"Oiiii!" Chopper's delighted voice echoed across the Sunny, alerting Franky and Brook at their stations. "They're finally back!"
The little reindeer giggled happily, waving his hoof above the rails of the ship to greet his coming nakama. Brook and Franky came up behind him, watching the group walk across the dock to the Sunny-Go.
"Yohohoho! The plan must've worked," Brook said.
Franky lowered his sunglasses, squinting at something dragging behind Zoro. "Huh? What's that behind Zoro-aniki?"
"What took you guys so long?!" Chopper yelled as Brook dropped the ladder over the side.
Robin came up first, chuckling as the tiny doctor jumped into her waiting arms. Nami, Usopp, and Sanji clambered up after her.
"Oi, Sanji-aniki, what happened to your pants?" Franky asked, eyeing the burnt edges of the cook's pants.
Zoro's voice was heard from the side. "Cook forgot the first rule of fire safety."
Sanji almost bit off the end of his cigarette.
"Urusai, baka Marimo! Just bring them up here already!" he shouted down, before narrowly dodging the net of wriggling bodies swung up onto the deck.
Zoro stepped onto the grassy deck just in time to see Franky's jaw drop to the floor, Brook let out a surprised "yohohoho", and Chopper's eyes bulge out of their sockets.
"E-EHHH?!"
Brook sipped his tea.
Though he did not have a stomach, the hot beverage he pretended to taste gave him a sense of calmness and serenity - a sense that was essentially lacking in this particular situation.
"Nami-san," he began, empty black sockets peering over the small white cup to blankly stare at the three other… unexpected visitors across the dining room table, currently gorging on the entirety of the crew's limited two-week food supply.
"Yes, Brook?" Nami answered cautiously, gaze also fixed on the relentless assault to the seemingly endless piles of meat and other delicious concoctions created by their master cook.
The Straw Hats were gathered in the dining room, Sanji a controlled tornado of chopping knives and stirring spoons in the kitchen as he worked to quell the hunger of three additional Luffys. Nami had called an impromptu meeting over what to do about their situation. The navigator expected the rest of the crew to ask questions. After all, the last time they had seen their captain, there had only been one of him.
Robin had taken on the task of explaining to their frantic doctor, skeleton, and shipwright the events that led to the apparent cloning of Luffy, but even with her detailed explanation, none of them were quite sure of what exactly did happen. It was clear that the mysterious pirate woman was the one responsible, but after fruitlessly searching for her, the Straw Hats who witnessed what had happened were left with three other complaining mouths to feed and zero answers. And to the surprise of absolutely no one, their four captains had bottomless pits of stomachs.
At this rate, Nami observed dryly, nothing was going to last on this ship.
She calculated how much of her- ahem, the crew's money she would have to spend in order to ensure they all wouldn't starve to death. (Because, as the self-appointed de facto treasurer of the ship, Nami took care of and distributed the belli so that they wouldn't literally be penniless pirates sailing around in an unpredictable sea.)
She didn't like the results. The negative numbers swirling around in her brain caused a pounding tick to form near her temple. Her clenched fists twitched as a splatter of lobster sauce flew all the way from across the table to land on her cheek.
The Soul King turned to the navigator, a serious frown on his face. "May I see your-"
"Alright, everyone," Nami spoke up after punching the skeleton into the wall, subsequently relieving some of her pent up anger. She wiped the sauce from her face with the back of her hand. There were so many problems to be addressed that she wasn't sure where to start. So Nami started with what she was most worried about.
"Our money supply's going to take a huge hit if we don't find out how to make less Luffys," she announced, the sentence sounding weird to her own ears.
She placed both hands on her hips and sighed. "We'll have to make some budget cuts, and only buy the necessary things like food and cola for the ship. I'll make a list."
The crew minus Zoro - who snored in the corner - nodded.
"Our next move is to find that pirate woman. Chopper." Nami turned to the reindeer doctor. He straightened up attentively.
"If we bring you to where we last saw her, can you trace her scent?"
Chopper frowned thoughtfully. "I can try. Her scent should still be there if it hasn't been that long. But if she's gone over water, I won't be able to smell her anymore."
Nami smiled. "That's fine. Right now, you're our only hope in finding her. I'm counting on you, Chopper."
"Ah-ha~ stop that! Complimenting me doesn't make me happy, you bastard!"
"Her ship's still docked here," Robin noted. "So there's little chance she's escaped to the sea."
"Right," Usopp piped up. "And she can't have gone far on foot."
"Mm," Nami agreed. "In the meantime…"
She turned to the big-bellied rubber boys, all looking satisfied with their lunch. Sanji came to stand beside her, wiping his hands on a dishcloth before tossing it on his shoulder.
He cupped his hands and lit up a new cigarette before abruptly swinging his leg down onto Zoro's unsuspecting sleeping head.
"Huh? Dinner time already?" the swordsman looked around blearily.
Sanji calmly exhaled a stream of gray smoke. "I won't having your lazy ass sleeping while my beautiful Nami-swan is trying so hard to solve our problems."
"Eh?" Zoro looked confused for a moment.
Sanji jabbed his thumb towards the four Luffys, already starting to deflate after obnoxiously burping. He scrunched his nose up at their lack of manners. "We need to figure out what to do about them."
"Is that it?" Zoro yawned.
The First Mate settled back against the wall, legs crossed, arms cushioning his head.
"Well, they're clones, right? I say we find the original and slice up the other three," he proposed bluntly.
The others stared at him.
"That's a terrible idea, Zoro," Nami finally deadpanned.
"Hold on," Usopp said, a hand stroking his chin. "Zoro might be onto something. If they are just clones, it shouldn't hurt the original Luffy. They should just poof into thin air, right?"
Chopper looked skeptical. "I don't know, Usopp. They look a lot like humans."
"They would probably bleed to death like regular people," Robin added.
Brook finally freed his head from the wall. "What if they turned into skeletons like myself?"
"We don't need any more skull jokes on this ship," Sanji immediately rejected.
"Oh! That struck me deep in the heart, Sanji-san. Ah, but I have no heart to begin with! Yohohoho, skull-"
"Okay, that's enough," Nami cut in, putting her hand up. They were getting off track.
"We need to focus. Killing any Luffy-" she sent a glare towards Zoro "-is out of the question. As we can see from this conversation, we don't know what will happen-"
"NANI?!"
Eight heads turned to face the persons they were debating on killing.
"What? You guys want to get rid of us?" one of the Luffys asked quietly, and the Straw Hats were startled to see tears building in his eyes.
"I knew it - they're planning to murder us in our sleep! Mutiny! Good for nothing sons of bitc-"
"Huh? I think they're just confused," another Luffy said, cocking his head.
"Shishishi! I dunno what's going on but I'm up to kicking some ass!"
Seven pairs of eyes and one pair of sockets switched from one Luffy... to another... to the other... and finally to the last.
One Luffy was bawling, whimpering about being alone forever as another Luffy stooped over him, trying to calm him down. The third Luffy crossed his arms and glowered at the crew, while another just grinned at them, a hand on his prized straw hat.
It was the weirdest sight they had ever laid their eyes on.
Usopp focused on one of the Luffys, the one cowering on the floor, and felt extremely uncomfortable. He was the coward on this ship, not his captain (or captains). As a matter of fact, it was Luffy's consistent lack of fear and absent sense of danger that made him so reckless even against serious threats. His refusal to back down in a fight also landed the crew in many, many heart-stopping circumstances.
So, needless to say, seeing his captain like that - rocking on his heels and crying because of a few harmless words (that the normal Luffy would've just laughed off)...
"That's disturbing," Usopp muttered.
Zoro glanced up and locked eyes with a Luffy that had a raging fire in his eyes, obsidian gaze intense. Sanji and Brook were also locked in his stare and watched as an uncharacteristic smirk grew across their captain's lips and fangs that definitely weren't there before glinted in the dining room light. This Luffy looked... bloodthirsty.
Zoro slowly shut his eyes, deciding then and there that he was taking himself out of this mess. He was snoring two seconds later.
Sanji averted his gaze, wondering what was up with that Luffy, and Brook chuckled nervously.
Chopper and Franky both looked towards the Luffy that was laughing at all the commotion. So far, he seemed like the most normal one, but they couldn't be sure. All the Luffys looked identical in appearance. Franky noted that they each had scars on the left side of their face, just below their eye, a straw hat, and the same simple clothing. Chopper found that they even had the same scent. Four peas in a pod.
Robin silently observed each of the captains, examining their behaviors, and realized that there were a few small differences. She started to build a theory.
Nami, meanwhile, was ready to scream. She collapsed dramatically on her chair and put her hands in her long orange locks, which were surely developing gray hairs right now.
What the hell was going on? With the exception of one, why were the Luffys suddenly acting so… un-Luffy-like? What did that woman do?
Nami groaned, dropping her head onto the table. What should they do? They were wasting time. There was only so much they could do if Chopper couldn't track the pirate down to force her to reverse the effects. The only other option involved playing the waiting game - and Nami would look twice her age by then.
She actually began to consider Zoro's preposterous idea when she suddenly had the strangest feeling she was being watched. The dining room grew silent.
Nami lifted her head just as something rough was shoved on top of her hair, pushing her slightly forward. She pushed the rim of the hat back with a slender finger, shock evident in her features, and was met with the familiar sight of a grinning Luffy.
A man of action more than words, his message was clear. You worry too much.
Nami breathed in the oddly comforting smell of straw and reached up to rub the prickly rim. It had been too long.
The Luffy sans-hat then turned to his crew. "I don't know what's going on exactly, but we're nakama. We wouldn't hurt each other, clones or not."
"Yeah, Zoro," Usopp muttered, only to be shut up by the sliding of swords on who he had thought was asleep.
"What was that Usopp?" the swordsman grumbled.
"N-nothing, Zoro-kun," Usopp backtracked.
One of the Luffys laughed. "Zoro's so funny."
Nami marveled at how Luffy managed to take control so easily. She wondered wryly why he didn't act like this - like a captain, that is - more often.
She blinked. She was missing something.
As if sensing her confusion, the Luffy that had given her his hat looked down at her again. "What's the matter?"
She didn't answer, only looked at each of the Luffys individually. Understanding dawned on her face. Robin, at the same time, came to the same conclusion.
"It is as I suspected," the archeologist stated.
"Mm," Nami nodded.
The others looked at the two females, lost.
"What do you mean?" Franky asked.
Robin faced the crew. "The pirate woman. She didn't make clones. When we came to the island, she revealed that her devil fruit dealt with emotions. The people on the island were under her power - she called them the Affected."
Chopper glanced at Nami before asking, "So what's that gotta do with Luffy?"
At their names, the four Luffys stood at attention. They looked back and forth between their nakama, trying to follow the conversation.
"Her ability deals with feelings, so Luffy had to be affected in that way," Robin explained.
Sanji was starting to get it. "They're not clones, after all. Not really."
Then he kicked Zoro. "Hear that Marimo?" Zoro only shifted in his sleep, a snot bubble inflating and deflating with each snore.
Usopp spoke for Brook, Chopper, and Franky. "Still confused."
"Do you remember what the woman said before her attack?" Robin pressed.
"Kinda. Something about kanji or kanjo - so, feelings?" Usopp recalled.
"Multiple Affect, Kanjō o kanji saseru pātī," Nami repeated, remembering the uttered words exactly.
"Roughly translated," Robin continued. "Feelings-emotions party. Multiplied."
Chopper's eyes widened. "So, Luffy was-"
"Aow! That's a super strange ability right there," Franky said in slight admiration.
"Yohohoho! That explains why they're so different! But they look so alike."
Usopp was still trying to piece together the puzzle. "Wait a second, wait a second, Robin. So what you're saying… is that the woman… somehow split Luffy up into different emotions? So they are him, or at least look like him, but mostly act according to how they mainly feel?"
"Mm," Robin nodded, smiling at how nicely the sharpshooter had summed it up. "That's my theory at least. We won't know until we find the user behind it, though."
One of the Luffy's grunted. "That's the dumbest shit I've ever heard in my life."
"Found the crude one," Usopp muttered.
"He must be Luffy's anger," Chopper agreed, a little frightened of that Luffy.
"And this one's wimpy," Franky nodded towards the Luffy on the floor.
"I wouldn't say that," Robin objected. "He's more depressed, which makes him vulnerable."
"So Luffy's sadness," Usopp stated.
"Ne, ne?" One of the Luffy's excitedly raised his hand. "Which one am I?"
"You seem the most normal, very energetic," Brook noted.
"Luffy's craziness," Nami offered.
"Hmmm… how about just happiness? It can be over the top, but it's how he mainly feels," Robin suggested.
Nami shrugged. "That leaves us with..."
"Hm?" The hatless Luffy looked on blankly as his crewmembers all observed him.
"He might just be the weirdest of them all," Sanji commented.
"Yeah, look at him. All calm and level-headed for once," Usopp added.
"Scary. Maybe we can call him peaceful Luffy," Chopper said.
"Except we know there's very little of that," Nami immediately put down the idea. "What are his main feelings?"
"Well so far we have happiness, sadness, and anger. Not sure what comes after that," Usopp listed off.
"Perhaps this is the original? A combination of all of them?" Robin asked thoughtfully.
"Could be," Brook nodded.
"But if he is the original, then - and no offense to Luffy - wouldn't he act less, I don't know, mature?" Usopp asked.
"None taken," Luffy suddenly replied. Usopp stared, then pointed at him as if to say, My point exactly.
"Luffy's known to say mature things," Sanji reminded them.
"Yeah, but that's only once in awhile. And in near-death situations."
Nami sighed. They were getting nowhere. "Luffy?"
"Hai?" Came the four voices simultaneously.
Nami sweatdropped, not knowing why she hadn't anticipated that. She nodded towards the one closest to her, the one who's hat she was wearing.
"You… Luffy. How do you... feel right now?"
Luffy thought for a moment. "Hmmm… I dunno. I feel really happy that I'm with you all-"
They all couldn't help but smile at that.
"-but really confused about all this," he continued, before frowning a bit. "And something's been bothering me since I woke up. I've had this really weird feeling in my chest."
"Weird feeling?" Chopper echoed, already in his doctor-mode. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know," he shrugged, "but it goes away sometimes."
"Really?" Chopper looked dubious.
"Yeah," Luffy answered. "Like just now."
He was silent for a beat, then, "Ne, Nami?"
Nami raised her eyebrows, silently surprised she was called. "Yes?"
"Oh brother," Angry Luffy suddenly moaned, rolling his eyes.
"Shishishi!" Happy Luffy had a mischievous grin on his face.
"What if she doesn't like it?" Sad Luffy asked.
The Straw Hats frowned at them, perplexed by their sudden outbursts, even after they had half-solved their behaviors.
Nami narrowed her eyes at Luffy, who only grinned down at her. "Doesn't like wh-?!"
And then his lips were on hers, rubber palms cupping her cheeks and Nami's mind went blank. Her eyes flew wide open, before her whole body froze, heart pounding against her ribcage, acrobats flipping in her stomach as she felt his lips move against her own - slow and deliberate and burning hot, and goddamn it felt good(?!).
Though her body failed her, she was acutely aware of the mixed reactions of her fellow crewmembers around her, jaws dropping, shocked voices overlapping, one of them (she could guess who) engulfed in flames of rage.
"WHAT THE HELL?! YOU SLY SHITTY BASTARD!"
"Ack! Luffy! What are you doing to Nami?!"
"Yohohoho! What a sizzling kiss!"
"Luffy and Nami are kissing!"
"Oh my. So this is affectionate Luffy. Or perhaps, romantic Luffy?"
"More like Hentai Luffy-aniki!"
"GET AWAY FROM NAMI-SWAN YOU PERVERT!"
"Matte, Sanji."
"B-but Robin-chwan… Nami-swan and shitty captain…"
Nami tuned out. She could feel the heat creeping up her cheeks as her captain continued his exploration of her mouth. He tasted sweet, like homemade barbecue sauce. She could finally think, but only incoherent ohmyOdas and whatthefuck and whythehellcantimove. Oh, and luffykissgood.
Nonsense, all of it.
And then everything flew right out of her brain again when he tilted her head just so, deepening the kiss, his teeth grazing her bottom lip before slowly sucking on it. In her stunned state, Nami hazily noticed how gentle he was, almost apologetic, as if trying to make up for the abruptness of his actions. She was glad she was sitting cause her knees felt like one of Sanji's gelatin desserts.
When he pulled back, a thin string of saliva connected the two before Nami - finally able to move - jerked backwards, face glowing neon red, mouth stinging and slightly swollen from her captain's - she has to keep remind herself - sudden public display of affection. They both breathed hard, panting from the seconds of no air.
"Ah, gomen," Luffy apologized, though in all honesty he didn't seem sorry at all. "Couldn't help it. But now I feel a lot better."
Nami couldn't say the same thing. A ball of heat had pooled and settled at the base of her stomach, her knees were shaking, her heart was running a marathon, and her head was buzzing with thousands of bees. She felt like she had been given three shots of adrenaline. She gaped at Luffy, at how he unabashedly licked his lips.
She was mortified that the crew had seen her first kiss, and with her captain no less. But that wasn't even the worst part.
The worst part was that she had the fleeting thought of doing it again, except this time with her being more responsive.
All this, combined with the smell of that straw hat, reminding her that he was her emotional anchor - who, for the record, did a terrible job of keeping her sane at this moment by kissing her - was all too much.
She had never felt so lost, so disoriented. How did Zoro do this?
She hated it.
In a desperate attempt to gain back her bearings, Nami embraced the familiar feeling of anger rising in her throat and did the only unreasonable thing that came to mind as she watched Luffy beam at her, not a color on his cheeks.
She gritted her teeth and lifted a trembling fist before punching him hard in his face.
"B-baka!"
Luffy, you dirty rascal! Embarassed Nami is fun to write though :P
Stay tuned for the next chapter! The Straw Hats' (as well as yours, readers) multiple questions will be answered, along with more LuNa fluff XD
Ja ne,
forgottensongs
