Days have passed since the decision was made for Rose to start distancing herself from the captain of the Straw Hats, and she quickly found that the challenge was easier said than done. Aside from when she trains on her powers with Zoro, she has to come up with an excuse almost every time Luffy sees her in order to turn down his invitation to join in his games.
As time went on, Luffy realized that something was wrong and grew even more persistent in trying to get her to hang out with him. While he would sometimes succeed in getting her to play in his games with the others, she would always quickly yet politely excuse herself before he could find out why she's been acting strangely. That doesn't stop the rubber man from trying to get her to stop distancing herself and trying to find out what's going on every chance he gets.
Today was no different as Luffy searches all over the front deck for the wind girl.
Usopp sees his captain from his fishing spot on the railing and waves over to him with one arm while he keeps his fishing pole steady with the other. "Hey Luffy, come help me resupply. If we don't get any food soon Sanji might cook us."
Luffy goes to join him before he stops himself and heads to the back of the ship. "In a bit."
He nods while the captain heads to the back of the ship where Zoro is lifting weights, but with Rose nowhere in sight. "Hey Zoro, you seen Rose anywhere?"
He shakes his head as he keeps lifting his weights. "Nope, she's not here. Maybe she's inside."
Luffy groans in frustration as he drops his shoulders. "I already checked… I don't get why she's being so weird."
Zoro sighs as he puts the weight down. "All girls are weird, but she takes it to another level so it could be anything. Do you remember anything you did that might have pissed her off?"
He thinks hard about the things he could have done to make her avoid him before he shakes his head. "I don't remember… She's been like this since four days ago. The only thing that happened around that time was-"
He widens his eyes as he figures out the reason why she's avoiding him. "Wait, I know why she's mad! She's mad that I didn't invite her to raid all the food in the kitchen with me and the guys!"
Both guys widen their eyes to the sound of suppressed laughter that's ringing in the air. Luffy looks around to only find the two of them present along with a few crates and barrels. "Did you hear that?"
Zoro shakes his head. "Must've been the wind. Anyway, I really doubt that she's mad about that. Hey, why do you keep asking her to hang out?"
Luffy tilts his head in confusion as if he just asked him something ridiculous. "What do you mean? She's my friend."
"Yea, but you don't act like this around Vivi."
"Vivi's not being weird. Besides, it feels like she's only like this around me…"
Zoro quietly sighs at the comment. "She probably needs some space. Try-"
He cuts himself off to the sound of Luffy's stomach growling and angrily scowls at his captain. "Instead of trying to find Rose, how about fishing us some food to make up all the food you stole?! We're all hungry!"
Luffy quickly nods as he goes to the front deck to fish for some food.
Once he's out of earshot, Zoro sighs in exasperation. "You can come out now."
One of the lids to the barrels starts lifting up with Rose's scowling face poking out from under it. "I take weirdness to another level?"
"You're the one hiding in a barrel and almost giving yourself away by laughing."
"I can't help that Luffy's funny!"
He sweat drops at the comment before he walks away. "Whatever, I'm going to take a nap…"
Rose nods as she waves at him from the barrel. "Thanks again for covering for me."
He lifts a hand up before he walks off to the front deck.
Once Rose's alone, she sighs from exhaustion as she sits in the barrel with guilt eating at her. *I can't keep this up forever. Once we get to Alabasta I'll let up on the distancing. If he asks me to join again on the island then at least I won't be stuck on the ship when I refuse. I just need to wait for the sign showing that the arc is starting...*
"Hey Luffy, quit trying to eat the bait!"
She widens her eyes to the sound of Usopp's voice then climbs out of the barrel and looks over the railing to see Luffy and Usopp fishing together.
Luffy groans as he swallows the bait that he was eating. "You ate some too Usopp."
"Just a bit that was stuck to the bottom."
Vivi looks over at the boys curiously. "Did you guys catch anything yet?"
The boys shake their heads when they hear some distant quacking over the railing. Vivi looks over the railing and widen her eyes in horror when she sees Carue tied up at the end of their lines. "AAAH! CARUE!"
Luffy ignores her distress as he looks down at his bait. "Think we can catch a shark?"
Usopp looks down at the duck curiously. "Not sure, maybe we can catch a sea king."
Vivi furiously growls as she grabs Usopp and Luffy's heads. "STOP FISHING WITH MY DUCK!"
She bashes their heads together and lets them collapse on the deck. She looks out at the ocean then widens her eyes to see steam rising from the ocean about ten feet away from them. "What the-?!"
Vivi runs into the kitchen to get Nami while the boys look at the steam curiously.
"What's going on?" Usopp asks.
Luffy shrugs as he keeps Carue dangling at the end of his fishing pole.
Rose widens her eyes at the steam when realization hits her. *This is when Bon Clay comes in! AWESOME!*
The brunette grins in excitement as she runs down the stairs when Vivi, Chopper and Nami run outside.
When Nami sees the steam she calmly smiles. "It's ok guys, it's just steam."
Chopper looks at her in confusion. "How can steam come out of the ocean?"
"Because that spot over there is a hot spot. It's where magma comes out down at the ocean floor from underwater volcanoes."
Chopper looks at her in shock. "There are volcanoes underwater?"
"Yes, there are more volcanoes underwater than there are on land. In ten thousand years, a new island is going to be here."
Vivi looks at the hot spot with interest. "That's really cool."
Rose nods in agreement. "Do you think it can be a season island Vivi?"
"I'm not sure."
Luffy widens his eyes at Rose's voice and turns his head just when the steam from the hot spot blows over the crew.
Once the steam clears, Luffy and Usopp look at the end of their fishing poles in shock to see a man wearing a swan jacket that says 'the okama way' on its back, swan slippers, and a headband holding onto Carue. "WE CAUGHT AN OKAMA!"
Zoro wakes up from his nap by the mast and looks at the man in confusion along with everyone else while the strange man looks at Carue in complete shock. "HOW DID I GET ON THIS WEIRD DUCK!"
He accidentally lets go of the duck and starts falling towards the ocean before Rose uses her wind to pick him up.
Usopp and Luffy reel Carue in and untie him while Rose gently drops the crew's new guest onto the deck of the ship.
The okama looks down at himself to see that he's alright then looks at everyone in utter confusion. "What just happened?"
"I used my wind to catch you." Rose says causing the okama to turn to her in shock before he smiles at her.
"Thank you very much. I can't swim, so I would've drowned if I fell in the water. I won't forget that I was saved by pirates. Mind if I have a cup of soup?"
Everyone else looks at him in irritation. "No way! We're hungry too!"
Luffy looks at him in confusion. "You can't swim?"
He shakes his head. "Nope, I'm a devil fruit user. My boat sailed past the steam and I somehow wound up on the duck."
Usopp blinks in surprise. "Really? Which devil fruit do you have?"
He looks around for a moment before he widely smiles at his hosts "Well, since my ship's still looking for me I'll give you a show as thanks for saving me! Here's my power!"
He walks up to Luffy and pushes the palm of his right hand on his face hard enough to send him flying backwards. Everyone but Rose puts their guard up at the seemingly hostile.
Zoro grits his teeth as he starts unsheathing his swords. "What the hell are you-"
Bon Clay starts changing his face before he raises his hands defensively with a large smile. "Hold on! Hold on! This is all part of the show!"
Everyone looks at him in utter shock to see that he changed his appearance to look exactly like Luffy. "Stop joking around!"
He starts posing while Luffy gets up with his jaw dropped at the sight. "Whoa, it's me!"
The okama nods as he touches his face with his left hand to change back to normal. "I can change with my right hand and change back with my left hand. That's the power of the clone clone fruit."
Nami could only stare at the okama as she processes what she just saw. "His voice was completely identical…"
Usopp slowly nods while he watches him with a dumbfounded expression. "Even the physique was the same."
Luffy looks at him with stars in his eyes before he applauds him. "That's awesome!"
The okama softly chuckles before he walks around and pats Nami, Usopp, Zoro, Chopper, and Rose's faces with his right hand. "It's not necessary to punch you either."
He smirks as he turns to his small audience and transforms into each of the people he patted continuously while explaining. "If I touch your face with my right hand and I can imitate anyone just like this."
He stops with Rose's body and reaches for her shirt. "Along with your bodies t- EEP!"
The duplicate cuts herself off when she finds herself floating in the air by a gust of wind.
The others look at Rose in shock as she glares at the okama with an embarrassed blush decorating her cheeks. "Reveal anything that I wouldn't and you're going swimming!"
Her duplicate quickly nods as she touches her face with her left hand to cancel the transformation. "Yes ma'am."
Rose nods as she gently sets him down on the deck.
Once both of his feet are on the deck he starts shrugging with a soft smile. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that's all I can show you."
Luffy grins in excitement as he stares at him with stars in his eyes. "You're awesome!"
Usopp whistles at the show while Chopper claps for him. "Please do some more!"
The okama can only look at his excited audience with a large smile before he starts pirouetting in joy. "Very well, if you insist!"
Zoro sweat drops as he takes a seat by the railing. "He changed his mind too quickly."
The girls couldn't help but watch the okama in interest as he keeps changing into various people that they've never met. "I also have a perfect memory. I've never forgotten a single face that I've touched."
When he changes to a slightly tan man with long dark hair and a black beard Vivi widens her eyes in shock. *That face!*
Zoro scoffs at the show as he closes his eyes. *This is ridiculous…*
The okama transforms back to normal and starts twirling around. "Now how do you like my super special talent?! I usually never show this to people so you should feel honored!"
Chopper, Usopp and Luffy quickly applaud him as he keeps twirling like a ballerina then they get up and join the dance.
Rose couldn't help but giggle at the crazy dance going on as she gets ready to join in, but she stops herself and stays back to watch with Vivi.
Vivi blinks in confusion at her behavior but lets it go as she watches the boys dance while singing out of tune.
Nami groans at the dancing idiots and turns away from them. "Please kill me…"
The navigator pauses when she sees a large swan boat approaching them from the ocean then turns to their guest. "Hey, there's a ship heading our way. Is it yours?"
The okama stops dancing to look at the ship then widens his eyes as he jumps onto the railing. "Oh me, oh my! Is it time to leave already? Too bad."
Luffy, Usopp and Chopper start whining in disappointment. "AWWW!"
The okama keeps his back to them as he smiles with tears in his eyes. "Don't be sad my babies! Separation is inevitable, but never forget…"
Tears start streaming down the okama's face as he turns to them with a thumbs up. "Lengths of time means nothing to true friendship!"
The three boys start tearing up with a smile as they wave him off. "Take care!"
The okama couldn't stop the smile on his face when his boat arrives next to the ship and he jumps aboard. "Let's go my lovelies!"
His crew quickly nods as they start setting sail. "Yes sir, Mr. 2!"
Everyone on the Going Merry except for Rose widens their eyes in utter shock at the name as they watch him sail away. "MR. 2?!"
Vivi looks at the fleeing ship in complete shock when realization hits her. "That was Baroque Works' Mr. 2 Bon Clay!"
Luffy turns to her in surprise. "You didn't recognize his face?!"
She buries her head in her hands in frustration. "No, I've never met Mr. 2 and Mr. 1 before, but… I did hear that Mr. 2 was a huge okama, and wore a swan coat that said 'the okama way' on his back..."
Usopp, Luffy and Zoro sweat drop at the description. "You should have noticed…"
Vivi starts trembling at the power she witnessed. "One of those past faces he showed us was my father's. What does he plan to do with his face?"
"If you can change into a ruler then you can do a lot of things." Zoro says while Nami crosses her arms over her chest.
"Luckily he didn't know that we were enemies. Once he finds out though he can turn into any of us…"
Rose nods as she watches the departing ship in thought. "At least we know more about what we're up against."
Zoro pauses when an idea forms in his head and starts smirking. "She's right, now we can make countermeasures against that power. I have an idea on how to do it. Someone get the love cook. I'll be right back."
He walks inside to get something while Chopper runs inside and brings Sanji outside. "What's going on here?"
"We found out that one of our enemies at Baroque Works is an okama that can shape shift into us. Zoro said that he found a way to go against it." Usopp says when Zoro walks outside with a black marker and a roll of bandages.
"Good, you're all here." Zoro marks an 'X' symbol on his left forearm and starts wrapping it with a bandage. "This okama can turn into any of us, so he can easily get close to Vivi. If any of us are acting suspicious then we should ask them to take the bandage off and show us the symbol. If they only show us the bandage and can't show the symbol then we know it's him."
Sanji blinks in surprise at the plan as he lights up his cigarette. "Wow, using two symbols to confirm our identities. That's pretty intelligent, are you sure that you're not the okama?"
"SHUT UP SWIRLY BROW!"
Luffy nods in confirmation. "Yea, it's Zoro."
Usopp sighs in relief while Nami looks at Zoro's arm in thought. "I think this is a great idea. We can set it up when we arrive to Alabasta."
The others nod at the plan as they scatter about for their daily activities.
Rose couldn't help but smile at the turn of events as she walks towards the door. *Perfect, we should be in Alabasta by tomorrow. I'd better go over what I remember about the arc. All the craziness with Luffy has distracted me from coming up with-*
"Hey Rose!" The freckled girl snaps out of her thoughts when she sees Luffy walking up to her. "Where are you going? Wanna fish?"
She looks at him nervously before an idea pops up in her head. "Sorry Luffy, but I gotta go to the bathroom!"
She quickly walks inside before he can say anything. He blinks at how she fled before he sighs in disappointment. *Does she really need that much space? Why is she being so weird?*
He snaps out of his thoughts when his stomach starts growling. "Food first."
He goes back to fishing with Usopp and Chopper while not noticing that Vivi and Nami were watching the show from the railing.
"She's been like that since we left Drum Island." Vivi says with Nami looking at the door in thought.
"I'll go talk to her."
"I'll come too."
Nami nods to the idea as they head inside to find the distant wind girl.
Rose starts groaning as she finishes washing her hands in the bathroom then runs her hands down her face. *I told him that I had to go to the bathroom?! Ugh, I'm so awkward… At least we'll be in Alabasta tomorrow. Hopefully, showing Luffy how I can be like this will keep him from wanting me in-*
She snaps out of it when she hears knocking from the door. "I'll be out in a second."
"Good, when you're done come to our room. We need to talk."
Rose widens her eyes at Nami's voice before she quietly sigh. "Ok…"
She hears footsteps leaving from the door and quietly groans to herself as she walks out of the bathroom, and into the bedroom where Vivi and Nami are waiting for her. *What the-?! Both of them?!*
"Is everything ok with you?"
Rose snaps out of her thoughts from Vivi's voice then looks at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Nami scoffs as she closes the door behind them. "You don't need to pretend. I already figured out why you're being so weird around Luffy."
Vivi and Rose widen their eyes at her answer when Rose speaks up. "Did Chopper or Zoro tell you?!"
Vivi looks at her in utter shock. "Those two knew?!"
"Not intentionally!"
Nami chuckles at their surprise before she shakes her head with a small smirk. "No one needed to tell me. It was obvious from the signs: you quickly became buddies with him then suddenly started avoiding him, you enjoy all his craziness, and you blush every time he hugs you."
Rose quirks an eyebrow at the explanation in complete confusion. "Wait, what? How does me getting embarrassed from hugs show you that Luffy asked me to join the crew?"
Nami and Vivi both widen their eyes at the question at the news that Luffy asked her to join. "WHAT?!"
Rose widens her eyes at their surprise before she buries her face in her hands. "You two didn't know did you?"
Nami quickly shakes her head. "I thought you had a crush on Luffy!"
Rose became completely dumbfounded at the suggestion as a small blush starts decorating her face. "What the-?! How did you come up with that?!"
"Like I said, the quickly becoming friends then suddenly avoiding him, the laughing at his stupid jokes, the blushing-"
"Ok, ok, I get it!"
Nami couldn't help but chuckle at her flustered reaction.
Rose quietly sighs in frustration while she runs a hand through her brown hair. "Sorry to disappoint, but it's really not like that."
Once Vivi calms down, she looks at her in confusion. "Luffy really asked you to join the crew? Why hasn't he said anything?"
"Because he doesn't remember. He asked me when he was drunk after Chopper's welcome party. I didn't want to get in another argument with him about it during the trip so I've been trying to give us space."
Nami widens her eyes at this before she groans. "That idiot… You do realize that you can't avoid Luffy like this forever right?"
Rose slowly nods with a frown. "I know, and I'm sorry for worrying you guys about this. I'm going to let up when we reach Alabasta and if he actually asks again then I'll just tell him that I can't join him."
Nami couldn't help but burst out laughing at the plan with the other girls to looking at her in confusion.
"What's so funny?" Vivi asks when Nami catches her breath from the laughing fit.
"She makes it sound so easy that it's funny. Whatever, as long as you stop acting like this when we make it to the island then I won't tell on you. We should be there by tomorrow so good luck."
Both girls can only watch as the redhead walks out of the room with a carefree smile.
Once she's out of room Vivi turns to the brunette with a nervous smile. "I'm sure she's just kidding about it being too simple."
Rose softly sighs while she drops her shoulders. "No, she's right. This is Luffy after all. It's why I didn't let up in distancing myself for so long. If anything, I should be getting ready for another fight."
Vivi blinks in surprise at her stubborn attitude to not become a pirate. "If you say so, I'm kind of surprised though."
"Surprised at what?"
"That you refused. I know it's not my place to say, but you seem really happy here."
*How could I not be happy about experiencing an adventure with the Straw Hats? Still…* The freckled girl can only shake her head to get rid of the thought. "I can't say that I didn't have fun, but I doubt they're gonna need an astronomer on their journey. If Luffy doesn't ask again then it's all the better."
"That's another thing that's weird. He should've asked again or at least said something about wanting you in by now. Even if he forgot that night, he doesn't seem like the type to say things that he doesn't mean even if he was drunk."
Rose could only give her a small smile before she shrugs. "Who knows, alcohol can make people do crazy things. Me avoiding him like this probably helped too. In any case, there's no point in going into it. I'm gonna stay here and catch up on some reading. It usually helps to clear my head."
She grabs a red book labeled 'Rainbow Mist' from the bookshelf while Vivi stares at her.
The princess can only stare at her distant friend for a moment before she starts leaving. "Well, if you need anything just let me know."
Rose couldn't help but smile as she waves at her while she takes a seat on her futon. "Thanks, I appreciate it."
Vivi nods as she heads out and closes the door behind her.
When Rose was alone, she lost her smile then laid down while opening the book right above her face and started reading. However, instead of taking in the literature her mind only wanders deeper into her situation about possibly being recruited again. *Vivi's right, if Luffy was serious about wanting me in the crew he would've said something. Unless he's going to say that I'm in the crew at the last second like what he did with Usopp. Looking back on that night, he could've still thought that we were at the end of Alabasta's adventure which can be why he asked me in the first place…*
"Shit…" She drops the book on her face and starts mumbling into the pages. "I gotta be on my toes for the rest of the adventure… As long as I don't falter it should be fine. After all, if Vivi's able to refuse their offer to join then why can't I? What matters right now is to figure out what I can do at the island."
She takes the book off her face and gets up before she stares out the window in thought. *I just gotta use what I remember to help out without stepping on anyone's toes. It's been over a year since I looked into Alabasta, what do I remember? Ok, they head to a port town for supplies, then they go to the desert...*
She widens her eyes when an idea to get them through the desert appears in her head And smirks in excitement. *Haha, as soon as we get to the island I'm heading to town to get 'that' for the journey. As for when we reach the capital… I can see a few ways that I can back up the others…*
She nods to herself on how she can help out while talking under her breath. "Ok, that can work. Once I take care of that I'll play it by ear with the rest of the battle and try to lower as much of the damage as possible." *If I'm lucky I might get to see Robin too. Kind of stinks that she's the crew's enemy here, but it's still really cool to meet her.*
She couldn't help but grin in excitement at seeing the future Straw Hat Pirate before she looks out the window to see that the sun's almost completely set. "I'd better start that book while I can. Won't be much time to read on the island."
She turns on the light and picks up the book before she returns to her spot on the futon and reads through the book until she falls asleep.
It's a peaceful autumn morning in New York City. Except for Rose, who's running through the streets with her guitar case strapped to her back and an angry blonde cop on her tail.
"STOP RUNNING ROSE!" Bobby yells out furiously while Rose couldn't help but laugh back at the cop while she runs through the crowds on the sidewalk.
"Hey Bobby, I've always been curious. Did anyone ever stop when you tell them to?"
"SHUT UP!"
She couldn't help but chuckle as she runs across the street along with the crowd and gives him a mock salute. "Looks like I got my answer."
Bobby can only glare at the girl as he dodges the crowds to see his target turn a corner at the end of the block. He quickly followed suit only to see that he lost her. "Dammit!"
He ran down the street, and goes past a small pizza restaurant where a pair of purple eyes was peeking from the large window to see him pass her.
Rose couldn't help but chuckle from her hiding spot on the floor, right under the window, as she takes the guitar case off her back then looks around the empty restaurant. "Man, that was close."
"Not close enough." Rose widens her eyes at the high pitch voice then turns around to see a pale, slightly chubby, teenage boy sitting right behind her with his scowling face a few inches from hers.
"Ah!" She quickly jumps back and hits her back on the wall while she catches her breath. "What the hell dude?!"
The boy adjusts his glasses as he gets up, takes the guitar case to unzip it. "I should be asking you that kid. Didn't anyone tell you that it's rude to run into other people's restaurants before they open? Better yet, aren't you a little young to be running from cops? What did you do, steal something?"
Rose can only glare at the boy as she gets up, and takes the case back before he can open it. "First off, my name's not 'kid', it's Rose. Second, I'm not that young, I'm fifteen. Third, I didn't know the restaurant wasn't open yet because the door was unlocked, and I apologize for barging in. Finally, I didn't steal anything, all I did was street perform without a permit."
The boy can only sweat drop at the answers to his questions. "Seriously? All you did was street perform?"
She nods as she looks at the old fashioned Italian restaurant that he works in and pats her guitar. "Yea, Bobby and I have been on this chase for about three years now. He's really persistent on giving me a ticket, but my policy is to only pay the ticket if he can give it to me. Anyway, aren't you a little too young to be the owner?"
"I'm not that young, I'm seventeen. I'm not the owner either."
"That would be me."
Both kids turn to the feminine voice by the kitchen door to see a red haired woman in her forties, wearing a red t-shirt and jeans, glaring at Rose. "You really expect us to believe that he chased you just for street performing? You could've stolen the guitar for all we know. Timothy, watch her while I go get the cop."
She starts heading to the door when Rose blocks her off. "Wait, please don't get Bobby."
She scoffs at the request as she crosses her arms over her chest. "Give me one good reason not to."
"I can advertise the restaurant during my performances."
The woman looks at her blankly for a split second before heading to the door again. Rose runs up to her to stop her before she raises her hands defensively. "Wait, wait, I can prove that I didn't steal the guitar."
She opens the guitar case and shows the owner a copy of the form she filled out to borrow the instrument from her school. "I borrowed the guitar and case from my school. I have to fill this out every school year and every summer with a small fee in order to use it. I'm planning on buying my own guitar next week with the money I saved up."
The owner looks over the form while Rose opens the outer pocket of the case to show various kinds of change and single dollar bills that can sum up to twenty dollars. "Besides, if I was a thief I'd be a pretty low profile one."
A small book falls out of the case's pocket with her noticing. When Timothy sees it, he picks it up and widens his eyes to see that it's a Volume 18 One Piece manga. "Oh my god, you're an anime fan?!"
Rose quickly turns to see him holding her manga. Mistaking his surprise for criticism, she glares at him while she grabs the book. "Got a problem with that?"
"Are you kidding?!" The boy runs behind the counter and shows her his copy of the One Piece manga. "I have like every DVD and manga volume of the series. Where exactly are you in the anime and the manga?"
Rose can only widen her eyes at the older boy's enthusiasm when she realizes that he's a serious fan. *Ok, that's definitely a first…*
She couldn't help but smile at his excitement as she lets her guard down. "I'm currently working on the Alabasta arc in both the manga and the anime. I know I'm behind but I don't want to miss the anime fillers as I go through the series."
Timothy eagerly nods. "I don't blame you! Hey, don't you think the cop that chased you looks like what Smoker would be if he was blonde?"
Rose drops her jaw at the comparison when she realizes he's telling the truth. "Oh my god, you're so right! He's as persistent as the real Smoker too!"
"He's like his doppelganger!"
Both kids start laughing at the comparison while the owner looks over the two and walks to the back room.
When Rose hears the door slam shut, she looks at the closed door in confusion. "Was it something I said?"
He shakes his head as he walks over to her. "Don't worry about my mom, she can be scary when you meet her but she's nice. The name's Timothy by the way."
He extends a hand out for her to shake which she takes with a grin. "It's a pleasure, as I said before I'm Rose."
She picks the guitar case up and straps it onto her back. "Thanks for not turning me in. I should get going before he finds me."
"No problem, but you sure you gotta leave? We can talk more about One Piece."
Before she can say anything the owner walks out with a blue t-shirt that matches the restaurant's logo that she and her son are wearing and hands it over to Rose. "You guys can talk about anime as much as you want while you're working."
Rose widens her eyes at the t-shirt in her hand. "What the-?! Wait a minute, I appreciate the offer, but I don't need a job."
"I'd call it more as paying off your debt to society."
"What? I told you that I didn't steal anything."
"I believe you, but you came into my restaurant not only without permission, but also before our business hours which is a crime called trespassing."
Rose was completely dumbfounded at the explanation while the owner started smirking down at the girl. "My name's Naomi and as I said before I'm the owner of this restaurant. You work today's shift as my own form of community service and we forget this ever happened. If you do a good job then I might pay you for your troubles too."
Rose snaps out of her shock then groans in frustration before she extends a hand out to Naomi. "Fine, but you lost your privilege to get the place advertised."
Naomi couldn't help but chuckle before shaking her hand. "I think I can manage. Timothy, show her around the place before opening up for lunch."
Timothy quickly nods before raising his hand to his forehead as if he's saluting her. "Okie dokie!"
Naomi nods as she walks back to the kitchen to get the ingredients ready.
Rose takes off the guitar case, pulls the t-shirt over her long sleeved shirt, and turns to Timothy in confusion. "You said your mom was nice?"
He casually shrugs at the question because he's used to his mom's behavior. "In her own way, you don't have any plans or anything today right? If you do I can talk her out of this."
She shakes her head. "No, it's fine. I was only planning on street performing and heading to the library to borrow the next One Piece volume."
"Well you're in luck, I got the next volume here. I can lend it to you if you want."
Rose widens her eyes at the offer before shrugging with a small smile. "We'll see, for now let's get through today."
"Okie dokie!"
Rose chuckles at his high pitched excitement as she follows him for the tour around the restaurant before they open for lunch.
Rose slowly wakes up from the dream in the middle of the night and looks around to see that Vivi and Nami are fast asleep in their beds. *They must've came in after I fell asleep. Everyone else should be asleep too…*
She quietly sighs before getting up and walking out of the room in order to go stargazing.
Meanwhile, up on the crow's nest of the Going Merry Luffy is sulking at being stuck up there on night watch with an empty stomach. *Man, we didn't catch anything, but an okama today. This sucks... At least Nami said we'll be at the island soon.*
He looks around for any nearby ships then pauses when he looks down at the deck to see Rose walking outside. *What's she doing here?*
He sees her looking up at the night sky only to see that the clouds are blocking the view.
The freckled girl can only groan at the blocked view. "Dammit, I hate when clouds are out at night…"
She looks down at her hands then quirks an eyebrow when she comes up with an idea. "Can I really do that?"
Luffy hums in confusion when he sees her standing on the railing and concentrating on the clouds until she manipulates the wind to push some of the clouds out of her way.
Once Luffy sees that she's the one manipulating them, he looks at the moving clouds with stars in his eyes. "Whoa, that's so cool!"
Rose pauses and looks around for the voice she heard, so he ducks to avoid her gaze. Once she can't find anyone, she shrugs before she goes back to her cloud manipulation. *I guess I imagined it.*
When she felt herself getting tired, she stopped using her powers to see that she was only able to move a few clouds out of the way. "Not bad for a first try."
She starts smiling as she takes a seat on the railing and looks through the crack from the clouds to see a few of the beautiful stars in the sky.
While she was distracted, Luffy peeked out of his hiding spot to look down at Rose. *So she came out to look at the stars? If that part of her is still normal then why is she still being weird? Even Nami got mad at me when I tried to find her after fishing...*
He rubs his head from the memory of Nami whacking him on the head. *When Nami whacked me I remembered getting into a fight with Rose, but I don't remember what about…*
He looks down to see Rose standing back up and slowly walking on the railing as if she's a trapeze artist. He looks at her curiously before he starts climbing down the crow's nest. *What's she doing?*
Rose doesn't notice Luffy's attention as she keeps walking on the railing towards the front of the ship for the fun of it, then quietly chuckles at the dream she had. She can't stop the grin on her face from remembering how she took Timothy's offer to borrow the manga was the start of it all. Once she returned the book a week later, she continued to stop by the restaurant to help out at random times until they gave her a work schedule.
She chuckles at how annoyed Naomi seemed about her visiting, but always gave her work to do when she stopped by. *Naomi really was a hard ass from start to finish. If she didn't blackmail me to work for her that day I don't think I would've gone back. Having a fellow anime fan like Timothy to talk to at work surely helped too. Those two are probably the only people that I couldn't dodge, until now anyway…*
She starts losing her smile at remembering how she left them behind before she shakes her head. *They'll be ok without me. I told Timothy that the comet was going to be there that night so he should've figured it out and move on. If Naomi will actually believe that's what happened to me or not, who knows…*
She quietly sighed before she stopped to see that she's almost reached the front of the ship where the figurehead is. She takes a closer look at the goat figurehead then smirks at the mischievous idea in her head. *Ok, if this is really gonna be my last night on this ship then I gotta see what the fuss is about.*
She uses her wind to fly up and sit herself down at the top of Merry's head. The smile on her face couldn't be bigger as she looks around at the view to see the entire view of the ocean and sky in front of her. "Wow, that's-"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Rose jumps in shock and falls backwards until she hits her back on the deck. She groans from the fall before she sees a pair of legs next to her then looks up to see Luffy scowling down at her. "What are you doing sitting on the captain's seat?"
She quickly gets up and rubs the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry about that, I was curious about why that spot is so important to you. I can see why though, you can see literally everything from up there. Don't worry, I won't sit there anymore."
He nods at what she said before he grins at her. "Good, what are you doing out here anyway?"
She pauses at the question before she sighs. "I wanted to take a look at the stars for a bit, but I think I should try to sleep some more. After all, we got a big day ahead of us."
She turns around to head inside when Luffy blocks her off. "Why have you been avoiding me?!"
She freezes at the question before she shifts her purple eyes everywhere. "I-I haven't been doing that…"
"You really suck at lying!"
She groans at the blunt statement while she scratches the back of her head and mutters under her breath. "I'm probably as bad at lying as you are."
"What?!"
"Nothing, anyway, I don't want to talk about it."
He widens his eyes at the refusal to explain herself before he glares at her. "I refuse your refusal!"
She groans at his stubbornness before she glares up at the taller boy. "Well, I refuse your refusal to my refusal!"
He widens his eyes at the statement when he feels like they had this fight before, and rubs his head. "Why does this feel so familiar?"
Rose widens her eyes at the question as she remembers refusing his refusal during their fight then looks at him nervously. "T-that's because of our argument!"
Luffy looks at her in confusion. "So we really did have a fight? What was it about?"
She quietly sighs while she rakes a hand through her brown hair. "It was something you said when you were drunk at Chopper's welcome party that got me frazzled and got us into an argument. I won't go too much into it because I don't want us to fight anymore. I'm sorry that acting like this made you upset. I'm not going to do it anymore."
Luffy blinks in surprise before he smiles from ear to ear. "Great, I'm sorry we fought too."
She couldn't help but smile back when Luffy's stomach starts growling. She sweat drops at the captain's stomach before she chuckles. "I take it you came out here to try to find some food?"
He shakes his head. "No, I was here for night watch, but I got an idea." He runs inside and quickly comes out with a pair of fishing poles. "Let's catch some fish while we're here."
She tenses up at the fishing pole before she shakes her head. "Sorry, I don't think I'm much help with a fishing pole. How about I stay out here to practice my abilities and when you reel something in I'll catch it."
Luffy nods at the idea before he places one of the fishing rods down and takes a seat on the railing. Rose takes a seat beside him then looks up at the sky before she practices her cloud manipulation again.
Once Luffy casts his line into the ocean, he looks at Rose curiously. "Hey, what were you thinking about when you were walking on the railing?"
She looks at him in shock before she sighs. "Right, you saw me from the crow's nest. I was just thinking about my friends from back home."
He tilts his head in confusion. "Really? What are they like?"
She quirks an eyebrow at the question before she keeps her focus on the sky. "There's a middle aged woman who you should never piss off if you want to keep your head. If you're on her good side though, you can see that there's a pretty kind person under her harsh attitude."
"Oh yea?"
Rose nods as she chuckles from remembering Timothy. "Her son though is really funny. He can talk about random stories with you for hours while making sure that you stay surprised at what comes next. Whenever his mom got mad at me for messing up at work, he would help me out with calming her down too. If anything, I can say he's the closest thing I have to a big brother."
Luffy widens his eyes at the comment before smiling. "Really?! I have a big brother too!"
*HOLY SHIT!* Rose widens her eyes in utter shock, when she realizes that his brother will be in the next arc, before her wind shoots her up into the air. Luffy quickly stretches an arm around her waist to reel her back down and seats her next to him.
"I thought you got control of your flying. Hey, are you ok?" Luffy asks while Rose pulls out of his embrace while she takes a deep breath.
Once she calms herself down, she gives him a nervous smile. "Y-yea, I'm ok, I was just surprised that you have a brother too… What's his name?"
"His name's Ace! Last I heard he's in a crew called the Whitebeard Pirates."
She slowly nods while she keeps up her smile. "Is that right?"
Luffy eagerly nods. "Yea, he's really cool. I wonder if I get to see him again."
She hesitantly pats him on the shoulder in reassurance. "I'm sure you'll see him soon…"
He nods with a toothy grin before he goes back to fishing. "Yea, it'll be great to see how he's been."
Rose can only nod at his enthusiasm with a small smile while she clenches onto the railing to the point where her knuckles are turning red. "I'm sure it will…"
She looks up at the sky and keeps her gaze on the clouds while she processes that she'll be meeting the second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. *Oh my god, I'm so stupid! How can I forget that Ace was gonna be here?! Oh my fucking god, what the hell can I even say to the man?! If I tell him anything about the war, he'll think I'm crazy! If I tell him about Blackbeard…*
"Hey Rose, are you sure you're ok?"
She snaps out of her thoughts to Luffy's voice to see him looking at her in concern. She quickly nods while she waves her hand dismissively. "Yea, I'm fine. Just thinking over some things. Any bites yet?"
He shakes his head as he focuses on this fishing line again. "No luck yet… Aren't there any night fish or something?"
She shrugs as she looks down at the ocean. "I'm sure there's some kind of nocturnal fish down there. Just gotta keep trying."
Luffy nods as he keeps trying to catch a fish. Once Luffy's attention is back to the ocean, Rose goes back to practicing her cloud manipulation by pushing them to the side. *Damn, this is nuts… Only in One Piece... For now, I should try to lower the damage as much as possible and make sure Ace and Luffy spend time together. As time goes on, who knows?*
She slowly nods at her plans for the island as she continues her practice her abilities for the rest of the night alongside Luffy, who both can't wait for tomorrow's new adventure.
TO BE CONTINUED
