Second Wind

24

"Would you care to repeat that?" Nami asked with lidded eyes.

The Strawhat crew's faces currently conveyed a myriad of various expressions which included confusion, shock, annoyance, skepticism, excitement, awe, and just about any other emotion that you would expect to see on their faces after their captain just said-

"This is my brother, Portgas D. Ace, who you probably know as Firefist, Second Commander of the Whitebeard pirates," Luffy repeated for the second time.

Silence. For a long moment, unyielding silence. Then...

"Stop doing that," Usopp said, causing Luffy to quirk an eyebrow.

"Doing wha-"

"Stop. Doing. That." Nami repeated, putting emphasis on each word. A confused Luffy opened his mouth as if to respond, then paused in thought for a moment.

"Ok. I'll just stop doing that then," he said, as if that would be the end of the discussion. Nami would have none of it.

"And what are you going to stop doing?" she asked, with the tone a mother might use to lecture a child, as Ace looked back and forth between the two, wishing he had a snack for the show.

"How the hell should I know?" Luffy mumbled indignantly. "Why don't you tell me? What do I have to stop doing?"

"You have to stop delivering shocking news as if you're predicting the weather!" Nami shouted in annoyance. "Half an hour ago you told us you could knock out hundreds of people with a single thought, and now you casually mention that you have a brother, and that he just happens to be Firefist Ace, a crewmate of the most powerful pirate in the world! Of all the ridiculous things to behold, Usopp's lies are second only to your truths, and he makes a spectacle of them...it's like you have no sense of subtlety whatsoever!"

Nami started taking deep breaths, her rant finished. Midway through, Ace had shot Luffy a questioning look, most likely in regards to the knock out hundreds of people with a single thought part, but Luffy had just given him a look that said later. Ace had just shrugged, but a ghost of a proud smile could still be seen tugging at his lips.

"Oh come on Nami, name one other time I...actually, on second thought, name five other times I've done this," Luffy said.

"You're just proving her point you know," Zoro commented, causing Nami to turn in his direction and point an accusing finger at him.

"And I'll bet you knew about this, didn't you?" she asked.

"So what if I did?" he asked lazily. "You gonna charge me interest on my debt of things I'm not obligated to tell you?" Nami was about to respond, but was interrupted by Ace.

"Oh! So you did tell at least one of your crewmates about me," he said jovially. "And here I thought you'd be an inconsiderate little prick and not even mention me once. Well, once is better than nonce I guess."

"Oh come on Ace, that's not fair," Luffy whined. "I mean, does Whitebeard know about me?"

Ace rolled his eyes. "Luffy, our entire crew knows about you. Said crew has over a hundred times more people than yours, not including our allies, and even the new guys learn about you within a few days of joining. Whitebeard himself was in bed with a hangover the morning after your bounty made the papers - congratulations by the way - in fact, the only member of our crew who wasn't bedridden that morning was our First Division Commander, and he has regenerative powers."

Luffy by now was rubbing the back of his head guiltily. "Ah, sorry Ace. I guess I just like to save the news for the occasion. You have to admit, it's pretty entertaining blowing their minds like that," he said as he motioned toward his attentive crew.