Chapter 4: "Into the Ocean"

I don't own One Piece

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The sun rays of a new day shone down on Nami, lulling her awake. She moaned in complaint, turning on her side to avoid the brightness. As she was about to doze off again, she felt something move beneath her head. Her eyes shot open and she found herself staring, once again, into the face of her sleeping captain. She stifled a scream and attempted to sit up, but was unable to due to Luffy's arm, which was tightly wrapped around her chest.

"Luffy! Wake up!" she yelled into his ear, causing him to jolt upwards, pulling Nami up with him.

"Eh? Eh?" he mumbled, confused. "Where am I?"

"Luffy!" Nami shouted. "It happened again!"

"Eh? Nami?" Luffy asked, turning to stare at her before once again exclaiming,

"NAMI! YOU'RE NAKED!!"

"STOP DOING THAT!!" she barked, hitting him over the head. "This is the same as last time! But now we're in the crow's nest!"

"Huh? Why are we here?" asked Luffy.

"I don't know!" Nami replied. "But look at this room! Our clothes have been thrown in every corner! My..PANTIES are hanging off Zoro's sword..!"

Suddenly, she gasped.

"Zoro..We...On top of Zoro..." she muttered, a look of horror sweeping over her face.

Luffy brought his hand to his chin and gazed at the ceiling. "Hmm...That's odd, last thing I remember, I was about to eat that steak.."

Luffy kept his eyes locked onto the ceiling for a few minutes, occasionally muttering "Hmm..." while Nami lay on her side, frozen.

"AH! That's right!" Luffy finally said. "We had sex last night!"

"YOU CAN TELL THAT JUST BY LOOKING, IDIOT!!"

After a few minutes, Luffy and Nami had gathered and put on their clothes.

They were about to head down the ladder when Nami grabbed Luffy's hand, stopping him.

"Wait.." she said. "What are we going to say to everyone? What are we going to say to Zoro...!?"

After staring at her shortly, Luffy replied,

"Why do we have to say anything?"

"After apologizing and everything, we did the same thing again! It's causing problems for everyone!"

"Really? It didn't seem to me like any one was bothered by it last time.."

"It would only seem that way to YOU!"

Nami groaned, running her fingers through her hair. Why did all of this have to happen?

After taking a few deep breaths, she followed Luffy down the ladder, bracing herself for what was to come.

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The Strawhat crew, minus the captain and navigator, were all in the dining room, sharing mixed looks.

Sanji was silently frying eggs over the burner.

Franky was tapping his fingers on the table while making quick glances at the others.

Usopp was staring at the ground with his eyes narrowed, deep in thought.

Robin was leaning against the wall, looking slightly concerned.

Chopper had his chin resting in his arms while he wondered what was going on.

Zoro sat at the head of the table, facing the door, ready to "greet" Luffy and Nami when they came in. He had a look on his face that could scare away a bear.

"This is going to be strange.." muttered Franky.

"We need to avoid making Nami-san feel uncomfortable." said Sanji.

"But we can't just pretend that nothing happened, can we?" asked Franky, glancing at Zoro then quickly looking away.

"Maybe we should wait for them to bring it up first.." suggested Usopp.

"That's a good idea." said Sanji. "Okay, everyone, listen up. When Nami-san and Luffy come in, no one says anything about last night, got it?"

Everyone nodded except for Zoro, who hadn't moved or said anything since he first sat down.

At that moment, the door flung open and Luffy walked in yelling, "I'M HUNGRY! Sanji! Food!"

He was followed by a tired and grim looking Nami.

Sanji frowned empathetically at Nami, then said, "The eggs are almost done. I'll have everything ready in -"

"Luffy! Nami!" Zoro shouted, interrupting Sanji and smiling widely. "Did you sleep well last night?"

Sanji glared at Zoro threateningly.

Nami bit her lip and focused on the floor.

"Yeah! I slept great!" proclaimed Luffy, oblivious to the seething anger behind Zoro's words.

Then Zoro said very blatantly, "Did you enjoy having sex on my stomach?"

"Damn marimo!!" shouted Sanji, slamming his fist against the stove.

Nami clenched her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut, turning away from Zoro to hide her embarassment.

Luffy blinked at Zoro a few times, then grinned and said, "Yeah! It was fun!"

Sanji tripped and fell on the floor, spilling the eggs.

Usopp and Franky slammed their faces against the table.

Zoro's eye started to twitch and a pulsing vein formed in his forehead.

"YOU IDIOT!!" screamed Nami, hitting Luffy over the head. "DON'T SAY THAT!!"

"What? But he asked.." Luffy started, but was cut off by Zoro, who, with an unnaturally large smile replied,

"I'M SO GLAD IT WAS GOOD FOR YOU!"

"See, Nami? He's not mad." said Luffy, still grinning. "Anyway, I'm starving! Sanji! Food!"

Nami started to back towards the door when she noticed the table shaking from Zoro's twitching muscles.

Suddenly, Zoro jumped onto the table and pulled out his sword.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" he shouted, lunging towards Luffy.

"Ahhh!!" Luffy yelled, jumping out of the path of Zoro's katana.

"You've mocked me for the last time!" exclaimed Zoro, swinging at Luffy.

"Ehh?? What are you talking about?? I don't remember doing anything like that!" defended Luffy, swirving to the side to avoid being impaled.

"Shut up! You might have everyone else fooled but I know your intentions! You're not getting away with this, you bastard!"

Zoro was suddenly hit with an unexpected kick from Sanji, which sent him flying into the wall.

"Don't swing that thing around in here!" Sanji ordered.

"You want to fight, too!?" shouted Zoro.

"Hey, calm down already!" yelled Franky. "We're not going to get anywhere like this! We're trying to solve this problem!"

Everyone was staring at Zoro.

"Gugh..Fine! Do what you want! Just don't bother me with any of it!" bellowed Zoro, who proceeded to fling the door open and stomp outside.

When Zoro left, Franky asked "Why did you guys go into the crow's nest in the first place?"

"I went up there looking for Luffy.." said Nami.

"I saw Nami climbing the ladder when I came out, so I followed her!" Luffy added with a large grin.

A brief silence followed while Sanji sweeped up the fallen eggs, then Franky spoke up.

"Strawhat," he began, "last night, when you got that weird look on your face and ran outside, it was about the same time you guys did that thing the night before."

Nami, who had been hiding her face behind her hair for the past few minutes, raised her head.

"I don't know what's wrong with you, but if we can be sure that it only happens at night, maybe we can prevent it."

"How?" asked Nami, looking slightly hopeful.

"Well, we could restrain you if that doesn't bother you." Franky answered.

"That's fine for Nami, but how could we restrain Luffy!?" Usopp countered.

"Franky and I could hold him down.." Sanji theorized.

"But we don't know how long we have to keep him restrained before he returns to normal!" retorted Franky. "It would be a pain to hold him down all night!"

"If it's just a matter of keeping him in one place.." Robin began, entering the conversation, "..we could put him in a tub full of water. He's an ability user, so he shouldn't be able to move."

"Ah! You're right! That should work!" shouted Franky. "Is that all right with you guys?"

"Yeah, that's fine." said Nami.

"Well it's not fine with me!" yelled Luffy, angrily.

"What?? Luffy! If we don't do this, we're just going to wind up doing the same thing all over again!" shouted Nami.

"I don't care!" Luffy exclaimed.

"What!?" gasped Nami. "You mean you WANT this to keep happening!?"

"When I'm covered in water, I get too weak to eat!" Luffy shouted.

"THAT'S THE REASON!?" yelled Nami, Usopp, Franky and Sanji.

"Luffy, if that's all, I'll just make dinner earlier!" shouted Sanji.

"You need to sort out your priorities!!" bellowed Franky.

Finally, it was decided that when the sun was about to set, Luffy would be put in the bath tub and engulfed in water, while Nami would be tied to her bed.

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"Luffy, just get in the tub already!" shouted Usopp.

"NO!" Luffy yelled, trying to escape, "I haven't eaten enough yet!"

"What are you talking about!?" exclaimed Franky. "You spent the last two hours stuffing your gut!"

"Those were just appetizers!"

"You ate thirty steaks!!"

"I don't care! I'm still hungry!"

Luffy ran for the door.

"No you don't!" shouted Franky, grabbing his captain by the arm and throwing him into the tub where he landed with a splash.

"No!" exclaimed Luffy. "I still need...more..fwuah.."

As the water took effect, Luffy slumped against the side of the tub, lids half closed.

"Success!" cheered Usopp.

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With Sanji and Robin's help, Nami's hands and legs were now tied to the four corners of her bed.

"Nami-san, the ropes aren't hurting you, are they?" asked Sanji.

"No, it's fine." Nami replied.

"We'll just wait here for a while." said Robin. "If nothing happens, we'll free you, and if you do change, we'll stay a little longer to see what happens."

"Okay." Nami replied.

A few minutes passed and then it started.

Nami's breathing intensified and she got a dazed look in her eyes.

"Nami-san..?"

"Ah.."

Suddenly, Nami started struggling against the ropes. She twisted and turned and her whole body started thrashing.

"Nami-san!" Sanji shouted.

She screamed and continued to struggle, a desperate look showing on her face.

"LUFFY!!" she screamed. "LUFFY!! LUFFY!!"

"To think her reaction is this extreme.." commented Robin.

Tears began to pour down Nami's face as she shouted and pulled on the ropes.

"LUFFY!! LUFFY!! LUFFY! LUFFY! LUFFY! LUFFY!!" she cried.

"It feels like we're doing something horrible.." said Sanji, a sad expression on his face.

"I definitely see what you mean..." Robin replied.

Suddenly, the door to Nami's cabin flung open.

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"Hmm...It's been a while and nothing has happened.." said Usopp, staring at his drowsy captain laying in the tub.

"We should wait a while longer." replied Franky. "We have no way of knowing the exact time the change will happen."

"Could it be that it already happened and he's just too weak to react?" Usopp speculated.

"That's a possibility. If it happens with nee-chan (Franky's name for Nami), then that's probably the case."

Suddenly, Luffy's eyes shot open.

"WHOA!" exclaimed Usopp, falling off the stool he was sitting on.

"Look at his eyes!" shouted Franky. "Are they the same as they were right before he bolted out the door last night?"

Usopp crawled forward to get a better look, and sure enough, Luffy had the same, dazed expression from the night before.

"Then we were right!" Franky yelled. "This really does happen every night!"

"It's a good thing we did this then!" Usopp replied. "Since he's in the water there's no way he'll be able to.."

Usopp trailed off as he watched Luffy stand up and step out of the bath tub.

"WHAT THE HELL!?" he and Franky both exclaimed at once.

"Th-this shouldn't be possible!" Franky shouted. "Anyone who has eaten the devil's fruit becomes powerless in the water!"

Luffy began running towards the door.

"We need to stop him!" shouted Usopp.

Franky grabbed his arm, pulling him back. Luffy turned around, grabbed Franky's wrist, pulled his arm away, then ran out the door.

"...Huh?" said Franky. "Wait, just now, he.."

"Franky! He's going to go for Nami! We have to go after him!" Usopp yelled.

"Ah, right!" replied Franky.

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Sanji and Robin both stared at the open door. There stood their captain, illuminated by the full moon, gazing at the orange haired girl tied to the bed.

"Luffy!?" exclaimed Sanji.

"LUFFY!!" Nami called.

Luffy lunged forward and was by Nami's side in less than a second.

Before Sanji or Robin could even register it, he had ripped all the ropes off her and picked her up.

Carrying her in his arms, Luffy ran out onto the deck.

"Shit!" Sanji cursed as he ran out the door with Robin. "How did this happen!? I thought Luffy was restrained!"

"This is very strange, indeed..." replied Robin.

"Sanji! Robin!" Usopp yelled, running over to them. "Did you see Luffy!?"

"He just took Nami-san and ran!" replied Sanji. "What happened!? You guys were supposed to keep him emerged in water so this wouldn't happen!"

"We did!" Usopp countered. "But he stood up and walked right out like it didn't affect him at all!"

"How could that have happened.." said Robin. "Emersion in water is a devil fruit user's absolute weakness.."

"We can talk about that later!" shouted Franky. "Right now we need to find those two!"

They all split up to search the ship.

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Ten minutes later, the four of them were back together.

"We've searched the entire ship!" shouted Franky. "We checked every cabin, we checked the crow's nest, we checked the soldier dock system, and they're no where to be found!"

"They couldn't have jumped into the ocean..!?" gasped Usopp.

"That seems to be the only possibility!" Franky replied. "We have to turn the ship around!"

"In this water, they'll freeze in minutes!!" exclaimed Sanji.

"This is a bad situation.." said Robin. "It's so dark, it will be difficult to see them.."

"Leave that to me."

Everyone turned to see Zoro staring out into the ocean.

"Zoro!?"

"Just turn the ship around." said Zoro. "I'll keep a lookout from the crow's nest and I'll let you know when I see them."

"O..okay!" Franky replied. "I'll handle the wheel! Curly brows! Long nose! You guys take care of the sails!"

"I'll start bringing up torches." said Robin.

"I'll help you with that!"

This time, they all turned around to see Chopper, who was no longer wearing a blindfold.

"Chopper!" shouted Usopp. "What about your eyes??"

"Our nakama are in danger right now! I can't just sit around and do nothing!"

With that, everyone split up and went about their duties.

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"It's...Been an hour.." breathed Franky, a grim expression on his face.

"Yeah.." said Sanji in a distant voice.

"This is really bad..!" exclaimed Usopp.

"Straw hat was able to get out of that tub earlier, so maybe that means he's also able to swim now.." Franky said hopefully.

"Even if that was somehow true," began Robin, "it would be difficult for them to stay above water with the waves and the cold."

At that moment, Zoro called down to them from the crow's nest.

"I see something! On the starboard side, something is floating in the water!"

Everyone looked off the rail to their left and indeed, there was something floating.

"I'll move the ship closer!" shouted Franky.

As the floating figure in question finally came into view, it was revealed to be Luffy and Nami.

They had their arms wrapped around eachother and Nami seemed to be unconscious. Luffy was staring up at the ship.

Sanji quickly threw a rope over the rail and yelled,

"Luffy! Grab this!"

Luffy grabbed onto the rope with one hand while holding Nami with the other and allowed himself to be pulled up by his crewmates.

When he got onto the deck, he stood up for a moment, holding Nami in his arms, then collapsed.

"We need to get them inside immediately!" yelled Chopper, running up to them. "After being in the water for this long, they definitely have hypothermia!"

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Robin had just finished changing Nami's clothes and was about to put her in her bed when her eyes suddenly shot open and she stood up.

"Nami?" Robin asked, confused.

Nami ran out the door onto the deck at the same time as Luffy. They ran into each other's arms, then fell over, unconscious.

"What should we do?" asked Franky. "After all this, it wouldn't feel right to separate them."

"With how tight they're holding eachother, I don't think it would even be possible.." said Usopp.

Picking the two up, Franky said "I think we should just put them to bed."

Franky brought the two into Nami's room, where he set them down on her bed.

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I know that's a bad ending, but I'm too tired to write any more.