I hate myself... for many reasons, but the most relevant to this is the fact that I PROMISED myself that I wouldn't start another story until I would get off my hiatus on my Xiaolin Showdown story, buuttt then I re-discovered the One Piece series and of course it got my juices going for a new fic.
Now I know that I already have a OP fic that I haven't updated in almost 7 years (YIKES! I can't believe I've been on here for that long), but I'm abandoning it. It's going nowhere that I would like it to, I've lost all motivation for it. This story will have nothing to do with the first one.
Thus, enter my new story, please bear with me and if you want to and have the time or whatever, I would really appreciate help from whoever reads this and also writes for OP.
Okay, so this story has modern aspects to it. It's mostly Zoro & my OC-centric but we'll see, things will probably change. Other pairings that will be in it are RoAce (i had a hard time deciding between RoAce or RoFranky, so Franky and Robin are siblings instead), of course LuNa, and SanMysteryPerson which will be revealed later on.
Yes, this is post-timeskip with changes. Mainly, Zoro still has both of his eyes... and he's not as muscular as he is now, I kept Nami & Usopp's new hairs, and Franky can be however you guys want to picture him. Still haven't got a concrete hold on ages yet, but for now:: Everyone is 24 years old. Except:: Ace & Robin- 26, Chopper- 21, Brook- 30
EDIT::7/3/13:: I've removed the bit about how long everyone's known each other because now as I'm working on chapter 10, it makes no sense
EDIT::1/29/16:: I've upped the ages of everyone by 3(ish) years to make the timing of things inconjunction the current anime/manga timeline kinda almost make more sense lol Sooo:: Everyone is 27 years old. Except:: Ace & Robin - 30 Chopper-24, Brook- 95
My OC's name is Monica, just like from my original story. I cannot deny that she is basically Yoruichi Shihoin from Bleach (but with a normal hairstyle) , which was a complete accident. When I was thinking of how I wanted Monica to look, I knew that I wanted her to be dark-skinned and with black hair & then I remembered that One Piece characters have strange colored hair, so I went with blue & hated it and thought of purple and loved it, and then I stopped and thought "That seems very familiar, where have I seen someone who looks like that?" and then I remembered Yoruichi and it stuck. It completely stuck and I cannot picture Monica any other way so, whatever, I'm sticking with it.
Also... At this point, I have no definite title, which the one that this is has nothing to do with anything... other than its my sixth story.
So here we go!
DISCLAIMER:: I DO NOT own One Piece or really anything except for the storyline (sadly)
Sixième étage
CHAPTER 1
'It's Sunday,' I thought when I first woke up.
I rolled over to my side and let out a small groan as I pulled myself out of my bed.
"Crazy, fucking Nami," I mumbled to myself.
I wouldn't be up so damn early today if it wasn't for her; well more specifically, if it wasn't for her dumb boyfriend. Stupid Luffy and his roommate got kicked out of their apartment. I think I was the only one who was surprised though, apparently this was the third time this year... And it's only April...
What does this have to do with me you ask? Well Nami and I are good friends; we met in college when we ended up in a few business classes together. Now, a couple of years since we graduated, she and our friend Robin, who I met through Nami, are roommates in an apartment on the floor above mine. When we hung out earlier in the week, Nami told me that Luffy and his friend were given a month to move out of their present apartment due to "a series of rental violations" about 3 weeks ago, but they weren't having any luck finding anything.
As it turns out, the apartment four doors down from me became available a few weeks ago, so I told her about it; I forgot that she was away when the former resident had to move out::
"Oh really? Why'd he move?" she asked me.
"It turns out that he was a serial killer," I informed her.
Nami was shocked and Robin, who was with us, chuckled to herself, "I knew something was off about him..."
"And you never told us?" I asked of her.
She shrugged as she answered, "I never thought much of it."
"Robin! You triple majored in psychology, anthropology, and archaeology. You should be the best out of all of us in reading other people!"
"Let's just call it a slight lapse in judgment," she smiled at us.
"Weirdo..." I mumbled before taking a sip of my coffee.
"Well anyway, back to business. I guess I'll just speak to the building manager to let them move in. Will you be free to help us?" Nami asked me.
"Just let me know the day and I'll see what I can do," I answered.
Little did I know that it would be at 6am on a Sunday!
"She better be treating us to breakfast or something," I said to myself. I was finally dressed and ready to go and I grabbed my keys off my kitchen counter and left my apartment.
"Oi! Good morning, Neko-chan!" I was greeted as the elevator doors opened for me.
It was Sanji, another person in my strange circle of friends. He calls me Neko-chan because apparently my amber eyes remind him of those of a cat.
"Good morning, Sanji," I replied to him as I stepped into the elevator. I then reached over and snatched the cigarette that he had out of his mouth. "You know there's no smoking in here."
"You're no fun, Neko-chan!"
"Yeah whatever, just save it for later or something." According to Nami who had known him since middle school, my tall, blonde friend had been steadily smoking like a chimney for at least that long. I honestly can't figure out how his wife doesn't have a problem with it.
"But I haven't had my post-breakfast cigarette yet! You're gonna throw me off my schedule."
"Why didn't you just smoke before you got here?"
"I was running late and I didn't want Nami-chan to yell at me," Sanji explained. Right when he finished his sentence, the elevator pinged and the doors opened to the 5th floor.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT YOU'RE RUNNING LATE?! THIS SHIT IS GONNA TAKE ALL DAMN DAY AS IT IS!" We heard Nami shriek as we stepped out of the elevator. Mind you, the elevator is in the center of the building and Nami's apartment is two fire doors and a corridor away.
"Do you think she's yelling at Luffy?" I asked.
"Most likely," Sanji answered. Neither of us wanted to move from our spots, we didn't want to endure Nami's terrifying rage... But we didn't have too much of a choice in the matter...
"WELL WAKE HIS ASS UP!" Nami shouted. Sanji and I were now a few doors away from her apartment.
"LUFFY! WAKE. HIS. ASS. UP!"
We reached the apartment and Sanji pressed the doorbell. A few seconds later, Robin opened the door with her quiet smile. "Good morning!"
"Hey!" I greeted her and walked in.
"Good morning, Robin-chan! I like your new look," Sanji complimented her.
"Why thank you, Mr. Cook-san!" Robin replied. Her long black hair was pulled into a high ponytail in preparation for the move.
"So what's wrong?" I asked as I sat on the sofa next to Nami, who was now off the phone and banging her head on the piece of furniture's arm rest.
"Luffy just called, he said that they're running late because they overslept and then Ace's narcoleptic ass just knocked out while he was in the shower..." my orange-haired friend groaned.
"You can't depend on those fools to do anything correctly on their own," Sanji commented with annoyance as he went to the kitchen.
"Well at least all they have to do is get all of their things over here. It's a good thing that you made them pack up everything yesterday," Robin added.
"How do you all like your eggs?" Sanji called from the kitchen.
"Scrambled," the three of us answered in unison.
Sanji couldn't help himself, cooking was his life's passion, and he was damn good at it. After high school, he traveled the world for a couple of years and then went on to culinary school. Now he owns a chain of high-end restaurants around the world.
Honestly, all of us are just one big group of overachievers. Robin works as an archaeologist and a college professor... and a museum consultant. Nami studied accounting at our university and now does the bookkeeping for Sanji's and a few other businesses, including our joint event planning company.
It all started as a joke between me and Nami, and then Robin wanted to join in and add her floral expertise (she also loves gardening) and then Sanji wanted to be our preferred caterer. Surprisingly, our event planning venture is doing very well. I work with it the most, with a few other assistant planners and Nami and Robin help when they can. It's a lot of fun to have your career be something that you enjoy doing.
Then there's Ace and Luffy. They work at their grandfather's toy company as vice presidents. Ace manages all of the business deals with their grandfather, and Luffy mostly handles the productions and is head toy-tester, of course.
"Those assholes better hurry the fuck up," Nami muttered as she watched the street from the glass doors to her balcony. An hour has passed since Luffy last called and we were finished eating breakfast.
"Don't worry Nami-san, everything will turn out fine," Robin replied to her calmly from her seat in an armchair as she turned a page in the book she was reading. "You must have faith in them."
"Oh right! Who is Luffy's new roommate? I forgot that Usopp had to move a while ago because of his new job," I wondered. Usopp was one of Luffy's friends who worked with a weapon's development company.
"Just one of Luffy's old friends," Nami answered me; she seemed to be thinking about something else.
"That baka is probably the reason why they're running late. Stupid marimo..." Sanji said with disgust. He was seated in the corner of the sofa that I was also sitting on, stretched out, head tilted back, and trademark cigarette sticking up from his mouth. Nami and Robin didn't care when he smoked in their apartment, his cigarettes never seemed to leave a pungent stench everywhere.
"That still doesn't tell me who this person is..."
A few moments later, the buzzer sounded.
"Hey Nami! We're finally here! Let us in!" Luffy called through the speaker box. "Is Sanji there? I see his car. Sanji! I'm hungry! Make us some food!"
"You're running late and you have the nerve to ask for food!" Nami scolded him as she held down the button on her end of the call box. "Just get your butts up here so we can get a move on!"
Robin was quietly giggling behind her book, she always found their arguments so entertaining.
"Am I gonna have to hear more of this insanity now that he's gonna be down the hall from me?" I asked her with some dread.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it," Robin assured me with a smile.
"The both of you, shut up," Nami said to us before she walked off to her room. Robin and I just laughed at her annoyance.
"Hey! Let us in!" a familiar voice called through the door a couple of minutes later.
"Oi! Shut up you idiot," Sanji greeted Luffy once he opened the door and let him in. "People are still sleeping."
"Right, bro. The last thing you want is for your new neighbors to hate you," Ace added as he walked in after Luffy. "Morning, Monica," he said to me and came over to pat me on the head like I was a child. I hated when he did that. He then went over to Robin and kissed her on her cheek, "Good morning, Babe."
"Good morning, Ace," Robin smiled back at him. They were such a good looking, mismatched couple. I really have no idea how they've maintained their relationship when they're both so damn busy and hardly ever seem to be in the same country most of the time. But they've somehow managed to make it work.
I snapped away from watching them when a big brown thing leapt into my lap. "Oh hey there, Pappug," I said as I petted the dog. I swear, he had to be at least 200 lbs but was convinced that he was a tiny lap dog. "Wait, this building isn't pet-friendly. How were you allowed to move in with Pappug?"
Luffy, who made a beeline for the kitchen when he first came in, reappeared with a plate of the rest of the eggs that Sanji made for us earlier. "I don't know, Nami somehow managed to work it into our lease."
'Good old Nami. She probably blackmailed him or something...' I thought.
"Hey! Save me some, Luffy," Ace said in reference to his adopted brother's food.
"Go get your own!" Luffy said as he moved around the living room to avoid Ace. It was so bizarre how similar those two were despite the fact that they weren't biological brothers. Both Ace and Luffy were tall, thin, black-haired boys with the most incredibly childish smiles.
"Aren't we missing someone?" Nami asked as she walked in from her bedroom.
"Yeah, where's the marimo?" Sanji asked and then leaned out of the door to look down the hall.
"I thought he was right behind me when we walked into the building..." Ace said.
"Oh! He's calling me!" Luffy exclaimed and reached into his pocket for his phone. "Oi! Where are you?" . . . "You went down the wrong hallway?" . . . "How did you manage that? You were right behind us..." . . . "No, we made a right after the elevator, not a left."
"Of course the idiot got lost..." Sanji sighed and closed the door to the apartment.
"Well where are you now? Can you get back to the elevator?" Luffy continued and then waited for a response. He suddenly held the phone away from his ear and we all heard a muffled roar from the device. "Okay! Okay! Just stay where you are, we'll come find you." . . . "What?... Oh, Nami's apartment is 511. Why do you-?"
There was a knock at the door that caught our attention.
"Finally," Sanji rolled his visible eye that was not hidden behind his hair at the newcomer and came over to sit down next to me on the sofa.
"Yeah, yeah. Shut up you idiot-cook," a deep voice replied before a man stepped into the apartment.
Now, when I say that my heart skipped a beat when I saw Luffy's roommate walk in, I really mean that my heart stopped functioning for about a minute.
"Zoro, how the fuck did you get separated from Luffy and Ace?" I distantly heard Nami ask and they all continued their bickering conversation. But I couldn't really hear them; even though it felt like I lost my heart, there was still this intense pounding in my head. Was I dying?
"Neko-chan? Neko-chan? Are you okay?" I heard Sanji ask me as he poked my cheek. "You look a little pale."
"Oh. Shit." Those were the only two words that I could manage in response and suddenly, everyone's eyes were on me, even those of Luffy's green-haired roommate. I saw as his dark eyes widen in surprise.
"You," he breathed, and then everyone turned their attention to him.
A few moments of silence followed while everyone kept looking at him and me.
"Umm, what's going on?" Luffy asked.
Well, that was Chapter 1 guys! Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think so far (even though it's not much) and if you guys want Chapter 2. I hope I can do a good job with this.
Hasta Luego!