Luffy walked around the crowded airport with his bag strapped around his shoulders. He sighed, he was lost already and he wasn't exactly sure where to go from here. "Where on earth is Shanks?" He grumbled under his breath. Shanks was supposed to meet him by the baggage claim, but he had yet to see the older man. He sniffed the air around him, inhaling the delicious aroma of fried wings which instantly made his mouth water and his stomach rumble with hunger. He turned around swiftly to find the source of the delicious smell only to come face to face with a familiar redhead holding up a bag of greasy wings with his trademark grin.
"Yo!" The redhead said handing Luffy the bag of wings.
"Shanks!" Luffy said excitedly as he bear-hugged him. Shanks put his hand on Luffy's head, "It's been a long time. You've grown so big." Luffy snuggled into the warm hand, as it reminded him of old times.
"Follow me," Shanks said. Luffy followed Shanks through the sliding glass doors of the exit at the airport and outside waited an old run-down car. Shanks unlocked the car with his keys and Luffy eagerly opened the passenger side to claim the front seat. He greedily opened the bag of wings and took out a steamy chicken wing before shoving wing after wing in his mouth. Shanks inserted his key into the ignition and turned it several times before the car finally started. He chuckled nervously, "It's a piece of shit, but I don't have the money to get a new one quite yet." Luffy just looked at him with his big almond eyes, as he munched on another wing, the state of Shank's car didn't matter to him one bit.
"How do you like it here in Tokyo so far?" Luffy stuffed another wing in his mouth and looked out the window.
"It's big and smelly," he said as he crinkled his nose. The smell of the city had been one of the first things he noticed when he arrived. Luffy had lived in the countryside his entire life where the air was fresh and clean, the exact opposite of the seemingly polluted city. Shanks laughed at that and turned into a parking lot in front of a run-down apartment building.
"Welcome to your new home. We live on the 2nd floor," Shanks parked the car and undid his seat belt. Luffy stared at the old rundown apartment building. Man, what a classy place Shanks lives in. Compared to the Dadan's shitty shack, Shanks' apartment was high class. Luffy undid his own seat belt and opened the door. As he was stepping out of the car he noticed a girl with crimson orange hair in a polished school uniform, holding a wallet in her hand as she ran away from a man in a tailored suit. Luffy laughed since he thought it was funny, and because the girl was interesting. Shanks sighed as he saw the sight, "A lot of crime in these areas, be careful okay Luffy?" Luffy nodded as he the final chicken wing, finally satiated. Shanks locked the car and began heading towards the building, with Luffy following close behind. Shanks opened the door for Luffy, and they both snuck past the old landlady. Luffy tossed his empty bag in the trashcan as he entered the elevator.
"When do I start school again?"
"Tomorrow morning." Shanks laughed when Luffy began to pout. Luffy had wanted more time to get used to the area before he had to sit in a class with people he had never met before. "You can't skip school either, this place isn't like up in the mountains." Luffy sighed, Dadan had homeschooled him up until recently when it was decided he would go live with Shanks so he could graduate from a renowned high school in the city.
"I can tell, it smells a lot worse," Luffy said grumpily. Shank laughed and patted Luffy's head, "Don't worry, I think you'll end up liking it here Luffy." Luffy nodded, hopefully, the trip from the mountains would be worth it. The elevators opened and the two both walked out.
"We live here," Shanks said inserting the key into the lock. Luffy looked at the room number that appeared one second away from falling off the nails that held it up, 103. Shanks opened the door and walked into the messy room, moving the trash that blocked his way. He guided Luffy to a small room, "This is your room. Sorry, it's so small it used to be a storage room. Your uniform is on the bed, and school starts at 7:30 so be sure to set your alarm or whatever you have because I'm not gonna wake you up. As long as you get decent grades in school you're free to do whatever you want." He watched as Luffy set his bag on the bed and took his wallet out of his pants and put it in his bag, as a safety precaution.
"I'm gonna go explore then! I'll call you if I get lost." Luffy walked past Shanks and out of the apartment. Shanks sighed, he was worried for Luffy. Luffy had been acting weird since the day Garp and Dadan died in a house fire. Shanks looked at the trash on the floor and then at the dirty dishes in the sink. He scratched the back of his head, I don't live alone anymore so I better clean this place up while he's gone.
Luffy looked up at the gray sky as he walked down the sidewalk. Luffy already did not like Tokyo very much so far. It was big, dirty, and smelly. There were also a lot of people who tried to sell things to him that he didn't want. He walked past his new school, Newgate Academy. He put his hands in his pockets as he took in the entirety of the school. Newgate Academy was a prestigious private school that schooled most of the Japanese elite's children. How on earth did Shanks get me into this school? Luffy saw a familiar orange headed girl sneakily climb over the gate and land gracefully on her feet. She slid some hair behind her ear and noticed Luffy for the first time, she smirked and walked away. Luffy laughed, this girl is interesting. It was around nine when Luffy finally managed to find the run-down apartment building again. Luffy knocked on the door to the apartment and patiently waited for Shanks to open the door. Shanks opened the door and groaned slightly at the light from the hallway. His hair was a mess and his outfit was wrinkled as if he has just woken up. Luffy walked in and smelled the unmistakable scent of one of his favorite meals, curry. He smiled and walked over to the pot the curry was in ready to eat the rest of the food inside.
"Luffy your key is on the table, I'm gonna go back to sleep."
"Night," Luffy said with a mouthful of food. After Luffy finished his food, he put the pot in the sink to soak, before he made his way back to his new room. Luffy changed out of his clothes and tossed them on the floor before he got into bed. He set an alarm on his phone and went to sleep. Luffy's groaned as his stupid alarm went off at and he slowly forced himself awake so he could take a shower. Luffy made his way to the bathroom down the hall. He undressed and turned on the shower to let the warm water heat up. He quickly washed his body with a rose-scented body wash and green-apple shampoo. Shanks must really like girly soap. Luffy rinsed the rest of his body off before he stepped out of the shower. He grabbed one of the towels from the rack before he hurriedly made his way back to his room. Luffy first put his underwear and pants on and then looked at the rest of the complicated uniform. Was he supposed to wear the gray sweater and the blazer-jacket or was it one or the other? Or, was he supposed to wear just the plain white button-down shirt and the weird string thingy? He sighed and put a white undershirt on and looked at the time, to find it was already seven. I better hurry or else I'll be late. Luffy quickly put on the white shirt and tied the string thingy into a knot around his neck. I think this is how it goes. Luffy walked out of the room and grabbed the bag Shanks prepared for him.
Luffy hurriedly put his shoes on and ran down the stairs, instead of taking the elevator. He ran the same route he took the day before and eventually ended up at Newgate Academy. He ran through the open gate looking at the line of several foreign cars that drove some of the kids to school. Luffy looked at the emblem on the bag Shanks had given him, to make sure he was at the right school. He ran his hand through his messy hair, Man, school hasn't even started and I already don't fit in. Luffy walked into the large school and asked a female student with long black hair and blue eyes where the office was. Luckily, she was kind enough to help him and to put the directions simple enough even he could understand them.
As he headed to the office, he noticed a guy with weird blonde hair bullying a guy with an abnormally long nose. Luffy watched for a moment longer, he would intervene if things started to get rough.
"You owe me money you brat," The blonde said to the quivering long nose as he grabbed the long nose's collar. That statement shocked Luffy, weren't most of the people at this school wealthy? He wondered if the blonde was the same as him, a transfer student of sorts.
"I-I don't have it with me today." The blonde formed his hand into a fist and raised it. A guy with dark hair grabbed the blonde's arm before he could punch the long nose.
"Come on Marco, let him off for today, or we'll be late." The blonde let go of the long nose's collar and walked down the hall with the dark black haired man. Luffy couldn't quite see the others face but he was glad he had intervened before things got bad. The long nose looked around and walked up to Luffy.
"A-are you Luffy?" Luffy nodded and wondered if the long nose had noticed him watch the previous event. "My name is Usopp, I'm the class president of our class. I'm supposed to show you the way to class." Luffy looked at the timid class president. Man, he's wearing his sweater. I wonder if it's required. He looked around inspecting the other's uniforms, they all had either a sweater or the jacket on.
"Is it required to wear a sweater as the uniform?"
"N-not necessarily," Usopp said as he looked Luffy up and down. Usopp turned his head but he kept sneaking nervous glances at Luffy.
"Something wrong? You hungry? I don't have any food on me so you'll have to get your own." Usopp flinched and timidly looked up at Luffy again.
"It's just that, you're very different from others." Luffy ran his hand through his messy hair, then looked at the class president again.
"How so?" Usopp looked up at Luffy then at the sign on the door.
"We're here," Usopp said quickly. He opened the door and hurriedly rushed to his seat. What a weirdo. Luffy gulped and walked into the big room. The teacher looked over at Luffy and smiled. He walked over to Luffy and stuck out his hand. The teacher wore a yellow and black hoodie with a weird symbol in the middle, regular blue jeans with dark rinse spots, and an extremely cool hat. He wore a white lab jacket but you could still slightly see his tattoos from underneath. All in all, he was what Luffy had least expected from a teacher at this kind of school.
"I'm the science teacher Trafalgar Law. You can call me Law-sensei." Luffy excitedly shook Law's hand. What an interesting guy. The teacher stared at Luffy and chuckled slightly when he saw Luffy's tie.
"You should fix that before you get in trouble," Law-sensei said as he pointed at Luffy's tie. Luffy looked down at the tie, slightly confused, he had been almost certain it was the right way to wear the string thing.
"Everyone this is Monkey D. Luffy, he will be joining our class as of today so be nice to him." He turned to Luffy and pointed to a seat next to a muscular green-headed jock with a slightly annoyed expression. "Your seat will be next to Zoro." Luffy walked over next to Zoro and sat in the empty desk. "Yosh, we'll pick up where we left off tomorrow so take your time and introduce yourselves to Luffy." The teacher walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. A black haired female student stood up and walked over to Luffy.
"My name is Nico Robin, nice to meet you." Luffy stared at her, he recognized her face from somewhere, but he couldn't quite remember.
"Are you the one from this morning? If you are, it's nice to see you again, Robin." She smiled, "I'm glad you remember me because,"
"Luffy! Come here, quickly," Usopp said motioning to him. "Sorry, Robin-san but it's my job to escort him around the school so I'll have to borrow him for a little while."
"No problem at all Usopp-kun, I'm glad you're taking your job more seriously." Usopp blushed and pulled Luffy out of the room. Luffy sighed and rubbed his belly. Man, I'm starving. I didn't get to eat breakfast this morning either.
"Do you have any idea what you just did?" Luffy shrugged, Is he talking about the string thingy? Usopp sighed and undid Luffy's tie before retying it the proper way. "You probably shouldn't talk to Robin-san anymore. She seems to have some kind of interest in you, which is extremely bad." Usopp smiled when he was finished fixing Luffy's tie. "Anyway she's the one Ace-senpai wants to date right now, and if he finds out she's interested in you then bad things will happen." Luffy shrugged, he could care less he wasn't interested in her like that. Usopp showed him the way to the rest of the classes on his schedule so that he wouldn't be lost with finding them on his own.
"Who's Ace?"
"Ace is the leader of our school, and he's also the head of a gang. Ace-senpai is also the son of Edward Newgate the owner of Whitebeard cooperation's and Newgate Academy."
"Really? Wow, he must be strong then." Usopp nodded, "He's extremely strong which is why you shouldn't get close to Robin-san." The bell rang and students flooded out of the classrooms. Luffy smiled as his stomach growled, it's finally lunch time! "Where's the cafeteria?" Luffy said as he wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth.
"It's close but you'd be better off sharing lunch with me. Ace-senpai and his buddies rule the cafeteria so no one ever actually uses it." Luffy grabbed Usopp's wrist and dragged him down the hall, completely ignoring his warning. Luffy dragged Usopp to wherever the delicious food smell was coming from.
"We're here!" Luffy shouted excitedly. Usopp struggled for Luffy to let him go, but Luffy was surprisingly strong, or maybe it was just that he was weak. Luffy opened the door and smiled when he saw the food.
"Stop! Don't go in there!" Luffy pulled Usopp into the cafeteria, "You're such a worrywart nobody's even here." Luffy walked up to the buffet they had and quickly filled several plates with food. He sat down at the table and motioned Usopp to sit next to him. This is weird the cafeteria's completely empty. His mouth watered, more food for me. Usopp looked around for signs of anyone coming. Usopp meekly walked over and sat next to Luffy who was now sloppily eating his food.
"Fuck those guys, leaving me alone like this," Ace mumbled. Ace walked into the cafeteria to see a terribly frightened nerd and a completely oblivious guy stuffing his face. These guys sure are brave. Ace's stomach grumbled, whatever I don't care. Ace walked over to the buffet and groaned. Why is there only broccoli left? I fucking hate broccoli. Ace sighed and walked over to the two sitting at the table.
"Oi, what the hell are you doing eating the whole buffet?" Luffy looked up but he didn't stop eating his food. Usopp about practically fainted at the sight of the freckled man in front of him. Oh my god, it's Ace-senpai! He's going to kill us! I got to try and warn Luffy somehow. Usopp tugged on the edge of Luffy's shirt to try and get Luffy to realize that the person before him was exactly who he warned him about.
"Who the hell are you?" Luffy said blatantly as he stuck another chicken leg in his mouth and looked up at the strange guy. The strange guy had black hair, freckles, and deep black eyes. He also wore a sweater with his uniform, Usopp must have lied. Ace looked down at the kid stuffing his face with food. The kid had messy hair with big eyes and he was just casually looking up at him. The kid looked up at him, smiled, and held out a chicken leg, "Sorry, I didn't think anyone else would eat." Ace stared at him for a second before taking the chicken leg and sitting down at the table. The kid was kind of cute in his own stupid way. Ace decided the hunger pains in his stomach warranted a free pass. Robin and Marco walked into the cafeteria to see the Ace and Luffy casually eating the food together and a terrified Usopp.
"Luffy, what are you doing here?" Luffy looked up at Robin and at the weird blonde guy he had seen in the hall. Marco looked down at Usopp and smirked.
"Eating," Luffy replied quickly as he stuffed some type of beef in his mouth. Ace grabbed a bread roll and a piece of ham off Luffy's plate. Robin sat down next to Ace and Marco sat on the other side. They both looked at Ace with curiosity in their eyes but said nothing. It was unusual for Ace to let something like this pass.
"So, your name is Luffy?" Ace questioned as he tore into another roll. Luffy looked up and nodded.
"Whachs yorsh?"
"Portgas D Ace." Luffy looked at Usopp and pointed at Ace.
"Thish is him?" Usopp nodded and nervously glanced over at Ace. Ace noticed the nerd kid look at him with fear in his eyes. Ace was almost positive he had never laid a hand on the other so he wasn't sure why Usopp was so incredibly nervous. Could it be that he's the kid Marco taunts? Well, that was his fault for dropping that water bucket on Marco. Ace looked at Luffy whose big innocent eyes were now somewhat cautious of him. Ace elbowed Marco and glared at him. It was Marco's fault Luffy was now acting cautiously of him when he was trying to learn more about the other. Wait, why am I annoyed? I just met the kid, literally ten minutes ago. Luffy looked up at Ace cautiously, preparing himself if he needed to defend himself. I don't get it. Why is Usopp scared of him?