But first... I have this big fat apology to make because... I am an utter retard. Battle tactics and whatnot in anime/comics are not really my thing... mainly because I spend all show/comic reading way too much into the emotional state of the characters... so when hanyou-gez mentioned that rubber can actually be pierced by arrows, such as the ones Luffy has been effortlessly taking in all fic... I was like, whoa, I had no idea. So can we all just pretend that didn't happen and overlook my lack of knowledge about such matters? Thanks... I'm actually not SO bad at writing action sequences, it's just that One Piece in particular has very odd fighting moves and the like.
About a sequel or more Nami/Luffy related stories – my real dream is to write a fic about Luffy and Nami like ten years into the future or something, possibly with children involved, but by no means an second generation story – however I can't do that because we don't know how the comic ends and stuff, and there is that big fat question about One Piece, so it's really an impossibility. And it's not like with Inuyasha or something where you can just sort of easily make up your own version of how the whole thing ends and then write a future story ... One Piece is so unique, you'd really have to wait for the creators to finish what they started. Still, I'll try and think of something.
I'm actually reading this really creepy book that takes place in Spain in the 1830s, Natural History, and it's inspiring me to write an AU vampire One Piece fic... what do you think of that? Luffy as an eccentric vampire? It's not that different from being an eccentric pirate, really.
Lastly, a big thanks to everyone who reviewed. I really love reviews, a lot. If you want to give me some more - don't hesitate. The last ones created this chapter, by far the longest chapter of the story.
I don't own One Piece and enjoy.
OOOOOOOOO
Sunset at Port Gold
By Rio Grande
Chapter Four: End of the Day
OOOOOOOOO
Never before in her entire pathetic existence had Nami been so overwhelmingly thankful for the presence of one person. Zoro. Good old, dependable Zoro. Really, he was so responsible, when she stopped to think about it. Had a good head on his shoulders, that one did. And now there he was, standing like a demon straight out of hell with his swords drawn, literally knocking the piss and vinegar out of Hardcandy and her merry men as he demolished an entire section of the pub with a few well placed strikes.
"Zoro of the Straw Hat Crew... I hadn't expected you to challenge me on your own," Hardcandy admitted as much to Zoro as to herself, fingering her blade agitatedly.
"Zoro – HELP!" Nami cried from her place on the floor, still clutching Luffy's prone form to her chest, fear for the young captain overtaking her sense of preservation or pride.
"Nami?" Zoro asked, quirking an eyebrow at the red head in confusion, as though noticing her for the first time. "What are you doing here? And what's wrong with Luffy?" Zoro was regarding Luffy with no small degree of horror, not accustomed to seeing his captain in such a condition.
"It's Hardcandy! She poisoned him and blew him up with those jawbreakers of hers! You've got to take her down!" Nami gasped urgently.
Deciding that Nami had said quite enough indeed, Twizzler moved as to backhand the distressed girl across the face – but was stopped in his tracks by the feeling of cold steal pressed firmly against his neck.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you..." Zoro suggested simply, the look in his eyes enough to make Twizzler back down entirely.
"O-Oh – okay..." Twizzler agreed instantly.
"I've heard about your impressive skills Zoro... So, If you're here for a fight, I won't disappoint you," Hardcandy declared, facing Zoro with a viscous gleam in her vibrant blue orbs. Zoro smiled nastily at her.
"Good. Let's get this over with."
Quickly everyone moved to the sides and formed a circle around the duelers, Nami dragging Luffy to the periphery as carefully as she could. The boy was coming in and out of consciousness, but didn't seem to be aware of his surroundings anymore.
"Nami..." he rasped, his voice frighteningly weak. "Is that One Piece?..."
"Er, yes. Sure," Nami responded heartily.
"It's a hunk of meat. I knew it." And then he was out again.
"Begin!" a random gang member cried from the sidelines.
Hardcandy and Zoro came at each other with lighting speed, both moving with the grace and skill of two seasoned swordsman. Hardcandy danced dizzyingly around, moving with a liquid cadence that made Nami very happy she wasn't on the receiving end of her gleaming blade, and made her understand just how such a small woman had strong armed her way to the top of Port Gold's criminal hierarchy.
However, despite Hardcandy's apparent skill, she was still quite outclassed by Zoro.
As the crime boss was beaten back again and again every time she attempted an offensive move, she began to realize this fact as well. Zoro was all but playing with her he was so beyond her in skill level, moving in a flurry of swords she could hardly navigate her way through, and this was something Hardcandy would not stand for. She parried to the side and slipped her free arm behind her back, panting lightly. Nami watched her with scared brown eyes, anticipating the woman's next desperate move.
"Zoro watch out!" she screamed. "She's going to use a jawbreaker!"
"A what?..." Zoro asked from behind his third sword, halting in confusion as he watched two very small objects be hurled at him. For Nami it seemed as though she was watching a replay of Luffy's demise, and she quickly averted her gaze in fear.
There was a quick slashing sound and then a few more loud plops, and when nothing happened for a second Nami cracked an eye open to see what the hold up was, only to find Zoro staring down stupidly at the four pieces of Hardcandy's jawbreakers he had easily sliced in half before they had reached his person. He glanced up to gauge Hardcandy's reaction, but she merely winked disturbingly at him.
Abruptly the cut up pieces of explosive jawbreakers did what they were supposed to do anyway, and blew up around Zoro, not at all perturbed by the fact that they had been sliced. The tall man was taken over by smoke and sparks, and Nami decided that if all of these explosives didn't stop soon she was going to go deaf.
When Nami was finally able to make out Zoro's form from behind the smoke, fearfully gazing at his visage, she was both surprised and elated to find that the swordsman was hardly nicked. In fact, he looked almost cocky as he took a threatening step towards Hardcandy, his clothing and skin vaguely singed, but his demeanor and posture the same as it ever was.
"But how did you..." Hardcandy breathed in disbelief. "No one can just walk away from my jawbreaker attack!" she argued heatedly.
"Lady, I'm not just anybody." Zoro explained.
Then he all but flew at Hardcandy, making a wild swipe at her head that actually gave Nami pause with the sheer violence behind it. Hardcandy jumped frantically backwards, gasping in shock as two of her brightly colored hairpins fell to the ground in pieces, along with a few chunks of lovely auburn hair. She glared fiercely at Zoro afterward, but now her angry expression held traces of doubt as well. Her trump card had already been used... or had it?
When Zoro lunged at her, one arm arched back to dole out the final blow that would end the match and make for another swordsman down on his ever growing list of felled opponents, Hardcandy stood her ground and merely scowled.
"STOP!" she ordered in such a commanding tone of voice Zoro actually listened.
"What?" he asked in confusion, his sword seconds away from her chest. He hadn't planned on killing her, but knocking her out after what she had done to Luffy and Nami seemed fair.
"Touch me and you'll never get the antidote for your little rubber captain. And I'll kill your stupid navigator," she informed him, lowering her sword. Zoro glanced over his shoulder to spot Twizzler leveling another arrow at Nami's head from a corner, albeit a bit hesitantly after he got a look at Zoro's expression.
"Dishonorable cow," Zoro muttered darkly. Hardcandy shrugged unapologetically.
"Whatever. It's not as though I'm competing to be the best swordsman in all the lands. I'm just a crime boss, and this is how I make my living," she stated honestly.
"I'm not going to surrender to you," Zoro insisted.
"Then what are you going to do? Let your buddies die?" Hardcandy asked flatly. Zoro looked undeniably conflicted and turned towards Nami again, his eyes asking her what to do. Nami always had an answer for sticky situations like this, she was good at negotiating. But the girl's gaze merely flickered back down to the boy in her lap, her expression saying much more than words ever could. Luffy was out cold more, and every breath he took made his body shudder with convulsions. His lips were turning blue. They needed that antidote, no matter what.
Outside the sky had melted into neon pink and orange, and everywhere birds were flying back to their nests for the duration of the evening. The air turned chillier while stores began to turn off their lights, and shut down. It was sunset at Port Gold, and even though Zoro had come and defeated Hardcandy fair and square, they still hadn't won in the end.
Gritting his teeth, the master swordsman removed his third blade from his mouth and stood in front of Hardcandy with his head bowed. His eyes gave one last, cursory glance around the pub, as though weighing his options against this many of Hardcandy's men. But the gang members were so numerous and spread out, he wasn't sure he could take them all in time to save Nami's life, or ensure Luffy's antidote.
"I may be a better swordsman than you," he started out gruffly, causing Hardcandy to smile. "... But I need that antidote. So -"
"GAHH!" a high pitched wail reached Zoro and Hardcandy's ears, and simultaneously both fighters looked to the side to see what the commotion was. Zoro first looked to Nami, but she was still sprawled on the ground with Luffy, her expression confused as she searched frantically around the pub, perhaps afraid Twizzler was going to off her anyway. But when her eyes reached the pink man she found something most surprising – another arm had grown out of Twizzler's shoulder and he was strangling himself quite efficiently, pushed into such a state of panic that his crossbow had clattered to the ground and he was staggering backwards with tears of fright running down his face.
"What's going ON? Someone help me!" he moaned. Everyone in the pub seemed hesitant to spring into action, perhaps because the nature of Twizzler's attacker was so very bizarre – everyone except for Nami and Zoro, who were smiling ear to ear.
"Robin," Nami whispered triumphantly, hauling Luffy behind the bar with her. She had a feeling things were about to get nasty and she didn't want to be used as a tool for surrender again.
Sure enough soon Hardcandy's men were being brutally strangled by their freshly formed appendages left and right, and Hardcandy herself was staring in morbid disbelief at the sight in front of her. People were throwing themselves out of windows and trying to bash their new arms into walls in their fear, and the volume in the pub had been raised at least ten decibels.
"What the hell is this?" Hardcandy asked in her trembling soprano, apparently not aquainted with the newest member of the crew's special talents.
As if to make matters worse, an entire line of dumbstruck gangsters were crushed to the ground by a smooth kick delivered by one long, thin leg covered in black slacks. A few more men trying to make a speedy exit out of what was left of the front door were shot down as well by a quick succession of small rocks pelted at them by a slingshot.
"Sanji, Usopp! Good to see you," Zoro said, jogging up to the two smirking men who had silently entered the pub while Chopper flung himself onto a single gangster and started punching him in the head off to the side.
"I'd say the same, but it looks as though you're not in very good shape. What's wrong with Luffy?" Sanji asked, casting a vaguely worried glance at the bar.
"I'll explain later, let's just take down this nuisance first."
"I'll drink to that," Robin said from the doorway, strutting in with one hand holding a white cowboy hat firmly to her head.
"I would surrender if I were you, Hardcandy Sweet! You're dealing with the full Straw Hat Crew now, and we've taken down pirates of the likes you can't even imagine! Why, we've even -" Usopp started enthusiastically, before being cut off by a swift hand motion from Sanji who was eager to put a stop to the young man's ramblings before he really got a on a roll.
"Can it," he said simply. "We've got other things to deal with. Why were you after our crew?"
"Because I hate pirates, you should all die you stinking thieves!" Hardcandy cried passionately, even as she slowly backed herself into a corner, her eyes bright with fear. Twizzler and Licorice were both knocked out on the floor, lying in a tangle of limbs, and all of her other men had either fled or were down for the count.
"Fair enough," Sanji replied with a careless shrug of his elegant shoulders.
"I don't understand! How did you know where to find me? How do you know who I am?" Hardcandy continued, pulling at her short hair nervously. "Zoro I can understand as being a freak accident. But ALL of you?"
"I read a very interesting book this afternoon," Robin explained, waving the novel she had been perusing earlier in front of her face. "'A People's History of Port Gold.' Quite a fascinating, thorough historical account. Spoke a lot about the fall of Port Gold due to the efforts of one crime boss named Hardcandy Sweet, starting about a decade ago. It also spoke of her intense hatred of pirates, and how most crews who dock in these waters don't live to tell the tale..."
"It was really child's play to figure out who else might have an army of stupidly dressed men tailing us around the port, after Robin read that. And when our friends went missing, it was even easier to find out where you might be," Sanji elucidated with a mean grin.
"Give us the antidote for Luffy, now," Zoro insisted, folding his arms across his chest once his friends had finished their speech that left Hardcandy twitching with anger.
"Antidote?" Chopper asked, quirking his furry head. "What are you talking about?"
"That bitch poisoned Luffy," Nami explained, motioning to Luffy's pale form. She had lain him out on the bar and was brushing hair away from his sweat soaked brow worriedly. "The poison has worked through his system, and if we don't get an antidote now he's going to die. She said he had until sunset!" Everyone looked towards Hardcandy accusingly, the anger and accusation in their eyes, combined, enough to give even the burliest fighter pause. However, Hardcandy looked not only determined, but something much more dangerous – insane.
"NEVER," she screeched. "I'd rather DIE than help save your STUPID captain! I poisoned him with the root of a Marine Flower, there's no way he's going to survive."
"If you give us that damned antidote there is!" Nami pointed out heatedly.
"And if you don't give us the antidote I'll make sure you die slowly," Robin added softly, another set of arms sprouting from her form suggestively.
"Ha, you don't scare me," Hardcandy hissed spitefully. "Besides, none of this matters anyway. I don't even HAVE an antidote. I never bothered to get one made, because there is absolutely no way I would save the life of a pirate."
There was a long, uncomfortable pause after Hardcandy's cheeky statement. Everyone stared at her with parted mouths and disbelieving eyes, unsure of what do to next. Was there even anything they could do?
After the silence was broken by a low, keening moan from the still form of Luffy, Nami came up with the solution by bolting forward and whacking Hardcandy solidly across the face with her staff. There was such a force behind her swing that Hardcandy collapsed to the floor afterwards with a sickening slam that only someone who was truly unconscious could produce. Nami stood above her, panting and glaring down at Hardcandy with unblinking eyes.
"Whoa, good job," Zoro commented with a low whistle. Nami glanced at him, and then quickly dissolved into tears, crouching down low and hiding her head in her arms. Sanji hesitantly approached her, the cook reaching out and putting a hand on her softly quaking back.
"It's okay Nami, everything will be all right," he murmured soothingly.
"How is everything going to be all right?" Nami cried pathetically, her voice wobbling as she roughly wiped tears from her eyes. "Didn't you hear her? She doesn't have a cure for Luffy. She never did!"
"She may not have the antidote, but she did give us some valuable information before you delivered that blow to her head," Chopper admitted, stepping towards the bar where already a worried Zoro and Usopp were hovering around Luffy.
"What are you talking about?" Zoro asked, looking uncharacteristically downtrodden himself.
"I mean that she told us just what poison she used on Luffy. Root of the Marine Flower – a slow acting, painful poison. A poison I know the cure for," Chopper confessed with a small smile. Nami gasped and used Sanji for support as she jumped to her feet.
"Really? Can it be made quickly?" she asked breathlessly.
"If I make it, it can,"
"Oh Chopper, you're a miracle worker!" Nami squealed excitedly, rushing forward and sweeping the tiny reindeer into her arms, crushing him to her chest. Behind her, Sanji looked vaguely put off. "What sort of materials are we going to need for the antidote? Are they available here?"
"They should be," Chopper said, squinting his eyes and appearing to go over a mental check list in his head. "If you all hurry and gather the ingredients I should be able to prepare it fairly quickly. But you've got to run!"
No sooner had Chopper written out what was needed on small napkin from the bar than the Straw Hat Crew was out the door, moving like pirates on a mission.
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
Fifteen minutes later Nami sat staring worriedly at Chopper as he pounded, stirred and sifted a variety of odd herbs into boiling cup of water in the kitchens of the Going Merry. The reindeer looked as though he knew what he was doing, but the cornucopia of odd smells wafting from the large, frothing cup worried Nami. How were they supposed to get Luffy to drink that?
The sky was completely dark now. Luffy's time was practically up. In fact, it could already be up. Would all of this be to no avail? Zoro was hunched over their fearless leader, who they had moved to the table of the dining cabin just next to the kitchens, cautiously feeling for a pulse on the frighteningly still boy's neck.
"His heart rate is very slow," the ex-pirate hunter admitted somberly.
"I'm almost done," Chopper assured him, mixing his concoction together with a large wooden spoon. Everyone was spread out around the room, nervously twiddling their thumbs and casting uneasy glances periodically at their captain. At this point there was really nothing any of them could do, and as people of action this generally ticked them off.
"You should have come to us sooner..." Zoro gritted out, shaking his head disapprovingly and not for the first time.
"I told you, I wanted to. Things were complicated – Hardcandy had us fooled and Luffy didn't want to worry you," Nami explained, frustrated.
"Oh, that worked out really well. I'm not worried at all, now," Zoro bit out.
"Hey, hey, let's just keep our heads guys. Luffy wouldn't want us fighting over him at a time like this," Usopp said, waving his arms in between Nami and Zoro in a placating manner. Nami looked like she wanted to give Zoro a piece of her mind, before sadness overcame her features and she lost interest, choosing to stare her feet with a concerted look on her features instead. This was such an uncharacteristic gesture from Nami that Zoro actually shut up as well.
"I'm finished!" Chopper announced, brightening everyone's features slightly. He approached Luffy's form with the bubbling cup slowly and started shooting out orders in a very professional manner.
"Zoro, clear away everything else on this table, he may have a violent reaction to this medicine. Nami, hold his head up, and open his mouth," Nami hesitantly used her index and middle finger to pry Luffy's limp lips open, moving his head back carefully.
Everyone looked on with bated breath. Chopper moved forward to tip the antidote, which had taken on a most unpleasant murky maroon color, down Luffy's partially open mouth. At first the boy showed no indication that he even noticed he was being forced to swallow something, but soon his face started to twitch and he began to take some of it in. However, once his tongue got a sense of the taste, he began to try to spit it all back up forcefully.
"Rub his neck to help it go down," Chopper said, staring intently at Luffy and continuing to pour down the antidote. Nami used the hand that wasn't prying Luffy's mouth open to massage his neck slowly, making motions that encouraged the liquid to continue down his throat. Luffy began to struggle, apparently the antidote was nastier than any of them had anticipated, his limbs flailing around sporadically.
"Hold him down!" Chopper yelled. Immediately Sanji and Zoro were at Luffy's side, pinning down his arms and legs and trying to prevent his torso from arching off of the table. Nami held his head and neck steady, her gaze pained as she looked at the sad picture Luffy made. It caused her to feel a sort of sadness she thought she had escaped after she watched her surrogate mother be murdered and her town terrorized – but here it was again. Someone she loved suffering terribly on account of her. If only she had been the one to take the poison... if only he hadn't been so chivalrous...
'Goddamit Luffy...' she thought furiously to herself, continuing to massage his neck firmly. 'You have to make it! Please!'
"Come on Luffy... you can do it... just hold on for a little bit longer and drink this stuff, for me okay?" she whispered encouragingly into his ear so softly that no one else could hear it above the racket Luffy's body was making. His rubber appendages were proving quite difficult to control.
"Almost done!" Chopper informed everyone in a shrill voice, tipping the last vestiges of the antidote into Luffy's mouth. From the sidelines Robin and Usopp stared in rapt fascination, their expressions slightly horrified. The whole scene was a bit disturbing.
"Please, please, please drink ..." Nami whispered hotly, squeezing her eyes shut as she felt her hands forcibly encourage the foul drink down Luffy's gullet. There were a few gurgled protestations from the comatose pirate, and a couple last wild flails, but eventually he fell silent and still. Everyone let out big sighs of relief. They had given him the antidote, now all they could do was wait.
Everyone stepped away from Luffy, panting and slightly sweaty, regarding him incredulously.
"Who would have guessed even unconscious and on death's doorstep, that rubber boy would be such a hassle?" Sanji asked.
"Yeah, if he was so sick how come he had so much fight in him?" Zoro wanted to know.
"It was probably just an instinctual fevered reaction, spurred on by the pain the poison was causing his body," Chopper assured the swordsman.
"When are we going to be able to tell if the antidote is working properly?" Robin asked.
"I'm not entirely sure, actually. I've memorized the antidote from books I've read, but never had to actually administer it to a live patient, so I'm not sure how this is going to work. I would say from the amount of damage done to his body the recovery process might not be as swift as you'd all like, but I'm sure he'll be able to wake up soon enough. If this all manages to work efficiently, that is," Chopper explained in a detached tone. In many other aspects of his personality Chopper could be child like or downright naïve, but when it came to medicine he was nothing if not clinically professional.
"If?" Nami repeated, not liking the sound of the word.
"Well, his body might reject the antidote... he might be too far gone..." Chopper said, but upon viewing the crestfallen and outright depressed expressions on everyone's faces quickly amended his statement. "Though I'm sure it will work... it has to work. This is Luffy, after all,"
"Right," Zoro said, laughing uneasily. "Luffy wouldn't let himself be killed by some third rate gangster like Hardcandy Sweet..."
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
Three hours later Luffy was still out cold after being put to bed in his own cabin. He looked uncharacteristically frail and small amongst his pillows and sheets, and he was still silent, which was even odder. Usually watching Luffy sleep was like listening in on an orchestra of tragically broken French horns practicing before the big show, punctuated by animated kicks and punches. Nami knew the only reason Luffy had been relatively quiet and unmoving with her the other night was because he had been so determined to not succumb to the poison's effects. But now she feared that perhaps he had lost that battle, as she sat in a small chair by his bed and focused intently on the falling and rising of his chest.
It didn't seem right for him to be this still, or out of energy. His face was drawn and not shining with his usual enthusiasm. Even his straw hat looked to be out of juice as it hung limply on the door to his cabin, waiting for its master to return to it. Nami sighed and rubbed her temples, wishing for a painkiller. This boy had been causing her so much emotional pain in the past twenty four hours she didn't know where to begin – but she would give anything for it to be over. Only he cold make her worry this much.
Topside, it was pitch dark out and everyone was waiting for their captain to reawaken so they could take to the sea again and be rid of the cursed Port Gold. They had set up a table and lit candles to illuminate the darkness of the harbor, Sanji smoking like a chimney and vigorously preparing little snacks for everyone to eat in a vain attempt to keep his mind off of Luffy. Everyone else was nervously sipping on beer and wine. But Nami had been unable to stay away. She had stuck by Luffy for all of the adventure thus far, she would be willing to hang on till the end.
'If he wakes up... I promise I'll never rob another person...' Nami thought to herself, praying to a God she wasn't entirely sure existed, but was willing to call upon if it meant ensuring Luffy's wellness. 'And I'll be sure to tell him every day for the rest of his life how much he means to me... and how happy I am to have him be my friend... and that I l-lo-like him a lot...' She sighed and hugged herself weakly, becoming misty-eyed despite herself. 'And I'll stay by his side to help him become King of the Pirates, I promise. Oh, wait... I don't know how you feel about being a King of the Pirates. You probably don't like that, do you?'
She wrinkled her nose, trying to wrap her mind around the concept that being a pirate was a bad thing, even when Luffy was doing it. He made the whole enterprise seem so right, and justified. Once she had thought that all pirates were cruel, blood thirsty monsters – but he had made her see the profession in an entirely different light.
'I don't care what anyone thinks,' Nami thought firmly. 'Luffy deserves to be the Pirate King, he's worked too hard – and I'm going to help him if it's the last thing I do,' She reached forward and took Luffy's cold hand in her own warm one, leaning down and pressing it to her forehead instinctively.
"But you can't ever become the Pirate King if you stay unconscious Luffy... wake up! Wake up! Wake up because I need you with me. I can't DO this if you're not around. I can't do anything. So come back to me, because I... I l-lo-...
"I love you," There. She'd said it. Nami leaned back and let out a breath, feeling honestly relieved. That had been a long time coming, and even if he might not have been totally awake to hear it, it helped that she'd said it aloud.
Although, it was a sort of a disappointment that Luffy hadn't instantly snapped awake at her daring proclamation – she had been kind of hoping that he would hear her and muster the will to break out of his poison induced sleep to tell her how much he loved her, too.
'Who am I kidding. Like Luffy loves me... he probably thinks I'm a joke. I think I'm a joke. All he has room for in his heart is being the pirate king, and One Piece.'
In a bitter contrast to the amount of raw feelings Nami had been expressing last night after her heart to heart with Luffy, she was feeling insecure and unworthy again. Once more her captain had saved her from a terrible situation, and once again he was hurt because of it. Whenever she was saved or rescued there seemed to be a certain amount of guilt attached to the event that always left her reeling, and it was beginning to get tiring. She knew Luffy wouldn't blame her for his current condition if he ever awoke, but she had to believe it was partially her fault.
He had taken the poison for her sake, blocking her with his own body, and he had wanted to give 'Jon Jon' a chance in an effort to restore her own sense of purpose, to help her believe she was a good person despite the fact that she had a less than morally sound past. He had been trying to give her peace of mind in his own lovable way, and look where that had gotten him.
Nami pulled away and let out a long sigh, tired of dealing with her own insecurities when there was so much more on the line just then. However, as soon as she did so there was a violent jerking motion from Luffy.
"Luffy?" she asked sharply, sitting up straight and staring at him in shock. "Are you awake?" His eyelids were fluttering, but it seemed as though the pirate was still out – he was merely going into convulsions.
"Shit!" Nami cursed, lunging forward and holding Luffy down as he flailed and squirmed in her grasp. 'What's wrong with him – is he rejecting the antidote, like Chopper said he might?' "Help!" she cried, hoping someone was nearby and would hear her – but sound didn't exactly travel well on a large ship docked in a noisy port, and she couldn't hear the rapid sounds of many footsteps hurrying to her aide. God, where was Chopper?
"Luffy don't die, Luffy don't die, Luffy don't die..." She repeated the litany over and over as if it alone would save her friend's life, leaping onto the bed and straddling Luffy's form, trying to think of something to do. His eyes were open now but his pupils had rolled back into his head, and his torso was bucking off of the mattress as a slew of gurgled coughing sounds were wrenched from his mouth. Nami bit back an angry sob as she lightly slapped his cheeks, trying to snap him out of it.
"Come on, don't do this!" she ordered, yanking out a corner of the sheet covering Luffy and sticking it in his mouth with her fingers, determined not to let him swallow his own tongue.
She struggled on this way for a few more minutes, trying to keep him from doing any unnecessary damage to his own body. And then, abruptly, he moved forward and did a forceful sit up that sent Nami sprawling backwards onto his knees, where she say precariously. She watched him from behind the red strands of hair that were covering her face as he leaned over and hacked something up onto the sheets in front of him, his fists clenching the bed.
He made a few more garbled gagging sounds, before shakily wiping his mouth and peering up almost bashfully at Nami, his eyes darkly circled.
"Sorry," he mumbled in a scratchy voice. "I was choking," Then he motioned to the pile of mutilated looking herbs that greatly resembled bits of the ones Chopper had been mixing into his antidote earlier. Apparently some had been stuck in his throat for the past few hours, and his body had chosen this moment to forcibly expel them. Nami stared at him in utter disbelief, and there was an elongated period of silence where nobody breathed.
"Choking?" she repeated blankly. "I thought you were having a freaking seizure! I thought your body was rejecting the antidote! I thought you were DYING!" she cried, throwing herself forward and embracing Luffy forcefully, her arms wound tightly around his torso with her head hidden in his chest.
"S-sorry..." Luffy gasped, patting her head and smiling almost ruefully.
"Stop saying that," Nami ordered, her voice tingling against his ribs. "Quit it... Because I'm just... I'm just so happy you're okay..." Luffy's eyes widened as he noticed her form shaking gently against his own, and heard the tell tale signs of her sniffling pathetically.
"Don't cry again!" he said, waving his arms around wildly despite his weakened condition as he felt the beginnings of her tears start to wet his red vest. "I can't stand it when you cry!" Laughing hollowly, Nami raised her head and dried her eyes, pausing on her way up to look directly at Luffy. He stared back at her in wonderment as he caught the bald-faced joy and relief on her features, unsure if he'd ever seen her quite so happy.
"Na-mph!" He was stopped in mid-word by the pleasant, alluring feel of his own lips crushed against Nami's soft ones. She kept her arms wrapped tightly around him as she continued to press her mouth against his, desperate to keep close to the rubber man. Luffy looked shocked only momentarily, before he smiled into the kiss and deepened it by curling a hand around Nami's neck and darting his tongue out against hers experimentally.
Soon they were engaged in a full on make out session, Luffy dragging Nami down next to him when he felt he couldn't lift his torso up any longer. He was still incredibly drained from the near death experience he had only just recovered from, but the promise of Nami's thin body arched all along his as she mewled into his mouth while stroking his back slowly was too much for him to resist, pirate captain or no. In fact, he was willing to overlook any sort of new disease, flesh wound or heart failure that might have come upon him as long as she kept on letting him explore the depths of her mouth with his tongue like he was...
But soon Nami pulled away, her breath coming out in short pants as she regarded him with a small, shy smile. Luffy stared at her, dazed, his mind still attempting to catch up with all that had happened in the past ten minutes he'd been conscious. His lips quirked dumbly upward as he focused in on her mouth, leaning in for a continued kiss. But Nami backed away, shaking her head somberly.
"I promised myself that if you ever woke up again I would do that to you – I would kiss you. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out or anything," she explained almost sheepishly.
"Freak me out?" Luffy echoed, scratching his head. "Nami, I don't -"
"I understand it's weird, I mean, it's completely fine if you don't feel like I do. I've thought for a long time that what I felt – am feeling – was probably one sided and you have a lot of things going on so it's -"
"Nami, I think you should -"
"- Okay if you just want to pretend it didn't happen. If that will make things less awkward, or something..."
"Nami!" Luffy interjected urgently when his navigator paused in her nervous rambling to take a breath of air. "Don't say anything else!" he ordered, putting a finger to her lips and taking her off guard, his eyes completely serious. "You don't have to say any of those things. They're... they're not true..."
"What do you mean?" Nami asked guardedly, feeling a bit naked. She had just pounced on Luffy in a weakened state and kissed the hell out of him – she hadn't even meant to, it had just come out of no where. There was no denying her feelings now, not to herself or to Luffy, and the notion was terrifying.
"I mean it's okay that you kissed me," Luffy stopped when he realized how lame that sounded. "I mean... it's better than okay. It's good. Because I love you, too," Nami gasped dramatically and covered her mouth, her breath catching in her throat. Luffy smiled widely and nodded encouragingly at her.
"You love me?..." He nodded his head more vigorously. "...wait, too? Y-you heard what I said before? When you were out? You could hear me?"
"I think it's what made me choke,"
"...Oh. Sorry about that,"
"It's fine. Um, can we start kissing again? I liked that," Luffy admitted, licking his lips in anticipation, his eyes lit up with a sultry fire Nami couldn't remember ever seeing in them before. It made her body tingle oddly in lots of different places.
"Well, I want to Luffy..."
"Then let's do it!"
"But shouldn't we let the others know you're all right? They're all topside, worried sick about you," Nami explained guiltily. Much as she wanted to continue with her new found closeness with Luffy, it wouldn't be fair to the others to keep them in the dark about their captain's... full... recovery.
Luffy looked torn for a moment, his eyes darting around animatedly, before he finally sighed and abruptly sat up, rubbing his head. Nami let out a breath she'd been holding, partially relieved but mostly disappointed. If he had insisted on continuing at all she probably wouldn't have been able to deny him.
"Yeah you're right, I've gotta apologize for making them have to deal with all this. I remember Zoro saving me, and you guys giving me the antidote, vaguely. Gyah, I really messed up..."
"No you didn't!" Nami argued, sitting up with him and putting her hands on his shoulders. "Hardcandy Sweet was a twisted, evil woman and she tricked you because she knew you were a good person... there is absolutely no one to blame in this situation except for her... and, and me, too," Nami ended, lowering her head ashamedly.
"You?" Luffy asked incredulously. "Nami, if I'm not to blame, neither or you!"
"No... you took that poison for me. And you only went along with Hardcandy's plan because you wanted to help me by proving that Jon Jon was a good person, so I wouldn't feel so bad about what happened with Arlong," Nami explained.
"... That's not why I trusted Jon Jon," Luffy argued, his tone as dopey and light hearted as ever, his words profound. "Stop dwelling on the past Nami. If you got through it, and you still have all of your friends, and you still have me... then you should just move on. I wasn't thinking about you when Hardcandy betrayed me, and you shouldn't either. You two are nothing alike! Just keep moving forward. That's how I live – that's how a pirate lives."
"Luffy... you... you're right," Nami sighed, shaking her head. It was hard to believe how frequently Luffy's sporadic and emotional speeches ended up changing her mind. If it were anyone else, she might not have taken their words to heart, but this was Luffy and she trusted his wisdom, odd as that sounded
"Still, I made the crew worry about me," Luffy said, taking in a deep breath and slipping into an Indian style sitting position. Nami could tell be the careful way he was taking in his breaths that he wasn't feeling entirely recovered yet. "I've gotta make it up to them,"
"Luffy, don't get out of bed – I'll go fetch everyo-"
"Luffy? Is he awake?" a high pitched, wobbly voice asked as the door to Luffy's cabin was thrown open and virtually all of the members of the Going Merry poured quickly into the already claustrophobic room, headed by an eager Usopp. The sight they came upon was a fully conscious Luffy and Nami sitting across from each other, their hands idly intertwined between them as they stared intently into each other's eyes.
"Heyyy!" Luffy greeted his friends, waving with all of the blithe enthusiasm of an innocent child.
"Uh, yes, he woke up!" Nami informed everyone stupidly, gesturing to the tanned boy. "I was just about to go get you all,"
"Sure you were," Zoro said mischievously, quirking a green eyebrow. Nami scowled heatedly at him, partly embarrassed, while Sanji just looked crestfallen once more. Happy as she was that she had finally cleared the air with Luffy, she was far from ready to let their relationship go public. A terrible thought occurred to her as she glanced at Luffy from the corner of her eye, trying to discreetly edge away from him. Would he have any qualms about telling people of their declarations? This wasn't exactly what she considered an opportune moment, but Luffy wasn't really known for his tact.
"I was," she muttered firmly, like an obstinate child.
"Are you feeling all right Luffy?" Chopper asked, hopping forward and doing a cursory check of the boy's eyes, temperature and mouth, peering down his throat as Luffy obediently opened his mouth so that his curiously long tongue hung out like a dog's.
"Ah-hu," he said with his mouth still wide open. "uch eheher,"
"Oh, good," Chopper said with real relief in his voice. "I wasn't sure how the recovery process was going to go, but you seem to be healing really well."
"Yeah, I feel good," Luffy added once his mouth was back to its normal position. "Just a bit tired I guess. Thanks for helping me out, guys. I kind of remember Zoro stepping in to deal with Hardcandy, and then I remember Chopper trying to force some terrible tasting crap down my throat..." Everyone winced as they remembered that terrible episode, as well. "What happened, exactly?"
"Well, I had been practicing in a dojo on the outskirts of town," Zoro explained, leaning against the cabin wall and beginning the tale. "When I heard that the reigning mob boss in town was also a swordsman, I saw it as an opportunity to challenge another worthy opponent and spread my name around a bit. When I finally located her, I found you and Nami about to be killed. She was an easy opponent, in terms of her skills with a sword, but then she used your antidote and Nami's life against me, and I was sort of stuck between a rock and hard place..." Zoro admitted, trailing off and letting Usopp take over.
"Meanwhile, we were all being trailed around the city by Hardcandy's men. Robin noticed them around the ship, and she happened to be reading a book about the history of Port Gold that went all the way up to modern day, so she recognized the fact that the men after us were Hardcandy's," the young man explained dramatically.
"Figures," Luffy laughed emphatically, rubbing his head and the utter predictability of his crew.
"After that, we all began to worry about the whereabouts of you, Nami and Zoro," Robin said in her quiet voice. "We considered that if we were being tailed, perhaps she had already gotten to you. So we promptly located her, and that's when we ran into all three of you at the bar and staged an onslaught that eventually took down her entire gang."
"That we know of," Sanji added as an after thought.
"They were really kick ass Luffy, it's too bad that you missed it," Nami admitted, smiling to herself as she recalled the fond memory of seeing Twizzler and Licorice fall to their knees in submission.
"Yeah, and Nami knocked Hardcandy out personally when she told us she never actually had an antidote for you," Zoro laughed, drawing chuckles from everyone else as well.
"Really? You did that for me Nami?" Luffy asked loudly, turning to Nami with a wide grin stretched across his face, the look in his eyes devious. Reddening automatically, Nami leaned away from him and tried to look affronted, suddenly aware of their physical closeness once more.
"Well of course I did! She was a big bully! I hate her," she explained defensively, nervous but immeasurably happy that Luffy had chosen not to talk about their love life in front of all their friends, and seemed to be keeping everything on the down low pretty successfully.
"Hahaha,"
"Anyway, if you're feeling better Luffy, can we hurry up and get out of here? We're all restocked and if I ever seen this Godforsaken port again it will be too soon," Sanji interrupted blandly, causing others around him to nod in solemn agreement.
"No, actually. There's something else I have to do. What time is it?" Luffy asked, folding his arms and frowning.
"Almost ten o'clock... but there's no way you can go out right now Luffy. You've got to get some sleep and give your body a chance to recuperate," Chopper said in a tone that suggested there was no room for compromise in this situation.
"Well, I guess this would be better to do when it's light out again anyway," Luffy admitted, laying back down and smiling.
"What are you talking about?" Nami asked, getting to her feet and giving Luffy room to stretch out.
"You'll see. Can you guys hang on for one more day, and then we'll leave?" Luffy asked plaintively, addressing his entire crew. Everyone exchanged uneasy glances before grudgingly conceding.
"Okay Luffy, but this better be good,"
"It is."
OOOOOOOOOOO
The next morning was a temperate, sunny day that was alight with the hushed buzzing of town gossips discussing the unbelievable events that had taken place the previous night. Word on the street was that Hardcandy had been defeated, and that her terrible gang that had been ruling over the port like a tyrannical overlord was disbanded. It seemed almost too good to be true, but there was incriminating evidence everywhere and the Cursed Pearl, a well known hangout for the female gangster, had been utterly demolished.
The Straw Hat Crew didn't hang around to hear any of the gossip however, or even to be congratulated as the people that actually defeated Hardcandy. They started off their day at Old Mr. Willith's abandoned mansion, that somewhat resembled a battle field on the inside after Luffy's none to careful handling of its intense burglar system.
Nami stood supporting said bar owner, as he was using a crutch and had his other arm bound in a sling, a purpling bruise forming on his temple. She had been embarrassed to admit that in her rush to help Luffy she had forgotten about the poor old man and left him in the bar, huddled under a table. The crew had fetched him sat Luffy's request and Chopper had bandaged him up, and now Sanji, Zoro and Usopp were inside cleaning up the mess Luffy had made.
Luffy was helping out the best he could, but Chopper had specifically forbade him from getting involved in anything too physical for the next few days. Luffy had listened to the little reindeer's words and took them to heart, but it still hadn't stopped him from calling Nami to his room and engaging in some very physical lip lock for a few minutes earlier that morning.
Feeling extreme guilt over having been duped by Hardcandy into stealing his wife's famous painting and jeopardizing its safety after Mr. Willith had gone through such pains to keep it safe, Luffy had felt obligated to reinstate the booby traps and assure the 'Springtime in Port Gold's' safety for the man. However, upon offering, Willith had declined because he felt he no longer had to worry about the painting's security since Hardcandy's gang was out of business.
"The service you and your crew have done for this city outweighs any temporary pain you may have caused me," Mr. Willith explained kindly, looking much better and more at ease than when he and Nami had first met him, despite the fact that he had gotten the shit beaten out of him since then.
"Thanks!" Luffy had replied for the Straw Hat Pirates, beaming.
Never the less, the young man had offered to at least put his house back together after the damage he had caused, and Mr. Willith hadn't turned the favor down. The crew had been annoyed at first, but Nami and Luffy convinced them to go along with the plan, as well as Robin's interest in the old man.
"Lillian Willith was really your wife? I've read about her in numerous art history books – she was truly one of the great modern painters of our time," she said, gushing as much as someone like Robin could gush.
"Yes, I quite agree, obviously. I have the largest collection of her work in the world, you know. Perhaps before you leave you would like a look?..."
"Oh, yes."
Of course, in the end it was everyone who didn't care much about Mr. Willith who had to repair the stairs, remove the various axes and spikes from the house and give it a thorough cleaning.
"I don't see how this is any sort of job for a pirate," Usopp whined to Zoro as he hammered in new flooring to the area over the trap door Luffy had fallen through.
"Just keep working. The faster we get this done the faster we get out of here," the Swordsman sighed peevishly, bringing an arm full of arrows out of the house, and ignoring Nami's jab that, underneath his tough guy exterior he was really just a big softy. Mr. Willith had booby trapped the house more thoroughly than he had ever thought possible, and he was in no mood for the young woman's teasing.
"Whoa!" Luffy commented as he found an un-activated trapdoor that pulled him into a secret holding chamber it took Sanji most of an hour to get him out of.
In the end it took the whole crew the better part of the afternoon to finish up with the house, and make it once again safe to actually live in so that Mr. Willith could move out of his apartment over the pub. For lunch Mr. Willith gave them all free food at the Sandy Merman, telling everyone stories of grandeur about the early days of Port Gold. They all ate well, except for Sanji who spent the whole time making snide comments about the chef's minimal abilities, and then said a quick farewell, eager to be free of the port before more people started recognizing them and hailing them as the vigilantes who took down Hardcandy. It wasn't that they didn't like attention, far from it, they just didn't want to get held up any longer than was necessary.
"Come back again some time!" Mr. Willith called after them. "I have a feeling this place will be much different next time you see it!"
"Okaayy! I'll come see you after I become King of the Pirates!" Luffy called back to him gaily.
"Um – all right..."
When the Going Merry finally set sail it was with a great sigh of relief, the entire crew nearly sagging with exhaustion as they smoothly swam away from the harbor.
"It's really kind of pretty when you look at it from here," Nami commented idly, resting her arm on the bow and staring at the retreating town, going over a mental replay of all that had happened to her in the past three days. It was quite a lot.
"I guess," Luffy agreed from his lounging position next to her, holding onto his straw hat to keep it from being blown away by the powerful winds coursing about the ship. The sun was hanging low in the sky, its brilliant light reflecting off of the many roofs speckled about the port, and making all of the trees resemble the metal the port was named after.
Nami found herself staring intently at Luffy's face while he continued to watch the town, wondering randomly if the good things that had happened to her due to her stay at Port Gold outweighed all of the terrible things that had taken place. Running around the port on a wild goose chase while being followed by obnoxious gangsters, getting garbage thrown on her, being kidnapped and kept in a dungeon, and forced to live through a virtual show down where her ear drums were nearly blown out, only to fret over Luffy's well being for quite an elongated period of time during which she swore he was really going to kick the bucket... all to have him confess his true feelings for her, finally.
'There's no question there,' Nami thought, grinning as she watched the water reflect off of Luffy's dark eyes. 'It was totally worth it. Every second.'
"You staring at me, Nami?" Luffy asked mischievously, peering at her from the corner of his eye as he noticed his navigator's intense gaze.
"Uh, no..."
"It's okay if you were," he admitted, coming to stand closer to her so their foreheads knocked together lightly. "I know I'm cute," He punctuated his last sentence with an award winning smile that left Nami with her mouth agape.
"Why you – you-" her shocked stuttering was cut short as Luffy slanted his mouth over hers and drew her in for another one of the many kisses he had been assaulting her with all day, having wasted no time in taking it up as his new favorite hobby. Nami had to admit she didn't mind, at all, but she worried that one day soon the others might catch them in the act. Plus, she had never thought that Luffy would be so forward and it was angering her how wrapped around his finger she was when he got all demanding and sexy. In most other aspects of their complicated relationship she felt relatively in control due to her intellectual advantages, but when he trailed his finger down her spine like that and bit on her lower lip she had the mental capacity of an earth worm.
Nami broke away briefly and carefully searched the deck, making sure that no one was close enough to spot them furiously playing tonsil hockey. Luffy watched her do this with no small degree of amusement. He had no modesty or sense of self preservation to speak of, anyway, and wouldn't have been perturbed in the slightest were the whole crew to accidentally come upon them at that moment.
"You don't mind that I don't want to tell anyone about all this, right?" Nami asked, just to be sure she wasn't offending some part of Luffy's ego she hadn't been aware of.
"Nope," he said with an affable shrug. "If the crew doesn't think we're hooking up it doesn't mean we're not hooking up," he explained.
"Right," Nami agreed, not entirely sure she was following, but relieved he was agreeing with her at the very least.
"Hey, you're going to stay with me, aren't you Nami? Until I become King of the Pirates?" Luffy asked with such a degree of earnest need in his tone that Nami's expression dissolved into a loving smile automatically.
She leaned against him and buried her face in his neck to hide the fact that she was overly pleased with his last statement, breathing in his musky, salty scent and letting him twine his own lanky arms around her waist. She opened her eyes and stared at the sky behind his head. The sun was setting once more, disappearing in a vibrant splash of yellow sparkles beyond the ocean. And in the distance she could spot the tiny, dark silhouette of Port Gold. It was almost out of sight, but still easily identified.
"Yeah... I will..." she assured her captain softly, earning an affectionate squeeze and a goofy laugh. "And maybe I'll stay on a bit longer after that, as well,"
"That would be good," Luffy agreed with a happy nod of his head, craning his neck around the necessary distance to kiss Nami properly yet again. She felt as though his skills were improving every time they did this, which was all the more reason to let him kiss her as much as he wanted. "... We should do that."
By the time the sun was fully set the couple was still lingering on the deck, seated on the ground now and wrapped in each other's arms, Nami hugging Luffy's head to her as he laughed raucously into her chest at one joke or another. The rest of the crew was giving them a respectful distance (although Nami had no knowledge of this or the atmosphere would have been much less light hearted.) understanding that they deserved some alone time with their hard earned intimacy.
The Going Merry was headed out towards another adventure where, undoubtedly, their strength, determination and morals would yet again be stretched to the very limit and then some. But this time, Luffy reflected, he was ready for it.
OOOOOOOOOOO
Author's Notes:
You may have noticed that the ending of this story was pretty subdued, overly waffy and I even attempted to be touching. That's because I am so freaking relaxed right now that writing about anything short of a hangnail in the way of drama or violence is beyond me. I guess the beginning of the chapter was pretty action packed, and Luffy did have a hard time of it with that poison in the middle, but I've been on vacation all week and at this point I've taken in so much sun and spent so much time lying in the sand like a beached whale... this was all I could manage. Sorry, I thought it was cute.
And it's over! No epilogues or sequels, I think. What else is there to say, anyway? I could do a bit about Hardcandy's life now that she's not a mob boss... perhaps she becomes a scullery maid and is terribly discriminated against by her employers because of her previous profession, and is made to suffer terribly. But even I'm having a hard time staying interested in that side story, so let's just not and say we did.
I'm still thinking about the Vampire One Piece story... but I dunno. If I get through writing three chapters I'll post it, otherwise I don't know if I could commit to that sort of endeavor. Vampire stories can be so cliché, and icky. I don't want to be a cliché, icky fanfic writer. (However, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was my most favorite show of all time, and still is, really.) (Joss Wheadon is coming out with a new movie soon! Serenity! Check it out!) (Looks like Buffy, thousands of years into the future...)
And tomorrow - Harry Potter #6! Woot! I am so excited, you have no idea. Usually I'm there at the midnight parties with my friends, one of the first in line to get the new book, then I finish it that night and get to walk around all pompous and knowing as everyone else scrambles to finish it in the next few days. But this year I'm at the beach so I've been reduced to reserving a copy at the local supermarket, and praying that the shipments come in on time.
Anyway, please review. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping I didn't get any more technical things about the show wrong. I'm really just no good for that sort of thing. I'd like to hear your opinions about how I portrayed everyone, and if I kept them true to character. I have to admit I know very little about Robin and Chopper, so there is that... but mostly Luffy is, once again, the crux of my angst. I tried, I really did. I know it's ooc anyway, but hopefully it worked for you. Thanks for reading, see you next time,
peace
Rio Grande.
p.s – just so you know, this is the first fic I finished on – ever. And I have a lot of fics laying around, with a lot of angry people waiting for endings. (Spirited Back – FUCK.) I don't know, this might not be as big a thing for you as it is for me... but I'm pretty freaking excited. I'm doing a happy dance, and I wish I could share it with you all.