Rolling My Way to Pirate King (One Piece Chaos Gacha) (Patreon)

Chapter 26: Freedom

It took a few minutes, but Nami and I eventually managed to loot Arlong’s place clean of anything valuable or not bolted down before making our way outside the building again with a happy Nami skipping beside me.

She had been giggling nonstop as things kept disappearing into my Inventory, and it was frankly making me a bit nervous, especially as she muttered quietly to herself while shooting me looks.

I had no idea what those looks meant, and it was making my decision to tell her later about my new rolls all the harder, since I didn’t know how she was going to react.

Just before we stepped outside, I felt her grab my sleeve, causing us to come to a stop as I turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

A moment later I blinked as she collided into my chest, her arms wrapping around my back as I felt her head settle against my chest.

“Nami?” I asked softly with a blink as I slowly returned her hug.

“…Thank you, Luffy. Truly.” Nami murmured softly as she raised her head, which was still sporting my straw hat, with misty eyes.

Surprised for a moment, I smiled the next and pulled her closer while patting her back in a reassuring manner. “Shishishi, don’t mention it. We’re friends, right?” I asked with a grin while pulling back a bit so I could take her in properly.

Nami sniffed then before nodding as a smile showed on her face, a genuine one now. “Yeah… we are.” She muttered while looking at me with a strange expression, that made my member twitch a bit for some reason.

‘Calm yourself, Luffy! It’s a dick move to be thinking about that kind of stuff while Nami is having an emotional moment!’ I silently reprimanded myself.

We held that position for a few moments before Nami finally pulled away completely and quickly wiped her face before shooting me a smile. Not quick enough for me to miss the glint of gold on her right ring finger, which now held the Ring of the Sun Princess I had loaned her.

As to why she had decided to wear it on that specific ring? I had no fucking clue.

“Let’s go.” She said simply.

Nodding, we resumed our way out for what would be the last time of Arlong Park, since it would cease to exist after today.

Once outside, we paused for a moment as we saw that the villagers were now inside the grounds. With a quick look, we quickly figured out why Johnny and Yosaku had let them through.

With so many Fish-Men, it would obviously take some work to get them all rounded up and secured so they wouldn’t cause trouble anymore before the Marines took them into custody later.

As it stood, all but Arlong were now in heavy cuffs that they had gotten from somewhere before they noticed our reappearance.

I took note that a particular blue-haired girl, just a bit older than Nami, immediately made her way toward us. Seeing Nami’s eyes light up in familiarity, I figured she must be her older sister.

‘So this is Nojiko, huh?’ I silently wondered to myself, curiously taking in her beautiful appearance and slight tan of someone used to being out in the sun. I especially made note that her attributes were even more ridiculous than Nami’s own, and that’s saying something.

‘Must come with the slight age difference. She’s had more time to… mature.’ I figured a moment later as I focused back on her expression to see her looking at me and Nami with a raised eyebrow as she stopped in front of us.

“Nojiko! I thought I told you to stay back home.” Nami started out with a small frown before she immediately lost it and replaced it with the kind of smile reserved for family.

“Hmph! You expect me to stay put after you come home after months of being away at sea and tell me such ominous words?” Nojiko let out an amused huff as she crossed her arms before turning her gaze back to me.

“Anyway, are you going to introduce me to your friend here?” Nojiko asked as she looked between us again with a slightly amused look.

Flushing a bit at the look her sister was giving us, Nami turned a bit nervous all of a sudden as she started rubbing her arm.

“R-Right. Ahem, Nojiko. This is…”

Unfortunately, introductions would have to wait, it seemed, as at that exact moment we heard the sounds of the villagers complaining and demands being shouted.

As one we turned to see what the commotion was about, only to find a bunch of Marines marching toward us in a straight line, led by a literal rat-looking dude. He had the huge whiskers, shifty expression, and the ridiculous hood with ears at the top.

‘…Oh, it’s this guy.’ I thought in a deadpan, honestly having forgotten about the crooked Marine captain.

“Hold it right there, all of you!” Nezumi commanded arrogantly as he pointed at us while the scumbags behind him calling themselves Marines tried to intimidate us by pointing their weapons at us with grins on their faces.

“Chichichi. What a lucky day today is! Well done. I watched the entire fight.” The man laughed with a distinct rat-like noise.

‘This guy is really taking the rat looks to the next level, huh?’ I thought with an even bigger deadpan as the idiot went on his insane rant.

“Fluke as it was, I never once imagined the Fish-Men would lose to a bunch of nameless pirates like you. However, thanks to you, all the money Arlong made me aware of and all the money and valuables stored in Arlong Park are now mine!” Nezumi declared before letting out another stupid rat-like laugh.

Tired of his nonsense, I looked toward Tiche, who was standing slightly behind them and immediately noticed my attention on her.

“Tiche, would you please deal with the weaklings?” I asked out loud, interrupting whatever nonsense he was about to spew next.

Acknowledging my order silently, Tiche got to work immediately, and pained grunts were heard as Marines dropped one after the other.

Hearing the commotion behind him, Nezumi turned only to widen his eyes in surprise and horror as he saw all of his lackeys now lying on the ground unconscious.

“W-Wha? D-Do you have any idea who you’re deali—Ghh!”

The idiot never got to finish as I appeared behind him and quickly knocked him unconscious with a chop to the back of the neck.

“Read the room, moron.” I muttered quietly, watching the man slump to the ground with white eyes before turning to the worried crowd gathered around us.

Plastering an easy smile onto my face, I gave everyone a cheesy victory sign.

“Problem solved~”

That seemed to relax most of them, but some still looked at us in worry.

“Are you sure it was wise to do that, young man? Crooked or not, that’s still a Marine Captain you just assaulted.” A man dressed in a brown outfit with horrible scars on his body and a pinwheel on his hat asked.

“Eh, who cares.” I shrugged off just as easily before grinning again. “We are pirates after all.”

The man wanted to say something in return but was interrupted by Nami, who joined the conversation.

“It’s ok, Genzo. Trust me, just let it go. You’re not changing his mind anyway.” Nami said in my defense as she walked over and stood next to me along with the rest of the crew.

“If you’re sure…” Genzo said eventually with a small sigh.

“More importantly, that building is coming down.” I said with a grin as I started swinging my right arm while walking toward Arlong Park.

“Need some help?” Zoro asked calmly from behind.

“Nah, let me handle it. That fight was kind of disappointing if I’m being honest, and I still have some energy to spend.” I calmly answered back with a grin.

With my crew and the villagers watching behind me, I brought my thumb to my mouth before biting it and then blowing on it. Under everyone’s incredulous gazes, my arm then grew to gigantic proportions.

“W-What the!!”

“Whoa!!”

“His arm!”

“How in the devil is he doing that!?”

“Gear Third…” I muttered with a grin, ignoring the commotion behind me before extending my hand backward.

“Gum Gum…”

“Giant Pistol!”

Letting my gigantic arm fly forward, my fist easily tore through the building as if it were butter, taking out most of it with one blow, with the rest falling quickly after.

Snapping my arm back into place and letting it return to normal, I turned back to my gathered audience and broke out into an amused laugh at the expressions they were giving me, with the exception of Tiche, who was already aware of my abilities.

“Shishishi, you guys look funny.” I laughed freely before shaking my head and placing my hands on my hips.

“Anyways, the Arlong Pirates are no more! Now it’s time to party!” I yelled in the end with a fist pumped into the air.

Silence greeted me for a few moments before my words slowly registered with everyone, especially the villagers enslaved by Arlong, before the silence ended.

“T-They actually did it.”

“Arlong Park is truly gone…”

“I really hope this is not another dream.”

“W-We’re free.”

“We’re free!!”

“Woooooooo!!”

It didn’t take long for their surprise to fade, and soon everyone was letting out happy cheers and laughs as they celebrated their freedom.

“That’s more like it.” I muttered quietly to myself with a small grin.

I was soon surrounded by the happy villagers and laughed happily as they grabbed me and threw me up in the air in celebration.

Looking around, I saw that my crew were also receiving the same treatment, with the exception of Nami, who was one of the people launching me into the air.

Seeing Nami’s worry-free expression and laughter, I felt relieved myself that Nami would no longer have to carry such a burden on her shoulders going forward.

‘Now you can go forward without worries, Nami.’

=====

Hours Later

With the whole village chipping in, it didn’t take long for a humongous party to start that spanned most of the village in size.

There was plenty of food for me to sample and try, lots of village girls for Sanji to flirt with, enough booze to satisfy Zoro, Johnny, and Yosaku, and Usopp even made a stage in the middle before spouting bullshit to everyone who would listen as he danced drunkenly.

Perhaps because of my slight regeneration granted by Peak Specimen, my vitality, or any number of things, I didn’t feel drunk at all despite joining Zoro for a while as we tried to drink the town dry.

Tiche had spent most of her time turning down guys who tried to hit on her, and the rest by my side, even joining me for my small drinking contest with Zoro.

The only one I had barely seen was actually Nami, as she had disappeared early into the celebration and hadn’t been seen since, but I wasn’t worried about her since she was last seen with the village’s doctor.

Wanting to get some fresh air, I decided to go for a walk where I eventually ran into Genzo again, who was sitting before a grave.

Remembering that it was actually Bellemere’s grave, Nami and Nojiko’s mother, I decided to walk up to it to pay my respects.

Kneeling before the grave, I brought my hands together in a respectful manner and bowed my head, ignoring Genzo for now.

“You can rest easy now, ma’am. Nami is free to do what she wants now, and I will make sure it always stays that way.” I muttered quietly before sitting back up.

“Boy, Nami’s smiling again, and I have a feeling you’re the main person responsible for it.” Genzo suddenly muttered, bringing my attention to him and his serious expression.

Turning to him, I shrugged calmly. “Don’t know what to tell you about that. I just treat Nami the same as I treat my other nakama.”

“I know that Nami is leaving with you, so you better hope she never loses that smile of hers, you hear? Or you’ll have to deal with me.” Genzo warned me sternly, kind of like a parent looking after their daughter.

Raising an eyebrow at him, I nodded a moment later. “I’ll protect her with my life, same as any of my other crewmates.” I responded simply before standing up and walking away with a wave over my shoulder.

“Anyway, good night, old man. I’m still in the mood for some booze.” I muttered in a relaxed tone.

Alone again, my thoughts turned to our next destination, and our final major stop before we made our way into the Grand Line proper — and more importantly, where we would start dealing with much more powerful opponents.

Loguetown.

The Town of the Beginning and the End, having earned that title due to it being the town where Gol D. Roger was born and where he was executed at the end of his life when he was known as the Pirate King.

‘I wonder if I’ll still meet my father this time around.’ I thought to myself, actually curious if I would get to talk to Dragon.

Due to the memories of my past life, having had a good parental figure, it got me wondering what kind of man Dragon really was.

Did he really always look East? What Devil Fruit did he have? And most importantly, who the hell was my mother?

I soon dismissed those thoughts though and found them wandering to the Grand Line again, and to my greatest challenge yet that would let me know just how far I had come in the past two years.

My eventual fight with one of the Shichibukai, or one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Crocodile. The user of the Suna Suna no Mi and someone who was actually strong compared to everyone I had faced before.

Naturally, as my thoughts wandered to Crocodile, they also shifted to Nefertari D. Vivi, the Princess of the Arabasta Kingdom, and then finally to Nico Robin, an enemy turned comrade.

‘Seems like the days of just cruising around in the East Blue for days or even weeks will be coming to an end soon.’ I thought fondly.

Truthfully, the time it had taken me to come this far since my journey first began on Dawn Island was about the same or longer than the time it would take to traverse the first half of the Grand Line.

Unlike the weeks of traveling that were common here in East Blue, and probably in all the other Blues, in the Grand Line things were drastically different.

Not only was the weather janky as hell, but the distance between each island wasn’t long either, as long as you didn’t get lost or wander into the Calm Belt.

‘I wonder if I’m going to get my first bounty after today?’ I wondered with a giddy excitement rising in me at the thought of having a wanted poster of me.

My thoughts were interrupted as I heard someone call my name and turned to see Nami walking my direction calmly.

“Hey Nami.” I greeted with a smile as I waved at her. “Missed you at the party.”

“Sorry, there was just something I wanted to do as soon as possible.” Nami muttered with a relaxed smile as she looked down at her left shoulder.

Following her gaze, I blinked as the iconic tattoo of a pinwheel and a tangerine greeted my eyes instead of Arlong’s symbol, and a smile grew on my face.

“Couldn’t wait to get rid of that, huh? Looks good.” I congratulated genuinely, keeping it to myself that it felt good personally as well not seeing that bastard’s brand on her skin anymore.

“Thanks~” Nami’s smile widened before she reached out and grabbed my hand firmly before dragging me behind her, causing me to raise an eyebrow. “Follow me. I want to talk to you about something.”

‘Did she turn red just now, or was that my imagination?’ I thought curiously but shrugged a moment later and nodded. “Alright.”

With Nami remaining suspiciously quiet and refusing to turn her face toward me, we soon reached what seemed to be her home, if the tangerine orchard in the back was any indication.

Remaining silent, Nami took us inside her house, and that’s where I started to get a bit nervous as instead of leading us into the kitchen or living room like I was expecting, Nami actually led us up the stairs.

We came to a stop for a moment in front of a room, and then Nami quickly ushered me inside with a squeaky voice that rang an alarm bell in my head.

Sweating a bit now, I turned to Nami to see her lock the door to what was obviously her room and had to swallow, suddenly feeling my mouth go dry.

“U-Umm, Nami? So, what did you want?” I asked in the calmest tone I could manage while trying to keep my racing heart steady.

Finally turning to me, I saw Nami was sporting the biggest blush I had seen on her yet as she fidgeted in place before taking a deep breath and facing me properly, which caused me to gulp again.

‘This is not going where I think it is, right?’