Chapter 21
Flavor of chocolate and despair
Nojiko fell hopelessly in love with the son of one of the fishermen when she turned eleven.
The boy didn't pay her any attention, but if he glanced her way, it was because he secretly liked her. If they crossed paths, it was only because he wanted to see her. And if he sneezed, it was because he was slowly dying of love for Nojiko.
The teenager spent her days sighing, her gaze fixed on the window, and Nami, who just wanted to play, found her insufferable. She didn't understand what was so wonderful about love. Nojiko had become whiny, boring, and overly emotional. It was as if her sister had been replaced overnight with a fool. She made sure to tell Genzo and Bell-mère as much one day while the three of them ate mandarins in the grove.
Why couldn't her sister see that love was nonsense?
The two adults exchanged a glance over the child's head, and Genzo cleared his throat, taking the pinwheel off his hat and holding it in front of him.
"Listen, Nami, we all have a little pinwheel inside…"
She huffed. "I don't have a pinwheel!"
The man stumbled over his words, trying to explain, and Bell-mère chuckled, placing a hand over his. She took over the conversation with ease.
"Love is a beautiful feeling, but it's also scary, Nami. You take your heart in your hand and give it to someone else. It's a risk because you're afraid they won't want it or that they'll take advantage of it. That's why people change so much when they fall in love."
Nami wrinkled her nose. "Is that why Nojiko cries all the time? What a stupid reason! Why would anyone want to love someone if it makes them that dumb and might hurt them too?"
"Ah, but love is wonderful—if the person you love is good and takes care of your heart. It's a risk worth taking."
Nami tossed a piece of mandarin peel onto her knees and shook her head. "Yeah, right…"
This time, Genzo laughed, taking over with more confidence.
"Do you remember the day a sailor brought chocolate to the village? And when you tasted it, you didn't want to eat anything else?"
The girl nodded.
"When you ate it, you said your tummy felt warm, and your heart was pounding so hard you couldn't stop rolling on the floor. I remember you even cried to your mom for just one more piece of chocolate."
She grumbled an affirmation, the ghost of that sweetness lingering on her tongue.
"Well, love is ten times better than chocolate. No, a hundred, two hundred… a thousand times better!"
Nami flopped onto the ground, letting out an even bigger huff, outraged. "Yeah, right! That boy is nothing like chocolate. He picks his nose, and I'm sure he likes his friend, not Nojiko. And now she's turned dumb over him. Love is stupid!"
"Love is blind, Nami. You don't get to choose who you fall for. One day, your heart starts racing, and you're lost. You can't help but fall."
Nami witnessed the look her mother gave Genzo. He blushed to his ears, and after that strange moment, Bell-mère turned back to Nami, leaning in to plant a soft kiss on her nose, as light as a butterfly's touch.
"That's how I fell for you two. I saw a little sweet baby in a beautiful girl's arms, both of them with those gorgeous smiles, staring at me with four chocolate-brown eyes, and I knew I couldn't live without you. My two little chocolate chips."
"Mom, that's not love!"
Bell-mère pursed her lips and launched a surprise attack, tickling her mercilessly.
"How dare you, you little rascal? I went blind because of you two!"
Between laughter and playful wrestling, Nami twisted under her mother's fingers, and the conversation faded among the mandarin trees.
Two months later, Nojiko's great love got a boyfriend, breaking her sister's heart. She must have been blind not to see it coming. From that moment, Nami decided it would never happen to her. She might be deaf, but she would never be blind, especially over something as silly as love.
Years later, older and more sorrowful, she met Carina and lost her sight completely. Desperate for a slice of peace and color, she fell for the first person she met far from Arlong Park.
It was as wonderful as chocolate and as tragic as a drama. When Carina abandoned her on an island with no money and left her at the mercy of violence, Nami finally understood what it meant to have a broken heart. The pain in her chest hurt more than the beating she took from the pirates she couldn't steal from. The day a purple-haired thief stole her first love was the day she swore she'd never taste that chocolate again.
Though the conversation under the mandarins had long been forgotten, her mind conjured it again as she licked her wounds on a distant beach, surrounded by ancusa flowers and a shattered heart.
Two years later, lying on the bathroom floor, drenched in her own blood and the pieces of her broken heart, Nami smelled mandarins again. Under Luffy's gaze, devoid of its usual smile, she tasted a bittersweet memory.
Unable to meet his eyes, she folded in half and begged. Arlong had taught her to beg and cry with her forehead pressed to the ground, and that's how she addressed the boy watching her.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry…"
Her hair dampened in the crimson puddle spreading on the floor. The position made her unsteady, and combined with the pain and blood loss, she leaned heavily on Luffy's grip on her wrist.
"Please… I had to. I'm sorry…"
The sound of Garp's footsteps approached, heavy and uneven, his massive shadow blocking the light spilling into the hallway. Around her, there was only silence, terror, and cold. Scales and scissors. Blood and desperation.
A storm broke above her, filled with shouts and movement.
"Nami?! What the hell is going…"
Before anyone could approach, Luffy stepped between her and the world, his small back expanding until it was an unyielding wall. His movement commanded silence. His expression was solemn as he knelt, still holding Nami's bloodied wrist. He looked her in the eye.
She lowered her gaze long before those bittersweet irises could stab her.
"Nami."
The teenager let the tears fall but refused to sob, her head bowed and her body trembling. The sun, long gone, teased its return between the clouds. The scales of the man in the bathroom doorway glinted in the blood pooling on the floor. Nami twisted her arm slightly to move away from the door, but Luffy's grip was firm. Despite everything, the strength in his hands didn't cut into her wrists like chains. His touch was warm.
"Nami," Luffy repeated.
Garp moved toward her, but his grandson stopped him.
Fueled by a rage more helpless than furious, she tightened her grip on the scissors. A guttural cry escaped her chest. The little blood she had left rushed to her ears and cheeks. The pain in her shoulder dissolved under the ringing in her head.
"Nami."
The third call finally made her lift her gaze from the scarlet puddle and meet Luffy's sharp, unyielding eyes.
"What?! What more do you want from me? Do you want money? Take it," she sobbed.
With difficulty, she raised her free arm, trembling and bloodied, to grab his shirt. Her hand left a red print on the white fabric.
"Do you want my soul? Take it."
Her sobs doubled her over again.
"Do you want? Food? Maps? Do you want to hit me? Then go ahead, hit me!"
Her voice turned into a shriek despite the tears streaming down her face. Ace, looming over her, took a step forward, a gesture difficult to interpret amidst all the desperation.
"If you want my life, take it! But don't sell me back to Arlong. Don't tell him, please." She sobbed. "My village doesn't deserve to die because of me."
The fishman swayed at the door, and a guttural growl escaped her, tangled with her sobs.
"Please… Please…"
Luffy tightened his grip on her wrist for a moment, his fiery black eyes dimming, turning into dull charcoal.
Garp and Ace stepped away from her, the horror implicit in their movements.
"Jinbe is a friend of Grandpa's, Nami. He's not here for you."
Something twisted inside her — hope, hunger, or fear. But she quickly shook her head, sobbing.
"No, that's a lie. He's already here. You called him. I shouldn't have told you anything… It's my fault… I'm so sorry." Dazed, wracked with pain, and still held by Luffy, she crawled toward the door, toward the fishman. "I won't do it again," she sobbed.
In an attempt to grab the fishman's kimono, she reached out with the hand that had clung to her friend, but between her dizziness and the blood loss, she stumbled and collapsed at his feet.
"Please, don't do it. Kill me, not them."
Luffy slammed his fist into the ground as he knelt beside her. The scissors fell from her hand when he let go of her wrist, and she buried her face in her hands. Luffy grabbed her by the forearms, trying to straighten her up, but she refused to move, unable to breathe, unable to live.
"Nami, listen."
She writhed under his grip, her gaze locked on the red tiles of the bathroom. She was going to drown in all that blood. She was going to—
Luffy's eyes appeared in front of her. His neck, stretched like a snake's, surrounded her to catch her attention. Despite the seriousness, the blood, and the fear, Luffy's eyes were once again dark, sweet pools.
"Did you know beetles smell with their antennas?"
She said nothing, but the sheer absurdity of that random fact managed to make her take a breath. Another sob escaped her, clinging to the beetles' antennas like a lifeline.
"And there are worms that glow like lightbulbs. Ace ate one last summer."
Above their heads, Ace let out a small sound that helped Nami catch her breath. Tears continued streaming down her cheeks, but the corners of her mouth trembled. Luffy smiled.
"We waited two weeks to see if the worm would make his poop glow, but it never did."
That time, Ace swore at his brother, and Nami laughed. The laugh burst out bubbling and shrill, but it was enough to lighten the crushing weight pressing her into the floor.
As the fight for survival eased its grip, pain quickly replaced it, and a groan escaped through her teeth. Luffy's smile faltered, and this time, Nami sought his hands.
"Why?" The question slipped from her lips without warning, hollow.
The coldness in her voice settled deep in her bones as Luffy's expression turned to one of doubt, the fishman's piercing gaze heavy on the back of her neck.
Above her, Garp's deep, gravelly voice cut through the tension like a knife.
"'Why' what?"
Her teeth chattered, and she knew she couldn't voice the question gnawing at her soul. She couldn't ask why she would never be worth saving. It wasn't worth giving form to that doubt. Instead, she breathed, closed her eyes, and forced herself to organize the swirling thoughts around her.
It was clear Arlong had come for her, but he had spoken of betrayal and ordered her to steal from Garp. Garp, who now stood there with Arlong's fishman, seemingly trying to kill her. But Arlong had ordered her to steal from him. Why would he have given that order if they were working together?
Unless... What were his exact words back in the parlor?
The memory made her dizzy, and she opened her eyes to avoid losing consciousness.
Luffy squeezed her arms. The pool of blood rippled as Nami exhaled and sought reassurance in the dark eyes staring back at her.
"Are you going to help me?"
The boy waited in silence, and she knew without a doubt what he was asking for with his gaze.
"Luffy, help me."
It was a short phrase, barely two words spoken poorly. But after a lifetime of jealously guarding her problems as her own, it cost her an entire world to say those sweet syllables.
The boy released the tension in his body like a coiled spring and pulled her into a hug. Tightly wrapped in his arms, she once again tasted that dark, delicious sweetness.
The memory of chocolate, the one she had vowed years ago to forget beneath the shadow of the tangerine trees, made her sigh as she buried her nose in Luffy's shoulder.
"Of course I'll help you, Nami."
Well
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I didn't see that coming either. Just so you know, I started the fic with the intention of making it 3 chapters exploring the idea of: what would have happened if Nami had managed to map Luffy's island?
I wanted to explore friendship and I stumbled upon love.
I didn't even know when I started writing the chapter that this was going to happen...
Anyway, I love the outcome of the chapter, I don't know about you, but the chocolate comparison sweetened my lips 3
See you in the next chapter!
(I'll correct it later, I'm out of time. My boss asked me to do something. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.)