-Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-
"I don't really see what the big deal is, I'm surprised that you're not used to this by now" Luffy chuckled. "I've been meaning to ask—why did you come back, Nami?" he suddenly asked without a second thought, not really stopping to consider if he should have asked that question or not
"What?" Nami asked, almost sounding just a bit offended by the captain's sudden and unintentionally harsh question.
"We were finally going to get to sail and go on an adventure 'til—I mean we were about to come looking for you, we were getting so worried!" he nervously laughed as he quickly tried to cover up his mistake, causing Nami to sweat drop.
"I think you might want to shut up now, Luffy" I chuckled after seeing the murderous look in the navigator's eyes.
"I think you and I need to have a little talk!" she growled as she harshly struck the top of the captain's head. "Forget about your big adventure—it's never going to happen!" she snapped, advancing forward while he backed away—trying his best to block all of her attacks as she continued to hit him. Her anger seemed to even frighten Chopper as I watched him scamper over to Sanji, hiding behind the blonde's legs as if hoping he'd protect him from the ginger's wrath. I couldn't really blame him, even I could admit that she was rather scary whenever she was angry. "You haven't seen what I've seen—that island is full of the type of people you'd want to mess with!
"I don't care who you think you are—granted, we don't know what this guy is! But his powers are real and there's no way I'm going back there again!" she snarled, still advancing toward the rubber man. "So forget it, got me?!" she snapped.
"How about you relax here while the rest of us go" Luffy innocently suggested.
"Were you just not paying attention to everything that just happened?" I asked, pinching the bridge of my nose—amazed that after everything, he still had the gall to suggest such a thing to the still-fuming navigator.
"We're wanted criminals! I'm not staying here a minute longer either!" she snapped as she harshly grabbed Luffy's head when he suddenly stretched it toward her.
"Are you nuts? Get your priorities straight—the adventure is always the most important part!" Luffy frowned.
"My priorities are always life first then money!" Nami sneered as she smashed his head down into the clouds without a second thought.
"I can see the first one being important but the second one? Not so much" I remarked with the shake of my head. Personally, I felt food should take second priority when it comes to the important things in life.
"Please tell me that I'm third on that list!" Sanji cooed as he recklessly rushed toward the ginger with a love-struck expression.
"Don't push me!" she growled, knocking him back over toward Chopper and away from her.
"Nice hit" I whistled as I watched the blond glide before harshly hitting the ground.
"He raises a good point" Usopp suddenly piped up.
"Who? Luffy?" I questioned.
"Huh?" Nami raised an eyebrow.
"We put all our energy into just trying to get up here, but we never really thought about how we would get back" Usopp pointed out. "Is there a safe way back to the Blue Sea World? Can we ever even go home again?" he worriedly asked.
"There is a way, but in the junction...I'm afraid that is no longer safe" Conis truthfully answered. "Your only hope for escape is to make your way to Cloud End and from there, you can travel home" she told us.
"What's Cloud End and how are we supposed to get there?" Usopp asked.
"It's a region that lies far to the east—the only way for you to get there is to travel across the White White Sea" she explained.
"Okay, so we sail east and we eventually get home" Usopp nodded, seemingly pleased with this knowledge.
"Sounds easy enough" I said, though a part of me couldn't help but wonder if there was more to this than just simply heading in one direction.
"But I don't want to go home!" Luffy loudly whined.
"Your other option is staying and being sentenced to death!" Usopp snapped.
"Listen to me, I don't want you causing any more trouble for Conis and her dad" Nami glared.
"No, don't worry about us" Conis quickly assured us.
"Even if we leave right now, there's no guarantee we'll make a clean escape" Nami sighed. "We don't have any time to lose, so just get on the ship—you'll have your big adventure, I promise. But right now we need to get going, so come on everybody, let's set sail" she motioned as she made her way toward the ship. "Thanks for all your help, we really appreciate it" she gratefully called back to Conis and her father.
"Oh! Hold on!" Luffy shouted as if now remembering something important.
"Come on, now what?" Nami huffed, not pleased at all with the captain.
"Hey, old man!" Luffy called back towards Pagaya.
"Huh? What is it, Luffy?" he curiously asked, tilting his head.
"Can I ask for a favor? Do you mind if we take the leftovers from earlier?" Luffy asked.
"Of course not, they're all yours" Pagaya smiled.
"Woo-hoo! Come on, Sanji—make us lunch!" Luffy cheered as he eagerly motioned for the chef to follow after him and back toward Pagaya's house.
"Glad you got your priorities..." the blond muttered.
"What? I think that's a perfectly reasonable request" I chuckled.
"In that case, can I ask for a teensy little favor too?" Usopp piped up. "You're an engineer, right? I don't suppose you could spare any parts or tools to fix our ship?" he asked.
"What's mine is yours, Usopp—feel free to take anything you need" Pagaya joyfully offered.
"Uh...guys...? Where are you going?" Nami frowned as she, Zoro, Chopper, Robin, and I stayed put where we were.
"Hello, they got food" Luffy answered as if it was quite obvious where he was going.
"Yeah, Nami—duh" I grinned, laughing as I raised a hand in defense when she swatted at me with a half-hearted glare.
"Tell you what, you go ahead and ready the ship for the departure and we'll be back before you know it" Luffy offered, causing Nami to become irritated once again.
"He's dead set on going to that island—doesn't he get it?!" she growled in utter frustration.
"Don't take it out on us, you know how he is" Zoro said. "Seriously, try to relax..." he grumbled as he crossed his arms.
"Chopper? Skylar? You both are still on my side, aren't you?" Nami asked, causing the reindeer to freeze on the spot as I shrugged my shoulders. "Aren't you?" she repeated, sounding more aggressive this time as if silently threatening to get violent with us if we didn't agree with her.
"I've already accepted the fate we've been handed, maybe you should too" I suggested.
"Fine! Chopper?!" Nami huffed as she now put her full attention on the reindeer that was still frozen in place.
"Don't answer that" Zoro said.
"Heavy Point!" Chopper squealed, turning big so that he could climb back onto the ship and quickly get away from the navigator as fast as he could.
"I was about to drop the ladder for you, you know?" Robin smiled, causing the reindeer to look away and sheepishly rub the back of his head.
"You know there's no persuading Luffy of anything" Zoro said as we now sat around the deck of the ship, waiting for the others to return. "He won't listen even if we all ganged up on him."
"A scenario like that would end horribly..." I muttered, my head tilted back as I stared upwards and started to imagine just how a scenario like that would play out. I winced at the prospect of us all getting our asses handed to us just because Luffy was deadset on going to the Upper Yard.
"Fine! Then I'll just stay put!" Nami huffed.
"Well, you're free to do whatever you want" Zoro said.
"I know that!" she snapped, sounding almost irritated that he was fine with her just staying here. "But if I stay here, I'll be killed!" she argued just as the swordsman sat down, now holding his swords close as he rested against the mast.
"Yep, quite the predicament..." he tiredly mumbled, clearly not caring at all to really listen to the ginger's plight.
"Jerk!" Nami sneered. "Robin! Skylar! Let's go beat some sense into Luffy!" she angrily proclaimed as she turned towards Robin and me.
"Won't work" Robin shook her head.
"Nami, you can kick and scream at him all you want, but that's not going to change his mind" I told her. "I know that you know that, perhaps it's best just to leave it be and pray we live through this" I said.
"You're both right, I guess we'd have a better chance against the White Berets and you know they've got to be gathering reinforcement to follow us" Nami heavily sighed as her shoulders slumped downwards.
"How do you know?" I asked, tilting my head. "I mean they kept saying that we'll receive Heaven's Judgement or something like that, so I don't think they'll do anything" I admitted while crossing my arms.
"I...I feel the need to tell you something" we perked up to the sudden sound of Conis' voice calling up to us from the shore. Dropping the ladder, we allowed her to come aboard the ship so that she could tell us whatever it was that she needed to get off her chest.
"There's a cloud current that will take us down to the White Sea?" Nami questioned the minute the blonde was finished speaking.
"Yes, by entering the current you cross the vast expanse of the White White Sea, then it will take you all the way to Cloud End and you won't have to worry about getting lost" she nodded as she reiterated what she had just told us. Upon hearing this, Nami grinned.