.
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1.
Namika is warm and that is a relief. Though she knows that it is probably temporary, she relishes the warmth that is wrapped around her.
After a moment, she forces her body to stand up. She does not need the warmth anyway, she tells herself. Not if it is comes at the expense of her older brother.
His name isn't really Shanks, but she knows he hates it. It is a reminder of him, and no one wants to remember him. Her name isn't as damaging to their young memories, because Shanks was the one to name her.
True enough, he is shivering beside her, the thin blanket that is supposed to be his own wrapped around her.
"Nii-san," she whispers. "Nii-san."
He doesn't move. She gets up, removes the blankets that cover her and then move it over him. He exhales in sharp relief, the lines of his face relaxing.
Namika unwinds her tension, just a little. She wishes she had the powers that she sometimes dreamed about, that strange magic that is more powerful than any devil fruit.
In her dreams, she is called another name and is far more powerful. In her dreams, she is warm but unhappy. She would not want to be like the woman in her dreams who had everything but was alone.
Movement from beside her alert her that her brother is awake. Probably from the sudden warmth.
"Mika," he says, a reprimand in his tone. "Did you just wake up?"
She nods, just to reassure him that no, she did not wake in the middle of the night and give the blanket back to him.
"Let's get breakfast," he says instead but there's a promise of in his tone that the topic wasn't dropped.
2.
Breakfast, being an orphan and one of the many unwanted children in the small island, is difficult. Shanks, being older than her, managed it easier, stealing it from the stalls by chatting up the customers.
Namika had a more difficult time of it. She wove in and out of the crowds, small fingers patting pockets and trying to find her target. She lucks out in and gets 3 beri. A small amount, but it is a big one for orphans.
"You okay?" he asks.
She smiles. "Yes. I want something warm."
At the time of the morning, it is only bread and fried fish that is warm. Everything else is done for the tourists who stop by their island, be they pirate or noble.
It is a meager meal, but Namika is warm. She feels the warmth from her brother's hand and feels as warm as though she was from a tropical island.
Normal children would not be as content, but the sadness of her dreams, of the magical war that ravaged it, made her value the present. Especially her brother.
3.
Their sire, that man, was not kind, but her memories are merciful and she does not remember much. What she mostly remembers is the desperate escape they had, of the thirst as they slowly ran out of water in their little boat.
Vividly, she remembers asking Shanks for more water and the look of resigned defeat on his face when he told her they had no more.
4.
Her dreams grant her a strange sort of maturity, but she is still innocent. It is one thing to see something in your mind and another thing to see it happen in front of you.
She loses a bit of her innocence when her brother is strangled in front of her.
It is her mistake anyway, pickpocketing the wrong people. The woman in her dreams was wary and cautious but Namika isn't. It's more like watching a moving picture, you feel sympathy but it is a detached emotion.
The man is too surprised that the girl doesn't run screaming. She manages to plunge a knife in his ribs and Shanks finishes the job for her once his grip loosens.
"Good one," Shanks mutters to her as they run away, but his face is sad.
Namika snuggles to him that night and tries not to scream too loud when she gets a nightmare.
5.
Namika sometimes wonders why she was reincarnated.
She sometimes thinks that the reason was to preserve her brothers' intellect. He thinks that picking fights is the way to get stronger.
While adversary tested your strength, that meant nothing when you had no strength to begin with.
"No," she says firmly. "No."
He looks almost comically shocked. "Mika," he whines. "But – "
She almost stomps her foot. Honestly, her brother is the densest creature. "No," she reiterates.
After looking at her, he relents, but he somehow manages to acquire a baseball bat and a pipe.
6.
There is a strange boy by the dojo.
Namika catches glimpses of him as she runs around the town.
It is obvious that he is as poor as she is but there is a ferocious strength in him that shows by the way he stands proud.
'Bloody but unbowed' the phrase comes to mind.
How apt. He is holding a small, wooden shinai that he clenches with ferocity. And he is usually bruised and bleeding too.
7.
Namika and her brother do not have many friends, but they do have acquaintances. It is an inevitable thing when Shanks is one of the most sociable people in the world.
It is the way he laughs, she thinks. Any other person would be morose, but Shanks laughs and it is like sunshine and warm blankets.
It is worth going hungry for, if the number of children that flock to him is any indication.
8.
Shanks does not tell his sister, but he lives for her.
He steals for her and she is the reason why he persists on stealing when he could easily run to the jungles that litter the island. Namika would not survive it and so they stay in the city.
She is fragile and quiet and she looks at him with adoration.
Shanks lives for his sister and dreads the day that she starts coughing just like their mother.
9.
The strange boy runs beside her, one day.
Namika startles, almost stops, but the angry storekeeper behind her reminds her of the beating she would get if she is caught.
"Wha - ?" she asks, gasping a little.
"You run in a line," he observes. He isn't even winded. "That is why he will catch you."
"How?" she manages.
The boy looks at her with his strange, yellow eyes. "Follow me. Watch how I run."
Namika follows and the storekeeper falls behind. He runs in zigzags, strange patterns and even jumping over the trash bin. It's almost enough for her to falter but she burns with determination.
Afterwards, she collapses and the boy is panting lightly.
"Mihawk," he introduces himself once she could breathe properly.
"N-Namika," she stammers, suddenly feeling shy.
It is an odd feeling.
10.
Shanks reacts strangely to Mihawk's presence.
There is a glint in his eyes that does not belong there. It's not a happy look.
"Nii-san," she protests.
Shanks sulks, but Mihawk stays. Namika supposes that having someone spar with you, even if her brother did it badly, is enough incentive for an introvert like Mihawk to stay.
11.
Mihawk seems to only think of one thing: strength.
Namika doesn't see how he could live without laughter. Shanks seem to think the same thing. He drags Mihawk to games and fun and though it is an exercise in itself to make him laugh, it is worth it to see his yellow eyes light up, rare mischief lurking in it.
Namika runs and plays with them, her quiet presence offsetting her brother's loud sunshine.
12.
She doesn't know what he was thinking when he did it, but she appreciates it.
She turns the elegant dagger in her hands and wonders how to wield it.
"I can teach you," Mihawk offers. There is a light pink dusting his cheeks.
"Please?" she asks.
He takes one look at her green eyes and caves.
13.
Mihawk is a strict taskmaster, never mind that before her, he had never taught anyone else.
Shanks catches them at it and manages to get himself included in the tutoring. He didn't quite beg, but Namika can never be too sure.
The siblings pant and bleed after every session but that is a small price to pay for strength. They know they get better, seeing as the petty gangs that come after them slowly get more bruises than them.
But before that…
14.
"Nii-san," she whispers. "There's a new shipment of shoes today."
He grins. "Good," he says fiercely.
Shipments are messy things and it makes people a bit careless. One or two pairs missing won't matter so much to the Harbormaster, as long as you don't get caught.
They needed new shoes anyway.
Mihawk looks a bit bewildered and so they let him in on the secret. He's barefoot too anyway.
15.
They don't get caught, but it would have probably been a better thing if they had.
The ship that comes in isn't a cargo ship. It is one of those slave ships that often go around and catch people.
The men start pouring out and it is general chaos. Namika runs, hoping that she would run into her brother or Mihawk soon. Both of them are strong and even more so if they worked together.
A hand catches the back of her shirt and she is lifted up. She suppresses a sob.
"Let her go!" Shanks's voice yells out.
Her brother is strong, but so are the slavers. In one blow, he is sent reeling back, cracking his head on a wall.
Namika clutches her cheeks, and watches as the life bleeds out of her brother until he is pale. The slaver drags her away with a sigh.
Like it is a chore.
She hates him more than anything in the world.
16.
Chains shackle her hands, and her feet, though the slavers are hard pressed to find something small enough for her wrist. The exploding collar is tied to her throat and she trembles.
It isn't fear. She is so angry that she just wants him to keel over.
The man wavers a bit, but he stands strong, looking at her with new eyes.
"You're going to fetch a high price with the World Government, brat," he says, pleased.
She bares her teeth at him and he laughs.
17.
There are other people in the cage with her. There is a trio of girls that huddle together. Namika wants to join them but she remembers her brother and how they had once huddled together for warmth.
She flinches and stays away from anyone else's touch.
She misses her brother and she misses his warmth and laughter. He was probably dead.
18.
They land in an Archipelago and she knows that it is here that she will be auctioned.
The fear comes then and she curls into a ball. A hand touches her and she nearly hurls herself away from it.
"Don't cry," the girl says. There is steel in her voice. "Don't you give them the satisfaction of seeing you cry."
Namika manages a smile. The girl's words remind her of Mihawk.
"I wouldn't dare," she croaks out.
A slaver drags her away. The girl calls back, "I am Hancock."
Namika sits up, saying it as loudly as possible. "I am Namika."
Her name is Namika and she is the wave. She is named for the seas that her brother loved, even as a child. She is named after the sea and she will adapt, wearing away at her slavery.
19.
They say she has something dangerous and slap her with a drug. She does not know what happened in the auction, but she wakes up with her back searing from the pain and an obnoxious laugh.
Namika opens her eyes and sees that she has been auctioned to a Tenryuubito.
She seeks further and finds that she is not alone. No, Hancock and her two other friends are there.
"His name is St. Roswald," Hancock says when she feels the weight of her stare.
She blinks in affirmative since moving her body is painful. "He wants us to serve him," Hancock continuous. "In the worst way possible."
Namika doesn't pale, but she clenches her hands, the only part of her she could move.
"I have nothing left to lose," she says through a parched throat. "My brother is dead and Mihawk probably killed himself fighting off the slavers."
Strangely, she cannot seem to cry.
20.
They keep injecting her with a drug, the one who cares for them in the kennels.
It keeps her docile and while she has anger and hatred and fear bubbling underneath the surface, it cannot come out and it is muted.
Namika hates it.
Especially when St. Roswald watches her, throwing food at her kennel and watching her eat it slowly.
She had learned to value food, no matter who it came from. He often got it into his head to starve her to make her more obedient, to stave off the dangerous power that they said she had.
Namika hopes starvation would work because she is sick of feeling muted. It almost felt like she was underwater.
How apt. She is, after all, drowning slowly.
But she never cries.
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Soo, this is a Prequel? A prequel of The Tomb on the Hill.
Ideas for next chapter are appreciated.
Please R & R.
~Hallen