One Piece Goda belongs to. Author's notes bottom at.
Chapter Titles The Beatles belongs to.
Chapter Fourteen
That'll Be A Day
Nami had her maid-of-honor dress. It was a rather, lace-on-silk sky-blue of an Ariana Grande-like dress, in which the bottom flared out like a lovely cocktail dress would. Koala had also insisted that she take the matching white gloves as well, though Nami was a bit skeptical with gloves - she had almost forgotten that the both Koala and Sabo had a liking of black fabric gloves, or maybe it was just a Revolutionary Army thing. Nevertheless, the two had agreed to have another pair of a body-fitting cheongsam-like blue dress for Robin, just for the sake of having the three of them matched up. She would look very Wen Ming-Na or Lucy Liu in it, Koala suggested.
The subject of Robin was raised again, which made Nami weak in the gut, added with a hunger for lunch. As Koala dragged her to an Italian restaurant uptown, where they had chosen a table for four inside. After ordering pasta and wine, Nami took out her baby Den Den Mushi from the pocket of her high-waist denim shorts - it's a wonder how she could fit the baby Den Den Mushi in there without crushing it.
"Calling up the guys?" Koala asked.
"Just worried about Robin." Nami lifted the baby Den Den Mushi on the palm of her hand. "Hello? Moshi moshi?"
"Oh, Nami?" The baby Den Den Mushi spoke a deep, masculine voice belonging to their swordsman. It wasn't hard to tell, really, as the Den Den Mushi's left eye was sealed with a tiny scar-like line.
"Robin, is she home?"
"Ah, nope. Still out, I suppose." The Den Den Mushi made the sound of a crashing plate in a distance, followed by Sanji's screaming, 'don't run in the kitchen, damnit!'
"What was that? Is Luffy home?"
"Nah, just Chopper and Usopp fooling around."
"Oi, oi. Don't break anything in that house, I don't wanna pay for that."
"Sure, sure. You'll bargain out of it anyway."
"Why do I have to be responsible for it? Eh, just let me know if Robin's home, okay? I'm starting to worry-"
"Course I will. You owe her an apology." Zoro placed the receiver back on the Den Den Mushi and retreated to his earlier situation. Chopper was running around the island counter screaming something about ghosts, Usopp was standing on the island counter - in which Sanji tried to kick him off with the excuse of 'don't put your filthy shoes on where I prepare food, idiot' - and the cook himself was half-swooning over a certain pink haired girl standing by the swordsman himself. The girl was clearly annoyed by all four - you would include Brook, who had already asked to look at her panties upon her arrival.
"Quit being noisy, damnit! Zoro, your nakamas sure are annoying!"
"Well, you shut them up then. You have all my permission."
"Negative hollow!" Transparent white ghost-like figures sprouted out of her hands, four in total. Usopp held his nose up proudly, knowing that it wouldn't affect him somehow. Chopper turned into guard point, rolling around the island counter like a ball of yelling fur. Sanji wasn't even aware of those ghost-like figures, he was too busy admiring the pink-haired lady with his heart-shaped cartoon eyes. The ghost went straight through the three of them, which caused Chopper and Sanji both mutter things about 'wishing to reborn as a sea cucumber', while Usopp was still on his feet, arms folded on his chest, so confidently.
"You must've forgotten about me! Your negative ghosts can't affect me, the Already-Negative Great Captain Usopp!"
"Whatever," Perona waved her hand dismissively. "I'm not looking for a fight anyway!"
More disappointed than actually surprised, Usopp fell onto the floor comically. Zoro yawned, more interested in going back to his nap rather that getting involved in the unproductive commotion caused by the presence of the pink haired punk.
Then again, he could not just ignore Perona, as she was currently a guest in the household. Rather, he had greeted her at the door earlier with an ugly gasp and a very brotherly, 'did that old man sent you to check on me, oi?'
"So, bass player, huh?"
Nami stared outside the window adjacent to their four-seater mahogany dining table, for specifically nothing. Apart from being slightly worried about Robin, she was also worried about how it is going to rain soon, given the drop in temperature and the approaching black clouds being drifted by the wind from the sea, which eventually would lead her to the realization that she had no umbrella with her, and neither does Koala, and she knew she would be too stingy to buy one. She could always wait for the rain to be over, though, Koala would not mind waiting, and she wouldn't want to get these bridesmaid dresses wet, would she?
"Ah," Nami snapped out of her internal monologue, to notice upon a familiar raven-haired man in a red t-shirt from a distance - specifically, from the opposite riverbank. She peeked her head up to follow on the man. From the restaurant's window it was blurry, but she was certain that it was Luffy. Well good, she ought to return this straw hat back to him...
"Nami? Is everything okay?"
She lost sight of the man, so she shook her head. "Nah, just somebody I thought I knew. Ah, where's my meatball bolognese spaghetti?" She said, trying to change the subject. "I'm in the mood for some good meat!"
Koala smirked. "Are you that hungry?"
"All I ate for breakfast is Sanji-kun's sandwiches," Nami whined, patting her belly. "No offense, Sanji-kun cooks the best meals but you know, after all those walking, you'll ran low on fuel based on smashed eggs and bacon strips and mayo and salad being squished in between two pieces of bread."
Koala peeked out the window, and then turned to examine the entire restaurant casually.
"Are we waiting for someone?"
Koala nodded. "Iva-san was supposed to join us for lunch, but it seems like he's going to be a little late..."
"I've never met this Iva-san, but Luffy did speak highly of him during dinner the other day. Lovely man?"
"Lovely man, lovely woman, he is."
"Woman?" Nami narrowed her eyes. "I take it that he's one of those Devil Fruit users, but with gender-switching ability?"
"Hormones, specifically." An Italian-like handsome waiter came over with a bottle of wine - he reminded Nami of Sanji's days at Baratie, the only difference was his hair which was colored in a darker shade of brown instead of blonde. The waiter poured two servings of wine into the ladies' wine glasses, and placed the rest of the bottle into a fancy metal bucket on the table. "If you want to see how'd you look like as a man, you can ask him to change you for a while!"
"C-change me? As in my..." she looked down her dress, "...too?"
Koala chuckled, and nodded.
"No boobs?"
"No boobs," Koala repeated.
"I'll... have to refuse the offer. I'm not that curious anyway."
Koala took the first sip of her wine. "But of course, anyway, thanks for agreeing to be my maid-of-honor, Nami. I really appreciate it."
Nami smiled widely. "Ne, no problem! No problem at all! You're our friend after all! But of course, I would charge you 50,000 Bellies for my help, but since you're our friend, I'll only charge you 49,000 Bellies!" Nami clasped her hands together with her rather devilish smile.
"Pirates," Koala scoffed. She retrieved a small red box from her pocket, and placed it in front of Nami. She leaned over the table, pressing her palms on the table and whispered to her with an unfamiliar smug on her face. "Take it, I insist."
Nami eyed the little red box curiously. "It's the stuff?"
"It's the stuff," Koala nodded, playing along. "Deal or no deal?"
Nami opened the little red box to reveal a little golden ring. It was plain, but it fit her ring finger perfectly. She took no longer examining it, as long as it was made of gold, and everyone knows how gold appeals the female pirate. She kissed the golden ring. "Deal."
"Great," Koala smiled."
"Damn it, Koala, how do you know me so well?"
"I'm a..." Koala stopped halfway, again, quickly inspecting the entire cafe before resuming her sentence. "...you know. We always do our research."
"Not on the crew of the Straw Hat Pirates, unless we're really a threatening bunch."
Koala chuckled again. "I'd say the title Cat Burglar made it quite obvious."
"Cat Burglar Nami! Hee haw!" The sudden appearance of a man of very oddly-disproportioned body, surprised the two. He was, in his shiny PVC burgundy one piece clothing, only to be complemented by a pair of knee high net stockings and fancy high-heel showboots. The purple afro hair, the pointy chin and the thick eyelashes made Nami recalled a familiar face from earlier yesterday.
On the subject of the ability to switch gender, yep, Nami solved the puzzle quicker than solving a land-measuring problem when she was eight and drawing Cocoyashi's map. "Say, you're more beautiful when I saw you yesterday, Iva-san," she uttered.
"Eh! How did vyou know it vwas me?" Ivankov made a dramatic reaction with his hand on his chest, and swear to Oda he even imagined a lightning in his background. "Vi've tried to make vmy hair silkier, and vmy voice higher!"
"You two have met before?" Koala interrupted.
"Only in his pretty lady form," Nami explained, trying to contain his laughter upon remembering that their lovesick cook had went on a date with this man.
"Vi cannot take this! Vmy abilities... Vi abilities are getting weak..." Ivankov gave a dramatically depressed expression, slamming his palms lightly onto the table. Nami frowned slightly, Koala as well. "...weak..."
Nami felt the need to apologize. "Iva-san..."
"...not!" Ivankov raised his head, with his hands on his hips, an overflowing confidence swept across his face. Koala laughed, though Nami did not understand his humour at all. The navigator shook her head to herself.
"Just sit down, Iva-san," Koala invited, and the dramatic cross-dresser pulled a chair beside her, ordered Italian food of the menu that Nami was quite familiar of, thanks to Sanji, and started to fill the two girls with comedic adventures of Sanji the night before... And of those two years of the same blonde cook on Newkama Island. "But vi need to admit, Blackleg-boy has a nice butt as a woman. Diana was all 'oh my God, Becky, look at her butt!'"
Franky only had Cola with him at all times. That was the one beverage he could offer Nico Robin as he noticed her sitting at a bench facing the sunset under the tall plastered concrete ceiling of the station, but being a gentlemen, he decided to walk a little further along the row of little vendor shops selling souvenirs, food, daily papers magazines, for something better to offer for his comrade. He stopped at a little vendor ship selling take-away beverages, and pulled out a roll of green notes from one of those super secret compartments of his robotic arms.
Note to self: Add a mini built in coffee-maker next time.
"Oh, Franky!" The man behind the counter greeted.
Franky lifted up his rockstar sunglasses. "Not terrified of me anymore, are ya?"
"We all have reasons to counter that."
"Stronger than the fact I'm still the boss downtown here?"
The man laughed. "So, what shall I get you?"
Franky scanned the beverage menu printed on a piece of laminated paper on the counter. "Hmm... Give me one caffè latte... Regular... No, make it two."
The man proceeded to prepare the ordered drinks behind the counter. "You know, you goin on about Cola all the time back then, it's pretty weird to order something out of your routine."
"It's for a nakama."
"Franky Family?"
Franky shook his head. "No, the Straw Hats."
The man came back with two paper cups of hot caffè latte with black plastic lids, and refused Franky's money. The cyborg secretly slipped five hundred Bellies under the cash register anyway, and left to approach the raven-haired nakama of his on one of those concrete benches.
It wasn't that hard to notice the presence of a cyborg with an absurd size of mechanical shoulders, especially when you have spent quite some time living with his presence and especially now, among the now receding crowd, a cup of caffè latte was shoved in front of her face - simply because Franky decided that coffee in front of her face is much better than a simple 'hey there'. Robin glanced up and took the coffee, inviting him to sit with her with a smile on her face.
So he sat down on the other end of concrete bench, and took a sip of his own hot caffè latte, taking in the glorious view of the sunset from Water Seven - a view he had not seen in years, perhaps.
"You've been out since yesterday, Franky."
"Aw! Missed me?"
"The lot is a little less cheerful. Everyone is everywhere. What are you doing here?"
"Visiting. It's not everyday you get to visit your hometown, ya know."
"I guess. I don't have a hometown anymore, anyway."
Franky wanted to give her a nudge, but he kept that to himself as he thought of the possibilities of having Nico Robin to fly rather than to stay in her seat. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"Sunset."
"Should've known. It's your favourite thing."
"It is quite, super, don't you think so?"
Franky nodded and smiled. 'Super' was the one word he had used excessively throughout his life, in every occasion as a noun, or an adverb or an adjective, and living with the Straw Hat pirates, the crew started to pick up his habit occasionally - especially when talking to him. "New flower?"
He was hinting a small pot of flower by her side. "Usopp bought it."
"It's pretty super too. Another flower would make Sunny happier!"
Robin chuckled. "I'm going to name her, Banchina. Or Olvia."
Franky smiled, as they gazed to the sunset. It was darker now, and the station's lights were just switched on. More people began swarming the station again, but Franky and Robin remained seated and indulged in the serenity of the sunset of the romantic island of Water Seven.
Shorter chapter this time round, I know. I had a number of following scenes written out but the scenes were connected so I had to compile them off for Chapter 15 instead of separating them for here and Chapter 15.
And ah yay, Perona! If you have been reading my previous fics, you know she's one of my favourites, so I wouldn't miss her in this fiction too. In an unrelated news, #PeronaThePinkGuitar and I am going to perform this Saturday 4PM-11PM at Chaiwalla & Co JB for an event, so korang yang kat JB tu, meh singgah alright?
Thank you for your humble feedback, reviews, follows, favourites, I really appreciate how much you enjoyed reading this fic. I love you like I love fried chicken and ramen and teh tarik and shrimp dim sum and tom yam and roti Butterscotch Gardenia and mee hoon goreng and mee kolok. See you in the next chapter!
