notes: I couldn't not write this. Besides, just as all the Zoro-oriented angst going on in "Snow Queen" has to be balanced, so do I need to find an outlet for all the Sanji-drama.
"Whirlpools, Mauloseums, and a Natural Limestone Cavern" (part 1)
Sanji woke in the middle of the night to the sound of sobbing. Normally he wouldn't have cared - if it wasn't Usopp, it was Zoro whimpering about "Kuina." What the hell was a Kuina? Sanji got the vague idea it was some type of fruit but never quite got around to asking.
Anyway.
Tonight, however, was different. The sobbing was different. It was...female. It was woeful. It was filled with the choked, heart-wrenching cries of a young lady trying to put a brave face on anguish.
Sanji didn't even have to think. His body out of the hammock and across the floor within seconds, moving on automatic seek-and-comfort mode.
"Nami my dove," he called softly, gently rapping on the usually forbidden door dividing the men's and women's quarters. "Is everything all right?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Sanji cursed inwardly. Was everything all right? What kind of idiot question was that? People who were all right didn't cry loudly at 3 in the morning. Not that, he amended hastily, Nami wasn't all right. No, she was surely perfection itself, and if she wanted to sob in the adjoining room instead of up in the crow's nest, then that was just peachy by Sanji. It was an honor to be shaken out of sleep by such melodious wailing. But if there was anything, anything at all that he could do to make her weeping more comfortable - more tissues, a sad song, some cheap mascara - then Sanji felt he needed to know.
"S-s-Sanji?" Nami's sweet, sweet voice came quavering back to him through the door. "I...is that you? Do you mind...coming in for a bit?"
"Darling Nami, I thought you'd never ask!" Sanji flung the door open and bounded through. Finally! After years of perfecting his own, vastly misunderstood method of seduction, he was finally being invited into a girl's room! Just in time, Sanji remembered to check his enthusiasm and put on the appropriate expression of somber concern instead. "What can I do for- oh dear god, what happened?" Sanji skidded to a halt, frozen with shock.
Nami looked a wreck. She was a complete opposite of the Nami that Sanji knew, loved, and had been beaten up by so well. Her orange hair was tangled, and the tears streaming down her pretty face had dripped onto her nightshirt in ragged, salty trails. Sanji noted absently that Nami was one step ahead of him on the mascara front. Her eyes were practically caked with the stuff, as if she'd wanted to get the most streakage possible in one sitting. A horrible, alarmed thought welled up in Sanji's brain before he could suppress it. Could it be? Had this been a pre-meditated crying session?
"Oh, Sanji!" Nami held her arms out to him. His body back again on autopilot, Sanji careened into her embrace, and all but swooned as Nami buried her wet little face in his chest. Any and all suspicious promptly went flying out the window. He didn't even care that the mascara was like a death-knell to his silk pajamas.
"What is it, Nami?" Sanji asked, his voice deep and gentle. "You know you can tell me anything."
Nami quivered against him. "I know," she gulped. "It may look like I'm bantering with Usopp or discussing our itinerary with Zoro while barely giving you the time of day, but Sanji, you and your baked desserts are the only ones who truly understand me! Don't leave me! You have to help me. You have to save me...from myself!"
"I will, Nami my lost dove, I will!" Sanji promised, even as his heart gave a jealous little twinge at having to compete against his own baked goods. It didn't seem fair, somehow. "What's troubling you? Did Marimo insult your utter perfection? Did Luffy eat your portion of dinner? Did Chopper not perform a thorough medical exam on your hangnail like I told him to? Not to worry, my cherub. I will kick all their asses."
Nami sobbed again, bringing Sanji back to reality. "No," she wept, "It's not that. It's just...tonight...is the anniversary of the first night I spent alone after Bellemere died. Bellemere..!" Nami's voice rose to an anguished howl. Nervously, Sanji glanced over at Robin's form on the other side of the room, but the older woman never even stirred. His attention snapped back to Nami as the navigator wailed, "Why did you leave me alone! Why did you have to die? You left me alone...all, all alone..." She collapsed back into a shattered pile of sobs.
Sanji patted her back gingerly. "Er, Nami, my dewdrop of perfection," he said hesitantly. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but...I thought you'd made peace with your mother's death? Changing your tattoo...saying you'd become a pirate anyway if she were still alive...Genzo's crap pinwheel...?"
"I have not made peace!" Nami's screech was muffled somewhat by Sanji's nightshirt. "The tattoo means nothing! The pinwheel means nothing! Do you understand? The important thing is" her hands gripped Sanji's shoulders with alarming strength, "that Bellemere is dead and I once was very upset about it and I will continue to mark the anniversary of her passing with lamentation and grief! It's my party and I'll cry if I damn well want to!"
"Of course you will," Sanji said soothingly. "You have every right to behave as though you never found closure at Arlong Park. Finding meaning in death is overrated anyway."
"Oh, Sanji." Nami's slim, frail body went limp in his arms, and he gathered her even closer. How he'd dreamed of this moment! How he'd longed for this early morning! Admittedly, smudged mascara had not played a major part in Sanji's fantasies, but he wasn't going to be bothered by small details. He just wanted to be with Nami forever and always, just like this. "I'm so tired," Nami was saying. Sanji nodded understandingly. "It's black, Sanji. Everything's black. It's like...it's like...I'm being tossed round and round in a whirlpool of despair."
"...A whirlpool of despair..." Sanji murmured. He felt the tears springing to his own eyes as he imagined the maelstrom that must have been raging within Nami. How could he ever have begrudged his desserts the attention they deserved! If sweet confections could soothe even a fraction of the chaos in Nami's soul, then he'd feed her sweets morning, noon, and night! Sanji started to weep, his tears mingling with Nami's own. It was only some minutes later that he realized she had fallen asleep. Gently, the golden-haired cook laid Nami back down on the bed and covered her snugly with the blanket. He slipped off the mattress and went back to the door. Before going through the threshold, Sanji turned around for one last look at the slumbering navigator.
"Sleep peacefully, sweet Nami," he whispered. "I, Sanji, vow to lift you out of the whirlpool of despair and back onto the dry land of happiness." He closed the door and went back to bed.
In her sleep, Nami smiled. For the first time since Bellemere had died and left her alone (all alone...), Nami slept peacefully and dreamt well.
It was a dream about cake.
-----
notes: Will the morning bring peace or pain to our
troubled navigator? What happens when Zoro tells Sanji an unpleasant
truth? What horrible secret does Usopp unveil? Find out, not
necessarily next time, in "Whirlpools, Mauloseums, and a Natural
Limestone Cavern" (part 2)!
