A/N: Well, as much as I hate to say it, I probably won't be updating this story -or any story/one-shot, for that matter -for the next week. I'll probably do a quick one-shot of "Of Dreams, Clouds and Mikans". But after that, it's a week until my next update.
I practically just said the same thing, but phrased it different. I wonder how many of you actually noticed that. :P
ANYWAY, I'm in the middle of moving, so the internet will be disconnected tomorrow and Wednesday, Wednesday and Thursday we start moving into the other house, and Friday is cleaning day of the house we're currently in, and then Saturday will be unpacking day. It's going to be a busy week. -_-.
This being said, I probably won't be responding to reviews until Saturday evening or so, but I'll need the joy of reading them after such a long week, so feel free to review! :)
Just kind of sprung that on you all, didn't I? XD
Don't hate me. This is life.
Polls for the other story that I'll be writing simultaneously will be open all week. Looks like Robin getting preggers is in the lead though :P Which is fine. I have some great ideas on where I want to take that story.
But, here's chapter one! Poor Luffy... :)
Enjoy~!
Chapter 1: Boarding the Ship
Nami
"Your hat."
"Eh?"
I sighed, reaching up and taking it off his head. "It's probably best if we leave it here."
"Why?" He went to take it back. I let him.
"If it's found out that you're straw-hat Luffy, doesn't that just kind of ruin our trip?" I put my hand on my hip.
"Then you wear it," He said. "I don't want it out of my sight."
"Luffy, we'll get Franky to put it with Zoro's katana. It'll be safe. I promise," I took his hands in mine. "I thought about this all night. We don't know if there'll be Marines on that ship, or if there will be other pirates –the entire point of going on this trip is to get away from that for a while."
"But I don't want to," Luffy frowned deeply. "I want it with me. It's my treasure. You're taking your money with you –why can't I take my hat?"
"Luffy, I'm not taking all of my money; I just don't know what we need on this trip. This is one of those better safe than sorry measures, alright?" I squeezed his hand gently. "It'll be alright. Franky and everyone will protect your hat with their lives."
Usopp burst into the library, "You really are trying to test us with the money, aren't you!"
"No, Usopp," I rolled my eyes. I went into my desk and pulled out a den den mushi. I had bought it earlier in town. I figured we'd need to establish some kind of communication "Use this to contact us in case of emergency. I have my den den mushi packed, so it should be fine."
"So you're going to check up on us! I knew you were going to keep tabs on us and how we spent our money. I refuse to take it," Usopp crossed his arms and lifted his nose in the air defiantly.
"Then give it to the others," I shrugged. Damn it, he was being a pain in the ass. "Is Sanji still angry?"
"Well, of course he is," Usopp said, lowering his nose.
"He'll be fine," Luffy said, still clutching his hat. He looked up at me. "Nami, I really don't want to leave it –"
"The straw-hat?" Usopp asked. "We'll take care of it for you, Luffy."
Luffy looked at Usopp for a moment before turning back to me. "It's my treasure, Nami."
"You can't wear it on the cruise," I reminded him.
"So you'll wear it!" He held it out to me.
"Luffy."
"Nami," He said.
"Luffy."
"Nami."
"Usopp!" Usopp added suddenly. Luffy and I both glared at him, and he bowed his head in shame. "Sorry, I felt left out."
"It's staying, Luffy," I told him, walking towards the door.
"But Nami~" He complained.
I opened and closed the door, then walked to the ladder, climbing down into the kitchen.
"Stupid… Son of a… I could just…" Sanji was muttering in the kitchen, his back to me. "Going on a… why I would love to just… Flambé… Sauté… Boil them until their skin melts off…"
"Sanji," I got his attention.
He spun around quickly, "Nami-swa~an! How lovely to see you before you leave! Need anything?"
"If there's an emergency, use the den den mushi. You can bring it down into the kitchen, if you'd like."
"You're going to leave me here with all these idiots?" Sanji looked at the door when Chopper and Brooke walked in.
"Well, yeah," I grabbed his hands from over the counter and squeezed it gently. "Who else can I trust to make sure they don't get into trouble?"
"You can trust me, Nami-swa~an!"
"I appreciate it, Sanji," I smiled sweetly at him. "We'll be back in a week."
"It'll be a long week."
"It'll fly by," I told him. "Update me daily, alright?"
Usopp, who had been climbing down the ladder, jumped from the second rung and pointed a finger at me. "You are going to keep tabs of all our spending!"
Robin
"Do I really have to leave them?" Zoro looked at me, holding his three katana in his hands, grasping them tightly.
"It'll only be for a week. No one else on the ship will have weapons either, it'll be fine," I reassured him, walking up behind him and massaging his right shoulder with my left hand gently before leaning my head onto him.
"Maybe I can disguise them, like Brooke's shikomizue," He said.
"Or you can leave them, and Franky will take great care of the," I kissed his cheek, taking his swords gently from his hands and placing them in the locker Franky had constructed.
"I'll make sure nobody touches it."
"See, Luffy?" Nami walked in, dragging our captain with her. "Franky will make sure no one touches your hat."
"But Nami –" Luffy began, but she cut him off by placing her hand over his mouth. She held it there until she had managed to get Luffy's hat out of his hands, then quickly tossed it to me, and I took the initiative to place it in the locker with Zoro's katana. I closed it, and Franky hit lock. Only Franky and I knew the combination for the lock to release, so while Luffy shook and pulled at the handle, nothing happened.
"It'll be there when you get back," Nami promised him. "Now, go get our bags and we'll leave."
He puffed up his cheeks, but left.
"Ever feel like you're dealing with a child?" Franky laughed.
"Hmm?" Nami looked up at him. "Luffy? He has his moments, I guess. He's different when we're alone."
"How different?" I pressed.
"How –?" She repeated, and then flushed a little. "I don't know… just… different."
Franky and I both chuckled.
"I'll go get our things," Zoro said, brushing past Nami.
"I'm going to go and check on Luffy," Nami excused herself, ducking out of the room after Zoro.
Franky and I exchanged glances.
"Seeing her like that makes me forget that she's a witch," Franky said, double checking the lock and the sturdiness of the locker.
"Well, she's a girl," I smiled. "And what's a girl without love?"
Nami
The cruise ship was large. Larger, and more unique, than nearly any ship I'd ever seen before. I wondered if it were bigger than Moby Dick, the Whitebeard pirate's ship. I had never seen the Moby Dick in person though, so I couldn't really say. I would ask Luffy, but the memory of it probably brought back a few painful memories as well. It was made of steel, and towered over the dock. There were portable stairs going up to the weather deck. I counted the portholes and windows going from sea level and up. Six. So big…
"There it is," I took a deep breath and smiled happily, turning to look at Luffy. If he weren't carrying out bags, I was sure that his arms would be crossed across his chest. "Are you still angry?"
"It's my treasure," he murmured.
"I know, Luffy," I reached down and squeezed his wrist lightly. "Can I do something so that you'll forgive me?"
He paused for a moment, not meeting my gaze. Finally his eyes met mine, and he said, "Kiss me."
"I kiss you all the time," I told him, turning my face away as my cheeks heated up. It was weird to hear those words coming from his mouth.
"But you never kiss me with other people around," He murmured. I felt like I was seeing a brand new side of Luffy. I didn't know what to do. Did I kiss him? Or just brush it off as a joke?
I looked around. Zoro and Robin were looking up at the ship as we got in line to board. Other people walking by were busy making sure they had their things with them, or rushing last moment to get necessities. My heart was beating rapidly with just the thought. It was so easy to kiss him when it was just the two of us.
"Shishishi, just kidding," Luffy said, walking past me. "You don't have to."
"Idiot," I muttered underneath my breath, but I didn't follow him. Instead I clenched my fist, trying to calm my excited heart. I felt a little hurt. I didn't consider myself childish, but maybe I was? Did Luffy see me as childish? Would sharing a room really mean all we would do was play cards and games and talk?
"Nami!" Robin called out. Luffy had reached them, and they were all looking at me. I plastered on a smile, walking over to them. Robin took me in with one glance and asked, "Are you –?"
"I'm fine," I told her. "Just... I'm fine. Don't worry about it."
"This ship has Seastone lining the bottom," Robin said, turning her gaze to a brochure in her hand.
"As it should," I murmured. "This ship will be filled with regular citizens. It'd be dangerous for them otherwise."
"Ten decks, seven above the sea level. Three –" Robin looked at Luffy before skipping it and reading something else. I could imagine what she was about to say: three kitchens, three dining halls, or something along those lines. "A gym, a grand hall, a cocktail bar with a dance floor… This place has everything that comes to mind."
"And the spa," I stretched, happy just thinking about it.
"And the food," Luffy said, his stomach letting out a long and low growl. "Shishishi. I wonder when we can go to that all-you-can-eat buffet.'
"No stretching your arms, or picking fights," I told him quickly. "That'd also give you away."
"Awe," Luffy pouted again.
"I'm sorry," I said, knowing I was putting a lot of restrictions in a short amount of time. First the hat, now this, he probably hated me.
"Well, you'll be with me," Luffy said after a moment. "So, if I forget, you can just remind me."
"Mm," I smiled at him.
We moved forward with the line. As we waited, Luffy grew steadily impatient. He shifted feet so often that I felt unbalanced just watching him. Zoro started leaning into Robin to express how tired he was of all this already. Robin and I just stood there, moving when we needed to.
And then we were handing our tickets over, receiving our all-access passes, and we were on the ship. A crew member led us down to our room, Robin waved at me as we entered our separate cabins right next to each other. Luffy set our bags down on the floor, then rushed to the window.
"Amazing," He awed, and I came to look up beside him. In reality, it was the same view we took in every day on our Thousand Sunny. But it made me happy that he was excited.
I sat on the bed. It really was comfortable. I lifted up the pillow, squeezed it gently, before setting it back down. Luffy turned to me.
"This is so cool, Nami."
"Mm," I smiled. "It's a nice view. We should get windows this big on our ship."
"Shishishi," He laughed. "I don't think Franky would be happy about redoing the windows. Sunny's fine the way she is."
"Mm," I agreed. I looked at our bags on the floor, then got up and moved them to the bed. I opened the drawers in the dresser and unzipped my bag. It'd be easier to go through them this way when I was planning my outfit for the day.
"I'll help," Luffy said suddenly.
"It's fine," I told him, placing some of my shirts in the drawer.
"I'll help," Luffy said again. He unzipped his own back, and started handing me the clothes that were mine.
"Eh?" Luffy bent down to pick up something that had fallen. I kept putting my clothes away. "Nami? Do you actually wear these?"
"Wear what?" I asked, not bothering to look up.
"These," Luffy said. I glanced up to see what he was referring too, and saw him holding a pair of my panties out in front of him. I made a move to grab them, but he jumped away from me. "You know what, Nami? These are kind of… skimpy."
"Stop looking at them," I said, feeling my cheeks go red. "Just give them here, Luffy."
"Is this lace? The girls on Amazon Lily once put lace on my shirt. It was awful. I don't like lace."
"That's fine, Luffy, just give them back, please. I thought I put those in my bag, not yours."
"Are you going to wear these?"
Could my face go any redder? "No!"
"Then, can I keep them?"
"What? Why?" I stopped in my chasing him around the room.
"Eh? Well, Brooke and Franky are always wanting to –"
"Denied," I threw my shoe at him, and then grabbed them from him, shoving them in the drawer and closing it tightly. I quickly looked into his bag and made sure that there were no more surprises like that. "Go with Zoro and find something to eat."
"Are you sure you don't want help?" He asked, grinning like the idiot he was.
"I'm sure. Now get out of here. And don't cause trouble."
I paused for a moment as he left. Trouble. Surprises. My underwear in Luffy's bag. Reason behind it all? Robin.
I was going to kill her.
Robin
I smiled under the pressure of Zoro's lips. He leaned over me on the bed. He hadn't even waited to look around the room before he had caught my lips with his and led me to the bed. It was too bad that Luffy was coming to take Zoro to go eat. I wonder what he was thinking after seeing Nami's panties.
Oh, that had been funny.
I only wished I could have seen it, and not only heard it.
