Chapter 10 – Confrontations and Bothersome parents
Disclaimer: I don't own one piece, ok?
Dad: what you doing?
SS: beat it, dad.
Dad: # Beat it! Beat it! # *exits playing air guitar*
SS: …
(Yeah, my dad does do that once in a while… -_-')
Anyhow, thank you for the reviews guys! I greatly appreciate it! Review for this chapter too, eh? Please? You don't know how happy I am when I receive a review; I'm literally jumping around my bedroom like Luffy gone high. So review, and I'll get really pumped up, and probably update much faster :D
Also, if anyone was wondering; Lynn isn't Japanese so strictly speaking it would be kind of stupid to make her use honorifics and Japanese phrases here and there. And I don't use even make the cannon characters use a lot of Japanese, just because this story is in English so I find it awkward to put random bits of another language :P
Note: you can now have a look at artwork for my story by just clicking on my profile ^^
It was late evening now, and after a few pizzas between them, Lynn, Nami, Usopp and Luffy all sat back onto the sofa, pretty full.
"Pizza always makes things better!" beamed Lynn, licking her lips and chucking aside a huge, empty cardboard pizza box.
Meanwhile, inside the dining room, Sanji began to stir from his position on the ground. He felt groggy, and a spot on his head ached for some unknown reason.
'What happened?' he wondered to himself, getting up and brushing himself off. His eyes settled on the kitchen scene, and his jaw dropped in shock. 'Who the hell did this to the kitchen?' he screamed inside his head furiously. Scanning the area, he saw Zoro lying on the floor not far away, and jumped to conclusions.
A loud yell and CRASH came from inside the kitchen, and all four of the persons sitting on the sofa peeked over to see what was going on. Though they saw nothing because of the door that blocked their view.
"WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA EYEBROW FREAK?" they could recognise Zoro's enraged voice.
"WHY DID YOU DESTROY THE KITCHEN?" Sanji's unmistakeable voice sounded equally mad.
More crashes and thuds.
"I think this is all your fault," said Nami to Lynn accusingly. Lynn shrugged awkwardly and rushed over to try and break up the fight before their fight breaks down the house.
"Stop it!" yelled Lynn, stepping into the room.
"How dare you tear down the kitchen!" Sanji continued to snarl at Zoro.
"It wasn't me!" Zoro shouted back. "And this isn't even YOUR damn kitchen! Why do you care?
"I'm a cook, and I will never let any kitchen be destroyed for no reason!"
"Well, you were out cold, so someone had to make dinner!" Zoro rolled his eyes as he added silently to himself. 'If you could call that dangerous crap 'dinner'.'
"So you mean this was all done by the same person?" asked Sanji.
Everyone nodded.
"So some idiot knocked me unconscious for no reason and then wrecked the kitchen?" His scowl deepened.
More nodding.
"Then who was the stupid bastard?" demanded Sanji, eyes flickering between Luffy, Zoro and Usopp. "I'll never forgive them!"
Everyone, apart from Sanji, cast a fleeting look at Lynn, and she raised her hand sheepishly.
"Um, Sanji?" Sanji turned to face her. "That stupid bastard was actually me."
Sanji's eyes widened as he recalled his last moments before he lost consciousness. Yes, now that he thought of it, it was indeed Lynn that whacked him with her school bag. She lowered her head guiltily.
"I'm sor-"
"I forgive you!" Sanji declared before Lynn even finished her apology, and began to do his noodle dance around her, awing over how cute she looked when guilty. Lynn wondered how a leg can have so many bends in it. He must double, triple, quadruple jointed.
Everyone sweat dropped at Sanji's sudden change in attitude; apart from Zoro who fumed.
"WHAT? So I got attacked for no reason, and you go all lovey-dovey on the one you should be mad at? What is your problem shit-cook?"
"I could never be mad at a lady," said Sanji simply.
"The hell?" Zoro stomped out of the room in frustration. He's been poisoned, accused of a fault that wasn't his, and assaulted; all in one evening.
"My bad!" Lynn called after him, and he gave an irritated grunt in response.
"Now, get to work," said Nami, shoving a broom at Lynn.
Lynn blinked.
"This is your mess, and you're going to clean it up," insisted Nami, and she left the room and went upstairs to bed, yawning.
Lynn pouted. She honestly couldn't be bothered to go around cleaning up.
Usopp sniggered. "What? Are you scared of 'dust-bunnies'?"
The broom connected with the top of his head in an instant and sent him cowering to the ground, covering the rising bump with his hands. Usopp looked up at Lynn's fractious glare, and muttered to himself, "I need a helmet…"
Lynn glanced around the rubbish-dump of a room in revulsion, and decided she would convince Sanji to do the cleaning up for her. And somehow, she didn't think it would be too hard.
Friday. The last day of the week. Lynn couldn't be happier to know that she would have a whole weekend to relax after all this chaos. After all, having the straw-hat pirates staying at your house isn't the most peaceful thing to live through. Their arrival had heavily disturbed her otherwise normal life; but actually, she was glad that they had. It had been a while since she felt such cheerfulness which the crew brought. With them around, everything just seemed a lot more lively!
Lively indeed. It was only early morning, and Lynn could already hear voices through her half-asleep ears. But she wasn't exactly pleased. It was too early for liveliness; she was never a morning person.
"Lynn! Hurry up!" a male voice shouted from afar, making Lynn toss uncomfortably in her bed; well, her parents' bed in which she was sleeping in. Sure it was the last day of the week, but it wasn't a convincing enough reason for her to get up just yet.
"Go away mum…" she muttered mindlessly. Ok, it wasn't her fault that her brain doesn't function properly on mornings.
"Get up!" the voice persisted. "it's time for school!"
Lynn frowned. She recognised the voice now as Usopp. "Shut up," she mumbled, pulling her cover over her head.
"It's quarter past eight, it's not my fault if you're late!"
"Screw school," she groaned, but then sat up sharply when the message properly processed in her mind. Quarter past 8? School starts at half past! "Crap!" she cursed, jumping out of bed and throwing on her clothes. She quickly washed and brushed her teeth, pulling a brush through her hair at the same time, and tying them into her usual low twin bunches. She could smell French toast and meat of some sort from downstairs. At least since Sanji arrived, breakfast wasn't a hassle anymore! Lynn dashed down stairs, pulling her socks on at the same time, and managed to do it somehow with falling head first down the steps. She burst into the kitchen, startling everyone else already eating at the table.
"Sorry I'm up late," she gasped for breath, plopping down into a chair and grabbing some toast off the plate near her.
"Slow down," said Nami, staring wide eyed as Lynn stuffed down her food. "You're not Luffy, you're going to choke,"
No sooner had she said it, Lynn began to choke and motion for a drink.
"Slow down," repeated Sanji, handing her a glass of water. Lynn gulped it down, and apologized again.
"It's ok; really," said Nami. "You're not that late."
Lynn blinked at her.
"It's only 7:40,"
Lynn blinked again, and checked the time on her mobile. Nami was right; it was still quite early.
"Usopp…" Lynn muttered, her urgent expressions twisting into a snarl. "What the heck do you think you're playing at?"
Usopp, who had already finished breakfast, sat on the sofa cleaning his goggles and giggling to himself. Lynn could see him through the crack of the open door that linked the dining room to the living room, and she stormed over.
"You told me it was gone 8!" she shouted at him.
Usopp shrugged. "You wouldn't have gotten up if I didn't say that,"
"Yes I would!"
"Actually, you probably wouldn't have," commented Zoro from the dining room, and Lynn scowled to herself.
She then noticed that Usopp was staring at her with a somewhat mischievous smile on his face. She narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out what was running though his bandana covered little head.
"What are you staring at?" she demanded.
Usopp didn't answer. Instead he stood up, cleared his throat, and said loudly and clearly, "You. Are. Short."
Lynn immediately growled, and responded him with a hard kick on the shin. As her foot connected with his leg, there was a crisp TING sound, and Lynn froze for a moment in surprise before she began hopping around the room, holding her foot in pain whilst cursing loudly.
"It worked!" Usopp smirked, removing a metal plate from under his trousers leg.
"THAT WAS DIRTY!" shouted Lynn, rubbing her foot tenderly.
"I made myself an armour from sheet metal!" he beamed. "Smart, isn't it?"
"No it's not!" Lynn limped over and knocked on Usopp's chest. It was like knocking on a steel wall. "And isn't wearing that heavy?"
"Not at all," he answered.
Still furious for making her stub her toe badly, Lynn whack him on the head, bringing her fist down as hard as possible. But it wasn't Usopp who was yelping in pain when her attack finished, it was Lynn, shaking her swollen hand. Usopp proudly revealed the piece of metal slid under his bandana.
"Stupid idiot!" cried Lynn.
Usopp grinned triumphantly; but his victorious moment didn't last long, as he was sent flying past Lynn to the other side of the room.
"Are you alright Lynn-chan?" cooed Sanji, lowering his leg and taking her hurt hand in his, whilst tossing a death glare at Usopp. "Don't you dare bully her!"
"She's the one that attacked me!" Usopp protested, annoyed that Sanji had ruined his moment.
"I don't care what she does; you never EVER upset a lady!"
"Sanji, can you kill him for me?" requested Lynn casually.
"Yes Lynn-chwaan!" he beamed, and leaped at Usopp.
Lynn then hobbled over to the dining room and sat down to breakfast, listening to the satisfying sounds of Usopp's terrified screams and the thudding of footsteps as he fled for dear life.
Lynn and Luffy sat in the biology lab at school, waiting for the first lesson of the day to start. Miriam peeked over at her friends, wondering why she had a red patch on her hand.
"All Usopp's fault," grumbled Lynn, and Miriam just blinked. Lynn had completely forgotten that Miriam hasn't yet been introduced to him.
Luffy flicked through Lynn's biology textbook, stared at a random page and read off the small caption.
"Hmm…" he thought hard. "What's a living orgasm?"
Lynn felt her cheeks burn slightly, and thanked God that no one else heard him. "Um… I think you mean 'organism'…"
Luffy just blinked.
Lynn was saved from an embarrassing explanation by the biology teacher's entrance. Mrs Kirk walked into the room and after telling the class to settle down, she promptly began the lesson.
"Today, we will be working on chapter 8 in your text books on 'reproduction'," announced Mrs. Kirk as she wrote today's date onto the white board. "Please turn to page 133."
Luffy did so and stared at the page curiously at the diagram on fertilisation.
"Ooh, tadpoles!"
Lynn slapped her forehead. Luffy read some more, and he frowned.
"That's a long word. What's contraception?" he asked.
"…um…" Lynn looked away awkwardly, not wanting to be the one to explain that. "Somehow, I think that this is not going to be Luffy-friendly lesson," she muttered to herself, considering evacuating him for the time being.
"It's a type of protection," explained Miriam, who wasn't so shy about these things. "To prevent STI during intercourse." She hadn't taken into thought that Luffy had no clue as to what either STI stood for or what 'intercourse' strictly meant.
"Hmm…" Luffy thought hard, and thumped his fist against his palm. "I get it! It's mysterious protective armour!"
Lynn couldn't help but snigger at this, and she rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and it was what Usopp was wearing this morning," she muttered sarcastically.
Luffy nodded, finally 'understanding' what contraception was. And he decided that maybe HE needed one too, to stop Nami from abusing him all the time.
"I need contraception too!" he declared loudly, and the whole class, including the teacher, quietened down in an instant. Lynn looked around the room slowly, glancing awkwardly at all the startled expressions of her classmates. And one shocked-as-hell teacher.
Evacuating him sounded like a very good idea just now...
"What?" Luffy blinked at the bemused class, wondering why he was getting such strange looks. Did they have abusive navigators too? "Do you guys need it as well?"
"Mrs. Kirk may we be excused?" said Lynn loudly, considering no longer. "Luffy has a stomach ache."
And before the bewildered teacher could reply, Lynn jumped from her seat, pulling Luffy with her. She dragged him quickly out of the classroom and down the corridor to the boys' toilets where she shoved him in and closed the door.
"Stay in there until the bell rings, and I'll come and get you!" Lynn called through the door and Luffy could hear her footsteps fading as she walked away speedily.
'Strange,' thought Luffy as he sat himself onto the windowsill. 'It's as if I said something wrong.'
The toilet flushed and from one of the cubicles walked out a figure. Luffy turned to the noise and stared as Cain walked to the basin to wash his hands. Cain stopped when he saw Luffy perched on the windowsill casually, waiting for classes to end. The two stared at each other for some time. Luffy broke the awkward silence with a wide grin.
"What are you smirking about?" scowled Cain.
Luffy didn't answer. Cain peered at him carefully. Luffy looked completely normal, like any human guy you would see on the street; just maybe a little dumber. But Cain knew that Luffy was different. Very different. Another silence fell over them.
"What the hell are you?" demanded Cain when he finally found his tongue.
"What do you mean?" Luffy tilted his head.
"Don't play dumb," snarled Cain. "I saw your freaky powers. I know you're not normal."
Luffy blinked, and he burst into another grin. "Oh, ok! You found out then!"
Cain flinched, uneasy with Luffy's calm attitude. "What are you?" he demanded again.
Luffy pulled his cheek as far as it would go, making Cain's jaw drop open. "I'm a rubber man!"
Cain gaped at Luffy's stretchy face, speechless.
"I ate the Gomu Gomu fruit," Luffy explained. "It gave me the power of turning into rubber, but the price of eating one of these cursed devils fruits is that I will be an hammer in water."
"And that's why you can't swim..." Cain swallowed.
Luffy let his cheek snap back into place and grinned.
"Why the hell are you telling me all of this?" Cain demanded, and then smirked. "I could tell everyone your secret and get you put in a freak show."
Luffy's smile didn't fade. "Nah, you wouldn't!"
"Oh yeah? What make you so sure?" shouted Cain.
"You're not a bad guy; I can tell," said Luffy. Cain scowled furiously.
"What do you mean? Of course I'm a bad guy! I almost made you drown three times yesterday, and I'm the class bully! I hurt people! Any idiot can tell I'm a bad guy!"
Luffy's smile faded and his expression became solemn. "You must have been hurt pretty bad in the past to make you want to hurt others now."
Cain became silent. He trembled slightly. And his eyes widened as voices of the past echoed in his head.
"What a weakling."
"Pathetic."
"You could never be part of a gang like us. Boss, let's go."
"Get out of my sight, worthless thing; I don't need someone like you joining me."
Cain stumbled back a step. Luffy's eyes were still on him, trying to figure out his unreadable expressions.
"Y-you're crazy," Cain muttered shakily, backing away out of the room.
Luffy stared after him after the door closed with a bang, slightly bewildered. "What did I say this time?"
At break and lunchtime, Luffy discovered that ever since the swimming pool incident, positive rumours had spread about him and that his fan club was expanding by the hour. It was a rather scary statistic. And he found it out the harsh way. In other words, being engulfed in something only Sanji would consider paradise. When the bell rung, signifying the horrifying day was over, Luffy was nowhere to be found. Lynn guessed that he'd gone into hiding in terror of being attacked again.
"Now if I were an intimidated idiot pirate captain, where would I hide...?" she muttered to herself, searching around the quickly emptying classroom, but found no clues as to his whereabouts. "LUFFY!" she shouted. "Show yourself!"
No response. With a sigh, she sat on a desk and waited until everyone had left the room before shouting again. "They've gone, it's safe now."
"Really?" came a muffled voice, followed by a sigh of relief. Lynn trailed the source and sweat dropped when she found it came from inside one of the tiny classroom lockers.
"How on earth did you fit yourself into there?" she pulled open the door, shaking her head, and laughed when she saw Luffy curled up tightly inside. Well, there's one advantage of being a rubber man.
"This is a good hiding place," grinned Luffy as he jumped out with a 'boing'. "Though a bit cramped."
"You don't say..." Lynn rolled her eyes. Then she looked at the miniature locker, no higher than 60 centimetres, and Luffy's much taller figure, and found it impossible to believe that a second ago, he was able to squeeze into it. 'Well, I suppose you see something new every day,' she thought, leading Luffy out of the classroom.
The afternoon sun shone brightly on the high street and on a certain little bird fluttering about aimlessly in the sky. Well, to say 'aimlessly' would be a fib, for the bird was actually on a mission to find some people whom it had unfinished business with, but it certainly wasn't getting anywhere with its 'great' tracking skills. Wandering around all day, but still with no clue as to where its targets were. Hopeless little thing...
Gliding with the wind over the tall buildings and modern streets, the bird tried to avoid the roaring monsters roaming the roads; after all, you wouldn't expect a bird from the grand line to get used to 21st century vehicles so easily, would you?
"...one of them has short black hair, a scar under his left eye, and is always wearing a straw hat. That's our captain."
The bird never once forgot those words Chopper has said, describing his crewmates. (And it assumed that locating the captain first would be the best option.) Still, after a whole day, the bird could not seem to find a single straw hat anywhere! People just didn't seem to wear straw hats in this new world! The bird hovered over an apple tree at the edge of a small cliff and settled itself on a branch. It was utterly irritated that a WHOLE DAY had gone without results, and was on the verge of giving up all together.
But wait... what's that...? Isn't that guy over there wearing... a straw hat? The bird tilted its head and examined more closely. There were two figures walking past, a distance away; one of them wearing, unmistakably, a straw hat, and a huge grin as if his friend walking beside him had said the funniest thing in the world. This boy matched Chopper's description, all right. Short black hair peaked from under his hat, and a thin scar, stretching under his left eye.
The bird flexed its wings. It took off, soaring towards the boy with the hat. It narrowed its eyes, if that was possible for a bird, and screeched something in bird talk. Translated, it would sound something along the lines of: "found you!"
"We have a whole weekend to relax!" grinned Lynn. "No more school riot, no more trouble!"
Luffy laughed cheerfully in agreement, thoroughly glad that he was now free of his terrifying fan-club. His laughter was cut short as something blue flew towards him like a missile and knocked him to the ground, sending up a small cloud of dust all around.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" cried Lynn, squinting to see Luffy's attacker through the dirt screen. "Are you alright?"
"Ow ow ow!" yelped Luffy, thrashing about as the dust cleared, and Lynn cracked up at the ridiculous scene before her. Luffy lay on the ground, punching his arms around aimlessly, blinded by the fierce pecking of a small blue bird hovering above his face.
"Luffy's being attacked by a bird!" hollered Lynn, pointing at them.
"TWEEET TWEEEET!" (translation: took me a damn while to find you, you bastard!) shrieked the bird, furious for some reason unknown to Lynn and Luffy.
Luffy, fairy irritated and red from the pecking by now, snatched the bird by the neck and screamed at it. "I'M RUBBER! NOT WOOD! LEAVE ME ALONE YOU BAKA BIRD!"
The bird made funny suffocated squawking sounds and struggled in the rubber-man's grasp.
"Don't do that!" Lynn walked over, still chuckling. "You'll kill the poor thing!" she pried Luffy's fingers off the bird's neck. "It's useless shouting at it, it doesn't understand what you're saying!"
"It attacked me for no reason!" Luffy protested angrily.
"Oh, come on." Lynn rolled her eyes as she took the bird from Luffy. "no need to get angry over a stupid bird!"
The next thing she knew, she was covered with a frenzy of wood-pecker style stabs.
"DAMN YOU BLOODY BIRD!" Lynn yelled, slapping around blindly.
"TWEEEET?" (translation: who are you calling stupid?) screeched the bird, finishing its assault with a final fierce peck on Lynn's head before taking off again in anger.
"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU STUPID BIRD!" Lynn shouted, shaking her fist after it.
The bird grumbled to itself for a while about how the captain and his friend are just as bad as that damn reindeer as it flew away into the sky. But after calming down and thinking things through logically, the bird realised it had made a huge mistake. It had let its anger get the better of it, and all its efforts of searching for a way to get home were now wasted! Maybe it ought to try a different method of asking for help...
Fluttering its wings, the bird took off in the direction the straw hat captain had left in.
"Stupid bird..." grumbled Lynn as she walked in through the front door and chucked her bag on the floor.
"Stupid bird..." repeated Luffy, walking in after her.
"What happened to you two?" asked Nami, looking at the small red marks all over their faces.
"We got attacked by a frickin' bird," muttered Lynn.
Nami stared at her.
"Long story..." Lynn sighed.
"Hungry... need... food..." huffed Luffy, exhausted from everything.
"There might be some stuff in the fridge you can..."
Luffy zoomed off before Lynn even finished her sentence, and she sweat-dropped at his spontaneous burst of energy. Loud clattering and shouts could be heard from the kitchen area as Luffy battled Sanji for fridge domination.
"Yeah… maybe that was a bad idea," said Nami, turning to Lynn with a raised eyebrow.
"GET AWAY FROM THE GODDAMN FRIDGE!" Sanji's voice boomed out.
A few more crashes, and Luffy's wailing could be heard too.
"Aw, there's no meat!"
"Of course there's not! Now get the hell out!"
Lynn and Nami stared as Luffy was sent flying, literally, out of the kitchen and lay in a heap beside the sofa. However, he didn't seem at all disappointed, and Lynn could now see why, as he produced a tub of ice cream from under his shirt.
"Good thing I grabbed something!" Luffy beamed, snatching a spoon lying on the coffee table and beginning to dig in.
"Don't eat it all," advised Lynn, noticing that the tub of ice cream was 2 litres.
Luffy didn't answer; and she didn't expect him to.
"Waggu waggy oopho?" (translation: what you watching Usopp?) Luffy asked through mouthfuls of the frozen dessert.
Lynn turned and saw that Usopp was sitting back on one end of the sofa (Zoro lay on the other end, eyes closed as if he were asleep.) watching a movie on her telly. An action-packed sci-fi film. Men in black, she recalled it was called. He seemed to be enjoying it.
'I guess he's looking for inspiration for his future lies,' thought Lynn, rolling her eyes.
Luffy's eyes widened as the final fight scene against that giant cockroach commenced. "WOW!" he cried, spluttering ice cream droplets everywhere, earning a whack from Nami for covering her arm with the sticky substance. "I want that guy to join my crew!" he yelled, pointing at the screen with his spoon.
"You want a cockroach to join our crew?" Zoro pulled a face. Lynn blinked at him, not realising he'd been awake all this time.
"No, the guy with the gun that's kicking the beetle's ass!" Luffy replied, still pumped up over the idea of recruiting a cool, powerful new crew member.
"Hate to break it to you Luffy, but heroes in movies are just actors!" laughed Lynn. "In real life, I bet that guy couldn't even defeat Usopp!"
"What's that suppose to mean...?" Usopp muttered under his breath.
Luffy's face fell as he cast a fleeting look at Usopp.
"WHAT?" Usopp demanded furiously.
Luffy went back to his ice cream and Lynn continued to watch the end of the 'men in black' movie, both denying Usopp of an answer and leaving him depressed at their underestimation of him.
Soon the movie credits rolled on and Lynn tried to decide on something fun to do after a tiring week. A gaming session sounded ideal.
"Who's up for a game of 'street fighters'?" she declared.
Everyone gave her a funny look.
"You want to fight?" Nami frowned at Lynn's strange request.
"Oh, I forgot, you don't have Playstations on the grand line, do you?" Lynn snapped her fingers in realisation. Everyone just blinked at her. "Playstation." she repeated, "it's a device that lets you play video games and stuff." She got out two game consoles from behind the television stand and plugged them in as she switched on her Playstation 2.
"Oh, I was wondering what that strange machine was," said Nami, examining what Lynn was doing with curious eyes.
Lynn picked her character; Chun-Li of course, since she was the street fighter that most resembled Lynn's own looks. "You'll all love this thing, I promise!" Lynn grinned and plopped onto the floor. "Who wants to versus me?"
Everyone else looked at each other uncertainly, so with a sigh, Lynn chucked the other console up at the person sitting nearest to her on the sofa; Usopp. He stared at the funny looking thing in his hand.
"Choose your character first," Lynn instructed. "And then I'll explain how this thing works."
"What's the difference between each character?" asked Usopp.
"Just their fighting style and skill."
"Pick that guy," said Nami, pointing at Dhalism on the screen. "He looks kind of like you."
"No he doesn't!" Usopp rolled his eyes, but picked Dhalism anyway.
"That's racist in its own way..." Lynn muttered to herself. After quickly explain controls and attacks, the battle began. And Lynn found it strange that she was having a difficult time defeating Usopp; he was surprisingly good for a video game first-timer.
"So this is what it's like being Luffy!" Usopp grinned as he made Dhalism stretch his arm and punch Chun-Li in midair.
"IMPOSTER!" shouted Luffy, pointing at the stretching street fighter with a frown on his face.
"Oh, just wait until you see Mr. Fantastic..." Lynn muttered, thumbs moving across her console furiously.
"USOPP!" shouted a furious voice, and as Usopp head turned to see what the matter was, a thrown spoon smacked itself on the centre of his forehead. "What do you think you're doing, attacking a lady?"
"It's a game, you stupid love-cook!" Usopp yelled back, rubbing the lump now rising off his head. "What is your problem?"
"I win!" declared Lynn. Usopp turned back to the screen and found that he'd been defeated whilst he was distracted.
"That wasn't fair!" he protested.
Lynn just smirked and shot Sanji a thumbs up. Sanji smiled back and sat on to the sofa. Usopp now realised he'd been duped; And smacked by a spoon because Lynn wanted to cheat.
"Usopp, you're so stupid!" snorted Zoro.
"Oh yeah? Let's see you do better!" Usopp chucked the console at Zoro, and Zoro blinked in surprise.
"Huh? Me?"
"I bet I could beat you easily!" laughed Lynn.
Zoro scowled, not wanting to admit defeat so easily, accepted the challenge and sat down in front of the TV. That's when he realised someone had already chose his character for him.
"What the hell is that thing?" he stared at Blanka's beast face with disgust.
"It's the street fighter that most resembles you," chuckled Usopp, who was the one that chose Zoro's character for him.
Everyone else in the room all looked at Blanka, then at Zoro's moss hair and creepy WTF expression, and nodded in agreement.
"HOW IS THAT THING LIKE ME?" Zoro demanded furiously.
"It's like you in so many ways..." muttered Sanji.
"What was that, shit cook?"
"Well this is easy..." giggled Lynn as she attacked Blanka with her might. Zoro snarled when he realised the game had started without him, and pressed the buttons on his console randomly, setting off some electric attacks unintentionally.
"Wow, that monster is like that god on Sky Island," noted Nami as Lynn fretted over her fried-to-a-crisp Chun-Li.
The fight continued, and of course, the outcome was as expected; Zoro lost pitifully.
"I want a go!" declared Nami a she snatched Lynn's console. "And if I beat you, Zoro, your debt to me will be doubled!"
"WHAT?"
"Nami-san is so smart, using this opportunity to slyly rub money off the marimo!" beamed Sanji.
Zoro was NOT pleased. The fight began, and the whole room erupted with cheers and laughter as the navigator and the swordsman battled.
"GO ZORO!" Luffy rooted for his first mate, who was low on life points at the moment. "YOU CAN DO IT! GO..." Luffy stopped mid cheer, and grimaced. "I need the toilet…" he moaned, holding his stomach.
Lynn rolled her eyes. "That's what you get for eating so much ice cream in November!"
He groaned and rushed off to the toilet upstairs, slamming the door behind him. Lynn laughed, and turned back to the playstation. Nami was cheering triumphantly, throwing her arms in the air.
"Ha! I beat Zoro!" she grinned, and Zoro gave her a dirty look.
"It's not like you could beat me in real combat, so quite your sniggering woman."
Nami stuck out her tongue, and Lynn joined in. The swordsman was an insanely strong fighter, but was rubbish when it came to video games! And since the girls could never beat him in reality, they may as well laugh at him while they still had the chance!
"And don't forget your new debt!" Nami winked at Zoro mischievously, making him flinch, and then snarl something about greedy bitches.
Usopp was next to snatch the game console away. "Next up is Captaaaiin Usopp! And I'm gonna kick your ass Roronoa!"
"No you're not," Zoro growled, and the 'battle' began. Lynn watched with amusement as Zoro got more and more irritated when Usopp effortlessly knocked him to the ground multiple times during the first 30 seconds. Looks like the winner was going to be decided very soon, making this one of the fastest defeats of all time. Lynn jumped when she heard her mobile ringing from the coffee table and made her way over to pick it up.
"Ha! In your face Zoro!" Usopp shouted triumphantly, and Zoro's fractious expression couldn't be more epic. Lynn scowled and cursed when she realised she'd missed the best part.
"What?" Lynn demanded irritably into the phone, not please at all with the caller for making her miss the greatest moment of K.O.
"Lynn!" cried Miriam down the line to her. "Quick!"
Lynn blinked at Miriam's urgent tone. "What? What's wrong?"
"Quick! Hide the Straw Hats! You're in big trouble!"
"WHAT?" insisted Lynn, now very concerned.
"Your parents are back! I just saw their car passing town!"
Lynn's heartbeat sped up. "Oh crap, you're kidding. I didn't think they'd be back till next week..."
"They'll be at your house in less than five minutes!"
An uncanny silence fell over the room as the crew began to notice Lynn's horrified expression.
"WHAAAAAAT?" Lynn screamed when she had finally found her tongue. She hung up her phone without saying goodbye to Miriam and went into panic mode.
"What's wrong with you?" frowned Zoro.
"CRAP CRAP CRAP!" she shrieked in response, running around cleaning the messy living room. "My parents are going to be here any minute!"
"Your parents?" Usopp tilted his head. "Is that all? Why are you panicking?"
"Gah! You don't understand!" cried Lynn, grabbing an air freshener and spraying it around the room, trying to clear Sanji's cigarette smoke. "We can't let them know you guys are here! Just listen to me on this one! And put out your smoke Sanji!"
Sanji blinked, but did as he was told.
"I don't want to be grounded for life yet!" she continued to dash around the room like a headless chicken. "Everyone! Go to my room and DON'T COME OUT!"
The straw hats looked at each other, shrugged, and did so.
Downstairs, Lynn spent a few more minutes of cleaning everything up, switched the Playstation off, and she stood back, hoping she had done a good job. Well, at least the room wasn't a tip anymore...
A car engine was heard from outside the front of the house, signifying that Lynn's tidying time was up. Her heart thumped in her chest as she listened to the car back into the garage. The parents were home.
"Everything must look normal, everything must look normal..." Lynn repeated aloud as her eyes scanned the room one last time for anything un-normal. A clean, visible floor surface, a neat sofa, a few cushions, a newspaper, a vase, an empty ice cream tub (how could she have forgotten to chuck that in the bin?), a school bag, a lamp, three katanas, a... wait, WHAT? Lynn panicked all over again. Three katanas under the coffee table was anything BUT normal! The car door slamming outside did not help the situation one bit. Lynn grabbed the katanas and dashed around in circles, freaking out. There was no time to hide them, WHAT NOW?
'Must get rid of these somehow!' Lynn screamed desperately in her head, and on seeing the open side window on the other side of the room, she didn't think twice; not clever, but she didn't. Out flew the three poor katanas and they landed on the pavement outside just as a key was slotted into the keyhole of the front door. Lynn sprinted back as the door opened.
"Hey, Lynn! We're home!" called Mr. Vienna cheerfully, stepping in. "did you miss us?"
"Yes I did!" lied Lynn, standing in the middle of the room awkwardly.
"Did I just hear clattering somewhere?" Mrs. Vienna walked in behind him.
"NO! NOT AT ALL!"
She blinked at Lynn's panicked reaction. But moved in for a hug, embracing her daughter for the first time in weeks. Her husband did the same, but as he pulled back he sniffed the air in the living room, and crinkled his nose. "Is it just me or does it smell funny in here?"
"D-does it?" Lynn smiled innocently, ill at ease.
Mr Vienna sniffed again, and laughed. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were smoking in here and tried to cover it up with air freshener at the last minute!"
Lynn forced a laugh.
"Nah, our Lynn isn't that stupid!" chuckled Mrs. Vienna. "You'd have to be one heck of an idiot to think you could possibly get away with that!"
'Gee, thanks mum,' thought Lynn sarcastically, a fake smile still plastered to her face.
"Anyway, I'm tired," said Mrs Vienna, stretching her arms. "Help us get our luggage upstairs, and we can have a good catch up chat!"
"Sure."
During the entire process of hauling two large suitcases up the stairs, with the help of her dad of course, Lynn thought of all the different ways she could sneak the straw hats out of her house without her parents noticing. Wait till night time? Will the crew really keep it down till then? Climb out of the window? But what if the neighbours notice and assume there's burglars? Just hide them in her room for a few more days? Now that's just impossible.
"Are you ok?" asked a rather concerned Mr Vienna. "You look kind of stressed,"
"Oh, I'm all good!" smiled Lynn, dumping the suitcase on the floor of her parents' room.
"Something's not quite right..." murmured Mrs Vienna from outside in the hallway.
"W-what do you mean?" stammered Lynn, rushing out into the hall to meet her mum.
"It's like I feel some sort of unfamiliar presence."
A chill ran up Lynn's spine and she cast a fleeting glance at her bedroom door, knowing that the straw hat crew lingered behind it. Her mum couldn't possibly sense this, could she? That's just plain freaky.
"Please don't talk like you're sensing ghosts, dear, it's kind of disturbing." Mr Vienna sweat dropped as he walked up to his wife.
"Never mind," smiled Mrs. Vienna. "I bets it's just because I haven't been home for a while and I'm not used to it,"
"Yeah, that'll be why..." Lynn smiled sheepishly and fidgeted.
The toilet flush caused the three of them to turn; and Lynn almost bit her tongue when Luffy walked out of the bathroom casually. Luffy! How could she have forgotten to hide him? Luffy, for some unknown reason, failed to notice the two adults standing in the doorway, and simply walked down the hall, disappearing into Lynn's bedroom. Lynn and her parents stood and gaped.
"There's… a boy in the house?" Mrs. Vienna was shocked. "Who is he?"
"He's a guy from school… Luffy," Lynn said slowly.
Her mum narrowed her eyes. "I thought I said 'no boys aloud' whilst we were away."
"Umm… well… you see…" Lynn began to sweat nervously. She'd been caught red-handed and was finding it impossible to come up with a good excuse whilst her mum's glare burned into her eyes. Yes, her mother had that kind of effect on her. Nami heard their conversation from inside Lynn's bedroom, and decided to step in and help Lynn out.
"Hey, Lynn are you ready?" she asked, walking out of the door, and pretended to be surprised when she saw Lynn's parents. "Oh my," she said to them. "I'm so sorry, I didn't think you'd be home this early!"
Lynn looked at Nami, wondering what she had in plan, and Nami just gave her a small, private wink in response. Mrs. Vienna was confused on seeing the orange haired girl.
"Who is this?" she asked Lynn. Before Lynn could talk, Nami cut in.
"My name is Nami, and I'm a trainee student teacher," she said. "You see, Lynn has trouble with her science work, and her form tutor asked me to help her out."
Lynn's eyes widened as she caught onto Nami's lie. Then she grinned and joined in.
"Yeah, Luffy and I need help with our studies, so Nami is our mentor during weekends."
Nami continued, "To save me time from running house to house, Luffy just comes here instead so I can tutor both of them at the same time!"
Mr. and Mrs. Vienna nodded, completely believing their story. Lynn and Nami shared a look, and flashed a smile at each other. But little did they know, more trouble was to come; their problems were not over just yet.
During Lynn and Nami's teamed lying, Zoro, Sanji and Usopp were leaning against the bedroom door, trying to listen to what was going on. Luffy was struggling around on the floor with a gag in his mouth and tied up with Usopp's handy rope. When he had entered the room earlier, he was knocked down by his crew and suppressed, and they decided to stick a sock ball in his mouth to stop him making too much noise. He had no clue what was going on, since nobody told him, and was certainly not keen on being tied up.
"Move over fat head," Sanji hissed to Zoro, who growled back quietly in response. Usopp just tried to budge both of them over to get a better earful. Whilst the three of them were pushing and shoving at the door, no one noticed that Luffy had managed to spit out the sock ball.
"What's the big idea?" he demanded loudly, and was responded to by three loud shushes; too loud for their own good. Lynn's parents heard this from outside, and decided to investigate, much to Lynn and Nami's exasperation. Mrs. Vienna put a hand on the door handle, and when she pulled the door open, was greeted by three men falling at her feet; literally.
"HUH?" she cried out in surprise. Zoro, Sanji and Usopp looked up at her, and tried to smile innocently. Her attention then shifted over to Luffy, who was still tied up, and she turned to Lynn, her demanding glare intimidating her daughter.
Oh bother. So much for a relaxing weekend...
Sorry if this chapter was rather rude, but I just HAD to add the biology bit in! XD I got my inspiration from earlier this week. At school, we had this sex-ed lesson, and they were telling us about contraception and safe sex and blah blah blah. My class and I spent half of this lesson rolling our eyes. It's like, we're 15, dammit! We know what a flipping condom is! You don't just give us these lectures for fun! But anyway, that was the case, and during the teacher's little speech about different types of 'protection', I suddenly got my idea for this chapter and I literally shouted, "I GOT IT!" you should have seen those strange looks I got from everyone...
I also remember this time when my little sister came with my dad to parents evening once, and she made the same pronunciation mistake as Luffy when she flicked through my biology file! My dad's expression was priceless, and I just stood there cracking up!
Ok, little 'where-my-ideas-came-from-even-though-you-couldn't-care-less' rant over.
Next time: be prepared to laugh when the straw hats manage to make even more appalling first impressions on Lynn's parents. And get kicked out. Also, Zoro discovers something terrible has happened. Well come on, Lynn DID do something stupid whilst in panic mode...
REVIEW! It only takes a second! Tell me if I ramble on too much or anything in my story! Cause I tend to do that sometimes. :P and please tell me if my 'Next time' captions are misleading. I'm not sure if they are or not. Should I keep doing them? R&R!