W/N: I would like to apologize for not updating in 2 years. Being somewhat of a perfectionist and overly critical of myself has made writing so stressful for me at some point, and I ended up having a hard time to make something I really like. I have also been anxious about some real life things and that definitely did not help me to focus. I totally understand if you decided to drop this story. No hard feelings :) Now that my mind is clearer, I will try my best to update frequently. This chapter is shorter than usual because I really want to publish it this weekend. I hope I can write a longer one soon. Thank you for waiting. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Also, happy Pride Month :)

xxx

Ever done something so wrong that it drives you crazy every time you think about it?

"Uuhh..." Luffy cries, sound muffled by the hands on his burning face.

How did he end up like this? This is so pathetic.

Luffy really did not wait long to escape from the crime scene. As soon as he came back to his senses, his legs automatically carried him out of the tent, running away as far as he could. He does not know where he is now to be honest but, that is the least of his worries now.

It is so embarrassing, no matter how he tries to justify it. He was like a horny teenager wanting to try out something new.

Even worse, how could he even think of trying it out with...

"Arghhhhhhhh!" he lets out a muffled, frustrated scream.

How does he fix this?! He is so mad at himself now! This is so stupid!

Luffy hates himself so much now. How could he do something like this? This is a mistake. He should have known better to limit his interactions with Law.. He should have. What should he do now? He ruffles his hair roughly as he lowers his head to his knees.

Then, a soft voice is heard, followed by a gentle pat on his shoulder. "Luffy?"

Luffy's body jerks a little from the surprise.

He was so lost in his own thoughts, did not even see it coming.

What is it?!

He turns to see two figures behind him, one holding an oil lamp. His hand automatically moves up to shield his eyes from the sudden shooting light.

"Are you okay?" a voice of a young woman asks, worried.

He knows that voice.

"L-laki?" Luffy responds.

"Yes. What are you doing here?" Laki lowers the oil lamp, realizing that the light is causing Luffy discomfort. That is when Luffy manages to identify the other figure behind her - Viper.

Of course, he is unable to answer Laki. Not immediately, at least.

xxx

Luffy stares emptily at the coconut shell in his hands, half-filled with clear coconut juice.

Tasty, refreshing coconut juice with tiny bits of coconut flesh.

Next to him, Viper is feeding the dry leaves and thin twigs to the fire, trying to keep it alive longer. Besides him lies Laki, comfortably taking a nap.

Both Laki and Viper brought Luffy back to the camp not long after they found him.

Yes, found.

Turned out, Laki and Viper were doing their night watch duty when they saw Luffy running deeper into the woods. Worried, both of them chased after him, taking along some of the men who were still awake.

Both Laki and Viper - two of the fastest runners in the tribe, almost lost sight of him. It took them a few more miles before they finally catch up to Luffy.

Lucky of them.

Laki did not wait long to question Luffy again once they were back at the camp but she could not get anything out of him until Viper finally opened his mouth.

Yes, he had been silent the whole time. Well, ever since Law and Luffy got there, they never heard him speak more than say, ten words?

A man of very few words, indeed.

The Shandian man flat out asked Luffy if he saw anything weird or scary.

It had been 'what', 'why', and 'how' kind of questions with Laki and Luffy seriously had no idea how to answer.

Viper's question however...

Luffy still remembers how he slowly nodded in response. No hesitation.

Sorry Viper. Sorry Laki.

Laki did not believe Luffy at first but had to accept it still. If Luffy did not hear wrongly, he even heard both of them arguing afterwards, about some kind of supernatural thing Luffy has totally zero knowledge about.

Well, at least he is saved...

Luffy lets out a relieved sigh. He is happy with how things are turning out, although he still feels guilty about lying and the troubles he caused earlier. Also, he is glad that the other men who went out to look for him were not mad about the whole thing. Luffy is lucky that they left everything to Laki and Viper to handle.

He turns to look at Viper, who is still working on the fire.

The three of them agreed earlier to take turns taking nap and Laki's turn is supposed to start when the fire starts dying. From the look of it however, Viper has no intention waking Laki up soon. He has been keeping the fire big and bright for a while now.

Luffy does not have a problem with it honestly. Laki deserves the rest after all Luffy put them through.

Heh.

Anyway, the reason Luffy is still not back in his shared hut with Law is because he actually asked to join Laki and Viper on their watch duty.

Luffy actually told them that he would like to help, out of guilt. He even promised to not cause any more troubles. Luffy was desperate. He could not go back to being near Law after all he did! Laki hesitated but again, Viper unexpectedly assured Laki that it would be fine.

Viper seriously has no idea how thankful Luffy is to him.

Suddenly, Luffy feels a hand squeezing his leg.

It is Viper, and his hand is slowly moving up Luffy's thigh when the teen pushes it away out of surprise.

"W-what are you doing?" Luffy tries to calm down. He is sure Viper has his reasons.

Viper furrows his brows at Luffy, before once again reaching to touch him. This time, it is Luffy's arm.

Luffy watches as Viper squeezes his thin arm, looking like he is in search of something...

"Skinny."

For a moment, Luffy is taken aback by what Viper just said.

Eh?

"No muscle. How did you even run that fast?" Viper looks at Luffy with a jealous face.

Uh, that is actually an unexpected question.

"Your legs are smaller than mine." Viper adds, pointing to his own muscular arms and legs as the obvious references.

Luffy can only respond with an awkward grin. He is not sure if he should be offended by that though...

Well, Luffy can kind of understand. Being the rumored potential future tribe chief, Viper was probably embarrassed that he was having a hard time to catch up with Luffy earlier. Still, Luffy knows Viper means no harm. Luffy knows it all too well. Back when he was still active in sports he used to get some negative attention from the jealous students - mostly the seniors.

He knows the difference.

Viper only wants to be the best for the tribe.

"I used to do sports." Luffy starts sharing his experience, subconsciously making a running gesture. "My brothers..."

Luffy's friendly smile immediately dies at the word 'brothers'.

Oh, it slipped out.

Then, comes the long, familiar silence.

Uh, no. Not now.

He then starts to recall the time when Ace and Sabo used to help him with his sports training - forcing him to wake up for early morning practice, recording his sprint time, cheering for him at tournaments...

Uh, uh... His chest starts to hurt.

Ace was such a supportive and loving brother. He always had Luffy's back. Even during his final moment.

"Don't worry okay. I got your back."

Luffy remembers those words coming out from Ace's mouth as he pulled the half-conscious Luffy back to his boat.

Ace could have just saved himself but he used up all his strength to save Luffy and ended up..

"Huh, what's wrong?" Viper's voice takes Luffy back to the present.

"Oh, oh.. n-nothing... I'm just.." Luffy fakes a smile, his nose crinkles as he feels the cold film of moisture forming under his nose.

So not cool.

Luffy then takes in a few deep breaths, put his face upwards to stop the waterworks.

The sudden surge of memories definitely breaks his heart.

It takes him a while to calm down and gets back to Viper. He chooses to continue talking. It has been a while since he boasts to someone about his awesome brothers. He used to do it a lot, being the proud little brother. After the incident, he decided that he no longer has the right to do that. However, that night he feels like he could. Maybe he should.

God knows just how badly he misses Ace and Sabo.

"My brothers helped me a lot with practices. They are the best." He tells Viper, short and simple. Doing his best to honor the memory of Ace and everything he did.

xxx

Luffy wakes up the next morning to a rustling sound and whispers around him. When he opens his eyes, he sees Laki sweeping the ashes from the night before while Aisa waits to light a new one

Slowly, he gets up from the ground.

"You're up." Laki gives him a smile.

Luffy holds back from yawning and returns Laki smile. Aisa however, is giving him a suspicious look. Somehow, Luffy can sense some kind of trouble coming his way but he is going to just...

Act cool.

He smiles at her as well.

"I heard you caused a trouble last night." Aisa blurts out.

There.

"Aisa, I told you it's not like that!" Laki reminds the young girl but Luffy knows well it is not going to help.

Turns out, Aisa's sleep was actually interrupted by last night's commotion and naturally, she wanted to find out what happened.

Good thing she was stopped by an older woman who made sure she stayed in her hut.

Laki gives Luffy an apologetic look, and the boy just shakes his head.

It is not Laki's fault. Luffy cannot even blame her if she decides to tell Aisa anything. Luffy is just a guest there and he should have known better to mind his behaviour. It is just that, last night was a little...

He ends up recalling what he did last night and his face starts warming up.

No... Why is he thinking about it again? No!

Luffy slaps his cheek hard, and it is startling the two females near him.

"Mosquito! It was a mosquito!" Luffy grins awkwardly.

That somehow puts an end to the awkward situation as Aisa rushes to light the fire the moment she hears him. Apparently, some time ago a lot of people there got sick because of the mosquitoes so they are kind of sensitive about it.

Luffy feels bad using the knowledge to his advantage but that is for the best...

"Oh, why don't you go wake your friend up?" Aisa says, as she tries to maintain the fire.

Luffy freezes.

Well, of course he would have to, sooner or later. They are scheduled to go back after breakfast, along with some of the tribesmen. Then, they have to make a trip to the hospital to get Law's injury checked.

Ah... He is not ready for this.

"What are you waiting for?" Aisa asks, seeing how Luffy is still not moving.

Luffy shakes his head. He really does not want to do it but... It is not like he can run away forever.

"I'll wake him up then," Aisa gets up from the ground. "Look after the fire for me."

"No, no! Let me!" Luffy frantically responds, as he moves away from where he was standing, slowly walking backwards to his destination. It is not really a far walk. He reaches the hut he is sharing with Law within thirty steps but only knows it when Aisa shouts at him, asking where else he is going.

Of course, he takes his time doing the task. It takes him a great amount of courage, even to just take a look inside the hut. He can see Law sleeping, comfortable and sound. Somehow, the sight gives him a feeling of relief instead of anxiety.

For a moment, he completely forgot about his worries from the night before..

Law had difficulties sleeping the first night, even with some of the Shandian version of painkiller. Now that he sees Law like that he is just...

Relieved.

It is all thanks to that fruit jui-

The thought of that immediately changes Luffy's mood again.

"Ahhh.." Luffy screams out air, hands tugging hair from both sides of his head.

How in the world, did he get into this situation?!

Luffy lowers his head, trying to calm himself down. Panicking will not get him anywhere. There is no escape for him now. He needs to face it head on. There is a big chance that Law will not remember anything from the night before.

Not until someone reminds him, at least. Well, maybe.

What Luffy can do now is, to just act like nothing actually happened. He just needs to pretend. He remembers there is actually a very relatable saying.

Fake it 'til you make it.

Yeah, that.

Luffy starts chanting it in his mind.

"What are you doing?" a familiar voice shatters Luffy's focus. Slowly, he raises his head, and Law's sleepy face gradually comes to view.

He. Is. Awake.

"Uh..." Law touches his forehead as he turns to lie on his back.

Luffy can tell that Law is not feeling so good, and he knows damn well the reason why. In that situation, Luffy should be offering Law assistance, no doubt. However, he ends up frozen in place, just staring absent-mindedly at Law.

Until Law weakly kicks Luffy's leg with his fine leg.

"What is that for?!" Luffy shouts out of shock.

"What do you think you are doing? Don't shout! And, stop staring at me!" Law shouts back with a hoarse voice.

"I wasn't!"

Luffy definitely was. At this point however, that was his standard automated response.

Law then gives Luffy an angry pout and suddenly, a tiny arrow shoots through Luffy's heart.

Kyuun!

Arghhh!

Luffy closes his eyes, faces down in defeat with a hand on his chest. Why does his body keep doing this kind of reaction?! He hates it!

In the midst of his internal conflict, Luffy can hear Law criticizing him as usual. "Cut it out already. You're always doing weird things."

There. Not holding back at all. What weird- Hm? Wait.

That sounds dangerously close...?

Luffy slowly opens his eyes. Law is already sitting right below Luffy's face, looking back at him.

"Arghhh!" Luffy automatically jumps backward, ends up losing his balance and falls to the ground. "Ouch..." Luffy groans in pain. Good thing he did not hit his head. His back however, is hurting quite badly.

"See?"

Again, Law's face is the first thing Luffy sees when Luffy opens his eyes this time, wearing the same expression from before. Luffy cannot tell if it is a look of disappointment, pity, or concern.

Even worse, Law probably thinks he is pathetic. Makes sense, considering the amount of stupid things he had done. The sun has not even fully risen and yet...

"I- I am sorry." Luffy hastily gets up. He needs to pull himself together. He needs to redeem-

"Relax."

A gentle tug on Luffy's hand stops him, pulling him back to sitting on the ground again.

"What are you in a hurry for?" Law gently removes the dust on Luffy's arms, legs, back, and hair.

For a moment, Luffy loses his ability to speak. He totally did not expect Law to do something like this...

"Hmm?" Law questions with a hum, looking directly at Luffy.

Luffy knows he has to answer that.

"We-we're going back today..."

"We're not in such a hurry."

"Oh," Luffy follows up with an awkward giggle.

"Did you do anything stupid again?"

"O-o-of course not," Luffy instinctively denies, then follows up with a different topic. "W-w-we are late! Let's go wash up. I'm gonna go get the towels. Just wait here!"

Luffy can feel Law's icy gaze pierces through him as he walks back into the hut.

At least the danger is averted, for now.

Slowly, they proceed to the stream not far away from the huts. For the past two days, they have been cleaning themselves with the cold and clear water from the stream. The tribesmen have no issues drinking the water directly from the source but someone like Law without a doubt has his reservation on things like this. Naturally, Luffy has no issue doing that, although it may have resulted in Law giving Luffy the look every time he does.

On the way to their usual spot, they run into some of the tribesmen washing themselves. They exchange nods and smiles with the tribesmen before they continue walking to a more hidden part ahead of them.

Again, Luffy has no problems mingling with the tribesmen. It is just that Law is not too comfortable doing something like that. Law did tell Luffy that he does not mind Luffy joining them but Luffy knows better to not leave Law alone there, unattended in that condition.

Running away from Law last night was an exception though.

Uh, Luffy's face starts burning again from the memory. He will not even lie. This whole thing really bothers him. It makes him lose his focus and-

His train of thoughts makes an emergency break, as his body falls forward with the gravity. He instinctively extends his hand, trying to reduce the impact but, the supposed contact with the ground never happens, thanks to a hand that is holding tightly on the side.

He looks up to see Law trying- no, more like forcing himself hard to hold Luffy off. Luffy can tell from the expression on Law's face that he is struggling.

"What are you doing? Get up quick!" Law yells at Luffy.

Luffy deserves it.

He quickly recovers, realizing how much of a burden he is being. "I-I'm sorry. Are you okay?"

"Get a hold of yourself! What's wrong with you?!" Law yells at Luffy one more time.

"I'm sorry.." Luffy looks down.

"Is that all you can say?!"

Luffy cowers a little.

This is bad...

Law walks away instead of waiting for Luffy to answer, and it is evident from the way he walks that he is not in the best of his mood.

Ah, Law is mad again. Luffy quickly chases after him, trying to offer his support again but no matter how many times he tries, Law just pushes him away. It goes on until they both actually make it to their destination.

Law carefully kneels down on the pebbles near the water and starts washing his face. He does not even wait for Luffy to help him as usual. Luffy stands few meters away from Law, with the towels held tightly in his hand. He watches as Law splashes the water on his face harshly a few times, even getting his hair and shirt wet.

When Law is done, he looks down on the flowing water looking upset, muttering under his breath some words Luffy wishes he could hear.

It pains Luffy so much.

Luffy wants to give Law some comfort but all he could do is just stand there. It scares him too much when Law is like this. Just one wrong move and the landmine would blow everything up...

"Towel."

Luffy looks up and sees Law making the waving hand gesture. He quickly gets closer, hands the towel over and watches Law drying himself.

Law looks up after a moment and when their eyes meet Luffy automatically tenses up. It is not the right reaction but he cannot help it. Law then looks down again, covering his face with the towel before he tells Luffy to quickly wash up.

Luffy immediately does so. He can feel the small bumps on his face as he wets his face with the cold water. His skin is breaking out a little, most probably from the dusty mattress they have been sleeping on. The huts are built really close to the ground so the dust gets inside easily.

Well, not that it is that big of a deal.

Luffy sneakily takes a look at Law who is now drying his neck.

Not a single reddish dot. Luffy tightens his lips out of envy, and his action does not go unnoticed. Luffy immediately looks back at the water when he realizes that Law is giving him a murderous look.

Crap.

"What now?" Law asks coldly.

Luffy does not like this... This... This scary side of Law. He tries to recall everything he had done that got on Law's nerve that much that morning.

Well, almost everything was annoying.

What should he do now? If he responds the same way to Law's question this time Law is probably never going to talk to him ever again.

But...

Luffy swallows hard.

He does not want that...

Slowly, Luffy turns to Law., who now has the lower half of his face covered by the towel, emphasizing the deadly stare he is giving Luffy.

"I- It's nice that your skin is not breaking out."

The words slide out smoothly, better than he expected them to be.

Luffy is surprised. He did it!

Law's brows furrow.

Is it not good enough? Luffy stops breathing.

"Lame."

Grrrr. Luffy knew it. Law will never respond nicely to Luffy's effort.

Then, there is a long pause, before Law actually asks, "Do you like me less if it does?"

Luffy's heart stops for a moment.

Eh, wait. How did it turn out to be like this?

"W-who, who likes you?!" Luffy's voice wobbles, exactly the kind of respond Law likes. The moment Law's usual mischievous smile appears, Luffy knows he is done.

No, no, no... Luffy shakes his head but Law's smile stays intact, forcing Luffy to take a stronger action. He then crosses his hands, repeating the word 'no' with his voice getting louder gradually. "No, no, no, no, noooooooo!"

"Shut up! Aren't you done?!" a familiar childish voice shouts fiercely from the big rock next to both of them. They look up and see Aisa up on top of the rock looking at them with her usual judgmental look.

Not far away from their spot is actually where the women usually clean up so it is not weird that Aisa is there...

"It's dangerous up there." Luffy says out of concern but the young girl does not even budge.

"Calm down. It's not that high," Law responds, chuckling a little before he follows up. "As long as she's not hung upside down she will be fine."

Aisa responds with a pout. She is clearly annoyed.

"That's not nice," Luffy mouths to Law, who is now trying his best to not laugh. "Apologize to her!"

Law gives him a predictable response - the usual pouty expression that has managed to get him away from almost everything.

Yeah, almost.

Luffy gives Law a stern face.

"Finee..." Law drags his response, and does what Luffy requested. Reluctantly, of course.

"Okay," Aisa responds with a smile.

Unlike that time with Bartholomew, Law is actually okay with her replying that way. They both reconcile in no time, just the way children do.

Heh.

"Anyway," Aisa looks at Law gleefully. "I can't believe you passed out drinking our special fruit juice."

Luffy's jaw hangs from the surprise. Wait, wait...

"The chief told me that means you are a good boy." Aisa chuckles innocently, completely unaware that she just triggered a time bomb.

Aisa why...

Luffy can feel sharp claws sinking in his arm but he dares not look.

"Ah, I am going to go first. Laki is waiting!" Aisa says before she climbs down the rock, leaving Luffy alone to his demise...

"Fruit... Juice?" a deadly low voice carried by a chilly wind reaches Luffy's ears.

Luffy is not exaggerating.

"Why don't you tell me more...?" Law's face gradually comes into Luffy's view.

And again, Luffy lets out a scream so loud, followed immediately by the sound of wings flapping...