Disclaimer: I do not own one piece, sadly.
Usopp: Of course you don't! Because it belongs to me! Brave warrior of the sea! Capaaaiin-…
SS:*punches him*
Usopp: *collapses*
SS: ahem, yes, anyway...
Chapter 7 – Trick or Treat
After school, Lynn and Luffy met Sanji at the arranged spot outside school premises. Sanji had caused a lot of chaos in class today, and rumour had it that Luffy was being pursued by some random murderer who claimed to be his cousin. Lynn tried to convince everyone it wasn't true, but only half the people believed her; and she couldn't blame them. After all, what would YOU think if someone got attacked for no reason in class? Her only resolve, now, was to keep Sanji away from the school at all costs.
They set off towards the empty field from the day before to meet up with Nami and Zoro as arranged earlier that day, and Sanji was bursting with excitement the whole way. Not so much on seeing Zoro, but he couldn't wait to see Nami again. On arriving, Lynn gave Nami a little wave to signify their presence, and Nami's eyes widened on seeing the blonde young man walking behind Lynn.
"Oh Nami-swaaan, I've missed you so much!" Sanji cried, rushing towards her with his arms wide open. Nami gave him a punch in response.
"What the hell are you doing here?" she demanded.
"Is it just me, or do you greet everyone with a punch?" Lynn said to Nami. Nami didn't answer, and instead continued to stare at Sanji.
"AH!" he exclaimed, not in the least hurt. "The punch of love from my dearest!"
The others all dropped a sweat.
"If you're here, then doesn't that mean only Robin, Chopper and Usopp are still on the ship?" Zoro frowned. "Is that safe?"
"No, not really," said Lynn. "But there's nothing we can do about it."
"They'll be fine," Sanji began to light a cigarette. "No one will notice our ship from where we anchored, so there won't be any danger. And they have enough supplies to keep them going."
Zoro, Nami and Luffy nodded, and relaxed. Lynn smiled, and Sanji's eyes turned into love hearts; again.
"Ah! My cute Lynnie-chwaaaan is sooooo adorable when she smiles!" Lynn crinkled her nose.
"Two things," she said, rolling her eyes. "First, I'm not yours, so don't talk to me as if I'm some sort of teddy bear. Second, never EVER call me Lynnie ever again. And don't call me 'cute' or 'adorable' either. I might just puke."
"Yes, little Lynn-chan," said Sanji obediently, and Lynn fumed.
"I'm not short!" she snapped.
"But he didn't call you short, he said 'little'," Nami pointed out.
"They mean the same thing don't they?"
"No, actually they don't," said Zoro, much to Lynn's annoyance.
"Just because you're all freakishly tall..." she grumbled.
Luffy walked over and raised his hand to compare his height and Lynn's. She barely came up to his nose. "But you are a bit short..." said Luffy stupidly, and a thick English file connected with the top of his head in an instant.
"Just you say that again…" snarled Lynn, wielding her big-ass file like a bat.
"I was only telling the truth!" he pouted, and was immediately sent flying like a ball on a rounder's match.
"You've got a good swing," admitted Zoro as he watched Luffy tumble through the air and land at his feet.
"I'm 5'2, dammit, how is that short?" Lynn cried, stamping her foot.
"And I think we found her weak spot..." Nami sweat dropped, then turned to Lynn and gave her a plastic bag to change the subject. "By the way, this is the gold you told me to bring," she said.
Lynn peeked in and glanced at its contents. Then a small smile stretched across her face as she began to recover from her little hissy fit. "Let's go and exchange this for some money then, yeah? Afterwards, we can go and do some shopping to take our mind off things!"
Nami smiled enthusiastically, and Luffy grinned hungrily, getting up from his fall and rushing over. His wide grinning made Lynn couldn't help smiling along with him. Until he said something else, that is.
"Don't worry! You're my friend, and I don't really mind that you're small!"
Smack-wham-bang.
"We're RICH!" cried Lynn, rushing out of the gold jeweller's shop, waving her credit card about. After a gold-for-cash exchange, Lynn had never felt better knowing she was loaded!
"How much did you get for the gold?" asked Nami eagerly. She had only split Lynn half of her treasure, so was wondering roughly how much her split was worth.
"A big fat 500,000 pounds!" she exclaimed, grinning uncontrollably. "Now we don't have to worry about expenses anymore!"
"Yay!" cheered Luffy. "Now we can go buy meat! Or maybe a bronze statue!"
Both Nami and Lynn snapped at him. "Is that all you think about?" they demanded.
"Well... where's the money?" asked Zoro. "I don't see any."
Lynn held up her credit card between two fingers and waved it in his face. "It's all on here," she said. The straw hats blinked, and Lynn explained to them quickly what a credit card was.
"That's so handy!" Nami exclaimed, clapping her hands together.
"So the money's on the mysterious card..." Luffy muttered to himself, still slightly confused, if not clueless.
"Should we go then?" said Nami. "I can't wait to buy some new clothes!"
"Yeah, sure." Lynn lead them away from the jewellers and down the high street, introducing some modern-day shops. Luffy was amazed at all the new fascinating things. He had never been allowed to properly explore the high street yet, since the last time they went shopping it was only a trip to the corner shop. Luffy saw all the mannequins in shop windows, and took an interest.
"Why are those people standing around not moving?" he wondered, pressing up against the window of New Look.
"They're just plastic figures," said Lynn, peeling him off the glass. "And they advertise the clothes."
"Hmm… nice!" said Nami, examining a cute looking mini skirt on a model. "That one looks good! Come check this out Lynn."
Although not fazed by cute mini skirts, Lynn walked over to see anyway, and with Zoro and Sanji squabbling away at each other (like always), no one noticed Luffy sneak into the shop. He appeared pressed up against the window again a minute later, only this time he was inside the shop.
"Cool!" he exclaimed, peering out onto the street and waving to his friends who weren't looking his way. Glancing at the plastic models beside him, he decided to try a pose like them. And he held his pose rather proudly. Surprisingly, people walking past the shop thought he was also a mannequin. Nami was the first to notice Luffy, and she slapped her forehead.
"That idiot…" she muttered, causing Lynn to also glance over at him.
"Gah! Luffy!" Lynn let out a frustrated cry and waved a hand at Zoro commandingly. "Go and get him out of there."
Zoro ignored her, so she gave him a kick on the shin. He then acted out her orders reluctantly whilst grumbling away at how she was so rude. But, obviously, got lost as soon as he took two steps into the shop.
"And why did you send the most directionless one to fetch Luffy?" asked Nami, shaking her head and holding a hand over her eyes.
Lynn blinked. Then she snapped her fingers and pulled a face. "Drats, I forgot."
Nami sighed. "I'll go and get them both." She said, walking in. That's when Lynn noticed the little scene that was going on the other side of the glass. A shop assistant lady was undressing the mannequins, and Luffy, somehow unaware of this, was still holding his pose whilst grinning like an idiot. Lynn tried to warn him, but the lady had walked up to him already, and as soon as her hands touched his shoulder to take off his clothes, he turned, and the lady screamed and fell over. Luffy seemed to realise he'd done something wrong, and snuck back into the shop. Nami appeared seconds later at the glass, searching for him, and slapped her forehead as she realised what must have happened. Quickly apologising to the lady, who was still in shock, she signalled for Lynn to come into the shop and help her. Lynn nodded and ran in, leaving Sanji still standing there.
"Have they forgotten about me or something?" he wondered aloud as he lit a cigarette and walked in after them.
Luffy strolled casually, looking at the colourful clothing all around him. A few female heads began to turn in his direction and on noticing this, he became uneasy. It reminded him of his fans at school. No doubt, before long, he had a mini queue stalking him as he walked. It was only a matter of time before this morning's events repeated. Panicking, he fastened his pace, and turned a corner, ducking into a rail of clothes as he did so. The girls who were following him thought he was continuing down the next aisle and 'followed' him. As soon as they were out of sight, Luffy popped his head out and declared coast clear. But it still wasn't exactly safe, he realised, so he searched for an exit or another place to hide; preferable more comfortable than squatting under a load of tee-shirts. Noticing a door to his right, he headed over, not paying attention to the 'staff only' sign on the door.
Meanwhile, Nami and Lynn met up to discuss strategies of Zoro and Luffy tracking, and then both set off; Nami searching for Zoro and Lynn searching for Luffy. No sooner had they separated, though, Nami was distracted by all the fashionable garments around, and began to paw through them, searching for a nice bargain.
"Dammit! Where is Luffy?" Zoro grumbled as he circled the shop for the nth time unknowingly. "And where's the exit?"
A few teenagers watched the clueless swordsman with scowls on their faces.
"Is it just me, or have I seen him before?" wondered a girl out loud.
"No, that guy's been wandering over here 7 times now," said her boyfriend, wrapping his arm around her. "What the hell does he want?"
"I'll bet he's perverted or something," said his friend, folding his arms across his chest.
When Zoro unintentionally walked into the women's underwear section, the girl grew mad.
"What is he playing at?" she demanded, not to anyone specifically. "He really is perverted!"
"But wait..." said the friend, looking over. "Isn't the changing room over there too?"
A load of high-pitched screams came from Zoro's direction, and he appeared a second later, chased by women, young and old.
"Does that answer your question?" the girl rolled her eyes.
On the other side of the shop, Nami was enjoying herself. She had found a few cute skirts and skinny tops, and was taking them to checkout. Grinning to herself, she fished out Lynn's credit card from her pocket. She had nicked it when Lynn wasn't looking.
"Surely Lynn won't mind!" Nami thought to herself as she stepped up to the young man at the checkout. He took her garments, held some sort of laser above it, and the strange machine beeping noises. Nami observed this with interest.
"£46.99 please," the man said, and Nami pouted. She leaned over the counter flirtatiously and battered her eyelids.
"Could you maybe lower it?" she asked, flicking her hair. "Just a little bit?" It was just her habit to try haggling the price down during her every purchase.
The man blushed, but held his ground. "I'm sorry Miss, but we don't bargain here," he said, looking away. Nami tried a few more times, but although he was flattered, wasn't about to give in. She sighed, realising that haggling didn't really work in this world and handed over Lynn's credit card to pay. The man slotted it in a small hand-held machine and pushed it towards her.
"Pin please,"
Nami blinked. "Pin?"
"Please enter your four number pin code, Miss," said the man patiently.
Nami looked down at the small machine, examined the number pad on it, and figured that it was basically the same as the combination needed to open a safe. Nami smiled and raised a finger to the number pad. She was an expert thief, after all, how hard could this be?
Lynn wandered down isles and ducked around railings, searching high and low for Luffy; but had caught no sign of him so far. 'Where on earth could he have gone?' she thought, looking around. A rising noise caught her attention, and she lifted her head to check out what was going on. Heading over to the source of all the chattering, she slapped a hand on her cheek when she saw Nami, circled by four security guards at the checkout, and an enormous queue behind her, getting extremely impatient.
"What's going on?" asked Lynn, rushing to the front and standing beside Nami. Nami shrugged sheepishly.
"Well, you see..." she said. "I'm sort of having trouble with your card..."
Lynn quickly patted her pockets, and when she found that they were empty, gave Nami a dirty look.
"When did you take it?" she demanded in a whisper.
"Earlier, when were outside," Nami whispered back. "Look, sorry, but er... could you kind of help me here?" she motioned towards the tough looking security guards, the impatient shop manager standing behind them, and the angry mob/queue of shoppers that looked like they were ready to pounce on her.
"That'll teach you to steal my stuff," Lynn grumbled, and began to try and explain their way out of this mess.
Sanji wandered around in the shop, looking around at the clothes, and more importantly, the female shoppers. Noticing an awfully cute looking bikini on a model standing on a self, he couldn't help but imagine Nami wearing it; and grinned pervertedly to himself. A rough hand clamped itself around his shoulder and he snapped out of his little day-dream.
"Oi, buddy," a gruff voice growled. "No smoking in the shop."
Sanji turned and came face to face with a sturdy looking security guard.
"Does everyone in this world have something against smoking?" he muttered, thinking back to the weird boar-faced teacher at the school. The man scowled at him some more.
"Please put out your smoke, sir, or we will have to ask you to leave," he said with forced patience in his voice.
"Why aren't I allowed to smoke in here?" asked Sanji, taking another puff.
"It's against the law to smoke in public places!"
Sanji snorted. "What a stupid law."
The security man was furious, and he spoke into his radio, requesting back up.
"What, you want to fight or something?" Sanji demanded.
"No, I just need to carry out my duty, and take legal action."
Sanji snarled. "You sound like those shitty marines; doing justice; but you're all wimps really,"
The man scowled at this and put down his radio. "Who are you calling wimp, stupid kid?"
"I'm not a kid, you shitty bastard,"
"You say that again, curly brow,"
"Who are calling curly brow?"
And their oral battle commenced.
The room was empty when Luffy walked in, luckily. But the bad news was that many things in this room hooked his attention and curiosity. Staring excitedly with his eyes wide at the monitors, Luffy realised he could see most of the shop from every angle. He rushed over, and sat himself onto the chair positioned in front of the screens. Looking around, he noticed Lynn and Nami in one of the monitors, walking away from the checkout carrying a few bags, and Nami was being lectured by Lynn whilst nodding meekly. Now, that was a rare sight, Nami being scolded. Then he noticed the microphone sticking up from the desk and took an interest. He pressed the 'on' button and spoke into it.
"Hello?" he said. "Hello hello?" He grinned in excitement when he saw both Nami and Lynn look up and search for the source of his voice. "Cool!" he exclaimed into the speaker. "you can hear me!"
Oh, they could hear him alright. And they were NOT happy.
"Hey Lynn! Nami! I can see you!" he continued, pointing at the screen where they stood. "How you doing?"
Lynn searched for the nearest security camera, and shook her fists at it, knowing that Luffy would see her. He did, and he laughed.
"You're funny!" he grinned. "Wanna try this out? It's way cool!"
People were beginning to stare at Lynn as she jumped up and down in frustration and mouthed things into the security camera. She didn't care if they thought she was crazy, she just wanted Luffy to get the hell away from the broadcasting room! Luffy, however, didn't really get the message.
"I don't understand what you mean," he frowned. "Stop jumping around like a monkey,"
"SAYS YOU!" she shouted upwards, and it was now obvious to onlookers that she was familiar with the person making the strange broadcast. The four security men from earlier surrounded Lynn and crossed their arms, and Lynn could but giggle awkwardly. Having had enough of this trouble making girl for one day, they dragged her over to the broadcasting room and demanded for her to take her strange 'relative' away with her. Lynn didn't argue. She snatched Luffy's hand and hauled him away, swearing to herself that she'll deal with him later.
"Never take Luffy shopping again; never take Luffy shopping again..." Lynn muttered to herself as she dragged him out of New Look. On stepping out of the shop, Nami following, she saw Sanji having a staring contest with the security man at the door, and slapped her forehead. Approaching and tearing them apart, she pulled Sanji away with her, cursing under her breath. And that's when Zoro ran out of the shop chased by a group of furious women.
"For God's sake, can't you guys stop attracting trouble?" cried Lynn, pulling on her hair.
"It was that guy that started it!" protested Sanji, pointing at the security who was still glaring angrily in his direction.
"Didn't I tell you not to smoke in public places?" demanded Lynn.
"Actually, no, you didn't." Sanji said, blinking.
"Didn't I?" Lynn thought back, then pulled a face. "Oh... my bad..."
"So it was your fault!" declared Nami, and Lynn turned to snap at her.
"You're one to talk! You stole my card when you didn't even know how to use it!"
Nami grew quiet. Luffy chuckled, and it was his turn to be scolded.
"What did I tell you about running off?" snapped Lynn, and Luffy just grinned. Aggravated, Lynn turned to Zoro, who was still being chased in circles by the women, not far away. "WHAT ON EARTH DID YOU DO?" Lynn shouted to him. He didn't answer; perhaps it was because he was getting too freaked out by his hunters.
"Hey, Lynn?" Nami poked Lynn on the shoulder, "What's with those?"
Lynn turned and looked in the direction Nami pointed to. There were a few shops lined up, each unique, but all had a linking theme. Lynn quickly realised what Nami was talking about. The shops were all heavily decorated with spooky themed apparatuses and fancy costumes. Seeing this, Lynn kicked herself forgetting that it was Halloween tomorrow night. She quickly explained all about Halloween, and even about trick or treating.
Luffy's eyes widened in excitement. "WOW! SOUNDS AWSO-" Lynn clamped a hand over his mouth and cut him off, as pass-bys were staring bewildered at his sudden outburst. Luffy pried Lynn's fingers off.
"Ok, ok, I get it," he said, still grinning. "But it sounds awesome! I want to be a pirate!"
"You are a pirate."
"Then can we go treat or tricking?"
"It's trick or treating!"
Nami looked at Lynn, and then at all the different looking costumes in the shops; and smiled. "Halloween, huh? Interesting…"
"Where on earth ARE THEY?" Usopp cried, frustrated, scared, and worried all at the same time. "First Luffy, then Nami and Zoro, and now Sanji too!"
It was the day after Sanji had stepped into the portal, and if you can remember, will recall Usopp fainting from shock. Well, he's now woken up, it's morning, he's circling deck and he's stressing all over again.
"I'm scared," admitted Chopper, eyes wide and looking around nervously, as if he expected a monster to jump out any minute.
"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?" howled Usopp. A hand sprouted from his back and thumped him on the head.
"Calm down," said Robin, walking over, cup of coffee in hand.
"How can you be so calm Robin?" demanded Usopp, rubbing his head where Robin's hand had hit him, "Aren't you worried? Our crew could be finished! No captain, no navigator, no cook, how are we going to sail on? We're stranded in the middle of the bloody grand line! We can't find our nakama, we can't go home, we can't go forward, so WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?"
Robin calmly grew another hand from Usopp's back and smacked him on the head again, and before he could say anything else, she grew another to clamp his mouth shut.
"We can't do anything unless you calm down first," she said, and turned to Chopper. "Right, doctor-san?"
Chopper nodded, but his face was scrunched up. "But Usopp's right Robin," he whimpered. "We're in a difficult situation. What should we do?"
"Why don't we search for them?" she suggested. "One of us can guard the ship and the others can look around town and try to gather any useful information."
Chopper nodded, and so did Usopp, though he found it difficult with a hand tightly clamped over his mouth. He signalled towards his mouth, indicating he wanted to speak, and Robin removed her hand.
"Chopper can stay on the ship," he said. "We can't really have a reindeer wondering around, can we?"
Chopper nodded, and Robin and Usopp set off.
School was as boring as usual, yet at the same time chaotic. Luffy slept through the morning lessons, got chased by fans and fell down the stairs at break, got shoved into a locker by Cain and locked in for most of lunchtime, and nearly destroyed the school computers during the afternoon ICT lesson. Evidently, Lynn and Miriam spent most of their day rescuing him and apologizing to others. After the final bell of the day rang, they both pulled him away from his horrific fan-club and rushed over to Lynn's house.
"How was school?" asked Nami, greeting the panting threesome at the front door.
"You don't want to know..." muttered Lynn, taking off her school bag and chucking it on the floor. Zoro was on the other side of the room, doing some press-ups.
"Hey you guys doing any thing for tonight?" asked Miriam.
Every one looked at her, including Lynn. Miriam sighed.
"You do realise it's Halloween tonight?"
Lynn snapped her fingers. "I thought I forgot something…"
Everyone in the room dropped a sweat. She'd been telling them about Halloween yesterday, yet today she forgets? They hadn't realised it before, but was it really safe staying with this kind of a host?
"Don't look at me like that," Lynn protested at everyone's you're-such-an-idiot glares.
"Anyway," said Miriam. "I'm taking my little sister trick or treating tonight. You guys want to come?"
"YAY!" cried Luffy, throwing his hand in the air. "Treat or tricking!"
"Its trick or treating," corrected Lynn for the millionth time.
"I take that as a 'yes'," smiled Miriam, and then turned to Zoro and Nami. "What about you?"
Zoro yawned and stood up. "Well, the captain's spoken," he said, stretching. "And there's no going against his wish."
"Plus," added Nami with a grin. "It might be fun!"
Miriam arrived at Lynn's front door with her sister, Lily, at 6 o'clock sharp. Lily was a sweetheart; blonde hair, blue eyes, cute smile, and every feature and quality of an ideal 6 year old sister.
"She's so adorable!" Nami cooed when she stepped in the front door.
Lily smiled a sugary smile and Nami melted. Lynn rolled her eyes. Lily had that effect on every one she met. She was perfect. Too perfect for Lynn's liking, though. Tonight, Lily was dressed in a cute princess costume, wearing her cute hair in cute bunches, had a cute tiara sitting cutely on her cute little head, and carried a cute Halloween trick-or-treat bag which was cutely empty.
"Too sweet for you?" Miriam raised an eyebrow at her friend. Lynn pretended to be sick sarcastically.
"Have you no heart?" demanded Nami, putting her arms around the adorable little girl. "She's soooooo cute!"
"I see so much of her already I'm immune to her charms." Lynn shrugged. "Plus I was only joking." She turned to Lily. "You know I'm kidding, right?"
Lily smiled and nodded. And Nami melted again. Sanji melted too at Nami's adorable melting.
"Let's go treat or tricking!" said Luffy eagerly, jumping up and down like a hyperactive kid. Lynn couldn't even be bothered to correct him anymore, since he obviously is too stupid to even remember that it's 'trick or treat'.
"Are you guys dressing up then?" asked Miriam.
"Yep!" Luffy replied, pointing at his outfit. Miriam raised an eyebrow. She recognised his 'outfit' as the vest and shorts he wore when he first arrived, straw-hat and all.
"That's an outfit? What are you suppose to be?"
"I'm Monkey D Luffy! The man who's going to become pirate king!" he replied proudly with a wide grin.
"That doesn't really answer her question," sighed Nami.
"He thinks that since he is a pirate, he just has to dress up as himself," said Lynn to Miriam. Miriam shrugged.
"Aren't you dressing up?"
"Not this year," replied Lynn. "I didn't have time to pick out a costume."
Nami rolled her eyes. "You mean you forgot."
"Same thing," said Lynn, quickly hustling everyone out of the house. "Besides, it's not like I'll get any less candy."
"What do you mean?" asked Nami.
"Well, Luffy's only going trick or treating for the crack, so it's not like he'll be actually eating all the candy he gets," said Lynn cheekily. "I'll just nick his."
"Wow, you're so nice..." muttered Nami sarcastically as they set off, heading towards the now busy neighbourhood.
"Trick or treat!" "Treat or trick!" Luffy and Lily shouted at the old woman who opened the door. Their eyes were wide with eagerness and their cheesy grins were as wide as each other.
"Apart from his height, he's no different from a 6 year old," commented Nami who stood with Zoro, Sanji and Lynn a few meters behind Miriam and the candy scavenging duo.
"And he still can't get 'trick or treat' into his empty little head," said Lynn.
"My, aren't you an adorable princess!" the old woman beamed, dropping some mars bars into their bags. "And what are you suppose to be?" she asked Luffy.
"I'm the captain of the Straw Hat pirates!"
The old woman blinked. "You're a pirate?"
"Yep! And I'm going to become pirate king!"
The old woman chuckled, not realising Luffy was 100% serious. "That's very original!" Luffy grinned proudly in response as they walked away to move onto the next house.
"Having fun?" asked Lynn, raising an eyebrow at the childish pirate captain.
"Yeah!" he cheered, running after Lily, trying to beat her to the door of their next stop. Then, house after house, they trick or treated until their bags were almost full; and until the others were almost collapsing with exhaustion.
"Are you done yet?" moaned Lynn, shivering in the cold. "We've been out for more than an hour!"
"But it's rather strange," said Luffy frowning into his bag. "I could swear I had more in here earlier,"
Everyone, apart from Luffy, looked at Lynn, who shrugged. "What?"
Miriam rolled her eyes and led her sister to the next and final house on the block. Luffy was about to follow, before he noticed something interesting. Lynn was chewing away at something, and what was catching his attention was the fact she even blew a pink coloured bubble from her mouth.
"What's that?" asked Luffy curiously, sticking out a finger and popping her bubble. It burst with a loud 'bang' which made him jump. "Can I try?"
Lynn fumbled in her pocket and pulled out a small packet.
"Alright," Lynn held out to Luffy a stick of sweet in a wrapper. "Chew but don't swallow." Luffy took it and examined it curiously. He unwrapped it, popped it in his mouth. Then his eyes widened as an exciting new fruity flavour tingled on his tongue.
"What is it?" he asked, chewing away at its rubbery texture.
"It's called bubble gum. Just remember, don't swa-"
Luffy swallowed it, and Lynn slapped her forehead.
"What's going to happen?" asked a concerned Nami.
"He'll surly die."
Nami gasped in horror.
"Joke, joke," said Lynn, smiling meekly, and Nami bashed her on the head in a don't-mess-with-me-like-that kind of way.
Luffy pouted. "I want another one. I haven't tried the bubble-blowing thing yet,"
Lynn rolled her eyes and handed over another piece of gum, quickly reminding him again not to swallow before he eagerly stuffed it into his mouth. Lynn blew a bubble on her gum, demonstrating for Luffy to follow. He tried. He tried again. Every time he failed. Thoroughly irritated that he couldn't do it, he positioned the gum on his tongue for the final time, and blew hard. Too hard. The gum flew out of his mouth and landed with a splat on a certain swordsman's forehead. Everyone burst out laughing; apart from Zoro, who was too grossed out to even threaten to kill Luffy.
"Oops," said Luffy simply, and snatched the gum off Zoro's face. He put it back into his mouth before you could say 'don't eat Zoro-germs'.
"EEW!" cried Lynn, grimacing. "That's disgusting!"
"What is?" wondered Luffy aloud, chewing away.
Zoro walked away muttering something along the lines of going to decontaminate himself.
"I don't know if I should feel sorry for Zoro or Luffy…" said Nami, holding her head.
Luffy, by now, had had a few more failed attempts to blow that bubble, and was getting impatient again. Lynn and Nami took a huge step back, keeping a three meter radius between themselves and the gum of terror in Luffy's mouth. Suddenly, Luffy's eyes widened as he thought of a great idea. Well, it was a great idea to him.
"Gomu gomu no…" he took in a deep breath and puffed up his stomach. "Balloon!"
Lynn and Nami blinked, wondering what on earth he was going to do. He couldn't possibly try to blow all the air from his balloon-stomach into the gum, could he? Actually, the answer was yes. He blew hard but instead of the air going into the gum to blow a bubble, it drove the gum at 50Mph out of his mouth, and went splat against the neck of a certain swordsman who, despite being a good 10 meters away, couldn't avoid his ghastly fate. Zoro now fainted; partly because he was too furious for words, partly because he couldn't believe the dreadful accuracy of his captain's aim; or his goddamn bad luck.
"Oops," said Luffy, blinking at his collapsed comrade.
Usopp headed back to the Going Merry after a long day of searching for any clues on his missing friends; but all was in vain. No one in the village had ever heard of or seen anything like the sights he had described to them.
'I hope Robin has found out more than me,' he thought. They had split up earlier that day to head in two different directions, and now that it was almost nightfall, Usopp was stressing over the fact that he hadn't found any useful sources of information. Suddenly, a gust of swirling wind made him look up; and his jaw dropped in terror. A small circle of light stood before him; a whirlpool of colours sucking the air in speedily. Usopp tried to turn and run, but the force of the portal was too strong.
"Arh! Why me?" He screamed, as he felt himself lifting off the ground and pulled into the light.
Lynn and the Straw Hats were walking home after a long evening of trick or treating. Originally, Luffy showed no sign of quitting, but Lily had stayed past her bedtime, and Miriam forced her to say her goodbyes. After the siblings left, Lynn finally convinced Luffy to call it a day. Everyone else was almost collapsing from exhaustion, apart from Luffy, who was hyper as always, and Lynn who was getting her energy from scoffing Luffy's candy. Zoro had woken up ages ago, and was walking a far, far distance away from Luffy, just in case.
"Cool pumpkin!" exclaimed Luffy, snatching and holding up a jack-o'-lantern which sat on the windowsill of someone's house.
"Don't touch that," said Nami frowning. "It's not yours."
Luffy ignored her and continued to have fun with it, but moments later, a problem arose.
"I can't get it off!" moaned Luffy, trying to tug the pumpkin off his head. "It's stuck!"
Lynn and Nami slapped their foreheads. Trust Luffy to get his head stuck in a pumpkin. Luffy tugged and pulled at it, but apart from making his neck stretch with the force of the pull, nothing happened. Luffy ran around in frustration, but crashed into a wall as he couldn't see where he was going. Zoro stepped forward with a sigh and placed a hand on his katana.
"Hold still," he commanded. Luffy did so because he couldn't see what Zoro was about to do. In a swift movement, Zoro made a few quick slashes at Luffy's head. Luffy's eyes widened in alarm as the pumpkin piece fell from his face and he saw Zoro sheathing his katana.
"You psycho!" Luffy shouted, quickly feeling his head to make sure it wasn't slashed and falling to piece as he spoke. "How dare you chop your captain!"
Zoro snorted. "Sorry 'captain' but I was just getting you unstuck."
Lynn and Nami both bashed him on the head.
"If that was to get him back for the bubble gum earlier, then that was dirty!" said Nami.
"And didn't I tell you not to take your katana out into public?" demanded Lynn. Nami raised an eyebrow.
"You only just realised he had them?"
Lynn turned away without an answer and Nami took that as a 'yes'. Zoro stroked the two newly risen bumps on his head and scowled at Sanji who stood behind the girls chuckling.
When Usopp was tossed out of the portal, he landed on his knees on a patch of hard pavement. Looking up, he saw the creepy sights before him. Scary pumpkin heads, horrible ghastly monsters, vampires, mummies, pirates; so many of them! He quickly spun around to leap back into the portal, and boy was he horrified to find it had gone. Panicking, he ducked into a nearby bush and cowered into the shadows. Shivering and wondering what do, he tensed when he heard footsteps advancing. He turned white with fear when he felt a presence before him. Someone was there.
"ARRHH!" he screamed, covering his head with his arms. "Don't hurt me!" on hearing the silence, he opened an eye and peeked upwards. There was just a young boy standing over him, looking bewildered and just as scared as Usopp was. Usopp breathed out in relief. So it was just a kid, then.
"Who are you?" asked the little boy, staring at Usopp wide eyed. "Why are you in a bush?"
Usopp blinked, and quickly stood up. Then he cleared his throat and began boasting. "I am the great pirate captain Usopp, my boy, with over 8000 followers! All the people tremble when they hear my name, that's how great I am!"
"8000 followers?" the boy gasped in surprise. "That's amazing!"
"Ah yes, it is, isn't it!" Usopp beamed proudly, forgetting his fears for a moment. "And my men and I have sailed the seas for many years, going on great adventure and staring death in the eye."
The little boy's eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. "WOW!"
"There were times when I beat giants, dinosaurs, ferocious beasts, fierce pirates, and I never batted an eye!"
The boy was now staring at the great 'pirate captain' admiringly. "Wow, I wish I had that kind of courage." He said. "But I'm just too much of a scaredy cat."
"Shall I tell you of our grand voyages?"
"Yes!" the boy cried. "I'd love to hear!"
Maybe it was a huge coincidence; whilst Usopp bragged away to the little boy, Lynn and the Straw Hats happened to be passing.
"Hey, is that... who I think it is?" asked Nami, squinting down the road. Lynn glanced in the direction Nami was looking, and she blinked.
"Isn't that...?"
"Usopp!" cried Luffy happily, pointing in his direction. "Hey, Usopp!"
Eager to talk to his sharpshooter again, Luffy didn't want to wait for a response.
"Gomu gomu no... Usopp grab!" he shouted, and shot out an arm, hooking it around Usopp's waist and pulling him in. The little boy stared in shock at the long arm that snatched away the 'pirate captain' and ran away, screaming. Meanwhile, Luffy's arm reeled in and the terrified Usopp landed in a heap at the crew's feet.
"No, don't hurt me!" he pleaded on his knees, not daring to look up. Seizing this great opportunity, Lynn stepped forward and put on a gruff voice.
"You will do as I say." She commanded, and Usopp nodded at the unfamiliar voice, still unaware of who was talking. Lynn pressed a finger against her lips, indicating for the straw hat crew not to talk and ruin her little joke. They looked at each other, and shrugged, leaving Lynn to have her fun.
Lynn giggled quietly, and then continued, "You must tell me what you are doing here."
"I'm just looking for my crew!"
"Your crew?" Lynn raised an eyebrow.
"Y-yes!" Usopp, despite being terrified, kept up with his lies. "I-I'm the great captain Usopp and I'm looking for my missing crew!"
"And who are they?"
"Um… a greedy navigator, a snooze-head swordsman with moss hair, a perverted cook, and an airhead who eats too much. Seen them?"
In response, everyone present from the pirate crew threw punches, and a kick, at the sharpshooter.
"What's wrong with liking money?"
"Who are you calling a moss head?"
"I am not perverted!"
"I'm the captain! And that's final!"
Usopp lifted his head, looked up at his friends, and then over at the sniggering Lynn. And his jaw dropped open.
"Guys! What are you doing here?" he pointed to Lynn. "And who's she?"
"What are YOU doing here?" they all demanded.
Luffy thought for a moment, and added. "And who's the 'airhead' you're talking about?"
Everyone sighed at his stupidity.
"So who are you?" asked Usopp to Lynn.
Lynn tittered. "I'm an evil bandit who kidnapped your crew!" she lied. Everyone glared at her, and she shrugged. "What? You know I'm just joking," she cleared her throat and started again.
"I'm Lynn," Lynn introduced herself. "And I'm your travel agent and keeper-out-of-trouble-person in the modern world. I'm a nice girl, but if you piss me off, run away. Run far away." Usopp flinched, somehow getting the feeling that the last comment was intended to threaten him.
"She's only joking!" said Luffy, grinning.
"Actually, this time I wasn't."
Usopp leaned over to Nami and whispered in her ear. "Are you sure it's safe trusting her?"
"You can trust her," confirmed Nami. "Plus, we've got the monster trio if she tries anything funny,"
"Great, I feel threatened," said Lynn.
"Anyway, let get out of here," Usopp said to his friends, "It's not safe here. There's all sort of monsters lurking around,"
"Monsters?" Nami frowned.
"There's monsters?" Luffy's eyes widened in excitement. "Where!"
"There are people with pumpkins for heads, and scary..."
Lynn couldn't help laughing when she realised what he was talking about. "He's scared of Halloween costumes?"
Usopp's jaw dropped. "You mean this is some kind of festival?"
Lynn laughed even more.
"Don't laugh at the great captain Usopp!" Usopp scowled, extremely embarrassed. "I wasn't scared at all!"
Lynn just continued to laugh; until a rustling in the bushes caused all of them to turn. Nami and Usopp tensed, and Lynn blinked. Suddenly, a shadow jumped out, and sat before them.
"A rabbit?" blinked Usopp.
"Aw, cute!" beamed Nami.
That's when they noticed Lynn was strangely silent. Looking over, they saw Lynn was cowering behind Luffy, trembling.
"It's all right," said Nami. "It's just a rabbit,"
"I...I..." Lynn stuttered, swallowing before she continued. "I have leporiphobia..."
Luffy blinked. "Lepo-what?"
"It's a fear of rabbits dammit!" Lynn cried, recoiling even more.
"You're scared of rabbits?" Zoro raised an eyebrow.
"Lynn-chwan is so cute when she's scared!" Sanji beamed.
Usopp grinned a somewhat evil grin. "So do you still find it hilarious that I got freaked out by costumes?"
"Yes," admitted Lynn. Usopp grabbed the rabbit off the ground and held it towards Lynn, who screamed and fell over. "Ok! Ok! I won't laugh!" she cried, shuffling backwards.
Usopp put down the rabbit and smirked triumphantly. Lynn scowled at him on the ground; and she swore to herself that she'll get him back. Sooner or later.
Buggy and his crew, the buggy pirates, sat around a campfire partying. It was evening; the sky was dark, the land was quiet, and only the sound of their laughter rang out in open space. They tore at barbequed meat and chugged down sake, thoroughly enjoying their time. They had docked at an island, half filled with forestation and decided to camp away from civilisation for the night.
"Drink up boys!" shouted Buggy. "we'll have our fun tonight, and rampage the town next morning!"
He was responded to by enthusiastic cheering and shouts. Mohji the animal tamer grinned widely, and stroked his pet lion, Richie, whilst tossing him some steak. Richie tore at it hungrily, and growled happily at his master. But suddenly, he felt uneasy. He stood up, sniffed the air, and whimpered. Mohji blinked at the lion's strange behaviour, and asked him what was wrong. Richie didn't respond, not that he could anyway, and instead took off running.
"Wait!" Mohji shouted, chasing after him.
"Where you going?" Buggy shouted, chasing after Mohji.
"Boss!" shouted his crew, chasing after Buggy. But then they stopped, and they gawped at the sight before them. The thing that had startled Richie was a circle of light; a largish circle, glistening in the dark of the night. Richie charged into it, and disappeared from sight, followed by his master, who wasn't about to let his pet run off; followed by Buggy, who wasn't about to let his first mate abandon him for a lion. Buggy wasn't followed by his faithful crew though, as the light sucked in on itself and disappeared before they could do anything. Silence fell over the area. Each one of stared after their absent captain, and wondered what on earth to do now.
Buggy stumbled out of the portal and looked around for his first mate, who was nowhere in sight. Instead, he found himself standing in a peculiar place, surrounded by peculiar men wearing some sort of uniform.
"Where in the flashy world am I?" he muttered to himself.
The dimming portal behind him caught his attention, and he turned, just in time to see it disappear and turn into a strange dark material which fell into his palm. Buggy looked at it. It was a piece of wood. He didn't have time to analyze why the hell the light turned into a piece of wood, as the men were beginning to close in on him.
A man in his mid twenties walked peevishly down the road. His spiked hair ruffled in the wind and his nose ring sparkled in the streetlight as he scowled to himself. Jason was not happy; he was far from content. For two days now, he'd been fuming away on his own. He'd been thoroughly annoyed. Four of his men had been beaten by a pathetic skinny kid, and he wasn't about to let that lie. Jason swore he was going to get his own back, and as soon as he tracks the kid down, he'll attack. But this time he'll be prepared.
"Hey! Stop right there!" a voice called from behind him. Jason spun around in alarm, thinking the message was meant for him, but he was proven wrong when a strange clown ran past him, chased by a few policemen.
"Leave me alone you flashy bastards!" the clown shouted furiously. Jason rolled his eyes at this strange sight. Well, it wasn't everyday you see a clown chased by police.
"Stop running!" a policeman demanded, not showing any sign of retreat. "We just want to know why you were in the police station!"
"That's it, I've had enough," the clown stopped and snarled. "Bara bara cannon!" And Jason's eyes widened at what he saw next. The clown's arm detached from his body and launched itself at a now terrified policeman, wrapping its fingers around his neck.
"M-MONSTER!" the other two shouted, running off in horror.
"Pathetic," snorted the clown. "You're all too weak." with that he, or rather, his hand, threw the policeman whom he had a hold on, to the ground. Watching this from a small distance, Jason grinned.
'Interesting,' he thought, walking over to the strange clown. 'Very interesting.'
The policeman on the ground scampered away, and Jason clapped approvingly.
"Amazing," he said to the clown. "You seem to have some sort of strange power. Who are you?"
"I'm Buggy; Captain of the Buggy pirates," the clown replied. Then, his head snapped round to where Jason stood and stared at him as if he just noticed there was someone there. "Who in the name of flash are you?"
"You're a pirate?" Jason rolled his eyes. "That's ridiculous." But then he thought back to the way Buggy's hand detached from his arm, and reconsidered.
"What do you mean ridiculous?" demanded Buggy. "What's ridiculous about a pirate on the Grand Line? It's flashily normal."
"The Grand Line? What's that? Is that where you come from?"
"Yeah," frowned Buggy, "I was just minding my own flashy business when my first mate ran off into some light, and when I followed, I ended up in this place. And do you know what's worse?" Buggy tossed Jason a piece of wood, "the light changed into this thing and now I can't get back to my flashy crew!"
Jason examined the wood. It looked very ordinary, yet somehow it gave him an uneasy feeling. He decided to keep a hold of it, just in case. Putting in his pocket, he turned back to Buggy.
"You can't get back, huh?" said Jason with a smirk. "I could help, I suppose."
Buggy looked at Jason. "Help?"
"I can get you a place to stay for the time being, help you track down your lost first mate, and find a way to get you back," Jason promised.
"Really?" Buggy's eyes widened, yet held some traces of suspicion. "How can I trust you?"
"Oh, you can trust me alright," grinned Jason, putting an arm around his new 'friend'. Jason then introduced himself as the leader of the Black Boots gang, and Buggy nodded approvingly. A gang was in many ways similar to a pirate crew; just one ruled on land, and the other ruled the seas.
"You can help me find Mohji?" Buggy asked.
"Of course," said Jason. "You said he's an animal tamer with a lion, right? So he's probably being mistaken for part of some circus, and we can track him down if that's the case."
Buggy grinned, pleased. "You're a nice guy!" he beamed. "Is there anything I can do for you in return for your favours?"
Jason smiled darkly. "Actually, there is one thing..."
Soon after Jason and Buggy's deal was struck, Jason helped his new partner find a hotel, and gave him tips on how to survive in this new world. Leaving buggy with a mobile for contacting, Jason set off home. He strolled down the road now, quite pleased.
'Just you wait now, kid,' he thought. 'I'll get my own back soon.'
Something caught his attention. Jason saw a girl; around 18 years of age, long brown hair, large emerald eyes, walking down street on her way home, and approached her.
"Hey," he smirked at her, and her eyes widened.
"Jason!" she said, her voice filled with surprise. "What are you doing here? I thought..."
"I've been out of jail for three days. And you don't even know? What kind of a sister are you?"
The girl smiled at her older brother. She was glad he was out of jail, but at the same time worried, as she noticed that strange triumphant smile on his face.
"Why are you grinning like that?"
Jason laughed. "Because I've found a perfect ally, that's why." He chuckled darkly as he began to walk away. "See you later, Helen."
Helen watched him disappear into the shadows, and sighed. A perfect ally? "Who's he going to pick a fight with this time?" she wondered aloud, shaking her head.
Next time: ok, two words; swimming pool :-P need I say more? Also, Luffy causes a little havoc in chemistry, Sanji almost dies (of happiness) and someone finds out Luffy's secret when an unexpected foe arrives...
Thoughts on this chapter? Hate it? Love it? Any mistakes or plot holes that I need to have a look at? Please PLEASE R&R!