One Piece is the property of Eiichiro Oda. I own nothing.
Inspired by one of the SBS questions in Volume 67.
"I am such an idiot!" Nami blew into the women's quarters like a hurricane, promptly crashing on the bed and burying her face in the pillows. She attempted to hide further by pulling the hood of her light blue bathrobe over her head. The embarrassment stubbornly clung to her memory, causing the blush in her cheeks to continue for what had now felt like hours. She wished the bed could swallow her whole.
It took Nami a minute to realize that her roommate was sitting in a nearby chair, reading a book, and had just witnessed the spectacle the navigator made of herself. No matter. Nothing could cause her further humiliation than what she had already experienced minutes ago. "Oh? Why are you an idiot?" Well… aside from having to recall the whole experience by explaining it to Robin.
The archaeologist had an amused smile on her face as she looked expectantly at her younger roommate. Nami let out a heavy sigh. Oh well. Maybe talking about it would help get rid of the mortification. Her voice was shaky as she began her story. "Umm…"
…
Thirty minutes ago…
Nami sat wrapped in a bath towel at the vanity dresser in the women's quarters. Her long red-orange hair was nearly dry as she finished gently squeezing it with another towel. Thankfully, she didn't have to take night watch that evening. The bath had left her feeling relaxed but tired after an exhausting day of avoiding crazy weather and an even crazier captain wanting to hurtle the crew straight towards danger. The only thing the navigator wanted now was to go to sleep.
After changing into a white camisole and blue soft cotton shorts, Nami climbed into her bed. While leaning over to turn off the lamp, she went through the nightly habit of checking that her two most important belongings were on top of the nightstand. Log pose: check. Bracelet from Nojiko: … Nothing.
It probably fell on the floor or something. Nami checked over the side of the bed. Still nothing. Slightly irritated, the navigator got up to check underneath the bed. It wasn't there, either. "Well it couldn't have gone far," she murmured to herself. There were only so many places on a ship it could be.
A few minutes later and Nami had checked every corner of the women's quarters. The bracelet was still missing. Nojiko was going to kill her. Okay… Don't panic. She tried backtracking. When was the last time I saw it? The navigator remembered taking off her log pose and placing it on the nightstand before she went to take a bath. The bracelet was still on her wrist when undressing in the changing room in the bathhouse. She had placed it on top of the sink and meant to grab it when she got out. It must still be there! Nami pulled on her short, light blue hooded robe as she made her way out into the slightly chilly night.
…
Climbing up the ladder from the library into the bathhouse, Nami noticed the warm, humid air and paused. Someone was using the bath. She mentally ran through a quick checklist. The guys did their rowdy bath parties once a week on Sundays. It wasn't the day for that, so they were immediately ruled out. Usopp, Franky, and Chopper also took baths only once every three days. Considering that they had bathed yesterday, that only left Robin and herself. Nami sighed with relief and continued to climb the ladder. The archaeologist wouldn't mind if the navigator was in the changing room when she came out of the bath as long as Nami could explain that she was looking for her bracelet. Her male crewmates would probably freak out.
The steam was hot and thick as Nami climbed into the changing room. The pajamas underneath her bathrobe immediately began to stick to her body. Her hair started to feel wet and heavy again. Did Robin always take baths that hot?
Nami took a deep breath, the precipitation in the air practically turning to water in her throat, and went over to the sink. Condensation thickly coated the porcelain. Water droplets began to form and run off the side of the basin. The bracelet was no longer there. Where could it have gone? The navigator tried looking underneath the sink, paying no attention to the clothes on top of the basket right next to her.
Hearing the sound of someone getting out of the bath in the next room didn't distract Nami from her search. She was now looking behind the basket. When she heard the door to the bathing room open, the navigator didn't bother to turn around as she prepared to apologize to Robin for the intrusion.
"N-Nami-san?" She gasped and immediately recognized the masculine voice as he said her name. An eternity seemed to pass as she turned to see a tall, blond, very wet, very confused cook standing a few feet from her, clothed in nothing but a towel tightly wrapped around his waist. Drops of water fell from his hair to his shoulders and his body appeared to have steam coming off of it.
"What are you doing in here?" His voice wasn't rude or accusatory, but more bewildered than anything. Nami completely forgot how to speak. Her eyes were fixated on the half-naked man in front of her.
Realizing that she was gawking at him, Nami quickly averted her eyes. Her cheeks were flushed but she couldn't tell if it was from the steam in the room or the embarrassment of ogling Sanji-kun. "Were you looking for something?" He offered a guess for her reason of being there.
"No!" She almost shouted the response as she quickly tried to get up, hitting her head on the sink. "Ouch!"
Out of habit, Sanji moved to help his female crewmate. "No! Stay there!" Nami stretched out her left arm as if she could prevent the man from coming near her by sheer force. Seeing Sanji-kun wrapped in nothing but a towel was distracting enough. She didn't need him actually touching her.
The navigator tried to stand again, but the bump to her head must have made her slightly dizzy. She heard the cook give a concerned sigh and then felt his warm hands on her arms as he helped her to her feet. "Nami-san, I'm not going to let you fall down the ladder just because you want me to stay away from you. Are you okay?"
Slowly nodding her head in reply, Nami still couldn't bring herself to look at him. Why? It wasn't like she hadn't seen him without a shirt on before. The crew had gone swimming together countless times. Hell, half of her wardrobe consisted of bikini tops. Why was this bothering her so much? Sanji interrupted the navigator's thoughts. "Now, were you looking for something?"
"No!" Nami insisted again, until she remembered that she still had to find her bracelet. "… Yes." She admitted in a soft voice. Before she had a chance to explain, she noticed the cook coming closer to her. Squeezing her eyes shut, she felt the heat coming off from his body as his right arm reached around her… Strangely enough, he wasn't touching her.
"Here, I think this is what you wanted." Sanji's voice was calm. Nami refused to open her eyes. Afraid that she would end up accidentally touching his skin, she kept her hands clutched against her chest. As his hand gently took her own, she let out a gasp. "Take it," he quietly encouraged her.
"No! I'm not going to touch it, you pervert!" Nami's eyes were tightly shut. Her pulse quickened. The damn air was so thick, she felt like she couldn't breathe. Then she heard an amused chuckle and a round, metal object was pressed into her hand. Finally opening her eyes, Nami blinked to see her bracelet in the palm of her hand. "M-my bracelet." She looked up at the cook. "Where did you find it?"
"I found it on the floor under the sink while I was undressing. I planned on giving it back to you as soon as I was done bathing." Sanji smiled at the thought that he was able to help Nami-san find something so important to her.
"Why were you in the bath anyway?" The navigator questioned him. "I thought it was Robin in there. If I would have known…" Her voice trailed off as embarrassment filled her.
A puzzled look came across the cook's face. "I bathe every day." He was a little offended that Nami-san didn't notice. Unlike the rest of the male crewmates, Sanji actually considered bathing as part of maintaining good hygiene. "I smoke and I'm around food all day. Do you think I want to smell like tobacco and seafood all the time?"
Nami let out a small laugh. "No, of course not." She smiled at how foolish she had been. "Sorry, Sanji-kun, and thank you," she apologized. Glancing down, she remembered that he was still only in a towel. "Umm… You should probably get dressed."
"Yes," the cook agreed. When his female crewmate didn't appear to be leaving, he tried to keep himself from laughing. "Nami-san," he smiled at the navigator. She looked at him questioningly. "My clothes are behind you," he pointed out.
"Oh!" Nami turned to see the cook's clean clothes neatly folded on top of the basket behind her. "Oh! I'm sorry! I'll leave you to it." She started climbing down the ladder back towards the library.
Sanji just smiled and shook his head. As soon as the navigator was gone, he removed his towel and was about to get dressed. Suddenly, Nami's head popped up again from the ladder, "Sanji-kun, I just wanted to say that I'm really sor…" They stared at each other in shock as both realized that the navigator was getting an eyeful of the completely nude cook.
Nami's face turned bright red. "Kyaa!" She screamed as she practically jumped down the ladder and ran for the women's quarters.
…
"Bwahahahahaha!" Zoro was laughing so hard he almost fell out of his chair. "Wait, wait, wait! She screamed at it and then ran?!" The swordsman continued laughing.
"Yes," Sanji muttered as he buried his head in his arms. If it were possible, he would burrow into the dining table and never come out… at least not for another 10 years. He immediately regretted the decision to confide in marimo, but the swordsman was the only other male crewmate still awake. Well, aside from Chopper who was on night watch, but the reindeer was much too innocent for these types of things. The only reason that moss-head agreed to listen to Sanji was because the cook had bribed him with a bottle of some of their best sake.
Zoro was still laughing. "So, she screamed at it."
"Yes," Sanji flatly confirmed.
"And then she ran?" The swordsman was enjoying this too much.
"Yes." The cook began to wonder if maybe The Baratie would take him back. There was no way in hell he could ever face Nami-san again.
"Hahahahaha!" Zoro took another drink from his bottle of sake. "Well, look at it this way, eyebrows. At least she didn't laugh at it." Sanji just groaned as he tried to cover his head further with his black hoodie.
…
Several minutes later…
Sanji walked out of the galley. Marimo's laughter still echoed from the room. After having to listen to the dumb swordsman question Nami-san's virginity (that one earned a kick to the moss head) and comparing lengths amongst the male crewmembers, the cook was too tired to continue arguing and face further humiliation.
While walking across the lawn deck towards the men's quarters, Sanji looked up when he heard light footsteps coming down the staircase. "Nami-san?" She was still wearing her blue bathrobe that ran to her thighs. He knew she had pajamas on underneath though. There had been a peek of a white camisole when he reached to get her bracelet in the changing room. Her cheeks still looked a little flushed now in the moonlight, but at least it wasn't the bright red from when she saw him naked earlier.
The navigator's bare feet slowly padded down the steps towards him. The bracelet he found for her glinted on her wrist. Despite finding her as beautiful as always, the cook noted the nervousness on her face.
Nami walked up to him and folded her arms. She still couldn't look at him. Her voice had a shyness that Sanji couldn't remember hearing from her before. "I… I just wanted to say that I'm sorry… for barging in on you." The navigator took a deep breath. "Robin also told me that I should mention that it wasn't that your body looked weird or anything. I just screamed because it surprised me." She blushed a little as she mumbled, "I think you have a nice body, actually."
Sanji tried to hide his smile behind his hand. Nami-san was so adorable when she was trying to apologize. "So, you talked with Robin-chan about it?" He asked out of curiosity.
"Hey Nami~! Do you want to see mine next?! I'm sure it's twice as big as the ero-cook's!" Zoro yelled from the door of the galley before going back inside, cackling the entire time. He was obnoxiously drunk now.
"Ugh… That asshole," Sanji rubbed his forehead in frustration. He hoped that the swordsman would wake up with one hell of a hangover in the morning.
"You had to talk to Zoro about it?" Nami arched an eyebrow at him. "You must have been feeling pretty bad if you had to confide in him." Sanji laughed. At least she was making eye contact with him again.
Nami smiled in response to the cook's laughter. Maybe this wasn't the end of the world for the both of them after all. "I really am sorry, Sanji-kun." She spoke softly. "Can you please forgive me?"
"Always, Nami-san," Sanji replied without hesitation.
"Good." Nami gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before going back up the stairs. "Goodnight, Sanji-kun."
The cook felt like an immense weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He smiled as he walked towards the men's quarters. "Goodnight, Nami-san."
Owari!
