Garth
"What!?" Nami managed to yell in a whisper.
"Their coming this way, and fast; we need to get to the surface."
With that, he wrapped his arm around her once again and stretched the other one up to the opening above them. Then she heard what Luffy had just mentioned. There was the sound of claws scraping against the floor of the sewer and the heavy breathing she had heard before. They sprung up to the surface just in time, and she could practically feel the dog's fur brush against her legs.
Immediately when they re-entered the fresh air they were hit head on by another charging pack of werewolves. Apparently the dogs hadn't expected the two to pop up in front of them so they collided and the two, along with a surprised werewolf, skidded across the ground. Luffy growled.
"Back into the rain again" he said as he shivered in cold.
Nami began to take the lamp from the backpack but Luffy raised his hand to stop her.
"We need to let our eyes adjust to the darkness and not depend on this light Nami. It can only go so far, and I can't protect you if I'm fighting three feet from you."
Nami nodded, he was right, but she wondered how he could fight if he could hardly walk. Of course, she remembered what the king of Alabasta had said; talking of how Luffy defeated Crocodile with that gaping hole in his stomach and the poison that had infected him, but if they only had bandaged his wounds earlier, he wouldn't have bled so much.
"Don't worry Nami" Luffy said and Nami looked up in surprise. Was the fact that she was worried so obvious? She suddenly felt ashamed that she didn't believe in her captain after all they had been through. Hadn't he proved to her by now that she could trust in him?
"I'm sorry Luffy. I believe in you."
"Yosh, that's my navigator!" he said, and though she could barely see his face in the darkness, it was obvious he was grinning that huge grin on his face.
With that, they were back in action. The dogs went crazy once they realized that their prey was right in front of them and they all attacked at once.
"Nami! Duck!"
Once again, Nami dropped to her knees and Luffy used his leg as a whip to take out the majority of the beasts surrounding them. It was a quick and easy way too be rid of a large group of attackers.
Several of the dogs had ducked when they heard Luffy give Nami the order, and they were quick to take advantage of this moment that he couldn't move. However, even the clever ones were caught off guard at Luffy's ability to re-habilitate from his attack. He quickly swung his fist around and smashed them out of the way. The captain fell to the ground but most of the dogs kept their distance for fear of being pulverized like their fellow werewolves.
Luffy pushed himself up with his arms, then brought himself back to his feet, swaying a bit. Two or Three more beasts tried to attack the captain, but all attempts to harm him or the orange haired navigator were futile and soon the dogs had backed away, keeping their distance.
"Way to go Luffy" Nami said as she ran over to him with the umbrella, knowing that the rain would weaken him further.
"Thanks Nami" he said keeping his eyes on the dogs surrounding them. "Let's get out of here."
With that, the two returned on their way through the darkness. The wolves backed out of the way and a few ran off.
'Thank heavens' Nami thought as they made their way without delay down the road.
The two walked side by side as the captain leaned on his navigator for support. She held the umbrella and kept the lamp in her backpack. It was annoyingly hot against her back, but it was the only warmth against the bitter cold. Besides, she had no where else to put it where it could be kept unseen.
She figured that Luffy was exhausted, and didn't bother to look over at him. His breathing was rasped and she felt him weighing down on her a bit more than he had when they had been in the sewer. He was weakening.
"Leader" cried one of the wolves as they ran up to a monstrous shadow lying on a mass of furs "there has been quite a ruckus in the streets tonight and we were wondering if you wanted to get in on the excitement."
"Ruckus you say?" asked the beast as it raised itself to all fours. "What on earth is going on?"
"Humans sir. One, a boy, is a devil fruit user but there's a lady that seems to only be good at running. She would be fine prey but the boy is quite a fighter and, so far, he's managed to keep the pack off of them both."
"A devil fruit user ay? Sounds like fun. Lead me to them." And with that it made its way to the door, following the smaller dog.
They had run quite a ways when Nami finally spotted the silhouette of the Thousand Sunny's shadow against the dark sky. It was near impossible to see, but her eyes had had a while to adjust to the darkness. She was worn out, and carrying Luffy while she was running was no small task. Despite his efforts to carry his own weight and they both knew he needed to conserve his energy in case they were attacked again by the wolf pack following them.
"Luffy, I think I see the Thousand Sunny" she said looking over at him.
"S'that so? Sweet! Then we can go get your arm checked out. It must stink carting me around like this with that injury, and it could be infected if those… AHH! YOU COULD HAVE RABIES!! OR…OR… YOU MIGHT BECOME" his voice went down to a whisper "you might become one of THEM."
The navigator looked over at him and cocked an eyebrow. Was he picking fun at a time like this or was he really serious?
"Luffy, stuff like that only happens in stories. Besides, it's not a full moon tonight."
They both looked up. Neither the moon, nor the stars, could be seen through the dark clouds and rain.
"Err, well, even if it was, its still illogical."
"Well you two seem pretty calm considering the situation" came a deep voice behind them. They both turned to see who was bothering to speak to them. Their jaws dropped in sequence as their eyes followed the werewolf's body up to where they figured his head was. The beast stood at a remarkable height of 15 feet and its shoulders were as broad as Luffy was tall. Its eyes glowed brighter than the others and it stood on its two legs rather than all fours.
"Who are you?" Luffy asked in a somber tone.
"The names Garth; I'm in charge around here."
"Aa" Luffy grunted in acknowledgement "then why don't you tell your pups to get off our case so we can get back to our nakama?"
The wolf chuckled. "I don't think you understand boy. You will not escape from this town and you will never see your nakama again."
"Well, it seems you're as mindless as the rest of your pack" Luffy said plainly and removed his arm from Nami to stand on his own weight. "So, since you're the leader, if I kick your butt your dogs will leave us alone?"
"You should learn not to underestimate your opponent" Garth growled as he went down to all fours. "I suppose you'll learn soon enough."
"To make this an honest match, would you tell your mutts to keep their paws off of my Navigator until this battle is over? It would be distracting if I had to fight them off as well."
Garth let out a low grunt "very well. I would hate to have you distracted during our battle. I promise your lady will be unharmed until the end of our fight."
The dogs backed away and a few sat down to watch the match.
"Nami, run" the captain said as he adjusted the hat on his head.
"What!? I won't leave you Luffy!"
"Nami" he said calmly "I need you to go get the others. Can you do that for me?"
Her eyes widened. Was Luffy sending her for backup?
"Luffy…"
"Hey, who said she could just run off!?" the werewolf barked.
"You never said she couldn't, and since I'm her captain, I can tell her to do what I want" the captain responded coolly.
Garth grunted, puffing his hot breath into the air. Then, with amazing speed, he dashed at the boy.
"Go!" Luffy yelled as he charged head on at the beast.
Nami didn't hesitate to spin on her heel and dash away from the two. 'Please keep him safe' she prayed silently 'and give me the speed I need to get to the others quickly.'
Rather than attacking the wolf, Luffy ducked underneath him right before he sent his claws into the scrawny captain. The boy caught himself with his hands and stumbled a couple feet away from Garth. The beast skidded on the wet ground, but was quick to slip around and charge him again. Luffy was sure he was done for, for all the monster had to do was open its jaws and it could have snatched him in its fangs, but instead of biting him, it grabbed at him with its claws. The boy curved his body to avoid the razor like weapons on the dog's paw, and then brought his fist towards its long nose. The creature thrust its head back just in time and he missed it by a hair.
They both landed on the ground and Luffy dropped to one knee. He was already exhausted from just that, but he couldn't stop now. Not while Nami still had a chance to escape. He just had to keep the battle going till the crew returned, for then he could be sure that she was ok, but that blasted rain just kept falling and falling.
"Dang" he muttered to himself.
"What's that boy? We're just getting started" said Garth as he dashed, once again, at the captain who brought himself back to his feet. Luffy swung his arm back. "Gomu Gomu NOOO-"
"What's this?" asked the werewolf. "Will you be introducing your devil fruit to me?"
As Luffy's arm stretched behind him, he took his other one and began to spin it like a windmill.
"Woo, your arm stretched!"
"RIFLE!!" he shouted as his arm twisted around and shot if forward.
Garth leapt into the air and narrowly dodged the attack, however, the boy's other arm, which was still in full spin, was thrust' upward into his stomach.
The dog yelped and flailed in the air. They both fell on all fours, and the beast was furious.
"Heh" Luffy chuckled wiping his mouth. "You like that mutt?"
"You don't know what your in for boy" it replied and they both, once again, returned to their feet.
YAY FOR UPDATES! Thanks for reading. Do review. I haven't been working on "For Nakama" lately, but once I finish this one I will get right back on it. I'm almost done writing this, so do be patient and trust me to update . Thanks.