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Luffy woke in a dead cold sweat.
His eyes stared at the wall next to his hammock, like they had been open the whole time.
His heart was...racing. A panicked lump was resting deep in his stomach, like he had eaten chemicals again.
Chopper learned to keep the medicine cabinet locked.
A thunderstorm brewed, dark and distant.
The Sunny moved back and forth, the waters smooth and gentle, like a mother rocking her cradle.
But as he lied there, the feeling did not leave. The netting felt claustrophobic, even if it wasn't the same as being encased in rock.
The dream raced through his mind, details bouncing back and forth and unforgiving, unable to keep up.
The dream had a happy ending, weirdly. But it didn't shake the overwhelming capacity of the rest.
It was like he had been dreaming the whole night, chased in his sleep.
He raised himself, quietly. The sick feeling demanded that he know where Nami was, that she was still in bed.
He wasn't delirious, but the worst of dreams could bring out the worst of Luffy's paranoia. A difficulty separating fact from fiction.
He didn't bother putting on his flip flops.
Padding through the ship, slow creaks and groans grounded him, but it wasn't enough. He walked to Nami and Robin's room.
The door opened silenty, well oiled.
Their room had no windows, so the only light came from a lamp on Robin's bedside table. She had fallen asleep with a book in her hands; glasses still on.
A Nami-shaped lump was reassuringly on the left, but that also wasn't enough.
For as strong as he was, he was still that little boy in the jungle; wanting his brothers to hold him close in the dark.
Luffy crawled onto the bed like a kid, and rested on his belly between them. He leaned over Nami, pulling down the white sheet she had nestled her head under.
"Nami..." Luffy whispered, almost uncharacteristically quiet.
Part of him felt guilty, waking her in the middle of the night. She had had a long day, keeping them away from the worst of the storm...
"Nami...?" He said again, nerves catching up to him, even though he could see her breathing.
He leaned down, nosing softly in her bangs, like a dog.
"Nami...wake up, please..."
She shifted in bed, a tiny groan parting her lips.
"Luffy...what is it...?" She mumbled with a hint of irritation.
"Nami...m' sorry..." He whispered back, resting his body down on hers. His wide hand brushed a lock of ginger hair behind her ear.
"Is...is everything...ok?" She tried to sit up, but Luffy was heavy.
Luffy paused. Resting his head on her, he huffed a deflated, sad sound.
"Luffy..." Nami untangled her arms from the sheet, reaching around his back to rest her hands there.
"I...." He started, seemingly empty for words. "I had a dream..."
She stroked the strong muscles next to his spine. "Tell me about it."
Luffy brought his head up, resting his chin on her chest. He looked troubled, his brow knit tightly as they looked into each others brown eyes.
"Someone took you away from me."
"Oh. That's all?" Nami smiled and laughed lightly.
"No, no that's not "all"." Luffy spoke with a seriousness that focused her.
He sat up, resting on his forearms.
"There was this big ugly guy with a wheel on his head, and he tricked us and took you away. But..." Luffy glanced around, trying to remember. "But then you escaped, and then he came after us again, and we....we lost. And then you left a message on a tone dial, and you said..." His face fell.
"You said you were gonna go with him, that I couldn't match up..."
Nami placed a hand on his head, hoping to sooth.
"We got you back in the end, but...you said I didn't hear the whole thing, and then we started fighting over the dial. 'cuz you were embarrassed. And then it, it dropped in the ocean before I could hear you..."
Luffy looked so sad. Defeated. It was a face Nami almost never saw on him.
"Luffy..." She spoke with calm assuredness, because nothing could be more true. "I will never leave you for someone else. I promise."
"Maybe at the end, I told you something like that." She rubbed her fingers into Luffy's temple. She could see him start to relax, eyes drooping, leaning into her touch.
"You know me."
Luffy nodded, wordlessly. It seemed like he just needed to hear her say it...
He yawned, laying his head on her chest again.
"No one else is my captain, no one in the world."
She heard Luffy sigh, satisfied. He stroked his thumb over the soft blankets.
They stayed silent, for a while. Just listening to the thunder, the rain, the sound of each other's breaths. Rising and falling, as steady and strong as the ship made of the Adam tree.
"Nami..." Luffy said, drowsily. "Can I sleep here tonight..."
She nodded, though he couldn't see. "Yeah..."
"Can I be under the covers too?"
Luffy looked at her with the sweet innocence of a young boy, eyes wide and warm, asking.
How strange, that a man capable of destroying monsters, and warlords and beasts, was the same man that laid with the innocence of a lamb against her breast.
Nami said nothing, just started pushing the blanket down. Luffy helped. It seemed very important to him now, that he never stopped touching her in some way.
As he settled under the sheets, he pressed close to Nami's side, half lying on top like before. He breathed in deeply, nosing where her neck met her shoulder.
"You smell nice, Nami." He mumbled.
She closed her eyes, tangling her left hand in his hair again.
"Thank you, it's my new moisturizer..."
Luffy hummed, acknowledgingly.
"Smells like...oranges...'nd cake..."
She chuckled. That's what it was labeled."
She felt him breath deeper and deeper, like he was trying to fill his whole lungs with the smell.
"M' now kinda hungry..."
"You're always hungry..." Nami mumbled, feeling herself doze.
She felt him open his lips...
He mouthed at her shoulder, like he was teething.
It didn't bother her, this wasn't the first time Luffy had "bitten" a crew member.
Nami distantly wondered what he had been like as a baby, who his mother might be, or have been.
She wondered if he was breastfed as a child...
It was kind of an odd thought, but, Luffy did seek oral stimulation. Was it a side effect of the devil fruit, or something deeper?
She wondered if she'd ever know.
The feeling was funny, like a wet massage. Even odder that she'd let a man do this to her, fully trusting he had no evil motivation.
Nami could admit that for much of her life, she did not love or trust many men. How the tables had turned.
She giggled, feeling vaguely tickled.
"Does it taste good?" She asked.
Luffy moved his head side to side against her.
"No?" She figured.
"Nah, it doesn't taste how it smells..." He sounded slightly disappointed. Nami was amused.
"Well, they aren't made for eating, Luffy..."
Luffy didn't stop gnawing, though. "Yeah...but I don't mind. I like that you're soft..."
She grinned, sleepily, thumbing along his neck, rubbing soothing circles.
She let herself sniff him too, but he smelled like saltwater, and a little sweaty. They all needed another bath...
Luffy moved from her shoulder to her collarbones, kissing softly. He nuzzled his forehead into the divot of her neck, and the rivulet of her chest.
How strange, how strange indeed...
An intimacy of such trust, and loyalty, and understanding. It was like nothing she had experienced, and it filled her with a soft, glowing euphoria.
Through her closed eyes, the aura of Luffy seemed to flicker, like fireflies amongst a hundred tangerine trees.
Comforting, close, like home...
Sometimes he would suck her skin, really like he was teething, searching. Luffy had not grown in a conventional way as a child, and the way he expressed intimacy often meshed and strayed from the path of "traditional friendship."
Sometimes he would kiss, or hold more tightly than most, or behave as he did now.
Nami knew it wasn't sexual for him, as that was not his way. He was just...Luffy. He needed to possess his favorite people. Hold them close, never let go.
It destroyed him to lose what he loved, and Nami could tell this dream was a part of that. Something in him knew loss so deeply it cut into the marrow of his bones.
She scratched his scalp, finding pieces of sand. She groomed him, picking out the tiny stones.
Luffy sighed with contentment. His name being "Monkey" really did suit him.
Sometimes when Luffy wasn't paying attention, he would mistake the back of Nami's head for Dadan, like a mirage. He thought it was kinda funny, they were even a bit alike. Grumpy, always trying to get Luffy under control.
She was the closest thing he ever had to a mom.
Sometimes, even when Nami would get angry at him or punish him, it was still reassuring because it was like his mom was here. She could put him in his place, take care of him.
Luffy wanted to thank Nami for being kind to him, holding him after his nightmare.
So he caressed her skin, tried to show his gratefulness not in so many words. Nami liked it when they cuddled. Not always of course, but moments like these were important to Luffy. Like a flower being watered again, filling the cup. The comfort of family, of love.
Nami pulled on his jaw, tipping him up to look at her. She pulled him close to her face, and they brushed their noses together, slowly, softly. Like animals scenting each other. Nami pressed a kiss to the place between his nose and eye, a slightly salty residue left on her lips.
She kissed each eyelid, each temple, and in between Luffy's eyebrows, reverently.
Her hands traced his ears, noticing they were cold.
"Lean back down, Luffy."
He complied, lying on his side on her pillow.
Luffy reached up, tucking a stray hair behind Nami's ear. She smiled down at him, lovingly, before placing a tender kiss to the shell of his ear.
"Too cold here." Nami murmured.
Luffy giggled, his eyes closed.
"Nam-Nami, that tickles..." He squirmed a little, a visible shiver running up his spine.
Nami decided to tease him. "Be grateful your navigator cares about you sooooo much, dummy. So shhh..."
Luffy whined like a kid being disciplined, but he didn't resist.
Nami continued, pressing her lips around his ear, tracing it until no longer cool to the touch.
"Flip over, I'll do the other one."
It's fineee, it's warm now on the blanket."
"You just don't wanna be tickled anymore..." She poked at his belly. He laughed, convulsing.
"Oh, shhhhh...." Nami pressed a finger to her lips. "We shouldn't wake Robin..."
Luffy nodded.
Nami noticed the glasses still on her face.
"Luffy, can you take them off of her, and the book too? Put them in the side drawer." She asked, softly. Luffy nodded.
He carefully removed them from her face, crawling over her lap to put them away.
Nami found it fascinating how gentle Luffy could be, when it mattered. It made a warm, fuzzy feeling fill her chest.
The wind howled, Nami pulled the covers up around her shoulders, instinctively.
Funny, because there wasn't a single draft on the ship.
She watched as Luffy paused by Robin's face, observing her while she slept. He gently swiped some hair out of her face. He gave her a little peck on the nose.
Robin smiled in her sleep, somehow still the all-knowing one.
She crawled up behind Luffy, wrapping her arms around his bare middle. She tucked her chin over his tanned left shoulder.
"I'm grateful." She breathed, feeling his attention back on her.
"Grateful for this, grateful for my ship, my crew, you." She kissed the place on his own neck where he had been mouthing her.
"I'd accept nothing less."
With a single motion, and miraculously graceful, he turned around, grasping her in an all encompassing embrace. His strong frame rested her down on the bed with ease, caging her in a hug she could feel in every corner, like his rubber body could melt into every crevice.
She sighed, content, blissful.
His raven black hair obscured part of her vision, his legs tangled in hers.
Luffy mumbled something she couldn't make out.
She tugged on his hair delicately, to bring his face in front of hers.
"What did you say?" She asked, stroking him again.
He gazed at her with lidded, sleepy eyes.
"Love you, Nami. I love you..."
Her heart swelled with affection.
"I love you too, captain..."
And with that, Luffy slumped forward into her shoulder, fast asleep.
It took maybe a minute more for Nami to be out like a light, peace covering them like the white sheets, covering them like the storm.
.......................................................
Nami woke before Luffy, noticing first that his face was smushed against her chest, morning breath offending her nostrils. She pushed him away gingerly, not wanting to disturb him too much. Their legs were still tangled, and her pajamas were bunched up uncomfortably. But, that was all fine.
Sunlight was pouring in through the door, left ajar. Nami noticed Robin's spot was empty, the blankets thrown back.
She was just trying to figure out how to get out of their human knot when Robin walked in quietly, holding two cups of hot tea.
"Oh, you're awake! Good morning, Nami." She said with a smile, regarding her and Luffy with a deep fondness. She set one of the cups on Nami's bedside table.
"Morning, Robin..." Nami yawned, stretching her free arm. "Augh, my hand is falling asleep under Luffy's ass."
Robin laughed, as tinkling and beautiful as wind chimes.
"I heard he had a bad dream..." She said.
"Yeah...you were awake?" Asked Nami, reaching for her tea.
"Mhm." She reached out for Luffy's foot, massaging the ankle. "Poor captain, I hope he slept well."
Nami leaned over him, appreciating his peaceful expression.
"I think we got it sorted out." She spoke, faintly.
Robin sat on the bed, leaning against Nami's shoulder. "Thank you, for taking off my glasses. It's quite uncomfortable, waking with them digging into my nose."
Nami looked at her fondly, taking a sip of her tea.
Sanji had made lemongrass. It was wonderful; sweet and earthy, like a summer's day amongst the tall flowers.
"Of course."
Luffy was finally stirring.
He grunted, rubbing at his face clumsily.
"Hmph, hungry..." He mumbled.
Nami leaned in, kissing the bridge of his nose, like he had done to Robin.
He smiled, opening his eyes.
"G'morning..." He spoke groggily.
"Good morning." Said Nami and Robin in sync. And they giggled.
"Sanji said breakfast is in another five minutes." Robin told him.
His eyes lit up. Nami never knew how he could be so excited for breakfast, every single day.
Luffy woke feeling comfortable, satisfied. The dream from last night was a distant memory, Nami's reassuring smile washing him like warm rain.
All his favorite things, wrapped around him like a map; always something beautiful to behold.
Luffy did not think quite so eloquently, but it is the way he feels.