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The dust settles over a joyous scene, cheers erupting from the battle-worn remains of the Sun World. The evil has not yet been conquered; but it has, for now, been averted.
…
It's far from over, is the thought Loki is left with, body sprawled flat and torturously exhausted. The scars from the battle are becoming harder to ignore as the adrenaline runs out, the damage compounded by his earlier encounter with red-hair. The other one. Bleh.
He’s content to fuck off and lick his wounds in peace but he can't; the merry band of pirates and Elbaph’s citizens are relentless and annoying. The smallest of the strawhats has grown into a strange monstrous creature, taking on the bulk of Elbaph’s injuries. Gerd likewise disperses medical supplies as best she can with—as Loki surmises—injured fingers. She kneels beside him when the strawhat doctor stitches the puncture wound Imu left, occasionally flickering pointed glances at his face, as if she were seeing him for the first time.
He tries to say “I don't need your pity,” or “I didn't ask you to do this,” or “I hate all of you,” but he can only bring himself to grit his teeth at the indignity of being laid out (like a weakling). Again.
Colon is staring at him too, glittering stars in his eyes and Loki's staring to understand Xebec. It's giving him yet another pang of regretful embarrassment.
Too quickly he's turned into the exact center of the celebration. The strawhat pipsqueak has taken up residence on his chest, which… he doesn't mind.
It starts to feel too much. All around, he can feel the dark dots of people's eyes, staring just as Gerd and Colon had. Him, Loki, being bestowed with smiles and curious tenderness. His chest tightens.
The little leech attached to him seems to notice the unease and rolls down the mounds of Loki's pecs in a startlingly clumsy display.
“Loki!” He says enthusiastically, extending his tiny rubber limbs to grasp at the giant's cheek and ear. “Do you want to eat some moose with me? I'll go take some from Sword-Head!”
The pipsqueak scurries off, and something strange happens to the rhythm of Loki's heart.
Loki is still scowling in his sleep, but Nami notices that the gargantuan giant’s posture is… different. Relaxed, even.
She sighs. Honestly, it was like trying to settle a nervous dog.
“He’s gonna come with us!” Luffy had proclaimed to the wider group following their victory. The assertion was immediately shot down by the pink-haired giant in question, followed by protests from Sanji in particular. “I've already told you, even if he could fit on the ship where the hell would we put all that food?!?”
While the idea definitely worried her, she understood that logic and reason were not effective tools against Luffy’s whims.
But there was something else, she could sense it; something she's just missing, but the mounting tiredness proves too steep an obstacle.
She falls asleep cradled by Chopper's bandaged fur.
Later, somewhere between more singing and more feasting (and just a little bit of burglary on Nami's end), a handful of the strawhats find themselves giving a toast to Elbaph’s prince, despite the giant's awkwardness towards the sentiment.
Shishishi, Luffy giggles, hanging upside down by his legs from one of Loki’s horns.
“Oh, right!” Luffy suddenly pounds his hand into the palm of the other. “I remember now! You kind of remind me of mochi-guy!”
Who? Nami thinks.
Robin glances up from her notebook transcription of the Harley, “Ah, he means Katakuri, one of the former Yonko’s sons.”
Loki’s head tilts subtlety, causing the hanging monkey to sway.
Right. The pink-haired man who Luffy pulled into the mirror-realm. She glanced up at the horned prince, trying to discern the resemblance. Maybe Luffy meant personality-wise? But knowing him, the similarity probably began and ended with hair color.
Loki’s head tilts slightly, causing the hanging monkey to sway. Of course, Nami thought, Loki likely encountered the general at some point—especially considering his interest in Lola.
“He was real big too, but also way smaller than you,” Luffy narrates to the giant. “His sister said no one had ever put him on his back before, 'til I came around.”
Nami feels her train of thought derail and crash.
“...Luffy?” Usopp generously ventures.
Their captain just continues to laugh. “Fighting him was sure fun, but he didn't taste very good.”
Nami couldn't see Loki's eyes, but she could definitely guess at the degree of shock despite the ever-present mischievous smile beneath them.
“...”
Nami finally clocks it. She elbows Usopp aggressively enough to elicit a yelp and whispers: “Look at him! I can't believe it; Luffy’s flirting!”
Usopp latches on to the theory immediately and they both huddle together (now off to the side), stealing glances over to where the group continues on their conversation, their captain reminiscing about whole villages made of chocolate and cake.
Usopp crosses his arms and continues quietly, “It all makes sense, now. I saw him bring Loki the last piece of giant-rabbit leg last night. Honestly,” he shook his head, “I thought I was seeing things.”
Nami feels a pressure behind her eyes as she starts catastrophizing. “What are we going to do?? There's no way Luffy's going to leave him behind even aside from that, I've seen that look on Luffy's face before and it never ends well for us!”
Usopp looks down grimly. “Our only hope is for Loki to keep resisting Luffy.”
They both return their gaze to the strange pair, where Loki, horrible village-burner father-killer menace-to-society Loki, sitting cross-legged, lifts his hand to let Luffy gently fall into his palm instead of into the giant keg of frothing ale below.
“We're doomed,” Nami whines.
(Robin vanishes her ear once the conversation concludes between the navigator and long-nose, continuing to smile down at her splayed notebook as she hums in thought.)
*BONUS*
Sanji ducks this head in a slight bow, presenting a treat to his heavenly ladies (while simultaneously slamming would-be-food-thief Luffy into the ground with his foot).
“Oh, what a treasure it is, serving delicacies to such a lovely pair of ladies!” He gushes.
“But Sanji!” Luffy whines, smushed against the hard planks of the bartop.
“If not for my two lovely goddesses I might even be tempted to stay!” Sanji sighs, “Where all the ladies have the softest, biggest mountains on their chests!”
“Yohoho, I believe Ripley’s are the most supple. Yes, truly the most mountainous…” Brook gazes off into the distance. “And what a mature woman she is!”
Luffy sticks out his tongue from under Sanji’s pressed boot. “Who cares about that crap! Anyways, obviously Loki has the biggest ones!”
Sanji snaps out of his (soft, round, plush) daydream to bring his foot down again. “What the hell do you think we're talking about, dumbass? Don't bring your weird ideas into my fantasies!”
“OW! That hurts!” Luffy complains as he finally wiggles away from the angry cook. “Yeesh, you don't have to be mad at me just because I'm telling the truth!”
“MEN DON'T HAVE BOOBS!” Sanji shouts.
“OH YEAH? THEN WHAT HAVE I BEEN SLEEPING ON—”
“You know, our captain may be on to something,” Robin interjects. “After all, he's the biggest giant on Elbaph. It's quite logical, isn't it, cook-san?”
The argument ends abruptly, Sanji offering half-placations at the altar of Robin’s feet while pointedly steering away from outright agreement.
Brook sips tea and laughs at the scene’s conclusion.
A handful of moments pass and Robin rests her head against her cheek.
“Luffy,” She asks, once the captain has stumbled back in her vicinity.
“Hm? What's up?”
Robin flits a brief glance to the side to make sure the rest of the crew is duly occupied.
“If your prince has such large features, do you think he ever wears support like the navigator and I?”
An arm emerges from her side to gesture elegantly at the underpart of her own chest.
Luffy answers the question instinctively once he catches on. “What? Men don't wear bras, that's for girls!”
“Of course, how silly of me. You see, I just couldn't help but notice that some of the men in Elbaph wear skirts, so I thought it wouldn't be too strange, perhaps, if one with a large chest needed… something more.”
Luffy’s gears turn in tandem with the color on his face as the mental image forms.
It seems you are correct as always, Navigator. Robin smiles and enjoys the fruit of her labor: the captain blushing.