A Siren's Journey (One Piece! Various X Reader)

[36] - Arlong Park Arc ~ 6

"Colonel. This tangerine orchard seems a little suspicious." Some Marine interrupts, holding a shovel.

"Dig it up." The Colonel orders. "The whole thing, if need be."

Nami rushes the Marine about to dig up her mother's beloved orchard, tackling him to the ground. "KEEP YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF BELLEMERE'S TANGERINE ORCHARD!!" One after the other, every Marine that holds a shovel near the orchard goes down. "I WON'T LET YOU TAKE MY MONEY!! THAT MONEY'S FOR . . .It's for . . ."

"THAT POOR GIRL'S MONEY IS MEANT TO SAVE COCOYASHI VILLAGE!! WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO TAKE OUR SALVATION AWAY FROM HER? DAMN YOU!" Genzo boldly shouts, catching everyone's attention.

The Marine Colonel's smirk still has yet to fall. "My, my . . .A mere village representative talking down to a Marine Colonel. How bold."

Nami looks to the mayor/sheriff in shock. "Genzo . . .How'd you know about that?"

A light breeze blows, causing the pinwheel atop the man's hat to spin and rattle. "I've always known, Nami."

The navigator's eyes glaze over as she remains frozen.

"I couldn't believe what you had done, so I confronted Nojiko and Bellemere about it later. Since then, everyone has known that you stayed with the Arlong Pirates so that you could save the village. But we all agreed we'd never tell you that we knew. If you ever thought the villagers were placing their hopes on you, you might never leave his gang for fear of letting us down."

"That can't be." Nami stumbles over her words. But the moment is ruined when the Rat Colonel opens his big mouth and comes to a stupid conclusion.

"Now hold on a minute. Just what are you saying here? Are you telling me that the villagers are thieves? And we should arrest every one of them? Is that what you're saying?"

"What he's saying is that every last one of us is fighting to survive!" Nojiko shouts as she enters the property. "We have to fend for ourselves because we can't rely on support from you Government people. So, if you're not gonna protect our village, then get the hell out of here! And be quick about it, or Arlong'll sink your ship too."

"Arlong will . . ." The Colonel trails off. But the way he just shrugs off Nojiko's warning as if her claim was the most impossible thing on the ocean. "I wouldn't be so sure."

Nami gasps.

"You still haven't found it? We're looking for 100,000,000 beris here, not a grain of rice!"

(First Name) takes a sharp breath in. "Etot korrumpirovannyy morskoy pekhotinets! [3]" She snarls as quietly as she can. "A Marine on a pirate's payroll. Just when I didn't think the Marines could hit a new all-time low. There's no other possible way this rat-faced coward could know the exact amount of how much Nami was collecting."

🌺This has to be the trick Arlong came up with to keep Nami in his crew. Without the money she can never free Cocoyashi Village or herself.🌺 Carmela says to her brother.

Genzo steps closer to the Colonel. "Hey, you! How do you know how much there is?" He demands.

The mousy Colonel turns to face Genzo, feigning stupidity, but he isn't doing a tremendous job of it. "Oh . . .I don't know. I just have a hunch that's the amount we're looking for."

Everyone glares at the smug Marine, while Nami looks like she's having trouble breathing.

"It's him." She breathes out quietly. She clenches her Bo staff tightly in her injured hand. "TELL ME! IT WAS ARLONG THAT SENT YOU, WASN'T IT?!!"