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Something Worth Dying For	By : slj812000 Category: +M to R > One Piece Views: 10730 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 2
- 3
- 4
Chapter Three: Nami
“Oi! Nami!”
Nami didn’t pause as she walked into the school. She was still in a foul mood from the night before. It would be cruel to take it out on someone else; even that idiot boy Luffy. She went straight to her cubby and changed out her shoes and headed toward class without acknowledging him.
She was almost bowled over by a body.
“Morning!”
Nami glared at Luffy, who had apparently run full force into her. For good measure, she shoved him away a little bit. He just grinned at her, scratching the back of his head.
“Aren’t you just all sunshine and smiles this morning?”
On her other side, Zoro appeared. His voice showed no enthusiasm whatsoever. Rather, he looked like he would prefer having a nap than talk to her, let alone go to class. Nami raised her eyebrow.
“Right back at you,” she muttered, resuming heading to class. Zoro snorted, but fell in step with her. Luffy was with them, but to say he was in step with them as inaccurate. He bound back and forth and couldn’t remain still enough to walk in a straight line to save his life.
“I hear you’re pretty chummy with the cops,” Zoro commented as they took their seats in homeroom. Nami spared him an irritated look.
“I see them a lot,” she replied. It was the truth, sadly.
“That could be a good or bad thing,” Zoro returned. “But I’m betting on bad. Just how much do you fight?”
“More than you,” she predicted. Luffy laughed.
“Nobody fights more than Zoro,” he denied. “He even joined the kendo club so he could fight more.”
Nami had wondered how Zoro had managed to beat Cabaji on his own. It seemed he had a little skill to begin with. Not to mention, his appreciation of Cabaji’s sword. But to be so fond of fighting as to look for ways to fight more?
“Moron,” Nami muttered. “I don’t fight because I want to.”
“Then why do you fight?” Zoro asked. Luffy looked curious too, as if the desire to fight should have been her whole reason to fight.
“Do you expect me to just sit there and get the shit beat out of me?” she returned. “I fight because I have to. And I’m good at it because I fight a lot.”
The final bell rang as their teacher entered the room. Statuesque as ever, Miss Nico began with roll call. The usual school routine didn’t let them talk to one another again until lunch. As usual, Nami stayed in her seat and took out her bento while Luffy and Zoro went off to buy lunch. She wasn’t alone in the room, but it was pretty deserted. Her only companions were a boy with wild black hair and a long nose, and a beautiful young blonde girl.
The two sat next to each other; obviously friends. Nami glanced out the window to watch the meandering students and ate while the other two conversed. Well, the boy mostly did the talking while the blonde laughed.
“It was epic, I tell you!” the boy cried. “There I was, surrounded by seventeen men who all wanted to crack my face in. But did I panic? No! I beat every single one of their faces into the ground!”
Nami’s ears perked up.
“One of them was toting a sword, and another had a pair of guns. Yet they were no match for me! In the blink of an eye, I had them all writhing in pain on the ground. And after I’d beaten them senseless, I cleaned out their wallets!”
The blonde girl laughed heartily at the story as Nami stood from her seat, abandoning her lunch and walked over to the two. She smiled down at them, her face a mask of pleasantries. The boy looked up and his eyes widened. Apparently, her little spy hadn’t realized he was in the same class as her. He gulped.
“Oh, please, don’t stop on my account,” Nami urged him. “I was very interested in your story. Please go on.”
The blonde, Kaya if Nami remembered right, was oblivious to any tension. She eagerly looked back to the black-haired boy who had an obscenely long nose, waiting for him to continue as well.
“Uh, that was it,” the boy stuttered. Nami was going through the names of her classmates in her head and trying to put a name to his face. “I went home.”
Nami cocked her head to the side. “Didn’t the cops come? Surely with a fight that dangerous going on, someone must have called them.”
He gulped again. Nami knew right then that this boy was the one who’d called the police.
“They probably did,” the boy, Ussop, she thought, replied. “I was gone by then.”
The hell he was. He must have seen the ‘transaction’ that had occurred between herself and Nezumi. She was almost sure of it.
“Still, what a dangerous situation,” Nami went on. “You against seventeen men, all by yourself. You must be very strong.”
“Y-yeah,” he stuttered again.
“Oh, Ussop,” Kaya laughed. “You tell the best stories!”
Ussop’s attention was diverted back to Kaya, and he smiled stupidly at her. Nami understood that the boy had a ridiculous and obvious crush on the girl. She could be used against him, Nami knew.
“You should tell me more about this fight,” Nami told him. “Maybe after school. I’d love to hear all the details.”
Ussop was smart enough to know he was in deep trouble. “Uh, sure.”
The first bell rang then and Nami left the two to return to her seat. She had to wolf down the rest of her lunch before the others got back from lunch. She had barely finished when Luffy and Zoro plopped down in their seats adjacent from hers.
“I’m so full!” Luffy announced, patting his distended belly. Just how much did that glutton eat?
“You should be,” Zoro chuckled. “You cleaned out the food cart. The upperclassmen are going to be pissed when they find out there’s no food left.”
Luffy laughed.
The final bell rang and classes began again. Nami felt like they were dragging by. She needed to talk to Ussop and the afternoon wouldn’t pass fast enough for her. When the bell that released them finally rang, she was in a rush to shove her books back into her bag.
Eyeing her prey, Nami watched as he discreetly left the room with Kaya. Oh, he didn’t think it’d be that easy to sneak away from her, did he? She was only a few steps behind him, but left the distance between them until he parted with the blonde.
She paused in the middle of the school’s grounds as she watched the blonde girl get into the limo and wave to Ussop. Behind her, a butler stood waiting patiently. A tall, skinny man with black hair and glasses. Oh, what were the chances? One in a thousand? One in ten thousand?
“Oi! Nami, wait up!”
Like she was going anywhere. She was frozen where she stood, watching the limo drive away. Ussop turned around, looking properly fearful and walked back to her as Luffy and Zoro caught up with her. Nami glanced in annoyance at the unwanted duo.
“Go away. He and I need to talk,” Nami ordered, gesturing to Ussop with her chin. Luffy looked put out, while Zoro just rolled his eyes and shrugged, walking away. Reluctantly, Luffy followed. They didn’t go far, but at least they were out of hearing distance.
“Would you rather have groveling for forgiveness or would you prefer to just mangle my face?” Ussop asked her. Nami raised an eyebrow at him. He was so clueless. So utterly clueless.
She shouldn’t do this. She should just pass on her warning and go about her damn business. She should let the boy named Ussop remain oblivious and not worry about the fate of the blonde haired girl called Kaya. As a Messenger for Fishman Village, that’s what she should do.
“Walk with me,” she suggested, gesturing for them to leave school grounds. She was so going to regret this.
“Mangle the face it is,” Ussop muttered, predicting his fate and falling in step with her.
“Your friend Kaya,” Nami began. “What’s her situation?”
Ussop gave her a puzzled look. “Why do you want to know?”
She shrugged. “Curious.”
“Well,” Ussop began, “her parents passed away about a year ago. They were unfortunate enough to be caught in a hostage situation and didn’t make it out. So she’s on her own, with her family’s staff has been taking care of her in lieu of a guardian.”
Nami remembered that story. Some random felon had been cornered in some fancy restaurant and had taken the patrons and staff hostage. It turned out that the felon was tweaking out on some very powerful drugs and began shooting up the place before police even had a chance to begin negotiations. Thirteen of the twenty-two hostages had died as a result, apparently Kaya’s parents among them.
“She’s rich?” Nami guessed. Ussop shrugged.
“I guess,” he offered. “I’ve never asked how much money her family had. She’s always been my friend and it’s never mattered.”
It was the ideal situation for someone to take advantage. All a person had to do would be to be in the right position and they’d be in the money. Say, be a butler for a rich girl who’d lost her parents…what if that rich girl suddenly died too? It wouldn’t be all that surprising for the estate to be divided up among some of the favored staff, if no relatives came forth to claim it.
“She got any close relatives?” Nami asked, already knowing the answer. Ussop sighed and shook his head.
“She’s on her own,” he replied. “Got no one but a few of the family’s old caretakers watching over her. She gets pretty lonely, all by herself. I go over whenever I can and keep her company, because I think she gets pretty sad when she’s by herself.”
“You like that girl,” Nami stated the obvious.
Ussop tripped and sputtered. “W-What?”
Nami smiled. It was kind of adorable. A little.
“I do not like her,” Ussop denied vehemently. He took on a disgruntled look and crossed his arms. It was rather amusing. Ussop sighed heavily and looked at the sky in a pathetic way. “I don’t like her. I’m absolutely head over heels in love with her.”
Well, that was probably the truest thing he’d said all day, Nami believed. He was a simple person who didn’t really seem to know about the evils that lurked in the world aside from what he saw on the evening news. She was going to take away that simplicity if she warned him. But then again, she didn’t want to see another life destroyed because of the endless organized crime that ran rampant in East Blue.
“I just thought I’d warn you,” she said, knowing she was sticking her nose in where it didn’t belong. “That girl is in danger.”
He became furious in an instant. “No! No way! Don’t take your anger out on her! It was my fault! I spied on you, not her!”
He’d misunderstood her, thinking that Nami was the threat to Kaya.
“Oh, I don’t intend to hurt her,” she waved him off. “Or you, for that matter, as long as you don’t tell your ‘story’ again. But like I said, I’m warning you. She’s in danger. And not from me. From her own staff.”
Ussop gave her a distrusting look.
“Go home and Google the Black Cat gang,” Nami recommended. “You’ll see what I mean if you search hard enough.”
That being said, Nami parted ways with the long-nosed boy. She had to drop off a report on her current ‘project’ as well as her ‘earnings’ from the day before at the base before anyone came looking for her. As she turned the corner, she looked back briefly to see Zoro and Luffy, who had apparently been tailing her, talking to Ussop.
Well, that was fine. It made it easier for her to disappear. She took off at a fast pace down the street and turned the next corner, sprinting that as well. She ran at least seven blocks before she trusted herself to have lost them.
She had nearly an hour’s walk to go. Instead of heading to the seedier parts of town, like one would expect, Nami headed to the high rise business district. No one looked there very closely for any sort of criminal activity. She made it to the right building and entered, giving one last look behind her as she did. She didn’t see anyone she recognized.
The building was seventeen stories, and her employer occupied the top two floors. There was a reception desk that was apparently manned twenty-four hours a day by someone on the Fishman’s payroll, but Nami passed right by it, along with the main elevator most guests used. She headed for an elevator at the back of the building that, despite any outward appearances, was heavily monitored. She pushed the call button and waited for the elevator to descend to her.
The doors opened as a chime dinged its arrival. Nami entered the car and pressed the sixteenth floor button along with a nine digit code into a numeric panel. Instantly, she began ascending. The ride was not long enough for her tastes.
“Well, well, well!” cried a deep, gargled voice as soon as the doors opened. “Look what the Cat-Thief dragged in!”
With one final sigh, Nami exited the elevator into the huge loft-like room. The entire floor was open and spacious, with her employer using the seventeenth floor for the Mermaid business. The room was decorated in fine leathers with a simple color scheme; mostly black, red, and white.
“I’ve come to drop of my collections,” Nami announced, eyeing the room briefly before walking straight through it to the seat of her employer. “And to report that a message was successfully delivered.”
Her employer laughed. “You’ve always been a good investment, my dear.”
Nami’s jaw tightened at the term of endearment. She finally made it to the large desk with an equally large chair behind it. She looked at her employer in the eye and bit back the urge to curl her lip. She put the fifty thousand berries on the desk and slid it towards him.
Her employer raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the small pile of money. “Though it seems today you are not quite as profitable as I’d like, today.”
Nami shrugged. “I can go find some more shitheads to beat, if you like.”
Her employer picked up the money and thumbed through it quickly. “I assume Nezumi got his take?”
Nami sighed in disgust. “Yes, that rat bastard got his money. So don’t let him tell you otherwise.”
“So little money from what I heard was a rather impressive gathering.”
It was a statement, but also a demand for explanation.
“Buggy was a drunken, inept leader who was obviously not worth the time I spent on him,” Nami replied truthfully. “I assume his move onto your turf had to do with some half-baked concept that he could make more money. But it looks like to me all he was capable of doing was bullying little middle schoolers out of their lunch money.”
He laughed another gargled laugh. “So it seems.”
“Like I said,” Nami continued, “I can hunt up some more fucktards to beat if you like. I’ve seen some of the Black Cat gang around my school.”
It wasn’t a total lie. Technically, the Black Cat gang had been on school grounds. That butler of Kaya’s was definitely part of the Black Cat gang, and had stepped onto Fishman Village. They just hadn’t been there to claim territory. Yet.
Her employer considered it. “Are you sure you could handle them? I hear from my sources that you needed the aid of two others in your fight against the Clown gang.”
Fuck.
“Just two assholes from my school that were under the impression that I needed help,” Nami dismissed, trying to gloss over the matter. “They were mostly in my way.”
“Shall I have them taken care of?”
Nami shrugged, trying to seem indifferent to the matter of the two boys’ welfare. “If you want. Though one of them is apparently Garp’s grandson.”
Her employer straightened in his seat. “Is he now?”
Nami didn’t have a response since the question had been rhetorical. She just waited for him to make a decision on the two boys’ lives.
“I suppose if he keeps his nose out of our business, it will be fine,” he finally consented. “But I don’t want to hear about him meddling in our affairs again. It won’t matter whose grandson he is.”
Nami nodded in understanding. She stepped forward and handed her boss a folded piece of paper, knowing that she was pretty much done with her report of the Buggy situation and therefore onto the Numbers project. Her boss gave her a quizzical look, probably because she had taken the time to write out her findings rather than state them in front of everyone. All he had to do was look at the report to see why.
Nami was very diligent at any assignment, be it given in class or by her boss. She’d written it up during computer class instead of paying attention to the teacher. Along with covering what she had discovered regarding the identities of the Baroque Works operatives, Nami had provided pictures. She had ‘borrowed’ Nojiko’s cell phone this morning and taken pictures of the Officers she knew the names of, as well as those she suspected as operatives. Four known associates and three suspected members. But the cream of the crop was the last lines in the report.
Mr. 0 knew of the exact details of my assignment before I even entered the school. I was confronted about it directly. You have a traitor in your midst.
Her employer’s eyes narrowed to slits as he read that. He spared her a glance, asking for confirmation that what was written was true. Nami nodded slowly. With a sigh of disgust, her boss promptly shredded the report. He waved his hand dismissively at her.
“Keep me informed on the Black Cat situation,” he instructed. She gave him a nod and turned to leave.
“Yes, boss.”
.o0o.
Nami hated taking the train to school. It was too crowded. She much preferred walking, but she didn’t doubt that her mother would follow her to school just to make sure she was using the train pass, so she didn’t. It also didn’t help her case that she had also boycotted dinner last night in protest of the newly acquired train pass.
Disembarking from the train, Nami followed some of the crowd as they exited the train. She still had a two block walk to school and she saw some uniforms she recognized. Not that she’d walk with them. Nami preferred to be alone. It was easier that way.
“Oi! Nami!”
Damn it. Was he going to greet her that way every morning? Nami glared over her shoulder at Luffy as he bounded toward her. At least he didn’t run into her today.
“Where did you go yesterday?” he asked as he caught up. “Zoro and I looked for you everywhere. And why were you talking to Ussop?”
“None of your business,” she muttered, stalking towards school. Luffy seemed oblivious to her negative mood.
“He’s pretty funny. He tells some good stories, too,” Luffy praised. “He told me and Zoro this one about when he was on his way home from school and this gang approached him and told him that he was on their turf and needed to pay this trespassing fee and he—”
“Where’s Zoro?” Nami interrupted. She didn’t really care about the green-haired boy’s whereabouts, but she didn’t need Luffy talking about trespassing fees in front of the whole school. It would just make things harder for her.
“Eh? Oh he’s already at school. Kendo club starts early,” Luffy explained, easily distracted. “They get there even before the sun comes up.”
While listening as Luffy prattled on about other random things like his grandfather or his brother, Nami looked around for Ussop. She hoped he had done as she had instructed and did some internet research the night before. She was distracted by the sharp sound of a slap.
Turning towards the sound, Nami saw it was in fact Ussop. He was standing together with Kaya in a corner of the school yard, secluded from others. As Ussop had a hand on his cheek, Nami guessed he was the recipient, and by the look on Kaya’s face, she was the deliverer.
“How could you say such a thing!” Kaya cried. “How could you even—you’re wrong! They would never do that! You’re lying!”
“I swear on my life that this time I’m not lying,” Ussop replied, but it was in vain. Kaya was rushing away from him towards the school. Voices kicked up and started tittering to each other about the altercation. Nami walked over to Ussop, who was staring after Kaya with a stressed look on his face.
“I take it the big reveal didn’t go well,” she guessed. Ussop looked at her and his face became furious.
“You! You have to tell her! She won’t believe me,” Ussop demanded, oblivious to the scene he was causing. Nami raised an eyebrow at him.
“What makes you think she’ll believe me?” Nami retorted, crossing her arms. “I’ve gone to this school for a grand total of four days. She and I don’t know each other beyond first names.”
“Girls believe other girls,” Ussop explained as if it were a scientifically proven truth. Nami rolled her eyes.
“It’s not that simple, moron,” Nami hissed. “I’m a stranger; you’re her friend. If she was going to believe someone, it was probably going to be you.”
Ussop took a moment to digest her words. He gave her a sour look. “So you figured she wouldn’t believe me. Thanks for the heads up.”
“It was a possibility,” Nami shrugged. “Now the question is, what are you going to do about it?”
Ussop looked lost. “Me?”
“Yes, you,” Nami snapped. “Who else is going to protect that girl?”
Ussop looked panicked. “I can’t go against them by myself.”
“Well, your other choice is to wait until something happens to that girl,” Nami told him. “And it’s not if. It’s when.”
Ussop gave her a sharp look. “How do you know?”
Nami shrugged. “Call it a hunch. Do you think that man has just given up and turned over a new leaf?”
Ussop remained silent.
“You think he’s just gonna let that girl’s money be?” she goaded further. “You think her parents died on accident?”
Ussop became more and more upset with each question. Finally he could take it no more.
“I get it!” he snapped. He turned to walk away. “I guess I’ll try talking to her again.”
Nami let him go ahead of her a few paces before following behind. After all, they were going to the same place. It was when she heard shuffling behind her that Nami realized that Luffy was still following her. Damn it, did that idiot really just hear the whole conversation?
Luffy grinned at her when she looked over her shoulder at him. Maybe he hadn’t heard?
The sound of another slap was their greeting into the classroom. This time Ussop held the other cheek and looked utterly dismayed at Kaya, who stood fuming before him with tears streaming down her cheeks. She bolted out of the classroom and headed down the hall, wiping furiously at her face.
Ussop sighed in defeat and slumped down into his chair. Nami pitied the boy; he was going to be in for a lot of slaps in the near future. She took her own seat and noticed Zoro already sitting, giving her the stink eye.
“What’d you do to that poor kid?” he muttered, jutting his chin at Ussop. Nami just shook her head as she sat down.
Class was boring. Horrifically boring. Nami was pretty good at school. She didn’t need to study for tests and only did the homework because it was easy. But easy was also boring. So Nami began to let her mind wander. She daydreamed in and out of the first half of classes until lunch. When she was alone again in the classroom, she sighed and got up from her seat and went to the computer labs. Generally, they were not open during lunch, but Nami had too long been able to break into locked doors for that to stop her. By the end of lunch, she had accomplished her goal.
The second half of classes was slightly more entertaining than the morning. Nami watched as Kaya reentered the classroom. She’d been gone all morning, and Nami wondered if she’d gone home, but had bartered that she hadn’t. It was a bet that Nami won, since Kaya walked to her desk while studiously ignoring Ussop. Nami watched as Kaya pulled her books out of her bag and pulled out a pen and paper, preparing to take notes in their afternoon class.
Miss Nico came in and brought the room to order. She lowered the projection screen and booted up her computer. Nami watched with a smirk on her face as the computer’s home screen appeared on the projection screen. When Miss Nico opened the lesson plan, the room gasped.
On the screen were a brief article and a black and white mug shot from several years ago of the leader of the Black Cat gang: Kuro Cat. The loudest gasp was obviously from Kaya, who could not look away from the knowledge that had been pushed onto her. The same face as the butler that had picked her up from school yesterday, as well as probably dropped her off this morning, stared disinterestedly back at her from the mug shot. Ussop turned in his seat and looked back at Nami in wonder.
She shrugged at him.
“Oh my,” Miss Nico said. “Forgive me, class. It seems our lesson plan has been hacked.”
While students murmured in wonder, the image disappeared. Miss Nico was very good at decrypting the hacking; Nami had hoped the image would remain up long enough for Kaya to read the entire article. No matter. The girl had seen it now; there was no turning back.
That was the excitement of the afternoon. The rest of it was boring again. Nami sporadically took notes as to not raise Miss Nico’s suspicions. Finally, when the afternoon was over, and Nami watched as Kaya rushed from her seat with her head down. Ussop, surprisingly, did not try to follow her. Instead, he waited for Nami to make it to the door of the classroom.
“How did you…” Ussop trailed off, falling in step with her.
“We should walk home together,” Nami suggested. “Or rather, to your house.”
Ussop cocked his head to the side. “My house?”
“Do you have food?” Luffy asked eagerly. Nami almost growled at the fact that he and Zoro were following her again.
“Eh?” was Ussop’s response. Still, they walked slowly towards Ussop’s house, chatting animatedly. Nami kept careful watch out as they walked. Only once did she spot someone following them. From the make and model of the car, Nami doubted it was anyone involved with her employer.
Ussop’s mother was ecstatic to welcome them into her home. She made an overabundance of snacks for them, though Luffy devoured most of them at an alarming pace. Soon, the four of them were sitting in Ussop’s room when a lull fell upon the conversation.
“So what was with the theatrics today?” Zoro piped up, looking at her. Nami was surprised that he had deduced that she was behind it. Luffy and Ussop’s attention turned to her as well.
“Just a little extra credit,” Nami shrugged. Ussop was not satisfied with that answer.
“Why did you help me?” he asked. Nami sighed.
“Maybe I did it for me,” Nami posed. “Maybe I want a little reward for turning her onto those crooks.”
Zoro sighed in exasperation. “Sounds about right.”
Luffy chuckled but Ussop still didn’t look convinced.
“Then why did you come here?”
Nami closed her eyes and turned towards the window. When she opened her eyes, she saw the same car from earlier strolling by at a slow pace.
“Because you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” Nami admitted. “And that’s partially my fault.”
“Partially?” Zoro muttered. She ignored him.
“The Black Cat gang aren’t small time hoodlums like the assholes from the other day,” Nami told them. “They are the real deal. I wasn’t kidding. I don’t think that girl’s parents died on accident. I think this was long planned out. And you’re going to deal with the repercussions of bringing that to light.”
“Re-repercussions?” Ussop repeated.
“Don’t go anywhere by yourself,” Nami listed off. “Take alternate routes to school. Don’t talk about the Black Cat gang in front of other people.”
“Why not?” he asked.
“Because unless you can fight off seventeen people like you told Kaya,” Nami replied, “you’re going to get the hell beat out of you.”
That said, she stood from her seat and moved towards the door.
“I have to get home,” she told them. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”
Nami thanked Ussop’s mother and headed out of the house and down the street towards the train station. As she walked, the same car as before rolled past her again. Nami rolled her eyes as she heard it come to a stop. Soon she heard car doors and footsteps behind her.
“Hey there little missy.”
Nami turned and looked expectantly at the three men who had triangulated on her.
“Well, aren’t you a looker.”
“Can I help you gentlemen?” she asked, in her best fake-polite tone.
“Heh, you betcha. You look good enough to eat.”
Nami smiled banally at them.
“That boy you were hanging out with before,” said one. “You good friends with that boy?”
“Not really,” Nami answered truthfully.
“Well then it’s your unlucky day,” said a second.
“Hardly,” Nami spat.
“You don’t get it, honey,” chuckled a third. “You’re going to be a message for that boy.”
“I’ve got a message for you, instead,” Nami told them. She attacked without a moment’s hesitation. They were surprised, which gave her an advantage. Not that she needed one with these halfwits. Soon they were on the ground holding various body parts.
“You’re in the Fishman’s Village,” she spat at them. “Do good to remember that in the future, lest you start a turf war.”
She was pretty damn sure that her message was understood.
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Something Worth Dying For