Luffy X Hancock: Love and War (RM)

Escapade

"Megalo!?"

"Luffy!?" Brook yelled in surprise.

"TO THE SEA FOREST!!" Luffy cheered, with Hancock happily beside him.

She began to run her fingers through his spiky black hair, without a protest from him.....

"We've long since left the palace, do you want to come out of the shark now?"

"No, I think I had better stay here."

"Alright if you say so... By the way, how's your first time out of the tower in ten years?"

"My heart won't stop racing. It's so exciting, but I know that I've done something awful."

"Just going outside isn't bad. You're so weird."

Hancock grew indignant at Luffy's last remark. He was innocent and had no clue what he was talking about, but it still bothered her. She decided to correct him.

"No, Luffy. I know how she feels. After being locked up for so long, freedom is exciting and fills you with joy, but it almost feels wrong. After being locked in a cage for so many years, you almost begin to feel like that's where you belong. Freedom... It feels like a crime.

And even once you accept your freedom, it's hard to adjust and feel comfortable with living that way. You're always paranoid that one day you'll wake up in that cage, that your freedom was a dream." Hancock explained with a pained expression.

Luffy thought about it. He never realised just how hard it was to be free.

"Your right, Hancock. I had no idea that it was so hard. I'm sorry, Shirahoshi" Luffy apologized sincerely.

The thoughts that maybe she'd wake up in a cage and her freedom was a lie, the thoughts that one day she would return to her cell and become a slave again, the thoughts that she could lose everyone she cared about by simply waking up, those thoughts never really left her, they were always in the back of her mind. Her hurt expression caught Luffy's attention.

"Hancock?" No response. "...Hancock are you okay?" Nothing. "HANCOCK!"

"AHH!! Oh... Luffy. I'm so sorry, I guess I was just spacing out. You need me?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I just uh- I-" she stuttered, trying not to let her voice waver.

Luffy saw right through her though. He didn't understand exactly what was wrong, but he knew it had to have something to do with what she had said to him earlier. He grabbed the back of her head and buried her face into his chest, trying his best to comfort her. It worked wonders. She smiled, happy to have fallen in love with such a caring and considerate man. He held her like that the entire time they flew over the island below.

"So, Shirahoshi, you mentioned the Sea Forest, right? What is that? Is it a fun place?"

The princess pursed her lips and thought for a while before speaking, "a grave..."

"Huh?"

"There's a grave I haven't visited since it was built. Not once in these ten years... It's the place I've wanted to go the most."

Luffy smiled."That's great. Th-... Hey Hancock?"

"Yes, darling?"

"What are those things over there, it's too far for me to see. They look like they're flying"

She squinted her eyes and tried to see them, but they are too far for her as well.

"I couldn't tell you."