Second Wind

36

The Going Merry sailed smoothly through the Grand Line in a rare moment of serenity. It had been over a day since the Strawhats had escaped the marine blockade, and they were still adapting to the relatively relaxing endeavor of sailing without incident. Looking back, their time since coming to the Grand Line had been wrought with danger, and while their adventure happy Captain and adrenaline junky First Mate had no problems with it, the rest of them were enjoying the sudden lack of tension.

"Hey Usopp!" Luffy shouted excitedly. The sniper turned from where he was working on his weapon designs to face said captain, and saw with much mirth that he had hands growing out of his head, which closely resembled horns. "Look, I'm a tanuki!"

Chopper, who was watching the scene, immediately took offense. "You mean a reindeer! Tanuki don't have antlers!" Luffy and Usopp fell over laughing at Chopper's expense, which only made the doctor angrier.

Luffy controlled his laughter and addressed Chopper's objection. "Of course they do Chopper. I mean, why else would you have antlers?" he asked.

Chopper easily rose to the bait. "Because I'm a reindeer!" he shouted indignantly. This time, Luffy looked at him like he was in idiot.

"Are you stupid Chopper? Reindeers don't walk on two legs," Luffy replied. Chopper's jaw dropped upon hearing the logical fallacy.

"NEITHER DO TANUKI!" he shouted, too gullible to realize that Luffy was doing this intentionally. Usopp, who had just gotten up, fell over laughing again, while Robin let out a laugh of her own as she watched in amusement.

Luffy paused to consider Chopper's argument. "Hmm, you're right," he acknowledged. "I guess you must be half human half tanuki then."

"I'M HALF REINDEER!" Chopper yelled, waving his arms up and down as if he was throwing a tantrum.

Luffy's eyes lit up in comprehension. "Oooohh! So you're half reindeer half tanuki half hu-" Luffy was cut off from his calculated taunting as a hand bloomed out of his shoulder and covered his mouth. Luffy turned to Robin and pouted. She smiled innocently.

"Sorry Captain-san. But Longnose-kun is going to pass out from lack of oxygen soon," she said as the hand disappeared.

Luffy turned to Usopp, who was gasping for air, and smiled sheepishly. It was then that Sanji announced that he had snacks ready. Usopp rushed toward the kitchen, Chopper following behind him. Luffy, surprisingly, didn't go. He stared toward the kitchen longingly but instead turned to Robin, who looked back at him curiously.

"There's something you've wanted to ask me since we left Alabasta," he said, not beating around the bush. Robin blinked, surprised by both his directness and his observational skills. She liked to think she was good at concealing things like that from the attention of others. It was one of the skills she had developed over the years. And yet in the brief encounters she had had with her new captain so far, he had always managed to read her somehow. If any of her previous superiors had ever shown that capability, it would have been a cause for concern. Crocodile had been good, but not this good. She would have been dead long ago if the warlord could tell what she was thinking this easily. And yet, for some reason it didn't really bother her that Luffy could see more than what she generally allowed people to see.

The scary part was that she knew it should.

"There is," she responded. "A few things, actually."

Luffy smiled good-naturedly. "Well, you can ask whenever you feel like it. We don't care that much about formalities on this ship."

Robin nodded slowly. She had expected as much, but old habits died hard. "Captain-san, I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but I was wondering why you invited me to your crew," she said carefully.