Chapter Eleven – Somewhere in a Pirate-not-Pirate Academy
"Nami, it's really not that bad!" Usopp, despite reassuring voice, does little to ease Nami's nerves. He calls out again, "Just put one foot in front of the other."
The wind picks up, stirring Nami's hair from her shoulder to brush against her neck and she flinches, making the mistake of allowing the small movement to shatter her balance.
"This is crazy!" Nami yells, ending up once more sitting precariously on the steel runner, the wind ruffling her hair. She looks back at the part of the roof she has already crossed and consoles herself with the knowledge that at least she could walk confidently over half the distance before she feels the wind give her a firm shove to either side. At the end, waiting by the iron ladder is Usopp who gives her a cheerful wave that Nami gratefully returns. She had made precautions by making sure Usopp and Chopper were at either ends of the greenhouse, ready to come to her aid if need be. So far though, they had only waited patiently, never complaining once about how long she knew she was taking to cross the damned roof. She made a goal to walk over the entire roof today without having to resort to crawling. Luckily, both Chopper and Usopp were willing to encourage her on this.
"You're doing great!" Chopper encourages. He sits on the other side underneath the arch of the roofs. Dappled sunlight plays with his tawny hair as he shuffles to the edge of the passage and looks out concernedly at her, "Do you want help?"
"No, no, it's fine," immediately Nami draws herself up again, swallowing as she regains enough balance to stand up straighter, her knees still slightly bent, "Almost there…"
"It's easier if you don't look down," Chopper calls, "Look up at me and walk forward!"
"Got it," Nami replies, slowly inching her gaze upwards. Chopper's friendly smile urges her forward and she forces herself not to look down. Surprisingly, her steps are surer and know exactly where they need to go. As she steps into the passageway, her shoulders immediately slump and her feet gratefully wander upon solid ground.
"That was much better! Good job!" Chopper praises naturally, patting her arm. Soon afterwards Nami hears the thump of Usopp leaping from the runner to the passageway as well, effortlessly managing to cross the roof in a fraction of the time she took. At this, Nami pulls a face jokingly, "I must have resembled a snail to you."
Usopp laughs and pushes her shoulder good-naturedly, "Nah, you were all right. You should have been here when Zoro first crossed."
"Zoro?" Nami imagines the boy could still get from side to side with his eye closed and feet bound, "He was fine, wasn't he?"
"Sure," Usopp inclines his head slightly to urge the duo forward and then raises it again to point with his chin towards one of the sloping roofs overhead, "He somehow found himself up there, though."
"You're kidding," Nami deadpans, "It's a straight path though?"
"Never mind about that," both Chopper and Usopp speak in unison, waving their hands dismissively and Nami cracks up laughing. By now, they reach the open space of the rooftop garden.
"We didn't hear any screaming this time so I'm guessing it went well? Or did she do a silent chicken dance this time?" the familiar voice drawls.
"Why are you even still here?" Nami retorts. Ace grins in response.
"Seriously though, you managed to get across by yourself?"
"Eventually," she replies, "And I didn't do a silent chicken dance, either."
"Not bad."
Nami isn't sure whether she should reply with a 'thanks' or not and so decides to simply smile and walk back over to what has been dubbed the 'study duo'. It seems an overstatement really. Luffy is lying on his stomach and flipping through the pages of a Biology textbook with half-lidded eyes much too quickly to be actually absorbing any information. Zoro is sitting like a rock and glaring at his own textbook with enough intensity to burn a hole through it. Neither replies nor react when Nami sets herself opposite them and inquires about their progress.
"Bo-o-oring!" Luffy finally yells, startling everyone on the roof but Ace and Zoro who carry on without care. He stands up and abruptly slams the book closed with a demonic expression on his face, "It's so long and none of it even makes sense!"
"That's your cue, Chopper!" Usopp calls from where he lazily sprawls against one planter, tinkering with an object.
As the undisputed best student in Biology comes to Luffy's aid, the latter bends down, calmly picks up the book and chucks it clear over the edge of the building. Nami's jaw drops at the same time as Chopper's.
"LUFFY!" she and Chopper both yell; the former out of the anger and the latter of shock.
"It's my own book, not someone else's," Luffy defends himself but Nami ignores him.
"What the hell did you do that for?" she roars, scrambling to the edge of the roof onto the balcony. She cranes her neck and makes out the rectangular shape on the grass, "You could have killed someone!"
"Nobody walks there," Luffy states.
"As if you could have known that! Get down there and bring it back right now!"
"No."
She doesn't want to start an argument here over something that is relatively trivial in hindsight, but she lets out an exasperated growl and turns on her heel, stalking back towards the greenhouse, "Fine. I hope you look over the roof so I can chuck it right at your face."
She can almost hear his laughter, "I'll catch it."
"You'll hope so!"
"Nami, do you need us—" Usopp calls.
"No!" Nami yells before realising the speaker and she throws an apologetic smile over her shoulder, "I mean, no thank you. I'll be fine."
On the edge of the platform with the greenhouse looming before her, she is almost tempted to run back and rescind her words. The greenhouse looks eerily unstable with its thin panes and delicate, shimmering, deceptive surface in the sun's rays; and not nearly as safe as when someone is waiting on the other side. Nevertheless, she scolds herself to stop being such a coward. Anything they can do…
Her foot steps onto the runner before the far greater rational part of her brain can catch up and interfere with her thoughts. Forcing her eyes upward, even as the wind eagerly picked up to bully her incessantly, Nami repeats every word Usopp and Chopper drilled into her mind and calmly proceeds with caution. When the runner itself trembles, however, Nami immediately drops to her knees, clutching onto the steel for dear life. Crawling it is…
She decides to wait until the goddamned thing stops trembling. It does, but then a shadow falls over her and a drawling voice asks, "What are you doing?"
Too late Nami realises the steel shook not out of spite towards her but because someone else was actually walking on it. Idiot.
Ace still sounds amused; tall, lanky form peering down at her. He doesn't offer a hand. Maybe he has picked up on Nami's high tension and wisely proceeds with caution, lest the girl sends him tumbling off the roof. Nami wants to avoid eye-contact with him for if she initiates it, she fears she will lose the battle and doggedly ask for help. Ace is a Pirate. Nami can tell even if no one has explicitly told her. While she is comfortable with the idea of these Pirates, it doesn't necessarily go to the extent that she will start asking favours of them.
So they both wait it out…
… and finally, Ace drops into a sitting position beside her, easily managing to balance on the thin strip despite having a bulkier, heavier frame. The sun creates shadows underneath his muscles as they flex to grip the runner beneath him, making himself comfortable as if for a long wait.
"All right, all right," Nami mutters, pushing herself up, "You could have just asked politely."
Ace eyes her, "You'll fall if you try to walk shaking that much." He offers an easy grin, "Take it easy. Sit down."
"Aren't I holding you up?"
"Nah," he waves a hand, "It's only afternoon classes."
Nami holds his look for a moment, neither giving way for the other, and slowly lowers herself back down. Her legs thank her. As Ace lowers his arm, Nami's gaze flickers to the dark lines underneath the short sleeve of his shirt. They slither over the skin of his upper bicep. Then his arm disappears from her sight and she asks, "Is that a tattoo?"
"Why were you so upset when Luffy threw the book over the roof?" he counters almost immediately. Nami, however, does not miss the small, hesitant pause of reluctance, of something unpleasant. The wind loses a degree of warmth.
"I asked first."
"Yes, it's a tattoo."
Nami frowns at him, even though that would be her exact reply in the same situation. Ace gives her a look that says your turn and she plays along, "Because he threw a book over the roof."
"That's not exactly an answer."
She shrugs, "Was yours?"
"It answered your question."
"So did mine."
Ace releases a sound that sounds like an exhale, a sigh and a chuckle all combined into one. He mutters, "You're really something special; I can see why Luffy immediately liked you." He glazes over the inadvertent compliment however and says, "Then, how about this. You just patched up a fight with my little brother, a fight that had him moping all day. While it really had nothing to do with me, it's still my little brother so I felt bothered on his behalf in regards to you." He says all this matter-of-factly, without a note of accusatory tone. Nami isn't sure whether he's fishing for an apology by extension for his trouble, but she won't be giving him one. Instead, Ace continues, "That's my reason for any distrust on my part.
"What's yours?"
Despite his confidence, Luffy's head does not appear over the edge of the roof when Nami picks up his book. She knows it is not out of fear, more likely distraction if Usopp has finished tinkering his new device. She still feels disappointment for she has no target to propel the book at because she sure damned feels like it.
What's yours?
Nami sits at the base of the building, uncaring who sees her (Luffy mentioned no one walked in this area anyway) and curses another member of the increasingly headache-inducing family. She hates his blunt tone.
What's your reason for distrusting me?
Of course Ace wouldn't trust her enough to delve into whatever backstory lay behind his tattoo. She'd met his younger brother for a week and already began screaming at him after all.
What is her reason for distrusting him?
His first impression had been made breaking into her car… to give her sister directions.
The frayed plastic covering of the Biology textbook almost comes away in her hands. Gently, she folds the material and tucks in the uneven edges so the covering appears almost new. It's not that she distrusts him, she tells herself; she just isn't sure how to phrase her words and so do not say them.
(Rather, she isn't sure how to phrase her words to form the truth.)
How could she explain? That since she was young, she had to steal her books in order to read them? That to see someone throw away so carelessly something she risked theft to obtain, made her insane with anger?
"Were you lying?" calls down a voice. Nami looks up and Luffy sits there on the railing, peering down at her. At this distance, Nami cannot tell if his face contorts in a smile or not. His tone is his signature playful lilt, though, and somehow Nami knows the smile is there because of that.
Yet, she still feels hesitance. If he misses, the book will surely be destroyed. For once, she feels like bypassing her pride, just this once. She turns to make her way back up to the roof…
… and Ace plucks the book out of her hand with a deft sweep of his own and without care for her shock, lobs it up easily with the same arm. Nami makes some sort of choked sound and glares up at Ace, a string of words loading behind her lips. Ace, however, points upwards with a finger and commands, "Just look. Please." The latter courtesy almost sounds like an afterthought. Almost.
Nami directs her gaze skyward, watching the airborne book with a sense of helplessness and simmering anger for the boy behind her for putting her through this.
As the book reaches the turning point of its curve, she becomes aware of the shape that propels itself abruptly towards it. The shape lets out a joyful, hooting laugh and Nami's fear doubles.
"Luffy!" she yells. You idiot!
"Don't worry about him," Ace says nonchalantly behind her. Nami turns her furious glare on him, finding some sort of outlet for her anger. Ace merely shrugs, a look of boredom across his features. He indicates with a finger once more: look up. When Nami keeps glaring at him, he gives her an amused look and physically turns her around in a firm but gentle movement.
"You're going to miss it," he says.
So Nami looks up, and she watches the Pirate boy with a straw hat catch the book, let out a whoop of triumph and land with a tumble into the open passageway of an adjoining building, similar to the one leading from the greenhouse roof to the rooftop garden. A second later, his head pokes back out to the screams of encouragement from Usopp and Chopper.
"Is he hurt?" Nami demands, whirling and turning her back on the stunt. She feels her throat constrict with something like worry but her brain refuses to acknowledge it as such, "We have to check on him—"
"He's fine," Ace interrupts. His dark eyes are unconcerned, "A few scratches never hurt him."
"What about the book then?" Nami exclaims and Ace laughs.
"Go check on that then," he says, "I can assure you it is perfectly intact." He has a goading, challenging smile that looks like the original blueprint for Luffy's own.
Nami huffs and storms past him, resisting the urge to yell a juvenile, "It better be!" over her shoulder.
"Nami?" Ace calls.
She turns, raising her eyebrow to demand, what?
"If I'm right, promise to humour my little brother for a little while. It should be a good show of faith if the book's fine, right?"
"And if it's not?"
"I'm counting on you anyway."
"That's a lot of faith for someone you distrust," Nami says.
Ace cocks his head, an odd expression crossing his face. It's too lucid to be blank and too varied to be pinned down to one emotion. He looks wary, yet faintly amused and trusting; like a kid about to pet the feral dog, unsure of whether it might bite his hand but somehow convinced it will become his best friend.
"So I'm counting on you," he says simply and Nami regards him with an expression that perhaps conveys her suspicion, her frustration and relief… and maybe even her mutual feelings.
I'm counting on you, too, for you to be right.
Luffy is waiting for her when she heaves herself over the top of the iron ladder, sitting cross-legged on the stone of the other side. He brightens when they come face-to-face over several metres of steel and glass.
"Come on, lunch is ending soon!" he calls. He holds up the book and waves it around, "Told you I'd catch it!"
"Is it damaged?"
"You'd better come over and see," the boy sings.
So Nami does. Almost.
"One day," she mutters when Luffy has to meet her two-thirds of the way across.
"Here," he says, proffering the textbook, practically laying it into her hands as he drops down to sit beside her. Nami takes it and notes its near-pristine condition. Even the plastic she had folded back into place hadn't budged. It feels warm under her fingers.
Luffy says, "Do you remember what I told you to do the first time you came up here?"
Nami has to think, but not too hard. It is hard to forget that time and of the boy who so long waited for her to take his hand, brimming with as much faith as anyone could have in her. She finds herself repeating his exact words, "'Meet you on the other side, Nami! Look at the sides if you can.'"
"Do I sound like that?" he sounds faintly mock-offended at her attempt to mimic his voice and Nami laughs, but she doesn't speak, for looking at the side has mesmerised her.
From their position atop the centre of the greenhouse, sloping glass roofs gently lap like the smoothest waves to either side. The early afternoon sun creates the best lighting, filtering through the panes to highlight the colourful subjects below. As Nami peers down, she sees the writhing plants, neatly maintained and bursting with life, some growing as tall as the greenhouse roof itself. It feels surreal as she pivots on the spot, peering through the glass panes on both sides, viewing the greenhouse garden from above like a visiting bird.
"It kind of makes you feel like you're walking through the sky and looking down at the Earth," Nami murmurs.
"It feels like flying if you run." Nami turns to look at him, temporarily snapped out of her reverie, but Luffy is smiling at her comment, as if happy she shares a common understanding with him. He continues, "Makino used to try and teach me the names of the plants. Now, Robin tries as well, but I don't really remember much." He points with a finger towards a section almost directly below them, "From here to the left is the fruit orchard but the trees are further up that end," he points towards the fields through the buildings, "Where they can grow properly. The fruit orchard is the one that's really important. Um… I think it went grapes, cherries, strawberries, tangerines—"
"Tangerines?" Nami interrupts without thought. Luffy stops and looks at her, "Yeah. Do you like them?"
"My mother does," she replies automatically and has to cough, realising the tense is wrong. She still struggles with it. "Did. She passed that onto me, I guess."
A second passes. Then another. Nami hopes he doesn't ask the question, please don't ask the question…
He asks a question, but not the one she expects.
"Well, do you wanna go steal some?"
Minutes later, Nami is explaining to Luffy how to pick out the best tangerines, reciting the same lines her mother had once told her. Mostly, it consists of Luffy pointing to one and asking, "How about that one?"
Nami says no and explains why. Luffy points to another one, then another, Nami exclaims, "You pointed to that one ten seconds ago!" and the process seems to repeat indefinitely. Finally, though, they manage to claim a fair stash.
"Who's in charge of this place?" Nami asks at one point. She doesn't have an extensive knowledge of botany, but the contents of the greenhouse are thriving and beautiful, clearly maintained by someone who does. Luffy only shrugged, "It used to be Robin a couple of years ago. That was when she was still studying for her doctor's certificate though."
Nami blinks, "Her what?"
"To become a really good archaeologist."
Nami blinks again and then deadpans, "Do you mean her doctorate?"
"Isn't it the same thing?"
At her expression, Luffy laughs, "I'm kidding. I don't know a lot about what my friends do but I know the simple stuff." After a pause, he adds, "Do you want to hear about them?"
Nami is not sure exactly what compels her; perhaps the excited tone of his voice, but she replies, "Sure."
She learns Zoro drinks and exercises a lot more than what should be healthy and that he is nineteen, like Sanji, but had failed to graduate the previous year.
"Isn't he allowed to leave?" Nami asks. That would explain his complete lack of motivation in his studies.
"He is," Luffy replies, "Hawky convinced him to stay and finish what he started. He doesn't show it but he's trying harder than last year. Chopper and Robin have helped him a lot. I think he's determined to graduate with us this time."
"I see."
She learns Usopp is the best storyteller in the group, though she suspects that's a euphemism for the best liar, and that he'd been the group's on-off mechanic and tinkerer before Franky came along. "Some bad stuff happened, but now they're good friends. They make lots of cool stuff for us." And, Luffy added, Usopp has a long-distance relationship with a girl back in his hometown and he always told his best stories to her, much to Luffy and Chopper's sulking.
"You two seem really close," she says.
"Yeah. We had a fight once," he admits, "Around the time we met Franky. But we've been fine since."
Sanji, she learns, is the best chef Luffy knows. He's also a smoker, a bit of a pervert and gets overly affectionate and charming when women are nearby. "He used to get mad whenever I finished his food quicker than he could make it," Luffy laughs, "But now he gives me huge servings now that he knows I'll always finish it. He hates wasted food and the thought of others being hungry."
"You said he worked at Baratie's?" Nami asks.
"Yeah, with the scary one-legged old man! Once, I broke some stuff in the place and the old man made me work it off." He pulls a face, "It wasn't fun, but I got a lot of food!
"Chopper almost didn't join our crew, but we dragged him out eventually." He explains how Chopper had been bullied when he was younger and had difficult circumstances at home. He left and found a foster father, then, eventually Kureha managed to take him under her wing.
"He really likes the cherry blossoms over on those fields," Luffy explains, pointing once more in the fruit orchard's direction, "If he's not with us, he's usually down there."
Luffy doesn't explain too much about Robin, apart from what he already revealed. He says, "A lot of it doesn't make sense unless you know other things about her. But I think I should let her explain it herself." Nami understood that almost too well.
She learns Franky is an entrepreneur, backed by his team called the 'Franky Family', and creates his own vehicles, designs, robotics, operating systems and all else he deemed as 'SUPER'. He also had an acute fascination with cyborgs, in particular, and weaponry, although that was less condoned, and, most of all…
"Ships," Luffy tells her.
"Ships?" she repeats, wondering if she heard him wrong. But Luffy confirms, "He'll tell you all about it if you ask him."
"Brook's a musician," Luffy tells her, "Have you ever heard of Soul King?"
"That's him?" Nami exclaims and Luffy nods, grinning.
"He says the costume is really cool and he really gets into character when he wears it. It's like his soul really left and entered a skeleton."
He further explains Brook's fascination with panties and warns her again that he'll probably ask about hers but that he's harmless and a nice guy.
"He has a song he really likes and we all sing it together sometimes. Do you know 'Bink's Sake'?"
Nami raises an eyebrow, "He has a classic taste." She even remembers her mother humming to the famous song on occasion.
"Brook is kind of classic himself," Luffy replies, "He sang the song with his friends when he was younger.
"So that's all my crew."
Nami had stopped picking tangerines at some point. Instead, she'd sat there on the dirt and listened to Luffy's accounts of who, she could deduce, were among the most important people of his life. He spoke fondly of them, though Nami suspects there is much he chooses not to say, probably out of respect to their privacy. His crew is so diverse, varying in all factors of age, occupation, personality and background. He could give anyone a chance, she realises, and that is why many people liked and, begrudgingly or not, held some amount of respect for him. She could only assume few people succeeded to prove why they deserved that chance and that those people included his crew. Her? Likely not. She never intends to be part of a Pirate crew and Luffy's own is no exception so she is fine with that to an extent. However, she does decide she wouldn't mind becoming Luffy's friend. If that were to happen, she has to prove firstly that his chance hadn't been wasted on her.
"Is the offer still open?" she asks. Luffy turns with a "Hm?"
"To meet your friends," she elaborates, "Maybe on the weekend?"
"Really?" Luffy immediately leaps to attention, his whole face blowing out into the biggest grin Nami has ever seen, even for him, "Seriously? You're not joking, right?"
"Really. Seriously. Not joking," she confirms.
After Luffy's impromptu self-celebration (including, bizarrely, standing by himself in the middle of the orchard shouting "Banzai!" numerous times), he settles in an excited, content mood, launching into details of the day, time and "Baratie's of course!" Nami feels oddly excited herself, as if Luffy's emotions themselves have infected her. She finds herself, oddly, talking about the day with Luffy, answering his questions about everything from who she is most excited to meet (Robin, for she always wondered what it might be like to have a girl friend, but she officially replies that she wants to talk to her about maintaining such a thriving tangerine grove) to what types of food she likes ("Why?" "So I can predict what Sanji will cook for us!"). Eventually she loses all track of time until a firm knock comes from above. Only Nami glances up and watches as Zoro and Usopp casually make their way across overhead. A little distance behind them is Chopper. He is crouched and leaning down, using a hand to knock on the roof. Luffy looks up and signals his notice with a wave, "Thanks, Chopper!"
"I assume that's our cue?" says Nami.
"Yep. Lunch is over," Luffy pushes himself up and heaves his bag behind him. Beside him, Nami shoulders her own heavy bag loaded down with fresh tangerines, "Hopefully, Tra-guy won't make a big deal of this when he finds out in last period that we stole these."
"Shouldn't you say 'if'?"
"No, when," Luffy replies cheerily.
It is almost enough to make her regret her theft, but definitely not enough. Nami never regrets any of her thefts. One day, she might even decide to tell someone that.
"Come on, we're going to be late," she says instead and manages to bluff an easy smile.
I physically feel the "ABOUT TIME"s currently running through the mind of each and every reader of this story. I feel you. I'm going to have a very serious talk with my motivation and writer's block.
In all seriousness though, thank you for sticking with us latecomers and I apologise for the lateness of updates. I promise I haven't yet given up on this story. From this point, there are many interesting paths it could take… But only time will tell.