GreenCyberWolf: Hey people welcome to chapter two, if you're reading this I must have managed to at least grab your attention, thanks for returning. This will be my last update on this story for the rest of the year since I'm taking next month off for Christmas and the New Year.

Luffy: Ooo I love Christmas! There's always a lot of food to eat!

GreenCyberWolf: Luffy that's not why you celebrate Christmas. Really don't you ever think past your next meal?

Luffy: …Ummm...What was the question?

GreenCyberWolf: O_o; Well anyway, let's get this show on the road, what do say?

Luffy: Yeah I'm so excited! Something cool is getting ready to happen I can feel it.

Disclaimer: Ok you guys already know the whole spiel, don't own, and never will. Thanks for reminding me.

"talk"
'thought'
flashback

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Nami's Returning Nightmare
CH. 2
Storms and Suspicions
-

The day passed peacefully enough for the Strawhat crew and amazingly Luffy managed to not make a complete annoyance out of himself for the entire day. Although Nami could swear she had almost caught him staring at her a few times during the day but it could have just been her imagination by late afternoon she had almost forgotten about her dream from the night before.

Nami was trimming her mikan trees humming a nameless tune quietly to herself in the late afternoon when suddenly a loud yell from behind caused her to turn around only to see Luffy come flying toward her. The rubber boy was unable to stop in time and wound up slamming into the startled navigator which made the two of them crash to the floor with a yelp.

"Ah, sorry Nami, I didn't mean to. It was Ussop's idea." Luffy said, hastily lifting himself off the young woman lying beneath him hoping not to get hurt too badly.

"You idiot, what are you doing?" Nami groaned and cracked her eyes open to see her captain staring down at her with a blank look. She placed a hand to her head to steady her spinning vision and when she was no longer seeing double she noticed just how close Luffy was. Nami's eyes widened as she could feel the boy's warm breath against her face, his lower half laying across her legs and his arms placed on each side of her head. The insult she was about to scream at him died on her lips as she stared up into the deep black orbs that were Luffy's eyes her face took on a bright red color as she fully realized their position. "Luffy… " The pinned navigator choked out before she tried to steady her voice and clenched her hands by her sides. She glared at her unsuspecting captain, "…Luffy, will you get off of me, moron!" Nami yelled and punched the rubber boy in the face making him fly backward onto the deck.

Luffy grabbed his head in pain as he rolled on the ground. "Ow, Nami, what'd you hit me for? Why are you so mad?" The black haired teen whimpered as he looked over to the angry navigator.

Nami scowled as she stood up and straightened her outfit her blush toning down to a light pink color. "You're an idiot, of course when you go flying into people Luffy they're going to be upset." She said to him as she stalked past. Looking back only once as she rounded the corner and seeing Luffy still sitting where he had fallen, if she didn't know better looked like he was actually thinking about what she said.

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After dinner Luffy, Ussop, Chopper, and Franky were sitting on the grassy lawn deck and had started up a card game. "Hey Nami, come and play with us." The captain asked motioning to an empty spot on grass beside him. Nami hesitated only momentarily and then she nodded happily. It seemed like forever since she had played a game of cards with the crew just for the fun of it. The game lasted well into the night, it was near midnight when they finally called it a day and headed to their respective beds. Nami entered the women's quarters and found Robin still awake nose firmly planted in a large book. Nami quickly changed for bed and wished Robin a goodnight knowing full well that the older woman would more than likely stay up all night reading.

The early morning pre-dawn found Robin fully engrossed in her book about some obscure ancient culture when out of the corner of her eye she noticed her young friend seemed to be in some distress, the orange haired girl was mumbling and twitching in her sleep. Robin put her book down and moved to the side of Nami's bed upon closer inspection the archeologist found silent tears falling down the young woman's cheeks. What could bring the usually fiery navigator to tears like this? This piqued Robin's interest and she wondered, not for the first time, about the navigator's history. The first time was when the whole crew, besides herself, had their memories stolen. The orange haired girl had a rather different reaction than the others when she had found herself on a strange pirate ship and she had stated her hatred of pirates with such a strong conviction that it had startled the archeologist for a moment. Robin debated with herself for a minute on whether to watch the nightmare play out and perhaps learn something about the young woman's strange behavior lately or to save her friend from an obviously disturbing dream.

However the choice seemed to be made for her as Nami abruptly shot upward with an audible gasp. The girls brown eyes were wide with fear as they wildly scanned the room her mind still caught somewhere between the dream and reality. Nami took a few seconds to regain her senses as her eyes landed on Robin standing beside her bed.

"R...Robin, uh, I didn't wake you, did I?" The navigator quickly wiped the tears from her eyes trying not to let the trembling in her voice or hands show.

"No, Navigator-san, I was already awake." The older woman looked over the shaking girl with a calculating but gentle look. "You know, they say that talking about it helps to calm yourself after a nightmare."

As Robin expected her unsaid offer was turned down as Nami shook her head and climbed out of bed. "Thanks anyway Robin but I'm fine after all it was just a bad dream. It's not like it could happen again." Nami said the last part to herself but Robin heard it anyway. The girl started to pull a green tank top over her head thus missing the archeologist's eyes widen slightly at the tiny slip-up.

Robin left, letting the navigator finish getting ready and headed for the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. 'I was right then, whatever has Navigator-san so shaken has something to do with some event in her past.' The black haired woman reflected on her crewmate's nervous behavior. It wasn't long before Sanji came into the room to prepare breakfast followed shortly by the rest of the crew all except for Nami. Robin briefly wondered on her whereabouts but it was quickly explained when Chopper said that he saw Nami heading for the bathhouse.

The conversation of the rest of the crew didn't take long to turn towards Nami and her odd mood. Even Zoro had noticed that the navigator had seemed off the last couple of days and let's face it he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

"Do you think she's sick?" Chopper asked worriedly already thinking of what illnesses his friend could have.

Robin shook her head, "I don't think that is the case Doctor-kun, it seems to be something else that is bothering her." Robin idly flipped through the latest newspaper that had come just the other day, being in the middle of the Grand Line it was often difficult to get news.

"Oh, my poor Nami-swan is suffering all alone, I shall be her knight in shining armor and come to her rescue!" Sanji declared in his love state. He was widely ignored.

Robin's blue eyes widened as they skimmed over a crumpled page in the paper that caught her interest, one that Nami had obviously read already, since besides Robin she was the only one who really bothered with the newspaper. The historian turned to Luffy with a serious gaze. "Captain-san, has Navigator-san had any unfortunate dealings with mermen before?"

The sudden odd change of topic threw the entire table into silence. Half the crew looked to Robin in curiosity at her asking such a weird question while the other half looked to Luffy wondering what his response would be. The boy seemed to be in some thought before he answered. "Yeah there was this shark guy that made Nami cry but I kicked his ass." To most of the crews surprise the captain actually remembered it much less sounding serious as he looked back at Robin.

Ussop, who was sitting next to Robin, looked over her shoulder at the article she had the paper opened to. "Why did you ask something like that Robin? Is it about this article?" The sharpshooter sounded curious, it matched the expression of the rest of the crew, except for Luffy who had gone back to devouring his breakfast.

"If that is the case then I think this might explain a lot." Robin said laying the open paper on the table in front of the crew. "I believe we will be entering this pirate's territory soon." Robin motioned to the wrinkled article on recent activities of a certain merman pirate by the name of Montaru. "This article says he is the cause of three fully manned Marine battle ships being sunk near an island not too far from here." Robin summarized for the others.

Zoro looked up from the paper his eyes narrowed. "So you think Nami knows this guy and has some kinda history with him? That's why she's freaking out." At Robin's affirmative nod the swordsman huffed muttering under his breath. "Just great, that woman gets all riled up just because she recognizes some old pirate."

Unknown to the crew Nami had walked into the dining area during Zoro's last comment. Seeing the opened paper on the table it didn't take much to catch on to what they were talking about and she looked ready to either cry or yell at the green haired man. She chose the latter. The girl advanced dangerously toward Zoro, her hands unconsciously clenched so tight her nails were digging into her skin. She stalked past Luffy and Sanji then stopped and glared at the reclining swordsman. "Just what makes you think I would know anything about some bastard pirate located on the Grand Line?" Her voice wavered slightly, even though she tried to hide it, her chocolate brown eyes flashed dangerously.

"Well this guy's a fishman and you did actually work with them for all those years." Zoro stated calmly not realizing the grave he was digging for himself. Within a few seconds the swordsman was pounded into the floor by the fuming navigator.

Nami turned her back on the room to hide the angry tears threatening to escape unable to keep her body from trembling. "I was forced to work for them for eight years. It doesn't mean I would know about this guy just because he's a fishman too. It's not like they just shared any kind of information on anything, especially with me." Nami seethed at the pummeled swordsman. She stomped out of the room before anyone could ask any more questions and retreated into the observation room. So far her morning had completely sucked. She really didn't think her day could get much worse than this right now and it was barley past breakfast.

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It was late evening by the time Nami came back on deck again. She had skipped both lunch and dinner with the crew opting to stay in the observation room and work on her maps. The food Sanji had brought her was left relatively untouched. Aside from him the only other visitor to keep her company was Luffy which had greatly surprised her seeing as it was beautiful weather outside and they could both hear Ussop and Chopper's laughter coming from the lawn deck. When she had asked him why he was inside with her instead of outside like she knew he wanted to be he hadn't given an answer. Instead he just offered her a small grin that brought a red tint to her cheeks and continued watching as she started a new map.

Now though Luffy was gone, he had disappeared earlier when Sanji had called for dinner. Nami stepped out of the observation room and spotted Zoro across the deck sleeping, what else. She was still slightly annoyed at him but far from what she had felt this morning. A sudden cool breeze blew across the ship causing Nami to shiver but not from the cold, something felt wrong about this wind. She looked upward and found that the evening sky was blocked out by heavy black clouds. "Aaahhh! Why didn't anyone tell me the weather was getting this bad?" Nami screamed, noticing that Zoro was the only one outside. "Zoro, get up off your ass and get the others out here now." The navigator screamed at the man on the deck below. Her voice succeeding in both waking the swordsman from his nap and grabbing the rest of the crew's attention.

"What are you yelling about now, woman?" Growled an irritated Zoro as everyone else joined him on deck.

"Isn't it obvious you moron? There's a big storm coming and we're heading right for the center of it." Nami said pointing up at the ominous black clouds as a few heavy raindrops fell to the deck. "Now everyone get to your places. Sanji, Zoro, raise the sails. Franky man the helm. Chopper and Ussop make sure everything is tied down. Luffy, be sure to hold on to something, this is going to be a rough one."

The crew rushed to follow her orders as the rain and wind quickly picked up. Soon the waves grew more violent as lightning streaked across the sky. Nami shivered lightly while making sure her orders were being followed after all she only had her tank top and blue jean shorts and neither were providing very much protection against the wind and rain. As the storm progressed the orange haired navigator had a tough time remaining upright on the rolling ship as she continued to give out orders to the crew. Luffy had wrapped himself around the mast so he wouldn't be blown overboard.

"Luffy maybe you should go inside!" Nami yelled to the tied down rubber man. He didn't hear her, the fierce wind blowing away her words before they reached his ears. 'That idiot is going to drown himself.' Nami thought as she tried to make her way over to Luffy so she could tell the reckless captain to go inside but halfway there disaster struck in the form of a sudden huge wave. It was at least half as tall as the mast.

The massive wave crashed over the Thousand Sunny seemingly determined to capsize the ship. It caught everyone by surprise but fortunately they were all able to grab hold of something, except for Nami who was caught in the middle of the open lawn deck. There was nothing within reach to grab onto. The wave washed over the ship inevitably pulling the surprised girl over the side, Nami felt herself become airborne for a heart stopping few seconds, then the unavoidable dropping sensation as she freefell toward the raging ocean below. Nami shot her hand out grasping at air trying to catch herself on something, on anything, before hitting the water. Amazingly a hand reached out and grabbed onto her flailing one stopping her decent just in time. Nami looked up to see the coal black eyes of her captain the wild sea below her being reflected in his dark orbs.

Nami smiled as Luffy began to pull her back up the side of the ship his gaze still locked onto hers. She was almost back over the railing again when the storm tried once more to sink the ship as another large wave rocked the sturdy vessel. The Thousand Sunny gave another sudden lurch causing the rubber teen to slip on the wet grass and fly overboard still clutching the navigator's hand and the two pirates started to fall into the swirling water below.

Nami didn't have time to react as Luffy gave her a toss upwards and she landed with a thud on solid deck. She managed to stumble to her feet just as Zoro rushed by her and followed the captain into the waves. A moment later Sanji was there with rope in hand ready to help bring in the first mate and captain. After about two minutes Zoro resurfaced with an unconscious Luffy in tow the cook tossed the rope over and along with Franky pulled the pair out of the wildly crashing sea and back onto the deck.

Nami didn't allow herself to be relieved just yet, as she watched her unconscious captain being looked over by the young doctor. "Chopper, is he going to be alright?" She anxiously asked the reindeer who was in Heavy point to keep from being blown away.

Chopper nodded as he picked Luffy up and began to carry him back to the guys bunk room. "All he needs is some rest and he'll be good as new. Are you Ok Nami, you aren't hurt from your fall?" He asked stopping to look over his shoulder.

Nami smiled to herself in relief. "No, I'm alright Chopper, just take care of Luffy." She turned back to the others to get them back to work. "Alright guys, this storm should blow over by morning so we still have work to do."

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After another four hours of everyone working to make sure the ship stayed afloat the sea finally calmed down enough for the Strawhat crew to take a rest even though the rain and rough wind continued. The crew wasted no time in crashing in their respective beds. Nami volunteered to stay on watch for the night to be able to keep the ship on course in the rough conditions. Also, though she wouldn't admit it to anybody, so that she wouldn't have to go to sleep. After changing into a pair of black capri pants and a plain blue t-shirt the navigator climbed into the crow's nest to keep watch. It was a few hours till dawn and with nothing to occupy her mind but the dark ocean in all directions her memories of the past ran unbidden across her mind. Whether she was asleep or not.

XxXx

Nearly two years after the takeover of Cocoyashi village and the small island things were still pretty much the same for everyone. Nami had spent those two years working endlessly on maps of the surrounding area for Arlong, although he wouldn't allow her to leave the island. He always said it was because she was so young and it was much too dangerous on the open ocean for a small child and that he couldn't allow his best surveyor to be in such dangerous situations. Though she suspected it was just to delay her from collecting money to buy back her village. During those two years Dai would often come for a late night visit to Arlong Park three or four times a month. The two young kids would do nothing but just sit and talk about simple things. Life in the village or maybe one of Nami's maps she was working on.

However outside of these visits, if they happen to pass each other in Cocoyashi, which wasn't often they never said a word to the other. He would instead offer her a secretive smile and she would acknowledge him only with a nod of her head, after all, appearances had to be maintained.

A few nights after her twelfth birthday Dai came for a visit as usual. It was raining lightly so he had on his father's old tattered jacket. "Happy birthday, Nami." The now thirteen year old boy said as soon as he stepped into the room. "I'm supposed to say Happy Birthday from your big sis too and that she's got something for ya whenever ya got the time to visit." Dai shuffled his feet against the floor suddenly uncharacteristically nervous. "Um…here, this is for you." He pulled a wrapped box out of the large jacket and handed it to Nami. It was thin, about medium length, and was lightweight.

"Dai, you didn't have to get me anything." Nami said excitedly accepting the box anyway she didn't notice her friend's light blush as she eagerly unwrapped the package. When it was opened there followed a definite moment of confusion. "I don't get it, Dai, what am I going to do with 3 sticks?"

"Aaa, no. They're not just sticks Nami. It's a triple segment bo staff." Dai explained taking the parts out of the box one by one. "I made it myself, well… Dad helped a little. It's the perfect offensive and defensive weapon, plus it's strong and won't break easily in a fight. Once ya get the hang of it the assembly should easily take only a few seconds." Dai said showing her how to put the staff together, sounding rather pleased with his accomplishment. He handed the assembled staff back to Nami letting her look it over and get used to its feel. "You've been going on for weeks now about how Arlong's finally gonna let ya travel off the island." The brown haired boy gave a wry grin, "This will help bring ya back home in one piece."

The orange haired girl smiled. "Thanks Dai, this is the best present ever, it will help me a lot. Anyway you won't be getting rid of me that easily we made a promise didn't we?" At his nod she laughed quietly, but then her smile faded. "Dai, you know I'll be leaving tomorrow, right? I'm finally going to be able to start collecting the money I need for Arlong." The boy nodded actually being totally serious for once. "I need you to tell Nojiko for me. I know if I tell her she's going to start lecturing me about safety and what to do or not to do like she would know more about leaving the island than me." Nami huffed already annoyed, making Dai chuckle at his friend.

"OK, consider it done," Dai smirked. "I'll just add this to my list of favors that ya owe me for." He laughed again at the expression on Nami's face. "Well, if you're gonna be leaving tomorrow, ya need your rest so I better get going. The rain has stopped anyway and I don't want to get caught in it again." The thirteen year old boy started to open the window before turning to look over his shoulder. "Nami I know ya don't need a lecture but… be sure to come back safe, gold or no gold."

Nami gave a hollow laugh at the thought of coming back empty handed. "Right, no problem Dai." The young girl's words were empty as was her expression and Dai knew the words for what they were, just a fake reassurance, he knew that she would never even consider coming back with nothing to show for it. The boy sadly gave a last 'good luck' and jumped through the window.

XxXx

The navigator rested her forehead against her knees with a weary sigh. 'Why in all of the Grand Line did we have to run across him? I thought I could finally put everything that happened with Arlong behind me and I definitely thought I'd never have to see his name again. I'm sorry. I couldn't stop him or you.' She closed her eyes tightly as a few tears still managed to escape. One certain person kept coming back to haunt her since reading that news article and it was his face she saw now. 'I thought I was over and done with this already.' She ground her teeth against the tears that continued to fall and the silent sobs that shook her entire body. Nami was so distracted by her thoughts of the past that she failed to notice an unknown ship appear on the distant horizon.

The heavy cloud cover and rain continued through the dawn and over the last few hours the strange ship had moved quite a bit closer to the Thousand Sunny. Nami kept a close eye on it having finally spotted it after pulling herself together. There was no Marine symbol or Jolly Roger on the sail or flag, but seeing the large black boat sent a really bad vibe down her spine, not only that but it was slowly gaining on Sunny. Finally coming to a decision Nami walked over to the ship's speaker and turned it on. "Hey, everyone wake up. We have an unknown ship coming up on the port side." Nami's voice sounded throughout the ship, and then she climbed down from crow's nest to meet the still half asleep crew on deck.

Luffy, who seemed to be recovered from his near drowning experience walked up to Nami rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Nami, what's up? You said something about a ship?"

"Yeah, just take a look." Nami pointed to the port side of the ship and Luffy ran over to take a look. With the prospect of a fight some of his usual energy returned to the rubber boy. "I've been watching them for about two hours now. They've steadily been gaining on us. It doesn't seem to be a marine ship and there's no Jolly Roger either but there's something weird about it. I have a bad feeling about that ship."

Zoro had moved to the side of the ship with Luffy and Ussop. "Hey, it looks like they're doing something over there." The swordsman was looking toward the other ship with an intense gaze. In the few minutes since Nami had left the crow's nest the strange vessel had moved close enough for the Strawhat crew to see some of the activity on board the other ship. The rest of the crew gathered at the side of the ship to see what Zoro was talking about.

As the crew looked on something was being raised up the mast of the opposite ship, it hung limply for a second until the wind caught it revealing a black flag with a pirate symbol on it. A symbol Nami seemed to recognize as she gasped and suddenly pulled away several steps from the railing. "No…no way. Not him." Nami whispered to herself. Her eyes locked on the black pirate flag.

=O=O=O=

OK second chapter is done, and I know you all must hate me for leaving off there, but hope ya'll enjoyed it anyway. Remember next month I'll be taking off for Christmas, so see you guys next year. Everyone have a Merry Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, and anything else I missed.

Next chapter we'll see just who this strange pirate ship belongs to and what they want.