#Making flower confetti and tossing it over your head repeatedly | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

vannahfanfics · 5 years ago

Text

Dependable

Category: General Fluff

Fandom: One Piece

Characters: Nami, Monkey D. Dragon, Sabo

Requested by: farrah87 (Ao3)

The detached pieces of Nami’s Climatact bounced lightly in the holster on her thigh as she strolled merrily through the cobblestone streets of the lively port town. The market district crammed as many little shops as possible in the available space; though this particular street was very short, it boasted a butcher, a fish market, a bakery, a vegetable and fruit stand, a potter store, a jewelry shop, a boutique, and a hat shop all in very close proximity. The alleyways between them were wide enough only to allow for small silver trash bins; so thin they were that the mangy alley cats nearly had to walk single-file, she imagined. The close quarters of course made the crowd seem all the more packed; Nami had to weave through the patrons, bumping shoulders and kicking tows with chiming choruses of polite “Excuse me’s” and “I’m sorry’s.” If Nami didn’t know that they would have to take more than one day to stock, this would be a pickpocket’s gold mine; alas, she didn’t want to run the risk of them being chased from the port town prematurely.

Their forces had been split between Zou and Whole Cake Island. Currently, the squad that had elected to retrieve the falsely-renegade Sanji were on track to reunite with their fellows but had stopped at an intermediate island to restock. Their provisions had been split between the two crews, and the encounter with Big Mom had been a huge strain on their supplies, particularly their medical provisions. It would take at least two days to gather everything they needed, so Nami decided- begrudgingly- to ignore her twitching fingers which were eager to pluck every jewel, Belli, and expensive watch that pranced teasingly in her vision. Maybe tomorrow, she told them. It did little to settle their excitement. She would have to find something else to occupy her mind for a while, lest she give in to their temptation.

Nami had spied it from the crow’s nest of the Thousand Sunny; the island they had stopped at was a strange half-and-half arrangement of bustling industry and natural radiance. She meandered her way northward through the labyrinthine arrangement of docks and shops and houses until it suddenly all fell away, the cobblestone melting into dirt roads and the concrete crackling with shoots of grass that were slowly invading their way south. Tall, towering stone structures yielded to wooden cabins spaced further and further apart, until acres of farmlands and untended wilderness stretched between them. Nami graciously breathed in the welcoming aroma of wildflowers and tree sap and sunny grasses; as soon as she had spied the green expanse beyond the boring smear of gray, Nami knew she had wanted to visit. The gentle countryside reminded her so much of home, after all- of Cocoyashi Village, so far away in the East Blue.

She veered from the dirt path to walk into the wild grasses. Giddy to have a visitor, they fought each other to kiss her bare calves and knees, tickling her in greeting. The wildflowers all turned to her to shout wildly, begging her to choose which was prettiest. Nami suddenly giggled aloud and whirled on her heel with her arms outstretched. She fell into the country’s embrace, allowing the green grasses to curl around her to hug her with feather-soft touches. The little aphids and large grasshoppers leapt into the air as they were startled by her arrival, bounding in the fresh open air above her head to seek shelter. Through the patches of waving green, the blue sky blazed above her with sailing ships of clouds trawling through its expanse. She reclined her arms behind her head. The sun’s warm ways washed over her skin to make it glow and hum. She had missed this; lying in the grasses with naught a care in the world while the world sheltered her. What a faraway dream that was.

Nami laid in the grass for quite a long while, listening to the symphony nature played for her. The wind flew over the scenery like a diving eagle, shaking the leaves and grasses in thunderous cacophony. Flower petals and grass blades and tree leaves arched into the air in its wake to shower Nami in natural confetti. Every so often a songbird would flit from one tree line to the other, chirping in greeting. A deer wandered out to nibble at the long grasses, its fawn skipping around beside it, before quickly descending back into the safety of the darkness. Nami watched a wee snail slowly ascend the hiking trail of a grass blade, bending it under its weight when it reached the pinnacle, its slimy antennae wiggling as it considered its next challenge. It could have been minutes, hours, or even years that Nami laid there silently enjoying the atmosphere that she had sorely missed, but every moment she was there, she could almost hear Nojiko calling her name, or Ginzo yelling at her to get her lazy bum up and work, or Bellemere calling her home for dinner…

The last image sent bitter acid flooding over her tongue. Nami sat up so quickly that her vision became static with headrush. Holding her forehead while waiting for the grainy black-and-white fuzz to fade, her contentment threatened to be overtaken by melancholy.

“I suppose I should be getting back.” She knew not who she was speaking to. Perhaps, subconsciously, she wanted to bid the area farewell in thanks for allowing her to bask in its presence for a while. Once the tingling had diminished, she pushed herself to her feet. Dead grass and dirt showered down from her back and shoulders; she took a moment to brush off her clothes and comb through her long tresses of tangerine hair. She didn’t want to walk back into the town looking like a wild thing, after all.

Though she had been gone at least several hours, the town was still just as busy- if not more so. It was the height of the afternoon, and it seemed to be prime shopping hour. Nami decided that traversing the main roadways was going to be hell and skirted into the alleyways instead, thinking that it would serve as a shortcut. Unfortunately, even her navigational sense was thwarted by the unusual arrangement of the cross-crossing small passageways, and very soon she found herself lost. “This way? No, I remember that graffiti… Damn it, I can’t even find the main roads from here,” she lamented aloud. She had wandered deep into the packaging district, it seemed; the crowds of the shopping strip were not even a distant hum on the air. She stopped at a crossroads as she contemplated how to approach her dilemma, foot tapping and hand on her chin. That was when a couple of drunk thugs stumbled out of the back door of a bar, hooting and hollering and the picture of hooligans.

It’s not even three o’ clock and they’re this sloshed? People really must not have anything better to do. She decided to ignore them; they were going to be useless when it came to directions, and of course Nami was the type they would hassle. As she tried to turn away, her heel clicked a little too loudly against the flagstone and alerted them to her presence. Great.

“Hey, honey!” one of them hollered at her while the other two began wolf-whistling at her repeatedly. “Are you lost? Or lookin’ for a good time?”

“I’m just fine, thank you. Go back to destroying your livers.”

“Oh, she’s feisty!” Ugh, great, they were shambling towards her now. Nami instinctively reached for her Climatact; however, with how narrow the passageways were, it would be difficult to swing the weather-producing bo staff around. How was it that she always managed to land herself into these messes? As they sluggishly approached, Nami shuffled back a few paces. She could dart off into one of the alleyways, but they would surely pursue, and they knew the area much better than she; if they really put their minds to it, they could corner her, and she could find herself in an even more cramped space than the current. She would just have to whack them over the head the best she could.

Before Nami got the chance, a booted foot came out of the dark alleyway a few feet in front of her to kick the closest thug savagely in the head, sending him crashing into the opposite brick wall. He slumped down, unconscious. The other two yelped as they were snatched into the dark, and all Nami heard was their whimpers and yelps mixed with the unmistakable sound of fists crunching bones. They were thrown onto their comrade to make a pile of moaning, groaning, barely-awake wimps. Nami blinked; it had happened so quickly that she hadn’t even fully assembled her weapon. Wary, she kept the pieces on hand as she timidly called out, “Who’s there?”

A pair of cloaked figures stepped out of the damp, dank alleyway, looming a few yards away from her. They definitely cut intimidating personas, though she couldn’t even see their faces; their cloaks did little to shield their muscular forms. No wonder they had pounded those thugs so easily. The smaller one in the front tossed back his hood to wave placating gloved hands at her.

“Hehe, no worries! We’re not here to hurt you. Are you lost, miss?” His smile was bright and happy, and reminded her much of Luffy’s. He seemed harmless enough- well, relatively speaking- so she returned her Climatact to her hip. Behind him, the taller man shifted and she could see the flash of a blue tribal tattoo coursing down his face. The one smiling at her had shockingly bright blonde hair and a burn scar spanning half his face. Nami felt like she recognized the two, but she couldn’t place from where; regardless, she felt she could trust them. They had smacked down those thugs for her, after all.

“Yes, I’m lost. Would you kindly show me the way to the docks, please?” Nami trusted them but not completely; she wasn’t going to ask them to take her right to her ship. If she got back to the docks she would be able to make her own way from there. The blonde-haired man smiled brightly, if that was even possible, and put his hands on his hips.

“No problem, no problem; we were headed that way anyway. We can’t leave a pretty girl like you alone in these seedy alleyways, right, Boss?” he looked over his shoulder at the long-haired man, which was still eclipsing his features with the hood. He only grunted indifferently in response. “Great, great, let’s get going then!”

Before any of them could move, the miniature transponder snail hooked to Nami’s belt began ringing. Nami had purchased the matching set for herself and her captain so she could keep tabs on him on outings such as this; the only time he called her is when he wanted something.

“Namiiiiiiiii!” he wheedled as soon as she picked up the receiver. “Where are you? Nevermind, can I play a game? It’s in this reaaaaaaally cool house-kinda-thing with all these old men with scars and stuff.” Nami groaned and slapped a hand to her forehead. With their luck, he landed himself in a yakuza gambling den. “It’s got something to do with dice. I don’t really get it all that much but if I win I get lots of moneyyyy!”

“Luffy.”

“Yeah?”

“If you don’t win, and lose all our money, you know what’ll happen, right?”

“… You’re gonna hit me…”

“That’s right, and on top of that, I’ll make sure you don’t get any meat until we get to Wano, got it?”

“What? No meat? For that long? But Namiiiiiiii-!”

“No ‘but’s’!”

“Fiiiiiiiine… I won’t lose alllllll the money… Thanks, gotta go! <3” Nami rolled her eyes as he hung up. She dropped the now-snoozing snail back down and rubbed her temples.

“Ahahaha! Who was that? Your boyfriend?” the scarred blonde teased merrily. Her eyebrow quirked in annoyance and she shot him an icy glare, but she couldn’t hide the faint blush arising on her cheeks.

“My captain.”

“A captain, calling his crew member for permission? How troublesome.” The hooded man had finally decided to speak. His voice was largely monotone, but she could detect the faintest hint of amusement in it.

“He’s troublesome at times like these, but when it really comes down to the wire, he’s a good captain,” she shrugged, straightening up with her hand resting on her jutted hip. “He protects us,” she smiled. It made her heart hum just talking about him. He was an idiot, but at least he was a dependable idiot.

“You like him a lot, don’t you, Miss Nami?” the blonde laughed good-naturedly. There he went again, implying things. She pursed her lips as the blush deepened.

“I like him the perfect amount a crew mate should!”

“Riiiiight~ Well, time’s-a-wastin’! We better get you to the docks so your captain can join you soon with his winnings, yeah?” the man laughed while tossing his hood back up. He beckoned with his hand for Nami to follow, and the two men dipped back into the dark alley. Nami hurried after them, following the only thing of them she could see in the gloom; the flash of his white gloves swaying at his side. The two of them were interested in Luffy, but Nami felt it was more out of genuine curiosity rather than malicious information-gathering; they mostly asked how he treated his crewmates and how strong he was, and so of course Nami answered honestly. Really, she talked Luffy up real good. By the time they reached the entrance of the docks, Nami felt like she was pretty comfortable with the two guys.

“Thanks for your help. I appreciate it!” she smiled gratefully.

“No problem! I hope your boyfriend didn’t waste all your hard-earned cash~!”

“I told you, Scarface, he’s not my boyfriend!” she cried, that red haze blazing over her cheeks again. The man whimpered and turned away holding the burned side of his face, whimpering playfully about how harsh Nami was. The bigger, tattooed man snorted at his subordinate’s frivolousness before looking down at Nami with dark but non-threatening eyes. Suddenly, he reached up to poke Nami in the forehead.

“Take good care of your captain,” he said with a small smile. Nami blinked, and when his hand retreated, she rubbed at the little pink mark his finger had indented into her skin.

“Oh… Yes, of course.”

“See you around, maybe!” the other man laughed, seemingly recovered from Nami’s scathing nickname. With a wild flap of their black cloaks, they both whirled around to hurry away, boots stomping against the wooden docks with all the power and presence of trained soldiers. As she watched them phase into the crowd of fishermen and deckhands, she wondered once more where she had seen them, because people like that always left impressions one never forgot.

~~~~~~~~~~

Nami didn’t realize where she had seen them until three full days later, when they were already underway for Zou.

“Ahhhhhhhhh! How could I have not remembered?” she shrieked, clawing at her long hair as she looked down at the newspaper article on the kitchen table in front of her. Everyone in the room jumped at her sudden, unwarranted outcry.

“What the hell is up with you, Nami?” Luffy asked as he nibbled on his chicken leg (the goofball had indeed made out like a bandit in the gambling house, and Nami was so proud of him that she convinced Sanji to give him extra meat portions for the next week). She ground her teeth fiercely as she tugged at her hair, clawing her scalp. How could she have been so stupid?

“The Rebel Army! I ran into their leaders, Monkey D. Dragon and Sabo, on the island! They showed me the way back to the docks!”

“Oh, so you ran into my old man and my bro? Neat,” Luffy shrugged nonchalantly as he continued to attack his beloved meat.

“How can you be so nonchalant about it? Just what the hell is your family, Luffy?!”

“Shishishishishi! We all just like to be free, that’s all!” he laughed while licking the chicken juices off each of his fingers. Nami slumped into her seat with a groan, staring at the black-and-white photographs of the two wanted renegades. Frowning slightly, she recalled Sabo’s smile, so bright and sunny like his brother’s, and Dragon’s words.

“Take care of your captain.”

Her gaze flickered up to the oblivious Luffy who was now pestering Sanji for more meat. Her mouth curled into a wry smile. Yep. He was an idiot, her dependable idiot. She didn’t want another one.

Don’t worry. I have every intention on taking care of him.

Nami could be depended upon in that regard.

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

Tag List: @searchfortheonepiece

19 notes · View notes