Category: Mild Romantic Fluff

Characters: Nami and Shanks

Requested By: Lee03na

Nami clutched her Climatact tightly in her hand as she peered over the concrete edge of the platform, her hazel eyes wide as they swept over the utter carnage that had erupted at the site the Marines had chosen for Portgas D. Ace's televised execution. Pirate crews of Whitebeard's alliance clashed feverishly with the Marine soldiers, and the iron stench of blood mingled with blood-curdling screams in the air. Nami's hands quivered slightly as the fear took hold of her, and she considered scurrying back to her little boat and sailing all the way back to Weatheria where she had come from. No, she asserted, stilling her shaking body as she steeled her nerve. Luffy is in there! I have to help him!

After they had been separated on the Shabody Archipelago, Nami had landed on an island far away, a little settlement called Weatheria that studied weather patterns, much like herself. She had learned of Ace's impending execution via the newspapers, and knew that once Luffy caught wind of it, he would storm in for the rescue. Nami knew not if he was alone or had acquired himself some allies; she only knew that he was here, somewhere in the war-torn pavilion- and he likely needed Nami's help. With a grunt, she vaulted herself over the edge of the concrete and dove into the fray.

Most of the pirates and Marines were too busy grappling with each other to notice the petite navigator picking her way through the battle. She skirted her way through the skirmishes, stepping over the bodies strewn about as she craned her head, searching for her captain's signature straw hat. There was so much activity, the flashing of steel against steel, explosions from cannonballs and the sound of gunfire, yells and screams and writhing bodies, that it was difficult for Nami to make sense of it all. Truthfully, there was little chance she would find him at all amongst the chaos, and she considered once more heading back for her boat to wait it out.

That is, until she heard Luffy wailing.

It was the most heartbreaking sound that she had ever heard, rising above the din of battle to complete the dismal symphony. She had never heard such a sound from her captain, and she knew instantly that something had to be very wrong. As he continue to scream in agony, Nami raced toward the sound, shoving her way through the endless sea of people until she stumbled out into the open. There, Luffy was kneeling over the dead body of his brother, while a Marine official- the seeming killer- laughed at his agony. Abruptly, Luffy's voice died, and Nami gasped when he fell backward with his eyes rolled back into his head. The pain had been too much and he had lost consciousness.

"What a noble sacrifice," the military man tutted as he prodded Ace in the back with the toe of his boot. His face was disfigured into a grotesque sneer, and he pulled of his hat to run a hand through his dark hair while he chomped on his cigar. "Now, time to end you, Straw Hat Luffy!" His arms suddenly burst with light, coating themselves with thick lava, and he raised his arm behind his hand to strike. With speed she did not know she possessed, Nami rushed forward to grab Luffy by the back of his shirt, pulling him into her and rolling away. Nami could feel the heat sear across her back as the admiral's fist collided with the concrete, melting it into a puddle, but she ignored the slight burn to scramble to her feet, panting as she held the unconscious boy to her chest with her Climatact held out protectively in front of her. Nami was no fool; she knew she was no match for this man, but she simply could not allow Luffy to die. The man sniffed as he pulled his lava-clad fist from the ground, shaking off half-melted clumps of stone, and turned to her with disdain. "Well, well, it's my lucky day. I get the Straw Hat and his navigator."

"Stay back!" she barked, though her voice lacked the bite it needed. It was small, weak, shaky. The man only laughed at her, his shoulders shaking as he guffawed. "I mean it!" She took a few wary steps backwards, her eyes frantically searching the surrounding area for some sort of escape route, for someone who would help her; but everyone else was too embroiled in their own battles, and the girl was on her own. She adjusted Luffy in her grasp, listening to him wheeze. He was still crying, even in his sleep. Nami couldn't keep her own tears from flooding her eyes. Why did everything have to turn out this way? Ace is… And Luffy and I…!

"Just give it up, girl. Surrender, and I'll make sure you don't suffer," the admiral huffed, and the lava hissed as he curled his hand into a fist. Nami did the only thing that she thought she could do; she turned her body, shielding Luffy's with her own, hoping beyond hope that a miracle was around the corner. Luffy! I'm so sorry! She thought as she felt the air hissing with heat as the admiral bore down on her with the intent to kill, but the searing pain never came; Nami gasped as she was suddenly grabbed and lurched backwards, out of harm's way. She glanced up to see that a gigantic fishman had pulled her and her captain to safety, within the riotous battlefield where the admiral could not see them.

"Who are you?" she cried in confusion.

"I am Luffy's friend, Jinbe. Give him to me! I can get him out of here!" Nami didn't know the stranger, but the fact that he had bothered to save them was good enough for her to comply. She gently handed over the unconscious Luffy, watching miserably as the blue fishman bundled her friend into his arms and vanished into the crowd. Be safe, Luffy. We'll meet again soon, she thought, her bottom lip quivering. It was all so sad, everything around her, and it was almost too much to take; however, Nami did not have the time to dwell on that. She whipped about when she heard shouts, finding that the admiral was forcing his way across the carnage toward her. Luffy was safe now, but she was still very much in danger. As she saw the admiral's hat peeking over the heads of the various pirates and soldiers, Nami took off into the battlefield, ducking swinging swords and fists as she fled. Many times she would have to screech to a halt and race off in another direction, finding her path blocked by too feverish a scuffle or a towering block of debris. It was chaos, pure chaos, and soon she found herself dissolving into it; her heart pounded like a drum inside of her, a war drum that beat to the tune of the symphony of screams around her. She slipped in thick puddles of blood across the ground, and it splashed up her legs, stinking of iron and death. The bodies were everywhere, staring at her with glassy eyes. It was too much, too much. Suddenly, she collapsed with a sob, clamping her hands over her ears, but she could still hear the screaming, the pain, the fear. Why? Why is this happening? She thought wildly. Ace was dead, Luffy was gone; it was a bloodbath, a useless bloodbath. Had all honor expired? It was just malice, bloodlust, hatred, and Nami could stand it no longer.

"Stop it!" A scream unlike anything she had ever borne erupted from her, rippling across the crowd and freezing them in their tracks with its volume and emotive force. Nami wasn't sure when she started crying, but the tears flowed in thick rivers down her cheeks, and her chest heaved as she fought for breath. "That's enough! No more!" she begged them as she wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. Though it was silent now, she could still hear the screaming echoing in her mind, the pain, the hurt, the fear. "No more," she whimpered, more to herself now. They were all staring at her, in shock and confusion. Who was this little girl who had stopped them short? Nami looked up, looked all of them in the eyes, and silently pleaded for them to end this war, this useless war that accomplished nothing. They stared back, war-torn, weary…

"Have you never seen war, little girl?" Nami gasped at the voice in front of her, and sat on her knees on the ground, frozen, as the admiral pushed his way out of the crowd. "What's the matter? Is it too much for you?" he mocked with a disdainful sniff. Nami quivered before him. The bloodlust was heavy in his eyes, and she knew that her plea would go unheard, and the battle would begin again, and the screaming, and the bleeding, and the dying. "You are a poor excuse for a pirate. I almost feel sorry for you," he tutted, and she jumped as he suddenly whipped out his sword and pointed it directly at her throat. The sharp point rested against her soft flesh, rigid; he had not a tremor in his hand as he prepared to slay the defenseless girl. "This world is not for soft people like you." Nami's eyes flashed with the light as he pulled the sword back, the sunlight streaming across its silver surface. I'm going to die. That was okay. She had come here what she came to do. She saved Luffy, and that was enough. I wish, though…

I wish I had been able to see him become Pirate King.

The air whistled with the ringing of steel, and Nami watched as the sword cut the wind, heading straight for her. Before it could strike her, though, it crashed into another sword above her head, with enough sparks to send sparks raining down on her. She gasped, looking up, to see a red-haired man standing behind her, sword in hand and a smirk on his face.

"That's quite enough, Akainu. I didn't know the Marines were in the business of slaughtering little girls," he tutted, but despite his playful tone, his eyes were as hard as the iron he held in his hand.

"It's Shanks," someone whispered in the crowd. Shanks? The Red-Haired Shanks? She thought wildly. That was the last person she had expected to come to her rescue.

"This little girl happens to be a ruthless pirate. She's Straw Hat Luffy's navigator. I am doing my job as a Marine. By killing this pirate, I make the seas a safer place," Akainu shrugged. Nami looked at him in incredulity. Ruthless? I'm sitting here, in a puddle of tears and virtually unarmed, and you call me ruthless? That struck a chord in her, and suddenly she found her voice again.

"You're a joke!" she shrieked angrily. "How dare you pretend to be some kind of savior! You're not in the business to save anybody!" she yelled. Her voice carried across the battlefield, thick with emotion. "Where were the Marines when Arlong took my island captive, killed my mother, and held me and my family captive for eight years? Eight years! You swear to protect the people, yet you turn a blind eye to ruthless pirates like him! And what about all your soldiers?" For effect, Nami gestured around the battlefield, at all the discarded bodies and those in the process of dying. "They're dying! And for what? You've done what you came here to do! Ace is dead!" she shrieked. She turned her eyes on Akainu, glaring. "You pretend to have honor, yet you have none! You think nothing of killing a boy broken by grief, or a girl begging for the bloodshed to end!" She hung her head, shaking. "Luffy has more honor than all of you put together! Luffy is the one who saved my village, and he's been saving all the people you've abandoned! Luffy would never hurt anyone who couldn't fight anymore, or someone who was begging for peace! Pirates? Marines? What's the difference? Shouldn't we focus more on being human? Fighting for our family, our friends, for what's right? Tell me now, what are all of you fighting for right now?" Silence hung in the air after her question, and she sniffed. "That's what I thought. It's time for this war to end," she whispered, her shoulders sagging. She was suddenly exhausted, from the adrenaline and emotion.

"She doesn't seen very ruthless to me, Akainu," Shanks snorted, pulling back his sword. Nami noticed that he still held it in front of her, like a barrier to protect her should the admiral still attempt to claim her life. "She's right. Look around you. Don't you think you've spilled enough blood today?" he asked with narrowed eyes. "There is nothing else to accomplish here." The admiral gazed at him levelly, perhaps weighing the risks; then, he whipped about, his white cloak billowing in the wind.

"Very well. The war at Marineford is over. Let us go our separate ways in peace… For now." With that, he gathered his marines, and headed for their ships with the dead and dying in tow. Nami exhaled deeply in relief, finally realizing that she had been quivering the entire time. In anger, in fear- she did not know. Perhaps both. She stared at the ground, which was rust-colored with drying blood, and wondered what would happen now. Luffy was really hurt… I don't know where Jinbe took him. I don't know where to go now… she thought miserably. She heard clothing shift beside her, and she glanced out of the corner of her eyes as Shanks knelt down beside her and plopped a hand on the top of her head, gently ruffling her tangerine hair.

"That was very brave of you. What's your name?"

"N-Nami," she answered with a slight sniff, reaching up to rub the tears from her eyes. The danger was over, but yet she could not force the tears to stop. "I'm Luffy's navigator."

"Yes, so Akainu said. Where is Luffy now?"

"He was taken away from Marineford. Somewhere safe." She glanced out into the battlefield, which had thinned now. She could see across the pavilion where Ace's body still lay. Shanks followed her gaze, narrowing his eyes when they fell upon the body, and sighed slightly.

"Too many have died today," he muttered before standing up and sheathing his sword. "All right, men, you know what to do." Shanks' crew shouted acknowledgement before heading off in the direction of the deceased pirate lieutenant, but also in another; Nami peered around them to see yet another dead man, with a beard white like snow; no doubt, it was the captain that Ace so revered, Captain Whitebeard. "We're going to give them a proper burial. It's the least they deserve. They were good men," Shanks told her, his empty sleeve fluttering as a breeze swept across the pavilion, littered with discarded weapons and crumbled concrete. Nami glanced up at him.

"May I come with you? I… I want to be there for Ace, in Luffy's stead," she asked. He looked surprised for a moment, then smiled warmly and nodded in approval. Nami, finally finding that her strength had returned, stood up and followed the older pirate crew over to Ace's body. Someone was softly crying over it; when she got closer, she recognized him as Garp, the Marine whom Luffy regarded as a grandfather. That's right. Ace was his family too. She watched respectfully for a moment as the old man collected himself, and when he finally straightened up, his eyes fell on her.

"Hmmph. So Luffy got away, did he?" he grunted. Nami nodded, and he exhaled deeply and turned his back. "Good… That's good. This was something he should have never had to see," he murmured. It must be hard, being a Marine and the people close to you being your sworn enemies… His heart must be torn apart.

"Mr. Garp," she said as he moved to walk away. "I promise, I'll take care of Luffy. You can count on me." The old man turned back to her, and she could see that he was on the verge of tears again. He reached out and clapped his large hand on her shoulder with a small smile.

"Mm. I'll hold you to that," he said, and then grinned slightly. "And don't call me 'Mister'! 'Grandpa' is just fine!" he laughed before releasing her and whirling about to be on his way. Nami blinked, mildly surprised, and could say nothing as he walked off across the pavilion to join his comrades at their ships. Soon enough, Nami was en route as well, accompanying Shanks and his crew to put Ace and Whitebeard to rest like they deserved. She stood at the edge of the boat, her hands on the railing as she gazed at the rapidly retreating structure of Marineford. Though it was now over, and things had not turned out as badly as they could have, Nami could not help but be guilt-ridden. She sighed deeply, as she had been for several minutes now, and gazed sadly out at the sloshing waves.

"It pains me to see such a sad expression on a young girl's face." Nami glanced over her shoulder to see Shanks standing there, while his crew mulled about but were obviously watching out of the corners of her eyes. Nami could keep it to herself, but for some reason she felt like she could trust Shanks and his men with her feelings.

"I just wonder… If I had gotten there sooner, could all of this have been prevented?" she admitted quietly. She turned to face him, holding her hands behind her back as she hung her head so he could not see the tears brimming in her eyes. It seemed she still had tears left to shed. "Luffy… I've never seen him like that. It was… the most heartbreaking thing…" She could still hear him, screaming to the point that he lost consciousness. "I can't imagine how much pain he was in, watching Ace die right in front of him… He loved Ace so much… And he died to save him. Luffy… Luffy must feel so guilty, and so weak… And none of us can even be there for him. I just… I just wish I could have done something, because seeing him like that… It was so awful." The tears were rolling down her cheeks now and splashing down onto the wooden surface of the boat. When she lifted her head, Shanks was gazing at her sadly, while the rest of the men were staring.

"You just gonna sit there and let her cry like that? Cheer her up, men!" Someone suddenly shouted, and Nami jumped as they all began scrambling across the boat, trying to find pretty things for her and running over to give her kind words. It was clear that they were not used to having a woman on board, and the simple act of them trying so hard to make her happy cheered her up a little. She could not help but smile as they gathered around her to ease her mind, ensuring that it wasn't her fault and she did the best she could. After it got excessive, Shanks ran them off to go about their duties on the ship, tossing his red hair and looking at her apologetically.

"Sorry about them. They aren't used to such a cute girl being around."

"It's okay," she laughed. "It's almost like I have a boat full of dads. I kinda know now why Luffy is so attached to you all." Shanks smiled at that, and crossed the deck to lean against the railing beside her, his one hand resting on the smooth finished wood. "… They are right, though. You did the best you could. Luffy isn't going to blame you for what happened."

"I know."

"So what will you do? Luffy isn't going to take this quietly," he asked her with a curious expression. Nami crossed her arms, smiling slightly.

"No. He'll probably do something drastic, like declare war on the government," she mused. "But he's going to want to get stronger… Much stronger. And that means I have to get stronger, too. After the burial, I'm going to head back to Weatheria. Whenever Luffy is ready for us, we'll meet again at Shabody Archipelago," she decided. She didn't know when that would be, but she knew the day would come. The crew was scattered to the four winds, but Luffy would find a way to let them know.

In a world torn apart by war, they would find a way to keep going- and Nami was going to support her captain, no matter what.

"Hehe. You like Luffy a lot, don't you?" Shanks snickered, and she rounded on him with pink cheeks.

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing~" he chimed and went strolling off across the deck, still laughing. Nami ran after him, bleating protests like a little lamb, but he must have thought her cute and didn't take her seriously, as he kept laughing at her.

"Hey! I'm talking to you! Shanks!"

"If you don't get it, I can't help you!"

"This isn't funny!"

"On the contrary, it's quite funny."

After a while, Nami abandoned the effort and stomped back to her spot to gaze at the ocean. She couldn't see Marineford anymore, only the gently rolling waves of the sea. Luffy… Wherever you are now, I hope you're safe… And I hope you're going to be okay, she thought as she rested her cheek in her hand. I'm going to get stronger.

Next time, things won't go this way. Next time, I'll be there for you.

You won't fight this war alone.