One Piece (Love Story) [Part Two]

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty Four [Rewritten]

-Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Four-

"These damn pirates have done a terrible thing here!" one of the men suddenly growled. "Let's make them tell us where the rest of their crew is—we'll hunt them down and turn them over to the Navy!" my growling only seemed to get worse as I continued to hold Nami close. Slowly did my lips drawback into a snarl as my eyes seemed to just become hazy and my body started shaking before I finally opened my mouth once again, vocal cords protesting and making my voice scratchy as I desperately began to snap at the men—desperately attempted to get them to stay away, to not come any closer unless their intentions were to help and not hurt.

-Later-

"No good, the winds too strong!" silently did I watch with tired eyes as the men tried to put out the raging fire—my body now propped up with Nami's head resting on my lap. Small growls leaving the back of my throat every now and then whenever a stranger would wander too close to us. When things had calmed down enough, I had made attempts to properly explain the situation to the men that didn't seem to want to listen as they practically ignored me, even now I could see the way they eyed me and Nami as they seemed to patiently wait for the ginger to wake first before making any attempts to approach either one of us again.

"It's getting worse!" one of the men cried out.

"If Iceburg's in there, we got to get him out now!" it was at that moment when one of the windows suddenly shattered as Chopper came leaping out of the burning building. In his mouth, he clutched one of Zoro's swords as he carried Iceburg and Paulie on his back.

"Iceburg!" one of the men gasped upon the sight of the badly injured mayor.

"Paulie!" another one shouted as Chopper took slow and shaky steps towards Nami and me before falling to the ground.

"Chopper!" I weakly croaked out in worry for the reindeer.

"Hurry, they need first aid! They're burned all over!"

"Hey, what are we going to do with this reindeer?"

"Help him! He saved their lives!"

"You're right—hey, someone, give me a hand!"

"Get back, run away!" one of the men suddenly shouted as the burning building finally started to cave in on itself.

"Come on!" but still did the men attempt to put the fire out or at least try and control it enough so that it wouldn't spread to any of the other buildings nearby.

"You idiot, run!"

"Dammit! Isn't there anything we can do?!"

"Look! Mr. Iceburg's awake—alright, he's safe!"

"I knew he'd make it!" the men happily cheered in relief upon seeing that their mayor was finally waking up.

"Hey, look, these women are from the Straw Hats too!" someone pointed out as Nami finally started to stir.

"Nami, are you alright?" I worriedly asked as I watched her slowly sit up and look around, gently did she rub her head as she slowly nodded.

"Yeah, I think so..." she muttered. "Are you?" she worriedly asked as if she finally remembered all that had taken place in the burning building hours ago.

"I'm...I'm not really sure" was all I could say, mind starting to think back to the events that had recently taken place as I couldn't quite place how I felt at the moment. Physically I was pretty banged up, but mentally...that was a mess all on its own that I didn't feel like thinking about just yet.