Chapter 3 – Tension Rising

"WOAH! It's huge!"

Zoro sighed and looked up at the crow's nest. "Luffy, seriously, everything is huge to you."

Luffy frowned. "Well, it is," he retorted defensively. He tossed the binoculars to Zoro. The swordsman caught them and looked in the direction Usopp and Luffy were pointing to.

The clouds were huge and they stretched out across the entire horizon. They were nearly as black as the night sky. Within the solid-looking sheets of torrential rain, forked lightning flashed everywhere, hitting the surface of the water. The monstrous waves beneath the clouds were easily big enough to swallow the Going Merry.

"...Hmmmm... Yeah, it's kinda big, I guess."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, "KINDA BIG?" Luffy and Usopp screamed in disbelief.

Sanji walked up to Zoro and snatched the binoculars from his hands. "Lemme see." He looked for a good minute. He handed them back to Zoro. "Well, what scares me most is the rate at which it's moving towards us..."

Nami and Vivi walked to where Zoro and Sanji were standing. They both took a look and Nami gave out a low whistle. "That is one huge storm."

"HA!" Luffy cut in. "See, Zoro? Huge! Even Nami said it was huge!"

Nami looked up at Luffy and gave him a somewhat awkward smile. Luffy grinned back. "Hey, way to back me up, Nami!" He chuckled and jumped down from the crow's nest. He looked around the ship with an expression of pure happiness on his face. "Well, I guess we gotta start making preparations, don't we?" Luffy laughed. "Oooh, this is gonna be fun!"

Sanji shook his head disbelievingly and sighed; Zoro grinned at Luffy and nodded in agreement; Vivi couldn't help but smile at Luffy's enthusiasm; Nami just firmly kept her eyes on her feet. She didn't want to face the others just now... especially Luffy.

"Oi, Usopp!" Luffy called up to the crow's nest. "What do ya wanna do? Stay up there and watch or come down here and help?"

Usopp shrugged in response. "Stay up here for now. I'll warn you when the storm is about to hit us." (Not that it matters... WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!)

"Cool," the captain responded. "Sanji, take the sail down. Vivi, start stabilizing the mast. Zoro, go down below and start fortifying the hull."

Zoro chuckled. "Stabilizing? Fortifying? Such big words, Luffy." Luffy gave his giant grin in response. He pointed to Nami. "It's from listenin' to her give orders all the time. Hee hee!" Nami couldn't help but blush. She turned away so no one would notice. However, Vivi noticed. She frowned slightly. After that, everyone got to work.

Luffy took his usual post on the front of the ship. Usopp soon came down to join him. "I kinda feel uncomfortable up there," said Usopp sheepishly. "It's kinda scary with that big storm coming and all."

Luffy shrugged. "Whatever. You can watch from here." Usopp smiled. "That's what I was planning."

"Uh... Luffy?"

Luffy and Usopp turned to see Nami. Usopp noticed her discomfort right away. She was keeping her eyes averted from their faces and she looked like she would rather be anywhere else than right there talking to him and Luffy.

Luffy, of course, didn't notice a thing. "Yo, what's up?"

"Um... what can I do to help?" Nami asked quietly. Usopp was actually kind of worried. (What's wrong with her? Is she feeling sick or something?)

Luffy shrugged again and turned his head back to the incoming storm. "I don't care. I'm sure you can find something."

Nami looked down at her feet and shuffled them nervously. Usopp frowned. "Uh... you could help Vivi fortify the mast, or you could go down below and help Zoro."

Nami smiled at Usopp. "I think I'll take the second option." She quickly walked away.

Usopp scratched his head in confusion. "I wonder what's wrong with her..." he wondered out loud. Luffy looked at Usopp. "Huh? What are you talking about? There was something wrong with her?"

Usopp sighed exasperatedly. "You're hopeless, Luffy." Luffy grinned. "Hopeless? Nah. I have all you guys in my crew! How could I be hopeless?" Usopp couldn't help but smile.

Vivi overheard the conversation while she was tying the mast's ropes to the hooks on the deck. (Luffy really loves his crew... but I'm not a member of it. How could he possibly love me if I'm not in his crew?) She frowned.


Nami found Zoro in the bottommost past of the ship. He was nailing more planks into the known weak points of the hull. He even had sheets of metal nailed to some parts of the hull. (Wow,) Nami thought. (He sure is strong. Like Luffy...) She violently shook her head. (I have to get him out of my thoughts!... at least for now. We're facing a lethal storm here, and my attention must stay undivided.)

Zoro wiped sweat off his brow and turned to look at Nami. "Well? Are you gonna help, or just stand there and stare?" Nami scowled. "I'm here to help, baka. Why the hell else would I come down here?"

Zoro raised his eyebrows. "Aren't we a little bitchy today?" "I'll show you bitchy!" Nami yelled and she picked up a hammer.

"Okay, that's enough," Zoro said. He grabbed her hand to keep her from swinging. "I'd rather not get attacked by you twice in the same day. What's gotten up your ass, huh?"

She yanked her hand out of the swordsman's grasp. "You asking me stupid questions, that's what." She picked up some planks and nails and walked to another weak point in the hull and started hammering. Zoro watched her and raised an eyebrow. "Calm down, would ya? You're gonna take your fingers off with those wild swings."

"Zoro, BACK OFF," Nami growled. Zoro sighed and turned back to his work. "Whatever."

They worked silently for a while. Nami stopped for a second and looked around. (Damn this ship,) she cursed silently. (We shouldn't have to hammer so much shit into the hull like this. The Going Merry is starting to fall apart...) With that, she picked up some more nails. She was about to start again, but she was interrupted by something huge hitting the starboard side of the ship. She screamed as the ship rocked dangerously hard to the left and she fell. Zoro was able to stay standing. They heard Usopp's voice. He was completely freaking out.

"HOLY SHIT, THE STORM'S HIT US, WE'RE DOOMED, WE'RE GONNA DIE, SOMEBODY HELP UUUUUSS!"

Nami and Zoro looked at each other. "We better go up to see what we can do to help," he said grimly. Nami shook her head. "No, you stay here! Someone needs to stay down here and make sure everything is all right! Call Luffy if there are any big breaches in the hull!"

"Why me?" he called after her as she ran out.

"Because you're the great Zoro!" she called back. "You can do anything!"

He watched as she ran out and scrambled up the ladder. "I hate that psycho-bitch," he muttered angrily.


The torrential rain was making it very hard for the Straw Hat Pirates to see anything or stay standing. Lightning flashed everywhere.

"Shit!" Sanji shouted over the noise. "If that lightning hits us, we're screwed!"

Nami appeared. "Sanji's right!" she yelled. "What can we do to stop it?"

Usopp rubbed his chin. "Uh, do we have a lightning rod or something?" Sanji snapped his fingers. "That's it!" he yelled as an idea came to him. He ran into the kitchen.

Another big wave hit the side of the ship. Nami screamed and almost fell again, but Luffy caught her. "Thanks," she mumbled. No one heard her over the noise. He let go.

"How come no one catches me when I'm falling?" Usopp whined from the floor of the deck. He got up.

Suddenly, forked lightning came down right next to the Going Merry. Part of the railing on the port side was blown to pieces. "No... my ship..." Luffy muttered angrily. Just then, Sanji came running back out. He was holding a large metal broom handle.

"The biggest metal rod I can find!" he yelled. He gave it to Luffy. "Hold this up as high as you can!"

Luffy takes it and does so. "Uh, why am I do-" He's interrupted by a bolt of lightning hitting the metal rod he was holding. It didn't seem to hurt him, but he got very angry at Sanji.

'WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?" "I-I'm sorry... I didn't think it would hurt you..." "NOT ME, YOU ASSHOLE! MY HAT! THE LIGHTNING COULD HAVE HURT MY HAT!" "Oops..."

Luffy pulled his arm back and was about to punch his cook, but Nami grabbed his arm. "No, Luffy! This is no time to be fighting!" "Fine," he muttered. He gave his hat to Nami and stuck the pole down the back of his shirt. Another bolt of lightning hit him. Nami gasped. His skin looked charred and his hair stood up on end, but he was perfectly fine.

"Our rubber boy here can be our lightning rod!" Sanji yelled.

"I hope he'll be okay..." Nami whispered. No one heard her, of course.

More waves hit the ship. It rocked dangerously hard to the right. Everyone tensed up, expecting the ship to capsize, but it didn't. It stayed up somehow. Luffy whistled. "Luuucky!"

Then, a huge wave came towards them on the starboard side. It was big enough to submerge the entire ship.

"What are we going to do?" Nami screamed. Usopp yelled in terror and ducked low, covering his head. Sanji just watched, eyes wide in terror. Luffy, however, took action.

"GOMU GOMU NO..."

He jumped up into the air, stretched one arm and leg to the very front of the ship and the other arm and leg to the very back of the ship. He stretched out his body as much as he could. In result, Luffy's body became a huge wall blocking the entire right side of the Going Merry.

"...BARRIER!"

The wave crashed against his outstretched body. He yelled from the strain. Everyone winced, not able to imagine what the pain must have been like. Some of the water toppled over Luffy and onto the ship, but a vast majority of the wave was deflected. Luffy returned to normal size and knelt down beside his crew, out of breath. Nami rested a hand on his soaked shoulder. "Luffy, are you-"

"NO!" Sanji screamed and he yanked Nami's hand off Luffy's shoulder... right when another bolt of lightning hit him.

Luffy didn't get up from his kneeling position. Nami was worried. "Luffy, are you all right? Did that wave hurt you?" Luffy looked up at her. His face was blue and his teeth were chattering like crazy.

"N-no! It d-didn't hurt! B-but the water is r-really cold!" Everyone fell anime-style.

The wind really picked up. The ship started to lean on its port side. Usopp yelled when he saw a wave coming from the starboard side. "We're gonna capsize!" he cried, tears streaming down his face. No one could do anything about it; the wave hit the side of the Going Merry. The ship nearly went vertical. They all had to grab onto something to keep from sliding off the ship. Suddenly, they heard a scream. All the other way on the other end of the ship, Vivi went flying... right through the opening the lightning made in the port-side railing.

Wow... this chapter has to be among the worst of my works EVER. The storm situation was pretty damn unrealistic, and the writing itself was poor. Oh, well. I personally found it hilarious that Luffy was made into a walking lightning rod. I'm guessing electricity wouldn't hurt him since he's rubber and everything. Whatever. Please keep up the reviews!