No, its interrogation time.

[in celebration of reaching 25 chapters I’m going to do some shark jumping. Only readers of One Piece will get the punch line, you have been warned.]

“Sorry about the whole **** thing,” Nami told Miss. Wednesday. There was a slight slur to her speech, likely due to the two empty bottles of booze on the table.

She was currently sitting at the galley’s dining table with Tashigi and Miss. Wednesday. Nami and Tashigi were sitting on one side while the girl they’d been interrogating an hour earlier was sitting across from them with not a stitch on her upper body.

“She can’t help herself. She’s a female pirate,” Tashigi confided to the blue-haired girl in her own drunken slur. “The first thing they think of when they want to ask someone questions is to cut off something.”

“True, true,” Nami confessed. She leaned forward and poured the toplless Miss. Wednesday another cup. “Drink up. I looted it from our first mate’s stash. There's a lot more where it came from.”

Nami swigged down her own serving and then refilled her cup. “I’ll admit I was jealous. You have the prettiest tits I’ve ever seen. So smooth, so silky, so perfectly formed. They make me feel like a cow.” Nami pushed her own crop top up over her breasts and let them bounce into the open air. Contrary to her words they didn’t fall down in comparison to the other girl’s rack. They might have sagged a little bit, and were not quite as smooth and silky but no man would be able to resist titty fucking her if given a chance.

Tashigi blushed and took a sip of her own drink while diverting her eyes away from two girls she was sitting with. She hunched her shoulders forward as if to hide her own modest b-cup assets.

“Awww, come on Tashigi. We’ve shown you ours, now you show us yours.” Nami cajoled. Giving her a nudge to the shoulder while refilling her cup.

Tashigi’s blush deepened and she held a hand to the top of her shirt in a defensive pose. “I can’t compare to you. It’s likely why Roronoa hasn’t **** me yet.” she said in a slightly woebegone voice.

“Nonsense!” Miss. Wednesday shouted, slamming her now empty mug down on the table top and causing her rack to bounce in a distracting manner. “You shouldn’t let men define you. You have a lovely pair of breasts.” She visibly struggled for her next sentence, but finally held up a finger and said. “They’re cute! That’s what they are. Cute!”

“Yeah, Zoro is clueless. I bet if he knew how much you want him to **** you he’d be happy to do it,” Nami told Tashigi.

“Who said I wanted him to **** me? I don’t? I don’t fuck pirates!” Tashigi yelled. “I told stupid Roronoa that and you know what he did? Do you? I’ll tell you what he did! He did’t **** me.”

“The bastard!” Miss. Wednesday said.”

“Damn right!” Tashigi said, holding out her cup for a refill. “Has a pirate ever **** you? She asked Miss Wednesday. “I bet they have. Those tits must be like honey to them.”

Miss Wednesday giggled, cupping her hands under her breasts. “They are pretty aren’t they. When I was living in the palace I used to spend a good hour everyday in the steam bath and the heated pool before rubbing in lotion before I slipped into my bed. I had silk sheets you know. You can’t believe how good silk sheets feel against your naked body. Not like my bed at Whisky Peak. Cotton, and only two hundred thread count. I might as well be sleeping in a burlap bag.”

“Sounds rough. I dream of having silk sheets to sleep on. I bet they felt wonderful,” Nami commiserated with her while filling her glass up as well.

“Hey, hey, hey!” Tashigi stuttered. “You never answered my question,” She said to Miss. Wednesday, earring her a dirty look from Nami,which was quickly replaced by an expression of drunken curiosity.

Miss. Wednesday looked at Tashigi through blurry eyes. “What question was that?”

“Do, do, pirates, you know the bad guys, to they like to **** you. Because you tits are so pretty?”

“Hah,” The blue-haired girl laughed. “You bet they do. But they don’t get a chance.” She leaned in closer to the two girls with a conspiratorial look on her face. “Want to know why?”

“Nah. I already know how not to get ****,” A wobegon Tashigi said as she swallowed a mouthful of eye watering booze. “Waste your time throwing hints at a wooden head.”

“Oh, oh, I want to know. I’d do anything to keep my captain from **** me everytime he gets bored,” Nami said.

“Stick a knife in him!” Tashigi muttered.

“Is your captain that bad?” Miss. Wednesday asked. “Does he have a big, you know, bounty?”

“You have no idea! Check this out!” Nami said, slamming a newspaper down on the table. “That’s my captain,” She said pointing at Luffy’s wanted poster.

Miss. Wednesday smoothed out the paper while turning it around toward herself. She leaned in to focus on the image, and moved her lips as she ran a finger across the bounty details. Her eyes opened wide and she exclaimed, “Thirty million! That can’t be right!”

“Fucking right it is!” Nami said waving her mug around and splashing booze all over her exposed breasts. “Do you have any idea how absolutely vicious you have to be to get a thirty million bounty in the East Blue?”

“He doesn’t look vicious?” Miss. Wednesday said in a dubious tone as she examined Luffy’s idiotic smile.

“Let me tell you. . .. What was I saying? Oh, right. Let me tell you this. There was this pirate, he was a pirate. Named Arlong. He was a pirate. Anyway. This pirate took over an entire island. Island had twenty towns. He made everyone pay a tax for living on the, the island. Didn’t pay the tax, you didn't’ get to keep, you know, living. For ten years he was in charge. Killed people. Lots and lots of people. Do you know what his bounty was? Twenty million! So I ask you. I ask you this. What do you suppose my captain is like if he’s worth thirty million?”

“Wow. And he rapes you a lot?”

“I can’t even count the number of times!” Nami declared, crossing her arm across her face in despair.

“Lucky,” Tashigi muttered into her forearms as she rested her head on the table.

Miss Wednesday took a swig straight from a fourth bottle that had appeared on the table from nowhere. “Do you want to get away, you know, from your captain.”

“You have no idea how much. But I can’t. He hunted me across half the East Blue because he wanted a navigator with a tight cunt. He’d never let me go.”

“I might, maybe, you know, But maybe I might have a way.”

Nami’s expression went from helpless to hopeful and she leaned forward and clasped Miss. Wednesday’s hand between her two. “Really, big sister. Please. I’d do anything for you if you could.” Nami leaned in and drew a circle around one of Miss. Wednesday’s nipples with a booze covered finger. “Anything!”

Miss. Wednesday peered around the room with blurry eyes, checking to see if anyone else had come into the room in the last ten seconds. She then leaned in closer to Nami and said. “Whiskey Peak. You know my port. It’s a bounty hunter town.” She waved her hands back and forth. “But shhhhh, you can’t tell anyone. It’s a secret.” She giggled. “I know lots of secrets.”

“I’d never tell, big sis,” Nami swore. “How could I betray someone with such pretty tits?” She asked as she reached forward and clumsily fondled one of Miss Wednesday boobs.

“They are pretty aren’t they?” Miss Wednesday asked, looking down with a silly expression as Nami made free with her Ta Tas.

“Are the people in your town strong? My captain is really strong. Did I tell you his bounty is thirty million?”

“Don’t have to be strong. Just have to be smart.” Miss. Wednesday tried to tap the side of her head with a finger and missed. It took her three tries to do it. “See. smart. We don’t fight pirates.” She looked around again and leaned in till her mouth was only an inch from Nami’s lips. “We throw them a party!” She leaned back and laughed as if she’d just said the funniest thing in the world.

“A party. I don’t understand Big sis,” Nami said in confusion.

Miss. Wednesday wagged a finger in front of Nami’s face. “Like I said,” she frowned. “Did I say it. Yes I did. You need to be smart. Pirates love to party when they’ve won a fight, or passed a goal.” She threw out her arms wide causing her breasts to bounce up and down hypnotically. “Getting to the Grand Line is huge. And scary. We cheer their victory, throw them a party. Get them drunk, and then,” Miss Wednesday drew a finger across her throat. “We sell their ship, keep half the loot for ourselves, bury a few more bodies on the mountain, and wait for the next pirate. See, clever.” She trailed off and sort of slumped down on the table top. Drool from her half open mouth pooled on the table top.

“Wow! You are so clever, big sis. Big sis? Are you awake big sis?” Nami poked the comatose Miss. Wednesday, and then slipped a hand under her torso so she could give one of her nipples a hard twist. All that did was cause the girl to roll slightly away from the pain. Nami’s face shifted, her slack expression becoming calculating and the obvious signs of inebriation vanished. “Wow. You were so right, big sis, Getting them drunk works great.”

Nami pushed herself to her feet, and staggered a bit, “Careful, don’t want to ruin your reputation, Nami.” she told herself. She reached over and grabbed hold of Tashigi’s shirt collar and pulled her upright in her seat. The marine girl’s head lolled to the side.

“You awake, marine bitch?” Nami asked. Getting no answer she gave the girl a couple of slaps that rocked her head back and forth and left a red handprint on each cheek.

Tashigi raised her hands in a clumsy defensive effort while muttering, “Never. You’ll never break me Roronoa. No matter how often you **** me I’ll never break.” The act of defiance was somewhat spoiled by the giggle at the end and the barely heard because of the slurring words, “But, keep trying, who knows.”

Nami rolled her eyes. She had no idea why Tashigi was so focused on Zoro, outside of the sword thing. But that aside it was clear the girl was totally out of it. With a groan she hooked one of Tashigi’s arms over her shoulder and half lifted, half dragged her up onto deck, where she laid her down on a chunk of sail cloth. “Try to make it to the rail when you wake up, okay?” Nami paused, and then gave the girl what was almost a fond pat on the cheek. Remind me to tell you about Captain Nezumi, and Luffy’s bounty sometime.”

Drawing a deep breath of fresh ocean air to clear her lungs and steady her head, Nami headed for shore. She needed to tell Zoro and Sanji about Whisky Peak and discuss what to do about it. Not Luffy. She already knew what Luffy’s reaction would be, and while Miss. Wednesday had considered the villagers weak, an entire town of bounty hunters was not to be discounted. If it were not for the mention of their accumulated loot from who knows how many pirate ships Nami would have been all for giving the place a pass. Two months ago she’d have happily used the Strawhats as a distraction while she looted the village herself. Now she had to share her information and let other, rational, crew members have a say in what to do.

A breeze from the shore brough the scent of cooking fish, and Nami felt her mouth watering. It looked like Sanji had finally managed to find time to roast that huge honking elephant tuna he’d picked up in Logue town. It wouldn’t hurt to soak up a bit of the booze in her belly with some solid food.

Walking toward the rail Nami noticed something glittering in sunlight. Her magpie instincts were engaged and she diverted to check it out. With her current semi-**** state she chose not to bend over, less she tip over, or toss her cookies, she instead crouched down and picked up a leather wrist strap with a two inch diameter glass ball attached to it. Inside was what was clearly a compass needle of somesort. She had never seen the device before. She looked around. This was the place Luffy had one punched the two bounty hunters right before they tried to fire their portable cannons into the whale’s guts. Odds were that it belonged to one of them. For lack of a better way of carrying it she strapped it onto her wrist.

Walking up the wharf to the shore Nami was shocked by a sudden explosion high up on the cliffs that backed Crocus’s lighthouse. She instinctively whirled in place to look for the ship that must have fired the cannon ball that caused the explosion, but there was nothing there. Another explosion happened and she looked up at the cliff. An entire chain of explosions was occuring in a straight line across the face of the mountain about two thousand feet above her.

Sitting next to the fire was Crocus, who was leaning back in a lounger and looking up at the cliff as well. He didn’t seem overly concerned, leading Nami to believe that he knew what was happening. “What’s going on?” Nami asked, a bit annoyed. She was sure this was some more testosterone bullshit on the part of the male members of the crew.

“You’re cabin girls are sparing. They’re impressive. It’s pretty rare to find one that strong, and your crew has two. I hope the men on the crew can keep up with them. If they can, they’re going to be incredible.”

“We only have one cabin girl,” Nami said out of reflex. “The red-head. The bunny-girl is just a passenger.”

“Are you sure about that? Your captain is a D. They have a habit of accumulating powerful cabin girls. For your captain to already have two just out of the East Blue is unprecedented. Roger didn't find his cabin girls until he got to the New World. Up till then he’d just had relief girls. Carrot’s mother was one of those cabin girls. She sailed with us on the last leg of our journey. I’m not sure we would have made it to the last island without her on the crew. She pushed our personal growth and strength just that little bit further than we might otherwise have gone.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You’re like most people. You think cabin girl is just another name for relief station crew, and it’s true that the name is used for that position. But just because a female sailor is used as a relief station does not make her a cabin girl. Not a true one. A true cabin girl forces her nakama to grow in strength. They have to in order to keep pace with her. A true cabin girl has their own type of haki, unique to them.”

“Haki? There was a pirate I met a couple of times. Arlong said he had Haki. I think Ranma has it as well. Just what is it?”

“The answer to that question is not easy to answer. The easy answer is the users can warp their personal reality in various ways. The full answer will have to wait until you reach Raftel and find the One Piece. You’re a navigator?”

“Yes.”

“Then you are familiar with the natural laws that control the wind and tides and how to find where you are going. But that was in the East Blue. The rules changed when you went over Reverse Mountain. You’re going to have to learn how the rules work in this ocean.”

“That’s nonsense. The rules of nature are set in stone. They don’t just change because you sail a bit further from home.”

“Are they? That attitude, and the failure of realizing it is wrong, has destroyed more adventurers than all other causes.” Crocus pointed at the glass sphere Nami had strapped to her wrist. “You have a log pose. Do you know how to use it?”

“Log pose? I thought it was a broken compass.”

“It’s not broken. It is a sort of compass, in that it points the way you need to go. Without one you will never be able find your way while you are on the Grand Line. Every island in the Grand Line has its own unique magnetic signature. The Log Pose can detect that. Right now it is pointing to right here. But in a short while it will record this location’s magnetic signature and will disregard it and point at the next closest magnetic signal. The only way to navigate in the Grand line is to hop from island to island. Not every island. There are different chains of islands starting from here. Seven different paths you can take. But once you start out on one you won’t be able to switch to another. You have to follow the chain you selected to its end where they all converge again. It’s one of the first challenges of the grand line. Pick a chain that is incompatible with your crew's skill set and you will perish.”

Nami felt a sudden hollow feeling in her gut as she looked at the Log Pose. If Crocus was telling the truth all her hard won skills had just become useless.

Crocus must have deduced her thoughts from her expression. “Don’t worry. The skills you learned in the East Blue are still needed. You still need to understand the wind and the currents in order to survive the voyages from island to island. The Log Pose will always point to your destination, but you will seldom be able to sail in a straight line. You’ll need to read the wind and avoid currents and storms that could sink you.”

Nami felt a little better, but she hadn’t forgotten how this conversation had started. “What has this to do with Haki.”

“I was just showing you how there are no hard and fast rules in this world. What you think of as natural laws, aren’t. But, on top of that people with the talent, and the will power, are able to change the rules as they apply to themselves. And sometimes the area and people around them. They can harden their skin so nothing can hurt them. They can boost their strength to the point where they could toss your ship over their shoulder and carry it. They can project their will into a weapon so it can hit with a hundred times its normal impact. If it is a sword it can slice anything. If they are strong enough they can extend the cutting **** of the blade hundreds of yards.”

“Mihawk sliced a giant galleon in half. It was a dozen times bigger than the Going Merry.” Nami said, remembering the story Usopp had told her of what happened after she abandoned them at the Baratia.

“Mihawk is one of the strongest users of armament Haki on the ocean.” Crocus gave her a nod in approval of her example.

“To get back to true cabin girls. What makes them what they are, is the ability to use Haki to modify their own bodies. I saw the little redhead take fourteen inches of dick up her cunt. That isn’t natural. Only a true cabin girl with innate haki could do that. She might not even know she’s doing it. For most of them it’s instinctive. If she can gain conscious control of it she might be able to adjust the bodies of other females if she’s in frequent contact with them. Tell me, have you noticed your capacity for dick growing any larger since you’ve known her.”

Nami’s mind flashed to her session with Usopp. She tended to classify him as normal in comparison to the monsters on the crew, but he still had a ten inch cock, and she’d taken him balls deep into her cunt with only minor discomfort. Had sleeping with Ranma changed her? Or was it just because she’d been so horny at the time that the only thing she’d cared about was getting stuffed with as much cock as she could handle?

“I see from your expression that she might have. It won’t be just you. True cabin girls can boost the strength of their crew.”

“Are you trying to tell me that fucking Ranma makes you stronger?”

“Well, it’s not as simple as that. She has to want her partner to be stronger. That’s not going to happen if she hates their guts. So capturing a cabin girl and chaining her down to a bed won’t do you much good. The fonder she is of her partners, the more powerful her haki will affect them. Mind you, they have to have latent haki of their own, otherwise it won’t matter how much they fuck her they won’t get any stronger than they would have otherwise. Though they can have a lot of fun trying,” Crocus said with a look of remembrance in his eyes.

After a bit he continued. “But, if he does have latent haki, her haki can interact with that. If they are stronger than she is it won’t make much difference, but if she’s stronger than they are her body will try to change that balance by stimulating their haki. One thing all cabin girls have in common is a love of hard rough sex. If a man they like can’t give it to her, their instincts will try to fix the problem. There is no better way to activate your haki than by fucking the hell out of a true cabin girl.”

Nami was suddenly reminded of Luffy’s statement that a proper cabin girl was one who was one of the strongest members of the crew. He hadn’t come up with that himself. He claimed someone called Shanks had said it. Was that the reason Shanks had believed that. Had he and his crew benefited from a strong cabin girl?

Crocus hadn’t noticed Nami’s distraction and had continued his explanation. “As for Carrot. She’s a female rabbit mink. She was born a cabin girl. On top of that, like all minks she is a formidable warrior that far exceeds anyone native to the East Blue who hasn’t had a chance to grow in strength on the Grand Line. Indeed it won’t be until you reach the New World, if you do, that fighters who can overpower her will become common. Just like the red-head if I had to guess.” Crocus grew thoughtful, and Nami almost thought the expression on his wrinkled old face might be one of awe.

“To be honest I’m having a bit of a problem believing it. For a captain, even a D, out of the East Blue to come over reverse mountain with two Grand Line level cabin girls is unprecedented. I’ve never heard of it happening before. If he and the rest of his crew have the ability to benefit from them it’s almost scary to think about how strong you’re going to be by the time you reach the Sabaody Archipelago.”

“Sabaody?”

“Like the reverse mountain it’s the gateway to the next stage if you want the One Piece. It’s the only way a pirate can reach the New World.”

Nami filed that away for future reference.

“I’m starting to think that your captain just might be the one to actually use the One Piece if he can survive long enough to find it.”

“Use it?”

Crocus waved off the question. “You’re not ready to know that yet. You’ll need to learn the truth along the way, slowly. It’s not something that you can just be told. Just like your body, your mind will have to gain in strength if you’re to reach and take advantage of One Piece.

Nami wanted to protest, but suddenly the chain of explosions that had been happening far up on the cliff side started moving toward them. As they got closer Nami could make out the two figures that represented Ranma and Carrot dashing around each other and then moving in to attack, each time they clashed tons of rock would be shattered due to the **** they exerted. It was both awesome, and scary.

Crocus looked over at where Luffy was lifting up huge multi-ton boulders and setting them on Zoro’s back, who was doing pushups. He gave a grin. “It's not just by stimulating their bodies that a good cabin girl can strengthen her crew. She can hurt their male egos and **** them to up their game.”

Nami smiled, and looked over at where Usopp was doing some sort of arm exercises with a heavy rubber band. Men were so predictable. “I can see your point,” She told Crocus.

“Your ship is going to hold you back,” Crocus suddenly said out of nowhere.

“She’s taken us this far, and her hull is still sound,” Nami said a bit defensively, seeing his words as an attack on her own skills. At the same time she was remembering all the times she’d hand chopped Luffy for accidentally breaking something structural on the Merry.

“You misunderstand. Those cabin girls are already so strong that they won’t be able to stretch their abilities on board her without shattering her to splinters. And your male crewmates, at least some of them, are close to that level. That fragility will handicap your crewmates as well. The only time they’ll be able to go all out and beyond, is on land. Not a good thing for a pirate. They can’t just lay around between fights. They need to train and practice, and fight with each other without holding back. You need a ship that can stand up to what they can dish out.”

Nami was about to say something to do with the fact that wishing they had a stronger ship, and getting one were two different things. Ships didn’t grow on trees. Well, unless you counted the wood they were made out of. As the saying went, “If wishes were fishes, we’d never go hungry,” She didn’t. Instead she parsed Crocus’s words and said. “You have a suggestion.”

Crocus looked over at where Ranma and Carrot were standing practically nose to nose, their hands moving so fast that they were just a blur as they constantly launched attacks while parrying their opponent. Lightning was sparking every time Ranma parried a blow from Carrot. Her hands were dead black, a sure sign she was using haki.

“You have two New World level cabin girls, and your captain is a D. Plus there is his grandfather to consider. With those resources and that background your captain might be worthy of him.”

“Who?” Nami asked, thinking Crocus was talking about Luffy’s grandfather and wondering who he was that the old man thought he was so important. However the name Crocus tossed out was not of something that could ever have fathered children, unless they were of the imagination.

“The Oro Jackson.”

[the end of the first story arc.]