Title: Finding Elpis

Author: paws-bells

Beta-ed by: MelissaRose85

Characters/Pairing: Nami and Monkey D. Luffy

Type: One-Shot (Complete)

Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Romance/General

Word Count: 2598

Rating: T (Contains content not suitable for children)

Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Oda-sensei.

Summary: Water 7 arc. Because sorrow shared is sorrow halved. Speculation for the events that transpired after the battle between Captain and Sniper.

Chapter Last Revised on: 12/05/13

Finding Elpis

He had been sitting motionless on the rooftop ever since they checked into the hotel.

Like the remaining members of the Mugiwara crew, the atmosphere that surrounded him was thick with tension and heavy with gloom. Earlier, they had left the Going Merry for the very last time, and after the matter of temporary lodging had been settled, everyone had quietly separated and retired to their assigned rooms, nursing their heartaches and worries in private. They had lost not one but three nakama this evening, and looking back, it was hard to believe that they had sailed into Water 7 just earlier that day, in such high spirits and as one of the tightest knit crews ever.

There were but only five of them left, and the powerful bond that they had shared as a result of countless hair raising adventures and unbelievable escapades now felt so brittle and fragile that it was as if it would shatter into a million pieces at the slightest pressure.

The overwhelming shock of the evening's brutal battle was still prevalent in the minds of the entire crew; random flashbacks of the utterly vicious fight between two best friends frequently causing the less stoic members to flinch and the rest to turn dangerously grim in reaction.

Nami, too, was having trouble falling asleep. Today had just been a series of bad news, one after the other; their beloved home, the Going Merry, had been so badly damaged by their travels that she could no longer be fixed, they had lost 200,000,000 Beri in a blink of an eye, Usopp had gotten himself hideously injured in a failed attempt to retrieve the money, Robin had gone missing, and in what seemed like a matter of hours, the entire crew was on the verge of falling apart, and it was starting to feel as though nothing would ever go right again.

Even till now, Nami's head still spun at how quickly they had been reduced to such a deplorable state. The orange-haired navigator of the Mugiwara kaizoku was exhausted and all wrung out after such an emotionally and physically taxing day, but still, sleep eluded her and, feeling frustrated and more than a little upset with herself and everything else in general, she had chosen to leave her suddenly suffocating room for a quick breather in the end.

She had almost missed seeing Luffy when she went up to the rooftop to compose herself. He had been sitting so still against the wall of the building that it had taken awhile for her to sense his presence, and when she finally saw him, her heart broke slightly on his behalf.

He looked so lost, and the expression on his face said more than any amount of tears that he could have shed. The time for crying had long since passed, but the blanked look of numbed grief that he did not know how to hide showed so prominently on his expressive features that tears started to well up in Nami's own eyes instead. Her Captain was a simpleminded idiot who wore his heart on his sleeve and was completely incapable of subterfuge, and looking at him now, it was obvious that the aftermath of the fierce fight earlier was wounding him in ways that cut deeper than any physical injury that could have been inflicted on him.

For Luffy, who would do anything to protect and save his precious nakama, who would gladly brave the wrath of both Heaven and Hell for the sake of his friends, his battle with Usopp was probably one of the hardest, most painful thing he ever had to do in his entire life.

And now, there were only regrets for words that should not have been said, for actions that should not have been made, and she could see that he was silently beating himself up over it. Those thoughtless words spoken in the heat of anger could not be unsaid any more than they could be unheard, and those actions carried out for the sake of rash, foolish pride could not be undone any more than they could be disregarded, and there was nothing else left but remorse and sadness.

Nami walked towards the unusually still form of the black-haired boy and quietly sat down beside him. It was minutes later before he acknowledged her, and when his gaze finally focused on hers, the sorrow in his eyes made her chest ache sharply in abject empathy and commiseration.

"…it hurts."

His whisper was so soft that she nearly missed it. He had always been larger than life, so full of impulsive, carefree actions, loud, obnoxious laughter and playful mischief. It was so wrong to see him like this now, so uncharacteristically quiet and listless, and the thought of Usopp, somewhere out there in this utterly foreign island, just as broken as Luffy was, likely even worse off, heavily injured, and all alone, made Nami's breath hitch sharply as the painful memories of the earlier battle hit her with the equivalent force of a punch straight to the face.

Why? Why did friends have to fight and wound each other like this?

Nami's tears threatened to overflow and spill over her cheeks. Her shoulders shook from the effort to contain her cries and she quickly raised her hand to cover her mouth, looking at him with wide, helpless eyes. They were all hurting, and she had no doubt that her Captain, with his huge heart and infinite love for each and every one of his crew members, was the most heartbroken out of them all.

The need for comfort and to comfort, for the slightest bit of human contact, was overwhelming. They were both fragile, their soft, vulnerable centers exposed and bleeding; there was nothing left to do but to hold each other up as best as they could, supporting each other and hoping that the sun would rise soon and make everything alright again. Without a word, she simply reached for him, slipping her arms around his shoulders and engulfing him in a fierce embrace. His lanky frame was taut with lean muscle and he tensed slightly against her, but he did not pull away. She tucked her chin into the nook of his shoulder and squeezed her eyes shut, her grip on him tightening slightly as tears continued to track silent trails down her face. He stiffened further as she hugged him almost desperately, and when the hot, wet drip of liquid sadness fell across on his skin, he stilled.

Slowly, his hands came up to rest against her trembling back.

"Nami."

The quiet helplessness in his voice made her shake even more.

What do I do?

His fingers slowly clenched into the fabric of her shirt, and then he was crushing her to him, holding onto her with a similar desolated desperation that could almost be tasted. She gripped him tightly as well, a solid, reassuring presence, physical proof that he was not alone, that there was someone who shared in his pain, who understood and commiserated with his inner turmoil.

A soft, muffled sound of unhappiness escaped his throat, and then she felt him swallow hard, as if he was trying to stall his own sadness. She held him even tighter, if possible, pulling herself to him, and at last, he quietly gave in to his emotions. Burying his face into her hair, his narrow frame shaking finely, he let his own tears flow.

There was no need for words. Clinging together they shared their sorrows, bled it all over each other, stained their skin with the saline grief of each other's heartache. For the two of them, it was an experience that was both hauntingly novel and painfully bittersweet at the same time, and also one they never ever wanted to repeat again in the future.

It was a long, long while later when the tears finally started to abate. Their breathing was erratic and jerky from their emotional outbursts, their eyes both red rimmed, and the earlier heavy, all-encompassing grief was very slowly subsiding, becoming less suffocating and raw. The silence between them, once thick with regrets and self-recriminations, gradually pulled back to something more peaceful in nature – companionable.

His hand was splayed against her back, a constant steady warmth that soothed her more than anything else could. They were still pressed together, her damp face tucked into the side of his neck, his arms wrapped snugly around her. Slowly, she pulled back slightly to look at him, releasing her hold on him and forcing him to do the same. There was no sign of shame or embarrassment in having sought comfort from her, for revealing what many would perceive as an indication of weakness to her; just like everything he did, Luffy acted and reacted with his heart – when he was happy, he laughed, and when he was upset, he cried. When it came to his feelings, there was simply no room for compromise or halfhearted in-betweens.

And right now, Nami was quietly heartened to see that Luffy did not look as wretched or as despondent as before. It uplifted her spirits slightly to see that her Captain was feeling better. The sadness in his eyes was not completely gone, but it was giving way to a more pensive, quiet melancholy that was less devastating as his earlier distraught expression. Her hand tightened against his shoulder in a subtle show of support and encouragement.

"Nami." He spoke after a while, in an uncharacteristically soft, thoughtful manner. He stared at her with straightforward, guileless eyes.

"Will we see Usopp again?"

Nami very briefly closed her eyes before opening them again to look at Luffy. There was no hesitation in her answer.

"Definitely."

It took him awhile to respond to her firm, wholehearted reply, and in the end, she managed to coax a small, hopeful smile from him. Even as she watched, there was a familiar resolve solidifying in his gaze, as if his world was slowly being put to rights once more. Nami's eyes gentled as she watched her Captain grab his straw hat that had been resting against his back and plant it firmly on his head, at the same time turning his attention to the breathtakingly beautiful nightscape of Water 7, reluctant interest for their relatively new surroundings slowly brightening previously dull and listless eyes, and somehow, the orange-haired navigator just knew that everything was going to be alright.

No matter what happened, as long as they faced it head on, they would get through it together.

The reaffirming knowledge was like a relieving balm to a raw, bleeding wound; it settled around her shoulders like a warm, comforting mantle, and like him, she slowly allowed herself to relax. The mental and physical fatigue that had been held at bay by her stressful fretting immediately returned with a vengeance – the eventful day had done a number on her and she was utterly wrung out now that she finally allowed herself to stop worrying. She was exhausted and it was easy for her to just lean over and lay her head against Luffy's shoulder; she was already seated beside him and he exuded a nice, drowsy heat that lured her to him as night descended completely and the temperature fell further. She had come a long way from the pirate-hating cat burglar who had been subjugated by Arlong's tyrannical reign, the girl who despised every human who flew the black flag of crossbones and a grinning skull. Now, she no longer questioned why she felt so safe and protected around Luffy, that she instinctively gravitated to him whenever he was around – he was her Captain and she trusted him with her life, and that was that.

Neither of them was in any condition to be alone right now, and it suited her just fine to remain as she was. Closing her eyes, she drew a deep, calming breath, ignoring the way the black-haired boy was now curiously staring at her.

"Oi, Nami," he started, undoubtedly bewildered by her action. "What are you-"

"Senchou," she interrupted him with placid calm, her eyes closed. "I'm exhausted, so let me rest for a bit, okay?"

There was an underlying warning in her dulcet tone that immediately made his well-honed instincts raise several red flags, and so, even though he did not look particularly enthusiastic at the notion of being someone's living cushion, he reluctantly subsided and allowed his navigator to lean on him. His lack of protest was enough to satisfy Nami. The young woman sighed softly this time, a quiet sound of contentment, and combined with the peaceful, still atmosphere around them, it didn't take long for her to finally nod off.

Her Captain looked down at her slumbering features with quiet bemusement in his clear gaze. Not for the first time, it occurred to Luffy that Nami looked deceptively harmless like this, but a recent memory of her beating his head in for some vague transgression against her that he could not recall making and that she had deemed offensive and unacceptable immediately made him revise his opinion. Just thinking of it made the teenaged boy gulp and break out in cold sweat – no matter how cute and innocent Nami looked, she was scary as hell.

Still…

"You must be really tired, huh, Nami?" he asked the dozing girl, his usually loud, obnoxiously exuberant voice pitched low and quiet so as not to disrupt her rest.

Predictably, she did not reply, though he tensed when she stirred briefly, only to settle back down against him, seemingly to fall into a deeper slumber. Her face was partially pressed into his shoulder, her mouth hanging slightly open, and a soft snore escaped her.

She looked adorable and hilarious at the same time, and in any other situation, he would have at least sniggered out loud if not for the fact that she would really wake up then and pummel him for disturbing her rest. Knowing Nami, she would have been embarrassed to know that she was sleeping so ungracefully, not that he intended to tell her; he did not have a death wish, after all.

Then, the mildly humored light in his eyes faded, and he became somber once more.

He didn't really have the strength or the will to just laugh things off and be merry right now. The emotional wounds from earlier were still too raw and sensitive for him to simply ignore and cover up with loud laughter and senseless hilarity. In that light, having his Navigator around felt strangely reassuring; he had no wish to be left alone right now, and in return for that solid, comforting presence, he supposed he didn't quite mind serving as her temporary pillow for a while.

Looking out at the brilliant landscape of Water 7 spread before him once again, Luffy reached up and plucked his hat off his head, and then simply pressed his precious Boshi upon the crown of his female nakama. The brim of the beloved Straw Hat shielded her closed eyes from the residual glare of the night lights of the water city, and seeing her resting trustingly under the protective cover of the item that he was well known for made a soothing calm flow through him.

Sitting there quietly on the rooftop, his Navigator sleeping beside him, Luffy gazed to the far horizons of the night skies. A light zephyr ruffled his black hair, and he closed his eyes, appreciating the gentle breeze against his face.

It was…peaceful.

Omake

"Zoro, psst! Zoro. Zoro. Zoro!"

Roronoa Zoro, the moss-haired First Mate of the Mugiwara kaizoku-dan, came awake with a bewildered start, snorting loudly as the snot bubble at his nose popped and he flailed up comically from his earlier comfortably slouched position against the nice and dark nook that he had found on the rooftop. Blinking groggily, his eyes squinty from sleep and a grumpy expression forming on his already irritable features, he cast around blearily for the source that had awoken him.

It didn't take him long to find his Captain sitting somewhere below him, a somewhat nervous expression on his face as he looked at the older man with wide eyes.

Zoro rubbed at his face and barely restrained the urge to grumble. Luffy's unending requests for assistance ranged from life threatening to the stupidly inane. Still, he opened his mouth to ask what was it that the rubber boy wanted now when his sleep hazed vision finally cleared and he had a clear view of the situation before him. The master swordsman of the Straw Hat crew did a quick double take and his eyes widened slightly in surprise at sight of their resident money loving witch (and Navigator) sleeping in the arms of the Captain.

"Bwah!" he blurted out unintentionally, so startled by what he was seeing that he let out the embarrassing sound. Zoro's cheeks quickly reddened with chagrin.

If his Captain noticed his unexpected exclamation, he did not show it. No, Luffy was too busy juggling his armful of Nami to notice his First Mate's preoccupation.

"Zoro, help me!" the rubber man whispered urgently, looking a bit uncertain and panicked as he held the limp, orange-haired girl half lying across his lap. Her eyes were closed, and her head lolled into the side of his neck, her cheek resting on the hard bone of his shoulder blade, her mouth pressed against the skin on the side of his throat. All in all, the position that the two were in looked a bit too intimate for comfort.

Zoro stared.

Then, he refrained from the urge to massage his forehead. Already, he could tell that this was going to be troublesome.

"Damn it, Luffy, what the hell did you do this time?!" Was the next thing that Zoro could growl out. Because when things went wrong (as they usually did in the course of all their travels), Luffy could always be found right in the middle of it all. In response to his accusation, the good Senchou gave him an utterly befuddled look.

"What? I did nothing! Nami fell asleep on her own!" Then, Luffy tried to pry the sleeping girl off of him but she seemed to have a death grip on his shirt. He looked to the green-haired man for help. "Zoro! Don't just sit there and stare, dumbass! What do I do now?!"

Zoro stared incredulously at the black-haired boy. "How the hell do I know?! And I don't want to hear a dumbass like you calling me a dumbass, dumbass! Why are you stuck with the witch, anyway?!"

"Eh?" Luffy looked momentarily confused. Then, as if he had just recalled the reason, he promptly and shamelessly blurted out. "Aa, Nami and I were crying over Usopp." The rubber Captain deflated slightly at the reminder of his recently defected comrade, but then he quickly sucked it back up and gave the swordsman a slightly weak smile and a thumbs-up with his free hand. "But…I feel better now, so it's all good. And then Nami just fell asleep on me! And now I can't get her off me!" Awkward alarm flooded Luffy's guilelessly expressive features as he hissed out. "Help; she's gonna strangle me!"

It didn't take long for Zoro to translate all that frantic Luffy-Speak. In other words, the two had somehow managed to comfort each other and it was quite obvious that whatever had happened when he was happily napping away had managed to calm their distraught Captain back to some semblance of normalcy. He wasn't exactly back to his goofy, happy-go-lucky self yet, but he was slowly getting there. It seemed that their Navigator had done them all a great service by somehow nudging Luffy along to take the first step; just as Zoro had always suspected – women were better at this sort of thing, after all. If this had been left to Zoro instead, he would have (and did) just stayed close to his Captain and allowed the younger boy to muddle it out himself – however long that might take.

"Zo-ro!" The plaintive protest from the rubber boy jerked the green-haired kenkaku back to the present, and he scowled lightly.

"Jeez, you are such a pain, Luffy! Stop struggling and just leave her be! If you wake her up-"

Blanching, Luffy immediately stilled all movements.

Good, so his idiot Captain still remembered what happened the last time they accidentally woke the she-devil from her beauty sleep. Even now, Usopp would swear that he still had the bruises to show for that unpleasant encounter…but of course Usopp was no longer with them at the present.

Zoro's expression darkened slightly.

"Oi, Luffy! Just leave her be. She will wake up on her own."

The black-haired boy looked down at the girl sleeping in his arms. "Eh? But I don't want to wait till she wakes up! What am I supposed to do till then?"

"Like I care. Just take it like a man, Senchou," Zoro yawned, and then gathered his katana and stood up. The older man took his swords and shuffled off to a fair distance away before settling back down in a nice, dim corner to continue his nap. Grumbling under his breath and hefting the dead weight of Nami onto his lap when she seemed to be slipping, Luffy then blinked curiously at his First Mate's bewildering action.

"Ne, Zoro! Why are you moving away?!"

Zoro scratched his arm absently and shut his eyes again.

"Baka. You think I want to be anywhere near the witch when she wakes up?"

It took a full minute for the implications of Zoro's words to sink fully into his dense head. Luffy's eyes widened to the size of marbles.

"Eh? Eh?! EHH?!"

::owari::

Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:

Hmm, this one-shot is pretty self-explanatory. I was re-watching the Water 7/Enies Lobby arcs with my brother when I was struck with the urge to write this. After all, we didn't really know what happened after Luffy's fight with Usopp, so I took advantage of that and banged this out.

Hoped that some of you enjoyed this at least, and thanks for reading. =)

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FYI, Elpis is the personification of hope in Greek mythology. I thought that the title was fitting for this fic.

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Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic!

-paws