Chapter Thirty-Six: Luffy

Fifteen years had been pretty fair to Luffy, all things considered. He had the best brothers, the best nakama, and pretty much the best life anyone could ask for. And then one stupid Fishman-fucker or whatever had to go screw things up for him.

Ace and Sabo, though being the best brothers a guy could even hope for, sometimes just didn't quite understand things the way that Luffy did. Like when Luffy had tried to explain to Ace about needing money for Nami. He and Ace had ended up getting into a fight in the kitchen. But eventually, Luffy had figured out a way to show Ace what was wrong without breaking his promise to Nami. Sort of.

Another thing that Ace didn't understand was his devotion to his nakama. Ace didn't have friends that he couldn't live without, as far as Luffy knew. But Ace seemed to think that Luffy could just let his friends be just because Ace said so. It wasn't like that. Nakama were for life, and Luffy would be there for his nakama no matter what.

Especially Nami. Yes, Nami was his nakama, but somehow, she felt different from the others…in a lot of ways…

Luffy had a hard time focusing when he thought about Nami. Well, maybe that wasn't exactly the right way to say it. Luffy had a hard time focusing on anything but Nami at times. That was where he was going with that thought. Ace also didn't understand how Luffy couldn't leave Nami alone. Especially when she cried.

Damn it, that was not what he meant either. Why was it so hard to do anything but focus on Nami sometimes? It wasn't annoying or anything like that, but it did frustrate him. A lot.

His frustration had gotten the better of him the morning after he had been forced to leave Nami sobbing in her room. Gramps had just gone and not understood what Luffy had tried to tell him and had sent him to his room and in frustration, Luffy had broke out of his room and took off to get Nami himself, since Ace's plan to get everyone to help bring her back was doomed to fail if Gramps had anything to do with it.

Luffy had gathered the rest of his nakama and they had come up with a plan to get Nami out of that shitty club or whatever. A pretty good plan too. It worked. Mostly. Kind of.

Until he got shot.

Getting shot isn't indescribable. It's very describable. It hurts. Like a mother fucker. Worse than getting kicked in the nut sack with steel toed boots. It just hurt constantly and overwhelmingly. Even after he'd gotten to the hospital (he must have been blacked out for that part, because he couldn't remember getting there) and they had given him pain killers, it still hurt. For like, the next four weeks.

Getting shot wasn't in the original plan. But it happened, regardless, and Luffy had no choice but to deal with it and life changed for him for awhile.

It became boring. So. Utterly. Boring. For like, the next four weeks.

After the greatest rescue in the history of everything (never mind that they'd not quite gotten it done right), Luffy was stuck in the hospital where like literally everyone was insistent that he not even breathe.

Well, technically, they did want him to breathe but they had stuck this weird tube down his throat so the whole breathing thing was done for him. It took weeks to get the doctors to allow that thing to go. Luffy been off of it for a whole whopping day before he busted something (a stitch he thought) and was stuck back on the breathing snake.

That wasn't what it was called, but it looked like a snake head when it came out so the name stuck.

Speaking of things that were stuck, Luffy was stuck to his damn hospital bed during that entire time. Like, couldn't get up to piss on his own, stuck in his hospital bed. He'd had to use a bed pan for way longer than it was necessary.

And to top off all of the boringness that Luffy had been subject to, Nami went missing. Again. Luffy knew that if he could just get out of the damn hospital he could find her again. But no one would listen to him. They told him to "take it easy" and "rest up" and "damn it Luffy, just fucking be still."

That last one was mostly Ace. Man, had Ace gotten testy lately. Never mind that he now had a girlfriend, Nami's sister Nojiko, he was ornery as hell. He seemed to only complain as of late. Luffy loved his brother, but he was starting to think that Ace should spend more time with his girlfriend and less with him.

The only good thing that happened while Luffy was in the hospital was that Nami stopped being missing. And she was put in the hospital too. But could Luffy go see her? Nooo. It was, in his opinion, a bunch of bullshit.

But finally, after nearly four weeks in the hospital, Luffy was released…only to be put on bed rest.

It was the most boring time of his life EVER. Worse than Tuesday morning geography lesson boring. It was just completely mind-numbing. After like one day, Luffy was bored of the Xbox that Ace loaned him. He had seen Ussop, Sanji, and Zoro often at the hospital, and they were the best sort of nakama that even came to see him while he was on bed rest. They wished him well, but mostly, they complained of a new addition.

Luffy had no idea who this Trafalgar Water person was, but he sounded lame by his nakama's descriptions. And Nami, well, Luffy wanted more than anything to see her. He just had to see her face again, not bruised and covered in makeup. Not in tears and fighting for their lives. He had to see the real Nami, and watch her smile and touch her…

Luffy did not know how to describe how he felt around Nami, other than to say shades of warm. Sometimes hot, like he was sweating bullets or something, and other times simply warm. It started in his stomach and seemed to spread outward. The warm feeling grew when she smiled and when he touched her.

When he kissed her, then it was like fire. All consuming warmth that felt like it was giving him a proximity burn but when he looked in the mirror, everything was still normal. He really, really liked kissing Nami.

Sex was…kinda indescribable. He tried over and over to come up with the right way to describe how he felt with Nami when they had sex and he failed miserably. All he could come up with was that it seemed like it felt like a firework would feel if it went off inside him. A thousand embers popping and burning inside of him over and over as he pushed inside of her, over and over.

Luffy shook his head to clear his thoughts. Yeah, he liked to jerk off on occasion to those memories, but now wasn't the time. He was in Gramps' car on the way to school. Not to attend, but to visit his friends.

"Are you listening, Luffy?" Gramps asked as he drove.

"Nope," Luffy replied honestly. Gramps usually only asked that when he knew Luffy wasn't listening.

"I said Ace will be escorting you around the school," Gramps repeated. "So no wandering off. If you hurt yourself on this little excursion, you can kiss going back to school next week goodbye. You'll be on bed rest until the New Year."

"Kay," Luffy sighed. Gramps was way too strict. And Ace was way too crabby. This visit to his friends was already lame because he was supposed to be picking up the homework he'd missed so far, and all these rules were making his enthusiasm for the trip plummet.

His last hope was that he might get to see Nami…

"And stay away from that little troublemaker Nami," Gramps added as he pulled up to the school. Ace waited at the gate with Nojiko at his side. "You have enough bullet wounds for this lifetime thanks to associating yourself with that girl."

Luffy didn't bother to respond. The car had stopped so he popped open the passenger door. Ace was immediately at his side, helping him out of the car. Luffy appreciated the help, but not the lecture that came with it.

"Damn it, Luffy, can't you wait for me?" Ace was complaining. "You're going to pop a stitch again if you don't take it easy. I swear, you need a tranquilizer."

"Hi Nojiko," Luffy greeted, hoping she would save him from the lecture.

"Hello, Luffy," Nojiko returned. "You should listen to your brother. He's right, you know."

So much for that avenue. Luffy sighed again and waited to be directed by Ace.

"I'll be back in half an hour," Gramps told them. "I want him out of the school before lunch is over."

"Got it," Ace nodded. "Let's go, Luffy."

Unenthusiastically, Luffy trudged along behind Ace and ahead of Nojiko. It was as if the two were corralling him around. He supposed they probably were. They made it to his classroom and waited in the hall for the bell to gong for lunch.

The bell toned and students began milling out of the classrooms. There were whispers and points in his direction, but Luffy didn't care about any of it. He was eager again, hoping to catch the guys at lunch with Nami as soon as his classmates were out of the way.

As the stream of students settled down to a trickle, Luffy slid around Ace and slipped through the doorway. Much to his disappointment, Nami was not in the room. His mood plummeted, despite the friendly faces of his nakama heading toward him.

"Luffy! No way! I thought Garp would keep you homebound until you were twenty," Ussop exclaimed as he approached.

"Nice to see you outside of a bed," Zoro commented. Luffy smiled at them, but his heart just wasn't in it.

"I swear, Luffy, if you pop a stitch today, I'm going to help the old man tie you down to the bed," Ace complained as he entered the room too. "These are the rules: he sits, he stays still, he doesn't over exert himself."

Luffy didn't know why Ace bothered to tell Zoro and Ussop such rules; they were the same rules Luffy was subject to when he was at home, and both of them had visited him at home before…

"I'll be back in half an hour," Ace promised, or was it threatened? Luffy couldn't tell by the look that Ace gave. Oh well. He was with his nakama and not at home, so he followed the guys back to their desks where they'd been getting ready to eat.

"Bet you a thousand berries that Ace didn't remember to bring food for Luffy," Zoro was saying to Ussop. As if to pontificate the point, Luffy's stomach growled. Ussop sighed heavily and made an about face.

"I'll go get some food from the canteen," Ussop stated resignedly. He quickly whipped around before he made it two steps. "I'm taking this! I want to be able to eat when I get back!"

Ussop grabbed his lunch and took it with him.

Luffy sat in what had been his desk throughout the year, though it was turned at an angle so it would face two other desks. He looked forlornly at Zoro's lunch for a minute before Zoro cleared it from his desk.

"That shitty cook should be here any minute," Zoro was saying as he hid his lunch from view. Luffy tried to pay attention to what Zoro was saying and not his lunch. "Usually about five minutes after that flake gets here, Na—"

"Who's a shitty cook?" Sanji asked as he kicked the chair Zoro sat in. Zoro teetered unevenly for a moment before he righted himself. "As I recall, you ate every damn bit of that 'shitty' food I made back at the Baratie."

"Listen here, dart brow," Zoro challenged, standing from his seat. "I paid my own damn money to go to that place and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let my money go to waste by not eating. And you're still a shitty cook."

Sanji narrowed his eyes for a moment and then dipped his head in Luffy's direction. "What's with him? He's usually rolling by now."

Zoro made a sour face. "He's disappointed."

"At what?" Sanji asked as he sat at one of the desks. "That he has no lunch? I saw Ussop in the hall. He was going to go pick up some food for Luffy."

Zoro sat too. "You know as well as anyone what's missing here."

Sanji looked briefly at Luffy. "Oh. Yeah. Listen Luffy—"

"The lunch lady missed you, Luffy!" Ussop proclaimed as he entered the classroom. His arms were littered with individually wrapped bread buns. In each fist, he carried a bag, which was laden with even more food. "She said welcome back and eat up!"

Ussop came to a stop just short of Luffy, and the leaning tower of food tilted too far in the wrong direction, and bread buns began spilling everywhere.

"Why are you such a spaz?" Sanji asked as he took the bags from Ussop's hands. Luffy leaned down to grab some bread buns off the floor, but Zoro took hold of his shoulder and stopped him. Luffy looked at Zoro for a moment, and Zoro looked towards the door. Luffy followed his gaze and it felt like his heart missed a beat or something because his chest felt funny to see Nami standing in the doorway with another girl.

"Nami!"

He was up and out of his seat in a moment. His damn legs were still wobbly as he tried to run but mostly shuffled his way through the desks and over to Nami. She looked like she was in disbelief as he threw his arms around her and hugged her as tightly as he could manage.

"Luffy?" was Nami's muffled reply. For some reason, she wasn't hugging him back. It was weird. "It's too soon for you to be at school, isn't it?"

"I came to visit!" Luffy answered enthusiastically. All dejection was gone in her presence. "And I'm good. I just have to not over exert myself. Whatever that means."

He finally let go of Nami and took in her appearance. She looked surprised for a moment as she looked him over herself, and then her face turned exasperated.

"It means sit your ass down you over active clown!" she yelled at him. "You're going to pop your stitches or something. You just got out of the hospital. Are you trying to put yourself back in?"

It was like bliss to be together with all of his nakama again. He just sat gingerly into the nearest desk but his grin would not leave his face. Nami pulled a chair from a nearby desk and sat down with him as the other guys approached too.

"And who is this lovely creature?" Sanji asked, gently taking the girl that Luffy had already forgotten by the hand and placing a kiss on the top of it. "Mine eyes are surely too weak to see all the beauty that is before me, but I can see the loveliness of that which is this young lady."

"This is Vivi," Nami introduced. "And she has a boyfriend. So lay off of her, Sanji."

Sanji was crestfallen. "But of course. Such loveliness cannot walk this world alone. You must have a knight in shining armor to stand at your side. Where may this knight be, so that I may see if he is fit to be guardian of such beauty?"

"He's a second year and he's in gym class right now," Nami relayed, taking a sack of food from Sanji, who was no longer paying attention to anyone but the girl Vivi, and handing Luffy food. "His name's Kohza."

Vivi turned bright red and stammered. "He's not my boyfriend."

Everyone, save Sanji and Luffy, sighed in exasperation. Nami voiced the mistake. "You shouldn't have said that."

Sanji swooned at the news. He was down on one knee and grasped one of her hands in both of his in a moment, staring adoringly up at Vivi. The girl with the lavender hair seemed to come to realization at Sanji's proclamations of adoration.

"Sanji-kun," Nami pointed to the blonde and then pointing to the others as well. "Ussop, Zoro, Luffy."

Vivi nodded in greeting to all of them except Sanji, who was still going on about her loveliness and searching for a chair to let her sit down. Abruptly, he pulled one out from under Zoro. All of the balance training in kendo in the world couldn't stop Zoro from hitting the floor.

And then they were at it. Sanji and Zoro were tossing insults at each other and had a hold of each other's uniforms. Luffy laughed heartily at the camaraderie. Things were perfect now.

Lunch was the best. Luffy ate everything the lunch lady had sent for him, and was soon sneaking food from everyone. He ate like before he'd gotten shot and didn't have to worry about popping his stitches. It took about ten minutes or so, but finally Nami stopped him, citing that exact outcome.

Sanji and Zoro never stopped insulting each other, Luffy continued to try to sneak food off people, Nami stopped him and corrected Ussop, who was telling the story of their epic rescue of Nami.

"And then we were moving towards the elevator, all of us," Ussop relayed, "and thanks to me, the elevators were working again and Nami was like a yakuza wife, defending us all with a gun, and the elevator doors opened—"

"And then lover-boy swoops in to save the day."

A boy that Luffy didn't know, but was in a class a year older than him was leaning against the door frame watching them. He kicked off the door frame and lazily began approaching the group. Luffy tried to sneak the last of Ussop's lunch while he was distracted, but Nami was too observant.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nami replied, holding his hands still on the desk.

"Lover-boy," the dark-haired boy said again. "The blonde. Not that one. The other one with the scar on his face."

Luffy looked up at the boy and acknowledged his presence. It was hard to concentrate on anyone else when Nami was touching him, but Luffy thought he knew who the boy was referring to. "Sabo?"

"The blonde lover-boy who showed up to save the day and rescue the princess—," the boy patted Nami's head and she let go of one of Luffy's hands to swat at him, "—and blow up the building. That's how the story ends, right?"

Ussop looked wary to answer.

"So what?" Nami snapped, looking up at the boy. "What's your point?"

"Don't got one," the boy told them as he pulled up a chair and scooted it very close to Nami. "Except that the Lover-boy didn't get the girl, did he? I did."

And then he kissed Nami. Suddenly the perfect lunch with his friends was a little sour. Well, maybe a lot sour. Luffy felt like his stomach had dropped and he was about to spew, as Nami had been warning him as he ate.

"You have onion breath," Nami declared of the boy as she pushed him away. "Eat a breath mint."

The boy grinned. "Whatever you say, baby."

Nami rolled her eyes and sighed. She looked at Luffy.

"In case you hadn't heard," Nami muttered to him, "Trafalgar is my boyfriend. He's just in a mood and trying to establish dominance over you because he knows I like you better than him."

Luffy laughed, despite his nausea. "I like you better than him too."

Nami spared him a brief smile, but it was immediately wiped away as soon as the dark-haired boy, Trafalgar, spoke.

"Yeah, but you don't have wild, passionate sex with him," Trafalgar rebuttaled. Zoro got up from his seat.

"That's it, I'm out," he announced. "I won't listen to stories about anyone's sex life. No thanks."

Luffy was confused. This guy Trafalgar didn't know anything about his sex life. Why was he making assumptions? And why did it seem like he was acting like—

Wait a minute.

Luffy leaned over to Nami and whispered to her. "You've had sex with that guy?"

Nami gave him a sorrowful look before nodding. Luffy swallowed hard to combat the nausea. He whispered to Nami again. "Do you love him?"

"What's all this noise?"

Ace had returned, and with him, Nojiko. She wore the same look as Nami when Nami had seen Luffy for the first time. Just like Nami, her face turned within a second and she was irritated. She stormed off without a word. Ace watched her go for a moment before addressing them.

"Luffy, you're supposed to be taking it easy," Ace reminded him.

"I am, Ace," Luffy assured him. "I sat down."

Ace sighed heavily and gave him a look that said that he didn't believe a word of it. "Uh-huh."

No one looked inclined to start a conversation again, and it seemed to irritate Ace. He strode into the classroom and over to Luffy, grabbing his arm.

"Time to go," Ace declared as he pulled somewhat on his arm to lift him out of the chair. Luffy was not feeling the best, but he sure as hell didn't think that he'd had enough time with his nakama.

"But lunch isn't even over yet," Luffy whined, looking at the clock. They had about ten more minutes still.

"I know," Ace told him as he hauled him toward the door. "We have to beat the crowd of students in the hallways. We're going to take you back to the old man so he can take you home."

"Lame!" Luffy claimed as he tried to wrench himself out of Ace's grip. Something felt like it tore inside him and he bent over clutching his middle. He was lucky he didn't spill his lunch right then and there.

"Way to go, Luffy," Ace sighed. "You better hope you don't start bleeding, or you're headed straight back to the hospital."

Luffy stumbled his way out of the classroom with one last look at Nami. She looked worried, like it might be the last time she saw him. It made his stomach turn again. Luffy made it about ten steps down the hall before he ducked into the bathrooms and went for the first available stall. He vomited up everything he had ever eaten in his life.

"Great, just great," Ace muttered, standing behind him in the toilet stall. "I should have told those idiots to moderate how much you ate."

"Shut up," Luffy lamely snapped in between hurls. Admittedly, though his middle didn't like the process of throwing up, he did feel better with less in his stomach. It took a couple of minutes, but finally, he was done.

"I swear that a shoe came out of you," Ace lamented as he watched over his brother. Luffy flushed the toilet and went to the sink. He bent over and slurped water out of the faucet to swish around in his mouth before spitting it back out.

"Lame," Luffy muttered again, turning to follow Ace out of the bathroom. They made it outside before an announcement came over the loud speakers.

"Attention students and faculty. Afternoon classes and club activities have been cancelled for the remainder of today. All students are to leave campus and all faculty are to meet in the west gym."

"I could have stayed!" Luffy whined crabbily.

"You probably would have spewed everywhere," Ace accused. "Hurry up and get in the old man's car."

Luffy was corralled into Gramps' car again. Ace and Nojiko were coming with apparently, since the afternoon's classes were cancelled. Gramps, Ace, and Nojiko made small talk about the sudden cancellation of classes, but Luffy was being obstinate about having been forced away from his friends prematurely and wouldn't talk.

"Well, I'm guessing he saw her," Gramps spoke up after a lull in the conversation.

"Yeah," Ace muttered. "Her boyfriend too."

"Mm," Gramps murmured. Luffy grew even more sullen, knowing they were talking about Nami and that Tra-guy.

"I told you to stay away from her, Luffy," Gramps admonished. Luffy rolled his eyes, getting more irritated with every word. "You should listen more often. It's really for your own good."

They had just pulled up to a stop sign. Luffy was so angry that he whipped off his seat belt and popped open the car door. He hopped out, hearing Ace open his car door too.

"Get back in the car, Luffy," Ace ordered, grabbing his arm again. Tired of being wrangled like he had no will of his own, Luffy yanked his arm back. Ace apparently had a better grip than last time and Luffy did not manage to free his arm. So instead, he pivoted and decked Ace.

Sure enough, Ace dropped his arm. Nojiko, who had been half way out of Gramps' car too squawked in indignation and ran to Ace's side. She looked ready to read him the riot act as she turned on him.

"I'll walk," Luffy snapped and turned on his heel. He walked sulkingly in the general direction of his house. He could hear the others behind him conversing, but no one came after him so he considered it a victory.

He was mad at Ace, though probably not enough to warrant punching him in the face like he did, but Luffy was frustrated, and it was a new feeling for him and he didn't quite know how to deal with it. Things had been perfect for about fifteen minutes today, and then all of a sudden it turned into a big ball of shit.

That Tra-guy. He said he was Nami's boyfriend. That didn't bother him too much but the thought of him and Nami kissing…he spit onto the ground, tasting bile again. And she has said that they'd had sex too. He couldn't really understand why she'd had sex with him when she had said that she didn't love him.

He paused in the middle of the sidewalk. Well, technically, she'd had sex with Ace too but that wasn't her choice. That fish-fuck had made her do that. He took another step and paused again. Had the fish-fuck made Nami have sex with himself?

His stomach dropped again and he felt cold. He shuffled a little bit in his steps as he continued thinking his way through this realization. If she didn't want to have sex with him, then she would have stopped when the fish-fuck went away, right?

Plus, she'd said at lunch that she liked him more than that Tra-guy anyway. But was 'like' enough? Because even though Luffy did like Nami like he liked the other guys, knew he felt more than that for Nami. Was it love? Did it even matter?

No, probably not.

Luffy hit his stride again as he decided it didn't matter if Nami loved him or he loved Nami. They were nakama and that meant that they would always be together.

Except when they weren't.

He stumbled a bit again. They had been kept apart for months thanks to bullet wounds and fish-fucks and Gramps. Luffy's mood darkened again. Gramps. Man. He was a killjoy. Luffy was fifteen years old. Seriously. He didn't need to be babysat his whole damn life.

And Ace. He was always so unreasonable lately. Ever since that night with Nami when she had been forced…Luffy slowed again and came to a stop.

Back when he and Ace had been younger, but after Sabo was gone, Gramps had sat them down one day and tried explaining sex to them. Ace had been horrified but Luffy had been confused. He remembered thinking, why would he ever want to do that with anyone, let alone a girl? After having had sex, the idea was less weird and more enticing. But that's not what made him stop in his tracks.

Gramps had ended the sex conversation after Ace pitched a fit with one parting remark: Never have sex with someone without their consent. That was rape and it was the worst thing you could ever do to someone.

Luffy became lost in a new thought. If Nami had been forced to have sex, and not wanted to have sex with Ace or him, that meant she didn't consent, didn't it? Did that mean that he and Ace had raped her? Luffy scratched his head as he contemplated this.

Normally, he would have taken a question like this to Ace, but fuck that. Ace was being such a turd lately. So who was left?

Just his nakama.

His nakama would have been sent home from school at lunch today too. Abruptly, Luffy stopped in his trek and looked around to get his bearings. He was a few blocks from his house, but that also meant that it was only a couple more blocks to Zoro's place.

He adjusted course and headed towards Zoro's place. Zoro would know the answer, or at least know who had the answer to his question. He was going at a brisk pace but suddenly slowed.

What if Zoro went to Ussop's or Sanji's place before coming home? Cellphone!

Luffy yanked his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it. He was in the middle of texting Zoro for his whereabouts when a car pulled up next to him. Luffy huffed in annoyance.

"I said I'll walk," he snapped, looking at the intruder. Suddenly, his phone was forgotten.

"Hey Luffy," Sabo greeted easily, as if he hadn't disappeared for a month and a half while Luffy was grounded to the hospital and the house. "Where you walking to? If it's back to the old man's place, you're going in the wrong direction."

"Sabo, where have you been?" Luffy asked baldly. "You were there and then you weren't."

Sabo cringed. "I had something I have to do. It's important. But then I saw you staggering weirdly down the street and I needed to know my brother was okay."

Luffy looked around unseeingly as his mind was going through the process of switching gears of thinking.

"I'm fine," he answered honestly. "I threw up earlier and now I'm kind of hungry, but I'm not hurt or anything."

Sabo smiled at him. "Come on, let's go get some food."

As usual, when mentioned, food became first priority. Luffy didn't even hesitate to climb into the car Sabo drove.

"Any requests?" Sabo inquired as he shifted the car into gear.

"Yakisoba," Luffy answered, thinking back to lunch when Ussop had been eating it. The bread buns were cool and all, but after seeing the noodles and being fended off from eating them, he now had a craving.

"Yakisoba it is," Sabo agreed easily. They drove in silence for a few minutes. "So why were you wandering aimlessly down the street Luffy?"

"I wasn't," Luffy answered immediately. "I was headed to Zoro's. But then I thought Zoro might not be home and could have gone to Ussop's or something so I was going to text to see where he was."

"Do we need to go there instead?" Sabo asked.

"No," Luffy answered. "I was going to ask him a question. But I can ask you instead."

"Go for it," Sabo prompted.

"Is it rape if a person has sex with someone else because they're being forced to do it?" Luffy blurted out.

Sabo slammed on the breaks suddenly. "What the hell?"

Luffy adjusted himself under the seatbelt, where the belt had tugged on him at the abrupt stop.

"I said, is it rape—"

"I heard what you said, Luffy," Sabo interrupted. "I meant, what the hell brought this question on?"

Immediately, Luffy felt like he was guilty of the act, even though Sabo didn't even know the context of the conversation. It was his reaction to the entire thing that made Luffy sure.

"Tell me," Sabo implored.

Luffy looked at the floor of the car. "I think I did something bad."

The silence in the car seemed to speak volumes. But gradually, the car started moving again. Luffy glanced out the window to see that they had come upon the neighborhood food district. Sabo parked the car and instructed him to stay in the car.

A few minutes later, Sabo returned from one of the yatai's with some Yakisoba for each of them. Luffy took his share, but suddenly, he didn't feel so good again. It smelled amazing, but the idea of eating made him green around the gills.

"Luffy, I of all people am not going to judge you or anything you've done," Sabo told him between bites. "But you've got to explain this to me."

Luffy sighed, staring at the Yakisoba. "So my friend Nami…"

"Yeah," Sabo prompted.

"She went missing for awhile," Luffy continued. Sabo nodded to urge him on as he ate. "Well I found her. But it wasn't in a good place."

"Yes, Ace told me that," Sabo confirmed. "He also said you took him to her so he could help her."

Luffy nodded in agreement.

"So far, I don't think you've done anything bad," Sabo deduced. "But something is eating at you. What is it?"

"The night that I took Ace to Nami," Luffy clarified. "Bad things happened. I think it's my fault."

Sabo sighed deeply. "What specifically did you do that was bad?"

Luffy took a long time to answer. "Well, Ace was there, and I was there, and Nami was there, and so was this fish-guy fucker."

Another round of silence filled the car as Luffy tried to wrangle the motivation to say what he'd done aloud.

"And this fish-fucker guy said some things that I didn't really understand at the time," Luffy recalled. "But then things started to happen and I think I kind of probably raped her."

Sabo wasn't looking at him. He was looking out the front windshield of the car and clenching his fists so hard that the chopsticks he'd been using broke in one hand.

Ok. It was bad. Really bad. Luffy hung his head in shame.

"Luffy," Sabo spoke, in a tone that Luffy hadn't heard before. Luffy glanced at him. "I need you to be more detailed. How do you think you raped her?"

Luffy started to squirm in his seat. "I didn't mean to. Or I mean, I didn't know that's what was happening. But suddenly that fucker said she had to 'fulfill some duties' or something and then she was sucking off Ace and I had to watch and then she did it to me while Ace was behind her and then she and I—we—"

Luffy had been spewing words at a mile a minute but they suddenly got choked up in his mouth and he put his head in his hands.

"And that fucker was there the whole time?" Sabo guessed.

"Yeah," Luffy mumbled. "Pretty much."

Silence took over the car again for a bit. Sabo looked absolutely furious when Luffy ventured a peek at him. His mood plummeted.

"First and foremost, Luffy," Sabo started, "I'm not sure where you learned what rape was, though if I had to guess I'd say the old man, but he didn't explain it right."

Luffy peeked through his fingers again. Sabo did look angry, but not at him.

"What happened to Nami was rape, you are correct," Sabo went on. "But it was the same for you and Ace. Neither of you wanted to have sex in front of that guy, right?"

"Well, no, but—"

"But nothing," Sabo declared. "I'm sure the old man was the one who didn't explain it right, but here's the real deal Luffy: rape has victims, and all three of you were victims in that room while that fucker was there. He was the one who forced all of you."

Luffy wanted to believe Sabo's reasoning so badly. He really did.

"But—"

"No more buts, Luffy," Sabo insisted. "Now there's more to know that the old man didn't tell you. If you are raped, you will go through something called post-traumatic stress disorder."

"Huh?"

"Let's call it PTSD, okay?" Sabo offered. "It means that you're suffering through things that aren't your fault and you head has a hard time understanding certain things."

"Like what?" Luffy asked.

"Like the fact that you are the victim, and you didn't cause the rape," Sabo told him. "Fuck, am I wanting to lay into Ace right now for not telling me any of this, but he's a victim here too."

"How do I get rid of this PSDT—whatever?" Luffy wanted to know. "Because I got to be strong for my nakama, and this whatever thing sounds weak."

Sabo sighed as he looked at Luffy. "You are strong. One of the strongest people I know. I think you'll be okay as long as you remember that you need to be strong for them, okay?"

Luffy thought about the things that Sabo had said for a few minutes. It did make sense, but that fear that he had done something awful to Nami was still there. But if he followed Sabo's advice, to remember to be strong for his nakama, he could do this, right?

"Yosh."

A/N: I'm not sure how well these Luffy chapters come out. I find it hard to write him. He's an idiot, true, but he's not a simpleton. Sometimes he's incredibly capable too. Hopefully he's not coming off as a simpleton.