a Valentine's exchange organised by the OPVD, for noartificialfruitjuice!

A ver happy valentine's to you; I hope you enjoy! (and that you spent your day surrounded by the friends and family that love you 3)

Title inspired by Louise Hawes' "Bearings"

Nami's arrow points out to sea.

It always has, ever since she'd been a child, and it'd stayed steady as Nami travelled the seas. Sometimes - in emergencies - she'd used it to mark her compass and guide herself home, but she had never, ever expected to meet the person that her arrow pointed at.

She'd never wanted to meet them. It was easier that way. Safer, that way, to not think about her soulmate, and her soulmate's reaction to the things she'd done. If they pitied her, were disgusted by her, how could she love them? And, conversely, if they were proud, if they were a thief like her- how could she trust them?

Soulmates were complicated, and meeting hers...

Jinbe called her name, breaking her from her reverie, and she stuck her head out of her room to say back, "What's wrong?"

"There's a ship hailing us," he says, all stiff and formal and respectful, and she smiles to see it. He'll unlace soon enough, just like everyone does, but it's still funny to know that at the moment he still seems to think he needs to stand on ceremony. "They're right in our path."

"Do we know who?" she asks, and he shakes his head but she's already climbing up the stairs. As she passes Usopp she snags his spyglass and ignores his annoyed, 'hey!'. Snapping it out to full length, she peers through the lens and tries to pick out the flag, or any figures that she knows.

She grins. "There's an island about half a kilometre north-west of here that we can meet on, and there's a weather system I was hoping to skirt anyway. I'll signal them."

"Who is it?" Jinbe asks, staring at her in curiosity, and Nami smiles at him mischievously.

"A friend."

Nami beams when Vivi strides off the gangplank. Luffy gets first hugs, mainly because he can slingshot himself wherever he likes, and has the advantage because of it, but Nami gets to hug her second, and Vivi's arms coming around her almost make her melt. She breathes in deeply, pulling Vivi against her like she could inhale all of Vivi's lithe weight if she squished her enough, and Vivi laughs.

The sound is just as beautiful as Nami remembers it being, and she slowly leans away. Her hand lingers on Vivi's hip.

Jinbe bows as soon as she does, having realised who Vivi is, and Vivi goes through her awkward stumbling routine, encouraging him not to bow and asking to be introduced, as Nami's fingertips trace idly patterns on her waist, unwilling to stop touching Vivi. It's been years since they've seen each other, and Vivi's taller now. Her hair curls in the most elegant ringlets down her back, and Nami just wants to twine them around her fingers and comb them out, pulling her hair back into a ponytail so that Vivi looks familiar again.

She's still familiar, familiar in the way long-loved books and old libraries are familiar, but she looks softer now, and she's more elegant. It almost makes Nami jealous, to see Vivi so easily manage talking to their crew again; but then, Vivi tilts her head to whisper, "I love our crew, but- I'm afraid my visit is more selfish than a princess should admit." and Nami grins.

"But meeting up with everyone has always been so exciting for you," she says, and Vivi elbows her. She squeaks, laughing, but with a single look at Luffy (he pouts, but acquiesces), she's allowed to guide Vivi away by the elbow.

Meeting Vivi had been…hard. Laboon and all the issues with their ship and navigation had driven her soulmark from her mind, and she hadn't thought about it until they were facing off against Miss Wednesday and Mister 9. When she'd levelled her staff at the girl in front of her, she'd noticed how her arrow lined up with the metal, two parallel lines that stood for completely different things.

(For her captain, she'd fight her soulmate; for the one who saved Cocoyashi and her family, she'd do near about anything.)

(And love was painful. Love was scary. Love made Bellemère hold her arms wide and say, "This money is for my daughters." If Nami didn't follow that needle point and where it led her, she'd never have to know what love could make her do.)

For her captain, she would've fought her soulmate, but he doesn't ask her to. He listens to Miss Wednesday beg and places his trust in her like there were no other options, and Nami suddenly finds herself in the company of the one person in the Blues that she'd never wanted to meet.

Marines, pirates, celestial dragons; all fine.

The thought of her soulmate? Nami would've cut off her legs just to prove that her knees didn't shake at the thought.

But Vivi had been…kind. She'd said I will do anything to save my people! and Nami couldn't stop herself from remembering the nights when she'd curled up in her lonely map room, clutching her chest and sobbing that she'd buy back Cocoyashi village. They both knew the weight of this sacrifice so well that it was pressed into their posture, forcing them straight-backed and stubborn and always, always, always fighting back.

Fight back. Fight, full stop. Do cruel things. Things you never would've considered if you'd had the choice, things you would've only joked about had the world not shoved a title at you. Wear it like you're proud to. (You're supposed to be proud of it.)

Thief. Bounty hunter.

Wear it like you're proud to, pirate.

It wasn't like Nami could avoid her, either. The room they shared was bigger than the boys' room, but there still wasn't enough space on the ship to hide from someone determined to find her. Nor someone that had a compass that pointed to Nami's hiding places. She lasted two days before Vivi finally sought her out, and for the thousandth time, Nami lets her eyes track how much softer Vivi looks now that her hair isn't pulled so tightly back, now that she doesn't wear clothes designed to distract, but rather, for comfort.

They stare at each other, caught in a miasma of unsaid things, and then Vivi swallows and cracks a grin. "You're- who my arrow points to," she says. There's something off about her smile, but Nami doesn't know her well enough to know what's wrong.

"Yeah," Nami says, and the word hurts, because it comes out angry and bitter and full of longing, because she wants this but the things that she wants always end up bringing her pain.

Vivi stares at her for a long moment, that odd, perfect smile on her face, and then she sighs. "I don't- I can't have a soulmate," she says, softly, and she looks away. A line of ice crawls down Nami's spine, and she watches Vivi's hands tighten into fists. "I'm sorry."

"We don't get a choice in it," she says, and Vivi's spine gets even stiffer, a muscle bunching in her jaw as she clenches her teeth. "But I don't want this either."

Vivi makes a soft noise, like a laugh, but her shoulders bunch near her ears. "Wanting is not- what informs this decision," she says, and she blinks quickly, taking a deep breath. "Princesses don't get soulmates."

In that moment, Nami realises that want and can't are two very different words.

"You can't have a soulmate who's a pirate," she guesses, and Vivi flinches, moving to wrap her hands around her elbows.

"It's not- it's not that. I'm mean, I'm already a wanted criminal, and joining your crew makes me a pirate," she says, and manages to lift her head to offer Nami a weak smile. "Why should having a pirate for a soulmate make any difference compared to all that?"

So why? Nami wants to ask, but she can't think of any other reasons and Vivi doesn't trust her enough to explain. What would happen if she did trust you? she asks herself, and thinks about the path that trust leads people down. She doesn't want Vivi to trust her, to know her, to like her, because Nami would have to trade pieces of herself and she'd never get them back; but she still doesn't stop herself from saying, "What about friends?"

Vivi starts in surprise, her eyes going wide, and then she smiles and she looks so beautiful that Nami's heart skips a beat. "Friends would be- that's more than I ever hoped for."

"Then, we'll be friends."

So they're friends; they're friends, and everything is fine, and they're surviving and planning and Vivi tells them about her country and her love is so obvious that Nami's heart aches, but she doesn't say anything about that. Because they're both clear on this; they're friends, and neither of them want soulmates.

So Nami doesn't say anything about the way they start to press pieces of themselves together during sleep; an interlocked finger here, the press of a shoulder there, bare touches that they ignore in the morning. She doesn't say anything about the afternoons they spend taking care of Nami's tangerine trees. She doesn't say anything about the one time Vivi joins her in the crow's nest and asks, "May I kiss you?"

She doesn't say anything about the one time she says yes, and the way Vivi's mouth was cold and she tasted like stars.

And then Nami had gotten sick.

She doesn't remember much about it. Only that Luffy had saved her again, carrying her through the cold even though it could've killed them both, and that Vivi had stood in her doorway, firm against their protests that her country didn't have time, and said, We have to save Nami.

Nami hadn't been able to process it then, heat making her head throb, but now that she can breathe without it hurting and sit up without feeling dizzy, she finds that she can do nothing but think.

Princesses don't get soulmates, Vivi had said, and now Nami understands why. This shows her why, and she can't help but shake her head at the thought. What a pair they make, so afraid of sacrifice that they'd rather live without even trying. It's easier, but it's almost-

It's almost funny, that they were both afraid of the same thing. That they were both so scared of what they'd give up for each other, as soulmates, that they didn't realise they'd sacrifice just as much as friends.

She doesn't say anything about her realisation, but then again, she doesn't have to. Vivi finds her when they finally set sail again, just after Chopper has done a quick check-up to make sure she's healing properly, and Nami stays perched on the kitchen table, swinging her legs back and forth slowly. It feels like that first afternoon all over again; Vivi by the door, her arms crossed uncertainly, and Nami waiting, waiting, waiting.

"I'm glad you're okay," Vivi finally says, and Nami smiles at her.

"Thank you," she says, and then, because she's afraid, because she grew up afraid of what she wanted, because she knows that even if this kills her, she'd have died for Vivi, her crew, her princess, her friend, anyway, she says, "Can I get a kiss for recovering?"

Vivi startles, and then shivers, gnawing her lower lip between her teeth. For a moment, Nami almost thinks that Vivi's going to kiss her without fear, is going to kiss her without saying any of the things she'd come to say, but then she shakes her head and Nami offers her another smile.

"Well, that was worth a try."

"Why?" Vivi says, and she looks surprised at how loud the sound that burst out of her became in the silence of the kitchen. "Nami, you said we were- we're friends."

"Yeah, we are." Nami locks her hands around the edge of the table, runs her thumb in hard half-moons to stop herself from looking away. "We're friends, and I care about you. I'd sacrifice every map in my room in exchange for your safety, and you gave up a week of travel for me. I know what you mean, now. About princesses not getting soulmates. And I don't think it matters if we're soulmates. You would've given that up for me anyway."

Vivi flinches, and her expression crumples. "I can't," she whispers, curling in on herself, but Nami's already moving, already striding across the kitchen to drag Vivi into a hug. Vivi latches onto the back of her shirt, burying her face in Nami's shoulder and trying to stop her deep, shuddering breaths. "Nami- Nami, I'm in a war with one of the strongest men on the ocean. My best friend leads a rebel army that's tearing my country apart. I thought- I thought I'd never get the chance to meet you, and that meant I'd never have to lose you." Vivi's breath caught in a sob, and she tightened her grip on Nami's shirt, "And then I almost lost you anyway!"

"But you didn't," Nami says softly, stroking her hand down Vivi's tense back. "You didn't, Vivi. I'm right here. You made the right decision, and I can get us to Alabasta without losing any more time. Everybody's going to be fine."

"You were so-" Vivi says, and she shudders. More of her weight rests against Nami as her legs give out, but Nami had regained enough strength that keeping Vivi upright wasn't to much of a struggle.

"But I'm fine, now. I'm fine, Vivi, and-" she leans back, and takes Vivi's chin between her thumb and forefinger, tilting Vivi up to look at her. "And we're friends."

I love you.

"We're friends," Vivi says back, and she closes her eyes when Nami kisses her.

She wraps the bandage twice around the X but leaves the very tip of her arrow uncovered. Bon Clay can mimic it, but he doesn't know who it's supposed to point to, and Nami- Nami spent so long hiding from her arrow that she can't bear to do it now, when their lives hang in the balance. If anything goes wrong- if anything goes wrong, she wants to be able to find Vivi.

And things go wrong; everything always goes wrong, but they get out the other side and Alabasta has rain again, and Nami has never seen Vivi so happy. It dims a bit when news of Luffy's state reaches them, but Chopper says he'll get better and none of them can bring themselves to doubt their little doctor. For three days, it's easy, and Vivi doesn't say anything about soulmates or friends or kisses, and she laces their hands together whenever they go out or wander through the gardens. For three days, Nami gets to whispers secrets that make Vivi flush and laugh, and she knows things are going to go wrong, but for three days that feeling is easy to ignore.

(Luffy wakes up, and tells them when they're going to set sail, and that they won't wait, and he looks right at Vivi and she doesn't answer.

When everything came down to it...they're soulmates, and Nami knew what Vivi was always going to chose. She knew what she was going to chose, even though Vivi had gently taken her hands in the dark and asked her to stay.

Princesses don't get soulmates.)

Princesses don't get soulmates; but princesses get friends, and pirates don't like to be told that they can't have anything. She writes Vivi endless letters, and when the news coo comes back, she runs her finger over every wax seal, knowing that Vivi has taken the time to make every detail perfect, knowing that her princess is endlessly far away, decked in gold and in love with her kingdom, but that she writes to Nami regardless of whether or not she has time.

Princesses don't get soulmates, but thieves take what they want, and so Nami steals kisses and Vivi's crown and whispers, before they leave, that she'll only give it back when they meet again.

(When she sees pictures of Vivi dressed for the reverie, she laughs. There's no crown on Vivi's head, even though her station demands it, and Nami thinks about the circlet she has in her room and the knowledge that no-one else knows where that crown is. She wears it, that night, settles it reverently on her head, because one day Vivi will be Queen, and Nami will no longer be a pirate, and then Vivi's children will rule and Vivi will just be Vivi, in her crown, and she won't be a princess.)

(And sometimes they're lucky. As the years go by, it's easier, and travel takes them further and farther and lets them criss-cross across the blues. Sometimes she follows the compass on her wrist to her north star, and she never calls Vivi princess.)

Her arrow points her to Vivi, to the treasure that awaits her when she's mapped the whole world, and she can't wait to mark down Vivi's position and call it home. She can't wait to wear a crown and be able to take Vivi's hand in hers whenever she wants and not have to worry. She can't wait to hang her maps above Alabasta's throne room and inspire navigators from around the globe to visit and learn and teach, and for people to keep them company as she and Vivi grow old and more in love.

But for now, she'll take this; summer sun on her shoulders, Vivi's crown on her head, a soft breeze bringing with it the sweet scent of the ocean and fruit, and-

And Vivi, incandescent and laughing, tilting her head back to let flower petals spill into her blue curls, crowned in Nami's ring of flowers.