9 Chapter 9: Nami's Tale

It took me a while to find Nami. I thought a girl with red hair would be easy to find but this island is bigger than I thought. After sneaking through town for a bit I finally spot her, sitting near the edge of a cliff. I approach her and realize that she's sitting in front of a cross, marking a grave. It looks like she put a bouquet of flowers on the grave and she's simply staring at it, unmoving.

I cautiously approach her and look up at her. "Pika?"

She looks down at me, no emotion on her face whatsoever until she seems to recognize me. "Hey...aren't you that mouse thing from the sea restaurant?"

I'm actually surprised that she remembered me; this was the first time I was directly interacting with her after all. I nod and look at the grave. "Pikachu?" I ask.

"Oh," Nami looks at the grave abruptly, like she had forgotten it was there. "It's a grave." She says. Uh, yeah, I know that, who's it for? I look at her intently, urging her to elaborate and she swallows thickly. "It's...my mother's grave."

Oh...well, uh...geez, I feel like a real jerk now. I step forward so I'm in front of the grave and clasp my paws together. I close my eyes and send a silent prayer; it's the least I can do. Nami takes a shaky breath forcing me to look up at her once I'm done. She's biting her lip and her fists are clenched; I can't tell if she's angry, sad, or both.

I step forward and place my paw on her leg, giving a hint of a smile in hopes of comforting her. She looks at me when I touch her. "Pika..." 'It'll be okay...'

Nami looks away from me, her hair hiding her eyes. "I can't take this anymore..." She utters. "I can't stand watching Arlong control my village like this..." She sounds angry, angrier than I'd ever seen. I don't think Sanji even got this mad. Nami looks at me again, "Arlong took my mother..." My eyes widen. "I'm not going to sit by and let him take my village!"

She punches the ground and the dam bursts. I listen intently as she recounts her tale to me. How her mother, Bellemere, took her and her sister in as children after a war, even though she could barely support them. How Arlong took over and imposed a tax on everyone, threatening death to anyone who couldn't pay it. And how Bellemere sacrificed her fee so Nami and her sister could live...before Arlong murdered her before Nami's eyes. Since that day, she had drawn countless maps and sea charts for Arlong, working day and night until her fingers bled to help Arlong's plans for his Fishman empire.

The story was so intense it was almost hard to believe. How could anyone go through something so awful? And as a child, no less!

"I just need 7 million berries..." Nami continues. "Just a little more and my village will finally be free." Her fists clench the grass below her. "I can do it...and then Arlong won't be able to hurt anyone anymore!"

Oh Nami...

I climb onto her lap and grasp her shirt in my tiny paws. "Pika pi..." 'I'm so sorry...' It's all I can say.

Nami stares down at me, a bit bewildered by my actions, but gives me a soft smile and a pat. "So you really understand me..." She rubs my ears lovingly, as if she's known me forever. "Thank you for listening." I smile back and nod. "I've never really told anyone all that before," Nami continues. "It feels good to get that off my chest."

I blink; that sounds familiar. Again, I had been given access to a story that no one had heard before. What was it about me that made people open up? I had just met Nami and I already felt like I'd known her as long as I'd known Sanji. I could faintly feel that strange feeling again; that feeling of trust. It wasn't as strong as it was with Sanji, but it was there.

Nami picks me up off her lap and places me on the ground, "Stay out of trouble, and stay away from Arlong Park, okay?" She says, giving me one more pat. No promises, but I nod anyway and she walks off. I watch her go, a frown crossing my face; I really wish there was something I could do to help her. I look in the distance, seeing the shadow of the tower of Arlong Park.

I know she told me to stay away but...maybe it wouldn't hurt to check on Zoro.

I arrive at Arlong Park and find the doors closed. I push them open as hard as I can to find...all of Arlong's men completely slaughtered…? Wow, what did I miss? Who started this party? And without me?

My question is answered as I see Zoro sitting leisurely on Arlong's chair, or throne, I don't really know what to call it. He glances at me and raises his eyebrow, "Aren't you that rodent we picked up?"

I nod and wander over to him, eyeing all the dead pirates. "Pika?" I ask.

"Oh, this?" Zoro asks, gesturing to the corpses, "Yeah, they were in my way. Might as well take down the henchmen before taking down Arlong, you know?" I give him a look; this guy has no sympathy. Glad he's on our side. He looks at me again and rolls his eyes, "Talking to a rat, must be losing it."

I frown at him; so far, I'm not a fan of this guy's attitude. Plus, he took all the kills! I wanted to give these guys a thrashing too! Now what am I supposed to do with my rage-built electricity?

"Man, this is taking forever…five more minutes and I'll keel over from boredom." he moans. "Luffy, what's taking you so long?"

Wait, Luffy is coming here? I remember that Nami was with him and Zoro when they arrived at the Baratie...maybe Luffy was coming to help her! I hope to Arceus that's the case; Nami needs all the help she can get!

My ears twitch as I hear a strange voice coming from outside the wall. Zoro opens one eye and looks at the wall with me. It looked like someone with three fishing poles that was...catching himself…? Oh boy, we're dealing with a real piece of work here.

"What the hell…?" Zoro mutters walking over to the wall.

I follow and jump onto the top of the wall next to Zoro to see an octopus guy looking up at us. "Who are you? Speak up now!" he demands. His eyes widen and he points to himself, "Oh me? I'm Hachan, but my friends call me Hachi!" I sweatdrop; did he just switch personalities to answer his own question?

"You're a Fishman too?" Zoro asks.

"Yes! I'm an amazing octopus Fishman!" the octopus says (I didn't care enough to remember his name…). "And you're a human; are you a guest here?" he asks. Zoro and I both look behind us at all the slaughtered fish guys behind us. "You could say that…" Zoro answers slowly.

"Arlong isn't here, is he?" the octopus says. Wow, he bought it; this guy is more out to sea than Luffy!

"Nope, know where he is?" Zoro asks.

"He went to Cocoyashi Village to hunt down some long nosed intruder." Octopus answers. Zoro sighs, muttering under his breath; guess Long Nose is causing more trouble than he's worth.

"Alright," Zoro hops to the other side of the wall next to the octopus, "How can I get to this village?" he asks.

"Hop in, I'll take you." The octopus says pointing to a giant jar. Zoro complies and I quickly jump on his shoulder; I don't want to be left behind. Zoro looks at me questionably, probably not expecting me to perch on him.

After a nice short distance, the octopus drops us off on a dock. "Here we are, Cocoyashi Village." he announces. Zoro gets out of the jar but I still cling to his shoulder. The octopus starts to leave but he stops short. "Oh, I forgot to ask your name." he says. I feel Zoro tense up; I guess identities aren't really something you wanna trade. However, the octopus then looks confused. "What do you mean? I've told you my name!" And he swims off.

Zoro relaxes, "Weird guy…" he mutters.

"Pika…" I agree, glancing back at the retreating jar. We arrive in town and I decide that it's safe to hop off and walk on my own. However, I stay right on Zoro's heels; I don't want to end up alone again and he was the safest guy I could stick with right now.

He questions, or I guess the right word is interrogates, a few villagers, asking about a guy named Usopp. Turns out that's Long Nose's name; good to know. Anyway, Zoro gets the info he's looking for but it's not good. Apparently Usopp had been captured by Arlong and was probably dead. Well, that certainly wasn't good.

Zoro takes off, forcing me to jump back on his shoulder so I won't get left behind. He runs through the rest of the village and we head into a forest. Hopefully we'll get there in time.

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. We've been running through this forest for nearly an hour and Arlong Park is nowhere in sight! This guy's sense of direction was certainly something to behold. Seriously, how do you go right but end up going left?

At this point, I'm hoping for divine intervention to get us on the right track. My ears twitch as I hear a loud crash. Whoa, that was fast. I look around vigilantly, catching Zoro's attention as he stops running.

"What's up?" he asks.

My ears twitch even more in response, picking up more crashing noises. "Pika pika…" Those sounds...were they getting closer?

"HEY ZORO!"

We both look to the side and my eyes nearly bug out of their sockets. A ship is heading straight for us! In the middle of a forest! And who's at the helm? Luffy, of all people! I cling to Zoro's back as the ship crashes into us, dragging us for the final stretch of the ride. I squeeze my eyes shut as the boat finally crashes and completely breaks apart. I'm thrown from Zoro as wood and metal surround and bury me.

I cough as I hear Zoro get out of the rubble. "What...the hell...were you doing?!" he demands, probably yelling at Luffy. I hear him say something about picking up Nami but I'm being crushed; I need to get out. I push up against the wood covering me, but there's too much of it. I can only managed to lift it a tiny bit. Sawdust showers onto me and I cough as I push harder.

"Ah geez…" I hear Zoro mutter. Suddenly, a hand reaches through the rubble, grabs me by the scruff and yanks me out. I shake my head, blinking in the light as Zoro holds me. "Can't even handle a little wood?"

I scowl at him; it wasn't my fault that I was this tiny! "Pikachu…" I mutter irritably.

"Pika-chan...?"

My frown disappears as I hear a familiar voice. "Pika-chan, is that you?"

No...it couldn't be...not all the way out here!

I look up, and sure enough, Sanji's standing next to Luffy. He breaks into a relieved smile as his gaze falls on me. "Pika-chan!"

Zoro drops me and I run towards him. "Pika!" I squeal happily as he kneels down and scoops me into a hug.

"I'm so glad you're safe!" Sanji exclaims.

"Pikachu!" 'You and me both!'

"See? I knew we'd find you here!" Sanji and I look to see Luffy grinning at me.

"Shut up! There's no way you could've known that!" Sanji snaps, his grip around me tightening. "Pika-chan could've been lost at sea forever!"

Okay, would you mind not choking me, Sanji? I still give Luffy a small glare, "Pika pika…" 'Did you have to throw me so far, idiot?' I growl.

Luffy pouts, "We would've found you eventually..." He mutters before perking up. "Oh yeah, where are Usopp and Johnny? Weren't they with you?"

I perk up at the name and glance at Zoro, "Oh no…" he mutters getting to his feet, "C'mon, we've gotta hurry!"

"Why, what's wrong?" Luffy asks.

"That dumbass got caught by Arlong!" Zoro says urgently. "We've gotta hurry before they kill him!"

"Pika pika…" I say worriedly. Usopp was the one who picked me up while I was stranded and patched me up after all.

"You're too late…" We all turn to the unfamiliar voice; it's Sunglasses. Or, I guess he's Johnny. He falls to his knees. "Big bro Usopp...is dead…" he chokes out. "Nami...murdered him!"

*plays dramatic music*

Yeah, Pika-chan's a big softie when it comes to tragic backstories. Hell, even I melt into a little pile of goo whenever a character goes through shit like Nami did! Now if Oda would just reveal more about Sanji's past...(I WANNA KNOW ABOUT HIS NORTH BLUE HOME DAMMIT!)

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