Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, just the Ocs I will be dropping into this nonsense.
Cordiform Desiderium
Chapter 1
Nami hummed to herself as she worked quietly with her pen in hand, detailing the last line of this particular cartography map and moving on to another one that needed just a few extra touches to be complete as well. There was muted sound of her Den Den Mushi purring for her attention in the other room, but she ignored it for the time being, glasses on the tip of her nose as she focused completely on her task. Despite ignoring the call, she could hear the light sound of the outside door opening and the footfalls of her sister, Nojiko as she slowly made her way to the snailsponder and answered with a polite greeting.
Nami tuned them out as she kept working until the sounds of her sister knuckles rapped against the wooden door of her office. "Nami, it's for you. One of the Yonko ships, I believe."
Nami looked up from her work, lifting her glasses upon the top of her forehead as she wrinkled her brow in confusion. It was rare that the neo-Yonkos ever called here, but, since she had stopped sailing for the last couple of years, Luffy had been utilizing her shrewd business skills to maintain all the alliances he had accidentally gained. Ussop, through Luffy, had gotten his 8,000 followers he had always bragged loftily about back in the early days and more, but Nami was the one that managed them all. The new generation of Yonkos weren't technically a part of Luffy's vast array of allies, but they all had grudging respect for the Pirate King and would call at times to talk to Nami about setting up meetings when need be, which wasn't often.
"Which one?" Honestly, if Kidd was trying to make another pass at her, trying to get her to join his crew instead of managing Luffy's island base, she'd do worse than last time.
"Um," Nojiko bit her lip as she tried to remember what the other person had said. She dealt little with the pirating world, despite having moved to this island to be with her sister and help Nami raise the little girl she had adopted shortly after settling on this island. She preferred to see people as people since most of the people that lived on this island had been pirates at one point or another before setting up here. Some still adventured from time to time, like Robin, but others, like Franky and Nami, set up permanent shop on the island to help any of Luffy's allies.
"Ah, Hearts." It finally came to her with a smile.
Nami's heart leapt up to her throat at the mere mention of that crew. She tried not to look so flustered as she sprang up from her seat and nearly ran to the Den Den Mushi. "This is Nami."
Nojiko laughed at her a bit, getting a scowl from her younger sister, of which she ignored as the older sibling headed back outside to give Nami her privacy.
"Hello Nami." It felt almost like her heart sank a little when the person she had hoped would be answering on the other line didn't.
"Hey Dessa," Nami tried to keep the disappointment out of her tone, but it was a little obvious, even to her. The woman on the other line was none other than Isadore Odessa; Law's second-in-command and one of his exes (though Nami supposed she was technically an ex too, but she had ended things not because the relations itself was strained but due to being on opposing sides of a war).
Oddly enough, the two women were very friendly with each other and it was hard not to like Odessa when the woman openly expressed how she 'shipped the two of them together hardcore'. Nami had found herself in several fun predicaments with Law, including having to play multiple games of 'seven minutes in paradise' and 'Truth or Dare' where she ended up locked in a closet with him on more than one occasion thanks to this woman. There was even the time they had been locked in a storage closet without a game being played on 'accident'. Nami loved Dessa almost as much as she loved Nojiko.
In short, Odessa was the ultimate wingman for Law (of which he never wanted) and the dear girlfriend for Nami (of which she was eternally grateful for).
"Well, don't act happy to hear from me to spare my feelings." The other woman teased, laughing at Nami's change of tone.
"Sorry Dess… I was um-" Hoping you were Law. She hadn't seen or heard from him since the alliance had been disbanded. She cleared her throat. "Anyways, it's been a while, what can the Straw Hats do for the Hearts?"
Nami began petting at the white Mushi that kept their calls protected nervously. She wasn't sure how she felt talking to Law's crew when it should have been Law who should have initiated contact with her in the first place.
"Well," Odessa drawled and the Den Den Mushi made a face that gave away the other woman's concern. "We have hit a bit of a…. peculiar series of events and it has left us… well, scrambling a bit."
Nami's heart clenched. "Is everyone okay?" Was Law okay? That was the real question she wanted to ask, but she hadn't been in an active relationship with the man in over two and a half years. Besides, she loved his crew almost as much as her own, so she was concerned for all of them.
"Oh, no! No one's dead or badly injured," Odessa's tone was alarmed at the conclusion Nami had jumped to. "We are completely fine physically. But… ummm… Have you talked to Mugiwara lately?"
Nami's eyes narrowed at this dodge, but she allowed it. "I talked to him about three weeks ago when he informed me he needed more funds to party at Wano." She had screamed so loudly at him and slammed the receiver after giving him a stern 'no way in hell'. She was down with a lot of things now that he was king, but she was never happy when the remaining group spent money on stupid shit like parties- especially since they shouldn't have been funding those parties. If she didn't have Mocha and Nojiko in her life again, Nami swore that Luffy's lifestyle would have led her to being quite the alcoholic in a poor attempt to cope- which was yet another reason she settled here.
"I see. So that means that Mugiwara has failed to inform you over our renewed alliance with your crew?"
Nami nearly had an aneurism as she struggled not to pitch a fit at being the last to know. Again. The ex-navigator wasn't upset about the alliance (she was elated about it deep down inside) but rather the failure of notice. She wanted to scream and shout and rant at Odessa about her irritation with her dumbass captain. However, her daughter was right outside picking fruit with Nojiko, she reminded herself, and it would not do to upset her adopted daughter by throwing a tantrum over yet another stupid thing Luffy had failed to mention to her . This was exactly why she had decided to stop traveling with the remaining idiots for a while- if not forever. She felt bad for Chopper having to still travel with them, but someone had to bandage the idiots when Luffy, Zoro, or Ussopp got injured and the reindeer had volunteered.
The idea of downing a bottle of wine was sounding more and more appealing right now. She needed to calm her nerves down. However, instead she took a deep breath and persevered. Alcohol was not the solution to her problems.
"No. This is the first I'm hearing about this." She had spoken those words with gritted teeth. How was she supposed to manage Luffy's alliances if her didn't tell her about them.
"Oh…" The Mushi looked away and Nami could tell Odessa was uncertain on how to continue with the reason for her call. "Do you need to verify that quickly with Luffy, because I can wait for you to-"
"No, I believe you, Dessa." Nami cut her off. She was irritated and her voice gave it away, but Odessa would know that she wasn't irritated at her. "So now that we are allied again, may I ask why you are calling? Does Law need to get a hold of Luffy or need some more help overthrowing evil dictators?"
"No. No. He's promised all of us no more of that, I assure you, or we'd be hogtying him to a bed until he changed his damn mind. We have enough doctors on our crew to hook him up to a catheter and monitor him and quite literally keep him there until we deemed he wouldn't actually do it. No more nearly killing himself. He's done quite enough of that for a lifetime, thank you." Odessa sounded quite irritated as she confirmed that was not the reason of her call.
She continued to complain a bit to the only other woman who understood her fears and concern for her captain. "It was bad enough when we found out how many times he had been shot near the heart, having his arm severed as violently as he did, and he has heart issues from when Vergo used his heart like his personal squeeze toy. And that's just the tip of the damn iceberg after parting ways with you lot. Safe to say, we've been mollycoddling him to the point of driving him up the wall now that One Piece has been claimed. And then some just to drive home the point." Odessa laughed despite her aggravated tone. It changed back into a more calm one as she dislodge herself from their tangent and back to the point of the call. "We were hoping for your assistance Nami."
The red headed woman rose a brow to that, but the other woman continued on. "We aren't asking for you to take off with us, but instead… watch Captain for us?"
Nami blinked. They wanted her to take their captain off his own ship and watch him. The redhead was honestly confused, but she wasn't going to say 'no'. She'd never say no to an opportunity like this. She, if she could be completely honest with herself at least, still had strong, romantic feelings for the man. However, the request was… off.
"You need me to babysit your captain? Does Law know you are trying to get him off his own ship?" A sudden fear swept through her as she read further into the odd request. "He's okay, isn't he? He's not hurt or anything, right?" The man had run himself ragged during their alliance and even after when battling for One Piece. Nami was slightly fearful that all that abuse was now coming to surface.
"Captain is fine. We are on top of his preexisting conditions and any that have arisen since then (though I think the skinny bastard needs to put on a few more pounds because there is no way I should weigh more than him on a good day) and we're making sure he rests often. He's not hurt in the least, it's just… uhh… I would rather discuss this with you in person, Nami, would you be adverse to that?" There was a tone in her voice that made Nami understand that whatever was going to be said was very, very sensitive.
"Do you have my vivrecard?" It was honestly the only way that one to get to this island without coordinates, which were only given out by her and her alone. Nami had done her research and purposely chosen an island in New World with no magnetic pull, much like Punk Hazard, to avoid the Marines ever finding this island without it being purely accidental. Even then, the island had one big defense mechanism that kept them even safer.
"Luffy gave us a piece after we renewed the alliance. We had been going to come sooner, but we had loose ends Captain had been adamant about tying up, which has landed us in this… peculiar situation." Odessa confessed with a sigh.
Nami opened her mouth to once more ask after the welfare of the crew, of Law, but Odessa beat her to it. "We are fine, Nami, just been blindsided and are scrambling a bit to figure out what to do."
"If you say so." She opened a planner that was on the same counter as the two Den Den Mushi, "So, how far off do you appear to be? Tell Bepo these coordinates and see if your location is anywhere near that." She rattled off the exact geographical coordinates for the island. It wasn't easy to find, but with her maps that had been distributed throughout all of those within the Mugiwara umbrella, navigating to islands like this one were made easier and ETAs could be established.
"We've been heading your way for a while. We aren't too far off now, to be honest." Odessa confided to her after a small pause, "Bepo is telling me that we are not even a day off. I think we'll get to port by… Late afternoon."
"Dock at Franky's," Nami told her, "He's the most discreet and none of the troublemakers are around to fuss over you showing up." Sanji was still working on finding a new boat to make into the next Baratie on this side of Grand Line since they were near All Blue, Brook was still at the Twin Capes with Laboon, Jinbei was back on Fishman Island, Robin was currently back on this island for a short reprieve, and Luffy had everyone else somewhere else. His group was the hardest one to keep tabs on, unfortunately.
"Very well." The other woman agreed. "I will probably fly on ahead once we have visual of the island. So please, expect me sooner than the rest of the crew. I will talk to you then about this situation."
"Geez, I forget sometimes your a bird zoan." Nami hummed, that always slipped her mind about the other woman. "Alright. My house is the one furthest into the island surrounded by a tangerine orchard, you can't miss it."
Odessa laughed. "Of course you got your tangerines."
"Trust me, it wasn't easy, but I managed to move every single tree safely from Cocoyashi to Satsuma." She had almost moved back to Cocoyashi, but, in the end, the Marines had begun sniffing around and her sister had no longer felt it safe for any of the villagers if either of them remained. It had been hard for Nojiko to say goodbye to Genzo, but the old police officer remained to throw off the Marines' scent of while they relocated the trees and decided to remain afterwards.
"I'll have to get the story out of you some day. I need to go and get everything prepared, but I will talk to you about the conditions as soon as I get there."
"Mmmhmmm." Nami affirmed. "See you then, Dess."
Ka-chack sounded her Den Den Mushi when she disconnected the call. She knew that Odessa had told her not to worry, but still, the fact that Law hadn't once gotten to the transponder snail to talk to her concerned her a bit. She shook her head and decided it was best not to think too long on it, instead, she headed out to the front of her home to call for her adopted daughter.
"Mocha-chan!" She called out, not seeing either the nine year old or Nojiko in the front yard. The two must have decide to pick mikan from the orchard over tending to the vegetable garden they had by the house.
It had been like destiny when she had reencountered Mocha two years ago. She had been going to an island close by in order to do a supply run for the beginning settlement on Satsuma island. She had been walking by the orphanage on this neighboring island, exploring the town a bit before heading back to the Mugiwara's base island to continue working on her home, when the little girl called out to her. The navigator had been so surprised at seeing the young girl again, especially now that she was the proper size and not a giant, only to learn that her parents had been killed shortly after her reunion to her in a pirate raid under Blackbeard's command. She wasn't even on the island that she had been born on, being carted off to another island completely since her home island had been completely devastated and a majority of the people evacuated. Knowing everything the girl had already been through, Nami couldn't help but adopt her on the spot.
Honestly, she hadn't known what she had been thinking, but she could only guess that Bellmere had felt similarly when she had taken in both Nojiko and Nami from that war torn island. That had been about two years ago and Mocha had benefited greatly from the adoption, and, if Nami was to be honest, so had she and Nojiko. The child still had some health issues due to how much of the harmful chemical she had consumed as a six year old, but, thanks much to Chopper's intervention, Law's powers, and Vegapunk's treatment afterwards, she was expected to have a good, long life. Chopper would check in on the girl whenever Luffy and the others visited, but all he could add was to make sure she ate super healthy and take supplement pills to make sure she was getting all her needed minerals and vitamins. It was a lot easier than most people would suspect, seeing as Mocha didn't much like sweets after her rescue from Punk Hazard. She liked fruit and vegetables over candy and cakes. Nami hardly ever had to remind her about her supplements pills either. More often enough, Mocha was reminding her to grab them for her from the top shelves. The girl cherished her health after everything that had happened to her.
"Mocha-chan! Nojiko!" Nami tried again as she stepped off of her homestead's porch and began to make her way down the dirt road that was lined with her mother's tangerine trees.
She had gotten Franky to build her quite the house- an entire farm actually. It was much more exquisite than the little one roomed house that she had grown up in, having many rooms for guests, plenty of bathrooms, an office, a library, a living room, dining area, and a huge kitchen. It was more like a mansion than a house, to be fair. Franky had went nuts with it, but he wanted to make sure that Nami, Nojiko, and Mocha were all comfortable as well as any of the others that ended up crashing with her for a while before moving on. Robin had a room too, but she tended to stay closer to the small town and boarded with Franky during most of her visits. Though Mocha was disappointed at times, because she loved her Aunt Robin, Nami understood. The way those to looked at each other would only be missed by someone as dense as the men on her crew- minus Jinbei, he had figured it out quickly enough.
Nami was about to call out again when she heard some childish giggles and immediately knew what was going on. She sighed dramatically, being sure to keep her face clear of any smile as she played the part of an exasperated parent. She put her hands on her hips as she sighed once more.
"Oh where, oh where is that family of mine?" She walked a bit further down as to not give away that she knew the location of the little girl, "I call and I call, but I'm so cruelly being ignored." She lamented, hearing the smothered giggles on her left behind her i clock position. "I guess I just won't get to tell them about the very special surprise." She turned, back around and began heading back to the house. "I guess I will just have to tell Mocha later about a very certain Heart doctor coming to visit later today."
She heard the little gasp as Mocha jumped out of her hiding spot and quickly ran to catch up with Nami. "Who is!? Who is!?"
Mocha grabbed her hand and tugged on it with both her hands. She was wearing a yellow tank top and khaki shorts. Her knees were caked with mud and there were spots of mud on her face and elbows and her shoes were indecipherable looking with the amount of mud one them, but her hands had been cleaned off as to not dirty others. Her shirt and shorts, however, had taken the brunt of the mud, but working on a live farm and orchard meant hard work and besides, these were her work clothes.
"Who do you think, kiddo?" Nami couldn't help but grin at how brightly the young black haired girl's face lit up even more. Ever since he had saved her, Mocha had been enamored with Law. Even now, she often begged Nami for stories about the brief alliance that the Hearts had with the Mugiwaras as bed time stories. Nami did her best at telling the stories sans her relationship with Law. At times, she slipped a bit, but never enough to give away her true feelings for the doctor.
"Tora-o?" Mocha asked, her face nearly beaming when Nami nodded her head. The adult woman smothering a giggle as the little girl called him by his most hated nickname. Luffy had probably drilled it into her with how many times he told her stories about how he and Law had saved Dressarossa. "Really truly!"
"Absituvly." Nami agreed playfully, making up the word to rhyme. "Odessa, his first mate, is going to be here in a matter of a few hours, but, from what it sounds like, Law will be staying with us for a while. How about that?"
Mocha couldn't help as she skipped about giddily. Nami had to laugh at the little crush the girl had developed on the frightening surgeon. She had been saved by Law and any and all sort of apprehension fell away from the girl at the kindness he had done her. Mocha and Nami were probably two of very few individuals that truly knew how big of a softy Law was; Nami more than Mocha.
"And what about Bepo? Or Belladonna or Rai or Pikaboo or Poe or-"
Nami cut her off with a loud laugh as she held out her hand for her daughter to take once more before leading them back to the house. Of course she wanted to see the more furry members of Law's crew. "I don't know if they are going to get off the boat, but I don't doubt that Odessa will bring Poe with her when she flies here. If you behave, she might even give you a once around the island."
Mocha's eyes dimmed a bit as she looked up nervously at her adoptive mother. Nami almost kicked herself at her slip when Mocha quietly spoke. "She's nice right? Not like… not pretend nice like Monet, right?"
"If Odessa had ever had the displeasure of meeting Monet, she would have ripped her to shreds for what she did to you children." Nami confidently spoke. "She's a good woman and Law wouldn't have made her his first mate if he didn't believe in her."
Mocha mused on that before she finally, shyly spoke again. "Well, I never did get to fly with Monet. I was too big and she didn't give any of the smaller children rides."
"Then don't hesitate to ask Odessa for a ride. She's really good." Nami winked playfully at the young girl her giggled at her mother. The two of them reached the front door and Nami quickly ordered the girl to get cleaned up before their guest arrived because Odessa would never concede to a flight with a mudpuppy on her back.
While Mocha took a bath, Nami pulled out some nicer clothes for the girl to wear, quickly dropping them off in the bathroom and taking the soiled ones from their discarded heap on the floor. Mocha smiled and thanked her mother who smiled back in return. Had anyone told Nami how much she would love being the mother of a little girl back before she had first met Mocha at Punk Hazard, the redhead would have laughed before stealing everything that person was worth from them. But Nami found that she didn't mind the nuances of child rearing, even the parts like cleaning up behind the girl and having to give up a few things, like parties and all night drinking binges, so that she could be there at night with Mocha. Though sometimes there were moments were Nami was irritated with the little girl, especially when she was being stubborn or disobedient, she wouldn't trade in a second of her life with Mocha to be rid of the minor discomforts of being a parent.
After placing the dirty clothes in the laundry room for later, Nami went upstairs to prepare a room for their longterm guest. She wasn't sure how long Law would be with them, but she knew to offer him up a room so that he could have some solitude when his introverted nature needed some recharging. Besides that, Nami reminded herself. She hadn't been in a real relationship with the Heart captain for two and a half years and offering him the other side of her own bed wasn't much of an option, no matter how much she would have preferred such an arrangement. For all she knew, he might be in a new relationship- Nami shook her head of that. Odessa would have said as much and Law didn't actively search for those types of things.
In fact, Nami wasn't even sure if he would have approached her if she had not bullied him as she had before and even after he gotten onto the Thousand Sunny. He may not have been happy with her at the time, her having refused to leave without the children of Punk Hazard and then her having gotten him stuck on bedrest for the rest of the trip to Dressarossa, but it was those interactions that had put her on his radar. Even some of his closest nakama had acknowledge that, had she not been a part of the Straw Hats or even so loyal to Mugiwara, he might have attempted to recruit her for that stunt. Law saw worth, after all, in altruism, even when he was busy having a stick jammed up his ass as he did prior to Doflamingo's defeat.
Afterwards, however, when the group reunited on Zou, he had tracked her down during the party to privately thank her for all her help. She had taken care of his crew the best she could when they had all been left weak and vulnerable. Nami had always thought Law was particularly attractive, especially when he ditched that silly hat of his, but it was about that point when her heart began to flutter at his presence. And when he actively began to pursue her.
The redhead shook her head before she could get caught up in the past. She made sure the sheets were clean and that there were towels and ton of extra thick and fluffy blankets available to him. Though he often acted like hot and cold climates didn't bother him, the cartographer knew better. The man had the coldest damn hands and feet due to poor circulation and Nami knew that he tormented everyone with them whenever he could. The amount of times he'd sneak those cold hands to press against the warmth of his crew's necks to elicit a cry of shock from them was innumerable. It had been worse for both her and Odessa because the man had a nasty habit of tucking those ice cube feet of his into the bends of their knees when they had each been with him. The Heart's First Mate complained that he'd tuck his feet under her when they lounged on the couch in the recreation room just to hear her squeal at the unpleasant feeling.
It was often laughed at that Law was actually attracted to women like Nami and Odessa because they were practically furnaces. There was a reason Nami liked her bikini tops and it wasn't entirely about distracting men or showing off her bountiful breasts- but those were factors, she would admit. Dessa because she was a bird zoan, or so her crew theorized, and Nami because she 'practically radiated her own brand of sunshine'. Both women called bullshit to their stupid theories, but deep down, Nami couldn't help but wonder if it was perhaps slightly true- at least the part about Law.
Nami could hear Nojiko in the kitchen and she headed down to tell her sister the news. The older of the two sisters had never met Law, much to Nami's disappointment, so having the two of them meet was both exciting and slightly nerve wracking. Since Odessa was to be showing up before her crew, Nami would introduce the two of them first and see where that went. Nojiko was a pretty chill woman with most people, but the Hearts weren't just most people. The Hearts had a very special place in Nami's, for the lack of a better word, heart. It was right beside her own crew, though at times, she felt she liked the Hearts a little better when Luffy was off misbehaving with her treasure.
The cartographer headed down to the kitchen, knocking quickly on the bathroom door to remind Mocha to wash behind her ears and to check herself for ticks. She found Nojiko in the middle of preparing a very basic lunch and suddenly Nami was flooded with anticipation over Law's visit, knowing that Leon, the Heart chef, would probably take over their kitchen while he was there. Sanji was an amazing chef that was practically unparalleled in his talents, don't get her wrong, but Leon cooked nearly as well and with less harassment and fawning and tiresome pet names.
She made a mental note to ask about maybe stealing away the chef during his captain's stay, seeing as Law was extremely picky eater at times. This idea had absolutely nothing to do with her own desire for good food sans constant lovesick flirting. Maybe just a little, but Sanji wore on her at times, despite how much she'd go through hell and back for the man- any of her nakama really.
"Hey, so how'd that call go?" Nojiko interrupted her mental plans, bringing her back into the here and now.
"Odessa asked if her captain could be allowed to stay with us for an indefinite amount of time." Nami tried to play off the event as nonchalant as she could, coming into the kitchen to grab a mikan from their fruit bowl and began to peel it. "She's going to be flying over as soon as she can to discuss the details."
"Oh?" Nojiko smirked. "This wouldn't happen to be the Trafalgar Law that is staying with us, would it? The one Mocha-chan is constantly begging for stories about?"
Nami did her best not to blush, but her sister caught her red handed. "Maybe."
"And this is the same man that you've been pining for since your crew's alliance ended?"
Nami's face brightened at such a surprising accusation. She had done very well in hiding her affections, thank you very much. "Where did you even hear such a-"
"Robin~."
"Robin." That meddling woman! She was suppose to pick on Zoro or Sanji or Usopp, not her.
"I may or may not still very much like him." Nami shrugged as impassively as possible, trying to save some face. "But that won't matter if he's already moved on and if he has, I will be as graceful as I can be about it. I will not be some sort of ex that everyone dreads."
"Very grown up of you. But don't tell Mocha-chan that." She chuckled as she looked up from preparing a simple sandwich for the girl still upstairs cleaning up. "I think she has plans for you to marry Trafalgar Law and making him her papa. Very sneaky plans at that."
Oh dear Bellmere in heaven, her daughter was not trying to play matchmaker. Nami suppressed the urge to groan at the idea. She hadn't been with Law for two, nearly three years. There should not be butterflies in her stomach at the idea of any lasting relations with the man. Or Mocha calling him papa. That shouldn't be making her giddy on the inside. Nope.
Damn it.
"Well, while Tora-o is here, please do refrain from such comments. It's been years since Law and I were anything together and if there is nothing between us anymore, I don't need the uncomfortable remarks to make it even worse." As much as Nami was hoping that something might happen, Law could have moved on. If Odessa could have the grace to support Law even after the two of them ended, then Nami wanted to be able to do the same.
Nami could see that her sister had more that she wanted to add, however, it all was forgotten when a large raven appeared at the porch window sill looking out onto the port town of Satsuma. While Nojiko had been greatly startled, her younger sister was smiling at what it meant.
"It looks like my first guest has arrived." She glanced at the clock on one of the living room walls. It was still early afternoon so the rest of the crew would be getting there later.
"That's Odessa?" Nojiko whispered harshly as she eyed the peculiar raven with the obviously wrong feet and the mismatched eyes and harsh scars on its beak.
"No, this is Poe." Nami opened the window and the bird calmly hopped in. "He's Law's raven. Odessa must be close by though if he's here, though. He enjoys flying with her when he's not needed."
Proffering out an arm, the raven gently grabbed on with the sharp claws of his feet, mindful not to dig his long, sharp talons into her arm. She calmly brought him further into the house to properly show off the bird she had surprisingly grown attached to. "Isn't he magnificent?"
Despite some of his more obvious mangled features, like the scar over his mismatched eye and the gash on his beak, Poe had the loveliest black feathers that gleamed many dark, rich hues of colors in the sun.
"He looks wrong." Nojiko couldn't help but be apprehensive. "Ravens don't have talons, Nami. Or eyes like that."
"So Law had to patch the poor thing up a few times." Nami petted at Poe's underbelly before allowing the bird to transfer over to one of her kitchen chairs.
"I'm sorry, what?" Nojiko wasn't sure she was okay with how the quasimodo-ed bird stared at her with that eye that didn't belong on a bird.
"Poe lost his feet to a Pacifista's beam and had been grazed pretty badly by Kizaru when we first met on Sabody, but for the most part, he's a phenomenal flyer and greatly helps Law's in battle." Nami explained calmly as she petted the bird a few more times before heading over to the sink to wash her hands.
"How does a bird help in battle?" Her sister still sounded skeptical of the bird, but at least she wasn't rejecting the oddball raven altogether.
"Tora-o has a swapping technique. Poe and him will swap out when Law's fighting. It's hard to explain, but speculator to see." The redhead really didn't feel like breaking it down too much more than that, seeing as her sister really wasn't interested in fighting techniques. Or fighting.
Her sister was quite the pacifist when her hand wasn't being forced.
"Alright, well, where's your guest if he's here?"
Nami glanced out the window Poe had entered in, a smile sliding up her face. "Coming up the road as we speak." Her feet moved towards the door. "I'll go out and greet her." And see what was so important that she couldn't say it over the transponder. "Have Mocha-chan eat her lunch and I will introduce Odessa when our business has concluded."
"No prob, little sis. Go do what you need to." Though Nojiko wished she'd take the creepy bird with her.
Nami was outside and quickly approaching the other woman "Dessa!"
Now when Nami had first met Odessa, the woman had been covered in grime and oil and looking hardly becoming of what Nami had pictured Law's ex to look like. She had just come off a three-day shift down in the bellows of the submarine, trying to fix all the damage done to the sub by Jack's assault on Zou with the rest of the mechanics. While the other woman had originally started out on the submarine as a mechanic, her other talents had quickly promoted her to First Mate. Even so at times, she still was needed to work a shift if the crew found itself in need of another mechanic. Even after the woman had cleaned up, Nami had nearly found the other woman to be a stark opposite in appearances to her.
Odessa was an inch taller than her, often wearing heeled shoes to give her additional height to add to her more authoritative position as First Mate. Her cream colored hair was short, barely long enough to slick back or poof up and showed off her well kept undercut. The woman had more of a boyish appeal when she wasn't trying to look effeminate, especially with how she had no breasts, whereas Nami had enough for both of them to share. The androgynous woman could often pass off as a younger man of a respectable background, seeing as she enjoyed her black slacks, suspenders, vests, and finely pressed long sleeve dress shirts. She even wore ribbons, bowties, and long ties around her neck.
But the real treat, when one was hanging out with Odessa, was when she felt comfortable enough to wear more girlish clothes, seeing as she often felt uncomfortable around people who didn't understand her previous medical situation. The first time Nami had seen Odessa in a sundress felt like her heart had skipped a beat. Just like her captain, the Heart woman had beautiful tattoos that danced up her arms and over her chest and back in an aesthetically eesome manner. She had been a bit embarrassed at that point, picking at the front of her dress in an uncomfortable manner, but, Nami had learned, that it had been sometime that she had worn anything that distinctly effeminate since her mastectomy.
So to see the other woman now, slowly coming up her dirt pathway dressed in a pretty yellow sundress and wooden wedges with fashionably big sunglasses on her face and a straw sunhat on her head, made Nami beam at how comfortable the other woman had become around her. Odessa gave her a toothy smile as she adjusted the large wicker widemouth bag on her shoulder carefully.
"Been a while there, Nami." Odessa smirked as she closed the distance between the two. She leaned in and pecked the other woman's cheek with a friendly kiss. "How have you been?"
"I've been busy." Nami laughed. "If I'm not managing Luffy's armada that he keeps insisting he doesn't have, then I'm trying to manage him from here while being a mother, finishing my world map, and pretending I'm not this island's governess. But I can't say I'm not happy."
She leaned in and returned the kiss Odessa had given her with a peck on the cheek of her own. She moved to grab her hand and Odessa beamed at how Nami had remembered that she was tactile with people she was close with. The two slowly started making their way up to the house, chatting calmly as they did.
"And you? How's it feel to work for a Yonko?"
"Like it did when I was running after a sleep deprived, half-emaciated, paranoid, irritable, and overly caffeinated Warlord." She laughed as she said it, not at all bothered by how much Law kept her on her toes. "He's pretty much the same as a Yonko, but we've managed to get him to drag him away from his work to eat more and we let him participate in actual fights less. He still likes pissing off the wrong people though." She glanced at her bag as her mood shifted to something rather uncomfortable.
Nami immediately picked up on that and paused in her gait. "But everything's okay, right?"
"I said everyone was fine, not okay." She pulled off her sunglasses as she peered at Nami with her incredible canary yellow eyes. The pupils dilated by the brightness of the sun so that they were nothing more than slits- a side effect of her being a bird zoan. "Nami. I need to talk to you in private and I need you to let me finish before you jump to any conclusions of your own. Can you do that?"
The other woman swallowed as a pit formed in her stomach, but she forced herself to nod. The pleasant mood from before was shattered as both women became very business like. Nami didn't spare another word other than the two of them were not to be disturbed as she took Odessa up to her private quarters. Her office had doors, but Franky, upon her request, had soundproofed her bedroom for private moments such as this. However, she usually kept her door open at night though so she could hear if Mocha was calling for her.
Closing up the doors and making sure the windows were securely closed, Nami turned to face Odessa, who was currently placing her wide mouth wicker bag on the bed and slowly reaching for something inside.
"So," Nami couldn't help but dread what Odessa might have brought with her. Did she have maps or documents or possibly an artifact that she needed help with? Did Law get himself or the crew cursed? "What's going on Dess?"
"As I mentioned, we hit a bump and we've been scrambling to figure out what to do." Odessa was sure taking her time in pulling out whatever she was retrieving. "Finally, we decided what needed to be done, so I came ahead to… adjust you to the current situation…"
Finally, she pulled her arms out of the large bag, her hands carefully lifting a tiny little infant, possibly only weeks old, with blue black whispy hair with a few white streaks from the bag and cradled it against her chest. Nami's heart clenched as she forced her knees not to give out underneath her. Her eyes were drawn to the little baby dressed in steel blue onesie that covered both feet and hands as to prevent the little thing from scratching at its face, which, as Odessa slowly walked closer with the sleeping infant, Nami couldn't help but notice the baby had already prior.
Nami's chocolate brown eyes met Odessa's canary yellow ones, pleading wordlessly with the more calm woman for an explanation to this tiny baby. There was only one explanation Nami could think of and she hadn't realized how much it would break her heart to see until now.
"Nami." Odessa sighed as she glanced down at the infant once more. "This is our little... unexpected bump…"
No kidding. Nami wanted to cry.
"Nami, don't give me that face. I would never be as cruel as that to show you some love child of Captain's. I asked of you to listen before you made assumptions, do recall, and you promised." Odessa admonished her. "Are you going to listen to what I have to say or am I going to need to give you a moment before I can explain what you are seeing."
Nami shook her head. If Odessa said it wasn't like what she thought, then she was going to trust her. "I'm listening. I just wish you could have warned me a bit better first."
"Sorry. It's been stressful on the ship, to be frank. Anyways, this is what I need your help with." She sighed tiredly as she gestured at the little tiny baby. Its eyes began to flicker open and two golden orbs peeked through the drowsy eyelids. "You see, Nami… This isn't some love child of Captain's or anything even remotely more simpler to deal with. No…This is Captain."
Okay, Nami decided, that was not what she wanted to hear either.
Vocabulary list
Cordiform - Heart-shaped
Desiderium - an ardent longing, as for something lost
Eesome - Pleasing to the eye; attractive
A/N: Do I need yet another story? No. But this one came unbidden to the front of my mind and it was too funny to ignore! Also, I want to throw an unconventional bone to all those Lawna lovers out there since things have been pretty dry.
So yes, this story begins with Law being turned into a baby. Ehehehehehe~ I have seen a few like this, but most are awkward and I hope that, while there will be parts where Nami is like 'OMG, this is my life now. What did I do to deserve this', she is also milking this for everything it will be worth.
Yes, there will be Ocs. Luffy isn't in this much, if at all, and with Nami settled on an island and I don't want to be that person that only uses the few Hearts that have been established, I'm going to use the characters I designed for No Gilded Cage to Hold Ye instead. This is not in anyway a continuation story of Gilded Cage. The characters might be in this one, but in the capacity I have dictated correct for this story alone. If Law ends up being in a romance with one of his crew in the other story, it might not be Odessa and/or their relationship might not have failed. But I promise nothing from that story based on anything in this story. I just like recycling characters, since I took the time to make about 44 for Law's crew before Oda announced anything.
So, a few things I'd like to address. Odessa will be better explained later. Each of her 'when she was diagnosed' is different within the different verses she appears in within my different stories. This one, I guess you could say was after Law had disappeared to Punk Hazard and she was left trying to scrap enough time for him to come back to cure her completely. Again, will get into it later. Some people will already have an idea about what ailment she has, because, to be honest, there aren't enough mentions of sickness and their lingering effects in One Piece, which I plan to make mention of. I might twist them a bit because this world seems to be different than ours (getting smashed through walls might not leave you crippled for life, Woo!), but it doesn't mean that there are no repercussions to things like, oh, I don't know, getting your heart squeezed violently. Even surviving Amber Lead that late in its stages would leave its mark on Law. So there will be changes to things like that.
I will also be addressing events that Oda just glazed over, like a lot of the sexual abuse Nami and Robin endured both in Enies Lobby and Triller Bark. What happened to them should not have been just brushed off, especially what happened to Nami with Absalom. That was not okay and it was played off too much like a bad pun. As much as I want there to be humor, I want there to be a lot of reality to it. This story is mainly Nami-centric and though there are hints of Law and Nami and I will be adding a few 'memories' of their relationship while Law is a baby, this is a story of after One Piece when those who can't fight or won't travel anymore are trying to reestablish who they are.
Also, I know I might get a few complaints, but I will not be playing into the usual 'terrible ex' trope. People do it all the damn time and I won't do it just because its the typical one. Some people are better off as friends. So that's what I've done. No drama from that because there doesn't need to be.
Now, I haven't written much else. Right now I am putting my feelers out to get some feedback as to what people think and what they hope to see in a story as absurd as this one. Please give me honest feedback, but I do get an inexplicable boost of glee from even a short review. But seriously, I'd love to hear what you thought was funny or even theories as to what may have happened or even hopes in what might happen.
Reviews fuel this story. So if you would like more, please, be my muse.
~Volleys-chan
**Note: I had put in the character when I had posted this, but some things didn't come up as they were suppose to! So I fixed it once I got home because you can't with the mobile site. Grrrr. I also had to fix Zou because my doc put You because my computer's programing went 'what the shit is a Zou, user?' But then again, it did that with Eesome and Desiderium- which I looked up in the dictionary websites because they are old school words.