Queen of the Pirates

Dock #1

"I'm just going to hold onto that," I gently smile as I easily take the briefcase from Luffy's hands. "It's not that I don't trust you Luffy, but you just don't care enough about money to keep it safe."

He shrugs, "Maybe you're right. You can hold onto it."

Usopp and Nami burst out of the water a second later and are on Luffy the second they lay eyes on him. I know their angry, but he didn't let the money fall into the water, so they don't need to beat him up this badly. Though, I'm probably a little biased when it comes to him.

"Do it again and I'll beat you up for real!" Nami screams.

"S...sorry," Luffy chokes out through his swelling face.

"And I'll break all your teeth!" Usopp screams.

"I'm going to hold on to it from now on guys, so you don't have to pound it into his head anymore," I hold up the briefcase for them to see.

"Oh Akari, you are an angel," Nami lets out a breath as she picks up her briefcase. "This is how it should have been to start." She heads for her Bull Boat.

"Now we know to never trust Luffy with money for sure," Usopp shakes his head, grabbing his briefcase and heading for his Bull Boat.

"Are you okay, Luff?" I crouch in front of the boy whose face is still swollen from the punches he endured.

"I really am sorry," he chokes out.

"I know you didn't throw it on purpose." I start placing kisses all over his face. "It slipped, and that's okay. Accidents happen. I know you didn't mean it, but I've spent my entire life with you. I know you better than almost everyone."

Either from the help of my kisses or Luffy's willpower, all the swelling goes down on his face before too long. Then the two of us climb into our Bull Boat. Since I have the task of keeping a briefcase full of money safe, I decide to take the back seat even though Luffy pouts when I tell him. The sadness doesn't last long once we set out along the canals to our next destination.

"Now we can head to the docks to find a shipwright that will tell us what needs to be done for Going Merry and how much it will cost," I speak up after a peaceful moment of silence.

"We should head back to the ship first and get more gold," Luffy says. "I want to carry gold if I can't carry any money."

"No need," Nami responds. "We can do all that after we find a shipwright. We'll need to go back to check price anyways. Really, there's no need to rush."

"Ah, that's true," Usopp hums.

"Hey!" Luffy exclaims. "They're selling Water-Water Buns! We should get like a thousand."

"We have important business to get to, Luffy," I lean forward. "We can't stop to get food again. The sooner we get to the shipyard and have someone out to check out Merry, the better."

"You're right," he sighs. "I just know the buns would be as good as what we had earlier."

I giggle, "We have an entire week in Water 7, Luff. We'll get the Mizu-Mizu Buns another time. Until then, we have to stay focused."

"Oh, we're here again," Usopp says as our Yagara-Bulls pull us into a little inlet in front of a giant wall with the number '1' on it.

"The entrance to the shipyard!" I pop out of the boat to land on solid ground.