Year 1
The storm roared outside of the window. The sheets shook under the lighting streaked sky. His head popped up and covered his ears with his pillows. This was too intense. Being on a metal vessel during a lighting storm; but they were nowhere near a shore. His fingers felt against his nightstand for his glasses. Quickly he pulled them on before scrambling out of the bed with his sheets.
In this place, he only knew of one place of comfort. One place that odds of getting stuck with lighting were lesser than shaking in his bedroom that was located on the outline of the ship. He slipped outside of his room into the darkness of the hallway. Only every other two lights were lit, a way to save candles until the next stop. His feet, covered in grimy socks, walked down the path. Soon he came to a staircase, one that would lead to his destination.
He walked down until he appeared at the bottom. This was the storage and maintenance area of the ship. He came to a stop and entered the door on his right. The room was already lit by a single candle. The floor was made out of wood that crept with each foot. A shadow moved and he smiled.
She was already there.
"Lu!" he grinned.
The girl broke out into a grin that spread from one ear to the other. Her long eyelashes brushed against her smooth skin. "You know where the apple bins are?" Was the first thing out of her mouth.
He looked behind, "If c-captain finds out...we w- would be in trouble."
"But I'm hungry-!" her back pressed against the boxes as she moaned and grunted. Within a few seconds she went from pouting to snickering. She stood up and the candle flickered. Lids of the boxes were thrown off as she searched through them.
"Luf-f! Stop!" the boy panicked. "Ga-Garp will have our heads if he finds out!"
"Humfhsk sknha," she spoke. He glanced back and dropped his blanket on the ground. Her mouth was stuffed with apples that she found.
"What are you doing?! If he finds out he-he-he could throw us off the ship! Prison! Training course! STRANDED!"
"Kuom duwn, Kuby," Luffy managed to said.
"How can I?"
"Stop wurryin! Gramps won't even notice." She grabbed an apple, "Here," she threw it.
He didn't even notice. The apple slammed into his chest and he was pushed against a stack of boxes that piled onto him. Uniforms all jumbled a heavy bag of grain, practice targets, and bullets laid on top of him. Quickly Luffy grabbed him out of the mess. "Man, you are clumsy," she snickered.
"...because of you," he whispered. Coby rolled his eyes and began to pack the supplies back in the boxes; hoping no one would notice. The candle flickered and the flame went out. "AH!" he squealed.
"Uh...Where's the matches?" the black haired girl questioned. Her hands felt around in the darkness until she felt Coby's shoulder. The items in his arm fell to the ground and he jumped. Then he started panting, hoping to steady his heartbeat.
"Matches...matches...no ghosts...no ligh-"
Thunder roared outside. Rain splashed against the metal outside.
"There! Found it!" Luffy smiled in the darkness as she pulled the box of matches, handing it to Coby.
"These...aren't matches. They are bullets..."
"Oh...do you have any?"
"Nope. What happened to yours?"
The girl shrugged. "I had them when I came, but...I lost them." He groaned. The two crawled on the ground. Their hands felt against the wooden crates searching for them. Finally Coby found the small box of matches. He gave a quick cheer before lighting a match and restarting the candle. He grinned at the light, and Luffy smiled as she sat down; forgetting about apples for now. The two sat across from the candle, and Coby covered up in the blanket.
"Why are you down here?" he questioned.
"Oh...I couldn't get back to bed," she stated.
That was her normal reply; one that he gotten many times before. He only kept asking in hopes of a different answer, but it never came. He sat in silence, one that he didn't like. "It was storming hard. I just couldn't get to sleep."
"What? Scared?" she snickered.
He blushed and turned away. Maybe he was a bit afraid of the lighting. There was a large possibly of getting hit.