February 19/Friday/7:00 am

I yawn widely as I wrap up a cake, grab my cardigan, and head for the door. I only got about half an hour of sleep since I realized late last night that I needed to make a grocery run. Fortunately, Ace was still here because he fell asleep at dinner (after lighting Quintin on fire, the jerk) and hadn't woken up yet, so he helped me carry the groceries back. And of course, once we were finished putting away the groceries, we stayed up watching movies until sometime around two in the morning.

Anyway, right now, I'm off to deliver a cake.

To whom?

Paula, of course!

The Spider Café hasn't gone out of business yet, which is quite the achievement on Red Line. Usually, people who set up businesses here are gone by the second week for one reason or another. I remember there was one once a jewelry shop next to me run by this incredibly unpleasant man named Don Krieg who had a whole bunch of unpleasant employees (one named Pearl was particularly nasty), but they closed down when Luffy sorta destroyed the entire building with his bare hands and feet. Another one, a poor Doctor Blackbeard or some such, tried to set up his clinic, but it was destroyed in a mysterious explosion that Ace claims he has no relation to, which is funny seeing as he was standing next to the burning building with a lighter in hand and laughing maniacally when it collapsed. There was also a restaurant and bar across the street called Whiskey Peak where Ukkari Hot Spring is now. The entire building is gone because back in November, Luffy and Zoro got into a fight and my green-haired friend lifted the entire building to throw at Luffy.

Have I ever mentioned that my friends are monsters?

Well. Let me tell you.

Huh, I just noticed that the reason for most of the places going out of business is my friends.

Huh.

I push open the door of the Spider Café with my shoulder and call out to Paula, who's helping a customer.

"Good morning! I brought you something!"

I wait patiently for her to finish helping the person before stepping up.

"Hi, Paula. I wanted to give you something to celebrate you not going out of business! It's really impressive that you've made it this far," I tell her sunnily and hand her the box, which she takes with a raised eyebrow.

"Are you making fun of me?" she asks as she takes off the lid to reveal the cake I made her.

"What?" I ask her, confused, "No? Did you do something funny? I must've missed it, do it again."

"Wow, that smells incredible, what is it?" a person standing behind me asks; it's a man with heavy eyeliner and a scarf wrapped around his head with a diamond—or maybe it's a starry—pattern.

"It's chocolate cake with a molten chocolate mint filling, since it's Chocolate Mint Day!" I explain happily to him.

"Amazing! Where can I get one?"

"Well, I made it. I have more at my café next door…"

"I must have one. Ojou-sama would probably like some as well," he nods.

"Alright then," I smile and turn back to Paula, "Looks like I can't stay and chat, but I hope you like the cake. And that you stick around longer!"

I lead the man back to my café, with a few others trailing behind.

"So, what is your name?" I ask him as I slice a piece for him and hand it over, "I am Lily E. May."

"Pell, and thank you for the cake. I would like one in a box as well."

"Of course!"

10:00 am

Luffy and Ace came for breakfast of course, but they had to wait for a while until the morning flood of customers I got went away. I whipped up breakfast for the three of us along with some mint tea and chocolate muffins to go on the side, then we sat around, sharing old stories and laughing at them all over again.

"Do you remember when we got stranded on that little island when we went with Pops on a whale-watching trip?"

"It's because you and Lu stole a rowboat and I was stupid enough to come along. I think we were stuck there two days, wasn't it?"

"Shishishi, that was fun! There were a lot of animals on that island that were fun to play with. And they were tasty!"

"Haha, I don't think I ever saw Marco so close to having a stroke when they finally realized they left us behind and found us."

"Yeah, that was funny. I think yours and Luffy's sunburns the next day were even more hilarious though. You two were red as tomatoes. I could see my hand print if I barely touched you."

We sit on the sofa in the front; Ace has his legs thrown over the back of it while I have my head on his stomach and my legs are being used as a head rest for Luffy.

"We should get ice cream today," I say suddenly.

"That's a good idea!"

"Yeah! Let's go right now!"

"No, no, Lu, we should wait until later. It's too early for ice cream," I tell him.

"It's never too early for ice cream if you really want it."

"Later, bro. May's got to work," Ace reaches over me to poke Luffy's cheek and the teen pouts but accepts it.

"Speaking of work, Ace, don't you have to be at the zoo or something?"

"Nah, don't feel like it."

"Oh."

2:00 pm

Grand Line seems to be steadily working its way through every single type of weather today. There was a blanket of snow this morning, followed by a light sprinkle of hail, then some showers, freezing gusts of wind, then hot and dry ones, and it was settled on a hazy cover of fog, before moving on to what it is now with the sun burning down upon the city. It's so hot, I can see waves of heat rising off the streets outside.

Chou Chou is laying across the counter, tired from the heat with his little tongue lolling out, and I'm with him, leaning against the counter with my chin resting on my arms. It's almost too hot to function! It's making me sleepy.

I jolt up when the door slams open, making the bell jangle wildly and Usopp and Chopper run in, followed by some interesting characters: a woman with bushy red hair and putple and a large man with a head of green hair. Huh? Is that Zoro?

"May, save us!" my friends cry.

"Usopp? Chopper? Why are you running from Zoro?"

"That's not Zoro!" Chopper yells.

"Are you blind, May?!" shouts Usopp.

I take a second look at the green-haired man. What are they talking about? He has green hair so it must be Zoro, oh wait—

"Oh, I see! It's not Zoro, he's not wearing a haramaki," I pound my fist on my palm.

"That shouldn't be what you notice!"

"Thought you could run away from us, ba?!" the woman says, "Yeah, yeah, you damn brats made my hip hurt from makin' me chase ya, duh! Ya big idiots. Let's off 'em."

Whoa, whoa, whoa, not-Zoro is pulling out a huge bat and they're both advancing on my friends who cling to each other, sobbing in fear. I grab two phonebooks and throw them without thinking.

"Whew! Thanks for saving our hides!" Usopp wipes his forehead and nudges one of the people with the toe of his shoe.

"Who in the world are they and why were they trying to hurt you?!" I ask, not understanding what's going on.

"These two recently opened a sporting goods store near Going Merry," says Usopp, "I don't know why, but they suddenly burst in and tried to beat me up. Since I knew they were after me and the kids would only get hurt if I stuck around, I expertly lead them away—"

"You mean you ran away—" Chopper says.

"And I ran into Chopper," Usopp cuts loudly over Chopper.

"What is happening?" I ask, worrying as I help Chopper roll the unconscious people outside, "First Robin and Luffy come in chased by some weirdos and now you two."

"Who knows? Can I get some tea, May?"

"Sure, Chopper. I have some good mint tea that you'll like."

6:00 pm

"May! Are you ready for an adventure?"

Luffy and Ace burst into the café in typical fashion, grinning excitedly and practically bouncing with energy. I smile in return and button up my cardigan. I've already closed up the café in preparation, so I'm good to go.

"Let's go!"

We're just going out for some ice cream, but with my friends, even the smallest of walks can turn into full-blown grand adventures. It's one of the things I love about them.

"So, where are we going?" I ask as we start off down Red Line.

"There's an ice cream parlor off of Loguetown Street," says Ace, "I've been meaning to try it out. I heard about it from Moda because they buy from her, so it must be good!"

"That's on the other side of Grand Line."

"Yes, yes it is."

"…Alright. Let's go! Adventure!" I cheer, "But, I'm not walking there, let's take Puffing Tom."

"Sounds good. We'll get to see Kokoro-san and Chimney!" Luffy laughs as he swings his arms back and forth, marching down the street, "Let's go! Adventure!"

Ace and I laugh as we run to catch up with Luffy. We make it to the stop just as the trolley pulls up and hop on.

"Why, if it isn't my three liveliest passengers," Kokoro says with a wide smile, "Where are you headed?"

"Loguetown!" we all answer.

"Ngagaga, that's quite far! Hopefully, I won't fall ashleep by tha' time we get t'ere."

"Kokoro-san, are you drunk?" asks Ace.

"Undeniably," the conductor responds cheerily.

"Woohoo! Ring the bell! Go super fast!" Luffy holds onto his hat as he leans out the window as the trolley picks up speed and I'm right behind him.

"Be careful you don't fall out!" Chimney tells us, ringing the trolley's bell.

"Adventuuuuure!"

7:30 pm

It took an hour riding the trolley to get to the end of Grand Line.

And that was without Kokoro stopping to pick up any more passengers.

And also, going at a very dangerous speed.

Ace, Luffy, and I had fun waving to all of the bewildered people waiting at the stops as they zoomed by.

We tumbled out of the trolley with windswept hair and giddy with laughter and waved Kokoro and her granddaughter (and their 'cat') as they sped off. And finally, we got our ice cream.

Of course, we got Mint Chocolate Chip.

I got a moderate two scoops while Ace and Luffy each got nine. We walk down Loguetown Street as we enjoy our ice cream. We're discussing what sort of ice cream flavor is the best when I see a familiar head of white hair up ahead.

Officer Smoker is leaning against a light pole filling out a ticket for a car parked in front of a fire hydrant when a small child carrying an ice cream cone bumps into him. The cold treat falls on his pants leg and he looks down menacingly at the unfortunate girl, who looks like she's near tears. However, he bends down and pats her head, pulling out a few Beris.

"Go buy another ice cream. It's a shame this one got ruined," he tells her. The girl beams up at him, tears and dropped ice cream forgotten.

"Thanks, mister!"

Smoker goes back to writing his ticket.

"Wow, Smokie, you're such a giant teddy bear."

His eyes snap up to meet the three of us, standing here and smiling at his little display of cuteness.

"Portgas?!"

"Yo."

"Strawhat?!"

"Hi!"

"What the hell are you two doing here?" The officer growls, tearing out the ticket and slamming it onto the window shield of the car; oooh, it cracked a little bit where he hit it, wow he is strong.

"Ice cream!" the brothers say plainly.

"Adventure!" I say, "And ice cream."

Smoker looks at me like something just occurred to him.

"Wait, do you know these two punks?"

"What?"

"Of course May doesn't know us, Smokie," Ace casually leans an arm around my shoulder, licking his ice cream, "No way we know each other. That's impossible. Are you seeing things?"

"Shut your damn mouth, I could have you arrested right here and now—"

"You can't arrest us," Luffy says, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world; Smoker bristles.

"And why's that?" he growls.

"Because we're eating ice cream. You don't arrest people who have ice cream."

"You should have some too!" I tell him, "Come on, let's go get you some ice cream. My treat."

I latch onto his wrist with my cone-free hand and start pulling him.

"Now wait just a damn second here, I'm not going anywhere—"

"Objection overruled!" says Ace, grabbing his other wrist while Luffy pushes his back so that the policeman stumbles forward, "You're getting ice cream whether you like it or not."

"Get your hands off me!"

"Nope!"

8:15 pm

We sit in the ice cream parlor with a disgruntled Smoker, eating our desserts and making Smoker sit back down every time he tries to get up and leave. I've finished my cone, but Luffy and Ace are still working on their nine scoops.

"Ah! It's dripping down the side. May, help me!"

"Wah! Mine is too. In that case, I'll just eat it all!"

"Luffy, that is such a bad idea—" I try to warn him, but it's too late.

"Ah! Brain freeze!"

I laugh and help lick up Ace's melting ice cream while Luffy tackles Smoker as he tries to lunge for the exit. Geez, you'd think he didn't like us!

"Let go of me, you brat! I have a patrol to do!"

"Not a chance! You don't get to leave until you finish your ice cream."

"I don't even want any!"

"I think Smoker likes us," Ace comments as we watch him and Luffy struggle; I look up at him with sparkles in my eyes.

"Does that means he wants to be our friend?!"

"Like hell I do! Let me go!"

Author's Corner: Hey-a! Well, I don't think I need to say that I'm late. It's kinda to be expected at this point =~= But, thank you so much guys, this story now has over 10k views!

Albertasteinthe21stgenius - ;)

Simply 'Guest'- Oooooh, retaliation from the Lawly side! And also! A new ship enters the ring?! We've got Madd (Kidd and May) on the table now!

starrat- Thank you, you little sunshine person you!

ADDBaby- Full pyro? Sounds wild :D

KHR-Yunalesca- All hell breaks loose. That is all. (thank you ^u^)

C- Yeah, I thought about Lace for May/Ace as well, but I thought there were too many people with 'L' names that Mace would be better. Also, Madd is apparently now a ship, so there you are ;D

FSG Guest- *snap and strikes a pose, putting on sunglasses simultaneously* No way would CP9 be scared off just like that! We still have to see the rest of them. And yes, next month, Sabo is coming to town

littlecatbug22- Hmm, love triangle between Law Ace and May? Their ship name would be complicated... Lacely maybe? Also, see above answer for when Sabo will arrive

Thanks for reading everyone, stick around!

-jj