Chapter 20- The Navigator's Resolve
One Piece © Eiichiro Oda
Beau-Père, Mars, and the G-13 Base © HatOnFire/Me
Up high in his cell, Luffy could hear the explosions and fighting going on. He almost looked curious enough to see for himself, but he didn't attempt to do so.
"Someone's causing some trouble down there," He whispered, "Not that it matters. No one's coming for me."
'And who would?' The voice in his head snarled, 'It'd be a wonder if anyone from that group of traitors would come for us at all.'
Dead silence returned to the floor, minus the sounds of gunshots and swords grinding against each other.
"Well, maybe a little look," He decided, attempting to stand on the bench.
'Go ahead,' That same voice muttered in an uncaring manner, 'Get your hopes up. It's only going to get crushed again.'
"Shut up!" Luffy shouted, and the internal negativity died down. Taking a quick breath, he peeked from the barred windows.
What he saw was a wild scene down on the ground, one where most of the marines were losing. Looking a little closer, he could make out a few of his crewmembers fighting down there.
"What?!" He questioned, "Why are they here?! I told them to leave me!"
Luffy broke into a nervous sweat, clearly unable to think straight. He had no idea that they would come to save him.
"No," He shook his head in denial, "No, they're not here to save me. Maybe they came to break me out just so they could use me like a tool again! That's right! There's no way...!"
'Of course not,' That negative voice stated as if it knew, 'Why would they bother to care for you now?'
"Why, guys?" Poor Luffy looked down below, almost starting to cry again. "Why did you have to come back?"
XXX
Meanwhile, on the first floor...
Nami kept to the corners, avoiding the slinking transponder snails along the walls. She knew that these things would pick up whatever they see and transmit them to a guard room of sorts. Hence why she preferred to avoid these as much as possible.
'Alright,' She thought, 'Right now, it's best if I disable the surveillance room and cut the power. I don't know why I didn't think about prioritizing that when I came in, but here we are.'
She snuck along the wall, coming across a door that read 'Records Room' on the side.
'Well, this is a start, but not what I need right now. I'll find Luffy when I take care of the guards watching the-'
The navigator couldn't finish that sentence when she saw the room labeled 'Surveillance Room' in front of her.
'Oh, come on! At least make me work for it! ...I can't believe I just asked for a challenge.'
Nami walked to the other side, not caring if she were spotted by a snail. When she opened the door, she closed it quickly, pulling out her Clima-Tact and taking down all the guards that were in the room! When she was done, all seven guards were unconscious, and she didn't even need to zap anyone.
"Okay," Nami looked at the several dozen monitors in front of the last guard she whacked, "Where's your off switch?"
Looking around, she decided not to bother and just destroy it all. She used her weapon to damage the monitors and controls. By the time she was through, the room looked like a tornado blew through it.
"Ah, stress relief, at long last! Now, to the Records Room. I should be able to find something on Luffy."
(BGM: Intruder 1, Metal Gear Solid)
One careful walk across the hall was all it took, and Nami just waltzed right into the room.
The few guards that were stuck doing paperwork the office got interrupted by Nami, shooting thunder balls at them, knocking them out. There were only four she had to deal with this time.
Nami looked around as she walked to some desks. They were messily strewn with papers and open files.
'This place is so disorganized,' She thought, 'How am I going to find Luffy's cell and key?'
As she examined the stack of papers on a table, she saw a file that read, PRIORITY 1.
"Priority 1? What does that mean?"
Nami opened up the file, revealing a wanted poster of Monkey D. Luffy with a large red stamp on the picture marked CAPTURED.
"Luffy!" She smiled, looking past the poster and seeing a paper underneath.
It was just a simple dossier on him, with the exception of a section regarding his placement in the detention center. It was printed, "Level 9, Cell Block A, #10."
"Well, I found his cell. But what about his key?"
Nami searched the room some more, seeing a filing cabinet, one with a drawer reserved for key numbers. Believing there was something important, she opened it up and looked for the file that had a level 9 in red. When she found the file, she accidentally grabbed another file labeled BOX in black.
"The Box?" She questioned out loud, before tossing it aside, letting a few papers out. "Not important."
She opened the file and found a few key numbers by skimming through a section on them. A-7, A-8, A-9, A-10, A-11...
"Wait! A-10!" She saw the key number that corresponds to the cell Luffy was in; Block A, #10. She got what she needed, but now what? Where can she get it?
On closer inspection, she saw that a key was given to a guard under a serial number. In this detention center, the cell doors to some inmates are the guards' responsibility. But just because they guard the keys, it doesn't mean they can use them for their own ends. For the first few floors, only four or eight guards look after several keys to cells at a time. But with the higher floors, only certain guards look after one key to a cell. In Luffy's case, this one was a last-second decision.
"Number 5012," She repeated, opening another drawer with a tag on guard's numbers. "Where are you?"
She opened up a file on numbers five thousand to six thousand, looking through the pictures of the guards and seeing her target. The man she needed to find looked to have short blonde hair, gray eyes, a triangular chin, but most importantly, he was eight feet tall and lanky. His post was on the eighth floor, where there were a few inmates, but many guards.
"Okay, off to the eighth floor where this guy patrols. With other guards. With guns and halberds. ...Wait a minute."
Before she decided to leave, she went back to the key files, looking for any information on Luffy's cuffs. In a smaller section, it read that only Commander Beau-Père was allowed to have the key.
"Oh, hell," Nami cursed, "That doesn't mean I'll have to fight him, does it?"
The navigator saw another stack of papers that didn't exactly interest her, but she decided to look. From the fine print, it appears to be a document regarding the number of riots that the prison had in the last year. When a Commodore Mars was in charge, there were twenty riots in a month, and that number was the lowest amount compared to the others. None of the prisoners escaped during those times, but this base was regarded as a hazard until Beau-Père took over, and the riots have gone down considerably.
"So this place had problems before Commander Beau-Père showed up, huh?"
Getting all she needed, plus excessive information, the navigator closed the drawers and dropped the papers, stepping over some pictures on her way out. She was unaware that she walked over Arlong's poster with CAPTURED stamped over his picture.
'It's a good thing I got this stuff on paper,' She mused, walking down the hall. 'If I needed those broken monitors to look for the guard, then I'd be in trouble.'
The prospect of that was serious, but Nami brushed it off. It all worked out for her and the crew in the past, so what's the worry?
'It's whether or not Luffy forgives them,' She sadly reminded herself, 'It's fine if he won't forgive me, but the others...'
She shook her head, almost purging her thoughts of that.
'I'll just get the keys to the cell, get Luffy out of this place, and try to steal the keys to the cuffs off of the commander. Sounds a little hard, but I said I wanted a challenge. Still can't believe I said that.'
Nami sighed, approaching an elevator. Pushing a button, she waited for it to arrive. It did, and she got inside as quickly as possible to avoid being spotted. The doors shut when she pressed the button with the eight imprinted on it.
Only a couple of seconds passed until she arrived at her stop. The doors opened, and Nami boldly walked in front of a few guards that laid behind a few bars.
"Hey, it's an intruder!" A guard shouted, bringing everyone's attention towards Nami.
"Well, good job, guys," She sarcastically remarked, "You have common sense. What happens next depends on you."
(BGM: Outnumbered ~The Battle is On~, One Piece Movie 10: Strong World)
"I've seen her face before!" Another bellowed, "She's one of the Straw Hats!"
"Oo-La-La~!" A third guard exclaimed with hearts in his eyes, "She's a beauty!"
The first guard facepalmed as if this has happened before, "Focus on the fact we have an intruder instead of gawking, please?!"
"Well, well," An eight-foot-tall and lanky guard grinned, almost lecherously. "I suppose we should be honored to have a new guest here. And it's a woman."
"I'll just go ahead and ask," Nami proceeded, "Would you please give me the keys to Luffy's cell, the one on the ninth floor?"
"Be specific, woman," The same guard ordered, "There are so many."
"I know you have the keys to Luffy's cell. I'm only going to ask one... more... time."
"Or what?!" He laughed mockingly.
"Buddy," Nami shook her head, "You're only screwing yourself and everyone else in this hall."
"You're joking! You're just a weak woman! Beautiful, but weak!"
"Yeah!" Another guard concurred with him, "She's no true pirate! Go back to your ship and do the laundry!"
"Or even better!" A guard with a rifle chimed in, "Go to the kitchen! Make me something!"
Some of the guards began to laugh, though others were appalled by their behavior. Not that it mattered to the navigator, who clearly had no time for their nonsense.
Nami brandished her weapon and connected two-thirds of her Clima-Tact together. In quick succession, she threw it at the tall guard, hitting him directly in his nose.
"Cyclone Tempo!"
After the attack, the weapon came back to Nami's hands, and she brought out the final piece and stuck her tongue out in a cutesy manner. Her expression changed to an aggressive one as she fired balls of electricity from the disconnected piece.
"Thunder Ball!" At least ten guards got electrocuted before she resorted to putting the Clima-Tact together again. When she did, she blocked a guard from jabbing his halberd into her. All she had to do was sidestep and strike him in the back of his head.
A few resorted to charging at her, but Nami jumped over them and did a leg sweep, bringing them to the floor.
She clashed her weapon against a guard with a rifle, making him fire at the ceiling. She took the chance to stomp on one of his knees and clocked him in the face, knocking him out.
"That's it, you little bitch!" The tall guard tried bringing his weapon down on Nami, but he hit the floor instead.
"You brought this on yourself!" Nami retorted, taking her weapon apart and twirling two of the rods. "Cool Ball! Heat Ball!"
Blue and red bubbles flew up to the air, above the guard's head. If he weren't busy looking at the forming cloud, then he would see Nami running and jumping to kick him in his exposed area.
"AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed, dropping his weapon, getting on his knees and covering his groin. The pain was too much for him to pay attention to the navigator sending a thunder ball up to the cloud, resulting in...
"Thunderbolt Tempo!" Lightning dropping down on top of him. It also hit the few guards unfortunate enough to be behind him.
A few guards tried to swing their weapons at Nami when they were behind her, but she saw them coming. They couldn't hit her, whether because she blocked or dodged them. It didn't matter. A few kicks and hits with the Clima-Tact took care of them.
By Nami's count, there were around nine left. Not wanting to waste time, she utilized one final attack. She let electricity crackle on the tip and the rod separated from the weapon, revealing a long cord. She twirled it around a few times and swung it to the enemy.
"Thunder Charge: Swing Arm!" None of them stood a chance against that attack and went out cold.
Nami took the chance to swap pieces of her weapon and reconnect them. Next, she went over to the tall, unconscious guard, inspected his pockets, and found a key in one of them. She grabbed it and looked it over.
"Luffy's cell key! Now we're in business!" She put it in her pocket so she wouldn't lose it on accident.
"HEY!" A guard called out, bringing some more friends. "Put the key down, pirate!"
"What I want, I take," She said, smirking in defiance to the heavy-set guard with the rifle. "Cool Charge!" The air began to turn and look different for a second until four other versions of Nami appeared out of thin air! "Mirage Tempo: Fata Morgana!"
"Shoot her!" The guard fired a shot at the normal-looking one, but the bullets went through her! "W-What the hell?!"
"Who do we shoot?!" A guard questioned, seeing all the Namis twirl a rod.
"Here, let me help you out! Thunder Ball!" The guards saw multiple balls of lightning fly towards them and panicked. They dropped their weapons and scrambled to avoid them, but were all taken out. Just like that, all of the duplicates disappeared until the real Nami was left.
"Don't ever tell someone like me to go back to the kitchen!" She huffed, proud of herself. "Well, time to go up."
She walked back to the elevator, hitting the button labeled nine. The doors closed, and up she went.
"I can't believe I went through that without getting hit!" She put a hand up to her chest, feeling her pumping heart. The adrenaline rush she got was really something. "I should be glad though. If they punctured the..."
The elevator rang, interrupting her thoughts. She got off and stepped on the ninth floor.
"Luffy?" Nami called out, looking through the dim lights to see Luffy in his cell, looking outside.
"Nami?!" Luffy exclaimed, surprised she would be the one sent to save him. He was so shocked, he forgot he was standing on the bench when he took a few steps backward, making him fall on his butt. "WHOA! OOF!"
"Sorry!" The navigator apologized, running to his cell and grabbing the bars. "Are you alright?"
"I-I'm fine, thanks," He said, picking himself up.
"What about your face? There's a bandage on your cheek."
"Just some of the guards being jackasses. It's fine. But what the hell are you doing here?!"
"I'm here to save you, duh."
Nami proceeded to pull out the key she took from the guard, intending to unlock the cell.
"Wait, Nami, just stop," Luffy pleaded, "I-I don't want you to save me."
"I heard you say that back on the ship," The navigator flatly told him, "But no, I won't leave you here."
"But-"
"LET ME FINISH!" Nami shouted on impulse, shutting up Luffy. When she calmed herself, she explained to him.
(BGM: Woonan and the Stone Storage Room, One Piece)
"Luffy, I know you resent me for what I did, and I know that I don't deserve to be forgiven. But if you think I'm just going to leave you for the marines, then you're wrong."
"But I don't wanna go!" Luffy persisted, "Especially not with you!"
"Luffy..."
"You betrayed me so many times before! You strung me along like a puppet! How do I know you won't do it again?!"
"You don't," Nami tried to insert the key into the lock, but she was suddenly startled by Luffy kicking the bars. "What the hell!?"
"I deserve to be locked up for being an idiot around you and everyone else! But...!"
The former captain stopped rambling, parting his look away from Nami, who grabbed the bars again.
"Just leave!" He begged, closing his eyes. "I'll hurt you again! I don't want that!"
"Luffy, that was an accident! I know that! Just let me help you!"
"NO!" He whipped his head violently, "I'm not going anywhere! I didn't ask for this, so I won't leave!"
"Why do you have to be so goddamn stubborn!?" Nami slammed her forehead against the cell out of frustration, letting out a snarling yell as the sound of flesh meeting metal barely went noticed. She even did it a few more times until she felt a bit of her skin tear.
Luffy opened his eyes, startled by the navigator's self-injury. When she reeled back hissing from the injury, there was a cut on her forehead with blood slightly trickling down between her eyes and on her left cheek.
"N-Nami..." Luffy choked, "Y-Your head..."
"I can't live with the thought of losing you," Nami gasped with closed eyes, before opening them. "If I knew the consequences of my actions, I would've done everything, anything to avoid this."
"Nami, what happens to me doesn't matter-"
"It still does!" She argued, "To me and the crew! If you don't want to come back because of me or the others, that's fine. But can't you do it for Chopper and Brook's peace of mind? And can't you do it for your dream?"
"Chopper and Brook's...?" The black-haired boy blinked, "And my dream?"
"Dreams don't die, Luffy. You can still achieve yours." Nami sent her eyes to the stone ground, forlorn.
'Without me, anyway,' She whispered in her mind.
"I-I don't know," Luffy whimpered, "I don't know if I'm cut out to be a pirate anymore..."
"You never abandoned me when I told you to, Luffy," Nami looked back at him, letting out a small smile. "I won't abandon you now."
TO BE CONTINUED...
NOTE: This is a short chapter, but at least I'm getting back on track, and closer to the conclusion with each one done. Stay tuned!