A/N: For 20 Years at Sea over on Tumblr, Day 6: Laughs (Cross-posted). For such a happy prompt this got pretty angsty.
The Sounds of Together
The Thousand Sunny had been alone and silent for so long. Left in port with only those who had stayed to guard her for company, with occasional visits from those who would do her harm.
Those guards had told her stories of the events that had left her as she was, but she didn't feel the need to listen too closely. All she had needed to know was that something had happened to keep her crew away for now, but they had made a promise that was passed on to her by the guards. They would be back, all she had to do was wait and be there when they returned.
(So, maybe she might have made it as hard as she could for the humans coming for her as possible. If she occasionally did things that should be impossible for a ship to do without ship-hands aboard to accomplish, that was her secret.)
The guards had been good enough company for a time, she guessed, but she had longed for her crew. The living beings that called her home, called her nakama.
She had missed their boundless energy, the endless sense of movement. The excitement for adventure, new experiences and friends. The games, the arguments that often devolved into violence. The music, the parties.
But most of all she had missed the laughter. The way it always seemed to be at the right frequency for her to vibrate the sound through her boards to be heard in every corner of her being. The way it seemed to always seemed to bring a sense that everything would be okay in the end.
Her swordsman had been the first to return. She had recognised him immediately despite his presence being a little heavier, a little darker, than it had been when he had last walked her decks. Even if she hadn't, she would have known it was him when he took three attempts to find his storage locker in order to stow the small bundle of possessions he had amassed while he was away. (Sure, an intruder might have done the same, but they wouldn't have ended the first two attempts in the kitchen after double backing on himself multiple times.)
Then one by one, or groups of two, the others made their way back to her. Until they were all there standing on her deck once more.
(There was a fight involved in getting moving at last because of course her crew couldn't return to her, or leave an island quietly. But they were together again, moving forward, riding the waves once again.)
There had already been an argument between themselves, but as soon as they were free of enemies, a party began. Music and stories filled the air, and once again Sunny's boards vibrated with laughter.
"Shishishi!"
"Yohohohoho!"
"Eh eh eh!"
"Mwahahah!"
"Hahahaha!"