44 Chapter 44

44

Kuina didn't know what to say about the straw hat boy. He seemed young, and most of the time stupid as well. Or that's what he tires people to believe.

But he was strong… one other key feature of the boy was his inhuman strength and skills.

She had traveled to all four blues in her journey. Her father wasn't keen on her learning the way of the blade so she had left home early, before she was deemed ready by her father.

And she had seen and learned the way of her sword on her own, mostly. And in all four blues, Luffy's level of skill would be usually shown by veteran pirate, those who have traveled the grandline.

When Luffy had left with his unusual technique of skywalking, she had asked Coby about him. Coby was a bit informed about him, and there were rumors that Luffy was the grandson of the marine hero.

The strength made sense if Luffy was from such a family. But… why would he want to be a pirate? It didn't make sense.

And then Zoro had also pointed out from Sparky —the six-armed monkey, who he was someone able to communicate with— that Luffy had indeed eaten a devil fruit. But the monkey went on to detail that just eating a devil fruit won't make you stronger, it will give you supernatural abilities yes, but won't make you stronger until you train and master your abilities.

When Luffy left from the boat, Zoro said something to her, that she still remembered.

"If we want to be strong, we should join us." Zoro had said. And he was serious, "Something tells me… he isn't bluffing about his strength." It had more value to her as Zoro was good at judging people's strengths. At that time, when she was at the boat, she didn't think about it much.

But now when she saw the straw hat boy seemingly knock out almost a hundred pirates with just pointing fingers at them, she didn't know what to expect.

Zoro was as amazed as she was. And it seemed as if Luffy was just playing around. But then again, Coby did say, Luffy had taken down a fifty million pirates when he was dubbed the new hero of Goa Kingdom.

Even if that was the case, she couldn't be as strong as her. A flash of a woman with blue hair welding a green-hilted saber came to her mind. Her graceful swordplay still played along her mind, that day any doubt that she couldn't be strong as a woman vanished away.

She was using her shortsightness, when the world was truly vast. Even one of the Yonko's was a woman. Though she didn't have a good reputation. It broke her perception of the world.

And Kuina made a promise to the blue-haired woman to meet her at New World. Though where that was she still didn't know. Maybe an Island on the grandline.

She did teach her a few things before going.

In their short encounter, she had learned a lot from her. Taking on Luffy alone might be hard, but… She was still confident that both her and Zoro might be able to take down Luffy.

She was already stronger than Zoro, but the green-haired swordsman always had a way to surprise her.

.

Nami looked at Luffy's back as him and all the villagers enjoyed a small party on Buggy's former ship. All of the villagers were celebrating their town's freedom.

It was odd when all the villagers found out that Luffy was also a pirate. But then soon put that back to his head when he said he wasn't like any of bad pirates. Also, it eased them that he didn't have any official crew or a ship… or anything for that matter, not even the pirate flag.

So they took that as the boy being delusional and thought of him as nothing more than a self-proclaimed pirate. They evidently treated him as a hero. Throwing a party and all. It lasted for no more than one hour as Luffy needed to continue on his journey.

"Hey," Nami called as Luffy and the rest were already docking thier small boat. "You needed a navigator right?"

Luffy looked at him curiously. "Yes, I do actually? Wanna join my crew?" he asked with a welcoming smile.

Nami hesitated. "No… I can't join your crew… but I can help you along the waters of East Blue." She said, this was a bit of a gamble but. "I tried to trick you," she reminded him. "I almost got you killed."

Luffy laughed, "Not to brag or anything, but I don't think that will work. Well, unless I get caught by gramps… but then I would be dead." he mumbled the last part to himself, "But, I'm alive, aren't I? Also, I'm pretty sure I only broke out of those ropes, because you tied them loosely."

Nami could practically hear the sarcasm in his voice. Others would take that as a cue and back away. The boy might try to get rid of her at the sea for trying to play the double agent… but something in her told to trust the boy. "You're not mad?" she asked quietly.

Luffy just smiled. "Nah, don't worry about it," he replied. "But I will make you stay permanently in my crew one day." He winked playfully.

Nami let a small smile grace her lips but still felt guilty. She didn't have the heart to tell him that she couldn't join his crew permanently. She was so close. Sadness welled up inside her. She was really starting to like Luffy despite his affiliation as a pirate, but this couldn't last.

"Then I will be in your care," she told him.

Luffy's smile grew wider. "Welcome to the crew, Nami," he responded.

"Where do you want to go next, then?" If she couldn't stay in the crew, then she'd be damn sure to do her job well while she was here.

"Our next destination is Syrup Village," he replied.