Ch. 3- Shopping Trip

One Piece © Oda

It had been about a week, now, since Luffy started living with Nami at her house. For Nami, it really felt like she was taking care of a pet dog, rather than a human guest in her home. Luffy would act human for the most part, but other times, his canine instincts would take over and end up making a mess for Nami, such as when he chewed on her shoes and even her couch cushions (which she ended up replacing with ones borrowed from Vivi), and then there was the confusion on where he should go to the bathroom, whether it was the backyard or using the toilet.

Speaking of bathroom, Nami was actually in there right now...giving Luffy a thorough scrub. Needless to say, it didn't look like he was enjoying it at all, judging by his irritated expression and the grumbling sounds escaping his mouth. By now, most of his wounds had healed, so it was safe for him to bathe without worrying about them getting reopened and blood getting into the water. All Luffy coud do was sit in the tub, covered in suds while Nami kept scrubbing the top of his head with a soapy brush.

"I hate taking baths," Luffy muttered. "Even when I was human, I hated them."

"Judging by how you smelled, I figured as much," Nami replied. "Don't talk too much. You'll get soap in your eyes."

All of a sudden, Luffy stood up on all fours in the tub and began to shake vigorously, sending water and suds spraying all over the room and forcing a shrieking Nami to take cover.

"Luffy, stop it!" she shouted, and he did stop, but not without giving her a smug smirk. "...Jerkass."

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed.

"Fine, you can get out now," Nami replied as she stood up. "Happy?"

"Yep," Luffy replied as he got out of the tub...and soon, Nami found herself, staring directly at his soap-covered nethers, which caused her to yelp as her face flushed red, while Luffy just blinked at her in confusion.

"What?" he asked. "What's the problem?"

"AAAAH!" Nami shrieked as she threw a towel at Luffy's face, causing him to fall over. "PUT SOME CLOTHES ON, YOU IDIOT!"

"HEY!" Luffy shouted. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"

XXX

Nami sighed as she sat at the table, drinking some tea to calm herself while Luffy stayed in the bathroom to dry off. As she sat in the kitchen, she stared at her cup with a bit of a thoughtful look in her eyes.

'...I didn't think he'd be so...big down there,' she thought as a light blush formed on her cheeks, but then she gasped silently before shaking her head. 'Wait a minute, why the hell am I thinking about that?! Get your mind outta the gutter, Nami!'

She then heaved another sigh while she propped her chin on her hand. Then, she heard footsteps approaching from upstairs, causing her to turn and see Luffy, who was dressed back in his regular outfit: his hoodie shirt, blue pants, and straw hat.

"You done bein' mad at me, now?" Luffy asked with a pout, but Nami just continued to stare at him. "...Hey, say something, will you? You're not still sulking, are you?"

"...Hey, Luffy," Nami said.

"Huh?"

"You don't really have any other clothes other than those old rags, do you?"

Luffy blinked before he looked himself over.

"Huh," he muttered. "Come to think of it, I've been wearing this for a while, now. In fact, this isn't even mine. I stole it from a lost-and-found."

"Even the hat?!" Nami asked in shock.

"Oh, no, not the hat!" Luffy replied. "The hat's always been mine! And I'd never take it off, ever!"

"...Well," Nami began, "how about we go and do some shopping?"

"Huh?" Luffy muttered. "Really?"

"Sure," Nami smiled. "We can buy you some clothes and cut out a hole for your tail to stick out of. I'll even call Zoro, Usopp, and Sanji so they can pick out some outfits for you. We'll even get something to eat while we're out."

Luffy blinked...but his tail began to wag.

XXX

"So we're really bringing Luffy to the mall?" Usopp asked as he sat in the back seat of the car with said-dog boy, who was sticking his head out the window with his tongue flapping in the wind. Robin, Sanji, Zoro, and Vivi were in the car, as well, having been invited by Nami.

"Well, I figured it would be best if he picked out what clothes he'd like to wear," Nami answered. "Plus, it looks like he enjoys being out instead of being cooped up in the house."

"But don't you think it'll be weird if people ask why he looks like a dog?" asked Vivi.

"Relax," Nami assured. "We'll just say that he went to a costume party and the zipper got stuck."

"Works for me," Sanji shrugged.

"Hey! Hey, look!" Luffy exclaimed as he looked at the car beside them. "There's another dog in that car! Hey, are you seein' this?! There's another dog in that car! Look! Look at him!"

"Oh, brother..." Zoro grumbled while the others laughed. Soon, the group had arrived at the mall, and Luffy seemed all too eager to hurry inside, but Nami had to grab him by the shoulder to stop him from getting too far, and just as an extra precaution, she put a collar and leash around Luffy's neck. Needless to say, he wasn't very thrilled about wearing it, but Nami assured him it was only temporary. She'd take it off as long as he behaved himself.

"I think it looks rather cute on you, Luffy," said Robin.

"Yeah, all you need is a wool sweater with little Poodles on 'em," Zoro quipped, causing Sanji and Usopp to snicker while Luffy rolled his eyes.

"Very funny," he muttered.

Soon, the group entered the mall, and sure enough, many of the patrons saw Luffy's odd form and couldn't help asking questions. One curious little boy even tried to pull his tail to check and see if Luffy really was wearing a costume, but thankfully, Nami caught the child and gently scolded him for not respecting someone's personal space. After that, they headed to one of the stores inside, and almost instantly, it seemed Luffy was getting bored. The girls seemed to be having fun, picking out all kinds of clothes, and even Sanji was having a good time. As for Zoro and Usopp, they had the same expression as Luffy: an expression that said "Get me out of here before I shoot myself in the head".

As they waited, Luffy began to hear crying come from somewhere nearby, causing him to get up to go and investigate. He soon saw the source of all the crying: a little boy who was bawling his eyes out while his mother was trying to calm him down. Curious, Luffy went over to the boy, who stopped crying and blinked up at him, sniffling with a runny nose. Luffy only smiled and wagged his tail at the boy, which caused him to laugh as the former crouched down to his height level and allowed the child to pet his head, which caused his tail to wag even more. The boy's mother, satisfied that his tears had ceased, thanked Luffy before taking her son with her, the boy waving goodbye as he left.

Nami, who was nearby, smiled warmly upon seeing Luffy cheer up the little boy before she called him over, saying she might have found some clothes for him to wear, but she wanted his opinion to be sure.

Luffy mostly picked out clothes for himself: shirts with the number 56 on them, hooded short-sleeved shirts with a zipper, hoodie jackets, and T-shirts with stars on them. He also got jean shorts and a new pair of sandals (although Nami doubted he'd wear them all the time). He even got some thinks like a black bracelet, a few pairs of sunglasses, and some pins to put on his hat. One of them looked like a man with a long, pink nose and pointy hair that looked like fox ears.

"Split-head!" Luffy exclaimed, while Nami gave an unamused glare.

"I wouldn't be caught dead with that thing," she told him.

"Me neither," Usopp added while Robin gave a humorous chuckle.

After a while, it was time for everyone to make their purchases. Of course, given how much they had bought, of course the price was going to be quite expensive. It didn't take long for Nami to blow up at the cashier and try to haggle for a discount, and Luffy quietly admitted to Zoro that she was a bit frightening.

"Get used to it," he told the dog-boy.

After a while, Nami managed to get the price to least 75% of what the clothes were all together...but of course, she made Sanji, Usopp, and Zoro carry all the bags.

"It figures you make us do all the work!" Zoro snarled.

"I don't really mind," Sanji said. "Besides, Vivi can't carry all these by herself."

"You didn't have to carry all my stuff," Vivi said.

"How come Luffy isn't carrying anything?!" Usopp questioned.

"Luffy's the one who's getting most of this stuff," answered Nami. "Right, Luffy?"

"Mmm..." Luffy groaned as he looked at Nami with a discontented expression, and it didn't long for her to figure out why.

"You hungry?" she asked, causing Luffy to nod his head and rub his stomach in response. "I guess it is about time we had lunch."

"We can eat over there," Robin said as she pointed at the food court.

XXX

"Enjoy your food," said a waitress as she put down a tray of at least 6 burgers, a bowl of chicken karaage, and two large fries in front of Luffy, who panted and drooled like any dog would at the sight of the meal in front of him before he hastily started devouring it.

"He sure was hungry," Vivi said.

"He's even eating the wrappers," Sanji muttered in disgust.

"What an appetite he has," said Robin.

As Luffy kept eating, Nami sat in front of him with her elbow propped up on the table and her chin in her palm, her eyes lost in a thoughtful expression.

"...Hey, Luffy," Nami spoke up, causing Luffy to look at her with cheeks full to bursting.

"Yeah?" Luffy asked.

"I was wondering," Nami began, "what's the story behind that hat?"

"Huh?" Luffy muttered as he looked up at the straw hat on his head. "My hat?"

"Yeah," Nami said. "How come you wear it so much? I mean...it looks so old and tattered."

"That's because someone important to me let me have it," Luffy said. "If it wasn't for him, I actually wouldn't even be alive, right now."

"Wait, what?" Usopp asked in surprise.

"What happened?" asked Zoro.

"I was a pretty stupid kid," Luffy answered as he looked at his fries. "I didn't really do what people told me to do, so I got in trouble a lot...I still do sometimes, actually." He then sighed as he looked up at the ceiling. "Anyway, one day, when I was 7, I was playing a little close to the train station and I pretty much fell on the train tracks. I hit my head when I fell, so I didn't see that there was a train coming right toward me."

"You were about to get run over?!" Vivi asked, worriedly.

"I almost was," Luffy said, "but then, I woke up, and I'm being held by Shanks."

"Shanks?" Usopp repeated. "Who's that?"

"He was my elementary school teacher," Luffy said. "He was pretty much my idol. I wanted to grow up to be like him. Anyway...even though he was smiling at me, I started crying."

"Why?" Robin asked.

"Because," Luffy began with a bit of a grim tone, "I saw that he lost his left arm, trying to save me."

"He lost his arm?!" Sanji questioned.

"He couldn't get out of the way fast enough and his arm got torn off by the train wheels," Luffy said. "I felt really bad...and my Grandpa sure gave me an earful when I got to the hospital." He then smiled. "Then Shanks came to see me and he said that I was pretty strong...that's when he gave me his hat."

"And he let you keep it ever since?" asked Nami.

"Pretty much," Luffy said.

"Wow, Luffy," Vivi said in awe. "Who knew?"

"Since then, I tried to be more like Shanks," Luffy said. "Of course, that wasn't easy. I still got into trouble a lot and...well, now with me being cursed and no home and all, it's gotten pretty hard, especially since I'm alone."

"...But you're not alone," Nami said. "At least not anymore."

"Huh?" Luffy muttered.

"You have us now, don't you?" Robin asked.

"Yeah, we're your friends, right?" Usopp inquired.

Luffy's eyes went wide and his tail started wagging at least twofold before he gave a broad toothy grin.

"Yeah!" he exclaimed. "We're friends!"

The others smiled with Zoro even reaching over to pat Luffy on the shoulders.

'This is great,' Luffy thought. 'I never had this many friends before. Maybe this curse was really a blessing, after all!'

TO BE CONTINUED...

Yeah, I know I'm late updating this, but I had a bit of writer's block.

Anyway, review please!