Fair Winds // One Piece

~ natsumi '

Sunlight streamed in through the small porthole in Ikeda Natsumi's bedroom, hidden in the corner of the Baratie, far away from the morning hustle and bustle of the cooks as they started to prep for the rest of the day. Something that she had never been privy to since her cooking experience usually amounted to a burnt pile that had previously resembled ingredients. The alarm on her bedside table shouldn't go off for another half hour to signal that she would soon be down in the restaurant herself, ensuring that they were ready to support the sailors that would be the start of the lunch rush. For a restaurant that was booked three weeks out, this was no small feat in itself.

As head waitress at the Baratie, it was her job to check that everything was in place. One improperly set table and her head chef would lose his mind, claiming the restaurant was unfit for even a Sea King. She would always roll her eyes before switching the table and dessert forks around. The rest of the day and a good chunk of her night would be spent running around, and making sure that each paying customer felt like they were the most important person in the world.

They usually did and the music box underneath her bed filled with Berry was enough to prove it. The saving had been easy, there had never been a reason for her to use it considering the fact that she hadn't left the restaurant in six years. Not since she had sailed past in a flimsy dinghy, barely holding on to consciousness.

The water lapped at the sides of the raft, water always lapped at the sides of the raft. The sound pounded at Natsumi's head, but that also might have been the lack of food or water that had plagued her since she had been set out to sea.

'I won't waste anymore energy on you. Let the sea finish you off.' The words of the pirate that had ruined her life echoed in her head. But she had been determined to survive, to see the smirk wiped off of the horrible pirate's face. But that had been when she was armed with a loaf of bread, a small bag of dried meat, and a single canteen of water. That had been a week ago? Two.. three? A month? She'd lost count.

Now that all of her supplies had diminished, she had a feeling that her journey was coming to an end. Her eyes continued to flicker open and shut as she slipped in and out of consciousness. A grater ran down her throat everytime she swallowed and her skin had been so exposed to the sun that it was painful to do anything but lie there. It would be so easy to just let go, let the sea do the job it had been instructed to do.

Each wave that hit the dinghy started to feel more like a lullaby than a pound to a never ending headache. It hadn't been hard to imagine the home that she longed for.

When she closed her eyes she was there. Her and Kiriya's laughs echoed in the wind as Natsumi chased her through the garden while their parents sipped at cups of tea and watched them lovingly. Her father's feet pounded after her, his tea long forgotten as he delighted in joining his daughter's game. His arms wrapped around her and she was pulled in close. Her eyes caught her father's wedding ring, a silver band with a small circular flower intricately carved into the center, glinting in the sun. His laughter boomed in her ears and she couldn't fight the childish giggles that left her mouth. He was so close, Natsumi could smell his cologne drifting in on the sea breeze.

"Boat! There's a boat drifting out there!" She had expected to hear her father's voice, the deep, rich sound that had made her feel safe her entire life. Instead it was the voice of a teenage boy, one close to her age. "Boat! I think it's abandoned!"

••●••🃏⚔••●••🌊🏴‍☠️️••●••🪻🚬••●••

Natsumi's nose wrinkled, the sun had moved from the side of her room where it had illuminated her walls to now shining in her eyes. She tried to turn away from the light and instead received a mouth full of blonde hair. Hair that was supposed to be down in the kitchen chopping away at vegetables and taking rolls out of the oven. Not lying in her bed, with his legs tangled around hers.