Chapter 9: Let Me be Your Hero

"Zoro," Nami ran into the room, fear flooding her system, pumping adrenalin through her veins like a wild fire. Everything was moving slow. Everything seemed unreal. She didn't want to believe it, didn't want to think it could be possible, but she knew that evil laugh, and heard the loud ricochet of a gun being fired, heard the body fall to the ground. Arlong was standing in the door way, laughing. Zoro was on the ground, bleeding. Everything seemed unreal. The walls in the living room started closing in around her. She couldn't breathe, couldn't breathe. She fell to her knees beside Zoro. Blood was spilling from his chest, warm and wet; his dark eyes looked up at her, already becoming clouded over. The tears spilled over and hit his face, his chest, mixing with the blood. "Zoro," a hand covered her mouth as he coughed and blood came from his mouth.

"Love…you," he whispered, wincing as even talking caused him pain.

She smoothed a hand through his hair. "Shh, don't talk," she told him. "Luffy will be here, he'll get you help," she whispered. She wanted to believe that, she really did. She just didn't think she could. A big arm came around her waist and she was hauled off the ground and onto a hard shoulder. "No!" she screamed, thrashing around, hitting and kicking. "Put me down! Zoro! Zoro!" she felt helpless as she was carried out of the house, felt weak when her hands were cuffed behind her back. Felt completely useless as she was thrown into the back of a car and the door closed, shutting off her view of Zoro. Felt dead inside when the car sped away. She screamed, she cried, she swore. This was all her fault, everything was her fault. None of this would have happened if it weren't for her.

"Nami," he whispered her voice and she glared, looking out the window. She hated him. He said her name again and she moved her body, turning away from him. Again and she shut her eyes. He grabbed her hair and fisted his hand in it, craning her neck around until she was staring into his cold lifeless eyes. "Nami, listen to me," he said.

"No, let me go!" she shouted.

He backhanded her. His hand smoothed over the stinging skin and his expression softened. "Nami, don't you see, I did this for us," he said. She closed her eyes, wished she could close her ears. She didn't want to hear this, didn't want to believe this was really happening. "You can't see it now but one day you will, there was no future for you there. I can give you a better life."

Nami took a deep breath. Tried to get the image of Zoro dying there on the floor out of her mind. She didn't want to see it. Didn't want to believe it. Everything was over. He was dead, there's no way Luffy would be able to save him in time; it had been a direct hit to his chest. If the bullet didn't hit his heart, it would have tore through a lung, and by now they'd be filled with blood. He'd drown in it. Everything was over, she belonged to Arlong, and this whole time he'd been toying with them, making them think they actually had a chance. Nami should have known better. Everything was over…he belonged to him.

Defeated, she nodded her head. "That's my girl," he kissed her forehead and sat back in the seat, pulling the keys to the handcuffs out of his pocket before letting her go. "When we get to our new home, you'll see, everything will be better," he told her. Nami nodded, she heard what he said, but nothing registered. She was numb, so damned cold and numb that she had a feeling nothing would be able to break through her shell now. Nothing except maybe her dreams…Zoro was still alive in her dreams. The car pulled up to the airport and Arlong helped her out of the car as Buggy moved to the trunk and started pulling bags out of it and loading it onto a baggage cart. Arlong wrapped his arm around her waist and she followed him deafly, unseeing. He led her through the crowd of people, through security all the way back to his private jet and followed her onto it. She sat down in the seat and he slid the seatbelt around her as everyone else started boarding the plane. Cabaji sat beside her, looked at her, tried to talk to her, but she didn't hear him. Didn't even see him. The jet took off, leaving the ground. Once they were secure in the air, Arlong leaned over from his seat. "You look tired, why don't you go in the back and get some sleep," he told her.

Nami nodded and undid her seatbelt and moved to the back where Arlong had a small bedroom, she kicked off her shoes and fell down onto the bed. She curled in around herself and was assaulted with Zoro's scent. She looked down at her body, realizing she was wearing one of his shirts. The tears started to spill from her eyes and she buried her head into the fabric of his dark blue tank. She cried herself to sleep.

XXX

He grunted and forced his body to respond to his commands, slowly sitting up and using the back of the couch to pull himself up on his legs. The bullet had gone clean through, tearing through skin, muscle, and god only knew what else. But that didn't matter. They'd taken Nami. After he'd promised her he wouldn't let anything happen to her, he'd failed her. What good was he? Zoro growled and grabbed his jacket from the closet and started walking out the door when Sanji pulled up in his car and everyone climbed out. "Zoro! What happened?" Chopper ran over and put his hands on his chest, stopping him from moving.

"Get out of my way," he growled trying to push past the kid, but is body was weak. "Nami, they took her!" he shouted.

"What?" Sanji glared and looked down the road. "How did they find us?" he asked to no one in general.

Zoro growled and fell back against the door frame. "Zoro, let me look at you, you're too weak right now to do anything that could help her. We'll look you over then once you're strong again we'll help you." Chopper said pulling him into the house. Zoro allowed himself to be pulled into the kitchen and laid down on a table Usopp had covered with a plastic tarp.

Chopper started cutting his clothes away but Zoro didn't feel anything, didn't hear anything. Hell all he could do was think about what a complete waste he was. He couldn't protect Nami, after he'd promised her, he'd failed her. Lied to her. What good was he? He was useless. Weak. Totally unreliable.

He was going to get her back, even if it cost him his life, he would get her back. There was no way Arlong was going to win this one. He might have taken Nami away from him. Might have shot him, but nothing was going to keep him away from Nami. He didn't care what it took; he was going to get her back.

Chopper finished and stood back. "You can't do anything crazy for a while, and definitely no Santouryuu stuff," he said with a sigh. "He's not going to hurt her Zoro, not if he was planning on marrying her. Don't worry."

Yeah that was easier said than done. Zoro sat up and looked at Luffy. For being seventeen, and acting like a complete dumbass all of the time, Luffy was wise when it came down to it. He knew things that surprised even Zoro, and his way of thinking was astonishing. "Well, how you feel?" he asked.

Zoro grunted. "Fine, you know this isn't going to slow me down."

Luffy nodded. "Everyone get ready, we're going to go get Nami," he smiled at Zoro. "She's nakama after all." Everyone smirked and nodded.

An hour later found them outside Arlong's house, but what they found was disturbing. The front door was kicked in, and there were no lights on it the house, even some of the windows were broken. "What the hell happened here?" Chopper asked as they walked up the driveway to the front door. They walked inside and horror filled Zoro like a livewire. The house was trashed, mostly everything was gone. He growled and ran through the house, looking for some sign of a fight, blood, anything that would tell him if Nami was okay. But he didn't find anything.

"Guys! Come here!" Usopp called. They all ran in the direction of his voice and found themselves in Arlong's office. Usopp was at the computer, his fingers moving wickedly fast over the keys. "I should be able to find out where they went if I check his history," he mumbled staring at the screen. Zoro watched him; he knew how good Usopp was with computers and knew that if there was any trace of where Arlong took Nami, he would find it. "Got it!" he pulled up a screen and everyone looked over his shoulder at it. There was a picture of a house out in Cocoyashi City which was located in North Blue. Damn it all to hell. Zoro swore and stared pacing the room.

What the hell were they going to do now? North Blue was a day away by car, if they didn't stop for anything and drove straight through the night. Why would Arlong go all the way to North Blue? It didn't make any sense. He growled and slammed his fist into the wall, the plaster shaking under his hand. "Zoro, calm down," Sanji murmured lighting up a cigarette. He glared over at the chain smoking blonde and growled. "We'll just load up the car and drive there tonight; we'll get a hotel once we get there and then plan an attack." He said that like it was the easiest thing in the world to do. Zoro knew better. North Blue was probably one the most dangerous places they could go and Arlong had taken Nami there. What the hell had he been thinking?

XXX

"Nami, can you come in here for a minute?" Nami sighed and walked into the living room, she'd been in the kitchen trying to find something to eat. Arlong moved to North Blue and she wasn't allowed to leave the house unless he was with her, and he refused to let her order anything and have it delivered to the house. Things were so much worse than they used to be. She always had a babysitter, the only time she was left alone was when she was taking a shower or sleeping. But even then she felt like she was always being watched. She didn't like it. She knew things were only going to get worse. She hated him. He looked up at her when she entered the room and smiled. "You know I love you right?" he asked as she sat on the couch beside him. She nodded her head. Yeah she knew, but she despised him, hated him, and wanted him to drop dead. "Good, I know you're upset with me, but it will get better in time," he murmured, leaning in closer to her. A shiver went up her spine as his lips touched her shoulder. "You'll learn to love me, learn to want me, need me, and crave me." He whispered, trailing his lips up her neck to her ear. She bit her lip, she didn't like where this was going, not one bit.

His arm snaked around her waist, pulling her body flush against his as he stared down at her. His fingers traced her lips as he smiled. "So soft," he murmured. Nami closed her eyes, she hated him. He leaned down and kissed her, she tried to push him off, tried to get away from him, but he held her with an iron grip she had no hope of breaking. He pushed her back on the couch till she was lying down; a knee wedges itself between her legs as he pinned her down. Tears slipped out of her eyes as she closed her eyes, going somewhere else in her head. Anywhere but there. Straight to Zoro's arms, to his bed, to his heart.

Later that night Nami was in her bathroom, sitting in the bathtub, filled with hot water, so hot it almost scalded her skin. She'd scrubbed her body raw in the shower and could still feel him on her, could still feel his body on top of hers. She hated him. She wanted to run away but she'd tried that once, he'd caught her before she even made it out of the driveway, thanks to the new alarm system he installed. She only had two days left…two days then she would be tied to him for the rest of her life. Nami buried her head in her knees and cried. She didn't want to believe it was true, didn't want to listen to anything he said, wanted to believe this was just a bad dream and she was going to wake up safe and warm in Zoro's arms. But he was dead, and so was she in a way. She had no reason for living, and Arlong, anticipating her thoughts, had removed everything sharp from the house and locked them away where she couldn't get to them. He was a selfish bastard, and soon…she would be his wife.

Nami stared at the water surrounding her; Zoro's face appeared in the water, smiling up at her. She bit her lip as the tears dripped into the water, blurring his perfect image. She felt so alone, so cold, so dead. Unable to stare into the water and see his face without being able to touch him she climbed out of the tub and let the water drain. She dried off quickly and pulled on a pair of shorts and Zoro's tank top. She'd begged and pleaded with Arlong to let her keep it, he had, but she knew he wasn't happy about it. She climbed into her bed, wrapped herself in his shirt and closed her eyes, breathing him in and falling into a deep unconsciousness where there was no pain, no fear of being a prisoner for the rest of her life. There was nothing but her and Zoro, he held her, and kissed her, told her he loved her as he made love to her. It was the only thing worth living for. Her dreams were the only thing keeping her alive.

XXX

Zoro glared at the wall, staring into space, and thinking of only two things. Nami and killing Arlong. They'd been sitting in this damn hotel room, for three days, doing nothing. Sanji and Luffy were trying to come up with a plan, something that didn't sound completely stupid, but Zoro would rather just break into the house and take her back. Like they had the first time. He hated just sitting here, not knowing if she was okay, not knowing how to help her or anything. He hated it. A growl tore from his chest and he collapsed back against the mattress. He was going crazy sitting here.

The door opened and closed as everyone came inside. Sanji looked at him and shook his head. "Calm down okay, we're ready, we've thought of something to get her back, so you can stop brooding now."

Zoro looked over at him and narrowed his eyes. Calm down. Calm down? Hell no he wouldn't fucking calm down. Nami was out there, alone, with Arlong, and they had no idea where to start looking. The house Usopp had found on Arlong's computer had turned out to be a museum not a house at all. For all they knew Nami wasn't even in North Blue and what were they doing? Sitting around a fucking hotel room. "Forgive me for being pissed off," he growled, nearly spitting venom.

"We're not blaming you for being upset, in face we completely understand that, but we've got a plan finally," Usopp said. He moved to lean against the wall and smirked across the room at Zoro.

He looked at him skeptically. When they'd gone out earlier they said it was because they were going out drinking. So he doubted that any plan they had, because they were drunk, was a good one. "You mean the worm at the bottom of a bottle told you where to find Nami? Let me guess, Candy fucking Mountain?"

"Ha-ha, very funny," Sanji said dryly. "Drop the sarcasm and just listen." Zoro sighed but nodded his head, leaning back against the headboard. "We were planning on going drinking, but when we walked into the bar one of the guys working there told us they were closed because they had to set up for a wedding reception that's being held there tomorrow," Sanji explained. Then he asked, "Guess who's wedding it is?"

Zoro shot forward on the bed. "You're kidding."

Sanji shook his head. "They were even kind enough to tell us which church it's being held at."

Zoro couldn't believe it. Just when he thought all hope was gone, that he was never going to see her again, a miracle dropped into his lap. Maybe there was a god somewhere, he didn't know and he wasn't about to contemplate the mechanics of it. All he cared about was that he was getting Nami back.

XXX

Nami looked at herself in the wall length mirror, tears stinging her eyes, not because she was happy, not because she looked beautiful, not because this was the happiest day of her life, but because as she started walking down the aisle, she was walking towards the end of her existence. She was supposed to marry Arlong in all of five minutes, and then she would be his, totally and completely. This isn't what she wanted, but she couldn't have what she wanted. Arlong had made sure of that when he'd killed Zoro.

There was a knock on the door and Nami watched through the mirror as Crocodile walked in. He smiled at her as he closed the door. "You look beautiful."

Nami forced a smile. "Thank you," she whispered. He held out his arm and she slowly walked over to him, wrapping her arm around as he escorted her from the room and down the hall to the doors leading into the church. The Wedding March started and Crocodile pulled open the double doors, everyone was seating in the first two rows at the front of the church, they stood and looked back at her. But Nami didn't see a husband waiting at the end; she saw a gallows with a nuance waiting for her. Crocodile tugged gently on her arm and led her down the aisle; she forced a smile even though on the inside she was dying. When they reached the end, Crocodile handed her over to Arlong, and they priest started.

"Marriage is a sacred bond between a man and a woman, and today we're here to celebrate the joining of Arlong and Nami. If there is anyone here who things that these two should not be joined together in holy matrimony, please let them speak now, or forever hold their peace."

Nami closed her eyes, silently saying her goodbyes; she knew that no one here would object. This was the end of everything.

"Ladies and gentleman, we interrupt this wedding ceremony to say; I fucking object!"

Everyone looked to the back of the church and Nami nearly passed out. There was no way, no possible way. He was dead. She'd seen all of the blood. Seen the bullet wound. Yet, Zoro was standing at the back of the church with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face she'd ever seen. Arlong looked just as shocked as she was. "What the hell…I killed you!"

Zoro shook his head, "I hate to tell you, but you missed," he smirked and slowly made his way up the aisle, never taking his eyes off of Nami. She felt like she was going to be sick. Like she was going to pass out. Like she was going to cry.

"Crocodile! Get her out of here!" Arlong hissed.

Crocodile grabbed Nami and threw her over his shoulder. "No! Put me down!" she screamed. She clawed at his skin. She hit. She hit. She kicked. She thrashed. Anything to get out of his grip, but unfortunately he was too strong for her. After she'd annoyed him enough he pulled her over his shoulder and punched her hard enough that her vision swam before she passed out.

XXX

Zoro glared and watched Crocodile run off with Nami. "I'll go," Sanji said, running off after them. Zoro knew Sanji would be able to hold his own against him at least long enough for Zoro to take care of Arlong and catch up with them. He looked at the man responsible for nearly killing him, stealing Nami, and almost ruining their lives. Zoro wouldn't be satisfied until Arlong stopped breathing.

"I killed you much too quickly the last time, I'm not going to make that mistake again." Arlong pulled his revolver from the inside of his jacket and pointed it at Zoro.

He smirked and drew his three kantana, putting one of them in his mouth and glaring at Arlong. "I hate to break it to you, but the only one who's going to stop breathing today, is you and your little gang.

Arlong laughed and looked Zoro over. "How do you plan on winning Roronoa? You brought kantana to a gun fight."

Zoro smirked, "Because I'm that confident that my blades are faster than your bullets." He carefully measured the distance from where he was standing to the front of the church where Arlong was, fifty feet, give or take a few, and if he timed his movements just right, and watched Arlong closely enough, he'd be able to calculate the exact moment when Arlong would pull the trigger and if he moved fast enough he'd be able to dodge it. His mind made up Zoro took off at a dead run for Arlong. Everything seemed to move n slow motion, at that moment. The sounds of his feet against the carpet seemed deafening loud, his kantana seemed much heavier, the distance seemed much farther. He blocked out everything but Arlong's finger on the trigger, he saw the muscle working, the slight movement of as he squeezed, and at the last possible second, when the bullet left the chamber, Zoro moved, dodging the bullet and piercing Arlong's chest with all three of his blades.

He gasped for air as blood pooled in his lungs and stained the white of his shirt. Before he could fall to the floor Zoro leaned in and whispered, "I win," he let Arlong's body fall and looked around the room. Everyone had stopped their fighting and was looking up at Zoro.

"What do we do now?" Hatchi asked, being the first one to speak.

"Technically Nami's in charge now," Buggy leaned against one of the pews and crossed his arms. "We don't do anything until she gives the order."

"So…we wait?" Usopp looked from Zoro to Luffy. "Is that a good idea?"

Luffy sat down and folded his legs. "They can't do anything until Nami gives the orders, so we wait."

Zoro sheathes his kantana. "I'm going to go find them," he turned to start in the direction Sanji had followed Crocodile in, but Cabaji blocked his path. "I'll go with you; Crocodile won't believe you if you tell him Arlong is dead."

Zoro shrugged. He didn't care one way or the other, if crocodile didn't believe him then Zoro would just kill him too. They found Sanji and Crocodile fighting in a courtyard at the back of the church; Nami was lying on a stone bench, unconscious. "Sanji, that's enough." Zoro called.

"You too Crocodile," Cabaji added. "Zoro killed Arlong, Nami's word is law now, we don't do anything until she gives the order."

They both stopped and looked over at Nami. Zoro walked over to her, picked her up in his arms and pulled her close against him. She was a lot lighter than her remembered, he looked closer and growled. She'd lost weight in a week, enough that she looked sick. If Arlong wasn't dead already Zoro would have run him through. He might just to spite him. Still, he had Nami back, that's all that mattered. The four of them made their way back, glaring at each other the whole way. Zoro was somewhat surprised to see that no one was fighting when they got back. He saw down in a pew and pulled Nami closer to him, gently smoothing hair away from her face. He brushed his thumb over her cheek. "Nami, time to wake up darlin'," he whispered.

She made a sound between a groan and a sigh and curled her body closer to his. "Don't wanna," she mumbled.

Zoro chuckled; she'd obviously forgotten where she was and what was going on. "Baby, I can't very well kiss you if you're asleep."

"Sure you can," she muttered.

"Nami, open your eyes." The light teasing in his voice was gone now. She sighed and looked up at him and realization lined her eyes as she remembered what was going on. "Hey there," he smiled down at her.

"But…you were dead. I saw you." He hand slowly cupped his face, like she was afraid that if she touched him he would disappear. He smiled and covered her hand with his and kissed her palm.

"I'm right here," he whispered, "and I'm not going anywhere for a long time."

"Where's Arlong?" she asked. Zoro's eyes traveled up to the front of the church where Arlong's body was still lying. Nami followed his gaze and gasped when she saw him. "Is he…?"

"Yeah and there's one more problem," he muttered dryly. "The others need to talk to you." He glared as the rest of Arlong's gang walked forward. Nami shifted in his lap and looked at them.

"Nami, you're in charge now," Cabaji said crossing his arms, "that was Arlong's order if he ever died."

She looked at them, then back at Zoro. He shrugged. He wouldn't be able to make this decision for her, she was going to have to choose; but with him, or take over where Arlong left off. He wouldn't blame her if she chose to leave, she deserved a better life than he could ever hope to give her and if she was running her own gang (especially one as financially well off as Arlong's) then she would be able to have that life. It would probably kill him to watch her walk away but he would suffer in silence. He wasn't going to make things harder on her. She finally sighed and looked at Cabaji. Zoro braced himself for her answer. "Here are my orders," she said. "Go out, chose a leader amongst yourselves, disband the gang, I don't care, but if you ever come near the Straw Hat Gang or threaten my family in any way, we won't hesitate to kill you."

Zoro couldn't believe what he was hearing. Nami was staying? He looked up at her, disbelieve thick in his dark eyes. "You're staying with us?"

She looked at him and smiled. "Of course, I thought I lost you once, I'm not going to walk away and lose you again." She dipped her head and kissed him. Zoro banded his arms around her and pulled her against him, crushing their bodies together. He felt like a complete idiot.