Chapter Text
In the evening hours after dinner was over and the table was cleared, Usopp pulled Nami into a side hallway of Kaya’s mansion, a worried look on his face.
They were all winding down for the night, settling down to get ready for bed– all except for Zoro, who was half-asleep and drunk at the dining table and Luffy, who was busy recounting the long, long story of everything that had happened since they left Syrup Village to Kaya, since all the lively talking about it at dinner hadn’t been long enough to tell every detail.
Finally, after five years since they’d left Kaya’s mansion and watched Syrup Village disappear behind them as the sailed away, they returned. Five years since Usopp had joined them, and now finally he was back in the town he loved. The mansion was huge, but even it had barely been enough to contain the celebrations they’d had over dinner as Kaya and Merry listened to their stories– Arlong and Crocodile and Eneru, those enemies feeling so far in the past now; Enies Lobby and their quest to save Robin– Kaya shot Usopp a knowing look when Luffy recounted Sniper King’s bravery; the Going Merry, and her voice as she said goodbye to them– at that, they all teared up, Kaya and Usopp most of all; Marineford and their two-year separation– Luffy’s voice came out quieter, then, and his eyes stayed just a little unfocused as Jinbe gently explained it; and their dive to Fishman Island when all of that was over. Then Doflamingo, Big Mom, Kaido, Saturn and the rest of the Five Elders, each fight recounted with glee by Luffy, who kept jumping around in the story and Nami had to keep his timeline straight.
Finally, they reached the culmination of it– Laugh Tale, and Luffy’s eyes sparkled with mirth as he remembered it, and in turn they all described the achievement of their own dreams. Sanji gushed about the glittering fish of the All Blue, and Zoro of his fight against Mihawk, at the end of which he stood with his blades covered in blood and Kuina’s raised to the sky, and Brook would have cried as he described his reunion with Laboon, if he’d had any eyes to cry from.
Much had been wrapped up. So much was in the past, now, and it all seemed like such a dream, or maybe it was now that was the dream. Usopp was still hazy from all of it– the rush and the whirlwind of their adventure coming to an end, and they were all left to wonder what would come next.
“Nami,” Usopp whispered, a hand on her arm to guide her into a quiet corner where they couldn’t be overheard. His eyebrows knit together, lips twisting into a mask of anxiety and concern– he may be brave, now, as courageous as any giant, but he still cowered at the idea of speaking to Kaya after all these years.
In all the excitement and the celebration and the raucous talking as they ate the feast Kaya and Merry had made for them, Usopp and Kaya hadn’t yet gotten a moment alone yet, only a tearful hug as they’d arrived, and they’d shared a look that promised they would talk together later.
That moment alone with Kaya was fast approaching, and the idea of it was about to send Usopp into a panic, something he told Nami in a hushed voice as they huddled in the corner of the room Usopp had pulled her into.
“Why?” she asked at first, but before Usopp even had to answer she was nodding with understanding. “Oh. Yeah, I see what you mean.”
The only thing they had deliberately left out was the tentative, slowly growing relationship between Usopp and Sanji, still half a secret, still too cautiously indulged in to put a title on. It existed only in brief kisses shared on nighttime watch– Nami scheduled them for the same times on purpose, but nobody noticed the changing trends in the schedules except Robin– and their hands brushing together beneath the dinner table, and extra helpings of food on Usopp’s plate at every meal. Even Luffy didn’t know, hadn’t caught on or noticed yet the difference in the way they looked at each other. Or maybe he had, and just said nothing.
The only ones who knew aside from Sanji and Usopp themselves were Robin, because she picked up on the difference before Sanji or Usopp could even tell the difference in their own feelings; Nami, because both Usopp and Sanji had separately gone to her for advice, unaware that the other had; and Franky, because he’d stumbled upon them with Sanji’s hand halfway up Usopp’s shirt while the two were keeping lookout in the crow’s nest. From the rest of them, it was a secret. Neither were ready to navigate it out in the open yet.
But this new, budding not-yet-relationship meant that Usopp couldn’t keep whatever intangible promise he’d given Kaya when he left. A lot can change in five years– a lot had– and the innocent childhood crush he’d had on her since they were little had faded with time. He’d grown out of his feelings, and though he was never sure entirely if she felt the same way, he worried that she did, and that hers hadn’t changed.
Nami understood all of this in a moment, just from the tightly worried look in his eyes. He was afraid to talk to Kaya, afraid he’d be forced to explain it if she tried to do anything– forced to turn her down.
“Usopp,” she said gently. “It’ll be okay. She’ll understand, I promise. It’s just Kaya, you’ve known her for so long, nothing is going to need to change between you.”
“Five years is a long time for people to change,” he whispered back, anxiety coiling tighter around him and squeezing the breath from his lungs. He was right– the both of them were so different as to be nearly unrecognizable. Kaya’s hair had been cut short, and she was taller now– as was Usopp, as she commented when she saw him, realizing he was a good deal taller than her now. More muscular, too, and he carried himself with confidence that was genuine; something Kaya had never seen on him before.
Though he was braver, though he was stronger, he still cowered at the idea of speaking to her, all his courageousness that he’d fought to earn vanishing when he thought about her.
“I love her,” Usopp said. “I do. I always have. But it’s not– it’s not like it was before, and I don’t want to hurt her by not giving her what she expects, and– what if she expected me to come back home and marry her or something? I-I don’t–”
“Calm down,” Nami said, laying her hands on his arms and giving him a comforting squeeze. “You don’t even know if she had feelings for you in the first place.”
“Well, no, she never confessed and neither did I, but the way she talked about me always seemed–”
“Don’t make assumptions, Usopp, they’ll just make you more nervous. You don’t know if she ever had a crush on you, and you definitely don’t know if she still does. Just go in there and talk to her like normal, like you always have. Treat her like Kaya, your childhood friend; not Kaya, your former crush. Get it?”
Usopp nodded slowly, and the tension started to ebb out of his shoulders. “Yeah. You’re right.”
“And while you talk, bring up Sanji. Be honest about it. If you tell her about you two before she makes any sort of move– if she makes any sort of move– you don’t even have to worry about turning her down directly.”
He took a deep breath, puffing out his chest with faux-confidence. “Yeah. Yeah! Go in, chat, catch up and tell a few stories, and slip in a comment about me and Sanji. Casually.”
“Casually,” Nami repeated. “Everything will be okay. She’s still the Kaya you always knew. Nothing’s different between you.”
Another deep breath filled Usopp’s lungs and as he exhaled, the anxiety seemed to seep out of him too, for the most part. “Okay.”
With a pat on his shoulder and a comforting smile, Nami sent him down the hallway, off to find Kaya and shoo Luffy away from her so they could speak alone. Usopp looked over his shoulder and shot her a thumbs up, which she returned double, and she waited until he disappeared around the corner to Kaya’s room to let out the breath she’d been holding.
Ever since she met Kaya, so long ago, a weird sort of flutter started up in Nami’s stomach whenever she thought of her. Remembering her spun-gold hair, her gentle voice, her unconditional kindness, and most of all, the way she looked at Nami like she saw more than just a thief.
Knowing how Usopp felt, she’d buried it, smothering that traitorous flutter every time it started in her ribs again. Eventually, over all the years she went without seeing her, as Kaya’s face started to grow just a bit hazier in her mind and it became harder to recall her voice, the feeling dulled and faded, though it never went away entirely and she still longed to see her again.
After Laugh Tale, the idea of seeing her became not just an idea but a reality, and as they retraced their steps back through the Grand Line to reunite with everyone they’d met along the way, Syrup Village grew ever closer. Being the navigator, Nami was acutely, all-too-aware of how close to Kaya they sailed and with it that flutter in her stomach returned, just as strong as it had been the first time she saw her.
She buried it because of Usopp– deep down, she knew what that feeling meant, and she knew he held the same, so she backed away, thinking of Kaya so fondly only in her memories, and resolving to be okay with watching her and Usopp come back together again. That was, at least, until Usopp’s feelings for Sanji grew beyond what he could bury and with that, he lost what he’d once felt for Kaya– a childhood crush, merely grown out of.
Now, it was impossible to ignore any longer. Nami found her way to the kitchen, where she knew Sanji would be, washing up the last of the dishes after he’d shooed Merry and Kaya away from them. He’d mellowed out, since his relationship with Usopp had begun, and she found herself gravitating to him for comfort often. He had a knack for listening; just being quiet aside from an occasional hum as someone poured their heart out to him.
Elbow deep in soapy water, he listened to Nami’s lamenting, as Usopp and Kaya spoke alone in Kaya’s room upstairs.