-Chapter Sixty-Eight-
"Oh, wow! Hey, come on—let me try!" Luffy excitedly shouted, eagerly rushing over to the two that were laughing with the intention of joining in on the fun.
"That doesn't look safe..." I muttered as I watched them.
"What doesn't?" Zoro asked.
"What Luffy and them are doing down there" I said, pointing down at the three on the deck as if motioning for him to take a look himself, instead, he only shrugged his shoulders.
"When does anything that they do look safe?" he questioned, leaning back as I hummed in thought before nodding.
"Good point..." I mumbled, peering back down at the group that was now playing around on the deck. "Though I'll admit, it does look kind of fun..." I confessed, smiling at their cheerful laughter as they went gliding along the deck on the handles of their mops. Leave it to Luffy and them to make such a simple act like cleaning look like the funnest thing in the world.
"Nami, you're working so hard—are you all finished now?" Sanji asked the second the ginger came out of her room.
"They work fast" I whistled, watching as the bubbles now started to build upon the deck the more the three went gliding around on their mops. Growing higher and higher with every passing second until they were practically towering over everyone's heads.
"No, what's going on out here?" Nami curiously asked.
"What are you doing with all this stuff anyway?" Sanji asked, only just now noticing what the three were doing.
"We're cleaning" Usopp simply responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"This is actually fun—you want to try it, Nami?" Luffy asked as Zoro and I finally decided to come down from the crow's nest and see what all the commotion was about.
"What's with all the noise down here?" Zoro grunted, scooping down and picking up a bar of soap that was just lying on the floor of the deck. "What is this stuff? The Smooth Skin Soap from earlier?" he asked.
"Who knew that little bar of soap could produce this many bubbles" I whistled, taking the bar of soap from his hands. "Such a shame that it was wasted on something like this, I'm sure the other women and I would have loved to try it..." I muttered, turning the bar around in my hand and taking notice of the dirt and splinters that now stuck to its surface. "Now I'll never have smooth skin" I wistfully sighed, dropping the soap back onto the ground.
"Like you actually care about that stuff" Zoro rolled his eyes. "Besides, you're skin's already pretty soft..." he mumbled, causing my face to split into a wide smile as my cheeks became dusted a light pink alongside his own.
"Hey, you guys, this isn't safe" Nami pointed out.
"Hey, that's what I was just thinking earlier" I said.
"No, we'll be fine!" Usopp laughed before suddenly smashing straight into Luffy's back.
"Luffy!" Chopper gasped when the rubber man went flying off the ship.
"You're such an idiot!" Zoro frowned.
"Gum Gum Bungee Jump!" Luffy quickly stretched his arms to grab onto the ship's figurehead and hurl himself back up on deck before he had a chance to hit the water's surface. "Move back, you guys!" he shouted as he came flying toward Nami and Sanji.
"Move!" Sanji knocked Nami to the ground just as Luffy shot past them and straight into Nami's room. I couldn't help but flinch at the loud crash that followed. "Are you hurt anywhere, Nami dear?" the blond worriedly asked once everything had settled down.
"Move it!" Nami frantically scrambled up onto her feet, shoving the blond aside as she rushed back into her room. "Argh! Look at my map!" upon hearing her shout, we gathered around the door and curiously peered inside the now-messy room.
"Oh, is that what you were doing? Drawing a map?" Luffy inquired, looking at the now-destroyed map the navigator was holding.
"A map?" Chopper questioned as he tentatively stepped into the room.
"That's what this important work of yours was?" Usopp questioned as he followed close behind the reindeer.
"That's right, it's the only map in the world I drew according to our journey through the Grand Line—it's one of a kind" Nami shakily nodded, already on the verge of tears as her grip on the destroyed map in her hands tightened. "Look at it now! Get out of here!" she angrily sneered.
"Nami?" Chopper worriedly questioned once the navigator started to push Usopp out of the room.
"Just leave now!" she huffed.
"Nami?" Luffy tilted his head as he finally sat up.
"What now?!" she snapped, clearly not in the mood to deal with him for another second.
"I'm sorry" he softly apologized, bowing his head.
"Sorry isn't going to cut it this time, Luffy—now just leave already!" Nami seethed, picking him up as she harshly threw him out of the room. "Leave or I'm going to fine you all 100,000 belis!" she angrily threatened.
"This is your fault, Zoro..." Sanji suddenly muttered, already walking away with the rest of the men as Nami slammed the door to her room shut.
"How do you figure that?" Zoro frowned, clearly irritated by the sudden accusation.
"I agree with Sanji" Usopp nodded.
"What?!" the swordsman snapped as the men started to bicker with one another—moving farther away from Nami's bedroom door in order to leave her alone and give her the privacy she had so harshly demanded. I didn't move, lingering for a moment before I heaved a sigh.
"Nami" I gently knocked, rasping my knuckles against the wooden door as I leaned in close.
"Go away" was the muffled response I got.
"Like I'm going to leave you alone while you're this upset—you want someone to talk to?" I asked.
"No! Now go away, Skylar, or else I'm going to fine you!" she threatened after a moment's silence as if she had needed to think over my offer first.
"Empty threats aren't going to drive me away, Nami."
"You want to bet that that's an empty threat?"
"Er...well, no..." I admitted, averting my gaze elsewhere as I nervously started to sweat at the thought of her actually following through with her threat. "I'd rather not take that bet, but still...I'm here if you need to talk, you know that, right?" I asked, shaking my head and steeling my resolve once more.
"Well, I don't need to talk—now go away!" I sighed, silently mulling over if I should push it or not before finally, I decided against the idea of bothering her any longer.
"Alright, but don't think I'm leaving because I'm scared of your wrath or anything..." I muttered. "But know that I'm here if you ever need to talk, I know how frustrating the others can sometimes be, but that doesn't mean you have to be alone while you seethe" and with that, I left to go rejoin the others.
-Later-
"He sure does like it up here..." I mumbled, looking down at the stuffed rabbit in my hands as Zoro loudly snored from behind me. Once more did we sit up in the crow's nest and away from everyone else, our bodies sort of crowded close together as I now found myself nestled back against the swordsman as he slept. Peering back and up at his sleeping face, I couldn't help but smile upon seeing just how peaceful he looked at the moment compared to the scowl he had been wearing earlier thanks to the others. There was something nice about seeing him look so content and peaceful as if all of his worries were no more and he could finally relax. It made my heart practically flutter as I subconsciously found my hand reaching up only to stop just short of his face as if I was afraid I'd wake him the second I touch him.
"You just have to remember..." I eventually sighed, hand dropping as I once again wrapped my arms around the stuffed animal pressed to my chest and curled into myself. "I know it's selfish of me to push all the responsibility onto you...but..." I didn't finish as he continued to snooze away from behind me. I didn't want to admit that I was being a coward in not taking the initiative despite feeling so certain that he truly did remember the friendship we shared all those years ago...
But I could feel it.
It was small. But I could feel that same itching sensation of fear and doubt deep within me followed by the sickening thought of possible rejection and humiliation should there be a slim chance that I was wrong in my assumption. Somewhere in the back of my mind, that small voice seemed to just taunt me, telling me that taking the initiative myself would only lead to disaster and ruin everything between us. Ruin this peaceful nostalgia currently being shared and rebuilt between us. To voice my remembrance and ask for his own feels like nothing short of a death sentence despite the logical part of me knowing how ridiculous that sounds. Yet...logic meant nothing in the face of fear and terror—it meant nothing in the face of overthinking and always fearing the worse because the worse is all I've ever known and all I can expect from those around me no matter how much I want to believe that that isn't true.
But...it's hard not to think that when everyone was always proving such a fear right...
"Chopper?" I blinked, jolting back to the present after hearing the reindeer's frantic cries down below on the deck. Peering over the edge of the crow's nest to make sure that he wasn't in any trouble, I jumped when I suddenly felt a drop of rain hit the top of my head. "Rain?" I muttered as I looked up, now staring up at the gray clouds that had formed in the sky while I was lost in my own head.
"Hey, you guys, how long were you all planning on staying asleep?" Nami asked as she came out onto the deck. Upon hearing her voice, there was a sudden skip in Zoro's snores as he woke up and started to look around.
"What's going on?" he tiredly asked, sleepily rubbing his eye.
"Don't know, but we better head down there and see" I responded, motioning him to follow as we climbed down from the crow's nest to meet up with the others down on the deck.
"What is that thing?" Luffy asked, tilting his head as he suddenly spotted a cloud-filled wind that seemed to be rotating right over the ocean and close to the ship like a tornado.
"Waterspout?" Usopp guessed.
"Yeah, no kidding" Zoro agreed.
"Waterspout!" Usopp suddenly screamed once he realized he was right.
"Luffy, Zoro—you guys, fold the sails!" Nami quickly ordered without skipping a beat.
"Right!" the two nodded, quick to run off and do as she had instructed.
"Usopp, Chopper—secure the stuff on the deck with ropes!" Nami pointed.
"Got it!" the two quickly scampered off to do what they were told.
"Sanji, Skylar—harp the starboard, now! Steer the ship away from the waterspout or else we're toast!" she firmly instructed as we nodded and quickly went off to do our job. "One more thing, if my map gets washed away by winds or something during this storm, then you're all going to pay and the price will be very steep" she ominously threatened.
"She's scary" Chopper whimpered.
"Yeah..." I muttered in agreement.
-Time Skip-
"Damn, this fog is too thick to see through—I can't tell what's right in front of us" Usopp cursed from his spot up in the crow's nest. "Luffy, you see anything?" he called down toward the captain who was currently seated on top of the ship's figurehead up front. "Wait a second, I think I can see something now—hey guys, there's a giant ship right in front of us!" he shouted before the captain could respond.
"Sanji, get the helm! Turn on the starboard now" Nami ordered.
"Nami, I made something just for you!" Sanji cooed in response, hearts all around him as he came barging out of the kitchen before halting when he finally took notice of the ship that was currently in front of us.