One Piece Fan Fiction ❯ A Log Pose to Nami ❯ Shocking Front Page News! The End of a Beginning! ( Chapter 8 )

A Log Pose to Nami

Shocking Front Page News!

The End of a Beginning!

“Robin-chan, I have for you a delectable treat from the North Sea. Its fragrance will alleviate your senses, and tease your taste buds with ecstasy,” Sanji set the bowl of varied fruits with the aromatic, light glaze beside Robin on the table.

The sun was up and shining and the crew were passing the time like any other day on the beach. It was to be noted, however, that half of the usual noise was gone, but no one mentioned the spaces of quiet, as it was new and slightly relaxing. Sometimes, Sanji would look out at the horizon, frowning to himself, but trying to be patient. He knew that if anyone would bring Nami back, it was their captain, and he'd be damned if he didn't. The cook cracked two nuts in his fist before he ate the tender meat from within, imagining that he was practicing with Luffy's - in case of disaster.

Yet, he was still certain that he would see the two before long, and he trusted Luffy.

A space of quiet from the crew was interrupted by the steady squawk of a bird, and Sanji glanced up at it, almost expecting to hear their captain say that he would bring it down so Sanji could cook. The bird didn't look particularly appetizing though, resembling something between a fat seagull and a pelican. After a moment, he squinted at it, sucking in a long breath from his cigarette before he turned to Robin.

“That bird's carrying something,” he said.

“Hmm?” She looked up, and said, “It must have some newspapers.”

As is landed in front of the two - having obviously decided they were in charge of their rabble - Sanji took the newspaper offered to him, and looked more closely at the name of the paper when he didn't recognize it right away, “The Pirate's Journal?” He and Robin shared a bewildered look before he unrolled it only to have a nasty start of surprise upon viewing the front page picture, “What the hell!?”

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Gathering up a treasure chest, Luffy spun in place, flinging the heavy chest at his attackers, and then coiled his arms around two of the remaining chests, lifting them under his arms. In his attempt to high tail it away and out to Nami, he used the chests as bludgeons, knocking aside pirates as he went, and kept his grin firmly in place.

However, at the door of the treasure room, Captain Vincent stood firmly in his way. When Luffy smacked his rotund belly, the chest sank into the blubber, and he balked, trying to pull the chest and his arm back out of Vincent's stomach.

“You think a paltry hit like that would do me in, kid? I've eaten the Squish Squish Fruit!” He unsheathed his own sword, and pointed it at the younger captain, “Any attack on my person just sinks right in me.”

“Ugh!” With some effort, Luffy finally yanked his arm and the treasure chest out, and stuck out his tongue at the man, disgusted, “That's nasty! Who'd want to eat that fruit?”

“Says the guy that can stretch his limbs out! What the hell's with that?” Vincent shot forward suddenly, and planted his fist into Luffy's face, sending him across the room to collapse against the wall opposite of the door. “This power makes me invincible! No attack will ever do me harm again.”

Gritting his teeth, Luffy stood up, still clinging to the treasure chests as he assessed this odd situation. With a harsh snort, he swung his arm, crashing the chest into the side of Vincent's head, but cringed when the impact was absorbed into his round body again, causing his arm and chest to be stuck within the flesh. Bringing his other arm around, Luffy swung down on top of his head, resulting in that arm sticking inside as well.

Wait, why did I think that would work …?

Turning, Vincent flung Luffy out of himself, and he crashed to the wall again, groaning under the weight of the chests since they had fallen atop him. What works against something that's squishy? He almost stuck out his tongue, revolted again by this turn of events, but ended up rolling onto his feet as he avoided another punch, still carrying the heavy chests. Spying a window, he realized that he could see the sky, and so he edged sideways toward it, keeping his body facing toward his opponent.

Vincent laughed raucously, “What's this? You trying to get away, kid? I promise I won't smash your face too much. Hell, let's just forget all this animosity and you can join me. You seem like the tough sort.”

“No way,” he said. “Your Devil Fruit power is too weird. I don't like it.”

“Shut the hell up, you skinny rubber band!”

If I can't hit you …!

“Gomu Gomu no,” he said, and, pulling his arms back, he smashed through the wall and window, his arms stretching out over the water. Luffy spun his arms together like a screw, and then veered them over his head, striking into and through the ceiling of the room. The two chests finally struck home into the floor just beside the astonished Vincent's feet, “Golden Flail!”

The massive blow collapsed the flooring below Captain Vincent, and so the man fell through. It was not the only damage done to the ship however. Water began to pour in from the bowels where Luffy had smashed the chests, flooding the ship, and seeping up to wear Luffy watched the man start to drown. After taking a few quick breaths, he looked around to see that the conscious pirates had been smart enough to get away as quickly as possible - though a few peeked in once they had heard their captain.

Noticing that the ceiling was likely about to collapse on top of him because of his recent stunt, he looked out into the ocean, glancing right and left for his ride.

“Oi, Nami!” He waved at her when he saw her trying to row the boat toward him.

“Hurry up and jump in! This is hard to do by myself,” she said, pulling a pout at him, and he grinned, stepping back to give himself a bit of a running leap onto their dinghy. When he put the large chests in front of her, she beamed brightly, clapping her hands together, “Wow! This will feed your gullet for at least a week, Luffy! Great job.” She patted his cheek, and then pointed off into the horizon, “Let's get going now!”

Nami sweated nervously when he stopped long enough to apply more lip balm. He then pumped his fist - the lip balm stick still brandished in his hand - and said, “Okay! Back to the crew!”

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“- have been going so far as to say that it was an inside job. Yet, here in the pirate community, we know that the strength and determination of this particular pirate brings doubt to those accusations.

“When we spied on the Captain of No Return's base, we overheard the truth on this event, and perhaps some startling revelations about our investigation of the recent attack of Enies Lobby. The sixteen million bounty, Nami, was brought in by an - as of yet - unknown crew who claimed her bounty, and left quickly. It was only hours later that her three hundred million berry captain was found by the Marines.

“Upon his awakening at the base, Monkey D. Luffy escaped, and destroyed several floors on his way down to the prison cells. The Marines are now planning the reconstruction of the eighteen floors that were smashed apart.

“Some further snooping showed that the Kairouseki bar doors which had held Nami had been torn from their moorings to the ceiling, floor, and walls! Whether or not Captain Luffy or Nami pulled out the Kairouseki bars is still questionable. However, such monstrous strength must surely be attributed to a man that can lead others to take down Enies Lobby. What a terrible figure he must be!

“The two pirates have escaped on a dinghy, leaving the dock in a confused enough state that none could give chase. Right now, we don't know if Captain Luffy's log pose reset before they could find the rest of the Straw Hat crew.

“Has Captain Luffy and his lover, Nami, returned after visiting the Island of No Return!?

“Read again in the next exciting edition of the Pirate's Journal!”

Sanji took the newspaper away from Zolo when he finished reading aloud, and shoved the front picture into Luffy's face, “Lover!? Explain!”

Pale, Nami swiped the newspaper out of his hands, and then shrieked at the sight of her and Luffy's first kiss at the Marine's base. Rolling it up, she started slapping Luffy with the paper, “You planned this, didn't you?”

“I didn't plan anything,” he said between her strikes, covering his head feebly with his hands. “I just wanted to kiss you.”

“Aargh! Now they'll think they can use me against you, Luffy! How could you!?”

Sanji pressed in his nose as well, nearly crying as he puffed broken hearts from his cigarette, “What happened here? Nami-san doesn't deserve her face being plastered across the Grand Line locking lips with you. Real men do not kiss and tell! Nami-swan is a fragile and beautiful flower - you can't treat her like she's something to show off!”

Luffy blanched slightly as he watched his cook go on, “But, Sanji-”

“Oi, love cook,” Zolo said, “aren't you upset that the captain `stole' Nami?”

“Nobody stole anything!” She said - though none of what she had said seemed to reach their ears.

“I'm plenty upset about that, moss-head,” he gestured briefly to Luffy with his cigarette before popping it back into his mouth, “but if he's going to treat her wrong on top of it, I'm going to kick his ass.” Turning to Luffy, he said, “And you better know that right now.”

Luffy smiled, and said, “I know.”

Sucking in a long drag of his cigarette, and then blowing out rings, he said as he took the newspaper again, and swatted his chest, “So then what's all this about? Smooch away from cameras next time.”

“I wanted to kiss her though,” he said, and then his eyes lit up abruptly. “They're really nice and soft!”

“Don't kiss and tell, shitty rubber man!” Sanji stomped on top of his head, continuing to kick even with Luffy down on the deck.

Nami only sighed, already having wasted most of her blushes on the first day of Luffy's candid advances, and said to Robin, “I wanted to keep it quiet a while longer, but I should've known that would be impossible on this ship. I wanted to get used to all of it first.”

With a gentle laugh, Robin said, “Navigator-san, I'm surprised you even considered the thought that your relationship could be hush-hush.” She nodded to the newspaper in Sanji's fist, “The Pirate's Journal certainly helped it along though.”

“Yeah,” she said, “and it didn't give Luffy the chance to screw up. What's that Journal thing about anyway?”

“It seems to be fairly new. The Pirate's Journal is a newspaper made for pirates by pirates,” she said. “They use it to bring important news and information to the pirates on the Grand Line; bounty lists, pirate gatherings and any recent raids too. It's a fine business to get into. They seem to like our crew too, I think.”

Somehow, Luffy crawled out from under Sanji's rampaging feet, and sprang up in front of Nami, “Oh! Nami, Nami, you're wearing it!” He poked the pearl necklace around her throat, and just grinned as wide as ever, making her smile with him.

“Oi, shitty captain, get back here!”

“Uwah! Bye, Nami! See you later!” The captain peeled rubber down the deck in his effort to escape Sanji, laughing, and pressing his straw hat firmly to his head so it wouldn't blow away or fall.

Usopp stepped beside Nami then, and tapped her shoulder, “Oi, Franky sprung a leak. You better fix him.”

“Eh? What?” She looked over only to realize that their shipwright was bawling, and scrubbing tears from his eyes to no avail. “Why me?”

“It's your picture's fault,” he said, waggling his eyebrows with a snicker.

Frowning, she put her hands on her hips, and stalked toward the older man, “Franky, what's wrong? What're you crying about?”

“Shut up! I ain't crying!” He sniffed up snot, wiped away more tears, and said, “It's all just so beautiful; you and the captain on the sea and in love! It's like someone's dream come true, and that I even get to see it …! You guys are so great!”

“You don't have to cry about it,” Zolo said, picking at his ear from being in close range of Franky's sobs.

“Shove it! I'm not crying, damn you! I love you guys!”

With the cook done chasing him down, Luffy stopped running next to Franky, and laughed, “Are you sick? Oi, Chopper! Come here, and make him stop leaking. He'll flood Sunny.”

“I can't cure stupidity!” He said, and then pointed at Luffy, “I should redress your wounds though. Your bandages are dirty.”

“Oh! That's right! That's right! Sanji! Make me a whale!”

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THE END

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Ack, finally people are saying that Luffy became OOC … and near the end too! Ah, well. Maybe it's true that no one can really tell how someone will act when they're in luff. (Because Luffy equals luff, you know.) Not that I want to make excuses because I hate doing that, but I can't see any way to tweak him to make him normal again yet, but I'll go back eventually to give that chapter a little edit. At least, no one's said he's not himself at all. I'd die. All I can do from now on is keep him as straightforward, brash, and reckless as possible! Yes, that's what I'll do!

sempai-sama: XP I suppose so. As someone else has said, he seems to be addicted to it. I don't blame him either! You know, I had been actually aiming for a slightly non-fluffy moment. Maybe more like a Luffy-moment? I was trying to keep him as frank - no, not Franky - as possible when I was writing then. Thanks for reviewing!

overlord: XP Hee. You should go to the MSN Group called One Piece Manga v.2, and read all the scanlated chapters there! The people that submit them do great jobs! Miss Merry Christmas was changed to Miss Groundhog's Day in the 4kids dub if that helps … XO Though I'd hate for anyone to recognize her by that name. Ugh … damned 4kids. Thank you for reviewing though!

Cybertoy00: Already know about those Groups - awesome, aren't they? I'm dirtmonkeyAL there if you ever spot me. Thanks for another review! ;P I'll be sure to read Water 7 over again before I write more Franky stuff. Just to make sure.

BlackNhite: Oi, you have to visit the MSN Group, One Piece Manga v.2 to read the manga scanlations. They do awesome jobs, and no one's making `em get rid of their scans. They're up to date on all of the manga chapters that are out there. Really. Chapter 456 just came out, and you can read it there right now. Oh, and since it seems you're unawares, Funi's got the rights to One Piece now, but they're starting with the Jaya arc - I'll be nice and patient though since I'm only going to buy the uncut DVDs. Thanks for reviewing! Fairies!

Nuit Fleur:If Luffy's being OOC, then I apologize, but maybe it's just that no one's seen him in a romantic relationship in the actual story. -shrugs- I just honestly thought that if he wanted to be with someone, he'd go for it, and keep her/him interested. So … whether I wrote him OOC or if I did fine and no one else has done it right, I guess it's up to Oda to reveal the truth of the matter … XP If he ever shows a romantic coupling with Luffy in One Piece. Thank you for the review!

wheathermangohanssj4: Oi, oi, if you're going to use Skypeia as an example, don't forget how he decided right away that he was also going to ring the bell for the monkey guys and Cricket. Thank you!

P.S.

Before anyone asks, yes, I have a sequel of sorts in mind.

Thank you, everyone, for all your wonderful reviews and well wishes! They really brightened my day and accelerated my typing speed to bring you guys this story. It was fun to write, and I hope it was fun to read as well!

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