Chapter Text
Chapter One
○•Nami•○
Nami jerked her head back up, a sudden inhale being the only sound she heard besides what sounded like a pencil falling to the floor.
Shit-what time is it?
She checked the clock on her desk, it was almost two in the morning. Not nearly as late as she was expecting, so she let out a breath of relief which was quickly followed with a yawn.
Nami gazed down at the charting she had been doing before dozing off. It was just about done, meaning she could finish it while eating breakfast later, which also meant she was free to go to sleep.
She took out her hairclip with another big yawn escaping her mouth, her long orange hair flowed down to the middle of her back. Nami leaned back in her chair, the smallest creak groaning from one of the legs. She looked up at the ceiling, forcing her eyes to stay open. She could probably fall asleep in this chair right now.
Well, honestly that was probably how exhausted everyone else was feeling, too. The weird island trip that took place a couple days ago still seemed to have everyone worn out, even Luffy. This surprised Nami the most, since she expected Luffy to just laugh it off. But he's been a bit quiet lately. Not quiet to the point it was deeply concerning, but enough to where it was noticingly out of character.
Of course, when asked about it, he'd get all confused and goofy and Nami would end up brushing it off, but she did notice how quiet he was being. That was probably why everyone else was struggling with moving past it, because their carefree captain was still processing it.
It's probably fine, Nami thought to herself, putting her charting supplies to the side and getting up from her seat. It's not like this hasn't happened before. I could name a time or two when he's been eerily quiet-
A loud, godawful scream echoed throughout the ship, practically shaking it and cutting through Nami's thoughts. She froze, her heart sinking to the deepest pits of her stomach. Before she could even move to the door, another screech rang out. Somebody was screaming out in agony from the boys bunk room.
Nami's heart began to pound.
It was Luffy.
○•Two days ago•○
-Luffy-
“Luffy, make sure you don't go off too far!” He heard Nami call out of him. Her wrist was propped up as she took a quick glance at the Log Pose. The last couple crew members stepped off the ship, they had just docked onto a new island and planned to stay for a little bit so the Log Pose could reset. Plus, Sanji said they needed more to add to his culinary arsenal, which Luffy understood as “we gotta buy more food”. He obviously didn't object.
“Uh huh!” Luffy answered her absent mindedly, he was already trying to see past the patch of woodlands to the town that was up ahead. There was a wooden path climbing up, cutting through the grass and introducing them to the woods. Luffy smiled, giggling as he was already leaping ahead of everyone else. Nami shouted to him, but he didn't catch it.
Luffy pushed through the trees, stretching his arms and swinging from branch to branch for maximum fun. He swung around and around on a high branch, shooting himself up to the top of a tree. He gagged and spit out a mouthful of leaves, laughing about it. He hung down from one of the branches, spotting Zoro walking down the path. Chopper was right behind him to make sure he stayed on the path.
“Guys! Guys! Heeyyyy!!” Luffy hollered from high up. Zoro craned his head up and waved back with a grin when Luffy waved down at him. Chopper looked up too and just chuckled.
Luffy continued on his fun expedition. He let go of the branch, landing on the ground and sprinting ahead. He could hear chatter up ahead and he could've sworn he saw a couple figures passing by. He grinned from ear to ear, giggling quietly in excitement. He finally broke through the final patches of the woodlands, seeing a full and lively town beyond it.
There were houses and buildings lined up. Street lamps stood guard of the sidewalks and fences as people were walking up and down the road. It was a really nice town, most of the houses looked freshly painted and there was a group of children playing ball in the street, a group of adults sitting in a yard and watching them with content smiles. Nobody noticed Luffy yet, not over the livelihood and the chatter that would commonly accompany a sunny weekend morning.
Luffy thought he heard some of his crew talking a ways back. He briefly considered waiting for them but decided they would catch up quickly anyways. He rushed ahead to wherever his nose took him. Luckily for him, he didn't have to travel far.
An older lady was running a small food stand, and Luffy detected lots of smoked meat being served so he practically materialized at the counter. The lady was pulling something off the grill when she turned and saw Luffy staring at her (and the food in her hand) with beady eyes.
“Oh!” She jumped back, laughing light-heartedly. “Startled me, kid!”
“Hehe! My bad!” Luffy sat himself on the stool outside the stand, rocking back and forth. “Whatcha cooking? Smells really good!”
The lady smiled and set the skewer of grilled meat on a paper tray. It looked like kebabs, with chunks of steak and ham, slices of cooked peppers and pineapple, dipped in a sauce Luffy wasn't quite sure of, but was too excited to find out what it tasted like. “Kebabs, a family recipe. Would you like one?”
“One?!” Luffy scoffed. “Gimme a bunch of em!”
The lady laughed, patting Luffy on the shoulder before nodding. “Right away.” She began cutting up some peppers. “Hungry, aren't ya?”
“Yep!” Luffy smiled. “That's right!” The lady gave him a warm smile when she turned to the small smoker behind her.
“Alright, no problem!” She chuckled once more, and so did Luffy. “Well, you must have dropped by recently. I don't recognize you. What's your name, kid?”
“I'm Monkey D. Luffy!” He basically shouted. “I'm gonna be king of the pirates!”
The street seemed to go quiet, everyone who was just laughing and chatting in the background went silent. Luffy's gleeful expression changed to confusion when the haunting silence settled in. He looked around, and sure enough, everyone was looking at him. Most had blank, almost disappointed expressions, some had shocked looks, and a couple gave Luffy a smug glare.
“King of the Pirates, hm?” A younger man repeated nearby. He must have been walking by a moment ago, because he wasn't there before. Luffy grinned again, nodding.
“Yeeeupp!”
“Your name.. it's-”
“Monkey D Luffy!” He almost spun around in the stool to talk to the guy but decided to just look back at the lady making his food-
“Did your brother have a similar dream?”
Luffy froze. His head snapped back to the guy, who was now standing right next to him. A calm smile on his face, Luffy's was the opposite.
“..What?”
The guy looked at him, concerned. “I.. I said, "Don't lots of folks have that dream?”
Luffy's angered expression dropped. He bit his tongue and looked back down at the counter of the food stand. “Oh.”
“I'm sorry, did I…” The guy started, worried. “Did I upset you?”
“No, I just thought you said-”
“Luffy!” He heard a familiar voice call out. It was Nami, who was walking with Zoro and Robin. “Already found the food? Go figure, huh.” Robin giggled.
Luffy forced out a half laugh, watching the guy as he smiled at Luffy, pat his shoulder, and walked the opposite way.
“Here you go.” The lady spoke suddenly, Luffy jumped a bit and looked down at the full tray of kebabs beaming at him. She gave him a warm smile. “Can I get you anything else, hun?”
Luffy glanced at Nami and the others, who were just a few feet away, and then back at his tray. He fished a few Berri out of his pocket and put it on the counter.
“No thanks. Have a good day.”