Sanji raised his eyebrows as he ran the razor past his chin in smooth strokes, his eyes in the mirror not concentrating on his face but the child behind him.
"That's how you've been living? You're a street-kid without a home?"
"Yeah,"
Luffy, or rather, Kale said distractedly from studying the back of a cereal-box while chomping away at the chocolate puffs,
"But I'm different because I have money."
"How on earth would you have money?"
Zoro asked, finishing his second piece of toast and reaching for a third.
"Stop eating up all the bread!"
Sanji snapped, snatching the pile of toast Zoro had somehow managed to accumulate. The model glared at the burnt, crisp edges of crust while Zoro slathered an untoasted slice of loaf with blueberry jam, completely ignoring Sanji's eyes burning into the side of his head.
"I have this RLB card to extract money from this account God conjured,"
Kale said, pulling out a Red Line Bank card from his jumper pocket as he crunched away at his cereal,
"It hasn't got much but it's enough to keep me going."
"So you can stay in motels and places like that?"
Sanji asked as he lay slices of ham onto some toast and handed it to the boy. Kale eagerly stuffed the food into his mouth, and immediately made Zoro and Sanji cringe at the fact he had still been chewing chocolate cereal when he had done so. He shook his head vigorously, spraying crumbs everywhere.
"I would prefer motels, but your captain likes the outside. It's more like your world, then, see? But I hope you don't mind if I stay in here. I'll be good, and I won't get you into trouble. At least, I'll try to keep your captain in check and I won't get you into trouble. I think."
Sanji sighed as he sat back in his chair, leaning on his arms behind his neck as he wondered out loud,
"We don't give a damn whether you stay or not, so long you don't get caught. And I can't seem to remember our world that well. I mean, I remember the people, but... the world itself..."
"I think I remember more than you,"
Zoro said as he swallowed the last of his breakfast and walked over to his bed and started packing books into his backpack,
"I mean... I remember all the hammocks and the way the boat would bob beneath and stuff like that."
Sanji rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, you would only know the hammocks, person-who-sleeps-half-the-time."
Zoro opened his mouth to retort when a slightly surprised and thoughtful tone cut in,
"But that's so vague."
Sanji and Zoro blinked and looked at the change in attitude of the young boy. He didn't sound like the mature kid before, but more like...
"...Luffy?"
Zoro prompted a little hesitantly. The boy nodded, his face pinched in a frown.
"I mean, can't you remember the air? The weather would always change, but the air wouldn't."
He set down the cereal box, his eyes bright as he spoke.
"The smell of the air wouldn't, anyways. And the wood was pretty soft for a ship. Not the usual hard stuff. And we'd fish sometimes and get bucketfuls which Sanji would make big dishes with. That was always delicious! Never as good as good ol' meat, though... Oh, and the wind on my favourite spot was always great. And our clothes were much better. I mean, there weren't loads of brands, besides that Doskoi Panda thing Nami would always buy, but our own clothes..."
Half an hour later, Zoro and Sanji were late to Physics and Literature respectively but neither made an effort to move away from the mesmerising memories of a very animated Monkey D. Luffy.
"Hey."
Tashigi lifted her swollen eyes to meet Jenna's, and rolling her own she continued to walk past her. Jenna's coated fingernails dug into her shoulder and pushed her back, her lip curling into a half-snarl, half-smirk as she looked at Tashigi.
"Didn't you hear me, raven?"
"What do you want?"
Tashigi asked dully. She was much too tired and depressed to want to bother listening to Jenna, but the Bitches hadn't chased her into a bathroom ever since the dinner-dance. Maybe she wants to say something that makes sense, Tashigi thought, then mentally snorted. Wishful thinking.
"It's just that we haven't seen each other lately,"
Jenna said, her eyes searching Tashigi's face,
"And I was wondering how things are going about with you these days."
Tashigi shrugged Jenna's hand off her shoulder, throwing her a look of irritation and suspicion.
"What the hell are you getting at?"
She asked, her tired eyes narrowing behind her thick glasses. Jenna's eyes flashed in surprise and anger at the sign of defiance but she kept her strange half-smile and half-frown on as she said softly,
"Fine. I guess there's no point playing around with you anymore."
Jenna's eyes darted around the area behind Tashigi, as though to make sure no one was there before she dropped her voice several notches and muttered,
"What's going on with you and Roronoah?"
A pain rang through Tashigi's mind at the mention of his name and she took an involuntary step back from Jenna.
"Get a grip."
She snapped, and re-adjusting her bag strap and pushing her glasses further up the bridge of her nose, Tashigi brushed roughly past Jenna. Jenna's eyes followed her, and was about to look away when she saw a flash of Zoro's blue bandanna.
She continued to watch, and saw Zoro say something. Tashigi did not do anything in reaction to him and walked briskly into a lecture hall to her left, leaving Zoro to look confusedly after her. Jenna's lips curled once more, and this time, it was definitely a smirk.
'So,'
Jenna thought satisfiedly as she walked down the hall,
'My plan's going straight into action, after all.'
The repaired clock on the wall of the garage ticked, and the second-hand slowly clicked another minute of precious time away.
"Where the hell is he?"
He snarled at Krieg, who looked back at him with a re-assuring air to his smile.
"He'll be here soon. No need to get antsy."
"He's four friggin' hours late, and you tell me not to get antsy. The hell with it, Krieg, I'm beyond 'antsy' by now!!"
"Calm down, Arlong,"
One of the men by him said hastily while another set a hand on Arlong's rising form and pushed him back into the chair, consoling,
"Just wait a few more minutes, chuu."
Arlong was letting out a very low and angered growl when Gin finally stepped in.
"Where the @#$% were you?!!"
Krieg hissed, glaring at the slouched form of his gang's vice-captain, but noticing Arlong's gaze on them shifted his gritted teeth into a grin.
"So what's the news?"
The dark shadows beneath Gin's eyes seemed to darken further as he scanned the room, but his voice came as normal.
"He agreed to do it under a 35% cut."
"WHAT?!! That mother-@#$%ing baboon, I'll tear his--"
"Shut up,"
Arlong snapped, and brought his slit-like eyes to hover over Gin with barely disguised annoyance and anger.
"Did it not occur to you how ludicrous that demand sounds?"
He asked slowly. Gin's eyes narrowed beneath the blue and white striped band as he answered,
"It took me four hours to bring a fifty-percent deal to thirty-five. Says he's got too many men."
"Thirty-five percent."
Krieg muttered, his hands pressing into his eyes threatening to poke through his eye sockets,
"That's a lot. Gin, is it impossible to go any lower?"
No, Gin said mentally, thinking of something entirely different, but out loud answered,
"He wanted to see someone with more authority for further negotiation."
"Great,"
Arlong said as enormous relief flitted past Krieg's eyes,
"That's somewhat a relief. When?"
"Tuesday, 3 PM."
Gin replied, and felt his insides twist as he saw Krieg smile widely at Arlong's spreading smirk in a simpering manner.
Captain Don Krieg....
Nami popped another pain-killer in her mouth, downed it with orange juice, and massaging her temples she leant back on her bedspread, sighing.
"Why are you yelling out stupid and unnecessary things when I can sense a storm coming? If you don't help out, we're going to be in a lot of hell!"
She really didn't feel up to going to class, let alone meet up with the gang later on. In fact, she didn't feel like doing anything at all.
Icy sheets of rain pelting down onto the deck, rainwater sloshing into her boots, soaking her clothes, her skin--
The moment her head had touched the pillow last night, she knew it was going to be a restless night.
"Hey!! Usopp, are you alive?!"
After an hour of tossing and turning she finally dragged herself out of bed to grab some sleeping pills, and finally fell into a deep sleep.
Blood... so much blood. She'd never seen so much before. It lapped almost innocently against her knees and hands with the rainwater, staining her hands with an unforgettable crimson--
But it hadn't exactly been peaceful.
"You idiot," -- eyes stinging sharply from wind and tears -- "You're not going to die--"
The unwanted images flashed by her eyes, and Nami's eyes shot open in effort to release herself from the grip of terror that filled her every time she thought of their final day in their previous lives.
It happened so quick. Too quick. One minute he's smiling at me as usual, same smile he wears when he's pouring me iced tea or pulling out a chair for me, and the next minute--
Her heart wrenched, and she rolled over to her side and curled up, a hand pressed hard to her chest as though to push the pain down, bury it away...
He's gone.
Her eyes filled with tears, and she quickly got up to blot the gathering tears with a tissue, and tried to make herself think of other things. Like her paper for Geography...
"Z-Zoro-- Sanj-ji-k-kun, he-- he's-- g-g-gone--"
A rush of colour--
Rain, drenching to the core, rough hands grabbing, skin prickling--
--a pain and fear clawing from her very soul--
Fiercely cold eyes, cruelly cold and calculating yet dangerously reckless--
Nami gasped, scrunching the tissue in her fist and letting out a tiny, incomprehensible noise of extreme pain and confusion--
Furtive glances, blurs of grey, black, brown-- amber--
Pain, icy fear-- despair--
"Farewell, babe."
A crack fractured her mental hearing and Nami grasped at her throat, choking on a hiccough. Eventually, the pounding images died away, the howling wind and echoes of the finality of his voice gradually muting as the clenching of her chest slowly lifted. Then Nami forced herself to drink more water and stare out of the sunny window, concentrating on the cheerful whistling of a bird outside.
But like a television that hadn't been switched off yet, Nami could still sense the remnants of the dream and past life haunting the back of her mind. It was muted for now, but anytime soon it would return full blast... she could feel it coming, like the weather.
She'd woken up that morning with a headache the size of the Going Merry and she wasn't really pleased about the way her lips were pulled in a constant grimace. Something was bothering her, something deep and nagging that just wouldn't go away. It was something that hurt.
And it wasn't just the psychological, funny feeling at her neck. There was something else scraping away at the confines of her mind, grinding and clawing...
She set the back of her hand on her forehead, fervently wishing for the rising pain to ebb away, but only felt it intensify. She groaned.
"Still got a headache?"
Vivi asked as she emerged from the bathroom, running a brush through her hair and completely oblivious to Nami's slightly pink eyes and curled upper-lip.
"Yeah."
She said vaguely, looking at her bedspread and hoping Vivi wouldn't notice.
"No surprise. I can't believe you got here without getting caught, and that midnight excursion was bound to give you stress."
Vivi said with a lacing of amusement. Nami forced a small laugh, mentally frowning. Was it really the creeping back to her dorm that was making this headache? She wished that was the case, but lately, nothing was that simply.
There was something strangely strongly yearning in her headache, but she wasn't exactly aware of what...
Sighing again, Nami turned over onto her stomach and cradled her cell-phone in one hand, the other still rubbing her head.
'Perhaps an ice-cream with Usopp might help...'
She rubbed a thumb thoughtfully across the smooth buttons of her phone as she mused inwardly,
'Then he can pay for what he made me pay for last time, and we can go to the meeting after together...'
For the first time since the morning started Nami felt a tiny smile lift her cheeks.
'Yes, free ice-cream does sound good...'
"You need how much more?"
Krow said in disbelief into his cell-phone, his brows knotting as he heard Krieg's voice repeat slowly and deliberately,
"Four hundred thousand more. C'mon, Krow, this oughta be easy for you."
"I'd have to sell over a third of my company to get that, Krieg,"
He snapped irritably, but was cut off by a harsh laugh at the other end of the line.
"I'm not an idiot. I know about your place in Flint's will to get the Storm land. I know how much that's worth."
"Look, I don't think you know how Feline Incorporates is faring lately,"
Krow snarled as he shoved his glasses into the bridge of his nose using his palm,
"Share prices have plummeted while Morgan Industries have had theirs sky-rocket ever since they began their best value campaign, and--"
"The Storm land is known to be rich in good soil and easy access to clean water. 10,523 acres, Krow! No doubt the government would buy it off you for a couple million dollars for a friggin' nature park of some sort..."
"It's not like I don't know that, but there's something going on about there being another will,"
Krow muttered,
"And I think Cheryl Maine's getting uneasy or something. Uncertain as whether to let me have the full responsibility--"
"Didn't you get a contract of responsibility or something signed? Besides, where the hell would another will pop up from?"
"The contract is invalid if a more recent will is found, obviously. And the other will is said to be with--"
As Krow turned the corner, what he had thought to be a completely empty area was occupied with one young man absent-mindedly studying his shoes and standing still. He quickly muttered,
"I will contact you tonight."
And shutting the mobile phone with a snap, Krow pocketed it as he approached the mansion.
"Are you looking for someone?"
He asked politely. The young man looked at him, blinked, the completely freaked out for a few choice seconds before adjusting his glasses on his long nose as he said very quickly,
"Huh? Oh! Me? Er, yes, of course me, who else? Unless you were talking to yourself... no? Didn't think you were a quack. No! I mean! Uh, I mean I'm sort of... uhm..."
He looked around, panicked, seemingly looking for an excuse. Krow raised an eyebrow. Was this a friend of Kaya's? It did feel like he had seen this man somewhere before... Something about that nose triggered an alarm in his head...
"So you're an acquaintance of Kaya?"
The young man stopped short of blabbering, appeared to do some lightning-quick thinking before blurting out a bit too quickly,
"NO!! I mean, er, no. Whatever gave you th-that idea? I mean, I'm just... just looking at the... flowers? No, that's sissy-- I meant-- looking at the house. Heheh. It's a, uhm, nice house. A nice blue house. Uh, I like blue. Yeah. Right. Er... I guess I'll be going now. Haha. Wouldn't want anyone to think I was a suspicious person! Heh heh..."
Smiling faintly and sweatdropping, the young man hurried away from Kaya's mansion, throwing back a flustered and searching look at Krow before disappearing from sight. The manager of Feline Incorporates narrowed his eyes somewhat suspiciously after him. Kaya didn't have any male friends to his memory. Was it some fan-boy who had found out her address somehow? That was a little worrying...
'He seems familiar...'
He thought, frowning,
'Just like how the occasional person on the street seems familiar...'
However, like every other time, Krow shrugged it off.
It probably wasn't important, by any rate, and he didn't see why he should waste energy trying to think about it.
He walked over to the front door, straightened his tie, plastered a smile on his face and rang the bell.
A/N: Yay. From here on I'll be building up the second arc, which is a lot shorter than the Awakening and which I guess the working title is the 'Returning Arc'. I know people are probably getting drop-dead bored by now... gomen nasai. T_T I'll be trying to pick up the pace as we go on. I'm awfully sorry about how long the blurdy thing is... well I guess I'll go to sleep now... *yawns* ...I want to buy Pretty Face...