Everyday life with the Straw Hats

Liminal Tournament arc: part 2: Miia's concerns

Everybody was on the ship that they were taking to go to the tournament, is was a navy ship but it was disguised to look like a plain old merchant ship. Since they were going to an illegal underground tournament, they didn't want to raise suspicion by having a Navy flag on their ship.

A few hours later...

Chopper was sitting at his seat groaning in boredom. "Just curious Ms. Smith, how much longer until we reach the island?!" Chopper asked, he was trying to be polite about the question, but Smith could tell he was not enjoying the long boring trip.

Smith snickered at Chopper's bored expression. "At this rate, we should be at the tournament grounds in a few more hours, we will need to be quick about docking the ship. Because the tournament starts later on today after we arrive. So there is no time to waste." Smith said, saying it loud enough so everyone else could hear.

Luffy was looking out the window enjoying the view and breeze against his face. Suddenly he felt a gentle touch against his shoulder. He turned around to see Miia with a saddened look on her face.

"Darling, are you sure you have to fight in this tournament?" she asked softly.

Luffy looked confused by this, he took a seat and she sat down next to him. "Sure I do Miia, but why are you upset about that?" Luffy asked.

"Well, because I don't want you to get hurt, and I'm worried about how dangerous it will be." Miia's eyes started to tear up, Luffy started to realize that this was really troubling her. "I don't want to lose you darling! And I'm afraid of what those mean fighters might do to you, please don't fight in the tournament, I want you to be safe with me!" Miia was sobbing now, she laid her face on Luffy's shoulder.

Usually when one of his friends was crying it was because someone hurt them, which resulted in Luffy getting pissed and beating the crap out of whoever did it. However, this was different. There was no one to punch, no one to blame, except himself. Luffy never was in a situation where his own actions brought sadness to his friends. He knew he was not good with words, but he felt he needed to try and comfort Miia. "Don't worry Miia, I'll be fine in the tournament. You have nothing to worry about. Trust me when I say I'm a lot stronger than most people realize, and I've fought my way out of many bad situations with nothing but my punches and kicks." He said with a soft smile, trying to comfort her.

Nami was sitting relatively close by and heard their conversation, she chimed in to try to help explain to Miia the list of Luffy's feats. "Don't worry Miia, trust all of us when we say that your 'darling' is not someone to mess around with. when he gets threatened or someone he cares about is in danger, he becomes a force of nature that will take down anyone who harms him or his friends." Nami said.

Miia looked up at Nami, a little bit confused, "Really? How so….?"

Luffy said to her "Remember that time I beat up those punks who were insulting you on our way home from getting groceries, that is an example of how I get when someone messes with me or my friends."

Miia thought back to when that happened, how Luffy defended her honor from those street jerks and beat them to the ground with ease. She started to understand what they meant by when they were saying when Luffy gets mad. Oddly enough, Miia started to blush. She began to fantasize about how Luffy would fight in the tournament, he would be strong, brave, heroic, fighting against all odds, just like how he did for her on the walk back home. He would be like some sort of knight in armor fighting for his friends, just like a true hero would.

"Uh….Miia, are you all right?" Luffy asked.

Miia snapped back to reality, she was gripping him tightly with her tail and she was still blushing. "Now I understand! Your like those heroic knights in my childhood stories I would read, who would fight through all dangers that came their way to save the princess, and save the day!" Miia said gleefully, her tears completely faded away, all the remained was a shimmer in her eyes of happiness. "of course you can fight in the tournament, I need to see what my hunky hero can do first-hand by watching in the audience. Then maybe after the tournament, when we come back home. We can get frisky all night together in your bedroom, what do you say, darling?!" Miia was clearly getting very excited about this whole situation. And Luffy didn't really know how to respond. Luffy didn't know what the term 'frisky' meant but he assumed it was a type of food, he figured that she wanted to have an all-you-can-eat buffet in his room when they got back. "Okay, sounds fun." Luffy responded with a grin.

Nami just facepalmed at Luffy's stupidity. "He's gonna be getting a full-course meal alright, but not in the way he thinks." She thought to herself.

Only a few more hours until they reach the tournament, who knows what strong contenders they will have to fight against in this all-out battle of the strongest?