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rollinouttahere-writes · 1 year ago

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Nami vs Whitebeard for the child. That’s all I can think of now after reading the new Little Lucky Au upload 👀😭

This was supposed to be cute/funny, but then I got carried away and made it crucial to the plot of the Little Lucky AU. Oops. This takes place sometime after Marineford but before the timeskip.

Also Thatch is alive and well here because I said so and as a fanfic writer it is my right to engage in a little bit of friendly necromancy when I see fit.

Decisions Made

4.1k words

Nami didn’t like this one bit. She hated it, really, but she couldn’t do anything about it now. She was on a ship sitting across the strongest man in the world and had to play nice lest she makes you upset.

As much as she was glad that Luffy had been able to successfully save his brother, she was not happy about Ace using this as an opportunity to finally succeed in bringing you over to his family. It had been a couple of days since the Marineford incident, and as soon as both crews had the chance to recover from the brutal battle, Ace had apparently set out to track them down.

Luffy was quick to agree to Ace’s proposal to pay Whitebeard’s crew a visit, promising that there would be a party to celebrate the successful rescue mission. Nami knew better though, she knew that this was much more about getting you on board the Moby Dick than the celebration. There was nothing she could do about it, though. Luffy had already decided on it, and you were so excited to meet Ace’s brothers that there was no stopping it.

The party itself was about as lively as one would expect it to be with a crew so large, it had been a struggle to keep track of where you were at any given moment. It felt like you were being swept away by a different crew member every other second, and Luffy telling her not to worry about it was not helping.

The feast they’d hosted wasn’t too bad. Well, the food was spectacular, but the relieving part was that you were easy to keep track of during it. You’d made yourself comfortable on Ace’s lap the second he sat down, and he did not give any of his brother’s a chance to “get a turn”. Nami would have preferred you to be seated with them, but she could at least settle for this since you were only a few meters away at best.

Currently, she was seated across the deck from where Whitebeard’s massive throne was. While the others were at least trying to make small talk with the emperor, she was quietly watching you to make sure nothing funny happened.

Humorously, the “person” you’d been most excited to meet was Kotatsu, some large wild cat that was a part of Ace’s crew before it disbanded. The second Ace realized that your love for cats extended beyond your pet Magnolia, he was quick to tell you all about Kotatsu to try and entice you to come with him for a visit. His plan worked on you flawlessly, but fortunately her and Sanji were able to stop him before he snuck off with you.

While she had been a little concerned about Kotatsu lashing out at you after seeing how scary he looked, your seemingly endless cat charm worked on him just as well as it did on every other feline you’d come across. The overgrown lynx was happily purring up a storm on your lap while you lavished him with attention.

Magnolia has not been taking her loss of attention very well and was sat at Nami’s feet glaring at Kotatsu like she was planning to eat him. Her tail was whipping back and forth in irritation, and her claws were digging into the floorboards.

She was grateful that the cat was keeping you in place at least, every single one of Ace’s brothers have been trying to entice you away from him, but the efforts were all in vain. You were in kitty heaven and you weren’t about to move from it. If nothing else, it was funny to see these people getting snubbed by you in favor of a cat.

A door opened, and Nami recognized the ship’s head chef making a beeline for you. Thatch had been trying his hardest to bond with you, and both of his hands were full with his latest effort.

Thatch dropped a food bowl on the ground, piled with whole fish for Kotatsu. He immediately perked up and sniffed the air. There was a brief pause before he got up to go dig in to the food he was offered. You pouted at being abandoned by your newest cat friend, but Thatch was quick to take the opportunity presented to him.

“Hey there, Lucky!” He ruffled your hair with his free hand, “I thought you might want some dessert.” The chef lowered his other hand, revealing a small plate with cookies stacked onto it.

Your eyes lit up and you smiled widely, eagerly taking the plate from him, “These look yummy! Thank you, Uncle Thatch!”

The second this crew heard you refer to Ace as “Uncle Ace”, everyone else had insisted that they were now also your uncles. Ace agreed, and since you hung onto every word out of his mouth, that meant you agreed too. This fact made Nami huff. These people were weird.

Thatch grinned triumphantly and smartly scooped you up into his arms before Kotatsu could come back and curl up on you again. There wasn’t a single protest out of you, seeing as that you were happily munching on cookies.

Nami could hear Sanji grumbling next to her, followed by the sound of his lighter flicking on. Again. He’s been chain smoking like mad since they got on board.

The door he had come out of before opened again, this time with Ace and Marco exiting. So that’s where Ace had gone. Nami was suspicious when he abruptly vanished a while ago, and that feeling only doubled when she saw how serious their faces were. Just what were they talking about?

They diverged paths, with Marco leisurely making his way to Whitebeard, while Ace bounded over to you and Thatch. A smile had been plastered over his face now, showing no hint of whatever conversation he’d had with Marco mere minutes ago. He tried to take you from Thatch’s arms, but the chef used his height to his advantage and kept you out of reach.

“Come on, I haven’t seen my niece in forever!” Ace pleaded.

“It hasn’t even been an hour, quit whining. We all want a chance to see our niece,” Thatch replied smugly. His cockiness was only aided by the fact that you were giggling at the game of keep away that you were being used in.

Nami glanced back at Whitebeard and saw him and Marco having a hushed conversation. Both of their expressions were unreadable, and whatever Marco was saying was so quiet that Nami couldn’t make it out. She felt uneasy. Something about their exchange felt off, even if she couldn’t pinpoint it. Oh, what she wouldn’t give to leave right now, but Luffy wouldn’t allow it.

She hadn’t missed the disapproving look Marco had the first time he’d seen Lucky. While your injuries had healed since their horrible run-in with Enel, you were severely scarred from it. Mentally and physically. Sanji had been trying out every scar removing ointment that he could find on you, but the scars were still extremely visible.

Everyone was prone to getting defensive over people judging them for your previous injuries. They felt awful enough without having other people rubbing it in their face.

It was inevitable that Ace was going to question what happened, she knew that the second she spotted his boat speeding towards theirs. The literal second he’d made eye contact, his smile fell and he was looking at the rest of them and asking what happened to his niece while scooping you into his arms protectively. Luffy, being the honest loud mouth that he is, told him everything. Ace didn’t take it well, but he tried to keep it together for your sake.

Marco finished whatever it was that he had to say and hopped down, strolling over to where you were being held in the air. Ace was still trying to get you back, becoming increasingly offended by your lack of cooperation.

Since Thatch was entirely focused on Ace, he didn’t even notice Marco approaching until he’d managed to snatch you out of his hands.

Before either of them could protest this, Marco cut in, “Are you planning on hogging her all day? Pops hasn’t even been able to properly meet the kid yet.” This was true, you’d barely been able to say ‘hi’ to the giant man before being whisked away by Ace for introductions to his brothers.

Thatch protested, complaining that he finally got to hold you, but Marco just rolled his eyes, “She isn’t going anywhere, you can spend more time with her later.” Marco readjusted his hold on you, and flashed a warm smile, “You want to go meet pops? He’s been waiting to talk to you.”

You bit your lip and mindlessly tugged on his open shirt, “Um… I guess?”

Whitebeard was an extremely intimidating man, Nami wasn’t surprised that you were nervous about him. You’ve been around giants before, but none of them sported that stern expression that Whitebeard had 95% of the time. That, and she thinks that all of the tubes and medical equipment coming out of him was making you unsure. You’d never seen someone in such a state, so you didn’t seem to know what to make of it.

With every step towards the captain, you stared at him while he stared back. Finally, it dawned on Whitebeard that he may have been intimidating you, and his face softened into a small smile, “It’s nice to finally get a good look at you, my child! I was starting to think I wasn’t going to.”

Your shoulders relaxed slightly and you offered a smile back in exchange. You broke eye contact, tiny hands clinging onto Marco’s shirt as you shyly spoke, “It’s nice to meet you too, mister.”

The other crew members chuckled at your shyness, making you hold onto Marco tighter. This action made him smile and pat your back reassuringly. Once he’d made it to where Whitebeard was seated, the towering captain held out one of his hands. Marco deposited you into it, and despite it only being his hand, you were completely dwarfed by the size.

You looked up at him warily, but still clung onto his thumb to keep from tumbling off his hand. Nami felt anxious at seeing you held so high off the ground, but knew that voicing this concern would do nothing. She would get laughed at and told to stop worrying so much by the crew. And also Luffy.

“So you’re the niece I’ve heard so much about?” Whitebeard had brought you up to chest height, trying to get a good look at you. All he got in response was you shifting back and forth on his hand before letting out a little ‘mmhm’. Whitebeard laughed loudly, the sound was booming, much like his devil fruit ability, “Ace hasn’t stopped talking about you since he got on board, but he never said anything about you being this shy!”

“I’m not that shy, mister” you huffed.

He chuckled, “Quit being so formal, kid. You can call me pops, too.”

Your head cocked to the side and your nose scrunched up. “Pops? But you’re way too old to be my dad,” you deadpanned.

A hush fell over the crowd on deck, but only briefly. Then there was an uproar of laughter, including from Whitebeard himself.

You immediately got defensive, “What? You are!” This didn’t help at all, people were only laughing harder. Even some of the Straw Hats were cracking up. Seeing you go from being all shy to straight up calling him super old was pretty funny.

Visibly flustered, you tried to make a compromise in hopes of getting everyone to stop laughing at you, “H-How about I call you grandpa?”

Whitebeard froze at your proposal, it was obvious that he hadn’t been expecting to hear that. His mouth opened and closed a couple of times. A small, soft smile graced his features, “Sure. You can call me that if you want.” His attempt to put on a sterner voice wasn’t fooling anybody, everyone knew that just melted his heart.

“Okay, grandpa!” You smiled triumphantly.

“Can’t say I’ve been called that before. I guess even an old man like me can still have some firsts,” he mused.

“How have you never been called ‘grandpa’ before? You’re super old,” Luffy just had to interrupt the moment.

“Watch it, you brat.”

“Watch what?”

Whitebeard’s eye twitched and he exhaled sharply. He likely would have continued a back and forth with Luffy if you hadn’t started giggling about it. That ever so slight softening around his eyes showed again. For someone who was supposed to be the strongest man in the world, he sure was a softy.

You leaned back in his hand to look up at him, “Hey, grandpas are supposed to have lots of stories, right? Can you tell me some, please?” Your eyes were sparkling with hope at the prospect of hearing some fun tales of adventure.

He hummed in thought, “I suppose I’ve got a few, if you really want to hear stories from an old man like me.”

“Yes, I do!” You nodded enthusiastically, grinning from ear to ear.

Usopp was muttering next to Nami, offended that you were asking for stories from someone other than him. Nami slumped back in her seat as Whitebeard started one of his tales, looks like she was going to be there for a while yet. There was no telling how long this was going to go on for.

—

Nami jolted awake abruptly. Shit, she hadn’t meant to fall asleep like that! Sitting up right, she massaged her stiff neck and noted how the sky had gone from a pale blue to a warm orange. How long was she out for?!

Looking over to where she last saw you, she felt momentary relief at seeing you still there. You were curled up in Whitebeard’s hand, sound asleep. Whatever relief she had was quickly replaced with annoyance as she witnessed him lowering his hand and allowing Ace to pick you up.

Launching herself forward, she strode towards him, “Oh, look at that! She’s asleep, so that’s our cue to leave. Give her to me so I can tuck her into her bed.” She looked over her shoulder to the other Straw Hats, who were also taking an impromptu nap, “Everyone up! We’re leaving.”

Ace didn’t respond to her demand to hand you over. He just held you to his chest tighter and shot her a downright guilty look before speedwalking to where the personal cabins were. Magnolia sped after you two, meowing loudly at Ace.

Nami’s brow furrowed in agitation. What the hell did he think he was doing? “Hey! Get back here!”

“Sit down, Nami,” Whitebeard’s voice cut through the air. His tone was so strict that it actually made her pause.

She shook her head, “Don’t tell me what to do! It’s late, we need to get Lucky to bed.” A door opened and closed, and just like that, Ace and you were out of sight. It seems even Magnolia had gone inside. She cursed under her breath and stomped to the door, bound and determined to get you back.

“I said to sit down!” Whitebeard boomed. “We need to talk.”

There was an overwhelming weight on what felt like her very being that knocked the wind out of her. She stumbled, and as much as she wanted to curse at him, she couldn’t find the will to do so. Despite not at all wanting to, she retreated back to where her chair was. Nami’s willpower was no match for haki, much to her chagrin.

Now everyone was awake and very on edge from whatever it was that Whitebeard was about to say. It was only now that she noticed Marco perched on top of the throne. His face was perfectly neutral, not aiding at all in revealing what this talk was going to be about.

Sanji was visibly seething. He hated being away from his little princess, so Ace up and running away with you was not going over well with him, “What? What do you want to talk about so damn bad?”

“Lucky is going to be staying with us from now on.”

The deck was dead silent, it was as if even the waves had stopped.

“Who do you think you are?! You can’t decide that!” Sanji was out of his seat and stormed right at the captain.

Whitebeard didn’t even flinch, looking annoyed more than anything, “I can and I have. This is for her own good. If you all genuinely care about her well being then you will accept this.”

“Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?” Nami hissed.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! This doesn’t make any sense, let me go get Ace!” Luffy, ever the optimist, assumed this must be a misunderstanding. He got up to go fetch his brother, but stopped dead in his tracks by what was said next.

“What are you hoping to accomplish with that? This was his idea,” Marco drawled.

“I knew it! I knew he was up to something!” Nami had never been more upset to be right about something.

When they were still making their way to the Moby Dick, Ace had abruptly hopped off their ship and onto his own boat. His reason for doing so was to let the crew know that they were coming, which Nami thought was bullshit. The Thousand Sunny was a massive ship, they could absolutely see them well before they got there. There was no need for Ace to go out ahead of them unless he wanted to speak with his crewmates privately. Which apparently, he did.

Luffy snapped out of his frozen state and made a run for the door, “No, he wouldn’t do that!”

Whitebeard grabbed his naginata and flung it outward, blocking Luffy’s path, “We’re not done talking yet, stay here.”

Luffy held his gaze for a solid minute, the tension in the air had everyone on edge. Begrudgingly, Luffy made his way back to where the rest of his crew was and stood with them, arms crossed. He spoke through gritted teeth, “Why?”

“I didn’t make this decision to be cruel. I decided on this because I want that kid to live a long life, and she won’t get to have one in your care,” Whitebeard stated coldly.

“You don’t know that! We’ve taken care of her for this long and we will keep doing so!” Robin protested. Her voice was wavering, choked in emotion.

“Have you? Were you really taking care of her when she was kidnapped and almost killed in Skypeia?” The words were harsh and painful to hear. Everyone was stammering for a response to that.

“That… That was a horrible mistake that will never happen again,” Robin’s voice was meek, guilt heavy in each word.

“Oh? So she wasn’t kidnapped again not long after that?”

Robin flinched at the accusing tone and curled in on herself. Franky reached over to place a supportive hand on her back and glared at Whitebeard, “That’s low.”

Nami’s face felt hot with shame. It was true that they had utterly failed you when Enel took you away. The awful state you were in when Luffy had finally gotten there and saved you would be burned into her memory for the rest of her life.

It was also true that you had been kidnapped again in Water 7, but how was she supposed to know that the shipwright that had gone to perform an assessment of their ship was going to make off like a bandit with you. Or that Zoro would fucking sleep through it. Sanji still hasn’t forgiven him for that.

At least you hadn’t been harmed that time around. A shock in hindsight considering what kind of a person that Kaku turned out to be.

If Whitebeard had any sympathy for them, he wasn’t showing it in the slightest. He openly sneered at them, “I don’t care if it’s “low”, you need to hear it. If you couldn’t keep her safe in the Grand Line, do you really think you’re going to be able to do so in the New World? You won’t. You’re all too young, too inexperienced. Just keeping your crew alive in the New World is a feat, keeping a small child alive is a completely different story. If I leave her with you lot, she will die.”

“You can’t just take her away like this! That’s our kid dammit!” Sanji looked like he was ready to go on a rampage, even if it killed him.

“You’re welcome to try and get her back. Though I wouldn’t recommend it,” Marco said coolly. His posture was relaxed, but the look in his eyes was anything but. His head gestured to the side, calling attention to several of Whitebeard’s commanders lurking around on the deck.

Jozu was as hard to miss as he was intimidating, Izou was cleaning one of his guns while fixing them with an unimpressed look, and Thatch was the only one that appeared to feel at least a little bad for them. Several others were milling about too, not directly interacting, but the threat was clear.

Don’t even try it.

“What if we became stronger?”

“What?” Whitebeard’s eyes narrowed at Luffy’s question.

“What if we became strong enough to protect her from anything?!” Luffy’s voice rose in volume.

“You can’t be serious, Luffy! Are you actually going to entertain this idea?!” Sanji turned on him in an instant, appalled that his captain seems to be considering it.

Luffy’s knuckles were white, his fists were clenched so tight that his fingernails were cutting into his palms and starting to drip blood onto the floorboards. He didn’t bother responding to Sanji, instead choosing to press Whitebeard for an answer to his question, “Well?!”

Whitebeard grinned, then chuckled, then started full on laughing. Luffy only continued to scowl at him, wanting to hear an answer already.

“You really think that you can accomplish that? You’re a cocky little brat, aren’t you?” Whitebeard chuckled again and rested his chin on his fist. He thought for a moment, then finally gave a proper answer, “Sure. If you can become so strong that you can actually protect the kid from anything then we’ll give her back.”

“Fine.” Luffy pulled his hat down over his eyes and turned away from the emperor. Without even looking at his crew, he spoke again, “Let’s go. We have a lot of work to do.”

“What are you saying?! We can’t just leave her here!” Sanji was borderline hysteric now.

“Will Lucky be safe in your care?” Luffy asked.

“She’ll be the safest kid in the world. Promise,” Marco assured him.

Luffy nodded, “Okay. We’ll be back for her. We’re leaving now, captain’s orders.”

Sanji tried to protest again, but Zoro clamped a hand onto his shoulder, “Stop. If Luffy says we need to leave, then we have to whether you like it or not.” Zoro’s other hand was closed around the hilt of one of his swords. His hand was shaking and his face was pinched, his eyes were strictly fixed onto the ground.

The cook slapped his hand away, chest heaving in fury. There was a pause, but he ultimately went towards the Thousand Sunny, not saying a word to anyone else while digging out a cigarette.

Everyone else was still in disbelief over what happened, but slowly began to make their way to their ship. The Whitebeard Pirates didn’t say anything else, letting them leave in silence. They all felt numb.

As soon as they were on the ship, Chopper ran to Robin for comfort with tears pouring down his face. She knelt down to comfort him, but it was evident from the vacant look in her eyes that she wasn’t fairing much better than he was.

Nami cornered Luffy, “What was that all about?! How could you just up and agree with him?!”

“He was right. We need to get stronger,” Luffy stated.

How could he be so calm about this?! Nami shoved his shoulder, screaming at him, “How do you even know that he’s going to keep his word about giving her back?!”

“I don’t. But we’re going to become so strong that it won’t matter if he does.” With that, Luffy left to go sit on the figurehead of the ship, needing time to think. To plot. Their going to need a damn good course of action to accomplish what they need to.

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