Chapter 19: The Proposition

  Nami sobbed into his chest.

  Her fists had stopped swinging. Her cws had stopped scratching. There was nothing left in her but the heaving of her shoulders and the wetness soaking through Luffy's shirt. She clung to him like he was the only solid thing in a world that kept shifting beneath her feet.

  Luffy held her and waited.

  The ruined street stayed quiet. Zoro watched from a few feet away, arms crossed, face unreadable. The wind carried the distant sound of waves and the creak of damaged buildings settling into their final rest.

  Minutes passed. Or seconds. Time felt strange in moments like this.

  Finally, when the sobs had softened to hiccups and the hiccups to shaky breaths, Luffy spoke.

  "I'm sorry, Nami."

  Her shoulders tensed, but she didn't pull away.

  "I may have pushed things too far." His voice was quiet, different from before. No calcution. No strategy. Just words. "So let me put it this way."

  He waited until she looked up. Her eyes were red and swollen, tears still leaking from the corners. She looked wrecked. Broken. Like someone who'd been carrying a weight too heavy for too long and had finally colpsed under it.

  Luffy met her gaze and held it.

  "I'm going to fight Buggy the Clown. I'm going to beat him. I'm going to help you steal every st berry he's taken from this town." He paused. "And after that, we're going to travel to wherever Arlong is. And I'm going to kill that bastard."

  Nami's breath caught.

  She stared at him, searching his face for any sign of deception, any hint that this was some kind of trick. She found nothing. Just absolute, unwavering seriousness.

  "You..." Her voice cracked. She swallowed and tried again. "You don't even know me. You don't know what he's done. You don't know…"

  "Doesn't matter."

  "It matters to me!"

  "Then tell me." Luffy's voice stayed calm. "Tell me everything. After we beat Buggy. After we take his treasure. You can tell me the whole story, and I'll still kill him."

  Zoro spoke up from behind. "Let me get this straight. You don't want to kill Buggy the Clown or his crew. Not a single one. But you'll kill this fishman without hesitation?"

  Luffy gnced back at him. "Like I said. I owe you an expnation. But Arlong is a different topic altogether."

  "Different how?"

  "Different enough that I need you to trust me on this."

  Zoro held his gaze for a long moment. Then he nodded slowly. "I trust you."

  Luffy turned back to Nami.

  She was still staring at him, but something had shifted in her expression. Not trust. Not yet. But the walls she'd built around herself had cracks in them now, hairline fractures that let light through.

  "Why?" she whispered. "Why would you do this for me? You don't know me. Five minutes ago you were staring at my chest like a pervert."

  Luffy shrugged. "Perverts have feelings too."

  Despite everything, a choked ugh escaped her. It turned into a sob halfway through, but it had been a ugh. A real one.

  Zoro cleared his throat. "Since we're on the subject of perverts..." He looked at Luffy. "Why do you want this girl so badly? The restaurant owner wasn't enough for you? You need a new woman in every town?"

  Luffy ignored him completely.

  He crouched down in front of Nami, bringing himself to her level. His eyes were kind now. Gentle. The calcution had been put away, repced by something that looked almost like understanding.

  "Here's what I'm proposing," he said. "After I defeat Buggy, you'll see what I can do. You'll see my strength. You'll see that I don't make promises I can't keep."

  Nami listened.

  "My suspicion… and correct me if I'm wrong… is that you're not working for Arlong because you want to. Something's forcing you. Something you can't get out of on your own."

  Her eyes glistened.

  "So I'm proposing this. I take Arlong out of your way. Permanently. I end whatever hold he has on you. And as thanks..."

  He paused, and the corner of his mouth twitched up.

  "You join my crew. Save some lives. See the world. Navigate us through the Grand Line. And eventually, when you're ready, make some sweet love to me."

  Nami blinked.

  Zoro groaned behind them. "There it is."

  Nami stared at Luffy for a long moment. The perverted comment should have made her angry. Should have reinforced every reason she had to hate pirates, to hate men who looked at her like a piece of meat.

  But the way he said it... it wasn't demanding. Wasn't assuming. It was almost pyful. Like he knew it was ridiculous but didn't care, because underneath the ridiculousness was something real.

  "You're insane," she said.

  "Probably."

  "You don't even know what you're offering. Arlong is... he's not like other pirates. He's not human. He's stronger, faster, tougher than anything you've ever fought. He has a crew of fishmen who can swim circles around any human. They'll tear you apart."

  Luffy grinned. "Sounds fun."

  "It's not fun! It's death! I've spent eight years trying to buy my vilge back from him. Eight years stealing and lying and pretending selling myself to pirates just to scrape together enough berries to…" She stopped, the words catching in her throat.

  Luffy waited.

  When she didn't continue, he spoke again. "Eight years is a long time."

  "It's forever."

  "Must be a lot of berries you need."

  Her jaw tightened. "One hundred million. That's what he wants. One hundred million berries and he'll free my vilge. Leave us alone forever."

  Zoro's eyebrows shot up. "One hundred million?"

  Luffy nodded slowly. "One hundred million. And how much do you have so far?"

  Nami looked away. "Enough. Almost."

  "How much?"

  She didn't answer.

  Luffy stood up and looked down at her. "After we take Buggy's treasure, you'll have more. And then we'll go to Arlong Park, and I'll kill him, and you won't have to pay a single berry."

  "You can't kill him."

  "Watch me."

  "He's not human! He's a fishman! He's…"

  "I don't care what he is." Luffy's voice hardened. "He made you cry. He made you spend eight years of your life as a sve. He took your childhood and your freedom and your hope, and he turned you into this."

  He gestured at her. At the tears. At the broken expression. At the walls she'd built so high they'd become a prison.

  "When I'm done with him, there won't be enough left of Arlong to feed to the sharks."

  Nami stared up at him. The pervert was gone. The airhead was gone. In their pce stood someone who looked like he'd burn the world down for her without a second thought.

  "Why?" she whispered again.

  Luffy looked at her for a long moment. Then he smiled, and it was the gentlest smile she'd seen from him.

  "Because you deserve better than this."