About 20 minutes after saying goodbye to Franky and continuing their day of walking around the zoo, the crew noticed that it seemed really quiet.. Too quiet.
"Wait, where's Luffy?!" exclaimed Usopp. Luffy had accidentally wandered off. Everyone sighed and looked around to see if he was nearby.
"The dumbass must've been left behind when we left the panda exhibit." Sanji said, lighting a cigarette.
Nami sighed, "I'll go find him."
Sanji's cigarette nearly fell out of his mouth, "I'LL GO WITH YOU NAMI DEAR." Sanji shouted excitedly, "A BEAUTIFUL GIRL LIKE YOU SHOULDN'T BE WALKING AROUND ALONE IN A DANGEROUS PLACE LIKE THIS~"
Nami looked at Sanji with half-lidded eyes, "We're in a zoo." She laughed and looked at the group, "I'll be fine, don't worry." She then walked away in search of Luffy.
As Nami looked around, she made sure to be sneaky. If she was spotted by one of the teachers, she'd be yelled at for not using the 'buddy system' and could possibly ruin field trips in the future for everyone else... She didn't want to be the blame for that. After a couple minutes, Nami sighed and leaned up against a wall. I doubt he'll check his phone but I might as well try, she thought to herself and started typing a message. Just as she was about to hit send, she heard someone speak to her.
"Hey cutie. How's it going?" A young boy around the same age leaned up next to her, while his friends stood there laughing.
Nami crossed her arms, "Do I know you?"
"Does it matter?" the boy smirked, "How bout a little smooch, sweetheart?"
"Ew! Why would I do that?" Nami rolled her eyes and started to walk away when the boy grabbed her arm. "What the hell? Let me go!" she yelled, trying to snatch her arm away, but the boy tightened his grasp.
"Why do you wanna leave, cutie? We just met." The boy responded before looking over at his friends and laughing.
Nami turned and smiled at him before kneeing him in his sweet spot. The boy screamed in pain and she started walking away but was grabbed by his friends and cornered by them.
"You're gonna fuckin' pay for that, gorgeous." one of them said with a smirk.
"Nami?"
Nami looked up and saw Luffy standing a couple feet away. He saw the nervous look on her face and immediately ran over. His face then changed from worried to angry. "HEY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING WITH NAMI!?" He yelled.
"Who, this girl? Back off, pal. She's ours." said one of the guys harassing her.
"Don't you dare talk about Nami like she's an object, you piece of shit…." Luffy growled.
"We'll do what we want. Fuck off."
Luffy walked over to two of the guys and swiftly grabbed their heads, crashing them together, knocking them out. There were two more, the guy already lying on the ground from getting his balls knee'd in and his one remaining friend who was still standing. The guy's friend lunged at Luffy, trying to punch him in the face, but Luffy grabbed his fist and flung him over his shoulder; He skidded across the pavement a few feet away, groaning in pain. Luffy looked down at the guy originally harassing Nami. He got up and ran away, screaming like a girl.
Nami stood there in shock, looking at the passed out bodies on the ground. She had no idea Luffy could fight like that. Her eyes widened. He's...so strong, she thought to herself.
A couple minutes later she started to panic as zoo staff members began to notice what had just happened and grabbed Luffy's hand, running to another part of the zoo and plopping down on a bench.
They sat there in silence for a couple minutes to catch their breath. Nami suddenly looked over at Luffy and smiled, leaning over and giving him a huge hug, "Thank you so much."
Luffy grinned and hugged her back, "Nami, I'll never let anyone hurt you...I promise."
Nami stopped hugging Luffy when she realized something, "Shit! The others are probably worried about us!"
"Shishishi.. Oh, yeah. I kinda lost you guys before. Why were you alone back there though?" Luffy replied.
"I was looking for you!" Nami giggled.
"Oh!" Luffy chuckled.
Nami looked at the time and sighed, "Only 15 minutes till lunch, we should start heading to the cafeteria. It's on the other side of the zoo. We'll just meet the others there, I'll text Robin and let her know we're okay." Nami said with a smile.
Luffy's eyes lit up, "YEEEESSSS! I'M SOOOOO HUNGRY!"
Nami laughed and got up, starting to walk. Luffy stood up quickly and grabbed her arm. She turned around and looked at him, confused.
He looked down and started awkwardly twiddling his thumbs, soon looking back up at Nami with a blush spread across his face. He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek and pulled back slowly. He looked looked down with his hair covering his eyes and she stood there, slightly confused.
"Wha-" Nami started but was interrupted by Luffy.
"Let's go eat!" He exclaimed.
What the hell? Nami thought.
They walked to the cafeteria in complete awkward silence and instantly saw their friends when they got there. The tables were really small, so Robin and Vivi sat at a separate table, next to the table the guys were at. Nami walked over and sat with Robin and Vivi and Luffy ran off to grab as much food as he could.
"He kissed me….on the cheek?" Nami whispered with a confused tone to Vivi and Robin.
The two girls looked at her, also confused. Suddenly a tray of food landed on their table and Luffy was standing there, "Hey! Can I sit here? The other table's full!" Luffy asked, looking at the three girls.
"Of course." Robin smiled.
"Thanks" Luffy said before quickly devouring all of his food in one swoop. He then looked over at Vivi's tray when she wasn't looking and grabbed a handful of food, shoving it in his mouth. Vivi turned around and noticed her food was missing and frowned at Luffy, "Hey!" she pouted.
Sanji saw Luffy take Vivi's food and instantly stormed over, "Hey! Luffy!" He yelled, "HOW DEAR YOU TAKE FOOD FROM THESE GORGEOUS LADIES."
Luffy shrugged, "Sorry."
Nami realized that she had not yet grabbed her lunch and stood up, "I'm gonna go get lunch, I'll be back!"
"NAMI-SWAN. I'LL ASSIST YOUUU~ PLEASE LET ME CARRY YOUR TRAY~" Sanji shouted with a hopeful expression on his face.
Nami smiled and shrugged, "Sure. Why not."
Sanji nodded happily.
Nami walked off with Sanji following close behind.
Robin turned to Luffy and smiled, "So Luffy, how have you been? You and Nami seem to be hitting it off."
Vivi looked at Robin with wide eyes and turned to Luffy, "Um, what she means is you guys are pretty close!"
Luffy tilted his head, confused, "I'm close with all of you guys, you're my nakama."
Robin smiled, "But you seem especially close with Nami. Maybe you're meant to be more than friends." she said, trying to send hints at Luffy.
Again, Luffy looked confused, "Like best friends?"
Vivi and Robin frowned and looked at each other. Just then Nami came back with Sanji carrying her tray.
"Thanks, Sanji." Nami said with a friendly smile.
"OH, ANYTIME, NAMI DEAR~" Sanji said before looking over at Luffy, "Don't even think about taking any of Nami's lunch, Luffy."
Luffy pouted, "Awwwe."
Nami started eating but looked up when she noticed Luffy staring at her food. She sighed and tossed him a roll when Sanji wasn't looking. Luffy grinned, "Thanks, Nami!" She smiled back at him and continued her meal.
Luffy happily ate the roll in one bite and Nami giggled. Luffy looked up and smiled, "Your laugh is so cute." They both blushed when they realized what he said.
"T-thanks." Nami said with a blush spread across her face.
Luffy smiled and stood up, looking at all of his friends, "Tomorrow night! Party at my house!" Luffy exclaimed happily, "There will be tons of food! Especially meat!"
Zoro smirked and looked up at Luffy, "Can we bring booze?"
Luffy shrugged with a grin, "shishishi. Sure!"
A few tables over sat Hancock listening in with a devilish grin.