In Little Ways

Chapter 4

Luffy's face was aflame, and she was frozen with that realization. The recipient of it all was there- Across the room, at the bar.

The man was clean shaven, yet paradoxically roguish. Slim, yet muscular. Long, light blue hair done high up in a ponytail. Purple face paint complemented tan skin. And-

Oh, god.

It sounded like the beginnings of a horrible adult romance novel. Except that Luffy was six, and wasn't about to have an ill conceived one night stand. And the target of said sudden and uncharacteristic infatuation was someone with a big fat, bright red perfectly round nose.

It was Buggy the freakin' Clown.

"Do you not like parties?" Makino wasn't sure why she started the conversation with the older man with the impossibly round nose, but she was glad that she did. The poor man was such a sad clown that Makino just wanted to reach out and give him a hug.

"Ah. That's not it. I love parties." It wasn't so much an answer as it was a diversion. For some reason the normally aloof Makino was a little ticked off at the short answer. Thinking of ways to coax out a different reaction other than curt from... Buggy, such a strange name, made Makino intrigued.

"Oh? You don't seem to be enjoying yourself much for a person that loves parties." Buggy seemed to be isolating himself from the rest of the room. Which lead Makino to her next line of inquiry.

"Problems with your crew?"

"They're not my crew," It seemed to Makino that Buggy was being self-depreciating despite not having uttered a single word about himself. "I'm just... Someone who loves parties, hanging around, because the Captain is someone who... Knows how to party." Buggy scoffed, and Makino couldn't help that it endeared him to her. Not wanting for an uncomfortable silence to descend, Makino wondered if...

"The Captain seems like a wonderful," Buggy seemed like someone fun to tease. "Boyfriend."

Makino wasn't expecting such a cute face to appear, too bad about the, maybe, reasons behind it.

"Shanks and I are not an item!" It was hard to take that statement seriously, and take it with a pinch of salt. But aren't people excellent at only hearing what they want?

It was right then that the Captain in question appeared, although it wasn't certain whether he had heard what was said. Makino felt a tiny pang of jealousy at their close proximity. Or maybe it came from their matching sashes. "So.." And Makino might have made sure the Captain knew it, when they made eye contact. "What are we talking about?"

What happened next made Makino's eyes widen. It wasn't everyday that you saw something so hilarious.

"Shanks!... Sorry, man."

"Ahahaha! It's a'right! But if you didn't want me here, all you had to do was ask." Why did it feel like it was directed at her?

Makino began to vigorously shine an already cleaned cup. It's not like she gave Buggy a cup of water just for all of that to happen!

Looking back up, Makino found herself looking at the back of Buggy's head. Since when was it that Buggy faced the other way?

Makino found herself getting a glimpse of the nape of his neck as Buggy turned his head, absently tracking the captain. The tips of Buggy's ears were red, and Makino found herself wishing to see his flushed face. Makino frowned at his back. The implications almost put Makino in a bad mood, but putting those thoughts aside, she restarted their previously interrupted conversation.

"He certainly seems like a handful." Makino studied his back, not really checking him out, but trying to figure out something on the back of her own mind.

"Hmmm." Makino begun strumming her long fingers, something she hadn't done since childhood.

"Like I was saying... That's a big N-O." When Buggy turned around Makino's eyes went to their midriff jacket. Maybe that was it. Were they kindred spirits? If so than maybe she was bisexual or pansexual.

"We're the best of friends, though. Not that I would ever admit that." Makino wondered then if Buggy had even noticed that they were now thinking out loud.

"Oh? So you're single than?"

"Do you not like parties?" The bartender was a woman with black hair and brown eyes. Buggy was a little nervous, and couldn't quite look her in the eye. There must have been a real lull in her duties, to be here striking up a conversation with Buggy.

"Ah. That's not it. I love parties." Unused to speaking with civilian strangers without Shanks, Buggy kept it short. Looking around Buggy was satisfied with noting that everyone else was occupied with either food or drink.

"Oh? You don't seem to be enjoying yourself much for someone that loves parties." If it weren't for- Makino, was it? -san's carefully neutral expression, Buggy would have found her smile, and her chin in palm resting position exceedingly condescending. "Problems with your crew?"

"They're not my crew. I'm just... Someone who loves parties, hanging around, because the Captain is someone who.. Knows how to party." Buggy scoffed. That was a definite understatement.

"The Captain seems like a wonderful.." Buggy sighed. Did I just unwittingly play wingman again? Buggy hated it when that happened. All it did was remind Buggy on how broken she was. "Boyfriend." Buggy almost did a spit-take. That red-haired bastard was right, someone actually thought that Shanks and Buggy were involved!

"Shanks and I are not an item!" Buggy wanted to facepalm. That had come out way too loud.

Buggy felt a sudden weight around the neck area, the familiar warmth of Buggy's best friend.

"So.. What are we talking about?" Oh, shit!

This time Buggy did do a spit take - right into Shanks' face.

"Shanks! ... Sorry, man." Shanks didn't hear their conversation, right? If he did, Buggy was never going to hear the end of it.

"Ahahaha! It's a'right! But if you didn't want me here, all you had to do was ask." Shanks waved his arms around, indicating his now wet and sticky face.

"Benn~ Buggy spit on me again~" The man was off wandering in a random direction.

Buggy felt ears redden. Makino didn't hear that did she? For some reason Buggy didn't want her to know that Buggy was a serial spit-taker.

"He certainly seems like a handful."

"Hmm?" When did I turn around in my seat? Buggy turned around to face Makino, since it seemed like she still wanted to talk some more.

"Like I was saying.. That's a big N-O. We're the best of friends, though. Ah. Not that I would ever admit that."

"Oh? So you're single then?"

"Yep." Buggy popped the p, having long been resigned to the fact that she couldn't feel love. At least- the romantic kind of love was out of the question. Sure, she had loved the Captain, her Captain, Roger, but he had been like a father to her. And, yea, she loved Shanks, and-

She had thought long and hard on this, twenty-six years really, but she was sure, since years ago that every time that she thought of the the word like- It was always along the line of platonic likes and loves. She didn't get why there were sometimes hearts in people's eyes, and she definitely didn't get why anyone would want to grind against another.

It was like trying to sleep with a big, fat cat lying on your chest, and fish breath all up in your grill.

It was like an anchor had suddenly become attached to the body-

Where upon it was thrown with the intent to land in the sea, but the next thing you know you aren't at the bottom of the ocean. You're in a field of stars instead, in outer space, and as expected there's no oxygen. There's no bubbles escaping your mouth, telling you which ways up and which ways down.

Luffy was gobsmacked.

She had felt this excruciating pain and discomfort only a few times before, and in another life, but she had never felt the likes of this before. At least to this extent.

It was something that I never thought would ever happen to me, despite the doubt. Something had followed me from my past life, and manifested in a way that I would never have expected.

It could have been a squish, but there was no reason for it. Today was the first day I'd even laid eyes on them. There was no reason for wanting to be their friend. Maybe it was a squish, but what it felt like was a crush.

Almost an entire life was spent believing that I was like a majority of the people in the world. I thought I was a romantic. Until I realized that I wasn't. It wasn't until I was twenty, did I found out what I was. Gray-aromantic, sex-repulsed Asexual. The question was... Was I still one?

AN: First before I explain anything else, I want to say that because of some characters whose genders are changed while there are others who stay the same that it'll change how some people turn out, like their personalities. Also since fan-fiction practically thrives on the concept of the multiverse, I might go more into detail about everyone's sexual identity or orientation; or change it up entirely.

And don't worry guys, Luffy is still going to be Aromantic/Asexual. But since this is an SI, I'm going to add some stuff from my personal life like actually saying aromantic and asexual instead of just implying it like Oda-sensei. So I'm Gray-Romantic, Sex-repulsed Asexual, and Agender so there's that. There's some difference between the original Luffy and this one, because well.. Gray means that sometimes I find myself falling romantically in love, but I've noticed that it's not as intense as other's romantic love. And I also get over crushes easier and stuff. As a child though I didn't so much as get crushes as squishes, and I thought it would be fun to give myself a childhood crush, so there. After all I'm mentally still an adult, but don't worry this isn't going to turn into some squicky fic about a relationship with a twenty year age difference.

Okay.. Now I'm going to go over the changes I made for the fic.

Shanks is a cis male whose Aromantic, but is bisexual, leaning towards women. He's pretty much the same as cannon.

Makino is a trans girl. Did anybody catch that before? I tried making it subtle. She's not aromantic or asexual or anything like that, but all of the people she's liked before have all been guys, so when she notices that Buggy is actually a girl, she's a little surprised. Also after her realization she starts using the pronoun they, because she starts to wonder if Buggy is a trans guy or just a butchy gal. Makino is pretty much the same as cannon except a little more passive aggressive.

Buggy is actually agender, but the vocabulary isn't known and one piece isn't exactly in the age of information for raising awareness. She does have a slight case of body dysphoria, and trans people do exist in one piece, so she used to think that she was transguy. So her manly clothing style, use of ore, and her handsome good looks (lol) cause a lot of people to mistake her for a man, but it's also a result of her youth when she was figuring out who she was. Within the confines of her own mind she uses gender neutral pronouns and she, but doesn't really mind if people confuse her gender. If she uses ore than why is Makino unsure of her gender? Because she uses ore with the pirates but watashi with Makino because she's speaking politely, so Makino is unsure if she's just speaking casually with her crew or if its a gender thing.

Furthermore, because of Buggy being born a girl, she's practically a different person (because people treated them differently growing up). For one instead of having an inferiority-superiority complex, this Buggy just has a regular old inferiority one. Also the original Buggy was cis-male and this one isn't even cis. Her aromanticism is also a bigger part of her life than it was for the original one. She's not obsessed with treasure like the original one was, and is also less ambitious although she still doesn't want to have Shanks as captain. And kinda wants to be one herself. But its more like she wont accept anyone other than Roger as captain than not wanting to be under another person. She also dislikes crowds, and used to have an aversion to touch. And mostly because of Shanks' personality and touchy feely kind of approach to their friendship that she got rid of her aversion to touch. Her fighting style is pretty much the same old, showy style though. She's pretty antisocial outside of the battle field. And yes she dresses like a clown, except she wears a midriff jacket.. which is colored pretty bright (purple).

And Shanks and Buggy, I like to think that like a lot like the original pair that these two are queer platonic friends. It's just the cannon one split up because Shanks knew that they would butt heads way too much and might have ended up enemies if they stayed near each other, although I like to think that Buggy was a little hurt that Shanks didn't argue a bit more. And that in this universe Shanks fought a little to stay a bit longer with Buggy because he's worried about her.

All of my crushes have been on guys, so yes this is the cliche gender misunderstanding.