Freedom & Fate | One Piece x Reader

Chapter 13 | Apology

While you dried off your weapons, nobody was saying a word. It has never been this quiet on the boat, except at night, when most of you were sleeping. You've been sitting in the same position, back turned at everyone, for a long time.

After you finish, you slowly turn your head to take a peek at what the others are doing. Only now you hear snoring from the two guys. You wonder for how long they've been asleep and let out a deep sigh.

My guns are useless as long as I don't replace the gunpowder.

You glance at the black pouch belted around your right thigh. Hesitantly you zip open the fairly small bag to see what you put in there. Maybe it contains a clue about your past. Fortunately, the contents aren't wet due to the pouch being shut closely by the zipper. You take out one item after the other.

Several clips of bullets bound together and a single 12-set clip of dark grey bullets. Three coins. No clues, no gunpowder.

While you are at it, you rummage through the pockets of your shorts. In the left one are two lemon drop wrappers and in the right one is a neat small piece of paper with your name written in the corner. You wonder how it didn't get crumpled in your pocket.

You quickly put everything back in place, when you hear the creaking of wood and footsteps coming closer to you.

"You should untie your ponytail for your hair to dry."

Just as you are suggested to, you remove your black hair tie, without looking up at the other girl. Your damp hair falls onto your shoulder blades, covering two-thirds of your back. You feel a little uncomfortable about what happened earlier, so you're trying to find the right wording for an apology.

"Now that I look at it, your hair is pretty long Y/N!" Nami says. "And the colour is really pretty too. Did you dye it?"

Hearing that you finally look her in the eyes.

"I-I didn't mean to say it looks unnatural, I just think it's impressively dark, like charcoal! N-No, wait. It's more ink-like. No! It's better to say obsidian-coloured!"

Your face still remains expressionless as Nami seems to start getting nervous. As she continues to stutter comparisons, you can't help but snicker. "It's black, my hair is black. And thanks, I like the colour of your hair too."

She is taken aback by your reply but immediately gives you a big smile. The mood feels a lot lighter now.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier. I don't know what got into me," you apologise.

"Don't worry about it. You only protected what's important to you. I understand that." She sits down next to you, still smiling.

The corners of your mouth curl up into a soft smile. "Nami, you're a good person." You reach your hand to the right side of your leather belt to remove your knife from the straps, which were holding it onto the belt. You move your fingers along the fine metal sheath. When you reach the hilt, you pull the blade out and hold it against the sunlight.

It's beautiful.

You slide the knife back into its sheath and press it into Nami's hands. She looks at you wide-eyed as she balances it on her palms, scared to make any more contact.

"Go ahead. I trust you."

Her face lights up. She nods and firmly wraps her fingers around the handle to pull out the blade. The navigator admires the shiny, polished metal for a while, then flips it over to look at the other side. Immediately, her eyes are fixated on the letter carved into the blade. You follow her gaze and you too are now staring at the carving.

"What does this A stand for?" she eventually asks.

If only I knew the answer.

Noticing how you don't reply to her question, she quickly says: "Ah, sorry! You probably can't remember." She puts the blade into its scabbard and hands it back to you. You tell her it's fine and slide the knife back into the holes of the straps.

"You must really like the colours black and white."

You give her a questioning look.

"I mean, considering how everything you wear is either black or white. Even the cover of your knife is coloured that way, " she explains. "Well, everything except the belt and one of your pistols."

You look at down at yourself and think that Nami's observations are quite accurate. A thought crosses your mind and you grin at her playfully. "Guess what my favourite colour is."

"I would have said I have a fifty-fifty percent chance on guessing, but since you're grinning like that, I'm not so sure anymore."

"It's blue."

Nami nods a few times. She expected your answer not to be that obvious. Nonetheless, she thinks that blue is a very generic favourite colour. "Why is it blue?"

For once you don't have to question your response. "Because I like the sky and the ocean." Glancing up, you could see a clear sky and looking ahead is the vast sea. "But I like everything in-between too." You smile at her heartily.

"I guess you enjoy the simpler things in life." A short moment of silence falls between you. "My dream is to draw a map of the whole world. That's why I worked hard to become a high-class navigator!"

Your eyes widen. "That's an awesome dream! A world map... That means you'll travel the world?" She hums in approval. "Sounds fun," you mumble quietly, but loud enough for her to hear.

Her expression suddenly darkens and her smile vanishes. However, before you could notice any changes, she already went back to her cheerful self. She stands up and reaches a hand out to you. "Y/N, earlier I found some candy in the cabin, you want some?"

"You have candy?!" you nearly scream. Your mouth waters from the thought of the sugary goodness. You haven't had anything sweet for days.

She places an index finger on her lips. "Shhh, we don't want those two sleepyheads to find out."

You agree with her and jump up excitedly, hurrying to the cabin. Nami chuckles and follows after you.

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