7.) Solitude
"Sorry I'm late," Nami said as she poked her head up through the entryway into the crow's nest.
Usopp jumped and clutched at his chest, his head snapping around to where he knew she was hidden by the shadows, his concentration on the dark ocean waves immediately shattered.
"You know I'm coming every single time, and you still get scared," she teased, sitting next to him on the bench that wrapped around the room.
"I don't get scared every single time!"
"Sure."
She wasn't sure how long they'd been doing this - this whole ritual of sharing the night watch together - but it had become a staple in their friendship. She knew half the reason Usopp craved company when he had watch duty was simply because he didn't particularly enjoy solitude in general.
Nami was fairly sure she was probably the only one on the ship that had an idea of Usopp's upbringing. And it had been odd, that one time the topic had come up.
They'd been chatting idly one evening, him with his nose in his sketchbook and her hovering over a map, eyes on their own projects, when the topic of tattoos had come up for whatever reason. That had led to the discussion of things that often came with negative stereotypes, like smoking cigarettes.
"My mother smoked cigarettes," Nami said with a smile at the fond memories that popped into her head. She'd always secretly liked Sanji's bad habit because of the association.
"Your family sure is interesting. You said your mom was a marine, right?"
"Yeah, and you should've seen her hair. The sides were shaved!"
"Wow. She sounds pretty tough."
Nami looked up at him and smirked. "You'd probably be afraid of her as soon as you saw her."
"Most likely," he agreed earnestly. "I wonder if your mom and my dad ever fought each other," he mused.
"That never occurred to me. But… it's very likely possible - she was stationed in East Blue, you know. If your dad was as talented as Luffy said he was, then there's certainly a chance they bumped into each other."
Usopp laughed at the irony of the idea - of their parents locked in battle, not knowing that their future children would become… as close as he and Nami had grown over the course of their adventures.
"What about your mother? Luffy and Zoro and I never met her back in that village of yours."
The sharpshooter finally looked up at Nami and smiled. He didn't say anything for a minute, and it wasn't until she finally glanced away from her work and over at him that she already knew his answer. He was opening his mouth, trying to speak, but he couldn't quite force the words.
"I'm sorry," Nami said quietly.
"It's okay," he responded quickly, lightening his expression. "She, uh, was very nice. And quiet. She probably wouldn't know how to even respond to your family, if your mother was as… spunky as you and your sister."
Nami had forgotten that Usopp had met and conversed extensively with her sister. Nojiko had mentioned it to her before she left for the Grand Line.
The conversation that night had shifted to easier, safer topics after that.
So, going on that tidbit of information and the fact that Usopp never spoke honestly of his childhood (he had plenty of stories to tell of his wondrous adventures as a kid, but he never mentioned or even hinted at the reality of his earlier life), Nami deduced that the sniper had spent many crucial years utterly alone in an empty house.
She wanted to say something. She wanted him to know she was lonely, too, at times. But as she sat beside him there in the crow's nest, watching the black rolling sea with him, she let silence win again.
