#lumimi

[lvmimis]

what’s a piece of lumimi lore you’ve wanted to talk about but just haven’t yet? Or something you just came up with today!

one time nami gets mistaken for his gf in a something published by the world government and he takes that shit so personally bc he thinks i'm upset (i kind of am ngl) so he causes a ruckus in a highly policed era by yelling about how much he loves me and kissing me in public and when we run off i'm like was this necessary and he's like yes actually

[theshipsong]

blorboscope: monkey d. luffy

this is my first blorboscope for someone i don't selfship with so i primarily looked for a chart that fits the narrative (e.g. i shopped the entire 90s for a moon sign that made any sense). fwiw i think luffy wouldn't easily humor any type of divination that suggests predetermination or undercuts free will but he doesn't get a sayyyyy.

i knew i wanted luffy either born at sunrise or a leo rising to make this chart extra solar and chose the former. when you're born at or around sunrise, your rising and sun sign are the same, so this makes him a taurus rising and his chart ruled by venus in taurus. sunrise babies have very little artifice; they have a hard time lying and a hard time toning themselves down because what they present is their whole selves.

i think i'll never get sick of one piece astrology because i get to explain chart rulers as the helsman or steersman of the ship that is the horoscope, so luffy's whole life is steered by venus and focused on his own identity and physical self—1st house topics that are a solid way to live, and prioritize freedom and honesty. taurus is one of two signs that venus calls home, so this is a particularly well-fed, comfortable venus. the ruler of his chart all the resources and potential it needs for him to pursue what he wants. as a venusian twice over, luffy's main motivations are pleasure and love and fairness, making things right. my image for taurus is of a cow having the best time of their life with all their cow friends in the greenest pasture of all; too herbivorous for luffy, but languid and lush and loved, like the banquets he enjoys.

each planet rules two signs and houses of a chart, so the other venus house is libra, his 6th. libra's symbol is the scales of justice, so in my own fanfiction i've used it and the tarot card justice to mean the marine. the sixth house traditionally signifies ill health and injury, but has modernized to mean physical health as a whole. you can't say his body (6th house) isn't central to his identity (1st house), and his most devastating injury to date was at the hands of a marine admiral. if this weren't a shounen manga, i'd warn someone with this house configuration (scorpio risings, too) to try to put less pressure on their body; i think of luffy and nami trapped in charlotte mont d'or's book prison and nami begging him not to tear himself apart to get free.

in a day chart, the "luckiest" planet is jupiter, and his is in aquarius, his 10th house. the 10th house has to do with reputation and renown, and his fame is not just infamy. people have a positive impression of him whether they're enemies or allies or bystanders. kaidou laughs at his ridiculous 5th gear; crocodile keeps up with news about him; koby's description of luffy's charisma is enough to convince x drake to join the alliance at onigashima. one of my favorite in-text descriptions of luffy comes from mihawk at marineford: "it's not his powers or techniques. he possesses some quality that makes people want to help him. and in these waters, that is the most formidable power of all" (chapter 561).

jupiter rules his 11th house (pisces) of friends and allies, and his 8th house (sagittarius) of shared resources and inheritance. these houses for jupiter solidify taurus rising for me: he's so aware that his strength is not just his own. it's his crew's, and what he learns from mentors like rayleigh and hyogoro, and rivals like katakuri and lucci. it's what he says to arlong that "i know i can't live without help from a lot of people!" aquarius gives jupiter situational, big picture awareness because air gives you a bit more distance, which i think describes luffy's ability to quickly clock the social and political circumstances he walks into.

the most challenging planet in a day chart is mars, and his is in virgo and his 5th house. it also forms a loose, flowing angle to his chart ruler venus. the 5th house is about creativity and children, things we make and leave behind, as well as general pleasure; modern astrologers put sex here. i think the angle it makes to venus mitigates its bad qualities a lot. just like the planets each have signs they prefer, they also have houses where they "have their joy," and venus joys in the 5th house. but this mars on its own... i also take the 5th house to mean one's own childhood, and before ace and sabo and even shanks, it wasn't a happy one. so venus does its best to pursue the joy and freedom that mars works against in his chart. mars is also traditionally associated with war and the military, so this is very literal for the organizations both garp and dragon chose over him. in luffy's chart, it rules his 7th (scorpio) and 12th (aries) houses, which have to do with close relationships and isolation. to me this is the time skip training period as such a monumental, mature choice for luffy to make as captain: realizing that separation (12th) is a way to better protect his crew (7th), and for his crew to better help him.

all this day sect business aside, the other planets i haven't touched are his moon, mercury, and saturn all in aries, his 12th house. i love the 12th house. it traditionally rules misery and enemies and self-sabotage, and physically enclosed spaces like prisons and hospitals—the total lack of freedom, seclusion as a kind of death. planets here are "veiled" or express themselves subtly, but for luffy i favor this as an affinity for 12th house themes. this is him embracing the prisoners of udon and the gladiators of corrida coliseum and staying curious about loki against everyone's advice, his rejection of kuzan's warnings about robin, his reaction to nami's drafting room at arlong park and the auction house at sabaody. i think having the moon here makes him attuned to what other people hide from: this is this post. mercury means he's unafraid to name it. he has great emotional intelligence that cuts to the bone, to the 12th house. and saturn joys in the 12th house! aries isn't a comfortable sign for saturn. it's too impatient for the slow foundation building that saturn does, the meticulous plans that someone like law makes, but let me return to this tarot reading: some structures are meant to fall.

overall, this chart i've arbitrarily given him totally lacks water, and makes very even interplay between the two dry elements of earth and fire. if he had a partner, they should have strong water and air :) but even non-romantically, the two "arms" of the pirate king, zoro and sanji, are a scorpio and a pisces, and nami rounds them out with cancer. we get air from aquarius robin, and let's not forget franky is also a pisces (mihawk and shanks' triplet?!).

sun ☉ taurus/1st house

moon ☽ aries/12th house

mercury ☿ aries/12th house

venus ♀ taurus/1st house

mars ♂ virgo/5th house

jupiter ♃ aquarius/10th house

saturn ♄ aries/12th house

okay whew happy birthday @lvmimis! being mutuals has made me think about luffy deeply enough for his chart to be on my mind so i hope this isn't too esoteric or opaque. thank you for lumimi and being a latecomer op evangelist with meee

[lvmimis]

cw: reader has devil fruit powers. melancholy-ish.

You sit at the very edge of the beach, your feet submerged in damp sand, arms crossed over your bent knees. The sensation oddly comforting, you push your toes in deeper, closing your eyes as you listen to the waves encroach closer and closer to shore. A larger wave arrives and crashes just before you, and the spray of salty brine is greater than usual - you feel as it hits your skin that it may shrivel up for just a moment, and then the sensation passes.

The sea hates you, but you do not hate it. 

“Hey!”

Your eyes open sharply. The voice calling you is Zoro’s gruff one and as you turn, you spot him watching you sternly from afar in the manner an older brother disapproves of a sibling idling a little too close to an open well or open traffic. He has reason to.

“You’re sitting too close, what the hell are you doing?”

He’s practically hidden under the shade of an obscenely large parasol constructed by Franky and Nami’s joint efforts. Nami sunbathes just outside of it, laid flat on her belly with her top open at the back (Sanji is obviously nowhere far), and Robin is laid out on a towel right next to her, reading as usual, but clearly leisurely, and from afar you know it’s a horror novel that would run a chill down your spine even in the summer heat. Brook and Franky are both buried in the sand to the level of just their heads poking out, and Jinbe has long disappeared out at sea, appearing periodically in your sights, surfing the waves.

Chopper, Usopp and Luffy amuse themselves easily with sand sculptures, with only Usopp’s having a recognizable shape currently, possibly of a Sea King if you squint, while Chopper’s castle droops on one side and Luffy is making what can only be described (generously) as abstract art.

You yell out a ‘sorry!’ and gather yourself up to move away from the deadly allure of the sea - after all, Zoro’s concern makes sense as he tends to be the primary rescuer of those cursed by Devil fruit powers - but you can hear Luffy interject from afar.

“She’s fine! I got her!” 

He’s politely assertive, not combative, but drops his creation to rush over. In two comically long steps, he crosses the beach to sit next to you, snapping back into a normal length so dramatically it makes you giggle.

He can’t swim either.

“I hope you have a plan to save yourselves!” Zoro calls out. Luffy grins, pointing at Jinbe who has again resurfaced; Jinbe waves at the group, unaware of what’s happening at shore but enjoying himself.

In response, Zoro shakes his head, but then his posture loosens up as Luffy places his head on your shoulder and wraps his arm around you; the de facto first mate decides to let you have your moment. 

Another tidal wave comes dangerously close, the ocean spray hitting both of your faces. Neither of you move a muscle.

“Sometimes I wish I could swim,” you murmur suddenly. Luffy stiffens for a moment, then his hand slides down the length of your arm, searching for your hand, then once located, he slips his fingers between yours. The warmth of his palm rivals that of the sun-baked sand for a moment - he squeezes, then pulls the back of your hand to his lips. He doesn’t kiss it immediately, just lets it brush gently, but his eyes close, as if he’s contemplating.

Sun, sand, sea, affection.

“I’d like to swim with you,” is all Luffy says. He doesn’t say he’ll find a way or make any promises to change your fates yet. But just the spoken wish in itself is enough. 

Luffy can make anything his heart desires happen, someday, somehow.

Another wave builds up and crashes just before your feet this time, smaller and retreating gently, almost reverently this time. Luffy digs his feet in the sand next to you as you watch the rippling wide ocean. You’ve had these quiet moments together many times before, from the crow’s nest, from the ship deck, from atop the ship figurehead, but not so often at the very edge of land and sea, a symbolic border of life and death.

You shiver suddenly as a breeze picks up. You’re barely dressed in more than a bathing suit and Luffy has little more to offer than that flimsy vest of his.

But he does offer it before you ask.

You murmur a word of thanks, and he smiles. The waves have settled finally and no longer encroach.

Your yearning heart settles too with Luffy beside you.

[lvmimis]

me before noon every morning this week to that poor soul who made the mistake of befriending me: what if i'm over luffy

me when i see one singular image: nvm

[lvmimis]

me, a yan, finding out that handcuffing myself to luffy only disadvantages me because he’s made out of rubber and is also stronger than me and will absolutely drag me along unbothered 😭

[lvmimis]

i love a “we’re leaving” ass man

a man who sees you mildly uncomfortable and is just like “we’re leaving” regardless of the social situation

just scoops you out of there, now you are Simply Leaving

[lvmimis]

cw: hurt/comfort. reader is part of the straw hat crew and in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Perhaps it shouldn’t have taken up to this moment to realize how deep Luffy’s feelings run for you, but in the split second where he hears the sound of your scream - a cry not truly meant for help more than surprise - and freezes in the midst of a battle, this fact is made crystal clear, enough so that concern in his eyes seems to suspend any other thought in your mind. You barely hear Zoro’s angered yell at him to concentrate, and barely notice Chopper in Kung Fu point has thrown you over his shoulder and is heading away from the fray, putting distance between the two of you and mortal danger, as fast as he can. Even the pain in your twisted ankle seems to fade to nothing as all your attention condenses to one point, to the man who is slowly becoming smaller in your vision as you gain distance, who would have turned to save you if Chopper hadn’t gotten to you first, losing his footing on crumbling rock and sinking off the side of a cliff.

You watch Sanji dive after him, your heart thumping hard in your chest, but you trust him, and most importantly, Chopper is not letting go.

—

“What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Zoro has yelled at you exactly zero times since you’ve joined the crew. At most, he’s been a little less enthusiastic at your jokes, and he’s generally quite patient with you, even offering to say to you once that he appreciates the fact that in some ways you “even” your captain out. He trusts your skill and usually trusts your judgment when it comes to you bringing ideas to the crew.

Which is why this moment is so particularly uncomfortable for you.

Because the fact of the matter is he’s right to be upset.

The crew has gathered up to a meeting point and is alive, thankfully, after a skirmish with a group of enemy pirates that proved a little harder to shake off despite the emperor-level strength of your crew. Luffy is sprawled out on his back on a patch of grass, and is almost fast asleep from weariness, and Zoro, while weary, is still standing before the group, with energy enough to directly confront you. 

Your simple presence in the wrong place at the wrong time could have made this turn out very differently, and all because Luffy took a moment to worry about your safety.

“You had literally one job, and it was to stay the fuck out of the way. Why did you show up despite a direct order?”

“I was wor-”

“You were a distraction,” he cuts you off immediately. Your mouth opens up instinctively in protest, then closes without a sound. He’s right. You saw it, just as well as he did, maybe even better - the instant deviation in Luffy’s attention to the draw of the sound of your voice.

Chopper freezes as he finishes tying off the roll of bandage he’s wrapping around Sanji’s left arm, and Sanji, cigarette in his free hand, shakes his head.

“Lay off of her, it’s not that big a deal.”

“Shut up, cook.” Zoro replies immediately. Sanji moves to get up and physically respond, but Chopper gives him a look and he stills begrudgingly, a contained grimace on his features. Robin watches the look in Zoro’s expression carefully, but says nothing, still measuring her words.

“I didn’t mean to,” you murmur under your breath. “I’m sorry.”

Usopp tries to laugh to dispel the tension, a shaky “Hey guys, at least we’re still alive!” coming from his lips, but his half-hearted tone echoes even louder with the solemnity of the rest of the crew. 

Zoro is still angry and you are still apologetic. Franky, deciding he wants no part of this kind of tension, has started to prepare Sunny for the next leg of your journey and Brook and Jinbe similarly come to the conclusion that there is nothing else to discuss, making their way to the ship. Nami sits by your side in uncharacteristically quiet solidarity.

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t fucking mean to, what matters is Luffy messed up because of you -”

“Stop it.”

Luffy’s eyes haven’t opened yet, nor has he moved, but his voice is serious enough that it’s clear that he’s heard enough.

“Whatever else you want to be mad about, just take it out on me.”

The “captain” voice. Final. Luffy shifts just enough to cover his face with his hat, himself uninterested with this conversation further, and guilt settles deep into your bones when you realize you might actually be getting away with being a nuisance.

He’s making it worse, you think, confirmed when Zoro glares at you, then glares back at him, then with obvious frustration storms off, hand on the hilt of his sword. You bite the inside of your cheek as you watch him go, your stomach turning in your belly. 

Nami squeezes your hand gently and it feels just like the squeeze in your chest when Luffy, exhausted, falls right back asleep.

—

Zoro keeps his distance from you for the rest of the evening, and while you’re not exactly sure he’s really just written you off, your attempts to go clear things over feel premature, so instead of risking aggravating him further with a poorly prepared apology, you head over to the infirmary where Luffy is still resting after you’ve had dinner.

No one else is around when you slip in, but as soon as you pass the threshold, Luffy sits up. Ten to fifteen cleared bowls appear haphazardly set on the table next to him which bring a small smile to your lips. You’ve given him a little bit of freedom from your presence as well, instead of curling up beside him, a little hesitant now of taking up that space. Too much space.

He doesn’t seem to understand that as your goal, his arm extending to tug on your sleeve almost childishly when you choose to sit on a chair instead of the bed beside him.

“What’s wrong?” he asks.

He’s the one who’s banged up and yet he’s asking you why you’re unable to hide the furrow of your eyebrows.

“Nothing,” you say, reflexively knowing fully well he’d never fall for that lie. Instead, you pull up your knees to your chest and sigh.

“Luffy, don’t worry so much about me.”

“What do you mean? I don’t worry about you.”

You blink at his response, but he appears completely straightforward.

“You just asked me what’s wrong?”

“That’s not worrying, that’s asking a question. I want to know the answer,” he says. He reaches over and tugs again at your sleeve twice as if ringing a bell. You try to ignore it. Letting out a sigh, you perseverate.

“I mean earlier today. Zoro got mad because you worried about me. During the fight. You could have gotten hurt, and the crew hurt too.”

Luffy doesn’t say anything immediately, but his hand starts to coil around your arm like a snake and you say nothing, waiting to see exactly how far he’ll go with this. The length stops short of your shoulder for a moment, and you find yourselves in a sort of stare-off. You don’t move, and neither does he.

“I know,” he finally says.

His hand uncoils slightly and pulls back to his side. Cross-legged now on the bed, he rests his hand in his lap.

“Just to be clear, I don’t regret it even if I have to be more careful next time.”

Your arms cross over your chest, not in defiance but for comfort.

“Well you should. You’re a captain, not just someone I…” you let the word trail off, your face warming. “Anyway the point is, don’t treat me differently.”

“But you are different.”

Your eyes widen. “Weaker, you mean?”

Your voice is curt but he shrugs. “Not that much more than Nami… but that’s not the point.” He shifts, and one last gentle tug on your sleeve has you finally choose to get up and slip into the space beside him on the cot. 

“After we find the One Piece, I still want you to stay with me.”

“Luffy…”

“I’m not saying I wouldn’t want everyone else to stay like this forever too… I just would understand if they want to leave and live their own lives,” he admits. It’s heavy and full of emotion even if Luffy doesn’t display it on the surface, you can feel it weighing onto your skin. Your head lowers slowly until you’re resting your head on his shoulder, and his fingers interlace with yours. 

“I think it would hurt me the most if you didn’t stay. So yes, you’re different.”

“I don’t think you can have a favorite as a captain,” you say softly.

“Then you’re my favorite as Luffy,” he says, which makes you laugh but also tear up. And yet, he still hasn’t addressed the matter at hand.

“You still can’t put others at risk because of me,” you remind him. “No matter what, I’m also capable and you need to trust me the same way you’d trust everyone else.”

He takes a deep breath, then squeezes your hand.

“Yes. But you’re not going to convince me to care about you any less.”

You look at him for clarification, and he continues.

“I told Zoro when he came by here earlier that I’ll look if you scream. Every time.”

Your heart skips a beat.

“Luffy, you can’t just-”

“Every time,” he repeats, definitively, and you grimace, knowing that you really will never change his mind. 

However, he’s not done.

“But I will trust you. And focus better. So that I don’t slip up and that no one falls, and most importantly-” he pauses, then smiles at you, before kissing your forehead, “- you don’t apologize to anyone ever again.”

His arm snakes around your waist and pulls you even closer and you’re compelled to bury your face into his chest, hugging him close. He’s real, he’s silly and difficult to reason with, and he’s yours.

“I have the right to apologize,” you say, muffled into his skin.

“Not for me loving you.”

You pause, letting his words sink in carefully. 

“So what you’re saying is I need to stay out of the way or you’ll lose focus?”

He frowns, peeling you gently off of him so he can look you in the eyes.

“What I’m saying is it’s not your fault if I lose a fight. Ever. And that you’re too important for me to not look. But I’ll be better at choosing when.”

Your heart squeezes yet again, but in a good way.

“I’ll make sure you don’t have to choose either.”

He grins, and lets you cuddle close to him, his favorite way to heal.

[lvmimis]

cw: fluff. talk of marriage.

“Hey, when do you want to get married?”

Luffy’s simple question, asked out of the blue on a sunny and clear Sunday afternoon at the pier of the newest island you’ve washed up ashore, completely stops you in your tracks, abruptly enough that you practically stumble with interrupted momentum. He takes this in stride, stopping next to you with far more grace; his free hand, not the one that has let ice cream atop a cone drip onto his wrist, holds on to the back of your shirt just enough to keep you from hitting the ground, and helps you right yourself.

“You okay?” he asks. 

Your mouth opens and closes in surprise for a split second, but you nod quickly before buying time to respond with a bite of your waffle. Luffy waits patiently, and his expression is difficult to read even for you; there’s no typical smile on his face but he doesn’t seem upset, just patient, perhaps pensive even.

Luffy’s always oddly patient despite himself, when it comes to you. 

“I’m fine,” you say after two rapid chews and a swallow. You resume your pace, trying to keep yourself from looking at him. “What do you mean, marriage?”

Luffy isn’t following you; rather he’s planted in place, and you make it four steps before you turn to look at him, your heart beginning to thump just a little harder in your chest. The ice cream continues to drip but he doesn’t do anything about it - rather he keeps his gaze focused on you for a moment.

“You don’t want to get married?” he asks. 

The statement is said somewhere between a question and a statement and it makes your stomach turn.

Your relationship with Luffy is confusing.

You can’t deny that he cares about you, but caring is so natural to Luffy that you might as well declare that the sky is blue in the same sentence, or that Luffy plans to be the freest man in the world. 

… and therein lies the issue.

You find yourself looking around before you answer, even though no one in this bustling crowd would ever bother to interrupt your conversation, the two of you blending in as naturally as can be despite being wanted (seriously unevenly so, but both with bounties nonetheless). The notorious straw hat remains hidden on Luffy’s person, layered below a light windbreaker and you’ve long since ditched the glasses your wanted person demonstrates you wearing, the Clark Kent-Superman effect surprisingly effective. 

For now the two of you are just two lovers, on a date, that may have just turned the tiniest bit uncertain.

“I-It’s not that I don’t want to get married, I’m just surprised you do,” you finally admit. 

Luffy tilts his head for a moment. You grimace, but don’t say more, and he finally remembers that he’s a grown man with 3 scoops of ice cream balanced precariously on a cone and dripping onto the boardwalk and practically swallows the entire snack whole, before looking at you. 

His expression remains serious despite how silly he is, and a small part of you wants to laugh, but it’s drowned out by the very loud realization that Luffy seriously plans to marry you. 

“Why wouldn’t I want to?” he asks.

He takes a few bites of the remaining cone and starts walking anew. You fall into step, retracing the path of your conversation before now to see when and why he might come up with this question.

Your date started off at a buffet (which by the look on the owner’s face, he may have considered banning you, or really Luffy, from every returning); your next move was to play carnival games which Luffy was surprisingly terrible at, and desperate to cheat, stopped only by your equally desperate pleas; after that was window shopping, for candy and trinkets, and then you’d continued to walk until you passed by the ice cream seller and then-

Window shopping. You backtrack.

Your eyes had lingered too long on a towering and particularly elaborate white dress, posted proudly at the front of a bridal shop, paired with ornate, shimmering jewelry at the neckline and dangling from the mannequin’s ears. It was the type of dress that seemed completely out of place at this venue, elegant but attention-grabbing; you’d only looked for a moment, then looked away, but for a second, you considered that it was beautiful; perhaps you saw yourself in that dress for a moment, and just as quickly that thought had dissipated from your mind. A fleeting thought of marrying your captain, gone with the wind.

But here you were minutes later, and Luffy had caught on to you.

Luffy is now asking you why you are surprised he wants to get married. 

And most importantly, married to you.

“Why would you, Luffy?” you ask.

He frowns.

“I asked you first.”

Why wouldn’t he marry you?

“Luffy, isn’t your goal to be the freest man in the world?” you ask him, taking another bite of your waffle. There isn’t much left, three bites tops, and then you’ll have nothing to help you pretend this conversation isn’t tearing at the soft of your soul. 

Luffy’s cone is gone by now, and you hand him a wet wipe, from a packet you carried in your jacket pocket, which he looks at for a moment, but takes anyway to clean his hands.

“Yeah.”

He hasn’t made whatever connection you’re making, and his tone communicates that.

“But what does that have to do with marrying you?”

You bite your lower lip slightly.

“Ever heard of the old ‘ball and chain’ analogy?”

“Yeah, and it’s stupid,” he replies. You stop for a moment in your walk, and find yourself chuckling.

“What part is stupid?”

Luffy seems almost confused that you’re asking. His hands raise above his head and rest behind neck as you continue your stroll, a relaxed position.

“Don’t get married if you think the person is holding you back.”

You nod. A moment pauses then you stop again. He stops too, and glances at you.

“I don’t want to hold you back, Luffy.”

It’s a surprisingly difficult thing to say out loud, you find, a soft sigh added to the statement. There’s catharsis in the words hanging in the air, the verbalization of your tenuous entanglement with your lover first, captain second. 

“You wouldn’t be able to. I’d always want you with me. That’s why I’m asking.”

He stops again, and turns to face you, asking the question again.

“If you don’t want to-”

Too eager perhaps, you cut him off, your heart pounding in your chest.

“Yes, I do, I just…” you trail off, and he’s still frowning, and you wonder why you’re so complicated in your emotions, but he’s far more decisive than you are, and it’s what you love so much about him.

“If so, then just tell me. When do you want to get married? Or where?”

You take a deep breath, cupping your face in his hands for a moment as you settle yourself, eyes closing gently as you think.

You want to marry him. He wants to marry you. You’re not a liability, he wants you there with him.

You say it again to yourself two times over.

Centered by your feet on the ground and your palms holding the man you love, who loves you just as fervently.

“Let me think about it, Luffy,” you ask.

Your eyes open, and he’s staring at you, and is unreadable, but you tip forward and peck him on the lips to reassure him.

“I want it to be grand.”

Luffy finally smiles that smile that rivals the sun, the moon and the stars, before he kisses you again.

“Whatever you want!”

Your hands link again.

Another moment passes, and you stop once more, then whip your head around to look at him.

“Wait, Luffy, this better not be how you propose to me.”

He looks taken aback for a second, but then grins widely, letting out a laugh.

“No, it isn’t.”

His fingers interlace more tightly with yours and he laughs a little louder this time, but you can tell the laugh is partially for him more than for you.

“It’s just nice to know that you’ll definitely say yes.”

[lvmimis]

cw: dubcon, sex while sleeping. smut. minors dni.

If it were anyone else, you’d be on high alert about choking or aspiration risk, but Luffy is unlike anyone else you’ve ever met, so you just continue to observe quietly as he sleep-eats, sleep-walks, sleep-argues and sleep-talks, drifting in and out of a heightened emotional state, hunger and a desperate need for recovery. 

Zoro and Usopp might be appalled and frankly, quite annoyed, at dinner but Robin and Franky find it entertaining if anything, and you simply watch over him until he’s back to his normal state. The most important thing to you is the fact that he’s still alive, despite everything that ensued in your last battle, and even if you’re still a bit shaken from the prospect of dying, the humor in Luffy’s somnambulism does serve to bring a small smile to your face.

That night, you can’t help but to slip into the small space left open in Luffy’s bed, frowning as you encounter a few crumbs of some type off the bed and clearing them before huffing and curling back up next to him. He’s warm, and his bandages are still dry and intact, and you wonder if the soreness in his muscles has recovered from all that sleep and all that food and all that tender, love and care from the crew. He’s snoring, a comically loud honk-shoo, honk-shoo noise that almost curtails the affection you have for him, but he’s deserved the right to be a little bit annoying for all he does and does not represent. A moment passes, and you reach out to rub clean the corner of his mouth, shiny still from oil then sigh.

“Do one thing at a time,” you whisper under your breath, but gently, a smile tugging at your lips. Luffy stirs, but his eyes don’t open, not yet. You resettle yourself, back turned to him to prevent yourself from aggravating his injuries by clinging close. Your eyes close slowly, and you’re almost lulled off to sleep before you can feel a tugging at your waistband that wakes you right back up.

Before turning, you murmur his name, but the tugging only gets more urgent, until you can feel him press his entire body against you.

“Luffy?”

He doesn’t respond, but you can feel the twitch of his cock, warm, hot and thick against the curve of your ass. Your eyes widen.

Is he serious right now?

“Luffy.”

You can still hear him snoring and when you turn to look at him, his face perched close to you, it’s clear that he is not even the least bit awake. You still for a moment, wondering just how much more autonomous he can get in his sleep, but you get your answer soon, when his hand starts to roam, slipping under the fabric of your shirt, taking the mound of your breast in his hand, two fingers finding your nipple, soon pebbled between the gentle pressure of two fingertips.

Your breath hitches from the sensation, and he nuzzles even closer, kisses pressing against the curve of your jaw and side of your neck. Your thighs press together, knees bending, but his hand sweeps from the space between your calves, splitting the space between enough to push his own knee through. The surface of his knee applies firm pressure against your still clothed pussy and as he continues to knead your breast and kiss your neck, you’re soon grinding right against that pressure, almost just as instinctually as the man who is trying to have sex with you in his sleep. You rock back and forth, sighing as he clings closer, his leg between your thighs snaking around yours, down the length to the ankle. There’s a sigh of satisfaction he also lets out after a deep inhale of your skin.

“Warm.”

Luffy’s fingers curl into the hem of your waistband, fishing through your underwear to find hidden treasure. Sinking deep into a wet hole, you mewl and his free hand slips two fingers in your mouth - a practiced move done so many times before. He teases and twists until you’re writhing, responding to your muffled noises and the sucks of his fingers, and yet he’s hastier than usual in his search for pleasure, catching you almost by surprise when his fingers in your pussy are replaced by a confident thrust of his cock inside. It’s not too fast, but it’s not eased in and you gasp at the sudden full feeling. His teeth graze your shoulder briefly as you bite your own lip, expressed tears in the corner of your eyes arising not from pain, just overflowing emotion. 

He slows down, moving only when you sink back against him to fully seat yourself, a groan arising from low and deep in his chest and stirring something deep in your soul once your bodies are fully connected. 

His leg uncoils around yours, and he flips you until you’re flat on your back.

It’s hard for you to think now too. Your shirt slips over your head, tossed by the wayside while his palms graze the sides of your body, settling around your waist. Kisses, haphazardly placed along the length of your spine prep you first for languid, instinctive thrusts and strokes. What could he be dreaming of? What could he be imagining that accounts for the friction of your walls closing in on him, that tender, aching rhythm surrounding him? Does he know it’s you? 

He leans in murmuring your name, fingers tightening around your waist. 

Of course, he knows it’s you. Only you.

“Love you….” It’s an affirmation spoken softly, mumbled, all instinct and affection. Your hand twists into his hair, hissing the fact that you know - you know his love for you is etched into his very DNA - as the pleasure blooms between your legs.

He murmurs something else unintelligible as he spills inside, then collapses. You tremble, grounded by the weight of a man who can fuck you literally with his eyes closed, resting for a moment more until you settle. Heartbeat against heartbeat, skin against skin, you lay. 

Luffy goes right back to snoring.

—

“You’re okay, right?”

Luffy’s rarely bashful, but the idea that he might have been rough with you in his sleep, that he didn’t ask and just took is not his idea of something to be proud of.

The handprints on your waist and thighs may say otherwise, but you are absolutely fine. Better than fine, actually.

“I don’t look as bad as you, so no worries,” you tease. He frowns.

“Seriously though. I shouldn’t be doing that if it’s not easy for you to say no.”

Luffy is fully awake now, alert with the sweetest of concerned frowns on his face. His eyes continue to pass over you as if he’ll see new traces of his own activity, even though a couple scattered bruises here and there are not much of a big deal. 

Perhaps you like it a little rough.

“I can say no whenever I want.”

His mouth twists to the side.

“Well. If so, if I don’t stop, punch me as hard as you can.”

“And what if I don’t want to? What if I like it?” Coy, you tap the edge of a cup of medicinal tea. “Drink.”

You push the cup to him and he eyes you suspiciously, but with your continued smile, his own concern fades into a grin to match yours.

“Just so you know-” he takes a sip, and is surprisingly stoic in tolerating the taste, or perhaps his happiness just surpasses how he feels about the awful taste of the tea, “- that might have been one of the best dreams I’ve ever had.”

Your face warms.

Perhaps, you too.

[lvmimis]

“I just think you’d be happy with us,” Luffy insists for the fifth time that week, and exhausted, you reach over your shoulder, where he’s leaned over, practically resting his chin on your shoulder, and you grip his face, squishing his cheeks. 

He pouts, but doesn’t break free, and you turn to look at him, giving him a frown. Your eyes lock for a few moments as you challenge him to keep speaking, and he, never intimidated by you even for a moment, even when you are trying, continues talking.

“Just think about it more?”

You’ve thought about it, many times in fact, and every time he returns to this neck of the woods since you met just several months ago, a similar conversation arises. The naivete in the idea of you leaving behind everything you’ve built for this pirate you knew nothing about a year ago amazes you, but Luffy has always had such a confidence and almost innocent directness to the way he communicates his desires that you find it harder and harder to not question your own resistance each time. 

This time he’s particularly persistent, possibly to the point of being annoying. You apply a little bit more pressure to the grip you have on his face until his lips jut out and he whines.

“Hey, that hurts you know!” 

You let go, even if you know you could never truly hurt him, and sigh. 

“You know, asking more times won’t change my answer,” you remind him as he makes a show of stretching his face back to normal, then watches you stack a pile of books together and store them away into a cabinet. He’s keeping you company in your workroom as you finish up the last of your notes before leaving the clinic for the day. These days he no longer uses your friendship with Nami as a pretense to come and see you, and no one is sick - instead he strides in like he’s important to you in his own right, and you hate that he’s right about that. 

You wonder who even lets him in these days.

“What would it take aside from asking?”

You look at him again, tilting your head slightly. 

“To change my mind?” you clarify. 

Luffy nods. You’ve started walking, and he follows closely behind, your sweet shadow as you lock up the room and place the key in your pocket, hands behind his head as he accompanies you down the street to your favorite restaurant. 

Since the last time Luffy came to your city, a month has passed, and for the first time, you have admitted to yourself that you genuinely missed him - seeing his smile in an almost empty cup of coffee, or hearing his hearty laugh in a group of friends huddled at a bar, thoughts drifting to what it must be like for him on the sea whenever you have an idle moment.

Always joyous and free, sea salt and sunshine sinking deep into his skin.

Being by his side sounds more enticing every time he brings it up, but he doesn’t need to know that. In fact, perhaps he should think the opposite, you decide.

You stop suddenly in your tracks, and he stops too, watching you carefully as you make your first demand of him. 

“Bring me a pearl and I’ll think about it,” you start. Luffy looks confused for a second, eyebrows furrowed, and crosses one arm over his chest, his other hand tapping his chin. 

“I mean we could go to a jewelry shop right now but I don’t see why-”

Your look into his own eyes is fiery, interrupting him firmly. “As big as my head. The kind you’d only find hundreds of kilometers deep in the Calm Belt.”

The words are meant to be delivered neutrally, but their content is laden with irrationality.

You pause, waiting for his protest, but Luffy doesn’t complain. Instead he’s listening intently, dark eyes just as focused on yours, on the drivel coming from your lips and perhaps on deciphering the unspoken code beneath it.

Code that isn’t I don’t want to go with you, but Why would you go through the trouble for someone as bothersome like me?

Perhaps he picks up on the subtext a bit, too smoothly. “Is that all you want?” he asks, finally.

You inhale sharply, and resume your walk.

“Yes. Unless you bring me one of those, I don’t want to talk about ever leaving with you again, Luffy. Don’t even come back to see me.”

Unfazed, Luffy smiles even though you’ve given him a nigh impossible task - in fact, you’re not sure these giant clams exist at all, and it would be a fool’s errand to search for one, but he laughs. 

“Deal.”

Leaving the matter as it is, you resume your walk, and at some point Luffy must have taken your hand, because by the time you’ve made it to where you’ll have dinner together (and invariably he’ll clean out your wages for the entire week just in meat), your fingers are interlocked as though they’ve belonged linked the entire time. 

—

Luffy leaves the next day, leaving a note that is short and sweet on your kitchen table.

Be back soon.

You figure you’ve possibly seen the last of him in a while and your stomach turns gently at the thought.

—

Three days pass and because your friend Nami hasn’t yelled your ear off by transponder snail, you figure Luffy has dropped the entire ordeal and not wasted his crew’s time by going off track to do something absolutely stupid at your request. 

Another three pass and you worry he is stupid enough to try to do it despite being hated by the sea, and you resist the urge to call it off yourself. 

But you have to trust that he could understand how you felt. 

As impossible as it is for him to do this for you, it’s impossible for you to leave your earthbound life.

—

But ‘impossible’ sits on your nightstand that night.

A perfectly round pearl, as big as your head (bigger even if you were to hold it up and compare the object in a mirror)and polished to an impeccable shine, waits for you, with another note.

You ran out of food. Be back in a moment.

When Luffy comes back, large bags of groceries in hand to restock your empty fridge (even though he’d end up cleaning it out himself that night), he finds you in quiet tears.

Slowly, he lowers himself to the ground, allowing his arms to wrap carefully and gently around your body until you’ve leaned into him fully, your sniffles muffled as you let your face hide pressed against his forearms.

You don’t ask how he did it because the act itself is enough, and he doesn’t speak until you open your mouth first -

- to say “Hi, I missed you,” even if you’re overwhelmed. 

Luffy hums in assent, and lets his face nuzzle into your hair further, the simple act asking you again, please come with me without him needing to say it out loud, even if the pearl he’s moved heaven and earth to bring to your doorstep allows him to.

To which your heart, as though you were being proposed to with this very act, finally says yes.

[lvmimis]

cw: during the 2-year time skip. reader is a member of luffy's crew and was staying on amazon lily. fluff. selfship-coded.

You wonder sometimes if a small part of you is being cruel.

After all, the Pirate Empress is overt and honest about her feelings, written clearly on her features, her heart on her sleeve, and you… you remain complicated, poorly understood within the realms of follower-like devotion, platonic love and romantic obsession. Coming to her like this, head lowered and on your knees is a foul move, knowing that no matter how much you irk her, you’re protected by the fact that Luffy cares about you and would not be happy to see her harm you, which only serves to torment her more.

“What do you want?”

She asks, but she already knows. Why else would you prostrate yourself before her like this, rather than remain politely amongst her ranks as the Kuja, learning under the medicine women and the trained fighters?

Your head remains lowered politely as you keep your eyes focused on the ground before her dangling foot, the other leg crossed. The two of you speak notably privately, her entourage of sisters and close attendants no longer around her. Oil lamps flicker around you two almost ritualistically, the shifting shadows adding dimension to her already ethereally beautiful face.

“I know Rayleigh said no visitors, but I just wish I could-”

“No.”

Hancock’s voice is sharp, and a lump forms almost instantly in your throat, but you expected no less. Letting out a deep inhale, you look up at her immediately, and to both of your surprises, your voice is steady as you insist.

“Please let me see him.”

Boa blinks once, then matches the fierceness of your gaze. Leaning forward, her hand stretches out to you, fingers cupping your face as you stand rock steady, manicured fingernails grazing gently on your cheeks.

“Are you arguing with me?” The coolness of her voice is evident, and she’s sultry enough that it’s hard to ascertain whether or not she sees you as a romantic rival or an easy conquest, a fleeting thought of whether or not her Mero Mero no Mi could work on you, turning you into a statue and no longer an eyesore. You can feel your heart rate begin to pick up, but you don’t avert your gaze. Not now. Cool extremities turn warm again.

When you were a child, your mother told you you had a funny internal clock. Timing that was always a little too correct, an intuition for your loved ones that was a little too precise. 

That internal timekeeper says now is the time to see him. Now is the time that Hancock will agree, and now is the time a familiar face will renew Luffy’s resolve, and now is the time you should settle your worry to rest.

“No. I am only asking for your help.”

Hancock’s blue eyes attempt to pierce through your very soul, her palm ice cold. Yet something she sees in your eyes for a moment causes her to soften, like something sharp yet pliable running up against resistance. You’re going to go no matter what, she realizes. Whether she likes it or not, and if you hurt yourself in the process, it only makes her life more difficult.

Will you promise to be nice to her while I’m gone?

Boa sighs. Her hand slips from your face despondently and she settles back in her throne.

“Get up. You look pathetic.”

You pause for a moment, and she hisses a repeat order. You move faster this time.

She looks you up and down once again, and attempts to look bored, but the truth is your eyes bother her when you’re like this.

“Rayleigh leaves in a week. We can make a quick trip to the island, going no further than the shore. You may confirm that Luffy is alive from afar. It’ll be a short visit as I can only take the blame from Rayleigh for so long. After all, I am not helping you. I’m also interested in seeing him as well.”

Boa finishes her sentence, aiming to sound flippant, and lets her gaze shift back to yours but is quickly bothered by how quickly your eyes seem to shine with emotion. Her stomach turns, but she understands.

“Get out of my sight,” she hisses.

You nod, overjoyed. Taking two steps away that appear too energized, you pause then stand still. Turning back to her, you can see her bite her lip. Perhaps regret. Perhaps annoyance.

And somehow it doesn’t stop you from running back over to her and wrapping your arms around her against your better judgment for just a moment, and whispering a ‘Thank you’ before running out of the room before she can decide to turn you to stone for real and apologize to Luffy later.

—

If you were even a second late, Hancock’s crew would have set sail without you. 

Coming down to the dock early with a woven sweater and a pair of cloth shoes feels ridiculous after not having seen each other for 18 months, but it’s all you felt you could produce in such a short time.

Unlike you, Hancock has money and power, and the ship is loaded with fruits, vegetables, and of course meat, bundles and bundles of warm clothing and other linens despite the fact that Rayleigh strictly forbade it, and it makes your own offering seem meager. Wrapping them carefully in a blanket, you wonder if you should leave it on the ship as you sail through the Calm Belt.

The Gorgon sisters watch your every move a little too carefully while Marguerite and Sweet Pea are kind enough to ask you how you’re feeling. The pitter patter of your heart and the warmth of your ears when Marguerite gives you a knowing smile is almost unbearable. She’s seen through you faster than you could see through yourself. 

Distance makes the heart grow fonder, is something she should only know of in books, and yet she can see your heart growing all this time.

“Fine! Just making sure he’s alive, he’s my dear friend and my captain and all, why would I be nervous, I’m sure he’s fine?” you stammer but the jig is obviously up.

Marigold, overhearing, rolls her eyes but Sandersonia smiles. You wonder why Hancock ultimately chose to stay behind, but remain thankful just the same.

Just a short visit. In and out.

…

The ship lands on the shore of a peaceful Rusukaina by noon, the sun high overhead. You’re not sure what you expected to see, aside from a brief stretch of sand melding into dense brush. Despite what you were told about storms, it seems like there isn’t a single cloud in the sky, much like Amazon Lily itself. You realize you might have forgotten what rain felt like or snow.

Luffy lives here somewhere, you think as you take the stairs down from the ship, your sandals sinking a little too deeply into the sand once you touch down. You take another step and Sandersonia reminds you that the island teems with dangerous wildebeests. 

“We have to wait for him to find us,” she adds as the others unload food in large parcels from the ship and set it on an almost comically large picnic blanket.

“If he doesn’t make it down here in the next 3 hours, we’re leaving.” Marigold adds. 

3 hours is not a long wait, you think, and the island is so large you wonder how long it takes to travel along its circumference, likely on the order of days at your own pace. But you nod, it’s not like there’s much else you can do.

—

Luffy finds you, the surprise visitors, probably lured by the scent of roasting meat on the beach, in less than an hour.

You see him from afar, possibly before he sees you, and the first thing you notice is that his straw hat is nowhere to be found. But that’s the least of your concerns.

Your legs move before you can really think about it, and you find yourself stumbling on the sand, but too stubborn to let yourself fall, you continue to scramble, running towards him, screaming his name.

“Luffy!”

To him, your voice is unmistakable, something he hasn’t heard in a long, long time.

���____!!!!!”

Luffy is faster than you, impossibly fast. You may be running towards him, but he’s crossed 90% of the distance, pulling you towards him with a quick wrap of his arms all at once. You snap against his chest almost painfully, the wind knocked gently out of you, but soon you find yourself bursting into laughter, as if it’s just been a couple hours since you last shared a hilarious joke. Pulling apart in seconds to look back at each other, his smile is wide and you realize you haven’t seen it since even before you left.

But one thing first.

“Luffy… you’re kind of-” you choke out.

“Oh!”

His arms loosen quickly and you can breathe easy again. Wiping small tears of joy from the corners of your eyes, you ask each other the first pressing question in unison:

“Have you been well?”

Your face warming as you stop but him grinning widely, he nods, and his eyes slide quickly past you to the food behind you, nose sniffing the air almost puppy-like.

“You brought food?” he asks, pulling you along by the wrist already, and quickly waving at the remainder of the crew coming over.

“Hey everyone!!!” He’s calling all their names incorrectly somehow - all but yours - but is cheery nonetheless, and the entire time you’re hyper-aware of the calloused fingers closed around your wrist, and the absence of bandages around his torso. He’s no longer facing you, but the rough edges of an x-shaped scar on his chest are new to you, as is the new definition in his back and shoulder muscles, and there’s a new peace, the kind that comes from processed grief and renewed steady confidence, that emanates from him. His dark, spiky hair remains roughly the same, perhaps slightly overgrown but evident from the jagged ends that it’s been cut at least once.

The crew greets him kindly, and soon, you’re sitting next to each other as he eats, and it occurs to you don’t know what to say now because you have far too much to say.

He notices your quiet but doesn’t say anything, too eager to stuff his face with properly seasoned foods he hasn’t seen in forever, but kind enough to push bread onto your plate and wave away bold seagulls that would ruin your meal. 

The chatter from the rest of the crew starts to sound far away as you struggle for something to say. Soon, the conversation goes to a lull - he’s asked about Hancock, and why she isn’t here, and why you’ve been allowed to come, and why you have that look on your face like you feel out of place - and while the food is all gone and he’s been encouraged to make it just another six months, the time allotted is up.

Sandersonia is the first to say that it’s time to leave.

“___ wanted to see you, but otherwise we have to go back.”

Luffy turns to you, who has found yourself clumsy with your tongue suddenly. All manner of thoughts over the past 18 months, and suddenly you can barely speak.

“If you were worried, I’ll survive,” he says. “I’m strong now!” He’s cheerful, flexing an arm but it doesn’t reassure you enough, the smile on your face doesn’t have enough depth.

That’s not it. Not all of it at least.

“Hey. There’s more you want to say, isn’t there?” he asks.

Ever since Luffy practically dragged you onto his ship, he’s been pulling the truth out of you like a magic trick. The Kujas are starting to clean up and load the ship but the two of you remain together, quietly. You think before speaking, then lie by omission through your teeth.

“No, I’m just really happy to see you.”

It’s true but it’s not everything.

Luffy tilts his head as he listens to you then crosses his arms over his chest.

“I am too, but…” 

He trails off. You snuff out the lunch fire, the same way you snuff out the yearning in your chest, then rise to your feet.

“I’ll see you when you’re done with your training, Luffy.”

You grin at him, as best you can, and offer him a hug that is slightly less enthusiastic than earlier but still heartfelt. Luffy’s arms linger a little longer by the time you want to pull away, and you sense it.

The loneliness he hasn’t thought about in months, but has been unearthed just with the sight of your face.

His chin presses against your shoulder gently.

“Do you have to leave?” 

It’s barely a whisper, but you hear it as though sucked into a vacuum, loud as if spoken from inside your own head. Unintentionally, you pull back and give him an odd look, as if you’re questioning whether or not he knows.

He has to know.

“If you stayed, I could keep you safe, and I promise you wouldn’t distract me. You don’t even have to stay the whole time. I just miss you. So much.”

Luffy’s face is softer now, and he’s not truly pleading - his smile is careful not to apply pressure with his feelings, stating a genuine fact as opposed to making a plea. Whether you decide to stay with him or not is purely your decision; that he wants you to stay is all he wants you to know.

Your heart races.

Marigold suddenly yells for you to come aboard the ship before they take off. You look at her, then look right back at Luffy, and there’s a quick panic that forces you to blurt out words you don’t mean immediately.

“I… can’t.”

“Okay.” Simple as that.

Luffy offers you a small smile in understanding. “But don’t worry about me. The crew will be together again in 6 months. I’ll come find you, and I’ll be stronger. I promise.”

“I…”

Your mouth opens and closes. You can’t tell him you love him, not now.

But it’s all you want to say, and nothing else wants to come out except that simple fact.

You nod instead, and run back towards the ship.

Luffy waves back at the ship, at you, up until you’re out of sight.

—

“You have to be fucking kidding me,” Hancock says to you upon this audacious next request, finally at the end of her patience.

And yet, a week later, you arrive back at the shore of Rusukaina island, this time with no one else but Boa Hancock and her sisters. Hancock can’t help but wave at Luffy from the boat, the obvious deep girlish blush obvious in her cheeks, but she doesn’t set foot on the island.

Instead, you are the only one who descends, a small bag strapped to your back and enough food to last a week practically tossed onto the sand before the ship sails off.

Sandersonia can barely hold in her laughter, and Marigold’s deep frown is evident as they sail away. Hancock turns haughtily once Luffy and you are out of sight.

“Maybe she’ll get eaten by beasts and I won’t have to see her ever again,” she murmurs under her breath. 

“Unlikely.” Sandersonia quips quickly. Marigold rolls her eyes.

“Are you just going to allow this?” she asks finally. Hancock gives her a look, then leans onto the railing of the ship and sighs in defeat.

“God forbid a woman have good taste. Unfortunately, Luffy seems to care about her too.”

Sandersonia slides next to her sister, bumping shoulders with her.

“I’m getting the feeling he’s not the only one who might like her. Maybe he’s the one with the shared good taste.”

Hancock raises an eyebrow, and Sandersonia giggles again. “Never mind me.”

Not another word is said.

…

“So… I did remember how to make a house from when I was a kid but not how to make a comfortable bed…” he reminds you, sheepishly, as the offered tour of the island comes to a close and you end up right back at the center he’s designated home base. He hadn’t thought about it before but now that you’re there, physically there, it’s occurred to him that maybe you don’t want to sleep on the ground and you don’t want to eat meat from sun-up to sundown, that it’s cold in the winter and hot in the summer, and rainy and wet and the thunder is too loud, and you’re not built like him.

But selfishly, he wants to be with you, and you want to be with him.

“We’ll figure it out,” you say.

To this, Luffy grins and, unable to contain his joy, his hands are on you again, grabbing you and spinning you around, until the whole island is filled with the sound of your laughter.

Once you’re all calmed down and the sun is about to set and you’ve had your final meal of the day, you realize that despite the fact that the words ‘I love you’ have yet to come from your lips, perhaps it’s understood with your choice to stay with him for the next few months.

Luffy is half-asleep by the fire, laying on a pillow of wadded-up cloth. Your eyes focus on the large scar on his chest you’re still getting used to. 

The big X that’s his trauma worn proudly on his chest. And yet, to you, that X marks your very greatest treasure, Luffy, the man you love.

[lvmimis]

“You know, your heartbeat isn’t all that different.”

As you look up at Luffy from your vantage point, your left palm resting on his chest as you turn your ear away from where you were listening carefully, he looks at you quizzically. Your smile is wide as you gaze at him, then you pat his chest gently.

“Why would it be different? I’m just laying here.”

He’s right about this, the two of you have turned in for the night and are just about to sleep, but every so often in these serene moments, you’ve sometimes wondered if you’d ever be able to catch a glimpse of something different in his pulse ever since the events that played out at Wano.

He has a heart that has stopped, started, experienced all sorts of arrhythmias… you have heard that in some ancient medical traditions, a thousand conditions could be gleaned from just close attention to the steady (or not so steady) rhythmic thump of someone’s heart, that you could learn so much about someone from every beat -

And yet, Luffy sounds regular, steady, just like he’s always been, which isn’t particularly upsetting nor is it exciting. 

However, the familiarity of it does put you at ease naturally. You press your ear against him again to listen and inhale slowly, then exhale, consolidating all your senses into just one.

Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.

“Do you want to know what it sounds like when I transform?” Luffy asks. His palm comes to a rest on the top of your head, a soft caress of your hair accompanying the question. His voice is lower, quieter than usual, perhaps because he’s already sleepy since it is the middle of the night and he’s starting to wind down from the day.

“No, not now. I just…” your voice trails off as you close your eyes.

Lub-dub. Lub-dub. Lub-dub.

Trillions and trillions of people have heartbeats just like this. But this one, his heartbeat, is the one you might cherish the most.

You’re entranced, pulling closer to him as you relish in this sound that reminds you that he’s here with you, always, connected. With two free fingers, you feel your own pulse in your neck. 

Not the exact same rate - yours a little faster, a little fainter, but you’re both still here. Together.

“Are you okay?”

Your mind naturally runs a mile a minute, a train of thought often too fast for him to catch up to before he decides to give up on trying to match it and decides to wrangle it into comprehension. An arm curls over your waist and he shifts easily until he’s atop you in bed. He’s careful to be light on your body as he supports his weight while he looks deeply into your eyes.

“What are you thinking?” Luffy asks, finally. Deep brown eyes run over your body; you’ve already had sex tonight - he could very easily indulge in more but rest is a good idea too sometimes, he figures.

Your arms wrap loosely around his neck.

“That I’m happy your heart is always beating.”

His eyebrows knit in confusion for a moment, but then just as quickly he eases into a smile and dips low to kiss you on the forehead, before letting just a little bit more of his weight rest onto you. His warmth and pressure is just as comforting as the sound of blood coursing through his body, as his indomitable spirit.

“I’m happy about that too. And yours, of course,” he says, cheerfully. 

“I love you, Luffy. Your heart better never stop beating,” you declare.

He laughs, letting his face bury into your neck as he nips at it, kisses sleepier and sloppier over time. His chest presses against yours and you feel it again, every beat after beat.

“If yours keeps beating, mine will too. They’re talking to each other, like best friends,” he teases.

His hands run the length of your arms, searching for your fingers; you slip your fingers in between his naturally.

“Like lovers,” you correct him in a teasing voice.

“Like lovers,” he repeats affectionately. His eyelids lower languidly, and he murmurs the words, “I love you.”

He’s dozing off, his heartbeat slowing against your body. Your body clings naturally around him even as he slips carefully to the side so he doesn’t suffocate you. 

“Love you,” he repeats again, drowsy. You press your head against his chest again, to let that steady heartbeat, one amongst trillions, but a sound so terribly precious to you, lull you to sleep.

[lvmimis]

“Hold still.”

In your attempt to stabilize the young man’s face that keeps recoiling childishly further and further away from you the longer you apply antiseptic on the littered cuts and scrapes before they swell and get infected, you feel your frustration mounting, gripping his chin more firmly than you intended.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow!!!” Luffy yells and fidgets, but once your fingertips are posed on his skin, he stills, no longer pulling away. Just moments ago you’d think that every time you applied alcohol-soaked cotton it would sizzle upon contact with his skin with the way he was moving, and bite your lower lip in annoyance, but soon an image of what caused those injuries in the first place flashes back in your mind, and your approach softens quickly into empathy.

Luffy is strong and his pain tolerance is far higher than yours, so if he’s whining now, it’s because he feels safe enough to feel in your presence, and you should cherish that.

“I’m almost done, Luffy,” your voice comes out more compassionately, your hand sliding gently from the base of his visage, and trailing down his neck to rest on his shoulder. It’s unintentionally intimate, and there’s the softest tinge of pink that blooms under Luffy’s bruised up face as you lean in close. “Just give me a few more minutes, okay?”

He pauses, and his voice turns similarly gentle.

“Okay.”

The last place you work on is the developing shiner under his left eye, the one puffing up under his childhood scar. As you gently massage cooling ointment into his skin, his eyes close, his head tilting up as it melts into your touch. 

He’s behaving. Giving himself to you.

“I’m done,” you whisper a few minutes later, and Luffy opens his eyes, deep brown irises warm with gratitude. 

He beams.

“Thank you.”

Your cheeks warm for a moment, and in your constant need to emotionally self-regulate, you turn away from him quickly, busying your hands with the task of putting away your tray of first aid materials.

“You can thank me by thinking twice about getting into fights.”

It’s unfair, you know, as soon as it comes out, given that he needed to get his hat back one way or the other from Zephyr, but he quickly redirects you before you can apologize.

“Why would I do that when I have you to patch me up so nicely every time?” Luffy retorts with a grin. You turn to give him an exasperated look, but he’s moved from the location where you left him, faster than you could perceive, and is standing before you now just a little too close, enough to almost startle you.

Before you can take a step back, he’s gripped your chin the same way you did to him earlier, tilting it up towards him. It’s a show of dominance, but playful - as much as you tease and prod him and push him away, Luffy’s quick to show you that he has the upper hand always, easily. 

“I’m making it Chopper’s job next time.” A threat you give him, without any teeth.

“Ah, that’s a bummer,” Luffy says, his grip spreading to pucker your lips. You know what he wants to do before he does it, his eyes and yours half-lidded before he kisses you, and the smell of pungent, herbal ointment fills your nostrils, quickly blunted by the sweet taste of his lips pressed against yours, his tongue seamlessly slipping into your mouth. 

You kiss perhaps a little too long, your hands wrapping around his shoulders and his around your waist - you back together into a wall slowly, and still a little bit longer, you devour each other, relishing in the passing of bandaged and bruised hands over your skin.

He finally pulls away, grinning widely, satisfied with his work as you stand there, breathless and flustered.

“Well, I don’t think I can repay him like that.”

“Luffy!”

The smack you give him in the arm has him yelp and you immediately apologize, panicked that you broke something of his, but as you do so, he chuckles.

“Just kidding.” 

You wonder if you should kick him for real but he mollifies you by taking your hand and kissing the unblemished knuckles.

“I’ll stop teasing you for a bit, promise,” he says to your dissatisfied pout.

You huff, but soon change the subject, as your fingers interlace and you leave the ship clinic hand in hand.

[lvmimis]

When Luffy bursts into your bedroom, you’re in the process of tripping due to your ankles being caught in the bedsheets and seconds away from planting face first into the ground, but Luffy’s quick enough to break your fall from the door with his arm, turning you gently but assertively back into bed.

“Looks like you’re still being clumsy!” he exclaims. He’s plopped on your bed almost just as fast as he pushes you back into it, and you pout at him.

“Good morning, Luffy, have you considered starting with that?”

He laughs in response. “Have you considered not falling on your face?” 

His hands squish your face together, and you pull away, worried about your unbrushed teeth being more than a little unpleasant. Not that Luffy would mind.

He never does mind, does he?

“Does your ankle still hurt?” he asks.

Your ankle, untangled from the sheets does appear a bit swollen, and that perhaps might have contributed to your almost-fall, but it’s improved from yesterday.

“A little, but better.”

He nods, reaching up to gently place a hand on it, as if he knows what to do. You don’t wince at the pain and he’s glad, beaming ear to ear.

“That’s good!” 

You offer a smile at him and try to thank him for checking on you, but he’s already scooped you up in his arms, and is walking to the door.

“It’s breakfast time!” he exclaims. “I wonder what Sanji’s cooked up- Hey!”

You’re pushing at his face with your hands.

“Are you crazy? I haven’t even washed my face or brushed my teeth yet!” you hiss at him, and he frowns.

“But I’m hungry…”

He doesn’t let you down immediately, worried about the pressure on your ankle so you sigh. “Just take me to the bathroom.”

He does, letting you down for a moment but remaining close by to be used as a crutch as you wash your face. Brushing your teeth is a similarly and unnecessarily monitored task.

“Do you have to be hovering?” you ask him, and he cheerfully replies, “Yeah, so you hurry up.”

“You can go ahead and have breakfast,” you remind him. He shakes his head fervently.

“Not without you.”

You pout at him, but you have to admit you’re moved. 

“I can use one of the crutches Chopper got me, I’ll be okay.”

He pauses for a moment, watching you carefully. It would catch you off guard if it were anyone else, but it’s Luffy, and he simply takes your chin, holding you still as he kisses your forehead.

“Just let me do something for you, okay? I’ll take you there.”

His voice is quieter, but gentle and it warms your stomach before any food can fill it. You wonder if it’s his way of apologizing for letting you get harmed in the first place. It’s not the worst of injuries you can get throughout all your adventures, but Luffy has always insisted that he never wants you to get even a scratch on you.

So when he’s here, doing his best to take care of you, you consider you might as well let him.

“Okay.”

“Thank you,” he grins, and lets his hands wrap around your waist as you finish the rest of your morning routine.

[lvmimis]

cw: set during wano arc right after udon prison is conquered. reader and luffy have been separated since whole cake island arc.

You haven’t shifted in what feels like hours, and perhaps your knees are starting to get tired, but the idea of waking your sleeping love Luffy by moving makes you feel far worse than any lower extremity numbness could. With the deepness of his slumber, the reality is that even if a meteor struck the very earth right now, it probably wouldn’t be able to wake him, and yet even the way you gently stroke his hair is done gingerly, with the lightest of touches. Perhaps a small part of you is compensating for the strange men you’ve let occupy this closeness to your body, and cradling his head in your lap feels like paying a sort of penance for the way you’ve traded away your affections for coin and information over the past few weeks. It’s silly - Luffy wouldn’t care if you sold your body to every person on earth, as long as you chose to stay by him when all was said and done.

Tama peers at you from a distance, the hat she’s braided together for Luffy held tightly in her hand. 

“Do you think he’ll wake up soon?” she asks. “I made him this.”

You smile. “So very kind of you,” you offer her. She smiles brightly, and continues to hold on to it for when the right moment comes, as she walks off. You continue to watch over Luffy as he sleeps, and soon you are no longer looking at him, but through him, playing a conversation in your head that has yet to happen. 

Were you okay (without me)? How did you survive (without me)? 

Did you miss me? We won’t ever be apart again, right?

There is a part of you that attaches so strongly to this man resting in this sacred holding space - stronger than any anchor, woven more tightly than the strongest twine. Luffy is a lifeline to not just you, but many, and yet you wonder just how desperately the others hold on. Can he sense how much you need him? Does he need you even half as much?

Your hand passes carefully across the surface of his cheek. He is so peaceful when he’s asleep, like a gentle breeze, the kind that teases through linens hung out to dry; turbulent and troublesome when he is awake, a strong gust that tears roofs from homes and turns ships into wrecks. Your hand stops, and your fingers cup his cheek gently, holding your world in the palm of your hand. For just a moment, you imagine that there’s a ghost of a smile onto his features, gone just as fast as you perceive it, and your heart skips a beat.

And then suddenly you’re embarrassed. Embarrassed at the weight in your chest and the emotion that wells up inside you just looking at the man you love. Over the time you’ve been apart, you’ve grown to hate men a little - some men, the kind that see you as nothing but a form of entertainment in some way, shape or form, the type that demand to be held by a woman with care without providing any sense of safety or comfort or kindness to remind them that they are not interchangeable, that each lap is different and each bosom is a unique sort of sweetness and each heart has its own idiosyncrasies.

And yet, you could never hate this one man, even if you tried.

You try to focus your eyes on something else, relishing in the lush greens of the forest and the dappled sunlight that peeks through the tall bamboo; you focus your ears not at the thump of your own heart beating but at the bird songs. You try to feel something else other than the rise and fall of his chest.

“Hey.”

The sound of Luffy’s voice can draw you in for miles, and he’s awake now, dark brown eyes heavy-lidded as they look up at you.

It takes you a moment, but breathily you whisper a greeting back at him. “Hey.”

As though still wrought with a fairytale like fatigue, he smiles at you and it turns you into mush.

“I think I forgot how pretty you are,” he mumbles.

The last thing he means to do is to charm you with anything other than the truth, but you can feel tears come to your eyes.

And he senses this, his grin growing wider and more reassuring until the tears splash softly onto him. He brings himself up into a sitting position as you wipe them away, and quickly pulls you against his chest.

He doesn’t have to say it but the way he holds you, you can already tell, he missed you just as much as you did him.

[lvmimis]

cw: first time. implied virgins. smut, minors dni. vaguely referenced female anatomy for reader. set within the timeskip.

Much sooner than you imagined, more than two and closer to three months have passed since you joined Luffy on Rusukaina island for the last portion of his two-year training. In some ways, you’ve easily acclimated to life on the treacherous stretch of land, rising with the sun on some days to the sound of giant birds cawing in the distance or in the midday on others, more perturbed than terrified by the trembling of the ground as stampeding beasts run through (there are far fewer of these than before according to Luffy, even if to you there are still so many, friendly or otherwise). In other ways, there are still adjustments to be made, as the nights are still colder than you anticipate and the afternoons hotter, and despite the fact that your belly is always full, you miss the comforts of warm noodles and sweet desserts at your disposal in sharp contrast with meals consisting of roasted meat and picked fruit. 

Tonight is a winter night, and wrapped in heavy furs, you still have yet to get comfortable enough to sleep more than a couple hours at a time, huddled beside your captain who is fast asleep, snoring softly. Despite the dispersal of the remainder of the crew, Luffy remains your captain in your heart, even if he resides there, known by other names: Best friend, Partner, Beloved. 

Luffy is turned away from you, wrapped in his own separate furs - thinner than yours, but enough to do the job, and while you do feel guilty to some extent that you’ve gotten the warmer clothes, you know he doesn’t feel temperature the same way you do. In the dead of night like this, you wonder which of his other senses are altered, dulled or heightened, if the effect of a tender caress is different between the two of you, if the kisses you’ve almost shared would taste different on his lips and tongue than yours. 

In just a couple of weeks, this time unique to the two of you will come to an end, and the thought of it makes your stomach flutter in anticipation. You’ll have to share him again with the world, you realize, your favorite person no longer solely within your reach, but you know it’s selfish to want to steal him away for yourself. Especially if you hesitate to make that next physically intimate step out of fear of… what exactly? You are essentially already playing house and Luffy has already told you that he loves you. 

But it’s Luffy. Luffy who loves everyone, whose kindness is always out of proportion to what he’s given, who gives praise freely and judges very little. If anyone else were in your place, they’d feel protected and appreciated in the same way you are, you figure.

It’s one thing to be with someone and another to be with someone.

You muse a bit longer, watching the gentle expansion and reduction of his chest as he sleeps. The waves of his dark hair are just the slightest bit overgrown and you resist the urge to reach your hand out to touch it, lest you appear creepy. Despite the cold, he’s wrapped far less like a burrito than you are, his broad shoulders exposed completely, his back visible down to the bottom of his shoulder blades. You wonder if you should adjust his blanket, but that would mean unwrapping yourself and also waking him. He’s not shivering. His breathing is steady.

You realize you’re holding yours.

Maybe you are creepy, and should find something else to put you to sleep than your yearning thoughts.You exhale, then tell yourself to turn but as you shift, you can hear him call your name.

“___.”

Your heart skips a beat. You complete your turn, but move closer to him so that your backs are touching gently. 

“Yeah?” Your voice is the quietest whisper. The wind beats heavily against the walls of the handbuilt cabin, and almost drowns it out.

“You’re not sleeping,” he murmurs.

“Having a bit of trouble.”

A moment passes, then Luffy shifts and turns as you freeze, before he drapes his fur blanket around your body, his arm settling over your waist and pulling you closer to him to share in his warmth. His chest sits against you now in exchange for his back, and you can feel his chin press gently on the top of your shoulder.

“If you’re cold, just say so.”

Your heart thumps in your chest. You’re not cold anymore. Far from it.

He holds you like this for a few more moments and you wonder if he’s starting to fall back asleep but he speaks again, slumber no longer slurring his words in your ear.

“Are you okay with me holding you like this?” he asks.

He doesn’t immediately loosen, but you can tell he’ll give you some space if you say the word.

“Yeah,” you reply.

“You’re stiff.”

That response catches you off guard. If he thinks you’re stiff, why won’t he let go? You try to loosen your body’s natural tension somehow, slow your breathing somehow, still your fast-beating heart, but to no avail. Another few moments pass, and then he lets go, pulling back but not enough to unwrap the two of you. His arm retreats to his side and you want it back over you almost immediately. 

Your mouth opens and closes, too bashful to say it.

“I want to say something to you,” Luffy offers, instead. It’s a bid for you to turn, but instead he decides to maneuver over you, his body brushing gently over your side as he switches places, so that he’s now face to face with you without you having to move. 

It’s dark, but Luffy’s eyes are bright with something affectionate. He looks at you but then looks slightly away once confronted with your surprised expression, as if he’s considering how best to deliver his words.

Something he rarely deems necessary.

“I want to… hold you more often.”

You blink, and he glances at you then looks away again, then rolls onto his back so that his gaze focuses on the ceiling, just as it does the stars on nights where it’s warm enough to sleep outside.

“Only if you’re okay with it. I’ve wanted to for a while. But I don’t want you to feel forced. I know it’s easy for you to feel like you have to do things you don’t want to do.”

He pauses, then his eyes shift towards you, taking you in at this moment. Your eyes are wide, surprised but affectionate.

“Are you… sure?” you ask.

Luffy inches closer to you, enough that his forehead presses against yours. There’s no cold between the two of you any longer, just the heat of your bodies, his hands gently posed on your face and the warmth of your breathing against each other.

He nods his head once, but waits. He hesitates, seeing it before you do - your eyes closing, your face leaning forward. He meets you more than halfway, pressing his lips onto yours.

Taste. 

It’s different from what you expected, somehow more pleasant, softer than you anticipated with his rough and tumble personality. Pecks and sucks and twists of the tongue and only a few awkward clashes of the teeth, like someone getting to know their way through a house for the first time in the dark, and you kiss until the two of you could recognize each other’s mouths from tactile memory. 

Hands start to roam naturally, blankets and clothing shedding gradually until all that’s left is bare nakedness, the purest forms of each other. A few unintentional glimpses of you bathing were filled in by his imagination, but now with you in front of him, he can feel his body reacting, swelling; and you’ve tried not to imagine what a naked Luffy looks like from the front, but the heavy, thick member pressed between you two is hard not to characterize before you even let your eyes drift downwards.

“You’re…” you don’t finish your sentence, caught up in another kiss, but your hand finds its way around the shaft, your thumb pressing gently on the moistening slit. He groans against your touch, and the twitch sends heat to your own center.

“Your hand feels so good,” he moans, even though you have yet to do anything. Awkward and inexperienced, you pass your hand along the shaft, down to the base, up to the flushed head. He kisses you deeper, one hand finding purchase on the fat of your ass, squeezing tenderly, the other cupping the back of your head to keep you pressed close. 

You lose air slowly, ravenous in your hunger. Your hands continue to move and explore, bolder the longer you embrace. You feel the weight of his balls in your palm and his hands pass through the space between your legs, wet and wanting. As a calloused finger roughly pets your clit, you freeze, and he adjusts, his touch softer on the next try. One then two work their way into your center, until you moan with the drag against your opening, the exploration of your inner walls. His fingers don’t move as deep as his cock does once you’ve been laid on your back, prepared with kisses to your eyelids, neck, chest and shoulder.

He says nothing but you can see permission asked with his eyes as he pauses, the tip flush with your center. You nod and he pushes slow at first, watching your facial expression all the while - when he’s inside a couple more inches, you whimper, unfamiliar with the stretch, and he stills and watches. 

For a man with little impulse control, he has a lot when it counts. He dips low and kisses your collarbone.

“I can stop.”

You shake your head, and wrap your arms tighter around him.

“K-keep going. Please.”

“Okay. Here goes.”

Still slowly, he pushes in, biting his lip, unable to hold in a groan as he seats himself. His hands drag up your forearms, clutching both your fingers.

His weight is heavy but comforting and he lets out a sigh, one that grounds the font of sensation.

“Luffy?”

He’s not moving for a moment, but before you know it, he is.

Slow at first, a gentle rocking motion, not unlike the waves crashing against the ocean. Then faster, especially as you start to become more vocal and your body starts to provide some friction against him, not forceful but not yielding either, just even and rhythmic. Soon it’s fast, and his hips snap quickly, and you can feel yourself tighten against him. Your body arches backwards and his hands grip your ass, lifting gently as he parks his knees and really digs into you, snug contact against your most profound depth. 

New sounds come from you - mewls and whines, whimpers, things he’ll tease you about in the morning. You hear pleasure from him that’s unlike any hoot or giggle you’ve fallen in love with. He handles you like a man who loves you tenderly, and you accept that love with grace.

The intangible stuff of yearning turns into more substantial intimacy and shared tenderness the longer you make love.

Your names pass between each other’s lips as your bodies connect and reconnect. Sweat and saliva adorns you both the same as love does, and even when his breathing arrests with the onslaught of coming, you let him fill you with that too - it’s a safe day.

With him, you’re always safe, anyway.

…

“I feel like I’ve died and gone to heaven,” Luffy laughs when the two of you have decided you’ve had enough exploration for the night. His body still feels as though it vibrates against yours, but you can feel him softening against you. Thick something seeps into the space between your legs, but it’s a problem for a morning dip in the pool.

It’s heaven for you, too, love returned, you think, snuggling up closer to him. The fur blankets find themselves around you both, unclear which ones are his and which ones are yours, but skin on skin remains the best shelter.

“I love you,” you whisper into his chest, languidly.

He grins and kisses you. He loves you too.