A/N: Been a while, huh? I've been pretty busy with a lot of things, one of which I hope will help with shortening the stretch between my updates, but still, sorry about that. Anyway, challenge time! Luffy has a mysterious new classmate this week. The first person who can guess their identity before it's revealed will win a prize! I'll probably write something for you, but first I'll contact you and we can work out what you want. More info at the bottom.

On Friday, Law, rather tired, and Luffy, quite excited, sat in front of the television. Ace sat nearby at the table, flipping through the phone book with his left hand and navigating his laptop with his right. Luffy, apparently, found Law hilarious when he was tired. He tried to drag the older man away from his desk whenever possible just to hear his sleep-deprived commentary on things.

"He," Law pointed to a character on screen, "is terrible with a sword. He hasn't even got a sword. That's a broom."

"It's supposed to be funny," said Ace, not looking up. He had already seen that episode. "Look, Luffy's laughing."

Law grimaced. "The boyfriend as comic relief? Again? Please tell me Rory's not the new Mickey."

"You don't like Mickey?" Luffy asked, put out.

"I hate Mickey. I hate him with all the fury of… of… something really furious. I don't know."

"I thought Mickey was pretty cool."

"He was pathetic and whiny."

"Pathetic? He blew up Downing Street!"

Ace rolled his eyes and shot a look at the screen. "You guys are missing the best part."

They looked back just in time to see something explode.

"Now what's exploding?" Law asked. "Why do things keep exploding in this show? We might as well be watching… that show. With the explosions and the movie myths and that guy with walrus facial hair."

Luffy laughed. "How come you're so tired all the time anyway?"

"I'm just busy." Law shrugged.

"With what?"

"Classes, in the morning," said Law. "Assignments and studying, in the afternoon. And my job, in the evening."

"Eh? You have a job?" Luffy asked. "You never mentioned a job before!"

"He works at a tattoo parlour," Ace said absently, typing something into a search engine. "Not too far from your drama classes, I think."

"Really?" Luffy turned to Law, huge grin in place. "Can I–"

"No."

"What? But you don't even–"

"No."

"But I wanna–"

"No."

Luffy pouted, giving Law a small glare. Eventually he realised Law wasn't about to give in and turned to Ace instead. "Nii-chan?" he whimpered pitifully, puppy-dog eyes on full force. He knew his brother's buttons far too well. "I just want to see where he works…"

Ace tried to send Luffy an admonishing look, aware of what his little brother was trying, but gave up all pretence of the puppy-dog eyes not working after approximately one and a half seconds. He sighed. "Ah, it can't be that bad."

"No."

"Your shift starts at four thirty tomorrow, right? That's pretty close to when–"

"No."

"–he gets let out of classes at the Sunny; you can pick him up and–"

"No."

"–take him straight there. Your co-workers won't mind at all, really, I'm sure they'll love him as much as we do–"

"No."

"–and they may even want him to come visit again!"

"God no!"

"He'll be so upset if you said–"

"No."

"…And if you don't take him tomorrow I can always drop him off there with no warning. Your choice."

Law grimaced and glanced at Luffy, who wore a grin that seemed rather smug to his eyes. "Fine."

Luffy whooped in celebration. Ace smiled fondly at him before returning to his work, while Law dragged a hand through his hair and wondered what he'd gotten himself into.

On Saturday morning, Ace was still hovering over the phonebook and laptop when Law woke up. Ace looked up when he entered the room, and Law raised his eyebrows at how tired his roommate appeared. Ace had the decency to look bashful.

"Did you sleep at all last night?" asked Law.

Ace licked his dry lips. "Little bit."

"Uh huh. And what's this all-important mission you're on, hm?"

"I'm trying to find a tutor for Luffy," he said. "The kid needs an education, but he's never been to a real school before."

"So you're looking at other options."

"Yeah."

"I see." Law leaned over Ace's shoulder to see the mess of paper and browser tabs that had been accumulated. Ace, it seemed, had taken meticulous notes. "Did you find anyone?"

"So far? Only one." Ace tapped one of the papers with a mechanical pencil, right next to a scrawled name: Nico Robin. "She's coming by later today for a sort of interview."

"Don't let me stop you. I'll be going to the grocery store soon; do we need anything?" Ace opened his mouth at that, but Law cut him off. "No, wait, don't answer that. Milk, meat, cheese, bread, whatever snacks look interesting — as usual. Anything else?"

"Tomatoes, cereal," Ace listed, counting off on his fingers, "marimo food, lettuce, and grapes. And Luffy needs a ride to class."

"When?"

"He should be there by ten-fifteen."

Law looked at his watch. Nine thirty-two. "I'll make sure he knows we're leaving."

Luffy, as it turned out, was still asleep at nine thirty-three that morning, so Law had to wake him, to many complaints. He got dressed quickly and had a short breakfast, at Law's behest. At nine forty-six he was already making unnecessarily long goodbyes to his brother (Law suspected it had something to do with Ace's state of distraction) and at nine fifty-two they were in Law's car.

At ten twenty-eight, Luffy was safely at class and Law was finally at the grocers. He was comparing two different brands of milk (one claimed to have higher calcium and one claimed to be "eco-friendly" — Law didn't really know what difference it made, so he threw the "eco-friendly" one in his cart, knowing Nami, at least, would appreciate it) when he remembered his young charge would be visiting him tonight at his workplace.

The fact that he suddenly began hitting his head on the nearest wall earned him some strange looks from the other shoppers.

"Pass me the blue paint," said Missy Goldenweek from Luffy's left, ignoring their teacher's monologue completely.

Luffy grabbed the blue paint and handed it to her quietly, but almost immediately after she said, "Now pass me the red paint."

From Luffy's right, Usopp scoffed at her. "It's on the other table."

"So that means you can't pass it to me?" Missy asked leadingly.

"It's no closer to us than it is to you," he pointed out.

Missy, her paintbrush already wet with blue paint, seemed irritated now. That didn't happen so often. "Pass me the red paint," she repeated, and Usopp stood with a sigh, knowing she had no compunctions painting on them if she so desired.

"Yes, Usopp?" said Galdino, the teacher, as he finally took notice of them. "Do you have something to say?"

"Uh, no," Usopp floundered. "I just wanted to get the red paint."

Galdino frowned sternly. "Go back to your seat. I'm still introducing the new student. Surely you can wait another minute, can't you?"

Luffy looked up from his doodle when Galdino finished his speech with "…a warm welcome," just in time to see the new student — who seemed to have been looking right at Luffy — hide themself behind a large portfolio nervously. He couldn't make out much about them except their pants.

When Galdino told the class they could get to work on their projects, the new student took a seat next to Coby, just outside of Luffy's view. He stretched his neck out and caught a glimpse of the two of them whispering to each other, glancing at certain people — mostly Luffy — occasionally.

All of a sudden, Galdino swept into view, placing the red paint directly in front of Usopp with a disdainful frown. "I trust you'll wait for the work period to begin before you get up for supplies next time."

"Of course," said Usopp, shooting a small glare at Missy. "Next time."

Galdino nodded his approval wandered to the next table, where Kaya was having trouble with her watercolours (which were either too watery or too colourful).

There was a small beat of silence at their table.

"Pass me the yellow paint," said Missy. It was on the other side of the room.

At four twenty-six in the afternoon, Law arrived at the small tattoo parlour with Luffy in tow.

"The Kraken's Ink," Luffy read off the sign, eyes widening with excitement. "Cool."

Luffy bounced through the door immediately, Law following at a more leisurely pace. While Law went to put his stuff away in the staff room, Luffy examined the store eagerly.

The light green wall nearest Luffy was full of macabre tattoo design examples; looking over his shoulder, he saw the opposite wall had more light-hearted imagery, as if the walls were a progression of dark to light. To the right, the front till was apparently a glass case. A closer look showed him it was full of piercing decals one could get, which explained why the employee on the other side of the room seemed to be sticking a needle in someone's nose.

Luffy zeroed in on the redhead and his customer as the least boring things in the room and skipped over for a better look.

A minute passed before the redhead noticed Luffy hovering over his shoulder. "Do you mind?" He scowled.

"Not at all!" Luffy assured, smiling obliviously.

"Who the hell do you think you are, brat?"

"I'm Luffy. Who the hell are you?"

"Name's Kidd. Now shoo, I'm working." He refocused his attention on the patron, who seemed disquieted by Luffy's presence.

The needle pierced the girl's flesh, and Luffy covered his eyes quickly. "Ugh!"

"I didn't ask you to watch, brat," Kidd muttered. "Don't complain to me."

Kidd finished up her piercing quickly (ignoring how Luffy made disgusted sounds the whole time) and was soon back to questioning the younger boy.

"What are you here for?" he asked.

"Me?" Luffy pointed to himself and, at Kidd's nod, looked around for Law. He was nowhere in sight. "I… I'm here for a tattoo."

"Have you ever gotten one before?"

"No…"

"Do you know what you want?"

"Uh, no… Do I need to?"

Kidd shrugged. "I guess not right now. You just got here, right? Go ahead and look around; if you decide on anything I can get Law to–"

"Not Law!" Luffy said quickly, perhaps a bit too loudly.

"No?" Kidd raised an eyebrow. "He's our best artist, and he just came in. He should be free."

"No, I mean," Luffy shifted guiltily, "I don't think Law would want me to get a tattoo."

"…Uh huh. Well, if your sure, I could–"

"Luffy," interrupted Law.

Luffy froze briefly, but turned around to face his fate.

Law's arms were crossed, and he was doing a better job of looking admonishing than Ace ever had. "Are you conspiring with Kidd?"

"…Just a little bit," Luffy admitted quietly.

"You know this brat?" Kidd asked Law.

Law heaved a sigh. "I have the so-called pleasure of living with him full time." He grabbed Luffy by the shoulder and began to steer him away. "Come on, little hat-wearing one. There are others who want to meet you."

Law led him into the back room of the building; Kidd, curious despite himself, followed.

The walls were painted a very vibrant sunset orange, which was nearly impossible not to notice. Just as impossible to ignore were the two sets of bubblegum pink hair belonging to its occupants, a pair of young woman sitting on a sofa that would have fit better in a grandmother's house.

Law gestured to the two and said, with no great fondness, "Meet the Jewelry twins."

"He's adorable!" one exclaimed, jumping to her feet; her hair was curlier than her twin's and her eyes more bug-like.

The other one's hair, which was of course straighter, was also a shade or two darker. "How come you never mentioned him?"

Law pointed to the one with darker hair. "That's Bonney, and that's– heh." the bug-eyed one was attempting to coddle Luffy as if he were a kitten. Luffy, held tightly against her bosom, was supremely confused. "That's Perona. She likes cute things."

"…Shouldn't one of you bastards be manning the shop right now?" Kidd pointed out.

"One of you bastards?" Bonney muttered under her breath. "Like you're not one too?"

Kidd shrugged. "Shouldn't one of us bastards be manning the shop?"

Law looked as if he had only just realised Kidd was there — which, honestly, was probably true. "I thought you were doing it!"

"Well, I thought someone else was doing it, and we can all see how that turned out."

"I can do it!" Luffy volunteered, partly because he thought it would be fun, partly to escape Perona.

"No, you can't," Law said, "and neither can I, because I have to watch you."

Bonney snorted. "So?"

"So I refuse to expose him to the customers."

"Whatever, as long as I'm not doing it either." She nodded her head to the minifridge off by the wall. "I'm on lunch break."

"It's late afternoon."

"Extended lunch break."

"It was my turn just now," said Kidd. "It's not gonna be my turn again."

Everyone looked at Perona.

"But he's so cute…" she protested, squeezing Luffy tighter. He squirmed a little.

"And you're scaring him," Bonney told her. "Go on, 's your turn."

She huffed, releasing Luffy finally. He gasped for breath and stumbled over to Kidd as she left.

Bonney, meanwhile, produced a small pizza out of the minifridge, to Law's annoyance.

"It really is too late for lunch," he complained.

She laughed, as though this were a usual thing between them, and walked over to him, throwing an arm around Law's shoulders.

"Ah come on, you snob," she jeered, not unkindly, "it's just a little food!"

"It's not an appropriate time of day for this food," he said, causing her to laugh again and lean a little closer. Luffy's eyes narrowed at that.

Kidd was the only one to notice. "What are you glaring at her for?" he asked quietly.

"Uh," Luffy stammered, ashamed. "…I'm hungry too?"

Kidd gave him a strange look. "No need to be angry. There's plenty of pizza for both of you — careful though, she's a big eater."

Luffy nodded, his blush of shame not yet receded, and grabbed two slices, one for him and one for Kidd, while Bonney was distracted.

As he settled on the granny sofa with Kidd to watch Law and Bonney bicker, Luffy couldn't help but feel glad — and guilty to be glad, but glad nonetheless — that Law didn't actually seem to like her very much.

Ace was unwinding in the kitchen after a long day of working on his thesis. There was only a little bit of milk left, and he decided, for once, to put it in a glass.

The milk only reached halfway up the glass he put it in, and he chortled a little when it reminded him of a joke about pessimists and optimists. He was just about to take a drink when someone knocked on the door, causing him to fumble his half-full cup.

"Coming!" he called, grabbing a towel to dry some milk off his hand. With a curse he put the cup down next to the sink, the towel on the counter, and hopped over to the door. When he opened it, he found a stranger staring back at him.

The man grinned. "Hello! You're Ace, right?"

"Yes, that's me," he said politely, blinking. He had been expecting Robin. "Can I help you with something?"

"That you can," the man said brightly, with a wink.

Ace tried valiantly to think of something to say to that, but the way the man was looking at him expectantly made it feel like he didn't know as much as the man thought he did.

After a few seconds of trying to phrase it politely, followed by the decision that the man didn't seem to be the type who would care either way, Ace dropped all attempts of tact. "Who are you?"

The man, surprised but seemingly pleased, bounced on the balls of his feet, smiling self-deprecatingly as if he had only just realised Ace didn't know who he was. "Oh right, sorry! I'm Shanks."

A/N: Ace's cup joke: "An optimist's glass is half-full, and a pessimist's glass is half empty, but everyone's glass is twice as big as it needs to be."

Here are your clues for Luffy's new classmate…

From this story, we see that they are shy/nervous of Luffy, and associate with Luffy's biggest admirer/fanboy, Coby (in WYGFAMC, anyway. I kind of doubt the two would have met in canon). That's not a lot, so I'll give you these other clues, too:

1. Depending on how you follow canon (i.e. manga, anime, English dub version of either) you may or may not be familiar with this character.

2. They do appear in the manga (they are not an anime filler character). And,

3. (Not a fact, per se, but still a clue) A lot of fans wish they would join the crew due to their sheer hilarity.

I suppose I should limit the guesses, huh? How about two per person? Guests, unfortunately, are not eligible since I cannot contact them.