One Piece Goda belongs to. Author's notes bottom at.
Chapter Titles The Beatles belongs to.
Chapter Sixteen
You Like Me Too Much
The transition from the more luxurious and elegant, Paris-like uptown to the modest and cultural, Venice-like downtown happened quite fast for Luffy as he ran down on any concrete he could find and swung around with the help of his elastic arms. Sabo was trying to catch up behind him, jumping from one solid concrete surface to another concrete surface, being very careful not to stumble into the busy water canals that made up nearly half the island. He did tried asking Luffy of why he was so afraid of supposedly 'losing' Robin, but he figured out that one might need a round of pillow talk or campfire to listen to the whole story, anyway.
"Luffy, wait up!" Sabo called, the boy is constantly at least twenty or thirty feet in front of him, running with ridiculous speed. He was feeling utterly challenged though, because as children, Luffy would be the slowest among the three brothers.
Maybe he was just too busy reminding himself not to fall into wherever he could engage in possible instant drowning, to actually focus on his speed. Just, maybe.
"Robin! Robin will live!" The captain without his straw hat screamed dramatically as he ran, and swung, but nobody understood the things he had said.
"Gadamit, Luffy!" Sabo picked up his speed, and jumped from one concrete bank to another, over the two-passenger Bull that was happily swimming along the canal. Luffy caught a lamp post ahead of them before he flew quite a distance but straight ahead, and Sabo kept up, until something hard had hit him from his left, appearing our of the corner of a building so suddenly that he had stumbled and rolled and landed on his chest on the cold concrete floor.
Oh wait, he landed on someone. "Ita... That hurts..."
Sabo moved his head to allow for the street lamp to illuminate the face of the person whom he had stumbled upon - because it was too, too familiar that he got distracted. "Eh! Nami?!"
"Sabo!" The person - Nami - shrieked out of surprise. Her back hurts from the fall - not to mention the horrible impact of colliding with this blonde made of muscle and the love of freedom - and Sabo's weight on her was pressing her on. "Get up, get up!" She said as if she was choking, and it came out nearly an ugly whisper.
"Oi Sabo! Get up!" Three to four continuous irritable slap-like smack landed on Sabo's head - his top hat had fallen beside Nami - together with the rubber captain's voice. "Get off Nami! Get off Nami!" He said loudly, panting while at it, still assaulting the poor blonde's head.
"Okay, okay! Jeez, Lu, stop hitting me," Sabo lifted himself onto his feet, stumbling a little before he regained his balance. "You're annoying!"
"You're annoying! Are you trying to kill Nami?" Ah yes, Luffy and his childlike reasoning. He couldn't get his head right sometimes.
"Idiot! I only fell onto her!"
Nami stood up and dusted her clothes lightly with a quick pat and swipe of her hands, before she pushed the two quarrelsome brothers apart. "Oi, oi, oi, oi. Stop arguing or I'll have to use my fist of love at you two!"
"Nami, you're okay!" He pulled her behind him suddenly. "Get behind me before Sabo touches you!"
"Hey, I only accidentally knocked her and fell onto her, okay? No touchy touchy! It's an accident!"
Luffy paused with a glare towards his brother, before he finally pulled a very casual face, slapping his fist onto the palm of his hand. "Oh, I see. It's an accident... Then there's no thing to worry about! Shishishishi!"
"Your brain is the one I'm worried about," Nami added sarcastically, with a light knock on Luffy's forehead. "Why am I following you, again?"
"Nami! Luffy! Sabo-kun!" From the direction in which Nami had initially sprinted from, Koala called their names as she caught up with those three. Ivankov was behind her, running in his showboots yelling 'hee haw' every one minute or every time the okama queen made a successful parkour roll, or jump.
"Koala," Sabo smiled immediately and tugged her under his arm and sniffed into her hair affectionately. "Iva-san! You're here."
"Iva-chan!" Luffy greeted merrily.
"Mugi-boy! We were trying to catch up to Nami-girl," Ivankov explained, panting at his place, "oh my stamina is getting weaker... Weaker..." He dramatically clutched his torso.
"Oi, Iva-chan!" Luffy called, looking concerned. "Are you okay?"
"Not!" Ivankov raised to his confident posture again, a boastful laugh cracked after that. Sabo shook his head, already gotten used to this kind of Ivankov's supposed humor.
"Luffy, Luffy!" Nami said, pulling Luffy's arm aggressively so he would face her. "Train station, let's go!"
"Oh!" Luffy suddenly remembered, and had his focus back to his original mission. Quickly he wrapped his elongated arm around his navigator's waist, and pulled her close as she winced and fidgeted uncomfortably, accepting the one thing her captain would do once he had secured a nakama in his reach. "Hold on tight, Nami!" He told her, and she had no other choice but to hold on tight. Luffy threw his arm and hooked on a horizontal pole from a building, ready to cross a wide canal by only swinging.
"Luffy, can't we just use the bridge... aahhh!"
Sabo watched as the two swung across the wide water canal, trying not to knock anything while at it. "Ah, Luffy. You'd rather ditch your own brother when she's around, heh," the blonde revolutionary mumbled, scratching the back of his head.
Koala chuckled under him. "Do you know what's going on, though?"
"Long story short, they're looking for Robin at the Train Station. For what, I have no idea," Sabo shrugged. "Let's catch up with them?"
Koala took her fiance's hand. "Let's."
"You should've called Speedo, would've saved you a lot of these waterworks," Perona suggested in a sarcastic tone to a bunch of weirdos surrounding Nico Robin - her green-haired friend who was still gripping her shoulders, a reindeer in an actual reindeer form sniffling, a blonde cook clinging to her feet and a skeleton with a dance resembling that of a happy penguin. Speedo - official name, Cyborg Franky, thank you very much - folded his mechanical arms over his chest with a crooked smirk on his face. Of course he remembered how much the crew loved Nico Robin. However, a comradeship dramatic moment is quite empty without their captain around, and oh, the navigator too.
"Aw, where's Luffy and Nami?" Franky inquired, watching the bunch attempting to steal all the oxygen away from Robin's air.
Sanji raised to his feet, dusting his knees. "Marimo, did you tell Luffy?"
"Course I did," Zoro answered, "maybe he got lost or something, I don't know."
"Robiiiinnnn!" Long live the future Pirate King, because at the mention of him, he appeared, from one direction of the train station. They all turned to the direction his voice was from, and saw him approaching quickly with a certain ginger tugging around his waist. Realizing the speed he was on while charging at them, Chopper had quickly switched into a smaller form of himself, while Sanji tried leaping forward ahead of Robin. Brook had absolutely no idea what was going on - someone ought to fill in this guy, later, please - and Zoro mouthed an 'oh shit'.
In Luffy's attempt to hug the archaeologist, everyone stumbled. Robin fell on Sanji's legs, Zoro plopped on top of Robin instead in such a romantic fashion, Luffy fell on top of Zoro, with one arm still wrapped around Nami's waist like a rubber ribbon, and Nami fell sideways, only to pillow her head on Zoro's bicep. Chopper's face was squeezing between Zoro and Robin's thighs, poor little guy, while Brook was as lucky as Franky and avoided the human bowling pin tragedy. But yohohoho, the skeleton didn't want to miss the party, so he plopped himself over Luffy, and Franky just seated himself by the pile and tried hugging them with all he could reach.
At Franky's hug, everyone quieted down. Initially they all thought it was Perona's work, and her negative ghosts silencing what could be scowls of 'why are you falling on me' and 'get off me' of all sorts, but the group hug was rather comforting for the first ten seconds. The following ten seconds, it gradually became awkward.
"Uh, Franky," Zoro said, shuffling uncomfortably at his spot, "you can let go of us now."
Franky gave a boastful laugh and released them. Brook stood up as well, while Sanji looked pretty much in heaven with Robin's back resting over his calves.
"Captain," Zoro called towards the rubber boy resting over his back. "Robin isn't going anywhere."
"I knyow," Luffy said, half of his face buried on Zoro's back.
"So you can let go now."
"No."
"Why not?"
"I don't feel like it."
"Luffy," Nami interrupted, as she became more uneasy in the position she was currently in. Her neck was pillowed against Zoro's hard bicep and she was lying uncomfortably on her arm. "Let go, you're hurting my waist."
"Am I?" Luffy responded quickly.
"Yeah."
The rubber captain stood up and released his navigator, who then assisted Robin up after Zoro had quickly removed himself from Robin. Everyone except Sanji was on their feet, and Nami pounced at Robin the first thing, not really minding what the rest - or even, the entire station that may or may not have taken interest in their dramatic plot - think of her that very moment. "Robin! Nee-chan!" She stood at the height up to Robin's eyes, arms tugging onto the archaeologists so firmly, yet weakly as if dragging her to the floor. "I'm sorry! I should've been more attentive! Forgive me, take my gold if you must. Or my jewelry! Please don't disappear like that again!"
Chopper, who didn't seem catch on, only cling onto Robin's legs, looking up to her with the same puppy eyes Nami had offered her. "Don't disappear like that again!" The little reindeer repeated Nami like an echo.
Robin gave a quick glance at Franky, who raised his shoulders back at her, indicating that the cyborg had no idea what was going on. Robin chuckled, patting Nami on her shoulders. "I'm not going anywhere, don't worry. I love you guys."
"So you'll forgive me?"
"That would be easier if I know what have you done wrong, Nami."
"Robiiiiiiiinnnn."
The archaeologist chuckled. "Of course I've forgiven you, you're like a sister to me. Or mama Straw Hat, as you called me the other night..."
It only prompted Nami to hug her tighter. "Thank you, Robin!" Zoro - who was probably the only one who knew what was going on between the two ladies - gave a relieved smile, with his arms crossed. Sanji sneakily tried to join the two ladies in a group hug as he raised himself from the floor, but Chopper had coincidentally slid in between Sanji and the two ladies, failing his attempt.
"What? Nami!" Luffy belted, stepping closer to the two ladies. "Did you make Robin angry?" He inquired, like the little jerk he was, with furrowed eyebrows and curious eyes.
"Don't simply accuse Nami-san like that, you idiot!" Sanji interrupted, of course, and knocked the captain's head.
Zoro sighed. "Shut up, don't be bastards. We have Robin back now, don't we?" The swordsman said in a half-annoyed tone, but a smile escaped from his lips as Robin mouthed him a 'thank you'.
"Oi, oi, now let's just go home, all of us!" Franky suddenly said, trying to cheer everyone up. The bunch chanted an 'ouh' together, a chant of agreement. Nami had her hands wrapped around Robin's arm, while Luffy desperately held Robin's other arm, both not wanting to let the archaeologist go - which Franky found very sweet. Zoro followed behind, and for the first time, ignoring the insults Sanji was muttering to him. Brook followed after, with sighing little pinky in a black punk rock dress and her knee-high strap boots. Usopp was the one he noticed that kept his distance, so the cyborg decided to give him a quick nudge to snap the sharpshooter out of the daydream he seemed to be in. "Usopp, you okay there bro?"
"Y-yeah, I'm alright!" Usopp obviously lied, though giving Franky a convincible thumbs-up. As soon as Franky remembered how Usopp was in disguise back then during the entire mission of saving Robin from Enies Lobby, he assumed that it was probably his internal conflict that made him less inclusive in this whole thing. However, that was personal, and Franky decided that it wasn't that important anymore. "Come, Usopp-bro. Let's go home."
"Ahhh!" Nami screamed suddenly, palms pressed at both cheeks so dramatically. "I forgot about Koala and Iva-san!"
Which then prompted Luffy to do the same dramatic, palms-pressing-cheeks act. "Ahhh! I forgot about Sabo and Grandpa!"
Luffy and Nami weren't really rushing as they navigated themselves through the downtown streets of Water Seven, with a destination of the uptown in mind, that same night. The streets, or shall we call them, the riverbanks, were less crowded during night time. Most of the citizens were outside the house at night for night shopping, out for dinner and drinks, visiting, and for a quick stroll and smoke as well, probably. As for the pair of captain-and-navigator, Bonnie-and-Clyde, they were just trying to make their way back to where they were supposed to be - by the bride and the groom. Although their last encounter with Koala and Sabo was about hours ago, in which they were too occupied with finding Robin to check if the couple would catch up behind them, Bonnie and Clyde thought it would be best if they head to the hotel where they would eventually meet the couple up, later.
And yes, they tried calling Sabo and Koala's baby den den mushi, but no one was answering. Hotel would seem like the best decision, for now.
Quite unusual for them, the whole journey back uptown is rather quiet. Nami was only hugging herself for heat the whole time, surprised at how cold nights at Water Seven would be, and yet there she was, wearing her lightweight t-shirt tucked into a pair of high-waist denim shorts. Not that she had problems wearing revealing garments, actually - she had worse back in Punk Hazard. Luffy, on the other hand, had bought himself a bag of chicken wings with the money he had to beg from Nami, earlier, and had intentionally eaten them slowly so it would last the whole way - that was very unlike him at all.
When Luffy realized that he forgotten to offer Nami his food, he shoved the bag of chicken wing onto her, who was walking by his side. "Want?"
"Thanks, but no thanks," Nami rejected. She knew he only asked out of courtesy because she's a lady, perhaps, and he had never been disrespectful towards Nami and Robin, food-wise. To actually take food from him would crush his soul subtly, really. "Ah, but you know, Luffy? Lately you didn't seem to mind when I take food you've offered me."
Luffy frowned. "What's that supposed ta mean?"
"I'm just saying you're less stingy with food now. I'm proud of you. Yes, I'm proud of you."
"Hey, I'm not stingy!"
"Sure, sure you're not."
It was a little odd, walking with Luffy that night. Nami's pace was slow and casual, like taking a little stroll, instead of rushing to quickly arrive at the hotel. It had been forever since she was able to be this relaxed, at night, outdoors, in a place she only have visited for the second time. She tugged around her own body again for the sake of comfort in the sudden awkwardness of having her captain around but making no noise at all. Was he sick? Or was he tired?
"Oi, Nami?" Luffy called, as they walked side-by-side on a bridge crossing a wide canal fit for three or four one-way bulls.
"Hmm?"
"Why did you apologize to Robin earlier? Did you made her angry?"
She didn't think he would ask, but she concluded that it was the reason her captain was quiet the whole journey back to the hotel. Nami sighed, wondering if she could explain properly without having him misunderstand like he would usually do. "Ah, that one. It's nothing. I just accidentally made her upset a bit this morning. You know. Girl stuff."
"Oh. Girl stuff. I know, I know."
No, he don't. She wished she could fill him in about the whole conflict of Robin being infertile, but it would cause her trouble to even explain the more complicated side-story that concludes to it. Luffy acting smart was actually saving her effort and time, if you would think of it.
"Maybe we should cheer her up. Maybe we should throw a party!"
"Parties are all you think, heh Luffy? Say, isn't tomorrow Sabo and Koala's wedding party?"
"Eh? Is it? I totally forgot!"
"Hmm. I know just how to cheer her up."
"Party?"
"No, idiot. I'm..." Nami sighed deeply. "I'm... going to let her be Koala's maid-of-honor. Instead of me."
"Eh? You're not gonna be Koala's hero thing?"
Nami shook her head. "No, I guess not. Initially she said she was going to do it. Thought she'd want it. But then she passed the job to me."
"Oh. Why'd she do that? Didn't she wanna be a hero too?"
Nami pulled Luffy's cheeks, which stretched out without causing any pain to the rubber boy. "Maid-of-honor, Luffy. Not exactly a hero thing. More like a sidekick. Kinda what Zoro is to you."
"Oh. So it's like nakama."
"No, Luffy. More like a captain and his first-mate. Right hand. You know?"
"Got it." Luffy nodded enthusiastically. "But why wouldn't she want to be Koala's hero? So weird."
Nami shrugged. "It's not weird, really. Robin is Robin, you know how she is. She'd rather sit quietly with her fancy coffee and fancy books, laughing politely like 'fufufufu'" - Nami imitated Robin's laughter - "and teasing people, play matchmaker like what she did to us-"
"Really? What she did to us? What's matchmaker?"
She slapped her forehead. Uptown is still quite a distance away, so she tried thinking of other ways to avoid answering his silly questions. She started to consider taking a taxi bull, if they ever come across any, later. "Ah, you know, playing match. You know, the thing that lights up fire."
Thankfully, Luffy was easy enough to fool. "Oh, isn't playing matchmaker like, trying to pair people up? Like what Usopp always did to the fishes in Sunny's tank?" Or not.
"Idiot, if you knew what a matchmaker is then don't ask in the first place!"
"Sorry, sorry!" Luffy winced, as if getting ready to receive a knock on the head, or a fist on his nose, but she didn't seem to advance with her usual violent expression. "Why would Robin pair us up? Because she thought we look cute together?"
Nami blushed, and narrowed her eyes while trying to keep a straight face. "Where the hell did you learn that, Luffy-kun?"
"Only saying what Usopp would say about the fishes in the tank."
"What, Usopp has a certain fish fetish that we didn't know? Or maybe he just like shipping fishes together? My crewmates are so weird, so so weird..."
"Ah, he named the fishes 'Usopp' and 'Kaya'!"
"Usopp has a fish problem, got it."
"Do you think we look cute together? Like those fishes?"
Nami continued walking with her face downwards glancing the orange gladiator sandals she was wearing. Left, right, left, right. Ah, now I sounded like Franky trying to narrate his super underwear dance. Never mind, Nami. Ignore the question. Left, right, left, right, super! In the midst of being distracted, she felt him pull her by her wrist so suddenly, causing her to reverse and stop her tracks. "Luffy, what are you-"
Luffy stood beside her, with his hand still firmly gripping her wrist, but he was facing the glass display wall of a shop they were passing by. Given the dim lights from behind the glass display wall, since the shop was already closed at such hour, he could make out their reflection very clearly on the surface of the glass, and so did she. "I think we look cute together," he commented more innocently than being romantically subtle, not being aware of what one might actually take from that verbal thought of his.
His navigator simply blushed. She was more surprised than actually felt flattered. Her captain was being very adorably romantic at the moment, but she knew well that he clearly didn't mean something romantic. Puberty? Luffy? She just might laugh. She was disappointed, too. If only this boy knew what he meant, and what he was leading her to. She yanked her wrist off Luffy, she didn't mean to be rude. And she laughed, laughed as if it was a joke. "You? Me? Cute? Yah, that's hilarious! So Robin thought we could be a cute couple? Robin does have a sense of humor! Ah, funny, funny!"
Luffy scratched his head, looking at Nami confusingly.
"Even so, I don't like you enough to be your couple. Ah, Robin. C'mon Luffy, let's just get back to the hotel. I'm gonna look for a taxi bull, that'll be easier..."
"What do you mean, you don't like me?" Luffy suddenly said, eyebrows furrowed.
She went speechless at the question, she didn't know if he was rather sad, or angry, but she could tell that he wasn't confused. "Ah, well," Nami said nervously, but trying to pretend some casualness, "I don't mean that kind of like. I mean, I like you and all, you're my friend."
"Ah, so you like me!"
"No! Ugh, how should I put this." She stepped forward, back to her captain, in hope that she could clearly explain what she had meant to explain. "I don't have special feelings for you, okay?" She said this as she scratched her nose. and then her forehead. And then she made something stupid - she had lifted her ego high up and play an act. "I mean, you're not exactly my type, Luffy. For starters, you... there. Look at yourself. You have muscles, but you're still skinny and lanky! I prefer someone buffer. Like Zoro, maybe. Or Law!"
Luffy frowned a little. "Skinny? I'm not skinny! I'm fat as hell if I wanna go Gomu Gomu No Balloon!"
"And look at your hair, Luffy. Messy, spiky hair. It's wild and untamed! Who do you think you are, Goku? Thank Oda, your straw hat saved you, at least your hair looks less wild with the straw hat!"
Luffy ran his hands through his hair, lifting the straw hat Nami had returned to him a little while ago. "So what? This is my hair, nobody ever complains about my hair!"
"And the way you smell," Nami leaned closer and sniffed by the rubber boy's neck, successfully pretended a cough following. "You smell like meat! You shower once a week, even. How do you think girls like their boyfriends to smell like meat all the time?"
Luffy's frown became an egoistic scowl. "Well excuuuuuuse me for loving food. And trying to save water on Sunny! Zoro and me!"
Nami shrugged, rather awkwardly this time. She knew those were only weak points to prove that he would actually buy, as she refused to delve any further to more complicated reasons - or else, she might end up with a list of reasons as to why she actually like him. But that wasn't important. "Y-you get the point. I don't like you that way."
"I got it, I got it," Luffy said, folding his arms on his chest with an expression of a little pissed, smeared across his face. "I don't like you either. We're not a cute couple at all!"
Nami's jaw dropped at this comment, she was a little offended, really. She was Nami! Even Sanji drooled over her - not to brag - but that wasn't the case. She didn't want to argue any further, so she decided to just leave it be. "Fine. We don't like each other. We're not a cute couple!"
"Fine."
"Fine." Nami nearly stuttered, and as soon as she figured out how childish she was being, she realized that the chances of being friendzoned by the handsome lad in front of her now was pretty high. No, cross that. She might have been friendzoned forever, considering that Luffy never had romantic feelings towards anyone, ever, not that she know of at least. Out of nowhere, she awkwardly held out a hand. "Friends?"
Luffy looked at Nami, who was biting her lower lip while waiting for him to take her hand and fucking shake it as if the peace of humanity depends on it, but Luffy decided to abandon it. "No," he replied, "nakama." He held one hand up for a high-five, like how he did to her once upon a time, right after Arlong's defeat.
She took the hint and high-fived him. Awkward smiles exchanged between the two, turned into spontaneous laughter. Ah, what a childish little fight.
Hello! Did you come here to enjoy the lamest romantic comedy on One Piece fanfiction? Yes that's the only thing I am providing you this chapter hahaha. Well there's that. This is the one time I finally didn't write ahead of what I uploaded, so I hope I'll be able to squeeze something out by next week. If I'm late, please don't run away! But I love you!
Is Luffy OOC?
Anyways, do leave a review if you enjoyed this chapter, reviews do help me a lot, and as always, thank you thank you thank you for your humble feedback, reviews, follows, favourites, I really appreciate how much you enjoyed reading this fic. I love you like I love fried chicken and ramen and teh tarik and shrimp dim sum and tom yam and roti Butterscotch Gardenia and mee hoon goreng and mee kolok and bak kut teh and hotpot (yes, the list is getting longer). See you in the next chapter!
