Sol Invictus

Chapter Six: Lonely Women

Knowing you've protected something you love is the best feeling in the world.

Nami wouldn't know. Nearly her entire life had been haunted by her inability to protect anyone, so there was no way she was in any position to determine the accuracy of such a statement. But knowing that she couldn't do a single damn thing if Arlong decided to raze Cocoyashi to dirt hurt more than pain itself, so maybe the girl was onto something there.

Even as she had giggled about her new gains, she had listened in on her 'crewmates' entire conversation. Of course she had. Sure she had agreed to follow Luffy - for now - but no way would she let down her guard for a second. There was the possibility that Luffy really had been contacted by Arlong, after all. How else could she know about the Cocoyashi situation and the deal Nami had made with the cruel bastard? Even the marines didn't know.

But then again, somehow the thought that those two were working with each other just felt wrong. Other than the instinctive - and probably false - belief that Luffy wouldn't lie to her, reason dictated that Arlong would kill Luffy sooner than hire her. That girl was the type of person that Arlong hated the most - a hopeless dreamer, no respect for money, weak-hearted, a pushover, human, the list went on for a mile, not to mention that she didn't seem the type to be able to work under someone else's lead.

But then how had Luffy known?

She should ask. She had to ask. She knew why she hadn't yet; she was afraid that she would catch Luffy in a lie and then this pathetic hope of hers would be stomped into the dirt again.

"I like your heart."

What did that even mean? It was the corniest, most unbelievable thing she had ever heard. If a guy come onto her at a bar with that line, she would have laughed in his face.

She didn't even like her heart. To free Cocoyashi, anything went, and she didn't care what kind of grief she gave her victims so long as she didn't have any deaths on her conscience. Lying, stealing, conning, it was all fair game. Treachery was her second nature, one she could don like a coat; things like 'heart' and 'soul' and 'honor' were all useless on these seas. It was money that made the world go round.

Nami knew that. She knew that better than anyone else.

So then... why had that moved her so deeply? Why had she found herself so completely enthralled by the vision that Luffy had carved out? How had she allowed herself to get so caught up in that girl's pace that she ended agreeing to join another pirate crew, no matter how temporarily? She had done everything by herself until now, had preferred the solitude even, so why had the promise of 'nakama' drawn her in so deeply?

Nakama. It was such a normal word when she said it to herself like this. 'Fellow'.

But when Luffy said it, it sounded like the promise of a beautiful, unbreakable bond. Something about the way she spoke, something about the way she looked at you… the kind of pull she had was magnetic, and inescapable, and...

Dangerous.

That girl was dangerous.

Betrayal would be so easy. Not by Luffy, of course - there was nothing to betray on her side of the deal. The girl herself had made sure of that. But Nami could stab the her in the back easily, when everything was over and done with. That girl had offered so much, and demanded so little in return. Even when Nami had made it clear that she only thought of this as a business transaction, Luffy continued to look at her with trusting eyes.

It would be so simple.

Nami had all of the treasure that had been hidden away in Buggy's warehouse, every single gold piece, and it was sure to be worth a lot. By herself, she might have been able to drag out maybe one or two full sacks, but with these two pirates helping her, she now had eight bags of treasure on her boat (though they were admittedly not as large as they would have been if she had taken only the best).

She could just… leave. Luffy wouldn't be able to do anything about it, bound by her own words as she was. Majū no Zoro's hands would be similarly tied up by his captain's promises. The amount of money she could add to her cache from this one venture would probably be more than her five previous operations combined. There was nothing stopping Nami from leaving right now.

But she…

She didn't…

She didn't want to. She didn't want to leave.

She wanted to stay with Luffy, to see the portrait the girl had painted with her words come to fruition. She wanted to be able to lean on someone when she stumbled, to have someone hold her hand and smile at her when it became all too much. Sure, she had Cocoyashi, and Nojiko, but she had spent so long silently protecting them that she didn't think she could bring herself to rely on them even if she told the villagers the truth. It was obvious that Luffy was the kind of person who would gladly carry her to her goal if Nami said she couldn't walk on her own feet anymore. She wanted that. She wanted the bond that the other girl was so wholeheartedly offering. She wanted to trust her, even though previous experience screamed at her to wisen up.

And it was this that made Luffy dangerous.

Nami sighed and made her way back to the boat she'd stolen from those Buggy pirates. Her new 'crew' had decided to wait for her on their own fishing boat while she went to get more bobby pins. Sturdier ones this time, so they wouldn't bend out of shape in the middle of lock picking.

Should I stay with her? Or just go?

"You bitch!"

"I don't know why my head hurts so much, but it must be your fault!"

Nami scowled and her hands flew so quickly they were a blur. Her staff appeared in her hands as if by magic as she stomped her way to the three buffoons in her path. "Shut up! I'm trying to think here!"

"We'll get you back for what you did - GWAK!" The butt of her weapon shot into the fat guy's throat. She twirled it and drove the length down on the back of his head. A swing of her arm smacked a cutlass from the hand of the idiot wearing the tuque and another plunged her staff into the afro guy's gut.

One unconscious, one groaning on the ground, and the third - she shot a foot out and slammed it into a groin - the third out for the count.

She ignored the defeated Buggy goons as she continued her original path. The staff was returned to sections and stored in its holster.

Do as her heart demanded, or as her mind directed?

She would count take stock of the treasure first, she decided. The quiet logic of numbers and money always helped to calm her down. Maybe she would come to a decision while she calculated the profit.

"Luffy!" A blur of orange crashed into Luffy's arms. Zoro shifted.

"Huh? Nami? What's wrong?"

"Seventeen million beli! Buggy had treasure worth seventeen million beli!"

"That's - that's good, isn't?" Luffy asked, confused. Nami nodded her head against her shoulder. "That's good, so why - why are you - crying?"

The navigator laughed breathlessly and turned to sprawl on the deck of the fishing boat, her head in Luffy's lap. Watery russet eyes peered up at her. "I now have one hundred and six million beli in my possession. Do you know what that means?"

Understanding brightened Luffy's face with a grin. "That's great!"

"Eight years," Nami said. "Eight years, and all it took was you! Ha! Haha!"

She laughed and laughed and laughed until she cried. Zoro sat silently in his corner and watched as Luffy smoothed a hand over the girl's forehead and wiped away her tears with her fingers.

He resheathed his sword.

"Nami, are you okay to stand up?" Luffy asked a while later. The older girl blinked open her eyes and she gave a half grin.

"Of course! Who do you think I am?" Nami sat up and turned to look at her. "Why, do your wounds hurt?"

"Nope. That old doctor from the town stitched them up real good. But I want to plan a course together so we can get to your village as soon as possible. We might have to make a few detours though, is that okay with you?"

"I've waited years for this, a few weeks won't make much of a difference," the navigator said cheerfully. "I'll go get my maps, so wait here, okay?"

She left with a skip in her step.

"You've already thought up our course?" Zoro asked Luffy, surprised. "You don't seem to be to type to plan ahead."

"'Cause I'm not," she told him. "But there are people I want in our crew no matter what, so I have to make sure we're going the right way."

So in the end, it was just her bull-headed stubbornness speaking again. He hadn't expected anything different, actually.

"That witch… she changes her personality too easily. I don't like it."

Luffy blinked. "Really? Nami seems exactly the same to me."

"Are you serious?" He gave her an incredulous look. "A few hours ago she was yelling at you for touching her... And now she's smiling and crying and hugging you. It's weird."

She stared at him blankly for a moment before comprehension dawned on her face. "Oh I get it!" He really doubted it. "Zoro didn't get his hug this morning, so he's sad!"

Yeah. He knew it'd be something ridiculous like that.

"You idiot," he groused. He didn't bother trying to escape from the arms suddenly throwing themselves around him. "You really don't get it at all, do you?"

"Don't get what?"

"Never mind," he sighed. "But more than that, how long is that witch going to stay with us?"

"Until we find One Piece! And afterwards too!" Luffy cheered. Then she deflated. "Or until she wants to leave. I promised that she could go whenever she wanted. I reaaaally hope she doesn't, but..."

"I could cut off her legs for you," Zoro offered.

She stared at him with wide eyes and started punching the part of him that was nearest - his back. "No! Bad Zoro! Horrible, horrible Zoro! Don't hurt our navigator! No cutting off any part of her, ever! You can't ever ever ever ever - "

He rolled his eyes and gripped her wrist lightly to make her stop. "Alright, alright I get it. No maiming the new crewmate."

" - ever do anything like that! Never ever!"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Luffy, I have the maps." Their navigator exited the cabin on the stolen Buggy Pirates' boat and nonchalantly made her way towards the both of them. Luffy grinned and untangled herself from Zoro to make her way to a nearby crate.

As expected, Nami gave him a very wide berth.

He smirked at her. She shivered and sidled closer to Luffy.

Adequate punishment, he decided with a malicious chuckle. Because it really didn't take that long to grab a couple sheets of paper from an empty cabin.

Luffy traced a line along the map with her finger. "This is the general path I want to take. We can get a boat and another nakama over at this village, and then we'll go here, where we'll get a super awesome cook. Then we can go straight to Cocoyashi, and then to the Grand Line.

"Our next stop is this island right here. It's on the way and it'll only take an hour or so. I heard there's a mystical forest guardian there!"

Nami's brow raised skeptically. "A mystical forest guardian? And you believe that?"

"Uhn!" Luffy stared at her with round, excited eyes. "I wanna meet him! A real forest guardian! Isn't that cooool?"

"Cool. Yes." Nami deadpanned. "You do know that's it's probably not real?"

"Nami has no sense of adventure," she pouted. "It's real!"

"Uh-huh." And then suddenly a smirk grew on Nami's lips as she said, "How about we make a bet. Two thousand beli says there's no forest guardian."

"No. I don't want to make that bet."

"What? Why?"

"It'll be unfair of me. I don't want to take any of Nami's money."

The navigator scoffed. "Like that'll happen. Come on, don't be such a chicken. It's just two thousand."

"It's just two thousand," Zoro mocked.

Nami's hand trembled as she handed Luffy a thousand beli bill.

"If it's too hard, you don't have to," Luffy offered. The navigator's head snapped up and her other hand, clutching tightly onto another bill, paused in its path.

"Really?"

"No. You made the bet, now you have to deal with the consequences." Zoro was glared at viciously as Nami forfeited the second thousand to an amused Luffy.

"I wonder how much food I can buy with this... Ah, I want steak! Nami, how far to Syrup Village?"

"Four days," the navigator said primly, still glaring at Zoro.

Luffy pouted. "Can't we go any faster?"

"Well, if we take a course closer to the shorelines of the nearest large island we can angle our sails and use the Katabatic winds from the mountains to catch the open tide gates of their coastal waters. There'll be quite a few overfalls on that route, which is why I was planning to avoid it, but it'll cut down travel time by half."

Luffy stared at her blankly. "Sooo... We can go faster?"

Nami sighed. "Yes, Luffy. Yes, we can go faster."

"Shishishi! What are we waiting for then? Let's go!"

Luffy retreated into the cabin of her fishing boat with the excuse of drowsiness. Shutting the door behind her, she took a deep breath... and released the block.

"Hah...hah..." She panted from the exertion of holding in a scream as agony thundered through her entire body.

Being stabbed hurt.

Being stabbed in five places at once hurt.

Shit, thinking about how she allowed that damned Buggy get so many hits in pissed her off. She should have remembered to vulcanize her skin to minimize the damage, but she hadn't been thinking at all.

Stupid! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

What was the point of learning the properties of rubber if she wasn't even going to use that knowledge? It had taken her so much effort to persuade gramps to get her those books - though maybe that was because she mentioned it was to help her become Pirate King - and so many horribly dull, dull, dull hours of attempted meditation trying to figure out how to manipulate the rubber molecules in her skin; to forget about all that at the first spark of panic... What if those knives hadn't stopped at her skin?

What if they had reached Nami?

Luffy was okay with being injured. Her body just needed a bit of rest and a whole bunch of meat, and it would get better in no time. But her navigator was fragile. If even just one if those blades had hit her in the wrong place, that was it. No more Nami.

Just the thought of it made her grit her teeth from more than just physical pain. Luffy stumbled to the only bed and crawled onto the sheets. She settled into a tight ball in an attempt to cease the convulsing of her muscles and closed her eyes. Maybe a little nap would help...

When Luffy woke up, she found that there was a comforting heat against her back. Feeling surprisingly well-rested, the noirette uncurled herself and peered over a shoulder.

Zoro sat on the floor, braced against the side of the low bed, chin tucked in and eyes closed. His broad shoulders had been pressed against the arch of her spine, keeping her warm even with the covers kicked to the foot of the bed.

Luffy twisted around and smiled at her first mate. "Thank-you," she said to his sleeping form.

Dropping a light kiss on his cheek, she quietly left the cabin to talk to Nami.

"Anytime, captain," Roronoa Zoro told the empty room, eyes still closed.

"Steak! Steak! Steak!" Luffy cheered as they entered the restaurant. "You're a pretty good guy! I think I'll let you join my crew!"

"I'll think about it... iffff you make me capta - !"

She flapped her hand back and forth. "Never mind."

The dejected looking Usopp led them to a seat while the two other pirates snickered at him.

Luffy slammed her fork and knife on the table and grinned at the woman standing at the foot of their table. "Four of your biggest steaks, auntie!" Almost as an afterthought, she added a, "Please!" The lady chuckled and went to make her order.

After a beat, Nami asked, "Usopp, right?"

"Correct! They call me the honourable Usopp!"

"You wouldn't happen to know where we can find a ship here, would you?"

"Yeah! A big one! A huge awesome ship!"

"Well, I wouldn't know about huge, but there's only one place to find a big ship around here..."

At the arrival of her first steak, Luffy tuned out the conversation entirely. By the time she had finished devouring her last one, Nami was saying, "Let's forget about finding a ship in this village."

Luffy grinned at her navigator. (Her heart really was so pretty.)

"Nami doesn't want to bother the ojou-sama because she's sad... So, if I make her all better then it'll be fine, right?"

"W-what?"

"Yosh!" She hopped to her feet, leaving a few bills on the table as she began to stride to the door.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Luffy! That girl, really! She always goes by her own pace!"

"Leave her be. Once she's set her mind on something, there's really no stopping captain. More than that, can we get some more sake over here…?"

Luffy stepped out of the restaurant into the warmth of the afternoon sun. Now to find the mansion.

Kaya's bedroom was designed to be light and airy, with open spaces and pastel colors and large windows. Her parents had purposely paid for it to be that way. ("Only the best for our princess!") But she couldn't keep from feeling suffocatingly crowded by the palpable grief layering every surface in the room. She herself knew she was the source of it, but still...

It was lonely. She wanted to talk to Usopp-san. Only he could chase away the encroaching shadows with his wonderful stories; whenever he got up to leave, she wanted to grab onto his hand and tell him to stay for just a bit longer.

She never did, of course. That would be incredibly selfish of her - he had his own life to live after all, and he was already wasting hours just talking to her.

Kaya coughed delicately into her shoulder, wary of the fact that Klahadore could be passing by her bedroom door at any moment. She didn't want to worry him anymore than she already was. After a moment's pause, she realized that Klahadore was out to town on an errand and allowed herself to capitulate to the rough wheeze caught in her lungs.

"Wow, are you okay?"

"Eeek!"

Kaya scrambled away from the open window, nearly falling off her bed from shock.

"W-who are you? How did you get in here?"

"Shishishi, I climbed the gate!" The strange girl grabbed her hand and tugged at her, trying to get Kaya to stand up. "This room is suffocating. Let's talk outside."

"Let go of me!" she yelped, tugging feebly at her arm. Where were the guards? Who was this girl? Klahadore was always warning her about people who would try to kidnap her so they could get richer. Was she one of those? Did she want ransom money?

"Okay." Kaya blinked in surprise when the girl let go of her and perched on the foot of her bed with a grin.

Large chocolate eyes and a guileless grin were set in a girlish, almost childlike face. This stranger didn't seem frightening at all, nothing close to the fearsome ghoul she had imagined in the rush of panic. Rather, she looked more like an excited puppy waiting for someone to play with her.

Not a kidnapper...?

"Who are you?" Kaya tried a second time.

"I'm Luffy! Could you please give me a ship? Usopp said you might have one."

"U-usopp-san did? Are you a friend of his?" And not anything more, she silently begged. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't know if she could handle knowing Usopp-san was already in a relationship.

"Nope, I just met him today." Kaya closed her eyes in quiet relief. "My crew and I landed here this morning and we met him at the beach and I think he was trying to scare us off but he ended up taking us to an awesome restaurant where I ate a whole bunch of steak, though I wish I'd eaten more, I'm kinda hungry again, but Nami asked him where we could find a big ship on this island, and he said the only place to find something like that was in this mansion, but he told us how sick you were and so Nami said we shouldn't bother you then, but if I make you all better can I have the ship?"

Kaya blinked at her, feeling rather concussed at this onslaught of words. The inquisitive tilt of the girl's head compelled her to answer, "Ah… sure?", though she wasn't certain of exactly what she was agreeing to. There might have been something about a ship…?

"Great!" 'Luffy' cheered, throwing her arms around Kaya. "Thanks! I don't know how I'll make you better yet, but I'll definitely find a way!"

Ah, so that's what it was. But even a ship would be small reward for ridding Kaya of this wretched illness lingering under her skin, of the sorrow weighing down her limbs. She doubted that this strange girl would be capable of such a feat, though she couldn't help but to hope otherwise.

"Ojou-sama, I have… returned…" There was a surprised pause. And then, "Who are you?"

"Ah, Klahadore, this is Luffy-san. She's…"

"I smell a black cat," the girl said suddenly. Her eyes were focused on Klahadore, a hint of steel sharpening what had been a warm gaze.

Her butler's eyes narrowed. "How rude."

"Not at all. I like cats." She tilted her head, a sarcastic little smile playing along pink lips. "I like their sleek fur, the way they walk, how fast they can run, and especially... how ruthless they are." Luffy turned to her then. "Hey Kaya, do you know what the difference between a dog and a cat is?" The girl continued without giving her any time to answer. "If you give a stray dog food and kindness, they'll be happy to even die for you. But no matter how much you pamper a wild cat, the moment it becomes convenient… he won't hesitate to lead you to your death."

What a morbid way to think! Kaya personally thought cats and dogs were equally cute, but she supposed everybody was entitled to their own opinion.

"You… I don't know who you think you are, but I demand that you leave this mansion. Immediately."

The sickly girl turned to her butler in shock at the sudden anger in his voice.

Luffy just smiled and stood up. "Gladly."

Kaya squeaked as she felt herself being bodily lifted - "Ojou-sama!" - and then she was airborne as Luffy launched out of the window.

AN

From what I can tell, beli has the same value as the Japanese yen. So:

100 beli is approximately $1 (CAD)

2000 beli is approx $20

(I think in terms of the Canadian dollar; the US dollar is nearly the same, so you can think in those terms too. Dunno about other countries though, sorry!)

Badass Nami is badass. Hohoho…

Reviews

Querky66: Well, it just... hasn't come up. There will be more flirting with the hapless Luffy later xD

Curious D: I don't want to give anything away, so this isn't the order that they appeared: Ace, Benn Beckman, Dadan, Dragon, Garp, Makino, Mayor, Sabo, Shanks.

Guest ("will enemy pirates fall for Luffy charms since shes a female"): Yes. Well, not all, just specific ones. And not 'fall for', more like 'want to control', 'lust after', 'be intrigued by', etc. (Except a certain key exception or two.) Being pirates (of the murdering variety, being Luffy's enemies and all), purehearted emotions like love will be very unlikely.

Guest (who suggested pregnancy): Nobody is getting pregnant in this story, ahaha. Not that it's a bad idea, because it'd be interesting to explore that avenue in another plot, but not here. Sorry. :)

lany-chan: THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING EVERY CHAPTER. YOU'RE AWESOME! (Yes, I notice these things. ;)