𝔸 ℂ𝕠𝕝𝕕 ℝ𝕖𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕤𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

chapter 22

"So, how long has this been going on?" Zoro said simply. Nami looked up at Luffy who was directly behind her, considering he was pressed up against her with his arms hanging loosely over her hips. She couldn't pinpoint when exactly she started feeling this way, she just knew that it had happened and there was no going back.

"I didn't know till an old man spelled it out to me," Luffy said lazily. Nami's face said enough about what she thought about that, she wasn't surprised. He needed a complete stranger to point out his romantic feelings for her, Zoro laughed and after a while, his gaze rested on her. Her turn.

"I don't know, I started to have this feeling, ever since I woke up. Nothing felt right till he was here, and when we finally got him back, it felt like something just clicked into place." Nami explained, still sounding thoughtful as she finished her explanation. Zoro just nodded, Luffy's hands tightened around her waist, he nuzzled her hair affectionately irrelevant of Zoro's gaze. Zoro left shortly after, probably to catch some Z's.

~~~

For the next three days, Zoro built up a habit of making highly suggestive jokes among the crew. mostly it went over their heads, but Robin often knowingly glanced in Nami's direction. Zoro was, however, magnanimous and also dished out some teasing to Usopp over his obvious affection for Kaya. To make it all worse, Luffy couldn't seem to keep his hands to himself and it was becoming increasingly obvious that, perhaps Zoro's jokes held some merit.

For the third time in five minutes, Nami felt Luffy's hand snake its way around her waist. Usually she would be all for it, but right now, in the middle of Usopp's sorrowful goodbye with Kaya, surrounded by their crewmates, she was less than amiable. She stepped a foot away and unwind his hand from her waist, while levelling him with a stare that basically screamed 'not now.'

"I promise once it's all over I'll come back and visit Kaya," Usopp said, looking at her with lover-like eyes. Nami felt a fierce attraction between the two as She looked down at them from the Sunny like the rest of the crew. Kaya was looking at him with understanding eyes, it was a sad thought, watching someone you so obviously loved leave, knowing they might never come back.

She couldn't imagine it, watching Luffy leave knowing he might never return. The anxiety alone would probably kill her, she realised, somehow finding the idea of that funnier than anything else.

"And when I do-" that was it, that was as long as Kaya was willing to wait before she pulled Usopp in by the back of his head, and pressed her lips into his. A wolf whistle from Franky set the mood wonderfully, bringing Usopp's face from shocked to embarrassed. His eyes stared at the crew sidelong before he wrapped his arms around Kaya.

He deepened the kiss and turned her away from the crew, all they could see was Usopp's back and Kaya's hand disappearing into his untamed black hair. Usopp and Kaya split after a while, both of them silent for a time, surprisingly the straw hats kept silent as well. Some of them even left, preferring to give the two of them some privacy.

Nami was not one of those people, neither was Luffy, Chopper, Brooke or Sanji. Sanji was, however, sobbing like a child for the loss of a beautiful maiden to Usopp.

"I'll try my hardest to come visit as often as I can," Usopp promised, again filling Nami with sadness that they were splitting the lovebirds up so soon.

"I know, but take your time. Don't rush things, and return to me in one piece, or as close as you can get," Kaya mused, chuckling even though the possibility that he would come back in tatters wasn't at all impossible. She whispered something in his ear that the onlookers couldn't hear, but Nami could guess at what was said from the way Usopp reacted.

He'd basically jolted out of his skin, and he was looking far more flush that usual. "Me too Kaya," Usopp said, the only onlooker to witness now, was her. She didn't know whether to feel nosy or embarrassed that she hadn't noticed that she was the only one staring now.