I do not own One Piece

A strange new feeling

A helping hand

The next morning, Luffy had woken up and realized that he had fallen asleep on deck and noticed that there was a blanket placed over him. He had a vague idea of whom it was that had given it to him, which made him smile. He then got up and walked to the kitchen, the day before, he hadn't eaten as much as he usually would have so he was really hungry, but didn't feel like waking Sanji. He sat in his usuall chair and put his chin on the table, waiting for Sanji to cook breakfast. He closed his eyes and began to fall into a daze. A few minutes later, he heard the door open quietly.

"Oh, good morning Luffy." Nami greeted him, a bit surprised.

Luffy opened his eyes and smiled, "Morning, what are you doing up?" he asked.

"Oh, ah…I don't know, I had just woken up and was hungry so I came to wait here."

"Aa, same for me…oh, and by the way, did you put this on me last night?" He asked his navigator with a questioning expression as he lifted up the blanket.

Nami blushed and turned her head away from his, but nodded.

"Arigato Nami." He said with a big grin on his face.

She smiled and started to turn her head to him, "No problem, I saw you and thought it might get cold, so…" she stopped when they heard the door open.

Luffy and Nami both turned to the door, Sanji had just walked in, "Oi, what's going on here, why are you here with Nami-swan, Luffy?" He asked in an almost furious manner.

"Ugh….I had woken up and was waiting for you to come cook…she apparently did the same thing." He said a bit confused at Sanji's reaction.

"Un…I didn't feel like going back to bed, so I just came here to wait and Luffy was already sitting." She said as she slowly turned her head to Luffy.

"Hai…Nami-swaannnn." said Sanji in his love state as he pranced over to the kitchen to start cooking breakfast for the crew.

Nami was still looking at Luffy, almost staring at him. Luffy had also turned and noticed, so he was now staring back at her. Neither moved their eyes from the other for a few minutes, that is, until the rest of the crew came bursting in.

Zoro lazily walked over to his seat and sat down without talking, Ussop came in followed by Chopper and Franky. A few minutes later Robin walked in and took a seat, she was reading a book, as usual.

Ussop turned to Luffy with a concerned expression, "Hey Luffy, where were you last night, I didn't notice you in your bunk?" he asked.

Luffy looked up at his friend and smiled, "I went to take a shower, but when I was done I decided to lie on the deck for a while, and I guess I fell asleep." he told him in a happy tone.

"Oh..." Ussop replied, then everyone started having their own little conversations, Zoro had his eyes closed, trying to take a nap and Robin was reading her book. Nami turned to Luffy to notice his happy spirit had gone and he looked sad as he stared down at the table. She was about to talk to him when Sanji came from the kitchen with all the food. The crew then started to dig in so as to their captain wouldn't take all of the food.

"Luffy, what's up?" asked Chopper, noticing Luffy had barely eaten. "You've been acting strange the past couple days, and you're up on Sunny's head a lot."

"Ughhhh….I already said that you shouldn't worry about it, and I'm not that worried about it, besides, I just don't have an appetite…" everyone looked at him with a disbelieving frown, but didn't say anything to him, it seemed that he really just didn't want to talk about it. They all continued conversing with one another and eating until he eventually got up and left after he had finished only three plates of food. Everyone stared at him exiting the room, but again, decided against saying anything. Once they were sure he was gone, everyone sighed and looked at each other in concern for their captain.

"Man, I can't imagine what it is that's got him like this." said Sanji.

"Yea, I don't get it." said Franky.

After another minute or two of talking about Luffy, Nami clutched her stomach as she gasped and jumped up in her chair, tipping it over, and proceeded to run out the door.

"What the hell!!" exclaimed Zoro.

"Nami-swaann!!" shouted Sanji.

Nami had run over to the railing and leaned over the side, spewing her breakfast in the ocean. Luffy had seen her run out of the dining room, and ran over to her side to ask what was wrong, that's when he noticed she was throwing up.

"Nami?" he asked in concern. She had a few dry heaves before she looked up and turned to Luffy slowly. 'Oh no…he just saw me throw up…..OH MY GOD!!' she thought to herself as she became filled with embarrassment, she thought she would die. She ran off to the woman's quarters to get away from him, she didn't want him to see her like that. Everyone had run out on deck, following Nami and they all observed what had happened.

"Um…what was that?" asked Ussop.

"Well….she threw up…basically." replied Luffy.

"Really…" Ussop stated sarcastically. "We all saw that…"

Luffy pouted at Ussop's sarcasm, then he turned to the ship's doctor, "Chopper, could you go check on her." He stated more than asked.

"Sure." replied the little reindeer as he ran off to make sure Nami was alright.

"Well that's weird, she didn't seem sick at all a minute ago..." said Ussop. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement; Luffy couldn't help but feel worried for Nami.

xxxxxx

After a few minutes, Chopper had come out of the room and told everyone that she was infected with some sort of virus she had contracted on the previous island, however, he didn't know how, or from what.

"That's not good, is there anything you can do?" asked Ussop.

"My poor, poor Nami-swaannn..." exclaimed Sanji as he rolled on the ground.

"Aa, I will be able to treat her, but she will need a lot of rest, the medicine will make her very weak." replied Chopper.

"Do you think she will be better before we get to the next island?" asked Zoro.

"Possibly…at least...she might be able to walk around and eat a good amount, but I suggest we rent rooms when we get there so she isn't on the ocean, it would be better she remain stationary. She will still need rest, the medicine will get rid of the virus by tomorrow, but the side effects can last anywhere from one to two weeks, so she might be able to walk then, or not…"

"That's a long time." blurted out Luffy as he sighed.

"Aa…" replied Chopper.

Everyone just stood there for a few minutes, not knowing what to say, that is, except Zoro, who wasn't all that concerned. "I guess I'll go train…" he stated lazily.

Everyone sighed, "I need to clean up the kitchen." stated Sanji as he headed off.

"I'll stay with Nami for a while to make sure she's okay." said Chopper.

"Is she awake?" asked Luffy.

"Not at the moment, I need to bring her to the infirmary, could you do that Luffy, I need to grab some stuff first."

"Aa." Luffy couldn't help but think of the worst case scenario. He couldn't lose his navigator, he couldn't lose Nami. He remembered how he felt on Drum Island, trying to get her to a doctor. He was terrified of losing her to the illness.

Luffy walked into the woman's quarters and saw Nami breathing heavily on her bed, he sighed with a frown and walked over to her. He stood there for a while, just looking at her, before putting his arms under her back and legs, carrying her out of the room and to the infirmary.

She blinked a few times and looked up when Luffy had opened the door to leave the woman's quarters, "Lu...Luffy?" She mumbled.

"Aa…I'm taking you to the infirmary." He said with a frown.

"Why, what happened?"

He sighed, "You have some virus and Choppers gonna give you some medicine, you should be cured by tomorrow, but you will be very weak for one to two weeks." He said with a frown still on his face.

She frowned also, "Luffy…" She whispered. He looked down to see her, but her eyes were already closed.

xxxxxx

After Luffy gently placed Nami down on the patient's bed in the infirmary, he stood there looking at her until Chopper came in a few minutes later.

"Arigato Luffy." He said with a smile as he walked to a cabinet.

"No problem." Luffy replied with a grin, but then he sighed, losing the grin, and gaining a frown, "I hope she's gonna be okay."

Chopper looked up at him, noticing how Luffy was reacting to the situation, he furrowed his brows, "I'm sure she will be, but to make sure, we need to let her rest after I give her the medication."

"Aa." He sighed again as he slowly walked over to the door to sit on Sunny's head. When he got to it, he sat down and began to lose all sense of his surroundings. He was just thinking about Nami the whole time, he couldn't stop himself. However, after what seemed like few minutes, Luffy heard someone call out. He turned around to see who it was, and what they wanted.

"What was that?" he asked.

"I said its time for dinner." The voice replied.

"What??" He asked a bit surprised.

"Yea, it's time for dinner, aren't you hungry."

His stomach grumbled, "Well, now that you mention it…" he was a bit hungry, but he couldn't believe the hours just passed by like that, he had even missed lunch.

Luffy headed over to the dining room, followed by the rest of the crew. As everyone sat down and began to eat they were all painfully aware of the empty seat. Luffy was eating like a normal person; however, he lacked table manners almost completely. Just the fact that he wasn't stealing food, and eating somewhat civilized made the crew realize how much this was affecting him.

"Ghaa…this week has been so depressing..." exclaimed Ussop.

"Yea, no thanks to you Luffy." accused Sanji as he pointed a finger at the captain.

"Nani….what did I do?" he asked in confusion.

"You haven't been yourself lately, you seem like you're not even there, are you sure you don't want to talk about anything?" Sanji asked.

"Well, sorry about that…and no, I really would rather not talk about it." He said in a bored tone.

"Fine, just don't blame us when you have problems when you're older." Luffy only pursed his lips at Sanji's remark and continued eating.

After that, they all finished up in relative silence and went off to do other things. But, Luffy just sat in his seat, leaned back, and closed his eyes, thinking. Again, he couldn't get his mind off of her; it was like a nonstop thing now.

By the time Luffy had snapped out of his little day dream, he realized that it was late, really late. He got up and exited the dining room, walking to the men's quarters and noticed that everyone was sleeping. He then sighed and closed the door quietly, walking to the infirmary to check on Nami. When he got to the door, he quietly opened it, he stepped in and looked at her, she seemed to be fine, but she still had a fever and was breathing roughly. He walked to her side and looked down at her for a while, examining her face. 'I hate this; I hate it when you're sick…' he said to himself.

He went to the other side of the room to get a chair, brought it up next to the bed and watched her for a while longer. He was tired, but didn't want to leave; he let his hands fall to his sides, one landing on the bed next to Nami, and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

xxxxxx

Blinking slightly, she looked around, she felt horrible, and she could barely move. When she saw him, it felt like she couldn't breathe at all, he was sitting right next to her and his hand lying by her side. She blushed and watched him sleep, then, noticing that he didn't look peaceful this time; it was as if he was having some sort of nightmare. She looked down at his hand again and struggling, she brought hers to it and held it, she felt his hand lightly grasp onto hers, which made her gasp quietly. She smiled as he seemed to have relaxed a bit and she once again closed her eyes to sleep.

xxxxxx

Luffy woke up, rubbing his eyes; he looked around to find himself in the infirmary. He looked down and saw Nami which made him smile, but he also noticed that he was now holding her hand. 'I don't remember that…' he blushed and stood up. Quietly walking out the door so he didn't wake her up, he walked slowly to the deck, making his way to the rail near Sunny's head; he proceeded to just look out to sea.

"Oi, Luffy, what are you doing up so early again?"

Luffy turned around to see who it was, "Sanji…Oh…I don't know, I just keep waking up and can't fall back to sleep..." he replied, however that wasn't the case today.

"Well, Breakfast will be ready in a few, could you go wake up the others in maybe five minutes?"

"Sure." Then he turned his eyes back out to sea as Sanji walked into the kitchen to start making the food.

After the five minutes had passed, Luffy walked to the men's quarters and said loudly, "Wake up guys, breakfast." Everyone groaned as they turned in their bunks and grunted at Luffy, but they all slowly got up and made their way out to the deck, Luffy was already at the woman's quarters when the door opened and Robin stepped out.

"Oh, Robin, I was just about to wake you."

She smiled, "Arigato Captain-kun, however, I usually wake up around this time every day." Luffy smiled and headed to the kitchen.

Breakfast was quiet with little conversing and once again Luffy was eating like a normal person. The crew had, not so much as gotten used to it, but they weren't really concerned as much because they knew he would never talk to them about it. Luffy was, again, thinking about Nami, almost nonstop.

After they had finished with breakfast, they all went to do separate things; Luffy stopped Chopper before he left the dining room.

"Chopper…would Nami be able to maybe drink something, or is she still too weak?" asked Luffy, nervously.

Chopper turned to him with a puzzled face, "Um…I suppose if she feels up to it, that would be fine, but only give it to her if she is awake, I don't want her being woken up."

"Okay…um, do you mind if I feed her until she gets well enough to come to the table?"

"Sure, sounds good to me." He said with a smile as he headed over to watch Ussop tinker with a new contraption. Chopper was confused by Luffy's strange behavior lately, and it only seemed to get stranger day by day.

Luffy walked into the kitchen area, got a cup from the cupboard and filled it with some juice, he wasn't sure if she would want it, but he felt that he should at least try. So he walked out the door and headed to the stairs to get to the infirmary. He stood in front of the door for a while, thinking to himself, but finally opened it quietly and stepped in.

"Oh...Luffy." he heard in a strained voice.

Luffy looked over at the bed to see Nami on her side, looking at him with drowsy eyes, "Nami….how are you feeling…well never mind, you probably feel like crap." He frowned as he walked over to the chair he had put near her the night before.

"Ugh….yea, I can barely move." she looked up at him and smiled.

"Well I brought you some juice, I thought food might be too difficult to eat in your condition, I don't know if you want……" he was cut off by her tired voice.

"Arigato Luffy, my throat is really dry." Luffy frowned and handed her the cup, but noticed that she was about to drop it.

"Huh….looks like I can't even hold the cup…" she said with a pout.

"Ehh…that's fine, I'll just have to help you." he replied with a smile. He helped her into a sitting position and slowly brought the cup to her lips with his other hand holding her back for support. She blushed as she closed her eyes and drank most of the juice. Once she drank as much as she could, Luffy laid her back down and put the cup on the counter. She was smiling and looked like she was fine, but he knew she was very weak at the moment. He smiled at her as he stood up and walked over to the door, about to open it.

"Luffy..." he heard her faint voice.

"Hmmm?" he had turned around to look at her.

After a while of silence and just looking at each other, she closed her eyes, "Ah…never mind."

He furrowed his brows in concern, "Well, I hope you feel a lot better tomorrow." he said with his silly grin as he closed the door.

'Stupid….you should have just asked him…' she thought to herself. 'Why would he ever sleep by my side??'

xxxxxx

Luffy had decided that he would try and make himself feel better by playing with the guys. As he walked on deck, he spotted almost the entire crew, with the exception of Nami, which made him sigh. He continued to walk to the middle of the deck before stopping and looking around. After a minute or two he stopped and looked at the grassy deck before talking.

"Oi," he yelled out, but not so loud that Nami would be bothered, "Anyone want to play some cards or something?" he asked with a grin.

The entire crew looked at him in surprise, he seemed fine now, and most of them smiled at his new attitude. It was strange though, he had been so sad and gloomy for a while now, and all of a sudden he seems back to his normal, happy self.

"Oi, Luffy, I'll play." hollered Ussop.

"Oh...Me to, me to." said Chopper excitedly.

"Anyone else?" grin still present.

"Aa, I guess I'll play… nothing else to do." Replied Franky as he happily walked over to join them.

"Right, let's get started." Luffy seemed to be completely back to his normal self now, and it made everyone feel relieved.

Luffy sat down on the deck as they all played cards and laughed out gleefully as they made faces and told jokes. Nami could hear this and she was happy that Luffy was laughing again. Then she felt herself getting drowsy as she slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep.

The next time she woke up it was dark and she looked around. To her surprise, Luffy was sitting right next to her again, this time his hand was on her pillow. She smiled as she watched him sleep like the night before. She laid her head right up against his hand as she closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of his skin on her cheek; she got a strange feeling when she did that.

"Nami…." He whispered, she opened her eyes quickly and looked at his face. It was the same and his breathing hadn't changed. She closed her eyes again, 'Is he having a dream about me?' she thought to herself as she felt a blush stain her cheeks and she closed her eyes once again.

xxxxxx

The next morning Luffy hadn't woken up early, but he heard commotion down on deck. He looked down at Nami who was still sleeping soundly, but she was laying her head gently on his hand. He blushed, and slowly removed his hand so he didn't wake her, and walked quietly out of the room. He walked down to the deck to see everyone with the exception of Nami, Robin, and Zoro, running around, looking for something.

"Oi, what's going on?" he asked the crew.

"Oh, Luffy, there you are, we were getting worried…we couldn't find you." stated Ussop.

"Aa…where were you anyways?" Sanji asked.

"Ugh….well…I was looking over the back railing into the wake of the ship until I notice the commotion on deck." He said a bit hurriedly.

"Ghaa…no one even bothered to look there…" exclaimed Ussop.

"Is breakfast ready?" Luffy asked excitedly.

Sanji sighed, "Aa, I made some eggs with ham and………….." Luffy had wized by him into the dining room.

Ussop and Chopper laughed as everyone else headed for the dining room. Luffy had already started eating and seemed to be eating like he usually would, reaching over everywhere stuffing his face.

"Well Luffy, you sure seem to be in a better mood today." said a lazy Zoro.

"Aa…" Luffy said as he continued to stuff his face, most of the crew chuckled as they also began to eat.

After breakfast Luffy decided to bring Nami some more juice and some eggs. He walked out on deck and headed for the infirmary.

"Taking navigator-san some food?" he turned around quickly and saw who it was; she was grinning and was giggling to herself.

"A…Aa…she needs to eat something and she can't make it to the table so…"

"Un…That is very thoughtful of you captain-kun." Said Robin, Luffy smiled and continued walking.

He opened the door quietly and saw that Nami was asleep, he walked over and watched her for a minute before putting the food and drink on the chair beside her and headed for the door.

"Luffy." he heard a faint voice call him.

He turned around to see Nami wiping her eyes, "Aa, do you…" he was cut off.

"Could you help me again, I don't think I can do it." She said with a pout.

Luffy chuckled and walked over to her picking up the plate and drink then sitting down.

"It's not funny." She said as she pursued her lips at him with furrowed brows. He only smiled at her warmly and she noticed his expression. She lightened up a bit and smiled herself, thinking of the night before, wondering again if he was having a dream about her.

"Do you want to try food today?" He asked in a gentle voice.

"Un…I'm hungry." She laughed.

"I bet, I couldn't imagine going two days with no food…." He frowned.

She giggled as he brought a forkful of egg to her mouth. She gladly accepted it and opened her mouth, slowly chewing the egg. After a few forkfuls she asked for some of the juice. It took about ten minutes but she had finally finished everything he had brought, which wasn't much, but was still food. 'Luffy sure has been extra nice this whole time, and he was very patient feeding me, which he usually never is…'

"Well, that's everything; you should probably get some more rest." He said with a smile as he stood up.

"Wait, Luffy." She said quickly.

He turned to her. "Hmmm?"

"Um…it's kind of embarrassing, but could you bring me to the bathroom??" she asked as she turned her face away from him as she blushed. She hadn't gone in almost two and a half days, and she felt like she would explode.

Luffy smiled again, "No problem." She turned her face back to him with a smile.

"Arigato." Luffy then walked over to her, picking her up, she then wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. He was holding her legs as he walked out of the room. She wasn't looking at him because her face was dark red, considering how he was carrying her, she didn't notice at first but his face was the same.

Once they reached the bathroom he opened the door and brought her to the toilet, he let her down and noticed that she could barely stand.

"You gonna be okay?" he asked

"Un..."

"Okay, let me know when you're ready." He said as he closed the door behind him.

After a few minutes she was done and pulled her pants up, she was still wearing the pajama types that Luffy had brought her. She stumbled over to the sink using the wall to balance so she could wash her hands.

"Luffy, I'm done." She said in a loud voice so he could hear her, the door opened as he walked in.

"Ready?" he asked with a smile.

"Un." she also smiled.

He picked her up again, the same way and they both blushed again, this time she noticed him blush.

"Getting a little heat stroke?" she asked in a teasing way as she giggled.

Luffy only blushed further as he walked out of the room and headed to the infirmary, "I wouldn't be talking if I were you." He said warmly then she looked away and grinned.

As he put her down on the bed, he looked into her eyes as she did the same. Snapping out of it, he said, "Um…do you think you'll want lunch or dinner?"

"Ah…probably not, but thanks for offering."

"No problem." He walked to the door and was closing it.

"Luffy." She called out, but he was already gone.

'Damn it Nami…' she thought to herself.

xxxxxx

The day went by much the same as the previous; only, today they went fishing instead of playing cards. Sanji had a few scuffles with Zoro about all the shit they usually fight about. Luffy and the other guys only laughed as they watched, since Nami wasn't there to knock some sense into them, Robin had to do it if it got to out of control. Luffy had gone to check on Nami multiple times during the course of the day, but she was asleep every time.

After dinner everyone went on deck, they all chatted for a while before heading to bed; Luffy was just looking over the railing the whole time. He was sure he heard them talking about him at one point, but he wasn't too concerned about it. After about a half an hour of being the only one on deck he headed to the infirmary to check on Nami.

He stepped in quietly, glancing at Nami, then turning to walk out.

"Luffy?" he heard.

"Hmmm?" he then turned around.

"Where are you going?" she asked a little nervous.

"I was just going to the bathroom." He replied. 'Why does she care where I go…' he thought to himself.

"Oh…um...could you bring me a glass of water on your way back?" she asked. He smiled as he nodded and walked off.

After he had finished up in the bathroom, he made his way to the kitchen, getting her a cup, and filling it with water. Then he noticed a cup on the counter containing straws so he took one and stuck it in the cup. He walked back to the deck and headed up the stairs to the infirmary.

He opened the door and walked over to her bed, sat down in the chair letting out a sigh, and handed her the cup.

"Um…Luffy." She said.

He looked over in confusion, then he realized. "Oh…sorry Nami…" he said frowning at himself.

She giggled as he brought the straw close enough to her mouth. "It's okay." Then she started to drink in large gulps, she hadn't had anything to drink all day. When she was done he put the cup on the counter, then he put one hand on the bed and his other in his lap.

"Luffy?" she whispered, however, he was already asleep. She sighed before looking at his hand and blushing. She held it with her hand and brought it up to her chest as she also fell asleep.

Reviews are appreciated...good or bad.