Chapter 10
The Stray Cats' Law
When they arrived at the treehouse, Nami could barely see through her swollen eyelids. Between her blurred vision and the ringing in her ears, she felt trapped within herself.
Instead of climbing the narrow ladder, Luffy guided her toward the large wooden gate, the same one that had echoed with music during the last day of the storm.
Lightning split the sky as the boy knocked on the door.
Luffy's hand, held firmly around her, tightened his grip as she was surprised by another sob.
The door opened as the first drops of rain hit the ground.
A massive woman with fiery orange hair, almost the same shade as Nami's, looked them up and down. Her towering frame filled the doorway, casting a long shadow.
"What's this mess? Who's the girl? And where's Ace?"
Luffy pulled Nami closer to his side. Despite the usual childish attitude, his face did not show even a hint of the sweet smile that usually appeared on the boy's face.
"Dadan, we need to call Grandpa. Ace has been arrested."
The color drained from the big woman's face.
"What? Arrested? Ace? Why?"
"I don't know. Something about a dead king." Luffy muttered, shaking his head. The sky thundered again, and he stepped forward, pulling Nami with him. "We need to come in, Dadan. Nami's tired, and I'm starving."
Without waiting for permission, Luffy moved past the stunned woman, leading Nami through a room filled with rough-looking men. He gently sat her in a chair on the quiet corner.
She shivered, unable to say a single word, but with fear like a blanket on her shoulders. The strangers gave her chills and the chair Luffy sat her in was so high her legs were dangling. Nami felt tiny and the thought made her nauseous.
"Don't worry, Nami." Luffy said with a childlike certainty. "They're mountain bandits, but they'd never hurt you. Dadan's rough, but she's good, just like you. And I'm here. I'm not leaving."
She nodded, tears cold on her cheeks and throat. She wanted to respond, to say something, but her tongue felt frozen, and no words came.
Something inside her was wrong—terribly wrong—but she couldn't even pinpoint where it hurt.
The large orange-haired woman approached them, her heavy steps rattling the floorboards. Her stern expression made Nami shrink further, her eyes fixed on the ground, hands shaking.
"Do you want something to eat, girl?"
Nami shook her head vigorously, gripping Luffy's hand like a lifeline.
Luffy was unable to understand much beyond the types of beetles, but he leaned closer to her. He pproached Nami with incomprehension marked in the steps. His eyes were full of indecision, but he was so close she didn't care that he didn't know what to do. The simple fact that he didn't let go of her hand warmed her heart. Stunned by feelings so intense and terrifying she couldn't name them, she wrapped her arms around the boy in a trembling embrace and hid the face and tears in her friend's neck.
Without hesitation, Luffy returned the hug. Though he was an emocional brick with words, he loved to talk through rubs and touches —an expert speaker in the language of the hands.
"What's the meaning of all this, Luffy?" Dadan demanded, her voice sharp.
Nami listened the conversation as if she were witnessing the scene through a fish tank.
"I don't know," Luffy admitted. "When the marines arrested Ace, they threw us to the ground, and Nami... she's been like this ever since. She doesn't answer me. It's like she's locked in a different room."
The sentence wasn't meant to cut, but Nami's mind was sharp and the word "locked" rattled in her head like the sound of the shackles.
The memory of a sawed-off nose and the escape plans she had made for that very night swayed behind the voices in the background and her heart raced. She needed to left. But the farewell already ached—deep in her bones, in her soul, in the frayed edges she called her heart.
The mere thought made her shiver.
"Poor girl's shaking like a newborn chick." One of the big men remarked.
"They beat the hell out of her, it's normal that she's shaking." said another.
"If she's like this, imagine Ace, he always barks louder than a dog"
"The marines will rough him up good."
"Sure."
"I bet a giant's boot that..."
The bandits' idle chatter, oddly casual in its tone, started pulling Nami out of her trance. As she relax she became aware of Luffy's hand rubbing slow, in rhythmic circles on her back, at the sweet speed of a lullaby.
"Nami," Luffy whispered in a low voice, searching for the secret of whispers.
She nodded, still hidden in the corner of the hug that offered her protection.
"Do you want to go home?" he asked. "Dadan can get you something to eat, and you can wait there while we call Grandpa. Then, if you want, I'll let you know when we head to the city to fight the guards. I bet you'd throw a strong punch. Or you can draw maps while we handle the hitting."
Her heart twisted. In the treehouse, alone, with Luffy busy with the idea of saving his brother, would be the perfect time to gather her things and run away—to flee with the storm at her back and the sea ahead.
The idea made her cartwheel between sawed off noses, handcuffs and rooms with bars on the windows. And the only coherent statement was born among the noise and lights was she couldn't go with the escape plan. No, she could never abandon Luffy and Ace like that, because if something went wrong Nami wouldn't be able to forgive herself. And her quota of guilt had reached the limit, she was unable to look her mother in the eyes when she appeared in her dreams. So she couldn't live with the rejection of the few people she had been able to consider friends.
The thought of leaving Luffy and Ace made her heart ache more than the fear of staying.
The image of the people of Cocoyashi was shouting in her ear and pulling on her neck, so she tried to silence it by clenching the hand on a fist on his friend's vest.
"No." she said, her voice firm despite her trembling body. "No, I'm not leaving. We'll get Ace out together. Okay?"
The sudden determination in her voice surprised the enormous woman watching them, who took a step back, with Nami's gaze fixed on her face.
Luffy's grin lit up the room and dazzled her
"You're the best of the best, Nami! I promise I'll leave the second-strongest guard so you could beat him up."
She started to laugh, although she recoiled when she saw the confidence in the boy's gaze. Nami wiped her tears and lightly smacked his shoulder with the usual disapproval finally settling in.
"We're not going to free him by punching, idiot. We're doing this my way."
Dadan interrupted Luffy's protest with a slap to the back of his head.
"Let the girl speak, you brute. She's got better ideas than you."
Nami, proudly, straightened her shoulders and smiled, even with her red nose and swollen eyes, still embrace the confidence that characterized her.
"We'll free him without them noticing. Like thieves."
The bandits exchanged uneasy looks, muttering among themselves under the weight of the idea.
"The old dog not gonna like this" one grumbled.
Luffy, who hadn't stopped watching Nami with confusion and an endless number of retorts about to explode, laughed, pleased. As if hearing those words were a challenge impossible to refuse.
"Then let's break into the jail!"
She lowered the brim of his hat to cover his dust-filled thoughts.
"No, first we need a map," Nami corrected. "And a plan."
Dadan chuckled, clutching her belly. "If we're relying on this idiot's brain, we'll need food. Lots of it. Cause it's going to be long."
Nami observed the bandit with joking comments and was excited to see the hint in her mother's eyes.
"Thank you, ma'am." She fanned her words with the hand.
"If you get the boy out before the dog shows up, I might even add some meat in your rice, skinny girl." Dadan replied.
The smell of cooking filled the room, and made the girl's mouth water, Luffy raised his hat and grumbled something about meat and injustices.
Sitting between ideas, chatter and rice with meat, with Luffy at her side covered in breadcrumbs up to his hat, Nami felt her toes getting warm, despite the anxiety of the last few days, despite the fear the simple memory of a flowery shirt and a town of upside-down houses gave her, despite everything.
After a life of refuge on the run, she was surprised by the warmth of those who chose to stay.
Well, don't kill me, but I was at my wit's end between work and my master's thesis and I went back and forth on the chapter because it didn't end up turning out the way I wanted.
But it's here! hehehe
What do you think about how the story is going?
see you!
Update and edited 18/12/2024