Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, it belongs to Oda.

I realize this update is really soon after the last one. This section was already partially written and when I sat down, the rest of it flowed pretty naturally. Hopefully this will make up for the last section being kind of short :)

And again, thank you so much for the reviews. I appreciate all of you who have taken the time to write them :)

Chapter 12:

Zoro turned, hoping he had somehow misheard. "You want to what?"

Nami stood up taller. "I want to fight him."

"No."

At the same time Sanji said, "Let us take care of this creep for you Nami-San."

She shook her head. "I need to fight him."

Zoro glanced back at Jett, who was still standing several yards away. His hands were shoved in his pockets and he watched them with his head tilted to the side.

"Give us a sec."

Jett shrugged his shoulders. "Sure, sure. Take your time."

Zoro turned back. "There is no way you are fighting him! We've all been worried about how to keep you away from bounty hunters, and now you want to walk right up to one?!"

She nodded. "I have to."

He looked down. Her hands were shaking.

"You're scared."

"That's why I have to."

He shook his head again. "No way."

"You've been training me yourself!"

"For two weeks! Two weeks Nami! You still have a long way to go, and you won't be able to improve at all if you get yourself killed right now."

Sanji frowned, "You've never minded us beating guys up for you before Nami-San. What's different about this one?"

"It's not him. It's…I've been having these nightmares alright?"

Jett cleared his throat. "Can we fight now?"

Sanji whipped around, "Hold on!" He turned back. "Asshole. Anyway, what kind of nightmares? Do you want me start making you tea before bed?"

Zoro interrupted him, "Robin told me already."

Nami jerked her head towards him, "She told you!?"

He shrugged. "She was worried."

"Hey shitty marimo! Why do you know about them and I don't?" Sanji's cigarette was hanging out of the corner of his mouth.

Nami rubbed a hand over her eyes. "For the last few days I've been having terrible dreams where all of you die. And it's all because you were trying to protect me."

Sanji adjusted his cigarette. "It's just a dream Nami-San."

She shrugged. "I know. But I feel like there is truth in it. I can't completely rely on all of you to protect me. Especially with the stress of extra bounty hunters being after us."

Zoro opened his mouth to argue, but she pressed her hand over it. He was momentarily shocked into silence.

Her voice was low and serious when she spoke. "I have to do this. I need to know that I can fight at least one of them off."

"Nami…"

"Please. I know that you guys could just carry me kicking and screaming back to the ship if you really wanted to. And I admit, I'm not brave like you. I'm terrified. But I have to fight him to not only stop the nightmares, but to prove that this bounty isn't going to control my life. So – please let me do this."

"Are you done yet?"

At the bounty hunter's drawl, they all turned. Zoro looked down at Nami. Her chin was raised and her lips were pressed together in a thin line. He clenched his hand around the handle of his katana. The idea of standing to the side while she fought this bounty hunter went against every instinct he possessed. Zoro's eyes flicked to Sanji. He was staring at her too, likely having a similar dilemma.

Sanji looked up from Nami and met his gaze. Zoro flinched, but nonetheless nodded once. "Alright. Go beat up your bounty hunter."

Sanji patted her back. "Kick his ass."

Nami's face was white as she pulled the baro-brace onto her hand and assembled her clima-tact. She nodded once to each of them before taking a deep breath and stepping forward. Zoro and Sanji reluctantly stepped back. He watched as she walked across the grass towards the tall man. Her left hand was clenched around the stone of her bracelet and her right twirled her clima-tact. Her feet were still bare.

Her shoes were lying in the grass several feet away. They were some kind of strappy sandal with a heel. It was probably best that she wasn't wearing them. Before Zoro backed away further, he leaned down and plucked the shoes from the ground. Nami would probably be upset if she forgot them here. He tossed them in one of the bags and stepped back to join Sanji.

Jett's face had broken into a wide grin. "So you do want to fight me." He pressed one hand against the other, loudly cracking his fingers. "I must confess, I thought that you would refuse to fight." He switched hands, cracking his other fingers just as loudly. "This is a pleasant surprise."

Zoro found himself clenching his own fingers around the hilt of his katana again. He glanced to his side. Sanji's arms were crossed, but his entire body was tense. Zoro shifted his weight between his feet. "Be ready to move. The second she looks like she is in danger, we need to be there."

"You don't need to tell me marimo head." Sanji muttered. "I'll get there before you do."

Zoro watched as Nami planted her feet evenly apart. Her knuckles were white where she gripped the clima-tact. "Just as long as someone gets there. I don't care who it is."

Sanji gave him a strange look. Zoro didn't dwell on it. He was too busy watching as Nami prepared to face off against the bounty hunter.

"Actually- we may have some competition if it comes time to intervene." Sanji's eyes were shifting around the park.

Zoro took a second to look. It didn't take him long to spy the dark haired woman sitting on a bench on the other side of the park. She was casually leaning back, but her gaze was fixed on the pair in the middle of the grass. Zoro smirked. Robin. Their blue-haired shipwright was leaning against a tree a few feet behind her. Chopper was a little ways off, in his four legged form, grazing on grass. He occasionally raised his head to look in their direction. Zoro was turning back to the pair in front of them when he spied one last figure. Their bushy haired crewmate was perched in a nearby tree, slingshot in hand.

"We're only missing Brook and Luffy."

Sanji shrugged, "Brook's probably still on the ship, and I would bet Luffy's napping somewhere. He made it abundantly clear at dinner the other night that he trusts us to take care of each other."

Zoro nodded. Almost all of their nakama were here. There was no way anything was going to happen to Nami.

She began to swirl her clima-tact above her. The branches of the nearest trees began to bend and sway as the wind picked up around them. Nami and Jett stood at the center of the funnel of wind. Nami's orange hair was whipping around her. Jett's shirt was tugged in the wind, but he didn't move.

Sanji murmured beside him, "He has to be an idiot to think that he will be able to walk away from this. If Nami doesn't flatten him, there are about six other people here who will."

A dark cloud began to materialize above them. It was about at that moment that the park began to clear. Park-goers scrambled from the benches and from the grass in search of shelter. Jett still didn't move. Zoro frowned, an ominous feeling growing in his gut. Sanji had a point. Was this guy an idiot? Or did he have something else planned? Zoro took a step forward, but forced himself to stop. Nami could handle this. She had already whipped up a substantial storm.

The cloud above her began to flicker with white light. Jett raised his voice to shout over the wind. "I didn't tell you how I fight. Don't you want to know?"

Nami didn't pause the movement of her clima-tact when she replied. "Sure. How do you fight? Though you are running out of time to show me." The cloud above her began to crackle, as individual streaks of lightning arched through it.

"I'm a devil fruit user you know. I ate the Tobu Tobu fruit. Maybe you should take me a bit more seriously."

Zoro tensed, but Nami proceeded to swirl her clima-tact faster. "I've never heard of it."

Zoro hadn't heard of it either. He leaned forward. He didn't like this.

But Nami didn't give Jett a chance to explain. She halted the spinning of her clima-tact and slapped her left palm against it. When the weerlig stone in her bracelet met her clima-tact, a crackling erupted. Without pause, she lifted both above her head. "Thunderbolt tempo!"

With a blinding flash, a thick bolt of lightning struck down upon her opponent. Zoro blinked, trying to clear the glare from the bolt out of his eyes. Where Jett had stood, there was a patch of black, singed grass. But the man was not there. Zoro blinked. Jett was standing next to Nami. She swung her clima-tact at him and he disappeared again.

Zoro pulled one of his katana loose.

Jett instantly reappeared several feet away. "See, after I ate the Tobu Tobu fruit, I found that I could jump – or teleport really – from one place to another." The side of his lips pulled back into an unnerving half smile. "I can teleport up to a mile away. No one's ever been able to touch me."

The next instant he was standing beside Nami again. She cried out, thrusting her palm with the weerlig stone at his chest. He stopped the assault by grabbing her arm. Zoro was already running. Jett looked over Nami's shoulder and met Zoro's eyes. His smile widened. "Goodbye." They both disappeared.

Zoro skidded to a stop. The place where Jett and Nami had just stood was empty. Robin, Franky, and Chopper were already running from the other side of the park. He could hear Sanji's footsteps behind him. Usopp dropped from the tree.

Zoro swore and turned in a swift circle. They were gone.

"You shitty, shitty marimo!"

Zoro turned to deflect Sanji's kick.

"Stop!" Robin slid between them. "You heard him! He can only go a mile! We have to start searching within a mile of here. Now!"

She was right. Zoro turned to Chopper. "Chopper! Can you smell her?"

The deer shook his head. "Only from when she stood here. I might be able to pick up her scent if I start looking."

"Okay. I'll follow you. Let's go."

Robin spoke up. "Everyone else, split up! We'll cover more ground."

The crew gave quick nods before sprinting out of the park in various directions. Chopper took off down a side street and Zoro followed him at a run. He kept his eyes trained on Chopper, determined not to take a single wrong turn. They had to find Nami as soon as possible. The bounty hunter she was up against was more formidable that he had at first seemed. And furthermore, he was smart enough to know that he needed to get Nami alone to have any chance of succeeding.

Zoro swore again as he raced after Chopper. Nami was in danger and it was his fault for letting it happen. Chopper sped up and Zoro pushed himself to run faster. Hold on Nami. We're coming.

Thanks for reading! Next up will be Nami's point of view. How will she fare against the Sobra Jett? We shall see :)