A Small Thing
Sep. 13th, 2006 02:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dethoratsI finally managed to write a small bit of basically nakama fluff with only the slightest hint towards my own pairing tendencies. From Chapter 424 because I love every panel of it to itty bitty pieces.
Title: Three Point Perspective
Rating: G
Pairing: NaChoRo, but not really
Word Count: 1236
“Robin!”
He was crying again and he didn’t care. Zoro had explained to him in a quiet aside after the craziness of the Davey Back fight had subsided that it was okay for men to cry if the circumstances were correct. Crying out of fear or shame or even certain kinds of pain was not allowed. But crying for joy was supposed to be perfectly acceptable, strong of him even. So he let his salty tears run freely down his cheeks, blending with the saltwater that clung heavily to his fur.
He didn’t know how he had gotten there but it didn’t matter. All that did stood before him, expression of surprise at the sudden tackle fading into a familiar smile now edged with a warmth he couldn’t recall having been there before. His arms hurt in a distant sort of way as he clung to Nami’s hair and reached around her sopping shoulder to touch the woman before them to make sure she was truly there. There was blood around her mouth, bruises at her eyes, and a weariness to her posture but something shone from Robin in spite of all that. A determined kind of pride and belief, the sort that came from being a Straw Hat pirate, from being nakama, radiated from her and Chopper could feel his own heart swell in return.
It seemed suddenly that it was only his heart holding him up as the leaden weight of his limbs pulled him down and he fell finally onto the deck, immobile in a way that not even his apparent trip through the ocean should have made him. The last thing he could remember was his frantic search for the key to Zoro and Soge King’s cuffs and stuffing that crazy octopus-hair man into a refrigerator. Everything went black after that until he opened his eyes on blue sky and the return of what they had all so desperately sought.
Worried faces, both strained and dirty, leaned over him and at that single moment all he wished was for the strength to shift, to grow big enough to wrap two strong arms around the people he loved and hold them close, safe. The world grew distant, or at least it seemed that the roaring in his ears should have accompanied a fade into unconsciousness, but then Soge King was shouting and Zoro’s rough commands pulled Nami and Robin upright and away. He struggled but he still couldn’t move, frozen and trapped by his own body on unfamiliar decking. It didn’t matter, though. Chopper had faith. With Robin back, the Straw Hats would win.
********
Water was in her lungs rather than air and Nami coughed, her body racked with a harsh tremor as the sea left her to spill on the deck. Blinking burning eyes, she listened with relief as Sanji and Uso – no, it was Soge King still for whatever reason – carried on behind her. It seemed that everyone had made it safely from the tunnel. Chopper was choking next to her and she turned to him, smiling when his wide brown eyes finally opened and turned to her own. He knew her again, no longer the monster with the blank eyes who had destroyed so much of the Tower of Justice, and the navigator let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
The usual antics were still going on in the background as she leaned over the young doctor. And then Sanji’s voice changed, warbled in the pitch he reserved for all the women who owned his far too chivalrous heart. With the rolling of the first syllable, Nami had risen to her feet. And as the second left his lips, she spun around, Chopper clinging nearly weightlessly to her. She carried him with her as she ran, sprinting across the deck with a burst of energy she shouldn’t have had.
It wasn’t until her arms closed too tightly around black-clad shoulders and her face was buried against a familiar, comforting chest that it seemed real. Robin was really there, whole, standing before her even if she did blur a little bit behind the few tears that threatened to spill. There was so much she wanted to say, to do, but it seemed she could manage little more than repetitions of the older woman’s name, clinging to her until hands came up to pat gently between her shoulders. Chopper fell almost immediately afterward, as if he had been hanging on thanks only to love, and she crouched over his small, young form after exchanging a wordless but meaningful glance with Robin.
And then there was no time to say anything further, for Zoro was using his command voice, the one he had used in Alabasta, and Navy battleships were closing in around them to capture Robin. Nami rose to her feet with her Clima Tact at the ready. They had come so far, had gotten Robin back. There was no way she, or the rest of her nakama, would let them take her away again.
*******
They lay on the deck, all of them except for the captain, and she watched from a few yards away as they coughed up water and went back to carrying on like their lives hadn’t nearly been lost again. Amazing people, all of them, these men and women she was proud to call nakama. When they had stood before her gazing across to the Tower of Justice as if the vast drop between them didn’t exist, something had swelled inside, broken and spilled over. She hadn’t known hope in a very, very long time but at that moment, when it had so recently looked like everything was coming to an end, they had stood defiant against an entire world just for her. No one had even come close to doing such a thing for twenty long and painful years and she had feared for her own humanity. But then Luffy came along and rescued her, brought her with him, with them, and she was saved.
Would be saved, since they had vowed it there. And it was true, for she was standing with nearly all of them now, on a ship that WOULD carry them away from the horror of the Buster Call. Even as her thoughts moved out of the recent past into the present, the cook finally caught sight of her. He leapt to his feet, as eager as always, only to be knocked aside by an orange and brown blur that nearly swept her off of her own feet. Nami and Chopper clung to her, her name joyful on their lips, and she felt a real smile bloom on her own as she gently returned the embrace. Her thanks went unregarded as her two nakama beamed at her through their tears.
Then the young doctor went toppling to the deck and the navigator shot her a glance heavy with suppressed worry as they both moved to kneel next to him. He seemed immobile and Robin had only a few seconds with which to attack this newest puzzle before the swordsman’s deep voice carried over the continuing cannon roar. She stood then, planted herself in front of the injured reindeer, and raised her arms. It was time to return the favor, to protect him and herself. Against her nakama, even the might of the World Government wouldn’t stand a chance.
Title: Three Point Perspective
Rating: G
Pairing: NaChoRo, but not really
Word Count: 1236
“Robin!”
He was crying again and he didn’t care. Zoro had explained to him in a quiet aside after the craziness of the Davey Back fight had subsided that it was okay for men to cry if the circumstances were correct. Crying out of fear or shame or even certain kinds of pain was not allowed. But crying for joy was supposed to be perfectly acceptable, strong of him even. So he let his salty tears run freely down his cheeks, blending with the saltwater that clung heavily to his fur.
He didn’t know how he had gotten there but it didn’t matter. All that did stood before him, expression of surprise at the sudden tackle fading into a familiar smile now edged with a warmth he couldn’t recall having been there before. His arms hurt in a distant sort of way as he clung to Nami’s hair and reached around her sopping shoulder to touch the woman before them to make sure she was truly there. There was blood around her mouth, bruises at her eyes, and a weariness to her posture but something shone from Robin in spite of all that. A determined kind of pride and belief, the sort that came from being a Straw Hat pirate, from being nakama, radiated from her and Chopper could feel his own heart swell in return.
It seemed suddenly that it was only his heart holding him up as the leaden weight of his limbs pulled him down and he fell finally onto the deck, immobile in a way that not even his apparent trip through the ocean should have made him. The last thing he could remember was his frantic search for the key to Zoro and Soge King’s cuffs and stuffing that crazy octopus-hair man into a refrigerator. Everything went black after that until he opened his eyes on blue sky and the return of what they had all so desperately sought.
Worried faces, both strained and dirty, leaned over him and at that single moment all he wished was for the strength to shift, to grow big enough to wrap two strong arms around the people he loved and hold them close, safe. The world grew distant, or at least it seemed that the roaring in his ears should have accompanied a fade into unconsciousness, but then Soge King was shouting and Zoro’s rough commands pulled Nami and Robin upright and away. He struggled but he still couldn’t move, frozen and trapped by his own body on unfamiliar decking. It didn’t matter, though. Chopper had faith. With Robin back, the Straw Hats would win.
********
Water was in her lungs rather than air and Nami coughed, her body racked with a harsh tremor as the sea left her to spill on the deck. Blinking burning eyes, she listened with relief as Sanji and Uso – no, it was Soge King still for whatever reason – carried on behind her. It seemed that everyone had made it safely from the tunnel. Chopper was choking next to her and she turned to him, smiling when his wide brown eyes finally opened and turned to her own. He knew her again, no longer the monster with the blank eyes who had destroyed so much of the Tower of Justice, and the navigator let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.
The usual antics were still going on in the background as she leaned over the young doctor. And then Sanji’s voice changed, warbled in the pitch he reserved for all the women who owned his far too chivalrous heart. With the rolling of the first syllable, Nami had risen to her feet. And as the second left his lips, she spun around, Chopper clinging nearly weightlessly to her. She carried him with her as she ran, sprinting across the deck with a burst of energy she shouldn’t have had.
It wasn’t until her arms closed too tightly around black-clad shoulders and her face was buried against a familiar, comforting chest that it seemed real. Robin was really there, whole, standing before her even if she did blur a little bit behind the few tears that threatened to spill. There was so much she wanted to say, to do, but it seemed she could manage little more than repetitions of the older woman’s name, clinging to her until hands came up to pat gently between her shoulders. Chopper fell almost immediately afterward, as if he had been hanging on thanks only to love, and she crouched over his small, young form after exchanging a wordless but meaningful glance with Robin.
And then there was no time to say anything further, for Zoro was using his command voice, the one he had used in Alabasta, and Navy battleships were closing in around them to capture Robin. Nami rose to her feet with her Clima Tact at the ready. They had come so far, had gotten Robin back. There was no way she, or the rest of her nakama, would let them take her away again.
*******
They lay on the deck, all of them except for the captain, and she watched from a few yards away as they coughed up water and went back to carrying on like their lives hadn’t nearly been lost again. Amazing people, all of them, these men and women she was proud to call nakama. When they had stood before her gazing across to the Tower of Justice as if the vast drop between them didn’t exist, something had swelled inside, broken and spilled over. She hadn’t known hope in a very, very long time but at that moment, when it had so recently looked like everything was coming to an end, they had stood defiant against an entire world just for her. No one had even come close to doing such a thing for twenty long and painful years and she had feared for her own humanity. But then Luffy came along and rescued her, brought her with him, with them, and she was saved.
Would be saved, since they had vowed it there. And it was true, for she was standing with nearly all of them now, on a ship that WOULD carry them away from the horror of the Buster Call. Even as her thoughts moved out of the recent past into the present, the cook finally caught sight of her. He leapt to his feet, as eager as always, only to be knocked aside by an orange and brown blur that nearly swept her off of her own feet. Nami and Chopper clung to her, her name joyful on their lips, and she felt a real smile bloom on her own as she gently returned the embrace. Her thanks went unregarded as her two nakama beamed at her through their tears.
Then the young doctor went toppling to the deck and the navigator shot her a glance heavy with suppressed worry as they both moved to kneel next to him. He seemed immobile and Robin had only a few seconds with which to attack this newest puzzle before the swordsman’s deep voice carried over the continuing cannon roar. She stood then, planted herself in front of the injured reindeer, and raised her arms. It was time to return the favor, to protect him and herself. Against her nakama, even the might of the World Government wouldn’t stand a chance.
