Second Wind

50

"Are you guys alright!?" Usopp asked.

Nami sighed. "We're fine now," she said, resisting the slightly irrational urge to scold them for not knocking. Once they untangled themselves from the floor, Luffy and Zoro walked in after them, less frantic but with unmistakable expressions of worry etched on their countenance.

Luffy walked up to Robin, having recognized the scream as hers. "Robin?" he asked gently, not bothering to vocalize the obvious question. Robin swallowed.

"It's nothing. I'm sorry for waking you all," she said. She watched as Luffy's expression softened from confusion to acceptance.

"I'm guessing it would be pointless for you to try and go back to sleep?" he asked with an understanding smile. Robin could only nod again.

"Well, it's a pretty nice night out," the captain said. "Anyone up for some stargazing?"

Robin began to protest. "It's alright, you don't have to–"

"To be honest, Robin," Luffy interrupted, "I don't think any of us are going back to sleep either. Maybe some coffee will do you some good. Sanji?"

The chef didn't miss a beat. "Coming right up! Coffee under the starlight. Seems kind of romantic. I'll even throw in some early morning breakfast!"

"Sounds great! I was dreaming about food anyway!" Usopp claimed. It always became hard to distinguish whether he was lying or not during times when it actually mattered.

"I'm not sleepy at all!" Chopper boasted.

Robin couldn't help but smile a little as the memory of the nightmare moved to the back of her mind, not forgotten, but dulled. "Thank you, everyone. That sounds nice."

As the male crew members filed out of the room, Nami hesitated before pulling Robin into a hug. "Remember you can talk to me about anything, ok?" she whispered.

Robin returned the hug and hummed in confirmation, and Nami let go.

As it turned out, star gazing wasn't too bad of an idea, as there was a meteor shower that morning. As the crew sat and ate under the shooting stars, Usopp instructed everyone to make a wish, before explaining the premise behind the custom to a curious Chopper.

Robin was silent as she gazed up at the sky, feeling as though the wish she wanted to make might just be unrealistic.

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully. That is, until the crew spotted a giant frog doing the front crawl, and opted to follow it out of sheer fascination. Said frog then proceeded to jump in front of a moving train that was seemingly running on the ocean. Needless to say, that didn't work out very well for the frog, who was sent flying despite taking a ready stance in an effort to oppose the train's momentum.

"That's one gutsy frog," Sanji commented.

"That's Yokozuna," said a young girl from what looked to be, strangely enough, a train station on the ocean. "He does that all the time. Hey, are you guys pirates?"

"Yes we are. I'm Luffy. I'm going to be the Pirate King," Luffy said, providing his signature introduction.

"Really?" the girl asked in childlike innocence.

"Yep!" Luffy answered.

"Cool. Hey Grandma! Pirates are here!" she yelled.

"Really?" came a voice from inside the building. "Hang on, I'll get the Transponder Snail!" A few of the Strawhats tensed as an old woman came out and started dialing a number. "Hello?" the woman greeted. "Who is calling? Huh? What do you mean 'what's my emergency?' Sorry, I think you have the wrong number." She then proceeded to hang up.