As we sailed away, Luffy let his arms fall to his sides. He looked at me and his bottom lip pooched out a little.
"You just had to hug him."
I rolled my eyes and smirked at him. "I hear ya loud and clear, Lu. But yes. I won't apologize for hugging a friend."
He stuck his tongue out at me and I laughed.
"At least I know you'll never get sick of us." He said, still pouting.
I smiled and threw my arms around him, burying my face in his neck. "Never."
I felt his arms wrap around my waist before he lifted me up a little and spun me around. I knocked my head back and laughed out loud as we spun until he got dizzy. The wind blew my hair up as we hit the ground with a resounding thud. We laughed as I laid against his chest. Our hearts were beating in unison, pounding hard against each other.
"You two love birds kill me." Nami said, shaking her head.
I blushed and crossed my arms over his chest, resting my head as I looked up at the rest of the crew as Luffy continued to laugh.
"Get a room, you two." Zoro grunted.
"That does seem to be a problem." I lamented, making Luffy erupt into a new round of giggles.
"Yeah, I kinda feel bad how much you guys have to deal with us." Luffy admitted through his giggles.
"Trust me," Sanji said, taking a drag from his cigarette "We definitely get it worse than you."
"After all," He took another drag of his cigarette and then fire lit in his eyes. "I'm just so jealous! I wish it was meeeeeee."
"Shuuuuut uuuuup." Luffy said, throwing me off balance and grabbing me as he sat up. "'M would never go out with you."
"Let a guy dream, Luffy!" Sanji snapped, making him laugh.
"She'd be more likely to go out with me." Franky laughed.
"Or maybe Usopp." Luffy laughed.
"Oh, definitely Usopp." Zoro said, raising his eyebrows, completely amused.
"Oi." Usopp said, waving his hand and locking his eyes with Zoro. "Let's not forget about the elephant in the room."
"Can we not start this again?" I said, pouting.
"Oi! I don't count!" Zoro growled.
"Oh yeah? And why is that, mosshead?" Sanji sneered, making Zoro grin mischievously.
"Cause I already got a taste." He said, making Sanji's face turn red with anger.
"Woah!" Luffy gawked, throwing a hand up to that statement. My face went beat red as my jaw dropped.
"You better watch your mouth about Misaki Chan, you green haired gremlin!"
"Well you better just leave her and the Captain alone! Even if it is a joke!" Zoro growled.
"If Misaki Sama is going to go through the men in the crew, can I just skip to the chase and ask if I can see her panties?" Brook said, his soft voice almost singing as he spoke.
"No!" Me, Luffy, Zoro and Sanji all yelled at the same time as Nami punched him on the skull, knocking the skeleton to the ground.
"Aweee you guys are soooo meeeeeaaaaan!" Brook whined.
"When will you ever learn!" Nami yelled.
"Guys, are you insane?" Chopper yelled as Nami continued to beat on the men of the crew.
As everybody started bantering, aside from Jimbei and Robin, who simply laughed at our antics, I felt Luffy close his hand over mine. My hand was still touching his chest, and he pressed it harder against his skin so I could feel his heart thump and jump around. A dumb look of content spread out across my face as we sat there, watching our crew bicker back and forth. His eyes slid over to mine for a moment before looking back at the crowd of pirates.
"Misaki!" I snapped out of it and looked at the group of men now staring at me and Luffy. I blinked.
"Hm?" I hummed, tilting my head at them.
"If you and Luffy never fell in love, WHO WOULD YOU FALL FOR?!"
My eyes widened and my mouth parted a little bit as I looked at the group of men, readily awaiting my answer. Even Zoro peered at me from behind them, nervously awaiting an answer. I could feel Luffy's grip tighten on my hand.
"Heyyyyy! That's a little inappropriate guys!" Luffy whined.
Who would I....?
I picked up my free hand and placed it over Sanji's face, pushing him away so that he tumbled backwards.
"Get lost!" I laughed, making them all groan.
"Just answer the question!" Sanji said, bouncing back to his previous spot in the row of men.
"No!" I laughed, making them all grown again. I could tell what I was doing was making Luffy very smug.
"See guys? Misaki would only pick me anyways." He said, sticking his tongue out at everyone.
"I didn't say that." I laughed, making him pout. "I just said get lost!"
"What the Hell is that supposed to mean?!" He said, sitting up more and furrowing his brow at me.
"Like I would even know the answer to that!" I said, pinching his cheek and giving it a tug. "I'm in love with you! It's part of who I am, so how could I know what I would do if I wasn't?"
"Oh... I don't really get it." Luffy said, pouting. "But I'm glad you're in love with me."
"That was honestly so cute and you didn't even understand it." Nami sighed, shaking her head.
"It means she can't see any of us that way, even slightly, dummy." Sanji said, rolling his eyes as he lit another cigarette.
"Cause she is too in love with you." Robin added.
"Like she has tunnel vision." Nami continued.
"That's soooo romantiiiic!" Chopper sang, throwing his hooves in the air.
"I'll say. What devotion." Brook said, still laying on the ground from the previous assault.
"It's like if we asked you who you would be with if you and Misaki weren't together." Robin said.
"Ah." Luffy said. "That's easy."
"What?" I said, looking at him questioningly.
"Yeah. I'd be single for life."
Yep. My jaw is slack. My face is red. I can't even breathe.
"I don't think that would be the case for everybody, Luffy." Nami warned.
"Naw, I know that! If me and Misaki never got together, I would hope she would be happy with someone else!" He whined before grinning so big, I almost passed out from the sheer beauty of it. "But I would never love anybody else."
"Never is a strong word!" Jimbei said. Luffy threw his nose up to the sky.
"Nope. Never."
"Hancock?"
"No way."
"What if you met someone you don't know yet?"
"Never ever." He said with the most confidence in the world.
"But why?!" They all said. I would like to hear this too.
"M' is the only person that makes me feel more free than I already did." He grinned, looking at me, and opened his mouth to say the words that I once found so corny. But in that very moment, it was the most romantic thing I had ever heard in my life — said with absolutely clarity and conviction. "Misaki is my one and only soulmate."