Chapter 1: The Cat and the Bird
It was a stormy night. The harbour was filled with stranded ships, all being unable to travel the sea in the vicious rage of nature. He opened the window sill and leaned forward, scanning the area with his bare eyes. It might take all night before the sea would be clear for a voyage. In his eyes the storm was beautiful. So did typhoons, tsunamis, earthquakes, and so on and so forth. Well, actually it was the destruction that was beautiful. He smirked.
All of a sudden, he heard shrieking sounds from everywhere. It was raining humans! The harbour went panic in a blink of an eye. The humans were basically unconscious, lying on the ground, with the exception of some being fully aware of their circumstances. He jerked back from the window when one of the humans was stuck in a chimney of the building in front of him.
Luckily his devil fruit granted him power to move mid-air given there was something he could attach his strings to. He flew to the chimney, pulling the human by the legs. It was a girl. An unconscious one. What should he do with her? He wondered. And why did he do that? He never saved anyone. Hmm, perhaps this could be an exception.
He carried the girl to the window and entered. Laying her on his sofa, he studied her face. 'Never seen her before.' The storm really did bring them wonders. He glanced outside. It seemed that the bizarre rain had stopped. People were busy helping those effected by the phenomenon. No more human dropped to the ground.
He heard a soft murmur. The girl was talking unconsciously. Perhaps she was having a nightmare. He could not care less. Not that it concerned him anyway. A few seconds later, there was a knock on his door.
"Young master, the marines want you to help them. They're looking for a few people. All of the victims from the rain are gathered at the dock already, but some of them are still missing."
"How would they know if there's anyone missing? It's the rain. They can't possibly control who were effected and who were not."
"Actually, they know. The humans are all coming from Vice Admiral Tsuru's escort ship. They are all wanted criminals. An unusual storm suddenly formed in the middle of the sea and carried away all the criminals including a few marines."
"A sudden storm in the middle of the sea. Hmm, interesting. Tell them I'll be there."
""Okay."
..o0o..
"Doflamingo. I don't fancy asking for your help, but I don't have a choice. This is your town; you're more familiar with it than us. I want you to help us track these criminals." Vice Admiral Tsuru gave him a few wanted posters. Amongst them was the girl's.
'So that was her name. She didn't look dangerous, though. Well, more like a playful cat actually. Hehehe.' He mused to himself, looking at the wanted poster where the girl was striking a rather seducing pose.
"I don't fancy helping you too, but I have too much time to waste. You can have a good rest while waiting for your beloved criminals." He said and left hurriedly.
..o0o..
Meanwhile in Doflamingo's room, the girl woke up to a loud thunder. The rain had stopped, but thunder and lightning were still raging. She looked around, scanning the room while eyeing for possible exits. 'Whose room is this?'
"So you're already awake." A voice thundered her ears. She turned and saw a blonde guy eyeing her very movements. How long was he there?
"Who are you? And where am I?" Strange, but she did not feel frightened upon seeing him. He was standing against the wall beside the door, one leg was bent and his arms were folded. Why was he wearing sunglasses in a room, in the middle of the night at that?
"You're in my room. And I'm the owner of this room." The man answered her.
"Your name?"She asked him.
"Tell me yours first." He walked slowly and stopped a few inches away from her, leaning his body so that his face was parallel to hers. He was tall. Almost too tall to compare to her.
"I...I can't remember." She fell on her knees, hands clutching her chest. Her eyes rolled up in agony. Why couldn't she remember her own name? Is it amnesia?
"Really? Is that the best you could do, Nami?"
"Nami?" The name sound familiar, yet she could not recall anything about it. Was it her name?
"Your name. It's Nami. Don't act like you don't remember your own name."The man stooped lower and flicked her forehead.
"Ouch! Wh-Who are you? Am I being kidnapped?"
"Kidnap? I'm not into that. I just saved you from suffocating in a chimney. At least thank me before accusing me of a crime I'm not interested of." The man stood up and let out a sigh. Did she say something hurtful to him? It was not her intention though.
"Thank you, but who are you? And where am I?"She tried to ask for his name again, hoping that he would tell her.
"I don't think you deserve to know my name."
"Well, thank you for saving me, but I think I should leave." If he was not telling her anything significant, she might as well leave the place, or so she thought.
"To where?" There was a smirk on his face. Did he just mocked her memory loss or did he just insult her for being unable to remember anything? But he got a point there.
"I…I don't know." She stammered. The blonde man suddenly walked to the door. Clutching the door knob, he glanced back at her and smiled.
"Just go to sleep, will you? We'll talk about it later tomorrow. It's getting late." He said and pulled the door but stopped in the middle of closing it. "Oh, you might want to bathe first. Just use anything you need. There's a spare pyjamas in my wardrobe, if you don't mind. Your clothes are quite dirty. I'll have my maid wash it for you tomorrow."
"Is this your room?"She asked again, feeling uncomfortable with using his room.
"Yes, it is. You can have it for tonight. Nobody will disturb you. No one enters my room without my permission."
"Th-thanks." She thanked him. He left after closing the door, locking it from inside. She then walked to the bed, sitting on the soft mattress and gazed outside the windows. It was dark and she had nowhere to go to. Not that she remembered anything anyway.
The bed was nice. It had a soft mattress, and the bedsheet was fragrant. She never knew that a guy would have a bed like this, but thankfully this guy let her use one of the best bed she ever used, or at least so, she thought.
'I guess I'll rest and find out what to do next tomorrow.' Yawning, she covered herself with the blanket and dozed off.
..o0o..
A loud knock on the door woke her up. She dragged her feet to the door and opened it just to see a young girl with raven hair standing there. The young girl pushed her way in and dragged her inside, closing the door with a loud bang.
"What are you doing? Don't tell me you're sleeping on young master's bed with these dirty clothes?!" The young girl screamed at her. Nami was startled but she apologized for that.
"I'm sorry. I was too tired last night. I'll wash the sheets in return. Sorry." She was feeling guilty. The young girl shook her head.
"No, no, no and no. Young master will get mad at me if I let you do anything. Now, go and take a bath. I'll bring you a new dress. Oh, and my name is Baby Five. Just call me Baby." The girl pushed her to the other side of the room where a big Jacuzzi was located. It was shielded from the main room by a decorative partition, very elegant to say the least.
"I don't know my name, but that guy said that it's Nami." She told Baby Five.
"We know that already. Now hurry up or you'll miss breakfast!"
..o0o..