Of Rivals and Oniichans

CHAPTER 3: Recollections - Part II

"AAACCCEEE!" He hears her screech. They are so fraught that it's almost as if her lungs are bleeding. He can hear her sobs, but it is slowly fading away, along with his consciousness. He wants to tell her not to cry—is she really going to send him off in tears?—but he doesn't even have the energy to breathe.

He hears her ask—beg—him to wake up, stand up, and run away with her but that's not possible at the moment.

That's Luffy for you, he tells himself with a pained smile, asking for the impossible.

It is also how he knows she'll get through this.

So when he finally lets go of his strength, there is a smile eternally pasted on his face.

......

EN-ROUTE TO ERUMALU
Two Years Prior

"Food!"

"Water!"

"Shade!"

"I feel like I'm walking on the suuuunnnn." Luffy dragged her feet through the sand and, while the orange-head yelled for her to be quiet, Ace only saw adorableness. He just wanted to give her his barrel of water.

Unfortunately, the same woman (along with most of her crew) told him not to spoil Luffy. As she was looking at him, there was little doubt that she was thinking that it's no wonder Luffy was so selfish and spontaneous.

(Although... he would partly agree to this. Luffy had the predisposition of a ruthless adventurer, but it was Sabo and he who protected and trained her through everything and gave her everything she wanted with a little pout that she never really changed).

So, a bit guiltily and mostly amused, he watched Luffy carry on as everybody else had.

"Food!"

"Wateerr!"

"Shaaaaaade!"

"Shut UP, LUFFY!"

Luffy didn't seem to hear the navigator's command and she whipped her head to him, eyes begging and he could practically hear her thoughts. CARRY ME AAACCEEE, she said, but he knew how torturous that would be for him, and it wasn't because she was heavy or that he wasn't strong enough.

Instead of carrying her though he only walked side-by-side with her and leaned down a little so they were eye-to-eye as they spoke.

He had to stop a laugh from coming out because Luffy was so tired and so bored that her rubber body was practically sagging. He told her she should be a bit more patient, because everybody else is, and a captain should be able to endure more. (Although he didn't doubt she'd be the one to endure the most during their fights, and that worried him the most).

"Fine," she grumbled and she received a proud ruffling of her hair, and decided she can endure a bit longer.

Meanwhile, everyone else stared.

After all... Luffy actually listened to someone!

...

As he traveled with them to Erumalu, his dark-colored orbs watched as Luffy continuously caused trouble to her crewmates (i.e. she often disappeared, ate cacti and underwent major hallucinations of Crocodile, she wasted water, she'd be noisy and impatient, and she ran after the most dangerous desert critters, among others).

And it hadn't even been a day.

It was not a surprise, knowing Luffy, and it troubled him a little. She may have incredible amounts of charm and can turn almost anyone into a friend, but having to stay with her as a nakama was a grueling task not for the weak of mind and heart.