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It’s not fair, Luffy thinks as he watches Torao sleep on the deck of the Sunny, snuggled into Bepo’s soft fur and with Chopper sleeping on his lap. He looks so comfortable and so warm and Luffy is jealous of the man who can just sleep like that whenever he wants.
Of course, Luffy has Chopper all the time; the reindeer himself is incredibly soft and fluffy, but he’s just so… different from the polar bear. Chopper is like a warm stuffed animal to sleep with—or the fluffies giant cushion to get lost in while in Guard Point—whereas Bepo is a soft but firm pillow. A completely different thing, impossible to compare.
And Law right now has both while Luffy has nothing. As if it isn’t enough that Law always hogs Bepo all for himself even when the Hearts are with the Sunny, not leaving Luffy or anyone else any room to make use of the bear’s white fur. Now he steals Chopper, too.
Let him say it again. It’s not fair.
“You do know you can just ask if you can join them, right?” Nami asks, raising an eyebrow at Luffy.
“But Torao’s sleeping, I don’t wanna wake him up,” Luffy replies with a pout. He’s certainly not happy about it but he’s not mean enough to literally kick Law out of his ‘bed’ so he can take his place. It’s easy to see Torao needs as much sleep as he can get, what, with those bags under his eyes. It honestly worries Luffy. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen Law sleep outside of his naps with Bepo.
Nami snorts. “Oh, I’m sure Torao won’t get mad if you wake him to nap with him.”
“Why wouldn’t he?” Luffy asks, frowning at Nami. “And I just want to nap with the bear, not Torao.”
“Of course, how silly of me.” Nami nods solemnly even while she bites on her bottom lip in an obvious effort to not laugh before finally turning her attention back to the newspaper in her hands.
Luffy really doesn’t get her sometimes. She can be really smart but sometimes, she just makes assumptions like this and accuses Luffy of wanting or doing things he doesn’t. Or maybe misunderstanding him would be a better word.
Worst part is, she isn’t the only one who does that lately.
The entire crew made fun of him last week when he begged Sanji to make some rice balls. They said things like “Oh yeah, it’s been a while since we’ve seen Torao,” and “He really misses him, doesn’t he?” But Luffy was just craving riceballs, he still doesn’t get what Torao had to do with it.
Or that one time at the summer fair at one of the islands they visited, the one where Robin found him standing idly by one of the stalls and looking at one of the displayed items.
“Do you want to buy it?” she asked him in her quiet, soft voice.
Luffy startled, not noticing her approach him. “Hey, Robin! You can’t just sneak up on people like that!”
Robin chuckled, shaking her head and simply pointing to one of the small silver pendants. “You like this one, right? Are you going to buy it?”
“I don’t know. It’s cute but…” he trailed of, finishing in long, thoughtful hum as he crossed his arms over his chest and closed his eyes, thinking hard.
Robin huffed in amusement as if she knew exactly what Luffy was thinking. Which just wasn’t possible; after all, Luffy himself had no idea what he was even trying to say there at the end. What was supposed to come after that but ...?
“Torao will love it,” Robin said after a moment with a fond smile on her lips.
Luffy blinked.
“What does Torao have to do with this?” he asked in disbelief.
He truly had no idea where Robin got that idea. Sure, the little ornamental heart reminded him of the surgeon, and maybe be briefly thought it would look really nice on Law’s neck but that really had nothing to do with this. Why should what Torao thought matter in his decision whether to buy the necklace or not?
“You want to give it to him, right?” Robin asked with a raised eyebrow.
When Luffy’s only answer was a blank stare, Robin started laughing, shaking her head again while she pulled out her wallet and walked over to the vendor, completing to purchase for Luffy before he could let out a single sound of protest. Then, she forced the tiny paper packet in Luffy’s hand.
The soft smile was back on her lips as she did so, her eyes warm when she opened her mouth to speak softly, “Don’t think too hard about it, just do whatever you want to do.”
Luffy could only nod and curl his fingers around the packet, clutching at it as if scared he was going to lose it. He didn’t understand what she meant back then. He still doesn’t, actually, but seeing Torao wear the necklace every day since he gave it to him feels… strangely right. Makes him happy for reasons he can’t see.
He decides not to dwell on that, however. Especially when a sigh escapes Law’s lips while he snuggles deeper into Bepo’s fur in his sleep and Luffy is once again reminded how jealous he’s feeling.
Torao just looks so comfortable and Luffy can do nothing but glare at him and wish he was in his place.
Silence hung around Luffy while he sulked quietly, interrupted only by the sound of Franky’s hammer and Usopp and Penguin’s laughter from somewhere on the other side of the ship. But finally, after what felt like an eternity of simply staring at the surgeon’s face, he hears Nami groan in frustration.
Her newspaper rustles loudly, Luffy assumes from her closing it aggressively before she tosses it at the table beside her. Only a second later, she is standing next to Luffy, leaning against the railing he’s been perching on and looking at him as if begging for something.
Begging, while looking extremely done at the same time.
Luffy would be absolutely terrified if it was just the latter; it’s the look she reserves for moments just before chewing him out for doing something ‘stupid’ or ‘reckless’. But with the former mixed in… it’s become something he’s never seen her wear before. He blinks, meeting her eyes, searching for an answer as to what it means.
He can tell she’s looking for the right words, so he waits patiently while Nami sorts out her thoughts. He sees the exact moment the two contrasting emotions finally came to an agreement and he sits up straighter, readying himself for whatever it is that his navigator is about to throw at him.
There are a few more seconds of silence before Nami finally speaks up, her words a lot calmer and nicer that he thought they would be, “Luffy, you don’t have to wake Torao up. Bepo is big enough for the both of you.”
A beat passes.
Then suddenly, Luffy’s eyes go wide and his mouth falls open. “Oh my god, you’re a genius, Nami!” he says as soon as it clicks, his face splitting in a wide grin. How has he not thought of that? They can share!
Sure, Chopper is small in his tanuki form and can really only sleep on one lap at a time but Bepo isn’t.
He really is lucky to have smart people like Nami on his crew.
Immediately, Luffy lets himself fall off his perch, jumping down the two floors from the garden all the way to the main deck and landing easily on the soft grass. Smile still on his lips, he turns around to wave at Nami, calling his thanks up at his navigator who only waves him off. He thinks she’s also rolling her eyes but since there is a smile pulling on her lips all the same, Luffy decides that doesn’t matter in the least. After all, Nami pretends to roll her eyes at the crew all the time; acting like she’s not also having fun watching the others play.
But Luffy knows. He knows when she really is annoyed and when she’s just putting on a show.
And right now, she’s happy.
Luffy’s smile widens the smallest bit in turn before he spins on his heel to run over to where Tora— to where Bepo is napping.
Back in the garden, Nami sighs at the sight of Luffy tiptoeing around Law to sit down and lean against Bepo’s free side—the side where Law isn’t sleeping with a suspicious amount of space next to him as if asking someone to join him.
But well, she’s sure that in only a matter of minutes, Luffy will subconsciously shuffle himself over bit by bit until he fills the space Law’s left for him and they’ll end up in one big cuddle pile just like it was supposed to be right from the start.
Honestly, this idiot. Everytime Nami thinks he’s reached his peak, Luffy somehow manages to reach an entire new level of ‘oblivious’. It’s been getting completely, absolutely ridiculous. Law seriously has the patience of a saint, waiting for Luffy to figure this out all by himself—if it was Nami, she would either give up or just push Luffy up against the wall at this point. Or maybe she’d simply lose her mind. The last one being the most probable outcome.
But Law always just smiles at Luffy in that way reserved only for him and accepts whatever the Straw Hats' captain is able to give him at any time. Never pushing or trying to get Luffy to see what is going on between them. He’s letting Luffy go at his own pace and if Nami's to be honest, that's probably the whole reason the entire Straw Hat crew approved of Law’s feeling for their captain so easily. The surgeon simply accepts all that Luffy is, stupidity and recklessness and all. He understands that Luffy needs the time.
Which doesn’t mean it doesn’t get incredibly frustrating to watch, but it is pretty adorable. Well, she’s sure they’ll get there, eventually.
Smiling, Nami watches Luffy sluggishly remove himself from Bepo only to get on his knees to circle around the polar bear and back the way he came earlier, settling right next to Law instead.
Immediately, Law lifts his arm and wraps it around Luffy’s shoulders to pull him closer. Nami wonders for a second if he did it subconsciously, only sensing Luffy’s presence in a half-asleep haze, but then Law turns his head towards Luffy carefully as if not to startle him. He simply looks at the rubber ball for a moment until he finally presses a kiss to Luffy’s forehead.
And then, something unthinkable happens. Luffy lifts his head and smiles sleepily before he leans up and presses his lips against Law’s in a long, soft kiss. Law visibly freezes as if someone’s dumped a bucket of cold water over him but Luffy is obviously unbothered. He simply lets his head fall back down to Law’s shoulder with one of his hands going up to lace his fingers together with Law’s.
Well.
That is definitely a progress.
Nami stares with an open mouth at the scene before her for a full minute before her face splits in a wide grin and soon, her laughter is echoing around the deck, the sound light, amused, and happy. Happy for the two idiot captains who took way too long to get to this point.
They deserve this moment, as brief or as long as the sea allows it to be.