Chapter 6: Departure

"The true miracle lies in our eagerness to allow, appreciate, and honor the uniqueness, and freedom of each sentient being to sing the song of their heart."-Amit Ray, Meditation: Insights and Inspirations. Of course, Lee doesn't know who he was, but it fit their situation well.

Even though both Lee and Nami know each other less than they spent with the number of people they know, the feeling they had for each other was mutual.

As a One Piece watcher, he knew Nami from the anime, but he didn't think much about it. He only thought as she was simply another entertainer who he was never able to obtain. Moreover, they both lived in different worlds. The only thing he deemed of Nami was that she cared a lot about money, even so, she was really kind enough willing to give money to those in need. Just like any ordinary person, they meet famous singers. For example, when meeting Joystick Beaver, unless you are a hardcore fan, you would just greet them to gain their recognition as such.

Lee was in the same situation. When he saw Nami was in crisis, he resolved to help her out to get her attention, but he didn't expect things turned out like they were now. Lee was also conflicted about his first kiss taken by a woman in a different world instead of his crush. When Nami continued conferring her emotion in front of him, even though she didn't say it out loud, he knew about her situation based on manga and anime. When he patted her head, there were tears falling from both her eyes even though she looked down. By seeing the other side of Nami personally, he couldn't help but desire to protect her. He knew who was the cause of those tears. Especially with Nami yielding herself to him, more than ever, he felt that it was fate that he was sent here even though he altered her timeline for being there. He didn't feel guilty at all. He thought to himself, he will make her happy.

He then leaned down toward Nami, who was talking about golds and Beris, and gave her a kiss. He could taste the dry blood of Nami on her lips. Nami on the other hand, eyes were wide open. Even though both of them were inexperienced, especially for Nami, the first-time was an accident, so that was their proper kiss. After a quick kiss, he pulled back.

In Nami eyes, it seemed like the fire was burning with passion that she didn't have enough. This time she kissed him first, but instead of a quick one, they had a deep French kiss. Even though Lee had a lot more stamina than Nami, when they were done, both of them were out of breath.

"*Gruuuuueel*" Lee's stomach sounded.

Nami looked at him and laughed.

"Hahaha"

When Lee witnessed that, he thought she was really cute.

('You were disillusioned...) Ai's voice sounded in his head again.

"..."

Nami moved away from Lee so that he could stand up. She then tried to stand up on her own, but she was sitting down again like she didn't have any strength left.

"Give me a princess carry," Nami said while presenting both her arms toward Lee.

"Okay, okay, my princess," Lee also noticed her right-ankle turned more purple now that she had been resting for a while.

Lee bent down and lifted her up in a princess carry. He then continued walking toward the stream and put Nami down on one of the large rocks.

Nami was confused a little about what he was going to do. Then she saw Lee lifted her right leg.

Gently he placed her right leg on his thigh while Lee kneed down in the proposed position in the water since it was shallow.

He then washed her foot with water all the way to her knee. Nami was surprised by his action especially since the water was not cold, but warm. She also saw both of Lee's hands were red. She didn't know what it was. Maybe it was normal where Lee came from since he was able to make all those weird moves.

'This is really sweet,' Nami thought, even though it's not like her to think that, but today, she did all things which she never did. Moreover, the more Lee washed her leg, the less she felt the pain. She was really enjoying those feelings that she had.

The next moment, Nami never thought Lee would do that. He twisted her ankle really quick which made a 'groope' sound.

"Aaaaah," Nami screamed, but Lee gently massaged her leg where it had a bruise on it.

After Nami screamed, she didn't feel much pain anymore when Lee massaged the areas where it was supposed to hurt. Even though he was not a professional in massage, he did know a lot about it because he had been to orthopedic almost every other week as a kid.

After Lee had done so, he tore out his pants' leg, then he slowly wrapped around the areas where she sprained her ankle. When Nami saw what he did for her, Nami blushed a little.

"Done!" Lee said excitedly. If he was in his world, he would have called an ambulance for her or sent her to the hospital instead because it was such a pain to do those. He had no choice but to do what he did since he swore to take care of her.

Lee gave Nami a piggyback ride this time without Nami saying anything. Instead of going back to the cave, he traveled down the stream to the location where he fought the wolves.

When he arrived at the scene where he had the fight, he didn't find any wolf's body, only some blood trail left. It seemed like more beasts that were stronger than the wolves came to get their dinner due to the smell of the blood. Instead of coming back empty-handed, Lee caught a couple of fishes before headed back toward the cave.

Even though Nami was tired, she talked with Lee the whole time asking him questions here and there about his hometown. Since Lee knew the world of One Piece, he talked a lot with her about different topics, including the Grandline to avoid letting her know about another world since she probably was not ready yet. She was also curious about how Lee knew all those stuff.

As he made his way back to the cave where Lee was staying, he put Nami down on the rock bed in the cave and told her that he was going to gather some wood. Unlike what he did last night, he is now able to use his flame so it was much easier for him. After a while, both Lee and Nami were eating their roasted fish.

"Lee, what is your plan now? Are you going to leave with me?" Nami asked with a little bit apprehensive in her mind. It was nice for both of them to stay there and disregarded all the worries she had back at home. But that is impossible, she had someone at home to worry about. Moreover, she was a civilized person, so living in the forest in the middle of nowhere would craze her out.

Lee replied, "I will decide to leave when I know my location. Now that you are with me, we can leave together."

Nami was happy and she hugged Lee really tight.

Even though Lee woke up around more than an hour or two ago, it was already afternoon.

After they rested for a while, Nami told Lee where she docked her boat as they prepared to leave. Lee gave her a piggy-back ride again. To Lee amazed, it was the beach where he worked up, but now there were multiple holes on the sand.

When they arrived at Nami's boat, he placed her on the front while he tried to use the sail.

Watching him being all clumsy about what he was doing, Nami couldn't help but ask,

"Had you ever sailed a boat before?"

"Haha" Lee laughed and scratched his head.

"Okay first release there, ..." Nami patiently explained to him how to sail and they finally made their way out of the island.

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"Where are we at?" Lee asked Nami. He was clueless about where they were. He doesn't even know the name of the island they were on.

From her conversation with Lee, Nami was able to pick up some of Lee's words. Even though he knows a lot about things in the Grandline, he doesn't know anything about East blue except the major towns. Luckily for him, she was a skilled navigator who knew her way around East Blue.

'He probably from the New World,' Nami thought. She then explained to him about their location.

"The island we were on was known as a no-man island since it doesn't have any human inhabitants there. Another reason for that was it was near Kumate Island, where Kumate tribes dwelled. If we head northwest, we will arrive at Gecko Island by tomorrow evening."

Nami continued, "If the wind picks up then we can arrive there early. We also need to get your clothes. You now look like Kumate's people."

From what people know of Kumate tribes, they were savage barbarians with tattoos covering their bodies. No wonder Nami compared Lee with that.

As they made their way, Nami took a rest while Lee was trying his best to sail in the right direction.

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"Nami, wake up!" Lee beckoned Nami.

She had slowly opened her eyes, she noticed Lee who was standing there looking at her. Nami thought about why he woke her up.

As Nami could see clearer, she saw a large ship behind Lee's back. She could hear pirates shouting at them to hand over everything. Seeing Nami, they thought they could also have her too. Unlike anime, the pirates in this world are not so merciful, even to ladies.

Instead of talking with them, Lee made his way toward Nami. He whispered to her,

"Don't worry Nami", even though Lee said that Nami was still worried. She saw him beating up multiple pirates, but from what she could see when pirates were looking down at them, there were at least more than 10.

In looking at his skills and status, Lee believed he could beat any of the non-name pirates after testing his skills on the island. He knew that these pirates are small fries because they never earned their name in the anime. Moreover, the place they were at is East Blue, also known as the weakest sea.

He held Nami, then picked her up and jumped up to board the pirates' ship. On the desk, there were almost twenty minions with a captain with one of his hands iron honking which is pretty typical. He had a Yellow Gun, which is one of the common pistols in One Piece beside the one carried by Marines. Yellow Gun as its named sound was a yellow color with the shape of 7 that exploded upon contact. As for the rest, none of them own one. Most of them carried swords, blades, iron robs, and even knives.

They surrounded Lee and Nami.

Lee placed Nami down on the desk and stood up.

"Hand over everything punk! If ya know what good for ya!" The captain who didn't have a name shouted at Lee and took out his pistol while pointing toward him. From what they could see, it seemed like Lee didn't have anything on him. Even if they don't have anything, the pirates think they can get the girl, even if they don't need it for themselves, they can sell her to some pirates or nobles who might.

Instead of replying to the captain, Lee just stood there.

He got mad and aimed at Lee again, but that was a mistake for the captain. Since he never used this skill before, he decided to use it because he didn't know he could get killed by a gun. Unlike devil fruit eaters who had a stronger body or skins, even though he had power, it was not there yet.

"*Time: Stop*", Lee imagine everything to stop and rashed toward the captain who held a gun at the same time he used *Darkness* to cover his arms and legs to move faster.

('Time failed to initiate') Ai's voice sounded in his hand.

To his surprise, *Time: Stop* didn't work as he predicted, and got shot on the left arm with the bullet exploded there. Since he had *Pain Resistance*, he didn't feel much discomfort and continued on his track. When he arrived in front of the captain, he didn't even give him time to apprehend that the shot he made didn't feign his opponent at all. He used his right hand similar to a knife, then he chopped off the captain's head. Even he might have killed some of Krieg's minions, but it was in the form which didn't spill any blood with his own hands. This time, the captain's headless body caused a fountain of blood to gush out. He felt really calm for some reason.

Lucky for the now headless captain guy, Lee later found a wanted poster of him with 500,000 Beris who was named Koozino, but Lee forgot about it after that.

Lee turned around and looked at the surrounding pirates. Blood was dripping from his arm, but instead of waiting for them to react, his pupils turned into three on each eye individually moving in several directions. One of the eyes' colors glowed in sanguine color.

"*Dark Emperor's optics*," he said, (note: change from vision to optics)

Then Lee dashed toward the group of the pirates.