A/N:Thank you so much for the reviews, alerts and fave's. I love you all, this story is going to be a long one and everything will be revealed in time. The main pairing will be ZoLu with other pairings as they develop.
Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece, I do own the DVD's and games and manga though.
Within ten minutes, everyone was sitting around in chairs, in walked the therapist that was in charge of the group. Sanji fawned over her, and then quickly looked at Nami and asking, "Are you jealous Nami-swan?"
Nami made a snorting sound, and bluntly said; "Nope!"
Everyone that was within hearing, chuckled.
"Now listen up," the dark haired woman who had entered said, interrupting the snide retort that Sanji was about to make at mainly Zoro. "We have a new resident, so I want everyone to introduce yourself and give a brief description about who you are and what you want from being here. I will start; hello, my name is Nico Robin, I have worked here for four years, and I want to be able to help people. Everyone just calls me Robin."
To her left was Vivi; "Hi, we sort of met in the cafeteria; my name is Nefertari Vivi. I like to race my horse; Carue. My father's friend tried to kill me and so I ended up in here. I expect to be able to sleep better at night, instead of waking up with nightmares."
Next was Nami; "My name is Nami; I got put in here for being a cat-burglar. I just want to get out of here okay?"
"I am Sanji; some think that I have anger issues," he glared at both Usopp and the green haired teen. "All I want is to marry the lovely Nami-swan."
Nami snorted and made a waving gesture of her hand and said, "In your dreams Sanji-kun." Her tone of voice was sweet, yet it held a touch of determination in it.
"I'm Tony-Tony Chopper. I was told I have issues with being abandoned, all I want is to be a doctor one day." Upon closer look, the young boy had a slightly blue tinged nose. Luffy wondered if he was alright. "I have been here over a year because my grandfather died and my only living relative is my great, great grandmother."
A short boy sat next to him, he had pink hair that looked as if it had been cut with a bowl. When he spoke, Luffy had to strain his ears to hear him; "I am Koby. My guardian put me in here when I tried to run away. All I want is when I leave here, to be able to join the navy."
"Helmeppo," the boy sitting next to Koby said, "I don't care why I am here, I just want to leave."
Koby patted the blond boy on the shoulder, and said, "It's okay…"
The two looked at each other and then the green haired teen next to them cleared his throat and spoke, "Roronoa Zoro." Everyone looked at him, waiting for him to continue, "What?" he asked as he noticed everyone looking at him. "Nothing more to say."
Robin nodded her head and jotted on a piece of paper, "Usopp, you are next." She said once she was done writing.
"I am the mighty Usopp, I have legions of followers, my goal is to go back to my nakama and lead them to countless victories."
"Can I be one of your nakama?" Both Chopper and Luffy jumped up excited at the prospect of a grand adventure where they would have countless victories.
"Sure!" Usopp enthused.
"Luffy," Robin gently prodded, "It's your turn."
Luffy looked at her quizzically, "What do you mean?"
"Tell us who you are and why you are here and if you can think of what you want out of being here." Sanji told the straw-hat teen.
"Oh yeah…" Luffy stood up, "I am Monkey D. Luffy. I am here because I have dreams; I want to stop having these dreams; that is what I want."
"Everyone dreams." Usopp said.
"Not like I do."
"What makes your dreams so special?" Helmeppo asked.
"They just are okay?" Luffy said decisively.
"Tell us one." Usopp begged.
"Well the one I had last night was about a skeleton."
"A skeleton?" Nami asked with trepidation.
"Yeah, he danced on water." Luffy explained, "I remember he was playing a violin and as I was about to reach him, someone took him apart piece by piece."
Nami shivered, "Good riddance."
"Don't say that," Luffy was mildly upset, "He was my friend."
"How can you be friends with a skeleton?" Usopp asked.
"I don't know," Luffy was thoughtful for a moment, "Maybe we were friends before he turned into a skeleton."
"What happened after that?" Koby asked, wanting to hear more of this strange boy's dream.
"Well after his bones were taken apart, they were put in a barrel of water, which was then sealed and tossed into this volcano."
"Morbid dreams…" Usopp said while a shudder went through him.
"Yeah I know…" Luffy was thoughtful for a moment then as if he was a total different person, he said, "Well that is that."
"So do you dream every night?" Sanji asked.
"Yeah, I am always looking for someone or something when I dream." Luffy shrugged his shoulders and added, "Don't you think those dreams mean something?"
"How long have you been having these dreams?" Robin asked as she was jotting something on her notebook.
"All my life." Luffy admitted.
The room was silent as the words sank in, soon the introductions continued; none of the others had that interesting of tales, so Luffy tuned them out. One though seemed vaguely familiar, his name was Trafalgar Law. He didn't speak much and just watched everyone.
By the time that the introductions were over, Robin stood up and said; "You can all go to the common room till lunch, after that is exercise in the gymnasium, then music appreciation in the reflections room. I will see you all later."
"Come on Luffy," Usopp said as he stood up. "I will allow you to hang around with me."
Grinning, Luffy got up and followed Usopp out the door, they headed past all the cubicles that they slept in, as they passed Luffy's he noticed someone had cleaned it up. At the end of the hall was a large common room that had a TV hanging behind a barred opening in the wall, in an attempt to keep it safe from raging teens who might possibly try throwing the chairs that were bolted down to the floor into it, or God forbid, each other.
Usopp led Luffy to a square table off in the corner of the room; even those chairs were bolted to the ground. "Do you like to play cards?" Usopp asked as he picked up a deck of cards.
"Sure, just don't try to cheat." Luffy said as he sat down. "My cousin Sabo used to cheat all the time, Ace and I learned how to tell when someone tries to cheat."
"Uh… then how about we play go fish?" Usopp swallowed nervously.
"Can I play too?" Chopper asked.
"I don't mind," Usopp said, "the more the merrier, as they say."
"I never heard that one." Luffy said thoughtfully.
The three of them played go fish, by the end of the game they realized that the seven of diamonds and the king of spades were missing; also it only had one joker.
"Lunch time." Sanji told them as he headed out the door.
"About time." Luffy complained as he got up, running out of the room and down the hall, nearly tripping over the blond teen.
"Idiot…" Sanji grumbled as Luffy barreled past him. "I hope you get in trouble."
"Sanji just needs a cigarette." Usopp said next to Luffy as they slid into the cafeteria in record time.
"He can't smoke in here?" Luffy asked as he piled his tray high with food.
"Nah, one of the rules, no smoking allowed." Usopp looked shocked as he noticed how much food Luffy had on his tray. "Do you have enough food there?"
"You mean I can get more?" Stars seemed to be in his eyes, and he added, "If I had known that I would have had more for breakfast too since they didn't give me any brunch."
"Never mind," Usopp chuckled, "Let's start eating so that you can get your seconds."
They sat at the table closest to the food, and all the while the others came in, grabbed their tray and put food on it, Luffy eyed the remaining food to make sure he would be able to get more. Sanji, Nami, Vivi, Chopper and Zoro once more ate with them.
After he had gone back for seconds, Luffy looked at Chopper who was sitting across from him, "Why do you wear that pink hat all the time?"
"Why do you wear yours?" Chopper said defensively.
"Don't know…" Luffy seemed to be puzzling over this when the others started to leave, having had their fill with just one serving. "I don't even remember where I got it; all I know is I like it."
"Well same here." Chopper said, "It suits me."
Luffy grinned charmingly at the boy, "Then you must be like me, once you like something, nothing will tear it away from you."
"You three are going to be late." Nami said as she left the table after Sanji had taken her tray.
Chopper was next to leave chasing after Nami and Sanji, "Wait up…" he called out to them.
Luffy and Usopp went out at a leisurely pace, each one rubbing his own belly, "Ah," Luffy commented, "that was a good meal."
"Yeah they fixed it just like I taught them." Usopp added.
They walked in companionable silence to the gymnasium. The doors were open and the others were already doing various exercises. Luffy and Usopp headed over to where they had space to work out too.
Absently, Luffy started stretching, as he did so the others slowly stopped what they were doing to watch. "What is it?" Luffy asked.
A large blue haired man approached Luffy and whistled, "That is some super stretches."
"What do you mean?" Luffy asked as one of his legs was currently being stretched behind him, and up by his neck.
"You must be real flexible to be able to do that." The man was saying, "I am Franky, I run this area. You must be the new guy. Luffy, right?"
"Yeah." Luffy said, wishing the others would not stare at him so intensely.
"Super!" the man struck a pose with his arms together and his two blue star tattoo's on his forearms joined together to look like one hooting star.
Collectively, Luffy could hear the others moan at the pose. Luffy though was overcome with awe for the man, "Wow…"
"Get back to what you were all doing." Franky said while walking away from Luffy, pleased that Luffy had been impressed.
Noticing that Usopp was looking at him funny while slowly edging away from him, Luffy asked, "What's the matter Usopp?"
"Uh I think I heard Nami call for me to help her."
"What are you talking about?" Nami also had heard Usopp.
"Oh, okay." Luffy said.
Once Usopp had went to stand by Nami while whispering something to her, Chopper and Law approached the still stretching teen.
They both watched Luffy as if he were a lab specimen, Law even went as far as to poke and prod Luffy while no one was looking.
If they were this impressed about the way he could stretch, then if they ever saw his sisters they would think he was from the circus or something. His oldest sister, who everyone called Boa, had taught him that just because he was a boy didn't mean he too couldn't do gymnastics. She had even encouraged him. In a weird way she was his personal cheerleader, professing that no male or female for that matter, could dare to compare to him.
He just decided to ignore the others as he did amazing acrobatic feats that had the guys in the room wanting to protect what was between their legs and had the girls somewhat envious over his flexibility.
Growing bored of it all, Luffy saw something that looked a little like ropes coiled up. Heading over; he started to untangle them. Pulling and tugging on them to try to get the knots out of it, when he heard a voice yell his name.
"Luffy!" Turning, he saw Franky, the large man was as pale as a ghost and was staring in horror at the ropes in Luffy's hands, "That is not super! Someone could get electrocuted with those."
As if it were a snake, Luffy dropped them, his jaw going slack somewhat as the smell of flesh being hit by thousands of volts of electricity teased his memory. Which he thought was strange considering he had never witnessed something like that.
"Everyone is dismissed," Franky was visibly shaking as he ushered all of them out the door. Grabbing his cola and locking the door once they were all out.
"Smooth move there Luffy." Sanji commented as they all walked down the hall, "I was getting tired anyway."
"Ha!" Zoro commented, "I could have trained all night."
"In your dreams, moss head."
"Want to try it in the common room? I can beat your ass." Zoro snidely said to the blond.
"Will you two knock it off?" Nami got behind both of them and punched each one in the back of the head to shut them up.
"Damn woman." Zoro grumbled while rubbing his head.
"Don't talk about Nami-swan that way, shitty wanna be swordsman." Sanji took offense at the tone of Zoro's voice and his choice of words.
"Will you two idiots just both shut up?" Nami pushed them apart from each other and walked past them.
Luffy chuckled to himself as he too passed the bickering duo. In all honesty, he would have liked to see them fight, he wondered which one would win, Sanji was thin and agile, making him obviously quick on his feet, and Luffy already knew that he used his legs as a weapon. Zoro on the other hand was in optimum form, his muscles honed to perfection, and was handy with the three wooden swords that were strapped to his waist that he had not taken off when they had been told to leave the gymnasium.
It would most likely have to wait, Luffy thought as Franky ushered them all into the reflections room, where a small stage was at the center of the room. Up on the stage a large black grand piano and some other various instruments waited, indicating that the 'reflections' intended in this room must be of a musical nature.
Luffy was about to ask what they were waiting for, when up on the other side of the stage a door opened and out stepped a very tall thin older man holding a violin, with the afro on top of his head, he looked out of proportion, yet to Luffy he seemed very familiar. "Wow…" Luffy said out loud, "He looks just like the skeleton from my dreams."