Chapter Text
“What the—” Nami cuts herself quickly. “What is that?”
“A child, obviously. Are you blind or what?”
Zoro is being mean per usual, but she doesn’t really care. This is the last of Nami’s concerns, which are big and wide — starting from budgeting and ending with micromanaging of her own captain. And also running his ship because the mentioned captain doesn’t like his duties. It’s okay, though, Nami is not complaining about that. In the end, she will just take half of his treasure; or more, depending on how hard the trip to the Laugh Tale will turn out.
Again, it doesn’t matter right now.
The main thing on her mind is that they depart tomorrow, leaving this tiny flowery island at dusk, when the sea will be calmer. Thus, on their last evening here, the crew was given some spending money and free will to do whatever they want — with the exception of Luffy not breaking things; and it is optional, to be honest. Meanwhile, Sanji informed her in a singing form that he would do some grocery shopping. That he did, judging from the big bags of produce in Zoro’s hands, him returning with Sanji and being the last one of the crew stepping on the ship.
At least he didn’t get lost… Though, again, it doesn’t matter. At the moment, nothing matters more than the thing Sanji held tightly.
So, since when small kids can be bought on the grocery market? Did they find it amongst cabbages?..
There they stood: Zoro, Sanji, and a tiny child in Sanji’s hands. Yes, the New World is strange and very strange, but men weren’t caught giving birth yet. So, they either stole the kid or—
“Did you kill the parents of this poor child?”
“Of course not, my dear Nami-san!” Sanji holds the baby a bit tighter to his chest. “We found it.”
Zoro remarkably keeps his mouth shut. Which is weird as well, he and not opposing every single word coming from Sanji’s mouth? Perhaps, he finally matured?
They stay silent for a couple of minutes. It’s not cold on the deck, the wind is almost non-present and the night breeze being summerly warm. Nami’s already in her pajamas, Zoro with hands full of groceries, Sanji and a suspiciously blond baby in his hands. Fortunately, asleep.
Personal matters on the ship weren’t usually discussed as freely as the ones of dinners and who is going to fight the next marine ship. Even Luffy kept his hands to himself most of the time, to which Nami was equally baffled and grateful. They don’t need unnecessary questions.
But it doesn’t mean there weren’t any personal matters on the ship. Nami and Robin had a schedule of their nightly activities so they wouldn’t interfere with one another. Thus, Zoro and Sanji can argue and fight however they want — but in the end, they sleep in the same bed almost every single night.
Though, it doesn’t explain the child. They aren’t even married, and aren’t they a little young for a kid?
Gosh, it makes her brain hurt.
Nami is shaken from her stupor with a hand, wrapping around her waist. And then a body launches itself on her, so Nami almost falls. Almost.
“Yo, what’s the matter?” Luffy saves her from the fall, yanking her up and basically gluing Nami to himself. They now stand together as a pair of wooden chopsticks you have to separate before using. Sanji gives them out when he serves that special kind of noodles. Luffy loves noodles, chopsticks — not so much.
Apparently, human chopsticks he prefers more. Nami wills down the blush from her cheeks.
“We want to keep the child,” of course, he answers to Luffy, that damned swordsman! When she was asking, Zoro was as silent as a fish. “Can we?”
“Yeah, why not.”
Gods, why?
“What do you mean, ‘why not’? There are plenty of ‘why-nots’!” Nami tries to detach herself from her captain — to place her hands on her waist and to look as intimidating as she can. You know how hard to separate those chopsticks, right? Yeah, so Luffy doesn’t let her. Nami stays wrapped nice and tightly in his left hand, and then speaks again: “This is a child! A living human being!”
“I know, Nami, no need for shouting,” and he fucking smiles, this dear and near to her heart captain.
“Do you even understand how hard it is to raise a child?” Nami then asks more quietly. The kid is sleeping, after all.
Don’t get her wrong, Nami loves children very much. She even accepts the idea of having a family of her own somewhere in the future. But now, when more than half of the world wants all of them dead? It is simply irresponsible. Every kid deserves a happy childhood without any dangers of their cruel world, and can they really give it to him?
To this cute blond baby?
“We don’t have the space to accommodate the child,” she tries to use logic. Let out Luffy and Zoro — Sanji has to understand her.
The chef indeed mules over her words, when another voice comes through:
“I can build a new super-suite for the three of them!”
Nami turns her head and places a tired gaze onto Franky, who is standing near the opposite railing. He smiles triumphally, and there is also Robin standing next to him — she smiles as usual, not so very describable. But the woman says nothing, which means she is up to this idea as well.
What is wrong with these people?
“See, Nami-san? Everything is good,” Sanji says with a joyful expression on his face. Actually, both he and Zoro look way too happy.
“You do understand that this child,” Nami points at the baby, “is not a toy, not a random companion? That you— Okay, we will need to raise him? Or her?”
“It’s a boy,” Zoro suddenly clarifies.
“And we do understand it very well,” Sanji adds in a serious tone.
“Oh, do you?” she looks over the bags of groceries they’ve brought and asks: “Then where are any supplies for him? Clothing and food? We are departing tomorrow, how were you planning to sustain the kid?”
That is a valid question, Nami thinks. But then Zoro slowly turns around and shows another bag tied to his back. A very big bag, somehow totally unnoticed by Nami previously. In her defense, she was shocked.
“Oi, Nami, look!” Luffy exclaims and gains an angry slap from Sanji for his loudness. “Everything in here is so small. They did their preparation well,” and after that, he lets out his signature laugh, but quietly and somehow a bit raspy. Nami loves it. “Did you find him in a chest?”
“What? No, just on the streets of the village,” Sanji finally gives them a bit more information about the child. “We’ve asked around, and no one seems to know whose kid he is. So, we’ve thought we can keep him.”
Zoro smiles at his words.
“It’s just Shanks was found in a chest when he was really small,” Luffy explains with a distant look in his nightly eyes. “He was raised by Roger’s crew.”
“Ah, so it’s a thing amongst aspiring pirate kings to raise random kids?” Nami asks sceptically. But the story doesn’t shock her. Somehow, it all seems so bizarrely logical. “Now I get it.”
“Good that you are not against it anymore.”
Nami is ready to object, but Luffy suddenly squeezes her a bit and looks straight into her soul — as he tends to do when they are alone, and they are not alone, and it makes her shy and her knees wobble just a little bit. Every single time, Nami melts under his gaze, and this raw expression of emotions makes her heart skip a bit or two.
It also calms her down. Luffy calms her down, to be precise.
Maybe, everything will turn out well? After all, she may run the ship, but it is not Nami who decides things. Somehow, Luffy has a knack for choosing the right things — even if some time has to pass for the results to show themselves.
But then her captain surprises her once more. Luffy raises his head and asks in that stern tone of voice he uses only when absolutely necessary. Nami secretly likes it a lot.
“Why do you want to do it? Why do you want to have a kid?”
There is no sudden silence she expected to appear — Sanji answers quickly:
“Aren’t we one of the strongest crews out there?” Luffy nods to it. “So, isn’t it better for him to be with us than on the streets? I am sure we can keep him safe and raise him into a good adult.”
“It is, we are and we can,” the captain agrees to his words. The seriousness of his voice is still there. “But that’s not what I’ve asked. Why are you doing it?”
Now there is silence. They hear distant sounds of the village, dark waves cradling the ship and even the rustling of Nami’s mikans. But the loudest sound is Zoro’s heavy sigh.
“Should there be a reason to have a child?” he asks.
Nami’s sure there has to be at least one, and the boys just don’t want to admit it. They are like this, don’t talk and just do. For one, the crew found out about their relationship after one particularly big party, when Zoro and Sanji paid them good night, curled against each other and fell asleep.
No words, no explanation. Though, Luffy told her later that he'd known about their shenanigans for a long time. He is quite observant, her captain.
It’s the same right now. Which means, they’ve thought about— About what? Family? Kids? Whatever it was, Zoro and Sanji thought it through and just waited for the opportunity. It simply has to be like this.
Nami doubts they would ever tell them all of this. They are blunt with their actions, but words are hard. Nami knows from her own experience. Words liked Luffy, though, as it was so easy for him to confess, and to form seemingly simple sentences, yet that pierced your whole core.
Perhaps, in their situation, words are really not so necessary. Their captain doesn’t need them to understand his crew’s souls and hearts.
“We have the resources needed, so why not?” meanwhile, Zoro continues.
“Because you will be his parents,” Luffy says plainly. “Not all of us, but the two of you. So, why?”
Nami thinks that he knows the answer. The question is, do Zoro and Sanji know? Are they willing to voice it? Kids are hard, and they also need words to be said aloud. If they don’t want to say important things right now, how they will be able to do it later?
Again, so many questions are inserted into a couple of short sentences.
Sanji answers quickly.
“Every kid deserves a happy childhood,” suddenly he repeats Nami’s own thoughts from not so while ago. “We want to give it to him. To raise him, to give him our knowledge and experience. We have plenty of it. I will teach him how to cook,” Sanji smiles brightly, even his gaze shines in memories, “and Zoro will show him how to protect himself and the others around him.”
Not how to fight, Nami suddenly realizes, but how to protect. This is how Sanji views Zoro’s role on this ship, Zoro’s whole being. A protector.
That’s sweet, she quietly chuckles and smiles.
“And—” Sanji nervously swallows, shoots a look at Zoro, and only after that continues: “He will be part of us? Something ours, not the legacy and loud titles, but actually me and Zoro? People will know our image, numbers on the posters, but he,” he looks softly at the child, “will remember us as we are. It’s nice. I also want to give the love he deserves, and maybe receive some in return. I hope we will.”
Nami listens to the sea. It is dancing around the ship in a slow rhythm, rocking it slightly — like a mother cuddling her child to sleep, singing a lullaby with her soft voice. It is almost midnight and they all should go to sleep, and Sunny probably wants them to do it, urging them to go inside. She doesn’t like disputes.
And there is none, Nami thinks abruptly. Just a small family asking for blessings for their small child.
“He also looks like the cook, so maybe it’s fate? What if it is our kid, we just don’t know about it?” Zoro interrupts their quiet silence. But he does say the main reason behind their actions, even if it is between the lines. He then chuckles, and Sanji gains a faint blush on his cheek — but an overall baffled face.
“No, it doesn’t work like this,” he says in a low voice.
“You don’t know that,” Zoro shrugs his shoulders.
“I do!”
“But he really is like you. The nose and the hair, I think even the eyes are yours,” he looks closely at the kid — with a smile, again, with a god-damned soft smile! “Fortunately, not your brows.”
“What is wrong with my brows?” Sanji hisses.
“To be honest, everything.”
Nami is sure there would be a fight if not for the sleeping kid present. Still asleep — maybe he is already used to the usual madness of their crew? Maybe it is fate? Oh no, she thinks like Zoro.
Luffy puts an end to the quarrel.
“Great! Then, the kid stays,” the captain finally lets Nami out of his grab and goes straight for the kitchen. His job was done, after all, time for a snack.
Nami doesn’t risk reminding him that Sanji currently has other issues to deal with. But then Luffy stops in his tracks and turns his head to them:
“Nami, let’s go,” ah, so he does know it and she will be the one doing the snack; or she is the snack— “And you,” Luffy gestures at the young parents, “go find Chopper. I think kids should have regular check-ups, right? And we will stay here for some more time. Franky has to find materials for the new room, I guess.”
And he is gone. Franky answers with a thumbs up, Nami just sighs and goes after him.
“Aye, captain.”
That is how Nami becomes an aunty at the ripe age of twenty-four. At least Ricci is cute.