Mass x Acceleration - Chapter Twelve
Title: Mass x Acceleration
Chapters: Prologue + 12 Chapters
Rating: R
Pairings: Eventually
Summary: Nami tries out for Braeburn's band - it does not go well. Sanji teaches the twins some new songs and games.
Mass x Acceleration
By Dixxy Mouri
Chapter Twelve: Auditions
nbsp; It was a week or two after Sanji had kissed Nami, and things were going well. Little by little the apartment was being filled with more homey touches and, physically, they were much improved. Nami was back to her weight prior to being kidnapped (Sanji still had about ten pounds to go, but he’d lost more than she had and had a higher metabolism - he didn’t eat as much as, say, Luffy, but she’d never noticed that between meals the cook could be easily spotted snacking on something), but not the same shape.
nbsp; For one, her chest was much, much smaller.
nbsp; Nami was a little torn than she’d dropped several cup sizes (she’d gone from an I to a DD, according to Ria), but she was discovering that, in a way, she felt a little bit better. When she’d talked to Gala about it, he said that extreme weight loss in women sometimes led to reduced cup sizes, and she’d lost a lot of weight for a woman already in a healthy weight range. The doctor then went on to explain that larger breasted women often had back problems later in life (which, considering her slim waist, he guessed she would be at a higher risk than usual) and did a spit take when she told him her pre-That Man chest size.
nbsp; “Do they even make bras in than size?!” he had asked, looking genuinely alarmed.
nbsp; “It was tough to find them but yeah, they do.”
nbsp; “I’m going to be keeping an eye on your spine just to be safe.”
nbsp; “Not a breast man, Gala?”
nbsp; “Har, har, very funny. You know what’s not funny? A curved spine before you’re forty.”
nbsp; The other part of her body that didn’t seem to match was her waist, hips, and thighs - those were a smidge bigger (and accounted for her weight matching her pre-captivity days despite smaller breasts). She was still thin (Ria pegged her at a size 6) but she used to be a size 2. After several looks in the mirror, though, she decided the rearrangement of her weight wasn’t so bad - she still looked good and maybe a little healthier, too, the more she thought about Gala’s concern over her back.
nbsp; Best of all, spring was in the air. The last of the snow was gone and flowers were starting to bloom. There were still signs of winter, such as patches of dirt where the grass wasn’t back yet and a lack of birds chirping, but she was able to go out with a light jacket instead of a winter coat and mostly bare legs under the skirt of her dress.
nbsp; It was another one of her days off and Sanji’s days on. Working for Mac gave her a steady schedule Monday through Friday, but the nature of the restaurant business gave her roommate different hours and he was usually at the Cider Mug at least one weekend morning a week. Today’s errand was restocking their cleaning supplies (there had been an incident with the twins trying to “help” Sanji in the kitchen that ended . . . poorly).
nbsp; As she was on her way home, she spotted Braeburn coming the other way. Nami waved, giving the blacksmith a smile. He returned the gesture and stopped to greet her, holding a stack of paper in front of him. “Hello, Nami, how are you this afternoon?” he asked, giving her a brief hug and a pat on the back.
nbsp; “I’m all right - Sanji-kun and I were running low on cleaning supplies after the twins were over.”
nbsp; Braeburn winced. “What happened?”
nbsp; “Chocolate pudding happened. They ‘helped’ make it.”
nbsp; The blacksmith laughed. “That’ll do it. They mean well . . . most of the time . . . they just don’t have the motor skills to back it up quite yet - being little ones and all. In a couple of years I’m sure they’ll be much better if they want to help someone in the kitchen.” He sighed, looking nostalgic for a moment, before he shook his head and chuckled awkwardly. “Get everything you need to clean up the mess?”
nbsp; “Oh no, no, the mess is all cleaned up, it just killed our stock,” said Nami, holding up her basket.
nbsp; “Ah, well that’s good,” said Braeburn.
nbsp; Nami eyed the paper in Braeburn’s hand. “So, what do you have there?” she asked.
nbsp; The blacksmith paused for a moment, looked at what he was carrying, and realization lit up. “Oh! It’s April, so my band and I are holding auditions to find a replacement vocalist. Everyone’s a lot less angry than they were so we think we’re in a good headspace to start looking for Deltana’s replacement. I’ve been hanging fliers around town advertising it.”
nbsp; Recognition clicked in Nami’s brain. “Oh yeah! Jimmy from the Cider Mug and some other guy - what was it, Danny, David, Darren . . . Darryl! It was Darryl! Yeah, they stopped by the mayor’s office asking to borrow the town hall for a few days last week and I had them fill out the forms myself. So that’s what they were up to, huh?”
nbsp; “Indeed it was - I just sent Jimmy but, yeah, it makes sense Darryl would be there, too.”
nbsp; Nami remembered the incident well. She’d met Jimmy before from visiting Sanji at work, but Darryl was new. He was a bit stockier than Jimmy, with much darker hair and sharp green eyes. He was the quieter of the two, with Sanji’s co-worker doing all of the talking. She cocked her head to one side. “I guess that explains why Jimmy did all of the talking.”
nbsp; Braeburn frowned. “Not exactly,” he said. He sat down on a nearby bench and motioned for Nami to sit with him. “The two of them are close - really close. Best friends since they were babies. But, well, Darryl lost both of his parents during the pirate attack eight years ago. It really messed him up, and he doesn’t talk much anymore. In all the time I’ve known him I think I’ve heard him say maybe ten words.”
nbsp; The young woman lowered her eyes. “Everyone talks about how newcomers to the island bring baggage with them, but a lot of people who’ve been here a long time have it, too,” she said somberly. “It’s terrible to lose someone in an attack like that.”
nbsp; Braeburn put his hand on her shoulder. “Voice of experience?” he asked quietly.
nbsp; Nami nodded. “My mother. If it’s okay, I’d rather not get into it right now.” Braeburn still looked concerned, but nodded and allowed Nami to change the subject. She pointed at his fliers. “So the fliers are for your band’s auditions, right?” Braeburn nodded. “Can I see one?” Braeburn handed Nami one of the fliers. “Friday and Saturday nights at the Cider Mug, huh? Sanji-kun was telling me they used to have live entertainment,” she said. She murmured over the flier, looking at the time commitments (practices were at night Monday through Wednesday), pay (a percentage of what the Cider Mug brought in that night plus a base rate), and desired experience (intermediate to advanced preferred, willing to work with the right novice or beginner).
nbsp; “Would you like to try out?” said Braeburn. “I’m sure you have a lovely voice.”
nbsp; Nami laughed nervously. “Oh, no I don’t,” she said.
nbsp; “Oh, come on, a pretty girl like you? The worst that will happen is we say ‘no’,” said Braeburn. He patted her shoulder. “Jimmy, Darryl and I are holding auditions next week - I know you’ve got work with Mac but we’re doing it in the evening so you should be out.” Nami continued to think about it - she didn’t think she had a particularly good voice, but maybe she was just being too hard on herself or something.
nbsp; “All right, what the hell, right?” she said. Braeburn seemed excited, set up a time with her, and thanked her for giving it a shot.
Elsewhere . . .
nbsp; Unrelated to the “pudding incident”, Sanji had agreed to watch the twins an extra afternoon that week (Ria had practically begged him, explaining there was a wedding coming up and she had to take final measurements and make final adjustments for the bride, groom, and the rest of the bridal party) but, with the warmer weather coming, decided to take the girls out to the park. There was a small playground near the Apple Blossom with some swings, a slide, and monkey bars, and the girls looked overjoyed to be able to play on them.
nbsp; But after Sundae fell from the monkey bars and would have hit the sand below if Sanji hadn’t been paying close enough attention (“Uncle Sanji, you SAVED MY LIFE!”), the girls decided they were done with the playground equipment and wanted to do “something else outside”. It was a nice day so Sanji didn’t mind being outside, but what to do?
nbsp; Tag seemed like it had the potential to get too rough for children this young, and there was no way in HELL he was going to agree to Hide and Seek with a pair of toddlers (since if he was the seeker and they were too good at hiding, which he didn’t want to chance, Ria would be furious with him), so maybe he could teach them some simple games with songs, like “Ring Around the Rosey”. That was easy - hold hands, walk around in the circle, sing the song, and fall to the ground when the sound was over.
nbsp; “All right, so the first thing we need to do is learn the song - it’s pretty easy,” said Sanji.
nbsp; “Ring around the rosey
nbsp; Pocket full of posies
nbsp; Ashes, ashes,
nbsp; We all fall down.”
nbsp; The cook smiled. “Now you girls try.”
nbsp; Wendy and Sundae kept singing “ponies” instead of “posies”, but after a while Sanji deemed it was close enough and taught them how to fall down without getting hurt. The girls seemed to really enjoy this and made Sanji do the circle and the song with then at least a dozen times before they wanted to try something else.
nbsp; While Sanji was trying to decide between the Hokey Pokey and Pat-a-Cake, Wendy and Sundae started to tug on his shirt. “Yes, my ladies?” he asked.
nbsp; “You sing really good,” said Wendy.
nbsp; “No, he sings really well,” said Sundae.
nbsp; Sanji laughed. “Oh come on, girls, it’s-“
nbsp; “No, good!”
nbsp; “It’s well, I’m sure!”
nbsp; “Good!”
nbsp; “Well!”
nbsp; “Good!”
nbsp; “Well!”
nbsp; “Good!”
nbsp; “Well!”
nbsp; “Good times two!”
nbsp; “Well times three!”
nbsp; “Good times a million!”
nbsp; “You can’t do good times a million, we can’t count that high!”
nbsp; Although some lesson from some teacher long ago told Sanji that Sundae was the one who was, in the sentence structure sense, correct (although how she’d picked that up he didn’t know - she must have overheard it or something - and how he even remembered that he REALLY didn’t know), he didn’t think the girls were right about him being a good singer. Worse, shrill voices did not do good things to his now sensitive hearing, so the yelling needed to end. “Hey, hey, calm down, girls - it’s not a big deal, okay?”
nbsp; The twins stared at each other for a moment. “We’re sorry,” they said in unison.
nbsp; “Don’t worry about it, okay?” Sanji said, squatting down to talk to them on their level. His head was starting to throb a little, but he forced a smile for their sake. “You silly geese really think I can sing though?”
nbsp; “Uh huh, you have a nice voice,” said Wendy.
nbsp; Sundae nodded in agreement (as she evidently saw no flaws in her sister’s sentence that time).
nbsp; “You sure? I don’t think I have a good voice,” he said.
nbsp; “No way!” said Wendy.
nbsp; “It was good,” said Sundae.
nbsp; Wendy pointed at her sister. “I told you it was good!”
nbsp; “Not the time you said it!”
nbsp; “Good!”
nbsp; “Well!”
nbsp; Sanji groaned, handing them each a baggy of grapes (sweet enough to appease small children, far less sugar and calories to appease their mom, and chewy enough to relieve his poor ears). He held back his smirk when they started to focus on eating the fruit instead of their argument, and he started to round them up for they could go back home to their mom.
nbsp; He’d be doing something for his headache back at the apartment.
A few days later . . .
nbsp; Auditions for Braeburn’s band were being held in town hall. Nami had found the band waiting inside, smiling warmly and asking her what she’d prepared. She handed Jimmy the sheet music to the song she wanted to sing, and he passed it over to Braeburn. The blacksmith moved towards a piano they’d set up with Darryl and Jimmy sat behind a table with some paper and pencils, presumably to take notes.
nbsp; “All right - I’m going to give you an intro, so get ready to jump in,” said Braeburn. “Ready?”
nbsp; Nami nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
nbsp; As Braeburn began to play the opening bars, Nami waited for the appropriate moment to start singing. As the into ended, she started to sing her heart out, loud and proud and guttural, letting her voice vibrate like she’d heard so many other singers do in the past. Deciding this was a lot of fun, she started to march around a little, spinning on the balls of her feet and waving her arms about in time with the music.
nbsp; Nami finished the last note of her audition song and turned her focus to Braeburn and the other members of his band. Since Braeburn had told her about the audition, Nami had been practicing off and on and decided that, well, maybe she wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe she could be the new front woman for Braeburn’s band. She clasped her hands together and smiled. “So, how did I do, guys?”
nbsp; Braeburn, Jimmy, and Darryl all looked . . . blown away, but not in the good way. Braeburn had developed an odd twitch in one eye, Jimmy’s mouth was hanging open and his eyes looked a little glossy, and Darryl looked like he’d just been given very bad news. Nami didn’t need them to tell her the audition had gone poorly.
nbsp; “Uh . . . we’ll call you?” Jimmy asked awkwardly.
nbsp; Nami frowned. “I told Braeburn I wasn’t very good.” She sighed - it hurt a little to know she hadn’t impressed them, but at least they would find someone else, right? “Well, I’m sure you guys have other vocalists to listen to, right?” She went to grab her purse and collect the sheet music from her audition some from Braeburn.
nbsp; The members of the band looked concerned. “Um . . . you were our only audition,” said Jimmy.
nbsp; Nami raised her eyebrow. “Huh?”
nbsp; “Well . . . part of it’s the time commitment, so a lot of otherwise capable vocalists on the island have families or jobs to worry about,” said Braeburn. His gaze darkened. “I also wouldn’t be surprised if Deltana messed with some other possible replacements - she was pretty mad when we kicked her out of the band and I wouldn’t put it past her.”
nbsp; “Mess with them how?” asked Nami.
nbsp; “Don’t know, but some of the gals on the island I know have talent didn’t seem interested. At all,” said Jimmy. “Some of them were all, well, what Beebs said about work and family, but some of them couldn’t get away from us fast enough. If I had to guess? Maybe blackmail. Nothing serious in the ‘hey I know where you hid the bodies’ sense but maybe embarrassing photos, threatening to humiliate them - you know, petty bullshit.”
nbsp; Nami stepped over to the table where Darryl and Jimmy were seated as Braeburn sauntered over from the piano. “You mentioned ‘gals’ - are you looking at male vocalists at all?” she asked, her arms crossed in curiosity. The flier hadn’t mentioned anything about so much as a preference for a female singer, but she wondered why Jimmy had singled out the fairer sex. “For that matter, can any of you sing?”
nbsp; Braeburn scratched his head. “Well, Darryl isn’t a man of many words.” Darryl rolled his eyes and turned away from the blacksmith in response. “Jimmy’s got a great voice, but he’s had problems with breathing in the past, so he usually prefers to stay on background vocals if we needed it. My abilities vocally are all right, but they are not strong enough to carry a band - I usually stick to background vocals, too, which works out because Jimmy’s voice and my voice resonate very well together.”
nbsp; “And as for preferring a woman?” asked Nami.
nbsp; “We don’t really prefer a man or woman - I’m personally not aware of a talented male vocalist on the island. At least, not one strong enough to support a band,” said Jimmy. “I guess it would give us a chance to branch out in other directions - we usually do covers and most of our songs are sung from a woman’s perspective. There are a few that can be sung by a man or a woman, but we’d get to learn some new songs.”
nbsp; “Okay, so we can go with a male singer, fine, that doesn’t change that we currently don’t have one of either sex,” said Braeburn. “So we need a new plan to get more auditions because if not we’re done. Any ideas? Anyone?”
nbsp; Nami gingerly raised her hand. “I could help.”
nbsp; Jimmy turned to her inquisitively. “Oh?”
nbsp; “Just because I can’t sing doesn’t mean I can’t recognize a good voice if I heard one, right?” asked Nami. She smiled. Yeah, this wasn’t a bad idea - she liked Braeburn and his friends and helping them find a new singer would be a good idea, right? “I get a lot of people in and out of town hall all day - I can try to talk some people up if you’d like.”
nbsp; Darryl nodded, grinning and putting a hand on her shoulder.
nbsp; “Darryl’s right - it’s worth a shot,” said Braeburn. “Okay, Nami, let us know if you find anyone.”
Author’s Notes
Nami’s breast size was actually something Triple C and I had talked about at length during the early phases of development (no pun intended).
Minor note - the birds chirping thing reminded me of an early, early draft of Mass x Acceleration: Chapter One, as that was originally what alerted Nami to her new environment (but seeing as it was in the middle of winter, well, birdies getting taken out was probably for the best).
Sundae’s logic was flawless this chapter.
And I forgot to put this in the Author’s Notes last chapter but Strawhat-Nakama (and more recently, Funnie) raised an extremely good question that I haven’t really addressed too much in the story. Because Tesla cut off all their hair towards the end of A Force Against Inertia, they don’t have as much hair as they did even pre-time skip. Some of it probably came back before they escaped (like, very little since it would have only been a week or two) but at this point they still don’t have a whole lot of hair. Now, in our world, human hair grows at an average rate of six inches a year (or about half an inch a month). Certain things like diet and exercise can affect this, so it’s possible that between Sanji’s culinary knowledge and Gala’s medical expertise it’s growing a LITTLE faster than the average rate but I would hesitate to give them anymore than two or three inches. Nami’s been utilizing wigs, Sanji I’m not really sure - I’m visualizing him the way he in the series (part one - if he starts styling it as in part two I’ll let y’all know in story) so he may have acquired one at some point, especially considering his eyebrow situation, but as far as their actual hair goes it’s still very short. This may be addressed in a few chapters with an idea I’ve thought about doing for a while.
Now Funnie’s version of the question also included what else they looked like and whether or not they were using their Devil Fruits. For their abilities I would like to save that for in-story discussion. For appearances (wow, long Author’s Notes), Nami’s discussed a little more in-depth this chapter (smaller breasts, bigger hips, thighs, and waistline). Sanji’s still maybe a bit too thin by this chapter but over the course of the next several he’ll be back to the right weight. He likely has the same posture and notably isn’t smoking - neither of them are drinking alcohol and caffeine intake is probably limited.
Some of the coming arcs contain the material I am most excited about but includes some of the material I am also the most worried about it, so there’s a good chance the speed of the fic could increase a lot (i.e. the material has really snagged my interest) or decrease (i.e. I’m hunting down extra people to look over chapters and passages to make sure things are being handled well).
Dixxy
Chapters: Prologue + 12 Chapters
Rating: R
Pairings: Eventually
Summary: Nami tries out for Braeburn's band - it does not go well. Sanji teaches the twins some new songs and games.
Mass x Acceleration
By Dixxy Mouri
Chapter Twelve: Auditions
nbsp; It was a week or two after Sanji had kissed Nami, and things were going well. Little by little the apartment was being filled with more homey touches and, physically, they were much improved. Nami was back to her weight prior to being kidnapped (Sanji still had about ten pounds to go, but he’d lost more than she had and had a higher metabolism - he didn’t eat as much as, say, Luffy, but she’d never noticed that between meals the cook could be easily spotted snacking on something), but not the same shape.
nbsp; For one, her chest was much, much smaller.
nbsp; Nami was a little torn than she’d dropped several cup sizes (she’d gone from an I to a DD, according to Ria), but she was discovering that, in a way, she felt a little bit better. When she’d talked to Gala about it, he said that extreme weight loss in women sometimes led to reduced cup sizes, and she’d lost a lot of weight for a woman already in a healthy weight range. The doctor then went on to explain that larger breasted women often had back problems later in life (which, considering her slim waist, he guessed she would be at a higher risk than usual) and did a spit take when she told him her pre-That Man chest size.
nbsp; “Do they even make bras in than size?!” he had asked, looking genuinely alarmed.
nbsp; “It was tough to find them but yeah, they do.”
nbsp; “I’m going to be keeping an eye on your spine just to be safe.”
nbsp; “Not a breast man, Gala?”
nbsp; “Har, har, very funny. You know what’s not funny? A curved spine before you’re forty.”
nbsp; The other part of her body that didn’t seem to match was her waist, hips, and thighs - those were a smidge bigger (and accounted for her weight matching her pre-captivity days despite smaller breasts). She was still thin (Ria pegged her at a size 6) but she used to be a size 2. After several looks in the mirror, though, she decided the rearrangement of her weight wasn’t so bad - she still looked good and maybe a little healthier, too, the more she thought about Gala’s concern over her back.
nbsp; Best of all, spring was in the air. The last of the snow was gone and flowers were starting to bloom. There were still signs of winter, such as patches of dirt where the grass wasn’t back yet and a lack of birds chirping, but she was able to go out with a light jacket instead of a winter coat and mostly bare legs under the skirt of her dress.
nbsp; It was another one of her days off and Sanji’s days on. Working for Mac gave her a steady schedule Monday through Friday, but the nature of the restaurant business gave her roommate different hours and he was usually at the Cider Mug at least one weekend morning a week. Today’s errand was restocking their cleaning supplies (there had been an incident with the twins trying to “help” Sanji in the kitchen that ended . . . poorly).
nbsp; As she was on her way home, she spotted Braeburn coming the other way. Nami waved, giving the blacksmith a smile. He returned the gesture and stopped to greet her, holding a stack of paper in front of him. “Hello, Nami, how are you this afternoon?” he asked, giving her a brief hug and a pat on the back.
nbsp; “I’m all right - Sanji-kun and I were running low on cleaning supplies after the twins were over.”
nbsp; Braeburn winced. “What happened?”
nbsp; “Chocolate pudding happened. They ‘helped’ make it.”
nbsp; The blacksmith laughed. “That’ll do it. They mean well . . . most of the time . . . they just don’t have the motor skills to back it up quite yet - being little ones and all. In a couple of years I’m sure they’ll be much better if they want to help someone in the kitchen.” He sighed, looking nostalgic for a moment, before he shook his head and chuckled awkwardly. “Get everything you need to clean up the mess?”
nbsp; “Oh no, no, the mess is all cleaned up, it just killed our stock,” said Nami, holding up her basket.
nbsp; “Ah, well that’s good,” said Braeburn.
nbsp; Nami eyed the paper in Braeburn’s hand. “So, what do you have there?” she asked.
nbsp; The blacksmith paused for a moment, looked at what he was carrying, and realization lit up. “Oh! It’s April, so my band and I are holding auditions to find a replacement vocalist. Everyone’s a lot less angry than they were so we think we’re in a good headspace to start looking for Deltana’s replacement. I’ve been hanging fliers around town advertising it.”
nbsp; Recognition clicked in Nami’s brain. “Oh yeah! Jimmy from the Cider Mug and some other guy - what was it, Danny, David, Darren . . . Darryl! It was Darryl! Yeah, they stopped by the mayor’s office asking to borrow the town hall for a few days last week and I had them fill out the forms myself. So that’s what they were up to, huh?”
nbsp; “Indeed it was - I just sent Jimmy but, yeah, it makes sense Darryl would be there, too.”
nbsp; Nami remembered the incident well. She’d met Jimmy before from visiting Sanji at work, but Darryl was new. He was a bit stockier than Jimmy, with much darker hair and sharp green eyes. He was the quieter of the two, with Sanji’s co-worker doing all of the talking. She cocked her head to one side. “I guess that explains why Jimmy did all of the talking.”
nbsp; Braeburn frowned. “Not exactly,” he said. He sat down on a nearby bench and motioned for Nami to sit with him. “The two of them are close - really close. Best friends since they were babies. But, well, Darryl lost both of his parents during the pirate attack eight years ago. It really messed him up, and he doesn’t talk much anymore. In all the time I’ve known him I think I’ve heard him say maybe ten words.”
nbsp; The young woman lowered her eyes. “Everyone talks about how newcomers to the island bring baggage with them, but a lot of people who’ve been here a long time have it, too,” she said somberly. “It’s terrible to lose someone in an attack like that.”
nbsp; Braeburn put his hand on her shoulder. “Voice of experience?” he asked quietly.
nbsp; Nami nodded. “My mother. If it’s okay, I’d rather not get into it right now.” Braeburn still looked concerned, but nodded and allowed Nami to change the subject. She pointed at his fliers. “So the fliers are for your band’s auditions, right?” Braeburn nodded. “Can I see one?” Braeburn handed Nami one of the fliers. “Friday and Saturday nights at the Cider Mug, huh? Sanji-kun was telling me they used to have live entertainment,” she said. She murmured over the flier, looking at the time commitments (practices were at night Monday through Wednesday), pay (a percentage of what the Cider Mug brought in that night plus a base rate), and desired experience (intermediate to advanced preferred, willing to work with the right novice or beginner).
nbsp; “Would you like to try out?” said Braeburn. “I’m sure you have a lovely voice.”
nbsp; Nami laughed nervously. “Oh, no I don’t,” she said.
nbsp; “Oh, come on, a pretty girl like you? The worst that will happen is we say ‘no’,” said Braeburn. He patted her shoulder. “Jimmy, Darryl and I are holding auditions next week - I know you’ve got work with Mac but we’re doing it in the evening so you should be out.” Nami continued to think about it - she didn’t think she had a particularly good voice, but maybe she was just being too hard on herself or something.
nbsp; “All right, what the hell, right?” she said. Braeburn seemed excited, set up a time with her, and thanked her for giving it a shot.
Elsewhere . . .
nbsp; Unrelated to the “pudding incident”, Sanji had agreed to watch the twins an extra afternoon that week (Ria had practically begged him, explaining there was a wedding coming up and she had to take final measurements and make final adjustments for the bride, groom, and the rest of the bridal party) but, with the warmer weather coming, decided to take the girls out to the park. There was a small playground near the Apple Blossom with some swings, a slide, and monkey bars, and the girls looked overjoyed to be able to play on them.
nbsp; But after Sundae fell from the monkey bars and would have hit the sand below if Sanji hadn’t been paying close enough attention (“Uncle Sanji, you SAVED MY LIFE!”), the girls decided they were done with the playground equipment and wanted to do “something else outside”. It was a nice day so Sanji didn’t mind being outside, but what to do?
nbsp; Tag seemed like it had the potential to get too rough for children this young, and there was no way in HELL he was going to agree to Hide and Seek with a pair of toddlers (since if he was the seeker and they were too good at hiding, which he didn’t want to chance, Ria would be furious with him), so maybe he could teach them some simple games with songs, like “Ring Around the Rosey”. That was easy - hold hands, walk around in the circle, sing the song, and fall to the ground when the sound was over.
nbsp; “All right, so the first thing we need to do is learn the song - it’s pretty easy,” said Sanji.
nbsp; “Ring around the rosey
nbsp; Pocket full of posies
nbsp; Ashes, ashes,
nbsp; We all fall down.”
nbsp; The cook smiled. “Now you girls try.”
nbsp; Wendy and Sundae kept singing “ponies” instead of “posies”, but after a while Sanji deemed it was close enough and taught them how to fall down without getting hurt. The girls seemed to really enjoy this and made Sanji do the circle and the song with then at least a dozen times before they wanted to try something else.
nbsp; While Sanji was trying to decide between the Hokey Pokey and Pat-a-Cake, Wendy and Sundae started to tug on his shirt. “Yes, my ladies?” he asked.
nbsp; “You sing really good,” said Wendy.
nbsp; “No, he sings really well,” said Sundae.
nbsp; Sanji laughed. “Oh come on, girls, it’s-“
nbsp; “No, good!”
nbsp; “It’s well, I’m sure!”
nbsp; “Good!”
nbsp; “Well!”
nbsp; “Good!”
nbsp; “Well!”
nbsp; “Good!”
nbsp; “Well!”
nbsp; “Good times two!”
nbsp; “Well times three!”
nbsp; “Good times a million!”
nbsp; “You can’t do good times a million, we can’t count that high!”
nbsp; Although some lesson from some teacher long ago told Sanji that Sundae was the one who was, in the sentence structure sense, correct (although how she’d picked that up he didn’t know - she must have overheard it or something - and how he even remembered that he REALLY didn’t know), he didn’t think the girls were right about him being a good singer. Worse, shrill voices did not do good things to his now sensitive hearing, so the yelling needed to end. “Hey, hey, calm down, girls - it’s not a big deal, okay?”
nbsp; The twins stared at each other for a moment. “We’re sorry,” they said in unison.
nbsp; “Don’t worry about it, okay?” Sanji said, squatting down to talk to them on their level. His head was starting to throb a little, but he forced a smile for their sake. “You silly geese really think I can sing though?”
nbsp; “Uh huh, you have a nice voice,” said Wendy.
nbsp; Sundae nodded in agreement (as she evidently saw no flaws in her sister’s sentence that time).
nbsp; “You sure? I don’t think I have a good voice,” he said.
nbsp; “No way!” said Wendy.
nbsp; “It was good,” said Sundae.
nbsp; Wendy pointed at her sister. “I told you it was good!”
nbsp; “Not the time you said it!”
nbsp; “Good!”
nbsp; “Well!”
nbsp; Sanji groaned, handing them each a baggy of grapes (sweet enough to appease small children, far less sugar and calories to appease their mom, and chewy enough to relieve his poor ears). He held back his smirk when they started to focus on eating the fruit instead of their argument, and he started to round them up for they could go back home to their mom.
nbsp; He’d be doing something for his headache back at the apartment.
A few days later . . .
nbsp; Auditions for Braeburn’s band were being held in town hall. Nami had found the band waiting inside, smiling warmly and asking her what she’d prepared. She handed Jimmy the sheet music to the song she wanted to sing, and he passed it over to Braeburn. The blacksmith moved towards a piano they’d set up with Darryl and Jimmy sat behind a table with some paper and pencils, presumably to take notes.
nbsp; “All right - I’m going to give you an intro, so get ready to jump in,” said Braeburn. “Ready?”
nbsp; Nami nodded. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
nbsp; As Braeburn began to play the opening bars, Nami waited for the appropriate moment to start singing. As the into ended, she started to sing her heart out, loud and proud and guttural, letting her voice vibrate like she’d heard so many other singers do in the past. Deciding this was a lot of fun, she started to march around a little, spinning on the balls of her feet and waving her arms about in time with the music.
nbsp; Nami finished the last note of her audition song and turned her focus to Braeburn and the other members of his band. Since Braeburn had told her about the audition, Nami had been practicing off and on and decided that, well, maybe she wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe she could be the new front woman for Braeburn’s band. She clasped her hands together and smiled. “So, how did I do, guys?”
nbsp; Braeburn, Jimmy, and Darryl all looked . . . blown away, but not in the good way. Braeburn had developed an odd twitch in one eye, Jimmy’s mouth was hanging open and his eyes looked a little glossy, and Darryl looked like he’d just been given very bad news. Nami didn’t need them to tell her the audition had gone poorly.
nbsp; “Uh . . . we’ll call you?” Jimmy asked awkwardly.
nbsp; Nami frowned. “I told Braeburn I wasn’t very good.” She sighed - it hurt a little to know she hadn’t impressed them, but at least they would find someone else, right? “Well, I’m sure you guys have other vocalists to listen to, right?” She went to grab her purse and collect the sheet music from her audition some from Braeburn.
nbsp; The members of the band looked concerned. “Um . . . you were our only audition,” said Jimmy.
nbsp; Nami raised her eyebrow. “Huh?”
nbsp; “Well . . . part of it’s the time commitment, so a lot of otherwise capable vocalists on the island have families or jobs to worry about,” said Braeburn. His gaze darkened. “I also wouldn’t be surprised if Deltana messed with some other possible replacements - she was pretty mad when we kicked her out of the band and I wouldn’t put it past her.”
nbsp; “Mess with them how?” asked Nami.
nbsp; “Don’t know, but some of the gals on the island I know have talent didn’t seem interested. At all,” said Jimmy. “Some of them were all, well, what Beebs said about work and family, but some of them couldn’t get away from us fast enough. If I had to guess? Maybe blackmail. Nothing serious in the ‘hey I know where you hid the bodies’ sense but maybe embarrassing photos, threatening to humiliate them - you know, petty bullshit.”
nbsp; Nami stepped over to the table where Darryl and Jimmy were seated as Braeburn sauntered over from the piano. “You mentioned ‘gals’ - are you looking at male vocalists at all?” she asked, her arms crossed in curiosity. The flier hadn’t mentioned anything about so much as a preference for a female singer, but she wondered why Jimmy had singled out the fairer sex. “For that matter, can any of you sing?”
nbsp; Braeburn scratched his head. “Well, Darryl isn’t a man of many words.” Darryl rolled his eyes and turned away from the blacksmith in response. “Jimmy’s got a great voice, but he’s had problems with breathing in the past, so he usually prefers to stay on background vocals if we needed it. My abilities vocally are all right, but they are not strong enough to carry a band - I usually stick to background vocals, too, which works out because Jimmy’s voice and my voice resonate very well together.”
nbsp; “And as for preferring a woman?” asked Nami.
nbsp; “We don’t really prefer a man or woman - I’m personally not aware of a talented male vocalist on the island. At least, not one strong enough to support a band,” said Jimmy. “I guess it would give us a chance to branch out in other directions - we usually do covers and most of our songs are sung from a woman’s perspective. There are a few that can be sung by a man or a woman, but we’d get to learn some new songs.”
nbsp; “Okay, so we can go with a male singer, fine, that doesn’t change that we currently don’t have one of either sex,” said Braeburn. “So we need a new plan to get more auditions because if not we’re done. Any ideas? Anyone?”
nbsp; Nami gingerly raised her hand. “I could help.”
nbsp; Jimmy turned to her inquisitively. “Oh?”
nbsp; “Just because I can’t sing doesn’t mean I can’t recognize a good voice if I heard one, right?” asked Nami. She smiled. Yeah, this wasn’t a bad idea - she liked Braeburn and his friends and helping them find a new singer would be a good idea, right? “I get a lot of people in and out of town hall all day - I can try to talk some people up if you’d like.”
nbsp; Darryl nodded, grinning and putting a hand on her shoulder.
nbsp; “Darryl’s right - it’s worth a shot,” said Braeburn. “Okay, Nami, let us know if you find anyone.”
Author’s Notes
Nami’s breast size was actually something Triple C and I had talked about at length during the early phases of development (no pun intended).
Minor note - the birds chirping thing reminded me of an early, early draft of Mass x Acceleration: Chapter One, as that was originally what alerted Nami to her new environment (but seeing as it was in the middle of winter, well, birdies getting taken out was probably for the best).
Sundae’s logic was flawless this chapter.
And I forgot to put this in the Author’s Notes last chapter but Strawhat-Nakama (and more recently, Funnie) raised an extremely good question that I haven’t really addressed too much in the story. Because Tesla cut off all their hair towards the end of A Force Against Inertia, they don’t have as much hair as they did even pre-time skip. Some of it probably came back before they escaped (like, very little since it would have only been a week or two) but at this point they still don’t have a whole lot of hair. Now, in our world, human hair grows at an average rate of six inches a year (or about half an inch a month). Certain things like diet and exercise can affect this, so it’s possible that between Sanji’s culinary knowledge and Gala’s medical expertise it’s growing a LITTLE faster than the average rate but I would hesitate to give them anymore than two or three inches. Nami’s been utilizing wigs, Sanji I’m not really sure - I’m visualizing him the way he in the series (part one - if he starts styling it as in part two I’ll let y’all know in story) so he may have acquired one at some point, especially considering his eyebrow situation, but as far as their actual hair goes it’s still very short. This may be addressed in a few chapters with an idea I’ve thought about doing for a while.
Now Funnie’s version of the question also included what else they looked like and whether or not they were using their Devil Fruits. For their abilities I would like to save that for in-story discussion. For appearances (wow, long Author’s Notes), Nami’s discussed a little more in-depth this chapter (smaller breasts, bigger hips, thighs, and waistline). Sanji’s still maybe a bit too thin by this chapter but over the course of the next several he’ll be back to the right weight. He likely has the same posture and notably isn’t smoking - neither of them are drinking alcohol and caffeine intake is probably limited.
Some of the coming arcs contain the material I am most excited about but includes some of the material I am also the most worried about it, so there’s a good chance the speed of the fic could increase a lot (i.e. the material has really snagged my interest) or decrease (i.e. I’m hunting down extra people to look over chapters and passages to make sure things are being handled well).
Dixxy