The bandage man held Nami tightly against him.
He noticed the blood staining her elbow.
"D-did t-they h-hurt y-you?" he asked quietly.
Nami followed his gaze and realized his face was close to her shoulder. She shook her head weakly.
"No… i-it's j-just s-something I w-want t-to b-be r-removed."
The bandage man slowly leaned closer.
He extended his tongue and gently licked the blood flowing from Nami's shoulder. The bleeding stopped instantly. Even the knife wound began to close, the torn skin knitting itself together until no blood flowed at all.
"D-do y-you w-want t-to w-witness y-your f-freedom?" he asked softly.
Nami swallowed, then nodded.
"Please… t-take m-me t-there."
"O-okay," the bandage man replied.
He stood up and carefully lifted her into his arms, carrying her in a princess hold. Step by step, he walked toward Arlong Park.
When they arrived, Nami saw it.
Luffy was already in the air.
His body stretched impossibly high, his long legs extended toward the sky. She watched, breathless, as he came crashing down.
She witnessed the destruction of her prison.
Right before her eyes, Luffy smashed through the top floor of Arlong Park—the room where she had been forced to draw maps for eight long years. The walls shattered. The roof collapsed.
Tears streamed down her face once more—but these were different.
They were not tears of pain.
They were tears of release.
As the building fell apart, Nami saw her maps raining down from the sky. The charts she had been forced to draw, the proof of her captivity, scattered and destroyed as the structure crumbled.
Her nightmare was ending.
It felt as though a new sun had ignited inside her mind, burning away the darkness that had trapped her for so long.
For the first time, she felt it.
Freedom.
Not bound by fear.
Not bound by promises.
Not bound by anyone.
Just her.
And her true dream.
Luffy emerged from the rubble, battered but standing tall. He lifted his head and screamed that she was his friend.
At that moment, Nami finally let go of the weight she had carried for years.
And she smiled.
A genuine smile—pure and unburdened—for the first time in her life.
♤
Many things had happened.
But Nami was a different kind of woman.
She was not someone who broke down at the sight of chaos.
She was not someone who ran away when things became unbearable.
She was not someone who knew how to give up.
She was a woman who had spent eight long years risking her life—every single day.
A woman who had walked forward even when every step cut into her heart.
A woman who fought, endured, and survived for the sake of her freedom.
And this time… she was no longer alone.
She had seen the sun.
And that sun had called her friend—even after everything she had done.
The bandage man gently released his hold on her.
"G-go," he said.
Nami turned to look at him. His expression was unreadable, hidden beneath the wrappings and silence. Her feet touched the ground, and for a moment, she hesitated.
Just for a moment.
Then she felt a light push against her back.
She didn't hesitate anymore.
She ran—straight toward the friends who had saved her.
The bandage man remained where he stood. He said nothing as he looked at the ruined remains of Arlong Park, the shattered symbol of her suffering.
"H-half," he muttered quietly.
Then his body dissolved into black mist, fading from the spot where he stood.
And no one knew where he went next.
♤
Time passed, and the news spread far and wide.
Word traveled from island to island, village to village—the fishmen had been defeated.
Cocoyasi Village erupted into celebration. The people of Cocoyasi and the surrounding islands held a massive party that lasted for days, eating, drinking, and laughing together to mark their freedom after eight long years of oppression.
For the first time, the night felt light.
Then Nami tried to run again—but not away.
This time, she ran to fix what had been broken.
Nami got a new tattoo. A doctor carefully removed the Arlong Pirates' mark from her shoulder and replaced it with something new: a tangerine, with a windmill beside it, representing her foster mother Bell-mère and the village leader Genzo. At the tip of the tangerine were two small black dots.
And those two black dots… well, that was something we already knew.
Some time later—
A fucking rat returned.
Captain Nezumi barged back into Cocoyasi Village, furious and humiliated. After being beaten and disgraced by Luffy following the fall of Arlong Park, the bruised and bandaged Marine officer tried to reclaim his authority by threatening the villagers and the Straw Hats. His voice shook with rage as he ranted about his ruined "business" with Arlong and how he had been treated like a common criminal.
But no one was afraid anymore.
The villagers stood their ground. The Straw Hats didn't even flinch. Nami herself forced Nezumi to return all the treasure he had stolen, but mezumi didn't let his possession and hi earning s be easily taken back.This causes nami in frustration and beat him up and he was sent fleeing back to his ship in total disgrace.
Burning with hatred, Nezumi sought revenge.
From his Marine ship, he contacted Marine Headquarters and reported Monkey D. Luffy. That single call led to Luffy receiving his very first bounty—30,000,000 Berries—making him the most wanted man in the East Blue.
Nezumi didn't care about the consequences.
He wanted them dead. All of them.He will gather his Soldiers amd will definitely return and kill them all and those women they will have a taste of a rat.
But when he returned to his branch—the base he ruled, the place where his men, weapons, battalion, and power were supposed to be—
"W-what happened here…?"
The Marine base was gone.
Everything had crumbled into dust. The fortress lay in ruins. Burned corpses were scattered everywhere. Bodies lay sliced apart, heads rolled across the ground, limbs strewn without order.
It was a massacre.
No one had been spared.
Nezumi's kingdom had been erased right in front of his eyes.
Before he could process what he was seeing, the Den Den Mushi he had just used to contact Headquarters began to ring. He answered it frantically, screaming for help, trying to explain that something had happened to his branch.
But a voice cut him off.
"Nezumi. You have a lot to explain."
The tone was cold.
"A video is circulating across the East Blue right now. And guess who's in it? You—and Arlong—making a deal. Your men admitting their crimes. Do you understand what that means?"
Nezumi froze.
"Be ready," the voice continued. "Someone will be coming to your branch. Don't think about running, or you'll face the consequences—"
The call was interrupted.
A buzzing sound.
Then a sharp, whistling cut.
Nezumi screamed in agony.
Heavy footsteps echoed. Flesh was stomped again and again, each impact crushing bone, each sound drowning out Nezumi's fading screams.
"W-what ha—what happened—?" the voice on the other end shouted. "Nezumi?! What did you—"
Bang.
The Den Den Mushi was sliced cleanly into three pieces.
Silence followed.
The man responsible vanished without a trace.
Nezumi was gone.
The Marines were gone.
The branch was completely erased.
But who did it?
That… is a mystery we can decipher for ourselves.