Work Text:
“What’s all this?” Zoro was less than impressed as he looked down at the pile of things Nami had dropped onto the bench that hugged the edge of the Crow’s Nest. The pile consisted of three bottles of what seemed to be nail polish, two weird packets, and a couple of blankets.
“I need your help,” Nami said, laying the blankets down on the ground, folding them and layering them to create a soft space, “This might take a while so we should be comfy.”
“I was in the middle of a workout you know,” he crossed his arms, his mouth twisted into its normal scowl. The sun had gone down around the Thousand Sunny and its crew had quieted for the night.
“You’re so full of it, I heard you snoring from halfway down the ladder,” she rolled her eyes as she sat cross-legged on the blanket, staring expectantly up at the green-haired swordsman. When he didn’t move, she cleared her throat and patted the spot across from her.
His arms were still crossed as he shook his head, “I don’t know what you’re up to, but I’m not doing it.”
But the navigator ignored him, looking at the backs of the two thin packets, “So which mask do you want? This one is honey and it's a… ‘moisturizing and radiating mask sheet containing honey’ blah, blah, blah, ‘provides extra glow’ and ‘helps regain skin radiance and moisture.’ Or you can use this one. It’s blueberry. It’s a ‘highly nourishing mask sheet containing blueberry extract’ and it’s supposed to ‘help regain skin softness and youthful impression.’ How’s your youthful impression?”
“I told you I’m not—”
“It could use some work. Here,” she held out the blue packet for Zoro. Their eyes locked in a battle that Nami knew she would win. A moment passed by.
“Dammit, Nami,” he grabbed the packet and sat down cross-legged before her, “What does ‘youthful impression’ even mean?” He opened the packet and pulled out the neatly folded, damp, face sheet, “What the?”
“Okay, follow me,” Nami took the damp mask from the honey packet in her hands. The moisturizing liquid dribbled down her fingers as she unfolded the mask, keeping an eye on Zoro mimicking her movements. The sheet was oval in shape with two spots for eyes, a flap for a nose, and a wide spot at the bottom for a mouth.
“It looks like you could wear this to kill someone and get away with it,” he blinked, examining the beauty product.
“But we wouldn’t want to do that because murder isn’t relaxing,” Nami shook her head as she began to put the mask on her face. He watched her pat it down onto her skin and repeated her motions.
“That’s ‘cause you’re doing it wrong,” he noticed her glare, his hands patting down the mask onto his face, “Kidding! Hey, this actually stays on pretty well. Am I nourished yet?”
“Of course it stays, and no, you have to wait, um, fifteen to twenty minutes to be nourished,” she read the back of the packet, “Which is plenty of time for you to help me with part two.”
“Part two?” he blinked as the three bottles of nail polish were thrust into his hands, “this again?”
“Yes this again, I want my nails painted and you’re the only one who can help me,” she watched as Zoro looked at the nail polish, one was a top coat/bottom coat combo, one was called ‘Legendary’ – a deep blue, and the third was a golden color named ‘Antique Gold’, “Do whatever, but I want it to be cute. I trust you.”
“I can’t be the only person on this ship who can help you with your nails,” he sighed heavily as he gripped the top to the coating, twisting it open. The familiar smell of polish filled the small area, “What about Robin? She’s a girl.”
“Robin’s with Franky right now,” Nami held out her right hand to start, feeling Zoro’s callused palm as he held her fingers with care, starting to run the clear polish over each fingernail.
“So? Make her not be with Franky right now. Other hand,” His voice was light with the command. She pulled back the freshly coated nails before resting her other hand on the same palm.
“No, Robin’s with Franky right now,” Nami’s eyebrows moved upwards with her head to emphasize the ‘with.’ Zoro’s mouth made an “o” as he understood.
“What about Usopp? Aren’t you two like, slumber party buddies or something?” He released her hand once more and took the blue polish, hitting the bottle against the palm of his hand to mix up the color inside.
“He’s with Luffy,” at that Zoro’s eyebrow raised, “No, not with him. You know how Luffy is though, if I ask Usopp in front of Luffy then Luffy’s going to want to join in and I don’t want to have to worry about another nail polish fight. Besides, Franky would kill us if we stained the Sunny with ‘Legendary’ and ‘Antique Gold.’”
Her right hand had gotten a light base of Legendary before the rough hands moved with care to her left hand.
“And also… I think I need your input,” Nami sighed, her shoulders dropping as she looked out the window of the Crow’s Nest, staring past the horizon of the ocean.
“If it’s fashion advice, you’re gonna have to ask Usopp or Robin, I’m shit with that,” he twisted his mouth in thought and for the first time Nami realized that he had not put the top of the coating back in its bottle and instead was holding it between his lips as he swiped over her fingernails again with the blue polish to create a deeper color, “Actually, Brook is really good at that fashion stuff.”
“Don’t worry, it isn’t fashion. Trust me, you’re like, third-to-last I would go to for fashion,” she sighed, “It’s about her.”
“Her? Which ‘her’?”
“Vivi.”
“Ah. Missing her?” He glanced up at Nami for a moment as he kept the blue brush between his index finger and thumb, gripping the top of the gold color with his other three fingers and twisting it open.
“I’ve just been… thinking about her a lot. I send her things whenever we’re in a town. Kinda to keep her updated on us so she doesn’t have to rely on the papers. And also to tell her I wish she were here, that we all do. I can send her things easy enough, but she can’t exactly send us stuff back since we’re always moving so I don’t know if she likes it or not.”
“Which really means you’ve still got it pretty bad for her and you’re hoping she’s gonna wait for you?” he said bluntly as he began to add a golden manicure tip to her pinkie nail, hunching over to get a better look.
“You’re really annoying when you’re perceptive, you know that, right?” Nami frowned, “But yeah, I mean, when we parted? I thought she liked me. And I guess I hoped that maybe she liked me enough that… waiting was an option. But she’s got a kingdom and suitors who all can give her so much more than I ever could. Maybe I was making it all up? Maybe I was reading too much into things? I felt like she really liked me but….”
“You weren’t reading too much into things,” Zoro continued to add the manicure tips to Nami’s middle finger, index finger, and thumb. But on her ring finger he carefully made small dots.
“But what if she doesn’t-”
“She does. She likes you, at least. Don’t be stupid, worrying about shit like that,” He placed the final dots before picking up her other hand.
“You’re one to talk,” Nami muttered under her breath.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Zoro glanced up at her before shaking his head again, “Come on, when has worrying about anything helped? If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen. If not, well, you’ll find someone else.”
“But what if I don’t?” and Zoro’s eyes gained a questioning look.
“Since when have you worried about something like that? Aren’t you having fun right now, with us? As a Straw Hat?”
“Well, of course—”
“So what’s the problem? Live now and don’t worry about the future. It’s not like any of us are that good with sticking to plans anyway, so making one for your future is a waste of time.”
“Well I was fine with that but then I started to think—”
“There’s your first mistake,” and with her free hand she gave him a gentle smack on the shoulder, “Hey, hey! Do you want me to mess up your nails?”
“You’re an ass, I hope you know that.”
“I’ve been told. Mostly by you.”
“Good. Anyway, I just started to think and I realized that I might actually want a family in the future and at this point, that might not happen. We could die at any time and, Zoro, I might not ever actually get to find that person or wear a wedding dress or any of that. Right?”
“Do you want the best friend response or the honest response?” he was repeating the design, making similar dots on the same finger on the opposite hand.
“Honest.”
“Then you might not.”
“Don’t tell me that!”
“But you just said—”
Nami sighed heavily, “Zoro, everyone knows when someone tells you to be honest about something like this you’re supposed to give the best friend response.”
“Okay! Then of course it will happen.”
“But now I know you’re lying,”
“I’m not lying! It will happen. Nami,” he held her palms in his, gripping them tight with his middle, ring, and pinkie fingers, taking a break from the painting as he looked into her warm brown eyes with an honest, holding gaze. Staring past their silly face masks, ignoring the fumes of nail polish as their ship bobbed with the small waves of the ocean, his voice was soft yet firm, “You are an amazing, smart, funny woman. Anyone, girl or guy, would be so happy to have you by their side. Who knows? Maybe whoever it is isn’t as far away as you think. Maybe it’ll be like the…” he paused a moment, “shit cook, or someone.”
“You hesitated.”
“What?” He questioned, switching the top coat brush between his lips with the Antique Gold between his fingers.
“You hesitated putting me with Sanji,” she tilted her head, watching the powerful swordsman swipe the clear top coat over each fingernail, “Could it be because… you want him instead?”
Zoro stopped what he was doing and narrowed his eyes at her. Taking the colored polish he had in his other hand he ran it across the back of her forearm, leaving a streak of Legendary on her sun-kissed skin.
“Hey! What was that for? Defensive much?”
And then he grabbed the other colored polish from his lips using his middle and ring finger, swiping another mark. This time it was Antique Gold on the back of the opposite hand.
“None of this is helping your case, Zoro,” Antique Gold’s brush had gone back between his lips and he finished the top coat. Parting their hands he began to put the tops back on each of the small bottles.
“It’s… complicated,” he finally admitted, sighing, “I don’t know. He’s such a cocky bastard but….”
“You like cocky bastards, they give you a fight,” Nami offered.
“Yeah, I guess,” he nodded, “But….”
“But?”
“Well, I wonder if I wouldn’t be happier with someone I don’t fight with all the time,” he paused a moment, glancing over towards Nami, “This is all hypothetical, of course.”
“So, hypothetically, do you have someone in mind you’d be happier with? Who is it?” she held her hands out, shaking them slightly to try and dry them faster. Zoro hesitated once more, Nami growing more curious with each passing moment; she had an idea on the answer. It was fun, though, watching Zoro squirm like he was. He shifted a little uncomfortably – was he embarrassed?
Finally, words came, “He drives me to become even better and… I guess I just like calling him ‘Captain’, following his orders, y’know… stuff like that,” that was the closest thing to an admission that Nami was going to get, but it was good enough.
“Kinky,” She could see the blush from under the face mask, “Oh, we can probably take these things off. Help me Zoro! My nails are still wet.”
Zoro rolled his eyes, leaning forward and peeling the mask off of her face, placing the damp, used sheet on top of its former holder before repeating the actions with his own, “My face feels all… wet. Do you wipe this off or something?”
Nami shook her head, beginning to pat her face with the palm of her hands, “no, pat the rest of it in and leave it there.”
He did as she said before taking the used face masks and packets, standing up to toss them in the small waste bin kept up there. On his return he pulled the chain connected to the light in the small part of the Sunny, turning it off before taking a seat next to Nami once more. With a yawn he leaned back against the bench, opening his arms and inviting her into them. The woman didn’t hesitate as she moved so that she wouldn’t mess up her nails, resting against his rock of a body. It still was amazing to her, how this man could be feared by so many. His hands were rough from training, his body muscular and hard. There were people who called him a demon. But this demon with steady hands had painted her nails once more and had worn a face mask with her and had talked her through a crisis and now he was holding her tight in his arms without wanting anything more than her to feel comfortable and safe.
She melted into his tight grip and could tell that he was starting to fall asleep. Her eyelids were growing heavy too as she moved to pull one of the blankets over top of them. Zoro’s arms loosened enough for her to adjust herself for comfort and she rested her head on his chest, “Zoro?”
“Hm?” His eyes were closed, but she knew he was listening.
“You’ll find someone too. And whoever they are… they’re going to be incredibly lucky.”
In the light of the moon that coated the two of them, she saw the corners of his mouth tilt upward, his arms squeezing her just a little tighter. Then in this little moment Nami was sure greatly resembled pure serenity, the navigator and the swordsman were rocked to sleep by the gentle waves of the Grand Line.