"We weren't on time," Nami collapses to her knees, covering her face with her hands.

"Damn it," I kick the ground. "Even if we were quicker on our feet, it wouldn't have mattered. The train was already in motion."

"I'm so sorry," Paulie's voice fills my ears as he steps up to us.

"You did all you could, Paulie," I softly smile as I look at him. "Truly, thank you for everything."

"I should be thanking you, Socks, for putting yourself in danger against those government bastards earlier. Even if you need to change the way you dress."

"If I can fight to save my friends, I'll do it."

"Hey, you're Paulie-san of the Galley-La company!" the man that called out to Nami and I earlier, speaks up.

"What in the world are you doing here with those wounds!?" the man next to him calls out. Both look to be conductors for the train, one in black and the other in white, but they're not needed at the moment.

"That was a really early departure, huh?" Paulie asks.

"Yes, we'd finished loading all of the passengers," Mr. White answers.

"This sea storm is amazing," Mr. Black says. "It looks as though the Aqua Laguna is going to come any moment now."

"It's very dangerous here. Let's hurry back to the shipyard."

"I see..." Paulie hums, turning back to look at Nami silently crying. "Hey, you, it's hard to say this, but it's headed for Enies Lobby. Once the train leaves, it can't be stopped."

"You can't be so harsh with a lady," I tease.

"Are you...crying?" Paulie awkwardly messes with his goggles. "Geez, those feelings are..."

"Rational and outside your comfort zone?"

"I'm following her!" Nami bursts up with fire of rage burning deep within her.

"She's angry!" the men scream in horror.

"Hell yeah she's angry!" I pump my fists in the air as I hop around on my toes.

"I won't forgive you!" Nami continues to scream. "All of you stupid government officials!"

"What's with you all of a sudden!?" Paulie clenches his jaw.

"A woman's determination can not be mess with!" I shout.

"Lend us a boat! A huge strong boat!" Nami demands of Paulie.

"You want to take a bout out on this kind of sea!?" Paulie snaps. "Don't be stupid! You don't even know how strong Aqua Laguna is!"

"I will cross it! Akari and I can do it!"

"Well," I grimace, looking at the roughness of the sea.

"These waves are on a completely different scale than the ones you're thinking of!" Paulie argues. "The sea will be extremely rough from now on! You can't go out to sea now! You'll be going to your death!"

"But Robin is throwing her life away for our sake!"

Paulie's face drop as he must sense something about the waves of this storm that we know nothing about. In a split second he is grabbing Nami and I under one arm, and the two conductor men under the other, and rushing away from the sea surge that would lead to our deaths in the sea. Even in his injured state, he is able to get us halfway up the stairs and out of danger, but not without all of us getting soaked with seawater.

I'm gasping for air like the others, letting the realization that we barely got away before being ripped out to see. "Thanks...again...Paulie..." I lean into the man.

"That was close," Paulie breathes out.

"Yeah, thank you," Nami says.

"Paulie-san! Thank you so very much!" Mr. Black exclaims. "We were almost carried away by the tide!"

"Look," Paulie nods down at where we all were just standing. "That huge board standing out there, with all the times on it...it was torn apart by the waves. That's never happened before. Not even once. What's with the strength of this tide? And it's still approaching. Right now, the Aqua Laguna's wave velocity is abnormal!"

"You're saying that this storm is stronger than all the ones before that you've experienced," I look up at Paulie.

"Hey," Nami blurts out, looking over at Paulie and me. "Is Robin safe aboard that Sea Train?"

"The Sea Train should be able to get out of the area just before the surge hits," Paulie says. "It would have to be hit directly. Usually, the surge will just pass it by." He glances down at me, "And stop leaning on me, Socks."

I giggle, sitting up as I notice the small blush on Paulie's cheeks. "You're just too sweet, Paulie. That's why you're so shy around females."

"Hey! Is one of you Nami or Akari!" a man from above shouts down to us, getting us all to look at a man in Galley-La overalls. "There was this letter just sitting in the station square. It must be one of your friends."

"The only person it could be is Sanji."

"A letter?" Nami asks. "How did you find something that small!?"

"Uh, you'll see when you come up here," the man cringes, scratching the back of his neck.

With our hearts calmed down and our breathing back to normal, Paulie leads our little group up to the station square where we see why the man was a little awkward when asked how he found the letter. On the wall, Sanji has painted: 'Nami-chan & Akari Darling. Read This!' with plenty of hearts where he can. Off to the side he has also painted: 'People who aren't Nami or Akari, don't read it. You're idiots.' Then a large arrow is pointed down to the ground where the letter must have been.

"We found it right over here!" Overalls points at the space right under the arrow.

"That's one way to make sure we see it," I nod a few times.

"Can I please have the letter?" Nami sighs.

Overalls rushes back, handing the letter to Nami who quickly opens it and starts to read. There's a couple other Galley-La shipwrights milling around, probably taking a small break from their searching now that we have some kind of lead with the letter.

"What's it say?" Paulie asks.

"Ugh, the first half of this is a love letter," Nami rolls her eyes. "That means the answer we're looking for is at the bottom."

"I think a love letter is kind of sweet," I mumble.

"Hm, okay, he's what we need to know. 'P.S. At 11 o'clock I had confirmed that Robin-chan is on the Sea Train and I've decided to board it.'"

"Ah, Sanji is on the train, that's perfect!" I clap a few times.

"And so is Usopp! What? And, he says, 'This thug with a punk hairstyle.'"

"That must be Franky," Paulie says.

"Why would they take both Usopp and Franky with them?" I ask.

"Oh, there was also a small Transponder Snail with the letter," Overalls hands the cute item to Nami.

"Does Sanji mention anything about that?"

"Yes, right here," Nami nods. "'There should be more than one Transponder Snail onboard the Sea Train, so I will contact you as soon as possible. I hope that you will carry this Transponder Snail with you and think of your beloved Sanji.' Okay, sure, whatever you want."

"That makes sense. He's going to send us a message through it!"

"Then that guy was able to predict where Nico Robin would go," Paulie says. "Amazing."

"Yeah," I smile.

"Sanji is with Robin right now," Nami grins. "As for us, we'll get to Enies Lobby without fail!"

"I think you're missing a few steps," Paulie shakes his head.

"First, we need to find Chopper and let him know that Sanji isn't going to be found on the island." I motion towards the shipwrights that aren't Paulie, "If you Galley-La boys are here, does that mean the search party has made it here?"

"Yes ma'am," Overalls nods. "We've been searching everywhere, but some of the areas are getting flooded and dangerous for us to look."

"Chopper, the reindeer, he's up there?"

"Yes."

"Let's go!"

Our group heads out of the station and back out to the canals where the search party is looking around the area. I also notice that we are near one of the docks, Number 5 to be exact, but that doesn't really matter right now.

"Nami, Akari, you didn't make it?" Chopper gallops up to us, having changed into his Walking Point form. It's thee first time I've noticed he has one of Zoro's swords wrapped in paper and strapped to his back. "What is the plan now? We have to keep searching, right?"

"Only for Luffy and Zoro," I answer. "Sanji left us a letter to explain what he's doing. Well, he left a postscript on a love letter to Nami, but that's beside the point."

"What she's trying to say is that Sanji boarded the sea train that Robin is on, so he's with her right now," Nami says. "Also, Usopp is on the train after being taken prisoner for some reason."

"Is that right!?" Chopper exclaims. "So, Sanji made it on the train! And Usopp's on the train!?"

"Yes, anyways! No matter how we get to Enies Lobby, we can't leave until we find Luffy and Zoro!"

"Nami and I will join the search, so hopefully that helps," I say.

"Right, got it!" Chopper nods.

"Listen up!" Nami shouts to everyone in the area. "This is definitely the direction they flew in, so somehow, search around here! Everyone, search, please!"

"You guys, pretty please!" I shout.

"Leave it to us!" the shipwrights call back.

"And you two!" Nami spins to point at the station employees. "I'm going to need meat and sake."

"Make that a lot of meat and sake," I point at them. "All that you can possibly get at this hour."

"We're on it!" the two men salute before turning and running off.

"Now Akari, we need to get going," Nami grabs my hand. "Maybe they'll respond to our voices."

"I have a bad feeling they are stuck somewhere, because at this point, they should have come out already," I sigh.

"Just their luck," she grumbles.

With all the shipwrights calling out for Luffy and Zoro in various ways, Nami and I rush off in a direction that no one else is heading. Our voices mixing together as we shout their names into the wind in hopes that they will respond to our familiar voices. It is only a couple minutes into our search that it begins to rain, which is only another reminder that we are in the beginnings of one of the worst storms we've ever experienced. The wind is now really whipping around us, our hair is getting plastered to our faces, and if we don't find these boys soon it is really going to be over for us.

I'm not sure how long we are running around for, as the seconds feel like hours out in weather like this. Either way, time is eerily ticking by and out of our grasp. We can't keep running around like this, stopping every so often to scream out for two boys. Our lungs and legs can only take so much. Which leads us to come to a halt at some massive stairs, gasping for air to fill our lungs so we can get back to searching.

"Look, look, lookie!" a girls voice that I can't quite place fills my ears.

Nami and I look over to see the old woman that helped us get in touch with Iceburg and the Galley-La Company in the first place.

"Hey, you," Kokoro drunkenly laughs. "Pirate girls."

"Kokoro!" Nami gasps.

"Chimney, and Gonbe!" I wave at the girl and rabbit.

"Miss Pirate Lady!" Chimney waves back at us. "And Pirate King's Wife! Hey, look over there!" she points off to the tall houses in the distance. "Something's over there!"

Gonbe lets out happy chirps.

"Something?" Nami and I ask as we step closer to the trio up on the ledge.

"What've you been looking at all this time, Chimney?" Kokoro asks.

"What happened to the ocean!?" I exclaim, taking in the lack of water that should have been flooding the lower area. "The ocean's dried up?"

"Akari, focus in on where that little girl is point," Nami mumbles.

I hold a hand up over my eyes to stop the water from dripping down into them, and I narrow in on the buildings that Chimney is obsessed with something being in. That is when I spot him, through all the rained and darkness and distance: Luffy, sandwiched in between two buildings.

"Luffy!" Nami and I scream, slightly from disbelief and annoyance.

"Hm?" Kokoro takes a swig of her beer. "That straw hat. Hey, girlies, isn't that your easygoing pirate king? What's he doing there?"

"No time to waste," I break out of Nami's hold, taking the lead as the two of us head towards the stairs to get to where Luffy is stuck.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going!? Don't you know you can't go into the back streets now!?"

"Did she say the back streets?" the shipwrights cry out as we rush by. "Hey, somebody stop those girls!"

"Akari!" Nami hisses. "You are a saint, and your boyfriend is an idiot!"

"Come back here!" Kokoro's voice is serious for the first time since we've met her. "Don't you want to stay alive!? Aqua Laguna is coming!"

"You better hope that my saintliness keeps us safe from the hell that is this storm!" I shout.

"We're going to be fine...probably!" Nami shouts.

"That's really reassuring!"

"Jump off the side of the stairs! It'll be faster this way!"

Even with everyone screaming at us not to run into the back streets, Nami and I aren't going to listen to their warnings at all. We have to get down there to get Luffy out of the predicament that he's in before the ocean surge takes him out. Once we reach the mid-landing of the stairs, I take the leap off the side of the stairs first with Nami close behind.

"Luffy!" I scream as we fall through the air and slam down on the pavement of the backstreets. "How do you always end up in situations like this!?"

"If you haven't figured it out, then no one ever will!" Nami screams as our feet pound into the ground as we run as fast as we can to where Luffy is stuck between two buildings.

"ZORO!" Chopper's scream pierces the air, but I can't stop to look at what he's worried about.

The rain is picking up, along with the wind that is howling around us, and I can see the waves coming back at us that look tall enough to cover all the buildings in this lower level of the city. Even with the sea having pulled out, there is only so far we can go because of the canals that block our path. We can't make it all the way to Luffy, but we can get close enough for him to hear us.

"It's no use," Nami gasps for air. "We can't go any further."

I look up at the buildings right in front of us where Luffy is not even trying to get out of his predicament. "LUFFY! You better be listening, captain!"

"You moron! What are you doing up there!?"

"Look!" the Galley-La Men are still yelling at us. "The waves are almost on top of you! Give it up already, Pirate Ladies! RUN!"

"Akari?" Luffy's voice sounds squished. "Nami? Are you behind me!? Geez, hey, please listen to me! I was flying at that pigeon guy, and so I flew and kind of got stuck in this inconvenient place!"

Nami lets out a choked sob, and my bottom lip is quivering as all the emotions of the last day comes crashing down around me. The tears flowing down each of our faces is mixing with the rain that has soaked us through to the bone.

"Don't joke at a time like this!" Nami screams. "While you were screwing around, Robin's been taken away! For all of us, Robin..."

"She's going to die for us!" I empty my lungs, leaning over as it all leaves me. "She sacrificed herself for us!"

"She protected us from being attacked by the government! Even with knowing she might be killed!"

"So Robin was lying after all!" Luffy shouts.

"Yes!" Nami and I choke out.

"Thank goodness!"

The Galley-La Shipwrights are exploding in horror at the size of the wave that is bearing down on us, but I don't take my eyes off Luffy. The anxiety of the danger that we are in is slowly building within me regardless of if I can actually see what is looming before us.

"Don't worry! I won't let Robin die!"

I grab Nami's hand, needing to hold onto someone with the terrifying screams from everyone on higher ground pleading everyone else to get to even higher ground. The wave is now in my vision with how close it is, and I'm not sure how we're going to get away before it crashes down on us. I don't think I've ever seen a wave as big as this one in my entire life.

"It's Aqua Laguna!" the crowd behind us says as one, causing a shiver to rush down my spine.

The time to escape is ticking away with each second that passes, but I've stared at Death's door plenty of times now to know that it isn't my time yet. That something is going to save us before the disaster.

"AAAHHHH!" Luffy lets out a cry that is from deep within that translates when he pushes the buildings apart that have trapped him.

"If my heart wasn't already clenched, it would be now," I breath out.

"He broke the buildings!" Nami shouts.

"Let's go, Akari! Nami!" Luffy flings one arm over at us, wrapping it around both Nami and me while our arms wrap around the other. His other arm shooting out to grab hold of the stairs that we leapt off. Then we are all flying through the air with the Agua Laguna at our heels.

"Get us the hell out of here, Luffy!" I scream.

"Don't let go of me!" Nami's arms tighten around me.

The wave is incredibly powerful as it crashes into the buildings of the backstreets. Even more than anyone could have imagined. Everything that the wave touches is destroyed in seconds. If this is something that they deal with every single year, I can't even begin to imagine what the repair process is like.

All the thoughts of the wave are knocked out of me when the three of us crash down onto the stair landing where Nami and I had initially jumped off. It is at this time that Zoro and Chopper tumble onto the landing right across from us. The backstreets now completely flooded.

"They made it to the big bridge!" the shipwrights cheer. "As expected, they can't be reached there! They did it!"

Nami and Chopper (in full reindeer form) are smiling at each other, Zoro is grimacing as he lies in pain, Luffy is panting from all the exertion, and I have wrapped my arms around Luffy's stomach as I settle into his side. The rain is still pounding down on us, but none of that matters besides being together again.

"You guys are amazing! You've