Ch. 1- Meet Luffy

One Piece © Oda

The sun's ray shined through the window. The air still felt cold and there was still snow on the ground, outside, and there was this unusual scent of tangerines in the room. It did smell nice, though, and it almost made him want to sleep a bit longer...until he suddenly woke up with a loud sneeze.

With a groan, he sat up and found himself on a couch that was covered with a white sheet, and a blanket ended up rolling off of him. He then took a look around to find a coffee table, some framed pictures on the wall, a couple of chairs, one of which had an orange-haired lady wearing a pink bath robe and wearing a pair of white kitty slippers...

Wait a minute...lady? What was a lady doing in his house?

It took perhaps a good half a minute for him to realize...this was not his house.

"Uhh...hello?" Luffy asked, causing Nami's eyes to flutter open before she noticed him.

"Oh!" Nami exclaimed, her eyes now wide awake. "Y-you're awake!"

"Uh...yeah, I am," Luffy answered. "Uh...what am I doing here?"

"Oh, my friends and I found you, remember?" Nami asked.

Luffy blinked before he furrowed his brow in deep contemplation...and then, he gasped as he remembered the events from last night.

"Oh, yeah!" he exclaimed. "I was in your car!"

"It was a good thing we found you, too," Nami said. "You could've done dead if we hadn't come along."

"Oh, I see," Luffy replied. "So you saved my life, right?" He then bowed his head to her, gratefully. "Thanks a lot."

"No problem," Nami smiled. "After all, it's kind of my fault you got hurt anyway."

"Huh?" Luffy muttered. "What do you mean?"

"...I...kind of ran you over...with my car," Nami answered, sheepishly.

"You did?" Luffy asked.

"You were all bloody and you had all these injuries on you!" Nami reminded. "Remember?"

A pause...but then Luffy's eyes went wide and his ears pricked up.

"Oh, wait a minute!" he exclaimed. "You didn't do that to me! I got into a fight before I collapsed on the road."

"...A fight?" Nami repeated.

"Yeah," Luffy answered. "I got shot in my leg, twice, and the bullets went straight through, got stabbed in the chest, got my wrist bitten by a feral dog, and finally, got hit in the head with a steel bat...but I won, though! Shishishi!"

Nami gaped at the dog-looking boy in disbelief. How he even managed to survive such a beating, even without her running him over with her car, was beyond her.

Her train of thought was soon interrupted when a deep rumbling sound filled the air, and Luffy pressed a paw against his stomach.

"Oh, right!" Nami realized. "You must be hungry!"

"I sure am," Luffy answered. "I haven't eaten in a while...you wouldn't happen to have any meat, would you? I mean, I'll eat anything, but meat's my absolute favorite!"

"I'll...see what I can scrounge up," Nami answered.

'Is it safe to give human food to a boy that looks like a dog?' she thought. '...Well...I'm sure it's not too big a deal. Plus, I'm sure he won't eat too much.'

XXX

'...I could not have been more wrong,' Nami thought as she watched Luffy scarf down everything she placed on the table: the leftover spaghetti, some pork katsu udon from the New Year's party, last night, some chilled shrimp ramen, some vanilla cookies, some rice balls filled with chicken and cheese, and a whole lot of other things.

"Aaaah...!" Luffy sighed as he leaned back in the chair, patting his bloated stomach. "Man, I'm stuffed!" He then gave a rather noisy belch. "Oops! Shishishishi! 'Scuse me."

"Uh..." Nami muttered as she looked over at her nearly empty fridge. The only thing she could find was a single carton of tangerine juice.

"Oh..." Luffy said, his ears drooping in slight guilt. "Did I eat all your food?"

"Uh...don't worry about it," Nami reassured. "Besides, I was gonna go to the store, anyway!"

'I can't believe this!' she thought. 'It took half of the money I had just to fill the fridge!'

"By the way," Luffy began, "you never told me your name."

"Huh?" Nami asked. "Oh! Right! I'm Nami. And...you're Luffy?"

"Yep!" Luffy answered. "Monkey D. Luffy! Shishishi!"

"Okay, Luffy," Nami answered. "It's nice to meet you."

"You, too!" Luffy replied with a broad, toothy grin...filled with sharp fangs. Truth be told, the sight nearly made Nami jump right out of her chair, but she managed to remain calm.

"Um...so, Luffy," Nami began, "mind telling me why you look like a...well, y'know...a dog?"

Luffy blinked at Nami in surprise before he chuckled.

"Right," he said. "I figured you'd ask sooner or later. Well...honestly, I don't know if you'd believe it."

"Try me," Nami challenged.

"Okay," Luffy replied before he took in a deep breath. "I was...cursed."

"...Cursed?" Nami repeated.

"Yeah," Luffy began, "by a dog spirit."

Nami just stared at Luffy, who stared right back at her before he sighed.

"You don't believe me, do you?" Luffy asked.

"N-no, no!" Nami assured. "I do! It's just...why?"

"Well...I kind of accidentally broke a statue at a shrine because I wasn't being too careful," Luffy answered. "Apparently, the spirit didn't like that very much, so he put this curse on me. Now I look like this."

"And he didn't give you any clue as to how to break it?" Nami asked. "I mean...no cryptic riddle or something like that?"

"Nope," Luffy answered. "He said I didn't have much understanding of how others might feel. I didn't know what he meant."

"Well, why didn't you just go home?" Nami asked. "I'm sure your family would've helped you out."

A pause...but then Luffy looked away, his cheery mood suddenly turning somber.

"I...I don't have a family," he said. "I'm homeless."

"You are?" Nami asked in concern.

"Yup," Luffy replied, "but hey...what can you do? That's life. Tough."

"And...you just accept that?" Nami asked.

"Well, it's not too bad, being on my own!" Luffy assured. "I mean, I get to do what I want, when I wanna do it, and no one tells me what to do...and plus, now that I'm a dog, I get to do all these cool things I couldn't do when I was human! I mean, I can hear really well, and smell things really well, too! Plus, I can run on all fours and I'm really fast! That's pretty cool, right?!"

'How can he make light of all this?!' thought Nami. 'He doesn't have a home or anyone to turn to...and yet he treats it like some kind of game?!'

"Luffy...don't you have anywhere to stay?" Nami asked. "A hotel or something?"

"Well, I would," Luffy began, "but I kinda don't have any money, and even if I did, I doubt they'd let me in...you know, since I'm a dog."

"Oh, yeah," Nami realized. "Well...what are you gonna do?"

A pause...but then Luffy's mouth took on an O shape as he pounded a fist in his palm.

"I got it!" he exclaimed. "I'll just stay here with you!"

"HAH?!" Nami questioned.

"Yeah, it's perfect!" Luffy answered, his bushy, curly tail wagging happily. "I can stay here with you! I mean, you did save my life and all, plus you brought me here to your house and fed me when you didn't have to!"

"W-wait, Luffy!" Nami cried. "I don't think-"

"This'll be awesome! We'll be like roommates!" Luffy exclaimed. "Won't that be fun, Nami? Shishishishi!"

"...Yeah...fun," Nami answered.

'What in the hell have I gotten myself into?!'

TO BE CONTINUED...

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