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“Can you stop looking at that already, and try the shirt I picked for you?” Nami said as she tried to pull Vivi’s eyes away from the newspaper.
“I’m sorry, I can’t help it.” Vivi sighed. She had been staring at the newspaper’s front page since this morning. Alabasta’s riots were expanding fast, and she still found herself at least four days away from arriving at her kingdom, at least.
“Listen, you know I’m gonna be here for you when we get there, but that’s the thing. We still need to get there. So please, for the love of God, go put on that sparkly shirt I left for you, and let’s go and have fun already!” Nami said, pulling Vivi closer to her.
“Okay,” Vivi agreed, a bit short of breath suddenly. These past couple of days, the navigator and she had gotten substantially closer, something Vivi had not seen coming, given how they met and the circumstances that came with it. But the two of them had rapidly become friends, and it turned out that Nami liked to hold her friends close. Maybe a bit too close sometimes, which automatically triggered Vivi’s shortened breaths and rosy cheeks. If someone had told her she was going to fall for a cute pirate girl with stealing as her main hobby before she set sail for the open sea, she would have never believed them.
“Perfect. I’ll be waiting for you outside.”
After Vivi changed and put on some light makeup, she went and joined the Strawhats in the local town square. It was true what Nami said. All the problems with her kingdom would eventually come, but right now, the ship was getting repaired and they were getting supplies (mostly food) before sailing again, so she could allow herself to have a bit of fun. All of them could.
In the morning, when Sanji had brought food from the local market, he explained that a fisherman had told him that today in this town, Teeko’s Village, there was their famous Flower Festival, where they organised a little fair in the town square where they brought food and games, and they had their first dance to welcome the spring. Luffy was already excited when he heard there’d be food, and Usopp was glad that this plan didn’t involve any threat to his life for a change, so they were quickly sold on the idea.
After looking around for a while, Luffy and Usopp found a “weird critters” stand and went absolutely crazy about some black beetle that Vivi didn’t care for. Zoro and Sanji started bickering about something stupid, which led to Sanji calling him mosshead, and just like always, Zoro drew one of his swords.
“I swear to God, curled eyebrows—”
“Oh, absolutely not,” Nami said as she took his sword right from his hand. If this were somebody else, they would’ve ended up sliced in a second. “You are not about to ruin a perfectly good evening for us and make the townspeople kick us out of the party. Sanji, you go right. Zoro, left.”
“But—” Sanji started talking.
“And if I hear either of you got into trouble again, there won’t be a God powerful enough to save your asses.”
“Yes, Nami.” They both said as they looked down like children being told off.
Nami gave Zoro’s sword back, and just like she had ordered, the men went their separate ways.
“You got them well trained, huh?” Vivi asked after witnessing the whole situation.
“If they were truly well-trained, this wouldn’t be happening that much.”
“I guess, but they’re also kind of funny.”
“Honestly, I don’t really care that much about their squabbles. I just didn’t want them to ruin tonight.”
Vivi chuckled. “You needed an afternoon off that badly, huh?”
“Yeah, absolutely. And talking about that… you want to go and check out those prize booths?”
As the evening went on, Nami and Vivi had practically gone through all the booths, always leaving with a little reward in their hands.
“Hang on, I’ll get us a bag,” Nami said as Vivi sat down on a bench with her arms full of stuffed animals. When she came back, she brought two caramel apples. “I got us this to recharge our energy.”
“You know, for a money-obsessed thief, you’ve got no problem spending bellies,” Vivi said as she placed all the prizes in the bag. “We got, like, each of these twice.”
“Why do you think I like money so much? To spend it!” Nami said, as if it was obvious. “That way, we both get one of each.”
Vivi smiled. That was one of the things she loved about Nami. She was so thoughtful and good-hearted.
They ate their caramel apple in silence, enjoying each other’s company while surrounded by a lively crowd.
“It may sound kind of dumb, but moments like this make me feel...” Vivi didn’t know how to put it into words.
“Normal?”
“Human.” Vivi looked at her. “I’ve spent the vast majority of my life studying how to be the perfect little princess. Don’t say this, don’t do that, always behave with grace. You are the future, so you have to set the example, blah, blah, blah.”
“Sounds tough.”
“It is, but I like to think it makes me appreciate moments like this a bit more. Like, now I can pretend I’m just a normal town girl enjoying the festival with my friends, where my biggest worry is who I’m gonna dance with today.”
Nami chuckled. “That’s a sad dream to have, Vivi.”
“Maybe.” She looked at her, worried. “Sorry, did I just ruin the mood?”
“Not at all.” Nami replied. “But for what is worth, some dreams do come true.”
“You think?”
“Mine did. I get to sail the sea with my friends and draw maps around the whole world.”
Vivi smiled. Nami always had a spark in her eyes when she was talking about her life-long dream.
“So, what do you say, normal town girl? Up for a little dance?” Nami offered her hand.
Maybe she was right. Some dreams do come true.