As Luffy approached the dorm, he could see there were lots of other kids already there. Giddy with excitement, he trotted up to the front only to be stopped by a large man with silver hair.
"What's your name, brat?" He asked, scowling down at him.
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!"
"…you related to Garp?"
"Yeah, he's my grandpa!" Luffy chirped scanning the building with bright eyes, "Ne, where's my room?" The silver haired man sighed, stamped a piece of paper on a nearby table, and handed it to him.
"You're in Room 203, your roommate's already here. My name's Smoker, the Residential Master of Quiet Creek." The broad man explained, leaning over Luffy, "In other words, you break the rules, you answer to me. Remember that, brat."
"Aye, aye, Mr. Smokey!" Luffy replied while rushing past the stern man and into the building. Even going up the stairs, he could hear him yelling 'not to run' and 'that's not my name!' Once he got to the top of the stairs, he immediately began scanning the room numbers for 203, ready to meet his new roommate.
The dorm wasn't all that large, so the second floor was the top floor, with windows on either side of the main hallway.
He found 203 at the very end of the hallway on the left with the door already cracked open. Bounding inside with a smile, Luffy tried to take it all in at once.
The room was larger than his at home, with two twin sized beds parallel to each other and a desk on either side of the room. They also each had a trunk, with a dresser to share between them. His roommate sat on the right side of the room, which he'd apparently already claimed as his, with a stoic look on his face.
"You my roommate?" He asked, looking Luffy over with a calculating gaze.
"Sure am, my name's Monkey D. Luffy! What's yours?"
"Roronoa Zoro…nice to meet you."
His new roommate was a little older than him with bright green hair and three tear-drop earrings in his left ear. Looking over the stuff he'd already unpacked, the guy liked Japanese stuff…especially swords, and had lots of books on the shelves.
"Wow, those're so pretty." Luffy said, admiring the three swords next to Zoro as he dumped his stuff on his new bed. "Can I-"
"No." Zoro denied, eyes narrowing slightly, "Don't ever touch my swords." Luffy pouted but didn't argue. They were obviously important to him. His new roommate huffed and shifted on his bed.
"Sorry…they're just my most valued possessions…"
"Shishishi, it's all good!" Luffy replied, reaching into his bag and pulling out his headphones, "These're important to me and I'd be sad if somebody else came around and damaged them." At that, Zoro cracked a smile and nodded in agreement.
"They're pretty cool."
Luffy kept talking while he unpacked his things, though it was mostly a one sided conversation. Zoro grunted occasionally but focused mainly on cleaning his katanas. Once he finished and stored his bag, Luffy plopped down on his bed facing his new roommate.
"So, why're your swords so important to you?" He asked, genuinely curious. Zoro stopped what he was doing and held the white one up.
"They all belonged to my family members…Wado was my sister's." The green-haired man explained, eyes dark and distant, but he didn't elaborate.
"What about you? Why do you want to be a summoner?" Luffy smiled widely and grabbed his ankles.
"My brothers came here! Plus, I want to travel to all the different worlds and have adventures!"
Zoro raised an eyebrow at that.
"That's…different. The other worlds are full of dangerous beasts and monsters you know."
"Yeah, but they're not all bad." Luffy stated, swinging his legs off the bed, "One saved my life as a kid and he was super nice!"
"Y-You've met one!?" Zoro stuttered, leaping to his feet, "What kind?"
"He said he was an Ursa." Luffy continued, shrugging his shoulders, "He made it all dark and stuff since he didn't like the sun." Zoro's mouth fell open and he shakily stepped forward.
"…an Ursa…? Which means he's from Skotàdi…and he didn't kill you!?"
Luffy was having a hard time following what Zoro was saying, but shook his head, nonetheless. Kuma saved him and seemed very kind. Before they could continue their conversation, someone interrupted them with a gruff clearing of his throat.
"Oi, brats, get dressed. We've got to head over to the Entrance Ceremony." It was Mr. Smokey, who passed two sets of clothes over to them, "Be downstairs in ten minutes."
Luffy unfolded the bundle that had been thrown at him. It was a school uniform, complete with black slacks, a white button down shirt, a tie, and a black jacket that had the school crest on it (which was a cross with little blobs on the end of them…kind of funny looking really). He immediately pouted at the sight of the dress shoes and decided not to wear them, no matter what.
"Ne, Zoro where's the bathroom?"
"Down the hall." His roommate said while stripping off his shirt. Luffy thanked him and padded out of the room, needing to pee as well as change.
The bathroom was spacious with toilet stalls, sinks, urinals (more like a locker room really), and…was that a group shower? It was just one big room with like ten shower heads around it. Huh, okay.
After quickly relieving himself, Luffy removed his shorts and pulled on the uncomfortable slacks, disappointed at how stiff they were. He didn't bother stepping into a stall because of how cramped it would be.
As he shook out the dress shirt, and eyed it suspiciously, someone giggled behind him. Turning around, Luffy locked eyes with a purple haired girl.
"Oh no, don't mind me, just strip down…it's all good."
"Ah, sorry." He apologized, still not rushing to put his shirt on, "I thought this was all guys."
"Nope." The girl huffed, obviously annoyed (or maybe amused) as she approached the mirror and applied something to her lips, "Apparently, since we're not of noble blood, they don't bother to separate our quarters. How rude of them…though…"
She sauntered over to Luffy and made a show of checking him out.
"You're not too bad…my name's Carina. What's yours?"
"Luffy." He said, finally pulling his shirt on and buttoning it up. Before he could try the tie, Carina snatched it from him and tied it for him expertly.
"There you go, cutie. See you around…"
Luffy waved at her as she left, thinking that it was really nice of Carina to do his tie for him. Not bothering to tuck his shirt in (and rolling the sleeves up), he slipped his sandals back on and wrapped the jacket around his waist. Satisfied with his appearance, Luffy exited the bathroom, only to run into someone who immediately grabbed his arm.
"Oi, oi, Carina didn't…do anything to you, did she?"
Confused, Luffy stared at the new guy, a skinny kid around his age with a really long nose.
"I swear, she's tried to jump on every guy in our dorm!" He continued, "She doesn't even live here! Honestly…"
"She doesn't?" Luffy asked, tilting his head.
"No, of course not! This is a guy's dorm after all! One of the older guys told me she just likes to check out the 'new meat', if you know what I mean."
"Meat!?" Luffy exclaimed, immediately drooling, "Where?"
"No, I mean…you know what, never mind. I'm Usopp, nice to meet ya!"
Luffy immediately liked Usopp and ended up chatting with him in the hall until Zoro appeared and ushered them downstairs. Outside of the dorm, Mr. Smokey was waiting for them along with a group of other students.
"Nice of you boys to join us." The silver-haired man growled. He narrowed his eyes at Luffy's uniform but didn't say anything, only mumbled something like 'at least he's wearing it…unlike his brother.'
They followed Smoker back into the campus town area, past the main courtyard, and into a massive building with stain glass windows. Inside, a large group of students was already gathered, seated on simple wooden benches chatting to one another.
Smoker ushered them into the back few rows, not giving them a choice where they sat. Luffy peeked up over the crowd and located Vivi sitting at the very front. Usopp and Zoro sat on either side of him, but Carina was nowhere to be seen.
Maybe Usopp was right and she wasn't even a first year student.
Everyone went silent as a large man walked on stage. He wore a white suit and had a cap on that read REVERIE. Overall, Luffy thought he looked serious and…kind of intimidating.
"Welcome, new students, to Reverie Academy. You are all of the small population of humans who are born with mana, which gives you the opportunity to become a summoner, and maybe someday, a Celestial Knight."
Luffy leaned over to Usopp and asked him what that was, to which Usopp gasped.
"You don't know!? The Celestial Knights are the highest level, most respected summoners our world has to offer! They're the cream of the crop!" Luffy hummed and shuffled back into his seat as the man on stage continued.
"My name is Headmaster Akainu. I also teach many of your summoning courses. I'm sure you are all excited to learn and explore campus," He stated, eyes narrowing, "but know this: I will not tolerant complacency or laziness. In addition to your courses, you will be required to work somewhere on the Mesa. I suggest you use this weekend to find a suitable job."
At that, many of the students present leapt up out of their seats, fists raised in outrage. Luffy didn't see the big deal, as did almost everyone from his dorm considering they stayed seated.
"Do you have any idea who I am!?" One of the students shouted, "I can't possibly lower myself to-to do menial labor!"
The Headmaster allowed them to riot for a few seconds before yelling,
"SIT DOWN, ALL OF YOU." His deep voice reverberated through the room and immediately quieted everyone. "I am well aware of the lineages we have gathered here, and that many of you are Legacies, however, that doesn't change the fact that the Mesa and all that it entails must run as its own entity. With every class that graduates, we lose workers. If you don't want to put in the work required to become a first class summoner, I suggest you leave…now."
No one moved, or even breathed.
"Good." Akainu continued, "Now that we have that out of the way, it's time for your mana level examinations. Your Residential Masters will show you to your dorm's designated room. For those who are not aware, this test will place you as either a summoner or a ranger. If you fall below the cut off point, you cannot become a summoner, and there are NO re-tests."
Luffy looked around, noticing how everyone (even Zoro) appeared nervous. Still unclear about what it was all about, he raised his hand.
"You, in the back, what is it?" Akainu bellowed, making everyone turn around and stare at him.
"What's a ranger?" Some people around him snickered and whispered at his question, but Luffy thought it was perfectly valid. Aside from them having low amounts of mana, he had no idea what they were!
"OH, OH, I'll explain!" Someone exclaimed from the front of the auditorium. It was a red-haired man who held a bottle of alcohol in his hand. Everyone whispered as he scrambled up onto the stage rather ungracefully.
"Akagami…I suppose this is your realm of expertise." Akainu admitted reluctantly, looking over the man with distaste. The red-head laughed and twirled around to face the crowd.
"Sure is! I'm Shanks, the head of the ranger program here." He began, stopping briefly to take a swig from his bottle, "We rangers, unlike summoners, work directly with the various races that live across the worlds. To be more specific, instead of contracting with creatures or spirits to summon them here to our world, we travel to them and contract directly with their elders to gain a race's given abilities."
Luffy thought that sounded pretty cool, but apparently no one else did. A lot of the students were rolling their eyes and shuddering at the thought of being named a ranger.
"It's not an easy job, but it's because of us that all you summoners can travel to the other worlds." Shanks continued with a hiccup, "Not that any of you do a whole lot of that unless we're at war-"
"That's enough, Akagami." Akainu interrupted, "He is right, however, that rangers do have a part to play on a team. Though, not nearly as powerful as summoners, they do have…a small role to play, when you're not hugging trees and making nice with the beasts."
Everyone laughed, jeering at the red-haired man, who shrugged and walked off the stage.
'What a bunch of jerks!' Luffy thought angerly, fighting the urge to stand up. Rangers sounded awesome! Who cares if they don't have as much mana or power as summoners?
"You're all dismissed!" The Headmaster shouted, prompting everyone to stand and begin to make their way out of the large room.
Smoker led their dorm, which consisted of about thirty guys (not including the few who weren't first years), through winding halls until they came to a door marked "Quiet Creek Dorm". They were instructed to sit and wait outside until their name was called.
Luffy plopped down on a chair and pulled his legs up so he could mess with his sandals. Zoro took the seat next to him.
"You seem upset."
"Yeah, a little." Luffy admitted, clapping his feet together, "I know I'm still new to all this, but I just can't understand why everyone dislikes rangers so much."
"They're the people that always advocate for creatures." Zoro explained, eyes serious, "I'm not saying that's necessarily bad, but it goes against what most summoners believe. We want to fight to protect our world, not do community service in some slum in another world, especially when those same beasts want to conquer our world and kill us all off."
"Kuma was nice." Luffy said softly, meeting Zoro's confused gaze.
"Kuma?"
"Yeah, my bear friend. He didn't seem like the type to want to conquer anything."
Before his roommate could reply, a lady came out of the room and called Zoro's name. Luffy grinned and lightly hit Zoro on the shoulder, encouraging him to relax. The green-haired teen huffed but returned the gesture by hitting Luffy on the shoulder.
All in all, the test only took about five minutes. Outside, everyone was quiet, obviously too concerned about their own results to chat with each other. When Zoro exited, he had a piece of paper in his hands and a smirk on his face.
"Summoner."
Luffy cheered loudly, scaring Usopp half to death, and gave Zoro a high-five.
"Great! That's what you wanted, right?"
"Yeah." He replied, body relaxing from its almost perpetually tense state, "scored a 98."
"98!?" Smoker exclaimed, coming up to snatch Zoro's paper away, "Holy…damn kid. There hasn't been a mana level like that in ages… not since this brat's brothers anyway."
Luffy grinned, always happy when his family was praised.
The rest of the tests went by quickly with almost everyone coming out of the room classified as summoners. So far, only one person had been deemed a ranger, and it was a kid named Nero who appeared less than pleased.
Even Usopp practically skipped out of the room as a summoner, though he claimed to have barely passed with a score of 55.
Finally, Luffy's name was called. Most of the other students had left already, but Zoro and Usopp said they'd wait for him.
"You got this!" Usopp cheered, "If I can do it, so can you!" Zoro simply leaned against the wall, eyes closed, but Luffy knew he cared.
Entering the room, he was met by a blonde woman who introduced herself as Jessica.
"Take a seat." She instructed while messing with a strange instrument which must be the mana test thingy. It sat on a table and had a clear vial in the center, reminiscent of the sphere he'd made glow. On the sides of the metal instrument that held the vial, there were numbers ranging from 0 to 100.
'If 100 is the highest score…Zoro must be really strong!' He thought happily, shifting around in his chair.
"All right, 50 is the cut off between summoner and ranger." Jessica explained, pointing to the device, "You score a 50 exactly and you still quality as a summoner, but anything below that…well, you get it. Since you passed the entrance test already, you're guaranteed not to score a 0, but anything else is fair game. Grab the handle whenever you're ready."
The lady didn't seem all that interested, likely because she'd done so many of these tests today. Luffy gleefully reached over and grabbed the handle, waiting expectantly for it to move.
After about twenty seconds, Jessica looked up.
"Have you…oh, you are grabbing it." Eyes narrow, she scooted her chair up to the thing and gazed at the measuring device. "Can you hold it firmer for me? Thank you."
"Is it broken?" Luffy asked, looking at the still empty vial, "Isn't it supposed to glow or something?"
"Yeah…it is…" She whispered, reaching into her pocket to pull out glasses and examine the thing more closely. Eventually, she gave up and pulled out a magnifying glass. "What…is that even possible!?"
Before Luffy could say anything, Jessica stood up and rushed to the door, calling Smoker in.
"I've never seen anything like this, Mr. Smoker." Jessica explained, "To be honest, I'm not sure what to do." Smoker hummed, took the magnifying glass, and examined the device himself.
"Well I'll be damned…"
"What is it!?" Luffy put in, anxious to know what was going on.
"Your score…it's…really low." Jessica began, placing her glasses back into her pocket, "Honestly, it's the lowest score I've ever seen."
"Yeah, but he still has a score." Smoker interjected, "It's not like it's zero."
Getting impatient, Luffy leaned in close to the machine, scrunching up his eyes to read the number next to the tiny bit of blue light appearing from the bottom of the vial.
"…a 2? I scored a 2?" He repeated, glancing between the two faculty members, "Is that bad?" Smoker shook his head.
"No, just…rare. Most rangers score in the 15 to 30 range. Similar to how hardly any summoner scores in the 90's, very few rangers dip into the single digits, let alone below 5."
Honestly, Luffy was surprised. He had no qualms against being a ranger, if anything, it sounded really fun! But considering his brothers (and even Gramps) had a ridiculous amount of mana…he was almost disappointed.
…like he'd let them down somehow.
"Don't worry about it." Smoker said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "To be honest, you seem more like a ranger to me anyway."
Luffy chuckled at the gruff man's attempt to comfort him and leapt up out of his seat.
"Shishishi, yeah! Since I want to travel to all the different worlds, this is perfect!"
Before he could exit the room, Jessica printed him a sheet of paper that read 'SCHEDULE' across the top.
"This is your class schedule as specified by the Ranger Program. You'll still have some general courses with the summoners, but a few are rangers only." She informed him while ruffling his hair, "Go get 'em, kid."
Luffy smiled at her and left the room with Smoker at his side.
Outside, Zoro and Usopp looked concerned.
"What happened? Did something go wrong?" His long-nosed friend questioned, swiftly rushing up to him. Luffy shook his head.
"Nah, just scored extremely-"
"High!?"
"-low. I scored a 2." Luffy finished, laughing at their shocked faces, "I'm gonna be a ranger!"
"Wow…that's…wow." Zoro tried, running a hand through his hair, "I didn't think anyone could score that low. You're something else, Luffy."
While he showed his friends the ranger schedule, a few kids started whispering and pointing at him. Before he could ask them what they wanted, Zoro and Usopp ushered him down the hallway, arms around his shoulders protectively.
"Why don't we go get some food and start looking for a job on campus?" Zoro suggested, shooting ugly glares at the guys behind them for some reason. Usopp seemed angry too, but Luffy quickly forgot about it at the mention of food.
"Yeah, let's go!"