Writing this has definitely been some very good stress-relief!
It's a idea that popped into my head, when my sis and I went for a walk with my sweet dog 'Kim'. This part is quite dramatic,
but that'll lesson if you want another chap... )
Now I wish you all a merry christmas!!!!!!!
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"Help!! I can't hold the helm much longer!!"
Looking up from where she was currently helping Chopper to moor loose cargo that was rolling around on deck, smashing the railing and heads if one didn't pay attention, Nami turned to where Usopp was standing in the conference room, his grip on the wheel slowly loosening as the salt water and his sweat dripped down his hands and arms, making them slippery.
"Zoro!! Go help him!!" She yelled across the deck, hoping the swords fighter would hear her voice above the noises of the raging sea.
The Going Merry and its crew had found themselves in the middle of one hell of a hurricane.
Even though Nami had felt the weather change and had given everybody orders that should have gotten them out of the storms range, they hadn't been able to esacpe.
The storm had been tossing the ship around for more than half an hour, and slowly fatigue and exhaustion threatened to overpower the friends. Their attempts to keep the ship from sinking seemed almost futile, considering the strength with which the hurricane was throwing the little ship around.
Huge waves crashed agaginst the Going Merry, shaking it violently. The storeroom was partially filled with water, making it difficult for Sanji to darn the huge holes in the wooden planks.
On deck, the situation wasn't much better.
The water that kept on flooding across the railing sloshed around Nami's ankles, her shoes having long ago been discarded when she had very nearly slipped on the ice-like surface.
When she looked around again, she was glad to find Zoro and Usopp both holding tightly onto the wheel, their arms seemingly embracing it in a tight hug.
Nami would have probably laughed if she hadn't known that they were actually holdig onto the helm for dear life, trying to steer to ship against the waves crushing the Going Merry from all sides.
"Miss navigator! The ropes holding the main sail tear!!"
Frowning, Nami had to blink away the salt water the wind had sprayed into her face. She tried to see the ropes somewhere above her, but the salt burned in her eyes, making her vision blurred.
"Try and tie 'em together! Or we'll lose the sail!!" She yelled to where she supposed Robin to be. Nami knew Robin could work on the ropes and the sail without having to climb up the mast first. With her Devil Powers it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
"Chopper, you think you can manage alone for a second?" Nami asked the deer, bending closer to his ear.
"Yes, I think so!" He yelled back, making a tight knot in a rope.
Nodding firmly, Nami made her way carefully across the slippery deck.
Her inner voice screamed at her that something was wrong. But Nami couldn't put a finger on what exactly it was that had set her alarm bells off.
When she walked up the stairs to the bridge and headed towards the stern of the ship, the sickning feeling in her stomach seemed to intensify immediately.
Something wasn't right... she just knew it...
Another wave crushed against the ship's side, smashing Nami into the side of the outter wall of the kitchen.
For some seconds, all she could see were bright white spots, dancing around in front of her and making it difficult for the young woman to find her way on shaking legs to the stern.
When she had finally reached it, it almost seemed as if the hurricane had stopped for some moments... as if it waited for Nami to find out what had made her stomach revolt.
Her eyes wandered aimlessly over the deck, the second mast and the tangerine trees on the upper deck until they focused on the railing.
"Luffy"
It was merely a whisper, but as soon as the name had left her lips, the storm picked up again.
The aching ship moved suddenly to its right and Nami had a hard time maintaining her stance on the slippery planks. Her toes dug into the wood, but Nami didn't feel the pain in her feet. Her mind was occupied with finding help.
"Sanjiiii!!! Zorooo!!!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, but her voice got swallowed by the raging sea.
Eyes darting around the ship, her breath irregular, she tried to find something, 'anything' she could use.
But her brain had stopped functioning for some seconds.
The picture of his hands gripping the railing so tightly that all the color had drained from his knuckles kept on flickering through her mind.
Luffy had gone overboard!
Fortunately, his Devil Powers had saved him until now from drowning in the sea, his body still being attached to the railing thanks to his overstretched arms. But Nami couldn't 'see' Luffy's body! He had to be somewhere near the keel, probably already in the water!
She had to do something! Quickly!!
Staring at the railing again where Luffy's hands were supposed to be, she nearly dived into the raging sea without another thought. His fingers had finally slipped from the railing and Nami could have sworn, she had heard his arms snap back into place when her captain had finally fallen into the ocean.
Turning once around her own axis, Nami realized that there was no time to get one of the others. She had to this on her own, or Luffy was as good as dead. In her panic, she first didn't see the long rope lying around a pole.
Biting the inside of her cheek, she scolded herself for losing it. Nami had to stay focused in order to think and work properly!
"Dammit!" She muttered under her breath, taking the rope and tying one end around her waist and flung the other end twice around the mast, before taking the end and wound it around her wrist, so that she had both ends somewhere at her body in reach.
She then ran over to the railing where Luffy's hands had been some seconds ago and leant across it, eyes searching frenetically for any sign of her captain.
To her relief her eyes caught sight of his head emerging from the rough sea, before it again disappeared completely under water.
Without another thought, Nami climbed onto the railing, gripped the rope around her waist tightly and jumped right into the churning sea.
As soon as her body submerged, the unbearable cold water hit her like a punch.
All the air got knocked out of her lungs at once and Nami struggled against the force of the sea to the surface, her chest burning from the strain and the desperate need to fill the lungs with much needed oxygen.
Finally she broke free from the wet clutches, inhaling as deep as she could.
Her eyes had lost focus and all Nami could see were the blurred waves of ice cold water throwing her around, playing with her body as if she was some doll.
"Luffy!!" She yelled, but the noise of the hurricane was so loud, that she couldn't even hear her own voice.
Inhaling deeply again, Nami dived under a particularly huge wave.
Otherwise it would have probably smashed her against the ship's heck, crushing her in the process.
Instead she used to pressure of the wave to dive deeper, her eyes wide and searching the dark sea for any signs of her friend.
The salt burned in her eyes, but Nami ignored the pain and concentrated on anything that could have resembled Luffy.
'There!'
Her lungs started burning again, but Nami's eyes were fixated on something dull red, floating some meter underneath her in the distance. It didn't seem to be moving and Nami had to fight the urge to scream his name under water.
'Be alive, you idiot.''Be alive, you idiot'
Nami kept on repeating the sentence over and over again in her mind, willing her hands to finally reach his body. Her arms already hurt from her fierce attempts to swim faster towards him and the red-head tried to channel all her energy reserves on the task of gaining speed.
She didn't dare think about the lack of air in her lungs or the rope around her waist that was probably too short for the remaining distance. Nami didn't think about the time that had passed since Luffy had first submerged or the ghostly white face that suddenly appeared right in front of her.
Her hand touched his arm and as soon as she felt the first slight, almost surreal contact of their skin, Nami pulled.
With surprise she noticed how easy it was for her to drag his body along behind her as she tried to reach the surface as fast as possible.
After what seemed like hours to Nami, she suddenly broke free, emerging from the cold water.
Her arms pulled hard and with a 'swosh' Luffy's head popped out of the water. It lolled from side to side, his eyes closed and his lips dark blue.
He wasn't breathing!
"Idiot!... Idiot!!" Nami yelled angrily, shaking him as best as she could.
She couldn't give him mouth-to-mouth with the heavy swell, even though she tried hard.
His head threatened to submerge again.
It almost seemed to Nami as if the sea demanded Luffy back. Something, like an invisible hand appeared to pull him under water again, sucking him into the ocean's dark depths without mercy.
Suddenly a sound like rattling of marbles in a jar caught her attention. Then a splutter and Nami found her eyes focused on Luffy's fluttering eyelids. He tried faintly to cough up the water in his lungs, drawing some shallow breaths.
For a second, relief and utter joy overwhelmed Nami's mind, but as soon as the water sucked again at Luffy's legs, she concentrated again on the task of getting him out of the raging sea.
Her arms grew rapidly tired from her fight against the element, Luffy's body being a dead weight that pulled her along into the abyss. Her eyes lost focus and the muscles in her legs burned from the strain. She had to do something... had to find something.
Her foggy mind realized, that she still possessed the rope and with much effort, Nami managed to loosen the rope from around her wrist.
Inhaling, she submerged again, holding Luffy's head above the surface. At the same time she wound the loose end of the rope around Luffy's chest, making a tight knot, which hopefully wouldn't tear easily.
"Alright... just hold on..." She muttered under her breath as she re-emerged again.
Silently, Nami counted to three.
Then she suddenly let go of Luffy and gripped the rope around her waist tightly. For a second, the rubber-boy disappeared under the surface of the raging water, but Nami didn't waste any time and started pulling at her end of the rope.
Almost immediately, Luffy got lifted out of the water, the hard waves sloshing around his waist and thighs when he go lifted into the air and out of the demanding ocean.
'It works!' Nami thought, glad for small miracles.
Her plan was indeed working.
The rope she had slung around the mast of the small sail, functioned as a block and tackle, her strength fortunately enough to make it work properly... until now anyway.
Breathing heavily, Nami pulled harder on the rope, the storm throwing her around with its huge waves like drift wood.
But she never losened her grip on it. Her eyes stayed trained on Luffy's body, slowly being moved up to the railing.
He banged once against the heck and Nami feared he would get hurt, but it seemed that the small impact had woken him up from his unconsciousness. His eyes fluttered open and for a short moment, he appeared to be lucid. His gaze wandering bewildered down to where Nami was grinning faintly up at him.
Before he lost consciousness again, Nami could see a deep frown appearing on his forehead.
When she looked up briefly, she couldn't tell whether it was already night or whether it were just the thick clouds that had captured all the sunlight and had caused the near darkness.
'Another meter', Nami thought, pulling with all what was left of her strength on the slippery rope.
She watched, her eyes trained on Luffy, as he slowly got pulled across the railing of the ship's stern. She could imagine hearing the thud his body made when he fell ont the floor.
Inhaling deeply, Nami let go of the rope and started swimming against the current, heading towards the ship. She was already out of breath and her eyes lost focus every now and then. But she kept on swimming, fighting to make it back.
Luffy needed help, God knows how much water he had swallowed while he had been submerged.
Looking up after a wave had washed over her, Nami saw a glimpse of somehing lying on top of the railing.
Frowning she watched it for a second, when suddenly a strong wind caught the object and tossed it high into the air, carrying it along.
Brows ceased, the young woman was just about to re-assume her swimming when the wind let the object drop into the sea behind her.
"Fuck!"
--
"It's my dearest possesion!"
"I got it from somebody, who's very important to me."
--
'His hat'
Breathing rapidly, Nami looked across her shoulder where Luffy's straw hat was barely floating on top of the rough waves.
She knew it wouldn't take much longer before it finally got swallowed by the raging sea.
Biting her lip, Nami looked back to where the ship was still fighting against the hurricane. Luffy was back in safety, still tied to the mast, which meant that he wasn't about to fall into the water again. He had opened his eyes earlier and Nami knew he'd be in one hell of a mood if he'd awaken and his hat was gone for good!
Biting her lip, she turned on the spot, heading to where she had last seen the hat.
It almost seemed to her, that the sea had gone berserk. The waves grew by the second, giving Nami the impression that the ocean tried to get some kind of revenge on her, for having stolen Luffy from its death grip. It wanted her... or at least the hat and wasn't going to let both of them escape this time.
Coughing up some salt water, she doubled her efforts, her arms having gone numb by now from the cold sea and the exhausting swim. Nami looked up , but couldn't find the hat. It had drifted off!
"No..."Splutter "Where is it?!"
Another wave threatened to pull her under, but Nami broke through the surface of the water with a splash. She was losing, Nami could tell. The hurricane wasn't going to clear any time soon and her energy reserves were almost used up.
In the corner of her eyes she saw a wave advancing towards her and Nami inhaled just in time to duck under it, before it had a chance of forcing her under. It seemed to her as if this dive lasted for minutes, the pressure of the wave having pushed her deeper under water than ever before and Nami really had to fight against losing orientation in the wet darkness.
Suddenly, her eyes caught sight of something yellow.
The hat had submerged, too and was now on its way back to the surface, where it would get tossed back under again and again.
Biting the inside of her cheek, she made up her mind and started swimming, diving to where the hat was slowly moving upwards to the angry surface.
She calculated that the hat was probably not more then five meter ahead and increased her speed, trying to close the gap between her and the object of her desire as fast as possible.
bang
The rope around her waist cut sharply into her cold skin, pulling her roughly back. She jerked backwards from the sudden pull and Nami felt a lung of precious air leave her mouth without her being able to pevent it from happening.
'No!'
The rope was too short!
She wouldn't make it! Nami wouldn't reach the hat!!
Eyes wide in fear and disbelief, Nami started fighting against the tight pull, her hands working frantically on the knot that kept the rope securely around her body.
She struggled against it, eyes not able to see what her hands were doing in the darkness.
Suddenly the rope around her waist disappeared and Nami felt a sharp pain in her palms, where the rope had cut her skin when the moving ship had pulled it out of her grasp. Immediately she started swimming towards the straw hat again, her mind trying to ignore the burning sensation in her chest.
She reached out blindly, fingers clawing at the cold water, when they finally touched the rim of the hat.
Eyes wide open, Nami grasped tightly onto the hat and pulled it towards her, her legs already moving upwards to the surface.
She broke free, lungs immediately demanding fresh air. She inhaled fiercly, her chest heaving heavily in an irregular pattern.
'Gotcha!' She thought triumphantly and pressed the straw hat harder against her chest, when another huge wave headed towards her.
Her eyes wandered frantically across the raging sea surrounding her, looking for the ship.
But it was gone.
Nami was alone!
Panic rose within her as she submerged more often.
She could barely hold her chin above the sea, swallowing water with every new wave that crashed over her.
Nami knew the ocean demanded her body, though she had never been superstitious. But right now, fear was the pre-dominating feeling occupying her mind.
She wasn't going to make it... she wasn't going to make it...
Again the water pulled her under and black spots danced across her vision.
Her mind slowly blackened and while she clutched almost desperately onto the yellow, wet straw hat in her hands, one question haunted her brain: 'How are they gonna find the 'one Piece' without navigator?'.
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"Boy... gonna throw up!"
Prying his eyes open, Sanji looked over to where Usopp was lying belly-up on the deck, arms and legs spread out in cross-fashion.
"Now that the storm's over? Bit late, don't ya think?" He asked incredulously.
"Hey, guys?... Anybody seen Luffy?" Zoro asked, his hands grasping the towel on his head and pulling it down, letting it drop right where he had just exited the conference room.
He was regarded by four blank faces.
They all jumped up as one (though Robin rather got up 'gracefully' and in no obvious hurry), each friend taking another part of the ship, their voices soon filling the air as they called for Luffy.
After some minutes, Zoro, Usopp, Chopper and Robin met again around the main mast in a circle, heads shaking 'no' as they stared at each other. Zoro had a huge frown plastered on his forehead as he watched his toes for a while, when his ears suddenly caught the sound of Sanji's boots running quite fast towards them...
"I couldn't find my precious Nami, but Luffy's at the stern!" He yelled, panting as he turned on his heels and ran back to where he had just come from.
The other straw hat pirates were already behind him, following him close behind.
"Luffy!!" They yelled as one, when they saw their captain lying motionless on the floor.
Robin noted that a large rope was tied around his waist. When her eyes followed it, she saw that it was slung around the mast and ran all the way back towards Luffy and even across the railing, dangling in the slight breeze.
While the others took care of Luffy, she made her way across the deck towards the railing, pulling the other end of the rope on board, where she examined it more closely.
"What's up with him, Chopper? Is he alright??" Usopp asked the little reindeer anxiously, eyes wide in fear as he watched the Doctor work on his patient.
Zoro and Sanji were rubbing Luffy's legs with their shirts, trying to get the blood circulation in his limbs back into gear.
They had taken on a dark blue color, nearly matching Luffy's purple lips... which were moving.
"He's gaining consciousness!" Chopper called excitedly, feeling for Luffy's pulse again.
"Luffy!! Wake up!!"
"Wh-what... just happened?" Frowning, he rubber-boy brought his hand up to rub some sore spot on his temple, tousling his already messy hair even more.
He didn't wait for an answer and just sat up, swaying slightly from side to side while funny white spots danced through the landscape...
"We're asking 'you', Luffy! What the heck are ya doing here, wet and knocked out cold??" Usopp demanded, slapping Luffy's back without thinking.
"Dunno... remember that there was a storm... where has it gone, by the way"
Nobody thought it to be necessary to give him an answer and kept on staring at him until Luffy decided to continue.
"Oh, yeah! Nami kept on telling me to secure her trees"
"Nami!!!! Where is she, dumb-head!!" Sanji suddenly exploded, taking Luffy by his shoulders and shaking him fiercly until Chopper and Usopp pulling his hands away from the poor boy.
"Nami?..." A frown appeared on his face as he looked around as if he had just noticed her absence. "I remember that she kept on telling me to... " He suddenly stopped, the color that had been left, draining completely from his face.
He jumped up, shaking off Chopper's little hooves and ran across the deck to where Robin was still standing, holding the rope still in her hands.
Luffy grabbed the railing hard, fingers digging into the wood. He leaned dangerously far over the wooden construction, eyes wide as he stared into the calm, blue sea below him. In the corner of his eyes he saw the loose end of the rope dangling above the deck.
"Naaaaaamiiiiii!!!!"
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"Look... 've someth..." 'Go 'way', Nami thought angrily, grunting lightly as she tried to shut out the voices in her head.
"Bring her up"
Another voice shouted from some distance and Nami wondered why she should bring someone up?
"Hey! I think she's waking up!!" A loud, dark voice seemed to explode just beside her ear and Nami cringed in discomfort, her eyes tightly shut. She tried to move her hands, intending to cover her ears, but it seemed her body was not responding to her brain's orders.
Suddenly two warm hands took hold of her, lifting her up from the solid floor and after some moments laid her back down on something warm... probably a woolen blanket, she thought in a haze when another one was draped across he body.
It was then that she realized that her body felt as if she'd been lying in ice for hours.
Her fingers and limbs were almost numb (which had probably been the reason why she hadn't been able to move her arms...) and she could feel the first signs of warming up in her fingers and toes. They seemed to be burning slowly from the inside and Nami wondered whether she should tell Usopp to get them back onto something cold...
"Heya!! Wakey, wakey"
Again the voice that had told her to get 'her' up... whoever 'her' was.
Nami tried to order her eyes to open, but her mind suddenly found something else very interesting.
She held something in her fingers( which seemed to be swarming with uncountable ants). She tightened her grip around the thing in her hand and felt the texture of the subject.
'Luffy'
Her eyes shot open in an instant, but she couldn't see anything but indistinct figures moving like shadows around her. Nami's head started spinning nearly painfully as she clutched tightly onto the dripping wet straw hat in her hand as if her life depended on keeping it by her side.
"Hey! Take it easy, young lady"
Brows ceasing in bewilderment, Nami looked up, eyes travelling up along a mast to a large crow's nest. Slowly she focused on something waving down at her in the strong wind...
A Jolly Roger... with three scars crossing the skull's left eye.
"I see, you're not somebody who likes to be given orders, huh?"
Still filled with panic when she realized where she had landed and that she was quite obviously not anymore on the Going Merry in safety with her guys, Nami turned towards the owner of the voice, looking right into the smirking face of a red-haired man, his eyes laughing down at her.
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FINIS!!
Who do you think is the 'mysterious' person at the end?? If ya don't have a clue, go and consult the first book of our fav manga and then read th last few lines again ;P Doesn't have to be necessarily the first and last part... I definitely have something in mind... what about you?? XD