Straw hat || Luffy × Reader

Chapter 38

"I promised I'd protect you"

That's when you lost it, the lump in your throat stung to an unbareable point.

Tears finally fell in big heaps as you shake your head, the hurt in his voice transferred to you and multiplied.

The wall of emotion that had been gradually chipping, the one you had tried so desperately to keep up

It came crumbling down all at once. A volcano bubbling up with scorching lava made from guilt, sadness, relief and frustration came spilling out.

"No.", you choked out as firmly as you could given how you were now a sobbing mess. "Don't you dare. Blame yourself.", you continued hoarsely as you held onto his shirt with a shaky grip.

Luffys big hands wrap around the entirety of your arms before he pulled back to look you in your eyes. The warmth of his closeness still lingering.

His eyes were big and seeped with worry, his hands tense around your arms when he saw you crying so heavily. You could tell he was panicking when he impulsively slid his hands up to cup your face.

His thumb gently wiped your wet, red and puffy under-eyes with shaky hands, his jaw tensed as an attempt to bite back his own tears, blinking fast to clear the tears that did manage to fall so he could focus on you without blurry vision.

"Alright, i–I'm sorry y/n I promise I won't do it again okay? So don't cry anymore okay?", he stutters out with a panicked and pleading tone as he continued to wipe your tears with a face that seeped with a kind of hurt and desperation that you had never imagined someone could ever feel for you.

His black eyes held an unbelievable amount of care... And Love?

His eyes only fueling the volcanic eruption that was your heart.

"It's all my Fault. All of this. If were faster to react..", you shakily admit as tears kept streaming down your face.

Your hands lift over his as he still held onto your face tenderly, "if only I was stronger... I could've came back sooner luffy" he shakes his head, eyes never leaving yours even as his bottom lip rattles at the pain your words held, "I'm so sorry Luffy, I really am."

You didn't know what you were expecting but it wasn't the warmth of his forehead on yours, your eyes widening in response.

It was deafeningly silent, all you could focus of was his heavy breathing, his eyes closed shut which left you unable to read them, his warm hands still held onto your face and it didn't seem like he had any intention of letting go.

You took notice of how, eventually his hands didn't seem to shake the way yours did any longer. His silence only making your heart beat at a harsher rhythm by the second.

You stared up at him through your eyelashes in suspense, waiting for any signal to predict what he was going to do or say next.

Your chest tightening with anxiety when his eyes finally open, his black eyes tearing back into you and sucking the breath out of you immediately.

"My chest hurts", he says barely above a whisper, your eyes widen and look down to his chest with worry, moving your hand over his chest without thinking to feel his heart, "Are you okay, I'll call Chopp-", you start but he puts his hand over the one that felt his heart and he squeezes it ever so slightly.

What—

You look up at him to question him but your breath catches in your throat when you see how serious his expression was.

"My chest hurts when you cry y/n and– and I don't know why, "

His distressed tone makes you desperate to give him any sort of answer so, without thinking you open your mouth to respond but nothing comes out.