, it looked impossible to avoid.
Luffy's body moved anyway.
His footing shifted smoothly across broken ground, every step deliberate. He spun sideways between two blades, ducked under a flying kick, then planted one hand against the street and vaulted clean over a lunging detached torso.
The movement was strange.
To Zoro looking on it seemed more like Luffy was dancing through the strange onslaught than dodging.
Even Buggy noticed it.
"What the hell kind of fighting style is this?!" he barked.
Luffy landed lightly on one foot and gave a cheerful thumbs up.
"The effective kind!"
Before Buggy could scream his displeasure, the street cracked beneath his opponent's sandals as his fist shot towards the clown's stomach.
Buggy grinned.
"Too slow!"
His torso split apart instantly.
Luffy's punch blasted harmlessly through the gap where Buggy's ribs should've been, the shockwave cracking the wall behind him instead. Chunks of brick crumbled and hit the ground as Buggy cackled wildly.
"HAHA! You can't hit me, idiot!"
Luffy clicked his tongue.
"…Aren't mimes supposed to be quiet?"
A vein bulged on his forehead as Buggy's detached hand immediately shot toward his face with a knife.
"I'M A CLOWN YOU FLASHY BASTARD!"
Luffy twisted sideways as the blade passed inches from his cheek. In the same fluid motion he ducked the knee flying in from behind, before jumping to avoid an arm aiming for his legs.
Three knives spun downward from above.
Luffy's body bent backward at the waist, rubber spine arching almost horizontally as the blades passed over him.
Buggy's eye twitched.
"…WHY ARE YOU SO SLIPPERY?!"
Luffy popped back upright.
"You're just too predictable Buggsy."
Buggy froze.
"…What."
Luffy pointed casually.
"Your hand always tenses before you attack."
The detached hand instinctively clenched, causing Luffy's grin to widen.
"And your feet still shift with your movements despite staying on the ground."
Buggy's detached feet shuffled awkwardly.
"And your real body keeps drifting backward every time you panic."
Silence.
Buggy stared.
Then exploded.
"I AM NOT PANICKING!"
A dozen detached body parts lunged simultaneously.
Luffy moved through them like flowing water. He found every gap in the flurry of attacks and seemingly always had the right move prepared.
Every dodge wasted the smallest amount of movement possible, each missed punch becoming the starting point for his next move instead of a mistake to recover from.
Every shift of his feet naturally carried into the next motion. Midoriya's analytical instincts fused perfectly with Luffy's absurd bodily freedom, creating something bizarrely effective.
To Buggy, it felt like fighting a rubber acrobat who could somehow read his attacks before he committed to them. He even briefly wondered if the brat somehow had haki.
To Luffy…
This honestly wasn't that bad. Buggy lacked the earth shattering weight of Garp's fist of love, and the lethal precision of Bogard's controlled sword strikes.
Compared to One For All's power, even his speed was lacking. With his bizarre devil fruit, Buggy could keep pressure on Luffy in his base form, but couldn't push him to use anything other than his natural strength.
Weird?
Definitely.
Dangerous?
A little.
Annoying?
Absolutely.
But honestly, this was the first time he could push himself without One for All. No civilians on a cruise ship to protect, or corrupt Marine captains to un-brainwash.
Just a good old fashion fight.
Still, actually landing a hit was proving difficult. If there was one thing Buggy was good at, it was dodging. Every solid opening vanished the instant Buggy split apart.
Minutes passed in complete stalemate.
Buggy couldn't touch Luffy, but Luffy couldn't properly hit Buggy, and both of them were becoming increasingly irritated about it.
"STOP MOVING!"
"THEN STOP FALLING APART!"
"I CAN'T HELP IT!"
"THAT SOUNDS LIKE A YOU PROBLEM!"
"IT'S ALL SHANKS' FAULT!"
Nearby, Zoro watched while casually resting Wado across his shoulder.
"…This is the weirdest fight I've ever seen."
Cabaji groaned weakly from his crater in the street.
Then…
"LUFFY!"
A familiar voice rang out from down the street.
Both fighters paused.
Nami emerged from around the corner with the expression of someone having the best day of her life. Luffy idly noted that the pouches attached to her belt seemed fuller than when she left.
Nami smiled brightly.
"Good news!"
Luffy perked up instantly.
"Oh?"
Nami lifted one of the bags proudly.
"I found the treasure room."
Buggy blinked.
"…You WHAT?"
"And the ship vault," Nami continued cheerfully. "And the hidden emergency stash under your tent."
Silence.
Buggy's face slowly lost all color, going the same shade of white as the cross bones painted on his face.
Nami's grin widened mercilessly.
"You're actually pretty bad at hiding valuables."
The street became deathly quiet.
The Buggy Pirates that had regained consciousness looked horrified.
Buggy trembled.
"…My treasure?"
Nami nodded happily.
"Yep!"
A vein bulged in Buggy's forehead.
Then another.
Then all of them.
"YOU THIEVING LITTLE WITCH!"
One detached hand shot forward instantly, knife gleaming viciously in the sunlight.
Fast.
Much faster than before.
Nami's eyes widened, she had touched a nerve.
With the distance, she was able to twist aside at the last second, but not completely.
The blade sliced lightly across her upper arm.
"Ah-!"
Buggy grinned savagely.
"GOT YOU!"
The hand holding the knife turned, intent on making another pass, and running her through.
But Nami didn't retreat.
Instead, she raised a deft hand and lightly touched the offending appendage.
There was a small pulse of blue light.
Buggy blinked.
"…Huh?"
His detached hand suddenly shrank. The floating limb compressed inward with a strange distortion until…
Pop.
A tiny marble dropped neatly into Nami's palm.
Silence.
Buggy stared blankly at the empty air where his hand used to be.
Then at Nami.
Then at the marble.
"…What."
Nami stared at the tiny sphere, her triumphant grin returning.
"Oh."
Her eyes gleamed with a dangerous delight as she looked up and beamed at Luffy.
"I love this!"
Buggy's scream once again echoed across Orange Town.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY HAAAAAAAND?!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nami moved through the ruined streets of Orange Town happier than she had been since before Alvida attacked the cruise ship.
At last, she had returned to her favorite pastime, liberating pirates of their treasure.
She grinned as she patted the small satchels at her waist. Surprisingly, they looked only slightly fuller than before.
Which was hilarious, considering she had just emptied an entire pirate operation.
Her grin widened as she walked.
Buggy's crew had been surprisingly easy to rob blind once she understood how her new ability worked. Chests, weapons, gold, maps, supplies, even entire crates could all be compressed down into tiny marble-like spheres small enough to fit in her palm.
At first she'd been cautious, compressing chairs and tables at the pub they'd met with Boodle in.
But after the Buggy Ball incident…
Well, experimentation had escalated quickly.
Now her pouch softly clinked with enough compressed loot to make several East Blue pirates weep openly.
"…This is incredible," she muttered. She'd spent eight years trying to gather one hundred million berries one wallet at a time, and here she was casually strolling with several million tucked away in her satchel.
Though admittedly…
She was getting tired.
Nami rolled one shoulder slowly as she walked, a faint sense of fatigue tugging at her limbs. It wasn't painful exactly, but she could feel the drain settling into her muscles the more she used the ability.
Compressing something small barely registered, but entire chests of gold and jewels were starting to add up.
"…So it uses stamina," she concluded quietly.
Honestly, that made sense. Nothing this absurd should be completely free.
Still…
Her smile returned almost immediately, because the implications were absolutely insane.
Any corrupt pirate crew, hidden stash, smuggling ring or stolen fortune. All of it could be reclaimed instantly.
No more carrying around massive bags of loot, or worrying about transportation logistics.
Just one touch and a dash of stamina, and it was nestled safely in her satchel.
For someone like Nami, whose entire life had revolved around stealing enough money to someday buy freedom, the ability felt almost god-like. Because of that, the hope for Cocoyashi village felt all too real.
Her pace slowed slightly.
Thoughts of Arlong brought everything else with them naturally. She had to work to suppress the sense of helplessness that was trying to claw its way back into her heart.
The years spent smiling through humiliation while desperately trying to save everyone alone had certainly left scars.
Her fingers tightened slightly around the strap of her satchel, the familiar self-loathing rising again.
Then, Luffy came to mind.
That stupid grin and ridiculous optimism.
Between the way he'd used Alvida as a warm up exercise, and the sheer overwhelming strength he displayed against Garp during training made it clear he was incredibly strong.
But the thing that stood out most to her was what she would describe as his gentleness.
He pushed her to fight, yes, but was always ready to step in if she got overwhelmed. Even when facing enemies, he was looking for ways to save them. The way he'd stopped fighting Morgan the instant he realized something deeper was wrong, even willing to put himself in danger to try and help him.
Above even that, was the unwavering belief in heroism.
Fame, money, and glory seemed to hold little sway to him. It was belief that burned so brightly that even Vice Admiral Garp had treated him almost like an equal in spirit despite the massive gap in experience.
He was helping people because it was right.
Simple as that.
Nami exhaled slowly.
Then there was that strange power itself, his ability to give strength to others.
Even now, she still barely understood it.
But she understood what it meant.
Luffy wasn't normal. He was dangerous in a world-changing kind of way.
And yet…
He'd handed her power with complete trust. She had never been given anything of such value to begin with, let alone without conditions or expectations.
He had given it to her just because he thought it would help her protect herself.
Nami's expression softened slightly.
"…Idiot," she muttered quietly.
Then her gaze hardened.
No.
Not an idiot.
Captain.
Her captain.
The captain of this strange little band of burgeoning heroes that was beginning to form around him.
For the first time, she allowed herself to seriously consider it.
What if she told him everything?
Arlong, his reign of terror over the Conomi islands, the state of her home and her people, Nezumi's corruption and the years she'd spent trapped in it all.
Normally the idea would've terrified her.
From her experience, trusting people got you hurt, and depending on someone got them killed.
But this crew…
This crew was different.
Zoro fought like a monster, and Luffy was somehow even worse. Behind them stood titans like Garp.
Not to mention whatever this strange power truly was.
This was the strongest chance she would ever get, maybe the only real chance, to free Cocoyasi and destroy Arlong, and to crush the corrupt Marines protecting him.
Nami stopped walking for just a moment.
Then quietly made herself a promise.
"…I'll tell him."
Not yet.
Not while the battle for Orange Town was ongoing.
But soon, before they reached Cocoyasi and things went too far.
She would trust him.
The decision settled in her chest with a strange lightness.
"STOP MOVING!"
"STOP FALLING APART!"
"I CAN'T HELP IT!"
"IT'S ALL SHANKS' FAULT!"
Nami blinked.
"…What."
The sounds of screaming carried from nearby streets.
She turned the corner…
And immediately found chaos.
Luffy and Buggy were tearing through the ruined district in what might've been the dumbest fight she had ever witnessed.
Buggy's detached limbs flew everywhere like angry knives.
Luffy twisted and danced through them with bizarrely graceful footwork, his body bending at impossible rubbery angles to avoid every attack.
Neither of them seemed capable of landing a clean hit.
Zoro stood nearby watching with an expression halfway between annoyance and fascination.
"…This is the weirdest fight I've ever seen," he muttered.
Nami snorted despite herself as she walked up to the swordsman and the lion sitting peacefully beside him.
"How long has this been going on?"
Zoro sighed.
"Too long."
The fight had been interesting at first, but it had stalled into this bizarre stalemate.
Nami laughed, and smiled brightly.
"Good news!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N: Surprise! I'm not dead! Sorry for the gap in uploads, life got in the way for a bit. But, I have several chapters ahead already scripted for this and a few other fics I plan to upload. Stay tuned!