Luffy could hear muffled voices, ranging from angry to sad to hysterical. Slowly he recognized them to be coming from his nakama. He groggily opened his eyes. "Whass goin' on?"

"Luffy!" Chopper tried talking, but his words were muffled by his sobbing.

"You idiot! What were you thinking?! A tear-stained Nami starts slapping him repeatedly on the face.

Luffy tries to shield himself weakly with his arms, then stops when he sees the bandages on his wrist. "Ah, you bandaged it up for me. Thanks, Chopper!"

"Ba-ba-baka! What were you thinking, getting those injuries in the first place?!" Chopper shouted through angry sobs.

"Yeah," Luffy said ruefully, "I guess in the end, I wasn't strong enough."

"You idiot!" Usopp screamed. "It's times like this that you're supposed to rely on us!"

"Eh? Why would I need to rely on you guys?" Luffy tilted his head in confusion.

"Be-be-because isn't that what nakama are for?" Usopp nervously laughed. Something wasn't right.

"No way! This is something I have to do myself!" Luffy stood up suddenly, then started to wobble on his feet from lack of blood. Franky quickly supported him by the shoulders, his face stiff with conflicting emotions

"You- can't you see what you're doing?" Nami shouted, rubbing at her eyes furiously. "You're hurting everyone around you with your stupidity!"

"What are you talking about! The only one I'm hurting here is myself!"

Nami stopped, then raise a hand to slap Luffy when-

"Alright, alright." Zoro finally got up from his spot by the railing, having been acutely absent from the chaos. "Luffy, I think there's been a misunderstanding."

"Huh, what do you mean, Zoro?"

"Well, what do you think our-" Zolo lightly pokes at the side of Luffy's face with the hilt of his sword. "Idiot Captain has been doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?!" Nami and Luffy shout simultaneously. "I've/he's been-"

"TRYING TO COMMIT SUICIDE!"

"PRACTICING MY BUSOSHOKU!"

"..."

A silence falls over the deck. Then, "HAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH?" Everybody stands back in shock.

"Geez, it's because you can't explain anything properly that this happens." Zoro scratches his head.

Robin silently agrees. "Luffy, I think you need to start from the beginning."

"The beginning? Huh, let's see…" He shrugs himself off of Franky to cross his arms. "Well, I've been thinking since we left Fishman island. Busoshoku haki's pretty good with punches and direct blows and stuff, but I still can't protect myself from sharp stuff."

"Sharp stuff?" Chopper's face lights up. The relief on his face is obvious. "You mean like that time with Hody?"

"Yep, yep! Man, fishmen have really strong teeth. My haki barely helped at all!"

"Yeeeah, but Hody was probably an abnormally strong fishman." Franky pondered, rubbing his chin.

"Besides, if you hadn't used your haki, you entire side might have been missing," Robin chimed in. Usopp blanched at the idea.

"But still, that's why I have to get stronger." Luffy stated, clenching his fists. "I can't always dodge, so I need armor. I gotta be stronger, strong enough that I can defend against anything, doesn't matter how sharp it is."

"Luffy." Zoro suddenly said.

"Yeah, Zoro." Luffy quickly stuck his arm out and shouted, "BUSOSHOKU!" right before Zoro's blade came thudding onto Luffy's left arm. Everybody except the two and Robin screamed.

"Wha-wha-what are you doing, you violent marimo!" Sanji quickly attempted to kick at Zoro's head, the first thing he's said the whole time.

"Obviously I was trying to test him, you shitty dartboard!" Zoro screams as he dodges, before looking over at his Captain.

"Awwww man," Luffy frowns, looking at the new bleeding cut on his arm. "I couldn't defend against that either." His arm is quickly pulled down by a hysterical Chopper, who bandages the new wound.

Zoro wipes off the blade with his shirt, then puts it back in its sheath. "The reason your right arm is so bloodied up, is probably because you were conflicted. You were telling your right arm to defend and your left arm to attack with the knife. That's why the cuts were deeper than just now."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Luffy pondered. "Rayleigh always told me my weakness was multi-tasking. But," Luffy sighs, "that's no excuse for just now."

"Heh, but it wasn't bad, Captain. I was really trying to cut your arm off."

"Shishishi, that's encouraging. Though I think if there were any bloodthirst in you at the moment, it would be a different story!"

"Probably." Zoro starts laughing with Luffy, making the rest of the crew sweatdrop and think, these two are crazy.

"So Luffy," Chopper interrupts, "You were using a knife to practice busoshoku on yourself?"

"That's right!" Luffy smiles triumphantly.

"Then why- why did you choose this specific place to cut yourself with?" What if subconsciously, he did actually want to hurt himself? What if the knife had gone a little too far…?

"Ah, well, when I picked up the knife and looked around my body, I thought I'd try aim for my stomach, but then I thought, what if I stab too hard and my stomach falls out, and I won't be able to eat again?! (Usopp chops at his head, saying, "eating should be the least of your worries at that point!") and then I tried standing on one leg and chopping at my leg but I kept losing balance before I could do anything, so then it seemed that my other arm was the easiest to hack at. "

"But the wrist! Why the wrist, Luffy!" Chopper started shaking Luffy's pants.

Luffy sensed the urgency in Chopper's voice and merely grinned. "Well, it seemed that the weakest part of my arm was my wrist, so I thought that if I successfully protect the weakest part of me, then I'd be invincible!"

"I see. I'm so glad, Luffy." Chopper jumped up and wrapped his tiny arms around Luffy's shoulders, fresh tears of relief streaming down his face. "But you know Luffy, there are a lot of important arteries in your wrist, and if you cut too hard, then you can actually die!" He clutched onto Luffy.

"Really?!" Luffy yelled in shock. "I didn't know that! Sorry, Chopper, I'll be more careful next time."

"Oy, oy, don't tell me there's actually gonna be a next time!" Usopp sighed, his arms at his hips.

"Obviously, this is Luffy we're talking about," Nami said, shaking her head. "Geez, I can't believe I ever thought this idiot would commit suicide."

"Suicide? Are you an aho? I'm gonna be the pirate king! How can I do that if I'm dead?!"

"Geez, there you go again." Nami laid her head on Luffy's shoulder. If he noticed his shirt getting a little damper, he didn't say anything.

"Yohoho~, now that we have cleared up that little misunderstanding, it's time for an encore of my brand new song, "Sunny We Go!"

"Shishishi, I heard it, Brook, when I was asleep!"

"Ara, did you, Luffy-san? That makes my heart swell with pride~! Not that I have a heart. Rubber skull joke, yohohoho~!"

"Eh, rubber skull? Isn't your skull made of bone? Silly Brook!"

"Ah! Isn't that right; normal skull joke, yohohohoho~~~!"

*Sniff, sniff* "You bastards, you guys are SUPER idiots, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah~"

*Hey, Luffy, stop moving around, you're going to make yourself bleed again!"

"Shishishi, guess I gotta listen, doctor's orders, right?"

"Wha- geez, making it sound all professional like that doesn't make me happy at all, bakayaro~"

And the tension on the deck finally dissolved in laughter.

Note: as for the reasons why Luffy ended up choosing his arm, and why he couldn't just sit down or lead against a wall to practice against his leg…That's just now his train of thought works.