Vacation

"...we're thinking that maybe you need a break." - Long John Bronze

Nami grinned to herself as the blacksmith, turned sailor, offered her another slice of meat. She accepted it. The two men, Bronze and Toga, had quite cunningly avoided her fury. The kitchen was still a mess and eggs stained the walls, the pots were all used and burnt foods were stuck to the bottom. However, miraculously, she didn't get angry at them. When she returned from outside she had been on the hunt for blood, someone was going to be murdered. But, Toga had offered her a coffee – she had rum instead – and then guided her to a seat at the dining table, looking all humble and apologetic, promising that it wasn't his fault and that throwing eggs was Sirence's idea, as was burning the food and everything else. Bronze on the other hand filled her plate with food and insisted she eat it. The meat was tough and she ended up chewing it for five minutes. By the time she swallowed she didn't have the heart to murder them and Bronze brought out the more tender meat and gave the rest to Toga – to shut him up.

Sirence sat by himself down the other end of the table, looking slightly refreshed. His eyes, which usually remained half-closed, had widened resembling more like his brothers.

Bronze immediately pounced on him. "Ha! You've got puppy-dog eyes just like your brother, Sirence!"

Sirence looked at him and purposefully dropped his eyelids.

Toga snorted into his dinner, chewing furiously.

Nami wiped her mouth delicately. "That was nice, thankyou."

The bartender waved away the compliment with his electronic arm. "Not at all miss Nami."

There came an audible gulp. "Well," the blacksmith got to his feet stretching, "I'm of'ta the bunks, righ'. 'Night, Nami, girlie-mate. Hav'a good sleep Bronze," he turned to his brother and made a face. "Keep away from Nami's room, go' it?" He warned and went into the next room.

Bronze stood up and yawned, the sound amplified by his nose. "Goodnight captain," he patted her on the head. "You too, Sirence," he clapped the skinny man on the shoulder before going out.

Nami stared at the empty plates that remained on the table and sighed. There came a clink of silverware, she looked up to an opened gloved hand, she frowned.

"Uw plaat."

Confused, she lifted her plate. He nodded, his spectacles glinting in the light as she passed it to him. Sirence then collected the other two plates and put them into the sink. She glared at him until he opened the door to the deck and took his job as night watch. Nami then turned to the kitchen and shook her head. She wasn't one for cleaning such messes. She got up and went to bed. "I'll do it in the morning," she muttered, sandwiching her head between her pillows.

He opened an eye and quickly closed it. He saw no point in waking up and listening to Chopper's complicated plans of escape – especially since he was enjoying himself. So the food wasn't the best, but it was a relief to not taste Sanji's over dramatic style of cooking for once and whoever the cook was in the prison was darn good at making gruel taste awful. Then there was the silence, calm, peaceful, blissful silence – with the odd throb in the head from where the gun shot got him. There came movement from his right side, as Chopper nudged his arm.

"Zoro?" He squeaked quietly. "Are you awake?"

"Hmm."

"I heard the guard talking down the corridor…it was about Luffy."

Zoro's eye snapped open and trained its sight onto the reindeer boy. "Did he escape?"

Chopper had tears welling up in his eyes. "No…but…they're going to execute him!" The small creature burst into tears. "Oh Zoro!" He rubbed his face into the swordsman's shirt. "What can we do?"

Zoro patted the doctor's pink hat. "Don't worry about it, Luffy'll be right. Just stop fretting and go to sleep." He closed the eye.

"Zoro! ZORO!" Chopper shook his arm frantically.

But the swordsman snored on.

Toga pulled hard on the rope as the sails unfurled, he waved at Bronze who eagerly steered the ship into the crisp wind. The two men thumped each other on the back as the sun slowly rose above the ocean.

The hull gave a groan. Nami's eyes flew open and turned to the golden light streaming through the porthole. She pulled back her sheets, stood up and made her way to the round window. The sea and sky blended together on the horizon and below her the waves were being sliced away by the speed of the ship. Unlocking the latch, Nami leaned herself out of the room. The wind whistled past her, whipping back her hair; she looked up along the ships side and spotted Sirence leaning on the rails looking out at sea.

She cupped her hands and called up to him. The dark eyes tilted downwards.

"Why are we moving?" She called.

In response, the pale man, clad in skin tight black, extended an arm to something in the far distance. Nami shielded her eyes with a frown as she made out a small yet notable island. Feeling the rise of hope and joy, she called back. "Is that Acropolis Island?"

The man shook his slick head and disappeared.

Furious, Nami edged her way back into her cabin and marched up stairs to the deck above. She opened the door to the kitchen and stopped – it was clean. There were no egg stains on the walls, the pans hung ready and gleaming in he light. Nami frowned.

"Righ' right'," crowed Toga, hooking arms with the larger Bronze, "an' then the big ol' bears, ya know the ones I'm talkin' 'bout, don't'cha?"

Bronze nodded.

The blacksmith turned to his brother seated on one of the deck chairs, reading. "Ya know the bears, righ' bro?" His brother nodded. "Hahahahahahahahaha…DUCK!"

Sirence looked up in time to receive a head-full of blue clima-tact. Nami loomed over the man as he hurriedly put the glasses back on top of his nose.

"You're on my deck chair," she hissed darkly, pointing sharply to the one beside hers. "You can sit on that."

Rubbing the large bruise that had formed rapidly on the side of his white head, the linguist took his seat on Robin's chair.

Toga snorted. "Well, I can't say ya didn't deserve it, mate."

"Shut-up," she snapped, reclaiming back her chair and sitting down. "Why is the ship moving without my consent?"

"You see, captain," began Bronze, "Toga and I…"

"And Sirence," Toga added.

"Yeah, were thinking that maybe you need a break."

Nami rolled her eyes. "Break? What makes you think that I need a break?"

"We understand an' all that me brother is quite a han'-ful," the brown eyes narrowed at Sirence. "So we thought ya need a break. I can tell ye're real stressed 'n' worried."

The navigator massaged her temple. "Look, maybe you don't know the seriousness of it all," she said. "But my captain and crewmates have been tricked, beaten up and chucked into some cell on some island that doesn't even show up on the map! And then I have some blacksmith lackey who goes saying I'm stressed and worried? OF COURSE I'M STRESSED AND WORRIED WHO WOULDN'T BE!"

Toga blinked his round eyes and turned to Bronze. "Told ya she needs a break."

"I'M NOT STRESSED OR WORRIED!"

"An' denial is the onset," he sniggered, winking at Bronze.

"I'M NOT IN DENIAL!"

"Prove it, girlie-mate," dared Toga, placing his hands on his hips, "go on, I dare ya!"

Nami stood up angrily. "Fine!" She barked. "I will! You had better have brought your bathers."

Toga grinned innocently. "I always come prepared!" He turned to the silent book-reader. "I brought a pair for ya too, bro!"

Giri: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up.

Translation:

- uw plaat - your plate - Dutch

"Your plate."

Confused, she lifted her plate. He nodded, his spectacles glinting in the light as she passed it to him.

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