It was raining out and had been for the past few days.
"I'm bored!" Luffy whined into the dinner table putting his head against it annoyed with the rain.
"We'll be out of the area soon enough try and be positive, Lu." Thatch said collecting some of the dishes that were left over from lunch.
"I wanna be out of it now!" he whined louder Luffy who was 8 years old wanted to play on his beloved deck and when it rained not even pops sat outside.
"Well too bad kid, you and water don't mix well so you're stuck in here till it's all over with." And with that Thatch went back into the kitchen to start on his dishes and with the amount of siblings on this ship the dishes were plenty, if he wasn't careful he could be washing dishes all day!
At this point in time though Luffy was getting frustrated he wanted to go out and play, not be stuck inside the galley all day! Sabo was reading a book he had gotten from Haruta abut navigation and Ace was heading to the kitchen to talk with Thatch but secretly wouldn't mind helping him with the dishes. Marco was in his own room finishing up work that needed to be done and pops was resting in his room. The rain sometimes made pops feel a little sick and sore so the nurses were all over making him rest on those days. All of the commanders were doing something to occupy their time, well all except one.
Luffy saw Izou sitting in his spot at the dinner table a cup of coffee beside him and paper and a pen in front of him. Luffy had no one else to visit so he snuck up quietly and gave the cross dresser a big hug.
"Luffy?" He said in surprise he was so into his drawing that he didn't hear the kid coming towards him Luffy smiled widely and climbed onto his lap.
"What cha drawin'? He asked looking down at the picture not sure what all of the arrows and numbers meant but Izou smiled at the kid.
"I'm drawing the design for some new clothes the crew can't keep wearing the same things forever kid." Luffy laughed with his brother since he liked getting new clothes from him.
"Next time you should draw something I can wear in the rain!" Luffy laughed then pouted remembering that it was still raining and wanting it to end quickly. Izou looked at the boy for a moment curiously before a smile came to his face.
"I think I might have something to help you out there brat." Izou said with a smile picking the kid up and walking off towards him room taking the longer rout to avoid the rain. Izou being the one to make the clothing for the crew had everything and anything for "just in case" problems and sudden inspiration moments. He couldn't help but smile wider as this was going to be one of those special times. Sitting Luffy down on his bed he went to work grabbing everything and anything he might need from their properly placed spots in his room. Strips of rubber cloth and warm padding underneath he started to sew together at an amazing speed the fabrics creating a bright rubber coat.
"Luffy here is a new jacket for you." He smiled and held up the coat it was red in color with a small lion growling at the bottom of it, Izou added that for an extra touch.
"With this on you'll keep dry from the rain." Luffy jumped on the bed and reached for the mystery coat he absolutely loved it!
Izou helped him put it on before putting one on himself over his kimono and picking up a large umbrella and a smaller one from a cabinet in the corner of his room.
"We can only play at a certain spot on the ship to avoid the waves okay Luffy?" Luffy nodded his head and followed his brother out onto the deck. This part of the deck was surrounded by walls and further away from the railing so Izou figured he would be safe here from the roaring waves. The rain was falling but as Thatch said they were moving out of that area so the rain should stop soon enough.
Luffy jumped around and splashed in the puddles his laughter ringing across the loud waves his umbrella being held over his head with his small hands. Luffy loved this! Izou smiled watching the kid playing around in the rain it was times like this that remind him how Luffy brought such an innocence to the ship that was never there before. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the times when Luffy wasn't on the ship but found he could no longer. Luffy completed this crew in a way they didn't think possible, him and those brats.
"Izou! Come play with me!" Luffy had dropped his umbrella and was reaching his hand out to the older brother. Izou grinned and took the little hand before splashing in a large puddle sending water towards the kid who giggled and splashed back. The two played like this for an hour before Marco came out of his room to check if the rain had stopped yet. He looked around and his eyes widened a bit seeing both Luffy and Izou soaking wet and laughing loudly.
Marco couldn't help the smile that came to his own face at the scene. Turning back to his room he walked to his table pulled a camera from his drawer and walked towards the brothers to get the moment documented for the old man. Once finished taking the picture Marco put the camera away and saw Thatch watching from the galley door way with a smile on his own face.
"It's nice to see them like this." Thatch said with a smile
"It's weird to see Izou playing in the rain, normally the man hates anything that could ruin his hair or makeup-yoi." Marco said returning the smile.
"Luffy gets what he wants when he wants it." Thatch replied with a shrug it was a known fact for the crew. The rain had all but stopped now and the two brothers were smiling even though they were soaked this was the most fun Izou had had in a while so he was now glad Luffy had come to sit on his lap this afternoon.
"Izou look!" Luffy got the cross dressers attention by pointing at the rainbow that was now shining in the sky they smiled as the rain had passed.
"Go get yourselves dried off-yoi." Marco said climbing down now to visit the two.
"I don't want you to get sick again Luffy so make sure you take a hot bath as well-yoi." Luffy whined at the thought of having to take a bath but Izou patted him on the shoulder.
"I'll take it with you, sound okay brat?" Izou grinned at him and Luffy grinned back guessing it was alright to have a bath with his big brother. Marco and Thatch smiled at the exchange between the two happy to see them both having fun as the sun started to shine brightly.
-Line Break-
It was midnight when Pops heard a knock on his door he could sense it was his youngest son so he beckoned him in.
"What's wrong my son?" He asked hearing the sniffles coming from the kid alerting the older man that Luffy was crying.
"I had a bad dream." He said climbing up onto the older man's chest and lying down.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He questioned while rubbing the kids back soothingly.
"T-thatch was eaten by a big monster." He said and closed his eyes afraid the monster would come back.
"What kind of monster?" He asked Luffy who kept his eyes closed pops kept rubbing his back softly.
"A mean scary one that ate Thatch and then ate Ace." He said his voice choking up from tears that might come again.
"Shhhh it's all alright Luffy no one can hurt you here. There isn't a monster in this world I can't protect this family from." White beard said soothingly and Luffy looked up at him with hopeful eyes.
"You're brothers are very strong so have faith in them alright?" He said and began to hum for the boy Luffy listened hugging the old man tight and falling asleep on his chest.
When Marco woke up and didn't find Luffy in his room panic surged through his veins.
What if the kid got up in the middle of the night slipped and fell of the ship! What if he drowned while everyone was asleep! What if his brother was dead!? Marco by this point in time had put himself into a small panic that Thatch had to slap him on the back to get him to calm down.
"If he's not with you and not with me he's probably with pops." Thatch said rolling his eyes and pushing Marco into the general direction towards pop's room. Marco may be a fearless pirate who has fought and won many battles on this sea, but if you add Luffy into this equation he turns into a worrisome mother hen that can't function unless he knows his brother is safe.
Ace and Sabo had figured that Luffy went to sleep with one of the commanders that night since that was a normal occurrence for them. Luffy would decide at dinner he wanted to cuddle with Marco and he would get what he wanted so they weren't that surprised to wake up and find him gone.
Marco knocked on Pop's door and heard him call for them to enter. When they did enter and saw Luffy still deeply asleep on his chest while the older man was humming happily they couldn't help but smile.
"Has he been here all night-yoi?" Marco asked quietly trying not to wake the sleeping child.
"Since midnight or so." He got in reply Thatch raised his eye brow in question why didn't the kid come to one of them?
"He had a nightmare." That answered one of their questions now they had more.
"Did he tell you what it was about?" Thatch asked pulling up a chair in his pop's room Marco following along.
"Ahh, he said he saw a monster eat both you and Ace." He said looking towards Thatch. This caught his attention from an earlier memory.
"He's still having that nightmare?" Thatch asked even Marco was concerned because he had heard about this nightmare once before.
"He has had this already?" Whitebeard asked his elder sons.
"Mnn, he came to me one night saying he had a nightmare of me being eaten by a dark monster... You said he now sees Ace being eaten as well?" Thatch asked worry in his voice.
"Yes he mentioned Ace being eaten as well..." All fell silent for a moment taking in this information.
"He's inquisitive. He senses things in people that we sometimes miss." Thatch said slowly thinking of the times Luffy had seen the good in most people and sometimes seeing the bad.
His own mind thinking back to Teach and the way Luffy never is comfortable near him but dismissing it quickly, Teach is one of their brothers nothing to need worrying about there.
"But as far as we know Luffy can't predict the future so this dream could be just that, a dream-yoi." Marco said pointing out the obvious.
"We'll keep an eye on him but keep guard in case Thatch." Pops said something had been feeling weird lately, the world was beginning to change but he wasn't sure if it was a good change or a bad one yet.
Luffy slowly began to open his eyes and saw the room with his two brothers and father awake.
"Good-Yawn-morning" He said which was quite cute to the men in the room.
"Good Morning Luffy did you sleep well-yoi?" Marco asked sitting on the edge of the bed to talk with him better.
"Mn! It's comfy here! Pops can chase away all monsters right Pops?" Luffy gave his wide smile towards the man who returned it.
"Of course brat." Luffy got up off of White Beard and climbed into Marco's arms.
"Is breakfast ready?" He looked towards Thatch who gave his smile.
"What a silly question bud, let's go eat." And with a loud cheer Luffy was out of Marco's lap and dragging Thatch towards the kitchen.
"I'm glad he's feeling energetic-yoi." Marco smiled watching them go.
"I pity the poor fool who gets coaxed into being his chief GURARA" Pops laughed
"So do I-yoi." And they both got up and headed for the Galley before Luffy ate everything on the tables. Marco was still worried for his brother but chose to just keep watch for now, if any monsters appeared on this ship he'd deal with them personally his eyes flashing icy blue sealing the promise in his heart.