Meaning. Luffy x Original Character

愛 - love

Nami, Sanji, Zoro, Robin, Chopper and Luffy were running as fast as they could through the village, hurrying their way back to the Sunny. Luffy was holding an unconscious Airi in his arms, tightening his grip on her, afraid he would drop her. As soon as they reached their ship, they climbed in and Nami made sure everything was ready for them to leave. Luffy hurried to Chopper's office, followed closely by the doctor. 

Once they were both inside his office, Luffy carefully laid Airi on the bed, watching her bleeding wounds with glossy eyes. The girl was unconscious again, which caused Luffy's body to shake in panic. He grabbed the girl's hand into his and squeezed it tightly, "I'm not letting you go." he whispered with trembling lips. 

Chopper had got everything ready, "Luffy, you should go get some rest while I'm taking care of her." 

The captain shook his head in disapprobation, "I'm staying here." 

"Are you sure? I'm gonna have to stitch her up, maybe you don't wanna see this." 

A memory from his childhood came up to Luffy's mind. The day he had stabbed his own face on Shanks' ship, Airi had stayed with him all the way while he was getting stitched up, she had never left his side once. Luffy could feel warm salty tears filling up his eyes as he shook his head again, squeezing Airi's hand, "I'm staying here."  

For four long hours, Chopper had been looking after Airi, fixing and stitching up her wounds and injuries. He had put her a nasal cannula, a thin tube with two prongs fitting inside her nose, to help her breath, along with a blood transfusion tubing, to help her recover from the amount of blood she had lost. Her wounds on her stomach and head were covered in bandages. A machine next to her was calculating her heartbeat, the beep sounds echoing loudly into Luffy's ears. He had not moved once since the moment he had got here, he was sitting on the floor next to Airi, holding her hand and stroking it softly with his thumb. 

Chopper was finally done working, he cleaned up his medical instruments before turning to his captain, "Luffy, are you sure you don't want to rest?" 

Luffy silently shook his head no. Chopper let out a sight, "I have to check up on Nami now. Since you're already watching over Airi I can leave my office. Call me if anything sounds wrong." he said, pointing out the beeping machine. Luffy nodded quietly and the doctor left the room, closing the door behind him. 

Everything, except from the beeps of the machine, was quiet now. Luffy watched the sunset coming from the window lightening softly Airi's sleeping face. He could hear the calm waves of the see, along with birds singing. As annoying as the beeps sounded, they comforted the boy, somehow. He knew that as long as the machine was beeping at a normal pace, Airi was okay and alive. He gave her hand another gentle squeeze as he thought back of the moment she had stepped between the man and himself. She had been stabbed just to protect him. Luffy felt mad at himself for letting his guards down for those few seconds, if he had been more careful, Airi wouldn't have had to take the blow for him. 

Luffy could feel his blood boiling inside his veins from how upset he was feeling with himself. He had got there in time, and yet, he had not succeeded to affectively protect her. He could still hear her agonizing screams echoing in his head. He wished he could take the pain from her and have it instead. He thought of how he would never forgive himself for failing to protect her. 

But all he truly wished now, was for Airi to wake up. The sun that was setting was reflecting on her skin, and for some reason, Luffy could not take his eyes off of her. He could feel his heart beating faster, he wondered what made him feel this way. He had never felt this kind of thing before. The more he looked at the girl, the faster his heart was racing. Luffy quietly tried to figure out what this feeling could possibly be. It wasn't fear, it wasn't anger, it wasn't anything that he had ever experienced before. 

He frowned at the unfamiliar feeling. He brought his free hand to the one in which he was holding Airi's hand and placed it gently on top of it. The palm of his hand touching the soft skin on the back of hers made his heart jolt inside his chest. The contact with the girl's skin seemed to have a lot of impact on Luffy's heartbeat. As confusing as this feeling was, he couldn't deny how much he liked it. Being close to her felt just right. Luffy could feel his body craving Airi's presence, maybe was he only impatient for her to wake up? 

The office's door opened slowly and Luffy turned to see Robin who offered him a soft smile, "Sanji cooked some dinner."

Luffy shrugged silently and turned back to Airi to keep watching over her. 

Robin stepped in the room and sat down next to Luffy, "Our doctor mentioned that you were not decided to leave her side, so I brought you dinner here." she explained, placing a plate full of meat on the bedside table next to Luffy. 

Luffy's expression lightened up. He kept one hand to hold Airi's and used the other one to grab a piece of meat, gladly taking a bite out of it. 

Robin chuckled softly, "I figured you'd be hungry by now, you've been staying in here for quite a while, captain." 

Luffy swallowed the meat, eating was definitely making him feel better, "Thank you, Robin!" 

She gave him an amused smile as he kept swallowing more meat until the plate was empty. Once he was done, he looked back down at Airi that had still not woken up. The quiet came back and all they could hear was the beeping machine. 

Luffy slightly frowned, "Robin. Can I ask you something?" 

"Of course." 

"I feel... I- I... Why do I feel... different, when it comes to Airi?" 

Robin tried to hold in a smile, "Different, you say? What makes it different?" 

Luffy nodded, "I don't know what it is about but... It's not the same with her. It's not like with you or the others. My heart keeps doing weird things when I'm with her. It only happens with her." 

Robin nodded, "You're figuring out how you feel about her, captain." 

"How I feel about her? You know what it is about, then?" Luffy questioned, tilting his head. 

"I do. You like her, Luffy." 

Luffy furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, "Of course I do." 

Robin smiled, "But not like you like me or your crew members."

Luffy thought for a second and then nodded in approbation. 

"It's another... kind of liking." Robin explained, "It's love." 

The boy's eyes widened and he looked back down at girl, his heart skipping a beat at the sight of her, "L-Love?" 

Robin offered him a reassuring smile, "Figuring out this feeling requires some patience, but I'm sure you're capable of it, captain." she stated before getting up and leaving the room as to let him think. 

He kept watching Airi quietly as the room was getting darker, thinking of Robin's words. As his eyes traveled up and down the girl's calm face, Luffy could feel his heart beating loudly inside his chest, as if it was about to explode. Was this love? 

Luffy eyed down Airi's slightly parted lips. It was as if his chest, his mind and his entire body was screaming at him to get closer to her. But he stood still, trying to figure out whatever was happening inside him. All he could feel now, except from his heart racing, was his lips awfully craving Airi's, although he didn't understand why. The thought of placing his lips on hers came up to his mind, and his heart was now pounding violently against his ribs. Was this how love felt like? 

Luffy just smiled at the warmth being in the girl's company brought to his chest. He decided to not leave her side until she would wake up.