The Game (luNa)

19

by the time morning broke, the medical bay was completely empty. the boy, who had safely made it through his procedure, lay in a state of oblivion. his navigator who was fast asleep on the bed beside him, was starting to stir. on the far side of the town, the rest of the crew were being woken up by various members of the game, all of whom delivered the same message; they were to gather their things and eat, ready to leave by 7.

they did just that and were led away to a road they recognised from their journey there. the straw hat crew discussed their captains state as they travelled down the road, knowing now that they were heading back to the town by the coast. all of them were able to tell that something had happened to their captain, though it took them a while to figure it out. it was, of course, the doctor that finally came to a realisation. he stopped in his tracks, eyes widening in horror. the rest of the crew paused, concerned.

"what is it chopper?" sanji asked, squatting down in front of the small reindeer in order to meet his worried gaze.

"Its the stitches." Chopper replied, his eyes filling with tears. "Luffy pulled his stitches."

as soon as the truth was revealed, the rest of the crew began to pale. it seemed obvious to them now, and they each cursed themselves for not realising it earlier. before any of them oculd recover from their state of shock, the twins who were leading them both turned.

"we know you must be worried for your captain, but the game must go on. we are on a tight schedule so we would appreciate it if you could please keep moving." they said. 

the crew continued on in silence, letting this information sink in. it was Robin who first deciphered the cryptic message the twins had shared with them.

"The game... you said the game must go on." she said, realisation dawning on her. "that means that fight, that was never going to be the end of it." there was a moment of silence from the twins. then the boy spoke.

"really, it was. this last part was meant to just be like a closing act, because of course anyone who could survive in the ring could return through the grass lands they took to get there."

the boy stopped talking and the girl picked up the thread.

"Since your captain has likely been rendered immobile, he will be allowed a horse, but the problem is.... the... the medics don't think he'll wake up for a while now. in any case it won't be before the deadline, 9pm. We are truly sorry it has come to this, it was never our intention."

nobody found the motivation to reply to the twins, and so the party continued in silence. they had walked this route before and knew it well enough. they would reach the village soon enough. 

Nami was now awake. she had been lying there, staring at the ceiling, for about 5 minutes now, allowing her brain to slowly run through the situation she was in. while she lay there, she had seen a nurse, different form the ones from the previous night, enter the room area luffy was still resting carrying a bad of blood, and had just returned carrying an empty one. Nami knew the situation was dire. she vaguely recalled being told about the trip the two of them had to make that day and knew it would be a stretch. if luffy did wake up they should be fine, as they had been promised a horse. Nami herself was perfectly capable of defending against those beasts, as long as she had her clima tact. but luffy would not be waking up soon, they had said. and that meant they were screwed. he needed more blood still as he was not quite stable, but nami was slowly turning possibilities over in her head.

she had come to a conclusion now. she could make it through that god damned field, and as long as her captain was in a good enough state to be moved it could be done. she would have to be so so careful and take care with him but it was better this way. she knew that, even if he ended up seriously injured because of it, this was how her captain would have wanted it. when the next nurse came in to check on them, she called her over.

"how long will it be before he can come off the blood supply?" she asked. the nurse smiled kindly at her.

"an hour or so should be enough, but we would like to keep him on for maybe another 4 or 5."

"this challenge thing, do you know anything about it?"

"A little."

"do you know whether the rules specify if the captain has to be conscious during the journey?"

"They do not... but... you couldn't possibly be planning to take him in that state could you? Are you even capable of getting across there by yourself?"

nami nodded vigorously and climbed out of her bed, grabbing her clothes and heading to the bathroom to change. she deposited her bloodied night clothes in the bin on her way out, figuring there would be no need for them. when she got out she found the room empty, and took the opportunity to go and visit her captain. that earned her quite a shock.

her crippled, short of blood, mangled captain was laying there twiddling his thumbs, a look of complete boredom etched onto his perfectly awake face.

"what in the... Luffy?!?" Nami exclaimed, somehow not even that surprised.

"oh, hey Nami! I was just wondering where i might find you. Hey, i'm starving, could you get the slave people to bring me something to eat?"

nami gaped at him, a familiar feeling of exasperation presenting itself to her. she walked right up to her captain, torn between hugging him and slapping him. she settled on the former as she could not bring herself to wipe the gorgeous smile off his face, wrapping him in a tight hug and crying tears she hadn't even noticed into his bare shoulder.

"Nami? are you alright?" her potato of a captain asked, and she suddenly regretted not slapping him.

"You absolute moron..." she sighed, pulling away and wiping her eyes. "i will go and get you something to eat. and then, lets go back to the others, ok?"

He beamed up at her, nodding, and then crossed his arms behind his head and closed his eyes to wait for her.