Chapter 7

"Indeed, Zoro, you are a lousy liar" A female voice interrupted the moment.

The two Roronoa turned their faces to look at Nami who was standing at the door of the room.

"Nami" Gasped the tiny girl surprised and quickly moved behind her father´s legs.

Zoro´s head which was locked staring at the red head turned down to look at the little child.

The navigator attempted a faint smile "So, you know who I am" She commented while sitting on another little chair in front of her.

Kuina nodded and kept staring at her. She looked a little scared for confessing she had stolen the pearl from the navigator who was just in front of her. "I… I´m sorry… for stealing from you" She said softly, looking down and pulling Zoro´s pants nervously.

"It´s ok, I know you are a good girl" This time she gave her a sweet smile.

When the little child dared to look at her and found the positive expression on Nami´s face, she relaxed a little.

"I´m sorry for making Zo, your daddy lie to you. You shouldn´t be mad at him " She gulped.

Kuina looked at Zoro, who was speechless and then at her again "O...Ok"

They spent a couple of seconds, uncomfortably for Zoro, staring at each other in silence.

The petite girl searched in her pocket for something and after a few seconds she extended her arm and showed her the pearl.

Nami sighed softly and grabbed it "Thank you"

"Why you didn´t want to meet me?" Kuina asked in a frightened tone.

The red head´s gaze turned quickly to Zoro for aid under the pressure of her question but returned quickly to the girl, realizing that she had to face her. "Because I didn´t want to disappoint you"

The green haired was surprised to hear that. He thought she was going to make up some lie to satisfy the little child but this was not going to stop Kuina´s questions. Why would she say something like that? Could Nami be telling the truth?

"Why? Why would you disappoint me?" The girl looked at her surprised.

Somehow the position of the navigator´s head changed in a way her bangs covered her eyes "I´m not as cool as you think I am"

The girl left her fathers leg and moved closer to her. "But you can predict the weather, right?"

"Yes but…" When Nami looked at her she was right in front of her.

"And you have your clima-tact and can create storms?" Her voice turned a little anxious.

Nami nodded "But that…"

"I bet the pearl is part of a big treasure" She interrupted her and smiled.

The optimistic and exited expression on the little girl made her smile in response.

Zoro witnessed the whole scene in silence, something inside told him that he shouldn´t interrupt them. The expression in Nami´s face was something totally new for him. He could tell that for Nami meeting her daughter was extremely moving.

Her tiny hands landed on her knees "You can´t disappoint me then. I always wanted to meet you" she looked deeply into her eyes.

After hearing that last sentence the navigator broke into tears "I´m sorry"

"Don´t cry!" She said worried and her hand jumped to hold hers.

"I´m so sorry for all of this" she continued crying "Sorry for make you wait so much to meet me" she squished her little hand.

"But you were making maps and hunting treasures, you are a pirate!" She said as it was reason enough for them to be apart "Daddy told me that and I missed you, yes but I want to be a pirate too so I understand". The girl ran to hug her around the waist "Please don´t be sad"

Nami could feel her heart exploding in a thousand pieces with those comments but the feeling of Kuina's tiny body clinging on to her was such a warm and empowering sensation that her arms unconsciously moved to hug the girl back.

Zoro stared at the red head crying on the little chair holding Kuina tightly against her.

"I´m sorry for stealing your pearl and for making you cry and I know you probably have to leave soon but could you stay with me for a little longer? I just want to show you my room" The little girl cried against her.

The navigator tried to calm herself and stopped crying. "Kuina," She said softly and the girl looked at her with watery eyes. Nami smiled again, it was as if the mere fact of looking at her little face made her happy. Suddenly everything made sense in her head; she had never been any surer about something in her life. She whispered something in Kuina's ear.

The swordsman couldn´t hear what she was saying but just seeing the two of them smiling and not crying made him feel it was ok.

Kuina turned around "I´m sorry daddy for yelling at you"

"It´s ok" he petted her head.

"OK" The red head stood up "I´m going to finish this" she said looking at the pearl.

"What?" Zoro yelled surprised.

She grinned.

"But?" He looked at Kuina who was staring at her with admiration. "Oh Crap"

"Don´t worry Zoro I´ll go alone" she was starting to move away when the swordsman grabbed her hand and walked in front of her "Shut up"

"But!" The navigator complained, but he just dragged her along.

"AND KUINA YOU ARE GROUNDED FOR STEALING" He yelled at the girl.

"BUT!" The little girl complained.

A short time after they were walking outside Nojiko´s house.

"Oh come on relax, everything went fine!" she said.

He sighed.

"You don´t have to worry about her. That kid is smart - maybe because you raised her well, probably because of my genius genes. She is going to be alright, I know it." She smirked.

Zoro started to think. Yes, everything seemed ok now but what about later?, Was Nami planning on staying? Did she think he had forgiven her and everything was going to be ok? Was he going to let her enter in their life as if nothing ever happened? Or worse, was she planning to leave again? Was that worse? What did she say to Kuina? Was the girl going to be ok if her mother left her after that moment they had shared a few minutes ago? "OH COME ON! YOU MET HER FOR LIKE 5 MINUTES AND YOU THINK YOU KNOW HER AND EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK" He stopped abruptly and yelled at her.

She kept on smiling at him. "I know you and I know as long as she has you everything is going to be alright" her hand moved to caress his face.

"Nami" He said softly.

"You are the best thing that ever happened to me, you make me do good things. You made me save you from drowning at Arlong Park to prove I wasn´t a mercenary and I let those guys put you in prison because I wasn´t ready to accept it yet. You made me give birth to Kuina and you let me leave because I wasn´t ready to accept it. You make me do good things, even when I don't realize it at the moment" She smiled widely at him "Thank you".

He nodded, not knowing what to say after that huge confession. He hadn´t done those things expecting a result, he just did what he felt right at the moment.

"So what´s so special about that pearl" He said changing the subject, he still had to get rid of those pirates and knowing Nami she got something in mind, better to help her finish with that first.

She giggled, as she hadn´t expected him to bring back that subject "It´s a magic pearl that can grant you a wish"

"Really? Let me guess, big treasure?" He commented as they resumed walking.

"HUGE treasure" She said smiling.

FLASHBACK 2 YEARS AGO

Nami had been travelling around the world for 3 years, she drew her maps, shopped, fought a few pirates and even as she thought that everything was like she loved it to be, it felt different.
At first it was thrilling and fun but she quickly got used to it. It wasn't the same without the crew, it wasn't the same now that she was older, it wasn't the same now when she had let go so many things. She hadn´t regretted her decisions, but recently she'd started to doubt if they had been the correct ones.
One day when she was enjoying a glass of wine in an elite restaurant of some fancy island she bumped into the Shamanic Pirates. At first they seemed as the staff of a circus or some kind of road show, entertaining the people of all of the tables. They performed different magic tricks to their audiences, after marveling them, they earned claps and tips.
She considered it a fun show until she realized that the magician that was in front of her had managed to take her earrings. When she looked at the other tables she realized that they were just putting on a show to steal from the clients of the restaurant. She thought for a second to stop them and made the navy arrest them just in the place but then she thought that if they had been robbing everybody they should have lots of treasure in their ship and you know what they say: It´s no crime to steal from a thief.
After they were gone, she paid her check and followed them to their ship. She would have accomplished her misión of stealing from the thieves if it wasn´t for the charismatic captain that got in the way. He was not only charming but he was a great magician so he managed to marvel Nami with his tricks. He astonished her in a way she asked him if she could join his crew to learn a few tricks. The captain happened to be fond of the navigator as well so he accepted her offer.

By the third month in the crew she found a book with magic spells of great magnitude. She was laughing at the idiotic conjurements that were inside it like, "potion for eternal beauty", "Ointment to get taller", "Necklace for immortality", "Pearl for a wish" when the captain of the ship interrupted her and told her that the contents of that book were real. She didn´t believe him so he asked her why she thought he was so tall. She was used to his sense of humor by now so both laughed until the tall captain got serious and showed her his necklace. It was a string that tied a pearl in the middle; he told her he had the pearl-for-a-wish. He only was waiting for a good wish to appear. She continued laughing without believing him.
That night she couldn´t sleep so easily. She dreamt about Bellemere, Genzo, Nojiko, Luffy, the crew, the weird thing was that Zoro never appeared on it. She woke up feeling extremely melancholic. When the captain asked her what was going on, she told him about her dream and he said something that made Nami think in a different way "Oh you had a dream about your family". Family. Exactly, that was what they were for her; her family. Well, that made some kind of sense, they were her family and she missed them. Even though, She wondered why the green haired wasn´t in that dream.
In the 3 months she had been living together with the Shamanic pirates she had developed a good friendship with them, especially with the captain. He had something that made her open up to him. In this phase of her life she regularly felt alone and finding this new friend was just what she needed. When she told him that she found it weird that Zoro hadn´t been part of her dream he said that maybe deep down she didn´t consider him family. That was when she decided to tell him her story with Zoro. She was surprised to hear him say "So, I was right you two are not family anymore" after telling him her unlucky love story. He always made her think with his words, so now that he put it that way she realized that he was right, she had had the opportunity to form a family with Zoro and she'd rejected it , so it was true that they weren´t family anymore.
That night she had a similar dream. It was great - she was enjoying Christmas dinner with everybody, Bellmere was serving the dinner, Luffy and Ussop danced with Chopper next to the Christmas tree, Sanji and Nojiko helped her mother. The rest of the crew was at the table. She woke up smiling, but it soon went away as she realized it was a dream, to be quickly followed by a question: how did Zoro spend his last Christmas?. Since then she had the same kind of dreams every night and woke up wondering about him every morning. The rest of the day she spent reviewing her life and pondering her decisions.

It was about a year that Nami had been living with the Shamanic Pirates when Christmas arrived. It was a beautiful night and they were having a party on the deck. The captain moved next to her and remarked that in a few weeks, almost by the time of year change, it would be a year since she joined them. She agreed with him there. He started to talk about how many things had happened in the last year and yet how everything was somehow the same. Then he asked her what was she'd done on the 24th of the previous year and she didn´t remember, so she answered that she'd probably been at some Christmas laughed and told her that last year on the 24th he had shaved off his afro and that he deeply regretted it. They stood there looking at the stars for a several minutes.

"Look a shooting star make a wish" he pointed at the star

"I wish you grow an afro now!" She said and they laughed.

"I wish I hadn´t cut my hair" he sighed.

"Maybe you should use the pearl" She pointed at his neck.

"Maybe I could…I got the pearl, I should wait for my hair to grow a curl so I could use it as a transition object "

When she asked him about it, he said that in order to focus on your wish while asking it, wizards stare at or touch an object that connects to the wish. For him that would be a curl, but he´d have to wait for his hair to grow longer for that. The two of them laughed at the antics of the whole situation. When the captain left her, she continued to stare at the sky, but remembered what she'd been doing on a 24th of December 4 years ago and wondered what they would be doing now.

That night she had another dream. It was a similar situation as her previously ones, but instead of Bellemere, Luffy, Genzo, the crew and Nojiko, it was her serving the dinner to Zoro who held a baby. The three of them looked extremely happy, especially her. When she opened her eyes she thought she couldn´t breath, her heart beat at full speed and she spent a couple of minutes until she could calm down. Suddenly something that she had always sensed lightly, felt incredibly profound: Guilt. She had been doubting her decisions for the last year and now everything she had done in her past felt wrong. The familiar feeling of depression returned and she spent the rest of the week locked in her room. Her new friends inquired what was wrong with her, but she made up some excuses - she was too ashamed of her feelings to confess them out loud.

One morning or night, she didn´t know when she woke up at that moment, she was feeling so miserable that she was tempted to end it all there, when she gasped "If only I had made another decision" and her eyes opened widely.

When the shamanic pirates woke up the next day, they were surprised to find several things missing: a boat, the captains's special necklace - and Nami.

END OF FLASHBACK

Zoro and Nami arrived at the port. The two of them ran to the wooden decks where the Pirate ship had been docked a few hours ago. It was obvious from the shore that the ship wasn´t there, but even so, they ran all the way.

"Where the hell are they?" Zoro said looking at the empty dock. It was a port only for pirates so it was usually clear but the ship had been there a few hours ago.

Nami stared at the ocean for a few seconds. "Let´s ask the port guardian," she turned around and walked to a little cabin that was at the entrance of the port.
Zoro followed her closely, she didn´t seem frustrated.

The red head knocked on the door and a sleeping fat sailor answered her. "Yeah?" He yawned.

"Hello, We are looking for the pirate ship that was docked here a few hours ago" She asked politely.

The guy opened the window of the cabin and rubbing his eyes answered her. "Pirate ship here? A pirate ship hasn´t docked on this port in months"

"We were on it at noon!" Zoro yelled from behind her.

"And I've been working on this port for 20 years" He commented ironically.

"Oh come on! A really tall guy, in a suite with feathers! I have to give him something!" She insisted.

"How much money did they give you? She´ll pay you double!" Zoro said from behind.

Nami glared at him for proposing she´d pay anything. "Zoro!"

"Wait, Are you Roronoa Zoro?" He asked looking at him "So you are Nami, right?"

Both of them nodded and looked at him. The guy turned around and started searching for something "You took your time girl"

"What?" she asked. Zoro looked at her and she shuddered.

"There it is" The guy took an envelope from one of the drawers "Your tall friend left it here for you, he said you were going to come and ask for it but I never thought it would take you a year" he handed her something that looked like a letter.

Nami looked really surprised and didn´t know what was going on. She took it, it was a sealed envelope addressed to her. The green haired stared at her and she looked back at him.

"Open it" He encouraged her.

She moved away from the cabin and Zoro to open it in private.

The swordsman rolled his eyes, tired of her secrecy.

The red head opened it slowly. Inside it was some kind of paper, a picture she could see as her hand took it out. Nothing else was inside it, just that picture. When she saw it, she quickly recognized it, it was the picture she stole from Nojiko the day before, the picture that was supposed to be her transitional object, the picture that was going to make her wish come true. The wish of letting the story rewind and teleport her to that exact moment of her life to make a new decision, the decision to stay with Zoro and Kuina. But how was it there? She had it with her since yesterday, when she first tried to ask for her wish five times without success inside Nojiko´s bathroom, later on when she had forced Zoro to go threaten the pirates, so they would tell her how this pearl really worked - and finally she could swear she had taken a glimpse at the picture on the way here. How on earth could it be inside that wretched, dusty envelope?
She quickly moved her hand inside her pocket to search for both the pearl and the picture. She closed her eyes and her hand found only the pearl. She sighed softly and grinned, thinking of how full of tricks those Shamanic pirates were. She looked at the picture again and noticed that it had something written on the other side. "Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending!" The red haired started to laugh.

Zoro moved closer "What's wrong?"

She put the picture back into her pocket and grabbed his hand. "So, Zoro," she said as she walked with him to the end of the pier.

The green haired followed her "What happened to those pirates? What was inside that envelope?"

"You shouldn´t worry about them, we're fine" She smiled at him and stopped at the edge of the pier.

Somehow her fresh smile calmed him and he didn´t ask her anything else. He knew that at some point she would decide to explain everything to him. That was what he thought until he watched the red head extend her arm backwards and throw the pearl deep inside the ocean. "WHAAAAAT?" The little object shone in the middle of the air and sunk in the blue water of the ocean.

She smiled brightly at him. She felt lighter, as if throwing that pearl was like getting rid of the heavy weight she had on her back. "What are we eating tonight?"

"WHAT?" He stopped walking.

"I know you haven´t forgiven me yet but we could make a truce until tomorrow" she continued walking and dragging him with her.

He looked angry, like I´m-about-to-put-on-my-bandana-Zoro: "What the hell just happened? Aren't you going to tell me anything?" he followed her.

"I love you" She smiled again.

He jaw dropped "What the heck!". This went too far, this girl, this woman had trespassed the limit of his patience.

"Ok, look, I know you. Now it´s the part when you get mad at me, so I was thinking that after tonight´s dinner, I could stay at Nojiko´s and take Kuina to school in the mornings and back, what do you think?" she commented lightly - ending every phrase with a shiny smile addressed to the swordsman.

"Hell no!" What was going on, she didn´t have the sole say in this. She was not going to get into Kuina´s life until he said so and in order to do that he had to be sure about her intentions, her plans for the future, at least what the hell had just happened!, he thought, but the navigator kept harassing him with her comments.

"I´m back so we´ll have to figure it out. You know. I mean, you. I know exactly what I want" She smirked "That vein on your forehead looks soo cute" she caressed him.

"Stop that! You don´t want to tell me anything - FINE - but we are not doing everything like you want! Now we´ll do things my way!" he said firmly.

"Sure!" She nodded obediently. "So we are not having dinner together tonight?" She pouted.

"No!" He said instantly "We are going to do things my way and I´m not letting you see Kuina until I´m sure of all your intentions!" he pointed at her.

"Ok, but you should know I told her that we were going to eat tonight - the three of us together" she said softly.

"That´s what you whispered to her?" he assumed, thinking out loud and glaring at her: "Ok, we´ll do that, then we´ll talk about if you can see her again" he said frowning.

"Ok." She nodded respectfully but after a few seconds her mouth opened again "I could talk to Nojiko to baby sit Kuina for the weekend so we can have our date" she added.

"WHAT! Date? Are you insane! I´m awfully mad at you. I can barely take your presence - just because of Kuina" he hated when she acted so carefree about sensitive issues - like what just had happened.

"Oh right! I forgot" she said, squishing his hand.

The two of them continued walking hand in hand. The red head commented things and the swordsman yelled in disagreement, either way none of them let go.
Like the captain of the Shamanic Pirates had written on the picture, she couldn't go back and start over, but the power to change the way things were going to end up was always with her. She couldn´t say it was a fresh start so she would accept his conditions and punishments until he realized the obviousness of how madly in love they were and accepted that they were meant to be together. She was sure that the days of feeling miserable were over as long as she was with him, as long as she was with them.

"FIVE YEARS WAS NOTHING? You don´t even know what you are saying!" He yelled.

"That´s nothing compared to what´s coming and you wouldn´t be able to do without me" She insisted.

He fumed.

"Shopping for a bra" She pointed out.

"WHAT? "

"And how about menstruation? I´d love to hear you talk about that" She continued.

"Are you insane - that´s years from now!"

"Boyfriend, sex…"

"Nami, just shut up" He said in a defeated tone.

"Don´t worry, I´m here" She kissed his cheek.

THE END

Music for the closing credit roll: YouTube watch?v=rOKd8dsqqQU

THANKS FOR READING, PLEASE REVIEW!

~Karen K.

Special thanks to BlueLion my betareader! I couldn´t have done it without him.

A/N: I hope you like the story. Thanks for your wonderful reviews.