Chapter 42
I look on, shocked at her grabbing hold of George's leg and pulling on it with all her might, which doesn't have much of an effect now that the driving force I was providing has vanished. Seeing that her actions were now futile, she looked up to see what had changed and found me looking at her with a no-doubt ugly look on my face because of all the fluid and my scrunched-up face.
"N-Nami..? W-What are you doing?" I questioned, surprised to see the tiny little girl that was just resting listlessly against a tree now beside me, trying to help me move George's body onto the wooden panel. I remain there, holding George's hand and looking at her, confused.
"This is your friend, isn't it? George. I am helping you with him, but I can't do it alone, so help me." With my concentration in such a lapse, my body starts to automatically follow her orders, even with it being such a weak command without much force in her voice. I am so distraught right now that it is actually affecting me.
And I am letting it. I know I resolved myself to never give in to it and to never let it get the better of me, but I think I should be allowed this one concession. With everything that has happened, George dying, me finding the person I have no choice to obey, being forced to not get my revenge immediately and having to follow her orders.
And now, burying my best friend is arguably the most challenging thing, so I don't care what anybody would think of me, but I am going to allow this because I see no other way to bury my best friend. He deserves to have a grave and be put to rest and not left here to decay and be devoured by other animals. He was more than just an animal, so I would allow this control. Otherwise, I would be here forever, trying to bring myself to lay my friend to rest.
My body moves to the best of its ability and starts to move George with no fuss or complaint. However, the key word in that order was to help Nami, so my body moves at her pace, and we work together to move the body, though I am doing all the lifting. I try to avoid the actions of my body by focusing on something else, and so I try talking to Nami.
"W-what about your mother? D-Doesn't Bellemere-San also need to be... put to rest?" I question, looking over at Nami instead of the body that we are moving. Also, she is helping me with this out of her own will. There was no influence, gain or advantage to her actions. She saw me struggling and immediately came to help me, a kind act that made me see the silver lining that my new commander could have been a lot worse and cruel, but this girl wouldn't do anything horrible. At the very least, I should try to help her with the burial of her own mother.
"I- Nojiko will... Genzo-San is also there, and he is a good guy. He will take care of it along with the others, but there is no one here to help you except me. So we have to stick together and look out for each other now. We are stuck under the Arlong pirates for now." She explains as we finish moving the body, at which point I turn to the most dreaded part. The head...
Nami got up and looked around for a moment. No doubt she had already spotted the head before she started to help me, so she didn't have an adverse reaction. But she seems to be looking for something else, which she finds as she quickly runs off and picks something up in the distance before coming back to me.
I recognise what is in her hands, as it used to belong to me. It was one of the sacks I was going to take with me on my journey before Arlong destroyed my boat, except now the string is loose at the top, and everything that was inside it has disappeared, no doubt floating somewhere in the ocean. I look at her in question, at which point she starts to look at something behind me nervously.
"I-Its for the head..." She says, leaving me speechless. I merely look at her with a blank look on my face before turning my gaze downwards to the empty sack. I don't know how long I just stared at it with no thoughts running through my head. It was as if I had been put on pause because I had just stopped functioning at the sight of the sack, which reminded me of my friend's beheading and which would hold his head.
"I-I can do it. I- I will take care of it." Nami quickly says when I don't respond, and she hesitantly turns and goes towards the head resting on the circular pile of sand dyed red with dry blood. I watch her go slowly, cautiously. She clearly doesn't want to do it, but she is forcing herself to, for my sake. She just met me, and she is willing to do such a thing, and I am letting her.
"Stop," I say, coming forward to grab her by the shoulder and spin her around. She looks at me, her face wavering on the edge of breaking, tears gathering at the corner of her eyes. She clearly didn't want to do it, I don't think anyone would, but she was willing. I grab the sack from her hands and rip it free, taking it for myself.
"I will do it myself. He was my best friend. I should take care of him now. I need to take care of him now." Left unsaid is the fact that I couldn't force a little girl to do such a thing. I had already let her help me with the body. A fact I kind of hate myself for now, but I was in a different head space, and I didn't realise it. I can't let her take care of the head. That would just be too cruel.
Nami nods her head at me, obviously relieved to be relieved of this duty, and so I move forward towards the head. I hurry along, wanting to do this quickly and not spend any more time than necessary on it. On the other hand, I don't want to think about it, either.
I make sure to approach it so that it is facing away from me, and I kneel behind it, opening the sack wide and placing it on the ground before me. I take a quick look and memorise the positioning before I close my eyes and take a deep breath to calm my nerves. Then I reach out, grabbing the head by the two spots I picked out earlier and quickly pick it up, I hear the sound of something hitting the ground, but I ignore it and focus on placing the head in the sack and then hurriedly grabbed the string at the top and tightened the sack, making sure it was secure.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I open my eyes and see that my actions did indeed result in what I wanted, as the only thing in front of me now is the sack- and something metallic glinting in the sand. Confused, I reach my hand out gingerly to grab at it, making sure not to touch the red sand at all. Pinching the edge of it between my two fingers, I pull it up and get a good look at it, and then I nearly drop it.
I-It's my key. My house key for the front door that I gave to George for safekeeping before I set out on my rowboat. And he stored it... he held it in his mouth, keeping it hidden there for me until I came back to collect it. It must have fallen out when I picked him up... I don't want to think about how it did.
All of a sudden, I can't keep it in anymore, the tears pour forth, and I scream aloud. I let my anguish out, unable to keep it at bay anymore. I roar at the unfairness of it all. George didn't deserve to die. He didn't hurt anyone. He didn't even hurt other animals. Geroge was capable of eating meat, but he stuck to fruit and vegetables. I always asked stuff of him, and he always complied. He always helped me, and all I ever did was let him sleep in my home and treat him like a burden. Even at the end, I gave him a task to keep my key, and he came out to defend me and save me from Arlong.
Even after he died, he was still helping me. Even dead, he kept my key safe for me until I came back to take it. If he had never left Troga, he would still be alive, and I regret that I brought him from there only to die here. But to be honest, I am still happy I did so, even if this is how it ended, because we had a great time together and looked out for each other when we had no one else. So now it is my time to look after him in death, just like he looked after me in life.
Standing up, I gently lift the sack and move back towards the board. No longer conflicted or hesitant. I am going to lay my friend to rest. And then, to make sure he rests easy in the grave, I will make sure Arlong and all the other pirates stop cursing this earth with every breath they take.
I am not content to wait. First, I will have to convince Nami, but that shouldn't be too hard. She will soon see that the only way for us all to be free and to avenge George and Bellemere-San is for us to take it with our own hands.
I place the sack on the board and then pick up the shovel and place that on it too. I look down at the key in my hand before placing that on the board as well. George did his job, he gave me the key back, and now I am giving it to him. I will place it with him in his grave, so he can protect this key forever.
I then grab ahold of the board and prepare to drag it into the forest when I look up to see Nami holding the other end and giving me a firm nod.
Even in this grim situation, I manage a smile, though fleeting, before hefting the board up and moving towards the forest.
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Moving back through the forest, holding just my shovel, I spare a glance at Nami, who is walking beside me, before quickly looking away. I definitely have conflicting thoughts about this girl now, but that doesn't change the facts and what has to be done still needs to be done. With George now buried, I have to focus on getting Arlong now.
Walking back into the clearing where my house is, I turn to thank Nami for her help, but I am interrupted before I can do so. I look on enraged as the front door of my house is kicked open, and Arlong and some of his crew leave my house laughing and joking, not at all concerned that they had intruded open my home.
"Oh, Nami! Other Brat! Haha, I gave this house of yours a look over, and it is pretty nice. But, unfortunately, it is in the way of my new Arlong Park. Kuroobi." Arlong says, spotting myself and Nami and acting casually with us as if we were nothing. And then he commands one of the other fishmen, one called Kuroobi, who gives a firm nod and turns around to face my home and then he...
*BOOM!*
... He flipped my house.
The house I built with George, which we both struggled with and spent many hours over. Sweat and toil went into it, and it was just completely flipped on its head and destroyed.
"AAAARGGGH!" I charge at Arlong, wielding the shovel in my head, wanting to use it to beat the shit out of them.
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