Chapter Text
16. azure
Blue is the color of the clear sky on a sunny day, and of the Grand Line, the sea that they decided together to spend their lives sailing on.
Blue is the color of the glass gems on the armband that Nami gave him, a treasure that he doesn’t regret parting with, but misses all the same.
Blue is the color of Zoro’s eyes… sometimes. His cold, steel–grey eyes look almost warm with blue inflected in them, blue that is most visible in the quieter moments of their journey, when they’re not running headfirst into danger.
Blue is the color of adventure, of novelty: new islands to survey, friends to make, enemies to fight, food to eat, and memories to share.
17. giddy
His head is on Nami’s lap, nestled in Nami’s arms. When she leans down to kiss him, her long orange hair cascades down to tickle his nose, and Luffy giggles.
“Stay still, Luffy.”
Luffy stays still. Well, he tries to stay still. Nami smells like citrus fruits, like tangerines, and it’s hard to stay still.
Nami kisses his forehead, the bridge of his nose, both of his cheeks, and his lips. Luffy can’t stop smiling.
Luffy reaches up to cup Nami’s face in his hands. “Kiss Zoro like this, too,” he says. Nami smirks down at him, one eyebrow arched.
“Let’s kiss him together.”
18. theft
Nami was a thief: she stole things, she didn’t get stolen from. And yet.
Could she really consider it stealing if the thieves were still at the scene of the crime, sleeping like they’ve done nothing wrong? If they’d impressed her by somehow figuring out that she kept her finest treasures in the library, stored inside a few false textbooks? If they were her captain and first mate?
Yes, she could.
Zoro looked good in gold. That much was obvious, to himself and anyone who’s ever seen him. (His earrings were real, and she would know: she’s checked.) He wasn’t the main culprit, though, decked out in shiny gold chains as he was. No, that honor belonged to Luffy.
Big rings on every finger, stacks on stacks of chunky necklaces around his neck, huge earrings slung over both ears, because he never got his pierced, and to top it all off, a giant, gem–encrusted crown on his head. Luffy will be king of the pirates, and he looked the part now wearing her treasure.
Someday, Luffy really will crown himself the next pirate king, and she will have taken him there, through hell and high water. Until then, he and the so–called future world’s greatest swordsman will pay for disrespecting their navigator.
19. outlier
Nami’s crying. Nami’s crying and clinging to him.
“Nami?” Zoro asks quietly. He scans the surrounding area, trying to figure out what happened.
“Don’t tell anyone,” she says, sniffling. “Not even Luffy. He’ll make it a big deal.”
Zoro frowns, but he relents. “If that’s what you want.”
He strokes Nami’s hair. They stand like that, close together, on the street for a while.
Finally, Nami huffs out a laugh. “You suck at comforting people, Zoro.” He rolls his eyes and kisses her forehead.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better.” He’ll ask her what happened once they’re back on the Sunny.
20. insomnia
“Don’t push her,” Zoro says, his eyes closed. “Sleeping with you is like sleeping with an octopus.”
Nami can’t help it: she shudders. Luffy laughs like Zoro just told the funniest joke he’s ever heard.
“Zoro’s so mean!” He turns to her again. “Come on, Nami, it’s cold!”
Nami looks at him with mild, barely hidden disgust. Of course you feel cold, she thinks, when you only have a vest and pair of shorts on.
She notices, then, that Zoro is holding onto Luffy with just as much intensity. The swordsman says one thing, but clearly thinks another.
Nami casts one last glance over to her (stolen) boat, and its nice, weatherproofed cabin, before bringing her blanket over with her to where the two boys laid at the bottom of their dinghy. Luffy smiles at her.
Zoro has no idea what he’s talking about. Luffy runs hot; Nami didn’t realize how cold she was in her own t–shirt and skirt until he had her wrapped in a firm embrace.
“Better?” he asks.
Nami nods. “Thank you.”
She throws her blanket over all three of them. Zoro opens his eyes, meets her own, then closes them again.
“Thanks.”
Nami sleeps well for once that night.