Hey, welcome! This is basically Luffy and Zoro as Ladybug and Chat respectively, but everything takes place alongside the canon events of One Piece. Here we go!

The title might be changed eventually, unless you guys like it as is.


Loguetown

"Guess I'm lost!" Luffy said to himself with a laugh. He sat on the edge of the alleyway. "I wonder where the others went? Oh, well, they can take care of themselves."

He settled back against the building and closed his eyes, hoping to catch a nap before someone found him.

"Hey!"

He opened his eyes and glanced around. No one in sight. He shrugged and shut his eyes again.

"Oh, wake up! I'm talking to you!"

He opened his eyes again, irritated. "Who's there?"

Something small, black, and red floated in front of his face. Its entire height was no longer than a pinky finger, and its eyes took up a third of its head.

"Hi there, Luffy!"

Luffy sat up. "A bug that talks?!"

"How rude!" the thing exclaimed. "I'm not a bug! I'm a fairy!"

"Oh, cool!" Luffy exclaimed in delight. "Mystery bug!"

"I'm not—forget it. My name is Tikki," the fairy said with a small bow. "I have an important mission for you."


Zoro sat himself on some deserted stairs, vaguely wondering where Luffy had gone. He sighed and shut his eyes for a nap.

"Wake up!"

Zoro opened his eyes and spotted something black no longer than his finger hovering in front of his face. Without a word, he swatted it away and lazily shut his eyes again.

"What kind of manners do you have?" the thing exclaimed, and Zoro opened his eyes again in annoyance.

"Pretty poor ones," Zoro muttered. "Go away."

A moment of silence, and then he sat up with wide eyes.

"Wait, what the hell are you?"

"About time," the thing muttered. It resembled a bobblehead cat. "I'm a fairy, if you didn't know. I'm called Plagg."

"Oh, alright," Zoro muttered. "Leave me alone, I'm trying to sleep."

"Not yet, I need to talk to you first!"

"Yeah, well, make it quick."

Plagg hovered around Zoro's head like a housefly. "I've got a mission for you."


"So . . . some evil guy's got a mystery bug like you, but he's gonna use the mystery bug to do bad things, and you want me to turn into a hero to stop him," Luffy said.

Tikki nodded.

"Yeah, not interested," Luffy said, leaning back. "I'm a pirate, not a hero."

"But you're the chosen one!"

Luffy frowned. "I don't really care, though. Playing hero's not my thing."

Tikki sighed, exasperated. "Listen, I've gotten word the first of Tigermoth's victims will appear in this city any second! Someone has to stop them, and my partner can't do it on their own!"

"Your partner?"

"Besides, the Miraculous will be safe with you, since that's what Tigermoth is after," Tikki added. Luffy felt something in his hand and opened his palm to see a red silk ribbon folded neatly within.

"Why would Mothy be after this?"

"Please let me finish explaining . . . ?"

Luffy folded his arms just as an explosion happened.

"Whoa, what the hell was that?" he exclaimed, looking around.

"That was probably Tigermoth's first victim!" Tikki exclaimed. "Listen for a second and I'll tell you how to stop them, or this whole town might be destroyed!"

"Fine, but make it quick!" Luffy exclaimed, standing and casting a look around.


"The one causing all this damage is an innocent civilian," Plagg explained as Zoro kept an eye on the smoke rising from the center of the city, clenching the green ribbon. "They've been possessed by something called an Akuma. My partner should be around here somewhere, helping someone like you. If you two transform and work together, you can stop this person, save them from possession, and save this town!"

"That's nice and all, but I'm no hero," Zoro said. "Ain't saying I wouldn't help stop this person, but going around saving people isn't what I do."

"Well, that's too bad, because you're the chosen one here."

"I don't give a flying—"

"I'll make you a deal," Plagg continued. "My partner and I need you to do this, but you don't want to. So . . ."


"Six months?" Luffy repeated.

Tikki nodded. "Also, no one said you'd have to give up being a pirate to do this," she added. "It can just be something you do on the side. After six months, I'll make sure to find someone else who fits the bill. Do we have a deal?"

Luffy raised his eyebrows. "Wait, I wouldn't have to give up being a pirate? Why didn't you say so?"

"If you would've let me explain—look, do we have a deal or not?"

"How about I transform and give this hero thing a try," Luffy said. "Then we can talk about a deal. Okay?"

"Okay!" Tikki exclaimed, relieved at finally getting through to him. "Now, it's important to not reveal your identity when you're transformed . . ."

"Because that's what heroes do, right," Luffy said. "I'm still not a hero, but as long as I'm pretending to be one . . . ?"

Tikki hesitated on giving him the real reason as to keeping his name a secret, but decided against it. "Pretty much," she said. "You can think of something else to call yourself when you're transformed. When you're ready, just say, 'Tikki, transform me' and it'll work."

Luffy tied the ribbon around his neck like a choker. "Got it!"

"Now, your weapons—"

"Don't need 'em, I've got fists," Luffy said abruptly. "Tikki, transfo—"

"You do need them, it's the only way to stop the enemy!" Tikki exclaimed.

Luffy scowled. "Geez, do you want me to go stop this guy or not?! Are you just gonna be talking this whole time?!"

"I'll make this brief!" Tikki flew around his head. "You've got a magical medallion with an unbreakable string—"

"A yo-yo."

"—And when you're in trouble, use something called the Lucky Charm. After that, you've got a few minutes until the transformation wears off, and make sure to catch the moth after you find it!"

"Okay, got it," Luffy said impatiently. "Tikki, transform me!"

"I wasn't done—!"

Tikki was sucked into the ribbon and Luffy's limbs snapped out as if strung out on a cross. A shimmering light flew around his torso and limbs like a halo and he was suddenly covered in a skin-tight red suit spotted with black, complete with a face mask. The ribbon, too, had sprouted five black spots on the front.

"Cool!" he exclaimed in delight. "I look like you!"

He glanced around. "Tikki? Huh, oh well. Hey, where'd my hat go?"

Another explosion distracted him from his quick search.

"Must be a hero thing," he mumbled to himself. "My normal clothes disappeared, too, so . . . anyway, guess I gotta stop whoever that is!"


"If I can do this alongside being a pirate . . ."

Zoro tied the ribbon around his arm, just under his bandana. "Alright, you little shit, we have a deal. Just for six months, though. Anything I should know before I go all goody-goody hero? Make it quick."

Plagg nodded. "To transform, say 'Plagg, transform me.' Your normal outfit will disappear once you transform, but it'll come back when you detransform. You have an attack called a Cataclysm where you can destroy something you slash at or grab. But after you use it, you'll detransform in a few minutes, so don't go for it right away. The Akuma possessing the person will be in an object they have with them, and if you break it, the moth will fly out and your partner can catch it and purify it."

He said this all in one breath.

"I think I got it," Zoro said. "Uh . . . Plagg, transform me . . . ?"

He watched as Plagg was sucked into the ribbon, which became imprinted with a green cat's paw. His limbs snapped out to either side of him and, with a shimmering around his body, he was encased in a skintight black suit, a long catlike tail on his backside, a facemask, and dark cat ears upon his head.

"What the hell is this?" he muttered, examining himself. "This tail looks really inconvenient . . ."

He felt his new cat ears, frowning.

"Well, guess I'd better find that partner the little shit mentioned," he muttered, and he sprang off down the street, attracting stares with his odd costume and catlike movements.


Luffy ran down the street, looking this way and that for the source of the commotion. To his annoyance, he'd discovered his transformation had nullified his Devil Fruit power; he was no weaker, he was simply unable to stretch.

"At least I have a cool yo-yo," he mumbled, taking out the medallion and clutching it.

"Uh, 'scuse me—!"

He turned and grinned when he spotted Sanji and Usopp approaching.

"Hey!" he said cheerfully.

"Nice outfit," Usopp said in admiration. "But, uh—there's some weird stuff happening in town, you should probably be going the other way—"

"Can't," Luffy said abruptly. "I promised I'd go stop whoever's causing it."

Usopp gasped. "Are you a hero?" he exclaimed in awe, a grin breaking out on his face. "That's so cool! You must be a hero, right?! This is what heroes dress like!"

Luffy frowned. "I'm not a hero. This is temporary."

He realized with mingled amusement and disappointment that neither Usopp nor Sanji seemed to recognize him.

"I'd go stop the bastard myself, but I need to find Nami-san first," Sanji muttered. "Mr. Hero—actually, what do you want to be called, if not that?"

His eyes held interest, despite his mask of indifference. Luffy frowned. "Hadn't actually thought about that. I guess . . . Ladybug-Man? No, that's too long. Just Ladybug. Call me Ladybug, I guess."

"Ladybug," Usopp whispered in reverence. "A real hero, standing before me—!"

"Ah, forget all that," Luffy said awkwardly. "Have either of you seen someone dressed like me around here? I dunno exactly what they look like, but it's probably something like this."

They shook their heads. Another explosion happened and Luffy glanced tensely to the side.

"Sanji-kun? Usopp?"

"Nami-san!" Sanji exclaimed, turning in delight. She carried a few shopping bags with her.

"Nami, look, a real hero!" Usopp exclaimed happily, pointing to Luffy. "He's called Ladybug!"

Nami gave Luffy a look and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, that's . . . great. Has anyone seen Luffy or Zoro?"

Luffy looked away, whistling, while Sanji and Usopp shrugged.

"LOOK OUT—"

Everyone had to leap aside to avoid someone crashing to the ground from the sky.

"Ow, ow, ow," Zoro muttered, getting up and rubbing his head. "Not used to this yet . . ."

"Another hero?!" Usopp exclaimed, ready to pass out from delight. As it was, he nearly blinded Nami with the happy glow he emitted.

"I'm not a hero," Zoro snapped, glancing over. He looked at Usopp, then Sanji, then Nami.

"Un chat noir has joined the party, huh?" Sanji murmured, eyeing Zoro.

"Oh, you must be the one I'm looking for!" Luffy said in surprise.

Zoro turned to face him and they took in each other's appearances.

"You're a cat!" Luffy exclaimed, his voice filled with pure joy.

Zoro pinched the bridge of his nose. "Something like that."

"Hey, what're you called?" Usopp demanded eagerly.

Zoro hesitated. "Chat Noir," he said at last, grabbing onto what Sanji had mentioned. "That means Black Cat, right? Right, yeah. You can call me that, I guess."

"Hey, let's talk on the way," Luffy said, grabbing Zoro in a chokehold and dragging him away. "We'll see you guys later! We've got a bad guy to stop!"

The three watched them go.

"Well, if that wasn't the weirdest thing ever," Nami muttered.

"Real heroes," Usopp whispered, hands clapped to his cheeks.

"Those two said they'd take care of it," Sanji said at last. "Nami-san, Usopp, let's lay low until the deed's done."


"Wow . . ."

Luffy and Zoro had gotten distracted by a mirror on their way to the disaster. Zoro scowled, annoyed that his eyes had turned truly catlike under his mask. He adjusted the tail of the costume self-consciously.

"We may not be heroes, Chat, but I think we look pretty good!" Luffy said happily, twisting and turning to check himself out from every angle. "Also, I'm just gonna call you 'Chat' for short."

Zoro frowned at him. "The 'ch' is soft."

Luffy stared at him in surprise. "What, 'Shat?' Doesn't that mean poop?"

"Never mind! What're you called, by the way?"

"Lu—Ladybug."

"Nice to meet you and all that. Just so you know, that little shit fairy and I have a deal. I'm only doing this for six months."

Luffy grinned. "Hey, what a coincidence! Me, too!"

"Good to know. We've wasted enough time, so let's go stop that bad guy, or whatever."

"Right. C'mon, Chat!"

Luffy ran with him out to the street, threw out his medallion to send it wrapping around a streetlamp, and seized the end of it, hooking an arm around Zoro.

"Wait, what're you—?"

"Hold on tight!"

They went flying across the street.


"We're here," Luffy announced, landing lightly and bringing his medallion back, catching it in his palm with a snap. He glanced at Zoro, who had landed none too gently on his face. "You okay, Chat?"

Zoro pushed himself up, springing to position like a cat. "You remind me of someone I know," he muttered, "and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

Luffy grinned and reached out a hand towards Zoro's cat ears, but Zoro slapped it away and pointed to something in front of them. "Try paying attention to that instead, will you?"

Luffy turned and eyed their foe. It held the appearance of a large stone golem, and let out a guttural growl when it spotted them.

"Give me . . . the Miraculouses," came the low demand.

"Guess it means the ribbons," Luffy remarked, fingering his choker and glancing at Zoro's armband. "Hey, yours has a kitty paw!"

"The little shit said something about the Akuma possessing an object," Zoro said, sharp eyes roaming the stone beast. "Apparently, you can—"

They sprang apart, rolling away on the street from the giant fist which tried to seize them.

"Okay, then, we just gotta find a mystery thing this guy has, right?!" Luffy called, dodging another swing.

Zoro gave him a nod. "I was told you can purify it," he called, doing a flip worthy of a gymnast to dodge a blow. "If you've got anything else, that'd be good!"

"Yeah, no problem! What about you?!" Luffy threw his medallion up and wrapped it around the golem's head, flying upwards and landing on its shoulder.

"I was told I've got a destructive move." Zoro flexed his hand.

Luffy grinned. "I like this guy," he murmured.

The golem tried grabbing Luffy, but he scampered to its back like a monkey. Zoro followed, darting around while their enemy was distracted.

"Do you think this is it?" Luffy exclaimed. "It sure seems like a mystery thing!"

He gestured to a glowing purple item on the back of the golem's neck—some kind of cravat or ascot, only worn backwards.

"I guess," Zoro said with a shrug. "Grab it and destroy it! Then we can be done with this shit."

Luffy grinned and made to seize the tie, but he was caught both by surprise and by the stone golem's fist.

"Whoops," he said cheerfully. Zoro groaned.

The creature now wrenched a streetlight up from the ground and swung it at Zoro. Zoro reached instinctively for his swords, but finding them still missing, he thought fast and swung a hand down with an awkward yell of, "Cataclysm!"

The streetlight stopped instantly under his claws and crumbled to rust. Zoro stared at his hands in shock.

"Huh."

Luffy, meanwhile, managed to wiggle one arm free. He threw his medallion in the air and cried, "Lucky Charm!"

Something formed in the air above him. While he caught it and fumbled, Zoro muttered, "How'd you know to do that?"

"That's how heroes do it, right?" Luffy said absently. "Hey, do you know how the heck I'm supposed to use this?"

He held up a large flashlight patterned just like his suit.

"Why are you asking me? You're the one who got it!" Zoro exclaimed.

"I guess I don't get to pick what it is!" Luffy exclaimed. He felt his choker. "Also, I think I'm gonna transform back in a couple minutes, so we should probably hurry?"

"Same here," Zoro said, glancing at his own ribbon and noting two of the five toes had already vanished. The third one started to blink.

He looked back up at the flashlight, and then to the squinty-eyed golem.

"Hey, Ladybug, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

Luffy grinned. "Go around the back! I got this!"

Zoro gave him a nod and sprang into action, dashing around the golem. It tried to turn around, but Luffy flicked on the light, shining it into the creature's eyes. It dropped him as it covered its face in pain, and Luffy fell to the ground.

Zoro came back with the dark scarf wrapped around his hand. "Let's get this over with."

Luffy grabbed it from him and tore the thing in two, throwing it to the ground while the golem fell to its knees. To their surprise, a small, dark moth fluttered out.

"Oh, you need to get that," Zoro remembered.

Luffy examined his medallion and pressed the center. It popped open and he held it near the moth curiously. It was sucked in, and the medallion closed itself.

"Huh," he murmured. The medallion opened up again and the moth flew out, but it was now light in color, no longer an ugly purple.

Luffy grinned. "Aw, it's cute! Bye-bye, little butterfly!"

"It's a moth," Zoro muttered.

"What . . . happened . . . ?"

They glanced to the side. A man now knelt where the stone golem had once been, looking confused and scared.

"Oh, yeah, Tikki said this Tigermoth guy turns innocent people into bad guys," Luffy remarked. "Poor guy."

He picked up the flashlight and tossed it high in the air. To his and Zoro's surprise, a large shimmer flew throughout the air, and in an instant all the damage caused during the battle was undone. The roads were fixed, the streetlights were straightened, and the buildings were rebuilt. Even the scarf, now light blue, reformed itself.

"How'd you know to do that?" Zoro exclaimed.

"I didn't!"

Zoro pinched the bridge of his nose. "Well . . . that wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. Good job, at any rate."

Luffy grinned. "Good job, partner!"

Zoro looked at him in surprise and found him holding up a hand. He resignedly gave Luffy a high-five.


"No, I'm not a hero, but you can call me Ladybug, I guess—"

"I'm not a hero either—my name? Ror—I mean, Chat Noir—"

Luffy and Zoro found themselves swamped by a large crowd of grateful citizens and newspaper reporters, including Usopp (Sanji and Nami hung at the back, Nami wearing an irritated look).

"No, seriously, get out of the way!" Luffy exclaimed. "I gotta go! Don't bother thanking me or anything! Bye!"

He tossed out his medallion and swung away.

"Yeah, I . . ." Zoro glanced around. "What he said. Bye!"

He sprang away in a different direction, leaping off the sides of buildings like a cat.


Luffy detransformed safely, hidden in an alley. He examined himself, relieved to find his clothes and hat back to normal. The ribbon had lost its black spots.

"You did it," Tikki said, flying out and weakly landing in Luffy's hands.

"You okay?" Luffy said with a frown.

Tikki smiled. "I always need food after a transformation . . ."

"Oh, no problem, I'll grab some crackers for you when I'm back on the ship."

"So?" Tikki said, resting in Luffy's hands while Luffy sat against a building. "What did you think?"

Luffy made a face as if thinking quite hard. "It wasn't that bad," he said at last. "Me n' my crew are sure to get around the Grand Line in a year, so six months of this won't be too bad. This won't happen every day, will it?"

Tikki shook her head.

"Then I can handle it. Just so we're clear, I'm not a hero," he added firmly. "And as soon as this is all over, I'm telling my friends all about it."

"Since you won't be Ladybug anymore at that point . . . that is up to you," Tikki admitted.

Luffy grinned. "Great! Then it's a deal!"


Zoro sighed in great relief upon finding his swords, human ears, and earrings back in place. The ribbon was tied safely underneath his bandana. No one had seen him detransform.

"Oh, I'm so weak," Plagg moaned dramatically, and Zoro caught him, startled to see him suddenly appear like that. "Feed me . . ."

"Does transforming take it out of you or something?" Zoro muttered. "I'll grab you crackers or something back on the ship, that okay?"

Plagg nodded. "So, tell me. How was it?"

Zoro sighed. "Look, let's get one thing straight: I'm not a hero," he said firmly. "But . . . there's something about that Ladybug guy that . . ." He shook his head. "I don't know. He's pretty intriguing, I'll tell you that. I wouldn't mind seeing him again . . ."

"Ooh, intriguing, is that what you're calling it nowadays?" Plagg murmured. "In my day, we called it 'having a cru—'"

"I'm telling my captain about this the moment six months are up," Zoro continued. "And speaking of which, I have to clear something with him, but for now . . . we've got a deal, you little shit."


East Blue Sea

Luffy and Zoro had managed to bluff their way out of the questions they faced from Nami and Sanji later on, and when asked about his new accessory, Luffy nervously fingered his choker and shrugged, only asking if they thought it looked good.

"Hey, who the hell took all the crackers?!" Sanji yelled, poking his head out of the kitchen. Luffy and Zoro looked away (Tikki and Plagg were hidden in their hat and haramaki respectively) while Usopp and Nami shrugged.

Sanji muttered something under his breath and slammed the door shut as he went back inside.

"I still can't believe it," Usopp exclaimed, waving his arms in excitement. "Two heroes! Two heroes, and I got to see them, and they saved the town!"

"They weren't heroes," Luffy and Zoro said simultaneously.

"Uh—I overheard them earlier," Luffy said quickly. "They were saying they weren't heroes."

"Same here," Zoro mumbled.

"Usopp, stop geeking out about it, you'll probably never see them again," Nami called from her spot on the bow.

"But that's all the more reason to be excited!" Usopp protested. "It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I got to experience it! Oh, my gosh, I should draw them in action—!"

Nami had returned to the paper, resolutely ignoring him, while Luffy and Zoro hurried away.

"Hey," Zoro said, placing a hand on Luffy's shoulder. "I need to ask you something."

"Ask away!"

Zoro swallowed nervously. "If the situation was . . . very unusual, and you weren't around . . . would you care if I worked with someone outside of this crew? Hypothetically."

Luffy folded his arms and grinned, and Zoro looked down as if embarrassed by that sunshine smile. "I trust you, and I trust your judgement. Besides, you might have to call a few shots on your own if I'm really not around."

Zoro took a deep breath and looked up. "Aye, Captain," he said with a smile.

Luffy patted his shoulder and strolled off to the kitchen. Zoro still wasn't quite sure about keeping such a secret from him, but he reasoned he would be able to confess at the end of six months . . . and, well, that was good enough for him.


We'll be updating Wednesdays!