A/N: Sooooooo sorrrrrrry it took so long. I think this is it, you guys... second last chapter... Ahhhh~ such an incredibly sad thing, as we come to a close with yet another fanfiction story...

I'm glad so many of you have enjoyed, and I don't know -maybe I'll do another story where I place the Straw-hat Pirates in another movie... We'll see ;)

I appreciate all the reviews, favourites and views in general that this story has gotten. You guys are wonderful. Incredible. Totally magnificent and amazing XD

As for the reviews I haven't replied to -I'm so soooorrrry, it's been busy. I'm getting my license in a week, so I've been driving around a lot, and over the weekend, I built a fence! And then I was watching this fantastic drama... and it all just adds up... There's not enough hours in a day...

Well, with all that said, it's about time to let you read :)

I so hope you enjoy this, and I'll reply to everything tomorrow~

Reaching the Hull

Nami

All I could hear across the darkness was the sound of footsteps, rushing back and forth, up and down. How they managed to find their way on the platforms, without falling off in the darkness, was beyond me.

Then there were just the murmurs of voices under the rush of water, the fighting done –or so I hoped. I didn't really want to linger in one place for two long.

"Oi! Nami," Luffy called out.

"Here," I shouted back.

His arm touched my arm, then slid down my body to the platform below, looking for a sturdy place to hold.

I heard the creak of the walkway too late, and as Luffy came towards me, I felt the walkway shift slightly. And in the next moment, we were all in the water, the walkway having given out from underneath us.

The water was ice-cold, black and deep. Around me, bodies bobbed up and down. I fought to the surface, breaking through looking around. "Luffy! LUUUUFFFY!"

"Oi, Nami, what happened?" Zoro shouted over the water.

"The walkway broke!" I said, pushing through the bodies in search for him. "I think Luffy fell in."

There was a splash and I had no doubt that Zoro dived into the cold, black water. I took a deep breath, and then followed his lead. Luffy was a hammer –he'd go down, not float. Now that I thought of it, calling out for him had been useless. It was one of those moments when between the darkness and the shock of the water, I had forgotten such a major detail.

I pushed myself lower and lower, but looking for Luffy in all that black water was like looking for a specific sea monster in all of the Grand Line. Impossible.

Still, even knowing that, I searched. I never once bumped into Zoro. Finally I swam back up to get some air. Puffing deeply, I saw that everyone had returned –the Kouki was back. In front of them were black silhouettes –men I didn't recognize, but all were soaking wet.

Robin extended her many arms towards me. I pushed her hand away –"I need to find Luffy."

"He's here," She said, gesturing to the group of men. "Yoku had been with him when Luffy hit the water –he pulled him up."

I let Robin drag me back onto the walkway –though I had to wonder if I trusted it with all the people standing on it in practically one area –and I dropped down to my knees beside Luffy.

I brushed wet strands of hair out of his face, then touched his neck, feeling for his heartbeat. I let out a long breath as relief swept over me. I rested my forehead against his cheek hugging his neck.

Looking up at the newly acquired males –the pirates, I realized –I murmured my thanks. Then I glanced at Robin, and then around the rest of the group.

To Robin I said, "Zoro jumped in too."

She nodded, as if she already knew that he would –which I guess is naturally to be expected from him. Zoro had always been that way –willing to risk his life for his nakama. Despite my constant nagging –and yelling, shouting, getting angry and beating him –I really did respect Zoro. Luffy couldn't have found a better first mate.

There was the sound as someone broke through the water's surface, and Robin was quick to grab Zoro and pull him out. He protested at first, until his eye fell upon Luffy's figure. He let out a sigh, his shoulders relaxing as Robin placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned into him for a moment.

"We should get going," I said to the group, shaking Luffy lightly to wake him up.

He opened his eyes, coughing up more water. He smiled at me, "Oh, hi, Nami."

I rolled my eyes, standing up and pulling him to his feet –his arm only stretched, and he remained there on the ground.

"Luffy, let's go," I said firmly, nudging him lightly with my foot. I looked to the group, "Go on –get going. We don't have a lot of time left. If the water is rising this quickly, maybe there's a hole somewhere in here that's letting air in. We need to find it."

"You guys really believe that we can get out of here?" one of the guys asked.

"Of course," Robin, Zoro, Brooke, Luffy and I all replied together. We exchanged glances before smiling.

"Are you okay Luffy?" Suki asked him.

"I'm fine," he grinned.

"Yohoho, when I heard Nami shouting, I was frightened half to death," Brooke laughed.

"Except you don't have ears, and you're already dead," Suki looked a lot more sure of herself. Maybe it was Uri… Maybe it was Brooke. She seemed to be taking everything in stride, gaining hope along the way.

"Shishishi," Luffy laughed. "You should really join our crew, Suki."

She tightened Brooke's jacket around her –"Maybe I will."

"Are you serious?" Uri asked.

"I –I don't know," Suki admitted. "But I think I am."

"Yohoho," Brooke laughed.

"Can I join?" Loki asked.

"Maybe in a few years," Luffy told him, his smile never fading.

"Are we going or not?" Windsworth asked, adjusting Mariko in his arms.

"We're going," I reassured him. "Kouki, lead the way."

"Aye-Aye, Captain," he joked.

"Since when were you the captain?" Luffy asked, hanging on my arm as our group dispersed slowly.

"I'm not the captain," I told him.

"Kouki just called you the captain," Luffy pointed out.

"It was a joke," I explained.

"So you're not that captain?" he asked.

"No.'

"So who's the captain?"

"Well," I reached between us, linking my fingers through his, "You're my captain."

He smiled as he looked at me. He started leaning forward, closer, and closer still until –

"And my captain!" Brooke shoved his head between us.

"And mine," Robin chipped in, as Zoro pulled Brooke back and out of the way. He didn't add to it though, but nodded at Luffy as if it were enough. And I suppose it was. He looked pained, and he didn't look any better after having been in the water, but as long as we made it out of here –and so long as the Thousand Sunny was lingering by somewhere near by this time –then we'd have nothing to worry about. Chopper would patch him up just fine –I was sure of it.

"Luffy and I are going to move back up to the front," I told them, pulling Luffy forward. Everyone moved to one side of the platform as we passed, still dripping wet.

I glanced down only once to check the level of the water. Otherwise, I didn't want to know –I figured the less I thought about it, the slower it would seem to rise. Kind of like time…

Except with time, the less you thought about it, the faster it went by…

Huh…

I cast another glance down as we caught up with Kouki and his small group. He nodded at me, and then kept moving forward. I fell in step beside him, Luffy following closely behind.

"There's stairs," Tsunaka called out suddenly, grabbing Kouki's shoulder and pointing to the side. Up ahead I mapped out the path we needed to take. Luckily it didn't take much to get there, because the water really was rising fast. Luckily, the stairs seemed to stretch far upwards.

At the top of the stairs, I realized that we were at the top –or the bottom, of the ship. The stairs just ended at the ceiling, with nowhere else to go –a complication that I hadn't even considered. With an upside down ship, there was no 'floor' where we'd need it the most.

"What's going on?" Someone asked behind and below us.

"We can't go any further," I replied.

"Shit!" Kouki banged his fist against the floor.

There was a loud murmur that rippled through the group.

"But Nami –" Luffy began.

"How are we supposed to get out now?"

"Are there any other stairs anywhere?"

"It'd probably end the same –"

"There's no doubt –it would end the same –"

"Oi, Nami," Luffy tugged at my shirt.

"Everybody calm down," I called out, but it was in vain.

"Nami –"

"Don't push!" Someone shouted.

"Stop it!"

It was getting messy, really fast.

Finally there was an indescribable sound that silenced us all. I turned to Luffy who had punched a hole in the flat surface above us. The metal peeled inwards, deeper towards the hull. Carefully, Luffy extracted his hand. His knuckles were hardly damaged –he must have been using Haki.

"Luffy –" I began, but this time he interrupted me.

"I was trying to tell you –this floor isn't made out of Seastone. There had to be another surface beyond this one," Luffy said, grabbing either side of the hole and pushing back the metal scraps, widening the size of it, until it could squeeze one of those water barrels through.

"You're a genius," I said, kissing Luffy on the cheek before climbing through the hole. It was pitch black, but when Kouki came in, the walls were illuminated. The ceiling curved in the shape of the hull, making me to believe that these tankers really were for air. Had it not been attacked by a rogue tsunami, I'm sure these tankers would have been great had we crashed into anything. They were thin, walls separating one second from the next so that if one flooded, it wouldn't necessarily bring the ship down.

Kouki helped Jo bring Ino up, laying her off to the side while the others climbed up. Everyone crawled in, regrouping and spreading out in the small space while we waited for everyone else. I looked around.

"What now?" Yoku asked, gesturing around the room. "There's nowhere to go from here. Where's that hole that you said we could get through."

"Below us, obviously," Loki snapped at the man that was double his age and twice his height.

"Just… give me a moment to think," I said, nudging my way to one of the walls. They were made from the same metal as the floor below us, but I was positive that right behind the metal was the hull.

"If we can get past the hull, our problem's solved," Robin said, coming up beside me as I placed my hand on the wall.

"I know," I murmured. "It's not a matter of what to do, it's how to do it –Luffy, close the hole you created if everyone's inside.

"That's going cut down our oxygen supply," Windsworth said. "We have twenty or so people now –is that such a great idea?"

"Then… Open another hole into the tanker beside us," I waved my hand dismissively –I just didn't want the water to rise into our confined space.

Luffy did as I asked, and Kouki checked the other space for holes. When it was fine, he joined us back in the room, where I continued to think of a way to do things.

Luffy came and sat beside where I stood. I still faced the wall, but I'd taken to leaning my forehead against it.

"I love you," Luffy said to me.

"I love you too," I replied instantly.

"You'll think of something," he encouraged.

"Thanks," I said, sighing and turning around. I slid down the wall to sit beside him, closing my eyes and trying to think of an idea. Now that I wasn't all go, go, go, I found myself exhausted, unable to think properly. Maybe the lack of oxygen was already getting to me.

"Don't fall asleep," Yoku said from across the room. "We need to get out of here."

"Yoku, you were the one going on about how we were all going to die anyway," one of the men said.

"Can you just shut up," Zoro nearly growled at him. They'd been the ones to shoot at Suki, Zoro and Brooke, right? I understood the resentment. But they were survivors too…

The entire room went silent. You would almost think that Zoro had the King's disposition, rather than Luffy, with the way he had control over people.

I really was almost falling asleep.

"Brooke, play us a song," Robin encouraged. "Something upbeat."

"Yohoho –you've twisted my arm!"

"Careful, though –he falls apart quite easily," Suki murmured.

Luffy laughed, "Shishishi.'

There were sounds as Brooke opened his violin. Without the sound of rushing water, it was oddly quiet.

"Who's hungry?" Robin asked.

"We are," came a chorus.

"Sanji should be here soon," I murmured, opening my eyes and looking at the arched ceiling.

"Meat," Luffy started drooling.

"Mm," I agreed. I wasn't sure what I was looking forward to more –a decent meal, a good night's sleep, or a nice, hot bath. At this point –as I was still dripping wet –I think the bath. Not only had the water been cold, it had been filled with dead corpses…

Yeah, I was definitely looking forward to that bath…

I shivered, and Luffy drew me closer to him, and I leaned my head on his shoulder. I picked up his hand and shifted my fingers between his; I looked at our hands for a second, and then looked up at the hull.

Was it possible to break through it?

Could we do it?

"Zoro?" I asked, not even bothering to look towards him.

"Mm," he grunted.

"Can you try cutting through it? Do you think it's possible?"

"Maybe not with these knives," Zoro muttered.

"I thought you said it wasn't the blade that mattered, but the wielder," Brooke said.

"Yeah, yeah," Zoro stood up, stretching. "How many knives do we have left, Robin?"

"Three," she said as she took them out.

"Perfect," he said, taking them from her.

"Three blades are perfect?" Rika asked.

"You don't know who he is, do you?" Loki grinned.

"Come away from the wall," Robin said to Jo, Tsunaka and Ino, who was slowly becoming more conscious. Windsworth and Mariko also moved away.

"Who is –?" she began, but her sentence tampered off as Zoro placed one of the blades in his mouth, shifted his position to sturdy himself.

"Roronoa –"

"Mm," Loki's smile only widened. He was like a kid seeing his favourite superhero in action.

But whether the onlookers respected Zoro or feared him, I think it was safe to say that in that moment we all held our breath.

And we prayed for the best.