Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 28 GOSA VILLAGE

“Mighty fine work you did!” The marine out front yelled as the large group walked up. He was a rat-like man. Whiskers for a mustache he wore a white hood with little ears on the top. 

“I must admit I didn’t quite believe someone was dumb enough to attack Arlong, but here they are. All of the crew laid up,” he said. Within talking distance he looked around. “Ripe for the taking.”

“You appear quite beat up yourself,” the marine said. “I want to compliment you on your work, but Arlong and I have a business relationship. A Relationship that will sadly have to end since he is in such a sorry state.” 

I did something I hadn’t done before. A classic Naruto trope that had taken me a while to get right. The real trouble was having a wood log close by. Luckily I had one. 

Pouring chakra into it I switched it out immediately. The chakra formed a hair thin layer around the log. A layer that resembled me. It was Substitution Jutsu. The process of switching with it happened in a second. immediately I jumped to the marine. Standing behind him as he continued. 

“To help make up for losing the business. I will have to take the reward for Arlong’s capture myself. Too bad I can’t leave any-“ I tapped him on the shoulder, hard. “What!?”

Punching him square in the face he flew through the air at Luffy. Luffy smiled big. “See yeah,” he said. Twirling the man around he threw the marine leader far into the ocean. The man screamed the whole way. 

There was grumbling from the marines around me. Some grabbing hilts of swords. Others shifting their guns. But they stopped as more voices started sounding. 

I turned to see the residents of Nami’s village walking up. They had their own weapons in hand. I noticed the scarred up village leader out front. He still wore the pinwheel on his hat. The villagers didn’t appear to be happy to see the marines. But there were cries of joy as they noticed Arlong and his crew still out and unconscious. 

“You will be arresting all of Arlong’s crew,” Nami said, walking up. “You will give the reward for Arlong to the village to help rebuild the damage his pirates have caused. Or else.” 

She twirled her staff. The others walked up behind her. Luffy, battered and bloodied, Sanji smoking a cigarette, Usopp adjusting his glass lenses, Zoro still passed out on my Substitutions shoulder. They looked pretty badass. 

“You heard her,” Luffy said, cracking his knuckles. 

A new marine stepped forward. Eyeing us up and down. “Time to get to work, boys.” The marines were soon running into the groups of pirates. Putting shackles on them it looked like they would actually do their job. I was pretty sure the same thing happened in canon. I didn’t think we had to worry about Arlong anymore. Most marines actually wanted to do good. There were bad apples of course, but the police of the world government were often guided by their own morality. 

It became a madhouse as people ran around. The marines were on den-den-mushis calling for help and soon a ship was on its way. We were pirates but had no bounties so they didn’t have a right to hold us. 

We jumped on the Going Merry and headed to Gosa Village. A doctor looked at Zoro. Stapling his wounds back together the man said he was lucky to be alive. Nami spent time with her sister. Crying happily that they were finally free. But it wasn’t a Straw Hat victory without a party. 

People were quickly bringing out the liquor. Dancing and music broke out in the small village. Luffy received piles of food and wolfed it down happily. Zoro tried to get up. We had to strap him down to the bed. To get him to stop trying to move I carried the bed to the front porch so he could at least watch the party. Then he talked me into getting him some rum and freeing a hand. It was hard to say no, so I didn’t. 

I sat by him. Drinking my own rum. I hadn’t liked it before, but since becoming a pirate I started craving it like a cop craved donuts. I watched the village celebrate freedom and couldn’t help but be proud. 

I knew this would have happened without me. But I hoped I made it a little easier, on the crew and village. Nami was free. There was no backstabbing. Zoro was still laid up in bed, but someone unable to walk after a fight was inevitable in the crew. 

All that went through my head as I watched them celebrate. I considered world jumping then. I had been in One Piece for about a week. And I really wanted to get laid. I had better control of my Chikyugi, but not 100%. I was feeling it. I could jump to Naruto world. I still had 5 days there until the Chunin exam. I could spend a day with my maids. Enjoy them to the fullest. Then jump back here. I held off though. 

I almost pushed World Escape, but I stopped as I heard a familiar laugh. Looking up I noticed Nami sauntering through the crowd heading in my direction. Locking eyes with her I thought I should stick it out for a little longer. Especially when she blushed and looked away as we made eye contact. 

A wide smile on my face I watched her discreetly make her way over. Sanji came out of nowhere handing her a mixed drink with fruits in it. He fawned over her then Nami pointed him in the direction of her sister. Sanji noticed the blue haired girl and ran off to make her a drink too. 

Nami was then making her way in my direction again. Zoro oblivious to everything but his rum I got up and intercepted her. I studied her as I walked. Orange hair, smooth tan skin, wearing a white shirt and brown skirt she showed off her long legs. She had C-cup breasts at the moment. I hoped they ballooned out like they did in the manga, but for now they fit her well. 

“Hi,” she said shyly. Blushing as she ate one of the pineapple chunks from her drink. 

“Hey yourself,” I said. I was tempted to push out my Lust Element. But I had used it on all the women I had been with in the Naruto world. I wanted to know what I could do without it. “How are you?”

“Good,” she said. Sipping her drink as she locked eyes with me over the brim of the glass. “I was wondering if you’d help me with something.”

“Anything,” I said simply. “You know that.”

She blushed again but nodded. Grabbing my hand she pulled me with her through the celebrating crowd. We were quiet as we walked. The music and people loud, we wouldn’t have been able to hear one another anyway. Villagers stopped and talked to Nami. I waited dutifully beside her until she made an excuse to move on. 

When we were through the thick of the villagers I asked, “you’re not leaving us, right?”

“Maybe,” she said, a small smirk on her lips. “I got what I wanted from you all.”

“Dang,” I said. “Should have made you sign a contract or something.”

She chuckled. “You should have.”

“So this means I don’t have to pay you that 10 million berries, right?”

“No, I need that,” she said. “You would hate to be known as a liar.”

“Well I mean, if you’re not there to collect, how is that my fault?”

“A deals a deal, Weston. Don’t you have some sort of ninja code?”

“I do, unfortunately I won’t be able to get you your money until we are out to sea,” I said. 

“So you have it now?” She asked. Simple playful banter we both played our parts in the exchange. 

“Nope. But I will out on the ocean.”

“How does that work? Nevermind. Ninja stuff, right?” I nodded. “You’re so weird.”

“Thanks. You’re not,” I said. 

“What? I’m very weird,” she said angrily. 

“You’re right,” I said. “Any normal girl would want to stay in her village. Get a nice boyfriend. A job working at the grocery. You, you want to go back out there.” I pointed to the ocean. We had a direct view of it as was moved between homes. No one was around us anymore.

“What makes you say that?” She asked coyly. Her hands behind her back as she stuck out her chest. 

“Cus it excites you,” I said. “The adventure. The new places. Standing at the helm when a storm is raging around you. Keeping us on course.”

“How would you know that? We haven’t had a bad storm since you joined.” She blushed, continuing to lead me somewhere. 

“Because I can picture it. I’ve seen the same smile on your lips when the sea is calm. That small smirk, that content look in your eyes, that unseeing gaze you wear when you turn your brain off and let your worries pass you by.”

“I don’t do that,” she mumbled. 

“You do. Why do you think I like sitting by you while you steer?” I asked. “I like to watch it when it happens.”

She blushed more deeply. Pushing her hair behind her ear we were quiet for a moment. “This is um my home,” she said walking up to a small house. We didn’t go inside but instead walked to the back. There were trees with oranges growing on them. 

“Oh, you want me to harvest your fruits,” I said.

“No,” she said. Grabbing a couple of shovels by the back of the house she threw me one. “I want you to dig.”

I nodded and dug where she pointed. It wasn’t long till I found a chest. She didn’t help digging but I knew she wouldn’t. She was the type to tell people what to do. I pulled the chest out of the ground. After cleaning it off she directed me where to put it inside. 

“This is my life’s work,” she said. Pulling a necklace up from her cleavage she opened the chest. Inside were the berries she had saved up. “90,000,000 berries. I was saving up to buy the village from Arlong.”

“So the 10 you lent me was the rest of it?” I asked. 

She nodded. “Lot of hard work. And I was almost there. You’re probably right though. Sounded like he knew about where I kept it. He would have double crossed me or something.”

“He would have,” I said. “Don’t judge them for it though. Those fishmen went through some bad stuff. They hated humans more than anything.”

Nami frowned. “Couldn’t have been worse than what they put us through.”

I wanted to placate her. Let her have her anger. But I didn’t think the fishmen deserved all of her rage.  “They were enslaved by humans,” I said. She frowned at me, confused. “You know the sun brands on most of them? That shows they used to be part of the sun pirates. Which was made up of ex-slaves. There is a group of humans out there that enslave who they want. They mark them with a brand. The sun brand was made to cover that slave brand up. So marines could never prove that they were escaped slaves.”

“What? Fishmen are enslaved?” She asked. 

“They were. A lot of them. But not just them. Humans too. The leaders of the world enslave who they want. And they run the marines.”

“That can’t be true,” she said. “That’s sick.”

“It is,” I said. “You asked me why I so easily joined a pirate crew? That is a major factor. How can the leaders of the world be okay with slavery?” She hesitated and I felt bad for ruining the mood. “But that’s no excuse for what they did to you and your people.”

“No, it’s not,” she said. Frowning she shut the chest. “I’m giving the money to the village.”

“Good,” I said. “Do you want that money I borrowed?”

“I thought we had to be off land for you to get it?” She asked. A small smile on her face. 

“I could do that. But it’s your money. I simply wanted it as bait to keep you with us,” I said. “But if you choose to stay here, I won’t hold you to it. I understand.”

“Do you want me to go with you?” She asked. A little trembling in her voice. 

I turned to her. I considered answering with words, but the mood was back. Stepping closer to her she didn’t pull away. Simply looked up into my eyes as she licked her lips. 

Leaning down I finally kissed her. It was short. A peck that drew out. I could tell she had never down something like it before. Her lips were rigid at first. Then slowly as the kiss lingered she relaxed a little. My hands went down to her ass cheeks and she melted in my arms. 

Moaning she opened her mouth to let my tongue in. When it entered her mouth she practically shook in unknown excitement. Pulling back a little she looked up at me still. Fear in her eyes I whispered, “we can go slow.”

Nodding she kissed me back. Opening her mouth more readily my tongue touched hers and she moaned again. Her chest pushing into mine my hands pulled her ass toward me as my dick became more stiff. 

We stayed like that for a time. Simply kissing. I was used to going father but here was a woman that I couldn’t help but want. Someone that deserved to not be pushed into going faster than she was ready for. 

I was a little surprised when she pulled away and lead me off to a room. A small bed inside she sat on the mattress. Practically shaking in fear and excitement. I looked down at her. Happy until I noticed the tears in her eyes. 

“What’s wrong?” I asked. Bending down I sat on my knees in between her legs. Pulling her chin to look up at me she let the tears flow. 

“I just can’t believe it’s actually over. It happened just like you said it would.” Holding back sobs she dropped her head to my chest. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“You don’t have to thank me. You’re part of the crew. Besides, I think you would have seen it eventually. You just needed some assurance.”

“Maybe,” she said. Snorting and wiping her eyes. “I don’t know. When you said it I wanted to believe so bad. But as we got closer. The fear came back.”

“Understandable. I couldn’t imagine what you’ve been through.” I kissed her cheek. Standing up I pushed her to the bed. As her eyes dried she opened her shaking legs, almost welcoming what I could do. 

Instead I turned her to lay longways on the bed. Jumping over her I grabbed her from the back. My hand at her waist, my other arm under her neck, I spooned her. 

She wasn’t sure what to do at first. But then slowly relaxed. “It’s okay to cry. It’s over. Me and the rest of the crew will do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Nami began crying again. Turning around she buried her head in my chest and let it loose. Grabbing onto my back she pulled herself into me. Whimpers at first, which led to sobs, which led to wailing. 

My shirt was drenched by the time she was done. All the crying she was supposed to do while asking for Luffy’s help happened in my shirt. All the while I stroked and patted her back. Whispering how it would all be okay. 

It took time. But eventually she calmed down. Let out a long sigh. Then fell asleep in my arms. I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t going to get laid, but it was hard to be upset about that when someone let their defenses down and showed you the pain they had been bottling up. 

I stroked her hair and patted her back until I was sure she was asleep. Then maneuvering her around I made her rest her arm on my shoulder while I fell asleep as well. 

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