Christmas Memories
By: Escachick357
Ch. 1- Luffy: Looking Deep Inside
Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece…yet.
A/N: Ah, Christmas, a time for being thankful for everything you got…
Kurama's Girlfriend11 walks in-
Kurama's Girlfriend11: Uhhh…hey, sis…that's Thanksgiving.
Escachick357:…Oh yeah, huh? Well, anyways, this fic is about some of the memories each of the One Piece character may have about a Christmas when they were younger. Hope ya like them.
0000000
Fuschia Village was one of the best places to grow up from childhood to adulthood. It was a serene, quiet, and little town. Friendly, too. Okay, maybe not friendly enough to have a person hug another or pat another on the head everyday, but friendly enough to have one saying a peaceful greeting to one another. None of the children were afraid of anybody in this town…except one.
"Get back here, you little bastard! I swear I'll whoop your ass good if you don't!" A man in his mid-50s yelled while running after a little seven-year-old boy.
"AAAHHH!" the seven-year-old known in the village as Monkey D. Luffy screamed as he ran from the older man.
The townspeople rolled their eyes and stepped out of the way of the yelling man and screaming boy.
Luffy frantically looked around for something to hide in or someone to hide behind, but neither Ace, Shanks, or even the mayor was around so he had to pick the best place to hide…the bar. Surely Makino would hide him from the man chasing after him. He ran inside breathless.
"Hey, Anchor! What's up?" A mostly sober Shanks asked the breathless little boy.
"Hide…me…" Luffy said in between breaths.
"Huh? Why?" Shanks asked.
Without answering, Luffy ran behind the largest of the pirates just half a second before the bar doors slammed open.
"Ah, Himamura-san. Good afternoon." Makino greeted the man originally chasing Luffy.
"Where is he? Where is that bastard? Where is Luffy?" the man screamed.
Makino shrugged her shoulders, "I haven't seen him since this morning. What did he do this time?"
The man's face grew red, "That little bastard was cutting through my cornfield!"
"Your cornfield? Aren't your crops picked and sold?" Makino asked.
The man's face grew even redder, "That's not the point! He cut a bunch of the stalks halfway down and I want him to pay for it!" He threw two cut stalks onto the bar floor.
"I don't know what to say, but maybe you should talk to his parents about it." Makino calmly told him.
The man grunted, picked up the broken stalks, and headed out of the bar. Once assured that the man was gone, Luffy walked out from behind his hiding spot.
"Himamura Mataichi is the meanest man in all of Fuschia Village!" Luffy announced.
"So, why were you in his cornfield?" Makino asked him.
Luffy shrugged, "It was a shortcut home."
"And how did you cut down the cornstalks?" Makino asked.
"Cut? I tripped a few times and he ran after me with a scythe." Luffy told her.
Shanks started to laugh, "Well, he's already at your house. You might as well go home and get your punishment now."
Luffy had a different idea. His parents couldn't punish him…if he wasn't their kid. "Hey Shanks," He asked the red-haired pirate, "Can you adopt me?"
Shanks nearly spit out his ale. Everyone else stared at the little boy. After ten seconds, Shanks gave Luffy a calm smile, "Luffy, I'd adopt you if I lived in Fuschia Village…" he paused for a minute, "But I don't. So…no." Everyone but Luffy laughed hysterically.
"You're so mean!" Luffy screamed over the laughs. Then he followed Shanks' original advice and went home. Fortunately, Mataichi was gone. Unfortunately, his parents knew about him cutting through Mataichi's cornfield.
"Luffy," His father told him the second Luffy entered the house, "Himamura-san was just here."
"He started it, not me!" Luffy announced before anything else was said.
"Why were you in the cornfield?" His mother asked.
"It was a shortcut home." Luffy answered.
"Why were you even by his cornfield?" His mother asked him. The question was left unanswered.
Another question, however, was asked, this time by Luffy, "Do you want me to go back and apologize?"
His parents shook their heads. "We talked to Himamura-san. We think that what you've done in the cornfield was unnecessary, so we've decided that you will work in the field for two hours each day until Himamura-san approves of your work." His mother said.
"What?" Luffy screamed.
"And your brother will take you to Himamura-san's cabin." Luffy's father said.
Ace, who was sitting at a nearby table, nearly choked on the juice he was drinking. "What?" Ace partially screamed, "I'm not going over there. Himamura-san is crazy."
"He is not crazy and you are taking your brother there tomorrow. You don't even have to go up to the door. Just make sure he enters the house." Ace's father told him.
Ace shrugged and continued drinking.
"I'm not going! You can't make me!" Luffy shouted, stomping his foot onto the floor.
0000000
The next day, Luffy found himself standing inside Mataichi's house. He cringed at the smell of the inside. The whole house smelled as if it was covered in medicine. There were only two chairs and two beds in the whole house. Those were the only pieces of furniture in the house aside from the little table that went with the chairs and the little box on a shelf.
Mataichi led Luffy to a very small shed in the backyard, on the cornfield. "You know how to use one of these things?" Mataichi asked, picking up an ax. Luffy nodded and Mataichi placed the sharp item in his small hands.
"I want you to cut down every single cornstalk until they are all the same height. And they had still better be there." Mataichi commanded before walking into his house.
Luffy chopped the stalks for two hours and immediately stopped when he saw Ace walking up to the door to pick him up.
Luffy ran into the house to tell Mataichi that he had finished and saw him holding the tiny box in his hands. "Ummm…I'm done with my two hours. What's in the box?" Luffy asked.
Mataichi hid the box quickly, "None of your business! Now get out of here!"
Luffy didn't need to be told twice. He quickly ran out of the house and into his brother.
"You ready to leave?" Ace asked. Luffy immediately nodded. Ace laughed and led his little brother away from the mostly empty house. Once far away from the house, Luffy announced, "His house stinks! It smells like something's dying…"
0000000
"And he spends a zillion hours staring at a little box that he never opens!" Shanks and his crew laughed at the words coming from the small boy. Makino was the only one, aside from Luffy, not laughing.
"That bad, huh?" Shanks asked.
Luffy nodded, "And I have to go back again tomorrow because I'm not done with the cornfield. I don't see why he cares. It's December and the corn is gone." Makino rolled her eyes.
0000000
Six days passed and Luffy was only half done with the cornfield. The pile of cut cornstalks that lay at the other side of the shed was already twice the height as he was.
Mataichi never even came out to give Luffy a hand with the field. He just spent all day staring at the box and drinking from a teacup.
"When I become a pirate, I'm never going to cut down cornstalks again." Luffy announced one day at the bar. Shanks laughed out loud. "Himamura Mataichi is so mean. He never even gives me any breaks! When I become a pirate, I'm going to take breaks all the time." Luffy announced.
Shanks held back a laugh, "Keep dreaming, kid."
"Luffy, surely you don't think that Himamura-san is all that bad, right?" Makino asked.
Luffy roughly nodded his head, "He is that bad. He won't even cut me some slack since Christmas is going to be in a week."
Makino sighed and shook her head, "Sometimes you have to look deep inside a person to truly know them."
"Not Himamura Mataichi. He's always going to be mean!" Luffy shouted.
0000000
Six more days passed and Luffy had finally finished all his work in the cornfields. He ran into Mataichi's house to announce that he finished in the cornfields, but the man was nowhere in sight. Since Mataichi wasn't around to scream at him, Luffy decided to take a look at the box Mataichi was constantly looking at.
With his Devil Fruit powers, Luffy grabbed the little box off the shelf and opened it up. A little tune played out of the box and laying inside was a little red hair ribbon, a small marble, and a picture of a much younger Mataichi and a little girl. Luffy was paying so much attention to the box that he failed to notice Mataichi standing in the doorway.
"What the Hell are you doing?" Mataichi screamed.
Startled, Luffy dropped the music box. The music instantly stopped, the top busted off, the rest of the box broke apart, and the items were scattered about the room. "I'm sorry, Himamura-san, I…" Luffy started. For the first time in his life, Luffy saw Himamura Mataichi crying.
"Get out! Get out and never come back! You hear me?" Mataichi shouted.
With tears coming from his eyes, Luffy picked up all the parts of the music box and ran from the house. Mataichi didn't follow him. While crying, Luffy ran into the bar.
Makino looked down at Luffy, "Luffy, what's wrong?"
"I…broke the music box…" Luffy sniffed.
Makino put a hand over her mouth, "Oh my God…Aileen's music box."
The tears kept pouring, "He screamed at me to never come back to his house. Why does he have to be so mean?"
Makino let out a sigh, "He's not a mean person."
"Yes he is!" Luffy shouted.
Makino shook her head, "No he's not. He's just upset about Aileen."
"Who's Aileen?" Luffy asked.
Makino let out another sigh, "Years ago, Himamura-san had a little daughter. When I was only six-years-old, Himamura-san and his six-year-old daughter, Aileen moved here to Fuschia Village. They worked on the cornfields and everyday, Aileen played her music box. The box was the only thing that was truly hers and Aileen was the only person Himamura-san had left."
"So, what happened to Aileen?" Luffy asked.
Makino looked sadly at him, "She got really sick and died on Christmas night at the age of eight while listening to the music box." Luffy was silent. "You want to know something, Luffy?" Makino asked him.
"What?" Luffy asked. "Himamura-san is dying from the same disease Aileen had. He's taking medicine to help cure the disease, but it's not working. That's why his house smells strongly of medicine." Makino said to him.
Still crying, he picked up the parts and walked to his home, hoping that at least one person in his family was home, but they weren't, not even Ace. Letting out a heavy sigh, Luffy headed back to the bar.
"Back so soon, Anchor?" Shanks asked, chugging a glass of ale. Luffy took the bar stool next to Shanks and placed the broken music box onto the bar.
Luffy turned to Shanks, "Can you fix it?"
Shanks stared at him and asked, "First you asked me to adopt you and now you want me to fix something for you?"
"Please, can you fix it?" Luffy asked, making a puppy-dog face.
Shanks tried to resist the look, but like all the other adults, fell victim to the face. "I'll see what I can do. When do you need it fixed?" Shanks asked.
"On Christmas." Luffy answered.
"Christmas?" Shanks shouted, "That's tomorrow!"
"So, you can't fix it?" Luffy asked.
Shanks put all the pieces into a little bag, "I'll try."
"Thanks, Shanks." Luffy told him before leaving the bar. The Red Haired Pirates let out a big laugh.
"You're really getting soft, Captain." One of the crewmen laughed.
Shanks laughed even harder, "Shut up."
0000000
Luffy woke up at 7am the next morning by Ace. Luffy was almost practically dragged out of bed and over to the large tree with presants stacked under it. Almost immediately, both boys unwrapped presant after presant, thanking their parents for the presants they were given. In that two hours spent unwrapping presants, Luffy had forgotten about Aileen's broken music box.
After getting dressed, Luffy walked over to Makino's bar, where the Red Hair Pirates were eating a large breakfast feast.
"Hey, Anchor! Merry Christmas!" Shanks shouted. Luffy took a seat next to him.
"I got something for you." Shanks said to the little boy.
"You're letting me join your crew?" Luffy asked, praying that he was correct.
Shanks let out a very deep laugh, "Yeah right. Keep dreaming, kid."
Luffy began to slump into the barstool he sat in, but perked up when Shanks said, "But what the Hell. I won't let you join my crew, but I will let you wander around our ship today."
Luffy shrugged, "Good enough." Shanks pushed a bag into Luffy's arms. Quickly, the young boy opened it up and took out Aileen's music box, all fixed up. He even opened it up and listened to the tune it had played before it broke.
"Thanks, Shanks." Luffy shouted, picking up Aileen's box and walking out the bar doors.
Going back to Mataichi's house was one of the hardest things Luffy ever had to do in his short life. It took Mataichi a while to get to the door and when he got there, a scowl was on his pale face. "What do you want?" Mataichi growled. At first, Luffy wanted to run away screaming, but he told himself that he was a man and men weren't afraid of other men.
Slowly, Luffy held Aileen's box in front of Mataichi.
"I…think this is yours. I'm sorry I broke it and…Merry Christmas." Luffy almost whispered.
Mataichi took the music box out of Luffy's hands and opened the top. The calming tune turned Mataichi's scowl into a soft smile, an expression Luffy had never seen on Mataichi's face before. "Aileen…" Mataichi whispered before looking back at Luffy, "Thank you." Luffy smiled and walked back to his home.
Himamura Mataichi died later that night, on the anniversary of his little daughter's death. He was found sitting in a chair, listening to Aileen's music box with a smile on his face. Nobody even knew that his last words was the "thank you" given to Luffy. Mataichi was buried with the thing that meant the most to him in life: Aileen's music box.
The night Mataichi died, Luffy thought back at what Makino had told him about looking deep inside a person to find out who they truly were. He realized that Mataichi was not the mean person Luffy had thought him to be, but instead just a normal man lonely for his deceased little girl. He remembered being told that Christmas was a time for love and learning lessons. And thanks to Mataichi, he had learned a lesson.
0000000
A/N: First chapter done. I can't remember the names of the pirates on Shanks' crew except for Shanks and Yasopp. I know this was totally OOC, but hey, it's a fanfic.
Next chapter: Zoro.