Category: Romantic Fluff

Characters: Trafalgar Law, Nami

"All right! First thing's first- we have to find the nearest meat!" Luffy ordered before his sandaled feet even hit the wooden deck of the dock. He hunched down slightly as he put his hands over his eyes, scoping out what portion of the city that he could currently see for any shops that were selling his desired product. His nose was sniffing like a bloodhound's, searching for any whiff of cooking animal product that he could differentiate from the salty tang of the sea. Nami sighed as she watched him from her position leaned up against the railing he had just leaped from.

"Good grief… Your insatiable appetite is the reason we have to make so many stops for food, Luffy!" she cried over the rail, but it was no use. Luffy was too busy screaming at the others to hurry up so they could walk to a part of town that did in fact have meat. Sanji grabbed an apple and chucked it at his head; it collided with his forehead with a resounding thonk!, one with such tune that Nami could've sworn his skull almost sounded hollow.

"Eat that, why don't you?!" the cook shouted down at him angrily. He was very annoyed to have been interrupted while he was finishing taking stock of the kitchen stores. "We'll get meat when we get meat! Otherwise, you'll just have to starve for a while!" Nami smirked in bemusement as Luffy's grumbles under his breath floated up to greet her ears; his words were none too flattering. He leaned down to pick up the apple and shove the entire thing into his mouth, crunching it between his teeth as he continued to mutter insults about the mean cook.

"God, you idiots even manage to make a shopping trip a headache."

"Good morning, sunshine. I'm sorry, did we wake you?" Nami chirped without turning around; that deep, irritated growl could only belong to the Sunny's newest temporary passenger, Trafalgar Law. They had picked him, as well as two natives of Wano, up on Punk Hazard after a very puzzling series of events that had of course resulted in Luffy forcing his friendship in the unwilling Warlord, and once Luffy heard that Law wanted to take on fellow Warlord Donquixote Doflamingo, they had of course set off full-speed towards his kingdom of Dressrosa. They had been sailing together for several weeks now, and though she still only marginally trusted him, she at least enjoyed bantering with him. At least he wasn't a complete muscle-headed moron like the rest of her crew. Sometimes a girl just needed some intelligent conversation or back-and-forth quips that dangerously bordered on flirting. "Oh, wait, I forgot. You don't sleep, do you, Doctor?" she added teasingly, this time turning around to face him with a coy smile.

"You're awfully chipper today, Nami-ya," came the cool response. As she leaned back against the railing, hands clasped behind her back and that innocent yet undoubtedly suggestive smile painting her lips, he stood in front of her, at socially acceptable distance but close enough to imply participation in their daily little games. He had one hand buried in the pocket of his overcoat while the other held his Nodachi propped against his shoulder. His golden irises glinted in the sunlight that trickled underneath the rim of his hat as a result of the slight tip of his head, with all the precision of a hawk eyeing its prey. He always had they ferally playful spark in his eyes when he regarded Nami. His smirk matched Nami's perfectly.

"Well, what girl isn't excited to go shopping?" she countered matter-of-factly. Though wrangling in the crew like a bunch of toddlers was always a struggle on supply stops, it never really bothered Nami because it was always an opportunity to pick up a new outfit or two. She left out the part that this time she would have to limit herself because they were currently extra broke. He looked like he was about to say something, but then Luffy's rubber hands appeared on the railing beside Nami and their attached captain vaulted himself up to perch like a monkey next to her.

"Trafalguy! Come food shopping with me, Zoro, 'n Sanji! It'll be fun! Fun!" He repeated the word as if doing so would sway Law's disinterest. The scowl on his face couldn't have been any clearer.

"If he doesn't want to go with Luffy, then perhaps he can come with us, right Nami?" Robin suggested as she walked over to join the conversation with little Chopper in tow. "Chopper said he wants to see if they have any medical supplies for sale and I want to take a look at the local bookstores. I'm sure we can find a store that interests the Surgeon of Death here," the archaeologist chuckled with a smile at Law. "How does that sound? Or, you could always stay here with Usopp and Franky."

Their gazes all panned to where the two shipwrights were attempting to repair a section of the railing that had collapsed in a storm a few days ago; Usopp had various types of tools stuck into his hair and was apparently doing some sort of impression that had Franky near-tears in laughter. Law didn't share the sentiment.

"I'll take you up on the offer, Robin-ya."

"Boooooooo!" Luffy pouted for half a second. After that, Sanji then hopped off the ship with Zoro with the announcement that they were on the hunt for food, and he zipped from the ship so fast that his outline in dust lingered for a moment beside Nami. The navigator turned to look at Law again.

"Well then, let's get going, shall we?"

"Hmm…" Nami murmured aloud as she turned her head side to side to inspect the necklace hanging around her neck. "Too gaudy," she sniffed before pulling it off and tossing it into the pile of similarly rejected baubles that had accumulated on the small side table beside the mirror that she was using to critique the antique shop's wearable wares. Robin had been intrigued by a collection of dusty tomes she had spied in the window from the street, and so the group had ventured into the shop to poke around while Robin did serious shopping. Chopper was sitting in a very plush chair that had nearly absorbed his furry form clutching a little potted succulent that he had claimed as his prize from a florist a few blocks down. Nami walked away from the mirror to rifle through the collection of necklaces that saw on a display next to him, listening with a small smile to his little snores as he napped. The poor little thing tired so quickly trotting around with the women on their shopping trips. If only Law would take a page from his book…

Nami teased him about it, but she really did worry about him. Nami was no doctor but she had enough sense to know what sleep deprivation did to a person… She had suffered plenty of it throughout her childhood, forced to remain awake in the deep of night drawing maps for that vile Fishman Arlong. She shuddered as she drudged up the unpleasant memories. She pressed a hand into her eye as she winced. It happened from time to time. Just the most random things could trigger her awful nightmarish thoughts. What had she even been thinking about before Arlong Park…?

"Tired already, Nami-ya?" She looked over her shoulder to see Law standing there with a case of some sort held in his hands; her expression must have betrayed the roiling emotions inside of her, because his instigative smirk instantly fell of his face, melting into one of quiet concern. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine. Like you say, I'm just tired." She really didn't feel like dwelling in it any longer, so she pushed away the topic of conversation and walked up at him. With no qualms whatsoever, she grabbed his wrist to make him show her what he was holding, and couldn't help but feel a hint of satisfaction when she felt his skin blaze with a body-wide blush at her action. "Whatcha got here?"

"Why're you so damn nosy?!" he spluttered and jerked his hand away to hold the case to his chest protectively. Nami had never seen him so flustered before; it was new and she liked that. Sticking out the tip of her tongue with a mischievous glint, she attempted to swipe the case from him, but he responded by holding it above his head and out of reach. "Back off! It's none of your business!"

"Come on, I wanna see!" she pouted as her hand uselessly flapped at the empty air below the case. Grunting, she grabbed her shoulder with one hand to steady herself and then stood on her tip-toes, trying to add a few inches to her arm length and grasp the case. Of course, she only succeeded in pressing her chest against him. It wouldn't be unlikely that his face would be permanently stained pink from how brightly they were glowing at the moment, and his back arched slightly as he tried to pull his face as far away from Nami's cleavage as he could. Of course, that was all part of her plan; even grim, tough, unbothered Trafalgar Law couldn't be immune to her feminine charm, right?

Apparently, wrong.

"Goddammit, I'm serious; you're pissing me off!" he shouted at her, and she cried out in shock as he shoved her roughly in the shoulder. Because she was in such a vulnerable position, she became disbalanced and fell right onto her behind. She was lucky not to take any of the valuable merchandise with her, but it still knocked the breath out of her lungs and smarted quite a bit, she rubbed her tailbone tenderly with a loud whine, then shot a glare up at him.

"What's the big idea?! I just wanted to see!" she snapped at him. She felt pretty guilty about it right after, because she could tell from his wide eyes and paled face that he hadn't meant to actually hurt her. The fire instantly cooled from her head and she realized immediately that she had been in the wrong; she had invaded his personal space and tried to muscle her way into forcing him to show her something probably personal; of course, he would react that way. "Law…" she tried to apologize, but he had already whirled on his heel to stomp out of the store, slamming down the case of whatever-it-was down on the way out. Nami jumped up and ran out after him, calling his name, but he must've used his Room to get well away from her before she had the chance to stop him. Nami's shoulders sagged like a deflated balloon as she stood in the doorway of the antique shop, a small glimmer of hope flickering inside her that he would come back after a few minutes and she could apologize.

He didn't.

"Nami, what was that all about?" Robin inquired politely as she trudged back to where she had left Chopper. All the commotion had woken him up, and he was sitting there holding his little plant and looking back and forth wondering what had happened because he had been too sleepy to comprehend it.

"I may have pushed Law's buttons a little…" she admitted with an uncomfortable frown. Once again, she replayed the interaction in her mind once more to analyze both her and his behavior. For sure, she had been a little pushy, but… "Do you think he overreacted a little, though? I mean, I thought he would've grown used to me by now… He normally isn't so angry when I do stuff like that…" It wasn't like Nami hadn't spent their entire voyage up until now stepping on glass for him. Nami had no regard for personal space, generally, and would do it to all the crew members, guys and girls alike… Nudging them, throwing an arm around their shoulders, groping for stuff they were trying to hide from her… Normally he would either ignore her or just placate her. He brown eyes traveled to the sleek black case he had slammed onto the nearby side table. Had he been that embarrassed to show me? Making up her mind, she walked over to it and picked it up. "He didn't want me to know what was in this."

"Nami, if he didn't want to show you, perhaps it's something personal that he isn't ready to share yet. Maybe you shouldn't," Robin started to object. Nami knew it was good advice, but dammit, she had to know what had gotten Law into such a tizzy! Ignoring her friend's suggestion, she popped open the case to look inside.

"They're… coins."

"So he's a coin collector?" Chopper asked, hopping off the chair to totter over. Nami tipped the case down so he could see the intricate little coins tucked inside a fabric cushioning in the case.

"I don't get it. Why would he get so upset over a bunch of old coins?" Nami frowned while looking down at them. They didn't seem exceptionally special.

"Well, Nami, if you think about it, Law's not really the open type. It would probably be a pretty big deal for him to open up about his hobbies to someone," Robin shrugged. Nami's shoulders fell once more as it was put so plainly. That made sense to her. Nami just hadn't considered it because she was open about most parts of her life. I should be more considerate…

"Okay!" she decided aloud while snapping the case shut. "I'm gonna buy these for Law as an apology, and give them to him first thing when he comes back." She marched up to the counter to purchase the coins, and she booked it right back to the Thousand Sunny to wait for him, no longer even interested in new clothes or jewelry. She didn't tell any of the others about the fight or her gift of apology; she just held it tucked into her pocket the entire time, waiting for his return.

Except he didn't come back. By the time the sun had sunk down below the waves, the crew had eaten their dinner, and they had all started preparing for bed, Nami began to really worry that she had screwed up big time.

"Hey, what's taking Trafalguy so long, ya think?" Luffy asked over Nami's shoulder. She was practically fused to the railing now, eyes glued to the docks waiting for his cloaked form to appear at its end. The last thing that Nami wanted to do was admit that she had chased him off, so she just shrugged and made up some generic excuse as to why he would want to wander the city alone. Luckily, Luffy took that at face-value. "Well, you're on watch tonight, Nami. Keep an eye out for 'im, will ya?" he told her while patting her shoulder before disappearing into the bowels of the ship to sleep. It took Nami a long time to pry herself from the railing, but managed to do so by convincing herself that she could spot him better from up in the crow's nest. She retrieved a light jacket from the room she shared with Robin before ascending the rungs of the mast to tuck herself into the small nook at the top. It was a nice night, and her jacket staved off the little chill that resulted from the altitude.

With a long sigh, Nami pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. This made the case shift tightly in her back pocket, so she reached behind herself to tug it out and bring it out into the open. The moonlight made its enamel surface shine brightly. With dull, sad eyes, she popped open the case again to look at the coins contained inside. Their round edges all caught the moonbeams in a unique way to accent their various etched surfaces. They really were pretty, like liquid pools of gold and silver. She could see why Law liked them.

"I'm sorry… Please come back…" she murmured aloud, half-hoping the wind would catch her forlorn apology and carry it to him. She closed the case and hugged it to her chest miserably. It hadn't even been a day, and she missed him. She missed him at dinner because she couldn't slide up next to him and rub shoulders with him, just for him to lightly shove her in the side of her head. Sanji would always get so made and jump up onto the table proclaiming that he wanted to fight, only for Zoro to grab him by the back of the shirt and yank him back down, and then Sanji would turn on him. She missed walking past Chopper's room to see him teaching the little reindeer more about medicine, and seeing that rare genuine smile gracing his face. She missed their little game, their back-and-forth, their taunting teasing that they liked to pretend was only such but really was just a desperate ploy to get the other to understand each other. Tears formed in the corners of Nami's eyes and rolled down her cheeks, glittering like diamonds as they caught the pale moonlight.

"I love you… You know?"

Nami wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but God, she wished she hadn't. She found herself in an eerily familiar scene… A small room with papers stacked high, a desk and a chair with only a small window for light, a bed with a bumpy old mattress and thin, scratchy blanket… A pen, encrusted with her own dried blood. Nami screamed, but the voice of her child self is what spilled from her mouth. She looked down at herself in a panic and there it was, that hideous, vile tattoo on her shoulder that had branded her as good a slave. Her entire body was rigid as she stared at it, mouth open in a silent cry of horror. She heard the door open behind her, and with the jerky movements of a tangled marionette, she slowly forced herself to turn around.

"Nami… Did I say that you could take a break?"

With a strangled cry, Nami jerked into the waking world. Disoriented and still scared from her nightmare, she tossed onto her side and dug her fingers into her pillow. It was only when she heard the pained grunt that she somewhat came to her senses, enough to remember that she was in the crow's nest and didn't have a pillow. Blearily, she lifted her hand to survey her surroundings, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the gloomy moonlight. Oh… It's someone's lap… Instinctively, she thought that Luffy or Sanji may have heard her crying and come to comfort her, which was not exactly an uncommon occurrence. Her threads of tangerine hair had fallen into her face, obscuring the view of her companion; as she swept them behind her ear, her mouth open to thank them for coming up to comfort her, the words died in her throat from sheer shock.

"Yeesh, Nami-ya, I know you're mad, but you don't have to rip my guts out," Law grunted as he tenderly rubbed at the area of his abdomen where Nami's fingers had twisted into him. She blushed lightly and sat up quickly, then looked down as she felt something slide off her shoulders. Law's jacket… she realized and looked up again to find that he had been shirtless the entire time. She frowned guiltily as she saw the flower-like arrangement of scratches her nails had left into his skin. She opened her mouth to apologize, but once again found herself voiceless when his golden eyes settled intently on her. "That must've been some nightmare that you were having." Nami blinked, then looked out at the sea somberly. She let the coat hang loosely around her arms so the cool night breeze could cool the hot sweat she had broken out into during her bad dream.

"… Yeah. I have them from time to time. I used to be enslaved to a Fishman named Arlong. He terrorized the East Blue and held my village captive, threatening to kill everybody in it unless I drew maps for him. He… killed my mother, too," she admitted, her volume of voice steadily dropping so that the last words she muttered were a mere whispered. It wasn't like she was afraid of admitting her past to him or anything… She just hated to talk about it. But I want him to know about me, because…

"Is that where this scar comes from?" She jerked back to him as she felt his fingers brush over the back area of her shoulder, tracing the bits of scar tissue that were visible around the tattoo of the pinwheel and tangerine. Normally she would flinch away, but somehow she found his caresses comforting.

"Mhmm. He branded me with his tattoo… It got really bad at one point and I kind of… Stabbed it. A lot."

"Remind me to never let you perform surgery." She couldn't help but giggle at his attempt to put his dry humor into the really depressing conversation. Nami smiled softly as his fingers left her shoulder to grab the cloak, pulling it back over her shoulder to cover the scars. His hand didn't fall, but rested there for a moment to take a strand of her tangerine hair and rub it between his thumb and forefinger. The entire time he kept his intense, golden gaze on her, never wavering but shaking, like he wasn't sure what quite he wanted to say. Nami was suddenly aware of the case pressing against her leg, and she reached down to pick it up. She blushed brightly before holding it out to him, and his eyes widened.

"I bought this for you, to say sorry… I shouldn't have been so pushy, Law," she told him sincerely with a smile. His eyes dropped down to the case, and he very slowly reached up to take the case of coins from her hands. "I don't know what's in it, it just looked really important to you," she lied, not wanting to admit that she very well did know what was in it.

"You liar." She puffed out her cheeks, appalled at being so brusquely accused, right or not. He didn't look angry though, just bemused.

"I just wanted to know what you were so damn insistent on hiding. It makes sense though- the big, bad Trafalgar Law having such a cute hobby as coin collecting? It would really affect your image," she teased lightly. She was almost too happy when he snorted and pushed her head. It seems like he's getting back to his old self!

"I have something for you too, Nami-ya."

"Eh?" She blinked as he shifted around and reached into his pocket, but he had it tucked behind his hand just so to where she couldn't see it.

"Close your eyes."

"Oh? I never pinned you to be the romantic type."

"Do it, or I'll return it and you get nothing."

"Okay! Okay!" she laughed and did as bid. She really had no idea what it could be, and she fidgeted impatiently. She instantly froze as she felt his fingers sliding to the back of her neck to attach what must've been the clasp of a necklace around her throat, and the puffs of his breath on her face as he leaned close to her to do so. Nami swallowed as her frantically beating heart took flight and tried to fly out of her mouth. She felt the light thump and cold caress of metal against her chest as the necklace dropped down, and instinctually she opened her eyes and looked down to inspect it. "Oh, Law…" she murmured as her fingers reached up to touch the pretty thing. It wasn't anything extravagant at all, just a simple chain with a charm at the end, but it was the charm that made it so breathtaking; hanging at the end of the necklace was an enamel charm of a tangerine, complete with a little green leaf budding from its stem. Nami immediately realized what had taken him so long. He went looking all over town… To find something like this for me… she thought and looked up at him with wide eyes. He gave her that rare genuine smile as he looked at her, quite proud of himself.

"How do you like it? You're a hard woman to please, or so I've heard."

"It's perfect." Silence settled between them as Nami admired the precious gift and Law searched for more words.

"Nami-ya…" he sighed finally. "I'm sorry about today. I shouldn't have gotten so angry."

"Yeah, you did overreact a little bit." He gave her a dour look, but really, had he expected her to insist that it was all her fault. He snorted with laughter and shook his head.

"You make me so-"

"What?" Nami cut in suddenly, desperately. She leaned forward slightly, fingers still playing with the tangerine necklace as she impatiently awaited what he was going to say. It could be nothing at all, or it could be everything at once, and Nami so hoped it was the latter. Even in the flush of the white moonlight she could see the haze of pink tainting his facial features; he leaned back as she advanced suddenly, and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly as he fought with himself. Nami didn't say anything, but her eyes begged him, begged him to just be out with it and confirm what she hoped to be true…

"Ah, to hell with it," he muttered before he closed the distance between them. Nami hadn't expected the kiss to be so forceful and jarring, but it was Law, after all; a sharp gasp left her lips before Law quickly swallowed it by crashing his mouth into hers in a passionate display of affection. She grabbed onto his upper arms to ground herself as he pushed back against her, hands groping for her waist. After the first second or so, Law calmed down a little to settle in a steady rhythm with her, moving his lips against hers in deep, needy motions. She felt one of his hands skate up her back, traveling the length of her spine, before peeking out through the top of the cloak to curl into her tresses of tangerine hair; similarly, one of Nami's moved up his arm, across his shoulder, over the side of his head to push off his hat so she could get at the messy dark strands of his hair. Nami abandoned herself to the feeling welling up inside her, that rising pool of love and joy and want that filled her nerves with humming energy and washed over her like a tidal wave…

By the time they had pulled apart, they were both breathing a little hard. Between the mists of breath that were puffing from her slightly aching lips, she stared at Law, who was gazing right back with an expression that could only be love. It was a good look for him, she thought.

"I love you, you know." Hearing him purr those words with his hand still tangled into her hair made her want to kiss him all over again. Instead, she settled for scooching forward and turning her body to settle her head onto his shoulder. His arm slid with her to wrap around hers, pulling their sides flush together, and they looked out at the ocean together in silence.

As the gold hints of Nami's tangerine charm caught the first rays of sunlight, Nami whispered, "I love you too, Law."