The Game (luNa)

1

Uhhh, ok this might be confusing but this is based on around episode 130, but ace is dead, sooooo… I dunno. We’ll figure it out. (I've included robin but she comes in a bit later.)

The crew of the going mary had been travelling for days, seeking an island so they could top up their supplies. This, of course, meant they had gone days without anything to do. Being in the grand line ment there were significantly less ships around. As you can imagine, this did not sit well with luffy.

Everyone was finding a way to entertain themselves, zoro at the front of the ship, training, chopper organising and re-organising the medical supplies and reading through his medicinal books, Nami sitting in her room going through her maps, slowly fitting them all onto the wall of her cabin so that she could form what she one day hoped would be a map of the world. Usopp and Sanji were playing cards in the kitchen, uttering the occasional yell of triumph or defeat and breaking into arguments every now and then.

Luffy lay on his back in the middle of the deck, arms and legs spread out and his tongue hanging from his mouth, squinting accusingly at the sun. every now and then he would utter the phrase ‘bored’ in his usual whiny voice. Nobody paid him any attention. Of course, they were all used to putting up with his whining. He sat up, pouting. Luffy would never show it, but he really hated it when his crew ignored him. Especially now, when the death of his brother was still a fresh wound in his poor, sweet heart. Luffy sighed and leaned his head back on the rail of the ship, muttering, 

‘God dammit, ace, why’d you have to go and die on me like that.’ he felt his eyes begin to water and rubbed at them angrily, mad at himself for showing weakness. He sniffed aggressively and stood up, searching for something he could do to allow him to escape being trapped with his own lonely thoughts.

Nami sighed and tipped back in her chair, grabbing her hair in frustration and allowing her hands to drop to her sides. No matter how hard she tried, she was struggling to concentrate on what she was doing and kept screwing her maps up and having to start again, which only ticked her off more. She would never admit it, but she was worried sick about her captain. She knew it was unreasonable. Luffy was luffy. Nothing could phase him. He was one of the strongest people she knew. But still, she worried.

No matter how big and tough they were, someone who cares for people as much as her stupid captain did always ended up getting hurt whenever anything happened to the people they loved. And Ace was Luffy's big brother. Luffy didn’t talk about his past, but it was clear the bond these brothers had was not your ordinary sibling relationship. They’d been through things. Nami knew.

It was like that with her adopted sister. The two were not related by blood, but that didn’t mean they didn’t love each other just as much. In fact, they had been through so much together as children with the whole scene with Arlong that they were probably even closer than normal siblings.

The navigator couldn’t help but wonder whether something similar was the story with Ace and Luffy. Knowing she couldn’t focus and therefore would get next to nothing done, Nami climbed up the ladder in search of something else to do.

As she padded silently onto the deck, she froze, staring at the figure slumped against the railing. Luffy looked really upset about something and seemed to be beating himself up for it. He had his hands pressed into his face. 

Nami heard her captain muter something along the lines of ‘damn ace … and … on …’. The navigator froze, now aware that Luffy was upset about his brother. She knew that she should probably see if he was Ok, to comfort him, but she didn’t know how.

She hated seeing Luffy like this. It didn’t happen very often. Around everyone else, he was his normal self, happy and smiling, as if nothing had happened. But every now and then, when he was alone, Nami often caught him huddled in a corner, sobbing, or staring off into space with such a heartbreaking look of pain etched onto his face the navigator often ended up in tears. But she never did anything about it.

She left her poor captain to his sufferings. Nami averted her gaze, ashamed at her inability to help. She just stood there and watched as the captain steeled himself with a deep breath and wandered off. She stared down at the floor, mind drifting to far off places. She sank to the floor, resting her head against the wall and staring up at the clear sky. Without meaning to, she completely lost track of time.

Luffy ran his hands against the wall of the ship, letting his feet guide him. He first wandered into the kitchen where usopp and sanji were playing cards. The two were so caught up in their game they didn’t notice their captain at first. That was until he started making a scene and whining about being hungry. Sanji sighed and got to his feet, turning his whining captain around and pushing him out of the door.

‘Listen up Luffy, I'm in the middle of a game, but I’ll make lunch after that, k?’ he asked, braced against the doorframe, one hand on the doorknob. Luffy pouted, demanding meat instantly, but Sanji just shut the door in his face.

He groaned and wandered off, looking for something else to do. His wanderings led him to Roronoa Zoro, his right hand man, who was too caught up in his training to notice his captain and, as a result, accidentally sent him flying into the wall.

On the other side, Chopper had just finished stacking his perfectly organised herbs. He sighed triumphantly and put his hands (hooves?) on his hips. A split second later there was a loud crash as luffy came flying through the wall. He flew right through the room knocking choppers tower over, and hit the wall on the other side, sliding down into a sitting position. He raised his head and started laughing, freezing when he saw the look on the reindeer's face.

 ‘Oh oh.’ luffy grimaced as the enraged doctor flet towards him. Zoro stepped through the luffy shaped hole in the wall and caught chopper before he could do luffy and harm, raising a hand to the back of his neck and apologising awkwardly to the reindeer, saying it was him who accidentally launched their captain through the wall. Chopper turned on him furious. Instead of attacking, he raised his head to the ceiling and yelled,

 ‘BOTH OF YOU GET OUT, RIGHT NOW!’

Both Luffy and Zoro bowed and scurried out of the hole in the wall, eager to get away from Chopper.

 ‘Sorry bout that.’ The swordsman exclaimed, turning to Luffy, who just laughed. 

‘Nah, is alright!’ luffy pipped back. ‘I was getting bored anyway.’ Zoro chuckled and handed Luffy a ridiculously heavy weight. ‘Here.’ He said. 

‘Care to join me?’ For lack of anything better to do, luffy shrugged and took the weight. He trained with the swordsman for a while, before getting bored of that too and wandering off again, in search of the next person. 

Nami was still zoned out, slumped against the wall. She didn’t notice the familiar footsteps as they wandered towards her. Not until they were right beside her.

 ‘Hey, Nami!’ Her captain said, snapping her out of her daydream. Startled, she turned her head around, frantically searching for the cause of the familiar sound. ‘Are you alright?’ Luffy asked her, concern knitting its way into his face. She breathed a sigh of relief upon discovering that it was just her captain, and smiled up at him.

 ‘Yeah.’ She lied. ‘Just zoned out.’ Luffy nodded, lowering himself down next to her. 

‘So then you're bored too huh?’ Nami chuckled at his captain's words. ‘You could say that.’ she said. She turned her head to study Luffy's thoughtful face. Stealing her mind, she decided to confront him. ‘Say, luffy?’ She asked him, cautious about her approach.

 ‘Yea?’ Her captain replied, turning to face her. 

Nami bit her lip, thoughtful, before saying, ‘are you alright, captain?’. You would have had to have been watching luffy very closely, which Nami was, to have noticed the strange look that darted across his face. It was gone before she could even decipher it, replaced by Luffy's iconic grin.

 ‘Course I am.’ he replied, putting on an act so good that Nami almost began to believe it. Almost. But not quite. She looked her captain dead in the eyes and repeated herself, softening her voice.

 ‘Luffy. Are you alright?’ Her captain's grin faltered, his eyes widening. As the question sunk in, his eyes filled with tears. Catching himself, luffy drew a deep breath and turned his head away from his concerned navigator, he hurriedly stood and muttered something about being tired.

Nami stared after him, wide eyed, as he hurried off into the men's quarters. Sitting there, alone, a sudden realisation caused Nami’s eyes to water. He doesn't want me to see him cry.