"Usopp, you see that?" Luffy remarked.

Holding his hand atop his straw hat, he gazed at the steady sea current.

"See what ?" The long nosed man replied.

He approached the ledge and scanned the ocean with squinted eyes. "Oh yeah ." Usopp remarked.

A large grin spread across Luffy's face, a devilish indication that he was curious and wanted to know more.

Knowing that there was no winning against him, Usopp sighed.

"I'll reel it in, just give me a min-" Before he could even suggest grabbing a pole, Luffy stretched his arm about a mile away, gripped the barrel, and heaved it on deck. Usopp had to dodge or else he may have gotten slung by the old piece of junk.

And so there it was, spilling salt water all over the grassy floor. It was an old looking barrel with weird markings, as well as seaweed and algae growing on the sides. They hadn't a clue what could've been stored inside but one thing's for sure. It didn't smell any better than it looked.

Both blinked curiously at the wooden container contemplating busting it open. In true Luffy fashion, he clenched his fist and prepared to demolish the ancient looking container. Meanwhile, in true Usopp fashion, he only saw a negative outcome from his captain's curiosity.

"Wait!" Usopp yelled, yanking Luffy's hand away before he could strike the wood. "You idiot , what if something bad happens?!" Usopp paled, breaking out in a cold sweat. "Like a bunch of sea worms come spilling out, or some weird curse gets placed on us for destroying an ancient relic…" the sniper shivered.

Luffy's head lowered in the most terrifying manner, mirroring what Usopp could only describe as the face of a devil. A creepy chuckle followed shortly after.

"We can…eat worms right?" A stream of drool came pooling out of the boy's mouth as he imagined the taste of an incredibly random and slightly revolting entrée.

Usopp looked at him incredulously. One question in mind.

'Just how-? '

While Luffy was daydreaming about…worm meat, Usopp inspected the barrel further finding a latch on it.

"Hey check it out."

Luffy stared dumbly and blinked.

"Looks like this is how you open it." Usopp added.

Luffy squinted at the rusted metal handle. "..." He crossed his arms in an intelligent manner only to ask the least intelligent question ever posed. "So how do you open it?"

Both men paused to look at each other and just stared.

Usopp couldn't fathom his captain's intelligence. With the shake of his head and a roll of the eyes, Usopp crouched to point at the lever. "Just pull on this and bam…open." Usopp Returned to a standing position, a finger grasping his chin. "But we should investigate more. Who knows what could happen." He glanced at Luffy.

A silent exchange of words to be careful was delivered.

Or so Usopp thought.

Instead of being wary, Luffy reached out and popped the lever up without a hint of caution. The lid sprung open. In effect, a ton of weird, purple mist shot out, surrounding both pirates.

Usopp jumped away, covering his face with his shirt to make sure he didn't inhale any of the strange substance.

Luffy on the other hand, stood dumbly in the center of it, blinking rapidly as the mist entered his system.

"Luffy! Get out of there!" Usopp gave a muffled shout from under his shirt.

Hearing the warning, Luffy immediately jumped out of the fog's range, coughing lightly. It felt like there were still remnants of the fog in his lungs but he didn't dwell on it.

All at once, the fog started to come together and begun taking shape.

Both men eyed it cautiously, keeping their guard up. Shockingly, it only took the shape of a heart before dissipating completely.

Neither made a move until they were sure it was safe. When they were positive they wouldn't be hit with another surprise attack, they approached the barrel slowly, glancing at each other at times.

"You ok?" Usopp asked.

Luffy blinked. "I think so? You?"

Usopp nodded, never taking his eyes off the barrel. "What do you think that was?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. It smelt good though."

Usopp deadpanned. "Seriously?" At a time like this…

Luffy pouted. "I'm serious." He lifted his hand to his chin in a rare thoughtful expression. "It was kinda sweet."

"Hm." Usopp worriedly inspected his captain. He's acting normal. Doesn't appear to be poisoned either. But what was that heart all about?

"Maybe it really was just some dumb prank." Usopp muttered.

Luffy stretched his limbs with a loud yawn. "Guess so."

"Dinner's done Nami-swan, Robin-cwan! " Sanji cooed.

Everyone made their way to the dining area. Luffy had stars in his eyes muttering incomprehensible sentences about worm meat.

Usopp sighed, taking the seat across from Luffy. "There's no worm meat."

Zoro immediately began digging in, which in turn, pissed Sanji off.

"Aye moss. The hell are you doing touching all the food with your sweaty hands?"

"What was that? Sorry, I don't speak moron." Zoro slowly tore off a piece of bread and ate it.

They began going back and forth but Luffy paid them no mind. He'd rather dig into the nice looking feast Sanji provided for them.

"Luffy, slow down!" Nami scolded, taking a seat next to him.

"I caspfh sloph domph." Luffy spoke through puffed cheeks causing pieces of meat to fly onto the poor girl's face.

You could visibly see the vein pop out on her forehead as she tried to remain calm.

"Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it." Nami chanted to herself, contemplating whether or not to beat the living hell out of him. Normally she would, but recently it's been brought to her attention (courtesy of Robin) how violent she's become.

Not that you could blame her. Anyone trying to work with a group of idiots, such as her crewmates, is bound to lose their mind at some point, but still. She wanted to hold back. For the sake of the crew.

Tuning into the conversation, Nami was able to catch the last part of Usopp's joke, which made no sense to her, and everyone began laughing.

Luffy, the person most prone to laugh at a joke, couldn't contain his laughter. Spurts of his beverage came spraying out of his mouth and straight onto Nami's hair and face.

The entire table went silent.

Sensing a sudden spike in danger, Luffy paused to look at her wide eyed then tucked his lips in as a futile attempt to suppress his laughter.

Nami menacingly looked at Luffy as if communicating telepathically that he was a dead man.

Not being able to hold it back any longer, Luffy burst into a fit of obnoxiously loud laughter.

"Nami-san's gorgeous face looks good even when covered in fruit juice!" Sanji declared.

The rest of the crew also tried to resist chuckling but found it difficult when their captain was lying on the floor with tears in his eyes.

Nami glared at the crew then averted her attention back to the culprit.

" Luffy ." She said mortifyingly low.

Unhurriedly she closed the distance between her and her captain.

"I'll give you a head start, otherwise I'm afraid I may kill you."

Luffy's eyes widened. He looked at the crew for help but they only smiled, enjoying the show very much.

The cracking of knuckles drew his attention back to his navigator.

Without a hint of fear, Luffy grinned. "Catch me if you can. Bleh." he stuck out his tongue just to press her buttons a little more then dashed out the room and onto the deck.

Her brow twitched and immediately, she ran after him. "Luffyyyy!"

Just like that. They were gone.

"I thought she was gonna give him a head start?' Franky mentioned.

Chopper giggled. "It's Nami. When does she ever hold back?"

Near the helm, Nami twisted and turned trying to grab onto her target. There was only one problem. He was too damn fast!

She moved when he did, yet it was pointless.

They didn't know how long they were at it, Luffy taunting her with his immense power, and Nami trying her hardest to outsmart him.

Nami was only able to punch him on the shoulder but it felt like nothing to the man. Maybe she held back.

Or maybe Luffy just built up a pretty good immunity to pain after all those years of battle.

…

Or maybe she held back.

He lost count of how many injuries Nami gave him over the course of their journey together.

She huffed, placing her hands on her hips. "Jerk. Now my hair's all sticky."

"Hehe. Sorry."

Luffy gazed at the sky. The sun was setting when they sat down to eat but it's completely dark now.

"How long have we been out here?" He asked.

Nami looked at the sky. "Judging from the position of the moon, mmm probably half an hour." The girl turned to look at her captain and was surprised to see a large smile on his face.

"Your skills are really something Nami." He snickered. "I don't think I could ever judge the time but the moon and stuff."

She scoffed as if offended. "and stuff..."

She shook her head at his antics, walking over to the railing with a smile. The breeze felt really nice as did the compliment. It's uplifting hearing things like that. Especially when it's from her captain.

She gave a quiet "thanks," too embarrassed to admit how much she appreciated it.

Luffy joined her on the railing, choosing to take a seat on it instead of leaning like she did.

As Nami remembered something that's been bothering her, her eyes fell to the dark water below them, becoming sad and wary.

Should she even ask? Would it bother him?

Gathering all of her courage she called out to him.

"Luffy…"

"Hm."

This next question felt a bit…

Nami swallowed thickly, her throat constricting so much it began to hurt.

"I'm…useful to you…right?"

…

No response.

She gripped the railing.

Damn. Luffy doesn't lie. She knows him. Silence usually means nothing when it comes from someone else but Luffy? When he goes silent, it's actually quite terrifying. That is because you can never predict what's going on in that head of his. So silence could only mean-

Nami's brows scrunched together and her lip trembled slightly. "Nevermi-"

"Of course." He cut her off.

Her eyes widened partially, not allowing herself to become too hopeful and misinterpret his words, yet the way they immediately soothed her worries made her relax.

"I wouldn't be able to do anything if I didn't have you around. You're the only reason we made it to the new world and the reason we're gonna find the One Piece."

Hearing her captain's words was like food for her soul. It calmed her in a way that only Luffy could do.

Her body trembled, eyes became watered, and her throat felt scratched.

Luffy stared at her trembling body with a vacant expression. He had no idea she was doubting herself so much. He thought it was pretty obvious she was important to the crew.

Since she was slouching, he couldn't see her face, but the soft gasps and sniffles were enough of a clue to indicate she was crying.

Luffy stared at Nami, wondering how he could comfort her. A hug? No. A pat on the shoulder? No.

He scratched his cheek awkwardly.

This situation made him recall their earlier years together. For some reason seeing Nami cry reminded him of the whole Arlong ordeal. And he didn't like it. Not one bit.

Remembering her shattered state made him upset. He could never forget the image of her trembling on the floor, blood streaming from her arm faster than the tears on her face did.

Then it hit him.

Back then he…

Luffy stared at the top of her head and it looked way too familiar for his liking.

He released his hold on the rail to place his hand on his head.

Still hearing nothing from Nami, the pirate removed his greatest treasure from off his head and placed it on top of the whimpering female's.

It seemed to work.

Just like last time.

Her body froze and he couldn't hear any more gasps.

Luffy didn't utter a word. Only sat there to provide as much comfort as he knew how to.

Nami straightened her back to look at her captain with her tear stricken face.

"Luffy…" she whispered.

The man in question stared at her face. A flash of the old Nami crying on the floor mirrored this one. The promise he made to the pinwheel guy remained fresh in his memory as well.

Never make her smile go away.

Luffy frowned, pointing an accusing finger at her. "Don't look like that."

Her broken figure turned all sorts of confused. "Wha-"

Luffy hopped onto the floor with a "Yosh" then threw a cheesy smile her way. "You should get some sleep." He began walking away. "We need our navigator in tip top shape to get us to the next island." He turned his head to look back at her. "Right Nami?"

Her mouth parted then closed again. Words. She couldn't produce any so all she could do was nod.

Her confirmation of his statement was all Luffy needed. He continued on his trek back to the dining hall, but before he could reach the door Nami ran up to him.

"Luffy!"

He turned, watching her approaching figure. "Hm?"

Nami wiped any remnants of tears off her face and smiled widely. "Thank you…"

Luffy smiled dumbly. "For what?"

She removed the hat from her head, gently squeezed it against her chest, then placed it on its rightful owner. On her captain.

His eyes widened momentarily before shutting with joy. They both laughed together creating a unique harmony mixed with the sound of ocean waves and strong wind.

Strong wind?

Luffy glanced at the sky once more furrowing his brows. "Hey is there a storm coming or something?"

His comment caused Nami to look as well. It didn't take long for her to figure it out. "No. It's just windy."

Shortly after, a huge gust of wind threw itself right at them. Luffy had to hold onto his hat to make sure it didn't blow away. Usually he has a string on it, but it broke off…somehow. He's going to need Nami to fix that sometime.

He squinted his eyes to block out the harsh wind but the smell of…something , made him shut down. Something enticing.

It was sweet.

Orange strands of hair blew in front of his face, invading his senses and sending them into overdrive, making his throat constrict and pulse quicken.

"Luffy?"

Sweat began building up and he felt itchy, no, tingling all over his body.

He fell to his knees, panting. 'The hell?' He thought.

Nami crouched down, placing a hand on his shoulder which in turn, made him shudder.

"Luffy, are you ok?" She checked him frantically. He looked pretty bad. "Chopper!" She screamed.

Her head turned back to Luffy who was burning up. Not knowing what else to do, she placed a hand on his cheek causing Luffy's eyes to shut tightly.

He whimpered.

Nami held his head against her chest feeling his hot breath fan against her skin. His mouth hung open, breathing heavily. She chose to ignore the bits of drool trailing from his mouth to her breast.

"Na-mi..ah " he held out his hand, aimlessly looking for hers.

She patted his head in a soothing manner then gripped his hand. "It's ok." She whispered.

He shivered again, this time releasing a subdued groan.

Nami grit her teeth. "Dammit! CHOPPER!" She screeched, finally, gaining their attention. The crew came pouring out from the dining hall, ready to fight if need be.

They immediatly laid their eyes on their two crew mates on the floor. Nami cradling a shivering Luffy with a flushed face and sweat dripping down his body.

"What's-"

"I-I don't know what happened. He was fine then, then all the sudden he-I just-"

Chopper placed a hand on her arm.

"Let me take a look."

Nami allowed Luffy's head to lay on her thighs as Chopper examined him, noting his strange behavior and symptoms.

The doctor observed him. "It may be a fever but-"

Luffy groaned through gritted teeth causing Chopper to look at his face, confused about his cries of pain.

'What's with the sounds?' The doctor inquired.

He noticed Nami place a hand on Luffy's forehead to check his temperature and saw Luffy groan in response.

…

"Wait …" Chopper squinted.

"There's…no way." He looked at the navigator then the captain.

"Yeah, no way…"

When Nami pulled his hair out of his face, Luffy shuddered. It finally dawned on Chopper causing him to go pale.

Chopper's eyes frighteningly scanned Luffy's body, too afraid to confirm this inkling of his. His innocent little reindeer eyes traveled lower and lower down Luffy's body. He just had to check. One glance was enough. It wasn't very noticeable through Luffy's thick shorts but it was obvious if you looked hard enough.

'Luffy is a-arou-'

Chopper paled. "EHHHHHH?"

The whole crew looked frightened by this outburst.

"Is he alright?" Robin asked.

Suddenly, Chopper didn't know what to say. Technically yes, but telling everyone that Luffy was aroused seemed kind of awkward. And what's worse is that his arousal seemed too intense to be natural.

"Usopp, go get my medical bag off the second shelf in the infirmary."

"What's wrong with him?" Zoro pressed.

"Yeah, how about an explanation?" Sanji added.

Chopper blushed. "Ah-uh," The reindeer looked at Nami's fearful eyes and responded.

"He's not in any danger…"

"Then what's wrong?" Brook questioned

"Um well."

"Is he sick?" Franky questioned.

"Well no but-"

"But what? Is there something wrong?" Nami impatiently interrupted.

"BE QUIET." He screeched. There was no way he could ever explain it to them if they kept bombarding him with questions.

Chopper huffed.

Never in his pirating days did he think he would have to diagnose Luffy with something like this.

Usopp dashed onto the scene, medical bag in hand. "Doctor Chopper! Your bag sir!" He spoke in an over-authoritative manner.

"Thank you." The reindeer dug through his equipment looking for-"Aha!" He pulled out a green sheet of paper and tore a piece off. The strawhats eyed the process carefully.

Chopper grabbed Luffy's arm and rubbed the paper against his skin multiple times. When he pulled the material away it only confirmed his suspicions. "Just as I thought."

Showing the crew the piece of paper had turned pink, Chopper finally told them. "Luffy's been exposed to an aphrodisiac."

It went silent.

"HUHHHH!?" Usopp and Brook howled.

"Yes, that makes sense." Robin stepped forward, inspecting her young captain closer. "Luffy's aroused ."

Zoro sighed and walked off without a care in the world. "I need booze." he mumbled.

Nami (who still had his head on her thighs) looked at Luffy, then chopper and then at Luffy once more.

She remembered all the times she touched him from the point he collapsed until now. The whimpers and groans he released every time wasn't because he was in pain, but because he…

"Wha-HAHH!?" She pushed him off of her thighs, blushing profoundly. "N-no way!"

Nami stared at him. He really was a wreck. Face totally red, beads of sweat dripping off of him…the hot and heavy pants…

Nami's eyes widened, face exploding with color.

Abruptly, she stood up.

" Nami-san ?" Brook quipped, noticing her red face.

"I'm going to bed!" She walked off without sparing her captain, or anyone for that matter, another glance. It was all too embarrassing .

Heels clanking against the wood could be heard throughout the ship. Up until the door to the women's sleeping quarters slammed shut.

No one would hear from her for the rest of the night.

Meanwhile Usopp explained to the remaining members what may have caused Luffy's predicament. And, to no surprise at all, everyone understood that it was Luffy's curiosity that put him in this state. Nothing new indeed.

Robin went over the facts. "So if it was an aphrodisiac, why did it take so long to take effect?"

"That's true." Chopper agreed. "Maybe there had to be a trigger?" he turned to Usopp. "Did Luffy mention anything about the mist?"

"Uhhh." Usopp tried to think. "Oh!" he knocked his fist in the palm of his hand. "Come to think of it, he said it smelt sweet."

"Sweet?" Robin raised her brow. "Like Nami?"

…

Everyone sighed.

This could be quite troubling.

"So the smell of Nami-san's sweet aroma caused him to act like a dog in heat?" Sanji asked for verification.

"Looks like it." Chopper spared Luffy another glance. The poor guy was so aroused he was in pain. "Normally, substances such as these only last for a few hours, but I can't determine the severity or dosage of it. We'll check up on him in the morning."

Sanji moved to carry Luffy to his room and was glad his captain didn't make any weird noises when he touched him.

That'd just be too much.

Sanji's face darkened as the situation fully dawned on him.

If Luffy didn't react when any other member touched him, that meant he would only be attracted to Nami at the moment.

After placing Luffy in his respective hammock, Sanji met up with everyone else.

"Guys." He took a puff of his cigarette. "Someone should tell Nami-san to lock her door."

Everyone frowned at the suggestion.

"Sanji, Luffy wouldn't hurt Nami." Usopp reaffirmed. It was stupid to even think that.

The blonde nodded. "I know that. But we have no clue what this drug can do. He might not want to but his body might act on its own."

Everyone went silent. His logic made sense but…are they even considering this? It's Luffy . No way in hell would he even think about hurting her. Not physically nor mentally.

Robin sighed. "I'll let her know."

It didn't feel good having to be so wary of their captain. In fact it felt wrong. They all believe and trust in him so much that it was almost unnatural. So being cautious of him in the slightest way felt like a betrayal.

That feeling of betrayal stuck with them the rest of the night. As well as the immense worry for their navigator.