Steel Heart

Ch 8 - Warehouse #2

Nana was busy tending to Paulie's wounds when she heard a collective gasp in Iceberg's direction. "Iceberg-san is awake!" someone shouted.

She grabbed the nearest guy to her by the pant leg and roughly pulled him down. "You," she barked and slammed his hand against the towel she was holding, "Press down here and hold it until the bleeding stops. If Paulie dies, you die. Got it?!"

The craftsman nodded nervously and she rushed over to Iceberg. He was lying on his back and his eyes were open. He looked calmly back at Nana and his unruffled expression made something in Nana snap.

"What the fuck, Icy?!" she roared and she slapped him hard across the face.

"Nana-san!" the craftsman protested, aghast at her brutality, "He's still very wounded-"

Nana lifted Icy's head by his shirt collar and she shook him slightly. "You told me you'd be okay. You told me everything was going to be fine. You said-"

"The woman is awake too!" Another person shouted from the other side and Nana stopped her lecture. Her eyes flicked over to Pygmy and she saw that Nami was trying to get back on her feet.

"Should we ask her where the other Straw Hats are and capture them?" someone asked.

Thwack!

He was instantly hit in the head by a flying rock, courtesy of Dock #1's mechanic. "Anyone else got any big ideas?" Nana demanded and she glared angrily around the group.

"No...Nana-san," they mumbled.

"Nana..." Iceberg grunted, "Take me to her."

"Iceberg-san, you shouldn't be moving!" people exclaimed around them but Nana ignored their protest. She lifted Iceberg by the arm and put it around her shoulder. She moved him gently but swiftly across the lawn and toward Nami.

"Guys," Iceberg said calmly to his men, "Can you please give us a moment of privacy? I'd like to talk to her alone."

"Yes, Iceberg-san," they replied and quickly cleared the area.

"See, Nana?" Iceberg deadpanned, "You can talk nicely to them."

"Yeah, I'll do that when you come flying out of the window of a burning building again," Nana responded dryly, as she moved him towards a quiet corner of the lawn. She then moved over to help Nami but she saw that the redhead was slowly walking towards them on her own.

"Nami...are you okay?" Nana asked.

"Yeah. Thank you, Nana," Nami said and she sat down solemnly across from Iceberg. Nana nodded to Iceberg and then left them. She was dying to know what they were talking about and how Iceberg and Paulie got so severely wounded...but the main office, her home, was burning down and there were probably still people in there.

She ran over to Paulie first. Much to her relief, he was stable and his bleeding had stopped. He was still unconscious though. She had never seen Paulie like that before and it rattled her. He was always the dependable one, the one Iceberg relied on for serious stuff. She couldn't help but feel like she should've been the one wounded and not him. Why didn't I stay?

There was a loud crash at the other side of the office as one corner had collapsed. Men started to cry out in pain and Nana ran over. Craftsmen were shooting hoses at the back of the house but the fire was just too powerful. "God damn it!" she shouted at them as she ran for the water cannons in the back, "Do I have to do everything myself?"

It took her 20 minutes to get the fire out and at least twenty men safely carried out of the building singlehandedly. She collapsed on the grass and tried to catch her breath after she carried out the last guy she could find under the debris. Her goggles were covered in ash and she pulled it off of her eyes. Pygmy scurried over and licked her nose. She giggled and patted his head, "I'm fine...it seems everyone else is too. I couldn't find anyone else under there."