Chapter Text
Nami first notices the man in the cell with them when Luffy says, "Those tattoos are funny!" and her head whips around to see who her captain has managed to insult this time.
But the man just laughs. "I suppose they are," he admits, no trace of anger in the amusement.
Perhaps he's used to it. They are odd tattoos: an L and an R in black block lettering, on the left and right hands respectively.
Luffy continues, "Do you lose your directions a lot? Is that why you have them?"
"No," the man says. "But if I ever did lose my way, they'd be my reminders." Inclined as Nami is to write this off as utter nonsense, there's something weighty just behind the good-natured smile that makes Nami hesitant to dismiss it.
The man is tall-- absurdly, ridiculously, Grand Line tall. She'd call him lean if she felt like being polite, and gangly if she was honest. He wears a long, black coat, battered, weatherproofing flaking off where it wrinkles. His face is half in shadow, only the lower half visible. It speaks volumes about Luffy that he commented on the tattoos first, and not the scars.
The man's mouth is a wreck of scar tissue. Nami's seen plenty of scars in her time, from old injuries and new tortured both, and she knows what it looks like when something was done to hurt. The scars must be about a decade old, but Nami can't imagine what they would have been like fresh. The slashes at either side of the mouth, extending it into a macabre smile, must have been first, though they aren't visibly older. But the rest of the scarring looks as if-- it must be-- from someone sewing the man's mouth shut. As if they'd started stitching the open wounds of that mockery of a smile, and then just kept going. In places, the skin is just marked with divots where the string must have gone through, but elsewhere there are deeper, broader scars, where the lacing must have torn at the pierced skin, cutting into it in lines.
But the man smiles brightly, like it doesn’t hurt, and Luffy grins back at him.
And then Smoker makes a noise like he's been gutted and says, "Commander?"
The man glances over, narrows his eyes, and smiles again. It's wry this time, curious and surprised. "Hello there, ensign-- though I'll be very surprised if you haven't been promoted in all this time."
"Captain," Smoker corrects automatically, still sounding strangled.
"Well done!" the man says brightly. "You outrank me!"
"I can't outrank you," Smoker replies. "You're dead."
"A ghost," Usopp whispers in horror, ignored by the rest of them.
"You're a Marine?" Nami says, deciding that she's sick of conversations happening past her.
"Well," the man says thoughtfully, "no. Not if I've been declared dead."
"What's a dead Marine doing in Crocodile's secret death trap?" Nami snaps.
"Trying to break out." The man produces a set of lockpicks from seemingly nowhere. He tips his head to the side. "Care to give it a try?"
It occurs to Nami, as she snaps up the lock picks and makes to attack the lock, that the man has very thoroughly and successfully derailed her interrogation, almost without seeming to try. She's not inclined to believe that it was an accident, though.
"Commander," Smoker bites out. "Rocinante."
The man-- Rocinante-- looks back over at him. "Captain."
"You were dead," Smoker says. "You went off on some mission so secret that Garp got in trouble for even telling us you were on a mission. I tried to look you up a few years later, in Marineford and found you listed as missing in action, considered dead."
Rocinante crosses his legs. When he smiles this time, it's a mask. Nami knows that smile. She saw it in the mirror until she met Luffy.
"What happened?" Smoker pushes.
"Donquixote Doflamingo was made a Warlord," Rocinante replies simply.
The Warlords have been more important in the last few weeks of Nami's life than ever before. She'd heard of them, of course, but she'd never needed to know their names, much less expected to meet them. And now-- now she's seen one almost kill Zoro, now she's trying to save Vivi's country by defeating another, now this stranger says the name of a third like it's a curse.
And Smoker doesn't reply, silence as if he hears something more in the words than Nami can.
She wonders what Zoro knows. He's got a scattershot understanding of the world, larger than hers but also more selective. He certainly knew more about Dracule Mihawk than Nami had, but is it only because Mihawk is a swordsman-- and more than that, Zoro's goal? Shouldn't a bounty hunter know more about the World Government and the Marines than a pirate's cartographer? Maybe. But does he?
Nami very much doubts it.
She exhales, furiously, as the lockpick scrapes uselessly against the pins. If she'd wondered why Rocinante was still stuck in the cell when he had such an excellent set of picks at his disposal, she has the answer now. This lock is humbling her.
"I have to ask for my tools back," Rocinante says, apologetic but firm. Nami looks up, ready to protest, to insist that she can crack it, with just a little more time, but Rocinante adds, "Crocodile is coming."
Zoro's head snaps up, looking out through the bars, hands on his swords. Reluctantly, Nami hands over the case of tools, which vanishes into Rocinante's coat. Usopp skitters back away from the bars, while Luffy charges at them and immediately slumps again. Rocinante settles back into shadow, smile slipping away under a mask of scars.
Nami expects a sandstorm. Instead, a well-dressed man with a smug expression stalks down the stairs, a susurrus of sand under every footstep.
This is the leader of Baroque Works. This is Mr. 0. This is Crocodile.
He stops in front of the cage, like a beast examining its prey. "How convenient. All my greatest irritants, finally in one place. With the Strawhats out of the picture, the poor Princess is out of allies."
Luffy opens his mouth and lunges forward, very likely to tell Crocodile about Sanji and Chopper, but fortunately he hits the bars and slumps with a sound like air being let out of a balloon.
Crocodile chuckles. "Don't worry too much though. You wouldn't have been able to quell the revolt anyway. After today, it's inevitable." He gives Smoker the briefest glance. "You should have obeyed orders, captain. Such a shame that they'll find you dead at the hands of the Strawhat Pirates."
"Hey!" Luffy shouts. "We wouldn't do that! Not unless he started it!"
Crocodile ignores him, turning his gaze on Rocinante.
"I can't imagine I've done enough in the three days I've been in Alabasta to warrant all this attention," Rocinante says.
"No," Crocodile agrees. "But your brother has been a thorn in my side for years. He wants you back very badly, you know. I imagine Doflamingo would make a useful ally, if I were the one to return you to him."
The vague annoyance in Rocinante's eyes flares bright and sharp into deadly hatred. He says nothing, only tilting his head back to sneer at Crocodile.
"Or perhaps I'll just keep you," Crocodile muses. "You might be more valuable as a hostage. But that's a question for after I have dealt with Alabasta." He turns away.
Nami is watching Rocinante. She sees the way resolve sets into the lines of his face. "Over my dead body," he bites out.
Crocodile laughs, not looking back. "You may try to kill yourself if you like," he says. "Doflamingo might want you alive, but he'll take what he can get."
That's when Vivi arrives, and everything gets much busier in a hurry, but the resolution on Rocinante's face sticks to Nami. That absolute certainty. Escape, though any means necessary.
Nami thinks she can understand that. She wonders if Luffy saw it in her, too.
---
They take out the Croco-guy, and then Vivi's dad throws them a massive feast, which makes the last of the ache in Luffy's chest finally fade away. It's not the worst he's ever been hurt-- or he thinks it's not, even though he can't really remember the bit with the bear-- but it still takes forever for Luffy to finally feel like himself again.
He's supposed to bounce back from injuries, like rubber! Having to recover is annoying!
He looks over his crew again. They all look better too, even if only Zoro heals quite as fast as Luffy. That's okay; Luffy just has to make sure they never get hurt as much as him.
They brought Roci to the party too. He'd tried to leave, after waking up in the infirmary with them, but Luffy told him that was stupid. He helped beat Croco-guy, which meant the party was for him, too. Roci still seemed surprised, but that was silly.
Roci is a little like Nami and a little like Zoro, but he's a lot like Ace. He's sad, but he thinks all his problems are too big for him to ask for help. Luffy never quite figured out how to tell Ace that when problems were too big, that's when you're supposed to ask for help, but maybe he's figured that out, now that he has a captain and crew around him.
Roci doesn't have a captain or a crew. Luffy turns this over in his mind. Roci's all alone, and hurt inside, and he thinks he can't ask for help.
Luffy makes a decision. He sits up, and declare, "I need to talk to Rocinante."
Zoro looks up from his sword. "Rocinante, huh?"
That's why Zoro's the best first mate. Luffy doesn't have to explain for Zoro. He just gets it.
Luffy grins at Zoro. Zoro grins back, all teeth.
"Sounds good to me, captain."
It's not hard to find Rocinante. He's the tallest person here, even sitting in a chair at the edge of the room, shoulders all slouchy. Luffy sits beside him and snags a bite of sausage off his plate.
Rocinante doesn't yell at him, or swat him away. Just gives him an odd smile. "You're a lot like your grandfather," he says.
Luffy perks up. "You know Gramps?" Now that he thinks about it, Smokey had said something like that, but Luffy had been trying to gnaw his way out of their cell at the time.
"Sure," Rocinante says. "I grew up on Marineford. My father was friends with Garp." His smile widens as he adds, "I met you when you were just a tiny little thing, you know. Smaller than a watermelon."
Luffy can't remember that, but he supposes there isn't enough room in a watermelon for many memories. Still, it's not fair that he can't remember the first time he met Rocinante! Especially not when Rocinante remembers!
"I'd heard you were making waves in the East Blue, but I didn't expect you to break into the Grandline so soon," Rocinante continues.
"Why wait?" Luffy replies.
"Some people think it's best to get stronger in their home sea."
"But that's boring. All the adventure is here!"
"Sometimes adventure is dangerous," Rocinante replies softly.
Luffy glances down at the tattoos on Rocinante's hands. They're a little silly, but they're also important. Ace's tattoo was for Ace, but it was also for Sabo.
"The East Blue could be dangerous too," Luffy tells him seriously.
Rocinante nods, not arguing.
Luffy crosses his legs. "Lots of my crew was in danger," he explains. "But I'm the captain."
"So it's your job to keep them safe?" Rocinante looks at Luffy, red eyes thoughtful.
"Yeah," Luffy says. He meets Rocinante's eyes. "Join my crew."
The line of Rocinante's mouth thins. "I can't."
"Yes, you can," Luffy explains. "I'm telling you to."
That catches Rocinante off guard, startling a laugh out of him. "I mean," Rocinante says, "that I can't join because I have something else I need to do."
Luffy perks up. "You have a dream?"
"I . . . suppose you could say that," Rocinante says, halting. He sounds startled. "It's a goal, really."
"A dream," Luffy agrees.
Rocinante smiles quietly. "I'm trying to find someone. A pirate. Trafalgar Law."
"To fight?" Luffy asks, which makes Rocinante laugh. Luffy thinks it's a fair question!
"No," Rocinante says. "No, I need-- I just need to see him. I have to apologize to him."
Luffy tips his head to the side. "If you were on my crew, you could travel faster," he points out. "It would be easier to find him. We'll help!"
Rocinante opens his mouth-- then hesitates. "Crocodile isn't the only one trying to hunt me down," he says. "There's a bounty on my head."
"Me too!" Luffy says, delighted once again by the memory of his bounty.
"Mine wasn't set by the World Government," Rocinante says, gentle but firm. "One of the Warlords is trying to-- capture me. Imprison me again."
Nodding, Luffy says, "We'll kick his ass." They've done it before! They can do it again.
Rocinante sighs. "I will sail with you," he agrees. "But I won't join your crew. And if Doflamingo catches up with me, I'll leave."
Luffy cheers, delighted. Rocinante is on his crew! And he didn't even have to fight anyone for it!