One Piece (Love Story) [Part Two]

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty Four [Rewritten]

"Whoa! You shouldn't be moving yet, Mr. Iceburg!" one of the men cried out when the mayor suddenly started to make his way over towards us.

"Sorry, men, but I need a little space right now" Iceburg said as he motioned for his men to stand back and give him some breathing room when he noticed just how close they all were crowding around him. "That is to say, I want to speak to these two in private" he said as he sent the men off to finish putting out what was left of the fire before taking a seat right in front of Nami and me. At first, the three of us sat in silence as my head rested on Nami's shoulder while she rested her own on top of mine—the both of us quietly listening to the sound of the crackling fire as we held each other's hands in an attempt to bring comfort to one another. "Well, first off, I must apologize—I falsely accused your entire crew. I'll try to clear that up soon, but for now, I want to talk about Nico Robin" the mayor said as he finally broke the silence between us all.

"What do you know about her?" Nami asked.

"When you first came to Water Seven, did she start acting strangely?" Iceburg asked.

"Yeah, she did" I nodded.

"She went into town that day and never came back" Nami said.

"By the next morning, she was the prime suspect in your attempted murder" I said as my eyes become downcast.

"When Sanji and Chopper saw her again, she said this was goodbye and she wouldn't be a part of the crew again" Nami continued. "Of course, none of that made any sense to us, so we decided to break into your mansion in hopes to see her one more time and find out the truth—what kind of wish would force her to give up all of her friends?" she quietly asked.

"I think I know the answer, actually" Iceburg said which caught Nami and mine's attention. "This started probably after you lost sight of her for the first time, the government had begun its operation the moment she arrived" he told us. "In other words, there's a good reason why your friend did what she did. But, before I go into the details, I want you to understand that both Nico Robin and I have the means to revive an ancient weapon that is capable of destroying the entire world."

"A weapon?" Nami and I owlishly blinked.

"That's right" Iceburg nodded before delving right into his story as he recounted to us what had taken place inside his room before we had arrived. "In the end...I couldn't pull the trigger" he sighed as he finished telling us what had happened and what the raven-haired woman had told him. Already could I feel a lump in my throat, my lips slowly pulling up into a small smile as a heavy sigh of relief now left my lips. "She was willing to sacrifice the lives of everyone in this world, even her own, as long as she would save the seven of you—as much as I hate to admit it, I have no right to criticize her...if they find the blueprints now, it's all my fault" he sadly admitted.

"Nami!" I worriedly bent down towards the ginger haired woman the second she fell to her knees.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Iceburg asked.

"I'm happy that's all" Nami sighed out in relief as the smile on my face only widened when I saw the smile she now wore. "I was so worried, I didn't want to believe she betrayed us—we have to find everyone else and let them know" she said as I helped her to stand back up. "Thank you, Iceburg!" quickly did she grab my wrist and pulled me along as we ran off.

"Yeah, thanks for everything!" I smiled as I waved back at the man.

"Hold on! What are you going to do now?!" Iceburg asked. "The Straw Hats have already lost to CP9!" he called out to us.

"What do you mean lost?" Nami grinned. "We haven't even started fighting yet—we wouldn't be here if we gave up that easily, right, Skylar?" she asked.