To my loyal readers

I want to thank you all for your support and kindness in my writing for OP: Altered Tides. I will be sure to get back to writing this story, as it is a joy to write, but I am in the middle of some very tough times. Recently, my Father had passed away, and I am having difficulties in my life that make it hard to have the best of moods to write in. I am doing what I can to break my writers block and find my way into creating more chapters for my story, but for now, please enjoy the stories I will attempt to write and post in the near future.

Thank you.

Rough Start to a Good Day

The crack of dawn came up over the end of the ocean, as another day began on the New World. As the sun slowly rose, its bright rays shown over the Straw Hat pirates ship, the thousand sunny, anchored at their most recent island on their journey. A beam of light shined into one of the ship's portholes, managing to stir the young rambunctious pirate captain; Monkey D. Luffy.

Luffy yawned to himself as he woke up from his hammock. Stretching his stiff limbs, he took a moment to gain his senses, a massive grin coming to his face when he did. "It's morning!" He shouted in joy. "That means breakfast!"

"Luffy, keep it down!" Zoro grumbled next to him, shoving his face into his pillow. "Some of us are still trying to sleep!"

"Oh!" Luffy realized his mistake and did a bow in apology. "Sorry…" Nonetheless, Luffy bounded out of his sleeping frame and made his way to the door, opening it quickly with glee…

Only to realize he had just opened the door on Usopp, slamming him in the face and sending him to the floor. "Oh!" Luffy looked down at his friend in regret. "Sorry, Usopp!"

Usopp clutched his aching nose, sitting up from his spot on the floor. "Would you think before doing something like that, Luffy!" The long nosed man bit back, seeming to be in the best of moods after being punched by the door.

"Sorry…" Luffy apologized again, only to be ignored by the sharpshooter as he made his way back into the mens quarters. Frowning to himself, Luffy perked up as he remembered that Sanji usually makes breakfast at this time. Making a break for the lawn deck, he was to caught pu in his thoughts of food to notice Nami walking in the other direction.

"Let's see…Sanji needs more fruit, vegetables and meat, Gee, I wonder for who…" The red headed navigator was doing an inventory of the ships stock on a notepad in her hand, completely unaware of the stampeding straw hat coming her way. "And I have to get some medical herbs fro Chopper-"

Nami was interrupted from her thoughts as Luffy accidentally tackled into her, blasting her off her feet and making her drop her notepad. Groaning and rubbing her head, the navigator spotted Luffy doing the same thing and immediately saw red. "LUFFY! What the heck?!"

"Sorry, Nami," Luffy bowed his head in apology, again. "I was just going to get breakfast."

"Well, go slower!" Nami fumed, getting up from the ground. "Now where's my notepad?!"

"Oh! I think I saw it go over the side!" Luffy pointed to the edge of the ship. Nami gasped, running over to the railing and looked over the side. Sure enough, there was her notepad, sinking into the water. Slowly looking back, Nami was more than frustrated with the rubber boy. "Luffy…!"

The boy knew what was coming next, but was too scared to make a run for it. With a hard bonk on his noggin, Nami stomped off in anger. "Thanks for nothing! Now I gotta start inventory all over again!"

Luffy rubbed the visible bump on his head, wincing at the sharp ache it brought him when he did. "Sorry, Nami!" He called back, only to be answered with a slam of her door. Luffy got up and dust himself off. "I've really been saying sorry a lot this morning…Maybe breakfast will make me feel better!"

His spirits lifted, the young captain made his way to the dining room and kitchen, the smell of bacon and eggs filling his nose and making him drool. Opening the door, slowly and carefully this time, he instantly spotted a heaping plate of food on the counter, right where Sanji was busy cooking up some more.

"Mmmmm~! That smells good~!" Luffy blissfully made his way over to the plate, his stomach growling in anticipation.

"Don't even think about it, Luffy," The blonde chef answered as he flipped a batch of eggs. "That food's for everyone, so don't you dare-" The sound of an audible gulp stopped his speech, making him look from the stove to the boy, who had already gobbled up what food he had made already.

Giving a small burp, Luffy looked at the man with gusty eyes. "Sorry, Sanji…"

"Darnit, Luffy…!" The chef seethed as he ground the cigarette in his teeth in suppressed anger. "THAT WAS FOR EVERYONE!" His anger could no longer be held back as he swept a kick over the counter, colliding with Luffy's head, and sending him flying into the wall on the other side of the room.

"Great…" Sanji fumed as he scrapped what food he had cooked already on the recently vacant plate he had made. "Franky's gonna give me an earful for that…" Sanji picked up the plate and made his way outside. "I think eating outside would be a good idea this morning…"

Closing the door behind him, Sanji had left Luffy to be impaled in the wall of the kitchen, leaving him alone.

Luffy didn't try to move or pull himself out of the hole in the wall, simply laying their with a frown on his face. "I'm not having a good morning…"

"Luffy?" A feminine voice came to his ears, making him look up to spot the crew's archeologist, Nico robin.

"Oh, hey Robin," Luffy solubly answered. "Where'd you come from?"

"I've been up in the library," The woman came down the steps until she was in front of the young man. "What happened?"

Luffy gave sad sigh before telling her everything. "Well…first I woke up Zoro, then I hit Usopp with the door, then I ran into Nami and made her drop her notes in the sea, then I at everything at breakfast and Sanji put me through the wall and well…here I am…"

"Oh, Luffy…" Robin knelt in front of the rubber captain, sympathy on her face. "I'm so sorry you haven't been having a good morning."

"I said I was sorry," Luffy continued. "But they were just too mad to listen!"

"Then what are you still doing in the wall?" The archeologist asked.

"Oh, well, I think that if I stay here and keep out of everyone's way, I won't make anyone mad anymore," Luffy explained his plan.

"but won't Franky get upset about you being in a hole in the wall?" Robin deduced.

Luffy blinked his eyes in bewilderment, until realization hit him. "Oh…yeah…Man, I do anything right…"

Robin frowned at the poor boy's bad luck, sad to see the one person who had so much for her in such a state. A part of her wanted to reach out and place her hand on top of his head, to try and comfort him, but she held back feeling that it would be awkward. An idea popped into her head, and she gave a warm smile. "Luffy? Would you like to spend the day with me?"

The boy looked up at her with a quizzical look. "Why? What if I do something to upset you?"

"Well, if you did, you'd say you were sorry, wouldn't you?" Robin looked him in the eye, refusing to let his bemused attitude win him over.

"Of course I would!" Luffy declared strongly.

Robin giggled at his change in behavior. "Then won't you keep me company today? We can go around the island and explore."

The boy pondered her offer for a while, thinking about what else he could do today. Remembering how most of his crew were annoyed with him, he thought it best to steer clear of them, and the rest might be busy or not in the mood to play with him either. Plus he did want to check out the island, hopping there'd be a chance for adventure. Also, he's never really spent much time with Robin, her reading her books and him playing with the others all the time.

"Okay, Robin!" Luffy beamed. "Let's go on an adventure together!"

Robin giggled in agreement. "But first, lets get you out of that wall, shall we?" The woman stood to her feet and took her Hana-Hana pose. "Seis Fluer!"

Six arms sprouted out from behind Luffy, coming out of the side of the hole he was stuck in. In unison, they grabbed ahold of the boy's from and pulled him out, Luffy tumbling to the floor. As he sat back up he noticed that his hat had fallen off in the fall. Looking for it, Robin picked it up and held it out to him, smile still on her face.

Luffy looked up at her, and felt a little awestruck at how she was looking him. After a few seconds, Luffy smiled back and took his hat, placing it on his head and leaping to his feet.

As the rest of the crew were sitting on the grass, enjoying the morning, Luffy and Robin came out of the kitchen and made their way down the steps.

"Morning, Robin~!" Sanji swooned. "I've saved a plate, just for you~!" He then sneered at Luffy. "Since you had breakfast already, you can just sit to the side and wait for us to finish!"

"Actually," Robin spoke up. "Me and Luffy were going to head into town and spend the day together!"

This surprised the entire crew, Sanji especially.

"The heck do you need Luffy for?" Zoro asked.

"He's been a screw-up all morning!" Usopp argued.

"He's just gonna annoy you!" Nami added. "Maybe later, you and me can go into town and do some shopping!"

"Or better yet!" Sanji spoke up. "I can come with you instead~! That rubber head will just end up annoying you like the rest of us!"

Robin didn't have to look back to know that Luffy was lowering his head with every harsh word his crew spoke about him.

"Luffy's just having a bad day, that's all," Robin pointed out, not losing her smile for a second. "I'm taking him into town to cheer him up. Shouldn't be so bad."

The ones who were complaining stopped in their train when hearing her words, watching her as she went over to the straw hatted boy.

"Shall we, Luffy?" Robin raised a hand to him.

"Sure!" Luffy grinned back, and the two made their way down the ship and started their journey inland.