Nami felt warm arms wrap around her torso instead of the sharp jaws of a crocodile. She opened her eyes as she collided with the ground, rolling atop her savior. She took a couple of deep breaths as she glanced over her shoulder to the bridge, where the crocodile, which was larger than normal, had successfully hurt his jaw, and crawled to the edge of the bridge, and back into the water. Swimming off, with distaste in his mouth. Nami turned back down, and relaxed her head, pressing it against what was under her, as she gripped fabric in her hands. She heard a slightly racing heartbeat in her ear, and looked up to see Luffy looking behind her at the bridge. She then noticed while one hand was supporting him against the ground, the other was raised in the air, as if protecting her.
"You okay?" he asked, the sunglasses now on the tip of his nose. They looked a little familiar to her, but she dismissed it, as she pushed her forehead against his chest, to hide her face. Embarrassed that she had been so focused on herself, she forced him to come and save her, when he should be catching up to Sanji.
"Yeah," she sighed, and felt him sit up straight, her butt suddenly resting on the ground between his legs.
"That's good," Luffy sighed, in return, "That guy didn't even realize you were there, stupid crocodile."
"What?" Nami asked, looking up, to see the defined jawline, as he was still looking at the bridge.
He looked down at her, "He wanted the food that was on the bridge, didn't you notice it?"
Nami pushed herself away from him, "Why'd you do that?"
"Do what?"
"Save me, idiot!"
Luffy smiled, "I can't let one of my friends die, can I?" He fixed his sunglasses over his eyes, so she couldn't see his sad expression, although she could tell he was thinking of something that had happened in the past, and for some reason his mention of Ace became relevant in her mind, but she quickly dismissed it, as she stood up.
"We have to find Sanji, right?" she asked, "Would it be better if we split up?"
"No." Luffy replied almost instantly, as he crossed his legs underneath him, and brought a hand up to his chin.
"But then we'd be able to cover more ground," Nami defended her suggestion.
"But we don't know where we are, Nami," Luffy said, and closed his eyes in thought.
"We could go in pairs," Carrot suggested.
"That wouldn't work either," Luffy shook his head, his eyes still closed.
"Why not?" Chopper asked.
"I told you, we don't know where we are, so if we were to go in groups, I'd have to find you guys, too." He opened his eyes, and stood up, "So we're all sticking together, got it?"
Luffy turned around, away from the bridge, and started running off, deeper into the forest, the other three following behind him, Nami in the back again. The trees were thick, but somehow, Nami managed to keep up with him, although she tried staying farther away from him still. They turned a corner, and Luffy stopped abruptly, for the second time that day. The other two also stopped, and they all stared at who was before them. Nami ended up bumping into Carrot, but each paid it no mind as she looked up.
Her eyes widened, and her pupils shrunk, she took a step back, and shook her head. Before her stood a man wearing similar clothes as Luffy, a similar hat as him, and even the same sunglasses. The only difference was that he seemed a whole lot more stern, than her neighbor. She glanced over at the Luffy who had traveled with her this far, the one who owned the vehicle she drove. He was mad as well, dawning the same facial expression. It was as if it was his doppleganger. There were a few differences here and there, but for the most part they were identical. Did Luffy have a twin, she wondered, as she stammered out, "What the heck are you doing, Luffy!"
Luffy glanced behind him, and turned back to face the imposter, "Keep searching for Sanji, I'll catch up with you!" He yelled as he threw a punch at the man, who matched it, colliding their fists.
"Come on, Nami!" Chopper called, grabbing her hand, and pulling her with him and Carrot as they ran off passed the man who looked like their friend, or his friend, "What's got you so scared?"
"He seems different!" She responded, as her feet began to run with them.
"Yeah, I know!" Chopper replied.
"He looks more sinister than Luffy, he looks more like he's gonna kill!" Nami cried, "I can't take it! What happened to Luffy?"
Carrot glanced behind her, noticing the battle continuing in perfect reflections of each other, "It's like it's a mirror." she stated.
"What do you mean, 'what happened to Luffy'?" Chopper yelled at her, "He's our friend! Nothing happened to him!" He suddenly stopped, causing Nami to look behind her, and Carrot to bump into him, "He's our friend, right?" he looked up into her eyes, "He's your friend, right? You trust him, don't you?"
"What?" Nami asked, glancing around, to make sure nobody else showed up.
"You trust Luffy, don't you?" Chopper asked, a scared look starting to creep into his eyes.
"Chopper, what are you talking about?" Carrot asked, looking back and forth between Nami and Chopper.
"W-What?" Nami stammered, "of course I trust him."
"Is it because he hasn't told you?" Chopper asked, "Is it because that man made you scared of him?" he looked down, gripping his hands together.
"What? No, of course not!" Nami answered, "I still trust-" her sentence broke off as she noticed blond hair behind Chopper, "Sanji-kun?"
The blond haired man stood still, as if waiting for her to approach him, before he smirked devilishly at her, and Nami noticed it wasn't him. Upon closer inspection, she realized they were pulled into a trap. She glanced behind her at Chopper and Carrot who also noticed that there were more than one 'Sanji.' She turned and ran back the direction they came.
"Come on! Let's go!" Nami yelled, "It was a trap! Sanji isn't here!"
"Pudding wouldn't do that to us, though, right?" Chopper asked Carrot.
"I don't know! Let's go get Luffy!" Carrot responded, as she ran ahead of Nami, who frowned slightly on the mention of him, which Chopper noticed.
They ran into him again, as he was slowly losing his energy in the repetitive battle he was having, "Who are you!" he yelled, to which the person didn't respond.
"Come on, Luffy, we have to get out of here!" Chopper yelled, and Luffy turned his head, as he watched them run by.
"Chopper no, I do trust Luffy," Nami responded shaking her head, "I just don't trust who he's with!" she continued to run, as Luffy joined them, failing to hear the suddenly muted cry and struggle fading behind them as they ran.
They came to the clearing again, having lost track to where they were in the forest, they looked around them and noticed many people coming toward them, no longer pretending to adorn Sanji's features as they came out of the dark shadows of the woods. Nami froze in her spot, hiding behind Chopper barely, realizing she had no real way of defending herself, save the baton that Usopp had made her before they left Zou. She gripped it as it rested under her skirt, in its smallest state, and glanced around her.
"Luffy, what's going on?" she mumbled, subconsciously blaming him for all her troubles at the moment.
"I don't know, Nami," Chopper responded, "but we have to get out of here somehow."
Carrot shivered, "These people don't look very friendly, will we have to fight them?"
"Probably," Nami sighed, her eyes wide in fear, "Why'd we separate from you in the first place, Luffy?" she asked.
"Luffy?" Chopper asked, turning around, and Nami noticed his eyes widen in terror as he struggled to choke out, "N-N-Nami!"
A slender, yet witch-like hand clasped over his mouth as Nami felt arms wrap around her neck, and she glanced back, noticing that Luffy was holding her, "Luffy!"
"No," the woman holding Chopper stated, as she smirked, lightly, "that isn't your friend, you fools."
"Chopper!" Carrot cried as another person held onto her, "Let me go!" she cried, struggling to put on her electric-powered gloves she had in her pockets.
"What!" Nami cried, "What is going on!" she noticed now that the man holding her indeed wasn't Luffy as the sunglasses fell off his face, and she noticed that the scar that was on his face was on his right side, instead of his left.
"You idiots thought you could get a safe trip in and out of Tottoland, didn't you?" the woman stated, and Nami noticed she was a little hunchbacked, and her nose was long and red. She had pale, sickly colored skin, and she wore a nightgown-like dress.
"What is going on!" Nami cried again, struggling to free herself from the imposter's grasp, "Luffy!" she cried.
"He won't come save you," the woman stated, smugly, "we made sure of that."
Nami grabbed the baton tightly under her dress, and pulled it out, hitting the man behind her in the head with it, before extending it, "Let them go!" she cried, hoping her time defending herself against Arlong's abuse and attacking people who came after her on Arlong's little errands, was enough to help her out in this battle. She hadn't fought for two years, but she still exercised everyday in her orchards.
"Think you can fight back, do you?" the woman stated, before being kicked by Chopper as he did a front flip out of her hold.
Carrot successfully got a hold on her gloves, and slipped them on, before electicuiting the man holding her, "Let us go!" she cried, "We didn't come here for you!"
"I know," the woman stated, as she rubbed her jaw.
"Nami," Chopper asked, "Is that the baton Usopp made?"
"Yes, why?" she asked.
"It has electricity capacities," he stated, before using kung-fu against the onslaught of people.
"What?" she asked, as she swung it around, defending herself.
"Usopp's like an engineer, sometimes," Chopper replied, before punching a heavy built guy in the face.
"Why didn't he tell me!" Nami asked, extending it further to hit a few more people.
"Didn't have time, remember?" Chopper stated, before noticing Carrot attacking the woman who held him, "I'm gonna help Carrot, that woman's strong!"
"And leave me here alone!" Nami stated, as he ran off to help the blond haired girl.
Nami defended herself off of each person, and eventually figured out how to use the electric capabilities, and the fog machine built into it. She used it as a cover, when she dove further into the trees, hoping that they wouldn't find her, and she ran off searching for the one person she knew, hoping the woman was lying. She noticed a few stragglers of the crew she used to trick them, and fought against them as best she could. She continued to run, praying that Chopper and Carrot would make it out all right.
She reached a small clearing, and glanced around, there was no one there, no one to help her, no one to save her. She didn't even know what the heck was going on. All she knew was that they were going to crash a wedding, even if it was supposedly Big Mom's daughter's. Big Mom. Nami's eyes widened as she suddenly recognized the name. Big Mom was one of the names Robin had told her a month or so ago after the terrorist attack, and she asked for more information on the vigilantes. Big Mom was a big one, and on top of that, she was an emperor who was going against the world government: Charlotte Linlin. The woman was strong, powerful, and feared. Charlotte Pudding was her daughter, Pudding was going to marry Sanji, Sanji would become part of this woman's family. Nami fell to her knees, she got herself into far more than she could handle, and they had been following an imposter Sanji the whole time.
Nami was shaking, Luffy, Chopper, and Brook, even Pedro, seemed perfectly cool with this, without even giving her more information about this mission. No wonder Sanji had decided to go ahead with them. Luffy was, is, crazy. Nami glanced at the orange and white striped baton in her hand, were they all crazy? Knowing Luffy, it was possible that all of his friends were crazy. She struggled to her feet as she felt someone approach her from behind. She glanced back, but didn't get a good look as she was suddenly tied up and swung over the shoulder. She panicked, and began kicking her legs to be let down. The person, however, began running, and she stopped struggling to keep herself from falling. Her baton was in her hand that was now tied behind her back. She couldn't escape, that woman had found her, and sent one of her minions out to get her. She was done for, there was nothing she could do. If only she hadn't stopped moving, she would probably be free from that awful person, she reasoned.
She closed her eyes, as she was tossed, without care, into a bunch of people. They were all tied up, and they looked like the minions that had disguised themselves as Sanji and Luffy's friends. She glanced around her, although it was a struggle to move. Why were they all tied up? Weren't they part of her evil crew? Did they betray her, and that was why they were tied up? She froze however, when she heard a voice.
"How come I just can't find them?"