Final Departure

Chapter 5: Losing ground

"How beautiful" Nami said to herself, lifting one hand over her eyes and looking out at the stunning view before her. With a deep breath she inhaled the fresh air from the ocean and finally she felt a little relief from the way the earlier happenings weighted on her mind. Whereas she had first wanted to hide away in her room, now that everyone was gone, the small chamber and gloomy atmosphere of her own self-loathing had soon felt as if they were truly beginning to suffocate her. Even though she just wanted to send everyone away who came by to console her... knowing that there was no one else to come by anymore, suddenly things seemed excruciatingly lonely.

Nami began wandering down the shoreline that reached as far as she could see, offering nothing but the beautiful sparkling white, apart from a few rocks and boulders here and there, sticking out in colourful variations. Once she found a nice spot, she'd lie down and enjoy the warm sun, first though she had to get out of the ship's shadow and maybe a little farther, if only to clear her head during that brief walk.

o-o-o

"Gotcha!" Luffy yelled out, wrapping his arms and legs around the fleeing animal midair and smacking down into the ground with it. Stretching his head around, he scrutinised his odd catch. It seemed now like this object trapped in the entanglement of his limbs, was nothing more than a turtle's shell, when he was sure he had just hunted down a monkey. The curious pirate peered inside the front hole of the white cast, now staring into the little primate's furry and frightened face.

"Whoa, it's a monkey in a shell!" Luffy exclaimed amazed. "But that's no good, I can't eat you in there" he next whined while cocking his head to the side questioningly. Then he snapped one hand free from his lock and swung his fist in the air, grinning widely. "Yosh! Let's see what we can do about that!"

When Sanji and Chopper finally caught up with their captain, they found themselves with the sight of a crestfallen Luffy. The rubber man turned around to his comrades with a pitiful expression, waving the shell in his hands - including the poor animal - around furiously.

"Saaanjiii! The food won't come out! I'm starving!"

"Oi, oi" the cook replied in an annoyed tone, his chest still heaving notably from the exertion of hasting through the peculiar thicket. "Of course it won't just come out! If you caught a tortoise, you gotta crack the shell!"

"That's just it" the boy sighed, now fruitlessly gnawing at the adamant object. "I'fe dried everysing. Attagging it, smajing it on roggs, it won'd budge!"

The blond made a snide clicking noise with his tounge, his nerves more than strained from this carefree attitude.

"Then go find another goddamn animal or possibly some fucking fruit!" he finally snapped. "But don't fucking run off again, you already made us lose Robin-Chan!"

"It's okay" a voice answered from behind them as the woman in question climbed over one of the hardened plants, never failing her usual grace. "I managed to keep up; I'm afraid though that finding another animal or fruit won't do."

The three male pirates turned their attention to the young historian now with quizzical expressions on their faces.

"I've heard about this island before." Robin began answering the unspoken question. "It's rather fascinating, since it's mostly still a mystery to modern science. The sand that builds the foundation of this place is actually a natural mixture of minerals. The circumstances that make this possible are not entirely researched yet, it may have something to do with the metabolism or transpiration, but when the mixture gets in touch with living objects for a longer while there seems to be some kind of chemical reaction. The crystals of the minerals merge and create a hard coating, similar to the processing of ceramics through heat–"

"Ouch! It bit me!"

"So don't stick your fucking hand in there, fucking shithead! ...I'm sorry Robin-Chan, go on."

"Arigatou, Sanji-Kun."

Robin pointed in the direction of some rocks, then towards an old stump, sticking out from the white plants.

"Since they're inanimate objects those rocks are not coated. Neither is the stump of that tree, because it died. I presume that it has been before, however, when the tree ceased to live the chemical effect stopped and the coating dissolved back into it's crystalline state over time."

"Roobiiin, enough with the mystery talk! When do we get down to the food?" Luffy finally complained.

The young woman sat down on the coated leaf of a giant fern, crossing her legs.

"That's already the point, Captain-San" she elaborated in place of her confused captain. "There is no food. Any living creature on this island has a shell like the one you're holding onto right now. The animals here are probably living off of windfall, which will already be pretty much rotten before the coating fully dissolved." An enquiring expression spread on her face for a moment before Robin finished her thought „ Since they're not born with the shells, some may also be hunting down other animals' cubs, don't you think? I wonder if there are a lot of tiny bones on this island."

"Don't say such eerie things, Robin!" Chopper shrieked in response with tears in his eyes.

Picking up the essence of those explanations, Luffy slumped down on his catch with a sudden lack of spirit.

"No food?!"

Wondering to himself if those shells could really be this tough, Sanji took one last breath from his cigarette. Honestly he didn't actually doubt it though; If a hungry Luffy couldn't break it...

"Maybe Zoro could–" Chopper began, then his voice abruptly died down. It had seemed like a good idea at first, seeing how Zoro could even cut through steal. However, with the way everyone's faces grew dark and heavy all of a sudden, the little reindeer quickly felt like he'd just opened the Box of Pandora.

There was a brief, uncomfortable silence before Sanji turned around, flinging the stump of his cigarette to the side.

"We're leaving!"

Immediately, the command had Luffy up and in arms, ready to object to the lack of interest in this new island.

"What?! But we only just came here! What about adventures?!"

The other didn't turn back at the protest, but instead started walking ahead to where they had come from. Irritated, he fumbled for his cigarettes again while speaking over his shoulder in a sharp tone.

"You wanna stay on an island that doesn't have any food when we're already low on provisions? Jeez, take some responsibility for your crew once, Captain!"

o-o-o

By the shore, Nami was bathing in the warm light of the sun, her eyes fixed on the white ground beneath her. Somehow she thought it was surreal how pretty this beach was, the sand seeming like tiny, sparkling crystals, glistening white, but also transparent. Absent-mindedly she ran one finger through the powder, doodling little loops and spirals.

Nami blinked when for a moment there seemed to be a little movement, jiggling the sand as the pictures that she had drawn lost their clear line. For a while, she stared at the ground, looking for any more signs of change, though nothing happened. Then the girl was taken by surprise when, abruptly, the whole ground shifted beneath her, forcefully enough to cause her to keel over. Giving into slight panic, she tried clinging onto the sand that was steadily rinsing away from underneath her now as she was lifted into the air, finally making her lose her hold and causing her to slide downwards. She groaned when she hit the ground after a two or three meter fall, just trying to catch her breath. Then Nami looked up, staring at the monstrous crab that was towering over her, it's eyes already fixed on the terrified girl.

This couldn't be happening! Why now, when she had just managed to piss off every single person that could help her?!

Panicked, the young woman tried scrambling away backwards, then stumbled to her feet. Barely, she managed to leap aside when the sharp claws already came down at her, her hand immediately shooting towards the weapon by her thigh as soon as she regained her footing. Hastily, Nami tried to arrange the metal pipes in her shaking hands, soon beginning to rotate them and creating a dark cloud over the savage animal. While avoiding another attack, she finally sent off a little ball of electrostatic energy and with that the cloud discharged in a blinding bolt of lightning!

Sizzling crackles of electricity danced over the monster's white shell as the attack struck with full force, the accompanied thunder ringing throughout the area... In return, another claw was flung at the startled girl, throwing her back into the sand.

Nami just stared up in shock, her mind only slowly beginning to wrap around the fact that her Thunder Tempo had no effect on the opponent before her whatsoever. Her limbs began feeling heavy and numb as she mindlessly charged the cloud with another bolt only to be facing the same result, her eyes now wide open with terror.

No! This couldn't be real! She had to run! Now!

She scrambled back to her feet, diving away from her attacker once more. With another move of the Climate Tact the air began refracting around her, soon creating several mirages of her fleeing self. The beast let out a strangled crying sound as it swung it's claw widely, striking through all the reflections at once and finally hitting Nami with brute force. It seemed like there was no point trying to trick a creature that didn't act on common sense in the first place.

Flung into the air, Nami crashed into the sand painfully, tumbling another few feet before she finally came to a stop. She shakily lifted herself up, feeling disoriented. Tumbling backwards, she suddenly felt a light pressure around her waist and then a violent tug jerked the startled girl back into the air. At the sudden jolt, Nami could not enough to bring any strength back to her hands quick enoguh and before she even had the chance to grasp what was happening, she felt her weapon slip from her fingers as she crashed into the soft surface of another body.

"Found ya!"

Nami jerked her head around at the familiar voice that came from behind her, incredulously staring into Luffy's face, his arm wrapped tightly around her waist as they were flying through the air. Wherever he had rocketed himself from, he had managed to shoot past her and grab onto her in his flight.

"We're leaving!" he informed the girl with a worryless grin.

'Leaving'?!

Nami's attention crept with the indistinct feeling of an empty palm. Then the clear clattering sound of metal reached her ears as her Climate Tact was flung against one of the rocks, abruptly causing her to be overcome with a spiral of panic. Instantly, she began thrashing against the rubber boy's grip, making Luffy yelp out surprised.

"No! Let go of me! Let go! Let go!" Nami screeched, growing more and more hysteric as she futilely yanked at the arm that remained tightly locked around her.

"Nami, calm do–"

The grip on her loosened as Nami struck out her hand, slapping Luffy flat across the face. She dropped into the white sand only a moment later, her captain crashing into the ground a few feet behind her, where he stayed down motionlessly. Nami didn't spare him another thought. In a haze, she already felt herself getting to her feet, soon charging towards the monstrous sea creature that she had just barely escaped from. She had to retrieve her Climate Tact – she had to!

Quickly making the distance, the girl launched herself at the blue staff, clutching around it tightly. Only then did she notice the monster's attack, rushing down from above another time. Nami gasped as her eyes shot shut, preparing herself for the deadly strike...

A dull sound brought back life to Nami's frozen bearing. Frightened, she turned her gaze upwards, finding herself with the strong figure of her captain at her side, the creature's claw stopped in the palm of his hand. Luffy wordlessly pushed the claw aside, then began marching towards the furious beast, not even sparing attention to its wide, flailing attacks. Nami's eyes widened when she watched him position himself underneath the monstrous animal before barely lifting it off the ground.

Why...

She watched Luffy push his feet further apart while searching for a solid stand and then a loud groal erupted from the young man's throat, his muscles flexing as he hurled the giant creature out into the open sea with bare hands! The monster broke the water's surface in an impressive wave, causing a salty rain to spray down from above.

Not ready to move just yet, Nami observed the other wordlessly as he turned around. She was unable to capture the expression on his face, that remained hidden underneath his dampened hat, a few sea water drops lazily dripping from the brim.

"I said, we're leaving..." the navigator finally heard her captain's stern voice as he passed her. "Come as soon as you're ready."

Nami sat there in the sand, her hands still holding onto the Climate Tact desperately as her vision seemed to blur. She felt exhausted; thoroughly and truly exhausted, for a moment... a few moments... finally her tension began to fade, allowing her to let go of her weapon now. With trembling hands, she began dissembling the Climate Tact before sliding it back into it's belt, one piece after another. A subtle rattling sound sought Nami's attention as she tilted the third part of the blue staff to align it with the strap on her thigh. The shivering girl forced herself to ignore the foreboding noise. She didn't have the strength anymore.

Strength...

"IDIOT!" the girl finally cried out while shooting to her feet.

Luffy walked on.

Irritated, Nami began marching after him in a quick pace.

"FUCKING IDIOT!"

The young woman stumbled through the sandy beach as she tried catching up with the man a few meters away from her who seemed to be just out of reach. Quickly, she slid out of her high-heeled sandal, clutching it tight in her hand.

"STUPID JERK!" Nami screamed again, throwing the leather shoe at his back and for a moment Luffy finally stopped. Immediately, she got out of her other shoe, throwing at him again while still hasting forward.

"YOU FUCKING MORON!"

Her captain didn't look back as he crouched down to pick up the casted items. Slowly, he pushed himself back up, beginning to walk on again. Nami couldn't help but grow even more aggravated, almost feeling mocked by the way the sandals were dangling so idly from his right hand. Finally, she launched forward, annulling the short distance that was left between them.

"BASTARD!" she cried out one last time, shoving him violently from behind. The unexpected force made Luffy stumble forward, sending him to his hands and knees into the white sand, her shoes as well as his hat toppling onto the ground before him. As he lifted himself back up Nami charged around to face him before beginning to thump his chest angrily with feeble, ineffective fists.

"You bastard! Do you have any idea what just happened?! Do you even care?!" the girl yelled as her fists kept coming down on the man before her, already astray from all reason. "I was fighting that thing with all I had and you just... you just-!"

Strong hands suddenly seized her wrists, keeping her fists still midair. Nami's gaze wandered up towards Luffy's face who was now looking straight at her.

"STOP FIGHTING ME!" he finally cried out, his voice slightly broken.

Petrified, the girl's eyes locked on her captain's slightly crazed ones, her wrists stinging painfully from the uncontrolled clutch. Underneath that feeble mask of anger, more than anything, Nami could truly detect hurt and desperation on Luffy's features. She felt the walls close in on her, leaving no place for her anger to go but her own inability, and her chest clenched painfully upon the harsh realisation that washed over her.

"Luffy..."

Her eyes filled with tears as she tried speaking to him with a trembling voice.

"I don't think I can–"

Abruptly, she felt Luffy's hands tear away from her, almost as if he had touched something scorching.

"No!"

It may have been only for a brief moment, but right then she had clearly seen fear, openly playing over his features. He quietly moved away from her, beginning to walk towards the ship once again.

"Luffy..." Nami tried again. Sadness tied up her throat, causing her call to come out as almost a whisper.

From behind, she saw his shoulders tense before he cut her off once more, this time sounding out loud and strong with the clear air of what could have been a Captain's Order.

"I said 'No'!"

There was a brief moment of silence between the two, then Luffy wordlessly struck out his arm to hold a grasp of Sunny and with a smooth movement the rubber man was flung over the rail where he soon vanished.

Another moment passed. Left behind, Nami crouched down to pick up her sandals before, suddenly, her eyes fell on the red ribboned straw hat that lay abandoned on the sandy beach. Hesitantly, she reached out to lay her fingertips on it, then grasped the treasured item at last to press it tightly against her chest. She felt her legs grow weak, sinking into the warm sand and for a moment Nami stayed still like this, kneeling inmidst the glistening white and waiting until her strength would return for her to go on.