Author's Note: Poor Dart. He was trying so hard to get me to post them all at once~! -^^- Wasn't gonna happen~! I've even finished chp. 13 now! XD Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this~!

Engagement

Chapter 12: Making A Promise

Stiffening visibly, Luffy then slowly turned to her with a glare. "Joking?" he asked in a really low tone.

"Yes! Joking! You honestly believe that's the way to express your feelings!?" she exclaimed, still frowning at him deeply.

Closing his eyes, he then turned away from her a bit. "It doesn't matter anyways … You didn't accept them."

"Of course not! I didn't realize they existed!" she exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips, but then she sighed deeply, her head dropping forward a little. "You're not very good at this, are you?" she asked in a bit of a whine.

"What're you talking about?" he asked, turning his head slightly, but refusing to look at her.

"Luffy … why didn't you just ask me, and … how did you …? I mean …" she started, looking down at the rings in her hands.

"I was waiting …" he replied, giving a shrug.

"Waiting?" she asked, looking up at him with a soft frown. "Waiting for what, Luffy?"

"Until we accomplished our dreams …" he replied softly, starting to droop.

"You were waiting until we accomplished our dreams?" she asked, gaping at him now, and he just nodded. "Luffy … who knows when that would be … and if we even would-"

"Of course we will!" he exclaimed, turning his head, but not all the way to face her.

"Look," she started before sighing, "all I'm saying is that … the purpose of the ring and engagement … is to make a promise of one day being together … Y-You," she started, but then blushed as she looked away, "You could have given it to me … now, but it doesn't mean anything had to be done about it until after we accomplished our dreams … and that way … none of this would have happened if you'd made your claim on me …" she said, blushing harder, though she had no idea why she was saying that.

Luffy was still for awhile, but then slowly, he started to turn back to her with a soft frown. He hadn't really thought about that. After all, he'd only bought them because of what that ossan had said. He had told Luffy that they were special rings, the diamond one, the one you gave to a special girl, and the other to keep to make that special promise to be together forever. He had called it marriage. However, in doing a bit more research on marriage, he had found that it was something he wasn't ready for just yet. He didn't want to give the ring and get married yet. However, no one had told him about engagements.

"A-Anyways," started Nami as she stepped forward. Reaching out, she grabbed his hand roughly, placing the rings back into his palm and closing his fingers around them. "Don't throw these out … okay …?" she said, with a light flush still across her nose. Looking down at his closed hand, he slowly opened his fingers to stare down at the rings there, keeping his soft frown. Did she really mean what she said? So then, why was she giving them both back? "Just … keep them … until you're ready to give it away … You wanted to wait anyway, right …? And … well," she stopped and just shrugged as she frowned a little sadly.

In all honesty, she was very flattered that he had felt that way about her. She had no idea that that was his way of showing his affection. Was that how she could really call that? Had he been showing her affection? Did he really understand what all of this meant? Either way, it didn't really matter, even if it hadn't been intentional, she had broken his trust in her. She had accepted another man's proposal. Her expression flickered a bit before she sighed and turned away from him. "It's yours to give …" she said softly as she started to walk away, but then gasped when he caught her wrist.

Turning around, she looked back at him with her eyes wide in question. However, his head was lowered and his hair and hat were shadowing his eyes, keeping her from seeing what was there. She gasped again and even cried out a bit when he pulled her back towards him. Turning her hand so that her palm was face up, he then dropped the diamond ring into her hand before closing it. Her lips parted then as she stared down into her closed hand with his still around it. "You're right … It's mine to give …" he replied softly.

Looking up at him, she was quite shocked. Was he really still giving it to her? Was she okay with that? "Luffy …" she called softly.

How should she reply to him?

To Be Continued …

Author's Note: Heh, another chapter completed, all pretty much the same night. Luffy is cute. That's all I gotta say. Now … how is Nami going to reply to him~? ^^ I hope you guys enjoyed~!