I don't own One Piece.
Chapter Ten
When Nami woke up, she realized without opening her eyes that they weren't on the ship anymore. The floor was steady, and she couldn't hear the sea. She opened her eyes and found herself in a room, alone, lying on the floor. Looking around, she quickly understood that she was in a room in an inn. The Spartan furniture was like all furniture she had ever seen in an inn—cheap and ugly.
She sat up, and that simple action made her head hurt. She brought a hand to her forehead and suddenly remembered what had happened—Sanji had struck her head with an iron pipe. That simple truth made her heart hurt and tears come to her eyes, threatening to spill over.
She tried to control herself and fought back the tears, trying to ignore the huge sense of betrayal that was spreading inside of her. She snorted when she noticed the window and the fact that they hadn't even bothered tying her up. She got up in a hurry, ignoring the sense of dizziness that struck her as soon as she had risen, and leaned out the window. It opened onto a busy road, but the problem was that she was on the third floor; it was too high for her to jump without resulting in some serious injuries. Furthermore, there wasn't anything she could use to climb down.
She turned and went to the door, trying to open it. Obviously it was locked from the outside. Without using any of her time to despair, she quickly thought about her options. She was used to situations like that one. She reached for her bra and, with a fluid gesture, removed the piece of metal inside it. It was a trick she had learned to appreciate over the years.
She bent over in front of the lock, ready to force it, but heard footsteps outside the room. She quickly got up and put the piece of metal back inside her bra. When the door opened, Midori and the others found the navigator sitting on the bed looking out the window. She turned to them as if nothing had happened. She didn't even show a trace of uncertainty as she looked at them challengingly.
"You've returned… finally."
Midori ignored her comment and signaled to Sanji. The cook moved quickly and had Nami immobilized on the bed within a few seconds. Midori drew near them, looking through her purse in search of something.
"Since you haven't been cooperative…" She pulled something out from her purse and bent toward her, putting it around Nami's neck."I've decided to use more effective methods." Midori gestured to Sanji to release her, and Nami sat up immediately on the bed, looking at the woman with hate.
Without looking away from Midoari's glacial stare, the navigator brought her hand to her neck and inspected the thing that hung there. Her fingers felt a cold metallic thread that circled her neck. It was so narrow that she was barely able to stuff two fingers between it and her neck. It had a decorative pendant, which was square and smooth to the touch, with a small swelling under it. Nami was curious; she wanted to go to the mirror and see what was around her neck, but she didn't want to give that satisfaction to Midori. She stayed on the bed, feigning little interest in the necklace. Nami looked at her, a little annoyed.
"What? You bought me a necklace to calm me down? Do you really think that this is going to make me forget everything? Sweetie, first of all, I accept only gold and diamonds as gifts, I'm not big on iron, and second, I hate you too much to forgive you."
Midori smiled at her, unimpressed by her speech, and took a small device with a small button on top of it from her purse.
"I am sure that you'll appreciate this gift. You see, I don't want you to disrespect me like you've done before. A maid that attacks her owner is not acceptable; therefore I have decided that I will train you as trainers do with dogs."
Her stare was icy and deprived of any emotion when she pushed the button, looking at Nami without pity. Nami felt a painful electric charge spread from the exact point at which the necklace touched her skin. The pain and the electric charge was so strong that she let out a cry of surprise mixed with pain, starting to writhe on the bed. She fell to the ground and kept on writhing until Midori decided that the first demonstration was finished. She drew near the navigator, who was still lying on the floor breathing heavily with tears in her eyes.
"This is what awaits you if you make the slightest mistake, do you understand?"
She pushed the button again, and Nami was again overcome by waves of pain. However, this time, the pain faded away almost immediately, leaving the woman laying on the floor. Satisfied with her demonstration of power over Nami, Midori turned to Sanji.
"My love, since we do not have a lot of money, I believe you better find a job as a cook in some restaurant or in this inn. Either should be good enough."
Sanji nodded and smiled, enthusiastic over the idea. Midori hadn't been able to remove his passion for cooking yet. "Of course, my treasure, anything you want! Tell me, where do you want me to work? I will surely become the master chef of any restaurant on this island!"
Midori immediately darkened and took him by the arm, looking at him seriously. "No! I don't want us to attract any attention. If word of an excellent cook spread throughout the islands, your old crew could hear of it. No, we all must maintain a low profile. Cook well, but don't show off. You have to maintain your work, and that's it."
His smile faded instantly, disheartened. The woman that he had married—who he loved!—had just ordered him to lie about his true abilities in the kitchen. Nami hoped that he rebelled after that imposition, but after a few moments, he returned to smiling and nodded.
"Certainly, love, as you wish."
When Midori spoke again, she was addressing everyone in the room.
"We must maintain a low profile while we're here. I don't want the people to notice us too much. So, from now on, we are a couple who have just gotten married. We have decided to move away from our island because Sanji couldn't find a job, and we've come here because they told us that there is plenty of work. The Straw Hat crew is searching for two sisters, one man, and a hostage, so Abi and I won't leave our house too much; we'll stay inside and try not to be seen. Nami will be our cousin who has come to stay with us for the time being to help with the house chores, 'cause I'm sick, and that's why I can't go out. Abi is going to be Nami's sister and will stay with me all day, helping me with my disease. Is that clear?"
Abi looked at her sister without understanding. "Why do I have to stay in the house all the time?"
Midori looked at her, annoyed by her question. "Because we can't be seen too much. The pirates will probably try to find us and if they land here, they'll start asking about us. So, if the villagers see a man who works as a cook and a woman who only goes to the market, they won't think it's us that the pirates are asking about." She turned to Nami. "Plus, you won't talk to anyone about us. You'll tell this cover story, but only if you are asked and can't change the subject. Do you understand?"
She was showing Nami the device while talking, making her understand what would be done to her if she disobeyed. Nami nodded in silence, and that's all that Midori wanted.
"From now on, Sanji is Shin, Abi is Aki, I'm Kara, and Nami is Natsumi. Got it?" They all nodded and then, satisfied, Midori turned to Sanji. "Go and find a job, and please, maintain a low profile."
Sanji nodded and went out of the room without saying a word. Midori stayed standing in the middle of the room, thinking. After a few minutes, she decided to go out and grabbed her coat while giving orders to Abi.
"I'll go check the house with the captain. I don't trust that man; I want to inspect it before paying him. You stay here and wait for me. When I return, if everything is all right, we'll immediately leave. It won't take me long, an hour at the most."
Abi sat on the bed."All right, I'll stay here and watch her."
The woman left and they were alone. Abi started toying with the hem of her dress almost immediately. When Nami started to rise from the floor she was still on, the child finally spoke.
"You must do everything that we tell you."
The navigator looked at her disdainfully. "Come again?"
"You must do what we say, always, if you don't want the collar to activate. My sister won't have any problem punishing you with that device. As soon as you make a mistake, she'll punish you, sometimes even if you haven't done anything at all."
Nami looked at her closely. The child didn't have her usual disdainful look. Instead, she was almost… sad.
"Well, from a bitch like her, I expect that and even more. It's from you that I don't expect behavior like this. How can you act like you don't care after we saved your life?"
Abi hugged herself and refused to meet Nami's inquisitive look. "They're the village's rules. The sister of the woman of marriageable age has to—"
"Yeah, yeah, I know the story. I don't care about it. I want to know how you can look at yourself in the mirror after what you have done to us. We saved you from certain death, we brought you home, we treated you like one of us. Sanji liked you, really, and now you're condemning him to death? Now that's gratitude!" Nami shouted sarcastically.
The child continued to avoid her eyes, but this time answered her more straightforwardly. "You can't understand; this is our religion. Dying during the ritual of consecration is a great honor. He will be proud of it."
"No, he'll be proud only because you'll tell him to be proud, just like you told him to think that he loves Midori and that he wanted to marry her."
That's when Abi confronted her. She jumped off the bed and started to scream at her. "Stop it! You don't know anything about our culture. This is what we've done for centuries! That's how it works—the youngest have to follow the orders of the eldest without protesting. That's the end of the story."
Nami looked at her without saying anything for a few minutes, just watching her. "So that's it. They gave you an order, and you must follow it, right?"
She avoided Nami's gaze and looked out the window. "Yes, that's how it works."
Nami smiled bitterly and crossed her arms. "In the end, it seems like I'm not the only slave here."
At that, Abi turned to her with watery eyes and sniffed a little. "We're all slaves of someone else. You're our slave, and I'm the slave of my community."
"And also your sister's slave."
Abi shook her head and looked at her. "It doesn't matter; what matters is that in less than a year, I'll have a niece and Sanji will be dead. End of story."
Nami looked at her. She couldn't believe that the child was really fine with everything. "So, all that friendship you showed me and Sanji was all fake?"
Abi smiled sarcastically and sadly at the same time. "Whether that's true or not, I chose him to be my sister's husband, end of story."
That was meant to let Nami understand that she didn't want to talk anymore. Nami remained sitting on the bed in front of Abi, looking at her little form. She didn't know what to think about her; she certainly wasn't like her sister, but she wasn't going to be convinced easily to help her either. Abi was clearly sorry about Sanji's fate, but her sorrow was not strong enough to make her rebel against everything she had been taught. She let her gaze wander, and it fixed on the door. After some time, Abi's voice was heard again.
"You can't escape from her. Even if you try to run away, Midori will just push the button for more than half a minute, and you will be electrocuted to death."
Nami didn't even bother looking at her. "What a lovely image."
"You shouldn't have made her mad. She was seriously thinking about selling you to the captain of the ship."
A shiver ran down Nami's back. She didn't want to think about what the sailors would have done to her if Midori had sold her. "She won't be able to hurt me if I run far enough."
"That device has a very far reach, believe me. It has been modified on purpose for covering ample distances. From what the captain told my sister, she could kill you even if you're on the other side of the island."
That was it, she was really trapped now. The chances that she had enough time to run away far enough without them discovering her escape were minimal. Nami seated herself heavily on the bed and looked at Abi. She wasn't happy about what she was doing, but she would certainly finish her duty. That's when Nami realized that she couldn't make the child become her ally. However, she could do something so that she was more well-disposed toward her. A calculating smile spread across her face as she remained silent, elaborating a plan until both Midori and Sanji had returned.
The man had found a job in a restaurant in the center of the village in which he would start the following day, and Midori, after having approved her husband's job, affirmed that they would move immediately into their new house. She had inspected it, and it was comfortable enough. She took Abi by the hand and left the room, clearly leaving the duty to Sanji and Nami to bring the baggage. It was clear that in only one trip, they wouldn't be able to take it all, so Sanji looked at her thoughtfully and, after a few seconds, gave her his first order.
"Later, you'll come back here to get the rest of the baggage."
That said, he didn't even wait for an answer; he turned and went out of the room. Nami remained motionless in the center of the room with a suitcase in each hand, fixing the door with an open mouth and a look of deep surprise and hurt in the eyes. He had just given her an order, as if she really was their slave! A sudden anger built inside of her and, for a few seconds, she saw red.
The impulse to run after the cook and beat him to a pulp was very strong. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down. It was useless to go berserk right then. If she did anything wrong, she would be easily shocked by Midori. Finally, loaded with suitcases, she followed her 'master' out of the inn in silence.