"Destiny is not a matter of chance, it is a matter of choice; it is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved." - William Jennings Bryan

Bellemere sauntered up the staircase of her large home with two mugs of hot tea in both hands; a lit cigarette was present between her lips. Smoke swept behind her as she made her way to her daughter, Nami's room.

She knocked on the door and called out to her but didn't get a response. She gave a light sigh and expertly balanced the two mugs in one hand, opened the door and made her way inside.

Giving the room a once over, she found that Nami was nowhere in sight. However, Bellemere had a good idea of where she was. At the corner of the tidy room was a door adorned with the sign 'Map Room."

She found Nami, back turned away from her, seated and hunched over a map. Scratching sounds could be heard as she drew out the map's details with quick but skillful hands. She was wearing her reading glasses, hair up in a high ponytail, dressed in a blue and white striped tank top with orange shorts.

Bellemere approached her, sat down at the couch and rested the cups on the nearby coffee table. She noted the cupboards stacked with old maps and new ones that Nami deftly recreated. On the floor lay a couple sheets of scrunched up paper. 'Nothing but perfection, huh?' she thought.

She looked towards her pretty daughter, rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. The scratching stopped and Nami glanced over to the couch with widened eyes. She didn't notice till now that she had company.

"Hi mom," Nami said with a smile. "What brings you here?"

"Hello Nami," Bellemere began, "I'm here to talk to you about your future-" Nami made an annoyed face, one that Bellemere knew all too well- "As the daughter of the Mikan Grove Foundation, it is..."

"I don't want to hear it." Nami said, cutting her off and turned back around to her map. Bellemere blew a thin trail of smoke and stared hard at the stubborn girl in front of her.

Choosing to ignore Nami's rudeness, she continued:

"Nami, it is very important that you marry a well-off man from a prominent family for the up keeping of our household. It is your duty."

Nami knew that the continual success of the family business depended on her marrying into a rich family but on the other hand, she also knew that deep down in her heart she wanted to know, to feel what true love really was for herself- not of the decision of her parents.

"Mom, that last thing I want is my life being ruined by some old, egoistic bastard who only focuses on work! The suitors you guys have chosen for me so far were too old, narcissistic, flashy or just plain old perverts... I don't want to be some trophy wife. I want to be a wife!

What I want is to find my own kind of love- true love. I can't believe that you of all people is trying to force me into doing this. Where's dad?"

Nami was so furious. Was on the verge of tears.

"About that," Bellemere said, handing Nami the tea. Nami took a sip after saying a silent thank you and marveled at the taste. It was orange tea, her favourite. She began to feel herself calm down a bit.

"Your father and I understand, sweetheart. You know that we never want to see you unhappy and will never choose someone who is unsuitable. In fact, we have already found someone to be your serious suitor!" Bellemere beamed.

Nami suddenly took a quick intake of breath after hearing that her stairway to misery had already been built. She put her mug to the side and put her face in her hands.

"He's from the Monkey D. Corporation and his folks are very good friends of your father's. Your father said that he'll make a fine husband. He's over there right now meeting with Monkey D. Dragon..." Bellemere rambled, becoming troubled by the sadness illuminating from her daughter. She stood up and went over to Nami's side and rested a hand on her shoulder.

"Honey... Tell you what. If this guy isn't what you're looking for, I'll convince your father to allow you the chance of finding someone on your own. No more suitors and no more arrangements."

Nami's hands dropped from her face and glanced up at her mother.

"You promise?"

"I promise." Bellemere smiled down at her daughter's faintly wet eyes. Nami flung her arms around her mother's waist, and held her close.

The day came for her to meet her arranged partner. They were to meet at the five star restaurant called 'The Baratie' at 5:00 pm. They reserved a private room where the meeting would be held. The room was Japanese styled with floral paper doors and immaculate decorating. Nami and her parents were already seated. They were 20 minutes early but the Monkey D.'s were not there as yet to Nami's relief.

Bellemere made Nami dress up a bit even though Nami protested. She was however pleased with the end result. She wasn't overdressed. Nami wore a thin strapped light blue dress with traces of faded orange flowers. The dress flared gracefully around her hips stopping a little above her knees. She wore this with a pair of simple white Mary Janes her mom picked out for her. Her natural orange waves were styled free about her shoulders and down the middle of her back with her bangs pinned to the side. She wore very light makeup since she was always one to have flawless skin. She was all in all simply stunning.

In terms of her feelings, Nami felt nervous. She usually does when her dad makes her meet the past suitors but today was a different kind of nervous. She didn't quite know why she was feeling so anxious. 'Maybe because this is the last time I get to be in a situation like this,' she thought and she began playing with the hem of her skirt.

Actually, Nami's father, Genzo, kept talking highly about this 'Luffy' character. That's all she knew about him, his name and his age. He was a year younger than her.

At 5:15 pm, Nami heard some voices approaching the room and her heart felt like it nearly stopped. She lowered her head to hide because she didn't think that she was ready. The voices approaching were a hushed argument and in stepped two men with spiky, black hair. There were none other than Monkey D. Dragon and his son, Monkey D. Luffy.

Dragon had a scowl on his face and Luffy looked rather pissed. Dragon then brightened up when he saw his dear friend, Genzo and he suddenly bowed his head and said, "We humbly apologize for our lateness." He glanced over and saw that Luffy was still standing, picking his nose, nonetheless and reached up and pulled his head down which made him whine in protest.

The truth was that Dragon had an argument with Luffy just before leaving the mansion. The lad had the nerve to think that casuals were a perfect dinner outfit in a five star restaurant to meet his possible future wife much less. He finally persuaded Luffy to go with a fitted black dress pants, a red dress shirt and a nice fitting jacket. What he was missing which Dragon was furious about was that Luffy forgot to wear a tie and some of his shirt buttons were still undone. They were already late so Dragon hurried and rushed Luffy out of the house.

"Sorry."

Nami who fortunately still had her head down up to this point, missing Luffy's gross display of 'looting,' glanced up slowly after hearing his quick apology. "What a strange voice,' she thought. His voice was raspy, childish and Nami, though she hated to admit it, thought that it was kind of cute.

Around the same time, Luffy looked up as well and their eyes met. He looked at her blankly for a good 3 seconds- probably the longest 3 seconds of Nami's life- then gave her a wide, radiant smile. Nami could have sworn that she felt her heart skip a beat and it started beating hard. 'There goes that weird feeling again.'

She studied him. He was dressed sloppy but his clothes fit him almost perfectly. There was a strain at the jacket shoulders which made her wonder what was hiding under that lanky frame off his. His eyes were big, bright, dark brown and full of life. He had a strong jaw line, tan skin, a neat nose and a scar directly below one of his eyes. Monkey D. Luffy was a handsome man and Nami wasn't objecting. The way he smiled at her earlier brought out his charm and she felt her cheeks warming up.

"Better late than never, my old friend," Genzo said walking over to Dragon and embraced him then shook hands with Luffy. He then invited them to have a seat at the table. Luffy sat opposite Nami who went back to playing with her skirt and the table grew awkwardly quiet.

Dragon cleared his throat and Nami glanced over at him. He was an intimidating man in her eyes. His son looked a lot like him but had a more childish, carefree appearance. She sensed that he was an exceptionally powerful man.

"Tonight, we are gathered here for the bonding of both our families through an arranged marriage of our children. The arrangement will grant us many years of financial security and it will be a pleasure for my son to marry the daughter of my very good friend, Genzo."

Nami feeling the burden on her shoulders reached for her mother's hand and squeezed it. Bellemere squeezed back in return silently comforting her daughter.

Dragon turned to Nami and she jumped a little.

"Hello Nami. I've heard so much about you," he smiled, "I'm Monkey D. Dragon, head of the Monkey D. Corporation. I would like you to meet my son." He nudged Luffy with his elbow who grimaced at the interruption. Instead of being a nervous-wreck like she was, he was busy eyeing the menu.

"Wha-?"

"Introduce yourself, Luffy."

''How about we leave these two so that they can really get to know each other a bit? We adults will be checking out the wine bar to see if we can get ourselves a drink," Bellemere said getting up, motioning for her husband and Dragon to do the same.

"What? Mom!" Nami couldn't believe that she'd just left her alone like that.

"You two take your time," Bellemere winked at Nami and gave her a thumbs up with a triumphant grin much to Nami's annoyance.

The door slid closed and Nami hesitantly turned to Luffy. He was back to reading the menu.

"Well, aren't you going to say anything?" she asked. Her patience was running thin.

"I'm starving!" Luffy exclaimed. Nami was taken back. She realized that she too was starving but that wasn't the point. It felt like she was being ignored completely.

"You idiot!" Nami shot up and punched Luffy causing him to fly to the floor.

"Gaah!" Luffy shouted. He looked at Nami with wide eyes. He wasn't expecting her to hit him at all.

"You insensitive jerk! If this isn't the slightest important to you, I'm leaving!" Nami began gathering her things and started heading for the door.

"Wait." Luffy said as reached out and grabbed hold of her arm. Nami stopped and turned around. However, Luffy was standing a tad too close for comfort. She unknowingly blushed. Just as she was about to pull her hand away, Luffy said:

"I'm sorry... can we start over?"

Nami looked at him carefully. He was taller than her by a few inches, she noted. She decided to comply and went back to her seat. Luffy did the same.

"My name is Monkey D. Luffy. I am the junior manager of Monkey D. Corporation; I am 20 years old; my favourite food is meat and-"Nami burst out laughing with mirth. 'Meat?' she thought, "That's so random!"

Luffy was amazed at the sound of her laughing. He blushed at how nice she looked at that very moment.

"You're cute."

"W-What?"

"I said that you're cute. I like it when you smile! You should smile more, Nami," Luffy smiled at her widely.

"Thank you..." Nami was embarrassingly pleased and she was finding it rather hard to maintain eye contact.

"...Listen, I've never really been in love before. I'm not even sure about what it feels like. But... even though I have no idea about those sort of things, I'll definitely learn to love you," Luffy said with conviction.

Nami blinked. Luffy became serious all of a sudden.

"Because I don't know why, but this mystery feeling right here..." he grabbed his chest where his heart is and looked her squarely in the eye.

"I've never felt this way before but I want to see you happy; I want to be a reason to make you happy."

Nami looked at him with widened eyes, almost credulously. Luffy's unexpected confession was the nicest thing she had ever heard from a guy. Him wanting her to always be happy made Nami's heart soar. She even felt butterflies welling up in her stomach. This was a big decision for both of their lives and she had a strong feeling that Luffy was worth giving a try at being her husband.

Her long silence caused Luffy to shuffle in his seat. 'Was I too blunt?' he thought. He had always been one to say what was on his mind without thinking first.

"Alright," Nami said. Luffy stared back at her. "I'll marry you. Please take care of me."

"You will? Yahoo!"

Nami saw Luffy's huge grin and wondered how someone could be so happy. "Where did that serious demeanor go?' she wondered.

"I've never been in love before myself," Nami began, "It's something that I take very seriously. I trust you, Monkey D. Luffy, to take care of me so you better not go against your word." Nami was stern which made Luffy gulp. He was smart enough to know that that was an order. He looked down and suddenly reached for her small hands and held them tightly between his slightly larger ones.

Nami silently gasped.

"I promise."

Nami, completely surprised by Luffy's small yet sweet gesture, looked at him with new light and smiled genuinely at him.

The door abruptly opened and in walked their parents. Nami almost forgot about them.

"Well, well, well," Bellemere chanted, "Should we come back later?"

Nami turned to look at her mom quickly and looked back in front of her to realize that Luffy still had a firm hold of her hands. She quickly pulled them away and her cheeks were stained a bright red. Needless to say she was extremely embarrassed.

"Dad, you guys took forever. I'm starving!"

"Mind your manners, boy." Dragon had a smirk on his face. He including Bellemere and Genzo made it back in time to spy on the cute display the two heirs had earlier. Who knew his son had it in him?

The two families proceeded to order dinner. They were pleased to find out that there will be a marriage and gave a toast to congratulate the engagement. Nami was surprised at the amount of food Luffy ate. He was a glutton. On the other hand, Nami liked the way he was kind to her parents when he spoke with them. He was sweet, sometimes a complete moron... but still sweet.

Luffy would occasionally give her short glances which she would sometimes catch and he will grin at her to her delight.

Nami couldn't believe that she agreed to getting married just like that. Despite that, she knew deep inside that she was making a right decision.

Dinner concluded and Monkey D. Dragon and his son bowed and turned to leave.

"Wait Luffy."

At the sound of Nami's voice, Luffy turned back to meet her gaze. Both parents looked on as Nami approached Luffy, tip toed and gave him a kiss on his cheek. She leaned back and gave him her best smile.

"Bye."

Red spread across Luffy's cheeks like the plague. Nami was quite bold, and she also smelled nice, he thought. All he was thinking right there and then was that he definitely wanted to see her again.

After reaching home, Nami went straight to her room, latched the door and landed face down onto her bed.

"Oh my God. I can't believe I did that..." she said out loud. All she remembered was moving on an impulse. Bellemere wouldn't stop teasing her about it. She reached over and hugged her pillow.

"What now?"

"Nami could hear her parents downstairs laughing. 'Probably making fun of me,' she thought in annoyance. She changed and to take her mind off of a certain 'someone,' she decided to go finish drafting her latest map.

Reaching for the doorknob of her treasured room, she stopped when she heard her cell phone ring. She dug for it out of her bag and realized that in was an non-ID number.

"Hello?"

"Nami?" she heard the voice say and her eyes widened.

"Nami, you there?"

"She went over to the foot of her bed, sat down and drew her knees close to her chest.

"L-Luffy?"

To be continued...

Hope you enjoyed.

One Piece belongs to Oda-sama.

-Awsme Grl