Chapter 26 - Chapter 13: The Cook​

"This is great! I like it!" Nami cheered as she laid eyes on the Jolly Roger Usopp had just drawn.

"I've been drawing on walls for years!" Usopp boasted, "I'm a man of many talents!"

"This looks like a completely different flag," Zoro said, comparing the one Usopp had drawn to the old one Luffy had drawn, which Luffy had taken from their old boat before leaving it with Kaya.

"Okay, okay, now paint it on the sails!" Luffy said, not wanting to hear them bashing his artistic skills again.

It took hours to finish painting it on the main sail, and the four looked on happily at the bright Jolly Roger once the job was done. "Going Merry, the Pirate Ship is complete!"

"Yeaahhh!"

"So now, what do we do about this?" Nami pointed at the flag Luffy had drawn.

"Shred it." Zoro instantly responded.

"Burn it." Usopp followed.

"No, let's keep it as a memento…" Luffy argued but was shot down instantly. 'I wanted to show it to Robin…' he pouted.

"I'm the deciding vote and I choose…hmm…" Nami hummed as if she was thinking hard about it before declaring loudly, "LET'S BURN IT!"

"Yeah!"

"Jerks!" Luffy ran to his room to get a camera and managed to take its picture before the others quickly set it on fire and watched it get reduced to ashes in glee.

"Goodbye, Nightmare Creature," Nami sighed in relief before the topic was forgotten.

A few minutes later, Luffy and Zoro were sparring on deck, Nami was sunbathing on a beach chair, and Usopp was messing with the cannon they had on board.

"Do you even know how to use that thing?" Nami asked, eyeing Usopp, "I don't want you messing with it carelessly and blowing a hole in our ship."

"I know what I'm doing!" Usopp snapped, offended. "This Great Captain Usopp once fired thousands of can-"

"Yeah, yeah," Nami rolled her eyes, not listening to him anymore, and went back to sunbathing.

"Hmph! I'll show you!" Usopp said as he loaded a cannonball. He struggled to do it but tried to play it off cool before aiming at a faraway rock cropping and lighting it.

Luffy and Zoro, who were lost in sparring, flinched when an explosion rang from the side of the ship, and when their eyes turned towards the sound, they saw a cannonball flying away from the ship.

Luffy was instantly next to Usopp, who had fallen flat on the deck, trembling, and Nami seemed to have rolled off the beach chair and also hit the deck. The cause of the explosion seemed to be the cannon itself. The barrel had split open, resembling the petals of a flower, and fire and molten metal were spewing out of it.

"What happened?!" Zoro came running in a second later, just as the cannonball, which had been fired exploded near the rock cropping. It wasn't a bullseye as it had grazed the edge of the rock cropping before exploding a few meters away from it and as a result, a tall column of water erupted from the surface.

"IDIOT! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Nami screamed sitting up.

"I-I-I don't k-know" Usopp stuttered lifting his head up and seeing the damage.

"Alright, alright, calm down," Luffy said as he first lifted the cannon and threw it overboard so that it wouldn't harm the ship anymore. "You used the Buggy balls huh?"

"Ahh…" Zoro and Nami nodded in understanding but Usopp was confused, "The what?"

"They're special cannonballs we picked up earlier, capable of destroying tens of houses with just a single one"

"Wh-" Usopp trembled wide-eyed.

"Well, Imma go rescue them," Luffy said as he airwalked towards the rock cropping and only then did the others notice that someone was screaming on top of it.

"Oh no! I killed someone!" Usopp paled before realizing Luffy was walking on air. "YOU CAN FLY?!"

A couple of minutes later during which Zoro and Nami calmed Usopp down saying 'Yes, he can fly', Luffy returned with two individuals- one unconscious and the other barely conscious.

"Johnny?" Zoro said surprised. "That you?"

Johnny's unfocused eyes barely recognized him, "B-Big bro Zoro?"

"You know him?! Oh no! I killed Zoro's friend?!" Usopp paled even more.

"He's fine. A stray rock hit his head I guess," Luffy said as he studied a wound on his head. "The cannonball only exploded near them, so nothing much happened"

"Here," Nami came with a glass of water and they made him drink it and he finally seemed to relax and regain his senses again.

"Wh-Ow…" he held his head in pain as his eyes studied everyone before falling on Zoro and he gasped, "Big Bro Zoro!"

"Yeah. You okay?"

Johnny looked around widely and gasped when he saw the Jolly Roger. "We're on a pirate ship?! Big Bro Zoro, what are you doing here?!"

Not missing a chance to play a prank, Luffy answered before Zoro could say anything. "We kidnapped him and are now holding him hostage."

"Hah! No way Big Bro Zoro got caught by some no-name pirates!" Johnny fired back almost getting angry.

"Not the time idiot," Zoro chided noticing the unconscious man next to him. "Johnny, what happened to Yosaku?"

He gasped, suddenly remembering his dying friend, and looked around frantically before his eyes fell on Yosaku. "Yosaku!"

"I'm really sorry!" Usopp cried, bowing towards him. "I didn't know you guys were there!"

While Usopp was freaking out and Johnny explained that Yosaku's condition suddenly deteriorated over the past few days, Nami observed the man and was just about to snap at the idiots when Luffy came out of the kitchen with limes.

"At least one of you isn't a complete moron!" Nami snapped at the others before she made way for Luffy, who started squeezing the limes into Yosaku's mouth.

"What's he doing?" Zoro asked and a quick explanation about scurvy and assured Johnny that Yosaku wasn't dying. Nami again got irritated when Yosaku miraculously got up and started dancing around.

They introduced themselves, making cool poses, but Yosaku promptly keeled over again, bleeding from the mouth, which caused Nami to snap again, "Of course that would happen, idiot! Go take rest!" and Yosaku was shifted to the kitchen.

After things had settled down, they were all gathered around in a circle on deck. "This should be a lesson for us…" Nami began.

"Good food is really important, huh?" Usopp mused, "We need someone who can take care of all our nutritional values, or we'll end up like Yosaku sooner or later…"

"Right, it's an absolute necessity!"

"Yeah, let's head to Baratie," Luffy announced, "We're gonna pick up our cook ther.e"

"Baratie?"

"Oh! I know that place, Big Bro Luffy!" Johnny perked up, "But are you sure you can convince someone from there to join you?"

"Yep!"

"What's Baratie?"

"It's this amazing seafaring restaurant!"

"A seafaring restaurant?"

"Yes! They have great food there! It's around two or three days sailing from here, but it's near the Grand Line, so rough customers frequent that place a lot." he then looked at Zoro and added, "I even heard that the Hawk-eyed man you were looking for also goes there."

Zoro became excited as his hand gripped his sword tightly and soon, they were heading towards Baratie with Johnny guiding the way. Luffy had Usopp firing off cannonballs again with another cannon and normal cannonballs, and his amazing sniping ability came to light.

"You actually can do it," Zoro said, looking impressed.

"Wow, you're a very good shot," Nami added.

"You're great, Big Bro Usopp!" Johnny also chimed in.

"Right? Even I'm shocked-" Usopp began but stopped and stuck his chest out proudly, "Of course, I can! I'm the Mighty Captain Usopp after all!"

"Shishi, great! You're officially the crew's sniper!" Luffy patted his back.

"Wha?! I'm not the Captain?"

"As if!" Nami scoffed.

"Well, Yassop is the sniper of his crew, you know, so imagine that! Father and Son! Snipers of their respective crews are battling it out in an epic showdown on the seas! It would be so cool!"

Usopp's mouth hung open, and he stared at Luffy wide-eyed. "M-my dad?"

"Hm? We will meet him one day, you know…"

Usopp didn't seem to have seriously considered the possibility of actually meeting his father and got lost in thought. "Right…" he blankly nodded.

"Well, that's way off in the future, though, so you've got plenty of time." Luffy left him alone with his thoughts and climbed up the crow's nest to relax.

———

2 years ago, Germa Ship

Luffy collapsed on his back after throwing all he had at Reiju, who easily tanked all his attacks without moving an inch before she lunged and punched him in the gut once, which was all it took to make him go down.

Luffy panted hard, cursing himself for being so weak. He was about to force himself to stand back up again to continue training when Reiju lay down too, with her head resting on his stomach. "Take a break. We've been going non-stop for three hours straight now."

Luffy tried to protest, but he couldn't even move her head off of him, so he sighed and agreed. His hand ran through her hair while she softly hummed a song Luffy had taught her as they both relaxed.

"Hey," Luffy spoke up after some time, "Do you want me to tell Sanji about you when I meet him?"

Reiju stopped humming and sighed softly. "Tell him about me, huh?"

"Uh-huh"

She stayed silent for a few seconds before turning to face him. "Don't"

"Hm? I don't mi-"

"No," Reiju cut him off, sitting up and facing him seriously, "I meant don't make him join your crew."

"…"

"…"

"…why not?"

She hung her head, staying silent for a few moments as she reminisced about her childhood. "…Maybe you already know, given your uncanny knowledge, but my siblings and I were genetic experiments-"

"Yeah, lineage factors and all that. You were enhanced after you were born. Your brothers were enhanced in Sora's womb."

"…wow, you do know, huh? … Another thing I should kill you for knowing but…" Reiju sighed, "Moving on. Due to reasons, the genetic enhancements didn't work for Sanji. He turned out to be just a normal human… A lot of harsh physical tests were performed on us when we were kids to gauge our strength, endurance, and so on, and Sanji always failed… He's a gentle soul who wants to be a cook more than anything. He's not a fighter… You have big dreams, and honestly, you're a terrifying individual with how much you seem to know. I don't want him getting caught up in all your craziness and suffering…"

"…The weak version of Sanji you knew was a kid. He wasn't strong then, sure, but he is now."

"And how would you know?" Reiju huffed irritably, "You said you've just seen him from afar and never me-"

"Stop." Luffy cut her off, "What's the real reason?"

Reiju averted her eyes, cursing Luffy for being so perceptive. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Luffy slowly reached out and wrapped his hand around her neck before pulling her back down on his chest and making her face him. "You're scared of meeting him again, huh?"

Reiju stared into his eyes, feeling annoyed, but ultimately, sighed deeply and nodded as she relaxed on him. "You said that he goes gaga over women. Just like my other brothers… So a part of me wonders if the enhancements did work on him, too, only he was a late bloomer… If it turns out that he's just like the others now…" she trailed off, shifting her eyes towards the ceiling while Luffy gently ruffled her hair.

"Hm, maybe there's some subconscious genetic aspect to it, but Sanji's obsession over women stems from Zeff."

"The owner of the restaurant where he works?"

"Uh-huh. And he doesn't just like women, he worships them. Your other brothers would hurt and kill women, but not Sanji. Even if a woman was about to kill him, Sanji would never attack her."

"…What the heck kind of chivalry is that?"

Luffy chuckled, "It's something from the age of dinosaurs."

"Hm?"

"Shishi don't worry about it. Anyway, that's not the only thing, is it? There's more"

Reiju sighed as she buried her face in Luffy's chest and continued, "…If he's still the same gentle boy I knew… Would he even want to see me? His childhood was horrible you know. Announced dead by his father and locked up in a cage with an iron mask on his face. Someone had to unlock his mask just so he could eat!… The others and I bullied him a lot too- the kind where he ends up beaten half to death."

"That's a half-truth."

Reiju lifted her head and glared at him, "I stood by and watched and even laughed as he was beaten half to death. That's just as bad"

"…Yeah, that's true"

"See? I later treated his injuries in secret and if he ever tried to reach out to me and talk to me, I always shut him down saying I wasn't on his side. Scolded him if he ever confessed something like wanting to be a cook… Told him that he was weak and I cannot support him in front of others…"

She paused for a while biting her lower lip before continuing, "I helped him escape sure, but that's way too little, way too late…For the majority of the time I was with him, I was cruel or just another bystander to him… Just another member of the family he hates… I'm sure he wants nothing to do with that part of his life and I'm included in that too…"

"You were just a scared little kid"

"So was he. And he was all alone…"

"Well," Luffy sighed, "You're never gonna know unless you ask. You're both on my crew, so you'll have to meet one day and talk you know…"

"…You didn't even consider my concerns of not wanting him embroiled in your craziness huh?"

"Reiju," Luffy grabbed her head and made her face him, "If Sanji's the same as I expect him to be, I'd rather die than go on my journey without him."

They both stared at each other, Luffy with a blank look and Reiju with a peeved look, for a few seconds before Reiju eventually gave up and averted her eyes grumbling. "You're the most selfish person I've ever met…"

"Yes, I am." Luffy smiled as he caressed her hair, "So you want to meet him yourself and tell him huh?"

"Yeah…rather, I want to talk to him without letting him know it's me. If he doesn't want me in his life, I'll have to leave, so I at least want to talk to him normally for a bit"

"Even if that happens, I'm not letting you go"

"…This is not a matter you can butt in on. If it's either him or me-"

"Shut up! I don't care. I want you both, so you'll both be on my crew no matter what"

"Luffy this is-"

Luffy lightly flicked her forehead making her stop. "I promised you that I'll whisk you away from here and show you a good life, so I'll do it. You and Sanji fight or are uncomfortable with each other? I don't care. I'll fix it and make sure both of you are happy."

Reiju stared into his eyes her neck reddening slightly but she scowled at him. "How do you say such cheesy lines without getting embarrassed huh?"

"Stop blushing if it's so cheesy then" Luffy smirked, which only made her face go red, this time out of embarrassment.

"A-anyway," she stuttered going back to the main topic, "I want to first talk to Sanji as a stranger before revealing myself…"

"Sure, I'll call you when I meet him"

"From East Blue? That's not possible"

"Oh right… Whenever the snail connects then…"

"Mmm, thanks…"

———

Present time, Going Merry

Luffy was lying down in the crow's nest reminiscing his time with Reiju while Usopp was play-acting a pirate battle on deck, Zoro was napping and Nami was lounging lazily on a beach chair when Johnny called out for all of them.

"Big Bro Luffy! Big Bro Zoro! Big Bro Usopp! Big Bro Nami! We are here!"

Luffy jumped down to the deck and went to the front of the ship along with the others as they all stared at the big ship that looked like a fish.

"Wow!" / "What a funky design!" / "Looks cool!"

Luffy was looking at the restaurant, excitement bubbling up inside him as he was finally meeting Sanji. As they got closer, admiring the restaurant, a Marine ship crept up on them and no one noticed it until it was already sailing parallel to them. Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku panicked while the other three remained calm as a pink-haired man in a fancy suit and iron bolts on his knuckles showed up on the deck of the Marine ship and noticed the Merry.

"Hmm never seen that Jolly Roger," he said before addressing the pirate crew, "I'm Marine Lieutenant Ironfist Fullbody. Who's your captain? Name yourself"

"Yo, I'm Luffy!" He casually waved introducing himself before adding, "And you can't just call yourself Ironfist. You need to train in the city of K'un-Lun and earn the title"

"…What?" The ones on the Merry became confused but Fullbody paid no attention to his words, thinking it was some meaningless pirate's drivel, and noticed the two bounty hunters.

"Aren't you those two small-time bounty hunters who show up at the office a lot? Hmm….Johnny and Yosaku I think… Finally got caught by pirates huh?"

Johnny and Yosaku took offence at that. "Hey Yosaku, I think we need to teach this bloke a lesson" "Yeah, we can't just let some guy get away with calling us small time." The two said making a cool pose and went to the Marine ship with their swords drawn.

A few short minutes later, they were back on the Merry with beaten and bloody faces. "A-almost h-had him" they muttered in unison while Zoro sighed a bit in embarrassment "What the hell are you guys doing?"

A feminine voice caught Fullbody's attention from inside the cabin telling him that they should go on their date already and Fullbody agreed with a smile before turning back to the Strawhats. "Consider yourselves lucky, pirates! I'm on break today so I'm letting you go. But beware, the next time I see you, you're dead"

Luffy paid no attention to him as he was more focused on Nami. Bounty posters had slipped out of Yosaku's coat and Luffy watched as Nami bent down to pick up a very specific bounty poster, and could sense anger and sadness coming off of her as her hands clutched the bounty poster tighter.

Zoro caught sight of the sad look on Luffy's face as he stared at Nami before he saw Nami and his eyes widened when he saw her trembling fingers clutching the bounty poster with too much force. He looked back up at Luffy who seemed to have noticed his gaze and was looking at him too. 'What's going on?' He asked with his eyes.

'Later' Luffy conveyed and Zoro nodded. Just as they finished their wordless conversation, Usopp suddenly yelled in a panic. "They are aiming their cannon at us! What do we do?!"

The shout also brought Nami out of her thoughts and when she saw the cannon being pointed at them, she felt nothing. She and Zoro watched Luffy sigh lightly and walk up to the railing. They knew he would just kick it away so they were extremely calm but the other three were freaking out.

The Marines fired the cannonball and Luffy just jumped and caught it, the momentum pushing him slightly back but he just somersaulted a couple of times and landed on deck with the cannonball in his hand. Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku's eyes bulged out while Nami and Zoro shook their heads with a sigh, thinking the same thing - 'When did this become normal for us?'

Luffy threw the cannonball back at their mast, thus breaking it in half and gave them a warning, "The next one goes through the hull."

The terrified Marines quickly steered away when Usopp screamed in his face, "How the hell did you do that?!"

Luffy glanced at Nami with a mischievous grin before turning back to Usopp and she instantly understood what he was going to say.

"Well, you just jump first like this and bring your hand up like this, then you wai-" he began but was cut off by Nami strangling him. "Not this again, you bastard!" She shrieked and Luffy started laughing while the others watched in amusement.

"Well, let's go get some food" Luffy announced after she calmed down and soon, they anchored the Merry, took a few minutes to treat Johnny and Yosaku's injuries which they had just gotten from Fullbody, left them to guard the ship and made their way to the restaurant.

When they opened the door, they were greeted by the sight of a blond man in a suit having a confrontation with Fullbody. 'Ooh, the show has already started. Hmm looks like Fullbody just broke the table' Luffy mused as he walked towards them and stood right in front of the action to study his cook while the crew went to sit at a table. Swirly eyebrows, a lit cigarette in mouth, a suit that looked out of place for a waiter or a chef, blonde hair parted to one side… Seeing his face, it was obvious he and Reiju were related.

"If you'd just removed the bug, you could've still eaten the soup you know," Sanji sighed crouching down next to the spilled soup.

"I am a customer! How dare you, a lowly waiter, take that tone with me?!" Fullbody raged with his fists up while his blonde date tried to calm him down but failed. Fullbody attacked Sanji which he calmly dodged before kicking him right under his chin.

Fullbody's date became shocked as she backed away, thinking she would get hurt and ended up bumping into Luffy, who was smiling and completely engrossed in watching his cook in action.

"Oh sorry," she apologized but was more concerned with watching Fullbody.

"Bad date huh?" Luffy absentmindedly joked feeling pity for her and that seemed to calm her down a bit as she gave a small sigh. "Well, you tell me. He tried to impress me and when things didn't go as planned, tried to humiliate the waiter by faking an issue, and when that didn't go as planned, resorted to violence… sorry, I'm rambling…"

"Shishi bad date it is then," Luffy chuckled and liking her attitude, wanted to learn more about her. He tried to remember if she ever appeared in the story again but drew a blank and so, on a whim, invited her. "Do you wanna join us?" He asked pointing at the table his crew was seated at, "I've learned through experience that it's better to do something else after a bad date instead of just going home"

The woman was surprised at the offer but considered it looking at Luffy, then at his crew and just shrugged in acceptance as they didn't look like bad people. "Why not? I'm Moodie"

Luffy introduced himself as the two walked to the table his crew were at and took their seat. Before he could introduce Moodie to the others, who were looking curiously at her, Sanji had finished beating Fullbody up and was holding him up by his throat.

"To offend a cook at sea is a fool's mistake. Remember that." Sanji said blowing out a wisp of smoke. "And food must never be wasted…"

At the same time, Patty came out from inside the kitchen and screamed when he saw Sanji beating up a customer. "SANJI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO A CUSTOMER?!"

"Say my name with respect, you crap-cooker"

"Hey look, it's Popeye!" Luffy said with amusement when he saw Patty's disproportionately wide forearms.

"Who's Popey-" Moodie began to ask but Nami hastily interjected with "No, don't!" but sighed knowing she was too late.

"Popeye is a sailor who gets a boost in his strength whenever he eats spinach. He has disproportionately wide arms like that guy"

"…Oh thank god that was short!" Nami sighed in relief while the others, except Zoro, were looking questioningly at her.

"What was that about?"

"He calls people random names all the time," Zoro answered. "You ask who that is and sometimes, he goes into a long long explanation…"

"Yeah," Nami grumbled, "I still remember him going on and on about Doc Ock after we beat Ganzack… I hate that I know who Peter Parker is…"

"What's a Doc Ock?" Usopp asked and Nami snapped at him yelling "Did you not just hear me?!"

"Shishi I'll tell you all about him later, Usopp" Luffy laughed while Moodie giggled seeing the crew's antics.

Meanwhile, Fullbody had just threatened to have the restaurant shut down and Sanji raged "Close us down?! Not if I close you down first!" and went to attack him but the other cooks held him back while trying to calm him down.

"What's going on here?!" A new voice entered the chaotic scene and everyone turned their attention to a man with a very tall chef hat, braided mustache and a peg leg walking out of the kitchen.

"Owner Zeff! You have to stop Sanji!"

"Sanji! Attacking the customers again?!" Zeff growled.

"Zip it, crap-geezer!"

Zeff kicked Sanji in the face without warning before doing the same thing to Fullbody too and Sanji, Zeff and Patty started arguing. A Marine soon showed up at the entrance screaming "Lieutenant Fullbody! It's terrible!"

"This place sure is chaotic," Usopp commented while the Marine told Fullbody that the Krieg pirate they had captured had escaped.

"No one came to take our orders yet either" Zoro complained more interested in filling his stomach.

"This place is known for its fights," Moodie said sighing at at Fullbody who had completely forgotten about her, "Many people come here solely to watch the figh-"

A gunshot sounded suddenly making everyone flinch, the Marine fell forward, and Gin entered looking like a zombie with his sunken cheeks, skinny physique and dark circles under his eyes. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he hadn't eaten or slept for days.

He slowly made his way towards an empty table as everyone watched in silence and plopped down on it with one foot up on the table. "Anything will do. Just bring me some food…This place is a restaurant right?"

Patty went up to him and with a rehearsed smile said "Welcome, you squid-faced bastard"

Luffy silently watched the rest play out as Patty asked if he could pay, Gin threatened him with a gun and Patty bashed his head in while the others in the restaurant cheered. He saw Sanji silently making his way to the kitchen, while Patty threw Gin out and apologized to the customers for the disturbance.

"Whew! That was intense…" Moodie said after things settled down.

"Yeah, I thought that Kreig pirate would start attacking everyone or something" Usopp added.

"Imma be right back. Moodie, order anything. It's on us," Luffy said when he saw Sanji heading out and quickly followed him, not even waiting for a response.

———

"I don't know what to say. This is the most delicious food I've ever tasted in my life…" Gin cried as he devoured the food Sanji had brought for him. "I thought I was a dead man for sure… I'm so grateful!"

"Good, eh?" Sanji grinned and Luffy also grinned watching the two from the second-floor deck. Sanji was leaning against a railing and Luffy jumped down and softly landed on the railing behind him before announcing himself with a "Yo!" which startled both of them.

"Who-when the hell did you get there?" Sanji asked laying eyes on his future captain for the first time.

"Shishi hey Sanji, join my crew!" Luffy smiled wide getting straight to the point.

"Huh? What are you on about?"

"My name is Monkey D. Luffy, Future Pirate King. You're gonna be the cook of my crew"

"…Huh?"

"Yeah, so go pack your bags. You're coming with me"

"The hell you on about, you crap-hat?" Sanji said annoyed, "Even if you are a pirate, you better not start anything here!"

"I'm not. I'm just telling you that you're joining my crew"

"Again, what the hell are you suddenly spouting?!"

"Hmm… Me. Pirate." Luffy said pointing at himself, "You. Cook." He said pointing at Sanji while pretending to cut some vegetables. "Join. My. Cr-"

"Don't make fun of me dammit!" Sanji's leg came at the grinning Luffy who dodged laughing.

"Okay okay, calm down," Luffy placated him and Sanji sat back down with a huff, blowing out a wisp of smoke. "Hey Gin," Luffy waved at him, "Good food huh?"

"Ah, yes" Gin, who was looking dumbfounded, nodded in agreement. "Looking for a cook for your pirate crew I see"

"No no, I found one already" Luffy said pointing at Sanji, who grew annoyed again.

"Oi! Stop it already. Go ask someone else…" He said annoyed before adding, "Though I doubt any of the cooks here will join you. You see, the damn geezer that owns this place used to be a famous pirate, so all the other cooks here are the ones who followed him out of admiration. So, I doubt anyone will consider leaving the old geezer"

"Yeah, they're all so hot-headed, noisy and pirate-like"

"Heh," Sanji smirked, "They sure are. Well, they're perfect to work in a place which is frequented by pirates, I suppose. That's how it is here every day… Waiters are always getting scared and leaving us because of it too"

"Yeah. Well anyway, join my crew"

"I refuse," Sanji flatly stated. "I have a good reason for staying in this restaurant, so I don't want to leave"

"No! I refuse!" Luffy said sitting right behind him.

"Wh-what? Refuse what?"

"I refuse your refusal!"

"Oi! Listen to what I'm saying!"

"I don't care! You're joining my crew and that's final!"

"What kind of shitty way of recruiting is this?! I'll make a fillet out of you if you don't stop!"

"Stop arguing with me!" Luffy said as if he was chiding a child, "I said you're on my crew and you're on it! No more discussion!"

"You insane asshat! What kind of manners did you receive as a child?!"

"None actually!"

"That explains it!"

"You're still joining my crew!"

"Umm sorry to butt in…" Gin hesitantly interjected getting a "WHAT?!" from both men. "Since you're a pirate," he said looking at Luffy, "What's your goal?"

"The One Piece, of course"

"…If you're still looking for a cook, I'm assuming your crew isn't big?"

"He's the fifth" / "Don't count me in!"

Gin sighed, "You seem like a nice guy, so I'll give you a warning. Don't ever go to the Grand Line… You're young still, so don't rush to your death"

"Grand Line really scared you huh?"

Gin trembled closing his eyes and remembering it, "It was a nightmare… I never want to see that place again…"

"You're rather chicken for a Krieg pirate huh?" Sanji commented.

"It's that terrifying…" Gin breathed in horror.

"Well, thanks for the warning but I'm still going. My dream is tied to that place and nothing can stop me from achieving my dream"

Gin sighed standing up, "I see. Well, it's not like I can stop you. Just thought I'd warn you that's all." He then looked at Sanji with a grateful smile. "I owe my life to you. The food you gave me was the most delicious thing I've eaten in my life!"

"Don't mention it"

Gin smiled happily and soon got into a dinghy getting ready to leave. "Sanji! Is it okay if I ever come back again?"

"Any time!" Sanji waved with a smile.

Gin gave a bright smile before he started sailing away thanking Sanji again while the two men watched him go.

"Hey, Sanji…"

"…Yeah?"

"Thank you"

Sanji gave him a curious sideways glance. "What for?"

"Shishi I'll tell you one day," Luffy grinned as he stood on the railing, "Putting the recruitment on hold for now, can you make me something? I'm dying to eat your cooking. It took all my self-control not to lunge at what you made Gin"

"Oh? Heard of my reputation eh? Sure, I'll cook you the best dish ever. What do you prefer?" Sanji asked as he walked back into the restaurant with Luffy following a step behind him.

"Anything with meat!" Luffy replied while waving at Zeff with a smile who was secretly watching them from the second-floor deck the whole time.

———

Luffy followed Sanji into the kitchen but got kicked out with Sanji yelling "I'll bring your food to your table! Go wait!" and thus, Luffy went back to his crew, who were all chatting and laughing along with Moodie.

"I'm back," Luffy announced as he took a seat in between Usopp and Nami. They already seemed to have ordered as food was already present on the table, but he decided to wait for Sanji's dish.

"Where did you go?" Usopp asked.

"To recruit our cook. I found one. Now, just need to convince him"

"Did he refuse?" Zoro asked already guessing the answer.

"Yep. And I refused that refusal"

"You need to stop doing that already, idiot" Nami sighed exasperatedly pinching his cheek.

Moodie, who was looking a bit uncomfortable since Luffy sat down, became wide-eyed watching Nami's display and stared at Luffy with her mouth half-open. Noticing her gaze, Luffy smiled. "What's up?"

"Ah… No, it's nothing" She hesitated a bit but ultimately spoke up, "Just… I heard that you're the captain… and well, I've never seen someone call their captain an idiot with no consequences before"

"This idiot doesn't care about stuff like that," Usopp said and Luffy just chuckled.

"Didn't you hear all the crazy and stupid shit he does just now?" Nami scoffed.

"Well yes, but I thought you guys were talking behind his back. Just badmouthing the captain you know…"

"Hey, you jerks! You were badmouthing me?!" Luffy said looking mock offended.

"Nah, we don't talk behind his back. We just badmouth him in front of his face," Nami grinned.

"…Then why do you follow him as your captain?" Moodie asked cautiously, trying not to offend anyone.

"We still respect him. A lot." Zoro spoke up calmly and the others nodded along while Luffy grinned.

"Fascinating…" Moodie looked at the crew as if they were some exhibits in a museum. "You guys don't seem like a typical pirate crew at all. I was honestly surprised to find that it was you guys Fuldbody talked to earlier…"

"So what do you do, Moodie?" Luffy asked trying to change the topic.

"Oh, I'm an author"

"Ooh, that's nice! What kind of books do you write?" Luffy asked conversationally but became confused at the way the other three reacted. Usopp blushed and shifted in his chair, Nami shifted uncomfortably too, and Zoro just looked away.

Moodie propped up her chin on her hand and with a mischievous smile said "Erotica" and the three's reaction only intensified.

Luffy took it in stride asking "From a man or a woman's perspective?"

Moodie seemed surprised. "Ah… from a woman's perspective," she said as she carefully observed him, who was not at all bothered, unlike the other three.

"Women's perspectives are way better when it comes to erotica" Luffy nodded sagely.

"My, now this is surprising… when I told the others when you weren't here, everyone just blushed and didn't ask any further… but you seem okay? You read erotica? And don't mind admitting to it?"

"Ah, so that's why…" Luffy chuckled understanding his crew's reactions before answering Moodie, "Shishi yeah, I've even play-acted some stuff before"

Nami and Usopp, who were silently eating, choked on their food and Zoro coughed lightly causing Luffy to loudly burst out laughing while Moodie just chuckled.

His loud laughter caught everyone's attention in the restaurant and Sanji, who was just bringing Luffy his food, quickened his pace and scolded him, "Hey! Shitty Strawhat! Keep your voice down will you? You're disturbing everyone else"

"My food!" Luffy forgot about everything else and snatched the plates from Sanji's hands before he could even set them down. He smelled the amazing mouth-watering aroma of the food before he took the first bite… and his head promptly hit the table, alarming everyone.

"Luffy?" Nami shook him with concern and he slowly lifted his head before gobbling everything that was present on the plate in less than a second. He then looked up at Sanji who was surprised by his reaction and seriously said, "Sanji, this is honestly the best food I've had in my life… more please!"

Sanji's face lit up at the compliment and he smiled with delight. "Sure!"

"And oh, meet my crew. And guys, this is Sanji, our cook"

The three members finally getting a chance to change the topic studied their new crew member with interest.

"I told you," Sanji's happy smile shifted to one of annoyance, "I'm not joining your damn crew!"

"Don't care. I've already decided that you are"

Before Sanji could blow his head off, Nami intervened "Don't mind him. He's just like that to everyone"

Sanji finally laid his eyes on the others at the table… well, the female members of the table and his eyes instantly turned into hearts as he spun his way between Nami and Moodie.

"Oh, blessed are the seas for bringing me this fine day! Oh love, I can't bear this hardship, laugh at me if you will. I'm now prepared to become a devil or a pirate as long as I get a chance to sail with two heavenly beauties such as yourselves! Oh, how tragic is my fate that there stands such a great obstacle between us!"

Zoro and Usopp saw the love-struck fool and got irritated, Nami found a target she can use to not pay for the food and Moodie, already having experienced his passes, just smiled.

"Only she's on my crew," Luffy informed him pointing at Nami and before Sanji could comment on it, another voice interrupted him.

"By obstacle, do you mean me, Sanji?" Zeff asked coming up to them.

"Ah the shitty geezer," Sanji huffed with annoyance, doing a complete 180 from the love-sick behaviour he just had.

"Why don't you go with them and become a pirate, you shitty eggplant? This is a good opportunity. You're no longer needed at this restaurant"

Sanji grit his teeth getting more annoyed, "Oi, shitty geezer. I'm the sous chef here. What do you mean you don't need me here anymore?"

"You cause too much trouble and drool over every woman you see causing most guests to get uncomfortable," Zeff began firing off all the grievances he had with Sanji, "You also can't cook a decent meal to save your life. You're just an unnecessary burden to this restaurant and none of the other cooks like you either. Just leave and get the hell out of my restaurant whether it be as a pirate or something already!"

Sanji lost all his cool as he grabbed Zeff's collar "So that's what you wanted to say to me all this time?! I can ignore every comment you made except the one about my cooking. I don't care about the other stuff but don't you dare insult my cooking!"

Zeff also grew angry and flipped him on the table Luffy and the others were sitting at while yelling "How dare you grab the collar of the head chef?!"

Fortunately, everyone at the table had picked up whatever plates they had, so only the table broke.

"Dammit…" Sanji grumbled while Zeff scoffed at him and turned to walk away.

"You can try to chase me away all you want but I'll continue to be a cook here, got that?! Until the day you die!" Sanji yelled at Zeff's retreating back, who retorted with "Hah! I won't die! I'll live for another 100 years!" without turning back.

While Sanji was gritting his teeth and grumbling curses at Zeff under his breath, Luffy happily jumped in, not at all bothered by the tension in the air. "Great! Now you can join my crew"

"As if!" Sanji screamed at him.

"Well anyway, can you bring us more food? I'm hungry" Luffy whined and that calmed down Sanji a bit.

———

"This is gender discrimination! I'll sue you!" Usopp protested clearly irritated by Sanji when he fawned over and even told the girls that their food was free while telling the men that they had to pay.

"Is he really the one you want Luffy?" Usopp asked enraged as Sanji went to wait at other tables, "Seems like just a horny dog to me!" to which Zoro also agreed nodding along.

"Well I won't deny that he seems like a horny dog but I still want him," Luffy said as he finished his tenth plate of Sanji's food.

"Oh please, as if you're any better!" Nami scoffed, "You flirt around all the time too!"

Luffy blinked dumbly wondering who she was talking to before realizing it was directed at him and lightly gasped. "What? Are you saying I'm like Sanji?"

"Yes!"

"When the hell do I flirt like him?!"

"Well, not exactly like him… but you do flirt!"

"…You flirt all the time too," Luffy fired back at Nami, "So you're like him too then"

"Wha?! I do not!"

"You do," Usopp cut in crossing his arms and nodding sagely, "While negotiating prices for groceries and stuff, you always talk sweetly and get them to lower the prices or get stuff for free. You just did it with Sanji too"

"That's a tactic! You can't call that flirting!"

"I gotta agree with her," Moodie weighed in, "Some women show off their cute side or assets while negotiating prices"

"Exactly!" Nami agreed and then pointed at Luffy, "What you do is completely different!"

"No way!"

"No no," Usopp interjected, shifting to their side, "You just randomly flirt with people for no reason. You even brought Moodie over here"

"Hmm…" Luffy crossed his arms and self-reflected. "I'm not exactly flirting though. It's more of wanting to see someone getting flustered and wanting to make them blush. I do it to men too"

Nami and Usopp hummed in unison processing his words while Luffy looked at Zoro, who was silently drinking. "Zoro? Want to add something here?"

"Nope. I'm just enjoying the show"

"Well, I even carried Zoro like a prin-"

The hilt of Zoro's sword hit him stopping him from saying anything more and he grinned having proved his point.

"I did think you were flirting with me when you invited me to join you," Moodie interjected.

"A-ha! See!"

"She's obviously joking wanting us to argue more!" Luffy shot back while Moodie chuckled. And when it looked like it would continue, he put a stop to it. "Stop! I'm ending this topic!" Luffy declared and the topic was dropped.

"So how long are we staying here?" Zoro asked.

"A few days. Until Sanji agrees"

"Are you sure he'll join?" Usopp asked doubtfully, "Seemed pretty adamant about staying here"

"Well, given his track record which is us," Zoro sighed, "I somehow have no doubt that he'll succeed"

"I doubt it," Moodie, surprisingly weighed in too, "They're all so emotionally stunted men"

Luffy's eyes gleamed with interest as he studied Moodie. "You're right about that. I'm surprised you picked up on it"

Moodie also got a glint in her eyes as she studied Luffy in turn. "Well I'm an author after all and I don't just write erotica. I write about other non-fiction too"

"Ah! That explains it. Need a keen eye to observe everything"

"Yes, that's my excuse. What's yours?"

"My brother minored in psychology. So picked up a few things from him," he said with a smile and Moodie nodded in understanding. And Luffy had indeed picked up on it in reality and not solely relying on just the story.

"Uhh…what are you guys talking about?" Nami interrupted confused.

"Well, Zeff really didn't mean whatever he said just now to Sanji. Not sure why, but Sanji feels obligated to stay here with Zeff and help him but Zeff wants him to leave and follow his own path in life. So he's saying all those cruel things to get Sanji to leave," Moodie explained, "If they just said whatever they wanted to say directly instead of acting like emotionally stunted children, they could easily resolve their issues"

Luffy smiled at her approvingly. "You're really good"

"Thanks!" Moodie smiled back, a strange tension hanging in the air as the two stared at each other with interest.

They moved on to other topics and when Sanji came to serve them more food again, Zoro stood up to reach out for a bottle of booze at the other end of the table and Moodie saw the three swords hanging off of Zoro's waist. She suddenly gasped pointing at him. "You're Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, aren't you?!"

Zoro nodded sitting back down and opening the bottle of booze. "Not a pirate hunter anymore. This idiot recruited me"

"Interesting"

"And I was a pirate thief," Nami chimed in.

"And I was the Captain of a Great Pirate Crew back on my home island!" Usopp added.

"Wow. Quite a mixture of talent here… and this is your whole crew?" Moodie asked.

"Yeah. And Sanji too," Luffy said just as Sanji set a couple more plates of food for him.

"I'm not joining!"

"Aren't you gonna recruit more people?" Moodie asked, really interested in the unusual pirate crew.

"Yes, with the Great Captain Usopp here, we'll soon have a fleet of hundreds of ships with thousands of strong men!" Usopp declared but Moodie ignored his words, already having realized he was a pathological liar the moment he had opened his mouth to introduce himself.

"Nope, I want a small crew," Luffy answered. "I want space and freedom. With a fleet or a large crew, it's just too much work and I have to tell everyone what to do and all… ugh, just takes all the fun out of the adventure… And only the best on the Pirate King's crew ya know"

Everyone was surprised by this. His crew was surprised because they didn't think Luffy gave it much thought and was recruiting people on a whim, Moodie was surprised as she had seen many pirate captains and all they wanted was more men to use as canon fodder, and Sanji was surprised as Luffy said he wanted only the best on his crew and he had chosen him.

"Fascinating. So just you five will go to the Grand Line?"

Sanji wanted to protest again for being included but stayed quiet as Moodie was the one who said it.

"Yep! I think that's all I'm recruiting from East Blue. We'll pick up more in the Grand Line" Luffy replied, again to his crew's surprise.

"Do you have a death wish?'" Sanji snapped angrily, "Haven't you heard all the dangers of the Grand Line? You'll just lead them to their deaths… and I don't care about the rest but you can't lead dear Nami-swan to her death!"

"Nah, we'll be fine. You just need a good navigator to traverse the seas there and we have Nami- the best navigator ever!" he said pointing at Nami and she blushed at the sudden compliment, "And we're all plenty strong to take on any enemies"

"You talk as if you've been there," Moodie commented as she finished her drink and so had the rest while Sanji was lingering near their table interested in the conversation.

Luffy was just gonna shrug not commenting on it but Usopp spoke up, "He was! This man here is a residen-"

"Stop" Luffy sighed clamping his mouth shut before looking at the wide-eyed and questioning looks on Moodie and Sanji's faces and sighed again. "You were in the Grand Line?!" Moodie asked a bit too strongly.

"Yeah. Not as a pirate though," Luffy replied calmly getting gasps from both. The two were wondering what to ask first when Luffy stood up. "Well, I guess we should leave," he said and then went to clear the bill.

By the time Luffy finished paying, everyone except Sanji, who had gone to wait at the other tables, were standing at the entrance. He smiled at Moodie about to say goodbye but she interrupted him with a sudden request. "Can you please tell me about your time in the Grand Line?"

"…why?" He usually would have shrugged it off but it didn't look like she was asking out of simple curiosity.

"I'm writing a book showing the differences in the different seas of the world and would love to hear about the Grand Line. In fact, the only reason I agreed to the date with Fullbody is because he said we could talk about this. But you know how that turned out… Please? I'll even pay you if you want!"

"Well, I don't mind but most people just brush off whatever I say as made-up fantasies. You won't believe me"

"No, I will! I had a chance to interview a high-level Marine before too and he said the exact same thing and dismissed me. So, I'm aware that there are some unbelievable things there. Please, give me a cha-"

"Calm down," Luffy chuckled seeing her desperate plea, "I didn't say no. Sure, let's do it"

"Oh thank you! I'll compensate you whatev-"

"It's fine, it's fine. You're a friend, so no need for payments"

Nami almost burst a vein hearing that and wanted to strangle him but bit her lip thinking that she didn't deserve to give her opinion anymore as she had decided that she would leave them soon… which didn't go unnoticed by Luffy.

———

It was evening when they finished their meal and came back to the Merry. Moodie had quickly gone to the Marine ship, packed her belongings, had an argument with Fullbody on the way out (something about him completely forgetting about her when Gin came in) and came to the Merry with a small bag in her hands. She had also changed out of the red dress she had on earlier and was wearing a simple and comfortable pair of shirt and jeans.

Luffy and Moodie settled near the main mast to talk with Moodie holding a book and pen in hand. Usopp sat behind the mast to listen in, Nami sat a bit away pretending to draw her maps but was close enough to hear them, and Zoro was training on deck with an ear open.

"First," Moodie began, "When was the first time you saw the Grand Line and what did you see?"

"It was a couple of years ago. What I saw…" Luffy closed his eyes and a wide smile bloomed on his face as he recalled that memory, "A few cyclones were to my right including water ones"

"Water ones?"

"Yeah, I don't know the correct name but the cyclone picks up water from the sea and basically forms a massive whirlpool above the surface of the water that goes up and up into the sky"

"…Right"

"It wasn't just straight up either. There were a few columns that went straight into the clouds, while others turned and zigzagged, crashing into other columns of water… I saw a Sea King stuck in it later in the day! It was screaming sure, but it looked like a very fun ride!"

"…"

"A herd of Sea Kings that were a thousand times bigger than this ship were just sunbathing near us…"

"I think I have the Cant-hear-about-the-Grand-Line- disease!" Usopp mumbled as he hastily ran below deck.

Moodie took down notes unbothered and continued the interview. Luffy only gave her surface-level information about everything which already seemed unbelievable to her. He told her about some of the islands he had personally been on, their customs and festivals, and what he did there.

The fact that he had been to South Blue also came up and he told her about some of the islands and culture of the islands he had seen. When the topic of devil fruits came up, like all East Blue dwellers, she was skeptical and didn't believe it to be true. He then went on to explain the different types of devil fruits, about sea stone and its effects, along with plenty of examples which just made her more doubtful.

"Are you sure they're real? The stuff you said seems pretty out there"

Nami who had been intently listening to everything added, "Yeah, it's real alright. I was just like you a few weeks ago. But when you see it with your own eyes, it's hard to not believe it"

"Damn… I wish I could also see a user…" Moodie muttered sadly.

"Well, this guy has also eaten one. Why don't you finally show it?"

"You've eaten one too?!" Moodie perked up with surprise before demanding, "Show me!"

"Ahh c'mon, we're playing the guessing game" he said and explained that he wanted to wait until they got out of East Blue and about their little game.

"Please just show me at least. I don't think I'll ever get a chance to see anyone else in my life! Please!"

Seeing her desperate plea, he couldn't say no. "Well alright," he nodded before quickly addressing Nami and Zoro who were watching him intently, "But only to her. You guys will still have to wait until we're at the entrance to the Grand Line."

Moodie cheered while the rest groaned in disappointment and Luffy just laughed in amusement. A minute later, he and Moodie were inside the kitchen with the doors locked and Moodie was bursting with excitement.

Luffy first held her hand and then started walking away from her. Moodie didn't get what he was doing at first but as he walked away, his hand was still holding onto hers and she shrieked in surprise seeing an unnaturally long arm. Luffy quickly launched his other hand to clamp her mouth shut while she stared wide-eyed at him in equal parts horror and fascination.

"I ate the Gomu Gomu no mi which turned me into a rubber human," he whispered after coming closer to her still covering her mouth and she nodded blankly. He let go when she looked calm and Moodie instantly started touching his arm going "Oh wow!"

She played with it for a while pulling the skin, pulling each finger, bending and tying it in unnatural ways. "THIS IS INSANE! HOW DOES THIS EVEN WORK?!"

"Devil fruits are bullshit" Luffy said wisely.

Moodie let go of his arm and asked, "Is it just your arms or…?"

"Nope. My entire body is made of it"

She latched onto his head next pulling and pinching it in every way possible and yelped with shock when his neck stretched. She then targeted his legs and started doing the same thing with fascination while Luffy let her do it, already used to people reacting the same way to his rubber body.

"Well, I sure hope you don't remove my pants or something," he said amused when she started playing with his hips. She instantly let go realizing that she was being rude by basically just fondling his body but his statement left her bewildered.

"That stretches too?" she asked incredulously and Luffy nodded with a chuckle.

"Wow," she breathed no doubt imagining exactly what one would imagine when someone tells them their thing stretches. "How long?"

"As long as I want it… or you know, she wants it…" he said with a grin.

"Wow…"

They were interrupted by loud banging on the door. "Everything okay in there?" Nami yelled.

"Satisfied? Can we go out now?" Luffy asked and Moodie blankly nodded.

The others, including Usopp who had come out because of the loud commotion watched as both Luffy and Moodie came out of the kitchen. Luffy was just smiling like always but Moodie had a flushed face seemingly lost in thought which had everyone dying with curiosity.

And seeing that, Moodie got a mischievous grin. "Ahh… sex must be great when you use your powers huh?" she said dreamily.

Luffy's steps faltered and everyone's mouth hung open. Luffy quickly turned around and seeing the mischievous grin on her face, decided to join in on the fun.

"Yeah, it's pretty great!"

"Man, the girl won't be able to walk for days!"

"Shishis-"

"TELL US RIGHT NOW WHAT YOUR DEVIL FRUIT IS!" Nami shrieked as she held onto Luffy's neck and started shaking him. But alas, only the loud laughter of Moodie and Luffy was heard that day.

———

'Grand Line sounds like an amazing place…' Nami mused as she heard Luffy telling a few stories to Moodie. After the devil fruit reveal, they had gone back to talking about the Grand Line. Luffy didn't reveal too many details, just about some crazy weather phenomena that went on over there, a few devil fruits users, a few islands he had been on and the power structure of the world which included the Marines, the Warlords and the Yonko. He still seemed like he had held back a lot of information though and was just telling Moodie the basics.

The way Luffy narrated his adventures and the different festivals and customs he had come across made her go 'I want to see those places too!'

But ever since she saw the bounty poster of that monster earlier in the morning, she couldn't stop thinking that the time she had spent with Luffy was just a dream that she had to wake up from. That she had to go back to her depressing and hellish life. And she also had another worry about not letting Luffy know about her situation because if he knew, he would insist on coming along and take Arlong down. 'But could he?' was the sole question that was running through her mind for a long time.

Arlong was from the Grand Line while Luffy had just visited the place. Arlong was a Fishman, had a huge crew of Fishmen and on top of that, had a Grand Line monster like Momoo… and on their side was just Luffy and Zoro. She knew she wouldn't be able to do much against them, she didn't think Usopp would be able to do anything against them and she didn't know Sanji enough. So, just two people against Arlong, his huge crew and Momoo.

'Yeah there's no way we can win…' she concluded with a sigh shaking her head and finally decided to run away as soon as she got a chance. It was always the plan but spending all that time with the two idiots had actually made her forget her hellish life for a second there. And now that she had decided to leave, she felt an unimaginable sense of loss.

———o———​

Early next morning at around 4, Luffy was relaxing in the crow's nest when he saw that Sanji had woken up and going towards the kitchen. Luffy followed after him and entered the kitchen too.

"Yo!"

"Oh hey… coffee?"

"Yep"

Luffy silently sat on the floor leaning against a counter while Sanji made him coffee while also cutting up some vegetables for the day.

"You always start before anyone else?"

"Mm. I like the quiet in the mornings. It's gonna become messy and noisy once everyone comes, so mornings are the one time I can cook without being annoyed" he said and indirectly gave a warning to not annoy him with the recruitment.

"Shishi okay"

"Why are you up so early?" Sanji asked conversationally as he handed him his cup of coffee.

"Dunno…just am" Luffy shrugged accepting the cup and started sipping it silently while watching Sanji work. He was cutting the vegetables extremely efficiently so that there was minimal waste. Any skins he peeled also weren't wasted and were put in a separate place, most probably to use in some other dish.

And seeing that, Luffy's mind suddenly wandered to one of the lowest points in his life - The time he was enslaved in Mariejois and was being tortured by the Celestial Dragon women and their kids. An event that had happened during his time there popped up in his mind where he had done something bad, which gnawed at his conscience. 'Would Sanji be mad?'

"Sanji…" Luffy said with a soft frown, "I need to confess something"

Sanji sensed the serious tone and saw the frown he had on his face. "To me? Why?"

"You're gonna be my cook… and I did something that goes against your code you can say, so thought I should let you know…"

"I'm not your cook… but go ahead"

"A couple of years ago," Luffy sighed crossing his arms and closing his eyes, "There was this kid, a little girl - maybe eight or nine - who gave me food. She was holding a tray with some sort of soup and bread I think… and I kinda… grabbed the tray, flipped it to the side and then shoved the kid away quite forcefully…"

Sanji's hands paused feeling anger flare up as Luffy had wasted food and also hurt a little girl. "…Why?"

"Hmm well," Luffy gave another deep sigh, "I was in a very bad place. Locked up, starved for months with no proper food… People there were cruel. They liked to torment slaves by throwing food on the ground and taunting them to lick it up like a dog while they laughed… At first, I didn't care. I saw food, I just gobbled it up no matter what or where they threw it and didn't mind the taunting and laughs. But I guess they didn't like that and one day, I chewed a piece of bread and felt needles in my mou-"

The cutting board Sanji was using snapped in two with a loud crack! causing Luffy to pause. Sanji then silently put the knife down and lit up a cigarette before Luffy continued.

"A couple more times of chewing needles and having my gums bleed, I stopped eating whatever they threw at me. I just felt like I would lose something if I ever ate anything they gave me again… I was starving and yet, I didn't pick up a single thing they threw at me…" He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, "Not sure what I was thinking back then. I could have easily tested the food first before putting it in my mouth… but… I don't know, I just didn't want to lose to them"

"I understand…" Sanji nodded slowly. "Starvation makes a man go mad…"

"Yeah… anyway, one day, a new person visited me and she had a kid with her too"

"A kid in a place like that?" Sanji asked with disbelief.

Luffy gave a bitter smile. "She wasn't the only one. Many kids played with my body… Honestly, the first time I saw kids in that place, I was shocked…"

Sanji slowly nodded tapping his foot and rubbing his chin. "Yeah… guess some kids can be just as cruel…"

"Yeah. Well, the new kid was different. She saw me, studied me with curiosity, asked me why I had so many injuries, asked me why I looked so hungry… but I was silent as always. In hindsight, she was just a kid who was genuinely curious and didn't know what was happening there. But she was wearing the same clothes as the ones torturing me, so I assumed she was the same… Anyway, when I didn't answer, she frowned and soon brought me food. And I threw it away pushing her back… it's only after I did that and saw her terrified and betrayed face did I realize that her intentions were genuine and she just wanted to feed me…"

Sanji blew out another wisp of smoke and the two stayed silent for a while.

"…Did you make it up to the kid?"

Luffy thought back, scenes of chaos and utter mayhem happening all around him during his Second escape attempt in Mariejois, where all the slaves he had freed wanted to kill the kid, who was a Celestial Dragon, and he protected her and also her mother.

"Yeah, I apologized to her a bit later… But it was under utterly chaotic circumstances though, so not sure how much she actually understood…"

"Good then. You didn't do anything wrong…" Sanji said as he discarded the broken cutting board before pulling out a new one and went back to prepping food. Luffy hummed softly and for the first time in a long time, Sanji's mind wandered to his own childhood. 'He was also locked up and had his freedom taken away huh?' A few moments later, Sanji heard himself asking, "What kept you going?"

"Hmm…" Luffy looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, "I'm pretty stupid you see-"

"I have no doubt about that"

"-and my dream is to become the Pirate King, the freest man on the seas. So, the idea that my freedom had been taken by someone didn't even cross my mind and I just kept telling myself and also others that I wasn't enslaved."

"Heh," Sanji chuckled. "That's one way of dealing with it I guess"

"Shishishi you should've seen the faces on the torturers when they kept telling me I was a slave and that I should submit to them, and I just straight-up denied it asking them if they were stupid and kept saying 'No, I'm not'"

A chuckle escaped Sanji's lips at the utter absurdity of what Luffy did, but in the short duration he had known him, he was pretty sure that Luffy was someone who would absolutely say that. The more he imagined it, the more humourous it became and before long, he was laughing out loud, "Dahahaha!"

When he settled down a few minutes later shaking his head, he was caught off guard when Luffy suddenly asked him the same thing. "What kept you going?"

Sanji froze before slowly turning towards Luffy and stared at his face which had an unreadable expression. "…What makes you think I was in a situation similar to yours?"

Luffy just shrugged before looking away and Sanji clicked his tongue internally thinking he had said too much. Luffy was perceptive from what he had seen, so he assumed Luffy had picked up on something from his words and behaviour. When he actually focused on the question itself and thought about the answer, his lips twitched upwards. 'Guess we both had impossible dreams to keep us going eh?'

"Have you ever heard of the All Blue?" Sanji asked before he could think further.

"A bit yeah"

"It's amazing right?! Fishes from all the four Blues all in the same place!"

Sanji's face bloomed into a huge boyish smile as he began telling Luffy all about the All Blue with bubbling excitement. Luffy loved seeing this side of Sanji and he joined in with matching excitement and kept the conversation about All Blue going by telling him about some theories. Luffy even started helping Sanji out with the prepping after some time as the two kept chatting.

"You know one crazy theory I heard. On top of the seas from the four Blues converging at one spot, many sky islands might also be there. That way, All Blue will have fishes from the sky too!"

"Sky islands? Like floating islands in the sky?" Sanji asked bewildered.

"Yeah. So, there might be a massive and majestic waterfall that cascades down from the sky carrying sky fishes into the All Blue too! Just imagine that! How awesome and amazing and magnificent and beautiful would that be!"

"Firstly, that would be MIND-BLOWING!" Sanji exclaimed with shining eyes, "But are sky islands even a thing in the first place?"

"I've heard rumours," A new voice suddenly interrupted the two and they turned to see Zeff entering the kitchen.

"Old geezer…"

"I met people who said they once ate a sky fish when I was in the Grand Line," Zeff said walking up to them and casually started helping in the prepping too. He had been just outside the kitchen listening in the whole time with a content smile on his face as he heard Sanji talking about his dream- their dream, but when Luffy started with his theories, even he had felt excitement bubbling up inside him and wanted to discuss about the All Blue with the two of them too. So, he had finally entered the kitchen and announced himself.

"Yeah, sky fishes are apparently extremely tasty!" Luffy continued as if he was there all along.

"You've heard about it too?" Zeff asked with an excited smile.

"Yeah! I can't wait to go and taste it!"

"Oi, idiot. We don't even know if it's real" Sanji joined in too, feeling happy that he was discussing this topic with Zeff.

"I'll just have to go and see then!"

"Sure sure"

"Another theory I heard," Zeff continued, "That it's an underground valley somewhere around where the Red Line and Grand Line coincide. The water from the four Blues would pour into it, thus creating the All Blue"

"Ehh there won't be sunlight then though" Luffy pointed out.

"That's right," Sanji agreed, "Many species won't even be able to survive"

"Hmm, I guess… But imagine if all the creatures there evolve to survive there and even have bioluminescent skin… how magical would it look with millions of glowing sea creatures illuminating the dark sea!"

"…Whoa…" Luffy and Sanji both breathed out in awe just picturing it.

The theories and discussion kept going and Luffy smiled happily watching the father and son duo talking so animatedly about their shared dream. When other cooks eventually came in, the two immediately stopped as if embarrassed that they had talked to each other without getting angry and Luffy sighed shaking his head.

———

After spending the morning with Sanji and Zeff, Luffy returned to the Merry in the afternoon. Usopp was working on the glider and it seemed to be almost done, Nami was drawing charts, Zoro was training, the bounty hunter duo were resting, and Moodie was writing. Moodie had decided to stay with them until they left Baratie as she wanted to ask for any clarifications from Luffy and also because she enjoyed spending time with them too.

Luffy spent a few hours sparring with Zoro and when evening came, Zoro rested under the mast and Luffy had nothing to do. Suddenly getting a mischievous idea, Luffy sat next to Moodie, who was writing some notes and asked. "You said you wrote erotica right? Do you have your book?"

Nami, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku who were all lounging on deck, and even Zoro who was sleeping against the mast perked up and looked towards him. 'Did this guy seriously just ask to read that kind of book in front of everyone?' That was pretty much the thought that ran through their heads.

"Of course," Moodie grinned and fetched a book from her bag, which Luffy took and just started reading it. Right on deck in front of everyone. They kept staring at him as he read it wondering 'Is this guy seriously reading it in front of everyone?!'

They got even more shocked when Luffy actually began discussing the book with Moodie, who happily responded to him and the two talked about all sorts of 'acts' from the book.

Luffy chuckled seeing the looks on everyone's faces. Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku had gone completely bright red in the face, which didn't surprise him that much. Given the Happiness Punch incident, he thought Nami wouldn't be affected much by it, but she had a flushed face too, although it seemed like half of it was out of anger. Zoro didn't react much and just slept, so to test him, Luffy said 'Oh yeah, I once tied up a girl and hung her sideways from the ceiling too' which caused Zoro to snap his neck towards him and stare at him incredulously.

Seeing Luffy grinning at them, everyone knew he was doing it just to make them all flustered and no one knew if he was actually being serious or not.

Luffy decided to take it a step further. "This position," he pointed at a passage in the book, "I've never done this"

"Really? You're missing out," Moodie smiled, enjoying flustering the others just as much as Luffy.

"Hmm yeah, I can imagine. Want to do it?" Luffy asked and everyone snapped their necks at him.

"Sure!" Moodie grinned and everyone's jaws dropped as they gawked at the two. The two stood up under the watchful eyes of the others as they walked towards the hatch that led to the men's room. Luffy didn't acknowledge anyone as he opened the hatch up and Moodie descended.

"There's no bed here though?" They could hear Moodie ask as she climbed down.

"Yeah, we only have hammocks. We can use the couch." They heard Luffy answer as he closed and locked the hatch from the inside.

"Big Bro Luffy is a player," Johnny said gaping while Yosaku nodded.

Nami just stood up and stomped her foot multiple times on the deck right above the men's room while yelling, "Have some shame, idiot!" before stomping into the kitchen.

Meanwhile, inside the room, Luffy and Moodie were snickering as they heard Nami, while Luffy read the newspaper and Moodie wrote.

"So how long do you think we should stay in here to mess with them?" Moodie chuckled.

"Like a couple of hours?"

"Oh wow," Moodie smiled turning back to face him. "You could go for two hours straight?"

"Shishi sure"

"Want to actually do it?" Moodie whispered sultrily leaning to his side.

Luffy grinned, "The only reason I'm comfortable joking around about this stuff with you is because I know you're into women"

"Hehe, you noticed? How come?"

"Please, it was obvious once I read your book. Besides, the way you look at Nami makes it pretty clear"

"She is really pretty"

"Yes, she is," Luffy agreed nodding before he pointed at something in the newspaper and changed the topic. "I've been meaning to ask, this is you, right?"

What he was pointing at was an article which was signed with her name. He had seen the name 'Moodie' pop up a few times over the years, and the name did seem vaguely familiar to him, so he always read anything by her. It was only when she introduced herself earlier that it finally clicked in his mind as to how he knew her name.

"Yeah," Moodie confirmed, "I'm a journalist too"

"You're quite bold," Luffy said reading the article. It was a critique of how a Marine Captain on an island abuses his power and she had basically bashed the Captain. Some of the earlier articles of hers that he had read were similar too. "Don't the Marines do anything when you write stuff like this about them?"

"They do," Moodie smiled bitterly, "At least I think they do. I've gotten a few death threats before from random people telling me that I should stop writing such stuff but I can't prove that it's the Marines' doing… but who else would do that?"

"No attempts to hurt you?"

"Not yet, no. It's probably because all of it is useless" she said self-deprecatingly.

"Useless?"

"Well, let me explain with an example. There was this corrupt Marine who harassed the people in his town. Taking stuff from shops without paying, collecting 'protection tax' as he called it, imprisoning people he didn't like or those who spoke up against him - You get it. So, my source was one of the people who lived there. I went there, saw everything, collected stories from a few other people, and wrote a piece on it… A few days later, that Marine captain stomped up to the office I worked at, called me a liar… and a lot of stuff happened which ultimately ended with him demanding that I produce proof for all the accusations I made. When I went back to that island, the people I had collected the stories from all changed their tune and said that they had told me that their Captain was great, and called me a liar too."

Moodie paused for a few seconds smiling deprecatingly. "I had to write an official apology in the paper. After that, the Captain looked me in the eye, smiled and told me that I could collect testimonies from other people as many times as I wanted and he would buy or threaten them to change their stories every time… I lost interest in being an investigative journalist then and I began writing books… but still, I can't just stop. I still write articles from time to time"

"So that's why your articles always don't outright accuse the Marine huh?" Luffy nodded. "It's always 'rumours' and 'unknown sources'"

"Yeah, I write something outright accusatory and it'll just be rejected. The guy who runs the East Blue section is a friend, so he's lenient with me, but even he'll lose his job if lets me write anything I want"

"I see…"

"I still try sometimes you know…" she said bitterly, "The date with Fullbody… I was hoping I could get close to him and get some dirt on his colleagues. I endured the repulsion I felt whenever I had to act like I was into him, but I have my limits. Besides, with how violently he behaved back then, I didn't want to continue…"

"Why do you still try though?"

"I don't know… Have seen the evil in front of my eyes and I want to do something about it, I guess. I want to join the Revolutionary Army actually, but I have no idea how to…"

Luffy smiled at her for a few seconds, confusing her, before he got up and got his sling bag that was on the other side of the room. He pulled out a notebook and handed it to her.

"What's this?" Moodie asked curiously. He stayed quiet, so she opened the book and began reading it aloud. "Getyin, Marine Captain on Flint. Is taking money from at least five pirate crews to turn a blind eye when they attack people- Takes half the loot of every pirate raid as payment and pays three of his subordinates to keep quiet. Shares the loot with Marine Captain Millie of the neighbouring island of Lute to keep quiet." She read it as if in a trance and turned a page. "Jiken, Marine Captain on Drite Island. Collects 50% more than what is necessary as Heavenly tribute and along with six subordinates named Char, Fill, Deil, Neil, Mer and Sailet, pockets the excess. Also imprisons people for no reason. Two such instances are as follows-…" Moodie read everything and then turned a page again to find all the transgressions of another Marine. She dazedly flipped pages to find many more Marines with all their corrupt behaviour listed.

She looked back up at Luffy with shock. "Wh-what is this? Is this all real?"

"Yup. And everything is backed up by proof. And by proof, I don't mean just testimonies…" He pulled out a big pile of files from his sling bag and handed it to her. Everything was organized neatly by Marine names, which included paper trails, how much they earn through bribes and payoffs, names of people they paid off, channels they took, and also a couple of slave owners too.

"H-how did you get all this?" Moodie asked bewildered.

"Stole it"

"Stole it?!"

"Yeah, just broke into a Marine Base and looted whatever looked hidden and important. I was close to an aspiring journalist once," Luffy said referring to Serena, "So I know a bit of how exactly paper trails form when money is involved and how to follow them-" 'That was electronic though,' he added in his head. But it wasn't all that different in this world. "If it's a lone person who's mixed up in such corrupt activities, then it's hard to catch them, but if you add one collaborator like subordinates who need to be paid off, neighbouring Marine captains who need to be paid off, footmen who collect money from pirates and citizens, and so on, there's always a paper trail. I just followed it and found all this." Seeing the dumbstruck look on her face, Luffy puffed his chest out proudly, "I'm a great detective right? Right?"

Moodie chuckled seeing how proud he looked and so, agreed with him even though what he said was the basics of how to follow a story. But still, he had actually managed to find so much dirt on so many people, so she was in awe.

"Well, when I didn't find anything, I just beat up a Marine until they confessed to everything… only sometimes though…" he added as an afterthought which only made her astonishment shoot up higher.

"Wow…" was the only thing Moodie could breathe out. "This is… truly amazing…"

"So, do you think this will cause anything if published? Or will it not achieve anything?" Luffy asked getting to the main point he wanted to ask.

"Are you kidding me? Haha! I can't wait to see this blow up! It's gonna be so amazing! Hahahaha! So many Marines, that too, Captains getting exposed all at once?! The Marines will have a lot to answer to! There is proof of money being moved around, so they can't say it's all false either. Not all Marines are bad, so the good ones will investigate it and the bad ones will be exposed!"

"Hmm"

Luffy had stolen and collected everything but he himself wasn't really sure if it would cause any ripples. But Moodie was more aware of this world, so he decided to trust her.

"Do you want all this?" Luffy asked her.

Moodie's excitement died down and she stared at him in shock. "What?! No, no! You must have worked so hard to collect all this! You should be the one to publish this!"

"I don't have the first clue on how to publish stuff in a newspaper and I don't have the patience to find out either. Besides, all this needs to be written in the form of an article and all… I was going to leave it at the doorstep of some newspaper office anyway, but I found you now. Your writing is great and you have the drive, so I'm more than happy to give it to you"

"No no, you have to gr-"

"Moodie," Luffy said in a serious voice as he put a hand on the documents and pushed it towards her, "I really will leave it a random newspaper agency I find if you don't want it. So, yes or no?"

She gulped looking at the serious look on Luffy's face, then looked at the documents before settling her gaze on Luffy's face again. She had learned that Luffy didn't like formalities and pretty much said what was on his mind all the time, so she understood that he was being completely serious here. She imagined the possibilities of everything and slowly nodded. "Yes"

"I'm not sure how it works, but if this does cause a big commotion, people will be mad at you and maybe come after you, won't they? Do you still want it?"

"It's fine, I'm thinking of writing it anonymously"

"You sure? Won't you be losing a lot of fame?"

"Who cares? I get to see all this play out. I'm more than happy with that!"

Luffy nodded with a smile and lifted his hand off the documents. "Shishi good then! You get in any trouble, call me," he said writing down his number, "But I'll be going to the Grand Line soon, so if you can't reach me, call this number," he wrote down another number, "It's a woman called Makino. Just tell her that you're my friend and she'll help you if you're in trouble"

Moodie nodded staring at the numbers and then at his face. "You seem like some secret mastermind… just who are you?"

"The Future Pirate King," Luffy said before adding, "Give me your number too. I'll pass it along to the Revolutionaries and tell them about you"

Moodie froze. "You have contacts in the Revolutionaries?!"

"Yeah" He was planning to meet Dragon in Loguetown, so he would soon have it. 'Wonder how she would react if I said I'm Dragon's son' he thought to himself with amusement.

"Wait, if you know Revolutionaries, wouldn't it be better to give all this to them?"

"I did think of it, yeah, but I've seen that people usually take whatever the Revolutionary Army says with a grain of salt. From what I've seen, the World Government have besmirched their name enough that countries under the World Government usually just dismiss whatever the Revolutionaries claim as propaganda, right? I think they'll just sweep this as lies too if it came from them."

"Hmm, you're right… but still, I'm sure the Revolutionaries have ways to get this out without letting anyone know it came from them"

"Well, I've already decided that all this is yours," Luffy said pointing at the documents, "I'll give your contact to them, and you guys can discuss among yourselves what to do with it"

Moodie stared at him wide-eyed for a second before saying, "You really are some mastermind…"

"Heh…" Luffy leaned back on the couch, crossed his legs, tilted his head slightly and gave a small smirk. "Maybe I am…"

Moodie giggled at his antics before she suddenly lunged at him, threw her arms around him and kissed him all over his face repeatedly. "I've never once regretted being born a lesbian… until right this moment"

"Alright, alright," Luffy chuckled ruffling her hair before they both burst out laughing.

When the excitement settled down, Luffy asked how exactly public opinion and spreading such information would affect the Marines, and Moodie began a long explanation of how the politics worked in the world. Luffy only knew how the world worked on a grand scale with how the Yonko, Warlords and World Government kept each other in check, but on a smaller scale, he had no idea.

Moodie explained a lot of things which included topics ranging from influential people who owned weapon manufacturing factories, to food suppliers. Luffy wasn't overtly interested in it but actively listened to everything and tried to understand as much as he could thinking that it was a nice change of pace.

They spent hours in the room, totally forgetting why they had gone there in the first place. When the two finally came out, it was dinner time already and they only remembered the prank when they saw the others' faces.

Moodie smirked looking at all of them, lingering her gaze on Nami the longest, and said "It was mind-blowing!" with a wink to which Nami scoffed looking away but glared at Luffy from the corner of her eyes.

———

Luffy again spent the next day's morning with Zoro, sparring again. Zoro had improved a lot since he first met him, but he didn't think it would matter much against someone like Mihawk. It went on until Zoro collapsed from exhaustion in the afternoon and Usopp came up to him next.

"Ah, you're done!" Usopp greeted him looking excited.

"Hm? What's up?"

"Here! It's ready!" Usopp declared proudly and presented the completed glider to Luffy, who gleefully took it. He had made it according to Luffy's specification - A wooden central shaft with two wings made out of a thin fabric extending from either side. The wings could be folded into the central shaft itself giving it the appearance of a pole when the wings were closed. When they were extended though, it looked like the wingspan of a bird in flight. A small support bar made of wood extended below the main shaft to support the pilot, making it look like a hang glider. Ropes connected the wings to the support bar through which the wings could be controlled.

It was a crude design Luffy remembered of a hang glider and Usopp had managed to make his own version and a working model of it.

"This looks great!"

"Heehe! It was simple for someone like me! Now, try it! I want to see it in action"

"Yes!" Luffy tried controlling the wings a couple of times and after making himself familiar with it, he jumped and kept jumping.

Moodie who was just writing something saw him going up and up and her jaw dropped. So did a few customers from the Baratie as they pointed at him and soon, a huge commotion formed.

Unbothered by the attention, Luffy jumped high enough to feel strong winds blowing and opened up the wings. The strong gust instantly pushed him back knocking him off balance, so he quickly reacted and moved the glider above his head and positioned the wings horizontally to himself. He flailed in the air for a few seconds trying to gain balance, but something seemed to be wrong as he just couldn't. An idea popped up in his head and he closed the wings, stopped kicking in the air, faced downwards, and fell at a 45-degree angle. He opened up the wings again a second later and he laughed when he felt the winds catching him like a kite.

"IT WORKS! HAHAHAHA!" Luffy yelled as he glided in the air in a downward spiral. The flight was wonky, the controls didn't work correctly, and it didn't glide in the air for longer than ten seconds before he had to kick to go higher, and it couldn't glide upwards either, but it was still pretty good for the first test run. The fabric on one of the wings tore a couple of minutes into the flight and that ended the test run.

He landed back on the deck of the Merry and found that people from the Baratie had come out or stuck their heads out of the window to spectate him, including Zeff and Sanji. "Devil fruit user!" he yelled to all the spectators and most of them gasped.

He ignored their reactions as Usopp happily came up to him while studying the glider. "The wing broke huh? I'll use stronger fabric next time. Besides that, how was it?"

Luffy told him how it behaved in the air, giving a couple of ideas on how to improve it and Usopp ran with it. "Hmm yes, need to string the wings tighter. The wings move too much too huh? Guess that's bound to happen if it needs to be foldable. Is that necessary though?… Hmm, I'll build both versions and we'll see what happens…"

Luffy smiled as Usopp became lost in thought writing down notes and blueprints and knew his glider would soon evolve into something he would use a lot. Moodie came up to him after Usopp left with a questioning look on her face.

"That's not your devil fruit power though?"

"It's not. I don't want to explain to everyone, so just told them that."

"Oh okay. So, how exactly do you… jump?"

"Airwalk. And there's no secret. You just need to get strong enough that you can kick off air"

Moodie gawked at him and took a few minutes to process the reality that someone can become strong enough to just kick off the air to fly, before she came up to him again and said, "Take me flying!"

"Sure"

He scooped her up and after a few minutes of the most exhilarating moments in Moodie's life, they came back down. Moodie staggered, her face flushed and happy, when Luffy noticed Nami looking towards them with envy.

"You want to a ride too?" Luffy appeared in front of her and before she could answer, scooped her up in a princess carry and started jumping.

"Hey, I didn't say ye-" she began to protest, but seeing the quickly shrinking ships below her, she got lost in the view. He had only given Zoro a ride using airwalk before when they were on Clockwork Island, so this was her first time flying.

"Beautiful, right?" Luffy asked as he stayed at a certain altitude and she nodded with a huge smile, feeling the old and fast gusts of winds blowing in her face.

"Yeah… Mmm~ This feels so refreshing!"

"Good. You finally smiled," Luffy said and she flinched before slowly turning to look at him.

"What?" She asked putting on a confused face but was panicking on the inside. 'Did he notice?!'

"Your mood's been down…"

'Of course, he fucking noticed! Can't let him know! Can't let him know!' Quickly thinking of an excuse, she got a brilliant idea and scoffed. "Stop flirting, will you? You sleep with some random woman and then you flirt with me a few minutes later. Have some shame!"

'Making stuff up huh?' Luffy sighed internally. "She's more into you than into me, idiot"

Nami slowly tilted her head in confusion. "…what?"

"Hasn't she been winking at you and all?"

"Well, yeah…" 'I thought she was taunting me…'

"She's into women"

"Oh…oh…oh!…so you two…"

"Purely partners in crime who like to tease people"

"…oh…"

"If you read her book instead of being a prude, you could have easily inferred that"

"Don't call me a prude! Even if that's the case, how shameless can you be that you read such a book in front of everyone?!"

"Oh, so it's okay if I read it alone? Do you do that too?"

"Wha?!" Nami blushed, "I do no such thing!"

"Shishishi! How cute"

"Stupid! Idiot! Let me go now!"

"Okay"

"Ahh! Idiot! Don't drop me! Hold me tighter!"

"I'm getting mixed messages here…"

"You know what I meant!"

"I'm a stupid idiot though, so how would I know?"

"Ugh! Don't get smart with me!"

"Oh, now I'm smart?"

"Grrrr!" CHOMP!

"You just bit me!"

"My hands aren't free, so I got no choice… why are you so…chewy?"

"It's just how my body is…"

"That makes no sense… like everything else about you…"

"Thanks!"

"That wasn't a compliment!"

"Shishishishi"

They stayed in the air for quite a while, bickering with each other, and Nami loved every moment of it. Knowing she had to leave soon, she wanted to spend her last remaining days with him, but he had spent it with Moodie, which had annoyed her greatly. But now, she was finally getting a chance, and she savored every moment. Luffy catching on to her mood troubled her, though, so she decided to leave that night itself, afraid that he might figure out that she was in trouble if she stayed any longer.