Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or it's characters.

All-Powerful Word

by Leiyoi

Inspired by a new story that I am working on.

A black haired boy sat on the ram's head at the front of the ship and for once, he wasn't looking out at the vast ocean in front of him. He was observing his nakama onboard. His first mate slept near the railing of the ship, snoring loudly and his chest rose and fell steadily. His navigator sat on a reclining chair, in front of a patch of growing orange trees, flipping through the newspaper that had flown in this morning. His sharpshooter sat opposite of his first mate, playing around with some strangely colored liquids, his long nose almost touching the tube of liquid and tongue stuck out in concentration. And his cook had just run out of the kitchen, carrying a tasty looking drink to his navigator.

"Nami-san! This is my drink made with all my love!" Sanji cried loudly, startling Usopp and causing him to drip one too many drops of liquid into the tube. The tube exploded in front of him and the long nosed boy leapt back in fright. One of Zoro's snores caught in his throat and the man mumbled before snoring again. Nami nearly ripped the newspaper apart in surprise before shooting the blonde haired man a glare.

Luffy watched all of this happen with a trained eye. Every time Sanji said that particular word, his nakama all seemed to react instantly. Interesting… He decided to test his hypothesis. He took a deep breath…

"LOVE!" The boy wearing a straw hat shouted across the ship. Usopp, Nami, and Sanji looked up quickly from what they were doing and stared at him in shock with open mouths. Zoro's eyes shot open in surprise and the green haired man stared at his captain curiously.

Wow…! Instantaneous results! Luffy thought, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. What was so powerful about this word that caused all of his nakama to react so quickly? He decided to find out!

Oblivious to the young captain's decision, the four crew members stared at each other in confusion, wondering what Luffy's outburst had meant. They all seemed to shrug at each other and returned to whatever they had been doing previously.

Let's start testing them one by one first…but who to start with…? The black haired boy paced around the mast of the ship. He stopped and looked up, finding Usopp working on another experiment. Luffy grinned mischievously and padded over on his sandals before sitting down heavily next to the long nosed boy. Usopp paid the boy no attention, concentrating on getting his experiment to work this time. Suddenly, he felt someone kiss his cheek. Well…that just threw his concentration out the window. The liquid missed its mark by a mile and hit the deck of the ship, burning a small hole in it.

Luffy smiled. Test 1, success!

Usopp eyed the boy sitting next to him shakily. "L-Luffy…?" Suddenly, he felt the boy hug onto him which caused the long nosed boy to drop the tubes he was holding. The tubes fell to the deck, breaking, and the liquids mingled together and started to bubble. Usopp quickly tried to pry his captain's arms away from him. "What are you doing, Luffy?!"

Test 2, success! Luffy grinned and commenced the third and final step to his test.

"I love you, Usopp!" The captain chirped, which caused the sharpshooter to freeze in shock. Luffy let go of the long nosed boy and stood up straight, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, a frown on his face.

Usopp seems very uncomfortable with being kissed and hugged…hmm…he even froze when I said that I loved him…

The boy fixed his straw hat and nodded in resolution. I need more data!

He glanced around the deck excitedly, looking for his next test subject. It was then that Luffy spotted the mop of green hair, lying on the deck, across from where he and Usopp sat. The boy skipped over and smiled at the sleeping swordsman, snoring away carelessly. He poked the man in the face a few times and Zoro swatted away the hand unconsciously. Luffy frowned. How was he going to test his hypothesis if his first mate didn't wake up? He poked furiously at the green haired man again. But, Zoro didn't budge.

Oh, whatever. Let's test anyway! Luffy smiled and bent over to give the swordsman a light kiss on his cheek. Zoro's eyes snapped open in surprise and stared up at his captain.

"Wha…?" The green haired man sat up quickly and shuffled away from Luffy. "What was that?!"

The boy wearing a straw hat merely smiled and shuffled over to give his first mate a hug. Zoro tensed in shock as he felt Luffy hug him tightly.

Test 1 and 2, success! The boy thought happily. Now for the last step.

"I love you, Zoro!" He chirped again, repeating what he had said to Usopp. Luffy studied his first mates' face. It was an interesting reaction. First, Zoro looked normal. But then, almost immediately, the face flushed red, clashing with his green hair, and the man flailed his arms, trying to get away from Luffy. The boy let his first mate go and smiled.

Test 3, success! Luffy grinned and started comparing Usopp's reactions with Zoro's reactions.

Hmm…they both seem to be very uncomfortable when I kiss or hug them. Kisses seem to distract or gain their attention and hugs make them uncomfortable. And when the word 'love' is used, their reactions are the most exaggerated. Interesting…!

He glanced at Nami sitting in her reclining chair, paying no attention to the ruckus happening below. I still need some more data if I want to know why my nakama react so quickly to the word 'love'! He nodded and started towards the orange haired girl.

Luffy hopped up the steps of the Going Merry and stood in front of the orange haired girl. Nami noticed the boy and set her newspaper down to raise an eyebrow at the captain.

"Yes, Luffy?"

Before she could react, the boy stooped over and planted a kiss on her cheek. She stared in horror as Luffy stood up straight again and smiled at her.

"L-Luffy?! Why did you just do that?" She gasped in surprise, clamping her hand over the delicate kiss on her cheek.

Test 1, success! Luffy grinned and then jumped over to hug her. Nami gasped again, as she felt the boy squeeze her gently. Returning to her senses, the girl tried to push the boy away.

"Stop it, Luffy! What do you think you're doing?"

Test 2, success! Time for the last step! The boy wearing a straw hat smiled and chirped for the third time this day.

"I love you, Nami!"

A loud bang! came from the kitchen and a blonde haired cook stormed out angrily. Sanji dragged the boy away from Nami and pulled him into the depths of the kitchen. Luffy pouted, watching the orange haired girl stare wordlessly at him. But then he quickly smiled. Yes! Test 3, success! Now things are piecing together. It seems like my nakama are really uncomfortable around things related to the word 'love'. Especially the word. So that's what makes them react so quickly! They're really uncomfortable around 'love'!

He felt himself tossed into the wall of the kitchen harshly and the boy looked up at blonde haired man who was glaring at him through his only visible eye.

"What the hell are you saying to Nami-san, bastard!" Sanji shouted angrily. Luffy leapt onto his feet and smiled. Okay, my last test subject!

He leaned up and kissed Sanji's cheek lightly. The cook staggered backwards, wiping off the kiss quickly.

"What the fuck?!" He stared incredulously at his captain. Luffy frowned slightly. Test 1, success. But the reaction is strange…Oh well, next step!

The boy smiled and leapt at Sanji, flinging his arms around the man to give him a short-lived hug. Short-lived because the blonde haired man quickly kicked the boy away, wondering what was wrong with him. Luffy stood up and frowned again.

Test 2, failed…that's odd… He blinked and decided to go for the last step.

"I love you, Sanji!" Luffy grinned and got a shocked and confused stare in return.

Test 3, success! The boy wearing a straw hat started out the kitchen, heading towards his perch on Going Merry's head in order to piece together all of his collected data. But before he could leave, a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Sanji?" Luffy looked at the hand and then at the blonde haired cook standing behind him.

"What have you been doing, Luffy?"

"Just a few tests."

Sanji raised an eyebrow at the boy. His captain was performing…tests? The blonde haired man fished around for his box of cigarettes and placed one stick in his mouth, lighting it slowly with his lighter.

"What are you testing?"

Luffy grinned widely. "I'm testing to see why everyone reacts so strongly when they hear the word 'love'!"

The blonde haired cook stared at his captain with wide eyes before chuckling to himself and leaning against the table. He pulled his cigarette from his mouth with two fingers and stared at Luffy in interest.

"And what did you learn?"

"Well…" The black haired boy crossed his arms over his chest thoughtfully. "Kisses seem to distract and gain everyone's attention. And everyone seems to become really uncomfortable around hugs. And when I said 'I love you' to everyone, they all had really exaggerated reactions! So it seems like we're not very used to'love'…"

"I see…" Sanji smiled at Luffy and watched as the boy's eyebrow's furrowed in thought.

"But Sanji's reactions were different from everyone else. When I kissed him, he seemed angry. And when I tried to hug him, he kicked me away. But, when I said that I loved him, he had similar reactions to everyone else…"

The blonde haired man grinned. "Why do you think that is?"

"I don't know…" Luffy frowned and then grinned at Sanji. "It's a mystery!"

The blonde haired man shrugged and walked over to the boy. "Not really. What's different about me from the others?"

"Uh…you cook?"

"No. Think, Luffy. What do I say that is different?"

"You…uh…you swear!"

"The asshole snoring out there swears, too! Idiot!"

"Oh, right. Umm…" Luffy frowned as he thought and groaned in concentration. "You…you…Oh! You say the word!"

Sanji raised an eyebrow at his captain. "What?"

"You can say 'love' easily and no one else can!"

The blonde haired man smirked. "That's interesting, Luffy. Looks like you proved your point. We react to the word 'love' so strongly because we're all not used to that subject." Sanji blinked as he realized how true that was. No one really had any relationships onboard or anything. It was all nakamaship. Or maybe there was something going on in the ship but he didn't know it...? The blonde haired man shrugged inwardly and continued to piece Luffy's data together."But I have a different reaction because I'm more comfortable and exposed to this subject…"

"Wow! Sanji solved the mystery!" Luffy smiled. "I think I get it…'Love' is a powerful word and because the rest of us aren't used to its power, we react immediately. But, Sanji is immune to the power of love because he's more exposed to it." The black haired boy stopped his thoughts and stared at his cook in horror.

Sanji stared at Luffy in confusion. "What?"

"Oh no! We're weak against love!" The boy cried. "I've got to expose everyone to it so that we can fight against love. Help me, Sanji!" He ran out the door hurriedly, shouting the words 'I love you' loudly, over and over again, causing an explosion to come from Usopp's direction and Zoro to storm past the kitchen with a flushing red face.

Sanji chuckled to himself and got ready to bake a heart shaped cake for Nami-san. My pleasure, Luffy. My pleasure.

END.

AN: I'm working on a new story inspired by the movie You've Got Mail. It'll be a ZoLu pairing along with some SanNa and ViviKohza! My other story Someone Just for You is still coming along. But its progress is slow because I don't know how to continue it...Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this short story!