บท 22: annoyances

It had gone all so fast and so very wrong. But she really shouldn't be surprised anymore, considering how their journey had played out so far and all the trouble their crew got into over the time they had spent together.

And while normally she would just attribute their extraordinarily bad luck to be nothing less but the consequence of a captain such as Monkey D. Luffy, she just could not bring herself to blame him. At least not always. Not this time.

After all, they had chanced upon the Thriller Bark entirely through a chain of events that were pretty much out of their control, no matter how many trouble magnets their crew housed.

And now here they were, having only just finished fighting the freaking demonic giant Oz with Gecko Moria following shortly after, who had been a constant pain in their asses ever since they had landed on the moving island-like ship, all because he possessed the ability to manipulate and control shadows, which enabled him to create Zombies by gifting dead bodies with stolen shadows, amongst other things.

Unfortunately, while the ability was annoying to deal with itself, the Shichibukai also had the habit of creating incredibly annoying minions and servants, who didn't really burst from their inherent competence, which she herself had been fallen victim to having been kidnapped by that salivating moron Absalom.

Just as it so happened however, their troubles didn't end there. With their captain literally unconscious and out of the fight as a consequence of overtaxing his body by using abilities that strained every fibre of his body, despite being made of rubber, to the limits, another threat just had to appear on the Thriller Bark and enter the fray.

Nami had laid her eyes on the abnormally tall man first, but before she could really relay her discovery to the rest of the crew, the man had already entered the fray of his own accord. Namely, another Shichibukai, Bartolomeo Kuma.

She had previously seen the man practically disappear and reappear as if out of thin air and take out an enemy the whole crew had struggled with at one point or another, namely the ghosts controlled by that chick Perona. Untouchable and yet able to interact with the world around them, they were an annoyance of rather big proportions, which really just summarised the Thriller Bark rather well as a whole. A ship filled with annoyances.

And now they had found out that those abilities were just a fraction of what the man could really do with the powers he had undoubtedly gained from a devil fruit, as he could practically repel pretty much everything thrown his way, so long as he touched the object of his desire with those paw-like hands of his.

Not even the energy beams shot by Zoro, which she still had no idea how he produced them without having eaten a devil fruit, or those projectiles shot by Usopp, which may have had the chance to slip by the Shichibukai's notice. But unfortunately, luck had not been on their side. Again.

And now it was getting even worse, as the Shichibukai began to pulse the air in between his paws, obviously wanting to compress them into a form of air bomb that would run amok amongst them, she had no doubt, causing her and the teammates who were smart enough to understand what was going on to sweat in fearful anticipation.

"Any ideas, Robin?" She asked once more, not even sure anymore how often she had asked her friend that question in the last couple of minutes, as the both of them had only been able to stand there and watch as the Shichibukai practically toyed with their teammates, helpless to do anything.

"No, I do not." Robin replied, while shaking her head slightly, although Nami was sure that Robin was just as feverishly thinking of something to do to solve their current predicament as she was. The problem though was, neither could come up with anything.

She herself felt, once again, reminded of her past when she had been one of those people held captive by Arlong and his monsters, all those years ago, a feeling that had popped up from time to time whenever she came face to face with an opponent you could scheme and form tactics around all you wanted, it still helped nothing when the difference in strength was so big it all became useless.

And while she had no doubt that Zoro and Sanji could probably match the Shichibukai in a contest of pure strength and skill it all mattered little if they could not get through the man's defences, which unfortunately also were his offenses.

She had shortly considered attacking herself, so that she could maybe disturb the charging of their enemy's attack so that an opening may be created for the rest of her crew to attack in, she had swiftly thrown that thought out of the window, as all the already compressed air in between the Shichibukai's hands would still erupt into their faces, which made the whole point rather moot in her opinion.

Although, she had considered shortly still going through with that stain of a plan, just so that they may simply take their opponent with them in their defeat, maybe reaching a draw of some kind that way, she just wasn't willing to be that fatalistic in her approach to a solution and was adamantly refusing to even consider that plan. Even though she knew the time for a plan to be built and executed was quickly running out.

And then, to her and her friend's horror, time was up.

"Ursus Shock!" The Shichibukai declared in that strangely gentle voice of his, sounding so unlike what she had thought it would sound after seeing him for the first time, all the while her eyes were locked with trepidation on the faintly shimmering ball of white air held in between the two tightly clasped palms of his hands.

Suddenly however, when she and her friends thought all was lost, something happened she hadn't even thought about happening in all her contemplations and ruminations for a solution.

Daz, their resident sculptor for hire, suddenly appeared like a shadow right before the Shichibukai and, with a grin much fiercer than she was used to displayed on his face, swiftly kicked upwards and thusly directed the just released orb of whiteness straight into the air above the Thriller Bark instead were it was planned to detonate by its creator.

"A little heavy handed for a couple rookies, wouldn't you say Kuma?" Daz said then, his words just so finishing before being cut of by both the shockwave and the auditory blast the just detonated "Ursus Shock" had created up in the air, nearly throwing her and all those standing besides Nami upon their asses from the pressure that was released by the attack.

And boy was she glad she hadn't tanked that blast straight to the face, as she became only too aware of after seeing the upper part of the Thriller Bark's main building crumbling to pieces from getting caught up in the shockwave.

"The strawhats are dangerous and have angered forces beyond their comprehension. I was sent specifically to deal with them accordingly. Now, please step aside." The Shichibukai replied, after the shockwave had faded enough for words to be exchanged again, causing her to grit her teeth in both annoyance and anger at the unfairness of the past and what they had been forced but willing to do in order to free Robin from the World Government and that shitbag Spandam.

And just when Nami had already resigned herself for another uphill fight, as Daz seemed to consider the man's words for a second with his head tilted slightly to one side, she was rather surprised to hear him deny the man so casually.

"I refuse. Now what? You gonna fight me, big guy?" Daz continued, and she could barely comprehend how the man could find any kind of humour in a situation such as this, being able to mock their enemy, who had toyed with their crew like morons no less, right to his face!

However, instead of simply blowing Daz away, the Shichibukai actually seemed to consider Daz's question for quite some time, which meant he took Daz seriously. More seriously than all of them combined! Did she miss something about Daz? Was he actually that strong? Why had he hidden such a fact from them?

Admittedly, they hadn't known each other for that long yet, but she still considered him somewhat of a close acquaintance. Not a friend really, not yet anyways, but close still.

Though, maybe he had personal reasons for keeping that knowledge to himself. It mattered little at the moment.

What mattered however was the fact that maybe, just maybe they would still get out of this mess alive and well? She really hoped so. Possibly without a fight?

That last hope of hers however died right when it had been born in her mind, as both parties seemed to not want to leave or give in. Men and their big egos…!

With a groan she turned slightly to her friend Robin and both of them seemed to share the same opinion on the matter, as they chuckled slightly in both mirth and exasperation. But still, she was glad that Daz had arrived, and now she only hoped that he would be able to deliver as well. Otherwise, their future looked rather grim indeed.