Learning to appreciate working title
A One Piece Fanfiction
by Caya Strife

Disclaimer: I neither own One Piece, nor its characters, locations or other things connected to it. All I own is the – more or less – original plot.

And even if you do decide to sue me: go ahead, I don't have any money

"Sanjiiii! I want breakfast!" The captain yelled and impatiently banged against the bunk of the crew's cook.

Said young man awoke slowly, wearily opening his eyes to see Luffy right in front of him, sporting this widest grin. He brushed a hand through his blond bangs and stifled a yawn. This guy would rather chop off his own leg than miss a meal…

"Allright, allright, I'll prepare something." Sanji answered and brought himself up into a sitting position, swinging his legs out of his bed.

"Yaaaaaaaaaaay!" Luffy yelled enthusiastically and did a little jump of joy, "Zoro! Usopp! Chopper! Nami! Breeeakfast!" he continued and stormed out of the guys' room, heading for the deck.

Sanji shook his head with a smile, walked over to this trunk and grabbed his trademark black suit. Quickly, he got dressed and walked up to the deck to check on everybody before he would start preparing the crew's breakfast in his beloved refuge from the daily ramblings of this nakama – the kitchen. As of now, the ship was surprisingly silent, apart from the sounds of their captain banging his knife and fork on the kitchen table, soundly insisting on meat.

The sun was rising high in the sky, warming up the cold night's air. A soft breeze blew around him as he took out his first cigarette of the day and lit it with a match. In the shadow of ship's mast lay Zoro, swords tightly clutched in his hands, low snoring sounds escaping his half-opened lips. Sanji knew better than to wake up; there was nothing worse than a grumpy swordsman ready to chop off your head for having been woken from his nap. And if Zoro threatened to do bodily harm, he meant it.

From below the deck, Sanji could hear footsteps and the low mumblings of their little doctor Chopper and the long-nosed Usopp. Apparently, they had not been able to sleep through Luffy's commotion and thus decided to just call it a night and join their hungry captain. That made five out of six crew members covered. Now it was just their navigator left.

His Nami-san… Sanji's heart did a jump at the pure thought of his red-headed nakama. Since he had first laid his eyes upon her when he started his journey with the Straw Hat pirates, he had fallen head over heels for the girl. Sure, he was a woman's man, a flirt, who fancied the pretty. But with Nami, it was not just about the looks; there was something more to her that made his heart skip a beat whenever she gave him a smile or complimented his cooking. For her he did his best.

Come to think of it, the navigator had been on night duty and thus should still be up, somewhere on the deck, with her compass, constantly checking the course of their ship and watching out for the Marines.

"Hmmm… she might be…", he thought to himself and made his way to the little grove of orange trees Nami had brought with her from Cocoyashi. It used to be her favorite spot onboard the whole ship, where she would often sit, tending the trees, smiling about those rare happy memories of her past with Belmere and Nojiko. With a smile playing on his lips, he spotted the navigator's redhead in the shade of the trees and happily approached her.

"Good morning, Nami-san, did you have a good night? I hope you are not too exhausted from…" he abruptly stopped as he had reached her. His Nami-san was sleeping peacefully with her head on her arms, a smile playing on her lips. This was strange. She had never fallen asleep on her duty; usually, she took it very seriously and gave it all her attention.

"Nami-san?" Sanji said lowly, carefully touching her shoulder. He certainly would not mind letting her sleep, yet he was sure that she herself had not intended on falling asleep.

The girl's thin frame stirred slightly under the cook's touch and her eyes fluttered open.

"Hn… Sanji-kun?" she asked sleepily, looking up at the young man withdrawing his hand from her shoulder. She pushed her head up and squinted at the sun blinding her. "What… what time is it?"

"It's past seven already", Sanji answered in reply "You must've fallen asleep. While you were on duty."

"Wha! Oh no!" she blurted out and sprang to her feet immediately. "Darn, how could I?" she scolded herself and shook her head.

"Never mind that, Nami-san", Sanji smiled at her "You were just tired. It's okay." His Nami-san, so committed to her duties, so unforgiving with herself. "Don't worry, it'll remain between the two of us, nobody else will know, allright?"

The red-headed girl grinned and nodded her head apologetically. "Arigato, Sanji-kun! It's not going to happen again, I promise."

"Don't worry about it", Sanji smiled, his heart yet again skipping a beat at Nami's smile. "Breakfast will be ready in a little bit. Is there anything special I can fix for you?"

Nami gave a little laugh at the cook's attempt and shook her head. "Naw, Sanji-kun, I'm sure I'll be fine with whatever you serve."

"Ah, aye, Nami-san!" Sanji grinned wildly and rushed for the kitchen, leaving a laughing navigator among the orange groves.

"Ah, breakfast" Usopp smiled and grabbed his fork and knife while the boy with the straw hat on his right was already shoving enormous amounts of meat down his throat.

Tony Tony Chopper, the little reindeer, eyed the captain incredulously. No matter how often he would see it, he, as a doctor, still couldn't believe how this skinny boy could gobble down all that food and never put on a single pound of weight. Next to him sat Roronoa Zoro, quietly chewing on some cheese. The swordsman had finally gotten up by himself, probably awakened by the smell of food from the kitchen. He was grumpy nevertheless. It had developed into a character trait of his, and a happily laughing Zoro seemed as obscure as Luffy declining the offer of a heap of meat.

While all the others were helping themselves to their food, Sanji putting a finished touch to his freshly baked buns and poured some orange juice into a glass.

With a creaking sound, the door opened and Nami stepped into the kitchen, her sandals producing a clanking sound on the wooden floor.

"Good morning", she said, smiling, and sank down on her chair at the table.

"Mhm.. mmmornin'", Luffy mumbled while chewing on yet another piece of meat.

"Good morning again, Nami-san!" Sanji said, grinning widely. He walked over to her and put down the glass of orange juice. "There you go, Nami-san. Freshly made orange juice, just for you!"

Zoro scowled at the cook's sweet-talk and let out a grunting noise. "Oh cut it out, already."

"Whatcha scowling at, idiot?" Sanji retorted, shooting the swordsman a killing glare.

Just when Zoro was about to give the cook a reply, and thus start an argument that would undoubtedly just be the first in a series of arguments for that day, the navigator rose from her chair, grabbed her cane and shot the two men a threatening look. "You better stop it already, guys, or else…"

The men at the table gulped and quietly returned to eating their breakfast. Upsetting Nami could easily earn you a smack; cane or not, both usually turned out quite painful. And they all preferred not to risk that. For a while, they all ate in silence; Nami simply nipped at her juice and stifled a few yawns. The tiredness seemed to catch up with her.

"Eh, Nami-san?" Sanji asked, glancing up from his plate to the navigator sitting at his side. The girl looked back at him questioningly. "Don't you wanna eat anything? You sure have to be hungry after being on duty all night?"

The navigator smiled at him and shook her head, stifling another yawn. "Naw, Sanji-kun, I'm allright. I don't really feel like eating just now." Another yawn. "I guess I rather got some sleep now." Thus she rose from her place at the table. "I'll see you guys later then." With that, she left the kitchen, her footsteps echoing in the hallway.

Sanji looked after her, his face showing worry for this nakama.

"Nami… mhm… dun wan'her food?" Luffy mumbled and immediately grabbed the navigator's plate, gobbling down the food in the fraction of a second.

"Hmm… strange… she should be hungry after a night shift. It's not really like Nami-san…" Chopper remarked, looking thoughtful.

"And she yawned a lot, too. Geez", Usopp said and let out a toothy yawn himself, "it's even makin' me tired."

Zoro just shrugged, not even looking up from his plate. "That's women for ya", he stated while munching on his food, "nothin' but trouble."

Now all I need is that screwdriver to fasten the hold on that, and my grandest invention will be completed! Usopp though to himself, sporting a wide, toothy grin as he made his way to the guys' room to get some tools.

Huh, what's this? In the distance, he could hear strange, retching noises. The closer he came to the bathroom, the louder the noise grew. Hmmm… maybe Zoro got himself drunk again? But he seemed fine just a little bit ago… The retching stopped, followed by the sound of flushing water. A few seconds later, the door opened and a visibly pale Nami stepped carefully out into the hallway. Upon noticing Usopp's presence, she looked shocked. Yet after the split seconds, she regained control over her facial features and grinned at her long nosed nakama.

"Umm you allright, Nami?" he asked, not exactly sure what to make of the scene he had just witnessed.

"Of course!" Nami still grinned, waving her hand up and down, "I was just refreshing myself!" Thus she walked back into the direction of her room, leaving a puzzled Usopp.

Just refreshing? He thought to himself with a thoughtful look. Now who's the liar on this ship?

The sun was slowly setting, and the soft breezes became cooler. The crew of the Going Merry was finishing their daily business; Zoro was snoring away in the last sunrays, Usopp was telling Luffy and Chopper another of his stories, frightening the little reindeer to the bone, Nami was once again using her compass and maps to check the ship's course and Sanji was in the kitchen, preparing a snack for said red-headed navigator.

"Sweet orange rolls for my sweet Nami-san" chimed the cook, hearty-eyed and filed the desert onto a small plate. Happily humming to himself, he strolled onto the deck over to his Nami-san. The young woman was bent over her maps, intently doing calculations on distance, speed and course of the Star Hat Pirates' ship.

"Oi, Nami-san, I made a snack for you!" he beamed at her, holding out the plate.

She looked up at him, her face pale, eyes showing a lack of sleep. "Thank you, Sanji-kun", she attempted a smile "but I'm not really hungry right now. And I need to finish this tonight." She nodded at the heap of maps lying in front of her.

Sanji shot her a worried look. "Are you sure? Are you feeling allright? Is anything wrong?"

"Yes, I'm fine, really, Sanji", she let out a small sigh. "I'm just a little busy here."

"Allright then, but don't overexert yourself, Nami-san!" he said as he turned away and walked over to Luffy, Usopp and Chopper. They were still sitting on the deck, captain and doctor listening to the sharp-shooter's tales. The guys looked up at their approaching cook and Luffy immediately spotted the food in his hand.

"Saaaaaaaaanji you made me a snack!" he yelled, grabbed the orange rolls and gulped them down. "Ah good"

Sanji sighed and sat down. "Well actually, I made those for Nami. But she said she wasn't hungry."

"Again?" Chopper asked and looked up at the cook, "But she hasn't eaten anything all day? That's strange."

Luffy and Sanji nodded. Usopp, however, frowned, concentrated on something.

"Come to think of it, there was somethin' else pretty weird, too", he started, thoughtfully.

Sanji looked at him intently. "What was it? Come on, tell me!" he urged.

"Allright allright", the long nosed boy answered, "a little earlier, when I was walking down the hallway to our room to get some tools, I passed the bathroom, and there were some strange noises coming from it. It sounded like someone was throwing up in there. First I thought it was just Zoro who'd gotten himself drunk again, but then Nami came out. She said she'd just been refreshing herself", then Usopp grinned "But I can tell a liar when I see him." The sharp-shooter seemed proud of that, and his captain nodded in reply, grinning widely.

"Mhm mhm, you really can!"

"Hmmm…", Sanji's face showed genuine worry. When it came to his Nami, all his senses were alert. Every small change was registered instantly. "She looked pale, too, and tired. Very tired… I don't like this…"

Chopper quickly nodded in approval. He, too, was worried about his crewmate, his nakama. And being the doctor, even more so.

"Chopper?" Sanji asked, looking at the little reindeer. The latter gazed back questioningly. "I would like you to talk to Nami. I think she needs a check-up."

"Are you sure that this necessary?" Nami asked impatiently, sighing and leaned back on the bunk in the small room that the ship's doctor had improvised as his little examination room.

Chopper, while he was going through his instruments, obviously looking for something, nodded. "Mhm", he replied, "with all those symptoms you show, I think it's better to find out what it is and how we can treat it. Who knows, it might just be nothing."

Nami nodded quietly and suppressed a yawn.

After a few more seconds, Chopper had finally found what he had been looking for: a syringe. Nami shuddered.

"I don't like these…"

"I… I'm sorry…" Chopper stuttered, "but I'll have to take a blood sample. Otherwise I won't be able to tell what's wrong."

Nami sighed. "Can't you tell just from the symptoms? I mean, there has to be another way. Without using one of those." She pointed at the syringe.

"I'm sorry, but it's essential. I'll make it short, ok?" Chopper offered.

"Mhm…", Nami nodded and closed her eyes.

Chopper walked up to the navigator and softly set the syringe to her arm. Slowly, he took some of the blood and carefully pulled the needle back out. Nami winced quietly and opened her eyes as Chopper took a small piece of bandage and pressed it onto the small punctuated wound.

"Just press this on it for a little bit until it stops bleeding. In the meantime, I'll do the blood analysis."

Nami nodded and pressed the bandage. With a sigh, she sank down against the wall and closed her eyes. On the other side of the room, the little reindeer was busy filling the blood into vials, adding various liquids and doing cross checks with color charts and other tables. He seems to know what he's doing, Nami thought. Several minutes went by and he was still handling the charts and clanking the vials. After a while he seemed to slow and concentrate on one certain vial. He gazed at it intently.

"This is weird…", he mumbled under his breath and shook his head. "It can't be…" He took a clean vial, poured in some blood and added the content of a small, dusty bottle. The clanking of glass started annoying Nami, and watching him shake the liquids around made her dizzy.

"Are you done yet?" she asked, impatiently, tapping her fingers against the side of her thigh.

Chopper took another look at a chart in his hand, turned around and nodded, averting her to look into his patient's eyes.

"What is it then?" she inquired, growing more and more impatient.

The little reindeer, though, did not answer straight away, much to her annoyance, but looked at her weirdly. He then took a pen, marked something on the chart he was holding and handed it over to the redhead. She grabbed for it and took a closer look at the paper. Medical terms, mostly, accompanied by numbers. Then she came to the part that Chopper had marked and read the paragraph along with the scribbling beside it. With every sentence, every word she read, her eyes grew wider, her disbelief stronger.

"No… This… this can't be. Chopper, you must've made a mistake somewhere!" she blurted out, hopingly, pleadingly.

Yet he shook his head in reply. "No, I've triple checked it… There can't be any mistake." He looked sympathetically at the young woman who now hung her head low.

"How… how much longer?" came out in barely a whisper.

Chopper took another look at the chart Nami had handed back to him and answered: "About seven months, more or less, I'd say…"

The redhead sighed, got off the bunk and onto her shaky legs. This just wasn't possible…

"Please, Chopper, promise me something."

The little one nodded in response.

"Don't tell the others yet, okay? I'm just not ready… Not yet…" With that, she staggered out of the room, feeling even sicker than before the examination.

... to be continued...

a/n: weeeell... This was basically just an idea I had when reading some other One Piece Fanfiction (don't ask me about the title, I don't remember it) and since I'm currently 'banned' from college (stomach infection or somethin the like), I actually found the time to put the first part of it down.

However, I have absolutely no idea if I will keep writing and updating, since I have no idea if anybody will like the story at all. So I basically make it dependant on your reviews. If you like it and want me to continue the story, the pleeeeeeease, pretty pleeeeeease let me know, okay Arigato