Wrote this in record time, but havn't found the time until now to submit it... SORRY!!!!! starts crying Plase forgive me!
I'll try and do the next one faster, but exam-time has started sigh and there are tons of stuff waiting for me to get learned, so please bear with me!
Hope ya like it and find something worth to write a review about... the wish for another chappy is hopefully among the 'something-worth'-part!! XP
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"Monkey D. Luffy?"
Nodding, Nami folded her arms across her chest, pursing her lips as she waited for Shanks to continue.
But he didn't. He merely scratched his head and frowned down at the straw hat that slowly dried in the warm sun. Nami was still holding tightly onto it, her knuckles having turned white a long time ago.
'Like a lifeline', Shanks thought, averting his gaze to look in the orange haired woman's dark eyes.
It seemed she waited for something 'big' to happen and was already prepared for it( whatever 'it' was) judging by the determination in her eyes.
'Probably thinking I'm gonna throw her bak into the sea',Shanks thought, chuckling slightly.
"Heard of him. ... Funny guy, right? Didn't he beat the crap outta that Croc-idiot"
"Yep, that's him." Nami replied nonchalantly, never showing any sign of proudness. She was still wearing a mask, trying to conceal any emotion.
She had already had enough experience with all kinds of pirates, knowing damn well that displaying feelings meant giving away ones weaknesses or 'soft spots', as she liked to call it.
"And that hat is his""I guess that means 'yes'."
Obviously uncomfortable or totally nerve-wracked by Shanks interrogation (if one wanted to call this game so), Nami shifted from one foot onto the other, setting her jaw when she got painfully reminded of her earlier encounter with a hurricane.
She was raw to the bones, every little muscle in her body screaming bloody murder whenever Nami dared to move an inch.
A deep sigh escaped her lips, her features relaxing slowly when she found a more or less comfortable position.
"Maybe ya should hit the hay and get some sleep. Don't want the only woman on board to run around here, looking like a damn zombie." He smirked when Nami directed a weak glare at him. "I mean, my men would probably kill me."
"Alright. ... But don't even dare and think I'm gonna sleep in some dirty quarter with even one of those guys!" She declared, challenging Shanks to contradict.
"No, no! Don't worry, your own room is already prepared."
He stepped aside and pointed with his right hand towards a slightly open door, leading inside the large ship. Shanks bowed gentlemanlike and waited for Nami to walk past him.
"Oh, there's something you should better know, 'young lady'." He emphasizing the last part slightly.
Nami glanced across her shoulder, a slight shiver running down her spine when she remembered his words from their first encounter. A cheeky grin was covering the captain's lips.
"Maybe you've heard of this rule before... pirates don't like to be robbed. It's against the laws of nature."
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Her head had merely touched the cushion and Nami had already been asleep.
Now, almost six hours later, she slowly opened her eyes, finding the small room with only one bed and one cupboard bathed in nightly darkness. She guessed that it was probably around midnight, so no need to get up just yet.
She didn't know why she had woken up in the first place anyway and snuggled deeper into the covers, drawing her legs up so that she was lying in a small ball in the warm bed. Her toes were still cold, but apart from some bruises and three or four lightly stinging lacerations on her back and legs did nothing indicate that she had been fighting for her and Luffy's lives half a day ago.
Only now did Nami realize how lucky she had been, having landed on a ship (even though one of pirates) and having been given refuge for at least another day.
And Shanks had guaranteed her that she would be tolerated on his ship for the time they would need to reach the next island their Lockpose was aligned to.
'Lockpose'... she still had the one of her gang.
Which meant that the Going Merry was currently navigator-less, Lockpose-less and without any form of orientation or even a vague guess where to go now. Hopefully the guys would at least keep a clear head... she had told them millions of times what to make out of what type of cloud or what could happen when the wind changed suddenly directions or picked up.
'At least once', Nami hoped silently, 'show that you're all mature and not some brainless apes.'
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"Usopp?"
At hearing his name being called, the sharpshooter turned around to the voice with the whining tone in it.
"What is it, Chopper"
"I'm hungry... but Sanji wouldn't come down and he has forbidden us to touch the kitchen stuff."
Sighing, Usopp looked up towards the crow's nest, trying to glimpse a sign of their cook. The blond man had been sitting up there for almost two days now, his eyes constantly roaming over the wide ocean, hands gripping tightly onto the binoculars.
Sanji was looking for Nami.
He was waiting for her beautiful orange hair to suddenly appear right in front of the bow of the ship, smiling up at him and telling him not to worry anymore.
She hadn't showed any sign of her yet.
But the cook wasn't willing to give up on her either and refused to come down even when he was thirsty or hungry.
"I'll fix some toasts... did you know that I've been the one who invented the sandwich-cheese?" Usopp asked the little reindeer.
Chopper lifted his head and stared wide-eyed at his friend, jaw agape. "No! That was 'you'?"
"Yes!" And with that the long-nosed liar launched into a long, hair-rising tail of how he stole the cheese from some super-
monster.
On their way to the kitchen they walked past Zoro.
The green-haired man was sitting quite uncomfortably on the roof where the tangerine trees moved slightly in the breeze that filled the large sails of the Going Merry.
He stared straight ahead, his swords resting on his crossed legs.
Sighing, Zoro averted his gaze for a second, checking on Sanji and Robin before re-assuming his task of keeping watch over their captain.
Just like Sanji, Luffy hadn't moved much within the last thirty-four hours.
Right after having changed into dry clothes and after he had shaken off Chopper's busily working hooves, he had plunked down on the lamb's head and had started to stare ahead.
Constantly, Chopper or Usopp, who were pretty much the only beings on board who tried to keep the ship going and everyone healthy, brought Luffy, Sanji and Zoro something to drink or eat. And though Zoro would never admit it, Sanji's food was much much better than anything he was forced to eat right now. Even the scrambled eggs Usopp had made this morning had tasted like they had been digested before.
Blinking once, the swords-fighter shifted slightly, trying to work out the strain in his shoulder muscles.
To no avail.
He would need a good nap and some working out to get the knots out of them.
"Whatever..." He mumbled when his eyes caught the slight movement of his captain.
Luffy had crossed his arms over his chest, but otherwise he showed no sign of intending to stop his sitting. He was still glue to the spot, giving no indication of exhaustion.
The slight breeze ruffled his raven hair, a sight none of his teammates had ever seen before on him... well, at least not for almost two full days!
With his yellow straw hat gone, he didn't look like himself.
It almsot seemed to them as if all his happiness and carefreeness had vanished with the hat and Nami without a sign in the dark depths of the ocean.
Again, Zoro blinked and listened for a second to the conversation of Chopper and Usopp in the room underneath him.
"It's not the same..." Chopper mumbled, toying with a spoon and a fork.
"I know. I would have never believed it, but without Nami I don't think we can achieve anything."
Grunting under his breath, Zoro blocked out the voices of his friends.
He 'knew' they were right.
Nami had been the only one of them who had had an idea of navigation. She had been the only one among the crew who had been able to interpret sudden weather changes or what it meant when the current got faster or slower. She had been the only one who could say when and how a storm would appear and what they all had to do to escape unharmed.
She had also been one, who always knew how to put an unnecessary fight to an end... even if that meant giving him or Sanji a real good beating. Nami had always helped to keep them all going and together and she would have also been the one who would tell them what to do right now.
Now, the person they had to rely on was Robin. A fact Zoro wasn't particularly happy about. He still wasn't sure what to think of that woman and the omnipresent silence that surrounded her.
Zoro turned his head slightly to his left, making sure Nico Robin was still sitting in her folding chair with that large book in her hands. How somebody could get so absorbed into reading millions of sides, filled with boring stuff, the swords fighter couldn't and didn't want to understand.
"Lunch!!" Usopp suddenly yelled, pushing the door open and emerging with a large plate balanced on one hand. Chopper was hot on his heels, never losing sight of the nearly black toasts. At the sight of another messed up lunch, Zoro wrinkled his nose in disgust, sighing exaggeratedly when he felt his stomach grumble despite the knowledge of the food's condition.
"Well... what the hell." He told himself and unfolded his crossed legs, jumping down from the roof and landing silently on the bridge.
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In.... out... in... out...
Listening to her breath, Nami tried hard to suppress the voice in the back of her head, telling her to get moving.
She wasn't sure why, but something inside her didn't feel right... tough it was a quite familiar feeling of uneasiness.
Slowly she got up from the chair and walked across the room to the tiny bull's eye in the wall nearest to the bed.
Frowning, she looked out of the window, surveying the calm blue ocean that sloshed around the ship. Some seagulls flew away from the ship, disappearing in the with small clouds covered sky.
Something wasn't right... Whenever the hair at the back of her neck stood at end, Nami was sure tht something big was coming up.
'Hopefully not another storm.' she thought anxiously, massaging her temples.
'Gonna make sure that wannabe-navigator of that ship knows about the weather changes.'
With that she started to make her way to the upper deck, eyes searching for any sign of the captain.
As Nami walked through the long corridor her eyes fell on a door that was slightly ajar.
Known among her friends to be quite curious when it came to the belongings of other people, the young woman pushed the door further open and peeked around the corner to make sure no-one was iside who could jeopardize her nosing around.
To her luck she was alone and so she opened the door fully, stepping into the room and coming to halt beside a large bed.
The quarter also contained two large cupboards, a desk, which was covered in maps and empty bottles, and a large box.
'Aha!', Nami thought and a mischievous smirk appeared on her lips when she slowly made her way towards the box.
She already knew what was hidding within it, the first exciting feeling of anticipation building up within her stomach.
Suddenly she heard voices coming from the corridor.
They were still distant and so she hastely retreated out of the room, leaving the door just as she had found it.
Two pirates walked past her, giving her a once-over. Name ignored them pointedly and didn't give the laughter that irrupted behind her another thought. Idiots were idiots. No matter where she was.
Which brought her back to 'her' idiots,
'Hopefully they'll find an island... they need a Lockpose or Luffy can forget to find the One Piece.' Nami thought bitterly.
She had finally reached the upper deck and stepped out into the bright sunlight. The men of the pirate gang were busily scrubbing the deck or patching up holes in the sales and nets they used for fishing.
Her eyes surveyed the work for a few seconds before they settled on two laughing men standing at the tiller. Sighing she walked over to them, climbing up a small ladder to the bridge of the large ship.
"Hey!" Nami called out, having nearly reached them. The two men turned at once, a smile immediately breaking out on Shanks'
face when he saw her standing, on hand on her hip, right behind him. "Slept well? How was lunch?"
Frowning, Nami thought back to the guy who had accompanied her on her way to her quarters. He had carried a plate with bread and cheese and something to drink, but Nami had been to exhausted to even think about eating and had left the food behind untouched.
She felt almost sorry... such a nice gesture.
"Great." She lied, crossing her arms over her chest. Nami gave him her best encouraging smile, hoping he would believe her.
"Good... you need anything or why are ya here?" His eyes wandered down her body to where she had tied the straw hat with a thin cord around her waist. It hung low in her back but was safe from getting blown away or robbed... none of his men would dare and touch that specific part of her torso...
Shanks noticed the many small patched up places where something had sliced the hat open, leaving behind marks much like scars.
It seemed the non-swimmer had had a lot of fun... or had survived a lot of dangerous adventures, knowing that 'fun' in Luffy's opinion wasn't always fun in the common sense of the word.
Nami's brows ceased as she averted her gaze from him and looked up into the with white clouds dotted sky. Her eyes wandered across the horizon until she found a dark spot seemingly kilometers away from the ship.
She knew it wouldn't take much longer until the storm front would catch up with them and because her life depended on it,
she sighed and stared at the expecting face of the Red Shanks.
"You his navigator?" Nami asked the second man beside Shanks.
He nodded in return, giving her a quizzical look.
"Where did ya learn your job? Or did you already notice the crappy storm that comes our way"
The frown on the men's faces deepened and they both turned in unison into the direction where Nami was pointing at.
"Uh oh... "
"Could say that." Nami said, smiling slyly. She listened as Shanks started giving orders and watched the pirates running around on the ship, doing what they could do to get the ship out of the storm's range. "Well done. Your captain hopefully knows what a fine navigator he got there." Shanks told her across his shoulder, his hands holding tightly onto the tiller.
A deep sigh escaped Nami's lips and her eyes wandered down to her bare feet. 'Had...'
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"NO!!"
"But"
"I said 'NO'!!"
Inhaling deeply, Robin leaned back against the main mast, crossing here legs as she stood across from Luffy. The other members of the straw hat crew were standing lined up around her in some sort of messed up semi-circle. Even Sanji had decided to get down from the crow's nest, staring at his black boots as he listened silently to the conversation between his captain and the female archaeologist.
"Captain, we 'need' a new navigator. Even if you say that 'I' should take over the job for some time. I'm no substitute for someone like Nami and can't possibly do it without a Lockpose!" The raven-haired woman told Luffy solemnly, her voice never rising even when Luffy contradicted quite vehemently and without any convincing arguments against her suggestion.
Which basically was the plan that they should get to the next island and find a new navigator.
"He is right." Zoro suddenly declared. "Even though Nami and I had our disagreements, I don't think anybody else could take over 'her' job and fit into this crew like she did. And I guess that shit-head is on my side on this one." Zoro pointed to the blond cook, who had just lit a cigarette.
Sanji had kept silent until now, having not intended to interrupt a lady so rudely. But now that he had the chance to voice his displeasure regarding Robin's idea, though he wasn't normally a man who would say anything against a woman, he would take it and protest.
"Nami is still out there! I won't allow anyone of you to say otherwise! I know we will find her and until then I'm on Luffy's side... No other navigator. I'd feel it if she was dead!"
"But we can't move on without at least a Lockose! This is the Grande Line and not the East, West, North or South Blue! Without a way of orientation, we are doomed." The woman told them again. She pushed herself away from the mast and stared at Luffy and the others expectantly.
"Then we better find an island. We need a new Lockpose until Nami returns with the old one!" Luffy told her and with that he turned around, making his way back towards the Lamb's head. He jumped onto it and eyed his crew across his shoulder.
"Sanji is right. It doesn't feel like she's dead. ..." He paused, a deep frown on his face as he obviously thought about something.
"She's after all a straw hat pirate!"
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"Here."
Startled, Nami looked up from her wrist and stared into the bright eyes of Shanks.
He was nodding with his chin at something in his hands, encouraging Nami to take the bundle.
"What's this?" She asked, opening the small package carefully... she had always been mindful when it came to unforeseen presents (apart from Sanji's), not intending to end blown up.
"Nicked it from the kitchen." Shanks told her, sitting down beside her on the large hatch.
Nami had been sitting there for hours, watching as the sun slowly disappeared behind the blue horizon. The last red-orange rays of light warmed her face and bare feet and allowed her to relax slightly, letting down her guard for a while. Nami was still quite tired and the always present fear that somebody she didn't know would come up behind her and try to kill her had made her edgy all day long.
"Chocolate?" She stared at the brown stuff in the handkerchief with a mixture of disbelief and joy.
'Chocolate!' Exactly what she needed right now! Sugar to load her energy reserves. Who knew when she would need them again?!
"Eat it... take it as a queer way of saying thank you. You probably safed our asses back there with your forecast. Are ya the beautiful version of a weather frog?" He asked her, leaning back on his hand as he stared up into the dimly lit sky.
He heard her chuckle shortly under her breath and when Shanks turned his head around slightly, he saw her chew on a small piece of chocolate.
"I guess we should reach the next island within the next thirty hours... maybe less. Then you'll be able to get your search-mission started and finally find that crew of yours!" Shanks told her with a wide grin.
Nami merely nodded, staring down at the Lockpose around her wrist. The little black arrow pointed into the opposite direction from where Shanks' ship was currently heading into... at an island the straw hat pirates had been supposed to take a good look at and have a new fantastic (but probably too dangerous for such a lovely lady) adventure.
"I got another question there." He suddenly blurted out, sitting up straight as he watched her caught up in her depressing thoughts.
"Can't promise an answer."
"Thought so... Could you tell me something about your captain? What has he done since he's on sea"
"Quite a lot you wanna know there, huh?!... "Nami eyed him, her teeth gnawing on the inside of her cheek a she thought about her reply.
She couldn't be sure about his intentions.
He may be playing 'Mr. Nice Guy' and in reality he planned a big huge honkin' attack against her men!
Nami didn't know everything about Luffy. Only God knew what kind of crap he had been in before he had met her and Zoro. And to be honest, she wasn't intending to get pulled into any of the old damn stories. Luffy was a big boy who could handle his enemies, old or new ones, quite well.
But she also didn't want to get him deeper into any shit!
On the other hand, Shanks really seemed to be one of the 'nicer' pirates and normally Nami could trust her female intuition.
"Why? He one of your sandbox buddies? Or just another arch-enemy on your list"
"None of it... call it just a personal interest."
"Well, don't think I'll tell ya anything big! Just some basics and I'm good at keeping it at a minimum of information!" Nami told him seriously, regarding him with a long, hard look that normally made even Zoro climb down.
"Just the basics." He nodded in comfirmation and waited.
"He's quite some pirate. A bounty of one hundred million Belly should say it all. He's beaten the crap outta some of the worst guys on the sea, including Don Creek, Arlong and Sir Crocodile. He's one hell of a good captain and everybody who dares and says otherwise will get one hell of a headache... I personally see to this! And I'm two hundred percent sure, and that's not normal for me, that he'll find the One Piece and become the next pirate king! That's for sure!!" Nami finished with a dark look.
"Oh... ya don't wanna tell me more?" Shanks got his answer in form of a very, very dark glare, which made him swallow the next comment immediately.
He was just a bit disappointed, because he already knew most of what Nami had just told him and he had actually hoped to get to know more about the little former tomboy and what he had changed into over the years.
Well, if his navigator was sure that he'll become the next pirate king, maybe he would meet him then quite soon.
Luffy still had something he had promised to give Shanks back.
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FINIS!!
There's the third part!! Liked it??? This story isn't over yet, so tell my muse to keep on having ideas for another chap.
pleaseeeee!! She doesn't listen to me anymore TT'