AN: Hey, sorry it took me so long to post this. I finally and completely finished it and my Internet broke. It sucked! Anyway, here it goes! I hope you like it!
Chapter 3: FTC
Lunch continued with Luffy asking various questions concerning math problems. At one point in their study session Nami had to snap her fingers in front of Luffy's face to draw his attention away from a common black bird that had landed near their table. Luffy had also been distracted when Usopp randomly proclaimed that he was a god. Luffy's eyes had become starry as he let out a loud 'REALLY? WOW,' scaring some nearby students. It wasn't an easy thing to teach Luffy anything. He tried to understand what Nami was trying to tell him, but somewhere in his simple mind wires were just not connecting. When the bell rang, signifying that lunch was over, Nami once again pulled out her schedule.
"Oh, um you don't need that yet." Usopp eyed Nami's schedule as he slung his pack over his shoulder. The sharpshooter pulled a pack of gum out of his pocket and drew a cube of 'Bubble-it-Up' from the pack, after unwrapping the treat he popped it into his mouth. Usopp smiled as the sweet sugar coated candy filled his taste buds. Gum was the one good thing about being on this island. Some prankster kid had invented it a few years earlier while trying to invent a newer-messier way to annoy the school faculty. And low and behold, he had invented a candy that you can chew and chew for hours at a time. That kid was a genius; at least that's how Usopp felt anyway.
Nami looked at Usopp confused. "Why?" She watched as her long-nosed friend blew a bubble. After it popped Usopp answered.
"Because-" Usopp started.
"Because all of the upperclassmen, that's the 16 to 18 year olds, have P.E. together." Sanji interrupted. The cook had had a feeling that Usopp had been about to claim that he was psychic, or something just as stupid, so he decided to stop the lies before they started.
In truth, Usopp was simply going to remind Nami that he was a god, and being a god, he was omniscient. But Sanji had to go and ruin all the fun! He's just jealous…yeah, that's it. Usopp reassured himself.
"Oh. Okay then," shrugged Nami as she got up also shouldering her bag. P.E. huh? Well at least I can play some sports. "So, what are we doing in P.E.?" She asked Usopp as all five members of her new little clique walked to the gym. Technically it wasn't her group, Nami was friends with Luffy and Usopp, Sanji was just kind of there, and Zoro seemed to be there because of Luffy... but whatever.
"We've been swimming this week." Usopp made swimming motions in the air and almost hit a few unlucky people who had been walking too close.
Nami stopped; dread becoming apparent on her face. Oh God…
Usopp also stopped to stare at Nami. "What?"
There was no way in hell Nami was going to swim. People were definitely bound to notice certain 'characteristics' about her body if she got wet. "I…uh, can't swim." Nami answered, not finding a better excuse. Now that she was a boy, 'girl problems' wouldn't exactly get her out of something she didn't want to do. And now Nami felt like a moron as Sanji and Luffy stopped in their walking to gawk at her. Zoro continued to walk ignoring the fact that he was leaving his crew behind. Can't swim? Who can't swim now a days? Nami thought.
"Really! I can't either!" Luffy cheered as he grabbed Nami's hand and began jumping up and down in excitement. The islanders didn't know that Luffy had eaten a Devil's Fruit. He had been instructed by his crew to try his best to hide his powers until they left the island. The others would only let him get away with stretching in the privacy of their rented house. They didn't want to draw too much attention to themselves. Luffy had been okay with the idea... and then promptly forgotten about it. Zoro had finally dared him that he couldn't just not stretch, and once the challenge was part of the deal, Luffy had been trying really hard to not randomly stretch out and steel someone's lunch. And now it was swim week. In fact, swim "week" had started last week and it would continue through this week. Luffy couldn't swim before he had eaten his fruit, so the fact that he couldn't swim now hadn't really bothered him. What Luffy didn't like was being told to walk around the pool as everyone else had fun in the water. But now Luffy had a water resistant buddy! Yay!
"…" Nami did not know what to say about this new discovery. How has this kid survived so long in the Grand Line not knowing how to swim? "Um…yay?" Nami finally said as she tried to not get jostled around from Luffy's happy grip on her hand. She didn't know if her bonds would hold out if she started jumping around.
Luffy released Nami's hand to wrap his arm around hers; he then proceeded to skip down the hall dragging a helpless Nami behind him. "Yay, yay, yeah! I get to walk with Alu! Yeah! Hey! We should find a walking stick!"
Sanji sighed as he watched Nami being taken away by his immature captain. Poor kid, he seems more mature then Luffy and even Usopp. He's in for a big surprise if he wants to hang with hyper Luffy. He then smirked at the sight unraveling before him. Luffy and his new buddy had skipped by Zoro, and the swordsman stopped in his tracks. Sanji could see Zoro's shoulders tense up and his hands clench into fists. Heh, stupid Marimo. He probably wants his swords really bad right now. An idea suddenly came to the cook and his smirk changed into an evil grin. Sanji started walking again and right after he passed the still fuming Zoro, he said casually, "Huh…It looks like the captain has found himself a new pet." Sanji was suddenly pulled backwards as Zoro grabbed the back of the cook's collar.
"What was that?" Zoro growled menacingly into Sanji's ear. Zoro was not in the mood to be teased by the stupid cook. Luffy had…the new kid had…if only I had my…stupid school…stupid chef…I'm gonna kill… Zoro's thoughts were in a jumble as he tried to remain somewhat calm, his facial features not giving away any of his thoughts.
Sanji was having the time of his life. Since he couldn't smoke all the time, fighting with Zoro was a good way to release tension. Plus he loved to make the swordsman uneasy. It was funny. Sanji shrugged trying to look casual as his oxygen was almost cut off. "I'm just saying…Luffy may be replacing his little puppy." Zoro's grip tightened as Sanji continued, "Hm…Luffy might even want to sleep over at his house…you know, in his room with him."
"Why, you son of a-" The expected physical fighting commenced as Zoro pushed Sanji away only to throw a punch aimed for the cooks face. Sanji stepped out of the way, and then aimed a kick at the swordsman's ribcage.
Zoro blocked the kick and responded with greater force.
As the fight continued fellow students stopped on their way to class to watch the skillful scene. Neither opponent was letting up, and a hit rarely broke through either one's defenses. When the students became aware that they were standing in the battlefield they made the excuse that class was about to start and went on their way.
TWEEEEEEEEEETTTTT! The coach blew a whistle telling all the students to jump in the pool. Coach tapped a clipboard against her leg and looked dryly at the new kid who was obviously not dressed for swim practice. "What? You're not swimming?"
Nami shrugged and shook her head. "Sorry, I'm new so I don't have a suit. Besides, I can't swim anyways…" Nami was really hoping that the coach would believe her.
Coach sighed, "Ok, just walk around the pool with Luffy. But don't let me catch you talking to the other students and disrupting the class." Coach new not to argue with new students if they claimed that they couldn't swim. On the first day of swim practice Luffy had said that he couldn't swim. Couch didn't believe him, everyone could swim, and so she "accidentally" pushed him into the deep end of the pool. To her horror and amazement, Luffy sunk like a stone. He didn't even have the buoyancy of a normal human, and he would have drowned if Zoro hadn't jumped in to save him. She had been in for a treat after that; she had never been so terrified in her life as three of her students advanced on her with murderous glares, while the fourth lay limp on the wet cement. This new kid had shown up with that same group, and she definitely wouldn't argue anymore. "What's up with all of these non-swimmers now-a-days?" She mumbled as she walked away from Nami.
"Come on Alu!" Luffy squealed as he once again took Nami's arm. The two of them started walking around the pool as the rest of the class made laps across the large pool.
"Usopp!" Couches voice boomed over the student's splashes, "I know that you're not chewing gum in my pool." She put her hands on her hips as Usopp quickly swallowed his gum and opened his empty mouth to show her that he had been wrongfully accused.
Nami had to smile as she watched Usopp sport a red and white stripped one-piece bathing suit thing, he looked totally ridiculous. He probably thinks that having sleeves looks cool or something… "So Luffy, where did you live before you got stuck on this island?" Nami asked the giddy boy next to her who had found himself a stick. Nami bit her lip trying not to smile as Luffy looked so proud of himself for being the only one in the pool area with a stick.
"Hm? Oh, um, I lived in Fuchsia village. I-It's on an island in East Blue. But I haven't been back there for a long time now." Luffy paused in his answer to think of his old friends he had left behind. His thoughts then drifted to his brother, and then to his hero who he hadn't seen for so long. "A long time…"
"Where have you been since then?" Nami asked trying to get the boys mind off of whatever he was reminiscing about. She had been surprised to hear that the boy was from the East Blue. She was as well, and like him, she hadn't seen her home for a long time…
"Oh! We've been sailing, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and I. I have a great crew! We've stopped at random islands and now we're here." Luffy smiled proudly.
What are a group of kids sailing to the Grand Line for? How did they get to the Grand Line? Nami decided to hold off on these questions since Luffy was obviously not listening anymore. The straw-hat boy had gone back to keeping his full attention on his stick.
"Why are we outside?" Nami asked Sanji as she entered a small garden behind the English building.
Sanji smiled and pulled out a cigarette. Lighting it and inhaling a much-needed puff, he savored the flavor for a moment, before slowly blowing out the smoke. He then jerked his thumb in the direction of the center of the garden.
Nami followed the path of Sanji's thumb only to see a cloud of smoke surrounded by students. She looked at Sanji confused. "What? Is there a fire or something?…And I thought you couldn't smoke on campus."
Sanji smiled, taking another drag from his cigarette. "Sensei says that if he can smoke, then we can too…At least in his class. The rest of the teachers hate it, but they wouldn't dare cross Smoker. He prefers to be outside in the sun anyways."
"Smoker?" Nami asked. What kind of a name is Smoker?
Sanji nodded his head. "Mmm, he's our English Sensei. A bit of a bastard really, but you get used to him."
Nami again looked over to the cloud of smoke, and if she squinted she could almost make out a form of a human within the cancerous cloud. "Oh…"
"Ok class, round up." Smoker commanded as he smoked like a chimney. The remainder of the class that had not already gathered around quickly came to attention. "Alright, everyone take out your essays and hand them in…Tomo, no littering in my class…" Smoker casually, yet threateningly instructed one of his many troublemaker students.
"What paper?…" Nami whispered to Sanji as he pulled out his essay that was written on pink paper and smelled of perfume.
"Oh, it's stupid really. We had to write on the navy. How great it is and yada yada. My paper is a complete BS." He shrugged as he handed his paper to a student what had "volunteered" to collect them.
"Yeah…great…" Nami sighed.
"Hey you, new kid." Smoker looked hard at Nami. "Get the prompt from Twirly-Boy there," he indicated toward Sanji, "and turn in the assignment on Monday." Smoker then walked away and began to review basic English grammar.
"Twirly-Boy?" Sanji pondered to himself. When had I ever "twirled"? I do not twirl. I impress the ladies with my suaveness…Maybe he was talking about my eyebrow…that would make sense. In truth the cook saw his actions very different from everyone else's point of view. To him, he was a smooth talking chick magnet. But to everyone else, Sanji was just a twirly teenage noodle that was perpetually horny.
Nami had been looking at Sanji for a while after Smoker had left. The blond's facial expression had gone from confused, too slightly annoyed, too proud, back to confused, and finally ended in acceptance. All the while he was sucking on his now-short cigarette like he couldn't get toxic smoke in his lungs fast enough. It was quite a funny sight.
Nami was then startled by a pen flying past her. The pen had been so close to hitting her that she felt a slight breeze on her cheek as the purple writing utensil flew by into freedom. "Holy-!"
"New kid! Pay attention while I am instructing. I know we're outside but you don't have to be distracted by nature. Next time I won't miss." Smoker warned forebodingly in his Deep Voice.
"Hai. Sorry Sensei." Nami quickly bowed her head to hide the embarrassed blush that had crept across her cheeks.
"Finally only one more class!" Usopp yelled as he stretched his arms over his head. It was in between classes and the gang had met up in the hall before once again going their separate ways.
"YEAH!" Luffy exclaimed. Though it was more then likely that he hadn't really been listening his sharpshooter. Luffy just got excited when other people did. "Hey, Alu! What's your next class!" He turned to Nami with a large grin.
"Umm…" Nami looked down at her schedule. "What? FTC? What the hell?" Nami didn't want to take FTC (whatever that was) because…she didn't want to…
"Awwwwwww." Luffy pouted. "We don't have the next class together either."
Nami turned to Usopp for an explanation of why she had been put in such a non-Nami-ish class. "Why am I in FTC?" She didn't want to ask him what FTC stood for because she had pride and did not want to sound stupid if the answer was obvious.
Usopp smiled sympathetically at his friend. "The last class of the day is extra curricular. We got to choose our classes, but since your coming in so late you have no choice. So, that sucks."
Nami sighed and slumped her shoulders. "Fine. Where is this FTC class?"
"Down there." Sanji answered, pointing down a deserted corridor. The corridor looked as if it had never been used. There were cobwebs everywhere and about an inch deep of dust covering the ground. Many of the lights had burned out since no one had bothered replacing them. There were no doors in the corridor except for a large foreboding steel door at the end of the hall.
Nami gulped as she stared at the door. "W-why?" Was all she could say. She was pulled out of her trance like state as the school bell sounded.
"Well time to go to class." Sanji clasped his hands together and headed in his own direction. Zoro followed suit going in the opposite direction.
"Bye Alu! Have fun! See you after class!" Luffy and Usopp cheered as they too hurried off the their class.
Nami gulped again. "Ok, here it goes."
AN: DonDonDOOOOOOON! What is FTC? We shall see. Is it Fun Trick Class, or Frog Turtle Crab? Even though none of those would make sense, try to guess, I want to see what people can come up with. Ho'kay so, here is the next chapter. It's actually been done for a month now, but it was twice as long and I needed to stop it in a good place (Then my Internet broke). The next chapter picks up from here and I have about 5-7 pages written so far. Sorry it's taken me so long, school sucks.
