Disclaimer: Oda, I am not. I do not own One Piece.

Smarter than he lets on – Part 4

The next night, Robin 'conveniently' swapped lookout duty with Nami so that the Navigator would be alone that night. Nami and Luffy both caught on to what Robin was trying to pull and fought back a blush. Sanji would have offered to take both Nami and Robin's places except that Chopper, Ussop and Franky held him down in the sick bay to prevent him from spraying blood all over the Sunny again.

Now, Nami waited in the crow's nest, admiring the fish that swam by as they descended deeper into the depths of the ocean. Predictably, she was broken out of her thoughts by a soft knock on the door.

"Nami, it's me. Can I come in?"

Taking a deep breath, Nami opened the hatch and let the Captain in. She had originally hesitated but a pair of hands suddenly pushed her toward the door and then disappeared into a mess of petals.

"Did Robin give you a helping hand too?"

"Yeah"

"We are so going to have to pay her back tomorrow"

"Shi shi shi shi"

The duo shared a mischievous grin before settling down on the floor. Exchanging warm smiles, they both awkwardly looked away for a moment before Nami broke the silence.

"Neh, Luffy, so it's all true?"

Luffy smiled, knowing exactly what she was referring to. "Depends on what you heard"

That remark earned him a slap to the back of the head as he laughed.

"Stop playing dumb with me, dummy. You've been doing so for far too long. Robin filled me in."

"Then you know"

Luffy's reply wasn't a question, it was a statement of fact. It was also a statement that referred to more than just his intelligence; they both knew that if she knew about his intelligence, there were other things that were automatically implied.

"So you do have feelings for me?"

Luffy's only reply was a silent smile.

Nami recalled what Robin had told her; how Luffy had refrained from acting on those emotions for the sake of the crew. Nami wondered how much torture Luffy had been in emotionally just for her sake. Taking another deep breath, she asked the question that had haunted her.

"Before I tell you whether I accept those feelings, I need to know…what happened on Maiden's island?"

The fact that she didn't add that Luffy wasn't to lie to her spoke volumes about the trust between them. They knew, since the day Nami had first joined the crew, that they would trust each other. She recalled with fondness how Ussop had related to her that Luffy had defended her even when she betrayed them to save her village. After she had rejoined, there had been an unspoken promise between the Captain and his Navigator that there would be no more lies ever between them, strengthening their trust and friendship.

Luffy took off his cap and looked Nami in the eye before recalling briefly what had happened on Maiden's island.

"When I was on Maiden's island, I originally didn't know what to do. I ran into a girl named Margaret who helped me find my way around. Then I tried to go to the highest point on the island to get a good view of the place and decide what to do. Unfortunately, I had no idea that the highest point was also Boa Hancock's palace. I slipped from the roof and fell into her shower, accidentally seeing her nude."

He paused to see Nami's eyebrows raised. However, he knew she would wait for him to finish before unleashing any fury.

"She reacted badly to that and tried to use her devil's fruit powers to turn me into stone but it didn't work. She attributed it to me being a special man but it was really due to a combination of my Haki and the fact that her abilities didn't work on people who did not have strong emotions toward her. She never got the fact that I didn't have strong emotions for her. She was pretty but nothing special to me. Sanji might have fallen head over heels in love with her though."

Nami fought back a grin at that statement.

"Anyway, to make things short, through some misadventure, I ended up having to fight Boa Hancock and her sisters to save Margaret. I won by using some Haki and because I showed that I had a good heart and wasn't out to be their enemy. I earned their trust and Hancock's promise to help me get off the island. She also shared in private with me the secret she and her sisters shared. I can't tell you because I promised her."

Nami understood. Her captain always kept his promises. It was why she trusted him so much.

"Anyway, the night before I was supposed to leave the island, I found out about Ace's execution so Hancock helped me get to Impel Down. Later on I escaped Impel Down with a bunch of inmates and we went to Marineford. You know the rest. We fought to save Ace, succeeded then failed."

Luffy paused for a moment and Nami reached forward tentatively to offer some comfort by holding his hand. This earned her a smile from Luffy who continued.

"After that, I got saved by Law and went back to Maiden's island to train with Rayleigh for two years. Finally I met up with you guys and here we are."

"Luffy, you said you didn't have strong emotions for Hancock. Why? She's the most beautiful pirate in the world."

Luffy took his straw hat and placed it on Nami's head.

"She may be beautiful and she may be the pirate empress, but my heart has already been taken by the queen of the sea."

Nami smiled and fought back tears in her eyes. In his own way, Luffy had just told her all that she need to know.

In the women's quarters, Robin smiled and recalled her eyes and ears. The duo had earned their privacy, she decided. Tucking herself into bed she smiled and went to sleep as her captain and his navigator continued to talk into the night.

Robin never had a chance to catch up with Nami on what went on that night because the very next day the crew's crazy adventures restarted all over again.

Nami and Robin both silently observed as Luffy fooled around with Zoro and pretended to want to poke through the ship's coating to catch fish. They both understood that Luffy knew that it was perfectly safe for him to poke on hole. They both laughed discreetly and did nothing to stop Luffy goading Zoro into trying to poke multiple holes in the coating. The expressions on Ussop and Chopper's faces were priceless.

The women also observed with knowing smiles as Luffy tamed Surime the Kraken to help them. Later in their battle against Hordy Jones, Surime would prove an invaluable ally, justifying Luffy's choice.

Neither woman really appreciated Luffy's reckless way of getting them into Mermaid Island but they trusted him. It worked of course, although one had to wonder if Luffy factored Cammy finding them into his plan.

Nami and Robin both fought back knowing grins when they heard that Luffy had used Megaloo the shark to smuggle Shirahoshi out of the palace. It was hilarious and ingenious. No one had suspected it although it made Megaloo look horrendously fat.

Throughout their time in Merman/Mermaid island, the two women observed with a now different perspective all of the actions taken by their captain and understood that he was giving them brief glimpses of his competency.

Unknown to Nami, Robin was also observing her intently and had noticed that she now had a more cheerful outlook and even a jump in her step.

Robin hid a knowing smile when after the battles, Luffy wrapped his neck around Nami to get a look at the new compass and Nami never once made an issue of him basically groping her. She wondered why no one picked up on it but attributed it to his dumb act; she knew better though.

Even as she now stood on deck watching Nami guide the ship through the underwater whirlpools and into safety, she smiled, knowing that Luffy's cleverly disguised action of using the giant fish as a weight had allowed the ship to originally avoid being tossed around too badly by the currents. It was only when that weight started to do more harm than good that Nami had to take control and guide them to safety, cutting the fish loose in the process.

In the end, as she observed her Captain and his Navigator work together, she knew that whatever awaited them, it would always work out. It would work out because not only was Luffy smarter than he let on, but Nami and Luffy were now also much closer than they let on.

THE END?