Dawn broke over Cocoyasi Village like a promise kept. The first rays of sunlight painted the sky in shades of gold and crimson, casting long shadows across the dirt path that led to Arlong Park. The Straw Hat crew stood at the edge of the village, their faces set with grim determination. Behind them, the villagers had gathered—not to fight, but to bear witness to what they hoped would be their liberation.
Luffy stood at the front, his straw hat casting a shadow over his eyes. His fists were clenched at his sides, and there was something dangerous in his stillness. Zoro stood to his right, three swords at his hip, his expression cold and focused. Sanji lit a cigarette with steady hands, his usual playful demeanor replaced by something harder. Usopp clutched his slingshot, trying to hide the tremor in his fingers. And Gil—Gil stood slightly apart, his golden eyes fixed on the fortress in the distance, his mind already calculating the battle to come.
They had spent the night listening to Nojiko tell Nami's story. Every word had been a knife twisted deeper into their understanding of what their navigator had endured. Eight years. Eight years of slavery, of sacrifice, of carrying a burden no one should have to bear alone. Eight years of pretending to be something she wasn't, all for the slim hope of buying her village's freedom.
"Let's go," Luffy said simply, and started walking.
The crew fell in behind him without a word. There was no need for speeches or battle cries. They all knew what they were there to do.
Arlong Park loomed before them like a monument to cruelty. The massive structure was built in the style of Fishman Island architecture, all sharp angles and aggressive design. A massive concrete wall surrounded the compound, and beyond it, they could see the main building—a fortress that had cast its shadow over Cocoyasi Village for far too long.
As they approached the gates, they saw her.
Nami stood just inside the compound, her face pale and drawn. She looked like she hadn't slept. When she saw them, her eyes widened in shock, then hardened with something that looked like anger.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded, her voice sharp. "I told you to leave! This isn't your fight!"
"You're our navigator," Luffy said simply, still walking forward. "That makes it our fight."
"I'm not your navigator!" Nami shouted, but there was desperation in her voice now. "I'm a member of Arlong's crew! I always have been! Just leave!"
"Liar," Gil said quietly, and Nami's eyes snapped to him. "You're a terrible liar, Nami. You always have been."
Before Nami could respond, a figure emerged from the main building. Arlong was massive, even for a fishman—over eight feet tall, with blue skin and a saw-like nose that gave him his name. His shark-like teeth were bared in what might have been a smile, and his eyes held nothing but contempt as he looked at the humans gathered at his gate.
"Well, well," Arlong said, his voice a deep rumble. "The little humans have come to play hero. How touching." He placed a webbed hand on Nami's shoulder, and she flinched. "But I'm afraid Nami belongs to me. She's been working so hard to buy back her village. In fact, she's almost reached her goal—100 million berries."
"I know," Nami said, and there was triumph in her voice despite everything. "I've counted every berry. I have enough. The village is free."
Arlong's laugh was like grinding metal. "About that..." He pulled out a piece of paper—a receipt. "It seems there was a complication. A Marine captain—Nezumi, I believe his name was—came by yesterday. He confiscated all your savings. Something about suspected pirate activity." His grin widened. "Such a shame. I guess you'll have to start over."
The world seemed to stop.
Nami stared at the receipt, her face going from pale to ashen. Her hands began to shake. "No," she whispered. "No, that's... that's not..."
"Eight years of work," Arlong continued, his voice dripping with false sympathy. "Gone in an instant. But don't worry, Nami. You can always earn it back. Another eight years, maybe ten. I'm a patient fishman."
Something broke in Nami's expression. The mask she'd worn for so long—the confident thief, the cold-hearted pirate—shattered like glass. Her legs gave out, and she fell to her knees, her hands clutching at the dirt.
"No," she said again, her voice raw. "No, no, no..."
She looked down at her left shoulder, at the tattoo that marked her as Arlong's property. Her hand moved to it, fingers digging into her skin. Then, with a sound that was half-sob, half-scream, she began to claw at it. Her nails raked across her flesh, drawing blood, trying to tear the mark away.
"I'll remove it," she gasped, tears streaming down her face. "I'll remove it, I'll start over, I'll—"
"Nami." Luffy's voice cut through her spiral. He was standing right in front of her now, though she hadn't seen him move. He reached down and grabbed her wrist, stopping her from hurting herself further. His grip was gentle but unbreakable.
Nami looked up at him, her eyes red and streaming with tears. For a moment, she just stared at him, this boy who had somehow become her captain without her permission, this idiot who smiled at everything and never seemed to understand how cruel the world could be.
Then, in a voice that was barely more than a whisper, she said the words that would change everything:
"Luffy... help me."
Luffy's expression didn't change. He simply reached up, took off his straw hat—his most precious possession—and placed it on Nami's head.
"Of course," he said. Then he turned to face Arlong Park, and his voice became something cold and terrible. "Which room is yours?"
"The one at the top," Nami said, her voice shaking. "With all the maps."
Luffy nodded once. Then he started walking toward the fortress, his crew falling in behind him.
"You humans really are foolish," Arlong said, but there was something wary in his eyes now. "Do you have any idea what you're up against? Fishmen are ten times stronger than humans. You're outmatched in every way."
"Funny," Gil said, his voice carrying across the compound. "I was just thinking the same thing about you."
Then all hell broke loose.
The battle began with Luffy's fist connecting with Arlong's jaw.
The fishman captain went flying backward, crashing through the wall of his own fortress. The sound of the impact echoed across the compound like thunder. For a moment, everyone froze—Arlong's crew, the Straw Hats, even Nami. Then chaos erupted.
"Kill them!" one of Arlong's officers shouted—a fishman with thick lips and a distinctive hairstyle. "They're just humans! Show them the power of the fishman race!"
Dozens of fishmen poured out of the fortress, weapons drawn. They were all massive, all powerful, all confident in their superiority. They had terrorized this village for eight years. They had never lost.
They were about to learn what it meant to face the Straw Hat Pirates.
Zoro moved first, his swords singing as they left their sheaths. Three fishmen charged him, and three fishmen fell, their weapons shattered and their bodies crumpling to the ground. "Weak," Zoro muttered, already moving toward his next opponents.
Sanji's leg snapped out in a devastating kick that sent a fishman flying into the concrete wall hard enough to crack it. "For making Nami-san cry," he said coldly, "I'm going to break every bone in your bodies."
Even Usopp was fighting, his slingshot firing explosive pellets that sent fishmen scrambling for cover. "The great Captain Usopp has arrived!" he shouted, his voice only shaking a little. "Tremble before my might!"
But it was Gil who drew the most attention.
He stood in the center of the compound, surrounded by fishmen, and he was smiling. It wasn't a kind smile. It was the smile of a king looking at insects that had dared to crawl into his throne room.
"Come on, then," he said, his voice carrying that arrogant edge that made it clear he didn't see them as threats. "Let's see if you fish are worth the effort."
Three of Arlong's officers moved to engage him—Kuroobi, a ray fishman and master of Fishman Karate; Chew, the thick-lipped fishman with a powerful water-spitting technique; and a third officer, a hammerhead shark fishman named Hammer.
"You'll regret your arrogance, human," Kuroobi said, dropping into a fighting stance. "Fishman Karate is the supreme martial art. Your human techniques are nothing compared to—"
He didn't get to finish. Gil's hand moved, and suddenly there was a sword there—a simple katana that gleamed in the morning light. It was one of his F-rank weapons, nothing special, but in his hands it might as well have been a legendary blade.
The sword flashed. Kuroobi barely managed to block, his forearm coming up to deflect the strike. The impact sent him skidding backward, his eyes wide with shock.
"Impossible," he muttered. "That strength..."
"My turn," Chew said, and spat a mouthful of water at Gil with enough force to punch through steel.
Gil didn't dodge. He simply raised his free hand, and another weapon appeared—a small buckler shield. The water struck the shield and dispersed harmlessly. Before Chew could react, Gil had closed the distance between them, moving with a speed that shouldn't have been possible for someone his size.
The pommel of his sword struck Chew in the solar plexus. The fishman's eyes bulged, and he collapsed, gasping for air.
"Two down," Gil said, his golden eyes finding Hammer. "You want to try?"
Hammer roared and charged, his massive hammerhead lowered like a battering ram. The ground shook with each step. He was easily twice Gil's size, a mountain of muscle and rage.
Gil waited until the last possible second, then sidestepped. As Hammer thundered past, Gil's sword flashed again—not a killing blow, but a precise strike to the back of the fishman's knee. Hammer's leg buckled, and his momentum sent him crashing face-first into the ground.
"Disappointing," Gil said, and there was genuine disdain in his voice. "You're supposed to be ten times stronger than humans? I've fought children with more skill."
From her position near the gate, Nami watched Gil fight, and something strange was happening to her.
She'd seen plenty of fights before. She'd watched Arlong and his crew brutalize anyone who opposed them. She'd seen violence and cruelty and raw power. But this... this was different.
Gil didn't fight like he was in danger. He fought like he was teaching a lesson. Every movement was precise, controlled, almost lazy in its efficiency. He didn't waste energy or motion. He simply moved, struck, and his opponents fell. And that expression on his face—that arrogant, almost bored confidence—it was like he knew he was better than everyone around him and couldn't be bothered to pretend otherwise.
It was infuriating. It was insufferable.
It was incredibly attractive.
Nami felt her face flush as she watched him disarm another fishman with a casual flick of his wrist. Her breath came a little faster when he turned to face three more opponents, that same confident smirk on his face. There was something about the way he moved, the way he commanded the battlefield, the way he looked at his enemies like they were beneath his notice...
She pressed her thighs together, suddenly very aware of the heat building in her core. This was not the time. They were in the middle of a battle. Her village's freedom was at stake. She should be focused on—
Gil's shirt tore as a fishman's claws raked across his chest. The wound was shallow, barely bleeding, but it exposed the lean muscle beneath. Gil looked down at the tear, then back at the fishman who'd caused it.
"That," he said quietly, "was a mistake."
What followed was brutal. Gil's sword became a blur, and the fishman didn't even have time to scream before he was on the ground, unconscious. Then Gil was moving again, and Nami couldn't look away. The way he fought, the way he dominated the battlefield, the sheer confidence radiating from him—it was doing things to her that she really didn't want to examine too closely.
She bit her lip, trying to focus on anything else. But her eyes kept drifting back to him, to the way his muscles moved beneath his torn shirt, to that arrogant tilt of his head, to the way he looked at his opponents like they were nothing more than obstacles to be removed.
God, what was wrong with her?
While Gil handled Arlong's officers, Luffy had found his target.
Arlong had recovered from the initial punch and was now facing Luffy in what remained of the fortress's main hall. The fishman captain was no longer smiling. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and his eyes held a mixture of rage and something that might have been respect.
"You're strong for a human," Arlong admitted, rolling his shoulders. "But strength alone won't save you. This is my domain. These are my waters. And you're just a rubber boy playing pirate."
"I'm not playing," Luffy said simply. "I'm going to be King of the Pirates. And you hurt my navigator."
"Your navigator?" Arlong laughed, but it was a harsh sound. "Nami belongs to me! I raised her, trained her, gave her purpose! She's the best cartographer in the East Blue because of me!"
"You made her cry," Luffy said, and his voice was colder than Arlong had ever heard a human speak. "That's all I need to know."
They clashed again, and the fortress shook with the impact. Arlong's jaws snapped shut inches from Luffy's head. Luffy's fist stretched back and rocketed forward, catching Arlong in the ribs. They traded blows, each one powerful enough to shatter stone, neither willing to give ground.
"Shark ON Darts!" Arlong roared, spinning like a torpedo and launching himself at Luffy with his saw-nose leading.
Luffy dodged, but barely. The attack carved a trench through the floor where he'd been standing. "That's a weird attack," Luffy observed.
"Weird?" Arlong snarled. "I'll show you weird! Shark ON Tooth!" He pulled out one of his own teeth—they were replaceable for shark fishmen—and hurled it like a dagger.
Luffy deflected it with his rubber arm, then stretched both arms back. "Gomu Gomu no..." His arms stretched further and further, disappearing into the distance. "Bazooka!"
Both fists rocketed forward, slamming into Arlong's chest with devastating force. The fishman captain flew backward, crashing through wall after wall, until finally coming to rest in the room at the top of the fortress.
Nami's room. The room where she'd spent eight years drawing maps for the man who'd enslaved her.
Luffy walked through the holes he'd created, his footsteps echoing in the sudden silence. Arlong was struggling to his feet, blood streaming from his mouth and nose. Around them, maps covered every surface—beautiful, detailed maps that represented years of stolen dreams.
"This room," Luffy said, looking around. "This is where you kept her, isn't it? Where you made her draw maps while her village suffered."
"She was happy here," Arlong insisted, but his voice was weaker now. "She had purpose, talent, a place where she belonged—"
"She was a prisoner," Luffy interrupted. His fist clenched. "And I'm going to destroy it all."
What followed was less a fight and more an execution. Luffy's attacks came faster, harder, each one carrying the weight of eight years of suffering. Arlong tried to fight back, tried to use his superior fishman strength, but it wasn't enough. Nothing was enough against Luffy's rage.
"Gomu Gomu no..." Luffy's foot stretched high into the air, so high it disappeared into the sky above the fortress. "Ono!"
His leg came down like the hammer of god. It struck Arlong with enough force to drive the fishman captain through the floor, through the level below that, through the foundation of the fortress itself, and into the ground beneath. The entire structure shuddered, groaned, and then began to collapse.
"Everyone out!" Zoro shouted, and the Straw Hats retreated as Arlong Park—the symbol of eight years of tyranny—came crashing down.
When the dust settled, Arlong Park was nothing but rubble.
The fishmen who could still move were fleeing, diving into the ocean and swimming away as fast as their fins could carry them. Those who couldn't move lay scattered across the compound, defeated and broken. And in the center of it all, Luffy stood atop the rubble, his straw hat back on his head, his fist still clenched.
"It's over," he said simply.
Nami stood at the edge of the destruction, tears streaming down her face. But these weren't tears of despair. These were tears of relief, of joy, of freedom finally achieved. She looked at the ruins of Arlong Park, at the scattered maps that had been her prison, and she felt something she hadn't felt in eight years.
Hope.
"It's really over," she whispered. Then, louder: "It's over! It's finally over!"
The villagers who had been watching from a distance began to cheer. The sound started small, just a few voices, but it grew and grew until it was a roar of celebration. People were crying, hugging each other, laughing and sobbing at the same time. Children who had never known freedom were dancing in the streets.
Genzo, the village policeman who had been like a father to Nami, approached her slowly. His face was wet with tears, and he was smiling wider than she'd ever seen.
"You're free, Nami," he said, his voice breaking. "You're finally free."
Nami couldn't speak. She just threw herself into his arms and sobbed, eight years of pain and fear and loneliness pouring out of her all at once. Genzo held her, and Nojiko joined them, and for a long moment they just stood there, a family reunited at last.
When Nami finally pulled away, her eyes were red but clear. She looked at Luffy, who was grinning his usual carefree grin, and at the rest of the crew who had risked everything for her.
"Thank you," she said, and the words felt inadequate for what she was feeling. "Thank you all so much."
"You're our navigator," Luffy said, as if that explained everything. And maybe it did.
The celebration lasted three days.
The villagers threw a feast that seemed to involve every scrap of food in Cocoyasi Village and several neighboring towns. There was music and dancing and more alcohol than should have been possible. The Straw Hats were treated like heroes—which, Gil supposed, they were.
Luffy ate enough food for twenty people and still asked for more. Zoro got into a drinking contest with half the village and won. Sanji spent most of his time in the kitchen, cooking for Nami and accepting the praise of every woman in the village. Usopp told increasingly exaggerated stories about the battle, and by the third day he was claiming to have defeated Arlong single-handedly.
Gil mostly watched, content to observe from the sidelines. He drank when offered, ate when hungry, but he was already thinking ahead. The Grand Line was waiting, and the East Blue had been easy. Too easy. If the crew went into the Grand Line at their current level, they'd be slaughtered within a week.
On the evening of the third day, as the celebration was winding down, Gil found Luffy sitting on the edge of the Going Merry, looking out at the ocean.
"We need to talk," Gil said.
Luffy looked up, his expression curious. "About what?"
"About the Grand Line." Gil sat down next to him. "You know it's going to be different from the East Blue, right? Stronger enemies, more dangerous situations. The pirates there aren't like Buggy or Kuro or even Arlong. They're on a completely different level."
"I know," Luffy said simply. "But we'll get stronger too."
"Not fast enough." Gil's voice was blunt. "Right now, you're the only one on this crew who could survive a real fight in the Grand Line. Maybe Zoro, if he's lucky. The rest? They'd be dead in days."
Luffy's expression darkened. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying I can help." Gil leaned back, looking up at the stars. "I can train you. All of you. Make you stronger, faster, better prepared for what's coming. It won't be easy, and it won't be fun, but it might keep you alive."
"Why?" Luffy asked, his eyes sharp. "Why would you do that?"
Gil was quiet for a moment, considering his answer. "Because I've seen what happens when people go into the Grand Line unprepared," he said finally. "And because... I don't want to watch this crew die. You're annoying, reckless, and you make terrible decisions. But you're also genuine in a way most people aren't. That's rare. Worth preserving."
Luffy grinned. "You like us!"
"I tolerate you," Gil corrected, but there was no heat in it. "So what do you say? Want to get stronger?"
Luffy's grin widened. "Yeah! That sounds great!"
"Good. Because we start tomorrow, and I'm not going to go easy on any of you."
The next morning, Gil gathered the crew on the deck of the Going Merry. They all looked slightly hungover from the celebration, except for Luffy, who was his usual energetic self.
"Alright," Gil said, his arms crossed. "Luffy asked me to help train you all before we enter the Grand Line. So here's how this is going to work. We're going to sail to Loguetown—that's our next stop anyway. It'll take a few days to get there, and we'll use that time for basic conditioning and technique work. Once we're in Loguetown, we'll resupply and I'll give you each individual training based on your fighting style."
"Training?" Usopp said weakly. "What kind of training?"
"The kind that will keep you alive," Gil said bluntly. "Right now, most of you are weak. Not weak for the East Blue—you're all above average for this sea. But weak for the Grand Line. If we ran into a real pirate crew from the Grand Line right now, you'd be dead before you knew what hit you."
"Hey!" Usopp protested. "I'm the great Captain Usopp! I have eight thousand followers and—"
"You're a coward with decent aim," Gil interrupted. "Which is fine. Cowardice can keep you alive if you channel it properly. But you need to be faster, more accurate, and you need to learn when to run and when to fight."
Usopp deflated, but he didn't argue further.
"Sanji," Gil continued, turning to the cook. "You're strong, and your kicks are impressive. But you're predictable. You only use your legs, which means anyone who figures that out can counter you easily. We need to work on your speed and your ability to read opponents."
Sanji lit a cigarette, his expression thoughtful. "I can work with that."
"Zoro." Gil's eyes found the swordsman. "You're the strongest fighter on this crew after Luffy. But you're sloppy. You rely too much on raw power and not enough on technique. And your sense of direction is so bad it's actually impressive. We need to fix at least one of those things."
"My sense of direction is fine," Zoro muttered, but everyone else on the crew laughed.
"Nami." Gil's gaze softened slightly when he looked at her. "You're not a front-line fighter, and that's okay. But you need to be able to defend yourself. We'll work on evasion, basic self-defense, and making better use of that staff of yours."
Nami nodded, her expression serious. She'd been watching Gil closely since the battle, and there was something in her eyes that Gil couldn't quite read. Something warm and complicated.
"And Luffy." Gil turned to the captain last. "You're strong, but you're reckless. You charge into every fight without thinking, and one day that's going to get you killed. We need to work on your observation skills and your ability to assess threats. Also, your Devil Fruit has way more potential than you're currently using. We'll explore that."
Luffy was practically vibrating with excitement. "This is going to be great! When do we start?"
"Right now," Gil said. "Everyone, ten laps around the deck. Let's see what kind of shape you're in."
The groans that followed were music to his ears.
As the Going Merry set sail from Cocoyasi Village, Nami stood at the helm, her hands on the wheel, and for the first time in eight years, she felt truly free. The wind was in her hair, the sun was on her face, and ahead of her lay the Grand Line—the most dangerous sea in the world.
She should have been terrified. Instead, she was excited.
She glanced over at Gil, who was putting Usopp through some kind of agility drill that had the sniper yelping and dodging. There was that confidence again, that absolute certainty in his own abilities. It should have been annoying. It was annoying.
But it was also... something else.
Nami shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts. She had more important things to focus on than whatever weird attraction she was developing to the crew's arrogant weapons master. They were heading to Loguetown, then to the Grand Line. She needed to be sharp, focused, ready for anything.
Still, as she watched Gil move across the deck with that lazy, confident grace, she couldn't help but think that the journey ahead was going to be very interesting indeed.
Behind them, Cocoyasi Village grew smaller and smaller, until it was just a speck on the horizon. Ahead of them lay adventure, danger, and the promise of dreams fulfilled.
The Straw Hat Pirates were heading to the Grand Line.
And they were going to be ready.