~Prelude/Chapter One~
"I'm about to lose my mind… you've been gone for so long. I'm running out of time. I need a doctor, call me a doctor. I need a doctor, doctor, to bring me back to life."~Eminem
Luffy pushed open the door to the bar. Not a single head turned in his direction, the patrons hardly paying attention nor caring that another soul just walked in. In fact, it was strange to him to have no one jumping up and shouting "That's Straw Hat Luffy!" but he had his face mostly shadowed by the hood over his head. He hadn't wanted to wear it, but Hancock had insisted, that crazy woman. She did have a point, he supposed. After all, his bounty had climbed considerably after the Whitebeard War and then he disappeared for two years. Everyone probably thought he was dead. Surely, had he been exposed, someone would have caused a ruckus.
He wasn't here to make a scene though. Silvers Rayleigh had suggested he get a bite to eat and listen to hear if any of his crew was going to show up here at the Sabaody Archipelago. He had already received a letter from Zoro that the crew was to pick the swordsman up at Kuraigana Island and Brook had sent ahead that he was taking some extra time in another kingdom, but besides those two, Luffy assumed everyone would meet here, as planned.
He plopped himself in a barstool and ordered some grub from the bartender. As he was eating, a conversation taking place in the corner caught his attention and he tuned his hearing to listen in.
"Is it really their ship?"
"For sure. That lion head is hard to miss."
Luffy smirked. Eavesdropping the conversation a little further yielded that the Sunny-Go was docked on Grove 41. That was going to be a long walk from where he was, on Grove 12.
He paid for his meal and slipped out of the bar. No one watched him go.
She was so relieved to be back. It felt so surreal, the details on how she even managed to return to Sabaody Archipelago a little fuzzy.
But she was here now, standing on the docks, staring up at the Thousand Sunny like a long forgotten dream. The thought had crossed her mind once or twice in the past month that she might not ever see the ship or the crew again…
Feeling like her heart was going to burst, Nami flipped her long copper waves over her shoulder and grasped the ladder to climb aboard. Her sandals hit the Adam Wood and she glanced around, realizing that no one was here yet. Franky was in charge of the ship, but she assumed that he must've left to restock or something.
Restless and nervous, she paced the ship, her footsteps hollow and lonely as she waited for the rest of her nakama to finally reunite. She missed them more than she thought she could bear and more times than not over the past two years, she found herself wishing for their courage to get her through her training. And when her training was done…
She laid her hand over the left breast pocket of her button down shirt. No. She was stronger now. She had to be.
Everything was as they had left it two years and three days ago. The morning they stepped off the ship in order to find Hachi's friend to coat it for them, she had made her bunk and worked on a map in the library. The ink bottle was where it had been, capped and to the right hand side of the desk, her tools and instruments aligned perfectly next to it.
No, that wasn't right…
There, on the floor under her desk, her favorite pen. She remembered now. She'd been in the middle of a fine detail when Luffy barged in, saying that they spotted the islands and he startled her so bad that she dropped the pen and blotted her map. Irate, she chased him out of the library to his delight, laughing at her.
She reached her fingers out and traced the blot spot. Luffy…
She remembered crying all night when she found out that Portgas D. Ace had been killed at Marineford. All she had thought about was Luffy and how much he was suffering. Or if he was dead. She hadn't wanted to wait to see if his obituary was in the news. Once she had pulled herself together, she went so far as to make some crazy attempts to leave the island to get to him, before the paper came in. She had called him some awful names.
God help her, where did she get off having a little stupid crush on her silly and stupid captain? She was twenty years old, for crissake! And he was… he was… he was just…
She stooped down and picked up her pen, needing something to do suddenly so that she couldn't finish that thought. Just as she placed the writing utensil back in its home, she heard a light thud outside on the deck.
"OIIIIIIIII! ANYONE HERE YET!"
Her heart skipped a beat before starting an erratic rhythm on her chest. Luffy. That was Luffy's voice.
Nami rushed out to the deck and there he was, almost like time hadn't passed, his presence so normal-looking on the ship. Except, it had and it was evident from the way he stood, taller, broader. His face had lost what remained of his youthful roundness and his hair was just a little longer, brushing into his eyes. He wasn't the skinny, snot nosed kid from two years ago. He was… he was a man.
He hadn't spotted her yet. She watched in stunned silence as he peeled off the jacket he was wearing and draped it over the chair on the lawn. And when he turned back around, she gasped, both her hands flying to her mouth.
His long sleeved button down was open and on his chest was the largest scar she'd ever seen on the rubber man. A huge X, like someone had tried to slice out his insides with a chainsaw. What had he been through during that war?
He snapped his head up and turned to face her, as if he sensed her presence. A huge smile lit up his face and she felt her heart drop into her stomach, "Oi! Nami!"
Seeing him, seeing that ravaged scar across his body, knowing that he must have nearly died during the Whitebeard War, raised some emotions in her that she didn't know she was keeping so locked up. She pointed her finger at him, her other hand on her hip, fire in her eyes. The smile dropped from his face as he regarded her swift change in attitude.
"YOU!" she growled, "You… how dare you! After everything this crew has been though together, you just abandon us and expect us to stay where we are and not come to you when you were in danger! We had to wait two years for you! You are a selfish… a selfish bastard! Moron!" she walked right up to him and poked him in the chest, hard, "That's NOT what a good captain does!"
He blinked at her for a solid ten seconds while she took a few calming breaths. Then, he did something not so unexpected.
He laughed at her. Not just laughed, but leaned over, one arm over his stomach and his other hand braced on his knee. Her anger dissipated as she watched him wind down to chuckles. Something's… different about him. Also, up close like this, she realized just how tall he was, at least six inches taller than her.
"You didn't change, Nami," he finally said. His voice was even just a little bit deeper too. He grabbed the straw hat off his head and plopped it on hers, his hand resting on the back of her head. He leaned down to her eye level and smiled. She forgot how to breathe. He was so close to her, "Not – one – bit."
A/N:
Final Thought from Nami:
I'm going to lose my mind…
I need to put a disclaimer here… Goldensomething and I wrote this story post-Tikka/Zoro but before we finished the One Piece episodes. I believe we were somewhere around Enies Lobby/Thriller Bark. Since then, we have caught up to the present. That being said, there are some inconsistencies that I have done my best to correct and edit without compromising the entire story. So please, so the sake of enjoying this literary adventure of love, loss and danger, suspend your disbelief and simply go with the flow.
Also, here's my hash: this story was written in "roleplay" format, meaning that Goldensomething and I each played a main character and told the story from their respective perspectives. In order to preserve the raw magic that is one of the BEST roleplays we've ever done, little format editing has taken place. As always, enjoy. :D
One Piece belongs to Shonen Jump and Eichiiro Oda. We thank them for their genius and giving us characters to torture. The script is mine.
Credits:
Luffy: Jesachi
Nami: Goldensomething
Sub-characters: Combine Effort
Copyright 2011-2012