Continuity Notes: This goes sometime within the next chapter of And for Many Years After.

Presents
by Ryo Hoshi

Nami stretched, yawning. She'd been looking forward to this since her last birthday. Luffy's birthday was special for them. Nami had made sure he recieved a gift from her each year, and the last two times it had been meat.

This year, she'd originally planned to give him something else.

She hadn't intended that 'something else' to end up being Lucky. It'd not even been long enough for her to fully heal from his birth. Of course, they would likely not have been able to do anything more than cuddle anyway, but she was disappointed anyway.

It didn't help that Lucky was still a tiny infant. She didn't want to spend the time needed to prepare the past feasts of meat, and risk having to choose between letting their dinner burn or not paying attention to her baby when he cried. She ended up making a compromise with herself: she'd fix something quick, but make lots of it with as much meat as she could. It wasn't going to stand up to past year's roasts, but at least it was something.

Somewhere between the first and last pan's worth of the stir-fry, Lucky started crying. Nami, glad that her son's timing have been good enough to be while she didn't have anything on the stove, rushed to him—only to find Luffy rocking their son. Her husband was smiling as the baby quieted, apparently not yet noticing Nami's presence.

She smiled a little, but knew Luffy had been napping. "Luffy? Did he bother you…?"

"Uh-uh." Luffy looked up at Nami with a grin. "He's the best present you've ever given me," he said, snickering at his wife's blush.