Work Text:
Luffy loved mornings. He loved seeing the Sun rise from beneath the sea and the feel of cool early air kissing his skin. He also loved the fresh smell of the sea the mornings provided. Mornings were (usually) clam and peaceful. A safety where everyone was allowed be in their own trance. Either trying to be functional enough to walk to the kitchen for breakfast or mediate.
The mornings caused Luffy to get lost in reflection. He didn't know what he would reflect about. He would simply sit on top of his favorite place on the ship, Sunny's head, and stare out into the deepness of a sea and the warmth of a new Sun and allow all sensations external and internal swim through him.
Mornings were the time where the world was at its most vulnerable. It wasn't a vulnerability of weakness. It was a vulnerability were hope and new awarenesses could slip in without being detected. Luffy clung to mornings like a lifeline. It had always been like that. Probably due to his grandfather's "marine training" to was forced to endure as a young child and being on his own as a child.
"-Luffy!"
A voice broke his trance. He leaned over and looked behind him from Sunny's mane.
Zoro was staring up at him with a small frown, showing that he had been calling out his name from some time. It was usually Zoro or Sanji that would pull him out of his morning trance. They were the two who woke up in the morning before him.
Luffy laughed and jumped off Sunny's head and onto the deck. He ran into Zoro's arms, hugging him tightly. Luffy didn't know the meaning of the word "softly".
"Zoro! Morning!" His voice was as full of light as the Sun.
Zoro was used to this. At first, Luffy's lack of privacy or sense of boundaries was jarring, but if you wanted to be a Strawhead Pirate, you learned to be open to the zero level of personal space.
Zoro wrapped a strong arm around him. "Morning, Captain. The cook has breakfast ready. Everyone is waiting."
"Yay! Food!" Luffy yelled and raced to the kitchen, his stomach growling and leaving Zoro to follow the dust he left behind.
Luffy busted into the kitchen. "Sanji! What's for breakfast?"
He walked up to the cook, who was finishing up the last meal and put his arm around his shoulder.
"For you Luffy, all sorts of meals," Sanji smiled.
Luffy laughed and gave the cook's shoulder a squeeze. Thankful that he had a cook who could cook him so many delicious meals.
Breakfast was the most peaceful meal for the Strawhats. Some were still trying to wake up with their black coffee and others were quite out of respect for those still trying to wake up. There was some chatter. Usopp and Nami were planning to look at the ship's budget and see what they could spend on the next island they were on. Sanji, Chopper, and Franky told him they would have an inventory report done by the end of the day.
After breakfast, everyone left the kitchen to do their own thing. Sanji stayed behind to wash dishes and prepare for lunch and mid-morning snacks. Luffy stayed with Sanji a bit too talk with the cook about what kind of lunch and snacks they were going to have and about this cool fish he saw yesterday. Sanji quietly listened with a smile. He tried to help out with the dishes too. But cleaning with never his thing and he broke three plates before he was kicked out.
Luffy found Chopper, Usopp, and Brook outside and they spent some time playing around and laughing and fishing. The put the fish they caught in the fish tank for Sanji to use whenever. The goofed around until lunch.
The lunch party was small with just Luffy, Chopper, Usopp, Brook, and Sanji. Zoro was still workout in the crow's nest, Nami was working on her maps, Robin was engrossed in some book she was reading, and Franky was busy with his next upgrade for the ship. Though Sanji took their lunch to them so they could continue working.
Lunch was messy. Luffy was all hands grabbing food randomly and stuffing it into his mouth. Chopper would yell at him to chew before swallowing so he wouldn't have to give him yet another heimlich. Usopp would yell at him for stealing his food. Brook would laugh and Sanji would be annoyed with the mess he was going to have to clean up.
"Don't worry, Chopper," Luffy tried to laugh while punching his chest to get a piece of meat down his throat that was stuck.
Chopper just stared at him in absolute disbelief.
After lunch, the ship got quiet again. Chopper and Sanji had to pull inventory, Usopp left to continue an invention he had started, and Brook wanted to write a new song. That left Luffy alone. He didn't feel like taking a nap, so he went to see what the rest of his crew was doing.
Zoro was sleeping and he didn't have the courage to wake him, so he went to see Franky. But Franky was pretty busy with his lab work, so he couldn't talk with Luffy much. He told Luffy that he was upgrading the small submarine they had. Giving it more weapon options and more durable platting so it could go further down in depth. Luffy thought their submarine was fine with the way it was, but Fanky informed Luffy that there is always room for improvement. And that he would be a sorry excuse of a shipwright if he couldn't give his captain the best of the best. Luffy laughed and agreed while juggling three of the many sharp tools Franky had in his lab.
"Wait, what are you-" Franky looked behind him to see what his captain was doing, but it was too late.
"OW!" Luffy yelled as one of the tools cut his hand open. The tools smacked onto the ground as Luffy held his bleeding hand.
Franky groaned, which followed an argument of "What the hell were you thinking!?" and "They looked cool. Why are all your tools so sharp?".
"It's a lab, Luffy. I can't make you anything with broken and dull tools." Franky spat while he led Luffy to Chopper.
Chopper wasn't the least bit surprised to see Luffy injured. Franky informed him what had happened while he treated their Captain and then banned Luffy from his lab for the foreseeable future to which Luffy responded with "Nu-uh, I'm Captian." And that was Luffy talk for "I'll do whatever the hell I want."
Franky sighed and they came to an understanding of rules and lab safety when Luffy was there.
"The cut isn't deep. It should clear up in a few days, but don't do anything strenuous with that hand for a few days. I'll check on it later today." Chopper stated.
Luffy looked at the neat and tight bandage and smiled. "Okay, thanks, Doctor."
Chopper blushed and cursed at him before kicking them out so he could continue with his inventory.
Luffy went to see Robin next. There was never much to do in the library and it was his least favorite place on the ship. Their time together was short and quiet. Robin was so engrossed in her study that she didn't even look up to greet him when he entered.
"Robin! I'm bored!" Luffy pouted.
Robin didn't respond and continued to read in one of the many books opened on the desk around her. It must be a serious subject she was researching.
Luffy looked over her shoulder at the books and notes she had written down and couldn't make a lick of sense about them. He pursed over the many books on the shelves. He was sure all of these books belong to Robin. Books never interested him. To read a book you had to stay still and staying still felt like sinking in quicksand to him. He just couldn't do it. So he quietly slipped out and went to bug Nami.
He wished he hadn't, because today was not a good day for Nami. When he walked into the room she used to draw her maps, he was confronted by a wild animal with messy and tangled hair and a fierce face. Luffy'd heart seized up in fear.
"What now, Luffy?" She asked annoyed.
"I just came to see what you were doing."
Nami threw her ink pen onto the desk. "I'm failing to draw this damn map of the last island we went to."
"The last island we were at didn't have anything on it, so I don't think it really ma-"
Nami glared at him with such intensity he only experiences on battlefields.
To build a map of the world. Right. In order to achieve her dream, every island mattered.
Luffy looked at the map on the desk. It looked perfect to him. "What's wrong with it?"
Nami said some words that flew over his head. The kind of stuff that went into creating maps.
"Hm, why not try taking a nap and then come back to it?"
"A nap?" Nami questioned, rudely. "I'm too angry for a nap."
Too angry for a nap? It must be serious then.
Luffy thought for a moment before his eyes caught hold of the ink bottled at the front of the map. He grabbed hold of it and dumped its content on to the map.
Nami practically screamed. "What the hell are you doing!"
Luffy put the empty ink bottle back onto the desk and spoke with nonchalant. "Maybe starting over would help?"
"Do you have any idea how much that cost!" She yelled at him.
Luffy put his hands on his hips. "What does it matter? We're pirates. Why are we buying stuff anyway?"
She screamed and cashed him out of the room. She cashed after him throughout the ship. Luffy laughing all the way. With his Devil Fruit powers, she didn't have much of a chance catching him. She would yell out how she would kill him once she got hold of him. Somewhere as simple as throwing him into the sea and other were creative.
Sanji came out of the kitchen and signaled that dinner was ready. Everyone seat down at the table except for Nami, who fumed and snatched her plate and went to drew her map again from scratch.
Dinner was quick today and just as messy as lunch was. A party outside on the deck followed because Luffy said so. (With the exception of Nami). Because he knew after dinner everyone would leave and do their own thing. Not that there was anything wrong with that. Luffy normally wouldn't mind his crew being in their own little corners of the world. Yet today, Luffy wanted a party. He wanted to listen to Brook's voice singing them through the sea. He wanted to laugh and play with Usopp and Chopper and squeal over Franky's many gadgets. He wanted to eat Sanji's delicious food. See the smile on Robin's and Zoro's face. (He would normally hear Nami's laugh, but he didn't want to invoke her wrath again.)
They watched the Sun fall from the sky and sink into the sea. Luffy was never as fond of watching the Sun leave as he did when he watched it raise. It was a fear he kept inside of himself and never told anyone. Because he was never sure if the Sun would rise again.
But that wasn't a concern right now. Because, in this present moment, he had everyone he loved and everyone who loved him near. He had Chopper's solace wrapped around his hand. He had Usopp's trust to follow him everywhere and Robin's knowledge of the world. He had Nami to point him in the right and safest direction and Franky's ability to get them there. He had Brook's voice to instill hope in him. He had Sanji's food to keep him alive. He had Zoro's strength to protect him. He had everything he could ever need around him.
As the night carried on and the Moon shone down on the Sunny, everyone turned in for the night soon leaving Luffy by himself. Luffy didn't mind the idea of being alone now as he sat on top of Sunny's head looking out into the sea ahead. The party was still vibrating his bones and he felt good.
"Captain? Are you going to bed?" A voice called to him.
He looked behind him and saw Nami in her pajamas and drying her hair with the towel.
"How's that map going?" He ignored her question.
She smiled. "I finished it."
He snickered. He knew she would.
He used his powers to stretch out his arms and swing over to her.
"But don't you ever do that again," She threatened him. "You wasted a lot of money doing that and stained the desk. So, now I need a new desk."
Luffy smiled. "Yeah, yeah." Nami could have what she needed. "I'm sure Usopp can find room in the budget for you to get a new desk."
Nami rolled her eyes. "Great. He's going to make me get the cheapest one. Or worse, try and build one himself."
Luffy didn't see what the big deal was. A desk was a desk. It wasn't like food. "It'll work itself out."
Nami yawned. "Let's hope so. Well, I'm going to be. Night."
"Night." Luffy watched Nami go inside the ship to the women's quaters.
He looked behind him at the empty and quiet deck and decided it was time to turn in as well. He made his way to the men's quarters and was quiet about climbing up to his bed above Zoro's hammock. He could tell that not everyone was asleep yet. Usopp wasn't snoring yet, Brook was humming some tune he hadn't heard before and Sanji was still smoking.
Luffy closed his eyes and took a deep breath of everything around him. He was at home with the people he loved.
He couldn't wait to see the Sunrise tomorrow.