Disclaimer: One Piece does not belong to me, it belongs to Oda.
Thank you everyone for the reviews! It is very nice to have feedback :) This chapter took me a bit longer, but I was eventually able to iron it out.
Chapter 9
Tall walls rose on either side of them. The pathway upon which she Zoro walked was thin and sandwiched between brick buildings. The sound of their footsteps echoed through the alleyway. Every step was unnaturally loud - or maybe the city was abnormally quiet.
Nami rubbed her hands over her arms. She didn't like this city, and found herself wishing they had never stopped here. The whole place was too bizarre. They had yet to encounter a single person, and the buildings that towered around them had no windows. It was just – strange.
Nami stopped. She could feel goose bumps rising on her arms and neck and had the creeping sensation that they were being watched. She turned to look behind them. But no one was there.
She turned back around and stopped short. Zoro was gone. Nami craned her neck in both directions, but the swordsman had disappeared. How had he gotten lost so quickly?
Nami continued down the pathway, hoping that she could catch up with the wayward swordsman. But with every step she took, the light in the alley seemed to dim. Soon it was almost impossible to see the very pathway at her feet. Nami reached a hand out, skimming her fingers over the rough bricks, and used the wall to guide her.
Nami had only taken a few more steps when her foot caught on something, and she felt herself falling forward. The ground was cold against her knees and hands. A figure stood before her.
"Zoro?"
It didn't answer.
Nami pressed against the ground and slowly stood. At the same time, the figure stepped forward. She gasped. It had no face. He had the body of a tall, well-muscled man; but where his facial features should be, there was only a flat expanse of skin.
His hand reached out for her. Nami tried to step back, but her feet wouldn't move. She watched with horror as the large hand came at her. His rough fingers wrapped around her neck. She could do nothing.
Her legs kicked out as she felt herself lifted off the ground. She scratched at this arms and hands, but it was in vain. The alley filled with the sound of Nami's rasping breaths.
"Give up. You are weak."
Nami's eyes widened. He had no mouth to speak with, but the deep voice was undoubtedly coming from him. She kicked out at him again, desperately trying to escape from the monster.
"You will die. Just as they did."
Nami was suddenly and violently tossed away. She rolled across the uneven pavement, finally stopping when she struck something soft. Nami looked to the side and found herself face to face with Luffy.
"Luffy?"
His eyes were wide open, but they didn't look at her. They stared blankly ahead. Empty.
No. Nami pushed herself violently back and struck something else. With a hammering heart, she turned. Nami's hands flew to her mouth. Robin lay before her. Her eyes were as empty as Luffy's had been and her neck was bent at an unnatural angle.
Nami held her stomach as she began to dry heave. This couldn't be happening. Taking a breath, she forced herself to look around. Usopp was crumpled beside Robin, his expression permanently frozen in fear. Chopper's hulking form was sprawled further away. Nami sucked in more and more air. She was beginning to hyperventilate.
She forced herself to continue looking. Franky lay just beyond him, his entire body singed. There were bones everywhere. Nami blanched. Brook.
Sanji lay to her left. He was facedown, but she would recognize his blond hair anywhere. His normally pristine suit was ripped and torn. His back was flayed. There was a figure just beyond him.
Nami was shaking, but she forced herself to stand. She felt as though she were walking through quicksand. It was a struggle to lift each foot. When she finally reached him, she dropped to her knees. His body was covered in cuts and lacerations and he lay in a pool of blood. Zoro's eyes were as empty as everyone else's.
Nami stretched a trembling hand forward. She tentatively touched the back of his arm. It was cold. Nami slowly pulled her hand back and took a shuddering breath. Her fingers were covered in blood.
"Your nakama." The faceless man chuckled darkly.
A sob tore its way from her throat; she didn't try to stop her tears. "Why- why did you do this?"
"They were trying to protect you." He laughed again. "Obviously they failed."
She could hear the crunch of his shoes against the pavement as he approached. But she was frozen, staring blankly forward. It was her fault. He stood above her; she didn't look up. She knew she was going to die, but she couldn't bring herself to do anything at all.
His hand roughly grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up at him. She found herself staring into the blank plane of his face. He raised his hand; it held a long knife.
"Now Nami. Know death."
He brought his hand down and she screamed.
"Nami!"
She gasped. Arms were wrapped around her, restraining her.
"Nami! It's okay! It's not real – just a dream."
Nami sobbed, holding fast to the woman beside her. Robin rubbed her back as she continued to cry. The woman seemed to have sprouted a few extra hands in order rub her back and hold her still at the same time.
"Just breathe. It's all okay."
Nami nodded and tried to take a few slow, deep breaths.
It was too dark to properly see Robin beside her. But the woman's voice was soft. "The same dream?"
"Nightmare." Her voice was hoarse. This was the third night in a row that she had a nightmare such as this one. The locations where different and the situations always varied slightly; but in every one, there was a faceless man - and her nakama were dead.
Robin continued rubbing circles on her back. Since they shared a room, for all three nightmares, Robin had been the one to wake her. The last two times it had taken half an hour for the older woman to fully calm her down.
Shuddering, Nami pulled the blankets around her. "It was horrible."
Robin squeezed her hand. "And we were all –" She let the sentence hang, leaving the second half unspoken.
"Yes." It came out as a croak.
The hand squeezed hers tighter. She had told Robin, alone, of the horrors she witnessed in these dreams.
"It is just a nightmare Nami. Probably brought on by the stress of approaching the next island."
Nami nodded slowly. The storm they had hit two days ago had delayed their arrival at the next island by several days. She suspected they would reach the island by the day after tomorrow. And a part of her knew that the nightmare probably was stress related. After all – a new island meant the potential for more bounty hunters. All the same, she couldn't get their blank stares out of her head.
"Robin?"
"Yes?"
"I – I have a bad feeling." It sounded silly when she said it out loud.
"You just had a horrible nightmare; of course you have a bad feeling."
Nami squeezed her blankets. "No. It's different. I can't help feeling like we are all in danger."
"That would be nothing new. We've faced danger before." Robin started rubbing her back again. "Try to go back to sleep Nami. It will be okay."
Nami reluctantly reclined back into her bed. She could feel extra blankets being pulled up around her. "Thanks Robin."
"Go to sleep. You will feel better in the morning."
Nami closed her eyes and waited for sleep to return.
Nami yawned. She blinked, trying to drive the bleariness from her eyes. After the nightmare, sleep had eventually returned; though not until after she had tossed and turned for several hours. And now she stood on the deck, squinting at her log pose, attempting to ensure that they were still moving in the right direction. She sighed. They were.
Nami folded her forearms on the railing and lowered her head down on top of them. The sun's warm rays on her shoulders and back felt nice. She let her eyes close.
"Nami!"
"Ah!" Nami's head jerked up. Usopp was running across the deck, followed closely by Franky. Their blank stares from her nightmare flashed in her memory. Nami tensed as she tried to push the images away.
Usopp slid to a stop in front of her. He was beaming, clearly unaware he had just startled her from the beginning of a very relaxing nap. She crossed her arms, forcibly focusing on her annoyance at being disturbed rather than the horrible images of her nightmare.
"It's done!" Usopp was still wearing a pleased grin. Franky stopped behind him. His face was plastered with an identical grin.
"Project SUP-"
Usopp glared at him.
"I mean – Project Awesome is done Nee-Chan!"
Franky held out his hand. Sitting in the center of his palm was a small box. He pushed his hand closer. "Take it!"
Her frustration and her nightmare forgotten, Nami plucked the box off his hand. She lifted it up to get a better look.
"Open it, open it!" Usopp bounced from foot to foot in excitement.
Nami smiled at his antics. He continued to bounce as she gently lifted the lid off the box. Sunlight glinted off the metal object folded neatly inside. Nami hooked a finger underneath it, and lifted what looked like a piece of long jewelry from the box. She held it in front of her, puzzled.
"Er… Thanks guys." She furrowed her brows as she continued to examine the strange object. "What is it?"
Franky opened his mouth, but Usopp pushed him to the side. "It's the cutting edge of climate-based weapon technology!" Usopp grabbed the object from her hands and held it up proudly. "Behold! The Baro – Bracelet! Baro – Brace for short."
He handed it back to her and Nami eagerly examined it. At the mention of climate technology, her interest had been significantly piqued.
"Here, let me help you girlie."
Nami frowned as the object was once again taken from her. But before she could complain, Franky grabbed her left hand and slipped the object over her hand and around her wrist.
"Oh!" Nami held her hand out, admiring it. In fact, it still looked like some kind of jewelry. It was made up of thin pieces of dark blue metal, which were intricately woven together into a complex chain. The chain was thinnest at her hand, where two small chains stretched from either side of her middle finger to her wrist. Both chains connected together briefly at her wrist, wrapping around her wrist once, and then grew larger as they crisscrossed up her arm. Nami turned her hand over. Sitting in the center of her palm, strung between the chains on either side of her middle finger and those at her wrist, was a thin, round gemstone. She tilted her hand. The clear stone sparkled as it caught the light.
"It's beautiful!"
Usopp and Franky visibly deflated.
Usopp spoke up, "Yes, yes, we knew that you would want it to look nice so we got Robin to help us with the design. But don't you want to know what it does?"
Nami allowed herself another few seconds of admiration before she pulled her gaze away from the bracelet. "What does it do?"
Usopp cleared his throat and stood up taller, but this time Franky pushed him to the side.
The blue haired man grinned. "It's so cool girlie! It can control the weather just like your super climate stick!"
Usopp shoved his way back in front of Franky. "You're not saying it right!" Usopp cleared his throat before continuing. "The amazing Baro – Brace can be used both as a supplement to your clima-tact and a weapon by itself. The chains are designed to catch air to create unique air currents and modify weather patterns. You can change these weather patterns by moving your arm in various ways. And like I said- you can use the Baro – Bracelet to add onto and modify the attacks of your clima-tact to make them even more powerful. And plus, since it's attached to you, it can't be knocked out of your hands during a fight."
Nami regarded the bracelet with an open mouthed stare. It was amazing. She slowly twisted her arm to see all of its angles. "And what about the gemstone? What does it do?"
Usopp grinned gleefully. "It's a Weerlig stone. Created only when lightning strikes the ground where there is the perfect combination of minerals. Monazite, Titanite, Xenotime…"
Nami ran a finger across its smooth surface as Usopp continued listing obscure minerals. He took a large breath as he concluded the list and Nami finally looked up.
"It is capable of harnessing the power of lightning. You can use it to more precisely direct lighting powered attacks as well as storing electricity to manually strike your opponents with."
Nami stroked the stone again in awe. "What prevents me from being electrocuted myself?"
Usopp looked smug. "We learned from Luffy. There is a thin layer of rubber attached to the back of the stone that separates it from your skin. It will keep you safe."
Nami stared at the wonderful creation, feeling overwhelmed at the lengths they had gone to make this for her. She finally looked up at her beaming crewmates. "Thank you!" She ran forward and pulled them both into a hug.
Franky's grin widened, "No problem Nee-Chan!"
Usopp waved his hand, "It took all of the great Usopp's considerable inventing ability, but it will be worth it to see you beat up a few bounty hunters."
Nami nodded, pulling out her clima-tact. If she wanted to get in some practice combining her old weapon with her new Baro - Brace before they reached the next island, she would have to do it now. The clima-tact felt good in her hand. She hadn't had the chance to use it during her and Zoro's practice. He had insisted that she use a wooden pole in place of her clima-tact so that he wasn't accidentally 'fried'.
Nami held the clima-tact at her side as she twisted her left arm experimentally. A gust of wind swirled upwards. Nami grinned. Usopp and Franky backed cautiously away as she swished her arm in another quick circle, increasing the swirling wind.
Usopp called out to her as he and Franky continued to back away, "Good luck with your practice!"
A few seconds later Franky added, "Don't destroy the ship!"
Nami waved her clima-tact. "I'll try not to!"
Zoro leaned against the rail as he looked down from the upper deck. He watched as the woman below excitedly tried different combinations of movement with her clima-tact and new bracelet. Currently, a dark cloud was swirling ominously above her. Zoro unconsciously leaned back when she flicked her hand and the entire cloud erupted in white light. He resumed his pose against the rail as the cloud dissolved, and she instead began to create a miniature tornado.
As she moved her arm and swirled her clima-tact, Zoro could see that her eyes were bright. She really was remarkable with the art of weather. He didn't know anyone who seemed to intrinsically understand it like she did. Zoro watched her natural movement. If she continued to train her speed and agility, making them as natural to her as the weather was, she would be a formidable fighter.
"Pretty amazing, isn't she Mr. Swordsman."
Zoro nodded once before he became fully conscious of the person asking the question. He raised an eyebrow as he glanced at the archaeologist who had silently joined him at the rail. She smiled at him before turning her gaze back to the woman practicing below. Zoro frowned. He didn't like that smile. It was the smile of one who thought they were privy to a joke everyone else had yet to get.
As Robin watched Nami's intricate movements, her smile gave way to a frown. Zoro wondered at her sudden change of mood. But before he had the chance to further consider it, she spoke.
"Nami has been having bad dreams. She is afraid."
Zoro's shoulders tensed. Nami had seemed tired the last few days. He was surprised at how irritated he was by the idea that there was something out there scaring Nami enough to keep her from sleep.
"What's scaring her? Bounty hunters?" Even as Zoro asked, he imagined destroying one bounty hunter after another; until there were no more left to fear. Zoro paused as a thought struck him. How many bounty hunters were actually out there? On Cactus Island he had gone through an entire town of them. Maybe he should just get rid of the lot of them.
Robin spoke up. "That is part of it, but before you decide to try to take out all bounty hunters; I'll tell you there's more to it than that."
Zoro crossed his arms; annoyed that she had guessed the progression of his thoughts.
"Nami is terribly afraid for all of us – her nakama."
Zoro scratched his head. "Eh? Why would she be afraid for us?"
Robin continued to watch their navigator. "It seems she is worried that we are going to be adversely affected by all of this bounty business."
Zoro shook his head, "We don't have to worry about a few bounty hunters. They may be strong, but there is no way they are more powerful than the strongest members of our crew."
"I agree." She paused, "But part of me wonders-"
She stopped before finishing her thought.
Zoro turned to face her. "Wonders what?"
"Our Nami has a remarkable talent for predicting changes in the weather. When a storm is coming, she is always the first to know." Robin's brooding gaze was fixed on their navigator. "I'm concerned that Nami may be our proverbial canary. Perhaps there is reason for concern – we've just yet to see it."
Zoro felt his gaze pulled back to the Orange haired woman as he mulled over Robin's disturbing thought.
"I suggest we stay alert."
Zoro didn't look up from their navigator when he replied. "I will."
Thanks for reading! This one was a bit longer :) As the story progresses and the plot continues to complicate, I have a feeling the chapters will begin to naturally lengthen. I always appreciate critiques and reviews! Until next time :)
