diademlogs | CLOSED

Who: Luffy, Nami.
Where: All over.
When: November.
What: Road Trip!

Warnings: None yet.

( The last month has been weird, strange in ways Luffy could never have anticipated and yet wonderful all the same. This new world had plenty of things to explore and to discover, and over the last few weeks Luffy has been poking around, finding the occasional battery to exchange for joolies only to exchange for a dumpling or two at the restaurant.

Being a pirate captain is a hard life it seems, and his thirst for adventure and discovery doesn't dwindle as the new month rolls around. He remembers the talk with Nami about trees that grew meat, the decision they would try to not only find but liberate them too. The trees sound almost too good to be true, something to underline that this place had positives along with the negatives, though others would argue meat fruits on trees were not the best of things. For Luffy it isn't just the trees, he knows deep down there are other things out there to find too. Haunted oceans, abandoned pirate ships.....

It's early in the morning when Luffy texts Nami, legs dangling from the roof of the truck he's perched on. It's only natural that Nami should know in advance that he's already found her "CAR" and that he's definitely driving. )

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Let's get one thing straight: no fucking way she's letting him drive. He might be the captain, but as long as Nami is stuck paying off the debt incurred by taking ownership of The Orange Thing, she's going to do whatever she can to keep the tow truck in operational shape. Besides, with the tow arm fixed, it's been a fairly lucrative side hustle. ]

Get off of there.

[ It would be a curt greeting if it weren't for the way her lips purse in a barely suppressed grin, a look that undermines the exasperation in her narrowed eyes as she unlocks the driver's side door and climbs inside without giving Luffy a chance to interfere. ]

Besides, you're in charge of the road bag.

[ Naturally, she isn't going to hand over all the food Sanji prepared for their drive, but she'll give him enough to distract him from the fact that she's the one behind the wheel. ]

( It's a small miracle the Going Strawberry has survived the weeks Luffy has been in this world. In his time, he has at least learned about brakes and that using them when taking corners sometimes works out for the better. But for the most part it's not the greatest experience being in a vehicle with Luffy driving, and Nami is definitely right for disallowing it straight from the get-go. )

It's a great view from up here.

( Luffy makes no move to jump down just yet, taking the "curt" greeting with his usual, enthusiastic cheer. The way this place gave them all vehicles that are vastly different hasn't escaped his notice, and Luffy wonders if there's more to it than random chance. )

Road bag? ( That catches his attention, as planned, and the captain hops down from the vehicle, already standing next to Nami. A road trip to find meat fruits, he can't wait, and he's almost vibrating with excitement at an idea coming to fruition. ) What kind of road bag?

( Hook, line, sinker. )

I let Sanji pack most of it. It's supposed to tide us over for the drive.

[ Emphasis on the supposed to, thanks very much. Once he's back on even footing with her, Nami's eyes narrow at the captain, as though she were debating whether to hand the bag in question over to him or not, before finally relenting and passing it over with a pointed nod towards the passenger side of the truck's cab. ]

Come on captain. [ The corners of her lips quirk into a smirk as she pulls her own door open and hoists herself up and into the driver's seat. ] I think you might be bossier on land than you are at sea, you know.

[ In addition to the road bag, Nami's got her own satchel, full of the responsible odds and ends she knows Luffy wouldn't think to bring. Fresh clothes, a separate stash of emergency snacks, her journal, and the various tools she uses to navigate, among other essentials. After pulling out the smaller of the two sextants she keeps on her, Nami fixes it to the top of her dashboard via some makeshift method she's been tooling about since her arrival, angles it, and fires up the engine.

She'll keep one eye on the thing once they're out on the open road, and, more than likely, pull over to take some notes here and there, but for now the tow truck is reversed out of its parking spot before heading down the road. ]

You want to play with the radio? I can't make any stations come in but this Frasier Crane guy, and what I think the station person said is the blues, but maybe you'll have more luck.

Edited (sob) 2025-11-17 08:24 (UTC)

( Nami has the right of it; the bag is the perfect distraction for one Monkey D. Luffy as he holds on to it tightly. If Sanji packed it, that can mean only one thing and he sniffs the air appreciatively. Food. By the time Nami is adjusting the equipment on the dashboard, Luffy is already chewing on something, the pirate not having wasted a moment on waiting for mealtime to roll around.

Bossy? Really? Luffy opens his mouth to point out he is the captain, only to put his hands out in shock, eyes wide as he tries to come to grips with something really important. )

Wait, they go backwards?! ( Whatever Luffy has been doing with his own car, it certainly isn't learning to drive properly, and he gives a breathless laugh at the new discovery. Wonders never ceased and they're barely out of the parking lot. )

Frasier what? Who's that? On the transponder thing?

Yep, they do. [ Then, once she's had a second to think about it– ] You have to practice and be careful. It's easier to knock into something, or someone when it's rolling backwards. [ Because she's already resolved herself to paying off his, and the rest of the crew's car debts, and Nami is not at all inclined to do or say anything that might land someone in a car wreck, potentially hurt, and with an even steeper bill to pay than the ones they've been saddled with already.

She turns the knob that powers the radio before giving the front of it the smack that kicks it into working, her eyes still on the road in front of them as she takes a shortcut to the edge of the city and the highway beyond. ]

He's some asshole who gives advice to people who call him. If you find that station, just click away.

( Luffy's mind is still blown at the idea vehicles can go backwards, and he's already planning to try it on the Going Strawberry once they get back, returning from the farms with their bounty of meat trees. Unbeknownst to them, said trees are already gone, but for now the dream is still there and very real.

The radio dial is messed with, Luffy concentrating as hard as he can as he chews on another snack rescued from the bag previously handed to him. Said rations may not make it to where they're going at this rate. The radio hisses, giving several varieties of static before a voice reaches through. Whatever it is, it sounds boring enough, and Luffy switches Frasier off with little ceremony as he circles back through some static. )

Huh there isn't much is there? Can't blame them, probably takes a lot to put the sound out there. ( For Luffy it sounds smart, as if he's considered the power generation requirements for such a broadcast. Though really he's just imagining a fleet of transponder snails, all trying to do their thing in their usual, snail-like ways. )

So how long before we get there? I can't wait to see what they've got.

[ Maybe if this was normal for them, his approach to passenger princessing would have gotten on her nerves by the fourth burst of muffled static. But it isn't, and Nami's too grateful for Luffy's presence to feel annoyed. ]

Find the one with music.

[ Tinny 1920s blues, that might be played off a record into a microphone, rather than being part of a real radio station's fare. Nami likes it because of how world-weary the women all sound, and she figures Luffy might if that song about demanding more meat comes on. ]

More than an hour. [ Nami's eyes dart to Luffy for all but a nanosecond before she's focused on the battered pavement ahead. ] Why? Bored already? There's plenty of stuff out the window to look at. [ Sort of: the landscape is full of the typical sparseness and ruin that's everywhere. Still– ] I haven't figured this place out yet. It's a bitch to map correctly. Driving helps.

Edited 2025-11-26 01:41 (UTC)

CLOSED - ROAD TRIP

no subject

no subject

covers the date on this tag up

i see nothing

no subject

no subject

no subject