Category: Friendship Fluff
Characters: Nami
Requested By: anubislover (Tumblr)
"Dearly beloved, we are all gathered here today to commemorate a very special occasion," Sanji announced dramatically as he stood at the head of the kitchen table, held tilted back and his hand over his heart in the epitome of a regal air. Nami jumped slightly as he slammed his hand down on the table and pointed at her with the other, hearts beating wildly in his eyes. "Nami-swan's birthday~" Nami rolled her eyes nearly into the back of her head at the ridiculousness of it; her birthday was a month ago, in July, one month before they had reconvened in Sabaody Archipelago and set out to Fishman Island. They had surfaced this morning and were currently sailing onwards in search of another sort of business for Luffy to poke his nose into, and they had all been very confused when Sanji had suddenly summoned them for a premise other than lunch.
"Sanji, it's been over a month since my birthday- and technically, almost all of us have had two birthdays since we were separated, so is it really fair to celebrate only mine?" she pointed out with a wave of her hand. Not that she was unappreciative of the sentiment- it was actually really nice that Sanji had committed her birthday to memory, though not entirely unexpected- but it didn't sit well with her to leave everyone out. Sanji instantly deflated to sink into a chair, grumbling and lighting up a cigarette to sulk. "Look, all I'm saying is, maybe we should have like a joint birthday party for everyone!" she suggested. She didn't want to ruin all his fun.
"Oooooooh! That sounds like so much fuuuuuuun!" Luffy cried and filled the air with the happy clacking of the soles of his flip-flops slapping together. "Let's do it, Sanji! Please? Please?" Sanji took a long drag of his cigarette before cocking his head to the side, blowing the plume of smoke through his mouth and nose.
"Nnh, it doesn't sound too terrible an idea. I could make a hell of a tiered cake with everyone's favorites…" he began to mumble to himself as he unconsciously rolled up his sleeves and got up to begin rooting around his kitchen for various supplies. Luffy crowed ecstatically and flung his rubbery arms into the air before stretching out his head across the table to where Usopp and Franky were sitting together to begin yelling at them about party decorations. Chopper got up and ran across the table to Robin bleating about scrounging up small little presents for everybody, to which the woman smiled and responded calmly that she was sure they could find something. This led to a slew of construction paper, scissors, glue, and various other art articles from Usopp's cache being slung across the table to create birthday cards, while Usopp, Franky, and Sanji worked around them on their respective duties. Luffy was attempting to be helpful but kept letting the balloons loose to fly around because he thought it was funny, and Zoro decided it wasn't worth all the effort and was sleeping on the floor. It was absolute chaos, but somehow Nami had wrangled in the mania just a bit to provide a menial amount of order; she had divvied up the birthday card assignments between herself, Brook, and Chopper. Robin was using her Devil Fruit power to help out in various ways and was lounged back beside Chopper as he sat down on the table in front of her coloring with some crayons.
"Nami? What do you think of this? Yohohohoho!" Brook chortled beside her and held up his card for him to critique his handiwork. Nami instantly grimaced; she should have known better than to ask him to make a card for her. He had drawn an actually cute-looking pair of panties on the front with the simple phrase "It's your birthday! Show me your panties!"
"Brook, come on, take this seriously!" she tutted and waggled her finger at him. "It may seem like everyone is taking this lightly, but look at how hard everyone is working for all our sakes!" she said with a gesture around the room. Sanji was slaving over a large bowl whisking frosting into oblivion while an automatic mixer churned his cake batter into creamy goodness; Usopp and Franky were kneeled on the floor painting a very elaborate and tasteful banner; and Luffy was actually getting serious enough to actually begin tying the balloons together into arrangements. Brook's calcified face frowned and he looked down at the card, his bony eyebrows narrowed in concentration.
"I see… I apologize, Nami. I haven't celebrated my birthday in fifty years. I suppose I forgot how much it meant to others." Nami's heart immediately twisted into contorted guilt. She hadn't meant to upset him! Gosh, darn it, now she had to cheer him up, dammit. The skeleton man was obviously blue. Nami smiled sweetly and reached up to pat his bushy afro.
"Don't sweat it, okay? I didn't mean to be harsh! Look, all I meant was that I would rather you pour your heart and soul into it! You don't need my approval. Do your best!" she said with a nervous edge to her smile. Would it work? God, she couldn't upset anybody on their joint birthday celebration! Luckily enough, Brook instantly brightened and bent over his card, pencil flying with renewed gusto. Nami breathed a small sigh of relief and went back to working on her own birthday cards.
Considering it was a spur-of-the-moment thing, their little joint birthday celebration was underway right as the sun began to sink towards the endless horizon. They had moved their party to the spacious dining room; the birthday banner was strung across the wall, splashed with brilliant color and bubbly font that simply screamed celebratory cheer. Balloons were placed all about, bouncing along the floor and bobbing along the ceiling, and tied in great bunches at each corner of the room. Sanji's work of art, the tiered cake with sections catering to each crew member's taste, was situated on the middle of the table which was draped in white tablecloth. Chopper eagerly went about delivering the cards to their respective recipients before clambering up into his seat between Robin and Nami, drooling as he held a fork and knife and eyed the beautiful cake.
"Carve it up, Sanji, I'm starving!" Luffy whined in a wheedling voice as he banged his fists on the table impatiently. Sanji shook his golden bangs from his face with a snort of derision and a glare that warned "don't piss off the man with the massive cake knife."
"Keep it up and you'll get yours last!" he snapped. Luffy did not take kindly to that, melting into a puddle against the table, but obediently ceased all impatient grumbling while Sanji set to cutting up the cake and delivering pieces around. Nami and Robin got theirs first, of course, but she patiently waited for everyone to get theirs before trying it; oh, but it was so hard to wait, because it seemed simply delectable! It was a tangerine sponge cake with lemon-orange whipped frosting and flecks of strawberry to add some conflicting tang. Nami's mouth began to water just staring at it, and she practically dove into it when Sanji announced that they could. The icing was simply divine, melting into tasty sugar on her tongue, and the cake was the perfect level of moist and had an incredible texture.
"Sanji! This cake is immaculate!" she cried with a mouthful of her second piece.
"Ah! Only the best for you, Nami-swaaaaaaaan~!" Sanji trilled while pirouetting on the table so fast that she could imagine him little beating pink hearts all over the place.
"Cards! Let's read the cards now!" Chopper begged while holding his up over his head. They eagerly complied and began reading off the little messages in the cards; it was pretty obvious who wrote who's. Choppers all had some iteration of "Happy birthday, you bastard!" but also featured adorable little renditions of the tiny reindeer with whoever the card's recipient was; they were so charming and child-like that Nami's heart melted just looking at the drawings. It was clear that he put his heart and soul into them. Of course, he grew very bashful with all the gratuitous remarks and tried to laugh it off, but the brilliant grin on his furry face was plenty evidence that he was overjoyed at his handiwork's reception.
Comparably, Nami's cards were a bit simpler and had an almost store-bought craftsmanship to them, decorated with floral patterns and containing simple yet heartfelt personalized notes to the recipient. Sanji of course was one of them and he pirouetted so hard that he activated his Diable Jambe, warbling like a deranged songbird about how it would be an artifact that he would treasure for all time. Zoro was smiling wryly because she had made a pretty cheeky comment about his less-than-healthy rate of alcohol consumption.
Finally, it was time to get to Brook's cards. The outside was unassuming, scrawled with wave patterns, but when she opened it she was bewildered to find that it contained no message or inscription of any kind. She looked up to Luffy and Usopp's confused expressions to find that theirs suffered an identical issue. Before any of them could inquire, Brook cleared his non-existent throat and stood up to his full towering height, violin in hand.
"I am afraid that I struggled quite a bit in what to put in your cards. Ultimately I realized that I have far too much to say, yohohohoho, so hear it is in song instead!" He flipped the violin about to tuck it beneath his chin before drawing the thin instrument across the taut strings, producing a melodic wave of sound. Nami leaned her cheek into her hand with a small smile; his voice really was amazingly pleasing to the ear, and it seemed that he really had taken her advice to heart. There was nothing that Brook put more heart and soul into than his music. He sang about Usopp first, chronicling his bravery and adventurous soul, moving the elated Usopp to tears (which really wasn't that hard considering he cried over almost everything). He sang about Luffy next, commending his indomitable spirit and good-naturedness, and though he had no idea what the words were, the straw hat-wearing captain hopped up onto the table and began dancing around singing random notes. Usopp soon jumped up with him and they linked arms, stomping in a circle. The rest of the crew found themselves clapping along, although Sanji snapped at them that it was their funeral if they ruined his cake.
Finally, Brook arrived at his verse for Nami. It was a song of the wind and the sea and tangerines and the navigator's strong will. Nami felt like he plucked the strings of her heart rather than those of the violin, because she was just so moved by it. She leaned back in her chair while giving Brook a serene, warm smile, and he tossed her a wink while he continued to sing his birthday card for the three of them.
See, Brook? It's not hard at all- not when you love us as much as you do. Sometimes you just have to put in words a little differently, huh? She thought contentedly as she tapped her foot along to the raucous beat. Nami couldn't have asked for a more thoughtful birthday card than that.