You better enjoy this to the fullest, because it took me eight hours to edit.
Just kidding. Enjoy it (or don't) as you want.
There's fluff, there's humour, there's angst, there's Elynna being a badass, so everyone should find something they like (hopefully).
Fair warning: this chapter got kinda out of hand, and not even half of it ended up as I had planned. Especially the jokes. I stayed up writing them well into the night, and then only slept five hours because my brain was too busy inventing more jokes and cackling about them. Dunno if they'll be hilarious to you tho…
Also trigger warning (I guess): apart from the (psychological and physical) violence that comes with OP, there are mentions of racism considering what arc it is (or is it spesiecism in this case?). It's more Elynna's thoughts about it than actual behaviour, but I just wanted everyone to know.
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, so anything that you see in this fic and that you can recognise as belonging to One Piece is not mine. If I did own it, I wouldn't have to write fanfiction. Duh. Also, I don't own the picture. Should have said that earlier.
Part One - Dive|rgence
TWELVE
And when I see you,
you and the nightmares in your screams,
and the festering wounds in your eyes,
and the wailing wraiths of hateful deaths in the hollow of your chest
(-where you tore out your heart-)
I think that I
should shut my mouth and
being numb isn't that bad
Right?
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Luffy's post-feast nap lasts for all of five minutes before he starts bouncing around like a bunny that ate enough coffee and sugar to put a horse on a high.
"I can't wait! Let's go get Nami and to the Grand Line! This is gonna be so fun! Which direction is it?! There? This way? That way?"
"Are you really that naive? You can't go to that kind of place with just six people! That's insane!" Yosaku sputters.
"Never said he was sane." Elynna mumbles without opening her eyes from where she's lying on the deck.
"Shouldn't you worry about it, Big Sis Elynna? I thought you were…"
"The sane one of the bunch?"
(If this is all something that she dreamed up, she is as certifiably insane as Sea King
and if it's real
then she's pretty sure she heard cracks running across her sanity when she met her Captain, and sticking close to this crew in order to get home will probably shatter it if she ever does end up tearing herself away from them
she's just hoping the way the pieces of the fucking mess she is don't fit quite as naturally with theirs means she'll take more damage than them
but even though she never studied psychology, she knows enough about minds and hearts to be rather sure that it won't really work, because they can't have been faking all the smiles and the gazes and the touches
she thinks the acid eating away at her insides in the dead of the night is called guilt)
"Don't know if I'm sane since I'm on this crew, but considering that Krieg barely lasted a week with 5000 men and Zeff lasted at least a year with probably a much smaller crew, I doubt that numbers is the decisive factor when it comes to surviving on the Grand Line."
"What a brilliant argument, Elynna-san!" Sanji sends heart-eyes at her that she can see even with her eyes closed. "Well, as long as I get to be with beautiful ladies like Nami-san and Elynna-san, I don't care where we're going."
"I second that." She announces, raising her hand in the air languidly. "Rain is gorgeous."
(Gorgeous enough that Elynna doesn't really care at that moment what kind of hell she's going to see,
because in this world or the other, people she loves are the only reasons she keeps going and she
just wants to help
just wants Rain to be happy again, because she's especially gorgeous when she's happy
the kind of happy that comes from her guts, that puts a sun in her mouth when she smiles and a tempest in her eyes when she yells at the boys for doing something stupid
the kind that she was seeing in Rain more often until they reached the Baratie
the kind that she wants to see in her everyday)
"I'm telling you! Considering where we're going, you're being way too relaxed!"
Wrong. She just doesn't have the space to worry about anything else.
Yosaku goes on to explain about the Shichibukai and how one of its members, Jinbei, let Arlong loose in East Blue to get his position. She listens attentively, because that group of pirates is a powerhouse in the Grand Line, so there's no way her Captain won't clash with them at some point.
(She doesn't need to listen when he speaks of Jinbei and Arlong,
because their image is already startingly clear in her mind, even though she forgot most of what her sister told her about Rain
it makes her own mind feel like a stranger, and she wishes she can carve the parasite responsible for it out of her skin)
But the bounty hunter quickly interrupts himself when he realises that neither of the boys is listening to him.
"You don't get it! Do you even understand what I'm trying to tell you?!"
"Yeah. There's a strong Fish-Man dude. Got it."
"No you don't! You can't even imagine how much stronger than Krieg he is!"
(Somehow, she knows exactly how strong a Fish-Man is.
Maybe that's why she can't find the strength to even open her eyes
still weary and dizzy with the pain of the former battle washing over her while both of her crewmates are back to their frankly insane levels of energy
But at least her wounds are closed just as tightly as theirs)
"That's why we'll see when we get there. Anyway, time to eat! What do you want?"
"Meat on a bone!"
"Stir-fried bean sprouts!"
"I was talking to Elynna-san, you savages!"
She waves a heavy hand in the air.
"Anything you do is fine. I'm not picky as long as it's well-made."
"You're such an angel, Elynna-san!"
She snorts, because at that moment she kind of would like to be one, if only so that her wings can carry her, because her legs don't quite feel up to the task.
Still, she eventually rises to her feet, pinching her nose between two fingers to stave off the dizziness that rises to her head and makes everything foggy as her now closed wounds ache like they are still freshly painted across the canvas of her body.
She helps to set the table because she knows that moving is the only way to make the pain go away faster (no matter how much she wants to lie down and stop breathing because even that hurts), to remind her brain that this body is stronger than the former one could ever be, and these gestures are so automatic that they don't require the full focus that she's incapable to give at the moment.
She eats slowly, easily tuning out Yosaku and Luffy's antics next to her, savouring instead the energy that seeps into her with each forkful of delicious food (even though there's still the taste of blood in her mouth) and allows her to keep her eyes fully open.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
"Why did you throw yourself in that pool if you didn't trust me?"
Zoro pauses, before brushing off the remnants of the ropes he was tied with until Nami came into his cell.
"Because your acting is shitty, Luffy said he wanted you and no one else, and Elynna told us that you hate Arlong before we left."
His Captain is a good judge of character, but he trusts easily and wholeheartedly.
His First Mate, on the other hand, is as guarded as himself. And much better than Luffy at compartimentalising. Good enough that she called that Kuro guy a piece of shit and praised his planning and manipulation skills in the same breath. So hearing her agree with his judgement on Nami wiped away the remaining reluctance to follow his Captain's order.
Clearly, they were both right.
Nami's smile is bitter as she scoffs.
"Ha. I should have known." She turns around to slip out of the door, the sheath of his remaining katana clinking against the uneven stones of the floor. "Get out of here before Arlong comes back."
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Fork still stuck in her mouth, Elynna stares at the weird sea cow (?) whose huge, round eyes are staring down at them, its body so large it feels like the night suddenly conquered the sky around them.
Her heart beats so fast it's probably nearing the stage of a heart attack due to the sudden appearance of the beast, but her muscles are still seizing in pain and her bones are still jammed with exhaustion, so she can't even jump in fright at this point, and even the taste of her own fear is distant and grey like ash in the back of her mouth.
"It's here for the food!"
The words have barely left Yosaku's mouth that Luffy's fist is already shooting towards the animal -it's probably a knee-jerk reaction at this point.
Sanji's behaviour and strength is just as absurd, so the bounty hunter turns to the only female of the group, because he's still convinced that she's just a little bit less insane than the others-
"Did you really have to punch it that hard? It's cute."
Yosaku opens his mouth.
Closes it.
And then sits down to finish his meal, because clearly they're all a fucking lost cause.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
It takes them much less time to reach Arlong Park than planned, considering that her Captain gets the absolutely brilliant idea to tie their boat to the sea cow's horns.
She's not even surprised anymore.
Fists clenched around one of the ropes of the boat to be sure that she wouldn't fall out of the ship that is more bouncing than sailing its way towards the vague outline of an island, she feels her face fall into a deadpan expression as she realises that she doesn't even know which is worse between Luffy's certifiably insane ideas and the fact that they hardly faze her anymore.
She should probably feel blessed that the boat isn't broken (yet).
And that no one is getting motion sickness… yet.
(She groans internally
but her lips can't help twitching, because even though she may or may not have left her stomach a few miles behind,
the wind whipping and curling around her and the waves slapping her in the face and drenching her clothes in salty water make her feel like she's flying
flying too fast for the exaustion that was clutching at her bones to keep holding on
the pain is still rooted deep, but increasingly wilts into dead leaves blown away by the air roaring in her ears as she makes her way between ropes to make sure that her dumbass of a Captain won't fall, since he can't swim but still chose to stand at the bow of the boat
and her eyes and her mind don't feel anymore like they're so heavy they're going to smash her face against the ground at any moment.)
They're reaching their destination when the sea cow veers off to the right, apparently disoriented by the treatment of both her crewmates.
And then goes to crash against a cliff, the impact sending their boat into the air.
Now they're really flying.
Until they're falling, the ship running and sliding in the soil until it crashes into yet another cliff, smashing against Zoro on the way there.
Fortunately for her and her brain, which still believes itself to be hosted in a body with very low resilience to this kind of incident, Sanji is there to catch her (bridal style, if you please) and jump off before the actual impact.
"Thanks." She offers him a smile, trying not to look too annoyed at how he doesn't have a hair out of place after that wild ride.
Lucky bastard.
For once he keeps his cool elegance from unraveling because of her womanly aura or whatever, and he sets her gently on her feet.
"You're welcome, my lady." He swoops down to place a light kiss on her knuckles, and she can't help but sigh out a breath of laughter.
Prince charming isn't really her type, but he's still cute.
"The hell do you guys think you're doing?!" Zoro starts yelling before he's even on his feet.
He's still wrapped in bandages but barely looks fazed by the fact that he just got tackled by a ship and smashed against a mountain. Regardless, she finds that something loose and warm spreads across her every nerve at the sight of him (alive, or as alive as he can be considering how stupidly he behaved).
"Huh? We're here to bring Nami back, obviously. Where are Johnny and Usopp?" Luffy answers nonchalantly, brushing dust off of his clothes.
"... Fuck! I have to go find Usopp!"
Elynna frowns, about to stop him because she's pretty sure he's just running around without any idea of where he actually is and what direction he's supposed to take, but she's interrupted by their Captain, who clearly noticed how tense the swordsman is.
"What? Why?"
"That idiot got caught by Arlong. If we don't hurry up, he's gonna get ki-"
"He's already dead!"
There's a moment of silence, and then:
"It's too late."
She turns to face Johnny, unable to muster any thought or feeling at his words or the sight of him kneeling in the dirt, as if knocked off balance by grief, features pulled tight with a sort of enraged incredulity that contrasts the defeated slouch of his shoulders.
"Big Bro Usopp was murdered by Sister Nami!"
She blinks, and suddenly Luffy's trembling fists are clenched in the fabric of Johnny's shirt, shaking him with barely contained violence vibrating in his bulging veins, and he's shouting-
"Say it one more time and I'll kill you!"
"Luffy, stop! It's not like Johnny is the one at fault here!" Zoro yells as he tries to drag him backwards, the rubber boy straining against his pull.
"It is if he's making up crap like that!"
Elynna huffs out a short, ragged breath that sounds like an explosion in the silent static of her mind, and strides towards the three, placing one hand on each of Luffy's cheeks to force him to look at her.
"Captain. That's enough."
He gnashes his teeth together, glare still turned to the bounty hunter, and she flicks his forehead to redirect it towards her.
"You and I both know that Johnny-san wouldn't lie or joke about things like that. If he says he saw it with his own eyes, then he's really telling us what he saw."
"But-"
"So. How about you let him go and let him explain what he saw instead of assaulting him?" She places one hand on his left wrist and tugs until he lets go, before doing the same with the right. "There."
Luffy stands up, and takes a single step away from Johnny, who sits up and rubs at his throat with a gulp too loud in the silence that sits too heavy and yet too fragile on their shoulders.
The rubber boy presses his lips together next to her, every line of his body still taut with violence, and she can almost hear the ticking of the bomb.
"There's no way Nami did that. We're nakama." He grinds out through his teeth.
She sighs, and brushes hair out of his eyes distractedly, not really looking at him.
She doesn't answer, because Johnny said he saw it with his own eyes, and accidents can happen, especially if Nami's situation is as precarious as Elynna thinks it is.
(There's something else that robs her of her voice though,
because she was the one who told Usopp to believe in Nami
so what if that one little sentence was enough to change what happened?
What if Usopp pushed too far and-
She swallows back down the nausea and the oh god, I want to go home that has never been so clear since the first day she fell into this world)
"And just who… are you calling nakama, Luffy?"
"Nami!"
He spins around, and she follows more slowly.
Her head tilts on the side.
(Because it's Nami but not Nami, not really
face shut down and locked tight
mouth twisted down like seeing them is enough to ruin her day
eyes dull like crusted blood rather than strong coffee, looking through them as if they're not even worth looking at
arms crossed like yet another armour, another barrier, another warning to stay away,
and she feels so much further than the distance between them)
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Slowly, Nami looks at every one of them.
She looks at Zoro, and stifles the urge to strangle him for pulling that stupid stunt, because now Arlong is on a warpath to avenge his brethren.
(and she can't help him, can't help them, no matter how much she-)
She looks at Sanji, and concludes that he eventually decided to come with them. It's a shame that she won't be able to benefit from his kindness and those compliments of his, because they make her really, really smile-
(she twists the knife in the wound until she can't even hear the breathing of that part of her that wants to bring out the booze and have a contest with Zoro to celebrate their new member
because it's their new nakama but not hers, damnit-)
She looks at Luffy, who blinks like he can't even understand the concept of the betrayal she's inflicting on him (and on her stupidly happy self who got stupidly carried away-). She doesn't know if she wants to punch him for being so ignorant of how twisted human beings can be to obtain what they want (but she wanted this too, wanted this so bad-) or punch him because he's here, brought everyone with him like the selfish bastard he is, is making this more painful for everyone-
(not her
never her
she's not in pain because they mean nothing,
doesn't even want to punch him, because he means nothing-)
She looks at Elynna, and crosses her arm with a quickness disguised as flippancy, trying to hide her gloved hand under her other arm.
Dark eyes stay fixated on the spot her hand occupied before, and then slowly rise to meet hers, too deep for Nami to be able to dig up any of her thoughts or feelings.
(She suddenly hates her for being able to pull off this face so easily when she had to train in front of the mirror until her face was stuck that way and she didn't remember how to take off the mask herself, even though Elynna grew up with all the things a child should have and that she didn't have, with no need to make that face unless she's a better liar than herself-
hates her for seeing so much and understanding so much even though she knows nothing about despair like Nami knows it, like acidic tears stuck deep in her bones to rot away because she doesn't know how to cry anymore and feet numb because she keeps going in the dark all alone, and sometimes she doesn't even know where she's going-
hates her for how much she wants to throw herself into her arms and ignore the rest of the world for five minutes and an eternity, for how much she wants to feel her arms around her and her hands on her back and her laughter in her own chest-)
She's never seen someone as stubborn as Luffy, and she wouldn't even be surprised if Elynna already figured out broadly what's happening.
So she just has to convince the both of them.
Just them, and the rest will follow, will walk out of her life, will leave her alone just. Like. She. Wants.
(it sounds false even in her own mind)
She sets her jaw, and when Luffy says nakama she sneers and says cooperation and nuisance and it was all an act.
She lets Johnny yell to his heart's content about how she's a cold-blooded witch who killed Usopp all to get a hidden treasure, lets him go on without a flinch because she heard it all before and by now she's learned to convince herself that it doesn't hurt.
(it does)
"Let me just tell you one thing." She sighs, like what they do with that information doesn't matter (and it doesn't, really-). "After Zoro's idiotic little prank, Arlong wants his head and that of everyone who is associated with him. You might have monstrous strength and powers, but you're no match for the real monsters."
Her eyes flicker to the way Elynna's plump lips press against each other in a flat, grim line, and she sighs internally (it's triumphant and not sad really it's not-) because at least one of them seems to understand the situation they're in.
Unlike others.
"I don't care about that. Where's Usopp?" Zoro huffs.
"At the bottom of the sea." Her mouth twists itself into a smirk before she even decides to, and she laughs at herself, voice cracking in a distinctly insane way even in her own mind as she wonders if she'll ever be able to return to normal once she buys out the village.
(return to the little girl that she doesn't even remember,
return to her when she's so filthy and tainted that she probably won't even be able to breathe in the pure air of her own home without poisoning herself with grief and guilt-)
"I've had it with you!" He growls.
He's faster than he should ever be if all the bandages plastered over his body are to be trusted, and in that moment she realises that she's made a mistake.
But she can't die here, not when she's so close-
"And I've had enough of you!"
Her breath hitches in relief as the blade and ire of Zoro's eyes shifts to the cook, and their voices rise and roll like thunder, until Elynna steps in with a hand on their chests.
"That's enough. We have other things to worry about."
Her voice is barely louder than her usual volume, but somehow it cuts off the both of them, although they're still sending a generous amount of I'm-going-to-murder-you vibes at each other.
(In another life or another one of her foolish dreams, Nami would tell her once they're alone in their room that Elynna is a much better First Mate than she seems to think)
In this life, she rushes to fill the silence and convince them further.
"You should listen to her, for once. And if you really want to fight that much, you can always do it on another island. I don't need outsiders sticking their noses in my business, and in case you didn't get it, I only stayed with you for the money. You don't even have that anymore, so I have no reason to care about you. If you're here for the ship, I can give it back to you, but if you're here for a navigator, I suggest that you look for another one."
Elynna… smiles.
It's small, polite, and entirely decorative, and Nami can't even remember the last time such an empty thing was directed at her from the First Mate.
It's like a slap in the face, and it's nothing compared to what comes out of that smile.
"Thank you for your advice, Nami-san. It's very nice of you. I hope you'll take care of your hand."
She staggers a step back, and when she tries to exhale shakily she finds that there's no air in her lungs, and she can't breathe-
Nami-san.
It takes a moment for the buzzing in her ears to stop and for her brain to make sense of the scene before her, to recognise that Luffy is now lying in the middle of the road without a care.
"-don't feel like leaving this island yet, and I don't care what's going on here either… And I feel sleepy. So I'm sleeping."
"What even-" Zoro grumbles, hand tearing through his short hair even as Elynna pats him on the shoulder sympathetically.
"Come on, Fang, don't tell me a few hours away from Sea King made you forget how he is."
He huffs out something, but Nami doesn't hear it, doesn't hear anything.
Nami-san.
Fang.
Sea King.
Nami-san.
Suddenly she realises that she's not part of this group anymore, that there's a line between her and them (a line that she traced herself), and her heart burns and screams.
"Fine! Do whatever the hell you want! You can all die for all I care!"
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Elynna watches as Nami's silhouette disappears.
"Why did you call her by her name?"
She glances up at Zoro's slight frown as he stops next to her, before looking back to the road in front of them.
The guilt that was chipping away at her throat and the straining walls of her doubt have been squashed into nothingness, leaving only a cool, clear, almost apathetic focus that she tries to sharpen into battle awareness for what she knows is coming.
"Frankly, I had my doubts that she killed Hawk. She might be capable of killing someone that she loathes, but she couldn't even set that cannon on fire and kill Sea King when he was a stranger. And for someone who pretends to not care about us, it's hard to believe that she would look this hurt over losing a nickname. Not to mention that she still somehow cared enough to come here and tell us in some complicated way that leaving this island would save our lives." Her lips quirk up in a small, closed-eyed smile. "She didn't do it. And even if the circumstances somehow forced her to do it, I don't think she would be able to keep herself together like this."
"Then why did Johnny say that?"
"Well, I don't even have a proper theory yet, so I'm going to keep it to myself for now. Tell Sea King that I'm going on a walk, would you?"
She feels the weight of his gaze on her before he grumbles his assent, and she walks away with a wave over her shoulder.
It's the first time that they're in a situation this personal, bubbling with so much distress and suffering and hate, and Elynna knows that things are going to get much uglier than just a scuffle between their crew and another crew of pirates that simply happens to be in the same spot as them at the same moment.
Seeing Nami lose it even though she tried to make herself tall and tight and cold makes her realise how much she herself has been wavering between cold despair and aching happiness and shattering, terrified grief since she arrived in this world.
(She's getting tired of feeling so much so strongly all the time,
getting annoyed that her mind keeps unraveling,
crashing and burning through the days with a fraying grip on her feelings)
She knows that there's a lot of things -big and small- in her life that she hasn't dealt with, knows that it's unhealthy (that the bottle is bound to explode into shrapnels of glass that will tear everything apart at some point) but if there's one thing that she doesn't want to be, it's impulsive. She wants to always have enough time to meticulously analyse her choices before making her decision, to decide which one makes her feel the safest or makes others the happiest, to decide what is best between those two options.
(because it makes her anxious, to agonise like this over every detail, and she's never sure she's doing anything -anything that matters- right anyway, but stumbling into a situation where she didn't have the time to gather all the relevant information in her hands, and they shake without that weight to hold them steady?
It's so much worse.)
Emotions are important for that. But when they course through her blood and fog her mind? When they make its control so slippery and weak that she can't hear herself think, can't look at the pros and cons but only at the first, visceral feeling that comes with this or that thought? When emotions make her vision blurry and dye the world in all the wrong shades?
She hates it.
(Because if there's one thing she's always been able to pride herself on, it's her brain
she's not pretty, doesn't have great ambitions or a great personality,
and one day her body will betray her and all the things she learned to dance will fade away from her grasping fingers with mocking snickers
but she's smart
and her brain will last much, much longer,
might even never betray her in her whole life)
Except her mind has certainly not been in control in the last few weeks.
So she walks, heels digging into the soil to chase out the frustration that is making her thoughts jittery, and focuses on carving all the things she forgot when Luffy's skull met hers into the flesh of her mind until it bleeds, because pain is the best way to not repeat the same mistake.
Loving them is fine.
(It's probably going to hurt like hell at some point too, but the fact that she sucks at meeting people doesn't mean that she doesn't want or need love.
She has a good idea of what is healthy and what isn't, and she's pretty sure that getting attached to decent people who are there for her even in life-or-death situations qualifies as the former.)
Being hurt and sad and scared out of her wits is fine.
(Even she can tell that it's normal to feel like hell when your life goes from oh-shit-I-forgot-to-buy-milk to everyday-might-be-your-last and you lose everyone you knew in the process
possibly forever.)
But, god fucking damnit, that doesn't mean that she has to let herself flail and stumble into becoming a mess of stuttering sanity at the drop of a hat.
She stops, standing alone on the dusty path.
It's probably a good thing, because after furiously rubbing her hands against her face, she prompty slaps herself across the face.
It stings, but makes her mind startlingly clear, and she suddenly has the feeling that the gesture she used only a couple of times in her life so far is going to become yet another habit.
(She doesn't care as long as it keeps her mind clear and transparent and biting.)
"Okay." She exhales loudly to herself, and her voice is steady like the depths of the sea where the sun doesn't shine.
First things first, there's something she has to check.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Nami doesn't raise her head from the table when she hears Nojiko and Hayden enter the house, doesn't look up when she hears her sister whisper a few things to her boyfriend before closing the door of the living room behind her.
She made a mess of the place, and she doesn't want to see the face of her sister when she inspects it.
(Because she knows there will only be understanding and that smile of hers
It makes her feel even worse.)
"Nice mess. What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just needed to take a rest, clear my head a little."
Nojiko snickers.
"If you broke that many things every time you came to take a rest, I would be homeless by now. Come on," she presses as Nami hears her sit down in the opposite seat. "Didn't I say you can tell me anything?"
She opens her mouth.
And closes it, unable to say whether she wants to talk about it, what she wants to talk about or how to go about doing it.
"It's them right?" Her sister sighs. "I met the Captain earlier. Well, he said he was the Captain, but he looked like a liar."
And suddenly Nami is talking.
About how she met them while robbing pirates and ended up liberating a town instead, and then how they went on to save Usopp's village or beat up that gang of bandits two weeks ago because one of its members put a gun against Luffy's head to blackmail him into giving his treasure, and that dumbass thought he wanted his hat and punched him through a few walls (including that of the gang's headquarters).
About how Usopp is so much of a coward that it makes it even more impressive how far he's willing to fight, and that one time he tried to distract her with a story to win a game of cards, and it made her believe for a moment that she was at sea to have funny adventures like the one he was inventing rather than to betray them and get enough money to buy out everyone's freedom (she still won, though).
About how annoying Zoro is but also the number of times he had her back during a fight, and that one afternoon when she made at least a dozen different plans with Usopp to take revenge on the swordsman because he left his training equipment lying around carelessly when he went to take his nap with Elynna, and Nami ended up knocking her toe in a barbell while another one was sent flying through a wall of Usopp's precious ship.
About Elynna, her dancing and her jokes, and how she can't heal but still does her best to patch up her body after a fight (even though she doesn't know much about medicine, simply because someone has to do the job) and her mind after a nightmare (even though Nami never told her anything). How much fun they had teasing Zoro and trying to come up with secret phrases in English, and how scared Nami was in the few dead moments where her roommate's eyes became hazy with things that were unreachable for her, where she looked like she might fade away (like she wanted to).
About Luffy and how much of a dumbass he is (and how frighteningly intelligent he can be sometimes), like that one time they were having a nice, relaxing time eating ice cream on a nice little island, until they looked away for two goddamn seconds and in that time a group of Marines came up to him to check for their identities while looking for a small-time robber, and he felt obligated to attach I'm gonna be the King of Pirates! to his family name. About his freakish powers and his freakish smile and his freakish conviction that make her feel like she's already free.
About how she wants to be Rain again. Wants to be the woman who can be called Rain. The woman whose mood goes from light-hearted laughter one moment to tempestuous anger the next, just like the rain can be a light, almost ghostly drizzle or sheets of water that slap one's face like a rock. The woman who bickers with Zoro rather than the one throwing words in his face that make him want to skewer her. The woman who manipulates Usopp to make him into her shopping attendant rather than the one who makes it look like she killed him and uses him to sever her ties with all the others. The woman who sometimes laughs at Luffy's antics and punches him in the face other times, who can call herself his navigator, the navigator of the future King of Pirates (the one who will see the whole wide world and draw it) without feeling guilty.
She wantswantswants-
But she can't.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Eventually, Elynna reaches a village called Cocoyashi, if the sign at the entrance of the main street is to be believed.
She doesn't slow down, because she doesn't know how much time she has before her Captain decides that he's done sleeping (before Rain breaks down under the weight), and she doesn't want to give anyone here the time to notice that she's an outsider and start questioning her.
But then she realises that most of the villagers have started walking towards the shore, and she stops for a moment, before following them from a smaller street parallel to the main one, stopping to lean against the wall of a house when she reaches the back of the small crowd that is forming, her eyes fixated dully on a plump, white cloud but all her attention focused on the sounds reaching her ears.
"What's a Marine ship doing here?"
"The 16th Branch? Maybe they're here to investigate what happened to that ship from the 77th earlier?"
"What happened?"
"You didn't hear? Some survivors from Gosa called for the 77th Branch to come rescue them, so those damn Fish-Men destroyed the ship-"
"Shhh! Are you crazy?! Don't call them that!"
"I'm Nezumi, Captain of the Marine's 16th Branch. Is Genzo from Cocoyashi village here?"
"That would be me, yes."
"Very well. If you would please guide me to the house of the woman named Nami."
Elynna scoffs.
If it's a ship from the 16th Branch, then it's probably the one she saw docked when that sea cow started straying off path. She wanted to go back to that spot because she was curious, since it was a pretty well-hidden place that they more than likely docked at to avoid being seen.
But if they can dock on this island as they want, for both seemingly secret and seemingly official business, when another ship of the Marines was sent down to the bottom of the sea by Arlong's men before it could even reach land, then she only sees one answer.
The 16th Branch is in Arlong's pockets, and the 77th wasn't.
Well, perhaps she's being biased because she's a pessimistic bitch and the smile of that Nezumi guy makes her want to punch his face in, but if she's right…
She looks down at her (stolen) faded Marine uniform she put on after the battle at the Baratie, and smirks.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Slipping into the ship is easy once the crowd thins out, because it looks like most of the soldiers followed their Captain to Nami's house.
She steals the boots and cap of the Marine who is taking a nap in his sunchair on the deck, stuffs as much hair as she can in the latter and screws it tight on her head to hide most of her face, then walks inside.
"Oi, soldier. Where are you going like that?"
She stops.
Breathes in sharply, pretends that the air she takes in is a layer of steel to coat everything in her that is ready to snap, and keeps her eyes on the chest of the man who suddenly came out of the room she was walking by.
Lieutenant Kiritake, the stitches on his uniform say.
"Excuse me, Sir. One of the Fish-Men gave me some more money for the favour we're doing them, and the Captain told me to go put it in his office."
She brandishes the last roll of bills she fished from her backpack before she left it outside.
The man grunts, and her eyes flit up from beneath her cap.
His jaw is clenched, and it's not even hard to tell that he doesn't approve one bit of his superior's ways.
"Get on with it, then. And get a new uniform while you're at it. I can't even read your name anymore, and the Marines' symbol is almost faded. It should be your pride." He grumbles, the last sentence dull with the exhaustion of someone who doesn't believe in the words he says anymore.
"Sorry, Sir. Must be the sea water. I didn't notice it. And I lost some weight with training, so it doesn't even fit me anyway." She rambles on, rubbing the back of her neck like an embarassed, awkward newbie.
Dancing is as much about interpretation as it is about technique. She's not the best actor out there, but she's not the worst either.
"Well do something about it, before someone starts to think that you're a spy who stole a uniform or some bullshit like that."
She hides her smirk in the shadows of the hallway.
You don't say.
She gives a salute, and starts walking again.
"Oi newbie! His office is that way and on the lower deck!"
Oh, you beautiful, beautiful man.
She cackles in her head.
She would kiss him if it didn't mean blowing her cover.
"Oh, sorry Sir! I never had the honour to go there! Thanks again Sir!" She chirps.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
For once, she lucks out and stumbles upon the room apparently used to store changes of clothes.
And in the backroom whose door wears no inscription -unlike the others, she finds boxes stacked over each other.
She opens some of them to find one or two uniforms and a few knickknacks.
It doesn't take her long to deduce that those are the remaining belongings of Marines who died.
There are seven boxes on the side she's on, and at least twenty on the other side. A peek is enough to guess that the first side is for female soldiers and the second for males.
She rummages through the boxes of the former, and stops when she reaches the sixth box.
Dark hair and pale skin just like hers (now, but not before). No tourist gifts. No stack of letters sent by loved ones. No photo, except for that on her identification papers and her graduation picture.
So most probably no family, or at least no one close enough that she bothered to keep contact with them.
Good.
She nods to herself, and quickly replaces the dead woman's uniform with the one she stole from Alvida's crew. Ryan Alice was not much taller than her and clearly did not care about femininity standards considering the amount of muscles she had, because the uniform fits her a bit better than her previous one, but is still loose enough for her tastes.
She slips the woman's ID in her pocket and tiptoes out of the room.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
When she finally finds the Captain's office, she hurries to his desk, aware that she probably doesn't have much time left.
The weird snail-phone thingy is perched on top of it, and her eyes skim over the walls and the rest of the desk until they stop on a specific sheet of paper taped on the wall.
Bingo.
She visited her mother's office a few times as a child, when she was sick and her parents were unable to find someone to babysit her while they were at work. She remembers the emergency numbers stuck to the wall just like in her school's classrooms, and the sticky notes with other numbers and addresses because her mother sucks at remembering that kind of thing (not that she's any better).
Her eyes flit over the different numbers listed. She knows that she can't ensure the trustworthiness of most of them, and she has a backup plan in her pocket, but if she can only find one of the names she knows-
She stops.
Oh.
Oh.
She's so busy restraining the gleeful cackle in her throat that she isn't even weirded out as she dials the number, making sure one last time that her cap hides her face well enough, since she doesn't know if the snail can show her face or even just her facial expression.
"Yeah?" A deep, deep voice rumbles through the phone over the sound of a plastic bag crumpling, clearly busy munching on something.
"You could at least try to sound like you're not eating snacks on duty." A more distant voice hisses.
She clamps her mouth shut over the snickers that threaten to spill out of her mouth.
"Hello, Garp-san."
There's a silence, the munching and rummaging stopping.
"Never seen the Captain of this ship, but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to sound like an old man, girlie."
"Sorry to disappoint, Vice-Admiral."
He laughs then, something booming like boulders thrown against each other and rough like skin made leather by years spent on the sea. Yet it's so similar to his grandson (his grandson who complained so much about him that she feels like she already met him, which she kind of did -but it wasn't the living being) that she immediately feels at ease. Perhaps a bit too much.
She forces herself to straigthen up.
"Don't be, girlie. We need young women more than old geezers." There's a noise that suggests that he's eating another snack, and then he speaks up again. "And what are you calling for?"
She smirks, and it's too aggressive and full of teeth to really call it a smile, unless it's the smile one gives to someone they're about to screw over real bad.
"Say, Garp-san… How do you feel about corruption among the Marines?"
"..."
"What did you say your name was, girlie?"
"Ryan, Alice, Sir."
Man, James Bond's life is a lot more fun than she thought.
Now if she can have as many women -or men- throwing themselves in her arms...
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
She jumps out of the window after she's done, because she has spent enough time in this body to know that her legs won't break upon impact (unlike what her brain is screeching at her), and goes to retrieve her bag in the alley she hid it in, leaving the stolen cap and boots in the nearest bin.
When she turns to join the main street again, she's greeted by the sight of what looks like the whole village gathered around something. One of the women at the back of the crowd turns around when hearing her footsteps.
Her eyes fall on Elynna's stolen uniform and her eyes turn into dark, thunderous howling.
Oops.
She takes a step back so that the pan that is being shoved in her face doesn't break her teeth.
"What is one of Arlong's dogs doing here, uh?!" The woman yells, fists and pan shaking with reckless rage that tore free of the fear restraining it. "You're here to finish off Nojiko-chan?"
Now half of the crowd has turned to her, and she forces herself to not take another step back, because at this point it would just be an admission of guilt.
"I'm not a Marine. I stole that uniform." Then she tilts as she remembers bits and pieces of the hushed words Nami sometimes threw into their darkened room at night, about some of the people she grew up with. "Nojiko-san, you say? Isn't that Rain's sister?"
Surprise startles the woman into lowering her makeshift weapon.
"Rain?"
"Ah, sorry. I mean Nami."
"Mari-san! It's fine! Are you Elynna?"
She leans a bit on the side to look around the woman.
The one who talked seems to be the very pretty girl with lavender hair, dark skin and darker, green eyes. She's sitting on the ground and holding her bleeding shoulder, supported by a boy with high cheekbones, angelic curls of chocolate brown hair and makeup that should frankly be called art at this point.
She smiles politely, and grumbles internally about how couldn't Rain tell her that her sister is just as gorgeous as she is? She needs to look after her fragile heart, damnit.
"I am."
"I'm Nojiko." The woman smiles as much as she can as the man whom Elynna supposes is the village's doctor starts to bandage her shoulder.
"So I gathered. Judging from the welcome committee I got, the Marines behaved like lowlives again?" She asks lightly as she steps around the middle-aged woman, who blushes and mumbles an apology that she waves off.
"... They took all the money Nami managed to get to buy our freedom, saying that she was lucky they didn't arrest her, since she only stole from pirates." A man grits out, dressed in scars and a cap adorned with a pinwheel of all things, and suddenly the pinwheel doesn't seem funny at all.
Her lips twist like she just tasted the most disgusting thing in the world.
(She has.
It's called human rot, and she wants to burn it to cinders.)
"Since the beginning, they were-"
"On Arlong's side. I get it."
Nojiko blinks up at her.
"You… do?"
"I guessed." She shrugs, and then asks the only question that really matters to her. "Where's Ra- Nami?"
Nojiko blinks again, and looks away.
"Ran out of the village. Probably to confront that-" She clenches her teeth, and falls silent.
Elynna clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth.
Fuck.
"She's going to snap."
"He broke their deal! Of course she's going to-"
"No, that's not what I mean." She interrupts the villager. "Arlong is a scumbag, but apparently he's a relatively intelligent one. She's going to go there and she's going to be furious because he took that money, but the worst is that he'll tell her that he didn't break the deal and it'll be the truth."
"Wha-"
"The deal is for her to give him money and she'll get the village in exchange, right? It doesn't say anything about that motherfucker stealing everything she gathered. He never planned on letting her go. So she's going to snap."
Then she turns to the boy leaning against a tree off the main street.
"Hey, Sea King. Where are the others?" She calls out, voice just a bit louder.
"They're coming."
She blinks, and shrugs.
They'll probably appear magically just when they're needed, anyway.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Watching Nami trying to talk the villagers out of attacking Arlong Park is like rewatching that trilogy of Star Wars that you know is going to end up with Anakin being a demented half-corpse.
She's smiling and laughing like she's convinced that these expressions will show enough happiness to hold back the crowd in front of her (it just shows the despair of someone who knows they have no way out, but is still trying to convince themselves that they might be able to punch a hole through stone and barbed wire with their fists).
In that moment, Elynna really understands what it means when people define insanity as repeating the same thing over and over but still expecting different results.
(She doesn't think Rain can repeat this a lot of times before she will shatter in pieces too small for anyone to find them all and put them back together properly.)
The navigator is shaking so much, in so many places (her legs and her hands and her shoulders and her smile and her eyes-), that it looks like she might break with the softest breeze, like the pieces of her self are just placed against one another with nothing to act like glue and hold them together.
It's terrifying, to see another living being who is pushed this far, and because it's Rain, Elynna chokes down her heart that is wailing and screaming behind her clenched teeth and trembling lips, takes as much air as she can so that it takes the place of the tears and the sobs swelling in her ribcage, because no one needs her to have a breakdown from second-hand despair.
Nami falls to her knees as the last villager passes them by, like they tugged the carpet of reality from under her feet in the process.
(she knows how that feels)
And then suddenly the knife that slipped out of her nerveless fingers is in her hand and inside her arm, just where the tattoo of a saw-shark is laughing at her and at them, cruelly and mockingly-
She raises her hand in the air.
And stabs the knife into her shoulder again.
In the exact.
Same.
Place.
And then she does it again.
Three.
Four.
Five times, before Luffy steps in to catch her wrist and stop the mindless, automatic gesture and the mindless, manic string of ArlongArlongArlongArlong-
Elynna forces her jaws apart, body clenched too hard (not trembling in fear) to move at all, blood beating too loudly in her ears to hear anything of what Nami yells at Luffy.
It's angry. Not the distant, controlled disdain she showed before. Not the explosive, fond exasperation that is a breath away from laughter. It's exhausted and desperate, a last attempt to raise her walls, even though she can't even get up, even though she's on the verge of crumbling over the remains of herself.
Then she starts crying, a screeching wail that stabs its way out of her throat and through the last attempt of her hand to keep everything in. It surges and falls madly through the octaves, wordless because there's too much broken despair and tears and I can't do this anymore to be able to express it in words, shoulders quaking and collapsing and breaking, voice and tears unable to stop now that she's started, because she doesn't know how to stop, how to control, doesn't even remember the last time she cried.
"Luffy…" She sniffles, and Elynna's lungs quake with anger around her breaking heart. "Help me-"
He ruffles her hair as he places his hat on top of it, and when he steps away Elynna is there with a hand on Nami's uninjured shoulder.
They exchange a nod.
"I'll join you later."
"Right. Guys. We're going."
"Roger." All three boys answer as one.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
For several minutes Nami can't seem to stop sniffling and sobbing, kneeling on the ground like a helpless child.
The warmth on her shoulder doesn't leave.
Then she feels the hand move along the skin of her shoulder, and suddenly the only thing she can think is that she doesn't want to be alone right now, can't be alone, because Arlong's laughter still loops and resonates red like blood in her ears.
So she reaches out, hand grasping madly, the shark still cackling madly on her shoulder and setting her blood on fire.
A hand enters her field of vision, and she realises that the person wasn't leaving her, was just crouching in front of her. It makes her sob even more, because Arlong just tore her apart and left her in tatters on the ground, and now she can't even seem to be able to breathe on her own-
The hand slips along the curve of her face, tucking hair behind her ear.
"Hey." A voice caresses her neck that is bent towards the ground.
(because he played her,
she got too prideful and too hopeful and started to look towards the sky and the birds that flew freely,
so he played her and dragged her back down and now her eyes are stuck on the ground, in the mud that she's going to sink into,
never to come out again,
never to breathe again,
never to laugh again-)
She freezes.
She knows this voice.
Knows as well as her own because she felt it in her own lungs when it danced across her skin.
"Rain."
She sniffles.
Her shoulders shake under the weight of all the tears that are begging her to just let go, to give up-
She lets her forehead fall against the chest in front of her, hands grasping blindly for Elynna's waist.
"I-" Her mouth twists because there's too many things to say, to scream, and they're mixing with too many tears. "I worked so… so hard."
"I know. The hardest." The other girl answers, the hand on her face slipping to rest on her neck while her other arm curls around Nami's shoulders, too light to stop their shaking but tight enough to hold all the pieces as she starts to fall apart right there in the dust.
"Then why!"
Nami's hands clench so hard they shake, fists threatening to tear apart Elynna's clothes and nails digging hard enough to scratch lines into the thick, white skin of her waist.
The First Mate doesn't budge.
"Why- Why did it have to end like this!" She yells herself hoarse, but her voice is tiny like the little girl in her head who has been crying for eight years and asking why does everything have to hurt so, so much-
Elynna's heart beats against her forehead, slow and calm, echoing every tear that slips out of Nami's eyes and every uncontrollable quiver of her mouth.
"Because often life sucks, and people are cruel, and I don't think I've ever heard of someone who can do everything alone, especially when there's so much against them."
Not you've fought well.
Not you've done your best.
Not it's not your fault.
Just Elynna's thoughts thrown hard like concrete in Nami's face, thoughts that she herself believes in but spent eight years not listening to.
She presses herself harder against Elynna's collarbone.
"What would you have done?" She whispers, because everything is spinning and for the first time in her life she's lost, and she just wants to know that she couldn't do more (couldn't give more) than she did, that it was enough.
"I think…" The First Mate's voice hitches, and suddenly her lips are grazing Nami's ears as she bends to rest her own head on Nami's neck, her long, dark hair falling around them to create a haven that hides Nami away from the world.
"I think I would've just waited for someone to save me or end me. I'm too much of a coward to do what you did, or to kill myself, especially if there's someone who loves me."
If Nami wasn't so exhausted from drowning in the eight years of hell and blood and tears that she kept at bay all this time, she would tell her that there's courage in enduring.
"I…" She swallows. "I can't d-d-do this ag-g-gain." She whispers between sobs instead.
It's like handcuffs and chains slipping away from her wrists and clinking against the ground.
It doesn't quite sound or feel real.
"That's fine. No one that matters is asking you to do it again, and you won't be alone again anyway."
Nami slouches in the arms already holding her.
And then she breaks.
It's as hopeful as it's painful.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
When her tears eventually subside, her eyes and mouth feel so dry it's like she used up all the tears in her body and her life.
(But her shoulders are slouching from relief rather than because of the weight pressing them downdowndown
and they tell her that maybe, just maybe, she won't ever have to know that kind of weight again)
Elynna, who started moving at some point (Nami doesn't know when, time and space all muddled up and made blurry by her tears) to at least bandage her wound (but never stopped holding her) brushes strands of hair red like tangerine away from Nami's face.
"Rain?"
Nami closes her eyes, savouring the sound of the nickname that melts the mask right off her face, just like the memory of her other friends (nakama) walking away to do what she couldn't.
"Yeah."
"What do you want to do?"
She opens her eyes, and her gaze meets Elynna's eyes, dark and quiet and steady like the ocean during a windless night.
She thinks that the other girl has never looked more like a pirate, like the First Mate of the future King of Pirates, than in that moment.
"Everyone is fighting. I want… I want to watch them at least. But I left my staff at my house."
Elynna stares at her for a handful of silent seconds, then nods, and turns around to crouch in front of her.
Nami can't help the small, teasing smile her lips fall into.
"I thought only the Captain had that privilege."
Elynna looks back with the dimpled grin that comes out often enough now that Nami doesn't even stare at said dimples, and winks.
"Keep it a secret, yeah?"
Nami blinks, and then giggles as she slips her limbs around the other girl's neck and waist.
"I'll take it to my grave."
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Elynna follows the thief's directions to her house, and frowns at the same time as Nami curses when she notices the tall, lithe form ahead of the path she's running on.
It's too tall to be human.
"Shit, he's probably here for me-"
"Rain."
"What?"
"Go take your staff, and then take another path to join the others."
"But-"
"I have a plan. It's fine."
Well, it might not be, because she doesn't have plot armour, but it's better than nothing and gives her a chance of survival.
"It better be." The other girl mumbles into her neck, before she jumps off her back.
Eyes flitting to the side, Elynna checks the direction Nami took, and then quickens her pace into a full-on sprint.
She knows (but she doesn't know how she knows) that Fish-Men are much stronger and faster than a normal human being (from this world, and even more compared to those of her home world), but their hearing isn't that different, and so the Fish-Man barely has the time to turn around before she's on him, using the back of his calf and knee to propulse herself in the air, grabbing the collar of his red shirt in the process to throw him over her own falling body.
Except he grabs her waist to throw her away like she's just a measly pebble.
She rolls in the dirt until she slides onto all four and back on her feet in the same movement, the corner of her mouth ticking at the sting of her forearms that weren't protected by the Marine uniform.
She brushes off the gravel still stuck in her skin, staring at the Fish-Man who is nonchalantly standing in the same place she left him, clearly not worried that he'll walk away with any sort of damage.
He clicks his tongue, teeth as small as a child's -but she would bet he can bite his way through muscles and nerves like it's hot butter with how they're gleaming.
"Another inferior human interfering? How many of you are there?"
"Nice to meet you too." She snarks back.
His skin has a pearly sheen that is entirely too pretty and contrasts with the salt and pepper of his hair and the red fins running along the back of his arms and legs.
He would probably be a catch in Fish-Man society, if not for the burn scar that covers the lower left of his face, his neck, and a good chunk of his shoulder, leaving only ashen skin, blistered and crumpled.
Her stomach twists at the idea of how he may have gotten that kind of scar, and she lets her limbs loosen into what has become her standard fighting stance.
For the first time, the violence that is already permeating the air doesn't make her hands shake in fear.
No.
It's fury.
(Not just for Rain, but for everything and everyone-)
Oh, she's still scared, and urgency is still singing and zapping through her veins as if trying to electrocute her into running away, making everything so much brighter and sharper it hurts.
But those aren't pirates or Marines that they just happen to cross paths with and somehow end up fighting, people that she doesn't know beyond the fact that they're trying to pummel her with their own bones or run her through with blades and bullets.
(This is about despair so raw it's carved into every line of every villager's body.
This is about pain so gripping their faces are seizing with it all the fucking time, from sunrise to sunset, every second of every minute and every minute of every hour.
This is about suffering turned into hate and cruelty, embedded so deep into the pirates' smiles and their minds that it's like they can't breathe if someone somewhere isn't crying and screaming and shattering because of them.)
Those are pirates who make her sick, because she has read words and seen pictures in newspapers about Celestial Dragons and how oh, the Heiress of the Xerwen Family has bought her first Fish-Man, she must feel elated and it smells horrible and I can't believe how much this thing is going to cost me to make its scent bearable, but at least it'll last longer than a human to play horse.
But it doesn't justify anything of what they're doing to people who have nothing to do with their scars except for the fact that they belong to the same species as those who caused them, and she wants to see their blood on her skin for this-
"Get out of my way. I have a little cat to catch."
"So sorry. No can do." She smiles flippantly.
She breathes in, windy, cold air flooding her mouth through her gritted teeth to cool down the anger that is making her breath hot and her blood boil, to bend the steel of her spine made too stiff and too brittle with the spitefulness coating it.
She's not here to tear him apart with her bare hands.
It won't make anything better for anyone.
Now winning, on the other hand...
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Well, okay, until now she only focused on getting out of a fight with her life and as little pain as possible, rather than actually winning and taking down an opponent for good.
And okay, maybe deciding to change that isn't the best choice when the one she's fighting is someone ten times stronger and faster than her, which means he's probably on Zoro and Luffy's level of physical abilities.
But he holds back only slightly less than them -albeit out of disdain for her weakness rather than any desire to keep her alive.
She grunts as she takes a step back too late, failing to completely avoid the fist hurtling towards her stomach, and throws herself backwards, both to put space between them and make it look like his knuckles did more than just graze her.
Her hands flex against the ground in a handstand and she flips over, keeping her eyes on the Fish-Man -who doesn't even have a scratch.
Her breathing is ragged, rattling and whistling through her, and she's pretty sure that the bones in her forearms and a few of her ribs at least are fractured, because she had to use them to parry and deflect when she couldn't dodge, which caused the wound from when a Krieg pirate slashed between her ribs to open again.
At this point, her good sense of balance from the years spent working on her twirls and her spins is the only thing keeping her somewhat upright and moving, and she's relying more and more on gravity to fall and bend her way out of his blows.
Clearly, the awareness, the speed and the body control she got from dancing and adrenaline aren't enough to put her defense technique of using minimal movement on par with a Fish-Man's speed.
Especially since her body is still gripping and faltering from the fight at the Baratie, the adrenaline not enough to silence the screeching of her bones as they split and splinter further with each movement.
(She has a relatively high resilience to pain for a civilian,
enough to carry out a conversation just fine when she cut her hand open on broken glass in a fall
but it's not enough to keep her going in this world, in this life
because now her face is drenched in more tears than sweat
and the gasps and the sobs tripping out of her lips aren't helping her attempts to regulate her breathing)
She's not going to last long.
But that's fine.
It's not like she expected anything else.
Eventually, the Fish-Man huffs, obviously tired of waiting for her to catch her breath, and his thin, spindly legs that pack an unfair amount of strength gobble up the distance between them in less time than it takes for her breath to hitch.
She sidesteps the first punch.
Twirls around the second.
Trips and falls into another handspring out of the way of the kick that comes after.
And stumbles.
Making it look natural is easy, it's not like she never faked a fall during a dance.
She expects him to take advantage of her fabricated slip-up.
She doesn't really expect him to do it by catching her with a scaly hand snaking around her throat and squeezing like a boa constrictor.
Her legs swing forward with how fast he catches her in mid-air, and she uses the momentum to clamp both knees around his neck and her thighs around the arm holding her by the throat.
Her left hand comes up to his wrist, tightening around it.
He chuckles, and she knows that he's just fooling around with her, because he can crush her throat and make her head pop like a cork whenever he chooses.
"If you think I'm going to let go with that measly grip of yours, then humans are probably even more stupid than I thought."
She can feel her heart trying to beat its way through her creaking, groaning ribcage as her lungs flutter for air like a butterfly trapped in a spider web.
(Her throat and chest tighten and convulse in an attempt to grasp and
keep the air that runs spills flows outoutout,
and the dark, dark emptiness inside her is
howling and cackling and growing,
eating away at her and corroding
her vision
and her mind,
and if it goes on she's going to
implodeandcollapse in
on herself,
maybe even create a
black hole
because she's just so
empty-)
She untucks the stolen knife from between her hip and the fabric of her new pants, and stabs it into the Fish-Man's arm, not even stopping before she slashes down through nerves and muscles and veins.
He lets go of her with a scream too high-pitched for a human being before she can reach his wrist, and staggers back as she rolls away from him.
Trying to cough out the emptiness and gulp down enough air to last her an eternity at the same time doesn't work out well for a throat that feels full of shards so cold they burn as they hiss and stab at everything in their path.
But she can breathe.
She knocks her head against the grass she landed into to shake her disjointed, breathless thoughts into a somewhat coherent order.
Then she staggers to her feet, focusing on the air sighing in her lungs rather than the bruises of his fingers around her throat that still make her blood pulse painfully in her temples.
(it's hard to hear herself think,
to hear herself breathe
and the bruises are still tighttighttight
like a rope of fire around her neck-)
"I'm going to kill you, you little rat!" He snarls with eyes slanted and frenzied, madmadmad-
But his breath is as shabby as hers this time, and there's blood everywhere, seeping and dripping and staining everything.
(She waits for the guilt that should turn her stomach over,
that should bring her to her knees and close her eyes,
that should slash through the steadiness of her thoughts and turn it into a messy, ashamed loop of what did I do's and I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry's
Her stomach twists at the smell of blood that seems to grow like ivy through every particle of air, so heavy it settles like a weight in her nose
and she doesn't like to see pain twist his face like another burn scar as much as she thought she would
You shouldn't have done that, a voice hammers through her mind
But there's no echo, and she realises the voice isn't hers,
and she wonders
Why should she feel guilty?
Why should anyone other than her get to decide that?)
She spits out a cough, and offers him the sight of her white teeth painted red with his blood to hide the quivering of her lips and his purple fingers against the skin of her throat.
"Right back at ya, sweetheart."
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Rubbing the mud all over his arms to better hide the scent of ketchup that Sanji is sure to pick up on (and hide to his own eyes the trembling of his hands), Usopp runs through the different excuses his brain presents him with.
"My bad, but I ended up losing?" He mumbles to himself, letting the words cloak his tongue to try them out.
They sound like they're laughing at his dream and at Nami's pain.
Aren't we nakama? He remembers Luffy asking, like it was obvious that he belonged with them even though there was nothing special about him except for how many lies he can tell in one day and how scared he gets when he feels death breathing down his neck and pain laughing in his face-
"Damn it, he just barely got away! Sorry guys, I tried. It's fine, right?"
I'd rather die than lose, he remembers Zoro saying, even in the face of the strongest swordsman in the world, and it reminds him of the stories her mother told him about great warriors who were just as fearless.
"We've all fought well."
An absolute moron of a Captain is still a hundred times better than being in a crew that would harm a lady, Sanji said when he came to stand right next to Luffy in Arlong Park, blending in with Luffy and Zoro like it's just that easy to be cool and fierce and brave, to put everything on the line for what he believes in, for his dream-
"It was a real close fight, a duel to the death."
For the sake of my business, this is the only way, he remembers Nami whispering to him as she stabbed her own hand to make everyone believe she killed him, because she can't die like Zoro with all the lives weighing on her shoulders, but she can go just as far in her own way.
He remembers Nojiko telling him about a little girl who chose a life worse than death, and all the villagers who deliberately chose to go get themselves killed to set that same little girl free.
"No, no. My wounds are nothing to worry about, really!"
He remembers sitting next to Elynna one night after they got involved in a fight with other pirates.
"Aren't you scared?" He asked, because she was the only one who seemed to actually relate when he talked about school or the difficulty to choose between the store that offers food of better quality and the one who makes it cheaper and faster to prepare.
"Of course I am." She answered, brandishing her shaking hands.
"How do you do it?" The question slipped out of his mouth before he really thought about it. "Not running away in a fight?"
"Oh, I run away. And I hide too. I'm not strong or brave enough to just keep moving forward and stand my ground no matter what. But…" She looked at him then, eyes silent and inky black under the darkness, and suddenly he felt dizzy, like he was standing on the edge of an abyss reaching out to him. "I guess the training helps. And I'm more scared before or after than during scary situations… though usually the scary situation is an exam. Plus, it's a bit like dancing."
"Uh?"
"Well, it might be different for others, but I dance for myself. I focus on the music and on my partners if I have them. Not on the audience and the idea that I might make a mistake, because if I don't tune it out I'm more likely to actually slip. It's more potent in a fight, but it's the same thing. A little fear is okay, though. For normal people like us who can't stay alive just because they decide to, it's an instinct that can save us."
She took his still trembling hand in hers and placed it open above their heads.
It looked like he was grasping at the stars.
"If I can do it, you'll do just fine too. You just have to find your thing. How are you able to hit your target all the time?"
The mindless motion of his hands stops, and suddenly he feels so dirty he might as well be putting mud into his mouth too.
He can't-
His vision blurs, and he sniffles, standing up on shaking, shaking legs.
He can't reach his dream by being this pathetic!
He can't laugh with everything he has like they do if he doesn't risk it all like they do!
"Stop right there you freakin' fish!"
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
His fist reaches for her shoulder (even though he's probably aiming for her stomach again) and she spins aside, foot hooking around his ankle and tugging in the process.
He wouldn't have budged before.
Now he stumbles ribs first into her rising knee, still managing to knock his elbow in her cheek through it all.
They both stagger back with a groan, and Elynna almost wants to laugh, because at this point they probably look like two old people trying to wrestle each other into the ground and forgetting that they're not twenty anymore.
The Fish-Man doesn't look like he wants to laugh, panting and sweaty and bloody, eyes unfocused with pain and anger too hot for his body to bear.
He would be out of blood by now if he didn't tie a piece of his shirt above the gaping wound she cut into his arm.
"I should have known you humans only use dirty tricks to win."
"Sure sounds righteous, coming from a member of the crew who used a dirty trick to string along a little girl for almost a decade."
"It's her fault for... falling for it in the first place." He spits, his attempt at a harsh voice ruined by the fact that he can't even get it out all at once without his breath hitching.
She snorts.
"It's your fault for falling for my acting in the first place." She smirks, too wide to be called kind. "Looks like Fish-Men aren't that different from humans, after all."
He staggers like she just hit him, and lunges for her with a shout. But it's too wild, and he doesn't have the speed to back it up any more, so she takes a step on the right and smashes her fist against his lower back around his spine when he passes her by.
He crashes against the ground and rolls to a shaky stand.
"Everything… is different. We can- We can breathe underwater and… We can-" He huffs and pants, words barely distinguishable from his raspy exhalations.
She straightens up, wrapping her arms around herself because it feels like her ribs are about to fall in her stomach, and rolls her eyes.
"I'm not talking about your body, I'm talking about here." She taps a finger against her heart. "Do you even realise that you're spewing the exact same shit as those who probably gave you that scar, that you're becoming just like them? Humans are enslaved just like you, they cry and hurt and laugh just like you, some are worse than others just like some Fish-Men are much better than you. The villagers around here aren't just lowly humans, they're living beings like you and I. Some know how to write stories and others know how to cultivate the land or make bread. Some like tomatoes and others don't."
She stops to spit blood and catch her breath.
"What," she grits through her teeth and the memories in her throat, "is so hard to understand about that?"
(She really wants to know,
because she spent so many hours that she can't even count them,
reading the news, reading books from before and from now, from people on both sides of the fence,
watching documentaries
and crying out what feels like her heart at all the faces messed up by fists or rage, at all the broken families
and it still does not make sense, she still does not understand
still drowns in that all-encompassing sense of absolute absurdity that rushes inside her mouth and cloaks her ability to speak in suffocating silence,
that makes her lose her words
that make her sneer and flip the bird at the world and humanity and life
because really it's just as senseless-)
"Hah." He scoffs, weak but acidic in its bitterness. "Spare me the drivel. We once saved a child because she had been a slave just like us, and she still sold us to the Marines as soon as we got her back to her family."
She scoffs right back, spitting out the rage howling through her like a tempest before it wrenches her mind out of the control seat and makes her cave in to the desire to crush his head under her foot.
"And how do you even know that she sold you? It could be her family, or anyone who was living there. Did any of you even see what happened?"
She turns around and leaves him there, because he probably wouldn't even be able to hurt anyone right now.
She doesn't care if he dies or not, doesn't feel like finishing him off when there's no need either.
There are much better people to spend her time around, and they're probably kicking ass right about now.
She doesn't want to miss it.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Nami thought she was done crying, at least for today.
But as she stares at Zoro and Sanji who came to save her and are now lying at the feet of Arlong, bloody and defeated (but not broken, she knows), as she stares at the villagers she worked so hard and bled so much to save-
She finds herself shaking again, mouth opening and closing without being able to utter the words that will decide the fate of everyone here.
"Luffy… Help me…"
"Of course I will!"
She bites her lips hard, heart quivering too hard in her ears to stop and think about another way to get out of this, any other way-
"Ow. Sorry, excuse me, coming through…"
Suddenly there's a wrist on her shoulder, warm and real and heavy as Elynna places what is probably most of her weight on her and bends forwards to catch her breath.
"No one that matters is asking you to do it again, and you won't be alone again anyway."
The First Mate straightens up with a groan, hand raking through her hair to push the mess of dark strands away from her eyes, which assess the situation in the Arlong Park's yard so quickly it's almost nonchalant. And then they turn to Nami as if Arlong isn't even worth more than two seconds of her attention.
"So what bullshit is Scumbag-in-Chief spewing, now?" She asks bluntly.
Nami is so surprised to see her adopt the same I-don't-give-a-damn attitude she usually reserves to Luffy's antics (and the trouble they generally get everyone else in) with an ennemy that she answers without a thought. But the muscles trembling with too much strain against her shoulder tell her that the other girl is the type of person whose brain-to-mouth filter tends to die when she's too exhausted.
(Not that she had much of a filter to begin with.)
"That… I can at least save the village if I go back to him, but if I stand with you guys, he'll kill everyone."
She gulps, and opens her mouth again.
"He said that he'll keep me as his cartographer forever."
Elynna blinks slowly, and for a moment the darkness of her eyes blazes cold enough that the shivers running down Nami's back and whispering nightmares in her ears screech to a silent halt.
Then she smiles pleasantly, peacefully.
"Group suicide? I didn't think he was such a romantic under all the racist-slash-imperialist stuff." Then she frowns, as if confused. "How is he supposed to rule over a place if he kills everyone there though?"
Nami blinks owlishly, still stuck on the first part.
"Romantic?" She repeats, and she doesn't remember the last time she had so much difficulty following someone's train of thoughts (Luffy's not included).
"Yeah. Someone wrote a story where I come from. Romeo and Juliet. Was all the rage at some point. With a couple who end up suiciding each other-"
"Oi oi oi!" Usopp's voice interrupts them. "Elynna, I told you never to tell that story again until I make it more epic! Right now it's just a duo of morons who don't even make people laugh!"
"Fine, fine." Elynna concedes, carelessly waving a hand in the air. "It makes me laugh, though."
"That's 'cause you're an evil bitch."
"Oh, okay." She shrugs with a tone that clearly says whatever, I don't give a fuck.
And suddenly Nami is laughing and asking the whole village to die with her and they say yes like it's not even a question, and water rises from beyond the doors along with Luffy's scream.
A hand slips in Nami's, fingers thicker but just as long as hers lacing with her own and squeezing.
She squeezes back, and watches as Sanji dives in to free Luffy's legs, as Zoro gets up again even though his spirit is the only thing still standing in him and Usopp yells something about backing him up from where he's hiding behind the wall.
When Luffy launches a half-dead Zoro in the air to take his place, Elynna turns around and shoves the backpack that she gave Nami when they parted ways to the doctor of the village, asking him to go help him before he bleeds out and then turning around with another squeeze of Nami's hand to watch the end with her.
Somehow Luffy manages to make the end of what made everything in Nami bleeding and exhausted for eight years feel like a joke as much as the angry, screaming, painfully raw last chance it is.
But it doesn't matter.
Because he destroys the Room, destroys all the work that almost twisted her love for cartography into something unrecognisable and as hateful as Arlong's words about humans.
Because he wins.
Because he sets her free.
And she cries again, Elynna's arm curled around her shoulders with no intention to stop her or even hold her up (she can do that on her own).
Cries because there's just too much happiness for it not to overflow, and for the first time in her life her tears don't feel like a mark of shame.
"Nami! You're my nakama, got it?!"
"Our nakama, damnit." Elynna grumbles next to her.
Nami laughs through her sobs.
"Got it."
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
"You're the boss, Luffy! You deserve all that praise!" Usopp hollers on the edge of the crowd of people throwing his Captain in the air. "But if you guys want to praise me a bit too, I won't say no!"
Sanji chuckles as he stops on his right, an unlit cigarette in his mouth because all his matches are wet from his multiple trips in the ocean.
"That dumbass. He almost had me worried for a moment."
"You two did a good job too."
They blink and look back to see their First Mate smiling a small, approving smile at them.
Usopp flushes from hair to shoulder.
"That- That's right! And get this, I beat one of their officers by myself!"
Her smile widens and deepens without a hint of hesitation despite how much of a liar she knows him to be.
"Did you plan ahead or improvise?"
"Uh… Both?"
"You're getting bold, Hawk."
"Shut up."
Her laughter is interrupted by the Marines of the 16th Branch.
While the Captain begins a speech about how he's going to confiscate all of Arlong's money -and the credit for bringing him down, Elynna surreptitiously hides herself behind both of her crewmates, who frown in confusion until they realise what she's wearing and the misunderstandings that can come out of it.
The misunderstandings don't happen anyway, because the boys end up beating up the whole group, and then Nami hits the Captain again before mercilessly shooting successive demands at him to help rebuild the villages, share Arlong's money between their inhabitants, and give her back the money she spent eight years gathering.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
At some point their whole group ends up together as most villagers run off to tell the whole island what happened, while they listen to the tale of Usopp's victory.
The sharpshooter is about to go on with a retelling (probably even more outlandish than the real thing) of what Elynna didn't get to see when suddenly Nami's eyes zero in on her neck.
"What are those?" The navigator growls out, eyes narrowed and as fierce as a lioness flashing her teeth in the sun.
"What are what?" Elynna frowns, confused.
"On your neck."
"I can't see what's on my neck."
"Elynna. Those are strangulation marks."
"... Then why are you asking the question?" The smaller girl mumbles as she feels ghostly fingers tighten again.
"You told me you had a plan!"
"It was part of the plan… Somewhat."
"What does that even mean?" Zoro snorts, ignoring the way Sanji seems to bounce between mourning the pain of a woman and trying to learn just who caused that very pain.
"It means that considering how much stronger he is than me, and the fact that I only know how to do close-range fighting, I planned to let him have a go at me on purpose so that he would give me an opening, but I thought he would break a bone or something, not strangle me…" Then she frowns up at the sky pensively. "But maybe strangling is actually better? I mean, it was slower, so I had more time to stab him-"
"Who cares about that! Why do you even plan something like this ahead?!" Nami barks as Luffy starts laughing.
"I don't want to hear that from someone who stabbed their own hand to get a friend away." The First Mate huffs.
"But it wasn't planned, damnit!"
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Zoro screams, then coughs, and mutters out a string of curses.
"Shit."
"That's what you get for moving around and even fighting after an injury that would take at least two years for a normal person to heal!" The village's doctor grumbles as he keeps working on the stitches he didn't get to take care of at Arlong Park.
From the chair in which the doctor pushed her with a book (her single-minded focus on it keeps her from wincing with every scream coming from the swordsman lying next to her) after taking care of her ribs (which were only fractured despite how they felt very much broken even after she moved around to try to ease her uncooperating brain into the pain), Elynna snorts.
(In her world, any person would be dead.
For the first time, she's glad to be in this world.)
"Fuck you." Zoro hisses with a glare in her direction.
Out of consideration for his situation, she swallows the sex joke on the tip of her tongue.
"I didn't say anything."
"You better not, because you don't get to make a comment if you're not going through it."
"You're the only one crazy enough to let someone slash away at their chest like they're a piece of meat at the butcher's."
"Exactly, so I'm the only one who gets to make comments about it." Zoro bites out, momentarily distracted from the fact that the doctor is still stabbing away at his wound with a needle.
"Someone said meat?" Luffy hollers excitedly as he enters, as if the word is enough to summon him.
(It probably is.)
"No." Both of his crewmates answer simultaneously, though not exactly with the same tone.
Their Captain's shoulders droop, but he makes his way inside all the same -with a piece of meat in each hand that he promptly shoves down his throat.
"Don't you have a doctor in that pirate crew of yours?!" The doctor mutters exasperatedly with a disapproving frown towards Usopp and Yosaku's amateur work.
"That's a good idea, old man. We should get a musician before, though."
"Why 'before'?"
"Cause pirates gotta sing!"
"Again, how is that more important?!" Zoro hisses through gritted teeth.
"Hold still, young man! How am I supposed to do my work properly if you keep moving around?!"
Luffy blinks, and suddenly turns to Elynna with a glint in his eyes that makes her slide her chair away from him.
"Hey Ann! I kept still when he was taking care of me!" He grins widely while waving his bandaged arm in the air.
"... So?" She raises a brow, completely confused.
He grins even wider and spreads both arms just as wide.
She groans.
She didn't think that giving him one hug would lead to this.
(Or maybe she knew, actually
maybe she was looking for an excuse to steal some more warmth like the parasite she is.)
"Come here." She sighs as she puts her book away, leaning forward in her chair and opening her arms just in time for him to come bounding right into them.
"Shishishishi! This is nice too."
"Yup." She mumbles, legs swinging gently on both sides of his thighs.
He disentangles himself after a few minutes, and exits the room by the window to go look for more meat.
She leans back in her chair, flips through her book until she finds the right page, and looks up to see Zoro staring at her warily.
She rolls her eyes.
"Just keep still and you shall be spared from my hugs." She smirks.
Now it's his turn to roll his eyes.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
"Psst! Ann!" Luffy whispers loudly from his bed on the other side of the room that was lended to the both of them and Usopp for their stay.
"Hmm?"
"You like hugs?"
She turns to face his direction because propping herself up on her elbow probably wouldn't be great for her ribs. Or her forearms, since those are actually broken.
"Yeah, why?"
"You look like you do, but you didn't hug anyone before."
She presses her lips together.
"I'm just not used to it. There's only one person among my friends and family who likes to hug as much as me."
"... I like hugs too."
She opens her mouth.
Closes it.
"Fine, fine. I got it. Goodnight."
"G'night, Ann!"
She turns around and hides her smile in her pillow.
Usopp snores between them.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Nojiko gulps down her beer and slams the mug on the table that is mostly empty now that most people have finished resting and started partying again -for the third day.
Her boyfriend's foot runs soothingly along her calf from where he's sitting in the seat opposite to hers, legs intertwined with hers.
"Why are you pouting?"
"I still can't see Nami. I want to hear some more stories about her nakama. They're hilarious."
"I gathered that." He laughs in that soft way of his, and she snickers too, because anyone with eyes witnessed how insane the whole bunch is during the last three days.
Well, the whole bunch except for the other girl, who hasn't shown herself at all up till now.
Nojiko sighs, about to stand up to look for her little sister herself when a glimpse of vivid, tangerine red catches her eyes.
She blinks, and tilts her head, prompting her boyfriend to turn around.
Nami is here, but she's weaving her way between people bent in two, and looking particularly annoyed.
It doesn't take long for Nojiko to put two and two together when she sees a tall girl with wide shoulders and short, plaited blond hair on her tiptoes, visibly looking for someone.
She sighs, and raises a hand to catch Nami's eyes, which are clearly looking for a way out, when the dark brown irises stop on something else before they reach her.
Curious, Nojiko turns her gaze to follow her sister's until it falls on where that Elynna girl is leaning against a wall, dressed in dark, loose jeans and a baggy, faded pink t-shirt, her attention focused on the brochette of fruits in her hands.
Nojiko swivels in her seat to lean her elbow on the table, fortunately close enough that she can hear them.
Her sister runs up to her nakama, who is just aware enough to uncross her arms when the thief throws herself into them, the sight amusing considering that Nami is substantially taller than her friend.
"Elynna! Kiss me!" She hisses at her hurriedly.
Nojiko is glad that she's not drinking anything, because otherwise she would be choking on it like her boyfriend at the moment.
As it is, she's struggling not to swallow her own tongue.
Her sister's crewmate merely blinks at Nami, and with a shrug props herself up on her tiptoes to press her lips against hers.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Elynna stays there, mouth closed and pressed firmly against Nami's, nose brushing against hers and fingers meshed with her short hair to bring her to her level, because the navigator's heels are taller than the height she can reach on her tiptoes.
She stays there until the fingers of the hand gripping her hip tap against her skin.
Her heels touch the ground and she opens her eyes to see that Nami has already turned around, eyes rummaging through the crowd and looking for something. She leans on the side to look around her, frowning.
"So. What was that about?"
"That was about Anri."
She raises a brow at the pirate thief.
"Who is?"
Nami sighs.
"Who is a girl I used to play with when I was a kid. She continued to talk to me even when I was with… Arlong, and three years ago she confessed to me."
She winces, and Elynna hums.
"You rejected her."
"Yup."
"That's awkward."
"She's making it even more awkward by refusing to get the point." Nami huffs, clearly having a lot of pent up frustration on that topic. "She probably confessed at least five or six times by now, and I don't know how to get her to understand that I'm not interested in anything more than friendship. She probably thought I kept telling her no just because of Arlong, because I've been trying to avoid her for the last three days."
"You tried socking her in the face yet?"
Nami snorts.
"The Fake Girlfriend plan was my last attempt before I would have started seriously considering it. She's still a good friend, so I feel bad for telling her off too rashly."
"Well, I would say that she's the one who disrespected you first, but if you'd rather pretend we're going out, I don't mind." Elynna shrugs, following the other girl towards the table her sister is sitting at, waving them over.
"Thanks."
"Anytime."
"Aw, did you like kissing me that much?"
"You're a good kisser." She comments carelessly, looking absolutely unfazed by the situation.
They slide into opposite chairs, and she finds herself next to the boy with angel curls and high cheekbones.
"I'm Hayden, Nojiko's boyfriend. Nice to meet you." He smiles, holding out a hand.
She shakes it.
"Elynna. Did you help Nami learn how to do her makeup?"
"She mainly learned alone, but I did share a few tricks with her. How did you guess?"
"It would be unfair to the rest of the world if there were two people in such a small village with the talent to pull off neon blue and gold glitter that well."
Hayden's smile brightens between blushing cheeks.
"Thanks."
"Are you two dating?" Nojiko blurts out, apparently unable to go along with the niceties any longer.
The two other girls exchange a glance, and open their mouths simultaneously.
"Nope."
"You know I was just trying to get away from Anri." Nami adds, taking a mug of beer out of the hands of a villager passing by.
"You both suck."
"What the fuck." Elynna says, popping the last bit of fruit on her brochette into her mouth.
"I was waiting for some good drama and some big misunderstanding here!"
"Sorry."
Her answer is blank and less than sincere, earning her an annoyed glare from the navigator's sister.
"Nah, Elynna isn't like that. She would probably snog anyone who asked as long as they're her type and she feels like it."
This time Hayden coughs on the plate of meat he was eating, and his girlfriend absently leans over the table to slap him in the back.
"Fine, fine. Why don't you tell me a few stories, the-"
"Rain."
"Yeah?"
"If we need to fake date again, we should probably make sure that Sanji-san can't see us."
"... Oh yeah. True. I need him to be somewhat functional to carry my bags the next time I go shopping."
"Uh, som- someone? Is the Doctor theeeere? I th-think Sanji- died." Usopp's flat-out drunk voice hiccups over people's heads, staggering through the octaves like he's still singing the Song Number 164 To Honour The Great Captain Usopp The Fish-Man Vainquisher.
"Then call the mortician, not the doctor! Stupid Love Cook." Zoro's voice answers from somewhere else in the crowd.
Elynna and Nami both wince.
"Fuck."
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Eventually, Hayden and Nojiko stand up to go dance, leaving Elynna and Nami to stare at each other.
"So."
"So."
"Sanji's nickname." Elynna smirks, taking care to make it especially evil.
Nami grins as wide as she can without being accused of having eaten the Gomu Gomu no Mi.
"Lover boy?" She offers, remembering that one time Elynna used it.
"Sugar." The First Mate counters.
"Because you like him more than the others?" Nami quips.
"To remind him that I love sweets. And cakes. I want at least a cake per week, or I'm throwing a tantrum."
The taller girl snorts.
As if Elynna would ever do something as childish as throwing a tantrum.
"Sweetheart."
"He'll faint."
"Right. Chef?"
"That's much safer already."
"What are you doing?" Usopp almost manages to ask without hiccuping as he nears their table.
"Looking for Sanji-san's nickname."
"Ah! Nicknames! I want to change mine!" He proclaims loudly as he staggers until he's stopped by their table, looking somewhere towards his right rather than at them.
"Why?"
"I share a nickname with that crazy swordsman Zoro fought! I can't share a nickname with the strongest swordsman in the world!" He whines, and Elynna wonders if he's a sad drunk, or if it's just his usual dramatics.
She doesn't open her eyes, forehead leaning against her hands whose palms are pressed together.
"Rejected. First of all, it's not exaclty the same, since yours is in English. Secondly, you deserve it as much as him. You just have to become the best in your own field. Good luck. Now shoo." She drones on, waving him away.
Nami laughs as she watches him walk off much more obediently than he usually (soberly) would, and turns back to her nakama curiously.
"What is it?"
"... I'm hesitating between Apollo and Hermes."
"And where do those come from?"
Not knowing whether the religion is as unique as the language in this world, especially with the existence of the World Nobles, Elynna opts for a simpler version.
"They're characters from children stories on my island. Basically, Apollo is the god of the sun, but also medicine, archery and poetry. And he's blond, obviously."
"The poetry fits well."
"Yep. Hermes isn't always pictured as blond, but it happens. Among other things, he protects merchants, orators and tricksters, all of which more or less apply to Sanji-san. And he's known to be super fast because of his winged shoes -don't ask me how that works. Oh, also..."
She leans closer to whisper her next argument, and Nami mimics her.
"Hermès is the name of a luxury brand on my island."
"Uh huh. Dilemma, dilemma."
They stare at the sky together for a moment, and then at each other for an even longer moment.
They open their mouths.
"Herpollo."
There's a second of silence between them despite all the voices and music around them.
The next moment they're howling in laughter, leaning forward to relieve the ache in their stomachs as they pound the poor table with their fists.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Nojiko huffs as she watches them from afar.
"She's as bad as the rest of this insane crew."
Hayden smiles down at her since his stilettos are higher than her own heels, and laces their fingers gently.
"You like her."
Nojiko snorts, but there's a smile on her face (a smile without any bitterness or resigned tiredness to corrupt it).
"I like anyone who can make my little sister laugh like this."
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
"Hey! Sanji-san!" Elynna hollers while waving a hand through the crowd once she's calmed down a bit.
"You called, ladies?" He suddenly appears by their side from wherever he was.
She idly wonders if he has a radar.
"So you know that thing Elynna has with nicknames?" Nami begins with a wide smile.
"Yes?" He tilts his head on the side, smile slightly confused.
"It's for people I really like, and I figured that since now you're not a temporary coworker but a crewmate, I might as well find one for you." She holds out a hand. "So as the First Mate, I guess this is to say welcome to the Rainbow Pirates, Hermes."
"I'm so honoured, Elynna-san!" Sanji swoons so hard he spins on the spot, and then comes to an abrupt stop. "Um, would you mind repeating what you just sai-"
"GIVE ME ANOTHER STOOL!" Usopp's extra-loud voice booms over their head.
Elynna turns to glance in his direction, and ducks down with a squawk as said stool sails over her head and straight into the back of someone's skull, knocking them right into the floor.
"NOT THE RAINBOW PIRATES, DAMNIT!" The sharpshooter wails from where he perched himself on top of a tower of tables, stools and chairs to sing the Song Number 217 To Honour The Great Captain Usopp The Fish-Man Vainquisher.
And then he starts to cry, screeching something about nightmares and unicorns and cotton candy.
Right into the loudspeaker.
"How did he even hear you?" Nami hisses, lips twitching uncontrollably.
The crying probably interrupts Zoro's nap, because his voice doesn't take long to rise from an alleyway.
"For god's sake, women!"
"Does he really know it's us, or is it just a reflex?" Elynna mumbles, and then yelps when Nami kicks her in the shin.
"A figsht! Wher' ish it?! A' wann' figh' choo!" Luffy shouts around all the meat in his mouth as he jumps onto a roof.
"... Okay, I think it's time to go." His First Mate stands up with an innocent smile that says I have nothing to do with this and I don't know these people.
"Yup. Sanji-kun, do you mind covering for us?" Nami clasps her hand under her chin with an extra-bright smile towards the cook.
"Of course I don't, Nami-san!"
Both girls watch as he almost levitates away, and then jump when Zoro's voice lets out another string of curses.
They promptly turn around and run away.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
They stop when they reach the next village -where people are also partying- and stagger over to an empty table, since running while laughing is much more tiring than just running.
"So. Why did you take three days to join in?" Nami pants as she tries to catch her breath.
"I figured jumping into a crowd of people wasn't really the way to go while I was recovering. And I don't like crowds, loud noise and strangers, so big parties like this aren't really my thing. But I figured I should at least try."
"Is that why you were leaning against a wall on your own?"
"... Shut up. I don't know how to do this kind of thing, okay?" The other girl pouts.
Nami pokes at her puffed out cheek and laughs as she compares the heated red painting her skin now and the memory of her supremely unconcerned features after kissing her of all things.
"Well, then!" She claps her hands, and then points at a spot where a green star-shaped flag is waving through the evening breeze. "You can start with this!"
"... And what is this, exactly?" Elynna asks, eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Don't look at me like that, I'm hurt. It's just a tiny dance contest they used to organise every year. And don't even try to get out of it, I saw you creating choreographies while you were 'recovering'."
The dancer groans, because it's not like she can tell her that she needs to move if she wants the pain to go away half as fast as her actual injuries.
(Even she still doesn't believe it sometimes
doesn't want to believe it
because it means having to move and hurt when she just wants to sleep.)
"Fine." She sighs as she gets up.
"Cool!" Nami springs up and drags her to the organisers to put Elynna's name on the list, before patting her on the shoulder. "Do your best, okay? There's no actual winning prize, but there's a betting pool on who will get more votes, and I'm betting on you."
"Gee, no pressure."
"Kick their ass!" The pretty navigator hollers with a last wave of her hand.
"This is why I don't do competitions." Elynna drawls as she lets herself be led to the waiting area.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Nami hurriedly finds a place at the front row, and feels a giddy smile dig in the flesh of her cheeks when Elynna steps onto the stage, because the music isn't the best, but the First Mate is doing that thing with her hands that she called waacking, and she loves that style.
She watches as Elynna's body curves and slips around the sultry voice like they're a lover, hands and fingers slow like petals falling to the ground in the summer heat.
Then she suddenly quickens her pace with the refrain, bold and fast and searing like shooting stars and fireworks, body and smile exploding with a confidence as bright as the sun, as if she is (and deserves to be) the centre of the world at that moment, and Nami whoops and laughs loudly as she leaves the stage.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Elynna slowly steps away from the other girl as she giggles in a frankly worrying way and kisses the roll of banknotes in her hand.
"You rock, Elynna!"
"Why do you even have money? I didn't win, I got fourth place."
"I betted on you being in the top 5. Your dancing is great, but some of your styles aren't really what we're used to here, so I figured some people would prefer to stick with what they know… especially with the music."
She suddenly quickens her pace and then turns around, walking backwards as she stares pensively at the pale-skinned girl.
"What?"
"You'll show me the other dances you were working on?"
Elynna blinks, and eventually shrugs.
"Sure. Let's go there." She points towards a spot of relatively flat, grassy ground off the main street and all the partying, but not too far that they can't benefit from the lighting.
"Wait, you mean now?"
"Isn't it fine?"
Nami grins in response, and follows after her, dropping down to sit on the grass and crossing her legs, then looks up curiously when Elynna drops a notebook small enough to fit in a pocket in her lap.
"What's this?"
"I translated the songs I used for the three other choreographies."
"Why?"
"Because they're for you, silly." The First Mate grins as she takes a few steps to stand in front of her.
Nami gulps, watching her test her spins after kicking off her shoes, and looks down to open the notebook.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
(Tough girl in the fast lane
No time for love, no time for hate
No drama, no time for games
Tough girl whose soul aches)
Her movements and body stutter along the music like it's making her move (but there's not enough of her spirit left to do more than go along).
Until she stumbles and breaks into a rhythm lifeless and piecemeal like she's a mechanism (a doll) gripped by rust (blood and tears dried before they can flow), and then she explodes into something
-something messy and pained and washed-out by all the tears but alive.
(Big girls cry when their hearts are breaking)
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
(Cut me down, but it's you who'll have further to fall
Ghost town, haunted love)
She spins, so light and slow it's almost like there's no intent behind it.
(like it's a blow that sent her spinning
spinning because she refuses to let the strength of the hit and the pain push her to the ground)
She rolls on the floor but always, always gets back up, body bending past normal limits as easy as breathing, like nothing can break it.
She stands on her tiptoes, but her stance is so steady it feels like even an earthquake wouldn't put her on her knees and her forehead in the dirt.
(Shoot me down, but I won't fall
I am titanium)
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
(Clipped wings, I was a broken thing
Had a voice, had a voice but I could not sing
You'd worn me down
I struggled on the ground
So lost, the line had been crossed
Had a voice, had a voice but I could not talk
You held me down
I struggle to fly now)
She twirls and trips and dances, always turning around the same spot like she's chained down to it.
And the weight of the chains are holding back her movements, preventing her from stretching her arms as far as she can, as she wants.
(to embrace the whole wide world)
She shatters on the ground again and again and again, but when the end comes she's standing whole and sweating and alive and her head held high.
(And it's the sweat of the fire in her eyes and the blazing, spiteful brightness steeling her jaw
-he didn't break you-
with a fist tending towards the sky)
(Now I fly, hit the high notes
I have a voice, have a voice, hear me roar tonight
You held me down, but I fought back loud)
(I sing for love, I sing for me
I'll shout it out like a bird set free)
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Elynna plops down on the ground next to her, silent except for the harshness of her breathing in the night air.
Nami sniffles, and lets her head fall back, staring at the sky in an attempt to take all the tears back inside herself, because for once she wants to be selfish, wants to keep all that happiness for herself.
Her vision blurs, and it looks like her tears themselves are full of stars.
(For the first time in a long, long while, she thinks that the world is beautiful
and she wants, burns
to lay it all on pieces of paper as free as she is
to see her work in the inky stains on her hands rather than in dirt and blood
Until she has the entire world engraved in her brain and remembered forever in the shelves she'll buy for her maps)
She lets the tears slip out, and smiles.
"Hey." She says to the sky with a cheery voice that doesn't attempt to hide its wobbling.
Elynna hums quietly.
"Can I give you a nickname too?"
She feels more than she sees her tilt her head towards her.
"If you want."
"Thanks, Lynna."
She looks away from the sky to find Elynna staring at her with a raised eyebrow, and she giggles almost like when she's drunk, because yes, she has been thinking about this for a long time.
(And now she can finally let the word nakama resonates in her heart all she wants
so maybe she is a little drunk
on happiness)
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Captain Nezumi of the 16th Branch of the Marines slams the receiver of his Den Den Mushi back into its holder, panting despite the three days of rest he took to recover from the injuries inflicted by the band of savages whose Captain he just created a bounty poster for.
"Ca- Captain!"
"What?!" He barks at the soldier standing at his door without turning around.
"You have a visit from-"
"At ease, young man. This is just an informal visit." An old and gritty voice like rock turning into sand interrupts the man.
Nezumi finds himself facing Commodore Killian, an old man who hasn't been seen fighting for at least a decade but who has kept some influence and rank within the Marines thanks to his long-standing friendship with Vice-Admiral Garp.
The Captain of the 16th Branch respects that, and immediately offers him his Business Smile Number One (along with tea and biscuits), because if he can make friends and get more promotions (and more money) without having to step on a battlefield, then his life will be a success.
"That won't be necessary, Captain." The man answers with the bare minimum of politeness in his tone, and Nezumi holds back an angry twist of his lips at the not-so-subtle reminder of his lower rank. "I've simply come to ask you if a certain Ryan Alice is present among your soldiers right now."
"Miss Ryan, you say? Unfortunately, I remember signing the paperwork after she died in a skirmish with some pirates. Why the curiosity, if I may ask?"
As far as he knows, the woman was an orphan who entered the Marines because it was the surest way for her to get three meals a day and a roof to sleep under. There was nothing in her file that a Commodore should be interested in.
"Any picture you have left of her?" The other Marine goes on, steamrolling over his question.
"I can bring you her belongings if you wish, but her file has been destroyed as per the procedure." Nezumi answers through gritted teeth.
He gestures to his assistant to bring the box, and almost chokes when the soldier opens it to show a faded uniform from another Branch and no Marine identification plaque.
The part of the graduation picture showing the face of the dead woman has been torn away.
There is definitely something fishy going on here, and he wants no part of it, especially if it's a desertion, which would reflect badly on him.
"Cara, send an order to make a wanted poster anyway. If Miss Ryan still has her uniform, then we might be able to catch her, especially if she intends to use it again to sneak into a Marine base. And I want her alive." Killian orders the woman at his side, clear despite his aged voice.
"Yes, Commodore."
"And round up everyone here for interrogation."
The woman salutes, and turns to Nezumi.
"If you'll follow me, Captain Nezumi."
"What?! On what grounds are you holding me?! Whatever crimes this woman has committed, I have nothing to do with them! You can't do this!"
"Oh no, I think you got the situation reversed, Captain."
"Wh- What?"
"You are the one who committed a crime. Corruption and association with a pirate, to be more specific. Miss Ryan is the one who contacted those who outrank you to testify against you. Her word was backed up by Lieutenant Kiritake, whom she pledged for, and she provided us with copies of the calls for help sent by the civilians who have suffered under the pirate Arlong and his crew for the last eight years, reports which you kept in your desk and failed to transmit to your superiors. I think this adds failure to provide assistance to someone in danger to your crimes. As such, you and everyone in this base are going to be subjected to an extensive investigation. Go on, Cara."
Nezumi lets her lead him away, still struggling to compute everything the old man just shoved down his throat.
But that woman is dead!
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
"It's the last one." Zoro says as he carries in yet another box of foodstuff, though there were some other items at the beginning.
Standing inside the Merry's storage room and studying her work, Elynna turns around.
"Thank god. I don't think I would know where to put another one."
She takes the box he hands her, opening it to peek at its content before she carefully stacks it with the other boxes of spices and condiments that she indicated with a big sign for Sanji later on.
She claps her hands in satisfaction when she's done, and takes the stairs back up to the deck.
"Is Rain here yet?" She asks her Captain when she notices that the other girl is missing.
"Nope."
"Maybe she's not coming?" Usopp muses, eyebrows knitting together as he looks through the crowd gathered to send them off.
"What?! Nami-san isn't coming?!"
"Well, since she was only a pirate to save the village, maybe she'll be happier staying here…" The sharpshooter goes on without paying attention to Sanji, who gapes like he just discovered his only reason for following them was actually a mirage.
(It's probably exactly what he thinks.)
"And what about my happiness?!"
"No one cares, moron." Zoro informs him bluntly.
Luffy laughs loudly as the level of decibel (and sheer ridiculousness) rises between the two men, and Usopp groans, head falling in his hands.
"Hangover?" Elynna asks quietly as she comes to lean back on the railing next to him.
"Nightmares. Dreamt about cherubs and dolphins trying to drown me in rainbow-colored candies. And there was pink glitter everywhere." He whispers, either because he's still traumatised or thinks the nightmare might just become reality if he speaks any louder -or both.
"Why would you even dream about that?" Elynna snorts like she has nothing to do with it.
She promptly elbows Zoro in the gut when he opens his mouth to answer that question, and goes on.
"But it's a testament to your active imagination that you managed to make something like that into a nightmare. I mean, usually people are so cliché, with all the red and the black and the 'I will reign over the entire world' kind of thing."
Usopp lets out a distressed moan that tells her exactly how happy he is with his imagination at the moment.
"Set sail!"
Nami's voice reaches their ears from where she's standing on the other side of the crowd, and immediately Luffy gestures for them to do as she says.
Elynna shrugs, making her way up the mast to free the mainsail with Sanji, watching from her position as the pretty redhead weaves her way between all the villagers, who try to hold her back or catch her to thank her for all she did after realising that she doesn't intend to talk to them before leaving.
Her heels click against the railing and then the deck after an impressive jump that makes Elynna whistle, and she bunches up her top to let several dozens of wallets fall to the floor.
Then she kisses one of the banknotes she stole and winks.
"Bye, guys! Take care!"
"She hasn't changed at all, has she." Usopp deadpans.
Elynna smirks, and decides that this is the coolest goodbye ever, period.
〪〪〪〜〜⏆〜〜〭〭〭
Can anyone tell that I watched the 13th on Netflix and cried my eyes out? Cause I did. And then rewatched the post-2 years episodes of One Piece where everyone meets up and shows off their strength, because there was no way I was going to sleep with that in my mind if I wanted to wake up NOT depressed.
Hope you still liked the chapter, tho…
Just a detail: I used the Japanese way of giving names, so the first name of the woman whose uniform Elynna takes is Alice.
I really love Usopp in his fight of this arc, because he's very relatable. Sometimes I find it annoying when he keeps hesitating instead of going into the fight, but it's probably because it's too close to the way I would be lol. Also that particular fight is hilarious at the end (if anyone feels like seeing it again, it's episode 40 or chapters 87/88 I think).
Why did I invent a boyfriend for Nojiko? Because I felt like it. And btw, Nojiko rocks.
Also, if anyone was wondering, Elynna being all tired at the beginning wasn't really a breakdown but more because she got pretty banged up at the Baratie, and the pain lasts longer for her than a normal person of the OP world (let alone one of the Monster Trio haha).
As usual, here are the videos I used as inspiration when writing the dancing part (the first two are for the contest dance):
https: slash slash www dot youtube dot com slash watch?v=d0clBjQKXsM&list=PLBPTyr5BEnlL2gdFSR1jc71hxBaVE0aOc&index=47 - RITON X OLIVER HELDENS - TURN ME ON | AMY Choreography
https: slash slash www dot youtube dot com slash watch?v=K2XeyDrQh1s&list=PLBPTyr5BEnlL2gdFSR1jc71hxBaVE0aOc&index=64 - Riton x Oliver heldens - Turn Me On/ItsMe choreography
https: slash slash www dot youtube dot com slash watch?v=g-A51G3PQhI&list=PLBPTyr5BEnlL2gdFSR1jc71hxBaVE0aOc&index=18 - Sia - Big girls cry: Coi choreography
https: slash slash www dot youtube dot com slash watch?v=6un7689tYhk&list=PLBPTyr5BEnlLYAZqwaMhA19_6qMdBvYgo&index=25 - Sophia Lucia -Titanium | Solo 2013
https: slash slash www dot youtube dot com slash watch?v=O2jwbWgfPhM - Sia - Bird Set Free || Deborah Cova's choreography
(Yes, I like Sia.)
Anyway, thank you to everyone who keeps following (and commenting, THAT is a great joy to read, and I may or may not reread them to boost myself from time to time), and I wish you the best until the next chapter!