Okay, I'm a bit late with posting. I said it would be on the weekend and I had fully intended it to be. I really was gonna post on Sunday. I actually should have foreseen this complication but Sunday was spent gearing up for Wrestlemania 27 and watching it with my boyfriend for the first time. I'm so not gonna go into it here though. How much it sucked, and how Jerry "The King" Lawler was screwed, and definitely not how Michael Cole is a giant cry-baby (among other less nice things).

Sorry. I get so caught up in this stuff, lets move on. Chapter 4 is finally here, this will be the last chapter in my little partnership, then it's back to just myself. Last thing- Don't forget to review people.

Disclaimer: OP Doesn't belong to me it is hereby the property of Oda until he deems it in my best interest to hand it over to me

The Attack
Ch 4

A soft sound was what woke Nami up again. She gasped in pain as she jerked awake. Brown eyes opened slightly to confirm that she was still in the infirmary and there was early afternoon sunlight streaming in through the small window. There was less pain involved in waking up this time but that didn't mean it didn't still hurt like hell. After some slight experimenting with movement Nami found she still couldn't move much and was still on her stomach. Roaming her eyes around the room she wasn't surprised to see Chopper sitting at his desk, he seemed to be mixing up something, but Robin sitting in the chair that Luffy once occupied was unexpected.

"Hello, Nami-chan, I'm glad to see you're awake again." The blue eyed archeologist said with a smile.

Nami looked up at Robin and offered a weak grin. "Hey, Robin, glad to see you too." Her eyes were drawn to the straw hat laying next to the bed. "But where's-"

Robin chuckled as she noticed where the navigator's eyes landed. "Luffy and the other's went into town to take care of some business. He left Chopper and myself here to look after you." She answered Nami's unfinished question and it wasn't exactly a lie.

Chopper looked up from his work and hopped down from his chair when he heard Robin say something to Nami. He hadn't been able to question her earlier because she had already fallen back asleep by the time Luffy had dragged him to the infirmary. He had really given the captain a good scolding when he found out Luffy hadn't followed his directions and come gotten him when Nami had first woken. "Nami, how are you feeling? Does anything hurt? Is the medication working?"

The orange haired navigator smiled gently at the doctor's worried questions and followed him with her eyes as best she could. "I'm doing better, Chopper, nothing hurts any worse than it did before anyway. The medicine helps a lot." Nami turned back to Robin and frowned. "This business wouldn't have anything to do with a certain pirate crew would it?"

The young reindeer ignored the conversation going on above his head, he was more concerned with Nami's health than what the women had to say. He was happy enough with the navigator's answer and made some notes on his clipboard. "That's good." He said, not looking up. "It also looks like your temperature is back to normal again. Your hands are healing nicely too but…"

His pause is what caught Nami's attention and she turned back to the young doctor instead of the archeologist. Chopper wasn't usually hesitant concerning anything medical. "…But what, Chopper?"

"Your back. I was able to fix the more shallow wounds so most of them won't scar but some of them were too deep for me to heal fully. I'm sorry Nami." The little doctor told her with remorse in his eyes.

"It's fine Chopper," she smiled again when the young doctor looked up at her, "I knew this was going to happen when I refused to give Luffy up to that guy." Nami looked with half-lidded eyes at the little reindeer. She had realized this already, from the moment when she saw that guy's arm turn into a whip, she knew she wasn't going to get away without consequence. She was going to have to live with the results of her decision for the rest of her life. "I just wish Luffy would let me protect him once in a while."

Chopper looked in confusion up at the navigator but Robin seemed to know what she was talking about. That didn't surprise Nami one bit, Robin always knew. "Luffy went after them." The archeologist told the other young woman after a moment.

Nami nodded but frowned into her pillow. "I know. Leave it up to Luffy to clean up my messes. Even if I don't want him to. Why does he always have to be like that?"

Smiling slightly, Robin gave a shrug. "If he didn't, he wouldn't be the captain we all look up to, or the man you love." Nami groaned but wasn't surprised Robin knew about her relationship with Luffy. Honestly she wondered if Luffy wanting this to remain a secret was even worth the trouble to keep. Chopper stared open mouthed at the news of captain and navigator being together.

Despite the feeling of total uselessness Nami knew the ebony haired historian was right. It just felt like everything that happened was for nothing, Luffy had run off to face that captain anyway, and it was all for her sake. 'I guess my so called resistance didn't amount to much. Here I am, usually the one with the plans, and I got pulled into something I couldn't even get myself out of. Once more it was Luffy to the rescue.' Nami sighed and buried her head in the pillow suddenly not in a very talkative mood.

All of a sudden from the direction of the island, some ways inland by the sounds of it, there came a huge explosion. It was clearly heard even at the docks where the Sunny was located. Robin, Chopper, and Nami all looked up at each other and after a moment they went back to what they were doing. It sounded like the guys were finished with their business.

XxXxX

It was getting kinda rowdy in the Whiplash pirates island base. Most of the crew were dead on drunk, the rest were on the way there. Captain Tison, Kuza, and the two Lisha twins were all celebrated as heroes of the crew. Risking their own lives and invading the 300 million belli Strawhat Luffy's very own ship, also taking down one of their members, all to teach those brats a lesson. For the last four days they had been celebrating their success, without a sound of retribution from the Strawhat crew.

"I wonder if that woman's dead?" Kuza asked as he and the captain sat around a table with a few other crew members. "You really didn't hold back, Cap. I'm surprised Strawhat hasn't made any fuss about it already."

Tison laughed, sloshing beer out of his mug as he did so. "What're on about Kuza? We didn't even take out anyone important, it was only one woman. 'Sides, I don' think she was dead when we left." He laughed again and almost fell out of his chair.

"Yeah, maybe your right, Cap." Kuza looked into his still half-full mug. The blond man was one of the only members to not go overboard with their celebrating. The others were taking their turn at the guard posts. Speaking of which, suddenly from outside there came an ungodly scream, and after a minute a body was thrown through the front doors… literally. One of the guards landed on the ground in the middle of the hall, rolled a few feet, and left behind a life-sized hole in the huge double doors. Silence fell immediately among the rowdy and drunk pirates.

The men stared at the door in astonishment but they didn't have to wait long to see who was on the other side. With a resounding and echoing crash what remained of the entryway was demolished. In the gaping hole left in the wall stood six people. In the forefront and still in the stance he took to punch through the door was a raven haired young man wearing a red vest. Two men stood just behind him. The first, a green haired man with three swords strapped to his waist. The other, with a lit cigarette placed on his lips. Just behind them was a large man with blue hair and dark sunglasses, what looked to be a living skeleton, and a trembling long-nosed man in overalls.

"WHERE IS HE? COME OUT AND FIGHT, BASTARD!" Luffy bellowed at the top of his lungs into the otherwise silent hall. Zoro, Sanji, Franky, Brook, and Ussop stepped forward to stand beside Luffy. They were more than ready to pay these guys back.

Luffy's black eyes scanned the room. He was searching for that familiar face of the captain guy he met before. Rage burned in his eyes like none of his nakama had seen before. Not even those that had been around with Arlong had seen Luffy go after a guy like this.

Suddenly the room broke into chaos, the Whiplash pirates jumped into action, and some actually remembered to grab their weapons. The Strawhat crew barely batted an eye as they took out the lower level grunts. They didn't have any trouble taking out any members of the higher rank either. Luffy ignored everything, he was only concerned with one man, a man he saw sneaking away out of a back door on the far side of the room. Leaving his crew behind to take care of things the young Strawhat captain dashed after his target.

Zoro watched Luffy's back as he bulled through the angry, half-drunk mob of pirates. As Luffy disappeared into the crowd the first-mate's attention was drawn back to the situation at hand. Mainly he had found his former opponent from the other day and the older blonde swordsman seemed to want a round two. Zoro grinned cruelly and locked blades with the Whiplash first mate.

Sanji used his deadly red-leg techniques on any poor soul that stumbled into his range. He was indiscriminate against his opponents, whether they were drunk or not, he didn't care. With a flurry of kicks that no normal person could track the cook blew away a large number of the enemy and still he kept going, his anger fueling him. The next move, however, was stopped by two men who stood in his path. Two dark haired twins stepped out in front of him. Each one wore a matching cocky grin.

While the first mate and the two strong twins were occupied the others were being decimated by a certain cyborg, skeleton, and sniper. Franky was taking out any and all pirates he could get his oversized hands on. Those brave enough to face Brook were sliced up by the sharp end of the afro skeleton's cane sword. Ussop hung back from the main fighting, but not because of fear, he used his Kabuto to pick off anyone who tried to escape out the doors.

Captain Tison stood calmly in one of the rooms on the second floor, he had been cornered, in his own base no less. He knew he was going to die, the older man could see it in the eyes of the black haired young man across the room from him. Amazingly Tison didn't regret losing his life to this man, facing down one of the strongest rookies to come into the Grand Line since Roger, it wasn't such a bad death.

"Come on then, Monkey D. Luffy, what're you waiting for. I'm not gonna beg, I'm not gonna 'pologize either, if that's what you want from me." Tison scowled at the still silent young captain. The fire in those black eyes only seemed to grow as Luffy continued to stare down the older pirate.

He took a step forward. "You hurt my nakama."
She was bound around the tree, blood coating her back, her clothing in ruins. The rain wasn't even enough to wash away all the dark red liquid.

Step forward once more. "You hurt my navigator."
The way Nami's body hung limply in Franky's arms as he carried her to the infirmary. Not even Chopper confident in his ability to save her.

One last heavy step. "You hurt my girl."
Nami suffering through a high fever as he wiped the sweat from her brow. Keeping watch over her at night so she knew she wasn't alone.

Luffy was right on him. The rubber captain reached up and closed his fingers around Tison's neck, he squeezed, hard. The old pirate didn't even struggle, he was at least smart enough to know that it was in vain now. Luffy's grip tightened with each second and he could feel the breath hitch in the man's throat as the air was cut off. Slowly he felt the pulse decrease till it stopped altogether and the large man went limp in Luffy's hands. The Strawhat captain let the body fall from his fingers uncaringly and he stepped back.

It was done.

The crew was just finishing off the lackeys when Luffy walked back into the main room. Zoro looked up from his spot standing over the blond swordsman, he had a nice sized cut on his arm, but nothing too serious. The man at his feet was dead. The captain looked the others over as well and they all looked just fine, even happy to have taken revenge for Nami.

"We're finished here. Let's go back." Luffy told them quietly. However, Ussop's voice stopped him from turning around.

The sharpshooter looked nervous as he asked but he had to know. "Luffy, what happened to that captain you were going after? I mean, did you get him?"

Luffy looked over his shoulder with his hair shading his eyes from sight. "It's over, Ussop." He faced forward again and continued walking out of the pirate base.

The sniper would surely have continued this line of questioning had Zoro not come up behind him and laid a silent but commanding hand on his shoulder. In so few words- "shut up." Listening to the silent order Ussop let the matter drop, it wasn't really that important anyway.

As they left the pirate base Luffy only paused long enough to watch the fuse light up and the tiny flame race its way inside the base where Franky had placed several special explosives. The resulting boom was all the captain needed to hear as the shockwave blew his hair around his face wildly.

XxXxX

It was now after lunch and the rays of late afternoon sun were still able to slip into the room. Nami watched a patch of light on the floor disappear as a cloud covered the sun outside and slowly reappear again. Nami groaned in aggravation, this was a nightmare. She was starting to hate the walls of the infirmary and it hadn't even been a complete day since she had woken up. Outside she heard the crew running about getting ready to set sail. Robin would be acting as navigator until Nami, herself, could resume her duties. She hated not being active, probably not as much as Luffy, but still it was so frustrating being unable to move.

She heard Luffy's voice from somewhere nearby but couldn't make out what he was saying. A frown slipped onto her face at the thought of the rubber pirate. Nami almost expected a visit from her boyfriend as soon as he got back with the way Robin told her of how diligently Luffy watched over her while she was unconscious. But, there had been no sign of him since the others had gotten back earlier.

"This is ridiculous." The orange haired woman complained to the empty room. She felt Sunny shift as he set out into the first waves of the open ocean after their four day stay at this island. An island she would sooner forget.

With a slow, deliberate, movement Nami moved her hands under her and pushed upwards. It sounds simple, doesn't it, lifting yourself off the bed? For the Strawhat navigator it was far from it. At the first real move in days pain seared across Nami's back as her wounds were stretched under the bandages. "Kyaa!" The scream erupted before she could stop it and her arms nearly buckled at the strain. She pushed through, however, and shifted most of the weight to her legs once she pulled them upward into a kneeling position. By the time Nami was on her hands and knees she was out of breath and panting from the effort her shaking limbs put forth to hold herself up. 'Maybe Chopper had a point, saying I wasn't ready to move yet. Dammit!'

Nami ground her teeth against another painful yelp as she slowly slid her feet to the ground and stood beside the medical bed. The young orange haired woman wavered slightly but grinned as she accomplished this small feat by herself. "Yes, now if I can just make it to the door." She muttered. A small step at a time Nami limped toward the infirmary door but on second thought she paused at the bedside table and picked up the lonely looking straw hat that Luffy had left behind for her. She glanced over the worn out hat, the many scars it had obtained through its own adventures, some she specifically remembered patching up. Others had come before she had shown up to repair it, and if she guessed right, even before Luffy had shown up. She fingered the frayed brim momentarily before placing the treasure securely on her head and once more heading for the freedom outside Chopper's infirmary.

Luffy was sitting alone on top of the figurehead watching the waves break against the bow of the ship. He refused to look back at the island and watch it disappear on the horizon like he had with so many others. The log pose had set and he had taken care of those guys that hurt Nami so after returning from the pirate base the crew had started out again. It was better that they be long gone when the marines showed up to arrest those other pirates after the townspeople figured out they weren't a threat anymore.

"You know, Luffy, I suspect that Nami-chan is waiting for you to come see her again." Robin said coming up behind him. "She was still awake when you arrived back on the ship."

The raven haired captain looked over his shoulder at the older woman. He knew she was right. "I'm the captain, Robin, it's my job to protect my crew. I failed her." Luffy looked down back to the water, his eyes showing regret. "What is she gonna say when she realizes it's all my fault."

Robin shook her head at the young man's back. "You know she doesn't blame you Luffy." He didn't respond to her. "You'll have to face her sooner or later, captain, she won't stay in the infirmary forever."

"Nami?" Suddenly Chopper's surprised voice was heard from where the young doctor was mixing some medicines on the lawn deck. "What are you doing up? You have to lay back down, walking around isn't good for your wounds, Nami." Luffy looked surprised over toward where he could see Chopper jump up and run over to the injured navigator who was at this point making her way slowly and carefully down the stairs from the upper deck. She was wearing his hat but even that didn't lift his spirits as it normally would.

'Well that was sooner than expected.' The archeologist thought with a soft smile. Robin shifted her gaze between Nami, who was now being berated by Chopper, and Luffy. Who she could tell was still feeling reluctant to face his crewmate.

Luffy followed Nami's progress with his eyes, still staying seated on the figurehead, with a soft frown making it's way onto his face. After a minute he felt something tugging on the bottom of his vest. Looking down he saw one of Robin's hands pointing toward Nami's direction and then it tried to shoo him off Sunny's head. He glanced around for the dark haired historian but she was nowhere in sight now. Frowning stubbornly Luffy refused to move until two of Robin's hands actually snuck up behind him and pushed him off the seat. The captain glared up at the pink flower petals as the extra arms disappeared.

"Chopper, I promise I'll go back to the infirmary in a little bit, okay? I have something to do first." Nami promised the worried little doctor. He was standing in front of her and wouldn't let her take another step across deck, which was where she wanted to go, even though she had already made it down the stairs without a problem.

The little reindeer shook his head determinedly and didn't move. "No way Nami. Whatever it is can't be as important as your health. Let Robin handle it for now, you need rest."

The navigator was actually shocked at the unwavering tone of Chopper's command. Normally he wouldn't dare try to order any one of the crew around like this, especially her, for the obvious fearful reasons. Nami sighed and looked up towards the figurehead where Luffy was standing. Her eyes locked with his from across the ship. Heart nearly stopping at his dark stare Nami didn't notice Chopper give her a strange look and then turn around to give the same glance to Luffy. Suddenly an arm sprouting from his pink hat caught both their attention. Robin's extra appendage tapped Chopper on the shoulder and pointed upstairs. It was obviously telling him to follow its direction and leave the navigator alone. The younger pirate finally sighed in a resigned way and muttered under his breath as he passed her to do as the hand motioned. "I'll be waiting in the infirmary when you're done."

'Thanks for that Robin.' Nami thought gratefully as she watched Chopper disappear around the corner on the upper deck. Unconsciously, as her eyes lowered, they drifted to one certain corner of the deck. She shivered in a coldness that wasn't there as her eyes landed on the tree where the swing once hung. The crew had tried to remove any traces of what had happened there, she could tell, but still the cuts from where Zoro sliced through her binds could be seen easily in the tree bark. The swing hadn't been returned to its rightful place either, leaving the tree fairly sad looking, it didn't matter how much they tried to hide it though. In her mind she could still see everything as if it had just taken place an hour ago.

"So, you all better now, Nami?" Luffy asked coming up behind the navigator and unintentionally startling the orange haired girl out of her thoughts.

She wasn't able to hide the glimmer of pain that flashed across her face as her back twisted around in surprise. "Dammit, Luffy, don't sneak up on me like that." Nami ground out as she straightened herself again.

The captain looked away more at the pain in his girlfriend's eyes than at the annoyed reprimand she gave him. "Sorry. So, you're not okay?" His wide dark eyes gazing through his bangs in concerned curiosity.

"Luffy, the only one that would be okay after so short a time with injuries like these would be you." Nami scoffed but then amended her statement after some thought, "maybe Zoro too. Honestly I don't know how you two do it, but I figured if you wouldn't come see me, I'd have to come to you." She grinned wryly at the black haired boy hoping to get a smile or laugh out of him.

"I'm sorry Nami." His unnaturally somber tone wiped away any trace of a smile from the navigator's face and she sighed. Luffy's fists clenched at his sides as he finally managed to look up at her. "I failed you. I failed as your captain and your boyfriend. I should have been here to protect you from that guy."

Nami growled under her breath before she clenched her eyes shut and shaking her head. "If anyone should be sorry, it's me. I wanted to protect you. I wanted you to be able to rely on me once in a while but I wasn't strong enough. I thought if I didn't give you up to those pirates that they would just drop it. A stupid idea but I guess it made sense at the time. For once I wanted to be the one to help you and that you wouldn't have to save me again." Nami couldn't look at Luffy as tears started to gather at the edges of her brown eyes and she helplessly tried to stop them.

Luffy didn't know what to do. Whenever Nami had cried before he had just beat up whoever had been the cause but… what was he supposed to do when he was the cause? So like in every other situation where he didn't know what was going on, and there were a lot of them, the captain followed his instincts. Stepping forward he gently wrapped his arms around Nami's waist, being extremely careful of her injuries, and laid his chin on the top of her head as she leaned into his chest.

"Instead of me protecting you, I just wound up the helpless damsel, and you had to take revenge for me. How pathetic is that?" Nami muttered into the red fabric of Luffy's vest. Tears started flowing down her cheeks but it wasn't from the soft contact Luffy made on her back.

Luffy pulled away and lifted her chin up to look directly into her eyes. "You're not pathetic, Nami, and you're not weak either. You know, you're pretty dumb for a smart person." He ignored the look Nami sent him at that remark but hurried to continue what he was saying. "I only trust my treasure to people strong enough to protect it. If you were that weak I'd never let you keep my hat. Besides, the crew of the future King of the Pirates isn't weak, his navigator included. She's very special to him."

Nami wiped away the last of her tears and smiled softly at Luffy as he reached up to finger the brim of his hat fondly and the other rested gently on her cheek. "The future Pirate King is special to his navigator too." Nami said quietly as she placed her own hand over the one of his that was against her face.

"And, Nami," Luffy suddenly began with a grin, "I…" grumble "I…" grumble "uh…"

The navigator just shook her head. Leave it to Luffy's stomach to make it's demands now and ruining the moment. She stepped away from the boy and he frowned in a disappointed pout. "Luffy did you even eat lunch today?" She asked and almost laughed as he cringed away with a shake of his head, probably expecting to be hit. "No wonder it's so loud. Well, you better go get Sanji to make you something before your stomach decides to eat itself." Nami shrugged but was surprised to find that Luffy wasn't immediately gone at the mention of food.

Instead of dashing for the galley and the cook, who Luffy was sure wasn't doing anything of importance now, the young captain leaned in and captured Nami's lips by surprise. Her mouth was left open in shock at the boy's bold move and he wasn't done yet. Luffy slipped his tongue through her lips and gave the orange haired girl a deep, passionate, kiss. One to make up for all the kisses he missed out on while she had been asleep in the infirmary. Nami quickly got over her astonishment and returned the kiss with an equal fervor. She didn't even register it when Luffy bent her back slightly with his enthusiasm.

Luffy pulled back at last and left Nami panting for breath and he was also. "I love you, Nami." He rushed on to say before his body could remind him yet again of its current problems.

"I-"

"You rubbery piece of shit!" Sanji's outraged yell tore out of the kitchen seconds before the galley door was blown off its hinges. The blonde cook stood steaming in the middle of the rest of the crew, who looked like they had fallen to the ground when the door was no longer there to support them, in other words leaning against the door to spy.

Instantly a number of extra hands sprouted all down Sanji's sides, arms and legs, then the poor chef was put into a full body bind that Houdini would have trouble escaping from. A hand appeared to cover his mouth as well. Robin winked at the two from her spot as the only crewmember who didn't fall over.

At the same time a number of apologies mixed in with weak excuses were being muttered from the others. "Yo, Nami-sis and Strawhat-bro, sorry 'bout that. Don't mind us." Franky waved as he leaned forward, grabbed the broken galley door, and set it back into place in the wall.

Nami stood in stunned silence, staring at the door she knew her nakama were still hiding behind. 'Guess the cat's out of the bag now.' She lowered her head into her hands in exasperation and chuckled disbelievingly to herself. Hearing Luffy's laughter in her ear Nami looked back up, seeing him smile happily, she matched it with one of own. "Luffy, I love you too."

=0=0=0=

Alright, that's it, the end. So on and so on. If you don't review for me at least review for my friend, she keeps bugging me about it, and honestly it's driving me up the wall. XP