This was originally a part of something bigger I was working on. Ultimately I scraped the project but I thought this scene was relatively good and kept it for one shot use. Hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own, talk to Oda

Letters of Heart

A mild breeze rustled the tall grasses and cooled the warm summer air. In an open field at the foot of a gently sloping hill a young boy of about 10 chased after a wayward kite. Messy ginger hair fell into wide, dark brown, eyes. They twinkled in amusement when the tricky wind kept the lightweight stick and paper contraption just out of his reach.

At the brow of the hill sat a middle-aged woman with ink and writing parchment in her lap. She was still trim and athletic in spite of the small signs of aging that were finally catching up to her. Laugh lines, framing her mouth, deepened as she chuckled along with the child. Long orange hair was left loose down her back to shift freely in the slight tug of breeze. Nami took a deep breath, drawing in the sound and smell of the vast blue ocean crashing against the cliff face behind her. Looking down at the blank pages she brought the feathered pen tip to her lips before beginning her writing in an elegant script.

Luffy,

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write you again. I promise the next one wont be so far inbetween. Knowing you, and I do more than anyone I expect, someone is bound to want to strangle you by now. It's funny, that's how I remember you a lot of times. Jax will wind up saying or doing something by accident and I swear it's like dealing with a younger version of you. Though, I'm glad to say he's grown up with my smarts.

She let a grin slip over her features. A bout of triumphal laughter made Nami pause and look up. Jax had caught up to his kite and pounced before it could escape again. He turned and realized she was watching so he waved the kite and shouted something unintelligible. Nami waved the boy away to play and, smiling fondly, went back to her letter.

He's so energetic-

Nami looked up again to momentarily watch her son tumble head over heels, tripping over the loose kite string. He sat up, laughing, and none the worse for his grass stained knees.

-And happy. Some days I miss you so much and Jax is the only one who can make me smile. He's always ready with a joke or game that brightens my whole day, just like a certain other goofball I know of. You would be so proud of him. With each passing day I see more of you in him and it makes me glad. Though, I should tell you, Nojiko and Genzo swear he's just like me.

Suddenly noticing silence around the meadow, Nami looked up sharply and hastily scanned the field. Sighing with relief she spotted Jax on the edge of the tree line. He was shimmying up the trunk of a thick tree with something clutched to his chest. The orange haired woman soon found out what it was as with careful grace the boy deposited a chirping baby bird in an empty nest at the end of one branch. Without disturbing another leaf he climbed back down.

Admittingly, there are times when I have to agree with them. He certainly shows an interest in my old maps that you never had. The finer points of cartography may escape him but I'd lay odds he'd make a damn fine navigator one day. Genzo is beside himself. He doesn't know whether to laugh or be angry when Jax pulls his pranks. I can't tell you how many times that boy has been dragged back to the house by the scruff of his shirt. Just yesterday he tried to steal Genzo's lunch and both me and Nojiko got a lecture about it.

I'm sure you find all this very funny.

Don't laugh!

Brushing long strands of wind blown hair out of her face Nami breathed in the scents that were now so familure to her. With a stronger breeze Jax got his kite in the air again. The young boy giggled in awe as it swooped and curved in the air currents above his head. The boy's obvious delight made Nami chuckle as bittersweet memories surfaced in her heart. Maybe tonight she'd tell him all about how being in the clouds really felt. He'd been so curious about those early adventures lately but they were hard for Nami to think about, just as much as the later ones.

Jax has been asking a lot of questions about you, and I have to confess, I'm at a loss about how to explain you to him. Since my last letter he's probably asked a dozen different questions about his father. Nojiko and Genzo are the only ones who know anything for sure, so I'm not worried about anything being given away to someone outside our circle. I still don't know how he will react to learning he's the son of the Pirate King. I know what you would do, though. You would declare it loud and proud. It is nothing to be ashamed of. If Jax is so much like you I shouldn't worry so much.

That's what you would tell me, right?

Nami pulled the feathered pen away from the paper and watched her young son at a distance. He was so innocent. It had been a careful decision on her part to keep the truth from him. If his heritage reached the wrong ears their fragile peace would be shattered.

Normally I would agree but there are some weights his young shoulders aren't ready to carry yet. So, I will carry it for him, until he's ready. It would be so much easier if you hadn't gone: the questions, the explanations, the pain. I could lean on your shoulder, like I did back on the Sunny, and borrow the strength you never seemed to run out of.

Jax let out a despaired wail as his paper kite swirled its way into the top branches of an oak tree. With a disgruntled pout he turned and began making his way across the grassy field. Nami's eyes flickered over the boy before turning her attention back to the page.

It was never going to be easy, I understood that even at the start, but I don't regret a second of it. All the trouble you caused and adventures you dragged us into was a path of destiny. I see that more than ever now. And, who am I to argue with destiny- even if I would have chosen a different ending.

The young orange haired boy was at the foot of the hill now and Nami quickly wiped away a stray tear before it hit the paper and smudged the ink.

I'll end this letter now or I'm afraid it'll never be finished. I'll write you again soon but it'll still be a long while before I see you again. I hope you'll always remember that my heart is yours, Luffy, it will always be. I love you.

Finishing the letter at last Nami folded it up, she slipped it into an envelope and sealed it. Out of her pocket she produced another sealed letter. 'Dad' was written in childish scrawl across the front. Jax, realizing his mother had finished at last, dashed up the hill and stopped by her side with a wide grin. Nami smiled back and ran a loving hand through her son's ginger hair, only a few shades off from her own. He shook it off playfully but allowed her palm to rest lightly on his shoulder instead.

With sealed letters in hand she led the way to the edge of the cliff where there was probably only a foot of grass between her and inevitable oblivion. Pulling out a match Nami turned to look at her son, both equal parts of her and Luffy, and her last pillar of light. The boy turned his familiar grin up at her and Nami blinked back a few tears. It was so much like Luffy it hurt. Full of childish innocence but mingled with sadness at this particular tradition.

Waiting for the right moment, when the wind died, Nami struck the match. She held the flame to the parchment and watched it catch easily. As the reddish-orange glow ate up the pair of letters Nami and Jax watched their words float up into the air and finally wisp away in the breeze.

Nami longingly watched the ashes drift upward to the clouds. 'Luffy, you're getting these, aren't you? You're watching him?' She shifted her gaze down to the young boy who kept watching the air currents play with the smoke and bits of paper. 'Yeah, I know you are. You never leave a member of your crew behind.'

=0=0=

And Finished.
It'll probably be a while before my next chapter. I've been wanting to start a longer project again.