Scattering Nami's Joy

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.

- Henri Nouwen

Going Merry danced on the waves, and Luffy danced with her, grinning as he gripped the horns of her head. He heard the storeroom door open, and he grinned at Nami when she exited it. Smiling back, she walked across the deck to climb up the stairs.

She said after a moment, "It's not safe up there. The slightest wave could send you over."

"You'd save me."

"Zolo can save you," she said. "I'll just point you out to him."

"Yeah, and you'd save me."

Her auburn eyes pinched as she frowned at him, but she then shrugged, "I guess that would be saving you. How about you just don't fall off though?"

"Okay!"

"Saving you would cost you anyway," she said, leaning her hip against the railing. His eyes dropped toward her waist, and she blinked in astonishment when his eyes were on hers again as if they had never left.

"I know," he said, and he turned back to the ocean, his smile never leaving his face. When he didn't hear her walking away, he glanced over his shoulder. "Hm? Is there something wrong?"

"No," she said, but he frowned, and took her wrist. "What?"

He grinned, and said, "Do you want to fish with me? Usopp fixed the poles already."

He saw the abrupt, wary hesitation in her eyes, and his thin brows furrowed, confused when she shook her head angrily, snapping her hand away. She said, "No thanks."

Blinking, he watched her go, his hand still in place where he had taken her wrist, and it remained hovering there for a moment before he turned back around, hunching his shoulders in pensiveness. After giving some thought to the matter, Luffy decided with a nod, PMS.

Hopping off the figurehead, he ran over to Zolo with a grin, and poked at the sleeping man's cheek, "Oi!"

Zolo made a great huff and fuss about being woken up, and grunted at the captain unintelligibly before he squinted blearily, saying, "Is it breakfast?"

"Nah," Luffy said. "Usopp's still making it, and I'm" – Zolo closed his eyes, but Luffy pinched his cheek to keep him awake, talking as if nothing had happened – "bored. You have to do something with me. Nami's being mean again, and she won't go fishing with me."

He seemed to regard his captain seriously for a long moment before he said, "You just want to go fishing?"

"Yeah!"

"Fine," he said, surging to his feet, and he scratched his neck. "I can take a nap while we fish anyway." Luffy pouted at that statement, but ran to the storage room for the newly fixed fishing poles.

As he entered, he saw Nami heading down into her room. Waving and smiling at her, he then blinked in bewilderment when she gave him a vacant stare before slamming her door shut. Standing in the storeroom a bit longer, his hand twitched, and his lips and face and eyebrows twisted into deep befuddlement. The more he thought about her oddity, the more he wanted to reach out and take her hand again – to tell her that she could come fishing and laugh with him and Zolo.

Spying the shelf which held their stationary set, he took out a piece of paper, and scribbled words onto it before he folded it haphazardly, slipping it down through the crack of her door.

Luffy picked up the fishing poles, and left.

!#$&()+

It was some hours later that Luffy finally caught something. He and Zolo had eaten with Usopp during the wait, Luffy's eyes never leaving their lines. Near the middle of the day, he reeled up a large tuna that he boasted about merrily to a sleeping Zolo and grinning Usopp.

He said, "I could chop that up now for some sushi if you want."

"Sushi!" Luffy said, pumping a fist into the air.

"Come on," he said. Luffy followed Usopp into the kitchen, leaving his first mate snoring beside his own line, and the two gutted the tuna before the long-nosed boy was cutting it and starting on the rice.

Sitting at the table to watch, Luffy only glanced at the door when it swung open, and Nami entered to sit across from him.

"Hey," he said, his eyes glued to the tuna once more with his mouth watering. When he felt her eyes continually on him, he looked back at her inquisitively. "Yeah, Nami?"

When her lips pursed in thought, Usopp turned to say, "Oh, Nami! You want some sushi? Luffy caught a big tuna. I'm cutting it up right now." He waved a hand idly when her gaze switched to him, "It's nothing fancy though, sorry."

"That's fine," she said. "Sushi sounds good."

Luffy said, "Fishing sucks today. That's all I've caught all day. Zolo's still out there with a line out though, so maybe he'll catch something too." Her lips pinched further as he spoke, and then he said, "You should come fish with us, Nami. It's fun!"

"Yeah, Zolo seems ecstatic," she said, raising a thin brow at him, but he shrugged, still grinning.

Usopp looked out the window toward Zolo before he cocked his head, "Hey, is that an island over there?"

"Island!"

Running out the door, Luffy stretched his arms out to catch the lamb's head, and then sat on it, beaming sunshine. He heard Nami say, "We should dock here, and stock up on food again. Somebody's been eating all of it."

He looked at her, "Who did that?"

"You did!"

"Is that why you're weird today?" Her back straightened, and she appeared as if she wanted to glare daggers through his chest, and thus stab him to death. Nodding, Luffy said, "Okay."

"What?" She said.

"What?"

Her brow lowered in anger, and her fist clenched so she could shake it at him, "What the hell are you talking about, Luffy!?"

He stuck his tongue out at her, and said, "You're not making any sense."

Grabbing his neck and shoulders, she attempted to either strangle or shake him, and said as he tried to get her hands off him, "You're the idiot that doesn't make sense! Okay, what? What's okay, Luffy!?"

Yelping, he tried to pull his entire body out of her grasp, but the lurch caused Nami to come with him, collapsing awkwardly on top of Luffy. He exhaled from the sharp force of her landing, and blinked up at the sky, his hands on her shoulders to keep her steady. When he got air back into his lungs, he looked her over only to see her face appeared as if painted burgundy. She pitched his hands off her shoulders, and stood up, adjusting her t-shirt sleeves before she stomped a foot between his legs and just below the goods. Luffy's eyes narrowed on the foot, and decided that it would be safer to edge away from said foot.

She said coolly, "I'll be in my room until we reach the island. The door will be shut."

He blinked slowly, and said, "Really?"

Raising her head higher, she fumed, and turned away to go to the railing, reaching into her pocket to take out the stationary. She waved the paper at him as if he wasn't watching and was attempting to garner his attention. Nami then pinched it between two index fingers and two thumbs before she shredded it into pieces, letting the paper catch in the wind and float off the ship.

She said, "Really."

Usopp looked at Luffy when she was gone, and sniggered, poking his shoulder, "Having a lover's spat now, huh?"

"A what?" He rubbed his shoulder, and stood.

"You and Nami are fighting, I mean."

"No," Luffy said, "we're not."

He said, "Then what was that all about? She seemed pretty angry to me, Luffy."

"Yeah," he said. He grinned at Usopp, and gestured at him to follow close, going to the mast, and opening the door that lead into their bunker. "Come here," he said, and then jumped inside.

The other boy frowned, and scratched his head, but he went with Luffy, sitting beside him as he pulled out paper and pens. Starting to draw, Luffy grinned at him briefly. With a sigh, Usopp shrugged, and pulled out a sheaf of paper, staring at it for a moment before putting the pen down to sketch. As he finished, Luffy had already stacked about twenty-odd papers into separate envelopes, and Usopp looked certain that the pictures reached nowhere near to his own skill. Signing the picture that he had drawn of the Going Merry, he put it into an envelope as well, raising an eyebrow at him.

"So what are we doing?"

"Drawing."

He said, "Well, I know that, but why are we drawing?"

"They're for Nami."

Sighing, Usopp said, "She's mad at you though. What makes you think she won't rip these up, and toss them out too?" He licked the envelope to close it, and said, "What did you draw before?"

"Nothing." A smile that rivaled the sun lit upon his face, and he made a stack of the envelopes together before he went to the door that led from their bunker to Nami's room. It was rarely used, but was in plain sight and easily accessible in case of emergencies. Luffy began to press the envelopes through the crack between the door itself and its doorframe. After he was almost through with his stack, the door swung open.

Nami hissed, and said, "What are you doing?"

"Opening the door," he said, and she slammed it in his face.

Smiling, Luffy left the room. Usopp looked at his closed envelope before he signed it From Captain Usopp before he pressed it through the crack, and then went after the rubber man.

!#$&()+

"Disestablishmentarianism," Zolo said.

Luffy blinked rapidly, opened his mouth, and then shut it with a miserable appearance before he finally said, "Distribute … tanism?"

Throwing back his head, he barked out laughter, holding his stomach as if in pain, "No, no, Luffy!" He calmed down, wiping tears of mirth away before he said again, "Disestablishmentarianism."

"Distracting mentalist," he said, and Zolo covered his mouth, snorting through his hand.

"No, disestablishmentarianism," he said, the wide smirk of a grin seemed to be a new permanent feature of his usually monotone face.

Frowning, Luffy cocked his head to the side before he waved to Usopp and Nami, "Hey! Over here!"

Usopp tilted his head, his thick lips forming a pleasant grin, laughing, "What the hell are you two doing way out here?"

"We got lost," they both said at once.

"You guys usually just keep moving despite being lost," Nami said. Luffy noted that her smile was back. "What kept you from continuing to walk around and get more lost?"

"We couldn't agree on which way to go," Zolo said.

"So we stopped here," Luffy said, and lifted up a box that he and Zolo had bought a few hours ago, "and had our pirate bentou!"

Usopp blinked, and said, "Pirate bentou?"

"Yeah, chock full of meat!"

Swirling what sake was left in his bottle, Zolo said, "I had my swordsman bentou."

"There's no such thing as a pirate or swordsman bentou!" Nami pointed at the bottle, "And that's not even a bentou, it's just a bottle of sake."

"Whatever works," Zolo said, and he swished another swallow down while Luffy sniggered at the look on her face.

Throwing her hands up, she then said, "Fine, whatever. Let's just get going now. Usopp and I already bought what we need."

Frowning, Luffy said, "We just got lost though. I want to do something."

"We can do stuff on the ship too," she said. "Let's just go. Don't you want to get to the Grand Line?"

Seizing her wrist, he got up, and began to take her further into the forest, "Come on! We can still have an adventure while we're here!"

"What – but! Luffy!"

She looked pleadingly back at the other two, but Zolo laughed and Usopp smiled as they went after the captain. Feeling the fight drain out of her, Luffy let go of her hand, and continued to run, smiling back at her to encourage her smile and for her to run with them. Nami was soon leaping and bounding with the rest of them through the forest, following Luffy to wherever he so wished to be at that moment – though none knew of what that place might be or become.

Stopping when he reached a river, he grinned at his crew once they joined him. Zolo pointed out at the other side, and said, smirking at the captain, "Should we try to cross it?"

"No," Usopp said, planting a foot onto a boulder, and he pointed toward the sky. "We shall conquer it as our own!"

"Okay! What'll we call it?" Luffy said.

"Guys," she said, "it's called the-"

"The Great River Usopp!"

"No way! It's Bear Cub River!"

"Spring of Sake."

Luffy made a face at Zolo, puckering his lips and bunching up his cheeks, and said, "That's no fun. You got to think big like Giant Oxen Face River!"

"None of your names make any sense!"

Looking at the navigator, he said, "Nami likes my names, right?"

"That's not what the river's called! It's the Blue River."

"That name sucks," all three said, and she blinked at them as if they were mad.

Climbing onto the boulder that Usopp's foot was still on, Luffy then crossed his arms over his chest, and let his hat fall back to rest on his back, and he said with an even bigger grin, "Nami, I charge you with the task of renaming this river!"

She sighed, and rubbed her temples, appearing tired, though he felt his smile grow when he saw the delight in her eyes. After a moment of consideration, she started to climb onto the rock, almost having to stop halfway before Zolo and Usopp pressed up on either foot to help lift her, and Luffy grasped her hands. Once she was standing upon the rock, she grinned, and said, "I name this river … the River of Sparkling Sapphires!"

Giving her a thumb up, Luffy said, "Now when you make your world map, that's what you have to put for it."

"Yeah!" Usopp pumped a fist, and then pointed down the river, "Now, Captain Luffy, let's rediscover new shores!"

"Aye, aye, Captain Usopp!" He jumped down to join him, and the two laughed while they ran down the shore, leaving Zolo with the task of getting an irate Nami down from the boulder. "Cool tree!" He said abruptly, slinging an arm up to catch the ridiculously large branch that stretched out several yards before it shot upward at a right angle. Keeping balance, he walked easily to the place where it shot upward unexpectedly, and he waved to his crew. "Let's name this too!"

"The Little Giant," Usopp said, and when Luffy stared in confusion, he then said, "It looks like someone's arm up in the air. So it must be a little giant, right?"

Snickering once more, Luffy nodded, and jumped down, "Yeah!"

"Who would name a tree?" Nami said.

"Trees need names," said Luffy as if it were natural. "You have to mark this place on your world map too."

Her smile returned, and she said, "All right. Fine, the Little Giant will be there."

"Great," he said. "Let's go!"

It was some hours later that they reached the beach, and it was to their great surprise that they found several hundreds of people holding some sort of carnival. Luffy's eyes lit up when he saw the flag proclaiming the name of the event. The flag itself was not spectacular or fancy. It was faded black with gray paint that used to be white forming the shape of the normal pirate emblem – though for bones it was a main sail with oars crossed behind the skull – and the words appeared as a translucent red, peeling from the sun and wind.

Feeling his adrenaline swell, he ran ahead, hearing his crew echo, "The Captain's Chase?"

!#$&()+

… Keeping things from becoming total angst is going to go down the drain next chapter – I'm sure of it. In which case, I apologize now, and then shall be glad that not one of you knows where I live. Oh, and for this story only, I'm going to try putting a little quote in the beginning of the chapter – along with the usual title – so … tell me whether you like them or not. Don't forget to review! I want to finish at least one chapter per week, so I need the encouragement!

!#$&()+