Nami
Her breathing was ragged. The ropes around her wrists bit into her skin as she shifted in the dark. The chill of the tower's upper floor crept into her bones. Dust floated in shafts of pale light from a broken window, and the faint creak of wood marked the only passage of time.
She had followed the cloaked figure without alerting anyone. No confrontation, just curiosity and suspicion. It had led her here—and into a trap.
She hadn't screamed. Even now, gagged and bound, she stayed quiet.
"Stay calm. Think. Wait for a window."
There was another presence nearby. Watching. Waiting. But it didn't move. Not yet.
Kael
He watched from a beam above, hidden behind the shadows and rot of the abandoned tower. His breath was silent. Movements still.
Nami's eyes were alert, darting, focused despite her situation. He could almost see the equations behind them, working through every knot, every exit.
"You're tougher than you look. Not loud. Not broken. Good. But not safe."
Below, the figure that had taken her was gone. No trace. No name. Someone who had known how to vanish without leaving a single thread.
And now she was here. Because Kael hadn't warned her.
"This wasn't your war. I didn't want you pulled into it."
He turned his eyes to the horizon. The Straw Hats had begun searching. He would follow.
The Sunny – Afternoon
The crew was scattered but restless.
"She said she'd be back before noon," Usopp muttered, pacing the deck.
Chopper clutched his medical bag. "I checked every food stall she usually visits. Nothing."
"She wouldn't just vanish," Franky said, arms folded. "That ain't her style."
Brook plucked a soft tune from his violin. Even he looked solemn. "I hope she hasn't run into anyone bone-chillingly dangerous. Yohoho..."
"That's not funny," Chopper said, ears drooping.
Robin walked in from the ramp. "Sanji and Zoro are still searching. They split up to cover more ground."
Luffy sat on the rail, chewing a stick of meat without his usual energy. "She'll be fine," he said flatly. "Nami's smart."
Usopp frowned. "You don't sound convinced."
Luffy looked at the sea. "She didn't say goodbye. That's not like her."
Town Outskirts
Zoro sheathed one of his swords. His expression was a mix of tension and focus.
"She wouldn't go into that quarter alone," he muttered.
"Maybe she didn't," Sanji said, scanning rooftops. "Maybe someone led her."
"Kael," Zoro replied.
"I knew I should've tailed him harder," Sanji growled.
"You were watching him like a hawk," Robin said as she stepped beside them. "He never touched her."
Sanji's cigarette trembled. "Then why the hell is she gone?"
Robin looked at the old clocktower in the distance. "Because someone else used him as a distraction."
Franky rolled in on a bike. "Nothing west. She's not at the port."
Chopper arrived breathless. "No hospital visits either. No one's seen her."
Brook floated down from a rooftop. "No signs of struggle, no noise. Too clean."
"That's what worries me," Robin whispered.
Kael
Kael watched them from a roof two blocks away.
They were scattered but efficient. Each covered a gap. Each voice echoed concern, frustration, and buried guilt.
"They're moving faster than I thought. They care more than I expected."
He followed, not hiding too deeply. If they saw him, they saw him. But none looked up. Not yet.
He wasn't sure what he was hoping for.
Maybe for them to find her. Maybe for an excuse. Maybe for something to change.
But Nami remained in the tower.
Waiting.
Watching.