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rainsometimesAfter months and months since the last chapter, I’ve finally managed to complete another one of “Fine” "Absence". Hopefully not everyone has forgotten it by now. Constructive criticism is very welcome, as always (but don’t expect me to change the way I spell Zoro’s family name). This one turned out rather long, so I’ll split it up into three posts (it also divides itself like that naturally with POV shifts).
Many many thanks totonko - thrice over! - and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
wendytigges for their splendid beta. Any remaining faults are my fault alone.
Working Title:“Fine”, chapter six – I am increasingly unhappy with this too-ironic title, and I’ve been wracking my brain to come up with a better one, but no luck so far "Absence", chapter six (title change in Feb. 2010)
Previous chapters: Chapter One here, fic tag here; the whole fic on AO3 here
Here’s Chapter Five, which also links to all former chapters.
Rating: PG here; PG-13 in Chapter One. (All for violence, mentions of death etc: no sex here)
Pairing: None
Characters: All the Strawhats
Spoilers/setting: I think of this as taking place some time in the future, after the current arc (Impel Down) and other unknown future events.
Genre: Serious angst; deathfic
Summary/what has gone before: Originates from a request on the anonfic threadop_fanforall, asking for angstfic in which Luffy has to deal with Usopp being dead. He's not dealing with it very well, so far - in fact he's taken to a selective amnesia, forgetting Usopp ever existed. The rest of the crew feel they can't take this anymore and have decided to turn the ship around and go back to the island where it happened, without Luffy's knowledge.
Warning: Not only is this very heavy on angst, but it’s also very much a WIP – I’m not yet sure where the story will end up. I’m striving for something hopeful, but I cannot honestly promise I will be able to deliver it. Guilt over this is why I haven’t crossposted about this story to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
one_piece.
Also warning for author's stubborn use of alternative (Swedish) spelling of Zoro’s surname (Lolonoa) when it comes up.
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of One Piece were created by Eiichiro Oda and are owned by him and (I think) Shueisha Publications. They are used here without permission. This fanfic is to be read for entertainment only and is not used for profit.
***
The storm hit them late in the small hours.
It did not come unexpected. Nami had sensed the incoming shift in the wind before sunset, although it had still been much too early to tell how strong the winds would become, or at what time it would reach them. To be on the safe side, she'd told everyone to pick up anything lying loose on deck anyway. They also covered Chopper's medicinal plants and Robin's flowerbed, tied up the swing on lawn deck, and secured each and every hatch.
But even after all their preparations, the arrival of the storm was still a surprise. Robin and Brook had been the first to realise it was there, and had raised the alarm for everyone, awake or asleep. Up until then the night had been quiet, devoid of events. Luffy had helped arranging the sails for night sailing and trying to watch out for reefs. He’d seemed pretty cheerful about it, smiling as he watched the bright lanterns that illuminated the ship at night, and their reflections in the dark water. The crew had watched him half-smiling, half guiltily, and more than one of them had sighed in relief when their captain dropped off around midnight.
He still hadn’t asked Nami or anyone else about the current direction of the ship. During the day before, he’d been a lot more subdued than normal after his talk with Sanji. He’d helped with picking things up on deck and had talked a bit while doing so, but he’d kept the chatting down both in quantity and volume. He didn’t show as much zeal trying to cheer everyone up, either, though he still made efforts of the kind.
Occasionally Luffy had given Nami looks that varied from blankness to half-annoyed puzzlement to a weighing, considering thoughtfulness. A few times he had seemed on the verge of saying something to her, but then didn’t.
This hesitancy wasn’t much like Luffy, the crew felt. It was more like… someone else.
For Nami’s part, the tension kept gnawing on her, stronger as the day wore on; until part of her just wanted to turn around and shout out the truth to him. Just get it out, get it over with… Only it wouldn’t be over at all, of course. And mostly she still preferred to postpone the inevitable, wanting to get as close to their goal as she could before he found out.
But right now, there was no time to think much about that, as Sunny was tossed from one gigantic wave to another, the deck slanting dangerously close to the roiling water, its Adam wood creaking under the sea’s merciless assault but holding fast so far, not letting in leaks in the hold. Waves came crashing in on the lawn deck, though, submerging the grass and making the crew trip and splash as they passed it, some of the water trickling down into the machinery. Franky spent a lot of the time working with emergency patch-ups as new waves would come pouring over him, but not everything could be fixed right away, and the steering mechanisms became more erratic as a result.
Nami clung to the railing and more climbed than walked around the ship, dressed in her yellow raincoat and sou’wester and shouting orders as loud as she could, pointing and gesturing to her crewmates to get the meaning across when the winds bore away her words.
And even though in the back of her head she knew full well this was setting them back, that it would probably take them days just to get back on the right track – well, that awareness stayed right there, in the back. The forefront of her mind was focused on the here and now, filled up with danger and teamwork and taking care of the Sunny. It was tough and strenuous and dangerous – and exhilarating. Not in the least because Luffy was part of it too, woken by the alarm like the others who had been asleep, working along with the rest of them just like normal.
Eventually the winds decreased in strength. The waves calmed down and the tang of the air shifted.
Not a minute too soon, either. More of this and I’d have passed out, thought Nami tiredly, panting heavily and leaning on her ClimaTact to gather strength – she’d whipped it out half an hour ago to help take care of the sudden arrival of a pack of Sea Monkeys riding the waves, and it had been a lot of work.
Reason told her she’d gone through worse and still managed to keep fighting, but that wasn’t what her aching body was saying.
“We out of danger now?” That was Zoro – she hadn’t noticed him being close to her, but there he was. “Or just a lull?” he added, looking up at the sky. Nami looked up too. There was no morning blue sky to be seen, but the clouds weren’t stormily gray anymore, and it was definitely daylight. She sniffed the air once more.
“It’s over,” she said with certainty. Then she raised her voice and shouted, “All right, everyone! We’re through – storm’s over!”
There were various expressions of relief from the crew at that, most of them fairly low-key and tired, from Zoro’s simple “Good” to Brook’s “Most delighted to hear it, Miss Nami; I do believe I’ll go get some sleep now”. Robin just sprouted a hand right in front of Nami with her thumb up, the rest of her not visible from where Nami was standing. Luffy smiled at her widely from atop the second yardarm and didn’t say anything, at first. But after the others made their replies, he got a confused, waiting expression on his face, and then finally replied, “All right! Great work, Nami!” a lot louder.
That didn’t sound like Luffy. Nami flinched, almost stumbling on the steps up to the galley where Sanji had another pot of coffee ready. She only nodded and didn’t look back up at her captain, instead picking up her steps and fleeing into the warm galley.
*
“…Nami, do you… do you believe in ghosts?” Chopper had asked her the day before, during a quiet moment. He’d looked very uncertain and hesitant as he’d said it, maybe even ashamed, twiddling his hooves and staring down at the deck.
Nami had glanced at him and said, "You don’t mean like in Thriller Bark, right?” Chopper shook his head and started to say something, but she interrupted, "You mean real ghosts.”
Chopper had nodded. Nami had put her book away and also looked down at the deck. “I’m… not sure,” she’d said slowly. “It depends, I guess. The kind… There may well be restless spirits around, I think that makes sense. But… I’d rather believe there are other kinds of ghosts, only…” she swallowed, drawing invisible islands with her toes, “only I guess it’s selfish, thinking that. But sometimes…” She heard herself talking and stopped, abruptly. What the hell was she doing now? She really didn’t want to tell that to Chopper.
“Sometimes what?” Chopper had asked her, looking at her with wide eyes that were blinking rapidly.
“Never mind,” she’d mumbled, turning her head away. Then she’d made up an excuse about needing to look at her tangerine trees before the storm hit – which was true, but there was no reason that couldn’t have waited, or Chopper couldn’t have followed her. But he’d taken the hint and stayed behind.
The preparations for night sailing and the oncoming storm had served to keep the cold feeling in her stomach at bay right then, but now it returned with the memory. Sitting in the warm galley, drinking hot coffee and eating sizzling hot eggs and bacon, Nami shivered and closed her eyes.
Sometimes I get the feeling he’s right by us but outside, in a terrible cold, and that he’d like to come closer only we’re not letting him in. Because we don’t know how to.
There was nothing about that thought that didn’t hurt, so she wanted to keep it away from her youngest crewmate, if she could.
*
After breakfast, about half the crew stumbled off to bed again, wisely catching up on their sleep. By rights, Nami should have been among them but she felt too restless, and breakfast had bucked her right up. It seemed she really needed less and less sleep the longer she sailed on the Grand Line. And it had been awhile since her stamina had been really tested, so maybe she now had a good reserve to draw on now, she speculated as she munched on her last rice ball.
She smiled over at Sanji, who had finally fallen asleep at the table, head buried in his arms. Sometimes it was really very hard to resist mussing up his hair and kiss him on the cheek. But there was always the danger of him waking up and going nuts over it.
A hazel eye appeared out of nowhere on her cup of coffee, then a mouth formed and said, in Robin’s quiet voice, “Nami. I’ve spotted a small islet at two o’clock at some distance, but there’s a ship anchored right next to it. I’m not sure if we should raise the alarm and wake everyone or not. It might be just a wreck, but I think I saw movement.”
Nami rose and opened her mouth to say she’d go check it out, then realised there was no Robin-ear to hear her answer, so she just grabbed her ClimaTact and hurried out of there and out on deck. She spied Franky by the helm, scratching his head and frowning as he stared off across the water on the starboard side. Robin had climbed down from the crow’s nest and was standing close by, looking intently in the same direction. When Nami arrived, she handed over the telescope to her.
Evidently Robin had only told the ones who were awake right now. Well, the rest of the crew could be roused very quickly if need be, and Robin and Franky were strong enough to handle the first strike of most dangers.
Not that Nami could discern any real danger as of yet. As Robin had said, there was a small, rocky islet off to starboard about half a mile away. Seen through the telescope, it seemed to be very very oblong, maybe a hundred metres long but only about twenty metres across at the narrowest place. There were outcrops and crevices, which meant there was a good chance at finding rain water. All in all, it seemed an excellent place to anchor at while they waited for the clouds to go away so she could find the right course again. Except, as Robin had pointed out, they hadn’t been the first to find it.
“Huh,” she said. “That’s a pretty small boat. Well,” she admitted, “it looks longer than Merry was, but it’s built lower… Seems low in the water, too.” Merry had been small but she was built to sway and roll and ride on the waves without going over, whereas this ship …frankly, it looked more like a river barge than anything else. So what the hell was it doing on the Grand Line?
“Yes, and only one mast, too,” Robin pointed out, “which seems quite badly broken up by the storm. So does the rest of the ship.” Which wasn’t surprising at all, thought Nami: it was more surprising that a ship like that was sailing alone on the Grand Line in the first place.
“And there’s definitely people on it,” Nami said, for those small, occasionally moving figures she saw through the telescope had to be human. Or human-ish, anyway, she amended silently, remembering some of the creatures they’d met. “On land, too.” Some of them were moving about on the rocky islet, while others were sitting still. Maybe fishing? And most likely pointing at the Sunny and wondering about the Strawhats, although the ship and the islet were much too far still for Nami to see that kind of detail.
Franky snapped his fingers impatiently. “Hey, Nami-sis, can I use the telescope for a sec? Think I know what that is, but I want a closer look at it…”
Nami shrugged and handed the telescope over, moving to take Franky’s place at the helm at the same time. Franky went over to the railing and gazed over at the rock and the strange ship for a long moment. Then he lowered the telescope, whistling thoughtfully.
“Yeah, I’ve seen those around a few times,” he said. “They’re only used in convoys and stuff, in the middle of a whole bunch of ships protecting them from the worst of the winds and the waves. Normally at open sea, I guess they’re just extra supply ships, maybe used for fishing too. And in rough weather they get chained to a big ship at several points, and everyone who was on it leaves.”
“I don’t think I’ve heard of them before,” said Robin neutrally. “They don’t seem very useful.”
“Yeeah, they’re pretty pointless, really,” Franky agreed, scratching his stomach. “Not much use in sea battles, that’s for sure – can’t even handle the recoil, plus that close to the water is a lousy place to shoot from. Basically it’s just a big rowboat. The only real point to them is they can put a lot of people ashore pretty fast. Better than normal, smaller boats that way – they’re already in the water and don’t have to be lowered down, plus of course more people to row it makes it faster, too. They’re called ‘bagglers’, I think… or ‘gin-rowers’.”
“All right… Listen, guys, I’ll just make a small adjustment to starboard now,” Nami announced, and did so. “Just so we won’t sail away from the rock while figuring out what to do.”
“I see,” said Robin, gently taking back the telescope from Franky. “Am I wrong, or would this type of vessel be mostly used by Marines?”
Franky nodded. “You got it, babe. Right as usual.” He scratched the back of his head with a considering look, adding, “I mean, f’r all I know some bigshot pirate might use them, too, so they can get to their plunder as soon as possible… but I never saw or heard of it. Figure it’d be too much trouble for most pirates.”
“Damn,” muttered Nami. “And of course, the sail’s furled up so we can’t see if there’s a seagull on it or not… I couldn’t see any flag before, Robin – can you?”
Robin shook her head. “I see no flags. They might be dressed in Marine uniforms,” she said cautiously, “but it’s still too far to see for certain.” She looked over at the other two. “If they are Marines, I suppose the readiest explanation is that they’ve been swept away from the rest of the convoy by the storm.”
“Hm,” said Nami pensively. “That could be bad news for us, if the other ships turn up looking for this one.”
“But like I said, nobody stays on a baggler in a storm,” Franky pointed out. Then he shrugged and made a wide, sweeping gesture pointing at the horizon all around them. “Anyway, ‘s’ not like there’s any other Marine ships around now, right? I say we make anchor here. I mean, if we saw another rock around anyplace then fair enough, let those poor guys have this one, but we don’t, do we?”
“True enough,” said Robin. “I advise the same. There seems no reason why we should have to turn away in this instance.” She lowered the telescope. “There can’t be all that many of them. I say around forty, maybe fifty at the most, if there’s a lower deck.”
Nami sighed. “You guys make sense,” she admitted. “All right, then…” She paused, hearing a door open onto the lawn deck below, and a distinctive yawn. She turned around, brightening. “Hey, Zoro! Great, you’re up! Look, we’re thinking of anchoring over there…”
Zoro glanced over at the islet while she finished explaining the situation. He nodded. “Mm-hmm,” he mumbled, then sat down under the tree and started to polish his swords without a second look.
No matter. Nami already felt a lot better. The one possibly dangerous factor right now was those people on the boat. If they happened to be stronger than their numbers indicated, maybe even with a Devil Fruit user among them, it was nice to have the second strongest Strawhat up and about already.
Franky took back the helm, making straight for the islet. Nami stayed by the railing with Robin, who passed the telescope to her as they came closer.
The shouts from the other ship, the baggler or gin-rower or whatever it was, stopped as Thousand Sunny approached. Nami began to get a better look at the people onboard. They’d huddled together now and seemed to be having an agitated discussion.
“That… that probably is Marine uniforms,” she muttered. “Looks more like that than anything else..:” But few of them wore the Marine hat, apparently preferring to tie rags around their heads. The clothes seemed as ragged, torn and ripped up as those of bandits down on their luck, splints everywhere. Nobody wore the Marine neckerchief around their neck, though some seemed to use it for slings. Of course, a strong storm would knock people around a lot, particularly in a small boat, but…
“Those guys have been in battle,” said Nami slowly. It wasn’t just all the bloody patches on bandages and clothes. It was something in the way the crewmen stood and moved, and what she’d started to catch of their faces, as the Strawhats drew nearer. “A hard one.”
“I see few seagulls on the backs of their shirts,” said Robin tightly. “I think they may have been ripped off on purpose.”
Nami glanced at her. Robin’s eyes were closed, so she must be using extra eyes right now. There was a drop of sweat on her forehead. Nami blinked, then bent down and picked up the ClimaTact from where she’d dropped it by her feet.
“I see,” she mumbled, a tight knot in her stomach. “Anything else?”
Robin opened her regular eyes, but didn’t look at Nami, just kept staring across the waves. “I recognise at least two of them,” she said, her voice harder now, and clear enough for Franky and Zoro to hear her. “These men were on the island.”
“What?!” Nami let out in a shocked whisper.
Right then someone from the other boat yelled out in shock, “It really is them! I recognise ‘em too!!”
“I told you there can’t be two ships like that!” someone else shouted, sounding angry and frightened, and a third, more frantic, “Oh fucking hell!! It’s those bastards!!”
Nami heard the sound of footsteps below, and glanced down to see Zoro stepping up to the railing. He was holding an unsheathed Wadou, the sword he’d just been polishing.
She turned her gaze back towards the enemy vessel, her gaze narrowing, face setting in a hard mask. “All right,” she said tightly. “Keep going.”
Nobody on either side said anything else as Thousand Sunny slowly sailed the last remaining distance until the islet. The clanking sound as the anchor hit rock resounded in the deafening silence.
Chapter Six continues here with Part 2 (of three).
Many many thanks to
tonko - thrice over! - and wendytigges for their splendid beta. Any remaining faults are my fault alone.Working Title:
Previous chapters: Chapter One here, fic tag here; the whole fic on AO3 here
Here’s Chapter Five, which also links to all former chapters.
Rating: PG here; PG-13 in Chapter One. (All for violence, mentions of death etc: no sex here)
Pairing: None
Characters: All the Strawhats
Spoilers/setting: I think of this as taking place some time in the future, after the current arc (Impel Down) and other unknown future events.
Genre: Serious angst; deathfic
Summary/what has gone before: Originates from a request on the anonfic thread
op_fanforall, asking for angstfic in which Luffy has to deal with Usopp being dead. He's not dealing with it very well, so far - in fact he's taken to a selective amnesia, forgetting Usopp ever existed. The rest of the crew feel they can't take this anymore and have decided to turn the ship around and go back to the island where it happened, without Luffy's knowledge.Warning: Not only is this very heavy on angst, but it’s also very much a WIP – I’m not yet sure where the story will end up. I’m striving for something hopeful, but I cannot honestly promise I will be able to deliver it. Guilt over this is why I haven’t crossposted about this story to
one_piece.Also warning for author's stubborn use of alternative (Swedish) spelling of Zoro’s surname (Lolonoa) when it comes up.
Disclaimer: The characters and situations of One Piece were created by Eiichiro Oda and are owned by him and (I think) Shueisha Publications. They are used here without permission. This fanfic is to be read for entertainment only and is not used for profit.
***
The storm hit them late in the small hours.
It did not come unexpected. Nami had sensed the incoming shift in the wind before sunset, although it had still been much too early to tell how strong the winds would become, or at what time it would reach them. To be on the safe side, she'd told everyone to pick up anything lying loose on deck anyway. They also covered Chopper's medicinal plants and Robin's flowerbed, tied up the swing on lawn deck, and secured each and every hatch.
But even after all their preparations, the arrival of the storm was still a surprise. Robin and Brook had been the first to realise it was there, and had raised the alarm for everyone, awake or asleep. Up until then the night had been quiet, devoid of events. Luffy had helped arranging the sails for night sailing and trying to watch out for reefs. He’d seemed pretty cheerful about it, smiling as he watched the bright lanterns that illuminated the ship at night, and their reflections in the dark water. The crew had watched him half-smiling, half guiltily, and more than one of them had sighed in relief when their captain dropped off around midnight.
He still hadn’t asked Nami or anyone else about the current direction of the ship. During the day before, he’d been a lot more subdued than normal after his talk with Sanji. He’d helped with picking things up on deck and had talked a bit while doing so, but he’d kept the chatting down both in quantity and volume. He didn’t show as much zeal trying to cheer everyone up, either, though he still made efforts of the kind.
Occasionally Luffy had given Nami looks that varied from blankness to half-annoyed puzzlement to a weighing, considering thoughtfulness. A few times he had seemed on the verge of saying something to her, but then didn’t.
This hesitancy wasn’t much like Luffy, the crew felt. It was more like… someone else.
For Nami’s part, the tension kept gnawing on her, stronger as the day wore on; until part of her just wanted to turn around and shout out the truth to him. Just get it out, get it over with… Only it wouldn’t be over at all, of course. And mostly she still preferred to postpone the inevitable, wanting to get as close to their goal as she could before he found out.
But right now, there was no time to think much about that, as Sunny was tossed from one gigantic wave to another, the deck slanting dangerously close to the roiling water, its Adam wood creaking under the sea’s merciless assault but holding fast so far, not letting in leaks in the hold. Waves came crashing in on the lawn deck, though, submerging the grass and making the crew trip and splash as they passed it, some of the water trickling down into the machinery. Franky spent a lot of the time working with emergency patch-ups as new waves would come pouring over him, but not everything could be fixed right away, and the steering mechanisms became more erratic as a result.
Nami clung to the railing and more climbed than walked around the ship, dressed in her yellow raincoat and sou’wester and shouting orders as loud as she could, pointing and gesturing to her crewmates to get the meaning across when the winds bore away her words.
And even though in the back of her head she knew full well this was setting them back, that it would probably take them days just to get back on the right track – well, that awareness stayed right there, in the back. The forefront of her mind was focused on the here and now, filled up with danger and teamwork and taking care of the Sunny. It was tough and strenuous and dangerous – and exhilarating. Not in the least because Luffy was part of it too, woken by the alarm like the others who had been asleep, working along with the rest of them just like normal.
Eventually the winds decreased in strength. The waves calmed down and the tang of the air shifted.
Not a minute too soon, either. More of this and I’d have passed out, thought Nami tiredly, panting heavily and leaning on her ClimaTact to gather strength – she’d whipped it out half an hour ago to help take care of the sudden arrival of a pack of Sea Monkeys riding the waves, and it had been a lot of work.
Reason told her she’d gone through worse and still managed to keep fighting, but that wasn’t what her aching body was saying.
“We out of danger now?” That was Zoro – she hadn’t noticed him being close to her, but there he was. “Or just a lull?” he added, looking up at the sky. Nami looked up too. There was no morning blue sky to be seen, but the clouds weren’t stormily gray anymore, and it was definitely daylight. She sniffed the air once more.
“It’s over,” she said with certainty. Then she raised her voice and shouted, “All right, everyone! We’re through – storm’s over!”
There were various expressions of relief from the crew at that, most of them fairly low-key and tired, from Zoro’s simple “Good” to Brook’s “Most delighted to hear it, Miss Nami; I do believe I’ll go get some sleep now”. Robin just sprouted a hand right in front of Nami with her thumb up, the rest of her not visible from where Nami was standing. Luffy smiled at her widely from atop the second yardarm and didn’t say anything, at first. But after the others made their replies, he got a confused, waiting expression on his face, and then finally replied, “All right! Great work, Nami!” a lot louder.
That didn’t sound like Luffy. Nami flinched, almost stumbling on the steps up to the galley where Sanji had another pot of coffee ready. She only nodded and didn’t look back up at her captain, instead picking up her steps and fleeing into the warm galley.
*
“…Nami, do you… do you believe in ghosts?” Chopper had asked her the day before, during a quiet moment. He’d looked very uncertain and hesitant as he’d said it, maybe even ashamed, twiddling his hooves and staring down at the deck.
Nami had glanced at him and said, "You don’t mean like in Thriller Bark, right?” Chopper shook his head and started to say something, but she interrupted, "You mean real ghosts.”
Chopper had nodded. Nami had put her book away and also looked down at the deck. “I’m… not sure,” she’d said slowly. “It depends, I guess. The kind… There may well be restless spirits around, I think that makes sense. But… I’d rather believe there are other kinds of ghosts, only…” she swallowed, drawing invisible islands with her toes, “only I guess it’s selfish, thinking that. But sometimes…” She heard herself talking and stopped, abruptly. What the hell was she doing now? She really didn’t want to tell that to Chopper.
“Sometimes what?” Chopper had asked her, looking at her with wide eyes that were blinking rapidly.
“Never mind,” she’d mumbled, turning her head away. Then she’d made up an excuse about needing to look at her tangerine trees before the storm hit – which was true, but there was no reason that couldn’t have waited, or Chopper couldn’t have followed her. But he’d taken the hint and stayed behind.
The preparations for night sailing and the oncoming storm had served to keep the cold feeling in her stomach at bay right then, but now it returned with the memory. Sitting in the warm galley, drinking hot coffee and eating sizzling hot eggs and bacon, Nami shivered and closed her eyes.
Sometimes I get the feeling he’s right by us but outside, in a terrible cold, and that he’d like to come closer only we’re not letting him in. Because we don’t know how to.
There was nothing about that thought that didn’t hurt, so she wanted to keep it away from her youngest crewmate, if she could.
*
After breakfast, about half the crew stumbled off to bed again, wisely catching up on their sleep. By rights, Nami should have been among them but she felt too restless, and breakfast had bucked her right up. It seemed she really needed less and less sleep the longer she sailed on the Grand Line. And it had been awhile since her stamina had been really tested, so maybe she now had a good reserve to draw on now, she speculated as she munched on her last rice ball.
She smiled over at Sanji, who had finally fallen asleep at the table, head buried in his arms. Sometimes it was really very hard to resist mussing up his hair and kiss him on the cheek. But there was always the danger of him waking up and going nuts over it.
A hazel eye appeared out of nowhere on her cup of coffee, then a mouth formed and said, in Robin’s quiet voice, “Nami. I’ve spotted a small islet at two o’clock at some distance, but there’s a ship anchored right next to it. I’m not sure if we should raise the alarm and wake everyone or not. It might be just a wreck, but I think I saw movement.”
Nami rose and opened her mouth to say she’d go check it out, then realised there was no Robin-ear to hear her answer, so she just grabbed her ClimaTact and hurried out of there and out on deck. She spied Franky by the helm, scratching his head and frowning as he stared off across the water on the starboard side. Robin had climbed down from the crow’s nest and was standing close by, looking intently in the same direction. When Nami arrived, she handed over the telescope to her.
Evidently Robin had only told the ones who were awake right now. Well, the rest of the crew could be roused very quickly if need be, and Robin and Franky were strong enough to handle the first strike of most dangers.
Not that Nami could discern any real danger as of yet. As Robin had said, there was a small, rocky islet off to starboard about half a mile away. Seen through the telescope, it seemed to be very very oblong, maybe a hundred metres long but only about twenty metres across at the narrowest place. There were outcrops and crevices, which meant there was a good chance at finding rain water. All in all, it seemed an excellent place to anchor at while they waited for the clouds to go away so she could find the right course again. Except, as Robin had pointed out, they hadn’t been the first to find it.
“Huh,” she said. “That’s a pretty small boat. Well,” she admitted, “it looks longer than Merry was, but it’s built lower… Seems low in the water, too.” Merry had been small but she was built to sway and roll and ride on the waves without going over, whereas this ship …frankly, it looked more like a river barge than anything else. So what the hell was it doing on the Grand Line?
“Yes, and only one mast, too,” Robin pointed out, “which seems quite badly broken up by the storm. So does the rest of the ship.” Which wasn’t surprising at all, thought Nami: it was more surprising that a ship like that was sailing alone on the Grand Line in the first place.
“And there’s definitely people on it,” Nami said, for those small, occasionally moving figures she saw through the telescope had to be human. Or human-ish, anyway, she amended silently, remembering some of the creatures they’d met. “On land, too.” Some of them were moving about on the rocky islet, while others were sitting still. Maybe fishing? And most likely pointing at the Sunny and wondering about the Strawhats, although the ship and the islet were much too far still for Nami to see that kind of detail.
Franky snapped his fingers impatiently. “Hey, Nami-sis, can I use the telescope for a sec? Think I know what that is, but I want a closer look at it…”
Nami shrugged and handed the telescope over, moving to take Franky’s place at the helm at the same time. Franky went over to the railing and gazed over at the rock and the strange ship for a long moment. Then he lowered the telescope, whistling thoughtfully.
“Yeah, I’ve seen those around a few times,” he said. “They’re only used in convoys and stuff, in the middle of a whole bunch of ships protecting them from the worst of the winds and the waves. Normally at open sea, I guess they’re just extra supply ships, maybe used for fishing too. And in rough weather they get chained to a big ship at several points, and everyone who was on it leaves.”
“I don’t think I’ve heard of them before,” said Robin neutrally. “They don’t seem very useful.”
“Yeeah, they’re pretty pointless, really,” Franky agreed, scratching his stomach. “Not much use in sea battles, that’s for sure – can’t even handle the recoil, plus that close to the water is a lousy place to shoot from. Basically it’s just a big rowboat. The only real point to them is they can put a lot of people ashore pretty fast. Better than normal, smaller boats that way – they’re already in the water and don’t have to be lowered down, plus of course more people to row it makes it faster, too. They’re called ‘bagglers’, I think… or ‘gin-rowers’.”
“All right… Listen, guys, I’ll just make a small adjustment to starboard now,” Nami announced, and did so. “Just so we won’t sail away from the rock while figuring out what to do.”
“I see,” said Robin, gently taking back the telescope from Franky. “Am I wrong, or would this type of vessel be mostly used by Marines?”
Franky nodded. “You got it, babe. Right as usual.” He scratched the back of his head with a considering look, adding, “I mean, f’r all I know some bigshot pirate might use them, too, so they can get to their plunder as soon as possible… but I never saw or heard of it. Figure it’d be too much trouble for most pirates.”
“Damn,” muttered Nami. “And of course, the sail’s furled up so we can’t see if there’s a seagull on it or not… I couldn’t see any flag before, Robin – can you?”
Robin shook her head. “I see no flags. They might be dressed in Marine uniforms,” she said cautiously, “but it’s still too far to see for certain.” She looked over at the other two. “If they are Marines, I suppose the readiest explanation is that they’ve been swept away from the rest of the convoy by the storm.”
“Hm,” said Nami pensively. “That could be bad news for us, if the other ships turn up looking for this one.”
“But like I said, nobody stays on a baggler in a storm,” Franky pointed out. Then he shrugged and made a wide, sweeping gesture pointing at the horizon all around them. “Anyway, ‘s’ not like there’s any other Marine ships around now, right? I say we make anchor here. I mean, if we saw another rock around anyplace then fair enough, let those poor guys have this one, but we don’t, do we?”
“True enough,” said Robin. “I advise the same. There seems no reason why we should have to turn away in this instance.” She lowered the telescope. “There can’t be all that many of them. I say around forty, maybe fifty at the most, if there’s a lower deck.”
Nami sighed. “You guys make sense,” she admitted. “All right, then…” She paused, hearing a door open onto the lawn deck below, and a distinctive yawn. She turned around, brightening. “Hey, Zoro! Great, you’re up! Look, we’re thinking of anchoring over there…”
Zoro glanced over at the islet while she finished explaining the situation. He nodded. “Mm-hmm,” he mumbled, then sat down under the tree and started to polish his swords without a second look.
No matter. Nami already felt a lot better. The one possibly dangerous factor right now was those people on the boat. If they happened to be stronger than their numbers indicated, maybe even with a Devil Fruit user among them, it was nice to have the second strongest Strawhat up and about already.
Franky took back the helm, making straight for the islet. Nami stayed by the railing with Robin, who passed the telescope to her as they came closer.
The shouts from the other ship, the baggler or gin-rower or whatever it was, stopped as Thousand Sunny approached. Nami began to get a better look at the people onboard. They’d huddled together now and seemed to be having an agitated discussion.
“That… that probably is Marine uniforms,” she muttered. “Looks more like that than anything else..:” But few of them wore the Marine hat, apparently preferring to tie rags around their heads. The clothes seemed as ragged, torn and ripped up as those of bandits down on their luck, splints everywhere. Nobody wore the Marine neckerchief around their neck, though some seemed to use it for slings. Of course, a strong storm would knock people around a lot, particularly in a small boat, but…
“Those guys have been in battle,” said Nami slowly. It wasn’t just all the bloody patches on bandages and clothes. It was something in the way the crewmen stood and moved, and what she’d started to catch of their faces, as the Strawhats drew nearer. “A hard one.”
“I see few seagulls on the backs of their shirts,” said Robin tightly. “I think they may have been ripped off on purpose.”
Nami glanced at her. Robin’s eyes were closed, so she must be using extra eyes right now. There was a drop of sweat on her forehead. Nami blinked, then bent down and picked up the ClimaTact from where she’d dropped it by her feet.
“I see,” she mumbled, a tight knot in her stomach. “Anything else?”
Robin opened her regular eyes, but didn’t look at Nami, just kept staring across the waves. “I recognise at least two of them,” she said, her voice harder now, and clear enough for Franky and Zoro to hear her. “These men were on the island.”
“What?!” Nami let out in a shocked whisper.
Right then someone from the other boat yelled out in shock, “It really is them! I recognise ‘em too!!”
“I told you there can’t be two ships like that!” someone else shouted, sounding angry and frightened, and a third, more frantic, “Oh fucking hell!! It’s those bastards!!”
Nami heard the sound of footsteps below, and glanced down to see Zoro stepping up to the railing. He was holding an unsheathed Wadou, the sword he’d just been polishing.
She turned her gaze back towards the enemy vessel, her gaze narrowing, face setting in a hard mask. “All right,” she said tightly. “Keep going.”
Nobody on either side said anything else as Thousand Sunny slowly sailed the last remaining distance until the islet. The clanking sound as the anchor hit rock resounded in the deafening silence.
Chapter Six continues here with Part 2 (of three).
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Date: 2009-09-18 05:24 am (UTC)Not a minute too soon, either. More of this and I’d have passed out, thought Nami tiredly, panting heavily and leaning on her ClimaTact to gather strength – she’d whipped it out half an hour ago to help take care of the sudden arrival of a pack of Sea Monkeys riding the waves, and it had been a lot of work. Nami thought tiredly, panting heavily and leaning on her ClimaTact to gather strength – she’d whipped it out half an hour ago to help take care of the sudden arrival of a pack of Sea Monkeys riding the waves, and it had been a lot of work.
Now then: I love how Nami's strength and control really come through in this part and how you can just TELL how tired she is, how exhausted and yet still in control. And the promise of an upcoming conflict has me very intrigued...so moving on!
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Date: 2009-09-19 10:04 am (UTC)I'm very glad that came through! Nami's turned out to be more prominent than expected in the story overall - in fact, she may be the second most important on-screen character, after Luffy. Didn't plan in that way, but that's what seems to have happened... anyway, makes it even more necessary that she feels right.