I wake up with a weight on me. I groan and turn to see what the hell is on me. It's Luffy. Dammit he's so freaking heavy!
"Luffy, get off of me. You're heavy…" I complain.
"You're awake!" Luffy notes, happily ignoring my misery, "Come on, Makino's waiting for you!" Makino was waiting for me?
"For what?" I ask.
"Dunno, she just told me to wake you up. I tried waking you up twenty minutes ago, but you still didn't wake up until now. Now come on!" Luffy exclaims, in one action jumping off me and running out the room.
It's been a few days since I've lived in Foosha Village. Luffy had been kind enough to introduce me to most of the villagers here, but I don't do well with strangers that I mostly just cling to Luffy's back. Thankfully, none of them minded it and still being super friendly. The village is pretty much calm and peaceful, and sometimes just being in the middle of the village makes me sleepy.
I yawn and sit up before following the seven-year-old's bubbling and energetic moves, only carefully. My child's feet aren't as long as they normally are (not that they're that long before) and I'm afraid of falling. Also, the injury on my head still hasn't healed yet, so I don't wanna risk hurting myself more.
"Oh, you're finally up! I never thought you'd sleep longer than Luffy!" Makino says when she sees me walking downstairs. I only nod and rub my eyes, cleaning off the 'sands' from my eyes while she's watching fondly with a smile. "I made breakfast for you, so you can eat now or later." Makino picks me up and places me on the tall stool at the counter, right next to Luffy. Then she presents me with a plate of fried rice and a glass of water.
"Do you need help, Eris-chan?" Makino asks with a smile, noticing me not eating. I feel blood rush to my cheeks and shake my head. She giggles and pats my head, before walking upstairs. I wonder what she's doing, but she returns with clothes and a bath towel, I realize that it's bath-time later.
"Eris-chan, after you're finished eating, you can take a bath," Makino tells me. "The bathroom is over there, right next to the stairs." She points it out. "Call me if you need my help." Makino puts the clothes and the towel on the counter. I nod and continue eating. Even after eating it all, I'm still hungry, but I figure it would've been rude to ask for more.
I take the plate and the glass and jump to the ground. I approached Makino and give it to her. Makino smiled and ruffled my head as she gratefully accepted the dirty utensils.
"Eris-chan, want me to help you take a bath?" She asks me. My head still hasn't healed yet. I should have her help me change the bandages on my wound. I nod and touch the bandage with my hand. She nods, understanding my silent gesture, and grabs the clothes and towel again before leading me to the bathroom.
Inside the bathroom, Makino gently strips me and turns the water in the bathtub on. The green-haired woman ties my hair into a bun and places me in the tub. The water is warm, to say the least. I thought it would be cold or something, but I guess Makino really is a kind person.
As Makino cleans my body, I start to play with the water. I don't know why, but the water suddenly seems interesting enough to play with. There's also a rubber duck in the bathtub, which makes me feel like a little kid again. Back home, I would be caught dead playing with a rubber duck, yet here I am, playing with the duck. Makino giggles as she watches me playing with the rubber duck.
Finally finished, Makino helps me into some clothes that, surprisingly, fit. She unties my hair and brushes through the tangles with a hairbrush. Then after that, she carefully cleanses my injury with alcohol (still stings and makes me hiss) and reapplies it back with fresh bandages gently.
When we finished, we walked out of the bathroom and into the bar. Luffy is on his usual bar stool, sipping his orange juice. I hop up on the stool and turn to look at him.
"Hey Lu-chan, how do I look?" I ask him with a grin. He turns his head and grins back.
"You look great!" He replies happily.
I couldn't agree with him more. The clothes Makino had picked out for me is a plain rose-colored sundress with a big white ribbon on the chest area. I wasn't actually a fan of dresses, but oh well. I look around, hoping to find Shanks and his crew, but no avail; they aren't here. Did they leave already? I thought. I frown, thinking, and then shake my head. No, the mountain bandits haven't been here yet. Shanks and his crew are probably at the ship.
I sit on the stool next to Luffy, deciding to just wait. Unfortunately, I'm not a patient person. Therefore, after a minute or so I finally fed up. That's it; I'm bored! Outside, away! I bid Luffy a silent see-ya-later, and walked out of Makino's bar.
Just as I had closed the bar doors, it opened again.
"Hey Eris, where are you going?" I turn and, sure enough, run into Luffy. Considering I don't know how old I am in this form, but based on my height, I think I'm pretty much the same as Luffy, but who knows.
"I'm going for a walk." I reply with a small smile, "Wanna come?" Luffy's face lights up and smiles brightly.
"Sure!" He holds out his hand and I take it. Luffy tells Makino that we're going for a walk. I expect her to at least protest, but she just says to be back by lunch. I guess the culture here and back in my home world is pretty different, huh?
Or Makino is trustworthy enough that the town is safe enough for children to walk around in broad daylight.
Luffy drags me through town, insisting me to see every single inch of the place again. We greet so many townspeople. Luffy doesn't seem to mind the attention, considering he lives here, but I'm still not used to strangers. I hide myself behind Luffy or look down plenty of times, anything to avoid eye contact.
On the tour, we met a florist. He greets Luffy and me, and of course I hide behind the boy, but eventually I take a peek. Both the florist and Luffy talk to each other for a while until they end their conversation. The florist gives me a bouquet of sunflowers. I gasp in surprise and slowly take the bouquet. I look back at the florist who smiles softly. I blush and smile, muttering 'thank you' to him before hiding again. The florist chuckles and ruffles my hair softly, and then we leave.
I look back at the bouquet and smile. I love sunflowers. They are so beautiful and their seeds are delicious. Back in my world, I really wanted to plant some sunflowers, but my mom wouldn't let me because there was no space. Plus, there weren't any seeds for sale back in my home country, or at least in my area. I have never seen a real sunflower before. This is the first time I see the real thing. Usually I just see them on television, or books with pictures.
"Shishishi, you really like that flower aren't you?" Luffy asks as he grins at me. I nod and smile. And then I remember what should be happening at the bar right about then.
"Luffy, let's head back." I say, "I'm sure Shanks and the others are already at the bar." Luffy nods and we head home.
Home, huh…?
When we arrive, Shanks and the others are already there. They all greet us as we walk toward Shanks and Makino at the bar counter.
"Hey, welcome back, Anchor, Shrimp!" I glared at Shanks, who is the one who dared to call me 'Shrimp'. The redhead just laughs.
Everything is normal for a couple minutes. Luffy is obviously offended and enraged at his own nickname and starts arguing with Shanks. The seven-year-old stands up in fury on the stool. Oh boy, the stool is pretty tall. I hope Luffy is pretty careful so he won't fall.
Suddenly a bunch of scary looking men come to the bar and walk all pompous-like toward the counter. I know this scene, I realize it all at once. This is when those men, the bandits, are demanding Makino to bring out all the…sake? Or beer? Whatever… The bandits made a fool of Shanks, and then they left. Being the little kid he is, Luffy is furious because Shanks didn't react and only laughed.
Luffy then decides to eat out his anger… and he eats Shanks' Gomu Gomu no Mi…
Which is happening right now.
Shanks seems to suddenly realize that Luffy is eating his devil fruit, because he hangs him upside down and shakes him around for him to puke out the fruit. But his efforts are futile. It is too late. Luffy's legs stretch out until his face plants the floor. Everyone looks stunned at the scene. Except me, of course…
"You fool! That's a Devil Fruit! You wouldn't be able to swim anymore!" Shanks yells at him.
There's silence… and then:
"WHAAAAAAAT?!"
I swear, Luffy screams so loud I thought my eardrums were going to bleed. Thankfully I quickly cover my ears before he screams.
"Losing your swimming ability for rubber power? Man, that's stupid." I comment with a grin as Shanks looks at me, stunned.
"…How did you know?" He asks, his face adopting a new definition of 'shocked'. I shrug nonchalantly. I put my sunflowers on the table, climbed up the stool next to Luffy and sat down. Then I cross my legs and my arms, resting them to my knees.
"It's common knowledge, right? I-I mean, there are books about Devil Fruits…! You know, for the appearance and the power each one fruit has. Devil fruit users will drown if you throw them into the water, like a hammer. Or in Luffy's case, like an anchor." I laugh after I finish my speech. Luffy frowns and starts yelling at me. I just look away, covering my ears, and whistle (actually I can't whistle so I just did the motion but failed to produce any sound).
"You know what? You're smarter than normal kids. It sure surprises me," Shanks admits as he smiles at me. I give him a smug smile; of course I'm smarter than a kid. I'm technically a teenager! Not to mention that I read/watched every One Piece chapter/episode, along with diving deep into Wikiped for hours, thus giving me full and nearly complete knowledge of the concept of devil fruits.
Though considering I got thrown into the One Piece universe itself, I don't think I can update my knowledge over it anymore…
"Thank you, Shanks. I appreciate your compliment," I say, smiling sweetly. He laughs and ruffles my hair.
"Look Luffy, your friend is smarter than you! You should be as smart as her! Go read some books!" Shanks says to Luffy as he begins to ruffle his hair as well. Luffy frowns at that and shoves his hand away.
"I mean, knowledge is power, after all! You should really try reading some books to gain knowledge to empower yourself! And in this case, for your rubberbrain!" I add and grin when he glares at me in annoyance.
"Shut up!" He protests before he pouts. I giggle at his reaction and sigh softly.
This will be a long day…
