Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. Holy Oda does.

Chapter 5: Defeat of the Devil

"Robin!"

The black-haired archaeologist turned her head towards the person in the doorway. She had known that day would come, but at the same time, she had feared it. "Alright," she sighed and slapped her book about ancient cultures in the East Blue region shut, then raised her head. "What is it, Nami-san?"

The orange-haired woman's face looked grey, even in the fading light of the day and with the last sunrays painting everything in a beautiful, warm orange light. Her eyes, though not as dark as had come to be usual in these days, had lost their shine. She looked terribly exhausted, a picture with which she fit in to the rest of the crew. Sanji was just a mess, Usopp and Chopper were nowhere to be seen, Franky's quiff of hair, if he showed his face outside of the ship's hull at all, was drooping constantly like if he was running short of cola, Brook only played sad songs or hung his head, and even Zoro started to show signs of tiredness.

Of course, the worst was Luffy. He hadn't left his favourite spot at Sunny's head and refused to do anything but staring out at the sea while they had departed from the island. Robin had assumed it would take them a lot of persuasiveness to talk him into leaving, but he hadn't objected. In fact, he hadn't talked at all, and it scared the calm woman out of her wits. Soon it would be too late – if it wasn't too late already. The fact that he hadn't said anything to their leaving the island – and with it, one of their scarce hopes to return their navigator to her normal state – made her worry a great deal. He had given up hope, hadn't he?

Nami let out a deep long sigh. "Listen Robin, I know you're up to something." Her gaze bored deep into Robin's own eyes, the determination inside them sending a violent shiver over the woman's back.

"Please … just do it fast, okay?"

"Nami …" Robin said in her usual calmness, but Nami interrupted her by raising her hand.

"No, please. I don't know what you planned, but just do it. I know it's selfish of me, but … could you kill me?"

Robin's heart almost stopped. "N-No! I, I mean, yes, it is! I would never … I couldn't … I …"

Nami smiled for a short moment. "Never thought I'd hear you stammering around one day," she stated, then went back to seriousness. "I'm sorry. But more than a week has passed. I don't think any of you will stand this any longer. Something has to be done, you know that."

"But … killing?!" Robin almost squeaked, which gave her serious composure several cracks. "No! I thought of dropping you next to an island and leaving you there, and after a month or two we'll come by and see if you're yourself again …" She had to admit she had taken the killing issue into consideration. But she thought she could never pull it through.

"No, Robin," Nami said firmly and positioned herself in front of her sister-at-heart, never looking away. "That won't do. What if I never change? If you'd do that, and come back to look at me from time to time and I don't change, what then? Your hope will crumble away more and more like a stale cookie, and besides, you'll need a new navigator, but I know Luffy would never replace me if I was still alive and there was the hope of my coming back." She paused for a moment, averting her eyes from Robin's horrified ones to stare to the floor next to her. "And apart from that, I … I can't live like this. It won't be me. Please Robin, please save me."

Her voice had died away to a mere whisper at her last words, and Robin swallowed hard. She just couldn't do that, could she? True, she had killed before, but did that mean she had done it happily? Of course not! And these had been people she hadn't even known …

"I'd rather die than live such a life, Robin. Honestly."

That pleading look in Nami's eyes made her hide her face in her hands. "I can't do that," she mumbled. "I'm sorry, I can't. It would not only break Captain's heart, you know."

"Okay," Nami said calmly, and as Robin looked up at her, she saw the younger woman nod slowly. "I'm sorry, but it can't stay like this."

Robin looked after her as she turned and went through the door. One minute later, she heard a shout and someone screaming and running away head over heels, and sighed with her head buried in her palms.

How could Nami expect such a thing from her? It was impossible. She could never, never do that. Never.

"I'm not going to do that," she muttered to herself and shook her head.

It was night. Everyone was sleeping the sleep of the exhausted, everyone but one person …

Splash.

"Hm?" Zoro asked no one in particular, awaking with a start from his night watch (= sleep) and turning his head to listen.

Silence.

Grumbling something, he stood up and went to the crow's nest's window which he had left open because it was a warm night. He narrowed his eyes at the horizon, but the fact that everything was dark and pitch black didn't make it easier to see anything.

He was just about to turn around and resume his night watch (= sleep) when he suddenly heard a small noise, almost inaudible and certainly so for people with lesser hearing skills than the well-trained swordsman.

"Huh?" he asked and looked at the water surrounding the ship. He narrowed his eyes once again, but he knew this noise all too well to just shrug it off. "Fuck!" he shouted all of a sudden and climbed down the rigging, jumping when he reached the middle.

"MAN OVERBOARD!" he shouted as loud as he could. "MAN OVERBOARD!"

Without hesitation or waiting for the rest of the crew to show, he tore his shirt off, kicked his boots away and jumped over the railing where he had seen (and heard) the bubbles raising to the surface, constantly lessening in numbers.

"Idiot! I didn't need your help, so fuck off!"

Zoro sighed and walked away, leaving one dripping wet and fuming navigator on the Sunny's wooden floor. The rest of the crew had gathered on deck and watched silently as the swordsman just threw them a glance and went away after having saved Nami out of the water.

She jumped, Robin though by herself. Despite her calm face, on the inside she was more than troubled about what had just happened. Nami's words from earlier resounded in her mind, over and over.

Could you kill me?

I'm sorry, I can't! her inner voice screamed. One would never guess what she was thinking by judging from her face. It was just as always; she was used to hiding her feelings well, no matter how troubled she really was.

"Brook?" Luffy said hoarsely, and the skeleton turned his empty head towards the rubber boy. "Take care of her. Make sure she won't do something stupid." With that, he turned around and wanted to make his way towards the quarters, but a hand was put on his shoulder before he had made three steps.

"Luffy."

He turned around to see Robin's absolutely unmoved face. Behind her, Usopp folded his arms above his chest, avoiding his captain's eyes. Chopper let his head hang down while Franky's face was stained by tears silently flowing from his eyes. Sanji's jaw looked so tense as if he were about to crunch the teeth in his mouth. All this told him no good.

"Come," Robin almost commanded and led him towards the observation room, her hand never leaving his shoulder. "We have to talk."

The rest of the crew followed, minus Brook who was momentarily scolded by Nami for being all bony and idiotic. Not that it mattered to him; and that was exactly the reason why Luffy had assigned him for the task.

As Franky closed the door behind them all, Robin let go of Luffy and sat down on a sofa. Folding her hands in her lap, she looked up at their captain. "You know she wanted to kill herself right now."

Luffy showed no sign of anything. He just stood in the middle of the room, with shadows over his eyes and his fists clenched by his sides.

Robin took a deep breath before slowly saying, "Perhaps we should have let her do as she wanted."

Luffy's head shot up.

"She wants to die. We should let her." She knew she was speaking on orders from her own fear, her fear of having to face a horrible and cruel task. But at the same time, she also knew that it was what Nami wanted.

"Are you demented?" Luffy asked, his voice constrained and hard, cold steel in the darkness of the room. His whole body started to shake in what was probably suppressed anger. "I WON'T LET THAT HAPPEN!"

Robin closed her eyes for a second. It was idiotic of her to think they could convince Luffy of allowing such a thing to happen, but it was their last chance. Her last chance.

"Luffy …" Sanji spoke up. "It's what she wants. You know that."

"I don't like this either …" Judging from Franky's tears, that was one huge understatement. "But Luffy, what else can we do?"

"NOTHING!" he yelled, and his dark aura blasted through the room like a large shock wave. "WE WILL WAIT!"

"We can't," Zoro simply said. He was leaning next to the door, with his arms folded and his glance lowered to the floor. "We can't do anything, and we can't wait."

"WE HAVE TO!" Luffy whirled around, his fists raised as if he wanted to fight them all. His hair was blown back by an unknown energy emerging from him. "WE WON'T BETRAY ANY OF OUR CREW! WE'RE NAKAMA!"

"It's not about betraying," Robin said, her tone still calm but trembling audibly. "It's about respecting her wishes, as nakama."

"NO!" Luffy yelled.

"It is, Luffy," Usopp said, his hand on Chopper's small shoulder who now cried silently. "We have to let her go." His voice broke at the last word, and he turned his head away as he also started to cry.

"NO! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" he yelled, his face contorted in anger and pain. "She … I … I'm in …" he started but never finished the sentence. Like a flash, he dashed out of the room, shoving them aside as he went.

"I know," Robin whispered. A tear fell from her chin onto the sleeve of her shirt, a dark stain on yellow fabric. "I know, Luffy."

She didn't have much hope to escape.

The next day, Nami got out of her curse-induced haze with a shock. She gasped as her knees gave in and she fell to the floor. Brook, who was always with her since that last night, asked her something in a worried tone, but she didn't know what. She stared at the wooden planks of the ship, but she saw nothing. And suddenly, she knew. She knew it was over, that this was the end. If she changed now, she would never change back.

Her last chance. She would take it.

She stood up slowly and made two steps in the direction of the ship's bow. Brook wanted to take her arm to help her stay upright, but she only shook her head. "Could you go, please? I want to talk to Luffy."

The skeleton nodded and turned around, not without giving her another of these worried glances. Even if he had no facial muscles, she knew what his face would look like if he had. She knew him a bit by now.

On shaky legs, she made her way towards Luffy's place as fast as possible. She didn't have much time left, but she would take advantage of it as long as she could. The last bit of her time … she only hoped they did the right thing.

"Luffy," she called softly at his back, having a slight déjà vu.

He turned slowly, and a cold hand took her heart in an iron grip when she saw his terribly expressionless face. His eyes were surrounded with red, and she knew he had cried. And it hurt her past belief.

"What?" he asked soundlessly.

She stepped forward, forcing herself to look him straight in the eyes. Because it wouldn't be long until she would never see them again. "It's ending," she said calmly. "This is the last time. I know it."

"Don't talk nonsense!"

Nami flinched at his hissed words. Luffy jumped off the figurehead and stood there facing her. She still couldn't read him … but she didn't need to. "That's bullshit! It will change, Nami," he rasped and she didn't recognise his voice anymore. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her violently. "It will change! You will be yourself again, and everything will be fine, and we will sail away and laugh about this in a year …"

Nami shook her head. "No. No year. I am dying."

"NO!" he yelled, and she swallowed hard as tears welled up in her eyes at the thought she had to leave him like this. To leave them all like this … but especially him.

"Luffy," she whispered and reached up to pull his head downwards. She leaned against his forehead, her eyes never leaving his. "You have to find a good navigator to lead you to One Piece. Make sure you'll reach it. I know you will."

"Nami!" he choked out and took her into a bone-shattering embrace. "I won't leave you … I won't let you leave … Stay … Stay with us, with me …"

"I can't." Her hands grabbed onto the back of his vest, as if they desperately wanted to hold on to this life. She breathed in his scent – she would never forget it. He was the one who had saved her long ago. He was the one bringing her to life again – real life. The first thing she had seen in her new life had been him, and it seemed only fair to her that he would be the last thing she saw. The person who meant more to her than anything else. The person she loved.

"I won't let you go," he sobbed, and she felt the shoulder of her shirt becoming wet with his tears. That was fair, too … after all, she did the same with his vest.

"You have to," she said softly and drove her hand through his black silky hair. "For your dream, you have to let me go."

"I don't want to!"

"For the dreams of all of you," she smiled in tears and backed off a bit to look him in his tear-glazed eyes. "You can't sacrifice them for me. I don't want you to. You're the captain, Captain. And they trust you like I trust you."

She smiled as he took her face in both his hands. "Do the right thing, Luffy."

He said nothing, and she felt her heart breaking in unison with his. She could see it in his eyes. If only she had more time, she could have said so much more. She could have told them all how much she loved them. Her family. And how much she loved him …

That was when the darkness came creeping into her view, and she gasped. No … no, she needed more time … she couldn't …

"The end," she whispered with wide eyes. She had said she wanted to die, and it hadn't been a lie. She had really wanted it. But now, with the end truly there, facing her, she was scared shitless. "It's coming …"

"No!" Luffy's voice was constrained, and she saw his jaw clenching. She took her hand up to caress his cheek one last time.

"Tell the others I love them …"

He bit his lip, for fear of shouting what he really wanted to say out loud and making it worse for her. He still couldn't accept it, but her scared face hurt him. "I will."

"Luffy … I …" Her eyes were wide, taking in his face as if taking a mental snapshot. To remember it through the dark. But she knew it was impossible. The dark was coming … it almost blocked her view. She sobbed dryly and clenched her hands. "Robin!"

"I'm there," she heard her friend say from somewhere behind her. She smiled, knowing that at least she could make it less difficult for all of them. But still … seeing Luffy's face like this, all tear-streaked and pained, she was tempted to try to hold on to life as hard as she could.

"Nami!" he sobbed and took his hat in one hand, setting it on her head. "Nami, hold on … don't give up, please …"

"I can't. I'm sorry …" She felt her voice going weak. It became more and more difficult to even speak.

Her eyes … her beautiful eyes. They were full of shadows, the shadows he hated with all his might. Still, it changed nothing.

"Don't give up! Please! Nami, stay with me …"

He heard the words coming out of his mouth, but he didn't think about them. Her mouth gaped as fear came over her again, he could feel it. He wanted to change it so badly … if she went, what about them all? What about him? He couldn't let that happen … he had to do something … at least, this was his last chance.

"Nami, I love you."

Realisation in her dark-stained eyes. "I … I lo–" she managed to utter, but then stopped short.

And he knew what that meant.

"No."

Hands started to sprout out of her shoulders.

He also knew what that meant.

"No!" he yelled helplessly as her mouth twitched, eager to show that evil grin that just wasn't hers. He wanted to banish it, forever.

It spread slowly … he couldn't take it. The hands grew, twisted, and wrapped themselves around her throat.

His mind went completely blank. And in that moment, he knew what to do.

With what strength was left in him, he bent forward and pressed his lips against hers in a desperate attempt to get her back. He saw her eyes widen as their mouths connected, and just in a moment she would shatter his world into pieces by saying one of those things … but right now, he didn't care. He only tasted her, her sweet lips, soft as the surface of rose petals and flavouring of … well, of her. Of her as she had always been.

Time stood still in that moment.

The hands tightened around her throat …

She sighed under his lips, and he wondered …

And then, she collapsed.

Luffy gasped as Nami went limp in his arms. He stared at her lifeless body, then slowly lifted his gaze towards Robin, who looked equally shocked. Meeting her eyes, she slowly shook her head, and he noticed the hands were gone.

Nami gasped as she shot up in her bed. Blinking furiously, she tried to adjust her eyes to the brightness of the sunlight flooding into her room.

Her room? No, a different one … infirmary?

She looked around in confusion, seeing all the instruments Chopper had arranged neatly and accurately. And Luffy. Luffy in a chair next to her bed, sleeping.

Nami furrowed her brows in confusion. What was the meaning of all this? Why was she in the infirmary, and what did Luffy do in here? He seemed to sleep soundly, his mouth gaping slightly, and looked kind of cute, actually.

She also noticed the dark circles underneath his eyes. Exhausted, yes. He looked exhausted.

Just as she opened her mouth to wake him, it came back. It all came back, crashing down on her like a massive thunderstorm. The island, the witch, what she had said … her nakama's faces … the terrible things … Luffy's face, close to her … his kiss.

She stared at his sleeping form. Had this really happened? Hadn't it been a bad dream, and now she was awake and free of it? But her feelings said no, loud and clear.

And now … was she dead? The curse, what about the curse? She had to say something sweet just to try it out … but the thought of failure, of insulting Luffy again sent a flash of pain through her chest. Even if he was sleeping … she couldn't bear it. The thought of causing him pain caused her pain, real physical pain.

Still, she had to know.

"Luffy …" she said in a whisper. "Luffy, you're beautiful."

She stared.

"You're beautiful," she repeated. And just couldn't believe it. "You're beautiful."

She had to say it over and over again, to make sure she heard it, really heard it. His sleeping form disappeared behind a hazy curtain, and she realised she was crying. But hell, she so didn't care about it.

"You're beautiful!"

Luffy jumped in surprise – and stilled when he saw she was awake.

"Luffy – you're so beautiful!" She didn't care about the sobs that escaped amongst her words. She just didn't care. All that mattered was that she was alive, truly alive, and that she could tell him, really tell him.

She couldn't help laughing. She laughed and cried simultaneously, until she felt arms slide around her, taking her in a tight embrace. "Luffy," she whispered.

"You're back."

"I am."

She saw his face in front of her. These wonderful black eyes, looking right into hers.

"I missed you … I missed you so much."

Nami smiled as he kissed her so hard as if he'd never let her go again.

It was one week later. Things had normalised again, and the crew had recovered. Brook refused to sing and play anything other than "Binks' Sake", so often they couldn't hear it anymore. Sanji was his old self again, swooning over Robin and Nami as if nothing had ever happened. Chopper and Usopp had dared to come out of their hiding places, even if they were a bit jumpy around their navigator. Zoro was as grumpy and taciturn as ever, and Franky seemed like he just couldn't stop being awfully cheerful.

Robin smiled. That moment out there on deck had been the worst in her life. She was overjoyed that everything had come out well – a fact which expressed itself not through her facial expression but only her eyes, shining brightly all the time.

She looked over to where their captain sat at the railing, fishing with Usopp, Chopper and Brook (who had put down his violin for once). From time to time, she could watch him look at Nami, a slow smile spreading over his face when she met his gaze.

Robin felt almost like a voyeur by witnessing that heavily romantic exchange of glances, but it made her glad. Because it told her they were both happy.

Author's note: C'est la fin! Hope you enjoyed :-)