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When Sanji first tried to give Nami nicknames, she hated them with fervor. The first time he called her baby after they were a couple, Nami had stormed away, fire blazing in her chocolate-colored eyes.
“I am a strong woman capable of handling myself, thank you very much. I’m no one’s baby,” Nami hotly remarked at that time, spending the rest of the day away from Sanji’s side.
Sanji didn’t press the matter again for months, fearing that after all his years spent longing for Nami and finally managing to have her as his girlfriend would be ruined if he pressed her too far out of her comfort zone. His navigator is a fiery one, but he wouldn’t have her any other way.
Months into their relationship, Sanji accidentally slips up and calls Nami a nickname.
“Would you like a drink or an afternoon snack, my little tangerine?” Sanji asks as Nami is reclined in her chair, sunning herself in her tangerine grove.
“I’m your little tangerine?” Nami softly asks, locking her eyes on Sanji’s.
“If you’d like to be,” Sanji whispers, sitting down on Nami’s chair between her outstretched legs.
“I’d like to be whatever you need me to be,” Nami admits, giving Sanji a soft smile. “Whether that’s your tangerine, your navigator, your lover, your girlfriend, or your defender from the darkness,” she continues.
Sanji is sure his heart skips a beat, perhaps two. After ensuring no one from the crew is watching, Sanji presses a kiss to Nami’s inner thigh before returning to his kitchen to whip up a dessert for himself and Nami to share.
As the crew continues on their journey around the world and Nami and Sanji’s relationship blossoms, the nicknames become more frequent and more varied.
Love quickly becomes one of their favorites to use and hear. It reminds Nami that Sanji loves her, adores her, and that she is worthy of that love. When Nami uses it to refer to Sanji, he thinks that nothing in life could be better now that Nami is his love, his other half. It makes Sanji know, without a shadow of a doubt, that he is accepted by Nami for who he is, emotional side and all.
Honey, darling, my little tangerine, and angel are used with regularity by Sanji, and Nami adores each one of them. They give the navigator such a warm, fuzzy feeling that increases nearly infinitely when Sanji holds her in his arms, when he kisses her breathlessly, and when she hears his heartbeat increase rapidly as they touch. Baby takes the longest to grow on Nami, but the blonde cook has determined his love will allow said nickname in one instance. Whenever Nami awakes screaming from a nightmare, thrashing in her sleep, Sanji has a sixth sense for this phenomenon. If he isn’t in bed with Nami at the time the nightmare starts, he’s quickly by her side, gathering Nami in his arms, often setting her in his lap.
“Shh, baby, it’s okay. I’m here. I’m here,” Sanji often says, rubbing comforting circles on Nami’s back on those nights that Nami needs touch.
In those instances, Nami appreciates the word being used to help comfort her.
In those instances, Nami knows that Sanji will one day be an incredible father.
In those instances, Nami knows she found the man she wants to spend forever with.
Their favorite nicknames come later.
“Husband,” Nami calls one day, striding into the kitchen as Sanji prepares breakfast.
“Wife,” Sanji returns, the widest smile coming to his lips.
“I missed you when I awoke to an empty bed this morning.”
“I tried to wake you up, love, but you were still sleeping from last night’s activities.”
“I had to rest up for tonight’s activities.”
Sanji swallows thickly. “Mellorine! You’re going to be the death of me…”