Hey there! Long time no chapter. After this one will be the last chapter and the epilogue. Please consider that english isn't my native language so please forgive me my mistakes (but feel free to show them to me!)
I did some spelling updates.
Have fun reading!
"Wow ..." Nami whispered in awe. With big eyes she looked over the city and the sea. Behind her, the fountains of the giant well-construction, which crowned Waterseven, roared like great waterfalls. In spite of all this, it was not loud - the fountains, despite their size, were still far enough from the edge of the water basin at which she and Pauly stood.
At her feet the water city lay. The many lights of the houses seemed to be hundreds of small fireflies. Around them stretched the sea, reflecting the disc of the full moon. And when Nami turned around and looked up, she could see the sparkle of the stars blending with the glitter of the water fountains.
"Kaku always came here," Pauly said, burying his hands in the pockets of his jacket. Nami bit her lower lip briefly. Her gaze wandered from the breathtaking view to the carpenter, standing beside her, looking out to the sea. "Eventually he showed me the place here. I thought it was forbidden to come up here but he didn't care. He just said that the view would definitely be worth it. From then on, we met for beer here after work." He swallowed heavily and a mixture of rage, disappointment and grief came to his face. "I never thought it would be possible that he ..." His words were interrupted when Nami laid her hand on his arm. "Pauly ... forget him and the CP9. Zorro has directed your words to him and do you know what he told me? Something in Kaku then shattered visibly. I ... think he suddenly realized what he'd lost. Whom he'd lost." Her gaze grew hard. "He didn't deserve your friendship" she said firmly. Pauly looked at her and smiled weakly. "You know what?" She said tidily and suddenly began to pull her top over her head and open the belt of her skirt. Pauly's smile gave way to an irritated-panicky look, but Nami was wearing a bikini under her clothes. He wanted to turn his eyes away from her, but he couldn't. Nami continued to move. "This is no longer the place where you drank beer with Kaku. From now on, it will be the place where you were bathing with me." And with these words she jumped from the edge into the water basin.
At this moment, many thoughts rushed through Pauly's head. But in the end only one dominated: his admiration for Nami. Her courage. Her spontaneity. Her fire. And the ease with which she helped him out of the sadness that had befallen him since the betrayal of his old "friends". Nami's head appeared with a big smile on the surface of the water. Her cheeks were slightly red, the water couldn't be very warm. "Now don't be shy, this shall become the place where you were bathing with me and not the place where I hung alone in the water!" she said challengingly to him.
In fact Pauly hesitated for a moment, but then he gave in. He took off his jacket (there was no reason to risk wet cigars!), which fell heavily on the ground. Actually Nami had an annoying personality. She was greedy, stingy, domineering and damn shameless. And yet Pauly admired her. Nami wouldn't betray her friends - never. She hadn't hesitated for a moment to risk her life for Robin. And he had the undefined feeling that she would do the same for him. Pauly pulled his shirt over his head and threw the glasses and the boots on the clothes heap. He admired Nami, even more, and it scared him in a strange way. But now, here and tonight, he wanted to throw his concerns overboard.
When Pauly finally followed her into the water, Nami couldn't help but admire his physique. Damn, this guy was really well built ... what had Robin said? Whatever concerned herself, she had to take care of it. It wasn't the alcohol that had brought her and Pauly together in that night. Nami was now aware of this. The alcohol had broken barriers, which both of them had built around themselves as walls of self-protection, because neither he nor she wanted someone to be too close to them. Nami because she knew she had promised her life to her friends and the rough sea. And Pauly, because he had lost his confidence in friendship. But it wasn't the alcohol that brought them together. Something else was responsible a feeling that was known to Nami but she hadn't expected to find it. Not here in Water Seven.
Naughty she looked at Pauly. "Whats wrong with you to be so less clad around decent, young ladies, you shameless guy?" she shouted at him, mimicking his tone. Pauly stared at her in surprise, then Nami giggled. No matter what he was to her, she would never get tired of huffing him in any way. "Oy!" Pauly protested. "Th-this is not funny ...!" Nami's giggle turned into a happy laugh. "Oh, it is ..." she buzzed, then started to float on her back to watch the starry sky. "Why does it bother you so much when women wear short skirts, huh?" Pauly swam after her and then did the same to see the stars. "Isn't that obvious? You're driving away all the men from work and believe me, I've already seen a shipwright hammer his thumbs just because he stared at Califa's bare legs!" Nami rolled her eyes. So he really was just prudish. "And besides," he continued, less defiantly, "I was educated to think respectful of women and not to look at them ... as things that are pretty and can be stared at. But its hard to think decently when someone like you shows his body so ... free." Nami interrupted her swimming, and looked at Pauly in surprise. It was relatively dark, but she could still swear that he had turned red like a strawberry.
