Chapter Twenty-Eight: Nami

As if it wasn't bad enough that Nami had to see that fucker Crocodile at school, the first person she saw when she walked in the orphanage was the bastard himself. He looked cocky as ever as he gnawed on his unlit cigar and stood waiting for them. Nami idly wondered if she could possibly escape out of this orphanage at night with no one knowing. Probably not.

"It's good to see you, Nami-chan," Crocodile greeted her. "I was very worried about you. To think you'd been abducted and held hostage for a whole month, and even shot three times. It's a wonder you're here with us today."

Fucker.

"Yeah, I've got luck dripping off of me like sweat," Nami returned monotone. She looked at Smoker. He was eying Crocodile suspiciously. At least his instincts in one area weren't complete shit.

"Don't you worry," Crocodile continued. "We'll take good care of you here. I will personally see to it."

There was a bad premonition.

"I can take care of myself," Nami responded. "No need to go out of your way or treat me different."

"Come along to my office, and we'll take care of the paperwork," Crocodile suggested, turning and waving them down the hallway with him. Nami did not see any other people around, but she could feel eyes on her.

The orphanage apparently used to be run by a nice old couple back in days past, but now Nami knew that it was a training ground for assassins. So the eyes she felt on her were no doubt there, and were just as likely to be the children of the orphanage as they were likely to be Crocodile's own minions.

The feeling of eyes stopped once they were in the office. Nami guessed that this place, Crocodile's domain, was off limits. That could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on a person's position. Nami guessed it would be bad for her. Why break her so-called lucky streak now?

Smoker and Crocodile went about filling out paperwork while Nami observed the office. There was nothing remarkable about it, other than it seemed impregnable by the eyes that had followed them down the hall. There was a safe in the corner that looked like a piece of cake to crack for anyone who had picked a lock before, so it probably didn't hold anything important in it.

The view that Nami could see out the window gave a clear view of the courtyard where the children were. Still, all were engaged in solo activities, as if the idea of playing with one another were against the rules. Who knew? Maybe it was.

"I'm going to retrieve her personal items from her mother after this," Smoker spoke up. Nami looked at him and was a tiny bit impressed that he realized she would not want to see her mother to collect her things. "I should be back in an hour."

"We look forward to it," Crocodile told him, trying very hard to give off the harmless appearance. Nami thought it didn't work one bit. But either Smoker was convinced or he lapsed back into his crappy judgment because he left Nami in Crocodile's care all the same.

"Now isn't this more like it?" Crocodile asked once the door was closed and Smoker's footsteps could be heard faintly down the hall. "With all of those pesky distractions out of the way?"

"If you say so," Nami returned.

"It would be a shame to have to kill Smoker," Crocodile chatted idly. "He's so good at putting you in the wrong place at the right time."

Nami stared at him, deadpanned.

"Not a fan of our easily manipulated district attorney, I see," Crocodile surmised, actually looking a little disappointed at the fact. "Pity. Well, I suppose that holding the knife over your sister and mother's heads will have to suffice."

Nami made sure that her expression didn't change one iota.

"You're getting good at hiding your emotions," Crocodile praised her. "Are you sure I couldn't tempt you to make the change to my camp?"

"You've got the balls to take something that belongs to the Joker?" Nami asked. There was no way, now that she'd known that the hospital was bugged, that she was going to say Donquixote's name aloud. Probably never again.

Crocodile grinned lewdly. "As you are personally aware, yes, I do. And he and I have an understanding. And that understanding is that what's his is mine to borrow, however permanently I desire so long as he is compensated."

Somehow Nami doubted that Crocodile would be able to procure her permanently, no matter what he thought. "I'm just hired help. I'm supposed to—"

"Continue what you were doing before," Crocodile interrupted, waiving his hand dismissively. "Spying on me for the Joker now. I know. Your boyfriend Trafalgar Water was quite informative. He should take better care when Baroque Works is involved. We know everything."

Nami was confused. But Law had known that the hospital was bugged. He was the one who had let her know. So why was he letting Crocodile know exactly what the plan was?

"But enough of that," Crocodile dismissed. "Let's get down to the heart of the matter. It's been a good month since I fucked you, and I'm dying to know if you've gotten any better at it. And, if you'll recall, you're supposed to do this in order to lure information out of me."

Nami sighed heavily. This was definitely not what she wanted. Especially since Crocodile was likely to bend her over the desk and her leg would be constantly smashed into it.

"Hurry up!" Crocodile snapped, losing his cocky demeanor for a moment as he pulled a condom out of the top desk drawer. How often was he fucking people in this office? There were only children here... "We only have an hour until that moronic attorney returns with your things."

Nami sighed again and slipped the tunic dress that Zoro had bought her over her head. She still had her underwear from when she was supposed to be given to Donquixote, but thankfully, they had been washed with her clothes before she had been released from the hospital. Still, she thought she looked ridiculous with the lacy underwear underneath a casual tunic dress and leggings.

"I'll give that peon Sawshark some credit where it's due," Crocodile murmured, coming to stand next to her and grope her lace covered breast. "He did have excellent taste in clothes."

Nami let the pedophile take the lead as he groped her for a few minutes before relieving her of her bra and practically ripping down her leggings and underwear. Apparently he was quite ready, and the hurry was not all for Smoker's benefit.

She did end up getting desk fucked, but not bent over it like she thought. She was lifted on top of it and pushed down onto her back while Crocodile had his way with her. It was a relief for her leg but no less degrading. After he fucked her, he wanted a blow to see if her oral skills had improved.

Of course they had. After a month of being used for nothing but fucking, anyone's would. But Nami was feeling obstinate and didn't want to give Crocodile any more pleasure than he was already getting, so she just did a half assed job.

"Not bad," Crocodile assessed as he was zipping up his pants. "You've gotten better. Not all that great, but according to my sources, you were Arlong's highest earning Mermaid."

"Did your sources tell you why?" Nami posed as she reclothed herself.

"There was a client who came in every day to buy you," Crocodile replied. "And paid for the whole night."

"There you go," Nami returned. No need to tell him it was Luffy, but knowing Crocodile, he already knew.

"I wondered what happened to all that money when Arlong took you," Crocodile said. "I went down to that box a few days after I saw you and it was gone."

Nami didn't bother to reply. But Crocodile was suddenly in her face and looking very persuasive.

"So which one was it?" he cooed. "The long-nosed boy? The wannabe swordsman? The cop's grandson? Or was it the chef's boy you met on the night you became a Mermaid?"

He didn't know? Nami stared at him in wonder for a moment before she began to laugh.

"If you don't know, I'm not telling you," she responded. "Let's see how good your information gathering is when the person you're trying to gather information from knows you want it."

Crocodile straightened and his mood altered visually. Nami saw the man that she had seen the first day of school and called Mr. 0. A trained assassin who was in charge of the largest information gathering (and murdering, incidentally) organization in all of the Blues. If she'd had any sense of self preservation left, she might have told him what he wanted. But she honestly didn't care if she lived or died anymore, so she just stared back at his murderous gaze.

"You need the fear put back in you," Crocodile assessed. "You've lost it. I suppose, in someone who is in the Joker's organization, that quality is desirable. But not for me. If I can't control you with fear, whether it be fear for yourself or for someone else, I usually will just kill you. But I cannot kill one of the Joker's toys. Borrow permanently, yes, but kill, no. Even if you were to cross me, I would need his permission to kill you first. But don't let that make you complacent. I've seen the Joker let his subordinates die because he had a hangnail that was bothering him."

Still, Nami was not impressed. Death seemed like the better option still.

"I will learn what makes you fear again, Nami-chan," Crocodile promised. "And I will use it against you."

Nami tried thinking of what would 'put the fear back in her,' but she came up with nothing. As long as there was nothing there, Crocodile couldn't control her the way he wanted. Oh yeah, he could fuck her, but that wasn't exciting anymore. He needed something else now to get his jollies off.

The door to the office opened again and there was Smoker, eying Crocodile as suspiciously as he had before. In one hand he had a book bag and in the other he had a duffel full of clothes.

"Thought you'd have shown Nami her room by now," Smoker commented.

"Just acquainting Nami with the rules of this establishment," Crocodile offered up. "I always make sure that my charges know the rules, and this way we have very little in the terms of problems."

Nami rolled her eyes. She walked over to Smoker and took the bags from him.

"I'm ready to see my room now," Nami announced, tired from a long day of bullshit.

Crocodile led Nami with Smoker in tow (just how long was he going to hang around?) out of the office and down a slew of hallways until they came to a small room with a set of bunk beds. There was already a girl on the bottom bunk. She watched them enter the room silently, setting the book she was reading off to the side.

"All of our children have to share rooms, but you are fortunate enough to be over the age of fifteen," Crocodile told her. "At fifteen, our children are paired off in rooms, so instead of sharing a room with ten to twelve girls, you only have to share with one."

All Nami could hear was the word 'children' resonating as 'inmate' in her head. Seemed like the more accurate term. Nami spared the girl she would be sharing a room with a glance as she tossed her bags up onto the top bunk.

She was dark haired and probably tall, judging by the legs for days that were folded up on the bed. She wore glasses and a sharp look. Nami knew that rooming with this girl would probably be problematic.

"If you're waiting for a 'thanks' you're wasting your time," Nami commented as she hoisted herself to the top bunk. Crocodile and Smoker gave each other an assessing look before turning back to her.

"Both of you," she clarified. Smoker snorted and left the doorway of the room, presumably to leave the orphanage altogether. Crocodile cracked a hard smile.

"Good night, Nami-chan," he bade, closing the door behind him as he left too. Nami listened for the sound of his steps to disappear down the hall, but she heard the muffled voices of Smoker and Crocodile instead. It sounded like Smoker was giving Crocodile the business about Nami's probable upcoming court date.

"Hey."

Nami looked down at the girl in the bunk below her. "What?"

"Can you hand me Meito Shigure?" she asked. Nami gave her a puzzled look. "My sword."

Nami looked around and finally pulled up the covers of her bed to see there was in fact a sword hidden there. Nami released it from the covers and handed it down to her roommate. She didn't get a 'thanks' for her efforts, but Nami didn't care. She wasn't looking to make friends here. Just get by until her court date.

Nami dropped back down to the floor and began putting away the clothes Bell-mère had packed for her. Her school uniforms were there along with a few of Nami's favorite outfits and her bathroom stuff. It stung a little to know that Bell-mère had paid attention that much, but Nami was getting used to ignoring those pains as of late.

Next, Nami wanted a shower. An honest to goodness shower. She knew she'd be sharing a lavatory with countless other children, but Nami hadn't been allowed to shower while she was in the hospital. She'd been forced to deal with using a wet wash cloth to wipe herself down, seeing as her wounds were tightly bound in bandages and couldn't get wet.

Well, she'd survived at Zoro's place getting her wounds wet, they'd be fine here. So she grabbed her bathroom bag and went in search of the showers. She didn't bother asking for directions from her roommate; she wanted as little as possible to do with the orphans of Crocodile's assassin training grounds.

She found some showers after some searching and headed in. She took a long shower. She spent at least ten minutes of it just letting the water run over her. She washed her hair twice and soaped up her entire body in a thick lather of bubbles. It was the best part of her day.

Until she got walked in on.

"One of us is in the wrong place."

Nami rinsed the soap from her face and glanced at the boy who had walked into the showers. He had a towel around his neck and a lewd grin on his face.

"And I don't think it's me," he finished. Nami sighed and turned off the water. She didn't really care for giving the boy a free show; she was half tempted to charge him ten thousand berries right there. But she doubted he had any money on him and settled for wrapping her own towel around herself and gathering up her things.

She headed back to her room, dripping mess and all, and finished drying off. Her roommate still remained silent, despite Nami's odd appearance. She got a good look at Nami's many wounds but refrained from saying anything. Nami found some pajamas and climbed into bed, wondering if she'd get any sleep that night, considering that she was bunking with an assassin trainee.

Probably not.

.o0o.

There was something to be said about not caring if you lived or died anymore. At that stage, Nami slept like a baby. She had fallen asleep almost right away and only woke to the sound of her roommate closing the door to leave. Nami glanced at the clock and cursed; she was running late.

There was a bus that Nami somehow made that took all of the orphanage kids to school in the morning. It was driven by some odd ball that Nami was sure she'd pegged as one of the Billions of Baroque Work's organization. Hell, at this point, Nami wanted to believe that every child in the orphanage was a part of the Billions.

The smallest girl in the entire orphanage came to sit next to Nami on the bus. Nami stared down at the blonde child who had to be about six or seven only. And the child stared back. Obviously, she wanted something, since she had sat next to Nami and all of the other children were seated solo.

"Can I touch your hair?" the girl finally asked. Nami was a little startled by the seemingly innocent question; she had honestly thought that the child would try to threaten her or something.

"Sure," Nami agreed dazedly. The little girl reached up and ran her fingers through Nami's hair a few times.

"It's pretty," the girl said. Nami was still waiting for the assassin to come out in this child.

"Thanks," she replied. The girl took her hand from Nami's hair and took hold of Nami's hand. Like it was no big thing. She just sat there on the bus as it headed to the elementary school and held Nami's hand. Nami wondered at the simple gesture.

And then it hit her: Crocodile was trying to get Nami to care about something again.

Nami almost tore her hand from the child's grip right then and there. It wasn't going to happen. She wasn't going to let this child worm her way into Nami's heart and create another way for her to be used. But as Nami looked around warily at the other children, she saw that they all looked envious.

The kids were dying for some sort of interaction, but they knew the consequences of it as well. This little girl in the seat next to Nami had probably not learned that lesson yet and was just seeking the closeness of another person in a facility where no one wanted to be close to anyone.

When they reached the elementary school, the child got up and let go of Nami's hand to give a small wave goodbye. Nami flashed the kid a half smile but did not return the gesture. The bus emptied until there were only a few students left: her roommate, herself, and the rough looking boy from the night before. As the bus moved on towards the high school, the boy, who was probably Nami's age or not much older, came to sit in the seat across from her.

"That's dangerous, you know," he spoke up out of the blue. Nami didn't know what he was talking about, so she did not respond. "Physical contact. That's dangerous."

Nami looked down at her empty hand. "Not my idea."

"Mako is our newest transfer, next to you," the boy told her. He had sandy hair and a scar over his left eye. For some reason, he was familiar to Nami. "She doesn't remember the rules very well. You shouldn't encourage her."

Nami felt her irritation flare. "That kid is not my problem."

"Really," the boy chuckled. "As I recall, you seem to get into everybody's business to help them. Even strangers like me."

Nami finally realized where she knew this boy from. He was the boy who had been harassed by the three idiots from the Clown gang almost two months ago. Nami had no idea he was a part of Crocodile's lot. If so, she'd have left him alone to fight his battles.

"I don't do that anymore," Nami told him. "Learned my lesson the hard way. Only took three bullet holes for me to get the point."

"Only three, eh?" the boy chuckled. "Well, shit."

Nami saw that they were almost to the school. She wrestled up her book bag on her good shoulder and wondered briefly what she would do if Nojiko cornered her. And she was likely to, since Nojiko was that kind of person.

"I'm Kohza, by the way," the boy introduced himself. Nami looked over at him again. Weren't they done talking? "And you're Nami. The girl who went missing for like, a month or so."

"Yeah," Nami confirmed as the bus pulled to a stop. She got up from her seat and limped down the aisle while Kohza followed and Nami's roommate came third.

"Got any good skills I should know about?" Kohza asked. Nami turned suddenly, causing Kohza to have to jerk to a stop or run her over. He took a step back. "Warn a person before you do that."

"I steal things," Nami told him, holding up his confiscated wallet. Kohza pawed at his back pocket for a moment before snatching the wallet from her hand. "So don't get too close or you might lose something important. What's your special skill?"

"Espionage," Kohza answered with a hard grin. Nami nodded and resumed her trek off of the bus. When she did get off, who should meet her there but Law.

"Son of a bitch," she muttered. He held a hand out for her and she sighed, taking it reluctantly. Behind her, Kohza chuckled again.

"Have a nice day," he said smarmily as he moved around them and headed into the school.

"Making friends?" Law guessed as he took her school bag from her and walked her into the school. Nami was stared at. Even more than on her first day. She wondered if it was all because she had been missing or if some of it had to do with Law.

"Whatever," she mumbled. "I don't suppose that if I tell you that I don't know anything yet that you'll go away."

"Nope," Law confirmed. "I'm your boyfriend. You should be happy to have me around."

"Uh-huh," Nami replied. Somehow, Law already knew the way to her classroom. He led her there as if it weren't his first day on the job. He even entered her class and dropped her book bag by her chair. Nami stood up front by Miss Nico's desk, waiting for her.

"We're having lunch together," Law told her as he passed by. He even went so far as to kiss the side of her head. "So don't get any ideas."

Nami sighed again as Law left the classroom. Luckily, it was that time that Miss Nico entered. She looked pleased to see Nami, but not in the least surprised. Nami was almost positive that this woman was a part of Baroque Works.

In the middle of discussing when Nami would make up her unfinished exams from six weeks ago, as well as how she would go about catching up in the school semester, Ussop and Zoro walked into class. Ussop dropped his books and immediately rushed her. He was all hugs and stuttering for a moment as he looked her over and tried to express his joy at seeing her.

"I missed you too," Nami assured him, wincing as he squeezed her shoulder a little harder than she would have liked. "We'll catch up at lunch, okay?"

Ussop was sort of satisfied, and Zoro, who had seen her up until a few days ago, was indifferent for the most part. But it was Nami who was disappointed. Luffy did not show up for school. Likely, he was still in the hospital, or at least at home on bed rest. But Nami knew the only way she'd see Luffy again was in school. And she felt as if the world would not be okay if she did not see Luffy again.

Lunch finally came and true to his word, Law showed up in her classroom again. It was an odd, almost funny thing to watch at first. Law, all sarcastic smiles and attitude against suspicious Ussop, irritable Zoro, and inconsolable Sanji (who had come over from his classroom). It was not an easy introduction.

"Nami-san, you can't be serious," Sanji kept saying, clasping at one of her hands as he begged her for it not to be so.

"Where'd you pick up this piece of shit?" Zoro wondered idly. Only Ussop remained quiet. But Nami could actually see the questions he was holding in like they were written across his face.

"Your choice of friends is deeply disturbing," Law added. "This looks more like the losers club rather than the best of friends I've heard about."

"You should look in a mirror before you go calling someone a loser," Zoro bit back. Sanji was ignoring Law as if he wasn't there.

"Post-traumatic stress disorder will sometimes affect the mental faculties of patients," Sanji relayed. "I'm sure that you're just going through a stage of PTSD and are not serious about this cretin."

"Cretin?" Law repeated with a laugh. "That's rich coming from a borderline stalker."

Sanji's one visible eyebrow twitched. It didn't help that Zoro snorted to cover a laugh at that one.

"Oh, grow the fuck up you guys," Nami finally snapped, staring at all of them. "Like it or not, Trafalgar Water is my b-boyfriend and Trafalgar, these guys are my friends. If that's not acceptable to some of you, then by all means, leave. I don't need you in my life if you won't accept every part of mine."

"As long as I don't have to like him," Zoro muttered.

"I don't care if you hate each other," Nami clarified. "Just don't bitch and moan about it when I'm around, alright?"

It seemed as though that was acceptable. Lunch went on in a tense silence. So much for catching up with the guys. No one would say a word. And Law was awful too. He just sat there with that shitty grin on his face and tried to hold her hand. Luckily, she needed both hands to eat so he didn't get very far with that.

Nami never knew how much of a blessing afternoon classes could be until that day. She was almost thrilled to be there. The only two things that could have made it better were Luffy's presence and if the school wasn't under the control of a psychopath named Crocodile.

Speaking of psychopaths, Nami was summoned to the principal's office near the end of the day. Zoro gave her a look of concern that she tried not to see. What was she going to do? There was nothing for her to do. So she picked up her book bag and headed off to the principal's office.

The secretary, Miss Valentine or whatever her name happened to be, was not around when Nami got there. She debated for about a half a minute just sitting in the outer office area and pretending to wait for Miss Valentine to return, but Nami was a smart girl and Crocodile knew it.

Besides, Miss Valentine was probably not going to come back, especially if Crocodile had in mind what Nami thought he did: one of his fantasies was to fuck her at school. She may as well get it over with. Nami didn't bother knocking. She just let herself into the office. Crocodile was at his desk, on the phone.

"Yes, I believe she will be of much use to me," Crocodile was saying. "She's perfect for integrating herself into the student body. I should have what I need in a few weeks, probably."

Nami was pretty sure he was talking to someone about her.

"But honestly, Don, if you were so curious about what I was doing, you could have asked me," Crocodile went on, standing from his desk and motioning her over. Nami was reluctant, especially since she was almost positive that Crocodile was talking to Donquixote. "No need to go to these stealthy means. I will tell you outright."

Crocodile grabbed the book bag from her shoulder and tossed it away. He then turned her around to face the desk and bent her over it. She felt him shove her skirt up over her hips and yank down her underwear.

"I am searching for someone," Crocodile confided as he unzipped his pants. "The child of the biggest banking conglomerate in All Blue. I'm positive this person goes to this school."

Rather roughly this time, Crocodile began fucking Nami. Her leg repeatedly banged against the desk until the pain was too much and Nami put her hand down to cushion it. The position change made her clench down on Crocodile and he groaned.

"What? Oh nothing. I'm just fucking your subordinate right now," Crocodile continued. "She's gotten rather good at this. I may not want to give her back."

Whatever Donquixote said in response to that, it made Crocodile laugh.

"I know, I know," Crocodile agreed easily. "But back to business. Like I said, I'm looking for Nefeltari Cobra's child. I plan to have them gang raped and want to record the whole thing. How much do you think that Cobra will pay to keep that video out of the media? I'm guessing his entire empire."

Sick. Just sick. That's what Crocodile was. Nami didn't know how this man had any capability to surprise her anymore, but he just did. To gang rape someone for profit? It was disgusting. Whoever this Nefeltari kid was, they needed to stay out of Crocodile's sight, that was for sure.

Nami was rolling her eyes in disgust of Crocodile when she saw it—the door to the office was cracked slightly. She'd closed it firmly when she'd come in, though. So someone was watching them. Was it Law? Probably, but what would be the advantage of it? Especially since Crocodile was spilling his guts to Donquixote himself, and was apparently so involved in the conversation and fucking that he didn't realized he was being watched.

Figuring it was Law, Nami used her free hand to give the crack in the door the finger. Abruptly, the door closed all the way. Weird. She figured that Law would keep watching, regardless of whether or not he was found out. Maybe it wasn't Law watching them.

Then who was?

A/N: The plot thickens, eh? Anyone guess which arc we are entering now? I hope it's obvious. Let me know what you think so far.