February 20/Saturday/7:00 am

"Chou Chou~!" I call as I burst out of the kitchen, finished cleaning after all my baking, "It's time for a bath!"

My little white dog trots over to me and allows me to pick him up and bring him back to the sink. He really is such a good dog. I'm glad that Luffy found him and brought him in, because he makes the café much less lonely.

I start the warm, soapy water and begin to clean him when the door slams open and I hear a crack! as it hits the wall.

"May! Food!"

"In the kitchen, Luffy!" I call to him and he comes bouncing in.

"Good morning," he gives me a hug and then peers over my shoulder to see what I'm doing, "Oh, is it that day?"

"Sure is," I beam at him and continue washing Chou Chou, "I can actually celebrate it now, too!"

The bell rings and I dry off my hands to go see who it is.

"Luffy, mind taking over for me?"

"Sure!"

I come out to see Law stepping up to the counter. He looks a bit more tired than usual, maybe. It's hard to tell really, but I think the shadows under his eyes are deeper than usual.

"Late night?"

"Yes. I need coffee."

"You got it."

Law glances around as if he's looking for something. He doesn't seem to find it.

"Where's the pie?"

"What?"

"The pie."

"What pie?"

"Isn't it Cherry Pie Day?"

I blink at him before a grin breaks out on my face.

"Aw, Law, did you research what holidays are today so you could impress us with your knowledge?"

He smacks my head.

"No-shut up."

"You totally did! Lu! Come look, Law's being really cute! He wanted to look cool by knowing it's Cherry Pie Day," Law tries to get me to stop talking, but I dodge his hands.

"Why would we celebrate Cherry Pie Day?" Luffy asks him comes out of the kitchen with soapy hands and a very wet and dripping Chou Chou hanging off his head, "Cherry pie's gross. Are you dumb, Torao?"

"Shut up."

He's tipping his hat to cover his eyes while Luffy pokes his cheek.

"You should bring Bepo in today if you have time," I laugh as Law smacks Luffy's hand away, "We don't celebrate Cherry Pie Day, 'cause Luffy hates it, but it is Love Your Pet Day."

"Bepo's not a pet. He's a friend," says the doctor, pushing Luffy's face away from him to hold him at bay.

"You just keep getting cuter and cuter," I giggle.

"I'm not cute."

"No shame in being cute," Luffy tells him, "Look at me, I'm cute as hell and I don't feel any shame."

"You have no shame in the first place."

"True!"

I grab a towel and pull Chou Chou off of Luffy's head to dry him off, then another towel to throw over my dumplings head because it's wet now too. However, he just shakes it off and showers me and Law with droplets that smell vaguely like wet dog in the process.

"Eek! Luffy, stop! You're getting us wet!"

10:15 am

Kidd arrives at the café today with Heat riding on his shoulders. He looks much less intimidating when he has a fluffy blue cat rubbing its face against his.

"Are you celebrating it, too?" I ask him enthusiastically, "You're celebrating Love Your Pet Day too, right?"

"What the hell is that? No, this bastard just decided to cling to me like an annoying dick he is," Kidd holds Heat by the scruff of the neck and puts him down; the cat quickly jumps back onto Red's broad shoulders, "Anyway, I never returned this."

He places the airpot that I sent off with him and Killer a while ago on the counter. It looks like it's been cleaned and shiny, wow, it looks better than when I first bought it.

"Did you polish it?"

"I don't like it when metal is tarnished, okay? It's not like I did it for you."

"Aw, thank you so much!"

"Did you listen to me? I said I didn't—"

"Want some coffee?" I cut him off, pulling out a few more airpots, "You can take as many as you like, just be sure to bring them back."

"You just want me to clean them, don't you?" Red sighs in irritation.

"What? Of course not, that would be silly. Make sure to make them super shiny, please and thank you!"

Kidd stays a bit longer while I fawn over Heat—he's also a very well-behaved animal, like Chou Chou—but then he has to go on his way when we turn our backs on the dog and cat for a moment and the sofa catches on fire.

12:30 pm

Mr. Mihawk is here sitting at Nester, and I'm making him lunch because Luffy and Ace aren't here for me to make lunch for them, and I need someone to make lunch for, so he's being a fill-in, even though he doesn't know it yet. Luffy is with Sanji and Ace is at the zoo, as are all of the other workers today. After all, the animals at the zoo are basically their beloved pets so they're spending the day with all of them.

Chou Chou is underneath the kitchen table playing with a lion plushie with a purple mane that I got him for today. He's enjoying biting it to shreds right now.

I tap the spoon on the side of the pan and hang up my apron, then bring out lunch for Mr. Dracule. He sets down his paper and raises an eyebrow at me.

"So, do you have any pets?" I ask, taking the seat at Nester across from him and starting on my own food.

"No."

"Really? I kinda pegged you as that lonely single guy that has a million pets to fill the void of human companionship that you're missing. Kinda like a crazy cat lady."

"I don't like animals."

"Oh. So, how did you and Shanks first meet?"

Mihawk sets down his newspaper and finally picks up his fork in resignation, apparently realizing that he won't be getting back to it anytime soon.

"We met twenty three years ago. The idiot had caused some trouble of one kind or another and was running away, jumped off the roof of a building and landed on the roof of my car, then proceeded to climb in through the window and demand that I drive him away. He then dragged me to a bar and got drunk."

"Wow, he hasn't changed at all," I marvel.

"Idiots never change."

"I guess so. That's actually funny though, I had a similar meeting. The first time I met Shanks, he ran into the café asking if he could lay low for a bit, then he drank all of the booze I had and started telling me stories about Luffy when he was a kid. It wasn't until later that we realized we both knew Luffy."

Mihawk nods.

"Idiots never change."

3:00 pm

Hancock and her sisters came in briefly today, but since Luffy wasn't here, she decided it wasn't worth her time to stick around. Marigold and Sandersonia each got some coffee though and told me that the magazines would be coming out soon so I should keep an eye out for them. They also said Elder Nyon wanted me to come back, but I'm still not sure about the whole modeling thing. It was fun, but I have a café to run, and hardly have enough free time as it is.

Anyway, I'm playing Sudoku and absently rubbing Chou Chou's tummy when the door flies open.

"Hi May!" Ace strolls in with a bear koala perched on top of his head, clinging onto his hat, "You should close up early and come to the zoo today."

"What? Why would I do that?"

"So you can see all the animals of course! We're having a play day with them and I thought you'd like to come along."

"But, it's only three…" I trail off.

"Lots of cute fluffy animals," he tries to persuade me, "And Cheetah Mama's babies are super cute and fuzzy now."

"Okay, you got me."

"Yes!"

Ace cheers as the door opens again and Law walks inside, brushing some snow from his shoulders. Bepo is clinging to his back.

"Hello, Torao-sensei! See you've got the polar bear again."

"Dog. He's a dog."

"Yeah, yeah. Hey! You should come, too!" Ace says, "I'm sure the polar bear—"

"Dog."

"Yea, dog, whatever, would like to see some more 'dogs'. We have them at the zoo, so you should come."

"Oh, yes! Law, come with us, it'll be fun!" I pick up Chou Chou and a cup of coffee for Law and walk out from behind the counter, handing the doctor his drink.

"I don't know—"

"Yeah, you want to come," Ace cuts him off and starts for the door.

I smile at Law and follow my friend.

"You brought Bepo after all."

"I'm taking him for a walk. It's coincidence that I ended up here."

"Right, right. Sure. Ace, listen to this! Law here researched what holiday it would be today to try and impress us."

"Really? Aw, that's so cute, Torao."

"Fuck off."

4:45 pm

The three of us arrived at the zoo, Ace with the bear koala still hanging onto his hat, Law with Bepo on his back, and me with Chou Chou in my arms.

Izo, passing by with a panda bear folded into his arms, greets us.

"Ace, you know you have a bear koala on your head."

"Huh? When did this little guy get here?"

"Ace! Cheetah Mama's being difficult again and not letting us check up on her babies," Haruta runs up to us with several parrots on his hands and more perched on his shoulders, "You need to come distract her. Hey, you have a polar bear on your back. Are you a new worker here?"

"Dog. He's a dog. And he's mine."

Haruta sends him a funny look, but decides he has better things to do than point out that the animal on Law's back is clearly a polar bear cub and shakes his head.

"Whatever. So long as you didn't steal it from the zoo. Ace, you should head over there soon."

"Okay. Come on you two, I'll show you behind the scenes."

We follow Ace inside a large gate that is for employees only.

"I didn't realize you worked for Whitebeard, Ace-ya," Law says as we stroll along the path with the occasional worker passing us, usually carrying some animal no matter how large. Thatch walked casually by with a rhino draped over his shoulder at one point.

"Right? Isn't it so cool?" I ask, "It's awesome that he gets to work at a zoo."

"…That's not what I was referring to—oh," I don't see Ace frantically making 'stop talking this instant signs' behind my back, "Right. Yes, a zoo. It's cool."

6:00 pm

I scratch my head in confusion.

"How did we end up here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, May-ya."

Law and I are currently sitting on some rocks by a pool of water, surrounded by spotted seals. They're really cuddling up to Law, poking him curiously with their noses and sniffing him all over. Bepo has crawled up to sit on his shoulders while I'm keeping Chou Chou safely in my arms.

We got separated from Ace when a herd of zebras ran past us at a crossroads, and then we got supremely lost trying to find him again.

A seal flops onto Law's lap and another tries to climb up onto his back while another knocks his hat askew.

I take out my phone and start taking pictures.

"What are you doing. Stop taking pictures of me this instant."

"Don't worry. I blackmail all my friends."

Law goes to take my phone, but I scoot away out of his reach. He gets blocked by the seals crowding around him. Having enough, he stands up and bears down on me, reaching for me phone. I just laugh and scoot over more, but suddenly, there's nowhere for me to scoot. With a shriek, I fall off the rock and into the pool, Chou Chou jumping out of my arms with my phone in his mouth.

I break the surface gasping for air to find Law laughing at me. I stick my tongue out at him as I climb out of the water.

"Justice is sweet," he smirks down at me, offering me a tattooed hand to get out.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," I grumble.

I ring out my ponytail, shed my dripping cardigan, and slip out of my shoes where there are puddles forming on the inside.

"Well, I reckon we should find some way to get out of here," I say, shading my hand to look at the setting sun.

We climb carefully down from the rocks and make our way out of the seal enclosure. I see an exit sign to enter the main part of the zoo and sigh in relief.

Figuring that there's no point in waiting around, Law and I walk through the zoo, taking in the animals, many of which are playing with the zoo workers. I hold my sopping shoes and cardigan in hand so that they dry faster.

All in all, it's a pretty good way to spend time.

Law pays for some smoothies from a cart, seeing as all of my Beri got wet, and we take a moment to sit down, our animals playing together and tumbling around on the ground.

"Thanks for coming today, Law," I smile at him, "I don't know what I would've done if I got lost on my own today."

He just nods.

The intercom system throughout the zoo gives a ding.

"Attention: We are currently looking for two lost children, May-chan and Law-kun. These children are about 171 cm and 191 centimeters tall and have two white dogs with them. May-chan's BWH is 105, 68, 85, and Law-kun is a very grumpy probably extremely sadistic-looking person. If found, please contact the nearest zoo employee. Thank you."

I stare up at the intercom.

"How the hell do they know my BHW?"

Law crosses his arms.

"I'm not grumpy," he says, grumpily.

"Are those two the lost kids?"

"They look rather old to be getting lost."

We glance around to find people staring at us and murmuring behind their hands.

"We're not lost!" I yell at them, sticking out my tongue, "Mind your own business!"

The people scatter and I give a satisfactory hmph! before turning back to Law.

"C'mon, let's go find the nearest zoo employee. We should find Ace and get out of here."

We stroll along and I grab Law's hand.

"So we don't get lost from each other," I tell him, swinging our arms back and forth childishly, "I had fun today!"

Law lets himself get pulled along until we find Ace, who runs towards us, crying that he thought he'd never see us again and that he was so happy to have his lost babies back under his wing.

He immediately gets smacked by both Law and I.

Author's Corner: Hey-a! Shoot, and I was so close to updating on time, too! Oh well. Life goes on, but I'll try hard to get tomorrow's chapter out on time, okay?

KHR-Yunalesca- Yup! Lots of things happening. And don't worry, Smoker'll warm up eventually. After all, they always do...HAHAHAHA- (And, I'm glad you liked the bonus. We'll be learning more about May's backstory in the coming months ;D)

ADDBaby- Thanks! Also, wow, your family is intense. And hey, you have to have Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream on Chocolate Mint Day! Obviously! Hmm, I kinda like all flavors except for chocolate, but what I like even more than ice cream is gelato. Stuff's the bomb!

C- Heehee, sure thing! Also, I try to review my stories myself and catch any mistakes I make. Obviously, I'm not always successful, but I don't think I've made any huge mistakes so far.

starrat- Thanks! You make my day a lot brighter :D

Albertasteinthe21stgenius- There ain't no rest for the wicked lol And yes, Bellamy is the biggest jerk. The hugest jerkiest jerk. Unbelievable

Awesome Guest- Thank you so much! I'm trying to write them in a way that it's not all 'oh, you silly boys, what am I going to do with you' while May stands off to the side. I hope I'm doing a good job?

Anyway, thanks for reading! Stick around!

-jj