Title: Lying in the grass
Summary: How the captain spends his dawn. A deeper Luffy POV.
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.
Author's Note: This is my first fanfic. I'm not sure if this is OOC or not. I think that Luffy in most fanfics is shown too stereotypically as oblivious and childish (and an idiot). While he is goofy and far from a genius, at several points in the series he has shown that he has thought seriously about matters like the future and safety of the crew. What he said during his fight with Bruno from the CP9 is my favorite example of this.
-------
I slowly open my eyes. The familiar wooden ceiling is in my view. The familiar loud snoring in my eardrums, its mostly Sanji and Franky. Its funny how I never hear Zoro snore in the morning, but on deck he does it all the time! Its like he is faking his sleep right now! ...or wait, the other way around? Meh.
Hearing a few birds and seeing as the room isn't completely dark, I think its just a few hours until sunrise. Not that I know at what time seagulls go to sleep or wake up. Do they ever sleep at all? Wouldn't they fall into the ocean? I'm picturing a seagull falling asleep in flight and falling into the ocean ...shishishi!
I'm thinking about silly things again, I should stop this train of thought now before it turns out I'm really the idiot people make me out to be, its not true! Mmm.. lets get on deck and enjoy the breeze, and the sound of the waves.
Stepping out of my hammock, some planks start cracking like expected, damn. Usually I don't care but I don't want anyone waking up now. This is one of those rare days that I wake up before smelling lunch, and its on days like these that I want to feel one with the ocean with no one to distract me. Its like when I sit on the lion's head at daytime.. but its just that little bit more special when its without the happy sounds of my nakama in the background. The captain's little ritual.
...
"Aaaah.."
I step outside and the smell of sweat gets replaced with a light, salty scent. Good, the girls also still seem to be asleep or at least, they aren't on deck.
"Aa.. Luffy, its you...", Usopp half-yells sleepily from the crow's nest. I could hear him clearly, because the rest of the world was being quiet. "Usoppu!", I yell, not too loud, "You can go to sleep, pass me the log and I'll take over!".
"Ah.. thanks!", was the reply. He stammered the first part a bit, I guess its surprising for him that I got up this early and even made him that offer. He proceeded to climb down.
Actually, it wasn't to do him a favor. Right now I just feel like watching the ocean, without someone watching me. For that same reason I'm not taking my usual place on the lion's head. Naw, I'll climb up the stairs to the upper-back part of the ship.
...
"Oyasumi.." I hear Usopp say. Heh, its not so appriopate for this time of day as the sun is already starting to shine.
*bonk*- That was the sound of Usopp closing the door behind him. The deck is all mine now.
Sniiiiifff! 'Aah... the smell of the ocean', I hear myself saying that, although it is only in my thoughts. I start grinning at how piratey that was. Yep, I've been a real pirate for a while now, and the crew I have gathered is the perfect company! No, should I say friends, family? Nakama! When someone asks you to explain what a nakama is, its hard. But once you understand the meaning of the word, you no longer need any other words to describe it. Nakama.
A dark little feeling of worry infiltrated my head at that point. I don't want to lose any of them. But from now on, more than ever are there gonna be tough times. The world wants us caught. People as strong as that Aokiji will come after us...
As much as I believe and trust in my nakama, when it comes to 'big bosses', I think its only me, Zoro or Sanji that stand a real chance. But what if thats not enough? What would we do when we face someone like that again... someone you can never grab or hit! With Crocodile I was lucky to have found out his weak spot, but what if I can't always?
Argh! Why am I worrying about that right now, this little time alone is supposed to calm my mind. But I guess thats why the worries can reach me now, because my nakama aren't awake to distract me. Yeah, thats right. Only with them around I can feel at ease and believe, just like them, that I really am without worries.
Get a hold of yourself, Luffy. You can't show them that you're worried. If the captain isn't fearless, who will keep the crew together? Thats right, I'll worry about the future when its here. I sigh as I realise I'm using a mind-trick to calm myself, to hide from the worries. Even Robin would be surprised at how much I am aware of my thoughts and actions.
...
Grabbing the log pose from my pocket (I didn't feel like going through the trouble of putting it around my wrist), I quickly check it and see that we're still pretty much on course. By that I mean, I should turn the ship a little, but who cares if we take a few hours longer to arrive at the next island. Once Nami wakes up and takes the log from my hands, she'll fix the course again.
Of course she'll give me a few words in an annoyed tone, but I'm actually looking forward to that. I'll put on a childish voice and fakely apologise, making her snap- then hit me- and then sigh. I love it when she does that, maybe I'm a bit weird! Shishishi!
Maybe I like her. I'm pretty sure that most of my nakama would never suspect me to think about stuff like that, but I can't blame them for that. Anyway about Nami? I do admit that when we're in danger, I would be more protective of her than of anyone else, but still. I think I see her more as a best friend. But wait.. Usopp and Chopper are already my best friends, and they keep telling me you can't have multiple best friends (one time they tried to get an answer from me, who my really really best friend was, I couldn't choose).
Okay, let me correct myself. In that case.. Nami is my best _girl_ friend! Yes, best girl friend, not girlfriend! And since the law goes.. 'one does not date one's best friend's girlfriend...' or what was it again? Damn I'll have to ask Usopp. Either way I can't date a best girl friend, so I can't date Nami. So for now.. I'll just tease her, annoy her and push her to her limits, then let her give me those scoldings like a best girl friend does best.
...
*creak* A wooden door slowly opens. Who is it? At least its not Zoro, he opens doors in a louder way. I start walking towards the stairs and as I approach them, I slowly see more of the figure that just emerged. Its Nami. She's stretching her back, raising one fist highly into the air, placing her other palm into her side and arching her back a bit backwards. As her head tilts backwards, she stops and her eyes lock on me, peering over the edge.
"Ara, Luffy." She states blankly.
I guess I'm not alone on deck anymore. It was getting boring anyway. I grin widely.
"Yo! Ohayo, Nami!" I greet her, proving to her that unlike herself, I'm already wide awake.
A bit of air escapes her nose as she gives me a sweet grin. A moment of interaction that is actually so normal, that you could call it boring. But to me, it was the sign that soon, more people would emerge and we would begin another fun, relaxing day. Oh how I hope these days will never end, that we'll never reach the next island. Wait.. then the meat would run out... I guess I'm not that sharp after all.
...
A few seconds of silence, then..
"Huh Luffy? Didn't Usopp have watch duty?"
Oh, right. Wow, she is always so sharp. I guess it must be because she feels responsible for us.
"Uh, yeah. I woke up early so I took over for him," I reply.
"Then you did make sure we're on course right?". Nami wants to make sure.
I show my wide grin again. Its the start of a new day and she firsts wants to make sure we're on course, because I'm holding the log pose. Here comes my fun! Shishishi! Without warning I grab the log pose from my pocket and gently throw it to her. She fumbles a bit, being taken by surprise but in the end manages to catch it. Maybe I shouldn't have thrown it, its made of glass, after all.
"We're right on course, Nami!"
She took a second to examine the log pose, that was all she needed. As expected.
"Luffy... we're way off course!" she says loudly. Pfff, silly girl, it isn't that bad. Since its only an hour since Usopp went to sleep, this should be a 2 hour delay at most. But I kept my mouth.
"Its gonna take half a day to make up for it, you idiot!", she adds when my grin didn't disappear. She is just trying to make me feel guilty, shishishi!
"Gomeeeen, Nami!" I added fuel to the fire.
She sighs. What, already given up? Without hitting me? Oh thats right, I'm still on the top of the stairs and she is on the main deck, looking upwards to me. Guess its my lucky day, too bad.
"Its fine, I'll talk to Usopp about this. He should learn to keep his responsibilities", she replied in a neutral tone. Neutral Tone Nami is the scariest. I felt sorry for Usopp and actually felt guilty that I was too lazy to adjust the course of the ship, even though I knew we were tracking off.
...
"By the way, Luffy", she asks after she made me turn the ship onto course again, "what we're you doing up so early?"
We were sitting on the little grass patch on the main deck of the Sunny.
"Oh, thinking about stuff." I answered. Right then I decided to lie on my back and stare up at the sky. Maybe that was me trying to illustrate the act of thinking.
"Stuff like?" She was starting to become interested, even turning her head to face my new position.
"Like how cool it is that we've already made it this far on the Grand Line, and how I'm happy with everyone on this ship!"
"Sou ka" she said happily with a grin. It made her happy. Maybe I should tell her more about what I thought about, if it makes her just as happy.
"And I was thinking about how you are my best girl friend!" I said with my biggest grin. I expected her to smile, just like when I finished the previous sentence...
"GIRLFRIEND?! WHO THE HELL, DON'T DECIDE THAT BY YOURSELF!" *BAM*
"OOOWWWWWWW!!"
"Baka, hmpf." She folded her arms and turned away from me.
"Not girlfriend! Best girl *pause* friend!" I frantically tried to explain, before she could hit me again.
"Best girl .. friend? Luffy, you idiot! Saying it like that is just like asking to be misunderstood!"
...
She's saying that just so she won't have to apologize, I'm pretty sure about that. After all, thats how Zoro and Usopp told me women are. But that fiery side of Nami makes her fun to be with. And the day hasn't even started yet!
Yep, I guess sitting here with her this morning beats being by myself. She watches my grin with a confused look, but after a few seconds, she joins in without needing a reason to. I need to ask Usopp if there aren't any exceptions to that law.
-------
Author's Note: Not sure if this will get more chapters, this is all experimental for me. I am sure though that if there are more chapters, they will all have this kind of theme. Idle moments between crew members, but mostly Luffy and Nami.