"Crap - ZORO - BABY OVERBOARD! "

The shrieked words from up in the rigging echoed across the ship. Nami shot out of her room, maps scattering, the sunlight blinding her after hours in the lantern-lit room - but as fast as she'd run, she was nothing compared to the streak that almost ran her over. Swords clattered to the deck boards and even as she shouted to grab a rope or something he dove.

Nami slammed into the railing, breath in her throat, looking frantically through the waves for a shot of green - for little ears - anything. "There!" she cried, pointing to Zoro's form cutting through the water. He reached the floating bit of clothing and grabbed it up, almost over his head. Hardly daring to take her eyes off of them, but frantic to find a rope or a life preserver, Nami spun, only to find Sanji already running towards her with a preserver under his arm.

"Where?" he shouted.

"There!" she jabbed her finger.

Zoro was swimming back, but it was slow going in the waves - gentle and rolling though they were, they were still powerful enough to drag him further than he could swim with only one arm. Babbi was held up under his other arm, her ears flapping, her hands waving and slapping.

Sanji threw the life preserver, the white donut spinning through the air and splashing into the water.

It wasn't far enough.

Hand-over-hand Sanji pulled it back in, moving like a blur, face set and grim. "Luffy!" he bellowed.

Luffy was already there, eyes dark, handing Nami his hat. Taking the preserver, he twisted up like a corkscrew, then whipped around and let it fly, sending it out like a shot. The rope quickly ran out, but he was holding the end of it and let his arm stretch, giving the preserver the extra reach Zoro needed to hook his arm through. When Luffy's arm had pulled back to its normal size, Sanji helped pull on the rope, hand over hand, till a green head came into view over the rails and the shrill shrieking of a happy child pierced their ears.

Usopp, finally down from the rigging, joined them just as Zoro dropped onto the deck boards, chest heaving.

"Oh my…! Is she okay?" Usopp cried, running so fast he slipped and almost face-planted.

Zoro lifted her up and checked her over, face pale and eyes wide. Babbi gave a final giggle and then stared at him, her eyes larger than usual. She didn't choke, didn't even cough, didn't seem fazed at all by her brush with death. "She's fine," Zoro wheezed, pulling her to his chest and wrapping his arms around her, firm against her squirming.

"What happened?" Usopp asked, hands on his knees. He looked sick. "How did she..?"

Zoro shook his head. He had yet to blink. "She was napping, in her bed."

"Are you sure?" Nami asked, her voice sharper than intended with fright.

Zoro's eyes snapped to hers, and he snarled. "Yes I'm sure!" Climbing to his feet, Babbi still trapped in his arms, he glared. "That's where I left her not ten minutes ago!" Water dripped from him into a puddle around his feet.

"She learned how to climb out?" Luffy looked torn between being concerned and being impressed.

Zoro stared at him, then looked down at the excited child in his arms, flapping her hands and staring out at the expanse of beautiful blue water, capped with white foam. "Crap," he muttered, and stalked away.

They all watched him go. Then Nami spun on them. "We need to make sure that never happens again."

"We could permanently attach a preserver to her. Like a floatie-belt," Usopp said.

"We could tie her to the mast," Sanji suggested.

"No," Luffy mused. "I don't think Zoro would like that."

Nami rubbed her face.

It had all happened so fast - and now it was over, but her heart had yet to leave her throat, and she was starting to feel sick.


The bunkroom door was ajar, so she knocked on it. "It's Nami. Are you decent?"

"I'm wearing pants, if that's what you mean."

She huffed, and pushed the door open. Wet clothes hung on a rope strung from a lantern hook to a shelf support. A yellow shirt, brown pants, red waist-scarf, and little brown dress with purple flowers hung, dripping, over it. Zoro was standing next to Babbi's hammock, only half-dressed himself, slipping her arms into the sleeves of the little green shirt. She was already in the brown baby pants. Her wet tufts of hair stuck up in little spirals, but she didn't look the worse for wear. In fact, she looked exhilarated, her ears standing straight out and wiggling at the tips as she threw a nonstop stream of chirps and babbles at Zoro, big eyes shining and cheeks pink.

He didn't look up, focused on the little green shirt. "She's going to be the death of me."

Nami nodded. "The others are trying to come up with ways to baby-proof the railings."

He snorted.

"Figure out how she got out?"

"Yeah. She showed me as soon as I put her back in her bed. Twice, before I convinced her to stay." He finished buttoning the shirt, and grabbed the little black robe, lifting his eyes to give Nami a dark, exasperated glance. "She's very proud of herself."

"She is?"

He spread his hands, pointing them at the baby in question, who did, indeed, seem quite pleased with herself and her adventure.

Cheeky.

Nami leaned against the doorframe, folding her arms, and frowned. "What are you going to do?"

"Never let her nap alone in her bed again," he muttered, pulling the black robe snug around her chubby form. Then he reached for the hooks on the wall, and pulled off a clean green shirt and black scarf.

Nami's lips twitched with amusement.

Did he even realize Nam had deliberately picked out clothes for Babbi to match his?

Did he realize that whatever he dressed Babbi in, he chose for himself?

After tying his own shirt closed and securing the scarf around his waist, he grabbed the satchel and began buckling it around himself.

"She can't ride in that thing all the time, though," Nami pointed out, seeing his train of thought. "She needs to move around sometimes."

"Yeah, but not today." The first buckle snapped closed, and he pulled the belt around his waist. Once it was secured he picked Babbi up and got her settled in the bag portion. She immediately began kicking her legs, giggling.

"Bapa! Bapa!"

"Yes, Babbi," he muttered. "Already giving me grey hairs."

Nami hid a smile.

Ready, he looked up and found her eyes. "I need my earrings back," he said, touching his ear.

Nami frowned. His ear was better than it had been last week, and Sanji's daily antibacterial tea had taken care of the infection, but it was still sore and scabbed. Hardly in any condition to be poked through again. "I don't think…"

"If I don't keep earrings in them, the holes will close." He stepped towards her. "Then I'll have to get them pierced all over again."

"I'll re-pierce your ears myself," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "You shouldn't be putting anything in right now, you'll just open up the scabs all over again."

"Which one of us wears earrings?"

"If you put them back in, she's just going to grab for them again." Nami watched the wince those words caused, and she ran with it. "They are dangly, flashy, pretty things."

His brows drew together.

"I promise, if the holes close up while your ear heals, I'll pierce it again with little studs. Boring ones. That she won't want to chew on." Nami touched the lobe, pleased that it didn't feel unnaturally warm, or seem too swollen.

Zoro stared at her, then heaved a sigh. "Fine," he grumbled.

Still glowering, he pushed past her and left the room, stomping up the stairs. She heard Usopp's voice greeting him, and then the low, rumbling thank you from Zoro - for seeing her and warning them all so quickly.

Nami put plain, boring, non-dangly stud earrings on her mental shopping list for the next time they docked.


For three days Zoro carried Babbi in the satchel, and only let her down to toddle and run if they were in an enclosed room. It was hard, but the incident had scared them all too much to risk it.

On the fourth day at breakfast, Nami sat down on the bench beside Zoro and Babbi and slapped down a coil of leather and buckles. Zoro blinked at her.

"What's this?"

"A Papa-Daughter leash."

One eyebrow rose. "Excuse me?"

She lifted one end, a belt that a long leather strap had been exhaustively sewn onto. Then she lifted the other end of the strap, which had a harness - handmade - and sewn and reinforced within an inch of its life. A harness made out of several leather belts. A harness just big enough for a very, very small child.

"The leather strap is twenty feet long, but it has a strap adjuster, so you can shorten it up as much as you need to. I have it adjusted to be about - ten feet." She held up the adult-sized belt. "Anyone of us can wear this, or we can hook it around one of the masts. This way she can wander around and we don't have to worry about her falling off the ship and drowning."

The belt was in his fingers, his thumb running over the stitches that had put no less than three blisters on her fingertips. His expression had grown soft. "I was just going to use rope," he murmured.


Everyone breathed easier after that. At night they closed the bunkroom door and latched it, because now that she had figured out how to climb out of her hammock she had given Luffy a fright when, in the middle of his watch, she'd wandered out onto the deck in her pjs. After returning her to the bunkroom, Zoro had pulled her into his own hammock, and they slept curled up together, just as they used to.

Every day they took turns wearing the leash, and Babbi was happy - most of the time - to wander around at the end of it. There were times she pulled at it and whined, and once she didn't want to follow Sanji and dropped down where she was. Sanji, not realizing, kept walking.

She'd thought it was hilarious, and frequently laid down whenever she was leashed to Sanji, just to get dragged around the floors, squealing quietly to herself.

The first time Zoro saw it, he came in for lunch and found Sanji dragging her limp body around the kitchen, from the fridge to the stove, from the stove to counter. "Hey! Crapface!"

"Yes, pond scum?"

"What'd you do to her?!"

Sanji looked at him over his shoulder, then glanced down. "She's fine."

"Quit dragging around my girl!"

Babbi rolled her head back and looked up at him, upside down, and giggled.

"Loosen your panties, she's fine, she loves it." Sanji went back to chopping.

"What?"

"Zoro, you never hung onto your papa's leg to get pulled around?" Luffy asked, bounding in and claiming the first seat at the table. "Is lunch ready? I'm starving!"

"In a minute," Sanji promised, scooping what he'd chopped into a bowl and mixing for a minute. Then he grabbed the bowl and headed for the table, stopping to pick a bit out with his fingers, bending over to drop it into her open, birdlike mouth. She smacked happily, humming.

Zoro sat down and watched her, sliding across the floor on her back behind the cook, chewing on her fingers and watching the ceiling pass by. He huffed, amusement creeping into his exasperated expression.

The sandwich filling in the bowl and the bread rolls were delicious, as always. Nami was late, which was unusual. When she finally came in, she offered no explanation, just dug into her sandwich with a fearsome hunger, then immediately cleared her plate and left without chatting.

No one knew what to make of it, but when Usopp went down to check on her later in her maproom she yelled at him and he fled. Luffy surmised that if it was anything they needed to know, she'd tell them, and left it at that.


Zoro leaned against the mast, the only sound the rushing of the waves, the wind, and the familiar, gentle creaks and groans of the ship. It was his watch, but there was nothing. Just the dark, the sea, and the stars.

Soft steps alerted him to someone's approach. He wasn't surprised when it was Nami. She had a strong, sure, quiet step, the step of someone who calculated their movements and was aware of every sound they made.

"Can't sleep?"

She sighed, following his gaze and looking up at the stars. "I can't find them."

He blinked, and looked down at her.

"The Malorans." Her throat moved as she swallowed, tired shadows under her eyes. "I've looked through - everything . I don't know where she came from, or how to even find it."

He hadn't found anything, either. Not a thing during all of his hours looking through her maps and books and papers.

"I know you were looking, I just thought maybe with a second set of eyes -" she paused. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you," he said. "For trying."

She swallowed. "It means - we'll have to keep her, for a while, at least."

The oddity of her words made him frown, and he looked at her.

"I know you wanted to find her family."

"Yes,"

"And I know that it makes you uncomfortable, her calling you Bapa -"

"It's not uncomfortable."

The look she shot at him was confused. Skeptical, too, but mostly confused. "But I thought -"

He sighed and looked down, toeing the deck. "I've never been - important, to someone. Not like that. I didn't want her getting attached to me like that, not if she has a real father out there looking for her."

She waited. When he didn't continue, she said, "But you love her too."

"I don't know when it happened," he admitted, voice low. "When I began thinking of her as mine." He crossed his arms, and looked - sad. "But she's not really mine. Is she?"

Nami stared up at him, her face soft, her blue eyes glowing in the moonlight. "Yes, she is," she whispered.

Zoro looked at her. His throat moved. "And if we find her real mom and dad?"

She smiled. "Then she'll be lucky enough to have three parents."