NAMI (NARRATING): After Luffy found the One Piece and became King of the Pirates, the crew all stayed together for a little while… until leaving one by one.
After we came back to reverse mountain, Brook saw LaBoone again and decided to hang out with him for an extended period of time. After getting ready to set sail though, we all saw the whale's eyes light up with excitement when Brook played Bink's Brew. At that moment we all knew that there was nowhere else he'd rather be.
After tearfully saying goodbye to Brook and leaving the Grand Line, we sailed towards The Baratie. Sanji wanted to stop by and tell Zeff and the others about the All Blue and his plans on opening a restaurant near Laugh Tale. Zeff smiled and told Sanji he was proud of him in his own tough-love kind of way.
But as we were preparing to leave, we could see that Sanji didn't want to leave his adoptive dad again; especially knowing that they both shared the same dream. When we encouraged him to live out his dream and to show his old friends the legendary All Blue, Sanji tearfully agreed to stay and renovate the restaurant to tow it into the New World.
Leaving behind our love cook was especially hard for Luffy and I. The food we ate after Sanji left was never quite the same.
I at least used that time to refine my culinary skills. We got by after that.
Following Sanji's departure, we sailed to Syrup Village. Usopp wanted to stop by to see Kaya and tell her all of his stories; some of them sounded too amazing to be true and others still completely fabricated. The one he made about sailing in outer space particularly amused her.
Through all the laughter, Kaya pointed out that some of the stories he told her years before he left came true during the trip. Usopp had an epiphany then and realized he had accomplished his goals. He excitedly held her and whispered something in her ears. I don't know what it was since I couldn't hear it. I could see, however, how red she got and couldn't help but smile. That was when I knew Usopp wasn't coming back with us either.
The Sunny was quieter after he left.
We then went back to Luffy's old village where we met his old caretakers and Makino. We all stayed there for a while and tried having fun… but we all soon felt the loss of three of our nakama. Even Zoro felt it.
So when we left Luffy's village, Zoro suddenly dropped a bombshell. He finished his food one night during dinner and calmly stated that he was going back to his hometown. Something about going to his childhood friend's gravestone to tell her that he accomplished what he promised. So I navigated us to Shimotsuki village and watched our vice captain leave the crew. He told us that he was only a transponder snail call away, but losing Zoro hurt Luffy particularly hard. He cried for two nights straight.
After Zoro left the Sunny, everything seemed stable enough. I thought that would be the end of it and it would be me, Luffy, Chopper, Robin, Franky, and Jimbei left.
I was wrong. After a week of navigating in the East Blue, a seagull dropped a newspaper off with the headline highlighting Drum Island's best doctor, Dr. Kureha, being in poor health due to her advanced age. Chopper wanted to race back into the Grand Line to be with her during her final days.
It was understandable but his presence being gone really made the ship feel bigger and lonelier than ever.
Once we went back to Sakura Village to drop Chopper off, the rest of us saw a sharp decline in Luffy's attitude. We all saw how he obtained the most brilliant and bountiful treasure of all, but was losing all of his friends in the process. We all came together to try and cheer him up; it worked well enough… but only until the next person left.
Since we were already back in the Grand Line, we decided to go to Alabasta to see the new Queen Vivi and give her condolences on her father's passing. While we were there, Robin decided to go back to the obliterated site where she found her first poneglyph. Not only did she find the place rebuilt, but it was transformed into a library in her honor. Turns out that some of the books in the new library were also fished out from underneath Ohana and restored. With all of that knowledge and lost information, she couldn't come back to us. I remember hugging her for what seemed like hours and sobbing into her shoulder.
After our tearful goodbyes, Franky fell into a noticeable depression. It's no secret that they were the closest out of all of us; so it was then that we waited with bated breath to hear him tell Luffy that he wanted to go back to Water 7. After sailing back to drop off our shipwright, the remaining crew all saw the bright smile plastered across his face when he saw his old Franky Family mates. That was all we needed to see to know that he'd be okay.
At least, it's all I needed.
Luffy began to hide his outward sadness and began putting on fake smiles around the rest of us to save face. He didn't know how much that hurt me.
Following Franky's departure, we all ran into the New Fishman Pirates as we sailed past the Florian Triangle to the Red Line again. Jimbei was content to know they were doing well, but was adamant that he wanted to stay with us. That was until they told him that Shirohoshi became Queen of Fish-Man Island and was in need of a representative to further reunify the disenfranchised citizens from the debunked Fish-Man district and citizens of the main island. Jimbei was speechless but still turned to Luffy to ask for advice.
He was met with a bright and kind smile from Luffy. I remember bringing my hand up to my face to hide my shock, because for once in a long time, his smile didn't reach his stoic, glossed over eyes.
Nevertheless, Luffy told him to follow his gut.
Jimbei nodded, said his farewells and left us.
With the entire crew gone, it was just me and Luffy. Even through the sleepless nights and teary conversations, we found solace in each other on the Sunny. Eventually I changed rooms to a neighboring one adjacent from his, maybe in an attempt to not feel as lonely since Robin was gone. We both liked the feeling of being only a knock away.
Then during one stormy night, I left my room and ran to the deck of the Sunny. Through teary eyes, I saw as she was a shell of her former self and wasn't seaworthy anymore. She traveled the entire world, so it wasn't too much of a surprise. The next morning, I told Luffy my thoughts and instead of getting yelled at for the unfaithfulness I had in the ship (like I thought I'd be), he just broke down in front of me. All of the emotion he held in flowed out and I could tell he was broken.
But when his arms reached out and grabbed me, and when he held me close to his chest, and when he choked out "Don't leave me Nami", I knew that the dynamic of our relationship changed. And I knew that I didn't want to be anywhere else except in his arms.
Later that day, I decided to sail us to the Sabaody Archipelago. I figured that having Rayleigh, a familiar face, around Luffy would comfort him. Then we'd have to figure out what to do with the Sunny since we didn't want to destroy her. As night came and I retreated to my room though, Luffy stood in front of the door silently. I asked him if he was going to be okay but no words escaped his lips.
As he looked up at me, his eyes hardened. He was usually an open book, but that night I couldn't decipher what he was thinking or where we was mentally. Losing all of our nakama broke him, and I understood that. But the next thing he did I didn't understand.
He crept over to me and pinned me against the wall, with both arms on either side of my head. My heart raced and my face felt fiery hot; I couldn't feel my legs as they freely swayed along with the Sunny. His lips were within an inch of mine and that was when he quietly proposed to me.
"Nami. Be my queen."
A part of me wanted to smack him over the head for the ridiculous and unexpected question; but when his eyes lingered on mine and when he didn't recant his question and when he didn't guffaw or shine that cute, bright smile of his at me… I knew he was serious. And a part of me knew I didn't want to be anywhere else except right there.
I gulped and slowly nodded "okay."
After that day, we've been inseparable. Learning to love him more than a friend was as easy as breathing air. Seeing that characteristic smile that reached his eyes again was something I needed to fill the void I held within myself too.
Following our first night together on our beloved ship, we respectfully retired the Sunny and went to an uncharted island in the New World. As I write this diary entry, I wipe a tear from my eye because I deeply miss all of my nakama. But borne from that adventure (and eventual departure) with them would be me watching my goofy husband, the King of the Pirates, clumsily play tag with our cute red-headed son Ace and adorable dark-haired daughter Bellemere.
Sincerely,
Pirate Queen Nami