Can I Steal Your Heart? - A LawLu fanfic

(Luffy) Chapter 4 - Pretense

Most of the crew was understandably surprised when Luffy showed up at the breakfast table groggy and lethargic. A brief look of guilt crossed Zoro's face as they made eye contact, but Luffy shook his head slightly, trying to tell his friend not to worry. The emerset already didn't trust him to be able to handle the truth about his illness, and Luffy wasn't going to give him more room to worry.

"Sanji, foooood," he moaned sleepily.

Sanji rolled his visible eye at the captain, but there was the tiniest hint of concern there. Probably because Luffy was sitting down quietly and not hanging off his friend's shoulders. "It's almost ready, you can wait for thirty more seconds."

"Luffy-san, are you alright? You don't seem quite yourself this morning," Brook asked gently. Nods of agreement were shared by several others at the table.

He made eye contact with Zoro again, and this time it was Zoro who gave a tiny head shake, accompanied by the faintest hint of a pleading look. Zoro was really asking him to lie to his nakama for a while. Luffy hated even the thought of it, but he understood. His proud first mate was trying to get any control he could over his own ending.

"I just had something to deal with late last night. Captain stuff. So I'm a little sleepy, that's all."

"'Captain stuff'?" Nami asked grumpily. "Since when do you actually do any 'captain stuff'? It's not you who got us through that storm yesterday afternoon."

"Hey, I do plenty of captain stuff! I choose which island we go to next! And help fend off attacks!" Luffy tried to get his energy up to usual levels so he wouldn't worry his crew, but it was a little forced. He wondered how many of his crew caught onto that.

"And eat all our food," Sanji added teasingly. "That's not to say we don't appreciate your valiant efforts yesterday, Nami-swan! We'd certainly be lost without our beautiful navigator!!" Sanji swooned as he brought Nami and Robin full plates. Zoro rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath.

Franky chuckled. "You did SUPER save us from that giant wave!"

"Tales will be told of how you saved the mighty Captain Usopp!"

Nami nodded her thanks, her mood seeming to shift for the better as she took a few bites of the delicious breakfast. She was usually grumpy before she'd eaten breakfast, so Luffy didn't hold it against her. He did notice that Chopper was quiet, too. No wonder Zoro had asked him not to wake the small doctor last night. The reindeer had deep bags under his eyes, so deep Luffy knew instantly that they were the result of too many sleepless nights. How had he not noticed before?

The same way he hadn't noticed that Zoro was sick, or that Nami was feeling underappreciated. What about the rest of them? What else had he allowed himself to miss?

He needed to take better care of his crew. Needed to notice more, appreciate them more. Their wellbeing was as much his responsibility as it was Sanji's or Chopper's. Maybe more. Sanji was responsible for keeping them fed, Chopper for keeping them healthy. As Captain, Luffy should be responsible for their mental and emotional states, as much as possible.

Breakfast was over before Luffy knew it, so engrossed was he in his thoughts. He put his plate in the sink with the others and went to the infirmary to talk to Chopper.

"Hey, Luffy. Everything okay?"

"No. I talked to Zoro last night. He told me what's going on, but said we should talk to you about it, too. That there was more I needed to know."

"Oh. Well, um, that's true." Chopper's face fell like he'd removed a mask. "He should be here soon."

"Chopper, why didn't you tell me? I'm the captain, shouldn't I know when something's wrong with one of the crew?"