Summary: Dealing with the new crewmembers, and an important talk with Nami about Robin...

  Chapter 62: New Additions?As Luffy hopped through the air, dodging blows from an enthusiastically grinning Yamato, he had to admit that he was a little gd that they hadn't found nd just yet. Yamato had picked up the basics of Geppo almost armingly easily, in part because she'd already possessed the level of physicality required for the technique. She outstripped that level, actually, by quite a bit. Luffy had been impressed as heck when he'd finally remembered to take a look at her status panel.... ... ... ... ... ... ...

  Status

  ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

  Name:Rōnin D. Yamato

  Title:Oni Princess, ?

  Age:26

  Level: 69

  Spirit Fruit:Mythical Zoan - Model Nika

  WG Issued Bounty:230 Million Belli

  Stats:

  Strength:274

  Dexterity:-N/A-

  Endurance:327

  Intelligence:87

  Wisdom:111

  Charisma:176

  Luck:94

  Traits

  Racial Trait (Oni):As an Oni, Yamato has a far higher physical baseline than a human.

  Racial Trait (Oni):As an Oni, Yamato's resistance to any form of damage increases with her level of emotion, unconsciously channeling Spiritual Energy into a boost that is difficult to overcome.

  The Will of D:Bearer holds the inherited will of the Family of D. Effect: Live in Interesting Times, ?, ?

  Haki Adept:Having proven talented with all three forms of Haki at a young age, Yamato is extremely gifted at both learning and utilizing Haki.

  Skills

  Brawling:105

  Haki(Conquerors):73

  Haki(Observation):91

  Haki(Armament):95

  Knowledge (Navigation):85

  Sailing:89

  Spirit Fruit (Model: Nika) Mastery:32

  More…

  Description:Daughter of the Yonko Kaidou, Yamato refuses to be defined by her father's ideals. Instead, she has taken up a mix of the beliefs of the samurai Kouzuki Oden and those of her best friend Portgas D. Ace. A cheerful and bubbly personality by nature, the way she chooses to interpret each bit of those beliefs is not always in line with basic sanity, but generally causes her to be a force of chaotic good in the world.

  Retionship to Gamer:Crewmate. Follower. Yamato has heard stories about the Gamer from his older brother, and believes the Gamer to be the person she should swear her service to. After meeting the Gamer and realizing he's incredibly strong for someone who hasn't even reached the New World yet, she has confirmed this belief has merit. After several excellent fights, she has also begun hoping he might be into forming Harems like her idol Kouzuki Oden did in his youth.

  ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

  Her status panel had caused Luffy to boggle, for a whole host of reasons. The first of which had been the realization that Yamato was more powerful than he was. Not just stronger, but by level and overall skill as well. Luffy wasn't arrogant enough to think he was the absolute top of the world. His Grandfather's mere existence was enough to have snuffed any such delusion from Luffy a long time ago. Intellectually knowing that monsters existed was a very different thing from being confronted with one actively looking to join your crew, though.

  Objectively, it made sense. Yamato had been born in the New World, to one of the Yonko no less. Likely, she'd been exposed to high-power individuals far more than Luffy himself had been, given that Garp and Shanks had not stayed around more than perhaps two years combined between them. Yamato had possessed an insurmountable mountain to bash herself against daily, for much of her life. Frankly, Luffy should probably be amazed he came within shouting distance of her strength at all. Even if he was currently a solid seven levels and a significant degree of physical stats below her.

  Subjectively, as he barely dodged another of her Devil-Fruit-Powered-Punches, some vague equivalent of the Gomu Gomu no Gatling attack, he was struggling a bit. He was not used to the fact that the only reason he was keeping up with someone and winning more than half their spars so far was the fact that he was much more experienced in the air. Which, of course, was why he was gd they hadn't hit nd yet. Being able to keep up with her for now would hopefully mitigate any disappointment when she eventually realized she was technically more powerful than he was…at least at the moment. It was also forcing him to lean into half-forgotten aspects of some of his Perks, such as using Spiritual Manipution for brief bursts of extra speed and strength.

  Between eyeblinks he did just that, the temporary boost allowing him to snake around her defenses to nd strike sending her into the ocean again as a result. Gasping lightly as he recovered in midair, he reflected that her comparative power hadn't been the only shocker on the status panel. Dropping his use of Geppo, he dove down to pull Yamato's weakened form out of the water and toss her up on deck, considering the other surprises as he waited for her to recover and demand another round.

  The name of the Fruit she had was a shock, for one. He clearly recognized it as the Gomu Gomu no Mi…but a quick check of his system had shown that said fruit didn't exist. He'd found a perfect description of it greyed out under the Mythical Zoan heading instead, though. He'd undoubtedly read it when he was seeking his own Fruit choice, only to dismiss it as it sounded too much like the fruit he'd already dismissed when thinking about the Gomu Gomu no Mi. More the fool him for not realizing there was something off, back when he'd read that. Though, to be fair, there were plenty of Fruits that did simir enough things that it was probably reasonable he'd ignored the oddity.

  Even now, he had to admit that the description of it just didn't seem that special. It, in fact, seemed remarkably weak by Mythical Zoan standards. Not to mention he had no idea what a 'Nika' was. A mystery that he might never solve, he supposed. Right alongside the mystery of Yamato being the only other person his System had ever beled with something like Perks. Though in her case it had listed them as 'traits.' A quick double check of Pagaya hadn't shown anything simir. So it most likely wasn't just a not-entirely-human thing. Though he'd need to check some fishman to really be sure that such wasn't the case. If it listed their water breathing as a Trait, he'd feel a lot better about that particur mystery.

  Add in the fact that she had the Will of D. and a title his System either couldn't see or wouldn't show him, and he was officially full of questions. At least the other oddity, that of her Dexterity being listed as N/A, was easily enough expined by the rubber nature of her body. Of course, that wasn't even mentioning some of the other information he'd gotten from peeking at the more personal, less dry-information panels. Something which he hadn't been able to resist the temptation to do. Not once he'd spotted the comment about her hoping he would form a harem in the standard 'Retionship to Gamer' section.

  What he'd found there had been both relieving and slightly worrying. Relieving in that she apparently identified as female, unlike some of the fan discussions he'd seen in his past life (He had no idea if that was a change or not). Perhaps more interesting, in a way, were the slightly more adventurous bits of her Retionship Panel. The contents of which had him wondering just what was with the women of this world. Was it all of them? Or was it just the ones that were willing to go out and have adventures on the high seas? He supposed that did take a certain sort of non-conformist personality. Though it raised the temptation to peek into the rest of the female crew's more private sections considerably.

  Nor did current circumstances exactly help keep an erection at bay when he had the soaking-wet beauty with a half-transparent white top already up and demanding another fight. He was, he supposed, very lucky that Nami was very btantly enjoying the view provided by the pstered-to-that-body clothes as well. He at least wasn't likely to get in trouble with her for his difficulty in keeping his eyes on Yamato's face. Now, if only he could forget that many of the things in both Nami and Yamato's 'sexual interests' section lined up a little bit too well…

  ... ...?"So, Kaya said you were ready to talk?"

  Perona was looking…not good, but better than he might have expected. If he hadn't known who she was already, he might not have been able to recognize her at the moment. She was dressed in a comfy t-shirt and sweats, curled up with her legs under her, and missing the makeup she'd arrived wearing. Her eyes were also still a bit puffy from crying and a bit bloodshot from limited sleep. Add in the faint air of pain she was still radiating, and she was a miserable looking young woman. But one whose eyes were at least somewhat alive and aware, which according to Kaya was a fair bit of an improvement from the first few days. Initially, at least, she'd had to coax Perona to even eat.

  "…Gecko Moria wasn't a good person. Objectively, I'm probably not either."

  Well, that was certainly an interesting conversation starter. One of Perona's negative hollows appeared and sort of danced for her, making her smile just a tiny bit. There was a second long silence, the words seeming to have drained her for a moment, but Luffy waited patiently, and she eventually continued.

  "Yet for all that I'm a willful, spoiled brat, and Gecko Moria was greedy, egotistical, and zy…he also took in a street kid whose sole possession and friend after getting kicked out of an orphanage for being creepy was a stuffed bear. Not exactly a good role-model, given his idea of presents was to turn people into cute zombies for said little girl. But he wasn't the total monster most people saw him as. Well, not to that one kid, anyway."

  Luffy did his best not to gape silently, struggling to reconcile the cartoonishly evil impression he had of Moria with what he was hearing. Admittedly, he knew very little about the real Moria, instead of one he'd seen in a past life, streaming on a tablet screen. Garp hadn't considered Moria to be a particur person of interest, describing him only in a few short phrases. Things like 'solid tactician,' 'zy asshole,' and 'slightly more dangerous than he seems.' This new information was…Luffy didn't quite know what it was.

  "…Thriller Bark wasn't his first ship, or his first crew either. I don't know much about it, but he'd occasionally get pretty mencholic and a little bit saner. His first crew, the Gecko Pirates? He was the only survivor out of a crew that took on the New World. He turned to zombies afterward, I think, because he couldn't stand the thought of losing another crew like he had that first one. I sometimes wonder what he was like before they all died."

  Well, fuck. Now Luffy wanted to know too. He didn't want to feel 'sympathy for the devil,' as it were. But if Moria's actions were all the result of grief and trying to protect himself from more of the same, it suddenly put a very different spin on what little he knew of the man. The possibly very, very broken man. Grimacing and putting that thought aside, he did his best to simply focus on listening to Perona.

  "I don't know what to do with him gone. In a lot of ways, he was my whole world after he picked me up all those years ago. After talking with Kaya, I understand I wasn't…really in a great pce. Moria tried, but he wasn't exactly cut out to be father of the decade. He still was my father, though. I think I want to fulfill at least one of his dreams, if you'll let me? He wanted to return to the New World, someday. To prove that he hadn't been a fool to challenge that sea. That it could be beaten."

  Perona paused, lips twitching.

  "He also really wanted to kill Kaidou. A personal thing to do with his former crew, I think. But I'm not quite crazy enough to try that…"

  Luffy, for the first time having something useful to interject, made a small noise to draw her attention. She jumped a little, looking at him like she'd only half expected he was actually listening.

  "Possibly not that crazy, actually. The Oni-girl that helped me kill Dofmingo? That's Kaidou's daughter. She's dead set on killing him and not shy about announcing it. Something I'm honestly inclined to help her with someday, given that both he and Charlotte Linlin are monsters the world would be better off without."

  The spark of life in Perona's eyes grew quite a bit stronger as she processed that. Her legs slowly moved out from under her and she shuffled to the edge of the bed she'd been resting on. Her gaze took on a slightly manic, feverish glint as she caught his, seeming to try and see through to his soul.

  "You're serious? You really intend to kill him?"

  Luffy, taken aback by the sudden intensity, took a moment to properly think that through. From what he knew, Kaidou needed to die. Of all the Yonko, the leader of the Beast Pirates was the only true warmonger among them. Whitebeard and Shanks were honestly harmless. So long as you weren't stupid enough to poke or threaten them, they were pretty much content with their slices of the New World and the freedom they had from the WG.

  Kaidou, though? He was like Shiki. They both legitimately wanted to rule the world. Admittedly, either of them might be an improvement over the current World Government in some disturbing ways. Both were very much might-makes-right sorts, though. Just like Arlong had been. Prone to the same abuses and evils. As that comparison settled it for Luffy, the properly considered decision came far easier for him than he'd expected. Huh, he supposed maybe Garp actually had gotten to him with the idea of being a Hero. He'd never truly thought on it seriously before, being more focused on the idea of just having fun and exploring the world. But…

  Luffy actually wanted to make the world better.

  It was, maybe, a very strange time to have to have that revetion happen. Not to mention an even stranger person to have it with, since he was pretty certain Perona was no Hero. Probably not even particurly prone to altruism or doing the right thing. Still, the strangeness of the timing didn't change the potency of the revetion, and he turned his attention back to the dark eyes of the feverishly-intense woman staring him down.

  "Yes. Yes, I do mean it. Kaidou is someone who needs to die. For a whole lot of reasons that probably don't matter much to you. So I'll simply say is straight and mean it. Yes, I intend to either kill Kaidou myself, or help Yamato do it."

  Perona stared for a few more, long seconds. Then, a very-much-not-nice smile fixed itself on her face. Somehow, the viciousness in it didn't bother him the way it probably should.

  "Good. Then, Captain Monkey D. Luffy. I'm going to join your crew and help you kill him, and there's nothing you can do to change my mind."

  It was, perhaps, the single oddest recruitment yet. He was pretty certain that wasn't how it was supposed to work, after all. Yet, Luffy found he didn't mind.

  "A dream of vengeance, of a sort, is still a dream. Even if, or perhaps especially if, it's vengeance for someone else you cared for. Welcome aboard, Perona. I hope you find our misfit crew to your liking."

  The young woman nodded in satisfaction, humming and looking far more lively at having gotten her way. He suspected she was going to be a bit of a handful, but he had an oddly good feeling about it anyway…

  ... ...?Luffy had been incredibly surprised to stumble upon Yamato, te at night, trying to draw. She was so utterly focused that she didn't notice him, giving him the chance to watch as she worked. He recognized one of Usopp's sketchpads, and realized he must have given or loaned it to her. A reminder that whatever ship she'd been on originally had likely sunk in the storm they'd summoned, and that they'd need to acquire some repcement essentials for her.

  Something that was farther emphasized by what she was wearing. Despite being shorter than she could have been without her Devil Fruit, at least from what he knew, Yamato was still a little bit taller than Luffy himself. Luffy was a very solid 7'4", with Yamato perhaps being an inch or so taller. If not for how insanely tall Garp was at 9'5", Luffy might have been off put by that. As it was, Luffy had met enough people that were taller than him not to be irked. Well, not much anyway. Though, if he wasn't fairly certain from some of Garp's comments that he still had a bit more growing to do it mights lightly annoy.

  Seriously. What was with the heights of some people in this reality? Most of them were normal, but the outliers…

  Not the point. Said point being that Yamato pretty clearly wouldn't properly fit into anyone's clothes other than Luffy's, but she hadn't asked him. Which expined the modified sleep shirt that had likely once belonged to Robin, that was now very tightly stretched to accommodate Yamato's proportions. Not to mention baring her stomach to the world. Shockingly, presumably due to her Devil Fruit, said stomach was only lightly toned to the naked eye. He knew from their spars that it was horribly misleading, as was the simirly light tone over the rest of her body. Such as the calves that were visible as the drawstring pants that had likely been huge on…Nami maybe? They didn't seem like Robin's style. Regardless, Yamato had obviously barely squeezed into them as well, with them ending well short of her ankles.

  Honestly, the combination made for a very distracting sight as she curled up with the sketchpad in the lounge section of the pilot house. Something not at all helped by the adorable faces she kept making as she worked on her drawing. Despite that, he did eventually stop staring and maneuvered around to get a look at the results. There were…not terrible. Luffy himself was half-decent with a pencil, the result of so much time sketching out blueprints by hand. He would, however, freely admit his work suffered from being more technical than artistic. Usopp was far better, and Robin, Nami, and Sanji were all surprisingly decent. Each due more to the crossover with their own areas of expertise than actual interest in art for art's sake.

  Yamato's work was…unrefined. From what Luffy could tell, she did have a reasonable degree of talent, but suffered from cking access to someone to teach her fundamental tricks. Her proportions were inconsistent as a result, and it looked like no one had ever really taught her the idea of sketching first instead of skipping straight to your vision of an end result. Waiting until she'd paused for a moment, frowning at a slightly-lopsided-looking ship at sea, Luffy finally spoke.

  "That's not bad, you know. I could show you a few tricks to keep the proportions more even, if you want."

  Yamato jumped a bit, fumbling the pad, then tilted her head back to look up at him. For a glorious moment, Luffy had a view straight down her shirt, which most certainly didn't have anything on under it. He forced himself not to stare at the sight, instead quickly making eye contact with an effort of will. Yamato was looking uncertain, but a bit hopeful.

  "You…don't think it's hopeless?"

  Luffy shook his head, more than familiar with the frustrations of trying to do anything vaguely artistic. He wasn't exactly naturally inclined that direction, and even for those that were there were always teething problems. It had taken him hundreds of painful hours of practice to reach the point he could make nice, crisp, proper looking concept sketches for whatever he was working on. And he was well aware they still cked a lot in artistic fre.

  "Not at all. I'm hardly a true artist, but I can recognize talent. You have a fair bit of it, from what I can see. It looks like you just never found either the right books or the right person to teach you a few fundamentals. I'm betting you're entirely self-taught?"

  Yamato's upside-down bobble-head nod was silly looking enough that Luffy fought twitching lips to keep matching her serious face. Moving around her to sit on the other side of the couch so she didn't have to hold the awkward pose, he reached out for the sketchpad. She gave it to him eagerly and he opened it to an empty page. As he considered the best way to start, he asked a question to satisfy his curiosity.

  "Is there a reason you're interested in art? Just a hobby to do outside training?"

  Yamato hesitated, then shook her head. She was a bit slow to response, blushing slightly as she did, making him think he'd accidentally asked a sensitive question. Thankfully, when she did answer it wasn't anything too sensitive.

  "I…um…well…Samurai are supposed to be supporters of various arts? Most of them just consider their weapons and armor their art, at least during times of struggle or war. But, since eating my Devil Fruit, I haven't really used a weapon. Armor is pretty useless for me too. So, well, I read Oden's journal and looked for an alternative? He, himself, was a stonemason and cook. I'm not really very good at cooking, and it's hard to be a stonemason at sea, so I wanted to find something else. Oden wasn't an artist or musician, but there was a lot of comments about him greatly admiring people that were good at either. So…"

  Luffy nodded, the pieces slotting neatly into pce. Yamato might not be as unhealthily obsessed with the man as comments by her many digital simps in another life and world made her out to be, but she still clearly considered him a major role model. Well, it was as good a reason as any for taking up art, and it was generally always good to have hobbies.

  "An excellent reason and a talent worth having, I'd say. Now, Usopp is honestly who you should talk to once you have the basics down. But I can help you with a few tricks that really help with said basics. Now, here's a trick I learned that lets you use the pencil itself as a way to measure proportions. We start by…"

  Luffy, doing his best to dredge up everything he knew about art from both lives, went on talking. Yamato was riveted to every world, a happy smile on her face that was nearly as distracting as what she was wearing…

  ... ...?Luffy made a pleased noise as Vivi managed to twitch away from the stinging sh of the switch he was using. Wherever they had nded on the Grand Line, and whatever isnd they had locked onto with their log pose as a result, it was apparently far enough away that even with the Discovery's speed it was taking several days to reach the next isnd. He didn't at all mind the chance to pick up on training with some of the newer members of the crew, doubly so as the Grand Line had been unusually kind in terms of weather.

  Oh, there had been a few nasty squalls, a swarm of flying swordfish that had required them to fight off giant swordfish trying to skewer the ship, and a few other bits of nonsensical drama. None had sted more than an hour or two, though, and there hadn't been more than one or two incidents a day. Which was remarkably calm and sane for the Grand Line, really. It did put them all a bit on edge thinking something extra nasty was waiting to ambush them, but Luffy was nevertheless content to use the chance they'd been given to work on a few weak points. Such as Vivi and Robin not having gotten very far with Haki just yet.

  Vivi had, as witnessed by her most recent dodge, at least unlocked Observation Haki. She was, however, stuck in the same sort of pce that Nami had been after his lover had first unlocked hers. That is, she could only use it in inconsistent fits and starts so far. Thankfully, between teaching it to several others already and his Perks helping things along, Luffy had long since figured out how to help someone unlock or refine either of the open-to-all forms of Haki.

  Which is why he was alternatively using a birchwood switch to direct blows at both women. Vivi was blindfolded, and his quick strikes in her direction were entirely random, forcing her to try and feel them coming with Observation. Robin, who had with considerable effort managed to unlock Armament recently, was spared the blindfold but had far more frequent-but-slower strikes aimed her way. Vivi was meant to dodge. Robin was meant to protect herself from each weak-but-stinging blow with Armament.

  It wasn't exactly the most pleasant form of training, but it wasn't hellish either. The thin switch he was using would sting enough to make you very much not want to feel it if you didn't have to. But he wasn't using it harshly enough to do more than leave a red mark on skin with any single strike. For Vivi, he'd also quickly discovered that aiming for embarrassing pces like her buttocks or breasts saw a sharp improvement. Though the fact he could feel her getting lightly aroused from it probably expined that fact. She was very much blushing and clearly didn't want to reveal that little detail, making her try harder. Something that had Robin grinning, though a stern look from Luffy had kept her from teasing the younger girl…for now.

  Robin, thankfully, wasn't having the same sort of issue. For her, once she'd unlocked Armament at all, her raw will had been more than enough to quickly learn to repeat its activation consistently. What she wasn't so good at, yet at least, was doing so quickly and precisely. As Haki usage was exhausting even for an expert, she couldn't, as a novice, expect to coat her many hands in it constantly. Someday, that terrifying force multiplier would likely be hers. For now, she needed to be able to summon and dismiss it quickly, in order to take full advantage of its characteristics without quickly exhausting herself. Once she could pull off rapidly summoning and dropping it, she'd be deadly dangerous to most Devil Fruit users. For the time being, however, she was struggling to activate it quickly and accurately enough to be useful.

  Which for the moment meant a fair few red marks and light bruises whenever she failed to act quickly enough to bring up Armament against his switch. Still, both women were improving rapidly. There was a careful tipping point here, though, and he noted both of them were starting to show signs of fatigue. As Vivi failed another dodge, yelping as this one took her in the side of the left knee, he eyed them both and decided it was enough for the day. Any farther and there would be diminishing returns as fatigue slowed their reactions. There was a time to work through tiredness to build instinct, but that time wasn't when you were just starting out. Nodding, he twitched his fingers and dumped the switch into his inventory.

  "Alright, you two! That was a good session. Robin, you improved in both speed and frequency of success significantly. Vivi, you managed to beat your previous best by at least fifteen percent! Solid improvements, which call for a reward. Ice cream or margaritas, perhaps?"

  Robin smirked, seeming to revitalize as he offered a reward. They were always little things, but he tried to make training as positive as possible for the less combative members of the crew, instead of throwing people to literal tigers like his grandfather had been overly fond of.

  "Actually, captain…all of this training has me rather tense. Nami just so happened to mention that you give excellent massages. It that an acceptable reward?"

  Luffy blinked, eyes narrowing as Robin upped her game again. She'd been clearly flirting with him for weeks. Which would have worried him if she hadn't also been flirting with Nami the entire time. He'd just thought she enjoyed the game, at first. But he was beginning to suspect something more. Time to test the waters a bit, perhaps.

  "Ah, well…I'm fairly good. It is a rather hands on reward, but you can choose it if you like. I keep some massage oil in the Captain's Cabin for Nami."

  Robin's smirk only got more cat-like as she rolled to her feet from the meditative position she'd been in. The way she moved while doing so couldn't possibly have been an accident, particurly the perfect view he'd gotten of her cleavage in the process.

  "Ah, why don't you invite our delightful Navi-chan, too? I'm sure she'd like her own massage. Maybe Vivi as well? Would you like that, dear~?"

  Vivi sputtered, face red.

  "Justtheicecreamplease!"

  Luffy tried not to crack up as he produced Vivi's favorite double-chocote-fudge treat from his inventory, grateful as always that it kept its contents the same temperature they'd been put in at. Vivi snatched the container and practically bolted, causing Robin to chuckle.

  "Well, Captain, shall we find our navigator? I do want that massage, and I wouldn't want her to get jealous I had you all to myself~."

  Robin moved off with swaying hips that drew Luffy's eyes. He was going to have to have a talk with Nami soon, perhaps tonight in fact, given this new escation. A talk that he hadn't quite thought was actually pusible, despite what he'd read on his girlfriend's Retionship Panel clear back at Loguetown…

  ... ...?It was just over two hours ter that Luffy had a fresh-from-the-shower Nami snuggled into his arms. True to both his word and Robin's suggestion, he'd given both Robin and Nami thorough rub downs, and Robin hadn't been the slightest bit shy in stripping down to just her panties for him in the process. She also hadn't bothered suppressing her moans as he worked out an incredible amount of tension from her body, something that had left him hard as a rock five minutes in. Not to mention encouraging him to get rather more daring with his hands than he might have otherwise. Nami had certainly enjoyed the shower sex that had followed once she'd mustered enough will to get clean after her own massage, even if it had left her extra sleepy as a result.

  Still, Luffy had refrained from drilling Nami into outright unconsciousness for a reason. A purpose that wouldn't be served if she fell asleep on him now. Gently passing her a little energy via Spiritual Transference, he ignored the whine she made as it woke her up a bit, leaving her a bit more present. Hugging her tighter and running a hand through her hair as an apology, he still spoke, bringing up a topic they'd really needed to discuss for a while now.

  "So, Robin's interested in both of us, huh?"

  Nami perked up in his arms, her pretense of a pout vanishing and her eyes sharpening as she looked up to meet his.

  "Yeeesss…"

  Luffy snorted and squeezed Nami lightly with the arm he had wrapped around her.

  "Don't py coy, I've seen you looking and could practically feel the jealousy radiating off of you when I gave her a massage. It sure wasn't because it bothered you for me to do it.You just wanted to get your hands on her too."

  Nami pouted for a moment, then sighed.

  "Of course I did! You've seen that body. Heck, you've felt upmost of it now! I totally want to bury my face in her tits, or between her thighs! The only one that would be better might be Yamato, and only because I'm pretty sure she could hold me up with one hand while I was doing it! Girl has muscles, even if they aren't obvious!"

  Luffy snorted a ugh as Nami got more enthusiastic as she went, only aborting his chuckles when she elbowed him in the ribs. She was smiling and the elbowing hadn't been very rough, so he knew she wasn't actually offended. Well, that and his Empathy perk was telling him she was caught somewhere between amusement and lust herself. Given she'd been completely sated a few minutes ago, it was pretty telling that her own observations were stirring her up again so quickly.

  Not that he hadn't expected it, in some ways. He'd seen how Nami's 'sexuality bar' was practically dead center in bi-sexuality territory. Originally, the bar had just been a tag, but he'd poked and prodded the System until it gave him a sliding scale, which was considerably more useful for figuring people out. Perhaps even more importantly than where Nami fell on that scale, though, was what he'd read about her polyamorous leanings, interest in threesomes, and harem fantasies.

  He still seriously wanted to read the books her adoptive mother had written and apparently Nami and Nojiko had both read. He assumed they must have been pretty high quality with as strong of an influence as finding her stash had had on both of her adoptive daughters. Though, more on Nami than Nojiko, he was fairly sure. Nami's submissive tendencies in the bedroom made her want to be part of a retionship like that. Whereas, from the peek he'd taken at Nojiko's own panel, she just thought that polycules were entertaining to read about and would be even more fun to watch in reality. Though that peek had also shown him Nojiko wouldn't exactly be opposed to arranging a few threesomes, so long as she was in charge. Pity for Sanji and his occasional hookups with her that Nojiko was fairly firmly straight and her threesome fantasies leaned towards multiple guys and herself.

  Still, despite Nojiko's own profile being fascinating reading, she wasn't involved with the topic at hand. Nami and Robin were the matter being discussed, and despite having learned to trust his System, Luffy still felt like he was walking on eggshells here. There was a big difference between fantasizing about something and actually committing to doing it, after all. The System seemed to think Nami was genuinely interested in the doing part, but bringing that up felt dangerous to his mind. Though the longer he was in this world and the more women with odd-to-his-mind ideas about retionships he met, the more he was uncertain if he might not be the odd one out somehow.

  "Do you want to do something about it?"

  Nami didn't tense, which he felt was a good sign. Instead, her expression scrunched up cutely as she began to idly trace patterns on his abs. There were a few long moments of thought before she spoke.

  "I would…like to give it a try? The thing is, Nojiko and I aren't quite sure Robin knows what she wants."

  Luffy blinked. Wait, Nami had discussed this with her sister? Part of Luffy was baffled she'd done that before talking to him. Not offended, just surprised. Then a reminder of Nojiko's 'Harem Cheerleader' bel in the System poked him in the brain and his momentary confusion resolved itself. Most likely, it had been Nojiko who brought it up to Nami, not the other way around. Then pestered her until her sister eventually gave in and actually talked about it seriously. Possibly after a few drinks. Well, a few dozen drinks. Nami could drink an entire bar under the table and keep going, after all. Confusion untangled, he considered the proper content of what Nami had said.

  "Hmmm, you think Robin's not sure if she wants something purely physical or…more?"

  Nami's hand lifted from his abs and made a so-so waggle before returning to what it had been doing.

  "Almost right. I'm certain she wants the purely physical part. She's made that pretty darn clear in her increasingly aggressive flirting and testing of the waters. Today was the most btant so far, but it's been there since Skypiea at least, slowly escating as she takes in our reactions to the idea. I don't think she, herself, knows if she wants more though. I'm pretty sure she does. Nojiko, who's honestly quite good at reading that sort of thing, is even more sure than I am. But we don't think Robin realizes it yet."

  Luffy chewed on that for a bit, slowly nodding as he compared what he'd been observing against what Nami was saying. It fit. Not just with what he'd been seeing and feeling, but with what he knew of Robin's past. But how could they know for sure one way or…feeling like an idiot, Luffy subtly opened his System. Quickly navigating to Robin's page, he focused on a specific section.

  ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

  Retionship to Gamer:Crewmate, Crush. Robin has found herself growing close to the crew far faster than she anticipated. She still fears that her luck will come back to haunt not only herself, but her new crew. Yet, she'd beginning to genuinely believe she's finally found somewhere she belongs, the Nakama that Jaguar D. Saul once told her she'd find one day. Robin has also developed a significant crush on the Gamer, along with a strong physical desire to join the Gamer and his lover in the bedroom.

  ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

  Well, there it was in bck and white. Or in the glowing semi-transparent blue of the System, at least. Even if Robin herself wasn't sure yet, the System was confident enough to include a crush on him in her description. It didn't say the same for between her and Nami, but Luffy had long since worked out the limits of what the System either could or would tell him about other people. It would tell him about attraction and loyalties that others had for each other. It wouldn't tell him something like crushes or love unless he himself was involved. Anyone with eyes could tell Usopp and Kaya were head-over-heels for each other, far beyond any mere crush. Yet the System stuck to attraction and loyalties when describing them, if he even dug that deep into their personal System profiles in the first pce.

  A quick check of the more detailed breakdown of Robin's retionships showed that her 'attraction' towards Nami was eighty plus percent of her attraction to him. Something like eighty six percent, if his quick math was right. Given that her details panel also showed her sexuality bar in the bi-sexuality section but leaning noticeably toward the heterosexual end, the difference was pretty easily expined. Meaning, at least in theory, that she might well be emotionally attached to Nami as well. If not, he suspected she at least could be. Which…was actually an important point that Nami might not have considered. Still, there was also a more important question to ask first.

  "Do you want her to be? Interested in more than just kinky sex, that is. Do you just want a physical thing with her, or…"

  Nami shook her head 'no' firmly and crified what she was shaking it 'no' too quickly.

  "I'm not interested in purely physical stuff. Especially not with crew. That could get really messy, really fast. No, she's sexy as fuck, but I'd want there to be something more if she joined us long-term. Even if it was just with you, though hopefully with me too. It…well…it makes it more likely to work? I think…"

  Nami sounded uncertain and felt extremely vulnerable. Right. Nami had seen a fair bit of the world, but she wasn't really any more experienced with retionships than he was. Ugh. Still, he'd gotten the needed answer.

  "Well then, if you want her to join, and we're certain she wants the physical stuff…then what is there preventing us from seducing her into more than the merely physical? That woman needs more love in her life and I'm betting she'll tch on hard if we give it to her on purpose."

  Nami sat up abruptly. So abruptly that Luffy blinked.

  "Damnit! Why didn't I think of that! She's totally got to have at least a crush on you, for how you've helped her. So if we just go all in and actually use Romance Judo on her she'd totally fall head-over-heels!"

  Nami, looking adorably fervent, smacked one fist into her other palm. Luffy ughed and pulled her back down, kissing the crown of her head.

  "Okay, okay. She's been alone for most of her life, so maybe don't push too hard, dear. But…does this mean you want to try adding her to our retionship? You know doing that could be risky, right? What if it doesn't work out?"

  Nami's grin at the first part melted into a surprisingly soft smile at the st question. She pushed off the bed again, but this time swung herself onto his p. The grin returned for a brief moment as her naked ass found his thoroughly hard cock…but the soft smile repced it again quickly.

  "Luffy. I know you love me. I couldn't tell you how, exactly. Maybe it's because of how often you use spiritual energy to recharge me during sex? Some feelings always come with that, I think. But…I know. I don't think. I know you love me. I'm not giving that up for all the belli, treasure, and maps in the world. So, even if it doesn't end well with Robin? You're stuck with me."

  The utter sincerity in Nami's eyes and voice was breathtaking, and Luffy's heart leapt into his throat. Before he could say anything back, Nami's expression shifted to a grin again and she ground her ass against his erection.

  "Now, before we begin our evil, piratical pn to seduce our sexy archaeologist, it's time for Round 2!"

  A shift of Nami's hips and they connected again, thoughts of anyone else vanishing as they fell into each other…

  ... ... ... ...

  A/N 1:So, this didn't actually win this month's poll for an update, hence why there is only a single chapter release this time. Given how popur this story is, I decided to sneak in a single chapter update despite it losing the poll for the second month in a row. Just to keep people from thinking it was dead or something . That means that there is still roughly the same 15,000 words over on Patreon in Early Access, since I released chapter 66 there to go with the other chapters still retained in Early Access.

  A/N 2:Several sub notes on the topic of Yamato. First, I'm not going over the gender thing again. It's been established both in previous author's notes and now, firmly, in story. From here forward, she'll always be referred to as female and treated as such.

  Second, we don't actually know that much about her, since she really only featured heavily in a single arc then stayed behind on/in Wano. As such, I'm trying to flesh her out in bits and pieces. One example being the drawing scene in this chapter. Samurai were supposed to be 'patrons of the arts,' and I've decided that Yamato's personal interpretation of that is that she should be good at an art. Since she's still very much on the Samauri thing, she's chosen drawing/painting as the thing to be good at. I think it sort of fits what we've seen of her, honestly. It's also somewhat in keeping with Oden having been a crafter in his own way, specifically a Stonemason.

  Thirdly, apparently Oden was pretty colorful. According to his wiki details, at one point in his youth he even kidnapped 'many' women from the Capital to form his own personal Harem. (They were free to leave, thankfully, but apparently preferred to stay with him -_-). Obviously, given she's been voted into the pairing by my patrons, that was too good an opening to pass up as a building block ;-).

  Fourthly, a quick note regarding her strength...she was able to seriously fight Kaidou during the Wano arc and was arguably pretty close to on par with canon Luffy pre-Joyboy-awakening. If anything, I may have underpowered her slightly here, despite making her stronger than current Luffy. I think that where I put her, strength wise, is a decent compromise.

  A/N 3: Perona. So...um...I was originally uncertain I was going to keep Perona around. Crew is getting kind of crowded, you know? But then, as I was doing research on her and Moria to flesh her out, the scene with her practically wrote itself as. It gives the perfect excuse to modify her behavior to fit in a bit better, while keeping the core of her character the same. It also adds an interesting element, I think, because she's now the only one on the crew who is properly 'piratey.'

  A/N 4 :Nami and Luffy finally discuss Robin! Well, I say 'finally,' but it's really only been a couple of months since she joined. Still, she's been making her interest more and more obvious, so they were due to have the needed conversation. Which also gets the snowball rolling downhill on Luffy's acceptance of what he still considers an odd situation...