Ch. 20- Forgiven

One Piece © Oda

Blizzard © Me

It's been quite a day at Marine HQ. Fleet-Admiral Sengoku was currently getting a status report on the apprehension of Shiki and his men, and he didn't notice that his pet goat was currently munching on some paper.

On the other end of the line of a Transponder Snail, one of the Marine captains was speaking.

"Yes, sir. It was indeed the Straw Hat Pirates."

"The Straw Hats?" Sengoku questioned in shock.

"We're still investigating, though, but rest assured, we will provide full details later."

"Understood," said Sengoku. "Dismissed."

With that, Sengoku hung up. He then heaved a sigh of exasperation and frustration.

After all the searching, all the investigating that they had done, he knew that the Marines were not the ones who put a stop to Shiki, once-and-for-all.

"When are 'Straw Hat' Luffy and his crew going to stop doing our jobs for us and start being REAL pirates, for a change?" the Fleet-Admiral thought aloud.

XXX

On the Thousand Sunny, it has been a day since the events at Melville.

In the women's quarters, Chopper had just finished treating Nami, who had finally recovered from the effects of the Daft Green poison.

"Looks like you've reached full recovery, Nami," said the little reindeer. "However, if I were you, I wouldn't push myself too hard."

"It's all right, Chopper," said Nami as she prepared to get out of bed. "I just wanna go outside, that's all."

"I see," said Chopper. "Then go ahead! Everyone's been waiting for you, anyway!"

Nami nodded in understand. She wouldn't blame for feeling worried, after all.

As she got out of bed, she stopped and looked at her vanity mirror, mostly at the bracelet that Nojiko had given her in the reflection. She smiled to herself. Nami no longer had any regrets, knowing now that the East Blue was safe from tragedy and that her captain had taken her back without question. With that, she headed out the door that Chopper had exited from.

"Hey, guys!" Chopper called to everyone else on the deck. "Nami's awake!"

The rest of the Straw Hats looked up to see their navigator at 100%, again.

"NAMI, MY DEAR~!" swooned Sanji as he twirled around.

"So, you feeling SUPER, sis?" asked Franky.

"Yup," Nami answered. "Just fine." She stretched her arms and sighed. "Oh, I feel so good."

"Glad to see that you're doing well," said Brook. "Now, down to important matters. Pardon me, Miss Nami, but do you mind if I-"

BAM! Sanji delivered a kick to the skeleton's afro before he could finish.

"KNOCK IT OFF!" he barked.

"Yo-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!" Brook laughed. "That was a tad HARSH!"

"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Sanji yelled.

Nami smiled at the two perverts, glad to see that everything had returned to normal.

ARF! ARF! Blizzard barked as he ran up to Nami, jumping up to her and licking her face, happily.

"Hi, Blizzard!" Nami greeted, laughing. "I'm glad to see you, too!"

However, in spite of the moment, one Straw Hat seemed to be the least joyful. That was Luffy, who was sitting on the rail, fishing. The Straw Hat captain looked back with a pout on his face before he jumped off and approached Nami.

"Hey, Nami!" he called. "You've got some explaining to do…about this!"

From behind his back, Luffy revealed the Tone Dial.

Nami gasped before she rushed down the stairs.

"W-wait, Luffy!" she stammered. "I can explain!"

"You said I couldn't beat Shiki and that we were all gonna die!" Luffy spat as Nami came over to try and take the Tone Dial away, but he kept jerking and pulling it away from her. "You've gotta be joking! Sure, he buried me and all that, but the reason why I couldn't beat him then was because I got hungry, again!"

"That's your only excuse?" Zoro questioned.

"But, Luffy," Nami began, "I only said that because-"

"I can't believe you didn't have faith in us!" Luffy argued, cutting her off. "Me, especially! You should know that you could always trust me after all we've been through, together! I'm very disappointed in you!"

Everyone stared at their captain in surprise.

"Luffy," said Usopp. "What are you saying?"

"Huh?" Luffy muttered. "What are you talking about?"

"You mean you didn't hear all of it?" Zoro questioned.

"Hear all of what?" Luffy asked.

"Nami was in quite predicament, Luffy," said Robin.

"That's what I thought, too," said Chopper. "But after I heard it-"

"Heard what?" Luffy asked, getting impatient.

"Man, you're the most thickheaded person I know," said Sanji. "Although, all I heard was Nami's message of love."

"Yo-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho…!" Brook chortled.

"I made that message especially for you," said Nami. "I thought a simpleminded idiot like you would be able to understand."

"Then maybe we should listen to it, again," Franky inquired.

"Now, wait just a minute!" Nami barked.

"Right," said Luffy before he pressed the apex and held the Tone Dial up to his hear. The moment he did, Nami started to chase him to try and get it back.

"Luffy, no!" he shouted. "It's way too embarrassing! Give it here!"

"Shush!" Luffy said. "I can't hear it!"

"Everything's back to the way it was," Nami said, "so we don't need it anymore!"

GRAB! Nami grabbed the Tone Dial from Luffy, turned it off, and ran to the other side of the deck.

"Hey!" Luffy cried as he chased after her.

Just when Nami was about to throw the Tone Dial overboard, Usopp suddenly grabs it from her hand.

"Usopp!" Nami spat.

"What the hell are you doing?" Usopp asked. "We can't just throw this away! We can still use this!"

"I don't care!" Nami argued. "Give it to me!"

Luffy snatched the Tone Dial out of Usopp's hand and clicked it back on, listening to the message. Nami gave chase after him, again, followed by Usopp.

Everyone just watched as the three fought over the dial, like a bunch of children fighting over a toy that they all wanted to play with.

"Luffy, come back here, right! Gimme that dial!"

"No, Nami! Don't throw it out!"

"Everyone…I'm sorry. Forgive me for not saying goodbye to you all, personally."

Luffy was backed up against the rail, trying to keep the Tone Dial out of Nami and Usopp's reach.

"I'm going to be a part of Shiki's crew, from now on. Please try to understand. Shiki is a very legendary man, and he's just too powerful, even for Luffy!"

Suddenly, Nami grabbed by his shoulders.

"If you fight him, you'll all be needless sacrifices."

Without warning, she suddenly pulled Luffy close…

And then…she captured her captain's lips with her own.

At first, she thought that Luffy was going to try and pull away from her, but after a moment, she felt him pressing his lips further, deepening the kiss.

It was that the she knew…that she had been forgiven.

"So…let me just say this…"

Luffy unwittingly dropped the Tone Dial the moment Nami kissed him. It bounced across the deck, and Usopp soon gave chase after it in an attempt to grab it.

However, Blizzard opened his mouth to yawn, but the moment he did, the Tone Dial bounced into his mouth.

"Blizzard! WAIT!" Usopp cried.

GULP! It was too late. Blizzard had swallowed the Tone Dial.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Please…save me…!"

THE END

Well, that's it! It's the end! I hope you guys didn't mind the bit of romance I put in here.

Anyway, read and review, please!