Disclaimer: I don't own OnePiece or any characters therein.
'Things are not always as they seem'
Anonymous.
Chapter 4: New's To Me. pt. 1
Zolo waved to the bartender, who was washing a mug, as he left. He looked about him as he pushed past the bar's double door's and into the cold night air. This was a small town so he could easily see the wood's which Luffy had said the girl 'Tika' had lived in. It was probably stupid to think that she still lived there after all this time, but Luffy hadn't said anything about her moving in his story so it was the only clue that he had. It may be a long shot, but he had to go for it.
As he walked, he thought about what this girl must look like to have been able to stick in Luffy's memories for so long. He wasn't sure why, but the thought of Luffy giving so much of his time in the last few days to thoughts of this stranger was aggravating him to no end. What was so great about her? Was Luffy really in love with her? Well, he didn't say that he was IN love with her. Only that he loved her as more than a friend. Who was he kidding? What else could Luffy mean when he had said that he loved her as more than a friend? And why the hell was it bothering him so much? It's not like he was liked the little brat like THAT. He was just worried about his captain.
He stopped walking when he came to the edge of the forest. He didn't know the way to the house and he would probably get lost. He gave an exasperated sigh as he figured that it would be a while before he got any sleep. With that he started off into the dense outline of tree's.
One Hour Later...
"Finally!" Zolo said as he caught sight of a small roof. He jumped down out of the tree that he had tooken roost in only five minutes ago and strated in the direction that he had seen the house in. after a few minutes walking he came into full veiw of it and wondered how anybody could live in such a small place. then he remembered what Luffy had told him about the girls parent's being dead. 'I guess they just had to make due with what they had' he thought. He felt a little guilty about how he had been... angry at the girl because of the pain that she had caused Luffy.
Straitning himself up, he went to the door and knocked three times ina insistant, yet not hurried pattern. It took a minute for the door to be answered, but to his relief, someone did answer. And it was a girl.
"Yes?" she asked rather blearily. It was understandable that she was still tired. It was pretty early and he had probably woken her up. "Can I help you, sir?"
"Yes, actually. I think you can. Would your name happen to be Tika?" He asked. She opened the door all the way, seemingly wanting to get a good look at him. This inadvertantly gave hima a full veiw of her. She was about Luffy's age and had long, light brown hair that went down to about her waist. She was shapely and seemed to have grey-ish eye's. Her face was slim with a slightly pointed, but also rather smooth and round chin. She had a small petite nose and medium lips. Her neck was just the right size for a girl and her shoulders were anything but broad. Her arms were slim and only slightly musceled, and her hands were as petite and perfect as her nose and neck. Her cleavage was a little smaller than Nami's, but not to small. She was wearing what looked like a bath robe over what he guessed to be pajama's. He could only see the legs hanging out of the bottom of the robe.
"That would be my name, yes. Are you trying to sell something or get into my house?" she asked. This surprised him. He had suspected her to be shy like Luffy had described her being during town festivals, but instead she was acting rather brash.
"Neither, actually. I was wanting to talk to you about something that happened to you probably a few years ago? Something to do with someone named Luffy?" he was rather tentative about bringing up the subject. He hadn't exactly prepared a speech.
She went from nearly sleep walking to wide awake in less than two seconds. She turned from the door and motioned for him to follow. He did and watched as she turned on a few lights in what appeared to be the living room. He was a little worried that she might be mad a Luffy still and not want to try and help him get Luffy back to being his old self, but that fear was quickly thrown aside when she asked "Do you know him? Have you heard from him recently? Is he doing alright? Is he in town?"
"Whoa! Take it easy on the questions please. Okay, first thing's first. Yes, I kow him. I am his first mate on his crew which currently consist's of four people. He has his own ship, the 'Going Merry', and is pretty much getting along okay. That is, he was until we came here. He is feeling guilty about what happened when he left and is not acting like himself at all. Which is why I am here. I want you to help me to put him at rest about the whole thing. I don't exactly have a plan, but I have got to do something because I refuse to listen to a captain who is weighted down by grief. That is not the man I pledged to follow. My captain is cheerey and goofy and a complete and total idiot and I would follow him into a war against the army with only the crew members that he has now. I want THAT captian back." He let out a long sigh as he finished his little speech. He had no idea where it had come from, but he thought that he had done pretty well on it. When he looked back to Tika though he could have sworn he was a wearing a mix between a clown costume and a tuxedo. She had the wierdest look in her eyes that said she was either going to faint or burst out laughing. "What?" He asked, not sure if he should be insulted or proud.
"Nothing. I'm just glad that Luffy is doing well and has such a loyal crew, is all." she said. He wasn't sure that this was true, but decided to let it go under the current circumstances. "About your little crusade to get Luffy back to his old self? Well, I will help you under one condition: you have to get him to let me join his crew. I won't help otherwise. I know that it sounds cruel and selfish, but I have been stuck in this small town where nothing EVER happens and it is starting to drive me crazy. I have to get out of here. So, is it a deal?"
Zolo was a little wary about the idea of her joining the crew. He didn't know anything about her (besides what Luffy had told him), but then again, he hadn't known anything about the other's when they joined either. "Alright." He would just have to get used to the idea of having her around because there was no way that he was going to tolerate having Luffy acting as strange as he had in the last few days. He took Tika's extended hand and shook it in the traditional fashion of closing off a deal.
"Now to buisness. How are we going to work this out?" These were the word's that started an all night discussion on the one and only true 'Straw Hat' pirate.
A/U) So what do you think? Pleas review!