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Seagulls sat on the Sunny's head. When the entire flock rose into the air, their piercing cries drowned out the sound of the waves.
"Then what's it about?"
Hearing those words, Nami looked away from the Sunny's figurehead to turn to the boy by her side. She saw him in the bright light of the sun; his tanned skin, his dark eyes, the straw hat on his head. There was a breath of freshness blowing in their favor. The broad white sails glinted in the sun light and the quivering forms seemed to be floating over the shallow waves.
"What's what?" she asked him back and mechanically tucked a rebellious lock of hair behind her ear.
Luffy took off his hat and sighed sullenly.
"It's not fair answering a question with another question!" he complained, peering at Nami with disappointment.
"It's not even fair interrupting a woman when she's lost in her thoughts!" the girl murmured without particular cue in her voice; her gaze was focused on the waves, which lapped slowly against the keel of the ship.
Luffy remained silent, then sat on the rail of the ship with his legs dangling over it and leaned forward to look down at her.
"It's not even fair being sad and not explaining why to your captain."
Nami snorted, irritated.
"What is this? The game of the unfair?" she asked, moving away from the rail and heading towards the middle of the prow.
For a moment, the gritty sound of her shoes on the wooden floor pushed away the sound of the waves, or maybe it was Luffy who couldn't pay attention to anything else.
"Your walk is unfair. I don't like it," Luffy insisted, still sitting in his place.
Nami turned exasperated, spreading her arms as a sign of surrender, "What do you want?? I'm warning you, you're seriously stressing me out," she snapped, looking him straight in his dark eyes.
"I wanna know where my Nami is," the captain simply answered, coming down from the rail with a jump and approaching her.
The girl sighed, turning her back to him. "It's here, like all the other days," she murmured, unsure.
Luffy shook his head and took her by the shoulder, forcing her to turn to him.
"No," he said with sudden seriousness, bringing his face close to hers and looking her straight in the eyes in silence.
Now he could probably see her glowing face with the slightly embarassed expression, the faint shadow under her eyes, the bright flush on her cheeks. She knew it. And she was angry: it was like he was really able to peer into her soul! So the girl blushed and turned her eyes away.
"And what would have led you to such a brilliant conclusion?" she asked aggressively, trying to mask the furious beats of her heart.
"Many things," Luffy explained, squatting down and starting to untie her sandals.
Bewildered, Nami looked at him for a moment before realizing that, from that position, the captain had a full view of her panties; while her cheeks became red, the girl punched Luffy on the head and he, losing his balance, ended up with his face on the floor.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, YOU IDIOT?" the navigator exclaimed, looking at him furiously.
The boy sat up, rubbing his head with a pouty expression.
"I'll show you how I realized you're not the usual Nami!" he protested. "But I need your shoes," Luffy added, pointing to her now untied sandals.
On the fence but curious, Nami kicked off her shoes, which landed next to Luffy. "Let's hear your absurd theory," she said, crossing her arms under her breast and raising an eyebrow skeptically.
Luffy picked up the sandals and placed them on the floor, in front of him. "Here, when you're ok, you walk like this," he explained, simulating the sound of her footsteps by alternately moving one sandal and then the other on the wood.
The ticking had a slow rhythm, without accelerating or decreasing. Nami found herself staring in amazement at her captain, she could hear her own footsteps in the clicking of those heels; she herself had never noticed the rhythm of her own walk and he was always so careless...
"Instead, if there's something wrong, your walk is like this," Luffy's voice interrupted her thoughts.
The rhythm of the heels against the wood became nervous, uncertain, discontinuous. Slow, fast, pause; then again slow, fast. Nami just kept listening to the rhythm of her own footsteps, despite being aware of being perfectly still; she listened to how they talked about her, so reserved and thoughtful that no one had ever noticed. Her arms she held tight on her stomach slid down her sides without her realizing it. Luffy, the enthusiastic and dumb guy who had no attention to details, the one who was only focused on his dream and who had a natural talent for getting into trouble. That honest, stubborn and tireless bungler, who was so cheerful and naive to the point of being annoying... he had caught the nuances of her walk, using them to understand her better.
Then the captain stood up and approached her holding out her sandals.
"That's it?" the navigator instigated him, pretending not to be impressed enough.
"No," he admitted seriously, scratching his head. "You don't hit me with the usual frequency."
Nami smiled wickedly at this statement, "We can fix this!" she exclaimed, raising her fist and looking at Luffy's eyes.
She was surprised to feel the boy's hand close on her wrist stopping her arm in mid-air.
"And..." he let a few seconds of silence pass, making her startle when she felt him breathing so close to her. "When there's something wrong, I feel it. I feel sad too."
Nami stood looking at him with her mouth half open. She could hear his intake of breath through the sound of the waves. The wind stopped blowing, she stopped breathing, the ship sails hung motionless in the air, the world came to a standstill.
But then Nami saw Luffy's eyes genuinely sparkle; that light, almost like the sun, glinted deep inside where only she could see. She traveled around the world, yet sometimes she forgot that such thing existed. But in some places they did.
So she squeezed her hand into a fist until her nails cut into her skin. Again she could see, hear, and feel beyond her unintended and wild feelings. Then she turned away, biting her lower lip.
"Well, what a great deduction, baka~" she muttered walking away to her cabin.
~
This time, however, Luffy couldn't help but smile, noticing that the sound of her heels was back to the usual rhythm: that of his happy Nami.
When she walks her footsteps sing
A reckless serenade
Those twinkling vixens
With a shining spiral eyes
Their hypnosis goes unnoticed when she's walking by