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Chapter 27– Time Part One.

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"Yo, Detoro! Play with me!" My eyebrow twitched at the loud voice bellowing behind me as I worked on sawing a piece of wood, working towards making a chair. I really do try my best to ignore the grating voice behind me, a voice which always is making its appearance and annoying me when it should really be keeping away from me.

"Detoro? Can you hear me? Can we play?" I stop my sawing and slam my saw down on the workbench, turning around and glaring angrily at the constant annoyance. Hachi, in turn, willows under my gaze as he quickly backs away. This stupid idiot really isn't like the other fishmen because they are actually cruel and vicious, while this idiot is just a sheep that follows his pals.

For the last few years, I have been playing board games and stuff with this stupid octopus man. At first, being kind of intimidated by his dopey nature, thinking something more sinister lay underneath. But, of course, I found out very quickly that he was just an idiot and was not vicious like his friends. Of course, that doesn't mean I like him, but I could maybe spare him when I kill them all.

"Hachi, what do you think I am here to do? You guys are always messing about and breaking this place apart, and I have to come and fix and do all the repairs. I don't have time to play, Hachi. Now leave me alone." While I would much rather be ruder and straightforward about it and tell him to fuck off, that would be a mistake. Not because he isn't like the rest, but because if one of the others overheard it, they would take offence at my words, and nothing good would come of that.

"Ah, uh, okay then... Um, Arlong wanted to know if you are going to try and kill him today. He, uh, he has something he could be doing... otherwise." Hachi says nervously, not hesitant to talk to me as he is used to m behaviour if a bit nervous about it, but he is more confused about the killing Arlong part and usually can't quite get his head around it.

"Not today," I say, still looking at him and not taking my gaze off of him. Unwilling to turn my back to him until he is gone, and he looks back awkwardly. Now normally, I would be taking every moment I can to try and kill the giant blue shark man, but I can't, not today. The simple fact of the matter is that Nami is coming back today, and I can't let her know of my attempts unless she tells me to stop, and I have to obey. She has completely given up on the assassination route since we found nothing we did even hurt him. Though, I have continued to try and end him, just in a more direct way.

Hachi gets the message after a few seconds of me staring at him deadpanned, and awkwardly turns around and heads off to do whatever it is he does on when he is not annoying me. I honestly don't know what he does most of the time since he is too dumb to be cruel like the rest of them and mess with other people, and I don't care.

With the nuisance gone, I turn around and get back to work on a chair designed to the specifications of one Fishman with a fin on his back. But, of course, since they have me make all their things, they decided to get specialised stuff to make life more comfortable for them, and then they break it, and the cycle repeats. I don't care, it keeps the peace, and Arlong still allows me to have a crack at killing him with no repercussions for my murder attempts. Win-win, he gets him and his people some comfort, and I get to try and take his life.

Sighing to myself, I get to work on this stupid chair. A lot has changed over the last few years. A lot has changed over the last few years, and by that, I mean pretty much everything has changed since a few years ago. Then, we were only easing into captivity, but now we are fully captured. The villagers still held out some hope at the beginning, but that all began to change after the events of the failed marine attack.

Arlong was very fucking mad after he had dealt with all of the marines, but it wasn't a brutal, fiery anger, but a cold, simmering one that was controlled. Immediately after the incident in question, he asked just whose idea it was, and of course, nobody fessed up, knowing that they would probably be severely punished if they owned up to it. And so, when Arlong did not get a response, he was all ready to head to Shokuyasi village and flip it all on its head as punishment. At that point, one worker from the village stepped forward and claimed responsibility, and then the others, feeling inspired, also stepped forward until all of the workers were claiming that they had a hand in that day's events.

Of course, with this, Arlong was stuck between a rock and a hard place as he needed all of these people to continue working on Arlong Park, but he also had to punish them. Very cruelly, he had decided that Shokuyasi Village would be destroyed as punishment. Thankfully I manage to get in the way and convince him not to do that, using a lot of reasoning and threats.

However, seeing the need for a punishment to take place still, I helped to decide that their privilege would be taken from them. As while they were working on Arlong Park, they would have the taxes for themselves and their families lowered. So Arlong waived that and made them pay the full price while also working full-time on Arlong Park with no other work. Needless to say, that month and the following few were tough for those workers and their families. Thankfully the other villagers helped them out as they did what they did for the sake of the village.

After that, we knew that the Fishmen, or Arlong at the least, were too powerful to let go of this island without a fight with severe consequences. One thing that we knew for definite is that we could not rely on outside sources to help us gain our freedom, let alone the marines that had just shown they needed to be stronger to contend with the pirates. After that, Nami had a big change of heart and realised that as well, especially after she saw just what the results of her strenuous efforts were.

The Arlong pirates had used the map that Nami had created to defeat three entire ships full of marines and doom them to a watery death. They were forcing Nami to make heavily detailed maps, and then they were obviously planning to use those insanely detailed maps for nefarious purposes, no doubt being used to kill countless people in the future. Nami realised this. She understood exactly what they did and just how horrifying this could be in the future if they could use such a method all over the world.

After that, she was adamant about freeing herself and the village from Arlong by any means necessary, and she ended up enlisting my help to do so. So after that, aside from fulfilling the duties forced upon us, we would constantly be brainstorming and coming up with methods to try and kill Arlong. We figured without Arlong, the rest of the pirates would crumble and skedaddle, cut off the head of the snake and all that. But, of course, this snake had a nearly indestructible neck.

We tried all sorts of things using the resources available to us, firstly going for the subtle methods, which I disliked but was forced to do because of Nami's orders and also because I realised it was the only option I had at that point in time. So we tried all sorts of stuff, countless poisons, acids and toxins, as well as trying to find out if he had allergies and foods he was allergic to.

Of course, we were limited in what we could get our hands on, and we refrained from involving anybody else on the island. That was Nami's decision as she came to the conclusion that she and I were indispensable for Arlong, and so even if we were caught, we would not be killed. I am sure it is only her that is crucial to their plans. However, I made no mention of this and continued to assist her.

However, nothing seemed to work, and any positions that we had access to in the East Blue just would not cut it, his Fishman biology handling it with ease. So we decided to get more clear-cut with our methods when the subtle ways were not panning out, and by that, we made the decision that bodily harm was in order. But, of course, we did not forget the poisons, and so we laced our assassination tools in them to the best of our abilities and then waited for the right opportunity to stick inside him.

He had proved to be resistant to blunt attacks, so we decided to pierce him with blades. When the time finally came, Nami jumped the gun and ran straight to stab him in the chest. I myself aimed myself at his eyes. He ignored Nami and took me down, and then that was it. He did nothing more. He laughed and then sent us on our way, weirding us both out, but we didn't care as it just meant that we could try again.

And we did. Again and again and again. And yet, every time, our efforts amounted to nothing. We would regularly return to Nojiko's house covered in wounds when Arlong was a bit heavy-handed, and she would patch us up without saying anything, even though it pained her to see us like that. We used everything that we had, and the results always remained the same.

After that, Nami despaired at the fact that Arlong was seemingly invincible and pinned all of her hopes on her last option. She could not wait for us all to be freed by someone else. However, she had already seen one failed attempt, and therefore she returned her gaze back to the one hundred million berries she would have to raise to buy this island and everyone's freedom back from Arlong.

I myself did not think that. Even if she somehow managed to raise the full amount that Arlong wanted, I doubt Arlong would actually abide by the terms of the agreement. However, this was nami's hope, and I could not crush it, similar to how the villager's hope was for marines to come and free them, stronger than the ones that showed up previously. I could not crush that either, though I knew no one was coming for us.

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With my job being what it was, I was allowed unfettered access to nearly the entirety of Arlong Park. The Fishman were constantly breaking things, and I was always there to fix them and to make improvements, so I got to see a lot more of them behind closed doors than anyone else, even Nami, who was usually locked up in her room atop Arlong Park constantly working on maps.

So it was inevitable that I would eventually overhear some of the more secretive happenings going on in Arlong Park. Arlong wasn't overly aware of his surroundings all the time, or maybe he just wanted me to hear this out of some sadistic pleasure. Arlong was talking on a Den Den Mushi, and I learned that he was bribing the nearby marines to keep everything going on here covered up. More specifically, that bastard Captain Nezumi was profiting off of our misery, which somehow pissed me off way more than Arlong, who was actually causing us to suffer, Maybe because it was a dereliction of duty. I never mentioned it since the villagers needed that hope, and Nami didn't need distractions.

Nami asked for my help to figure out a way to somehow get off of this island and start gathering funds. The second part, she decided she would deal with it, and she just needed my help for the first thing. We decided on going to Arlong and convincing him that she should be allowed out so she could draw more maps, having done all she could while confined here to these surrounding islands.

Surprisingly Arlong agreed without much fanfare, he even revealed he could guess our actual objective to gather money, but he didn't care. So my plan A was to kill the fucker, plan B was for Nami to collect the money, and by some miracle, Arlong actually agreed to it. Plan C... Don't get me started on plan C. It is our unfeasible doomsday plan which Nami knows nothing about, and if that is required, then things have gotten too drastic. I would rather not think about it.

However, he did not allow me to go with her. I tried, I did. I tried my best with sound logic and reason to convince him to let me also leave, but for some reason, he refused to let me. In fact, he forbade me from leaving the island entirely, on the threat that a lot of people would die if I did. I had no clue why he was so adamant about it, but he told Nami not to try and get help; otherwise, she would be dooming everyone still here. My only guess is that he is not letting me go because he thinks maybe I could do something that would be detrimental to him while off of the island. I don't know what that is, but it doesn't matter since I won't be leaving this island any time soon.

Nami was not allowed to leave freely either, Arlong did not fully trust her not to mess up and bring more attention to the island, and so he decided to send a Fishman subordinate with her every time she left to protect and monitor her as well as make sure that she didn't do anything she shouldn't. He also ordered them not to help her with anything and only intervene if it looked like she might die since her death would hurt his plan. Aside from that, they were just there to monitor, and Arlong knew that Nami was going to try and get money, and he knew that one hundred million bellies could only be gained by crime.

Arlong fully expected Nami to go out there and try and steal and for her to get very fucking hurt and come back fallen, no longer willing to try and gather the money. Well, he was right about that first part. Nami had gone on a few expeditions by this point, with nothing happening much and some slight thievery taking place as she tried to find her groove, her Fishmen escort usually always hiding in the waters and waiting.

After a while, she was trusted not to make any waves, and she had gotten used to her new role as a thief, befriending and helping out bad people and pirates with her skills and stealing from them, usually without doing the former if she could help it. Finally, Arlong, satisfied after her year-long effort, decided she no longer needed an escort, trusting her not to run to the marines and to not run to the marines and not to get herself killed. And indeed, she was cunning and skilful enough to end up not dead, but that didn't mean she always got away unscathed.

On this one particular occasion, she had come back with bruises and cuts all over her, but her face was hard, and there was no sadness or pain on her face, only guilt and anger, anger at her own weakness. She had tried to steal from somebody, and she had vastly underestimated her target, though thankfully, she hadn't overestimated herself. While the theft did not pan out, she did manage to escape with her life. That was not good enough for her, and so she came to me. Why did she come to me? Well, I had been busy working on Plan A while she was busy with Plan C.

Of course, I could not stand idly by as a young girl tried alone to free all of us in a way that I did not think would work. Nevertheless, I never truly gave up on Plan A, which was killing Arlong. Except for this time, I knew that I could not rely on cunning or subtle methods, and the only way to do such a thing would be to use my own strength and skill. Thankfully Arlong was okay with our attempted murders, so all I had to worry about was getting stronger.

I continued with the exercises and training methods that Garp had told me so long ago, but clearly, that would not be enough. And so I supplemented it with all of my past life knowledge as well as all of the knowledge and help I could get from the villagers on the island. Arlong actually provided me with money as he realised nearly all of my time was spent working for him, and I needed to eat and rest as well. So I used this money to buy food and aid from the villagers. I was getting the advice from experienced villagers to come up with the best training regimen and the best nutritious food. And I carried this on for a long time, mainly using my past knowledge to help me get an edge.

I had constantly been trying to get stronger whenever I could, in the hopes that I could use my own two hands to take down Arlong. However, it would be a while before I reached that point, which meant I just had to work that much harder. When Nami came and asked for my help, I was going to help even before the order was made. It was a long shot, but maybe Arlong would actually follow the deal he made. Anything is possible. So then, it became a question of whether or not she could raise one hundred million berries before I became strong enough to end this once and for all. I couldn't possibly comment, one way or the other.

So with the decision to train Nami came the consideration of how to do so. My objective was to kill Arlong, which required me to have power and speed. However, Nami's goal was to steal, which requires agility and dexterity, and above all else, she needed speed and evasion. Her goal was to steal and run away. Self-defence and combat prowess were secondary to that.

And so that is how we started her training, trying to strengthen her entire body with a concentration on her lower body, especially for her to run away as fast as possible. We trained her whenever possible, which was whenever she was on the island, as she did most of her mapwork while travelling now and usually finished up back in her room at Arlong Tower. I also advised her on what she could do on her own without my help, and she took to it like a horse to water. Not to say that she was a prodigy or anything, but she dove in like she was dying of thirst.

But, even with all my training, she was coming back still covered in cuts and bruises. When I questioned her on it, I discovered that she had not used her new capabilities to continue doing the level of theft she was doing but used them to elevate her crimes to the point she was still escaping from dangerous situations. At this point, I realised escape couldn't be her only option, and she needed some combat capability to help her survivability.

I asked her to spar to start teaching her, and we did, and she was so very weak before me, and I realised that she would need time to bridge such a gap. However, Nami was not willing to wait and would continue to steal, so we decided that she needed a weapon. After some debate, we figured out she needed a weapon that was easily hidden as she would sometimes be infiltrating, and she needed something to protect her as she would only be trying to steal and escape. Her aim was not to try and kill or maim her opponent but escape with all that they treasured.

She ended up deciding on a collapsible bo staff, even though I was in opposition and wanted her to pick a bladed weapon or a ranged weapon, something that would be more lethal. She refused and kept to the collapsible bo staff she decided to keep strapped to the side of her thigh, though I managed to convince her to take a knife as well. I trained her to use both as best I could after searching out some villagers knowledgeable on the subjects. Nami had been prepared to the best of my ability, and only with consistent training would she grow even stronger.

However, even with my training, she would constantly come home with bruises and injuries, pushing above and beyond to try and gather the funds. And then, when she got back, she would train as well as draw up all of her maps. She was doing an excruciating amount of work, constantly working towards her goal of freeing this island from the Arlong pirate's clutches.

After knowing her for so long, I must admit that even though I hate to be so indentured, I do not wish for harm to befall her head, even if it would mean my freedom. She doesn't even command me to do much, only occasionally when she seriously needs help.

It broke my and Nojiko's hearts to see her constantly in pain and putting up a brave face for everyone, working for everyone's betterment. We tried to get her to stop and take a break, to rest for a while, but she vehemently refused. I think she is so adamant now, not only because of the possibility of freeing everyone but also to break free and stop making maps for the Arlong pirates, knowing just how much destruction they could cause. She would let nothing get in her way, least of all us, and Nojiko and I would just have to deal with that and cope in our own way.

Speaking of Nojiko, that brilliant blue-haired girl had also had her hands full these last few years, mainly dealing with us. She truly was fantastic, allowing me to live there with her because I had nowhere else to go, and while Arlog wanted me to also stay at Arlong Park, I abhorred the thought with my entire being, and luckily Nojiko let me live with her.

With Nojiko being the only one left at the tangerine farm out of the pair of sisters, she took charge of it and looked after the farm, growing and selling the tangerines. I helped her occasionally since I lived there with her, and I also helped around the house as well.

Honestly, if Nami was a greedy devil as she had shown herself to be with her incredible talent in pilfering, which I learnt she had before the pirate invasion, then Nojiko was a benevolent angel. She had a little bit of a vulgar tongue which she picked up from her mother, but that was something I grew to like as well.

I genuinely do not know how I could have handled all of this if it were not for Nojiko, who was there to look after both Nami and me, looking after our injuries, cooking for us, cleaning for us and lots more. I make sure to look after her and help her where I can since she does do much for me.

Seeing her and Nami working so hard every day, doing what they could, I decided to work hard as well and upped my training as much as I could when I wasn't working. I was doing my all to free myself, Nami and Nojiko, as well as everybody else, but more than that, I seriously wanted to bash Arlongs head in.

But even that was proving to be complicated.