Title: My Hungry Heart
Author: Alinasan aka Kaori-chan2
Pairing: Monkey D. Luffy & Nefeltari Vivi
Fandom: One Piece
Theme: #01 - look over here
Rating: PG13, I guess. Might go up later on. cough
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the fabulous, perfect, godlike characters that will make an appearance in this story as I am most definitely not Eiichiro Oda.

Notes: Okay, I really overdid it with this. 18 pages in Word for just one single chapter. Makes me wonder what the rest will turn out like... Well, I hope someone will fight his way through this anyway. And please forgive me for any grammar mistakes, I'm german. :3
The story takes place in the one week between Drum and Alabasta.

-- --

My Hungry Heart

ONE: Lost

-- --

"Oh, just great. First Little Garden, and now this."

Vivi sighed in irritation as she peered up at the high crowns of the giant rainforest trees that seemed much more distant than they really were in the thick, humid and frantically hot air of the boondocks. While she squeezed and squinted her eyes a little and held her hand out to avoid the sun shining through the trees to dazzle her all the more, she begun to fan cold air to her face with her other hand, hoping that she wouldn't sweat even more – her shirt was already soaked anyway.

"So we're really lost now?" asked the raven-haired captain from somewhere behind her in a hoarse gasp, also fanning air to himself with his straw hat. He was sitting cross-legged on a giant green root sprouting out from beneath the slick ground.

Vivi glanced over her shoulder, an apologetic frown on her face. "Seems so, Luffy-san. I'm sorry."

"Oh, jeez! See, that's why you should've left the lead to me instead!" grumbled Luffy, glaring angrily at her. "I knew exactly which way we were supposed to head for."

"No offence, but your sense of orientation is about as useless as Mr. Bushido's," Vivi shot back, narrowing her eyes a little. When Luffy crossed his arms and wordlessly sulked at this, she sighed and fully turned around to him. "Look, I really am sorry, okay? It's just that you easily lose track of your path in these kind," she wildly gesticulated with her finger about, "of surroundings. Each and every corner looks the same, not that there are any corners around to begin with."

Luffy, still sulky, waved it off. "Yeah, yeah, I get it." He wiped the sweat off his forehead and placed the straw hat back on his unruly black hair. "It's just that I don't like being stuck in places boring to death with no idea how to get out of here."

"Well, do you think I enjoy being lost? Who likes the idea of having no clue about the own whereabouts, anyway?" said Vivi in slight annoyance as she moved closer to the root where Luffy was sitting on. "I suggest we better find a way back to the ship. And fast. I really don't wanna still be stuck here when it gets dark … " She even shuddered at the mere thought of what beastly creatures were wandering around in these woods, lusting for prey.

"Yeah, sounds good to me," Luffy agreed as he hopped off the root. "I don't like this adventure at all. It's too hot, I can barely breath, and on top of all I'm hungry." He held up an empty box, looking on the brink of tears. "Pirate Lunch Box is already gone, too."

Vivi couldn't help but give a small giggle. "Then, we'll better find our way back as fast as possible," she said, turning around. From the corners of her eyes she saw Luffy stepping to her side, but instead of looking at him, she kept staring ahead where the small clearance was encircled by trees, bushes and lianas. Thoughtfully, she cocked her head and pointed ahead. "We came from over there, right? So it'd be better if we--"

"Nah, we came from there," Luffy interrupted determinedly, pointing to the right.

Vivi turned to the direction he pointed to in puzzlement. "Really?" She blinked, and doubtfully turned to the left. "Wasn't it rather … that direction?"

Luffy opened his mouth to answer her back confidently, but just one moment after he snapped his jaw back shut as his expression also formed to one of doubt. "Uh," he launched out, wavering. Then, he turned around and stemmed his hands in his sides, pointing with a nod of his head in the last remaining point of the compass. "Maybe we came from over there."

"So theoretically, we could've come from anywhere," sighed Vivi, desperately bringing up a hand to touch her forehead. "What a bummer. Just why didn't I memorize our way?"

Luffy turned around again and also gave a small sigh. A glance down to the princess to his left instantly told him that she could do with a little encouragement, "Well, I didn't memorize it either, so don't feel too bad." Vivi gave him an almost absurdly disbelieving look, making Luffy arch a brow in offense. "Oi! Don't give me that look!" he snorted. "I could have memorized it if I wanted."

"Yeah, right," the bluette nodded wryly, rolling her eyes. Just when Luffy attempted an angry retort, she cut off any kind of argument by continueing with a sigh, "Well, we're going to just have to try it on a wing and prayer then." She haphazardly pointed in a random direction. "We'll go that way!"

Luffy narrowed his eyes when Vivi set forth without waiting for an answer or even agreement at that. He barged after her, fairly annoyed. "Oi!" he yelled. "Why are you deciding where we're heading?"

"Well, that's because I'm the leader," said Vivi.

"Who said that you were the leader!? I'm the captain, I should decide!"

"You're not my captain, besides I'm more experienced than you!"

"That's not true!" Luffy glared imaginary daggers into her back. "I'm still the older one here!"

Vivi didn't prize him with even one look. "Physically maybe, but mentally I'm the one who's one year older," she said with gravely superiority.

He blinked in confusion. "Huh?"

"Oh gee," groaned the princess in irritation, rolling her eyes once more. "Women are two years ahead of men of the same age, okay?" Thereupon, Luffy only hissed a "Keh" at her, wheron she sighed and turned around with a frown. Her twirl was so sudden that Luffy couldn't brake in time, thus bumping straight into her. Shortly before an involuntary kiss could happen, Vivi took a big step back. "Why are we arguing that much, anyway? That's not like us at all, Luffy-san."

Luffy was a little taken by surprise at first, but quickly scratched the back of his head in embarrassement. "I dunno," he sighed. "It's just bugging me that I'm so damn hungry."

"And it's bugging me that we lost our way," said Vivi. The weird thing about it really was that none of them was named Roronoa Zoro.

"Besides, it's ridiculously hot," complained the captain and let his straw hat slide down from his hair, letting it dangle from his neck. He pointed to the bead of sweat that ran down his cheek. "It's like I'm melting."

"Same here," sighed Vivi, plucking at her soaking wet top, which once had been white. "Alright, so we both have good reasons to be annoyed, but we shouldn't take that out on each other." She smiled a little bashfully up to him. "I'm sorry for jumping all over you, Luffy-san. You're the captain, so you should take the lead."

Luffy blinked in puzzlement at first, but then grinned and waved it off. "Nah, it's okay, I wasn't all that nice to you either after all," he admitted. "And about the lead... maybe it's better if you do that." He looked away, knowing very well that he'd probably only lead them further into the jungle.

Vivi giggled into her hand. "Okay, if you say so," she grinned and turned around.

After they bestirred again and wordlessly sauntered next to each other for a few minutes, Luffy opened his mouth again, "You think the others are already looking for us?"

The princess barely visibly shook her head. "No, rather not," she said. "They're probably not even back themselves. After all, it's only been an hour or so since we left the Going Merry, I guess." She glanced at the sky as if she could actually read the time of day in the way the clouds were moving.

But unfortunately, the anticipated discovery of a fresh water lake failed to appear in the course of said past hour, even though that actually was the only reason they had dared to set a foot into the dark jungle in the first place. Since the pantry of the Going Merry was emptier than Crocodile's promises when it came to food and beverage, they had decided to land at the small, jungle-overgrown and apparently uninhabited island, although it was even too small for a magnetic field and thus was neither to be found on one of Nami's maps, nor was the Log Pose able to sense it. After they had drawn lots and Usopp kindly (and in a funk) agreed to guard the ship, they had set out into the thicket. Nami and Zoro, so that the swordsman wouldn't get lost and to help Nami carry her equipment, since she was eager to note the island down (Though, officially their job was to look for human life). Sanji and Chopper, to procure comestibles and search for new herbs along the way (The two of them were a great team, primarily because Chopper could tell the cook after just sniffing at the herbs one single time if they were edible or poisonous).

Which left only Luffy and Vivi to restock their store of water.

At first, it had been really fun: They were joking around, generally treated the whole thing like nothing but a new adventure, pretended to be some geezer pirates on treasure hunt, after that Luffy had given her crash course about beetles and before they knew, they had lost track of their actual job and above all the right way. Thinking back, Vivi should have coated their way with breadcrumbs like in Hansel and Gretel, but just like the birds in that fairy tale had eaten the crumbs, very different creatures would fulfill that role with pleasure in this wood, which would lead to the worst case scenario: The beasts tracing them. Vivi really wasn't in the mood to get eaten, primarily since she still had way too much to take care of. Saving Alabasta, for example.

"So when do you think they'll notice that we're missing?" the captain eventually continued, almost a little insecure.

"Well, as soon as they're back, I guess," answered Vivi and then offered him a soothing smile. "No worries, Luffy-san. You're the captain. They wouldn't possibly cast off without the most important person on board, now would they?"

Luffy laughed somewhat nervously. "I didn't really mean it like that," he said, scratching his cheek. "I know that they'd never leave us behind. They're our nakama and I trust them completely." He grinned blithely at the princess. "Zoro's instantly gonna notice that we're lost, anyway. He knows about that stuff best out of all of us after all."

Vivi giggled. "You have a point there," she grinned back. Poor Mr. Bushido. Actually, he was lucky to be with Nami-san, but then again, the navigator had her own cruel measures to make the swordsman's life worse.

After another few silent minutes of just walking, Vivi noticed that it had suddenly gotten way hotter than before. Or was that just her? She brushed back her soaking wet, sky-blue bangs that were sticking to her forehead like bubblegum, and glanced at the sky in exhaustion. When she saw that the sun was shining in the vertex directly above them, she gave a desperate groan. Not only did that mean that it was late afternoon, which would mean that it would be dark in no time, it was also why she was sweating more and more.

As if Luffy just read her mind, he panted a spiritless, "Is it just me or did it suddenly get even hotter?"

Vivi, who was still staring crestfallen at the sky, shrugged her delicate shoulder at a loss. "It's really hotter than before," she murmured. "That's because the sun is closer now." Luffy groaned in exasperation, fabric rustled. Vivi turned around to him, knitting her brows. "It's gonna get dark soon, so – eh?"

With wide eyes and completely bewildered, the princess watched Luffy taking off his turquoise shirt and eventually placing it around his shoulders. He made a relieved noise and Vivi's jaw dropped down at the vision of his distinct abdominal muscles, moist with sweat. She didn't even notice how more and more blood rushed to her cheeks, her face getting even hotter than before (And it wasn't because of the sun this time).

Luffy, who noticed her stare, arched an eyebrow at her. "Vivi? What's with you?"

That was when the princess startled and snapped out of it. "W – why did you undress!?" she cried more shrill than intended and cleared her throat therupon.

"Well, 'cause I'm hot," the captain replied as if it was general knowledge, giving her a perplexed look.

Oh God, damn right you are, Vivi thought unconsciously, still gaping at his upper body. Then she quickly shook her head and hastily turned away. Just where in heaven's name did THAT come from!? Completely deranged, she began fanning air to herself with both hands, breathing in and out slowly before she murmured almost inaudibly, "Gods, it feels like I'm burning."

"Well, if you're so hot," Luffy said with a naively innocent grin on his face, making Vivi's face flush even more, "you should also take off your shirt."

Just when the blood pressure of the princess had calmed down a little, it raced with lightning speed to the peak again as she whirled around in horror to gape at Luffy with wide eyes and crimson colored cheeks. "W … w – wha!?" Out of reflex, she crossed her arms over her breasts, the captain only arched an eyebrow at her actions. "Luffy-san! You … you pervert!"

Luffy blinked completely dumbfounded at her at first, before he yelled an offended, "What!? Why're you calling me a pervert all of a sudden?"

"So that was your plan all along. But I'll have to disappoint you," Vivi snorted indignantly, without even dwelling on his question. "Unfortunately for you, I'm wearing a bra!"

Now was the moment where the captain lost her completely, but nevertheless a small blush crossed his cheeks. "Eh!?"

She turned away from him, a very high-pitched "Tch" emerging from her before she hissed, "So there'd be no point in taking off my shirt!"

"Wha … " Luffy started haggardly, but then paused when he eventually took in what she was refering to. He blinked at her back in puzzlement. "You're not seriously thinking that I just wanted to see your boobs all along, are you!?"

Though Vivi was slowly starting to feel stupid because of her claim, she wasn't going to let him put her off from her conviction and thus snorted once more. "You're just a guy after all," she downright spat. Terracotta had told her enough about guys for her to know that they would use any chance to get a glimpse of a girl's chest. "Why don't you just admit your, your," she paused for a more dramatic effect and to think up a fitting description, "primitive sex drive!"

The captain narrowed his eyes to an angry glare. "Now pipe down just a second, will you!" he yelled back. "Firstly, I only took off my shirt because I was hot. Secondly, I only suggested that you take your shirt off because you were hot. And thirdly," he took a deep breath and as soon as he started to tell her the following, he realized that he was just saying it because he was so damn mad and that it, much to his wonder, wasn't the truth in the least, "I'm not interested in seeing you naked at all!"

"You're … not?" Vivi blinked at him in surprise and Luffy shook his head while he stubbornly glared back at her. And before she knew what she was saying, she burst out with her current, basically completely absurd, thought right off the bat, "Why not?"

That caught Luffy off guard and his features relaxed to a perplexed frown. "Why not?" he repeated in utter bewilderment. And when he saw Vivi flushing crimson in sudden bursts, visibly shocked about herself, a teasing grin crept to his lips. "Really now, princess. Who's the real vert here?"

Vivi, who had found back her way to reality because of that, gave him a look that would have been worthy of a sphinx. "That's PERvert, you moron," she snapped gruffier than intended and not princess-like at all, turned on her heels and bestirred with her head held high.

"That's PERRRvert," Luffy mocked her almost inaudibly with a feigned female voice, trotting after her. Then he yelled louder, so that she heard him, "Just for the record: I knew that, okay!?"

-- --

"Naaami-swan!"

The navigator fought an exhausted smile to her lips, she really wasn't able to get out any more after that marathon march around the whole island. Even less could she understand how Sanji – that guy was wearing long jeans in this heat? He must be nuts – could dance over the relatively far away Going Merry so overjoyed and bright as a button. She could see him spinning circles around his own axis, performing a very ridiculous 'Dance of Love', reciting an absurdly cheesy love poem that made no sense at all, at which his voice got continuously higher and squeakier and cornier. Zoro already threateningly gritted his teeth next to her.

"My white dove of love! My frosted crepes suzette!" he called over to her enthusiatically, puffing small hearts of smoke out of his mouth and nose. "Oh, you most beautiful woman on the face of earth who even makes Aphrodite pale! How I missed you!"

She would never admit it, but she almost found it utterly exciting to listen to Sanji come up with the absolutely most stupid pet names in the mere course of a split second. Though, she thought, she should also take the possibility into consideration that late at night he could be sitting in his hammock, writing them all out of some book he had dug up in some pathetic book store on a random island. The Great Book of Pet Names or something. Or How to Scare Away a Woman Very Creatively.

"Oi, Marimo!" growled Sanji when they were closer to the ship. Not only did his voice suddenly become more throaty and much deeper, his general personality had took such an enormous turn that no one but those who knew the cook very well would ever bargain for him to have ever been nice to anyone at all. "If you've harmed my Nami-san somehow while she was lovely enough to condescend to mime your babysitter, I'm gonna slaughter you!"

Zoro, who was fully packed with Nami's whole equipment (She was only carrying a Log Pose around her wrist), glared stonecold death glares at the blond cook. "You're the one I'm gonna harm when I come up there, ero-cook," he hissed in irritation.

Nami suddenly grinned darkly. "Babysitter?" she pondered aloud, her eyes flashing up mischievously. "A babysitter costs--"

"Don't even think it, Nami!" the swordsman snapped and instantly dropped her equipment carelessly into the sand when they reached the ship. "At first, you threatened me with an increase of my debts 'cause I didn't want to come with you and now you want me to stump up for coming along!? Seriously, how tainted can one single wench be?"

"What did you say, Zoro? You really want me to raise your interest that much?" said the navigator with a saccharine smile. "All right then, your wish shall be granted … "

Zoro's jaw dropped down in puzzlement, but he confined himself in merely hissing a quiet "Bitch" under his breath.

"How dare you taint the name of my angelic nightingale with such a shameless insult, you shitty muscle-brain!" roared Sanji therupon furiously from the ship. "One more word and I'll simmer you in red wine for dinner!"

Dying in an alcohol bath? Not the worst way to kick the bucket, if you ask me, thought one of Zoro's hemispheres, however the other one merely condescended in giving the cook a bored stare while his little finger obviously thought it was more exciting to pick in one of his ears. "Wow, demoness," he nonchalantly said to Nami. "Your little doggy is such a noisy brute. Can he even do anything else than constantly bark at innocent swordsmen? Like retrieve? Or give paw?"

"EAT SHIT, YOU SHITTY SHIT OF A--"

"Silence, you idiots!" Nami's dominant voice thunderously put an abrupt end to the pointless argument. "Jeez, you give me such a migraine. Can't you two just once act like the grown-up, decent men that you are and not like savage baboons that--"

"Don't give me that crap!" Zoro interrupted gruffly and utterly angry. "Tell that to Princess Goldilocks up there!"

"I really don't need to hear that from the guy who can't even find the toilet in the morning!"

Just when the swordsman opened his mouth to launch out a loud retort that would have bristled with the most obscene insults, a fragile hand landed that roughly on his mouth that a painful smack emerged – even Sanji flinched in sympathy up on deck. "Don't you dare to reply anything at this, Roronoa Zoro!" Nami roared so dangerously that probably even Davy Jones in person would have paled while facing her. "Or else I'm gonna raise your interest so much that even the children of the grandchildren of your grandchildren will pay my descendants for your stupidity!"

Zoro pulled her hand from his mouth in annoyance, hissing an almost sheepish, "Why only me, anyway? Why don't you ever give the stupid cook a mountain of debt to pay off?"

Nami blinked at the swordsman in puzzlement, her look visibly displaying that she was wondering if he had lived on the moon's surface for the past years. Then she gave an exasperated groan and started to fan air to herself in a very seductive way. "Saaanji-kun," she breathed with a much too sweet voice. "It's so almighty hot out here. Would you be so kind and make me one of your heavenly tangerine cocktails?"

The cook's eyes instantly shaped up as hearts. "Give me just a second, oh you most tender buttercup on the endless meadow of my undying feelings!"

When the ship's cook lovedrunkenly pranced away, Nami gave the swordsman a triumphantly smile. "That's why," she said.

So that moron had been working his debts off all along without noticing anything? Zoro blinked in puzzlement at first, but then something occured to him. "Wait a sec," he growled. "I just carried your whole – and damn heavy – equipment around the whole freakin' island and I still have to pay!"

Nami giggled quietly as she grabbed for the rope ladder and begun to climb up to the deck. "That was merely a friendly turn," the navigator said calmly. "Besides, you're plenty dense enough to manage to pile up even more debts all the time." Zoro hissed some mean sounding insult below her to himself, wheron she topped her own evilness when she was on the ship, "Oh, and don't forget to clean my equipment after you've dropped it so carelessly, or else I'll double the money!" She blew the swordsman, who looked like he was about to explode with fury, a cheeky kiss and offered him one last perky grin before she turned away.

" … damn that dirty demoness … true virago … even the devil is nicer … "

While Zoro was still ranting a little below, Nami almost bumped into Usopp, who was carrying a box that was obscuring his entire view, on her way to the galley. The navigator was barely able to duck away before the box and her head would have directly collided and instantly felt one of her less destructive waves of fury wash up in her stomach, since Usopp apparently didn't even notice it. "Usopp!" she yelled sharply and pulled the marksman back by the collar of his shirt as he intended to trot further. "Are you aware that you almost slayed me with your stupid box!?"

Usopp peeked up from beneath the edge of the box, an apologetic grin on his face. "Oops," he laughed. "Sorry, Nami. Didn't see you there."

"Well, obviously," sighed Nami, waving it off exasperatedly. "Whatever then, is Luffy already back? I need to talk to him about something concering our course."

"Nope," answered the marksman shortly, shrugging his shoulders.

The navigator furrowed her brows. "Nope?" she echoed in wonder. "I thought Zoro and I were way too late. Look over there, the sun is already going down." With a nod of her head, she pointed to the horizon where the sun had already halfways disappeared in the ocean, covering the sky in a soft orange-red. Usopp shrugged his shoulders rather impassively once again, wheron Nami arched an eyebrow. "Don't just cluelessly shrug your shoulders, rather worry a little! Do you even have the faintest idea how dangerous a jungle like that can be when it's dark!?"

Usopp turned pale at the mere thought. "Of course I know that," he said, nodding hastily. "That's why I stayed with Merry."

"And that moronic captain of ours even has Vivi with him at that! What if he loses her?" Nami yelled in a trace of panic without dwelling on him. She simply overheard Usopp murmur something like "Oi, oi, she's not an object" and continued obliviously, "We have a huge responsibility toward her! If something happens to Vivi, I'll never get my billion … uh, Alabasta will go down!"

"You're only thinking about the cash!" Usopp snapped dumbfounded.

"Oi, you think those two lost their way?" asked a nonchalant voice behind them.

Usopp and Nami turned pale as ashes in an instant as they turned to stare at Sanji as if he just proclaimed the destruction of earth. Nami gave a befuddled laugh. "Don't be silly," she said, but the doubtful tone within her voice couldn't be overheard. "Vivi'd never lose her way. She's not Zoro after all."

"That's right," Usopp nodded in agreement, laughing just as nervous. "They'll be back any minute now."

Sanji's expression displayed concern as he puffed on his cigarette. "I hope you're right," he said, glancing at the jungle. "But I'm still worried."

Nami nodded, also looking over at the high crowns of the giant rainforest trees. "Me too."

Usopp sighed and tried to scare away the image of Luffy and Vivi getting eaten by some monster. "Yeah."

"My poor Vivi-chan … "

"Vivi … " And my billion …

Usopp couldn't believe them. "Don't you two care about Luffy at all!?"

-- --

Luffy was staring wordlessly at Vivi's back for about half an hour now, that much he was sure of. Well, staring was maybe put a little too soft-gloved, judging by the sullen scowl on his face. It wasn't that he was mad at her, but rather that obviously she was mad at him. He knew this little ignoring-game from Nami, it wasn't rare that the navigator just simply stopped talking to him for the rest of the day when he was robbing her of her last nerve once again, but he didn't mind that as much as he did now with Vivi. The fact that she just stopped talking to him made him, in this very moment, mad himself for some reason.

He didn't know himself why exactly it did. Maybe because he was very well aware that the whole ignoring thing was just some kind of punishment of her and that she was definitely already growing all fidgety because of the silence herself right now. Luffy had already realized shortly after their first meeting – in Little Garden probably – that Vivi and himself were exactly the same kind of person: The kind of person who needed action and adventure without cease, loved to laugh and felt uneasy when everything was quiet. He could practically see before his inner eye how her face tensed up more and more and how she desperately tried to pull herself together to not go and break the silence.

But since both were exactly the same kind of person, that meant that both also were equally stubborn, thus putting them into a verbal deadend. None of them would make the first move. Which was another thing that was upsetting Luffy so much. So much that he already opened his mouth to say something, but just one split second after that, he realized that he just made an attempt to cave in and quickly closed his mouth again.

He turned his head away and gave a defiant snort.

Stupid Vivi.

What was that girl thinking to keep him in suspense like that? He didn't even do anything wrong. She was the one with the bad mood here after all! She was the one who just had to go and misunderstand everything! She was the one being so … so … so dumb!

His expression became a tad more defiant, his eyes a little more narrow and his lips pursed to a pigheaded pout. What was all this about, anyway? Why was she being so mean? It wasn't his fault that she didn't get to have a mouthful of his Pirate Lunch Box earlier (Granted, it wasn't like he asked or anything). And it was most definitely not his fault that it was so hot either. He was being too hot himself after all! Plus, he was hungry. Awfully hungry. It felt like his stomach was crumbling to ashes and a tiny chubby charwoman was sweeping all of it to a pathetic bunch inside of him.

Like on cue, his belly emerged an almost painful growl. Downright tormented by it, he brought up a hand to touch his tummy, wherby his sullen expression almost faltered a bit. But quickly, it grew only more angry because of it. He shot the blue-haired princess in front of him a fulgurous glare into the back and decided to make it her fault.

She wasn't talking to him after all!

Stupid Vivi.

Since the whole thing was driving him almost insane for some reason, he bent down to the ground with a knee-jerk reaction while walking, snatched up a small pebble and threw it at the head of the root of his current misery.

The princess in front of him flinched slightly. Luffy gave a malicious grin when he heard her drawing breath, ready to bombard him with insults or to give him a piece of her mind or both. But then she merely balled her hands to fists and just kept on walking wordlessly without paying any attention to him and the pebble that just hit her head.

His jaw dropped down, supremely offended.

That … that stupid Vivi!

He snorted almost inaudibly, bent down onced more and picked up another pebble, a bigger one this time. He held the stone in front of his face with his arm stretched out, squeezed one eye shut to target and eventually flipped it gently at her head – however, it was only gently for one of his enemies, since they were used to much heavier measurements.

Luffy was shocked when Vivi not even flinched anymore. Which was only maddening him even more, since he could practically see her bite her lower lip in surpressed anger. She couldn't possibly play that game forever. Eventually, her tether just had to come to an end!

He opened his mouth to throw that at her, but fortunately, he was able to keep himself from really doing it just in time. He would most definitely not give in! He wasn't going to make the first move. After all, it was him who was being the victim here while she was being the dumbass! Or whatever a mean girl was called! In any case, she was dumb. So dumb that he was growing more and more angry by the second, his pout more and more defiant and his glare more and more visible. He cursed something unintelligible through his teeth, bent down without taking his stare off of her and picked up a whole hand full of pebbles to throw them carelessly at her.

Now, let's see how you like THAT!

Though not all of them hit her head, the desired impact still didn't fail to appear: Vivi came to a halt with her shoulders trembling, her hands balled to fists so hard that the white of her knuckles was visible and whirled around to him furiously. "Are you insane!?" she finally yelled.

At first, Luffy was startled a little by her sudden reaction – and also a little about the way his heart skipped a beat in relief when he finally heard her voice again – but then he calmly dug his hands into his pants and turned his head away, whistling innocently through his teeth. "I didn't throw pebbles at you at all," he instantly lied realtively (relatively?) bad, even though she didn't ask.

Very angry, stemmed her hands in her sides and was standing in front him with a few threatening steps. "Don't lie to me! Which by the way you're not even very good at anyways!" She narrowed her eyes, glaring up at him. "You did throw pebbles at me, you lunatic! And that hurt!"

Upon hearing that, he turned his head to her again, angryly glaring back. "It's your own fault, you moron!" he yelled at her. "You were ignoring me after all!"

"And for a good reason!" Vivi yelled back, her cheeks already flushed with rage. Luffy stared at her in expectation, wheron the princess replied almost snottily, "I don't talk to perverts."

"I'm not a pervert, damn it!" snapped the captain, indignantly. "I told you I don't wanna see you and your boobs naked at all! Jeez!" Outraged, Vivi turned her head aside, the blush on her cheeks however was highly visible. At that, Luffy suddenly saw daylight and the scales fell from his eyes. "Wait a sec … " He almost had to surpress a laugh. "Don't tell me you're mad because I didn't want to see you naked!"

Completely disgusted now, Vivi stared wordlessly at the pirate with wide eyes and a shocked open mouth for a while. But then reality snatched her back from her realm of horror and blood rushed in her cheeks until she looked like an overripe tomato. "You … you're crazy!" she stammered, enraged. "I don't even want you to want to see me naked!"

"Oh yeah? And I don't want you to want me to want to see you naked!" Luffy shot back, crossing his arms over his chest triumphantly.

Vivi frowned in confusion. "Whatever, you idiot!" she hissed and turned on her heels. "Now move, it's already gotten dark!"

Mumbling something unintelligible to himself, the captain followed her and for a while the anger in Vivi's world of thoughts just kept on dominating, but suddenly she paused appalled, jerked to a halt, which served to make Luffy bump straight into her for the second time that day, and horrifiedly brought a hand up to her mouth when she realized what she had just voiced unconsciously.

It had already gotten dark!

Vivi's eyes widened in alarm and... fear. Dark. Darkness. Darkness in a jungle. Pitch-darky darkness. Hold on, pitch-darky wasn't a word. But it was too gloomy, too dark, too scary to think straight. At night in a jungle, all kinds of bloodthristy monsters could be wandering about, which itself wasn't really a thing to be too worried about (Luffy was as strong as a bear and Vivi wasn't a weakling either), but at night, those beast could theoretically come right out of nowhere, without them even seeing it coming! This was the beast's territory and at night humans were easy prey!

Besides, she had intended to be longest back to the ship by this kind of hour. And now … now it was almost looking as if she … together with Luffy-san … had to look for a place to spend the night!?

No! No, no, no!

"What's the matter, Vivi?" asked Luffy from behind her in a mist.

Vivi swallowed her ridiculous fear down. "N-nothing," she answered and gave a nervous giggle. "Nothing at all, Luffy-san."

Luffy arched an eyebrow. "And that's why you're trembling all over?"

The eyes of the princess widened appalled, hugging herself and glancing aside. "I-I'm not trembling!" she shrieked in embarrassement. "You're just imagining things!"

Luffy smirked slightly and glanced up at stars on the pitch-black sky. "The jungle's dangerous at night, isn't it?" he said with a smile. That's why she's so afraid, he thought to himself and continued, "Then we'd better find a shelter until tomorrow morning. To keep trying to get back at night doesn't make much sense anyway."

Vivi blinked at him in surprise. Did Luffy just have a very rare mature moment? For some reason, she felt the heat rush in her cheeks at the sight of his more grown-up side. "Y-yeah," she stuttered in agreement, smiling faintly. "That would be--"

But before she could finsih, she was interrupted by an earpiercing growl. It sounded like a monster lion or a bear from hell or Kerberos in person, and it roused a relatively small swarm of tropical birds to flutter out into the night somewhere not too far away from them. Almost one second after that, a loud shriek resounded and shortly after that the disgusting sound of smacking, indicating that something just got eaten by the monstrum.

Before Vivi knew what she was doing, she jumped with a knee-jerk "Kyaaa!" straight into Luffy's arms, buried her totally freaked out expression into the shirt he had put back on in the meantime and clutched at his waist for dear life, not giving a damn about what he was thinking and most definitely not giving herself the time to start thinking herself.

Luffy was almost taken off his feet by her effusive embrace and, most importantly, completely taken aback. He blinked down at her sky-blue head of hair and her squeezed eyes and lips in puzzlement, surprised to find himself blush at the vision of her being so afraid. Right now, she looked so … so …

C-cute, Luffy thought in amazement.

He cleared his throat into his hand in embarrassement, trying to get back into control over his blood pressure. He always forgot that there were actually girls on the planet who were indeed acting like girls. When there was only Nami around you night and day, you tend to forget that little fact, being used to that woman's gruff behavior and all. But Vivi … Vivi was thoroughly a real, a true, a very feminine girl. Somehow, that was … that was …

"V-Vivi?" he stuttered almost a little awkwardly and when she made a sheepish, very intimidated (but either way absolutely adorable girlish) "Hm?", he was almost tempted to simply cuddle her to the point where she couldn't breathe anymore – there wasn't such a cute girl in his arms that often after all. "You're … hugging me," he pointed out matter-of-factly, but only took in his own words and their meaning a blink of an eye after. He almost regretted saying it, seeing that she definitely would be letting go of him now and to his absolute bewilderment … he didn't like that idea even one bit.

Vivi, who finally became aware of herself clutching at the captain as if he was the only lifesaver in a forlorn storm, jerkily startled with widened eyes. When she realized that everything around her was longest quiet as church mice again (leaving out the already familiar jungle-noises) yet she was still hugging him, she flushed madly and knee-jerkly pushed him with both hands and all her strength so roughly away from her that he started tumbling a little and definitely would have fallen – being so surprised and all – if it wouldn't have been for the close tree behind him. Leaning against the tree with wide eyes, he stared at the blushing Vivi in wonder, while she was grasping her own hands, looking like she just touch a very poisonous plant.

"Oi!" growled Luffy after he got over the sudden shock. "What was that all about?"

"I-I'm sorry," murmured Vivi with crimson red cheeks, still shocked over her own behavior. "I-I'm sorry for hugging you just like that, Luffy-san. I … I don't know why I … "

Luffy's face relaxed to a bashful frown. "It's okay," he said considerably clamer than intended. He glanced aside, a barely visible blush covering his cheeks. "It's not that I minded or anything … "

Vivi's head rocketed upwards in puzzlement, blinking befuddled at him. "E – eh!?"

When he realized what he just said, the captain quickly added, "I mean, since you almost wet your pants of fear and all!"

Vivi's jaw dropped down, indignantly. "That's not true! I was just a little startled, that's all!"

"A little startled? Oh no, Vivi, that wasn't just a little," Luffy laughed almost gleefully, waving it off. "You were really trembling and all. Look over here, this is what you looked like." He took position, widened his eyes so much that the princes almost expected his eyeballs to plop right out of their holes and managed somehow to make his body tremble all over like an eletric eel. Then he squeezed his eyes shut and jumped against the next best tree with a dart, snaking his arms around it for five times and actually squeazing a few false tears out. "KYAAA! I'm such a scaredy cat!" he squeaked with a faked female voice, which sounded absolutely ridiculous.

Vivi flashed with anger and embarrassement, so much that everyone else would have half-expected to see emission of lava come out from her nose any minute. "I am not a scaredy cat!" she yelled and almost sounded like a defiant little girl. "And just for the record, I never said any of that! Don't just go and make stuff up yourself!"

Luffy let go off the tree, giving her a teasing grin. "But you did say the kyaaa-part," he snickered in amusement.

The princess flinched, feeling caught, and turned her head away, deeply embarrassed and abashed. "J-just shut up!" she stammered furiously. "Let's concentrate on finding an appropriate place to sleep! We won't find our way back to the ship today anyways!"

"Yay! Camping!" Luffy exclaimed with a sudden sparkle in his eyes that was almost blinding. "We're camping! It's camping, isn't it? Ne, Vivi? It's like camping, right?"

Vivi sighed, but just couldn't surpress a small smile, no matter how hard she tried to keep acting like a prima donna. "Yup, Luffy-san. It's exactly like camping."

"YAY!" The captain beamed, his eyes shining like Crocus' lighthouse at night, before he began a breathtakingly false singsong, "We're caaamping! Caaamping! We're caaamping! I love caaamping!"

Vivi, quietly giggling, shook her head when Luffy pranced and hopped past her and kept on singing something about a campfire into the night. Unbelievable. Somehow, she didn't quite know how though, that guy managed that you just couldn't stay mad at him for very long, no matter how hard you tried. Even though he really had the ability to drive you nuts sometimes and he even seemed to enjoy it. But maybe … maybe that was exactly what made him so damn lovable.

"Oi, Vivi! Look over here!" he suddenly yelled and Vivi blinked about the unexpected distance he had brought between them while she had been so lost in her thoughts. She saw him pointing to the right. "There's a small clearing. Is that okay for camping?"

Vivi's face lightened up a bit. "That will do!"

-- --

"That's it! We're going to look for them!"

The male rest of the crew paused in puzzlement while eating as Nami so suddenly banged her hands onto the table and stood up. She had an angry and dominant albeit somewhat sorrowful expression on her face and punished every single one of her boys and reindeers with a look that instantly cut off any sort of opposition. Usopp and Sanji exchanged understanding glances while Zoro only gave a short grunt (but still didn't dare to just impassively continue his meal) and Chopper just glanced in confusion from Nami to the others.

Sanji was the only one who was wear of life enough to rais an objection, "Nami-san, I understand what you feel, but it's night--"

"I don't give a damn!" snapped the navigator furiously, banging her hands onto the table once more, so that Chopper actually flinched. "We're in the middle of dinner! And it's quiet! And I still have my whole steak on the plate! Do you see what's wrong here?"

"Luffy has never missed one of Sanji's meals before," answered Usopp and knitted his brows in concern.

Nami nodded vigorously. "Exactly!" she said forcefully. "Don't you guys worry at all? Huh!?" Sie turned to the swordsman who was currently sipping placidly at his bottle of Sake, snapping a dangerous, "ZORO?"

He promptly choked on the alcohol and coughed a hoarse, "A-actually, Luffy's pretty much capable of taking care of himself and--"

"Shut up, you bozo, nobody asked you!" she roared abrassively and then turned her head to the ship's cook with the sudden pleading, but truly absolute attractive expression of a damsel in distress on her face. "Sanji-kun? Sanji-kun, I'm right, aren't I? Aren't you also awfully worried? Ne, Sanji-kun!"

"I'm absolutely worried sick over them, my godess of sensuality!" Sanji instantly swooned, puffing small hearts of smoke into the air. "I'll surely won't be able to close even one eye until my honorable captain is safely snoring in his hammock and my sweet Vivi-chwan is resting peacefully in her welfare bed!"

"But to go looking for them now is absolute lunacy, Nami," said Usopp, glancing out the porthole. "Starting a big search operation in a jungle at night is like looking for the famous needle in a haystack. It's already hard at day, but at night it's a totally vainly rescue mission with the worst case being us probably kicking the bucket ourselves."

Nami bit her lower lip in despair. "B-but … we can't just let them down!" she objected dterminedly, even though deep down inside she was very well aware how right the marksman was. "What if they were attacked? Maybe they're injured! They may need our help! And even if they're not hurt somehow, where are they supposed to sleep!?" Suddenly she paused as an idea hit her like a lightning. With flashing eyes, she turned back to Sanji and said almost affectionately, "Oh, but thank God that Vivi has our Luffy with her to keep her warm with his body. If she feels cold, she'll just cuddle herself into the strong arms of our cute captain who understands her so well, and who knows what kind of hot things are bound to happen then … Isn't that right, Sanji-kun?"

Sanji paused stiff while putting away random implements back into the cupboards, apparantely quick-froze for a few seconds. After a few more breaths, he started trembling, quaking, the surpressed anger was already almost visible. And another few heartbeats later, he exploded completely like a powder keg, even more-so, rather like a full-grown atomic bomb, very much to Nami's satisfaction.

"LIKE I'D LET THAT HAPPEN!"

Usopp's mouth twitched beffudled. "Oh no, she pulled the Sanji-joker."

Chopper glanced up at Zoro in puzzlement. "Isn't that cheating?"

Zoro snorted. "You're not surprised, are you? She's the devil." He kept on impassively sipping at his his bottle. "She's always acting like she actually was the captain or at least the vice captain … "

"I JUST HOPE THAT MORON DOESN'T DARE TO TOUCH HER!"

While Sanji furioisly put his jacket on, Nami shrigged her shoulders with a saccharine smile on her face. "Well, Zoro, if we actually had a vice captain, I wouldn't have to take these drastic measures."

"Who said we didn't have a vice captain?"

"I'M GONNA FLAMBÉ HIM IF I SHOULD CATCH THOSE TWO NAKED!"

Everyone, except Sanji who was currently way too busy with ranting about their captain, stared at Zoro with eyes as big as plates, since he had thrown that statement way too unexpectedly into the conversation.

Nami blinked in bewilderment. "Zoro? What do you mean?"

"We have a vice captain?" Chopper asked in confusion, blinking also.

"Why, of course we do!" Usopp exclaimed with a proud grin, scenting his chance. He struck a victory-pose – fortunately for him, Sanji was currently too busy ranting abut someone else, or else he surely would have chopped the marksman's leg off with a steakknife for placing it on his table – and pointed to the heavens. "The vice captain is no other than--"

"Me," said Zoro with imapssive sincerity.

Usopp froze in his movements, Nami's eyes widened in shock, Chopper blinked naively from one to the other and even Sanji stopped yelling about. "Oh, you don't say!" Nami snapped disbelieving, being the first one to snap out of her numbness. "And how, if I may ask, did you come to that glorious conclusion?"

"Easy," growled the swordsman, solemnly crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I was Luffy's first comrade, ergo his First Mate. A First Mate is automatically on a par with a Vice Captain." He almost smirked gleefully when he saw Nami's speechless, gaping mouth. "In plain language, that means that as long as Luffy's not here," a downright evil grin spread on his face, "you guys do what I tell you."

Nami's jaw dropped dumfounded to the ground and the faces of the rest weren't looking that much different. The only one whose expression wasn't dominated by shock, but rather by disgust and anger was none other than Sanji. His last straw already had been Nami indicating insinuating things about Luffy's and Vivi's interpretation of a night alone in a dark jungle anyway. "WHAT!" he roared furiously, fuming like a raging bull on his cigarette. "If you're seriously thinking that I'll do your bidding, then your brain full of shit is fairly wrong, you shitty cactus head!"

"I'm also against it!" Usopp agreed with swelled cheeks. "If someone here has the right to call himself vice captain, then it's me!"

"Oh really?" growled Zoro and shot Usopp such a dangerous death glare that the younger one emerged a high squeak of fear, jumping to hide behind the navigator, who apparently still couldn't believe what Zoro just proclaimed.

"Then again," Usopp laughed nervously, waving it off, "You're probably more fit for the role. Go, Vice Captain Zoro!" He gave him a not all that honest thumbs-up.

"Nami-san!" said Sanji insistently to the red-head. "Say something! You're not possibly going to agree to this, are you?"

Nami was still staring wordlessly to the ground. "Well," she eventually said surprisingly calm and composed. "So it's settled then. Zoro's the Vice Captain." But when she finally looked up, invariably everyone instantly froze at the vision of the most diabolic grin they had ever seen in their entire life. "You're in command from now on, Zoro."

Usopp instantly backed away from her, stricken with fear. "Oh my God, she's pondering about ways for him to die! I can see the sadistic little wheels of evilness in her brain rotating and clattering!"

"She's gonna make his life hell!" Chopper exclaimed in panic. "Hell!"

Sanji lightened himself a cigarette, his eyes wide. "Rest in peace, man," he told Zoro earnestly. "I really respect your courage. I won't miss you, though."

"Pipe down, you guys," Zoro grumbled considerably clamer than he felt while facing that face of Nami. "She's probably just going to double … tripple … quadruplicate … my debts. Until … I can't pay anymore … " He felt sick only thinking it, but honestly? This thing was worth it. Only to boss the demoness and the ero-cook around was worth even selling his soul, not to mention his own grandmother.

"Aw, you know me so well," chirped Nami, suddenly in a really good mood. Probably because Zoro's debts were that enormous by now that he could theoretically already start with letting the words 'Nami's Slave' being tattoed to his forehead.

Chopper stared at Zoro in confusion. "So does that mean that we have to listen to whatever you say? Just like in 'Simon Says'?"

Well, that easn't exactly what he would call it, but … "Yeah, whatever. Just that our game is called 'Zoro Says'." Somehow, he already started to like the whole thing immensely. So immensely that he almost gave a malicious laugh.

The reindeer grinned. "Sounds fun! Okay, I'll play!"

Perfect, three were down, leaving only one idiot. Zoro glanced at the cook and withstood his glare clamly. "Makes it four against one, ero-cook. Go along with the majority or jump off board."

Sanji, who was very well aware of the fact that his own opinion had been already voted down, hissed an annoyed "Tch" through his teeth and turned his head away. "As if I'd leave my Nami-san alone with the mannerless primates that you guys are." He inhaled the nicotine deeply to calm himself.

"It's decided then," grinned the swordsman triumphantly, resting his arms on the table. "All right, so here's the plan." He looked at them, suddenly serious again. "We'll unhurriedly finish our meal, get our blood pressure back under control and for now just shut our concern down until tomorrow morning. Luffy's a tough guy, not even a dangerous jungle will get him down so fast and Vivi is rational enough to keep his cheeky nose out of every chaos for the time being. They're able of keeping an eye on each other until we come for them."

Nami thoughtfully coked her head and everyone else also had to admit that the whole thing sounded largely plausible.

"That's why," Zoro continued, "we're gonna get ourselves the well-owned sleep we really need right now and meet up here tomorrow morning at six o'clock sharp. Until then, you had better prepared a few lunch boxes, cook." He shot the ship's cook a side glance, which only cursed an insult under his breath, but apprently payed deference to him. Zoro really had to surpress a grin as large as Luffy's at this gratification. "Nami, you already finished the map of this island, right?" The navigator blinked and eventually nodded. "You think you could make a copy of that until tomorrow?"

Nami was downright outraged. "Well, Mister Vice Captain! What do you think!"

Zoro grinned. "Perfect. Usopp, you prepare some smoke grenades and flares for the pistols, so that we're able to find each other." The marksman nodded with a grin. "Chopper, you arrange your whole equipment, just in case." The reindeer, who thought the whole thing was wafully exciting, offered him a nod. "We'll start bright and early tomorrow morning then und bring those two back safely. Any objections?"

"Not at all, Vice Captain Zoro!" grinned Usopp. He admit to admit that Zoro's little speech right now had been sort of cool.

Nami was almost, but merely almost somewhat impressed. "Not bad, Zoro," she praised with a smile. "You really thought about everything."

"That was so cool!" Chopper beamed, his eyes sparkling. "Like a war discussion! Or at a robbery! Zoro, you're so damn cool!"

"I have an objection," Sanji snorted suddenly, stubbing out his cigarette in the nearest ashtray.

Zoro rolled his eyes. "Well, if that isn't a surprise," he snarled wryly. "Why does our little sissy always have to bitch on about everything?"

"Well, actually it's rather an admittedly very legitimate question for our new vice captain before he officially takes office," grinned the cook, suddenly looking superior. "Now just tell me how you think you're going to manage to get up at six! Because I sure as hell promise you right here and now that we freakin' will go without you if you oversleep again, no matter if you're the Vice Captain or not!"

The swordsman narrowed his eyes for a second, but then closed them, his features relaxing. "I'm not gonna oversleep. Definitely not."

"Ha!" Sanji laughed. "Tell us another! You'd even oversleep your own wedding, let alone-"

"I'm not gonna oversleep," Zoro repeated that sharply and serious that the cook actually feel silent. "Not when it's about the Captain."

All of a sudden, the silence in the galley was so overwhelming that it would throttled everyone not involved with the crew. The tension was so tangible, so there that you could almost touch it, even cut it. All pair of eyes in the room were set on Zoro and every single one them was in that moment more aware than ever before that the icebloc of a swordsman who always acted as if he was inapproachable was in truth the one worrying the most of them.

When Zoro noticed everyone, even Sanji, giving him sympathetic looks, he awkwardly cleared his throat, actually blushed and bashfully glanced aside. "By the way, wasn't there something about one billion Berri if we manage to bring Vivi back to Alabasta safely or did I get that wrong?" All three of the male crew members blinked in complete confusion, only Nami suddenly grinned as wide as she could, her eyes beginning to shine like the sun in person. "You're gonna abate my debts if I get you that billion, that's what we agreed on. Right, Nami?"

Nami nodded vigorously as she clasped her hands together with delight, almost brimming over with enthusiasm. "Why yes, yes of course! Cross my heart and hope to die!"

"Vivi-chwaaan! Do not fret, because your graceful knight in shining armor is on his way to save you from the big, bad monster-monkey!"

"I wanna play 'Zoro Says' again!"

Usopp slapped his forehead. "I'm surrounded by heartless egoists."

-- --

"You gotta be kidding me."

Grimacing, Luffy stared at the uneven line extending between him and the princess on the sabulous ground. He glanced up at Vivi with disbelief, while she nonchalantly threw the small stick which she had used to draw the line with over her shoulder into the next best bush and then unapologetically crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"What's with that line, Vivi?" he complained loudly, pointing at the provisional border.

"A mere precaution," answered the princess with a shrug. "A girl has got to play it safe when she's stuck with a pubescent, testosterone-driven guy over night in a dark jungle. I don't know what a pirate captain like you is up to after all. I heard pirates take everything that isn't nailed down and has a pair of breasts … "

Luffy glared angrily at her. "But I've got taste!"

Vivi narrowed her eyes and stemmed her hands in her sides. "Now what's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," piped Luffy with faked innocence and looked away.

Before the princess could get needlessly upset over him again, she rather swallowed down her anger and pointed to the line. "Anyway," she proclaimed forcefully, "You don't wanna dare to step over this line!"

He arched a brow, almost curiously. "Oh yeah? And why not? What happens if I do?"

At first, Vivi was speechless and merely stared back at him with a gaping mouth, but then Luffy's inherent naivety occured to her, which was a trace of him that you didn't even have to know him as long as the others for to notice it. So she grinned triumphantly at him. "If you step over this line," she said as darkly as an old frail seer, "you'll never become Pirate King and One Piece will move beyond your reach!"

Luffy's jaw instantly dropped down, but for once rationality prevailed over reflex in this case. "You're LYING!" he exclaimed, pointing at the princess as if he was accusing her of a horrible crime. "That won't happen! It won't happen just because you say it will! It won't happen!"

Vivi's eyes flashed up mischievously. "Do you really wanna find out, Luffy-san?" His mouth snapped shut at a loss, he could only glare at her defiantly yet wordless. Vivi grinned in superiority. "Thought so." And with that she turned on her heels to walk back to her backpack which she had carelessly to the ground earlier.

Just that … there was no trace of it anywhere.

The princess blinked in confusion. "Hm? Where's my backpack?" The first thought that popped up in her head was that she maybe had thrown it into the brushwood, but just when she atempted to look for it, she froze and her expression darkened at that insight.

Okay.

Okay!

Enough was simply enough.

"I … I can't believe it … " Vivi pressed through her gritted teeth with supressed anger and trembling fists, before she furiously whirled around to the pirate captain standing behind her and scanning the environment for something edible. "MONKEY!" she roared and made a threatening step in his direction. "D!" Another step. "LUFFY!"

Luffy flinched in alarm and turned around to her very slowly, his eyes wide in shock. Before cold sweat to a certain extent of the Niagara Falls could overcome him, he fortunately realized who was standing there before him and therefore clasped a hand over his heart, sighing in relief. "Phew," he laughed nervously. "For a second I thought you actually switched souls with Nami." After all, that woman was the only one who ever used his full name and that only when he was getting into mischief again. Somehow, all females only ever used the full name when said someone was getting into mischief...

Wait a second.

Blinking in realization, he looked up and found himself staring directly into the rage-sizzling eyes of the princess and suddenly, he did feel cold sweat forming on his forehead after all. "I-I didn't do anything! I swear!"

"Oh really?" Vivi hissed furiously, stemming her hands in her sides. "So where's my backpack then? Huh? HUH!?"

"How the heck would I know?" Luffy shrunk away one step when she ominously bent forward. "You prabably lost it somewhere!"

"I'm not you!" she shot back. "You're the only one I know who could actually manage to lose something as big as a backpack just like that!" She made another threatening step in his direction. "So spit it out already, Luffy-san! Where did you hide my backpack?"

Luffy narrowed his eyes. "Could you explain what I would need your backpack for!? I have my own, you know!"

"I have no idea!" snapped Vivi. "Maybe it's supposed to be some kind of stupid revenge for that parting line I drew earlier!" But then she paused in a mist and determinedly shook her head. "No, that can't be. You'd never come up with something like that." While Luffy complained with a loud "Hey!", Vivi continued in irritation, "Oh, just give it back already!"

"But I don't have your stupid backpack, damn it!"

"If you don't have it, then who does then!? Did the monkeys steal it or something, huh!?"

Like on cue, a heavy torch light landed directly on Luffy's head with a dull thud and instantly made them both shut their mouths with widened eyes.

For a split second, Vivi felt relief wash over her at the fact that it hasn't been her who was hit by the tourch light but the rubber man who was immune to such things; a regular human would have been struck to death by it. But the next moment her jaw dropped open dumbfounded when she realized that this torch light had been in her backpack!

A goofy, animal snicker fetched both back to reality and when they turned their heads up they couldn't believe their eyes that there was actually indeed a chimpanzee sitting on the closest tree, tossing Vivi's backpack back and forth with one hand and visibly having the time of his life. Flashing them a big grin, the monkey grabbed into the yellow backpack and snatched a small package out which he also threw at Luffy, but this time the pirat could duck down just in time.

"Oi! What the hell do you think you're doing!?" Luffy snapped angrily, making the chimpanzee laugh and joyfully clap his hands which only served to infuriate the captain even more. "Are you laughing about me!? Why you gutless monkey! Get your ass down here and fight me like a man!"

"A … a monkey stole my backpack," Vivi mumbled disbelievingly and still couldn't believe that her sarcastic remark actually took form up there. "That's gotta be some really lame joke … !"

To be continued …