The Heart of A Thief
Kyo Tanazaki
The moonlight settles coldly on the night as the Merry-Go drifts quietly through the gentle waves as they break along her hull. Meanwhile her ever optimistic captain and his crew of merry pirates sleep soundly into the night. Well for the most part the crew was sleeping soundly with dreams of a care-free nature, but the ship's navigator Nami's dreams were far from care-free.
As she tossed and turned trying to escape from the horrors of her nightmare. Nami suddenly bolted upright drenched in a cold sweat and panting heavily as she looked around at her room. Various charts and maps that she had drawn were scattered all around the room. Nami's eye fell upon a particular map that she had surveyed a long time ago.
Nami felt the familiar ache in her heart as she sat in her bed and wrapped her arms around her legs hugging them to her as she began to cry softly. The dreams had returned it and had been so long since they had returned that they now had the same effects as before. Nami climbed out of the bed and walked to the door to her room, grabbing a piece of parchment from her bedside table and climbed the stairs to the deck of the boat.
Nami took a deep breath as she rose into the salty night air. She moved to stand near the mast of the Merry-Go, resting her head on the hard cedar of the wood she let the cool air swept around her and she let her mind wander to her dreams. She wrapped her arms around herself as the tears flowed more freely, as she slid down the mast stopping when she reached the floor.
Unconsciously her hand brushed over her left triceps. Her sleeve rises up her arm and now her arm is uncovered and a blue tattoo of a swirling swordfish is seen. Nami's thoughts returned to her dreams. Though they weren't really dreams they were memories eight years of bad memories.
They all had to do with him.
The monster.
The man.
The beast.
The bastard who destroyed her home town.
The demon who ruled with an iron fist.
The man on the bounty poster she had stolen from Johnny and Sanjiro.
The man who had taken away everything she loved.
The man who wasn't a man.
Her owner.
The Merman Arlong.
For eight years Nami had been his slave and a part of his pirate crew.
For eight years she had done things that made her hate herself.
For eight years she had turned her back on her family and friends.
For eight years she had been a murderous thief and a traitor.
For eight years she had lived a lie and now it was almost over.
Now after eight years as Arlong's surveyor and personal slave she would soon be free.
It had taken eight long years to accumulate the 10 million berries to buy Coco Village from Arlong but she had. Now that she had Nami began to cry softly as she realized what she had to do to rid herself of Arlong completely.
She had to betray her new friends and steal the treasure that they had gathered together.
Nami had to betray her Captain Monkey D. Luffy.
She had to betray her friend and First Mate Roronoa Zolo.
Nami had to betray Usopp the ship's Marksman and resident coward.
They had been her only true friends, in fact her only friends. She had laughed and cried and smiled with them and meant it. They brought out feelings Nami hadn't felt since before...
The tears fell more freely now as her thoughts came to one conclusion.
She did care for her friends and didn't want to hurt them but she didn't have a choice. As the wind carried her tears out to sea Nami wept because she knew that this would be the last time she would ever she her shipmates again, and the very thought was breaking her heart.
