~Chapter Fifty-One~

He could hear noise… music, it sounded like. A steady rhythm, like a heartbeat. He shifted, pulling his mind out of the blanket of unconsciousness and the first thing he realized physically was how sore he was, like he'd been run over by a sea train. The wave of dizziness came next and he kept his eyes closed and laid still until it passed. How long had he been out for? It wasn't unusual for him to be down for the count for a few days.

Oh man, he hoped it wasn't a couple of days… that was an awful lot of meals to miss…

The sound of the music became more apparent and he came to the conclusion that he was on the ship and there was a party going on, far enough away sounding that it might be on shore. Damn. They started a party without him.

He dared to open his eyes and blinked a few times to clear his vision, to which it became apparent that one eyes was swollen shut so there wasn't much vision to be had. He was set up in the medical ward with an IV in both his arms and an oxygen tube at his nose. He reached up and ripped it out, hating it when Chopper did that to him. Real air stung the inside of his nose, but after a minute of sucking hard, the sensation went away.

The last thing he remembered was collapsing into the pile of rubble and Nami lifting his head into her lap and running his fingers through his hair. After that… he must have fainted because here he was, with no recollection of how he got here. And clearly, he was well taken care of; naked save his boxer shorts, his stab wound was bandaged tightly around his torso and his head was wrapped up, along with various bandages from wounds he didn't remember getting, but clearly Chopper deemed it necessary to fix them.

He rolled his head to the other side and instantly, his eyes were drawn to his bedside table.

"Oh, son of a sea cook…" he whispered, his voice gravelly, "Meat…" a huge plate of it, heaping over of everything he could possibly ever want. He wasn't sure why meat was so good after he was so wiped; Chopper said something about iron, but Luffy wasn't certain what he wanted to believe of that, considering iron wasn't IN meat, clearly. Regardless, he loved to eat meat on any occasion; fatigued or not.

He found out very quickly though, that sitting up was extremely difficult. He flopped back to the pillows, his head spinning and stared at the plate of tempting, previously living creatures with some longing before his eyes darted up to see that he had an audience.

Nami was laying on her side, watching him, her face neutral, her hands pillowed under her cheek. She was set up in the bed next to him and she looked like she'd been doctored over too. He gave her a somewhat lopsided grin, his heart jumping into his throat with excitement just at seeing her, "Hey…" he said softly, his voice hoarse from lack of use, "I can hear a party… how come you aren't drinking Zoro under the table?" with a little grimace, he managed to roll over onto his side, mindful of the knife wound above his hip.


Nami blinked when Luffy came to, but kept silent as she watched him get his bearings, then zero in on the meat that Sanji had left him. She'd also been left food, more delicate items made with the care and attention he only gave to ladies. She'd eaten most of it before her appetite had given out, then she'd curled back up and watched Luffy sleep, drifting in and out of a doze.

"I was waiting for you, my captain," Nami answered in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, then smiled at him as he flopped over onto his side. Using gear second and third with such injuries took a heavy toll on his body, and it hurt Nami to see him so banged up.

Still, he was her captain, and he would heal up faster than most. He was resilient that way.

She shifted, then pushed herself up into a sitting position, and the blanket fell away to reveal that she was wearing one of his shirts, over a pair of pajama shorts. "Though I'll most definitely have to change before we go join our nakama," she added with a humorous glint in her eye.

She slid off the bed, and came over to the side of his cot. Making sure to avoid his injuries, she crowded him back against the wall a little as she slid onto the contraption with him. She kept herself on the very edge to avoid touching any of his injuries. "I wanted...to thank you. For saving me, again...For giving me back my life, again." Her voice was low, barely above a whisper, and her eyes were soft with emotion as she gazed up at him, her cheek pillowed on her hand and her face mere inches apart from his.


It couldn't be helped; the moment she sat up and the blanket fell away and he got a glimpse of what she was wearing, he gave her a hot look through his good eye. Damn… he didn't know when she raided his closet for all his tee shirts, but he super liked seeing her in them. Not that he could do anything about it… he couldn't sit up to eat the food next to him, let alone sexing Nami.

"They've seen you in less, I'm sure…" he replied. Though, he would jump her before dawn if she didn't change, injuries or not.

She came over and crawled onto his little bed with him and he did his best to scoot over for her. What little patience he had for the IVs was quickly wasted and he ripped them both out of his arms, sending the machine beeping to which he stretched an arm and ripped the power from it. Silence. Blissful.

Her voice was low when she thanked him and he curled an arm over her, settling his palm in her head, above her ear. They weren't touching, but he could still feel the heat of her body so near his, "I take care of my own," he replied to her simply, with a smirk and little shrug, like it wasn't a big deal. Which, in his mind, there was no other option. He took care of his nakama. He took care of Nami. He loved all his crewmates; but he loved her differently and he knew that that was okay. And… so what if it was a stupid tribal ceremony thing; they weren't exactly on good enough terms with the Marines to get a lawful marriage, so it was probably the best they were gonna get.

Besides, he kinda liked the impromptu-ness of it.

He leaned forward and gave her a kiss on her nose, "So… I'm really hungry and you have a giant plate of meat behind your head that I really wanna eat. I say once I inhale that sucker, we go find this party, ne, wifey?" he grinned at her and reached his free hand behind her head and snagged whatever he first came in contact with.

"I might share too… if you ask nice," he agreed a little mulishly.


It was too much effort still to sit up and eat like a normal person and besides, he was way too comfortable with Nami right next to him like this that he didn't particularly feel like moving anyway. So, he ate his food laying down with her. It was silent between them, peaceful, companionable. She threaded her fingers through his hair and the sensation on his scalp was making him sleepy. Combined with the lethargy that always came after eating and the fact that he was still not remotely healed from his fight less than twelve hours ago, it was an exquisite cocktail of tranquility.

He was halfway through the second half of whatever the hell the meat was he was eating when suddenly, keeping his eyes open was more work than he wanted to perform. He dropped the barbeque back on the plate and let his eyes drift shut to the feel of Nami's hands running through his hair and the smell of tangerines and money. His other hand drifted down to settle on her hip, even going so far as to push the material up a little to just revel in the skin to skin feel.

"Nami…" he whispered, peeling his eyes open and glancing at her with a completely unguarded expression, his eyes half-lidded and content, "I love you… let's make more babies when I wake up, m'k?" he closed his eyes again.


The music and the partying was reduced to a background noise in the confines of the doctors office, and watching Luffy as he ate and zoned out, enjoying the sensation of being close to him, safe, warm, was extremely relaxing. She lifted her fingers and combed them through his hair, allowing herself to drift a little.

He must have also felt the same tranquility that overtook her, because suddenly his hand drooped, and he dropped the food-a shocking miracle, for Luffy-and promptly seemed to fall asleep.

A smirk curved her lips. He was just like that brother of his...Nami's heart ached at the thought of the late pirate, but the ache had become gentled over the years, and she returned her attention to gazing at Luffy's lax expression. He looked...content, and it made her feel content. She smiled, her fingers continuing to comb through his hair.

Suddenly he lifted his eyelids and peered up at her, and the words he muttered in his half-sleep made her blink at him in surprise. Her heart jumped in her chest and warmth spread through her body. Things may have started out a little rough with them, but considering that she'd ended up in love with the man definitely made it worth it. She wouldn't have changed a thing.

"I love you too…" she whispered back to him, shifted up to lay her lips over his in a gentle kiss. "But I'm not ready for more babies yet...After you become Pirate King, we'll talk." She grinned and snuggled into him, burying her face into his chest and inhaling his scent, wrapping her arms around his body and settling in to sleep.


She shifted up to lay a kiss on him, quick, torturously brief and told him he would have to wait until becoming the Pirate King for babies. He managed a sleepy chuckle at her and leaned his face against the top of her head, wrapping his arm more securely around her and stuffing back a wince when he leaned too far onto his hip and aggravated his wound.

"Then we'll have lots of time to practice before then, ne?" he replied, the humor evident in his voice at the idea of lots and lots of mind-blowing sex once he got these bandages off. Ah, hell, once he woke up; the wounds didn't have to be healed for her to be on top…

Sex aside, his heart did a strange double-rhythm in his chest just feeling her close to him. He still had little idea what this whole love thing really was all about, but he knew that it was right. He knew from the start that this was the end goal for him; he wanted to be in love with her, wanted to have what he saw Tikka and Zoro have, wanted something… more from her than just being the captain and the navigator. He wanted to be more than friends.

Okay, so they started everything backwards, but be damned if he didn't get it to work out in the end. Luffy was not known to do anything half-assed.

He pressed his lips into her hair and buried his face into the coppery waves. With the sound of her breathing and the steady bum-bum of the music from the party that he was certain was going to last for a week as his lullaby, it didn't take much for the future king of the pirates to fall asleep.

A/N:

OMG OMG OMG. THAT WAS THE LAST CHAPTER! EPILOGUE! HERE. WE. GO.

One Piece belongs to Shonen Jump and Eichiiro Oda. We thank them for their genius and giving us characters to torture. The script is ours.

Credits:

Luffy: Jesachi

Nami: Goldensomething

Sub-characters: Combined Effort

Copyright 2011-2015