Author's Note: Hoshi is an OC character that I've put into all my other One Piece fanfics. If you want to know how she joined the crew, read my story "Feathered Nakama".
Hoshi's song is "Free Will" by Ruppina. Not mine.
Also, I got the idea for the ending from Colhan3000.
Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece
The Best Day Ever
Luffy woke up in his hammock. He just lay there for a second, listening to the waves lap against the side of the ship, and feeling the gentle rocking motion of the boat. It was quiet on the Going Merry, a rare moment of waking peace.
After a few seconds, Luffy decided that he'd had enough. He jumped onto the floor. Smiling at his still-sleeping crewmates, he quietly climbed up on deck, so not to disturb them. A cool breeze of tangy salt air hit him in the face, making him almost dizzy with glee. Looking around, he saw that it wasn't quite morning yet, but a grey light on the horizon was a sure promise of the coming day.
A voice called down from the crow's nest. "You're up early today, Sencho-san," said a female voice.
Luffy looked upwards and grinned at the dark-haired woman on watch. "Good morning Robin!" he called up cheerfully. "What time is it?"
"I believe it's about 5:30 am."
Luffy pouted. "Aw… that means Sanji's not going to make any food for a while." Squinting at the sky, he suddenly spotted a pair of white wings, sharply accented against the lightening sky.
Robin followed his gaze. "Hoshi came out about a half an hour ago," she explained. "She says that she does this every now and then."
He grinned, watching the raven-haired hybrid of a phoenix and human fly across the skies.
The captain walked to the front of the ship, jumped onto his special seat, and gave a happy sigh. He wondered what he could to do to pass the time until everyone else woke up… it would be pretty boring not doing anything.
Hoshi touched down onto the deck, pulled in her wings, and stretched happily. "Good morning Luffy!" she said cheerfully. "You're up pretty early."
Luffy turned to grin at his musician. "Same to you!"
There was a peaceful silence for about a half an hour… until Luffy decided that he'd had enough of peaceful silences to last him the rest of the day. Seeing no reason why everyone else should be sleeping if their captain was awake, he bounded into the hold. Hoshi winced as she watched him go, and quickly covered her ears.
The ship shook in the water. "OI!! EVERYONE!!! TIME TO GET UP!!!" Luffy bellowed.
This morning wake up call was NOT greeted favorably by any of the crew. Sounds of muffled curses and crashes broke the still morning air.
"Luffy you bastard!! What's the point of waking us all up like that!?" someone, probably Zoro, was yelling.
Luffy bounded up through the door to the hold, laughing his head off like a maniac, a few very angry crew members right on his heels; Zoro, Sanji, and Usopp.
"It seems that our friends are very active this morning," Robin noted with a smile.
Hoshi laughed. Chopper wearily poked his head out of the hold, blinking sleepily. "Morning already?" he yawned.
Hoshi walked up to the little reindeer and offered him her hand. "Yup. It's another day. Get up and face it."
Chopper was about to take Hoshi's hand when Luffy crashed into Hoshi… resulting in Sanji, Zoro, and Usopp crashing into THEM… which crashed into Chopper… which resulted in a dust cloud circling in crazy patterns around the deck. Yelling and cursing and fists and feet were all that could be seen through the cloud. Robin chuckled.
Nami slammed open the door to the cabin. "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ALL MAKING SO MUCH NOISE THIS EARLY IN THE MORNING?!?!" she roared, just as the dust cloud fell through the open hold door. The carrot-headed navigator stormed over to the hold, looking down at the groaning bodies at the bottom of the steps. "You all are nothing but a bunch of idiots," she grumbled. "It's not even 6:00 yet."
"Good morning Nami-san!!" Sanji sang, instantly revived. "What would you like for breakfast?"
"Just the regular, Sanji-kun," Nami answered irritably. Sanji dashed off to the kitchen as Nami looked at the rest of them still groaning. She sighed. "Well get up," she ordered. "Or do you want to just stay in this part of the ocean all day?"
Nursing tender spots, the crew went to do as Nami told them
Later, as the crew was trying to gulp down their food before their captain could, Nami glanced at the calendar tacked onto the wall. Her eyes widened a little.
"What's wrong Nami?" Usopp asked through a mouthful of food.
Nami didn't answer, but stabbed Luffy's hand with her fork. It had been suspiciously close to her plate, due to that he was sitting on the other side of the table. Luffy's cheeks bulged out in a suppressed yell.
Hoshi almost choked on her food from trying to swallow and laugh at the same time.
"Luffy!" Sanji yelled. "How many times do I have to tell you not to touch the ladies' food?!"
And just like that, Luffy was booted out of the kitchen by a well-polished black shoe.
Luffy banged on the kitchen door that had been locked from the inside. "Sanjiii," he moaned. "My food's still in there!!"
"Get it after everyone's done eating," Sanji snapped. Luffy went to sulk on his special seat.
"Guys," Nami said, commanding everyone's attention. "I've just noticed… today's Luffy's birthday."
Usopp and Chopper choked. "R-really?"
Everyone turned to look at the calendar, and sure enough, there was a small note on the square for today: Luffy's birthday.
"Well this is a call for celebration!" Sanji said, rubbing his hands. "I guess I'll bake a cake. Anyone know what sort of cake is Luffy's favorite?"
"He'll probably eat any cake you give him," Zoro commented. Sanji scowled, but he had to admit Zoro was probably right… for once.
Nami had a smile on her face, the kind she got when she had an idea. Hoshi noticed the grin and visibly shivered. "Oh damn…"
"Ah, everyone, I just got an idea!"
Everyone gathered around to listen. Chopper drew back, looking terrified after a minute. "Isn't that dangerous?!" he demanded. "What if the Marines are nearby?!"
Nami shrugged. "We can risk it… it's a special occasion to celebrate anyways. Anyway," she said, turning to Usopp, "the question is if you can do it."
Usopp puffed out his chest proudly. "The great Usopp-sama can do anyth-"
"Good, good," Nami said, turning away, and looked around at the rest of the crew. "So what do you think?"
"The only dangerous part is Luffy might eat too much of it," Zoro commented. "The Marines, we can handle."
"Well, we won't let him," Nami assured him. "Do you all get the plan?"
Everyone grinned and nodded. Sanji opened the door to let Luffy in. Right before Luffy bounded in, Nami reminded everyone, "Remember, don't forget to get ready, but act normal!"
"SANJI I WANT MY FOOD!!" Luffy roared as he zoomed into the kitchen.
Later, towards early afternoon, Sanji brought out a special snack as usual. He had made six little cookie cups with cream on the inside. On each one, there was either a yellow or red candy.
"Ladies, your snack!" Sanji sang.
Nami smiled sweetly and took a tart with a red candy. "Thank you Sanji-kun," she said, biting into it. Her eyes lit up. "Delicious!"
"They are very good Kukuu-san," Robin smiled, as she delicately nibbled one with a red candy.
"Thanks Sanji!" Hoshi said, taking one with a red candy.
"Aw, Sanji! I want one!" Luffy said, stretching out. He actually succeeded in getting one with a yellow candy and popping into his mouth before Sanji started chasing around the deck.
"Damn you Luffy! Spit that out right now!!!" Sanji roared. Luffy ran around the deck, laughing.
"I already swallowed it!" he sang. Suddenly, he fell over, sleeping and snoring.
Hoshi sweatdropped. "Um…"
"Well, at least it went according to plan," Nami sighed as the crew surrounded their sleeping captain. Zoro hauled Luffy and dumped him in his hammock in the hold, and after that, the crew darted around the ship, preparing for when Luffy woke up.
Some time later in the late evening, Luffy woke up. He felt groggy and discombobulated. He looked up at the open door of the hold and saw the sun had already set. The stars winked down at him, and the moon was barely a sliver in the sky.
This wasn't good! He had slept the entire afternoon!
He leaped out of his hammock and dashed up to the deck. Where was his crew? No one else was in the hold with him. Looking in the cabin, and the crow's nest… there was no one anywhere!! What the hell was going on?!
Everywhere was deserted, but there was a really good smell coming from somewhere. Following his nose, it led him to the kitchen, but the lights were all off. Hesitantly, he placed his hand on the doorknob and opened it. "Hello? Sanji? Is anyone here?" he asked. He flicked on the light.
"SURPRISE!!!" everyone yelled, jumping out of their hiding places. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUFFY!!"
There was a bang, and confettei rained down. Usopp, Chopper, Nami, Sanji, Hoshi, and Robin all had on party hats. Even Zoro had one on, looking extremely grumpy. Usopp, Chopper, and Hoshi were all blowing into party horns, and the noise was incredible.
The table was filled with platters of Luffy's favorite foods. Meat, meat, meat, meat, apples, meat, meat of every variety imaginable…
Luffy just stood there, dumbfounded. Everyone quieted down for a second to smile at him expectantly.
"It's my birthday?" he asked. Everyone fell down.
After everyone had finished eating (or more, after LUFFY had finished eating everything), Usopp stood grandly, and announced he had a special treat for the evening. Everyone filed outside.
Usopp struck a match and lit a fuse. That was all he had to do. Everyone watched the glowing little ember divide, and divide, and divide, and divide… until suddenly there was a mind-blowing explosion, and the fireworks all flew, screaming, into the air. There was a high-pitched wheeee as the fireworks flew, then they all exploded, fabulous displays of color decorating the night sky.
"So what did you think?" Usopp asked once everyone's ears had stopped ringing.
The crew clapped, cheered, and whistled. "It was nothing, it was nothing," Usopp laughed proudly, waving his hands.
After a couple more hours of partying and ridiculous incidents (including a bad idea about trying to fit everyone into the crow's nest at once, Zoro single-handedly emptying four bottles of wine, and someone's bright idea to have a meat-eating contest), everyone went to bed, exhausted but happy. Hoshi stayed up though. She had the first watch.
Luffy threw himself into his hammock, happier than he had been in a really long time. He fell asleep grinning. Each one thinking their own thoughts, each one of the crew drifted into a satisfied sleep.
Suddenly, Hoshi was screaming. "EVERYONE! WAKE UP!!"
The crew stumbled out of their hammocks. "What the hell," Zoro grumbled, covering his ears.
"COME OUT! HURRY!!"
Eventually, everyone came out to be greeted by a magnificent sight. It was a meteor shower, nature's own fireworks display. Luffy stared dumbstruck for a second, then laughed. "Shooting stars!" he yelled gleefully.
Aa hateshinaku tsuzuiteru sora no mukou ni
itsuka mita asu wo ima egaki hajimeteiru
The clear voice singing… Hoshi sang from the crow's nest as everyone took up positions on the deck to listen.
Tatoeba yume ga hakanai MONO demo sukoshi no kinou shinjite
jibun ni make sou ni naru hi mo aru
sonna toki wa atatakana basho ga atta
hokoreru MONO itsumo kitto
boku no senaka oshitekureta yo ne?
Luffy started dancing in circles with Chopper and Usopp. They all were laughing.
Ah, hoshi-tachi ga furi sosogu kono sora no shita Kizutsuku koto wo osorezuni susumu Ah hoshi-tachi ga sasayaita Ah, hoshi-tachi ga furi sosogu kono sora no shita Boku-tachi wa sorezore no hana wo idaite
nidoto nai ima wo hora mune ni kizande
dokomademo habatakeru shiyuu na tori ni
kagirinai yume wo nose kimi ni todoke ni ikou
sonna kimi wa hikari kagayaite itane
moshimo itsuka mayoi nayandemo
yuuki zuketeitai zutto
sonna yoru ni wa
omoide ni kawatte yuku
toki wo kanjite
hateshinaku tsuzuiteiru shiyuu na sora ni
itsuka mita asu wo ima
sono te ni tsukamunda
nidoto nai ima wo hora mune ni kizande
dokomademo habatakeru shiyuu na tori ni
kagirinai yume wo nose kimi ni todoke ni ikou
sorezore no tabiji e to
aruki hajimete iru
All in all, Luffy thought, it really had been the perfect day. His hand-picked nakama were near, everyone was happy, and the sky was raining stars. What more could anyone ask for?