"Definitely ... come save me."
Nami blushed and held her hands out as if she might be able to reach and hit that button again, but the Tone Dial splashed into the ocean, never to be heard again.
With a squeak, she ducked her head and covered her bright cheeks. She glanced at Luffy, but the idiot only had a grin on his face, hand cupped to his ear to hear the echo of her voice. He was happy again. Nami had seen him angry before, of course, but to have his rage directed at her had upset her, to say the least. Luffy hadn't even been angry at her when she had tried and failed to betray him at Arlong Park.
While Sanji calling it her 'love letter' had embarrassed her, she was glad that Luffy understood.
Nami had known he would after all.
Chopper darted over and waved his arms with a smile while Usopp began to pester Luffy about the loss of the Tone Dial. The little reindeer said, "Nami, you should get some rest again. I don't think running around on deck was in the prescription."
"Aye, aye, Doctor Chopper." Nami stood straight and saluted him with a grin.
"I - I - Idiot! That doesn't make me happy at all!" Chopper kicked at nothing, and rubbed the back of his head while he giggled.
She laughed, and she glanced back at Luffy who was in full-on pout mode while he endured Usopp's admonishments after he had lost the Tone Dial. Never mind that it had been her hand to tilt it.
Nami was about to go on her way to her room before Sanji leaned in. "Nami-san, what did you want for dinner?"
Startled, she then just smiled wider. "You don't have to do that, Sanji-kun!"
"I insist, dear heart!"
Considering, Nami glanced around. She eyed Chopper, and she wondered what other light exercises she should be able to do. When she began to search for Luffy, to see if he had noticed the conversation, she caught sight of Franky and Brook watching her. It was impossible to read Brook - as he was a skeleton - but the cyborg's eyes seemed to be knowing.
Franky tilted his head before he grinned and scratched his cheek. Nami took a glimpse at Luffy, but he still glowered at Usopp. When she looked back at Franky and Brook, the two seemed to share a glance. A look.
Shocked, she twitched before she turned back to Sanji. "I'm sure whatever you make will be delicious!"
"Anything for you, Nami-swan!" Sanji bent on one knee and made a heart with his hands.
As she paid the cook no mind, Nami jogged up the stairs to escape. Stiff, she did her best to avoid looking at Luffy again. When she glanced back at them, Franky smirked and chuckled something to the skeleton. What was that about?
She turned to face forward, but she soon looked back over her shoulder again. Had she run too quickly? Did they know she had noticed?
It's just because Sanji-kun called it a love message. Nothing else! They don't know!
Nami slammed the door behind her.
The next day, Chopper cleared her to walk around more. In the aquarium bar, Nami partook of the drink Sanji had sent to her when Luffy stumbled in with a grin.
"Hey, Nami! What's that?"
She pursed her lips while she stirred her beverage with a straw, and she smiled. "It's a fruity drink. Ask Sanji-kun to make it if you want."
Luffy tilted his head, and he inspected it with a critical eye before he grinned at her. It was clearly made with oranges, but she hadn't said the word. She had decided to follow Chopper's instructions as close as she could since she did not want to outright ask him if sex was permitted. Chopper would begin to suspect if she asked like that.
He snickered and said, "I'll ask the other thing later."
Nami smiled. "Oh?"
With a laugh, he waved her off. "Later, later!"
Reaching behind himself, he pulled out a rolled-up newspaper that was in his back pocket she hadn't noticed. When she saw it, her eyes lit up, and she took it to glance over the front page while he sat on the bench beside her.
She sighed with a frown. "'New Schedule for Sea Train'. Not a lot going on, I guess."
The week before had been full of information about the incident at Enies Lobby and of the strange goings-on of the East Blue, but now it had shifted to other things. She supposed she would have to peek through this article later to see what else they might mention. Nami flipped a page, and she sighed at the sight of pirate attacks.
"'Capone Bege Paints Hormuz Red', 'Mad Monk Strikes Again'." She sniffed, and she folded the newspaper back up. "I find myself increasingly luckier and luckier to have met you, you know."
He glanced at her. Luffy had been distracted by something on the back of the paper.
"Huh?"
She flopped the paper over his head with a smile, and she said, "I'm talking about you, stupid. If any of these other guys had run into me, I think I'd still be stuck under Arlong's control by now."
"You don't think you're worth helping?"
Startled, she stared at him.
"That's ... not what I meant. I mean no one else would have helped ..." Nami twisted her lips. She hated when he seemed to strike something wrong, and yet also hit it on the nose. How did he do that?
"If you looked at someone else the way you looked at me that day, and then they did nothing, I'd have torn them apart."
Her mouth fell open, and her jaw began to quiver. She tried to tell herself not to cry, but the floodgates had been wrenched ajar.
Luffy pulled her forehead to his shoulder. He murmured, "That's why I was so angry when I thought you had thrown it all away. You said you trusted me ... and when you said you were going to go with Shiki, I hated it." His hand tightened in her hair, and she shivered.
The tears began to dry into his vest, but Nami stared ahead into red thread. Nami chewed her lip in thought before she whispered, "What ... are you saying?"
When he was silent, Nami dared to peek at him, and she smiled when she saw the obvious annoyance on his face. Luffy's distaste for what he was doing was clear for anyone to see. She laughed, and he glowered at her.
"Don't laugh!"
"But your face! I'm sorry!" Now tears flowed from mirth. Nami sat straight to wipe them away as she laughed.
After a moment, he began to grin too, and he poked at her cheek. He said, "You're smiling again at least."
With a giggle, she said, "Because I'm home!"
His eyes widened before he grinned so broadly Nami felt her heart skip when he said, "That's right! Welcome home, Nami!"
When a door opened, she stiffened, and she glanced over only to feel her cheeks burst into color. Nothing was going on at the moment, but Nami bunched up her cheeks and looked away as the two men walked inside.
Franky grinned and lifted his sunglasses to peer at them. "Oh! I didn't mean to interrupt you guys, sorry!"
"Yohoho! My sincerest apologies!" Brook sat, and sipped at the teacup in his skeletal hands before he turned to stare at the two of them.
As Luffy raised a brow in confusion, Nami snapped. "You should be sorry! You came down here to babysit because you think something's going on!"
"What's going on?" Luffy tilted his head.
"Nothing!"
With a chuckle, Franky put his sunglasses back in place and flipped his pompadour back. "Don't worry your little lovebird heads! Older men like us know how to keep a secret!"
Nami grabbed Luffy's face before he could utter a word of response. Time was of the essence here if she was to nip this in the bud. They were right, but not in the way they expected. She had to use what they didn't actually know to her advantage.
As Luffy tried to yank his face away, Nami scowled at them, and she began to chew them out. "Just what do you think is going on here!? Luffy and I can't sit and talk? There're two women on this ship, you know. Do you think a woman who talks to a man is just her hitting on him!? And what kind of woman do you think I am?"
The two shrank back. Doubt flickered in Franky's eyes. Brook seemed scared, but he had no eyes to watch for fear, but his body language was almost as good.
"Nami-san, we just thought - as older men in the crew, we-"
"Ah, lil' sis! We were just worried something-"
She bowled over them. "I know exactly what perverts think!" Nami ignored the fact that most would call her a pervert at this point. "We've known each other for a while now! Teasing like that is just bullying and ludicrous besides!"
Luffy finally pulled out of her grip, and he rubbed his face while he griped. "Nami! That hurt, damn it!"
What was that? Twenty slaps? Fifty? And she would enjoy every last one of them.
"You shut up!" She hoped he understood. When she turned her scowl to him, Luffy pouted, and he mumbled under his breath. Nami raised a brow at him though, and he turned his head quickly with a whistle.
She sighed. It would have to do.
On her feet, she shook the newspaper at the two of them, and she fumed when she remembered that they really had interrupted a perfectly innocent moment between them. "I thought you were grown men! Quit acting like gossiping little boys!" And that would have to do to stop them from blurting out their suspicions to others. She hoped.
When she headed to the door, she froze when Brook asked, "Luffy-san, do you love Nami-san?"
He had no decorum! She had forgotten he was the rudest of the lot.
Worst of all, she couldn't stop the stab of pain in her heart when Luffy said, "No."
Nami had prevented him from telling a lie - it was always obvious when he did - but Luffy could tell the truth like no other. As she left, she slapped the door again while her face burned. She had a feeling this wasn't over yet. Not anymore.
While she stirred her drink, Nami glowered into it. As they followed the log pose to Fishman Island, she had become increasingly agitated. Their destination was one she did not look forward to, and she yearned for some relief with Luffy.
However, relief seemed to be a long time coming.
Anytime Luffy and she had found time to talk about their next scene, one of those idiots found some excuse to sit close by. The worst of the two was Brook who didn't even come up with any excuses half the time. He sat and stared at them until either she or Luffy slinked away.
It felt worse when they weren't trying to plan.
She just wanted to talk to him. About anything at all.
Nami looked at her newspaper, and, taking a sip of her coffee, she grimaced. Cold coffee with cold cream and sugar curled her tongue. It had cooled while she had waited for one of them to leave. Their saving grace was that Sanji was still in the kitchen too, and he would fill her cup when she asked, or else she might have screamed.
Luffy, on the other hand, seemed unaffected. He chatted with Brook about farts or whatever. Franky glanced at her now and again whenever she looked at their captain.
She knew what had given them away now.
The fault was hers. He wasn't in love with her, but any idiot with eyes - or not as the case may be - could see it. She wondered if the others knew.
As she had suspected long ago, had Robin found out? Did she peep in on their activities? What were some of the strange glances from Zoro about? Did he think it was laughable whenever they tried to hit it?
Nami felt her face burn. Could Chopper smell it!? She hadn't even thought about that!
Sometimes, she still heard Usopp badger Luffy, so maybe there were still some idiots who hadn't picked up on her unmistakable infatuation. Nami was shocked Franky and Brook hadn't butted into those conversations just yet.
She glanced at Sanji's back over the kitchen sink while he did the dishes with a smile. Did Sanji just know she loved Luffy and that was the end of it? Or was he truly oblivious?
With a sigh, she stood to join him.
"Sanji-kun, here's my coffee."
"You couldn't finish it?" He looked surprised when he peeked into the cup.
"It just got cold while I was reading," she said. Shoulders slumped, she looked over what he had left to do, and she dumped her cup in the empty sink to wash it.
"You don't have to do that, Nami-san. I can do the dishes," Sanji said. When he didn't ogle her and Robin, Sanji did prove to be a genuine gentleman from time to time.
Would it have been simpler to fall in love with him?
She shook her head and said, "It's fine. I can help sometimes."
"What're you counting?"
Nami frowned while she glanced back at the three where Luffy had frozen in place after he lifted a hand. His thumb, forefinger, and middle stuck out from his palm. Luffy looked between the confounded Franky and Brook.
Oh, no!
Franky raised an eyebrow at her.
She spun her head around and did not dare to look back when her whole body stiffened.
"Aah ... ah ..." Luffy said. She could already see the poleaxed expression. Nami grabbed a dish to clean it while she clenched her teeth.
Luffy had counted out her and Sanji's interactions again. He didn't always use that as an excuse to spank her, but it was invigorating to find out when he did. She wasn't too certain which interactions he counted either since she talked to the cook every day, so it wasn't as simple as every time she spoke with him. Her captain had some other measure he used.
She scrubbed into the dish in an effort to keep from listening.
Her ears began to flush while Sanji said with a chuckle, "You can help me anytime, Nami-san!"
"I, um ... Nn ..." Luffy mumbled.
Don't say my name!
"It's nothing! I'm uh, cracking my knuckles," Luffy said, and she heard the snaps and crackles that ensued.
With a pensive hum, Franky said, "All right, Straw Hat ..."
Luffy laughed, and she wilted when she heard the forced sound in his voice.
Eventually, She had known that someone might find out. Nami had hoped it would be a long time before it happened, however, before anyone pieced it together, or - forbid it from ever happening - walked in on them.
"Are you all right, Nami-san?"
"I'm fine!" She smiled at him. After all, she was the better liar, and Sanji accepted her answer in an instant.
Her eyes trailed back to the other two. Brook stared back at her while Luffy seemed to try to talk about something else with Franky who only seemed to be amused.
When the dishes were done, Nami dried her hands, and she told Sanji, "I'll be doing a little gardening with my orange trees, okay? Would you get a drink for me, please?"
"Right away, Nami-swan!"
On the upper deck, she winced when she heard Luffy's sandals flap after her.
She glanced back, hoping against hope, but she pouted when she saw the other two had followed him.
With the shears from Robin's garden supplies in hand, Nami began to trim her trees to keep them in shape. She checked on the fruit as well and clipped the best she found. When she was done, she looked at the shears and then at the new trio.
Luffy had fallen asleep by Usopp's branch office, arms spread out on his back. His hat rested over his face while he snored. She sighed in exasperation with a little smile.
"Ah, Nami-san."
Her eyes twitched.
"Would you be so kind as to show me-"
Nami looked at the large gardening shears and snipped the air a few times. Brook's teeth clicked shut, and Franky cringed before he crossed his legs as if to hide his speedo and what it covered.
Her eyes narrowed at them a moment longer before she rose to put the shears away.
She passed a tray with a drink on it, and she pouted when she saw that the ice inside had melted. The drink Sanji had brought for her. With a sigh, she took it, and she sipped the watered-down beverage. Nami gazed at it a moment longer before she scowled and chugged it.
In the aquarium bar, Nami touched the glass, but didn't tap. She had heard as a child that fish did not like when children tapped on the glass, but she didn't think they would appreciate it from an adult either.
Never mind a sloshed adult.
If she kept tapping Luffy, would he start to hate her too?
Nami grabbed the next drink and sipped now that the fizzing in her brain drowned out most of her disappointment.
How mortifying for their affair to end like this. No explosion of passion or drama - just the arduous sputter while the engines stopped running.
She thought she might have preferred for Luffy to have ended it when she had blurted out how she had felt.
It would have hurt less than this.
Slumping against the cushy bench, she
sighed when a small school of fish passed before her. With her forehead against the glass, she closed her eyes.
The door clicked open, and sandaled feet slapped the floor. Nami's eyes flickered open, and she blinked as a pair of dark eyes filled her vision. The cushion bent while Luffy kneeled on the bench next to her.
She closed her eyes again. "You better go before they find us."
"They're not here now," he said. "We can-"
"No ... no, we can't." Nami sighed and sat upright. Her head tipped from the drink, and she glanced at the three empty glasses.
Those were just the ones she hadn't sent back yet. She wasn't sure when she had slowed down. Nami looked at her other hand and smiled when she saw it still had some of the blue drink in it, so she drank again.
With a pout, Luffy tipped it back down. "Nami, there's still time. Franky and Brook are-"
"Are gonna follow us until we go crazy!" She snapped and slammed the drink down. "Well, I'm - I'm tired of it! It's been a whole week and-! And I ..." Nami looked at his creased face, so concerned for her, a failure, and she broke as tears fell. "It's my fault."
"Huh?"
"If I didn't love you, they wouldn't know anything," she mumbled, wiping at tears she could not stop.
"Nami, you didn't do anything wrong!"
Snot dripped while she wailed. "I left that stupid love message, and errybody heard it!"
"Huh!?" Luffy looked between her and the drink now, eyes wide in shock. "What're you talking about? That Tone Dial didn't say anything! Nami, don't cry! I don't-"
"They know erryting, and I can't even say g'bye!"
The door creaked open behind her, and she bowed her head. As tears poured down her face, her shoulders shook while she attempted to get a hold of herself. This was better. Now Luffy could just leave her a sobbing mess. He didn't love her anyway. Maybe Franky and Brook would stop babysitting them like vultures, and Luffy could move on to women who didn't fall for him at the drop of a hat!
"Ah? Straw Hat, what's-?"
"Get out."
Fear spiked in Nami's chest, and her eyes widened. Had he said that to her? Her head jerked up, and she gaped at him, but his enraged face was pointed out over her head. She didn't dare move. A snarling beast loomed over her, and if she moved wrong, it would lash out.
But that stare wasn't directed at her.
"Lu - Luffy-san, we-"
Luffy cracked his knuckles. "Three. Two."
They didn't let him finish, and the door slammed shut.
Slack-jawed, Nami gaped at her captain.
He peered back with fire in his eyes. Luffy pulled her to him, and he kissed her when he pressed her into the bench. Her lips melted, and Nami writhed against him.
When he parted, Nami whimpered. Vaguely, she wondered when he had pulled both hands over her head.
Luffy licked his lips while he gazed at her and whispered, "We have plans to make."
She nodded, numb besides the pulsation of her body.
"I need to punish you for leaving me. I was so tense the whole time, all I wanted to do was slam your cunt."
Her jaw dropped open, and her body pulsed in reaction. He was still hot and bothered about the incident with Shiki!? Nami blushed beet red when he squeezed her breast.
"And now I gotta wait longer for you to sober up."
With a moan, she arched to his hand, but he held back.
"Tomorrow morning, wear that night top again and nothing underneath during breakfast."
Nami shuddered, and she pressed her thighs together when she realized her labia pulsated in desire. How did he do that to her? Was that nightshirt even long enough to hide a naked bottom?
"After breakfast, go take a nap." Luffy pressed against her core, and Nami moaned when she felt a familiar ache from him. With a flush, she found herself grinding against him as she panted. He groaned and let her buck and grind on him, but he did nothing to reciprocate. "When you go to bed, lie on top of the covers. I'll be in later with a belt."
She bit her tongue when her body inflamed with want. "Oh, yes ..."
Luffy pinched her bottom lip and filled her vision as he whispered, "And then I'll get really dirty."
Shivering, her eyes grew wide.
"Is tomorrow a safe day?"
Nami's head jerked in a nod as she started to breathe faster.
"Good," he said. His hand drifted up to stroke through her hair when he whispered to her lips, "Don't forget the pigtails. I'll need something to hold onto."
He whispered the rest. His voice grew huskier while he spoke, and Nami moaned and writhed under him.