Luffy had seen way too many jiggling dumplings lately. Even his vision was wobbling. To be honest, he felt a little dazed.
The problem was, the moment he lost focus the warning voice would go off.
"Mm-hmm, guess I wouldn't mind. Kinda want to see." His voice sounded perfunctory, eyes vacant.
"Only kinda?" Nojiko's voice jumped.
Like this was absolutely unacceptable to her.
I'm the one being looked at, why are you the excited one?
"Hmph. Dream on. Both of you, out." Nami started shooing them.
"Forget something? This is my room."
Nojiko narrowed her eyes.
Nami was speechless. Just as she was about to argue, Nojiko tossed her out the door.
Suddenly, Nami felt like she had nowhere to go.
Wait, where's Luffy?
Only then did she realize the oddity. Her face changed and she rushed back in, dragging Luffy out from where he lay on the floor.
Why was Nojiko wearing that smug little grin?
She could have dumped Luffy outside. With the feast going on, anyone drunk could sleep anywhere.
But after a moment's hesitation, Nami brought Luffy back to her room.
He was injured, after all. Though with his freakish recovery, she figured he'd be fine in a day or two.
Bringing him back, she immediately regretted it.
In the middle of the night, carrying Luffy into her room only fueled the rumors.
Then:
"What are you looking at? Is that book really so great?"
Nami glanced down. Round and full. No problem there.
"Books aren't about being great to look at. It's about whether they're useful."
Luffy looked at her seriously.
"You can say that?"
In just a few days, it felt like years.
Luffy was the kind of person you could read at a glance.
But since they'd met, he'd changed so much it was no exaggeration to call it a different temperament.
At first Nami thought he was putting on an act. Looking closer now, maybe Luffy had always trained this intensely?
Compared to his carefree self before, this Luffy felt much more dependable.
Looking at him calmed her without her noticing.
Thinking of how half-hearted he'd been a moment ago, Nami suddenly found herself sympathizing with Nojiko's irritation.
"Hey, I'm going to take a bath."
"Okay."
"Didn't you say you kind of wanted to see? I can indulge you."
"Nami, do you have a fever?" Luffy eyed her suspiciously. "Or is this a scheme?"
Her cheeks flushed. A little guilty.
"I don't care. Consider one of your two conditions used."
She grabbed a set of clothes from the wardrobe and dashed for the bath.
Only then did Luffy remember. When he'd bet with Nami, he'd won two conditions she couldn't refuse.
As expected of the little cat burglar. So sly.
Warning detected. Excessive distraction. Host exploiting loopholes. Applying corrective measures.
Rolled forward into tomorrow's tasks.
Warning. Devil Fruit development time. Do not think about things unrelated to your Fruit.
Random penalty countdown.
I swear.
The warnings wouldn't stop. Luffy's face went ashen.
He'd finally found a window to slack off, and it still got patched over.
They wouldn't strip his one hour of sleep too, would they?
The mischievous thoughts vanished without a trace.
Damn it.
You'd better hope I never become Pirate King.
Luffy felt helpless fury, pulled a long face, and went back to chewing through the medical text.
Know your body thoroughly to get stronger.
He sat at the desk, picked up Nami's pen, and sketched his own anatomy on the blank paper.
He drew down to the vessels and organs, clean and clear.
Strangely satisfying.
Back then, drawing a round sun would've made him grin for half a day.
Medical knowledge exp +3
Medical level up to lv1
This leveling up for grinding experience felt great.
A short-term expectation, then the dopamine rush when it's met.
He felt like he could rattle off the hallmark symptoms of a bunch of common illnesses now. Acting ship's doctor should be no problem.
He kept writing and sketching.
Nami had taught him to pair note-taking with rote memorization. It helped a lot.
As he drew, he noticed new entries popping up besides medical exp.
Art exp +3
Level up to lv1
A new experience track meant that beyond scheduled tasks, other things could gain exp too.
Exp equals proficiency.
Leveling up meant a big leap forward. Like now, with drawing.
He could dash off the beautiful scenes in his head, and with pens to tweak them, it came out lovelier than a photograph.
His mind was short on beautiful images. The only thing he found truly beautiful was the Going Merry. And meat. A moment later Nami's figure appeared in his mind, and the Merry became the backdrop to a portrait of a girl.
The painter's satisfaction was in placing that beauty on white paper with his own hand, shaping it line by line.
He didn't quite understand the instinct before beauty, but anything that moved the heart had to be the most beautiful.
"Beautiful."
He looked at the finished picture.
"What's beautiful?"
Nami had just come out of the bath. She didn't think he meant her; his eyes weren't even on her.
She'd come out a bit bashful. The moment she'd carried the clothes in, she'd regretted it.
What kind of brain spasm made her do that?
She never should've made that bet, handing him two conditions she couldn't refuse.
Nami still had pride when it came to her crewmates. A promise made was a promise kept.
Except when it came to money.
What if Luffy's brain finally kicked in someday and he asked for something like that time, let me sleep with you. Could she refuse? She honestly felt she wouldn't. She'd grit her teeth and go through with it, but that left a bad taste in her mouth.
At least start with holding hands.
You eat a meal one bite at a time. Jumping straight to the finish was too much. Pirates were rough and casual by nature, but Luffy's dump-truck turn in personality had dragged her along into a different lane.
So she comforted herself. Trading one condition away like this wasn't so bad.