Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, this is a fan work.
A/N: Hello, this is my first "One Piece" one-shot (might make it a two-shot). I started rewatching the series the other day and felt compelled to write this. This is set early on in the series, after Arlong sometime, but before any additions to the crew. The ship is the "Going Merry," and I'm hoping that I have it all in character. I hope you enjoy!
I rated this for safety, but I believe that the rating could/should probably be lower.
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The day was a normal enough one. The sun was shining, and the boat rocked gently against the waves. The straw hat crew were each doing their own thing.
Sanji was inside the ship, likely in the kitchen thinking of what to prepare for lunch. Using the cabin as a support, Zoro was sleeping with his back leaning on the building and his swords by his lap. Usopp was occupying his time in the ship, but the others weren't sure where.
Nami was sitting on the ship's railing next to her captain, who was standing up and looking out at the ocean. The ship's navigator was smiling happily and talking merrily to her captain.
The orange haired beauty gave a small laugh at her goofy captain's antics, he was making faces at some strange fish that were jumping in and out of the water. Luffy seemed awestruck at how high the fish were hopping out of the water. Nami felt a gentle breeze and put her right hand on the back of her head to secure Luffy's hat that she was wearing.
Luffy's straw hat was his biggest treasure, nothing bad was allowed to happen to it. Because of its importance to him, Luffy rarely let it out of his sight, and it was even rarer for him to let anyone else wear it. In fact, Nami was the only other person that Luffy allowed to wear it. The reason she was wearing it now was because when her captain came up from behind her to look at the ocean with her he placed it on her head.
"I bet I could catch one of them in my mouth," Luffy said, giving a beaming smile to his navigator.
Nami returned the smile and looked at this fish swimming peacefully below. "Maybe if you do, Sanji will cook it for you. "
"Do you think so?" Luffy asked, mouth beginning to water and eyes sparkling from just thinking about it. She laughed at him but nodded her head to answer. While she thought that his expression was funny, part of her couldn't help but think that her captain's expression was cute.
"Then, I'm gonna give it a shot," Luffy said, determination shining in his eyes. Luffy began to pull on his neck to stretch it out. Meanwhile, Nami placed her left hand on his back and wrapped her legs around him to anchor him down. "Thanks, Nami!"
"No problem," She beamed at him. "Goodluck! " She said, giving her captain a wink.
"Thanks, Nami!" He said as he started lowering his head down to the water. She couldn't help but blush a little when she thought about how their positioning looked from an observer's perspective. If anyone was watching, then their position would likely look more dirty than it actually was. Thankfully, the only other person out there was Zoro, and he appeared to be fast asleep. She couldn't help but imagine Sanji's reaction if he came out and saw them like this. It might break his heart, but it might also get it through his head that she wasn't into him in that way. She liked the chef, but not in the same way he seemed to like her, and she didn't want to hurt his feelings.
Down by the ocean's surface, Luffy's face was bobbing and approaching the fish. Nami tried to stifle her laughter as she watched him try to catch the fish. His head lunged at the fish with his mouth open wide to catch the fish. His cheeks were puffed out wide to work as nets. She watched him give a few more attempts at coming up from behind the fish and failing before she decided to help him out.
"Luffy, try going to where they will be instead of where they've been!" Nami called down to him.
"What do you mean?" He asked back.
"Watch the fish and see where they're going to go," She answered him, "and then beat them there."
"Okay, Nami!" Luffy said, following his trusted friend's advice. She watched him and internally wished him luck. She smiled the entire time, it was something she was getting used to doing.
It took Luffy a few attempts to predict where the fish would be, but eventually he figured it out. He saw a fish go underwater and positioned himself accordingly. When the fish hopped back out of the water it landed right in his mouth.
"Yahoo!" He cheered in excitement. Nami was just as excited and cheered for her captain. "Woohoo, you did it!"
"Tanks for ze help" Luffy shouted with the fish in his mouth flailing around.
"You're welcome!" She shouted down to him. She expected him to come back up right away, but he didn't. Instead, Luffy stayed down there and waited for another fish. It didn't take long for the fish to hop out of the water, and when it did Luffy was there to catch it. He smiled wide but kept his cheeks puffed out with the two fish kept in different cheeks. He smiled proudly and pulled his head back toward his body.
When his head arrived back at his body, he turned to his navigator and gave a large smile, which she happily returned. Even though Nami saw her captain's head had returned, she didn't change her position and chose to keep her legs around him. She thought it was comfortable.
"Whoa, you caught two fish." She said surprised.
"I got one for you, too." He told her beaming. At that moment, the fish chose to start flailing again. She thought that it was a sweet notion, albeit a bit gross.
"Thanks, Luffy." She said, pulling him in for a hug. He returned it, and they released when they thought they heard Zoro move. Nami unwrapped her legs from around Luffy quickly, aware of how it might look to the other crew members if they were caught like that. She was sure that Luffy didn't think about how their positions would look like to others.
Nami was happy that it seemed that the noise was just Zoro shifting in his sleep. Nami sighed in relief.
Luffy pulled the fish out of his mouth and said "I'm going to ask Sanji if he'll cook this for us tonight."
"Okay," Nami said, but she started to have second thoughts on whether he should ask Sanji to cook them, because now there was a fish for her there, too. "What would Sanji think if Luffy asked him to prepare two fish for Luffy and me?" She thought to herself. She saw Luffy start to walk towards the cabin to go to the kitchen and, so, she ran to catch up with him. "Wait up, Luffy!"
"Something wrong, Nami?" The captain asked, curious.
"No, I was just thinking that, maybe, instead of asking Sanji cook it that I could cook it for us later, instead." Nami told him, while blushing. "You know, too thank you for the fish?"
Luffy seemed to think it over for a second, before saying: "Okay." She breathed a sigh of relief that she wouldn't have to elaborate on why for Luffy. It was after that sigh of relief that she noticed Luffy was staying very intensely at her face. She could feel herself blush a bit more and started to wonder if she had something on her face.
"I think we should go inside." Luffy said, "It looks like you're getting sun burned."
"Huh?" Nami said before realising what he was referring to. "Okay."
And with that Nami and Luffy headed inside, where Nami was planning on hiding the fish in the freezer for Luffy, so that Sanji wouldn't accidently use them or even know they were there.
Once they were off the deck Zoro gave a sigh of relief and stood up. "Thank god, I thought they'd never leave." He started to do some stretches and muttered to himself: "damned lovebirds should get a room."
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Inside the ship, Nami had asked Luffy if she could put the fish away for him, and he agreed without question. She also made a mental note to wash her hands right away after having touched the fish.
Even though Nami was the one putting the fish away, Luffy came along to check out lunch.
When the doors to the kitchen came within sight, Nami hid the fish behind her back and let Luffy walk in before her. She quickly heard the expected sound of Sanji saying: "Oh no you don't, you get out of here right now, Luffy. Lunch isn't ready yet. " That was part of the reason she sent Luffy in ahead of her, so that he could distract the chef.
"But I'm just seeing what you're making." Luffy whined.
"I don't care, get out of here." The chef said, strictly. It was at that time that Nami stealthily hid the two fish at the far back corner of the freezer, without Sanji even knowing she was there. "Can't I just try a piece? One bite?"
"No, you'll eat the whole thing!" Sanji snapped at him. Sanji finally noticed the navigator's presence as she was making her way out. His eyes turned into heart and his mood shifted completely: "When did you get in here, Nami?"
"Oh, just a second ago. I came to check on lunch." She lied.
Upon hearing her reason, Sanji grabbed a plate and offered it to her. "I'll give you a taste test if you want, my sweet."
She didn't really care for the nickname and just awkwardly laughed it off. "No thanks, Sanji, I'll just wait until lunch time." She could swear that she heard Luffy complain "That's not fair" in the background.
"Are you sure?" Sanji asked.
"Yeah, I think I'll get Luffy out of your hair and play cards with him and Usopp." Nami offered.
"Thanks, Nami." Sanji's heart eyes pulsed. She grabbed her captain and forced him to leave the kitchen to go find Usopp with her.
They found him laying down in the men's quarters, and he agreed to play cards with them. They trio went out onto the deck to play, despite Luffy protesting because of her "sunburn." The whole time they were walking to the deck, Nami felt like she was being watched. When it finally started to annoy her enough, she turned and saw that she was indeed being watched. Usopp was staring at her, more specifically at her head.
"Is there a problem?" She asked the sniper. At her tone, Usopp quickly snapped out of it.
"Nope, no problem." Usopp said, not meeting her gaze. "I did hear Zoro mumble something about birds when he came in."
"Huh, birds?" Nami questioned. She thought to herself: "But we were just out there, there are no birds."
"It's probably nothing." Usopp said, dismissively and continued walking towards the deck. The trio got to the deck and played for a while. Nami won nearly every hand, Usopp always came in second, and somehow Luffy always ended up with at least a dozen cards in his hand.
"How do you even end up with that many?" Usopp grumbled to the captain. Nami laughed every time it happened, she just thought it was hilarious.
"More cards mean more points, so, I win!" Luffy cheered, making Nami laugh more.
"He doesn't even know how to play." Complained Usopp.
Throughout the rounds of cards, Nami had notice Usopp staring more and more at her head. "What is he staring at?" She wondered. After a while, it just became annoying to see him staring, especially because he wasn't even hiding it. She was about to ask him again, but Sanji called them all in for lunch, and the guys of the ship were sure never to miss a meal. Luffy put his cards into the pile in the middle, and Usopp did the same, then both boys bolted to get inside, leaving Nami with the cleanup job.
"Well, it was my idea to play." She said to herself, putting the cards into the box they came out of. She pocketed the cards and made her way inside for lunch. Today, they were eating lunch in the meeting room. The table was set out and piled with a wide variety of meats and stews. She quickly made her plate, before her captain or any of the other guys devoured all of the food. Unlike normal, lunch was surprisingly quiet today. She also could feel Usopp's gaze threatening to burn a hole in her head from how much he was staring at her. She was waiting to ask the question, because she didn't want to say anything in front of the "Love Chef," who would throw it all out of proportions.
When the meal on the table was finished, Sanji went to go grab the rest of it from the kitchen. He was always prepared for how much the captain could eat. It was then that Nami asked the question. "Is there something on my face?" Nami asked, annoyed and staring him in the eyes. Usopp shook his head to tell her "no." "Then why do you keep staring at me?"
That drew everyone in the room to stare at Usopp, who in response just kept staring at Nami. "I'm just trying to figure it out." Usopp said.
"Figure what out?" Prompted Nami.
"Why only you get to wear Luffy's hat." Usopp answered. "Luffy, why is she the only one that gets to wear your hat?"
"She isn't, I wear it, too." Luffy said simply. That made the sniper deadpan. Nami also started to think about it, too. She hadn't really noticed it, but other than Luffy she was the only one he allowed to wear his hat. Luffy's simple, but expected answer, made Zoro start snickering.
"That's not what I meant!" Usopp grumbled. "How come only you and her are allowed to wear it?"
Usopp's question fell on deaf ears, as Luffy's attention was quickly captured by Sanji returning with more food, which Luffy quickly dug into.
"Come on, don't ignore me." Complain Usopp. Sanji was a little confused, and Luffy was now focused on eating, but Nami was still focused on the conversations.
"You mean you don't know?" Zoro asked.
"Don't know what?" Sanji asked, completely out of the loop.
"You think you do?" Usopp asked him in a hushed voice. Zoro nodded his head. Now, Nami was curious for Zoro's answer.
"Then spill it, already." Usopp said.
"What are we talking about?" Sanji asked again.
"Well, Usopp just think about it." Zoro told him, "When you're a pirate isn't it best to keep all of your treasure in the same place so that you can protect it easier?" A lightbulb lit up in his head as he understood what Zoro was saying. On the other hand, Nami blushed a little at what the swordsman was implying. She thought to herself: "That's not what it is, is it?"
"Isn't that right, Luffy?" Zoro asked, with a cocky smile. Luffy looked up from the meal that he was devouring and answered him.
"Yeah." Luffy said simply, going back to eating. Zoro and Usopp shared a big, knowing grin. Sanji was still confused, but he decided that he'd let the issue drop. Nami was also confused but for different reasons. She found herself blushing and thinking about the possible implications. Maybe today wasn't as normal as she thought.
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A/N: So, how was the story, everyone? I'm hoping that it wasn't too bad, because I actually wrote it on a cell phone. If you liked it, then I encourage you to review, because I enjoy feedback. There is a chance for an additional chapter.