Final Departure

Chapter 3: New for old

Nami ground her teeth together as she slid into the tub, trying to bite away the burning sensation of heated water against the open flesh on her hands. She cursed at the feeling for a minute, but then the pain finally started to wear down, diluted by how her body was conforming to the temperature and adjusting to the sensation of the warmth against her wounds. Her clothes were still a mess, and so were the tiles of the bathroom from when she had rinsed the remaining black off her body earlier... but she was not a mess. And the deck outside wasn't - and it made it all worth it! The girl started to relax as the warmth began easing her muscles and she inhaled the scent of the water's herbs.

There was a gentle knock on the door followed by a voice that woke the young navigator from the soothing atmosphere of her bath.

"Cook-San asked me to tell you that dinner will be ready soon" a friendly voice informed her through the door.

"Thanks Robin" Nami replied politely. "I'll be out in a minute."

"No need to rush. He wanted you to know early so you could take your time getting ready." The girl slid a bit further into the tub, seizing the offer to enjoy the warm water for another minute.

"I will, thanks" she hummed before listening to foot steps walk away.

o-o-o

Dinner was it's usual mess. Everyone was trying to defend their food as best as they could as Luffy gobbled away from everyone's plates, sometimes trying to ninja some snacks unnoticed with a rubbery arm, sometimes launching for direct attack. In the general chaos it was hardly even noticeable how the boy almost carefully avoided just that one plate in front the green haired swordsman, who never really spoke a word at the table anymore. Then again there wasn't a need for anyone to notice, since everyone present already knew and had long gotten used to this routine that always remained unmentioned.

Zoro was hardly being seen anymore at all, spending most of his time in his gym above the library, that was basically the size of a lounge. Even the temptation of taking a nap in the sun hadn't been enough to draw the swordsman out to the deck anymore and so far no one had had the nerves or the interest to go and object to his general absence. In the end, dinner was the only time when he was still showing himself at all, for what reason no one really knew. Almost everyone had heard the story of Zoro and Luffy's first encounter at least once, rising the reasonable suspicion that the stubborn man was most certainly not driven by hunger and Nami had soon found herself stuck with two theories: Either he didn't want to pass on the nutrition since he was most likely training all this time or maybe at some point Sanji had simply insisted. If that was the case though, it was for only the two to know and no one to find out.

Nami hissed slightly in pain when she tried to arrange the chop sticks between her fingers, soon rising some unwelcome attention.

"Nami-San, what happened to your beautiful hands?" the reaction followed instantly.

Quickly, she shot the worried blond a scorching glance, clearly telling him 'Don't!' without a single word being uttered. The last thing Nami needed right now was for that self-proclaimed cavalier to start a big fuss over this, turning this thing that she had worked so hard to get rid of into a prominent matter once again. All that she really wanted was to preserve that perfect feeling from when she had been soaking in the tub, indulging in how all of this was finally gone.

"It's nothing. I'll have Chopper take a look at it after dinner" she tried to remark casually, yet the sudden change of atmosphere was almost tangible as two crew members at the table grew considerably uncomfortable at this conversation.

Nami already knew that she would have to apologise to Chopper later. Her frustration had gotten the better of her and the rather shy animal certainly had enough to cope with already, even without her violent outbursts. The girl felt quite differently about her captain though. Somehow, she couldn't fight the notion that, if he felt guilty or even suffered a bit from this whole situation, it truly was well-deserved. He had been the cause for all of this after all; And even though Nami wasn't quite conscious of this, deep inside she knew that with 'all of this' she was truly referring to so much more than just some dirt on the ship.

"You know, Franky, the deck is mostly clean from gun powder now..." the young woman picked up the topic one last time, feeling somewhat content when she saw Luffy tense in the corner of her eye "...but big parts of the wood are charred. Could you fine down those planks later?"

The shipwright looked up from his plate in surprise, but quickly replied, visibly happy over the request.

"Sure thing, little Lady!"

"Thank you!" Nami hummed before getting back to dinner, realising very well that she would now have her share all to herself.

o-o-o

When Franky had joined the crew, he sure expected things to be different. He didn't quite get why that little guy who has had so much love for their former ship hadn't come with them. Back in Franky's secret lair, Usopp had told him about leaving the crew himself, but after all they had been through surely that couldn't still be the reason. And every time he tried to find out something more the cyborg was pretty much being stone-walled. At some point he had asked Robin about the matter, since clearly she was the most level-headed member of the crew, unfortunately she couldn't quite help him on all the details though, having missed out on most of the happenings herself. She had filled him in on the quarrel at the Galley-La which was – at least that's what Franky thought – about an awful lot of bullshit in the light of leaving a family member behind. But surely it wasn't his place to speak... Even when it had felt a whole lot different back in Enies Lobby, soon after their departure Franky had started to feel like he didn't really know these people after all; And until now no one had seemed to be making an effort to change that.

When dinner was over, the shipwright got to the task at hand right away, relieved that the weather had been nice today and there would still be enough light for another one or two hours of work. Right after seeing Chopper Nami had gone to bed, explaining how truly beat she was, but even if she wouldn't get to see the outcome tonight, Franky was eager to fulfill her request. He was honestly glad to have been given some purpose other than the obvious repairing-damage-after-hostile-encounter for once and that he could finally do the crew a somewhat more personal favour. The shipwright fined down the charred wood with care to soon reach the soothing oak colour beneath and for a moment Franky came to think that maybe, just maybe, he would soon get the chance to finally be sailing with those people that he had seen fight so fiercely for the well-being of their Nakama.

And maybe it was just the right time for that little surprise he still had up his sleeve to help him with that.

o-o-o

Nami stretched her arms over her head, well knowing that she had slept in late, but she could feel that the ship was already sailing and since no one had come to disturb her, the sea must have been quiet for now. She let her arms slump back down and with one of her bandaged hands the young woman carefully stroked over the palm of the other, noting how it already felt a lot less sensitive. Choppers ointments could truly work miracles, plus the herbs from the bath's water had already done their share of salving the pain before. As she slid out of her bed her muscles still felt rather sore, even when her hands didn't... That little cleaning fit had really taken a toll on the girl's body, which was probably the reason that she was still in bed at all. Obviously though, when a ship was sailing at some point the directions of a navigator would be needed, so Nami reluctantly proceeded to get dressed to finally make her way out to the deck.

When the young navigator stepped out of the door, she was welcome by the warm breeze of a late morning as everything outside seemed to be just normal. There were Luffy and Chopper, fishing again since they had abandoned the task before catching something the day before. There was Robin, reading a book and Sanji bringing her some coffee. Franky was carrying a barrel to the engine room and Zoro was nowhere to be seen – which was pretty much normalcy in itself. Nami took in the scene before her, shivering as she was suddenly overcome with an unnerving feeling. With everything being so normal, why did all of this seem so utterly wrong?

The girl let her gaze wander once again before, finally, her eyes stuck with the sight of the main mast, standing tall in it's full splendour. She took a hesitant step forward, then made her way over to the spot quickly, crouching down to stroke over the soft surface incredulously as she realised that Franky had already gotten to work. And he had done one hell of a job! She couldn't even tell that the planks had been treated. And now the only thing that spoke of what this place had looked like just the day before, were the bandages around her fingers, lingering on the wooden ground...

This was what she had wanted... No more black, no more reminders, no more burned remains of that accursed departure! She herself had asked Franky for this...

...and Nami genuinely hated herself for feeling this disturbing sadness all of a sudden, tugging at every fiber of her being when she had thought she'd be relieved.

"Land, ho!"

Luffy's voice tore the girl from her growing dismay. Quickly, she wiped her eyes before looking up just in time to see the excited boy rush past her, soon balancing on Sunny's figurehead, one hand raised to shield his eyes from the sun.

"An island, it's an island!" she heard Luffy sing as he spun back around."Na, Chopper! We can go hunt for real meat there, and for adventure!"

It was Franky who first reacted to their captain's excited shouts, heaving the barrel from his shoulder to set it down.

"Oi, Straw Hat!" he caught the boy's attention. "If we're close to an island, there's something I've been wanting to show you!"

The shipwright soon gestured for everyone to follow and the crew looked at each other questioningly before one after another they climbed down the pegs of that hatch that Franky had vanished in, soon finding themselves in a small hall surrounded by gates that counted zero to four in big, red numbers.

"The Dock System?" Sanji finally remarked. "Didn't you say that, apart from the paddles, it was still empty?"

"That's right, I did" the cyborg replied proudly. "I haven't told you about this one yet, because it's a present!"

"A present?!"

It was easy to tell that Luffy's interest had been sparked, the boy hopping from one leg to another impatiently as he demanded the promised surprise.

"Show us! Hurry, hurry!"

Franky didn't wait to comply and pushed gate 2 open, slowly revealing a familiar face smiling at the crew from a little steam boat. There was a moment of silence as everyone tried to grasp just what they were looking at.

"MERRY!" Luffy and Chopper finally cried out in unison before their reactions took different turns.

Luffy bounced at the miniature Merry immediately, happily hugging the figurehead's long neck before starting to investigate the whole little boat excitedly. His reaction quickly brought a touched smile onto Robin's face. She had instantly felt happy when she just saw this little surprise, yet, she wasn't quite so sure if that was even appropriate... Sanji felt quite the same as Robin, the only difference being that instead of concentrating on their cheerful captain, his attention had fallen on the little reindeer that now stood still, tears of grief beginning to soak his fur. The blond carefully crouched down, padding the baby Zoan on the head comfortingly as he maintained a neutral face.

"It's Merry!" Luffy's voice carried through the room. "Look everyone, it's Merry!"

Upon the boy's enthusiastic reaction, Franky quickly began resuming his intentions.

"Now listen, Straw Hat! The Thousand Sunny sure is a great ship that can do everything your former ship could do and more, and it will carry you for a long time. But I know that little caravel had been very dear to all of you so-"

"CHIGAU!"

The angry shout cut Franky off rudely, making everyone turn around in shock to look at the infuriated young woman in the back, her fists clenched and trembling.

"Chigau! That's not Merry! It's not!"

Nami couldn't help the tears coming to her eyes as crude anger struck her at the scene unfolding before her. Furious, she charged at her captain, clutching her fists into his vest and jogging the startled boy harshly.

"What are you getting all excited for?! This is nothing to be happy about! Merry is gone!"

Luffy couldn't think to answer upon looking at the upset girl, his eyes shot wide-open. He saw exasperation carved so deeply into her features; And the pain of making one of his Nakama suffer once again quickly suffocated his voice as well as his coherent thought.

"Hey hey, wait a second -" Franky quickly tried to intervene, grabbing the girl's shoulder hesitantly.

At the feel of the touch, Nami shoved Luffy violently, making him stumble backwards over the rim of the little boat and crash into the wall of the narrow booth. The boy slid to the ground limply as Nami spun around, jerking away from the shipwright.

"And you! Do you really think that's all it takes?! A new ship to carry us along and a miniature double? Merry was more than just the shape of her head and the ability to float! Do you really think you could replace someone just by matching their skills?! What do you know of what Merry meant to us?!"

Franky was the one striken with anger now, his huge hands clasping around Nami's shoulders again, this time without hesitation. He didn't even care to spare attention to their cook's angry shouts regarding his actions towards the girl. It had just become painfully evident to him that she didn't even acknowledge him as part of the crew and if that was the case, there truly was no reason for him to even be here!

"I know of the lengths you went to for one of your Nakama and of the tears you shed for that little caravel!" the huge man now shouted, making the girl in his clutch wince frightened."I know the look the long-nosed bro had in his eyes when he was speaking of that ship and I've seen the look in his eyes when he understood that there was no saving her! And where the hell were you?!"

The cyborg quickly released the delicate form as he started to grasp his own words, letting the shaking girl sink to the ground.

"You're probably right..." he spoke more calmly now. "If you were capable of leaving behind a man who had so much affection for that ship, I sure don't understand what it meant to you."

Author's Notes:

The Japanese word "chigau" literally means "different" or "unlike" but is often used to express that someone is wrong. I purposely chose this word, because the ambiguous meaning grasps the situation so perfectly.

Hope you enjoyed! And of course thanks to all those lovely people that support this story!