Chapter 14: Girl Talk

Ichiji seemed to have a new plan for dealing with Nami. Ignoring her. Not that she had a problem with it. It was far more pleasant than any of the other interactions they'd had and she sincerely hoped he continued to do it.

They hadn't bothered with another navigator for this voyage, deciding that she could chart her maps as well as navigate the ship. Obviously. What kind of a navigator couldn't do both at once? But she figured they'd originally included other navigators on these trips because of Judge's obsession with conquering North Blue. He wanted Nami's maps of the region as soon as possible and had feared acting as navigator while charting maps would be a distraction. After her performance through Storm Pass, he knew better.

She was once again working on her maps on the deck, though this time also giving navigational orders to the crew. She suspected that was why Ichiji had vacated the deck. He simply couldn't stand to see her being the one in charge. His attitude made her grateful she came from an island with no royalty. His arrogance was worse than Arlong and the other fish-men.

The beginning of the voyage passed quietly. The weather was pleasant and all the men followed her orders without question. It was amazing to see such a well-ordered crew. The way they did exactly as they were told when they were told to do it was eerie. The men had their own personalities, but they still reminded her of zombies with the way they followed Nami's, Ichiji's, and Reiju's orders. She figured they must have been raised since birth to be soldiers who only followed orders and it made her pity them.

A few nights in, Nami stood at the side of the ship and watched the stars. Her eyes were strained from charting maps all day every day.

"Mind if I join you?" Reiju asked, appearing at Nami's side.

"I'm pretty sure the stars don't charge for staring," Nami said, her gaze going back to the sky.

"I didn't ask if the stars minded, I asked if you minded." Reiju's voice held a touch of humor as she spoke.

Nami shrugged. "It's your ship, isn't it?"

"My father's ship," she corrected.

Nami shrugged again. Either way, the only authority she had upon the ship was that which the Vinsmokes chose to give her. Honestly, she'd been wondering if Reiju would take this as an opportunity to try to speak to her again. She obviously wanted something from Nami, but Nami still had no idea what.

"So, now that you've gotten to spend some time with your fiancé, what do you think of him?" Reiju asked.

"He's not what I would have expected," she answered slowly. He didn't seem to agree with his brothers that those with royal blood mattered more than those without. He worried about her and made food for her. Not good food, but still. Who would have ever thought a prince would make food for her just because she was hungry? Between all the Vinsmoke brothers, Sanji was clearly the best choice. She'd lucked out that he was the one she was marrying.

"Oh? In what way? And is that a good thing or a bad thing?"

Nami turned narrowed eyes on the pink-haired woman. "What do you care? This marriage is about an alliance between your father and Arlong. It has nothing to do with Sanji and me."

"You're the ones getting married," Reiju argued. "So, yes it does."

Nami tried to tamp down her anger. She had no choice in the matter. Why did Reiju insist on continuing to push this?

"I'm only asking what you think of my brother," Reiju pressed. "Sanji is the first of my brothers to not only be married, but have a woman in his life. I'm merely curious to hear what someone who has not known them all their life thinks of my brothers."

"He's kind," Nami said shortly. "At least, more kind than any of his brothers." She almost said than any of his siblings, but thought it might be a bad idea to antagonize Reiju when the two of them were alone. This woman had genetic modifications too, after all. Nami had her climatact, but she preferred not to get into a fight with another Vinsmoke if she could help it.

"Kind," Reiju scoffed. "Yes, Sanji's always been Father's biggest disappoint. Cooking for the mice and making friends with them."

"That's better than being a bullying, arrogant prick like the rest," Nami snapped back, already forgetting that she didn't want to antagonize Reiju.

The princess seemed surprised and Nami figured she'd better leave before the woman recovered herself. "Excuse me, it's been a long day." Brushing past Reiju, her fists clenched as she stomped to her room. So much for her thought earlier that Reiju was being protective of Sanji. It appeared that wasn't her concern at all. Maybe she was only trying to gauge if Nami was 'worthy' to marry a Vinsmoke prince by seeing if she had the proper respect for them or something else equally ridiculous.

Fuming, Nami flung herself onto her bed and jerked off her shoes. From everything she had seen, none of the Vinsmokes deserved to have Sanji as part of their family.

~.~

Reiju smiled as she watched Nami stomp away, pleased with the navigator's reaction. Reiju had wanted to test what Nami thought of Sanji now that they'd spent a little time together, but hadn't expected a reaction like that.

The fact that Nami's first comment about Sanji was that he was kind and that she was protective of that was hopefully a sign that she was a good person and would therefore be good for Sanji. All Reiju could do was hope since clearly neither Nami nor Sanji had any desire to turn to her for help. Not that she blamed either of them for it.

~.~

"We'll be landing in that port shortly to replenish our supplies," Ichiji informed Nami without looking at her. Instead he fixed his gaze on the bustling port.

Nami clenched her jaw. They had been out for less than a week. Unless they were gathering supplies for the main ship, there was no way they needed more supplies. A far more likely scenario was that Germa 66 was scoping out this place to invade it.

"Do you ever go anywhere just because you want to go there?" She asked.

"What?" Ichiji was so surprised by the question that he looked at her.

"Do you ever go anywhere just because you want to go there?" She repeated. "You've traveled all over North Blue and been to who knows how many countries. You've had an opportunity few have had to see different cultures and different environments. Many people love the sea for the adventure of never knowing what they'll find next." It was part of why she wanted to map the whole world. If everything was the same, it would be boring, but there was so much variety in the world, so many new things to discover. It was the adventure and the wonder that drew her to navigating and wanting to map all of the world's seas.

"That's a waste of time," Ichiji scoffed, gaze going back to the port. "I have a mission to accomplish in life, and it doesn't involve traveling to a place for no purpose."

"Gaining new experiences isn't no purpose," she argued, her voice sharp, then muttered under her breath, "And that doesn't sound like much of a life."

She ignored the glare Ichiji sent her way.

"I wouldn't expect a pirate to understand much about duty and striving toward a goal other than thieving."

Nami stiffened. "Perhaps not, but I imagine you understand the thoughts of a pirate perfectly since your duty is to go around stealing countries from others."

Ichiji's eyes flashed, but Reiju burst between them a moment later, clutching the railing excitedly. "Nami, this port has a famous dress shop that we must go to! You have so few clothes and I doubt you want to keep wearing my dresses. We'll have to pick some things up for you."

"Um, sure," Nami agreed, surprised by the interruption. The princess seemed completely oblivious to the argument she'd interrupted. Ichiji scoffed again before striding away, his cape flapping behind him.