A Wish on a Comet (Luffy x OC)

Chapter 11

Days have passed since the decision was made for Rose to distance herself from the captain of the Straw Hats, and she quickly found that the challenge was easier said than done. Aside from when she trains on her powers with Zoro, she has to come up with an excuse almost every time Luffy sees her to turn down his invitation to join in his games.

As time went on, Luffy realized that something was wrong, and grew even more persistent in trying to get her to hang out with him. While he would sometimes succeed in getting her to play in his games with the others, she would always quickly, yet politely, excuse herself before he could find out why she's been acting strangely. That doesn't stop the rubber man from trying to get her to stop distancing herself and find out what's going on every chance he gets.

Today was no different as Luffy searches all over the front deck for the wind girl.

Usopp sees his captain from his fishing spot on the railing. and waves over to him with one arm while he keeps his fishing pole steady with the other. "Hey Luffy, come help me resupply. If we don't get any food soon Sanji might cook us."

Luffy goes to join him before he stops himself and heads to the back of the ship. "In a bit."

The captain heads to the back of the ship where Zoro is lifting weights, but with Rose nowhere in sight. "Hey Zoro, you seen Rose anywhere?"

He shakes his head as he keeps lifting his weights. "Nope, maybe she's inside."

Luffy groans in frustration as he drops his shoulders. "I already checked... I don't get why she's being so weird."

Zoro sighs as he puts the weight down. "All girls are weird, but she takes it to another level, so it could be anything. Do you remember anything you did that might have pissed her off?"

He thinks hard about the things he could have done to make her avoid him, but he can come up with nothing, so he shakes his head. "I don't remember... She's been like this since four days ago. The only thing that happened around that time was..."

He widens his eyes, as if he's figured out why she's avoiding him. "Wait, I know why she's mad! She's mad that I didn't invite her to raid all the food in the kitchen with me and the guys!"

Zoro goes to say something, but he's cut off when he and Luffy hear the sound of laughter being choked down. 

Luffy looks around for the source, but only finds the two of them present, along with a few crates and barrels. "Did you hear that?"

Zoro shakes his head as if he doesn't know who almost laughed, but knows exactly who it is. "Must've been the wind. Anyway, I really doubt that she's mad about that."

He looks over at the disappointed captain, and can tell that he won't give up on her. However, even though the rubber man doesn't remember the fight, he's being pushier than usual, so he tries to get to the bottom of it. "Hey, why do you keep asking her to hang out?"

Luffy tilts his head in confusion as if he just asked him something ridiculous. "What do you mean? She's my friend."

"Yea, but you don't act like this around Vivi."

"Vivi's not being weird. Besides, it feels like she's only like this around me..." Luffy answers with a saddened look on his face.

Zoro quietly sighs at the comment and tries to ease his worries. "She probably needs some space. Try-!"

He cuts himself off to the sound of Luffy's stomach growling, and angrily scowls at his captain. "Instead of trying to find Rose, how about fishing to make up for all the food you stole?! We're all hungry!"