Run for the Carnival
Dedicated to 7saix-puppy7-san, Run for the Highschool,
Thank you for your cute fanfic,
" Ara? What's this?" Luffy asked as she picked up a flyer lying on a street.
"A carnival…? Ooohh! Can we go?" she asked as she turns towards her boyfriend, Roronoa Zoro.
The said man only grunted and tried to hide his small blush by shifting his vision away from his now puppy dog eyed girlfriend towards her brother, Ace.
"Yea! Let's go Lu! We haven't gone to any carnival in ages. Whadaya say goin with just the two of us, and leave all these other guys?" Ace said enthusiastically in turn getting glares from guys all around.
The ones that seem to stick out the most was from Zoro and her adopted parents Shanks and Mihawk (yea their both guys get over it) with a disproving aura around them can be visibly seen.
"Oii! That's not fair Ace-bro! We all want to go to the supa carnival with mugiwara too, ya know!" Franky exclaimed while walking next to his now-wife Robin, who only chuckled at Ace's attempt to keep his sister for himself.
"Shishishishi! Aw come on Ace! You shouldn't be like that. Let's all go there and have fun together! What do you say mina? Let's go to the carnival!" she said as she launched herself forward to the carnival leaving her family and nakama in her dust. The said group only sighed while shaking their heads at the girl's action before they started to run to try to keep up with the girl.
"Mo… I swear if I catch that girl I'm gonna make her pay with interest for making me catch up with her in heels!" Nami scowled as she ran with her boyfriend Sanji who was smoking cigarette alongside her, keeping up with ease.
"if she wasn't a she, I would have probably kick her to the head myself for making my beautiful Nami-swan running after her." stated Sanji unnaturally about a woman with a puff of smoke.
"h-hey Sanji… I don't think you should say with all these over-protective people here" stuttered Usopp as he ran towards where the monkey has run off to.
"I just hope she doesn't get into trouble while on the way of going to the carnival…" said the young doctor Chopper, quietly but knowing that if it was Luffy, the chance of it seems to be very likely.
"fufufu.. I know how you feel doctor-san, but knowing its captain-san, she could take care of herself" said Robin in the same calm voice she always used and not seeming to look the slightest bit tired even after running for 5 minutes.
"Of course she can! Cause she's a SUPA captain!" exclaimed Franky while doing his signature pose as he was running.
"Yohohohoho! Luffy-san is such a hyper person, who seems to have a boundless supply of energy! It is always so much fun to be around her!" said Brooke with enthusiasm all the while thinking 'I wonder if she'll show me her panties if I ask this time?' not noticing the glares he got from two people whom seem to know what undead skeleton is thinking.
Meanwhile- both Zoro and Ace were having a mind argument on who will go on a carnival ride with Luffy first. Tense electrifying atmosphere surrounded the two but left ignored by a certain red-haired man and a pair of hawk eyes that belonged to none other than Mihawk as they raced down the street trying to win the betted race.
As the group reached the entrance of the carnival, they tried to search for a certain straw-hat wearing teenager only to not find a trace of the girl. A flash of red zipped past the group with a great whoosh! The said group blinked in surprise as a mob of people ran past them with furious and angry faces and they all seem to wear a single thing in common; an apron. The only thought that came into the minds of the strawhat pirates and the three other powerful beings are: Luffy….(with added sweatdrops and veinpops.)
The flash of red ran past them again but this time they can see it as clear as day; Luffy running around in panic with food bulging out of her mouth. The said girl froze for a second as she realised that her family was in front of her.
"Hey guys! Mind you pay for the food I stole? I forgot my wallet at home and now all these food stall cooks want me to pay them back while chasing me with knives! Thanks! See you guys later!" she said as she jogged in placed before grabbing her boyfriend and making a run for it before the group could react.
The angry mob of food stall cooks heard the conversation and now turns towards the group of people the girl had just talked to.
"You-! You will all pay for all the things that little demon ate! "A cook yelled. "She stole every meat that I cooked for my stall! Even the ones that I didn't cook yet!" exclaimed another with exasperation in is voice.
Shanks were the ones that were left to pay for what their adopted daughter had eaten mostly because the others have ditched them. Ace had bow to apologize before running like hell. Nami had disappeared as quickly as the mob had come. The others knowing full well how much she loves money, which got her the title Cat Thief and the Money-loving-demon. Sanji amazingly kept up with his girlfriend the moment he realised that she was no longer by his side. Usopp, Chopper and Brooke all left casually and inconspicuously behind the group. Robin left with Franky with the excuse of "I didn't come to carnival to pay some debt bro, I came to spend some time with my wife as newlyweds, got it?"
Shanks was left speechless, though inside he was in tears. Mihawk only gave an annoyed and hefty sigh before shooting his infamous glare towards the mob. The said mob seemed to have frozen in fear and shock and had quickly retreated as if Hell's fire is about to blow.
Shanks sighed with relief knowing that his wallet won't be in jeopardy this time. As she glanced at his husband he knew that the cooks were lucky to have run away from the man before he becomes thoroughly annoyed.
"Let's get this over with" Mihawk huffed out before heading inside the carnival.
The carnival was not that big but still consists of many fun rides such as the famous Ferris wheel, the Dunk Booth, Bumper Cars, Tossing games at the smaller stalls and many others. Even though he group was separated, they all know where to go first if they wanted to find the strawhat wearing teen.
As they all neared a certain location from different directions, they all heard a huge commotion happening about. They all sighed annoyance and relief as they neared the cafeteria which was now almost deserted as if it was left alone in a hurry.
As if right on cue, there lies the troublesome teen and her new added companion. Luffy was currently digging her face into a tray full of food. Zoro on the other hand was making scowling faces and glares at anyone who tried to get closer to the pair. He seemed to be enjoying the fact that it was only him and his girlfriend at a single table without anyone else around even though Luffy was stuffing herself like a person who hasn't eaten in years.
? P.O.V
I looked over my group of six friends sitting at the same place we've eating and hanging out for the many past years. The small restaurant named strangely named Enies Lobby was where I first met up with these people I would consider calling friends.
Next to me was my somewhat closest 'friend', Kaku. He was a strange fellow with his square nose and his never changing signature ball cap hat. Next to him was the only girl of the group named Kalifa. She can be arrogant at most times and always get what she want with her favourite saying 'this is sexual harassment' even though I wouldn't blame anyone since she always like to wear some of the most revealing clothes in public. Then we have the oldest person in this group, Blueno. He works as a bartender on certain nights at this restaurant. Even being as old as he is, he never got tired of wearing that same weird hairstyle that looked like a pair of bull horns that he'd been using since before the year I got acquainted with him. I looked to my right there sat Fukurou, one of the most annoying person of the group with his big zipable mouth. For some reason, every time he un-ziped his mouth he would always gossip like an old woman; like the time when he told everyone about a certain secret of the government on accident then later saying 'oops my mouth slipped'. Next to him was yet another odd person in the group named Kumadori who seemed to have an interest in an old Japanese word game.
Lastly, sitting across me was my most disliked member of the group, Jyabura… his arrogance and cockiness always try to make my day bad since he always loved to make fun of anything about me like my good-looking goatee, saying that it looked more like a horse shoe than anything. But on that day he also got admitted to a hospital. He and I always seem to not get along well together, that doesn't seem surprising since I'm a cat person whereas he is a dog.
I sighed boringly as I watch them chat amongst themselves before turning towards the nearest window hoping there would be something better to do. Then a miracle happened! A girl who looked more like a boy in her teens wearing a red vest race across the street towards the direction of the carnival hat was to be held nearby. Even though she shot past the window I could see her clearly due to my extremely good vision.
She looked rather cute in my opinion, with big wide chocolate-brown eyes, a scar under her left, her messy short jet-black hair and her beautiful smile. For a moment I had forgotten how to breathe.
After she disappeared beyond the corner of the street, I looked back to my group who all looked at me with confused and curious eyes seeing their leader for the first time more than slightly amused.
"Lucci…? Are you alright? You look a little dazed… is everything fine? Do you want to jack someone or something?" Kaku asked with slight worry.
"Aah. Don't worry, it's nothing… I was actually thinking of going out to the carnival… jus to get my mind off of some things." I said casually.
I looked at them as they had shocked and curious faces hearing their tight ass leader want to go to some amusement park.
"If you all will excuse me…" I said as I was standing up. "Wait a minute! Since when do you go to the carni- okay scratch that, any carnival?" asked Jyabura with that annoying voice of his.
"Just shut up." I replied.
As I head outside the door, I saw a group of people running to my direction. The group which consists of eleven people, a blood-red haired guy trying to outrun a black haired man with piercing hawk eyes, a moss coloured hair teen and black hair young man with freckles on his face glaring at each other maddeningly, two couples running side by side; a red head and a blonde who was smoking a cancer stick, another couple seeming less irritated than the other two; a bluish black haired woman with a… cyborg…? With blue hair sticking out, and the last three a racoon-dog, a man with a nose as long as Kaku's except round instead of a square and a skeleton with a huge afro!
I stared with mild shock at the group that passed me and concluded that they were strange people. 'that must have been that girl's friends' I thought since the idea does feel likely.
'I wonder what today will be like…' I thought lastly as I walked at a normal human pace.
XXXX
As I finally enter the carnival, I started the search of the strawhat wearing beauty. I observed everything and everyone around me as I try to find a clue of where the girl might be. As if it was meant to be, a commotion around the food area had caught my attention. Unable to hold myself with hope and anticipation, I quickly stridden towards the said place.
As I turn at the last corner, I reflexively retreated back and instead only peered at the scene that was unfolding before my eyes.
The red head girl I saw before on the street was hitting and scolding the strawhat wearer. The moss haired teenager was also there and holding the black hair girl in his lap while giving the red head a murderous glare. The blonde one saw this and instantaneously kick the moss teen's head.
Even though it was amusing to watch, I made a note to myself 'the moss head must be her boyfriend…that just means more fun for me…' I thought sadistically as the corner of my mouth is brought to a cat-like smirk.
Normal P.O.V
"ooww! Nami! Why'd cha hit me for?" Luffy exclaimed as she rubbed her head to soothe the soreness slightly.
Zoro was not pleased to see the read head in front of him and even less pleased when she hit his girlfriend. He in turn gave the red head a murderous glare but had only left him with the unfazed girl and her now murderously angry blonde boyfriend.
"oii! Marimo! Why the fuck are you glaring at the beautiful Nami-san like that? You wanna fight or something?" shouted Sanji at the green haired man.
The said 'marimo' only shifted his glare from the money demon towards the shitty ero-cook before laying down his girlfriend from his protective hold on his lap to the seat next him.
"oh? You want to dance now princess?" Zoro asked mockingly as he slowly un-sheathe one of his three swords that hung to his sides.
The now seriously pissed off cook took his battle stand by lifting his leg high off the ground as he prepares himself to kick the marimo in the face. Before anything was about to happen though, two iron fists soar and hit both of the said men heads hard. They both landed in a heap barely conscious and with big lumps on their heads.
"Oii! Nami? What the fuck was that for?""Nami-swan… did you have to hit me too?" asked a broken hearted chef.
"YES! That was necessary to shut the both of you the hell up!" she spat at their faces with her demon like aura, leaving the two men to only cower at her mercy.
Luffy all the while only watch the short argument as she laughed and pointed at the scene in front of her. This did not last long though because Nami had turn back towards the main reason for being there. Thus, continuing the original argument.
"Next time Luffy…if you make me run in high heeled shoes like that again…I will raise your debt to me 100 times fold…" Nami said as she seethed the words out slowly and furiously.
Luffy finally getting the message, nodded vigorous and nervously as she doesn't want to owe the red head any more money than she already have in her debt. The group from before only stood at the sidelines while watching the 'what-seemed-to-be-planned' play in front of them before making themselves known to the others.
Luffy turning away from Nami to look at the others gave them a big grin saying "Man you guys are slow! What took you so long?"
The group only looked at each other before saying "Finding YOU!" they said in unison (save from Robin, Mihawk and Brooke who only either chuckled or sighed). Ace shot forward and took Luffy by the arm as he said "enough eating! Let's go have some fun!"'ou! let's go to the bumper cars!" she yelled.
Everyone wince at the thought except for Ace since he did not know of Luffy's demon driving skills. As always, Ace agreed bluntly to the activity suggested before anyone warning him at all. He soon understood the reason why everyone did not want to join the fun as he watched Luffy drove around crazily but still managing to not get hit by any other car. But unknown to the rest is that Ace is an equally crazy driver but not as sufficient at dodging as Luffy's.
The group seeing that Ace can keep up with Luffy wellwas in shock. They all thought of the same things along the line of 'must be a family trait or something'.
After both of the crazy drivers got kicked out of the ring, they were already half dizzy from the excitement and adrenaline rush. The two looked back at the ring where they left their destruction and laughed their asses off when they saw that most of the people there were either out cold or hiding in fear from the two.
The group at the sidelines only gave a sympathetic sigh to the poor victims of the siblings.
"That was awesome, Ace! But why did we get kicked out?" asked Luffy in a confused tone of voice.
Ace only laughed at his little sister's naïve question as he swung his arm around the girl's shoulder. The two met up with the gang to discuss the later activity for the day but before anything could happen, Luffy was snatched away again, this time Shanks was the one who took her.
"Whadaya say we go to the dunk booth, Anchor?" Shanks asked teasingly.
Luffy only pouted at the nickname that he had given her from many years ago for her incapability to swim. But she smiled anyway knowing that he just wanted to show off his throw to her using his only right arm.
"Yosh! Let's go to the dunking booth!" she said with a big grin. Everyone else only followed the leader knowing full well that she will somehow get in trouble.
Luffy, with her uncanny ability to sense others distress and annoyance, turn back to the group with a grin on her lips. "You guys can go ahead and enjoy the carnival without me! Don't worry, I have all these guys to protect me!" she said while pointing to the protective band that consists of her boyfriend, her brother and her foster fathers.
The gang, hadn't needed to be told twice, disperse after being told to meet up again after one hour. Nami and Sanji headed straight for the tunnel of love (no matter how much Nami protests she still ended up going just so she didn't break her man's heart.) Franky and Robin however took it upon themselves to disappear to some adulterated part of the carnival. Usopp, Chopper and Brooke stayed together as a group throughout the whole time. Usopp wanted to go to the shooting games booth just so he can show off to the young doctor and the old musician.
The other four headed towards the dunking booth area just to see that many people were surrounding the booth. As they all tried to look either pass or over the crowd, they saw a man with a big red nose doing a monkey dance to the people as a way of mocking them for not being able to dunk him.
Shanks seeing this, stepped forward to ask for a single game. Before the clown man could make any intimidations, he fell into the water below. The crowd around the booth all looked at the one armed man with shock written all across their faces.
Luffy only clapped her hands together at the sight in front of her. 1) A gawking crowd of people, 2) a drenched clown 3) a one armed man with a stupid grin plastered on his face.
"That was awesome Shanks! Do it again!" yelled Luffy while the other three only rolled their eyes and muttered 'show off' under their breathes.
"Sorry Anchor, I'm afraid I can't do that anymore…" he said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head.
"Ehh? Why?" she asked. Shanks only pointed at the bull's eye board with slight embarrassment. She turned her eyes away from him and looked at the place where the board should be but only saw an empty space with the board nowhere to be seen.
"Aww… oh well… onwards ho! To the next booth" yelled an enthusiastic Luffy, leaving the crowd of people who had their jaws still on the grounds. Ace followed after her after apologizing to the now shocked and pissed owner of the dunk booth. Mihawk only rolled his eyes once more as he thought of how he even got into this mess.
The next stall they went to was another throwing game type of place. The stall was small but somehow looked cosy. It was a surprise for them to see that a small girl was in-charge of the stall.
The girl was as small as Luffy but a bit shorter. Her shoulder length hair was hazel brown and was matching the colour of her eyes, which was in a chocolate brown. Her face was as angelic looking as Luffy when she was asleep, hers however looked more like angelically naïve.
The three men stared at her with disbelieving eyes (Mihawk only looked slightly surprised). They were wondering if the girl could have been related to Luffy by a bit since her cuteness almost levelled to that of Luffy's.
The girl finally noticed the four and turned to them with a small shy smile on her lips.
"Welcome and congratulations for coming to my booth. For you are lucky to be the very hundredth person to come visit!" the girl happily chirped.
"Yay! Luck is on our side for today! What do we get? What do we get?" asked Luffy excitedly.
"Well… the prize is actually won through a game actually but today you get 3 free tries to hit all those stacks of bottles and you get to choose any of these marvellous items on the shelves!" she said as she pointed at the aligned bottles shaped like a big pyramid before waving her arms around indicating at all the items either hanging or laying on the top shelf.
"Heh… step aside all you other people and Luffy as you witness my grand throw." Ace said with a smug look on his face as he reached for a ball.
The other three men rolled their eyes (again!) while Luffy clapped her hands excitingly as she watched her brother starting a powerful windup before throwing the ball furiously fast without leaving a trail of shadow. The girl only blinked as she felt a blast of air past her which caused her hair to whip around like crazy.
When she looked behind her all she saw was a small round hole in the board used to make the booth and a missing stack of bottles. She then realised that the bottles were at her feet still rolling and spinning around. She turned back to the customers with a raised eyebrow and a confused pout.
"Umm… sorry about your booth…" Ace said sheepishly. He had a nervous smile on his mouth and have cold sweat on his indicating that he was slightly nervous at the girl's reaction.
What he got on the other hand is unexpected. The girl burst out laughing uncontrollably and hard that she had to hold her aching stomach. The laugh was slightly contagious but not as much as Luffy's. When finally calmed down she tried to speak but was still struggling.
"D-don't worry a-about the boooth…. Haha…hah.. man! I haven't laughed like that on ages! I'll take this much amusement for a missing piece of a board any day! And as promised…you can choose any items you want in this booth!" the girl said happily not caring the other looks she got from everyone around.
Luffy only yayed again and started looking through shiny pieces of jewelleries. Ace only looked back at the owner with slight uncertainty.
"Are you sure? I can pay you back for the damage you know." Ace insisted.
"Nah… it's alright besides I know a friend that can fix something as small as this easily. Oh! That's right, hey mister how did you threw that ball before? I've never seen anyone throw as fast or précised as that since the day I started working here other than my friends." She said with awe.
Ace felt a tinge of pride hearing the comment. He then chuckled and said smoothly "I don't know, I assume it's only natural, I guess"
Ace saw a small blush from the girl but it quickly receded as Luffy called for her attention by waving some sort of bracelet around in the air.
"Hey, hey miss? What's this cool thing? It's so shiny and pretty and cool!" Luffy exclaimed with sparkles in her eyes.
"Hey! Don't call me miss! It makes me feel weird… my name is Kumiko. What's yours?" asked Kumiko as she held out her hand.
"My name is Monkey D. Luffy! Ah! Wait… I wasn't supposed to say that… oh well, whatever!" she said with a big warm grin. Luffy firmly shook Kumiko's seemingly frail hand yet surprisingly firm as well with a feeling of trust.
Kumiko sweat dropped at Luffy's slow-mindedness but felt content as she had the feeling of mutual trust towards the girl in front of her. Kumiko, finally seeing the item Luffy was holding more closely blinked in surprise. It was a beautiful glass goggle with two bands holding it together. The goggle was rather small so that it can be carried by the wrist or forearm.
"You chose quite an exquisite item there Luffy-san. This here item is something that my friend found while he was travelling around the world. He said that it is worth of great value but he didn't want to keep it because he said that the real treasures is something that you care the most be it a person or an object." Kumiko said with a small smile, sighing at the small memory.
Luffy looked at the object with curiosity and thought more about it. Finally she said "I'll take it" with a broad smile on her lips.
"Can you tell me more about this item? … um, miss Kumiko?" Mihawk spoke for the first time since he entered the carnival.
The said girl turned to the man to correct him of how to call her name but immediately shut up when her eyes met with piercing yellow hawk-like-eyes.
"U-um only m-my friend knows th-the real story behind items like this… i-if you want I can take you to him… he also works in the carnival." Kumiko added as she talked about something familiar to her.
"He's actually a fortune teller or more precisely, a psychic. The main reason Is because he can predict the future-" Kumiko said but was cut off by Zoro's remark.
"Heh, people like that only act so that they can scam ya for ya money only. Bet ya that that he already took some of yours to-." This time it was Kumiko that cut him off.
"Don't say bad things about people that you haven't met yet! Yeah, sure maybe he scammed me when we first met but that didn't mean that he's a liar! And for your information- he's fortune telling skill is always 99.9% correct!" Kumiko finally boasted with a small pout.
This action only made the man curious in wanting to meet the psychic. Luffy had sparkles in her eyes as she felt excitement throughout her body. Mihawk and Shanks looked slightly doubtful at the girl but dismiss the thought after hearing the young girl's bold statement.
"Wow! He sounds so cool! I want to meet him! Let's go, let's go! Yo, Kumi-chan! Can you take me to him right now? I want to know my future!" Luffy said, oblivious of the four men around her giving off irritated grunts and noises.
"Sure! Oh… but wait… um, firstly you must secure your belongings tightly so that he can't steal from you. Secondly, Luffy-san must always stay near her boyfriend and her protectors-"
"Why does she need to do that?" Shanks interjected.
"So that he doesn't do anything stupid like try to sweet talk or overly flirt with her. He has a very weird personality when it comes about cute strong girl or a very cool person. All in all you can say that he has a rare sadist personality. But don't worry, I'll be sure to help you Luffy-san." Kumiko said with a small smile.
"…" the four men blinked blankly at the information given. After the initial shock, they all but hastily grabbed Luffy while muttering 'like hell we're gonna meet some pervert' and tried to go away but was stopped by the violent protests of the girl. Luffy punched their hands away and returned to Kumiko who only stared blankly at the scene that was before her.
"Are you sure Luffy-san? Maybe going with them might not be such a bad idea…" Kumiko gave her a last warning.
"Like hell I'm gonna leave without seeing the guy first! I want to meet him and besides I don't judge people that I haven't even met." Luffy said confidently.
Kumiko blinked once more before giving her a small satisfied smile.
"Then let's be on our way." Kumiko said finally before turning her back on the group and started walking forward.
Luffy was right on her heels as she followed eagerly to see the mystery man. The rest of the group reluctantly followed behind the said girl at a slower pace but never far from the girl.
Unknown to them, another shadow had been stalking them very skilfully that even the great hawkeyes had been unable to detect him. Lucci stalked the group as if they were prey and had never, throughout the time taken his eyes off of Luffy.
Though his eyes were focused on the girl he had heard their conversation with Kumiko very clearly. He too, because of his weird possessiveness had felt slightly irritated at the mysterious man that they have been conversing about. 'I need to get close to her somehow…' Lucci thought. His was brought up slowly as an idea of a plan was beginning to form in his head.
"fufufu…we'll meet soon my dear kitten" he chuckled before disappearing behind a tent.
The group of pirates followed the girl until she halted in front of a big ominous purple tent. Shanks seemed to have an odd feeling about the place. He looked closely at the aura around the tent. His eyes fixed at a fine but almost unnoticeable layer of air displacement. It looked as if it was wavering in heat but the area they were in at the moment was cool, chilly almost.
"This tent has a thin layer if haki… we better be careful of Kumiko's mystery friend." Shanks whispered to the others excluding Luffy and Kumiko as they followed the girls into the tent.
Before they had even entered there was a loud racket as if someone was fighting inside the tent. Kumiko attentively peeked inside through one of the opening flaps. She gave out a small sigh of relief before fingering them to come close to her. She made a small sign to her lips indicating them to stay quiet.
As they peeked through the opening with her, they saw two males arguing (or more like one is arguing and the other is just exploring and touching things with child-like glee). They all turned to Kumiko as she asked for their attention while taking something from her small bag. She showed us a mischievous grin that was almost similar to Luffy's before sneaking into the tent without a sound (or at least not heard from the other two because of the noise.)
She slowly and quietly wore some sort of horror movie mask and sneaked behind the yelling teen. She then yelled loudly causing the other to yelp in surprise before turning to see the verbal assaulter. Before anything could happen though, said teen suddenly froze in place after seeing the person in the mask.
He seemed to be stricken in fear at the sight of something that looked like a zombie. Suddenly, he fell backwards to the ground flat on his back with his eyes white before being shut. The audience panicked and rush forward to see what was wrong with the young man.
As they got closer, they saw that the teen had silver white hair and bloody red eyes (after checking for any sign of life in the teen's eyes), which was oddly similar to the other man inside the room, who was now paying attention to his surroundings. As the other male's eyes fell to the man lying in front of him, he started to hysterically laugh at the scene before him.
Luffy continued to go forward as she ignored the protests and warnings from her loved ones to tell her to not go near the half conscious male. As she got closer, she noticed that the teen looked like he was as old as Zoro. His face rivalled that of a male modal and the length of his body indicate that he was tall. Luffy's animal instinct thought that the man resembled a bit like a cat since he seem to give off a scent of a feline.
Out of curiosity, Luffy started to poke at the young man's face vigorously trying to get him to wake up. Before long, there was a small growl that resembled that of an animal coming from the male before his eyes fluttered slightly as he opened his eyes.
Luffy became instantly mesmerised as the teen's bleary eyes started to shift focused of the world around him which ending with his bloody red eyes to have sharp black slits as pupils. To say that everyone was surprised by the appearance (exclude the two troublemakers) was an under-statement. The silver head sat up slowly and at the same time cautiously examine Luffy that was in front of him.
"Are you an angel or something?" was the first thing that came out of his mouth.
The reaction was instantaneous. The four ignored men quickly made their way to move in front of the girl and held a defensive posture. The silver head only blinked boringly slow before turning towards Kumiko. The group not noticing the glaring daggers that he sent to Kumiko, who instantly froze at the gaze, tried to edge Luffy away from the three other people slowly.
The other silver head in the room turned away from the amusing sight of his friend's staring contest to the group before saying "So… are you guys customers or this chibi chipmunk's friends?" very bluntly in an almost rude manner.
"Uh…" Ace started but was cut off by Kumiko. "Who do you think you're calling a chipmunk hah? Aho!"
"what was that shrimp?""you heard me you towering baka!""you're the baka, aho!""that has the same meaning jerk!""shorty!""shota uke!""THAT'S IT!"
The man exploded in anger and stomped his foot hard on the well made wooden floor, leaving a big crater from the destruction.
"you did not just said that! You little chipmunk!" the man said finally before advancing towards Kumiko in a forced way. But before any fighting happen, an iron fist hit him on the head so hard that he was left to sprawl on the ground a few meters away from where his location was.
The group blinked in surprise (again) and turn to see the owner of the fist. There stood the first male that they saw with an angry aura surrounding him in a deathly shut-up-or-die kind of way. The man then turned, gave a glare towards Kumiko and a hard flick to the forehead.
"oww! What was that for Mizu-chan?" Kumiko whined as she held her more than slightly abused forehead.
"What was that for…? You came to my tent without permission- again, you scared the shit out of me, you had a useless fight with Sterlyn again and caused me another headache!" Mizuki said as he seethed the words out of his mouth as quietly as he can since the small group if pirates are watching him with cautiousness.
"And you!" he stepped over to Sterlyn with nimbleness that is of a cat- silently and with precision before grabbing the collar of the other male's shirt and lifting him off the ground with surprising strength. "You just had to start s fight with Kumiko and ruin my floor didn't you?" he said with more angry words at him than Kumiko. Sterlyn thus ended up with another lump on his head.
"Ittee! That hurts you jackass! Why don't you do the same to the chipmunk? Besides, you can always rebuild it anyway 'cause you have loads… of… money?" Sterlyn's voice slowly died down as he saw the I-am-going-to-curse-you-to-death glare emitting from Mizuki's bloody eyes.
"Do you know how much all these materials cost you little punk? Sure I can build things with ease but to hell did you think I'm gonna spend my money on smething that you broke!" Mizuki then dropped him to the ground without warning before turning towards the small group of pirates with a small casual smile (a total 180 mood switch).
"So, what can I do you pirates for? And don't even try to rob me 'cause I can pretty much rob you back. Well, except for that little angel over there." He said with a wink towards Luffy who was oblivious to the flirting gesture and started to move around the in the mystery tent.
The males of the group did not appreciate the gesture towards their princess though. All of them were seething threatening auras from their bodies with cold murderous eyes pointing directly towards the sweet-talker.
'Like hell were gonna let you near her you creep!' was their only shared thoughts as they all came to an agreement. When they finally got a response glance from the cat eyed man, his face all but said 'then try to stop me' with a crooked smirk plastered on his face.
"Woah… look at all these cool stuff you guys! Weird clocks, books, knick-knacks and even magic stuff! This place is so cool! Hey mister what else do you got in this store?" Luffy asked excitedly.
"Now, now, Luffy. We came here in the first place to get information not go around to admire things." Mihawk said sternly at the pouting teen before turning to the cat eyed man.
Mizuki arched one of his eyebrows as he looked at the group questioningly before eyeing Kumiko who tried to put on her best innocent face.
"What are they talking about Kumi-chan? Now that you mention it, were you the one who told them to come here?" Mizuki asked in a suspicious tone of voice.
Kumiko was struggling to make words come out her mouth because of the nervousness she gets whenever Mizuki asked something that might involve her.
"Allow me to explain, Mr…." Mihawk started. "Neko. Neko Mizuki"
", we would like to ask you about this piece of jewellery-" Mihawk said as he held out his hand that was holding the glass goggles. "We heard from miss Kumiko that you know a little history about it. Can you please tell us something about it?"
"May I ask why you are interested in that a piece of jewellery, Mr. Mihawk?" Mizuki asked lazily as he goes through some paper on his desk. "Oh and just so you all know, I know who you all are and what are your statuses, so don't even bother to threaten me with your high positions, because it is all merely uninteresting to me at the moment."
Yet again the only thought that crossed all the male pirates' was 'What a jackass!' "To answer your question , the reason why I wanted to know is that I can feel something strange that is seemingly coming from this thing. I had also heard rumours about its specialty in finding things… am I correct?" Mihawk presumed.
"Well said . The rumours you had heard were all true; yes, this jewellery have some strange magical properties to find things but that is only the beginning." Mizuki said with a sly smirk.
"What do you mean per-I mean Mizuki-san?"Ace asked as politely as he can, as he was also curious about the item.
"What I mean to say is that it was made with only one purpose; to find the treasure of 'Captain John'. Most would think that the treasure was a myth because it was never found by one. The treasure supposedly had mountains of gold and jewels from all across the world while some people said that there might be a container that held a small amount of water from the fountain if youth." Mizuki explained with a shrug. Turning his back to the awed group (including Kumiko and Sterlyn), to search for something on one of his shelves.
Sterlyn was the first to break the silence. "Why didn't you bother to tell us before? We could be loaded by now!" he said excitedly.
"I am also curious Neko-san, to why you didn't bother to look for the treasure." said an intruding voice.
Everyone except Mizuki and Mihawk turned towards the newcomer. Robin smiled back at the group, she was standing at the entrance of the tent with Franky, Nami, Sanji, Usopp, Chopper and Brooke behind her. Chopper was holding a big stuffed animal as big as he is while the other two from his group were finishing eating their lunch.
The other couple were whispering to each other about how they ended up where they were but eventually shrugged the strange ordeal off.
"Hey! No fair! You guys ate lunch without me!" Luffy pouted. "Well, sorry Luffy but-hey wait! Didn't you already ate a huge load of food when we got here?" accused Usopp.
"But I'm still hungry!" all the pirates present sweat dropped at the statement knowing that the girl had ate a truckload of food not too long ago.
"You know, you should really stop sneaking in like that without my permission archaeologist-san," Mizuki said as he turned towards Robin with amusement in his eyes. "And to satisfy your curiosity of why I didn't go after the treasure is because I don't find those treasures of any value. Why would I bother myself to carry heavy minerals and colourful stones when I have no need for them? All that I need resides here with my…uh…friends." He said finally with a small tint of embarrassment on his face.
"Aww, Mizu-chi finally said it out loud! Hi hi hi…" Kumiko giggled. "Oi, don't say embarrassing stuff like that in public, man" Sterlyn said with a little awkward blush on his face.
"Oh shut up. So, anything else I can help you all with, like a fortune reading or anything? It's not that expensive." Mizuki offered. He then turned his head towards Luffy to examine the fidgeting girl who seemed to be trying to constrict herself from lunging at the fortune telling man to tell her fortune.
"But then again… I could do a fortune with another way of paying…" he said sadistically. He gave a tiny wink and a gesture with his finger telling Luffy to come closer. This action however alerted the four protective men to move in front of the girl with the speed of lightning.
"Umm… Mizu-chi…? Can you for this one time only not flirt with a cute girl…? I worry for your safety." Kumiko tried to intervene.
"Whadaya talkin' about Kumi? I just want to take a picture with the Strawhat Pirates' captain Monkey D. Luffy is all." Mizuki said casually.
As he was conversing with Kumiko, all of the pirates eyes narrowed dangerously at him. They all wondered how he knew such sacred information though Luffy did not seem to mind one bit.
", how is it that you know Luffy's true identity?" Shanks asked with suspicion in his voice.
"Of course I would know of her identity, Red-haired Shanks. I am a fortune teller, am I not? I do know all that is around me in detail of what had happen and what is to happen. And besides this young supernova have captured my attention quite more than others. She is one of the most interesting people I've ever known."
"So, may I take a picture with you for a free fortune session, miss Luffy?" Mizuki asked almost gently as if looking for permission. In his hand he held a strange camera; on it were many colours and patterns on its casing.
"Sure, sure… but can you do my fortune first, cat guy?" Luffy asked eagerly.
"But of course, Miss Luffy, anything you say." Smiled Mizuki
His two friends were left in shock at his behaviour. "Woah… Mizu-chi is so OOC today… I wonder if the world is going to end soon…?" "I agree… this is way too weird… even if it is him…" Kumiko and Sterlyn whispered to each other.
"Oii… wait a minute, don't you need a table for that kind of thing?" asked Zoro while looking around the room that is lacking a round table (not including the work desk).
"oh right, how silly of me," he said before turning his back at the group to get a large piece of cloth that was on his desk. "want to see a trick?" he said while smirking.
Mizuki held the large cloth, spread over his head widely like a curtain and said "tres…" he peeked his head on one side of the cloth "dos…" he finally gave a quick smirk towards Luffy return to his original position "Uno…" and the cloth fell to the ground and Mizuki was nowhere in sight.
"Cool! How the heck, did he do that?" Luffy exclaimed with sparkles in her eyes.
After a moment or so has past a gust of freezing cold air entered the tent, giving all those in it Goosebumps. Suddenly, the ground was covered with thick white mist, slowly making its way towards the centre of the room where the cloth fell. No sooner afterwards the mist somehow pushed itself upwards forming what seemed like a big white column before forming into another shape that of a spherical ball.
"What is the heck with this mist? It's like its alive!" Usopp yelled with both his arms up in a surrendering manner and his legs buckling in fear. Chopper followed suit in his own silent panicking way. The rest were slightly unsettled except for Robin, Shanks, Mihawk, Sterlyn and Kumiko, whom all acted as if they were anticipating the situation.
Suddenly the mist dissipated into nothingness as a figure emerges from it. Mizuki stood in the middle of the room as if nothing had happened. In his hands was a medium sized round table, perfectly made for small coffee talk. All were left speechless at the magic act. Luffy and Chopper then clapped their hands, applauding for the fortune teller.
"What? Did I take longer than I should? Sorry… I was shopping at this hot place called Alabasta-" Mizuki started but was cut off.
"Wait what? You went shopping at where?" Nami asks in disbelief as soon as she snapped out of the trance. "As I had said, in Alabas-" "There is NO WAY that you just disappeared into thin air, went shopping in Alabasta and appear in this very tent in MERE minutes!" Nami concluded with a big huff.
"But that's where I got this cool tab-" Mizuki tried to explain again, getting a bit agitated.
"There is no way that I would believe this trick-"
"Would you SHUT UP for a second, Miss Navigator?" Mizuki glared at her menacingly as his body relaxed from the poised position where it looked as if ready to attack. He took a deep breath before releasing it and looked at the stunned red head.(yea she actually shut up)
"As I was saying in my many attempts to tell you, I DID get this in Alabasta, and I did NOT use any trickery in what I did. That was a rather insulting thing you said, me using trickery when I really used magic. I'm not like those other petty magicians out there in the world." Mizuki ended.
Chopper in awe child-like curiosity asked "Did you really used magic just now Neko-san?"
"No, no Chopper. There is no such thing as ma-" Usopp started but was cut off by Mizuki's bloody glare. "therearesuchthingsasmagic, therearesuchthingsasmagic, please don't kill me…."
"Hmph… whatever, believe in what you want. I don't care; let's get this show on the road already." Mizuki said before snapping his fingers where two chairs appear from thin air.
"I'm not gonna question how you did any of those stuff anymore," Nami said in a defeated tone of voice. All the while looking around at the crew, who all agree to give up guessing on the sorcery.
As that was happening, Mizuki and Luffy took their seats across each other thinking of what to do. "All right, miss Luffy, the procedure is very simple… all you need to do is give me your hand. It's a rather cliché method but all readings are best when observed from the palm of the hand of the subject." Mizuki explained.
"Very cliché indeed. Even an old low life gypsy can do this crap." Sanji muttered before feeling a chill creeping up his spine. He looked around only to spot a pair of reflecting eyes that of an animal seemingly pissed off about something, looking at him. "T-that was probably just my imagination." Sanji muttered again while looking away and not daring to look back.
"Okie-dokie Mr. Fortune Teller." Luffy said with a sheepish smile as she held out her right hand. Mizuki being the expert he is took the hand with great care and observed every detail of it. As he searched, he raised his eyebrows a couple of times before laying the hand down and looking at his client with an unreadable expression.
"So… what shall it be? Would you like to know the present or the future? It is your call miss Luffy." Mizuki offered with his still unreadable expression.
Seeing the seriousness emitting from Mizuki, the occupants of the tent quieted down their mindless chatting in the background and tensed a bit hearing the prediction in anticipation. They were surprised to hear the answer that came from Luffy's mouth.
"The present." Luffy said with a determined look in her eyes. The reply caused Mizuki to break from his expressionless gaze and raised one of his eyebrows. "Oh? Why so?"
"Simple. What adventure will there be if someone already told you of what you will do? It feels as if I will be following some kind of script or something and besides, then tomorrow will be boring!" Luffy explained as she ended with a childish tone of voice.
Mizuki was slightly perplexed at the explanation but countered with another question. "What if my predictions told you that you may encounter a danger in the near future (hypothetically)?"
"I would have ignored you anyway (either accidentally or got bored instantly). And besides…Isn't danger what makes it more fun in the future to come rather than to wait for it to happen in anxiety?" Luffy asked as she tilted her head a bit.
The pirates seemed to be baffled by the wise answer coming from their usually crazy and slightly dumb (ok sometimes more than slightly) hyperactive girl.
Mizuki smiled knowingly at the reaction and gave a small light chuckle before continuing. "All right, all right, I won't persist anymore. You win. I'll tell you about what is going to happen in the next couple of hours. That's how I categorize my readings, by the way. For the 'present' reading, I would tell you of what will happen in the next few hours only. The 'future' reading however can span from the day after to a couple of months ahead. But I'll tell you this miss Luffy, I will only tell you of important things that is to happen."
"Okay, okay… moving on!" Luffy said impatiently. "Hurry and tell me my fortune!"
"You will receive slight misfortune today"
"Eh?" everyone said at once.
owari
for all those who have yet to know, this is my very first time doing a fanfic. it took me far too long to do this... (i feel like i want to curl up in a depressed ball of sorrow for not doing this any sooner. so sorry to my good friends out there that were encouraging me to write this story even though i thought it was a bit crappy)
i really hoped you enjoyed it. this story is actually based off of 7saix-puppy7-san story as i'd written at the beginning of the story. (sorta like a disclaimer i guess...?) the characters of this story are very OOC so please don't hate me for my bad Character analyzing skills. i also threw in some of my OC's so i hope you wouldn't mind much.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own One Piece (if i actually did, i think i would have died of happiness before the anime series come out.)