Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece


Chapter02: Darkness.

After spending hours and hours waiting for the sun to come up, Nami began to lose patience and worry too, in any case, she was not the only one because anxiety emanated from all the people around her, especially since it was past 5:00 pm from Laugh tale Time, which means they've been waiting for more than eight hours.

However there was one more thing that bothered Nami's mind even more, since she had woken up, the sky remained unspoiled as if frozen, what proved this theory was the location of the moon which had not changed, this essential point led Nami to a not very motivating and inconsistent conclusion, it was hard to accept it but she had to consider that time may have stood still in this weird place, which means that the day is not going to break and that the night will continue to infinity.

Nami thought she might not be the only one who saw the state of the sky but no one pointed out that, that's why she kept her guess to herself, even with herself she found the situation absurd and unreal, because of that, she assumed she was dreaming or maybe hallucinating, she had gotten drunk a lot the night before which probably affected her brain.

Unlike her sister who socialized with most other people, Nami kept her distance to be on the safe side because until she unraveled the mystery of their situation, everyone is seen as a potential enemy, anyway, everything seemed suspicious to her at the moment.

Her back and legs really started to hurt her from the uncomfortable position, her butt had been paralyzed for hours as her spine clicked with every movement of her body, normally she was used to life in nature since she was a fan of hiking, but now she looked like she had never done it before, at the moment she was just sitting down, but like that, it had a disastrous effect on her body, she was wondering how she is going to be able to explore in such a pitiful state, she had no more energy and she was very thirsty, the heat was not helping things, weakening her more and more.

Nami realized that waiting was a very bad idea, there were a lot of reasons for it but the main one is the fact that in this desert plain, there was no food or water, essential necessities for every human being, so the more time passed, the more her body needs to be recharged in order to refuel and therefore function well.

Standing with folded arms became unbearable for the redhead, she decided to share her guesses with the group even though she might be seen as crazy, she didn't care because the whole situation was full of madness anyway, it's not a theory about time that is going to make it any worse.

She got up with difficulty and started to walk towards the gathering, of course it was the group where Mr. Sunglasses or rather the so-called Doflamingo had proclaimed himself leader, even her sister had joined him in a way because she had fallen under the spell of the man who was a very good talker, a strategist who used the best tactic in the current situation, regrouping and allying with as many people as possible was best for survival.

When Nami arrived at the group, she hesitated to speak because of the voice screaming in her head to prevent her from saying her stupid guess, but she ignored it because she decided to follow Doflamingo's tactic by allying with the others, on her own she could neither survive nor return home, that was an obvious fact.

"What's the matter?" Nojiko snapped her out of her trance, apparently she had been staring at the group for a while without saying anything.

"The sun is not going to rise." Nami responded with a high tone for everyone to hear, her voice struggling out of her dry, burning throat, signaling the need for the water right now.

The attention is on her now, which increased her hesitation as she needed to explain.

"What?" Nojiko raised an eyebrow looking at her in confusion.

"Look, I'm no astronomer," Nami paused to think about what words to use to explain her guess. "But even without it, I could see that the sky doesn't look normal."

There was a short period of silence where everyone looked up, apparently they were trying to understand what she was trying to say.

"I have the impression that in this place time has stood still or maybe the earth has stopped spinning ..."

"What are you talking about?" The green haired woman named Monet interrupted her, her cold gaze pierced Nami's heart, preventing her from responding as it crippled her use of speech.

"You don't seem to be well." Nojiko whispered softly, grabbing her by the arm.

For a split second, she was about to turn on her heel and flee from the eyes that were looking at her as if she were crazy, but instead, she took a breath of fresh air to restore her courage before continuing with her explanation. "It sounds crazy, but I know what I'm saying, it's been more than eight hours that we wait for nothing, if we keep doing it we will starve, here there is neither food nor water."

"So you want us to believe that time has stood still." She heard someone say but didn't know who it was because the majority bombarded her with sarcastic remarks or questions.

"Nami!" Nojiko hissed as she put her hand on her sister's forehead, apparently she wanted to check if she had a fever or something.

"Interesting." Doflamingo declared loudly, silencing everyone with one word.

Nami was shocked at how he had managed to tame his group within hours.

"This is a very interesting point that needs to be taken into consideration." He continued calmly, walking towards the redhead with long strides. "Even if the stopped time theory is a little absurd, you have even made an essential point, we lack food and water." He added after he stopped in front of her.

"What do you propose?" A mountain of muscle that works for Doflamingo asked, according to Nojiko, his name was Vergo.

"The wait is over, we will begin exploring," Doflaming replied with a smile. "The others are already gone a long time ago."

Hearing this, Nami looked around and noticed that a few people were missing, the hungry boy, his one-eyed friend and the other lewd one, the dark haired man who pointed out the hour, apparently they weren't interested in joining Doflamingo's group because those who stayed all did, even her.

"And which way are we going to head?" Vergo asked.

"To the west." Nami answered despite the fact that the question was not for her, but she had another guess that was even crazier, which is why she wanted to confirm it by heading west.

"What makes you say that?" Vergo growled, his serious tone was even more serious and harsh than before, which scared Nami.

"I… I saw birds flying in that direction," She stuttered softly, besides it wasn't a lie, she did see birds. "I think there may be a source of water there."

"You are really interesting," Doflamingo smiled broadly. "What do you do in life?"

"I am a meteorologist." She replied uncomfortably.

"I thought she was a prostitute because of her looks." Monet commented in a haughty voice.

Despite getting angry, Nami refrained from insulting the green haired woman, instead she smiled at her to provoke her. "It's fashion, something you probably don't know."

Nami appreciated the woman's growl, frankly in what right she insulted the dress style of the redhead when she was so poorly dressed, even though she was wearing a classic work suit, it still looked old fashioned.

"Where is the west?" One of the people in the background asked.

"This way." Nami pointed her index finger to the right, thanks to her unerring sense of direction, the redhead was a compass woman who never gets lost.

"Let everyone prepare, we are heading west." Doflamingo declared aloud or rather he ordered.

Without noticing, Nami was pulled away from the group by her sister who was still holding her arm.

"What's happening to you Nami?" Nojiko asked as soon as she stopped dragging the redhead.

"I explained what I noticed, I know it sounds crazy, but you will all see that I am right because I am sure the sun is not going to rise." Nami growled without even bothering to breathe, releasing the turmoil that had built up in her during her discussion with the group.

"Alright, calm down now," The blue head cried out before heaving a sigh. "Anyway, thanks to you, they've finally decided to go exploring, it's better than sitting around doing nothing."

"Especially with this heat, we need water otherwise we will end up dehydrated." Nami pointed out.

"Let's go now." Nojiko said before following the group who started walking towards the direction indicated by the redhead.

Nami frowned as she looked at her feet, the heeled sandals she was wearing was anything but comfortable, it's going to be a hard walk for her.


After walking a distance of about 2 miles according to Nami's calculations, fatigue hit everyone like a divine curse, sucking their strength with unbearable heat, the journey got worse when the group entered the forest, the walk became more difficult because of the obstacles that had stood in front of them and the darkness that had intensified, now the light from the sky was no longer of any help and almost all the phones were dead.

The redhead was literally bathing in her own sweat, which meant she consumed all the fluid reserves in her body, besides, her lungs were tired from sucking in the air which was getting heavier and heavier.

The minutes passed and Nami could feel her hope soar, but she still kept moving forward despite her miserable condition because if she didn't, she will give in to the pain that was overwhelming all of her limbs and as a result, she will not be able to move, which was of utmost importance at the time.

"Water!" She heard someone scream several times.

Without wasting a second, she walked over to the man in question, everyone else did the same.

As soon as she got to the small stream, Nami threw herself on the ground, almost crying at the sight of the liquid flowing slowly, she dipped her hands in the water and tilted her head down before starting to splash her face while drinking at the same time, she felt that life was coming back to her and her energy filled again.

Whoever said water is life wasn't wrong because she had proof of it.

Now that her senses have returned, Nami's brain has lit up again, which made her think again about the situation and confirm her second guess, because the location of the forest to the west as she predicted was a clue to the truth of that place.