Water.

She was underwater again.

Her body felt numb, her ears filled with water and bubbles. The same dream again…? Nami though opening her eyes, and surprisingly found out that she could see just fine the line out of her room, the dazzle of the sun making all the pretty tricks, streaks of light moving around in the water with her.

'I can't move.'

The realization came in surprisingly calm, probably because she already experienced it earlier that day. The same and exact shadowy figure loomed over her, and she tried to open her mouth and voice her thoughts, but as soon as she managed to open it her eyes flew open, and she was in her bed again, no trace of water. She stubbornly closed her eyes shut again.

'Please, don't be morning already!'

She stayed as still as possible, willingly her body to relax again in vain despite the little sunlight behind the fog entering the room, but despite wanting to sleep more her body felt well rested and ready to get up, her toes curled in anticipation.

'Alright!' She flew the blanket over and quickly made the bed before going out of her room. They were on a vacation, so she was permitted to go around in her pajama, and after all it wasn't anything fancy and could be mistaken for tracksuit or house clothes, even if Bellmere would totally chew her head out. At that thought, the girl actually stopped to at least fix her bedhead, imaging her sister and mother scolding her endless.

About that… Nami checked her phone, and it still had no signal. It was getting really frustratingly! She tried to restart the phone, put it on airplane mode, check her current balance, but nothing changed, and she almost throw it on the ground out of annoyance. She sighed sadly, opting to toss it carefully on the bed, sure many calls and messages were stacking up any hour. It was fair, they didn't even get to tell them about the car breaking on them because the signal was far gone already. She better ask Gloria to make a call with the house's phone but... She remembered trying it yesterday, and it didn't work, so, she'll ask her about it. This is an isolated place after all, maybe they had trouble with the normal phone line.

She knocked on Luffy's door, hoping he was awake too. She waited, and getting no response, she decided to open the door only to find the room empty.

'Where are you?' She thought pouty but sighed and closed the door carefully, deciding to go see if Pudding was still asleep before checking the kitchen. She might as well dress herself and ask her to do some makeup together. She was thinking to put on nothing fancy, just maybe a little of mascara, but she could ask Puddy to use her hair straightener and try and make some curls like she does almost every day. Now that she's at it, she'll ask her what kind of hair product she uses for her hair to remain always so soft and healthy.

Nami put on her short salopettes with a simple white shirt under it and headed towards Pudding's room, knocking on her door. A small voice called her in, and she carefully opened the door, noticing the other girl was still in bed, covers up to her head. "Puddy! It's morning, come on." She smiled brightly at her friend and called her out, but Pudding groaned a little in response and didn't sit up from her bed, so she went closer to check on her, and the girl released her grip on the blanket just enough to be able to look at her.

"Sorry, Nami... I feel cold, I wanna rest a little longer." The orange haired girl looked at her sympathetically and gently checked her temperature on her forehead. Geez, she was really cold.

"Don't push yourself, Puddy. You gonna be okay on your own?" Nami observed closer her friend with a worried look on her face. On closer inspection, Puddy's beautiful light brown hair looked… Not shiny and all curled like usual. Plus, she had dark circles under her eyes, so maybe she actually didn't get much sleep.

"Yeah, I'm good. Maybe I caught cold for all the fog..." Pudding responded in a soft voice and gave her a small smile. "Guess I'm in for getting a fever." She sighed sadly, mostly because she could miss out the whole vacation.

"Aw, Puddy, don't worry about your plan getting ruined." Nami winked leaning on the mattress. "I'll send Sanji to check on you later, 'kay?" Nami told her jokingly, trying to give her a reassuring smile.

Pudding groaned into her hug and covered her face. "I don't want him to see me like this…!"

"Then you don't want to see him at all until you feel better?" Nami promptly debated and could see Puddy's gears turning into her head as she let go of her from the hug. "No! No… Alright, just… Make him come here later." The girl rose her blanket to cover her face again, this time without doubt to hide the huge blush that had creeped on her cheeks.

Nami laughed and patted her head, getting up to leave and ultimately deciding to not do any makeup and let her rest, taking the hairbrush from the dressed and putting it in the nightstand so that Pudding could brush her hair.

Her friend only looked at her sweetly for a few seconds, her gaze softening even more at that gesture. Then, out of nowhere, Puddy faked a cough and quickly told her. "Go find Luffy!" Nami gladly giggled at that, as it was a sign her friend didn't feel so bad, if after all she was still up for some gossip and taunt. She briefly hugged her and kissed her head affectionately. "I might just go and do that." She admitted playfully, quickly promising her. "Feel better soon, Puddy."

The girl weakly waved her off and Nami carefully closed the door, sighed and looked towards Sanji's room. She guessed since even Luffy was already up somewhere, he might be around too if not with him. Just to make sure she knocked on Sanji's door, and no one answered.

Walking past the blond's room saddened and thinking about where the boys might be – and hoping the blonde wasn't serious about taking a swim into the swamp, shuddering as she imagined the two boys swim around in the dirty water – she hears some voices coming from the room with the phone and her mood immediately lightened up. Opening the door and peeking, she found the two boys sitting on the couches in front of each other, and happily greeted them. "There you are!"

"Good morning." Sanji gently greeted her, while Luffy just smiled brightly at her before musing.

"About time Nami, it's ten o' clock!" He chirped laughing indicating the huge clock on the wall.

"Wait, really?!" She followed his indications and checked the enormous clock as she went in, confirming the time. Geez, she didn't feel that tired yesterday, and felt stupid for not paying attention at the time while fidgeting around with her phone... But well, it's not like she slept in too much. They are on a vacation! She can do it and not feel at fault for missing out.

Nami skipped over Sanji's couch and plopped down next to Luffy, about to ask them what they did all morning.

"We went to check the car." Sanji explained without needing the question, and from the way both him and Luffy beside her immediately pout and slouched on their selves, she assumed no good news and sighed.

"Can't be out of gas..." Sanji continued thoughtfully, torturing his beard.

"And it's so old that I wouldn't rule out it just finally falling apart." Luffy deadpanned and the blond didn't even have it in him to get angry, because he knew he was right.

Just as he finished talking, the door clicking open made them almost jump, and they turned around to see Gloria slowly walking in, her cane in hand.

"Oh my, good morning." She greeted them with a hint of surprise and curiosity in her voice. "What are those saddened faces?"

"I'm sorry, Gloria, we checked the car, and it seems it really did just abandon us." Sanji quickly explained. "We didn't want to overstay your welcome, but we kind of don't have a choice..."

"And I think Pudding is getting sick." Nami quickly added in. "I went to wake her up, but she feels weak and cold, and didn't feel like getting up at all."

The old woman hummed and went to sat down carefully near the blonde who gave her a worried look, before giving out her thoughts.

"Oh, poor thing." Gloria said sadly, holding the cane in her lap. "You see, I have to go to the nearby village to attend a memorial service for a few days." They all tensed at the edge of their seat subtly and anxiously. Was she going to kick them out? No car and one of them possibly sick… But the old lady quickly added, continuing. "But I would appreciate it if you could look after this old building while I'm gone. You've proven yourselves to be very nice people, I don't mind you staying in longer." She smiled kindly at them and gave a particular grateful look at Luffy and Nami. "Thank you for doing the dishes." The two waved her off smiling awkwardly, smiling contently.

"You really don't mind it?" Sanji looked at her quite not believing it.

"You wouldn't get far walking in the mountains anyway, not in this fog... Especially if the other miss isn't feeling well, from what I've gathered." She told her sounding extremely sorry. "I would take you with me to the village, but even from there there's no way to get help, you see, this area had always had problems with phones and such things, that's why only old people like me tend to stick around." Gloria told them carefully with a hint of humor in the last part, and Nami slumped a little more on the couch as she got an answer for another unspoken question. "Oh, but normally, the phone works again after a while, just you wait it out long enough, normally it's no more than a couple of days that it goes off." She motioned to the old phone and tv on the room.

Nami grunted mentally. So, just wait for the phone to magically work again.

"While I'll be in the village, I'll check the phone occasionally, and if it works, I could call your parents maybe?" Gloria got up slowly and opened a drawer under the tv stand, taking a piece of paper and a pen, and turning to get back on the couch.

"You're welcome to stay as long as you need, even longer. Just please don't do anything dangerous, my poor old heart couldn't bear it." She told as she put down on the table the objects she just gathered.

"You're so nice, thank you, grandma!" Luffy immediately shut his mouth as he called her that, the nickname they collectively and unconsciously decided to give her, Nami ready to smack some sense onto him, but the old lady just laughed and waved him off.

"Oh, I sense you would be quite a handful of a grandchild." She humored him with grace.

"Well, that's what my gramps says..." The boy scratched his head, and this time both Sanji and Nami snorted and suppressed a laugh.

"I'll go get ready, in the meantime please write down a phone number and a name, so I'll know who I get the pleasure to talk to." She sweetly said and got up, taking her cane with her and exiting the room.

Luffy didn't remember any numbers, Nami's family was working most of the time and probably none would answer, no one of them felt to go disturb Pudding yet, so they ultimately decided Sanji would leave his old man's number on it.

A couple of minutes later Gloria came back with a jacket on and took the paper, putting it in her purse and the three of them accompanied her to the door to send her off, as she kept repeating to them her warm warnings.

"Remember, keep an eye on any fires if you lit the fireplace, oh my, I don't remember where I put the key to the storeroom, you would be a dear if you were to find it for me. I should be back in a couple of days, so I'll get some groceries too, be careful with the way you ration the food. Feel free to explore this old house, but don't go walking in the mountains!"

"Yeah, yeah! We'll hold down the fort, don't worry!" Luffy told her happily, like a child who finally got to stay home alone left with the mission to protect it as he helped her get off the stairs on the front door.

"Don't go dying grandma, you hear? If you do we're really stuck here." Sanji called her out and Nami punched his arms, hissing a 'be nice!' under her breath.

"Ah, I'll be careful." The old woman laughed at their antics and started making her way on the road, looking back at them one last time, the three younglings still waving her energetically. "Such cute and kind younglings." She talked to herself as she kept walking, her cane steading her. Once she was out of earshot, she muttered under her breath before disappearing into the fog.

"So long."

/

"So… What now?" Sanji asked thoughtfully once Gloria was out of sight, and they all stayed silent and unmoving, still by the front door, and collectively sighed bored, somewhat lost at what to do without their host.

"I'm a little hungry." Surprisingly, Nami spoke first.

"Well, you didn't have breakfast." Sanji reasoned.

"So… Lunch it is." Luffy concluded, and he closed the door.

/

"How come there still is rice and eggs…?" Luffy thought out loud, playing around with the spoon before properly starting eating.

"I guess, this really is the only thing she has enough to feed four persons." Sanji said sadly, also pushing around some eggs before eating it respectfully.

"I feel like we really own her, I want to thank her somehow…" Nami spoke softly as she ate. "There must be something we can do…" She mumbled looking at her plate and looked up at her friends, especially Sanji who basically had a lightbulb over his head.

"Maybe we could clean this place out." He proposed and quickly added. "It's not that it's dirty, but… There's definitely much dust laying around." Nami blinked and perked up.

"That's actually a good idea!" She turned to Luffy, who looked rightfully bored at that thought and she encouraged him. "C'mon, it'll be fun! Don't you want to pay grandma back?" And he relented in defeated.

"I do, I do." The straw hat boy agreed with them. "It's just… I imagined doing something different on a vacation. But until we'd do it together, fine by me." The other two hummed happily as they kept eating, before the blond spoke up again.

"Oh, but where are the broom and everything?"

"I hope not in the storeroom…" Nami feared they would have to search for it at some point, and this house with its rooms is immense already.

"I think I saw a broom and some dust cloth somewhere…" Luffy wondered out loud. "Oh right, in the bathroom! Right by the footstool."

"I didn't even notice it…!" Nami thought out loud, but she did explore in a rush yesterday out of exactment and curiosity, so it's bound she missed some things.

"Good!" Sanji spoke as he gathered their empty plates to wash them. "I think that our rooms, the bathrooms and the kitchen have the top priority."

The other two nodded confidently and cleaned the table as they waited for Sanji to finish doing the dishes.

They were surprisingly having fun, cleaning around. When they realized they couldn't put some music on, Sanji and Luffy started to sing some stupid and off-keys different songs as they respectively passed the broom and cleaned the shelves in Nami's room, the latter laughing and jumping in her bed, dancing sillily. But it felt weird, Nami thought, without Pudding.

Also, the cleaning of the rooms took much more time than they expected, so, at the time the reached Sanji's room – after Nami send Sanji to check on Puddy, and he saw her sleeping peacefully – it was late afternoon, and they felt somewhat tired from having to move around the furniture.

When they went to clean the bathroom, the energy completely wore off, they just made some small talks about their parents, siblings and friends that were surely worrying to death about them and hoped that grandma got to the village safely, the boys sitting down by the door as Nami cleaned the bathtub.

Ultimately, it got late, and the sky was getting darker, so they decided to leave the kitchen like this for the time being and went to check together on Puddy to see if she was up to eat something. They entered in her room quietly, one after another making their way towards the bed, Sanji being the first to reach her and his face immediately contorted with worry.

Pudding was... Trembling. She looked pained in her sleep and was mumbling something under her breath.

"She slept the whole day, how come she worsened...?" Luffy softly spoke, worrying evident in his tone, as Sanji leaned in closer to her head to listen, only to straighten his back again, looking more worried than Nami thought to be possible.

"She's cold." The blond said, almost confused and they all shared a look, promptly going out the room to gather another blanket to give to Puddy from Sanji's closet in his room. While Luffy and Nami made sure to tuck in Puddy with the blankets, Sanji prepared a plate of rice and eggs to leave on her nightstand, in case she happens to wake up in the middle of the night.

"We should find a way to get her to a hospital if it's still bad tomorrow." Sanji spoke again once they were out of her room, and the other two nodded sadly, making their way towards the kitchen to have dinner themselves.

They checked all the cabinets to make an itinerary and found out they had many snacks and canned drinks, so they gladly opted for something lighter for dinner instead of rice again, the dinner's atmosphere clearly saddened as they all ate in silence, and Sanji excused himself and went off to prepare for the night, totally not in the right mood to have company.

So, once again, Luffy and Nami took it to themselves to clean the table, automatically switching role in washing and drying the dishes and glasses without really needing to voice it, and Nami was glad of this moment they got.

"Nami?" Luffy's voice cut through the silence and the girl realized the dishes were all clean and she had her hands still in the dirty water in the sink, the tap still running.

"I spaced out, sorry, what were you saying?" Nami quickly recovered and closed the tap, letting the dirty water sink away as she dried her hands on the cloth Luffy passed her.

"You can go wash first." The boy repeated easily, looking at her.

"Right, thank you." For some reason, she couldn't stand his gaze at the moment, so she quickly diverted her eyes and went out towards her room to gather what she needs, leaving him behind.

Well, Nami thought as she walked towards the bathroom with her things in hands, she's the one who scrubbed the bathtub clean, so she totally deserves a bath.

She opened the water, tapping the bathtub once it reached a nice and warm temperature. Waiting for the bathtub to fill in, she did her hair and tied it in a bum and put some cream on her face, before finally undressing and going in, instantly relaxing as soon as she touched the warm water.

"This is so nice...! Can't believe I bathed in here yesterday with that much dirt..." She pushed some strands of her long hair behind her ears as she looked up at the ceiling.

The soft noise of the water moving around soothing her, and she hugged her knees close.

"Hope Puddy gets better soon so she can try this too. It would be a waste of a trip."

When did she started to talk to herself? She guessed that she was feeling lonely. Nami knew she wasn't, but maybe this was Pudding's absence taking its toll on her…

That's right, Puddy didn't get to have her moment with Sanji today… Maybe that's why she unvoluntary drifted away from Luffy, because it didn't feel fair to be happy with him. Now she was starting to feel a tug on her chest as she realized it.

She sighed defeatedly and let herself slip a little further into the water, closing her eyes...

It is really relaxing.

She'll apologize to Luffy later.

Now, she just has to take some big breath, and relax…

She almost fell asleep right on the spot, the sounds of the water transforming into the ones of her current dreams.

But something felt strange about the water…

Opening her eyes again, Nami was met dark water, way darker than it was supposed to be. She felt it clinging to her skin, a sickly greenish.

She raised her arm out of it, realization hitting in as soon as the smell came in.

This is the swamp's water!

She screamed out horrified, scrambling out of the bathtub. So gross!

She crawled as back as possible using her arms, and shakily getting up trying to get it off from her.

The door suddenly busted open, Luffy running in.

"Nami?!" They both froze up. Despite herself, Nami's first instinct was to go towards him to punch, but the door was too far away and the first thing she had close was the face cream's bottle, so she took it and launched it at her friend, who had quickly covered his eyes so didn't have a chance of dodging it as he bolted out the door. "Ow, sorry! I didn't see anything!"

Nami felt her whole body shaking with adrenaline and getting hot in embarrassment as she quickly went to dry and dress herself, as quickly as possible because she didn't feel like staying alone with the bathtub filled with swamp water.

"Sorry, wait! I screamed first! I'm sorry I hit you!"

"It's fine." Luffy's muffled voice came from right next the bathroom's door, and Nami decided to push the matter down at the back of her mind to think about the sudden change of water in which she was bathing in.

She had her clothes back on and was trying to get as much water out of her still damped feet with the towel when she called Luffy back in, pointing out at the bathtub and its water, and he immediately went to examine it.

"Ew, Nami, how gross are you...?" He spoke dumbfounded.

"No, you idiot! It was clear water, and then this so suddenly!"

"Swamp water...?" Nami saw Luffy touch the water and really hoped he didn't taste it to figure that out.

"How could it get in here?" She asked absolutely having no idea but hoping for a logical answer.

"Some leak in or something?" He said thoughtfully and checked the sink, letting the water ran out. Nope, clean, crystal water came out of it.

"I'm never going to take a bath, ever." Nami shivered and hugged herself and Luffy snickered.

"You're going to stink so bad."

"Still, I'll be cleaner if I don't bathe in that!"

"Should we try and fix it?"

"Better not, what if we break something? We'll wait for grandma to get back."

"Geez, I wanted to try the bathtub now that it was clean and all, though." Luffy told her sadly and Nami deadpanned, inviting him to get in.

"No, thanks." He immediately responded and then sighed. "At least let's get this water out."

Luffy, without batting an eye, put his arm into the swamp water and unplugged the bathtub shocking her friend, the water slowly disappearing in the tubes. Waiting until it was empty, he opened the water again.

Crystal and clean. They shared a puzzled look, too weirded out to talk.

He washed the bathtub from the remaining of the dirty water and decided to call it a day.

They exited the bathroom and walked towards their room without a word, when they spotted Sanji waiting for them to bid goodnight by the staircase.

"Ugh... You two, ehm, kind of smell. Like sludge, or something." He said as soon as they got close enough to him, confused.

"I'm not going to talk about it." Nami immediately raised her hands up in surrender.

Luffy shook his head and only said. "Check the water in the bathtub before washing."

"What a bum." Sanji spoke saddened, before suddenly perking up. "Wait, did you two just-"

"Nope!" Nami blunted out and walked away faster, her face reddened.

"Eh, goodnight!"

They waved goodnight and went in front of their respective rooms. At the same time Luffy and Nami smiled at each other and went in their rooms, Sanji longed in front of Pudding's door.

Nami looked at her phone sighing sadly and quickly thought of putting it under recharge. Well, it really didn't matter if it was out of battery or not, but if Puddy didn't feel better and grandma won't come back soon...

She tried to put her mind at ease as she got herself under the covers. Good knows how many calls Nojiko was making, last thing she texted her was that she was sleepy and was going to take a nap during the car ride.

Nami closed her eyes, and quickly enough.

She hears water again.

But this time, her whole room was underwater with her.

After that awful bath, this was a sickening dream, but nonetheless felt herself move to get up, gladly to be able at least to do that. A phone charging underwater, huh? She'll have to tell Luffy about this strange dream, he'll laugh to no end and call her an idiot because you just can't do that.

She exited her room, and the rest of the house was underwater too.

Something black swam quickly next to her and forward, towards Pudding's room. She felt the urge to go in there now.

Puddy...?

She immediately followed that thing, walking normally despite her dream's setting, and longed just a moment by the doorknob before going in.

Mine.

What was that...?

A horrendous face flashed before her eyes, and she sweated in fear.

That black shadow was next to her friend!

Mine.

Get away from Pudding!

Nami jolted herself awake, taking her thankfully water-less room. Taking a few breaths to calm down, her sweaty skin irritating her. The urge to follow that dark thing in Pudding's room still hang on to her.

'Puddy, please, please, feel better.'

She rushed out of the room, her quick steps echoing through the hall, knocking fast and hard then she intended on the girl's door. Silence. Another urgent knocking sounds. Yet, nothing. Was she up already? That could be it, but anxious was eating her mind.

Nami knocked one last time and busted in without waiting for a response.

"Pudding! It's morning, do you feel better? If not we can find a way to go... To..." An eerie feel took over her stopping her rambling, and instinct made her take a few steps back towards the exit at the same time a horrible smell to close to rotten eggs reached her. She couldn't see her friend's face from her perspective for the way the blanket was pushed up, looking bigger than necessary.

Gurgle.

A disgusting sound made her bones quiver. But she couldn't push it aside. It came from Pudding, so she forced herself to go closer.

"Puddy...? Co-come on."

Gurgle.

Pudding's whole body was swollen, her tongue sickly big out of her mouth and her skin a sickish blue and lucid. The worse part were her eyes, utterly and absolutely empty, looking up at the ceiling.

A bloody-curling scream echoed in the mansion.

"Puddy...! Please!" Her hands hovered unsurely over her, panicking, not sure how to touch her, not sure if she even should.

Gurgle.

As she made that sound, her mouth and neck's swollen skin moved, like if she was gulping something, and the sight was terrifying.

"D-don't do that...!" She choked out and Pudding's eyes quickly moved to looked at her, and Nami froze. Her stare was so cold and filled with hatred. That wasn't her friend staring at her. Suddenly, she felt so small.

She didn't even register the door swing open, quick steps coming in as she slipped on the floor, her hands trembling as she held on to the covers hanging from the bed onto the wooden floor, that horrible sound keeping on repeating.

There was some commotion around her, some voices yelling, but she could only think about the black shadow in her dream, and those empty, cold, eyes.

Everything was a blur from that moment, her mind barely registering her surroundings. A couple of hands pulled her up and escorted her out of the room, and before she could realize it, she was sitting on the couch, in that room with the phone next to the dining room.

"-this thing busted?! Piece of...! This isn't the time!"

As fast as she blacked out, her mind registered all at once, catching on quickly at what Sanji's frenetic voice referred to.

"M-My phone is charging!" The blond immediately and too roughly put the phone back in place and bolted out the door, his running steps quickly fading.

"Hey." Luffy's voice, despite everything, calm and soothing, made her turn to him. He was sitting at her side, holding her hand. He looked tired, and worried, but still find it in himself to try and make her feel better.

"Good thinking." She bit her lips and put her head on his shoulder, desperate for the contact. Despite it, she could still feel the shiver stuck on her back. Nami hugged his middle fiercely, trying to get rid of that feeling. She sighed relieved as Luffy put his arms around her, but even that lasted for too little.

Sanji busted back in, everyone's phone in hands, muttering under his breath, and they looked at him expectingly.

He looked at them back, panting heavily and then yelled out in frustration.

"Can't call the ambulance if every freaking phone still don't work!" In a fit of rage, he violently tossed the phones onto the table, one ending up on the ground, and he immediately stomped on it.

Nami flinched, but didn't find the courage to speak out, and she automatically hid her head further in Luffy's neck and collarbone, his hands on her head and back grounding her. Sanji slowly seemed to put himself back together, sitting down in the couch in front of them, holding his head with his hands.

Not even a day ago, they were sitting like this, the old lady speaking to them softly and sweetly.

"Just... What the hell happened to her..." The blond miserably croaked out. "She's all swollen..."

"Looks like a..." Sanji took in a big breath before continuing. "...a corpse..." He gripped hard on his hair as he told it, spitting the words out like poison.

Nami was going to feel sick.

"Don't say that!" Luffy snapped, and Nami felt the vibrations from his throat. "She's still breathing and all."

"... Sorry..." Sanji muttered.

Nami felt Luffy fidgeting around, playing with her hand and hair, before he gently but confidently slipped away from her arms. "I can't stand still...!"

"Where are you going...?" She cringed at how small her voice sounded.

"I want to see if there's a village or something in the proximity, they must have a doctor at least!"

"But grandma..."

"I know! I know... Just, I want to try. I'll be careful. I promise."

"Lu-" The door closed shut behind him. He slipped away from her again, but this time, she couldn't just open the car door and venture the fog with him. She felt like her feet sunk on the floor.

Styrofoam-Dog: Thank you! Here you go another one.

See you next time!