Beta'ed by: van0koko

A Short Break

Chapter 6

O O O

"Eh?! T-t-they cannot come back? W-what do you mean?" Chopper's question caused everyone to fix their gazes on the stranger, each of them waiting for an explanation to his ridiculous statement. A mixture of impatient and worried looks were plastered on their faces as they stared at the short man.

"I'm so sorry! But there is nothing we can do to bring them back." Tomo bowed once again in front of them, his body shaking.

"You shitty, old man." Sanji kept getting angrier with every word the man said. He threw away his cigarette and yelled. "What did you do to our precious Nami-san?"

"Tomo-san, could you please tell us everything you know?" Robin stared at the short stranger as Momonosuke came to stand beside her. She flashed an encouraging smile to the little boy and took his hand before looking back at Tomo. Robin had a feeling that there was something odd going on ever since they had first approached the island, however, she wasn't expecting to hear things such as what this man was saying.

The stranger sighed and found himself sitting in a cross-legged position on the deck. He then looked up, examined their figures and asked in a low tone. "Haven't you read what was written on that rock? I thought that could have been of help."

"Huh? You mean you wrote those words on that rock?" Franky asked as he saw him nodding. "Are you dumb, Sorry-Man? It's not like we knew about it before our crewmates went into the forest."

"So-sorry man?" Tomo blinked in confusion. "Ah, that's right! I should've thought of putting up some more around the island! I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry!"

"This guy is super hopeless." Franky kept eyeing him. He then crossed his arms and said. "You could have at least written those sentences again. We barely made out some words when we stumbled upon that rock."

"Ah, you are right. I should've thought about that too. I'm so so—"

"We got it!" Everyone—besides Robin—yelled in unison.

The dark-haired woman glanced at the forest with a look of worry covering her features. As bad as the situation seemed to look right now, she hoped that everything was going to be okay soon. 'Not much time has passed since they got into that forest after all. Half an hour at most. How far could they have gone?'

O O O

The lively atmosphere kept making Nami feel uncomfortable as she was sitting at the table inside a small inn called 'Lovely Green'. The Straw Hat's navigator, together with one of the most wanted Dead-or-Alive pirates, Trafalgar Law, came upon the drinking house after hours of searching around the city.

Hours full of looking around for mostly nothing.

The two had spent the day examining most of the places that were located next to the Green District, most of which lead to Grand River, the heart of the city, as the old lady had mentioned before they left. There was a wide river flowing in the center of the island—theoretically, cutting it in half—and, oddly enough, the water was a light shade of purple. However, the entire view was lovely. It could simply attract the attention of any adventurer from all over the world. Or so Nami thought.

The fact that the color of the water flowing through the river did not match with the one of the sea, although the two were connected at the opposite ends of the island, was another matter. One that could be easily ignored due to the rest of the view.

The river in that area had a wider shape than in other districts where it passed through. Rounder, resembling the shape of an enormous lake. There were statues hanging on the riversides, each of them painted in different colors and designed in elusive shapes, all surrounded by small, floating lights that could capture the eyes and hearts of anyone who would pass by them. There were also colorful buildings surrounding said view, letting locals from different shops and restaurants enjoy the scene.

Nami noticed that this was somehow… a color-related island. Each of the districts around the Grand River were covered in a distinct color, such as the Green District. And the center happened to have most of those shades put together.

After spending half of the day looking around the city, the two pirates found themselves in need of food. Nami decided to eat at the least populated place they could find in order to not capture anyone's attention with their presence as wanted pirates. Causing another scene and getting themselves in trouble was so not one of the things she was looking for on this goddamn island.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Nami took a sip from her beer before resting her elbows on the wooden table, firmly holding the glass close to her mouth. She eyed Law, noticing that he had just finished eating.

"Look some more around the area and ask the locals." Law coldly answered. He was too preoccupied with his own thoughts to pay attention to her. He then excused himself and got up to walk towards the other end of the inn.

"Can he be any worse than this?" Nami's eyes wandered to his full glass of beer and found herself letting out a sigh. Had she known that he wasn't planning to touch his beverage, she wouldn't have ordered it. On another note, the idea of taking it for herself and drinking it wasn't too bad. He didn't deserve it and she was the one doing the job of stealing money since they had none to begin with. Nami shifted her gaze to examine the drinking house, noticing how happy everyone was.

She slowly blinked twice before sinking her face into her palms. Everything felt exhausting, and the only thing that she wanted to do was to get back on Sunny and be with her crewmates. She peeked through her fingers to notice once again how everything looked so normal. Ever since they found themselves on this island, Nami never noticed an odd scene or person. And by odd person she meant a troublemaker who'd cause a mess and maybe start up a fight. Not that she was thinking of Luffy, really. As big as this island was, she was expecting something, anything unusual, at least. It might have been true that Nami loved breaks from the endless adventures with her crew, yet she couldn't help but be worried in this case.

Her thoughts drifted away when slow steps were making their way towards her table. Nami looked up to find Law holding a glass of water, about to take a seat across from her. "I just had a talk with the owner of this place."

"And?"

"It appears that this one does not know what a Den Den Mushi is. As if they do not exist around here."

Nami blinked in surprise and managed to let out a short laugh. "That's impossible. No island can live without communication devices, Torao-kun. Especially in the New World," she said. "Why did you even bother asking about that?"

"I have the feeling that this island, Nami-ya, is far more different than we think." Law shifted his gaze to meet hers. He then placed his hat on the table and took out the Straw Hat's Den Den Mushi from the pocket of his black coat, returning his attention to the snail. He tried calling, but there was no answer.

Nami took that moment to look at him. She barely remembered ever seeing Law taking his hat off on the ship, with the exception of that embarrassing bed scene, which she tried her best to forget. As she was mentally trying to kick those thoughts away, Nami couldn't help but keep an eye on his hair. 'He could use a comb once in a while.' Even though it looked ruffled, it was kind of cute.

Wait.

Nami shook her head and gulped down the last of her beer in a mere second. She did not just compliment his hair. There was definitely nothing she could say that was nice about this man. Besides his fighting skills which, she might add, were also creepy in their own way, she couldn't admit to find any other traits in him that were…good. This place was just driving her crazy; and she had to go back to her crew as soon as possible.

In the end, Nami blamed the small confession to herself. Alas, it was partly Ohana's fault since the old lady mistook them for a couple when she'd found them unconscious in her backyard and decided to throw the two of them into a bed together. But Nami was the one who created different scenarios in those mere seconds of finding herself with a man in a bed before she fully woke up and realized who she was sharing the bed with. Different scenarios that any woman would normally think of in their dreams, because honestly, that was what she had initially thought it was. Nami thought that she was still dreaming while Robin was trying to wake her up. Only that, those seconds weren't a dream of a handsome man looking down at her in an affectionate way while her locks were spread through the soft mattress and her body lay in the most comfortable position. No. Those seconds were a horrible, unexplained, reality. 'Oh, God.' If only that morning when she woke up in bed next to Trafalgar Law never occurred.

That dreadful morning which happened to be nine hours ago.

Law raised an eyebrow, noticing the color of her cheeks reddening, but decided not to question it. "Searching for any Marines would likely be the best option for now, Nami-ya. They might hold the answers to the communication issue."

The orange-haired navigator stared at him as she slowly began to pay attention to his words. She suddenly forgot those little thoughts and raised her voice. "You're being serious about that matter? It's just not possible. If this were a stranded isle with only a forest or God knows what else, then I would agree, Law. But it's not."

"It can explain why your Den Den Mushi hasn't worked ever since we came on this island."

Nami only scoffed in response. She refused to believe that what Law had just said was in the slightest bit true. It couldn't be possible. She looked at her Log pose for any sign of the needles spinning, but to no avail. It hasn't moved at all since they got on this island and this was another thing that worried her.

In the end, her words decided to go against her. "Fine. We will have to look into it. Should we go now?"

Law analyzed Nami's behavior for a minute. Throughout the day, Law had noticed the girl going through some tense moments whenever she was in his presence. He was affecting her behavior and truth be said, he didn't want that. He didn't need someone to slow him down. But he couldn't leave her in this mess and try to leave by himself either, since it might break his alliance with the Straw Hats. He knew he had to try his best and change his behavior around Nami.

He had to act like a friend.

Then again, the term was not one that he could fully comprehend. Befriending others seemed like a useless trait for someone such as Law. And a disadvantage for any pirate. The only person that he had ever considered a friend was dead, and that was because of him. Ever since then, Law had lost the meaning of the word. However, pretending to be one should be worth it in order to keep things going well with Monkey D. Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hats.

He looked at her as she was about to get up. "Before that, I need to talk with the owner of this place again, Nami-ya. I need to see if he knows anything about the Marines, or anyone else important around here."

Nami felt her right eye twitch as she sat back. "Fine."

Law nodded as he took his hat and got up. He turned around and left once again.

"I can't take it anymore." Nami mumbled to herself. She shot him a lazy glare before turning her gaze to his share of beer, deciding to drink it after all.

O O O

A/N: I haven't posted in a while, I know.

It's just that I've been pretty busy with some life choices and also found a new obsession to add to my collection, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Does anyone else just love Spike? No? Yes?

All right, I hope you enjoyed this little bit of a chapter. I will get back into writing more for this fic, and hopefully, sooner than I hope.

Let me know what you think about it with a review. Every opinion is important to me!

BatmanSwim2016: I hope you enjoy this chapter too!

Kagehime3: Thank you, thank you. This chapter might not be enough to answer most of questions, though. Everything will all have an explanation at some point!

Shinku: Thank you. ~ I hope you will enjoy this chapter!