Chapter Text
It starts like this – there’s an island (when isn’t there), Nami’s frowning at her wrist, Luffy is shouting, practically hanging off of the Sunny, and the weather changes in a flash. Rain pours down like a waterfall, the sea churns below them, Franky takes the helm, they’re sailing off towards the island, and Luffy doesn’t shift from his position at the front of the ship, despite the biting rain against his face. He isn’t going to miss anything for the world.
“LUFFY!” he hears someone shout – Nami. She stands at the edge of the ship with Usopp, both of them decked in heavy raincoats. They’re holding one for him, and warmth blazes in Luffy’s chest as he stretches an arm out, a welcoming contrast to the weather around them.
“It’s an island!” he offers as they slip the coat on him. One of his hands winds its way around Usopp’s wrist, quite literally, and Usopp offers a wry grin, shivering a moment later as a drop of rain from his hood drips down onto his nose.
“I think,” he begins, and Luffy can feel humour pulling at him – it’s been awhile since he’s heard the next words - , “I have a I-can’t-go-on-this-island illness, captain,” Usopp finishes, and they laugh, a muscled arm throwing itself around Luffy’s shoulders. Nami rolls her eyes, but doesn’t say anything when Luffy’s other hand snakes around her shoulder and pulls her in, swaying against the rocking of the Sunny as Franky holds them in the storm.
There is a clap of thunder, three seconds after lightning forks above them, but they don’t pause, marching onwards to the grass. Franky grins as they pass, and he calls out jovially. He’d have struck a pose if his hands weren’t needed at the wheel, Luffy knows, and he grins even wider. The rest of the crew are there, waiting, and Luffy doesn’t care if this is a horrid storm. They’re all here, ready to go at his command, and he resists the urge to hurl himself at them, to tell them how important they all are to him. They know it, but things have been so hectic that they’ve hardly had time to think. Saying it can wait, Luffy thinks after Nami begins ordering them, watching the clouds above. They have an island to get to.
It’s nothing remarkable, not like Fishman Island, Zō, or even Big Mom’s territory. It looks boring for the New World, if Luffy’s honest, but there is a feeling in the pit of his stomach that says otherwise. Anticipation bubbles, and he can’t help the laughter that rises from his throat. He’s excited, of course he is. There’s a brand new world to explore right in front of him, and it’s all he can do to keep a hold of Usopp while they near the harbour, in case he jumps at his instinct and goes hurtling off to explore.
“What kind of island is it?” Luffy hears Sanji ask, and Robin makes a curious sound, holding her umbrella with an extra arm. She brushes hair out of her eyes as she replies, and there’s something gentle in the gesture.
“I’m not one hundred percent sure,” Robin replies. She doesn’t know everything, Luffy thinks, but if there was anyone to find out everything about this island, it would be Robin. She shoots him a small smile, something secret that lets Luffy know she’ll be setting out alone when they dock, and he hopes she’ll find what she’s looking for.
“A trading island,” Brook inputs, hovering over them all. He’s sipping tea, donned in a bright yellow mac, and Luffy tilts his head, wondering who makes such a long coat. It’s down to Brook’s ankles and looks as if it’s been tailored for him. Well, Luffy reasons, Brook was a star, perhaps everything he has is now tailored perfectly.
“Trading?” Nami calls from Franky’s side, eyes gleaming with possibility. They have goods to trade, big and small they’ve gathered from their time travelling in the New World, and the useless ones will end up being traded for better things, things they’ll actually need .
Brook hums, setting his teacup down on the saucer. “It used to be the liveliest trading port in the New World, but things broke down after…” Brook slows, taking up his teacup again. Luffy rocks on his heels, wondering if Brook is going to finish that sentence, and when Sanji, Usopp and Chopper yell at him, Luffy just turns and laughs.
He doesn’t need to know the history of this place. Even if he heard it, Luffy wouldn’t remember it. He has more important things to remember, more important things to do, and history isn’t something he ever clings to. There are others on the crew to do that for him.
He stomps his feet as Franky steers them into the harbour. The weather’s changed now, puffs of cold air escaping from all of them, and Sanji ducked away to grab them thicker coats. Chopper is enjoying the climate, sprawled out on the grass as snow begins to fall, and Luffy laughs as Zoro scoops him up, tucks him under one arm and brings him over to where Luffy is. They all gather by him, aside from Franky, staring at the new island, and something strange curls in Luffy’s stomach.
Something isn’t right here. There’s something strange on the air, in this place, and it rattles against Luffy’s bones. He knows the others can feel it, from the way Sanji is slowly sliding his lighter from his pocket to the way Zoro’s wrist grazes his swords. It’s in the way Robin crosses her arms over her chest, how Usopp narrows his eyes and looks out across the bay (despite the fact he’s huddled against Nami, Chopper sandwiched against them) and in the way Nami’s gripping the side of the boat, eyes fixed on their pose. They can all feel it, the badness of this place. It’s never stopped Luffy before, and it won’t stop him now.
“Luffy,” Nami breaths, more of a sigh than a plea. “Just wait.”
He nods, feet still scuffing the ground, and wonders for a moment if he should change shoes into something sturdier, something warmer. It takes all off Luffy a second to decide that no he doesn’t, and if he needed better shoes, someone would have fetched them for him.
“It’s an island,” Luffy says, a smile slipping over the last traces of unease. They’re past the end of the jetty now, and there will be no going back from this point.
“It’s an unmanned scary island,” Nami mutters in return, shaking her head and closing her eyes. “Just wait for a bit longer, then you can go.”
Luffy concedes fingers wrapping around the side of the boat. It’s to ground him, even as Franky calls that he’s going to stop them here, setting the anchor down and striding over to them.
“Well then,” he says merrily, pushing sunglasses up to the top of his head with his small hands. “What now?”
It’s been a long time since they’ve had an island to explore and no reason to explore it other than curiosity. It’s an odd feeling. There are no missions, no higher objectives. They are together, completely, and this is an unexpected trip.
“Nami,” Luffy says, and his voice is an unashamed whine. He notes Nami’s sigh, her pleading look to the others of the crew, and the way she shakes her head, turning to him with a grim smile.
“Fine,” she says, and Luffy is off before the word is finished. He turns on the jetty as Zoro and Sanji are the next to step down, and Zoro offers him a feral grin.
“I’m going to find things to fight,” he announces, and bumps Sanji’s shoulder. “I’ll bring you meat,” he promises quietly, and Sanji nods, puffing on his cigarette.
“You do that Marimo,” he says fondly, before letting Luffy know his plans to go with Chopper around the island for supplies. The others seem to be heading to look for some sort of town or city, and Luffy nods briskly.
“Alright then,” he says, and before they can decide who will accompany him, Luffy takes off. It’s not that he doesn’t want the company, but he wants to get going right now. There’s so much to explore and so much to do, he can’t sit around here any longer.
The pebbled beaches give way to scrubby trees that in turn give way to hulking jungle. It’s a strange, mismatched landscape, as if someone has cut and stuck land together. Maybe someone has: there are stranger powers out there.
Luffy continues on, storming through the jungle. His feet crunch as the trees give way to a skeletal forest, one fully in the grip of winter. While it’s only striking him odd that there is a jungle here now, the thick trees and rich flora bare, and Luffy slows, snow covering his feet to the ankles. His toes are blue, but he refuses to give in, and there’s something ahead, a dip in the land.
It’s unnaturally quiet, there isn’t even a breeze. The only sound is the blanket of snow as it falls, and the thud of Luffy’s feet as he storms onwards. His cheeks feel bright pink, but he’s grinning away, excited to see what curiosities lay in the dip.
It’s a door. There, connected to a sloping concrete structure that goes down into the earth, is a door. In the middle of a strange island in the middle of nowhere. It’s a door, a door that begs to be open, and Luffy follows his impulse.
The handle is cold as he pushes down on it. It needs considerable force to open, but snow and ice finally crunch as the door gives way, and Luffy’s pushing into the tunnel, vaguely surprised to see that the hallway is lined with torches. Lit torches.
So there are still people here then. But what are they doing hiding underground? Luffy isn’t that interested in the answer, if he’s honest, but where there are people, there is food. And where there is food, there is meat, and meat is just what Luffy fancies right now. Well, what he always fancies.
He almost breaks into song as he strolls down deeper into the tunnel. He refrains, mostly because the echo would ruin the song, but also because something is telling him to keep quiet, the same heavy shroud that had greeted them at the jetty. Luffy knows there is something here, and he’s not sure if his excitement is appropriate.
The tunnel is nice smooth stone all the way down. There aren’t going to be any cave-ins here, and it reminds him of something. His feet pause as he remembers another tunnel underground he’s been in, and Luffy tries to shake memories of descending into Impel Down away. This isn’t Impel Down. This isn’t a place belonging to the marines or the government. He’s not going to get caught.
There isn’t a reason for him to stay through gruelling punishment. This isn’t Impel Down, he repeats to himself, and forces his feet to move. He’s grown since then, he’s gotten more powerful. Luffy can protect the people he loves now. This isn’t Impel Down.
With some effort, Luffy turns his mind to what may be ahead. There is a slight breeze now, calling him in, so the tunnel has to open to somewhere. He doesn’t know where, but that’s all part of the excitement. He’s about to find out the beauty of this island, and when he turns the last corner, Luffy isn’t sure what he’s expecting.
It’s just a room. A large room, with a tunnel on the other side, but it’s a room nonetheless. In the centre is what appears to be some sort of grate, and Luffy steps slowly into the room. It’s bare, completely bare, aside from a sleeping den-den mushi. It’s massive, one of the ones that broadcasts in public, and Luffy wonders what it’s doing here.
“Hey,” he says bluntly, ambling over to the snail. “Why are you here?”
Bleary eyes open and close, and the den-den mushi shifts. It’s not a big movement (when is it with den-den mushis), but the implication is clear: leave me alone.
“Come on,” Luffy says, squatting down in an attempt to be level with its eye stalks. “Why are you here?”
The den-den mushi doesn’t move, simply closes its eyes, and that is that. Luffy feels disappointment curl around him, and he sighs, looking around the room.
“This is boring,” he declares, looking around. Where’s the food? Where are the people? Who builds a tunnel and goes to the trouble of lighting it if they’re not even going to be here? It wasn’t… Luffy turns back to the den-den mushi.
“You didn’t light the torches, did you?” He’d be amazed if the den-den mushi had. He didn’t think they had arms, but he’d never asked one.
“Hmm,” Luffy says, crossing his arms. “This is boring.”
He stands, ignoring the den-den mushi as its eyes follow him. If it’s not going to play nice, he doesn’t want to know. This is boring, and he has other things he could be doing. Luffy sticks a hand in his coat pocket, heading towards the centre of the room. He peers down at the grate, not expecting anything, and that’s when things get a little more interesting.
As soon as his foot touches the grate, a number of things happen. The tunnels seal off, and how that happened Luffy doesn’t quite understand. His foot feels numb, and the numbness travels up his leg. He falls down, face against the grate which is clearly made from sea stone. He’d recognise this feeling anywhere, and he lets out a moan, trying to haul himself up. He’s barely managing that when the den-den mushi moves, fully awake and functional as it opens its mouth.
“Ahh,” a voice says. It’s a robotic sounding voice, as if someone doesn’t want Luffy to know who they are. “We have another.”
There is a sinking feeling in Luffy’s stomach, and he pushes himself up. He doesn’t stand, not yet where there are too many unknown quantities. He’s not sure what he needs to punch yet, but punching something is undeniable. Punches solve everything.
“Huh?” he answers eloquently, still feeling the sting of sea stone as he tries to move away from the grate. He manages it – just – as the den-den mushi turns so he can see its side. A screen flickers on, the logo of the marines coming clear into view.
Well shit.
“The New World is a strange one,” the voice from the den-den mushi is saying. “In the end you all fall for our island, though.” There is a laugh, and Luffy feels like he’s missing the joke. Instead of it being a carefree feeling as it always is on board the Sunny, this sinks to the bottom of his stomach, and he has no idea what it means.
“It’s a very subtle thing, but we’re able to manipulate the currents, thanks to the power of a Devil Fruit,” the voice says, satisfaction dripping from every word. “You were caught in out trap hours ago, just like a fly in a spider’s web.”
Luffy frowns. He has no idea what his situation has to do with spiders, and he’s bored. He’ll just punch his way out – the gate has to give, sea stone or no sea stone – and he pushes himself up.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the den-den mushi says, following him as Luffy makes his way towards the tunnel. There’s something in the voice that makes him pause, and he waits. “If you leave, you’ll be the only one getting off of this island alive.”
The laugh returns, and the screen on the den-den mushi flickers. It reveals a set of cells before it pans closer, showing eight tiny crush cages, one of his crew members inside each. The fact that Franky and Brook both fit perfectly inside slightly altered cages shows Luffy that these people, these marines, knew exactly who they were hunting, and they fell right into their trap.
“Let them go,” Luffy says, and the voice laughs again. Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, Luffy fights not to just fly at the tunnel entrance. He doesn’t know where his crew is, and this isn’t something he can just barrel through. It looks like every one of them is unconscious, and if Luffy isn’t careful, they’ll be ripped away from him.
“No,” the voice says, and Luffy takes in a sharp breath.
“Let them go,” he repeats firmly, and the den-den mushi blinks at him, the camera panning over each of his crew members’ faces before it flickers back to the marine sign.
“How about we do something else,” the voice says, and Luffy narrows his eyes. Whatever it is will be horrid, he knows that, but if it protects the ones he loves then he’ll do it.
“Your crew will remain unharmed.” It’s a promise, not one that they will go back on, and Luffy tilts his chin, narrowing his eyes. These things don’t come without a catch (see Thriller Bark; no one knows that Luffy knows, but he does, and the thought of all that pain and suffering Zoro went through just for him fills Luffy with purpose and strength), but Luffy will protect his own until his last breath.
“And?” he demands, practically spitting the word. There is none of his good humour or kindness left in him right now, and the voice’s cruel laugh echoes.
“And in return, you will face their punishment as well as your own,” it says, and the den-den mushi’s eyes widen. It isn’t long before it tucks itself away into its shell, just as Luffy feels the ground shake.
There is something coming into the tunnel, and Luffy turns to it with his fists clenched and fire burning in his blood.
They want him to suffer? They won’t get to him without a fight.
.
Something feels strange, Nami thinks as she opens her eyes. She feels hazy, as if she’s been sleeping for too long, and her body aches. She can see why immediately – she’s in a tiny cell, barely big enough for her to be lying with her legs tucked up, and that’s what she’s been doing for fuck knows how long.
“Luffy?” she asks quietly, more a murmur than anything. She hears someone stir outside the cell, and she sits up warily, wincing as her entire body laces with fire. She hasn’t ached this bad for years, and it unsettles her.
“Nami,” Usopp whimpers, and she can’t blame him when she manages to crawl out and see his cell. Nami’s is practically luxury in comparison, and the position Usopp was dumped in looks as though, should he move the wrong way just a touch, he’ll break something.
“Where are we?” she asks, looking to the other cells. Her heartbeat slows a little, counting off the cells and the bodies emerging from them. They all look worse for wear, and Robin moves steadily over, drawing the rest of the group after her. They sit in a huddle, half-leaning against each other and groaning, trying to place the world back together.
“Does anyone remember anything?” Sanji asks calmly, frowning as he pats his pockets. Whoever captured them looks to have raided everything they have, and Nami touches the bare skin on her wrist, stricken.
“No,” Zoro grunts, and he’s antsy, swords visibly missing. Nami can’t blame him; she feels so out of place without her bracelet and log pose, she can’t imagine how Zoro feels to have lost part of his identity.
No one remembers how they ended up here, they all realise, and a cold feeling draws over Nami. None of them have mentioned it, but she knows they’re all unsettled by the fact that Luffy is missing. Luffy who went off by himself.
Chopper moves around the group, and Nami realises he’d been checking everyone over, despite not having his backpack. His face is drawn with concentration, and he presses his ear to Usopp’s chest, nodding to himself. She smiles, slightly, and meets Robin’s eyes when she looks up. They share the smile, and then it’s time to get to business.
Though he won’t fully commit with certainty, Chopper thinks they’ve been out for at least a day, probably more than that, and he looks away when they ask exactly how many. Perhaps three days, he admits quietly, perhaps more. Nami doesn’t know how they could have spent so much time down here and not… know it. She isn’t hungry, she isn’t about to explode from lack of going to the toilet, she feels exactly how she did when they stepped on the island.
“Where is Luffy?” ventures Chopper, and everyone looks down. They don’t know, that’s the thing, and they all remember the last time they didn’t know where Luffy was and they’d been in danger.
“We’ll go find him,” Nami says firmly. She bites the inside of her cheek, watching her family shift uncomfortably. “And find our missing things. Whatever bastard took them deserves what’s coming to them,” she says, with far more confidence than she feels.
For some reason, Nami has a feeling that something bad has happened. She has a feeling that a choice was taken away from them, and that there is something terrible lying before them. She has nothing to base this on, though, and so for now remains quiet. The others are thinking the same, she can tell from the way Franky isn’t cracking jokes and even from the hollows of Brook’s eyes.
Something is terribly wrong.
All the doors they come to are unlocked, the hallways silent. This place has the feel of a lab, and Nami takes Chopper’s hand gently, squeezing as he shivers. Usopp’s on her other side, pressed against her, and the others crowd around them, everyone packed tightly. It’s not often they all compact like this, and it fills Nami with dread.
It’s as they enter a large hall that they see the sign on the wall. It’s faded, but nevertheless they can see it, and Nami’s heart sinks.
“So this is a marine base,” Sanji murmurs, and Robin hums, tilting her head slightly. Nami can see why; there is writing underneath the gull wing logo, and Robin makes a disconcerting noise low in the back of her throat.
“Was a marine base,” she corrects quietly, tucking hair behind her ear. She looks at Nami, worry clear on her face, and that’s when Nami knows they are in terrible danger. Robin never lets her worry shine through in her expressions, but here she is, clearly worried, and Nami wants to march off to find Luffy right now.
“We’re on a stasis island,” Robin says, moving to the wall. She presses a hand against it, closing her eyes for a moment. “I heard about this when I was with the Revolutionaries. It’s a former marine base that was shut down years ago for their conduct. Apparently their behaviour was unsavoury, even when it was enacted on criminals, and the marines did not wish to be associated with them anymore.”
Nami’s heart clenches.
“So it’s bad,” Usopp says, and Robin nods curtly. “We need to find Luffy,” he finishes, and they move on in a cluster, sticking tight. This time, Usopp doesn’t hesitate in taking her hand, Chopper back on the other side.
They walk and they walk and they walk, and still there’s nothing. There’s no hint of a person around, but they have to be somewhere. They didn’t magically appear here, that’s for sure.
Which leads Nami to thinking of how they did end up here. She remembers being with the others, exploring the only town on the island. They’d thought it a little odd that the town had been empty, devoid of anything and everything. There had been no food, no animals, not even a breeze. Nami had complained loudly, and then Franky had called out that there were a handful of den-den mushi, one for each of them, if Nami remembers correctly.
Was that how they’d gotten here? It seems the most likely cause of action, but she’s never heard of den-den mushi taking people captive. They are passive creatures, creatures that are happy to sit and do nothing for long periods of time, not sneak up and attack people.
“The den-den mushi,” Nami says, and looks around, as if one will jump out now and tell them where to go. And maybe hand over their stuff, that would be nice.
“It’s not impossible that den-den mushi do unexpected things,” Sanji comments, and of course he’d know a little more about unexpected den-den mushi than the rest of them. Not that he could have predicted a (seemingly) abandoned stasis ex-marine island with (potentially) murderous den-den mushi.
“How does that help us though?” Usopp says, sighing. “We need to find Luffy and get off this island.”
They all agree with that, but how do they find Luffy? The building they’re in is a maze, and surely he wouldn’t still be outside, would he? The only thing that would stop Luffy rescuing them is if Luffy was indisposed himself, so he had to be trapped somewhere. Nami swears that if he’s stuck between two buildings or something ridiculous again she’d going to hit him so hard that battling against a pacifista looks like eating cake.
“If he’s here, he’ll be in the centre,” Robin says, her eyes closed and arms crossed. Nami shivers as she feels Robin’s powers spread over the base, and she knows that Robin has enough strength again to scout their area. She is looking, and she’ll find Luffy in no time.
Even for Robin, though, it takes a considerable amount of time, and there is sweat on her brow before she nods, letting her arms drop as her power returns.
“I found a room I think he’s in. I was unable to see inside, but if there is somewhere capable of holding our captain, it will be that room.” They move together, marching onwards with Robin at their head, leading them. Soon they’ll be reunited, and soon they can escape off of this island. Soon they’ll have Luffy and nothing else will matter. They can go home and sail away from this place.
In the end, it takes almost an hour of walking and weaving through the maze of a building before they’re standing outside a tunnel. It’s dark down below, and there are bars across the entrance. A den-den mushi blinks slowly at them, eyestalks moving to count them all. There is the sound of static that emanates from its shell, and Nami narrows her eyes.
“Oi,” Sanji grunts, and both him and Zoro march up to the bars. “Open up.” It’s a demand, a threat, and Nami watches as the den-den mushi slides to the side, exposing its shell.
“You did well,” a voice says, grating and distorted. Nami has no idea if it’s a male or female voice, human or otherwise. She doesn’t really want to know, doesn’t care enough to know, and watches as Sanji widens his stance. Zoro, too, slumps a little, hands prepared to rip the bars apart.
“I will grant you access in a moment,” the den-den mushi voice says. “And you can leave the island. Or at least try.” The words aren’t reassuring in the slightest, and Nami know that, if this continues, they’ll all be bringing the bars down.
“Your captain and your things are inside,” the voice says. “You’ll have two minutes to grab everything and get out, or we’ll repeat the past few days.”
Nami feels a shiver run down her spine, and she nods to Zoro and Sanji. They’ll both go in, and Robin steps up too, ready to ferry their objects out. There is a pause, and then Robin calls for Franky to join them.
It’s a nerve wracking few minutes, and all they can do is stand and wait. The bars slide down with an ominous clank, the den-den mushi peers out at them, sliding past as Robin, Franky, Zoro and Sanji run down. They have two minutes, hardly any time, and who knows how big the room inside is. There is silence, even after the others are in the room, and Nami feels the rest of them draw together, waiting for the inevitable.
Arms sprout on the ground, passing their possessions out, and Nami restocks herself quietly, glad for the distraction. It has to have been at least a minute, and the worry in her stomach grows until it’s something so uncomfortable she can’t quite stand it. She wants to move, wants to run inside and hurry them up, but she stays. She’ll just make things worse, and they wouldn’t spend more time there unless they had to.
Robin and Franky emerge together, and Franky is cradling something – Luffy – in his arms. He shakes his head when Chopper moves forward, and that’s how they know it’s bad. They need to get off this island to look after Luffy, and that means it’s something that can’t be patched up in a moment.
Zoro and Sanji follow slowly, clearly distrustful of the den-den mushi and the voice. Together they move, Chopper the one to lead them this time, shifted into his full reindeer form, nose pointing the way. They make it out with relative ease, far from the sea, but that’s okay. They’re getting there, and Nami has to force herself to look ahead, and not at the rag-doll form in Franky’s arms.
It’s a rush to get to the ship. As they begin moving from the building, in fact as soon as Chopper sets one hoof on the floor outside, a siren blares around them. It’s a trigger, and they break into a run. There is no fancy technology that can save them, no amount of strength or accuracy. They just have to run to the Sunny – that is the only way they’ll be safe. They can get out of here with a blast, the weather doesn’t matter. The wind isn’t on their side, but anything to get distance between them and this island is all that matters.
“Duck!” Franky shouts, and Nami does so just in time. Usopp’s the one who turns on his heel, slingshot out as he fires something behind them, a gigantic plant covering their trail a split second later. It looks like a man-eating plant, something to trap whatever has followed them.
They carry on running, and the sea is visible now. It’s within reach, and Nami wants to reach out to the pathetic bundle in Franky’s arms, tell Luffy that they are almost there, that they’ll be home soon. She doesn’t dare break pace, none of them do, and they’re soon sloshing through the sea, water seeping through their clothes. It’s cold, colder than it should be for this kind of island, and they wade to the Sunny, Robin’s arms helping to haul them out of the water. They settle on deck, ducking projectiles that are thrown their way, ignoring whatever is pushing against the bottom of the Sunny. Nami refuses to look – her eyes are stuck on Franky’s arms, and how he’s so gentle as he follows Chopper, the two of them vanishing inside.
“Go!” Sanji shouts, and Nami registers Zoro leaping at something, swords smooth as they glide through the air, and she feels Brook’s cold hand on her arm.
“We need to get going,” he says gently, and she wonders how he is taking this. Brook’s seen his entire crew die before, and Nami’s resolve steels. She nods, moving over to the steering wheel, and Usopp’s already hauling the anchor up. They’re off in a matter of moments, but it’s not enough.
“Hold onto something!” Nami shouts, and she nods at Brook. Together they set the cannon loose, blasting off and away from this island. They land in the middle of the ocean, far away from islands, and Nami doesn’t want to look at her log pose to see what mess it’s in. All she knows is that they’re away from the island, and that’s the important thing.
It feels too easy, in a way, but she’s not going to tempt fate and question this. They are away, there doesn’t seem to be anyone chasing them, and they can focus on Luffy right now.
“I’m going to find us an island,” Nami says firmly, though she has no idea how she’ll find any island, let alone a good one to recover by. This is the New World, though, and they cannot afford to stay in the open water, not when Luffy is in this condition. They need somewhere to recover, somewhere where they won’t be found, and the open ocean paints them as a sitting target.
She watches the log pose, narrowing her eyes at the movement. She thinks she’s started to get a hang of the patterns, and she waits. She can feel Brook watching her, but he says nothing. She is aware of the others too, Usopp who is tidying the loose items up around the deck, Zoro who is scanning the sky, Robin who still has her arms crossed and is pointed in the direction they came, and Sanji who has headed to the kitchen. They’re still all on edge, and she doesn’t think her silence helps.
Just a moment more, Nami thinks, watching as the log slows every few seconds, wiggling one way just a little more. She waits one more time to be sure, and then nods. There is a calm island to their left, a fair distance away. It’s against the wind and looks like they’ll face a storm soon enough, but it’s an island that has a steady atmosphere around it, and that is what they need. She just hopes that, if there are people, they won’t be disturbed.
“Brook,” Nami says, eyes darting between the sky and her wrist, and he steps up to the wheel as she moves slightly. This is how it’ll be until they get to the island, and Nami is hardly aware of the others settling down to wait, waiting for Luffy, waiting for an attack. All they can do it wait.
They’re going to make it, Nami thinks. They’ve made worse than this, much worse, and Luffy is stronger than any of them. They haven’t been trapped long, and no matter what they did to him, Chopper will heal him. They’ll be safe and will continue on as always, that’s for sure.
There is a voice in the back of Nami’s head that contradicts this, but she shakes her head slightly, shivering as the air gets colder. Perhaps they’re headed to a winter island, and she hopes they have enough fuel stocked up to keep warm.
When the infirmary door opens, everyone stills, eyes darting in Franky’s direction. He closes the door quietly, though the sound echoes even over the lapping waves. He looks tired, not that Nami can blame him, and he just shakes his head, sitting down on the stairs. There’s nothing they can do, the head shake says. Chopper will do what he does best, and then they’ll be able to see.
Nami bites her lip, meets Brook’s hollow eyes, and returns to watching the log and the weather. Hairs are standing up on her arms now, but she doesn’t leave her post. With Luffy out of action, she is the one who has to lead them now, who has to get them somewhere safe, and there’s no way she is going to fail. She hadn’t paid attention to the log at the last island and it had cost them dearly. A power that drew people in had to do something to the log pose, surely, and Nami curses herself for not paying more attention to it.
The New World is unlike anything they’ve experienced before, and she’s still been so lax about it. She can’t do that anymore, she can’t just expect to leap and have someone else save her. Nami needs to wake up and do more for herself.
A blur becomes visible on the horizon, and Nami nods. It’s the island they’re aiming for, judging by the slight quiver in the log arrow, and she notifies the crew. There’s still hope to be had, and they will not lose that hope until there is no choice.
They are strong, and they will persevere. Luffy will not die, they can do this.