I'mma just casually mute Wattpad notifications now-
Recap:
"I don't feel good... And my face hurts...." he says pulling his wrist away from Nami as he continues to walk forward, one hand on his hat and the other at his side in a clenched fist. Once he was sure he was confused as to where to go, he stopped walking, bringing up a hand to his face only to scream when he felt how hot his cheeks were.
He was blushing. What... What was this...?"
"Is this the mystery feeling?!" he exclaims aloud, his voice echoing throughout the whole city.
After heading back to the ship, you notice Luffy was no longer on the railing with that pouty face. In fact, you saw everyone there except him. "Hey, everyone." you say with a small smile and wave.
However, you receive no verbal reaction as Sanji is muttering something inaudible as he sulked in the corner, Nami was sighing as she banged her head on the door of one of the ships. Zoro was asleep, Chopper was staring at the two of you, mumbling something to the effect of "The world is a strange place" and Vivi, well, Vivi was blushing.
"Um... Did something happen?" Mist asks being all of their behaviors were rather abnormal except for Zoro's of course.
"Everything." Nami mutters as she deadpans making you and Mist look at one another, then back at Nami with a sweat drop. "Just be ready to sail out..." she says with another sigh.
"Okay...?" you reply before looking around and seeing Luffy wasn't anywhere on the deck. "Hey, where's Luffy..?" you mutter finding that clearly you were going to receive no answer based on how everyone was sulking currently. At the same time, Mist walked up to Vivi, his cheeks flushing pink once he notices she was blushing as well.
"H-Hey Vivi..." he begins, feeling his heart skip a beat all over again. Ah he hated how nervous he got around her sometimes... "U-Um..." he clears his throat again, chuckling softly, "Sorry I'm kind of awkward huh?" he flashes her a closed eye smile which only made Vivi want to melt into a puddle right there and then on the deck.
"N-no...I like talking to you, Mist.." she says finally looking up at the male. "Um.... Can I, ask you something?" she begins, before gently grabbing his slightly feminine and gentle hands. "Alone?"
"S-Sure!" he shouts a bit louder than intended, making him slap a hand over his mouth, but nodding of course. Vivi led the two of them to the girls' room, closing the door behind her in case anyone tried to come in. "So..what'd you want to talk about?" he asks nervously, scratching the back of his head.
Vivi takes a seat on the bed, patting the spot next to her for him to do the same. Mist was flustered at first but obeyed as he takes a seat next to her, folding his hands on his lap as the two of them would make eye contact for a moment before breaking away just as quickly. "W-Well... I... I was wondering how you felt about me."
"E-Eh?!" Mist stutters as the female turned to completely face him, her face just as red as his, her large chocolate brown eyes staring into his dark pink ones. "I..." he closes his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath before opening them again as he placed his hand on top of hers. "I really like how determined you are to save your kingdom. I think, considering you're royalty, and you're risking everything and carrying that big burden... You're amazing." his eyes seemed to light up as he said this, his heart pounding loudly in his chest.
Vivi was speechless as she stared back into his eyes, feeling her face heat up, as she could barley form words to respond. "S-Sorry!" Mist immediately dropped her hands, feeling embarrassed and worried he scared her just by saying those things. "I know it's probably weird having some guy- well, some random fishy- er, mammal- I mean dolphin- pink ahhh!!" the male let out a yell in frustration as he let his head hang low, his hands resting in his pink hair.
"Oh Mist no no that's not it!" the bluenette exclaims as she gently rests her hands on his. Slowly she cups his cheek, turning his head so that he was now looking up at him. "I... I'm glad you're saying that. It makes me really happy. I don't see you as some random dolphin or anything... I like you for the way you are..."
"Even if I'm not human...?" he asks softly, his eyes wide as the joy was visible in his eyes. The female nods in response, the two of them falling silent, becoming lost and staring into one another's eyes. Vivi gently used her nimble fingers to brush a few stray locks of Mist's hair from his eyes.
As the female did this, Mist gripped her wrist gently, stopping her from pulling her hand away, as her palm now rested on his cheek. He tilted his head slightly, leaning into the feeling of her warm hand against his cheek, letting out a small sigh of content as his eyes fluttered shut. A small gasp escaped Vivi, but she allowed it, relaxing her hand as her fingers rested against his warm bright pink cheeks.
Seeing his eyes close, it gave her an idea. Something, she'd never thought she'd do in a million years. A feeling, she never thought she'd feel for someone she met on the sea. But maybe.... Just maybe she would allow this.. Just once...
Slowly, the female leaned in closer, her brown eyes fluttering shut, and her slowly getting closer to Mist's a moment that didn't seem like it was going to be stopped any time soon. Hearts pounding, faces flushed pink from their blushes, and close, sweet and innocent intimacy.
The prolonging of the moment would have to put on hold further once the two of them heard the screaming coming from outside.
"Luffy?" you call out, walking around the deck and finally going to the front of the ship, where Luffy was sitting on his favorite seat, now dressed in desert robes, a dark red robe with three white rings decorated along both of the sleeves and a light blue wrap over his head, and his sandals in front of him in a butterfly sitting position.
"There you are Luffy!" you say with a small sigh, running up to the railing next to his special seat, frowning in a playful manner to your captain. "Why didn't you answer me? I was looking all over for you-"
"Y/n." he says cutting you off. It was then you noticed his attitude appeared to be rather different. The brim of his straw hat created a shadow that masked his expression, and his voice was a lot more sharp and lacking that usual playful tone head. "You...You're my friend right?"
You blink a few times in surprise hearing this, as you slowly nod in response. "Of course. You're my captain and my friend. Why?"
And there it was again. The same stomach churning feeling. A hand went up to Luffy's chest as his fingers tightly gripped around his clothing, gritting his teeth. "Then..." Luffy turns around, jumping off of the Merry's goat head and now standing on the deck. He is silent for another moment, before speaking. "I don't want to be friends with you anymore."
It took your brain a moment to process the words. At first you'd expected to hear something like him saying he was relieved or he was happy to have you as a friend. So when you heard the words 'I don't want to be friends with you anymore...'
"W-What are you saying Luffy...?" you stutter, feeling your heart nearly shatter at his words. Slowly you reached to grab his hand, only for him to smack it away, his expression now becoming visible as it was one with anger and pain contorted on his face.
"It's exactly as I said! You're not my friend anymore! You...!" he looks away for a moment before shouting again, "You keep hurting me! And I don't like it!"
"Hurting you?! What are you talking about Luffy?!" What was going on? The pain from your hand seemed to go numb as it didn't hurt even a quarter compared to the words that your captain was saying to you. "How did I hurt you? Please tell me so I can-"
"No!" He shouts, clearly mad as he turned away, and all of this shouting had gotten the attention of the rest of the crew members. Nami and Sanji, who had been in the kitchen opened the door, poking their heads out. Chopper and Usopp had been below deck checking on the functioning of the ship now walked up the steps and everyone was shocked at the sight before them.
Even Mist and Vivi, stepped out of the girl's room and joined Nami and Sanji, confused. "What's going on Nami-san?" Vivi whispers quietly.
"I don't know.. I heard Luffy and Y/n shouting..." she whispers back, the two of them staring at Luffy and you with worry.
Sanji raised an eyebrow at this, not sulking as much compared to earlier but rather confused. "Why the hell is Luffy so upset with Y/n-chan?" he growled slightly, a bit irritated now seeing that Luffy was mad at you.
"I don't know... I hope it doesn't escalate though." Mist replies back, before the four of them fall silent as they watched. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the rest of the crew, Zoro was pretending to be asleep on the deck, as he listened in to the fighting as well.
"What do you mean no?!" You shout back, running in front of the male to keep him from walking away. "You don't want to tell me what's wrong?! You want to just stop being friends?!"
"Yeah! I'm captain so you have to do what I say!" Luffy shouts back, making you roll your eyes and scoff.
"Like that's any excuse! Just tell me why you're so upset!"
"I told you why! You keep hurting me and I don't like it! Go hurt someone else you jerk!"
"How?! Luffy just tell me please!" you beg, feeling your eyes water up as you tried to grab the male's wrist again, making Luffy's eyes widen for a moment. "Don't grab me!" he shouts and shoves you back, making you cry out as it caused your back to be slammed into the railing behind you.
From there, everything went silent. Luffy's eyes widen in shock, realizing he had pushed you too hard. "Y-Y/n! I'm sorry I-"
Before he could even finish his sentence, he felt a fist connect to his right cheek, punching him harshly as he was knocked over from the impact, wincing at the stinging pain and bruise already forming. When he looked up, he saw it was none other than you, with tears pooling in your eyes.
"Fine! You don't want to be friends anymore?! Fine with me!" you stormed off at this, going into the girl's room and slamming the door closed. At this, Luffy felt that same pain in his chest all over again. He didn't understand. It was because you were his friend that he was in so much pain, right?
So why did seeing you cry, seeing you get so mad at him, hurt all the worse? Shakily, Luffy stood up again, only to feel the top of his robes being grabbed again, this time by Sanji. "You rubber bastard! How dare you hurt a lady!" he shouts. "What the hell did you do that for?!"
"I didn't mean to!" Luffy shouts back, clearly just as mad as Sanji for what went down. "She go too close! She keeps hurting me for being my friend!!"
"What kind of bullshit is that you airhead?!" Sanji let go of the male, kicking him in the head again, making Luffy wince slightly. "You better go apologize to Y/n-chan right away!"
"No!" Luffy shouts back almost immediately, making Sanji's eyes widen and it was visibly clear he was more pissed. Without another word, Sanji walks back to the kitchen, not saying anything else to the rest of the crew members as he opens the door.
"Then... You don't get to eat until you apologize." With that he slammed the door closed. Vivi, Nami and Mist all looked at one another, before looking back at Luffy.
"Luffy.." Just as Nami began, Luffy crossed his arms over his chest, still confused and angry about what happened as he sat back on the Merry's head without a word, not facing the rest of the crew. Meanwhile, Zoro had gotten up from his spot, and gently knocked on the door to the girls' room.
"Oi what are you-" before he could even finish the words, he saw you were standing there, with a bag slung over your shoulders, with what he could only deduce containing clothes. "Where do you think you're going?" he asks narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Isn't that obvious?" you mutter, sniffling as you wiped away any stray tears. "I'm not his friend anymore, so I shouldn't be part of his crew." just as you were about to walk out of the room, Zoro grabbed your wrist and pulled you back, tossing the bag off to the side.
Just as you were about to shout at him for doing this, he cut you off. "You're not going anywhere. You know the Navy is after us now. Whether you like it or not, you're a part of the Straw Hat Pirates as the Navy sees it. Not to mention you're wanted for your own bounty. If you leave now, you know there's no way you'll be able to escape them."
At this, you fell silent, knowing it was true. Even if you were upset, and wanted to leave the crew right now, you'd get caught within an instant. And.. You didn't want to go back to that place. To that hateful man... None of it.
"....What do I do Zoro..?" you mutter quietly. "He hates me..." a small sob escaped your throat as your eyes watered all over again, and you couldn't control it this time when you hugged Zoro tightly, your body shaking slightly as you cried into his desert robes.
He lets out a small exhale, his hard gaze softening as he slowly hugged back, not used to being this soft unless it came to you. "Give him some time. That idiot probably doesn't know what he's talking about anyways." he mutters. Truthfully he didn't know why Luffy was acting the way he was. He seemed to enjoy your presence, so why the sudden declaration that the two of you weren't friends anymore?
In fact, you got along with Luffy quite well. From the moment the two of you met, you were playful, went along with his ideas and seemed to always fight at his side. Not to mention the two of you absolutely loved meat and food in general. Plus, the way Luffy looked at you... Like you were a treasured friend, was both a comfort and discomfort to Zoro.
However, none of that mattered right now, as he was just doing his best to comfort you, his little sister.
Night had finally fallen in Alabasta. The Going Merry was quiet for the most part. The ship was heading off to the port Vivi told them a day ago now, as they would park the ship there and head out to the desert. It would be a long journey, and the less they carried with them, the easier it would be.
Though, there was no high energy and spirit lifting coming from the Straw Hat crew. It was silent. Too silent. It felt... wrong. Luffy was outside, still having his arms crossed over his chest, though a little snot bubble appeared from his left nostril as he was now fast asleep.
Usopp, Sanji and Chopper were sleeping in the boys' room and Mist was out keeping watch from the mast. Vivi and Nami were both asleep in the girls' room, though Vivi was currently having trouble sleeping as she couldn't stop thinking about what happened with her and Mist.
Finally, you and Zoro were asleep at the starboard of the deck, with Zoro's arms crossed over his chest, and his katanas resting at his left side, and you on his right, head rested against his shoulder as you were finally asleep, your eyes slightly puffy from all the crying earlier.
Ace, on the other hand, had just returned as he hopped onto the deck, keeping his footsteps silent before sweat dropping seeing Luffy asleep on the seat, and you with Zoro. Huh.....
"Did something happen?" he wondered aloud, scratching the back of his head, and fixing his hat.
To Be Continued....
A/n: Soooooo.... Vivi and Mist amiright? Heh... 👉👈