154 Lost and Found

"Robin!" Nami shouted in delight as she raced into the open arms of the woman who was like an older sister to her.

"It's good to see you as well, Nami. I wasn't expecting to find you on a sky island." Robin said with a gentle smile.

"Goodness, look at you!" Nami exclaimed, touching Robin's arms that were more muscular than before and feeling how deceptively powerful they were. "You were fit before, but now you're on another level entirely."

"Yes well, Cherry hasn't been going easy on me." Robin responded, then turning her eyes to the red headed woman's chest. "I see that you've been... growing, as well."

Nami lightly blushes at the observation before finally noticing the pouting form of Cabernet to the side.

"I missed you too, you big lug." Nami said, giving Cabernet a hug as well, much to the ship woman's delight.

"You mentioned Cherry, but why isn't she with you?" Nami asked.

Robin started to look nervous, her happiness from seeing Nami again giving way to her anxiety over Cherry's current predicament.

"She went for a swim." Cabernet spoke casually, pointing downwards.

A moment of silence passed between them. Cabernet had her usual goofy smile while the gears in Nami's mind turned, processing the information she was just given.

"But Cherry is a devil fruit user! She can't swim, especially not in that storm that just happened! We have to rescue her!" Nami exclaimed, starting to panic.

"Oi oi oi oi oi oi oi! Why did you rush off so quickly, Nami?" An old man in a robe, Haredas approached at a light jog.

"Haredas! I need to use one of your submersibles! It's urgent!" Nami shook the old man by the shoulders.

"Oh, it seems you're becoming more polite, Nami. The last time something urgent came up you just tried to steal what you needed and run away." Haredas observed, feeling quite proud of his good influence on the young lady.

"Oh, yeah! I can just steal it! Thanks for reminding me, Haredas!" Nami said before rushing off to where the various sea vehicles were kept on Weatheria.

"Me and my big mouth…" Haredas lamented.

"I like your hat, old man!" Cabernet complimented sincerely as both she and Robin followed after Nami.

"I guess not all young people are rude." Haredas felt a bit better, forgetting that they were about to steal an expensive piece of equipment for unknown reasons.

Robin and Cabernet found Nami poking around some controls that opened a hatch beneath a submarine type sea craft.

They all squeezed inside the small submarine that was only a bit cramped with three people inside. Nami played with the controls of the submarine until the clamp holding it above the open hatch released it.

They were luckily not dropped into free fall as the submarine was attached to the island by long steel wires that slow its descent.

Once they reached the surface of the water, Nami hit another control that released the wires and then started to submerge the vehicle beneath the waves.

"Nami?" Robin spoke up.

"What is it Robin?" Nami asked.

"How do you plan to find Cherry? The ocean is a big place you know." Robin asked.

"I don't know, but we have to try!" Nami said, sounding desperate.

"Go that way." Cabernet said, pointing in a seemingly random direction below them.

"Huh? Why?" Nami asked.

"That's where Cherry is. Trust me." Cabernet stated, supplying no further reasoning.

Nami was a bit incredulous at her confidence. While she did not get into as much trouble as the other idiots on their crew, Cabernet wasn't exactly a genius either.

However, Robin nodded her head when Nami sent her a questioning glance, so she decided to just go with the flow. She didn't have any idea where to start regardless, so there was no harm in doing things this way.

Off they went, following Cabernet's vague directions.

"Are you sure she's around here, Cabernet?" Nami asked.

"I'm sure, she's definitely close by. I can feel it in my bones." Cabernet offered mysteriously, poking her collarbone.

*WOOSH*

*Beep beep beep beep beep!*

The submarine was suddenly sent sprawling by a strong current. The proximity alarm started blaring and beeping and flashing red lights inside the cabin of the submarine.

As suddenly as everything had gone to chaos, it just as suddenly returned to an eerie quiet.

"What was that?" Nami whispered, shaking a bit from fear. "A sea king? But that can't be right, the submarines can detect sea kings with its sonar for as far as a kilometer!"

Again the submarine was sent rolling around, the proximity alarm warning of a large object in close proximity. Then all went quiet once more.

"There can't be anything that big and that fast!" Nami whispered. She suddenly felt that it was very foolish to come down to the depths of the Grand Line with only her meager self and two devil fruit users.

The submarine suddenly jerked upwards, the proximity alarm screaming like a dying animal. This time the alarm did not shut off, but kept on beeping at them to retreat.

Nami tried to use the controls to get them back to the surface, but the submarine would not obey her commands.

The reason why became quickly apparent, as a giant eye came into view of the forward facing glass. The search light illuminated its dark blue skin and the burning orange iris of its eye.

If not for the blaring alarm, the silence would be so quiet that one could hear a pin drop.

As Nami's life flashed before her eyes, a familiar figure rose up into view of the window, between the eye and the submarine.

Cherry looked Nami in the eyes and started to laugh hysterically. It was an odd sight to see as she expelled no bubbles of air from her lungs. Despite that she seemed to have no discomfort from what any other human would find to be torturous.

As Nami digested the sight before her eyes, all the fear and worry she had been feeling turned into anger and a bit of embarrassment.

When Cherry saw her eyes squinting dangerously, she thought that perhaps she had gone a bit too far with her little prank. It had just been too perfect of an opportunity to pass up.

Cherry turned around and tapped on Takako's skin beside her eye and motioned for her to take them up to the surface.

Once they reached the surface, Nami climbed out of the submarine and marched herself over to Cherry who was also standing atop it.

"You think it's funny to scare me huh?! When I'm nothing but worried for you?!" Nami accused, poking Cherry in the chest.

Nami's image overlapped with that of Grandma Angela in Cherry's mind for a moment. She had a very rare sheepish look on her face as she scratched her cheek.

"I'm sorry…" Cherry spoke quietly.

Nami's anger mellowed out a bit hearing that, but another question came to her mind.

"Why are you naked?" Nami asked, a bit of pink coming to her cheeks.

It wasn't the first time she'd seen her naked before, as the ladies of the straw hats often shared the bath to save water, but Cherry's beauty seemed to have increased somewhat in the time they've been apart.

"Clothes aren't going to survive that much lightning, are they?" Cherry said as if it was obvious.

Robin threw some clothes that Cabernet had retrieved from her compartment at Cherry for her to get dressed.

Cherry put them on, leaving Nami with a vague sense of loss for some reason, and they all got ready to return to Weatheria.