Free Heart

Ch 27 - I am not Nami.

"To Arlong Park! Let's go!" Luffy cheered as he stood on top of the bowsprit. The rubber boy's balance was something to behold since he managed to secure his footing despite how heavily the boat skidded across the waves. They had managed to rope in the sea cow, which was swimming at top speed towards Arlong Park. They weren't sailing as much as they were bouncing behind their monstrous mount, "NAMI! We're coming!"

On the horizon, the island began to appear. As they got closer, Emmy could see a red brick wall lining up right along the coast. Behind it stood lush green palm trees and matching green hills. At the center of it all, just slightly beyond the stone wall was a towering building that made the blood drain from Emmy's face.

Sabaody Park?, she thought as she took several steps back. She tripped over her own feet and fell right on her rear. Her eyes stayed locked on the building and a cold shiver ran down her spine, What is it doing here?

"Emmy-chan?"

Emmy gasped as she felt Sanji's hand on her shoulder and instinctively, she jerked away. Her terrified eyes met his confused ones and she quickly averted her gaze.

"I'm fine..." she said and slowly got up to her feet.

Sanji offered her a hand to stand up but she ignored it. She smoothed out her apron and took a deep breath before looking back up at the building again.

They had gotten close enough for Emmy to see that even though the building's shape did resemble the iconic landmark of a place that still haunted Emmy's memories, it was not exactly like it. The colors of the building were different and there were no amusement park rides.

This isn't Sabaody and we came to get Nami-san and Merry-san back. This isn't Sabaody and we came to get Nami-san and Merry-san back. This isn't Sabaody and we came to get Nami-san and Merry-san back.

Sanji ashed his cigarette over the side of the boat as he kept a wary eye on the girl. When Emmy had stumbled, she had also caught the attention of the rubber boy. He had almost fallen into the water to get to her but when he saw that Sanji was there, he had grinned at the cook before going back to staring at the horizon. It seemed even though his captain knew what was bothering his sister, he was leaving it up to Sanji to handle it.

Idiot. How am I supposed to help the little lady without knowing what's going on?, Sanji thought as he looked over at her. If she kept smoothing her apron out any more, Sanji wouldn't be surprised if the fabric would thin enough to disappear completely. Her eyes were glued to the building ahead of them and they were unblinking. The sight of it made her nervous but Sanji was confident that the little lady had never been to this island before.

She had the same expression on her face as when they first spoke about fishmen except now it was a lot tenser. Sanji had startled her with his touch, which also caught the cook off guard. He had expected it to comfort her somewhat because her brother had done something similar to get her to relax. Was it just Luffy then?

Suddenly, they veered towards the right, despite the fact that the opening of the stone wall was straight ahead.

"What are you doing? Go straight" Luffy ordered the sea cow.

"It looks like Big Bro Sanji's kick has finally gotten to it," Yosaku murmured from the front of the boat, "It must have a concussion or something."

The sea cow, although losing his sense of direction and possibly sight, did not lose its speed and they were going full throttle towards the thick brick wall.

"Ah! We're going to crash!" Sanji yelled as he quickly grabbed a hold of Emmy and kept her close to his side.

Bang!