A/N

EDIT- Now complete! Sorry for the delay, but I was really sick for ages, and I am only starting to recover now. I feel bad for ignoring this story for so long, but I had very little motivation to continue on with any fan fictions of mine as no one has really been reviewing much and I lost inspiration. To be honest, I used to think that some people were only fishing for reviews when they say that reviews keep them going, but it's true! I need you guys to review, or I will start thinking that no one is interested in my stories anymore.

The next chapter will show how the rest of the Straw Hats are getting on, as requested by Awsme Grl.

Enjoy, Read and Review!

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS A FAN-MADE FANFICTION POSTED ON THE WEBSITE FANFICTION. GO FIGURE.

~~~~~'*0 O 0*'~~~~~~~ Chapter Three~~~~~~~'*0 O 0*'~~~~~

"I tried my best to hold it all together, I know

The strings have worn away and now I'm all exposed

I try to hide it all away on top of the shelf

I can lie to everyone, but not to myself.

Crying for no reason,

Feel the tears roll down.

I felt strong, but

Am I breaking now?"

(Crying for no reason,

Katy B)

Crack.

Creak.

Crack.

Now, she was no expert shipwright, but Nami was sure that the noises coming from the wooden hull of the Sunny weren't good noises at all. If there was another hole down there, she would…

What would she do? Cry? No, she was far too dehydrated to do that. Scream? Nope, her throat hurt too much from already indulging in that particular sport for quite some time. Break down? Nuh uh. She was bored of doing that now. Give up? She felt like it, but it was impossible; there was no way she could abandon her nakamas like that.

No way in hell.

Still, she had to admit that Lady Luck was definitely not smiling down on her today. In fact, she was positively scowling upon her, cursing her with all of the hexes and bad luck charms she could think of. Nami was hungry as she still hadn't eaten, despite it having been five hours since she set out after the Marine ship.

The Marine ship in question was still a good distance away from her, bobbing merrily across the dark waves as the Thousand Sunny chased it, albeit at a much slower pace thanks to the lack of a strong crew to handle it. Screw that, there was no crew at all to speak of. Nami was on her own, and she was sick of it. She now felt sorry for her nakamas, who had worked tirelessly over the time they had spent together to make sure that Nami had gotten back to them safely every time she was kidnapped.

Nami reached for Franky's toolbox, still stashed away in the warm, dry kitchen, and quickly clambered over the railing of the Sunny once she was sure the knots in the rope that was ensuring that she did not fall overboard or get tossed out to sea were tight enough to hold her weight. Slowly, and taking a deep breath to calm herself, she inched her way to the small gash in the side of the Straw Hat's beloved ship.

Oh, how she wished she could go back to her old, safe job of supervising during storms. At least that wasn't that hard. And she didn't have to clamber down the soaked side of a slippery ship, nor hoist anchors up. The very idea of furling the sails made her want to laugh – very, very hysterically. But this needed to be done; if she gave up now, she might never get her nakamas back.

Luffy wouldn't give up.

That thought pushed her harder, and she pulled out a hammer and a handful of nails along with pieces of scrap wood from the large toolbox, before proceeding to attach the planks, albeit messily, to the Sunny.

It was hard, as Nami had next to no experience in fixing ships of any size, never mind a vessel the size of The Thousand Sunny. Not only that, but there was cold, harsh rain lashing at her skin, and the wind was threatening to yank her from the only place that truly felt like home to her, even if the people who made it feel like home were not around. Nonetheless, she wouldn't allow that to happen.

Gritting her teeth and holding the nails in her mouth, She slowly, but surely, started to patch the Sunny up. She wasn't sure if it would keep her watertight for long, but it was definitely worth a shot. A lot of hammering, accidental thumb-hitting and cursing later, Nami scrambled back up the side and threw herself back on to the deck, forgetting about Franky's toolbox for now and just allowed herself to catch her breath again.

Why did this happen…? Why does it have to be so hard…?

Nami had travelled around alone a lot as a teenager, relying on nothing but her own wits and skills to stay alive and get the money she needed to buy her village's freedom back from Arlong. Now, it seemed, she couldn't do much to fight the raging storms and tame the howling wind to ensure that her ship sailed safely through the angry ocean; that made Nami feel useless, helpless and all the more aware of just how much she relied on her nakamas to get through life, whether it be for the company or for the journey to her dream.

Her eyes began to sting, and an abnormally large lump began to form at the back of her throat. Self-loathing and pity were beginning to consume her, breaking down the weak walls she put up whenever she was alone and flooded the holes and gashes that were created. Her frail, small shoulders started heaving up and down, shaking some of the rain off her bare skin in vain. Small, choked mewls of sorrow forced their way out of her mouth, clawing past the lump of painful hatred within her throat and her trembling lips.

Useless. I am utterly and hopelessly useless.

A lone tear trickled out, mixing with the rain water that dribbled down her face and landed on the soaking deck. More soon followed, chasing the first and making friends with the pellets of rain that lashed against her numb face. Before she knew it, Nami was sobbing her heart out, silently begging for someone, anyone to come back and comfort her, to hold her and wipe her tears away.

But no one came.

Please… Luffy… somebody…

The sniffling continued, as did the rain, but eventually the crying stopped. The pity was still there, filling up the holes in her heart, but Nami put on as brave a face as she could muster, and got to her feet again. She was not helping anyone by just sitting around and gurning her lumps out. She needed to get to work, and actually do something if she wanted to save her crew, before something happened to them.

Grabbing the tool box, Nami chucked it back into the kitchen before locking the door and turning on her heel to fight against the violent forces of nature once again. She reached up a hand, holding the old, tattered straw hat to her head. The small pieces of straw were familiar under her fingers, a little piece of comfort amongst all the turmoil that surrounded her on all sides. Nami allowed a small smile to creep onto her face for a split second, enjoying the sensation of having the precious treasure worth more than all the gold in the world once again on her head.

Help me.

It did the job, filling her weary limbs with renewed energy and making her mind sharp, things she so desperately needed to get her through the next… however long it would take to save those blithering idiots. And Robin too, of course.

Nami brought the telescope up to her eye again, squinting against the torrents of water to try and spy a Marine flag in the distance. Before long, she had spotted it, and rushed back to the hefty steering wheel to turn the ship in the right direction. Determination was making her bold, and, for a moment, she actually believed that the rest of the rescue mission would be plain sailing once the storm let up.

The air pressure is changing. If we keep going this way, the weather should improve drastically within moments. And then I'll be able to-

That was the last thought she made for a while, as something struck the back of her head and, with a blinding pain, everything went dark.

CLIFF HANGER.

DUN

DUN

DUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNN.

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