Eiichiro Oda owns One Piece and its awesome characters!
All's Fair in Love and War
"Hmm." Nami hummed with an evil smile.
Law definitely didn't like what that was foreshadowing. He only ever saw that expression on her face when she had been victorious in something devious, or she was plotting someone's demise. In this case, it was probably his.
"Oh look, there's Sanji-kun!" His date shouted as she pointed to a penalty shoot-out game. "Let's go say hi." Nami quickly grabbed his arm and dragged him like a puppet towards her friend who was framed by stuffed killer whales.
As they approached, Nami hugged a girl who was watching close by, obviously an old friend he had not met yet. The girl had long sky blue hair tied back high on her head, and deep blue eyes. She wore a pistachio green shirt with purple chevrons, white denim shorts and mid-calf boots.
The blonde man was clearly an excellent striker, kicking the ball with such ferocity and tremendous accuracy that Law thought he was going to rip a hole in the back of the net. Sanji wore a navy blue waistcoat and trousers, and a sky blue skirt. He had obviously tried to coordinate himself with his date's hair and eye colour.
"Here you go, Vivi-chwan~" Sanji said with an adoring smile, offering her a very large stuffed killer whale. She gratefully took the toy from him, then the trio began chatting animately.
Law took that opportunity to move away then, in the hope that Nami would forget about him winning her a prize. He would be just as awful at the penalty shoot-out as he was at the Knock 'em down shoot-out at the O.K Corral!
He had barely finished processing that thought in his mind when he felt a gentle tug on his arm. He turned to see a pair of big brown eyes, blinking up at him longingly.
"Nami-ya, I'll be terrible at this, too!" He said, then her friends caught his attention. The blonde was firing daggers at him with his eyes, and shouting profanities as Vivi dragged him away.
His date continued to stare up at him, her frown slowly deepening. Law was quite sure she may switch on the water works any second. "I'll try." He agreed, instantly regretting it, but he didn't want to disappoint her.
"It's five belli a game. You get five balls, and must get one ball in each of the five holes to win a prize."
'No chance.' Law pessimistically thought to himself as he handed over the money.
The game was set inside a long ten metre tent, the prizes hung overhead, and down the sides at the entrance. There was a painted green board at the far end, with five circles cut out of it. They each had a net at the back, and their circumference was painted white so they were easier to see.
Law stared at the targets. Somehow ten metres felt like such a long way, and seemed to be getting further away. He felt far more nervous than he should have, there was too much adrenaline in his system, he could feel it in his gut. Law shifted his weight onto his left leg, and swung his right at the ball.
"Goal!" The vendor shouted.
The knot in Law's stomach loosened a little at the sight of the ball in the bottom left hole of the board. 'One down, four to go.' He thought to himself as he placed the next ball on the penalty spot, noticing the slight perspiration on the palm of his hands as he did. Law quickly glanced at Nami, she had her hands clasped together in front of her chest, watching him eagerly.
He tried to block out the noise of the fair behind him. All the whizzes, bops and bell sounds didn't help his concentration. Neither did the annoying song that was blasting around the grounds, the woman's voice was so hideous it could surely shatter glass.
Law aimed for the right side this time, then blasted the ball towards the hole.
"Goal!" The vendor shouted, again.
"Go, Tora-o!" Nami gleefully shouted with a lilt that had her sounding like a cheerleader, throwing her hands up in the air to celebrate.
Again, that name alone would have done nothing for his mood, but after seeing her elated expression he let it slide.
'Time for the centre hole.' He told himself, knowing that he'd have to put a bit more force into his shot to get the extra elevation.
Law kicked the ball, hard. Proof of just how much power he put behind the shot was heard in the loud crack that the back board made as it was struck. It was clearly heard over the booming music, drawing everyone's attention to just how badly he had missed.
Law scowled, refusing to give in to embarrassment, basking in disappointment instead. "I'm sorry, Nami-ya." He said as he approached her, fully aware that everyone was still watching to see how unhappy his date was at him failing to win something for her.
Nami wrapped her arms around his waist, then leant up to kiss him with a pleasant smile. As soon as her feet were flat on the ground Law was sure he saw her eye twitch, and she quickly sent a death glare at the onlookers. She took his hand, then began to lead him away from the games, giving off a slight smell of brimstone.
"Shall we go on some rides?" The redhead asked cheerfully, trying to mask her irritation. He hoped it was purely from how people had stared at them, and not because he had failed for a second time.
"Let's check out the Freak Show." Law offered, and Nami quickly pulled her face as if he had offended her in some way. "What?"
Nami stared at him, then folded her arms. "I don't want to look at what's in there!" She complained.
"Why not?"
"Because it will be full of weird people. Besides, I heard the best thing in there is a guy with really long earlobes."
Law rolled his eye at her. "Fine. What do you want to go on?" He asked, taking her hand again as they began to walk towards the rides.
Nami stood on her tip toes to peek over the rabble as she scanned the fairground. "Ah!" She exclaimed, before dragging him off through the bustling crowd.
A fist crashed down on his forearm, causing him to lose his grip on Nami's hand, then he was suddenly met with a muscular naked torso. Law looked up into the face of person standing in front of him. The man's dark lips slowly curled into a smirk as their eyes met. "Trafalgar." He spat in a viscous tone.
"Move, Eustass-ya." Law growled, and tried to push past him, only for Kid to block his path again.
Law felt his neck grow warm as his blood started to boil with anger. "Is this really the time?" He sneered at the younger man, taking note of the flash of long blonde hair that briefly entered his peripheral vision.
"Keep your eyes on your woman, Trafalgar. It was so easy to separate you just now. Who knows what will happen to her next time." Eustass Kid laughed through his warning, while Law snarled at him.
"If you so much as touch her-" He began, but when Kid stepped out of his way, Law was more interested in finding Nami. He rushed past Kid, pushing deeper into the crowd. His eyes frantically searching for any sign of her vibrant orange hair.
Relief washed over him when he spotted her standing on the dismount platform to Mont Blanc Airways ride. The rides suspended cars revolved behind her, creating a torrent of air that pulled at her fringe, and ponytail. She had one hand keeping her hair out of her eyes, the other on the pole that elevated the speaker high into the air. "Nami-ya!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, but it wasn't loud enough for her to hear over the music.
A sad expression adorned her face as she scanned the crowd for him. The hand she had on her head to control her fringe only made her look more worried, as if she was scared he had abandoned her. He made his way over to Nami as fast as he could, shoving everyone out of his way.
"There you are!" She said with as relieved smile when he finally made it to where she was standing.
"Please, can we just get out of here? I'll take you shopping instead, I promise!" Law pleaded as he pulled her into his arms and quickly kissed her. She was at the perfect height for him while she was standing on that platform.
"But-" She stopped arguing when she saw his expression, then nodded as she ran her hands through his messy hair with a sad smile.
Law took a deep breath, thankful for her selflessness, but he surrendered to her genuine disappointment at having to leave. "All right, we'll stay a bit longer, but stay close, okay? I don't want to get separated again."
Nami smiled deviously at him. "But you'll still take me shopping, right?"
His warm emotions towards her selflessness quickly relented. "You manipulative witch!" Law laughed. She had managed to beguile him into taking her shopping, when a date to the mall or the fair was an either-or situation. On the bright side, at least he would get to spend more time with her, and the future of their relationship was no longer contingent on the winning of a stuffed toy, hopefully. "Is this what you were dragging me to?"
"No." Nami said, while shaking her head. "Come on." She smiled, then jumped down and took his hand to lead the way. Law quickly caught up to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder so no one could separate them again.
Nami got his hopes up by leading him passed the Freak Unique. He knew she did it purposefully because she was watching his expression the whole time. He'd get her back for it at some point.
"Let's go on this!" Nami insisted as she brought them to the dodgems.
The sign for the ride had pictures of street modified super cars and scantly clad women spray painted onto it. Purple and blue cabochons edged the boards, with green flags raised in each of the four corners.
Green, purple and blue lights strips were hanging alternately above the caged ceiling, below the canvas. The lights reflected off the metal flooring making it appear as though the dodgems had strips of neon underglow.
"Really?" Law asked, unimpressed. The name Dodgems always seemed stupid to Law as everyone's aim was to drive around randomly and bump into one and other, and not to dodge.
Nami nodded, then turned to watch the cars in action until this turn was over. Law kept his arm around Nami as he gazed up at the electricity that sparked from the pole on the back of the car, completing the circuit between the floor, car and the caged ceiling. He liked the sudden burst of electrically energy.
He felt Nami shuffle in his hold, so he took a step back to observe her as subtly danced to the energetic yet heavy baseline of the hip hop song that accompanied the ride. He didn't think it was the sort of music she would normally listen to, but its crude and shouted lyrics seemed familiar to her.
She blushed heavily when she turned to see his amused expression, desperately trying not to laugh at her. She wasn't too embarrassed to not shake her behind at him and stick her tongue out when the lyrics prompted 'wiggle wit' ya'.
The dodgems came to a halt then. Law moved to be in the same vehicle as Nami, but she frowned at him to get in one by himself.
He struggled getting into the car, it didn't allow much room for his long legs, and he imagined it was going to be quite painful when someone crashed into him. That someone being Nami, of course. He fastened his seatbelt then looked up at all the other people on the ride.
There was a large man with blue hair in one of the cars. Law couldn't even imagine how the man had managed to squeeze himself into the vehicle, or how intended to get out.
The man started waving at one of the other drivers then, so Law followed his eye line to discover he was waving at Nami. She was frantically waving back, then pointed over to Law. The large man with blue hair, and a slender woman with black hair in another car waved at him. He reluctantly waved out of courtesy, with a look of uncertainty plastered across his face.
Once the attendant had taken money from all the drivers, with him paying for Nami, the sound of engines revving was broadcast loudly within the cage. The headlights of the cars flickered to life, then a klaxon sounded for the ride to begin.
Nami instantly raced towards him with a determined look on her face. Law got off to a late start, the lack of pedals threw him momentarily, but he was still away before Nami could crash into him.
A pile up in the centre of the rink appeared instantly, the remainder of the drivers circling in a counter clockwise flow, desperately trying to avoid them. Nami didn't, she laughed like a crazed idiot after crashing head first into someone. Her giggling rendered her completely incapable of driving for a moment, so Law took the opportunity to smash into her while he could, and then made another quick getaway.
Someone reversed out of the pile up, hitting his car side on with some force. His left knee painfully whacked into the side of the steering wheel, and his head whipped to the right. Then, someone snapped up the opportunity to crash into the back of him, causing his shins to collide with the dashboard.
'That's definitely going to bruise.' Law thought to himself as he heard Nami's frantic laughter from behind him. He dared to turn and face her, hoping she wouldn't bump him again. Her brilliant smile made him forget the pain she had just caused him.
"You'll pay for that!" He warned her as he sped off to try and get behind her again.
The pile up at the centre had dispersed and there was now too much chaos in the rink to actually be able to pick up any speed. He received soft bumps from the left and rear, but the ride quickly turned boring.
Law dismounted with a struggle when the cars slowed to a halt. Nami made her way over to him, still laughing from the ride experience. "Are you all right?" She asked when Law rubbed his shins.
"That's your fault." He informed her, hoping for some sympathy.
"Sorry." She laughed, affectionately patting his shoulder. "You can pick the next ride."
A sadistic smile spread across his lips then. "The ghost train."
"NO!" Nami shouted.
"You said I could pick." Law argued, then began rolling up one of the legs of his jeans. "Look what you've done." He said as he pointed to his shin.
"I hate things like that though, you know I do. They terrify me."
Law continued to look at her, refusing to budge on this one.
"On one condition! You have to come on the Tunnel of Love." Nami compromised.
Law pulled his face at her, pretending to not be happy. True, that sort of ride really wasn't his thing, but it was tunnel of love, an excuse to make out with your girl in the dark. "Fine, but you have to come on the ghost train first."
"Fine." Nami moaned with discontent, but didn't protest any further as Law escorted her to the entrance to the ride.
I hope that wasn't too boring?
I always listen to The Best Things In Life Are Free by Janet Jackson & Luther Vandross (1992), and Rhythm of the Night by Corona (1993) when I write this.
They both remind me of being at the gypsy fairs when I was little (9 and 10 judging by the years that the songs came out). I was lucky, one used to come every Halloween and set up on the carpark of the sports centre at the top of my road. I used to go Trick or Treating every night for a couple of hours, then spend all the money I got on the fair :) Happy times, no wonder I'm an adrenaline junkie, and love Halloween ...
I was listening to another song when I was picturing the Dodgems though. Think it's obvious what that song is. I blame NFSU!
24th August (St. Bartholomew's Feast Day) 2014