Fairy Tale: A Christmas Carol
Rated: T
Cast: Nami, Bellemere, Nojiko, and the rest of the crew.
A/N: So I didn't really base this off of Christmas for a number of reasons, mostly due to the fact that Nami, although stingy, probably wouldn't turn down a Christmas party. Its summer, so a Christmas story now would be a bit awkward. And for readers who just aren't into Christmas.
A request from Francis Wolfang, Thank you! this is dedicated to you! (hooray for being special)
Once Upon a Time..
Parties were nice, truly they were. But they were expensive as hell. Parties among the crew were fine once in a while, but Luffy seemed to always fine the dumbest reasons to drink all the grog, and eat all the food.
"Nami, we should throw a party," Luffy suggested to me one day, completely out of the blue.
I sigh, "Do you even have a good explanation as to why we should throw a party?"
Luffy held a finger to his chin and pondered, "We could…have a feast! For…" Luffy paused, looking around the ship for an idea. He looked up to the lookout of the Thousand Sunny, where Zoro was training,and smiled. "We'll celebrate Zoro's amazing swordsman skills!"
I held the bridge of my nose and tried to keep myself from strangling him, "Luffy, throwing a feast costs a lot of money. We should wait for a better reason for throwing a party."
Luffy huffed and skulked away, his shoulders looked like they were carrying a massive load.
There probably was nothing more depressing than seeing Luffy sigh like that, but he should be able to get over it in about five minutes.
And he did. The captain had showed is stupid puppy dog eyes to Zoro, and begged for a party. Zoro was such a softy on the inside. And He probably couldn't refuse the idea of a cold mug of beer.
So here we were, eating a giant meal, laughing, singing songs, and showing off the same chopsticks-in-the-nose gag, which, for some reason, never seemed to get old.
I had a good time, it was hard to grumble while eating Sanji-kun's amazing food, and watching Chopper freak out over the chopsticks being stuck in his nose. Unfortunately, after the party and cleaning up the mess, Sanji gave me the food stock results. We had lost about half our stock on that one dinner. It wasn't a crisis; we still had plenty of food until we reached the next island. But shopping was getting expensive.
And what does Luffy do the next day? He asks for another party.
"No Luffy! We don't need a party! It costs too much!" I scream at him.
Luffy lurched back in self-defense and stuck out his lower lip in a pout.
"In fact, we aren't going to have another party for a long time. Not until you're the pirate king! Now go spread the word!" I ordered.
Luffy didn't sulk like he did every other time. This time he truly looked horrified. Like a teenager being told he was grounded. He was completely amazed that I yelled at him.
He walked away, feeling dazed.
Everyone soon heard the news. Sanji and Robin acted normal, as usual. But everyone else seemed pretty upset. They tried to hide it, so they wouldn't face my wrath, but I could tell they were unhappy.
Soon, night fell and everyone slowly resided to their quarters.
With a final yawn I could feel my eyes droop and I finally drifted into sleep.
Dreams were usually a vague memory of my adoptive family, Bellemere and Nojiko, then the overpowering feeling of hatred. Arlong crept into my dreams all the time. Robin would usually shake me awake, to stop me from ripping my pillow apart.
"Nami…" a wispy voice called in my dream.
"What… Who said that?" I ask. I felt like I was floating in space.
"Remember when we used to have small parties to ourselves?" I could identify the voice.
"Bellemere?" I called to her.
"Nami, it's okay to save money, but you don't have to pay Arlong anymore, you can have some fun," She told me.
"You don't understand, It costs a lot to fill my captian's bottomless stomach," I explained.
Suddenly I was silenced. A scene flickered in front of me, and I immediately remembered it. This was a scene of our first dinner party with a guest, Genzo.
"Isn't this all a bit much?" Me, ten years ago, asked Bellemere.
"Nami, Genzo is practically a part of the family, we can spend some money on him," Bellemere said while putting roast beef inside the oven.
"But we're already poor enough, why can't he just serve us food?" I asked.
"Calm down Nami, we always have the mikans to eat," Nojiko smiled, walking through the front door with a basket of mikans.
Suddenly the memory flickered by and Bellemere, Genzo, and Nojiko disappeared.
I watched as different members of the crew came into view.
"Watch," Bellemere's voice told me.
This definitely wasn't a memory. I seemed almost as If I were there. In the galley, the tired crewmembers gathered. I stood in the corner of the large kitchen.
Usopp walked past me and slipped. I reached out to try and catch him, but he fell through my hands.
I gasped and looked down at them, they were strangely opaque.
"You're there, but they don't know it," I heard a voice whisper to me.
"Luffy, why did you wake us up?" Usopp asked the captain, rubbing the pain from his rump.
"I wanted to know what we should do about Nami," He said, completely serious.
"Without parties, life just isn't supah," Franky remarked.
"Are you really taking her seriously? The witch is probably just PMSing right now," Zoro said, his head resting on the table.
"Are you sure Zoro? She sounded pretty serious," Chopper considered.
"Nami-san is just angry that we blew off so much food, but I can pay for it." Sanji offered.
"You sure you could do that curly-cook? Your already deep in her debt," Zoro snorted, blocking a kick from said chef.
"What's with that debt anyways? Even if we killed ourselves for the bounty she wouldn't be happy," Usopp joked. No one laughed.
"That sounds pretty accurate," Brooke answered.
I was stunned. Was I really that bad? I wanted to protest, to defend myself. I looked at Sanji expectantly, he would always be the one to defend me. He said nothing.
Robin? No, nothing.
Suddenly the picture went fuzzy, and I felt like I was sent flying. Suddenly I was looking at myself. I looked much older, maybe late twenties to early thirties.
I sat on a couch, in the middle of a cold living room. The only noise was coming from a small radio set. It was playing the latest news.
"The infamous Straw hat Pirate Crew, have reportedly made it to Raftel. Their captain, Monkey D. Luffy, with a bounty of Nine hundred million beli, and his crew have found the former pirate king, Gol D. Roger's treasure."
I looked back at my older self. She remained still, sitting on the chair. She didn't cheer. A tear ran down her cheek.
I gasped as realization dawned on me. I had been kicked out of the crew.
"Do you see? Penny pinching is okay, but going overboard could have terrifying results," Bellemere explained.
I turned to her, "Please, let me go back! Let me wake up! I need to fix this before it gets out of hand! Before I-"I was choked off by tears.
Suddenly I felt someone shake me. I awoke with a start to see Robin's concerned face.
"Are you alright Nami-san?" She asked.
I gasped and looked around the room. It was the woman's quarters. I sighed in relief.
"Nami," Luffy touched my shoulder gently. I looked at him, frankly, scared of what he was about to say.
He had a serious face, I winced when he began to speak, "Can we please throw more parties? Please? We'll try to save more money next time! I won't eat thirty servings like I usually do!" He begged.
I looked at him and laughed anxiously, "You know what Luffy? Let's throw a party right now! It's fine, you guys can eat and drink as much as you want!"
"For real?"
"Ya and I'll cut your guy's debt in half too!" I couldn't believe what I was saying. But looking at Luffy's excited, and a little amazed, grin made it worthwhile.
We partied yet again, and I announced the debt cut to the rest of the crew. They fell silent with astonishment. Sanji's cigarette fell out of his mouth.
"Only half!" I said firmly. They smiled and continued the party.
The End.
A/N: I like this one. I guess I was in the mood to write a little more intellectually than usual, (for a parody at least). PLEASE REVIEW! muchas gracias!
