Chapter 29: The Date Game, Part 3

"She's taking too long..." Luffy muttered as he waited for Nami at a bus stop with Ace "We'll miss our bus."

"No you won't; she'll be here soon" Ace said, looking at his wrist watch "And Margaret and Vivi should be here by now; how come they're both late? We can't be late for the movies."

"Maybe you got dumped?" Luffy asked with a huge grin which was replaced by a frown as Ace bonged him on the head "What did I do?"

"Like I'd get dumped; girls love me" Ace said, crossing his arms. Luffy grinned again, saying: "But you fear them."

Ace hit him on the head again, muttering: "Shut up."

"Sorry if we're late" Vivi called from the other side of the road, crossing it with Margaret as the light turned green "Did we make it in time?"

"Yeah; the movie theater isn't that far away" Ace said "We'll be going now Luffy; let's hope that Nami didn't ditch you."

Margaret laughed and Vivi scolded Ace, telling him that it was rude, but he just waived it off while dodging Luffy's punch.

"Don't fall asleep in the movies" Luffy said, sticking his tongue out at Ace.

"Like I'd do that" Ace said. That had happened many times, in fact almost always when he went to the movies, but there was no need to tell that to his dates "We'll be going now."

"Yeah, bye!" Luffy yelled. After Ace and the girls were out of sight he started to become impatient. Where was Nami? Had she forgotten or did she get lost? Or had he been ditched? ...why was he thinking this on the first place? It wasn't like him at all; he never thought the downside of things.

"Luffy!" Nami called as she ran to him "Sorry I'm late"

"What took you so long?" Luffy asked with a pout, not being one of those patient people "I've been waiting forever."

"Quit complaining" Nami said, hitting him on the head "So, where are we going?"

"To the amusement park!" Luffy cheered. Nami sweat dropped, but wasn't really surprised. Luffy was the childish type; a trip to the amusement park was actually a pretty obvious choice. Lucky for them the winter seemed to be late this year for it wasn't that cold outside yet; normally the amusement park wasn't even open anymore this time of the year.

"Well it's not like I mind and Luffy wouldn't be able to concentrate in anything calmer anyway." she thought. The day would definitely be fun.

XXXXX

Robin was sitting around their kitchen table with Sabo, playing chess with him. She knew that Luffy and Ace hadn't come over to talk about their dates yesterday, but she didn't know what it was they talked about. She did have a feeling that it had something to do with her, though. She knew that if she'd try to get the truth out of Sabo subtly like she usually did it'd take forever, so instead she bluntly asked: "What were you three talking about yesterday?"

Sabo, who was just about to move his knight, stopped his hand in midair, looking at Robin "What?"

"What were you and your brothers talking about yesterday?" she asked, leaning her face on her hand "Surely there was some other reason than their dates."

"N-no, there was not" Sabo denied, returning his attention to the game "He's stuttering."

"Did it have something to do with me?" now she got it, the look on Sabo's face was enough of a proof. Even if he tried to deny it now she wouldn't believe him.

"Of course not" Sabo said with a poker face, but the blush on his cheeks gave him away. Robin smirked, asking: "So, what did they say about me? Or was it you that said something you don't want me to know?"

"Can't you just concentrate on the game?" was Sabo's answer, knowing that he had lost this game. He always lost if someone managed to make him nervous in the middle of a game, and Robin was well aware of that. Could it be she did this on purpose?

"...you're a real bitch sometimes" Sabo said with a sigh. Robin smiled, knowing what he meant. It hadn't been her original purpose tough, but at least she'd win

XXXXX

"I'm bored" Luffy said. It was at least tenth time in these five minutes they'd been waiting in line to get the tickets.

"Shut up, will you?" Nami asked, starting to get annoyed. Waiting in line wasn't her favorite way to pass time either but Luffy was making it even harder.

"But this is taking forever" he complained.

"It's our turn soon" Nami said, sighing. She liked Luffy and all, but sometimes he could be annoying as hell... or in fact, he was that most of the time. Why the hell did she like a guy like that?

"Well he does have some good sides" Nami thought, but if someone had asked her what they were she wouldn't have known how to answer. She only knew that as annoying as Luffy was, she still liked his company.

"Oi Nami, it's our turn!" Luffy said, snapping Nami out of her thoughts. After buying their tickets they got inside the amusement park.

"Let's go to the roller coaster first!" Luffy yelled, pointing at the place. Nami nodded, but was slightly worried about the long line, which would feel longer than it really was because of Luffy's complaining. It better be worth it.

XXXXX

"I can't believe you slept through the whole movie!" Margaret complained to Ace as they and Vivi left the movie theater "It was so romantic; how anyone can sleep through it?"

"For your information I was awake the first ten or fifteen minutes" Ace mumbled "And that movie was so boring!"

"No, romantic"

"Boring"

"Romantic!"

"Boring!" the two glared at each other before turning their gazes to Vivi who was a little behind them, yelling at the same time: "Vivi, you tell him/her!"

"Uh..." she says, putting her arms in front of her as a mark of surrender "Sorry Ace, but I agree with Margaret."

The blond smirks at the boy who lets out an irritated sigh.

"Girls" he mutters.

"It's not our fault that boys have bad taste in movies, right Vivi?" Margaret asked, making Ace narrow his eyes "What was that?"

Margaret leaned in closer, making Ace take a step back and wonder if Luffy had told her about his fear of women who got too close.

"I said it's not my fault you're an idiot" Margaret said, her face only an inch away from Ace's, who gulped.

"How dare you insult him!?" Ace sighed from both relief and annoyance. This was going to be a really long day.

XXXXX

"That was awesome!" Luffy cheered, wondering: "Where should we go next..."

Nami smiled. They'd been going around the park, trying the best ones, such as the roller coasters and the Ferris wheel. She had liked all of those, but paled when Luffy yelled: "Let's go to the haunted house!"

"Ha-haunted house?" she repeated.

"Yeah!"

"H-how about we try the bumper cars first? We haven't been on them yet, right?" Nami asked, trying to avoid going in to the haunted house.

"Okay" Luffy said with a shrug. They still had many hours left; they'd have time for the haunted house later and besides he wanted Nami to have fun. They could do what she wanted first "I'll be there first!"

"Oh no you won't!" Nami disagreed as they raced to the line that led to the bumper cars. Luffy got there first, but Nami wasn't far behind him. They went to the bumper cars four times before Nami said that they should try something else now.

"Let's go to the haunted ho-"

"How about some ice cream?" Nami interrupted, smiling sweetly at him "I'll pay."

"Okay" Luffy said. Food could make him forget everything else, including the haunted house where he still wanted to go to. Nami took one ball of strawberry ice cream while Luffy took one chocolate, one strawberry and one vanilla ball for his ice cream.

"You're going to become fat" Nami told him, but Luffy disagreed.

"No I won't; Chopper said that people don't get fat as long as they move around to burn the entire extra fat in their bodies" he said, adding: "I don't know what that means tough."

Nami laughed. Only Luffy could say something like that and then honestly admit he had no idea what he was saying. She supposed it was part of his natural charm or something... a charm that was way different from his brother's one. As they ate their ice creams Luffy told Nami of all the pranks he and Usopp had pulled on other people, starting from the time they were kids. Normally people didn't do as much pranks when they grew up and neither did Luffy and Usopp it seemed, but their pranks have gotten more creative over the years. While still in the primary school, they'd usually pulled the classics such as putting a pin on the teacher's chair, replacing the chalks with licorice and wetting the sponge without wringing it so when someone took it all the water was on the floor. (A.N: Raise your hand if you ever did that... well actually, I never did it that way. Teacher told me to go wet the sponge once and I did, but didn't wring it so you can probably guess what happened when I threw it to the teacher and he caught it.) When they grew up they got smarter (well, Usopp did) and their pranks became more unique. According to Luffy Usopp had once but an air balloon in the faucet of the class and asked a question just when the teacher had opened the tap so he was looking away from the faucet and the growing balloon. The teacher's face had been priceless when the balloon had given out under the pressure and the water had gotten on him.

"Which teacher was it? Is he still in our school?" Nami asked, but Luffy shook his head "Nah, he quit just after few months. The other teachers said he became a wreck or something; I don't even remember his name."

Nami sweat dropped, having an idea about whose fault it was that the teacher had become a wreck. Just how many people had Luffy driven insane in the first place?

"Did you ever pull pranks on your teachers?"

"Not really" Nami answered. She wasn't the prankster type; she was more like steal-your-lunch-money type as a kid. The few rare times she got caught she justified her actions by saying that she only stole from bullies and annoying people. That didn't stop her from getting punished, especially since some of those "annoying people" were teachers.

"Can we go to the haunted house now?" Luffy asked suddenly, but Nami shook her head "I'm still eating."

"You had much less than I did; you're slow" Luffy commented. Nami's eyebrow twisted as she said: "No, I just eat like civilized people do, unlike someone."

"Who?" Luffy asked, titling his head which irritated Nami "You of course!"

"Really?" Luffy asked, but shrugged right after. He didn't really care "Can we go to the haunted house after you've eaten?"

Nami sighed, agreeing. It looked like she had no way out...

XXXXX

"Answer my question already: what are you doing here with Ace?"

"None of your business!" Margaret snapped back at Hancock. She, Ace and Vivi had run in to her and her sisters a while ago and now Margaret was loudly arguing with the eldest one while Vivi tried to calm them down. Ace was leaning against a wall, not listening to the girls. He had no intention to join their little cat fight.

"Right now I'm almost wishing that I would have ended up with one of the guys..." Ace thought with a sigh; he was really bad with women, especially the loud ones. He had to find away to get rid of them. He glanced at Vivi who finally gave up and leaned against the wall next to him. She hadn't been able to calm down the other girls. In Ace's opinion Vivi wasn't so bad, at least when compared to the other girls present. Maybe they could ditch the other four, including Margaret...

"Hey" Ace said, tapping Vivi lightly on the shoulder to get her attention "Let's get out of here."

"Huh?" Vivi questioned, glancing at the other four who weren't paying attention to them at the moment "What about Margaret?"

"Let's ditch her" Ace said. Vivi was about to protest, but didn't when Ace added: "It's her own fault for getting provoked like that by Hancock and her sisters."

"I suppose so..." Vivi said, glancing at Margaret again. She was going to be angry when she found out, but Vivi didn't really like all this either, so "Alright, let's go."

Ace grinned. Victory! He motioned for Vivi to follow and they sneaked away from the four girls silently, well aware that Margaret wouldn't be happy when she found out.

"Oh well, it's going to be worth it."

XXXXX

"Why didn't you just say you were scared?" Luffy asked as he walked after the furious orange haired woman. She had been shaking the whole time they walked through the haunted house and let out a scream here and there "I could've held your hand if I had known!"

Nami stopped, looking at him oddly. Not that Luffy realized it; he only knew that he had her attention now.

"And what would that have helped?" Nami asked, a slight blush making its way to her face.

"Ace and I did that when we were kids; like when we were watching horror movies." Luffy answered, making Nami sweat drop. Right, of course he meant something like that. He probably didn't even know the word "romantic."

"Why do I even think about it? It's not like I like him or anything" Nami assured herself "He's just one of my friends."

"Whatever" she said with a sigh "Where next?"

"Chain merry-go-round!" was Luffy's automatic answer. That was fine with her; it was close. They were also lucky for the line wasn't very long, so they decided to use it three times.

"How about we go to the hall of mirrors next?" Nami suggested, making Luffy agree. He had always loved making funny faces in front of those mirrors.

"Hey Nami, you look like Usopp!" Luffy said as he noticed that the mirror Nami was using made her nose look big. Nami laughed, saying: "At least I don't have elephant ears!"

Luffy blinked, looking at his own mirror before laughing.

"Not anymore!" he said, switching to another mirror "Now I'm just fat"

"That's even worse" Nami said with a laugh, adding as twitched mirror: "I look like a toothpick."

"Really?" Luffy asked, glancing at the mirror she was looking at "I don't see any difference to what you usually look like."

Nami hit him on the head for this, although she might have hit a bit too hard.

"Shut up"

XXXXX

"Was it really fair to leave Margaret behind like that?" Vivi asked as she and Ace entered a coffee house.

"Hey, you left her behind as much as I did" Ace defended himself "Besides, what else should we have done? Left and have her following us with Hancock while they argued?"

"No, but we should've... uh..."

"Just admit that we did the right thing" Ace said with a lazy grin "This will teach Margaret to be aware of her surroundings."

"I suppose so..." Vivi said, making Ace smirk. Victory!

"Let's get something to eat" he said "My treat."

"Eh? But you already paid the movies-"

"No buts" Ace interrupted "Isn't it a guy's job to pay everything on a date?"

"That's old-fashioned" Vivi said, crossing her arms.

"I'm an old-fashioned gentleman" Ace said. Vivi didn't say it, but Ace could see the "Yeah right" look on her face "Or at least I'm trying to be."

"It doesn't fit you" Vivi simply said before they ordered something to eat. After choosing a table for them Ace continued their conversation: "Maybe not, but in the profession I was in I had to try."

"Had to?"

"Well, I didn't have to, but if I had been acting like an asshole every single gossip magazine would have written about it" he said "It's hard to be a celebrity. Sometimes I actually wish I wouldn't have started as a singer at all."

"I think I know what you mean" Vivi said. Noticing the odd look Ace gave her she explained: "You know, having to watch your every move, for if you do something stupid it will end up in the magazines."

"Yeah well, that too" Ace said, leaning back on his chair "But that's not really what I meant; I don't really care what strangers think of me."

He looked straight ahead, but Vivi knew he wasn't really looking at her.

"The problem was the effect it had on my friends and family, especially my little brother" he told, remembering how it had, although indirectly, led to his and Luffy's fight. Luckily it was all over now.

"You have a brother?" Vivi asked. She hadn't heard of that.

"Two, actually" Ace said "Sabo and Lu-"

Suddenly he shut up, realizing what he had just been about to say. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone about Luffy!

"Hey Luffy's brother's name is Sabo... too..." Vivi trailed off as gears started to turn in her head. Ace felt the sudden urge to start banging his head on the table, but stopped himself. Maybe he could still fix this? That thought flew out of window tough as Vivi gasped.

"Luffy's gonna be so mad"

"So you and Luffy are-"

"Yes we are" Ace cut her off "But don't say it out loud."

"Okay" Vivi said, but it bothered her. She had known Luffy for a few years now yet she only recently found out he had a brother and now she found out Ace was his brother too. They weren't really that close, but she wondered why he hadn't told her "Um..."

"Luffy didn't want anyone to know" Ace told, realizing what Vivi wanted to ask "He was afraid it'd make people treat him differently, mainly his friends."

Vivi nodded, more or less understanding why Luffy had feared that. When her father's company went down she too lost some so called friends; they had only been with her because her family was rich. Luffy was good judge of character tough; she doubted he had any close friends like that.

"I don't think he has friends like that... they might get a little angry since you guys didn't tell them, but it probably wouldn't change anything." Vivi told. Ace nodded, understanding her point, but he didn't know his brother's friends well enough to decide if he agreed or not.

"Would you mind keeping quiet about this?" Ace asked, biting down on one of the many donuts he had ordered "Luffy told me not to tell anyone, so..."

"Don't worry; I'll keep my mouth shut" Vivi assured with a smile "It's not like me to go around telling other people's secrets."

"Thanks" Ace said "Luffy would be mad if this got o-"

He didn't finish as his head fell on the table, making Vivi sigh. It seems he fell asleep again.

XXXXX

"I'm hungry" Luffy said as he and Nami got out of the rollercoaster.

"Then we should go eat" Nami said "How about some pizza?"

"Sounds good!"

"Great, you're paying" Nami said, starting to skip towards the pizzeria without waiting for an answer "Let's go."

Luffy frowned, running after her and asking: "Why do I have to pay?"

"Because I paid the ice creams" Nami stated like it was a fact and even Luffy could tell she had planned this.

"But the pizzas cost more" he pointed out. Nami smirked, a smirk that Luffy had learned to be wary of.

"Haven't you ever heard of interest?" she asked "Besides, guys are supposed to treat girls when on date."

"Really?" Luffy asked, thinking for a moment "Now I know why Zoro dates guys; he wouldn't be able to afford dating girls!"

There was three seconds of silence until Nami burst out laughing. The fact that Luffy didn't seem to mean it as a joke but a completely serious statement made it even funnier. Luffy frowned, asking: "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing nothing" Nami assured "Just the fact that you're probably right."

Luffy grinned, glad that he had gotten something right for once.

XXXXX

Kohza was about to enter a coffee house when he heard his phone ring. Taking it out of his pocket he smirked at the name on the screen. He answered it by asking: "Did you find them?"

"Yep, Ace and Vivi are at the Spinning Donut" Zoro said from the other end of the line. Kohza chuckled; he and Vivi had always liked that cafeteria "Just the two of them? Where's Margaret?"

"Don't know, don't care" Zoro said "Actually I'm glad we won't need to deal with her."

Kohza agreed; that woman was a pain in the ass and besides, they didn't need her. Yesterday they had decided to tail down either Luffy and Nami or Ace's group and after realizing that the first two were going in to an amusement park they settled on the later ones. Kohza wanted to stay up to date on what Vivi was up to and Zoro simply wanted to tail Ace for fun. They wouldn't have minded following Luffy and Nami either; it would be good if they had something to blackmail her with later.

"Yeah, me too" Kohza said "I'll be there soon; I'm not that far. Don't let them out of your sight and, even more important, don't let them see you."

"Yeah, I know" Zoro said "See ya."

XXXXX

"Are you really planning to eat all that by yourself?" Nami asked as the waitress finally brought Luffy his pepperoni and ham family pizza.

"Yeah!" Luffy said while cutting off a piece "Or do you want some? You can have some, but only a little."

"No thanks" Nami said with a sweat drop "I was just wondering if you can actually eat all that."

"It's easy" Luffy said and Nami was surprised by how clearly he talked with his mouth full "I eat a lot."

"I know" Nami said. Had she not known Luffy as long as she had she'd never believe if someone said that he ate a lot; he was almost as skinny as her!

"Where does all that food go anyway?" Nami wondered "If I ate that much I'd be fat as our domestic science teacher!"

As Nami ate her veggie pizza she kept glancing at Luffy from time to time. He lacked table manners completely and Nami was sure he wasn't even trying to eat politely even though they were in public. He ate with his hands, which wasn't so bad tough since he was eating pizza. There were crumbs all over his face and he ate with his mouth open from time to time, mostly when he had stuffed too much food at once in his mouth. He slurped loudly every time he drank and a few times he had spilled some of the soda on the table.

"What the hell do I even see in that guy?" Nami asked herself, sighing. The worst thing was that she really didn't know why, but she had started to like him. And by like she meant the like like, not liking like a friend.

"Sure he's nice, fun and all but the same can be said about some other guys and yet I don't have a crush on them... ugh, honestly, what do I see in a childish guy like him?" Nami took another slice of her pizza, looking at Luffy. He wasn't really what she'd call handsome, but not ugly either. He looked... just plain ordinary. He was childish and naïve, but she had seen he also had a serious side. He was pretty stupid, but knowledge wasn't really everything, unless you wanted to be a doctor or something.

"You eat too slowly" Luffy commented as soon as he had finished his pizza.

"No I don't; you just eat too fast" Nami shot back. Luffy was also a bit rude from time to time; she really didn't know what she saw in him.

XXXXX

"Ace?"

"Yeah?" Ace asked, glancing at Vivi as they walked.

"Well for a while now I've felt like I'm being watched... and I don't mean by you." the blue haired girl whispered, resisting the urge to turn around and look behind her.

"So you noticed too?" Ace asked, smirking slightly "We've been followed since we left the Spinning Donut."

"What!?" Vivi asked, about to turn around but Ace took a hold of her shoulder before she could do so, whispering: "Don't look."

"Have you seen who it is?" Vivi asked quietly. Ace removed his hand, trusting that Vivi wouldn't turn around.

"No, but I have a few guesses" Ace said "It could be Margaret or Hancock, possibly even both. It wouldn't be that surprising if they have caught up with us."

"I suppose so..."

"It could also be Zoro, following us just for the heck of it" Ace said "But then again he usually hides pretty well and yet you noticed someone was there, so maybe not."

"I see"

"Luffy is also a possibility if Nami dumped him" Ace said with a chuckle. Vivi laughed a little, saying: "Or he could be following us with Nami; she does that kind of things."

"Yeah, that could be the case" Ace agreed, smirking "Should we try to find out who it is?"

"How?" Vivi asked.

"Just follow me" Ace answered, quickening his pace. Vivi followed him and they went around a corner, stopping. Ace motioned Vivi to lean against the wall like he was doing. She did so, understanding what Ace wanted to do. They waited and after a while some blond hair came to view from behind the corner. Ace put his leg out, successfully tripping Kohza, making him land face first on to the ground.

"Kohza!" Vivi yelled, instantly going to her friend's aid "Are you okay?"

"Didn't that go a bit too far?" Zoro asked as he rounded the corner. He hadn't let Kohza take the lead for nothing; he knew Ace would pull off something like this if he noticed them. And to Zoro it wasn't a surprise that he did; Kohza wasn't good at spying. It was definitely his fault that Ace found out in the first place.

"You should have thought of that before following us" Ace said, ignoring the glare Kohza sent him as Vivi helped him up "So, which one of you two got the idea of following us?"

"It was our mutual decision" Zoro said "Although I could tell that Kohza would get us caught sooner or later."

"What?!" the blond said "What makes you think it was my fault!?"

"Because this is the first time Ace actually manages to catch me while I'm tailing him" Zoro replied simply with a smirk. Kohza and Vivi exchanged glances before looking at Ace who nodded, although he was a bit annoyed that Zoro had to tell them that.

"I don't even want to know why you've been spying on him" Kohza said "How many times did you got lost while doing that?"

"None!" Zoro said, obviously lying "And it was for fun and blackmail, to be clear."

"Yeah, not that he ever got anything useful" Ace said, but grew nervous when Zoro smirked "...or did you?"

"Who knows" Zoro answered "By the way, where's Margaret?"

"We ditched her" Ace answered "And don't change the subject!"

"What subject?" Zoro asked with a smirk. He yawned, saying: "Since you've already seen me there's no point in staying here; I'm going home."

"Don't run away" Ace hissed, going after Zoro as the swordsman started to walk away "Spit it out!"

"I suppose that ends your date" Kohza told Vivi with a sweat drop "Wanna come over to my house? You haven't been there for a while."

"Sure" Vivi said "So how was your date with Nojiko?"

"Could've been worse; luckily she isn't a bitch like her sister"

"Kohza!"

"Yeah yeah, I'm an asshole"

XXXXX

"See ya tomorrow at school!" Luffy called out as he and Nami parted ways. He had had fun and for a moment he had considered asking Nami out for a real date, but in the end had decided against it. He didn't really know much about such things as dating, so he decided to just wait 'till he found out more. Usually he was the type to do things without thinking, but this was something he really didn't want to mess up and it's not like he was in a hurry; he could ask Nami out when he felt like it. For now he was okay with spending time with her as friends.

And it's not like anyone else has their eyes on Nami (Sanji doesn't count.)

A.N: Enter OOC Luffy... then again Luffy in love is already OOC in itself, isn't it?