The sun has just finished setting on the Grand Line with the majority of the crew settling for bed. All but a flustered astronomer who's on night watch in the crow's nest.
Why she's un-eased you might ask? Well, it's because ever since the night she and her captain enjoyed the festival together, she can't get him out of her mind. Rose tried to forget about her little revenge kiss at the end of their date, but nothing seems to work. Whenever she sees Luffy, she even grows happier than she normally does and sometimes would feel her heart race even when he's not hugging her. She doesn't want to admit it, but she fears that she unsealed some hidden feelings that she's been harboring for her captain.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, she even thinks that Luffy might feel the same from how he gets upset when guys hug her, and shows affection to her both awake and asleep.
The brunette groans to herself as she shakes her head to force herself to get a grip on reality. She knows that Luffy's just hugging her to try to cure her 'allergy to affection'. He probably doesn't want guys to hug her, because he didn't want guys to mistake her blush for liking them...
She scowls at the weird explanation, that she can only half believe, but it makes more sense to her than for the future pirate king to have romantic feelings for her. Back when she read the manga and saw the anime in her world, she saw at least ten people show some form of interest in her captain, and he didn't bat an eye for them.
Why would she be any different?
Her frown deepens at the self-deprecating question and quietly sighs. All she's doing is making herself feel worse, so she's going to try getting rid of her romantic feelings by using her guitar to play her heart out. As a kid, the guitar worked to get some of her emotions out of her system when fighting didn't work, so this might help her out at least for tonight.
She grabs her instrument from the other side of the crow's nest and sets it on her crossed legs. With a song in mind to release her confusing feelings, she begins to hit the chords to 'Force of Nature' by Bea Miller.
I don't know why but my hands are shaking~
I can see you coming and I stand here waiting~
Yeah, I get tongue tied in the conversation~
It's an F'd up, bad, sick situation~
She chuckles to herself, when she remembers how stubbornly she refused Luffy's recruitment throughout Alabasta. She truly tried to keep herself from dragging the crew to her problems, but the captain's own stubborn attempts to keep her around were hard to avoid. Especially when, somewhere along the way, she grew too close to want to leave.
I tried to tie my heart down, board up all the windows~
Oh, but it's too late now~
I let you get too close~
I know I should take cover, hide inside these four walls~
But baby I surrender, it all~
'Cause you're a force of nature~
Look at what you've done~
I can taste the danger but I don't wanna run~
So pull me to the ground and I won't put up a fight~
I'm a caution taker, but baby you're a force of nature~
Baby you're a force of nature~
When she sang out those lyrics, she realized how true they were about her captain. No matter what challenge came his way, he would face it head on and without hesitation. He never gives up on the impossible, and that's just one of the many things that she admires about him.
I feel your lips move in and they take me under~
You know just what to do, how to make me want you~
And I know I'll be broken when it's over~
Oh but I can't help but pull you closer~
I tried to tie my heart down, board up all the windows~
Oh, but it's too late now~
I let you get too close~
'Cause you're a force of nature~
Look at what you've done~
I can taste the danger but I don't wanna run~
So, pull me to the ground and I won't put up a fight~
I'm a caution taker, but baby you're a force of nature~
I'll be here 'till we collide~
I don't care if I survive~
So, crash into me one more time~
Yeah, yeah, oh~
'Cause you're a force of nature~
Look at what you've done~
I can taste the danger but I don't wanna run~
So, pull me to the ground and I won't put up a fight~
I'm a caution taker, but baby you're a force of nature~
Baby you're a force of nature~
Baby you're a force of nature~
Baby you're a force of nature~
When she strikes the final chord, she grins at the uplifting feeling she always gets after she sings her heart out. Sadly, she wasn't able to remove the troubling feelings like she did in the past. Her eyes focus on the guitar on her lap as she tries to figure out what went wrong. "Hmm, maybe I need to use a more hardcore song to get rid of it..."
"Get rid of what?"
Rose widens her purple eyes at the new voice and lifts her head to her right to find the man, who's causing her emotions to be a mess, hanging from the railing like it's completely normal. She becomes nervous about what he heard from her song, and scoots away to give him some room. "Nothing. How much of that did you hear?"
"About all of it." Luffy says as he pulls himself over the railing and takes a seat. He looks at her with a curious gaze before he looks down at his chest. "It happened again..."
It's Rose's turn to be curious and tilts her head. "What did?"
He places a hand on his heart where he keeps feeling strange. "My heart feels like it's bouncing all over the place since the song. It's been getting worse than when I first heard you sing."
The wind girl hums in thought as she takes the guitar off of her lap. "I remember telling you that you were enjoying a new song the last time, right? How is this worse?"
"There are times when you haven't been singing and this mystery feeling keeps happening!"
Rose is taken aback by the new information and grows worried for her friend. "Wait, what?! When else has this happened?!"
He furrows his eyebrows in thought, and bluntly recalls some of the times that he's been experiencing his mystery feeling. "A whole bunch of times. Like when I see you laughing, sometimes when I hug you, and that time you kissed my cheek too!"
A strong blush crept on the wind girl's face from remembering her moment of affection and seeing how it affected her captain.
Her doubts about Luffy returning her feelings start to fade when she hears him describing this feeling, but wants to make sure that she's not mistaken. "When you get this weird feeling, is it a bad feeling or do you like it?"
Luffy blinks at the question, but when he remembers the emotion that still confuses him, all he can do is smile. "I really like it. I want to keep feeling it."
Bubbly joy floats in the wind girl's heart from his words and realizes that he truly does feel the same way as her. She feels like an idiot for not seeing this sooner when he first complained about his chest, but she's also feeling newfound confidence welling up inside her.
With the new confidence, her lips curl up into a small grin. "It happens to me too, when I'm around you. If you want to keep feeling it, I know a way."
Luffy widens his eyes at the offer before he practically bounces in excitement "Really?! How?!"
"Close your eyes."
He complies with her request as he lowers his eyelids.
Before Rose could change her mind, she scoots closer to him so that she's sitting in front of him, and leans forward until her lips lightly brush his own.
Luffy opens his eyes from the surprise, but his body quickly acts by leaning in to return the kiss.
Both of the pirates can only hear their hearts pounding like drums as they continue the awkward kiss. It wasn't the hottest kiss in the world, but for those two, they couldn't ask for anything better.
Rose deepens it by wrapping her arms around his neck, and Luffy follows her lead by holding her sides. He pulls her towards him too hard though and forces their teeth to crash together.
They both lightly groan from the hit and pull away to rub their aching mouths. Regardless of the small pain, the smiles on their faces couldn't be wiped away from the sweet kiss.
Luffy giggles in happiness as he puts his arms back around his new love's waist. "That was great! Let's do it again!"
Rose shyly nods as she cups his cheeks into her hands and closes her eyes. When she leans in for another kiss, her lips were met with skinny fingers instead of rough lips.
She opens her eyes in confusion, then jumps back when her captain is replaced with the crew's navigator!
"What the fuck Nami?! What the hell are you doing here?!" She looks around for the man she was kissing, but finds that there's no one else in the crow's nest.
Nami giggles at her shock as she scoots away with a devilish smirk, that's all but bragging about how right she was about Rose's feelings. "Just watching you finally realize your feelings for Luffy. Didn't think you'd had it in you to make the moves on him."
Rose blushes fifty shades of scarlet when she realized what she just did to Luffy, and feels like she corrupted his innocence.
Nami watches the wind girl cover her face in embarrassment and acts calmly about the whole thing. "Well, no matter. You can make that scene happen all you want as soon as you... WAKE UP ROSE!"
*****************************************
"AAAH!" Rose screams awake from suddenly being yelled at by Nami from the doorway of their room, and is shot up by a gust of wind!
She barely has time to stop herself when she's about to hit the ceiling, but instead of hitting the wood, her airy body flows through the wooden cracks to bring her into the kitchen above the room!
Luffy and Sanji, who were talking about when breakfast will be done, freeze at the sight of their crew mate flying in through the floor.
The wind fades away from under Rose and drops her in mid-air. Before she hits the floor, Luffy holds out his arms to catch her as if she's his bride.
She looks around at her new surroundings and lightly laughs at the new flight. "Oh shit, that was cool!"
Sanji calms down from seeing that she isn't hurt, and that Luffy is carrying her like a lady for once. He's too used to their antics by now, so he gets back to work on his meal.
Luffy curiously looks down at the cute girl in his arms, who's still in her pajamas and holding onto the star plushie that he gave her on their date. "What were you doing?"
Rose tenses up when she remembers her dream with Luffy, and sees the position they're in. A blush grows on her freckled face, and looks down only to see that she's wearing a t-shirt and loose jogger shorts. She quickly jumps out of his arms while she hugs her toy to her chest, and gives him a smile to hide her nerves. "J-just woke up from Nami's screaming, and wound up rocketing up here..."
She looks down to the floor and spots the cracks on the wood. "I'm gonna try something."
She stands above the wooden floor that she flew through, and closes her eyes. She relaxes her body and thinks only of her element when she feels her body sinking.
"Whoa!" She quickly falls through before anyone can catch her and lands her butt on her futon.
Nami watches the whole thing as she finishes getting dressed and chuckles at the amusing sight. "Had a good flight?"
Rose growls at her mocking tone, but her actions don't match her frustration when she gently places her toy on her bed. "Shut the fuck up, why did you scream at me in the first place?"
The redhead starts to smirk as she points to Rose's plushie. "It was either I wake you up or watch you make out with Luffy's gift again."
Rose's face flushes from the explanation and rushes into the closet to avoid any more embarrassment.
Nami giggles at the retreat as she brushes her hair in front of her mirror. She looks back at the closed off closet and can't help but be amused by Rose's new attitude. Ever since Rose and Luffy went on that date a few nights ago, both teenagers have been getting more flustered around each other without the other noticing. What really entertains her though, is if she finds Rose asleep, she's happily humming as she hugs and kisses the toy that Luffy gave her.
It's only a matter of time before either side admits their feelings, and Nami can't wait to reap in the winnings of the bet she made with the others about which one will confess first.
She gets up to talk to Usopp about the bet before she calls out to Rose. "You'd better hurry before Luffy comes in to take you to breakfast."
"Get the hell out already!"
Nami just puts on a smirk before she walks off to leave her alone.
In a few minutes, Rose walks out in her usual outfit of jeans, with her long-sleeved shirt under her knee-length jacket. She sighs in relief that Nami finally left, but she can't deny that she has a problem anymore.
This is the third night in a row that she had a dream with her being romantic with Luffy. Just thinking about it makes her feel like a total pervert for acting like that to someone as innocent as Luffy.
Still, she knows that these romantic feelings won't go away because they're real for her in both dreams and reality.
It's easy for her to bury her feelings during the day, even with Nami's taunts. However, with being constantly reminded of her crush on the captain during both night and day, she doesn't know how long she can last.
She doesn't want to ruin her friendship with Luffy, so she needs to find a way to get over this.
The brunette runs a gloved hand through her brown hair, to act as a brush, before she leaves to join the others. When she's outside, she sees the closed door and decides to distract herself by experimenting on her phasing ability.
She smirks to herself as she goes to the mast to give herself some distance, then starts flying at full speed. She feels herself as light as air, and starts seeing her arms becoming transparent as they turn into air.
She aims for the cracks in the door, but her experiment is ruined when the door opens to the captain!
"CRAP!" She's too fast to stop, so she phases through Luffy and the shocked crew, who's sitting at the table!
Robin has to summon arms on the table to hold down the plates, so the food doesn't fly away, while Rose becomes solid just before she crashes into the wall.
Chopper gets up from his seat and goes up to Rose while she peels herself from the wall. "What happened? Does anything hurt?"
Rose grins at his concern and gives him a thumb's up. "Not to worry doc, I was just practicing my devil fruit."
"More like crash landing." Zoro says which earns a scowl from the wind girl.
"You wanna fucking go hedge head?!"
"Maybe later airhead."
Rose goes to spout more insults, but stops when Luffy grabs her hand from his seat, and pulls her to the empty chair next to him. "You guys can fight after we eat."
The brunette looks down at their hands and away from the cute boy as she takes a seat and pulls her hand free. "Fine..."
She can practically sense the smirks of some of her crewmates, but couldn't care less as she keeps her focus on the meal.
What she didn't notice though, was right next to her, Luffy feels a little dejected from Rose pulling away from his hand. The worst of it though is he still doesn't know why. The mystery feelings in his chest have been showing no signs of getting better, especially when the wind girl kissed him on their date. If anything, it got worse for whenever he gets close enough to her, his heart starts acting crazy.
The weird thing is that a part of him really likes it, yet hates it at the same time. He wants to stay close, because he feels great when she's with him. If he sees her upset or worried though, he feels like someone punched him in the gut. He even feels giddy when he sees her blushing in his hugs, but pissed when anyone else makes her blush. He's never felt like this before, and he doesn't know what to do.
All he knows is that he's hungry right now, so he's going to enjoy his breakfast and worry about it later.
********************************************************
With breakfast out of the way, the crew scatters around the ship to pass the time on their daily activities.
When Chopper goes to play with Luffy and Usopp, Rose blocks him off. "Hey Doc, can I talk to you in private?"
The reindeer nods as he leads her below deck and brings her to the empty boys' room for privacy. "Is everything ok?"
The brunette softly sighs as she sits down on a hammock. "I'm getting weird dreams and they're driving me nuts. Is there a way to turn them off?"
Chopper is surprised by the question before he grabs a pad and pen, then goes on another hammock to sit across from her. "What are you dreaming about?"
A light blush shades the patient's freckled cheeks and pays attention to her knees to avoid eye contact. "I'd rather not talk about that..."
The doctor frowns at the answer, but leaves it alone to try to receive more information. "Ok, well how bad are they?"
Rose shyly fidgets in her seat from the question. "It's not that they're bad, it's just that I can't get my mind off them during the day..."
He nods in understanding as he jots down his notes. "I see. How long have you had them?"
"The past few nights."
"And they've been vivid?"
"If I didn't know better, I would've thought they were real..." Rose says as she keeps her head down in shame.
Chopper hums in thought as he finishes writing down the answers. He furrows his eyebrows at what he has so far and thinks up a solution. "Well, this can be a bit of a challenge. You see, vivid dreams can happen for a number of reasons such as buried memories, guilt, or suppressed desires."
Rose blushes at the last item on the list, and starts getting frustrated. "What's the quickest way to turn them off?"
"That's not so simple. I don't have the supplies to create the medicine that can apply dreamless sleep. Even if I did, I'd like to leave that as a last resort since it's only been a few nights. For now, try keeping yourself distracted. Like trying something outside of your daily norm. That way your mind can trail off from whatever's bothering you in this dream, and you can start forgetting. If it still persists after a week, we can try other methods."
The patient nods to the advice and has an idea that she can do, so she gets up. "I'll try to give it a shot. Thank you for the help doc."
"Don't think I want your thanks, you big dummy! Hee hee!" Regardless of Chopper's insult, Rose giggles at the cute smile and blush that the reindeer's giving her.
She heads off to get herself distracted, but stops halfway in the hall when she sees the man responsible for her dream problems heading towards her.
"Hey Rose, have you seen Chopper?" Luffy asks as he stops in front of her.
She happily nods then points to his room. "Doc's over in the guys' room."
"Thanks." He walks past her and leaves a confused wind girl behind.
Rose sees him rush to the room, but shrugs it off to thinking that he's just going to ask him to play, and heads out.
Meanwhile, Luffy barges into the room and finds the doctor putting his notes in his medical book. "Chopper, I need your help!"
The reindeer jolts from the sudden request, and quickly secures Rose's notes in the bookshelf, before he looks to his new patient. "Luffy? What's the matter?"
The captain pats his chest with his right hand. "My heart's been acting really weird lately! I don't know what to do about it!"
"What?! Sit down! I gotta examine you!" Chopper says as he grabs a stethoscope from his medical bag while Luffy closes the door behind him.
The captain quickly sits on his hammock just before the doctor begins his new mission to cure his heart.
*******************************************
"You want me to what?" Nami asks when she stops watering her tangerine trees because she was confronted by Rose.
"I want you to teach me your best lock picking tricks." Rose repeats the request to her as if it was something simple.
Nami knits her eyebrows at the new subject as she puts the watering can down, and crosses her arms over her chest. "And why do you want to learn that?"
"It's a useful skill to have. If I get kidnapped and somehow locked in sea stone cuffs, I need to at least know I have a chance to escape."
The thief's expression softens at the explanation when she remembers how she allowed the astronomer to be kidnapped by the crazy lightning god. Even though she knows that she couldn't have done anything to prevent it, how she didn't help her when Eneru was fighting Luffy out of fear for her own life still fills her with guilt.
"I can pay you for the lessons." Nami snaps out of her daze when she hears Rose's offer.
However, instead of being eager like she normally would at the mention of being paid, she expresses complete disinterest. "I'll teach you, but I don't want your money."
Rose widens her eyes at the denial and feels her forehead. "Are you feeling alright?!"
The redhead tries to whack her, but her fist goes through her airy head. "Shut up, I'm fine!"
Nami calms herself down and gives her a small frown. "It's like you said, this skill is useful. The more of us that have it, the better off we all are. Come with me."
The two girls go down the deck to head inside, but Nami stops when she sees Robin sitting at the lawn table. "Hey Robin, come with us. You should learn this too."
Robin hums in curiosity from her book, but nonetheless she agrees as she saves her place in the literature and follows her crew mates to their room.
Once inside, Robin looks to the navigator in confusion. "What exactly are we learning Navigator-san?"
"I'm going to teach you both how to pick a lock." Nami says as she goes into her drawers and pulls outs two big, yet highly detailed locks.
Robin is still slightly confused as to why they're suddenly having a lesson, but she doesn't mind. After all, this skill can be useful for a number of situations, so she keeps on her usual smile. "Very well, teach away."
Nami grins at the acceptance as she takes out two thin, but flexible bobby pins, and hands them to each of the girls along with the locks. Once she grabs her own set, she takes a seat and gives them a smirk. "Alright, let's get to work. I'll show the first steps."
The two students nod as they take a seat and pay close attention to their lesson in the art of lock picking. While they struggle to learn this new skill, the wind girl's mind feels like it's being cleared. There's no guarantee that it'll keep her mind away from the dream, but spending time with Robin and Nami like this is a nice change of pace for her.
*******************************************
For the past hour, Chopper has been examining Luffy for any issues with his heart, but so far, he's come up with nothing. Even with his diet of mostly meat, he can't find any signs of him having a heart disease. From what he can tell, his captain's physical health is perfect.
The doctor looks through his medical book for any other possible diseases while Luffy sits on his hammock anxiously.
Chopper furrows his eyebrows in frustration when he reaches the end of the book, before he goes back to his notes on Luffy's symptoms. "I've never seen anything like this. So, your heart beats super-fast from time to time, you experience mood swings from anger, depression, nervous, and happy, and your dazes are happening more frequently since the truth or dare game. I know you said this started a while ago, but can you tell me more about when you first started feeling strange? Like what you were doing at the time?"
Luffy furrows his eyebrows at the question and starts to think hard on when exactly did his new feelings start. He shuts his eyes tightly while he tries his best to think.
While Luffy is thinking hard, with Chopper staring at him, a certain wind girl is practicing phasing through the wooden cracks in the walls to find the doctor.
Rose's upper body seeps through the wall, where she can see their faces, and tilts her head when she sees Luffy's scrunched up face. "Is Luffy trying to think?"
The boys jolt at the new voice and turn with wide eyes to find half of their crewmate in the room!
"AAAH!" They both scream in shock of only seeing Rose's upper half and jump away from her.
Rose however, only laughs in delight of their terror as she flies further into the room with her legs only a gust of air so only her body from the waist up is visible. She turns her legs back to normal and lands her feet on the floor while acting like she did nothing wrong. "Sorry for the scare, I was just practicing my abilities while trying to find you doc."
Chopper is the first to calm down and tilts his head curiously. "What do you need me for this time?"
"Do you have any strong, but flexible pins? I'm getting the hang of picking locks, so I was thinking of attaching them to the cuffs of my jacket for emergencies." Rose asks as she holds out her arms to show the end of the sleeves of her jacket.
The doctor hums in thought before he heads to his bag. "I should have some in here."
Rose grins in joy, but it quickly fades when she sees her captain staring at her with wide eyes and a small frown. She steps closer to him to see that he's even growing nervous.
She furrows her eyebrows in worry of Luffy's odd behavior, and leans forward to get a closer look at her captain's face. "Are you alright Luffy? You're looking pale."
Luffy leans his head slightly away from Rose, while he ignores her question, and calls out to the doctor. "Chopper, it's happening again!"
"WHAT?!" Chopper yells out in worry just when he pulls four pins out of his bag. He drops them on the floor, and rushes to his patient, which makes Rose jump back to get out of the way.
The wind girl has no idea as to what's happening when she watches Chopper use a stethoscope on Luffy's heart. "What the hell's going on with Luffy?!"
"He says that he's been having a weird feeling in his chest, but then it suddenly fades!" Chopper says anxiously when he feels the rapid heartbeat. "Are you having trouble breathing?!"
"No, but it feels tight!" Luffy looks to the worried astronomer and finally remembers how he felt like this when Rose kissed his cheek. He furrows his eyebrows at the wind girl and points an accusing finger at her. "I remember, you did it!"
"What the fuck did I do?!" Rose asks in anger of being blamed for his condition.
"You make me feel crazy! It's like my heart is running all over my body and it's driving me nuts!" Luffy says with poor Chopper staring at the two pirates dumbfoundedly.
Rose however, grows more agitated by the outburst, and takes it the wrong way. "If that's true, then why the crap didn't you say anything sooner?! If me being around you makes you sick enough to see doc, then I'll leave you alone!"
She picks up the pins that Chopper dropped, and storms off the room without another glance!
She slams the door shut on her way out and grumbles to herself on the way outside. "That fucking jerk off! I can't believe him! How the hell is it my fault when his heart is..."
She trails off from her rambling, and stops walking when she remembers what he said, and realizes how frighteningly similar he sounded to how he was speaking of his mystery feelings in her dreams.
If it's her presence that's causing Luffy to feel strange, then is it possible that he feels the same way she does?! "Oh, HELL no!"
Rose shakes her head to get the hopeful thoughts out of her mind, and runs out to the back deck where Zoro is training alone. "Zoro!"
Zoro jumps from the sudden shout, and accidentally whacks himself in the face with the weight that he was lifting. He puts down his weight and rubs his aching head before he narrows his eyes on the intruder. "What the hell's your problem?!"
"I need you to punch me!" Rose demands with a serious look on her face.
Zoro sweat drops at the weird demand, but shouldn't expect anything less from the crazy girl in front of him. "Any reason why?"
"Does it matter?"
"Not really." He nonchalantly gives her right cheek a cross punch with enough force for her to fall on her butt.
The brunette groans from the hit, and caresses her freckled cheek to sooth the pain that's confirming that she's awake. "Thank you."
"Are you going to tell me why now?" Zoro asks with growing curiosity for what's causing her new antics.
Rose gets up while still rubbing her aching face. "Luffy said something really similar to this dream I had last night, so I wanted to make sure I was still awake."
Zoro is taken aback by the explanation, before a smirk curls up on his face. "Oh, so now that you know you're awake, what are you gonna do?"
A faint blush forms on Rose's face before she looks away from him. "There's nothing to do. I took what he said out of context. If anything, I should be worried."
He becomes confused by the comment and raises an eyebrow. "Worried about what?"
"Luffy's getting weird pains when I'm around him. It doesn't make sense..." She starts getting worried when crazy ideas start to swarm her mind. "Wait, what if Luffy's somehow starting to sense auras?! He might be sensing how different I am from the others!"
The swordsman can only sweat drop at the excuse. "You're really stupid..."
She freezes at the insult and glares at him. "Excuse me?"
"How the hell can you not see that Luffy has a thing for you? Anyone with half a brain can tell."
Rose rolls her eyes at the insult. "You're the one saying stupid crap! There's no way that he could have those feelings!"
Zoro twitches an eyebrow at the wind girl's blunt denial in the fact that Luffy has feelings for her, and can't hold in his anger anymore. "What the hell's wrong with you?!"
Rose flinches at the harsh tone, but that doesn't stop Zoro from lecturing her. "We all know that you're into Luffy, so why can't you just tell him and see for yourself how he feels?!"
The brunette softly frowns at the question before she sighs. "Look, it doesn't matter what I feel. I'm not going to push anything on him and wreck his dream."
The swordsman grows confused by the explanation. "How would you wreck his dream to be the king of the pirates?"
She shakes her head at the assumption, then looks out to the beautiful ocean that they've been journeying on. "It's not the title itself, but what being pirate king means for him. For Luffy, being the king of the pirates means to be the freest man on the sea. If I push a relationship onto him, it'll be like tying him down. That's the last thing I want to do to him."
She grows a small smile on her face as she thinks of her captain and gives the swordsman a small shrug. "Besides this whole disease thing, we're in a pretty good place. As long as I can stay in the crew and support him, then I'm satisfied."
He grows surprised by the sentiment, and in a way, he's sort of relieved to hear that. Not only will he be able to win the bet because Luffy's the one that'll confess first, but he's completely sure now that she's looking out for his best interests.
He's confident in Luffy accepting her when she tells him her origins too, so he has no problems with the two of them being together. Not that it's his business anyway. "What if Luffy tells you he has feelings for you?"
She chuckles at the question, that seems completely unlikely to happen for her. "I'd need more than a punch to make sure I'm awake."
Zoro returns the chuckle as he takes out his sword. "I'll hold you to it. You ready to spar?"
"Always!" She takes out her sword and practically jumps into her daily sparring match with Zoro.
***************************************************
As soon as Rose stormed out of the bedroom that Luffy and Chopper were in, the doctor regains his senses and looks to Luffy. "Your chest pains happen because of Rose?!"
Luffy slowly nods while feeling regret for making her angry at him. "Yea, I don't know when it started but she keeps making me feel strange. When we hang out, or hug, I feel super happy, but nervous at the same time! And when other guys hug her, and make her face go red, I get angry for some reason!"
He remembers his date with Rose and points to his left cheek where she kissed him. "And when Rose kissed my cheek, it felt like everything stopped! I can't stop feeling weird stuff around her!"
Chopper is completely stunned about the explanation, and understands why he couldn't find his condition in his old textbooks. Because he never learned how to cure lovesickness from Doctorine!
The doctor groans for not realizing it sooner, and tiredly looks to his captain. "You're not sick, you're in love with Rose."
"What?!" Luffy drops his jaw at the diagnosis while Chopper goes to a desk where a pen and paper are resting.
He writes down a note, folds it up and gives it to Luffy. "Go to Sanji, and give him this note. With the way he acts around women, he should be able to help you out more."
The shock of Chopper's analysis melts away to happiness when he nods and takes the paper. "Got it, thanks Chopper!"
He runs out of the room and leaves the exhausted reindeer alone. Having to deal with not only one, but two oblivious patients in the same day takes a lot out of a doctor, so Chopper goes to his bed and takes a well-deserved rest.
Meanwhile, Luffy runs to the kitchen, where it's occupied by Nami and Robin who are having tea, and Sanji who's working on lunch. "Sanji!"
The girls stop and look to their captain curiously while Luffy runs up to the irritated chef.
Sanji lowers the heat on the stove so the food won't be overcooked, then narrows his eyes at the glutinous boy. "I'm not feeding you Luffy!"
"It's not about that!" Luffy's denial shocks everyone in the room before he pushes the paper Chopper gave to him into Sanji's face. "I need your help with something! Chopper said you'd know what when you read this!"
The chef pushes Luffy's hand away from his face and curiously takes the note. Once he unfolds it, he feels disbelief rushing inside him.
Sanji,
Luffy's in love with Rose, but he doesn't know what to do about it. Please help him. With your love for women, you can help him out more than I can.
Chopper
Sanji looks up at the clueless boy then back at the note with conflict on his face. He knows that the others have made a bet about the couple, and he's seen how they connect to each other more than friends. He might not be happy about Rose-chan falling for the idiot captain, but if Luffy has the same feelings for her then he's glad she'll get to be happy.
Now though, he needs to make sure that this moron doesn't blow this. "So, you're really in love with Rose?"
Nami brightens up at the question as she watches the show from her seat.
Robin however, goes back in her book with a calm smile on her face.
Luffy doesn't notice the girls' reaction as he nods without a care in a world. "Yea, Chopper said you can help."
The chef takes a cigarette from his pocket and starts to light it. Once he inhales the calming stick, he's ready to get through this painful experience. "You need to be straightforward with Rose-chan, and tell her how you feel when she's around you."
Luffy knits his eyebrows at the advice. "I did that, but she got mad at me."
Nami becomes surprised at this and joins the conversation. "What exactly happened?"
Luffy quickly explains the story of how he went to Chopper to check on his heart. When he explained the part of how Rose barged in and Luffy blurted out that she causes his chest pains, everyone else in the room is dumbfounded by his ignorance.
As soon as Luffy finishes, Sanji takes it upon himself to teach this brainless teen some manners by axe kicking his head to knock him down. "You idiot!"
Luffy falls face first on the floor and yelps from the pain. He rubs the growing lump that's on top of his head as he sits up. "What the hell was that for?!"
"You basically told Rose that she makes you sick!" Nami calls out in anger as the temptation to whack Luffy grows stronger with each second.
"That's not what I meant!" Luffy says with the feeling of guilt growing in him.
Sanji tiredly sighs, and puffs out some smoke in the process, before he crouches in front of his captain. "Whether you meant it or not, that was the effect. You need to go apologize to Rose-chan and tell her what you really meant. That's the only way to sort out these feelings."
"Got it!" Luffy says with pure determination in his face as he gets up and runs away before anyone can say anything.
"I'm surprised you didn't try to prevent Captain-san from confessing, Chef-san." Robin says with a sweet grin on her face.
Sanji quietly sighs as he stands up and looks to the girls. "As long as he makes Rose-chan happy, then I won't stop him. If he hurts her though, then I'll kick his ass."
Robin nods in acknowledgement as she goes back to her novel and enjoy her tea.
Nami on the other hand, grins in happiness that Sanji didn't stop the couple from getting together. She knows that the chef can be a bit of a womanizer, but the gentleman side of him makes up for that side in her eyes.
She continues to be in a daze until the sound of a new teacup is placed in front of her. She looks down at the tea, that has milk on the surface that's shaped like a heart, then looks up at the grinning blond. "Thank you Sanji-kun."
Hearts seem to fly around the chef as he bows in front of the beautiful woman. "It's my pleasure, my dear Nami-san. If you need anything else before lunch, please let me know."
He gives her a princely smile before he twirls back to the stove to get back to work on lunch.
The navigator takes the sweet drink, and enjoys the view of Sanji hard at work on a meal while Robin enjoys the view of the second clueless couple in the crew.
Meanwhile, Luffy searches all over the ship for the wind girl. He runs into all of the rooms below deck, but he couldn't find a trace of her. He can't find her out in the front deck, so he heads to the back deck to find Rose sparring with Zoro.
Neither swordsmen notice the new presence so they continue their match without a single miss in their rhythm.
"Is it just me or are you slowing down?" Zoro asks with a smirk as he goes for a strike to her side, but she blocks.
"I'm just getting started chia pet." Rose retorts as she counters the blow straight to his face only for another block to be made.
Both sides move as if they're in sync with one another, as a prime result of sparring almost every day since Rose's recruitment. It's still obvious that Zoro will be the victor, but with every day she becomes a better challenge for him.
With how long it could take for today's match to end, neither one is sure, so Luffy takes it upon himself to end it. "Rose!"
The wind girl freezes at the call and turns her head to Luffy, which gives Zoro the perfect opening to whack her on the head with the back end of his blade to end the fight!
Luffy laughs at the surprise hit while Rose hisses in pain.
She drops her sword and holds her aching head with both hands while she glares at her opponent. "What the fuck Zoro?!"
"You were the one that got distracted." Zoro says with a teasing smile as he sheathes his sword.
She scowls at him then looks to Luffy with a bit of lingering anger from before. "Did doc cure you, or do I need to keep leaving you alone?"
Luffy frowns at the question and remembers what he needs to do. "Chopper didn't cure me, but I don't want you to leave me alone!"
"What?!" Rose is stunned by the statement while Zoro sneaks off with a shit eating grin.
She sees Zoro leaving them alone and takes a deep breath to calm down. "What do you mean Chopper didn't cure you? Aren't I making you sick?"
Luffy quickly approaches her and then pulls her into his embrace to show that he's more than fine when she's with him. "I didn't mean it like that! I like being around you!"
Butterflies begin to fly around in Rose's stomach from Luffy's words as her face begins to redden. Acting on instinct, she returns the embrace and enjoys the warmth. Still, her curiosity gets the better of her to try to make sense of what's been bothering him, so she looks up at the boy who's just a few inches taller than her. "If I don't make you sick, then what were you feeling before?"
Luffy's smile grows from cheek to cheek as he keeps her in his arms.
He opens his mouth to speak, but the sound of loud monkey chatter fills the air instead of his voice!
The pirates pulled away in confusion, and looked out to the water to see a giant wave being formed in their direction!
"What the hell?!" Rose asks as she goes to the railing while Luffy runs off to get the others. When the wave begins to shadow over the ship, the monkey chatter becomes louder because three giant monkey faces appear on the side of the wave.
Rose drops her jaw at the sight of the large sea monkey's smirking as evilly as they could as they control the wave. Despite the shock, she knows exactly who they are and what their presence means. *It's time for the Davy Back Fight arc!*
"SEA MONKEYS!" Usopp screams out as he and the other crew member run outside.
Rose sees them getting to work on maneuvering the ship and joins them. As she gets to work on getting her wind into the sails, she smirks to herself in excitement that's to come into the next arc. "Let the games begin."
TO BE CONTINUED