A/N:

Before we start, just wanted to warn you all that I've cut out the smut from this chapter, if you wanna read the full thing go to Archive of our own, it will be under the same title under the same fic, under the same pen name.

I'm aware that FFN Moderation is spotty at best, but I'd rather not risk getting the entire fic taken down over a report. I hope you all understand this concern.

With that being said, I hope you all enjoy this- pg13-ified version of convergent devil, regardless; it has given me a near heart attack when google drive decided not to play ball... anyway, on with the show!


000


"Are you sure you want to do this?"

Nami didn't really know the answer to that. So she didn't answer Luffy's question. She could bear to do this, especially with her captain by her side, but she wouldn't enjoy it. The wound was simply too raw and fresh, but she didn't want to wait.

Besides, it would be cathartic as hell when they were done.

Luffy took her silence as an answer enough as the two made their way back into Arlong Park, looking out to the rubble and the festering corpse of Arlong.

It had been a single day, but the fishman's body now seemed to match the rot of his soul. Nami's nose wrinkled, but she could take the stench. She'd smelled worse things in the horrifying early chapters of her life, but that did little to make the moment more bearable.

Luffy looked no worse for wear in the putrid haze, but she was certain the man was using devil-fruit fuckery to remain unperturbed by the sickly-sweet scent of rot. "You sure you wanna search here, now?"

"The stench is only going to get worse, Luffy," she grumbled, charging on and looking for anything valuable in the wreckage of the tower. "I doubt you'd want to stay in Conomi for however long it takes for him to be picked clean by gulls, and I'm not leaving without every Berry that bastard took from me."

"I guess…" Luffy grumbled, following her lead and heaving the massive pieces of debris to their sides for Nami to check under. "What are we looking for?"

"A massive safe," Nami muttered, looking back at Arlong's body. "He used to keep all the money he 'taxed' from people in it. Last I saw, it was in his office on the top floor. Shouldn't be that hard to find, the thing was massive, came up to my chest."

"Huh. Pretty sure I remember something like that crashed into me when the building came down," Luffy mused, tossing a massive support beam to the side like it was a pillow. "Should've told me yesterday, we could've done this before the dead fish stench rolled in."

"Should've just burned the body yesterday," Nami grumbled back, shooting another glance at the corpse, her eyes lingering on the staff pierced through his chest. "Ash and bone wouldn't smell this bad."

Luffy paused, and the silence was chilling, though it paled in comparison to his next words, "Burned flesh smells a lot worse than this."

She didn't know why he knew that, but the low tone of his voice made her believe him fully. Part of her wanted to know, another part was scared to find out what darker things might lurk in his past.

"Found it!"

Her musings about his past vanished like so much smoke as Luffy yanked out a massive safe from under the broken and tattered pieces of the roof, hefting the massive steel box over his head before grunting with effort as he slowly placed it right side up.

Nami stopped as she finally got a good look at the front mechanism. She knew it by heart. Arlong had no issues with her seeing it since he always had one of his own guarding it. Knowing that even if she could break into it -and she could, it was just a tumbler and a lock, nothing too complicated for her experienced fingers- she'd never get enough time alone with the damn thing. Nami knew she'd have been able to break into the steel box with just twenty minutes alone with the thing.

Or, rather, she would've been able to before the tower fell.

The steel of the safe had survived its fall as the building collapsed, but the tumbler was now missing, possibly sheared off in the treacherous journey to the cold hard ground.

"No…goddammit," she grumbled, crouching and holding onto the heavy box of steel, her shoulders slumping as her eyes scanned the box again and again, refusing to believe what she was seeing. And even with the sobering reality growing more solid with each passing second, she didn't give up, trying to find anything she could scavenge on the scarred face of the heavy safe, still looking for a way in. "How the hell am I gonna get into this with the lock busted?!"

"Ask me nicely?" Luffy offered with a dumb smile, looking down at her. "You oughta know I have ways to get into things I shouldn't."

Nami blinked. Not sure if she should be more shocked by the offer, or Luffy's apparent self-awareness of his tendencies. "...you know how to pick locks?"

"Picking locks?" Luffy asked back, pulling his head back while shaking it. Making his disbelief of her question visual in the most extreme way he could.

Nami stared back, trying to figure out where Luffy was going with this, or at least goad him to explain himself more with his words.

Instead, he decided to simply demonstrate, and grabbed the safe by its top corners, suddenly heaving the massive block of steel onto its back, smiling down to the door that had been left locked shut. "You're overthinking this!" He chided, his arm bulging and growing to gigantic scale, skin replaced with white chitin.

Nami blinked as Luffy's left arm assumed its iron-clad beetle hybrid form once more.

Oh.

He grinned as he stabbed his arm down, the exoskeleton-clad fingers glinting like a chisel as they flashed forward, followed by the deafening crunch of steel giving out under the sudden immense impact.

He can do that. Right.

It took Nami a second to internalize that Luffy had proven himself the strongest being she knew on the planet. And that he could perform such insane feats of strength. For instance, shoving his hand through the seam of a massive safe with the same ease she'd dip a pen into an ink well.

"See?" He continued, grin smug as he ruined a slab of steel thicker than her arm, and she couldn't fault him for his pride at that fact. He chuckled as he finally gripped it tight and pulled the door open with another tortured groan from the abused metal. "Simple is best!"

Nami blinked, then looked back up to him. A smile growing at the sight of her new, staggeringly efficient lockpick. "I'm keeping you, you know that right?"

He giggled, arm returning to its natural state as he laced his fingers behind his head. "Nah, I'm keeping you."

Nami scoffed, blushing slightly at the implications of what they'd said. Luffy had surely missed it, after all.

Not willing to continue her impulsive kinda-sorta flirting, she finally looked down to take stock of the riches Luffy had recovered.

Her eyes ached, trying to widen past what the muscles on her face could accomplish, and her lips felt dry, her tongue darting out to lick them.

She was sure Arlong had been spending plenty of his ill-gained funds on booze and bribes, but even with the years of feeding a massive fishman crew and caring for their pet Sea King, the safe held enough money in it to dwarf her previous collection by a factor of fifteen.

The entire safe, which was big enough for her to be able to crawl into with ease, was full of paper money. It made sense in hindsight, Arlong had only accepted minted bills and nothing else.

But even still, the sight of enough cash to lie in was doing wonders for Nami's greedy disposition.

"Woah. That's a lot."

Luffy's voice snapped her out of her greed-induced stupor, Nami's jaw snapping shut audibly as she came to her senses. "Right… we should give this to the people."

Luffy hummed, looking down at the mass of money, then grinned back at her slyly. "You wanna keep some, don't you?"

"Do you not?" Nami shot back, looking back at her captain. "Look at how much there is in here!"

Luffy shrugged. "The rest of the archipelago could use it more than we ever could."

She pouted up at him. Not because she disagreed but because he was right.

Nami hated when he was right.

"There are over a billion berries in here though!" She whined, reaching out and grabbing a fistful of bills, "They wouldn't notice a few grand missing!"

Luffy hummed in thought for a moment, before nodding at some thought. "You're right. We can keep ninety million."

Nami paused, then her eyes snapped up to him. "Oh… Luffy… "

He smiled. "You fought and stole that money yourself. It's yours anyway, fair and square."

She clicked her tongue. "You're lucky you're cute."

"Eh?"


Fullbody was utterly fucked.

Not only had he lost a marine vessel, which didn't go over well with the higher-ups to begin with, he'd also come back broken and bruised after a 'lunch date.' One that wasn't actually approved by anyone that would've and should've looked into such matters.

Or rather, he would've been fucked, if everyone above his rank hadn't decided to shit the bed in the same week. His saving grace had been multiple captains fucking up in close succession to his own mess up.

He'd received what amounted to a slap on the wrist, protected by the utter shitmaelstrom that had wrecked the most of the marine captains that had been stationed in East Blue; Morgan had been revealed as corrupt to the bone, Nezumi was MIA, and someone with so little presence that he'd forgot his damn name had managed to lose an entire ship and a prisoner to the Buggy crew of all things.

The silver lining was that Smoker had kept up doing good work on his end, as always.

Yes, all those consecutive losses for the Navy were bad, but they'd taken the heat off his back for his own mess-ups. He'd saved face by capturing the floating body of Krieg after his scuffle with the chefs at Baratie and chalked the loss of his ship to a battle with the pirate, but he knew he was on thin ice regardless. Ice which was getting thinner by the day if he didn't do something competent enough to get back in the good graces of the admirals.

He knew the only reason why he'd not been court-martialed for general incompetence was because he was only patrolling East Blue, and the utter decrepit state of the higher-ranked marines in his branch. Had he'd been anywhere else, any other time, he'd have been demoted instantly. Or worse.

He'd have been joining Morgan.

The news of Morgan's defeat and subsequent arrest had made waves in the marine circles. Most people were shocked that the man that had managed to defeat and execute Kuro could be taken down by a no-name pirate, some newbie that not even the Shells base could identify.

Then, the news of Kuro's apparent survival spread like wildfire when the pirate's broken body was delivered to the marine base nearby Syrup Village of all places, destroying what little remained of Morgan's supporters and reputation. In the end, Command had to mobilize Garp the goddamn hero out to the Shells base just to save face and stop the town from revolting.

The last thing the top brass needed was an entire town that used to house a marine base flipping to the revolutionary's side. Fullbody himself wouldn't have blamed the people, but he'd never vocalize those thoughts.

Lest he join Morgan on the chopping block.

Fullbody had thought, neck deep in a pile of shit he'd admittedly buried himself in, that his superiors would take the capture of Kreig and his crew well and forgive him the loss of an entire vessel at the hands of a warlord. That she was an acceptable loss in the path to capture one of the highest bounties in his Blue. But after handing the catatonic captain in, he'd known it wasn't enough. He could read it on their faces when they heard how displeased they felt with him, after endless reports that only seemed to grow worse, but he appreciated that they'd given him a chance to make up for his mistakes. One last chance to show the competence that earned him a position as lieutenant in the first place, and tasked him to track down the officer and platoon who had gone radio silent just a day ago: Captain Nezumi.

Fullbody had hated the man. Not only was he a scrawny, cowardly man, but he'd also voiced blatant disdain for physical pursuits. He looked down his mousy nose at men like himself and Morgan like they were simple brutes.

The rat-like marine had done the same with regards to Garp, though the elder marine had taken it in stride. He'd laughed it off with deep guffaws before quietly clapping a hand over Nezumi's shoulder and peering down at the diminutive man with a gaze that looked downright predatory.

'You're going to die.'

Fullbody still remembered that day like it was yesterday. One of the rare instances that the old, jolly marine had ever seemed pissed off. Even then, it wasn't a rageful thunderous voice that escaped him, but a frank and blunt statement that promised the rat's demise.

Not one of them was brave enough to ask the hero if he meant what he'd said, or if this was a particularly intimidating joke. None present dared speak until Garp had left earshot, and even then some held their breath.

Fullbody, frankly, didn't care what the graying man had implied. He was satisfied with what the statement had accomplished on its own.

He still smiled at the memory of how the usually snide and smug smirk left Nezumi's face at the declaration, the marine who'd got his position through excessive politicking, brown-nosing and deals made behind closed doors growing pale, even his whiskers drooping as genuine fear filled his beady eyes.

Served the scrawny bastard right.

Getting saddled with that dumb hood was just the cherry on top. That day, Fullbody knew he'd die for Garp. It was the least he could do after the man had managed to force Nezumi into his dumb, very fitting uniform.

With that memory fresh in his mind, Fullbody cracked his knuckles, wondering darkly if the elder marine's prediction had come true. It'd be terrible timing for the marines to have yet another defeat stacked on the pile, but if it was Nezumi that had perished, they'd be better off. If only it hadn't happened in the same week as everything else…

He turned to his navigator. "How much longer 'til we reach the last known location of Nezumi's ship?"

The man rechecked the compass and their map, using a sextant to get their bearings once more. "Half a day of sailing, sir."

Fullbody hummed, turning to the Ensign serving under his command. "Tell the men to prepare for battle. This might be Arlong's doing."

He'd heard the whispers of where the fishman had declared his territory from his female companions over the years, but sadly Nezumi had always contradicted his reports, and the higher-ups always took a captain's side over a lieutenant's reports.

And besides, any exploratory force sent to the swath of sea around the Conomi archipelago would always disappear. Nezumi claimed that after a recent sea quake, the currents had made it impossible for the larger marine vessels to traverse the treacherous waters, saying that only his crew had enough experience to deal with the area's seas.

Command had simply shrugged and accepted the explanation, not willing to waste more funds on such an unnoteworthy patch of water.

Had Fullbody not been chasing tail, he might've argued against the decision, but he had his own sector to look after, and frankly, he couldn't be bothered to try and be the babysitter of the entire East Blue. He wasn't even a full captain yet.

Besides, he'd had better things to do, like women.

Now with his ass over the fire, he had no choice but to step up to the task. If Nezumi was alive and partying somewhere, good. He'd drag him back by his whiskers for a court martial and give the higher-ups yet another target to reprimand, hopefully haul himself back up into the pan. Maybe even get a promotion if Nezumi had really shit the bed.

And if he'd died to fishmen, Fullbody would avenge the fallen captain, and take that promotion with a smile tucked in his pocket.

Just how strong could those fish bastards be, anyway?

"But sir, Captain Nezumi's reports said the pirates weren—"

He gave his men the most unimpressed glare he could muster, causing the marine to clam up.

"Like how ex-captain Morgan was manning his base in the 'best interests of the world government'?"

The ensign gulped and tossed a hasty salute. "Understood, sir. We'll be armed and ready for battle, sir."

He nodded and looked back at his navigator. "Any signs of weird sea currents?"

The man gulped and looked away, adjusting his cap. "...none sir."

"That rat bastard."


Nami's eyes kept drifting back to it. The smell wasn't disturbing her anymore; her mind was preoccupied with something else entirely, not even registering the scent of dead fish.

The staff Luffy had made almost gazed back in its scrap-metal glory. The righteous vindication of Belle-mere's memory. The solid representation of her last moments and the weapon that had ended her nightmare.

Part of her wanted to pull it from Arlong's corpse. To carry it as Luffy had, use it in her journey to the ends of the world to fulfill her dream.

She wanted to carry a reminder of her mom, the crystallization of her will, and her unfaltering love for the two girls, bound by something stronger than blood.

She knew she wasn't strong enough to wield it yet. But she was willing to put in the work to close that gap. Zoro and Sanji had shown her that normal people could achieve insane feats of strength, even without devil fruits.

And if Luffy wasn't lying about not using his fruit during his mauling of Arlong…

She knew that she would likely never match them in sheer power, but part of her knew if she put her mind to it, she could get strong enough to use the staff Luffy had made. Now the only issue was retrieving the reforged cross.

She was nowhere near strong enough to attempt it. Hatchan had tried and failed to do so, looking down on his dead captain ruefully before giving up on the attempt to retrieve the body.

Nami had found it apt that he suffered the same fate as her mom, in a manner of speaking.

"Luffy." She gestured at the staff, not even waiting for the man to respond to her call. She knew he was watching her regardless. "Can we take that too?"

Luffy walked up next to her with a hum, leaving the rubble he was poking around behind. "Why?"

She quietly looked away, suddenly feeling embarrassed by her thoughts. "...didn't you promise me training?"

He thoughtfully hummed more. She knew he was going to read her like a book again, even before he spoke, "Do you feel like you need her with you?"

She cursed him internally, he didn't need a reason to beat the cartilage out of Arlong, why did he need a reason to pull out the staff? Did he really need her to say why she wanted it by her side? "...having something to remember her would help. To remind me that she's by my side."

He laughed gently, sounding a little more rueful than usual. It was good to hear that he wasn't getting his kicks from getting her to tell him her painful thoughts.

"Nami…" Her heart stopped for a second, as she felt him gently tap over her sternum. "She's been with you the entire time. You don't need a big heavy stick."

His hand over her heart felt warm and soft. She always forgot how nice his skin actually felt, and always quietly savored every moment of skinship they'd shared in the past. This time, she cut her appreciation short, breathing deeply and feeling his palm press against her as she swung to face him. Luffy kept his hand over her heart the entire time, his hand tingling against her skin with every beat of her heavy heart. "...how do you always know what to say?" she asked, eyes locked onto his.

Just once, she wanted him to falter, dammit. She wanted him to not have the answers to all the questions of life.

He gave her a shit-eating grin. "Gut feeling! Never led me astray before."

"Really?" she bit back, body heating up. "Never?"

The man paused, his lips pursed, his eyes suddenly unable to look at her, sweat breaking out from his forehead, "Yeap."

Nami blinked.

And again.

"You…" She burst out laughing. The guy that could stare into people's souls couldn't lie. Tension ebbed and flowed out of her as the monolith that was Luffy finally trembled, giving him a human fault for once, other than the impulsiveness the man bore with pride. "You can't lie for shit, can you?"

"Mean!" Luffy pouted, and Nami burst into another fit of giggles.

She grabbed hold of his hand over her chest, squeezing it gently as she looked up at the man with a tilt of her head. "Thank you."

Luffy's pout melted and he returned her smile in kind. "Whatcha thanking me for, silly? Beating Arlong isn't worth that much!"

She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, poking her tongue out after the theatrical motion. She wasn't even talking about the Fishman that time. "Felt like it, dumbass. C'mon, we should go back to Cocoyashi before Zoro gets lost and ends up in South Blue or something."

"I feel like stopping Zoro from getting lost is going to be a harder adventure than finding the One Piece," Luffy grumbled, heaving the safe up against his chest.

Nami shot him a look. Then glanced down at his bulging biceps.

Suddenly, the sight of the safe full of cash felt like the second most glorious thing she'd seen that morning.


"We need to talk."

Zoro groaned, nursing a glass of water, trying to wrest himself away from the long-nosed headache he had to squint to see properly.

Usopp glared back at him, seeming suddenly all too brave for the swordsman's liking. The clown's head glared at him from Usopp's side.

The feeling of the two fools staring at him only made Zoro's hangover feel worse. Part of him missed Sanji, but the bastard cook had frolicked off to prepare breakfast on their captain's call, the sister of their navigator guiding him to the village storehouse and a furnished kitchen.

Zoro was pretty sure the rest of the village had partied themselves into a stupor last night, so the cook was probably going to end up cooking for everyone nursing their own hangovers and tired bodies.

He still envied the prick.

"What's going on between Luffy and the ladies?"

"You've immediately lost me, and I already didn't care, so well done," Zoro breathed, deciding to block out anything and everything that would soon follow.

"He was laughing and partying with them the whole night!" Buggy screeched, almost rolling himself over in the process. "I saw the red-head grope him down there more than once!"

Usopp nodded along, and Zoro wished Mihawk really had finished him off.

"Not to mention they spent the night back at her old house!" The sniper added, crossing his arms and raising a finger. "I, Captain Usopp, think that's highly unprofessional!"

Buggy nodded his head eagerly. "As a fellow captain, I agree!"

Zoro pressed his thumbs against his temples. "...we're pirates. We don't care about professionalism."

Usopp flinched and slumped a little. "Oh yeah."

Finally giving in to the fact that he had to be a part of this conversation, Zoro pinched the bridge of his nose. "What's your real deal here? It's not like you two doubt Luffy leading us, do you?"

Usopp looked away suddenly, sweating from his forehead. "N-nothing like that. Just…"

Buggy started whistling.

Zoro balked at the sight, and the pieces clicked. "Oh my god. Luffy was right."

He pointed at Buggy. "Maidenless."

The clown made an inhuman screech and fell over in the process.

He turned to Usopp. "And you…"

Usopp grumbled, his typically weasley voice taking on a serious edge. "I don't want him to abuse his position."

Zoro paused, his face scrunching. He'd thought Usopp was just acting out due to missing his own female companion, but instead… "Do you really think Luffy would do something like that?"

"I've known him for a grand total of a week, man," Usopp reminded him, steel in his voice. "I'd known Kuro for three years, and we all know where that went."

"Huh," Zoro mumbled, dropping his hand. "That is surprisingly more fair than I'd thought."

Usopp puffed his chest with pride.

"Still wrong, though." Zoro added, leaning back against the alleyway they'd dragged him into. "From what I can tell, our Captain's solid as a rock when it comes to his character."

"You kidnapped me!" Buggy roared.

Zoro spared him a glance. "When you were pillaging a defenseless town, with a crew full of maniacs."

The fight left Buggy's head as he rolled to his side again. "Where the hell did I go wrong, captain…" He mumbled to himself.

Zoro was starting to really doubt the clown had been on the same island as Roger, let alone been part of his crew.

"Are you three discussing a mutiny?"

Usopp froze over, and Buggy managed to roll himself away from the sudden appearance of Robin, smiling serenely at the trio. All of them knew just how scary she could be with that expression. Only Zoro didn't seem to mind, shrugging in response. "Usopp was worried Luffy was forcing himself on you and the thief. Buggy's being Buggy."

The cold gaze Robin was giving the group melted ever so slightly. "Forcing himself…?"

Usopp opened his mouth to explain, only to click it back shut as Robin started to giggle behind her hand. "Oh, oh no, nothing like that is going on, don't worry Nose-kun." Her eyes landed on Buggy's head, who'd managed to roll himself behind Zoro's leg in an attempt to hide. "And I'm sure you'll find yourself a woman, head-kun. The sea is vast."

Zoro hummed in agreement.

Buggy sniffed and recalled the line of snot running down his nose.

A beat passed.

"Did you just call me maidenless too!?"


It had taken her less than a day.

Buggy's crew was as gullible as they were surprisingly strong, and Alvida had rapidly taken command, becoming first mate with ease. The sun had barely set before she'd taken the seat of the acting captain, with the state poor Buggy was in.

Honestly, it was a boon that the headless man had ended up catatonic once again after his supposed bout of movement.

Now; the stolen Navy ship and the Big Top had sailed out towards a new goal: A particular fruit Alvida had heard about in passing between her new men.

A devil fruit. She'd not believed it, and neither had her men. She doubted anyone that hadn't been close to Logue Town or Buggy's crew would've believed in its existence. But with the headless, still living Buggy to her back… and the man that had hit her with an impossible punch, she was inclined to believe in the mythical fruit.

Cabaji gave her another nasty look. "You said the straw hat was going to the Grand Line. We're going the wrong way. We should've doubled back and headed where we were before we came to save you; back to the Baratie!"

"Hush now, Chief of Staff," Alvida growled, towering over the man. "We need to get through this detour to bolster our strength before we stand a chance against Luffy!"

Her hand went to her stomach, rubbing over the bruise that remained from that man's savage attack.

Soon…

Ritchie purred behind her, the giant lion adjusting how he sat to form a seat for the massive woman. Alvida grinned and took her seat without looking, scratching under the feline's chin.

"How long till we reach the location?"

"Half an hour, Lady Alvida!"

She smiled wider.

I'll catch up to you soon, Monkey D. Luffy!


Nami's eyes were wandering.

She couldn't help herself, Luffy was carrying more than his weight in gold against his chest, his muscles bunched together with the effort of it, even if he didn't even look like he was registering the supposed weight. He made it look like the entire thing was made out of cardboard, rather than solid steel. She wiped the corner of her mouth discreetly, hiding the action behind a cough. She was drooling at the sight of the pure— in all senses of the word— power Luffy held, and she knew it.

That knowledge made her body feel warmer, blood pumping furiously at the behest of her confused heart.

It's confusion was made only worse as he— the current object of her affection— caught her wandering gaze and responded with a wide smile that threatened to buckle her knees on sight.

She had admitted that she had a physical attraction to the man last night to her sister, and now that admission was biting her in the ass; her brain was aware of what was going on but powerless to stop it from manifesting and concentrating.

Lust was building up in her as they walked the long path back to her village, and she didn't know what to do with that feeling. Silently, she tried her damndest to ignore the bubbling warmth causing her body to react in ways she didn't want. At least, she didn't want it right now.

But her fate had been sealed even before her attempts to quell the growing storm.

Nami's body had decided to override the logical side of her brain the moment he'd pressed his hand over her heart. The traitorous organ had picked up the pace and not calmed down, no matter how much time had passed. She wondered if it'd ever calm down again if she didn't act on the impulses her brain flooded with.

Part of her wondered if this was how Luffy felt all the time. That would've explained his impulsive nature.

She shot another glance at him that lingered on his muscles.

She'd considered him lean; next to the overly muscular forms of some of her fishmen oppressors, he honestly was. But she'd been wrong in her assessment. Luffy's body didn't hold the bulk of what came with her understanding of what 'muscular' meant. Rather than a marble carving of constantly flexed physique, Luffy's body was dynamic. His biceps drew taut and bulged whenever he had to exert himself, even if the effort seemed minimal. Simply hauling the safe for her turned him to a living performance of muscular anatomy, stark lines of tendon and steel-woven fibers of pure muscle pushing against his healthy layer of fat for her to admire.

Her eyes traced the strong curves along his forearms, the tension in his calves with every step, even the muscles going up to his neck imitating the ropes of a suspension bridge as his shoulders pulled them taut with the weight of the sa—

She blinked as their eyes met once again, and Nami's thoughts and feet came to a crashing halt.

"Wanna fuck?"

The young Navigator paled, realizing too late the thought had rattled loose of her mouth with no filter to stop it, Luffy's eyes widening a little at the blunt and very unromantic question.

Not that she'd know much of romance, she'd not gotten a chance to chase much tail herself. Her only real context came from watching adults flirt growing up and, more recently, hoards of men like Sanji who all seemed to want a piece of her. Which had all made everything so much harder with the idea of a possible partner, and the few times she'd entertained the fantasy before, Nami had been afraid she'd always ruined those chances, like she'd done just now.

"Sorry! That just came out of nowhere!" She barked out with a startled laugh, before he could even open his mouth to respond. She could feel the burning blush she knew was already covering her cheeks ignite like a raging campfire, her vision growing blurred and hazy as her eyes darted all over the place, unable to even look at the same direction as her Captain. "Y-you can see where the village is from here! Well, I'll just run off now an—"

Before she could bail off the island entirely to live the rest of her life in a hole, Luffy's hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder, her eyes snapping back to his. Black void gazed back with curiosity, and she was surprised to see that the safe was still in her peripheral vision, her eyes darting to check how that was possible.

She gulped dryly as she noticed that he was holding the safe up with just one arm and a propped-up thigh.

"Nami…" Luffy started, his voice heavy with something that reacted against something primal in her body, a shiver running up her. Was that lust? "This isn't 'cause of what I did, right? I didn't do that for…"

His voice trailed off and she saw his eyes dip down her collarbones for what felt like the first time since they met, her core going into overdrive.

Nami didn't quite understand what he meant by his question, everything they'd done befoee that very moment in the empty path back to the village fading away; only the present and future filling every conscious thought. Nothing else mattered but the aching feeling under her stomach, and just how soft her skin was starting to feel.

With strength she didn't know she had, she pushed forward, shoving the safe away from Luffy who just let the massive box fall to the ground as Nami took its place, clinging to his body and kissing him with a sudden burst of the passion and lust that had clouded her mind, clinging onto his body as if trying to melt into it.

Her feelings seemed to be mutual as Luffy returned the kiss in kind, his strong arms wrapping around her frame and his hand cupping behind her head to deepen the kiss. He groaned against her lips as her thigh managed to push between his, soft skin pressing against the harsh denim of his shorts, feeling the heat radiating off the thing her body was desperate for.

She pulled away with a gasp, looking into his eyes greedily, her hands almost clawing down his back already. "Luffy, please, I need you to touch me."

Luffy laughed breathlessly, his hands reaching under her shirt and making her skin tingle and heat up, delectable sparks hiking up her spine with every new point of contact. "You wanna do this here?"

"No, there's a clearing twenty meters to the south," Nami gasped, already diving in for another kiss, desperate for more contact.

Her feet left the ground, one wrapping around Luffy and finding purchase behind his back, aiding her desperate efforts to grind her aching core against him while he wrapped his hand under the other, gripping her tight against his strong frame with his other hand. The quiet little voice that was the tattered remains of her logical brain noticed scenery moving past them in the wrong direction. She giggled a little, pulling back and kissing the side of his jaw. "Wrong way captain," she purred against his ear, nibbling on the cartilage.

She'd never felt more powerful as Luffy shuddered under the stimulation, his hands flinching and bouncing her against him for a second to make sure he didn't drop her in the process.

"That's why you're my navigator," he murmured back, voice heavy with the same tone that had got her core roaring, another shiver running up her spine at the possessive phrasing. He turned until she nodded, rewarding his correction with a hot puff of her breath under his jaw.

In what felt like a single bound, filled with more grasping and kissing than Nami could fully comprehend, they ended up in the clearing Nami had called out, Luffy gently lowering her to the soft grass without breaking their desperate lip-lock.

She panted as he finally pulled back and let her breathe, a whine escaping her lips when she had enough air in her lungs again, not caring why he'd pulled back. A second later, she cared immensely as Luffy grew annoyed with the buttons on his cardigan and just pulled the piece of clothing over his head instead, the muscles on his chest flexing deliciously with the motion.

Before the piece of clothing fell on the ground, his arm lashed out and grabbed the straw hat that'd gotten knocked off with it out of the air, shoving it back on his head with a satisfied grunt. "...do you want me to strip you too?"

Nami blinked, remembering that she probably shouldn't be just watching. Her hands went down to grab the hem of her shirt before pausing.

"...Is this a bad time to say I don't know where we go from here?"

Luffy blinked down at her, then a smile rushed to greet her as his face split into one, relief flooding her. "Same here, let's go with instinct!"

Nami probably would've argued if her mind wasn't squarely stuck inside the gutter.

At that moment, however?

Nothing sounded better.


000


as stated before, the rest of the chapter is on Archive of our own. look for the ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) you wont miss it