Polar Planes [Luffy x Nami]

17. Receding Blue

"You wanted to see me?"

Nami found Coach Garp out on the tennis courts conversing with the other coaches but decided to catch him when he was heading back to his office.

Nami gave a polite smile. "Yes; it's about Luffy."

He raised an eyebrow. "Is he being a pain in the ass? I'm sure I can adjust that behavior."

"No, it's nothing like that," she assured. "I'm just wondering if you had a... long-term plan for him."

"Emphasize."

"Well, Luffy's grades are improving and that's great, but when I'm not available to help him..."

"He's helpless," Garp finished.

She chuckled sheepishly. "Not completely helpless."

"You don't have to sugarcoat anything. I know Luffy doesn't have a single academic bone in his body."

"He's smart, but he learns differently," she explained. "So far, I've been able to teach him concepts if I break it down a certain way."

"... what is it you're trying to say?"

"Coach Garp, I'm not going to be here next year," she said quietly.

The silence hung in the air for a hot minute.

"Hm, I guess that's to be expected."

"I know I still have a few months left with him, but I think it's a good idea to think of other ways to get his grades up."

"Are you suggesting I find another tutor?"

"Yeah, probably."

"Okay. Thank you for bringing this up."

⤩

The sky was full and blue; they decided to have lunch on the picnic benches instead of the library this time. The librarian was already holding grudges against them for how much they disturbed the place the other day.

"What do I think about Hancock?" Luffy asked. "Uh... it didn't feel like we got anything done."

Nami sighed. "What do you mean? Didn't you say you guys had a whole two hours to go over your homework and tests?"

"Yeah, but she was talking about other things, and I got distracted."

"Other things? Like soccer?"

"Kind of. She also kept bothering me about taking her out to dinner or something."

She didn't expect that. "But she must have tutored you at some point, right? Was she helpful?"

Luffy shrugged. "I didn't understand what she was trying to say. She seemed kind of mad at me for not getting it, but overall she was nice."

"What about Sabo?"

"Sabo?"

"Yeah, he's smart."

He laughed. "That's funny."

"I'm not kidding! He is smart!"

"No, I meant..." he shook his head. "I remember when I was stuck on a math problem. Sabo wanted to help me, but we spent two hours on it and he still couldn't get me to solve it correctly. His face was tomato red."

"Oh."

"We got into an argument afterward. Didn't speak to each other the next day."

"All over a math problem?"

He nodded. "Math is horrible."

"It's not that bad."

"Not for you." He paused. "By the way... why are you asking me about all these other people?"