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Chapter 15: Shopping Trip

Nami felt like she was with a different person as Reiju kept up a happy chatter while they walked through the port. She'd insisted they stop at a café for breakfast, at a hat shop, and a pastry shop before even bringing up the famous dress shop again.

Nami considered herself decent at reading other people, but could not for the life of her figure out Princess Reiju. Was she putting on an act? Or was this how she acted when she was away from her family and her duty as a princess of the Germa Kingdom? She seemed to be enjoying herself more than at any other time Nami had seen her.

"Ooo, that store has lovely jewelry," Reiju said, pointing out a store front with gilded molding around the edges. Nami's eyes sharpened. She was more than happy to shop when someone else was footing the bill. It was about time she benefited from being forced to marry a royal. "But I think it's the man's job to buy his woman jewelry, don't you?" She winked at Nami. "It's a time-honored way for him to show his affection for the woman he cares about, so I think I'll leave the jewelry shopping to Sanji."

Despite Nami's disappointment, she blushed. Before she could help herself, she asked, "Why do you care so much about mine and Sanji's relationship?"

A sad smile crossed Reiju's face. "Father's word is law and what Father wants is always best." To Nami's ears, Reiju didn't sound particularly convinced about the truth of her second statement. "But that doesn't mean I don't want my little brother to be happy. Or you. If you're unhappy, he'll probably be unhappy too."

Again, Nami blushed, making her want to bang her head against a wall. She'd probably blushed more since coming to North Blue than she had in the past five years. What was wrong with her? But she couldn't help wondering if Reiju was right. Would Sanji really be unhappy just because she wasn't happy? They hadn't known one another long. And if Reiju really cared, why was she so obnoxious over Sanji being kind? Was it a trait the Germa Kingdom looked down on that much?

"Anyway," Reiju began, waving her hand as though brushing the thought away. "That's not what we're here for. Here's the store I wanted to bring you to." She gestured grandly at a store with ballroom gowns in several jewel tones displayed in the window.

They were lovely but… "Maybe after this we could buy more practical clothes?" Nami suggested lightly. "I will be spending most of my time charting maps and navigating, after all."

"I suppose for now you will," Reiju agreed. "But these dresses will be important later on, and you'll still have official functions where you'll need to have appropriate attire. We can buy you some other clothes after we pick up a few dresses for you."

Nami relaxed, grateful for that reassurance. Now she could enjoy the dress shopping more fully.

~.~

"This port will serve nicely as our base of operations to invade Quell," Ichiji commented to the clone soldiers following him as he investigated the area. Quell was a far more dangerous country than their current location. The king was bloodthirsty and ruled his country with an iron fist by use of his military.

Fen, the country who owned the port they were at, was a friendly country that welcomed visitors since much of their economy was based off tourism. However, while Fen's military was no match for Germa 66, Quell was too paranoid to allow its neighbors to be taken over without joining into the fight. When pirates had invaded this port two years prior, Quell had sent a force to exterminate the pirates long before Fen had been able to muster its military to come to its people's aid.

Being next door neighbors, it was only natural that conquering Fen would benefit Germa 66 in conquering Quell as well. The only reason they hadn't done so yet was because Quell would intervene the moment Germa 66 made a move on Fen. With the maps of the area that Nami had just finished, he could see the perfect plan of attack.

Fen had a great weakness that had never been apparent to Germa 66 before. They had coves nearby with little population surrounding them. It would be a relatively easy matter to hide and armada in these coves within a matter of only a week or so. With those forces in place, they could strike hard and fast, overtaking Fen before they could rally any forces or before Quell knew what was happening. Once that was accomplished, Fen would become their base of operations to conquer Quell. Walking through this port had showed Ichiji that it would work very well as their naval base in Fen.

Much as Ichiji disliked the navigator, he could admit that she was useful. It appeared his father was correct in his belief that they would conquer North Blue faster with her aid. Though her earlier comparison between pirates and the grand mission of the Germa Kingdom still infuriated him. How dare she compare royalty to filthy, low-life pirates? She really was an uneducated, low-bred commoner through and through. With an unusual gift for navigation.

He frowned when he spotted two clone soldiers standing outside a dress shop holding boxes, wondering what they were doing. Then he remembered Reiju's insistence that she and Nami go dress shopping that day. Reiju must have brought the soldiers along to hold boxes for them. He rolled his eyes at such a worthless use of such highly trained soldiers.

Through the glass windows, he spotted a flash of orange and paused. Nami was standing in the middle of the shop, wrapped in an off-the shoulder green evening gown with her wavy hair cascading down one shoulder while Reiju seemed to critique the look. The navigator looked like she should be at a noble dinner party rather than a simple port.

Ichiji scowled and continued his tour of the port to look for the best places to setup guard stations for the upcoming naval base. She was not worthy to be royal. Worthy to be a navigator for the Germa Kingdom, but not a princess no matter if she looked the part. She certainly didn't, and probably couldn't, act the part. And why on Earth was Reiju dressing Nami in Yonji's colors? She should obviously be in black since she was Sanji's bride. Not that black would suit her best. It was too dull and somber of a color.

He shook his head to dislodge those thoughts and quickened his pace. He didn't care what colors Reiju dressed Nami in or what Nami wore or how she looked in what she wore. The only thing that mattered was that she did her job as navigator and stayed out of his way.