Title: Cute as Pie

Author: paws-bells

Beta-ed by: MelissaRose85

Characters/Pairing: Nami and Monkey D. Luffy

Type: One-Shot (Complete)

Genre: Romance/Humor

Word Count: 3067

Rating: T (Contains content not suitable for children)

Disclaimer: One Piece belongs to Oda-sensei.

Summary: Film Z Movie arc. In the end, Nami grudgingly decided that she didn't quite mind wearing those beads in her hair after all.

Chapter Last Revised on: 04/05/13

Cute as Pie

Luffy was bored stiff.

Bored. Bored. Bored.

The nineteen year old Captain pursed his lips and sulked slightly. This information gathering trip sure was dull, and worse still, they hadn't even started yet. He didn't know how long more he could last sitting around and doing nothing. If he had his way, he would have gone out exploring instead, but alas, he had been outvoted and had no say in the matter. Apparently, it was important for all of them to lay low for now – something to do with the staggering amount of Marines running amok on the island, no doubt – and Nami had warned him that this was to be a covert mission as, according to her, no one was going to want to tell them anything if it was known that they were pirates, and infamously notorious ones at that.

So now they were all holed up in here waiting for Team 'Let's-Find-Out-More-About-Z' to finalize their preparations for the upcoming operation, while also awaiting Brook's return from his shopping expedition in town (to replace their clothes, which were destroyed when the Neo Navy stormed the Sunny) so that the remaining members of the crew, also coined Team 'Idiots-Who-Are-Too-Conspicuous-For-Their-Own-Good ,' could go visit the onsen and occupy their time with a relaxing activity while the others were on their mission.

It was one of the more boring plans that Luffy had the displeasure to work with but it wasn't as if he could come up with anything superior. In the end, it was better to just leave it to his various crew members to handle matters themselves – they were more than capable of taking care of their respective tasks anyway and if all this hassle brought him closer to finding Z and giving him the ass beating he deserved for hurting the Sunny-go, then he would tolerate this and just go with the flow.

That didn't mean that he would enjoy it very much, though.

Mumbling under his breath and slouching further into the armchair, Luffy propped his chin on an upturned palm and took to observing his crewmates instead.

With the obvious exception of Brook and Franky (the latter had stayed back on Dock Island where they had moored the Thousand Sunny to repair the damages dealt to their beloved ship), the rest of them were all here. They were currently in one of the traditional ryokan that seemed to be operating all over Secon Island, having rented out a suite in the inn for half a day. Zoro, predictably, was passed out on the couch a few paces away from him, a snot bubble stuck to his nose as he snored loudly and blissfully away. A short distance to his left, Usopp and a much younger Chopper were helping each other with their costumes, supposedly chosen to help them blend right in with the local populace, but it seemed kind of suspicious to Luffy as they hadn't seen anyone, let alone the islanders, dress in such brightly flamboyant colors when they first stepped foot in this place. His two usual playmates were being very serious as they inspected and double checked their covers though, so the black-haired teenager decided to leave them to it.

"Robin-chwaaaaaaaaaan!" At the other end of the suite, near the dresser and the bathroom, a furiously wriggling Sanji was noodling his way round and round their bemused Archeologist, who was already dressed in a traditional dancing outfit that complimented her svelte figure and lithe, graceful form. "O my mysterious evening rose, you are lovely no matter what you choose to adorn yourself in! Mellorrriiinnnnneee~!"

Then, the lovey lovey golden-haired Cook abruptly folded his lean frame in a gentlemanly kneel at Robin's feet, his hand grasping hers in a gentle hold as he gave her what was supposed to be a dashingly smoldering look. "What's in a name?" he intoned dramatically. "That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet."

The dark-haired beauty chuckled softly at Sanji's antics. "Thank you, Sanji. That's very sweet of you."

Her simple praise was enough to send the curly browed young man spiraling into paroxysms of ecstasy. While Sanji busied himself with throwing miniature confetti of hearts and rose petals around Robin, Luffy's disinterested gaze slid away to land on the last member of their group.

Nami was sitting on the tatami covered floor by the kotatsu a short distance away, her skinny legs folded in the lotus position, a frown on her face as she struggled to tame her unruly hair with a hair brush that seemed positively ungainly in her tiny hands. The age-regressed eight year old was having quite a bit of trouble handling the heavy brush and her frustration was beginning to show itself in the form of angry little growls and unhappy glowers.

Luffy eyed his tiny Navigator for a while as she struggled to take care of her long hair and failed to succeed completely. She was already dressed in an outfit that resembled their Archeologist's, obviously made from the same prints but tailored to a more child-like smock to fit her small frame. Her bright orange tresses were slightly mussed and messy though, and the young girl was about to throw her hands up in exasperation and give it up as a lost cause when her Captain stepped in to the rescue.

Vacating his armchair to plop down on the floor beside her, he proceeded to wrap a rubbery arm around her waist and lift her completely from the floor, carefully placing her on his lap (she was so little now, so he had to be careful) and then removing his limb from her midsection. To her credit, Nami didn't react too much to being suddenly manhandled; thanks to all the emergency escapes that she had taken via Luffy when he had to quickly haul them off to safety, she was quite used to the familiar feel of his arm around her and could recognize it well enough when he was the one who touched her – after all, there was no one else whose body parts could stretch quite like his could.

However, they were quite obviously not in a life and death situation right now, and therefore she wasted no time turning around and trying to brain him with the heavy handle of her brush the moment she was able to. "Luffy!" she scowled in admonishment. "What do you think you are doing?"

He deftly avoided her attack with his stupid Kenbunshoku Haki and proceeded to wrest the hair brush from her grasp. "Stop squirming," he told her matter-of-factly. "I'm trying to help. You can't reach your hair, right?"

The young girl stilled completely and looked at her Captain with surprise on her face. He just stared back at her with a raised brow. Then, she narrowed her eyes slightly.

"And how exactly are you trying to help me?" she demanded to know, a cute frown marring her forehead. She was like a grumpy adult stuffed into a little girl's body. Luffy paused and took the time to rethink his thoughts. Then, he started to snicker. Wait; that's because she was a grumpy adult stuck in a child's body!

Grinning innocuously, the black-haired teenager waved her hair brush at him. "I can help brush your hair!"

Nami's eyes widened with alarm. "No!" she squeaked immediately, horrifying images – Luffy accidentally pulling out clumps of her precious hair, Luffy smearing his booger stained fingers all over her pride and joy, that which she had carefully cultivated over the last two years, Luffy clumsily knotting up her prized tresses so badly that she had to hack them all off – running through her head at his offer.

His lower lip stuck out slightly at her immediate denial. "Why?" he demanded to know. "This is easy. I have helped Makino loads of times."

Granted, it was only once and he was really, really, little when the kind lady barkeep back in his home island let him touch her hair out of curiosity, but Nami didn't have to know that.

Nami didn't know alright. She also didn't know who this 'Makino' was, and she really wasn't all that interested to find out all the same.

"Uh-huh," she humored him flatly, looking at him suspiciously with that adorable little face. "Is she completely bald now?"

It was really odd to have the little her sassing him like this, and also kind of distracting because she looked so cute doing it, but he eventually figured out what she was trying to say. His pout became more prominent then. "Oi! I'm not that bad! And Makino still had a full head of pretty green hair when I left Foosha Village!" He looked slightly indignant, but he did not force the issue. "Keh. If you don't want me to do it, then do you want me to get Robin instead?"

Their Archeologist was, at the moment, still being fawned over by their overly amorous Cook. For that reason alone, Nami wasn't exactly jumping to get Robin's attention as that would inadvertently bring Sanji twirling along as well. It was bad enough that she was now just a helpless little girl, and Sanji's exaggerated cooing, while tolerated most of the time with exasperated fondness, was extremely grating on her nerves right now, especially if he kept looking at her like he might harbor a secret lolicon fetish. Nami really didn't want to end up losing her temper and snap out hurtful things in the heat of the moment – Sanji was Sanji, after all, and he never quite meant half of the things he said and did – so it was really best for all involved that such a scene be avoided.

Which, of course, narrowed her choice of assistants back down to Luffy, Usopp or Chopper.

A glance to the side showed that the latter two were still busy with their costumes, not to mention they would likely be just as bad as their Captain at this task, being neither female nor individuals with particularly fastidious self-grooming habits. Nami reluctantly resigned herself to the inevitable.

"Are your hands clean?" she asked at last, twisting around to face him, and at the same time, grabbing his hands with her own smaller ones and carefully inspecting his upturned palms and fingers. He looked mildly offended then.

"My hands are always clean!"

"Yeah, right," she muttered with an exasperated shake of her head. This time though, his hands were indeed reasonably free of any dirt or grease that she could see. She let go of him and turned back to face forward so that he could have full access to her hair. "I swear, if you so much as break a single strand-!"

He hadn't even been listening to her, and had already taken the brush to her hair, eager to get started. He immediately proved himself to be overly exuberant the first time around, and she cringed with pain when the bristles immediately snagged roughly on a tangle and promptly got stuck there.

"Luffy!" she hissed, stiffening as involuntary tears of discomfort filled her eyes.

"Shishishishishi. Oops," he replied in an entirely un-assuring manner. Nami could feel herself turning red with anger. "Sorry. Lemme fix it."

The young girl was beginning to regret ever letting him go anywhere near her hair. She was about to demand for him to stop doing whatever it was he was trying to do when his fingers carefully probed at her sore, sensitive scalp, his touch surprisingly gentle as he slowly unraveled the knotted strands there. Then, once he managed to get the hair brush free, he set it aside on the floor beside him and used the pads of his fingers to soothe the aching spot he had tugged so sharply against earlier. The dull pain faded away quickly under his unexpectedly enjoyable ministrations, and she tentatively relaxed against him.

He chuckled again. "Feels better now?" he asked and she nodded reluctantly. Then, he started to carefully comb through her lengthy, orange hair with his fingers, using long, rhythmic pulls that started from the top of her head to the tips of her waist long tresses, thoroughly sifting through the soft, silky strands and untangling any snags he found along the way. She was privately astounded that he could be so patient and gentle, and the perpetual nervous energy that was constantly thrumming around him also seemed to have quieted down some as he focused his attention on the task at hand.

Beyond the ambient sounds of their nakama speaking and/or moving about in the background, it was pretty quiet, and Nami was lulled by the calm that washed over her. Her eyes slipped closed, and the girl felt herself relaxing even further, going slightly boneless as she silently enjoyed the soothing feel of her Captain's hands running through her hair. He laughed quietly at her blissful response, but there was a passive contentment flowing from him as well, feeding that gentle feeling of warmth that was wrapped around her like a snug, secured cocoon, and so she settled down and allowed herself to luxuriate in the peaceful, precious sensation.

Funny how strong and utterly reliable Luffy could be when she least expected him to – no, scratch that. He had always been strong and reliable; he just didn't make a point to show it all that often, at least not outside of battle or life and death situations. That he was inadvertently doing so now was a pleasant surprise to her; he made her feel safe and protected and the child that she was right now was in complete awe of the overwhelming strength and presence that she could feel emanating from him. Yet, the gentleness in his touch belied an absolute control over the fearsome, ferocious power that he had learned to master over the last two years of the crew's forced separation, and even though the mode and circumstances of their parting had not been ideal back then, it was obvious that he – they – were now all the better for it.

Just then, he picked up the hair brush and was ready to apply it to her hair once again, having already unraveled all the knots that he could find in her windswept tresses. This time, he was careful to make sure not to tug too hard at the silky, bright orange strands, and through the little hand mirror propped up on the table before them, she could see the look of concentration on his face as he brushed out her hair with slow, even strokes.

Two years ago, he would never have been patient enough to volunteer to help her out like this. Nami's gaze softened. He had really matured a lot.

"It's done," he announced after he was finally satisfied, looking quite proud of himself as he did so. Her hair gleamed with luster and was completely tangle-free. Grinning, he met her gaze through the mirror. "S'good, right?"

His attention landed on the handful of hair accessories that were scattered loosely on the table then. Nami had bought them earlier from a street stall, intending to share them with Robin but she was still undecided on which to wear for herself. Her Captain decided to make the decision for her. The black-haired boy reached over her currently diminutive form and picked out a pair of simple gold beads from the available selection, and then, after a brief, considering look at her, he gently grasped a small handful of her hair that framed the side of her face and clipped the bead around it so that the tiny accessory hung along her temple. With unexpectedly nimble fingers, he did the same for the other side as well, and she was too surprised by his actions to protest. Luffy excitedly turned her around to get a better look at her, pulling back slightly as he did so, and a huge smile grew on his face when he surveyed the results of his handiwork. He vaguely remembered that some of the women back on Amazon Lily had worn their hair like this, and the style looked really nice on his Navigator as well.

"Shishishishishi. There," he announced with a light chuckle. His bright, laughing eyes met her stunned ones straight on. "Now, you are perfect."

You are perfect.

Nami turned bright red. Her heart skipped a beat at his compliment.

He most probably didn't even know what he was spouting, or at the very least, he was not aware of how his words could affect the people around him in ways other than the basic, literal sense.

She was definitely quite affected by the impact of that one, simple sentence that he had so carelessly uttered, alright.

Unfortunately, he just as swiftly ruined the moment; his short attention span kicked in and he lost his focus on his furiously blushing Navigator. Catching the eye of their Archeologist from across the room, Luffy raised his arm and waved enthusiastically to grab Robin's attention.

"Robin! Hey! LOOK! I MADE NAMI CUTE! COME SEE."

The idiotic man's unthinking remarks quickly acted as a splash of icy cold awareness to her dazed senses.

With immediate effect, Nami's maidenly, lightheaded flush abruptly disappeared. The butterflies fluttering in her stomach quickly died, shriveled up, and dropped off the face of the earth, never to be seen again. In their place, a magnificent bonfire of immaculate rage lit up the form of the now eight year old female. The resulting inferno promptly painted the surroundings a mist red of bloodlust, and the bewildered Captain finally let his excitement die off when he noticed the gust of hot air that threatened to blow his straw hat right off of his head.

"Why is it so warm and wind-" His innocuously comment died off very quickly when he looked down and saw the positively murderous expression on his little Navigator's face. His eyes widened, and even though he didn't quite know what he had done to earn her fury this time, his patented Nami Sense™ was telling him to run, only she was still on his lap and what was left of his common sense was making it known to him that it would be a very bad idea to drop the miniature bundle of explosive, flaming wrath right now.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING UGLY, YOU STUPID RUBBER CAPTAIN-!"

Omake

Short moments later, a bruised and battered pile of a very remorseful Luffy was oozing all over the tatami mat in the middle of the suite, a pair of concerned crewmates in the form of a panicking Usopp and Chopper alternatively fluttering about fussing over him and yelling at their overzealous Cook over their shoulders. Sanji had been more than happy to leap to his beloved Nami-swan's defense (more like he had dramatically pirouetted over and ended with a disturbingly graceful Grand jeté right into Luffy's unsuspecting face), spouting his usual diatribe of flowery praises (aimed at the girls) and indignant profanities (aimed at Luffy and also the other males of the crew in general) as he did so. By the time the blonde was done, their poor Captain was decorated all over in angry shoe prints and looked like he had just been run over by a farmer's cart.

Predictably, Zoro had slept through the entire commotion. Brook had also just returned from his shopping trip, looking slightly bemused by the antics of his overly spirited nakama but was by now too used to their unorthodox ways of showing their affection for each other to be too alarmed. No, the gentleman Musician dropped his purchases onto the armchair and promptly wandered over to join in the festivities by way of harassing the girls for panties instead, yohohoho. It wasn't long before Sanji and his Unholy Flames of Ero Righteousness were fully unleashed and he was enthusiastically beating up on their resident pervert skeleton as well.

"So…sowwie, N-Nami," their currently pitiful looking Captain mumbled repentantly through an exaggeratedly swollen face, looking like he had just gotten stung by an entire hive of bees. By now, all sense of pride and dignity at following such a powerful 400,000,000 Beri pirate had long since faded away, if any member of the crew had even had the opportunity to feel that way in the first place.

Looking at the pandemonium spread out before her, Nami barely refrained from the urge to rub her palm over her face.

"Ara," Robin observed lightly over the ensuing din of their idiotic crewmates as she came to stand before a visibly twitching Nami. "Looks like everyone is as lively as ever."

The age regressed eight year old pinched the bridge of her nose and growled. All that noise was starting to give her a headache. "Those idiots…!" She honed a fine glare at her Captain to show just who she thought was the biggest one out of the lot of them. Luffy's sheepish expression did little to quell her irritation, but her earlier rage started to cool slightly all the same. It probably had something to do with the beating he had just received from Sanji (she hadn't had the opportunity to do much other than yell at him before the blonde jumped into the fray) and the fact that he was currently lying prostrate in apology before her, even though she doubted that he actually knew what he was apologizing for.

Robin glanced askance at the younger girl and saw that the latter's anger was beginning to soften towards their Captain, though that was unsurprising as it wasn't easy to be mad at the teenage boy for long. Smiling slightly, the raven-haired Archeologist commented. "Our Senchou has good taste, ne?" The young girl gave her a mildly questioning look. With a gentle hand, Robin lightly touched the gold accessory that adorned the hair at the side of Nami's face. "They look good on you. I think you should just wear them together with your outfit. Senchou will be pleased."

Despite herself, the young Navigator reddened slightly at Robin's seemingly innocuous remark. "He's just a thickheaded moron," she muttered at last, sounding completely disgruntled even though the blush on her youthful features belied the truth hidden behind her huffy irritation.

Robin's smile widened faintly. Little Nami was simply adorable, especially when she was being so adamant in her denial.

"Perhaps," the Archeologist allowed calmly, her knowing, sapphire blue eyes twinkling with quiet mirth. "But that's part of his charm, is it not?"

"Robin!"

::owari::

Questions That I Would Like To Answer Before You Ask:

Oh man, I have been bitten by the LuNa bug really bad. They are such a cute couple (very likely canon, too), and all the lovely fanarts circulating around the fandom are not helping with my obsession any. Anyway, this is my latest contribution to the LuNa community (and there will be more to come, no doubt, so rejoice/despair!); hopefully, at least some of you have derived a bit enjoyment out of it.

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This fic is not exactly compliant to the Film Z storyline, and I admit I took a bit of liberty with the story plot. The crew's shenanigans on Secon Island were some of my favorite parts of the movie, and I guess I just ran with it and ended up with this fic.

Still, you can't deny that little Nami and Luffy is just about the most adorable thing ever!

…or so says my inner fangirl. =)

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P.S.: Next update – 'cabbage patch!' It's already completed and supposed to be up by this weekend (latest by next), and I will have it posted shortly after my beta is done with the editing.

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Last but not least, I just realized that this marks the 70th fic (okay, 75th if including my other account) that I have written on FF Net. I feel kinda proud of myself right now, and also a bit chagrinned since it just points out how dismal my social life is outside of the computer (and Microsoft Word).

Anyway, thanks for all the constant love and support, you guys! =)

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Your reviews fuel my passion for writing. So please leave a comment if you like this fic!

-paws