Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece. This is for fun and to keep myself busy during the month-long hiatus.
1. Nami
Tea Times
It's so light, the taste. The barest hint of sweet chrysanthemums mingled with the scent of jasmine, melting together into the light background of green tea. Normally, this would calm and reinvigorate Nami immediately, but this time it didn't do the trick.
"Is something wrong with the tea, Miss?" Haredas came in with some tea cakes.
"No! It's really delicious," Nami shook her head and smiled wanly, "but… but it's not his tea."
Haredas looked curiously at the sudden melancholy. She was so enthusiastic about the weather garden for the past few days, absorbing everything knowledge he imparted like a sponge. And now –
"And it's too quiet. There's no music, no idiot telling tall tales and even a bigger idiot gazing in awe, no swordsman training and banging weights, no one talking about ancient histories, no tinkering of machinery, no loud crashes in the kitchen because that idiot Lu-"
All traces of emotion suddenly vanished from her face. Nami took the tea cup and raised it to her face, almost hiding behind it. "Sorry. I'm complaining too much."
"Do you miss your crew?"
"No… We'll meet again in two years, so it's no use to miss them when I will see them again."
Something's still bothering her though. Haredas didn't think Nami lied about missing her friends, so he tried to think of something else. "Having trouble with the Sunny weather ball?" Haredas hazard a guess. Nami's hand trembled, a tear drop of tea trickling down the side.
"Miss, you're doing very well already. I've never seen anyone gain so much progress as a beginner on a weather ball."
The cup wavered, but stayed in front of her face.
"Once you've master the Sunny ball, the others will come easier, although you need to learn how to grow a weather ball as well, and that's quite difficult. It took me twenty years to perfect a fertilizer that can be used for both Light and Dark ones. It's not easy to grow weather balls into the exact ones you want. Hohohoho!"
The other hand went up to the support the cup while her head drooped lower.
"You should also take a break, Miss. You have to be properly relaxed and focused to notice the changes inside the weather ball. You're too tense right now."
Her shoulders drooped too.
Haredas sighed, not sure what else to do. He served a slice of cake to each of them, and ate his portion quickly. Nami still didn't move.
"Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, o-"
"Shut up, you annoying old man!" Nami finally snapped and punched Haredas. He sat up behind the fallen chair, looking scared for his life. "…What?"
"What kind of person is Monkey D. Luffy?" Haredas let out a decidedly unmanly squeal when she suddenly lowered the teacup. Shadows covered her eyes, preventing the old man to gauge her mood. He forged on anyway. "Even though we don't get news often, everyone on the sky islands knows the events on Skypiea. S-so, I was wondering if you could tell us about him…"
"Yeah. Like did he really clobber Enel with a magical material only found in Vearth?" One head suddenly popped beside Nami's elbow.
"Or was his superhuman strength bestowed upon him by the dancing wolves the night before he defeated Enel?"
"Did he really eat a ton of food by himself?"
"Can you get me his autograph?"
By now, Haredas's tiny house was crammed with people shouting questions on the top of their lungs. They were quickly silenced by the pain throbbing from the fist-size lumps on their heads bestowed by a very irritated navigator.
"He…" The old men looked up from their whining to look at Nami who was staring out at the window, looking at something very far away. "He's the biggest idiot I've ever known in my life. Absolutely no sense of self-preservation whatsoever. Always getting in trouble and shouting for food, and always dragging us into danger with him. Trying to explain anything to him is like teaching a Southbird to face north. Ever since I joined his crew, I've never had a peaceful day in my life."
Suddenly, she looked back at them and smiled brilliantly. "But… I'm proud that he's my captain, because he's the strongest, kindest, and the most fun-loving person I've ever met."
The men stared at her as if they received some hidden wisdom. "Tell us a story, Miss. Tea time's not complete without a story!"
"Sure!" Nami's smile turned a shade predatory. "But it will cost one billion berries per story!"
"WHAT?"
Nami motioned for them to wait. "And because I like you guys so much, I'll give you a 90% discount for today only! One million berries per story! Do we have a deal?"
The scholars whispered at each other for a few seconds and nodded. Nami was a bit shocked. How much money do these old guys have anyway? With their bad business sense, Nami thought they would back down for sure because they don't have money. Whatever. It might be because of their bad business sense that they agreed anyway.
She took a sip from the now cold tea, mentally sighing. Her mind and heart felt so heavy; it's as if she doesn't deserve to drink something this light and… happy. Luffy went through so many horrible things in the short time of a week, and she –
"Sorry, Miss. I didn't mean to bump into you." Haredas smiled, and moved the tea set outside to accommodate the ever-growing crowd at his house. Shrugging, Nami moved to the window seat so she wouldn't get injured from the bustle.
As the people around her brought chairs outside and called to others to come and listen, she looked back at the window. She could see the waver she 'borrowed' from one of the scholars tied to a dock, bobbing in the waves. The left handle was wrapped in white bandages marked with an 'X' to tag it as hers.
It's only two years. By then, I'll show you how much my skills have improved. Wait for us, Luffy!