Hey, so I know it seems like i've completely dropped this story. I'm sorry for the horrendously long update time. Life happened for a while and my enjoyment of writing dropped with it T_T I'm back to it again though. It's only 1 chapter, but i am finishing up the next and last chapter now. I hope you enjoy it. I promise i will finish this one and I'll give it a happy ending.

I don't own One Piece or any of the characters.


Nami was startled awake by a crash nearby. She looked at the clock by her bed. 2:27AM. She waited quietly for a few moments every muscle in her body tense, her heart pounding in her ears. The silence seemed to drag on. Was it a dream? She hadn't been sleeping well, but she could have sworn that was real. Just as she was starting to doubt herself, another crash rang through the house. It was definitely real and definitely at her front door.

She froze with terror. That meant the letters were from the Arlong gang and they had finally come to call. They were already here for her. Escape was unlikely at this point. She knew what they did to traitors and she had done so much worse. A quick death seemed unlikely and survival impossible, but she had to try anyway.

She sat up in bed and grabbed her phone with shaking hands. With Robin and Franky out of town and the Police were very slow to get to her neighbourhood, she only had one option - and it was a huge risk.

"Hey Siri, Call Dummy".

Zoro, normally a heavy sleeper, slept through the first couple rings of his buzzing phone. Only on the third ring did he start to wake. With blurry eyes he looked at his phone. Nami?

"Nami? What the fuck, it's 2 in the morning." He growled. Zoro didn't know why she was calling so late and really didn't appreciate being woken in the middle of the night.

"I'm sorry, Zoro." Nami whispered. "It's an emergency. You were the only one I could call."

Zoro woke quickly. He had never heard her sound so scared.

"Nami, what's goin-" He heard a resounding crash through the phone. "What's happening" He jolted upright, instantly awake, adrenaline coursing through his veins. Any thoughts about how annoyed he was with the woman were replaced with worry. He had never said anything out loud, but he cared very deeply for her. "Nami, what was that?"

"They're here. They've finally come for me." Nami's voice was a terrified whisper. "Please help me."

"Hang tight, Nami. I'll be there as soon as I can." Zoro threw on a pair of pants, a zip up hoodie, and grabbed his practice katana. He grabbed his phone and looked at the screen. It was blank. Something must have happened to end the call in the 30 seconds he was dressing. "Dammit!" He ran out of the house desperately hoping that she would be okay until he got there.

When Zoro arrived, Nami's front door hung unevenly off it's broken hinges. He slipped inside trying not to make a sound. As anxious as he was to get to Nami, he still had to be careful. He had no idea what he was up against.

The hallway was a wreck. There weren't many things there, but they were all knocked over. Nami's baseball bat was lodged in the wall at his shoulder. She clearly put up a fight.

He heard a commotion coming from down the hallway - Nami's office. He crept down the hall, careful not to bump into anything and alert of his presence. The office door was swung wide open allowing him a good view of most of the room. None of the occupants were paying attention to anything outside the room but he pressed himself against the wall to be on the side of caution.

Zoro could see three men and could hear at least one more. He couldn't see Nami. His heart started to beat faster. Where is she?

The man out of eyesight was moaning. "That bitch broke my arm!"

"Quit whining already. We told you to be careful." Snapped the man examining Nami's desk. Zoro knew that was where she kept her money - they must be trying to rob her.

There was another man with his arms crossed and his back against the side wall. He looked at the final man who was facing toward the back wall. From his posture, he must be examining something too.

Zoro figured it was just the four of them. He would likely be okay to take them all on, depending on their fighting skills. But wasn't four men too many to rob a single woman?

He was worried about Nami - he still couldn't see her anywhere.

"Nami. Just tell us how to get the money." The man leaning against the side wall sighed. "You're gonna be paying for your crime with a lot more than money either way. The harder it is to get, the more frustrated we get."

"Or we could take our revenge now and the money later." sneered the man facing the back wall. He had one hand on the wall by his head supporting his weight as he leaned over something.

A cold dread settled over Zoro. Nami?

"Well, Nami?" He taunted slamming something in front of him against the wall. "Your choice."

Zoro heard a muffled, feminine grunt and caught a glimpse of orange hair. An intense rage welled within him and spilled out. An animalistic snarl tore from his throat. "How dare you!"

He stood in the doorway, his katana ready. The four stared at him with surprise.

The man holding Nami spun to look at him, revealing the woman. A brief moment of relief at seeing her alive was quickly consumed by a cold fury at seeing her condition. The man had her pinned to the wall, his hand around her neck. Her disheveled hair, her cut and bleeding lip, the large bruise already forming on her cheek, and her hands - presumably tied - behind her back made her look small and vulnerable. Especially compared to the hulking man looming over her. Without her usually constant air of confidence, she was so fragile looking.

"Zoro" Nami whispered relieved, hope sparkled in her eyes.

"Who the hell're you?!" growled the man holding Nami.

"I should be asking you that." Zoro snarled back.

The man turned back to Nami. "Is he your little boyfriend? Did you ask him for help?" The man laughed coldly. "It's not our fault what happens to him then. You'll have his blood on your hands." With his free hand he pulled a knife out of his back pocket. He motioned for the others to do the same. "Get him. But don't kill him just yet."

"Zoro!" Nami cried out, fear replacing whatever hope she had felt. "You have to run. They'll kill you!" Tears welled in her eyes as she begged him to run away. "I'm sorry I -" her sentence was cut short as the hand around her throat squeezed.

The man holding her laughed coldly again. "I thought by now you would realize you can't ask for anyone's help Nami. This is what happens."

Nami coughed and gasped for breath. "Please Chew. Just let him go. I'll give you the code to the money."

"Oh? He means that much to you?" Chew's eyes glinted. "There's no way we're letting him go now."

"Nami!" Zoro yelled across the room. "I am not leaving you! Just hang on and let me help you."

Chew turned again to see what was happening with Zoro and his two companions. They stood on guard out of the reach of his katana, their knives at the ready to take advantage of any opening.

"Come on!" Chew snapped. "He's only got a stick, get him already!"

One of the men lunged at Zoro knife first. Zoro pivoted and grabbed the man's wrist as he passed, twisting the arm outward and pressing on the tendons. The knife clattered to the floor. Zoro applied his weight to the now off balance man, taking him to the ground with a thud. One quick strike to the head put him out of the fight.

Zoro turned to the other man and barely managed to get his katana up in time to block the strike.

This man was much more skilled than the first. He had clearly been trained and had experience fighting. They both attacked and blocked but neither managed to land a hit.

"Kurobi, quit screwing around." Snapped Chew.

"You're one to talk! Maybe if you tried helping instead of just standing there." Kurobi retorted.

Kurobi managed to finally land a slash across Zoro's exposed forearm. Blood welled and started to drip to the floor. The slight victory however, opened his stance for Zoro's next attack. Zoro brought the katana up and drove it hard into Kurobi's solar plexus. The man reeled from the blow, backing up several steps until he clutched Nami's desk for support trying to catch his breath.

Chew growled his frustration and released Nami, turning to join the fight.

Even in her current state she couldn't bear to stand by and do nothing while Zoro was injured saving her. With Chew's back turned, she took a step forward and kneed him as hard as she could. Her knee made solid contact with the soft flesh between his legs. He crumpled, falling down to one knee with a gasp.

Unfortunately, he was far from incapacitated. He spun around on his knee and slashed in a wide arc with his knife. He caught Nami's shoulder, biting deep into the flesh and slid the knife across her chest. Nami screamed out in pain and fell back against the wall, blood already starting to stain her slashed shirt. She slid down the wall at an angle, trying to at least keep her shoulder raised.

Chew stood over her, knife in hand, fuming. His rage sparkled in his eye and twisted his face.

Nami couldn't help but laugh. "Even with that knife, you're nowhere near as intimidating as Arlong was. He was a really scary bastard. You're nothing compared to him. You'll never leave his shadow - and he's dead now!" It might have been hysteria setting in, but Nami cackled.

She could hear a scuffle behind Chew. Zoro must still be fighting Kurobi. She felt bad for dragging him into this. She would likely be killed before he had stopped fighting. She tried to ease her guilt by saying Robin would be able to tell him everything. He would understand her feelings and her past. Even if it was too late.

She took a deep breath and prepared herself for the inevitable. She refused to cry or beg but could already feel tears rolling down her face.

Suddenly, the man crumpled to the ground. Zoro stood behind him, katana raised, breathing heavily.

"Nami," he breathed. "Oh god. What have they done to you?" He dropped to his knee beside her. He pulled the knife from Chew's loose grip and rolled her over to cut the bindings on her hands.

Nami immediately brought her hands to cover her face and started sobbing in earnest. She was still alive. Zoro had saved her at the last moment. Her mind was in shock.

"Hey, Hey. It's okay now." He murmured as he pulled her into his body. He wrapped his arms around her trembling body.

"Th-thank you" She managed to say shakily.

"Can you stand?"

Nami shook her head as her entire body trembled.

"It's okay." Zoro gently slid his arms under her and lifted her up as if she weighed nothing. She hid her face is his broad chest. "One second." He set her down on the desk. "We need to tie up these guys."

The guy with the broken arm, quiet until this point, let out a worried grunt. Zoro turned to him, his eyes ice cold. "I'll give you a choice. I knock you out and tie you up, or you sit still and don't make a peep, and I'll not touch your broken arm while I tie you up."

"Please don't hurt me." The man whispered hoarsely. He flinched as Zoro grunted.

Zoro left the room for a moment and returned with a bundle of cord and a handful of cloth. He handed the cloth to Nami. "Put this on your arm and apply pressure to slow the bleeding."

Then he went about tying up each of the unconscious men and the one awake one. Once complete, he went back to the injured woman. "We need to get you to a hospital."


Thanks for your continued support, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I will update with the final chapter in the next few days. If you have any comments, please let me know.

~Tanima