It was a fair evening on the docked ship. The crew members were walking back from the town and climbed onto the deck of the ship; some of them were already boarded.
One of them was Roronoa Zoro. A man who could not be woken by the mightiest of beasts, unless if that beast had a barrel of sake with him. He had the finest swords on Earth, fashioned by ancient forges by masters of the art.
He was napping on the port side, against the railings. Then, as sudden as a seizure, two dress shoes landed on his chest with a lot of weight behind it. Zoro jolted awake and grabbed his swords, knocking the man with dress shoes onto the ground.
This man was Sanji, a fierce rival of Zoro's and a lover of all kinds of ladies. If you were a man, then you should avoid him at all costs, especially if you are complaining about his meal.
He landed onto the ground with his hands sprawled out into the air. There was growls that rattled off the floorboards; which was not Luffy's stomach.
"Mangy cook," Zoro uttered with his sword drawn. He was standing over the blonde with his swords ready to block or defend.
Sanji placed his hands in front of him, kicking off from the ground and landed on the other side of Zoro. It took only one second to correct himself, and soon their sword and leg were clashing against each other.
"Watch where you are sleeping next time! What if you trip over Nami-san or Robin-chan?!"
"Shouldn't you watch where you are landing? I've been meditating all day."
"Mediating? You?" Sanji taunted, "You call that mediating with your eyes closed?!" The most Zoro ever done was sleep, train and eat. He had a one track mind, maybe more so than Luffy.
A third party arrived.
She stood between them the two enraged men, with her fists punching each of them in the heads. "CAN YOU TWO EVER STOP IT?!"
They jerked backwards.
Zoro and Sanji kneeled down, holding onto their thumping heads.
"Damn it, wench."
"Nami-swan~!"
And the two started fighting, once more they gotten a suffering blow from Nami. "Are you guys done yet?" She gritted her teeth at their slacking bodies. "Because we have some business to do inside."
"Of course, Nami-san." Sanji quickly stood up and clapped his hands together, ready to swoon over his tangerine princess.
Zoro, on other hand, was quick to leave the scene before he cracked their skulls.
Nami, the tangerine princess and the prideful, greedy navigator, was another one who stayed on the was able to control the cook, and even take command of the ship when their captain held no leads.
Inside of the kitchen, where Sanji had vowed not to walk in until she came to get him, was where Brook stood. He was leaning against the counter with his fish guitar in his boney fingers.
Soul King Brook was their musician and a fellow swordsman. He was the oldest on ship, being turned to a classy skeleton with deep rooted afro, yet he acted like the three youngest members of the crew.
Brook has also been in the kitchen all day with Nami, and if Zoro gave a fuck, one would think something else was going on instead of planning. The two formed some sort of plan together during the week and finally the rest if the crew was going to find out what.
A bag were tacked along the walls with a few pieces of paper sticking out; the font was too small for him to read. Ribbons, which he and Usopp were ordered to place, hanged on top of the walls. Cotton, fake snow, piled in the corners, spilling out onto the main floor.
It was that dreaded holiday.
Christmas.
And whatever Brook and Nami planned had something to do with it. How dreadful. He could imagine it now. All of the guys being ordered out onto the streets as mall Santa while Nami collected the money. How Brook had any part in this, he didn't know. Unless if it was a music video.
He cringed at the thought.
Robin was the next Strawhat to open the door. She walked inside and lounge by the walls. Her eyes swiftly went over the kitchen before meeting his eyes.
Robin gave him a small smile. She already knew.
Robin was a skillful woman with a special devil fruit that made her an expert assassin, her former career, as well as a spy. She was the most mature out of the crew and always knew the happenings.
Such like this event.
Zoro didn't have time to question her before Sanji entered the room. He was still fawning over Nami and seeing Robin only added to his perverted ways. "Robin-chan~!" He was bended over in the way of the door when the door slammed opened, squeezing him between the door and the wall.
Franky paid no attention to his attempt at murder. He strolled on in and stood next to Zoro. Sanji slide himself out of the crack yet Franky was uninterested in his lectures.
Franky was a cyborg. His body was huge, as well as the rest of him. One couldn't talk to him without losing his hearing for ten minutes.
Franky elbowed Zoro in the side. "What do ya think is going on?"
"Santa music video."
"Really?!" He took a second and looked around the room, placing a finger on his chin, smiling. "About time."
Not you too.
The door slammed once more and luckily Sanji was pulled away by Brook before he was hit again.
Pinhead. Blockhead. And Bonehead.
The PBB.
Chopper, Luffy, and Usopp were shack on top of each other with Usopp being the bottom. Nami stood behind them with her foot in the air; most likely, the three were trapped in the doorway. "You idiots!"
Usopp struggled for breath.
Luffy rolled out from the pile. He didn't look guilty as he childishly snickered.
Chopper, able to move, lifted himself from Usopp's back. "D-Did I win?" He wheezed.
Strawhat Luffy pulled himself from the ground and looked at the reindeer. He was only nineteen yet he looked like a child with that innocent face. He was their captain, even though he acted like their equal. He was the one who blinded everyone together. He was their Luffy.
The boy smiled and shook his head. "I got here first."
The man pressed on the ground raised his finger to protest but the other two ignore him.
This man, boy, was the sniper who lied more than he shot. He wasn't the strongest on the crew, that was for sure, but he had his moments of bravery. This, of course, was the Great and Weakful Usopp! Beware of his 10 ton hammer...OF DOOM!
Nami accidently stepped on his hand when she climbed over the pileup. He bit his lips until her heels were finally off, gulping, and held onto his hand.
"Now that everyone us here, we can get onto business."
Brook took a step forward, standing by Nami's side. "Christmas time is right around the corner."
Oh no.
Zoro grunted while Franky nodded his head. They both saw where this was heading.
"What's Christmas?" Chopper, the blue nose reindeer with no other reindeer friends to play reindeer games with, asked. Good thing he wasn't the navigator of the ship on this one misty night.
Even despite that, Chopper acted like a small human boy, looking up to everyone on the ship. He shared some habits from his former teacher, such as binding someone, Zoro, against their will to fix their wounds.
Robin glanced over at the young doctor and said, "I'll explain later, Chopper-san, I believe Nami-san has something to say."
He nodded and went back to staring at Nami, waiting for some forms of answers.
She cleared her throat and looked over the crew once more. "Brook and I decided that it would be fun to play Secret Santa."
Luffy and Usopp raised their hands like students. The vein on her forehead was already forming. "Yes?"
"Are you the Secret Santa?" Luffy asked bluntly.
"That wasn't much of a secret," Usopp whispered to Luffy.
Sanji raised his foot to their heads. "Don't interrupt Nami-san, shitty bastards,
"Does it have something to do with ninjas?" Chopped aske, with his hand in the air like Luffy and Usopp.
Nami grunted while Brook took the lead and explained. What felt like forever, the three finally nodded their heads in some sort of understanding.
Franky raised his eyebrow. "It took you a week to write our names on a piece of paper?"
"We were brain storming, then we had to think of a spending budget," she rambled off into the distance. Shei went up to the bag and stood in front of the nearest person, Franky.
He glanced over his shoulder before he placed his hand in the bag. He took a few seconds to pick out a single piece out of the seven pieces inside. As soon as he did so, Nami took it from him and read it. She was making sure he didn't draw his own or her name.
She nodded and handed it back to him, who practically ripped it out if her hands. He looked at it and nodded, fairly happy with his choice. Nami went to the next person, checking each piece for her name but it never came.
Zoro wrinkled his nose as soon as he saw the letter 'S'. Chopper grinned and patted his piece of paper into his pocket. Luffy glanced down at his paper and at Usopp, with his tongue stuck out. Usopp was already smiling as he thought of things to buy. Sanji moaned when he read his, cursing the almighty gods in the sky.
Finally, after Robin went, she turned around and looked at Brook, who somehow had a piece of paper in his hand even though she didn't go to him.
Sanji looked at his piece and balled it up, slipping in into his pants pocket. He was hoping it would change, but instead it kept the same goddamn name printed onto it.
Great, now he had to buy the bastard something. The blonde didn't know what exactly to get him. The most Zoro ever done was sleep, drink and train. That was his cycle and he never did anything else.
Zoro, on the other grand, turned to Franky. "You want to trade?"
"Nope. All I gave to do is get the bugger some cotton candy."
"Shit," he mustered under his breath. He looked over at the blond.
Sanji was a chef, right?
Zoro could barely tell.
So he would like chef stuff.
That sounded like a plan to him.
Brook laughed in the corner as Nami glared at him. "That's cheating, you know."
He slipped another piece of paper from the plant, where Nami hid it before gathering everyone. "And this isn't?" He lifted the piece of paper with Luffy written on it.
Her cheeks blushed in embarrassment. She hoped no one would noticed, yet she was caught red handed (faced). "Because he's easy to buy for. All I gave to do is wrap a chicken leg and he will be happy."
"Now now, Nami-san, that's not how you play this game. How about this, you show me your-"
She kicked him in the skull and somehow blood started to drip from his nose.
"Are you sure?" He was still smiling being denied, "Let's just say your gift depends on what you get Luffy-san."
"Great, I'm being blackmailed by a skeleton."
"I don't see any mail," he glanced around the room with a raised eyebrow.
Robin, the black haired woman,was now explaining the holiday to Luffy and Chopper, while Usopp went around and tried finding out who was getting him a present. He ended up by the fuming chef. "Are you alright?"
Sanji shook his head.
"You didn't get Robin or Nami?"
Sanji shook his head once more, furious.
"Hey, maybe they gotten you?" He tried to suggest before Sanji melted through the floor.
And that turned Sanji's mood right around.
"So...who are you buying for?"
He was already walking away.
...
Robin stood on the other side of the bookshelf. She was flipping through papers of one of the various books before placing it back with the others.
On the other side of the shelf was Chopper. He was pushing a cart through the rows. Inside of it was medical books for himself. He was still looking for a gift to his pick, Nico Robin.
Robin, with her sharp sight, already knew.
And Chopper was oblivious to her presence. When he first sense her scent, he waved it off thinking it was similar perfume. Which he disliked on other people.
In the mid distance from the bookstore was a jiggling.
The scent hit him like a hurricane. Cotton candy. As soon as he smelled it, he started drooling.
He left his cart there in the store, racing off to the cotton candy stand.
A hand appeared on the shelf and grabbed one if the books, placing it in the front of the cart, on the ground.
She wasn't really cheating. She was only giving him a suggestion.
And no one could prove it.
She closed the book in her hand. It was about time she left the shop.
She still had to shop for Brook.
...
Usopp stood behind Zoro in line.
He had fancy knife set, while the Longnose had a airplane model.
"Sanji?"
"Franky?"
The two of them asked at the same time and ended up nodding.
"This is chef stuff, right?" Zoro asked him while pointing to the box.
The sniper's eyes widen when he saw the price. "That's crazy!"
"Is it or not?" He repeated his question.
"Yeah..." Usopp sighed, maybe next year he should let Zoro buy for him. He didn't seem to know a nickel from a quarter.
He has still to find out who was getting him something.
...
Sanji, on the second day of their shopping, sluggishly moved through the aisles.
He didn't know much about swords. And if he did, Zoro would never accept his choice.
There was no way in hell he would buy the man a sleeping roll. That would only encouraged Zoro's sleeping habits.
And so, he settled on the last item.
Sake.
Which would also help inventory, since Zoro drank like Luffy eats.
It was only a bottle. He grabbed it and paid the shitty merchant, who asked him if he wanted wrapping paper on it.
It's a bottle. Why the hell did a brittle need to be wrapped?!
He finally settled for a green bow.
That shitty Swordsman better be happy.
He walked back to the ship with the bottle in a paper bag. He couldn't wait until tomorrow to when he opens up his gift from sweet Nami-swan or Robin-chaun, while Zoro can drink his stupid sake if he didn't toss it in the sea beforehand.
...
All of them stood there with their wrapped presents in hand or under the sprouted tree. Brook stood from afar and started tearing up at the sight. It has been a while since he saw a good old fashion Christmas. He even had a stick with a mistletoe at the end of it within his afro, while he held onto Nami's gift.
Nami stood in the middle if the room and raised her hand. "Merry Christmas!"
Chopper ran up to the black haired woman with a square present in his paws. "Here, Robin!" He smiled kindly and she returned it when she took hold of the box.
"Thank you, Chopper-san. I wonder what's inside." She gave the box a small shake, causing Chopper to bit his lips. "Could it be some flowers? Wine? Chocolates? Or a spear?" With each of her guesses, Chopper shook his head. Robin would never guess what he gotten her, he thought.
Finally, after Chopper was on his tiptoes, Robin opened her christmas present. Inside was a familiar book. It looked like a good cart stopper, if she could say so herself.
Usopp placed the box within Franky's hands with a huge smile on his face. "Merry christmas, Franky!"
Franky snickered. "Should have figured it was you." He took hold of the box and gave it a good shake, which lead to Usopp biting his lips.
Don't let the airplane break.
Don't let it break.
"Come on, open it," he pleaded.
Franky rolled his eyes and listened, tossing the paper behind his shoulder at Sanji, and opened the lid. A model air plane. It was fairly large, a nice red, and two pairs of wings. He was already thinking of remodeling it into something larger with a few features.
He raised his hand up and patted Usopp's back, as well as crushing it. "Thanks!"
Luffy appeared right next to Usopp and held out a poorly wrapped gift. "Here you go!"
Usopp raised his eyebrow. "You're my secret Santa?!"
"Yup! Happy christmas!"
"It's Merry Christmas," Franky corrected yet Luffy completely ignored him.
On the wall where the bag held, under it was six wrapped presents. Nami went up to it and called out those names. "Chopper, Zoro, Luffy, Brook, Sanji," she called out and grabbed the last gift for herself.
As soon as Luffy heard his name, he dropped Usopp's gift and raced over. Chopper did likewise, hopping like a bunny rabbit as Nami handed him his gift.
Zoro didn't even wait. He picked up the bowed bottle and opened the lid. It was fresh sake. It didn't take him long until he was drinking it.
"Thank you, Nami-swan~!" Sanji cooed as he was handed his gift.
"You should be thanking someone else," Nami stated, her eyes trailing on Zoro's back as he went next to the door where Franky stood.
"It was Robin-chan who gifted me?"
"Someone else."
His hopes were dashed in that instant. If Robin or Nami didn't get him the gift, then it was one of the mangly men. He sighed, with a frown, and opened his gift.
A new, shiny, expensive, knife set.
Now he only had one question on his mind. "Who did…then?"
Nami shook her head. "That's for you to find out." She stepped away and glanced at Brook before handing Luffy his present. "I hope you like it."
He didn't even wait until he ripped the wrapping paper off the gift. In moments, he was drooling from the amazing sight in front of him, which was not meat.
Brook clapped Nami's shoulder. "And I hope you enjoy my gift for you, Nami-san."
It was a pair of underwear.
"I was going to get you that one way or another." Brook grinned like an old fool, "You should try it on~!"
Sanji walked away when he almost bumped into Usopp.
"What's wrong now?"
"It wasn't Nami-san or Robin-chan."
"But you like the gift, right?"
He nodded.
"Then that's all that matters. I'm sure the person who gotten it for you will be glad with that." Usopp was moments away from sweating. He glanced from the knife set to Zoro, who seemed content with just a bottle of sake.
"You know who it was."
Usopp held out his hands, "N-No! I don't!"
"Tell me."
"It was Zoro! Alright?!"
The blonde glanced over at the swordsman who spent a lot of money on him while he only gotten a bottle of sake. He felt guilty; his shoulders slacked. "Shitty Swordsman."
He walked up to Zoro, with his gift in hand. "Hey Zoro."
"Dartboard."
Sanji gritted his teeth. He was starting to think that Zoro didn't even know his name. "Thanks for the gift."
Zoro nodded and took another sip of his sake, then raised it to Sanji, "Want a drink?"
He gently denied.
Zoro shrugged, "It's good sake."
He couldn't help but show a faint smile. It wasn't much, but as long as Zoro enjoyed it, that's what mattered.
"Merry Christmas."