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Lazy Saturdays are the best.
You can get up late into the afternoon and doom scroll through social media for hours without care, which was one of Nami's favorite past times.
She smiles as she likes a vacation picture from her sister, Nojiko. The photo was an really old one with her and Nami at the beach. Ten year old versions of themselves made peace signs at the camera with toothy grins, though Nami's had a gap where her front tooth was supposed to be.
Nami snorts as she reads the caption.
'Almost drowned but still looked cute'
She goes to text her sister about the photo when her stomach growls loudly. A groan of irritation escapes her lips.
"Ugh! I'm hungry but I'm lazy...take out it is!"
As she opens a delivery app to look up a restaurant, her phone goes blank and she sits up from her bed. Immediately, she looks for her charger and plugs it in, hoping that it needs to charge, and pales when it refuses to turn on.
"No, no, no! Not on my lazy Saturday!"
--------------Scene Break--------------------
"S-seems like it's a hardware issue so we're going to need a few days to repair it, miss."
Nami openly glowers at the nervous employee, her arms folded in annoyance. Then, she pulls out her purse and retrieves a slip of paper from within it, slapping it onto the counter.
"This is my warranty slip. I bought this phone only a month ago and it's already malfunctioning!" she complains.
"I understand, w-we will reduce 50% off of the regular fee!"
The brunette narrows her eyes into a cold glare.
"According to your store policy, any required repairs within the first 3 months of purchase is free once provided with a receipt. Am I right or am I right?"
The helpless employee nods.
Nami leaves her warranty slip on the counter and stalks away.
"See you in a few days~" she says with a teasing grin before exiting the shop.
Well he made that too easy...
Her stomach growls again and she frowns, knowing that the only decent food place is a good few blocks away. However, before she could think of any options, a car honks its horn at her.
"Hey!" a voice called.
She looks at the vehicle, already preparing herself for a stupid cat call. However, instead of a lustful gaze, the driver gives her a friendly wave and she notices that it's a taxi driver that looks a little familiar from his long nose. He seems to catch her confusion and laughs a little.
"I'm the taxi you took to Windmill Town the other day! You heading up?"
Nami thinks for a moment and then snaps her finger.
"Oh, I remember. But I don't actually live there...I was going to the minimart that day."
The driver's eyes widen in shock.
"You went all the way up there for groceries?!"
"Don't ask. Just know I was in a state of dumb desperation."
The driver laughs again.
"I know the feeling. But it's pretty nice up there, to be honest. I moved there recently to live with my girlfriend." he explains.
Nami folds her arms and glares at him.
"It didn't seem so nice when you only dropped me at the outskirts. I had to walk the rest in that awful heat!"
He withers under her angry stare and immediately changes the topic.
"W-well look at the time! Gotta get some passengers and head up. It was nice talking to you!"
Yeah how convenient.
As he prepared to drive off, Nami's mind trails off to the ASL minimart. It had been about two weeks since she first went there and every so often her thoughts go back to the store and...Luffy. But every time she would brush the thought away just remembering the distance and her unwillingness to drive there. She was prepared to do the same today as well but...
"Looking forward to seeing you at our shop again, Nami!"
Nami grabs unto the driver's door before she could think otherwise, startling the long-nosed man. He moves to cover his face as she draws nearer.
"Ahh! You were that mad about me dropping you-?!"
"Take me to Windmill Village."
The man blinks and slowly puts down his arms.
"Huh?" He questions.
Not paying him any attention, Nami walks around to the passenger seat, opening the door and sitting down without a word. The driver sighs at her and seemingly decided it was better not to question her as he drives off.
Nami glares at her reflection.
What the heck am I even doing?
"So what's your name?" the driver suddenly asks.
She looks over with a raised eyebrow. "And you need to know because...?"
"W-well we're gonna take a while to get there so let's socialize." The long-nosed man chuckles nervously. "I'm Usopp!"
Nami smirks. "Well Usopp, you better drop me off in town this time."
"I-I will! I p-promise!"
An amused laugh escapes the young woman's lips as she throws her head back.
"Y-you don't have to laugh that hard!"
Not to long after, she stops and gives him friendly smile. "I'm Nami."
Guess the trip won't be boring at least.
---------------------Scene Break------------------------------
After about an hour of driving, the taxi finally pulls up in the heart of Windmill Village. However, the trip hadn't felt as long as it did the first time.
"And that's how met the President of Dressrosa!" Usopp declares proudly as they slow to a stop.
Nami laughs out loud, holding her stomach. "You are such a liar!"
"I'm not! He gave me a medal and everything for saving him." he defends.
"What did you save him from again?"
"An evil prince that came to steal his position and become king!"
"Ahaha!" the ginger-haired woman laughed again. "That's a good one! Let me see the medal then."
Usopp falters at that and looks away, gesturing to the door.
"M-maybe next time. We're at your stop." he says.
Amused, Nami shakes her head and places the taxi fare in his pouch before opening the door. Once she closes it, she bends over to put her head through the window.
"Thanks for the lift! Don't forget to come get me at 2pm okay? I'm paying for the whole car."
"Yeah! See you later!" the long-nosed man smirks before driving off.
She waves a little at the departing car...before letting out a loud sigh.
"I really came here again!" she groans, grabbing her head.
This wasn't how I was planning my day to go...but since I'm already here...
Taking a deep breath, Nami straightens up and looks around. The air was just as hot as the last time, completely contradicting the Windmill Village name, however it wasn't as bad since she didn't have to walk this time. Feeling more refreshed, she was able to take in the town better. The place was small with most of the buildings being close together and the stores usually connected to a house, just as ASL Minimart had been.
She was also able to see more of the townsfolk outside this time. The people came in all shapes and sizes much like her hometown and seemed just as close. She smiled a little when she sees a green-haired bar lady waving off a man who was struggling to pay her what little he had for a beer.
The man gives her a grateful smile, "I'll pay you back next time, Makino, I promise!" he says before walking away.
The woman, Makino, waves him off with a friendly grin. Once the man was a good distance away from her, she goes to walk back into the bar but catches Nami watching her, making the latter flinch. But, rather than making a confused face, Makino smiles and does a welcoming gesture.
"Please feel free come over with Luffy when you get the chance!" she says.
Nami gawks as the woman walks back inside, the latter not realizing the electric shock she had hit her with.
Why does she know that I came to see Luffy?! I only came here once!
Completely confused, Nami struts over to ASL Minimart quickly. The store was open, as expected, with different discount offers on the window but Nami had no care for them.
Not when it seemed like the whole town already knew about her.
Once in front of the entrance, she steps in and is immediately greeted with a familiar loud voice.
"Welcome to ASL! We got a new haul of flying fish today so come get 'em while their fresh!" Luffy greets excitedly from the cash register. However, once he sees it's her, the young man smiles widely and runs over to meet her. "Whoa! Long time no see, Tami!"
"It's Nami!"
He pounds a fist into his open palm with an "ah right" expression. "Oh!"
"Don't act like you actually remembered!" Nami scolds, lightly bopping him on the head with her fist. He holds his head with an amused grin.
"I was close though!"
"Yeah sure," the young woman rolls her eyes before grabbing a basket. "You got any new shipment of tangerines this week? The ones I got last time were good."
Luffy nods and walks her over to the fruit lane, gesturing to the tangerines.
"We got these ones on Thursday!" he says, picking one up to show. Nami takes it from him and looks it over with small scrutiny before placing it in her basket. Luffy grins as she bends down to pick up some more, taking almost half of their stock. "You really like tangerines, huh?"
Her ears go red when she realizes how man she had taken. "Y-yeah, so what?"
"Nothing really. Just curious what you do with them all." he explains.
Getting more embarrassed, Nami walks over to the other lanes. "W-well if you must know, after trying your tangerine chicken, I wanted to try implementing it into other stuff. I had actually ran out a week ago but the other supermarkets I went to didn't taste the same..."
She looks over at Luffy and freezes when he gives her a hungry look.
"W-what?"
Luffy gets into her personal space, "Can you make one of them?" he asks, starry, or should she say, meat-eyed.
"Make what?"
"One of your tangerine meals! If it's anything like Sanji's I wanna try it!" he explains.
Nami blinks at him before comprehending and flushing pink. "No way! That was just for me personally."
"Aww don't say that. Good food should be shared!" he gives her a confident grin. "I mean, I shared Sanji's food with you, didn't I? And you were a complete stranger."
"W-well yeah, but mine probably won't be as good..."
"I'll pay you to make it."
"In that case..."
--------------------------Scene Break--------------------------------
Nami looks at her reflection in the bubbling tangerine sauce with frustration. Though the food smelt good, she couldn't help but question why her greed was always her undoing.
It was the whole reason she was still working for Arlong after all.
"Nami are you ready yet?" Luffy called from his living room, distracting Nami from her thoughts. She looks at the clock in his kitchen and notices that it's 1:45pm.
Looks like he's closed up for the day. That's early.
"Almost! I'm just finishing the sauce!" she responds.
"Great! I'll clear the table so you can eat before you leave."
Nami felt a pound in her chest.
I should probably tell him that I made it for him but he probably won't listen.
She shakes her head and turns off the stove, moving to look for some plates.
"Where are the plates?"
"They should be in the bottom cupboard."
She bends down and opens the lower cupboards but doesn't see any. Confused, she goes to stand and look somewhere else when she bumps into something hard. Turning around, she comes face to face with Luffy, who blinks at her.
"Sorry, I forgot we moved the plates to the top cupboard. I'll get it." he says.
But Nami doesn't hear anything a single word. Her body is frozen in place, feeling him draw closer to open the top cupboard and open it. Her heart was racing what felt 100 miles an hour.
W-what the heck...
It's only when he grab the plates and moves away that she feels time continue.
"Gotcha! I'll rest them here so bring the food when you're ready. Don't bother to wash the dishes." Luffy tells her before exiting the kitchen.
Now unfrozen, Nami bites her bottom lip to hold back a curse and slaps both hands to cover her extremely red face.
W-what the heck was that?! Why did he get so close?
She dropped her hands to clench them into fists, a vein ready to pop on her temple.
I should really hit him this time! Is he stupid or really good at acting?!
"Nami I'm hungry..." she suddenly hears him whine. "Feed me..."
A look of apathy covers her expression and all heart palpitations grind to a halt.
"In a minute!"
Thank goodness...he's just stupid.
----------------Scene break---------------
"This tastes soooo gooooood!" Luffy exclaims after taking his first bite of the grilled flying fish she had covered in tangerine sauce. "You're amazing Nami!"
Nami smiles a little bashfully at the open joy on his face as he ate. She had to admit that it made her feel really proud of herself to see how much he liked it. It didn't feel that special when she made it the first time for herself.
Jokingly, she flips her hair over her shoulder, "Oh please, amazing doesn't even being to describe my skills~"
Luffy laughs out loud at that and she laughs along.
Well I guess it wasn't so bad to come her-Wait a second!
Nami slams her hand unto the table. "Luffy! Why does the bar lady know me?"
"Bar lady?"
"She runs the bar next across the street. Her name is Makino, I think."
Luffy raises in eyebrows in realization. "Oh! She's really nice, isn't she?
"Yeah she is...no! Why did she recognize me? I only ever came here once." Nami explains.
Her companion eats another piece of fish, to her annoyance, before grinning widely. "When you passed out, I called her and she told Uta and I how to take care of you."
"Oh..." was all she could get out.
"Yeah, because I was freaking out, shishishi!"
Nami gives him a flat look.
"Well I'll thank her next time I see her."
"Yeah she asked about you after you left so she must have been glad to see you were alright."
Nami nods and looks at the clock again. It was 2:20pm.
"Yikes! I gotta go!" she yells as she gets up.
"Already?"
"Yeah, I have a car waiting for me and I'm late." she explains.
Luffy gets up as well when she grabs her bags and he walks her to the door. She opens it and steps out, turning to give him a small, awkward smile.
"So I'll see you when I see you?"
He smiles back though bigger. "Yeah stay longer next time so we can spend the day together. We can go see Makino and you can meet my friends!"
Nami nods and her hand in a money gesture.
"I'll be coming to collect with interest."
Nervously, Luffy laughs. "Sounds good. See you later then." he says with a wave.
She waves back and walks away.
When the door closes, she smiles widely to herself.
I'll come earlier next time.