A/N: For 20 Years at Sea event over on Tumblr, Day 10: Arcs (cross-posted).
Adventures
Nami had been on so many adventures with the crew. For all the danger, and injures and pain, that had come with them, she had missed them the past two years and was looking forward to more as soon as they all set off together again. She had missed them almost as much as she had missed the crew, because what was the Straw-Hat crew truly without finding some sort of adventure in the most unlikely of places.
She remembered the first one, the one she had tripped into completely by accident, when she had chosen her actions. Orange Town. An adventure she ended up in purely because a crazy guy fell from the sky between her and her pursuers. (The adventure after which she truly joined the crew, for all she denied it at the time, to them and herself. For all she didn't really realise it, but known by the two idiots whose skiff she had tied her tiny little sailing boat to.)
She remembered Syrup Village, remembered the two proving that their actions in Orange Town wasn't a fluke or one-time thing. Remembered the weak liar who just wanted to save the village that didn't believe a word he said anymore, but didn't want recognition for his actions when he succeeded, so against the otherwise boastful nature he had previously shown.
She remembered the Baratie, the restaurant in the middle of nowhere, in the sea. She remembered a Blonde chef who flirted with her, (respectfully, a new experience for her,) who seemed to enjoy feeding anyone who was hungry (and any female he came across).
Nami clearly remembers Cocoyashi and Arlong Park. Where four young men she barely knew, hadn't consciously allowed herself to know, from who she had stolen anything she could of value from them, had fought for her hometown, for her. They had systematically destroyed all the monsters that had haunted her, that she had never thought could ever happen. Allowing her to fully embrace the crew and being one of them.
She remembers the flash of fear in Loguetown as the blade had fallen toward her trapped Captain's neck, her first glimpse of the Grand Line at Reverse Mountain. She remembers the stupidity and insanity that her crew showed in Whiskey Peak, along with the true introduction of the new friend. She remembers most of Little Garden but very little of Drum, except the castle turned hospital and the conversations with the fluffy, shy little reindeer, who seemed to so insecure in any capacity other than doctor.
She remembered Alabasta, the fight to help her crew do for a dear friend what they did for her. Then having to say a goodbye that was just that little bit harder than any other they had had to make to other friends they had made and left behind along their journey.
Then there was the new, more mysterious, friend and a journey into the sky to another land that also needed their brand of help.
Nami remembers the emotional rollercoaster that was the events of Water 7 and Enies Lobby. Losing three crew members, only getting two back, holding a funeral for the last, then gaining two new ones. She remembers the terror of Thriller Bark. Then the fear and worry she felt when it was all over and she had realised their stoic, solid, stupid, loyal swordsman must have done something, given the missing Warlord and the relative conditions of himself and their Captain.
She shies from thinking of Shabody as one of their adventures yet. Though it had started as they had so often had. She won't until they were back together again, ending the adventure the way it should have happened. All of them together on the Sunny, sailing together. (Maybe even with a few cannonballs or ranged attacks flying in their direction as they left. Yeah, maybe then she could think of it as another of their adventures.)
