Swimming for Straw Hats
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, its plot or its characters. I own absolutely nothing except for this story, but full credit goes to Oda for actually owning One Piece.
Enjoy. Read the A/N at the bottom if you're confused about something, may answer some questions. If not, ask in a review.
Nami couldn't honestly say that she was the biggest swimmer in the world, or even in the entirety of East Blue. Sure, she'd go to the beach or the pool and do some laps if she felt up for it, but overall, she preferred to relax, rather than include herself in rigorous activity. She was more of the person that liked to lay up on a beach chair, smother herself in tanning lotion and bake for a while with a good book to keep her company. And she liked to do this in complete solitude. Unnecessary noises during her relax-time were a big no-no in her books. As a result, some would find her recent choices rather questionable, like Nojiko, or Genzo. She was sure that Bell-mère was without a doubt looking down at her from heaven's marshmellowy bliss, tapping a sandaled foot and muttering to herself in disbelief: "the shit that girl does for Beli."
And it would be an appropriate thing for her deceased foster mother to wonder about, too, because as Nami stepped through the gates of Loguetown's main public pooling facility, Arlong Park, filled to the brim with half naked adults, teenagers and children – some of whom were obnoxiously loud and some who did not belong in swimsuits with their body shape, she noted, with a grimace – she, too, wondered why the flipping hell she'd even agreed to sign up for the swimming program in the first place.
She recalled Tuesday's events with lacklustre. She had been busying herself by looking in clothing racks outside of a far too expensive store, considering shoving one of the cute tops into her bag, when the awkwardly tall man idled up beside her, a polite smile on his face. She had taken no notice of the man, or his ridiculously large and comical afro until he'd laughed a sort of chilling "Yohohoho" then handed her a multi-coloured flyer rather forcefully.
Nami had opened her mouth to question the man's motives and his stupid flyer as haughtily as possible when he'd pulled out a violin. A freaking violin. Out of nowhere.
Then he sang:
"Please, dear miss,
Would you listen to this?
You look desperate for Beli,
But I am the solution to make you merry!
If you can swim,
Then please do drop in. (He then pointed to an address on the flyer with a bony finger.)
Just teach a hydrophobic friend,
And your poor days will end!
YOHOHOHO!"
A small crowd had gathered by the end of his sort of poem-song, clapping at the entertaining, free-of-charge performance, but Nami wasn't exactly paying attention to them. For a few seconds, all Nami registered out of his entire song was the word "Beli". Beautiful, life-saving Beli. She had sworn that the heavens had answered her prayers, singing "hallelujah" all the while.
The man had bowed, pulling his top hat off to show his gratitude, and then stood straight once more. She'd collected herself and looked at him, realising that she had no idea where his violin had disappeared to – she had been beginning to suspect the afro was the source. After the crowd dispersed, he'd smiled the seemingly harmless yet chilling smile at Nami again.
"In payment for the performance, may I see your panties?"
She'd clobbered him with her bag, screeched an "AS IF I WOULD!" and stormed off, with the flyer half crunched in her hand still, without her having realised.
When she'd gotten home, having driven off her earlier rage, she'd noticed the flyer, read the details, and resigned to herself – she really wanted new cute tops without having to steal them. So she'd dialled the number from the flyer and agreed to every word "Brook", the pervert, had said, without really listening. And that's how she'd landed her new job – by staring longingly at an expensive top.
And now she was regretting it. She was standing by Arlong Park's entrance in her very sexy bikini, realising that the place was everything she hated: large quantities of people, unattractive sights (fat people in bikinis and Speedos did not bode well with her), loud volumes, fatty foods – childishly entertaining things in general, she supposed, were just not her forte. Nami liked productive happenings – like drawing maps, one of her many time-consuming hobbies, and often projects for her Geography class.
During her musings, a child ran near her, screaming loudly about water slides, and she had to physically stop herself from sticking her leg out and making the little bugger trip over and crack his head open. She never wanted children. Ever.
She pulled out the flyer once more and moved away from the entrance, scanning the details quickly. Apparently, she was teaching someone how to swim. She had no idea who this person would be – the "mentors" which was Nami, would be being paired first lesson (today, Saturday) with a "learner". There would be a whole group of mentors, however, so Nami hoped that there would at least be some respectable adults she could bond with, and also hoped that her learner wouldn't be a little brat. But she highly doubted it.
After all, this program was totally crap in her opinion – who hired people off the street to teach people how to swim? It wasn't a very professional program, and Brook, the tall, perverted musician, didn't seem like a very professional person. He'd probably grabbed drug dealers and rapists and hookers to teach the victims- er, the unfortunate souls that had to be taught to swim.
Nami sighed, knowing that she couldn't back out now, but disliked the fact anyway. She pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to calm down. Just think of the blouse, Nami. The blouse with the pretty lace. Yes, that one. Oh yeah. Mmmm-hmmm.
After her clothes-gasm, she noticed that she had five minutes before they were meant to be meeting up, and she decided to put her stuff in the locker she'd hired beforehand and reapply her makeup in that time frame. At least, hopefully, she might gain the interests of some attractive men. With these happy thoughts, she navigated through the crowd, finding the girls' bathroom/locker-room all too quickly with her good direction, and entered. When she did so, there was already someone inside, washing her hands.
The woman was very beautiful in a cruel sort of way, elegance bursting from every pore in just the way she held herself. She had slightly longer hair than Nami's, and it was much, much darker, to the point that it was black – a great contrast to her own short, vibrant orange. The woman's skin was tanned, but it seemed natural, and that was all Nami could really make out. She almost felt threatened being in just the same room as the elder woman, but ignored it, held her head high, and went to the furthest sink, starting to touch up the makeup with confidence.
Needless to say, it surprised her when the woman laughed very softly, and Nami cut her head to face her quickly, making her lip-gloss squirt across her cheek. She swore and washed it off, embarrassed, and glared ferociously at the sink. The woman laughed once more, and Nami looked at her again.
"I'm sorry," Nami smiled sickly sweet, but the threat in her tone was evident. "Is there something that amuses you?"
The woman didn't seem affected by the interaction; she only remained amused as she daintily dabbed at her hands with a paper towel. "I apologise if I've offended you." Nami was shocked at how her voice was like velvet – she spoke as eloquent as she stood. "I just found it amusing that you're clothed to swim, yet you're reapplying makeup. Does it not seem… pointless, to you, as it will wash off?"
Nami was disgruntled, to say the least. "Who says I'm here to swim?" She stuck her nose in the air, attempting to look down on the un-named woman.
"Is swimming not what the pool is for?" The woman turned to her fully after putting the paper towel in the bin, and Nami noticed that she wasn't wearing a swimsuit, but full clothing. On second look, she could see the ties for a swimsuit underneath. Nami suddenly felt incredibly under-dressed in only a bikini and sandals.
"Unless you are here to suntan outside?" The woman added, as an after-thought.
Nami was overall quite embarrassed at being belittled by such a woman. She could put makeup on if she wanted to – she had no right to question her motives… but it's not like the woman would know what she was doing anyway. She wasn't going to look like an idiot. She was going to lie.
"Yes, I am tanning, as a matter of fact." She forced an eye-roll and a flinch-worthy, high-pitched sounding laugh. "Why would I put make-up on if I'm going swimming? That would just be stupid."
"Then I apologise, for I am the one who is in the wrong here." Mystery Woman's blue eyes flitted to the watch on her wrist, then back to Nami. "It seems I have somewhere I must be, so I'll excuse myself now. Please, enjoy your time sunbaking." She then walked out, leaving Nami feeling like poop and wishing she could be as mild-mannered and poised as her. As much as she really disliked her, she kind of admired everything about her at the same time. It really pissed Nami off.
She turned back to the mirror, trying to collect herself. She wiped the lip-gloss off begrudgingly, but left the mascara and eyeliner – she was pretty sure they were waterproof, anyway. Nami checked herself out, decided that she looked pretty damn smokin' – especially her boobs, like wow, she had to give herself props for buying such a great swimsuit. Before she could continue gloating to herself about her looks, though, it abruptly came to her that she had somewhere to be. Two minutes ago.
Nami quickly put her bag in her locker and legged it out of the bathroom, dodging through crowds of people, past the wave pool, the kids pool, the diving pools, the spas, the sauna – and then she saw the big pool, mainly used for lapping, where she was supposed to be.
Brook stood by a group of people, his afro as obvious as ever, singing them another one of his stupid songs. She didn't know why, but she was kind of glad she was missing out on it – he was a good singer and good at the violin, but he really quite annoyed her. But then he stopped, and began to pair everyone off, and she swore, again. It was still too far away, and dang nabbit, she had had enough of being embarrassed – she wasn't going to turn up late, after everyone had already been paired.
Nami ran, and ran, and ran until she reached the opposite side of the pool, directly adjacent from Brook and the group, though he still hadn't noticed her. But she hadn't slowed down any, even as the water came up rapidly. Her sandaled foot landed, half off the edge, half still on, her entire body tensing for what was to come, and without any logical reasons as to why it would help in her current situation, she jumped.
In her defence, Nami had always been a good jumper. She'd always come first in long jumps and high jumps whenever she was forced into athletic activity at school. She didn't really know why, but she was pretty damn incredible at jumping, setting records all the time. Still – this didn't mean her decision to attempt to jump over a whole width of a pool was a smart idea. Nami would have liked to blame it on not thinking properly – but she had been thinking as clear as day. She had just been desperate. And desperation had made the entire group turn to see the red-head jump through the air, managing to get to almost half way into the pool – an incredible feat – before plunging into its watery depths.
A huge splash erupted from the water, silencing all people nearby as they watched it rise and fall with a loud crack that resembled a gunshot. Silence passed by for a while, and Nami did not resurface. The group remained silent, until a male member spoke up.
"Um, shouldn't someone go help her… in case she's drowning?" The young boy asked timidly, holding the rim of his red top hat with small hands to half cover his face, but no one answered him. Most were still in shock, remaining silent. But this did not last long.
"WOAH-OHHH!" A boy shrieked from the back of the crowd as pushed forward to the front, jumping from foot to foot excitedly. "That was so awesome!" He paused, looked towards the water, and hit it with his hand, making a small splash. "Hurry up, come back up and do it again!"
Despite his yells, Nami did not do so. She was currently at the bottom of the pool, holding her breath until she was blue, not wanting to go back up. She had tried to stop herself from being embarrassed, and had totally made it a lot worse. The day had not gone to plan at all. But she inwardly sighed nonetheless, and due to her lack of breath, was about to push herself back up despite the embarrassment when she heard and felt the second big splash.
The boy sunk like a rock, landing beside her at the bottom. He hadn't closed his mouth when he'd jumped in, and was holding his throat in panic as he swallowed the water. He kicked around and jerked but the guy was dead weight in the water. She could hear yelling and panicking from above the surface, and grabbed him by his red vest. She had no idea why he had even jumped in, or whether he was pushed, but it was now up to her to save his scrawny ass.
Not surprisingly so, he was very light, as he was pretty damn skinny. However, she hadn't had sufficient oxygen for a while so the swim up was a difficult one, especially as he continued to thrash, grabbing a hold of her by the waist and dragging her down further so. He tried to speak underwater, and she smacked him in the head as she struggled to swim. Then they finally managed to break from the restraints of the water and gasped for much needed oxygen.
"I'M DROWNING!" The boy suddenly screamed, trying to climb on top of her head.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" Nami spluttered loudly, trying to keep both herself and the monkey above water. "GET OFF."
She didn't notice the members of the group all working together to get floaty devices until one of them was thrown in, smacking into her face and making her groan. Drowning was looking better by the minute.
"Luffy, grab hold of the floaty!" Another boy with an abnormally long nose and black curly hair yelled. He jutted a thumb towards himself, standing tall and boastfully. "For I, Captain Usopp, will reel you in with my muscly arms!"
The boy – Luffy – didn't even hesitate in launching himself off of Nami (making her sink again for a couple of seconds) and grabbing onto the floaty device. The remaining members shoved Usopp out of the way of the rope attached to it, tugging the floaty and Luffy to the edge. They pulled him up onto Earth once more, and he fell onto his back, breathing hard, his chest rising and falling in a fast pattern. Usopp lay beside him, his face having been smashed into the pool's tiled floor, his Pinocchio nose bent at an awkward angle, and his bum high up into the air. Then Luffy shot up from his sitting position rather abruptly, his heavy pants having eased.
To Nami's major surprise, he began to laugh hysterically, slapping his hand against the tiles and clutching his stomach with the other. She really failed to see what was so funny as she grabbed onto another floaty, which had been tossed in, and was helped to the ground by a blonde guy and a blue-haired girl. The blonde was gushing something at her, but she had so much water in her ears that she couldn't really understand. She just smiled at both and said a breathy, "thanks".
The woman smiled and left her to get the water out, while the blonde guy remained, swaying side to side, and she swore she saw hearts in his eyes as his curly eyebrow wiggled happily. But she was more interested in the Luffy kid, and she didn't really know why. He was short, skinny, and not much of a looker at all. But there was something strange about him that she just couldn't place her manicured finger on. Maybe it was the scar.
Pinocchio-nose sat up abruptly, cracked his nose back into place without much effort (as if he had gotten used to doing such an odd thing) and leapt over to Luffy, starting to shake the boy by his shoulders and scream at him. Nami could see a lot of remnants of spittle flying out during the tantrum, and she tried not to gag. Luffy just wiped it away without really looking interested.
"Why did you do that, you moron!? Are you trying to get yourself killed!?" Usopp comically continued to shake him until his character drastically changed before Nami's very eyes. His hand flew to his chin, stroking it thoughtfully. His voice went deeper as he said, "ah, but I would have never let you drown, Luffy, my dear subordinate. I have faced harsher seas, stronger foes, than you could ever imagine and…" He continued to ramble endlessly.
Luffy, still looking positively bored, and even tired, hardly seemed to notice his own hand land on Usopp's face and push him away as he yawned.
"L-l-l-luuuuffy! What are you doing?! Let the mighty Usopp go at once or I fear I must unleash my amazing power-"
Luffy pushed Usopp's curly head into the ground again, and the nonsensical blabbering became muffled. Then Luffy's eyes cut to Nami, a grin slowly spreading large across his tanned face, making the scar on his cheek wrinkle happily.
"Why did I jump in?" He repeated the question, like he considered Usopp stupid for asking such a thing. "That's 'cause she wouldn't come up."
He said that one line as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and she couldn't understand why. What sort of person jumped into a pool, without knowing how to swim, to save a stranger? Not a normal one, at least.
His eyes remained fixed on Nami's, and hers reluctantly locked onto his, too. His were deep and black, but friendly. Hers were dull and brown, but apprehensive. The eye contact only occurred for a brief moment before she snapped her head away, brows knitting together.
"I hadn't needed any help." She seethed through gritted teeth, drilling holes into the water with her glare. "You ended up being the one saved, loser."
"Yeah." He nodded, not even needing to think about it. "Thanks."
She reluctantly met his childish gaze again, puzzled at his bizarre behaviour.
"Now, now, everyone calm down," Brook spoke up suddenly, and turned to Nami. "That was quite the jump you just performed, Miss Nami. I was worried you were not going to show up, but I was very wrong. You just wanted to start straight away, didn't you?"
Nami didn't really know what to say. "Er, yes. That's exactly what I had in mind."
"Well it was a brilliant performance! And saving Luffy like that, how marvellous! Yohohoho!" He chuckled to himself, then his lips curved upward as he apparently realised something. "I think that you two will be very good partners."
Oh, no.
Luffy's mood brightened up even more so (if that were possible), jumping to his feet. He reached behind him, pulling a straw-hat she hadn't seen before onto his black, unruly mop. She realised it was connected to a string which had been around his neck the entire time.
"Coooooool~! Go do that jump again, I wanna watch!" He clapped his hands, giddy, jumping over to her, completely unfazed that his clothes were sopping wet.
Nami scooted away from him uncomfortably, cutting her head to Brook. "But-"
"Everyone else has been paired up now," Brook cut in, positively beaming at how well his program was going. "I'll call out the teams, go sit with your partner when I call. Okay:
Team One: Mentor, Zoro. Learner, Chopper.
Team Two: Mentor, Nami. Learner, Luffy.
Team Three: Mentor, Sanji. Learner, Vivi.
Team Four: Mentor, Usopp. Learner, Kaya.
Team Six: Mentor, Franky. Learner, Robin."
Everyone did as instructed, and Nami took it upon herself to look around at the groups as Luffy plonked down beside her a little bit too hyperactively, legs crossed, while she sat with her knees to her chest. The remaining members were all weird-looking characters, and she took note of pairing the names to the faces, but she paused when she looked upon the last group. Nami literally froze in place when she made contact with the feminine, blue eyes she'd seen before. The woman smiled at her knowingly, and Nami recalled that her name was Robin from Brook's list.
"It's nice to see you again. Lovely day out for a suntan, isn't it?" She asked, her laughter all fluttery and harmonic. Her blue-haired companion, who seemed to be mimicking Elvis Presley in hair-dos, looked between Robin and Nami quizzically, but decided he didn't really care and started to comb his hair instead. Luffy, on the other hand, was picking his nose, and then naming the boogers.
"I'll call this one Humphrey." He decided proudly, but Nami wasn't paying any attention to him.
She gave a weak smile at Robin, and a pathetic, awkward laugh left her mouth, contrasting her earlier, fake, high-pitched laugh. "Uh, yeah. Hi." She then bowed her head and did not meet Robin's eyes again. Luckily, Brook decided to speak again before the beautiful woman could decide to continue the uncomfortable conversation.
"Any who, without further ado!" He started in a singsong voice, beginning to sit down. All the pairs were now sitting next to each other in a horseshoe sort of pattern, making the gap a perfect place for Brook to sit in. As he did so, Nami could hear his thin, long bones crack under the strain, and she thought that he looked almost as thin as a skeleton. She saw him place his cane at his side, realising she'd not noticed him have it before – obviously she hadn't been studying him too carefully. She eyed the cane, wondering if the man was ill.
"Welcome, now that everyone is here. My name is Brook, as you should know by now. I'd like you all to be aware that I have created this program for one reason, and one reason only." Brook suddenly became very serious as he spoke. His eyes narrowed as he surveyed the crowd, and Nami felt herself hold her breath.
The little guy with the red top hat pulled it further down over his eyes, leaning into the sleeping green-haired man at his side to hide from Brook's penetrating stare, and Usopp, now with his face out of the ground, was shaking in fear at the mere glower the elder man possessed. The pause was so dramatic; everyone (except Luffy, who was wiping snot on his shorts, and the sleeping guy, and Robin, who Nami was quickly suspecting was a serial killer) had become completely stagnant. No blinking, no breathing.
"And that one reason is," He paused again, his facial expression unreadable. "For panties."
The reaction was instant: shoulders sagged, sighs of relief escaped mouths, and a "that wasn't super" was heard in the direction from Blue Elvis. Nami, rather than sigh in relief, felt an insane urge to strangle Brook with his very own tie.
His eyes then went to her, his lips peeling back into a polite grin despite the incredibly perverse vibes she was getting from him. She knew that she was an idiot for only wearing a bikini at that very moment, and was about to act on her earlier fantasy, when a black, leather shoe smacked dead centre into Brook's unsuspecting face.
The blonde, curly-browed man stood up and retrieved the shoe very quickly after, hissing out a quiet threat: "don't go asking such favours from such a beautiful lady."
Nami kind of, sort of blanched at what was happening.
The young man then turned to Nami and abruptly bounded over to her in graceful leaps and flailing arms. She tried to scoot a bit away but he dropped to his knees directly in front of her as he attempted to pull a charming smoulder, but looked more like a perverse ape than anything.
"My name is Sanji, my darling, red-headed beauty. I will forever be your saviour, as long as you allow me~!" He cooed in an attempt to be romantic, quickly shrugging off his black jacket and draping it across her shoulders. After an unattractive wink, he bounded back over to his spot in glee before she could even reply. He didn't stop trying to make eye contact with her, though.
She was still quite gob smacked by the whole ordeal, to be honest. But "Sanji" hadn't specifically touched her, or anything – just gave her his jacket, which was kind of neat, so she supposed that he was a bit better in her books than Brook was. But he was still creeping the hell out of her with the constant little kisses he blew at her.
What added to her increasing frustration, though, was that he wasn't doing it to her alone – he was also flirting with Robin, the blue-haired girl that had helped her earlier, and a pale blonde-haired girl who sat next to Usopp. This, all at the same time, which was actually quite impressive in its own right. However, because he was sitting next to the blue-haired girl, his learner, she was receiving most of the unwanted attention. Still, she was polite about it, which was more than Nami would have done if he had tried to pull a smooth move on her.
When she looked back to the front, Brook seemed unaffected by Sanji's powerful shoe-attack, and carried on quite happily, "For our first lesson, we will not be doing all that much that is water-based, unfortunately. I have decided that we should all properly introduce ourselves and bond together to unite as a big happy family instead! So please, let me begin to set you all on your way. You are already aware of my name. One thing about me is that I am a musician…"
Luffy looked up suddenly, his eyes bugging out. "A musician!? Awesome! Show me!"
Usopp cut in. "He played a song before, Luffy. Of course he's a musician."
"I didn't hear no song." Luffy looked really confused, but shrugged.
Usopp jabbed him in the side. "That's cause you were busy wondering what dinosaur meat tastes like, idiot."
Brook carried on despite the interruption, "…and my afro is the greatest thing about me." He puffed the afro up with his hands more so to exaggerate his love for his afro, and Luffy, Usopp and the kid with the hat all gaped at the awesomeness. "While the main reason for my founding of this program was for the panties and swimsuits… this dream would have never been possible without Laboon…" He then trailed off.
"Who is Laboon?" Nami asked immediately, thirsting for knowledge like a hungry wildebeest.
Brook hesitated, a glimmer of something sad passing through his eyes, before it was gone. "Why don't we move on to you, Miss Nami? Please, don't hold back." He smiled tightly, and she could see that he didn't want to elaborate on the 'mysterious' Laboon further.
She sighed, a little irked at how everybody's stare was then performed on her. She sat up confidently, despite this fact, and stared back. "My name is Nami. My favourite food is Mikans, and I live outside of town, on an Orchard with many Mikan trees." She smiled briefly, but then turned the look to a glare. "But I'm only here for the Beli, and if I get another request to show something inappropriate…" She shot the murderous look at Brook. "I will be charging double the price."
After Brook screamed in fear at the look, and Sanji blew multiple more kisses at her, she turned more or less innocent again and nudged Luffy. "Your turn, booger."
He looked around at everyone staring at him, and then pointed to himself unsurely. "Huh, me?"
"Yes, you." Nami was grounding her teeth together at the dumb ass. "Tell us something about yourself."
"Oh." He grinned and laughed with a "Shishishi". Nami wondered why no one in East Blue laughed like a normal person. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy."
"And?" Nami prompted.
"And I'm gonna be King of the Pirates." He still wore the big grin on his face, lightly running his fingers over the brim of his straw hat as if it was a daily habit.
Nami reacted by palming herself in the face. She didn't usually swear, but fuck, she was going to lose her mind teaching this kid. Pirates hadn't sailed in years – where would he get a ship? A crew? There wouldn't even be buried treasure. If there was indeed treasure, she probably would have become a pirate herself already.
She looked at Brook, and pleaded, "Can we please move onto the next person now?"
"Ooh! Ooh! Me, next." Usopp piped up, waving his arm around. When no one objected, he cleared his throat and stood up, posing. "My name is Usopp… and I have two very amazing confessions."
Luffy looked up at him in amazement and red top-hat kid peeked out from under his hat, both anticipating the awesome story they were bound to hear. Nami really couldn't remember the smaller kid's name, and she hadn't even seen his face since he'd been pulling his hat down over it the entire lesson.
"One, I am widely known as Captain Usopp! Even though Luffy here says he'll be King, he's very clearly wrong, for I am the true pirate. AHAHAAHAHAHA!"
"Shut up, Usopp! I'll come over there and beat you up!" Luffy growled, standing up and pulling his arm back like he was going to run up and punch him.
Usopp shrieked and sat back down, making Luffy happy again. He sat down too, black eyes glimmering in anticipation again. "What's the second confession?"
"T-two…" Usopp started shakily, and then seemed to regain his confidence again when Luffy kept smiling like a kid. "I… am the world's greatest Superhero! But I can't tell you of the name of the superhero, or it would ruin my secret identity."
Usopp was then bombarded with various questions from the two over-excited dunces, like, "are you really that amazing, Usopp?!", "awww please tell us!", "do you have a cape?". Usopp would smile and nod or shake his head like he was the wisest person in the world. The bombardment didn't last long, despite Usopp obviously enjoying it, however. He raised a hand into the air suddenly, stopping Top-Hat and Luffy.
"That's enough," he said, in his fake manly voice. "I am tired. Leave me."
The two then jumped back over to their previous areas and nodded vigorously, like Usopp was their idol or something. Well, he was a supposed "Superhero" or something, but Nami really doubted that.
"How do you and Luffy know one another, Long-Nose-kun?" It was Robin, smiling politely, and still looking amazing even when she was sitting on the floor.
Usopp rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, seeming a bit confused at the nickname he received, but didn't question it. "We've been friends since we were little… it was really quite a magnificent story, how we met. I was sailing my ship in a horrible storm and then-
"He was getting picked on by some bastards first day of school so I kicked their asses." Luffy cut in plainly. Usopp deflated, but seemed rejuvenated when the woman beside him complimented him on his tale. Usopp blushed and got real fidgety, and Nami decided to perhaps involve herself if Usopp formed a crush on the pretty blonde. For a fee, of course. Nami's help was never free.
"B-but yeah," Usopp continued. "Luffy's never been good at swimming, so I tried helping him, but even though I'm an amazing teacher, it wouldn't work with him. So when we heard of this we leapt at the opportunity."
"Heard there was meat." Luffy added in, then gasped as he realised that there was no meat, and started to sniff like a dog to try and smell for some.
Robin seemed to understand the story, and seemed content with it, and thus nodded. Usopp then whispered something to the pale woman beside him and she turned to look at everyone, realising it was her turn.
When all was silent, the girl quietly began her introduction. "Um, hello. It's very nice to meet you all. My name is Kaya." An uncertain pause ensued. "I, uh, I've been sick for a long time and I've recently gotten better, but I'm not sure how long it will last." She explained, looking sad, and Usopp especially looked very upset at what he had just heard. But then she smiled again, and Nami herself had to admit it was dazzling. "Because I've always been sick, I've never really learned how to swim, because I don't often go outside – but I like to put the free time to use and study medicine. Not to get off on a tangent, though… I've just always wanted to learn to swim, and I've decided to finally go ahead with it. So… please teach me well, Usopp-san."
Usopp, needless to say, was putty in the hands of the pure being beside him. He jerked his thumb towards himself again, and eased her worries with an optimistic, "Yosh! Just leave it to Captain Usopp!"
Next up for introductions was Top-Hat, finally. He was really, really small, she noticed. Short, curly brown hair protruded from his hat, and his skin was brown, too. He looked up to meet everyone's eyes, a blush evident on his face, and that's when Nami saw it. She blinked, rubbed her eyes, and even considered if she was drunk or not. But her eyes weren't deceiving her. The kid's nose was blue. Blue.
He saw her eyes on his nose and looked away, blushing madly and looking quite annoyed. "My… my name is Tony Tony Chopper!" He blurted out awkwardly. The kid was really insecure, obviously, and she decided to stop looking at his nose for his sake. He was really cute, though. "But it's okay to call me Ch-chopper. I um, too, dwell in the medicines. I'm actually kind of already a doctor – I've finished all of my studies, despite my age. I just haven't gotten around to swimming yet, with all the studying and… I don't like the heat, much, so… being able to swim and cool down in summer would be nice." He finished and sat there quietly, not looking at anyone.
It was no wonder everyone was staring at him with their eyes bugged out. The kid looked like he was fourteen. He was the bloody real-life Doogie Howser, but with a blue nose.
"That's… super!" Franky – she recalled his name from Brook's list – or Blue Elvis, as she liked to refer to him as, bellowed. Everyone else murmured their agreements.
"Shut up, you bastards~" Chopper giggled, not looking angry at all. Rather, he blushed and twiddled with his thumbs, starting to smile. "That doesn't make me happy. Not at all…" He finished the sentence with an adorable giggle, and despite being confused about his behaviour, Nami really wanted to cuddle the little guy.
A loud snore jerked everyone out of their stupor, and everyone cut their eyes to the man next to Chopper. Nami really couldn't believe that the guy was still sleeping. The entire lesson he had been doing so. She was pretty sure that even when she'd jumped into the pool he'd been sleeping, and Chopper had just sat down next to him to make the horseshoe shape. The man hadn't moved an inch.
The guy had a dark green bandana around his head, just showing off his green sideburns. She didn't know whether the hair was real or fake, but either way, she supposed he really liked the colour green. He even had a green haramaki, which adorned three katanas- wait, what? Nami looked again, and yes – he had three katanas. Real ones – Nami knew expensive things when she saw them. His right hand rested on the hilt of one, surprisingly not lax – he was holding the hilt like he was about to unsheathe it, despite that he was evidently snoozing, leaning against the wall with his head lolled to the side. No one could fake snores like those ones.
She saw Sanji rise again, and she inwardly groaned as he started walking over to the sleepyhead. Don't tell me he's into the men, too. I don't care if he swings both ways, but dang nabbit, I do not want to watch him flirt with every single attractive person he sets his eyes on, female or male.
But her instincts were wrong. So very wrong. Sanji stopped in front of the man, Chopper edging away, looking absolutely petrified after seeing Sanji's expression, which Nami couldn't see. And then his leg was a blur as it swung out with such purposeful grace, moving to collide it against the tanned face. She heard a bit of a thud and a grunt, but she could hardly see what had happened. One thing she did know, however, was that Sanji's leg was still in the air, and he murmured an irritated, "shit."
Before she got up herself, she felt a hand grab her arm. Luffy yanked her up and dragged her around to where Brook was to get a better view of the attack. Nami, surprisingly, didn't even tell him to stop, and didn't care that the hand holding her arm probably had boogers on it. She just wanted to know what had happened.
And then she saw it, her mouth hanging slightly open. Luffy, beside her, began cheering.
A sheathed sword had blocked Sanji's foot. It was held only by one tanned hand, though it visibly shook from the strain. Sanji grunted and tried to push harder against the sword with his foot, but they were both at a struggling stalemate. Mr. Green had one eye open, staring at Sanji with a very miffed expression. Sanji, who was all kisses and hearts beforehand, didn't seem bothered. He actually looked quite badass and nonchalant. What he did next surprised her further; he reached into his pocket, and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. He lit up, and she vaguely wondered if they were allowed to smoke inside. After a second, she realised that that was a stupid question. He just didn't give a crap. But the large pool was at the very end of Arlong Park and seemed to be mostly reserved for their group, so no prying eyes of an outsider noticed.
The green-dude opened both eyes, finally acknowledging Sanji properly. "Do you have a fucking problem?" He didn't bother to hold back his confusion and anger. Or his language, for that matter.
Sanji exhaled some smoke, shoving his other hand in his pocket. "Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do, shit-head. You were snoring vulgarly in front of the women. Do you have any respect for these beauties at all?"
Nami was really trying to remember the guy's name while the two sort of talked. She thought back, trying to remember what Brook had said when listing the groups. It was kind of a funny name… one that reminded her of a movie. She glanced at his swords, and then it hit her. Zorro, the masked, Spanish swordsman. That was it. His name was Zoro, and he too, was a swordsman. He just wasn't Spanish, nor was he wearing a mask.
Zoro glanced behind Sanji's body lazily, his dark green eyes looking at all four women. He then looked back to the blonde, and with a smirk tugging at his lips, said, "they all kind of look like hags to me."
Nami snapped. "What the hell did you just say, you stupid, little…" She stepped forward to murder him, but Luffy held her back. She turned to look back at him, and he just shook his head, quite seriously, which was a unique change.
"It's their fight." He said simply, and left it at that.
She heard movement and scuffling behind her and turned back to the fight to see Zoro rising now, and Sanji stood on two feet, looking even more pissed than before. The rest of the group were quite unsure how to react, and Brook was trying to stop them politely, but wasn't even heard by the two men.
"How dare you insult these beautiful flowers! You damn… Marimo!" He spat, getting ready to kick the shit out of Zoro. Nami found it intriguing that he had one hand in his pocket, the other holding onto his quickly burning cigarette. He didn't look like he was going to use his hands at all. Zoro, on the other hand, wielded one out of three swords, but hadn't unsheathed it. She hoped it would remain that way.
"The hell did you just call me, curly-brow?" He sneered. Then his thumb pushed his sword out just ever so slightly, ruining Nami's dreams, and Sanji bent his knees a little bit, prepared to attack.
"You heard me, moss boll." Then he realised the comment made towards his eyebrow and flushed a little in embarrassment. "Shut the fuck up."
And that was the signal for the fight to begin.
And that was Nami's signal to intervene, whether Luffy liked it or not.
"STOP RIGHT NOW!" She shrieked, pulling Sanji's jacket off and waving it around to try and get their attention. And it worked. They both looked over. Zoro looked at her uninterested, and Sanji's eyes were practically glued to her chest.
"Oh my~!" Sanji exploded. Zoro nearly gagged at the action.
"If you two continue any further, you pay me a fee. Five thousand beli per successful hit." She chucked Sanji his jacket and rested her hands on her hips, jutting her chin up in the air indignantly. Sanji caught the jacket and smelled it, sighing in bliss.
Zoro glanced at him out of the corner of his eye and gave him a weird look, then turned back to Nami. "The hell, woman? I aint paying no fee. Get out of here."
"No?" She stepped up to him, a glower covering her face. Then she grabbed his shirt, yanking him down close to her, a twisted grin spreading across her lips. "Don't kid with me, boy. You don't get a choice." Then she pushed him back and he stumbled, a little disorientated. Then he noticed his poor-ass looking wallet in her hands, and she started shuffling through it.
"You goddamn witch, how the hell did you get that?!" He reached for it, but she stepped back.
She pouted. "You've got hardly anything in here. What a pity." She pulled out fifty beli then chucked the wallet back to him. "Either way, you get what you deserve. No fighting while we're meant to be teaching people here, or I'll be taking more than that, got it?"
Zoro could not wipe the pure look of rage off of his face. He shoved his wallet back into his haramaki and shook his head, unable to get the venom out of his words: "go rot in hell. I didn't sign up for this bullshit."
He turned and slammed his shoulder into Sanji, who was considerably skinnier and fell backwards into the pool with a splash, his smoke sizzling out in the water straight away. Zoro started to storm off when Chopper's quiet voice reached him.
"But… what about my swimming…?"
Zoro stopped. He turned back briefly, his face stoic. When he saw the look on Chopper's face, however, it softened slightly. "I'll be here tomorrow, kid," he assured, voice still hard and strained.
Chopper seemed relieved, and Brook took Zoro's calmer demeanour as a sign to speak up. "We did not get to hear your introduction, Mr. Zoro."
Zoro's bad mood almost immediately flared again. "Roronoa Zoro. I'm skilled in three-sword style, so don't make me use it." He snapped, and then he turned on his heel and left for good.
Sanji, who was just climbing out of the pool, his suit completely saturated, bid him farewell by flipping him off. Zoro's back was turned, and didn't get to the see the kind gesture on his way out.
Nami sighed, glad that the situation was resolved, and turned around only to be met with a disapproving expression on Luffy's face.
"Don't look at me like that." She ordered, walking back over. "They were going to destroy this place."
"I wanted to see the fight." He whined, his eyebrows knitting together. "You never interrupt a man's fight, you know? It's a rule."
"Well too bad, I already did, and I don't regret it one bit." She shoved the fifty beli into her bikini top, and sat down with him to finish the introductions. "Don't try to tell me otherwise."
He surprisingly didn't, and she wasn't sure if that should worry her or not. But she didn't know the guy, and couldn't care less of what he thought.
The remaining members spent another half hour or so getting through the final introductions, and she learned a lot about the rest of the people.
Even though Chopper had already had his turn, Luffy had decided to interrupt Brook and ask the kid about his nose quite rudely. Chopper didn't exactly look too happy about the question, and even spared frightened glances at everyone. However, he looked about ready to open up until Luffy had gotten impatient and dumbly asked, "Are you some kind of monster?"
Needless to say, Chopper's mouth remained closed for the rest of the session, and they moved on after Nami had punched Luffy in the face and made him beg for forgiveness.
Sanji was actually a cook; he was working in the Baratie seafood restaurant, which was infamous for being the only restaurant in East Blue that floated on water. She'd heard many good things about it, especially about the amazing view it had. Previous gossips also told her of how expensive it was there, and she decided that she'd have to work her magic later to get a free meal out of him. But Sanji apparently loved the water, and that's why he wanted to help people to swim. He called the sea his home, but she wasn't sure what he exactly meant by that.
His learner was Vivi, the blue-haired woman. She had apparently moved all the way from Alabasta, the desert city, because she wanted to live somewhere not so dry – so she'd travelled from the Grand Line all the way to East Blue. As a result, with all the seas and pools and water-based activities, she decided that learning to swim was the best thing she could possibly do. The information Vivi gave about herself was very limited, however, and she wouldn't even give out her surname.
Franky, AKA Blue Elvis had many things in common with Usopp. They both loved to build and tinker with things, though Franky was apparently much better at it than Usopp was. He had come from the Grand Line's water city, Water 7, and that wordlessly explained his love for swimming. He spoke a lot of two blokes, Tom and Iceburg, but Nami wasn't really sure of what to make of the two characters. However, she felt pretty good that she wasn't the only one there wearing swimwear, as Franky was wearing his own Speedos. To be honest, he had really good legs for them, but she wasn't about to say that out loud. He also had this thing with saying the word "super". She didn't think life was that super, to be honest.
Then it came to be Robin's turn. Oh, how Nami had been dreading it, but it turned out to be rather interesting. Robin was an archaeologist and an ancient historian, and she was actually going to start working as an Ancient History teacher at Loguetown's High School. Nami didn't mention it, but she would too be going to that school when holidays had finished. She decided that she'd surprise Robin when school started. Sanji had blurted out that he'd be going to that school too, but otherwise, no one else mentioned if they were or not. It kind of made her curious, but she didn't speak up.
Due to Robin's extensive knowledge, Nami had also indulged in telling her about her geographical knowledge. It had felt good to talk to someone about mapping and weather changes and the like – like, really good. Due to this, however, Robin had begun to call her "Navigator-san" and Nami wasn't exactly sure why. But she let her do so, as long as she wasn't grumpy with the lie she told before in the bathroom.
And then it was over, done, complete. The first lesson was finished, and all they'd done was sit there – apart from Zoro and Sanji's little tiff. She was also sure she had everyone's name down pat. She stood up as everyone began saying their goodbye's and that they'd see each other the next day, when she noticed Luffy was staring at her intently, his finger back in his nose.
"What?" She snapped. "If it's about before-"
"Your face-up is all running." He cut in simply, flicking a booger across the room.
"Make-up," she corrected, grossed by his antics, and then glowered in realisation. Her eye makeup clearly wasn't waterproof, then. And she'd sat there for like, how many hours, looking like she'd been crying? "Shut up."
He pulled his finger out of his nose, seeming to deflate suddenly. "I'm hungry." He whined and looked at her, a huge frown on his face. "Buy me meat."
She felt her eye have a spasm. She placed a finger on her eyelid to make it stop. "No." She looked up and saw Usopp impatiently waiting a bit away. "Usopp is waiting for you, you know?"
Luffy turned to him suddenly and grinned. "USOPP, BUY ME FOOD!" He screamed and ran after to the long nosed man, who in turn started bolting towards the door, screaming, "BUY IT YOURSELF, IDIOT!"
She let herself out slowly and headed towards her electric scooter – the waver edition, a new model that she'd gotten for a good price after flashing some cleavage. The waver apparently had this gear in it, which allowed it to go on water. She couldn't wait to test it out.
Nami looked around, her hand settling on the handle of the waver. Everyone was heading off separately, at their own paces. Some, like Brook, began walking in a certain direction with the much needed use of his cane, and some such as Kaya and Vivi were picked up by anonymous cars. Most, like Sanji, Robin and Franky, got into their own vehicles. In Franky's case, it was a colourful, hippy-looking van with either a sunflower or a lion painted on the huge doors. She couldn't exactly tell which one it was, but she knew she'd rather eat her own foot than be seen in such an embarrassing vehicle.
Zoro, she noticed, was long gone. She couldn't find it in her heart to care much.
And then before she even realised it, everyone had left the parking lot. Even Usopp and Luffy had run through the large space in search for their own ride a couple minutes prior, having disappeared behind many other forms of transportation still parked. She hadn't even noticed that she'd been standing there by herself, just mulling over thoughts, and hoped she hadn't looked weird to any outsiders.
She heard a loud engine roar and a motorbike sped past, the hum of the engine evenly matched by familiar, obnoxious voices. From what she could tell, it had a happy-looking Ram's head on the front of it, and two absolute idiots riding it. Usopp on front, Luffy on the back. Luffy half leant off the bike as he turned back to Nami, waving crazily and shouting, "BYE-BYE NAMI!" as she finally mounted the waver. Then they were gone like everyone else, and she wondered if those two riding a motorbike was even safe. Not that Nami cared. She didn't even know the bozos.
The doors to Arlong Park opened once more, and the kid she had previously wanted to trip over exited with his assumed mother, being loud and annoying and reminding her of a certain someone with an ever-present straw-hat.
Nami never wanted children. But it looked like she'd landed herself one anyway.
Beli or not, she wasn't sure if this would be worth it, and she was beginning to realise why Gen and Nojiko had been questioning her motives earlier. With a defeated groan, she turned on the waver and rode out of the car park at breaking speeds, trying to reassure herself with some very comforting thoughts:
Just think of the cute tops, Nami. Just think of the lace.
That was my first chapter for my first One Piece story. I was going to make the first chapter much shorter than this, but it didn't exactly turn out that way. Oh well. Just a few things I want to clear up:
I couldn't help but resist to add in Nami's jumping - like, seriously, c'mon guys. The bitch jumps crazy as. During Cocoyashi Village, she jumped onto Merry from the docks or whatever, then in Water 7 she was jumping on roofs like a ninja, then in Thriller Bark she was holding like Usopp and shit and jumping around on pillars or something. It's crazay. Jumping is her talent, don't deny it.
This leads onto my next point - I'm currently only up to Thriller Bark, which is why if Brook seems... for lack of a better word, retarded, it's because I'm not heaps familiar with his character, so I do apologize in advance, but I'll hopefully finish the arc soon. It's pretty obvious why I haven't added in his Skull Jokes - he's not a skeleton. But stay tuned, I have shit up my sleeve for this later.
And another thing - I am aware Arlong Park is not in Loguetown. I am aware none of them actually live in Loguetown. I just thought it would be a good place to set the story, so that is why. Dum dum dum.
And finally, I do not plan ahead when I write. I kind of... go with the flow. I don't know how often my updates will be as a result. I'm currently in my final year of High School, shit is hektik as crud, and I have absolutely no logical explanation as to why I'm starting a story at this time. But I'll be finished School soon, and once I am, I'll defs update faster.
Hope people enjoyed. If you did so, leave a Review if you feel like it. Critique is always loved and appreciated. I don't care if you flame, it'll be funny.
Peace out, broskies.