Disclaimer: If you recognise it, surprise, I don't own it.
Chapter 29– Finding Comfort.
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"Nojiko! I'm home!" I shout as I enter through the front door of the building that has been my home for the last few years. I take my shoes off at the entrance with my feet as I close the door with my hands. It isn't a rule to take our shoes off, but I have been toiling away all day, and my boots are dirty, and I don't want to dirty the house.
I won't get shouted at or anything if I get anything dirty or make a mess, but I will feel bad. Because a while later on, I will see Nojiko cleaning it up without even mentioning it, and I will feel like a tool. She already does enough for me, so I would rather not add to her workload. So I try to clean up after myself and help around the house as well where I can, though I sometimes end up making more of a mess than it was before I started. So I do what I can.
"Welcome back! I'm in the kitchen!" I hear Nojiko shout from the kitchen and begin to make my way towards her. Of course, I already knew exactly where she was, given that Nami was coming back. Because every time Nami came, Nojiko would prepare a massive feast to welcome her back full of all her favourite foods.
Well, it wouldn't be a feast if it was only the two of them because most of the food goes in my stomach. I am a growing boy, after all, and I need all the sustenance I can get to grow big and strong. I am not an unfair man, and that is why I pay for this feast since I will be eating most of it. Nami comes back every two weeks on the dot, Arlong not allowing her any more time than that away from the island; we didn't question it since it was a miracle he was letting her leave the island alone at all.
Walking into the kitchen, I spot Nojiko standing at the stove with a ladle in hand. Her short blue hair stopped just before her shoulders and revealed her nape. I can just about make out the red ribbon she wears, keeping her hair held back; the ribbon ends sticking off the right side of her head. She wears an orange tank top and ripped blue jean shorts that end just before her knees, along with some yellow flip-flops.
She has a gold bangle with intricate designs on her left wrist, a gift that Nami had gotten her on one of her escapades. Her skin was tan from working hard in the sun all the time. As if kissed by the sun, she looked exotic. She also has an apron on that I can see is tied from behind. I can't see the front, but I know the exact one she is wearing.
A keepsake from her mother. A yellow apron with a tangerine on the front as well as a blue curly sigil and the name Bell-mére across the top. She has a few aprons, but she always wears this one every time we have this feast. I approach her from behind, trying to silence my steps to keep her from hearing me, my gaze focused solely on her.
A lot has changed over the years, and not just for me. One example would be the fact that Nojiko is a lot more curvy and sensual now. This is to be expected since we are both seventeen years old now and have long since grown up mentally as well as physically, given our living situation. Finally closing in on her, my body so close to hers, I can't hold myself back anymore, and I launch myself forward.
"Agh! Detoro! I'm trying to cook here!" Nojiko screams as I grab her around her midsection and pull myself in close to her, hugging her tight.
"Sorry, I can't help myself. You just look so beautiful when you are cooking." I say, moving my head forward to rest in the crook of her neck and smelling her sweet smell that always puts me at ease. And even though she is complaining, she leans back into me, her free hand going down to rest on my forearm.
"...You stink." She says after a moment, and I laugh. Still, she doesn't pull away, and I still hold her tight. She is used to it, after all. Just like I am used to her smelling sweet, she is used to me stinking to high hell. I am constantly training and working hard, resulting in a lot of sweat and smell, and every day I come back and hold her tight.
"Your bath is ready. Go clean up quickly. Dinner will be ready in an hour." She says, Pulling away slightly but not leaving my grasp and raising the ladle in her hand threateningly. I just smile and raise my hands in surrender as I back off, knowing she is just joking but having made the mistake of pissing her off once and facing the wrath of the ladle.
"Okay, okay, stand down. I'm going, alright? Don't ladle me." I say, taking a few steps back as she spins around and crosses her arms, feigning anger as she frowns at me. She does this sometimes, and I don't tell her that I find her angry face and puffed-up cheeks really cute. Otherwise, she would stop after seeing that it isn't effective.
"Hey, why don't you join me? It sure would make the bath a lot more fun." I say, trying my luck. Being seventeen and not having much to do on the island other than our jobs and my training, we had already gone the distance. And I have to say, it is something that really does feel good and helps me relax and destress. What can I say? I am a man. I am always going to try my luck.
"Detoro, I need to cook. So as tempting as your offer is, I am afraid you are going up the stairs alone, mister." Nojiko says pointedly, pointing the offending end of her ladle at me. I start backing away in response, still smiling.
"Ah, well. Maybe later, then? I'm sure we can have some bath time fun together later." I say, still backing away, but I stop when I see the frown on her face falter, and my own smile fades a little as well. I realise the mistake I just made, and I try and get in and talk, but she has already started before I can.
"Detoro, no more talk like that today, okay? Nami doesn't know about us, and I don't want her to know. She is always out there and risking her life while we are... I just feel-" Nojiko starts, already starting to feel down and guilty. I quickly open my mouth to stop that, already having had this conversation numerous times before.
"Hey, hey. I know. I was just joking. You already know my opinion on this, but this is what you want, and so I'll follow your lead. Although it is hard, I will keep my distance from you, though it pains me to do so." I say, walking forward and grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her close to my chest. I put my head down, resting my chin on her head as she buries her face into my front.
"Which means I have to get my fill now. Otherwise, I will go crazy. Come here, beautiful." I finally say, moving a little bit back and grabbing her by the chin before leaning down and connecting my lips with hers. I do so gently; as much as I want to lose myself in her right now, I know she doesn't need that right now. I pull away as she looks up at me with a smile, and I kiss her on the forehead.
"...You still stink. Go take your bath." She says, and I smile, seeing that she is back to normal, and so I let her go and turn around to go upstairs and wash myself. As I leave the room and start up the stairs, I can hear her shout to me from the kitchen.
"I'll be joining you in the bath one of these times, okay!? Look forward to it!" I can't help but chuckle amusedly as I continue making my way up the stairs. Man, do I love that woman.
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I let out a sigh of pure pleasure as I ease myself down into the bath. Then, finally, relaxing and letting go as I allowed my head to flop back and enjoy the nice bath Nojiko had drawn for me. And not one of those standard hot water baths, but one of those special smelling bath salt and herbal baths that are relaxing and really let your worries fade away. I wouldn't prepare one of these myself, mostly because I could never do it properly, and Nojiko knows just what I need. I am so lucky to have ended up with her.
Letting my bath take me away, I can't help but let my mind wander and think of only good things. And nowadays, the good things in my life mainly focus around Nojiko. I remember fondly how we first got together, and now that I think of it, it kind of seems inevitable given that we were pretty much living alone together with only each other for company.
It was like that for a long time, even when Nami hadn't yet been off-island. I had been living here ever since my home had been destroyed since I had nowhere to go, and the two sisters were kind enough to let me stay with them. Probably because I was in the same boat as Nami, and Misery loves company. And then, when I finally finished Arlong Park, Nami ended up living there forcefully so that she could work on her maps all the time.
Of course, I couldn't just let that happen, and after some convincing and some concession from myself, I managed to finagle nami being allowed home for the weekend. It took a lot of arguments from myself and making points of depression and suicide if she wasn't allowed something good once in a while, and Arlong didn't want to lose his precious map maker. Still, I was living alone with Nojiko five days out of the week, and we got a lot closer. She was always looking after me.
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With Nami gone except for the weekends, it was just me and Nojiko, and when I saw her constantly working on the tangerine farm by herself, I couldn't just stay still, even after my work for arlong and gruelling training. She looked after me, so I started to help her. Where I could, since my clumsy fingers weren't great for very intricate things. I must have a great affinity for crafting and creating because, somehow, I am a skilled craftsman, even with my sometimes clumsy fingers.
And then Nami started leaving the island, and she wasn't around most weeks out of the month, and it was just me and Nojiko left. Genxo dropped by every so often, but he took his duty as Sheriff seriously, even with the island now under the control of pirates, and he had to look after everyone on the island. So as much as he wanted to stick around and keep an eye on me, which he was right to do so, given how things turned out, he couldn't.
Nojiko really worried about and missed her sister, which was part of the reason I was so hard on Nami when I was training her, to put Nojiko's mind at ease that her sister could handle herself. And then Nami started leaving for more and more time until we reached the current point where she was leaving for around two weeks more often than not, and we were here still stuck on the island. Together.
We lived together. We ate our meals together. We cleaned up and did our chores together. We helped each other, and we relaxed together. And we did so for years. We grew up together. And then we got together. Thinking about it, it was only natural since it was just me and her for so long. Even on this populated island, everybody else was much more preoccupied with their own lives and families and trying to pay the tax. Where we lived was a bit removed from them, and it was nice.
She really saved me when I didn't even know I needed saving. All I was living for was the death of Arlong. I worked for him begrudgingly, biding my time and seeing if there was anything I could glean from the few times I saw them use their Fishman Karate. Focusing on making more and more weaponry, trying to develop something capable of killing Arlong, and then training all the rest of the time to build me up with the possibility of killing Arlong with my own two hands.
And then, Nojiko asked me what I wanted to do after that, and I didn't have an answer. It really made me reevaluate everything. Before Arlong, I wanted to be the strongest man in the world. I wanted to explore as much of this world as possible. I wanted to record everything I saw and then make one massive database for it, making an internet for this world. I just knew I wanted to be strong enough so that shit like this didn't happen again and that I could do something about it. And I did want to see more of the world, knowing that there must be things better than all the bad I have seen. Wondrous things.
Nojiko really did save me. Because instead of focusing on Arlong's death, I started to focus on my freedom. I started focusing on the after, and it was all thanks to her. In this shitty situation, I found her, and in her, I found comfort. We both needed it, and everything got better once we found each other. More manageable. I could bear the long hours of Arlong ordering me around, and I could go even longer, training determined to free everyone. I resisted the even harsher beatings I got from Arlong when I tried to kill him, knowing at the end of the day, I got to come home and rest with her by my side.
"Detoro! Hurry up! Nami will be home soon, and the dinner is almost done. I need help setting everything up!" I hear Nojiko yell from downstairs, bringing me out of my memories. I got a bit lost there, reminiscing on my good memories, even the extreme bruising I would get since Nojiko would always patch me up with such tender care. Shaking those thoughts away for now, I quickly get to properly clearing myself so I can go help her prepare the feast for Nami's return.
I can't wait to eat that food.
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"Welcome Back!" Myself and Nojiko shout as Nami comes through the door, though we both were quickly scrambling to our feet from where we sat at the dinner table. Nami usually came back around the same time every time, but today she was late for some reason. Not overly late, but around half an hour or so late. Thankfully, I managed to spot her walking towards the house through the window, which is how we quickly got the do our welcome back.
"Mou, do you guys have to do this every time?" Nami complains, puffing her cheeks at the sight of both myself and Nojiko standing together before her as she opens the door and walks into the house. Still, the slight smile she is trying to hide doesn't escape either of our gazes, and we know how much this thing means to her.
She would probably be devastated if she were to come home and we weren't doing a big feast to welcome her back. But then, maybe she does have a little bit of a problem with it, as I can see she is a little sad as well. She quickly covers that up, however, and continues in closing the door behind her.
"Of course we do! You have probably been starving yourself out there, trying to save as much money as possible, you little money-grubber. Which is why we need to fill you up as soon as you get home." Nojiko says good-naturedly, with a little bit of a scary smile. Nojiko has made it clear time and again before that she doesn't like what's going on, but there is nothing she can do about it except try and pressure Nami to not be so reckless and express caution.
"Alright, alright! I don't know about you guys, but I am starving! So how about we start eating this food before it gets cold and before you guys end up having a catfight... actually, I can wait on the food." I say, trying to lighten the mood with some comedic relief, though I don't know if I am actually good with that. The last thing I want to happen is for these two to get into an argument because then I will get no peace or quiet.
Nami is as stubborn as a mule, and Nojiko can be just as uncompromising when she cares enough. Nojiko still sees Nami as her little sister and is always trying to look after her, while Nami thinks of herself as capable, and she is because I trained her to be. But still, big sisters are going to worry, and bratty little sisters are going to take offence. And I would rather not listen to another screeching contest when they decide to duke it out again. There is never a resolution anyway.
"Shut up, Detoro! You big lug! You can't just expect to watch us have a catfight!" Nami says, with a frown on her face. Well, that didn't have the reception I wanted it to have. Oh well, I never claimed to be a comedian, and with them both now forgetting about the little spat that was about to start, we can get this over with quicker. Living with two temperamental hormonal girls has helped me learn exactly how to survive the horror that is the female species, and that is with silence and sometimes apologising if you are in the wrong.
Also, even though Nami told me to shut up, she didn't actually mean it. Or if she did, then the intent behind it was very weak and had no effect on me. Because right now, I am staying quiet of my own volition and not because she told me to. Knowing things would just get worse if I opened my mouth, and I could also feel Nojiko giving me a death glare.
"Don't say stupid things, Detoro," Nojiko says, and I could practically feel the cold breath she was directing at me, and I obviously knew why. She thought I was looking at her little sister in a sexual manner when I should be treating her like a little sister. Unfortunately, I will never see her like a little sister because she is kind of my boss, and I can't refute any orders that she actually means. It is also hard to see her in a sexual manner for the same reason, but not impossible. She is very hot, and I am a man. Not that I will ever let that get out, on fear of death.
"That right! It's ten thousand berries to view, and for every extra ten thousand, we will remove a single item of clothing!" Nami says, berries flashing in her eyes. I am deadpan at that, though my head does do a quick bit of accounting in my head to figure out just how much of their bodies I could afford to uncover—quite a lot. I quickly look to the left, worried that Nojiko somehow clicked onto my thinking, but thankfully, she is also deadpanning at Nami.
"What happened to the nice little girl that used to follow me around everywhere?" Nojiko says with an exasperated look on her face, though you can still see the smile that follows. We had found out about her money-grubbing tendencies very early on after her first big haul, which she brought back to the island.
She had brought the big sack into the house and then spilt it onto the table before proceeding to just sit there and hug it for ages. We thought it was because it meant a lot to her as her first step to gathering the hundred million berries to free this island. That was until we saw the drool leaking from the side of her mouth and the berry sign in her eyes, and she practically writhed atop the wealth. She was money crazed.
And then, she decided to go and bury the stuff somewhere, and I offered to help bring the manly man that I am that does all the man things. She shut me down hard, and I could tell just how much she craved that loot, as that was the only ever order that I couldn't refute. With every single other one, I was, at the very least, able to resist a little and move a bit, even if it ended up hurting me. But that time, I could not move an inch. That was how much she cared about her stolen goods.
I still don't know where that buried treasure is, which she has been steadily amassing and adding to over the years. Apparently, Nojiko walked upon her in the middle of adding to it and discovered its location. By that point, there was just too much of it there to move it; since then, everybody would know its new location, so Nami had to live with Nojiko knowing where it was. And I still don't know even though I badger Nojiko all the time about it, she refuses to tell me, citing that it is a sister's secret.
Anyway, after that little welcome back which was actually pretty par for the course, we all sat down and started eating. With me eating the bulk of all the food, which thankfully wasn't at all cold even though Nami was late. And man, am I glad about that because Nojiko is one hell of a cook. I love her cooking. And before I know it, all the food has disappeared from the table. The food in front of me, that is, since the girls still have some of theirs left.
"Guys," Nami suddenly speaks up, and we both pay attention since she seems to be acting quite solemn. "I have something to tell you." She finishes and then turns her head down and looks down at the table. She seems to be struggling with whatever it is, and though both I and Nojiko are concerned, we give her the time she needs to gather her thoughts. And then she speaks.
"... I- I will be gone for longer from now on. For months."