Smarter than he lets on – part 3

Back in the men's quarters, a battered Luffy lay in his hammock as around him the other male Straw Hats attempted to get back to sleep. Mutterings of "stupid ero cook" could be heard in the bunk whilst elsewhere in the infirmary a certain cook was cursing his captain. Luffy, however, ignored all of these and focused his thoughts on his navigator. He hoped she was faring well; it was a lot to take in after all.

Flashback:

Earlier, Nami had caught Luffy and Robin reading together and the two had attempted to tell her the truth about Luffy's intelligence. Unfortunately before they could start, Sanji had come running out yelling that he would save Nami. Before the trio could even face palm, the rest of the crew had slowly walked out, being awoken by Sanji's melodramatics.

Giving Robin a quick glance, Luffy immediately launched into his 'dumb act' and Robin immediately went to placate Sanji by telling him that Luffy merely had wanted the girls to read to him the news as he wasn't a good reader. It turned out she needn't have bothered. The moment Sanji caught sight of the two women, he had a nose bleed that made the water fountains of Water 7 look like a kid's toy.

"Ugh! Not again!" groaned Luffy as he extended an arm to drag Sanji back down. Since Chopper was awake, he was able to immediately offer medical assistance to the haemorrhaging heartthrob. As Chopper dragged a limp Sanji back to the infirmary, Robin repeated her explanation to the rest of the crew.

Zoro simply rolled his eyes and went back to sleep, as did Ussop and Franky. Brook however decided to tarry.

"You know, I do need my beauty sleep. It helps me keep away the wrinkles…but I'm a skeleton so I have none! Skull joke! Yo-ho-ho-ho-ho! Nami, since we're both awake right now, could I take a look at…ARGH!"

Before Brook could finish his trademark line, Nami had already zapped him with her black tempo…twice. Luffy rolled his eyes as Robin giggled. Moving over to the now charred and unconscious skeleton, Luffy dragged him back to the bunk whilst saying goodnight to the girls.

Nami would have chased after him but Robin placed a firm hand on her shoulder. The two girls spent the next two hours alone in the crow's nest talking about the truth about their captain.

Present time:

Nami now lay on her bed staring at the ceiling. "I can't believe I just spent two hours talking with Robin about Luffy's intelligence." She mumbled to no one in particular.

Luffy's intelligence she scoffed. What an oxymoronic statement and yet, if Robin was to be believed, it was entire true. No, that rubber head couldn't actually be smart, could he?

As Nami drifted off to sleep, her thoughts wandered off to memories of the past. She recalled how when she was explaning scurvy to the crew, Luffy didn't seem at all surprised. Heck, it had been Luffy who procured the limes for the ship in the first place. She had assumed it was him being greedy at the time, but did he really know what he was doing back then?

Nami next recalled the incident with Arlong. She recalled that at one point, he seemed to let Arlong hit him and bring him to the top of the building. Nami was sure Luffy originally had Arlong's number but just stopped suddenly. She had attributed it to his moronic moves at the time but did he really plan for Arlong to take him up to the top of the tower where her room was? Did he destroy the entire building on purpose rather than by accident? Did he really understand back then that it was important for the whole island that not just the fishmen were defeated but that their tower – the symbol of their oppression – was totally destroyed as well?

Nami vaguely recalled being carried by Luffy to see Dr Kureha on Chopper's island. Normally, the goofball captain was beaten in the worst sense of direction category by only his idiotic first mate. Come to think of it, it was a miracle that Luffy knew where he was going let alone what he was doing…unless what Robin said was true.

Nami also recalled the encounters with Enel. Nami had been the only one with a first row seat for the action and she hadn't thought much of it at the time. Now that she had time to ponder, she realized that Luffy seemed to know exactly what he was doing when he fought Enel. He even played dumb in front of her using that 'Gum Gum Idiot' technique. Then there was the beanstalk. Luffy figured out how to use the momentum of her cloud scooter and the leverage from the beanstalk to power his shot to defeat Enel. At the time, Nami had chalked it up to dumb luck but was it really just instinct and luck, or something more?

The things Robin had mentioned about Alabasta and Enies Lobby came flooding back. Things that she had brushed off as dumb luck now she questioned once again.

Stirring in her bed, Nami muttered to herself.

"No, it can't be. If he really is smarter than he lets on, then that means he may not be that ignorant about feelings. But that means…"

At that point, Nami woke up with a start at her realization.

"If he's not as dumb as everyone thinks, then maybe he really does have feelings for me…"

Nami never saw the flurry of petals appear behind her and a smirk on a certain Archaeologist's face. Tonight would certainly be interesting…

A/N: Hope you guys don't mind a hint of Luna being thrown in. Don't worry, this will stay a short story and won't go too detailed into Luna. However, there will be more than a mention of it for reasons revealed in the next chapter.