Sanji slid a large platter of breakfast rolls into the center of the table, setting the coffee pot on a coaster near Robin. Brook sipped at his Earl Gray and tried to pay attention to the debate raging across the table.
"There's no one else on this ship." Zoro ground out yet again, one hand clenched like a vise around one of his swords while he held an empty mug in the other and waved it in Robin's general direction as a gesture requesting her to pour him a cup of coffee.
"Someone has to be!" Nami insisted, she would have been beating some sense into him had her arms not been wrapped loosely around the small body in her lap. Chopper was running a simple check up on Luffy to try and form a diagnosis for whatever might have caused Luffy's shrinkage and amnesia. "This kind of thing doesn't just happen!" She gestured randomly at the boy as he squirmed in his sleep, mumbling faintly in gibberish and half sentences. "It's got 'devil fruit' written all over it!"
"We're in the New World. He probably ate something he shouldn't have." Zoro barked and Sanji stopped dead in the process of setting the first actual plates of breakfast on the table.
"Are you accusing my cooking, mosshead?" He growled, leaning across the table to get in his face and Usopp scooted a little further away from the two.
"No, but that's just as likely to have poisoned him as some weird animal or plant." Zoro countered, nonchalant, even as Sanji reached forward and buried his fingers in the man's green hair.
"Yeah! This weird plant right here must have done it!" Sanji tugged at the hair in his hand and Zoro lurched forward to clash foreheads with the other man, grabbing his own handful of blond.
"Stop that!" Usopp yelled frantically "You shouldn't make so much noise, what if he wakes up? He's gonna be mad at us…"
"Then you stop yelling!" Nami shrieked at him, "And you two, stop fighting! Now is not the time!"
"Woah!" Franky stood up and held out his metal hands to try and calm everyone down, not that a large, red, blue and pink metal cyborg wearing a speedo was all that good at calming people down. Though he does command attention. Sanji had already begun pulling out of the fight when Nami had asked him to and Zoro released his own grip on the cook's hair with a sigh while Usopp leaned back in his chair with a worried sigh. "Don'cha think we're getting too worked up here? It's probably temporary."
"He's a… what? Five? Six?" Usopp guessed leaning over to look at the child again "Six year old kid with a bounty of five hundred million on the most dangerous ocean in the world." Usopp said "He's on a pirate ship and he sinks like a rock and he's Luffy."
"He won't last a day." Sanji nodded grimly while Franky nudged his shoulder, laughing about lack of faith.
"And what if it's not temporary?" Nami asked Franky "What if we have to do something to fix it?"
"Then we do it," Franky shrugged "but freaking out like this isn't doing any good."
"Franky is right." All eyes turned to Robin, who had her fingers wrapped around her mug of coffee and her eyes closed serenely. She opened them slowly. "I double checked, no one is on this ship. Unless it was one of us, no one did anything to cause this to happen, after all we haven't docked in days. A serum with that kind of incubation period is incredibly rare and I happen to know there are none with these sorts of effects." She smiled as Usopp accused her of having morbid habits and waited as Nami quieted him with a kick to the shin. "This is a puzzle like any other. We'll solve it one piece at a time."
There was a temporary silence as that philosophy settled over the others. They'd done more impossible things before, and not even the Gods could keep Luffy from becoming the Pirate King. The hardest part of the whole event was sure to be corraling a wanted, hyper six year old.
Usopp chuckled suddenly "At least he's not in diapers or something, then we'd have a problem." Franky guffawed and reached over to slap him on his back while Nami blushed furiously and Zoro nearly choked on his own coffee.
"We already have a problem." Chopper said anxiously, finally pulling away from Luffy and taking his stethoscope out of his ears. The mood immediately dropped into negativity, as though plunged into ice water as all attention was focused on the little doctor.
"Is something wrong with him?" Nami asked, clutching the boy a little tighter before realizing that that helped absolutely nothing.
"He looks perfectly healthy." Robin mused but Chopper shook his head.
"His pulse is way too fast, and his blood pressure is really high."
"How bad is that?"
"Bad. There's a lot of stress on his heart. If he wasn't rubber… I'd predict either burst blood vessels or… cardiac arrest."
A beat of silence.
"W-well he is rub-bber so let's not worry about that." Usopp stuttered as Nami tried to comfort herself by untangling Luffy's hair. She glanced down to remind herself he was still right there, whining in his sleep about robot steak and 'grsufi' and then, as her eyes ran casually over his face she noticed what was missing. She gasped and Chopper was there peering next to her in an instant.
"What? What happened?"
"His scar, his scar is missing!"
"The stitched one, under his eye?" Robin asked, curious, while Usopp stood up to lean over the table and look himself.
"That's what looked wrong to me before." Nami realized and Chopper stepped away at the false alarm.
"Yeah, I'm not sure where it went." Chopper dropped his stethoscope into his bag "Where they went actually. Rubber doesn't scar easily, but those he has contracted… poof. Gone." He shrugged the bag onto his shoulders. That's another thing; aside from his blood pressure and heart rate there's nothing wrong. His scars are gone, his systems are all functioning normally, everything is just… smaller."
"And his memory." Sanji reminded him, setting a platter of bacon on the table. "Speaking of which, let's see what's up with that." He took a strip of meat between two fingers and dangled it over Luffy's nose.
The boy twitched, then licked his lips. Nami couldn't help but roll her eyes as he bolted upright and tore the strip out of Sanji's hand, humming with content as the taste settled over his tongue.
"Wow… You make really good bacon…" He stared up at Sanji, then his eyes darted back to the bacon. "Mmm…" He licked his lips and reached for a second piece before stopping. "Can I eat it?"
"You aren't mad?" Usopp blurted and Luffy tilted his head.
"No. I just want the bacon."
"uh… Yeah. Go ahead, it's for you."
"Really? All that? So cool!" He beamed and snatched up a handful as though they were chips. "Foh, who awe 'ou guys?" he asked, absently, through a mouth full of bacon.
Nami wasn't sure if she should be relieved or worried that his memory was apparently wiped clean again and she wasn't the only one with mixed feelings. On one hand it was a second chance to earn his trust, on the other, the problem seemed to be getting worse. Chopper looked ready to faint of relief that the boy wasn't dying of a heart attack so she probably shouldn't complain.
"Oh, Luffy-san, do you really not remember us? We're your…"
"We're pirates!" Nami shouts over Brook, but Luffy doesn't seem to be paying attention to what's actually being said, his eyes trained on Brook. He hesitates.
"Are you a skeleton?"
"Yes."
"Are you dead?"
"Yes."
"That's creepy. How?"
"Ah, well, I ate a Devil Fruit!"
"What's that?"
"You don't know what a Devil Fruit is?" Usopp yelped as Nami kicked him in the shin but he plowed on "I mean, it's a Devil Fruit." He stressed.
"Nope! Does it taste good?"
"No." Came the vehement reply of the other three devil fruit users.
"It's a fruit that gives you powers but takes away your ability to swim." Robin explains, steam from her coffee coiling in her face. "Brook ate one that gave him two chances at life."
"Really? That's cool! But still creepy. You're scary!" The boy grinned at his musician, who then slumped down in his seat, bones clicking slightly as his joints shifted. He'd been told he was scary, but he never thought he'd hear it from Luffy-san. He wondered why he wasn't screaming, actually, he'd been shocked the first time they made eye contact! (Not that he was capable of making eye contact, for obvious reasons.) "I wouldn't want to eat one. I'm learning how to swim!" he sticks out his tongue while Robin raises her eyebrow and Sanji exchanges quizzical looks with Usopp, who's gone wide eyed. "Besides, I only like good food. I wouldn't eat something yucky." Sanji snorts at that.
"You'd eat charred squid drenched in hot sauce and call it gourmet." He thought for a moment, absently puffing out a smoke ring. "You did once, now that I think about it. Not that I'd ever burn squid, or put hot sauce on it for that matter." He glared at Usopp who whistled and looked in the other direction, rubbing his hands on his bare arms, which had suddenly been covered with goose bumps.
"Nah, Makino makes food for me, so I know she'd never feed me something that tasted bad." He sucked on his greasy fingertips as the last of the bacon disappeared. "Mmm, thanks! You guys are nice!" He blinked, tilted his head as his eyes darted around the room again. "Who are you guys again?"
"Pirates." Nami cut in before anyone else could. "No worries, we're friendly."
"We thought you might like to go on an adventure with us." Robin interjected smoothly. "Shanks told us you are eager to set sail."
"Shanks?"
The question was simple, completely innocent, but it threw a pick axe between the eyes of every straw hat except Brook and Franky, neither of which had ever before heard the name. The few times Luffy had mentioned Shanks to them it had been entirely clear that he idolized the man in every sense of the word. Just a half hour ago he'd tearfully proclaimed that Shanks had given him Hat, and that if it was stolen from him it would break the promise that left him to become pirate king. If that didn't say something about Luffy's immense admiration of the man, then nothing did.
It also left the straw hats with almost no knowledge at all, seeing as how his memories of Shanks were about the only part of Luffy's childhood any of them knew even remotely.
"Uh… Yeah!" Usopp improvised, waving his hands. "Shanks. He's a fisherman, he said he lived on the same island as you for years before he set out to…" He paused, fumbling for something interesting enough to entertain Luffy.
"Fish in the other seas." Sanji filled in, rolling his cigarette between his fingers. "He wanted some variety. We ran into him in North Blue."
"So we mentioned we needed a cabin boy, someone who could brave the Grand Line!" Usopp picked up again, Luffy gasped.
"The Grand Line?" Usopp nodded profoundly, leaning forward to poke Luffy's nose with his own. The boy giggled and rubbed the spot where they'd touched.
"You know who he suggested?" Luffy shook his head, wonder shining in his eyes, breathless with amazement. "You! 'Monkey D. Luffy, in East Blue!' He told us; 'Brave and strong and loyal to boot! He wants to be a pirate, and he'd make the best cabin boy you ever did see!'" Usopp fumbled suddenly , realizing that Luffy would never want to be just a cabin boy. "'Until he's old enough to lead his own crew as Captain, that is!' So we sailed straight for East Blue to pick you up!"
"Really?" He gasped "You want me to be your cabin boy? And go on adventures? As a pirate?"
"Yes we do." Usopp winked at his crewmates and Zoro rolled his eye while Robin tittered into her hand.
"I really want to be a pirate," Luffy clenched his hands into fists and bounced up and down in place before biting his lip and forcefully calming himself down. "But you guys should take me home." The boy wilted and jaws dropped. He looked beyond dejected, bordering on depressed, his eyes dark and maybe a little watery as Sanji choked on smoke and Nami dropped her fork while Chopper clutched at his bag of medical supplies.
"Why's that?" Robin prodded and Luffy pouted.
"You guys are all really nice, but my Grandpa is a super strong, really mean, marine! He doesn't want me to be a pirate, he's training me to be a marine." Luffy made a face "The uniform is itchy." Chopper gagged while Usopp turned pale at the image of Luffy in a marine uniform. "But he'll get super mad at you for taking me, he'll arrest you and then you won't be able to be pirates anymore!" Luffy threw his hands on the air and stuck his forehead up against Usopp's, eyes gleaming with sincerity and maybe a hint of desperation. "So you get you have to bring me home? You don't want to meet Ji-Ji. Especially if he likes you, then he gives you a Fist of Love. He'll come after you." He warned.
"You don't have to worry about that." Zoro took a swig from his coffee mug, didn't bother sitting up from his trademarked I-Don't-Give-A-Crap-About-Life-Gimme-Booze lounge. "We're hardier then we look. We've been through a lot to take our Captain where he wants to go." Luffy's interest snagged on the swordsman and he twisted away from Usopp to look Zoro straight in the eye. Nami made frantic cut-off motions behind Luffy's head, and when that didn't work, pointed at Zoro and then rubbed her fingers together in the universal symbol for 'you owe me'. Usopp stuttered a few times, trying to catch Luffy's attention again, recognizing that the swordsman was carelessly entering dangerous territory.
"Aren't you the captain?" he asked suddenly and Sanji sputtered, then guffawed whilst Zoro had begun chuckling but stopped on account of being offended by the cook's adamant reaction.
"No." he answered shortly.
"Definitely no!" Sanji slapped his knee "You think I'd ever follow this Moss-head?"
"Well I dunno! I just met you guys!" Luffy defended, stomping his foot as his face shifted into frustrated embarrassment and gained a red tinge. "Who is your captain then?" He glared around the table with his cheeks puffed out, and when no one answered immediately he stomped his foot again, the too-large sandal slipping off. "Well then where are they! That's not nice, to bring someone aboard and then not say hello!"
"He's preoccupied at this time." Robin invented as she slid a glass of juice (which she'd discreetly transferred to the table using extra limbs) towards the boy in an effort to appease him.
"Yes!" Nami supported "Very urgent business on another island, had to go settle it himself."
"That's even worse! The captain's job is to protect everyone, so you guys took me and Ji Ji is gonna come get you and your captain isn't here to help!" He breathed in sharply "Ah! He's gonna be all mad that I got you guys into trouble!" By this time his arms were flailing and his eyes were blown wide, Zoro sighed, reached out a hand and caught Luffy's wrist, pulling the boy to face him.
"He won't be mad, because we won't get in trouble cause I just told you, we're strong."
"Strong as Ji Ji?" Luffy asked dubiously.
"Gotta be." Zoro released his wrist and leaned fully back again. "Can't reach the One Piece without that kind of strength."
Luffy's jaw dropped, his voice came out in a whisper.
"The One Piece? We're going to find the One Piece?" Nods all around the table and Usopp grinned, Luffy was theirs for sure now.
"And you want me to come?" More nods, and Luffy nodded along, quick, jerky, smiling nods as he clenched his teeth in excitement. "I'm coming! I'll find treasure to pay off my treasure tab and I won't ever have to get hit by Ji-Ji again and I'll have adventures and I'll have lot's and lot's of friends!"
Robin looked bemused as she exchanged glances with Nami, who had lost her temporary position as chair in the process of the last few minutes, as at one point or another, Luffy had clambered onto the table. Brook sang out his cheerful laugh and Sanji slunk off to get the other platters of breakfast he'd prepared. Looking at Luffy, standing on the table and already reaching for the food on the plates Sanji had picked up, it was easy to imagine that maybe they could make this work.
~2~
"Like this?" Luffy pushes the mop back and forth along the wooden floor of the second level deck. One of the strings gets caught between the boards and he stumbles backward, almost tripping on the bucket set behind him.
"Almost." Usopp catches the mop handle so the boy has something upright to hang onto, he clings. "Just move the mop, don't move with it."
"Right," Luffy plants his feet, swinging the mop haphazardly, almost poking out Usopp's eye with the round tipped handle.
"Good job!" He ducks away from the flailing mop handle and stands back against the railing with Nami, watching Luffy swab the deck (spreading more dirty suds than clean ones).
Keeping Luffy occupied for the last few hours had not been an easy task, but by filling his time with increasingly odd jobs, they'd managed. Despite the whole morning's fiasco occurring at three o'clock in the morning Luffy hadn't been tired in the slightest; luckily, the Straw hats were used to all nighters.
Usopp had been the one tasked with watching out for the diminutive captain, he'd been the obvious choice because of the impression that Luffy had taken of him as an amazing pirate mentor, the whole relationship bordered on imprinting. Most of the others kept their distance, occupied with suddenly pressing tasks, Robin and Chopper researching, Franky building Luffy-proof railings for the deck (attachable and detachable since this whole thing would not be permanent) Brook had warily vanished into the belly of the ship, anxious that he might scare Luffy by mistake, even though the boy had been nothing but curious and enthusiastic. Zoro was stationed on watch, and the sounds of increasingly heavy weights being lifted at an ever-quickening pace made it clear that he'd prefer if the others steered clear.
Sanji was making second breakfast and early lunch, grumbling about how everyone's internal clock was going to be out of whack for days because of the extra early meal.
"It's a bit surreal isn't it?" Nami muses, fingering the tattered brim of the straw hat. Luffy, without any memories of Shanks, had commented that the hat was cool but wasn't his when Nami had offered it to him. "Yesterday he was excited because we were going to an island with a shaky needle, now he's excited because he's learning how to mop."
"Hey now, don't argue with easy to please," Usopp joked, shooting Luffy a thumbs up when the boy turned to see if he was watching.
"I'm not arguing, it's just strange. That little kid over there beat up two shichibukai and had fun doing it, now he has no idea what a gum gum pistol is! Not to mention, who just ups and shrinks out of the blue?"
"We have such a volatile captain," Usopp snickers and reaches out for the hat, Nami hands it to him. "But really, he's not that different. Yeah, he's in Chopper's clothes, and yeah he doesn't run around yelling he's going to be the pirate king, and yeah he's forgotten he even has a hat…" He glanced up from playing with the red hat ribbon, Nami had her eyebrows raised. "OK, so he's different. But really, watch this." He hands the hat back to Nami and watches Luffy fondly for a second. He's given up on actually mopping and is instead practicing mock sword exercises with his mop handle acting as a practice sword. "Hey Luffy!" The boy freezes, the mop handle brandished in front of him, probably imbedded in some imaginary enemies gut; the guilt on his face looks crushing, and it makes Nami laugh at how little it takes to upset the child when her captain usually wouldn't bat an eye at the situation. "Working hard over there?" Usopp smirks and the boy let's a wobbly smile spreads over his lips, he lowers the mop handle and actually moves it so it's a little behind his back, as though trying to hide the evidence.
"Um, yeah! I'm mopping really hard, not pretending to fight enemy pirates at all…" He purses his lips and ducks his head.
"Oh, don't be mean," Nami lightly slaps Usopp's arm and then grins at Luffy "you're doing a great job, Luffy," she assures him and Luffy beams nervously. "The deck is sparkling!"
Neither of them miss the relief that passes behind Luffy's eyes before he brings the mop out again and pushes it back and forth a few times, clearly for show.
"See not that different," Usopp leans back over the railing, stretching his back out till he feels it pop.
"You're fooling yourself," Nami argues "He might have some similarities, but you and I both know that he's an extremely different person, just maybe not on a fundamental level. Luffy can't lie," she holds up a finger "That's rule number one in the How To Live With Luffy handbook. Speaking of which; rule two, he gets bored fast, what do you suggest for when he stops mopping? Or pretending to mop." Luffy may have maintained the charade for a few moments after his brush with discovery, but he's switched back into mock fighting now, but they leave him to it.
"We'll give him a new job, watering the grass or something," Usopp shrugs. Not all of the jobs they tried were good fits, like Luffy helping Sanji wash dishes, or Luffy watering his pop greens (which were slightly carnivorous, but that wasn't a problem for him, only for a small boy who was just the right size to be an appetizer), or, for a short time, Luffy doodling maps of his home village with Nami's help. Nami flicks Usopp's nose irritably.
"He'll make the whole deck a marsh! You can have him do that but only if you take the heat when Franky finds out." She crosses her arms and he gapes at her.
"What! But you're the one with a body guard!" Honestly, Nami never took advantage of her gender… Ok, lie. But she only used certain advantages, she could do almost anything she wanted
and she'd never have to worry about it because of Sanji. Nami ignored him, turning back to their charge and tapping her chin thoughtfully.
"He's a kid right, what about a game?"
"It's not like he would sit still long enough to play cards or something. Oh! How about hide and seek?" Usopp smirks until Nami brings a fist down on his head.
"NO. Don't let him out of your sight!"
Luffy's begun to hum a happy song, that sounds a bit like a morphed version of Bink's sake (morphed as in there's a number of notes in all the wrong spots) and is happily swinging the mop around the deck, shifting into a dance that carries him over the slippery boards as he stumbles about with his clumsy partener. He's content, until he's interrupted. Pain pierces directly beneath his eye, he feels the blood slide over his skin and he shouts with the abrupt charge that shocks through him. He drops the mop, his hands flying to his eye, the skin there is dry, no blood, but it stings, burns, the skin is marred, smoother than it should be.
Usopp and Nami both straighten, snapping towards the cry and in just a second Usopp is crossing towards his captain.
"You alright?" He asks and when Luffy shakes his head Nami is across the deck in a few steps, Usopp kneeling down and turning the boy to look at him. "What happened?"
"My eye hurts," Luffy sniffles and the tears begin to bud in the eye they can see.
"Let me see," Nami kneels down to his height and pulls his hands away from his face. She gasps.
While Luffy sniffles she traces a feather-light fingertip along the curve of the scar beneath his right eye, the skin is shiny and new, bright red with two fresh lines where stitching has recently been removed.
"How did you get this?" She breathes tracing it again while Usopp yelps at the sight of the new wound. Luffy shakes his head and Nami pulls her hand back.
"I don't know, it hurrrrttsssssss…" His eyes well up full and Nami hastily swipes her thumbs across the pooling tears.
"Don't do that! The salt will sting if it gets on there," She scolds and Luffy begins to chew on his lower lip, shaking, as though holding his breath will make the tears stop flowing. Nami sighs and looks up at Usopp, questions flitting across the space between the two. He cringes and waves his hands, she closes her eyes and shakes her head, turning back to Luffy; she should have known better then to turn to Usopp for answers.
"We should put a band aid on that, come 'ere." Luffy held up his arms and she hoisted him up from under his armpits. He wraps his legs around her torso and settles his head on her shoulder. He sniffles again before pulling away, looking at his hand.
"Luffy?" Nami prompts, he ignores her, instead reaching out and pulling on his hand as if his wrist might come out of its joint.
It stretched.
~2~
Tears, salt water, blood. He's wet, wet with it all, clutching at the fabric of the shirt, wringing it out with his fists even as it's soaked with the next wave. The noise, just his screams and Shanks' reassurances (lies) and waves. The waves are deafening. He goes under, blood mingles with salt, it's coppery salty water, he spits it out.
"It's alright Anchor, it's just an arm."
It's not, it's Shank's arm, it's special and important and it's gone because of him.
Wave, over his head, Shanks curses into his hair as he's pressed close and blood drips onto his ear as he's clutched closer still. water, silence, the swirl of the water around him, he surfaces.
It's gone.
In an instant it's gone, all of it. Everything.
He screams.
No more water, no more blood. He can't feel the waves, can't hear Shanks, he's not wet, his arms are wrapped tightly around someone else, not clenched in fabric. He's being shaken, carried, someone is running, bouncing him gently.
It's all gone, except for the tears and reassurances.
"Calm down, it's just a scar."
"We're taking you to Chopper, he'll make it stop stinging."
"Don't worry, rubber is cool."
"Don't cry Luffy! I've got this nice cream that'll help…"
"Please, Luffy, that hurts."
His eyes fly open, it's gone, it's absolutely all gone. Shanks, Shanks… Shanksshanksshanksshanks! He cries, he let's go, his body snaps back together and he falls, onto wood, onto a floor. It's a tumble and a crawl and a leap, the step back, into her leg. She's tall, and not Makino, not Shanks. Who? Whowhowho?
"Hey, nothing's wrong." He spins, the man is towering, his arms reaching, grabbing! Everything's wrong. Where's Shanks. Where's he? He stumbles and falls to the side, something catches him, his size. He yells as the fur wraps around him, it's soft, it's not Shanks.
"NO!" He screams and he pushes away, the fur goes away, he stumbles, he crawls. The wall gives, a tumble, into a new place. Long. A hall. Not the ocean, where's the sea monster? Where's Shanks? Did he die? Is his arm really gone?
"Luffy! Hey, hey, look at me, come 'ere." The hand is around his, grasping, he spins and spits.
"Let go of me! Shanks! Shanks, where…?" He slides his hand free, the grip had gone lax, he runs.
~2~
"No! Nononono!" Usopp chatters and stumbles down the hall, reaching for the boy as he careens down the hall. He's screaming gibberish and is obviously confused and scared. This isn't Luffy, not at all.
"What the heck!" Sanji yells as the kitchen door blows open with the force of Luffy's push against it. "Luffy?" Usopp pushes in after him, Chopper ducking under the man's legs.
"Catch him!"
"Catch him?" Sanji leaps over the counter and lunges for the boy, wrapping his arms around the boy, who immediately begins to flail, screaming bloody murder.
"No! No, Shanks! Wherewhere, where?!" Sanji pins his arms and hugs him close in a tight hold, even as he digs his feet into his stomach looking for purchase.
"Luffy, Luffy, look at me." He demands and is surprised when the boy complies, he strains his neck, bending almost in half to look up and Sanji bites through his cigarette. He sees the picture of panic, eyes blown wide, tears turning his cheeks shiny. Little choked sobs are making the boy gasp and buck, even as he whips his head around, accidently getting snot all over Sanji's suit.
"Sanji-kun, you got him!" Nami blows in like a frantic gale and Luffy whimpers, struggling as they all gather close.
"Go away! Let me go! Where…?!" His eyes shift frantically from person to person, stalling on Nami and then spinning back around to stare at Usopp.
"Luffy, you're upsetting Nami-san. Stop yelling." Sanji commands and again to his surprise the boy seals his lips shut, the sobs buried into a hitch of his breath deep within his chest. "Good, now I'm going to set you down, stay still." He bends down and sets Luffy on his feet where he wobbles for a moment before bolting to the left. Usopp snatches him up.
"Wha-oah!" He fumbles as the boy flails again, crying loudly again. "Geez, you're strong already!"
"NOOOoooo! I don't want to be here! Stupid bandits!"
"Bandits?" Chopper yelps as Luffy's leg stretches in a kick a little too close for comfort. "We're not bandits!"
"Stop lying, you stole me! Give me back, I want to go hoooooomme!" Luffy keens and Sanji throws his hands over his ears.
"Luffy! Listen to me! We didn't take you! You're safe here! Safe." Nami ducks into the chaos and catches Luffy's hand, completely capturing it within her own.
"No way," Luffy whips his head to face her, his voice wobbles with fear and emotion and contempt. "Shanks would never let me go, you hurt him, worse than I did. You must have." The words sound more desperate and reproachful than actually accusing.
"Ah, no! We're good friends of Shanks!" Usopp spouts and Luffy howls.
"No! You're not! If you were you'd be with him and not with me."
Luffy pulls free and rolls over the floor, scuttling to a corner where he curls up, hugging his knees. He moans and rubs his face over his kneecaps, blubbering gibberish.
"Luffy…" Nami moves forward but Sanji pulls her back.
"Nami-san I think we should leave him be for now. We're only causing more anguish by crowding him."
She nods and steps back again, Chopper reaching forward and hugging her leg.
Sanji looks at the three of them, Nami close to tears, Usopp lingering nervously to the side and fingering the straps of his suspenders, Chopper sniffling at Nami's feet, all six eyes trained on Luffy, who's gone silent, but remains a shivering ball of misery, back shaking with contained cries.
Outside in the hall a long note draws itself from the strings of a violin, turning sharp at the very end of its life before falling into the gentle rise and fall of a melody.
He steps around the counter, back into the kitchen, picks up the plate of sandwiches he'd put together for lunch and sets on the table, nudging Usopp as he passes before taking Nami's arms and leading her to a chair. The sniper flinches and takes a seat himself, robotically picking up a sandwich and putting it in his mouth, chewing slowly as he stares into space, slow and thoughtful. Nami mumbles a soft thank you and drops into the chair like she's going to bed, tired and worn out by a day that started at three o'clock and is only just getting to it's climax, or maybe it will last longer still. Who knows anymore.
Sanji lights a new cigarette before picking up his chopping knife and putting a new carrot on the cutting board, the nicotine stills the shake in his hands. He looks down at the carrot, switches it with a tomato, the first slice sends red juice spurting across the counter.
What is probably fifteen minutes is comparable to an hour, to people of action like the straw hats waiting isn't the usually the best choice, there's always a clock ticking somewhere, and the sound of it in their ears is enough to make their heads ring with the loss of each second.
The ring is drowned out by the sounds of Luffy uncurling.
Chopper squeaks and Nami turns immediately, Usopp squeezes his sandwich, like it isn't already dented with his fingerprints on the soft bread.
The child in the corner swipes a hand across his face and looks away from them, using the wall for support he stands, a slow, shuddering process that leaves Chopper wanting to go help him up.
"H-hi… I'm L-l-luffy…" He says to the wall before tensing and turning around, his lips spread and his eyes squeezed shut, a giggle rises in his throat as he shakes with holding in breaths heavy with tears, but it looks like mirth.
Nami feels her heart stop.
The smile is wide as ever, the laugh seemingly effortless. His face is stained red with emotion as a few final tears drip off his chin but the smile, the laugh, everything but the stutter: normal Luffy.
"I- I wasn't too nice b-before… Sorry. You guys are weird, so i-it scared me."
He steps away from the wall and the way he walks fumbles in a stumble only once, he's bouncy and bounding, pulling himself up into the chair next to Usopp and reaching for a sandwich.
Sanji rolls his cigarette between his teeth, a headache building between his eyes. Chopper is staring wide-eyed, paralyzed. Usopp shakes himself out of it first.
"What the heck luffy!" He siezes the boy's wrist and the smile wobbles for a second as the sandwich falls from his hand. "You think we didn't see that? What are you doing? What's wrong?"
They all watch as his eyes dart again, they linger, between them and on them, like there's something there that isn't.
"N-nothing. Nothing's wrong, at all!"
A lie. It's the first time he could have fooled them, any of them. If they'd not seen his break down, if they'd not been stared at with the utmost fury and fear, they'd think it was the truth.
It's a well made mask that he's wrapped around himself.
"You guys just scared me. I dunno where I am and I dunno who you are so I got scared. You're nice though, so nothing's wrong!" he giggles, giggles, and Nami sets her sandwich down, feeling queasy.
"That's not true and you know it." She hisses and Luffy twists around to look at her, confused. "Luffy I don't know what happened to upset you, but this is wrong. You can tell that there is something really wrong about all of this, can't you?"
"Ah.. no, no…"
"Luffy listen to yourself. What happened? You can tell us, you can trust us."
He sucks in his smile, chews on his lip, shakes his head.
"No I can't." Trust us or tell us? Nami wants to ask, but she doesn't because Luffy's eyes tell her Both. "Nothing happened. I'm not upset."
"Luffy." Chopper shakes himself out of his paralysis, almost growling as his eyes tear. "It's not healthy to bag up your emotions like this! I'm a doctor but I can't bandage a wound you keep hidden!"
"I'm not hiding anything!" Luffy protests, standing up in his seat, the tremor is back. "What are you? You look like an animal but you talk?" The tremor, he pretends it's excitement, like anger and sadness isn't rattling around in his head.
"That's not important," Usopp snaps. "You're lying. That's my job. Be Luffy! Tell the truth, and get all emotional! Hug us and tell us you want some meat and stop pretending like everything's normal because it's freaky."
"Everything is normal!" Luffy insists but his voice is strained, his fists clenched, desperate.
"Nothing is normal!" Usopp pushes back his chair and stands up, pointing a finger at his shivering captain. "The man I look up to most in the world has been shrunk down to the age of six or seven, just spent the better part of fifteen minutes crying in a corner, and is now pretending nothing is wrong. And he looks exactly like he always does." He shakes his head frantically, groping at the air with his gesticulation. Luffy shifts on his feet, shrinking away from Usopp as he yells. He winces as Usopp lunges forward and forces Luffy to look at him. Usopp's voice is almost a warble, pleading, watching Luffy's brown eyes water and focus on his own. "What the heck do you think you're doing? You think it's funny? it's scary Luffy. What are we supposed to think now when you smile like that?"
"Usopp…" Nami breathes and Sanji leans against the counter. The music outside has fallen so quiet that it is no longer there.
"I can't." Luffy whispers quietly. "I have to be brave. Shanks saved me from the bandits, he says I'm a man now, I shouldn't cry. Ji-chan says that strong marines don't cry. I'll be a super strong pirate one day, and I'll need to be strong for my crew too. I can't be a weak captain." He sucks in a sniffle, straightens. "So it's okay." The smile that had slowly broken and fallen out of place is taped back together, placed lightly back into position. "I can be strong, and keep getting stronger! I don't need time to cry! I'll just make sure it never happens again! I'm alright!" He grins again. The effort is evident. "N-nothing's wrong!"
He looks so proud of himself, with the tears pounding against the back of his eyes, and his fists shaking as he clenches them at his sides.
Usopp falls back into his chair, looking like Enel just shocked him with a few hundred volts of electricity.
"You're joking," he whispers and Sanji drops his cigarette to the floor, stamping down on it and twisting his heel till the ashes are mixed equally with the wood.
"You're an idiot." He spits, venomous. "We all knew you were stupid, but you're an absolute idiot."
Luffy looks confused and is about to defend himself but Nami interrupts him.
"Everyone's allowed to cry, Luffy." She chokes out.
"You think you have to be strong like that for us?" Chopper whispers. "Have you always…?"
"It doesn't have anything to do with you!" Luffy shakes his head, pauses "Who are you even? Cause I actually do wanna know where Shanks is, cause…" He stops short and readjusts his smile. "Cause nothing."
"Enough of that, Luffy. Cause what?" Nami demands and Chopper nods determinedly beside her; Usopp's shaking.
"You guys are annoying!" He huffs and crosses his arms.
"Don't you!" Nami stands up, her fist impending. "Luffy you're going to sit there and tell us a sob story or I'm going to make you cry myself!"
"Nami-San is so determined!" Sanji coos and Usopp glares at him.
"You're mean!" Luffy yells, pouting.
"I don't care! You're delusional! Everyone cries! You'll hurt yourself if you don't."
"It's the body's way to release stress and emotion!" Chopper butts in, angry. "If you've been doing this since you were six-"
"I'm seven!" Luffy protests indignantly.
"-seven then no wonder your blood pressure is so high!"
"What's blood pressure?"
"It's bad! Stress increases it and it's proven to increase your chance of death!" Chopper stamps a hoof.
"Wha, really!" Usopp wails. "He gets into enough trouble already he doesn't need to increase his chances!"
"Stop talking about me like I'm not here! I hate it when Sh-I mean people do that!" Chopper delves into a detailed medical spiel full of foreign words and jargon of the trade, leaving Luffy blinking rapidly as each sentence sends his brain reeling anew.
"Listen to Chopper, tell us what's wrong!" Nami shook his hand angrily before he pulled his hand away, his head had begun to swivel between the four of them as they each plead with him to tell them what was wrong.
"Don't be stupid!"
"-increased heart rate which pumps blood at an unbelievable speed through the veins, which builds up pressure against-"
"How long have you been hiding stuff like this?"
"Tell us what's wrong!"
"NO!" He yells, breaks into quiet cries as he cements his hands to cover his ears. "Stop! I don't want to talk about it! Not Shanks, not bandits, or sea monsters, and not how scared I am!"
Usopp and Nami exchange guilty looks and Chopper shuts his jaw with an audible click, severing the stream of words. Only Sanji looks unabashed.
"You understand, don't you?" He pulls out a chair, sets himself down in it like he hadn't a care in the world, busying his hands with his lighter, offering it to a once more teary Luffy who sniffles and snatches the shiny thing, playing with the embossed silver and gold ridging. "That it's okay to be scared, okay to cry."
"No it's not, I'm a man."
"So you're saying I'm not?" Sanji barks a laugh and frowns down at the child who has shrunk slightly, thinking he'd offended him. His hands still, his fingers paused in their running over the spark switch. "I'm a man, Luffy, but that doesn't mean I don't cry. Listen," He takes the lighter back. "No one is not allowed to be scared, everyone is allowed to cry. The only time that stuff is a problem is if you don't get over it."
Luffy looks up slowly, staring into Sanji's stoic face. He nods.
"That's… good. 'Cause… cause I'm not very good at not crying…" The tears are falling before he's done and Chopper sags with relief against Usopp who pats his head in condolence.
"I didn't mean anything by it!" Luffy whimpers "I just wanted to help Shanks, I never thought, I never thought any of it would happen like it did!"
And he tells them all about it.