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vannahfanfics · 4 years

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Lost and Found

Word Count: 4,490

Fluff, Drama, Romance

Summary: During an encounter with Blackbeard, Nami is thrown from the ship and lost at sea. Thankfully, she's picked up by none other than Red-Haired Shanks himself. Though she could potentially be far from her crew, she's not worried. She knows her captain will go to the ends of the ocean to find her.

Nami frowned slightly as she squeezed the tangerine hanging amongst the piney-green leaves, the branch bounding up and down a little as she tested the firmness of the succulent citrus fruit. Deciding that the fruit was quite ripe, she plucked it from its perch to drop it into the woven basket hanging in the crook of her arm, which was filled with its freshly-picked brethren. I think I got all the ones that are ready to be harvested! she thought in accomplishment. She straightened up and walked to the balustrade overlooking the main deck of the ship, leaning her hip against it as she absorbed the picturesque image of the Thousand Sunny carving through the waves of the New World. They had surfaced from Fishman Island yesterday and were sailing on towards their next destination, which was waiting to be discovered. The sea breeze was consistent but not overbearing, and the salt crystals it carried in its swirling air mingled well with the aromatic tang of her citrus trees. She breathed in the perfume deeply, its aroma relaxing her entire body. It sure was a lovely day….

That is, until a cannonball came screaming out of nowhere and damn near took her head off.

“What the hell?!” she shrieked with an instinctive dive to the floor. The basket jumped from her arm, sending her freshly-picked tangerines rolling across the deck of the rocking ship and bouncing down the steps. One of them exploded under Zoro’s boot as he came running out from within the confines of the ship, making him curse loudly as the acidic juice splashed up its shiny black surface.

“Nami? Are you okay up there?”

“Besides nearly getting my head taken off, I’m just peachy, thank you!” she yelled down sarcastically, face pressed into the wooden beams of the railing to glare out at the massive ship that was rapidly approaching from their starboard side. Nami was just barely able to spy the Jolly Roger flapping wildly in the wind, and all the color instantly drained from her face when she recognized it.

“Luffy! It’s Blackbeard!” she hollered up to her captain, who had sprung from his normal perch on the figurehead to stretch his arms up and hang from the high sails of the mast.

“What? What the hell is he doing here?!” Luffy’s growl was absolutely animalistic; he was making no attempt to shield the sheer amount of rage that was boiling up in his body right now. Not that Nami could exactly blame him, considering that Blackbeard was more or less directly responsible for his brother Ace’s death. The approaching ship slung to the side, bearing its port side for them to see, and there was the man in question standing on the railing with his hand wrapped into the netting, other hand brandishing a saber while he guffawed evilly. “What do you want, you ugly bastard?”

“Is that any way to greet an old friend, Straw Hat?” Blackbeard sneered. Even from her considerable distance, she could see the gunk in his teeth, and her nose scrunched up in disgust. His grotesque appearance sure matched the blackness of his heart.

“You’re no friend of mine! Get over here so I can kick your ass!”

“Sorry, Straw Hat, I didn’t come to play. I’m here to pick up my ticket to conquering the New World, thank you very much,” he scoffed, and Nami gasped as he pointed the end of his sword directly toward where she was still sprawled on her belly on the upper deck of the ship.

Me? Of course! He wants my navigational skills… she thought, a hard pit of dread rolling into a ball in the depths of her belly. As soon as the words left Blackbeard’s mouth, Luffy flung himself from the mast to land in a crouch in front of her, hand on the top of his hat to keep it from flying away. Nami was looking at his back, but from the way his shoulders were hunched nearly up to his ears, she could only imagine the murderous glare that was distorting his features right now.

“No way in hell. Nami is my navigator!” ne snarled lowly. With a grunt, Zoro vaulted over the balustrade to land on her right side, while Sanji air-walked over it to land on her left. Across the main deck, the rest of the crew had taken up battle positions. Though the ball of fear was continuing to eat away at her stomach, Nami smiled, comforted by how fiercely loyal her crew was. She pushed herself to her feet and snatched her Climatact from her thigh, attaching the three parts to stand within the triangle of the three men.

“If you want me, you’ll have to come and get me, Blackbeard! I’ll never go with you! I’m going to make Luffy the Pirate King!” she challenged haughtily. Sure, Blackbeard was a Warlord now, but it wasn’t like they hadn’t taken down one before. I have faith in Luffy and the others!

“Nami, sit this one out,” Luffy ordered, and before she could protest, he turned around to drop his straw hat atop her head. It was still too big for her, and she gasped as the brim fell down in front of her eyes. She pushed it up with a hand to give him a quizzical and almost hurt look. Did he not think she could hold her own against the Blackbeard Pirates, even after all this time?

He gave her that stupid grin of his, the one that made his eyes scrunched up and cheeks rosy.

“I wanna kick Blackbeard’s ass hard right now, but I know we’re not ready yet. I need you to focus on getting us outta here while we keep him busy, ‘kay? Can you do that for me?”

Nami blinked in utter surprise. Luffy, backing down from a fight? She smiled warmly, her heart fluttering a little in her chest. He’s really matured since back then, huh? It seemed he had taken the lessons he had learned at Marineford to heart. She pushed the straw hat down onto her head with a firm nod.

“Leave it to me! Now, you three go give ‘em a smackdown!”

“Right!” they chimed in unison. As the two crews of pirates leaped at each other, clashing in mid-air, Nami skirted down the stairs to run down to the helm. Unfortunately for them, there was no wind to aid in their escape, but that wasn’t a problem for a weather master such as herself. Using her trusty weapon, she generated a fierce gale, billowing out the stagnant sails to send the ship surging forward.

“Chopper! Evasive maneuvers!” she shouted to the reindeer. In his battle form, he lunged for the wildly spinning wheel to grab it and wrench it into place, sending the ship whirling to port and pulling it away from Blackbeard’s ship. Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy landed safely back on the upper deck, the latter adding insult to injury by sticking down his tongue and pulling down his bottom eyelid childishly.

“After them!” she heard Blackbeard howling angrily.

Nami continued to send wind blasting into the sails, driving up the ship’s speed knot by knot. It began to jump over the waves, sending white foam spray splashing up the sides of the ship yards into the air. She glanced over her shoulder to see Blackbeard’s ship in hot pursuit, much closer than she would like thanks to the countless oars plowing through the ocean on either side. Probably a buncha muscle-bound freaks, she thought with a groan as she pushed another gale into the sails. Her winds were slowly approaching hurricane force, and she had to make sure not to cross that threshold, lest she rip the sails apart and destroy their only hope of salvation.

“Damn! They’re catching up!” Zoro cursed from overhead.

Dammit! It’s not enough? She lamented silently. There was the harsh grating of wood-on-wood as Blackbeard’s ship pulled back along their starboard and the oars scraped against the side of the Thousand Sunny with harsh squeals. Nami clenched her teeth and went to send another gale-force wind into the sails, hoping beyond hope that they could prevail, but suddenly her Climatact stopped short over her head.

“What?!” she cried, looking up to see someone’s scarred fist wrapped around the middle of her weapon. Her eyes widened as she tilted her head further back to see a dastardly grin and harsh black eyes bearing down on her.

“That’s enough games.”

“Nami! Get away! He’s got some kinda teleporting power!” Luffy yelled from where he was tangled up in the netting of Blackbeard’s ship attempting to kick the stranger in the face with one flip-flopped foot.

Nami abandoned her Climatact and sprung away, but was caged right up against the mast by his overbearing presence. I can’t get away! If he teleports with me, it’s all over! She thought wildly, knees buckling together in fear. She didn’t want to join Blackbeard’s crew. She would rather die. Her nails dug into the coarse rope wrapped around the bottom of the mast as he took slow, deliberate steps toward her.

“Be a good little girl and just let me take you away, yeah? We’ll even let your little friends live,” he crooned with a crooked-tooth smile. His arms were held out on either side of him, in the perfect position to grab her if she attempted to run. Nami spied her Climatact discarded a few feet behind him.

She only had one shot.

With a shout, she dove straight for him, then spun on her heel to crouch down and duck under his outstretched arm. Once again, she landed on her belly, but quickly snatched up her Climatact to roll onto her back. The wand was already charging up to release a thunderstorm, but the man was too quick; just as the lightning ball exploded from the end of her staff, he grabbed her arm. He screamed as he effectively electrocuted, and Nami screamed too as the electricity traveled through his arm into her own body. It was an ungodly pain unlike anything she had ever experienced, all the muscles in her body convulsing and locking up at once as the lightning wracked her system. Then, suddenly, they were blasting apart, and Nami had the sensation that she was flying… Everything around her faced into smeared colors, and over the roaring of what seemed like wind, she could hear the man yelling to Blackbeard that his power had short-circuited on him…

Then, Nami was in the water. She landed in the great blue ocean with a splash, the waves rolling over her as if they were trying to swallow her up. She somersaulted a few feet below the surface before she managed to recover, stiff muscles jerking as she righted herself. The saltwater stung her eyes as she instinctively tried to peer around; all she could see was the endless dark blue and swirls of bubbles. Suddenly, she caught sight of the straw hat floating in the water, and she grabbed it to hold it close to her chest. Cheeks puffed out as she tried to hold the little breath she had managed to save, she kicked for the surface.

As soon as her head broke the water, she sucked in greedily, only to scream as another large wave closed in on her. She was shoved back under by the force of the crashing water. Her legs kicked out wildly as she spun like clothes in a washing machine. Her lungs began to burn with the lack of oxygen, and she desperately fought her way back up, clawing through the water to break free. She cried out for help on impulse, near tears. The man’s teleport must have backfired and sent her out into the middle of the sea, alone, helpless. She battled the tow of the water with weak arms, her vision blurred and bleary from the salt burning in her watering red eyes.

“Luffy! Luffy, where are you? Help me!” she wailed pitifully. Her hands slapped at the water as she pathetically tried to stay afloat. Her body suddenly got the sensation that she was being tugged backward, and she turned around. Her face went pale as she was barely able to make out the form of a rapidly oncoming wave, bigger than the previous. Nami would not be able to survive another onslaught; she would be pushed under and sink, sink to the bottom of the sea, never to be found…

“Luffy… I wanted… to see you… become Pirate King,” she sniffled as she retreated in on herself, so small in the vastness of the unforgiving sea…

“Gotcha!”

She yelped as she was suddenly jerked out of the water by the back of her dampened tee-shirt. Wrenched up like a kitten by its scruff, she could only dangle uselessly as she was seemingly hauled up into the sky by the angels delivering her to Heaven. That was odd. Nami was a cat thief. Could cat thieves even get into Heaven? Then, with her hazy vision, she could make out the wave crashing into the sturdy side of a ship.

I’m saved! She couldn’t help but begin crying with relief. The tears mixed with the saltwater on her face as she was hauled up the side of the ship and deposited in a sopping mess on the deck. Somehow, she had managed to hold on to Luffy’s straw hat all that time. Clutching it over her heart like it was life itself, she threw back her head as she sobbed. Nami’s pride was thrown out the window for a minute or so; she had pretty much almost died. The blurry forms of her rescuers just watched her as she tried to piece the shattered fragments of her mental state back together.

Wait. What if this was Blackbeard's ship?

It was just as she was beginning to think that she may have jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire when a man crouched down in front of her and patted her reassuringly on the top of her head.

“There, there, you’re safe now. There’s no need to cry!”

Nami snorted the snot back into her nose and blinked a few times, her vision gradually clearing to form the visage of a red-haired man with three parallel scars through his eye. One of his sleeves flapped emptily in the wind, betraying that he was one-armed, too. All in all, he looked like he could be a bloodthirsty, strong pirate, but the serene smile on his face put her at ease. The smile reminded her so much of Luffy’s.

“Atta girl. Tell me, how did one of Luffy’s crewmates end up stranded in the middle of the New World, hmm?”

Nami gasped at his familiar use of her captain’s name. He was looking down at the straw hat. She grimaced and turned her body away from it to hold it protectively.

“Oh, don’t get the wrong idea! I’m the one who gave it to him, that’s all. I would recognize it anywhere.”

Nami gasped again; could it be?

“Are you… Red-Haired Shanks?”

“Yup! That’s me, in the flesh!” he laughed good-naturedly. He was an Emperor, but he carried himself so leisurely… Surely, if he was Luffy’s benefactor, then no harm would come to her. She relaxed slightly, turning back to him.

“Blackbeard attacked us… He wanted me to be his navigator. One of his crewmates has eaten some kind of Devil Fruit that allows him to teleport, and while I was trying to get away from him, it malfunctioned somehow and I ended up out here,” she reported with a wobbling bottom lip. Who knew how far away she ended up? At this point, they all had vivre cards and Luffy would be able to find her—if he escaped Blackbeard, that is. What if Blackbeard had stolen her vivre card and was now in pursuit instead? Her dismay must’ve been evident in her expression because Shanks chuckled and patted her on the head again.

“I know what you must be thinking. Don’t worry! That Luffy is a strong one. Blackbeard’ll have a hard time dealing with him now that he’s pissed his cute little friend has been spirited away!”

Nami flushed lightly at his unveiled flirtatiousness. Shanks huffed and pushed himself back to his feet, hand on his hip as his cloak fluttered to reveal a muscular physique. He really is strong, Nami thought in awe. No wonder Luffy reveres him so…

“All right, men. There’s a chance that that punk Blackbeard isn’t far away, so let’s be on our guard, yeah? In the meantime, let’s treat, uh—"

“Nami.”

“Let’s treat Nami here as our special guest, okay?”

The crew cheered excitedly before scattering off the prepare for Blackbeard’s potential attack, while a few of them gathered around her. One of them handed her a towel, which she gratefully accepted and began drying herself off. Shanks lounged lazily alongside her, leaning up against the railing while side-eyeing her in amusement.

“So, what are you to him?”

“I’m his navigator.”

“Oh, jeez, he’ll never be able to find us without you then, huh?”

Nami giggled as she dried her sopping tangerine hair with the towel. He was totally right; if Luffy had been on his own, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in Hell that he would be able to track her down, even with her vivre card.

“He’ll be all right. He’s got plenty of dependable people with him.”

A smile appeared on his face at her comment, and he tilted his head back to look at the clear blue sky above. He didn’t say it aloud, but Nami could tell just from that look that he was very relieved to hear it.

“Can I give Luffy a call on the transponder snail?” she asked. If she had been teleported away, there was a pretty good chance that Blackbeard had abandoned the assault and was trying to track her down. She wanted to at least let him know where she was and that she was safe… It would be a relief for him to know.

Shanks smiled graciously and replied with a simple “Sure,” then led her into the captain’s quarters, where a transponder snail was snoozing on a table. She sat in the chair and dialed the number, which she knew by heart. It took him less than two seconds to answer.

“Nami?! Is that you?! Where are you?! Are you okay?!” he shouted incessantly into the snail. Nami chuckled lightly as giddy relief flooded through her. She was so glad he was all right, and even a little bit happy he was so worried over her.

“I’m all right. I was teleported into the middle of the ocean, but I was picked up by someone. I think you’ll be interested to hear,” she said and held out the receiver to Shanks, who was grinning stupidly.

“What’s up, Luffy? How ya been?”

“YOOOOOOOO! SHAAAAAANKS!” Luffy howled maniacally, and they both cringed as a few loud bangs blasted through the phone-like apparatus. “Ah, crap, ow—I have so much to tell you, Shanks!” Though he would like to chatter amiably about Luffy’s goings-on, there was business to be handled; Shanks' expression suddenly turned deadly serious.

“Luffy. Where is Blackbeard now?”

“As soon as that asshole sent Nami off somewhere, they bolted. I figured that teleport-bastard knew where he sent Nami off by accident. Right now I’m followin’ Nami’s vivre card, but their ship is much faster. Even when we used the burst-thingy, they caught up to us again,” Luffy groaned. She could almost envision the frustrated, disappointed look on his face. No doubt, Franky’ll be making speed mods to the ship, she thought with a small sigh. Shanks’ grimace only deepened.

“So, they’ll get here first…” he muttered, then smiled slightly. “Don’t worry about Nami, Luffy. My crew and I will protect her. By the time you get here, Blackbeard’ll have run off with his tail between his legs and I’ll have a party ready!” From the background, Nami could hear Zoro grumble that there better be plenty of booze and Sanji ask if there were going to be pretty ladies.

Nami jumped violently as the unmistakable boom! of a cannonball crashing into the water beside the ship rocked the wooden structure and sent a cup full of pencils skittering to the floor.

“Whoops, looks like they’re here already. Time to go.”

“Aw, but Shanks—"

“Later. Gotta protect your cute little girlfriend, am I right?” Shanks laughed.

Nami blanked for a second at the sheer audacity of his statement, then began screeching wildly that there was no such relationship between them.

Shanks laughed heartily as he all but skipped out of the room, and Nami groaned loudly, putting her forehead in her hand as a headache began to pound in her frontal lobe.

“Hey, Nami?”

She blinked. Luffy sounded awfully serious.

“Shanks’ll protect you, you know. So just hold on ‘til we get there.”

“I know,” she said with a small smile. “See you soon, Luffy.”

He didn’t say anything else, only hung up. Nami stared mutely at the beeping receiver. She had almost wished for him to say something, but she wasn’t sure what. She sat in the room, listening to the din of battle pounding through the walls outside. She was suddenly sleepy, likely from all the excitement of the day. With the towel serving as her blanket, she laid her head on her arms on the desk, eyes drooping as weariness washed over her just like the crashing waves she had been at the mercy of not twenty minutes before.

Luffy… I’m waiting… for you…

“Nami? Hey, it’s all over.”

Shanks’ voice was soft enough to slowly pull her from unconsciousness, rather than jerking her out. Eyes fluttering tiredly, she sluggishly sat up in the chair, rubbing at the red spot that had bloomed on her cheek where it had been pressed down against her arm.

“Whahappen’?” she groaned listlessly.

“It took Blackbeard all of ten minutes to realize he had been outclassed and he took off,” Shanks reported with a prideful puff of his chest. “I came back in here and you were asleep, so I let you rest for a little while, but Luffy should be here soo—"

He didn’t even get to finish the sentence before said pirate captain was heard hollering for her outside, flip-slops slapping around wildly as he interrogated everyone in the vicinity without waiting for an answer. Abruptly wide awake, Nami jumped from the chair and charged past Shanks to crash out the door, chest heaving as she looked around wildly for her captain. He was standing amongst the shocked crouched, fists balled up and face flushed and panting heavily. Tears immediately flooded her eyes as she locked eyes on him, and without thinking, she flung her entire body at him with her arms outstretched.

“Luffy!”

“Nami!”

She was going to fall several feet short of him, but he stretched out his arms to wind them tightly around her waist and pull her into his chest so hard that he actually stumbled back a few paces. She instantly threw her arms around his neck and began to sob into his chest.

“Ungh,” she sniffed miserably, “I was so scared! I was all alone so suddenly, and I was drowning, and I didn’t know what had happened to you!” she cried into his X-shaped scar.

He ran a hand over her still-damp curls of hair to smooth it down before laying his cheek against the crown of her head.

“Don’t worry, Nami. I won’t lose you like that ever again—never, ever, ever!” To affirm his words, he tightened his already crushing grip around her, but she didn’t mind; in his embrace, she felt safe and warm and cherished.

My captain… she thought adoringly.

Luffy suddenly let out a strangled yelp, and she looked up to see his neck stretched as his head was pushed aside by Sanji’s booted foot.

“What the hell are you doing, hugging on Nami-swan like that? Damn it, Luffy! Oh, Nami-swan, I’m so relieved you’re okay~” He trilled, changing moods in a matter of a second.

Luffy snarled and chomped down on the toe of his shoe, but the material was rubbery and slick, so he just slobbered on it like a mangy mutt. It did prompt Sanji to pull back, only for him to kick him in the back of the head with his other foot.

“Don’t slobber all over my foot like some kinda dog!”

“Then don’t kick me! What did I do?!”

“You’re still doing it! Let go of Nami-swan, you swine!”

“No! Dun wanna!” he asserted and hugged her protectively.

Nami giggled and snuggled shamelessly into him. His embrace was just so warm and comforting…

“Yo, so where’s the booze?” Zoro asked with a yawn as he walked up behind Sanji, hand resting lazily on the hilts of his swords.

Shanks had been watching the exchange the entire time with a look between bemusement and amusement, but then began laughing heartily.

“Looks like you found yourself a good crew, Luffy… And a cute little girlfriend~”

“Eh? Nami’s my navigator.”

“Take that back! I don’t care if you’re an Emperor! I’ll pound you into dust, Red-Hair!” Sanji yowled as blazing fires alighted in his eyes.

Shanks laughed lightly and held up his hands in a placating gesture, side-stepping the cook’s kicks while trying to talk him down. The ship was already incredibly lively though the Straw Hats had only just stepped foot on it… Chaos really did follow them everywhere.

Luffy grunted and pressed his face into Nami’s hair again, still holding her tight with his strong, capable arms. She became aware that she was still holding his straw hat. It was due time for it to return to its owner. Reaching around his arm, she lifted hers up to drop it down onto his black hair.

“Here, this belongs to you.”

“What? Oh, right, thanks.”

Nami’s heart clenched in her chest a little. Had he really been so worried about her that he had forgotten all about his treasure? To hide her blush, she buried her face further into him. Nami recalled the feeling of when they first met… She had been lost then, mentally lost, and suddenly she had felt like she had been found. Somehow, she was feeling like that all over again.

“Nami,” he whispered while squeezing her again, “I promise, I won’t lose you again…” he repeated, voice husky with feeling.

Nami shook her head into his body.

“No, Luffy, it’s okay… No matter what, you’ll always find me again, right?”

“Of course.”

Nami had nothing to worry about. Her captain would always come for her, no matter what.

If she was lost, she could always be found.

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