The World Ends With You

Chapter 54: Infinite Possibilities

QUESTION: WHAT WOULD Luffy do to bring himself to a date with his girl?

First off, he asked Sabo on how he took Koala out because well, Luffy had zero experience on women. If he asked Sanji instead, the blonde chef would despair on the fact that Luffy was dating Nami.

The curly blonde brother of his simply paused before replying, "I asked her, 'are you free on this day?'. It shouldn't be too difficult for you to do that."

"But this is Nami we're talking about,"

Luffy knew Nami was the type to refuse questions like that, so he was sweatdropping while picturing what would happen. There was an infinite number of possibilities on what would happen and, since Luffy was not a perfect person as he was, it meant the chance of success and failure was 50/50; there was an equal proportion of the positive outcomes and the negatives. But then again, this was Nami they were talking about and she was infamous for being hard to get...despite the fact that he actually got her. In the end, she had fallen for him already.

Anyway.

Luffy started to bang his head on their dining table. "This is so hard!!!!!"

"You just have to come up to her, and tell her you want to take her out for a date." it was Ace who replied, not Sabo. The freckled older brother was on the couch, with a bag of chips on one hand. "If I were you, I would have taken her out already. No, we would be on somewhere else today."

"Oh I know!" exclaimed Sabo. "Ask her where she wants to go then take her there. Remember: the lady's always right."

"S-She's probably be taking us to that casino, then."

"Then take her there!"

"We're not allowed in there. We're minors!"

Ace hummed. "Then take her somewhere else."

Luffy considered a few options but all of then tied him back to the mall. To the Loguetown mall, that is. He sighed and banged his head against the table once again as he was stressed on thinking. Thinking was difficult.

And, the next thing he knew, he was standing beside her girlfriend who was getting a book from a shelf in the library.

"What is it, Luffy? You seem to be agitated since this morning," she said without looking at him.

"W-Well, I..."

"C'mon, spit it out."

"I-I..." he stammered and wondered why this was difficult.

"Wait, lemme guess..." said Nami as they headed to their and table surrounded by their friends. "you did something wrong, didn't you?"

"What? No,"

Nami opened the book about meteorology in front of her after she sat down beside Robin, but opposite Luffy. "Then what is it?"

English class was depressing. Not because it was English, but because of the fact that, for this lesson, they have to write a report on one particular book of their choice. In this case, Nami had chosen a meteorology one that was far from being considered as a novel. She began reading while also listening to Luffy.

On the other hand, Luffy just scratched his cheek. "I'm thinking, do you want to—"

"Shh!"

Attempt number one, status: failed.

Attempt number two.

Again, there was an infinite number of possibilities on this one. The amount of positive and negative outcomes were equal, making his success rate a whopping 50/50. But didn't matter however, for Luffy decided to ignore that and go in with his attempt to ask her girlfriend out to a date.

Really. How difficult might it be for him? Heck, they were already dating.

Luffy felt his heart speed up as he watched Nami comb her wavy orange locks with her slender fingers. There was something about her that almost made him melt; was it the way she did just that? Or the way she laughed at Usopp's lame jokes? Or was it simply the way she looked? Luffy couldn't decide so he considered all three, though without thinking it implicitly.

She noticed this and her cheeks reddened when their eyes met. Being her, Nami thought of teasing him. "Like what you see?"

A blush was also evident from his face as he flashed a bright smile. This time, it was Nami's heart that sped up. He looked endearingly cute and she mindlessly massaged his cheek. Luffy liked it but he was also confused.

A slurp was heard from Franky's cola. "That was super good. Oi, Nico Robin, wanna try the lasagna I made?"

"What are you offering her?" Chopper blurted out. "You and Usopp have finished it already."

Nami laughed at that again. She looked radiant today, Luffy took note of that. Her bangs on her forehead, some strands of hair hanging unevenly on the sides of her face, and her cheeks tinted with a bright crimson shade. Luffy touched her hand that was on his face.

He had to ask her. It was now or never.

"Nami, are you free on the weekend?"

Hearing this, she turned to him. "Sorry...?"

"This weekend...are you doing anything?"

"Not really. Why?"

Their eyes met.

"I was thinking of...no, I want you to go on a date with me."

"Eh?!"

Unfortunately, this was heard by the entire group. Sanji was once again drooping on his spot while Zoro tormented him more as the others anticipated what's happening. Though Nami didn't seem to mind it.

She was more worried about the thing Luffy was asking her but she sweetly smiled. The girl had a feeling this was what Luffy's trying to say earlier in the library.

So, with that said...

"I will go on a date with you, Monkey D Luffy."

The raven haired boy exhaled in relief.

Attempt number two, status: successful.