~Chapter Twenty-One~

It was another four days until they reached the crew, and through most of it, Nami was steadily silent. She'd pretty much accepted the logic that they'd already gone too far to turn back and truly make a difference, not with the currents and winds pushing them towards the crew rather than Redgrove. She decided to have a little faith in Luffy's judgment that he'd 'take care of it'. She might be furious with his decision, but even she couldn't deny that when it came to things like this, he had a good head about him.

As the days passed, she became aware of another fact that continued to burn her ire. Luffy probably didn't remember the mind-blowing sex they'd had before she'd gotten so sick. He acted like absolutely nothing was different, and that made her even more mad at him. He'd started the whole debacle that night by pinning her to a wall and kissing her. He should take responsibility for that and not ignore it, damn it! So while she didn't exactly put it past him to literally ignore it, she had a better feeling that he was unable to remember it, as often happened when her captain imbibed.

But that was no excuse! It MEANT something to Nami. Damn it again, though because she probably never gonna be able to tell him that.

She sighed and leaned her head back against the edge of the skiff, feeling irritable. In the distance, a wave shifted, crested, and broke, and suddenly she could see the distant outline of an island. Elated, she sat up, grabbed her telescope, and brought it to her eye. It was still a little far, but she could see a ship moored at the shore. The Lion's Head was hard to miss. The Sunny-Go.

"Luffy, the crew!" she pointed, the first real and honest words she'd said to him in days, a genuine smile on her face, easing the lines of stress that had been present for weeks now.

The crew... was her haven. They were her family, her everything... And since she set out for the Chalice, she thought she was never going to see them again.

He'd taken her silent treatment in stride, letting her have her time to stew. She was still recovering from her near-death experience so he figured it was good for her to have some down time. Of course, after four days of not talking to her, to SOMEONE, he was ready to explode.

It wasn't for lack of trying to engage her too. He'd made some serious efforts to talk to her about something but she just brushed him off with some snappy, short remark that left chills over his skin it was so icy. She was seriously pissed off at him and he could understand it to a point, but geez… after over 72 hours of it, he was done.

So when she sat up and shouted that the crew was on that island up ahead, he was pumped. The crew… someone to talk to, real food and a doctor to help Nami recover. Because it was getting tense between them.

They pulled into the surf and he jumped out once the water was below his knees and dragged the boat in. On the sand, the scene was so normal that it filled him with elation. Tikka, Robin and Franky were sunbathing and Zoro was sleeping in a hammock strung up in the shade. Sanji was cooking something delicious over an open fire and Usopp was entertaining Chopper with a new invention. Brook still wasn't back yet, but it was still absolute perfection.

"Hey guys!" he hollered and everyone's heads snapped up. He grinned wide and laughed as they all waved back to him and shouted greetings. He turned and helped Nami out of the skiff, lifting her easily by her waist and setting her carefully in the sand. He kept one hand latched to her arm below her shoulder, in case she decided to fall over or something. This was the first time she was actually standing.

"Hey, Luffy," Zoro called, his eyes sleepy still, "Oh look, you found Nami…" he yawned.

"You're a week and a half late," Sanji scolded, working his spatula, a cigarette dangling from his lips, "We've been waiting a long time for you."

"Sorry!" Luffy rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish grin, "Got wrapped up in a crazy adventure… what are you cooking? I'm starving…"

"Figures. Some meat, just for you, you monster." Sanji flipped something over the grill then turned to Nami and made a perfect pirouette over to her, "Nami-SWANNNN!" he exclaimed before dropping to his knees in front of her and grabbing her hands, "I've missed you like the moon misses the stars!" he kissed her knuckles.

She laughed and smiled and said hello to him. Luffy chuckled and rolled his eyes and he peeled her away from his cook before the guy started to bleed from the nose and over to Chopper. Sanji legit skipped away, exclaiming about making her a revitalizing drink or some shit.

"Hey, Chopper! Got a second?" Luffy asked, "I want you to look over Nami. She got real sick over our adventure."

"I'm fine now, Luffy," she mumbled to him. He promptly ignored her.

Chopper glanced at them both and then nodded, "Sure, I can take a look. How are you feeling now, Nami? What were your symptoms?" he switched into his Heavy Point to guide her away from the crew to the shade under a tree for a little more privacy. Nami glanced over her shoulder at Luffy with a furrowed brow that looked like she might want to clobber him in the near future before her and the doctor started talking really low to each other.

Satisfied, Luffy turned away and headed for Zoro.

Nami was grateful when Luffy helped her out of the boat, even though she was trying to be mad at him. This was made even harder when he demanded that Chopper take care of her. It was such a protective, heart-warming gesture that her stern features faltered for a moment.

Chopper took her arm and pulled her away from Luffy. She glanced back at him, irked because really, she felt fine, but then he smiled at her and she looked away quickly. Time away from the captain would be good for her health, she thought.

So she followed Chopper into the shade, where he quickly brought over his medicine bag and began giving her a check-up. His expression turned grim from his results, especially after he wrestled the story about the pills out of her.

"That's really dangerous, Nami... to think you could extend your death by going through withdrawals purposefully puts a lot of strain on your body. You almost died! Without that antidote, you would have. Even more of that drug, at this point, would not have saved you." Chopper lectured her, and Nami took it in silence. She understood, but she had had no choice.

And she was alive, thanks to Luffy.

Her eyes flickered over to the captain, then quickly away. She wasn't ready to forgive him yet... especially since there was this awkward tension about that night…

Sighing, she leaned back and let Chopper do his work.

Tikka sat up when a commotion roused her. She was delighted to see that Luffy and Nami were back, and eagerly greeted her along with everyone else. Then she noticed something. Because, hey, living with a gay guy made you particularly good at finding and identifying drama.

There was an unusual tension between them.

Tension in and of itself was not cause for alarm. In fact, as long as Tikka had known Nami, she knew something was off about the woman. She was convinced she had yet to see the true Nami. But there was something very different about this terseness. It was less about Nami as a person and more about… Luffy too. The captain was involved somehow. They seemed too aware of each other yet at the same time extremely distant for two people who just spent two weeks away from the crew.

Tikka's eyes narrowed, and she leaned forward to prop her elbows on her knees, watching closely.

"Ow! Tikka baby, I see that look in your eyes….what mischief are you plotting?" Franky asked with a puzzled tone to his voice. Robin lounged in her chair next to him, her nose in a history novel and a smile curled her lips. She said nothing, however.

Tikka laughed, glanced from Robin to Franky, and rolled her eyes. "Franky, you're seeing things. I'm nothing but sunshine and innocence," she gave him a glowing smile that actually brought something of a quick laugh out of Robin, "Besides, you wouldn't know true mischief if it hit you in the face with a brick." She giggled, "Robin sees what I see."

The scholarly woman pursed her lips together, her eyes never leaving her page, "I'm just reading my book," she pointed out, too innocently in Tikka's opinion. Nothing slipped by that woman.

Tikka laughed as Franky snorted and rolled over onto his front, muttering about crazy swords women and their secret woman talk. She just shook her head, gave Robin a wry look to which the woman glanced at her sidelong and shrugged minutely, and turned back to staring at Nami.

Nami continued talking to Chopper and mid-sentence, Tikka watched as the navigator's eyes sought out Luffy, who was waking up Zoro. The swordswoman glanced at Luffy, who glanced up and caught Nami looking at him. He smiled, she turned her face away from him with a huff, but Tikka didn't miss it. That woman was blushing. Totally and shamelessly blushing. Luffy's response? A shrug and starting talking to Zoro again. But Tikka had seen enough to form a hypothesis, as unbelievable in her head as it was about to be when it came out of her mouth.

Cackling, she shot out of her lounge chair and headed over to Nami for a chat.

Nami had managed to finally shoo Chopper away, saying she wanted to rest. He grumbled and agreed, saying he wanted to debrief with Luffy anyway. No sooner had she spread out a towel and waved at Sanji to bring her a stiff drink than she suddenly had company again.

"Hey Nami, I've missed you," Tikka said with a grin as she plopped herself down in front of the redhead.

Nami blinked, and couldn't help but grin back at the white-haired young woman. In the short time they'd been nakama, Nami had come to adore her. "Tikka, how are things?"

"Great! Bagged me a Zoro, and my daddy approves! Ain't that great?" Tikka winked, glanced over at Zoro, and licked her lips in a way that had Nami rolling with laughter at the swordsman's flaming face as he paused mid-conversation with Luffy.

"That's... well, good for you!" Nami supplied, smiling and shaking her head. She'd been so wrapped up in her own head that she'd almost forgotten that Zoro and Tikka had had a strange and turbulent romance before she'd left.

"It is... it's fucking fantastic," Tikka grinned and Nami didn't miss the way that innocent smile slowly sank into something devilish. The white-haired woman scooted closer to her, "I can't help but notice that you seem a little… tense, for someone who just got back from a glorious vacation with our sexy captain."

Nami's jaw dropped and she floundered for a minute, unsure of how to respond, "Luffy's not… It wasn't…" she didn't know what to say first; to blatantly deny Luffy's sexuality or that she wasn't on a vacation or both, "It was a very stressful trip. I'm thankful to be back with the crew."

Tikka dropped her chin into her hand, "Tell me about it."

So, hesitantly and very careful to leave out anything that had to do with the captain and the kissing or the sex or whatever, Nami recapped the Reader's Digest version of her adventure. Tikka was attentive and the perfect audience member, nodding and gasping and shouting angrily in all the right places and for some reason, that felt very suspicious to Nami.

"Wow…" Tikka gasped softly at the end, "That sounds incredible…"

"It was," Nami agreed.

"One thing though that's not clear to me," Tikka started, "I'm confused on the timeline a little. Did you fuck the captain before you got to the island or after you felt better?" Tikka whispered that last bit covertly, and Nami's jaw practically hit the ground as she gaped in horror at Tikka, who burst into laughter and crowded closer to the navigator and dropped her voice.

"Relax, Nami, I'm a gifted woman... Loo taught me well in the art of paying attention to potential gossip, but I won't tell. Besides, I can see you need rest. Just take my advice... don't dwell, on whatever it is you are dwelling on... the reward can be soooo good." And with that, Tikka winked, got to her feet, and strutted back over to her lawn chair with a certain sass and sway to her hip that drew Zoro's eye as she purposefully eased herself slowly and sensuously onto the lawn chair.

"Ow! Tikka! You're basically begging for a super spanking!" Franky half growled, half laughed at her before he promptly turned his head towards Robin instead, and closed his eyes. Tikka ignored him with a smirk and settled her sunglasses on her eyes once more.

A/N:

One Piece belongs to Shonen Jump and Eichiiro Oda. We thank them for their genius and giving us characters to torture. The script is ours.

Credits:

Luffy: Jesachi

Nami: Goldensomething

Sub-characters: Combined Effort

Copyright 2011-2012