Metamorphosis | Luffy x Nami

Chapter 2

Nojiko's lips parted, realization beginning to creep in. "Really?"

"Without a doubt. There's no way he would look at you and hug you the way he did if he didn't at least have feelings for you." Nami stated matter-of-factly.

Nojiko remained quiet for a while, pondering over Nami's observation."So you're going to eat lunch with Luffy and his friends tomorrow, right?" she asked now changing the subject.

Nami huffed, now sitting back in her seat before crossing her arms."I mean- I already told him I would so I guess I have no choice."

Nojiko smiled to herself. "You know, Luffy is a really sweet guy and his friends seem cool. I think it'll be good for you to meet new people and finally start living like a normal person."

"What do you mean like a normal person? I'm a normal person." She replied offended, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, unless you plan to marry a pile of maps. You have no friends or love life, Nami. You need to get out there."

Nami groaned, not really in the mood for being lectured.

She turned to look at her quickly once more. "Promise me you'll at least try and make an effort? Please? It's what Mom would want too."

Nami glanced over at her older sister, now feeling ridden with guilt. She knew Nojiko was worried about her inability to maintain a social life, but Nami preferred it that way. The less friends and love interests, the less heartbreak. The less heartbreak, the better.

Nami sighed. "Fine...I promise."

But she wanted to make the effort for her sister nevertheless.

_______

Nami closed her notebook and stuffed it inside her bag upon dismissal of the class. She may have just found her preferred subject of the day thus far: Geography.

Her teacher, Brook-Sensei, was a rather... interesting character as well.

At some point during the lecture, he went off on a tangent and began mumbling nonsense about panties, much to Nami's dismay, but found his material interesting either way when he wasn't talking about women's undergarments. The morning had come and go in a flash and the designated time to meet up with Luffy was approaching.

She found the freshman wing of the campus fairly quickly thanks to Nojiko's sad-looking makeshift map that Nami absolutely had to poke fun at (although now appreciated), but what Nojiko failed to draw her was a map to the West garden. She made her way outside and paced around, feeling completely lost.

The campus was huge and what made it worse was that there were barely any signs around, lacking all sense of guidance. She spun around in circles and bumped into someone, nearly tripping them in the process.

"Oh no, I'm sorry! Are you alright?"

She composed herself and turned to eye the poor guy. There, stood a young teenage-looking boy with light brown hair and doe-like eyes.

He smiled warmly. "No worries, I'm fine! But you seem a bit lost, are you looking for a particular classroom?"

"Oh, no I-"

Promise me you'll at least try and make an effort?

She hesitated. "...Actually, I'm looking for the West garden, do you happen to know where I could find it?"

"I'm headed there now myself, would you like to follow me?"

Nami nodded, feeling relieved. "That would be great."