Chapter 19
The Voice of Nightmares
Since Bell-mère's death, Nami hadn't gone to the doctor. She didn't have the money or the desire to explain herself, and Arlong didn't like strangers touching his property. Nami usually spent her days feverish, locked up drawing maps. She didn't get much work done, but at least she was under a roof, and Nojiko couldn't say anything to her.
She liked the solitude. No one worried about what they couldn't see. Besides, if anyone did worry about her, it would just show weakness, and weakness was an emotion she couldn't allow herself.
When she got up around noon, disoriented and with the cold, hard metal pressed against her chest in search of her heartbeat, she knew she'd messed up. Nami squirmed, groaning, to shake off the doctor's cold fingers and whimpered as she turned her head, feeling the terrible pain in her ears.
The world blurred as she agonized, distorted by her torment. She whined, clutching her ears, trying to tear them off and end the torture. The doctor's cold hands were replaced by larger, warm, strong ones that held her small hands while gently rubbing her bare shoulder to calm her.
Tears left icy tracks down her fever-flushed cheeks. Someone pressed a hard, freezing object into her right ear, and Nami screamed in pain.
Why did life hate her so much?
Nami wished she didn't have any obligations and could just stop existing without regrets.
"Is there anything we can give her to…?"
The man's voice turned surreal through the sweats and haze, and luckily, Nami fell back into darkness.
The strong, sweet smell of camphor, fennel, and peppermint brought her back to consciousness. Her mother brushed the bangs from her forehead as she felt her stir, and a smile escaped her.
"Mom, your hands are so cool."
A high-pitched laugh seeped through the thick wall separating her from the world.
"I told you, you've got girly hands, Ace."
"Shut up, idiot, can't you see she doesn't know what she's saying?"
The bickering softened until the fog overtook her again, with a smile still lingering on her lips.
When she woke up again, pain was stabbing her eardrums.
"Please…"
Her voice scratched her throat more than it vibrated. Her plea scratched at her insides. Life itself scratched at her.
"Come on, Nami, you've got to chew for the pain to go away."
She groaned, spurred on by that shrill voice sweetening her sick ears.
"Please, it hurts," she begged again.
Someone gripped her jaw and forced her mouth shut. The girl cried.
"Chew, Nami. You have to chew."
She sobbed, her cheeks puffed out, hot and sour.
"You're hurting her. She's not listening. She's going to choke," said a third person.
The hand withdrew from her throat, and Nami gasped for air, gulping it down.
"Crush the herbs in a glass and make her drink them."
"But…"
"Please, enough already… It hurts," she cried, increasingly desperate.
The room around her vibrated in a frenzied commotion as the air threatened to kill her, and her heartbeat pounded in her ears.
Someone pressed a cold glass to her lips and forced her to drink a bitter liquid.
When she was done, all she could do was cry.
"Mom." Her sob made the bitter herbs churn in her stomach.
Someone wiped her mouth and dried the hot cheeks, trying weakly to console her.
"I'm not your mom, Nami, it's Luffy."
She sobbed harder. Surrounded by fog, pain, and a heaviness that sank into her muscles, pinning her to that sweat-soaked, illness-ridden bed.
"Mom, please, take me with you."
The heartbeat in her ears became louder, wrapped in silence.
"No, you're not going anywhere. You're staying here, Nami. Do you hear me? You're staying…!"
The shouting turned into arguing, and she, pulled back into that intermittent sleep that wrapped around her, let herself be taken by unconsciousness again.
"Mom…"
The fog had eased a bit when reality started to pull her back. Despite everything, her body felt heavy, and even thinking about lifting her eyelids was a chore.
She felt pain, but compared to before, it was just an echo of what it had been. A slamming door forced Nami to open her eyes, still heavy with sleep, and for a moment, the sound felt made-up, distant, impossible. The last time she'd woken up, she could barely hear the shouting.
"Nami, Nami! Are you awake?"
The words seemed closer to her, and while there was still a faint barrier muting the world, it was more like the one she was used to than the wall which had trapped her in bed.
"I'm…" The teenager cleared her throat to smooth her vocal cords a bit. "Yes, Luffy, I'm awake."
"Leave her alone, can't you see you're smothering her, idiot?"
Ace's voice was harder to hear, but at least she understood him, and that brought her great relief.
Nami felt light and feverish, but in a bubble of happiness that lifted her inches above the bedspread. She started laughing, and her laughter floated, colorful, around her. Her ears buzzed, tingling.
"I've got ants in my ears," she laughed.
She brought her hands to her face without any caution, trying to scratch the inner part that wouldn't stop tickling. She wore an oversized shirt, and the sleeve tangled in the sheets as she rubbed her cheek.
"It's the medicine, Nami. I haven't seen an ant in this room in two days. They don't like the smell of the herbs. But if I see one, I'll kick it out, don't worry," her friend promised solemnly.
She shook her head, getting sleepier, but with the sharp, nagging feeling that Luffy had lied.
"Ants are bad; they crawl into the bed and bite your toes. They eat the mandarins."
Luffy helped untangle her sleeve from the sheets, and for a moment, she felt his cold fingers on the bare skin of her shoulder. Nami glanced at her arm with curiosity, narrowing her eyes at the dark, jagged lines of Arlong's tattoo.
"I don't like it when the brand shows. It's nasty."
Silence filled the room until Ace moved closer, pulling the fabric down to cover the black lines again. She sighed with relief.
"It's late; I have to go work on my maps." she said as she lay back on the sheets.
Her ears throbbed, and she whimpered a little as she settled into a better position.
"That poppy medicine's made her fool, Ace, but she'll get sharp again, right?"
From somewhere distant, Ace's voice replied, so far that it almost faded beyond the wall.
"Don't worry, Luffy; even if she doesn't recover, you'll still be the dumbest one."
The storm burst over her, but by the time the first bolt cracked, Nami had already fallen back into sleep, smiling.
Nami found her way back to the real world once more, amidst fever, gasps, and pain. And though the pain was strong, hot, and heavy, it allowed her to think. A heavy hand tapped her stomach with a steady rhythm, and the weight of that hand gave her the strength to open her eyes.
Garp's gaze met hers as soon as he noticed her movement, and she felt as if she were staring into the eyes of a lizard.
"I thought you were going to die."
She blinked a couple of times at such a blunt statement while he patted her stomach in the middle of the night.
"I'm still here."
They both stayed silent for a while, at the foot of her bed. Like cats, Ace and Luffy's figures purred in the middle of their sleep.
She sat up slightly to watch them better, wincing at the pain in her ears. Garp held her shoulder, making her lie back down.
"If you ever scare me like that again without telling me something's wrong, I'll ground you until you're eighty, and these two monkeys have to come visit you with canes."
Nami nodded.
"Okay."
Silence returned, and she watched the ceiling with caution, waiting for the adult to leave and let her endure the fever alone.
"You had ruptured eardrums. The infection nearly killed you."
She glanced at him briefly before speaking again.
"I was already deaf, Grandpa. My mother found me in the middle of a battle. The war left me deaf."
Garp kept tapping on the blanket. A warm, restless heat settled at her feet, beside Ace and Luffy, and she realized that if she closed her eyes, she could blank her mind and enjoy the gentle warmth.
"Who did this to you, Nami?"
She looked down at her feet, searching for the source of warmth as the sensation crept up her legs. Garp's gaze was cold and harsh, but he didn't stop tapping. There, immersed in that strange warmth, she dared to believe she might be happy.
"No one," she muttered. "I fell. I docked my ship near a cliff, and since I was planning to leave soon, I forgot my telescope and compass." The lie flowed so easily from her lips, she'd think it had always been there. "There was a hell of a swell. I wish I hadn't left the house."
The old man paused, his hand still against her side, the warmth stopping there. He watched her with an owl's stare, and Nami held back the urge to swallow nervously, looking back at him with a perfectly innocent smile. She'd watched Luffy closely, studying his expressions until she could perform a perfect imitation.
"You must have left those pirate tricks behind a long time ago, old man. Anyone can see you live like a prince at sea," she smirked.
Garp let out a hearty laugh that made his grandsons stir, as though they were boiling in their sleep.
"You're clever as a cat, girl," he conceded, and there was a note of something else in his eyes that Nami struggled to identify. "But if I find out you lied to me, even if it's the smallest lie in all four seas, I'll make you count bricks before I let you out of this house."
She raised her gaze to the old man, looking at him with the sharpened perception she'd developed over years of silence and thievery. Catching small details had always been her advantage in avoiding abandonment at the bottom of the sea.
"You can hit me, like you hit Luffy. I'm not afraid of getting hurt."
He shifted uncomfortably but continued tapping out a soft, rhythmic pattern on the blanket, and Nami felt a satisfied smile escape her.
"Every child's different. Luffy's got a head like stone. You're more like paper. I always feel like you're a breath away from flying off or being torn in two. I don't think anyone should ever lay a hand on you again."
She tried to ignore the suggestion buried in his words. Soothed and with the warmth now reaching the back of her neck, the young girl sighed, adjusting to lie on her side. Her ears pulsed with pain from the movement.
"Besides, I'm not lying, old man. You won't have to do a thing."
A soft laugh escaped her lips, and the shadows swayed like gentle waves over the high seas. Sleep reclaimed her, cradling her softly, far from nightmares and the open sea.
Author's note: I have a more written part, but I think that, with the idea I have for the fic, it is better to leave it for the next chapter, little by little we are getting closer to the end and everything has to be ready for the big outcome and the next scene is very important.
I also wanted to talk to you about something more important and that is that in my country there is a great catastrophe in Valencia, due to floods and very poor management by politicians many people have died, if you can help in any way all help is little, I leave you here the link to donate to the Red Cross.
.es/ayudaafectadosinundacionesdana
If you cannot donate, any kind of diffusion is good for us, really, everything that is happening is very sad and hopeless.
Thank you