-Chapter Sixty-Seven-
"What?" Luffy gasped in surprise.
"This is the same Nami who would rather count money than spend it?" Usopp gaped in shock.
"The same Nami who likes money more than life itself?" Zoro frowned.
"And she'll pay anything!" they all shouted.
"You guys might be overreacting" Sanji sweat dropped.
"Nami, you must really want that paper to make such a bold statement" I said. "Are we sure you're not sick?" I asked, unable to help myself as even I had a hard time believing that she would be so willing to depart with her beloved money for some sheets of paper.
"Alright then, if you absolutely have to have this, a stack of One Thousand-Year Paper normally costs 60,000,000 belis—but I can sell it to you for only 48,000,000" Rice Rice offered with a smile.
"It costs 48,000,000 beli, really?!" Chopper asked, clearly taken aback that something such as a mere stack of paper could cost so much.
"Does this mean this stuff costs 48,000 for each sheet?" Usopp questioned.
"That's a lot for just some sheets of paper" I whistled.
"Can't you just drop the price—just a little more?" Nami pleaded, cringing at the price the man offered.
"Well, you drive a hard bargain" Rice Rice said after a moment's thought. "Well how about 47.5,000,000?" he suggested
"How about 2,000,000" Nami frowned.
"Or 4.8,000,000, just for you" Rice Rice widely smiled.
"Oh! Can't you just go lower?!" Nami irritably huffed, frustrated that the man wasn't falling for her attempts at haggling.
"Sold!" Sanji suddenly spoke up.
"What do you mean?" Nami frowned in confusion.
"You really have that many belis?" Zoro asked.
"I wasn't aware that there were other people on this ship with money besides Nami" I said with a raised brow.
"Nope" Sanji truthfully answered, shaking his head as he busied himself with tying Luffy up. "If we hand Luffy over to the Marines, we'll collect the bounty and have plenty to spare" he explained.
"What? No!" Luffy cried out.
"Sorry, Luffy, but Nami deserves this sacrifice" Sanji stated.
"No, she doesn't!" Luffy snapped.
"Man, Sanji, I didn't expect you to be that thirsty for Nami" I sweat dropped.
"Luffy?" Rice Rice questioned. "Um...Luffy? You don't mean...no...Monkey D. Luffy?!" he jolted as if startled by this sudden revelation.
"Yeah, that's me, weird guy" Luffy nodded. "Hey, Sanji, come on—please! Just untie me now!" he pleaded.
"I can't do that" Sanji shook his head.
"Okay, but you totally can" I said.
"Oh no! A real pirate flag's up there!" Rice Rice loudly gasped when he finally noticed the ship's Jolly Roger. "How could I've missed something like that?! To think what would have happened to me!" he whimpered as he crumpled to the ground crying.
"Sanji, let me go!" Luffy whined.
"No way" Sanji shook his head, deadset on following through with this plan on his.
"She's not going to love you just because you do buy her some paper, you know that, right?" I asked, not exactly understanding what he thought he was going to get out of this crazy plan of his.
"I just remembered that I have a very important appointment—have a nice day, thanks for everything!" Rice Rice suddenly waved as he quickly rushed over to his S-Car and left without another word.
"Hey, you left your stuff!" Zoro shouted after him once he noticed that everything that we had pulled out of the man's S-Car was still onboard the deck.
"He did?" I perked up as I quickly started to look around, shoulders soon slumping when I didn't spot the rabbit anywhere—had it accidentally fallen off the ship when I kicked it away earlier?
"You're looking for this, right?" Zoro asked, causing me to turn and squeal as I quickly snatched the stuffed rabbit from his hands that he held out to me and hugged it close.
"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" I thanked him over and over, tightly wrapping my arms around his waist while pressing a small kiss to his cheek. I felt his muscles tense underneath me as his face became a bright red. A small sliver of blood dribbled down his nose as he quickly looked away and covered his mouth.
"Yeah, no problem..." he muttered, blush only darkening as he watched from the corner of his eye how I happily hugged the stuffed rabbit close to my chest. For a moment, I genuinely felt like a child hugging that stuffed animal—a foreign feeling really that I could barely recall feeling much of in my youth.
"Was it something we said?" Luffy asked, staring at the spot where the man's S-Car had been just a few second's ago in confusion.
"Maybe he was a bit afraid of you and your friends" Robin suggested. "After all, you are a wanted man, Monkey D. Luffy" she pointed out as Nami happily picked up the sheets of paper that the man had left behind in his haste to get away.
"Alright, guys! I'm going to go do some work now, so don't interrupt me—you got that?" she asked us.
"Alright, but what do you mean by work?" Usopp questioned.
"It's a secret" Nami winked.
"It must be fun then" I hummed, still tightly hugging the stuffed rabbit in my arms.
"You got that right" she smiled, softly chuckling at the sight of me.
"Whatever..." Usopp muttered, clearly not that interested in knowing what exactly the navigator's secret work was.
"I'll take care of it—I won't let anyone come near you 'til you're done with all your work, Nami my dear!" Sanji happily chirped with a salute.
"Nami, what if the wind or currents change suddenly?" Chopper worriedly asked.
"Don't worry about it, take a look up there" Nami pointed. "As long as those clouds don't move, we'll have a beautiful day today without any problems—you can come and get me, but only if something changes with those clouds, okay" she explained before finally disappearing into her room.
"Alright, guys, listen up!" Sanji clapped, instantly catching our attention. "While Nami's working, we're going to get this place completely clean" he said.
"Alright" Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper saluted, not wasting another second in grabbing themselves a mop as none of them really stopped to question the blond on why they in specific had to clean the deck.
"Good luck with that" Zoro yawned from his spot right beside me as I mindlessly ran my finger along the faux fur of the stuffed rabbit in my hands. Tracing patterns into the toy's coat as I stared into its beady eyes that peered right back at me.
"You're working too, Zoro!" Sanji snapped with the other men soon joining him in pestering the swordsman.
"Well, what about these two?" Zoro asked, quick to motion towards Robin and me. "I don't see them helping" he pointed out.
"That's because they both have doctor's notes, they're too beautiful to help mop the deck" Sanji smiled, causing me to giggle at the silly excuse he had given to explain why he wasn't expecting Robin and me to help with the cleaning.
"You've got to be kidding me, that's seriously the stupidest thing I've ever heard" Zoro frowned.
"Oh, I see how it is—I'm not beautiful then?" I jokingly asked, grinning as I watched how his face reddened before he quickly started to wave his hands in front of him in defense while shaking his head.
"What? No, that's—"
"Why don't you shut up and help us, you moss-haired monster!" Sanji suddenly sneered as he kicked the swordsman's face.
"Oh, such a witty insult for a pathetic excuse for a love machine" Zoro sarcastically responded.
"Kind of sounds like someone wants an ass beating" Sanji grounded out in irritation.
"Just go ahead and try—you really think you could beat the moss-haired monster?" Zoro sneered.
"You clearly aren't close to being a match for the powers of the love machine!" Sanji spat back as the two quickly got in each other's faces and began to angrily growl at one another like a pair of rabid dogs. In an instant did the deck seemed to just come alive as the two started to fight and even though it was amusing at first. I quickly became bored and far more interested in the stuffed animal in my arms than the bickering men.
"Look at the idiots I have to deal with every day, Fluffy—look at them" I deadpanned, holding the stuffed rabbit up so that it could see the fight that was currently taking place.
"Oh, just give up!" Zoro growled, pushing back against the blonde's foot with the blade of his sword.
"I think I'll go ahead and gut you instead" Sanji sneered back.
"But how can you do that if you're cut into pieces?" Zoro grinned.
"Go get him! Get him! Fight! Fight!" Luffy cheered for...someone.
"Who are you even cheering for?" I asked.
"I don't know, I just like cheering" Luffy grinned, happily laughing as he went straight back to cheering.
"Stop it, you guys! Usopp, don't just stand there—we need to stop them somehow!" Chopper frantically squealed as he tried to hide from the two that were fighting.
"You've got to be kidding me, this is neat—you know I can't stop them" Usopp argued.
"Oh yeah..." Chopper nodded before covering his eyes as Zoro and Sanji lunged at one another.
"Didn't I tell you all to be quiet!" Nami snapped, storming out of her room as she wasted no time in knocking the two that were fighting out flat on the floor.
"I was wondering when you were going to come out" I hummed, amazed with how long it took her to come and investigate the commotion out on the deck.
"You should have stopped them when they started!" she snapped, whirling around as she now started to chew me out. I only smiled as I blankly stared at her before shrugging my shoulders in response.
"I mean, I quite enjoy having limbs" I said which only caused her irritation to grow. "Sorry, sorry—I'll do better next time" I nervously smiled, holding my stuffed rabbit up in defense the second I saw her take a threatening step toward me.
"Wow, with just one hit!" Chopper gaped in awe as he stared at the two knocked-out bodies that lay flat on the floor of the deck. Usopp only nervously laughed in response as he slowly inched himself away from Nami as if afraid she'd turn her anger onto him next.
-Later-
I gently pressed my stuffed rabbit's sewn mouth against the bump on Zoro's head in the form of a mock kiss as he crossed his arms, lowly grumbling out insults towards the ginger who had disappeared back into her room once she had made it clear to us all that she wanted absolute peace.
"It was your own fault, so quit your pouting" I chuckled as he only turned his head to the side and continued to grumble in irritation. Moving around a little, I soon peered over the crow's nest to look down at the others. "How's mopping duty going?" I called out to them.
"It's going great, Skylar my dear!" Sanji happily called back, hearts floating all around his head as he wildly started to wave his arm and give praise for my looks.
"That's good" I sweat dropped, ignoring his sudden yet familiar bombardment of compliments as I let my gaze drift along the deck of the ship. I quickly spotted Robin who was still reading her book while the other three were currently busy mopping the deck with Sanji serving as their supervisor and keeping a close eye on them. Well...he had been keeping a close eye on them a second ago.
"Hey, Luffy! Watch this!" Usopp grinned as he sat atop Chopper's antlers—the latter having turned into his deer form at some point. Pushing his back hoofs back against the Ab Ab Slider, Chopper sprang forward, knocking the sharpshooter off his head and sending him flying. Usopp excitedly laughed, clinging to the handle of his mop as he went gliding across the deck.