"Aren't you like, stupidly strong!?"
Nami called out from her boat, her voice carrying sharply over the water between the two vessels, rising above the steady slap of waves against the hulls.
She sat on the deck, legs crossed, Luffy's straw hat resting flat in her lap. A long, clean slice cut through the brim from the earlier fight with Buggy, the straw edges split and jagged along the tear. She held a needle in one hand, thread pulled taut in the other, guiding it through the material with quick, repeated stitches that closed the gash bit by bit. Sunlight struck the hat's yellow surface, highlighting the frayed strands as she worked. Her orange hair shifted with each gust of wind, and she lifted her head several times, eyes fixed on Lei's boat as she waited for an answer.
"Who, me?" Luffy stretched his neck forward from the bow, his head extending unnaturally far over the water toward Nami's boat, eyes fixed on the straw hat in her hands.
Nami finished one final stitch, tied off the thread with a quick knot, and tossed the hat across the gap between the boats. It spun once in the air before Luffy snatched it mid-flight.
"IT'S FIXED…!" Luffy leapt up onto the bow, planting his feet wide as he held the hat high overhead, grinning ear to ear.
"I just… mended the cuts," Nami said dryly, packing her needle and thread back into a small cylindrical case. She glanced sideways at Luffy, one eyebrow raised. "I think that should do it. Try not to poke it too much."
"Right! Right! Thanks! You did a great job fixing this hat." Luffy lowered the hat, turning it slowly in his hands to inspect the repaired brim, the fresh stitches standing out against the worn straw.
He pressed a finger directly into the mended spot. The thread gave way immediately, his finger slipping straight through the fresh hole.
Luffy's eyes widened. "Uh oh…"
"Ah!"
Nami whipped her head around. "What…"
She lunged forward in her boat, leaning over the edge as her face flushed red with instant fury. "DIDN'T YOU LISTEN TO WHAT I JUST SAID?!?"
She jabbed the needle straight into Luffy's stretched forehead.
"STOP POKING ME WITH THAT NEEDLE, IT HURTS!"
"IT'S USELESS IF I HIT YOU, SO I HAVE TO USE THE NEEDLE!"
Luffy rubbed the spot, still grinning. "Ah, that makes sense."
"You guys are too noisy! I can't sleep with all this noise." Zoro lifted his head from where he had been dozing against the mast, eyes narrowed in irritation as he turned toward the commotion, then toward Lei, who lay stretched out on the opposite bench, eyes closed and breathing steady, completely undisturbed by the shouting.
"How does he even sleep through all this!"
Zoro sat up fully, stretching his arms. "Hey! I'm hungry!" He directed the words at Luffy first, then shifted his gaze to Nami's boat. "Share us some food!"
"Oh, please! You need to be more prepared. You don't bring food or water and you dare to go to the sea? You underestimate the sea!" Nami said from her boat, her tone shifting to genuine concern as she leaned forward, one hand gripping the edge of her deck while the wind pressed her orange hair back against her shoulders.
"Ah! I see something!" Luffy called out suddenly, standing up on the bow with his arms outstretched for balance, his body swaying with the boat's gentle roll as he stared intently to the right of Nami's vessel, eyes wide and fixed on the horizon.
"It's a miracle you've survived until now!" Nami continued, reaching into a small basket on her deck and pulling out a wrapped loaf of bread. She tossed it across the water to Zoro, the package arcing briefly before he caught it one-handed.
"There's always a way!" Zoro replied with a broad smile, unwrapping the bread quickly and tearing off a large bite, crumbs falling onto his green haramaki as he chewed.
"Hey! There's an island! That island is no good!" Luffy shouted, pointing excitedly with one arm extended fully toward a distant landmass now visible ahead, a dark silhouette against the bright sea under the clear sky.
"It's unpopulated, so it's useless! Let's just keep going!"
"ISLAND!" Lei snapped upright from his position on the bench, his body moving from flat to seated in one abrupt motion, ponytail swinging forward over his shoulder as his eyes opened wide.
"Weren't you sleeping?" Zoro asked, turning his head toward Lei, bread still in hand, eyebrows raised as he watched Lei now sitting straight instead of lying down.
"Oh… I was sleeping," Lei said with a forced laugh, rubbing the back of his neck briefly while settling into the new position.
Why do I have to be so impatient.
"Oi, Lei! Look at this! Nami fixed the hat!" Luffy turned fully toward Lei, holding the straw hat high in both hands, spinning it once to show the freshly stitched brim under the sunlight.
"Hehe… good for you," Lei replied, a small smile forming as he leaned forward slightly to look.
"Don't forget you still owe me berries," Nami said without turning her gaze from the horizon, her voice firm and even as she adjusted her boat's sail rope with one pull. Then she added, "Let's look for food."
Zoro shifted his attention to Luffy, swallowing his bite. "Let's see if we can find someone who would join us there."
"Let's look for food too. You know, Nami is right. We seem to have no plans at all."