She was on fire; it was the only explanation she could come up with, for the searing heat that coursed through her body. The heat had strongly overloaded her pain receptors, so much so that a numb feeling settled over her. She could feel herself withering away but genuinely she could care less. She'd rather slip into the soothing nothingness of death than stay in the agonizing pain.
Maybe she would have regretted the decision later but she would not know now.
Not with the scream that jolted her back to life.
Nami walked across the winter island, keeping the jacket tight around her body. Somewhere ahead of her was Luffy. He was probably out looking for an adventure on this "Mystery" island. Nami decided it was best to just let him go than chase after him. So she walked in the snowy wonderland in silence. She would shiver and pull the jacket even closer when a particularly cold wind blew, but she was fine with the winter island all in all.
She took a sparing glance at the glacier filled shores. It had taken a while, no, several hours to dock Sunny. But somehow Franky was able to fit the huge ship in a small canal that lead to a worn down dock. The dock had probably once been thriving but now was reduce to a few cobblestones sticking out of an intricate weaving of frozen vines.
The vines were hard to walk through without falling and hitting debris and the vines themselves. Nami had fallen to many times to count and each time a curse flew out her mouth. Normally she could count on Sanji to catch her, but the cook had been too busy trying to untangle himself from the vines. Seeing the struggle they went through only half of the eight went on the island.
Robin got off in hope of finding a Poneglyph on the frozen island; Nami had initially wanted to go with Robin but with Luffy anxious for an adventure and Sanji's constant cries of Robin-chan and Nami-swan it was probably a better idea to go with Luffy. That captain of theirs could get in trouble at the drop of a hat. Sometimes it was more annoying than anything. But as long as one of the more levelheaded crewmates stayed with him it would be fine.
But there was something wrong about this island. Besides the snow there wasn't much movement. It seemed that no one lived here in decades, not that she couldn't be wrong since they hadn't even gone in land. She suddenly felt the chill of freezing water on her face; the chill knocked her out of her reverie. She sat up brushing melting snow off her face; she turned around in search of what tripped her. What she saw made her breath hitch in her throat.
A girl laid half buried in the snow. Her body was turned to Nami; a painful expression was on her face, along with raspy breaths that left her lips. Nami looked over her body; the girl's skin was taking a blue purple tint. Underneath her was a slowly expanding patch of red, which was probably being fueled by the horrible gash that ran the length of her arm. Nami was certainly sure that wasn't the only cut that contributed to the growing puddle as she eyed the girl's unnaturally red shirt.
Nami's eyes trailed to the girl's wrists that had scorch marks ringing around them. Next Nami looked at the girl's legs, which had cuts and bruises running up and down them, though Nami wasn't sure how many there were with the coating of dirt on the girl's legs. Her ankles sported the same burn marks as her wrist only wider, her feet weren't exactly in good shape they looked as if someone had took a knife and started to slash at them like it was an abstract painting.
Nami's throat tightened and she couldn't figure out what to do. What could she do? She couldn't carry the girl, her wounds might get worse. Luffy was probably far away by now. Then she heard it -no that's not right-what troubled her is she didn't hear it. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't hear the girl's rasping breaths. Her eyes slipped to the girl's stomach, spying the lack of movement.
She panicked, her breath no longer stuck in her throat, she screamed as loud as she could. Hoping that Luffy wasn't too far away or Robin and Sanji were some where close by. She hoped that she was loud enough for Chopper to hear and come out just in case. She even hoped that Zoro had gotten lost and somehow ended up here. She hoped anyone could come.
Nami kept screaming long after her voice got horse, long after her lungs screamed at her to stop. She kept going until she felt something ice cold but warm on her hand. She looked down to see the girl's hand was on top of hers. It slipped off Nami's hand leaving a trail of blood. Nami looked at the girl's face to try to confirm that the girl was alive again. Her Onyx colored hair was plastered to her face in wet clumps. Her eyes were the color of gold and her face was lightly coated in dirt like her legs.
"T-t-than-k-k-k y-y-you." The girl stuttered out in a barely audible whisper. Her eyes slipped close. Nami clutched the girl's hand in fear she would die again. But it wasn't needed the girl's breathing was semi normal. Not deep but not shallow either.
Behind her she could hear the faint sounds of crunching snow and her name?
"Nami!" The yell was close and Nami turned around seeing Luffy running towards her. He stopped just a little ways behind her and despite herself she could not help but call him dumb. He was still wearing a blue vest, shorts and flip flops in this winter weather.
"…ami…Nami!" Nami snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Luffy confused. "Nami what's the matter?"
"Luffy go get Chopper." He nodded, before jumping over the injured girl and running towards Sunny-go. Please hurry up Nami pleaded silently.
Nami silently watched Chopper as he bandaged the girl's minor wounds, all the while holding her hand. Chopper suddenly looked up and said something to Luffy, Nami didn't listen to them she was too concerned with the hand she held. It's going to be okay, Nami repeated through her head, the memory of Bellemere dying kept flashing though her head.
"N-N-Nami, my h-hand h-hurts." The girl's almost inaudible whisper seemed to be filled with pain and as Nami looked down she saw the girl had a small pained smile. Although as far as she could tell those golden eyes looked dead, cold even and it made a shiver rack her body. "Nami." The voice painfully moaned out and Nami slackened her grip. Just as she did the hand slipped out of hers and she panicked again, looking up she saw Luffy carefully lifting the girl in to his arms. A wave relief washed over her, although it seemed to fade away when the girl's onyx hair fell reluctantly from its place on her neck.
Revealing a thin red line that circled her neck, settled in contrast with her tan skin, albeit the line was alarming especially since it appeared to be growing bigger, but what had truly caught Nami's eye were the two tattoos on her neck that appeared to disappear behind hair and neck. She stared at the neck with fascination, her jumpiness and fear forgotten while trying to figure out what the tattoos pertained to.
Luffy began to move away with an uncharacteristic carefulness, causing Nami to break away from her trance. Moving her eyes from Luffy she looked towards Chopper, who had taken up the act of playing with his hooves nervously as he walked behind their captain. Nami took a sparing look at the patch of red snow before walking up next to the reindeer.
"Chopper?" she asked quietly but it still alarmed the reindeer enough to jump.
"Yes Nami?" Chopper asked just as quietly as the navigator, still playing with his hooves, he looked up. Nami sucked a breath in at the hopelessness she saw in the small doctor's eyes. Willing up her courage she asked hesitantly if the girl would be okay. Tears welled up in Chopper's eyes.
"I-I-I don't know. There's too much grime and her wounds are bad. Nami I don't know if she's going to be okay. What if we don't get back to the ship in time? What if…"
"Chopper it's going to be fine. Don't worry." Nami felt like she was lying to him and she probably was. But she could not stand the look in his eyes; it made her want to cry too. So she tried to give a reassuring smile but it felt more like a grimace. "I'm sure as soon as she gets on the ship she'll be fine."
Again she felt like she was lying and again she probably was. But she smiled again, this time it felt right. She shivered, once again noticing the cold and wrapped the jacket tighter to her frame. She wondered briefly why her captain was not cold but pushed the thought away. The thought was replaced by calculations of how long it would take to get to Sunny. Their pace was fast at least for having someone that was injured, they were nearly jogging. She bit down on her lip hoping that it would not take long.
For the girl and Chopper's sakes, she even hoped if anyone else were injured Sanji or Robin would come across them.
Okay this is definitely an experiment. I would appreciate feedback, not flames, feedback. Oh, was Nami out of character? Please tell me if she is, I like reading and writing from her point of view.
