Nami's Room
"Kiribachi!" Nami publicized with a panicked yell.
Arlong flaunted the "saw" over his shoulder. One hand was on the maroon handgrip, and another was cautiously placed on the unpointed end of the cold metal triangles, adding some precision to his attack. His knees buckled just a bit to squat down, and in doing so, he added more force to his already high jump. Reaching great heights, he somehow traveled from the ground all the way to the second roof of the tower where Luffy stood. Still airborne, Arlong threw the weapon down, creating a slash in the brick, though Luffy had just barely escaped with another large jump up, no warm up or squatting needed.
He reached the third roof, grabbing onto its rounded eave to help him flip over and finally put his feet on the smooth surface. His opponent wasted no time though, because without being able to take a breath, he was just below, his fingers still tightly wound around the hilt.
Again, Luffy and his agile body jumped up before any harm befell him, though he couldn't say the same about the poor roof.
Their game of cat and mouse continued for another two floors, before he was finally cornered. He back away onto the yellow with nowhere else to go or to run. Arlong frame finally popped up from seemingly nowhere, a chocky smile on his face, despite just damaging his whole building.
Just in time though, Luffy retreated into a room. He curled himself into a ball- not to protect himself from the glass, but the slash- and dove straight into the window next to him. Everyone gasped in shock. With their battle now seemingly indoors, there was no telling as to what was happening and who was winning. The village's fate was a complete mystery.
Nami's eyes widened, not out of shock, but recollection. 'The left window on the top floor…' Nami thought in her head, though it involuntarily traveled to her mouth "That room is…"
"That was close…" Luffy choked out in between heavy gasps for air. The adrenaline that pumped through his veins flowed even faster, seemingly numbing all wounds that still had a certain stinging sensation that he didn't exactly enjoy.
"You can no longer escape." Arlong's guarded foot that stepped onto the shattered glass only broke it into more, smaller pieces, which would be difficult to clean up, if the structure would make it out alive that is. "This is the top floor of Arlong Park. Looks like your final moment is finally here." Despite the large smile on his face, which he wouldn't hold back when looking at the ridiculous child sitting helplessly on the floor, cornered, his crazily thin and shark-like pupils added to the malicious look on his face.
"What's this room?" Luffy queried with nothing but relaxation in his tone. It was almost like he had forgotten he was in the middle of an intense battle. "Full of papers…" He trailed off. He had never seen such a room, even on Shanks' ship. His eyes scoured the room entirely; from the beat up old desk with an unfinished map on its countertop to the wall next to him, that could barely be seen due to the sheer stacks upon stacks of paper. So much so that it'd be hard to believe they all had amazingly accurate charts drawn upon them, to the bookcase that stood behind him, each shelf filled with dusty old books.
"These're not just ordinary papers." Arlong introduced "This is a room where I make that woman continue to draw sea charts."
"Nami's room…" Luffy murmured to no one but himself. He would have never guessed it. She was always so insistent on decorating her room, he never would have expected such bland taste from her, of course with the exception of the papers that decorated every inch of the room.
"These are all sea charts that Nami drew." Luffy took another, more focused look around the room. He had never seen so much paper, let alone maps in his lifetime. "Aren't they great? They're my treasure, one that I made her draw for eight years." Despite his attempt to flaunt the maps, every word that came out of his mouth angered Luffy more and more. "To us, getting data about the oceans is very simple, but it's a different story when we have to create sea charts based on it. We need a talented surveyor. That's why I had my eye on that woman." Despite his apparent listening skills, he found it hard to focus with him rambling on and on.
"She's good. She draws quite accurate sea charts." The fishman continued. "She's too good for you inferior humans."He finally moved his head and looked past Arlong to stare at the desk placed right up against the wall. The drawing utensils were neatly organized on a pale blue hankerchief to keep from dirtying the desk even more. "In the past, as well as in the future, her talent should be used for us fishmen!"
Despite missing out on Nojiko's tale of Nami's past, he could practically see it- her- sitting there, forced to constantly draw more and more until the sun had set and her wrist did nothing but ache, and continuously add onto the pile of charts that accumulated more and more as the days, months, and years went by.
"Hm?" Luffy had finally brought his attention back to Arlong who stopped talking, only to get an eye full of the cold metal end of his kiribachi.
"Nami is our friend."
"Friend?" Luffy murmured, expecting no elaboration.
"So don't interfere any more you damn rubber man!" Still though, despite the horrifying situation he was in, the confident look in his eyes never changed. Not once. "What's with that look in your eyes?!" Despite already being provoked, Arlong felt his blood boil again.
"She is- Nami is…"
"Hm?" Arlong was getting impatient.
"...my navigator!" Luffy shouted.
Arlong couldn't help but chuckle a bit "You plan to make her the navigator of some shabby boat? You'd only end up wasting her talent. Just look! How many people in this world can draw such accurate charts?" Luffy understood it was a rhetorical question, but he was sure no one could match her skill, at least based on how much he boasted about her, despite how much it pissed him off.
"The girl has a gift." The fishman simply said, though movement brought his full attention back to the desk. Somehow, despite not being distrubed in any way, an old quill rolled off the end of the desk and continued until it reached the empty space between himself and Arlong. The feather on the end was messy, and the tangled barbules added to the disheveled look. Throughout the pen's entirety, light discolors of black ink sullied it, ridding it of its initial sleek white color, though the thing that stood out about it most of all were the horrifying crimson stains that trailed down to the metal end.
"There's nothing as unfortunate and foolish as letting a natural-born talent go to waste!" Luffy reached out to the pen and looked down to carefully inspect it, ignoring every word coming out of Arlong's bloody mouth.
If his fingers had been any skinnier, they would have fit perfectly in the embedded grooves that were made from years upon years of dedicated working. It also seemed to be the place where the majority of the blood streamed from.
"Staying here and drawing sea charts is the greatest happiness for her!"
"This pen is stained with blood…" Luffy uttered, though it came out no louder than a whisper.
"Nami's charts are absolutely vital if I'm to attain world supremacy!" Arlong finally had enough of the chat and brought his kiribachi up, maneuvering it so that Luffy's downturned head fit perfectly in between the spaces of two of the blades. "She's going to continue drawing sea charts! For my ambition!" A refreshing wind blew through the room, filling it with the familiar scent of salt from the ocean. "And once jer charts give me full knowledge of all the world's seas… we fishmen will be invincible, and the world will become our empire!" Not giving his trapped opponent a chance to speak, he went on "Our first stepping stone is this island… and the East Blue!"
A ghost of a cackle escaped Arlong's upturned mouth to fill the silence that Luffy refused to speak in "Could you use the girl as efficiently as that?!"
That was the last straw.
Luffy's loose grip on the modern quill tightened for a second, releasing some anger. His hand traveled closer to the ground before there was no space left between the granite flooring and the pen. He carefully settled it down and reached his hand up, his fingertips still spotless, even after touching the dried blood and ink for so long. Without a word, Luffy's hand reached up to touch the sharp metal.
Arlong's smirk fell down to a frown when he realized something was off: he could no longer move the saw!
Luffy's grip changed. His fingers slid until they stopped on the sharp end. His tanned fingertips turned pale, yet flushed at the same time when he exerted an extra amount of force on the clutch. His teeth clamped down and his fingers quivered, until suddenly, the blade snapped into umpteen pieces!
"What?!" Arlong yelled out in utter shock.
Luffy finally raised his head, revealing his exasperated expression "'Use'?!" Luffy repeated in a harsh tone.
"What's goin' on inside..?" Gen asked to no one but himself.
"Dammit… What happened, big bro Luffy?!" Yosaku yelled out, in hopes his words would reach him.
"I can't tell what's going on up there at all…" Johnny sweat dropped.
"Luffy…" Nami muttered with a worried look on her face, though unlike everyone else's panicked expression, her's was more nervous.
"What do you take her for?!" Luffy demanded as he faced Arlong off.
He let out a brief chuckle, as if Luffy made a joke "An inferior creature, but a smart girl. If all humans are sewer rats, I'd say she's a cheeky-as-hell cat. After all, she is quite cute. And I'm going to continue feeding her and buying her clothes she likes. She'll have everything she needs to live. And all she needs to do is keep drawing charts for me." On paper, it seemed like it was one hell of a deal, but the reality of it was gruesome. "She will forever be my tool-no- my nakama!"
His crow boomed throughout the confined space, though all it did was provoke Luffy. Without enticing he had done so, Luffy walked up to the desk. And without warning, he forcefully kicked it.
It flew straight out the giant hole it created in the wall, and plummeted hundreds of feet down.
"What's that?!" Yosaku's jaw dropped, though when he looked closer, he could tell no one had lost just yet…
Everyone sighed in relief at the sight of the desk, though their minds couldn't help but think how violent it was up there.
Johnny and Yosaku's bickering seemed to fade away in Nami's head. A ghost of a smile involuntarily tugged at the corners of her mouth, though all that circled in her mind was Luffy, and the worry she felt towards him.
Luffy's sandaled foot jutted out to kick out the bookcase, though some of its thick and wordy tomes flew in, refusing to leave the room.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Arlong shouted at Luffy, though he refused to respond. He was just focused on stomping out every amenity the room held.
Everyone, Usopp especially, cried out in shock everytime something new flew out. Nami however, watched in silence and disbelief. Beads of sweat rolled down her cheeks. Her eyes zoomed in on the desk she had worked on for so long. Just the sight of it brought back memories from many years past.
"Stop that!" Arlong demanded. He swept his broken saw in an attempt to hinder him, but he jumped up. As a result, he cut through a smaller pile of charts. "The charts!" He gasped. While distracted, Luffy kicked a pile of charts out the room. Airborne, the papers scattered through the sky, dancing with the cooling breeze that smelt of brine and freedom.
Arlong pushed Luffy against the wall, his hand tightly grasping his throat, allowing little to no air to come through. "Damn you! I spent eight years straight making her draw those! I invested eight years in those charts! In my ambition!" The longer the list went on, the tighter his vice grip became.
The bookshelf finally joined the shattered desk on the ground. Hundreds of thousands of beli wasted on books and tomes, drawing supplies and utensils, and furniture, yet nami felt no anger towards Luffy for wasting the money. In fact, she felt relief. Like a weight had lifted off her chest. Her chocolate eyes glistened, even with the sun hidden behind heavy clouds. Salty tears that accumulated in her waterlines threatened to flow over and stream onto her cheeks.
"Thank you… Luffy!" Nami croaked, though with her hand over her mouth to muffle the sound, it seemed much more like a whisper.
A silence rolled over the crowd. No one made a noise. Not Usopp. Not Yosaku or Johnny. Absolutely no one.
"You've gone too far, damn rubber man!" Arlong spat as clearly as he could, though it was a difficult feat with his sharp teeth pierced into Luffy's nape.
Luffy struggled to keep from crying out in pain. His hands somehow found themselves grasping at Arlong's saw-like nose.
"'Fishmen are great' this and 'sea charts' that! I don't know much about any of that stuff…" Luffy admitted with a shaky voice. He could feel Arlong's teeth sink a bit deeper, but pressed on. "...But I finally figured out how to save her!" Luffy's hands pulled harder, and blood spurted out of Arlong's "indestructible" nose.
Luffy could feel the spikes of his nose digging into the palms of his hands. He grit his teeth hard and exerted as much force as he could. Then, with a snap, Arlong's nose finally broke. He ripped his teeth out of Luffy's neck and stumbled back, cradling the pain he felt in his kinked nose. He lost his balance and fell onto his back and cried in agony.
With no remorse left in his expression or tone, he snarled at Arlong, nothing but anger and impatience was reflected on his face. Not even the immense pain he felt showed. "The problem is this room!" He explained "If she doesn't want to be here, then I'll just destroy it all!"
"Gomu gomu no!" He leaned down and kicked his leg straight up, like Sanji would, except less graceful. It shot up like a rocket, shooting through the roof and knocking the flagpole of Arlong's likeness off from center.
"Don't get cocky! Arlong Park can't ever be brought down by you inferior beings!" Arlong grabbed his broken nose and forcefully pulled it back into place, not even wincing out of pain.
"Shark Tooth Drill!" Arlong yelled. His mouth opened, revealing his bloody fangs. Like the name implied, his head turned around and around… like a drill. When he shot forward, Luffy decided it was finally time he brought an end to this fight.
"B-Battle-Axe!" He shouted. He brought his leg down, though Arlong was too quick, because before he knew it, he had bitten straight into his torso. Though the pain didn't last long, because without a moment's notice, Arlong was struck down with a foot. Blood spat out of his mouth and the floor beneath him rumbled.
It was clear to him: Arlong Park would fall.
Still putting force into his stomp, Luffy yelled a terrifying battle cry that could be heard if one were to listen close enough.
Luffy's leg pushed through the floor with a limp Arlong stuck beneath. With each floor crushed, another large crack on the outer wall of the tower was created, weakening the structure's stability. It wasn't until Arlong crashed straight onto a table on the last floor. The entire bottom floor of Arlong Park fell, and with it, peoples' jaws.
Arlong's flagpole rolled off the eaves and finally crashed onto the ground, its spiky nose stuck into the ground for not even a millisecond, before the impact exploded it.
Through each floor, there was a circular hole, allowing Luffy to pear over his work and tare at the fishman, who laid unconscious.
His knees buckled, and he sat down, finally able to pant and take in all the fresh air he wanted, without worry that he would be killed. But that relaxing moment he had all to himself was disturbed by small pieces of rubble from above that fell into his raven hair. The shock of the first story collapsing caused the others to follow suit. The villagers warned each other, making sure they evacuated before any harm befell them.
"Big sis Nami! Hurry!" Johnny directed when he spotted Nami stubbornly watching, instead of running.
"But Luffy is still inside!" Nami yelled back, refusing to even look back. It was only until Johnny grabbed her and pulled her away from the scene.
"Big sis!" Johnny felt bad about it, but he had no choice. He tugged on her arm again with more force, making her legs move.
"Luffy! Luffy's still..!" Nami didn't even get to finish her sentence before Arlong Park crashed down. "LUFFY~!" Her petrified voice rang through the air like a bell, though there was no response; just the sound of destruction.
A strong gust of wind blew through the island, slowly but surely filtering out the billow of debris that surrounded the now collapsed building.
Everyone patiently watched and waited, and everyone had one question in their head 'who won?'
The dust cleared out, along with the heavy grey clouds that hovered above the sky.
"Arlong Park… it's collapsed!" Doctor Nako remarked to himself, barely able to contain his shock.
"Who won though..?" Yosaku thought aloud.
It seemed the villagers' hope was depleting. Their dependency on Luffy was running out. How they could give up on him so quickly, Nami wasn't sure of. But what she did know was that Luffy won. There was no way he would lose. He promised he would help, and him losing would mean he broke a promise. And that just wouldn't do.
Finally showing itself for the first time since the battle began, the sun's rays beamed down on Arlong Park's remains. From the rubble, something- or rather, someone- popped out.
"Luffy!" Nami beamed with an optimistic smile on her face, while the two bounty hunting brothers beside her cried with relief.
He huffed and puffed, his voice quivering from lack of energy. Everyone awaited his next movement, which didn't consist of heavy breathing.
His racing heart finally returned to a somewhat average rate, though he still gasped once more, filling his lungs with air. "Nami!" Luffy called out. His tired body shook and he attempted to take in more air to keep himself from collapsing. "You are my nakama!"
Her eyes widened and her mouth opened the slightest bit. In an attempt to keep her emotions in check, she tightly pursed her lips, but still couldn't fend the tears off, nor her smile.
"Yeah." Nami nodded and wiped the tears from her waterline. Her cheeks were already flushed and damp from crying so much, there was no way she was going to let the tears pour over, even if she was free to do so.
A/N: First off, I'd like to thank the guest for reviewing this story. Without them, I'm not sure when this chapter would have come out. You really brought my spirits up so thank you so much! I wrote this all in one day, and I hope it makes the wait for the next chapter less painful.
Please R&R it will really make my day, and will genuinely make me work more efficiently.
Also, I'm thinking of finally ending the Arlong Park arc in 2-3 more chapters, though they will probably be a bit shorter than my usual chapters.