This is by(and for) the request made by love-of-fire who asked for 'the time of just Luffy, Zoro, and Nami' and 'your take on the early relationship between the first three strawhats'. Here it is.

As the hand slid up her leg, Nami's eyes hardened. The man had been watching her from the moment she slipped into a seat in the end of the bar to get a cocktail. She'd thought that ignoring the man had worked as the obvious message that she wasn't interested but either he wasn't reading it or he just didn't care. Nami sighed; she'd have to play along because these sorts of men were ridiculously easy to pocket pick and she needed the money because… The thief unconsciously clenched her tattooed shoulder for a moment before consciously forcing herself to relax. Besides, Nami's gaze flickered sideways, the two brain-dead idiots who were self-claimed pirates were on the other side of the bar, oblivious to everything except their plates and booze.

"What business do you have here?" Nami crossed her legs and peered at the man from the top of her drink, smiling coyly. In answer, he bent forward(so pathetically easy, Nami thought) and it gave her the moment to locate his wallet in his side coat pocket and slip it into the back of her pants. All that was left was to wait until there was the opening to ditch the now-poor loser.

"Let's have some fun," the man whispered into her ear as he stood up, pulling her with him, ignoring her hiss of pain as he tightened his grip around her wrist-

And an explosion, was the only way to explain the sound of the stone wall crushing upon the impact of a rubber human's fist, Luffy's landing neatly beside the stranger's ear.

"What the f-" was as far as the man got to say because when the chilling sound of metal grating against metal was followed by the glinting blade that almost casually appeared just beside his other ear, his mouth shut very quickly.

Nami watched frozen, as Luffy stared down coldly at the man from one side and Zoro smirked lazily on the other.

"Get lost," Luffy announced, making it sound more like a fact than a command. The chillness in his stance was gone but his eyes still hung between menace and dismissal. The swordsman grunted his agreement as he pulled his white hilted sword out of the wall. The movement was swift and relaxed-all the more tell-tales of a dangerous opponent.

"Two to one doesn't seem very fair now does it kids?"

However, it turned out the man had a few friends in the bar as well, and a simple flirt evolved into a full blown fight, one that ended with the furious bartender, throwing all of them out and yelling at them to never to come back.

"It was just a flirt, what is wrong with you people?" Nami exploded, once outside. To her dismay, the two were arguing amiably about who beat up more though they sobered when they saw her clenched fists. Or rather, Zoro let go of the half of Luffy's face he was stretching and Luffy stifled his giggles as he pointed out curiously.

"But you didn't want it, right?"

"It's just one of those things," Nami said exasperated. "It didn't matter-"

"No," The traces of laughter were suddenly gone. "You didn't want it." Luffy, with a gaze that bore into her soul, told her quietly. "That matters."

The unexpected simplicity and sincerity in his words and the other's silence struck her dumb.

("I'll leave you someday," A few hours and more than enough whiskeys later, Nami drunkenly warned as she shook a finger in the general direction of the two. "One day, I'll suck you two dry and throw you away."

Zoro snorted and Luffy laughed as they chimed together, in that case-

"I'll trust you 'til it happens," Zoro shrugged.

"And I'll trust you after," Luffy beamed.)