Alright folks. Sorry, but this chappy is a bit shorter. Hope ya like it though!
Thanks go as always to my sister! One Piece forever!!! ;P
Oh, and a happy new year for you all!!! Don't celebrate too much (Only after you r&r-ed)!! OO'
(-)(-) means flashback!!
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"WHAT?!!"
It took both Usopp and Chopper to keep Sanji from launching an attack on Luffy, who was standing ghostly white beside Robin at the railing, eyes staring into nothingness.
"She was in the water?" Robin repeated what Luffy had told them some seconds ago, looking down at the wet rope in her hand.
"Yeah." Was all the rubber-boy replied, suddenly averting his eyes and instead concentrating on the rope still tied around his waist, digging into his slightly raw skin.
"You probably fell into the sea and Nami thought it to be necessary to jump right after ya." Zoro vocalized his thoughts and was regarded with an ominous silence. Even Sanji had stopped struggling against his two comrades when the words sunk in.
Chopper unhooked his hooves from around the cook's legs and made his way across the still slippery deck towards his captain.
Luffy hadn't moved an inch, his arms crossed in front of his chest and eyes casted downwards, unable to focus on his friend advancing towards him.
"Nami is alright... right, Luffy?" The little deer asked, starting to open the tightly knotted rope until it fell off and landed around Luffy's sandals.
"'Course she is." Usopp answered instead of Luffy, forcing a false smile onto his lips to assure Chopper.
"She has surely found something to use as a boat and is already on her way back to us!"
Chopper nodded absently, eyes roaming over the wide, blue ocean surrounding the ship. He seemed to expect Nami to come swimming towards them from the distance, but she never came... The only thing his eyes could see was water and some seagulls flying around the ship's mast.
"You're probably hungry." Sanji suddenly exclaimed, gaining everybody's attention. He had just lit a new cigarette and had jammed his tightly clenched fists deep into his wet trouser pockets.
"I'll go and make supper."
Without another word, the cook turned, his eyes casted downwards. Nobody ever saw the way his jaws clenched and how his brows ceased both in anger and deep concern. Sanji just disappeared, leaving behind the rest of the crew.
After a while, Usopp turned back to Luffy, mustering him for a few seconds before making his way towards him.
"Hey, Luffy! Where the hell's your hat!"
Sighing, Luffy looked up from his sandals. Chopper noticed the sadness in his eyes and felt his stomach tighten. What if they were all lying? What if Nami wasn't alright? She could be dead! There was no way of telling whether she had found something to hold onto, or whether some creature had decided that Nami would be a good dinner!
Luffy's eyes fell on the calm sea.
"Gone."
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(-)(-)
'Dammit!'
Anger mixed with defeat when the young girl watched small drops of blood seeping out of a cut on her right thumb. She put the finger into her mouth, tasting a faint trace of iron. She knew the flavour quite well, having had enough split lips and bleeding noses in her lifetime already.
Closing her eyes for a few seconds, she let her hands rest on her thighs. She tried to shut out the loud voice in her head, yelling at her to get back into gear before somebody caught her. But the girl with the dark orange hair knew from experience that lock-picking wasn't easy, especially when one was nervous or at edge and the damn lock was one hell of a challenge.
Lock-picking. Something she too had done way too often in her life already... a fact she was not proud of.
Concentrating on the even breathing of the man sleeping behind her in his bed and on the slight pain in her knees, on which she had been kneeling for almost fifteen minutes now, the girl's breathing slowly got back to normal. Absently she swept a calming hand across her features, wiping away some of the sweat on her forehead.
'Alright, Nami. You can do this!' She gave herself mentally a pep talk and opened her eyes, focusing on the lock with the metal instruments sticking out of it. Carefully she took them again and started working on the padlock. She tried to breathe as quiet as possible, not intending to miss the sound of the opening lock.
click
Smiling in relief, she stuffed the instruments back into her backpack and opened the large lid of the treasure box slowly.
Nami didn't want to waken the captain of this pirate ship with the noise of the gems and coins chinking.
Glancing back across her shoulder, she made sure that the man with the three scars across his left eye was still asleep, before turning back to the task of filling the large sack with as much of the treasure as possible. Nami hoped the stuff she was currently carrying out of the box and into the bag would be worth at least two million Belly.
Frowning, she started to wonder where that guy had gotten the scars from.
Probably an angry mother, trying to defend her small children from the malicious pirate... If yes, it served him right! They should have chopped off his damn head!
"Who the heck are 'you'?!"
Taken totally by surprise, Nami spinned around, both hands holding diamonds and bracelets in a tight grasp. Her eyes focused on the man standing in front of her, one hand resting casually on his hip as he stared down at her. Nami guessed she must have looked like a kid caught with the hand in the cookie jar and she felt like one.
"Hey! That's mine!! Hands off!" He suddenly yelled, eyes wide when he realized what Nami was currently filling her sack with.
Nami couldn't answer.
She was too absorbed in what she was seeing, her eyes fixated on the left shoulder of the pirate where his arm was supposed to be. But all she could see in the dim light was a gross scar that looked like he had lost his limb in a grinder. She just couldn't take her eyes off of the stump.
"You listening??" The pirate slowly got angry and grabbed Nami by her left forearm, pulling her up into a standing position.
"Hey! Don't touch me!!" She hissed back angrily, finally averting her eyes from his bare shoulder and stared right into his surprised face.
"What the hell do ya think you're doin' here, young lady"
Nami pulled herself free out of his not so gentle grasp and stepped back some feet, squaring her shoulders when her legs bumped against the treasure box behind her.
"I'm a thief, specialized on pirates!!" She retorted, eyes narrowed to a thin line as she glared at her opponent.
"A thief?" He asked incredulously, frowning as he mustered her. "You can't be older than 'thirteen'! Ya shouldn't be running around alone telling pirates that crap, let alone doing that at night on a pirate ship 'full' of bad guys!!" The man with the striking red hair told her, his voice rising at the end a few notches.
Nami gave herself unimpressed.
"Ya shouldn't even know what a thief 'is', dammit!" The man without the left arm made a step towards her, reaching out with his right hand to take hold of her again. But Nami, being smaller and much more agile, just dodged his hand and took the with treasures filled sack in one fluid movement.
"Ya better leave that stuff right here. ... Believe me, when I tell you that pirates don't like to be robbed. That's against the laws of nature!!" He told her seriously, following her as she carefully stepped around him, slowly advancing to the open door where she would try and run back to the little boat she had come here with... and pray.
Suddenly the pirate captain dashed forward, intending to grab the large bag in her hands.
He really didn't want to keep her here and pursue the matter any further. He was just sad that such a young girl had already lost her childlike innocence.
'No!' Nami thought as she saw that the man was trying to take away 'her' treasure! The treasure she 'needed' desperately!
Letting go of the bag she hastely felt for the three wooden parts of her bo. Within a fraction of a second, the three pieces were put together and Nami positioned herself between the sack and the pirate, waving the bo threateningly at him.
She had to admit that she wasn't really good with that thing, yet. But she was practicing really hard whenever she had time.
About one year ago, Nami had decided that she needed a weapon to defeand herself with, both against the pirates she was robbing 'and' the Arlong gang. She had to establish herself in the rough hierarchy, gaining some respect. Otherwise she would be lost.
among those fish-heads.
"Hey, hey! Easy... you could hurt yourself with that thing, kid." The red haired man told her mockingly, a mischievous grin covering his lips.
Exhaling sharply, Nami focused hard on her target, his stomache, and darted forward.
But the pirate wasn't easily tricked and caught the one end of the bo aimed at his belly with his still present hand.
His grin broadened.
Unfortunately he had forgotten that the staff had 'two' ends and was not prepared for the second one to come crushing down on his forehead.
Nami watched with brows ceased in concentration as the pirate captain stared at her, his body starting to sway slightly.
An angry red line indicated her were exactly she had hit him and slowly a small laceration above his right eyebrow started to bleed, the liquid dropping down his eye and onto his chest and the floor.
Then he fell.
Biting her lip, Nami waited for his body to hit the ground.
thump
Eyes closed, the man lay on his back, his only arm spread out just like his legs. He was breathing normally and gave the impression that he had just fallen out of his bed and had re-assumed sleeping on the wooden floor.
Nami stuffed her staff into the backpack, closed the open lid of the half empty treasure box and tied up the large, heavy bag with a small rope. With much effort, she pulled the sack over her shoulder and made her way back towards the door, where she made sure that no one was waiting outside.
Before she disappeared out of the room and soon from the ship, she turned back towards the unconscious man and hoped she would never see him again.
(-)(-)
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sigh
Nami watched as the man in front of her gingerly touched a little scar just above his right eyebrow, a deep frown appearing suddenly on his face as he regarded her with a long, hard, scrutinizing look.
"Do I know ya?" He asked suddenly.
"Nope..." Nami feigned innocence. "But I read about you on the wanted list. You're the 'Red Shanks', right?"
"Yeah, that's him!" Somebody exclaimed from somewhere to her left, but Nami didn't pay any attention to anybody but the one-armed man in front of her. Something about his look made her want to gulp down a lump in her dry throat.
"Oh, alright!" Shanks smiled almost happily. "And what's your name"
"I don't suppose that's any of your business... and you also don't have to know where I'm from, what my hobbies are or what I've been doing alone in the water." She clarified and started a staring contest with the captain of this pirate gang.
"And what about your bra size?" One of the man gathered around her yelled cheekily.
Eyes narrowed, she slowly turned, arms crossed over her chest as she directed one of her death-glares at the group of boyishly grinning man behind her. "Ask again and I'll show ya the size of my 'fist'... if you're still alive afterwards, you deserve to know it."
Her angry eyes challenged the jerk to open his mouth again, but the guy apparently didn't have the guts to try his luck again and just shut up, hiding behind one of his comrades who was just as intimidated and scared as himself.
Nami then turned back towards the captain and waited for his laughing-fit to subside enough for him to be able to breathe again.
"Hahahaha... ya're good!" He told her, shaking his head.
Nami didn't answer and just stared at him, arms akimbo.
She was still holding tightly onto the straw hat in her hand, rubbing the wet material between her thumb and index finger.
The feeling of the rough fibers had a somehow calming effect on her. It made her feel much less vulnerable, knowing that she still had something of her crew with her.
"Guys, go and prepare a quarter for our guest... she needs something to change into and food." Shanks suddenly ordered and soon some of his man ran into the ship to do as they were told to.
"The rest gets back to work! We're in the middle of the Grand Line, dammit!!"
After a while, Nami and Shanks were alone, standing face to face in the center of the large deck.
Slowly he made his way towards her, a cheeky grin still covering the better part of his face.
"I got a question"
"Try me."
"Where did ya get that hat from?"
If Nami was surprised she didn't show any sign.
Her face was a carefully set neutral mask. Only for a fraction of a second allowed she her eyes to look horrified.
'What if he knows Luffy? He's probably another damn arch enemy on that rubber-idiot's long list of foes!' She thought angrily,
grasping the straw hat tighter in her clenched fist.
"Why do you wanna know this?" She asked nonchalantly.
"Well, I have the feeling it doesn't belong ya... maybe you thieved it?" He asked casually, scratching his forehead and the spot where the small scar was.
'Oh. boy'
Nami knew that he knew her and that he knew that she knew him.
"No, why would I? I'm no thief." 'Well, at least not primarily anymore', Nami added in her mind.
"It belongs a very good friend and I'm gonna give it back to him when I meet him again!"
'If', Nmi thought. 'What if I never find them again? What if Luffy fell back into the water and drowned? What if they sink in the next storm or get lost completely? I still have the Lock Pose'
Shaking her head slightly, she tried to banish the thoughts and concentrated again on the straw hat she pressed tightly against her thigh.
She was a damn straw hat pirate and damn proud of it! She wasn't supposed to think such crap!! What would the others, what would Luffy think of her?!
"A very good friend?" Shanks repeated, mustering her closely from head to toe.
"Yeah... you probably know him. He's quite famous." Nami told him, lifting her chin higher. She 'was' a straw hat pirate!
No need to hide her identity! Luffy had showed her that there was no need to be afraid with such great, loyal friends on her side.
No.
Nami wasn't going to deny herself!
So what if he was going to throw her back into the water?! What if he was gonna make her walk over the planks, huh!
She was a pirate and damn happy!! She had played damsel in distress long enough! Now she had the chance to tell the world who she was... finally Nami had an identity 'she' had chosen!
"His name is Monkey D. Luffy. He'll be the next pirate king!"
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FINIS!!
Uaaaaaahhh!!!!! Why the heck did she do that?? What will Shanks do now??? Argh!
So what do you think'll happen next? Ideas? Criticism? Stones and/or spears? Gimme some reviews!! XD Sorry that this chappy is not longer, but I didn't want to give away 'everything' just yet :)