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"Oh, is that a new ring I peek on your lovely hand, Nami-swan ?"
Sanji puts down the trail full of cocktails, drinks and freshly squeezed lemonade on the railway, his eyes away from his task and zeroed on Nami's ring finger. All eyes turn to her, and to the gem glinting there.
"Wow ! That's a big rock" Usopp whistles.
A few noises of agreement go through the small crowd gathered there, lazing around on the deck to catch the last bits of warmth before they'd plunge into the harsher climate of the winter island that is on their path. Idle chatters get along nicely with the early afternoon sun rays falling to the planks of the deck like a gentle rain ; but now that they have something to latch on, the crew eyes the jewel with the appetite for a story, batting away the comfortable haze of slumber that had begun to seize them. Sanji and Usopp are already dissecting the ring with their pointed gaze, both appreciative in their own ways. Chopper cranes his little neck to get a better view, and Nami doesn't know how Brook can see, but he at least does a good job at staring right at it with an intensity that helps them picture some eyeballs rolling around in his skull.
Nami smiles, and strikes a pose to enlighten the simple magnificence of the ring. She bats an eye toward Zoro, the only one who didn't hum in admiration with the others, looking at her unimpressed and not even glancing at the ring, then she turns her attention to the other part of the crowd, all much more enthusiastic about it.
"Oh, this little thing ?" she says, fanning out her hand in front of her face to flaunt it all the more and let it catch the light.
It is a big rock, a clear blue gem cut in the form of a rose, sitting on her finger as light as a petal. The early afternoon sun embellishes it more, making it as shining as the water splashing on Alabasta's shores. It had been a surprise, to open her usual letters and to find a small package tied to it. The neat handwriting had spelled out the sender with words that dissolve on her tongue like sugar, but it's not Vivi's habit to give her things through mail. They've been really cautious about it, since the princess of Alabasta can't be caught having a correspondence with a pirate, and objects can be traced back much more than letters ; still, Vivi had gifted her a ring, and the soft glint of it as she opened the package in her cabin had brought an astonished smile to her face. Gems from a diplomatic gift that couldn't be worn more beautifully by anyone other than you the letter had said, and the sweet words didn't bring a blush to her cheeks, but again she hadn't any mirrors to check.
"Yeah, it's new. Does it look good on me ?" she asks, pointedly not looking at Usopp rolling his eyes at her fishing.
"It's beautiful" Sanji nods, happy to have delivered this evidence before anyone could intercept it, "as everything you wear, sweet Nami".
"Is it from an admirer ?" Brook perks in, his usual grin in place. He might be trying to wriggle his brows given the face he's making, but it's impossible to tell.
"It is" Nami states simply, then wait a few seconds for the dramatic effect. "It's from Vivi."
Again, the deck fills with joyful oh and ha, some wistful sighs and smiles shared between each other. Brook nods, then turns to Chopper to whisper loudly :
"I've got no idea who that is."
Chopper leans on Brook to fill him in and tries to beckon Zoro to fill out the blanks, but only succeeds in tearing laconic answers out of him that don't satisfy Chopper's taste at all. The clatter of the reindeer's hooves as he acts out their past perils doesn’t bother Usopp, as he turns back his head to Nami with a knowing and crooked smile.
"Ah yes, young lovebirds..." Usopp sighs, leaning on his crossed arms. "I remember gifting Kaya a ring like that, before going to the seas to pursue my destiny. I found it in a treasure chest that had fallen into the mouth of a Sea king, but nothing is stronger than Kaya's love and sweet, sweet eyes, so I-"
Sanji's empty trail clatters to the ground with a crashing sound, interrupting Usopp's boasting. Nami turns her head in time to both see and hear the gasp that tears from his throat before he goes to clutch his heart, looking as if lightning had struck him a second time.
"Nami-swan !" he cries out, balancing between awe and nervous agitation, "Don't tell me... is it an engagement ring ??"
Nami likes to present herself as an opportunist.
She doesn't miss a beat, and strikes him with a faux-bashful sigh, a timid look to the side, then a glance of throbbing emotion to her adorned hand.
"We wanted to keep it a secret..." she says in a whisper, like she forgot her audience and speaks to the jewel only, "...but yes, it is."
She can't quite fake a tear of profound overwhelm, but Sanji doesn't need another push to swoon, his eyes close to bulging out of his head and burst into strings of heart-shaped confetti.
"Oh, that's so romantic !" he sighs, clasping his hands together. "Lovers separated by the farthest seas, but still reunited by their passion for each other like two hearts joined by unbreakable strings !"
Nami nods, cradling her hand close to her chest and calculating how much she has to push this "lost lovers" narrative before she can make him actually cry, when Usopp laughs and winks at her.
"About time. That's a hell of a tale, a pirate whisking away a reigning princess to a life of adventure and to go and live happily ever after..."
He nudges her with a mischievous grin that finds an echo on her face for the briefest of flash, then looks back at Sanji who seems even closer to passing out than the second before. But before she can make the most of it, like maybe convince him to rehearse making wedding cakes for her for all of next week, Sanji freezes, then trains back anxious eyes at her, dissolving his drive into an agitated frenzy.
"I didn't do anything for the occasion !" he cries as though he's thinking about flinging himself to the sea for the offense. "It's a disaster ! Nami-dear, you could have warned us, we would have all celebrated with you !"
Zoro sighs, rolling his eyes.
"It's not true, idiot cook" he says from his place on the deck, one leg bent and the other laid on the planks, his arms crossed over his chest. It cuts Sanji's frantic apologies off, and he turns around, red in the face, but before he can fling himself at Zoro, he continues :
"Vivi has her duty and her kingdom to take care of. She doesn't have the time, or the freedom to get married, and even if she could she wouldn't put her people in danger by tying it off with a wanted pirate".
He yawns, then turns his head to the side to glance at Nami, sitting straight on her deckchair.
"And you" he says, the pointed stare of his words she knows she's imagining, "wouldn't want to be married anyway, right ?"
Nami stares at him. A gust of wind comes to ruffle her hair, warm on her skin : she hasn't answered yet. She opens her mouth to say something, her brain lacking the ammo her tongue badly needs, but Sanji's laugh cuts her off.
"You're the idiot, moss-head, weddings are the most beautiful days of anyone's life ! Of course Nami-swan would like to get married, just like everybody else !"
"Not me" he shrugs, unbothered.
"Ha !" Sanji burst out laughing, wagging a finger in Zoro's face. "It's just because you know no one would want to marry you anyw-"
The fight that breaks out is both predictable and quick to dissolve into background noises, startling Chopper in the middle of his retelling. It's a distraction enough for Nami to blink at the empty space Zoro left on the deck ; the wind has gone out with the blink of an eye, leaving the sails to deflate softly above them, the sound of the ringing creaking getting Nami back to herself.
She shrugs, an easy smile plastered on her face, and leans back on the chair like a cat whose only care is to roll under the sun.
"Pssh, as if I'd let anyone tie me down" she snickers. She doesn't miss Usopp's glance directed at her, but it slides off her like freshwater.
"That's a shame" Brook shakes his head, rattling his bones in a soft sound. "I have been to many weddings, and something they all had in common was that they'd always put on good music. Maybe because I was also something they all had in common."
Chopper turns back from where the boys are trying to tear each other's limbs, shrugging off his worried gaze to look at Nami with questioning eyes.
"What does 'engagement' mean ?" he asks, cocking his head to the side. His little eyes are squinting, trying to wrap his mind around another foreign human concept. Brook's head creaks as it turns toward him like a predator eyeing a prey, and so Nami answers before he can think of anything to say.
"It's like... a promise" she says, folding her arms under her head. "A way for two people or more to decide that they'll live the rest of their lives together, and promise it to each other by giving out a gift. Most of the time it's a ring, and it's kind of a way to say to the world "we love each other and we want to get married soon." She squints. "Well, put that way it's kind of weird."
"So, it's for... telling other people that you're mated for life with someone ?"
"Yeah, exactly".
"Can't they just know ? By asking ?" He's squinting his eyes again to try and gauge if that was callous of him to ask it bluntly, but it only brings a smile to Nami's lips.
"I mean..." she turns a hand over her head, at loss for words for a moment. "It's a whole thing, you know ? You can... change status ? So to speak ? Like, you'll share your house and everything you own with the person you marry, and it's... well most people want that fact to be known, somehow" she settles for, shrugging.
Chopper is still thinking about it, his brows furrowed and his nose scrunched in deep meditation, whereas Brook smiles and nods as if it's exactly what he would have said. Then Chopper's face lights up, and he shows a big smile to Nami.
"Oh ! So you're going to get married to Vivi !"
"No, Chopper" she says, feeling a little bit bad to break the reindeer's cheer, "it was a joke. Vivi gave me a ring because sometimes that's what people do to show that they care for each other."
"But you just said... I don't understand" he sighs. He hangs his head low and shakes it, defeated.
"And you haven't even heard of divorce yet" Brook says wistfully.
"It's a tradition, it doesn't have to make perfect sense" Nami smiles as Chopper raises his head to meet her gaze. "You don't have to get married to live with someone, but people still do it because it's important to them. You don't need to read too much into it".
"But Sanji said it's the best day of someone's life ?" he tries again.
"Sanji likes to be romantic. But it doesn't mean it's for everyone".
"It can be beautiful" Usopp says, nodding to an unsaid thought.
"And what would you know about that" Nami snickers, winking at the dark glare he sends her way.
"I intend to marry Kaya when I come home, I'll have you know ! He'll be a hero by then, and we'll have a big party just like the tales say, and the most beautiful cake ever-"
"Nami-swan ! You'll have to tell me when you'll marry Vivi for real, I promise I'll bake you the cake of your dreams !" Sanji shouts from behind the mast, jumping out in sight to dodge a slash of blade with a dopey grin on his face.
"Eyes on me, lover-cook !"
"Sorry, I'm just taking every chance I've got to get your ugly mug out of my sight !"
The operation 'a hundred and one cake under a week' can still be managed then, Nami thinks to herself.
Her eyes drift to the mast, away from the swirling mess of the fight, and catch on a small movement on the other side of the deck, where two people are sat. A silver glimmer shines as Robin's hand loops in front of Franky's face, his eyes following the path of her fingers in the air. He's focused, darting a sustained attention at her reserved for his blueprints and most rebellious sketches. A hand sprouts from his shoulder and straightens his shades, but he doesn't even blink and keeps his gaze trained on the set of hands that draws invisible figures before him.
Robin is smiling, this small twist at the corners of her mouth they learned was as bright as their captain's toothy grin ; Nami can't understand her words from where she is, but Robin has a way to speak that transforms the mundane into riveting, and given the back and forth of Franky's eyes on her, Nami would say that she had worked her magic again. She could be explaining star charts, or flower pressing, or the latest book she's read, but whatever leaves her lips is caught by Franky on the fly, cataloged somewhere in his hard-drive, forever etched.
A band of silver is coiled around Robin's finger, knocked into the shape of a heart. He has made it with care, and Robin wears it everyday now, the sight of it on one of her hands as familiar for the rest of the crew as the two of them hanging out together.
Nami sees the details, the way their knees bump into each other, the easy smiles, their way to move practiced by the presence of the other near. They're sitting on the deck, simply there side by side, basking in each other's warmth.
Something beats in Nami's chest, knocking from inside of her, pointed and demanding her attention.
She straightens on her seat, standing up before she can understand why. She stretches, a tad of laziness in her movement to sell it, before she waves at the crew and turns on her heels. Despite the sun, there is coldness seeping through, heavy on her throat for a second before she swallows it. She climbs down the stairs, dodging as Luffy barges through with his arms suspiciously full of meat, and crosses the inner deck. The stairs are a reprieve from the crew, and from Usopp's stare she can still feel on her back ; she doesn't care about it, not for the moment. She pushes the door, climbs out, and kneels on the grass to sit back in the small orchard.
The ruckus of the fight, Sanji's cry as he spots Luffy, the chatter that began anew, Robin's incomprehensible words, she leaves it all behind her, to get lost in the endless stretch of the sky. She rolls on her back, to feel the grass on her arms and legs and let her eyes in the blue expanse, halted there and then by cotton-like clouds.
The sky is merciful today, letting them glide across the sea without a complaint ; it's not merciful enough, then, to give her a reason to think about anything else than eyes and hair as blue as itself.
Would she want to get married ?
The question churns in her mind like a grinding machine.
She huffs out a breath.
She'd never given it a serious thought in her life. Too busy fighting for scrapes, then being thrown into the wild, having to learn by heart rules and etiquette to blend in, learn to run fast. As a child, a long time ago, she had thought that rich people must all be happy. How could they not, when their every need could be met by handfuls of berries they'd fill their houses with ? It had come to a shock, then, to witness with her young eyes the pits of misery that hid itself in gold and silk.
After a time, it didn't surprise her anymore to navigate stuffy ballrooms full of disdainful husbands and jaded wives, to feel the heart-break leaking from crystal chandeliers until it rotted the waxed flooring, every guest acting as if they couldn't see the swollen, longing husks thrown over every corner of the room. It had felt right, satisfying, to walk into those mausoleums-homes and take their offerings : nobody lives there anymore, only statues that talk and move and hoard. She'd let the sea's breath wash the stale air off of her, and she'd set her sails to another manor where a gold band glints on a finger, a manifestation of a contract that binds and jails.
Nami had had her fair share of proposals during that time, each dodged carefully and with the same attention and sense of danger as a noose coming for her neck. No, she thinks, she couldn't write her name on a piece of paper and for it to mean something to her. Old traditions aren't for her, and she vows herself to leave it all behind when they'll forge the new world, piece by piece.
The trees' leaves rustle in the soft breeze, bending on their branches with the weight of its fruits. Nami's hand comes to cradle an orange, ripe under the tap of her nail, and plucks it. She lets it sit on her palm, her thumb counting the bumps of its skin as it turns before her, a sun in miniature against the sky.
She imagines Vivi's hand in hers, and the absence of it when she flexes her fingers against the fruit sends waves of longing curling around her body. She sighs. Her arm falls on her face, blocking the view, the orange now on the floor newt to her head.
Zoro is right, a terrifying thought. She does not want any kind of entanglement, especially not ones held by the government's authority.
Still, Vivi's smile, Vivi's presence beside her, Vivi's words falling into her ears and not just written on paper.
Sanji's words turn in her head, "lovers bound by string of fates". It doesn't seem so bad, then. She's caught, she can't deny it when she can feel the net's threads on her every time she looks at an island's shores that aren't Alabasta's : but now that she thinks about it, she can't find it in her to mind it.
She nudges her elbow out of her face, the sun kisses her cheeks, her nose, her closed eyelids. Her hand rummages through the cache, bumping on a bucket, closes on some loose sheets of paper and a pen.
The bird is waiting for her reply, snoring somewhere on one of the masts. She likes to carve out time, surrounded by her maps and everything she built and traced, to write back to Vivi and put to words the things she thinks between the lapse of two letters ; this time, she can't wait that long.