Fit for a King
They did it. They had actually did it. They had finally found One Piece. After a long, arduous journey filled with joy and sorrow, they had reached their final destination. And boy, was it something.
After trekking through a long and windy cave, the infamous Straw Hat crew had reached the clearing, and what they found was unimaginable.
Gold. Lush, glorious, and ever-so bountiful, gold. As far as the eye can see. Hills, mounds, clumps of it, in every which way. Everything they had experienced, every hardship they had faced, every person that had mocked them for their seemingly foolish dreams, or stood in their way of achieving those dreams, it had all led up to this very moment. And hell, it was definitely worth it.
The crew had gone wild, giddy with satisfaction and sheer happiness at their accomplishment. Of course it wasn't just about the gold, it had been much more than that. The goal isn't nearly half as valuable as the journey it takes to get there. Everyone in the crew had always silently acknowledged that. It never needed to be said, because it was there in their hearts. The experiences they shared, the struggles they plowed through, the profound actions they exhausted for each other, and the extensive effect they had on the numerous people who had been touched by them. Their nakamaship knew no bounds. It was a mutual feeling; a bond that is so rarely ever shared between other people.
But the gold, though.
The crew had spent no time thrusting themselves into the splendor without a hint of hesitation. They had spent a handful of minutes laughing, crying and basking in the gold that was laid about so miraculously before them. After the initial excitement and apparent insanity over the sheer intensity of what was before them, the crew split off in different directions, intent on fully exploring the magnitude of treasure that so ambiguously filled the expanse of the cave.
About an hour had passed since the discovery of One Piece, and Nami was still high off of the mass of gold before her. She had covered herself in jewelry and gold trinkets and was happily admiring herself in the gold-pleated mirror she had found and had propped up against one of the mounds of treasure. She giggled wildly as she took off a pair of gold earrings and replaced them with a pair of huge diamond ones. Pleased with herself, she let out a squeal of content, spread out her arms and let herself fall back into a pile of jewels. With her eyes replaced by beri signs she had been virtually KO'd by the immense amount of treasure before her.
"I'm the richest woman in the world, " she said, dreamily.
She lay in the treasure pile for a few moments sighing contentedly then got up again intent on searching for her friends. She suddenly heard someone chuckle softly on the other side of the hill of fortune and she smiled as she started walking up the mound towards the happy chuckles that she knew all too well.
Unsurprised, she reached the top of the hill to find her captain sprawled out at the base of the hill with a giant grin on his face and his eyes closed.
She smiled fondly down at his resting figure and started carefully sliding down the pile of gold tossing around gauntlets and gold pieces every which way with her dainty feet. Once she reached her captain, she sat down next to him with a 'plop' and sighed, bringing her knees into her chest.
Luffy looked up at her from behind the rim of his hat and smiled his toothy smile, and said, "Hey."
Atop his hat lay a large golden crown equipped with various jewels that looked fit for kings from distant lands.
"Yo, Captain," Nami saluted giddily as she grinned at him slyly.
They giggled happily at their silliness, both still a little crazed from the initial excitement.
Nami stretched out her legs and slid down a little further moving into a laying position, parallel to Luffy. She faced him with her arms resting together on the pile of gold in a sort of sleeping position.
"So how do you feel, Pirate King?"
He dug one of his hands into the pile of jewels and picked up a handful then let them fall slowly through the gaps in his fingers. He turned his head towards Nami and smiled, his eyes widening, "Rich."
They both erupted into another fit of laughter, tears forming at the edges of their eyes.
"Baka!" Nami yelled as she punched the top of Luffy's head playfully.
Their laughter subsided as Luffy smiled and tipped his head upward towards the ceiling.
Nami eyed him carefully, her head resting in her hand. She knew something else was on his mind, and she had a hunch as to what it was.
"Ace would have been proud of you," Nami said softly, paying close attention to his reaction.
His smile wavered and his eyes grew sad for a split second. Then he turned his head to Nami and flashed her a big smile, "Shishishi! I know he would be!"
Nami relaxed and sighed, smiling at his positivity. She never witnessed Luffy during his grieving stage after Ace died, but she knew how hard it was for him. They never spoke of him until now, but there was always that twinge of sadness that would flash through his eyes every once in awhile. He would always miss Ace, but she was glad that he was accepting what had happened and was moving past it. Luffy wasn't one to dwell on things. And she was sure Luffy knew Ace wouldn't want that for him, either.
"How do you think Shanks is going to react when he hears about this?" Nami asked teasingly, knowing full-well how much Luffy idolized him and how his dream stemmed from his encounter with Shanks.
Luffy laughed heartily, "He's probably going to throw a huuuge party!" Luffy spread his arms out at the word "huge". He also added with a fond smile on his face, "He liked to do that a lot."
Nami laughed. She always wondered what kind of a man this great pirate Shanks was. "Can't wait to meet him."
Luffy looked at her, his eyes sparkling as he nodded in agreement, "Yeah!"
Almost as a reminder, he then took off his hat but kept the golden crown on his head. He looked at the frayed straw hat determinedly.
Nami also stared at the straw hat with a level of admiration and whispered, "The straw hat that started it all."
Luffy nodded, his gaze unfaltering, "Ah. And I'm going to return it to him someday."
"Do you really think he's going to take it back?" Nami questioned.
Luffy tilted his head at her and gave her a confused look, "What do you mean?"
"Think about it. After all it's been through, after everything it represents, do you think he's going to want to take it from you?"
Luffy thought for a moment staring hard at the hat in his hands that had held so much meaning to him. He said sternly, "It doesn't matter. Regardless if he takes it back or not, I'm still going to keep my promise."
Nami laughed softly at her wistful captain and said, "I know you are. I never said you wouldn't."
Luffy grinned at her for her encouragement then laughed his little "shishishi" laugh.
Nami then reached up to Luffy's head and plucked the glamorous crown from his head and looked at it, thoughtfully.
"Ah. Pretty cool, eh? Found it on the old King's throne. Franky said he hadn't seen anything like it, before. Must be petty valuable, huh?" Luffy boasted, proud of his shiny little treasure.
Nami smiled and nodded, carefully examining the old relic. "It's pretty impressive. I'd say it's one of a kind. You can't find anything quite like this in the whole world. Any man throughout all the four seas would be considerably lucky to have it bestowed upon his head."
Then, looking at Luffy tenderly, she added, "It truly is—"
She delicately took the straw hat from his hands.
"—a crown fit—"
And placed it on his head.
"—for a king."
Luffy's eyes widened at Nami's profound gesture as Nami tossed aside the golden crown, leaned in dangerously close to Luffy's face and whispered, "Your majesty."
Luffy's expression was one of such surprise and confusion that Nami couldn't help but giggle. She then tugged gently at the hem of his vest and kissed him full on the mouth. Luffy's body tensed at the sudden intimate action, but then he slowly loosened up and fell into the kiss, placing a hand on Nami's waist.
Nami then, still kissing, patted the pile of gold behind her with her free hand and grabbed the golden crown, placing it in front of their faces so no wandering eyes could see their ever-so-intimate action. They both giggled childishly, fully relishing in the affinity of each other's company.
Meanwhile, a not too far distance away, the rest of the crew (minus Zoro) were in their own little groups relaxing and admiring the new trinkets they had collected.
Chopper, Usopp and Brook were huddled together marveling at a giant pile of useful trinkets and unique weaponry that the former Pirate King Gol D. Roger had left behind.
Sanji, Robin and Franky were fairly close to the other trio, relaxing at a makeshift picnic area made with antique gold furniture Franky had found. Franky was now lounging in a gold-pleated armchair picking at a few gold pieces trying to figure out how to implement it all into the cyborg part of him to make him more prestine and impressive, and of course more super (if that was even possible). Robin sat idly by on a more fanciful looking armchair with dark purple cushions skimming through a book. All the while Sanji had been presenting treasure and jewels to her seeking her approval of them for which Robin would smile nicely and give him a "Oh how nice," which would cause the estranged Love Cook to cry out in excitement and to continue questing for more valuable jewels.
Sanji was currently knee deep in a pile of fine jewelry and was scavenging for more impressive treasures to present to the ladies when something caught his eye. He quickly dove into the pile of jewels determinedly then popped out with a triumphant look on his face, his hand holding up a rather glamorous-looking ring.
"This would be perfect for Nami-san~!" Sanji swooned, marveling tearfully at his find.
Looking up from the valuable jewel in front of him, he looked out at the vast expanse of gold, searching for Nami. Seeing nothing, he directed his attention towards Usopp's group and asked, "Oi, have any of you guys seen Nami-san?"
The guys all looked up from a very dangerous looking object to look at Sanji as Usopp looked out further into the cave and said, "That's strange, she was just at the base of that hill a moment ago." He pointed to the direction he referred to, and all that was left was the golden mirror.
"Ah! What if she drowned in the pile of gold?" Chopper screeched, his eyes frightful, throwing his hands up to his head.
"Yohoho, then would I have the pleasure of giving her mouth-to-mouth?" Brook asked, suggestively.
"BAKA!" Usopp yelled as he bonked Brook on the head with his 5-ton hammer.
Sanji, virtually ignoring the scene beside him after gathering next to no information as to Nami's whereabouts shouted, "NAMI-SWAAAAN! WHERE ARE YOU?"
His yell echoed throughout the cave for a few moments until finally Nami poked out from the opposite side of the hill Usopp had pointed to.
She looked dazed and had a silly smile on her face. Her hair was mussed a little bit and she was wearing the golden crown that Luffy had been sporting earlier. "What is it, Sanji-kun~?"
"Ohhhhh! Nami-swan! I found a special jewel for you!" Sanji swooned, once again, hearts replacing his eyeballs.
Nami was virtually ripped from her stupor at the word "jewel", took a step forward and said, "Oh, really? Let me s—"
Nami suddenly disappeared from the hill again mid-sentence as cartoonish hearts started emanating from the spot a little off from where Nami just was, flying off in different directions.
The boys all sweatdropped.
"Oi. What's going on?" Sanji asked after a few seconds, as his other companions looked on at the sight.
"Maybe Nami found something really cool! You know how much she loves her jewels!" Chopper suggested cheerfully, enjoying the scene.
"Oh she's in love, alright," Robin stated calmly, not looking up from her book.
"Eh? What's that supposed to mean?" Franky questioned, as the rest of the guys turned their attention to Nami who had popped out from the hill, again.
"Sanji-kun! You had something to show me?" Nami waved as she walked towards the rest of the crew, looking completely normal, smiling as if nothing had happened.
"YES, NAMI-SWAN! I HAVE SOMETHING FOR YOU~" Sanji swooned a third time, completely forgetting about what just happened.
Luffy watched hazily as Nami walked away from their nice little spot on the treasure pile and back towards their nakama, a dreamy smile on his face.
"Oi, Luffy. So this is where you were," Zoro said as he approached Luffy from behind.
"What have you been do—UWAH." Zoro stopped mid-sentence as his captain turned around, his face covered in pink kiss marks.
"Oh, Zoro!" Luffy said in surprise as the swordsman stood a few feet in front of him, his face cringed and his eyes bulged.
They stood like that staring at each other for a good while, until Zoro suddenly turned around, raised his arm and said, "Nope, I don't wanna know."
"Ah Zoro! What happened? And oh, the crew's back that way," Luffy said as he pointed his thumb in the direction behind him.
Zoro turned around quickly and stomped rapidly back towards the right direction muttering curses under his breath.
Luffy stood scratching his head with a confused expression on his face. He then burst into laughter at Zoro's reaction and bounded off towards him and the rest of his crew shouting, "Wait for me!"
His crew would be in for a big surprise at the state of Luffy's face, but would be unsurprised as to how it got like that. Save for Sanji who would be a blubbering mess, but would forgive easily, for it was his captain after all. Everything would begin again and they would all go on their merry way, off on their most imperative adventure, yet. An adventure to deliver the King's Crown to its rightful owner. To deliver it to the one who had started it all. And to whom the King himself, had owed everything to. Even if that meant his precious Crown.
FIN
A/N: idk how i liked that ending but this just came out of nowhere and i liked the idea so I just went with it and now here's the finished product yay! review if u liked it pls feedback is what keeps me going! if u didn't like it then ok bye!