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1.
the first time luffy noticed something strange about his crew was after they agreed to help vivi get home. luffy didn't quite understand all the confusing parts of it, the situation was complicated, but for now the crew was sailing to alabasta after leaving little garden.
the sun was starting to set on the grand line, and the strawhats were winding down their day. luffy was leaning over the railing watching the fish swimming alongside the merry, humming to himself. he wondered if sanji had any food left from dinner–maybe he'd go sneak some meat out of the fridge.
actually, now that luffy was looking over at the galley, nami’s tangerines were really ripe.
luffy eagerly jumped up, stretching his arm out and flying over to the orchard. he grinned, eagerly picking one of the big ones and ripping into it, the fragrant citrus hitting luffy’s nostrils with full force. the fruit was perfectly ripe, juicy and sweet.
luffy took another slice as he pushed through the trees. he wanted to go watch the sunset from the back of the merry, have another tangerine or two.
he suddenly tripped over a tangle of limbs, dropping his fruit on the deck.
“aahh! no, come back, tangerine!” luffy yelled, scrambling over the bodies to catch the fruit, stretching his arm to grab it before it rolled into the sea.
“phew, I nearly lost you.” luffy muttered to himself, sitting criss-cross and throwing another slice in his mouth.
“what the hell, luffy?!” nami screeched, startling him enough to jump.
“oh, when did you get here, nami?” luffy asked, turning around and peeling off another slice to offer her. “want some tangerine?”
nami scoffed.
“don't be so rough on him, nami, we can share one ourselves.” vivi said gently, a hand on the ginger’s shoulder in a comforting gesture. luffy perked up when he noticed her, grinning widely.
“vivi! hi, do you want some?” luffy asked.
vivi shook her head, plucking her own tangerine from one of the trees, offering it to nami, which she took easily. luffy cocked his head, staring at the two of them. why didn't they want to share with him? nami would usually take stuff from luffy without much questioning.
nami was peeling the tangerine, holding out a slice for vivi to eat out of her hand. the other girl giggled as she took it, both of them smiling.
weird. luffy shrugged, going back to his snack. these were really good.
2.
a gentle breeze was rocking the going merry, small waves lapping against her hull. it was a warm summer night, after the crew had beat the foxy pirates in the davy back fight. they were anchored off the shore of a small island while they waited for the logpose to reset. luffy was lying awake in his hammock, unable to sleep, for some reason. it was odd, luffy was normally able to sleep at a moment's notice.
usopp was snoring softly, chopper quiet besides the occasional sleepy sound.
luffy could've sworn he heard someone moving around. maybe it was a ghost haunting the merry for letting her get so beat up. he shivered at the thought–that would be scary, could he even fight a ghost?
he heard another creak from somewhere in the cabin, and a hushed voice.
luffy immediately lay still, eyes closed just in case it really was a vengeful ghost. was it getting chilly? usopp always said it got colder when a spirit was around! the great pirate king couldn't repress a shiver.
“...zoro..ve.” a voice whispered from the darkness of the room.
was zoro in danger? luffy peered over the side of his hammock, looking down at the swordsman’s own one. there was a dark figure crouched next to him, which luffy assumed was the whispering ghost.
“...said move…marimo...” the same voice came again, slightly louder this time.
luffy watched as the swordsman rolled over on his side, with a small grumble. oh! he suddenly caught a peek of blonde hair. sanji then, not a ghost. luffy still didn't quite get why he was climbing into zoro’s hammock, but he could rest easy knowing there was no ghost haunting the going merry.
the next morning luffy woke up early, stretching all his limbs as he yawned loudly.
he rolled out of his hammock and grabbed his hat from the peg it hung on. before he ran up on deck to see if nami or robin were awake he looked over at zoro’s loudly snoring form. to luffy’s surprise sanji was curled up next to him, equally sound asleep. one of zoro's arms were wrapped around the cook's waist, and sanji had his arms wrapped around zoro’s chest.
“shishishi!” luffy laughed, he'd never seen those two so close. it was kinda nice, he supposed they could get along after all.
“sweet dreams!” luffy giggled to himself as he climbed up the ladder and ran off to the galley, already planning how much meat he could get out of the fridge before sanji woke up.
3.
luffy wandered into franky's workshop, bored out of his mind. nami was busy drawing one of her charts, zoro was sleeping again, usopp was on watch, and sanji had banned him from the kitchen while he was making lunch.
“franky! what are ya making?” luffy asked as he plopped himself down on a bench near the cyborg. “oh, hey robin, hey chopper. whaddya guys doing here?” he added when he noticed them next to him.
“the doctor is making some more rumble balls, that's all.” robin told luffy. chopper nodded, holding up one of the finished products for his captain to see. the little doctor was evidently pretty proud of his newest batch, maybe they were special or something, luffy wondered.
“yeah, this little guy’s power ups are no joke!” franky laughed from where he was tinkering with his newest project. “by the way robin, what do you think of this?” he asked, holding it up to show her.
“hm, that looks pretty good, darling.” robin told franky, smiling from his infectious grin.
“aw, you really think so?” he grinned, blushing.
“what does it do?” luffy butted in, he was really curious. he had no clue what franky had made this time.
“it's for us, this is-” robin used her devil fruit to slap a hand over franky’s mouth. luffy frowned, even more confused than before. was it some sort of secret weapon, maybe a surprise for someone? luffy was practically rocking in his seat now.
“come onnnnnn, robin, I wanna know!” luffy whined.
“sorry captain, but this isn't the sort of thing you share with others.” robin told him calmly, releasing her hand from franky's face, his wheezing loud in the background of luffy’s mind.
“aww man...” luffy sighed, slumping down on the table in defeat.
robin was casting a telling glance at franky, some sort of invisible communication passing through the two of them, because the cyborg immediately started apologizing to robin, making chopper laugh as he crushed up his medicines.
“I'm so sorry honey, please forgive me–no, I don't deserve your forgiveness!” franky was yelling, fluttering around robin's chair with puppy dog eyes on full display despite his words. the historian chuckled, patting franky on the arm.
“it's fine, don't worry.” she told him. franky near deflated when he signed in relief.
luffy groaned, watching the two of them. why were they acting so weird today? whatever little game they were playing apparently didn't include him, their own captain!
he sighed and unstuck himself from the table, waving his goodbyes as he left the three in the workshop, heading out to see if zoro would help him catch some fish for sanji to cook up.
4.
luffy was sitting at the kitchen table, feet kicking under the tablecloth as he watched usopp open the mail they'd received from a messenger bird earlier that morning. nami had already snatched up her newspaper and was reading it next to luffy, but along with a bunch of advertisements a few letters from syrup village had miraculously found their way to the strawhat's ship, all the way out in the grand line. usopp had nearly passed out from excitement when he saw they were all from kaya. the sniper was eagerly reading one of them, his smile growing wider by the second.
“usopp! I wanna see, what did kaya say?” luffy asked, trying (and failing) to grab one of the letters with a stretchy hand.
“nuh uh, keep your sticky fingers off these.” usopp scolded, batting away his hand. “these are private.”
“really? I can’t even have a tiny little peak?” luffy whined, putting on his best pouting face. the strawhats had just left the navarone fortress, and nami had insisted that they sail a longer route to avoid more marine encounters; after the whole disaster none of them wanted any trouble.
alas, that had resulted in boring days of hanging around the merry with no excitement or adventure whatsoever. zoro had been training the entire time, even ignoring luffy when he tried to provoke him into a game of tag, and while chopper would normally play with him the little doctor was fussing over the injuries the crew had picked up on skypiea.
luffy frowned, leaning over the table to peak over the letter usopp was reading.
“my dearest usopp, I hope we can see each other again soon, once you have become the great warrior I know you can be-” nami promptly hit luffy over the head, fuming.
“luffy, you insensitive buffoon! you're embarrassing poor usopp.” she hissed, pulling the captain away from the pole of letters.
sure enough, usopp’s face wash flushed red. luffy shrugged, indifferent.
“but kaya is my friend to, I just wanted to see how she's doing.” the captain offered, looking to nami.
“ugh- y'know what, why don't you go see if sanji is done with breakfast?” the navigator suggested in her “I'm pretending to be polite” tone. luffy gulped, hurriedly nodding once he saw the icy look in her eyes. he knew better than to mess with nami.
“he's not. he's right there.” luffy deadpanned.
“she meant come over here, moron!” sanji yelled from where he was frying something on the stovetop.
luffy jumped up, mail forgotten when the delicious smell of bacon hit his nose. usopp and nami’s weird secretiveness could wait when sanji was making another great meal. he ran over, looking over the cook's shoulder.
sanji remained focused on his cooking, throwing in what luffy assumed was some kind of seasoning.
he was kind of zoned out, it was easy for luffy to do that when he watched sanji cook. he could, however, hear nami and usopp's voices talking about the letters, which peaked his interest enough to listen in.
“I'm so sorry he read that out loud, do you want me to keep these in the girls quarters?” nami was asking, patting the sniper’s hand with her own. he shook his head, the smile back on his face.
“no, I think it'll be fine, I was just embarrassed from shock I think.” usopp said, rubbing the back of his head, “but thank you for the offer.”
“well, ok, but if you ever need me, you're paying me for it.” nami teased.
“what?!” usopp gasped.
“the first offer was a newbie discount!” nami laughed, sticking her tongue out playfully.
luffy sighed, leaning his head against sanji’s shoulder. why would usopp be embarrassed about getting letters from their friend? luffy didn't quite make sense of the situation, but he could leave that train of thought for after breakfast.
his stomach grumbled again.
yeah, definitely after breakfast.
5.
“zorooo!” luffy whined, pulling at the swordsman's cheeks like he was a cute little kid.
“what is it, captain?” zoro asked, blinking the sleep from his eyes.
“I have a very important question.” luffy stated grimly, swinging around to sit in front of zoro on the edge of crowsnest. luffy crossed his arms and put on his best tough guy face. zoro was intimidated for sure, judging by the way he raised an eyebrow, the way luffy always saw him do to enemies when they said something stupid.
“why haven't you been fighting with sanji?” he asked, leaning forwards to look zoro right in the eye.
“hah?!” zoro exclaimed.
“so, why? I wanna know!” luffy said, a mischievous grin on his face.
“ugh, it's not–it isn't anything, just haven't been in the mood.” Zoro begrudgingly answered. luffy giggled at the blush forming on his face. he looked really silly, the world's greatest swordsman embarrassed wasn't an everyday sight.
“I promise I won't tell anyone.” luffy tried, sensing there was definitely a bigger picture here, zoro wouldn't hide something from him unless it was really important.
“geez, you just don't give up, do you?” zoro sighed, shaking his head. “seriously though, it's nothing.” he was keeping his story then. luffy frowned, determined to get an answer out of his crewmate.
luffy stared zoro down, trying to read into his face. he was good at that, and luffy could tell the swordsman seemed really... upset? still embarrassed too. weird, zoro never got like this outside of the battlefield. a strange sort of feeling was washing over luffy, like the waves against the going merry.
huh. he couldn't quite figure this one out, zoro was just being strangely secretive. normally luffy could get him to let something slip pretty easily, zoro was an easy book to read.
the captain stared at zoro some more, trying to figure out the look on his face.
“why are you looking at me like that?” zoro asked pointedly.
“no reason...” luffy muttered. the swordsman rolled his eyes, going back to work on polishing his swords.
oh! luffy suddenly felt the puzzle pieces click together in his brain, that was it, it had to be.
“zoro! are you and sanji friends now?” luffy asked excitedly, practically rocking back and forth on the edge of the crowsnest. obviously, it would be great if his two crew members were finally able to be all buddy-buddy with each other!
“what? of course not.” zoro scoffed.
“I'm not buying that.” luffy stated simply. zoro gaped at him, polishing his blades all but forgotten, seemingly shocked by the audacity of his captain.
“listen luffy, drop it.” zoro said seriously. oops, that was his scary voice, luffy guessed he hit a nerve or something.
“fine... but I'm onto you!” luffy yelled as he jumped down the mast, leaving a trail of chaos in his wake as he tangled up the rigging. he crossed his arms as he hit the deck, looking around for sanji.
ah, there he was, standing next to nami in front of the galley.
he ran over, and was promptly hit by sanji’s kick.
“hey! you ruined the rigging lines dumbass, what the hell?!” sanji yelled, grabbing luffy by the collar. “nami-swan worked so hard on those...” luffy grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head in an awkward gesture.
nami hit him over the head, thanking sanji for holding him down.
+1.
luffy shifted uncomfortably in his seat. he was sitting across from the rest of the crew, robin, chopper, nami, zoro, sanji, usopp. all six of them, staring at him with their intense gazes.
“um... guys, what is this?” luffy questioned tentatively.
“this is an intervention, luffy.” nami said seriously, hands crossed on the table. “usopp, the letters.”
usopp handed a pile of folded papers to nami. she smirked, unfolding one to hold it out in front of the captain. he tilted his head like a little puppy, confused.
“luffy, can you tell me what this is?” nami asked, pointing to the letter.
“um, a letter from our friend kaya?” he said a bit hesitantly, he wasn't sure if that was the right answer, his crew seemed very on edge when he said that. sanji shook his head, a look of disappointment on his face.
“wrong.” he said, with a large sigh. “this, luffy, is a love letter.” he told him, taking another drag of his cigarette. luffy gave him a confused look–what was he talking about? that letter had never said anything about love, and wasn't kaya usopp’s best friend? this was definitely news to him.
nami slammed the letter down on the table, sliding it towards luffy.
“read this, all of it.” she told him. luffy nodded, nami was scary when she got like this!
he set the letter down when he was done, looking up at nami. she smirked and gestured usopp forward.
“go ahead, ask him.” she said, and the sniper nodded solemnly, coming forwards to face luffy with the same fierceness he had on the battlefield. that was, to say, very little.
“so, captain,” he asked, “did you notice anything strange about this?” luffy shook his head.
“nope, seemed like the same kaya I knew!” he said cheerfully, head in the clouds as if he was daydreaming of the girl from syrup village. usopp sighed, shrugging to nami.
luffy watched as the crew whispered amongst themselves, getting a bit fidgety in his seat. it was early, sanji should've finished breakfast by now. his stomach has definitely noticed, based on the way it was growling at him.
“guys, can we just start breakfast? this pirate needs some meat.” luffy tried, attempting to use the hungry and starving card.
“not until we're done here,” sanji said, taking a long drag of his cigarette. “nami, you should just tell him.”
zoro nodded, along with several words of agreement from the rest of the crew.
“alright. luffy, I'm going to break this to you now.” nami sighed, grabbing his hands across the table. “you're showing some pretty strong signs of being aromantic. you can tell us, we promise.” she said, voice soothing.
“hmh, we'd never judge you.” robin assured.
luffy stared at them for a minute.
“what's that?” he asked while scratching his nose.
“oh, you have got to be kidding me.” nami groaned.
“twenty berri, navigator!” zoro laughed, hand already held out for the pile of cash. robin shook her head like a disappointment mother, but there was a smile on her face.
yes, the strawhats were certainly and interesting group of pirates.