One Piece: Strawhat Theater
"Our Mrs. Monkey"
Disclaimer: This is a non-profit fan-based work of prose. One Piece is the property of Toei Animation, Funimation, and Eiichiro Oda. Please support the official release.
On the way to Fishmen Island...
Sanji had begun work on lunch, when he sensed her. He looked to his right and down to see Ace sitting on the floor nearby, staring at him. He stared back.
"Shouldn't you be chasing after Chopper?" He asked.
"Kitty said he had to go be a doctor," Ace said. She looked up at him plaintively. "And I'm hungry..."
Oh no, Sanji groaned. Of course she'd be hungry: She was Monkey D. Luffy's child too.
"Can I have some food please?" She asked.
... And also Nami's child, he was painfully reminded as he looked into her amber eyes, so much like her mother's...
Damnit, Sanji thought. On one hand, before him was the child of the man he hated more than any other in the world for taking his Nami-swan, and yet would do anything for at the same time. And on the other, she was the daughter of the woman he would do anything in the world for, no questions asked.
... And she was incredibly adorable to boot.
"You can starve," Sanji said with a growl, before he smiled and pulled out a few cookies he'd stocked the ship with. "After having a few of these."
"Yay!" Ace cheered, taking the cookies and eating them messily. "Thank you Sanji!"
"You're welcome kid," Sanji sighed, "you're welcome..."
Wouldn't be so bad. After all, half of her was Nami, and given the foxy lady she'd turned out to be, her daughter might turn out just as well. Even with Luffy's genes.
I hope I'm around to see that, he thought with a grin.
Luffy frowned. "For some reason I feel like killing Sanji."
"Kill him later, focus on ME!" Nami screamed.
"Sorry dear," Luffy said with a grin, and Nami was soon screaming other things...
After dealing with Caribou, Franky had gathered the crew on the deck, and had Brook sing a theme song to announce his latest invention. It was covered in a plain tarp, and Franky grinned as he reached for it.
"Presenting... The Franky SUPERRRR Parental Transportation DEVICE!"
Franky yanked a cloth away from the device, unveiling...!
"... A baby backpack?" Usopp asked, tilting his head at the blue child transportation device.
"Aw man, I thought it would be way cooler," Luffy pouted.
"BEHOLD!" Franky announced. He picked up the giggling Ace-chan, and set her in it. The backpack immediately came to life with whirrs and clanks, and formed a protective armor shell around her. She got an armored helmet that allowed her to see out of, through which she eagerly looked around.
"Oh! That looks amazingly safe!" Nami cried.
"Yep! ADAM reinforced armor! Seastone emitters in case of attack by Devil Fruit Users! And Impact Dials to prevent excessive gee force trauma!" Franky grinned and picked it up with one hand. "Turn around, Nami! Know that your precious daughter will be perfectly safe!"
Nami turned around, beaming. She slid her arms into the straps, looking back to smile lovingly at her happy daughter. The moment Franky let go... She yelped as she fell onto the deck.
"ACK! FRANKY! HOW HEAVY IS THIS THING?!" Nami demanded.
"About 500 kilograms," Franky said.
"Why would you make it that heavy?!" Chopper demanded.
"There's no way I can lug this around!" Nami shouted.
Franky sighed.
"This is as light as I could make it and still keep Ace-chan safe!"
"Now now, Nami, it's not all bad," Robin chuckled, helping the pouting Nami out of the restraints, "Ace-chan seems to be perfectly fine."
"Yeah, but I can't lug her around!" Nami sighed. "That means that the only people who can are... Oh no..."
Luffy chuckled and slid his arms into the backpack. He pulled it up onto his back, and beamed.
"Hey! This is easy for me!"
"NO!" Nami shouted. "You're not going to lug our daughter around into dangerous situations!"
"Since when have I ever been in a dangerous situation-Okay, okay, yeah," Luffy held his hands up as his wife growled, her eyes glowing in her rage, "But come on Nami! She'll be okay! I promise! I mean, what's the worst that could happen?"
Some time later...
Hody gaped. Half of his army had been downed by the Haki power of this one human! This mere pirate! Who was even now advancing on him!
In the midst of this insanity... He couldn't help but notice what the pirate was carrying with him on his back.
"... Is... is that a baby? Did you bring a baby with you to fight me?!" Hody cried.
"No, I brought my daughter along to fight you," Luffy called out. He paused.
"Not that I'm letting her do any fighting! She's staying in the backpack, where it's safe!"
"ON A BATTLEFIELD?!"
Luffy blinked.
"Yeah! What's your point?"
Far to the rear, Franky, Chopper, and Usopp all had to hold back Nami.
"LUFFFFFYYYYYYYY!"
In the end, Luffy had defeated Hody and saved Princess Shirayoshi, who had been very grateful. She had promised that they would all meet again, and she had a wonderful time playing with little Ace-chan.
Even after their emotional parting though, Nami hadn't spoken to Luffy directly at all. And she hadn't come to their quarters. Luffy had gone out onto the deck during the night, and spotted her among her tangerine trees. He climbed up, and landed a few feet away from her. He knew that surprising her wouldn't be a lot of fun right now.
"Hey, Nami?"
Nami continued to do something with her trees, though Luffy had no idea what it was. He grimaced.
"Nami, come on. Don't do this to me. You know I hate it when you're quiet! Beat me up or something!"
Still she said nothing. This was really bad, Luffy realized. He sank to his knees.
"Nami, come on! What is it? Tell me what I did wrong! You can beat me black and blue for it!"
Nami sighed.
"I don't want to beat you up, Luffy," she grumbled.
"Oh... So this is really bad," Luffy said.
"How could you take our daughter into a warzone?!" Nami demanded, turning her angry gaze on him, "How could you endanger her like that?! Didn't you think about what might happen?! Don't you care if she lives or dies?! Don't you ever care-?!"
Luffy bowed his head. In his mind... He saw Marineford. He saw his brother...
He looked back up at his wife.
Nami was staring at him in horrified realization. Her jaw dropped, and her face went pale. Now she dropped to her knees in front of Luffy.
"Oh God, Luffy-I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-!"
Luffy was silent. He stood up and guided her over to the nearby bench. They both sat down. Luffy stared intently at her, his face blank. Tears came to her eyes.
"Luffy... I didn't mean it, I swear-"
He took his hat off, and placed it on her head firmly. He hugged her.
"Of course I care, Nami," he murmured. He looked out at the star-illuminated sea. He felt... Tired all of a sudden.
"Luffy... I didn't mean to-"
"You're just angry and scared," Luffy said quietly, "You're always like that when people you love are in danger. It's how you show you care. I know that, Nami. I do care. I really do. I just... I trusted that Franky would have built that thing to keep Ace safe. I trusted that you all had my back."
He let out a sigh. He felt even more tired.
"But that day... Why am I thinking of that day now?" He murmured. "I still have dreams about it, you know. Me and Ace, we're running. We're going to go home. We're free... And then that Admiral is on me. He's going to punch right through me with that magma fist. Then Ace is there... Taking the hit for me."
Luffy looked up at the stars for a moment.
"Sometimes it's just Ace. Sometimes he turns into Zoro. Or Sanji. Or Franky. Robin. Chopper. Brook..." He turned to look at Nami. "You."
She squeezed his hand tightly.
"Luffy... Do you... Please, tell me you don't blame yourself for what happened to Ace," Nami murmured.
"... I did. For a long time after, I did," Luffy admitted. "Raleigh, Jinbei-They all told me it wasn't my fault. It was... What did they call it? Survivor's guilt, or something. That I thought it should have been me, instead of him."
Nami slowly nodded.
"... I felt the same way, after Belle-mere," she said quietly. Luffy looked over at her sharply.
"It wasn't your fault Arlong did that," Luffy said immediately, "You couldn't have done anything-!"
"And neither could you," Nami insisted, "You did more than what anyone could have been expected to do! Ace... Ace wouldn't want you to blame yourself."
Luffy nodded slowly.
"I know," he said, "I guess... It just helps to hear it from you. After Saobody."
Nami stared at him. She sighed and hugged her husband tightly.
"That wasn't your fault either," she said gently, "It was better we learned we weren't strong enough that way than... Then fighting an Admiral. We'd have all died."
Luffy stared out at the moon.
"Yeah," he murmured.
"You're not-?"
"I'm not letting it weigh me down," Luffy said calmly, a little smile on his face, "You know me. But it's something I gotta think about. You're all part of my dream, Nami. All of you. Ace-chan is just the newest part. If I lose any of you... Then I lose my dream. I lose everything."
Nami narrowed her eyes in determination.
"Then we don't lose. Not again," she said. She looked him in the eyes. "We don't stop getting stronger. Teach me how to use Haki."
Luffy blinked.
"I'm not sure I'm smart enough to teach it-"
"Then at least practice it with me, and the rest of us," Nami insisted, "We can pick things up as we go along. The important thing is to never stop moving forward. The New World's only going to get more dangerous... And if we're going to take our daughter along, we can't afford to get complacent."
"Complacent's... Bad, right?"
"Very bad," Nami said, "Complacent is what happened at Saobody... And we will never let that happen again." She squeezed his hand. "Promise?"
Luffy's smile returned to full. He squeezed her hand back.
"Promise."
Nami beamed and kissed her husband. He kissed her back happily.
"Mmm... You know, I was told that after we have a fight, we should have make-up sex," Luffy said cheerfully.
"LUFFY!" Nami cried, bonking him on the head.
"Shishishi, that wasn't a no~!"
Yeah, we're back.