Don't Get in His Way

Nami

Hey, guys. This was my first One Piece story, and I first published this in Fanfiction.net with the same name. Thankfully (and surprisingly), it got really nice reviews (like, wow!) and so far everyone likes this story. So I thought, why not share this with other One Piece fans in Wattpad too?

For those who read my author's note in my other story (The Truth Behind His Smile), let me tell you that this is NOT a story i've written recently. This is a chapter of my completed story in Fanfiction.net. I am in a tight schedule, but I thought I could share my story here too. And, I'm not actually writing any new chapters so it's a quick process. It doesn't take much time at all.

So, enjoy! This is the first chapter, with its first and last Author's Note for this story since writing one would be tiresome and a bit time-consuming.

-

"Luffy!" A female voice called his name. Said person looked away from the sea and up to where his friend had called him.

"Huh? What is it, Nami?"

"A storm's coming. A big one, by the looks of it." Nami said, glancing at the storm cloud a few feet away from them. "I already told everyone to go inside, all that's left is for you to get out of your damn special seat and help Sanji manage the sails."

Luffy grabbed his fishing pole and quickly jumped over to her. The rubber man laughed and gave Nami a wide grin. "Okay! I'll leave the storm to you, Navigator!"

Nami's eyes widened, taken aback. "Luffy..."

Those words were the one she had been waiting to hear for the past two years. Since she read that terrible newspaper headline on that fateful day, she knew that Luffy would never be the same again. Her rubber idiot of a captain was scarred for life, and it took everything in her not to try and steal a boat again to sail back to his side. (She was a navigator. Unlike the others, she could probably be where he was with no problem if she tried.)

She knew that the crew was totally independent from the captain, and vice versa. But after reading that horrible, horrible newspaper, she wished that for once Luffy would try and leave things up to them. The burden of a captain is extremely heavy, that's why Nami wanted to help lessen the weight, even if it's just a little.

She wanted him to trust them to do it for him. She wanted him to call her as his navigator again.

And just now, both of her wishes came true. Nami felt like she could bawl in relief, as tears were forming in her eyes. "...finally."

"Huh? Did you say something?" Luffy said, glancing back at the orange head - looking as innocent as ever.

Nami blinked the tears away, shook her head at him and smiled. "Nope!"

"Just hurry up and get over here, idiot!" Sanji shouted from the main mast behind them. The wind was getting stronger, and the storm cloud was getting closer.

"Alright, alright!" Luffy yelled back, sprinting over to where the blonde male was. Nami turned around and watched fondly as the captain and cook tried to position the sail and steady it, despite the harsh wind.

Her eyes spared a glance at the X-shaped scar on Luffy's chest and silent rage boiled inside of her. But, she quickly pushed it down and took a deep breath instead. And slowly, she turned her gaze to the wide (not so innocent) eyes.

To an outsider, Luffy may seem okay.

But to Nami, Luffy's far from okay.

Right now, he was starting to recover as he entrusted the entire lives of his crew to her, his hand-picked navigator. And she'd rather die than letting him down (again).

"Leave it to me, Captain. I'll take care of this storm." Nami quickly turned around and faced the approaching storm cloud with a stronger sense of determination. "You don't need to worry about a thing."

The storm looked like it was mocking her, merely growing bigger in size and strength. Just try, child, it seemed to say. Try to defeat me.

Nami's eye twitched and she pulled her Clima-Tact from her pocket, gripping it tight as the weapon grew to its original length.

"My captain's finally trusting us again." Nami quietly whispered, her orange bangs covering her eyes. "He's finally starting to heal."

Bubbles started to fly out of the Clima-Tact, with its contents filled with tiny storm clouds. The bubbles flew around the bigger storm cloud, surrounding it. Nami flipped her weapon in her hand and pointed it towards the heart of the storm.

"Luffy's going to be the Pirate King, but he needs to find One Piece to do that. I know that treasure's somewhere ahead of us." Nami murmured. "That's why..."

The storm bubbles began to grow in size, and it caused the bigger storm cloud to halt in its tracks. The bubbles continued to grow and grow, until it's about half the size of the storm cloud. Nami gripped the Clima-Tact harder and she glared at the cloud before her.

"Don't get in my Captain's way!"

-

For the next few days, the villagers of nearby islands were confused as there were no storm clouds in sight. Usually, a storm would occur at least twice a week. But so far, there were none. When people began to talk about it, some claimed that they saw a flash of yellow lightning coming from a nearby pirate ship and that lightning blasted the whole storm away. Some believed them, some not.

Besides, how could a pirate ship produce lightning anyway? That's impossible.

("Achoo!" Both the shipwright and the navigator sneezed simultaneously.)

Elsewhere aboard The Thousand Sunny,

"Hey, Nami. Why did you use your Clima-Tact when we can get out of there with Franky's Coup de Burst?"

"I wanted to test out my weapon a little."

"Why? Your weapon is good as it is."

"Well, just in case-LUFFY, DON'T YOU DARE EAT THAT!"

"I wasn't going to eat it! I was going to use it as bait for the fishes!"

"Oh, okay-AS IF I'LL LET YOU USE IT AS BAIT, IDIOT! GIVE ME THAT TANGERINE BACK!"