Luffy had not moved from his spot, he had just sat down and nobody could move him from there. He stayed on deck the rest of the day, facing down and having his face hidden by his everlasting hat. But who had the right to tell him not to? Every time he had lost a friend he had got them back by fighting for them. But there was no one to blame, no one to fight to get Sanji back. There was nothing to do.
"Here, Luffy," said Chopper coming from behind him and placing a large plate in front of him "Nami and Robin made food. There's a lot more if you want some."
Luffy lifted his head just a bit, not enough to reveal his eyes and reached out the plate but not the fork. He straightened up and faced upwards and then he emptied his plate on his mouth. Then he faced down again and recovered his first position and left the plate where Chopper had left it. Chopper was staring at him, trying to find a way to cheer him up, or to at least get him to talk.
"Well, your appetite is as good as ever!" he joked. But Luffy didn't move. "Luffy? Luffy, please move," nothing. Chopper sat down, "Luffy? Could you at least tell me what you're thin-" and he was cut off.
Luffy had moved his arms out to reach him, leaning towards him and not using his devil fruit powers. Once he got Chopper's little shoulders, he lifted the reindeer and embraced him in a tight hug. Chopper was surprised when he heard a noise, a sob. Luffy was crying.
"Ch-Chopper..." he said between sobs. "Thanks for the food." He hugged tighter, but Chopper didn't complain, Luffy needed this.
The galley needed a lift. Everyone behaved different and the atmosphere was tense. When Chopper walked in, nobody lifted their heads from their plates, not until they saw from the corner of their eyes that Luffy was behind him. Chopper went too the seat he had left before he went to give Luffy his food and resumed his meal. Luffy went to the kitchen and served himself more food on the plate Chopper had given him.
"Stop trying to make me and Robin feel better," started Nami while looking what Luffy was doing from her seat at the other side of the room and received all of the crew's gazes, "we know you're hungry, so take the whole pot."
After that, everybody looked at Luffy's back and waited for a response. Luffy had paused all his actions for a few seconds. After a while, he put the plate in his mouth and took the pot from it's handles. The pot wasn't actually full, it was about half empty, but even Ussop wouldn't be able to lift it easily. He went around the bar and got to the table, but instead of leaving the pot in the middle of the table he left it right in front of his spot on the table, at the far end. He filled his plate and swallowed the soup whole, it was already cooled down, he refilled his plate over and over and seemed that he would never end if the pot was bottomless. Maybe it's because his stomach is bottomless. Once they all heard the pot's large spoon hit nothing but metal, they knew Luffy had finished.
"Luffy," started Ussop, "what do we do now?"
There was a moment of silence which no one dared disrupt.
"We'll stay here," answered Luffy. "I'll take watch."
Normally, in extra dangerous situations, it was Robin who took watch because of her powers. Seeing that Luffy wanted to take watch now, it could only mean that he suspected that Sanji taking watch last night had something to do with his disappearance. Nami turned to Robin, to wait for her response.
"It's alright, he can take watch," said Robin.
"Just don't raid the kitchen," added Ussop.
"I won't, don't worry."
"I'll relieve you once the sun rises," added Robin. "Is that okay?"
"Yes, thanks Robin," answered Luffy with a weak smile.
"Make sure the ship is intact once morning comes, Mugiwara," said Franky.
"I'm sure it will, Franky, I'll protect it with my life!" Said Luffy with a grin in his face, but that grin wasn't complete.
After seeing that Luffy was at least a bit cheered up, one by one, the strawhats left the galley to go to their daily chores. But no matter how they all wanted to hide it, to act brave, everyone was worried. Luffy was the last one to leave the galley. The wind was blowing calmly, it was a nice day for sailing, but Sunny would not move. The strawhats would wait on those waters for an answer. Maybe Sanji had his reasons why he left, but maybe he was taken by force, but why him? Luffy wanted to see what happened that night while he is on watch. He went to the men's quarters and laid on the couch, he would need to be fully awake that night.
When Luffy woke up, the sun was setting; it was almost time to go to bed. Just as the night before, the boys said goodnight to the girls and in their respective quarters, they said their goodnights to each other as Luffy left the men's quarters. The wind was as calm as it had been all day, just colder. Luffy climbed to the Crow's Nest and sat near the window. He saw the stars blink at him from across the sky.
Night Watch was always calm and soothing; one of the best times to sort someone's thoughts.
Robin woke up right before the sun rise, which meant that her inner clock was perfect. She went to get some clothes to change. As an assassin, she was a master of silence, so Nami didn't even stir. The air was fresh and thankfully not as chilly as normal mornings would be. She headed to the Crow's Nest, ready to take her turn and let Luffy rest, she opened the door and saw it empty, or at least empty of life.
"Luffy?" She called out, just to make sure.
After waiting for a couple of seconds and not getting a response, she went back from where she had come. Once on the deck she called out for Luffy again. She used her powers to summon various eyes throughout the ship, the one she summoned inside the galley saw light in it. She made all the eyes disappear and headed that way.
Once she opened the door she confirmed what she had seen, the lights were on and once she heard movement it was obvious that Luffy was there, since Sanji was… gone. She entered the room completely and saw Luffy in the kitchen, what made this strange is that he wasn't in front of the fridge.
"Luffy?" She called once more, but Luffy didn't respond, he had his back to her and was practically hiding what he was doing. Robin passed the bar and entered the kitchen and saw that Luffy was… making breakfast? Pancakes and waffles with raisins and blueberries and some cherries and strawberries to accompany them, to be exact.
"Luffy? Are you alright?" She said as she walked closer to him. Still no response. He had a distant gaze into the food, his soul and body might've been right there in front of Robin, but his mind was somewhere else, somewhere far away.
Robin put her hands on his shoulders and tried to pull him away from the food and get his attention, but even if she pulled his torso away, his arms had stretched towards the food and resumed cooking, his neck also turned in an unnatural way to keep facing the food. Once she let go his body bounced to the place it was in the beginning, his legs had also stretched and didn't move his feet.
"Please, Luffy, what's wrong?"
She waited, and still nothing. She reached his wrists and tried to pull them away from their work, but she knew Luffy was strong and he resisted, she had succeeded slightly but his arms went back in place.
"I don't think I have to tell you, but stay here." With that said she left the galley and headed back on deck, the sun was finally rising. She summoned arms around everybody's bunks and Nami's bed and woke them up. Once she knew they had woken up she signaled them to get outside and so they did.
"What is it, Robin?" asked Nami after a yawn. "I don't see the ship under attack nor a storm coming."
"Luffy wasn't in the boy's quarters, where is he?" asked Ussop.
"That's what I wanted to tell you.." answered Robin, but before she could continue she was interrupted by Chopper.
"Don't tell me he disappeared too!" he said as tears began to form.
"No, that's not the case."
"Hey, where's Zoro?" asked Nami.
"He didn't wake up," answered Ussop.
Nobody was surprised, and before Robin could be interrupted again, she established everybody's attention.
"Everybody, it's best you accompany me into the galley."
"What's wrong?" started Franky.
"You'll see soon enough."
Following Robin's suggestion, everybody present followed her into the galley and saw Luffy, still standing and making breakfast.
"He was like that when I came to relieve him from watch," explained Robin. "I tried a couple of times to get his attention but he won't respond. I tried to move him by force but he stretched or got tense and didn't move."
"You think Sanji's disappearance went to his head and affected him?" asked Chopper.
"Let's just hope he can cook well," answered Brook.
"You're awful!" yelled Ussop.
"You said you tried to get his attention but that he didn't respond, even by force?" asked Nami.
"Yes," answered Robin.
"Then, what do we do?" asked Chopper in a worried voice.
"I guess that we wait," said Brook.
With that, Ussop, Franky and Robin sat down around the table without leaving their eyes off of Luffy's back. The rest went to change their clothes or go back to sleep.
Ok, writer's block on this one now, so I might go and continue ch.1 of the other one, hooray!
I bet you can guess what's happening to Luffy, maybe not.. dunno, I can't read people's minds. EVen less if I don't know them. Haha.
Feel free to correct me in any mistakes I've made.