Everyday Life with the Straw Hats
Mariejois Arc: Part 2: Getting Settled in
After their landing at Mariejois, the crew decided they would go and find who they were supposed to talk to about getting moved in. Franky decided he would stay back at the docking house for a little bit.
"you guys go on ahead" Franky said, "I want to make sure the Thousand Sunny gets stored properly, I take my job as our shipwright very seriously ya' know." Franky said as he glared back at one of the ship movers at the docking house walked up to inspect the ship. Franky gave him a type of glance that emphasized "don't even think about it."
Sanji shrugged and said "suit yourself, at least we know you'll find your way back to us." Sanji threw a mocking glance at Zoro. "At least you're not like moss-head over here."
"Shut it curly brow!" Zoro barked at Sanji. "I'm just stating what I know as fact" Sanji said as he adjusted his necktie. "I'm not the liar of this crew." Sanji smiled mischievously.
"That's hitting a bit below the belt, don't ya think?" Usopp said in a tone of embarrassment.
They parted ways with Franky to go look for town hall, hoping that someone there can tell them who to talk to about the home stay program. They came across a big, circular building. It had the world government flag draped over the front wall of the building with a sign that says 'welcome to Mariejois! Sign up for our new home stay program for the cultural exchange bill between species!'
"Well that's very specific" Robin says matter-of-fact.
"I guess we're at the right place." Nami says as she observes the building. "Well, we're not going to get situated by standing out here." Nami continues as she heads toward the door.
Chopper observed the pedestrians, and something occurred to him. "if Mariejois is welcoming monster races as exchange students, then why are there no other races around town?" chopper wondered. "All I see are humans."
Robin smiled at chopper, "you're quite observant, doctor."
Chopper started blushing and started dancing his signature dance when he was embarrassed. "Stop it, you think your compliments mean anything to me? I don't care, you meanie!" it was never hard to tell that chopper loved the compliments, but had a hard time expressing his gratitude. Chopper's dance made robin smile more.
They walked in the building, it was very spacious. There were a few seats, several men and women dressed in dark suits with sunglasses. They were clearly government agents of some sort. In the center of the room, there was a desk, where a young women was sitting in a chair with a headset over her ears as she was typing on the computer. The crew approached her.
"Welcome!" she said in a cheerful voice. "Welcome to Mariejois town hall. How may I help you?"
Nami, being the business-savvy one of the crew. She took charge of the conversation and asked the woman about the cultural exchange program.
"Oooh! You must be the straw hats! I've heard a lot about you guys. I'll get your house key and give you the address of the house you'll be staying in" she said joyfully. She opened the top drawer of her desk, and after a minute of searching through all her files, she pulled out a folder labeled 'straw hats'.
She handed it to Nami and said "this folder contains a 2 pairs of keys for you house, slip of paper with the house address, and a special credit card that will be charged to the government. That way you can provide for your home stay guest without worrying about money."
Nami grew a big grin on her face. Knowing she didn't have to spend her own money.
She took the folder and the crew started to walk off, chopper remembered his question and quickly stopped to ask the lady. "Excuse me miss, but why are there no other monster races in the town? On our way here, we only notice humans. Why is that?"
The woman frowned slightly at his question. "You see, a lot of people around here are not very accepting, they don't like people that aren't like themselves. They judge people purely on physical appearance. They never take personality into consideration."
Chopper pondered over this for a moment. "I understand what you mean…" he said as he lowered his hat over his eyes. This resonated with chopper on a very personal level, due to his life on Drum Island.
The crew went out through the front door to go find their new house, but as Luffy was about to pass through the front door out of the building. The woman asked a favor from him.
"Excuse me mister Luffy, sir." The woman said. "But would it be possible if you could sign this wanted poster of yours. I have a cousin who would kill me if I didn't take the opportunity to get your signature."
Luffy smiled. He grabbed a pen from the desk, and asked "who am I making it out to?"
The woman smiled "He goes by the name 'Bartolomeo'." She smiled. Luffy signed the wanted poster. And in return asked for an extra slip of paper with the address on it. He knew Zoro would need it. Then Luffy waved the woman goodbye.
When Luffy left, his crew had already gone ahead without him. Luffy took the slip of paper with the address and followed the building number until he finally made it to their house. It was a very big house, at least 4 floors high. The door was already unlocked from when his crew went inside. Luffy went through the door to already see everyone making themselves at home. Sanji was already getting lunch prepared. Nami was lounging on the couch. While Usopp and Chopper were looking through a video game collection that was provided by the government as entertainment.
Zoro sat in a recliner and yawned lazily to himself. "This place isn't so bad" he said. Giving this home his approval.
Moments later, the doorbell rang. Everyone looked over to the door. Curious as to who it could be.
Luffy answered the door since he was still the closest to it when he came in. at the door, there was a woman with jet black hair, and she was wearing the same business clothes that the men and women were wearing at the town hall building.
"Hello, my name is Ms. Smith. And I'm here to introduce you to your new home-stay guest I brought with me." Ms. Smith stepped aside to show the person standing behind her. It was a girl, roughly the same age as Luffy, she had a long, red snake tail for her lower body. And a beautiful human body for her upper body. She had golden eyes with vertical, snake-like pupils, and she had bright crimson hair.
Ms. Smith just smiled at Luffy and introduced the snake girl. "Her name is Miia, and she is a Lamia."