Chapter 4
Sort of a short chapter here. But I wanted to get it up. That means it is on to the next chapter sooner. Hope everyone had a good new years... 2006 Baby! Feels the same as 2005, but oh well.
The Straw Hat Pirates sailed away from the island and the relaxing atmosphere. Once they were out to sea, sailing mode kicked in for the majority of the crew. Usopp went back to creating whatever it was he was working on, Zoro slept, Chopper and Luffy tried to avoid the swordsman and his wrath for events of yesterday. Sanji busied himself with putting away supplies. After taking a strict inventory of food stuffs, the kitchen was quickly booby trapped for safe keeping, much to Sanji's surprise, Luffy was no where to be seen. And Nami, well she was busy herself, once the ship was set on the right course she returned to her room and sat down with the newest set of papers and mail delivered to the ship.
"Are we there yet?" Luffy asked as he stretched his neck to look over Nami's shoulder as she worked.
"Where exactly is this 'there' you speak of?" Nami said trying to ignore the source of her annoyance. She was working on the latest groupings of coordinates that Robin had sent. The ruins the archaeologist had stayed in seemed to be brimming with facts and clues to the final resting place of the treasures of all treasures: One Piece.
Nami almost hated leaving Robin to comb through all the possible gold... silver... rubies... alone. Berrie signs quickly blinded her and she was left to float in her own personal monetary heaven. However, that heaven didn't last long. Leave it to the dim witted captain of the ship to do something stupid and add to her growing headache.
Luffy in his quest to annoy her further had for some reason found some great source of amusement in her bedroom. In fact it had happened almost immediately after they set sail from the island. Once Luffy was fed, he found his way down the stairs to his present location.
"What exactly are you doing in my room?" She growled as she put her pen and Log Pose down.
"Nya, Nami...its fun down here."
"Well, can you have fun a little quieter? Or maybe somewhere else? Why not go bother Zoro; I know for a fact he's not trying to get things done. Like that man could ever do anything without someone telling him what to do... go wake him up and have fun on deck."
"But, Zoro yells at me when I wake him up... and I wanna here a new story." The captain smiled his usual grin not understanding why Nami was getting so frustrated.
"You want a story? How about the one about the red headed monster and how she killed a certain stupid rubber man..."
"Nope. Heard it already!" Luffy said as he ran over to her bookshelf and began to pull out books. The look of sheer concentration was painted across his face as he searched for heavens knew what.
"I'm sure you haven't heard this one before." She said as she crumpled the now ruined map before her. Trying to keep her temper Nami closed her eyes and silently called for the patience to not kill their captain.
"Zoro told us it last night. The monster had another blonde monster help in killing the crew... and there was no meat." The captain stopped looking on her shelf. Nami sighed in relief as she could see the wheels in the other man's head turning. And suddenly like that the topic of his obsession was changed.
"You know, I'm sure Sanji has lots of meat upstairs. If you ask him really nicely I'm sure he'll give you a little snack." Her smile grew with hope as she tempted the rubber man with his biggest weakness.
"But Nami..." Luffy whined. "He kicked me out of the kitchen after lunch was done... with a HUGE knife! He was going to cut me up like a pork chop... umm, pork chop..." Drool was coming from his mouth as he envisioned the dancing animals and chasing them.
"Well, I can get around that." She said as she took a piece of paper and scribbled a note on it. "Give this to Sanji, and he'll let you have some meat. But you have to promise not to bother me for the rest of the day. You understand? I'll personally kill you if you enter this room once more!" She ended by screaming at him.
Grabbing the note, Luffy was gone and in the kitchen within seconds.
Nami sighed in relief as she rested her head on her desk. Looking over at her shelf, she wondered what made it so interesting... getting up, she put everything back in order. Closing the drawers that had been opened, putting the books back in the correct order on the shelf, and wiping the smudge marks off of the special items around her room, Nami finally had her room back into order.
Returning to her desk, she found the map she was making had lost its moment. She didn't have the energy to work out the complicated information Robin sent.
"It'll be there tomorrow, and it's not like we need them anytime soon. We've got a ways before we enter the final stretch..."
"I thought I told you to stay out of this kitchen?" The love cook scowled at the grinning man before him. "Can't you see I'm busy cleaning my kitchen?" Sanji decided to ignore Luffy and went back to mopping the floor. Sitting off to the side, Chopper sat grinding medicine herbs silently.
"Nya, nya, Nami said to give you this and I'll get a snack. I want a good snack... lots of meat!" Luffy said handing the cook his note and licking his lips in anticipation of the promised snack.
Sanji stopped cleaning and took the note. Reading it quickly he sighed. "All right, but this is your last snack till supper. And if you bother my Nami again today, I'll take all your meat and throw it over board."
"Yeah! Snack! Snack!" The captain cheered not listening to anything else the cook was telling him. All he heard was 'your' and 'snack.'
'Do it for Nami... this way she can get her work done. Only for Nami.' He kept telling himself as he brought out a slab of meat, cut of a chunk and put it on a plate.
"Preparing it better would just be a waste of time." Sanji sighed as he took out a cigarette and matches. It had been a while since he needed a smoke... but right now he could smoke the entire pack. 'My little Nami owes me big time for baby-sitting this... full grown baby.'
"And what do you think you're doing?" Sanji asked as he saw a small little hoof making a move for the left over part of the meat Luffy didn't get in his 'snack.'
"AH!" Chopper jumped back in surprise. "Ah hahahhaha." The little deer laughed as he tried to cover up the fact he was trying to get some meat as well. While Sanji and Chopper were busy, neither saw that a rubber arm slink around them and took the meat.
By the time they realized it, the meat had already been swallowed.
"I give up. But when we starve, it's your fault." The cook said going back to his business of mopping the floor.
The day continued along and soon supper was on the table. Luffy, Usopp and Chopper greedily wolfed down their plates as soon as the food hit the table. Zoro was a little less messy when he too inhaled the food before him. Sanji sighed and slowly savored the spices and texture of his creation.
"You slobs can leave your dishes on the table; I'm going to see if Nami wanted anything." Before Sanji left, he turned and looked at the crew. "And NO ONE eats Nami's food got it?"
"Why are Sanji and Nami so angry today?" Luffy asked as he chewed a mouthful of food.
"Do you suppose they figured out about the room accident? Should I tell them..."
"No, they don't know anything and telling them one of your lame ass lies, will only make them suspicious. Now you all keep your mouths closed and we'll all sail through this unharmed and fed." Zoro said as he downed his cup.
"But what if they find out? We'll be KILLED!" Chopper screamed as he bites his hooves in a worried manner.
"Ah, Chopper, just be quite. They're occupied at the moment. They won't realize anything happened unless one of you blows it."
"Is my sweet down here?" Sanji called softly into the room as he came down the steps. Is didn't surprise him to find the love of his life sleeping peacefully on her side. The curves of her body made his eyes go heart shaped.
"My Nami is so gorgeous." He swooned quietly. "But my poor princess is all worn out." Sanji smiled down on her as he took off her shoes and pulled a few covers over her slender body. His hands rested on the curve of her hip as he sighed.
"I wanted to talk to you tonight, but I can see you need your sleep. It's been a wonderful two days love." He talked to her in a hushed tone not wanting to wake her up. "I'll be back to join you in a little while." Placing a kiss to her temple, Sanji returned above deck.
'Why is it so hard to ask her?' He wondered as he pulled a small box out of his pocket. He had been carrying that around for the last two weeks. If he would have had the courage to do it last night, when he had planned, the love cook would not be in the anxious and annoyed mood.
Yes, yesterday was the moment that he should have asked her. Everything was perfect: the atmosphere, the location, they were alone... nothing to interrupt them... except Nami's urge to fatten her pockets. Sanji sighed. Sometimes he wondered if he placed second to anything worth monetary value. True she hadn't gone to her usual extreme with taking things from the hotel or the people in the market; however the day wasn't exactly what Sanji imagined as the perfect date.
Was that what was bothering him? He couldn't answer that question. He thought after a nice relaxing get away he would be refreshed and ready to deal with the antics of his crew mates... but it wasn't turning out to be the case.
By the time he finished in the kitchen and took his turn on watch, it was dark when he returned to Nami's room. Taking off his shirt and folding in next to his pants, a striped boxer clad Sanji crawled into bed next to the still slumbering navigator.
She rolled closer to him the instant his weight was fully on the bed. He couldn't help but smile as he put his arms around her. Just being close to her made him happy and content. The only thing he wanted to make it better was her to place his ring on her finger and say to him that this was the way it was going to be forever.
"Long night?" She mumbled as she snuggled into his chest.
"Well, you did send Luffy upstairs for me to baby-sit. But for you I'd deal with a hundred Luffys." He said kissing her hair.
"You'd run out of food really fast." She giggled after a yawn.
"Are you still tired?"
"A little... you wore me out."
"Nami, would you join me for a romantic supper tomorrow?" He asked trying to avoid sounding nervous.
"Sanji, is something wrong? Of course I'll have supper with you. Now get some sleep, you sound all stressed out or something." She told him as she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Night."
Sanji waited as she drifted back asleep. He was amazed at the level she had changed. When he first met the lovely navigator and got to know her, she never seemed like the cuddly type. She was so cold. Yet now, especially when they were alone, Nami looked like she enjoyed having him there to sleep next to every night.
He knew she loved him, and he told her constantly that he loved her... but there was something missing yet... she had only told him a couple times of how she felt.
'Ah well, we'll talk tomorrow... and I'm not backing down.' He told himself before he kissed Nami once more before falling asleep next to her.
Ok, another chapter done. Having fun are we? I just want to thank the reviewers that keep clicking that little button there chapter after chapter. I appreciate the reviews. I have to admit, I am a little attention whore-ish with the hit count and review tally. So indulge me, will ya?
Like what you read? More fluff? Less fluff? More action? Or just randomness is always fun. So whatever you got, leave it here.
