One Piece: Gold And Fire

Ragna moved carefully through the massive pirate ship, dressed in simple ragged clothes he pick up of a drunken pirate, though knocking him out and taking them out wasn't a pleasant experience for him. However, to blend in as a low-ranking crew member, he had to do so. His plan was simple—figure out how many pirates were on board and whether it was worth fighting them or if he should just sneak away. And now he was glad that he didn't went in gun flaring, becuase there were many pirates and though mostly where small fires but there is power in unity. Now whether he gonna find unity among them is not something wanna check out, though he didn't expect much from this gang of low life thugs.

Everywhere he looked, there were pirates—big ones, small ones, loud ones, drunk ones and mostly ugly ones. Some were sharpening weapons, others were gambling, and a few were passed out on the floor after drinking too much.

Ragna sighed. "Just get out of here Ragna, why take a flying arrow to the knee ?"

He kept his head down and pretended to be busy, sweeping the deck or carrying barrels whenever someone looked his way. The last thing he needed was to get caught.

After walking around for a while, he had seen enough. It was time to leave.

But just as he was about to slip away, he heard something that made him stop.

A group of pirates was gathered near some crates, talking with loud slur voices, they were drunk of course.

"Hahaha, that bastard nowadays calling him golden hook. Did you heard what he used to say, "I'll conquer the grand line. That bastard don't even know what will happen to him when Captain chatch him" one of them laughed.

Ragna's ears perked up hearing the familar name. He casually moved closer, pretending to mop the floor as he listened.

"Tsh, running away with that much money, I'm even surprise how that bastard was able to escape from captain's hands all this time," another pirate grumbled. "Hah, he's keeping a low profile for last 2 months, last news about him state he was near the calm belt."

"Is captain's still looking for him," a third pirate added.

"Hahaha, do you really thing Captain is someone who will let someone who betrayed him go just like that, he's not letting this grudge go, let alone forget about it in just a few months.

Ragna raised an eyebrow, never he would have thought that he will ended up meeting someone who had a business with Golden Hook.

"Where'd he run off to?" one of the pirates asked.

"No idea," the first pirate replied. "But the captain's furious. He's got half of the crew searching for him even as we speak."

This was useful information. If Golden Hook stole money from this crew, then that meant he should have money on him, but Ragna found nothing. And a little he found was taken by Toll.

"So where the rest of the money went ?" Ragna pondered but soon just shrugged his head, that didn't mattered to him right now. What was important was the information itself. This crew having history with the preivous owner of his ship was another reason for him to get out of here.

"Alright," he muttered under his breath. "Time to go."

Ragna now just wanted to get of this Island, he didn't wanted to let Nami alone on the ship for too long either, the situation was more dangerous than he thought it would be. He sooner started to way back to the edge of the ship, careful not to draw attention.

He hurried back toward the ship, anxiety not leaving before he left this Island behind. He wasn't afraid—no, fear wasn't the right word—but he was worried. He might able to leave alone, fighting his way off but he can't save Nami while doing so.

If the captain found out he was using Golden Hook's Ship then escaping would become even harder, he would definitely come after them. And fighting so many pirates at once wasn't something he wanted to deal with.

---

Nami sat on the deck, waiting for Ragna to return. He had been gone for a long time, and each second was feeling like an hours to her. She tapped her fingers against the wooden railing, her mind racing.

Her eyes drifted down to the black cloth in her hands. It was a flag. A pirate flag.

The skull in the center made her stomach twist.

Only one kind of person flew this flag at sea—pirates.

Nami bit her lip. She didn't want to believe it. She had been traveling with Ragna for a while now, and he never once seems like a pirate. He never acted like one either. But this flag… it made her question everything.

She had planned to ask him about it the moment he returned. She needed to hear the truth from him. But the longer she waited, the more anxious she became.

Then, suddenly, she heard something.

At first, she thought it was Ragna. Her heart lifted for a brief moment— just wanting to launch at him with guns blazing asking the reason behind he had this flag on him until she realized the voices didn't belong to him.

Her eyes widened.

Those were deep, rough voices. Multiple people. And they were getting closer.

Nami quickly ducked down and peeked over the side of the ship. Her breath caught in her throat. She completely believed that this Island was completely abandoned by now.

She has no idea why she decided to hide in panic but her survival instincts told her that that was the right thing to do.

Nami has learn to listen to her survival instincts, that has kept her alive all this time.

There, standing near the shore, was a group of men. Pirates-she could saw only by looking at them.

She cursed under her breath.

They had spotted the ship.

Without wasting another second, Nami rushed back inside and hid. She pressed her back against the wall, trying to calm her breathing as the sound of footsteps echoed on the deck.

The pirates had boarded. She heard them talking.

"Look's like we hit a jackpot, just look at her, ain't see a beauty...." One of the men said, making Nami wonder how they saw her when she was hiding.

"Hahaha, a ship like this would sure cost some nice belly yeh?"

'Ah, of course they are talking about the ship, that idiot, why he had to colour the ship with so vibrant gold and red...' She curse under her breath.

What followed was them searching the ship, their heavy boots thudding against the wooden floor. Nami's hands clenched into fists.

There were too many of them. She had no chance of fighting them off. Running was the only option.

She swallowed hard.

She needed to signal for help.

Then she remembered—the flare.

Her only way of calling Ragna back was outside… on the deck.

Nami shut her eyes for a second, cursing her own carelessness. There was no way she could reach it now.

Which meant she was out of options.

The only thing left to do… was to take what she could and escape before they found her.

She took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves. The only valuable thing on the ship—besides the ship itself—was the money Ragna had stored.

If these pirates were looking for something, they would find it anyway. And if she was going to run, she might as well take the money with her.

To save guard it of course...

"But how do I get out ?"

---

As Ragna reached the shore and saw his ship in the distance, his steps slowed, finally getting a little relax but that was only until he boarded the ship.

His eyes left widen seeing ship's deck in a mess.

Wooden planks were cracked, barrels were knocked over, ropes were cut. It was like someone had torn through the place in a rampage.

"Nami?" Ragna called out, Ragna didn't even care about the ship nor the money he stored inside but the girl.

No answer.

He looked around, scanning every inch of the deck. No sign of her.

He bolted toward the cabins, kicking open doors as he searched.

The inside of the ship was even worse. Tables and chairs were shattered, the walls had deep slashes as if someone had swung a blade wildly, and the floor was covered in debris. Ragna clenched his fists.

There was no blood though, this gave him a little sense of comfort. But the sign of fight and looting around the ship wasn't pretty.

"Nami!" he shouted again, his voice echoing through the empty ship. Still, nothing.

He rushed into his room, hoping she was hiding somewhere. But the moment he stepped inside, his stomach dropped.

The room was destroyed.

His bed was flipped over, his belongings were scattered everywhere, and the three bags of money he had hidden in the corner were missing. He only frowned a little over his bed getting destroyed, not even giving much thought to the money or other things, maybe because he had to sleep on leaves for 6 to 7 years before going back to the issue at hand, finding Nami. He tried to find any clues what might have happened in their, but try as he might he was no Witcher or Sherlock to create a holographic flash black of someplace where he wasn't by just studying the surroundings.

But he did found something, something he didnt' like, it was a piece of black cloth. It was torn to shreds, barely hanging on.

Ragna knelt down and picked it up and it was exactly what he thought it would be.

"Golden Hook Pirate Flag" Ragna muttered with irritation.

'I should have clear out this useless junks, dammit...' Ragna only pay for painting the outside of the ship but did nothing to to inside to the point all the original pirate things are there in the ship, even the Pirate flag. He just happens to dump all of it in one side of his room to make enough room for himself, too lazy to clear it out and now he had to pay for it.

"If those Pirates were the only who did this then surely they saw this and think it was Golden Hook's ship..." He now was even more worried for Nami.

"Where is she now ?"

xxx

[Word Count: 1767]

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