Luffy/Nami. PG. I reserve the rights to be as silly and/or fluffy as I want in this. It is my first One Piece fic after all.
Four things, out of many, that
Nami has to put up with
by Maaya
1) Winter Islands
"It's so cold," Nami mutters, leaning her elbows against the gunwale. Her very bare elbows, pale-looking and with goose bumps all over. Not very attractive against her blue top. She thinks, she probably looks like a ghost.
The air is crisp, and her breaths come out in small puffy clouds. She thinks she should stay inside, if she had been able to trust her companions to keep the course steady. (A no no. Nami trusts them with her life, but not with the ship. Never mind the fact they are sailing up along a river at the moment, there are only so many directions they can go.) She thinks she ought to go find a blanket to wrap around her at least.
Resting her chin on her crossed arms, she turns her head to look at her companion. "Chopper, you look comfortable enough."
"Yes!" Chopper looks at her from below the brim of his hat. "I'm from a winter island after all." He pauses, and seems to battle with his tongue to find the right words. Nami wonders why. Surely it has nothing to do with the surly expression she knows is stuck on her face. Her eyebrows are strained; she tries to make them stop twitching.
"Nami," Chopper says at last. "Where's your jacket?"
Oh yes.
Tightening her fists, Nami inhales. "Where is my jacket? Some idiot let a fish chew on it when he was fishing and he hasn't paid it back yet and--"
Chopper, she realizes, has already escaped. Pity, she still feels like blowing up on someone. Doing it on Luffy himself is dully unsatisfying. Like screaming at a rubber gum. The figure-shaped, happy animal kind.
Nami stands and begins to walk towards the galley. Thawing herself out for a few minutes sounds like a plan to her, in the meantime grabbing a blanket and just perhaps some of Sanji's excellent hot cocoa. (Of love, he claims. Nami does admit that the small amount of chili and dark chocolate added gives it an excellently richaftertaste.)
She doesn't get that far. Chopper comes dashing back.
"Nami! It's an emergency!"
She rolls her eyes. "What, Chopper, I..."
"Luffy licked on a lamppost on the island and now he's stuck!"
A monstrous, red thing suddenly appears before her, stretching and stretching and yes. It is attached to a metal lamppost on the island.
Migraine coming. Nami rubs her temples and follows Chopper around the corner.
Luffy is screaming, holding onto the gunwale with everything he is worth. Zoro waves his katana around, too close to the thing (tongue?) to allow Luffy to relax, it seems.
"Hahi! Heul ee!" Luffy's eyes beg her, enough for her to understand the distorted words. Or at least the initial meaning. Nami sighs.
"Listen, Luffy."
He quiets down, though his tongue keeps stretching. Chopper relaxes. You can always trust Nami to take care of situations like these.
"If I help you with this, I don't want money."
(Chopper and Zoro look kind of faint. She ignores them.)
"However, I want your jacket in exchange. Okay?"
Luffy nods the best he can.
Nami sighs again. That tongue has very little appeal. She steels herself, grabs it quickly with both hands and pulls.
With the lash like that from an elastic band, the tongue hits Luffy's face on its way back. With a hand over his face, he shouts, "Hahi you JERH. Thah hurh!"
"It's fine, it's fine, you don't have to thank me," Nami replies, grabs a hold of the jacket and tugs until he gives up and slips out of it, looking at her darkly.
She goes back to her vantage post. The log pose better set soon, or she'll steal one from some innocent islander.
----
2) Spring Islands
"Just why am I stuck in this jungle with you, anyway?"
Nami. Is. Not in a good mood.
It might have something to do with the words lost, jungle and Luffy.
"Never mind Nami, look at all the fruit. We'll bring some back for Sanji, he'll make something awesome!"
Especially that last word.
"He won't be able to make anything if you eat it all now, idiot," she mutters and puts her hands on her hips, preparing herself to shout. He really should get down from that tree. He really should help her find a way to get back to the ship.
It turns out she does not have to shout. Luffy comes swinging down on his own accord. (She has to duck and dodge but, ah, well.)
"Look Nami! That butterfly, I've never seen one like it before. It looks so cool!"
He points, all excitedly. There's nothing she can do but look, and just perhaps enjoy the exotic colours a little. He looks so darn happy.
(They do not get back until that very evening, Luffy following the call of his tummy and the smell from Sanji's cooking.
At that time, Nami is not sure if Luffy meant to enjoy himself, or force Nami to have fun on the "trip".
Her memory is stored with images of flowers and butterflies now, and she guesses it is to prefer over other, darker things hunting her.)
----
3) Summer Islands
"Nami-saaaan, let's go swimming together" (With which Sanji probably means something like "I want to see your beautiful body in a revealing swimsuit, it's been so long since last time")
Nami is comfortable where she is. In the shade of her own tangerine bushes. With a book. Dressed. She kicks Sanji away; he flies overboard. "Do it on your own."
"Sounds nice….being able to swim…" Luffy lies beside her on the deck, fanning himself.
"Luffy, stop whining," she reprimands absent-mindedly, without turning away from her book. Admittedly, it is hot. She just hopes that his rubber-y body will not melt. She wonders if it could. But it made it through the deserts of Arabasta okay so perhaps not. "It's your own fault for eating that devil's fruit…" she trails off and looks up. Why has she not asked this earlier? "Hey. Why did you eat it in the first place?"
He looks at her darkly. "Accident. Some bastard left it lying around for anyone to eat."
Nami looks at him. He looks back. His tongue (it has been somewhat longer than it should ever since the lamppost incident) is hanging from his mouth onto the floor. A puddle of mixed drool and sweat and--
She returns to her book. For Luffy, it sounds plausible enough. Now she knows why she never asked before, too.
----
4) Autumn Islands
Luffy is unpredictable sometimes. Or very often, honestly, and Nami is not sure why she has not yet learnt to deal with Luffy-surprises. It is just, when you think you have mapped out his behavioural patterns he suddenly does something more ridiculous than ever before imagined and all notes, all the planning and calculating is back to nil. Even worse is when he does something serious. Happens every now and then and Nami is surprised she has not swallowed her own tongue during one of those moments.
The ship had needed a guard with the rest of the crew exploring the town and Nami offered, wanting a rare moment of quiet with only the citrus tea and cookies Sanji had prepared for her.
"Namiii! I bought you something!"
I had been a nice moment of quiet, note the past tense. She glances up and spots someone running towards the ship. A shadow against the bright red leaves of the trees--they have turned into a very interesting maroon color. That is an autumn island for you.
Nami blinks.
Luffy looks like a loon waving around with a piece of fabric…scarf? and grinning.
He jumps aboard and is suddenly close and wrapping it around her neck. Nami does not recognize the material-- something especially from this island?—but it is a little rough and very warm. Of all things, it looks good. Black, kind of plain. Wearable. (She would ask why he did not buy her a jacket, but it feels out of place.)
"There!" Luffy laughs again as he looks at her.
Nami doesn't know why she feels awkward, but it makes her want to kick someone, perhaps Luffy. Only, she does not want that.
"Hey," she says. "Thanks."
(A peck on the cheek hurts no one, and Luffy looks like he has been given a treasure, only calmer and warmer and things feel really, really good.)
----
end