Chapter 4 Look Me In The Eye
The next day Luffy decided they'd need some place better to stay until his crew found them. Since they didn't know the way to the next town, unfortunatly, that meant they would have to go back to the old lady's house and ask for directions. When they finally found their way out of the forest they made their way back to the old lady's house. Then they arrived.
"Are you sure she isn't sore about what you did to her bed?" Nami asked nervously. She was a little uncomfortable with this whole thing. This lady sounded like a real wack job!
Luffy shrugged. "I don't know but we've got to find another place to stay. I'm starving!" He knocked and the old hag came to the door.
"Not you again!" she groaned, "What did you come back to break down now?"
Luffy gave a nervous laugh, "Actually old lady, we were just wondering if there was another town around here and -HEY! OUCH! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!"
"Seems to be healing.." the old lady observed, who had unbottoned Luffy's shirt and ripped off one of the bandages, "But I can tell you haven't given it enough time to completely heal."
"THAT HURT!" he screamed at her.
The old hag iggnored him and looked over at Nami, "Yours seem to be healing okay too." The old lady grabbed hold of their arms and pulled them in. "Hmmm." she observed, "lookes like you need a few stitches."
The old lady pulled off Luffy's shirt.
"HEY! I NEED THAT!" he growled trying to get his shirt back.
She pushed him down on a bed. "Be quiet and let me work!"
Nami tried to speak, "Uh lady-"
"Tsk, Tsk, look at that! You all ready have new bruises!" The old women pushed Nami down next to Luffy. "You're legs look horrible! I'll bandage them right up!"
There didn't seem to be anyway to change the lady's mind so the two pirates just let her work. Nami waited paitently while she brued up some medicine. Luffy on the other hand waited but he was anything but patient! Luffy franticly rubbed his forearms, chattering his teeth. It was a very cold morning and the lady had no source of heat whatsoever! It was freezing in her house! Especially since he didn't have a shirt on! Finally they were all fixed up.
"There you go! Now what were you saying about a town?"
This time Nami explained, "We wanted to know if there was another town around here. We need some place to stay until our crew finds us!"
"Hmm.. Well there is another town. It's on the other side of the forest next to Dead Town's graveyard."
"Yeah, we kind of figured that, but we kind of got lost last time we went in there."
"Do you have a map?" Luffy butted in.
"I do, but I don't know why I should give it to a no good bed breaker like you!"
"As soon as our crew gets here we can pay you for it!" Nami spoke up.
She thought for a moment. "Well all right. But make sure you do! If you don't," she pointed at them, "DOOM ON YOU!"
The two pirates exchanged looks.
Luffy shrugged, "Okay, but you were kind of wrong about last night. There wasn't any "DOOM!" at midnight."
"Oh, wasn't there?" she said glancing at Nami.
Nami gasped. Could she know about Arlong? But how is that possible?
"Nope." he grinned, "Thanks alot for the map!"
The two pirates started to head out the door.
"Wait!" she called after them.
They looked back.
"What?" Nami asked.
The old lady eyed Luffy's arm. He put a hand over the scratches and gave her a dangerous glare.
"No doom, eh?" she chuckled.
They left.
When they were outside Luffy grinned, he made a circle in the air with his finger next to his head.
Nami giggled.
The Straw Hat Crew had set sail again, this time going in the direction Zoro suggested. But unfortually there's never a dull moment on Luffy's ship and there was trouble with the crew.
"HEEEEEELP!" Chopper screamed.
Hanging all the way up on the sail wasn't a pleasent thing. It was enough to make a pirate sea sick! And then some!
"CHOPPER!" Zoro growled, "HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET UP THERE!"
The little blue nosed reindeer glared at Usopp dangerously. Usopp put his hands behind his back innoscently.
"Why did you do that!" Zoro questioned..
"It was an accident!" Usopp explained, "You said to lower the sails and his horns caught on the sails."
"THEY'RE NOT HORNS!" Chopper screamed at him, "THEY'RE ANTLERS!"
"WELL HOW AM I SUPPOST TO KNOW?" Usopp screamed back.
"Snacks for everyone!" Sanji announced coming out of the ships kitchen and onto the deck.
"FOOD!" Usopp slobbered.
"Get back you slobbering slob!" Sanji growled, "no food for Luffy losers!"
"WHAT!"
"You lost Luffy and Nami and now you have to be punished!"
Zoro just tried to keep his cool as they sounds of the ship seemed to do everything in their power to annoy him.
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE! MY MOTHER!"
"Obviously not, your mother must have been a dog with the way you slobber..."
"WHAT WAS THAT!"
"YOU HEARD ME!"
"HEY, GET ME DOWN FROM HERE!" Chopper cried.
"THAT'S IT!" Zoro growled pulling out his swords.
Zoro used the handels of the swords to give Sanji and Usopp a good wack on the head. Then he kicked the sail so Chopper would fall down.
Chopper was falling and screaming.
"NOW LISTEN UP! NO ONE HERE IS ALLOWED TO SAY ANOTHER WORD AS LONG AS I'M IN CHARGE OF THIS SHIP! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR!"
Sanji and Usopp gave a scared nodd.
The whole time Zoro was giving his speach you could hear Chopper's screaming getting louder until finally he safetly landed on Zoro's head.
BOOM!
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Zoro rested his cheek on fist and drummed his fingers on the decks floor, "This isn't my day..."
With the help of the map the old lady had provided for the pirates they were able to find their way out of the woods no sweat! Which allowed them to make their first stop.
Luffy drooled as he watched the chefs prepare huge steaks the size of his head. "Meat..."
The two walked into the restraunt and ordered some food.
Luffy went right at it eating steak like he was a starving bear. Nami on the other hand took small bites out her food and was soon full and had Luffy asking her, "Are you going to eat that?"
Finally the two pirates were fullfilled.
"Ah!" Luffy smiled, rubbing his now enormus gut, "That was some good meat!"
"Yeah, tell me about!" Nami agreed, "Okay, go pay the guy and let's go."
Luffy blinked, "Me pay? I thought you were going to pay?"
Nami pounded her hands down on the table, "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO INSISTED IN COMING IN HERE AND YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE ANY MONEY?"
"I don't carry money with me, I leave it in ship."
She smacked her forehead, "Oh great! Now we have to do all these dishes!"
"Oh well, at least we got to eat!"
Nami raised her fist debating whether or not to punch him.
After the two were finished, they headed back to the beach to see if they're ship had come yet.
But there wasn't a ship in sight.
Things weren't looking good. If their crew didn't find them how would they get to their crew? They couldn't buy a boat, they didn't have any money! And there didn't seem to be any other way off the island. And getting a job so they could save the money up would take way too long. How were they going to get out of there?
The two waited on the beach all day. After awhile Nami sat down. But not Luffy. He just stood there. Hands in his pockets with his eyes fixed on the sea. The wind blew his hair forward. It was getting cold again, but he didn't care.
"I wonder how much longer.." Nami said.
Luffy said nothing.
Maybe it would take a few more days until they would find them, but their chances were pretty bad considering Nami was the Navigater and she couldn't help them. Especially since their most impotant part of the crew was missing, their captain. Who was going to take charge? What if they couldn't find them? What if they had given up all together?
Nami sighed.
"Maybe they're not-"
"No!" Luffy interupted her, looking down at her, "They'll come."
Nami bit her lower lip, "How do you know?"
"I have faith in my crew.." he answered, "they'll find us."
"Well," Nami started, standing, "I guess we should go back to town and figure out where we're staying."
Luffy didn't move. They both stood there for a few more minutes until Luffy finally started to walk away. "Let's go."
The two pirates walked around town, trying to figure out what they were going to do. Then Nami got an idea.
"Look!" she said pointing, "A map shop!"
A grin widened on the pirate captain's face, he laughed threw his teeth with a funny sound affect following it.
Lucky for the two pirates they had already marked trees so if they lost the map they would still know their way through both forests. And since they were going to pay the lady for the map, selling it didn't seem to be a big deal.
After they got the money from the map, they settled into a hotel.
"I guess this is where we're staying!" Luffy said flopping down on one of the beds.
Nami giggled. "Yeah, and we still have some money left over!"
Luffy sat up, then stood. "I think I'll have a little snack before I go to bed," he went to walk out the door, "do you want anything?"
Nami shook her head.
"Ok, I'll be back in a sec!"
He left.
She looked around the room. She was relieved they had came a safe town. Maybe now Arlong won't find me.
The girl yawned then sat on her bed. She flopped onto her stomach holding her pillow tightly.
Even though this whole thing was a nightmare, she liked the fact that she was getting to know her captain better. Maybe even better than I had expected. She laughed and sunk her face in her pillow.
"What's so funny, Nami?" a voice asked.
Nami's pupils shrunk. She rolled on her back. "YOU!"
"Hello."
Nami hurried to her feet.
"Thought you could run away from me, didn't you?"
Before she could say anything Arlong back handed her across the face. She fell to the floor.
"Did you tell you're stupid captain too?"
"No! I didn't!"
He smiled, "Good," he frowned again, "now that I know that I can't trust you, I guess we'll have to change our meeting point."
He smacked her again then laughed. The merman bent down and grabbed her shoulders. "Meet me on the beach, at midnight. You don't even want to know what happens if you don't"
He threw her at the bed. She fell to the floor hitting the bed post on the way down. She held her eye.
"Do we understand each other?"
Her voice quivered, "Y-yes."
He smiled, cruel and twisted, "Good girl, Nami. I'll see you later," he walked to the window, "Nighty night." he jumped.
Nami's whole body shook. There was no way out of this now. Scared tears ran down her cheeks. Then something dripped into her mouth. She tasted. She looked in the mirror and gasped.
"Look at all this food!" Luffy said, barging into the room with a tray full of food. He closed his eyes and grinned, "Isn't it great!"
She turned her head so he couldn't see anything. "Yeah it's great, Luffy."
Nami tried to calm herself, but her hand still shook at her side. Luffy noiced it. He set down the tray. "Nami?"
Oh my god, he saw my hand shaking! She tried to steady her breathing. She let out a weak laugh. "Let's get some sleep."
He ran up to her. "Nami, what's wrong?"
She didn't say anything, but she didn't need to. The scared look in her eyes was more than enough to let him know something was wrong.
"Why is you hand shaking?" he asked.
He tried to looked at her face, but she turned it.
"Nami!"
She turned it again.
He grabbed her face, "Look at me!"
He examined it. Nothing seemed wrong.
She smiled, "See I'm fine." her voice cracked.
He brushed hair from her right eye. He gasped. She had a black eye!
"What happened!"
She pushed him and turned away, "It's nothing, I'm fine.."
Luffy just stood there. Why do my hands feel wet? he thought. He looked down at them. Fresh blood stained his hands. Luffy turned her around, he kept a tight grip on her shoulders as he examined her face. Her cheek was bleeding!
"What-"
She pulled away. "It's nothing I'm fine! I-I just tripped!"
He grabbed her arm, "Nami!"
She smacked his hand, "It's nothing."
He grabbed her face again, looking her square in the eye. His eyes tottered back and forth as if searching for the truth, "You're lying to me!"
Nami pulled away, but this time when she did he pushed her forward. She fell onto the bed. She tried to get up but Luffy ran over and pinned her against it. He wasn't going to play games anymore.
"Who did this to you!"
She turned her head. He turned it back to him and held it there. "Who did this!"
Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. Maybe I could- No I can't!
She bent her legs and kicked him off of her and against the wall.
"Just leave me alone!" she cried as she ran out of the room.
He ran after her. "Nami!"
Authore's Note:
Just for those who might get the wrong idea. If you think I dislike anyone of the One Piece characters, I don't.I love them all! That's why I like the anime and the manga so much! So if you think I'm being mean to Usopp because I hate him or something I don't. I just need someone to be the dummy in this fic sometimes is all. So for you Usopp lovers, I don't hate Usopp. Actually I admire him for what he did for that one girl. What was here name? Kaya? I don't remember, but I just wanted to note that! Enjoy the rest of the story!