I do not own One Piece nor do I receive any commercial benefit from this fic. All rights belong to their respective rights holders.
Sanji was a little worried about Nami. Normally at this time of day, when he wasn't frantically trying to get dinner to the hungry hordes with the countertop, she'd take advantage of the large space to spread out her maps and get some cartography work done. Today for some reason, instead of working at her maps at the galley counter, she was balancing her pencil on her upper lip and staring off in the distance.
"Nami-san?" He called to her as he swapped out her cold tea. He was a bit surprised. She rarely let her tea go cold. This time, though, when he called out to her, she didn't respond.
"Nami-san?" He repeated, waving a hand in front of her face. That got her attention and made her drop the pencil on her lip. Sanji suppressed a smile.
"Sorry, Sanji-kun," she smiled sheepishly at him. "Thanks for the tea."
"Is everything alright Nami-san?" He asked, taking a seat beside her.
"Mm? Yeah, I just... I was thinking about something."
"Was it maybe my handsome good looks?"
Nami slanted him a look, "Yeah right."
Sanji was used to this reaction. "Then what was it?"
Nami sighed, propping her elbows on the table and cradling her chin in her hands, before she asked, "Neh, Sanji, where's home to you?"
Sanji blinked. Of all the questions he expected her to ask, that wasn't one of them. "That's a random question."
Nami played with the end of her pencil, "I heard Franky say that when he got home, he'd have so many stories to tell the guys in Water 7. It got me thinking... I've never really thought about what would happen after we finished with this journey, and where I'd go afterward."
"What about Cocoyasi Village?" Sanji asked.
"I want to see Nojiko and Genzo and all of them again, but I've got too high of a bounty, I'd be a disturbance if I settled there." Nami half-shrugged. Sanji was about to say that she was strong enough to protect them now, but then he realized that she loved her family and her hometown, and didn't want to disturb their current peaceful way of life by bringing her bounty to the Island. $66 million berries was enough to be tempting but not intimidating.
"Oh Nami-san," He cupped her jaw to caress her cheek.
She smiled at him, accepting his comfort by reaching up to hold his hand. After a minute, she gently moved it and let his hand go. "Besides, I don't know what I'd do there. Navigate the Orchards? Steal from the townspeople?" She rolled her eyes and leaned back to stretch her arms. "I'm just not suited for a small town anymore. So I don't know," She sighed, rubbing her neck, "It just made me feel... lonely."
"You don't need to be lonely, Nami-san," Sanji said softly, "You've got us."
"I know," She smiled at him, then fixed her stare on him, "So, Sanji-kun. Answer my question. Where's home? Is it the Baratie?"
"Hmmmm..." Sanji rubbed his chin as if he'd have to think really hard about his answer, but there was a knowing glint in his eyes. Nami playfully scrutinized his expression, pretending to be watching against his pervy surprise attacks. She didn't actually expect him to do anything, though, so she was surprised when he suddenly reached out and scooped her into his lap.
"Hey! Sanji!" Nami protested. His sudden move caught her off guard, and she struggled against him reflexively.
"You want an answer, don't you?" He grinned.
She stared at him, "What does manhandling me have anything to do with what you consider home?"
"Everything. This is it."
"What? The Sunny?"
"No, Nami-san. You, in my arms, with our friends nearby. This is home."
Sanji nearly burst out laughing as he watched her process his statement. First, irritation at being manhandled made her wrinkle the space between her eyebrows. Then, her eyebrows shot up in surprise as she actually heard what he said. Finally, she turned a bright, cherry tomato red all of a sudden, and just stared at him.
"S-S-S-Sanji-kun, you-you," She was lost for words.
"Absolutely handsome devil?" He suggested, completing her sentence.
"Argh!" She hit his shoulder, "You impossible man! Let me go!"
Laughing, Sanji raised his arms, letting her scramble out of his lap. She stormed away, but he could still see the red tops of her ears and the embarrassment in the jerky way she walked. She really was quite adorable when she was mad, and he enjoyed the view of her butt when she walked away..
No one was more surprised than he was, though, when she stopped at the door, spun around on her heel, and stomped back to him. Her face was crimson, but there was an imp of mischief that made Sanji want to back away slowly from her. Because he was still sitting in the chair, though, he could only look up helplessly at her.
"Neh, Sanji-kun,"
"Yes, Nami-san?"
"If holding me is home, what is this?" Before he had a chance to react, she grabbed his collar and pulled his face up to hers. Sanji barely had time to recognize the soft fullness of her lips against his, the clumsy way they moved, and the slight flicker of tongue that electrified him, before she let go of his lapels and let him slump back into the chair with a victorious smirk.
Not waiting for an answer, she turned around to casually leave the kitchen, taking his first kiss with her and leaving his scrambled brain behind. Sanji was so twitterpated he could only think of one thing.
Heaven. This was Heaven.
AN: This is a cheesy little fluffy thing. I had another plot bun that I bred a while ago using the same theme, but considering that one was smut, and I already had two smut fics planned for SanNami week, I gave myself a break and dashed off this fluffy thing. Also, I finally caught up to the manga so I've *cough* refined my Sanji characterization a little.
This is the end of SanNami week on for me on this site, because my entry for Day 7 is very... not appropriate. Rather than publish the first 500 unsatisfying words here, I'm just going to direct anyone who is over the age of 18 to check out my AO3 account tomorrow for the last installment. Same penname on both sites! In that spirit, I want to thank you all for joining me this ship week. As always, comments, reviews, kudos, favs, bookmarks, all that jazz always make my day because it makes me feels less like I'm the crazy person on the soapbox in the middle of the street preaching the world about the power of love~ See you next time!