Previously in Captain Luffy and his Navigator...

The rest of the crew has been defeated. Now only the original four have survived, but not for long it seems. Ussop is left without a copy, so Ol Brik is determined to kill him and Zoro and Luffy are facing themselves. Nami has now set off to find herself and Luffy's hat. Now that the first test is coming to a close Ol Brik is becoming desperate and the crew is quickly losing hope.

Chapter 17

Finding Ussop

Nami could hear her heart pounding in her head as she ran through the jungle in the direction she had come. Even if it seemed cowardly she didn't want to hear the sound of Zoro's screams. For some reason even Luffy's screams didn't scare her as much as Zoro's. Luffy's affected her more, but she felt that if she heard Zoro scream out, whatever he was facing would be too much for any other human being in the world. She barely felt the dirt and rocks beneath her hands as she met the cliff she had fallen off of before. Pure fear and adrenilen flooded through her veins and she couldn't even feel her aching arms and the cuts that were quickly forming all over her body. Before she had even blinked she found herself on top of the cliff. It was then that she felt all of the soreness and aching of running through the forest. All at once it hit her, and she staggered foreward, falling on her face.

"Damn it," she grumbled, as she scraped her chin and face, "Don't stop now, Nami.

Slowly she forced herself to stand up, and she felt that her legs were about to collapse beneath her, and even her vision blurred slightly. She could see only the outline of objects, and every discoloration of a blob caused her to jump and prepare to fight. It was eerily quiet up here, and the prison cell she had broken out of was a single grey blob with a great black hollow in it. She mumbled encouragements to herself as she staggered toward it. She had to find Luffy's hat, no matter what.

Soon Nami found herself able to touch the gray blob and found that it was indeed the concrete wall she had felt earlier. She felt her way around the wall until she reached the black blob, where the wall ended. As her hand slid into the cool darkness she screamed and jumped back, "I CAN'T DO THIS!" Her hands and legs where shaking, and for the first time since they had been seperated she felt completely and utterly hopeless. Luffy, please be okay. She thought desperately.

A strong gust of wind blew through the grass surrounding her, causing her to jump and scream once more as it tickled her arms. Feeling weak and stupid as well as afraid she collapsed onto her knees and stared at the dark hole she was facing. What would she do now? It was only when a small drop landed on her leg that she realized she was crying, and she slowly reached up to wipe it away but was shocked to feel that the wind itself seemed to be carrying her tears with it as they fell from her chin. The wind was wiping the tears from her face and dusting the dirt from her clothes. She sighed and tilted her head back allowing the wind to blow through her hair, finally she whispered it allowed as if the message could be carried across the wind, "Luffy, I love you."

As soon as the words left her mouth she felt something lightly bump into her knees. Slowly she looked back toward the hole and to her shock she saw that sitting before her was the Straw Hat. She picked it up and turned it over in her hands. Amazed that it was still in one piece. She traced the edge of the hat and the places where she had stitched it for Luffy when they first met. As she dusted it off, something happened that gave her the most immense yet inexplicable feeling of sadness she had ever felt, she saw that a small bit of ash fell from the hat and drifted off into the wind.

Water droplets fell silently against the floor of the dark and moss covered cave. It sat at the edge of the island facing outward toward the great vast ocean. Ol Brik sat at the edge of the cave, with his feet hanging over the water which was crashing against the black wall of the water worn mountain. He let out a long sigh as he stared out into the Ocean of Darkness. He tapped his dirt filled fingernails against the cave floor nervously. The truth of the matter was that no Pirate Crew had been to the realm between the One Piece and the rest of the pirate world since Gol D. Roger. When the infamous pirate had made his way through the series of tests he lost one crew member each time, until they had all been killed. This was the pirates first crew ofcourse, and when he had come back he had already made a pact with Ol Brik and passed through safely. This pact ofcourse was made on the foundation of the immense amount of treasure which he was going to hide on the other side.

Ol Brik had never doubted his own power, nor his own ability but... this Captain Luffy character had figured out the first test...

He shook he head, chasing the idea from his mind. There was no way this boy would make it through, not with his whole crew. Just as this thought occured, Ol Brik froze in shock as he looked into the horizon and yet another ships sail.

"What the hell is wrong with today?"

He raised his hand and prepared to call forth the sea monster in the cape of the island, but something made him hesitate. If he let these people stay as well, it would be and almost guaranteed victory on his end. Sitting back he allowed the ship to draw closer to the island, when they were of no more use he would send them back to the ocean, but for now he could set them against the Straw Hat crew. Smiling slightly he leaned back onto his hands, at ease once more. Even if the long nosed pirate survived this test, there would be know what that he could survive the one to come. And if the next test was not passed the Straw Hat crew would have no chance of survival.

"Ow!" For the third time Nami pricked herself on the thorny foliage of the jungle and found herself leaving a small trail of blood on the trees behind her.

After a while of walking through the forest Nami had realized that she in fact had not been bothered by the fact that she was stuck in the jungle, what bothered her the most was the fact that she could hear no sound of any form of life around her in said jungle. Even the sound of a deadly beast approaching her would have given the poor Navigator some level of comfort. She found that every once in a while she would change the speed at which she was walking and then tire of the fast pace because it seemed she was going nowhere. In fact at this point Nami was beginning to count out each of the steps she took as she took them, and calculate the distance she went between her slow strides and fast strides. Nami became so engulfed in this even, that she failed to hear the sound of footsteps quickly approaching her from directly in front of her. It was only when she found her self lying once more on her back, with a bruise on her forehead where that she noticed that someone was there.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," she mumbled rubbing her forehead, "What in the world did I-?" expecting to see a tree she looked up and what met her eyes caused her to go silent instead of screaming as usually would.

A bushy haird, disshevled looking Long-Nosed sharp shooter stood before her, wearing only thick black pants, boots and his signature goggles over his head. He looked down at her suspisciously, "N-nami?"

She stared at him for a moment, and stood up slowly adjusting the Straw Hat on her head as she saw that he had scratches all over his chest and arms a few of them deeper than others. Finally she found her voice, "Ussop."

"Nami!" Ussop smiled, lifting her up before hugging her tightly, "Finally, a familiar face that isn't trying to kill me!"

Nami allowed herslef to be hugged since Ussop had unintentionally pinned her arms against her sides. She swore that there had never been so much hugging as there was today as he finally set her down again, "What happened?" he asked her, checking her for wounds just as Zoro had...Zoro... she thought sadly and she found that tears had once again filled her eyes.

"U-Ussop," she said again as her voice quivered, "You're alive."

She fell forward hugging him and repeated it over and over again. Ussop, completely perplexed hugged her back, patting her back slightly awkwardly as he attempted to speak words of comfort, "It's alright Nami, it's alright, ofcourse I'm alive. You are to. We're both alive, we'll both be fine. It's okay."

She released him finally. Why are you crying so much? Idiot! she scolded herself as she wiped the tears from her eyes, "U-ussop," she sniffled, "Zoro...Zoro he f-fought the other one and...Usasdglkh," she found that once she began to say it allowed again she couldn't bring herself to explain it thoroughly, "A-and...then, and then...Luuuuufffyyy!"

Ussop, sensing that this was going to take a while, nodded before turning around and bending down, "Yosh, get on." He said putting his hands behind his back, preparing to carry her.

Nami, hesitantly at first, got onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck, burrying her face in his hair.

"Oi, oi, don't get boogers in my hair," he grumbled half-jokingly. She punched her shoulder, her face still in his hair.

"Baka!"

As Ussop looked up into the sky he saw that the sun was close to setting and he shivered slightly to think of what troubles could come about at night, "Nami."

"Mm."

"We're going to find someplace to rest for tonight. In the morning tell me everything."

"Mm."

Ussop trudged through the jungle until he found the root of a giant tree with an opening large enough for a human to fit into. Gently setting Nami down outside of the opening, he slid inside to make sure it was safe and then led her inside by her hand. He could feel through her cold clamy hand that her heart was still racing a million beats per minute. He made a bed of moss and allowed her lay down first as he sat at the entrance, looking out into the now dark night. As he stared out into the darkness and finally heard Namis even breathing he stole a glance at the Straw Hat gripped against her chest.

"Where in the world are you, Captain?" he said quietly.

A/N: THIS ONE IS SHORT. READ AND REVIEW!

UP NEXT: Suprising New Guests & Nami's Straw Hat