Ureshiitamago: I DID NOT FORGET! I just got school…and then work…and then writers block…all in one.
Aave: *mutters incomprehensibly*
Ureshiitamago:…onto the thankies?
We would like to thank: iitrnr, seanstergamefan, Vipre-vassago, amy1945, kiroroblue, , LiaMaruti, 52 zed fast, Darkfrosty, powerplay2010, BleachedShadow, WackyJ, TerrorTwinEpicness, Skysword, lilly2011, Lady Shinkukaze, kage kitsune 14, and beartes for following/favoriting this story!
A special thanks to Momochan77, QuirkyKit, alexc123, Varus the Shadow Sage, TheSuperMario, InsanityPushedMeOffTheEdge, Guest, Cupcake(guest), kiroroblue, and AC.
Now, responses to guest reviews!
Guest: Me too! I already wrote it!
Cupcake: Here's some more to read!
AC: For a voice actress…Hirano Aya. She does good kid voices. And for your second question…*drumroll* ;) you'll see in this chappie!
Aave: Heeere's the chapter!
"IT'S A COW THAT LIVES IN THE OCEAN, GUYS!" I shouted excitedly, not noticing that the cow was turning an alarming shade of blue from cold, and that the water around where it was floating was turning icy. I waved my arms in the air with furver.
"I MEAN, HOW GREAT IS THAT?" The cow tipped sideways and fell onto the now-icy ocean. I realized what had happened.
"Oops…" I said, a sweatdrop running down my head. "I think I gave it hypothermia…"
Chapter 21: Purple Ghosts
"Wow, it's a big sea monster," Sanji idly commented, lighting a cigarette. I nodded.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Yosaku was yelling.
"A cow," I reminded Sanji.
"He's blue," added Luffy, stuffing some more meat into his mouth.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Yosaku continued to yell.
"He's got hypothermia…" I muttered, blushing a little. Luffy laughed.
"'Cause you froze the sea, right?" He chortled.
"AAAAAAAAAAA-" Yosaku cut off when I flew through him to make him shut up. The screaming was really annoying and unnecessary.
"A huge swimming cow," Sanji repeated. "Or maybe a hippo?"
"A cow," I corrected.
"It's a lot of beef," Luffy said, drooling. I shook my head, and crossed my arms.
"No!" I exclaimed. "He's not food! Bessie's my pet!"
"You claimed him?" Sanji asked, a sweatdrop running down his head. I nodded, and pointed at Bessie the sea-cow triumphantly.
"I heard him first, so he's mine!"
"THAT'S A MONSTER FROM THE GRAND LINE!" Yosaku shouted, recovering from the momentary freeze to his body. Shucks. Bessie, meanwhile, blinked open his eyes and stared at the frozen sea underneath him, letting out a confused 'moo?' and flopping around until he was back in the sea.
"NOOOOO!" I wailed. "BESSIE! COME BACK!" There was a sloshing sound, and the top of Bessie's face appeared above the water, shooting me a confused look.
"Yes," I said, nodding, "you're Bessie." Bessie shook his head. I stomped my foot on the air.
"Is too!"
*cow shakes head*
"Too!"
*shake*
"TOO!"
"MOOO!"
"TOO!"
"MOHMOO!"
"…oh."
"What?" Luffy asked, leaning over the side. "What did our dinner say?" Bessie shuddered in the water and shrank back from our boat.
"Bessie said that his name wasn't Bessie, it was Mohmoo," I said, and then continued, glaring at Bessie. "But I refuse to call him by a stupid name like that, so it will be Bessie from now on, so there!" I stuck my tongue out at the end. Mohmoo *coughBessiecough* reared up, and looked like he was about to trash our ship before he was interrupted by a gigantic growling noise coming from his stomach region.
"He seems to be hungry," I stated, scratching the back of my neck idly. Bessie stared longingly at the food on our table (or what was left of it), and Luffy drew back his hand.
"GOMU GOMU NO PISTOL!" Luffy shouted, knocking Bessie back onto the ice with his punch.
"KEEP YOUR FLIPPERS OFF OUR FOOD!" He shouted, pointing at the offending sea-cow.
"WOOHOO! GO LUFFY!" I shouted, punching the air, and then I paused. "Wait…NOOOOOOO! BESSIE! WHAT DID HE DO TO YOU, MY PET?!" I wailed dramatically, collapsing on the deck in a mock-faint. After a moment, I raised my head.
"How did I do?" I asked, looking up at Sanji who was watching me bemusedly.
"Ten points for style," he announced with a grin. I clapped my hands in delight, only to scream slightly in surprise when Bessie shot out of the water with a roar, the ice having finally melted.
"MOOOOOO!" He roared in anger. I nodded sagely and turned to Luffy.
"He wants you to apologize," I translated. Bessie's roar stopped and he looked at me in confusion, as did Yosaku. Luffy just glared at Bessie and pouted while Sanji was almost bent in two to stop his laughter.
"I don't wanna," Luffy grumbled.
"HE'S JUST ANGRY!" Yosaku shouted, waving his arms erratically in the direction of Bessie. I held my hands out, palms facing out.
"Now children, now's not the time to be having an argument," I said in my best teacherly voice. "Let's all review Kelso's choices, and agree on a solution to our problem. Now," I made a circular chart with frogs on it appear. "Solution number one is; go to another game. We're not playing a game, so that doesn't count in this situation, so we move onto number two." I moved a pointer that had at some point appeared in my hand to the next choice and looked around to make sure I had their attention. Luffy was paying rapt attention, as was Bessie and Yosaku. Sanji was still laughing in the background.
"Talk it out. So, Luffy, could you please explain why you hit Bessie. Bessie, explain why you're so hungry." Luffy and Bessie turned to each other, and there was a subsequent not-conversation that somehow seemed to work out and ended with Bessie getting the rest of the bean-sprouts and some meat. In return, Bessie was hooked up to our boat and told the direction we wanted to go in.
"Kelso's choices?" Sanji asked me as we were speeding along. I grinned up and him, and swung my feet against (and then through) the outside of the boat. He was leaning against the railing next to me near the bow, where Luffy had claimed his spot.
"When I was around one to two hundred years old, an old lady stopped by my island and somehow took it upon herself to teach me how to manage conflict," I explained. "The only thing I remember from that lesson is Kelso, and that she had a double chin that kept on wagging whenever she talked. I think it hypnotized me at one point." Sanji laughed at that and shook his head slightly.
"You really looked like a teacher back there," Sanji noted, grinning at me. I folded my arms and tilted my head up, smiling proudly.
"I haunted a classroom for sixty years," I said pompously. "I should think so!"
"You were scaaary!" Luffy said with a pout, glaring at me a little. I grinned at him, and flew over to his side, teasingly punching him lightly on the arm.
"The teacher whose classroom I was haunting had to have been a witch," I declared, sitting next to Luffy. "There's no other way that she would be able to make half of the island's kids behave themselves like that." I shook my head and adjusted my knee pads so that they were centered over my knee-cap properly. Luffy punched me lightly on the arm in retaliation, and then tickled my sides.
Soon, I was screaming and 'running' around the boat, a laughing Luffy (ooo, look at that alliteration) chasing after me, cackling like a madman. Somewhere in the middle of the tickle chase, I and Luffy had somehow procured fake words and were jumping around the ship, pretending to fight each other and using fake pirate accents to talk (shout) with each other. We only stopped when Yosaku shouted out.
"I SEE ARLONG PARK!" Came the cry. Luffy and I immediately abandoned our swords where they were, and raced to the front of the boat, where Bessie was laboring away, drawing us steadily closer to the island.
"Yeah!" I shouted, pumping my fist in the air. "GO BESSIE!"
"Don't give out yet, hippo!" Sanji added with a shout. I made my hand real for long enough to punch him lightly on the shoulder.
"His name is Bessie!" I protested, crossing my arms with a pout. Sanji was staring at me, silent for a moment, and then he turned back to Bessie.
"Don't give out yet, hippo-Bessie!" He shouted. I face-palmed, but shrugged it off and returned to encouraging Bessie with Luffy. Suddenly, we noticed something was off. Bessie wasn't heading to Arlong Park, he was heading to the right of it.
"HEY!" Sanji shouted, jumping back from the railing, "TO THE LEFT!"
"It's that building!" Luffy added, pointing at the only building in sight, but he jumped towards the railing instead of away from it.
"WE'RE GONNA CRASH INTO THE SHORE!" Wailed Yosaku, clutching his head and rolling around on the floor piteously.
"Where's that aura coming from?" I asked, looking around for the cause of the random aura that had literally popped out of nowhere. It felt like a fading ghost. Were there really any of those still around? Last I talked to my Shinigami friend, they had cleared all of those up.
"WHY ARE YOU ASKING ABOUT AN AURA WHEN WE'RE CLEARLY GOING TO CRA-!" Bessie had taken a sudden dive to the left. Now. I knew a little about gravity, how it worked, yada, yada, yada. I knew that an object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. We were the object in motion. Those trees I could see in the distance becoming closer as we flew towards them at supersonic speed? Yeah, those were the 'outside force'.
But it looked like I was slightly wrong. We landed on the ground, and instead of resting, we kept moving through the trees at supersonic speed.
"Hey!" Luffy shouted, holding onto the boat and his hat, somehow managing to stay seated. "We're on the ground!"
"But we're still moving!" Sanji shouted back. I assessed the situation, and simply floated upwards, following behind the boat. I chuckled when the boat collided with someone who looked suspiciously like Zoro, and when it went careening through a rice field and stopped itself by colliding with the trees on the other side of the rice field.
'Ouch, that gotta hurt,' I thought to myself, wincing at the carnage as I drew closer. I collided with Luffy just as he stood up, and sent him tumbling back onto the ground.
After a moment or two of confusion, Luffy was finally back on his feet and brushing himself off as Sanji sat on a piece of wreckage, Yosaku still stuck in said wreckage, and Zoro bleeding from his head.
"WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!" Zoro screamed at us. I clapped my hands in delight as the infamous shark teeth appeared. It was always most amusing when that happened.
"What? We came to bring Nami back," Luffy said as if it were obvious (which it was), "Haven't you found her yet? Where are Usopp and Johnny?" Since these were questions I was wondering about myself, I sat in Sanji's lap and decided to explore where I could feel the aura coming from later.
"Usopp! Oh no!" Zoro quickly stood up and turned in the direction of Arlong Park. "There's no time to chat!"
"Huh? What's wrong?" Luffy asked.
"Did someone die?" I asked, thinking about the aura with a tinge of worry. Was that one of ours?
"No, but Arlong has Usopp!" Zoro said in a slightly panicked voice. "If I don't get to him quick he'll be-"
"USOPP'S DEAD!" A voice shouted. Everyone looked over to who had shouted, and saw Johnny, tears streaming down his face.
"You're too late," he said. "USOPP-ANIKI'S BEEN KILLED BY NAMI-ANEKI!" Nami-baka…what have you done. Luffy attacked Johnny.
"YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Luffy shouted at Johnny, holding the other man by his collar. "OR I'LL SEND YOU FLYING!" Luffy really wasn't taking the news well.
"Stop it, Luffy!" Yosaku shouted. "It's not Johnny's fault!"
"THERE'S NO WAY NAMI WOULD KILL USOPP!" Luffy shouted. The amount of conviction in his voice shook me to the core, and instantly, I believed that he was right. Nami wouldn't do something like that. "SHE'S OUR NAKAMA!" Those words sealed the answer to his never ending question that I had already decided upon.
"IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BELIEVE IT, FINE!" Johnny shouted back, still crying. "BUT I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES!" Luffy looked like he was about to say something, but then a voice spoke up that had us all looking towards the familiar girl.
"Who's your nakama, Luffy?"
"Nami…"
"Why did you come here?" Her voice was dead, no emotion whatsoever, and that made me shiver. What predicament was she in that made her make that face?
"Whadda ya mean?" Luffy asked, dropping Johnny and straitening up, holding his hat down when a breeze threatened to blow it away (not my fault). "You're our nakama, we came to get you!"
"What a nuisance," Nami coolly said, crossing her arms, a rod in her right hand. I noticed with interest that the smell of fresh blood was wafting from her covered up left hand, and that on her shoulder was a tattoo of a shark…thing…
"Nakama?" she continued, "Don't make me laugh. You're a bunch of pathetic misfits." I frowned slightly when she said that, her words hitting a little too close to home. Pathetic misfit was all I would think about when I was sick in bed, watching the other children play while I dreamed a ridiculous dream that I knew could never be fulfilled in my lifetime.
"NAMI!" Sanji suddenly shouted, jolting me out of my reverie. He was waving his hand excitedly and…were those smoke hearts coming out of his cigarette? "It's me! Don't you remember?! Come back to us!"
"YOU STAY OUT OF THIS!" Zoro shouted at him, veins popping on his forehead. "YOU'LL COMPLICATE THE STORY!"
"So?" Sanji growled back, chewing on his cigarette in anger, "Love is always a hurricane!" I gagged at his words and shook my head. He would never get women acting that way.
"I'M TELLING YOU, THIS WOMAN IS A WITCH!" Johnny shouted. He was getting ready to shout something else, but I interrupted him.
"Of course she isn't!" I said hotly, crossing my arms and glaring at him with all my ghostly might. "Witches have brooms! Get your facts straight, young man!" I finished in my best teacher voice and sniffed at him, ignoring the stares from everyone else. "Honestly, next you'll be saying that we'll get a shape-changing reindeer on the crew! Yeesh!"
"That would be cool," conceded Luffy, nodding at my comment but still staring at Nami.
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT!" Johnny screamed, causing most of us to jump at his sudden yelling. "SHE'S WORKING FOR ARLONG'S PIRATES! SHE BUTCHERS PEOPLE LIKE PIGS!" I admit, at this point I was getting a tad irritated with all the yelling and the accusations, but my limit boiled over when he added, in an equally loud shout;
"I SAW THIS WITCH STAB USOPP-ANIKI WITH MY OWN EYES!"
"OH BE QUIET!" I shouted, covering my ears with my hands, trying to drown out all the yelling. "HOW DO YOU KNOW HE'S DEAD? I DON'T SEE HIS AURA, WHICH MEANS HE'S ALIVE! STOP, PLEASE!" In a calmer voice, I turned to Luffy, feeling slightly shaky.
"I need to go somewhere quiet before I accidently hurt someone or something," I mumbled. Luffy nodded, looking a little surprised and worried at my outburst, and I floated off, only looking back to meet Nami's eyes. She looked panicked, and slightly sad. I was well away when I heard dim shouting start back up. It sounded like Nami this time.
"I don't care." I chanted to myself as I flew. "I don't care. I don't…!" I sniffed and took off my gloves, using them as handkerchiefs to absorb my tears. I collapsed by a cross on a cliff somewhere on the other side of the island, and let sobs wrack through my body. At this point, I didn't even know what had caused my little (big) breakdown, only that something in what both Nami and Johnny had said hurt me to the point of actually raising my voice and trying to drown out other voices at the same time by covering my ears. That hadn't happened in years.
"It's alright, young one," a soothing voice said as something that felt like arms wrapped around me. "Shhhh, don't cry. Ghosts are stronger than that, aren't they?" I sniffed again, calming down slightly, and nodded my head. Then, I noticed something.
"Y-you're the *sniff* aura th-that's slow-wly disapp-ppearing," I managed to get out, looked up and behind me to see a slightly faded lady wearing a Marine's plaid shirt. She had purple hair that was shaved on the sides and long at the top, and she was smoking. The one thing I noticed most was the large bloodstain on her chest. So that was how she died.
"I am, little one." She said with a nod. At least she accepted that she was disappearing. Others would have denied it. "But I can't disappear until I know that my daughters are happy."
"Daughters?" I asked, plucking at the bottom of my white t-shirt and thinking back to the mother who had given birth to me, but then left when I became a ghost.
"Yes, Nojiko and Nami."
"Wow, what a coincidence," I said seriously, "our reluctant Navigator is named Nami. I call her Nami-baka because she wasn't telling us what was wrong and what we could do to help her. I don't get humans…"
"You're a ghost," Came the nice-lady's reply. I grinned up at her.
"Point," I said cheerfully before staring at the bottom of my shirt again. "Hey…am I…a misfit?" I asked quietly. "I mean, I'm not officially a part of the crew…and…I chased the people of my island off for being a ghost." The last part was said in a whisper, and was my personal nightmare. Yes, the elderly stayed and loved me, but everyone else, they left. Some of my friends stayed until they were adults, but soon became disgusted with having a non-aging reminder of their youth. Then they left too. The elderly died, and eventually, the island turned into an imaginary one that tied me to the one place I didn't want to be.
A light tap on the back of my head stopped my thoughts. The nice-lady was frowning slightly.
"You are not a misfit. I doubt that your Captain would allow you on his ship unless he thought you a part of his crew, and the villagers are idiots, don't think about them. You ran away from that place, didn't you? So don't think about it." I smiled up at her.
"You're a nice lady," I said. "You must have been a great mother to Nojiko and Nami."
"Thank you for the compliment, but…" The nice lady trailed off. Then she coughed into her hand and grinned at me again. "I'm going to tell you what I told them. 'Don't ever lose to anyone! Girls have to be strong too! And whatever happens, don't curse the age you were born into! Don't worry about what anyone says! And whatever happens, never lose your ability to laugh! If you can survive, then happy times…lot's of em…will come your way!"
"That's pretty!" I said, staring up at her. "Want to hear a poem a spirit shared with me once?" The nice lady smiled.
"Yes, I would." I grinned.
"It's called 'Invictus'!"
Invictus
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
It matters not how straight the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
I finished the poem with a flourish. The nice lady clapped loudly and laughed.
"That was very nice!" She said. I grinned up at her.
"That's what I said! It isn't my absolute favorite but…oh…I forgot to tell you my name. That was rather rude of me. I apologize," I said seriously, sliding off of her lap to face her. Then I bowed.
"My name is Aave D. Something-or-other. I can't quite remember my last name."
"That's alright. My name's Bellemere." The nice lady offered back. I grinned.
"Thank you for cheering me up, Bellemere! I have to get back to my living people now though."
"Have fun, and remember, smile." Bellemere said with her own smile before fading. I grinned at the mist that had been where Bellemere had been sitting with me on her lap.
"Don't worry!" I called out, waving at the disappearing mist. "I will!" Now to go find Luffy, I thought, floating above the trees and looking for the familiar strawhat anywhere on the island. And…there!
"LUUUFFYYYYY!" I called out as I shot down towards him, taking note of the fact that he was walking in a village. I adjusted myself accordingly, only letting myself be visible to members of the crew. Luffy turned and looked up at me, grinning as I barreled into his arms. I hugged him tightly for a moment or two before scrambling around to get a piggy-back ride.
"I met this reeeaaally nice purple-haired lady!" I said excitedly, waving my hands to illustrate my story even though I knew he couldn't see them. "She had Mohawk hair, and a Marine's t-shirt! I didn't know Marines could be nice! Well, except for Coby, but he's my exception to the rule! Also, she was smoking! What marine smokes? Only Captains in the Navy should be allowed to smoke, and she wasn't a Captain, but that wasn't the weirdest part-" I took a deep breath as Luffy chuckled underneath me. "You know…" I rested my chin on his shoulder. "The weirdest part was that she was a mom who died for her kids." I locked my arms around his neck, but not too hard. "And they weren't blood related."
"They sound like a nice family," Luffy commented, jumping slightly so that I was better situated on his back. I smiled, my chin still on his shoulder.
"Mmmhmm. I would've liked to meet her when she was alive," I said. "That would have been fun." Luffy stopped suddenly, and I looked up to see an extremely strange sight. A scarred man with a pinwheel on his hat was leading a Marine who looked like a mouse and some other Marines through the village. What the crabapple? I half-stood on Luffy's back to get a better angle.
"What does the Navy want with Nami?" The scarred man with the pinwheel was asking the mousy-Marine. Nami?
"Hyik hyik hyik," I wrinkled my nose at the strange laugh. "Just take me to her."
"That doesn't sound too good, Luffy." I said to the top of Luffy's head. Luffy was silent for a moment before;
"How come that guy has a pinwheel on his head?!" I considered his question, not finding it surprising that he hadn't seemed to listen to what I had said. I knew he had, and just didn't want to get involved just yet for some reason.
"Speaking as a child, I find his face rather frightening. Maybe he wears it so that the village children will smile and not be afraid of him?" I suggested, slipping off of Luffy's back when he started to sit against a palm tree. I plopped onto his lap and pulled Bearetta out of my hat, sticking an orange wig on her head and changing her clothes to look like what Nami would normally wear.
"Hi," I said in a falsetto, holding Bearetta up to Luffy's face. Luffy grinned and waved at Bearetta. "Nami-kuma's shy," I whispered to Luffy behind my hand. Luffy laughed and nodded.
"Yes, Nami-kuma is shy. Nami isn't though." He said. I nodded.
"Very good, pupil Luffy!" I said, crossing my arms, Bearetta now sitting on my lap. "Learning to read…" I blanked, and was still trying to figure out what to say when a shot rang out, followed by two more. I yelped and grabbed onto Luffy's shirt, Bearetta fell to the ground.
"That was gunfire!" I said, pointing out the obvious.
"Was it?" Luffy asked, his eyes closed.
"Well, there's no clouds for rain or thunder," I chirped, getting over my fright.
"Hmm?" I looked up to see Luffy staring across the street. When I looked over, I saw a crowd of people gathering around something.
"Luffy," I said, tugging on his shirt. "It smells like blood over there."
"I'll go see." Luffy said, scooping me off of his lap and setting me down just above the grass. I floated there as he walked over to the growing crowd. I looked away for one moment to pick up Bearetta, and when I looked up again, there was a scream that sounded like Nami.
"I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!" She screamed, grabbing Luffy by the collar and dragging him off of his feet. "NOW GET OFF THIS ISLAND!" With that, she shoved Luffy to the ground and took off running in the direction of where Arlong Park was according to Yosaku.
Luffy slouched back over to me and sat back on his spot, while I claimed his lap again.
"What's her problem?" asked Luffy rhetorically with a pout. I shrugged and changed Bearetta so that she looked like Bellemere.
"Why does she like money so much?" I countered, giving Bellemere a cigarette and a gun. Luffy grunted and shut his eyes. Across the street, the people were rallying. Sanji, Zoro, and Usopp sat down next to us.
"Get your weapons," the scarred man with the pinwheel ordered the villagers. "We're going to fight!" There was a scream of ascent from the people and they vanished before rallying again, with household items that could be considered weapons if the need arose. Which clearly, it did.
"Eight years ago we chose to live in disgrace," Pinwheel-man continued. "And we made a vow! No matter how painful or insulting their rule was, as long as Nami was alright, we would fight on by surviving! BUT THIS IS THE LAST STRAW!" A sword suddenly appeared in the man's hand. "IF THERE'S NO HOPE FOR US TO BUY OUR FREEDOM, THEN I SAY LET'S DIE FIGHTING FOR IT! THOSE FISHMEN PLAYED ON THAT GIRL'S GOODNESS FROM THE START! THEY MUST PAY FOR THAT! ANY OBJECTIONS!?"
"LET'S GET THOSE FISH-FACES!"
"I'LL BE DARNED IF I LIVE ANOTHER DAY UNDER THEIR RULE!"
"WE'VE ALL BEEN ITCHING TO FIGHT FOR EIGHT LONG YEARS!"
"LET'S GET 'EM!" I was quite frankly amazed with how loud a large group of people could be, and was wondering if they could get any louder when a single voice rang out above all the others.
"STOP!" It was Nami, out of breath, but smiling and holding out her arms like she was going to give the angry villagers one big group hug.
"WAIT A LITTLE LONGER!" she shouted, grinning wider, if that was even possible. That smile looked quite painful. "I'M GOING TO TRY AGAIN! JUST GIVE ME ONE MORE CHANCE! IT'LL BE EASY THIS TIME…" The villagers stared at her in disbelief, and pinwheel-man started to cry. He walked up to Nami, and then drew her into a hug.
"You've done enough," he reassured her. "You can't carry the burden for the whole village anymore. You fought well for us! It must've been worse than death for you to join that crew! You fought well!"
"Mr. Genzo…" Nami started tearing up too. Saying nothing, I switched seats to sit on Zoro. I thought that Luffy would be needed soon. Luffy subtly nodded.
"But now you should leave the island," Mr. Genzo went on. Nami looked shocked.
"He's right," a bandaged and tattooed lady said. I wondered if she was the one who was shot. "You're strong and cunning!" the blue-haired lady said. "And you have dreams!"
"NOJIKO!" Nami shouted. My mind made the connection. Nami's sister. Bellemere's other daughter. Suddenly, Nami whipped out a knife and thrust it at the crowd.
"STOP IT, EVERYONE!" She shouted. "I…I DON'T WANT ANYONE ELSE TO BE HURT BY THEM!" Calming down a little, she relaxed into a proper knife holding stance, though I could tell she wasn't used to wielding one. "They'll kill you all if you fight!"
"We know." Mr. Genzo said, and then reached out and grabbed hold of the blade. I winced and grabbed my hand in sympathy.
"It's no use, Nami!" An old man with a bandana tied on his head shouted. "Our minds are made up!"
"NOW SET ASIDE, NAMI!" Nami dropped the knife and fell to the ground as the people rushed past her, screaming for Arlong's blood.
After a moment of silence, wherein the five of us sat watching her back, Nami grabbed the top of her arm where the Arlong tattoo was, and glared at it.
"Arlong…" She growled, picking up the knife and savagely plunging it into her shoulder. "ARLONG!...ARLONG!...ARLONG!" each shout of the fishman's name was punctuated with the knife stabbing into her shoulder, until Luffy caught it as she raised her arm to deal herself another blow. I grabbed Zoro's arm and held onto it, making sure that I wasn't going to accidently give him hypothermia like I did Bessie.
"Luffy." Nami said in a choked voice. She let go of the knife, and looked back down at the ground. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she shouted at the ground. Why is she shouting at…wait, no, she's shouting at Luffy…
"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!"
"Yeah." Luffy said calmly. "I don't know anything."
"This has nothing to do with you!" Nami clenched her hand on the ground, and then threw dirt behind her and onto Luffy's shins.
"I TOLD YOU! LEAVE THIS ISLAND!" She sobbed.
"Yeah." Luffy replied, still eerily calm. "You told me."
Nami's cries were painfully muffled, and then she spoke, her voice broken beyond recognition, and I felt a flame of anger rise in me, directed towards whoever did this to her.
"Luffy…" she sobbed, "help…" Luffy took off his hat and shoved it onto her head, and walked towards us, stopping onto to shout;
"OKAY!" Sanji was already standing and staring in the direction of Arlong Park. Usopp was crouching on the ground with his arms folded, Zoro was leaning against the only sword he had left, and I was floating in midair next to Zoro, loosely hanging onto Bearetta and watching Luffy.
"Let's go." Our captain ordered.
"Right." We all started walking towards Arlong Park, shoulder to shoulder.
After a few minutes, we shoved our way through a crowd of angry and confused villagers. Luffy took a hit at the door, and blasted through it, a rather large hole in the wall left in his wake. He cracked his knuckles menacingly.
"Which one is Arlong?"
Wow, okay. So when I was writing the end, suddenly my writers block said goodbye and went on vacation for a while.
Note: I have school so updates will be sporadic.