Straw Hat Luffy: The Black Fist

Chapter 22: Parting

AN:

Alright, so, this chapter and the next one honestly have me a little nervous. Not so much this one but definitely the next one. Lol. I won't say much as to why because none of you probably care but, regardless, I still had fun writing this one and I'm pretty close to finishing the next one. Things are starting to pick up, so expect a lot of time to pass pretty quickly. I don't know about you guys but I'm ready for canon and I'm really trying not to rush but it's HARD, so some of the pacing might seem a little out of whack. I'll have more to say about all this when I release the next chapter so don't worry about it for now.

Also, there was a comment about doing some self-promoting in Discord and I definitely think it's a good idea but I think for now, until we get into canon at least a little bit, I'm just gonna try and stay focused on the writing. Definitely something I will look into in the near future though so thank you for the suggestion.

Anyways, I hope you all like the chapter and feel free to let me know what you think. :)

Here's chapter 22.

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Chapter 22: Parting

"Bring us in nice and slow boys!", Nami said to the two currently paddling.

Luffy and Zoro brought the small craft up beside the larger Merry, slowing to a halt close enough to touch the other vessel.

"Levi!", yelled Luffy, out to the water, "Stay around here. I need you to pull the Merry!". A muffled sound came from under the water and the teen smiled in satisfaction. With that figured out, he looked over to the ship he'd missed so much.

The orangette eyed Merry with more regret than she wanted to. This was the last time she would see it... Maybe forever... Before she could shake the thought away, she wondered if her nightmares would come back. Her vision shifted to the boys moving to pick up their sacks of treasure and a pit began to form in her stomach.

"Alright!", Luffy exclaimed, his bag of treasure flying through the air and landing surprisingly softly on the deck of the Merry. He turned and saw Nami looking at him just as the Zoro's cloth sack landed next to his. He walked to Nami with a big smile on his face, the girl eyeing him uncertainly. However, she made no move to refuse when he picked her up bridal style and jumped from the wood of the small ship.

"Hey! Be careful with her! She's still injured!", Sanji screamed as his and Carina's boat came up beside the other three's. He turned to the purple-haired girl, the sound of Luffy hitting the deck echoing into the air, "If I may, Lady Carina?", the chef asked, gesturing to the Merry.

Carina hid her light blush and nodded in confirmation. It was time for her to set off, anyways. She needed to find a place to trade all this treasure for actual money. She'd been upset to leave Mad Treasure's ship, but it was too large for her to sail by herself, same for Nami. She'd thought about trying to take some of the gems that decorated the boat but they were all too big. The thought made her pout... Those would have gone for some serious money.

Sanji ignored the violette's surprised yelp when he picked her up bridal style and jumped to the deck of the Merry, the screaming girl securely held in his arms.

The blond landed and her screaming kept going for a moment until she realized she was back on solid ground. Carina tried to hide her blush from the four lightly laughing individuals as the chef set her down, huffing in irritation. She'd definitely misunderstood what he meant by 'May I?'. "What the hell, Sanji! Warn a girl first!", she chastised, looking at him in consternation.

Sanji laughed in reply, trying to keep the blood from flowing out of his nose. He'd held Carina so close... "Sorry, my lady. I thought you understood.", he smiled, walking through the group and to the kitchen.