A/N: This is a continuation of the previous chapter, so this one occurs in the same day as the previous one does. Enjoy!!!
"Nami!! Hurry up!!!!"
EVERYBODY ELSE BUT Luffy and Nami were sitting next to one another in the grandstand of the sports stadium. All the students on the seats were wearing their sports uniform, paired with sport shoes except for the swimmers who recently had their own practice. Nami noticed that Luffy was nowhere to be found as she remembered a buffy guy dragging him towards somewhere in the same stadium but what confused her was the fact that they were both missing.
In the middle of the stadium erected the two basketball hoops at each end of the court. Apparently, it was the reason why everyone had gathered inside the stadium; the basketball team was giving them a show.
"...and welcome our ultra majestic basketball team athletes!"
Cheers and squeals resonated across the stadium as said team walked into the light from the tunnel in the side, in a queue. Each were waving happily to their spectators, except for Luffy who seemed to be looking for something. Or someone. He had a neutral expression on his face while he was wearing a burgundy sweater over their majestic jersey top – a silver tank top lined with crimson felt – as he patted the shorts of the same colour scheme. When he finally had turned towards his friends place in the seats, his lips immediately stretched into a toothy smile.
The announcer once more blared from the speakers and, as it did, Sanji noticed a few unfamiliar face from the other side of the stadium. "So this is not everybody, then..."
"Whatcha blabbing about, curly brows?"
He ignored the swordsman's nickname to him. "I don't think it's just a regular sports day...I reckon there's a competition or something."
"A competition?" Brook overheard, since he was sitting behind them along with Chopper and Nami. Robin was in front of the latter. "Never seen posters around."
"That's because it's recently made," Franky stated, scratching his chin. "they didn't get time to announce the match so here we are, sitting in the stadium with no idea on what's happening."
"Neverthelss, we're watching Luffy-san so it's worth it. Yohohohoho!"
As true as it may be, but Nami was way too preoccupied to listen to their conversations. She had her head leaning on her elbow with dazed eyes on 'the team' on the court. She was still thinking about the happenings from earlier when Luffy literally swooped her but, at the same time, she kept in mind that he only did it out of reflex and nothing more. He saw her tripping and so the most logical thing to do was to keep her from falling right? Luffy may have succeed in doing so; too bad it didn't work figuratively.
Another queue of players came from the other side and, even if they were not their own, the students still cheered. It was fair treatment, as Robin pointed out.
Meanwhile, Brook was looking around. "Is it just me...or there are some people missing?"
Nami also turned her head to observe. "Now that you mention it...I don't see the Warlords around. Any idea, Jinbe?"
The foreign exchange student just shrugged. "Don't ask me."
But deep down, the orange haired girl had an idea why there were no Warlords witnessing the match. She connected the fact that there were no announcements about the match and the absence of the seven individuals; there might be someone behind the things happening. Someone powerful at school, and financially.
===
IT WAS FINALLY down to the final quarter. Everyone was tired out and sweating even Luffy who was normally full of energy. Seeing him pant out every now and then, Nami cursed herself for not telling him to attend their practice earlier. She blamed herself for him missing out. C'mon Luffy...you're just a score away from catching up...
Robin felt the girl behind her stand up and so she turned, seeing Nami on her feet. She started cheering for their friend. "DON'T GIVE UP, LUFFY!!!!"
Hearing this, the person of interest turned to her direction with one eye closed. He felt adrenaline pumping through his body and he flashed yet another toothy grin. Even though she couldn't hear it, Luffy spoke. "Thank you Nami!"
"GO, LUFFY!!! YOU CAN SUPERRR DO THIS!!!!" Franky cheered once more as Usopp went along, replacing 'super' with 'ultra'. It was indeed an ultra exciting moment not to cheer on his friend.
Suddenly, it was timeout. The players of went to their respective benches with their coaches going over their plans for the final minutes of the game. For some reason the timeout took longer than it supposed to take, and so Luffy decided it would be best to cool himself for a while now.
"So hot..." he started inching backward and unknowingly turned towards his friends' direction.
"Wait...what's he doing?" Nami asked lowly to no one in particular and noticed Luffy's lips slightly parted, with his raven hair shadowing his eyes.
Then the tired out Luffy started pulling the hem of his jersey's top and lifted it over his torso, revealing his lean, muscular body. Nami's eyes widened and watched the show, her face becoming as red as a tomato. He observed how Luffy was looking ultra muscular with his washboard abs and painful-looking scar on his broad chest. Under his clothes he looked scrawny but now Nami's view of her seemed to change for good; Luffy actually possessed a well knit bod that was not too buffed and, as of the moment, glistening in sweat.
"W-What the hell is he doing?!" she asked loudly, again, to no one in particular with her eyes still widened in surprise.
Robin heard her and she knew Nami was enjoying what she was seeing, "Are you okay, Nami?"
"Oohhh our captain's ultra-brawny! Yohohohohohoho!" Brook cheered. "But this ain't a strip show so..." he then called out. "Luffy-san! Put your jersey back on!!"
At the same time, Luffy received a comical punch from his teammate, urging him to get dressed quick.
===
LUFFY SIGHED AS he gulped the bottle of milk in one go, putting the bottle back down the table afterwards. The action made a loud 'ka-chink' sound the bottle was a tad away from shattering. "Oh man, that game sure was tiring!"
"Of course it is," Nami grunted. "You skipped practise, what do you expect?"
Currently, it was just the two of them in the Loguetown Mall. No other mates were present since everyone either had stuff to do or, in Zoro's case, just wanted to rest. Nami shook her head while she stole glances from the raven haired boy sitting scross her. Stop it, she thought to herself.
Luffy hummed. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing...Luffy, why can't we just go home already?"
His chest tightened a bit. "What? Why?"
"Well, you said it yourself that the game was tiring...and I still have to dry my suit and towel,"
He looked at her with supposedly teary eyes before dropping his gaze on her lips. For some reason, he had the urge to bite his own lip so he did. This didn't go unnoticed by Nami, of course.
"L-Luffy!"
"What?"
She pouted with her cheeks bright pink. "I said let's go home,"
They finally got on the street near the bus stop but there were too many people so Nami decided it would be best if they waited somewhere not crowded. And there it was, a spacious front of a convenience store.
She leaned on the glass window with her duffle hanging across her body like a sling bag while Luffy checked out the food inside. No, he didn't have money to spend but Nami still let him have the fun of drooling over the goods inside said store while she, on the other hand, get to isolate herself from him for a while and try to forget about that. She might have seen Luffy topless couple times already but she never thought he'd be that enticing.
"Hey Missy," she opened one eye and saw two men in front of her.
"Hm?"
One of them, the bandana-wearing one, glanced at the crest on her sports uniform. "You're from One Piece, yea? I bet you're by yourself. Why don't you come with us? We'll get you food."
"First off, I'm not hungry." Nami frimly replied. "Second, you're not my type. Get lost."
"Woah! Watch your mouth, kitten."
She smiled. "Lesson number one: don't watch the mouth, watch the hands." she raised her arms up and showed them two wallets. They were theirs and they didn't even see when she sneaked and snatched them off.
"You cat burglar!" the tan one cried.
"Relax, I ain't taking 'em..." she threw their not-so-thick wallets back at them. "now, can you please leave? I'm waiting for my bus."
The bandana guy grabbed her by the wrist. "I said you're coming with us, missy!"
"Hey! Let go of me!" Nami exclaimed. She then clicked her tongue. She didn't have her baton to defend herself from these two so she couldn't really do anything but wait for Luffy to come out and help her. The only option she had was to buy time and hope for the best that he exits the convenience store soon.
Inside, Luffy was reading some magazines from the shelf despite being told not to. He shrugged his shoulders. Nami was waiting for him outside. How come she was always there with him? When others seemed to be unreachable, Nami was the only one who was always available. Confused of what he was thinking all of a sudden, he remembered that the very same girl was waiting for him outside the store. Probably bored by now. With that in mind, he turned around and immediately saw a thug trying to drag her away from where she was once leaning.
"Nami...!!" was all he mustered before running immediately out the store, facing towards them.
"Oi. What do you think you're doing?" Luffy asked in a low but audible voice.
The other guy glanced at him. "Huh? You're from One Piece, too? You look weak for one." he laughed. "You know this girl?"
"Yeah. She's my friend,"
Nami winced and tried to pull her own arm away from the guy. "I said let go of me!"
Luffy, noticing that Nami was visibly scared and hurt, threw a punch at the guy who had her wrist in his fist. It was a solid punch but it didn't hurt Luffy. Not one bit.
"The hell...?"
"Luffy," Nami whimpered and he flung an arm on her shoulder once he had successfully pulled her gently towards him. She felt her cheeks warm up again.
He glanced at her. "Are you hurt?"
"N-No...I'm fine,"
But the mark on her wrist did not go past Luffy's attention. "Your arm."
She flashed a weak smile as she replied, "I-It's fine, Luffy, let's just go home and–"
"No,"
Nami felt something engulf her head and as she touched her crown, it was Luffy's hat resting on it. Her blush became much more prominent, and even more so when she watched him effortlessly give the two thugs a beating for harassing her. She may be calm outside though inside, she was worried; not about Luffy nor the guys but about the feelings she had been keeping from everyone. Especially from Luffy.
But seeing him protect her often and non hesitantly giving her his hat made Nami realise that she actually had fallen for her friend; the ultra cruel truth behind her stupid actions around him.
Shit...have I actually fallen for this idiot?