One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ A Log Pose to Nami ❯ Tempest on the Grand Line! Where’s my Navigator!? ( Chapter 1 )

A Log Pose to Nami

Tempest on the Grand Line!

Where's my Navigator!?

Luffy moaned tiredly, blinking sleepily at the ship that was gradually becoming smaller. He stretched an aching hand, didn't dare to look at the blisters, and then dragged the branch into the water frantically again. When his stomach growled, he winced, but did his best to ignore it, thinking about all of the delicious food that Sanji would serve him when he returned. After saving Nami, it was the very least the cook could do for him! The food would fill the kitchen, top over the ship, and Luffy would devour every little bit while Nami would be right beside him the whole time.

“Carp,” he said, rowing to every syllable from his mouth, “tuna, chicken, steak … meat … meat …” Shaking his head hard when he distracted himself, he set back to steering after the ship.

He could still picture Nami in his head though, sitting beside him while he ate, and laughing. She'd be holding a mandarin orange in one hand, and his mouth watered at the thought as he'd always wanted, dreamed, and yearned to take one.

Nami had always caught onto his plots however, and so he'd slowly stopped coming after the delicious treats. With Sanji, he actually had a chance at raiding the fridge, and sneaking away some bits of food while his head was turned. His navigator was some kind of devil woman however, and he laughed at himself for wanting her back. She was the best navigator in the world though, and he would not settle for anything less. Nami was his navigator.

Touching his neck with one hand, he swallowed nothing, cringing as his throat felt dry. His stomach growled, and his throat constricted as he kept rowing. Luffy winced as his arms began to burn - lactic acid steadily building up in already sore muscles - however he kept at his constant speed, trying not to even blink as he watched the ship, not daring to let it out of his sight.

Luffy shivered when it stared to snow again.

A flash of lightning caused him to jerk in surprise, and he glanced at the sky while the resulting thunder reverberated through his bones. No longer amused with the weather, the sea, or this turn of events, he set his mind onto his task and the self-assumed reward from the cook after he brought Nami back.

The waves began to rock more, chopping against him in his log as he worked through them. He saw more flashes of light in the corners of his eyes, and heard the thunder, but he really only saw the ship, and Nami's smile, and he truly only heard meat sizzling on the grill as Sanji cooked for him. A larger wave rolled close to him, crashing into the sea somewhere in front of him. It had reached only to his shoulders, but he knew it would be more than enough to topple him in his log.

From what he recalled of previous storms, the next wave would be bigger too. He paddled faster, not only striving to keep the ship in sight, but also to avoid the bigger waves, starting to pray that Nami was aboard the ship, and telling the squishy captain that this was a small storm.

“This is nothing,” he could hear her say. “You should have seen the tempest yesterday!”

“I remember, Nami,” Luffy said, “I bet Franky's still repairing it right now. The waves were three stories tall, and I almost fell over a hundred times. Do you remember that part? Zolo counted.”

His eyes suddenly widened, and his jaw dropped, gaping up at wave coming for him. This was not much of a wave - against the Thousand Sunny, it would have made a gentle rocking - but he was a rubber anchor in a log, and he would not chance this. Swirls in the waves caught his attention.

Purely intuitional, he stuck the branch in a small whirl, making his log spin out of the majority of the wave's course, but then he heard something snap and break. Luffy was still struck hard by a part of the wave, and he ended up spitting out saltwater from bloated cheeks. Making a face at the taste, he began to row again before he stopped to stare.

His branch had been what had broken in the whirlpool. Luffy tossed it aside, and bent down so he could paddle himself along with cupped hands, remembering watching other children learning to swim. While the others had slapped around in the water, Luffy had watched from the dock, smiling sometimes with them, and dipping toes into the waves, but he had little else to do with the children of his village. Yet he had watched, and he recalled them flailing and paddling like dogs in the water, so he copied the motion, surging through the cracking waves.

As the waters seemed to rise, he found it harder and harder to find the ship while dodging waves. He wondered if Nami was still telling the squishy captain that everything would be fine.

“Are you worried about a little snow and thunder? My captain laughs during storms!” Luffy didn't really feel like laughing just then.

He'd lost sight of the ship.

Desperately searching all of the horizons, he abruptly felt the log tilt, and he plunged into the brine. Just as soon as the log turned though, it flipped right back up, and he gasped for air, clinging to the sides of the log. The log continued to spin however, and he tilted against the way the log was turning, the action making the log more bearable to ride.

Panting, he tried paddling again, leaning right or left when the log threatened to drown him. Luffy - cold and wet - shook his head hard, almost glad that Nami had his hat as he might have lost it in the storm. His hair stuck to his cheeks and forehead, and salt from the ocean made it itchy, but he disregarded to scratch. He had no time to make himself comfortable - just afloat.

He found himself turning in circles through the waves, feeling something gnaw at him as he searched to no avail. “Nami?” He gasped out, practically digging through the water while he tried to see over growing waves. “Nami!”

Keeping one hand on the log to grasp a hold of it, Luffy feverously labored, squinting through the mixed snow and rain. Thunder impaired his hearing, and his vision blurred from the endless gray and irregular golden lightning that danced across the sky to blind him temporarily. His arm started to drag through the water like lead, affected by the might of the ocean, so he switched arms.

Just as suddenly as the storm had washed through though, he felt the sun on his back, and he blinked at a bobbing ship that was a bit closer than he had remembered it being. Instead of some indistinct blob, he could see the beginnings of sails, and, if he strained his eyes, a flag.

“Nami,” he said, and with his strength renewed, he began paddling again.

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His feet stung as he stepped onto the dock, glancing at one of the dockworkers in confusion when he gaped at him. Luffy looked down at his feet, grimacing when he saw that he was bleeding onto the snow from splinters. Inspecting the sole pirate ship, he then pointed at the dockworker.

“Oi, do you know if the squishy captain's onboard?”

“Huh? Squishy?” The man scratched his head, seeming to wince as he looked at Luffy's feet, and then said, “Captain Vincent went to the bar with his crew, I think. He's celebrating about some kind of treasure they'd gotten.”

Luffy looked up at the ship as he said, “How long does it take for a Log Pose to set here?”

“Uh … I'd say about two or three days.”

“Great! Thanks!” Pulling his arm back, he shot it out to grab the railing of the squishy ship, so he could jump aboard, already used to the sound of jaws hitting the ground from his feats.

Now, I have to find Nami and get off before those days are up. Our Log Pose should still lead us back to the others then, he thought as he ducked into the cabin area of the outwardly empty ship. Turning around corners, and knocking doors clean off their hinges, he went through the ship door by door as he shouted her name, hoping to hear a response from her.

When no one came to shout at him, he scratched his head in confusion, having always expected some type of welcoming - though none had been that welcoming in the first place. He knocked down the next door, and then gaped at the gold glinting in the room.

“Wah … wahoo! Nami would love this!” He zipped in to start making a pile, grinning at the crowns and jewelry. Spotting a pack, he piled as much as he could inside, and threw the pack over his shoulder to keep a hold of it, snickering as he started his search again.

“Nami! Nami! Na - whoa!” The ship had started to rock, and he leaned against the wall until it settled, and he blinked when he heard men shouting above. Grinning, he righted himself, and ran down the hallway to meet the crew. “Oi! Squishy guy!”

As he stepped back onto the deck, Luffy found himself looking into the eyes of a very large, round man - but he had to look down to see into his eyes. He blinked at the short, fat man before he burst out laughing, and pointing.

“Uurrrh … hey! Who do you think you're laughing at, brat!? I'm Captain Vincent of the Squishy Pirates” When Luffy sniggered louder, Captain Vincent poked at Luffy's stomach, gritting his teeth, and stomping one foot, “What're you doing on my ship, bub?”

“Ah! Oh, yeah, I remember,” Luffy said. “You stole my navigator. Give 'er back!”

“Give her back?” He began to laugh, tearing up, “Hahahaw! I already got rid of the annoying wench.” Luffy twitched. “She's a part of Alvida's crew now.”

Blinking, he thought back to the woman that claimed she was going to marry him, and then blanched, “What!? Alvida's here?” Shoving the man aside, Luffy jumped back onto the dock, ignoring the shock of cold to his feet, and took off down the road, “Oi, Nami!”

“Oi, kid!” Vincent looked over the railing, and pointed out at the horizon with a raised brow for Luffy, “Captain Alvida already set sail.”

“Ah, thanks, squishy guy!” Turning around, Luffy headed back down to the dock, almost going for the log again, but he saw a sturdy looking dinghy with a sail alongside the squishy ship. He jumped right in, starting to lower it into the water, “See you later, squishy guy!”

“Ah, yeah, see you later, kid!” When Luffy touched down to the water with the dinghy, he looked up in surprise when Vincent appeared on the railing, “Hey, wait a minute! That's ours!”

“Hee, I'm borrowing your boat like you borrowed my navigator! We're even now!” Letting out the oars, he started to row, spotting a pink ship that wasn't going too fast - the build was wide and didn't seem to cut through the water at any great speeds.

“No way! No deal! I - I - I -! Waah!”

Grinning, Luffy watched the squishy captain topple over into the water before he directed his attention back to where he was going. Putting aside his new bag of gold, Luffy leaned into rowing, and sighed in relief as he used muscles that he had not been using when he'd been in the log like a canoe.

While the pink ship was closer than the squishy ship had been, it was still much too far for him to reach by stretching. His stomach growled again, making itself known, and he balked, glancing down at the pack of gold, and wondering why he hadn't gotten to the kitchen before the gold. He said as his stomach continued to rumble, “A whale. I'm going eat a whole whale! And Nami's going to eat with me, and she'll be wearing jewels!”

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Wow, I wasn't actually expecting much of a response since it's my first One Piece fiction, but … I suppose my ego does need some more boosting. XP So, everyone? Review to keep me interested.

vn: Thank you! And of course, I'll keep it up! Just keep reviewing.

dbzgtfan2004: Thanks so much!

Rakara: Thanks, and uh … right … now?

catho: Yes, the Squishy Pirates. Well, you don't have to wait any longer now!

Lucy: Thanks. I was kind of nervous tackling such a huge personality, but then I remembered that he really is just this silly, straightforward guy.

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