The Sneaky Cat-Burglar Nami

Chapter 9

That night, Luffy was seated on the Sunny's head staring at nothing in particular. His hair fluttering in the cool, gentle, breeze.

Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he relished in the sound of the waves softly hitting the hull of the Sunny as it gently bobbed back and forth along the waves.

In the midst of the silence he heard footsteps approach him.

"Luffy." The voice called.

Luffy opened his eyes, and turned his head to his new company.

"Hey Zoro." He responded.

There was a brief moment of comfortable silence between them before Zoro decided to speak again.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Nothing. Just...chilling" Luffy answered.

"I can see that." Zoro stated the obvious "I meant with Nami"

He was answered with silence. Luffy faced forward.

From Zoro's standpoint he could only the see the side of Luffy's face but from there he could still notice that Luffy's lips had formed a thin line, almost akin to a frown; his bangs covering his eyes.

"Nami seems to have forgotten but I, for one have not." He paused "I know you can sense how she feels with your haki." He paused again "I know you know she's in love with you."

Zoro was met with another silence.

Until Luffy finally spoke up, tilting his head upward, gazing at the night sky, exhaling.

"I do" he said softly, gently.

"I saw you kiss her." Zoro stated, Luffy turned his head towards Zoro, surprised. "This afternoon...In the kitchen."

"You saw that?"  A light blush crawling on his cheeks, letting out a shy laugh as he scratched the back of his head.

"What's with all the sneaking around, Luffy?" Zoro questioned "I expected you to be jumping for joy by now, knowing she feels the same. You have been in love with her for a long time."

"Yeah" Luffy whispered "That's right"

Once more Luffy shifted his focus towards the sky.

"Don't get me wrong, I am happy. But..." Luffy turned quiet for a while, deep in thought "I'm scared."

Zoro was astonished. This was the first time he had ever seen Luffy waver about something that he really cares about.

"Nami she..." Luffy continued "She suffered so long because of Arlong, treated like some slave. To make up for that, she needs to meet someone who can treat her like a queen. Someone who can give her all the happiness this world has to offer, to give her freedom, and the chance to be able to do whatever she wants."

Luffy looked down, his expression glum, as he twiddled his thumbs.

"I just don't feel confident, I can give her those"

"Are you stupid?" Zoro cut off in a loud voice.

"What!? I'm being serious here. Are you picking a fight?" Luffy retorted.

"I don't know what ideas have been running in that head of yours but with all the things you mentioned, haven't you already given her almost all of those?"

"Huh?" Luffy's expression turned puzzled.

Zoro let out a sigh, his head starting to ache "I should have expected that explaining these things to this airhead would be difficult" he thought to himself.

"Luffy, have you been to Nami's map room lately?" Zoro asked

"Yeah, I have. Why?" Luffy said confused as to why Zoro would ask him such a thing.

"What did you see?"

"Maps of all the islands we've been to"

"And isn't it Nami's dream to be able to draw an entire map of the world?" Zoro questioned further.

"It is."

"Do you think she'd be able to do that if she was still with Arlong?"

"No" Luffy said, his voice laced with anger, as he recalled the memory of Arlong forcing Nami to draw maps for him, keeping her in that dark and cramped room on top off Arlong Park.

"And wasn't it you who defeated Arlong?"

Luffy's eyes grew wide, at a loss for words.

"If she weren't happy, do you think she would stick around this long with us?...with you? Aren't you the reason why she's here with us in this entire adventure in the first place?"

Slowly, Luffy's forehead creased, his eyebrows knitted together. Zoro knew Luffy was trying to think hard of what he just said.

"It's unlike you to be so doubtful of yourself, Captain!" Zoro said, slapping the raven-haired boy on the back a little too hard, causing Luffy to lose his balance and almost slip off Sunny's head.

"OI! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME!?" Luffy exclaimed, as he positioned himself upright once more on Sunny's head.

"Besides, who better to treat Nami like a Queen than a King." Zoro smirked "Isn't that right, Future Pirate King?"

Little by little, realization dawned on Luffy's face; and Zoro knew that Luffy finally understood.

His work here was done, Zoro thought to himself. "Well, I guess I'll go take a nap at the crow's nest" He said, yawning, stretching his body upward.

As he turned to leave, Luffy spoke up.

"Thank you, Zoro." He said, grinning.

Zoro simply replied with a nod, looking smug, as he turned and walked away.

"That's not the way to the crow's nest, Zoro" Luffy reminded.

"Ah shit!" Zoro said, walking the opposite direction.

Placing his straw hat on his head, Luffy snickered "Shishishi~"