Author's notes:
So this story took some time, sorry 'bout that.
Big huge honkin' thanks for the nice reviews!
Hope you'll like this part as well, 'cause the next one is already in work and I'm only saying: shippiness en masse!!
/()/()/()/()/()/
"Nami?"
"I'm sorry..."
Inhaling deeply, she gripped the bo in her hand more tightly and aimed it at the man sitting baffled in front of her. The staff hit him right at the side of his neck... Nami knew that with that she had taken him out of action for some time.
She didn't waste a second, walking over to the small window leading to the street where this had started in the first place and opened it carefully. Taking a look outside, Nami made sure no marine soldiers or civilists were running around outside, who could jeopardize her plan.
To her relief, the street was empty and so she jumped up onto the sill.
She was just about to climb out, when she felt the overwhelming need to look back one final time.
Sanji lay unconscious on the floor, his cheek pressed against the dirty ground. A red streak seemed to glow in the gloomy light of the room, accusing her.
Every time he exhaled, his breath disturbed the thin layer of dust covering the stone floor.
'I'm sorry...' That didn't even begin to cover what she was feeling right now!
Nami knew that there hadn't been any other way but to knock him out. Otherwise, Sanji would have done 'anything' to prevent her from pushing through her plan.
This was her chance to rescue him and not as usual the other way round!
She couldn't let him risk his life for her this time, not in his condition! Not now and never again.
And if she'd told him about her intensions, he would have probably moved hell itself to keep her in the relative safety of this house and by his side!
Having made sure, he was alive, Nami finally jumped down the window, landing without much noise on the street. There she immediately took off into the direction where she and the guys had had the fight with the marines.
Within no time, she had reached the place where the injured soldiers where still lying, medical personal taking care of their wounds.
She was still gripping her bo tightly in her sweaty hands, when one injured man lifted his head, looking straight at her where she was standing at the entry of the street.
"That's the bitch!! She and those guys did this!!" He yelled, his uninjured arm pointing at her.
"Uhm, sorry... forgot my purse here..."
"Get her!!"
But Nami had already started to run down the main street... heading away from the house where Sanji was lying and away from the harbor. She wasn't intending to run into anybody of her crew mates, when they were bringing Sanji out of the danger zone!
When she turned back around, about ten marines were pursuing her, the noise of their heavy boots echoing through the street and Nami's ears.
They were catching up quite fast and she knew that it wouldn't take much longer, before they would get her.
Closing her eyes for a second, the picture of her and Sanji kissing, sprang unforbidden to her mind.
"They won't get you..." She whispered in between breaths. Straining her muscles and mobilizing the last of her energy reserves, she gained speed, trying to get more space between her and the soldiers.
To her surprise, out of the blue, more marines appeared, blocking her way and forcing Nami to come to an halt in the middle of her flight.
"If you don't fight, this'll be much easier, girl." One of them said, slowly advancing towards Nami.
"Guess so... " She replied, watching as the man extended his arms towards her, handcuffs in hands.
"... but I'm not in the mood!"
Swinging her bo at him, she hit his head hard.
Turning around, she dodged the attack of another soldier, bringing him down with a kick into his groin.
Unforunately, she was hopelessly outnumbered and didn't stand a chance against them all and so the man from earlier got a second chance of handcuffing her, which he did promptly with maybe he put too much pressure on her wrists...
"Bring her to the ship!"
/()/()/()/
'Nami'
Dammit! Why didn't she hear him?
'Nami'
Reaching out his hand, Sanji tried in vain to get hold of her, but as soon as he thought he would finally be able to grasp her arm or shoulder, she practically flew out of his reach.
'Nami, please'
Pleading, Sanji came to an halt, hoping she would at least take notice of him.
For a rather long moment, nothing happened.
Nami stood with her back facing him in the middle of an endlessly white hall. With the white shirt and trouser she was wearing, it was nearly impossible for Sanji to make out her shape against the blinding bright background.
But then she turned around.
Her eyes looked so sad and she appeared to think about something that depressed her. Her arms were crossed behind her back and her gaze was casted downwards, giving Sanji the impression that the woman standing in front of him was only a shadow of Nami's usual self... nearly like a young school girl.
'Nami.' He tenderly asked into the silence, his hand slowly lifting to reach out for her again.
This time, she looked up, eyes seemingly searching for the owner of the voice that had been calling her name dozens of times.
Suddenly her eyes went wide as she found his gaze locked with hers and for a long moment they just looked at each other and Sanji had again the need to touch her, hold her tightly and never let her go again.
It was then that he noticed the slight change of her mood.
Her eyes were no longer empty and scared... they were practically glowing with joy and a bright,
genuine smile appeared on her lips, one of those, Sanji was so addicted to.
'Nami'
He called again, never breaking eye contact as he started to advance towards her.
She didn't move and even encouraged him to come closer with her hand waving happily towards him.
He was only some meter away from her, when suddenly something appeared in his way.
Sanji had no time to jump over the obstacle and fell, a searing pain exploding in his thigh.
Hitting the ground hard, the white floor transformed into dirty, black stone and when he inhaled deeply, he could smell the dust in the air.
'Sanji...' Somebody was calling him... but it wasn't Nami.
'Hey'
Something hard hit his ribs, making him moan in obvious discomfort.
"Hey, you stupid cook!! Get up! I sure as hell won't carry ya!!" A gruff voice he knew better than he would love to, told him angrily and Sanji had no other chance but to open his eyes and face the owner of the voice.
"Get outta my sight with your damn toothpicks..." Sanji mumbled under his breath, hands coming to rest underneath his chest where he was lying face down on the cold floor.
Though he had his eyes open, he still couldn't see much.
It was gloomy and some stubborn white dots still danced across his vision, refusing to leave him the hell alone.
In front of him, he could make out two set of boots and two wore-down sandals.
One of the boots lifted off the ground, swinging towards his belly where they connected with his stomache, making his mumble some curses.
"Hey, Sanji!" Looking up, the blond man stared with bleary eyes at Usopp.
"Huh?"
"Where's Nami?!"
/()/()/()/
At least she was alive.
"I ask you last time! What is your name?!"
Averting her eyes from her still cuffed wrists, Nami looked at the owner of the dark voice... some marine soldier, she had forgotten the name of, but was calling 'Mr. Idiot' instead.
Staring into his angry eyes, she merely shrugged, which was about all she was intending to offer voluntarily as long as he didn't ask nicely!
Shaking his head, he gave another man standing behind Nami a slight sign with his hand, which lead to a very unpleasent pull at her hair.
"Ok! Calm down. ... My name's Nojiko."
A frown appeared on Mr. Idiot's forehead as he went through the list of wanted criminals.
After some moments, he laid the list back down and regarded Nami with a long hard look.
"Alright... Nojiko... Seems you have a clean record, well, until now anyway." He told her, not missing the rolling of her eyes at his words.
"Why did you attack those soldiers?"
Nami was so not in the mood to talk with that guy... she was, to say it bluntly, pissed off. Big time!
"I attacking them?! 'They' attacked 'me'!" Nami said, her voice rising a notch.
Sighing, the marine soldier shook his head as he regarded 'Nojiko' with a disbelieving look.
"Well, whatever. You and your accomplice, who we still havn't found, injured seventeen marine soldiers and one of them will probably lose his left arm..." 'Ouch', Nami thought as she remembered how Sanji had smashed that guy into a wall with his boots.
"We'll bring you to the next marine base, where you'll be accused of serious bodily harm. Until then you'll be held prison in this cell on board of this ship."
Now it was Nami's cue to sigh as she watched Captain Whatever-his-name-was walk out of her new residence for the next few days. The cell had probably been designed for very, very small people and had only few comforts, like a hammock and a sink... but she had seen worse in her days as thief.
Closing her eyes and exhaling loudly, she sat back against the metal wall of the cell. She drew her legs up and laid her arms crossed onto her knees, allowing her head to rest on them for a while.
"Just great... "
For a second, it was silent. Not only her surroundings, but also her mind was blank.
But then again it didn't take long for Nami to occupy her brain with something... something that had actually happened without it's consent.
"Why did I do this?" She mumbled barely audible for her own ears.
'Because you knew that this was probably the last chance for you to show him your true feelings.' A very unfriendly voice told her in the back of her mind.
"Shut up... there'll be plenty of chances to do that... after I get outta here."
'Kidding, right? You should've told him a long time ago about it!' The nagging 'inner Nami' told her.
"I'm having a discussion with myself..."
'Trying to avoid the truth, huh?'
"Not avoiding it... I know my feelings for him."
'He's an idiotic love cook, glued to your ass as if his life depends on it? You like the way he shows you 'his' feelings? You like the lil presents he gives you every single day?'
Anger boiled up in her vains and with a loud thud Nami banged her head against the wall behind her,
making a face as the pain spread out through her skull, apperently gathering in her temples.
"I hope you're alright, Sanji..."
/()/()/()/
"She did what?!?" Luffy asked incredulously after Sanji had told them what he remembered of what had happened after Usopp had left him and Nami alone in this house.
"And you stupid baby let her just leave, huh?"
"Shut the hell up! She hit me with her staff and I lost consciousness..."
This time, Zoro didn't know a smart-ass reply. He merely stared at Sanji, still sitting on the floor, where Usopp was fixating his leg with a makeshift cast.
"Yeah, sounds like Nami... but why would she leave you alone and get herself consciously into danger?"
Luffy nodded at hearing Usopp's thoughts.
"Dunno... she's been behaving strangely right from the moment after I got injured."
"Why? What did she do that makes ya think so?" Luffy asked, sitting cross-legged on a dusty table.
Sanji felt a slight blush rise in his cheeks and hoped nobody noticed it in the gloomy light of the room. He really didn't have the nerve right now to explain them what Nami had done before she had hit him... especially not as long as Zoro was anywhere near him!
"She seemed a bit off, I guess..." 'Phew. Rescued by the liar.' Sanji thought when Usopp spoke up.
"Was way too concerned about his leg and sent 'me' instead of going herself to get you... you know her; she'd normally fight with me about who needs more protection... though I don't need any help! I'm a brave warrior of the sea!!"
"Well, we should better get going and find her... without Nami we will never find the One Piece and then I'll never become Pirate King!!" Luffy explained hastily, terror clearly evident in his eyes.
"Maybe, one of those soldiers running around outside knows where she is..."
Sanji didn't like to admit it, but Zoro was right. They needed to find her ASAP and without further delay. Every wasted second meant, that Nami could be in life-threatening danger and that was something, Sanji would and could never accept as long he was alive!
/()/()/()/
"Nojiko, huh?"
'Mr. Idiot again...' Nami sighed inwardly when the soldier from earlier along with the captain of the ship opened the door to her cell.
"We contacted the captain of the ship that we hoped could bring you to the marine base and sent him your photo... seems as if he knows you and well, your name isn't 'Nojiko', right?"
"If you wanne call my mom a liar..."
"No, I call 'you' a liar! Captian Smoker told me you're the navigator of the Straw-hat pirates and that your name is 'Nami'... is that right?"
Nami didn't say a word, instead, she tried hard to supress a groan.
Smoker... not that guy again!
She already knew what was going to happen next...
"He asked for the immediate handing over of your person. We're already on our way and should reach his position within the next few hours."
Talk about falling out of the frying pan into the fire...
/()/()/()/
"Where have they gone?!" Sanji was on the verge of flipping out!
Why wouldn't that guy just tell them where the ship with Nami on board was heading?
His precious love was alone, somewhere out there, maybe hurt and only God knew what torture she had to endure while she was on board of a ship with dozens of damn, brutal marines!
Pursing his lips, Zoro tightened his grip on the collar of the soldier's shirt and pulled his face nearer towards his... which brought cold sweat onto the poor man's forehead.
"Hey, Usopp! Tell me, when was the last time I sharpened my swords?" He said in a low, dangerous voice, eyes never leaving the anxious ones of the soldier.
"Uhm... 's been some weeks, I guess."
"Good... " With that, Zoro slowly drew out his Wado-ichi-monji with his free hand, bringing it near the soldier's neck.
"Alright, alright!! The ship is on its way to the next marine base!"
"And how do we get there?" Turning around, Usopp asked Luffy. "Nami still got our Lock Pose."
"You're right... hmmm..."
Stepping forward, one hand holding onto a crutch, Sanji looked coolly at the frightened marine soldier, lightening a new cigarette. "Anybody here got an Eternal Pose to that base? Nobody?" He asked seemingly no-one in particular.
"I-I have..."
The four friends turned as one to the owner of the wavering voice, mischievous grins covering their faces.
Sanji would find her... no matter at what costs!
/()/()/()/()/()/
FINIS!!
Sorry... a bit dense, I know, but I had to get some plots started here... next chap'll be much more shippier! Promise!!