One Piece: Gold And Fire

"Say it and I might let you live, Michael Jackson…" Ragna probed as he poked the man with the scabbard of his sword.

"I…I really don't know anymore. That's all I know, I swear." The man pleaded as his only swollen eyes looked at Ragna while the other was completely black and blue to the point he wasn't capable of opening it anymore.

"You sure know how to extract information, were you a Marine before this or what ?" Came a feminine voice from the side, the girl was sunbathing right now, though occasional comments from her were normal for the last few hours.

"No, but learn the skill just in case I'll be needing it in future." Ragna's eyes took a dangerous glint for a second, thinking about a certain group he swore to destroy. Torture and information extraction were a skill he didn't learn to extract information but rather to torture just for the day he found out the culprits for his mother's death.

"And what about you, for a navigator you sure are too composed seeing a man getting tortured in front of you ?" Ragna retorted, it was strange seeing her so composed even after the man screamed loudly under torture.

"Oh come on, what kind of torture is binding the man and then tingling his bare feet's." Nami can't help but roll her eyes.

"Oi, it's a legitimate torture technique, if you don't believe then come on, I doubt you can handle it even for an hour," Ragna said with a tick mark forming on his head.

Of course, they didn't have any torture specialists to teach him. So he just practised and remembered what he saw in his past world. This tingling torture was the most effective when we didn't have to hurt the target but still had to torture him.

"No thanks, I'm already tingling with his laughter, music to my ears." Said the girl and she lay down again, ready to go back to her sunbathing until the next round of torture starts or she finally gets bored enough to say something again.

"Sigh…" Ragna can't help but let go of the man. Even after hours of tingle torture, the Jango didn't say anything, meaning he really didn't know anything beyond Kuro's current location.

It surely would have helped Ragna if he knew why Kuro was hiding on that Island or what was his intention but it didn't matter. After all, ultimately he had to go there and kick his ass and take his bounty.

Just as Ragna told Nami, his goal now was to find Kuro and take his bounty, of course, his main goal was to fight Kuro over his bounty but he doesn't go around saying this to others. Last time someone called him a Pyscho for this reason.

It's not like he likes fighting or anything but to get stronger fighting stronger people is the fastest way. It was also the most dangerous way but he didn't care.

[Risk Hai To Ishq Hai 😂]

As for Nami, she asked Ragna to be his temporary partner, it's more like a partnership. She didn't care about Kuro's Bounty, she wasn't strong enough to take his bounty anyway, what she was after was his tressure, once she decided to loot someone then she gonna see it through till the end. Going with Ragna can help her in this regard. In return, Nami will help him with Navigation.

Ragna didn't believe her at first, taking someone in just like that didn't make sense, he didn't even knew whether she was really a Navigator, let alone he didn't even need one.

He might be not that great but at least basic navigation in East Blue, Ragna can manage. However, he still decided to let her travel with him. Part becuase he didn't have a lifeboat so if he decided to throw her out, she would be without any boat in the middle of the sea and, the girl most likely would become food for some sea kings. He can't do that to her, though a complete stranger but the girl saved him earlier.

Another reason is that he really needed someone on the ship to help him out.

"Oh, what happened. Are you done…" Nami asked seeing Ragna leaving Jango alive after hours of torture.

"Yeah, if he had anything more to say then he already had said it by now. And ultimately it didn't matter, we know where he is and that's good enough." Ragna shrugged as he took out a compass and tried to find the location of their next island.

"What are you doing ?" Asked Nami.

"Looking for Gecko Island's location, why ?"

"Don't bother, we are already moving in his general direction. We'll reach there by tomorrow." The girl just pointed in the direction where the ship was heading.

"How do you know that ? You don't even have a compass ?" Ragna raised his eyebrow in suspicion, not believing her easily.

"Huff, I told you I'm a Navigator, didn't I? You don't have to worry about Navigation, just leave it to me." Nami huffed and said.

"Fine." Ragna still didn't believe her but for the time being, he just left the Navigation on her. Becuase according to him as well they were going in the right direction.

"So what's your story, what were you doing in that pirate ship ?" Asked Ragna, finally getting some time from his torture work.

Nami at this was not surprised but did look a little baffled.

"After all these hours you ask this now ?"

"As you saw, I had my hands full, and it doesn't matter when I asked you this, neither you can run away in the middle of a sea nor I wanna throw a girl out without a lifeboat to die. So whoever you are, we are stuck until we get to the next island." Ragna slugged.

"Wait, that's why you let me on the ship, you weren't planning on working with me," Nami asked, genuinely thinking that she was accepted as a temporary navigator and partner.

Nami would never partner up with a pirate, she hated pirates but Ragna wasn't a Pirate. So she was fine with him.

"More or less, I'm not looking for a navigator or anything. I have learn some navigation, I can handle myself in that regards. Though I wouldn't mind someone else besides me on the ship. It's honestly too big for me alone.

"Hmmm." Nami just hummed to herself but didn't say anything. Like contemplating something.

"So… mind telling who I'm giving a free ride on my boat ?" Ragna asked again.

"Sigh, alright… alright." Nami sighed.

"I'm Nami, A navigator and a person who's dream to one day make a map of the world," Nami said with passion. And that was it, nothing more. Like from where she was, what let her to that ship blah.. blah.. blah.

"Cool, that nice dream and all but that wasn't what exactly I was asking. What I'm asking is what were you doing in that Pirate ship and why did you help me out back then." Ragna asked, still very much stoic when asking this question. He only cared about her intention. As long as she had no ulterior motives, he did not mind her on the ship.

"I was forced to work there, I disguised myself there as a man to protect myself. As for why I help you, isn't that obvious, you were the only option I had to get out of there, if you were to go down then I had to go back to working for them for free, that was almost the same as being a slave." She said with resolute tone.

"Hmm, okay. Stay on the ship for the time being." After knowing this much he was ready to give her one chance. Though he wasn't sure whether what she was telling was the truth or not but he didn't feel like she had an ulterior motive.

"What about you? You didn't say much about yourself." Asked the girl.

"Nothing interesting to say about myself, my name's Ragna and I'm a Bounty Hunter. Beyond this, I got nothing which would add significant amount of information about me…" Shrugging Ragna stood up. Ready to bathe and take a little break, since Nami was handling the ship then he could relax a little.

"Wait…" Nami called then.

"Huh…?"

"What about your dream ?" She asked with a curious glance.

"Dream ?"

"Yeah, everyone have a dream when they go to sea right. What's yours" Nami asked, she herself wasn't sure why she was so interested in knowing him but maybe it had something to do with that he was a fairly honest person with her and he wasn't like those ruthless pirates but at the same time, he wasn't like some soft-hearted fool either.

For the first time she saw that maybe she could work with him, of course, if only he was willing after knowing that she was a thief.

"I don't know, I went to sea with the intention of getting strong and finding a certain group of people. But that is not my dream as such. More like an obligation which I have to do.

As for the dream, I'm really not sure, maybe I'm still in search of it…" Ragna shrugged and got inside. Leaving Nami stood there in contemplating how different and intriguing this boy was.

"Maybe If I'm as strong as him, then…." She thought but then just stood her head, that was a dangerous line of thought she was having.

xxx

[Word Count: 1600]

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