Chapter Three
It doesn't take Coby long to find out where exactly these two pirates were going and he can't help but stare at them in shock. "You can't be serious."
"I am serious." Luffy says looking back and giving the still staring pink haired boy a grin. "We're going after this Zolo person!"
"It's Zoro, Luffy," Monalisa murmurs, leaning over the small boat and trailing her hand over the surface of the still water. It had been a full two hours since their escape and Coby – who seemed to be the only one on board that knows to navigate properly – says that land should appear soon. From the set of the sun, Monalisa could say it was little after lunch and knew any moment Luffy would begin to complain about the lack of food.
"Whatever," Luffy says, waving off Monalisa's correction before he turns to Coby in excitement. "Ne, let's go find that pirate hunter guy!"
"Eh?! Didn't you hear me earlier?!" Coby yells. "He's a pirate hunter! I heard he's even been held as a prisoner at a marine base."
That seems to deflate Luffy some as his excitement fades slightly to be replaced with disappointment. "Aw, he's a weakling then?"
"No way! He's said to be as terrifying as a demon!" Coby exclaims, shuddering at a conjured image of a man who looks like a demon that his mind places in his head. Monalisa looks up from the water, pulling her hand in and turns her attention to Luffy. As if feeling her gaze, Luffy looks to her and a wide grin spreads across his face.
"If he's a good guy, he'll join my crew." The conviction in his voice puts a smile on Monalisa's face as she rolls her eyes before looking at Coby.
"Where's this marine base, Coby-kun?" Coby's mouth pops open as he stares at the young teen. She raises an eyebrow, questioning the look that he gives her.
"You're going along with what he says? You two are being so reckless!" The two just continue to stare at the very short boy before he lets out a sigh. "Fine. I'll tell you..."
It had been awhile since Monalisa had been on land – two days actually. And to be on it once more now...
"I just love you ground! How could I ever have been convinced to abandon you like I did?" Luffy and Coby watch on as the orange haired teen fists her hands into the loose earth of the road that leads straight through the small town. They had just docked at the supposed town that the famous bounty hunter was being kept, when Monalisa had ran along ahead to just fall to her knees on the dirt filled road.
"Uh... Monalisa-san?" Coby calls warily as the girl picks up dirt and rubs it between her hands. Bending her head backwards to look at him, Monalisa blinks seeing the laughing Luffy and the weird look that Coby is giving her.
"Please do go ahead and find this Zoro person." Monalisa gets up and dusts off her pants, ignoring the odd looks that the townspeople are giving her. "Right now I need a bed, new clothes and hair supplies."
"We can't just leave you like that," Coby says, eyes wide. "What if we can't find you or something?" He then leans in closer and motions for her to lean in Bemused, Monalisa tilts her head down slightly as the shorter boy whispers in her ear. "And do you really trust Luffy to be on his own?"
Her teal eyes glance to the side to see Luffy with wide eyes as he looks after a couple of young children who were running past them with yakitori in their small hands. They seem to gleam at the sight of chicken on a stick, while his mouth opens slightly. Monalisa snorts at the sight before turning back to Coby.
"No need to worry about Luffy. I know you'll take good care of him." Reaching into her backpack, she pulls out what looks to be like money and stuffs it into Coby's hands. "Buy him some meat and when the time's right, he'll know how to find me."
"B-but-"
"Yosh!" Coby is cut off as Luffy grabs hold of him. "Let's go eat then go find Zoro!"
His loud exclamation makes the townspeople near them to shriek and back away from the three almost as if they were burned. This reaction makes Monalisa raise her eyebrows in surprise, while Coby goes on to scold the straw hat wearing teen.
"Don't go blurting out his name like that! He's really scary, so you should be more discreet! We don't need for Captain Morgan to find us suspicious!" His words also seem to garner the same reaction as the people once again yell and move out the way. This immediately makes Coby shut his mouth with an "Eep!" while Luffy laughs.
"Seems like both their names shouldn't be said out loud," Monalisa states, playing with a stray strand of hair that falls to the front of her face. She usually keeps her hair away from her face as she hates having it covering her eyes – it's one of the reasons why she doesn't have a fringe and instead it's grown out and pulled back by a clip.
"I would understand them being frightened by the bounty hunter's name, but why the captain's?" Coby whispers.
"Maybe they just do it for the laughs," Luffy suggests.
"Idiot." Monalisa smacks him behind the head which makes him scowl.
Monalisa stops walking which causes the two to look back questioningly.
"Well, I see the marine base is not too far from here," she says. "You guys go on ahead and find Zoro. I really need to get some new clothes and stuff."
"EH? Don't leave-"
"Okay, Mona!" Luffy begins to pull Coby away, his eyes trained ahead while Coby flails around. Monalisa waves them off before shaking her head in amusement.
"Now that they're gone..." Her eyes begin to gleam as she clasps her hands together on her left cheek, moving close to a store where clothes on mannequins are displayed through a glass window. "Time for shopping~!"
It didn't take long for Monalisa to find a new outfit and her sole carrying bag to be filled with endless supplies for her hair. Being a big person on hair health, she likes to make sure she always has the right amount of products for this specific reason along with styling gels and different hair ties.
Her new outfit consists of a mechanic styled jumper made of denim material that she has the sleeves tied around her hips with a plain black sleeveless turtleneck with her flats on her feet.
She even took time to comb her hair – and wash it too! – in the small room she rented for the day. It's right across from a bar where she decided to go to get something to eat later. Her hair is now styled into four thick plaits that are pulled into a side bun which lies low on her left shoulder.
Humming as she makes her way across the street to the bar, she can't help but wonder if she should head to the Marine base to check on Luffy. It has been quite awhile…
Nah. Luffy doesn't need her right now.
Pushing the door open, Monalisa is immediately met by a taller person who knocks into her. A normal person would have stumbled upon impact, but as we all know... Monalisa isn't quite normal. Instead the person goes tumbling to the floor from the impact, staring up at her.
"How dare you?!" Looking away from his ugly features and hair, Monalisa looks up to find Luffy not too far away away with Coby. "How dare you run into me –"
"Oh, Luffy and Coby-kun? Didn't know I would run into you guys here!" Stepping around the shell-shocked boy, Monalisa walks toward her two friends. "I thought you guys would still be at the Marine base."
"We just got back," Luffy explains, also ignoring the now glowing red boy on the floor and instead focuses on Monalisa and tilts his head to the side. "You got new clothes."
"Hey!" Looking back, Monalisa blinks as the boy glares at her, his finger pointed at her. "You have to apologize to me now!"
"Oh yeah, sorry." Looking away, she is about to continue her explanation of new clothes and hair supplies when the boy speaks once more.
"I am the great Captain Morgan's son and that's how you will apologize to me?!" Coby watches on in silent horror as Monalisa again turns around facing the blonde with her features turning sour in annoyance
"I said sorry, so beat it." Her expression seems to have shut the young man's mouth as he stares at her.
"Y-you... I'll tell my father on you as well! I'll have you imprisoned for your insubordination!" This seems to irritate Monalisa more as her features go darker; a terrible feeling crawls up Coby's spine at the look.
"What are you? A child? I said to beat it."
It didn't take long for Helmeppo to leave with his two supposed guards and Monalisa to be filled in on what she missed.
"So basically Zoro-san is imprisoned for saving this adorable munchkin and is to be executed tomorrow, after being specifically told that, as long as he survived a month without food, they would let him go just because that ugly asshole said so?" Monalisa summarizes while taking a sip of juice. She was currently eating fried rice which she was provided by Rika – the little adorable munchkin's -mother.
"Yeah." Coby whispers, trying to read Monalisa's expression but the girl keeps her face blank as she continues to eat.
"You gonna save him, Luffy?" Monalisa asks between chews, not even looking at said teen who sits at the bar.
"Yep."
"Good. I'm coming too," Monalisa says placing her spoon down and giving the woman a warm smile. "Thank you for the food, ma'am."
"Y-you're welcome," The woman answers, slightly taken aback by how very messy the young girl ate her food.
"He's going to be our nakama too." Looking at Luffy, Monalisa smiles as his face is hidden slightly by his straw hat.
"As long as he doesn't take my place of being helmsman, I'm good." Monalisa stands turning to Coby as she cleans her face of stuck-on rice. "You coming?"
"A-ano... maybe I'll just stay here." Giving him a smile, Monalisa follows after Luffy, but stops to look at Rika.
"Hey, you think you could do something for me, Rika-chan?" Pulling free her axe, she hands her teddy bear styled bag to the young girl. She had decided to have her weapon attached to a holder at the back of her bag for easier access. "Could you look after Roger for me? I don't want him to get mixed up in this and get hurt. Think you can take care of him while I'm gone?"
"Roger...?" Holding the bag with both hands, the young child looks at the brown teddy bear that has buttons for eyes, stitch marks all over along with patches on parts of his body. Monalisa nods, a smile on her face.
"Mhmmm... he's my most valued treasure at the moment so you gotta make sure nothing happens to him, right?" Eyes wide, Rika looks up at the teenager who ruffles her dark hair.
"Why are you always so slow, Mona," Luffy's voice comes from the door as he seems to be very impatient.
"As I always say, hold your horses, Luffy." Monalisa sighs, moving out of the short stoop she was in and walking toward her best friend.
"I don't have horses to hold though."
"It's an expression."
"...But your face is blank."
"... Never mind, Luffy."
When Monalisa thought about meeting other people who would join their crew, she had always thought it would be with her looking epic and them staring at her in awe and all that. She would be the one to tell them what to do and they would view her as their superior and worship the ground she walked on.
Not with them witnessing her face planting into the ground after crawling over the wall and slipping on a brick. Her face hurt and she got up, rubbing her now reddened face, while she scowls at Luffy who stands there laughing at her misfortune.
"What are you doing here? And who's the midget?" A deep voice has Monalisa turning around to see the tall man tied to a post. His arms and legs are spread by the x-shaped post and are tied by ropes His head is raised, and Monalisa can feel the glare from the all the way over there to her place by the wall.
"Whatcha mean 'what am I doing here'? I'm here to make you my nakama!" Luffy says, walking forward with Monalisa following after him.
"And the supposed midget is his first mate and helmsman," Monalisa answers, coming to stand in front of the man. She wrinkles her nose at stench of a man that hasn't had a decent shower in days before giving him a once over, eyes lingering on his short hair that hides beneath a dark green bandanna. "You have green hair..."
"And yours is orange," Zoro retorts – to which she whispers a quick "Touche." – before looking to Luffy. "And I told you that I don't want to be a pirate!"
Zoro's anger doesn't seem to faze Luffy as he tugs at one of the ropes that ties the green haired man to the wood. "When I loosen these, then you'll join my crew, okay?"
"Stop making my decisions for me!" Zoro once again snaps as Monalisa lets out a low chuckle. It was quite a comical scene to witness; a clearly older person arguing with a young teen in a childish manner. "Besides, I have my own things to do. I'm not about to give that up to be some bad person."
"I don't see how that's any difference from how everybody sees you now," Luffy bluntly states, letting go of the rope while folding his arms across his chest. Monalisa dubbed that pose as his 'stubborn pose' and knows right away that this would take a while.
"Do I look like I care?! I've never done anything wrong and I'll never become a pirate!" "I don't care you'll join my crew anyway." "Stop deciding for yourself!"
"Well, when you finally see that Luffy isn't going to give up and you decide to join us, do tell me so I can bust you out of those ropes," Monalisa says. It seems the two forgot the short girl's presence, but now look to her to see the quite bored expression she sports.
"I'm not joining his crew, and I don't need your help to free myself," Zoro growls out, giving the girl a glare. Monalisa just shrugs, not looking convinced at all.
"I heard you use a katana. Is that true?" Monalisa doesn't know why Luffy all of sudden wants to know something like that, but she smells that the boy might be planning something.
His question seems to have surprised Zoro, but it calms him down some enough for him to answer. "If I wasn't tied up, I could use them, yeah."
"Where is it?" Luffy questions.
"That stupid kid took it and it's something that I treasure the most... That I would give my life for!" Zoro's statement has Monalisa's eyes widening. It seems there is something that the green haired man cares a lot about then.
"It must be something great for you to view it as such." The short teen murmurs to which Luffy nods his head. Zoro just huffs, looking away for a moment.
"Yosh! I'll get it and then you'll have to join my crew!" At Luffy words, Monalisa sighs while Zoro goes back to having a fit. So that was her friend's plan all along... Really, Monalisa should've seen that coming.
"That's dirty, you little..." Luffy only lets out a loud laugh before turning around and heading straight for the building. Her eyes trained on Zoro, Monalisa doesn't bother to follow after her best friend. As if feeling her eyes on him, Zoro turns to her his annoyance clear on his face.
"What are you staring at, midget?" His glare once again doesn't even faze the short girl, which Zoro found irritating. It's as if starvation somehow made his glare less menacing or something. Maybe he's gotten soft?
"Monalisa," she says and he turns his eyes back to her.
"What?"
"My name is Monalisa. Not midget." Her eyes do not glance away from his dark ones throughout the exchange; Zoro finds it unnerving. A slow smile begins to spread across her face and Zoro notes the teasing nature it has. "And I'm staring at you."
"Why's that?"
"You're hot." Her answer makes him choke on his spit and Zoro begins to splutter.
"W-what-"
"You're hot." Monalisa shrugs, finally looking away to where Luffy had run off to. "I don't need to follow after Luffy, he'll come back with your stuff and then I'll set you free."
His face still slightly flushed from her embarrassing words, Zoro wonders how the small girl could free him from the ropes. It's then that he finally looks away from her weird orange hair and away from her childish face to her right hand that holds a folded axe which startles the bounty hunter. This is where he becomes more keen on looking over the young teen. If he looks closely, he can see the muscles outlined on her arms. Zoro can also see the girl's abs peeking out from the bottom of her shirt that stops just above her navel.
"You finished checking me out, hun?" Her words have him pulling back in alarm to which she laughs at while pulling at the hem of shirt up slightly. "Want a better view?"
"S-shut up!"
"I'm going to enjoy having you on the crew, Zo-chan~!"
"I'm not joining your crew! And don't call me that, you perverted woman!"
So we see that Monalisa is a bit of pervert and likes to tease... lol. No worries, Zoro and Monalisa won't be paired (it might change a little later... but just be warned Monalisa is a tease!)
We finally meet Zoro (who just happens to be one of my faves - right after Usopp and Chopper- on the Strawhat crew! Tell me what you think either by a review (which I would love so much) or by simply PMing me (that works too!) Any questions and I'll try to answer!
Thanks are going out once again to Beta; AliceInTheSunlight! Bless her heart
I'll be seeing you guys next chapter! See ya~!