A/N

Hello to everyone still keen on reading this long story of mine. First of all I would like to start like this: I AM A TERRIBLE HUMAN BEING FOR GOING MIA FOR THIS LONG I KNOW! Some misfortunes came up with my account, my laptop and the next 3 chapters I wanted to post. Leaving that behind, I haven't forgotten about this story. I unfortunately lost my file for the story when my laptop decided to crush down on its own accord and since then I've been trying to structure the chapters in a similar manner to preserve their content. There is no excuse, but I hope to make it up to you asap.

I would also like to thank all of you for your support and love. I was so glad to see that most of the people that took the time to read my story actually invested in the plot and characters. You honestly brought multiple smiles on my face. So, please enjoy this chapter. I swear there are more to come up and with the situation know I am at home all day, so this should boost my update timeline.

Chapter 11: Speak of the Devil

After Zoro's revelations, Nami was more than ready to mix up with the rest of their gang, namely Vivi and Luffy. In all truth, she was on the verge of having a stroke when she had sensed Zoro's uneasiness and change of attitude when facing Robin. She wanted nothing more to forget the whole ordeal and enjoy her lunch break with her gang. She turned to her right and looked at Zoro again. She smiled at herself thinking about what he said earlier.

The only thing that is important to me right now, apart from finding out what I need to know about my mother, is you. Nothing else matters.

The line kept on repeating inside her head. She was aware that probably she took it the wrong way, but she didn't care that much. She was just glad to know that Zoro was here, body and mind, walking beside her. Well, she was still not sure about the mind part, considering how dense he could be at times. Before long, they had reached the school cafeteria. Both their pairs of eyes searched the area to spot Luffy and Vivi. It was relatively difficult, as to the number of students and the level of noise inside the hall. They made their way deeper into the large room to find their friends. At last, Zoro spotted Vivi's blue hair and what appeared to be a mountain of food next to her. There was no doubt that Luffy would be behind this tower of meat.

Vivi was sat with her back to them, but as soon as she turned around, she beamed at the pair.

"Nami-san, Zoro-san! Finally!" she smiled widely at them as they approached the table. They had already made plans to meet there the previous night, so the couple was awaiting for them to join. Luffy was too absorbed into the task of overfeeding himself at that moment, so Zoro and Nami took their seats next to their friends. They had already grabbed their lunch beforehand.

"Vivi-san! How has your day been so far?" Nami asked her friend curiously. She grabbed the apple she had on her tray and took a bit, ready to listen to her friend. As Vivi started telling Nami how Luffy ended up with detention because he bluntly refused to dissect a frog in Biology, Nami couldn't help but laugh at her story. Luffy was so kind-hearted, that he couldn't possibly hurt any living thing. It just made sense to Nami, also taking into consideration his cheerful and easy-going character.

Zoro sat beside Nami and looked at the two girls interacting. He was really glad that Nami had Vivi as her friend, too. He was here now, but he always thought Nami was too good of a person not to have any other friend, apart from himself. He was happy that she could let her guard down to someone besides him. As the meat mountain disappeared, only then Luffy realised Zoro and Nami were here.

"Zoro! I didn't see you there. Why were you hiding?" Luffy asked enthusiastically. "If you wanted to play hide and seek, you should have found a better place to hide. I can see you now! Tehehe!" Luffy laughed.

"I wasn't hiding, you moron. You were too invested in your pile of meat you didn't see me or Nami coming" Zoro answered frustrated. Sometimes, Luffy was too much for his impatience to deal with.

"Oh, right. Well, sorry!" Luffy beamed at him. That made Zoro grin as well. He could be a handful for sure, but Luffy had made his way into the green-haired man's heart long ago. "Anyways what are we up to for today?" Luffy inquired enthusiastically.

"Well, after school I'll probably go around town with Nami for a bit. There is some stuff I have to do" Zoro explained to the raven-haired boy sitting beside him. Luffy nodded understandingly. Zoro knew his friend wouldn't ask him for any more information on the matter. Luffy was very subtle as he knew Zoro was in a difficult position right now. He might not know the exact details of Zoro's plans, but he knew everything he did was for his mother's sake. He would stand by Zoro's decisions and help him when he asked for it. Luffy was sure he could handle himself and he trusted him no matter what. That's why they were friends.

"I'm gonna take Vivi to the arcade. They are supposed to have a firework festival tonight!" he exclaimed. "If you guys feel up for it, you can join us later! It will be amazing!" Luffy said happily. It was good to know Luffy was so happy. Zoro's heart warmed that his friend had found someone as loving as Vivi. Although he didn't know Vivi that well, her impact of Luffy was clear. He was always enthusiastic about life in general, but he seemed more at ease now.

Just as Luffy completed his sentence, the bell rang signalling the end of the lunch break.

"Already?" Nami whined. It's true, they weren't here for long, but the timing was about right. Nami guessed she had stayed at the history classroom longer than usually due to her talk with Zoro. She shrugged it off and the group started making their way to their next class. Nami had English now with Vivi and Zoro had gym with Luffy.

Nami turned to Zoro as soon as they exited the cafeteria hall. "Okay, so I will meet you at the entrance after class then?" she asked him.

"Sure, why not I guess." Zoro replied plainly.

"Just make sure not to get lost, baka" Nami said playfully.

Zoro fumed at that. She was always making fun of his navigation skills. Okay, he was bad, but there was no chance he could not find the entrance of the freaking school. That was non-sense. He glared at her, but she laughed and shrugged it off.

"Whatever, see you later, witch" he said.

"Luffy-san, I'll see you later" Vivi smiled at the boy and hugged him before they left for their class with Nami. The boy hugged her back and kissed her cheek lovingly. They really were cute together. After they pulled apart, Luffy grinned at her and followed Zoro to the gym classroom.

Nami and Vivi were making their way to their classroom then. The hall started getting more quiet as most of the people had already gone to attend class. Nami stopped abruptly and turned to Vivi.

"Vivi-san, you go ahead and make sure to save us a spot. I have to get my English book from my locker, I forgot it there yesterday" Nami said.

"No problem, Nami-san! See you in the classroom" Vivi answered happily and continued walking, following her friend's suggestion.

Nami made a turn and headed to the opposite direction to reach her locker. She opened it and searched around for what she was looking for. She mentally reminded herself that she had to sort it out at some point. She finally found it and closed the locker door. Before turning around to leave, someone grabbed her from behind and put their hand over her mouth.

Nami dropped her things and tried to fight this person off without seeing who it was. Despite her efforts, her attacker overpowered her at that moment. She tried to escape but to no avail. She felt herself lose consciousness.

Nami regained consciousness and opened her eyes. Upon doing so, she was faced with the one person she really didn't want to see. Arlong. She realised he had somehow dragged her outside the school building and she was not seated inside his car. She could still make out the school area a bit further away. She was terrified, but she realised this could have been way worse.

Arlong noticed that she was coming back to it and turned to face her. His creepy grin was plastered on his face and it sent chills down her spine.

"Well, I see you are awake, princess. Finally" he said in that disgusting voice of his.

"What the hell do you want?" Nami replied angrily. "And why the fuck did you attack me?" she yelled.

Arlong's demeanour changed. She turned to her and slapped it. "Shut it, will you?" he responded coldly. Nami touched her cheek. It hurt. "You are lucky you are here in the first place. If I wanted to, you would be in a lot more trouble than this" he said coldly. "Now, did you think you could knock me out and casually run away? That it would be fine?" he asked her.

Tears had already formed behind her eyes. The events of their last encounter came in mind now. She was shaking. She noticed the cars of the car were locked and she suddenly felt cold sweat forming on her brow. Her heart raced in fear. "Please, just tell me what you want and let me go".

Arlong fumed already. "Well, that behaviour of yours was completely unacceptable. And then you had the audacity to disappear for two days" he started explaining. "I couldn't give two rats' ass about you, you know. But I am your legal guardian, so I guess you have to suck it up" he spoke again.

Nami now had tears rolling down her eyes. "After what you tried to do, I could never live under the same roof as you. You are disgusting!" she was screaming at him at that point. "If you don't care what happens to me, I will gladly leave that fucking place to escape your insanity".

Arlong started laughing. Was this amusing to him? She was on the verge of a panic attack and he was laughing? "Oh, Nami dear. You cannot escape. Without me, you have no chance of surviving, because you are a spoiled brat" he smiled his toothy, repulsive grin.

"I don't care, I'll figure it out somehow. I am not coming with you!" she yelled at the top of her lungs' capacity.

"Shut up!" he slapped her again. "Don't fucking raise your voice to me. You are in no position to have demands. If I wanted, you would have ended up dead in some alley" he said plainly. "Make sure to be back home after school or you will wish you were never born. You got me?" he looked at her with deathly eyes.

He unlocked the doors of the car and Nami ran out as quickly as her trembling legs would allow her. She was sobbing fully now and she was trying to catch her breath in between tears. She was shook to her core and she couldn't get rid of the feeling of disgust. She hated Arlong so much for everything he has done to her and her family. But it was the first time she was so scared around him. His words were tainted with venom and his aura felt demonic. She was scared that he was going to get her in the end and keep his promise. But she could not go back there either. In both scenarios, she wasn't safe.

She reached the entrance of the school already. She stopped to catch her breathe and calm down. Her tears hadn't stopped one bit and she was sobbing harder now. No, no, no. No way in hell she was going to her house after here. And what about Zoro? What if Arlong hurt him too? She wanted to scream of her frustration.

Sure, he was the only reliable person she had in her life right now. Her everything. But she couldn't impose herself on him like that. She had no money and resources to make it through on herself. She could find a job maybe and try to make it work. But Arlong would find her. If she found Zoro with her, he wouldn't walk away unharmed either.

Nami moved inside the building and went for the ladies' room. Her crying hadn't seized now either, but she washed her face to calm down. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. What she saw was the pathetic image of a girl with blood-shot eyes and tear stains all over her face. She had to figure out what to do.

"Nami? What are you doing in the boys' toilet?" Zoro asked from behind her. He was still at the door, so he hadn't yet noticed her appearance. As soon as he heard her gasping for air through her sobs, he burst inside. He went over to her and grabbed her shoulders. He turned her to him and took in the sight in front of him. He felt his stomach drop at the image. "What happened?" he screamed at her, worry and anger written all over his face. He promised to keep her smile intact and not let anything make her cry again. And here she was.

Nami immediately rushed inside his arms and sobbed more. He felt her whole body shake. "Nami, what happened? Who did this to you?" he asked more softly this time, hugging her tightly. His shirt was getting wet from her tears, much like that damned day her stepfather almost raped her. He was trying to soothe her by drawing small circles at her lower back.

After some more moments of silence, with her sobs being the only noise in the room, she started to whisper "I-I..Arlong".

Zoro saw red in front of him at that moment. He didn't leave her, but instead hugged her even more tightly on him. He was trying to maintain his composure for her. "What did he do Nami?" he asked as calmly as he could as to not startle her any more than he should.

Nami found the strength to speak despite her sobs. Her head was still buried in his chest, but she moved it slightly so he could hear her more clearly. "He said that if I didn't go back today, he would see that I wish I were never born" she said scared.

"When did you see him?" he could feel her shaking increase as she was trying to explain, so he did his best to get the whole story from her while she was in condition to tell him. Not that this condition was any better, but he figured it was wiser for her to tell him everything now and he would then take care of everything.

"He attacked me and I fainted. I woke up inside his car, just a block from here" she explained again. She raised her head to meet his eyes. "Zoro, I really am scared" she let the sentence out and broke into louder sobs. They were so intense Zoro wasn't sure how her body could handle them.

"Nami, I'm going to kill this sick bastard, I promise you" he said in a growl. He kept her gaze and touched her face with both his hands. "He is going to pay for everything he's done to you and your family". Nami noticed how his eyes were dead serious.

"Zoro..I-I don't want to drag you into this, please. I'll just go back and-"

"NO. You are not going back to him. Not after what he did to you. He is a despicable man" Zoro yelled.

"I know, but if I leave he may hurt you as well. This is the last thing I want. I want to keep you safe" Nami cried out.

"I can take care of myself. And I will take care of you, too. You are coming with me. I told you, you are the most important thing for me. And nobody messes with my witch, if he wants to remain alive".

Zoro hugged her to him once again and kissed the top of her head. She returned the hug like her life depended on it. "But Zoro, if you get hurt because of me, I could never forgive myself. You have a mission you have to complete. I will only make it harder to you" she whispered.

"I can handle anything as long as I have you" he whispered in her ear. Nami felt a new wave of tears leaving her eyes, but these were out of relief. No matter what happened, he would be here as he promised. He was willing to protect her. Her heart dropped at the thought something might happen to him, but his words were so reassuring and determined that she couldn't disregard them.

"Come on, I'm taking you out of here" he said and hugged her to his side. They made their way outside from the back of the school, to the opposite direction of where Arlong had confronted her. She was relived to see that the parking lot was empty of everyone and they got into Zoro's car. He drived away immediately. On their way back to his apartment, Zoro grabbed Nami's hand and turned slightly to glance at her, his eyes shifting between Nami and the road ahead of him. "You have me, don't worry about anything" he said and her eyes sparkled from the tears and her love for Zoro.

Soooo, that's it. I hope you guys like it. I know I've gotten a bit rusty with the writing, but I hope it's something. Next chapters will be up soon. By the way, all reviews and suggestions are appreciated and welcom. Wouldn't be here without you guys. Love you all

-xx