Quit It, Luffy!

"I'm sorry, Nami."

The sound of Chopper's voice echoed through the small room, and a deadly silence swept over, sending momentary chills down the navigator's back.

She sat, legs out in front of her, on the bed of the sick bay. The dull sheets tangled themselves around her limbs, and she uncomfortably tried to shuffle into a better position.

It took her a while to find her voice. The air around her was tense, the room too quiet for whatever Chopper had to say to be a good thing.

"What? Why are you sorry?" she asked, barely coming over a whisper in fright of the answer. "What's wrong?"

Chopper looked down to the ground for a few moments; the only sound audible the ghostly creaks of the wooden floor beneath them.

"Y-your legs," he began, voice wavering slightly. "They haven't healed properly."

Her mind was in a haze; her head was swimming with his words. She placed a delicate hand to her skull as she tried to process what he meant.

"I'm so sorry, Nami! This is all my fault!" he bawled, unable to contain the harsh sobs that ran down his furry face. "If I trained harder in our separation, if I was a better doctor!"

She stayed silent, watching the crying animal numbly. She felt dizzy, she didn't understand his words.

He repeated his sincere apologies over and over, bowing his head into his open palms. He choked on his tears briefly before making an effort to wipe them from his chin.

"Your legs, they're not going to heal. Ever."

Her heart sped up as realisation flooded to her face. She started to shake her head, clutching her mouth with a trembling hand and shutting her eyes as tears spilled down her pale cheeks.

"No," she muttered, "no, no, no!"

Her protests became louder along with Chopper's renewed sobbing. Nami clutched her numb legs, her eyes burning into them as if she could give them the power to move, to do anything.

The sound of the door being shoved open alerted her of the rest of the crew. They all stood by the frame, looks of worry and pain.

Nearer to the back was Zoro, eyes searching the floor in complete silence. Next to him stood a sniffling Usopp, who was clutching his curly hair in grief. Franky and Brook both tried to look away from Nami, strained expressions etched on their faces; Robin was closer to the front, arms folded as she tried to keep her tears from escaping. Sanji was clutching his hands into fists, angrily thumping the wall as helpless grunts uttered from his quivering mouth.

And then there was Luffy. He stood in front of the rest, hat covering his eyes. He was motionless, almost rigid if not for the steady rise and fall of his chest.

Nami turned away. She looked to the wall beside her as she lifted a wobbly finger to play with the flat surface. It was silent from then until someone broke the muteness.

"Nami," he began, causing her attention to flick to him almost at an instance.

Luffy's head had risen and he was staring intently towards the orange-haired woman. Although her head was swimming with shock and fear, she could hear the falter in his usually firm voice.

"I'm bringing you back to Cocoyashi village."

The room went completely silent again. The onlookers from the door frame gave looks or shock and disagreement, but it was nothing they would voice out. He was their captain, and he was more serious than he had ever been in his whole life.

"Y-you can't…" she began, frowning harshly and shaking her head, "You can't do that! No!"

Her voice rose as she began to sob again. She wiped furiously at the tears, but they kept forming, blinding her from the grimacing boy's face.

"Nami," he called out, causing her to clench her teeth.

"NO! I need to- no- I want to help fulfil your dream, Luffy!" she shouted, causing him to look down, hiding his face from her view.

"Nami," he tried again, his voice softer than before.

But she kept on interrupting. She cried, sobbed, screamed, growled, whined; she couldn't stop the tears.

"Please," she begged, chocking on her cries, "please let me stay."

"Nami,"

"Please! Don't leave me!"

"Nami,"

"NO! PLEASE!"

"OI, NAMI!"

The sound of her captain woke her. Rubbing her eyes, she found tears drenching her cheeks and the sheets around her were wet with her cries. She meekly stared over to the foot of the bed where the rubber-man sat, eyes full of confusion.

"Why're you crying? Bad dream?"

She couldn't speak. Flashbacks of the nightmare encased her memory, repeating and repeating until her tears started again.

The boy, alarmed, ran to her side. "Ah, Nami! Wait, don't cry! Did I say something bad?"

She tried to control herself, but she couldn't. She blindly reached over to the source of the other voice in the room and brought him close, her face smothered in his chest.

"Um, Nami? What's wrong?"

She said nothing. She just kept sobbing until she found that she could cry no more, and slowly raised herself from his torso.

Luffy carefully sat down on the creamy bedding next to her, wary of her damaged legs. He cocked his head to the side, but nonetheless waited for her to speak first.

Moments dragged on, yet he didn't push her. He obediently sat in silence, watching her trembling figure with concern.

She finally lifted her head, causing him to utter a noise of sadness at the site of her puffy eyes.

"Luffy," she whispered, making him lean forward to catch her words. "I-if my legs," she grimaced, "if they don't heal-"

"But they will." he argued, eyebrow cocked in an uncomprehending manor.

"But if they don't…" she whined, frowning and urging him to listen. "Would you ever think of…" she trailed off.

"Think of what?" he pressed.

"Would you ever think of… sending me back to Cocoyashi?"

He stayed silent for a moment.

"Well? Would you?"

"…Is that what you want?"

"Of course not! Never!"

"Then no."

"…Really?"

The utter easiness of his answer caused her to look twice. She stared at him, almost thinking it too good to be true.

"Really." he replied just as easily. "Why d'ya ask?"

She chuckled slightly at his question. "Hmm, bad dream… I guess."

He grinned at her, initiating a bright smile to erupt on her features.

"Thanks." she muttered, and he turned to her with a smaller, but sweeter smirk.

"Is there anything ya need?

"Not right now, thanks."

"Yosh! See ya later, Nami!"

The door closed behind him, leaving the room dark and silent. She shuffled uncomfortably, not used to the lack of feeling in her legs.

But she laughed at herself despite the unresponsiveness. "Didn't think I was actually worried about this…"