Cold Weather Could Make Things Sweeter

Cold Weather Could Make Things Sweeter



Soft snowflakes shifted through the air as it was carried by the gentle breeze over the small land known as Drum Island. Over by the snow covered beach a large ship was docked with its flag still flapping with the wind. The flag was imprinted with a symbol nearly everyone in the Grand Line knew by now. The standard skull and cross-bones with a straw-hat belonged to the Straw-hat pirates. They were infamous for their trouble making habits but through all the havoc they still managed to make many good friends along the way. However, the crew was best known for harboring some of the most wanted pirates in the Grand Line. The most sought after member was the Captain who was actually the most playful and cheery of the whole group. His wide smile and signature "shishishi" chuckle was well known to all those who became attached to the grinning young man. His name was Monkey D. Luffy.

Though he was one of the most wanted pirates currently, there was one aspect about the Captain that threw most people off when they got to know him a bit more than others that'd just automatically shoot at him just by the sight of him. He was almost always childish. Yes, he has had his mature and serious moments, but the general Luffy was always either complaining about his empty stomach, which always irritated their Casanova chef Sanji, or sat in his favorite seat, the ship's figurehead sheep, waiting to spot land up ahead.

Luffy is known for many things by many different people but a Casanova was never one of them. In fact, besides meat and his dream to become King of the Pirates Luffy didn't seem to show much interest in other things, especially in romance. However, as time seems to flow by and the members of the Straw-Hat crew mature even farther who knows? Things may change one day..





Steam could be seen drifting up from the ship's kitchen through the open door as the head cook Sanji scratched his head in annoyance. He leaned forward in an effort to look more carefully at the piece on paper in his hand but he later then sighed in defeat. He turned to the crew who sat at the dining table behind him and pointed the spatula in his hand at Luffy. "Since you kept complaining about being hungry then you get the last ingredient that I need. I can't make the main dish for New Years without it!" said Sanji.

Luffy groaned, "But how am I suppose to get it with an empty stomach?!"

Sanji's anger began to grow again but before his outburst could leave his lips Nami rolled her eyes and spoke, "I'll go with him, that way we'll stand a better chance at finding it and bringing it here."

Almost automatically small hearts appeared in Sanji's eyes as he swooned his way to her side, "Of course Nami-swan! You're a genius!"

Luffy pouted and just mumbled to himself about his growling belly as Sanji handed Nami a piece of paper where he wrote all the information about the item there was. Nami smiled as she took the paper, put on her jacket, and pulled Luffy out of his seat by his collar and dragged him all the way through the deck. Before they were too far from the ship Robin ran out to the front of the deck and called them out. Both turned to look back only to see a container flying towards them. Luffy raised his eyebrow in confusion and continued to stare at the approaching object until it hit him in the face and landed in his hands below.

Nami yelled at him, "You idiot! Why didn't you catch it?!"

Luffy scratched his head, " Uh… I didn't know what it was…"

Robin just smiled and shouted, "It's just a bit of hot coffee to warm you guys up as you look for the ingredient!"

Nami smiled at her fellow member and waved back. "Thanks Robin!" She then turned to Luffy, "Come on, the sooner we find that ingredient, the sooner you can eat!"

Luffy smiled at this and grabbed her arm to pull her forward, "Aright! Let's get going then!"

After finally reaching their destination and completing the long task of fishing for the final ingredient they began their trek back to the ship until Luffy threw the fish to the snow covered ground from over his shoulder, panting lightly. "Hey Nami, can we rest a bit?"

Nami sighed and nodded, "Yeah, that'd probably be best." She took out the container and poured herself a glass of the dark fluid. She took a sip and glanced slightly at her tired Captain. She wiped her mouth with her sleeve and brought the cup up to Luffy. "Do you want some? It'd be best to drink something since you carried that thing all the way up here."

Luffy sniffed the coffee and a look of distaste fell upon his face, "Eh…. Nah! I don't like coffee!"

Nami furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance but sighed and took another sip since she knew from experience at how stubborn her Captain was. She then sat down next to him and looked over at the surroundings in front of them. "This place is pretty huh? Chopper was lucky to have been born in a place like this, it's a bit cold, but it's still beautiful."

Luffy looked around, "I guess so? It just looks like a bunch of snow on an island to me.."

Nami groaned, "Never mind…." Nami looked at her Captain one more time and noticed he was shaking slightly, she sighed and took one of his hands to place them between hers. "You're not wearing enough, you were probably so busy complaining that you forgot to bring a thicker jacket."

Luffy blinked, the warmth from Nami's hand seemed to radiate throughout his entire being. He shook it off, "Well, I was hungry!"

Nami smiled as she shook her head, "Yeah I know…." She let go of his hand and took another sip of the coffee.

The warm feeling seemed to be replaced by the cold as she drew away her hand and Luffy pondered slightly at this, he concluded it was most likely the weather.

Nami stood up suddenly and brought him up with her. She took another sip from the cup and then pushed the cup onto Luffy's lips. Luffy drank the warm liquid and groaned about its bitter taste. Nami smiled, "Well, despite that, hopefully it'll make you a bit warmer." She screwed the cup back onto the container and put it in her jacket. "Well, let's get going Luffy, the others are waiting!"

Luffy nodded, "Right!" He lifted the fish back up onto his shoulder and followed her back to the road that lead to their ship. Through the snowflake filled breeze, Luffy thought about that cup of coffee. He hadn't noticed before but he drank from the same place on the cup where Nami's lips were placed when she too drank from it. That really didn't matter since they were members of the same crew so it didn't disgust him or anything.

Luffy just smiled and gave a small chuckle, "Shishishi, Happy New Years Nami!"

Nami turned to look at with a blank expression on her face that turned into a genuine smile, "Happy New Years Luffy."

However, something was off when he drank that coffee, unlike the other times, it tasted just a little bit sweeter. Luffy thought finally that maybe the weather had something to do with it.