Sudden Food Crisis?!

After getting over her initial shock Elder Nyon decided to leave Luffy and Hancock alone to have some privacy.

"I don't know when those two developed such good vibes, but they're really hitting it off."

She smiled as walked back to the front deck. She remembered what Hancock said earlier.

"I guess she really just needed time to prepare herself. It makes me curious as to what happened between them on that island."

Meanwhile, Hancock and Luffy were happily talking together.

"So your first bounty was 80 million? That's sick! I didn't get that high until I defeated Crocodile."

"Well, I needed to make a strong impression on my debut, so I was a bit wild back then."

Hancock showed a proud expression.

"The World Government founded us and begged us to work with them."

"Really? I don't think I could be a Warlord though. I don't like the idea of working under someone. Also, some of the Warlords I met were big jerks. Like, Crocodile and Moriah."

(Could it be he hates Warlords?!)

Hancock's face paled.

"If you hate Warlords, I could quit being one! Right this moment!"

She placed her hand over her heart and shouted. It was a good thing Elder Nyon had left when she did or she would've had a heart attack.

"Nah, you being a Warlord is important to your people right? Besides, I don't hate all of you. I like you and Jinbei after all."

"I like you. I like you. I like you."

Those three words echoed in Hancock's head over and over again. She completely blocked out the rest of the sentence. She held her chest feeling her racing heart.

"I-I like you too."

She mumbled in a low voice.

"That's great! That means we'll have a great relationship!"

(Relationship? Does he mean marriage?!)

As always Hancock's mind had gone into its own world.

"By the way..."

Luffy started looking around the ship. His eyes stopped on the section that looked like it was the living quarters.

"Am I going to stay with you like I did on the navy ship?"

"Stay with me?"

"Am I going to sleep in your room?"

It was like a bolt of lightning struck Hancock where she stood.

(I had completely forgotten about that! Just where is Luffy going to sleep?! I can't possibly have him sleep on the deck for two weeks! How about having him sleep with one of the girls?...)

"Woah, Hancock! Are you okay?! You look like Nami every time I ask her for money!"

Luffy stepped back after seeing the expression on Hancock's face.

"S-Sorry, I'm fine. I just thought of something very unpleasant."

"What, you don't want me to sleep with you?"

"Eh?"

"I mean, you looked upset when I mentioned it."

Luffy frowned.

Hancock's face paled.

"No, no, no, no!"

She waved her hands around frantically.

"I don't have a problem sleeping with you! No, I want to sleep with you!"

"Really? Are you sure you're not forcing yourself?"

"I'm sure! I'm 100% sure! I want to sleep with you! I want to sleep with you so bad, if you want I can show you my room right now!"

"Really? Let's go!"

Hancock nodded and directed Luffy in the direction of her room.

"I'm curious what your room is like."

"It's nothing special. Don't get your hopes up."

The two walked away from the rear of the ship and headed towards the lodgings.

"....."

Someone stood near where they were frozen. It was Elder Nyon who had returned at some point. Her jaw was literally on the floor and her eyes spinning in her head.

(I came back to check on them because I feared Snake Princess would do something wrong....)

Her brain started short-circuiting as she recalled the conversation.

(They were talking about sleeping together? What the hell happened in the five minutes I was gone?! How did their relationship advance that fast?!)

She braced herself on a wall after feeling light-headed.

"Snake Princess it's too early for you!... Wait, I forgot she's already 30."

She furrowed her brows.

"I can't tell if this is a good thing or a bad thing...."

She looked in the direction they left in.

"...Luffy is surprisingly aggressive about this kind of stuff."

She became silent for a bit.

"What am I kidding? It's those two we're talking about. I definitely misheard the conversation."

She started walking in the other direction.

"Besides, that girl doesn't have it in her to do something like that."

Luffy's time on the ship was very eventful. The next couple of days he spent a lot of time with the crew members, even though they tried to make him stay with Hancock as much as possible. The problem was Hancock would overheat every now and again.

"Luffy is the first thing I see in the morning, we eat together, spend all day chatting, we even sleep together every night. It's like I'm in heaven all the time."

Hancock said this while looking like she was on the verge of going to heaven, for real.

"All talk and no bark."

Elder Nyon mumbled.

"...Eh? W-Wait!"

Hancock weakly grabbed her by the hair. Elder Nyon struggled but couldn't break free. Hancock silently threw her overboard. Elder Nyon was quickly rescued and made sure to avoid Hancock for the rest of the day.

It was on the 4th day of their voyage they ran into a problem.

"What do you mean we're out of food?!"

It was in the afternoon when Ran's voice resounded across the ship.

"I'm telling you we're out of food."

With her cigarette hanging from her mouth, Rindo stood before Ran with her hand on her hip.

"I went to get more food for Cosmos to cook but the storage was empty."

"Empty? We stored 3 months' worth of food! Three times our voyage to and back from Sabody!"

"Don't get mad at me. I'm just telling you what happened."

Rindo plugged her ears with her fingers.

"This is a disaster! We need to tell the Snake Princess!"

Ran left to meet Hancock but met Sandersonia and Mariegold standing guard in front of her door.

"We're out of food?"

She told them about the situation. They looked at each other a bit nervously before looking back at Ran.

"Alright, we'll let our sister know."

Marie said. Ran nodded and left. The sisters sighed and knocked on Hancock's door.

"What is it, Marie, Sonia?"

"Elder Sister, we have a problem."

Sonia was the one to speak.

"We're out of food."

"What?!"

Hancock burst through her door.

"What do you mean we're out of food?! What are we going to feed Luffy?! Look, he's famished!"

The sisters looked into Hancock's room. There was a bloated Luffy laying on the ground. He looked like he would roll if you pushed him.

(He looks fine to me.)

(In fact, he looks like the reason we're out of food.)

The sisters thought.

"We can catch fish in the ocean but we can't rely on that too much in the Calm Belt unless we fight Sea Kings."

"Sea Kings?"

Hancock put her head into the room.

"Luffy~. How do you feel about Sea Kings?"

"Hm? Sea Kings? I think they're cool, why you ask?"

"How do you feel about eating one?"

"Really?! I want to try it!"

"Alright, girls! We're hunting Sea Kings!"

Hancock pulled out a harpoon from who knows where and looked ready to go.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!"

Elder Nyon was seen running towards her.

"Right on cue. Sonia, tie her up! She's our bait for today!"

"You insane child!"

Elder Nyon was breathing heavily.

"You can't hunt Sea Kings in the Calm Belt."

"Silence, woman! My husband desires to dine on Sea King meat and dine he shall!"

"You stupid girl!"

Elder Nyon jumped and pulled Hancock's cheek to her level.

"If you hunt one Sea King you'll agitate all the others! When that happens this ship will be sunk in seconds and we'll all die!"

"Unhand me, You senile woman!"

The two started wrestling.

"Where are you getting this strength from, you sack of bones?!"

"I may be old but I was an empress like you! Don't underestimate me!"

"Alright, calm down you two."

Marie and Sonia forced the two of them apart.

"Let's talk about this in an orderly and calm fashion."

Luffy's voice came from out of the room.

"I don't know why you guys are fighting but we're out of food right?"

He was stuck in the doorway and fighting to come through the door.

"I feel like I'm partially to blame. So I will help any way I can."

"Oh, Luffy~! You're so kind and considerate helping out even though you're a guest!"

Hancock went limp in Marie's arms as she looked at Luffy.

(No, he's the cause of the crisis in the first place!)

Marie, Sonia, and Elder Nyon thought in unison but didn't vocalize these thoughts.