AN:

Not gonna lie I agonized over this one a little bit. I just really wanted to get the feel of it right and I'm still not completely sure I did. It'll make sense when you read it. I would love to hear what you guys think of this one. I imagine some of you will want to kill me. :)

Without further ado, here's Chapter 11. Enjoy.

Chapter 11: Survival

"And what might we have here, I wonder?", questioned the spectacled butler from his place at the open door.

The tall man had a square head that tapered down into a pointed chin. He wore glasses, slicked-back short black hair, and a black suit jacket. A similarly colored pair of pants hung over a pair of grey and black striped boots. Four golden buttons lay on either side of the jacket flaps, two on the top and two on the bottom. In the middle of them, on both sides, was a golden symbol shaped like three stacked ovals, each getting smaller from the bottom, with a hook on top. A white shirt with a curious collar, spiral-like protrusions on its edges, and a black tie lay underneath the jacket, a dark leather belt with a gold buckle around his waist.

"Khlahadore! You should knock before barging into a girl's room!", chastised Kaya.

Zoro, Luffy, and Usopp paused in their conversation about Shanks and Usopp's dad after hearing the door open on the other side of the room, all turning in the direction of the voice.

Usopp paled. It was him, the butler that didn't like him. Like at all. He hid behind Zoro's larger form as said butler scanned the room of its occupants.

"What the hell are you doing, Usopp?", Zoro asked over his shoulder. He didn't want to take his eyes off the guy that walked through the door. He gave the swordsman a weird feeling. Had he seen his face somewhere before?

"Hey, guy! Who're you?", asked Luffy, standing up to approach Kaya and Nami. He was having a really good conversation with Zoro and Usopp and the butler went and ruined it!

"Someone who is allowed to be here.", the man said with a scowl, pushing his glasses up with the palm of his hand rather than his fingers. "As opposed to someone who is not.", he finished, giving Luffy a harsh stare from underneath his now-adjusted spectacles.

"Khlahadore! You shouldn't talk to a guest like that.", exclaimed Kaya. Khlahadore was being very rude. She'd never seen him like that before.

"But Miss, they did not come through the front door, so how could they be guests?", the man called Khlahadore questioned.

Kaya almost backed down but the thought of her conversation with Nami spurred her into action. She'd really enjoyed talking with the orange-haired girl, even though it was short. She wanted to talk to her more. She wanted to talk to Usopp and Zoro and Luffy. They were staying. She'd made up her mind. "Khlahadore, I wish to speak with you outside.", the blonde-haired girl said with no room for argument, ending the conversation and approaching her butler.

The man sighed and obliged by his master's command, turning and following her retreating figure out of the door and shutting it behind him.

Nami turned to the three remaining occupants of the room. "Anyone else get weird vibes from that guy?", she asked. He just felt kind of… greasy, in her opinion.

"You're on a roll today, Witch. I'm with her.", said Zoro, walking to stand by the window sill and uncovering Usopp's smaller form.

Nami glared at the, once again, smirking swordsman for what felt like the millionth time that day.

"That butler has never liked me.", the long-nosed boy chimed in. He'd been caught by the tall man once or twice and it was never fun. The tongue lashings were brutal. And he only did it when Kaya wasn't around!

Luffy turned away from the door and joined the conversation. "He's weird.", said the straw-hatted boy, walking over to the table and taking the chair Kaya had previously sat in, "Whatever. Kaya can handle it.". He was her butler, what did Luffy care if he felt a little weird?

The door to the room opened once again and three heads turned toward it. That was fast.

"You're all staying the night.", stated Kaya, happily. It had taken some convincing and lots of saying she was the owner of the house, but she had done it. Her new friends would be staying. Khlahadore still seemed very irritated by the fact. She knew he had a good heart, but sometimes he could be a little overprotective.

"Sleepover!", Luffy yelled excitedly from his place at the table.

Nami smiled. She enjoyed chatting with Kaya.

"S- sta- staying the night?", Usopp's voice sounded from over by the bed, a mad blush rising to his cheeks. "We really don't mind going back to town.", he said, thunder cracking in the background.

"SPEAK FOR YOUR SELF!", both Nami and Zoro yelled with shark teeth.

Luffy laughed. His friends were always making him do that. The thought only made him smile larger and laugh more.

"Nonsense, Usopp", began the blonde-haired girl, "None of you are walking back in that storm. There's more than enough room and I wouldn't feel good about making you all leave.". She was excited about having people in the mansion, it got lonely in the big place. She had Khlahadore and Merry but… She glanced at all of the people in her room and smiled. They were a little closer to her age. It was why she loved it when Usopp came and told stories.

"It's settled then.", Nami said, from across Luffy, "Looks like we're staying the night.". She turned toward their host, "Thank you Kaya. I wasn't looking forward to changing back into my wet clothes.". Maybe someone else was though… She glanced over at Luffy. Then again, maybe not.

"Yes! Sleepovers are the best!", Luffy said, jumping from his place at the table and pumping his fist in the air.

Kaya laughed with the straw-hatted boy. She was excited too.

Usopp nervously fiddled with his hands over by the bed. He was about to be sleeping in Kaya's mansion. He gulped. But, if the others were gonna stay he wasn't gonna be the only one who didn't. He shuddered. That storm was not fun to walk in.

Zoro took his katanas out of his belly warmer and set them beside the window before sliding to sit down with his back against the wall. Now that he knew he didn't have to move, it was time for a nap. He wished he could take off his wet clothes, but alas, it wasn't meant to be. He wasn't gonna go around flashing everyone. What kind of freak would do that?

Conversations between the other occupants of the room slowly began to lull him to sleep when, suddenly, a pillow was violently thrown into his face. The swordsman's eyes flashed open in irritation and he looked in the direction the pillow had come from. He should have known.

Luffy and Usopp sat giggling to each other over by the bed.

He picked up the pillow and stood up to toss it back to the two other boys, Nami and Kaya having their own conversation at the table. "Aren't you two a little old for pillo-", the swordsman was interrupted by a second pillow hitting his face.

"See! I told you I'm a good sniper!", Usopp yelled in triumph after hitting his target successfully.

"Nice one Usopp!", Luffy shouted, turning to grab another pillow.

Zoro's smile became devilish as he grabbed both of the pillows that had been thrown at him, one in each hand, "You're dead.".

Luffy and Usopp hugged each other with frightened eyes. The verdet was looking very scary. He made the pillows seem dangerous when he held them in his hands. The straw-hatted boy made a break for the table where Nami and Kaya were talking, Usopp right behind him. Maybe they could save him from the evil-looking green-haired boy. He covered himself with Nami's sitting form just as Zoro threw one of his pillows at full speed. Instead of aiming directly at Luffy, he threw it where he was going to be. It was a mistake.

Nami saw Luffy sprinting toward her. "Luffy, what ar-", just as the words began to leave her mouth, a pillow railed into her face. Zoro had thrown it pretty hard. The pillow stood still for a moment before slowly beginning to slide off, Luffy and Kaya's laughter in the background. Usopp didn't laugh… He didn't want to get hit. The pillow slid down enough to reveal the navigator's face and what Zoro saw, scared him.

"You're dead.", Nami growled. Time for some revenge. 'I'll show you what calling me Witch all the time gets you'. After Nami's pillow was thrown, the room devolved into a five-way pillow fight, the others forcing Kaya into participating the same as Nami, by way of a pillow to the face.

The blonde girl didn't mind though, it was her first pillow fight after all.

Nami's mother held her and her sister close. "Don't cry, girls. I wish I could have provided for you better.", the woman began as the two cried into her shoulder, her voice getting weaker, "I wish I could have been a better mother to the both of you.".

"Don't say that! Don't you leave us!", yelled Nojiko, pulling away from her mother and looking into her pained eyes.

Nami stayed buried in her shoulder, her mother's warmth the only thing keeping her from losing it completely. "We don't need anything! Just don't die! You need to see the map I'm gonna draw of the whole world!", she screamed. She couldn't lose her! She was her mother. Who else was going to take care of her and her sister? How was she supposed to keep going without her?

The woman smiled down at the top of her younger daughter's head and pulled away so she could look into her eyes. "Yes...Your map... Go and make your dreams come true... For me.", she whispered, smiling at her beautiful Tangerine.

"Bellemere, no!", Nami yelled, crying even harder and shoving her face back into her mother's shoulder.

A deep voice, full of contempt, interrupted the family's last moments as a whole, "So, these are your daughters?".

Nami gasped as she awoke, sitting up with sweat dripping down her forehead. She quickly glanced wide-eyed around the room trying to get her bearings, her heart feeling as if it was about to beat out of her chest. She hated that dream.

The orange-haired girl looked over at the form sleeping next to her, her heart rate beginning to slow back down. They'd stayed up late into the night talking about lots of things, though nothing so personal as what they shared earlier in the day. It was mostly just the types of things girls would usually talk about when they had a friend stay the night. It had been nice.

After the pillow fight, things had calmed down. They'd ended up staying in Kaya's room almost the whole day until dinner, much to Luffy's chagrin. He got bored... Very quickly. Eventually, though, dinner time came and the four visitors met Merry.

The other butler was, also, a tall man who wore a similar uniform to his partner, a black suit and tie with gold buttons and a white shirt underneath. His suit was cleaner, lacking the same decorations and eccentricities as Kuro's. His eyes were small and round with a black pupil, one singular brow hanging above them. He wore white curly hair that looked very similar to a lamb's fleece, two lamb horns sticking out of the top of the bushy white strands. The fleece-like hair also surrounded the bottom third of his neck, making him look even more lamb-like. All in all, he looked like a lamb... who also looked like a human.

Khlahadore seemed very reluctant to serve them, so Merry ended up serving the entire meal. The man had been very well-mannered and kind to all of them, so no one really minded much. Not even Kaya. Afterward, they'd all gone their separate ways to bathe and sleep. Luffy had complained about everyone not sleeping together, but Kaya said she wanted to have 'girl talk' with Nami and it couldn't happen with boys in the room. He eventually, reluctantly, agreed and they had all gone their separate ways.

Nami swung her feet out of the covers as quietly as she could and set them on the ground, beginning to stand up. She didn't want to wake Kaya.

The girl stood and headed to the door. Her throat was really dry and she needed water. More than likely, she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep for a while... That dream always put her on edge. It had been reoccurring since the day the memory was made, the day she'd lost her mother. The orangette shook her head as she reached the door. Dwelling on those thoughts right now would do her no good. Her hand grasped the handle and she slowly twisted it, pulling the door open and tiptoeing her way out of the room.

Nami gently shut the door to Kaya's room and made her way to where she'd taken a shower hours before. The orange-haired girl's footsteps were light as a feather. She had a lot of practice sneaking around and stealing from pirates so she liked to think she could be pretty quiet when she wanted to. She made her way down the hall and glanced at the door to the boy's room, smiling. Luffy really hadn't wanted to go to bed.

Pulling her eyes away from the door, the orangette continued on her way. No need to disturb the sleeping boys.

"Just a little longer…".

The voice quietly echoed through a bedroom on the other side of the bathroom. She barely heard it, but her hearing was good. It had to be, thievery required it.

Her curiosity getting the better of her, Nami approached as quietly as she could, quickly arriving at her destination. The orangette examined the door and realized the lock would give her a view into the room, bending down to peer through the tiny keyhole. Through her limited vision, she thought she saw Kaya's butler… sharpening something? She adjusted her head to get a better look.

They looked like claws. Kaya's butler, Khlahadore she thought it was, was sharpening a pair of long claws. They looked like brass knuckles but instead of knuckles, each had three long blades the size of small swords.

Nami paled. That definitely wasn't something a lot of butlers had. The orange-haired girl brought her face away from the keyhole with an unsteady breath. She just needed to go to her original destination. The bathroom. Snooping around wasn't going to do anyone any good. Shaken by the scene of Kaya's butler sharpening what looked to be weapons, the orangette wasn't focused on keeping herself quiet, and a creak spread through the hallway.

"Make a sound and you die.", a voice whispered into her ear.

The girl's heart stopped. Was that Khlahadore? When had he moved? Why hadn't she heard him? How had he known she was watching him? The questions all flashed through her mind in an instant. Her eyes glanced down and she saw one of the sets of claws she'd seen being sharpened moments earlier.

"Down the stairs and outside.", the voice ordered from over her shoulder.

Nami complied, her heart practically beating out of her chest.

The two soundlessly walked their way down the stairs and to the front door, Khlahadore's claws never leaving Nami's throat. The only sound made was the pouring rain as the door opened, and as quickly as it had come, it was gone, leaving the rest of the house oblivious to the peril their friend was in.

Nami stepped out into the rain in full panic, her clothes, as well as Khlahadore's, being quickly soaked through with water. What the hell was going on?!

"Out, around to the back.", the man said and began to lead her, his voice louder now that it was masked by the rain.

The orange-haired girl continued to follow the tall man's orders. If she didn't… She gulped. She didn't want to think about it. The two began to walk around the edge of the house to where the man had directed.

"If you hadn't been snooping around, you might have lived through the night.", said Khlahadore, his footsteps squishing into the wet grass below him.

Nami was too scared to answer. She was going to die? Luffy wasn't there to save her like last time either. Why did he even want to kill her? She'd barely seen anything! Her steps became wobbly at the thought of dying. She couldn't die yet! She still had to buy Cocoyashi and free her people! The thoughts of home spurred the orangette into action and she did the only thing she could think of in the moment. Hit 'em where it hurts.

The girl waited for the right moment and just when she was positioned correctly, Nami kicked back instead of taking a step forward, her foot slamming into the taller man's crotch. Khlahadore groaned as her foot made mashed potatoes of his family jewels and she immediately leaned back, away from the man's claws, curling into a ball. She dropped all of her weight to the ground and rolled out of the butler's reach, immediately standing and running forward without looking back.

She had to find a way to get to Luffy or Zoro. The orangette looked around wildly at the passing area but could barely see anything through the pouring rain. Nami slid to a stop, making it to the back of the house, desperately searching for ways of escape to no avail. She didn't like her chances of climbing the wall with the amount of rain coming down.

"Yes, yes, very clever.", Khlahadore said through the rain. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed, illuminating his figure as he prowled into the clearing like a predator stalking its cornered prey.

"Why are you doing this?!", yelled Nami, her back against the slick wall.

The man smiled maliciously, "You've seen too much. Simple as that.".

"What exactly have I seen?! I saw you sharpening some claws!", Nami screamed at the man. She was going to die because she'd been a little too nosy?

"And yet it was enough to warrant your death.", stated the tall man, stopping a short ways away from the orange-haired girl. "This can be easy.", he said, lightning flashing and illuminating his glasses, "Or it can be hard.". He slashed his claws out to the side, rain dripping from the slick blades.

"The people I came here with will definitely know it was you! If you kill me they'll come after you!", Nami yelled through the rain.

The man pondered on her words, "I think simply telling them you left early will suffice. None of them looked very bright. It shouldn't be too hard to kill them after they've left to go find you.".

The orangette couldn't argue. She wasn't confident that the three boys wouldn't believe it. But Kaya… "What about Kaya?! She'll know something's up!", the girl yelled. They'd talked all night! Surely the blonde-haired girl would think it was weird that she didn't say goodbye!

"I have been taking care of her for two years. I don't think there will be any trouble in convincing her.", the butler replied, smugly.

She hated to admit it, but he was right again. "At least tell me why!", shouted Nami. Maybe if she could just keep him talking she could figure something out. She desperately glanced around the area, hoping to find something that would increase the chances of her living.

The man seemed to pause in thought before answering, "Since you are but a child, I suppose you deserve to know why you are going to die.".

The girl cheered internally at the success of her plan, she really wasn't sure it would work. The feeling was quickly washed away by the fear of her situation as she listened to Khlahadore speak.

"My name is Kuro, not Khlahadore.", the man said through the pouring rain. "I'll spare you the details but I used to be a pirate, until around two years ago when I faked my own death and created the personality you see before you.", he finished, taking a bow, like an actor would after a show.

As soon as she heard the word, pirate, Nami froze, "Why?".

"As I said, I'll spare you the details, but I'm going to kill little Kaya and steal her inheritance.", the man's grin widened at the vitriol on Nami's face. Maybe he would make her submit before he killed her. He hadn't let Kuro play in far too long.

The orangette's heart pounded in her chest as her face flashed with anger. In her mind, another face had taken over Kuro's. A blue face, with a long, jagged, and sharp nose. Her heart rate was beginning to rise, her face flushing with heat. Kaya was being subjected to a pirate the same as she was, even if the other girl didn't know it. Nami clenched her teeth, she wanted nothing more than to hurt the man in front of her. However, she was too scared to move.

Kuro looked up to the sky. "The rain will do nicely to wash away the blood that will soon cover these grounds.", he said more to himself than the girl standing opposite of him. He shook his head and grinned maliciously, time to let Kuro play. "Enough chit-chat.", the ex-pirate stated, slashing his claws through the rain, "Time for you to die.".

He burst forward and the orange-haired girl screamed, ducking and rolling to the side.

Nami felt a blade slice the skin on her arm and cried out as she splashed onto the ground, rolling away. Blood flowed freely from the wound and turned the white of her shirt a muted red. The orangette scrambled to her feet only to dive back to the soaked grass again as a pair of claws came swiping over her head. He was fast... Way faster than her. She sprinted to the edge of the wall and threw her back against it, her eyes wide.

Kuro jumped toward her, slashing at her head, and Nami ducked just in time, the ex-pirate's claws digging gouges into the stone now above her. She crouched and ran toward the opposite side of the clearing, to a grouping of small trees. Her breathing was already heavy and the rain was making it harder to run. She turned only to throw her back to the ground, just in time to dodge a claw coming straight for her face. The girl groaned, gasping for breath, but rolled to her front and stood up as fast as her legs would let her.

Kuro appeared in front of her as she got fully to her feet. "Persistent.", he growled to himself. The tall man rushed forward, swiping horizontally inward in an attempt to decapitate the orangette.

Nami ducked and, as soon as the claws passed over her head, she saw a chance. From her crouched position, the orange-haired girl brought her foot up into the man's crotch for the second time. Kuro groaned in pain again and she didn't waste the opportunity. She desperately ran back toward the trail to the front of the house but was stopped by Kuro's form sliding into her path.

Her heartbeat was getting faster and fear was beginning to weed its way deeper into the girl's psyche. Death scared Nami. Dodge right. She wasn't ready for it yet. Dodge left. She still had to buy her village from Arlong. Roll right. She couldn't leave them. Dive forward. She was scared for her people. Backstep. For her sister. Fall to the ground. And most of all, selfishly, for herself. Roll. Scared that she would be enslaved for the rest of her life, forced into hating the thing she loved the most. Stand up.

Nami got to her feet, leaning left slightly too late, and her right shoulder was ripped open by one of Kuro's claws. She screamed into the pouring rain and fell to the ground, clutching her bleeding appendage.

"Sleep, little kitten. It's time for bed.", taunted Kuro, raising his claws above his head to end the girl he now stood over, the wide frightening smile on his face made even more so by the darkness and rain.

The orangette stared up at the claws coming to claim her life and was consumed with one thought.

Survive.

The fear of things unfinished and leaving people behind had amalgamated into a blinding need for survival. She rolled out of the way of the claws just in time for them to send watery slashes into the ground instead of her skin. Nami cradled her sliced shoulder as she scrambled to her feet once again. She couldn't die. She still had to draw a map of the world. Her mind blanked and all thoughts of anything but survival were thrust from it as she dodged yet another of the ex-pirate's slashes.

Kuro was growing irritated. The girl was insulting him by still being alive! How was she continuing to dodge? He was faster than her! He slashed at the girl's throat with both of his claws, she bent backward and fell to the ground. He stabbed them into what should have been her stomach, she rolled away. He dove at her rolling form claws barred, preparing to skewer her, and yet again, he was thwarted when she stood and jumped out of the way. The man stood from his position on the wet ground, face consumed with an ugly frown, "You're bothering me, girl."

Said girl didn't reply, totally focused on living as long as she possibly could. Her eyes tunnel-visioned on Kuro's form, watching his every movement.

"Playtime is over.", the tall man said, looking toward the ground and beginning to sway side to side, "You've insulted me enough.". Rain splashed off of his body as he whispered, "Stealth Foot.", and disappeared before Nami's very eyes.

The orangette wildly searched around the clearing for her enemy. Where had he gone? Claw marks suddenly began appearing around the area, one creating a shallow cut on her stomach and making her gasp in pain. Somehow he was cutting her even though she couldn't see him. The fear was getting strong and thus, the need for survival was as well. Her brain went into a hazy fog as her survival instinct took over and her eyes closed. Why keep them open if she couldn't see her opponent?

She danced around the clearing, receiving cuts all along the way, however, they were all shallow. Some of the other gashes in the area would have cut her in half had she been hit by them. Trees as thick as she was already had been. The orangette continued moving through the clearing, new cuts appearing all over her body, but still managing to keep her mind focused on living.

Nami began to unknowingly use her connection with the weather as a means of survival. She felt the wind, the rain, all of it. Unconsciously using those feelings to read the movement of the air around her, her own movements became as smooth as a flowing river as she danced her way through a maze of a thousand cuts.

However, wounds were beginning to layer themselves on top of one another, making some of them deeper, and they were very apparently having an effect on her. The girl was beginning to tire and her body was starting to give up on her, it could be seen in her movements. In the middle of a 'dodge', Nami tripped over her own feet and fell, sliding on the ground. She stopped just before a spot where three deep claw marks soon appeared and turned to her back, laying there and looking to the sky.

The orangette could barely breathe and her vision was starting to get hazier. The cuts on the ground were beginning to come closer and her fear was turning into acceptance. She wasn't going to last much longer, running away for so long had used up most of her energy and, honestly, didn't even know if she could stand up again.

Water, not from the rain, began to gather in the corners of Nami's eyes as blood from the numerous cuts on her body soaked into the grass below. The rain continued to pour down from the heavens above as if crying for the girl who lie there dying. It was all becoming too much. With her energy gone, the fire igniting her survival instinct had been all but snuffed out. Everything thing was becoming too heavy for her psyche to bear. She was tired. Tired of trying to survive. Tired of being a slave. Tired of being alone... She was seventeen years old and hadn't made a single real friend in all of her life.

The orange-haired girl smiled ruefully to herself... Maybe dying wouldn't be so bad... A straw hat and a head of green hair flashed in her mind's eye and she rolled her body to the right, her heart still not quite ready to give up. Three gashes appeared in the ground to her left and she stopped and paused in place as three more appeared to her right. Why the hell had she thought of those two?

The boys were suddenly erased from Nami's head when she felt something in the air, her eyes widening. Nami brought her battered, liquid-soaked form up, with the last vestiges of her strength, and stood, the pain but a distant memory in the face of all the blood she'd lost. New cuts still appeared as she walked through the clearing with no regard for her own body, the rain washing away the crimson liquid of life seeping from her multitude of wounds. She was losing blood and fast. If she really was going to die, the least she could do was take the bastard with her.

It was odd, she'd smiled the most she had in a long time just hours earlier and now, she was about to die. Funny how the world worked like that. The girl's heart still dropped at the thought. She wasn't ready. But it didn't look like she had much choice. At least she could protect Kaya from the pirate masquerading around as her butler. A very small part of her was happy she would be the one to kill him, he reminded Nami too much of Arlong. She pointed her face to the sky, rain pouring down in waves. She'd always had a thing with the weather... Always felt a connection with it...

The orange-haired girl smiled to herself. She couldn't think of a better way to go out.

'Sorry, Nojiko. Didn't mean to leave you all on your own.', she thought to the heavens above, 'And I'm sorry to you too, Mom… Looks like I'm coming to see you a little early. Sorry I couldn't draw my map of the world.'. Her feet found the spot she was looking for. 'And to Cocoyashi... I wish... I wish I could have been stronger for you... I'm sorry.', the orange-haired girl finished the thought, staring through the rain and darkness to the black clouds covering the sky.

The blood loss was beginning to affect Nami's mind. Everything swirled around her as she let the elements pound against her skin, standing there and accepting all of it. In her deliriousness, the orangette didn't have the mental capacity to understand why, but she felt so close to the rain. Like she could feel every droplet. And not just the ones touching her body... But all of them. Every single one in the sky. Somehow, something about it just felt... Right.

'There.'.

Nami's hand snapped out to a seemingly random place in the air and she smiled what would be her last sad smile as lightning struck the clearing with a deafening clap of thunder and a blinding flash of light, her world consumed in white.

End Note:

Sorry about the cliffhanger, don't hate me too much! It wasn't originally a cliffhanger, but it just didn't flow how I wanted it to and so this is the result.

Also, all of the dialogue in the dream scene is taken directly from the OP dub so you can go check out that scene if you want to, it definitely helped me write this chapter.

Chapter 12 is being worked on currently so I don't know when it will be out, but you all will have to wait until then to see what happens to our lovely navigator:) Sorry;)