Chapter 2: Journey to the Healing Island
Nami boredly sat in a chair at the dining table very late at night. She watched the light rain run down the window in the kitchen while drinking a cup of coffee. She had slept for a while, but was awoken by another nightmare about Bellemere's death. After that, she ate dinner with the rest of the crew and then helped Sanji clean up. Sanji left for bed a few minutes ago, leaving Nami alone in the kitchen. Chopper insisted that he or Robin stay with her during the night, but Nami convinced him she was fine. Now, Nami was starting to regret not having someone stay with her.
Nami stretched and realized she still wore the same clothes she did when she fainted on the deck. "I'll have to ask Robin to bring me some new clothes tomorrow," Nami thought as she took another sip of her coffee. She felt a bit dizzy for a second, but ignored it and closed her eyes. Chopper told her that she would still feel the symptoms, but they would die down for a few hours before the next stage started. She stood up and walked to the window, looking outside at the deck. The lights were on in the crow's nest, where Zoro was training again.
Nami walked into the infirmary after finishing her coffee and wrapped herself in the blankets on the bed, trying to get comfortable so she could (hopefully) fall asleep. As soon as she felt her eyelids get heavy, a knock came on the infirmary door.
"Can I come in?" The deep voice of Zoro grumbled. Nami mumbled a (somewhat surprised) "yes" back and watched Zoro walk in the dark room. The swordsman sat in a chair near the bed. Nami didn't mind him being there, especially since she wanted someone to talk to and vent her thoughts. "Robin says you're fine, but you don't look so good," He said, glancing over Nami's face and noticing the shadows under her eyes.
"Yeah, I know," Nami mumbled sleepily. "What else did you hear about it?" The navigator asked after an awkward pause.
"Nothing really, Robin just said you'd be fine after we get medicine on the next island. They're hiding something, aren't they?" Zoro asked. Nami nodded in agreement.
"It's called 'The Ocean's Curse'. You ever heard of it?"
Zoro's eye widened. "Uh, yeah, one of the guys I worked with before I joined Luffy had it." Zoro's face paled at the thought. "Don't mean to freak you out or anything, but it gets pretty bad."
"I got the general idea from those two," Nami said, talking about Robin and Chopper. Zoro and Nami stopped talking and just sat in silence for a while.
"So…" Zoro started. Nami noticed him nervously glancing around the room barely lit by moonlight. "You're not allowed to leave this room? Must be pretty boring," Zoro commented as he yawned.
"Yeah, there's not much to do here during the night."
"I feel bad for you, honestly." Nami could have sworn she saw Zoro blush, but she ignored it.
"Oh, thanks for feeling bad for me, Zoro," Nami teased. Zoro scowled at her before standing up. "Where are you going?" Nami asked, thinking she sounded disappointed.
"Gonna train a little bit before bed."
"Don't you sleep enough during the day, lazy?"
"Shut up."
"Alright, good night, Zoro," Nami said before Zoro walked outside. She smiled to herself and wrapped herself tighter in the blankets before falling asleep. Outside, Zoro inhaled the cool night air and began walked up the ladder to the crow's nest. He promised himself he would help Nami get better, because he didn't want to see another person he knew die of the Ocean's Curse.
The next morning, breakfast went on as usual. Everyone seemed their normal, happy selves. Nami was glad no one was panicking about her condition. The only people who seemed any different were Robin and Zoro. Robin was a bit quieter than usual, but it was hardly noticeable and Zoro would just glance over at her every few minutes.
"He's just being nervous because he's seen it before," Nami told herself. "Anyways, he'd do the same for Luffy, Chopper, Robin, or anyone else." For some reason, she felt weird about Zoro talking to her last night, but she figured she had bigger things to worry about. She had her first hallucination this morning when she thought she saw Nojiko standing at the foot of her bed. She disappeared once Chopper walked in to check on her, but Nami was still pretty freaked out.
"We should reach the island by noon tomorrow," Robin explained. "The island is known as Hiriame and it has a large forest, rumored to be full of herbs, luckily for us." This caused a few cheers to come from Luffy, Usopp, Franky, Chopper, and Brook.
"Sanji, let's have a feast for Nami's recovery!" Luffy shouted excitedly, smiling at Nami.
"No, idiot, I'm saving all the extra food for Nami if she gets hungry," Sanji growled back, lightly kicking Luffy.
After breakfast, Robin stayed to help Sanji clean up while Luffy and Zoro continued talking at the table. Nami sat on the couch on one side of the room, boredly watching everyone else. Chopper was in the infirmary, insisting that he stayed with Nami today since she had a hallucination, and was currently reading a book about pirate's diseases. Usopp, Franky, and Brook were somewhere outside, probably working on navigating to the next island. Nami was surprised that they managed to stay on course for this long without her help, but she knew Robin was decent at navigation.
Nami couldn't help her thoughts from drifting back to Zoro and the conversation they had last night. She did think it was a little weird that Zoro talked with her during his free time, but she tried to ignore it as much as possible.
"Navigator-san, you seem worried about something," Robin said, sitting down next to Nami. Nami looked over at Robin, who gave her a comforting look. "Chopper and I have read through books on the island and determined the materials we need to make the medicine are there."
"Thanks, Robin," Nami said gratefully. "By the way, would you grab some new clothes and books for me?" Robin nodded.
"Of course, I'll be back soon." Robin left the kitchen and Nami headed back towards the infirmary, not noticing Zoro watch her leave.
Later in the evening, Nami changed into a plain t-shirt and shorts. She also looked at the books Robin brought her. There were two about navigation, a fantasy story about a princess (one of Nami's favorites), and a love story between a mermaid and a prince. For almost the entire evening, Nami read through the books, since she didn't have anything better to do. She felt a little disappointed that Zoro didn't visit her though. That night, Chopper slept in the infirmary with Nami.
Nami fell asleep quickly, having not slept much for the past few nights. That night, instead of having a nightmare about Bellemere, she had a nightmare about Zoro being killed in front of her, and she woke up crying several times.