It started with dreams.
They weren't terrible, and honestly they more amusing than anything. Robin had been writing them down as Luffy poured them forth, and one could have almost confused the boy with Usopp when he did. They seemed such simple little things, and even the interest of them not being the usual fare as far as Luffy was concerned (meat, adventure and meat), no one had thought any more of the matter than Luffy's innocent imagination. Really, anything that wasn't a nightmare, or kept him awake the next night, was welcome.
Like this one Robin was currently nodding at, her face no different than ever to an outsider, but at a certain fond attention rarely shared outside of her hodgepodge flock of family and the ruins leading her to her dreams.
"The sky was orange, like permanent sunset." Luffy was saying, and his unusual choice of words in this particular episode was written aside for Chopper as a possible symptom; the reindeer saw little wrong with his Captain, but would take no chances with the health of his crew. This was the Grand Line, after all. " The grass was red, almost rusty looking, and there were mountains, white and topped with snow. It had the prettiest trees, Robin! They were silver, and when the sun rose on them, they sparkled and shone, like they were on fire."
"It seems as though you had quite the adventure." The archaeologist replied with a soft smile, the words completed in the small notebook set aside for just this purpose, but ready to receive more.
"Yeah!" Her captain grinned, the strange event beginning to fall away once more. "There was a green forest too, and everywhere was really warm, like Alabasta. Except, I wasn't hot and tired. Maybe 'cause I was dreaming?"
Robin gave a small chuckle when Luffy was predictably distracted by whatever game Chopper and Usopp were playing, scampering off with all the energy and almost childish glee that only Luffy could accomplish. Usopp himself would likely take a peek at the notes later, when Luffy had forgotten whatever he had seen in the dream, to sketch out for himself.
And Luffy always forgot, as if the young man was not the source of the tales or images his mind saw, and they spirited themselves away back to where ever they had come from in his waking hours, the foremost reason for the journal in the first place. Occasionally, the captain would murmur of people he'd never met or places that didn't exist while at rest (also added to the notebook), but confronted with the information, Luffy would only tip his head and stare in light confusion.