Chapter 7
Hey guys. So, it's been a while. This is becoming a bad habit of mine. As always, my promise still stands. It'll just take me awhile (my brain is betraying me by giving me 3 new story ideas simultaneously and that just won't do). Rest assured, I am slowly working on this story.
Please note that I take some liberties with Nami's state of mind in this chapter because I just don't see her getting over this whole Arlong/fishman thing anywhere nearly as quick as in the manga/anime. I do drag it out some more but she'll be back to good, old Nami soon enough.
Normal disclaimer applies: no owning of characters or canonical story going on here.
The Straw Hat crew brought Hatchi, Camie, and Pappug into the kitchen and sat at the dining table. The room was crowded now, but it wasn't the people that made it so. They could all tell that Hatchi's story would be a long one and wanted to make themselves comfortable before listening to it. As Sanji busied himself with doling out cups of tea and inquiring of Camie what she would like best, the other occupants sat down reluctantly, avoiding the massive elephant in the room.
Hatchi, however, skipped over the fattest elephant and found a smaller, almost forgotten one to mention. "Hey… Nami? Umm… where's Straw Hat?"
The breath almost seemed to be sucked out of everyone, including Sanji, mid-question. Hatchi immediately knew he had said something he shouldn't have, but it couldn't be taken back now. All of pirates stared at the table, except Zoro who looked at Hatchi with unblinking eyes, although they seemed to tighten around the edges. It was he who answered the question, "He's not here right now. We're on our way to him. Gone and landed himself in trouble again."
He sounded for all the world that this was just another of Luffy's 'adventures' gone awry, and he had left his crew to clean up after him once more. Like that, the tension snapped like a rubber band breaking and the Straw Hats all had grim smiles ghost across their faces. The crowded feeling went away and the air felt breathable once more. Hatchi and Camie looked at one another and Sanji resumed his question to Camie, as if he had never stopped speaking in the first place.
As soon as Camie had responded with her preferred tea flavor, it felt as if a creature, having just been shooed away for a brief moment, was creeping back into the room, crowding it once more. It seemed as if the smaller elephant had been acknowledged and left the room, letting the larger elephant grow bigger and take up even more space. Left the room, but not the ship. It was always lurking just around the corner.
The air was suddenly too tight and Nami felt as if something would break if nothing was said. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Hatchi…." Everyone looked up at her. "I know I'm ignorant of the world, but I felt so sure about fishmen's place in it. I know there's a Fishman Island and I've been wondering since I heard of it, but… if there's a place of just Fishman, why did Arlong come into the human world when he hates humans? And what's this about discrimination? I thought it was the other way around. I… I just… It makes me so angry, Hatchi!" she turned her face toward him, away from the table and her red eyes became visible. "I don't get it! Why? Why would he do that to… Cocoyashi and the other towns if he didn't have to?"
Usopp, Zoro, and Sanji stared at her. They understood her frustration and the confusion she felt. It hit them that as soon as Kokoro had mentioned a Fishman Island, Nami's confusion had likely been swirling around, leading to this outburst. Chopper, Franky, and Brook looked shocked. They had known Nami for a while and never seen this kind of reaction from her before. They didn't really understand the brief mention of Arlong they had heard on deck earlier, but it was clear that the fear and killing he had caused left deeper scars on Nami's heart than she had let on in that brief mention. Robin had a frown and looked concernedly at Nami before turning back to Hatchi. Camie looked even more clueless and surprised than the four newest members of the pirate crew, and sat speechlessly holding her cup of tea. Hatchi had cringed when the words kept coming and now he sat there, staring straight into Nami's eyes and looked incredibly lost and sorrowful.
"Nami-san…" Hatchi started. "I wish I could change what happened. We were horrible to you and I'm very sorry." At this, Hatchi bowed his head for a moment. Nami's face tightened, but she remained silent. Sighing, Hatchi lifted his head, but his eyes still stared at the table beneath him. "It's a long story and I'm not the best person to tell it, but humans on the Grand Line… In pretty much all of the world except the East Blue… they hate Fishman. What Arlong-san did… the humans in the Grand Line wouldn't have let him land before calling the Marines to take care of him, even if he wasn't a pirate. They would have seen him as a Fishman and called the… authorities to dispose of him… properly." He said the last word with a sneer and immediately looked ashamed of himself, casting furtive glances to Camie and the Straw Hat crew. He tried a new approach to explaining, "When you saw that Camie is a mermaid, she was worried, right? It's because here, if the wrong people found out she was a mermaid, they would have captured her and sold her into slavery."
All of the Straw Hats aside from Robin gasped. "Slavery?" came Usopp's voice. "But… why?"
Camie just looked uncomfortable as Hatchi's face tightened in a grimace. "Because," he said, "people here hate Fishman. They acknowledge that mermaids are beautiful and they want to keep them like pets, tied up and there for their personal viewing pleasure."
The Straw Hats looked sick as Hatchi described how the slave trade worked. How mermaids and fishmen were so valuable and how they couldn't come to the surface world without being in danger of capture. As he spoke, Camie shifted uncomfortably and the pirates just stared at Hatchi, aghast at the new knowledge.
"It's a really long story as to why all of us went with Arlong to East Blue, and – "Hatchi started.
"Look, Nami, I realize this is important. But do we really have time for this? We need to get moving," Zoro interrupted.
The occupants of the room looked around at Zoro. Nami slowly nodded and stood. "Hatchi… I want to know. But now's not the right time. You guys should go. We're heading to Sabaody and we really don't have time to waste sitting here." She turned to her crewmates and started giving directions to unfurl the sails. The crew filed out of the room while she turned expectantly back to the table and Hatchi, Camie, and Pappug sitting there. "I know that Luffy will want to try some of your takoyaki when he gets back," she said, forcing a smile. "We can meet up after we find him, okay?"
Camie, clearly confused, stood with Pappug in her arms. She stared at Hatchi, waiting for him to say something. Hatchi took a moment to collect his thoughts before saying, "Can I help at all?"
Nami, who had started leaving the room, whipped back around in a flash. "What?" she asked, breathless.
"I want to help if I can. You said you're going to Sabaody? I don't really know what's happened to Straw Hat-san, but I want to help. If you'll let me, I know someone in Sabaody who can help. He has connections all over the archipelago and he can find any information you need," Hatchi replied.
Nami sighed before responding, "I appreciate the offer, Hatchi. But the problem isn't that he's on Sabaody somewhere." She sighed again, seeming to contemplate something. Making a decision, she pulled a rolled up newspaper from her back pocket and handed it to Hatchi. "We know where he'll be soon, if he's not there already. No, Hatchi. The problem isn't finding Luffy. It's getting him back. I'm not sure how much help this friend of yours will be." Nami tuned away and walked out of the door onto the grassy deck.
Hatchi stared at the article in his hands, Camie reading it around one of his many arms. Before she was halfway through the article, Hatchi thrust the article towards her and ran out of the room, yelling for Nami to wait. Camie watched his back as he raced out of the room, before turning her eyes back to the crumpled paper in her hands. She carefully unfolded the paper before heading out onto the deck, where she could hear Hatchi's voice explaining that this new development was all the more reason they might need his friends' help. Camie understood what Hatchi wouldn't say – she felt sure that Hatchi was hoping his friend would be able to talk them out of… of breaking into Impel Down to rescue their captain. Are they crazy?!, Camie thought as she watched her friend assure the pirate crew that his friend could help them. Impel Down… that place is a death sentence. They're pirates! Even if they do seem nice, the Navy will jump on the chance to arrest them… Camie's thoughts trailed off when she took in the determined faces of the pirates. The entire crew had regathered on the grassy deck and was staring down Hatchi with utter resolution and, in the cases of the younger members, hope. She looked at the Jolly Roger flying over her head and noted the Straw Hat. She realized this Straw Hat-san, or Luffy, who kept being mentioned, must be their captain. Her heart suddenly swelled with warmth at such an obviously closely-bonded band of pirates, before her stomach dropped out and she realized what this meant. She had known these people for less than an hour, but already she felt closer to them than any humans she had ever encountered before. If these people went to get their captain, as she now knew they wouldn't hesitate to do, and failed or were too late, the crew would not recover. She knew that they would rather be captured than fail, and a numbness spread through her body at the realization that it was practically impossible for them to succeed. They were going to fail and she would lose any chance of being their friend.
As she walked closer to join the circle on deck, the green-haired pirate spoke up. "So this friend of yours. What makes you so sure he can help? Is he a former Impel Down guard or something?" he said, skepticism creeping into his voice.
Hatchi hesitated only a moment before responding, "No. He has never worked for the Government. He used to be first mate on a pirate ship, a long time ago. In his… travels, he made a lot of connections. He'll know the right questions to ask and the right people to ask them to."
Nami stared long and hard at him before asking, "And why would he help us?"
"He owes me a favor. And Rayleigh-san always pulls through. The hardest part is going to be finding him, but I know where he spends most of his time, so someone will have seen him lately," Hatchi responded.
Nami and the long-nosed boy opened their mouths to speak, before the swordsman spoke up. "All right. We'll go to Sabaody and ask where this man is. But we need to hurry so if he can't be found, we're leaving without speaking to him. We'll find our own information if need be. But you're coming with us. We can't risk you running off and telling someone our plans." He received dumbfounded looks from some of his crewmates and others looked like they wanted to argue. He just stared them down and said, "We don't have time for this. This is taking too long. Nami; which way do we go?"
Nami looked at her log pose, shaking herself, and looked up at the sky before pointed in a direction to the Northeast. "We should be there by nightfall. So we can go ashore in the morn-"
"Did you not hear what I said?" Zoro interrupted, getting more wide-eyed looks. "No. If we get there at nightfall, then we go ashore at nightfall. We don't have any idea what they're doing to Luffy or if he's already hatched a plan of his own. We need to be able to help him with whatever he needs as soon as we can." With that, he turned away and climbed into the crow's nest, leaving the rest of the crew to turn the ship on a straighter course, murmuring under their breaths. Usopp approached Hatchi and Camie with a length of rope, gesturing that they should attach their ship more securely to the railing at the stern. Looking back at the subdued crew, Hatchi felt a flicker of fear that they wouldn't be able to find Gold Roger's first mate in time.
It was way past his curfew. If Garp-san found him, he'd be in so much trouble. And he'd had to slip Helmeppo-san something to put him asleep so he wouldn't wake up and cause a ruckus at his absence. Coby peeked around each corner on his way to the criminal wing in the Marine hospital. The light blue walls seemed less than inviting in the eerie light from the nearly-full moon outside the barred windows and the atmosphere it created only added to his already-high anxiety levels. But he didn't dare turn back. No, Coby needed to see him. He couldn't believe it, not until he'd seen the boy with his own eyes. The news about Fire Fist Ace being captured was huge, but the "arrest" of Monkey D. Luffy so soon afterwards made the buzz of gossip even louder. Garp had told him the real story – or, at least, the unofficial version. It was obvious even his grandfather didn't truly know what had happened to Luffy on Gecko Moria's massive ship. It wasn't that he didn't believe Garp, it was just… it was Luffy! Luffy, his first real friend. The one who pushed him into following his own dream. The unbeatable, unbreakable Straw Hat Luffy. And he traveled with Roronoa Zoro. How anyone could beat down both of them was unthinkable.
He crouched behind a gurney as a patrol officer strolled by, looking extremely bored and tired. When the officer turned the corner, yawning widely, Coby silently rushed to the next hallway, consulting his hand-drawn map. It was sloppy, but the best he could do on short notice. He knew the room number where Luffy was kept, due to a slip-up by Garp. But he'd had to do the rest himself – finding the blueprints of the massive ward in a large pile of junk in the corner of the archive building next door. He turned the last corner, pausing only a moment before slipping the stolen key inside the locked door. Man, he would be dead by sunrise if Garp knew he'd taken the key from his office. He quickly turned the lock and darted inside, closing and locking the door silently behind him.
He turned to the raised bed on the opposite wall and stared at what he saw. It was definitely Luffy. Covered in bandages, a few wires trailing from his arms to machines on both sides of his bed, and handcuffed to the armrests, but it was him. His hat clutched tightly in one hand, snoring loudly and a puddle of drool forming by his slightly turned face, Luffy lay unaware and healing. Healing from what, Coby didn't know. From what he could see, the scrapes on Luffy's face and arms were healing quite nicely and they didn't explain his unconscious state. According to Garp, in a rare moment of concern, Luffy was injured inside. Coby didn't understand what this meant, but he certainly did not like the sound of it.
He jumped at the sound of movement coming from Luffy's bed and noticed that Luffy was trying to turn over in his sleep but the handcuffs prevented him from doing so. He reached out and touched the cuffs reflexively to help his friend before he realized what he was doing. He retracted his hand and stared at the Sea Prism cuffs incredulously. Sea Prism?! But he's in a hospital. They can't seriously expect him to get any better while Sea Prism stone is wearing him out all the time!
Coby's anger grew at this, his fist clenching at his sides when he heard a soft click from behind him. He whirled around, hands already in a defensive position in front of his face and chest. Garp stood in front of the door, quietly smirking at him, a hint of pride in his eyes at Coby's quick reflexes.
"You know," Garp started, sounding as if this was a normal encounter, "Luffy is such a deep sleeper that you could literally scream into his face and he wouldn't wake up. You didn't have to be so quiet coming inside his room."
Coby stared up at his commanding officer, his jaw slack. Garp saw his expression and laughed. "Oh, yes, I've been watching you the whole time. You really think I left that key in my room by accident? Or that I just happened to mention what room Luffy was in? I knew you'd figure it out one way or another, but I must admit I'm impressed with how prepared you were in less than a day." Garp let out another chuckle, shaking his head. "I raised Luffy, remember? I've seen every escape attempt in the book. Although, I must say that his tries were never so… sophisticated as yours has been."
Garp walked around to Luffy's other side and stared down at his grandson, a completely unhidden look of grief and sadness overcoming his face. Coby stared at Garp, shocked at this uncharacteristic show of affection. Garp turned his eyes upward and a small smile overtook his features, doing nothing to chase away the despair in every inch of his face. He stared at Coby and admitted, "Coby, I'm afraid for him. He's my grandson. Look at what he's gotten himself into. I know what his sentence will be – what it has to be, because of his father. But they won't release a sentence until he's healed. They'll need new pictures of him to print in newspapers across the world. That's why the Sea Prism. It'll make him heal just that much slower. I don't want to send him to that place, Coby. Its reputation doesn't live up to reality. I've been there, seen what it's done to people. He really is truly better off here, surrounded by officers and hospital staff. He'll be leaving in a week. I've managed to give him that much time. Any more and we'll all be under suspicion. So visit him while you can, Coby. Because the next time you see him, he'll be under a sword, not a scalpel."
You guys truly are fantastic. All your favorites and likes mean so incredibly much to me. I think this is the longest chapter of this story yet, so yay!
Also, I realized that there was a slight error in chapter 1 when I wrote that the supplies they received on Thriller Bark were rather lacking. I was casually rewatching that arc when I realized that Sanji literally says the exact opposite – they have stuff to spare. Oh well. We'll pretend that didn't happen. Yay fanfiction possibilities!
Please continue to review, as I really do become so much more motivated when I've received a review. Even if it's a "nice chapter" or a "you forget an 'e' in the word 'the'", I really do appreciate it.