One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ Sitting on the Waves ❯ Just Another Day ( Chapter 17 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

ONE PIECE
SITTING ON THE WAVES
CHAPTER 17
BY
Sgamer82

     It took a while, but Usopp eventually made enough Acid Stars to cover all the green stone in front of the orphanage. Every child there was happy to be able to move freely. Chopper, who had soon arrived with Robin (who now sported an eye patch over her wounded eye), was inspecting each of the kids that had been trapped.

     For the most part, they were all unhurt. Probably the worst injury was on the girl who had used her body to trip Huncaza during the fight. She had a pretty nasty bruise on her side where Huncaza‘s leg had hit her. Fortunately, with the all the fights the Going Merry’s crew got into, Chopper had plenty of ointments to treat bruises. Other than that there was nothing more drastic than some of the kids needing a change of clothing. Some had been a bit overcome by fear when Huncaza first showed up. Though in other cases, it was simply due to the fact that Usopp had taken too long in his work.

     Leda was doing fairly well. She had lost consciousness as well as a lot of blood. It would be a while before she would wake up and be able to restore Nami.

     In the meantime, the local villagers looked after the orphanage children. They had no problem doing so for Leda. Several of the people of Redisca were, in fact, children Leda had raised or who had come to her for new lives. This was the least they could do in exchange for all she had done for them.

     Nami, however, remained with the Straw Hat crew. They considered her their responsibility. Plus, she didn’t want to be separated from Luffy. Not only did he save her life, but they actually seemed to get along pretty well. Better than they usually did when Nami was an adult anyway.

     The crew returned to the Going Merry to rest and recuperate until Leda woke up. On the way back, Luffy had been bugging Robin about her new eye patch.

     “Come on! Can’t I have it?” Luffy all but begged, “I’m the captain! Pirate captains should get to wear eye patches!”

     “Yeah!” Nami chimed in from beside Luffy, “Pirates wear eye patches!”

     “Captain, the Doctor told me to keep this eye patch on until my eye fully healed.”

     Chopper had mixed some eye drops for Robin to help her eye heal. However, he felt it best to keep it from being exposed to light too much, so Chopper had found a patch to use for it.

     “Captain,” Robin continued, “I promise that as soon as the Doctor says I no longer need it, you can have it.”

     “Really?!” Luffy asked excitedly. He then ran to where Usopp and Chopper were talking, “Hey, Chopper! Tell Robin she doesn’t need her eye patch anymore!”

     Luffy became Chopper’s problem for the rest of the trip back. Little Nami was right behind, shadowing Luffy every step of the way.

     When they reached the Merry, Nami ran right to it. She was amazed. She couldn’t remember ever seeing such a big boat. The only ones she knew were the fishing boats back in Cocoyashi. She loved even more the tangerine trees that were on the ship. They reminded Nami of home. For good reason, since that’s exactly where they had come from.

     The rest of the day had been spent with Chopper treating Sanji and Zoro’s injuries. Luffy hadn’t gotten more than a few scratches in his fight, so he and Usopp instead kept Nami occupied. Robin sat on the steps on deck, content to watch the fun rather than participate.

     They played tag for a while. Nami proving to be a very energetic little girl. She and Luffy were still running around the ship long after Usopp had gotten tired and had to sit down with Robin. They kept going for another half-hour until Sanji called them in for some early lunch.

     The meal was, as usual, wonderful. The crew dug in, being sure to keep a sharp eye out for Luffy’s hands. Robin had to make hands sprout from the table to smack away Luffy’s whenever he made a grab for her plate. They meal went as peacefully as they usually do until Nami suddenly began crying. All eyes turned to her.

     “Mr. Luffy took my food!” she cried.

     “Wh..” Luffy said with his mouth full, “N’ I’ Di’n’.”

     However, this was such a common occurrence that nobody believed Luffy. Sanji provided Nami with a fresh plate as well as a little bit of ice cream from the freezer. Not one member of the crew thought to ask Nami about the sauce stains around her mouth or the odd smile on her face as she started on her ice cream, ignoring her actual food.

     After lunch, Nami ran out to the deck with Luffy.

     “Whaddya wanna do now? Huh?” She asked. This had been a exciting day so far for her.

     In answer to her question, Luffy fell backwards onto the deck and fell asleep.

     “But… I don’t wanna take a nap!” This would have been more believable if she hadn’t yawned midway through her sentence. She too lied down and fell asleep.

     As she slept, Zoro walked over and woke up Luffy. No easy task, but he managed it. He had Luffy walk over to the dining room where Sanji, Usopp, and Chopper were waiting. Robin came in a minute or so later, after putting Nami in her own bed. She also made sure this time to hide evidence of Nami’s adult life to avoid what happened the previous night when she was thirteen.

     “So what’d you wake me up for?” Luffy asked. It was Usopp who answered.

     “Luffy, we need to decide what to do… if…” he didn’t really want to say it, but… “…if Leda can’t reverse what she did to Nami. We need to figure out what to do with her.”

     “Why wouldn’t she change Nami back?” Luffy asked.

     “When we were at the orphanage, I talked to some of the people there. They know about Leda’s powers. Some of them were even affected by them once. But they said they can’t think of a single time Leda ever reversed a transformation on another person.”

     “Not surprising,” Robin interjected, “Up until now, she’s probably never had a reason to. Everyone came to her seeking her powers and expecting the result to be permanent.”

     “So there’s a chance, then, that Miss Nami can’t return to her older self.” Sanji said.

     There was a moment of silence at the thought of losing Nami to her child self.

     “So what can we do?” Chopper asked.

     “We take her home.”

     The crew all looked to Luffy, surprised he already had a decision. A logical one at that.

     “A kid like her can’t handle the sea.” Luffy said. When the thought that Nami couldn’t come back hit him, Luffy had immediately remembered the words of “Red-Haired” Shanks’ first mate. Something he had been told when he wasn't much older than Nami, and begging Shanks to let him join his crew.

     “The safety of the entire crew rests on the Captain’s shoulders.”

     Luffy was always confident that he could protect his crewmates when they couldn’t do so themselves. But with Nami like she was, that wasn’t an option.

     The crew couldn’t argue. It really was the only decision if worst came to worst.

     “I hate to sound selfish.” Usopp said, “But I hope that doesn’t happen. We’d have to start the Grand Line all over again.”

     “Not necessarily…” Zoro commented, “Robin, doesn’t Nami still have that Eternal Pose for Alabasta?”

     Robin nodded. They had gotten the Pose from the island of Little Garden, and Nami had kept it as a memento of their time with the Alabastan princess, Nefertari Vivi. It would be a simple matter to leave Nami in Vivi’s care. She could more easily ensure Nami’s safety if she had to return to Cocoyashi.

     There was no worry of what would happen to Nami after returning home. With all she had done for her village, not a person in Cocoyashi would hesitate for a second to make sure Nami was cared for.

     The crew sat in silence after that. Each of them silently hoping they would have their navigator returned to them.