A/N) Hey guys! For those of you who have read my Inuyasha fanfic 'Stay Away Kagome!', I just wanted to say that I hope you like this story just as much, if not more, than you did that one.
Chapter 1: Nervous
Luffy woke up with one fist clutching a damp pillow. It took him awhile to understand why it was wet. He finally remembered that he had been dreaming about the day that he had left is home town to become king of the pirates. He understood that he must have been crying in his sleep. Wouldn't of been the first time. He quickly got up and went to the bathroom to wash the tears off his face. He didn't want his faithful crew to think that there was something wrong with their usually 'cheery' captain. After looking in the mirror and giving himself a conclusion of 'good to go' he put on the grin that he used to hide his pain, and walked out of his room. He could hear Nami yelling at Usopp over something that he either did or lied about.
"MORNIN'!" yelled Luffy so that everybody would hear him.
"Good morning Luffy!" replied Usopp, desperatly trying to change the subject between him and Nami. lately he had been annoying Nami more than usual. He told them that he didn't mean to, but it was clear to Luffy that Usopp did it to get Nami to pay attention to him. Usopp had a crush on her. Luffy chuckled at this, it was so obvious. He was surpprised that Zoro didn't get it.
"Hey". short and to the point. That was Zoro. Now that he come to think of it, Zoro probably did get it and just didn't let on because he thought that Luffy wouldn't. Ironic, ne? Well he couldn't say anything, lest he blow the whole 'completely carefree and oblivious' act. If he did that then his crew would worry about him too much and wouldn't be any good in a fight. Besides, they had their own problems.
Nami just turned and waved at him with a quick smile before she went back to yelling at Usopp. After a minute or two, Sanji came through the kitchen doors with two or three trays of food. Luffy put a hand over his stomach and could feel it gurgling at the smell of Sanji's cooking. He had definitly picked the right person for a chef.
After breakfast, Luffy sat at the bow of the ship, staring out at the ocean with a blank look on his face. To the others it looked like he was just enjoying the view, but in reallity he was thinking about their next stop. Sanji was starting to complain that they were running out of food, not to mention that Usopp needed more tools, and Nami wouldn't shut up about getting more paper and pencils so that she could practice drawing maps. Despite all this, Luffy didn't want to stop. He had been noticing that the waters around them had started to look familiar and he was afraid that he knew why. It may sound funny, water looking familiar, but if you were a good captain, and Luffy is, then you can notice little things about certain parts of the ocean. Whether it was the coclor of the water or the placing and distance between rocks, there was always something there. If Luffy's hunch was right then to stop now would risk the trst that he had built with his crew and it would be painfull as hell for him and another that he knew. Then again, if they were running out of supplies then there was nothing that he could do and they would have to stop, no matter the consequences.
He got up from where he was sitting and, with the same blank look on his face, he went over to the kitchen. He barely was aware that the cook was standing in there. he walked right past him without so much as a nod. The cook was about to stop him, thinking that he was on another one of his little kitchen raids, when he saw the look on Luffy's face. The look was really the same one that he had on most of the time (without the smile), but there was something in his eyes. It wasn't threatning, rather it looked worried. He thought about it for awhile and finally decided to leave his 'oblivious' captain alone.
Luffy shifted through the shelfs and then went to the fridge, carefully taking stock af all the food that they had. It didn't look too bad, but it wasn't the best either. He put a hand on his hat and fowned. He would have to talk to Nami and see if they could make to the town after the upcoming one.
"Sanji, I want you to focus more on health and keeping the crew energized, then on taste and requests fo now, O.K.?" asked Luffy trying to act like this was an everyday question. Sanji just stared at him for a minute, his mouth hanging open so much that it was a miracle that his usual sucker hadn't already fallen on the floor and cracked. He couldn't believe it. His captian was actually thinking ahead! This was very unusual. Luffy just stared at him with that blank look. He knew that he was risking blowing his cover, but he had to think about his crews health. If they didn't have enough energy then they could get hurt in a fight and he didn't want them suffering from malnutrition.
"O-okay." Sanji finally stuttered out. Luffy smiled that big goofy smile at him and walked out. Once out on the deck he started to head over to Nami as she sat out trying once again to get a tan.
"Hey, Nami. Would you get out your maps and show me where we are?" He asked in a curious voice.
"But i already showed you where I keep them and how to read them!" sge replied in slight shock. She had just showed him yesterday! Surely even Luffy wasn't that dense!
"I know, but I forgot" he replied scratching his head through his straw hat. He had to give himself credit. He was a damn good actor.
"Which did you forget?"
"Both" he said smiling down at her.
"Aaahhhgg!" she cried out in frustration. Standing up, she started to lead him to where he knew he stash of maps were. She pulled one out and looked at it for a moment before pointing to a certain patch of blue on it.
"We're about here, okay?" she asked. Lufffy studied the map for a moment. Damn! the only town that they would make it to in time to stock up was the one place that he was trying to avoid. Oh well, it couldn't be helped. Sighing a little to loudly he nodded his head.
"Are you alright Luffy? You sound kind of depressed." Luffy silently cursed himself for being too obvious. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Sanji poking his head out of the kitchen area, Usopp had stopped nailing a banister that had been damaged in their last fight, and Zoro had looked up from trying to take his daily nap. They were all staring at him. No pressure, right?
"Yeah, Nami." he replied with his biggest, most oblivious grin plastered to his face. "I was just curious as to how far we had gotten since yesterday. I want to know how fast the Going Merry is!"
Nami sighed and everybody else went back to what they were doing, Sanji going back into the kitchen rather reluctantly. Luffy would have to tread carefully from now on.
Two Days Later
"Land ahead!" yelled Usopp from the crows nest. Sanji came out of the kitchen and Nami ran to the bow of the boat.
"Finally. I'll be able to get more supplies!" Nami said with a smile. Usopp was up in the crow nest, practically dancing with anticipation. It seemed that the only ones to notice Luffy's lack of inthusiasim were Zoro and Sanji (who had been keeping a close eye on Luffy ever since his little slip up in the kitchen). Luffy knew that they were staring at him, but he didn't care. They would all find out in eventually. He had known that from the start, he had just hoped that it didn't have to be so soon. However, whatever he had wished didn't matter. There was really no reason to keep up this little charade.
"Nami. Keep us on our current course. Sanji you had better start going through the kitchen to see what we need. Usopp, you should do the same with your tools." With this said Luffy turned around and started to head back to his cabin to ready himself for the onslaught of memories that was sure to come. He completely ignored the the lookd of surprise and mouths hanging open that had followed his orders.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zoro's POV
After awhile of stunned silence, the crew quickly went about following their orders. Except for Zoro. Since Luffy had not given him any, he sat down to contemplate their captains suddenly strange behavior. He had known Luffy the longest out of all of them. He had never once see their captain act so grim and... and captain like! He was always so carefree and happy! Now, he was acting rather... nervous. Then again, he had never seen anyone act like Luffy did most of the time. Perhaps the captain that he knew was not the real Luffy? No matter what he acted like or what he really was like, Zoro was sure that Luffy really did care about his crew. So maybe he acted like this for them? He wasn't quite sure, he would have to think about it more.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luffy's POV
Luffy was sitting on his bed, thinking about how his crew would react. He knew tht they had all been betrayed in their pasts. He was afraid tht they wouldn't want to travel with him now. They would think that he was just like the ones that had betrayed them in the past. He had really only done it because he hadn't wanted to burden the with his problems, but they didn't know that and if they indeed did want to leave his crew then there was nothing that he could to stopo them. It was their choice, always had been. He sighed and stood up as he felt the slight bump that signaled that the boat had stopped. This was it. It was going to one heck of a day.
A/N) More to come! Keep readin' and enjoy.