Hello, this is my first fanfic so please give me lengthy reviews! I know I'll probably need them.
To be completely honest I wasn't very happy with this one, I kept feeling that I missed something somewhere...
I had a Rubik's cube in front of me when I was writing this. It was distracting...I can solve it but the faster you solve it the more you want to play it... Argh!
Disclaimer: I wonder who came up with the idea of disclaimers, I mean, which idiot writing fanfiction would attempt to claim it in the first place?
Happy Reading!
It all started with the mystery cube.
Actually, it was called a Rubik's cube, but with more than half the crew with no idea what it was or what to do with it, when Luffy blurted out 'mystery cube' the name stuck. Usopp had apparently bought it from a game store at the island they had docked at two hours ago and was at this point scrambling it so that he could attempt to solve it using the instructions.
Which made it a very big deal when Luffy, apparently being too close to one of Sanji and Zoro's fights, was sent flying over the deck to strike the same table the instructions were laying on. Usopp could only stare in horror as the instructions flew out to the sea.
After a severe beating to all three of them, Usopp decided to try solving the cube himself and went into the dining room. After ten minutes of turning, Usopp managed to solve one side when he decided he needed a rest. He went to the kitchen, unlocked the fridge, chose a drink, poured the drink into his cup, closed the fridge and walked back out.
That whole process took slightly less than a minute, which gave Usopp a major shock when he found his cube completely solved.
In the space of less than a minute, someone had walked into the dining room, solved the cube and left before Usopp had any idea what was happening behind his back. After his initial shock, he then dashed outside to see if the person was still there.
On the figurehead, as usual, was the captain. Usopp immediately rejected the thought of Luffy solving it. He highly doubted the captain had the brain capacity or the concentration to solve the cube before breaking it. He then turned his attention towards the two women who were standing by the railing of the ship.
Robin turned before he reached them. He had a feeling that she had been observing him discreetly but passed it off as her extraordinary perception that caused her to turn to face him.
Then, Nami turned as well and immediately remarked, "Usopp, you solved the cube?"
Usopp could have sworn they rehearsed this. "No, I was wondering if either of you did?"
Both of them looked at him in surprise. "Usopp, you've been the one with the cube the whole time. You mean someone solved the cube behind your back or something?" Nami stated with a questioning look. Nami had seen how attached he was to his new toy and didn't think that he would leave it long enough to let someone solve it.
"Someone solved it while I was getting a drink from the fridge. I left it for at most a minute," Usopp answered, trying to see if there was any smirking on the faces of the duo. Both Nami and Robin had amazing lying abilities so he had to be concentrating to see through their 'masks'.
However, both Robin and Nami had a look of shock on their face. Apparently, the prospect of a person with the ability to solve the cube within a minute was a big shock.
As Nami attempted to wrestle with the fact that someone had was capable of such a feat, Robin responded, "Both of us were here talking about the training we had over the 2 years since you went into the dining room. Neither of us went in there and I doubt I could solve it that fast either. Why not ask our dear captain over there? We don't know what he is capable of at times and he couldn't lie from you anyway."
Usopp looked from the questioning Robin to the panicking Nami and convinced himself that neither of them was lying. Reluctantly though, he made his way to the person wearing the straw hat.
Luffy was, as usual, staring out to sea on the figurehead of Sunny. Usopp walked up to him and called him, "Oi, Luffy…"
Luffy turned, "Hmm?" then noticing the solved cube exclaimed, "Usopp, you solved the cube? Awesome!"
Usopp immediately struck Luffy of his list of suspects and decided to find the rest of his crew. Ignoring Luffy's 'request' of showing him how to solve the cube, he climbed up to the crow's nest where Zoro was meditating.
Usopp thought carefully, knowing that saying the wrong things could end in a sudden and violent death. "Errr… Zoro…"
"What?" Zoro opened his right eye and looked at Usopp with such intensity that the message was brought across very quickly. Say what you want to say and leave.
"I was wondering if you knew who solved my cube…" Usopp tried to make sure his voice was not to feeble, it was not helping that his legs were shaking.
"No," Zoro said in a tone that clearly meant get out and closed his eye, giving Usopp the signal to get out of the crow's nest.
On the deck, he saw that Nami and Robin were still there, as well as Luffy who he suspected might be sleeping. Going down his list, he made his way to the aquarium bar where Brook was drinking tea.
Brook had the newspaper in front of him with his teacup in his hands. Usopp asked him, "Brook did you solve my cube?"
Brook looked up from his newspaper and noticed the solved cube. "I'm sorry, I have no idea how to solve the cube you are holding in your hands. Attempting to do so would make my brain burst…but I don't have a brain! Because I'm a skeleton! Yohohohoho! Skull Joke!"
Before Brook could bombard him with more skull jokes, Usopp escaped the room. Three more to go…Usopp thought as he went for Franky's workshop. Franky wasn't there but Sanji was. That perked Usopp's interest immediately as Sanji usually never went near this room, citing something along the lines of 'not wanting to get his hands dirty'. Momentarily forgetting his mission, Usopp blurted out, "What're you doing here, Sanji?"
Sanji turned to look at Usopp. "I was helping Franky make a piano so that Brook would have more instruments to play with besides just his electric guitar and violin…"
Usopp looked in amazement. Sanji did have his moments at times…
"…and so that I can ask him to teach me! Then I can play my hearts out to the ladies!"
Usopp nearly crashed to the floor after hearing that. It was then that Sanji saw the cube. "Oi, Usopp, you managed to solve the cube?"
Usopp picked himself up and answered, "No, I was trying to find out who did."
"You sure it wasn't one of the lovely ladies?" Sanji had hearts for eyes at thinking of Nami and Robin in various 'poses' with a cube with them.
"Nope, I asked them already, plus Luffy and Brook." Usopp then noticed Sanji was getting a nosebleed from thinking and, before Sanji had the chance to take off with a red jet stream, hauled him out of Franky's workshop and dashed straight for the infirmary.
Luckily, Chopper was in the infirmary and, seeing Sanji in his love-love state, quickly went to work. After being assured that Sanji was no longer in the danger zone, Chopper then tried getting information from Usopp.
"I told you, I have no idea! I can hardly imagine Nami or Robin solving the cube in under a minute, let alone try to contemplate what he is thinking!"
At this outburst, Sanji managed to sit up from the bed. Chopper looked in horror and stared. Then, in unison, they shouted, "What?"
"Someone solved the cube in under a minute?" Chopper's eyes widened to show the shock that particular statement caused.
"Who?" Sanji may not know much about the cube, but seeing Usopp play it gave him some idea that solving it under a minute was an impressive feat.
"The thing is, I don't know! While I got a drink from the fridge, someone solved the cube behind my back! I asked Nami, Robin, Luffy and Brook already but none of them did it!"
"So, the only one left is…" Sanji left his statement hanging as the 3 of them looked at each other and understood that they were thinking the same thing.
Then, a voice called out from the deck. "Oi, guys, I made something for you all!"
The 3 of them made it out on deck to see Franky beside a table shaped thing covered in a cloth that they knew was the piano that Sanji 'ordered'. The rest of the crew had gathered around it, with the exception of Luffy who was still sitting on the figurehead turned this time towards the deck and Zoro who chose to stay in the crow's nest.
"This is something that I, the SUPAA Franky and Sanji made for you guys! Brook, will you do the honours?"
Brook stepped forward and then pulled the cloth away to reveal a piano similar to the one he played at Thriller Bark 2 years ago except that the straw hat emblem was painted over the top.
"Awesome! Brook, play a tune!" Luffy turned back towards the sea as Brook started to play a melody on the piano. Meanwhile, the 3 of them were planning an assault on their 'culprit'.
"Hello Franky, I didn't know that you had that sort of skill," Sanji started the assault, placing his hand on Franky's shoulder.
"Hmmm?" Franky looked in surprise. Sanji saw the piano only this morning!
"You're awesome!" Chopper looked with blinking eyes. Whether it was to the piano or to Franky's 'hidden skill' none of them knew but Usopp decided to follow up.
Before he could, however, Robin came over and asked him, "Usopp, did you find out who it was that solved it?"
Franky then saw the cube in Usopp's hands and said, "Wow, Usopp. You managed to solve the cube."
The trio then stared in stunned silence. Franky, being completely unaware of the situation, asked, "What? What's going on?"
"We thought it was you! The one who solved the cube in under a minute!" Sanji exclaimed without realizing he was being loud.
"Ehhh, no it wasn't me; I was under deck the whole time painting the piano."
"Who else is left?" Nami voice came from behind the piano, before her head popped out beside it.
"N..no one is left…"Usopp said with a shivering voice, with the other 2 looking at each other with wide eyes.
"You sure nobody lied to you?" Nami said in a feeble tone that hardly anyone could hear over the piano. Despite the volume, Usopp heard it. He crossed through the entries in his head, realised that no one seemed anywhere close to lying and slowly nodded his head.
The 6 of them on deck not inclusive of Brook looked at each other before resting their eyes on the multi-coloured cube in the palm of Usopp's hand.
"Mystery cube…" they all said in unison.
No one, except for perhaps the moss-headed swordsman, had any idea that their captain was smirking towards the ocean.
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