The smell of antiseptics filled her nose, the high concentrations of ethanol burning her senses. When she tried to open her eyes, she immediately was forced to shut them. The light had been a light blue and shone directly into her face. She couldn`t feel much – a strong sedative she had thought of – but her movements were restricted. Without her senses functioning correctly, she was forced to fight the burning in her eyes until a minute later her blurry vision started to sharpen when her pupils adapted to the brightness.
She was met with the sight of a giant lamp above her head that had been attached to a device hanging from the white ceiling. At the side of the lamp had been various mechanical devices she never had seen before, but she wouldn`t miss the sight of the sharp appendages that were partly covered with blood. She tried to move her head only to find it impossible as something was preventing her from craning her neck. Probably fixated, her foggy mind guessed without any trace of worry.
Where was she?
Why didn`t she felt anything?
And most of all, why wasn`t she scared as she used to be?
She could make out distant voices, barely enough to understand a single word or to even figure out from where they came from. In her sedated mind, it seemed as if the voices were all around her, close enough but still too far away. She groaned out and knitted her brows together uncomfortably. She could make up a shifting sound.
" – st"
was this a woman?
"- too close enough -"
or a man?
"- unit 5 already -"
an old man, she figured.
Shifting, again. It started to annoy her.
"Finish the preparations of – "
why did they keep talking?
"- doesn`t seem to have any complications"
finally, her mind started to slowly clear.
"Unit 3 had been a failure. The Cas7 scissor didn`t cut where we need it to. Years of research failed because this method is susceptible to any changes – "
why did the feeling of anger rise inside her?
"Not until we finally are able to detect the protein the polymerase ypsy is aiming for. Finding the source will give us the answer about how the Devil Fruits may alternate it to unlock -"
shut up.
Her heart rate seemed to increase. She could feel the blood pumping through her veins as her anger raises even more. Why? She didn`t know….. Just a few minutes ago, she could feel nothing.
The talking seemed to come to an halt. How she was thankful of the silence. Just once, once in a while she could appreciate the silence…. What was silence to her?
There was a long sigh.
"Another failure"
shut up.
She could see a large pale hand reaching out to lift her eyelid. Her blood started to boil. Why did it aggravate her like this? The touch was neither painful nor rough. Another blinding light made her pupils constrict painfully, the fingers holding her eyelid up, preventing her to instinctively close her eye. Another groan left her throat. She could feel the central retinal artery of her eye throb within her skull, her senses focused on the pain while her heart rate seemed to slow down.
"Subject`s positive. Admit it to the seventh unit of TTP mutagenesis. I don`t want to risk another case – " please, simply shut up.
"Kuma?"
"We are already far beyond the goal of creating a cyborg"
her head started to ring.
"We would be faster if we had Ceasar Clo – "
"Unit 7 is already showing success. Three of the test subjects have already exceeded all previous expectations. Without technological modifications or cheap serum like that sold by the Vinsmokes in the underground. We are close enough to the origins of the Fruits´ forbidden powers, we don't need that suicidal maniac"
her vision went blurry again when the light was removed from her eye.
"- increase the dosage of Lyssaviruses in the subjects system"
was the male voice and her eyes both widened.
Lyssa?
Could it be –
She felt a wave of strange sensations running through her body, crippling her nerves and spanking up her muscles. She gritted her teeth together hardly, enough to bite her tongue and tasting the metallic taste of her own blood when she choked. Darkness overcame her when the last thing she felt had been the crippling burning wrecking through her system, pulling her nerves apart, flooding her muscles with electrical impulses, cramping up her stomach until darkness surrounded her.
"- a vent" a soft voice exclaimed happily.
She looked through the glass in front of them and caught a glimpse of a thick cloud that was released from a crack in the deep oceans surface. She smiled.
"Yes! The tools you use are very practical, actually. On the Sunny I would have some trouble to detect those" she says while looking back at the map in front of her.
She had placed two mugs of coffee on each side to keep the sheet straightened on the table. She could feel soft hair pressing against the side of her right arm when he leaned in and watched her drawing on her map.
"I can imagine it. But it is actually still hard to find a ring of fire that could lead us to the next Porneglyph" he explained when he himself added some lines on the large map where she previously scribbled the outlines of the last island they visited.
She sighed and looked down at the finished lines of the underwater volcano she just added to her side of the map. "How I wish that we could dive as well. But the Sunny isn`t designed to dive underwater. I would give everything to get the same tools and possibilities to map out the places where we can`t go yet-"
"Everything?" a deep voice called out from behind them.
She turned immediately, and her smile faded when she saw him leaning against the door frame of the navigation room. The typical smirk played on the lips of the Captain of the Heart Pirates, the hat casting a shadow over his eyes. As if they needed more shadows than they already had.
Cocky insomniac bastard.
"I talked to Bepo, I know that he wouldn`t request something weird" she huffed out in annoyance and ignored the faint "sorry" coming from the bear next to her.
Despite being a skilled thief that required to have a heightened sense of their surroundings to not being caught during the act of robbery, he always found a way to sneak up on her. She definitely spend too much time on the Polar Tang, she figured.
A low chuckle escaped his lips when he pushed himself off the wall and started to step towards them, his gray eyes curiously inspecting the large map both navigators worked so hard on since days. He didn't know much about cartography and how to factor the shifting of tectonic plates into the calculations of sea routes, but as a captain his knowledge of how to read a map was sufficient.
"We are close to our next destination".
It always surprised her at how quick he was picking up on learning new things. Even in her own crew, there were only few people – Jinbe excluded – who could read such detailed maps and make out their destination. Even though Robin was the quickest to figure it out, she still needed a while to inspect her maps before she came to the right conclusion. As an archaeologist, she was trained in looking into the smallest of details.
She crossed her arms and looked at his tall figure hovering slightly over the map, making him look like a creep intimidating a smaller person.
"Of course. We took the direct route" she explained and didn`t flinch when his eyes locked onto hers.
"What do you even plan to get from that island? Its inhabited and pretty small. There is no way that you could get the supplies you and your crew need" she said.
In her opinion it would be more effective to sail four days further to the next island which was much larger. Of course, Tomoshibi Island was a thriving country with a large proportion of agricultural land and large cities. And big shopping malls…
"I am not going to waste any more time for another shopping spree of yours" he shot back.
She huffed.
"We used up the whole storage of your ink" she tried to defend herself.
She sensed the polar bear tensing beside them. Poor Bepo obviously became uncomfortable once the pair started to bicker. Neither Law nor Nami would admit defeat, both being highly organized and practical individuals. Sadly enough, it wasn`t comfortable to witness two bossy people trying to win a tiny battle for leadership. Even though he was the Captain of the Heart Pirates, and always had the last word and she may be a subordinate of the Strawhat Pirates officially, Nami always called the shots since she set a foot on the ship. When it came to deciding which island to dock on next, she did not waver from her opinion.
"You will lose much more time on that small island you plan to dock tomorrow" she hissed back.
He straightened his back, ignoring the way the polar bear tried to silently leave them with careful side steps, much like a cornered crab trying to hide during its escape. His gray eyes glared at the much smaller orange haired woman next to him, who still had her arms crossed like a bossy little brat.
"You obviously forgot where you are" he remarked.
She knew that this would come next. In every discussion they had he would try to remind her that she was on the Polar Tang – his ship – and without having the official title of being a member of the crew of the Heart Pirates, she was only a guest and only the captain ever had the honor of making the decisions. Well, in any other pirate crew, despite the Strawhats. As one of the world´s most skilled navigator, Nami had learned to stood her ground even when she needed to face the world´s most talented surgeon, a former Shichibukai and one of the strongest pirate known to the New World. She could handle one of the Emperors with the freaking ability to transform into some kind of sun god and beating a large dragon into a pulp. Compared to him, it shouldn`t be difficult to handle a grumpy arrogant smart ass.
So she thought.
"You obviously forgot who the navigator is" she countered self-confidently.
She did forget that the man she was trying to handle was a completely different type of pirate than the childish living bunch of pirates her crew had been. Her fingers twitched when he bent his torso down to close the distance of the lower part of his face to her left ear. For his relatively tall body height, all it took was half a step to be that close to the small, fiery woman.
"Keep on that bratty attitude. I will be happy to accept you pushing me over the edge, so I can finally show you who the boss is" he grinned proudly at the effect his low whisper had on her.
It accumulated with the tingling sensation his warm breath left on the sensitive skin of her neck. She never could get used to that subliminal seduction of the tall man. It also didn`t helped her that she rather found him attractive. As an usual collected smart woman that would sometimes use the weapon of seduction herself to release the wallets of her poor victims, being the victim herself was a new feeling she didn`t yet welcomed.
She furrowed her brow and lightly pushed him to the side, her body acting on defense.
"As if you would ever be able to boss me around" she snarled and stalked past him, grabbing her map and rolling it closed before she picked up a small rope to conceal it.
She ignored the curious, sharp gray eyes following her movements. It only happened on board of the Polar Tang, although she would never admit it officially, that Nami would be defeated by the Captain. That didn`t stop her from pulling at the faintest trace of satisfaction she could find in such situations. A trace that immediately would be shattered by the other person.
"Every wild, snarling tiger can be tamed and transferred into a purring pet if you know how to do it, Nami-ya" was the answer coming after her when her feet carried her out of the room.
She was just glad that Bepo escaped a while ago so he didn`t have to witness his Captain`s victory and her defeat.
Her arms rested on the cool metal of the railing on the deck of the Polar Tang. The sun had been covered by dark thunderclouds.
The snow reminded her of her problem. It was cold. And of course – she wasn`t prepared, her usual clothing consisting of a thin black halter top, her long smooth hair tied back into a ponytail doing little to cover the freezing skin of her neck, letting the icy wind sending shivers through her body. The jeans she wore did cover her legs down to her knees, usually she would wear a shorter version of jeans but found it inappropriate when she stayed a while on the Polar Tang while her crew had been busy investigating a tropical island to find a mysterious, cursed Longsword or to follow an exciting story about an incredibly strong and fearsome warrior that is rumored for the defeat of thousands of enemies that dared to set a foot on that island.
She had seen the changes in the weather coming a while before, even if the weather in the New World is known to be unpredictable, and she was touched by the kindness of the Heart Pirate`s First Mate that offered her one of the clothes their crew had to protect them from the cold. No, she would never wear one of those, so she kindly refused the offer to take one of the thick boiler suits of the crew. It left Penguin with a worried expression, but she quickly waved him off and continued to step to the railings and inspect the small island from afar. She had been happy when they surfaced so she could get fresh air again and feel the wind, smell the salt of the ocean´s surface and admire the view of the wide horizon around them. But in truth, she was still brooding that they would take a stop on that island and that she would need to wait another week until she could finally go to the next shopping trip. In fact, it helped to relieve the stress that accumulated each time she had been on the Polar Tang where she had to strengthen her defenses against the grumpy Captain´s antics. Now with the stress further accumulating, her shell started to crack even though she tried to hide it.
She knew that he already noticed it.
Something warm and heavy pulled her out of her thoughts when the material of soft feathers almost poked into her eyes. She rubbed them to get rid of the tingling sensation they left on her cheeks and the skin around her neck before she grumbled and looked up at the man standing next to her with crossed arms. Although the warm coat had been comfortable and cozy, her pride would still cause her anger rising at the kind gesture. If it would have been her own crew, she would welcome it and accept it right away. But coming from the man beside her whom she knew held ulterior motives for her, this gesture would result the defensive shell she build up weakening further and take her one step closer to break her own rule of not developing any romantic feelings for another one. They always made a pirate´s life more complicated.
"Thank you very much" she made out between her struggled breaths.
"But I prefer a blanket".
She knew it was childish, but she was desperate to keep the shell from cracking further. The increased beating of her heart betrayed the cold façade. That earned an annoyed, heavy sigh following with quite a large fog coming out of his mouth. He had been holding his breath.
"Getting frostbite or a fever doesn`t make things easier, does it? I would welcome it if you stop being offended like a little girl that didn`t get her ice cream".
Despite her mind telling her differently, her body acted on instinct and pulled the coat closer around her torso and releasing a faint hum. She noticed his brow flying up his forehead, almost disappearing under the rim of his symbolic furry white spotted hat, and tensed up. Sometimes she hated her body.
"If we had followed my route, we wouldn`t even have to waste this time for that stupid winter island" she huffed and stuffed her hands into the oversized pockets of the coat to keep them warm.
"Then we would have missed the rare opportunity to find one of the rarest sources of quartz crystal in the New World" at that explanation her eyes started to sparkle, and she turned immediately to look at him with wide eyes.
"You`re kidding! You should have told me beforehand – "
"I will not sell them in the market" he interrupted her, slightly amused by the sudden change of behavior.
Her face dropped.
"What would you need it for then?"
"Simple. Ikakku needs them to craft oscillators." He explained shortly, not in the mood for further explanation.
At her pouty face, Shachi chuckled. "Penguin and Uni regularly need oscillators for some of our portable medical equipment. Since the Captain sometimes manages to wreck them with his power" he giggled when his Captain sended him a dark expression.
Well, that explained the short explanation from the man. She couldn`t help but give his officer a high five. At least she could pay him back for his intimate approach in the navigation room. She felt an arm wrap around her small shoulder and pulling her closer to his side, the sudden movement making her freeze for seconds and her mind running wild.
"I am willing for a small share if you are ready to beg for it" he whispered into her ear, cutting off the teasing in an instant.
"Captain, that really isn`t necessary" Shachi coughed and grabbed her arm to pull her with him.
"Come on, let´s go and finish the preparations, Nami-Chan" he called and hurried in his steps when he felt the invisible flames of anger flaring round his Captain´s form.
He was sure to avoid being near his Captain for the whole trip.
The dim light from the small lamps on the helmets of some of the crew members was hardly necessary. The narrow, deep cave in which they had been wandering for some time in search of something useful was covered with salt crystals on the walls, which successfully reflected the light and thus provided a good level of brightness. The individual crystallized salts shimmered in different lights. A beautiful but icy cold place. She wondered why the Captain didn`t use his ability to scan the cave. That would save them a lot of time of digging and searching. She thought that he simply refused to use his energy to save it in case of any creepy creature that might live in this place. Another possibility was that he was in a bad mood since Shachis interruption of his successful seduction on the ship. But she would bet all her money that the main reason why he didn`t use his ability was that he had no clue how that material they searched for looked like in its most natural form.
A side glance to Shachi confirmed her guess. They had been wandering behind all the other members of the harvest Team, or "Gold Diggers" as Penguin called them, to put as much distance to the leader as they could. While he was doing it to avoid any cruel penalty task his Captain might think about every time he would take a glance at his Officer, Nami simply did it to get rid of the warmth still lingering in her chest. And to avoid another close contact.
They stopped when Uni turned towards a large crystal and inspected it further. He seemed to be an experienced collector.
"I think we might have something here" he exclaimed and soon after, the small group started to go on their separate way to take a look around the area.
She paid him her respects because she could also recognize the small metals between the salt crystals. Wherever Zinc was, more valuable metals would wait for them to be found. Her eyes started to shine with excitement when she moved aside some of the smaller stones and salt, revealing more of the dirty gray material. She ignored the small drops of icy water on her head as long as she could, not willing to give up the opportunity to find a possible rare material in between the zinc. Until her body couldn`t suppress it anymore and she sneezed out loudly, catching the attention of some nearby allied crew members. Luckily for them, the ceiling in that place had no sharp stalagmites that could break.
She heard a sigh close to her back "How could you survive that long without getting sick. Tony-ya must be more capable than I initially thought".
Then he placed something on the top of her head. By its fluffy material she could tell that he didn`t simply put one of those stupid helmets on her orange hair, but a hat with a similar design to the one he was wearing. She instinctively reached up and noticed that it had been the very hat he had used to wear back in Sabaody Archipel.
She looked up in confusion and saw him cast his eyes away from her.
Was he blushing?
"Aweee Captain" Penguin exclaimed with a cute squeak, "This is the cutest thing I ever saw you doing" Shachi exclaimed with both of his hands clapping together like a happy old grandmother praising her grandchild.
"He must have kept his old hat in his pockets the whole time ~ " Penguin smiled wide.
Shachi nodded, "He waited for the right time and the excuse to give it to her ~"
A vein popped out from his temple, a dark aura forming around his form as he glanced over his shoulder at his silly subordinates relishing the cute scenery in front of them. They stopped and whistled before they rushed out of the immediate danger zone in two directions.
Despite the antics, she couldn`t help but smile to herself. So he was truly caring about her well-being…..
A thunderous roar spread through the area. The creaking of wood, the splashing of the relentless waves of the angry ocean and the pained cries of people getting injured playing inside her head. The ground underneath her bare feet shook, the splintered, destroyed wooden floor was already so badly damaged by the cannons that she feared it would break through. Her breathing was heavy, her hands clenching around the expanded Climatact, fingers digging into the soft flesh of her palms.
The Polar Tang gave out a miserable howl as the salty water broke through one of three large holes at its left side. The cries of the crew members echoed through her ears as she stood there frozen in her tracks at the sight of a large frame closing the distance to her. The pointy razor sharp nose and white pointed teeth, the last thing she expected to ever see in her life again. Around them, the sounds of swords hitting against each other slowly died down as the Polar Tang was forced to lean to the left, resulting in every person losing their balance on the ship and desperately reaching out to hold onto anything to not fall into the fatally cold ocean.
She gritted her teeth together as her eyes frantically moved around the upper deck where they had been, desperate in searching for every allied crew member she could find. While Penguin had been holding out rather good, gripping the railing of the ship that slowly bend down, holding Clione with his other hand and pulling him up, she could see Jean Beart having trouble keeping his balance when he stumbled towards the mast of the lower deck, pulling a battered and freezing Ikakku with him. A few other Heart Pirate members were untying a small lifeboat – the only one they had hidden in the rear of the Tang – in panic, their hands already red from the cold of their wet clothes.
There was no trace of Shachi, Uni or Hakugan anywhere. The last thing she could register was the sight of the Captain being thrown off from the large warship close to the right side of the Tang. A trail of blood followed his fall when his body hit the surface of the ocean. A loud, deep laugh came from the deck of the warship as a giant shadow of a man stepped on the edge, his muscular arm lowering the large axe to the wood.
Her head whirled down as her hands gripped onto the railing, being sure not to let go of her weapon while doing so. She opened her mouth wide, the adrenaline pumping through her system in pure shock and deep fear.
"LAAAW!" she screamed out, but there was no emerging of the person she hoped so deeply to see.
"SHASHASHASHASHASHASHASHA" the wicked laughter caused her to refocus on him.
She never had been the type of person that moved only by instinct, but at that moment she forgot everything around her and pushed the shock, horror and fear away, only to be replaced by wild fury.
"YOU!" she roared out and aimed her weapon at him, letting a giant thundercloud form above both of the ships. If she was going down, she would surely take their enemies with them. In the middle of the northern thunderstorm, the strength of her attacks would reach their peak. Never had she wanted to use that attack because it was impossible to aim with such an amount of Voltage. Deadly in every aspect.
The fishman took a few steps closer, gripping his large weapon hard, while his grin never left his ugly face.
"What will you do, huh?" he took another step forward, "Nami, Nami, Nami" he stopped when he noticed her swinging her weapon to produce more and more thunderclouds.
He didn`t miss the fresh purple bruises that covered one side of her neck. He knew that they had been caught off guard in the middle of their weak moment when the attack started.
"You could never do this" he continued, "Kill a person, let alone risking the lives of your allies" he lifted his hand as if he was holding a glass of wine, the grin still plastered on his face as if he didn`t know the feeling of true fear, not even at the sight of accumulating dark clouds and the raising static in the very air around them.
"I didn`t expect you being the one to get distracted in a way like that, Shashashashasha".
He noticed that she still didn`t released her attack. He guessed that she had been intimidated by his presence, much like she froze when she first noticed him standing on the deck of the war ship before the second and third cannons were shot.
Not only that, but he couldn`t have been more wrong.
Her eyes glanced around to see that most of the still living Heart Pirates had left the sinnking Polar Tang, clinging to debris or the tiny lifeboat while they worked hard on pushing as far away as they could. A smart bunch of crazy pirates. The seemingly lifeless bodies were pulled among them. There still was no trace of the Captain, his navigator and his second officer…
She knew that the time was running out. If she waited longer, the canons of the warship would aim for the pirates trying to escape. She readied her weapon and caused the fishman to lose his grin, the sharp teeth disappearing behind a deep frown while his eyes opened wide in shock. At least with this they still had a chance to survive.
She pressed her ring finger against a hidden button of her Climatact and released some static on her whole weapon, the electricity stinging her skin. The static air that she breathed caused to multiply the electrocution that resulted her heartbeat to falter and fall out of his rhythm. The tiny hairs on her neck stood on edge already, her pupils dilated as she opened her mouth to release a faint cloud of smoke. The ground beneath them almost took a 90 °. If her only free arm wouldn`t be holding onto the railing, she would have fallen already. The fishman in front of her had been gripping on the main mast and he screamed out in pure anger.
"YOU BITCH!" was all he managed to roar as he jumped towards her like an angry shark attacking its prey.
"SUPERCELL TEMPO !"
She roared out and swung her Climatact towards the sky, releasing a massive amount of electricity that accumulated in the heavily charged air. The dark grayish clouds turned into a dangerous greenish blue when the newly created whirlwinds formed a swirling mass of thunder that started to form at the higher skies and quickly reached down. The surface of the ocean was pulled into the large whirlwind and shaking the warship uncontrollably.
For a brief second, the surrounding air became silent, at that moment the time seemed to slow down. She blinked her eyes when she saw a glimpse of white fur in the distance. Bepo had survived and carried his battered Captain on his back while he swam away as fast as he could.
Another blink and the last thing she could see was the ugly face of the nemesis of her life before everything went white.
She gasped and sat up straight, her hand gripping the dirty fabric that concealed her chest over her rapidly beating heart. Her eyes were wide open when the last picture of her nightmare started to fade away slowly, replaced by the sight of dim stony walls. The small campfire a few feet next to her was warming up her side and despite her body experiencing the symptoms of pure horror and shock, she wasn`t sweating.
"…I almost wanted to wake you up, mum" a soft voice spoke up next to her.
Special thanks to levarciel for the support! Also I want to thank yo uall for the nice comments ^^
Don`t hesitate to drop by your opinion :)
And here`s the quick painting of the last scene.
nicolej3/art/Supercell-Tempo-1021737004