(UNDER A REWRITE) THEY KNOW FEAR AGAIN.
There's the smell of something burning and setting her lungs ablaze, the taste of sea salt, and the cold water splashing against her skin. Drowning into the blue sea. It overwhelmed and swallowed her whole and...
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CHAPTER TWELVE, with you on my mind
PEACE FELL upon the group as dinner was served. Food served as the bond between a human being to another or it could be the one thing that snapped apart a person's mind. Jie has seen it all, from sweet exchanges over a restaurant date or a violent fight using the very meals cooked in the Baratie kitchen. Sanji didn't waste a moment to bring Nami's sister to their side, whisking up a meal for everyone with the little ingredients they had. It was something that no one else but a chef could do.
"Told you." Usopp said with an amused smile, eyeing Nojiko scarf down her food before sheepishly slowing down and placing her fork back. Having warm meals ready were a rarity, evident by the bare necessities inside her home. The home where both girls grew up in. It could have been a happy upbringing and Jie wouldn't know anything about it...or it could've lead to the spilt between the two girls. How could have two sisters come to dislike each other so much?
"You know this is the best thing I've eaten in my entire life." Nojiko smiled slightly and it was the first Jie seen her genuinely smile without being on guard.
"Listen. There's plenty more where that came from, but first, we really need to know about Nami." Sanji said, leaning against the door.
Nami held a past that was too much for her to bear, which was evident by her abrupt change of mind. Only would a sister know her past and perhaps, that was the only way to change her mind. Jie watched as Nojiko break down the walls between all of them, slipping her mind back into the years they long shared.
The fishmen had taken over for years. The two little girls had just began their lives and in a quick, cruel manner, their mother had been taken away from them. Right in front of their eyes. It proved to them that their mother loved them enough that she'd died to keep both alive. Arlong had taken the shot and left two grieving girls behind.
A hand slipped over Jie's mouth, her lips quivering and trembling with horror. Nami never spoke of anything personal, it remained on the surface and yet, she was kind. It was clear that their navigator held the crew together. Steering the ship without her felt empty. Quiet, even.
"You said it yourself. You don't have any friends."
Whether they were just the Straw-Hats, a crew or a friend, Nami wasn't alone now.
The fishmen were not some unruly pirates that caused trouble. They reveled in the power they had over the villagers and slaughtering ones that refused to give in. It was the kind of monsters that roamed the seas, the ones that her father spoke of to deter her away from becoming a pirate.
