CHAPTER 22- The Morning Of Tangerines

After everyone was found (except Zoro and Zephyr who were lost), they all headed back to the Thousand Sunny.

Once they all got there, Rune and his crew walked off saying that they'll be right back.

Sanji helped Luffy into a bed in the medic room as Chopper treated his wounds.

Nami stood against the wall, watching.

Zoro was outside asleep, Robin was reading, Usopp was still asleep, and Franky was building things and then taking them apart to create other things.

Suddenly, a shout rang out.

"Everyone! We're back!" shouted Lock from outside.

Nami, Sanji and Chopper all ran outside as Luffy and Usopp remained asleep.

Outside, everyone looked in the direction of Lock's voice.

Lock was waving to them from a ship that was about the same size as Thousand Sunny.

"Hello, my beautiful star!"

Sanji said romantically, while Lock grimaced and walked away.

Rune climbed onto the deck of Thousand Sunny and waved at them.

"Hey! You shouldn't be up!" shouted Chopper.

"Bah, I'm too bored to rest." Rune said stubbornly.

"Heh, you guys have about 2 weeks left before the Log Pose sets, how about hitting the town tomorrow?" Rune added.

"2 weeks?" Sanji asked confused.

Rune tilted his head to the side.

"You have already been here 1 week, 2 more to go." He said with a smile.

"I thought he was lying!" Chopper called out.

"Nope, he was telling the truth." Rune said.

"So what are we going?" Nami asked everyone.

"Let's join them in whatever they're doing. Besides, the Captain and marksman are still hurt, so they need the time to rest." Sanji said looking over at Nami.

"2 more weeks? That means 70 more meals!" called out a voice from behind them.

There was Luffy, standing there grinning.

"Luffy?" Nami said surprised.

"Luffy, you shouldn't be up either! That claw damaged your lungs!" Chopper said frightened.

"Plus your arm is broken!" Sanji said also.

"But I'm rubber, so I'll be fine." Luffy said grinning.

Zoro woke up and grinned.

"He's got us there." Zoro said as he stood up.

"What would you know, you've been asleep. You moss headed Marimo!" Sanji shouted at Zoro.

"What did you call me idiot cook?" Zoro said glaring at Sanji, and in short, Zoro and Sanji were thrown overboard by Nami to cold themselves down.

The next morning, Luffy woke up earlier than even Zoro, stood up, looked over at Usopp who was sound asleep, and walked out the door, and onto the deck.

Luffy picked up a lawn chair, and lay down on it behind the figurehead.

Pulled out his book and started to read.

Zoro was the next to wake up in the crow's nest; he looked around and saw Luffy staring at a book.

"He's probably trying to learn how to read." Zoro said with a quiet laugh and fell back asleep.

Nami woke up to see Robin reading her book with a cup nearby.

Nami sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Morning, Navigator-san." Robin said looking over.

"Morning, Robin." Nami said and quickly got dressed.

Nami opened their door and walked onto the deck where she saw Luffy holding something.

"Morning, Luffy!" Nami called out.

Luffy seemed to almost fall out of his chair as he quickly hid his book into his shirt and turned around.

"Hi Nami!" he said with a strange grin.

Nami just smiled, grabbed another lawn chair and placed it next to Luffy's.

Nami then lay down in it, and looked over at Luffy who was staring at the sky.

Nami pondered something and then turned over so she faced Luffy.

"Hey, Luffy." She said causing him to look over.

"What is it?" He asked trying to hide his book as best as possible.

"How did you know about the clouds, and a lightning rod?" Nami asked puzzled.

Luffy started to sweat a little.

"Well I, had been… listening to you talk about it so… I remembered it." Luffy said while stuttering.

Nami just stared at him and then asked.

"When did I ever say that in front of you?" Nami asked smiling.

Luffy started sweating more as he said.

"I forgot…"

Nami grinned. "So, you don't remember me saying something I have never said?" Nami asked the panicking Luffy.

"Um…Yes?" Luffy said, not knowing what to say.

"Really…interesting."

Nami said before she turned back onto her back and stared at the clouds while, Luffy was sweating up a storm.

Nami grinned as she saw him stare at the sky.

She then reached a hand out and placed it on Luffy's arm.

"Nami?" Luffy asked looking over.

"Yes?" Nami asked innocently.

"Why is your arm on mine?" Luffy asked plainly.

"Cause of this."

Nami said as she moved her hand upward toward his shoulder.

Luffy stared in puzzlement while Nami's hand grabbed Luffy's book and pulled it out.

Luffy gasped in silence as she looked at the title.

Nami didn't move for a while and then she placed his book back on his stomach.

"You're reading a navigation book?" Nami asked not looking over at Luffy.

"Yes." Came Luffy's quiet reply.

"Why?" Nami asked puzzled that Luffy would even consider picking up a book.

"Cause you always seemed so busy, so I thought I could help." Luffy said blushingly.

They remained silent until a cloud passed by, and Nami turned onto her side and placed her arm on his waist.

"That's sweet." Nami said as she pulled in closer.

Luffy only looked at Nami and then at her arm.

Nami moved closer and hugged Luffy gently as to not hurt his arm.

"You're sweet." Nami said as she closed her eyes and lay her head down on Luffy's chest.

Luffy didn't move at all while Nami lay there.

Luffy then reached up and took off his hat and placed it on Nami's head.

Nami opened her eyes to look at what Luffy did.

"You wear it for now." Luffy said smiling.

Nami blushed and closed eyes again as the two just lay there, while the clouds rolled by.

Sanji woke up with great timing, and walked onto the deck.

He saw Nami move closer to Luffy and before he could yell at them, two hands appeared and clamped his mouth shut.

"Please Cook-san, you'll ruin the moment." Robin said smiling as she summoned hands to push Sanji into the medic room.

Yes, Sanji had a fun morning, woke up to see Nami do something he wanted her to do to him, and Robin, keeping him on a random bed as the two outside continued to lay there.

Chopper woke up, and headed straight for the medic room, where he saw Sanji being held against will by Robin.

"Hello Doctor-san." Robin said to Chopper who just blushed lightly.

"What are you doing?" he asked Robin as he looked from one to the other.

"Cook-san was about to ruin a sweet moment." Robin said calmly.

"Oh, okay." Chopper said as he checked Usopp.

"How long till Lose Nose-kun is awake and better?" Robin asked.

"He should be awake either tomorrow or the day after. He's lucky that those two helped him." Chopper said.

Franky's morning was pretty much, sleeping.

As Zoro snored in the crow's nest, Robin was holding down Sanji as Chopper examined Usopp, while Luffy and Nami both just lay there doing nothing.

Poor Sanji, he never gets his girl. Hopefully, something good comes to him. Hopefully...

Yay! This marks the semi-end of the this story!

Until the next chapter!

See ya!