Stepping into the noisy classroom, he knew once he was spotted, the room would go silent. As he predicted, the second that one of his classmates noticed him, they poked their friends and pointed to him.

He could feel all the stares as he sat down in his usual seat in the back, where he was practically impossible to notice unless you were looking at him before. The gazes turned away, to his relief, and the room soon became loud again. He sighed as he looked around the classroom.

His old friends were sitting together and laughing, just like they had when he was there. He snorted to himself when he saw one glance over at him in fear. He put his head down on the desk, cushioning his head in his arms. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what it used to be like when he was with his friends, but the memories were fleeting. He could barely remember their names, and he never forgot anything.

Sighing lightly, he could hear footsteps approaching him. Glancing up, he saw a few boys his age, and two girls sitting in the empty seats around him. Oh, well. They would move eventually, when they found out who he was.

"Attention, class! Today we have... eight? Eight new students! Go ahead and say hi and introduce yourselves!" the teacher bubbled, looking at the kids around the black-haired boy in the back and completely ignoring him.

"Roronoa Zoro," the green-haired, silvery-green-eyed boy grunted, leaning back in his seat. The raven could tell he wasn't much of a talker, but he wasn't all bad.

"Nami," the orange-haired girl with light brown eyes said happily. The boy decided that he should be cautious around her, because he could see the greedy look in her eyes.

"Nico Robin," the black-haired girl with the piercing blue eyes said softly, just loud enough to be heard by everyone. Besides her cold-looking eyes, the boy could tell that she had a good heart.

"Usopp the Great!" the boy with the fluffy, long black hair grinned smugly. The other raven, sitting behind him, could tell he was just trying to act cool.

"Cutty Flam, but you call me Franky!" the one with the blue hair, sticking straight up, said. He rubbed his metal nose cockily, the class noting that he was a cyborg.

"Sanji," the blond boy said, standing next to Nami and Robin. He had pretty swirly eyebrows. One could get dizzy by just looking at them. The boy in the back could tell he was a pervet by the way he was eyeing the girls in the class.

"I'm Brook! Nice to see you! Ah! But I have no eyes to see you with! Yohoho~!" a bony one with afro-like hair laughed. Skeletons were uncommon, but they weren't rare. So they were accepted by most. He seemed alright, but he had pretty lame jokes.

"I'm Tony Tony Chopper," the small, blue-nosed reindeer said shyly, sitting at one of the special desks for short kids like him. The boy could tell that Chopper had a unique personality, and that he could make a good docter if he ever wanted to be one.

He put his head down tiredly, knowing that the kids would leave as soon as the teacher stopped her little 'introduction'. When the teacher got to him, she spat his name out as if it was poison. But to his mild surprise, they stayed seated right where they were. And even more astonishing, Nami smiled at him. He blinked incrediously at her. Did she not know the rumor yet? If she didn't, she would soon. As the teacher released them to talk for a while, he heard someone approaching.

"Hello there! I'm Nami. What's your name?" He heard Nami's bubbly voice from somewhere above him. He lifted his head to see all eight of the new kids staring at him behind their leader, Nami.

"Luffy," he muttered before putting his head back down.

"Nice to meet you, Luffy! Do you wanna talk with us?" Nami kept talking, oblivious to his little signs that he just wanted them to go away.

"No, thanks," he said flatly, not missing the small flash of hurt that crossed her face. The other seven kids went to go talk over in the back corner, forming a small circle of desks.

"Aw, why not?"

"Cause."

"Cause why?"

"Just cause."

"Why?"

"Because I've never talked with someone this long before." Nami blinked at his blunt answer.

"Well, then it's time to change that! You're talking with us, whether you want to or not!"

"Why?"

"Because I said so!"

"... That's not a good reason..."

"Who cares? Just come on already!" Nami huffed, grabbing his hood and pulling him over to the group of newbies, who had seated themselves around a desk. And, to Luffy's horror, Arlong was in the middle, grinning like the shark he was.