~Epilogue~

Seven Years Later

She came awake to the knowledge that her bedroom was blessedly silent. This would have been a welcome silence any other night, but tonight, it told her that she was sleeping alone.

Nami rolled over and glanced at the clock. Just after midnight. She patted a hand out to the space beside her, finding it empty of a rubber man that normally slept beside her every night. Where the hell was he? Midnight snack?

She flipped over onto her back and sat up a little with a groan, rubbing her hand over the bump that was growing there, large enough that it made shimmying into her favorite jeans in the morning difficult at best. A thought occurred to her and her hand stilled on her belly. She had a sneaky suspicion as to where Luffy was…

She padded out of her bedroom, snagging her silk robe off the back of the door on the way out and headed down the hall. Since their pirating days came to a close, the whole of the Straw Hat nakama had relocated and essentially taken over a small fishing island village in the northern, remote stretches of the East Blue. The villagers, having been a previously rebel island before Luffy became the Pirate King, had been open-armed about taking in the Straw Hats and letting them settle on the island. The crew had set up a little estate of sorts just outside the village, with each nakama having their own residence. Luffy and Nami had their own, Tikka and Zoro had one, Franky and Robin were housed together – their relationship was strange and secret, even among family – and they had Chopper with them. Brook and Sanji lived together and when Usopp was home he stayed there too, but lots of his time was spent in Syrup Village with Kaya. Sanji had the biggest kitchen obviously and every meal time was spent at his house.

Despite each having a house, there wasn't much that the Straw Hat crew still didn't do together.

At the end of the hall and to the right was another room with the door ajar. She pushed it open softly, smiling at the sound of light snores echoing through the room. This room… was customized specifically for its only occupant, with a bed in the shape of a ship's bow, a crow's nest and even a net leading up to the Straw Hat Jolly Roger flying…

She climbed the short little ladder and glanced up at the deck and rolled her eyes. Strung up between two hooks was a small hammock and laying in that hammock with his arms and legs dangling over the edges was the King of the Pirates. Laying over his chest, drooling slightly, his little body rising and falling softly, was Monkey D. Raion, four years old and a spitting image of his father. The infamous straw hat was pulled low over his face, engulfing his head. On the floor around the hammock were scraps of paper, ink, pens and her Log Pose. She made a face. She couldn't hide that thing from her four-year-old no matter how hard she tried.

Nami propped her elbows on the deck and tipped her chin in her hand, watching them sleep for a minute. As if he sensed her presence, the snoring suddenly stopped and Luffy cracked open one of his eyes and smirked at her, successfully dropping her heart into her stomach still, even after all these years together. She decided that he only got better with age…

"Hey, wifey…" he whispered, shifting slightly. Raion made a fussing noise and Luffy braced an arm against the back of the child's head and ducked out of the hammock swiftly, not disturbing him one bit. He tucked the toddler against his shoulder and crawled across the play deck, the ceiling too low for him to stand. He leaned over the deck to steal a hot kiss from her, leaving her a little dazed, "You shouldn't be climbing ladders in your condition…"

She blinked at him, "You shouldn't be sleeping in hammocks four sizes too small for you…" she replied quietly, stepping down to the floor and giving him some space to climb down as well, "What were you doing up there?"

Luffy walked over to the ship-shaped bed and laid the little boy in it, straw hat and all, "We were drawing maps and pretending to sail around the Grand Line, on the run from the World Government. They wanted our treasure map," he reached up to the deck and grabbed a piece of paper for her to look at, "I'm no cartographer, but I thought it was good."

She assessed the paper with a critical eye. For a toddler, he was damned good. It was a detailed drawing of the estate including the pool, courtyard, and dojo with an X to mark the treasure. He'd inherited all her mapping and navigation skills… and all his father's craziness. She smiled, "It's very good. Fridge worthy, I think."

Luffy grinned and ducked his head to give her a swift kiss as they walked out of the bedroom, "He laughed at my map. Laughed at it! Four years old and he said "Dad, your map sucks," he's hanging around Zoro too much." He shut the door behind them.

"Well, your ability to draw leaves much to be desired."

"That's why I keep you around, my sexy navigator," he slipped a hand down her back to get a good hold on her ass, "Mmm… can we still have sex this pregnant?"

She shoved at his chest, "Luffy! You ask every day and the answer is always the same. Yes, it's fine," her tone of voice was completely at odds with the butterflies that erupted in her stomach or the way she gave up way too fast and he took that opportunity to grab her up and whisk her into their bedroom and flop her onto the bed. He untied the sash that held her robe together and his breath caught. She glanced down and a wicked grin spread over her face. She'd forgotten that she wore this to bed…

"Did you wear this to tease me on purpose?" he asked, his voice acquiring that deep rumble that told her he was deeply aroused. He plucked the buttons of the well-loved, ratty red vest from his pirating days, slowly revealing her skin.

"Maybe…" she murmured. For some reason, when she wore his clothes, he got pumped, "I wasn't expecting to be alone in the bed for so long…"

"My bad," he apologized, placing his mouth on her neck, sending a shiver up her spine, "I'll make it up to you…"

She laughed at him, "Oh, I'm sure you will…"

By the time morning came around, Nami and Luffy weren't the only ones in their bed. Raion had slipped in sometime in the middle of the night, a habit he started that she was trying hard to get him to break. It had been difficult to explain to a four year old why mommy and daddy slept naked…

Thankfully, her and Luffy had also gotten into the habit of having clothing on.

He was snuggled against her, his face in her chest and the straw hat in his hands. They made a train of spooning; Luffy curved around her back, his arm under her pillow and the other over her waist and touching Raion's back. Nami sighed happily and pressed deeper against Luffy and pulled Raion closer to her. Both of them made noises of protest before falling back to sleep. She took a moment to completely appreciate the sanctity of the morning. This was absolutely everything and anything she could have ever asked for. She smirked, wondering; had she not played that game with Luffy that one night and got him so completely sloshed that they had drunken sex, would any of this had happened? Could that one… fluke in judgment, really have brought her here, to this surreal morning?

If it did, it was hands down, her favorite mistake.

Luffy shifted behind her and she turned her head slightly to see that he had one eye open and was glancing at her, "Nami," he whispered, "I'm starving… do we have anything in the fridge?"

"You ate the leftovers last night."

"Damn it… do you think Sanji's up cooking breakfast yet?"

"Probably. He knows I'm up early with this baby…"

Luffy made a noise of satisfaction in the back of his throat, "He makes great food when you're pregnant. You should be pregnant all the time. I don't mind helping you with that…" he threaded his hand over her hip and nestled it between her thighs.

"You are insatiable," she rolled her eyes at him and yet, had Raion not been in the bed, she would have rolled over and let him have his wicked way with her.

"You love it."

"Only because you're made of rubber and therefore can do things no other man can."

He chuckled, "I do my best," he kissed her nose and just like that, he rolled out of the bed in search of food, leaving her to snuggle their toddler in their bed. As he pulled on shorts and a tee shirt, she turned to appreciate the rippling muscles over his body and as if he sensed her gaze – which he probably did – he glanced over his shoulder at her and her heart did a little flip in her chest. God, she loved him.

He came back to the bed and crawled into it and pressed his lips to her neck, "You make it hard to leave," he told her.

"Then don't."

"But I'm hungry…" he whined, like the decision was terribly difficult for him. Which, it probably was.

"Then go find food, baka."

His grin got wider and he kissed her, "Love you," he crawled off the bed and disappeared to go find food. She heard the predictable sound of longing when he opened the fridge only to confirm she was right about the leftovers, then the front door opening and closing as he went over to bug Sanji. She shook her head with a smile and rolled over to crush Raion to her. His reply was to squirm and make whining noises at her.

"I love you, my little prince," she sighed.

"I trying to sleep, mumma. Leave me 'lone," he replied, his tone so much like his father's. She laughed softly at him and released him a little. He clung to her tank top and grabbed the straw hat with his other hand and ducked his face into it with a little sigh.

And Nami… was happy.

A/N:

WHAT A JOURNEY THIS HAS BEEN! I can't explain to you what an endeavor this has been for me to undertake. Every single one of you has been a driving inspiration. I've read every review and every single one of them has spurred me to continue, even when I was bored and sick of it. The writing part with Goldensomething is easy - it's the editing that takes forever.

Goldensomething and I have been writing in this One Piece fandom/AU for years. We have so many stories to tell, so much to say… I can't make any promises that they will ever be published here. HOWEVER. I'd like to refer you to my NEWEST project… drum roll please…

My Blog: teakdstudio . wordpress . com (take the spaces out)

You can like it on Facebook too: TeaKD Studio

It is there, that you will find my latest and potentially greatest ORIGINAL work: Jhase Kade and the Lights of Lyr. Head over there for a back cover summary and the very first chapter. Along with Jhase, you'll find all kinds of musings from my mind. Check it out. I can't say with any certainty that I will be back here at FF . net.

So, please, my lovely loyal readers, GO CHECK OUT THE BLOG. It will be worth every single moment you spend there, I promise. It's still just a baby blog, so it needs all the help it can get. Go, read, support. You KNOW I'd love it and let's face it, you KNOW I write yummy stories. ;)

Until next time, my loves.

Forever yours,

Jesachi

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

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