One Piece (Love Story) [Part Two]

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty Four [Rewritten]

-Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-Four-

"These damn pirates have done a terrible thing here!" one of the men suddenly growled. "Let's make them tell us where the rest of their crew is—we'll hunt them down and turn them over to the Navy!" my growling only increased as I continued to hold Nami close. Slowly, my lips drew into a snarl as my eyes became hazy. My body started shaking before I finally opened my mouth once again, vocal cords protesting and making my voice scratchy as I desperately began to snap at the men like a scared animal—desperately attempting to get them to stay away. To not come any closer unless they intended to help and not hurt.

-Later-

"No good, the winds are too strong!" silently, I watched with tired eyes as the men tried to put out the raging fire. My body was now propped up with Nami's head resting on my lap as I kept my distance from the crowd. Small growls would occasionally leave the back of my throat now and then whenever a stranger would wander too close to us—too close to her. When things had finally calmed down enough, I attempted to properly explain the situation to the men who didn't seem to want to listen as they practically ignored me. Even now I could see the way they eyed us as they seemed to patiently wait for the ginger to wake first before making any attempts to approach either one of us again and risk nearly having their hand bitten off.

"It's getting worse!" one of the men cried.

"If Iceburg's in there, we got to get him out now!" I flinched as one of the windows suddenly shattered as Chopper came leaping out of the burning building. In his mouth, he clutched one of Zoro's swords as he carried Iceburg and Paulie on his back.

"Iceburg!" one of the men gasped upon seeing the badly injured mayor.

"Paulie!" another shouted.

"Chopper!" I worriedly croaked as the reindeer took slow and shaky steps toward Nami and me before finally, he fell to the ground.

"Hurry, they need first aid! They're burned all over!"

"Hey, what are we going to do with this reindeer?"

"Help him! He saved their lives!"

"You're right—hey, someone! Give me a hand!"

"Get back! Run away!" one of the men suddenly shouted as the building finally started to cave in on itself, sending debris and smoke everywhere.

"Come on!" despite it collapsing, some of the men still attempted to put the fire out or at least try and control it enough so that it wouldn't spread to any of the other nearby buildings.

"You idiot, run!"

"Dammit! Isn't there anything we can do?!"

"Look! Mr. Iceburg's awake—alright, he's safe!"

"I knew he'd make it!" the men happily cheered, their panic from earlier quickly melting away the moment they saw that their mayor was finally waking up.

"Hey, look—these women are from the Straw Hats too!" someone pointed out as if only just now realizing that.

"Nami, are you alright?" I worriedly asked as Nami finally began to stir. I helped as she sat up and looked around, gently rubbing her head as she slowly nodded.

"Yeah, I think so..." she muttered. "Are you?" she worriedly asked, gaze flickering toward my bloodied abdomen.

"I'm...I'm not sure..." was all I could muster, mind slowly starting to think back to the events that had recently taken place. I couldn't quite place how I felt at the moment. Physically, I was pretty banged up, but mentally...that was a mess all on its own that I didn't feel like thinking about just yet.