Special thanks to Leo, mello, LuckyLucy, BlackRabbitAlice, Wolfy, Lammy, hikari, and Johnny Spectre for sticking with me throughout the course of this story. Seriously. You guys are amazing.
Disclaimer: I wonder how far I will go with this story. Anyhow. I don't own One Piece. That reminds me, I need a new swim suit...
"Do you people have any idea of how painful it has been for Nami these past eight years?" Nojiko asked, crossing her arms under her bust. "She had to make the decision to fight alone when she was just barely ten years old."
The den den mushi on Nojiko's shoulder suddenly looked sad. He did have a mind of his own- he was smarter than what any human would ever give him credit for. So after hearing about his red haired friend's past the little snail couldn't help but feel sad.
"So in order to save her village..She forced herself to join forces with the man who killed her mother?" Usopp stated, shaking his head. Zoro only continued to loudly snore.
"How dare they do such a horrible thing to Nami-Swan!" Sanji yelled.
Nojiko swiftly smacked the blonde haired chef, rolling her eyes in the process.
"What was that for, big sister?!" Sanji asked, nursing the large bump on his head.
"This is exactly what I told you not to do!" Nojiko huffed. "Because of you idiots going around and calling Nami your friend and causing a lot of trouble those pirates are starting to doubt her, and that puts her eight years of hard work into jeopardy! So please...leave...don't make Nami suffer anymore!"
Click.
Nojiko walked briskly back towards her home after having told Nami's "friends" to get lost. Honestly, the nerve of those people! They had no right to intrude on Nami's life! And for some reason the small snail that they carried around with them had taken a liking to her. He was currently sitting on her shoulder, but it wasn't as if Nojiko really cared. It felt nice to have the little guy sit happily on her shoulder.
She could hear it- over the sounds of her heels clicking on the ground, she could hear it- someone was in Bellemere's grove. Someone other than Nami. Nojiko was not about to tolerate that.
And to her surprise a bunch of marines were crowded around Nami and Genzo with feral smirks on their faces. They didn't look as if they were there to help. They looked as if they were there to cause more destruction.
"Hey!" Nojiko shouted, drawing the attention of all those around her. She approached the scene, her hands on her hips, and feeling more than a little peeved. "If you have no intention of saving this village, then get the hell out! Arlong might attack your ship if you linger around for too long!"
"Arlong? Attack our ship?" The leader of the group of marines chuckled. "We'll see about that...chi chi chi..."
"Nani?" Nami stared at him with wide eyes.
"Have you still not found it yet?!" The marine captain yelled. "We aren't looking for a single grain of rice here! She should have 100 million beli hidden around here! Its impossible to not find it!"
"How do you know how much she has?!" Genzo yelled, clenching his fists.
"Eh? Well you see...I just had a little hunch.." He replied with a dark smirk.
"I-It can't be..." Nami glared at him. "Was this Arlong's doing?!"
"Oh I wouldn't go that far..." Nezumi continued to smirk. "As workers of the government we are only doing our duty of prosecuting thieves...chi chi chi..."
"Why you marine scum!" Genzo growled.
"How could the marines let themselves be ordered around by pirates?!" Nojiko screamed.
"It's here!" One of the marines suddenly shouted. "I found it! The treasure!"
Nezumi quickly pushed the marine out of the way and lifted up the brown wooden lid. His smirk turned greedy as he stared at the wads of cash and gold. "This is amazing!" He stated. "That girl sure has some talent, that's for sure!"
"Some of these are all stained in blood.." One of the marines muttered.
"Who cares?" Nezumi replied. "Money is money!
"Don't touch that!" Nami growled, clutching her staff as she took steps towards the marines. "Don't touch it...don't touch it, don't touch it, don't touch it!" She continued to chant under her breath with a malicious look in her eyes.
"Nami!" Nojiko and Genzo ran forward and tried to stop Nami from taking anymore steps. Nezumi pulled out his gun.
"DON'T TOUCH IT!" Nami screamed, suddenly running forward with the intent of badly hurting this man. Genzo grabbed her wrist in order to pull her back, and Nojiko ran in front of her to try to calm her down. It was then that Nezumi shot at them, aiming for Nami, but the bullet instead hit Nojiko.
The female's eyes widened as she felt the shock of the bullet entering her stomach. The snail's eyes also widened immensely. "N-Nami..." Nojiko whispered, and it was as if everything suddenly went into slow motion. Genzo's eyes widened, Nami was slowly coming to her senses, and Nojiko's eyes closed before she fell backwards and onto the ground.
"Nojiko?!" Nami's eyes were wide. "N-NOJIKO?!" It was in this moment that Nami sounded as if she was a child- as if she was a little kid trying to wake up her older sister. "Nojiko? Nojiko! N-Noji..ko..."
Click.
"What the hell?!"
"What's going on, Gen-San?"
"D-Don't tell me the marines shot her!"
The villagers all ran towards the trio, worried looks on each of their faces. Seeing Nojiko cringe in pain made most of them gasp. How could the marines do such a thing to an innocent civilian!
"Nojiko!" Nami gasped as her older sister suddenly curled up in pain and tightly clutched her wounded abdomen. The den den mushi had crawled off of Nojiko's shoulder in fright and stood next to her head instead.
"Ugh..." Nojiko groaned lowly. "Kami...it hurts..."
"Hey Nami!" Luffy's goofy face suddenly appeared. "Need any help?"
Nami's whole body shook with fury at the sight of Luffy's face. "You're still here?! You're still here?!" She growled.
"Uh oh.." Luffy gulped as the red haired female stood up and marched towards him with the snail trailing after her.
Nami grabbed Luffy by his shirt with her wounded hand and got into his face. "This has nothing to do with you! So just get the hell off this island!" She practically screamed at him in anger before pushing him and quickly running off.
"Nami, where are you going?!" Genzo called.
She didn't offer a reply and kept running.
Click.
Luffy sat down onto the ground with the den den mushi in his lap as they curiously watched the villagers gather up guns, knives, and pitchforks.
"Eight years ago, we swore not to throw our lives away!" Genzo began. "Now matter how painful it may be living under their rule, we swore that as long as Nami was fine we would limit ourselves to a fight of endurance!" All around him the villagers, including Nojiko, were nodding their heads in agreement. "But this is how they have answered our endurance!" He pointedly looked at Nojiko, or rather her wound.
"Now that our only chance of liberation has been denied, there is no longer any hope for this tiny island! But we shall never forgive those fishman who harmed Nojiko, murdered Bellemere, and toyed with the kindness of that girl! Any objections?!"
"Of course not!" One villager yelled. "Let's go!"
"As if we would accept their rule now that things have come to this!" Another one bellowed.
"Everyone living in this village has been prepared to fight since day one!"
"So let's do this!"
"WAIT, EVERYONE!" Nami suddenly appeared from behind, panting lightly.
"Nami..?" Nojiko muttered, staring at her little sister.
"Guys, don't worry about it! Put down those weapons!" Nami began walking towards the group. "Please, just wait a little more! Ha...I'll try my best again!" Nami smiled widely. "I promise I'll raise enough money once again! It should be easier this time! So please, I ask that you-" Nami was cut off when Genzo suddenly stepped forward and hugged her.
"That's enough, Nami. You know that doing such a thing would be futile. You've carried all of our hopes on your shoulders for a long time.." Genzo whispered. "You've fought for a long time. I know that working with them...must have been worse than being stabbed by a thousand knives. You have fought well. But now...you can leave this village."
"What..?" Nami's eyes were starting to water but she kept the tears in- she wasn't done fighting yet. "B-"
"Nami." Nojiko cut her off. "You're smart, and you've got what it takes to live. And you have a dream to fulfill."
"Nojiko..." Nami pulled out a small dagger. "No! Everyone stop! I don't want to see anyone get hurt by those fishmen! You'll...you'll all die!"
"We know." Genzo replied. "...Now move out of the way, Nami! Let's go, everyone!"
Everyone marched past Nami with anger evident in their eyes. They were marching to their deaths, but it didn't matter. They were going to die for Nami.
"Nami.." Nojiko whispered as she marched past. "Live...okay?"
And then they were gone. Nami sunk to her knees, clutching her arm. The female was shaking as she stared at the tattoo of the Arlong Pirates on her arm. "Arlong..." She shakily whispered.
The den den mushi crawled away from Luffy and towards Nami. He wanted to help comfort her. He wanted to see her smile again. He hated to see her look so broken. The snail didn't want any of his new friends to look broken.
Nami growled suddenly, glaring at the Arlong Pirates tattoo on her arm. She suddenly lifted up her dagger and stabbed it.
"Arlong!" She growled. "Arlong." She continued to stab her arm, not caring about the blood oozing out of her. "Arlong! Arlong!" She huffed in rage and continuously stabbed herself. "Arlong! ARLONG! AR-"
Her arm stopped mid air as Luffy stood before her with his fingers wrapped around her wrist.
"Luffy.." Nami whispered. "What do you want?! You don't know anything about this island!"
"Ah. I don't."
"This has nothing to do with you...didn't I tell you to leave?!"
"Yeah. You did."
"Leave!" She began to throw sand at him, her whole body trembling. "Leave...leave...leave...leave...leave..."
Nami's tears fell quickly. All those years of holding back, all those years of standing strong, all those years came collapsing around her. She put her hand to her mouth as the tears fell faster, and her nose began to run with snot. "Luffy..." She whispered. She turned to him with red eyes and a trembling physique.
"Help me..."
"..." Luffy took off his hat and placed it onto Nami's head. The rubber male turned away from her and took a deep breath.
"OF COURSE I WILL!" He shouted, throwing his hands up into the air.
Nami stared at him in shock, before clutching the hat on her head. "Luffy.." she whispered.
"Let's go!" Luffy stated, picking up the den den mushi and walking off.
"Right!" Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp looked up and began to walk with their captain.
Click.
*Ends it right there*
Yes I know this chapter was pretty short but eh. That's how I wanted it to be, so I'm sorry if you guys were expecting a long chapter-
I'm going to be going to school over the summer. It's not summer school. I just want to do this so that I can have extra credits throughout my high school years. So yeah...fast updates...nope.
Don't you guys love it when you're texting people and then all of a sudden they stop replying in the middle of a conversation. Especially in the middle of an IMPORTANT conversation. Like. You lil shiz- reply-
Please review- give me your thoughts because I'm not too satisfied with this chapter.