One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ A Log Pose to Nami ❯ Prologue ( Prologue )

A Log Pose to Nami

Leaning into the pull of the water, Luffy let the rowboat drift, his hands clasping near the top of his oar. The heavy jungle around him was not constricting, but he couldn't see even three feet into it - so deep, and thick, and green that everything was.

The rest of his crew was either dozing along with him in other boats or steadily rowing down the river even though there was no need. It seemed like everyone was about to wind down and rest in the darkness.

His feet were tired he realized, and his arms were like lead, since dragging the oar through the river was a bit of a chore. Nami was sleeping on the long bench in front of him, slightly curled up to be comfortable. Though it was night already, the jungle had trapped the heat of the day inside, and so she slept with no blanket over her, still wearing a dirty pair of shorts and a tank top with wide horizontal stripes.

He laid the oar across his lap, and settled against the back of the boat, smiling tiredly at the bits of sky that he could see through the canopy, his hat falling off to hang from his neck by its string. Grinning slightly, he took it off, and set it onto Nami's head before he lied back down again. Kicking off his sandals so they could rest beside Nami's - which had fallen off her feet in her slumber - he closed his eyes to let the boat travel on its own down the river.

It had taken several days to get to where they were on that river of the uninhabited island, and he figured that the river wouldn't mind if it gave them a ride while he took a nice … little … nap …

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Luffy gave a huge yawn, grinning up at the bright sky above him, and then sat up quickly to look around.

The oar was still across his lap, and his sandals were still next to Nami's on the floor of the rowboat, but Nami herself was gone. His brow furrowed, confused as he glanced about only to realize that the boat had gone aground, and that the others' rowboats were gone. As he got out so that he could tie the ship to the shore, he noticed that this had already been done, and he frowned.

“Nami's sandals are still here, but Nami's gone. So …” he scratched his cheek with a finger, and then searched for his hat lying across his back before he remembered that his navigator still had it. “… She took a barefoot walk! Sounds like fun!”

With a wide grin, he left his own sandals in the rowboat, and - unconcerned that his other crewmates had not seen their boat become separated - he walked into the jungle, shouting his navigator's name.

He had been walking for a good ten minutes before he stopped, and scratched his cheek again, almost pouting as he tried to look through the gaps in the jungle, “Nami? Oi? … Come on, this isn't funny anymore. You got my hat! Where'd you go?” Seeing something glint brightly, he smiled, and headed over. Was it gold or maybe silver? Perhaps, he could surprise Nami with it when he saw her next!

Luffy felt something in him become rigid when he realized a few seconds later that it was a short curved-sword embedded deeply into a tree trunk. Blinking slowly as he digested this, his eyes trailed to the note at the end of it. Crouching down so he could see it better, he read aloud:

I'm borrowing your navigator.

- Captain Vincent of the Squishy Pirates

Making a face, he said as he stuck out his tongue, “Squishy? … Navigator!?” Grabbing the note, he stuffed it into a pocket, and took off into the jungle at a dead-run. “Nami! Nami! Oi, oi! Squishy guys! Give back Nami!”

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Luffy scratched his chin, and frowned at the sight of the ship sailing away in the distance.

He had no way and no time to find the others so that they could follow the Squishy Pirates, but then, he had no way to follow the pirates unless he found his crew! The ship was too far away for him to reach even if he stretched, and it had already been proven countless times that he was definitely no swimmer.

Yet, he knew that once that ship was out of sight, Nami would be gone with it, and Luffy and the remainder of his crew would be stuck on the island until someone else came by - if anyone ever came by. Even that didn't ensure that they would be able to track down Nami and her kidnappers though.

There was no log pose he knew of that would lead to a person, and even if there was one, he didn't have one that led to her.

Clenching his fist, he punched a tree, groaning in frustration before he blinked, and looked up at the tree when it cracked easily. It had also made a hollow sound, and his eyes trailed higher up before he noticed that the tree's branches were bare of leaves; it was probably dead, and thus brittle.

Suddenly smiling, he pulled back his fists, and shouted, “Gum Gum Gatling Gun!”

With the extra force added onto that first powerful punch, it was with ease that Luffy toppled the tree to the shore. Glancing up at the horizon, he gritted his teeth when he saw that the ship was much smaller than before, and, bracing his knees, he pushed the tree over to find the weaker side, and smashed his fist through to make a place for him to sit. Once he made a big enough `seat' he broke one of the branches off, and put it through one of his belt loops to keep it while he picked up the log.

Heaving it up, he aimed toward the shrinking ship, and threw it hard, one arm stretching as he held on like that. Taking a running jump after the log, he zipped through the air along with it, gripping the log tight as he laughed, the wind whipping and bucking through his hair and clothes. He reached the log before it landed, and he clung to it as it crashed into the ocean. His eyes grew wide when the log decided to spin in the water after landing, and he clung to it desperately, hoping that he would not lose his strength with those brief dunks into the sea. Luffy panted hard when the log decided to stop twirling in the water, and he groaned weakly as he settled into the seat he had made. It had collected some water at the bottom, but he didn't worry too much as he pulled the branch out of his belt loop, and started to steer the log toward the slightly closer ship.

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“So hungry …” Luffy groaned, his arms feeling willowy, but he held to his oar like a lifeline, still paddling desperately after the ship. He glanced at the sky, and figured that it had been about a few hours since he'd started after the squishy guys. “If I'm this tired … and this hungry after just a few hours …!”

Shaking his head hard, he shoved the log forward furiously, trying not to think about his stomach, or the strain in his arms, shoulders, and back. Everything hurt really, but it was beyond him to let that stop him from helping Nami. He gritted his teeth to keep his tongue from hanging out in tiredness and thirst, swallowing dryly as he worked through the water.

The pirate ship was no closer, he was able to see it, and it hadn't shrunk much, but he wondered when he would catch up. They had the wind to their aid, and the best navigator in the world guiding them, but all he had was his quickly diminishing strength, a branch, and a rather bulky log. Luffy could remember moving really fast when he had used that screwdriver trick in the Davy Back doughnut race, but he had been affected by the seawater when he'd done that. He began to huff as he worked at the branch, trying to at least keep the ship in sight.

Realizing that the air was starting to chill, he glanced at the sinking sun, and wondered how long he'd really been out at sea. Had it really only been a few hours as he had thought? Luffy turned his eyes back to the ship, and reasoned that it didn't matter how long he had been rowing. He would follow Nami across the entire Grand Line to get her back.

“Nami is my navigator,” he said, beginning to paddle faster, his breath puffing so hard that it looked like steam. “And Sanji is going to cook me a whale when I get back!”

Five minutes later, he was aching all over again though, and he took a deep breath only to let it trail out slowly. Blinking when some snowflakes fluttered in front of his face, he shivered slightly, taking another breath only to stare as his breath made the snowflakes dance away.

He grinned, and turned around.

Keeping a hold onto the log, he sucked in air, expanding into a balloon before he ducked his head down close to the water, and released all of that air. Luffy and the log surged forward from the force expelled out of his lungs. Often looking over his shoulder so that he would still be directed toward the ship, he used the branch to correct his trajectory whenever he saw that he was going off course. When he noticed that this was making him run out of breath, he decided to switch between paddling, and blowing.

The next island, thankfully, seemed to be much closer than he had thought it would be. His only problem was that it appeared to be a winter island, and he was freezing. Luffy attempted not to watch his breath - misty from the cold - as it formed in front of him, and he kept his fingers and bare toes moving.

After the water in his seat began to chill, he took some short breaks to cup the water in his hands and toss out the side, trembling uncontrollably as he did.

Luffy remembered Drum Island, and climbing the mountain with Nami strapped to his back, and Sanji dangling from his mouth.

“Th-this is nothing …” he said, and tried to believe it as his body was racked with quakes. “This is nothing, Nami. I'm coming for you.”

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I wanted to write something with Luffy/Nami, and finally figured out a plot around which I could work.

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