Chapter 5: Side Effects

Denial would be futile beyond this point.

Nami sighed as she went through her trunk for the eighth time that morning in a fruitless attempt to find a fitting shirt. Now in the late third month, the pregnancy had become clearly visible; her stomach had inflated in such a short time that it still startled Nami. Certainly, her belly was still far from being considered 'big'; but no matter which of her clothes she had tried to put on, they seemed to be uncomfortably tight around her middle section.

Nami let out another exasperated sigh as she slammed the trunk shut and bitterly picked up a lose white shirt she had placed on the bed earlier. She would only use it as a nightshirt, under normal circumstances. The current situation was, however, far from normal. She would have to get herself some new clothes at the next island. That, though, was still almost a week at full speed and this her last fitting shirt…

"Guess I gotta ask one of the boys to lend me something…" she sighed. Just who? Luffy's wardrobe was well restricted to his red shirt and jean pants, something similar could be said about Usopp. And Zoro… well, he seemed to be owning nothing more than his white shirt and dark pants and stole whatever else he needed, just when he did need it. And it was not like he had ever taken laundry seriously… Nami shuddered at the thought of what kinds of microscopically small lifeforms were living and breeding inside the fabric of his sweaty shirt at the very moment.

That leaves me with only one option, Nami thought to herself as she quietly walked out of her room and stepped onto the deck.

"Sanji-kuuuuuuun?" Nami called, a grin on her face. In an instant, the blonde cook was right next to her, as if he had just warped himself there.

"Haaaaaai, Nami-swaaan!" he answered, almost saluting.

"Sanji-kun, I was wondering if you could help me out with something…" she asked sweetly, smiling at him. He would never deny to help her.

Sanji's heart skipped several beats, and his grin seemed to be spreading from ear to ear.

"Of course, Nami-san!", he yelled, overjoyed, "Whenever my beautiful princess is in a bind, her prince will come to save her right away!"

The red-head chuckled. "All right, all right, no need to go that far…" she put her hands to her hips, looked him straight in the eye and demanded in a strong voice: "Sanji-kun, I need some of your shirts."

"Wh-whaaaaat?" Her words raised the cooks body temperature to a feverish degree within split seconds, and had he not given up smoking, his cigarette would have surely fallen from his lips. "But… but what do you need my shirts for?" His eyes turned heart-shaped as he imagined the countless reasons why she would request some of his shirts, HIS shirts rather than anybody else's…

Nami sighed, getting impatient with her nakama.

"Well, Sanji-kun, you see…" she started, feeling somewhat embarrassed about talking to him about such a topic. She wished she could have just barged into the men's room, gotten into his trunk and taken whatever she felt seemed fit. But that would have been just too rude. And even Nami had to be polite at times. "It's just that, with the baby…" she continued but was suddenly interrupted.

"Ah, I see", he smiled, knowingly, sparing Nami the embarrassment of finishing the explanation. "Then let's go and see what I can do."

The young woman smiled at him gratefully. Sanji only replied with another extremely wide grin and led her to the men's room where he immediately started rummaging in his trunk. The longer the blonde cook dug among his clothes, the more surprised Nami was; he surely had many clothes, not quite as many as she had but still a considerable number, for a guy.

"Hmm, let's see…" he said, his voice trailing off while he fished out several of his shirts. "This one should suit you very well… and this one, the color perfectly matches your hair! And this…"

Nami snickered as Sanji piled more and more shirts of all shapes, colors and fabrics on the ground next to him. These would certainly last longer than just a week.

"I think that's about it." Sanji stated with a frown. "It's not much though…"

Nami shook her head quickly and started picking up the shirts and neatly placing them over her arm. "It's all right, Sanji-kun, this is really more than I need. Arigato! "

"Anything for my sweet Nami-san", Sanji replied, grinning broadly. And while Nami was already exiting the guys' room, Sanji was still kneeling next to his trunk, hearts flitting around his head once more. In the back of his mind, he was already thinking about all those things he could be doing with the shirts once she would give them back. He would never wash them ever again, that was for sure. And one or two of them might actually make quite comfortable pillows…

Another week had gone by surprisingly fast, considering that it had been completely void of the usual adventures. Now, however, they were about to have a distraction from the daily routine: they had anchored in the port of the next island on their route. For Nami this meant to finally be able to buy some fitting clothes for herself, though she had gotten quite fond of Sanji's big shirts as they were surprisingly comfortable. For others like Luffy, it just meant adventure and the prospect of…

"Fooooooooooood!" the captain yelled as he jumped down from the Going Merry and, without second – and maybe even first - thought, ran off into the direction of the city.

"L-luffy, wait!" Usopp tried, yet knowing that, once his captain had set his mind on something, he would not let go of it. Especially not if that something was meat.

"Ah, guess I'll guard the ship, then", Zoro said pleasantly, yawning.

"But, Zoro", Chopper spoke up, "you should go with Nami."

At those words, Zoro, as well as Sanji and Nami shot the little reindeer astonished glances. The swordsman, however, feeling the threat of somebody robbing him of his undisturbed sleep as the Merry's guard, did not seem at all pleased.

"Why? That stupid cook's going with her", he said, pointing at Sanji over his shoulder, "There aren't any marines around as far as we know, so even he should be able to handle it."

"What is it", Sanji started, anger sparkling from his eyes. "looking for a fight, marimo?"

"Sanji… Zoro…", Chopper tried, panic in his voice, staring at the two mad men in front of him. "Please…"

"Grrr… guys…" Nami glared. "That's enough." Her temper had once again gotten a hold of her as she sent her fists swinging towards the two rivals. It was her way of settling an argument. And with these two it worked perfectly fine. "Now listen to Chopper, will you?"

The two men nodded silently, large bumps forming on the backs of their heads.

The little reindeer cleared his throat and tried once again. "Both of you should go with her."

"And that would be because…?" Zoro tried his luck, only to be rewarded with another knock to the head by their navigator.

"Let him finish already…" Nami grumbled, slowly but surely losing whatever tiny bits of patience she had left.

"Well, first of all", Chopper resumed, looking for Zoro to Sanji and back, "the more protection the better. You never know what could happen. And second, it is important for the bonding."

"Bonding?" Sanji asked incredulously and reacted just in time to be able to dodge a direct blow to his head.

Chopper nodded nervously. "Mhm. It is important for expecting parents to spend as much time together as possible to build up a bond not only between themselves but also with the unborn infant. It's very important for its development even after birth."

"As much time as possible? Oh boy…" Zoro sighed heavily, grabbing his forehead to drive away the suddenly occurring headache.

Right next to him, Sanji had been sent into "love mode" and was muttering all sorts of colorful praises for 'his Nami-san'.

The object of the cook's affections simply fulfilled her duty and once more let her knuckles meet heads again with a heavy sigh. "As much time as possible, huh? With those two? This is gonna be trying…" she muttered under her breath, rubbing her temples.

"Hmm… that store looks nice, we'll go there first!" Nami commanded, pointing to a clothing store across the street and instantly walked into its direction.

"Hai, Nami-san!" Sanji said grinning.

"Beats me", the swordsman shrugged indifferently.

Deciding that ignorance would probably be the easiest way of handling this situation, the navigator simply pretended to not notice what was going on between the two men and kept walking. Her strategy seemed to work out, for, just a few minutes later, the three of them found themselves in the small clothes store. While Nami went over rack and started rummaging through the small selection of shirts, Zoro slumped down on one of the chairs set up for the customers. Shopping had, of course, never been one of his favorite hobbies. Especially if it was for clothes. He had always gotten whatever he needed whenever it was needed, without having to go and buy it. And he preferred it that way.

Sanji, on the other hand, stood right next to Nami and excited pointed out all the advantages of whichever shirt she had just picked. Whether it suited her hair, her eyes, her skin… anything seemed to be perfect for her in his eyes.

Nami was very well aware of this fact as she stood in front of the full length mirror after changing into an azure blue polo shirt. While the young woman turned and stretched in all directions, critically observing every single fold that appeared in the light fabric around her middle section, the ship's cook clasped his hands and spluttered out compliment after compliment. But Nami knew that, no matter what kind of clothing she would put on, no negative word would ever come out of his mouth. So to get a true answer, she would have to go different ways…

"Nee, Zoro", she asked and turned around to the swordsman, grinning "what do you think?"

In an instance, all color was drained from the otherwise so tanned man and he swallowed hard. Was it just him or had one of his dumbbells been caught in his throat?

"Come on, Zoro", Nami tried again, "don't have an opinion?"

Zoro gulped. "Well… fashion's never really been my thing…" he muttered. But he knew he would not get out of it that easily. Next to Nami, Sanji was smirking, ready to witness the swordsman's slow and painful death.

"Aww now now, Zoro, just tell me the truth, it can't be that hard."

The truth? Is this woman crazy? I stood better chances defeating Mihawk back at the Baratie than surviving the woman's wrath if I told her what I really think…

Inwardly, Zoro prayed for his life. He could not die yet, he still had things to fulfill! He even had the absurd wish that he had actually listened to the cook's endless rantings about 'his Nami-san's' beauty. Maybe, if he just concentrated hard enough, something would come to his mind…

He frowned, and closing his eyes, prepared himself for the worst as he pressed out: "The… the color suits your hair!"

In front of him, Sanji face faulted, obviously disappointed at the turn of events.

Nami grinned, turning back to the mirror to admire herself. "Hmm I think you're right. I'll take this one."

The swordsman collapsed in his chair, all air drained from his lungs, relief flooding through his veins. He had done it. He had survived once more.

Yet as he was ready to relax and was already leaning back in the chair to savor his triumph, his eyes widened: the redhead had already picked up another several dozen shirts of all styles and disappeared into the changing room. He looked around in panic. The store was crowded, so flight was no option.

"Pray to your God that he'll give you another of those lines", Sanji commented grinning.

And for once, Zoro actually followed his advice.

"So did you get everything you needed?" Usopp asked, looking up from his plate.

Nami nodded and pointed to the dozen shopping bags next to Sanji's chair. "Yup. These should be enough for the beginning."

Zoro snorted, however kept himself from voicing his thoughts. He was grateful for having survived the trip and was not willing to jeopardize his life already.

The sun was already setting and the crew of the Going Merry had finished their individual shopping sprees and met up in a tavern near the harbor. Luffy had already buried his head deep in his huge plate of spaghetti topped with meatballs – though it would probably be more correct to call it meatballs with a few spaghetti woven in – and was now inhaling them soundly. The rest of his crew was trying their best to secure their own plates and keep them out of reach for their captain.

"Is there anything wrong?" Chopper turned to Nami, realizing that she had let go of her food and was now rubbing her stomach with both her hands.

Upon this, her other crewmembers immediately stopped eating and looked at their nakama, concerned.

"Nothing to worry about, it just hurts a little. Probably just a cramp or something", the young woman answered, still massaging her belly.

"Are you sure Nami-san?" Sanji shot her a worried look.

The navigator nodded in reply. She hated to be treated like a little child. After all she wasn't suffering from a disease or anything. She had gone through worse things before in her life. At least that was what she liked to tell herself.

"But I would still like to do a quick check-up when we get back on board, okay?" Chopper asked. He was, after all, the ship's doctor and thus always concerned about his patients' health.

While Nami was still trying to assure the little reindeer that she was feeling fine and that there was thus no need for further medical examination, Sanji and Zoro noticed a group of, most likely, pirates at a near table. Seeing the mugiwara's navigator had obviously caught their interest; and now they were staring at her lustily, nudging each other and exchanging foul language.

Sanji's insides were burning. Nobody was supposed to look at his Nami-san in such a degrading way.

"Yo, anything wrong, shitheads?" he spat, tensing up his muscles, while Zoro set his thumb to his beloved katana and exposed several inches of the deadly glistening blade.

Said "shitheads" were seemingly not too sure of their fighting abilities, or simply intimidated at the sight of the infamous Roronoa Zoro. Whichever the reason might have been, they quickly turned away from the strawhat crew and focused on their mugs.

Zoro silently re-sheathed his katana and turned back to his plate. He sighed inwardly, glad that they could avoid to fight. As long as their pregnant nakama was around, it was best to stay away from unnecessarily dangerous situations. And even though he himself would have been grateful for the additional work out, and would never – under normal circumstances – run from a fight, he vowed to do whatever would be necessary to keep their navigator away from any needless risks.

Chopper put away his stethoscope while Nami sat up and pulled her shirt back over her belly. The ship's doctor had been so persistent about doing a check up on the navigator that she had simply had to comply.

"So how's it look?" she asked, eyeing the little reindeer impatiently.

Chopper smiled at the young woman. "It was most likely just a cramp or something, after all it's been a long and tiring day. At least I couldn't find anything wrong.", he answered, visibly relieved.

Nami grinned and jumped off the bed.

"Just as I thought." Before she walked through the door to return to her work, however, she turned around once more and smiled at the doctor. "Thank you, Chopper." Thus she made her way out of the room back to her desk, all the way accompanied by a low sing-song of a little reindeer with the inability of accepting and handling compliments.

With a sigh, the young redhead fell down onto the chair at her desk. She slowly reached for her fountain pen and an unfinished map right on top of a large stack of paper. Yet the day had been so strenuous that she could barely concentrate on the fine lines of black ink on the pure paper. Nami sighed as she stared at her work. At this rate, she would never get it done. But with her pregnancy advancing, it grew harder and harder to concentrate. It now took little physical and mental exercise to completely tire her out. And even all the sleep she got seemed to be hardly able to compensate and reenergize her body and mind. She shuddered uncontrollably at the thought of what it would feel like towards the end of her pregnancy.

But she could not allow herself to slack off. Sure, Chopper had told her to get enough rest and to relax from the day's stress. Yet she could still get more than enough of all that later. First, she would have to get at least some work done.

With another sigh, she dipped the pen into the ink bottle and carefully set it to the paper. After a few inches, however, her hand seemed to be turning heavier and heavier; so did her eyelids. Another few minutes later, Nami's head sank down onto the desk and her grip on the pen eased.

I'll just rest my head for a second, Nami though to herself, then I can get to work. Just for a second…

Zoro yawned. Those night duties sure were boring, especially since he was not allowed to take a nap. His boots clanked soundly on the wood as he made his way to the kitchen. A drink would be perfect just now, he thought as he stifled another yawn. As he had just passed the entrance to Nami's room however, he heard a low cluttering sound that made him stop in his tracks.

What could that have been? Maybe she was still working, despite what Chopper had told her. It would not be unlike her, after all. When he was about to continue for the kitchen, he sighed and turned around. Well, it could not hurt to go and check. After all, you never knew.

Walking as quietly as he could, he made his way to the navigator's room. He carefully knocked on the door: no answer. Even on his third and fourth knocks, the room stayed completely silent and Zoro decided to take his chance and dare enter even without permission.

He quietly opened the door and stepped into the dark room. The candle had almost gone out; its flickering flame hardly enough to light the room. Upon stepping further into the room, Zoro could make out a tiny figure hunched over the desk. He smirked and shook his head. She had fallen asleep over her map. On the ground next to the table lay her fountain pen. She must have dropped it, making the noise the swordsman had heard from outside.

He stepped closer to her and lightly touched her shoulder. Yet the young woman did not even stir; she was in a deep slumber. And Zoro was certainly not going to wake her up; he knew better than to dare that, he had learned his lesson…

Looking at the hunched over body for a few moments, he made up his mind. It would not be good for her to sleep like this.

Carefully, her placed his strong arms around the navigator's slender body and picked her up, cautious to neither hurt her nor – which would have the worst consequences for him – wake her up. The swordsman slowly walked over to her bed and gently placed her on the soft cushions. The young woman still slept soundly, completely unaware of what had happened.

"That's right, you better not be waking up to this…", the swordsman muttered under his breath as he pulled the bed sheets over his nakama's body.

After another short glance onto the sleeping navigator, he turned around and left for the kitchen, a sigh of relief escaping his lips.

He would, however, most likely have been in less high spirits, had he noticed the small grin on his nakama's face.

a/n: Ummm... sorry... gomen... tschuldigung... I don't really know how to excuse myself for not updating in such a long time, for you already know all the reason: busy with college, busy with college, lack of inspiration, busy with college... Not as imaginative as I should be, huh? ' I meant to update this a long time ago, but, well, see the above reasons for the delay' Also I have just handed in my application for a US university for spring semester of 06, hoping I will be able to spend a semester abroad at their faculty. Now I'm just hoping to receive a positive answer. Please wish me good luck'

And now, again, a few words to my reviewers:

Namibean: Thank you so much It means alot to me to receive positive feedback from you, since I love your stories and consider you a great writer!

Vulpixi Misa: You like drama? Good Cuz the drama's not over yet.

Gothywolfie: Yes, it should be considered a crime to leave babies or toddlers within Luffy's reach... And the naming-scene is a pretty good idea, seeing how Nami sucks at naming.. ("I call you... eyelash!" "Your name is... scissors!")

Magus Black: Yup, doctors are evil grins The father thing is indeed getting a bit complicating curls her eyebrow and ponders

Bevin: Hmm even though you might not be reading this, I will still add it. I am grateful for your criticism! I even have to admit I do somewhat share your opinion on the two major points you discussed. Just one more word on your final thing, about how women could miss their periods and not notice: it does happen, trust me. Especially if you have a hectic lifestyle, changing surroundings etc.

Illusion Of A Lunatic: I kept them in character? Oo umm cool... I am actually trying to balance between Sanji and Zoro, but having Sanji always jump at every possible situation of helping Nami, it is at times hard to shine a light onto Zoro.

to all others: I'm really hoping I won't disappoint anyone with the endingOo Since it might not turn out as everybody wishes for.. ( - drama queen). Also I am trying to focus more on the nakama aspect of One Piece, meaning the deep feeling of family, and even more than that. But of course, being with two (extremely hot, if I may add') guys like Zoro and Sanji, romantic scenes can hardly be avoided I myself haven't actually set my mind to whether I am pro ZoroxNami or SanjixNami. Both pairings have aspects that simply make you love them. If I were Nami, I'd take them both o