An exquisite fanfic by Zauberer_sirin
how the legends live
And they go back.
They go back to all the places they have been, and their adventures are carved in stone and memories now, and they remember, they live.
*
Time and space mean nothing now -the one piece is more than a treasure, they found out. It is freedom. Absolute freedom. Gleaming, shimmering freedom, swifter than the quickest ship.
They don´t need it -they have been practising that kind of freedom for many years now.
Many things change. Other stand still like the ocean on a quiet, cloudless day.
Whenever they walk in the light of the day, people turn their heads, their whispers, in admiration, fear, jealousy. Wonder.
The Pirate King and his Queen, the very legends, alive (here, in our city, look, look, that way).
Nami still looks up at the sky and tastes the wind and asks “Where to now, Captain?” and Luffy laughs and his gaze is never on the horizon but beyond. Always beyond. The Grand Line is a domesticated animal to them now. It doesn´t matter where. The wind will tell, the adventure will go on.
The kids run to the docks to see them leave -many years later they will tell their children: I was there, I was there. I saw the Pirate King and their children will look up at them with pride in their eyes because they know everything about the Pirate King from bedtime stories, from heavily-illustrated books, from the tales old men tell out loud in the middle of the town square.
I was there, I saw them, and they will remember Luffy just a bit taller than he actually is and Nami a bit prettier than she actually is. But they will get something right -they will remember perfectly the angle the sun falls on them and makes them look golden and wild, they way the whole world smells of salt and seaweeds.
They will remember the humming of the waves, like a wild animal about to get free.
*
There are many stories-
-in some islands Luffy is portrayed as a cruel King, murderous, quick-tempered, and Nami as cunning, with a black soul and a taste of sweet poison.
-in some seas Luffy is looked upon as a great thinker, a very wise man.
-if you happen to be in Arabasta they will tell you with pride that, before he became “Monkey D. Luffy, Pirate King” he was “Monkey D. Luffy, Liberator of Arabasta”. Queen Vivi always wanted the history books to be faithful and worthy of such a man, and like with many things in her life, she succeeded.
There are many stories.
Some of them are true.
When in doubt, print the legend.
*
The oh-so-royal red and golden coat he wears touches the ground, stains with dirt and dust. It´s a family trasure itself.
He no longer wears his straw hat.
She does.
People say it was his wedding day present to her -girls find this very romantic, their husbands don´t understand why, it´s only a straw hat, the girls sigh, it would be too hard to explain, they think, they would all love to be Queen to such a King.
They do not have a castle -they have a ship.
They do not have gold -they sail the seas in search of gold. Only the Pirate King knows it´s the journey what counts. His Queen would disagree, of course.
It seems like a strange royal tradition but his brother ends up marrying her sister.
(no, it´s not a tradition, it´s a love story -legend can´t teach you that)
They are always together, nobody has seen them apart.
*
Nami´s skin still smells of tangerines.
Luffy always sleeps in the hollow between the curve of her shoulder and her neck.
*
They go back, eventually. Distance means nothing to their tiny, two-people ship. They don´t dwell in the past -they built new memories.
(they kiss under the snowfall in Drum Island; they taste the food at Baratie long after Zeff died; they hear news of Buggy somewhere, a legend of his own; Luffy laughs with the giants once more, they tell him Usopp visited not so long ago; in Loguetown everybody recognizes him and he promises he will be back to die there, he doesn´t mean to break tradition -and in their final stop Nojiko gives them the first tangerines of the season)
*
They see the others from time to time, they always know they are fine -nakamas are always nakamas and they never really did part because time is only time, and time means nothing.
Zoro meant to go back to the dojo and honour Kuina´s memory now that he was the strongest swordsman of all. He predictably got lost on the way and now drifts from kingdom to kingdom, testing his blade. He wouldn´t want to get rusty. Somehow he always ends up meeting Luffy in the strangest places and they sit in front of good meal and catch up, all night, and he challenges Nami to a drinking contest.
He always loses.
He never says goodbye -nakamas never say that. He knows they will meet sooner or later again. Zoro never gets lost; he always gets found.
Usopp has become the greatest storyteller ever -so much that he doesn´t have to work, he can charm people into giving him food and money with his words. His words are so powerful that people cross oceans and deserts just to hear him talk.
The day he went back to Kaya he spent the whole night talking to her through her window, sitting on the usual branch of the tree. They were married the very next day -people said that it was so quick because his words were beautiful, but it wasn´t really quick, Kaya had been waiting for a long time.
Usopp writes them letters -Nami reads them out loud over breakfast. They eat in bed. The pages end up all scattered over the sheets.
Sometimes they visit Chopper -he bought so many medical books that he finally had to settle down to fit them all in a big library in his house. People say that he is able to cure diseases that have no name yet.
And sometimes they visit Sanji -he has his own restaurant now. And a house over the cliffs, over the restaurant, and a dark-haired little girl. Robin comes and goes; she is still out there, filling the holes in history, listening to the secrets of the stones. She is still the wild ocean but Sanji is what always pulls her back, like the undertow. He is an anchor and for him she will never be a shipwreck.
Luffy and Nami spend long days in the restaurant because it is always hard for Luffy to part with Sanji´s food. Luffy may be the Pirate King but food is still one of the few things that can make him cry.
They never say goodbye.
They never miss each other.
Because time is only time, and they are nakamas.
*
It doesn´t matter where they go, people always turn their heads when they pass by, speaking in low tones of fear and admiration, curiosity. Wonder.
There are many legends, myths and lies around the Pirate King.
Those who have seen him have each a different account, a different description -sometimes he is tall and handsome, sometimes he looks like a kid, sometimes there´s evil in his eyes, sometimes he has a gentle expression.
But there´s one thing all the legends, all the myths, all the tales agree on-
-he is always holding his Queen´s hand.
*
Luffy always tastes of salt and wind.
Nami sleeps with her hand over his stomach.
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