The Crimson Tattoo
A One Piece Fanfiction
By Sacred Sakura

Written: 1/20-21,27/2007, 5/31/2007, 6/1-2/2007
Published: 6/6/2007

Rating: T
Genre: Angst (for now)
Pairing: yet to be revealed
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or The Scarlet Letter. The story and any concepts/characters not original to either of these titles do belong to me, however.

Dedication: To Darkmaster2, Lord of the Shadows, and AR1502599. Thanks for hearing out my weird ideas and putting up with my obsessive otakuness!

A/N: This fanfic is VERY LIGHTLY based on The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne; it's an incorporation of its basic concepts (sort of...not really...not anymore) and the main One Piece characters.
Since I currently have writer's block on Tomorrow's Promise, I'm putting that aside for a bit to work on this fic and the others.
REMINDER: This fic takes place sometime after the Skypiea arc, before Enies Lobby. (I think; I haven't gotten that far in One Piece—only as far as the middle of the Skypiea arc…. I should get going on catching up, then…baka You Tube...)
Don't expect an immediate update after this… I have writer's block on the next chapter…. Gomen!!
Please R&R! (... This chapter felt short to me...)

Chapter Two: Doubts

What do I say? What do I tell these people who are my 'nakama'? Do I tell them the full truth? Or only part of it?

It won't erase the fact that I betrayed their trust. That I lied to them, saying nothing about this child.

What can I say? What should I say? How much do I say?

Do I tell them who the father is, how this all began? Do I tell the father who the father is? My child shouldn't have to grow up with only one of her parents—the other missing because I kept his identity secret. She shouldn't have to live out her childhood bereft of a complete family…like me.

But should I reveal who her father is? Would he even make a good father? Does he even want to be a father? What if he decides to abandon us, unwilling to take responsibility for the girl who shares his very blood?

Damnit… It's so hard. So confusing. I don't know what to do, what to say.

They're all looking at me now, expectant, waiting for an answer.

But I don't know the answer.

So I guess I'll start from the beginning. Apologize. And then go on from there.

If there is a God who cares, I pray that he guides my words…

…and that he offers my child hope for the future.

It's all I can do. It's all I can ask.

Kami-sama...onegaishimasu.

"I'm sorry." She gazed at them sadly, her arms trembling slightly around the small bundle that was her baby daughter. "I…I should have told you all a long time ago."

Luffy scratched his head, puzzled. "Told us what?"

"About Nami-san's baby, of course!!" Sanji snapped at their dark-haired captain angrily. "Baka!!"

"No way!! Nami had a baby?!?"

"Baka!!!" Usopp and the blond cook yelled, simultaneously striking the straw-hatted boy of seventeen years. "Of COURSE Nami had a baby!!! Where the hell have you been?!?"

Nami wept silently at the idiocy of her captain. 'Luffy… You're making this way harder than it should be….'

"So what is the baby's name?" the dark-haired woman standing off to the side asked her, her countenance and tone serious.

'Robin…' Her chest tightened in panic, then relaxed as she realized that the jade-eyed woman's inquiry was simply one out of curiosity, not bitterness. Relieved to answer something so simple, Nami let out a gentle puff of air and smiled at her daughter, nuzzling the brunette child's downy head of rich, dark goldenrod. "Her name…is Kaiyume. And I…I will raise her by myself. Who her father is doesn't matter."

As she spoke these words, she realized that she accepted this.

It was what her heart believed.

"So."

She froze. In the Going Merry's passageway before her stood the muscular form of Roronoa Zoro, still trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"You got a kid now, eh? Who's the lucky bastard?"

Her arms trembled. "None of your business," she spat, fighting the emotions swelling within herself.

"Let's get a good look at it, then." He leaned forward, the gold earrings in his left ear tinkling from the movement. "I've heard that you can tell who its parents are just by looking at its face and hair."

She stepped back, her expression a look of disgust. "Don't call my baby that."

"Eh?"

She could feel her voice tightening with barely controlled anger. "Her name...is Kaiyume."

"Okay..." A puzzled expression appeared on the green-haired man's tanned face. "Kaiyume, then. Oi, Kaiyume, do you look like your conniving cat of an okaasan here?"

Large hazel eyes that glowed a stunning lagoon blue stared up at the swordsman before Nami shoved Zoro out of the way with her shoulder and fled to her room.

Zoro stared after her for a moment before shrugging, then making his way to the kitchen to bum leftover food off of Sanji—and maybe a naptime snack, too.

Several Months Later

It was seeking another book to read from Nami's private library that led Robin to return to their shared room—and to a depressed Nami in pajamas moping in a corner, staring blankly at the most recent newspaper. Kaiyume sat on one of the beds, playing with her mother's navigational tools—a compass, a sextant, a handheld barometer, and some of her hand-drawn maps.

"Navigator-san...are you all right?" she asked tentatively, lingering by the door with uncertainty as she recalled her friend's dishonesty—as well as the sting of being left in the dark for over a year.

The redhead sighed, curling up into a fetal position. "Robin...do you think I'll make a fit mother?"

The dark-haired woman blinked, both surprised by the suddenness of the question and amazed by the younger woman's gall in ignoring her own blatant breach of trust. "What do you mean? Of course you will." She smiled, the mask of false cheerfulness automatically appearing on her face. "After all, you've had to act as a mother to the rest of the crew all this time, ne?"

"That's different. All I'd ever needed to do was yell, hit, and manipulate them, and even then they sometimes wouldn't listen."

Robin sweatdropped at the blatant truth of Nami's words.

"But with Kaiyume...I have to be gentle, understanding, know how to properly discipline her, monitor and teach her twenty-four seven." Nami buried her face in her arms. "I don't know how to do that. My mom...she never really got the chance to show me how." She smiled ironically into her knees. A sad, regretful smile. "I was too busy rebelling whenever she tried to be a parent."

For a minute her dark-haired nakama stood at the doorway, saying and doing nothing. She then stepped forward, slowly, reluctantly, and reached down to lay a hand on her shoulder. "You'll be an excellent parent, I'm sure." She made sure to hold her smile in place, willing it not to falter. "All you need is to love Kaiyume with all your heart; then you'll understand how to care for her."

Then, withdrawing her hand, she turned, about to leave.

"Kaasan, Tousan wa doko da?"

Both women froze—before whipping their heads around in Kaiyume's direction.

"Did she just...?" Robin began.

Nami paled. "Kaiyume—What did you say?"

"Tousan wa doko?"

"Okay, so tell me again—exactly what is this meeting for?" Zoro demanded.

"I'm hungry," Luffy complained. "Sanji, give me some food!"

"Yosh!" Usopp stood, his hand clenched in a determined pose, as he prepared to divulge the extremely important purpose of this meeting of men.

"You just ate lunch, bakayarou!" Sanji snapped.

"This is the 'Super-Secret Let's Find Out Who's the Father of Nami's Baby Team'!!" Usopp declared proudly. "Our task is to uncover the identity of the as-of-yet-unknown pater of the mysterious child so-named 'Kaiyume'!"

"This is lame," Zoro snorted. "I'd rather take a nap."

Usopp ignored the swordsman's negative response. "I shall be the captain of this operation! Luffy, you're in charge of transportation and evasive maneuvers, like for getting us out of tight jams and making quick escapes!"

"Cool!" Luffy cheered, thoughts of hunger momentarily dropped by his easily distracted mind at the prospect of adventure.

"Zoro, you're in charge of primary surveillance and intelligence!"

Sanji snorted. "That's the worst possible job you could ever give the guy. He's gotten lost in the john, for crying out loud."

"Shut up, asshole cook!" Zoro shot the blond a glare.

"Uhh...not that kind of intelligence, Sanji. I meant gathering information that could help us discover the identity of Kaiyume's father. Anyway, moving onward... Sanji, you're in charge of supplies and diversionary tactics, meaning that you make us snacks and distract the female populace when needed."

Sanji blushed with pleasure at the thought. "Of course I shall serve lovely Nami-swan and Robin-chan with all the love my culinary skills can offer!!!"

This time it was Zoro who snorted—in laughter. "That job definitely suits the ero-cook, alright."

"I'm hungry!" Luffy complained, finally remembering his "empty" stomach.

"Shut your pie-hole, shitty swordsman!"

"Yeah? Well up yours, shitty ero-cook!"

"Marimo-head!!"

"Unibrow!!"

"I don't have a unibrow, Mold-for-Brains!!!"

"You're a one-eyed freak with girly hands!!!"

"NANI!?!"

As Sanji and Zoro began another insult contest that would predictably result in another fight between swords and kicking ability, Usopp sighed wearily and watched as Luffy joined in with sporadic bursts of, "I'm hungry! Sanji, give me food!" His Great Meeting was over...for today, anyway.

"Anou...what about me? What do I do?"

Usopp looked down to see a curious Chopper staring up at him. "Err...well..." The long-nosed boy thought for a moment. "Ah! I know! You can be our Head of Medical Affairs—in case Nami decides to hurt any of us...including me... Not that I'm afraid of pain or of Nami, of course!"

"Yosh!" the little reindeer cheered. "Sounds like fun!"

Before Usopp could respond, however, a frantic yell resonated throughout the ship.

"KAIYUME!!! MATTE!!!"

Both Sanji and Zoro ceased their squabbling. Hearts appeared in the cook's eyes. "Nami-swaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!! Would you like me to gladly retrieve dear Kaiyume-chwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan???"

"KAIYUME!!!"

The little toddler half-crawled, half-walked nimbly across the meeting room floor in the direction of the frozen men, halting only once she had reached them. Looking up at their faces, she asked, "Tousan da?"

Baffled expressions glued onto their faces until Nami and Robin came running in—whose appearance caused Sanji's face to pinken into hazy bliss as he called out in adoration. "Ahhhhhhhh!!! Nami-swan and Robin-chan look so lovely with their hair and clothes disheveled from chasing Kaiyume-chan!!! Mellorine!!! Mellorine!!!"

"Tousan da?" the young child continued to ask the men, persistent.

"K-Kaiyume...don't be silly..." Nami interrupted nervously, paling—which an ever-observant Robin noticed immediately. "None of these guys are your otousan..."

"Demo...kono otoko wa tousan da yo..." the child insisted.

Six pairs of eyes swiveled in Nami's direction, expectant. Was Kaiyume's statement true?

'"Who her father is doesn't matter."'

If it was, then Nami was wrong. It did matter.

Because if Nami had...relations...with one of the other Mugiwaras...

...then that would change her—no, everyone's relationship with each other...

...forever...

So…how was it? Please review!!!
W00T!!! Review replies and a few clarifications!!!

"Okaasan" instead of "Mom": "Mom" didn't sound right coming out of Zoro's mouth. (SHRUGS)

"Kaasan" and "Tousan": These are the extremely informal (almost to the point of being disrespectful if it didn't come from a child's mouth) forms of "Okaasan" (mother) and "Otousan" (father) typically used by little children who haven't learned all the rules of respect and formality yet.

Kaiyume talking and sort of walking: Sorry, but I have absolutely no clue when a baby usually starts walking and talking, so please excuse the fact that Kaiyume may be talking coherently so early on... Just blame Nami's clever brains or something... As for the early walking, if it IS early...well...blame her dad...

"Demo...kono otoko wa tousan da yo": Translated, "But...this man IS my dad!" However, note that the correct form is "Kochira no otoko wa tousan da yo"; "kore" is for objects near the speaker, while "kochira" is for both people and formal reference toward objects (also near the speaker). Kaiyume's just a kid, after all...

The Pairing: I shall never reveal before it is time to do so!!! Muwahahahaha!!! (beamz-san, God'sAngel-san, elyon 14340-san)

Nami's Pregnancy: My eighth-grade art teacher was pregnant, but you could barely tell!!! The same was in Nami's case. They didn't know Nami was pregnant until after labor. Sure, Robin had an inkling, but no proof... (Shironami-san)

Grammar: I pride myself in having good grammar. (iluvchocs)

Updating: Uh... I updated... (everyone)