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RUMBLE!	By : TreeStar Category: +M to R > One Piece Views: 7990 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
RUMBLE!

14

BUBBLes 1: Spoon of Power

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��He really is the color of Sen-san�s nose.� Robin�s words worked like a trigger, for this was the only lone sentence that would be heard for the next two minutes.

�Luffy!� Chopper and Nami exploded at once, and then their words took off in different directions. Usopp added to the melee by trying to tell the story with too much elaboration, and what the other four heard went something like this:

�Look at your outfit - dangerous that is - no warning at all - have any idea what - launched like a Great Rocket! - and you�re soaking wet - even have anymore handkerchiefs - too cold and now we�re gonna have to - Great Usopp Star Creator - did this even happen? - supposed to be watching him! - splashed my coveralls - with our luck the string�s gonna - supposed to be in the room with that stuff - so that�s how he got messy - get some scissors - very serious medical condition!�

It was hard to pick all the chaos apart, and the voices kept getting louder.

His chest and head hurt more than he wanted anyone to know, though he had the feeling Zoro and Sanji weren't fooled at all. Neither looked happy that Usopp had run off the fetch the others so quickly before he'd had a chance to even try standing up by himself, but now they tried to play like nothing was wrong at all. That was what Luffy had found himself hoping they would do when the others had come in and gotten angry, and it was so cool to him how they both just... knew.

Now it was impossible for Luffy to distinguish voices. His hearing was nearing that critical point where things could get bad fast. As the volume increased, Luffy finally dropped his forehead to the table and covered his ears.

�Quiet!� Zoro almost bellowed, making Luffy cringe in pain.

Not a single pause was created by the shout, but as though a button had been pushed, instead of a bunch of voices talking over each other, a bunch of whispers were trying to hiss over each other, never slowing the pace of their chatter.

Now Luffy realized how much he wanted to be back in Zoro's hands. Or at least touching him in some way. But he couldn�t partake in his desire, because he was the captain, and he had to be strong. Moreover, he didn�t want the others to know he�d even had an attack of such a kind, and half-stumbling half-crawling over to Zoro to curl up against the side of his forearm right now would be a dead giveaway to the doctor and two observant women of exactly that.

He wished he had taken advantage of their comfort to stabilize himself before when Zoro had been holding him, because he was becoming aware now that he wouldn�t be able to manage to recover on his own enough to stand for several minutes, at least� But he had to play like there was no problem.

Luffy wasn�t a great actor, and he hated being dishonest with his nakama, he hated it. It made his heart hurt.

But it would only hurt his heart more if they knew, if they had to feel more pain because he did. He knew that was what nakama did, they experienced everything together. But Luffy wanted to protect his nakama from everything painful that he could.

�He loved them so much.

And he knew they loved him.

�You look like a Smurf.� Sanji suddenly said dryly at regular volume, and Usopp burst out laughing.

�And YOU!� Nami spun on Usopp with a hiss, a pair of scissors in her hand, �Stop encouraging him! Do you think this is funny? Do you want to be his personal seamstress for a day?�

Chopper was still going strong, ignoring all other words flying around. �Zoro! I told you at lunch like forty minutes ago that he had to stay clean so that he wouldn�t have a violent reaction to anything. Why is he even in the room with paint?� He paused in this rant for a moment so that Nami could step in front of him.

�Luffy, stand up for me?�

Luffy nodded slowly and pushed himself to his feet, shaking as little as possible, trying not to give away that he couldn�t really balance at all.

�Okay, Luffy. Arms up.� Nami raised her arms up above her head in demonstration.

Luffy froze for an instant. There was no way he could stay upright with his arms straight up over his head. Did she suspect something? Is she testing me?

But then Nami was holding her pinky finger just over his head for him to grab, almost like she understood his problem. How�?

�Banzai!� she prompted with a smile, turning into a game.

�Banzai!� Luffy cheered without thinking, throwing his hands straight up to grab her finger over his head. A wave of dizziness came after, but Nami inadvertently supported him.

�Now don�t move.� Nami said more seriously. She tucked the tip of the sharp scissors between Luffy and the red string.

�N-Nami?� Luffy called nervously. Zoro sat up straighter.

She gave him a tiny smile, �Shhh, It�s okay.�

Luffy nodded but froze completely as she worked. Now he understood why she�d offered him a finger to hold. It wasn�t for balance, it was because she knew he�d need something to keep his hands wrapped around so they didn�t move back down instinctively to protect himself. He didn�t like blades at all, and Nami knew this made him uncomfortable.

Nami carefully sliced the string in one smooth snip and pulled the feared object away from her captain before slowly unwrapping the string from around him.

Luffy grunted a little as she carefully pulled the string away. It had been tied around one place for so long that it had imprinted in his skin and removing it hurt a little. But once it was gone, Luffy rubbed the area and that felt really good. The hanky hung loosely off of him now. It was a comfortable break.

Then Chopper pinned Luffy again, �You�re lucky you didn�t suffocate! You don�t even want to know what your attacks could very well be like after a hit like that! You need to consider long-term effects! Just because an attack is over doesn't mean it's really over! You could carry the pain from some attacks for hours if they're bad ones, and you're throwing yourself into a can of paint?"

Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy�s eyes snapped up to look at each other�s. The reindeer had looked skyward in exasperation a second before, however, and didn�t notice.

�Oh man-!� Sanji�s hand around Usopp�s neck cut the sniper short.

Nami looked at them strangely, but Sanji smiled meekly. �Stepped on his foot,� he excused, and Nami rolled her eyes.

Sanji let Usopp go with an unspoken Warning of Death, and took advantage of the split-second of quiet to suggest something. �Let�s just slow down for a minute. We�re gonna try something I like to call �talking in turns�. See this spoon?� Sanji grabbed a spoon out of the drawer. �This is the Spoon of Power. If you don�t have this Spoon in your hand, you don�t have the Power to speak. Everyone understand?� He looked specifically from Usopp to Chopper here.

Both boys looked excited. Luffy�s eyes were all stars.

When no argument came, Sanji passed the Spoon to Zoro, who was reaching for it.

This is a good idea, Zoro thought as his fingers touched the Spoon of Power. Out loud he said, �This idea is stupid.� as soon as he had touched the Spoon, merely on the grounds that he could never compliment Sanji about anything for any reason. Ever.

�I don�t care,� Sanji said, and let go of the Spoon.

Zoro let it drop and pointed the Spoon at the navigator. �Nami, do you think you can make him something else to wear?�

Nami took the Spoon and sighed, and then shrugged after a minute. �Sure, why not? I�ll have to find material thin enough to work with, and then I have to actually make it. It�ll take some time.�

A hand bloomed out of Nami�s arm to touch the Almighty Spoon. �I�ll help you, Koukaishi-san,� Robin put in.

�Um...� Luffy hesitantly sounded, getting everyone�s attention. He was sitting on the table with his arms waving a little tiredly for the Spoon of Power. Nami reached to put the Great Spoon down next to him on the table, but Luffy reached and took it from her in the air. He knew it wasn't heavy, but once he had taken it he realized that he felt oddly weak. He didn't want to show any more weakness to his crew, though, and persevered. It was only a spoon, for God's sake!

The others watched as he slung it over his shoulder so he looked like a little spoon-soldier sitting on a break between a march. But then once he had the Spoon, he looked a little edgy, as if trying to find the words.�I need to take this off. It�s making me feel funny.� he pulled at his hanky with his free hand.

The newcomers looked at each other and then back at the captain.They seemed to be finally realizing that Luffy didn't look too good. He was very pale...

The swordsman nodded, �Then take it off.� he said, reaching for the Spoon.

�I�ll take it. I�ll need the measurements.� Nami coaxed in agreement with Zoro.

�Hah!� Usopp declared, pointing. �Nami didn�t have the Power Spoon! She�s disqualified!�

Sanji kicked him.

�Funny how?� Zoro asked, undistracted by the crash in the background.

Luffy�s voice was muffled by the hanky over his head, �I don�t know.� He had apparently gotten stuck somehow. �The air tastes thicker. Makes me dizzy.� Really, he felt like he could get sick soon.

Zoro, still in possession of the Spoon, turned to Chopper. �I know you don�t want him submerged in the water because of the effects it might have, but I had to rinse him off, so he�s already wet, and I really think he should take a bath and get all that off of himself. I have a feeling that what being covered in paint could do is more dangerous than being wet with water.� Hid last comment was almost a dare for Chopper to say otherwise. He was pretty sure of himself on this call.

Chopper took the Spoon in his hoof, looking at it in wonder, then looked up at Zoro. �Given the circumstances, I�d say that�s best right now.�

�Right,� Zoro said, taking the Spoon of Power from the reluctant reindeer.

Chopper waited until Luffy pulled his head out of the cloth and handed it to Nami to say his next words. She very maturely made no comment regarding his current nudity even though his skin was covered in paint in places it really didn�t belong and it was all exposed. But better healthy naked than sick clothed, right?

Nami and Robin left the kitchen to hunt, Zoro guessed, for the materials of Luffy�s new outfit after that. Usopp pulled himself up and dragged himself from the cook�s wrath. Sanji followed him out in a ridiculous withdrawal-induced fury. While the cook was distracted with this, Zoro grabbed the shallow casserole dish from the bottom pantry.

Then he grabbed a paper towel to give Luffy a little temporary protection from the outside cold. Luffy rolled into it, trying his best to not look as shaky as he felt, and Zoro carried him out of the room.

---------------

Walking into the bathroom and closing the door, Zoro�s attitude changed, his unaffected �it�s no big deal� expression changed to one of worry and even anger. He couldn�t figure out what the hell had possessed Luffy to do this! He could have died, and there wouldn�t even be a way to revive him at his size!

He set the paper towel down on the dry Wet Bench and filled the casserole dish with tepid water from the sink. The dish was about three inches deep and ideal as a bathtub for the munchkin. He wouldn�t uncover the ofuro yet as there was no need to. Usopp had pumped the pipes full of water that morning and turned the boiler on, and though much of it had been spent in the kitchen, it wouldn�t take much to give Luffy enough to use as rinsing water that wasn�t cold. Sink water would be more than enough. The water from the ofuro would be something he could soak in later. Luffy rarely got to soak, but he could probably use the minerals�

Luffy unrolled himself from the paper towel but didn�t rise. He simply sat holding his head. The whole attack had lasted maybe forty seconds, which was no huge deal as far as the length that his other attack types had reached, but this attack was SO not those other attacks. It had hurt like a bitch, but since it had scared him so badly, he hadn't had time to really think about that. His chest had spasmed violently and involuntarily about a hundred times when he was trying to swallow air, though, and now he was really starting to feel that.

�Luffy.� Zoro spoke quietly and calmly at the sink. He wasn�t about to put he and Luffy through another �emotional misunderstanding� incident like this morning, and Luffy already �felt funny�. �How did this happen?�

Luffy could only shrug, �I don�t know. Just� I thought it would be neat to climb on the Thing.� Luffy laid on his side and waited for a bout of nausea to pass.

The casserole dish was filled enough, and Zoro set it on the Wet Bench, then took a seat between it and his captain for a moment. �Why? Luffy, you said you wouldn�t get near the paint. Usopp was painting the Thing, so what made you decide to touch the Thing?�

�I wasn�t thinking� I�m sorry.� Luffy didn't open his eyes.

�Not as sorry as you�re gonna be if what Chopper was saying is true.�

Luffy didn't answer.

Zoro was quiet for a moment. Luffy looked as sick as he had the night before right after his seizure. "Does it hurt too bad?"

"I'll be okay," came the tired answer. "It was only for a few seconds. This'll pass in a minute. I just need to get the paint off."

Zoro nodded and moved to the cabinet under the sink. He started trying to cut out a tiny piece of washcloth with a razor (his swords were upstairs) and spoke, as he worked at it, to the boy behind him. He paused in his cutting, sighed and was quiet for a moment. �You know I can�t just let this go, right?�

Luffy nodded sadly, but mumbled, �I was gonna let your hurting Sanji�s jacket go��

Zoro was quiet for another moment. �Thanks Sencho, but it�s okay to punish me if you need to. You need to keep your authority established in front of us all, and I would rather get extra chores than let this go in return. Sorry.�

Luffy nodded his understanding again. It may have seemed odd on another ship that the captain could get punished by the crew, but on the Merry it was almost commonplace. Besides, Zoro would never really punish him the way that, say, Nami did.

Luffy knew that when Zoro said 'let it go', it just meant that he wouldn't be able to pretend it didn't happen, and something was going to change because of it. To be honest, it was punishment enough just knowing how disappointed in him his first mate was. �It was an accident.�

�I know. But Sanji agrees, and you know Chopper agrees, and I know everyone else would too, that you can�t afford to have accidents right now. This one alone could have killed you.� He paused for a moment to speak again. �I want you to start taking rests in between attacks like Chopper advised. Real rests, not just sitting still to play a game or something."

Luffy looked like he wanted to protest, but Zoro cut him off. "I think it would be best for you, too. At the very least until we know how this last attack might effect future ones. If Chopper's implications were right, our situation may have changed, buddy."

Luffy didn�t answer for a second, and finally brought himself to meet Zoro�s disappointed face with his own hopeful one. �But Zoro will still play with me?�

And Zoro smiled a little. �Yeah. We can still play. We just need to be careful not to get carried away.� He leaned down to hand Luffy his achievement. The little captain's color had come back quite well.

Luffy reached to take the oh-so-special-washcloth-made-just-for-him and nodded. That didn�t sound so bad� Also, Zoro had called this thing 'our situation'. Not 'your situation'. Ours. That meant more to Luffy than he could say. He wasn't alone, he and Zoro were in it together. It was like Zoro was saying that he would carry Luffy every step of the way if that's what he needed.

That was when Luffy realized that he felt a whole lot better. Cheered significantly by Zoro�s smile, Luffy pushed himself up to his feet and made a dash across the thin slat of wood he was on.

There must have been some kind of unofficial rule that made it okay for someone to streak freely, provided they be under a foot tall. Or maybe there wasn�t, and Zoro was just so used to seeing the three smallest boys on the ship race around nude that this didn�t bother him anymore. Either way the only thing the swordsman found disturbing about this was how Luffy managed to slip and fall every time he ran in the bathroom.

�Luffy, you�re gonna slip through the gaps.�

Luffy laughed and ran anyway. �Da~ijoubu! It�s not wet yet!�

�hmm.� Zoro hummed. As if that makes a difference.

Luffy made along the wooden slat fine and stretched for the casserole dish, his body following his hand once he had a grip on it. He overcompensated here and splashed down the inside of it, but with only an inch of water in the dish, Luffy was only knee-deep after Zoro took an arm and lifted him up to gain his footing before setting him down again. Knee-deep meant he could run in it for about a minute at a time before taking a break. That meant he would be able to splash around between scrubbings! YAY!

Luffy sat down on the broader rim of his new bathtub and bounced excitedly while his best friend got up for one last thing. He rarely got to soak, but splashing? NEVER! There was just no way to do it before because they didn�t have a shallow pool on the ship like the last castle they�d stayed in had. This would be great!

Zoro set a wet, unscented soap bar down beside Luffy�s personal wading pool and Luffy swung his feet around to sit the reverse way he had been to reach for it. At least he had already been inadvertently dunked, so he was all ready!

He looked over at Zoro when he heard a shuffle of fabric. Zoro was undressing.

�You�re going to take a bath with me?�

Zoro shrugged. �It seems like a good time, doesn�t it?�

Luffy grinned as brightly as the sun, �Yep!� and went over to his soap bar.

Zoro undid his pants and tossed them by the door with his shirt and shoes. His boxers followed shortly.

Rubbing his own special washcloth on the soap bar that had more mass to it than he did, Luffy got it all bubbly and started to scrub at his own wet skin. The soap in his right arm turned blue right away, and he scrubbed until the washcloth had changed colors, then swished it out in his pool and repeated. The paint wasn�t really water soluble, but it wasn�t really dry yet, either, and most had come off in the kitchen sink. What was left was coming off okay with the scrub down. Luffy did know how to put some muscle behind it, after all. He didn�t like being blue as much as people may have thought. Sure, it was fun for a while, but blue wasn�t really his favorite color.

�Usopp should have been painting it red�� Luffy voiced for whoever was listening.

Zoro frowned crossly as he filled the rinsing pail with water. �It wouldn�t matter so much if you hadn�t fallen into it.� He poured the water over himself and repeated the process. The water ran down the sloped floor and into the drain in the middle of it.

Luffy would have adopted his grumbly-pout in answer, if it hadn�t already been firmly in place before because he was blue� �Yes it would. It did! I told him red was a better color before.�

�Luffy�� Zoro sighed and stopped getting his own washcloth (the remains of the one he had cut Luffy�s out of, for it was only missing a small corner) all soapy. Luffy honestly looked and sounded much better. Thank God it had only been a short attack...

He lowered himself to sit on the wet floor beside the Wet Bench so that he could be closer to eye level with his captain, though he was still higher in the end.

�Do you want to talk about it?�

Luffy was quiet as he rinsed out his cloth again and went back to scrub at his mid-drift where the string and hanky had cooperated to hold paint against his skin until he�d taken them off. �It�s no big deal,� Luffy tried to play it off. �It wasn�t even too long. I�ve had to hold my breath longer. I�ve been without air a whole bunch of times.�

�But never when you were really aware of it. I�ve seen you in the water, remember? You don�t have the energy to panic. Right now you have marks on your chest were you were scratching it.�

Again, Luffy was quiet for a really long time.

�It was scarier than the other attacks��

�Scarier than when you�re under water?� Zoro prompted.

Luffy nodded without looking up. He was working at one spot on his tummy pretty hard. Well, harder than what felt comfortable with his current sensitivity, but he didn�t care. The pain took him away.

�Because you knew what was happening?�

Luffy nodded again, still without looking up. He slowly set the washcloth down beside him on the rim of the dish, and held both his hands in front of him again, looking at them. Zoro couldn�t see his face.

�Luffy?�

The captain continued to look at his hands and even up and down his arms for a moment, before sighing and spinning around on his behind to take a couple steps into the dish of water. �The smell makes me dizzy. I need to get it off now.�

�Luffy?� Zoro asked again. He had a feeling that something was up.

There was no answer right away. Luffy started to splash and rinse all the soap off of himself and into the water at his knees. It wasn�t until he was finished getting it all off and had come back to sit on the side and grab his washcloth again that Luffy spoke. �Do you think it�ll make things worse, like what Chopper was saying?�

Zoro shrugged. �I don�t know.�

Luffy scrubbed at the soap bar with his little cloth and then at himself again. He was quiet.

Zoro started to scrub up as well, before he dripped dry.

After a minute of this silence, a thought occurred to him. �You know, I�ve never seen you so bothered about your own thoughts before. You never worry. You�re the one who says �what�ll happen is gonna happen. Why think about it?� or �think about it when it happens, because it might not happen at all!� and stuff like that.�

Luffy looked confused. �Am I?�

Amused, Zoro smiled and nodded a little, �Yeah. You are.�

He dropped his washcloth and reached to fill up the rinsing pail again. �So how is this any different from one of those other times? You didn�t act bothered over the idea of fighting a Shichibukai, and you beat Crocodile well eno-�

�I wasn�t afraid of Crocodile.�

The confession was so abrupt it shut Zoro up tight. Luffy persisted.

�Crocodile could fight, yeah. But he couldn�t change me. No enemy I�ve ever faced could ever change how I work, or make me unsure of my body. I knew my own strength then, Zoro.�

Zoro conveyed his understanding through his eyes, though Luffy wasn�t looking at him.

To Luffy, this sickness was an enemy. It had been a painful and unpredictable one before, sure, but never lethal. The attack a few minutes ago had been different than what Luffy had expected would come out of this trial. He won most of his battles because he could adapt to enemy attacks and build a defense. Now this enemy was taking more ground, and Luffy was losing it.

Luffy finally looked up at Zoro with an expression that is perhaps better imagined than described. �This time isn�t like those other times because those other times I was never really in trouble.�

It was quiet for a moment.

Zoro sighed inaudibly. He closed his eyes and whispered, �You�re scared.�

It was more of a statement than a question, but Luffy nodded anyway. �I�m scared.� His whisper was too tiny to be heard, but even with his eyes still closed, Zoro knew he�d said it.

Luffy didn�t mind that he was scared anymore; Zoro had made it clear to him on the first day that he didn�t have to be afraid of being afraid. But he had been doing so well as a new pirate. Fighting and adventuring his way to the top. He�d made himself infamous. And he had really been starting to think of himself as someone that no one could even slow down anymore. Now, suffering continuously under something so easy to say as �sensory overload�, Luffy was treated to a harsh reminder of how far away from him Shanks remained.

But just because something was easy to describe didn�t make it easy to experience. Like �amputation�. It was easy to describe, it was easy to get one, and it was easy to have one. It wasn�t, however, easy to experience having one. He�d had a front row seat to one once, and just seeing it had been hard to experience. �But Shanks never flinched.

Luffy suddenly felt like he�d had his control over his body and senses amputated. It wasn�t like losing an arm, exactly, but Luffy couldn�t imagine not flinching over his attacks. Especially if some gave him seizures like that one last night had. If that amputation was moving into his respiratory system, that was a very bad thing. And a very scary thought.

-Which he was yanked out of without warning when cold water came cascading over his naked body!

�AAAAHHHH! ZORO!!!�

Zoro had a look of amusement on his face now. �Well, you were just sitting there letting the soap dry on you. That paint won�t be easy to get off forever, you know.� He�d managed to rinse off entirely without Luffy even noticing.

�That was FREEZING!!!� Luffy was in a ball on the side of the dish, shivering and shouting in his outrage.

�Then get into your bath water behind you.�

Luffy fell backwards into the dish and totally immersed himself without a second thought. Ahhhhh, this was better. The water was warm!

�And he couldn�t move in it. Of course his swordsman was there, so even as the thought that he done something that wasn�t smart again crossed his rubber mind, a large hand was supporting his top half out of the water so he could breathe.

He could have been more gracious, though. �Zoro! How dare you!�

�Well, you�re cleaner now.� was Zoro�s only reply. Mission accomplished, he thought as he used his other hand to make little waves in the �pool� that had Luffy giggling, outrage (and fear) temporarily forgotten.

�Waves!� Luffy cheered as Zoro lifted him out of them and back over to the side of the dish like a chopstick.

�Soap!� Zoro reminded, and Luffy laughed harder as he was set down.

Zoro noted that Luffy hadn�t complained about the temperature of the water once. The swordsman had been going for sort of a non-temperature when he filled it. So that when he dipped his fingers in the water, it felt the same as when he had them in the open air. No real difference, you know? But it must have been warm to Luffy, because he really seemed to like splashing and dunking in it.

Zoro got up and reached for his towel.

Luffy went back to the soap and started trying to think of the first line in a bubble song as he lathered up a whole bunch of them and made himself a bowler hat and a white beard.

�Look, Zoro! I�m old!� Luffy pointed at his beard like a little kid.

�Wow,� Zoro replied sardonically as he patted himself dry, �You�re the smallest old person I�ve ever seen.�

�And the youngest too!� Luffy returned, making very little sense.

Then he noticed what Zoro was doing. �You�re not going to soak in the ofuro?� That was strange; Zoro loved the ofuro�

Zoro shook his head. �Not today. I�m not in a wet mood.� He wouldn�t be able to really relax if he knew Luffy was playing in water, but he couldn�t actually see what the small captain was doing.

He smiled a little and changed the subject. �So, captain. What�s it like to take a bath in a casserole dish?�

�Fun. Arabasta�s had a waterfall I could train under, though.�

Zoro was humored. Usopp and Luffy�s �training� under that fountain had been unique, to be sure. �Well, I could drop water over you again.�

Luffy looked at him and said very clearly so it couldn�t be misunderstood, �No.� Then he went back to his bubble-time. �Ya know, if things were different then it wouldn�t be so bad being small.�

Zoro smiled again, and pulled his boxers back on. He�d only worn these clothes for a few hours today, and it wasn�t as if he�d been training in them. �It�d be fun then, huh? I thought you didn�t like how the boat looked different.�

�I don�t!� Luffy agreed, �But the more I go to the same places over and over, the more I get used to how they look. So it wouldn�t be so bad, maybe.� He frowned in disappointment. �It�s not fair it had to happen like this.�

Sympathy going out to the young pirate, Zoro pulled down his white T-shirt and lowered himself to sit on one foot beside the Wet Bench again.

�I know, buddy.� Zoro nodded in sympathy. ��Does it ever seem easier at all, though? Any of it?�

Luffy slowed his work with the soap bar. ��Sometimes it does. There are some times when it feels like there�s nothing wrong at all.�

�Oh, yeah? What times are those?�

Luffy�s rubbing on the soap bar slowed to a stop. His face heated up considerably, and he turned it a little more so that Zoro couldn�t see it as he answered, ��sometimes when you touch me.�

�It was quiet for a moment. Zoro didn�t say anything.

The silence made Luffy nervous, so he kept talking. �It feels good when you touch me, like� like everything else just goes away and there�s just� that feeling.� He fizzled out with a blush, not knowing what more to say.

Zoro watched Luffy carefully. Did his touches really work that much?

He�d known Luffy liked them, the little pirate had told him as much before, but Zoro hadn�t realized�

Well, last night he kind of had, when Luffy had abandoned himself to Zoro�s caresses. But that was only one time. Luffy was talking like there were more.

If that was true, what had caused the other times? Just regular touches of comfort?

That couldn�t be right. Those were just simple touches, usually only meant to calm him down or ease the pain. They weren�t intended to take him away entirely, as he was hinting they did.

Not that it was a bad thing! Just� unexpected. And it made Zoro feel warm and� important? It was hard to explain. Zoro couldn�t label it, anyway. It was almost a territorial feeling.

But why not? Luffy was his nakama, his captain, and his� responsibility (though he didn�t feel that was the right word, somehow). Anyway, Luffy was the one he had chosen to protect, and he�d already decided to stick beside him no matter what happened, so why couldn�t he feel a little protective?

Zoro decided this sounded good enough to him, and didn�t dwell on it further.

Zoro kept his eyes on Luffy said as casually as he could, �Then maybe I should do it more often.�

Warmth very similar to that which Zoro was feeling now flooded into Luffy�s chest at the very thought. Dropping his head just a little, he smiled through a dark blush. ��Kay.�

He had no idea why he was suddenly so shy (there was no need to be, right?) but at the memory of Zoro�s touches the night before, he found himself shifting his thigh a little to make sure his physical inheritance was out of view, suddenly becoming aware of his slight arousal. He wished he had clothes on right now�

Zoro�s smile grew when Luffy answered. Luffy was blushing like a tomato. He looked so adorable�

Why so shy? Zoro mentally teased.

Then Luffy shifted his body a little, his expression changing to one of real embarrassment for a passing instant. His cheeks were more lightly flushed now, and his face held a look of slight concentration.

As Zoro looked, he suddenly felt like a peeping tom� but he couldn�t look away. Even though he was so much smaller, Zoro felt that right then, Luffy looked absolutely beautiful. And he was captivated.

Realizing he was just standing there, Luffy suddenly started scrubbing himself with the washcloth hard again to shake himself out of whatever was going on with him.

When Luffy moved suddenly and quickly, Zoro was pulled out of his trance and snapped his head around to look at the wall. He wasn�t embarrassed about his thoughts at all. Zoro wasn�t blind toward physical appearance (though women never really impressed him; dainty bones and not enough firm muscle), and Luffy had looked good for a moment there and it was okay to notice the obvious as long as it stayed in his head.

All the same�

That was weird� both decided at the same time.

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