Prologue:
She meets an odd man on the first day of spring...
(Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece, but I think we all know that)
"But he won't answer my calls. Like I've left him like 8 messages today alone… Yeah… YES. Exactly!"
She sipped her coffee in silence, unhappily witnessing yet another fit of paranoia coming from this woman on the bus. A woman who could actually manage to afford and have the patience to carry around that lump of plastic called a cellular phone, and yet here she was yammering away about nothing but purely trivial matters. If Robin remembered correctly, which was almost always the case, the story went as followed: About a week ago, this young lady had spent the night with the most beautiful subspecies of man who had ever walked this planet, this little fact is completely based on the young lady's loud and obnoxious description of this man. And come morning, she was utterly shocked that he had hurried off making excuses and promises to call again. Of course he made no attempt to contact her after their "hot hot hot" encounter, otherwise she would not be discussing this matter loudly on the bus with her close friend "Becky".
The entire bus now knows every personal, vulgar and raunchy detail of her little adventure. It was almost as if she had intended for everyone to know that she was capable of landing such a catch. This was completely absurd in Robin's opinion. There is a limit to how much information you ought to make public knowledge. Not that Robin was in a position to be judging right now, the many Gods in this world know how many similar adventures she had had herself, but it should never be broadcasted to this extent in her opinion. It is also worth mentioning that whenever a handsome young man walked into the bus she would, interestingly enough, get exponentially louder and more talkative.
"Fufufufu" She allowed herself a giggle as she pressed the 'stop' button, the small light in the corner of the bus lighting up.
The woman on the phone gave her a look as she collected her things, coffee cup in hand. She pretended not to see, but she did. All the dirty looks, all the hushed whispers, all of the secrets, all the hurtful and cruel things, she always noticed it all. And as predicted, she heard the beginnings of some nasty comments about herself coming from the woman on the phone as she walked out of the bus. She pretended not to mind, yet again. Sometimes she felt deep down as if she had been born onto this earth with an unpleasant aura of such an extent that made people not sympathize with her. But it did not matter. She had really true friends now and she was clinging onto them for dear life.
With a few more blocks left before she arrived at her office, she took a sip of her lukewarm coffee cup and frowned when she realized it was almost empty. The first stop was going to be the coffee shop around the corner for her third cup of the morning. It was then that she finally let herself feel the rays of the sun touch the skin of her palm. Then she felt it on her neck and cheeks. The warmth of the sun helped lift the veil of darkness that clouded her previous thoughts.
I suppose winter really is over now…
She smiled, thinking of all the flowers that will now get a chance to bloom and started mapping out her future flower garden. The one delight she could completely lose herself in, if only for a few hours at a time. The flower shows would also start soon… Time to take her old camera back out of the closet.
She decided that now winter was over she would do the world a favor and forego her third cup and head straight for the office. With a small smile she made a complete one-eighty and headed towards the hideous red building commonly known as New World publishing offices, feeling as if the entire world was waking up from a deep hibernation and the potential she felt was making her feel hopeful as well. She didn't know what she was hopeful for, but regardless of that it was still there. The only time of year she would allow herself that… Hope.
As she rounded the corner that lead to the building plaza, she spotted many pigeons gathering in the square, the pavement underneath them was littered with what she could only assume was bird feed. In the distance she could hear music coming from a small radio that looked it had had quite the hard life and a large man was not so discretely humming along to the song as he threw a fist full of seed into the air. Now that she could get a better look at him, he was also shamelessly dancing among the scattering pigeons trying to eat.
It's gonna take a lot to take me away from you, there's nothing a hundred men or more could ever do. I bless the rains down in Africa…
I bless the rains down in Africa, I bless the rains down in Africa…
I bless the rains down in Africa…
Gonna take some time to do the things we never have…
As she came closer to the very very secure man in front of her, she noticed a few things. For one, he had at least two tattoo's, one blue star on each arm, and that he was not afraid to wear those shorts and open toed flip flops in public. She could understand that it was no longer winter, but usually there's still a small time interval where normal people would still put on layers out of respect. But it looked like he was welcoming the summer already. She had to be honest, she was quite amused…
"Aaawhh baby! I spy with my little eye… a bee-yu-ti-ful lady right in front of me! Guuuuud morning sunshine! It's a suu-uuper morning isn't it?"
Instead of giving him an answer she just looked at him, expressionlessly. They stayed in silence for a moment, just long enough for it to seem awkward, but then she gave the stranger a wide smile.
"Yes, I suppose it is." She said as she made her way past him. Thinking of this incident as nothing more than one of those odd moments life gives you to remind you that you are indeed alive, and for good reason. Always.
This was a little taster of what I've been cooking up. It's a story about Mamma and Pappa strawhat based in our world in the 80's. Ghettoblasters, big hair and mad rad overall style. It'll be a story from mostly Robin's point of view, but I plan on writing some thoughts coming from Mr. Super as well.
I hoped it was enjoyable to all who read it and I hope to hear some feedback. If all goes well, the first chapter ought to be posted within the week. I make no promises, but I'll do my best.
~Snikee