DISCLAIMER: I do not own one piece!
Okay, sorry for the slowness last chapter, I just needed to get introductions and back-stories out of the way. The plot officially starts now!
"Luffy!"
Said teen smacks his head off the desk and looks around in a daze for whoever said his name.
"Geez..." He rubs his head with a pained expression. "That hurt…" The whole class starts to giggle.
"Please try and stay awake during lessons Luffy. Your going to tempt me to draw on your face." said the teacher waving a marker around.
"Sorry Shanks! Shishishi!" Luffy laughs in amusement. Shanks turns around and finishes whatever he was writing on the board.
"How come your always so tired in class?"
"I'm not tired Nami, I just wanna do something that's actually fun." he replied to the ginger.
"Heard that Monkey." shouted Shanks from the front of the classroom.
"Sorry." Nami giggled and turned back to the front.
Nami is one of the people in Luffy's 'crew' that he met in his elementary years. She is what people would call gorgeous with her long orange hair and perfect body shape. She's the only one of the crew in his history class.
After another long and agonizing hour, the bell finally rang. He waits for Nami to finish packing impatiently, eager to eat lunch. When she finally finishes he grabs her arm and drags her out of the classroom.
"Slow down Luffy! The cafeteria isn't going to run away!"
"But I'm so hungry! Even though I like Shanks, his lessons make me fall asleep every time."
"At least don't hold on to my wrist so tight, it hurts." He lets go of her arm and apologizes.
They made their way to their lockers that are next to all the others in the crew. No one was there at the moment, which meant they were already in the cafeteria. They put their supplies away then grabbed their lunches.
"Look! There's Usopp and Chopper! Hey! Guys!" Luffy ran towards his two friends who were on their way to the cafeteria.
Usopp has long, dark curly hair with a long nose and has a knack for lying. Chopper is really small with short brown hair. He loves all things medical and aspires to become a doctor.
"Hey Luffy! How's it going?" Usopp asked as Nami came up beside Luffy.
"He's fine besides the fact that he fell asleep in Shanks's class again." Luffy rolled his eyes at her.
"Would you let that go? I couldn't help it."
"Luffy, you've got to pay attention in class more often. You almost failed last year and you don't want that to happen again." Chopper piped up.
"I do pay attention!" he yells, then mumbles: "most of the time…" Nami smacks Luffy's head.
"Whatever, we'll talk about this later. I'm starving!" Luffy gives a whoop of excitement and they enter the room is full of hustle and bustle. There are people everywhere pushing, shoving and yelling to get a spot. Luffy looks around the cafeteria then his eyes light up when he sees Zoro waving them over. The group navigates through the havoc then plops down beside the rest of the crew on the table.
In this group there's Zoro, a green haired kendo master and Luffy's closest friend. Sanji, a blond haired playboy who adores cooking and hates Zoro. Robin, a quiet and beautiful black haired girl who is very intellectual. Franky, a burly blue haired guy who has multiple tattoos on his arms and legs to make them look mechanical. He loves engineering and inventing. Brook, a musician with an afro that Luffy admires on a daily basis. Finally, there's ViVi. ViVi has long blue hair and had recently moved last year to the city. She loves to read and has a slight crush on Luffy.
"Hey guys!" Luffy says with a large grin.
"Hey, how's it going?" asked Franky. But Luffy was already busy eating his food, not hearing a word he said.
Brook laughs. "Yohohoho! Didn't expect anything different from yesterday."
"If it's going to be the same everyday, we're going to have to wait ten minutes until he'll actually pay attention to us." Usopp pointed out.
"Luffy slow down or you'll choke." Vivi told him with worry on her face.
"Don't bother, he won't listen to you" said Zoro, yawning.
"Dumbass, don't talk to a lady that way!" yelled Sanji.
"Whatever you stupid love-cook."
"What did you say sword shit?" They were about to start a fist fight when Robin spoke up.
"Please sit down, you are causing a commotion." They both looked around and sure enough, quite a few heads were turned in their direction. Zoro sat down in a huff and bit into his sandwich. Sanji turned around to Robin.
"Robin-chwannnnn I'm sorry to have made you uncomfortable! Please forgive me!" he begged.
"Of course I do Sanji-kun, just please don't do it again." Robin said calmly.
"Thank you! Don't worry about it any longer!" Zoro snorts and Sanji's curly eyebrow twitches in irritation.
"Look who's coming into the cafeteria." Nami whispers into Vivi's ear. They both look over to the entrance, as well as many others and see the most popular guy in school take a seat at a table with his friends. Nami sighs dreamily while ViVi and Robin blush a little.
Sanji crossed his arms in annoyance.
"What's so great about Ace? I don't understand why every girl has to fall over him." He grabs and bites his apple angrily.
"What's so great about Ace?" Nami says in disbelief, "He's only the hottest guy in the whole school. Not to mention he's one of the nicest guys around here too." She rests her head on her hands as she gazes at him from afar.
"Good luck going for him when the rest of the female student body wants to get in his pants." said Franky. And this was true, most tables with only females had gone silent in awe except for the occasional giggles of girls nearby.
"Well, it's not like ViVi has to worry about competition with the guy she likes." Nami nudged her while looking at Luffy who was still gulping his lunch down. ViVi blushed furiously and gave Luffy a quick glance before staring at the opposite wall.
While all this commotion was going on, Luffy was simply enjoying his lunch. He listened to their group fight over Ace with amusement.
'Does Ace even know how many people are dying to be friends with him?' He laughed remembering the ill-tempered little kid with no friends and compared him to the easygoing friendly guy now.
"What are you laughing at Luffy?" Chopper asked.
"Just remembering something funny." he says with a grin.
When the final lunch bell rang, Luffy quickly packed up his stuff and went to his next class with Nami, ViVi, Usopp and Chopper.
"I heard we're getting a substitute teacher today." Luffy looked at Chopper whom just spoke.
"Yes! Then I don't have to submit that assignment today!" said Usopp while doing a 'score' gesture with his arm.
"Don't get too excited, Mr. Sengoku is super strict when it comes to deadlines. He probably told the sub to collect them." said Nami.
"Well then, I'll just tell I was sick today so that he doesn't know." They walked into the classroom and took their seats.
"You can never pass up the chance to tell a lie, can you Usopp?" Nami says smirking. As soon as the bell rang, a very large man with grey long hair walked into the classroom. Luffy furrowed his eyebrows, the man looked familiar. Very familiar in fact. He just couldn't put his finger on it. After what he deemed too much thinking, Luffy rested his head on top of his desk.
"Hello class, my name is Mr. Burgess I will be your supply teacher for the next month because Mr. Sengoku was in a major car accident." Luffy snapped his head up. Of course! It was his old kindergarten teacher! Luffy examined his appearance.
'Looks the same as I remember, though I hardly do remember him.' He left his old elementary school early after all; he didn't have that many memories of the place.
'I don't even remember why I left, maybe Ace didn't want to pick me up anymore?' Luffy shook his head to clear his thoughts. He didn't think that Mr. Burgess would remember him anyway so he just played with his pencil on the desk distractedly.
"While I do roll call, Mr. Sengoku has told me that you may all have an extra day to complete your assignments. You can work on them for the entire period if you want." The whole class erupted into cheers and some students high fived. Luffy breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't even close to finishing that assignment. Unfortunately, the project was still on his computer at home. He sighed inwardly.
At least that gives me an extra night. So as everyone else was working, he continued to play with the pencil. Mr. Burgess looked down at the attendance sheet and did roll call.
"Larmen F. Micheal?"
"Here."
"Mergo P. Teena?"
"Present."
"Monkey D. Luffy?" Luffy never looked up from his pencil: "Here"
He kept rolling his left hand over the pencil and held his head in his right. He was waiting to hear the next name being called, but didn't hear it. Luffy stopped rolling the pencil and looked up.
And wished he hadn't.
Mr. Burgess was just staring at him. Luffy met his stare, yet the teacher didn't stop. All of a sudden the teacher gave him a little grin then turned back to roll call.
Luffy just sat there dumbfounded for a second.
Did anyone else see that? He looked at the students around him but they were all too busy with their projects to pay attention.
"Are you okay Luffy?" Still in a daze, he turned around to ViVi.
"Uh yeah, just remembered I left my assignment at home."
"Bummer... um, If you want to, um, you can look at my notes for the, uh, project." she stuttered. He gave her a million dollar smile.
"Nah I'm good, I already have all the info I need. Just need to type it out. Thanks a lot for the offer though ViVi!" A mad blush spread on her cheeks.
"N-no problem Luffy!" She went back to her work.
'Okay, so she didn't see anything odd, maybe I'm just imagining it after all.' He listened to the roll call for anything out of sorts but nothing weird happened after that.
He decided to himself that he was just imagining things, until Mr. Burgess was passing out worksheets. Luffy had his head down in his notebook and having nothing else to do, he started doodling.
Heh, this dog actually looks pretty good! He thought. With new determination, he focused on his drawing. He was suddenly surprised when Mr. Burgess slammed the worksheet on his desk, fingers lingering on the page.
Luffy decided to ignore it and continued with his drawing. Suddenly he felt a slight tug on his hair that made him shiver. He snapped his head around and saw the teacher continue down the aisle to deliver worksheets. However, he did not miss the disturbing glint in the teachers eyes.
Realization hit him like a truck.
'I just remembered why I left Ace's school.'
He found himself standing in a long runway. There was no planes coming or going, it was abandoned. It was incredibly silent, he found himself straining to hear something, anything. He frowned at the emptiness of the environment. Suddenly, something caught his eye. He snapped his head around and saw a large bear.
'Shit' he thought to himself. 'I'm so dead.' He tried to run but found himself rooted to the spot. With sweat forming on his face, he looked up to meet the eyes of the grizzly.
It didn't charge him as he expected, but instead stood on its hind legs and turned with it's back facing him.
'Huh?' His confusion deepened when the bear turned around to face him again, this time wearing glasses. He narrowed his eyes and furrowed his brows trying to decipher what the heck was happening. The cherry on top of this weird sundae was when the bear actually spoke.
"Arv, eale ia!" the bear said urgently.
"What? What are you saying? Speak up!" he shouted back. But the bear kept saying gibberish over and over again.
"Arv...Arv...wsle yp..." The bears words were starting to make sense to him now so he leaned in closer.
"Arv..ake up... Ace wake up! Wake up now!" Ace jolted awake in his seat and was met with the disapproving look of his teacher.
"Ace, please tell me you have talked to the doctor about your sleeping problem. It's becoming a major distraction." Ace scratched his head sheepishly.
"Sorry Mr. Marshall, uh yeah, I have. He said this is as good as my narcolepsy is going to get..." Mr. Marshall grumbles and turns back to the blackboard.
"Should we get you a pillow sleeping beauty?" Ace snaps around to glare at Thatch.
"I would love a pillow Thatch, maybe I can use the one on your head. It looks very plush." he snickers.
"I don't know whether to be flattered or offended."
"You should be offended-yoi. You need a haircut." Marco adds.
"Excuse me? You say I need a haircut? Look who's talking pineapple." Thatch teases. Ace and Thatch start laughing at the realization. Marco pouts as the bell rings, signaling the school day is over. As they were walking out the door, Ace heard his name being called.
"Mr. Portgas!" he cringed knowing what was coming. He slowly made his way to Mr. Marshall's desk and looked him in the eye.
"Yes Mr. Marshall?"
"Your narcolepsy is a problem in this class, if you don't pull yourself together i'm going to have to move you to applied classes. You keep missing whatever information I tell to the class."
"But I always pull through don't I? My marks aren't the best, but they aren't too bad either." he countered.
"Don't get a big head thinking that you know everything. Your lucky I didn't kick you out of the class already for this."
'I know you hate me, just frigging kick me out already!' Ace thought bitterly.
"Sir, I can assure you that I don't know everything. I just catch up fast."
"You're lucky you can catch up. If I see one bad grade your headed straight for applied, am I clear?" he gave Ace a look that could rot every tree in the vicinity.
"Yes sir." he said grudgingly. Ace left the classroom and met up with Thatch and Marco who were waiting outside the door.
"Why the hell does he always give me a hard time? I don't even do badly in class! He just enjoys tormenting me." Ace complained. Marco smacked him on the shoulder.
"Bah he's just weird like that-yoi. Don't know why he does that to you. Probably just wants to let his stress out on someone." Ace shakes his head and unlocks his locker. That one damn teacher has always tormented his high school years. Now that he thinks of it, he's also seen him occasionally at his elementary school. He's like a leech sucking out his happiness.
'I only have him for one class this year anyway, I can put up with it.'
He puts his backpack on the ground next to him while he grabs his homework from his locker. Suddenly, he hears a slam next to him and inwardly groans. He knows who's next to him. Bellamy, a guy in a couple of his classes who likes to complain about the way Ace carries himself.
'Cue the daily annoyance.' He didn't feel like dealing with Bellamy so he just continued to take his books from his locker.
"Hey Portgas! You think you're too cool to pay attention to me? Hey! I'm talking to you pussy!" Bellamy teased. Ace heaved a big sigh.
"What do you want Bellamy?"
"I just wanted you to know that you won't last very long on the football team if you keep up that snotty attitude of yours, thinking you're all high and mighty." he says in disgust.
'It seems like the same thing everyday.' Ace thinks tiredly.
"Bellamy I'm sorry you didn't make the team, but you don't have to snap at me for getting your position. I've kept my attitude in check actually, thank you very much." With that, he slammed his locker closed and followed Thatch and Marco to football practice.
"That guy really needs to get a life if bugging you is the best thing he's gotta do all day." said Marco as they entered the gym.
"Do I really have a bad attitude guys? Everyone seems to be telling me that these days." Ace says gloomily.
"What is this I hear about bad attitude?"
The three teens turn to look up at their football coach and teacher, Coach Newgate.
"Ace is starting to think that he's a diva cause that's what people are saying about him." Thatch answers. Ace looks at the ground, suddenly self-conscious.
"Ace my boy, you are probably one of the most selfless people I have ever met. Whoever says otherwise needs to get their head out of the clouds." They all start to chuckle at the humor. Ace straightens his back and looks his teacher in the eye.
"Thanks coach, I needed to hear that."
"No problem my son! Now go and give me twenty! We need to be prepared for the big game coming up!"
"Yes sir!"
"Yeah yeah Luffy I won't forget...yeah I know...okay... talk to you later Lu, bye!" Sabo hung up his cell phone and got into his run down blue convertible.
'Can't I just go home from college once in my life without making any pit stops?' Usually just as Sabo is about to enter his car, Luffy calls exactly at the same time everyday to ask him to pick up anything from meat to a firework. This time it was a wrench.
'What kind of prank is it this time?' He thought as he pulled onto the road. After stopping at a light, Sabo flipped through the radio stations looking for something to listen to. Just as the light turned green, he settled on a punk station and cranked it up. Sabo hit the gas and sped down the road, singing the song out loud. Suddenly, a black van being driven by a bulky figure speeds out of a parking lot and cuts right in front of him.
'What the-' his thoughts were abruptly cut off as he jammed on the breaks. He sat there in shock while gasping for breath when the van sped away. Heart still racing, he started the gas and continued his way. This time slower.
'That psycho almost killed me, even worse, almost damaged my car!' he thought in horror. Nothing (except his brothers of course) meant more to him than his car. He didn't let anyone drive it and is very wary when it comes to its hygiene.
'I've got to tell Ace and Luffy when I get home!'
Ace was just walking into their driveway from practice when he heard yells within the house. Suddenly feeling worried, he jogged up to the door and flung it open. Ace kicked off his shoes, dropped his bag and ran down the hallway to the kitchen where his brothers were.
"Ace!" He looked down to see Luffy running towards him with wide eyes.
"Sabo almost got in a car accident!" Ace's eyes got as big as Luffy's.
"WHAT!?" He turned toward Sabo who was sipping tea he made for himself.
"It's fine, the jerk just pulled in front of me too fast. He's lucky he didn't scratch my car or I would have killed him myself." Sabo says gripping his mug tight.
"Jeez, always worried about your car and nothing else. One day you're probably going to jump in front of an incoming bullet to prevent it from denting your precious baby." Ace snickered.
"You know what, that's probably true." Sabo laughs sheepishly.
"Hey! I just remembered!" Sabo dug through his pockets and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. "I found this laying on the ground at the college, we can add it to our apartment fund!" Ace and Luffy's expressions lit up.
"Give it to me! I'll put it into the jar!" Luffy shouted excitedly. Sabo handed Luffy the money and watched as he scampered off to their room.
"Awesome! We're so close to having five thousand dollars," said Ace.
The apartment fund is a jar underneath their bathroom sink filled with cash and coins saved up to purchase an apartment on their own. They had been saving up since they were kids, wanting to leave their caretakers house and live with each other. They need five thousand dollars to afford the first few months of rent of the apartment they were looking at.
"I can't wait to have a place all to our own. Me and you can find a job pretty quick after we buy it 'cause we will both be college students." Sabo pointed out.
"Yeah, and we need all the money we can get to fill the endless meat pit known as Luffy." Ace snickered.
"Are you guys talking about me?" Luffy walks back into the room and plops on the couch.
"Nothing worth mentioning." says Sabo with a smile on his face. Ace's smile falls as he takes his mound of homework from his backpack. Sabo whistled in surprise.
"Woah their Ace you must have slept for an hour straight through class to get that load."
"Yeah well," Ace says bitterly. "Damn Mr. Marshall gives me extra homework for falling asleep." Ace flips a book open angrily. "He thinks that I have an attitude problem or somethin' so he hates me. Not that I give two shits about him."
"Well, you don't exactly do bad in school, so he needs to lay off." said Sabo walking out of the kitchen over to the couch where Luffy was laying down.
"Unlike you, my little brother. Did you hand in your assignment today?" Luffy gives a mighty groan.
"No, there was a substitute teacher and he gave us an extra day to complete it." Ace looks at him from the kitchen table.
"Substitute? What happened to Mr. Sengoku?" he asked.
"Apparently he got in some big car accident. We're gonna have that substitute for about a month." said Luffy throwing the couch cushion in the air.
"Who's the substitute?"
Luffy caught the cushion and hesitates with his answer.
"You might remember him, Mr. Burgess?" Sabo and Ace froze on the spot and stared at Luffy. Suddenly feeling shy, he put the cushion on his face.
"You have to be kidding, Lu? Tell me your kidding." Luffy ignored Ace's pleas.
"I'm not, it's definitely him." Luffy heard stomping and suddenly a very angry Sabo yanked the cushion from his face.
"We can't let you stay in that class Lu! You know what that guy was like!" he yelled.
"I can't change classes! That's one of the few I am actually doing decent in! And how do you guys know he still acts like that? It was ten years ago! He's probably changed!" He shouted, partially trying to convince himself.
"Do you really believe that Luffy?" asked Ace with a serious look on his face. Luffy looked away from his brothers, thinking about today's incident.
"I don't want to run away from this, it won't bother me anymore." When it looked like his brothers were about to protest he lifted a hand to silence them. "If anything feels wrong, I'll tell you guys right away." Ace and Sabo seemed to lighten up at that.
"Okay Lu, deal. But absolutely do not hide anything from us, got it?" said Sabo in a serious voice.
"Of course! Shishishi!" said Luffy giving a fake laugh. 'I hate lying, but I don't want them to drag me away from school again because of him. It's only a month anyway.'
"Now that that's out of the way, why don't you guys come to the big game tomorrow? I could use the support," asked Ace.
"Sure! I don't see why not? I could ask Koala if she wants to come too. " said Sabo taking out his cell phone.
"Yeah! I was already planning on going with my friends anyway! Shishishishi."
"Awesome!"
Thank the person who followed this story! Please review and such, it's my caffine!
What to expect next chapter; Luffy's freaking out and Sabo goes on a not-so joy ride.
See ya next time! :)