Chapter Text
As Nami slowly walked away from the Sunny, watching the rest of her crew do the same and all going in different directions, a wide smile grew on her face. Finally, she was alone, with no responsibilities to worry about. She finally had some time truly to herself. No Luffy and Ussop goofy antics getting in her face, no Sanji and Brook ‘gentleman pervert’ shenanigans. No innocent Chopper to try and manage or Franky budgeting to deal with, no Zoro nonsense and even no clingy Robin trying to be ‘girls’ with her.
Best of all, no life-threatening circ*mstance or overly strange and dangerous island to have to manage. Robin and Sanji had even taken it upon themselves to do all the necessary shopping for the rest of the crew. For perhaps the first time since she’d met Luffy, she finally had the chance to be 100% herself, safe and on her own. She didn’t even have to worry about returning things without the owner noticing if she stole something (she was well aware she had a problem).
Don’t get her wrong, Nami loved her crew, but with a captain as chaotic as Luffy, who was a master at surrounding himself with people just as chaotic, it was stressful. Someone had to be the voice of reason on the crew, and because the other two who could be that were usually more than happy to encourage Luffy’s chaos, the role basically always fell to her. Now though, now she was free to do as she pleased, and she fully planned to take advantage of that.
“LAND HO!” Totts called out from the crow’s nest.
Hearing these exciting words, Bonney quickly jumped out of her bed and out of her room, ageing herself up to her usual 22 year old form, and ran up to the front of the ship. With an excited smile, Bonney looked forwards in awe at the tall trees that made up Sabody archipelago.
“We’re here! Sabody Archapeligo! I’ve read a lot about this place in Daddy’s books.” Bonney said happily as the crew pulled into the port.
“It’s a pretty amazing place.” Gyogyo said as he came up behind her. “All sorts of amusem*nt park stuff, fancy stores, and even just the tree grove itself is a fascinating place without all that. It will sure to be a fun place to visit. I’ve heard it’s dangerous though, what with so many pirate crews visiting on their way down the Grand Line. There’s also the fact that the Celestial Dragons apparently like to visit this place.”
“I’m sure we’ll be fine Gyogyo, don’t worry too much.” Bonney said with a wave as she turned to watch the crew scurry about docking the ship. “We’re pretty strong, so I’m sure the other pirates will be scared of us.”
Gyogyo clearly wasn’t convinced, but let Bonney believe her words as he settled himself beside her and watched everyone as well. It only took the crew a few minutes to get the ship docked and organized, and before long the whole crew was gathered on the main deck and looking to Bonney for instructions.
“What’s the plan Captain Bonney?” Potato asked.
Bonney gave a quick glance towards Sabody, her smile wavering for just a moment before she turned and addressed her crew.
“Well, we haven’t heard any rumours that Kuma is on this island, so I don’t think we’ll do our usual plan of hunting him down. We still have to spend a few days on the island while we figure out where to go next though. That said, this place is supposed to have all sorts of fun things to do, so why don’t we take advantage of that and see just what this island has to offer. In other words, we’re going to go have some fun!” Bonney said with a cheer, prompting the crew to cheer with her before Bonney pointed at three of the few members.
“Jinnin, Shoga, Ginger, you three are in charge of looking around the island to make sure we don’t run into any of those Celestial Assholes. Everyone else, come with me!”
Without waiting for a response, Bonney proceeded to jump off the ship, followed by a small group of the crew. The three that Bonney pointed to grabbed some denden mushi and headed off to do their task, and the rest of the crew turned to Gyogyo.
“Well Gyogyo, what are we doing?” Potato asked again, and Gyogyo let out a sigh.
“We do whatever she wants. Bonney-chan’s been pretty depressed at how we haven’t been able to find any new leads on where her dad is lately, so having fun here at Sabody will do her a lot of good. We’ve got a lot of money and treasure saved up, and I’m sure it will be enough, but just in case it isn’t then I’m going to have to ask everyone to be willing to give up their savings for Bonney’s sake.”
There was a bit of grumbling amongst the crew, but thankfully no one actually denied Gyogyo’s request. Gyogyo then went about quickly assigning the necessary jobs to people, making sure everything they could do was taken care of before Bonney got back. He then gathered up some of their treasure, and led the rest of the crewmembers that didn’t have a specific job to follow Bonney.
“OHHH, the clothes in this shop look so pretty!”
“They are, I’m sure you’d look beautiful in one of those dresses Bonney-chan.”
Nami was sitting at a nice quiet café she’d found in one of the richer areas, enjoying a simple pastry and espresso (that was nowhere near as good as what Sanji could do with his eyes closed disappointingly) when she spied a fairly large group checking out the clothing shop across from the café. The group consisted of a large group of somewhat shabbily dressed men, all surrounding a pink haired girl that appeared to be in her mid-20s, and dressed in some skimpy suspenders and top.
“Ah, I see you’ve taken a liking to the dresses we have on display.” The shop’s salesman said as he came out of the store. “I must say, you have excellent taste, that blue dress would look lovely on you, but I believe I have some more clothes inside that would suit you even better.”
“Really, let me see!” Bonney said excitedly as she followed the salesman inside, followed by about 4 of the other men, the rest of them wisely staying outside as to not overcrowd the store.
The store had fairly large windows, allowing Nami to easily see as the salesman proceeded to show off a bunch of his clothes to Bonney, easily charming her and drawing her into his pace. He seemingly tried to talk the men into trying on some clothes, but they made it clear that they were only interested in getting clothes for Bonney. Still, seeing this gave Nami an idea.
While she may have learned to be a thief out of necessity, she most certainly enjoyed the thrill of it, and she hadn’t had a chance to really use those skills since she first met Luffy. This girl however (who she recognized as Jewellery Bonney from the papers) was clearly exactly the kind of person she’d loved to scam back in the day. So, feeling a bit nostalgic, she decided to walk over to the group and give those skills a quick workout.
“Oh, you look absolutely fabulous darling, truly a beautiful beach princess that would make even mermaids jealous.” The salesman said as Boney came out of the change-room dressed in a small pink bikini, and Bonney lit up at the compliment.
“You think so?” She said. “I’ve never seen a mermaid before, but I’ve heard they’re really beautiful.”
“Absolutely, darling.”
“I don’t know Bonney-chan, that looks a bit too small on you.” One of the men said uncomfortably, and it was at this point that Nami stepped in.
“It’s absolutely not. In fact, it really compliments your figure, not to mention that shade of pink matches perfectly with your hair and skin tone.” Nami said, easily sliding between the men and right up to Bonney.
“Yeah, yeah it really does.” Bonney said as she looked at herself in the mirror, only to snap back around and look at Nami. “Wait. Who’re you?”
“I’m Nami.” Nami said with a charming smile. “I was just coming over to do some clothes shopping of my own when I heard this guy try to say this bikini didn’t suit you. It would be an insult to your beauty and crime against fashion itself to call that anything less than amazing really.”
“Oh, really?” Bonney asked happily.
“Really. Though, it is missing something.” Nami replied as she turned to the accessories beside the mirror, shooting the salesman a certain look as she did. The salesman’s eyes widened for a split second before his smile grew even more, catching the message. Nami and the salesman were now a team, and their goal was to get as much money out of Bonney and her crew as they could.
“Here you are.” Nami finally said as she handed Bonney a pair of sharp sunglasses and a translucent green sarong. “These would fit that bikini perfectly.”
“Oh cool, thanks.” Bonney said as she grabbed the two and quickly put the sunglasses on. She then stared at the sarong for a moment before turning to Nami with a blush.
“Um, how do I put this on?”
Nami had to fight to hold back a chuckle and an evil smirk as she guided Bonney back into the change room. This girl was going to be a very fun and VERY easy mark.
The two girls proceeded to have a small fashion show within the store, trying on all sorts of clothes. Everything from dresses to swimsuits, a huge number of tops and pants, and they even tried out some new underwear that they only showed each other in the change-room (Bonney really didn’t seem interested in bras, but Nami managed to convince her to grab a few anyways). At first the men from Bonney’s crew tried to push back against some of the stuff, but a surprisingly small application of Nami’s charms was enough to put a stop to most of that. She even managed to convince the men to get at least one set of fancy clothes each.
“If your captain is going to dress nice, then you shouldn’t undercut her by staying dressed in those shabby clothes.” Nami said.
“Yeah guys, you’ll make me look bad if you stay dressed like that!” Bonney followed up, forcing them to cave.
Throughout it all, Nami tried to get a read on the crew, but really struggled to. Bonney in a way reminded her of Luffy. The main differences between them were the fact that Bonney was a girl who liked being girly, was less mature if she was being honest, and had a much shorter temper. Other than that, while she had some small odd quirks that Nami didn’t understand, Bonney mostly wore her heart on her sleeve so it wasn’t that hard for Nami to understand her. Her crew on the other hand was a bit harder.
It was clear that they adored their captain, but they weren’t the brutish type like she would have expected, and they definitely didn’t balance her out like the Strawhats did Luffy. The apparent Vice Captian, Gyogyo, was in particular was a conundrum. He was the most vocal about Bonney’s clothes, but not really in a way Nami could understand. He didn’t like the long dresses much, or stuff that was big and covered her properly, but he was even more against the truly skimpy stuff like bikinis or tube tops and miniskirts. He wanted her to wear stuff that was a bit revealing, but not too much, and he didn’t seem to have an actual style he was pushing Bonny towards. He would look at Nami with lusty eyes whenever she wore something revealing, but never did so with Bonney. It was almost like he was Bonney’s dad or brother or something, but from the way they interacted he clearly wasn’t.
Regardless, over the course of an hour Nami and the salesman managed to get Bonney a large collection of outfits, and get Nami herself quite a few as well.
“Well, I think we have more than enough clothes for now, wouldn’t you say Bonney?” Nami said, now wearing a stunning red dress.
“Yeah big sis.” Bonney said happily as she wore her new blue dress, having started calling Nami big sis sometime during their spree. “Gyogyo, go pay the guy.”
“Of course Bonney-chan.” Gyogyo said, pulling out the crew’s money, cringing as he pulled out more than he’s have liked.
“Ah, right, paying, I almost forgot about that. I guess I’d better pay for mine too.” Nami said as she pulled up to the counter after Gyogyo left and pulled out her wallet. “I got a bit carried away though, so I hope I have enough.”
As she said this, she gave the salesman a look, and the salesman subtly nodded. He then looked over the money Nami had presented him before giving her a sad look.
“Unfortunately my dear, I’m afraid it’s not. This will get you some pieces, but you won’t be able to buy everything you chose.”
“What? Big sis doesn’t have enough?” Bonney asked, sounding somewhat.
“I see. I should have expected that. How many pieces do I have to put back?” Nami asked, giving the man a look that said ‘push more’.
“Well…” The salesman said thoughtfully. “While for the most part you have enough to pay for most of what you wanted, you also tried on everything. At our store we pride ourselves in making sure every piece of clothing is as perfect as possible, including perfectly clean, and cleaning these clothes can be quite expensive. I’m going to have to charge you a small cleaning fee for every piece of clothing you tried on that you’re not buying, and that would mean you’d only have enough for a little over half of everything you tried to buy.”
The cleaning fee thing was a total lie, both the salesman and Nami knew it, but Bonney and her crew didn’t, and this lie was enough to do what they both wanted. Bonney angrily grabbed the money from Gyogyo and slammed it on the counter.
“I’ll pay for her clothes!” She declared firmly as she half glared at the salesman.
“What? No, Bonney, I couldn’t ask you to do that for me.” Nami said as she turned to Bonney, putting on a face that was both apologetic and hopeful.
“Don’t worry big sis, I’ve got loads of treasure money.” Bonney said proudly. “I’ve got some with me here, and I’ve got a bunch back on the ship.”
“Really?! Oh thank you Bonney!” Nami said as she gave Bonney a tight hug, which got Bonney to freeze for a moment before returning it.
“You’re welcome big sis.”
“Alright, I guess everything’s in order now.” The salesmen said as he packed up Nami’s clothes. “Thank you for your patronage and you girls have a great day.”
“We will, and thank you.” Nami said as she grabbed her stuff and she and the rest walked outside.
“That was really fun big sis.” Bonney said with a smile. “What should we do now?”
Now that their time in the shop was done, Nami considered what she should do now as she looked at Bonney. On one hand, she really was enjoying spending time with this woman, and she didn’t want to end things yet. On the other hand, rule number one of scamming is to not stick around long enough to let your mark realize they’ve been had, especially if they’re dangerous, so Nami knew she had to end things. Before she could tell Bonney it was time for them to part ways though, the pink haired girl’s stomach let out a loud growl and she doubled over to hold her stomach.
“Actually, I’m really hungry. Do you know anywhere we can go get something to eat?” Bonney said with an expectant look.
Seeing this, Nami couldn’t hold back her chuckle. While she probably shouldn’t stick around, on the other other hand she knew her crew would have her back and save her if she got in trouble. For once, she had a safety net to keep her from hurting herself if she fell, so it was time to see just how much she could get away with.
“Sure, I think I know a good restaurant down this way.”
“Oi, I’m almost out over here, I need some more!” Bonney yelled as she shoved a slice of pizza into her mouth.
Nami watched in morbid fascination as Bonney inhaled plate after plate of food almost as fast as Luffy did on an average day. While Nami was seated properly at one end of the table to eat, the other girl had plopped herself on top of the table and spread her legs wide as she ate, unfortunately leaving her panties exposed instead of being hidden by the dress. She also ate even more messily than Luffy, food flying out of her mouth and falling onto the dress (seeing such a beautiful and expensive dress get so dirty physically pained Nami) as she demanded more.
“Bonney-chan, please, at least sit down in the chair! Everyone can see your underwear!” Gyogyo pleaded.
“Huh?! Why the hell should I!? Those weirdos shouldn’t care about what my underwear looks like! Besides, I’d be showing just as much if I were wearing a bikini anyways.”
“I’d rather you didn’t wear one of those either.” Gyogyo said defeatedly, and Nami couldn’t help but sympathize with him. Old Nami would be either walking out or yelling at Bonney to have some class, but she’d been exposed to Luffy and the rest of them for so long at this point that she’s just learned to see there was no moving Bonney right now.
“Still, maybe you should change into something else after we’re done eating.” Nami said to Bonney, knowing it was best to put the idea in her mind now before they left to do something else. “This dress is getting a bit dirty.”
“Good idea big sis.” Bonney replied through the food in her mouth. “This dress is really pretty, but dresses aren’t really my thing.”
Bonney then promptly goes back to eating while Gyogyo gives Nami a thankful look. A few minutes and a few dozen more plates later, and Bonney finally finished eating. With her being the last person of the group to finish, this is when the waiter arrives.
“Here’s you are, your bill.” The man said almost dismissively as he handed the bill to Bonney, who promptly handed it to Gyogyo and causing the man to once again wince at the price.
“Just a sec, I should have enough here… or… um… Hey guys, I don’t have enough for the bill right now, does anyone have some spare cash?” Gyogyo asked the rest of his crew while rooting around in his bag. The group of them start going through their pockets, only for all of them to slowly grow worried.
“I’ve got a bit, but not much.”
“I didn’t bring my cash, sorry.”
“Huh, I could have sworn I brought more.”
“I guess I forgot my wallet.”
Each of them slowly began to realize they didn’t have much if any money on them, and neither did any other member of their crew, and while this was going on Nami was holding back a smirk. Unbeknownst to them, on their way there Nami had pick-pocketed ALL of them as she’d gone around introducing herself. By the time they’d arrived, all together they had little more than enough beri to pay for ONE of the crew’s meals, never mind Bonney’s.
Nami let them stew for a little bit longer, they crew getting more and more worried as they realized they didn’t have any cash on them, and letting the waiter go from dismissive to frustrated before she stepped in.
“Here, I’ll pay for everything.” Nami said as she walked over to the waiter.
“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that Nami.” Gyogyo said. “We’ve got more treasure back on the ship.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Nami said as she pulled out some money and handed it to the waiter. “It’s the least I can do for you after you paid for my clothes.”
“Oh, alright. Thank you then Nami, we owe you.” Gyogyo said with a thankful smile.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll pay me back later.” Nami said with an easy smile that made Gyogyo’s smile grow even more.
“Alright!” Bonney interrupted. “Now that that’s settled. Bluering, Salmon! Go run back to the ship and grab more money, I don’t want to make big sis pay for us again if she doesn’t have to!”
“YES CAPTAIN!” The two men said before running off.
Bonney then went over to the bathroom to change, followed by Nami who decided to change into something a bit more practical herself. Bonney ended up wearing a black sleeveless top and some pink jean shorts that were the same color as her hair, while Nami went with a yellow tank top and blue booty shorts.
“So, what should we do while we wait?” Bonney asked.
“Huh, who’re those weirdos?” One of Bonney’s men suddenly asked, interrupting before Nami could say anything.
Turning to see what the guy was looking at, the group saw a large group of people dressed in robes, some wearing masks, all standing near a pale blond man who was sitting at a table placing down cards.
“Hold on, is that guy doing tarot?” Nami asked out loud.
“Tarot? Wait, I’ve heard about that.” Bonney said. “Isn’t that that thing where people use cards to try and see the future?”
“I think so, but from what I’ve heard it’s all just trick shuffling the cards and making up stuff on the spot.” Gyogyo replied dismissively. “I saw a person ty to use it to help him fish, but it only got him killed.
“Well, real or not, it is something we can do to kill some time.” Nami said. “Why don’t we ask him for a reading?”
Her suggestion was met with a combination of curiosity and indifference. No one besides Bonney really seemed interested, but no one cared enough to actively not want to go, so they ended up walking over to see.
“Halt, no one gets near the captain.” One of the robed men said as they approached, he and a few others stepping between the group and the blond man.
“Calm down, the cards foretold they would approach.” The blond man said. “They mean no harm, simple curiosity.”
“But Captain Hawkins-”
“Let them past.” Hawkins said firmly, and the robed men reluctantly stepped back, allowing Nami and Bonney to approach.
“Now, I believe you two are here for a reading. What would you like to know?” Hawkins asked.
“Oh, I know, how’s about a reading about our love lives.” Nami said with a playful smirk, but Bonney shook her head.
“I don’t know big sis; I’m not really interested in love right now.” Bonney said uncomfortably, only for Nami to loop a hand around her and look at her.
“Come on Bonney, that’s the number one thing tarot is used for by girls like us. Relax, have a bit of fun with this.”
“Uhhhh…”
“Love comes in many forms.” Hawkins interjected. “If you would prefer, I could give you a look into many different forms of love, rather than just romantic like you are implying.”
“Um, yeah, ok, that sounds better.” Bonney replied.
“Very well, have a seat.” Hawkins said, gesturing for his crew to give the girls some chairs.
Hawkins then slowly shuffled his cards and divided his table into two, one for each girl. He then placed down identical sets of cards on each side.
“Interesting. For familial love, it would seem both of you have had struggles tied with separation, however there is potential for good news coming in the near future.”
Hearing this, Bonney visibly perked up in excitement, but Nami looked skeptical.
“Really?! You mean it?!” Bonney asked.
“Yeah, really? Both of us have the exact same future in terms of family?” She said suspiciously, but Hawkins ignored her as he grabbed his cards and reshuffled. Still, her words did affect him as he only put down Bonney’s cards first before reading them.
“In terms of platonic love, it would seem you have hope for immense growth and joy in the near future, but it requires you to accept separating from your past, at least partially.”
“Oh… I guess that’s good?” Bonney half asked, not really sure of what to make of it as Hawkins laid down some cards for Nami.
“As for you, there is also chance for immense growth and joy in the near future, however yours will join with your past rather than replace it.”
“Alright.” Nami said, mildly skeptical still. Hawkins then placed down a set of cards for Bonney.
“Finally, in terms of romantic love, it would seem you still have to wait a while. It will be a long time till true romance will even be something you should consider.”
“Oh, that’s good.” Bonney said happily.
Hawkins then reached to grab some card’s for Nami’s part of the reading, only for his deck to suddenly spill out of his hand suddenly and prevent him from grabbing one. Hawkins froze as that happened, looking down at his cards utterly confused as all the cards landed face down, not even letting him read them from on the ground.
“Um, is everything ok?” Nami asked with a raised eyebrow.
“I-it’s fine.” Hawkins said awkwardly as he quickly grabbed his cards. “It just seems the cards don’t want to answer that.”
“I see. Well, whatever, I’d rather not know more about that if I’m being honest.” Nami said flippantly, causing Bonney to shoot her an annoyed look. “Anyways, I do have another question then.”
“Very well.” Hawkins replied quickly as he recomposed himself. “What do you wish to know.”
“I’ve got a plan I’m working on right now, and I’d like to know if it will work out well.” Nami asked.
Hawkins paused for a moment before giving a nod and laying out the cards. With all them laid out he carfully studied them before picking them back up and reshuffling and laying out a new set.
‘The cards say her plan would not involve me or my crew, so I have no reason not to give her a reading on this.’ Hawkins thought before reading the new set of cards.
“Your plan will work well, perhaps better than you could have expected, however with your success will come a degree of regret.” Hawkins read.
…
“How much regret.” Nami asked.
Hawkins drew one more card.
“A small amount.”
“I can live with that.” Nami said with a shrug. “Do you have anything else you want to ask Bonney?”
“Well…” Bonney began as she thought. “I guess, will me and my crew leave the island safely when we decide to leave? Can I ask that?”
“Yes.” Hawkins replied.
He then slowly shuffled his cards before moving to grab one. However, like earlier when he was reading for Nami’s romantic love, the cards suddenly slipped out of Hawkins’ hand, all of them falling to the ground face down so he couldn’t read them at all. This time though, Hawkins just stared at the cards in shock, as if he couldn’t believe what happened.
“Really?” Nami said with an unimpressed look. “Again?”
Hawkins didn’t respond, just continuing to look down at his cards.
“Captain! We’re back with more money!”
Bonney, Nami, and the rest of the crew all turned to see Bluering and Salmon running up to them.
“Well, I guess we’re done waiting. Lets go find something fun to do Bonney.” Nami said as she stood up.
“Alright big sis.” Bonney replied as she followed suit.
The group then left to go have fun, leaving a baffled Hawkins and his crew behind.
From there, Nami and Bonney had loads of fun. They enjoyed the amusem*nt park and went on all sorts of rides, bought all sorts of expensive foods and jewelry and such, even going on another clothes shopping spree. Nami mostly just paid for herself (occasionally excusing herself to ‘go get more money’ as to not seem suspicious) while Bonney paid for herself and her crew. Bonney regularly found herself running out of money though, having to send a member of her crew to go grab some more from their ship. Luckily, every time that happened, Nami graciously paid for whatever Bonney failed to, always assuring Bonney she could pay it back later.
Naturally, this frequent lack of funds was caused by Nami frequently pick-pocketing the crew, and she made a point of stealing them dry whenever they were about to make a big purchase, forcing them to rely on her. This also had the added bonus of Nami never actually having to dip into the money she brought from the Sunny, so she was more then good for anything she paid for. While this was going on though, Nami meticulously kept track of just how much Bonney ‘owed’ her, marking down every single beri she spent on the older woman. By the time the end of the day rolled around, Bonney had accumulated quite the debt with her.
At the moment, the group was enjoying a nice supper under the light of the setting sun, Bonney absolutely gorging herself as always. (‘She’s not quite Luffy level, I’d say she more on Zoro or Chopper’s level after a hard day.’ Nami thought to herself) As Bonney’s eating slowly began to wind down, the waiter came over to Nami and Gyogyo with the bills.
“Here is your bill. Two orange and soy steak meals for the lovely madam, and 4 of everything for the Bonney pirates.”
Nami calmly pulled out the money for her meal and handed it to the man while Gyogyo rooted through his bag for his money, unaware Nami had grabbed everything he had left while they ate. As Nami expected, a defeated look crossed his face before he turned to Nami with a sheepish one.
“It, uh, seems I don’t have anything left.” He said.
“Really?” Nami said with faux exasperation. “Again?”
“Unfortunately.” He replied. “I hate to ask this of you again, and I’m serious about paying you back for everything, but…”
“Alright alright.” Nami said with an exaggerated sigh as she paid for the Bonney pirates’ meals. “I’ll make sure to hold you to that.”
“Don’t worry, we will. Thanks though, really. The captain’s really enjoyed spending time with you, you’ve really made her day.” Gyogyo said with a genuinely thankful smile that almost made Nami feel guilty about scamming them (only almost, a crew known for mostly assaulting children and the elderly didn’t deserve her guilt).
“Trout, Beet! Go back and grab some more cash!” Gyogyo called out, sending said two crew-members running.
As they left, the rest of the crew plus Nami all stood up and made their way out of the restaurant. They stuck around the area, needing to wait for the two that went running to return. Nami decided to take a seat on a nearby bench, enjoying the view of the sunset and everyone milling about. A moment later Nami felt Bonney sitting right beside her.
Nami could feel the older woman’s gaze on her for a moment as she shifted in place, before Bonney’s arms wrapped around her and she felt Bonny’s head against her shoulder. Nami held back a flinch at this, not entirely comfortable with the way this older woman was hugging her. Instead of pulling away though, she wrapped one of her arms around Bonney in an attempt to keep her scam going, drawing a happy sound from her and encouraging her to hold tighter.
“Today was really fun. I don’t really get to spend time with other girls, so I really enjoyed doing all this stuff with you Nami.” Bonney said.
“I’m glad you had fun.” Nami replied. “I can imagine it’s hard to find some girl time on a ship full of just men.”
“Yeah, I’ve… I’ve never really had girl time before actually.” Bonney said, and Nami began to feel some wetness on her shoulder. “I got sick when I was 3, so I wasn’t able to leave my home, and all the other kids would mock me because of it. Only the adults would spend time with me.”
Oh, Bonney was beginning to spill her past… Nami wasn’t quite sure how to feel about this. There was a lot of different ways to read this, just as many good as bad. But Nami knew that if the bad came to pass she could easily run to her crew, so she decided to see where this was going. Bonney was oblivious to Nami’s internal conflict as she took her silence as permission to continue.
“But the only adults that were girls who spent time with me were old grannies, the rest were a bunch of guys. The only girl that wasn’t an old granny that spent time with me was this really nasty lady who only pretended to be nice, so I never got a chance to do girl things with other girls.”
By this point Bonney was holding onto Nami tightly, tears falling onto Nami’s shoulder. It seemed too easy, Bonney seemed almost too quick to open up, making Nami all the more suspicious. But at the same time, if what she was saying was true, then these guys that were on her crew were probably the adults she was talking about. If that were all true, then it would make sense that Bonney was so quick to open up to her.
“Thanks big sis, for spending time with me. I really hope we can do this again soon, maybe you can even come back with me to my ship later?”
And that was the zinger, an older woman propositioning a younger one. Yet, Bonney’s voice and words held such an honest and thankful quality, one that made Nami doubtful. Bonney was supposed to be the captain of a crew of true scum, one that was famous for attacking the most vulnerable people in the form of children and the elderly. But Nami knew full well that the government liked to twist the news in ways that make the pirates seem worse, it’s what happened with her crew after all. It made Nami think that maybe, just maybe, there’s something she’s missing.
“Hey, Bonney… Can I-”
“Hey, Trout and Beet are back.” Bonney said, interrupting Nami as she sat up and looked towards her returning crewmembers, only to frown as she saw they were empty handed.
“We’re sorry captain.” Trout said. “We’re out of treasure.”
“The only money we have left we need to save for supplies for when we leave.” Beet followed up.
“Huh?!” Bonney began, now clearly irritated as she began walking towards them. “I thought you guys said our treasure would let us have fun for a whole week! First you guys couldn’t be bothered to keep track of how much we had during our fun times, forcing big sis to pay for us all the time, but now you’re telling me we’re out of money entirely?!”
“We’re sorry captain!” Both Trout and Beet shouted as they bowed to Bonney.
“You stupid, dummy, idiots! You-”
“Calm down Bonney-chan.” Gyogyo said, interrupting Bonney’s little rant as he placed a hand on her shoulder. “You had a lot of fun today, and bought a lot of stuff you can have fun with for the rest of the time we’re here. Just be glad you got to have such a fun day today, and use the rest of our time on the island to relax.”
Bonney spun around to Gyogyo and leveled him with a teary-eyed glare/pout.
“But it’s not FAIR!” Bonney exclaimed, stamping her foot as she did. “There’s so much stuff on the island that I didn’t even get to try yet, so many places I haven’t gone. There’s also all the clothes I bought! There’s no reason to have them if I can’t wear them while going around having fun! I don’t want to just sit around the ship and be BORED!”
“Well, I have something you might be able to do. Or rather, I have something you really should do.”
Hearing this, Bonney and Gyogyo turned to Nami in surprise, having nearly forgotten she was still there in all the commotion.
“Oh, what are you thinking about big sis?” Bonney asked, still upset but now a bit excited.
“Well…” Nami began slowly, letting a scheming smirk grow on her lips as she mentally shook herself out of her earlier thoughts. “There is the little matter of the money you owe me for everything I had to pay for you for.”
“O-oh, right, that.” Bonney replied, no longer excited and now just back to annoyed. “I’m sure I’ll figure out a way to pay you back.”
“Unfortunately Bonney, I’m afraid I can’t just let you ‘figure it out’. You put me out quite a bit, around 200,000,000 beli in fact.”
Nami’s tone was light and flippant, but her words still carried the weight they needed as all the Bonney pirates’ eyes widened at the number. Nami couldn’t help but let out a little chuckle under her breath at this as she continued speaking.
“Of course, seeing as it’s such a big amount, and we had so much fun, I suppose I can make your interest a mere 2% a week.”
‘Which is still 4,000,000 a week.’ Nami thought with a smirk as she watched the crew’s reaction go from shock, to fear, to realization, and then to anger. The only person on the crew who wasn’t angry was Bonney herself, who just had a look of complete confusion, though this confusion was quickly remedied by Gyogyo.
“You’ve been swindling us this whole time, haven’t you. You took advantage of us, tricked us into using up all our money, and now you’re trying to put us in your debt. That’s what this whole day’s been about, hasn’t it.”
“Wait?” Bonney said as she turned to Gyogyo. “Big sis, has been trying to trick us all day?”
“I wouldn’t say ‘trying’.” Nami said with a smug look. “It’s been so easy that I didn’t have to try at all. You literally invited me to continue scamming you after we first met.”
The look of blatant hurt that crossed Bonney’s face as she heard that tugged at Nami’s heart strings, but Nami quashed the feeling with practised ease and held her ground as rage replaced the look of hurt. Boney then marched right up to her, eyes glowing with rage, and attempted to tower over her.
‘Is she seriously standing on her tiptoes for this?’ Nami thought incredulously as Bonney glared at her.
“You… you stupid, mean, jerk!” Bonney spat out.
“Wow, scathing. I feel so hurt.” Nami responded dryly.
“I guess you had your fun, but I bet you wouldn’t have if you’d known who I was. I’m Jewellery Bonney, captain of the Bonney Pirates. I’m one of the pirates the papers are calling the Eleven Supernovas, and I’m going to make YOU pay for trying to trick me.”
“Oh no, I’m being threatened by a pirate known for only attacking people who can’t fight back.” Nami said dramatically. “Whatever shall I do? I suppose I have no choice but to run back to my captain and ask him to protect me.”
“YOUR captain?” Bonney asked, only to hear a gasp behind her. The rest of the crew turned to the person who gasped, Bluering, who was looking at Nami in terror.
“I-I thought you looked familiar. Y-you’re Cat Burglar Nami, aren’t you.”
“Guilty as charged.” Nami replied, causing the rest of the crew to begin looking at her in fear.
“Wait, Cat Burglar Nami? That’s, you’re a member of the Straw Hats?” Bonney began hesitantly, instantly sobering up from her earlier anger. “Isn’t that the crew with 7 members with bounties, and the captain’s bounty is 300,000,000?”
“Actually 8 members with bounties officially.” Nami replied, enjoying the way Bonney and her crew looked at her in fear. “Chopper’s bounty really doesn’t do him justice. We also picked up a new crew-member recently who already had a bounty before joining us, to the actual number is 9 now.”
Nami went quiet after that, letting the crew in front of her stew on what she’d said. Some of them looked like they were considering if they should run away, or if they even could. She may have had the second lowest bounty on her crew, but she still had one despite not being the captain. That wasn’t something their crew could claim, so it meant that she might be far more dangerous than they thought. Ultimately, each of their eyes turned to either Bonney or Gyogyo to see how they would react, but Gyogyo was clearly out of his depth and despite clearly wanting to take control of the situation, his eyes eventually turned to Bonney.
Bonney in turn then swept her gaze over her own crew before looking directly into Nami’s eyes, her gaze filled with pain and fear, but also determination.
“Ok, but I’m the captain, so I’m the only one that has to pay you, ok?” Bonney said, struggling to keep her voice even.
“Bonney-chan, don’t!” Gyogyo exclaimed. “Don’t worry about us, we’ll take care of e-”
“Gyogyo!” Bonney shouted, interrupting him before turning to him with a clearly forced smile. “It’ll be fine, don’t worry. As your captain, I promise to make sure you’re safe.”
Nami couldn’t help the small ping of respect that went through her as Bonney spoke. This girl shared a lot of traits with Luffy, mostly his worst ones, but it seems loyalty to her crew was one of these shared traits.
“So, what are you going to do?” Bonney asked, shaking Nami from her thoughts.
“Well, for now I suppose we’re going to have to figure out a payment plan for just how you’re going to pay me back.” Nami replied. “I know you invited me onto your ship, but why don’t you join me back on mine instead.”
“Ok, let’s go.” Bonney said seriously, despite the tears growing in her eyes.
Nami then began walking back towards the Sunny, Bonney following close behind while the rest of the crew stayed where they were. As they walked, Nami couldn’t help but skip slightly, feeling better than she ever had stealing for Arlong. Ignoring the gift from Skypiea, this was by far the biggest haul she’d ever gotten, not to mention the most rewarding, and she’d stolen it fair and square.
‘Looks like I’ll have a servant for the rest of our time here, or whatever else I decide to do with Bonney.’ Nami thought with a smile, only for it to drop as realization hit her.
‘Oh crap, I got so caught up in everything that I accidentally took this way further than I planned. How am I going to explain this to Luffy and the rest?’
“Damnit! What the hell is wrong!?”
Meanwhile, on a boat not terribly far from the Sunny itself, Hawkins was standing in the middle of his room halfway to a panic attack. He was breathing heavily, hunched over as sweat poured down his exposed skin. His eyes were wild and manic, yet clearly focused on the floor by his feet where his tarot cards lay in a messy pile, not a single one of them turned up.
“It doesn’t make sense.” Hawkins said to himself. “I can get a reading on things that will happen while we’re on the island, but any time I try to look past our time on the island, my cards refuse to let me even draw them. They’ve NEVER done this before. It’s like they literally can’t tell me or something. What’s going to happen when we leave?”
