Outside, Nami was running towards the safe place, as fast as she could, wondering what could have caught the attention of the fishmen for so long.
10:46 pm
She arrived at the bunker, opened the door, and jumped inside. Everyone inside looked towards the door.
«ge- Nami ?!!
n- Genzo !! thanks God, you're alive!».
She walked towards him, and saw Luffy, Usopp and Sanji.
«n- UH ?!! what are you guys doing here ?!!
lu- we came to help you shishiii
san- I'm so happy you're alive Nami-swaannn!!
n- but.. what? How?
us- uh, well, that's a long story.. I wouldn't know how to explain that..
ge- where were you?
n- Kuroobi caught me, but then he's gone, is Tama here?
ge- yeah, yeah, don't worry ».
Nami rushed to the bedroom Genzo had shown her. She saw her sister, peacefully sleeping, next to Mummy Mee. She timidly walked closer and softly asked :
« n- how is she?
mu- she's not often awake.. she's very weak, Nami..
n- ... yeah.. I know... *tries to keep the face* .. I know.. ».
She bent, looking at Tama and stroking her hair for a few seconds. Until it was too hard to see her so weak so she left the room.
«ge- Nami..
n- it's fine..
ge- what happened?
n- nothing
us- uh.. sorry to interfere but where's Zoro?
n- .. Zoro?
us- yeah, Zoro, he left for Arlong's park a few hours ago!
san- damn, this shitty mosshead lost himself again
ge- so how did you leave ?? ».
Nami didn't understand it all, and then, all of a sudden, she understood it all at once. Zoro was the distraction she used to run away, and she left him alone there.
Her face froze in shock. She took a second for herself and took a deep breath.
« n- I need to take a breath ».
Nami walked out of the bunker and almost did a panic attack. She walked through the trees, banging on the branches, to her father's grave, where she knelt, overwhelmed. She cried alone, for a moment, until she saw some light, and smelled something: the scent of burning. She looked up and in the distance, she was a village burning, she understood it might be fishmen's revenge for her escape. In reality, it was not really about her, but more about the fact that Zoro had killed many fishmen, in the name of Nami's escape. She didn't have the strength to move, feeling her legs like paralysed, she could only cry, unable to stop herself, and all the hatred, fear, frustration and powerlessness she had built up over the years was getting the better of her, right now. In her distress and tears, she lowered her head and glanced at her tattoo... She couldn't bear to have that tattoo, representing all that was negative in her life, so she screamed Arlong's name and, in a fit of hatred, she grabbed the dagger she used to hide near her father's grave just in case, and she stabbed her own arm, right on the tattoo. While howling at the top of her lungs 'Arlong', with all the hatred she was feeling, she stabbed over and over again. Until some hand stopped her. She looked up, confused and completely caught off guard. And she saw him, Luffy, stopping her from hurting herself.
« n- Luffy.. *cries* why the fuck did you have to come..?
lu-...
n- ... it would've been so simple otherwise !!
lu- so simple for you to die.. ? ».
She couldn't answer, he was right but she couldn't admit it. It would be so real and so shameful to admit she could've wanted to die for what she could refer to as so little. But seeing Luffy, holding her wrist so firmly, wanted to protect her from herself, after he came to this unknown island, with their friends, to help her. Her. She couldn't believe someone would actually care so much for her, it gave her hope in her heart of hearts. She looked at him, her eyes filled with tears and she said :
«n- Luffy, please, help me..
lu- .. ».
He took his hat on, and put it on her head, and finally answered.
«lu- of course I will... Of course, I will !!! ».
He turned, and behind him, Usopp and Sanji were standing.
« lu- OI ! Let's help the villagers. We have until the sunrise..
san- let's go
us- Captain Usopp is always ready to help villagers in distress».
They immediately walked in the direction of the village. Genzo who had witnessed the scene, came closer to Nami. She was still in a state of shock so he crouched before her and said:
«ge- that's a bunch of extraordinary kind of guys you brought us here... I think you should get inside so Mee can take care of your arm, and so you can have a little rest
n- no, I'm fine, I don't need to..
ge- Nami.. please..it's okay, things are under control now».
She looked at him, realising she wasn't alone in fighting anymore, and what a comforting feeling. She could see in his eyes he was trusting them and it made her feel valid about trusting them too. Then, Genzo accompanied her to the bunker, where Mummy Mee looked after her and bandaged her wounded arm. Genzo then joined Luffy, Usopp, and Sanji in the village, where they were helping all the villagers escape the flames and then tried to put it out. While her arm was being tended to, Nami looked at Tama, thoughtful and tired. She fell slowly asleep, leaning against her little sister's bed.
5:57 am
Nami woke up, slowly, not realising where she was at first. She looked around, Mummy Mee was sleeping as well as Tama, and then she saw Luffy's hat on the bed, she slowly remembered what happened earlier, and she realised she had fallen asleep. She stood up in panic, realising that she had fallen asleep in such a moment, she grabbed the Wado Ichimonji and rushed out of the bunker, and ran to the village. Her panic decreased when she saw Luffy and everyone, talking and laughing with Genzo and the villagers, around a sort of fire camp, she couldn't believe her eyes. They were waiting for the sun to rise to go to Arlong Park and eventually beat him up. And that's the moment when it struck her, Zoro wasn't there, he might still be at Arlong Park? But why didn't he come back? Was he lost or... hurt? She couldn't spend more time wondering, she had to go and see by herself, so she didn't even talk to guys and ran to the Park. 7:21 am Nami arrived there, she took a look around and thought. If Zoro was there, she had two options, either he was imprisoned or... he was in the morgue. She hated both options but she preferred him to be in the prison, so that would be her first destination. She infiltrated between the men standing guard, ran towards the main door and snuck into the prison with the stealth of a feline. At first glance, the room seemed empty, which made her gag. She moved forward slowly, looking carefully at each cell in the hope of seeing him, but nothing. UNTIL she reached the last cell on her right. Her heart missed a beat as she saw him sitting against the wall, blood on his shirt, his eyes closed. She picked the lock and entered the cell, before crouching down beside him and shaking him to stimulate him, hoping with all her heart that he was not dead. She shook him gently at first, then a little harder when she saw there was no reaction, and she began to panic, with tears in her eyes, and so vulnerable she said softly:
«n- please, don't be dead... don't do this to me»
As she kept shaking him. At this moment, he slowly opened his eyes and looked at her confused. She only crossed his gaze a few seconds later and felt a huge relief, and then she realised she was crying.
«n- fuck !! what are you doing here ?!
z- ?? what are you doing here?
n- that's my hometown!
z- here's your answer
n- uh? What happened to you ?!!
z- one of your lovely friends got me a surprise
n- they're not my friends.. that was stupid to come here alone
z- I'm not alone
n- yes you are, I don't see Luffy or Sanji in this cell with you
z- ...
n- well, come on, we gotta go before Arlong's back ».
She helped him to stand up, but he barely lifted a few centimeters, he sat down again because of the pain. He hated to show that he was actually in pain, but he was so unprepared for this level of pain that he couldn't hide it. He took a deep breath to manage to keep a stiff upper lip.
«z- wait... ».
He sighed and when he felt like it, he stood up in one move. Nami just stood, ready to help in the case, but she only witnessed the huge blood puddle that his move created. He just waited a few seconds to take it all in, and then he slowly walked forwards. Nami could only see the trail of blood that followed him. At the same moment, she saw her jacket on the floor and grabbed it.
«n- wait ! ».
She rolled it and tied it around his weight.
«n- why the fuck didn't you try to stop the blood with it ?
z- ...didn't you want to get your jacket dirty
n- you stupid !!»
She reached under his left arm to help him walk, and they walked a few meters to the outside, where he suddenly stopped.
«n- what ? You ok ?
z- my swords.. my swords are inside
n- Zoro..
z- I need my swords
n- you're not even able to stand, so to fight ».
He turned, about to go back inside.
«n- no, no, okay ».
She helped him to lean against the wall next to them, and she said :
«n- I'll get them, don't move ».
And she handed him the Wado.
«z- keep it, I don't need it ».
She sighed because she knew he wanted her to keep it to protect herself, and she hated this because he would need it more than her but they didn't have time to debate. So she just said:
« n- shitty baka ».
7:42 am
Nami had found Zoro's rack and swords, and she rushed outside. But once, outside, she froze, what she saw was unbelievable, which caused her to walk back in surprise, to be unseen.