cartographie: (pic#16797210)

posts this cursed fkin tag AGAIN

[personal profile] cartographie 2025-08-02 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
They're crew. They rise and fall together, each having thrown their lot in with Luffy and his journey to the Grand Line and beyond. A band of weird, desperate souls who will likely see one another at their bests and worsts for years to come; but still, being privy to Zoro's softness will probably never fail to blow Nami's mind. He's so beautiful, she struggles to understand how she didn't end up head over heels in love on day one. While Nami knows that Zoro grapples with the things she's done at this resort in the painfully long stretch of time before he arrived, she's almost grateful for that experience. Without it, it's likely she would still be trying to rail against the giddiness and affection that's rooted itself so deep in her heart it's become a part of it. He presses on her covetous side like few could, and it should rankle her instead of being part of the joy, but she's better equipped to love him like he ought to be loved than she was when she arrived.

It isn't greed that's got her going along with this utterly sappy idea, it's love. She'll always want to assert that he's hers, and she's his, no matter how skewed the House makes those lines, but the idea of him finding her in every lifeโ€“ well.

Before Zoro, Nami would not have known that happiness could feel like electricity made tangible, like if she moved her hands away from the bottoms of the lanterns where she's helping him hold them to launch and settled them on her chest instead she might be able to feel her fingertips tickling against the very warmth he leaves her suffused with. Her face feels warm, but she's past the point of trying to hide how flushed he always leaves her, instead nodding when he tells her to count off, as she returns that smile with an almost foolishly wide grin.

"Three, two," Nami's fingers press against the bottom of the lanterns like she's on the verge of helping him get them airborne. "Promise to find you before you get the chance to get lost in our next life." Which counts as a one. She moves to release the lanterns and then settle beside him, her head resting on his shoulder when she tilts it back to watch them float towards the fake sky.