One Piece: What Would I Do Without You?

One Piece © Oda

Blizzard © Me

Summary- Luffy's been acting very different, lately. He won't eat as much as he usually does, he can't sleep, and all he ever does is lie in bed, all day. Nami knows her captain is depressed, and when no one else seems to help, she decides to take matters into her own hands. Post-time-skip, Luffy/Nami. OOC.

Another day on the Thousand Sunny…but it was very unusual. Not like the 'usual unusual'. Just…odd, even for the Straw Hat Pirates.

"Luffy?"

KNOCK! KNOCK! Tony-Tony Chopper rapped his hoof against the door of the men's quarters.

"Luffy, it's Chopper!" the little reindeer called. "Are you awake?"

A pause, but then, the door opened revealing a rather groggy and grouchy-looking Monkey D. Luffy behind it.

"What?" asked Luffy, bluntly.

"Um…I came to tell you it's time for breakfast," Chopper said.

"I'm not hungry," Luffy said.

"Oh," Chopper said. "O-okay. Well…do you wanna go fishing later?"

"No," Luffy answered.

"Okay," Chopper said. "Well…would you like to maybe-"

"Chopper, I don't wanna do anything, today," Luffy said, almost snapping. "I just…I just wanna stay in bed."

"But Luffy," Chopper started, "you've been in bed all day, yesterday, and the day before yesterday, and the day before that."

"Chopper…I just don't want to do anything," Luffy said. "I just wanna stay in here, in bed…alone."

With that, Luffy closed the door, turned around, and then flopped into his bed, heaving a sigh.

Chopper, on the other hand, was very worried. This is the fifth time that this has happened. Lately, Luffy had been feeling…unmotivated, so to speak. He wouldn't come to eat his meals, and whenever he did eat, he'd only eat about a few bites (sometimes, he just wouldn't eat at all) before he would get up, excuse himself from the table, and then walk back to the men's quarters and lie in bed, which he had been doing most of the day. However, Chopper noticed that Luffy had dark circles underneath his eyes, implying that he was also lacking sleep, too.

"How'd it go, Chopper?"

Chopper turned and saw Nami approaching him.

"He still won't come out," Chopper replied with a heavy sigh.

Nami looked at the door and scowled.

BANG! BANG! BANG! She gave a few hard knocks to the door with her fist.

"Monkey D. Luffy!" she called in a stern voice. "You get your ass out of that room, right now, and come and eat your breakfast! It's getting cold, and you know how Sanji gets pissed about that!"

"Tell him I'll eat it, later!"

Nami groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose, but then she turned and walked back to the kitchen. Chopper followed after her.

"Nami…I'm worried about Luffy," the little reindeer said.

"I'm worried about him, too, Chopper," Nami said. "I kinda miss his old goofy, idiot, gluttonous self."

"I think they that maybe I should give him a check-up," Chopper inquired. "I've noticed that even though he's in bed, he hasn't been sleeping. Maybe that's why he's been acting all groggy and lying in bed, most of the day. Because he's trying to get some rest."

Why do I have this feeling that that's not the case? Nami asked herself, mentally.

"Nami, what do you think might be wrong?" Chopper asked.

"I don't know, Chopper," Nami replied, "but…I just hope that Luffy will go back to his old self, soon."

"Of course he will!" said Chopper. "I'm sure that by the end of the day, he'll be his hungry, goofy old self, again!"

"Chopper…I hope so," Nami said, solemnly.

Chopper smiled and held Nami's hand in his hoof.

"It's gonna be okay," he said. "I know it is."

Nami smiled back, but this one was small and…rather fake.

Why was Luffy acting this way?

XXX

That evening, everyone had gathered into the Aquarium Bar for dinner. Even Luffy, who had not left the men's quarters since this morning.

"Tonight, we are having scorpion fish and octopus bouillabaisse," Sanji announced as he served everyone their bowls of stew. "Enjoy."

"Thanks," everyone said.

Everyone except for Luffy, who was just stirring his stew rather than eating it.

"Luffy," Sanji said. "How many times do I have to keep telling you to stop playing around with your food and eat it, already?"

"I'm gonna eat it, all right?" Luffy asked, grumpily.

"When? Next year?" asked Sanji, sarcastically. "Jeez, and I thought that moss-head was bitchy."

"Who're you calling 'bitchy'?" asked Zoro.

"No one's talking to you, Zoro," Luffy said. "Stay out of it."

"What did you say?" Zoro questioned, almost getting out of his seat.

"You heard what I said!" Luffy said.

"Luffy, no fighting!" Nami exclaimed.

"You stay outta this!" Luffy snapped.

Everyone gasped in surprised. Luffy rarely ever snapped at Nami like that, before.

"Don't you dare snap at Nami like that!" Sanji growled.

"You know what, Sanji?!" Luffy asked. "Why don't you just get the hell off my case?! I wasn't even hungry, anyway!"

"In that case, maybe you don't get to eat!" Sanji snapped.

"Well, maybe that's a good thing!" Luffy shouted as he got up and stormed out, nearly stepping on Blizzard's tail as he did. "I'm going back to bed!"

"Luffy, wait!" Nami called.

SLAM! Luffy slammed the door behind him.

Nami almost went after him, but was stopped when Usopp grabbed her by her shoulder.

"Nami, maybe you should let Luffy go," Usopp said.

"No!" Nami answered as she jerked her shoulder away from the sniper and ran out after Luffy.

"Uh…okay, this is probably bad timing," Chopper said, who had not said a thing because he had been scared by Luffy's sudden burst of anger, "but…can someone pass the salt, please?"

Everyone turned their gaze to the little reindeer.

"What?" asked Chopper.

XXX

Luffy was outside on the deck, on his way to the men's quarters, grumbling to himself, when Nami walked up beside him.

"Luffy!" she called to him. "What's wrong with you? Why are you acting this way?!"

"Nami, just leave me alone, okay?" Luffy asked. "I'm just…I'm just tired! I haven't been getting much sleep, lately, that's all. Why do you think I've been in bed all this time?"

"But that's the problem, Luffy," Nami said. "Maybe you're spending too much time in bed. Maybe that's why you're tired!"

Luffy was silent.

"Luffy…" Nami said. "It's not just you not getting any sleep, at night. There's something else going on with you, isn't there?"

Luffy looked away from Nami, who's eyes went wide in realization.

"That's it, isn't it?" Nami asked. "There's something else wrong, but you don't wanna tell anyone!"

"I don't wanna tell anyone because there's nothing wrong," Luffy said. However, he had on his worst poker face, so Nami knew he was lying.

"Luffy," she said. "If there's something wrong, and you feel like you can't tell the others, then you can tell me, because I wanna help you."

"Nami," Luffy said, "I…I love you and all, I really do, but…I don't want your help because I don't need it, and I don't need your help because there's nothing wrong!"

"Luffy, first of all," Nami began, "do NOT raise your voice, because I'm not yelling at you. Second, you know there's something wrong with you, but you're just too damn proud to admit it. Can't you just open up and tell me what the problem is?"

Luffy sighed.

"You won't understand," Luffy said as he went into the men's quarters and closed the door.

Nami just stared at the door until she turned and walked away.

"Maybe this is just some stupid, childish phase he's going through," she thought aloud. "Maybe tomorrow, he'll start to go back to his old idiot self, again…oh, who am I kidding? After all this time, even I don't believe myself, anymore!"

XXX

For the following days, Luffy continued his odd behavior of lying in bed but not sleeping, not eating, and even snapping at everyone, even Blizzard and Nami!

Everyone else was getting very annoyed by Luffy's change in demeanor…not to mention worried.

Nami kept trying to convince herself that her captain would return to normal, one day after another, but she continued to doubt her own words even more.

Soon, the days turned into a week-and-a-half, and that's when things really got out of hand.

XXX

Nami walked by the men's quarters, and couldn't help but notice that the door was open. Upon looking inside, though, she saw Zoro, as well as the rest of the boys, standing in front of Luffy.

"What do you mean we can't come in here, anymore?" asked the swordsman.

"You heard what I said!" Luffy exclaimed. "This room is now off limits to everyone but the captain!"

"You can't do that!" Usopp said. "This is our room, too!"

"Not anymore," Luffy answered. "From now on, this room is mine!"

Nami stood at the doorframe and watched the scene unfold before her. At that moment, Robin joined her, and she, too, was surprised.

"Straw Hat, what's with you?" asked Franky. "I mean…you've been acting like a SUPER jackass, recently!"

"I agree!" Brook added. "This is not the Mister Luffy I first joined up with!"

"What's gotten into you?!" asked Sanji.

"What's gotten into me?" Luffy repeated. "What's gotten into me?!"

"Yeah, what's wrong with you, Luffy?!" Chopper asked, shivering. "Y-you're scaring us! …mostly me."

"In that case, why don't you get out?!" Luffy asked. "In fact, all of you get out!"

"But Luffy-" Usopp began.

"I said GET OUT!" Luffy shouted before he shoved the boys out the room. "ALL OF YOU, GET OUT AND STAY OUT!" he put his hand on the door. "I JUST WANT TO BE LEFT ALONE!"

"You can't just kick us out!" Zoro shouted.

"I can…and I just did," Luffy hissed.

WHAM! He slammed the door.

Nami watched with wide, shocked eyes.

"I can't believe Luffy kicked us out of the men's quarters," Usopp said.

"It's almost like he's trying to…push us away," Robin mused.

Just then, Nami let out a gasp.

"Oh, my gosh," she said. "I know what's wrong with him!"

Everyone turned to look at the navigator.

"Luffy's depressed!" she said.

The Straw Hats dropped their jaws. Well, except for Robin. She just parted her lips in surprise.

"Depressed?" Usopp repeated, questioningly. "Luffy?! Depressed?!"

"Well, think about it!" Nami said. "It all adds up! He lies in bed all day, but can't sleep, He won't eat as much as he used to, he has these weird mood swings, and he's saying he's secluding himself away from us! Those are clear signs of depression!"

"How do you know?" Franky asked.

"Because I went through it when Arlong took over my village," Nami replied. "Now that I know what's wrong with him, all we have to do is find out is find what's making him so depressed in the first place!"

"Uh, I'm sorry, but…'we'?" Zoro asked.

"Yes, 'we'," Nami replied.

"Uh, Nami," said Sanji, "with all due respect, for once…I think I might pass on this."

Nami glared at everyone.

"You're not gonna help Luffy?" she asked.

"Sorry, Nami," Chopper said, "but…Luffy's really scary, now."

Not to mention he's turned into a first-class asshole, Blizzard thought.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing!" Nami remarked. "Luffy's your captain!"

"Well, now he's a jerk," Zoro replied.

"And besides, Nami," Usopp added, "even if we wanted to help Luffy, you know he won't let us because he's too damn stubborn! So what can you do?!"

"…I can try," Nami said, "and no matter how times he tries to push me away, I won't give up on him…because he didn't give up on me…or any of you."

Everyone looked down at the deck, seemingly ashamed.

"If you guys won't help him, then I will," Nami said before she pushed passed the rest of the crew and opened the door to "Luffy's" room, and sure enough, there he was, lying in bed, again.

"Luffy," she called in a soft but angry tone.

Luffy looked over his shoulder and glared at Nami.

"Get out, Nami," he said. "This is my room, now."

Nami sneered at Luffy and slammed the door behind her, but not very hard, and stomped over to her captain.

"Listen, you," she said. "I am getting sick and tired of the way you've been acting! What happened to the Luffy that used to love eating and hanging out with his crew and going on adventures?! This Luffy I'm looking at, right now, is not the Luffy I fell in love with!"

"Well, you know what?!" Luffy asked as he sat up in bed. "If you don't like it, then you can leave! In fact, why don't you all leave?!" He lied back down on the bed, but then…he started sniffling and he squinted his eyes shut, almost as if he was trying to hold back tears. "You're all gonna leave, eventually…" he muttered.

"What?" Nami asked. "Luffy, what are you talking about?!"

"Just forget it, Nami," he said. "You just won't understand. Nobody will."

"Luffy, I will understand," Nami said, "but only if you tell me!"

Luffy just lied there in silence, and Nami sighed.

"Luffy, listen to me," Nami said. "I love you with my heart and soul, but…I also feel hurt because I'm starting to feel like you don't trust me enough to tell me that there's something wrong!"

"But-" Luffy started.

"And don't tell me that there's nothing wrong, because there is!" Nami snapped. "Luffy…you're suffering from depression. I know it's hard to believe, but you really are."

Luffy didn't speak.

"Luffy…" Nami said, almost sounding close to tears. "I know that there's something bothering you, and you know it, too, and I will help…but I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong…!" She sniffled and choked back a sob. "Luffy…please, tell me what's bothering you. Please?"

A pause, but then, Luffy heaved a heavy sigh.

"Sit down," he said.

Nami gasped silently.

"You mean…?" she asked.

"Yeah," Luffy said. "I'll tell you."

Nami smiled softly and pulled Luffy into a hug, and the captain but smile a bit at the sign of affection.

Luffy sat up in the bed, heaving another sigh. Nami sat beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Well…this actually started happening a month ago," Luffy said.

"It did?!" Nami asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Luffy said. "Of course…it wasn't this bad, back then. Nami…remember when…" he put his hand to the scar on his chest. "…well, you know. When Ace…?"

Nami felt her heart sink and nodded.

"Well…I thought I was over it after those two years," Luffy said, "but then…it had me thinking about something. Something bad."

"Like what?" asked Nami.

"Nami…when Ace died," Luffy began, "I felt…so sad and scared…and alone. I've always hated being alone because, to me…being alone is worse than any kind of pain in the world."

"Luffy…" Nami muttered.

"And then…that's when things really started to get bad," Luffy said. "Nami…we all have our own dreams, right?"

"Right," Nami answered.

"So…" Luffy began, sounding close to tears, once more, but this time failing to stop them from forming. "…what's gonna happen to us after we've accomplished what we set out to do?"

"Luffy…" Nami began, her eyes also begin to tear up, "are you saying that…you think that we're gonna leave you?"

"When I was little," Luffy said, his tears spilling from his eyes, "Shanks told me that when pirates have finished all their adventures, they go their separate ways. I'm starting to think that…" he sniffled. "…maybe…if it means I'm gonna lose my crew…I should give up looking for the One Piece and becoming King of the Pirates, all together!"

Nami's eyes went wide and she gasped while watching Luffy wipe away his tears.

"What's the point of becoming King of the Pirates," Luffy began, "if everyone's probably gonna leave me in the end?!"

"… … …I won't."

Luffy's eyes went wide, and he turned to look at Nami, who smiled at him.

"Luffy," she said. "I promise you, here and now, that from now on…I will never, ever, EVER leave you."

"…really?" asked Luffy.

"Really," Nami answered. "Even after you become King of the Pirates and I finish my map of the world…I'll be by your side…always."

Luffy smiled…a real, genuine smile.

"In that case," he said, "Nami…will you…?"

"Will I what?" Nami repeated.

Luffy took Nami's hand in his own.

"Will you…become my Pirate Queen?" asked Luffy.

Nami's eyes probably went as wide as saucers, and her tears returned at full force. Then, she smiled and pulled Luffy into a tight hug.

"Yes…" she whispered. "Yes, I will."

Luffy flashed his trademark grin and chuckled, and Nami giggled, too, happy that her captain had finally returned to normal.

"Uh, hey, Nami?" he asked.

"Hmm?" Nami asked.

"Could you ask Sanji to make me some meat, please? About…I dunno, maybe about a ton of it or so? I just realized how hungry I am~!"

GRRUUUUUUUUMMBLE! Luffy's stomach growled, and Nami laughed.

He's back to normal, all right! she thought.

XXX

Later that day, everyone celebrated Luffy's return to his old self, again. The captain ate so much meat, his stomach was as big as a fully-grown cow and as a round as a beach ball. He also declared that the men's quarter was no longer off limits to the crew, much to the relief of the boys, and apologized for treating his friends so coldly, and they just as easily forgave him…as long as he promised not to do it, again, which he did.

That night, Luffy finally felt tired enough to actually go to sleep for the first time in days, but instead of sleeping in the men's quarters, he decided to go and sleep with Nami in the women's quarters, instead.

As Luffy climbed into bed next to Nami, he let out a big, long yawn, and rested his against the cool, soft pillow. Nami sat up in bed beside him, and gently rubbed his stomach, which caused him to get even sleepier.

"Hey, Nami?" Luffy asked, sleepily.

"Hmm?" Nami hummed.

"When do you think we should tell the others about you and me getting married?" Luffy asked.

Nami chuckled.

"We'll tell them someday, Luffy," Nami said. "Maybe…after you've become King of the Pirates."

Luffy smiled.

"Okay," he said. "Hey, Nami?"

"Yeah?" Nami asked.

"Did you really mean it when you said that you'll never leave me?"

Nami smiled.

"I meant every word," she answered.

Luffy smiled before he sat up in the bed, place his hat on Nami's crown, pulled her into an embrace, and captured her lips in a deep kiss, which the navigator returned. Before long, they pulled away, and Luffy gently touched Nami's forehead with his.

"What would I do without you?" he asked.

Nami's smile grew wider.

"You'd be nowhere," she said.

Luffy chuckled and said, "You got that right."

Then, he yawned, flopped down against the pillow, and began to snore. Nami smiled before she, too, let out a yawn. The tired navigator then laid herself down, embracing her captain and drifting off into slumber, right by his side…as she had promised him.

THE END

I guess some of you didn't see the Luffy/Nami proposal thing, did you? XD

Review, please!