Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece.

Author's note: Heyho! Another LuNa, yay! Yup LuNa lovers, this is for you. Especially for Yasaonna-Chan, who requested more LuNa, and Lord Dico, because I promised a story about a crying Luffy. That's not quite it, and it's not what I promised, but I hope you'll enjoy this as a filler for the time you have to wait for the real one. So here we go, enjoy!

Ah, and I could have made this a multi-chapter story, but then you'd have come and asked for longer chapters, so …^^

¨¨°º© ©º°¨¨°º© ©º°¨¨°º© By Your Side ©º°¨¨°º© ©º°¨¨°º© ©º°¨¨

He looked down at the lifeless body of his navigator.

His face was expressionless as his hat shadowed his eyes. And his mind went blank – except for one thing.

Revenge.

"This was your last deed," he muttered under his breath, before he came at the attacker like a hurricane, and a whirlwind of punches started crashing down on him. He heard his screams, but he couldn't care less.

This man had injured (killed?) his navigator, his nakama, his friend, and he sure as hell would let him pay for it.

He would pay for it.

One minute earlier …

He immediately knew something was wrong when he heard the scream. He would recognise that voice out of one hundred. It was his Nami-san, his damsel in distress, and he would save her – now.

"Nami-swan!" Sanji sped up, leaving a cursing swordsman behind, right to where the scream had come from. Now he could prove his abilities in rescuing ladies, now he could show her what he was really worth …

He ran through the narrow alleyways of the small town, and only the random swear words behind him told him that the marimo actually hadn't lost his way once again, like he did most of the time.

Through the street, across a place, and … there …

He could see the crowd gathering around something … someone … fighting. Sure it was his beloved Nami-swan, and pictures established themselves in his mind, pictures of dirty, ugly bastards touching her, trying to get at her, and he would save her like her knight in shiny armour …

The people on the marketplace were silent, awkwardly silent. Why did nobody help her? Why did they seem so scared? If a lady's in distress, you've gotta help her, assholes! he wanted to shout but spared the air for the running.

Just as he was so close to the happenings that he could actually see them did he realise it was not Nami fighting.

It was Luffy.

And he was furious.

There was no other word for what he was just witnessing. Sanji stopped dead in his tracks. Behind him, Zoro finally skidded to a halt, cursing and panting all the while. "What the hell, shitty love-cook?"

Sanji couldn't say a thing, not even as a reaction to the insult. He didn't even need to point at the fighters – no, the fighter –, for it was difficult not to see it.

"Fuck …" the swordsman stated, staring as incredulously as Sanji.

They had never seen their captain like that. Never. And they had seen him in many situations, including several fights with themselves, especially Zoro. But this … this was just beyond all description.

"He's gonna kill him …" they heard someone mutter beside them. And they both knew: Yes, that was damn right. They didn't know what had caused his rage, but in this state, they believed him capable of anything.

Right now, he beat the living daylights out of that guy … they had never even seen him. He didn't even shout the names of his attacks, being so concentrated on just hurting and injuring and destroying that it was impossible to believe that this man would be able to survive this. And he was probably not even making use of his attacks. Just senseless punching.

Sanji cleared his throat. "We should …"

He didn't need to continue. "Yeah."

Like one person, the two of them stepped out of the circle of people and approached their captain. One to the left and one to the right, they grabbed his shoulders and tried to pull him away.

"Luffy, stop this!"

"What're you doing?"

Their words didn't affect the rubber boy. And neither did their hands. He was blind with rage, didn't see anything, didn't hear anything, and they needed some time to actually get him to notice them.

He stopped, fists clenched, blood dripping from them. It was not his own.

"Luffy! What's the freaking matter?" Sanji demanded. He couldn't see his captain's eyes as they were shadowed by his hat, the rest of his face terribly expressionless, something that clearly indicated his mood, clearer than anything else.

But before the rubber boy could even answer, Zoro gave a low growl. Sanji looked at him and saw him pointing at something … somebody?

He hadn't noticed the body before. How could he? Just how? He hadn't noticed the azure miniskirt with the yellow rings on both sides, the light green top, or the bright orange hair, usually shining in the sun. And the Clima-Tact lying next to her, slipped from her grip.

And, above all, the blood.

Everywhere was blood. In her hair, soaking the orange and making it red. In her clothes. In a puddle around her. It was everywhere.

And then, the guy in front of them. He was a pirate, too, clearly seen at his hat with the Jolly Roger on it, smeared with blood, his own or … Nami's. He was tall, with a slender figure, blonde hair and blue eyes, looking as innocent as a bruised-and-bloody-all-over guy lying on the floor could look. His swollen eyes were wide with fear – wait, was he still alive?

And that was when Sanji went mad, too.

Luffy couldn't move anymore. He should have prevented Sanji from jumping at the guy and continuing where he had stopped. But he just couldn't, and neither could he go for it himself anymore. It was all so equal now. Everything. He heard Zoro yell something and saw him grabbing Sanji around the waist, trying his best to pull the (literally) burning cook away. He knew he should help. But he couldn't.

He also should have prevented the man injuring her in the first place. He was the captain, the damn captain, and he was supposed to care for them, for her. To not let something like this happen.

I failed.

His eyes were blank as they stared at the lifeless figure on the floor. He wanted to hurry over, to take her up, to never let her go – but he was scared as hell to go there. He was so scared to turn her over and find her … dead.

She couldn't be dead. She was a girl, and she had the second-lowest bounty of the crew, but she was probably stronger than all of them. She could take so much more, she could fight so much better, but now …

One step.

He had to know.

Two steps.

Please, let her be alive …

Three steps.

Nami …

Four steps.

… be alive …

Five steps.

He bent down, slowly. He touched her arm. It felt cold, so incredibly cold. He looked down at his hand, it was shaking. Slowly, he turned her over, afraid of what he could find …

"Captain-san! What happened?"

"Oh God, we need a doctor!"

"You're the doctor, Chopper! … KYAAAA! NAMI!"

"Yoho!"

"Nami-neechan!"

Her eyes were closed. Her mouth gaped slightly. Were it not for all the blood and the cuts, she could have been asleep.

"She lost so much blood …"

"We need to take her to the ship …"

"She's dead, isn't she?"

He heard them, but he didn't hear them.

He saw them, but he didn't see them.

He felt them, the hands on his shoulders, but he didn't feel them.

Nothing mattered anymore.

"Nami …" he heard himself whisper as one hand of his caressed her cheek on its own. When he took it back, there was blood on it. He stared at it, his mind still blank. It just couldn't be. That was not right. So not right.

The red on his hand washed out as it started to rain, clear water blending with the blood, drip by drip. It dissipated into the translucent fluid while he stared. Nami's blood, Nami's life. Dissipating. It just couldn't be.

He didn't notice that it was not raining until Usopp bent down to him, eyes wide and looking shocked. "Luffy, you're crying …"

Nothing mattered anymore.

"Hey, lovely lady …"

"God, this guy sounds just like Sanji," she muttered to herself, not bothering to turn around. She wasn't here for flirting but to collect information.

"I said, HEY!"

She rolled her eyes, deciding to just get rid of him and then go on. "What's the matter?" she asked while turning to the guy. He was tall, about ten years older than her, and he was already uncomfortably close. She didn't like this at all.

"Listen, pretty girl. What about taking a hotel room and just have fun?" he said with this kind of smile that sends shivers down your spine. "I'll even pay for it, what'd ya say?" His embarrassing hat showed the Jolly Roger of the pirate crew he obviously belonged to. But pirate or not, Nami wasn't interested.

"No, sorry," she turned him off and went on. She didn't have time for this, the Log Pose was almost set as this island was small and they needed to go on.

But before she could put her thoughts into practice, she was stopped by a thing right in front of her. A body not allowing her to continue her way.

"Stop that already," she growled angrily and wanted to go past him, but he grabbed her wrist.

Sighing, she pulled her Clima Tact out of her cleavage. She knew she couldn't avoid this fight anymore. As she looked up at him with narrowed eyes, she gasped.

He was a lion.

His blonde hair all around his face like a mane and his teeth growing with every second that passed, he transformed into a lion. "My name is Richie, captain of the Lion Pirates. And you just don't turn me down without paying for it," he smirked and showed his teeth.

And before she could get over the shock, he had already grabbed her other wrist, the one with the Clima Tact, and bit her in the shoulder.

"KYAAAAAAA!" she yelped, the Clima Tact falling down, but just by instinct, smashed her other fist right into his face.

That was too much. A claw raised and slapped her across the face.

She screamed.

"Luffy, you need to release your grip, or we can't …"

"No."

Everybody stared at their captain. He was holding Nami's hand in a firm grip and wouldn't let go, no matter how hard they tried to persuade him, so they just took the navigator's body up on a stretcher Chopper had hurried to get from the ship's infirmary and started to take her back, with Luffy going beside it.

The lion guy, however, was left behind. Neither of them knew if he was still breathing after first Luffy and then Sanji had finished him off, but it was equal to them after they had heard that he was the guy who had battered their nakama like this. Even Chopper showed an astonishingly indifferent attitude towards him, and since he was a doctor used to help sick or injured people to get better, that was quite remarkable.

All the while Nami's motionless body (corpse?) was carried back to the ship, Luffy never left her side, holding her hand like it was his last chance. Her last chance. He wanted to hold her close, to not let her go, because something told him if he did, she would never come back again.

He wanted to talk to her, to call her and lead her the way back to them, but he couldn't speak. All he could do was hold her hand.

Which he did.

He didn't notice the little reindeer doctor's sad glance upon him. Nami was alive at the moment, yes, but there was barely enough life left in her. Chopper didn't know if it was enough. She had lost a large amount of blood through all the scratches and bite injuries – seriously, what had she done to deserve this? Chopper knew the navigator, he knew she could be scary or feisty or even impertinent, but this was nothing you did to someone just because of a careless utterance. Unless you were the world's biggest asshole.

He hoped for him to go to hell right now. He had never experienced such a hate, he wasn't really the one to hate people. He was a doctor after all, helping people, and not hating them. But he knew he hated that guy.

"Chopper, is she still alive?" Usopp whispered quietly next to him. Obviously he didn't dare to break the silence that lay above them all like a dark heavy blanket. Nobody had spoken a word since they had started the transport.

"Yes," he said as his only answer, and then went back to silence. Usopp just nodded silently. He looked like they all looked: pale and frightened, terrified, unbelieving. But the worst of them all was Luffy.

Their captain had not said one word since they had found him. He was not even pale, or frightened, or terrified and unbelieving. His face was horribly expressionless, with his eyes barely seen under the shadows his hat cast over them, so unlike the Luffy they all knew and loved. This face was reserved for the most evil enemies alone. For those who had done something so wrong it was hard to believe.

The only difference were the tears that kept streaming from out of the shadows, over his cheeks, and dripped down from his jawline onto his red vest which was already stained dark on his chest with all the liquid.

The tears only made him more worried. Luffy never cried. He had seen him cry only two times, and both had been situations when they had lost a crewmate, Usopp and the Going Merry. Even if Usopp had finally returned, back then they had lost him.

Was this the time they would lose their third nakama?

They placed her gently on the bed in the infirmary room, and Chopper went to his work. He ordered everybody to leave the room, and they accepted it unquestioningly. Everyone except Luffy, that is.

"Luffy! Go out!" the reindeer doctor commanded, frowning at his captain while his hooves were busy collecting all the things he needed to stitch his nakama back together. "I need to go around her, which I can't when you're around like this! And I have to remove her clothes …!"

But Luffy didn't move. He lifted his head and looked at the little doctor, and looked back at Nami's pale, bloody face, without saying a word, and without moving any further. By now, his crying had ceased, but he hadn't said anything the whole time since they had found them.

Chopper sighed. He knew his captain could be a real mule when he wanted, and it seemed that he wanted it now. He didn't know his reasons, and normally wouldn't mind, but like this, he couldn't treat Nami properly.

"Luffy …"

And as if the rubber boy knew what Chopper wanted to say, he made a few steps back, stretching his arm in the process, and sat down on a chair in a corner of the room, still holding Nami's hand and careful not to stretch her arm too as he hooked his thumb in the bed frame.

Chopper threw him a curious glance, but finally nodded. It was okay like this. It must take him enormous effort to stay in this way, seeing as he had to hold up the stretched state by himself, but if he wanted it …

Decisively, the reindeer braced himself up for the tough task he had to fulfil.

Nami opened her eyes.

The first thing she did was to blink fiercely and to take both of her hands up to protect her face from the blinding sun hurting her eyes. "Ngh …"

When she had to some degree acclimatised to the bright light, she ventured to open her eyes again, slowly this time, to take in her surroundings.

And with a not insignificant amount of surprise, she realised that she was in a garden. "What the …?"

It was a beautiful garden. The most beautiful one she had ever seen, to be exact. Mikan trees growing everywhere, surrounded by flowers of all kinds and colours, in untamed-looking little beds that girdled the gravel walk, it was like a paradise to her, and her eyes widened in awe. "Whoa …" she breathed and went to a tree to touch it. It seemed healthy and well cared for, laden with large mikans that looked so inviting that she couldn't help outreaching and taking one of them.

Bellemere would've loved this … it came to her mind, and she smiled. But what's even more important, how did I get here?

She couldn't remember having entered it, and neither did she know what had happened before. She only knew it was incredibly peaceful in here.

Still smiling, she knelt down next to one of the flowerbeds. There were roses, red ones, white ones, yellow ones, even bicoloured ones, and jasmine, and gerbera in bright colours, even dandelions. There was every flower one could wish for, and she knew she loved this garden right now.

Yeah, it's really beautiful. But still … how did I get here? She frowned softly before reaching out and plucking one of the dandelions, careful not to touch the white milky fluid that oozed from its end as she stood up again.

And where are the others? she thought and looked around once more, but there was just this garden everywhere. She couldn't tell if the island they had been on had such a beautiful garden on it, they surely would let the tourists pay a fee to visit it, and she, knowing herself, would surely not pay to see a garden. Or would she?

She walked a bit on the path that seemed to lead into the mikan grove itself, so large one couldn't even see its end. Lost in her thoughts, she took the flower up to her nose, sniffing it as she went on slowly. Where were her nakama, and what did she do here? She couldn't remember a thing before having opened her eyes to this garden, but she surely had gotten here somehow, and she should know it, because she couldn't possibly having gotten here in her sleep …

"Nami."

She flinched at the voice calling her name. There were several things shooting through her head in this very second: firstly, there was another person in here. Secondly, she knew that voice, but couldn't sort it out. And thirdly, she was captured by a feeling of nostalgia so strong that it went straight to her heart.

It seemed like everything was in slow-motion in that moment, as she raised her head to look at the newcomer, the grip around the mikan in her hand tightening.

And gasped.

Chopper needed several hours to patch Nami up again, and during all this time, the whole crew was gathered on the lower deck, sitting on the ground, leaning against something or running in circles. They all wanted this silence to end, but none of them wanted to break it. They all longed for news from this little room, but none of them wanted to go there and ask. They were anxious, worried, and still incredulous.

And all the time, Luffy sat in the corner of the room, eyes fixed on her face, and held her hand as if his life depended on it. Well, not his, but he had the feeling that hers did.

Finally, Chopper let out a long breath and took the operation gloves off. "That's all I can do for her," he said, his voice filled with worry as he looked at his patient, all covered up with white bandages. He had stitched her cuts, fixed the inner injuries, and made a blood transfusion. All they could do now was hope.

"She's alive, but …" He trailed off, tears in his eyes. "I don't know if she'll survive the next few days," he then uttered, his voice strained with the huge lump in his throat.

Luffy just nodded. "Thanks, Chopper," he said in a hoarse voice that seemed not to be his own, and went back to silence.

"You can stay if you like," he said. "Talk to her. Perhaps she'll hear you."

Luffy nodded again, and the reindeer left the room, probably to tell the others how the things were. So there wasn't much to tell, he didn't know if she'd survive, so …

Luffy swallowed hard. He just couldn't think like this. He couldn't think "Let's hope she'll survive." He had to really believe it, with his whole heart and soul and being. Because otherwise, he would break down. He couldn't even doubt it. She had to survive, for the sake of them all.

Talk to her. Perhaps she'll hear you.

He couldn't talk. He feared to cry if he started talking, and that would mean he didn't believe in her strong enough. But he had to, she was his navigator, and he had to trust her like he always did when she found a way on the ocean for them all.

Now she had to find her way back home.

Luffy shifted his chair next to the bed, and his arm could relax. It was painful to be stretched like this for several hours, but that didn't matter. All what mattered was that he kept on holding her hand, guiding her back.

Nami, please come back …

And so he sat there, for days, while her condition stayed the same, and if not, it worsened slightly. Chopper feared that her wounds could become infected, and took her temperature every hour, only to find that it slowly rose. He treated her with all his capabilities, all his might, but nothing changed, and he became more and more desperate. All that time, Luffy wouldn't leave her side, no matter what the others said to convince him. That he needed to sleep, for example. That he needed to eat. It sounds weird, but Monkey D. Luffy hadn't eaten for two days, and to say the crew was worried – well, that was the understatement of the century.

Sanji tried it several times. Each time he brought the liquid food he had prepared for Nami with Chopper's instructions, he also brought a plate for his captain. And each time he came to take it back, it stood where he had left it, untouched, with Luffy sitting motionless next to her bedside and holding her hand.

The cook confined himself to a sad, but indifferent attitude. He knew what he observed was the most unusual thing in the whole wide world, but he also knew that it was an unusual situation. They were still waiting for her to wake up, or for any other sign of her recovery. It drained them of strength, and the tension was almost visible. More than usual, it came to fights and little quarrels, especially between Zoro and Sanji – and those little duels grew worse with every time –, but there had also been a time when Usopp and Chopper had almost started to fight. The situation was as serious as it could be.

Because they all cared. And Luffy was no exception. So, Sanji just let him be, even if the meals were incredibly gloomy without either their feisty navigator and their stupid and ever-grinning captain.

On the third day, however, he had had enough. They all cared. Luffy had no right to let himself go like this. He was their captain after all.

"Luffy!" he growled as he placed several chicken drumsticks with a delicious spicy sauce and a huge ball of rice on Chopper's desk. The rubber boy only cast a tired glance at him, which infuriated the cook even more. "How long do you intend to sit here and bury yourself in sadness?" He knew he was being cruel, but he didn't care anymore. He cared, too. "You don't help anyone with that! Don't you see? We need our captain back!"

He didn't move.

"Luffy! We all care about her, not only you! We wouldn't cope with losing our navigator and our captain!" he went on, getting louder with every angry sentence. He was cruel, but he just needed to say it. "We need you back, and …"

"I can't, Sanji."

He stopped mid-sentence, surprised by the answer. He couldn't? Damn, he couldn't, too! He made two steps and seized his captain by the collar. "Why, you idiot? We care too! I care too! You have no right to be so selfish!" he growled in his face.

Luffy only stared at him, eyes pitch-black and more serious than Sanji had ever seen them. "I know," he simply said, in his hoarse voice that bore witness to his lack of speaking in the last few days, yet it contained an unimagined intensity that made Sanji let him go and back off wide-eyed.

"I just … have the feeling … I have to do that … or she'll …" He didn't have to finish the sentence for Sanji to understand. With a throaty noise, the cook walked backwards to the door, opened it, and nodded before leaving the infirmary.

Luffy turned back to her face. Her pale face that looked so … no, he couldn't think it. He mustn't think it, for her sake. He had to believe it. "Nami," he whispered, almost inaudible. Perhaps she would really hear him. And come back.

"Nami, we miss you," he went on, a bit louder than before. He felt the lump in his throat, but he wouldn't cry, not now. He had to take her back. "I miss you. Please come back."

Bellemere.

She knew it had to be unreal. Because if you started to see dead people, it couldn't be real. Either you were mad or … you were mad.

"Am I mad?" she questioned, staring at the woman that appeared out of the mikan grove, with wide eyes.

The woman smiled her kind smile that Nami had always loved. She felt tears well up in her eyes. This just couldn't be true.

"Nami …" Bellemere repeated, coming closer, so close she could touch her. Slowly, the appearance lifted her hand and brought it to Nami's cheek in a gentle caress. "You've gotten so beautiful."

Nami stopped breathing. She could feel her touch; it felt true, it felt right … and yet, how could this be? Bellemere looked like Nami remembered her and would always remember her, like it was etched upon her memory, and she smiled at her like she had done when she had been a child, in those moments when she was extremely proud of her and Nojiko. But even so, she had a look of sadness shadowing her expression.

Nami gulped hard. A single tear ran down her cheek. Bellemere caught it with her thumb and brushed it away, cocking her head slightly. "Don't cry, Nami. I'm the one to cry."

"W-Why?" she stammered, not even sure what exactly she meant with that, but her mother seemed to understand.

Lowering her face, she sighed, and Nami's heart felt like it was squeezed in a big fist. "What are you doing here? I know you're strong, because you're my daughter. So what are you doing here?"

Nami did not understand a thing she was saying. "Bellemere …"

She looked up at her, straight into her auburn eyes with her dark ones, and it was like she could see down to the deepest abysses of her soul. Nami had always had the feeling that this woman knew everything about her. She was her mother after all.

"Nami, what are you doing here? It's not your time!" Bellemere almost scolded her. "What do you think you're doing?"

Nami felt a chill all over her body at her mother's words. What does she mean …?

Then, her eyes widened further, this time in realisation, and she gasped, taking her hand up to her mouth. "I … am dead?"

All in one, the pictures came back. She, walking in a town. The guy, calling her. The talk. His changing. The attack. And then … only blackness. "I'm dead …" she repeated incredulously. So this is paradise? No wonder it's so perfect.

"Not yet," Bellemere took her back to reality. If this was reality at all. Her gaze seemed steady and resolute, and again, she reached up to her daughter's face, cupping her cheek with one hand. "You have to go back. This is not your time."

"Go back?" Nami asked, scared and confused. "But how? This garden has no entrance …"

"You have to find your way back, Nami. You have to fight," Bellemere told her. "I know you can. And he knows, too."

"He? Who is 'he'?" Nami asked in utter astonishment, and jerked back when her gaze fell upon the person her mother was pointing at – Just how couldn't I notice him standing there the whole time?

He stood a bit off, next to a tree, and yet she could see his eyes under his straw-hat. And the expression on his face. "Luffy!" She looked back at Bellemere. "Is he also dead? What's he doing here?" she asked, deeply terrified and almost crying. Not Luffy, too …

"No, he's not," the older woman said, and Nami's heart nearly stopped with relief. If her heart was still able to stop. "He's only here to take you back."

"Take me … back?" She stared at him again. He didn't move, he just looked at her with those eyes. She had never seen such a look on him, never ever. So sad … so … gloomy … and desperate … It almost broke her heart.

"You love him."

Her first reaction would usually be denying it. Not that anyone had ever suspected anything about this matter, though, but if it came to it, she had sworn to deny it. She had hidden those feelings long ago.

But here, in front of her mother, the person she probably loved most of all, it was not necessary. Besides, it had been a statement and not a question.

Bellemere smiled. "He's a good guy. He deserves it. And, from all I can tell, he loves you too."

Nami gasped and looked back at her mother. "What?"

Bellemere chuckled. "I always watch over you, what do you think I'm doing here? Partying?"

Nami only stared at her.

"I see how he acts. How he reacts to you. And besides, he wouldn't be here if he didn't love you." She let her hand slide down to Nami's chin. "If I were you, I'd go back with him." And here she started to frown. "Don't you dare not going!"

Nami looked back at Luffy. In this moment, he reached out one hand in her direction, as if he wanted to encourage her to take it. "Nami," she heard him whisper, and although he stood several metres away from her, she could hear him as clear as if he stood right next to her, whispering in her ear. "Nami, we miss you."

Suddenly, she had a major lump in her throat. "Luffy …" she whispered. Bellemere took her hand away, laying it on her shoulder instead.

"I miss you. Please come back," he continued, and Nami couldn't prevent the tears from streaming down her cheeks.

"Luffy, I'm right here …"

"He can't hear you," Bellemere informed her, and Nami squeezed her eyes shut. It hurt to look at him. He seemed more than sad, he seemed broken. Never had she imagined Luffy looking like that.

"Nami … I'm so sorry. It's all my fault …"

"What are you saying? It's not your fault …" Nami exclaimed in shock, but Luffy just went on, not hearing her.

"I failed as a captain. I couldn't protect you …"

Nami buried her face in her hands, sobbing. "That's not right, it's my own fault … no … not even that, it's this guy's fault … You can't protect me from everything in the world …"

Bellemere smiled softly. "Don't you understand? He wants to. Don't leave him."

"Nami, come back. We need you. I need you, too …" His voice seemed so close, and yet so far. So far away from everything she had ever expected him to say, him, the stupid idiot captain of hers, with nothing but nonsense on the brains. Nonsense for which she loved him. "If you can't find your way back … just take my hand, I'm right here …" he whispered, and Bellemere gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze.

Nami raised her head, looking at her mother who just smiled. "Go, Nami. Go with him."

"But … what about you?" she asked with a small voice. For a little moment, she had allowed herself the hope to get her mother back … but that was not realistic.

"I'll be fine," she reassured her. "This is my paradise, after all."

Nami couldn't help but smile through her tears as her mother pushed her forward, in Luffy's direction. "Go, Nami. We'll have enough time for ourselves when it's nearer the time."

Nami walked to Luffy, not able to fight the tears that started wetting her face again. It was hard for her. Either she left her mother, or she left Luffy and her nakama. But finally, she held the hope to see her again, someday. And this was not the time. At least she now knew that Bellemere would be fine.

With one last glance back at Bellemere's smiling figure, she reached for Luffy's hand.

Goodbye, Bellemere …

Everything hurt like hell, everything. Every limb, every fibre of her body, of her whole being.

When she opened her eyes, she immediately knew this was real. This was life. Because in paradise, there just couldn't be such pain.

She hesitated a few moments, mainly because she couldn't do much else, and felt her breath streaming in and out of her body. Even if it hurt, she was alive. She was alive, and everything was okay … She was surprised when she felt tears run down her face. It had been a dream, right? Or not …?

But, dream or not, she didn't have the slightest doubt to see Bellemere again, someday. The thought let her smile – but not much, because every move hurt.

Just then did she hear small breathing noises come from her left, and she forced herself to turn her head. Seeing Luffy sitting there she smiled again, no matter how much pain it caused, because she just couldn't help it. He was sleeping, his head leant backwards, and his mouth gaped slightly. He just looked so cute …

Her eyes fell upon his hand, just inches away from her own, lying there with its palm towards the ceiling and his fingers slightly curled up, and she smiled seeing that hers had the opposite position, like he had held it. She liked that thought.

When the door opened, Nami tried to turn her head, which was very painful, but she could see Chopper's tiny antlers and his hat nonetheless. Seeming quite concerned, the reindeer-doctor looked at the sleeping Luffy as if he was not sure whether to wake him up or just leave it be, and then shrugged, apparently leaving him to sleep. He turned to his desk and picked up some papers on a clipboard, but when he turned around to look at his patient, he dropped them right away. "GYAA!" he exclaimed, obviously surprised that she was awake.

Nami screwed up her face in pain. Even the noises hurt …

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" her little nakama immediately stammered, hurrying to her side and turning to his human form. "Nami! Are you okay?"

"Ungh …" a noise came from beside them, and Nami shifted her eyes to her captain, half-awake now, rubbing his eyes with the hand that didn't lie on the bed. "Chopper, wha –," he started but trailed off when his tired glance fell upon Nami looking back at him, and his eyes widened.

"I'm sorry, it was the surprise," Chopper said apologetically and immediately went to 'doctor mode', handling several medical devices at once and posing so much questions in close succession that Nami almost became dizzy. She couldn't answer even one of them, since her dry mouth and throat refused to form the words. Instead, she limited her movements down to following Luffy with her eyes as he stared down at her, then their hands, and back at her.

"Luffy! Get here! Hold this!" Chopper commanded, and Luffy's body did what it was told. His eyes, however, rested on Nami, as well as his whole mind. He could have said so much, were it not for the thoughts swirling around in his head like mad, and for a sudden incapability to speak. His mouth gaped uselessly.

He felt his heart beating in his chest, so hard he thought it would explode every second. She was there. She was back. She was alive.

"What's that noise?" someone questioned from the door, but didn't need an answer. "EVERYONE! GET HERE! NAMI'S AWAKE!" Usopp screamed outside the room, and several shrieks were heard.

Luffy didn't care. Slowly, he started to smile.

Seeing him smile was incredibly beautiful. And despite the pain, despite the noises her nakama made when entering and despite Chopper's loud orders for them to calm down and leave her alone, she felt like the happiest person in the world.

He had saved her, she knew that. She probably would have died without him. He had been her guiding light when she had been in the dark, not literally, but still he had led her back. Back to life. Back to him.

And she would always love him for that.

Author's note: … and? I had such a hard time writing this … I started it somewhere in September, and well, it's November now.

Did you enjoy meeting Bellemere again? I did :-) I like Bellemere. And, for the last sentence (Nami's thoughts) in paradise, I wanted to write "Goodbye, mum", but I thought it a bit too kitschy and not Nami-like. I think she always called her "Bellemere".

And before you ask, Luffy was sleeping because he had kinda "completed" his task, same goes for why he didn't hold her hand anymore.

Yup. No lovey-dovey "You're back, that's so great, because I have always loved you …", because it wouldn't fit, don't you think?

Oh, and to Richie. He died. I don't see why Ace should be the only person dying in OP. (Shadow Blackheart, you are damn right. See, he's got a name now ;-) )

And the idea with the paradise and the people who love you watching over you … that's my own view.

Over and out.