Author's Note: Hello, and thank you for reading the ninth chapter of Kyou-Kyou Love! I hope you are enjoying the story. There was just one thing that I wanted to clear up for you guys. That is, why exactly this story is rated 'M'.
KKL! is rated M because in future chapters I use a good amount of curse words and I write some pretty in-depth, very detailed, violent fight scenes. In the very, very distant future I have plans for some smut, too. So, yeah, that's why I chose to rate it 'M'. If you guys think that I should change the rating, please tell me. I'm really not used to or ratings. I was following the guidelines but it seems to me that a lot of people on here only rate lemons or detailed smut 'M', and it's harder to get viewers when your story is rated M, because people may come expecting sex, sex, and more sex. Anyway I just wanted to talk to you guys about that.
I am having a lot of fun revising all of these chapters and reposting them. It's so much fun reliving the KKL experience. ;u; Please enjoy the ninth chapter! (I happen to really like this one!)
"How is it?" As Hisoka spoke, she resembled a child standing in front of a candy store. She was restlessly shifting her feet and playing with her hands, all the while staring at the curtain hanging from the ceiling of the women's chambers on the Going Merry. Her green eyes were wide with eager anticipation. Her smile was giddier than usual. Her excitement started to grow out her control, and she bit down on her lip in an attempt to withhold it. "Nami?" she pressed with enthusiastic impatience. "Do you like it? How does it look?" Hisoka had minimal control over the words dancing off of her tongue.
"U-Um." Hisoka's smile dropped when she heard Nami's worried stutter from the other side of the curtain. She could hear her friend shifting about, grumbling now and again. "Just give me a second," Nami breathed nervously. Hisoka leaned backwards, her brows pressing down on her eyes, which were quickly losing their whimsical incitement. Her smile was lost to tightly pursed lips.
"What's going on?" Hisoka's question darted from her soft lips like a bullet. Yet, she was sure she was more shocked than Nami was by the sharpness of her tongue. This had been happening to her a lot recently. Irritability, a shorter temper, violent urges, angry thoughts—they were all very precise antonyms of Hisoka, yet she was carrying them on her shoulders as though they were her key personality traits. It was one of the most unsettling things Hisoka had to face. The naturally happy girl covered her mouth with her hands as she bit down painfully on her lower lip. Her expression slowly relaxed. "I mean, is something the matter? Are you okay?" Hisoka clasped her hands in front of her once she successfully voiced the question that she had meant to ask. She exposed her gentle smile and anxiety rippled through her eyes.
She heard Nami sigh softly before groaning. "Well, you see, um," Nami grumbled. "There's just a little problem, Hisoka."
"A problem?" Hisoka repeated, cautious of the answer she was going to receive. That was the last thing she had expected to hear from her crewmate.
Still behind the curtain, Nami grumbled incoherently under her breath. "Erm," she muttered before sighing loudly once again. "It needs to be bigger in some areas."
"Bigger?" Hisoka practically gasped. She hadn't taken Nami's measurements, but she hadn't thought that it was necessary. The navigator always wore clothes that showed off a lot of her natural form, and Hisoka had trusted her eye and instinct as a seamstress. They hadn't failed her before.
"Yeah," Nami spoke. The curtain was suddenly pushed aside carelessly and Nami took a step into the room. She stared down at her body before looking back to Hisoka with an irked expression on her face. The brunette's eyes went wide as a look of frenzied alarm spread across her face.
"O-Oh my! Nami, I'm so sorry! I—I didn't…! Oh, oh…" Hisoka trailed off as she began to shake her head and clutch at her chest. She was completely caught off guard. This had never happened before and she had no idea how to even go about dealing with this. Nami stood in front of her, hands on her hips as she tapped her foot on the floor. The shirt that Hisoka had finally finished was bunched up tightly over Nami's breasts, exposing her bra and toned stomach. "Oh, Nami, I am so terribly, terribly sorry. Really, I never thought…." Hisoka found herself at a loss for words as Nami exhaled in an exasperated manner.
"It's fine, Hisoka," she declared peevishly, turning on her heels and roughly pulling the curtain closed.
"No it's not," Hisoka corrected quickly. "I don't know how it went so wrong, honestly. I didn't expect it to… I mean, I—well… It won't happen next time, really! I'll fix it. I'll take your measurements and everything from now on will fit you perfectly, I promise."
Nami's sudden laughter as she walked out from behind the curtain, donning her original clothing, cut off Hisoka's speech. She glanced at Hisoka's crestfallen expression, only to have her laughter intensify as she handed back the shirt to Hisoka. The seamstress held her creation out in front of her, staring at it as though it was written proof of her failure. Nami had stretched the shirt out quite severely, yet Hisoka knew better than to comment on such observations. Before she could ponder on how terribly misconstrued her measurements were, Nami finally ceased her laughter long enough to verbalize her thoughts.
"No need to get so flustered, Hisoka," Nami excused with a wave of her hand as she wiped at her eyes. She went about removing the curtain as Hisoka began to fold the shirt with a dejected look on her face. She kept her thoughts to herself as she reached out and gently took the curtain from Nami's hands, laying it out on her bed before folding it neatly. When she finished the folding and set the fabric away in the correct drawer, Hisoka returned to her desk and stared forlornly at her materials. After a few moments of her pitiful silence, Hisoka shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, snapping them open to reveal a perkier smile and a flush of determination.
"You'll love everything I make from now on, Nami. Just wait," Hisoka said confidently. Her hands fished sloppily across her table, snatching up her measuring tape before turning and facing Nami with her refreshed aura.
Nami stared at the bright yellow roll before standing from her bed and stretching slightly. "I'm sure I will," she assured. With a sigh and a wider smile, Hisoka stood up and began to record Nami's measurements. She blinked a few times as she wrote them down, staring at the numbers in disbelief. It took a few moments, but Nami noticed the change in the girl's settled expression. "Hisoka?" she inquired, taking a few steps towards the girl. She leaned forward, analyzing Hisoka's distant, astonished expression and the paper she was gazing at so intently. Confused, Nami questioned, "What is it?"
With a slightly defeated sigh, Hisoka let go of the paper and let it fall to the table, straightening her back as she rested her face in her palm. "I was so off," she grumbled under her breath. Nami's laughter didn't help ease the damage she had taken. The way she patted her heartily on the back only seemed to add to her suffering.
"That must have really hurt your pride, eh?" the model-like girl laughed. "What did you base my measurements on before, anyway?" Hisoka's response was muffled by her hand as she collapsed into her chair. Resting her elbows on her desk, she peeked through her fingers at the numbers she had written down. She quickly closed her eyes again, practically gluing her hands to her face as she groaned. "I can't hear you, Hisoka," Nami called. Hisoka raised her head just enough to see Nami's intent gaze before she sighed and crumbled onto the table, her head resting on a pile of leftover fabric from Nami's blouse. "Hmmm?" Nami pressed. "Now you've got me all curious."
Hisoka's confession came a little while later. It was mumbled under her breath, and the second it was voiced clear enough for Nami to respond, Hisoka regretted ever being truthful. "I think I used my own measurements by accident." And Nami howled with laughter loud enough to attract a curious shout from Luffy. Hisoka hid her red face as Nami shooed Luffy away through her laughs.
"Oh, first your pride as a seamstress, then your femininity? Oh, Hisoka, I'm sorry!" Nami didn't sound at all apologetic. Hisoka let out a few grumbling sounds, not entirely shocked by her desire to kick Nami out of their room. Ever since Nami had mentioned the man that Hisoka never really thought of, she had been concerned way too much about things she used to consider silly. Of course she would hear the teenage girls on Happy Island crying over this and that, begging Hisoka to give their dresses lower necklines, or a cut that would make them look more like an hourglass. Hisoka never understood it, their avid obsession with their figures. Now she was finally able to relate to their misery. She had never before seen a woman with such measurements, such a tiny waist and such a full bust. It was as shocking as an unexpected punch to the gut would be, she assumed.
So engulfed by her own growing despair, Hisoka didn't realize that Nami had finally stopped her hysteria. She jumped slightly when Nami rubbed her shoulder gently. Looking over at this girl that she suddenly envied, she was surprised to see the soft, kind smile on Nami's face. "I'm sure the other clothes that you make will make me really happy, Hisoka. I'm looking forward to them." Nami's smile quickly proved to be infectious. Watching her demeanor slowly warm up, Nami grinned. "It is kind of funny, though, don't you think?" It took Hisoka a few moments, but she slowly began to giggle. Several minutes later, Hisoka and Nami were splitting their sides with uncontrollable laughter, and they couldn't even recall why.
It had been a bit less than a week since Hisoka had finally gotten used to the torturous sun. She was sure that there were other things that would plague in her in the future, much to her despair. Yet, she decided not to dwell on those ideas. Dwelling wasn't something she was really capable of with the antics of her crewmembers. They were always running and talking, laughing and playing. Hisoka was having fun.
Hisoka had no idea what it meant to be a pirate. She sometimes felt that she understood the idea better back when she was stuck on Happy Island. They were mean, they were gruff, they searched for treasure and fought with their lives, they grumbled their speech and hated to be insulted, they wanted to be better than everyone and they wanted to own everything, and they probably always reeked of grimy sweat and rum. Although, Luffy and the others had proved her theory to be so horribly wrong that Hisoka wanted to deny she ever thought it up. On the Going Merry, they called each other pirates, but Hisoka always felt like she was at a party. Like she was playing. Like she was with friends.
Hisoka did consider all of these people to be her close, close friends—her nakama. They saved her and they brought change into her life. This was a type change that she never knew of, that she never expected, and it was a change that she loved. She felt so close to all of them. She felt closer to them than she did to a lot of the people on Happy Island. Hisoka couldn't understand it, but she didn't understand a lot of the things that happened since Mama Suki completed her. She thought she was so perfectly happy on her island, with all of her friends, fixing their lives, making them smile. She took care of them and they loved her for it. On the Going Merry, though, Hisoka had expected it to be different. She thought that it would be a replica of her times before she ate the Kyou-Kyou Devil Fruit. They had never seen her eyes, after all. She had never taken care of them. She had never shown them happiness. She had never protected them. They never considered her to be their medicine. They never felt like they needed her. They didn't count on her for anything really important. Yet, she had a feeling that they were taking care of her. And Hisoka had no idea why. It was a different experience—one that Hisoka feared would be addicting.
If Hisoka returned to Happy Island right now, she knew that she would have a hole in her gut. They had grown on her, and to have them ripped away like that would be to define the meaning of heartbreak. So, she had a feeling that she was already addicted to this new life. She couldn't imagine a day without Nami's stubbornness and pride. Hisoka almost respected the way she bossed everyone around and did whatever was necessary to get her way. She admired Zoro's shocking strength, determination, and his unparalleled sleeping schedule. She had never known that someone could have such a skewed concept of time, yet Usopp frequently mentioned to her that it was most likely linked to his absolute lack of direction. Usopp told her a lot of things, mostly because she was the one would was able to listen to him for the longest. His stories were believable in an unbelievable sense of the word. They distracted her from everything else. Then, of course, there was the boy that she held responsible for her new life: Luffy, her captain. His blunt personality was charming at times, and along with his contagious, free, and wild laughter, it made her forget about his subconscious cruelty while she was ill. Luffy did manage to do things that reminded her of those times all too vividly, though, which make her madly irritable. Yet, the rage that consumed her when Luffy would question her temper was unfathomable even to her. Still, he somehow managed to accidentally erase all of her fury with the simplest of actions or words. With power like that, Hisoka deemed him more than worthy to be captain.
With all of these inexplicably strong feelings for all of them, it pained Hisoka to ever question how they felt about her. They were friendly towards her, and they referred to her as their nakama, but Hisoka never really felt like she did anything to deserve their friendships. She felt greedy, wanting them to enjoy her company as much as they enjoyed hers. She wanted to make them happy. She wanted them to feel like their lives wouldn't be the same if she wasn't there, either. For now, though, Hisoka wholeheartedly accepted her position as the seamstress of Luffy's pirate crew. Beautiful clothing made everyone happy, Hisoka believed. Her nakama most certainly weren't shy when it came to making their requests.
Usopp demanded the most intricate captain's uniform in all the sea, one that would strike fear into the hearts of anyone that dared to face him. Nami had loaded her with dozens and dozens of requests. If anything came to mind that she even thought she would desire in the slightest, she asked Hisoka to make it for her. Luffy and Zoro hardly ever asked for anything from Hisoka, though. She would sew up holes in their clothing, and at times make spare clothing for them to wear while theirs were being washed, but that was it. This made Hisoka feel terribly useless, to say the least. Luffy assured her that if anything ever happened to his hat, that he would have her fix it immediately. Zoro would say something about battle wounds. None of it made Hisoka feel any less burdensome, yet she was able to forget her worries the second they got engaged in conversation. Whenever she spent time with them, it was difficult for her to think about much else other than how much she valued the happiness they gave her.
Although, no matter how much they meant to her, part of her heart was still left behind at Happy Island. She would always love that place like no other. Everything that had ever happened on that island was what made Hisoka who she was today. She could never forget that, even if she wanted to. If Hisoka ever forgot about her dreams, or if she was ever pained by memories of the home she had lost, or if she ever felt like crying and giving up, Happy Island gave her something to remember. It gave her something nobody else ever had. It gave her motivation and the will to move forward, to do things she sometimes felt were forced upon her. She wasn't carefree and confident like Luffy. She wasn't stubborn and bossy like Nami. She wasn't strong and determined like Zoro. She sometimes didn't even feel like she had the ability to bring up the false power that Usopp always mustered. So, when she felt like giving up, or turning around, or changing her mind, Happy Island had given her something to remember. She had people there waiting for her. People that were cheering for her. People she cherished. People she needed to protect. People that counted on her. People that were expecting her. So, when Hisoka ever got to the point where she didn't care if she disappointed herself, she remembered that she would be letting them down. And that always pushed her forward, because no matter what, she didn't want to fail them again.
"Why are you crying? Everybody…. Please, speak to me. Tell me what's wrong!" But none of them did. They just stared at her, never approaching her, never looking away, never responding. Some were frowning, some had tears pouring down their miserable expressions, some were sobbing, others were screaming on their knees. "I want to help you! Please, I don't want you to hurt this much!" They wouldn't accept her help, though. They glanced at her when she spoke, showing her that they heard her. Were they ignoring her? Didn't they trust her? Didn't they need her?
"Please! I can't take this! At least look at me!" They stared at her, but none of them looked directly into her eyes the way they needed to. They were looking at different parts of her face. They were watching her hands and knees shake. They were watching her lips quiver. They were watching her cheeks flush red. They were obviously in too much pain to speak, to act, to ever imagine feeling better. These were the points in time when the only thing they needed to do was look at her. But they just wouldn't. What was so wrong with her that they weren't coming to her?
"I can help you smile again!" She was crying out with all of her heartache, but none of their expressions changed. If anything, the atmosphere became even more desolate. "Don't you understand that!? I can help you feel better! Why won't you accept it!? Please, everybody stop crying!" A nervous breakdown was looming dangerously close to her sanity as she felt something stealing her breath away. It was like the scrawny fingers of her oppressed suffering were taking away her ability to feel content. She needed them to smile, for her sake! She tried to run to them, to grab them and force them to look at her. The second they saw her eyes, they would have forgiven her. She was just trying to help them. Her feet were rooted to the floor, though, and she couldn't move at all.
Staring down, she saw Eri gazing up at her. The child clung so tightly to her legs, chaining her to the ground. "E-Eri…. Please, release me! I have to make everyone smile again!" Eri didn't, though. She didn't move an inch. She stared up at her with abandoned, wet eyes and a blank frown. "Don't you want me to help them!?"
"You can help us?" Eri asked. Her voice sliced through Hisoka's lungs, creating screams.
"Of course I can!"
"No you can't." Hisoka wanted to deny her accusation, but she couldn't speak. Her trembling lips were sewn shut. "How could you ever help us with a face like that?" Her eyes widened as she reached up and slapped her hands over her face. Her mouth fell open and she forgot to breathe. Her face was wet. "Why do you want us to look at a crying face?"
Hisoka's eyes snapped open. She was awake again. She calmly sat up in her bed, rubbing at her eyes as her pupils adjusted to the lack of light. She drew her dry palms away from her face, staring at them in silence. It took her a while, but a soft smile finally fell on her lips and her hard, frightened gaze softened. A subtle sigh left her lips as she slowly removed the blanket from her body, moving to sit on the side of her bed. She flinched when her feet made one of the floor boards creak. She bit down on her lip, her eyes darting around the room, freezing on Nami's shifting figure. She calmed when it appeared that Nami had merely stirred. Hisoka reached up, running her hands over her messy braids.
Hisoka's tired eyes drooped and she yawned. She felt her bed rocking ever so gently along with the rest of the Going Merry. She listened to Nami's rhythmic breathing and the soothing sounds of the oceans that surrounded them. Certainly she remembered her mother telling her how wonderful it was to fall asleep to the sounds of waves, but Hisoka had only had time to associate negative feelings with the unpredictable sea. It was what she gazed at when she was ill enough to be praying for death. It was always the first thing she heard when she awoke in the midst of every night. Holding her pillow in her lap, Hisoka sighed again. She never before thought she would wish so strongly for the morning to come with such urgency. But, that was what she wished for each and every night as she sat on her bed and forced herself to be silent.
During the day, she had her nakama surrounding her, distracting her, making her smile and laugh, helping her forget. She never had much time to fret when the sun was in the sky and they were joking around. The smile on her face grew as she held back her soft laughter, forcing herself to remain as still as the night. When the sun was replaced with moon, though, it was always so quiet. She could fall asleep easy enough, but she was left alone to dream and worry about all the things she had left behind. Everything she avoided so easily under the hot sun surrounded her the same way the ocean did their ship every night. It stole her from her slumber—made her fear the nightmares to the point where she didn't want to rest her head on the pillow and close her eyes again.
Hisoka turned her head around until she could make out the letter she had framed above her desk. That promise from Mama Suki always made her feel like she was cared for and needed. It always lifted her spirits. She had grown to cherish it more than anything. Hisoka sometimes wondered if that was the brilliant scientist's intentions. Turning and staring back down at her pillow, Hisoka hugged the comforting fluff to her chest. What would she do tonight? Hisoka generally worked on her clothing or read a book until the others awoke. When another yawn stretched her lips apart, Hisoka realized she was much too tired to do anything that required concentration. She wished there was a way to fall asleep and not have dreams or nightmares. She wished there was a medicine—possibly a potion, or a serum, or maybe even a pill. She never liked taking medicine. It always tasted horrible, no matter how her mother served it to her. She could still recall the way she would flinch away when she reached for the medicine cabinet. There were even a few times where she had run away from her home to avoid taking it, but it never worked. She frequently threatened to run away whenever she was upset with her parents. She'd go to the ocean and become a mermaid and never come back home, she'd warn. She always wanted to wear a real pearl necklace and seashell earrings.
Hisoka quickly inhaled, jerking her head up when she felt her forehead hit the pillow. Trying to relax her alarmed heart, she reached up and wiped her bangs out of her eyes. She had almost fallen asleep again. Shaking her head back and forth to try and force away the feelings of fatigue, Hisoka threw the pillow back to the head of her mattress. She stood to her feet slowly, stretching out her body to get the blood flowing again. All of her attempts proved to be futile, though. After all her stretching and shaking and mental commands to stay awake, Hisoka still felt exhausted. She gazed blankly at Nami's form, absentmindedly licking her lips. She looked away as her head began to feel as heavy as her eyelids. Maybe she should try to convince Nami to let her always be the nighttime lookout. Nami was stubborn, though. She never wanted Hisoka to be burdened with anything that would interrupt the quick completion of her requests. Besides, what if it was storming one night? Hisoka would never want subject herself to remaining outside during that.
Though, suddenly something entered Hisoka's ears that managed to perk up even her dead brain. She was still for several moments before her eyes widened slightly. A very weak, weary smile lifted her cheeks as she began to clumsily stumble towards the stairs, grabbing her pillow along the way. Just as she put her hand on the hatch, though, Nami yawned out, forcing Hisoka to stop.
"W-What are you doing, Hisoka?" Nami grumbled, half-asleep.
"Going outside," she responded in a similar manner.
"Why?" Nami muttered, rolling around in her bed and adjusting the blankets to cover her legs again. "You gotta…sleep…more."
Hisoka stared at Nami with a deadpan expression before yawning again. "No reason," she mumbled in a whisper. "Just go back to sleep…."
"Nnn," Nami breathed, plopping her head back down on the pillow. "'Kay. Dun blame me if 'sopp keeps ya up, hmm…"
Hisoka didn't respond. She just blinked her eyes a few times to keep them open before finally mustering up enough strength to push open the hatch and climb into the storage room. Tripping over her own feet several times, it took the tired girl a while to finally open the door that exposed herself to the deck. The rush of wind blew some of her hair into her face and gave her body enough of a chill to make her more alert. She closed the door behind her as gently as she could, yawning again and pressing her pillow closer to her chest, kneading the feathers with her fingers through the soft fabric.
"Oi, Hisoka! Did you wake up because you wanted meat, too?" Even though Hisoka's mind was running at a very, very slow pace and she was slipping in and out of a dream-like daze, that voice rang through her head like thousands of bells. She froze for a second, hesitant of how to respond. She slowly turned around, gazing with half-lidded eyes through the dark, moon-lit air. She held her breath before slowly releasing a loud, long sigh, which urged her to yawn once again. If her pillow wasn't in the way, Hisoka had a feeling she would have been clutching at her chest.
Luffy gazed back at her with a wide-awake aura surrounding him and curiosity hopping around in his bright, alive eyes. She looked different than she normally did during the day. He observed the way her hair, which was normally always curly, was tucked away in two sloppy braids, one hanging over each shoulder. Instead of the light green, slightly frilly dress she wore most of the time, she was dressed in a bland white dress that came down to her ankles. He looked back at her face, one of his eyebrows cocking slightly. She was the only person he knew that actually changed her clothes during the nighttime. She looked very different to him. There was one thing that was the same, though. That was the way the corners of her mouth were curled upwards gently. Her lips parted, and she quickly covered her mouth to capture her yawn.
"Luffy, Usopp," Hisoka greeted in the liveliest voice she could manage. She stumbled towards them, dropping her pillow on the floor next to her two crewmates.
"Oh, Hisoka. Why are you up?" Usopp inquired in a quiet voice. Through drooping eyes, the sleepy girl looked up at him after she took a seat on the floor. Usopp was standing, leaning against the edge of the boat, looking out at the sea every now and again like he was supposed to. He was on watch duty, after all. Luffy sat next to Usopp's legs, across from her. It was Usopp's voice that had drawn her out here, though. She hadn't been expecting to see her captain. She most certainly didn't expect to see him looking as energetic as he always was, especially now, in the middle of the night. Her smile widened almost unnoticeably.
"Hmmm," she mumbled in a slightly pleased tone. Usopp's question got lost in her dreary mind. Without any warning, she collapsed onto the pillow, rolling onto her side and closing her eyes, curling up slightly.
"Hey, this isn't a bed, Hisoka."
"Yeah, you may catch a cold if you sleep out here."
"Do you think she's sleep-walking? She won't answer us."
"She said our names before, though. Remember?"
"Hisokaaaaa! Answer ussss!"
"Stupid! You'll wake up everyone on the ship!"
"So? Then maybe someone will finally catch me something to eat!"
Hisoka sighed happily, rolling over to face the two, catching their attention. She opened her eyes slightly, speaking in a tired voice. "Usopp, can I ask a favor?"
"What?" Usopp asked, leaning down slightly so that he could hear the seamstress better.
"Tell me a story, a long, long story. With a lot of details. …But not scary… and with a happy ending, okay?" Hisoka asked, hiding her face in her pillow as she yawned again. Revealing her face, she blinked her eyes a few times before forcing them to open even wider. "You have to have been on a lot of adventures, surely you have some story that fits that description… Right?"
"Well, of course! I am the greatest captain you will ever find on any ocean, after all! I have millions—no, billions!—of adventures that I have bravely faced and pursued with the utmost excitement and confidence!"
"Hisoka, you wanna hear one of Usopp's stories?" Luffy asked, leaning closer to the face of the sleeping girl just as Usopp had done.
"M'hmmm," she muttered, nodding slowly. "You listen, too, it'll be good." Luffy stared at her for a little while after she closed her eyes. She never talked to them like this before. It was like she was completely comfortable around them. She must have been really, really tired.
"Why do you want to listen to a bunch of lies? That's odd."
"Hey, shut up! These are stories of my amazing adventures! Let me talk!"
"What adventures?" Luffy snickered playfully.
The potential argument was cut off my Hisoka's mild voice once again. "It'll help me sleep. So, tell the story, Usopp… I'm… listening… Like, 'Once upon a time'… best beginning… ever." Hisoka yawned again, reached up to rub at her eyes, managing to brighten her drowsy smile even further. "I'm listening." Usopp acted as though he was the greatest man and Hisoka was bowing at his feet as he began his story. After a while, Luffy had finally stopped complaining to nobody about how much he wanted food and had lied down and given in, listening to Usopp's story, as well. A while after an hour had passed, Usopp was knocked out, muttering in his sleep about his long, dramatic battle with a seahorse that collected islands for currency and had eyes menacing enough to scare away even the toughest of Usopp's imaginary crewmembers. Hisoka was curled up in a tight ball, having fallen asleep five minutes into the story, twitching frequently in her sleep enough to convince Usopp that she was still awake. Luffy was sprawled out on his back, staring up at the stars above the Going Merry with a tired expression. Drool lingered on the corner of his mouth, both of his hands clutching his stomach.
"Meat… So hungry… Urghh…" Luffy continued his grumbling for a while, throwing himself a pity party.
He didn't expect one, but in midst of her slumber, Hisoka gave him a response. "We'll have food…soon… Nnn, hungry, too… Right?" Her speech faded into a series of incomprehensible mumbles. Twisting his neck, he stared at Hisoka's sleeping face with a more alert expression.
"We need a chef and a musician, too, you know," he said, not really sure whether or not Hisoka would reply again.
Barely moving her lips, she did. "It'd be nice… Breakfast… Music… Lullabies… Yum…." The girl's nose twitched, her hand lethargically moving to brush away the hair that was tickling her cheeks.
"Can you cook or sing, Hisoka? Or do you know anybody that can?" Luffy inquired in a softer, more distant voice as the waves of the late hours washed over his mind and his words.
"Nah," she whispered. The girl moved her neck, opening her eyes ever so slightly and staring at him with a soft, dizzy look. "I've never been good in the kitchen, and I'm a pretty average singer… Don't really do it much…" Luffy watched Hisoka's eyes flutter for a while before she was vaguely staring at him again. "That's why… I always thought… I'd need to hire a chef… If my husband…you know, couldn't cook… My children need home-cooked… meals… It'd make 'em… happy… giggly… You… know?" Hisoka's eyes shut gently and her breathing became rhythmic again. She didn't say another word. Luffy gazed at her bleakly for a few moments before looking back up at the sky and falling into a dead sleep a few minutes later.
Something interested him in the seamstress, though. She made him feel that he was right about his theory that her muscles were programmed to naturally rest with the corners of her lips turned up. Because she smiled when she slept, too.
