DISCLAIMER: One Piece belongs to Eiichiro Oda.
~ The Dangers of Boredom ~
Was it possible to wake up bored? Perona had never heard of such a thing happening before, but she just woke up and she was bored already.
She considered sending her little ghosts to make Zoro get lost somewhere... but he did that enough on his own, and it wasn't even all that funny to begin with. Annoying Zoro wasn't much fun anyway, since she had already figured out the easiest ways to make him lose temper and the exact limits of his patience with her.
She supposed she could attempt to pester Mihawk. Although she doubted she could actually shake his calm demeanor, at least it would give her something to amuse herself with for a little while...
Unlike the perpetually lost Zoro, Mihawk wasn't difficult to find. Since it was morning, he was quite predictably located in the dining room, enjoying a leisurely breakfast while he read the newspaper.
Perona crept up behind his chair. She was certain that the perceptive swordsman must have noticed her, but he did not bother to greet her and his gaze never strayed from the paper. Had he somehow figured out what she was up to already, or had she accidentally dropped her body somewhere...? She did a quick check to make sure she wasn't floating in spirit form. Nope, feet planted firmly on the ground, definitely corporeal. Which meant... he must have already figured out what she was up to and decided to thwart her plan by simply not becoming annoyed.
Well, then. I'll just have to show him how annoying I can really be!
She shuffled forward a few steps, so that she was now standing beside the back left corner of his chair rather than directly behind the chair. The Ghost Princess leaned slightly toward Mihawk to make it seem as though she were trying to read over his shoulder. In response, he lifted the newspaper up from the table with one hand, positioning it at a more convenient angle for Perona to see. Other than that one small gesture, he showed no reaction to her presence as he continued to eat his breakfast and read the news.
Perona scowled. Now she was the one feeling irritated, which was the exact opposite of her plan! How dare he be all gentlemanly and considerate when she was trying to annoy him!
Deciding that it was time to step up her game, she once more moved a few paces forward. Once she was directly beside him, she hopped up to sit on the arm of the chair.
There was a sharp rustling sound as the paper dropped to the table-
Ooh, did I actually annoy him now? she wondered.
-and before she had time to figure out what was happening, she found herself sitting in Mihawk's lap. Once her mind caught up to the situation, she realized that the arm now clamped firmly around her waist was the one that had been formerly supporting the fallen newspaper.
With his free hand, Mihawk reached for something across the table, which he subsequently held out in front of Perona.
"Here," he said.
It was a rabbit-shaped cookie with pink frosting. She stared at it for a long moment before accepting it from him. It was absolutely adorable! The confection's sweet scent, however, reminded her that she had not eaten her own breakfast yet this morning.
"It's so cute, I almost don't want to eat it!" she cried out, before stuffing the unfortunate animal-shaped pastry into her mouth.
~end~
