... Wow. It's been a while since I updated anything nn; I started writing this some months ago, and I wanted to finish it. I think you can see where I picked up writing it, because I haven't really written anything in a long, long while. Anyway, on with the story.

All in a day's work
by KuroKame

"Yo, Usopp, what are you doing?"

The marksman raised his currently idle right hand in the air in an attempt to silence his captain without taking his eyes off the experiment he had been working on since the crack of dawn.

"I'm conducting a very important experiment, Luffy," he replied slowly, as he reached for a vial filled with a purple, opaque liquid. "I need to get it done before the sun sets. Sunlight is very important in this experiment."

"Oh…" Luffy sat down in front of his marksman, legs crossed as he looked down at the many vials and instruments carefully placed out around him. "What's that purple stuff?"

"Grand Line Jelly Fish extract," Usopp replied. His hands trembled as he now attempted to pour only one single drop of the purple liquid from one vial to the other. "If I'm right, this would make my Tabasco Stars even more effective. Now shut up for a moment, will you, I have to concentrate."

"Okay," Luffy clasped his hands over his mouth. But not many seconds had passed before something else caught his attention, and he leaned over to pick up a strange instrument that was placed in a corner of the box dubbed "Usopp's Workshop". But as he straightened up again, his elbow bumped into Usopp's arm, causing the marksman to pour more than half the jelly fish extract into the other vial.

"Oops," They looked at each other, and then turned their gaze towards the vial in Usopp's hand, which had begun glowing and vibrating. The next moment, the glass tube exploded, covering both boys in a sticky, reddish purple substance.

"Dammit, Luffy!" Usopp yelled, wiping the goo from his eyes. "I don't have the time to start over now…"

Luffy simply laughed, and jumped to his feet. And with a big grin and a quick "Sorry, Usopp!" he ran off towards another part of the ship.

--

"… and that, Luffy, is the theory of relativity, and how it can be used to explain the meaning of life."

Nami turned back to her still unfinished map over the last island they had visited, muttering something about why the captain even wanted to know such a thing, or where on earth he could have picked up such a strange topic to begin with.

"Hmm…" The confused look on the captain's face suddenly faded, and he dunked his fist against his palm, now grinning widely. "I get it. It's a Mystery Thing."

Nami groaned leaned her head against the palms of her hands. She should have known that it was a waste of time to try to explain such a complicated thing in the first place. With a wave of her hand, she once again turned back to her map as Luffy began walking towards the door, seemingly satisfied with the answer to his question.

"Yes, Luffy," Nami said exasperatedly. "It's a mystery--! Ah!"

What had been meant to be a casual, dismissing wave of her hand accidentally turned into a somewhat uncontrolled whirl of her whole arm, which resulted in knocking the little bottle of ink off the table, onto a pile of newly drawn maps.

Luffy turned around in the doorway as his navigator cried out in surprise.

For a moment, Nami and Luffy stared silently at the black pool of ink spreading over the maps on the floor.

Then, Nami felt her body starting to tremble, and it was with a great effort that she managed to keep her voice down to a level where she wouldn't be shouting.

"Luffy…" she said menacingly, rising from her chair and slowly making her way towards the captain standing in the doorway.

The reply she received was not one that helped improving her mood. Luffy laughed and leaned lightly against the doorpost for support. The look on his navigator's face made him quiet down a little, but he still grinned as he said:

"Sorry Nami. Want me to clean it up?"

"No, Luffy," Nami said quickly, shuddering as an image of Luffy attempting to clean up the pool of ink from the floor entering her mind. "Just-- Just go somewhere else, I'll take care of this…"

"Okay!" Luffy said as he turned around in the doorway again and stepped out on the deck. "Later, Nami!"

The navigator sighed deeply as she turned back to the black mess on the floor. Eight maps of the surrounding islands destroyed in a matter of seconds. Oh, that captain would be paying for this for the next three life-times…

--

22031… 22032… 22033… 22--

Zoro halted in the middle of his 22034th vertical swing of the gigantic weights at the stern of the ship and turned his head up and to the left to face what had begun to really irritate him.

"What do you want, Luffy?" he asked, a mildly annoyed tone slipping into his voice.

"I was just thinking," came the reply from the straw hat-clad boy who had perched himself on top of the ship's cabin in the shade beneath the tangerine trees.

When Luffy didn't say anything else, the swordsman sighed and turned back to his training. He wasn't in the mood to be watched or annoyed today, and wished that the Captain would get bored and go to do something else.

22034… 22035… 22036… 22037…

"Ne, Zoro?"

Apparently, such a wish was not meant to be fulfilled.

"Yeah?"

22038… 22039…

"How much does those weigh, anyway?"

Zoro made another pause and turned to look up at Luffy again.

"What?" he said, as he hadn't been paying much attention to what had been said.

Luffy chuckled.

"I asked you how much those weights actually weigh," he repeated, pointing at the weights in Zoro's hands.

"I don't know," Zoro replied, raising the weights again. By now, all hope of Luffy going away was gone, and the swordsman decided to just focus on his training instead of wishful thinking. After all, he had to make at least 30 000 vertical swings and another 35 000 horizontal swings before lunch.

22040… 22041…22042…

Up by the tangerine trees, Luffy leaned forward, as if to inspect the weights even closer.

22043… 22044… 22045…

"They look really heavy," he muttered, mostly to himself. "They have to weigh at least 100 kilo…"

101… 102… 103… 1--

Zoro halted again, staring blankly into space for a short moment before he lowered the weights and groaned.

"Agh, Luffy," he growled, turning to his captain. "You made me lose count again!"

Luffy grinned and pushed back his hat over his black hair.

"Sorry, Zoro," he said, still grinning as he jumping down from the trees onto the deck and disappeared down the stairs on the port side with a "See ya!".

Zoro sighed deeply and shook his head before going back to his training once again.

1… 2… 3…

--

Slowly, slowly… One foot in front of the other, as silently as possible. The target was so close, almost within reach. Two more steps, one more. He could almost feel the coldness of the steel handle against his fingers when he was thrown back with a footprint-shaped mark in his face. Tumbling back, he hit the left wall head-first, and sank down onto the floor with a somewhat dazed look in his eyes.

The person responsible for the sudden attack stood over him, hands in his pockets and an annoyed frown on his face.

"I have told you a thousand times already. No snacking before lunch, damn it."

"Sorry, Sanji," Luffy whined as he rolled over on one side to get to his feet again. "I'm just so hungry…"

The look Sanji gave him showed no sign of him considering to allow Luffy any food before lunch was ready. The captain whined again, but this time the cook put his foot down.

"Lunch is ready in fifteen minutes. You'll survive until then. Now get out of my kitchen."

Luffy sighed and began to slowly move towards the door. Sanji watched him warily from the corner of his eye as he turned back to the stove to save the soup from getting over cooked.

The very familiar sound that could only come from one of Luffy's limbs stretching and snapping back into place suddenly reached his ears, and he spun around just in time to see the captain bolting out from the galley with one of the fried chickens Sanji had intended to save for dinner that day in his arms. He had foolishly thought that they would be safe to cool on top of the refrigerator before he could put them inside it and lock the door.

"Oi!" the cook called out, and ran after the thief. "You shitty thief, get back here!"

When he came out from the galley, there was no trace of Luffy or the chicken. There wasn't even a sound that could hint in which direction the captain had gone.

"Haah…" Sanji sighed and ran his fingers through his blond hair. "Oh well, I'll take care of that later."

--

On the foredeck, beneath a large parasol to shield her from the icy sprays of sea water and the rays of the sun, sat Nico Robin absorbed in a book. From her position, she could see Sanji walking back into the galley and closing the door behind him.

Robin lowered her book and looked out over the now seemingly empty ship. She waited a moment, and then she turned towards the figure head.

"The coast is clear, Captain-san," she said softly. "You can come up now."

She pulled up the twelve arms she had created to conceal Luffy below the railing by Merry's figure head, and the captain bounced up onto the deck.

"Thanks, Robin," he said with a grin.

"Don't mention it," Robin said, returning the smile. "I hope you didn't irritate the others too much now.

Luffy chuckled and took a bit out of one of the chicken's legs.

"It's all in a day's work," he said happily. Then, he climbed up on the figure head to finish the cold chicken. After all, doing his job as the captain of the Straw Hat crew always made him hungry.

oo; I forgot Chopper. Oh well, I can't think of any way to irritate him anyway. Let's pretend he was in the crow's nest talking to seagulls or something oo;