When Luffy Went A Little Too Far – Chapter 1

I decided to update these a bit. For anyone who is reading this for the first time, I hope you enjoy it! This story had definitely grown a LOT bigger than I first thought. A thank you for everyone who has the energy and patience to stick with me through every chapter, even when I take a while to update. :D

Warnings: None for this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own OP or any of the Characters.

Name of Chapter: Had Enough by Lifehouse. The words seemed very fitting, got some inspiration from it.

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Chapter 1 – Had Enough

Even though the skies were clear and the sea was calm, the pirate ship Thousand Sunny was filled with a gloomy silence. Everyone on board was exhausted, each crew member lying sprawled out on the deck, each in their own corner. The scene was quite comical, actually.

Nami, Usopp and Chopper were huddled in a pile on the higher deck, still trembling from the adrenaline rush caused by their previous encounter, Usopp trying to convince them that it had all just been a dream. ("Really?! Whooh, that's great..." Sighed Chopper).

Franky was trying to fix his hair, tiredly pushing his nose to change the do which was flatly falling on his forehead, looking far from its usual awesomeness.

"This is so not suuuuupaaa..." His voice trailed off into unrecognizable mumbling.

Zoro and Robin were both sitting on some wayward barrels that had rolled across the deck and fallen over, both of them wishing their pride would allow them to lay on the floor in an ungraceful heap like the others.

Brook looked like an old pile of bones next to the main mast, laughing tiredly: "Yohoho...ho...ho."

Sanji was barely holding himself up, leaning on the railing and lazily holding a burned out, wet cigarette between his lips, too tired to get a new dry one even though he really needed one right now.

One might wonder what on earth had made the usually loud and happy crew so worn out. The answer is quite simple. They had sailed straight into one of the New World's worst storms. Not only was it strong and wild, and completely bizarre with its never ending lightning and 50 foot waves, but it had lasted longer than any they'd experienced before. All through the day and long till the next morning they had all fought to keep Sunny from capsizing, trying to hold all the loose items at bay while maintaining the course at the same time. All in all, every single one of them were at the end of their line, and none of them had any energy or patience left at all.

All except for one. The captain of the ship, Monkey D. Luffy had come down with a fever just few days prior. This had shocked them all, their brighter than sunshine captain was never sick! But something had brought him down, and even Chopper couldn't quite explain how or when. It wasn't serious, seemingly just a common cold, but it had them all worried because this was the never-ending ball of energy called Luffy that was moaning and whining in the covers of the bed, too tired to do much more.

And so they had all been on edge with worry, not really sleeping and doing their best to take care of their dear captain. Due to the illness, Chopper had prohibited Luffy from getting out of bed, especially during the storm, and therefore he had been sound asleep throughout the whole ordeal.

Or so they all thought.

In reality, he had still been suffering from a high fever that had forced the raven into an uneasy sleep, haunted by nightmares he hadn't had in a while. Nightmares of brothers that were no longer there, of gunshots and blood filled battlefields and of fears of losing his dear nakama.

The nightmares never really stopped, he still had them almost every night. He didn't think they would ever truly go away. But in time they had faded, lost their colors and details, become more of a blur of sound and movement. He never mentioned any of this to his friends, not wanting to worry them. It was all in the past now, and he was doing his best to focus on the present. And in the end, it was his burden to carry, not theirs. He was the captain, and therefore it was his job to stay strong.

But every now and then he found himself wanting to reach out to one of them. It was moments like this one, when the nightmares had been too vivid and real to bare. He had caught himself a few times, hand already out to grasp one his nakama for support, changing his mind at the last minute and come up with an excuse for his actions. Instead of telling them what was going on, he would just become a bit more clingy than usual. He knew they had noticed the change. They would give him an odd look when he would suddenly come up and hug them for no reason, or huff in exasperation when he decided to crawl in one of their beds in the middle of the night. They would roll their eyes, but none of them ever denied him. And he was thankful for that, because he needed it. It seemed simple, but it was important to him. Every little touch assured him that he wasn't alone.

And so when he woke up after this particularly horrific nightmare, all he wanted to do was go up and spend some time with his crew, make sure they really were there, back together and everyone was okay. His eagerness was only fueled by the fact that he had been lying in bed for three days, all the while being incredibly bored. That is why he was now running to the deck, waving his arms in excitement.

"Hey everybody! Is it breakfast time yet Sanji! Is it? I'm huuuungryyy! Usopp, Chopper, can we play? I came up with a new game! Oh, hey Brook can you play something? I feel like having a party, can we?!"

He was jumping up and down around the grassy deck from one crewmate to another, his face nearly splitting with a grin that made the sun look awfully pale in comparison.

But this is where everything went wrong. Luffy's eagerness and the rest of the crew's exhaustion were like two storm clouds colliding, making thunder boom with a crash of lightning.

Nami, who was ill tempered even on her nicest of days, was the first to snap.

"A party? You wanna have a party?!"

Luffy's smile faltered a little, even he wasn't dense enough to not realize when the navigator was truly angry. He watched warily as the girl got up from the pile of tangled limbs and practically flew down the stairs to where Luffy was standing. The poor captain had to take a step back when Nami grasped the collar of his vest in an unyielding grip and got up to his face.

"You may be naive and carefree all the damn time, but enough is enough! A party!? No, we can NOT have a party!"

Luffy tried to laugh it off, nervously scratching the back of his head.

"I just thought it might cheer you guys up, since you look like you're feeling a little down..." the rest of his sentence was drowned out by Nami's ear splitting screech.

"A little down?! You have got to be kidding me! I honestly didn't think even you could be this dumb! Do you realize that while you were happily snoozing off downstairs, we were fighting for our freaking lives up here!? What kind of captain does it make you when all you're good for is staying out of the way?"

At this point even Nami was aware that she was crossing a line, but she was tired beyond comprehension and wasn't thinking straight.

"You know, now that I think about it, there is one thing that would cheer me up. Why don't you for once make yourself useful, and just disappear somewhere so we can do our jobs!"

Then she dashed off, heading up to make sure they were still on course, completely missing the hurt that was so clearly shining in the raven's onyx eyes.

Luffy was shocked. He knew he wasn't good at… well, anything really, but that's what he had his nakama for. However, now he was realizing that maybe he was relying on them a little too much. What did he ever do for them but made their jobs just that much harder? Always running around, destroying things, bothering them when they tried to concentrate and eating food that wasn't his to eat.

But the way Nami just said it seemed a little unfair even to him. It wasn't like he was lazily sleeping away while the others were in danger. He had much rather been there with them to make sure everyone was okay. But Chopper had told him not to get out of bed, right? Even Nami had reminded him to rest and then proceeded to threaten him with a 10,000 beli debt for making her worry.

So he put himself back together and shook it off as Nami just being tired and grumpy, and turned to face the rest of the Straw Hats, the smile back on his face.

"Shishishi... seems like I made Nami a little angry. Maybe food would make her feel better! It always helps me! Sanji, can I help you with breakfast!?" He shot a hopeful look in the cook's direction, his stomach giving a low rumble from lack of proper meals. Being sick had also meant that he didn't feel like eating, and during the past three days he'd only had a third of what he would've normally eaten. Unfortunately Luffy wasn't in luck, and the cook had had it too.

"Nami-san is right. The only way you can help right now is just let us be. And you can go and get your own damn breakfast when we get to the next island, shouldn't be too long. I'm not letting you anywhere near my kitchen, you'd only be in the way anyway. Or better yet, eat everything before anyone else got even a single bite." The blonde flicked his cigarette into the ocean and left to see how much damage the storm had done in the kitchen.

The smile on Luffy's face was now gone, and he looked at his remaining comrades. One by one they all shuffled off to do what they had to before finally being able to rest, silently agreeing with the cook and navigator.

Once he was the only one left on the deck, Luffy let his walls come down. Every insecurity and fear he had ever had had practically just been thrown in his face. He remembered the panic from last night's nightmare, watching as his nakama disappeared one after another. Then he thought of the two years when they had all been separated and how much stronger everyone had gotten. Maybe he was just holding them all back? Maybe they would've been better off without him. After all, all he could do was fight, but if he wasn't good enough to save even one nakama, good enough to save even one brother... then what was he good for?

Body trembling and eyes shining with unshed tears, the captain of the Straw Hat Pirates fell on his knees. He grasped the rim of his hat, trying to pull it further down to hide his face like he'd done when he was a child. Only now it was too small for that, not covering more than his eyes, but that was enough. He sat there, down on his knees, breathing heavily and trying to keep himself from falling apart.

This wasn't him, not anymore. He had trained for two years, every single day he'd worked, never stopping, barely sleeping, and here he was, the same crybaby as always, unable to help or save anyone.

"An island ahead!" Came a cry from the crow's nest, and Luffy shot up like he'd been electrocuted. He looked to his right where he could see an island in the distance and made a decision.

He would show them. He would prove them that he could be better, prove that he could be of use. With his newfound goal in mind, he went inside to grab a few things that he would need, careful not to run into any of his crewmates in fear of setting them off again.

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That was it. Tell me what you think! ^-^

-Ssus