The Red Secret
Summary: The tale of Nami as she battles being a new orphan, in a new home, and a mysterious younger lover calling himself the Red Secret.
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"Windmill Village, at 12o'clock!" someone called. I sighed, and stared off into the ocean. The voyage was only two weeks, but already I missed Belle Mere and Nojiko.
After the death of my foster mother, and only living parent, Nojiko, my sister, began working on the Tangerine farm they lived at. But I, being a few years younger, wasn't able to work. So they sent a letter to an island called Windmill Village, and asked if I could stay there until I'm was 18. Then I would probably get a boat back to my home-island, and see Nojiko again.
"Hey, Nami, are you okay?" a man asked. I was onboard a small delivery ship with three other men that I didn't know by name, but knew they had lived in on the island with me. I nodded.
"Of course." I replied, giving a false smile. He smiled back, and walked away.
"Okay Nami, just give this to the mayor, and he'll direct to a house. That's where you'll be staying." the captain said, and handed me an envelope. I nodded, and took it. The other men waved good-bye, and started to get ready to head back. I walked off, my orange hair blowing behind me.
"Hello, Mr. Mayor-san?" I asked a short man with white pointy hair. He turned around. He had an angry looking face, and was wearing a weird shirt.
He took the letter, read it, and gave me a smile. Even smiling he looked angry...creepy, old, and angry. "Why, hello Nami!" he said, and set the letter down.
I smiled my false smile at him. "Ace! Come here!" he called. A boy with freckles and a hat came to the door.
"What?" he said, looking tired.
"This is Nami. Your sister." he said, and pointed to me. That woke the kid up.
"Whoa! Since when?" he asked, grinning.
"Today. Didn't your parents tell you about her?" the mayor asked. Ace shook his head.
"Whatever. Take her home. Your parents will know who she is." he said, and sat down at a desk. The boy nodded.
He walked out, and I followed. "I'm Ace." Ace said, and kept walking.
"I'm Nami." I said, following closely.
Ace led us to a large house, and walked in.
"Come on." he said, and held the door open for me.
"Thank you Ace Nii San." I said, and came in. The house was spacious, and a little boy, about my age, was running around the house.
"Hi Ace!" he cried, and ran over to us.
"Nami, this is Luffy. My younger brother." he said, and walked away, leaving me with Luffy.
He blinked. I blinked back. Then he stared at me. I stared back. When I finally blinked Luffy cried, "I win!" and grinned at me.
"At what?" I asked, tilting my head a little bit.
"A starring contest! Me and Ace Nii San have them all the time! He always wins though..." he said, and grinned.
"Oh..." I said, and smiled a real smile for the first time in a long time.
"Come on! I'll show you my room!" he said, grabbed my hand, and ran off.
'Maybe...maybe this won't be so bad. At least the family has kids...' I thought, and smiled again.
A Few Years Later...
"Come on Nami! Luffy! We're going to be late!" Ace cried, standing at the door, holding his bag.
First Luffy came running down, holding onto his straw hat. Then I came down, her messenger bag flying behind her.
"Ha! I win!" Luffy cried, grinning.
"No, I won. Now let's go!" Ace said, and walked out. Luffy and I followed.
"Are we walking home together?" I asked, walking between Luffy and Ace. Luffy shrugged, and Ace shook his head.
"I have basketball after school." Ace said. "You and Luffy will though."
"I'm probably gonna get detention for my 'poor academic behavior' or whatever Principal-lady calls it." Luffy said, grinning. Ace groaned.
"Again? Come on Luffy! Mom and dad will flip if you get one more D." he said, and hit his brother on the head.
"I know. But Principal-lady is always so mean..." Luffy said, making a face.
I kept quiet. I didn't need to speak. Besides, my GPA was so high, I didn't need to be making fun of Luffy.
When we reached school, Ace took off to the High School, being 16 and all. I was only 13. Luffy was 14.
When we got there, Luffy went into his crowd of people, Kohza, Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji, and I went into her crowd of people, Vivi and Robin.
"Hey Nami!" Vivi called, hey long blue hair in its usual pony-tail. Robin's black hair down and straight, as always.
"Hey." I said back, smiling at them. Vivi was her age, and Robin was 14.
"Guess what!!" Vivi said, biting her lower lip. Robin sighed.
"What?" I asked, half paying attention, half not.
"Kohza asked me out today!" she cried, and squealed. Robin smiled at her, and I hugged her. Vivi had been crushing on Kohza for a long time. It wouldn't last long, and when she had her break down, Robin and I would be there comforting her. That's what friends do.
"Hey babe." Kohza said, and grabbed her waist from behind. I coughed, and Robin rolled her eyes. Vivi turned a slight red.
"Hey." She said back, grinning at her friends. We smiled back.
"So, want to go catch a movie later?" he asked, looking at Robin and I. Vivi nodded.
"Sure." She said, biting her lower lip again.
"Sweet. I'll meet you there at 7, okay?" he said, and took his hands off of her.
'That's right. Keep your dirty, playing hands away from her.' I thought bitterly. I don't know what Vivi saw in him. He was a player that would cheat on people he dated best friends, then get his date so mad at her best friends, they would make out with him. He's a dirty, dirty player. Too bad girls feel over themselves for him.
"Cool." She said, and turned a brighter red when he kissed her cheek. Robin rolled her eyes again.
When he was gone, Robin advanced on her.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Robin demanded, her smile gone, and anger took over.
"What?" she asked, frowning at us. I kept quiet. When Vivi and Robin had their little fights, I had no reason to get involved.
"Have you listened to a word Nami and I have told you about Kohza?" she asked, her anger rising. I back away. Robin and Vivi always have these little fights, but never have they brought me into it.
"Like what? He's a player? I don't believe that!" she said, hands on hips. Robin was about to pull her hair out.
"Of course he is!" she yelled. Lucky outside was no noisy, no one would hear her.
"Shut up! Just because he cheated on you with the girl you hate, doesn't mean he'll do that to me!" she yelled back. At least they only said my name once.
Robin turned a bright red. "Whatever. When you come crawling to Nami and me when he cheats on you, I won't be here!" she yelled, and stormed off.
A new record was made that day. In two forms. One: My name was put into the fight twice. Two: Vivi and Robin didn't make up until the bus ride home. They usually make up right after lunch.
"Hey Nami!" Luffy called. I turned around, and saw him running at me. I stopped, and let him catch up. Beside him was his group of friends; minus Kohza.
"Oh, hey guys." I said to them. Sanji smiled. He's such a flirt. Zoro's face stayed neutral. Usopp was smiling. Luffy was grinning as well.
"Do you mind?" he asked.
"Mind what?" I asked back, and continued walking.
"I'm going over to Zoro's house. Do you wanna come?" he asked.
I had nothing better to do, so why not? "Yeah, sure." I said and smiled.
"Sweet!" Luffy said, and grinned wider. Sanji smiled more too. Zoro stayed neutral.
They turned around, and I followed them. "So, if you could eat candy every time you wanted for the rest of your life, would you cut off 7 fingers?" Usopp asked Zoro.
He thought about it for a moment. "No way." He said. Luffy was nodding.
"Well, yeah!" he said, and made a face like it was obvious. Usopp laughed. Sanji looked disgusted.
"Candy is way too unhealthy to eat every day." He said. Sanji was a cook, and a good one.
"Well duh!" my brother said. I laughed. He didn't know what he was saying.
When he got to Zoro's house, everyone dropped their stuff, and ran out to the backyard. I put my stuff down, and grabbed my book. When I walked outside Usopp, and Zoro had both grabbed one of Zoro's family swords. Sanji and Luffy were fist/foot fighting.
I climbed up in the tree, and found a good place to read. After a while, a sword flew up in the air, and stuck to a place on the tree right next to my left ear.
"Um…" I said, a bit afraid now.
"Heh…sorry." Usopp said, and grinned.
"I'll get it down for you." Sanji said, and climbed up. He smiled, and because he was too busy staring at me, he lost his balance when he pulled it out and fell flat on his face.
"Are you okay?" I asked, and jumped down.
"Uh…yeah…I'm fine…" he said, and pushed his face from the ground. Then, blood starting coming out of his nose.
"Ah! Sanji san…" I said, and stepped back. Zoro ran inside and grabbed a tissue box. Sanji grabbed a handful, and pinched his nose.
"Hey Nami." Luffy called. "Ace just called your cell and left a message." He said, and pointed to my cell phone lying on the ground.
"Why didn't you answer him?" I asked, and picked it up. He shrugged.
"It's not mine." He said.
I opened the phone, and listened to his message.
"Hey, Nami, Luffy, I'm back at home. Mom wants you guys to come home as well, apparently she's got an important message for us from the mayor. Alright, see ya' then. By the way, it's Ace." Ace's message said.
"Come on Luffy." I called, and grabbed my book, and pocketed my phone.
"Bye Zoro. I'll see you guys tomorrow, right?" he asked. They nodded. "Cool."
"So, what do you think this is going to be about?" Luffy asked me on the way home.
I shrugged. "I don't know, but I guess it must be pretty important." I said.
When he got back to our house on Oak Dr. we saw our parents sitting in the two reading chairs we had, and Ace was pacing.
"There you are! Get in here!" He said, and pulled us into the living room.
"Hello Nami, Luffy." Our mother said, smiling. Our father, on the other hand, was not.
"Well…what we needed to tell you was…we are renovating!" my mother said. Ace looked flabbergasted.
"That's it?" he cried.
"Were you expecting something different?" asked our father. Ace, Luffy and I all nodded.
"Well, couldn't you have called my cell phone, and told Luffy and I." I said, shrugging.
"Yeah! I was continuing my winning streak with Sanji!" Luffy said, and huffed.
"I was…uh…never mind where I was, but still!" Ace cried. Luffy and I exchanged a look.
"Ace found a girl to make out with!" We cried together. Ace turned red.
"I-I did not!" he cried back, and grabbed our shirts as we tried to run away. We snickered.
"Ha! You lie!" Luffy said, and he bashed Luffy against me.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?!" Luffy said, and got bashed again.
"Ouch! Stop!" I cried, and he bashed us together again.
"No way!" Ace cried, and dropped us, and sat down on top of us.
Our parents left, as they were very used to this sort of fighting in there house. I shrieked with laughter as Ace and Luffy wrestled to entertain her. They would do this as often as it took to make her shriek like she was. Nojiko Chan wouldn't do something like this, but that's just the way she is. Ace Nii San and Luffy Nii San would do anything to make her happy. And she knew that she could trust them with her life, but she doubted that would ever be necessary.
"Okay, okay, enough." I said, wiping a tear from my eyes. Ace dropped Luffy, and he fell with a thud on the carpeted floor.
"He-ey!" Luffy said, and made a face. Ace grinned. "You want another whooping?" he asked.
"Eep! No, no! Please, oh great master Ace!" Luffy cried, and got down to kiss his feet. Ace looked revolted.
"Uh…yeah, Luffy, stop, Nami, pretend that never happened." Ace said, and kicked Luffy.
"Yes sir!" We cried, and saluted him.
"Alright, you ladies, get down and give me 10 push-ups!" He yelled in my face.
"Yes sir!" I cried, and dropped down. Luffy was about to join me, when Ace brought him back up.
"You are going to do to 50 push ups! You understand?!" He yelled at him, making sure he spit in his face.
Luffy made a face. "I say you're gonna drop down and give me 100 push ups!" He yelled back, spitting on him. When I finished my ten push ups, I sat down, and watched them.
"What did you just say to me cadet?!" Ace yelled.
"You heard me well no-good-dirty-rotten-Southerner!" Luffy screamed. Ace gasped.
"For that," he said in his best southern accent, "You get to lose to me!" he said, and Luffy and him started to wrestle. As I was laughing, my phone starting ringing.
"Oi! General Retard, Cadet Stupid, shut up!" I yelled at them. They froze, causing Ace to drop Luffy again.
"He started it." Ace said, pointing at Luffy. Luffy bit his foot.
"Shush!" I said, and answered it.
"Hello?" I said.
"Hey Nami!" the person said.
"Oh, what's up Vivi?" I asked, plopping down on the sofa. I watched as Luffy continued to bite Ace's toes, one by one, so I was distracted from Vivi's voice.
"Isn't that great?!" she asked.
"Uh…yeah, good for you! I gotta go, so I'll call you later." I said quickly, and hung up.
"That's it you toe-biting-varmint!" Ace yelled, and jumped on Luffy.
"OW!" he yelled, and pushed Ace off of him.
"That really hurt." He said.
"Sorry." Ace apologized, and sat down to watch T.V. Luffy and I joined him.
While he was channel surfing, I heard someone say something about Coco Village.
"Wait! Go back!" I cried, and jumped up.
Ace flipped it back.
"Go back slowly, but don't stop until I tell you." I said, worried.
When I finally found it, it was showing a picture of Coco Village.
"Earlier today, the Fish Man Pirate named Arlong, went on a spree and destroyed Coco Village, where he was currently staying and collecting money. The death rate was very high; as only two people managed to survive the attack, and plan on heading else where." The person said.
"Names! I need their names!" I yelled, and grabbed the T.V. Ace and Luffy looked at me very weirdly, but I didn't care. If Nojiko wasn't alive after this, I probably wont be for long either.
"Their names are Genzo, a local police for the town. And Nojiko, a local Tangerine farm resident. Here they are now." He said. It felt like the heart kept going.
"Hello, I'm Nojiko, and this is Genzo." Nojiko introduced. She looked different, and she had a tattoo going across her upper chest.
"Now, how did you survive this devastating attack?" a lady said.
"Well, at the time of the attack, we were currently at nearby Gosa Town, seeing if anyone survived the attack there." Mr. Genzo said, his pinwheel spinning, and his scars patched up from the last time I saw him.
"Oh. Do you have any family killed in the attack?"
"No. My foster mother died five years ago, and my little sister was able to flee to a small village called Windmill Village around the same time. And Mr. Genzo is unmarried." Nojiko said, smiling.
"Where will you be heading next?"
"We plan on leaving to Windmill Village, where Nojiko's little sister is, Nami." Mr. Genzo said.
"Ace, turn it off." I said. He did, but hesitantly.
I left the room. I made a promise to Nojiko that no more tears would fall after Belle Mere's death. After that, I made an easier promise to myself that if I did cry, it would be alone.
"Wait! Nami Onee Chan!" Ace yelled. I ignored him. I couldn't bear to look at him right now, not with tears flowing out of my eyes.
I closed my bedroom door, and locked it so Luffy and Ace couldn't come in.
They were leaving to come here. I don't know I...I could face them right now…
That's when I saw it; a little note taped to my window.
When I went to go get it, it simply read,
Dear Nami,
You have a secret admirer, and he would very much like to meet you. Meet him at the big oak tree in the park at 7:00 p.m. Come alone.
R. S.
"R.S…." I said outloud.
Unknown POV
"Yes! Hey, guys, she has the letter. I'll be there tonight around 6, okay? You guys have everything I'll need? Cool. Alright, see ya' then." I said, grinning. Finally, my time has come.
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O-oh! How surprising! Hehe, I love cliff hangers. 3. Hope you guys liked it, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE review!!!!! I might actually keep this story, and finish it! (I've written like 20 stories, and I haven't kept anything over 8 chapters…-.-U)