Baby on Board

The Storm

He Left the room and walked into the kitchen to the cupboard where he kept the sweets. Usopp saw him pulling out his chocolate candy, but said nothing as he left the room with it.

"Guess he's really scared..." Chopper said. Suddenly, at the same time, he, Usopp and Nami got up and followed Sanji. Soon Zoro and Franky left as well, Zoro leaving his bottle of beer, which still had more left, on the table. Brook was now the only one in the room, but he wanted to help as well. He had brought his violin into the galley for this reason, in case his music was needed, and followed everyone else. He opened the door and stood next to it outside the room, so luffy wouldn't see him, and played upbeat but relaxing music.

Luffy didn't accept the candy offered to him by Sanji. He didn't even look up from hiding his face in Robin's chest and couldn't tell everyone else had entered the room. He was too scared to register anything besides him, Robin and the scary noises. The booming happened again and Luffy let out a quiet whimper, gripping Robin's blouse as he buried his face deeper into her bosom.

When he did look up, it was at the aquarium over Robin's shoulder, at the completely wrong time as a barracuda swam up and ate a smaller fish, exposing its teeth. Luffy whimpered at it and hid his face, finally starting to cry. Nobody missed what scared him.

"Who put a fucking barracuda in the tank?" Zoro demanded angrily. Usopp didn't want to say it was him, so there were no voices in the room after he asked. "Seriously, what the hell..." he muttered when he got no response.

When the thunder got louder and the ship rocked a little, Luffy started to sob so loud it was more like screaming, trying to block the sound of thunder with his own wails of terror. Nobody really knew what to do to help him that wouldn't make it worse, so Robin did the only thing she thought might help and sang a lullaby. Luffy still cried. The thunder was louder than Robin's singing. Even though it didn't seem to be working, she kept singing to him.

"Do we have any earmuffs or something?" Franky asked suddenly. If they could dull the sounds, maybe he'd calm down a bit.

"There are some in our room," said Nami. "But we can't get to it..." she said sadly, until Zoro and Sanji stood up and walked out of the room without saying a word. They didn't even argue about one of the other staying put. The two walked past Brook, who was still playing his music in the hall.

"Try playing something soothing," Sanji said as they left the skeleton behind.

The wind and waves were crazy outside. The whole ship was creaking by the force of both. The rain was pelting down on the deck, obscuring their sight. The two could only brace themselves and head straightforward. Even though they couldn't see, they obviously knew where the girls room was. It was a struggle to stay upright and not fall off balance and be swept into the sea, where no one would be able to save them.

When they finally reached the other side of the deck, they pulled the door open with difficulty and rushed inside, the wind slamming the door behind the two. Sanji said nothing about being in the girls room as he opened the closets. Neither had asked where the earmuffs were, they had just left. Zoro wasn't respectful towards their clothes as he raided the dressers and pulled things out, tossing underwear around him. He didn't give a shit about it at the moment, and probably wouldn't even if it was calm outside and he was in no hurry.

Sanji finally found the object they were searching for in the vanity dresser's top drawer.

"Found it!" said Sanji. He looked over to the mess Zoro had created and frowned at him. "Really?" he asked with his brow raised.

"What? We're in a hurry. You're not going to tell me to clean this shit up," Zoro said to him challengingly. Sanji just sighed and walked past him and out of the room. Zoro didn't look back as he left the mess there for the girls to find later. Oh well.