COAST - Luffy x Reader

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

I always feel like the shorter my chapters are, the better they end up being written. Like this one is way better than the last (about 30 pages instead of 40); sorta like a quality over quantity thing... Does anybody else feel the same?

Hot take, I feel like it might be due to the pressure of having to create such a long piece of work without it being repetitive, too drawn out, etc. so I usually don't go too crazy with descriptions, and therefore include less detail. Then again, it could be the lack of consistency on my part, considering it took me so long to upload last time.

Just some food for thought. I wasn't totally sure what to put here and I like to include something with every chapter :))

Anyway, back to the story... Enjoy!!

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As many people would guess when traveling with the Straw Hat crew, our time with the impenetrable fortress of Navarone was not quite finished yet. Only after a brief respite did the crew get a chance to regain our bearings, and just barely. The persistent mayhem that chased us down, like a bloodhound hitting our scent, wasn't going to give up that easily.

Our archeologist shows up right on time, dark hair billowing in the air as she elegantly swung along a chain of ropes made completely of her own arms. She swooped along like spider-man, heroically delivering a map of the fortress into Nami's grateful hands. The redhead gushed at the woman who was 'the only one on her side,' while Robin, taken-aback by the comment, awkwardly questioned the sudden kinship (Nami had called her sis). After all, the map hadn't been all that big of a deal to her.

Usopp awakens around then, and I can vividly remember how we passed by the commander as our sharpshooter was brought back to speed, Luffy's gloating smile showcased as he noticed the man's watchful eyes. He was taunting the commander, I felt; silently conveying that we were winning Jonathan's game of capture. The two of them were rather competitive. I'm not sure if the staredown was what initiated being shot at by cannons, or chased by warships for that matter, but Usopp was quickly getting back into character. He ran about the ship, a nervous-wreck.

Now that we knew where the gate was, thanks to the newly acquired map, Nami could bark orders at the others so that we could make our grand escape. Chopper, after he sufficiently patched me up to his liking, took a stand at the rudder in his beastly form. Usopp was on cannons, and to everyone's dismay, discovered a complete lack of cannon balls along with any general artillery. The marines had swept it off our shelves like greedy thieves during their confiscation. We'd have to fight our way out, the same as we had been throughout this entire fiasco.

Luffy had a 'nice idea.' As we (unfortunately) learned in the last chapter, his ideas were typically very wild-minded, instinctive or impulsive, and could very easily get out of hand. I was still wary of the plot going wrong, gritting my teeth with the aftershocks of the prior accident. However, those same crazy, erratic thoughts had gotten us out of countless horrible situations during our trip to Skypiea; and pretty swiftly, too. I guess that's why I wasn't so surprised when Luffy's gum-gum balloon deflected all of the incoming cannon-fire into a single, scattering explosion that literally destroyed the entirely metal, multi-ton gate to the entrance. Even at a distance, it was like we could feel the heat on our skin from its massive radius. Luffy was... honestly, kinda' terrifying – But, at the same time, utterly amazing. Still couldn't quite wrap my head around why, or how, we were soulmates in the first place.

We're mere feet away from a successful escape. There's a thick cloud of smoke that wafts slowly towards us, intent on aiding to conceal us so that the military would be blind to our next heading. And then, it all goes awry with Nami's mournful cries of despair. She had been so distracted by Luffy that she had momentarily been unable to connect the dots; if the marines took all of their ammunition, what else had been taken? With a thrust of the doorknob, the cabin that held all of our gold was completely devoid. Nothing was left. The marines had taken our treasure from Skypiea.