Kuina, Zoro, and Kuro were sleeping in the crown nest when Kuina opened her eyes and looked down.
She saw Nami coming out of the sleeping quarter to take a breath of air.
Suddenly, Kuina remembered something, thief in the shadow.
Looking carefully at Nami, Kuina put the pieces together and realized the thief in the shadow was Nami.
Kuina jumped off the crow nest and landed silently behind Nami.
She looked at Nami and could see Nami seemed to be in deep thoughts.
"Hey," Kuina said silently.
Nami seemed to jump but quickly calmed down upon realizing it was Kuina's voice.
She turned to face Kuina with a smile, "Hey Kuina, you awake too."
Kuina nodded, "Yeah, you woke me up."
Nami became flustered, "Sorry."
Kuina smiled, Nami really needed to stop apologizing to her for every single thing, "It's okay, I sense you weren't feeling well so I was curious."
Nami seemed to realize and smiled, "Must be that observation haki huh."
"It is," Kuina nodded with a smile and looked out to the sea by Nami side.
The glow of the moon allowed them a vision of the beautiful sea.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" Nami smiled.
"Yeah, just like back home," Kuina smiled.
"Tell me about it," Nami looked at Kuina.
"About my home?" Questioned Kuina.
Nami nodded with a smile, "Yeah, what was it like?"
Kuina fell into thought as she looked up at the moon.
"My home was a very safe and peaceful place and still is. Zoro and Kuro made it more homeful to me," Kuina reminisced with a smile.
"Must have been very nice," Nami gazed at the sea with a peaceful smile.
"It was," Kuina looked at the sea with a peaceful smile, "What about yours?"
Nami seemed to have lost her smile but forced herself to smile, "It was well, it was uhm nice."
Kuina could see it was very difficult for Nami to speak about her home.
Looking up at the stars in the sky, Kuina wondered how they shined so bright, "You know, you remind me of myself Nami."
Nami looked at Kuina with surprise, "I do?"
Kuina nodded, "The way I feel I see you right now is the same way my brother must have seen me."
Nami became curious, "How did he see you?"
Kuina became thoughtful, "I don't know how to describe it well, but if I had to, I think he saw me as one of his precious treasures."
Nami seemed to become embarrassed, "You see me as a precious treasure?"
Kuina fell into deeper thought and suddenly stated confidently without a doubt, "I do, and not just because of your navigational skill. My brother always told me I was going to have things people didn't have and people were going to have things I didn't have. Having you as a precious treasure makes me happy if you would allow me."
"I'll allow it one hundred percent, no, one thousand percent," Nami smiled happily.
"Thank you," Kuina nodded with a peaceful happy smile.
Nami thought of something, "Tell me, what's your brother like."
Kuina looked strangely at Nami but then understood.
"As you know, he's very weird," Kuina smiled.
"Definitely," Nami laughed a little.
Kuina fell deep into her memories, "If I had to describe him, I would describe him like Luffy but with a sharper mind."
With her observation of haki, Kuina could sense that Kuro really thought she was funny for calling him sharp.
Kuina continued smiling, "Back at our island, people called him a prodigy."
Nami became skeptical, "A prodigy?"
Kuina nodded, "Yes, especially after he discovered a group of slavers and saved the children of many parents."
Nami's eyes widened at the information, "He really did that?"
Kuina nodded, "Yes, just as he sees me as a precious treasure, I too see him as a precious treasure."
Nami looked back at the sea with calm, "I wished I had a brother like yours."
Kuina seemed to scrunch her forehead as Kuro seemed to be laughing silently.
"You really do?" Kuina questioned.
"Yes," Nami stated thoughtfully with a smile.
Nami's words shut up Kuro and Kuina smiled inside at the small victory.
"He's quite the handful, are you sure you could handle him?" Kuina smiled.
Nami fell into thought and smiled, "I'd probably go insane."
Kuina gave out a small laugh and Nami cheered inside at the small victory of having made Kuina laugh.
Kuina looked at Nami thoughtfully, "Say, were you feeling stuffy inside the sleeping quarters since you came out? I can ask Usopp to make it more air ful."
Nami shook her head with a smile, "No, it's not that, I was just having a nightmare that's all."
Kuina became soft, "Was it about the fishmens?"
Nami became still for a moment and nodded, "Yeah."
Kuina fell into thought about how she could make Nami feel better.
When she was sad, she remembered Kuro telling her stories to make her feel better.
Kuina placed her hand on Nami and seemed to startle Nami a little, she looked up at the moon.
"When I was little, when I got sad, Kuro would tell me stories to make me feel better, like how Usopp tells stories to Kaya. These days, he doesn't tell me stories anymore since I don't ever get sad, but I wish he did, just like the old days. Anyway, could I tell you one of the stories he told me?"
Nami smiled, "As long as it's not weird, go ahead."
Kuina smiled, "Let's hope it isn't weird to you then."
Kuina started telling a story about the man on the moon. The man on the moon had many friends, many of them who were lonely friends. When his friends got too lonely, he would send one of his friends from Neverland to pick them up. After arriving at Neverland, they would never get lonely again.
"Neverland, sounds like a nice place," Nami smiled.
"Yeah," Kuina stared at the moon, "I wish it was a real place."
Then Kuina observation haki detected Kuro's eyes glancing away as if he knew something.
'No way, Neverland is real!" Kuina thought.
She would definitely have to ask Kuro.
Waking up groggily, Kuro had a thought, could he beat Kuzan?
He started setting up a scenario.
If Kuzan and Kuro were to fight bare-fisted, then Kuzan would definitely win.
If Kuro fought bare-fisted Kuzan with a sword, then Kuro would most likely win.
If Kuro with a sword was to fight Kuzan with ice logia, then Kuzan would definitely win.
If Kuro with sword and spook zoan were to fight Kuzan with ice logia, then the battle would be a tie, a tie that would break with Kuro losing if it was a battle of attrition.
Thinking about it, besides his sword, Kuro didn't really have a strong attack against Kuzan.
However, Kuzan was a veteran that knew how to use his devil fruit to avoid sword attacks.
If time allowed, Kuzan can easily whittle down Kuro's stamina and haki.
If Garp and Kuzan were to fight, Garp would simply resist Kuzan's ice with his overwhelming haki and deliver a devastating internal destruction punch that would be hard for Kuzan to avoid and survive.
In the end, Kuro's haki was too little and too weak.
He needed more haki and stronger haki.
The best way to get more and stronger haki currently would be getting beat up by Luffy.
Kuro wasn't asking for much, all he wanted was to have the ability to at least beat an admiral.
Looking around Merry, Kuro saw Luffy sitting on Merry's head looking out at the sea.
"Hey Cap, want to play a game!" Kuro yelled.
Luffy turned to Kuro, "A game!?"
Kuro nodded, "Yeah, all you have to do is knock me down and if you do I'll give you a day of unlimited meat. So what do you say?"
"Unlimited meat!?" Luffy star-eyed.
"Yeah!" Kuro smiled and got on the deck.
Luffy went up to him, "Alright let's go then."
Kuro smiled and used tekkai, "Go ahead."
Luffy gave a punch but felt like he hit the shell of a turtle.
Luffy became surprised, "Eh, how come your body feels so hard?"
Kuro explained with a grin, "I'm tensing my body to be as hard as steel."
"Oh," Luffy amazed with a smile.
"Give me a gatling gun," Kuro urged.
Luffy became hesitant, "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," Kuro grinned.
"Alright," Luffy smiled, "Gatling Gun!" and delivered a barrage of punches.
Slowly but surely, Kuro's body started moving back.
The crew came out and watched curiously wondering what the crazy Kuro and crazy Luffy were doing.
Luffy stopped his barrage of punches and became confused, "Kuro my punches did nothing!"
Kuro gave a thumbs up, "Don't be down Cap, push your leg down to get your blood pumping and it'll make your attacks stronger."
"Alright," Luffy smiled and pushed his legs down.
Suddenly, Luffy felt he became so much more powerful.
"Ooooooo," Luffy amazed.
"Go ahead, Cap," Kuro encouraged with a grin.
"Gatling Gun!" Luffy yelled and delivered a barrage of punches.
Immediately, Kuro felt pain engulfing his body, yep, this was it!
Activating his haki, Kuro suddenly stopped getting pushed back and Luffy felt pain from punching Kuro.
Immediately, Luffy stopped punching, "Ouch, my fists hurt Kuro."
"Nanomachines, Cap, they harden in response to physical trauma," Kuro explained with a grin.
"No, they don't!" Zoro and Kuina yelled with shark teeth.
"Pain is weakness leaving the body Cap, it means you're getting stronger," Kuro explained enticingly.
"No it isn't!" Chopper yelled with shark teeth.
"Alright, Kuro!" Luffy grinned confidently and held his fist back up.
"That's the spirit, Cap," Kuro grinned happily.
"Gatling Gun!" Luffy yelled.
Laying in the crow's nest, Kuina thought about Luffy's fight.
Although the others couldn't see it, Luffy got stronger at a frightening pace.
She could see small traces of haki Luffy released.
Looking down from the crow's nest, Kuina could see Vivi chatting happily with Nami.
Although Vivi didn't know, Kuina had been able to determine that Igaram had survived the explosion and that Miss All Sunday was a good person with her observation haki.
Kuina turned to the sleeping Zoro, "What do you think of Miss All Sunday?"
Zoro opened one eye and shrugged, "She seems to have complications."
Kuina wanted more from Zoro but knew that was probably the best she was going to get.
Turning to Kuro, Kuina could see that he too was sleeping, "What do you think of Miss All Sunday."
Kuro opened one eye, "Miss All Subway, doesn't seem bad so long as the tuna isn't fake."
Kuina sighed, "I'm talking about Robin Hood."
"Ah," Kuro seemed to realize, "I think we'll be fine as long as we don't show gang signs in front of her face."
Kuina's mouth fell open, "Kuro what are you saying?"
Kuro shrugged and close his eyes, "Don't know, maybe we'll find out when we eat a tuna fish."
