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ixajawArchive/crosspost from my Ao3. Originally posted back in 2019.
While this fic has 3 chapters, each one could theoretically be read as a standalone. They're tied together more thematically than by plot. As such, I'll tag the characters in the chapters they appear in.
Fandom: One Piece
Characters: Luffy, Makino
Notes: None. Wholesome-ish character stuff
Summary: Seashell Resonance: The sound of the 'ocean' that you hear when you hold a seashell up to your ear. The Voice of All Things isn't an ability Luffy just woke up with one day.
Before the sun rose, Makino had a habit of walking along the beach. It was a habit gained from restless childhood nights, when the distant sounds of tigers roaring kept her awake. Tigers would never walk next to the ocean, her mother said, and so it became her place to hide, out in the open, further away from the forest where anything could be hiding. When she took over Party’s Bar, she kept doing so, even though by the end of the day she often wished she’d had the extra sleep. And even later, after Luffy crashed into her life like a bird flying in through the window, causing panic and chaos before flying away again, she would walk. It was if the entire world belonged to her and her alone, if only until the sun rose.
Luffy slept anytime, anywhere, like his grandfather, but the first time she tried to sneak out for her morning walk he had woken up. He demanded, in that excited childish way, to know where she was going, was she going on an adventure before breakfast?
It was kind of like an adventure, she supposed, but if she told him that, he would never lay back down. And he would find it disappointing. But once a child is awake, they do not calm themselves easily, and so Makino decided to nip this in the bud and take him along. Worst case scenario was him taking a nap later, which isn’t really a negative.
They actually started by heading in the direction of the forest, heading slightly out of town before taking a hard right past the charcoal-maker’s place. Luffy chatters about visiting them a few days before, and how he managed to get dirt and ash all over his face—as if Makino had forgotten washing that off—which should be annoying, but Luffy’s boundless energy was so sincere that she found herself giggling along with him. They quickly reached a short, oceanside cliff. Makino stopped to take a few deep breaths and stretched out her arms and back before carefully scaling down the sea-beaten rocks. While she called it a cliff, it wasn’t steep, at least not in the direction of the beach—some careful footwork got them to the sand.
Luffy launched himself off the last foot of rock into the sand, where he promptly slid and fell on his side. Before Makino’s face could even morph into proper concern, he pushed himself upright, spitting sand out of his mouth and twirling back around, announcing that he was alright. He had wet, gritty sand stuck to the right side of his face and tears in the corners of his eyes.
“Luffy, come here and I’ll wipe that off,” Makino said, pulling out a handkerchief.
Luffy walked toward her begrudgingly, pouting at his sandals. She started wiping his face, avoiding his eyes to maintain the illusion that she hadn’t noticed his tears, but let out a tiny gasp when she noticed his knee. Hard to see underneath the dark, clinging sand, he was bleeding.
“Did you land on a rock?” she asked, folding her handkerchief to find a clean spot before gently wiping his knee. “We’ll have to clean that properly when we get back.”
“’Kay,” he said. “And it wasn’t a rock.”
Makino cocked her head.
“It was a seashell!” he announced, pain forgotten. “Like, a big twisty one. With spikes on it. Not one of the flat ones.”
“Oh,” Makino said, “I suppose you landing on it broke it though, huh?”
“Nah,” he said, walking over to the skid mark he left on the beach. He knelt down, covering his injured knee with wet sand again, and unearthed a large, equally filthy conch shell. Unlike most shells, which tended toward being pink or orange-ish, this shell was predominately blue. Both the inside cavern and the tips of the spines had a green-turquoise tint. It was as if someone had plunged their hand into the ocean and grabbed a fist full of water, crushing it into a solid state.
How Luffy had managed to tell what he hit as he was eating sand was a mystery.
Luffy trotted over to the water, roughly dunking the shell into the water to rinse it off. He swiped halfheartedly at his knee on his way back, a less zealous attempt to clean off his wound. He presented the seashell to Makino with a big grin on his face.
Delicate fingers traced the ridge of the shell. While the odds of something still living in it were basically none, it never hurt to be cautious. She held the shell up next to her ear.
“What are you doing?” Luffy asked, head tilted like a puppy.
“Listening to the ocean,” she answered.
“But the ocean is right there…?”
“Well, you’re not wrong,” she said, “but if you find a seashell like this and listen to it, you can hear the ocean anytime, even if you’re nowhere near it.”
Luffy gasped and practically tried to climb up her skirt. “Let me hear! Let me hear!”
Makino gently pushed him back down—at this rate, he would knock her over on accident—and handed the shell to him. He held it against the side of his face with both hands, like someone icing their jaw, and after a moment his face squished into a look of confused disappointment.
“It doesn’t sound like the ocean,” he declared. “It sounds like… grandpa’s house.”
“Like grandpa’s house?” she asked.
“Yeah. Like, the house knows that someone used to live there and now they don’t. I guess it’s a sad sound? But houses don’t get sad. They just get empty.”
It’s said as if it was an absolute. The sun will rise. The waves will crash. Humans will dream. Houses don’t get sad.
Maybe Makino was more tired than she thought.
“Then I suppose seashells don’t get sad either, do they?” she asked. What else was there to say?
Luffy looked up at her with wide eyes. “Yeah they do! Seashells aren’t like houses.”
“I think they are. Most seashells are formed by mollusks. The mollusk lives in the shell. It’s a sea-creature house.”
Makino couldn’t help but grin at the look on Luffy’s face. It seemed that he understood most of her explanation but couldn’t decide what to do with that information.
“We’ve been stealing fish houses?!” he settled on.
And that was how Makino laughed so hard she fell onto the sand and ruined her skirt. She wasn't mad about it, of course.
Next>
Author's note: this chapter definitely is not of equivalent quality to the two later ones, BUT it was the first real thing I'd written after a long hiatus, and so I still think it has some charming elements. I'm astounded anyone else read past this chapter, though!
While this fic has 3 chapters, each one could theoretically be read as a standalone. They're tied together more thematically than by plot. As such, I'll tag the characters in the chapters they appear in.
Fandom: One Piece
Characters: Luffy, Makino
Notes: None. Wholesome-ish character stuff
Summary: Seashell Resonance: The sound of the 'ocean' that you hear when you hold a seashell up to your ear. The Voice of All Things isn't an ability Luffy just woke up with one day.
Before the sun rose, Makino had a habit of walking along the beach. It was a habit gained from restless childhood nights, when the distant sounds of tigers roaring kept her awake. Tigers would never walk next to the ocean, her mother said, and so it became her place to hide, out in the open, further away from the forest where anything could be hiding. When she took over Party’s Bar, she kept doing so, even though by the end of the day she often wished she’d had the extra sleep. And even later, after Luffy crashed into her life like a bird flying in through the window, causing panic and chaos before flying away again, she would walk. It was if the entire world belonged to her and her alone, if only until the sun rose.
Luffy slept anytime, anywhere, like his grandfather, but the first time she tried to sneak out for her morning walk he had woken up. He demanded, in that excited childish way, to know where she was going, was she going on an adventure before breakfast?
It was kind of like an adventure, she supposed, but if she told him that, he would never lay back down. And he would find it disappointing. But once a child is awake, they do not calm themselves easily, and so Makino decided to nip this in the bud and take him along. Worst case scenario was him taking a nap later, which isn’t really a negative.
They actually started by heading in the direction of the forest, heading slightly out of town before taking a hard right past the charcoal-maker’s place. Luffy chatters about visiting them a few days before, and how he managed to get dirt and ash all over his face—as if Makino had forgotten washing that off—which should be annoying, but Luffy’s boundless energy was so sincere that she found herself giggling along with him. They quickly reached a short, oceanside cliff. Makino stopped to take a few deep breaths and stretched out her arms and back before carefully scaling down the sea-beaten rocks. While she called it a cliff, it wasn’t steep, at least not in the direction of the beach—some careful footwork got them to the sand.
Luffy launched himself off the last foot of rock into the sand, where he promptly slid and fell on his side. Before Makino’s face could even morph into proper concern, he pushed himself upright, spitting sand out of his mouth and twirling back around, announcing that he was alright. He had wet, gritty sand stuck to the right side of his face and tears in the corners of his eyes.
“Luffy, come here and I’ll wipe that off,” Makino said, pulling out a handkerchief.
Luffy walked toward her begrudgingly, pouting at his sandals. She started wiping his face, avoiding his eyes to maintain the illusion that she hadn’t noticed his tears, but let out a tiny gasp when she noticed his knee. Hard to see underneath the dark, clinging sand, he was bleeding.
“Did you land on a rock?” she asked, folding her handkerchief to find a clean spot before gently wiping his knee. “We’ll have to clean that properly when we get back.”
“’Kay,” he said. “And it wasn’t a rock.”
Makino cocked her head.
“It was a seashell!” he announced, pain forgotten. “Like, a big twisty one. With spikes on it. Not one of the flat ones.”
“Oh,” Makino said, “I suppose you landing on it broke it though, huh?”
“Nah,” he said, walking over to the skid mark he left on the beach. He knelt down, covering his injured knee with wet sand again, and unearthed a large, equally filthy conch shell. Unlike most shells, which tended toward being pink or orange-ish, this shell was predominately blue. Both the inside cavern and the tips of the spines had a green-turquoise tint. It was as if someone had plunged their hand into the ocean and grabbed a fist full of water, crushing it into a solid state.
How Luffy had managed to tell what he hit as he was eating sand was a mystery.
Luffy trotted over to the water, roughly dunking the shell into the water to rinse it off. He swiped halfheartedly at his knee on his way back, a less zealous attempt to clean off his wound. He presented the seashell to Makino with a big grin on his face.
Delicate fingers traced the ridge of the shell. While the odds of something still living in it were basically none, it never hurt to be cautious. She held the shell up next to her ear.
“What are you doing?” Luffy asked, head tilted like a puppy.
“Listening to the ocean,” she answered.
“But the ocean is right there…?”
“Well, you’re not wrong,” she said, “but if you find a seashell like this and listen to it, you can hear the ocean anytime, even if you’re nowhere near it.”
Luffy gasped and practically tried to climb up her skirt. “Let me hear! Let me hear!”
Makino gently pushed him back down—at this rate, he would knock her over on accident—and handed the shell to him. He held it against the side of his face with both hands, like someone icing their jaw, and after a moment his face squished into a look of confused disappointment.
“It doesn’t sound like the ocean,” he declared. “It sounds like… grandpa’s house.”
“Like grandpa’s house?” she asked.
“Yeah. Like, the house knows that someone used to live there and now they don’t. I guess it’s a sad sound? But houses don’t get sad. They just get empty.”
It’s said as if it was an absolute. The sun will rise. The waves will crash. Humans will dream. Houses don’t get sad.
Maybe Makino was more tired than she thought.
“Then I suppose seashells don’t get sad either, do they?” she asked. What else was there to say?
Luffy looked up at her with wide eyes. “Yeah they do! Seashells aren’t like houses.”
“I think they are. Most seashells are formed by mollusks. The mollusk lives in the shell. It’s a sea-creature house.”
Makino couldn’t help but grin at the look on Luffy’s face. It seemed that he understood most of her explanation but couldn’t decide what to do with that information.
“We’ve been stealing fish houses?!” he settled on.
And that was how Makino laughed so hard she fell onto the sand and ruined her skirt. She wasn't mad about it, of course.
Next>
Author's note: this chapter definitely is not of equivalent quality to the two later ones, BUT it was the first real thing I'd written after a long hiatus, and so I still think it has some charming elements. I'm astounded anyone else read past this chapter, though!
