Usopp gives Lu a spinning top. It's blue and pink and patterned in stars; Lu turns it over in his hands with an "ooooh."

"Have you seen one of these before?"

For a moment you think Usopp's question is directed to you, and you look at him oddly. Spintops weren't new when you were young, you don't know why he would think to ask you that.

But you realize he's looking at Lu, who pushes his straw hat back a little and holds the spinning top up to the sky curiously.

"I haven't! Is it a toy?"

Brook reaches a long arm over the boy's shoulder to pluck it out of unresisting fingers. "Yohoho, allow me to demonstrate, captain!"

Captain? Who, Usopp?

The skeleton places the toy point-down on the countertop and spins it with a flick of bony fingertips. The stars actually light up as the colorful thing whirls and whirls, and all four of you lean in closer to watch. It spins faster and starts to steam, you hear impossibly small gears grinding as some sort of mechanism you have no hope of understanding goes to work, and suddenly the top unfolds with a burst of soft white confetti like cotton.

At it's center, oddly enough, is a small pink blossom.

The pirates are very still, faces screwed up into carbon copies of the same intensely focused expression.

You scoop up some tufts of the white confetti, decide to break the thoughtful silence. "When this came bursting out of there, I thought of snow."

"Same here, sir!" Usopp agrees with enthusiasm. "That's exactly what it looked like!"

"Ohhh, wait! This one's easy," Lu says suddenly, beaming. He picks the little blossom up, more careful with the delicate petals than you might have thought him capable of, and when Usopp blinks at him, his grin only gets wider. "You don't know it, Usopp? Even though you had the flower?"

The young man makes a face at him. "It's Franky's 'flower,' not mine!"

"Ah, I'm dying of curiosity," the skeleton whispers plaintively, then pauses and looks right at you with empty eyesockets. "Ah, but I've already died. Yohohoho!"

Oddball. "Well tell us, boy. What's the answer?"

"I think the answer will be at a candy store," Lu says with utmost confidence, and sudden comprehension dawns on Usopp's face as well. They share huge grins, and look at you like Cheshire cats. You roll your eyes with fondness, and grumble, and agree to show them the way.

The skeleton offers you his arm, and you take it, easing yourself up out of the chair and following their merry little band down the street. Lu walks backwards to look at you, and you notice with some amusement the way Usopp gravitates closer almost at once, in case he trips.

"Hey, old man, did you know? There's an island of snow on the Grand Line called Drum, and once we saw cherry blossoms bloom there!"

"Cherry blossoms?" Brook asks cheerfully. "On an island of snow? I think I've heard that story before."

A little animal runs on two legs to meet them at the door, and Lu scoops it up off the ground and into a hug faster than you can say "what?"

Antlers, so it must not be a raccoon-dog. You guess it might be a deer, a reindeer if it came from a winter island the way the boys were teasing it might, but you keep your mouth shut until introductions are made. And sure enough, right away;

"This is Chopper, the amazing reindeer doctor!"

The little guy giggles, and nuzzles Lu's cheek, hugging him around the neck as far as his short arms will go, and you don't even startle when it talks, because there's already a living skeleton holding your arm and you're plum out of surprise for the day. "Shut up, saying that doesn't make me happy!"

But he looks incredibly happy, words notwithstanding, and you smile.

"So, Luffy, you're having fun? You are, right?" Chopper pats Lu's- Luffy's- cheek with a tiny hoof. "We all thought you'd really love it, so- "

"I really love it!" Lu agreed, bringing Chopper against his chest in a crushing hug, the little reindeer tucked under his chin like he belonged there. "I haven't had this much fun since the flying sheep!"

Brook laughs at your side, and Usopp grins, flushed and pleased, even though what he says is, "Luffy that was like three days ago."

The boy's response is to reach out and drag him in for a hug, and somehow you and the skeleton get hauled in as well, though you're almost certain there's no way his arms could have stretched around the young man and the reindeer to reach you-

But you're not thinking about that, really. You're arm-in-arm-in-arm with laughing, cheering children- pirates- who spent the day enjoying an old man's company. And Luffy, with the worn, scuffed straw-hat he's holding to his head, a leather bag hanging around his neck and a spintop clutched in one hand, almost glows.

His friends, though, who look across at each other and share secret, happy smiles- who press in to his arms and hold him close, who bake hollow cookies, and draw maps, and write riddles, and build toys, all for the same boy- they certainly do.

Chopper worms his way up to whisper in Luffy's ear.

"I have the last flower."

Usopp leans in from Luffy's other side. "Is it another clue?"

"Nope! Just a message: hurry up!"

Luffy grins, and the day is almost over.