Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Friend of the sea!
Narrator: Wealth, fame, power. The world had it all won by one man: the Pirate King, Gold Roger. At his death, the words he spoke drove countless men out to sea.
Gold Roger: My treasure? It’s yours if you want it. Find it! I left all the world has there!
Narrator: And so, men set sights on the Grand Line, in pursuit of their dreams. The world has truly entered a Great Pirate Era!
In this world, there were men, animals, fishmen and so many strange beings that I have yet to meet. Having been locked up in a watery cage most of my life and being held prisoner by Arlong and his crew. The only ones to keep me company were Nami whenever she was around the base and sometimes Momoo whenever he was in a calm mood.
Arlong had considered an above-average human being who had eaten the Mizu-Mizu fruit when I was a little girl. He considered me his pet and decided to keep me in a cage within a pool he had carved into his room at Arlong Park.
My name is (Y/N) and I kept hearing yells and screams from outside. I remember Arlong’s men screaming in anger that some pirates were here to try and take down Arlong. I also remember them saying something about Nami returning. I hope she comes visits today. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a friendly face.
I swam around in the little pool stretching my tail fin. My tail was long and flowy with shades of blues and greens of all spectrums. When hit with sunlight, one could say it looks like the Ocean’s most prized jewels that sparkled with radiance. You may be asking how exactly I could have eaten the Mizu-Mizu fruit and not be drowning since humans who gain powers from Devil Fruits tend to be hated by the sea.
(Flashback)
While there were Devil Fruits in this world, there were also even rarer fruits called the Blessed Fruits. Anyone who ate them was loved by the sea but hated by the land. It was said that there were only 5 of them in this world guarded by the Fishmen and when I was a small girl; I found one of these fruits next to a dying Fishman covered in wounds. He pushed it towards me even as I had tried to help him out of the water. I wanted to help him even though he was big and scary.
He passed away shortly after I had tried to save him and was washed back out to sea. I looked at the shimmery blue fruit in front of me and heard my stomach rumble. It had been a while since I had eaten and with no family to watch over me. I looked left and right deeming it safe and that no one would be around to steal the fruit from me. I took a few bites of it without even thinking if it could harm me.
Once I had finished the fruit, I took a big breath of air before I ended up in a coughing fit. The more I tried to breathe in and try calm down; the more I ended up coughing. The sand beneath me seemed to scorch me and at the time it seemed to weigh me down. It was so strange that after I had just eaten, I felt as if I had not eaten in days. I tried to muster what strength I could in order but found that even my legs refused to obey me. I started to drag myself along the shoreline towards the spot where the Fishman was washed back out to sea. I looked at the calm ocean waves and felt drawn to them. It was as if the sea was calling out to me.
The second that my fingers touched the waves I felt some relief. The water that I touched began to move of its own accord; traveling up my arm till my whole body was covered in its cool touch. A few moments passed before I noticed that my coughing fit had stopped. Without even noticing; I had begun breathing as well. I was breathing in the water; how strange was that!
The sea seems to pull me into its depths, and I swam around getting used to the feel of the sea around me. From my observations, it seems that the sea has accepted me into her embrace while the land rejected me. I surfaced on the water and looked back at the island where I was raised before I shrugged and swam away. I had nothing back there worth sticking around for. I had discovered I had gained powers that bend the will of the sea to match what I wanted it to do and that I could change my body at will to match the inhabitants of the sea. Meaning the top half of my body was human-like whilst the bottom half of my body was a sparkling blue tail. Pirates and Marines who glimpsed me often called me a mermaid or a sire. May had tried to capture me, but the sea was on my side, so I swam freely without a care in the world. That is until I was caught by Arlong and his crew and forced to become his pet.
(End Flashback)
I heard Arlong growling furiously and yelling as he was running inside the building. I hear another voice; this one is more boyish and a little rough around the edges. This other voice seemed to be yelling at Arlong. It was faint but it was something about Nami. I heard crashes and yelling and looked out the window of Arlong’s room to see a desk falling and papers rustling to the ground. It seems they were in the room that Arlong liked to brag that he forced Nami to make maps in. I heard a forceful and angry scream before the tower started rumbling.
“Gum-gum…”
I heard Arlong yelling as if he was trying to stop this man from doing something. I felt the water around me quiver as if trying to warn me. I dived into the water as deep as I can and tugged frantically at the Lava Granite chains wrapped around my waist.
While Sea Stones can be used to negate the powers of the Devil Fruit users; the Lava Granite has the same effects for those of us who wield the powers of the Blessed Fruits. Arlong used it to keep my powers at bay and to keep me tethered here. With this chain around me, I couldn’t escape what was about to come.
“… Battle Axe!”
I heard and felt the ground and water shake and rumble as it seems that the tower was crashing down around me. I looked up as rubble and stone splashed into the pool, I was in. I grabbed a stone in a desperate attempt to try and escape before I was buried alive. With all my strength, I started slamming the stone I grabbed against the chains holding me. More stones fell into the water, and I felt a sharp pain atop my head.
‘I do not want to die here. Not when I haven’t swum throughout the seas. Not when the All-blue is still out there' my thoughts faded as I began blacking out.
*Nami’s POV*
I watched as Arlong’s tower crumbled and fell into shattered dust and stone. I watched as Arlong’s body lay defeated and broken. I watched as Luffy walked out of the rubble with a tired victorious grin. I felt relief and happiness as our nightmare was finally over. My island was free of these fishmen bastards.
I watched as Sanji, Nojiko, Zoro, and Genzo walked toward me, Usopp, and the rest of the villagers. A bright grin appeared on my face as happy tears ran down my face. My happiness was short-lived as I remembered something crucial. There was one person on this crew that I couldn’t leave buried under there. She had no way out; not when she was kept prisoner and especially not with the rubble that was in the way. Before I could even comprehend what I was doing; I lunged forward toward the spot where I know her pool was buried under. I ignored the confused stares and the questions that everyone seemed to ask me. I felt someone trying to pull me away from the rubble.
“Let me go! I can’t leave her under there! She’ll die!” I screamed out as tears filled my eyes.
“Nami-swan? Who are you talking about?” Sanji asked me as he stepped into view.
“Y-Y/N… She’s trapped under there and can’t escape due to the chains Arlong put on her.” More tears streamed down my face. “She’s as much of a prisoner as I was! I can’t leave her here to die!” I rushed forward out of the arms that held me and began digging at the rubble again.
I felt the pirates I call my friends beginning to help me dig. As injured as they were from their battles; they still had enough strength in them to help me try and save a girl who I considered to be my friend. My appreciation for them skyrocketed as we kept digging.
Luffy and Zoro worked together to move a particularly large stone chunk and revealed the pool where I knew Y/N was buried under.
“Where’s your friend, Nami,” Luffy asked looking around.
I pointed to the pool “She’s under there.” I saw a mist of blood in the water indicating she was injured. “And she’s hurt.”
There were a lot of stones on the water. Thankfully they don’t seem too big.
“Are you sure? No normal human could stay under the water so long.” Zoro grumbled.
I scowled at him. “Y/N is no normal human. She can breathe underwater, but she won’t survive if we don’t get her out of there.” I jumped into the water and started pulling stone after stone out.
“You’re trying to save a fishman? Fish woman? Whatever the hell she is.” A villager yelled.
“She’s not like Arlong and his thugs! She’s kind and sweet and loves the sea. But she used to be human until she ate a Blessed Fruit.” I stated as I kept pulling out stone after stone and passing them to Usopp.
Luffy stretched his arms into the water pulling out bigger pieces that I couldn’t move on my own.
“Arlong kept her here like a pet and she can’t escape because of some weird stone chains he always kept on her. She can’t step foot on land; the same way Luffy can’t with the sea. The land hates her as the sea hates him.” I kept at it pulling stones out of the way as Sanji forced me out of the water and dived in and began kicking the stones into pebbles. “I can’t just let her die here! She’s done nothing wrong!”
“Yosh! Let’s go, Zoro!” Luffy yelled out as he seemed to be ready to foolishly jump into the water.
“Baka!” Zoro hit him with his sword hilt before he dove in and started slicing at the stones. Between the combined forces of Sanji’s powerful kicks, Zoro’s sword strikes, and Luffy’s elastic arms, they soon made it to the bottom, and I saw her.
Her body was limp, and she was bleeding from her head, but the chain around her waist was still intact and weighing her body down. She was unconscious and there were bruises along her blue tail. Her long (h/c) hair was flowing around her and still covering her bare chest.
I saw Sanji beginning to fanboy over her and gushing over her beauty.
Zoro dived once more and pulled her up to the surface making sure her modesty was still covered.
I saw that she was still breathing and smiled in relief. “she’s okay…”
“How are we going to get her out of here if she can’t be on land?” Usopp complained.
“She has to be touching the water at all times or she won’t be able to breathe.” I sighed.
“Then if we can’t take her out of the water; then we bring the sea to her.” Luffy grinned.
I was about to ask how we’d do that when he began punching a canal from the pool Y/N was in the larger pool of water that fed into Arlong Park. I grinned as I saw the canal fill up with water.
“Now to try and get rid of that chain.” I frowned at the Lava Granite chains. I pulled up my knowledge of them. I remember reading about them to try and find a way to free Y/N from Arlong’s grasp.
Lava Granite is formed under the extreme pressure and heat of the most active volcano within the grand line. It is used to subdue those forsaken by the land and that have eaten the Blessed fruits. Said to also be the heart of a volcano and the will of the land; this stone is said to be unbreakable but can be weakened under extreme cold or heat.
“Usopp; do you have pellets that have hot and cold effects?” I asked my long nose compatriot.
He dug through his satchel and came up with 4 red pellets and 5 blue pellets. “This is all I have left after my fight earlier.” He stated.
“Listen up. I need you to hit the same spot on the chains with your cold pellets. And then I need you to do the same with the heat pellets to Zoro’s sword as quickly as you can. Those chains won’t break unless under extreme temperatures. Zoro: once your sword is ablaze need you to attack the same spot Usopp hit with all your might. If my theory is correct; that should be enough to crack it.”
I got both nods from them and counted down. Zoro switched places with Sanji for the moment who seemed delighted to have her in his arms.
“3… 2..” ‘Please let this work…’
“1!!”
Bang! Crack! Smash!
I waited with bated breath as Zoro slashed at the chains with his fiery sword.
I gulped before a crack started to form on the chain.
"Now pull it apart with all your might, Minna!"
We all grabbed different parts of the chains and pulled with what strength we had left. Even the villagers were pulling by grabbing onto each member of Luffy's crew.
More and more cracks formed along the chains until with one final tug; the chain broke apart!
Y/N let in a deep breath as her hair and tail seemed to glow. A stream of water wrapped its way up to the bleeding wound on her head and it sealed the wound up making it seems as if she was never injured in the first place.
Her (e/c) eyes began to open and she glanced at me smiling weakly. "Nami, you came for me..."
I smiled brightly at her "Of course I did. We are Nakama after all!"
~to be continued~