The Best Medicine, an one piece fanfic

Always move forward--going straight will get you nowhere.

--"Jaded," Green Day

Nighttime on the Grand Line was always something to look forward to. The Thousand Sunny glided along the water, headed towards her next destination as Franky followed the map Nami had plotted out. The rest of the crew, completely exhausted from their adventure in Thriller Bark, had retreated to their cabins and were snoring away. Everyone, that is, except for Luffy and Nami.

"That whole deal was one hell of a thing," Franky said to himself. "I really hope those two are okay."

As he attempted to concentrate on the course at hand, he noticed Nami heading to her cabin and called out her name. Nami turned and replied, "What's up?"

Franky approached her and asked, "How you doin'? I was just wondering...after everything that happened on Thriller Bark with the shadows and Absalom and all that--"

She cut him off with a sharp, abrupt "I'm fine" and began to retreat to her room. Franky asked, "Are you sure?" He awaited an answer, but was met instead with silence. Oh well, he thought. I tried.

As he returned to the wheel, Luffy came upstairs from the dining room and asked him, "Hey, Franky--where'd Nami go?"

"She went to her room," he answered. "I'd be careful if I were you, Luffy--she's still kinda shaken up from everything that happened."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Don't do anything crazy around her right now--I don't think she's in the mood."

"Don't worry--I won't."

Nami sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the wall. The events of days past had been weighing down on her and, despite having told Franky so, she was definitely not fine. Nearly getting married to that freak Absalom and coming within seconds of losing her life had put her in a state of depression that not even Chopper's best medicine could cure. As she sighed and wiped her eyes, she heard a knock at her door.

"Who is it?"

"It's Luffy. Can I come in?"

Nami opened the door to find Luffy holding a mikan in one hand and a 10 Beli bill in the other. "I brought some stuff that'll make you feel better!"

Nami faintly smiled and let him in. "Are you sure you're okay? Franky said you were kinda sharp towards him."

"I'm fine, Luffy. Really."

"Are you sure? You really don't look fine."

"Luffy, believe me, I'm fine." She turned away from him to hide the pain on her face, shuddering. When Luffy saw this, he put his hands on her shoulders and gently asked, "Nami, please tell me what's wrong."

Nami turned to face him and replied, "Luffy...I almost died today. If you hadn't have been there..."

"Don't worry about it, Nami! We won! We're still here, and our nakama is stronger than ever! There's nothing in the world that can stop us!"

Nami shook her head and said, "I don't know how you do it, Luffy."

"Do what?"

"Stay so upbeat after something so devastating."

"It's like Bellemere said--keep living, and good things will come your way. So keep living, Nami."

Nami smiled for the first time in weeks and wrapped Luffy in a big hug. He immediately returned the favor and let the moment soak in. But then, he got an idea. He got her to smile--how about making her laugh?

With that in mind, Luffy poked Nami's side only to hear her yelp and jump away. Upon seeing this, his lips broke into a wide, devious smile.

"Nami...you're not ticklish, are you?"

"What? NO!"

"Well," he said as he raised his arms, "let's see if that's true!"

Luffy stretched out his hands and pinned Nami to her bed as he began to tickle her around the neck and under her arms. Nami screamed with laughter as Luffy moved his hands up and down her body, hitting every ticklish spot he could. Try as she might, she tried to get a protest out but was quickly overcome by paroxysms of squealing laughter and screams to stop as Luffy worked his way to her feet. That, she knew, was where she was her most ticklish; she remembered Bellemere was adept at reducing her to a laughing fool, and now Luffy was doing the same.

When he reached her feet, Nami stopped laughing almost instantly. Her eyes grew as wide as saucers as Luffy put her right foot in his lap and got his fingers at the ready.

In between gasps for breath, Nami said, "Oh God...Luffy, don't even think about it!"

Luffy grinned sadistically and nodded.

"Don't you dare!"

Luffy grinned even wider and let out a chuckle of anticipation.

"DON'T YOU DARE, LUFFY!"

His fingers drew ever closer to her skin as she screamed the threat again. It was no use--she knew he wasn't going to stop until he reduced her to a giggling mess. Nami had no choice but to prepare for the worst.

"DON'T--AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH! STOP! STAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP!"

When Luffy's index finger pressed against the middle of her foot, Nami let loose a tidal wave of laughter. Her entire body began to twist and turn as she shook with high-pitched squeals and laughs while Luffy grabbed hold of her legs and began to slowly drag his fingers across her soles. Nami grabbed a pillow, put it over her head, and screamed as loud as she could. The sensation was getting to be too much to bear, but she was having so much fun that she put it out of her mind. Besides, she knew how to get him back. Just you wait.

"Do you want me to keep going, or do you give up?" Luffy asked.

"NOHOHOHOOOOOOO! NEVER! NEHEHHEHEEEEEEEEEEEEEVER!" Nami answered.

"Okay, it's your funeral!" He continued his assault, this time making his movements slower and more deliberate. Tears of laughter spilled from Nami's eyes as she squirmed and shook and tried to break free of Luffy's grip. That wasn't going to happen, however--Luffy had wrapped his right arm around her body from legs to shoulders and showed no signs of letting go.

Damn that Gum Gum Fruit.

His swordsman skills had served him well on Thriller Bark and in all of their previous adventures, and right now, he was in the heaviest sleep of his life. But tonight, Roronoa Zoro had the profound misfortune of being right next door to ground zero of Luffy and Nami's tickle fight. As soon as Nami let loose her first laugh, Zoro's eyes popped open, bloodshot and angry. He threw on his boots and stormed out of his cabin, only to run into Usopp, who had done the same from his.

"HEY! Watch where you're going, Zoro!" Usopp exclaimed.

"You first, long nose! What the hell are those two doing?"

"Couldn't tell you, but it sounds to me like someone's getting tickled."

"Oi...if they keep this up we'll never be able to get any sleep! We've gotta put a stop to this."

"How?"

Zoro grinned and said, "Follow me." He grabbed Usopp's arm and dragged him to Sanji's cabin.

By now, Nami was completely spent. Her laughs had given way to breathless gasps for air, and Luffy had finally decided to let up. As she caught her breath, Luffy lay on his stomach and asked, "So...how do you feel, Nami?"

"Exhausted," Nami answered in between heaving sighs.

"Yeah...I'm sorry about that. I got a little carried away."

Nami grinned and replied, "Not as carried away as I'm gonna get!"

"Wha--" Nami leapt up and tackled Luffy head on, grabbing hold of his shirt and rolling him onto his back. Shocked by her sudden burst of energy, Luffy asked, "Nami, what are you doing? What is this?"

Nami grinned evilly, just as he had, and answered with only one word: "Payback."

She put her hands at his sides and began tickling. Luffy screamed in surprise and tried to fight her off, but Nami grabbed his hands and knelt on them as she continued her attack. High-pitched laughter once again filled the room as Luffy descended into hysterics. All the while, Nami asked in a good-natured taunt, "How do you like it, mister? How do you like being tickled?"

"IHIHIHIT'S TOOHOOHOO MUHUHUHUUUUUUUCH! STOP! STAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAP!"

"NEVER!" Nami moved her hands up and down Luffy's stomach, under his arms, and about his neck, never letting up for a second. Luffy kicked, squirmed and struggled to no avail--all he did was stretch out his body and have it snap back into place. He could only laugh harder and harder as tears spilled from his eyes and his lungs began to ache. He was starting to feel exhausted, but he also felt like he had this coming. He started it, and now he knew what it felt like.

But he was having fun. And after the events in Thriller Bark, to have fun and to laugh was the best thing they could do.

Meanwhile, the remaining crew of the Sunny stood outside the cabin with bleary tiredness in their eyes. Zoro and Usopp were the only ones fully awake, and Chopper had actually fallen asleep leaning against Nico Robin's leg. When she moved away to follow the group, a Dos Fleur held Chopper in one hand and used the other as a makeshift blanket.

Sanji yawned and asked, "What are we doing here, guys?"

"You'll see," Zoro answered.

"I don't know what you woke us up for," Robin said. "I couldn't hear anything."

"Well, Robin, now you're gonna hear it loud and clear!" Usopp exclaimed. He marched up to the door and began to hammer on it as hard as he could. He screamed, "LUFFY! NAMI! OPEN UP!"

There was no answer. Only the sounds of muffled laughter could be heard.

"OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW!" Zoro shouted.

More muffled laughter.

"OKAY, YOU ASKED FOR IT! WE'RE COMING IN!"

Usopp turned the doorknob and opened the door to find Nami straddling Luffy, tickling him with a perverse glee in her eyes. She continued to playfully taunt him and demand he say uncle, all the while scraping her fingernails up and down his feet. Neither seemed to notice the remainder of the crew standing in the doorway.

"Oh, for crying out loud..." Zoro mumbled.

Usopp smiled and said, "Come on, Zoro! You don't seriously want to ruin this, do you?"

"They could be using this as therapy after everything that happened," Robin added.

"What?"

"Think about it, Zoro," Usopp said. "Luffy had his shadow stolen to build that Oz monster. Truth be told, we all did, but Nami almost died at sunrise. She almost wound up marrying that pervert Absolution or whatever his name was--Sanji, you know what I'm talking about, right?"

Sanji didn't answer--he just stared at the scene before him with a lusty glee as he mumbled, "Nami-swaaaaaaaaaan..."

Usopp rolled his eyes and continued. "And Luffy going all Nightmare on us, don't forget that! That's gotta be weighing really heavy on them right now. Like Robin said, they're probably using this as therapy to forget about what happened."

Zoro thought about Usopp's theory for a while, then nodded his head and said, "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

Just then, Chopper toddled onto the scene. He yawned and wiped his eyes, which quickly shot open when he got a clear view of the tickle fight. "Oh no!" he cried. "Is Luffy dying?"

"No, Chopper, Luffy isn't dying," Robin answered. "Nami is just tickling him."

"Why is she doing that?"

"Because, Chopper--in times like this, sometimes laughter truly is the best medicine."

THE END

I don't own One Piece. Eiichiro Oda does.

If I got some of the events in the Thriller Bark arc wrong, forgive me.