A little conversation

I knocked on Nami's door. "Hey," I asked, "can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure."

As I opened the door, Nami put her maps away. "What do you want?" she asked me.

"I just wanted to know when we're landing on the next island." I said.

"Well," she started, "the next island is Yikiryu Island. It's a winter island so be prepared. We'll land there by tomorrow morning."

"Alright. Well thanks Nami."

As I went to shut the door, Nami told me to wait.

"Yeah? What do you want?"

"Well...I've been meaning to ask you but I never had the chance too...what did the pirates look like? What was their flag? Right now you're just wandering around with us, hoping that somehow you'll find a clue to Makino's wherabouts or even find the pirates who took her."

I sighed. I had already looked for the pirates' flag throughout all the wanted posters we had on the ship. I couldn't find him, but maybe Nami could ahold of ones that weren't on the ship and find out.

I had to think back to that awful day. "Well, their jolly roger was pretty interesting. Instead of two crossbones diagnol from the skull, they were horizontal and parallel swords. One hilt was on either side of the skull and they were both going through the skull."

She sketched out the flag on a piece of paper.

"Sort of like this?" she asked me.

"Yeah, exactly."

She thought for a moment. "No...I've never heard of any group like that, though for some reason, it does seem familiar...I'll have to think about it. When we land, I'll try to look for them."

"Alright." I went to shut the door again. "Thanks Nami."

"Wait."

"Again? What is it?"

"Well...why do you love Makino?"

I was taken aback. I wasn't expecting anything like that. At all.

"Uhh...well...I love the way her eyes would light up in the sunset and the way they wrinkled up when she was laughing. I loved the sound of her laughter. I loved how stubborn she could be. But that's just scratching the surface. I could go on for ages. Why?"

"It's just...I don't know...I know Luffy and everyone would save me if I was in trouble, but I don't feel anyone will want to be with me, and not for my looks.

"What about Sanji? He definitely likes you."

"He doesn't count."

"Why not?

"Because...he's Sanji."

That didn't really make sense to me, but whatever. The only girl I understood was Makino, and that was rarely.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't flaunt your looks so much."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, instead of wearing a bikini and tight jeans, why don't you wear a sweater and loose fitting jeans? Not saying that you won't be attractive then but you won't be flaunting it. That way, someone who approaches you has a bigger chance of talking to you because of your character. Besides, you gotta remember, I met Makino long before I became a pirate. It's probably hard to meet someone as a pirate, you know, with us ending up fighting half the people we run into and what not."

She seemed to consider this.

"Yeah, you're right I guess. Thanks Church."

"Sure. But one question. Why me? I mean I'm the newest one here."

"Think about it. Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji are all out for obvious reasons."

I nodded. There was no way any of them were going to be of any help.

"Franky and Brook are pretty much in the same boat as those three. Chopper's too young to understand. So it was you, Usopp or Robin. I was going to talk to Robin, and I probably still am but..." she shrugged. "You were right here, so I thought I might as well ask."

I finally got out the door. Even if it did make sense to talk to me about her problems, I was still surprised. She didn't seem like the type of girl who seemed like she would care about boys...especially with people like Sanji on board...

As soon as I thought that, Sanji twirled on by with three martinis on a tray and hispink kiss the cook apron on, yelling, "Nami-swan! Robin-chwan! Your drinks of love are ready!"

I sniggered quietly. If not for the fact that he swooned over every girl that walked by, I would swear that he was totally gay.