The clouds are small and puffy, and a slight wind ushers them along. The waves are calm and they bob along in the silence of the sea. The sea rustles along the hull of the ship, and a seagull squawks occasionally overhead.
She leans back in her chair, reclines and relaxes. She holds a glass in her hand, and the clear pink drink sloshes gently.
Robin is reading, a similar drink in one hand, the book in the other.
The kitchen door bursts open and Sanji is spinning out with a massive swarm of dishes. The idiots fly towards him and the food squealing, and he kicks them away.
Franky snorts, and chugs another Cola.
Zoro is nowhere to be seen, but from the flurry of arms and legs attacking the food, she spies her captain dart away and shoot up to the crow's nest.
The captain returns in a blink of an eye, dropping out of the sky (literally), and joins in the chow down.
They don't even bother to wait until the food is laid out on the table, and they eat right off the deck. She thinks she sees tuffs of grass disappear into wide open mouths.
She helps herself to the plates at her table, and sees Robin smile when Sanji fills her glass generously. The cook wastes no time in filling hers as well, and she shakes her head at him in mock exasperation.
Zoro climbs down the ladder from the crow's nest, yawning, and picks a fight immediately. The cook and swordsman are clanging away, fists and feet. Ussop cheers them on and calls them names between mouthfuls of food before hiding behind Luffy when both turn to him with a glare smeared across their faces.
Chopper is giggling. Brook strikes up a song, and Franky starts to sing.
The fight continues, and above all, she can hear her captain's laughter ring.
It is night and the sky is still clear and smooth. The stars glimmer faintly, but they are not bright tonight. She nestles herself against her pillow and balances the Log Pose in a palm.
She hears a faint yelp from the kitchen, scowls and is not surprised when her door bangs open. She watches the familiar pout that distorts the puckered scar under his left eye.
Luffy bounces on the edge of her bed, flops backwards over her legs. She smacks him, shoves his heavy head aside. He whines but settles down easily.
She puts the Log Pose on her bedside table, and points at the swell of her captain's right hand. She raises her eyebrow and he laughs, sheepish.
She wonders, not for the first time, and asks not for the first time, for some clarification on his choices.
He answers as he always has, naming each of them and the rank that they have been entitled to have. He replies as if it is the first time she's asked, as if it's the first time he's given the exact same answer.
She nods, as always, and looks to the Log Pose. She asks a question that slides along the horizon of her mind, lingers on each page of her expanding world map. – Is this ending? –
He says no with such conviction that she wishes fervently that she can believe. She knows that she should be able to, with a captain like him, believe in an adventure every day. She knows that she doesn't really wish for peace and quiet and the lack of the noise that is racked up by all of the crew members. She knows that she'd miss the life that they had given her, the lives that her captain holds.
He is quiet and still, and her attention falls on the slow sway of a darkened star just outside the window. He speaks up, cocks his head to the side, bumping into her knee. – What will you do? –
She wonders at the statement, yet understands what he is asking for. She has no answer for him, because she cannot see the life beyond this. When they have all that they have fought for, when they have gained all that they needed, would the ties that hold them together have any merit or value? She isn't sure, and she shrugs.
Her captain smiles in the way that only he can.
- How about you? – she tries.
His eyes glow in the darkness of the cabin, and she can see the glimmer of his teeth in his wide grin.
She can't help it - she smiles too.