Chapter Text
“For the last time, I’m a fishwoman,” Nami says through gritted teeth. “Not a mermaid. A catfish fishwoman, to be exact. Do you understand?”
Luffy can’t help it. He grins. His second—second! As in more than one!—and newest crewmate is so cool. She’s about the same height as Zoro, and almost entirely orange. She has freckled orange skin, orange eyes that she rolls a lot, orange fins on her head that flop down like hair, and orange whiskers around her nose and mouth that she calls barbels.
She’s also wearing a white and blue striped shirt, a yellow skirt, and brown boots.
“Okay, you’re a fishwoman,” he says, because she sounds really angry now. Luffy doesn’t want Nami to be mad at him. “What’s the difference between a fishwoman and a mermaid?”
Nami rolls her eyes again. She huffs, and the gills on her neck flutter. “The difference is that mermaids have ugly human faces and tails instead of legs.”
Zoro scoffs, but doesn’t say anything. He’s been leaning against the hull of their new dinghy, arms crossed, watching the two of them talk. Nami turns to glare at him and he looks away.
Luffy tilts his head to the side, curious. “How many mermaids do you know?”
“None, obviously,” Nami snaps. “They’re not from the East Blue.”
“Oh. Then how do you know what they look like?”
Nami splutters, and her orange cheeks turn red. “Wh–what?! I just do, alright?!”
Aw. Luffy flops on the deck. That’s a lame answer. “If you say so.”
The sky above them is still a clear blue, but there are clouds in the distance now. Dark clouds. Maybe he should ask Nami about them. She is their navigator, after all. But first…
Luffy takes his hat off and sighs. Holes! Even worse, the holes are massive! He can’t give Shanks his treasure back in this condition. He’ll just get made fun of again.
“I’m sorry.”
That was Nami. Luffy lifts his head up. “Huh?”
Nami rolls her eyes again. She really seems to like doing that. “Nothing. I can mend your hat for you, if you want. Don’t call me a mermaid, and I won’t call you ugly, or stupid, or obnoxious, or…”
Luffy laughs. Those are all insults, of course, but he didn’t mind her saying them in the first place. “Okay!” he says, interrupting her. “Thanks, Nami!”
She gives him a small, hesitant smile in response. Behind her, Zoro relaxes.
Nami rummages through her brown shoulder bag, and takes out a needle and thread. Luffy hands her his hat, and she takes that too. Zoro, meanwhile, closes his eyes. He probably wants to take a nap.
There are small fins on Nami’s forearms, and her fingers are webbed. Even so, she stitches the first hole in Luffy’s hat closed with practiced ease.
Their boat rocks gently with the waves. In the distance, Luffy hears seagulls.
“How did you do that, by the way?” he asks.
Nami doesn’t look up from her work. “You’ll need to be more specific than that, Luffy. How did I do what?”
“Send those circus guys flying. You barely touched them!”
Zoro’s eyes spring open again. Nami smirks, and her whiskers twitch.
“I know the basics of fishman–style karate,” she says. “It was simple. I used the water in their bodies against them.”
“Fishman karate?!” Luffy says, mouth hanging open. “That’s so cool!”
“Who taught you?” Zoro asks, staring at her.
Nami glances over at him, considering his question. Then she returns to her sewing.
“You can call him my uncle, I guess,” she says. She’s working on the second hole now.
“Your uncle! Can he teach me?! Can you?!” Luffy asks. Nami sighs.
“No,” she says, after a moment’s pause. “My father… no. Learning it wouldn’t do you much good, anyway. Fishman martial art styles are most effective underwater, and you’re not exactly at your best there anymore.”
“I’m not?” he asks. Nami shoots him an incredulous look.
“You made a deal with the devil.”
“Oh. Right.”
Zoro stares at her a little while longer, then looks away again.
Nami returns Luffy’s hat once she’s done, and he wastes no time jamming it back on his head. He can’t stop smiling. Nami made it look good as new!
“I want to ask you guys some questions now,” she says, putting her bag aside.
“Sure!” Luffy says.
Zoro shrugs. “Go ahead,” he says. Nami turns to him.
“Aren’t you a bounty hunter?”
Zoro’s mouth twists into a wry smile. “Not as of last week. I can’t exactly collect reward money if I’m also running from the law.”
“Yeah!” Luffy says. He thumps the deck with his fist. “We’re pirates now!”
Nami laughs, her sharp teeth flashing. She’s trying to be mean again.
“Some pirates you are, leaving treasure behind!” She points to the burlap sack holding her share. “Don’t expect me to split that, you hear me?”
“We would never dream of it,” Zoro mutters under his breath.
“We can always find more treasure,” Luffy says, to remind her. “That’s the fun part, too. Besides, those people needed it more than we did, to rebuild their town.”
There’s an odd expression on Nami’s face. It disappears when she turns her whiskered nose up and sniffs. “Maybe you’re right, but there is no we. Like I said, I’m just sailing with you two right now because it’s convenient. I am not a member of your crew.”
“You’re not a member of our crew yet,” Luffy says, grinning. Zoro laughs. Nami rolls her eyes once more.
“We are moving on. Are you really made of rubber?”
Luffy nods. “I ate the gum–gum fruit, yeah.”
“Can I see your hand?”
He holds it out for her, and she takes it.
Nami’s hands are somehow both warm and cool to the touch. She stares at him, expectant. A few seconds pass, and she gapes at him, eyebrows raised to her hairline. Finline. She looks like she’s been electrocuted.
“What’s wrong?” he asks. Nami recovers, her face neutral again.
“Nothing.” She pulls, and pulls, and pulls, on one of his fingers. “You’re so stretchy. I hope you don’t regret trading in your ability to swim for that.”
“Nope! I was always an anchor!”
Nami shudders. “I could never.”
It’s been a long day for everyone. They have an early dinner, consisting of whatever food and drink they can find aboard. On the menu is hardtack, dried meat and fruit, roasted nuts, water, and rum, the last of which Zoro reaches for first.
Zoro settles in for a nap soon afterwards. From her bag, Nami takes out a notebook and pen, and begins to write. Luffy remembers the dark clouds he saw earlier, and asks about them. She tells him not to worry, explaining weather patterns in the East Blue, and he nods along, pretending to understand. He seizes the first chance he gets to leave her alone.
Luffy peers over the starboard side. He found a fishing pole under the tarpaulin. It would’ve been nice if someone found it before they ate dinner, but oh well. Everything he catches, he also releases.
After that, Luffy swings up the mast. He hangs from the spars, playing with the rigging, until Nami tells him to stop.
With nothing else to do, he peeks over her shoulder. Nami is now studying their new map. Apparently, it charts an entrance to the Grand Line!
“Marines don’t want anyone, not even pirates, to kill themselves trying to scale Reverse Mountain,” she says. “That’s what they claim, at least, but the currents there are in fact extremely dangerous. You won’t find details of this entrance on any commercial map printed today. I’m glad that Buggy stole this one from them, so I could steal it from him.”
“Yeah!” Luffy says. “Now we can go to the Grand Line, and find the One Piece!”
Nami groans. “You’re one of those people. Of course you are. Listen to me, Luffy, it doesn’t exist. There’s no proof other than a dying man’s word.”
“I don’t need proof! I know that I’ll be the one to find it.”
“If you insist…”
Zoro wakes up just before sunset, and offers to take the first watch. Nami retreats into the cabin. Luffy decides to stay on deck.
“Good night, Nami!” he calls after her. She smiles and raises a hand in acknowledgement.
He chats with Zoro as the sun dips below the horizon. It’s nice and cool now, but not so cold that he needs a jacket. Nami says they’re still a few days away from the next island, but who knows? Maybe they’ll come across uncharted territory. Luffy drifts off to sleep under the stars.
In the morning, Nami is gone.