"!" Luffy rolled around on the plush, white carpet, looking up at a ceiling that had to be the boring-est shade of brown. "Where is sheeeeeeeeeeee! Where did she goooooooo?"
Across the room; Usoppu, the long-time best friend and today's best-man, watched his friend roll around the floor with complete boredom and worry. He stood up finally from the long-backed chair he sat in and grinned over at the overly-worried pirate on the floor.
The room, being on the other side of the Galley-Ra guest building, was within the male quarters; set aside for their stay here on Water 7. It was just as well it was separated from the female dorms; there would be bloodshed and injury if certain males interacted with the females there. The wedding would be hectic enough if all the guests were crammed together in one place. The reception would be even larger; being held in the backyard of the Mayor's living quarters – pool and all.
"Do you think she and Zoro ran off with each other!" The horror in his captain's voice was convincing enough to trick anyone else into thinking seriously of that possibility. As if. Usoppu squatted down to get closer to his captain's worried face. It wasn't the best thing to do, as the curly-haired, long-nosed sniper was already wearing his crisply pressed black tuxedo. The movement was rather uncomfortable; as he wasn't used to wearing such fancy clothes. But if his captain had chosen him to be the best man for the event, Usoppu would not crimp on his efforts to fulfill the role.
"Oi, do you honestly believe that of them, Luffy?" The smirking grin of the sharp-shooter belied his seriousness. He poked his captain on the forehead and pushed gently, leaving an indent in his skin.
"No." The black-haired pirate-captain rolled again on the floor and groaned loudly, his anxiety showing. "But what if something else happened to her, and I didn't know!"
"Luffy, she can handle herself, you know." The sharp-shooter grinned larger and shook his head.
Right then, the rest of the Mugiwara males entered the room, making the pouting Luffy jump onto his feet in excitement. Fortunately, Usoppu was clear from being hit by Luffy's flailing arms and stood up himself; taking effort to smooth out any clothing wrinkles.
"DID YOU FIND HER!" The captain shouted in rush. Zoro, Sanji, Chopper, Franky and Brooke poured into the room, looking sharply dressed.
Roronoa Zoro, having refused to wear a suit, wore an elegant black kimono with red heron bird print and a velvet green harikama, a waistband. The swordsman's dark green hair was slicked back and sexy. The trio of swords remained at their place on his hip; tucked firmly into the green harikama.
Sanji had on his nicest black suit; crisp, clean and pinstriped with grey. An off-white undershirt lay underneath it. On his left breast was a white carnation. His feet sported a classy pair of black suede leather shoes; shined that morning. The cook's blonde hair was clean and gleaming, freshly prepared today, like his shoes.
Chopper, opting to remain in his four-footed form had exchanged his red-fuzzy hat for a black one. The design on it had been tailor-made for the day today by the undersea fashion designer: Pappug. The starfish designer had been chosen to create the entire wedding line and had not only risen to the challenge, but went above and beyond. A reindeer-sized necktie and collar framed his furry neck; allowing the red-rimmed black tie to hang downwards. His hooves shone like Sanji's shoes; as they had been groomed and polished.
Franky stood towering above the rest, minus Brooke; who was the second tallest, standing a height just below the enhanced cyborg. His blue hair was in his normal hairstyle from years past, an upwards sweeping wave of hair-tower, gleaming in the light. Having his hair out like days of old was abnormal for the large cyborg – he normally went around with a scalp-buzz – but since the bride-to-be, his adopted 'Chibi-Sis' requested it; he complied. Another request of the woman's was that he wore nice pants; and he did; a crisp black pair of pairs to match his tailor-made black suit-coat. His eyes were covered with an old pair of point-tipped shades from his earlier days.
Brooke was dressed to the teeth, which was ironic, considering how he was a walking skeleton. Having traded in his old ratty gentleman's suit for a new one – made in the same colors, only current to fashion – the living skeleton adjusted his frilly white cuffs before smiling across the room to his captain. He held the black gentleman-hat off his pristinely combed, treasured black afro in his hand; but would wear it later on, during the ceremony. He had kindly put away his Soul King attire for this occasion and the gaudy large crown, orange feather boa and hippie-print pants sat silently in the closet. His sunglasses, two hearts as the lenses, sat on the window sill.
"Yes, we found her, so don't worry about it, ok?" Zoro growled out, scanning the room for any possible threats. "The Chibi-brat had gone to finish putting details on her dress."
Luffy cheered and moved towards the door, planning to go see the missing-since-morning female right away.
"Oy, Luffy, what do you think you are doing?" Sanji's raspy voice asked his captain as a black-clad leg suddenly appeared, blocking the doorway halfway up.
"I'm going to go see her, of course!" the black-haired pirate captain had taken off his elegant cape, black suit and under-apparel, and now stood in nothing but his black pressed pants. "I wanna yell at her for disappearing like that!"
"I can't let you do that, Luffy." Sanji snorted further.
"Why not?" The pirate captain whined.
"Nami-swan, Vivi-chan, Nojiko-chan and Robin-chan got to her first. They took her to get her dressed."
"Awh…" Luffy slumped to the floor again, looked pathetically sad. "How long do I have to wait to see her?"
"Luffy, I think you wait until you're at the altar." Chopper laughed brusquely. "It's bad luck to see her anytime before."
"Pooie." Luffy slumped even lower.
"You idiot, why aren't you ready yet?" Zoro finally spoke up, glaring down at the state of undress his captain was in. "The whole thing starts in an hour and you're still in your shorts."
"Am not, Zoooooooooooooooorooo. I took a bath and put my pants on."
"Not good enough, Bro. You need to be fully dressed!" Franky so wanted to let loose and strike a pose – but that would most likely rip his black coat to ribbons. It wasn't made for movement like that. "What if Chibi-Sis gets to the altar first, and decides to marry some other guy."
The cyborg's comment sent the twenty-two year old into a panic; causing him to jump up and slap his hands to his cheeks, taking on a look of shock.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Luffy wailed.
"Ah, Luffy-san." Brooke interrupted his captain's wailing-dialog. "If you want me to, I shall go see if the women are ready."
"LIKE HELL YOU WILL, YOU decrepit old pervert!" Sanji shouted at the skeleton, fuming with anger. "I will kill you if you say ONE word about panties."
"Ah, but, I'm already dead." Brooke laughed loudly at his own joke. Chopper and Usoppu chuckled as they were busy helping Luffy calm down enough to get properly dressed.
"Seriously, Luffy, what would everyone think if the future pirate king showed up to his own wedding, late?" Usoppu wrestled with the flippant attitude of Luffy's body. "Luffy, stand up straight."
"Hey, it's not my fault this wedding takes forever to get started." Luffy sighed again, as he finally got serious about dressing. "I wanna see how pretty Nami and Vivi make her to be!"
"Nymaaaa~" Iceburg's voice came before he did. The mayor of Water 7 entered into the large room, being escorted by the best Galley-Ra workers: Paulie, Peeply Lulu, Tilestone and Tyrannosaurus the mouse. The Water 7's mayor would be the head of Ceremony, reading out of the Water-7 Customs Book that they had for weddings.
"Hey!" Franky turned around to greet the new-comers. "Bakaburg! Long time no see!"
Iceburg looked mildly annoyed, if any facial-cues could be read on his face. Standing aside to allow the rest of the group in, the man reached up and used a finger to pet the mouse that rode in his black jacket pocket. He and the other Galley-Ra males wore the same, black suit and black khakis, suede shoes and white tuxedo shirts. Their cuff links were the shaped-boat of the Galley-Ra Company's logo. Tyrannosaurus had a little black bow tied around its neck.
"You idiot!" Paulie stepped up. "We just talked last night!"
"Oh yea."
"ANIKI!" The Franky Family main flunkies (five in all) barreled into the room; making it crowded. "ANIKI!" They, like the Galley-Ra workers, all wore traditional black suits and white shirts.
"Hay, it's you guys again! SUUPPPPPAAAAA!"
"NO! Don't you dare do a pose in those clothes, Aniki!" Kiwi marched right up to her best friend and scowled meaningfully, poking him on the chest.
"Yea! Kiwi and I brought a spare set of black suits in case something happened!" Mozu laughed as she and her sister entered the room last.
Mozu, like her sister, wore the dangerously sexy black dress, a black that shimmered dark blue – Kiwi's dress shimmered purple, enough so to tell them apart. The dress's skirt, just short enough to be tasteful and saucy, looked great with the sleeveless, neck-covering halter top. The skirt was rimmed with strands of white beads, like the trimming of the rest of the dress. That was, if one was to minus the gap in the chest piece, cunningly positioned just enough to show cleavage. The two women looked very beautiful in the custom-designed Ladies-of-the-Bride dresses. Pappug, the starfish designer, had a blast creating all the fashionable dresses for the female V.I.P.s.
"YOU TWO ARE SHAMELESS, GO PUT SOME CLOTHES AND PANTS ON!" Paulie, looking sharp in his own black pants and coat, turned to the two women to rant at their lack of clothing. "I cannot believe you would barge in here wearing next to nothing!" The dock-worker's face was flushed red with embarrassment.
"Nice dresses." Tilestone and Lulu would have to go and change their black tuxedo suits, having nose-bled all over their jackets.
"Nmaaa…" Iceburg barely reacted as he looked away from the two women.
"Nyuuu!" A fishman's gravely voice was heard before he too, entered the room. Hachi the Octo-fishman looked completely out of place. "Luffy-nyuu, Camie just told me to give this to you." The black-suited fishman pulled out a Den-Mushi from the inside pocket of his custom-sized – again, Pappug-made – black tux-jacket.
The miniature Den-Mushi was caricatured like one of the Mugiwaras; Nico Robin, having black hair and black almond eyes, as the receiver was off the cradle and in use.
"Robin!" Luffy leapt away from an assisting Usoppu and Chopper, rushing past a love-sick, female-ogling Sanji and pounced on the Den-Mushi.
"Robin!" Luffy laughed again. "Finally, I wanna talk to her, let me talk to Jiru!"