Third one!
III: The New Arrival of the Shop
The next day was D's day off and he and Luffy went down to Miss Honey's place.
"What's this place?" Luffy asked, seeing the signs are turned off.
"At night it's a bar." D explained as he knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
"It's D!"
The door quickly opened to a transvestite with blond hair and a pink dress. "Hello D-kun! What brings you here?"
"I'm sorry if I disturbed your sleep."
"No, no, D-kun. I was actually wide awake a few minutes ago."
"Well, would you mind finding something for Monkey-san? He's going to work for me for awhile."
Miss Honey looked to see the teen, who smiled.
"Hi! I'm Luffy!"
"My! What a cute young thing!" Honey said as 'she' looked him over. "Quite a tiny thing aren't you? And so thin."
"I'm not that small…" He said with a pout.
"What an adorable face!" 'She' said as 'she' mentioned them in. "Let's see what I have…"
~*~
For the next hour Luffy has tried on every petite outfit that a small girl could fit into and was appropriate for D's shop.
"How much longer?!" Luffy whined as he was wearing a tight white silk shirt robe and black leggings.
"I have just one outfit left…" Miss Honey said as she threw it towards the teen. "Try those."
He caught them and took a look at it. "Sugoui!" He said as he saw a red silk shirt with a golden tiger threading on the back, and he also saw plain black silk pants that are a bit flowy. He quickly took the other garments off and putting the other garments on.
"They're a bit loose." Miss Honey warned.
"It's just right!" He said as he happily looked at the three way mirror.
"I think that's our winner." D said.
"I'll just patch these old ones and send it to your shop."
"Thank you Miss Honey."
"Thanks Honey-chan!" Luffy said.
"You're quite welcome, Luffy-chan."
"Shall we go get lunch somewhere?"
"Yeah!"
"I'll pass." Miss Honey said. "I'm going to take a nap."
"Okay Honey-san. Have a good day."
"You as well."
"See ya, Honey-chan!"
With that they left to go to the sweets shop.
~*~
"You eat a lot of sweets, D-ossan." He said as he took a bite of a cookie.
"One of the many simple pleasures of life I enjoy with a passion." He said when Taizuu came in.
"D! I knew I find you here!"
"Oh Taizuu! You know that today is my day off!"
"Yes, but that's not why I'm here."
"Oh? Then what is?"
"There's a huge crate out in front of your shop!"
"A crate?" D said as he got up. "Here Luffy, this should be enough to cover the bill." He handed Luffy the money. "Come back to the shop when you're done."
"Hai, D-ossan." He said as he watched the men walk out of the shop.
"Mind explaining why there's a crate here?" Taizuu asked as he pointed to a crate that was about the same height as them and large enough that it would be completely impossible to carry it to the thirteenth floor.
"I'm not quite sure myself…" He said. "I don't even remember ordering anything."
"It's practically impossible for anyone to carry this thing without notice!"
"Calm down, Taizuu. Remember your blood pressure." He said as he went around to see a note and read it only to pale.
"D?"
"It's from a customer from a long time ago. He believes that I can care for this creature."
"A new pet?"
"Who knows."
"What does that mean?"
"D-ossan!" Luffy called out as he ran up. "What's in there?"
"A new arrival." D said with a smile.
"Really? Can I see?!"
"I'm afraid I have to do this alone."
"Really?" He said as he looked sad about that. He really wanted to see what they have this time.
"Yes, but you can help Taizuu-san with something."
"Like what?"
"D!"
"Here." He gave Luffy some money. "You and Taizuu got to that sweet shop on the third floor. I'm running low of those tarts."
"Okay!" He said as he grabbed the other man.
"Oi! D!"
"Make sure he doesn't eat the tarts, Taizuu!" He said with a cheerful smile as the young man dragged the older man to the elevator, before looking at the crate with a serious glance. 'Grandfather…'
~*~
With Luffy and Taizuu they entered the sweet shop and Luffy immediately threw down the money and told the owner to give him as much as the money will pay.
"You must be Luffy-chan that Miss Honey mentioned."
"Yep! Monkey D. Luffy, seventeen years old!"
The shop owner laughed before getting the tarts.
"You usually act like a child?" Taizuu asked.
He looked over with a blank expression. "Huh?"
"Here you go." Said the owner.
"Yay! Thank you Sweet shop-ossan!"
"You're welcome, Luffy-chan. Tell D-san I said 'hello'."
"Will do!" He said as he skipped out of the shop before walking along side the building's owner.
'This is my chance to ask him about D. He may have only worked a day, but surely he has seen something unusual.' Taizuu thought as he and the teen walked into the elevator. "Monkey-san."
"Hm?"
"Have you seen anything strange while working at the shop?"
"Besides you being weird?"
'Brat!' He thought as he could feel a vein pulsed. "Yes…"
He took a thoughtful look. "Now that you mentioned it, I did see a guy come in and D took him to the back room."
"Have you been in there?"
He shook his head. "Nope. That's where the expensive pets are and only D-ossan can handle them."
"Did you see what the man had when he got out?"
"A covered bird cage."
"Was there a bird in there?"
He shrugged. "That's what D-ossan said." He said as the elevator doors opened and reached to the shop, which the animals were in a state of panic.
"What the hell?!" Taizuu said as both of them ran into the shop, saw that the door was open, entered through it and heard a roar.
~*~
They followed the sound to find a jungle room, seeing D under a green tiger as it looked like it was going to end the shop owner's life.
"D!" The man called out, only to feel something being shoved into his hands and saw the teen charge up to the tiger. "Monkey-san!"
He didn't seem to hear as he rammed into the green tiger, knocking off of D.
"Monkey-san?" D said, surprised to see the teen.
"D!" Called the other man as he went up to the man. "Are you alright?"
"Just startled. He woke up from sedation sooner than expected."
"D!" He said, baffled by the man's indifference of a near death experience before hearing a growl.
The two men looked to see the green tiger get up, but it showed that the large cat had been through a tough experience.
"I get it." Luffy said as he threw his hat to D. "Take care of that will you?"
"What the hell kid!?" Taizuu shouted as the teen charged up to the tiger, who seem to be charging towards the young man as well. "Have you lost it!? That thing will kill you!"
The teen completely ignored it as he dodged the jaws and got it into a head lock, knocking it down to its side.
The man grabbed a hidden gun as he waited for the other to get off while D just stared in shock as the duel continued.
Luffy had to let go to avoid being crushed, but still kept himself in-between the tiger and the two men before charging and getting a good kick in.
The tiger was knocked to its side again as it rolled, got back on its paws and charged at the teen.
Luffy was about to charge when he heard a click behind him.
D was so focused on the fight that he didn't see the other man getting his gun and was aiming at the tiger. "No!" He started to call out as the man's gun was kicked out of his hand by the teen before facing the tiger again, only to be harshly rammed in the chest.
The two men backed away as the fight continued as Luffy punched the tiger's eye and got on its back.
There was some kind of rodeo going on before the tiger rolled on its back, but the teen moved quickly and dropped kicked on the large cat's stomach. The tiger growled as it quickly got back on its paws and rammed at the teen again, pushing the other to a boulder, where he just sat there.
"Monkey-san!"
"Kid!"
The tiger was lifting its paw when the teen spoke.
"It's a draw!"
The tiger growled as it put its paw down and roared while the teen got up.
He looked at the tiger with a grin. "You're strong. Even with all those wounds you're able to kick my ass. But I'm also a lot tougher than I look. Don't you agree?"
The tiger seemed to understand.
"Both of us can barely stand as it is, but this isn't the first time you had to fight to live. Is it?" He said as he stood up straight slowly. "You and I aren't so different. That's why I'm making you my only rival."
The tiger did a soft low growl.
"If I can't beat you when you're in a bad condition, then I'm weak." He explained as he chuckled. "You never had anyone to fight just for the hell of it. So let me be your only opponent. What do you say?"
The tiger seemed to grin as it roared its agreement.
"Good! I'll work on being stronger, but you can't slack off either!" He said. "When you get better, then we'll fight again. Deal?"
The tiger responded by laying down.
"I'll take that as a yes." He said with a laugh before walking over to the two shocked men. "Sorry about that, but he didn't know where he was."
A small growl was heard but the tiger made no movement from where it was.
"Let's have some tea then." D said calmly as if it never happened.
"D!" Taizuu said.
"Don't be so loud, Taizuu. Our new arrival had a rough flight." He said as they exited the room and he closed the door.
"Since when do you keep tigers?" The man asked suspiciously.
"We'll discuss this over at tea." He said with a calm and mysterious look.
~*~
Once they were out of the back room, D started making tea and, while he waited for the water to boil, tended to the teen's surprisingly minor wounds.
"A normal person would've died fighting that thing." Taizuu said as he sat down on the arm chair.
Luffy stuck out his tongue. "At least I'm not the idiot with a gun!"
"Don't you have any concept of death!?"
"Yeah, but I'm not afraid of a few risks."
"That wasn't just a risk, Kid! It was something that could've ended your life!"
"I don't see what the deal is. A fight is a fight."
"Between the same species maybe, but not with a tiger!"
"All done!" D said with a cheer.
"Thanks D-ossan." He said as he continued to argue with the other man. "What's wrong with that!? I was able to do it just fine!"
"Do you have some kind of death wish kid!?"
D sighed as he checked to see if the tea was ready before adding some gold powder into one cup, poured the tea and handed the cups to the two, with the tampered tea to the other man.
"All I'm saying that what you did is far too reckless even for a normal daredevil."
"You're just too scared to fight it without a gun." He said as he took careful sips of his tea.
Taizuu did the same, frustrated by the teen's actions.
D calmly sipped his before Taizuu mentioned about going back to his office, left, and saw the teen napping. He got up and went into the back room, and back towards the door, only to light up some incense and entered the jungle room. "Are you slightly settled down now?" He asked as he looked at the young male figure sprawled out on the grass. He smiled as he exited the room. "This will be interesting."
I think I'll take a break now... unless I get bored...
