One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter Ninety Two [Rewritten]

-Chapter Ninety-Two-

"These guys really take their salvaging seriously, don't they?" Usopp questioned.

"Well, with how they talk and act, I can assume this is their job" I said. "It'd be concerning if they didn't."

"Well, I think they're showing off because their captain has a crush on me" Nami cut in.

"Is that so? What gives you that idea?" I asked, crossing my arms as I raised an eyebrow

"Just look—he's totally trying to show off what he and his men can do as a way to impress me" she pointed out, motioning towards the men now hard at work on the other ship.

"And why would he want to impress you of all people?" I questioned, lips twitching upwards.

"Why wouldn't he? I'm cute" Nami grinned.

"Yeah, you got me there" I chuckled. "I'd want to impress you too if I was a man" I smiled, lightly bumping her with my shoulder as she giggled.

"Move it, men! I want this done fast!" Masira ordered.

"Aye, aye, sir!" his men exclaimed.

It went silent after that saved for the occasional sound of low chatter as the men on the other ship worked. The atmosphere around us was somewhat calm...sadly, such peace wasn't meant to last as one of our men finally tried to speak to us after what felt like an eternity of silence on their end. Nami and Usopp were quick to cut them off, covering the speaker as they nervously smiled at Masira who was now staring at us with both curiosity and suspicion.

"So...uh...why such a big monkey? There on the bow of your ship" Usopp nervously smiled, quickly trying to direct Masira's attention onto something else.

"Yeah, it's rather...unique looking..." I nodded, helping the sharpshooter in guiding the monkey's attention elsewhere that wasn't us and our suspicious behavior. Although...I couldn't help the soft look in my eyes the moment I really took a second to look at the ship's figurehead and see just how...cute...it actually was. It looked almost silly with its adorable little design of a monkey holding cymbals.

"Oh, that? Do you like it?" Masira perked up. "It's a special bow I designed—it aids in our salvage, just watch" he explained as we all sighed in relief the second he turned his attention forward, his mood now doing a complete one-eighty as he seemed to just automatically forget about our strange behavior from earlier. "You're gonna love this—lower the Bark-o-Hunter!" he ordered.

"Aye, aye, sir!" the men saluted before setting out to do what they were told as they started to ominously chant the word "monkey" over and over.

"It's moving..." I muttered, watching as the monkey on the bow was suddenly removed from the ship and lowered into the water.

"Wow, amazing!" Chopper awed.

"Simply amazing!" Usopp agreed.

"Are you kidding me?" Nami grumbled.

"All they did was just drop it into the ocean" I deadpanned.

"Excellent! Now it's time for me to blow!" Masira grinned once everything was ready and upon hearing this, his men started to cheer.

"Wait...there's no way..." Nami muttered. "He's actually going to use his breath to bring up that ship? That's ridiculous!" she gaped as Masira sucked in a large amount of air before blowing into the tube in his hands.

"That's some powerful lungs you've got there, sir" I whistled.

"Alright! Haul her up!" Masira ordered once he was finished blowing.