Before I say anything: Shadow of Malice, look her up. Good writer. Actually, I'll put a link. u/1778260/Shadow-of-Malice
I also have put another story up. It's called "Stagnant". It revolves around Sanji and Zoro in a zombie apocalypse type world. If you're interested in that, I'd really appreciate it if you checked it out.
I apologize for the late update, I must say with regret that I'm too lazy for my own good. I also must confess that my exams are soon, and this might be the last update for a while. But I won't discontinue this story – it's only just beginning!
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, its plot or its characters. I own absolutely nothing except for this story, but full credit goes to Oda for actually owning One Piece.
A sandal-clad foot met asphalt with a loud and forceful crunch, loose tar and rock quickly becoming victims to the foot's monstrous wrath. The sandal unrelentingly began to crush both fragments further into the sticky earth when its wooden heel was forced to accommodate the weight of the foot's owner as she rose from her ride.
Slitted brown eyes swept across the car park murderously, before she retrieved the helmet from her red head, chucking it carelessly into the Wavers' hidden compartment under the seat and smacking it closed with an angry thud.
A once happy family of four looked warily over at the woman with the demonic aura, her body visibly bristling with bottled-up rage, and they shuffled in through Arlong Park's doors in a hurry before she could turn her evil-eye onto them as she had done so to the last three groups walking by.
Nami was just a wee bit unhappy that morning. Only a smidge.
"Nami?" A familiar, feminine voice called out, which forcefully stopped Nami from grinding her teeth down in rapid waves.
Long, flowing blue ponytail, dark blue eyes and a pleasant smile. Vivi, she recalled in dismay.
Nami plastered a painfully fake grin onto her face. "Oh, hi there, Vivi. You're early."
"As are you…" Vivi paused, a flash of uncertainty crossing through her eyes. "Is there something wrong? You're grinding your teeth together."
Nami immediately stopped again. "Oh, no, no, no, don't be silly. I'm quite good."
Vivi rolled her eyes and linked her arm through Nami's, offering that good-natured smile to her again, which surprisingly made Nami feel a little bit better. "I have a slight inkling that you're lying." With a gentle tug, she began to pull Nami through the doors of Arlong Park.
Nami sighed, defeated, almost immediately. "All right, you've talked me into it," She let out an exasperated noise, clutching to the blue-haired girl desperately. "Oh, it's terrible Vivi, absolutely terrible."
Vivi continued to lead her along towards the meeting area. "What is?" She inquired.
"It happened yesterday when I left Arlong Park. Oh, it just made me so mad…"
"What made you so mad?"
Nami opened her mouth to explain finally, when she caught a flash of red out of her peripheral, and her teeth clinked together so hard that Vivi herself was rattled by the painful noise.
The red-head's arm flew out at an inhuman speed; long, pink fingernails dug into a red vest and yanked the victim to a violent stop before he ran past completely. Luffy yelped and fell onto Nami's feet, his straw hat scraping against her legs before falling off of his dark head.
He tilted his head back, black strands tickling her knees, and like the day before, wide dark eyes met narrowed brown ones.
"Luffy." She seethed through clenched teeth.
"Ah, Nami." He greeted. "You're wearing clothes today."
And he was right. She wore shorts and a shirt over her bikini this time to evade the perverted eyes of Sanji and Brook.
Ignoring him, she yanked him up just as he grabbed his hat from the floor. He put it back on his head and looked at her innocently.
"What's up? I'm busy playing chasies with Chopper and Usopp." He grinned, then pointed to himself. "I'm it."
As if to reinforce this idea, Usopp promptly yelled from the other side of the big pool, "hurry up, Luffy! You need to catch us!"
"Yeah!" Agreed Chopper, little brown arms waving in glee.
Nami swung her head towards the two teenagers, silencing them with a brief, frightening look. When she felt Luffy attempt to walk away, she turned back to him immediately and hit him in the arm with a clenched fist.
"It's all your fault, you damn idiot!" She blurted out suddenly, leaving Luffy genuinely surprised and confused. She didn't allow him any time to comprehend the situation as she started to shake him by his shoulders with as much force as she could muster.
"You distracted me yesterday, you stupid, little, insufferable…!" She broke the sentence off, letting the silent insults hang thickly in the air.
Luffy's head sprung back and forth on his neck with each powerful shake as if it were made of rubber. The motion was a furious blur to those surrounding the onslaught, and the clearly PMS-ing woman was evidently not planning to stop anytime soon. Rather, the violence became worse as she shook him with one hand, and hit him with the other. If not for the sheer monstrosity of her actions, it would have been quite impressive.
Luffy, needless to say, was pretty screwed. Vivi, Usopp and Chopper were all a wee bit frightened by Nami's hulk-like attitude.
Luckily, the rescue team had arrived.
Long, slender arms seemed to appear out of nowhere, wrapping themselves around Nami's own arms in a tight fashion and pulling her away, much to the aggressive girls' chagrin as she kicked and screamed in a most childish of ways. Despite appearances, the arms were attached to a rather lithe of body's – A body, which belonged to none other than Nico Robin.
On Luffy's end, Zoro had appeared, and was hauling the poor, beaten boy to his feet. He made incoherent sounds around a swollen mouth, to which Zoro quirked a dark eyebrow, as it sounded much like babbling rather than formulated words.
Sanji, too, had made his arrival known as he turned on Luffy. "Oi, Luffy. What the hell did you do to piss lovely Nami-Swan off?"
The swelling had more or less began to fade – well, only slightly, but enough so that he could speak. Kind of.
"Nabi's scawy." He shuddered, not exactly answering Sanji's question at all.
Nami's scary.
Not surprisingly, this only seemed to make Nami even more ferocious, and it took both Robin and Franky – Nami had no idea when he had gotten there – to hold her back. But as she surveyed the room in her angry stupor, she realised that everyone had shown up now – Kaya, Brook, the lot – and were staring at the scene unfold incredulously, worriedly or simply in a please-don't-turn-on-me-I-beg-of-you sort of way. As she was now the centre of attention, Nami decided to quieten down and attempted to get rid of her anger.
Her inner black self appeared in the back of her mind, with a very wise, "calm yo tits, girlfriend". This surprisingly helped, and Nami, somehow, 'calmed her tits'.
Brook was the first to break the silence with an awkward 'Yohohoho', a laugh everyone in the group were quickly acquainting themselves with. "My, my, everyone sure seems energetic this morning. What a good start to the day, and to the lesson."
Nami almost wanted to turn on him and beat him to a pulp, but decided to give up on the entire ordeal. Brook was just Brook, and Luffy wouldn't understand what he did wrong. With a pause, Nami even considered that she was being a bit harsh on the skinny kid, when it was probably more of her fault than his…
She snapped out of it. He'd distracted her, so of course it was his fault. If he weren't so stupid and loud and childish and ignorant it wouldn't have happened.
"I'm calm now," She muttered to her captors. "You can let go."
"Really?" Robin asked, in what Nami thought to be in a teasing way, as if she found Nami's completely understandable outburst as something that was quite humorous.
"Yes." Nami answered with as little impatience as possible, and then continued to calm herself down with the thoughts of swimming in Beli.
Franky seemed thankful at being out of the situation now, and clapped her on the shoulder as he released her from his muscly grip. "That was super impressive, sis. But you should just come to me whenever you're angry. I'll get you a cola, on the house. That always makes me feel like the week will turn out super after all."
She thanked him dryly as he marched over to see if Luffy was feeling hunky dory, and set her sights on Robin, who, too, was loosening the vice-like grip after accepting that Nami wasn't going to go all Mr. Hyde again.
Something else seemed to be plaguing Robin's mind as she smiled silently at Nami, then cut the icy-blue eyes to Luffy in a considering way. Nami was about to speak up, when Robin turned her attention back to the red-head, all contemplative air about her seemingly disappearing.
"So, why don't you explain to us what has happened? Perhaps then we can help you. Then we can get on with today's lesson." She inclined her head to Brook. "That won't be a problem, now will it, Brook-san?"
Brook had no complaints.
Nami puffed a strand of orange hair from her face, her lower lip jutting out in a pout cross a scowl. "Fine, I'll tell you. But it's all Luffy's fault, not mine."
Everyone settled in for the story, except for Zoro, who was already sleeping. Sanji gave him a violent kick to the guts, Zoro retaliated in smacking the blonde in the head with the blunt of one of his swords, they both exchanged violent curses, and after yet another outburst from Nami, they were extremely quiet. And so she began.
"I was driving home on my Waver-"
"What's a Waver?" Luffy asked and was instantly shushed by multiple people.
Rubbing her temples in an attempt to fight off an oncoming headache, Nami continued impatiently.
"As I was saying, I was driving home on my Waver, when I was pulled over by a cop." She clicked her tongue in annoyance, remembering the incident. "And shit hit the fan."
"Excuse me, ma'am, I'll have to ask you to step up from your Ve-hi-cul." The Cops pronunciation of the word was over-exaggerated, making the rather large, comb-moustached guy seem even dumber than was expected from an Average Joe, East Blue pig.
Nami, not too overjoyed at the whole predicament, didn't exactly feel like playing nice. She was feeling a bit naughty.
"Oh, Officer, have I done something wrong?" Nami feigned innocence, standing up as close as possible without being arrested, a hand on her hip.
"Well, little miss," He coughed, trying to hide his embarrassment at her obvious lack of clothing and hard-to-miss cleavage. "You were not wearing a helmet."
"Oh, dear," Nami wet her lips, staring at him through lidded lashes. "Is that all? But a helmet would ruin my hair." She twirled a short strand around her finger, and she fought with the urge to laugh.
I've got you wrapped around my little finger, too.
The cop loosened his tie, clearing his throat. "Uh, yes, well – ahem." He took a step back, to which Nami followed. "A helmet is required on this sort of Ve-hi-cul."
Nami giggled, poking him on the chest, and moving all the more closer. "You are just the cutest thing."
"U-um, M-miss… Ma'am. I'll uh… have to ask you to step back please." He was visibly sweating by now. It took all Nami's willpower not to crinkle her nose in disgust at the scent of old man BO.
"Why?" She lifted his chin with her finger, scraping the underside of it with a manicured nail, flashing a sly smile. "You don't like it?"
"Holey dooley…" he breathed, then seemed to regain himself, moving away from her once more. "I'd like to see your licence."
Nami frowned. Her seductions usually worked by now. "Fine, let me just get it."
She turned around, bending over as much as possible to search for her bag in the Wavers' compartment. She could feel the cop's wide eyes practically burning a hole into her behind – she couldn't blame him, as she was only wearing a bikini of all things – and she decided to wiggle it around a little just to help her case all the more.
But then she stopped the flirtatious movements. Her hand thumped around in the compartment in search of her bag, but she felt no expensive leather bag reach her fingertips. Her hand thumped around more and she leaned in further, checking high and low and everywhere, the movements more erratic and panicked.
Oh, no.
Her bag was still in the locker of Arlong Park.
"Miss? Is there something wrong?"
She sprung up, turning to him. She forced the most flirtatious, sexiest, heart-thumping, groin-hardening, nosebleed inducing smoulder she'd ever pulled in her entire life, sat back on the Waver's seat invitingly, long legs half parted, and bit down on her lip lightly.
Oh, yeah. She bit her lip. Drastic times called for drastic measures, Nami supposed.
"Why don't we forget about the drivers licence, and go back to my place?" She played with her bikini strap idly, fluttering her eyelashes.
She'd distract him like this until he succumbed to her every desire, get him to follow her in his stupid car, lose him in some grungy neighbourhood, then head back to Arlong Park before it closed. The old fart wouldn't even have time to make note of the number plate.
Her plan ultimately and immediately backfired.
"Ma'am, are you trying to seduce me?" He wasn't looking at her anymore – he was staring very determinedly at the scenery behind her. "If so, that is an offence and I may have to give you a fine not only for not having a helmet, but also for mild sexual harassment of an officer." His eyes dropped to the ground, avoiding her at all times. "And if you do not have your licence on you, that is another fine."
Nami's jaw dropped in complete horror, her worst fears coming true all in one day. Sexual harassment? He was the one that had been ogling her!
"Wait a minute," She stood up. "I left my bag at Arlong Park, I swear I had it in here. I forgot it because I was…"
She blanched.
"You were what?"
Talking with Luffy.
"Being abused by a horrible, violent man. I had to run to escape. It was an honest mistake, officer."
"Well, you don't seem very upset about it." The cop sighed. "I'm sorry, you have no proof. You have no licence, no helmet, and no decency, Miss. I'm fining you a triple, here."
Nami almost cried at those words. He started filling out the tickets.
"And I just passed Arlong Park not long ago. It was closing up." He added. Nami heard the echo of her heart snap into two at his words.
He gave her the tickets. "You have two options here: I can either drop you home, and you can get someone to pick your scooter here up later, or you can walk it home." He then smirked, leaning closer to her, wiggling his thick eyebrows. "I can take you up on your earlier offer, now, though."
He was probably the most hypocritical person she had ever met.
Nami spun to face him, a scowl curving her lips downwards, and opened her mouth with a sharp intake of breath; a set list of foul-mouthed, bad mannered, mother-degrading and pig-likening insults at the ready–
That night, Nami pushed her Waver home alone with four tickets hanging out of her bikini top, freezing her ass off, ignoring the many horns and beeps and yells from passing cars. There was only one thought that kept her going forth in the treacherous endeavour to the outskirts of town where she lived, and stopping her from jumping from a bridge. It was this sole idea that made her push forward, so that she could see tomorrow, and see a certain someone.
Luffy. I'm going to kick your ass.
A brief pause ensued as Nami shot a glare at Luffy, then she regarded everyone as equals once more.
"And then I had to borrow my sister's helmet." Nami concluded the story, and then took the time to take notice of the reactions. Most people had blanched and were pondering the story silently – including Luffy, surprisingly, who seemed to be in very deep thought – but there was always someone that had their opinion.
"You kind of brought it upon yourself, Nami." Usopp unhelpfully spoke up. He then paused, crinkling his long nose up in thought. "Where were the keys to your Waver if you left your bag here?"
With an annoyed sigh, Nami opened her mouth to explain, but Franky cut in before she could do so, pushing his dark glasses up onto his head with a grin.
"I have the answer to that. The Waver edition is a far superior model of the electric scooter, and as a result, has an even superior safety system. A key isn't required, but rather, a fingerprint scanner is installed on the interface to be able to start the engine." Franky smiled proudly as he supplied the information. "The Waver is a Tom's Workers brand name scooter; the company I work at. Of course, you can add other fingerprints if someone else is in need of the ride, but it'll require the actual owner's input to do so. I wanted to add in a laser and a few missiles, but Iceburg wouldn't allow it."
This seemed to answer Usopp's question, as he quietened down, but now Nami's own curiosity had piqued. "Franky… did you invent The Waver?"
He shook his head. "Nah, Sis. I just helped work on it. The fingerprint system was all me, though. You'll find that a lot of scooters, motorbikes and water vehicles such as boats and jet-skis are from Tom's Workers, which means I've likely dabbled with them. Even a train or two, though cars are a small time kind of thing with us."
Nami found the information highly impressive. She'd heard of Tom's Workers before, but she didn't know that when Franky had referred to "Tom and Iceburg" the previous day, that he meant THE Tom. But from her own knowledge, Tom from Tom's Workers had long passed away. She supposed only the workers, Franky and Iceburg, remained. She remembered reading an article on it once upon a time, and the name Cutty Flam danced in the back of her mind before she shoved it aside. She wasn't going to pry into his life.
Before Franky could continue speaking about his successes, Luffy suddenly made a loud whining sound, flopping down onto his back and kicking his legs around. He seemed totally oblivious to the conversation they had just been having.
"I don't see how it's my fault, Nami." He grumbled, rubbing at his stomach. "All this thinking is making me hungry."
So that's what he'd looked so deep in thought about before. He really was an idiot.
"Isn't it obvious? Because you distracted me from getting my bag!" She shrieked at him. "You picking your nose would distract anyone!"
"I can't help that my boogers don't want to leave my nose-cave." He frowned, then tried to get the rebellious teenager-like snot to move out of home once more. Luffy, obliviously, was met with a few disgusted glances.
Nami was quickly getting used to it.
"Anyway, it doesn't matter now. I'm going to get my bag." She turned away, and was immediately accompanied by Vivi, Kaya and Robin.
"We'll come, too. Let the boys bond a little bit." Kaya smiled gently, and the other two nodded in agreement. Nami didn't mind, and they all left, only to hear Zoro speak up, sounding disgruntled.
"Why do women always go to the bathroom in groups?"
Sanji, surprisingly, answered. "I like to think that they all go in there together because they enjoy secretly watching each othe-"
She couldn't hear the rest as the women walked further away, and she was kind of glad. She didn't want to know what Sanji thought they did.
"So, you're very… uhm, forward, aren't you, Nami?" Vivi asked as they made their way into the ladies room, twiddling her thumbs together. "Like, with that officer you mentioned…"
"You mean, sexually?" Nami grinned slyly, wagging a finger. "Women are bestowed with these gifts for a reason, Vivi, dear. It's best to use your sexuality for the things you want before your endowments become all saggy."
Vivi and Kaya seemed embarrassed at this information, whereas Robin only chuckled.
"So, you shouldn't use your sexuality towards someone you love, is what you are saying?" The dark-haired woman queried, sounding innocent enough, but Nami could hear the deeper meaning behind the words. "A woman's sexuality should only be used in achieving her every desire?"
Nami made her way over to the locker, starting to twist the combination without much thought. "I don't believe in love, so yes, that's how I view things. But don't get me wrong, ladies – if you're into the drama of romance, by all means, you should show the sexual side of yourself to the person you love. I just wouldn't want to show such a vulnerable side to someone, in my own personal opinion."
Before Robin could rely, the door to the locker swung open after the final combination click, and Kaya, Vivi and Robin peered in alongside Nami.
The rusted locker held a speck of dust and a tiny spider web in the corner, which Nami hadn't noticed before. She reached in, her hand, similar to the previous night, thumped around the entire space for her bag. Her hand made clanging sounds as it was met with the cold feel of metal.
The locker was empty.
"I was on my way here and I went to buy another packet of cigarettes beforehand, so I pulled up, went in and bought the pack – guy serving was shitty and rude, too, and obviously wouldn't know how to handle a lady if he had the chance. Anyway, I step out, okay? And what do you know, across the street I see the damn Marimo-"
"Shut up, dart-brow." Zoro seethed, glaring heavily at Sanji, who puffed on a cigarette as he spoke.
"-and he's just standing there, scratching his green fuzz of a head, looking around like a lost puppy. And so I go over to see just what the hell he's doing, and he's all," Sanji jutted his chin out, glaring at everyone in a mock Zoro attempt, and put on a deeper voice: "hurr I'm Zoro and I'm looking for Arlong Park over in the marketplace, right beside the vegetable stand, on the other side of town."
Zoro knocked him over with a sword. "Shut the fuck up, it's not funny." His face was crimson.
The group of boys were laughing hysterically despite this.
"Zoro, bro, you should have told us you were directionally-challenged. We could have given you a map or something!" Franky bellowed out, smacking the floor in laughter. "I could even get you a good GPS from work!"
Zoro was finding it difficult in glaring at every single person at the same time.
Sanji finally up-righted himself again, snickering at Zoro's expression. "So I had to let the poor shit-head into my car. I'll have to vacuum and clean it now; the head-rest of the passenger seat is probably stained in green."
Luffy, Usopp and Chopper found this particularly amusing and laughed even harder, rolling around on the ground.
Brook spoke up, "Perhaps, Sanji-san, you should do the honours of being his chauffer."
"Eh?" Sanji's uncovered eye bulged. "Me? No way. Not for him."
Zoro gave a curt nod of agreement with Sanji. "I can handle myself."
Sanji turned to him, and said in a deadpanned way, "You were looking under an orange for Arlong Park."
"Shut the hell up, you damn love-cook!"
"Hey, the girls are back!" Chopper spoke up excitedly as he noticed all four girls arriving once more. "Did you find the bag?"
As Robin made her way back over with the other three, she knelt down in front of the youngest member and placed a finger to her lips. "Shh, okay?" She smiled as Chopper shrunk back a bit from her. "Miss Navigator is a bit fragile at the moment."
Chopper, a bit confused, nodded back.
"Let's start the lesson." Nami ordered abruptly, slitting her eyes towards Brook murderously.
He noticeably edged a bit away from Nami, but nodded in agreement.
"The first step is getting your Learner used to the water. We'll all start at the low-end of the pool." He spared a glance at Zoro and Chopper. "Perhaps, Zoro-san, you should take Chopper to the baby pool."
Chopper looked hurt, but Zoro stepped in defiantly, arms crossed in a challenging way. "Chopper's small, but he's a man. He'll be fine." He spared a glance at the small kid. "Right?"
Chopper nodded enthusiastically, positively beaming at being treated as an equal.
Many swimsuits and floatation devices equipped later, the lesson belatedly began.
"In order to swim, you must be comfortable with the water. Water is your friend, your buddy, your pal, your mate, your nakama. Feel the water. Move with the water. Become the water. Only then will you master swimming."
At least, that was what Brook had said – rather, he read from a piece of paper that he had printed fresh that morning. He obviously believed in the mantra so strongly, however, that he even began to sing it, but in a melancholic, depressing sort of way – claiming that it would inspire the Learners to "try their best".
"Yohohoho~ feel the water. Yohohoho~ move with the water. Yohohoho~ become the water. Yohohoho..."
And more or less, it had worked. All the groups had split up in the shallow end of the big pool, which was thankfully just big enough to accommodate everyone in the one end, but give some extra space at the same time. As Brook sang by the pool with his signature violin, the Learners had waded themselves in knee to waist deep, trying to get used to the dangerous liquid which could potentially kill them if they were silly. But no one acted that reckless and most were doing quite well to familiarise themselves as they spoke amongst their mentors.
Everyone except for Luffy.
He was drowning for the third time since they had set foot into the pool, and it was grating on Nami's nerves. She had no idea how drowning for him was even possible because, for one, he was wearing an unceremonious amount of floaties on his arms and even had a floaty jacket – and two, he was standing – not floating, standing – feet touching the ground, and everything. But he just kept falling under for some reason. Nami couldn't understand how such a kid wanted to be the Pirate King.
"GLUB, GLUB, HELP, NAMI, URK."
She considered leaving him to drown, but decided a body on her hands wouldn't fare well. Besides, she was being paid for this. She grabbed his arm and yanked him over to the pools' stairs. He sat on them, panting and wheezing and coughing up water like he was completely made of it.
"Are you okay, Luffy?" She asked, but she didn't really care. She had other things to worry about. For example, where the hell her extremely expensive bag was. Perhaps it was in the lost and found after the cleaners had taken it? That was a likely assumption, but she felt nauseous in her stomach. Her money, her licence, her cards, her phone, her house keys (it was lucky Nojiko had been home last night to let her in), a few of her maps – they were all in that bag. She needed it back. Pronto.
Pronto meaning after the lesson.
"Yeah, thanks, Nami." He nodded, hooting out a laugh once he was okay. But he looked over and noticed her expression. "Are you okay?"
How perceptive of you to notice, she thought dryly.
"Yes, Luffy. Now get up, we need to stop you from drowning- and why the hell are you wearing your hat in the pool?" She only just noticed it, dangling from his neck by the thin piece of white string.
He blinked. "I'm not wearing it. It's off my head."
"Yes, but-"
She was cut off by Brook beginning to clap his bony hands. She hadn't even noticed he'd stopped singing. "Well done, everyone! Have we all gotten used to the water without trouble?"
There were a few murmured "Yes's" amongst the groups, when Nami cleared her throat.
"Actually, Luff-"
She was cut off again by Brook who either did not hear her or pretended not to hear her. She had a hunch that it was the latter.
"Wonderful, wonderful! Well, before we progress further, there is something I'd like you all to partake in. The Learners cannot learn to swim if they do not trust their Mentors. As a result, we will do some exercises to increase those bonds."
Nami couldn't say that she liked where this was going. After all, yesterday's "bonding time" hadn't gone exactly to plan, either.
Brook, on the other hand, looked absolutely ecstatic about what he was about to say. "It'll be quite fun. It's more like a game."
This factor made Luffy, Usopp and Chopper all quite enthusiastic themselves. Franky, even for a man in his mid thirties, was excited about the proposition of a game.
"We'll have a race, across the width of the low end of the pool." He then chuckled, as if he knew something that they didn't. "There is a catch, though."
Here we go.
"The Mentors will be the ones to race while holding the Learners on their shoulders-
There it is.
-The aim is to wade to the other end before any other team, and to keep your Learner dry. Remember – if you drop your Learner, they may possibly drown! So don't do that!"
Brook didn't sound too affected by the proposition of someone drowning. He sounded quite cheerful, actually, and Nami realised that the entire exercise was absurd. She was the only female Mentor amongst her companions; it would be harder for her to carry Luffy, even if he was a skinny little runt.
"This is a bit unfair on my part, don't you agree, Brook?" She interjected his explanation scornfully.
"There will be a prize of one thousand Beli, if that helps." Brook quickly supplied.
It did help. Nami's head snapped towards Luffy, who was still sitting on the stairs. "Luffy, dumb-ass, get the hell onto my shoulders. We're going to win this. You hear me? This is like a race to get the buried treasure. Stop dawdling and let's go make you a real pirate."
This got Luffy into gear as he launched himself off the stairs and onto her back like a monkey. With surprising agility, he crawled up onto her shoulders, his foot knocking her in the ear.
"MUSH, NAMI-HORSE!" He screamed, tugging on her short pigtails like they were reigns. "CHARGE!"
"Ow, ow, moron!" She hissed, holding onto the top of his thighs in an attempt to keep him still and to balance herself at the same time. "He hasn't told us to go yet!"
As they argued, and Luffy kept telling her to dance like a pony, in which she replied that ponies don't dance, the remaining teams started to get into positions for the water race that they would all participate in. What Brook was not expecting to come out of the playful event, however, was the competitive streak coursing through everyone.
Zoro and Sanji (amongst nose bleeding from having Vivi on his shoulders) were sending each other threatening looks, and Usopp seemed to want to impress Kaya so he too was challenging everyone in his sights. Franky claimed that he was feeling especially super that week, and so it was likely that no one had a chance against him. Nami and Luffy were both incredibly riled up, for their different reasons. Once Luffy had stopped pretending Nami was a horse, they both made quite the viscous team.
"You kids have nothing on us." Nami spat in the direction of the other teams, a threatening, sadistic smile on her face. "You're a million years too young, and too poor."
Luffy backed her up with his own, equally threatening grin of malice. "I'll beat down anyone who steps in our way." He put his hat on top of his head, the black strands covering the dark glint in his eyes. "Let's win this, Nami."
"Aye, aye, Cap'n." The words left her mouth without her even noticing. She was far too riled up, adrenaline coursing through her veins, like she'd just skulled a few too many Red Bulls. She was excited; anticipating the race like her life depended on it. For a moment, she pondered whether this was what Luffy felt like all the time, as he seemed to put his heart and soul into every little thing that he did, energy always filling him completely.
She liked the feeling.
"On your marks…" Brook played a sharp note on his violin, making his volunteers fall into a tense, but excited silence. Anticipation hung thickly in the air.
"Get set…" Nami's legs didn't bunch tightly as if she was going to run, like the other males were doing. They seemed to forget they were all in water, and attempting to run was not on the smart agenda. Robin seemed to understand this, too, as she whispered something inaudible to Franky, who promptly stood to his full height. Nami's hands clutched Luffy's legs, however, making sure she would definitely not drop him.
"Hold onto me tightly, Luffy," she whispered to the side of her mouth. His arms wound around the top of her head tightly, and he made a determined noise of agreement in the back of his throat. His hold was uncomfortable, but she didn't yell at him; he didn't exactly have anywhere else to hold onto.
With a quirky, lopsided grin, Brook opened his mouth once more, his violin at the ready-
"Go!"
Everyone moved.
The music began, a violin version of the Benny Hill song, which was quite comical to the situation.
Water splashed and sprayed as numerous feet began to slosh towards the single objective in a determined and slightly panicked flurry.
Usopp was the first down as he attempted to run through the water, which very quickly pushed him back as his legs couldn't fight against the mass of thick liquid. He flew forward, screaming in a high-pitched way, and Kaya tumbled off of his shoulders, giggling and screaming at the same time. They both crashed into the water with a violent splash, but Usopp wasted no time in scooping Kaya up in his arms, asking if she was okay dramatically, even though she had managed to right herself.
Zoro and Sanji were neck and neck with each other, shoulder-to-shoulder, noses almost touching as one glared at the other, not even watching where they were going. Sanji moved fluidly in the water, with the utmost grace of a dancer. Zoro was the opposite, as he practically forced the water to move around him with sheer physical prowess alone. They growled and cursed at each other, elbows digging into ribs, legs trying to trip the other over. They became the downfall of the other as they were too caught up to listen to either Chopper or Vivi. Sanji tripped Zoro and Zoro pushed Sanji. They both went down, sinking like bricks, dragging Vivi and Chopper into their inevitable demise.
At long last, the race became two on two – Franky and Robin against Nami and Luffy. A battle of brains and brawn ensued.
Franky was at a clear advantage, almost arriving at the winning destination. While his torso and arms were large, fit for holding Robin with complete ease, he was thin in the legs. In a way that was similar to Sanji's, he was able to move with a sort of fluid motion, which enabled him to wade amongst the push of water. With Robin to guide him in how to move against the forever moving liquid, their team was practically impossible to beat.
Nami, compared to Franky, was weak in every way possible. Luffy was weighing her down, and his arms kept slipping into her ray of vision whenever he loosened his hold just the slightest. Franky's legs were longer than hers, and looked a whole lot better in a speedo than hers did. She felt a pang of jealousy, and mid-wade took a moment she didn't have to gaze wistfully at his good-lookin', hunkaspunk legs.
"Nami, you're losing!" It was Luffy, drumming on her head.
She panted heavily, moving sloppily through the water, attempting to pass Franky to no avail. "I think it's going to remain that way, Luffy. I'm not built for this."
She felt his breath on her ear. "Are you giving up?"
Nami watched Franky practically skating through the water with ease, a smug look on both his face and Robin's, though Robin's was subtler. But it was there, in her eyes.
Nami set her jaw tightly, mulling over an idea in her head. "No." Her own stern and steady voice surprised her. "You said you wanted to see me jump again, right?"
Luffy's melodic, contagious laugh answered the question for her.
She leapt through the water. She couldn't really call it a leap, to be honest, or even a jump – not like the one she performed over the pool. It was impossible for her to jump out of the water while it was high to her waist, completely submerging her legs. It was more like she glided, the water circled back around at the movement, slapping into her from behind, propelling her ever so slightly forward at each water submerged leap. She felt like a Ballerina, and smiled at the thought. The smile turned into a toothy grin, then quickly evolved into uncontrollable fits of laughter as she continued to leap, glide, or whatever it was called.
Feel the water. Move with the water. Become the water. If she had a second to think, that would be exactly what she was doing.
Luffy was cheering, trying to pedal his feet in the water to help her out. She could feel his chest against her back, rising and falling as he, too laughed.
Even as Franky's hand slapped down onto the cool tile of the other end, and hers mimicked his movements a mere second after his, she kept laughing, Luffy's own laughter chorusing her own.
She was having so much fun that it was almost criminal. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt so enthralled, so energized, so powerful, so…
Happy.
Luffy climbed off of her and onto solid ground. He looked down at her, a "Shishishi" passing through his lips. She couldn't help but grin back and think – we actually make a pretty good team.
A cluster of people from the program went to congratulate Franky and Robin on their victory, and Brook had started to shake their hands, holding a small bag of Beli out for them to claim as their own.
But Luffy lingered, rather than joining the celebration. He leant down, offering a lightly tanned, calloused hand to Nami.
"Nami should laugh more often. I like it." The words were honest, sincere.
She took his hand after a pause, thinking that maybe he wasn't such an idiot after all.
Nami rapped on the door, the words "Arlong Park Management Office" printed boldly on the wood. After a couple more hours of saving Luffy from drowning, she had made an obvious beeline towards the office door, in hopes that her bag had been saved – not before receiving payment from Brook, though, which all the mentors would get after every weekend. Robin, however, had tagged along briefly.
"You should be more patient with Luffy," She had said politely. "You are both a lot more alike than you would originally think."
And then she had left Nami alone, completely unsure of what the words meant. Luffy and her were completely different. For one, she was intelligent. Luffy was not. But she pushed the advice to the back of her mind, and set herself upon the task of getting her bag back.
The door swung open with a creak, and a long, blue-tinged face became visible in the dimly lit room. The man was large, with strong shoulders, a thick neck, and the weirdest nose she had ever seen. Even Usopp's comically long nose was second to it. It was probably even longer than Usopp's, but threateningly sharp and jagged. He wore an open, Hawaiian shirt, khaki pants and flip-flops. The man was obviously not dressed to impress.
He peered down at Nami with beady eyes. Something like recognition passed through his sharp features before disappearing, and his lips drew back in a smirk.
"Yes?" His voice was like a razor blade. It sent chills up her spine, but she kept a straight face.
It was straight down to business. "I left a bag in one of the women's lockers yesterday, and it seems I forgot to pick it back up before I left. I looked in the locker today and it was not there anymore. Would it have been possible that one of the cleaners had taken it and handed it in?"
He seemed to think for a moment. "That's quite troubling for you, I suppose. Why don't you come in, take a seat? I believe I do recall seeing a bag in the lost and found box." He opened the door just wide enough for her to slip in. He smelled of salt water and seafood. It was weird.
The door closed with a loud click, and the man gestured to a seat. She put on a fake smile and sat in the seat, but surveyed him with watchful eyes. He made his way across the room, towards a box that sat on top of a filing cabinet. It had the words "Lost & Found" scribbled untidily on it in permanent marker.
"Name is Arlong. I own the place, hence the name." He grabbed the box and sat it on top of his messy desk. He looked up at her, as if he expected her to introduce herself.
"Nami," she replied curtly, and sat up straight to get a better look at what was in the box.
"Take a look through, see what you find, Nami." He sat down in his own chair, crossing one weirdly coloured leg over the other. She wondered if the blue pool-dye had stained his skin.
She did as she was told, though. She took out some items that didn't belong to her to dig deeper, such as a hat and a porno magazine.
Gross.
Then she saw it, and she nearly cried. She yanked the bag out with tremendous force, hugging it to her bosom. "Yes, yes, thank you!"
He continued to smirk at her with predatory eyes. "I'm glad I've helped you, Nami."
"You really have. I'm so glad to have it back." She opened it, filing through the contents to make sure everything was there. House keys, a couple maps, licence, her wallet with correct amount of money, sunglasses – she'd forgotten that they were in there – cards and a phone. Something nagged at the back of her mind, but she pushed it off. Everything important was there, at least.
"Well if you lose anything else at all, don't hesitate to come back." The offer was polite enough, but it made her feel uneasy. She was glad that she put her clothes back on, at least.
Nami nodded and rose from the rickety seat. "All right, thanks again, uh, Arlong."
"I'm sure we'll see one another again very soon."
She nodded with a tight smile, and left.
A sigh escaped her as the door clicked closed behind her. She felt, oddly enough, better with a door between them. She didn't even know the guy, and he seemed polite enough. She was turning crazy.
Placing the bag strap over her shoulder, feeling content once more, she left Arlong Park completely, mulling over how to spend her new twenty-thousand Beli, before remembering her numerous amount of fines with disgust.
Arlong listened to Nami's sandals tap away until he heard them no longer, unable to keep the toothy grin from occupying his face. Pulling a key from his pocket, he unlocked the first drawer of his desk, pulling out a medium sized piece of parchment.
It was an unfinished, but fairly detailed map of the East Blue Sea. In the bottom right hand corner, the name Nami was scrawled neatly in cursive. He brushed his long, rough, bejewelled fingers over the ink signature, and repeated the name out loud.
"Nami," In a fluid motion, he ripped the bottom right corner with the signature off, stripping the map of its owner completely. "My, what an interesting ability you have."
Uh oh SPAGHETTIOS.
I'm going to apologize right now for my lack of knowledge on Beli currency. I'm pulling everything out of my arse as I write. I've looked it up a bit and researched what some things cost in the One Piece universe, but it doesn't make sense to me really. As a result, you get what you get. I don't think Beli currency will determine the outcome of this story, so it honestly shouldn't matter.
Anyway, on the ending: Nami, while still in the pool, said she had a "few" maps in her bag, which I take is around about three. When she looked in the bag when she found it, she noticed "a couple" of maps, which is two. You see where I'm gettin' at? Just thought I'd clear that up in case people were like "omigod why does Arlong have one of her maps when they were in her bag still?!". Answer is that she had three. He took one. She forgot, didn't notice. WAH-LAH.
Anyway, review, favourite, follow, whatever you feel like - that is, if you enjoyed the story. Critique is especially welcome. Flames - if you really want to, go for it. Flames are hilarious.
