A / N:
While doing the final draft, I realized how impossible it was for a fair to have a rollercoaster-was I on drugs when I wrote this? Yet, I have a solution: Crocodile's hosting as the main benefactor. Why? Because giving money to terminally ill kids to make the public love him is sooo his style. He probably poses in pictures with them, then shoves them into garbage cans and orders Robin to 'dispose of the filth'. And he'd ABSOLUTELY have a rollercoaster at his fundraiser, right? Exactly. =v=
The duck is from Strong World-GO AND FIND THAT MOVIE, DEAR READER! I saw it... v and it was the best One Piece movie I've ever seen! I love Biri, so I HAD to put him in a fic. I secretly want him to somehow be a new crewmember... *v* (the only thing I hated was Franky's continued lack of screen time...DANG IT ODA!)
Disclamier: I do not own One Piece or A Fine Frenzy...if I owned One Piece, Franky would give long ass monologues, every other arc (or sometimes randomly in arcs) would have a filler of him being his lovable self in a small plot, and a lot more Frobin fanservice. *yes, I am that crazy of a fangirl* ADHERE TO MY DEMANDS, ODA!
Near to You
Near to you, I am healing
But it's taking so long-
Cause though he's gone and you are wonderful,
It's hard to move on.
Yet,
I'm better near to you.
~A Fine Frenzy, 'Near to You'
H...How does he DO that? Nami thought, being dragged via her wrist by Luffy's hand towards the entrance of the fair. They went right past the empty ticket booth. Amazingly enough, all the rides were free of charge, for money was taken as donations to some drive for some hospital for kids. The ginger's money focused mind thought this poor ethics-who had a rollercoaster for a donation drive, even a small one such as the one hulking over its neighbors? Yet she couldn't ignore the bulging donation box at the entrance, having to be replaced by a volunteer with an empty one.
Luffy's eyes were glittering again under the lights of the lane of game booths and eatery stalls, swishing his head back and forth to look at everything. He would try to beg her to go to every single booth they came to, to which each time she shook her head and said 'no'. He didn't get very disappointed with her answer; as frustratingly usual, before she would even utter her response he would get so distracted by the booth next door or across from it that he'd instantly forget and run to the latter instead, red-head in tow. It was extremely irritating-a nerve twitched in her neck.
Finally, the excitable grease monkey spotted a vendor of turkey legs. He instantly started salivating. "MEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAT-"
Nami's stopped his mid-aired dive with her fist. "IDIOT!" she screeched, standing over his crumpled body. "Didn't you just eat?"
He rubbed his head, sitting up. "But I'm hungry again..."
She scoffed, saying nothing as Luffy quickly spotted something and scampered off towards it. "Honestly."
Suddenly, something made her look over her shoulder. A familiar patch of green on someone's head had caught her eye; over the tops of the crowns of the crowd, she could see it bob next to a pink blur. Looking closer, it was Zoro. She felt her gut sink. He was there with Perona, his arm around her waist and holding her close while laughing his ass off at something she had said. They were headed to the rides on the other side of the fair.
Nami quickly looked away. Some piece of her deep inside had dropped down to her feet, and she looked down helplessly as if looking for it. Her legs shook, anxious to turn heel and run the opposite direction. She felt her head heat up again, as if she was about to cry. Thankfully, Luffy's voice brought her back to Earth.
"Oi-Nami!" When she looked up, he was grinning from ear to ear at her, in front of a game vendor; a shooting gallery. "Look at this!"
The ginger snorted. She glanced it over, with its shady dealer, the vintage tin targets of western cowboys and indians, and the BB guns lined up on the counter in front of it. 'Unimpressive,' she thought, and was about to say so outloud until she saw the main prize, hanging at the top of the booth. Some sort of bird, a burnt orange in the shade of a mikan, and looking like a cross between a duck and a peacock. Her eyes widened. Somehow, impulsivity coursed through her. Without a second thought, she was in the dealer's face, pointing up at it.
"What do I have to do for the duck thing?" she cried earnestly.
The guy running the booth liesurely looked up to where she pointed, then gave her an oily smile. "Well, Miss...all ya got to do to win it, is knock down the Big Chief over there."
Nami looked to where he thumbed, at a tiny target of a native american chief burrowed in the middle of the targets. His arms were crossed and he held a scowl, making him look very stereotypical from old westerns, and very silly. Yet, he also looked like a very easy target. Tempted, the ginger frowned. She wasn't sure of the cost...this guy seemed shify, and there was probably a catch-
Luffy slapped a buck in the guy's hand. "I'll try."
Nami guffawed at Luffy, as he took the bullets he was handed and loaded his gun. "Eh? Since when did you get more money?"
He had a confident grin as he loaded his gun and eyed the targets. "You want the bird, right? Don't worry, I'll get it."
She stared at him incredulously. However, her look changed at what the dealer said next.
"Oh ho ho!" he cried, smirking. "What a nice boyfriend you have there missy!"
Nami flushed, outraged. "He's not my boyfriend!" she snapped.
The man visibly shrank at her rage. "Alright, alright-take it easy now."
She huffed, watching him sheepishly turn the machine on to start the game. The aged lights blinked weakly, and the machine creaked. She skeptically watched Luffy as he lifted his gun to aim, his tongue sticking out of his mouth in concentration. His gun shook every which way; 'what a waste of money', she thought blandly to herself.
'PING! ...PING! PING!'
Nami's jaw dropped, while Luffy lifted his arms in triumph. He...he actually hit it?
"Yosh!" he confirmed, overjoyed. "I HIT IT!"
"You hit it!" Without thinking, Nami was jumping up and down excitably clapping her hands. She grabbed his neck and hugged him, laughing. "I can't believe you did it! Hahaha!"
"Gack...Nami..." Luffy's muffled voice came from her throat. "You're...kind of choking me..."
"Oop...Sorry." Nami let him go. He regained his feet, matching her expression and hyucking his head off. Even though she had calmed down, she couldn't settle the ridiculous grin on her face. "Where'd you learn to shoot like that?"
"Hyah ha, Usopp gave me a few hints a while ago. Hey, oily guy-can my friend have that duck-thing up there now?"
Nami turned around expectantly, but the man's smirk put her off.
"Oh ho ho-no can do, kid."
Luffy's face clouded with confusion. "Heh?"
The ginger beside him narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean...?"
The man started laughing, but it was cut short when Nami got in his face, her finger inches from between his eyes. "You saw it, didn't you...? He hit that thing twice-there's a dent right there to prove it!"
The man lifted his hands up, as if he was the victim. "Hey hey, missy...don't blame an honest business man. If you'll remember correctly, what I said was that you had to knock the Big Chief down. Now...does that look like the Chief's down to you...?"
"Well ofcourse he's not down."
Nami's heard Luffy's voice come from a different place than next to her. She turned around, and there he was, standing in the booth amongst the targets.
The man instantly lost it, pointing visciously at him. "H-Hey! You can't be back there!"
Luffy huffed, ignoring the guy. He muttered under his breath, as if to himself. "Yea, see...that's where I hit it. But this thing's welded to the thing-it won't budge with a gun."
The man flushed. "B...Bastard," he snarled. "Get from there! Stop touching that!"
Nami watched as Luffy grunted, bending back the piece of metal enclosed in his fist and making the guy squeal at his upper body strength. When he ended up bending it back too far, breaking it off, he looked surprised. "Oh...really rusty."
"YOU IDIOT!" the guy shrieked. "You just broke my machine!"
"Hmmm...seems like its down now."
The man's eye twitched. He watched Luffy contentedly pick at his ear, no hint of remorse in his straightforward demeanor, and finally growled, "You rude little bastard...just how are you going to pay me back for this? My thirty year long business is ruined because of you!"
"Hmph. Must've been thirty long years of shady business..."
The guy looked down. Nami was still in his space, but this time she was coyly looking up at him. She purred, "Pay you back? Do you really think we should...? After all, I don't think the benefactors for this event will be too pleased that you're cheating other people's money in a charity fair...we might feel it our civil duty to go to them and report this incident...and then there's the police's obvious involvement."
Beads of sweat appeared on the man's face. He gulped.
-x-
A few minutes later, Nami was brightly skipping beside Luffy, laughing and hugging 'Biri' the duck thing to her chest. "What a pigeon-I got our money back, with interest! Hahaha!"
Luffy, however, was pouting. He was childishly leering at the bills clutched in her fist. "Hey...wasn't that my money?"
She smirked. Stuffing the bills into her pocket, she replied, "Stupid-this is going to your tab."
Luffy huffed. He crossed his arms and looked away, completing the effect of his pout.
Nami laughed at his face. "Don't be upset," she chided. "In a way, I managed to make some money for you. It's all going into your interest rate, ofcourse."
Luffy grinned at a sudden thought. "Hey! We can use some of that for more food and games! Right?"
The ginger scoffed. "You should stop spending money as soon as you get it. Learn to save it!"
"Whaaaat? But that's boring!"
"Who cares? Maybe then you'd stop bumming of friends for cash!"
"Oi! You guys!"
Both of the two old friends turned around. "Usopp! Chopper!"
The long-nosed mechanic, still in his grease stained overalls from work, waved as Nami and Luffy came towards him. In his arms was a load of game prizes, obviously his bounty from his skill at aiming. Chopper was beside him, munching on some cotton candy.
"Hey," he said. "Did you guys just get here?"
"Luffy!" Chopper cried. "You never visit at the clinic anymore! Where have you been?"
The bedheaded goof off groaned. "Usopp and Franky at work don't gimme much freetime. And Gramps works me like a dog with his physical training..."
Usopp's face grew shrewd. "Oi oi, don't make it sound like I'm the bad guy-it's only the three of us at the shop afterall."
Yet Luffy wasn't paying attention. His eyes glimmered at the wisp of pink sugar Chopper held, and he was salivating again. "Oooh!" he cried. "Chopper, can I have some of that!"
Chopper quickly moved his cotton candy out of reach. Meanwhile, Luffy got a smack across the back of his head from Usopp.
"Ey, get your own!" he shouted.
"Shishishishi!"
Nami stood near them, watching them interact and play like a group of brothers. They talked excitably amongst themselves, with the long-nosed mechanic holding most of the sway to the conversation. He noticed her Biri, and mentioned a booth that everyone was saying the guy working it was shady. This was swiftly answered agreeably by Luffy and Nami, who chorused a 'yea, we know'. She laughed with them, unable to lose the smile on her face.
"Hey," she finally said, while Usopp, flailing about, was put in a headlock by a hyucking Luffy over some matter from work. "Is Robin here?"
Chopper, who was beside her, brightly replied, "Yea! We just saw her. She's here with Franky-they're dating now, you know?"
Nami blinked incredulously, while Chopper paused in thought. "Wow...you think you know a friend," she muttered. Her and that hyperactive guy? Unreal.
She looked down to see Chopper cautiously pointing between her and Luffy: "Hey, um...you and Luffy aren't also-"
He almost instantly stopped. Nami's face was so ferocious that slowly, the small brunette started to cry.
Usopp quickly intervened-he grabbed his pal, who was frozen to the spot, and dragged him away. "Um, yeah," he said hurriedly, booking it. "I guess we'll just give you guys some alone time...see ya!"
"Nami scary..." Chopper kept muttering, shivering. "Nami scary...scary..."
Nami watched them retreat in terror, a frown on her face. And just as her mood had been improving...jeez.
The confused Luffy beside her cocked his head, also watching them. "Eh?" he said. "Why'd they leave...?"
The ginger sighed. Did she have to spell everything out for him?
Obviously not-he snapped his head to a different direction, at the glaring lights and the thrilled screams a few yards away. His head quickly turned back to her. While she questioningly looked at him, he grabbed her arm and started pulling her by her elbow towards the hubub. "Ey! Ey Nami-lets ride some rides now! Kay? Come on!"
Warily, Nami rolled her eyes. "Luffy," she mumbled. "...I think I'm just going to head back to my apartment. I'm really tired-"
His grin was in her face. "Just a few rides-I promise! Then we can go back. Really!"
An enormous sigh later, she gave up. Obviously she had lost her input to his self-iteneray long ago, so she just let herself be dragged to the flashing lights ahead. She didn't expect herself to be much of a fun person tonight, but maybe Luffy wouldn't care. He was a 'fun factory' afterall.
-x-
"KYAAAAA! LUFFY! I'M GONNA KILL YOU FOR FORCING ME ON THIS THING!"
The tilt-o-whirl picked up in speed, and Nami receded into just screams. She gripped onto the bars for dear life. Luffy was lying next to her, hands thrown up and hyucking his head off.
Shit shit shit shit shit...what if the screws come lose? All the ginger could see was them tilting to thier deaths, the entire rickety machine falling apart. This was madness-she squinted her eyes closed and gripped the bars until her knuckles were white, praying for it to stop.
Finally, it did. She quickly hopped off with Luffy, and landed on solid ground.
Very...slanted solid ground.
Everything was spinning. She put her hand to her head and suddenly found herself sitting on the ground. She winced as her butt hit wet ground from the rain before. 'Great...now my butt's caked in dirt.'
The dizziness left her, and she opened her eyes. Luffy's hand was in her face-he wanted to help her up. She grabbed it gratefully. He launched her onto her feet-too bad she lost her balance in the end and began falling forward. With a small cry, she hit something hard. And warm. Suddenly, she was submerged in Luffy's smell, and realized that he had caught her with his chest. Her face turned beet red; it turned even redder when his arms circled around her shoulders and held her tight.
He was laughing, like it was nothing. "That was great! Oooh! Lets go on the roller coaster!"
Nami mind was flustered, but somehow she could hear herself laughing. "Luffy," she cried. "Let go! This is uncomfortable!"
She playfully pushed against his toned, lithe chest with her hands, but he wouldn't budge. She looked up, and he was grinning. "Shishishi-oh, hey! Isn't that Zoro?"
Nami stopped. She turned her head slightly to where Luffy was gesturing at; Zoro was up ahead of them, Perona talking away at his side while he just stared...at them. Almost sharing the same wide-eyed expression she had. The ginger flushed while Luffy guffawed a laugh and waved.
"ZORO!" he shouted. "Hey, Zoro! Come over-"
Nami giving him a hard push to get off made him stop. He looked at her, confused, but she was looking away, pretending to be busy observing something else.
"Nami? Somethin' wrong?" His voice seemed almost concerned. What was she saying? He was always concerned; it just took a while for her to take him seriously, even after knowing him for so long.
Nami crossed her arms and rubbed her hands up and down them, as if she was cold. "I...I just don't feel like getting on a rollercoaster, is all. My...stomach hurts."
She glanced up. Zoro was still looking at them, yet turned away with a shrug when he and Perona entered one of the cars of the ride. She sighed, then noticed how quiet it had gotten. Odd-she had expected Luffy to be already whining about it.
She was surprised when he finally uttered his reply, straightforwardly: "Ah, I see-you're sick."
At the tail end of that, he brightened and said, "Well, I guess we can just skip it."
Nami blanched. Just...skip it?
Luffy snickered, probably at her face. "Wanna go on the carousel? It'll make your tummy hurt less."
Without thought, she opened her mouth. "Sure...why not?"
"Great!" He began heading to the kiddie-ish rides left of the thrill ones. Nami, after a moment's pause, quickly caught up with him to walk side by side.
-x-
Nami rode all the slow rides with Luffy, not seeing Zoro again and actually having a good time. Her mood definitely picked up at the bumper cars, which she took advantage of in using them to take out her wrath on Luffy for dragging her to the fair in the first place. Through the jostling and the hissing of electric motors screeching around in the small room, she found herself having spasms of hysterical laughter, breaking past her competitive grin while she chased Luffy in her car.
They left, and instantly hopped onto other rides. She forced Luffy on a ride crowded with people sitting on the boat, and snickered at his face as he nearly lost his lunch when they flipped over. Another ride was the teacups-Luffy went insane with the spinning and made Nami nearly faint between lack of oxygen in laughing and screeching for him to stop before they flew off. He just laughed, squished up against her as they spun around and around.
After that, they did a string of kiddy rides before coming to one that Nami insisted on-the swing ride.
Before Bellemere's death, her foster mother had annually made trips to the fair with her and her sister, buying tickets with what little money she saved and letting them chose thier rides. Nami always spent her money on the swing ride-Nojiko made fun of her, but she didn't care. When she and Luffy got on the ride, she absently muttered under her breath about how she loved this ride-it gave her the sense of flying.
If Luffy had heard, he didn't say anything. He just sat there quietly, until happily demanding the ride to start while he swung back and forth as if it was a real swing.
He got a punch to the head for that, for 'nearly breaking the damn ride, dumbass!'
After a few other thrills, they finally came to the ferris wheel. The duo headed towards it, talking so excitedly and animatedly with each that they didn't seen Zoro and Perona in the line in front of them until he spoke:
"Oi-you guys having fun?"
The ginger stopped in her tracks. She looked up at her ex's smirking face, with his pink-haired shadow standing behind him.
Luffy grinned at his best friend. "Hey! Yeah, we're having a great time. Did you get your 'mystery business' done in the apartment?"
Nami blanched at him; Zoro knowingly smirked while Perona giggled. The ginger recovered quickly, feeling the leers they mentally gave her. She tried careless small talk: "There are alot more rides here than last year, I think. Guess that's thanks to Sir Crocodile."
"Did you go on the rollercoaster?" Luffy cried. "That thing is awesome-I nearly barfed through my nose!"
Nami's head snapped around. "Eh? If you felt sick, why the hell did you sit next to me?"
Luffy laughed. "Don't worry, I would've turned my head."
Nami facepalmed. "That doesn't make it any better! The other people...eww, nevermind. I told you not to eat so many turkey legs and hot dogs before you rode it!"
The ginger happened to look up. Zoro was cocking his eyebrow at her, surprised. "Wait," he said. "You...actually rode something like that? I thought you always said that fair rides were portable death traps..."
"Hm?" Luffy turned to Nami. "Then why did we ride it twice?"
She grinned sheepishly. "I found them to be...not so bad."
Her ex frowned, but suddenly looked over thier heads. "Oh, hey Robin."
Nami looked over her shoulder, then turned around. "Hey! There you are. How long have you been standing here?"
Robin, behind the other's in line with Franky's arm holding her intimately close by the waist, smiled. "Not long."
The cyan-haired giant beside her grinned. "Suuper, you guys are here! Hey, have you seen Chopper and Usopp?"
"Yeah!" Luffy piped up, excited at seeing more of his friends. He suddenly eyed the huge thing Franky was carrying under his thick arm. It seemed to be a hideous-looking plush cobra. Instantly, his eyes sparkled. "Whoa! Franky, did you win that?"
Franky frowned. "Yes, and no you can't have it. It's Robin's."
At this information, the ginger turned to the older woman and gave her a dry look. Robin just shrugged. "I think it's cute."
Franky huffed. "You would."
"Says the 'mature adult' who had to have his face painted..."
Conciously, he put a huge hand to his cheek. It had a large blue star outlined with yellow on it, to which Nami was pointing out. While Robin put her hand over her mouth to suppress a smirk, he grinned. "What? She put me up to it."
"I absolutely deny that."
"Heehee...Oh yeah, just remembered." Franky dug through his jacket pocket for a second, before finally pulling out a wad of cash. He handed it to Luffy. "Here's this week's pay. Sorry, I nearly forgot."
"Oh!" Luffy took it from the lax head mechanic, smiling gratefully. "Hey, thanks boss!"
Without hesitation, he turned around and handed it all to Nami, forcing her hand open to take it. She looked at him as if he was crazy-he hadn't even counted any of it-but took it all the same. "Here Nami-does this clear my debt?"
After stiffly counting it, she nodded. "Yeah, thanks," was her quiet reply.
Zoro's snickering behind her was like nails on a chalkboard to her brain.
"What," he said. "Did Nami debt you into going to the fair with her, Luf...?"
Nami flushed with anger. She turned around to mouth off something to 'that dick'-she was so sick of his mouth...! Yet, Luffy interupted:
"Actually, no. We're here on a date."
Silence quickly ensued.
A/N: o0o Aw snap-WHAT DID LUFFY SAY? Yea, I had to end this chapter somewhere, or it would be 7,000 something words long. x.x The rough draft was 5000-why is this taking more than two? Seems I suck at short one-shots...
Thank you for reading, dearest reader! Last chapter coming soon.
