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Nami decides on finding the best pillows money can buy. She’s organized the beri, she’s left enough for new clothes and the crew has more than enough allowance. So she wastes no time in going out to a market, buying only the most comfiest pillows she finds, and tells Sanji to bring them back to the ship for her. She, of course, has a reason for this all, even though she won’t ever say it aloud. She hugs the body pillow at night and remembers the warm body that would sleep next to hers after Drum, the warmth spread between them that would make it hard to get up in the morning. Really, she wouldn’t have it any other way. Staying in bed with the person she loves always felt like a far away dream; never accomplishable, never reality. But with Vivi, Nami, who pushed back her feelings, could be Nami, who scoffed at the impossible.
They send letters pretty often. Nami reads then while she lays in bed, always turned away from Robin so the older woman wouldn’t see her expression. Once, Vivi sent a small card folded in paper that was stained with her perfume. She treasured that like it was the most valuable gold in the entire world. She kept it tucked in the paper, fearful it would lose its scent, only pulling it out during those nights that were too dark and too cold and too lonely. Nami sends out a letter with her perfume in return. She imagines Vivi picking it up, reading the letter and bringing the card up to her face. Knowing Vivi and her pension for worrying about everything, Nami sends two, as the first one would probably lose its scent after just a week.
Long distance relationships are hard, but that’s something Nami half expected when she started her life as a pirate. Between odd islands and life-threatening situations, if Nami had a girlfriend with her on board, she wouldn’t be sure she could focus on anything.
If
When she settles down with Vivi, it’ll be at a time she can dedicate everything to her.
She writes a letter to Vivi in between her work on a new map. It details their most recent adventure on an island with ants as the reigning population. Sanji and her had been too afraid to even step onto the shore. The log pose had taken two days to reset and those two days were the worst of her life, she wrote. Nami taps the end of her pen on her lips before she ends the letter with: How are Pell and Chaka doing? I read in the newspaper that Koza aided in a new water filter system too. I hope you’re doing well, I love you cupcake .
The nicknames aren’t something Nami expected, but something Vivi the Romantic was all over. It all started when she had run her hand through Nami’s hair and called her pumpkin due to its color. Nami had known at that moment that Vivi was the one she wanted to spend her life with. Vivi, who knew about the victories and horrors of the Strawhats, who pushed it all aside and went so far as to worry about them, who stayed by her side when she was sick even though they weren’t sure if it was contagious yet and for a princess that would be crippling. Nami looked Vivi up and down and grinned widely with a “If I’m pumpkin then you’re cupcake because you’re so sweet, Vivi.”
She gets a letter back that details the new water filtration, tips of which she would pass on to Franky, and gives a report on how everything is doing. Vivi had gotten sick momentarily, nothing the Alabasta royal doctors couldn’t fix, but that meant she had more time to write back, and if Nami wanted to, they could call.
Her heart beats hard with anticipation. The second she reads the letter through once, twice, she darts towards her Den Den Mushi she keeps tucked away in a drawer.
She dials the number, coded in the letter instead of plainly written out of course, and patiently waits as the call goes through.
It picks up after five rings. Wisely, Nami decides to wait until the other person speaks first.
“Hello? This is Cupcake speaking.”
And it’s so cute and so Vivi that Nami laughs right away. “I love you,” she says right away instead of a hello because she means it. Vivi is so loveable, Nami would give her everything if she could.
“Are you doing okay? You said you were sick,” she says next, because damn if Nami didn’t worry when she read that part of the letter. She can’t help but kick her feet as they hang off the edge of her bed.
“I’m perfectly okay. The doctors said one more day of medicine and rest and I’ll be as good as new. What about you? Have you run into any trouble?”
“A bit, but the captain took care of it.” Nami bites her lip, wishing so dearly to say her girlfriend’s name but they don’t know what marines with Black Den Den Mushis are out there. She wants so badly to just say I miss you, Vivi , but not only would that reveal their identities, but also wouldn’t be fair; saying I miss you didn’t make the distance between them any shorter.
Vivi somehow understands without words. “I’ve been reading the newspaper a lot these days, looking for your name. I finally hung your bounty poster up on my wall,” she laughs, “Pell didn’t like it, anyone could come in and see it, but I can’t help but show you off.”
And Nami expected that. Vivi was the type of person who took pride in being in a relationship with a pirate, a non-straight relationship at that. Nami closes her eyes and imagines the headlines if news ever got out. “I’m… I’m always afraid something bad will happen and I’ll never make my way back to you, cupcake.”
She can hear Vivi’s smile through the call, probably see it too if she opened her eyes to see the Den Den Mushi.
“Hey, as long as you’re my pumpkin nothing bad will happen to you.” Vivi says with confidence and it feels like a weight has been taken off of Nami’s shoulders, which is hard to understand. She feels relief to the point of tears because with Vivi, she means it. It’s not like they could come and rescue the other, they were so so far apart now, but through letters and rare calls their bond is unwavering. “I love you.”
“I love you.” And those words fill the silence; they are the explanation for everything.
Nami stays on the call with Vivi for another hour until she hears Chaka’s voice in the background. Vivi apologizes, Nami says don’t worry, they hang up. She flops down onto her bed, running her hand over the nice new pillows she bought. Her arms circle around the body-sized pillow, and she smiles. She takes out the card from her nightstand, slips out the small perfume-stained card and closes her eyes. One day, she will wear this perfume too.