Hi everyone. A new oneshot that could be the starting point for a way bigger story... if only I had the time to write it fully. It was inside my hard drive for months, and I decided finally to publish it. The story itself was written in a couple of hours, so forgive me if some events are a little bit rushed.

Since I'm Italian I hope that my English will be good for you international readers. The rating is on M just to be sure, since there are a couple of scenes that could be included into that category. Maybe I'm overdoing it, but better be safe.

Please Read&Review!

Disclaimer: I obviously, and unfortunately, do not own One Piece and any of the characters inside it. Eiichiro Oda does, and he is doing a great job with them! I only own the idea of this fanfiction.

Another Chance

by Stormchaser17

"Come on Luffy, we are late!" Said an angry Nami. The meeting with the crew was planned for just before sunset, and now the sky was already dark, even towards the western horizon.

"Buuuut Namiiii!" This was the 'in'famous Captain of the StrawHat Pirates, Monkey D. Luffy, that at the moment was dragged by his all-time Navigator by one ear. "It huuurts!"

"No buts Luffy! You had enough fun for the day! And I don't know why I was so crazy to tell that I would have gone with you." She was not stopping for any reason. She wanted her bed, to remove her shoes that were killing her feet, her comfy room and, overall, a warm and long shower. "I am dead tired! I want to rest and do everything else related to that!"

"But…" He was interrupted again.

"No buts Luffy, I just told you that!"

The Captain insisted. "But we had fun, right?"

The Navigator reasoned, while the Thousand Sunny where everyone else was on entered in their sight, that he was right. She had fun, a long time deserved fun, thanks also to the antics of her companion.

"Yeah, you could say that Luffy." She offered a little smile.

"It was a good day." The Captain confirmed his thought, mimicking her smile with his wider one.

They slowed a little bit down, and at the same time, the Thousand Sunny exploded with such force that they were pushed away by the blast for some tens of meters. Luffy immediately went in action, and enveloped his Navigator, his Nakama, with his rubbery arms and legs, to prevent damage when, after long seconds, they landed unceremoniously on hard terrain.

Their ears were ringing, and in case of Nami, one was bleeding, luckily not so much. She was free of any bruises thanks to the man next to her. Luffy waited for a little time before releasing her and helping her to stand up, although on wobbly legs. The effects of the enormous blast were everywhere in sight, and a strong feel of dread entered the minds and souls of the two StrawHats.

They had decided to dock the ship at an abandoned pier on the island, on the opposite side from the little city on it. The area was completely dark at night, but now… now it was like a little fire had been lit every two yards. They knew that those were the still burning debris of their beloved ship, but it was so difficult to believe it.

"…"

"…"

"Nami?"

Nami was shaking terribly. She had her eyes tightly shut, with tears flowing from them on her cheeks. Her hands formed two fists with the nails breaking the soft skin of her palms, drawing blood, and her body was so stiff you could say that she had been totally paralyzed.

"Nami!" Luffy screamed in front of her, and that seemed to make her snap out and blink a couple of time.

"Nami! We have to go and check the others! We have to save them!"

Nami looked away, but steeled herself when she felt the normal rubber arm wrap around her stomach and the following rubbery slingshot. She did not have the energies to chastise her Captain, now was not a good moment. It was possibly the worst one ever!

After the little flight, they were near the center of the blast. Smoke and ashes were around in the air, and both had difficulties to breathe normally. Nami tore her shirt and made two makeshift masks for her and Luffy, who thanked her silently with a nod.

They began searching for their missing companions, but after some time they could not manage to find anything or anyone around. Just… nothing.

The whole world crashed on Luffy in that precise moment. He had hoped till the last that they would have found their Nakama. Maybe injured, maybe heavily so, but alive.

"Luffy…" Her voice was crooked, and her eyes again on the verge of tears.

"Luffy." The Navigator repeated.

"I do not want to hear it Nami!"

"Luffy. We have to go!" She was panicking more and more, and looked frantic. "We do not know who did this, and if he or they are still near here! We have to flee!"

"I will not leave my Nakama! Never!"

"Captain!" Nami decided to try a different approach. Try being the key word, since she was feeling worse each second. "They are not here! They are… they…" She did not manage to resist anymore, and the cry went out of her mouth without restraints.

To Luffy it was Ace all over again, only this time he did not lose his brother, he lost all his dear Nakama save for his Navigator. He failed, another time. He failed, and his mind wanted to shut down so bad that it was almost hurting him. But now, it was different. He was grieving, he was ashamed, he was sad beyond any kind of measure… but he was angry. Angry at himself, to have not managed to save them, and protect them. And angry at whoever did this to his beloved companions!

He would find him, or them, and he would make them pay. It was almost out of character for him, but the hatred he was feeling was literally over the top. Past every barrier that he managed to build to contain it.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" With this loud roar he threw himself towards the hill that was on the side, cocking an haki powered rubber punch with everything he had, and launched it. When it touched the once soft grassy ground, scorched by his late ship debris fire, at least half of the hill exploded with a dark brown column of dirt, terrain and smashed rocks.

He was panting and screaming his lungs out, he would not allow himself to pass out this time. Nami was right, she always was, they needed to do something.

But right now, this was only the smallest portion of this mind. All the rest was so concentrated on destroying something, everything, that he did not even feel Nami get up, and approach him from the side.

"Luffy!" Her face was again tear streaked. He even failed to keep the promise with Pinwheel Guy back in her village. He was a total failure.

When he turned around towards her, he was rewarded from the most powerful slap that he ever received from anyone. Not like his Gramps 'Fist of Love', but dangerously near.

This managed to get his mind on tracks again, so maybe it was good in the end.

"Nami?"

"We. Have. To. Flee! I can spot some big ships on the horizon, if they are Marines we are screwed! They will capture us, they will torture us by putting us in that Impel Down prison, and they will execute us!"

"No."

"What?"

"No." It was soft, and not loud, but Nami could hear the force behind it. "I will not let anything happen to you. Anything!"

The Navigator was a little taken aback from this statement. He never said something like that with that kind of tone, or force, or look in his eyes. A mix between a haunted one and a strongly determined one.

"I know, Luffy, but we have to go!"

"We will go, but now I think that…" He trailed his eyes towards what was left of the ship -almost nothing- and Nami understood.

"It is risky, but you are strangely right." She immediately regretted to have said that word. It was not the time.

"…"

"Let's find a good place."

After little time they managed, thanks to multiple jumps and stretches by Luffy, to reach the top of the mountain of the island, surrounded by high trees.

Nami was always looking at the sea, and those ships seemed to stay there, on the horizon. She was feeling that something was amiss, but she could not point it out.

"Minna. I am sorry. I do not know what to say to tell you that I am sorry. I failed you. I failed everyone…" The tears began to drop from his eyes to his cheeks and he felt so devastated that it was impossible to put that in words. He chose to stay silent, while adjusting the only thing that remained from the Sunny in the middle of the trees.

The top of the central mast, with a somehow almost intact StrawHat flag still tied to it.

Maybe it was a miracle, maybe it was fate telling them that they had not to surrender to those events, difficult as it may be, and try to move on. Maybe that day something else was around, but they had not the time to think about it.

After Nami paid her respects to the fallen crew, they climbed the mountain down and tried to find somewhere to hide during the night. With the first lights of the next sunrise they would try to move again, maybe find a little ship to travel around…

Her thoughts were interrupted by what seemed not so distant explosions… cannonfire!

"Luffy, we have to escape! The ships are firing on us!"

"They are too far awa…" He did not manage to finish his sentence because he felt a cannonball incoming on their position. With a rubber balloon he saved both of them from nasty injuries and decided that the course of action Nami proposed was indeed the best.

Landing back he put his arm again around her slim waist and began running. Running like there was no tomorrow towards an uncertain destination. Everything to go away from that place, maybe that island too if they managed to find a boat or something.

He had lost almost all his Nakama. He would not lose the last one. He will protect Nami, whatever it takes.

Whatever it takes!

Unfortunately, fate, and a particular vicious marine, were completely against this plan. And they would have made their move very soon.

"Luffy! Luffy! Where are we going?"

"I do not know Nami! We are going away!"

"Do you have a plan?"

"Screw that, what was I thinking? You never have a plan!"

"…"

"It is always the same thing with you…"

"…."

"Always doing something…"

"…"

"Always…"

"…"

Nami broke down, again. It was impossible for her to keep all her grief, her rage, her hatred, her sorrow, her emotions bottled together. Luffy felt warm tears making their way down his shoulder and his chest, but made no try to calm her, he was in the same state so he could not do anything more that continue to carry her towards the opposite side of the island, to maybe gain some time.

"Luffy?" Her voice was strained, after minutes and minutes of crying loudly.

"Yes Nami?"

"Sorry." It was almost a whisper, but he heard her clearly.

"Do not worry Nami. We will make it!" He turned slightly towards his Navigator, and Nami could see his trademark grin plastered on his face.

"StrawHat!""

Luffy stopped abruptly, dodging a lava meteor falling from the sky. Nami shrieked in horror while both their hearts were frozen in terror.

"Akainu…" Luffy managed to say his name, but it seemed like a low growl, coming from the very depth of some kind of dark abyss.

"Luffy, we have to run! We cannot fight him!"

"I know Nami!"

"As always, like your brother, you choose the coward way!" He was conceited as ever, even with all the scars that were caused by the fight with Aokiji.

"Luffy do not listen to him! Run!"

"Listen to her StrawHat! Run like the coward you are!"

"Akainu!" Luffy began to run again, but for some reason he could still hear his voice.

"Run while you can! I will kill you and your precious Navigator like your other… what do you call them?"

Luffy tried more and more to ignore him, while Nami was telling directions to avoid the incoming lava punches.

"Ah yes… Nakama!" He spoke that word so dear to him in such a disgusted tone that he thought his insides were twisting like mixed together.

"They all died, didn't they?" Now he was completely taunting them.

Nami managed to speak briefly. "Luffy, I know that you said that he was disgusting… but he is way more than that. He is completely crazy!"

Luffy just nodded while they came to a little clearing in the woods, with Akainu still in strict pursuit.

"Now you are mine, StrawHat!"

Suddenly lava erupted all around them, trapping effectively the two remaining members of the crew in the middle of the clearing. Fountains of lava tens of meters high surrounded them, it was impossibile to jump.

"Luffy!" Nami shrieked. "What do we do now?"

Luffy did not have time to answer since he perceived thanks to his Haki a new person incoming. He never met him, and his aura felt strange. Not a fighter, but not a normal person too. It was surely out of the ordinary.

"With this new weapon of the World Government, you will be brought down by Absolute Justice!" He roared appearing from the sky over them, and landing near that new person.

"A new weapon, what is he talking about Nami?"

"No clue Luffy. But I'm sure that it will be no good for us."

"Well, now my dears let us begin the experiment!"

"Experiment? What experiment? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Silence! You will not interrupt the course of science!"

Nami and Luffy were completely confused. Who was this guy? And what did he want from them? He was standing near Akainu, actually in front of him since the Marine was some steps behind him. The strange person had a lab coat on his shoulders, marked with burns and strange color spots; he wore a strange hat too, and his face was hidden in the shadows, but you could see a kind of beard, maybe?

Focusing on his hands, he held a small package. He opened it slowly, as if he was afraid to break whatever was in it. Shortly after, and carefully, he took out a medium sized glass ball, with something bright inside. On its top was positioned a contraption of some sort, Nami thought it was a trigger or something like that. She felt like a rat trapped in the dead end of a maze, without any means to possibly escape.

At the complete mercy of the others.

It was a sensation that reminded her of darker times, with a certain shark fishman going around her village.

She did not like it. And looking at Luffy, he was feeling the same as her.

"Now, with this new weapon, I will cancel you StrawHat. And all the other scum pirates on this planet!"

Nami went next to Luffy, and almost unconsciously grabbed his hand. She knew that this was the end, and she only wanted a little comfort from the person that had been always there for her, in any situation since their meeting in that little town in East Blue.

Luffy put strength in his grip to say that he was going to protect her, his hat shadowing his eyes. But Nami could almost feel the fire that still burned inside him. That is why he was her Captain.

"Now StrawHat, Cat Burglar… you will die."

Nami tensed. That was it. She was happy to be near Luffy, and not alone, far away from everyone. She opened her eyes, and looked defiantly towards Akainu. She would not give him the satisfaction of seeing her brought to her knees in tears and wracking sobs.

Luffy, on the contrary, seemed calm. Seemed. A controlled rage that threatened to explode any moment, but he was still thinking on how to save Nami first, then everything else.

The strange guy lifted the sphere above his head, after pressing some buttons here and there. Then, suddenly, he threw it towards them, and run together with Akainu to take cover. Clearly, the weapon could be dangerous even for them.

"Now StrawHat, I will erase you from time! And you, nor your crew, will be seen ever again!"

'What? From time? What is he talking about?' Thought Nami.

"This is the final weapon that we have developed. Time will be your demise StrawHat!"

Luffy saw the glowing orb approaching and felt the increasing energy coming from it. Steadily, ripples of something whitish began to emerge from it, and seemed like that whatever they touched like rocks, grass, even air, would vanish into nothing.

All happened in a span of mere seconds. Luffy was beside her, and suddenly a few steps in front. He had his arms extended towards the rippling energy coming towards the pair. And when it made contact with his hands… they began to disappear, like they were being erased from the world.

"I'm sorry Nami. It really seems like that I cannot protect anyone."

"Luffy! Do not say that!" For Nami, he will always be that little crazy boy who saved her from years of slavery. He would always be her hero, and nothing would ever change that.

Almost half of his arms vanished into nothingness and Nami did not want to watch anymore. She approached Luffy and embraced him from behind.

"We are the StrawHat Pirates! And if we have come to an end, we end together!" There was not sadness in her voice, only acceptance. At least, she was with Luffy, and this fact brought a smile on her tear streaked face, even in that dire situation.

The Captain grinned and turned towards the Marines.

"Listen to this you stupid lava-man! You can kill me, you can kill my crew, you can kill everyone! But!" He made a pause. "You cannot kill the ideal of being a Pirate! The Pirate Age will never come to an end!"

After that phrase, they both disappeared into nothingness.

That day, that world, knew the complete eradication of the StrawHat Pirates.

That world, that reality, that timeline…

Luffy and Nami did not remember anything else after that moment. Until they woke up the next morning, respectively on a tree in a forest on Mount Corbo, and in a little home in Cocoyashi Village.

THE END

And here we go. If you managed to reach this point, thank you for reading!

I hope that the characters stayed IC, but since I'm not that good I leave the decision to you readers.
As said, it could be the start of a nice timetravel fic, I already have a couple ideas about it, but literally, time is not on my side as a college student.

I hope that you liked it! Don't forget to leave a Review!

See ya at the next one! Ciao!