For my old Choose a Side readers: Sorry that this took so long to produce, my will to write this hasn't changed yet entering college has indeed sucked up all my time. No promises that this will have a regular schedule at all, however I have been making it easier on myself to write by only adding short sections at a time and not forcing them out to be long scenes. This is going to end up being fairly different from its first iteration, if only from the fact that I made it through Orange town in about 2000 words in comparison to the 19,000 of before, but also because a lot of the ideas I had for the last story are foggy in my mind and I'm coming up with new ones. I hope you enjoy it anyways.

TL;DR: Will be similar but different from CAS. Hope you enjoy anyways.

Warning: This will mostly be self-indulgent drabble until I get to some more interesting things, for the sake of my sanity and your time.

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece.

It's Not My Fault, I'm Happy

Chapter 1: Initial Sketch

Gently picking up the plates to go help Ririka out, I turned back to him and replied, "Sure, why not?" The voice in the back of my head made a pleased sound.

Luffy cheered, throwing his arms up while still holding chunks of meat. His smile was infectious, and I couldn't help but grin back. Zoro sweatdropped in the corner of the booth. "So quick…"

Coby continued to badger Luffy about the dangers of the Grand Line with only three people, while he stuffed his face in response, so I ignored them and began to help Ririka clean the dishes as more of them piled up. It only felt right, since she was still continuing to cook for Luffy's insatiable appetite.

I took my small pouch of belongings and crawled to the far end of the dinghy we retrieved, settling myself and my long braids in a way that would be non-obtrusive. "Tell me if you need me, otherwise I need a minute," I begin, pulling out one of my only and most precious belongings.

Luffy immediately invades my space like a curious puppy dog, leaning over my shoulder to loudly ask what I'm doing. I give him a small stink eye, but he just seems confused, so I show it to him anyways.

"This is my sketchbook, but it's really more of a journal. I draw the interesting things that happen to me and give them small summaries." I explain, trying to use words Luffy would understand.

"That's so cool! Can I see it?! How many adventures have you gone on? You said you were psychic, right? Is the future in there at all?!" He tries to grab it out of my hands, but I pull it close to my chest, tucking it away from reach. The voice lets out a guttural growl that only I can hear. The enthusiasm in his face dies a little when I give him a dark look, but I quickly sigh, trying to calm myself. "Sorry, Captain, this is personal and I would prefer not to share it. And no, the future isn't in here."

Luffy seems fairly put out anyways, leaning back with his arms crossed and puffing out his cheeks. I grow nervous, thinking he might still try to read it anyways without my permission, but he deflates a little, groaning out a "Fine…" before latching onto Zoro for something to do. Zoro gives me a death glare. I shrug back.

I flip open the book to its most recently used page, glad that I didn't have to explain where all of the scenery from Earth came from.

How… did it even come to this? I gently hold back the sobs and/or screams that want to burst out, clinging onto Luffy tightly. I don't even know if he'll hear me try to say anything, so I just squeeze my eyes shut and adjust my grip tighter to remind him I'm still here and that he should stop struggling.

"DON'T WORRY, LEVY!"

My eyes opened wide.

"I WON'T LET YOU DIE!"

Despite my panic towards being cannonball fodder, I feel reassured.

After a semi-dramatic landing in Orange Town, I found myself separated from Luffy. I don't quite remember how it happened, but I found myself curled up next to a building. Did I pass out? I adjust my bright green shirt and retie the end of one of my long chestnut braids, which had come partially undone. Patting myself down for a second, I pick up one of the daggers that had fallen out of its case and make my way down through the town until I find a path of destruction.

"This seems promising enough," I say, glancing down towards one direction that leads to the sea, and then walking away from it.

Assessing the situation quickly and trying to remember what happens next, my eyes widen as I jump forward to deflect a dagger headed straight for Zoro with one of my own. "What are you doing just standing there?! Can't you see he's not dead?" I turn around to berate Zoro, and the blade arcs around to aim for my face. Zoro, now on guard, pulls me back and responds defensively, "Worry about yourself first, airhead!"

Buggy angrily reassembles himself before our eyes and shouts about how he 'should have flashily hit us,' and I arrange my weapons in front of my body. Luffy and Buggy have some sort of showdown of wills where Luffy ends up biting a knife, and I sweatdrop. 'Men…'

"Ne, Levy," Luffy begins, watching me closely as I begin to try lockpicking his cage. "Hm?" I hum, not really noticing how he was looking at me.

"Where did you go after we fell from that bird? I thought you were following me, but then suddenly you weren't there." I look up at him with a deadpan expression, but he has his face squished between two of the bars, so I look back down with a sigh before I start laughing accidentally.

"How should I know? I woke up next to a building and you were gone. Did you maybe think to check where I was before you left?" I look back to him, and he had his head pulled back a bit with an 'oh shit' look on his face. He starts to apologize, but I cut him off with an "It's alright, you probably got distracted by fighting and then by Nami, am I right?"

"How did you- oh, right, psychic." He pats his fist into an open palm, before rubbing the back of his head. "Still, sorry anyways!"

"Ahh, I already forgave you. ...There we go." I say, opening the lock right as Nami walked up to us. She gave a look between the open lock and my hand, which held a long bent piece of wire, and then looked into my eyes with the most resentful look I had seen on her yet.

I gave her a sunny smile in return. "You could give me a hug instead…? ShuShu would have just eaten the key, so…" She glares at me with a bit of confusion as to why I would say that, before trying to warn Luffy about Buggy coming after them. Luffy, now stretching outside of the cage, ignores her for the most part.

I gently approach Nami in an attempt to give her a hug anyways, and she punches me into the ground when I try. As I'm rolling around on the ground unashamedly complaining about being hug deprived, Luffy turns to me and offers to give me a hug. I look up at him, who's giving me a big grin with his arms held out a little, and I jump into his arms, damn any consequences that may come.

The mayor came at some point, and I'm still hugging Luffy, now from behind, as we listen to his story. When Mohji shows up I release him, and proceed to watch as he gets beat up by the already freed Luffy. I cheer, latching back onto him as Nami and Boodle come out with shocked faces, and Zoro puts his swords away, unphased.

Eventually I was forced to let go completely, and it was with a pout that I walked through town with the others to confront Buggy. Looking back, I really didn't have much to be upset about, since almost everything had been changed for the better and I had gotten a free hug. Still, now since Mohji was defeated and Zoro was fine, I didn't have a real opponent.

A small girl made her way to the front of the circus troupe when called, and I instantly knew this hadn't been in anything I remembered. Which meant, she was here because of me somehow. I clenched my teeth, quickly throwing a few shuriken in her direction to try to catch her off guard, but a barrier of bamboo quickly shot up through the building to protect her. I narrowed my eyes, a Devil Fruit user.

"I call her." I say, keeping my eyes locked on my target. Luffy gives me a bit of a questioning look, but says, "Okay," so I jump to greet her in the air where she started to lecture me about interrupting conversations. I interrupt her again by cutting through the bamboo she's now perched on, and she starts to fall. "You-!" She starts, angrily, catching herself on a new branch. I bounce my way up onto a nearby roof, turning back to stick out my tongue at her. "Try and catch me!" I grin, jumping away. I can hear Luffy laughing behind me as I put some distance between us.

'This girl, Luchia, clearly relies on her power,' I think, bouncing away from more summoned stalks to engage her in hand to hand combat where I quickly cut through any weapons she makes. 'She's already exerted a lot of energy following me here and trying to keep me trapped within a circle of bamboo, and yet she still thinks she can win. Doesn't she realize that she hasn't hit me once?'

"Don't you have some kind of honor code? What kind of fighter are you to play this dirty!?" Luchia says defensively, still trying to rub her eyes from when I whacked her in the face with her own bamboo. 'Fun times,' I reminisce about what happened two minutes ago.

Turning to her and pausing for a second, I respond, "A ninja."

She also pauses in disbelief as I strike a pose as close to a ninja as I can with my daggers as replacement kunai. After a beat, I throw another few shuriken at her which she blocks like before. "Stop that!" She explodes, sending several bamboo lances at my face. "There's no way you're a ninja! You don't look anything like one!"

I burst out laughing at her response. "What kind of reason is that?! I was just kidding, but even if I wasn't, how would you know what a ninja looks like? You never see them because they're ninjas!"

She clearly doesn't like my logic. I use some of the bamboo she sent flying at me as cover so that I can catch her off guard and knock her out. Serves you right for underestimating the sneak power of ninjas.

The voice, which had been whispering threats ever since I had put some distance from the others, settled down as I made my way back.

I show back up to the fight, dragging Luchia's unconscious body behind me. Luffy crows, "Levy!" and I wave back to him, yelling, "Pay attention!" He turns back to his fight. Figuring he'll be alright, I turn to Zoro who's leaning up against a building nearby, and ask, "So, how'd your fight go?"

He gives me a glance, observing Luffy's fight. "I won." He responds after a moment, clearly deeming me worthy of a response.

I pout a little, feeling ignored. "What happened to the bond we created as I helped you out in Shells Town? Are you not going to ask how my fight went?"

He turns back to me a little, agitated. "First of all, that wasn't help, that was you almost choking me with water, you ditz. Second, you obviously won since you're holding her." He shifts a little, refolding his arms and huffing, before looking back to the current fight going on. I look down at the unconscious Luchia whose shirt I'm still gripping, shoving her aside to join him.

We somehow made it off the island safely, no thanks to Luffy turning all the villagers on us since the mayor still tried to fight and Luffy knocked him out. Nami was now officially allied with us, and we adopted her stolen ship into the herd. I tried to give her a hug again, but she still rejected me. Harsh.

We stopped at an 'uninhabited' island as per the captain's wishes, and while I tried to sit it out so I could draw, Luffy dragged me along with him anyways. I brought my sketchbook with me so I could have something to do while we wandered.

As we came upon the strange creatures of the island, I couldn't help but sketch a few of them since they were so interesting. Next to each drawing, I put my thoughts on what kind of animal combinations I thought they might be. I tuned out a lot of what was happening, until a gunshot shocked me back to reality. I jumped up, heart beating rapidly in my chest, until I saw no one was hurt. The voice in the back of my head gently grumbled at being awoken, and I absently realized it had been rather quiet since I had joined up with the Straw Hats. Still a bundle of nerves, I joined the group as we investigated the area the gunshot had come from, finding a weird bush-man in a treasure chest.

'Ah, I remember this island now,' I thought to myself, quickly realizing that this island really was going to be as boring as I thought. The voice quickly grew quiet again, as I flipped back through my sketchbook to reread the last two island adventures we had gone on instead of paying further attention. I still trailed after the group to sketch the landscape, just so I could join in.

Curled up on the far end of Nami's boat now, I put my finishing touches on my sketch of Gaimon. Moving to put my pencil away, I noticed bright orange in the corner of my eye, and looked up to see Nami leaning over my shoulder.

"Hm, you're pretty good. Is this how you've been chronicling our voyage?" She asks, and I shy away from her scrutinizing eyes a little. Nami's question seems to catch Luffy's attention from the other boat and he leans over the distance between them.

"What? Let me see! Is she drawing something?" Luffy looks like he wants to grab the book right from my hands but stops himself because of our previous conversation. I blush a little in embarrassment, but turn the sketch towards him so he can see it. His eyes turn to sparkles, and he lets out an excited noise. "So cool! It looks just like him! That's it, you can be our official artist!"

Nami lets out a confused noise, saying, "Wouldn't chronicler be more accurate? Since she is writing about the journey too…"

Luffy bops his fist into his palm. "Right! Official chronicler!" He suddenly looks confused, tilting his head. "But aren't you psychic? Official psychic chronicler?"

Nami looks at me, even more confused. "Psychic?"

I sigh, head still spinning from the conversation I haven't added to until now. "Uh, yes. Psychic. But, Captain, just chronicler is fine. I don't need the world to know I'm psychic, after all."

Luffy just looks confused at this. "But why? Being psychic is really cool, right?"

I shake my head. "Just trust me on this. Bad things will happen to me if anyone outside the crew knows. You don't want bad things to happen, do you?" Luffy shakes his head rapidly, looking peeved, while Nami just looks curious.

"Bad things?"

I look up at her, trying to judge what I should tell her. After a moment, I nod. "Like me getting kidnapped to use my knowledge against my wishes, or targetting me specifically so that our source of information is cut off. If others know I have an upper hand on practically every situation, or that I know things that could potentially bring the world down upon us, they'll do anything to erase the problem."

Nami suddenly looks very pale, but continues to ask because I'm giving her answers. "They?"

I pause, trying to understand her question. She helps me out by adding, "You said, 'they'll do anything to erase the problem.' Who exactly are 'they'?"

"...Practically anyone with the right, or wrong, depending, motivations;" I sigh, putting my things away before curling in on myself. "I joined you guys because I trust Luffy not to treat me like an object. However, most of the world doesn't view it the same."

There was a stunned silence coming from the others, and I quickly grew uncomfortable with their staring.

"I'm… going to get some rest. Sorry, forget I said anything."

I heft my satchel over my shoulder and awkwardly began to hide on the other side of Nami's boat.

"Levy."

My attention is drawn back to the captain, who stares at me with an intensity that fills my stomach with butterflies.

"You're my nakama. I won't let anything happen to you."

I give him a smile before ducking away, hoping it covered up how unsure I was.

As I finally stepped onto land once again, I almost cried in relief that there was no more constant rocking. I knew that I had motion sickness when I was younger, but I thought it had gone away. Here's hoping I'll get used to it with time…

Excitedly, I threw the strap of my bag over my shoulder and jogged upshore a bit. I had a bit of reprieve from social interaction while coming here, so I was ready for proper bonding action!

Before I made it very far, the sand beneath my feet practically exploded with small bullets pelting in front of me. Caught a bit off guard, I reflexively threw a couple daggers towards the area they had come from. The bullets quickly stopped, and I heard childish yelling about "Usopp's finished! Run away!" and "Wait! Don't leave me here!" before the rustling quieted.

Nami strode up behind me and punched the back of my head, yelling, "Why would you throw those things at children!" I crouched on the ground, holding my head.

"How was I supposed to know! He was shooting at me!"

"You're the one who's psychic, idiot!"

I groaned. "I know…"

There was a pause, before Usopp nervously emerged from the bushes on the cliff, striking a pose and announcing that we should leave.

Reaching out my arms and trying to appeal to him, I quickly say, "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to scare you or your friends, it was just reflex! I won't do it again, I promise!"

The long-nosed man paused, seemingly baffled as to why I'd be apologizing. Luffy cut in, asking, "Hey, do you know where we could find a ship? And meat!"

We followed Usopp back to a restaurant in town, where I smothered Usopp in more apologies. He seemed more exasperated than confused at this point, and eventually the conversation moved towards Kaya and her mansion, as well as her illness. Once Usopp escaped to visit the young mistress, I sighed and laid my head on the table, my conscience unforgiving of my actions.

Zoro seemed tired of my mopiness, and told me to get over it. Just as Luffy was trying to add in that he's probably already forgiven me, the trio of children I scared off earlier burst in for their captain.

Immediately my insecurity was stabbed at when they seemed more frightened of me than even our resident swordsman, who menaced them by saying we had eaten Usopp. I burst into tears, babbling about how "I don't wanna be scary to children!" and "I thought today was gonna be a good day!" while Luffy tried to console me by shoving small pieces of meat towards my face. I munch on them, quieting, and Luffy grins at Nami as if to say, 'See? Meat solves everything.'

Silently, I stood by while Klahadore insulted our resident liar. This was an important moment where Luffy realizes who Usopp's father is, so I couldn't interfere. However, once he had left, I joined in with Luffy and the children insulting the butler.

"Why are you joining in!?" Zoro asked, bonking us both over the head. I pouted, sticking my tongue out one more time at Klahadore before leaving with the others.

We found a cute fenced area beside the road to wait while Luffy ran off to talk to Usopp. I curled up on one end, sketchbook out and making notes of the island so far.

Tamanegi came running towards us at some point, upset about a weird hypnotist man. I ignored most of what was going on, figuring it wasn't important. No one interrupted me, so I started to sketch Kuro with his sword hands.

After a while, Nami asked, "Hey, isn't that Usopp?"

I glanced up, watching as Usopp ran by, without stopping, towards the village. I started to pack my things away. Zoro mentions, "Wasn't Luffy with him?"

"What's got him all worked up?" Nami rubbed her head in confusion. I gently stood from my spot, stretching out my back from being hunched that whole time. "Probably…" I started, pausing to let out a breath as I relaxed my back muscles. "The fact that he thinks Luffy's dead and pirates are going to attack tomorrow." I let out casually, checking my braids and patting my tank and shorts to get any grass off of them.

Nami and Zoro both whirled on me, retorting, "Why didn't you say any of this before!?" The children all look worried. "Dead!? Pirates!?"

I look over at all of them, asking, "Do I look worried?"

My crewmates retort, "Give a warning next time!/Still let us know, you careless woman!" I sweatdrop, picking at my ear. I didn't realize it would be such a big deal. The vegetable trio seem to be congregating together, before they come to a conclusion, turning to us.

"Something must've happened at the shore! Let's go check it out!"

"I could've told you that…" I grumble, a bit put out at my thunder being stolen.

A/N: Well, that's that. Let me know of any mistakes, if you liked/didn't like it, constructive criticism, ideas on where you want this to go, etc.!

You may have noticed, this is still a Luffy/OC story, however, since my headcanon is that Luffy is ace along with Levy and myself, it will be a mostly romantic/fluff type relationship as they both stumble around what it means to like someone (while everyone else sees the obvious).

Words: 3,629