Fic post, part 2 of 3
Jun. 22nd, 2008 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rainsometimesLuffy/Nami/Usopp fic continues here. I wonder if one could call these three the 'Hat Trio'?;) Though Luffy has entrusted his hat to Zoro and Vivi as well, but they never wore it...
As always, constructive criticism is quite appreciated, very much including nitpicks.
Title: Erratic Equilibrium, Part One
Rating: PG-13 for language and innuendo/mentions of sex
Setting: Post Thriller Bark from here on (spoilers up to and including chapter 489)
Pairing: Luffy/Nami/Usopp
Disclaimer and summary at the Intro
*
Time passed.
There were creepy ghost ships and fearsome living skeletons; there were awful zombies and mad doctors, a shadow-stealing Shichibukai and a Nami-stealing invisible pervert; negative ghosts and a really terrifying immensely big giant with Luffy’s fighting strength to boot; there were terrible battles and far too much danger and getting-knocked-down-again-and-again-but-getting-up-to-fight-with-everyone-ness; then there were Luffy who, rather worryingly, used his new powerful techniques and ended up all unconscious and unable to move; and then finally a second Shichibukai had turned up just when they thought it was all over, knocking everyone out.
Then they woke up, the Shichibukai having mysteriously disappeared, and they’d rested and had a great big party with beautiful music and a great new crewmate and drinking and silliness and dancing. Then they rested some more and at last, when Zoro was strong enough to travel, they set off from there and now they were all sailing again.
And somewhere down the line the flinching stopped almost completely; and Usopp started to feel that maybe it was all right to be kissing Luffy after all – secret, but still all right. Like maybe he was allowed.
And soon he started to get quite fed up with waiting.
*
The pen flew right across the desk to land somewhere on the floor. The inkhorn started to wobble dangerously and would quickly have submerged the chart Nami was working on with a ruinous flood of ink, had it not been for Robin’s sprouting hand deftly balancing it in the last moment.
Well, that was only fair, thought Nami. It was all Robin’s fault in the first place, for blurting out unexpected things without the slightest preamble.
She looked up at her tall crewmate, who was still standing beside the closed door to the study, leaning casually against the door-frame with her arms crossed.
“Eh – that was a joke, right?” managed Nami. “Please tell me that was a joke, Robin, or that I didn’t hear you right…”
Robin shook her head, smiling slightly. “It wasn't a joke. And I doubt you misheard me, Nami, your hearing is normally quite good.”
It still sounded a bit odd to hear Robin call her by name. Somehow she still managed to sound more polite than anyone else.
Nami took a deep breath. “But you just sounded like you said, ‘Luffy and Usopp are screwing on the gun deck’.” Which was a rather crude way of putting it, coming from Robin. Maybe she was just out to shock Nami after all.
Robin nodded calmly. “That is what I said, correct.”
“Are you serious?”
“Indeed. I happened to see them just now.”
“Oh.” Nami got up and went to pick up her pen from the floor, her legs just a little bit wobbly. She had always hoped she’d be able to take this kind of news in a grown-up manner, all mature and blasé about it. Now she knew she’d failed utterly – and in front of Robin, no less.
“We-well,” she mumbled. “Good for them, I guess.” Sitting down again, her fingertips began to draw useless, invisible circles on top of the sea chart in progress. “I hope Chopper doesn’t see it. It could scar him.”
“‘Scar’ might be a bit much,” said Robin, “but he is rather young, yes. He is reading the book I bought him in Water 7 on rare diseases at the moment, so I don’t think there’s any risk of that. I also hung up a sign that said the gun deck was closed off for the moment, due to work in progress.”
“Good thinking!” Nami gave her crewmate thumbs up.
“Yes, well, I imagine Franky’s going to be rather curious about that.” Robin’s smile grew a bit more crooked. “But he’s still up in the crow’s nest, so plenty of time to worry about that later. Do you think there is anyone else whose reactions we should be concerned about?”
Nami frowned. “Well, Sanji probably won’t care. But Zoro might freak out, you never know. It’s kinda hard to say. Franky will just be, well, loud. So we’d better not tell him.”
“Ah. Yes, I agree. And I would say the same goes for Brook.”
“Of course.” Nami nodded, then sighed, assaulted by a sudden headache. “So where is everyone now?”
“Zoro is training on the lawn and Sanji is in the galley. Brook was there too when I last him, trying to help out with potato peeling.”
“Ah, okay... Look, Robin, if you see those boys before I do, could you tell them I want to have a word with them here, in private?”
“Of course. No problem.” Robin nodded in understanding, and turned to go.
“Wait!” Nami burst out. “Not right away, though – I mean even if they get up here real soon. Let’s say no sooner than an hour from now. Because, because I’m going to, um…take a bath now!” She nodded to herself. Bath, yeah, she liked the sound of that. A nice long bath would help her collect her thoughts. “Oh, and... thanks for telling me, Robin,” she added hastily, smiling back at the older woman in belated gratitude.
Robin just smiled at her again – a small and knowing but still rather fond smile, before ducking her head and strolling out.
And what would you do, if you were in my shoes, Robin? Nami couldn’t help but wonder, sitting alone at her drawing table again. Probably something very thoughtful and incisive, and at the same time quite practical and worldly-wise, she thought with another little sigh.
And probably not something that felt far too aware and caught up with the thought of her captain and their sniper down there below deck right now. Because that felt puerile and stupid, and Robin wouldn’t think like that, she was too grown up. They were such boys, after all.
She kept chewing the end of her pencil while staring out into the air in a distracted fashion, now and then muttering things like “No”, “Uh-uh”, “No way”, “Yeah, that could work” or “Well, maybe” to herself. Then after a good many minutes of pretending to work she got up, pulled out one of her drawers and looked at something inside. She nodded twice to herself with a firm expression. But she was biting her lips when she set off towards the bathroom to turn the tap on.
Waiting for the tub to be full, she took a brief stroll around the ship with the vague intention of checking that everything seemed to be okay, but without actually paying much attention to things. She was back in the bathroom and had already half undressed when she suddenly swore loudly, got her clothes back on and ran up to the bridge to check that they really were on course and that the weather was stable, as she should have been doing at least half an hour ago. She was all red in the face when she got back – Nami never forgot about navigating, what was with her, honestly – and smacked herself on the forehead several times before stepping into hot bubbly water.
*
Edit: Link to Part Two
As always, constructive criticism is quite appreciated, very much including nitpicks.
Title: Erratic Equilibrium, Part One
Rating: PG-13 for language and innuendo/mentions of sex
Setting: Post Thriller Bark from here on (spoilers up to and including chapter 489)
Pairing: Luffy/Nami/Usopp
Disclaimer and summary at the Intro
*
Time passed.
There were creepy ghost ships and fearsome living skeletons; there were awful zombies and mad doctors, a shadow-stealing Shichibukai and a Nami-stealing invisible pervert; negative ghosts and a really terrifying immensely big giant with Luffy’s fighting strength to boot; there were terrible battles and far too much danger and getting-knocked-down-again-and-again-but-getting-up-to-fight-with-everyone-ness; then there were Luffy who, rather worryingly, used his new powerful techniques and ended up all unconscious and unable to move; and then finally a second Shichibukai had turned up just when they thought it was all over, knocking everyone out.
Then they woke up, the Shichibukai having mysteriously disappeared, and they’d rested and had a great big party with beautiful music and a great new crewmate and drinking and silliness and dancing. Then they rested some more and at last, when Zoro was strong enough to travel, they set off from there and now they were all sailing again.
And somewhere down the line the flinching stopped almost completely; and Usopp started to feel that maybe it was all right to be kissing Luffy after all – secret, but still all right. Like maybe he was allowed.
And soon he started to get quite fed up with waiting.
*
The pen flew right across the desk to land somewhere on the floor. The inkhorn started to wobble dangerously and would quickly have submerged the chart Nami was working on with a ruinous flood of ink, had it not been for Robin’s sprouting hand deftly balancing it in the last moment.
Well, that was only fair, thought Nami. It was all Robin’s fault in the first place, for blurting out unexpected things without the slightest preamble.
She looked up at her tall crewmate, who was still standing beside the closed door to the study, leaning casually against the door-frame with her arms crossed.
“Eh – that was a joke, right?” managed Nami. “Please tell me that was a joke, Robin, or that I didn’t hear you right…”
Robin shook her head, smiling slightly. “It wasn't a joke. And I doubt you misheard me, Nami, your hearing is normally quite good.”
It still sounded a bit odd to hear Robin call her by name. Somehow she still managed to sound more polite than anyone else.
Nami took a deep breath. “But you just sounded like you said, ‘Luffy and Usopp are screwing on the gun deck’.” Which was a rather crude way of putting it, coming from Robin. Maybe she was just out to shock Nami after all.
Robin nodded calmly. “That is what I said, correct.”
“Are you serious?”
“Indeed. I happened to see them just now.”
“Oh.” Nami got up and went to pick up her pen from the floor, her legs just a little bit wobbly. She had always hoped she’d be able to take this kind of news in a grown-up manner, all mature and blasé about it. Now she knew she’d failed utterly – and in front of Robin, no less.
“We-well,” she mumbled. “Good for them, I guess.” Sitting down again, her fingertips began to draw useless, invisible circles on top of the sea chart in progress. “I hope Chopper doesn’t see it. It could scar him.”
“‘Scar’ might be a bit much,” said Robin, “but he is rather young, yes. He is reading the book I bought him in Water 7 on rare diseases at the moment, so I don’t think there’s any risk of that. I also hung up a sign that said the gun deck was closed off for the moment, due to work in progress.”
“Good thinking!” Nami gave her crewmate thumbs up.
“Yes, well, I imagine Franky’s going to be rather curious about that.” Robin’s smile grew a bit more crooked. “But he’s still up in the crow’s nest, so plenty of time to worry about that later. Do you think there is anyone else whose reactions we should be concerned about?”
Nami frowned. “Well, Sanji probably won’t care. But Zoro might freak out, you never know. It’s kinda hard to say. Franky will just be, well, loud. So we’d better not tell him.”
“Ah. Yes, I agree. And I would say the same goes for Brook.”
“Of course.” Nami nodded, then sighed, assaulted by a sudden headache. “So where is everyone now?”
“Zoro is training on the lawn and Sanji is in the galley. Brook was there too when I last him, trying to help out with potato peeling.”
“Ah, okay... Look, Robin, if you see those boys before I do, could you tell them I want to have a word with them here, in private?”
“Of course. No problem.” Robin nodded in understanding, and turned to go.
“Wait!” Nami burst out. “Not right away, though – I mean even if they get up here real soon. Let’s say no sooner than an hour from now. Because, because I’m going to, um…take a bath now!” She nodded to herself. Bath, yeah, she liked the sound of that. A nice long bath would help her collect her thoughts. “Oh, and... thanks for telling me, Robin,” she added hastily, smiling back at the older woman in belated gratitude.
Robin just smiled at her again – a small and knowing but still rather fond smile, before ducking her head and strolling out.
And what would you do, if you were in my shoes, Robin? Nami couldn’t help but wonder, sitting alone at her drawing table again. Probably something very thoughtful and incisive, and at the same time quite practical and worldly-wise, she thought with another little sigh.
And probably not something that felt far too aware and caught up with the thought of her captain and their sniper down there below deck right now. Because that felt puerile and stupid, and Robin wouldn’t think like that, she was too grown up. They were such boys, after all.
She kept chewing the end of her pencil while staring out into the air in a distracted fashion, now and then muttering things like “No”, “Uh-uh”, “No way”, “Yeah, that could work” or “Well, maybe” to herself. Then after a good many minutes of pretending to work she got up, pulled out one of her drawers and looked at something inside. She nodded twice to herself with a firm expression. But she was biting her lips when she set off towards the bathroom to turn the tap on.
Waiting for the tub to be full, she took a brief stroll around the ship with the vague intention of checking that everything seemed to be okay, but without actually paying much attention to things. She was back in the bathroom and had already half undressed when she suddenly swore loudly, got her clothes back on and ran up to the bridge to check that they really were on course and that the weather was stable, as she should have been doing at least half an hour ago. She was all red in the face when she got back – Nami never forgot about navigating, what was with her, honestly – and smacked herself on the forehead several times before stepping into hot bubbly water.
*
Edit: Link to Part Two
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-06-21 08:14 pm (UTC)I still love this whole fic! :D
no subject
Date: 2008-06-21 09:04 pm (UTC)Luffy has consciously entrusted his hat to other people on five different occasions that I can think of (there may be other occasions that I've missed.)
The first time was to Nami in Arlong Park. She took it and wore it.
The second time to Zoro at the entrance to Reverse Mountain, when Luffy needed to jump ship and do a Gomu Gomu no Balloon thing (or whatever it's called) to save the Merry from getting smashed. Zoro took the hat but didn't wear it. (Actually, we didn't see where he put it.) It was very brief, but still happened. With a neat Luffy-Zoro handshake to follow.
The third time was to Vivi in Little Garden, when he needed to fight Dorry who held him or his crew responsible for putting gunpowder in his beer. Vivi took the hat but didn't wear it.
The fourth time was to Nami, again, in Skypiea when facing Ener. At first he just lost the hat when he fell from Maxim, and Nami picked it up, but later on he gave it to her outright. She wore it on her butt. ;) This does single Nami out as the only one to be offered the strawhat more than once.
And the fifth time was to Usopp when Luffy was going to fight Foxy and wear the afro. We didn't actually see him offering, but of course Usopp could hardly just have taken the hat without permission. Usopp put his goggles on it, which made it less obviously Luffy's. A nice manager look for him. ^_^
Aaand thank you! I am presently wondering if I should cross-post this, and if so whether to
no subject
Date: 2008-06-21 09:44 pm (UTC)Probably the general com yeah.