Priceless

by Tutankhamun

"Oi, how come she's so pissed when she wasn't even hurt?" Ussop whispered to Luffy, watching from a safe distance as Nami yelled at Zoro. Tore the poor guy to shreds, really. Ussop was relieved that she wasn't mad at him, but he slipped a Hissatsu Ketchup Boshi into his pocket just in case he needed to make a quick escape. When Nami was on the warpath, even the most innocent bystander was in deadly peril. Of all the heroic ways the Great Captain Ussop imagined dying, being ripped apart by the navigator in one of her demonic moods was not one of them.

"Well, dunno," Luffy replied, as Chopper carefully removed a shard of glass from his arm and bandaged it. "It's one of Nami's Mystery Moods!" He said with his goofy grin.

Ussop blinked, and suddenly Luffy was twitching on the ground with a good-sized lump on his head. Nami stood over him, white-knuckled, an aura of rage surrounding her. A shadow lay across her face, masking her eyes from her nakama.

"Why am I so angry? You want to know why I'm so angry?" Nami's body trembled from the force of her emotions, but her voice was strangely devoid of feeling. Ussop broke out into a cold sweat. "These two morons went and got themselves beat up by a bunch of idiot pirates," she spat the words out of her mouth. "And they didn't even try to fight back even after they were bleeding and humiliated and kicked around and thrown through windows!" Chopper gave a small cry of fright—as if he was afraid that she was going to throw him through a window—and promptly jumped over the side of the boat. Zoro swore and dove in after him.

"Ah, but Nami, you told us not to fight anyways, so why are you so angry?" Luffy asked, poking at the new bandage on his arm.

"I WANT TO KNOW WHY YOU DIDN'T FIGHT BACK!" She yelled. "Since when have you ever listened to me, anyway? Were you just going to sit there and let him kill you? You could have died, moron! Then what would we have done, huh? You never think, do you Luffy? You idiot!" She hit him again, but this time he didn't even flinch. Ussop thought it was a good time for him to use the Hissatsu Ketchup Boshi. If her attacks weren't working on Luffy anymore, she would probably beat up the person closest to her. Clutching his heart, Ussop collapsed with a dramatic groan and decided to stay like that until Nami cooled down.

Luffy stood up and adjusted the straw hat on his head. "I wasn't going to die. I'm the man going to become the Pirate King, so there's no way he could have killed me," he explained, as if that was all the answer anyone needed.

He started to walk away, obviously considering the conversation closed. Zoro hauled Chopper up over the side of the Merry Go and both of them slumped on the deck gasping for air. Ussop twitched a little in a pool of ketchup, wondering if it was safe to get back up.

As Luffy passed by her, she said quietly, "But not me."

"Eh?" Luffy craned his head a little to look at her, but could only see her ear and part of her profile.

"But not me," she said a little louder. "I'm not like you, Luffy. He could have killed me." Zoro stopped wringing out his shirt and looked at her curiously.

Confused, Luffy turned around. "We've been in lots of dangerous situations before, Nami. Besides, I'd never let Bellamy hurt you. We're nakama."

Nami shook her head slowly. "But he did hurt me. You don't have to be bleeding or broken to be hurt, Luffy."

---Flashback---

"Hey, woman," Sarquiss addressed her, leaning on the bar as if he owned the place. "You won't survive the coming era staying with those two. I'll buy you off them. How much do you go for?"

Luffy and Zoro lay unmoving amongst shards of glass. Nami waited for them to leap to her defense, like they always did. But the pause lengthened, and neither of them so much as moved a muscle. She realized that they weren't going to save her.

They weren't going to save her.

Nami clutched Luffy's hat closer to her, trying not to feel betrayed. Trying not to feel alone and scared and weak and hideously vulnerable. Trying not to feel as if her entire body had turned to ice. Trying not to feel as if she'd never be able to smile again.

She had to get out of here. She had to do something.

"Now you've said it," she bluffed with all the confidence she could muster. "Buy me?"

"Yeah! C'mon over here. It'll be fun." Sarquiss spread his arms out and gave her a cocky smile. His crewmates chuckled suggestively, and suddenly Nami realized what he wanted from her.

She felt numb. She hated Luffy for putting her in this situation. Summoning up the visage of arrogance she had worn in front of Arlong to hide her fear, she replied, "Unfortunately I'm much too good for a team of pansies like you."

Silence descended, until a girl with pink hair started laughing spitefully, and soon the whole bar joined in.

"She's pretty expensive," Sarquiss roared, as if her answer amused him greatly. But he continued to watch her dark expression as she the jeers of his drunken crewmates echoed throughout the bar.

"Take those two and get out of my sight," Bellamy ordered. Without a backward glance, Nami grabbed a fistful of Luffy and Zoro's shirts and dragged them out of the bar.

--End Flashback---

"Oi, are you mad about what that bastard said to you? About buying you?" Zoro asked. Back in the bar he had been surprised when she hadn't jumped at the chance to make a boatload of money. Seeing how rich those guys had been, she could have said any sum she could think of and they would have given it to her. And then she would have stolen away one night with the money, laughing at their stupidity and gullibility, and made her way back to him and the rest of the crew. Money was one of her favorite things, after all.

Nami turned her head away and bit her lip. Zoro felt like the Merry Go had been yanked out from beneath his feet. Shit. Shit. Shit. Why hadn't he realized something was seriously wrong before? Nami never turned down money.

"WHAT!" Ussop and Chopper shouted, jumping to their feet in shock. "They wanted to buy Nami?"

"How much did they offer? Was it a lot? I bet it was a lot! Nami's the best navigator in the world! Even if she is really scary sometimes," Chopped shouted excitedly.

"Che, I wouldn't pay a single belli for her. She's a demon," Ussop muttered to Chopper. Out of the corner of his eye, Zoro saw Nami's lip begin to bleed.

"Oi, shut up!" Zoro hit Ussop over the head, and then clarified, "They didn't want to buy her 'cuz of her navigating skills." His voice sounded irritated to his ears, and he didn't know if it was because of Nami, Ussop, that bastard Sarquiss, or himself.

"Huh?" Chopper looked lost, but the implication struck Ussop sharply. He stuttered, trying to wrap his mind around the idea that some jerk had actually treated his nakama like a piece of merchandise. Because when all was said and done, he and Nami shared a special bond: They were ordinary people—they didn't have devil fruit powers or incredible fighting skills. She knew what it was like to be scared, to want to run away instead of fighting.

Sure she was scary and bossy and selfish and self-centered. But she was the best navigator in all of East Blue. She was courageous and would do anything for her nakama. She had fought to protect Ussop's village from Captain Kuro even though they hardly knew one another at the time. She had stabbed herself in the hand in order to fake Ussop's death and save him from the mermen. She had nearly gotten herself killed fighting a top-ranked Baroque Works agent all by herself to help Vivi save her kingdom.

"Why didn't you kill the bastard!?" Ussop screeched at Zoro and Luffy. "How could you let them get away with something that low?"

"I thought she could take care of herself, damn it!" Zoro shouted back. "Besides, she shouldn't have listened to that guy anyway. He didn't know what he was talking about!"

The two of them continued to yell at one another, and Chopper worriedly ran back and forth between them trying to make them stop. Nami stood off to one side, staring at the deck with empty eyes, not hearing a word they were saying. She felt so empty—like all her self-respect had been sucked away, leaving her with her own self-doubts and fears.

What was she worth?

"100,000,000 belli," she mused softly. "I sold myself once before for 100,000,000 belli. That's what I'm worth."

Suddenly, she felt arms wrap around her, pulling her forward until her nose was touching the red fabric of Luffy's shirt. She stiffened when she he dipped his head and buried it in the crook of her neck.

"Luffy…what…" she tried to pull away, but the iron grip of his fingers on the nape of her neck and around her waist prevented her from moving.

"Nami," his voice was serious. "Nobody can ever put a price on you."

He continued to hold her, his breath tickling her neck. Zoro, Ussop, and Chopper stopped to stare at the two of them. Nami leaned forward and buried her face in Luffy's shoulder.

"You are priceless to me."

R & R!