Chapter 5
It was the warmth Luffy noticed first. Then it was the softness. It was entirely too inviting, so instead of opening his eyes he simply moved closer to it, snuggling his way deeper into his comfortable hideaway hoping that he'd drift back to sleep.
The memories of the night before came third, after a while. He opened his eyes and was greeted with darkness. He felt the soft, steady rise and fall of her chest against his face and the warm puffs of breath on the top of his head. He felt the slack grip of her arms around his neck and slowly pulled away from her grip, careful not to rouse her. He gently grabbed the wrist sitting atop his neck and placed it in between them. When he finally extracted himself from her completely, he propped himself up on his elbow to look down at her.
He couldn't help but stare.
Is it the light? he thought to himself.
It trickled down from a nifty little window on the wall above him, pumped down from the outside by one of Franky's nifty designs that he could never even begin to explain, over his shoulder and down onto Nami.
And she was stunning, like this. Angelic, even. She seemed to glow, even in the sparse light. The sunlight made her long orange hair burn brighter where it landed. It accentuated the slight flush to her cheek that was visible beneath stray strands of mussed hair.
He gently reached out with his right hand and touched her cheekbone with the pad of his index finger. In a slow, deliberate swipe so as to not disturb her, he gently dragged his finger across the length of her cheek, brushing back the stray hair and tucking it behind her ear.
It was with a tenderness that confused him slightly, he wasn't sure why she captivated him so, and it was the thrill that he got from doing so that confused him further.
She made a small noise and huffed, her tongue peeking out of her mouth to wet her pink lips. Her soft pink lips, Luffy remembered.
When did I start thinking of her this way?
As he stared down at her, he was acutely aware of a tightening feeling in his chest that made it hard to breathe correctly. He released a slow, shuddering breath, trying to regain himself.
Nami made another small noise, and her eyes lifted open and she yawned. Luffy froze as she turned her head and peered at him through half-lidded, sleepy eyes. She startled him when she reached for him with both of her hands, wrapped them around his neck and pulled him right back down to her breast.
"Mine," she muttered, nuzzling his hair with her nose.
'Mine?' Luffy thought, blinking quickly in confusion. Something inside him made his heart thump heavily at the declaration that he was hers. He was perplexed, as he typically revolted against the idea of anything that could restrict his freedom in any way but for this, he felt nothing of the sort.
A quick check with his haki determined that Nami was again asleep, and Luffy chuckled at the thought that she never been awake to begin with when she glanced at him and pulled him back down to her. Even more carefully than before did he extricate himself from her grasp, leaving the warmth of her breast for the cool air of his room.
He couldn't help but stare at her for a short while again, before shaking his head in an effort to get himself moving. He gently climbed out of the bed, taking care not to wake her. He looked down at her (again, he noted) as he stood.
She shivered and pawed at the space he had just vacated.
He immediately reached down and grabbed the hem of the blankets and pulled them up under her chin. Nami huffed and pulled the blankets closer to her, relishing the warmth.
Luffy was confused with his reaction, how instantly he responded to her. He was confused at the feeling bubbling up in his stomach, the same feeling that caused his heart to pound as she held him. He was confused with his inability to keep his eyes off of her. He was confused with the urge he had to touch her, to feel her, even in the smallest way possible.
He was confused when his body took over and he leaned down and pressed a lingering kiss against her cheek, and even more so when his lips tingled as he withdrew.
He turned and walked over to the door, giving her another long glance over his shoulder before shaking his head and slipping quietly out of the room.
As he walked the dark hallway, he considered the myriad of feelings bubbling inside him. He was sure of nothing except that he had thinking to do. He wasn't too keen on it, thinking too hard could give you headaches after all. But he'd willingly suffer that.
She deserved his utmost attention and effort.
Not long after Luffy's departure, Nami stirred. Immediately, she noticed. She wiggled her body further in the bed but met nothing except more bed. It frustrated her.
Greatly.
She was warm, yes, but not the kind of warm she wanted to be. If she wanted to simply be wrapped in a blanket, she could very well have just stayed him her room.
No, she wanted his warmth. She wanted to feel his chest against her back, his body draped over hers like a heating pad. Or maybe she wanted to bury her face in the muscles of his chest, splay her fingers over the broad lines of his torso. She wanted to press her cheek against his body and tuck her nose under his chin and feel his strong arms pull her tightly to him and-
God damnit, where the hell is he? She thought, cracking her eyes open to glare at the space formerly occupied by her captain. Nami eyed his now vacated pillow briefly before snatching it and quickly pulled it to her body. She growled and buried her head in the pillow, breathing in his scent.
He's due for a good scolding, she thought, pulling the covers up just under her nose. She would definitely be impressing upon him the importance of her warmth. Though, I guess I don't have much room to talk, after I bailed the other morning…a light scolding then, perhaps.
She couldn't help but be worried that maybe he was upset with her for that, but she immediately dismissed the thought. He certainly didn't seem that way when he welcomed her into his room…but maybe I'll apologize, just in case…
Sadness struck her when she remembered how she witnessed one of his nightmares. Sadness and guilt. I should have listened to Zoro. I should have taken it more seriously…
It was horrifying, she thought, that Luffy have to go through that. He didn't deserve that, not at all. Despite being a pirate, he was the best person she knew. Sure he was a goofball, a troublemaker, and a not-so-smart rubber man, but he was genuinely the kindest person she knew. He didn't deserve to be haunted by the memory of his brother dying in his arms.
Her cheeks pinked when she thought of how she held him and the things she said to him. Well, that cat's out of the bag, she thought rather casually. No matter how cool she tried to make herself feel though, and no matter the certainty with which she knew the opposite was the case, she couldn't quite tamp down the nagging worry that maybe she had said too much and that Luffy's disappearance was due to not feeling what she felt.
She shook her head to clear her head of such thoughts and sat up. She blinked when she felt a crinkle in the pocket of her shorts and reached down, sliding her fingers inside the denim pockets. She pulled out the small piece of paper from the day before, realizing that she hadn't changed from shorts the pair she wore yesterday.
Echoing footsteps from above drew her attention, and she realized that it was almost time for breakfast. She tossed the covers aside and sprung up, depositing the scrap of paper on the nightstand next to the bed. She hurried out of the room after making the bed (because somebody had to keep order, and the heavens knew that Luffy would certainly not), intent on getting ready for the day.
Luffy stood on the figurehead of the Thousand Sunny with his arms crossed, gazing far out across the ocean in front of his ship. The sun beat down on the surface of the water, creating a brilliant mosaic on the sea.
And yet, he took little notice of it. On a normal day when he was done fooling around with Usopp and Chopper and ventured to the Sunny's head for a break, perhaps he would have enjoyed the sight before him.
But now another source of brightness dominated his mind.
Oh yes, she did certainly shine brilliantly, even he had noticed that. No longer could he mosey about and not devote any ounce of thought to this…whatever this was. Not when she had laid so bare her feelings last night, and after what happened the night before that. Not when the feelings in his stomach were something other than hunger.
He even ate less than usual at breakfast due to distraction!
"I love you. I love you so much, Luffy."
She loved him. His brows furrowed as he thought about the pleading sound of her voice as she held him last night. It was different than how she viewed the rest of her crewmates, of that he was sure. He absolutely believed that Nami loved her crewmates but couldn't see her doing what she did for anyone else in the crew.
For that matter, she came to his bed. And multiple times too. He knew her, and knew her well, and knew that she wouldn't have done that with anybody else. And she had kissed him too! Or did I kiss her? he thought, before brushing it aside. It doesn't matter, she certainly continued it and she definitely wouldn't kiss anyone else like that. No, this was a different from the love she had of the crew.
And it was different than Hancock, too. Hancock was a nice woman, and strong as well! And she had done so much for him, from helping break into Impel Down to save Ace, and then helping him flee in the aftermath of the war and provide him shelter and a place to train. But when she said that she loved him, it didn't quite sit right. Especially now that he had something to compare it against. Hancock said she loved him, but did she really? She wanted to marry him, but could you marry someone that you don't know very well? Could you love someone that you don't know very well?
Luffy closed his eyes and took a steadying breath.
No, Hancock had not been through what they had been through together. She had not experienced what Nami had experienced with him. Nami was there at the beginning, the ups and downs. She helped form his crew along with Zoro. When Luffy wanted to go somewhere, it was Nami that guided him. When Luffy wanted to go to the Grand Line, it was Nami that showed him the way. When Luffy wanted to go to the New World, it was Nami that directed him.
So attached were they that it would be Nami that showed him where he had to go to be the King.
And it was even deeper with him. The burning rage when he saw her on her knees reduced to tears stabbing her shoulder to rid herself of her old tattoo in her village went beyond that of rage on behalf of a friend or crew member even. The fear that Enel was going to steal her from him was not just the feeling of loss of a friend or crewmate. That Kaido could have killed her, and he would have never seen her ever again, that he would never see her smile, laugh, cry, scold…
That she would be gone forever made him burn inside.
In truth, Nami and Hancock were not the same. Hancock was a friend. When he thought of Hancock, that was as far has his mind went. He could not envision her in the same light as he did Nami.
Nami was…different. Nami knew everything about him. Nami knew everything that he wanted. Nami was always there and would always be there. He treasured her. He needed her. This feeling in his gut had only ever occurred on her account, he had only ever been disoriented in this way because of her.
When he thought of Hancock, he thought of all the things she did for him, that she was kind to him, that she was funny, that she was pretty-
Nami is pretty too.
He suddenly sees her again sitting atop him, panting from laughter, her hands pinning his down by his head. He sees the light flicker in her brown eyes as she's leaning down and finds himself leaning up to meet her.
He sees her again sleeping, the glow of her skin and hair from the early morning light trickling through the window and he tries and fails to resist brushing the pad of his index finger across the soft skin of her slightly flushed cheek.
No, he thought, pretty is not the word.
Nor was the word friend, he realized, as it was with Hancock. Nami was something more than that, and Luffy found that he wanted her to be something more. This strange sensation boiling in his chest was a testament to that, but he wasn't sure why-
"If I had to make a comparison, I would say that love is a wildfire. It hits you suddenly, and without warning. It engulfs you in a raging inferno, leaves you smoldering in heat on the inside, burns you if you're not careful, comforts you when you're cold, lights your world when it's dark…"
Ah, he thought. He thought of the sudden burning feeling in his chest this morning and lingering effect thereafter. A wildfire…
"I love you. I love you so much, Luffy."
Love, he thought. That's what it is. I love her.
He opened his eyes and smiled as it clicked for him. Of course, it would be that Nami showed him the way. He laughed out loud as the feeling inside him roared, and he knew what he had determined was correct. He smiled wide, so wide that his grin threatened to leave his face. He knew what he wanted. He wanted her.
A rushing sensation overcame him as a vision played out in his mind. He blinked as the vision faded and the images were replaced with the sunlight and sea before him.
Speaking of her, he thought. It seemed that the object of his attention, deliberation, and now-realized affection would be joining him shortly…
Nami placed her pencil down on her desk with a sigh of relief. Finally, she thought, taking an appraising look at the newly finished map in front of her. A completed map of Wano, with detailed topography, ocean currents, and known weather patterns.
She leaned back in leather her chair and closed her eyes, reveling in her success and relishing the comfort the chair provided her.
Money well spent, she thought. After all, if she was going to sit for long stretches of time poring over paper as she created a map of the entire world, she could spare no expense on her chair. Besides, she stole the money used to buy the chair from an idiot pirate crew dumb enough to challenge Luffy to a fight, so it wasn't like she was wasting her own money.
It was their own fault anyway, Nami thought, remembering how Luffy clobbered them all within minutes, leaving all of their treasures to be plundered by the rest of the crew. He's really become quite amazing now…
Blinking away her thoughts, Nami opened her eyes and returned her focus to the map on her desk. She slipped her pencil and fine-point marker into a cup containing other utensils at the top of the desk and carefully placed her cartography tools in a drawer on the underside of the desk next to her right leg. She gently picked up the map of Wano and carried it across the room, opening a large metal filing cabinet built by Franky, and placed it in a section dedicated to maps depicting territories within the New World.
Her eyes flickered over the tabs pertaining to each section of the cabinet. North Blue. South Blue. East Blue. West Blue. Paradise. New World.
So many places left to go, Nami pondered quietly, running a slender finger over the tabs. The East Blue, Paradise, and New World sections were noticeably thicker than the other sections as they had yet to travel to any of the other seas outside of those three, but even so there were so many places left to go in the areas that they had been that the difference was really negligible. There was so much left to explore, the sections that had maps in them might as well have been empty. It was going to take a long time, years and years of sailing aboard the Thousand Sunny for the contents of this filing cabinet to resemble any significant progress.
That's fine though, she thought with a wide grin. There's nowhere else I'd rather be.
She closed the cabinet with a metallic click and turned to leave her study, humming happily as she crossed the room. Exiting the study and closing the polished wooden door behind her, she strode forward and placed her hands on the banister overlooking the lawn deck below. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply.
She immediately noticed the relative quiet and became suspicious. One does not simply enjoy quiet on the flagship of the Straw Hat Pirates, Nami thought.
She cracked open her eyes and peered down at the lawn deck beneath her. Usopp and Chopper sat atop the portside railing with fishing poles, hoping to snag an exciting new creature to store in the aquarium and eventually for Sanji to cook for them.
Neither Franky or Sanji were on the deck, both most likely in their respective areas on the ship either inventing new gadgets or coming up with more delicious recipes for the sake of the crew. Brook sat against the foremast of the ship, playing a quiet tune on his trademark violin.
Jinbe stood at the helm of the ship, guiding the Sunny forward as was his duty. Zoro was not sleeping or lifting weights, a rather odd development. Rather, he and Robin were standing close to Jinbe, chatting with their new helmsman.
Notably absent from everywhere was Luffy.
Luffy was not fishing with Usopp and Chopper. He was not yelling at Sanji for food, pestering Franky to show him new inventions, or harassing Brook to play Bink's Sake. He wasn't bugging Robin while she was reading, nor climbing on top of Jinbe. He wasn't bothering Zoro and demanding that Zoro do something fun other than sleep and work out.
Now that she thought of it, Nami had managed to finish a map in complete silence, undisturbed and without accusations of being mean when she rebuffed pleading attempts for her to play cards or play tag or do something other than make maps.
It didn't take long for her eyes to find his famous Straw Hat, though not in the place she expected.
Though his presence there did in fact explain why Zoro was not sleeping or weightlifting and why his eyes never strayed from forward even though he was talking to both Jinbe and Robin next to him.
And suddenly she felt nervous. She had noticed his behavior during breakfast, they all did. He was distant, distracted. He still ate like a whale, but not as much as normal and he wasn't as rambunctious as he might be on a normal day. He didn't look at her throughout the meal save for a fleeting glance right as she took her place next to him, and it admittedly worried her. That he seemed to pull away slightly from everyone worried her more.
She blinked, pushing down her worry, and decided to go down to and check with Zoro to see if he knew what was going on with the enigma that was their captain.
Her feet carried her steadily down the stairs across the lawn, and up towards the helm. Other than returning a polite gesture from Brook, the entirety of the trip was spent by Nami inwardly reflecting on what might be wrong with Luffy, so much so that she didn't notice where she was until she was already at her destination.
"So…" she started nervously.
"So, you broke our captain," Zoro said gruffly, earning a sharp glare from Nami.
"I didn't do anything!" she retorted while Jinbe and Robin laughed. Ignoring them she asked, "How long has he been up there?"
"An hour. Just after you went up to your study. He left Usopp and Chopper mid-game. You must have done something horrid," Robin said, teasingly at the end.
"Robin-"
"Nami," Jinbe interrupted, chuckling at the navigator. "We're only joking. Nobody thinks you did anything wrong, though all of us know he's up there because of something that happened with you. And I'm sure you have nothing to worry about."
Nami smiled gratefully and nodded at the helmsman. She opened her mouth to respond but was preempted by Zoro.
"Now go and handle it. And don't break him any worse," he said. Nami glared at him and his smug, teasing smile. Robin she could handle, but now Robin and Zoro?
"Keep it up," she threatened with narrowing eyes, "and I'll increase the interest on your debt to two-hundred percent."
"Sure, punish me for something that's entirely your fault," Zoro replied, grinning.
"I didn't-"
"Go on," Zoro interrupted, chuckling. He motioned to the figurehead with a tilt of his head. "He's waiting for you."
The last sentence was spoken quieter than the rest of the dialogue had been, and as their eyes met an unspoken thought passed between them.
Take care of him, Zoro was telling Nami as he encouraged her to go to Luffy. She swallowed thickly and nodded at him.
Though she was rather loathe to admit it, she admired Zoro for how close he was with Luffy. She recalled that Robin had mentioned it when they talked the previous day, that Zoro also shared a different type of relationship with Luffy. Nami was certain that among everybody in the world, the only person that could be Luffy's first mate was the perpetually lost-and-napping swordsman on their ship.
And in that moment Nami was grateful that Luffy had a friend like Zoro.
And speaking of Luffy…
Nami shook herself from her thoughts and steeled herself for this inevitable conversation with her enigmatic captain. She brushed the front of her white sundress with her hands in an attempt to smooth out any wrinkles. She ignored Zoro's snort behind her, instead focusing on straightening the red sash wrapped around her waist.
I like red, she mused.
She stepped forward, well aware of the eyes boring holes into her back. She climbed up a small set of stairs leading up to the figurehead.
"Luffy!" she called out to him as she neared the top. She carefully grabbed a piece of the wood that made up the mane of the Sunny's lion-like figurehead and deftly stepped through the slight gap between it and one of its brethren. She could see him now, arms crossed, staring over the horizon. It didn't seem like he had heard her at all.
"Luffy," she called again, "I'm coming to where you are. Give me a hand so I don't -"
Her foot grazed a slick spot on Sunny's head and she yelped as she lost her balance. She tumbled over the side and felt gravity pull her down towards the sea.
Only instead of feeling the warm ocean water surround her, she felt a warm, rubbery arm wrap itself around her waist and break her fall. As quickly as she had fallen she was hefted up and deposited gently in front of him.
"Thanks," she said quietly, reaching out with both hands to grip his red cardigan tightly so as to not lose her balance again.
She was met with uproarious laughter from him, the vibrations of his laugh reverberating through her. "That was better than I thought it would be!"
"Better than you thought it would be?" she questioned, looking up at him confusedly. "What do you mean by that? You knew I would slip?"
"Yup," he said, ever-present grin stretching across his face. "I saw it."
"You saw it?" she asked, blinking rapidly in befuddlement. "What do you mean…" she started, only to trail off as his words suddenly resonated in her memory.
She made to knock on the door, but hesitated just before her knuckles touched the polished wood.
But the door opened.
And there he was standing in front of her, staring at her curiously.
"How did you-" she started, slightly shocked.
"I've seen it," he replied simply.
She was quiet for a long while as she considered his words then, as well as how he was so sure of himself when he threw himself overboard yesterday, or rather so sure of her. Her eyes moved to and fro across his chest, not really seeing anything as she was lost in her thoughts.
"Luffy," she started slowly, as gears started to turn in her head. She looked up and met his eyes with her own, noting the look of smug amusement adorning his face as she worked it out. "There was that guy on Whole Cake Island that had Observation Haki so strong that he could see the future…did you learn how to do that?"
"Yup," he said, his grin now a full-blown smile stretching the width of his face.
"You can see the future?" she asked, starting to become irritated.
"Yup."
"You mean to tell me," she began with a growl, glaring up at her captain, "that you can see the future with your haki and you still let me slip?"
"Yup," he answered again, punctuating his statement with a sharp nod.
A moment passed as she took in the sight of him grinning stupidly down at her before she quickly lunged at him and grabbed both of his cheeks with her hands, stretching them out as wide as you possibly could.
"You idiot!" she roared, tugging his cheeks erratically. "Why the hell didn't you stop me?"
"Ah! Nami, wait!" he yelled, words slurred due to his mouth being contorted by her attack. "What're you doing?"
"I'm gonna tie your damn lips together!"
"But I won't be able to talk!"
"That's the point!" Nami said, struggling to gain dominance while he desperately jerked around. His arms flew up and grabbed her wrists gently, but strongly enough to render her unable to move her arms any further. She frowned at him, at his grinning face now distorted due to his cheeks beings stretched a foot and a half from their normal place on his face.
With narrowing eyes, she released her hold on his face. His cheeks rejoined the rest of his face with a rubbery snap. "Why'd you not stop me from falling?"
"Because I wanted to catch you," he responded succinctly.
"That's a stupid reason!" she snapped.
"It's not," he said lowly. "I'll always catch you."
She tried to avoid his gaze but found herself trapped by the intensity of his dark eyes. "I'd prefer it if you didn't let me fall to begin with," she mumbled grumpily.
"That's because you're a chicken," he teased.
"No, it's because I'm normal," she retorted.
"No," he said quietly, releasing her arms and allowing his to fall by his side. "I don't think you're that, either." He reached forward slowly nudging a long, orange curl gently behind her left ear with an index finger. Nami shivered slightly when his finger had brushed her cheek.
And still they stared at each other.
"Luffy, I'm sorry," she said suddenly. He tilted his head, confused. "I left you the other morning…"
"Oh, that? It's fine. I thought you wanted to think. You like to think," he said nonchalantly.
"Is that what you were doing this morning? Thinking?"
"Yeah," he said.
"Did it hurt?" she asked, smiling.
Luffy blinked once then grinned widely at the minor insult. He held his hand up and positioned his index finger and thumb an inch a part. "Maybe a little."
Nami's smile widened further. They shared a quiet moment with each other, simply looking at one another. "What were you thinking about?" Nami asked, smile sliding from her face as she prepared herself for a serious discussion.
"You."
His simple answer caught her off guard, and she blinked rapidly. She found it slightly harder to control her breathing. "What about me?" she asked softly.
Her regarded her seriously for several long moments. She found herself tense and started to fidget nervously under his gaze. She was about to snap at him when he finally answered.
"You're like a wildfire."
"A wildfire?" she asked, confused. She stared back at him, taking note that he was absolutely serious and not toying with her. She racked her brain trying to figure out what he meant. Several long moments passed as she struggled to understand him when she remembered a conversation with another Monkey D. not twenty-four hours prior. Oh.
Oh, she thought again, eyes widening as she put together what he said.
And the entire time, Luffy stared down at her, watching the gears in her head turn as she slowly gained understanding.
He was captivated by her. Again.
At first it was her eyes. The reflection of the early afternoon light on her wide, brown eyes made them shine and the golden flecks within glow bright. Then it was the soft skin of her cheeks and the rising pink dusted across her delicate cheekbones. And then it was her lips, soft and plump, parted as she slowly came to a conclusion.
Let me help her along, he thought. He reached up with his right hand and slipped it under her soft hair and around the back of her neck. Gently, he pulled her to him, placing a steadying left hand at the small of her back when she stumbled forward with his unexpected move.
Something inside his chest growled with want when her soft hands flew to his chest to brace herself against him. "Nami," he said softly, "I'm going to kiss you. Okay?"
Already wide eyes widened further. "Yeah," she said breathily. "Okay."
He surged forward and pressed his lips to hers. The thing inside his chest roared with triumph when he felt the soft skin of her lips against his.
Slowly and softly did he move his lips over hers. He felt her hands glide over his chest to the fabric of his open cardigan and fist the material. As he was beginning to move away from her, he felt her tug on his cardigan gently and rise to the tips of her toes in an effort to keep him in place.
He smiled into the kiss and the hand at the small of her back pulled her flush against his body. She gasped at the contact, her breasts and chest now pressed tightly against the heat of his chest. She felt all of him through the thin material of her sundress, and he felt wonderful.
Luffy marveled at the softness of her body, her hair, her lips. He vastly enjoyed the insistence Nami displayed, tugging gently on his lips to keep him kissing her.
She was beautiful and demanding and he loved it. He loved the feel of her against him, he loved how she had essentially declared that it would be over when she wanted it to be over. He loved the sounds she made, the gasp he heard when he flicked his tongue against her bottom lip, the whimper she made when he slipped his tongue into her mouth, and the moan she made as she began to brush her tongue against his, hesitantly at first but boldly as they carried on.
Luffy himself didn't really know what he was doing, he had never kissed anybody before he kissed Nami the other night, and he was just repeating what they had done then.
And he loved it. He loved everything about her.
Finally they pulled apart, Luffy slid his hand from the nape of her neck and Nami sank back from her tip-toes. Had Nami not been holding onto his cardigan and had he relinquished his grip from the small of her back, Luffy suspected that she might have stumbled backwards. His eyes flitted over her face as he took in her appearance.
He was immensely pleased with the dazed look in her wide, brown eyes, the flush of her cheeks, and the slightly swollen appearance of her lips. He resisted the urge to be smug and resisted the even stronger urge for him to lean down and kiss her all over again.
Instead he smiled widely and said, "I love you too, Nami."
She blinked before returning his smile with a wide, radiant smile of her own. "Is that what you've been thinking about all this time?" she asked coyly.
"Mostly," he said.
"Mostly?" Nami questioned. "What else have you been thinking about?"
"The future," he replied simply.
"The future? Why don't you just look ahead and see it yourself?" she grumbled, still miffed that he didn't stop her from falling a few minutes before.
"Because I can't see that far," he responded matter-of-factly. "Dummy."
"Who the hell are you calling a dummy?" Nami demanded, shooting him a glare for his teasing. "How should I know how far you're able to see in the future?"
Nami blinked, a sudden thought crossing her mind. Luffy was never the type to spend time thinking about the distant future. He lived in the present, for the moment, the grand adventure with little concern about anything more than ten minutes into the future. "What were you thinking of the future for?" she asked, confused.
She stared into his onyx eyes, wondering what had stolen his attention away such that he didn't leave his position after coming to a conclusion of his feelings for her. She stared at him, trying to decipher the meaning in those dark eyes.
He peered down at her, pleased that she had asked and even more so that she seemed to be searching him for answers. He raised his right hand and brushed a stray strand of hair from her face that had been deposited there by the gentle ocean breeze that wafted across their ship.
Again he marveled at how soft she felt beneath his fingertips.
"You," he said again. "I was thinking about your future."
Her face twisted in confusion and she opened her mouth to respond. Luffy quickly placed his finger over her lips, snorting in amusement at the defiance on Nami's face as he effectively shushed her.
"Be my Queen, Nami," he said sotto voce.
Nami blinked rapidly, not comprehending immediately what her rubber-brained captain had just uttered to her. Only after a few moments, when she had replayed his words over again multiple times that she finally understood the gravity of what he had said.
Her brown eyes bored holes in him as she regarded him in disbelief. "Luffy…do you understand what you just said?" she whispered to him.
"When I become King," he started, as softly as she had asked him, "I want you to be my Queen."
Nami's jaw slackened and it took her a second to stutter out a response. "But I thought you said you didn't want to get married. I thought you said you told Hancock you didn't want to marry her."
"Yup, I did. But Hancock isn't you."
He smiled wide and easy at the end of his sentence, as if the simple conclusion he had come to was the most natural thing in the world. All of a sudden, Nami felt it very hard to breathe and struggled to keep her composure. Despite her efforts, she couldn't stop her eyes from watering and her lips from trembling.
He noticed this and his face fell. All of a sudden his stomach seemed like it was sliding into a pit and he was filled with a terrible sinking feeling. He had expected some kind of reaction, but not like this. He didn't expect to make Nami cry, he would have never wanted that. Maybe I did something wrong? Maybe she doesn't think like that about me? Maybe I misunderstood her? Luffy, who prided himself on remaining cool under mountains of pressure, began to panic inside.
"Eh, Nami," he stuttered, "you don't have to if you don't want to. I didn't mean to make you upset or anything, if you don't want to that's fine, you don't have to cry."
He was rambling now, and Nami barely heard any of it. Disbelief that he had asked her that turned into disbelief that he thought he had done something wrong and that he had upset her. Looking at him now, she noticed that he couldn't even look at her. His eyes flitted nervously back and forth and at one point his eyes found the ground as he profusely apologized.
And Nami felt her chest swell even more, if that was possible, with wonder. This boy, man she corrected herself, stood in front of her thinking that he had wronged her, thinking that he had upset her. This man, this sweet, kind, man had no idea that he had done the exact opposite of those things. And she knew it was cruel to let him carry on thinking such stupid things, but such was her shock that she was almost paralyzed. It took an inordinate amount of effort for her to finally move.
And when she did, it was with a choked sob as she lunged forward and gripped Luffy by his cheeks and pulled him to her, meeting his lips with hers.
The kiss was wet on account of her tears and sloppy on the account of her urgency. She could feel that he was unsure, he was stiff at the beginning with surprise, before melding to her and participating on equal footing with her.
"Foolish man," she whispered as they broke apart, still clutching his face in her hands. "Foolish, foolish man. How could you think I'd be upset?"
He looked at her confusedly and opened his mouth to respond. He was silenced when she cut him off.
"I'm crying because I'm happy."
He blinked and clamped his mouth shut, waiting patiently for her to elaborate.
"I'm happy that you feel that way about me Luffy, that you feel about me like I feel about you. I'm happy that you asked me." She saw his features relax slightly, though concern still clear on his face. His eyes, ever piercing, were still tight and tense at the corners. She decided to end his confusion and leaned forward the tips of her toes to press a soft, quick kiss on his lips. "The answer is yes, Luffy. The answer has always been yes."
Slowly his eyes widened in wonder and his lips twisted in a giant smile. He lunged forward and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to his body. She shrieked and laughed when he lifted her and spun her around with him in a circle before gently setting her back down where she had just previously been on the figurehead.
"Does this mean that I can kiss you more?" Luffy asked.
"Yes, it does," Nami said, chuckling at his enthusiasm.
"And we can sleep together more?"
Nami felt her cheeks heat just a little bit at the double entendre, though she knew that he was only asking in the innocent way. "Yes, it does," she replied.
"And I can hold you more?"
"Yes, and I can hold you too!"
"Ok!" he started excitedly. "Does it mean you'll also feed me tangerines."
"Tangerines?" Nami asked, eyes suddenly narrowing. Luffy blinked and his face fell just a bit. "No way! Those are mine!"
"Please, Nami!" he begged, face twisting into an adorable pout.
She pretended to give his request serious thought, allowing a frown to slip over her visage. In reality, she was always going to say yes to him (with moderation in mind, of course), but sometimes it was just so fun to tease him and see his face twist in childish, exaggerated expressions.
"Fine," she said after a brief lapse, and watched Luffy's face start to light up with joy. "But," she started quickly, cutting off any preemptive celebration, "you'll have to promise to take regular baths!"
"Eh!" Luffy cried in protest. "But Nami, I don't like water! Plus, baths are so boring!"
"No buts! If you want my tangerines, then you have to promise!" she said sternly, before coloring slightly, "I won't be going anywhere near you if you smell like you've been swimming in a dumpster. There is ways to make baths fun, you know…"
"What ways?" he asked curiously.
"It's couple stuff," Nami said coyly, not quite meeting his eyes. "That comes later though, so don't worry about it."
Luffy cocked his head and stared at her quizzically, thinking over the terms of the deal. He really didn't want to take baths every single day, but Nami's tangerines were just so delicious that he couldn't resist even. Plus, food was food. "Ok," he said. "Deal."
"Deal!" Nami parroted enthusiastically, happy she was able to get Luffy to agree to the compromise. She loved him, but she wouldn't tolerate uncleanliness. Not that he stunk or anything (despite the lack of baths), but she wouldn't risk it. She had standards that had to be met. Plus, they weren't a run-of-the-mill pirate crew, they were the crew of the future Pirate King himself, and they had to set an example! Plus, she wouldn't allow her lover to have bad hygiene.
Lover, she thought, giddy that she could now call him that. The thought filled her chest with an indescribable happiness that made it difficult to breathe and stretched a wide smile over her face as she looked Luffy.
Luffy blinked quickly, enraptured by his navigator. So lovely, he thought, staring at the expression on her face. Very quickly he moved forward and slanted his mouth over hers, drawing a surprised squeak from her. When he drew back slightly, her eyes were a bit wider than before, and he could sense the disappointment that he hadn't stayed for longer.
It was a feeling that he was happy to ease, and this time she was ready.
He leaned down to her and she leaned up to him as they met for a slow, languid kiss.
When they pulled apart, she slid her hands from his cheeks down to his cardigan, fisting the material tightly in her hand. She tucked her head beneath his chin and breathed him in as he slipped his hands around her waist and pulled her even more tightly to him.
Nami inhaled deeply, breathing in him and the salty smell of the sea around them. She gazed at his cardigan-clad shoulder and a simple thought struck her, causing her to smile widely. I really like red.
They remained that way for minutes, their motionless only broken briefly when Luffy adjusted his head to bury his nose in her hair, his lips near her ear. They swayed gently to and fro with the rock of the ship.
"Thank you for last night," Luffy said in a hushed whisper, breaking the silence.
Slowly, Nami pulled away from him so that she could look him in the eyes. She let go of his cardigan and slid her arms up around his neck, locking her hands behind it. She nodded before gently pulling him with her arms, bringing his face close to hers, touching his forehead and nose with her own.
She stared into his dark eyes unwaveringly, sternly. "Don't ever hide from me, Luffy," she said slowly, annunciating each word. "You mustn't ever hide from me."
His eyes widened in wonder at the beautiful woman before him, rendered speechless by her order. The only response he had was to nod his head, jostling her slightly as his forehead moved against hers.
She huffed, her warm breath trickled over his face and lips. A sign that she was pleased with his concession, he knew.
They stayed that way for a while, time lost on both of them, swaying back and forth on the rock of the ship on the seas of the New World. Utter silence around them, except for the sound of the Sunny cutting through the water.
And this whole time they studied each other. He, her liquid brown eyes dotted with molten gold, slightly rimmed red from her tears. Her, his onyx eyes, dark as coal that promised nothing but freedom, mischief, and now, just for her, love.
She blinked and smiled when he shifted his head down and touched his nose to hers. He smiled when she responded by rubbing her nose against his softly.
And Nami was supremely happy, so happy that her body felt light enough to float. If Luffy wasn't holding her close to his warm body, she would have questioned whether or not it was possible for her to simply drift away.
None of this happiness could have been diminished by the pair of eyes Nami spied in her peripheral, sitting discretely on one of the pieces of wood depicting the mane of their lion-themed figurehead. No, it didn't diminish her happiness, only amplified the happiness that she had taken the owner's advice and her gratefulness that she had helped Nami see the light, so to speak.
For whatever reason, her friend had a vested interest in seeing this series of events come to fruition, and Nami was eternally grateful that Robin had helped her along.
She sighed and shook her head, chuckling to herself quietly. Luffy's tilted head and owlish eyes signified his question and she simply nodded to the pair of eyes in response. He glanced over to where she indicated and let out a loud laugh. "Oh, that?" he started, "Yeah, Zoro and Jinbe are listening too."
"You noticed?" Nami scowled, earning a nod from Luffy. She tamped down the urge to scold him for not saying anything and just shook her head. "We should have just done this over there if they were going to hear it anyway," she said, before muttering something about "nosy crewmates."
Luffy laughed and grabbed her by the hand, pulling her back in the direction of the deck. She padded along with him grumpily, but it was mainly only for show. She wasn't upset in the slightest, and Luffy knew that as well. Nami's real reaction was equivalent to that of an internal eye roll.
Before stepping over the slick wood, she turned back to Luffy and leveled him with a stern glare from her auburn eyes. "You better not let me fall!"
"Never," Luffy laughed, taking note of how her grip on his hand tightened slightly as he spoke. He helped her over the mane of the lion figurehead from behind, not slackening his grip even remotely. He followed only when she was firmly back on the deck.
Luffy stepped on the polished wood of the deck and looked around to see that Zoro, Robin, and Jinbe were staring at the pair of him and Nami, all with knowing looks upon their faces. Zoro in particular had an almost arrogant smirk that for whatever reason was irritating Nami (as far as Luffy could tell), while Robin and Jinbe sported easy smiles.
"I don't care what you are," Zoro said, grinning, "I'll never call you 'Queen'."
Nami raised a slender eyebrow in response. "Oh," she asked with an air of innocence that was anything but, "well then, I guess I'll have to raise the interest on your debt then, and perhaps tack on a fee as punishment."
"What?" Zoro growled, blanching, "You can't do that! That's cheating!"
"I'm a pirate," Nami said with a wide smile. "And soon to be the Pirate Queen to boot. Both of which mean that I can do whatever the hell I want and there's nothing you can do about it."
Zoro turned to Luffy, scowling, and motioned to Nami as if to ask if he was really going to let her follow through. Luffy just shrugged and laughed, resulting in a further deepened scowl on the visage of his first mate. Robin and Jinbe joined in the laughter at Zoro's expense, while Nami bounced on her heels happily.
Suddenly to the shock of those around him, Luffy called for his chef in a mighty roar that one might have heard from miles away. "Sanji!"
A short moment later the man in question burst through the door of the kitchen, perhaps thinking that the ship was under attack and he was needed. He blinked confusedly when he saw there was nothing of the sort happening and peered at his captain from across the deck.
"What?" he asked, slightly annoyed to be taken away from his kitchen for what was sure to be an unnecessary and ridiculous concern on the part of his eternally hyperactive captain.
Luffy raised both his arms in the air, hands balled into fists, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Prepare a feast! Time for a party!"
The others near Luffy all shared a grin, it had been a while since they had a proper party.
"Why the hell are we having a party?" came Sanji's incredulous response.
Nami sucked in a breath and reached out to discreetly grab Luffy's cardigan. He glanced at her, sensing her distress, and quickly shouted back, "Because we're pirates!"
Sanji narrowed his visible eye at his captain before sighing and withdrawing a cigarette from a packet in his pocket and a lighter from the other. He lit the cigarette with a simple flip of the cap of the stainless-steel lighter and took a deep drag. "Fine," he said with an exhale, accompanied by a cloud of smoke. "Give me a little time, you shitty rubber, you'll have your party."
"Alright!" Luffy yelled back joyfully. "Don't forget lots of meat!"
"I know, I know," Sanji replied back, before turning back to the kitchen. He allowed himself a small smile as he opened the door. In truth, he didn't mind throwing a party and cooking a feast for his dunderheaded captain, and it had indeed been a while since they last celebrated anything. He just had to put on a stern face and push back against his captain, mainly out of principle, so that the moron's behavior didn't run amok.
I wonder if they've finally got the move on, he thought, wondering at the occasion.
Nami breathed a sigh of relief with the retreat of their chef and gave Luffy's cardigan a gentle tug in thanks. It wasn't that she didn't want Sanji to know about her and Luffy, she just wanted a little privacy on a ship that rarely offered any due to the rambunctiousness of the crew. Zoro, Robin, and Jinbe already knew, and that was three people too many by Nami's count. Hopefully, her and Luffy's status would remain unknown for some time, to allow them to adjust and enjoy themselves a bit.
Yeah, right. Just as soon as the wish had crossed Nami's mind had it disappeared, brushed away like a leaf in a tornado. She knew there was absolutely zero chance that there would be any lengthy reprieve, not on this ship.
But then again, that was part of the reason she loved being on it.
The feast was chaos, which is to say that it was perfectly in line with all of the other activities that took place on the Thousand Sunny. Moments after the kitchen door closed with a light click sealing Sanji away from the outside world, Luffy had grabbed Nami by the hand and sprinted off to tell Usopp, Chopper, Franky, and Brook, with Nami in tow.
Her startled screech provided much amusement to those left behind.
From beginning to end, the affair was a blur. The music was loud and raucous, and they all danced and sang along with Brook during songs they knew and listened intently during songs they didn't. They danced during many, Luffy boldly snatched Nami by the hand and spun her in circles, laughing, before Usopp and Chopper demanded he dance like they did and, in his place, stepped Jinbe. And she spied Robin and Zoro dancing and laughing as well, and Franky doing poses and Sanji being roped in by Luffy and Usopp and Chopper.
The laughter echoed across the waves from the day and into the night.
At some point during the chaos, Luffy slipped away with Robin, only to return minutes later and snatch Nami away from Chopper. He was proudly fisting the stem of a beautiful flower with petals of deep red, rimmed with white around the edges and black in the core of the flower. His presentation of the beautiful flower was distinctly child-like, complete with his trademark grin.
Nami gently pried the stem of the flower away from Luffy's grasp and lifted it up to her nose. She took a long, deep breath, drinking in the earthy scent of Luffy's flower. She opened her eyes to find him beaming at her, and she beamed right back. Her face contorted in surprise when he reached and took the flower from her hand and slipped it in her hair above her left ear.
Nami smiled at him, coloring slightly, and he smiled back. They stayed like that just for a brief moment before Zoro stumbled over and challenged Nami to a drinking contest, which Nami was perfectly happy to accept. The booze was cold and sweet and there was plenty of it. The contest was initially only supposed to be between Zoro and Nami but it didn't take long for it to turn into a contest for the whole crew, which then turned into Luffy draining an entire barrel in one gulp accompanied by the laughter of the crew as his body reshaped to look like a water balloon.
The buffet was seemingly endless, which was necessary for the satisfaction of the man in charge of the ship. Spreads of meats and fruits and deserts provided a colorful display to their unending delight.
It was a cycle of chaos befitting of piracy. The more they ate and drank, the more they sang and danced. The more they sang and danced, the more they laughed, and the more they laughed, the more they ate and drank.
Suddenly, the afternoon sun had given way to a sky that was rapidly turning from dusk to night, the sinking sun splashing the ship and the horizon with a brilliant blazing orange light. Happily drunk and pleasantly full, they listened and laughed at Usopp's outrageous stories. Before long the sun had completely faded and, Brook replaced Usopp in front of them and put together a magnificent concert as they sat on the lawn deck of the Sunny.
The night brought a chill but Nami could feel none of it, probably due to close proximity of the man to her immediate right. Brook played for them a new song of his, one that they had only heard a few times before.
Liquid courage boiled in her veins, and she felt a tad bit daring.
Luffy was having a wonderful time tonight. The feast was amazing, as the food provided by Sanji always was. He was full, they had danced and drank and laughed and played, and now were being treated to a special concert by their star musician.
His eyes flitted shut when Brook gently plucked the strings of his guitar for the start of his third song, content to simply listen and enjoy.
The chill that he felt wan not the chill of the night, though. Instead, it was a chill that ran down the length of his spine courtesy of the press of soft, warm lips to the shell of his left ear.
And he didn't smell liquor or food or the sea, instead he smelled the sweet fragrance of tangerines envelope him.
And he didn't hear the sound of Brook's guitar, nor the sound of his voice as he sang. Instead, he heard the soft, breathy sound of her voice in his ear.
Can I tell you something just between you and me?
When I hear your voice, I know I'm finally free.
Every single word is perfect as it can be,
And I need you here with me.
When you lift me up, I know that I'll never fall.
I can speak to you by saying nothing at all.
Every single time I find it harder to breathe,
'Cause I need you here with me.
I think I see your face in every place that I go
I try to hide it, but I know that it's gonna show
Every single night, I find it harder to sleep
'Cause I need you here with me.
Can I tell you something just between you and me?
When I hear your voice, I know I'm finally free.
Every single word is perfect as it can be,
'Cause I need you here with me.
His eyes were wide and his body stiff as she sang to him, and as the final note faded in his ear, he felt her lips pull away from him. Quickly, he turned his head to his left and found her eyes. She was smiling coyly at him and blinked once, rather coquettishly.
Well, well. What's this now? Franky thought, having witnessed the entire exchange between the two. He tilted his head downward and slid his sunglasses further down on his metal nose so he could peer at the pair over the rim. He smiled widely at what he saw.
Quickly he stood and opened the rectangular compartments on his metal shoulder, drawing the attention of his crewmates around him. There was a brief sizzling sound, followed by a series of high-pitched whistles as projectiles flew out of his enormous shoulders. Such a super development deserves a super celebration, don't you think, Captain?
Everybody turned at the sudden sound of the fireworks shooting from Franky's special shoulder storage except for Luffy, who had not taken his eyes off of Nami for even a moment after she had sung to him. Nami turned her head toward Franky and then up to the sky to follow the streaks of smoke. There was a clap of thunder and the crew were bathed in swath of brilliant lights.
Nami's mouth fell open and she gasped at the display. Luffy continued to stare at her intently, mesmerized by how the various explosions of color played about her features. He felt with his haki that everyone was focused on the fireworks above them and thus decided to be reckless.
He reached out with his right hand and cupped Nami's chin with palm, his thumb and index finger securing themselves on either of her soft cheeks. She blinked, surprised, when he turned her head toward him. He admired the way the light from the fireworks danced in her amber eyes.
And then he surged forward and kissed her deeply.
She squeaked in surprise, before melting into the kiss. A whimper left her mouth next, when Luffy brushed her tongue with his, and it set a shiver down the length of his spine, a blazing heat in his chest, and a craving for his navigator deep in his gut.
He quickly broke off the kiss before he reached the point where he might not have been able to back away. Nami's lips chased his own for a short distance before she caught herself, eyes widened as she became aware of what he had just done. She quickly looked around, confirming that everybody else was focused on the fireworks, and then met eyes with Luffy again.
Her pupils were wide and excited. Luffy couldn't tell whether the red on her cheeks were a product of their kiss or the result of the fireworks above them. She opened her mouth to say something to him but stopped when the lights faded. Brook struck up another song, Bink's Sake this time, and the attention of the crew was on him once more. Nami turned to look at Brook, and then back at Luffy again, giving him a sly smile.
She suspiciously left her right hand halfway between them on the grass of the lawn deck and turned towards Brook again, bobbing her head to his song. Luffy glanced down at her hand and smiled, before discreetly slipping his left hand on top and tightening his fingers over hers. He too turned to Brook, and they both joined in singing with their crewmates.
The party lasted late into the night, broken only when the rambunctious group decided that even they were tired. All members helped clean up the mess, carrying cups and plates into the kitchen to help Sanji and picking up any trash they may have left on the ground before beginning to head their separate ways.
It was at this time that Zoro decided to take a breather before going to sleep for the night, walking up to the wooden rail of the Sunny and taking in the sight of the swaying ocean and the silvery reflection of the moon across the face of the water.
The swordsman smiled and turned, leaning backwards against the railing, just in time to see his hot-blooded captain swing open the door with a wide yawn that stretched his face beyond normal human proportions.
He was also just in time to see a certain orange-haired cat burglar quietly open the door that had just slammed shut only moments previously and stealthily slip inside.
Zoro's lips curled into a thin grin as he shook his head.
Another one down. Hopefully you find Luffy's deliberations to be as in character with him as possible. I think that's how he'd act. The song is Here With Me by Marshmello and CHVRCHES. First time I heard the song, I thought of Nami thinking of Luffy. Think it fits, even if it's probably a bit cheesy to have her sing to him. Thought there's a lot of cheesiness in this to begin with...
Let me know what you think. Really appreciate the reviews for the last chapter, as well as all the reviews in total. Please review this chapter and let me know what you think, as well as if you see any mistakes that I missed. This, by the way, is the penultimate chapter in this story, the next one will be the last chapter. Hopefully this chapter, and the next, deliver on your expectations.
Hope you're all well. Stay safe and healthy.