Chapter 17: Orange Town

  The boat bumped against the dock with a soft thud, and Luffy hopped out before the rope was even tied. Zoro followed more carefully, securing their vessel to a post before straightening and taking in their surroundings.

  The port was wrecked.

  Buildings y on their sides like sleeping giants, roofs shattered, walls caved in. Crates and barrels had been smashed to kindling, their contents scattered across the cobblestones. A cart sat overturned in the middle of the street, one wheel missing, its cargo of vegetables long since rotted or eaten by whatever creatures now scavenged the empty town.

  "What the hell happened here?" Zoro muttered, hand drifting toward his swords.

  Luffy stood a few feet ahead, surveying the damage. His face held an expression Zoro couldn't quite read. Not surprise. Not fear. Something closer to recognition, like he'd seen this before and was simply confirming what he already knew.

  "Something big," Luffy said. "Explosions, probably. Lots of them."

  Zoro looked at the fttened buildings, the craters in the street, the way some structures had been blown outward from a central point. "Explosions big enough to level half a town. That's not normal pirates."

  "Maybe it is." Luffy started walking into town. "Come on."

  "Wait, hold on." Zoro hurried to catch up. "This pce is destroyed. What makes you think there's anything here worth finding?"

  Luffy didn't slow down. "Survivors. There's always survivors."

  Zoro fell into step beside him, still scanning the ruins. The town was eerily quiet. No voices. No movement. Just the creak of damaged wood and the distant sound of wind whistling through broken windows.

  They walked deeper into Orange Town, past empty houses and abandoned shops. A bakery with its front wall missing, ovens cold and dark. A tailor's with fabrics torn and scattered, mannequins lying facedown in the street. A small inn with its upper floor colpsed into the lower, furniture jutting out at impossible angles.

  "Pce gives me the creeps," Zoro said.

  "Shh." Luffy held up a hand.

  Voices. Faint but growing louder. Angry.

  They moved toward the sound, slipping between two buildings and emerging onto a street that looked slightly less damaged than the rest. At the far end, three men in rough clothing ran toward them, waving weapons and shouting.

  "Stop her!"

  "Get the map back!"

  "That thief is gonna pay!"

  Running ahead of them, barefoot and furious, was a girl with short orange hair and eyes that burned with desperate intelligence. She clutched something to her chest, some kind of rolled paper, and she ran like her life depended on it.

  Which it probably did.

  She spotted Luffy and Zoro immediately. Her eyes flicked between them, assessing, calcuting, and then she made a decision in less than a second.

  She veered toward Luffy and ducked behind him, grabbing his arm and pressing herself against his back.

  "Boss!" she shouted, loud enough for the approaching pirates to hear. "Thank goodness you're here! These guys are trying to steal from me! Please take care of them!"

  Zoro's eyes widened.

  Luffy's entire body went still.

  The pirates surrounded them, blocking any escape. Three of them, armed with swords and clubs, faces twisted with anger. The biggest one, a man with a scar across his nose, pointed his weapon at the girl.

  "Give us the map, bitch, and maybe we'll only cut off one hand."

  The girl pressed closer to Luffy, and for the first time, Luffy actually looked at her.

  Really looked.

  Orange hair. Brown eyes. A face that was beautiful in a way that made his brain stutter. She wore a simple top and shorts, both slightly too rge for her frame, and as she pressed against him, her chest pushed against his arm in a way that was absolutely impossible to ignore.

  'Oh,' Ethan's voice whispered in the back of his mind. 'Oh shit. That's Nami. That's actually Nami. In person. Real. Breathing. BOUNCING.'

  Because she was bouncing. Even standing still, pressed against him, she seemed to move in ways that drew the eye. The rise and fall of her breathing. The way her chest shifted as she turned to look at the pirates. The…

  One of the pirates stepped forward and smacked Luffy across the head.

  His straw hat flew off, tumbling through the air and nding in the dirt several feet away.

  The world went quiet.

  Luffy looked at his hat. Then at the pirate who'd hit him. Then back at his hat. Then at the pirate again.

  "You," he said quietly, "knocked off my hat."

  The pirate ughed. "What are you gonna do about it, kid?"

  Zoro took a step back and crossed his arms. He'd seen this look before. On the parade ground. Right before Morgan's face became hamburger meat.

  The girl, still pressed against Luffy's arm, felt something change in the body beside her. A tension. A focus. Like a rubber band pulled back to its limit.

  Luffy moved.

  His fist shot out faster than the pirates could track, catching the speaker in the chest and sending him flying into a colpsed building fifty feet away. The man hit the rubble and didn't move.

  The other two barely had time to react before Luffy was on them. His leg swept one's feet out from under him, and as the man fell, Luffy's elbow connected with his face in a spray of blood. The third swung a club at Luffy's head. Luffy ducked, grabbed the man's arm, and used it to swing himself around, both feet driving into the pirate's ribs with a crack that echoed off the empty buildings.

  Three seconds. Maybe four.

  Three pirates down.

  Luffy stood in the middle of them, breathing normally, and walked over to where his hat y in the dirt. He picked it up, dusted it off, and pced it carefully back on his head.

  Then he turned to the girl.

  She stared at him, mouth slightly open. The rolled map was still clutched to her chest. Her eyes moved from Luffy to the unconscious pirates and back again.

  "That was..." She trailed off.

  "Amazing?" Luffy offered.

  "Terrifying, actually. But impressive." She straightened, a smile spreading across her face that didn't quite reach her eyes. Professional smile. Saleswoman smile. "Thanks for the help. I'm Nami."

  She extended a hand.

  Luffy took it. Held it. Didn't let go.

  "I'm Luffy," he said. "Monkey D. Luffy. I'm gonna be King of the Pirates."

  Nami's smile flickered. She tried to pull her hand back. He held on.

  "Great. Lovely. Can I have my hand back?"

  Luffy blinked, seemed to realize he was still holding it, and let go. But his eyes never left her face. Or, more accurately, they kept drifting down from her face to other areas before snapping back up.

  Zoro let out a long, heavy sigh from behind them.

  "Not this shit again," he muttered.

  Nami gnced at him, then back at Luffy, then down at herself. Understanding dawned. Her eyes narrowed.

  "You," she said slowly, "were staring at my chest."

  Luffy didn't deny it. Didn't even try. "They're nice chests."

  Zoro covered his face with one hand.

  Nami's expression shifted through several stages. Surprise. Disbelief. Something that might have been grudging appreciation for the honesty. Finally, she ughed. A real one, not the saleswoman smile from before.

  "You're weird," she said.

  "I know."

  "Most guys try to pretend they weren't looking."

  "What's the point of pretending? They're right there. Everyone can see them."

  Zoro groaned. "Can we please focus? We came here for supplies."

  Nami's eyes lit up at the word "supplies." The thief in her recognized opportunity when she saw it. "Supplies? You need supplies? I know this town. I can help you find whatever you need. For a small fee, of course."

  Luffy grinned at her. "You're a thief."

  "Cat burgr, actually. Specialize in pirates." She tilted her head, studying him. "You're pirates."

  "Yeah."

  "And you just beat up three guys from the crew that's been terrorizing this town."

  "That's what pirates do."

  Nami's smile widened, and this time it reached her eyes. Real interest. Real calcution. "Tell you what. Help me with something, and I'll make sure you get all the supplies you need. Plus extra."

  Zoro stepped forward. "What kind of something?"

  Nami looked at the ruined town around them, at the fallen pirates, at the map still clutched in her hand.

  "There's a circus pirate named Buggy," she said. "He's been using this town for target practice. I need to get into his base and steal some things. With you two as backup, that just got a lot easier."

  Luffy's grin widened.

  Buggy the Clown.

  One of the first real threats in the Grand Line pipeline. A warlord's former crewmate. And a complete idiot who had no idea how to use his devil fruit effectively.

  "We'll help," Luffy said.

  Zoro looked at him. "We don't even know what she's stealing."

  "Doesn't matter."

  "It might matter if it gets us killed."

  Luffy waved a hand dismissively. "We won't die. And besides." He looked at Nami again, eyes roaming freely. "She has nice chests."

  Nami's eye twitched.

  Zoro sighed again, deeper this time.

  "Fine. But if we die because you were distracted by boobs, I'm haunting you forever."

  Luffy ughed. "Deal."

  Nami looked between them, trying to figure out if they were insane or just stupid. The verdict, she decided, could wait until after they helped her rob Buggy.

  "Follow me," she said. "And try to keep up."

  She turned and walked into the ruins, orange hair catching the light, map held tight against her chest.

  Luffy watched her go.

  Specifically, he watched her go.

  Zoro punched him in the arm. Hard.

  "Eyes forward, pervert."

  Luffy rubbed his arm, still grinning. "I'm a pirate. We're supposed to be perverts."

  "You're supposed to be my captain. Act like it."

  Luffy ughed and started after Nami, Zoro following with the long-suffering expression of a man who'd already accepted his fate.

  Behind them, the three pirates remained unconscious in the street, soon to be joined by the rest of Buggy's crew if Luffy had anything to say about it.