Chapter 44

Fast update, no? I felt I needed to update his one today, though.


Nami and Skie wandered the streets of a small town. The cobblestone road was shoveled of snow and was lined with a variety of clean, tidy looking shops. There were two separate stores that caught the girls' attention. Nami was staring at an adorable looking clothing boutique, and Skie had her eyes on a café that advertised the 'World's greatest cocoa'.

"You know," they both said at the same time, "That store looks pretty cool." They looked at each other and laughed at their simultaneous timing.

"We'll go to yours first," Nami said, and they headed for the café.

It had a huge red door, and a neat little path had been shoveled to it. Skie pushed it open, and their presence was announced by a tiny ring of a bell. Several small tables were scattered across the room, and a young lady stood behind the counter, her navy blue hair tied up in a pony tail. She had a dark green sweater on and an apron that was splotched with what looked like cinnamon.

"Hello!" she said cheerfully. "May I help you?"

Nami smiled and walked up to the counter, Skie behind her. She was staring a the ceiling, as it was covered in tin and quite shiny. "We'll both have some of the cocoa, please." Nami smiled.

"Mine with extra whipped cream!" Skie chirped.

"Sure," the lady smiled brightly and turned, her arms picking different jars of ingredients off the racks and shelves along the back wall. She definitely knew what she was doing; her arms were moving so fast they looked blurry, and she kept that cheerful smile on her face.

Skie looked down at the glass case that served as the front counter, mouth watering at the sight of the cookies and pastries it displayed.

"Want one?" Nami asked.

"Yes pleeease," Skie said, nodding. She pointed at a large cupcake, it was chocolate with cream cheese in the center. "I love those," she said, eyes big and sparkly.

"Right." Nami nodded, and looked up at the young lady again, whom was just topping off Skie's hot chocolate with a big dab of whipped cream.

"Here you are, anything else?" she asked, placing the mugs on the glass counter in front of them.

"That cupcake please. And I'd like a croissant." Nami told her.

"Okay," she pulled the two desserts out, put them on a paper plate, and handed them to Nami. "That'll be five hundred bellis," she said.

"I'll pay," Nami said when she noticed Skie start to fish through her pockets.

"Wow. That's very odd of you," Skie said, getting a smack on the head.

Nami paid and the two sat down at a little table by the front window. Skie took one sip of hers and flipped out. "IT'S SO GOOD!" she yelled, and chugged down the mug.

Nami nodded, "It is really good! Better than Sanji's!" she said. And unlike Skie, she drank it slowly, savoring it and giggling at Skie when she started pouting about it being gone. She had also scarffed down the insanely-tasty cupcake too.

Nami was halfway finished with her croissant when Skie glanced out the window, "Hey, it's the guys." she said, pointing.

And yes, it was. Luffy, Sanji, Usopp and Zoro were walking along the lightly snow-dusted cobblestone road, looking in the windows of the different stores. Usopp was the one that spotted them. He grinned and said something to the others before they all headed for the café. They noisily fell in, pushing a couple more tables next to theirs and sitting down.

"Hey guys," Nami said.

"You guys have to try the cocoa." Skie said, nodding at the lady behind the counter, whom currently had a pair of black glasses on her nose and was reading a book. "It's the best cocoa ever."

"Better than mine?" Sanji asked, grinning. As if any cocoa anyone else made could be better than his.

"Yes, actually," Nami and Skie both answered at the same time.

Sanji's head hit the table with a loud, pathetic clunk.

"Try it and see!" Skie said, pulling at his blonde hair playfully.

"Baaaaaah," Sanji whined.

"Quit your whining, stupid chef." Zoro said, leaning back in his chair.

"Shut up, you mutant!" Sanji said, glaring up at him.

"COCOA. NOW." Skie said before an argument started.

Luffy and Usopp were already buying their drinks and cookie combos.

"Better hurry before they order it all." Nami laughed as the two boys stumbled from their seats and scrambled to the counter. Sanji, predictably, showed off his best noodle dance upon seeing the pretty young lady.

"Skie!" Luffy said as he sat down next to her, "You're right! This is really good!"

"Isn't it?"

"Mmm-hmm." Usopp sat down beside Luffy and nodded as he drank his nonstop.

Zoro came back before Sanji, who was still flirting with the lady. Her smile was still there, but her eyes looked irritated, one eyebrow raised. She drummed her fingers on her book, trying to hint that she'd like to get back to her book now that he'd bought what he wanted.

"Yo! Moron!" Zoro called, drawing Sanji's glare to himself. "Leave the poor girl alone,"

Sanji smiled at the lady, apologized, then drifted back to the table, sitting across from Luffy and next to Nami. "Want a sip?" Sanji asked her.

"You first. You need to try it," Nami said.

Sanji sighed and took a sip. His eyes widened. He swallowed and stared down at his mug, jealousy lining his face. "How's it so good?"

"Because it is," Skie said, her chin on the table as she stared longingly at the mug. "So," she said, eyes shifting to her empty mug, "How much time do you guys think I have?"

They were silent, surprised by the sudden topic.

"I don't know," Luffy said.

"They said," Skie started, "They said I've been out for two months." she paused to blow a long strand of hair out of her face, "But it feels I've been here for two years."

"Huh." Nami leaned back in her chair, arms crossed, her expression thoughtful. "So one month in your world is equal to a year here. Thirty divided by three hundred and sixty five." She closed her eyes, fingers flexing in and out as if she was counting. "That'd be about point zero eight. One divided by point zero eight is twelve and a half. So one day here is equal to twelve and a half days in your world."

They stared at her.

"Nami-Swan is so smart!" Sanji cooed loudly, harts buzzing around his head like planes would buzz around King Kong on the Empire State Building.

"I can't do math in my head," Skie laughed. "So, let's say they pull the plug in one day in their world. That'd give me about twelve days." she smiled, "That's not a lot…But more than I'dve hoped for."

"We'll spend 'em right," Usopp told her. "We'll have fun, okay?"

Skie grinned, sitting up straighter. She looked at a solemn looking Zoro and then at his half empty mug of hot chocolate. "You gonna finish that?" she asked jokingly.

Zoro snapped out of his thoughts and looked up from the table at her. "Twelve days." he repeated. "Not even two weeks."

"We know that," Sanji growled at him, "Are you trying to depress her?" he whispered.

Zoro bared his teeth and answered him with a growl of his own.

"Boys, quit being stupid." Nami said. "Twelve days isn't a lot, sure, but we'll spend them right, like Usopp said."

Usopp nodded.

Zoro looked back down at the table.

"So what now?" Luffy asked, "What are we gonna do now?"

"Well, Skie and I were headed for that clothing shop across the street…"

Nami's suggestion was answered by a chorus of male groans. Clothes shopping? Blech!

"Oh come on guys, it's not that bad." Skie said, "I could use a new pair of jeans."

"What about the ones I got you for Christmas?" Nami asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Luffy chopped the legs off to make a quilt or something. They're short shorts now." Skie stuck out her tongue. "I have this thing against short shorts."

Zoro coughed and covered his nose with one of his hands.

"Zoro, your nose is bleeding." Luffy said.

"WHAT'S GOING THROUGH YOUR HEAD?" Sanji roared.

Zoro glared away from them, blushing madly.

Nami and Usopp burst out laughing.

Skie laughed and stood up, "Let's head on out, then."

Another batch of groans.

"Fine, you boys go do something else, and Skie and I will go shopping." Nami huffed.

"We're coming!" they all said loudly.

"Then hurry up!"

-

Approximately six hours of intensely boy-boring clothes shopping later (and to the boys complete and total fury (save Sanji) not a single thing was purchased), the Straw Hat crews headed back for the ship, glad the streets were shoveled, as it was dark and tripping was more of a possibility now. When they clambered tiredly onto the deck, they started to split up to head to bed.

"Hey guys?" Skie called. They all stopped and turned to her. "G'night." she said, smiling.

"…Skie-Chaaaan!" Sanji rushed over to her and lifted her in another bear-hug.

"I wanna hug!" Luffy said loudly, storming over and putting his arms around the both of them.

"Me too!" Usopp was next.

"Idiots! Don't forget me!" Nami laughed and joined in the group hug.

Zoro huffed, and slowly, very slowly, inched his way over to them. "How about I just stand here pretending to hug you guys." he said grumpily.

"Nope!" They all let go of each other and engulfed Zoro, squishing him and Skie together.

"Urgh…air…" they both wheezed.

Nami reached a free hand out and put the camera at arms length away from them. "Smile!" she said, and snapped the picture. The camera coughed up the photo and the hug dispersed so they could see how it turned.

Luffy, Sanji, Usopp, and Nami were grinning widely. Skie and Zoro both looked completely frazzled. Skie had an eye squinted shut and Zoro's face was red.

"Aww!" Nami cooed.

"Hmph." Skie huffed, trying her hardest to hide her grin.

"I have a fun idea!" Luffy said, raising his hand. "Let's have a slumber party!"

"Slumber party?" Skie said, "That sounds fun!"

"I haven't had a slumber party in so long!" Nami said, eyes sparkling.

"What?" Zoro stared at Luffy, "What?"

"I'm Captain, so I say we have it down in our room!"

"Cool, then I don't have to move my stuff," Usopp grinned.

"I call one of the couches!" Skie said.

"Me too." Nami nodded.

"You can have my pillow if you're not comfortable enough, Nami!" Sanji said.

"Whaaat?" Zoro said, but they all ignored him.

Nami and Skie dragged their pillows down to the men's room, Skie nearly burying Usopp when she dropped them down the trap door. She hopped down, landing lightly, and started arranging her blankets and such on one of the comfy looking couches, Nami doing the same with the opposite couch.

Zoro was in his hammock, arms crossed over his chest, and he glared at Sanji's back. His hammock was right next to Skie's couch. He wondered to himself if she'd picked that couch for that reason. She didn't seem to notice him though, so he doubted it.

"G'night everyone!" Luffy said cheerfully from his own hammock.

"G'night, Luffy!" everyone answered.

The lights went off, but they all stayed up talking and giggling quietly as if someone would come in and tell them to hush up if they were too loud.

At one point, when everyone had quieted down a bit, Skie flipped onto her stomach and looked at Zoro, who hadn't said a word through the whole night. "Is that fun?" she asked.

"Is what fun?" he answered, looking at her from the corner of his eye.

"Sleeping in a hammock?"

"Not really."

"…" Skie raised an eyebrow and put a hand on his shoulder.

"…?" he turned his head and looked at her, confused. "What're you-"

Skie grinned and pushed his shoulder, making the hammock swing back and forth violently.

"Gah! Skie!" Zoro yelled.

She laughed as he squirmed and wiggled, trying to get the hammock to stop moving. She held out a hand and grabbed the hammock when he got close enough and pulled, stopping its swinging.

"See? See? That's not fun!" he complained, rolling over onto his side to glare at her.

"Uh-huh." she smiled at him and he found himself blushing. Without really thinking, he reached a hand out and grabbed the couch's armrest and pulled himself closer to her. He ignored her puzzled expression and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. She smiled and blushed, then pulled away. He stared at her, waiting for some sort of reaction.

She put a hand on his hand that held onto the couch's armrest and grinned.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Good night, Zoro." she said, and pulled his hand up.

"Whoa!" When his hand let go he swung free, his hammock rocking back and forth.. "Skiiie!" he roared.

Skie laughed herself to sleep.


The clock is starting! Eleven days left!

Rootbeer and Rock!