Oh man sorry people that are following this on here. I've never posted on ff before and boy is it tricky and tedious compared to ao3. I updated this story a while ago over there and totally forgot to do it here too. I'm adding ch 3 over there and will add it over here too in a couple hours. Just gotta get all the formatting done. Hope you like it and continue to stick around!
The bedroom door slowly creaked open and Zoro peaked his head around the door to see the peaceful face of his younger brother, still fast asleep. He watched him for a few more seconds then pushed the door open further and entered the room. He quietly tiptoed over to the bed and sat down.
"Hey Chopper." He said gently, stroking the young boy's hair. "It's 7:30. It's time to get up. We have to be at the pool by 9."
Chopper made a sleepy snuffling noise and turned over, away from Zoro.
"Chopper. Buddy. You really have to get up. I can't be late again."
Chopper blinked his eyes open, blearily, then reached his arms above him towards Zoro. Zoro let out a short breathy chuckle before scooping the tired boy into his arms and lifting him out of bed. He carried him into the kitchen and placed him down softly in a chair at the kitchen table, then went to open the fridge.
"What do you want to eat for breakfast this morning?" Zoro asked, perusing the contents of the fridge for anything edible.
A tiny grumbly voice responded. "Rice krispy treats."
Zoro turned around holding a carton of milk and some orange juice. "It's too early for sweets. How about some normal rice krispies?" He placed the milk carton on the table and went over to the cabinet to take out a couple of glasses.
Chopper eyed the milk, then looked over at where Zoro had his back to him while searching for clean cups, before plopping out of the chair and shuffling tiredly towards the pantry closet.
"Aha!" Zoro called, pulling down two cups from the top shelf. "Orange juice is okay, right,Chop-" He stopped, not seeing Chopper at the table. "Chopper?" He set the juice down at the table and looked around curiously. He opened the door to see his little brother climbing up the shelves, trying to reach the box of rice krispy treats that Zoro had placed at the very top, purposely trying to keep them away from a certain kid's sticky fingers.
"Chop, what are you doing?"
"...nothin."
"I said you can't have rice krispy treats for breakfast, didn't I?" Zoro said sternly.
Big watery eyes, turned on him and tears started to flow down Chopper's soft baby cheeks. "I- I'm so-sorry Zoro!"
Sighing, Zoro lifted the boy off the shelf and placed him back on the floor. He knelt down so that he was eye level with his brother. "I'm not mad buddy."
"You're not?"
"Nope." To prove it, Zoro reached up and plucked the box of snacks off the top of the shelf and pulled one out. he held it out to Chopper. "Here's the deal baby bro. If you eat a bowl of regular cereal, and drink all your juice, I'll let you eat this in the car on the way to the pool."
Chopper's eyes widened in awe, the tears tracks quickly drying on his face. His eyes flicked between Zoro's and the rice krispy treat. He nodded earnestly.
Zoro chuckled. "Alrighty then. Be a big boy and go wash your face. I'll get your cereal ready.
"Okay!" Chopper scampered out of the closet and down the hall to clean up.
Zoro looked at the snack in his hand, opened it, and curiously took a bite. He immediately spit it back out into his hand. "How do kids eat stuff this sweet?"
Sabo stood by the entrance of the pool with his girlfriend, Koala, looking at his watch with a frown. The time read 9:45. With a tsk, he worriedly looked up at Koala. "They should have been here 10 minutes ago. You don't think anything happened to them do you?"
"Don't worry Sabo." She said. "I'm 100% sure they are A-OK. Those brothers of yours are about as unreliable as you are when it comes to getting places on time." She punched his shoulder lightly, "Peas in a pod"
Sabo shrugged his shoulders. "You're probably right. You always are. Knowing them, those idiots got hungry on the way over and stopped for a snack."
"I bet you five dollars they round that corner with a hot dog in each hand."
'Koala! I'm surprised at you! Betting on my brothers? Against me? You're on. But it's still early so I'm betting it's muffins!"
"Deal!"
The couple shook on it with big grins on their faces, interrupted by a growling stomach. Sheepishly, Sabo broke the handshake and scratched the back of his head. "You don't have any granola bars in your bag do you?"
Koala took her pink tote bag off her shoulder and rummaged through it for a second. "Ah ha!" She exclaimed before triumphantly pulling out a peanut butter clif bar. "Peas. In. A. Pod." She said, tapping Sabo on the forehead with the snack emphasizing each word.
Sabo eagerly grabbed the granola bar from his girlfriend and ripped it open, shoving as much in his mouth as he could. He gave a contented sigh.
Koala gave a light peck to the corner of his mouth and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You are so lucky to have me."
"Damn right!"
Suddenly there came a shout from the distance. "Get back here you little thief!", followed by a muffled yell. Koala and Sabo turned from their embrace to look up the road towards the sound, just in time to see Luffy running around the corner. Upon seeing them he looked slightly relieved but sprinted faster. His cheeks were stuffed full of something and there were two tin foil wrapped bundles in each hand. Not two seconds later, Ace rounded the same corner, skidding as he took it a bit too fast.
"Ace! Luffy! Hey!" Sabo said, waving a hand over his head. At the sound of his voice, Ace and Luffy picked up the pace. "Huh?" he lowered his hand a bit. "What are you guys – Ah! Wait Lu! Ooof…" He grunted as Luffy barreled into him. "Oww. Luffy watch where you're going."
"Save me!" Luffy exclaimed as he ducked behind the confused couple, still chewing on the food.
"Luuuuffy!" came Ace's irritated roar as he got closer. "Give me back my muffins, you twerp!"
"I don't have your muffins!" Luffy called back.
"Sabo! Let me by!" Ace said as he reached the group, moving from side to side as he tried to get around Sabo and Koala.
"Luffy, what did you do?" Sabo questioned while blocking Ace's advance.
"He stole my breakfast muffins, that's what he did!" Ace said.
"No, I didn't! Sabo," Luffy whined, spitting crumbs. "Ace is being a meanie again."
Ace stopped in his tracks and pointed accusingly, Ace said "Ah! You're eating them!"
Koala pushed Ace's arm away and turned to Luffy. "Luffy, are you eating Ace's muffins?" she asked sternly.
"Nuh uh." Luffy said, shaking his head then swallowed largely. "See? Aaaaaaaaaaaah…" He opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue.
"He ate them!" Sabo and Ace exclaimed. Ace sagged a little, upset that his little brother had eaten his breakfast.
Sabo laid a hand on his shoulder in commiseration. "You should have been faster." He said. Then, he looked at Koala with a smirk. "Looks like I won the bet, Koala. You owe me five bucks. You thought they'd be eating hot dogs."
Suddenly, Ace perked up and launched himself at his little brother, knocking him to the ground. He sat on a squirming Luffy's chest and reached for one of Luffy's arms, trying to pry his hand open. "Hand them over!"
"Noooo Ace! These are mine!" Luffy batted at Ace with his other fist, trying to get him to let go. Ace switched to the hand hitting him and tried to open it too. Luffy rolled back and forth trying to throw Ace off, kneeing him in the back. Sabo grabbed Ace's backpack and was trying to lift him off.
"Knock it off!" was the only warning the siblings received before they each received a blow to the head from an irritated Koala. Sabo fell on his butt with a grunt while Ace slid off of Luffy's chest, holding his head. Luffy curled up into a little ball around the tin foil bundles with tears in his eyes.
"What the heck Koala?!" Sabo asked from his spot still on the ground.
"Yeah? What the hell!?" Ace said, looking up at her with a glare.
"I'm not your babysitter! Grow up!" She yelled back at them. "I just want to have a nice day at the pool with my boyfriend. I want to get a tan and go in the water because it's fucking hot today. I do not want to break up your little spats!"
The two older brothers looked at each other in surprise before responding, "We're sorry."
"You better be!" She then turned to Luffy, who now sitting up with a pout on his face and arms crossed. He was resolutely looking away from the others. "Luffy, do you have something to say?"
"No I don't."
"Luffy…"
"Ace started it!" he yelled.
"Lu, you ate his muffins." Sabo said gently, standing up then turning around to help Ace up too.
"Ok yeah. I did. But he tried to steal my hot dogs!"
Sabo and Koala looked at each other in shock. "Your what?" Koala questioned, a smirk appearing on her face.
"My hot dogs. See?" Luffy held up the bundles in his hands. "Ace and I were getting kinda hungry so we stopped at 7-11 to get breakfast muffins. I saw the hot dogs there and decided I wanted some, but Ace said I had to wait until lunch to eat them. Only I was still hungry after eating my muffins so I maaay have stolen Ace's."
"Thank you for telling the truth, Luffy." She responded before whipping around to Sabo. "I told you they would eating hot dogs! Pay up!"
"Hey! But they grabbed muffins too! And technically, they haven't eaten the hot dogs yet, so I still win." Sabo protested.
'What is this about?" Ace asked.
"Koala and I bet on what you were going to be eating when you showed up. I said muffins, but she guessed hot dogs. Technically you didn't eat the hot dogs so I win!"
"Koala, is this true?"
She gave a weak laugh. "Yeah…"
Ace turned to Luffy. "Yo Lu, throw two of those over here."
"But Ace…"
"Luffy…"
Luffy sighed. "Okay." And tossed Ace two of the now squished hot dogs.
"Now Luffy, listen carefully," Ace began. "I want you to eat those hot dogs as fast as you can. Ready? Go!" Ace and Luffy shoveled them into their mouths and swallowed them in almost one bite. Ace turned to Sabo with a smug grin. "Suck it Sabo!" and threw the tin foil onto the ground.
"You guys suck." Sabo said while Koala laughed until she couldn't breathe.
Koala wiped tears from her eyes, and tried to catch her breath. "Okay you guys. I forgive you. Let's go inside now."
"Finally!" Luffy cheered. Ace reached down to pull him up.
Sabo took Koala's hand and led the way to the check-in booth at the gate. A bored looking goth girl with bubble gum pink hair, wearing a black and white ruffled swimsuit, greeted them.
"Hi. Welcome to Thousand Sunny Smiles Swim Club. How can I help you?" she asked.
"Hey Perona!" Sabo replied cheerily. "We're back again for another day at the pool!"
Perona rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I can see that." She pulled a clipboard out from under the counter and dropped it on top with a clack. "Sign in, please."
Sabo reached for the pen only to be elbowed aside by his girlfriend.
"Ehem.." Koala coughed pointedly, taking the pen Sabo had been reaching for out of a cup on the desk. "The membership is under my name, Sabo."
"Heh heh... oh yeah."
Koala signs her name on the line, then looks up at Perona. "We actually have two guest with us today." Behind her, Luffy grins and waves enthusiastically at Perona until Ace hits him on the back of the head to tell him to knock it off.
"The guest fee is $15 together."
"Sure. No Problem." Koala gestured to Sabo.
"What?" Sabo asked confused about what she was asking for.
"Money for the guest fee."
"But it's your membership!"
"Yes, but they are your brothers."
"Koala is stingy." Luffy whispered to Ace, louder than intended.
"I heard that." Koala said.
"Oops."
"Yes she is, Luffy." Sabo said, reaching into his pocket to pull out his wallet. He took out $7.50 and handed it to Perona. "This should cover Luffy."
"Hey! What about me!" Ace shouted, offended.
"What about you? Pay your own fee."
"Now who's stingy." Ace muttered, piecing together $7.50 from random coins found in his wallet.
Perona took the change from him and double counted. "Alright. Thanks. Go ahead in."
"Bye Perona! Stay cool!" Sabo said with a wave as the group walked into the swim club.
"Amazing!" Luffy said in awe as he took in his surroundings with an equally amazed Ace at his side.
In front of them sat a large lane pool, surrounded by plastic lounge chairs. People were laying out beach towels on top of them and getting sun tanned while others were wading in the pool or swimming laps. To the left of the pool, there was a wide grass lawn with a section set apart for barbeque grills and another with a playground for younger children. To the right was a mix of sand and concrete where shuffleboard and beach volleyball could be played side by side. Just beyond the lane pool was a gated area with a round kiddie pool. Parents and babysitters were busy applying sunscreen to their children and wrestling them into swimming diapers or floaties.
"This place is so neat, Sabo!" Luffy exclaimed, barely containing his excitement. "Let's go in the water!"
"Not so fast little bro. You haven't even seen the other pool yet." Sabo said.
Luffy pulled on Sabo's arm. "Another pool?! No way! Show me!"
"Haha, okay okay." Sabo pointed at a set of stairs that were built into a hill next to the entrance to the kiddie pool. "It's right up the hill, see?"
"Well, what are we waiting for, Luffy? Let's go!" Ace added, running towards the stairs.
"No running!" came a voice from a megaphone. It was one of the lifeguards of the lower pool. He was sitting in a tall chair and had a sharp-angled black mustache and goatee,
Ace slowed to a walk. "Oops. My bad!"
"That's Mihawk." Sabo explained. "Probably best if you don't make him angry."
"Right, got it. Don't piss off Hawkman." Ace said absently as they climbed the remaining stairs.
They stopped once they reached the top. "Welcome to the Upper Pool." Sabo said.
The Upper Pool had lounge chairs like the lower pool, but it also had a covered patio at the top of the stairs with picnic table. To the left were the locker rooms and the lifeguards break room. The pool didn't have any lanes, but there were a line of buoys down the middle separating the shallow end from the drop off into the 12 foot deep end. It had three different height diving boards, and the cherry on top, a water slide.
Ace and Luffy's jaws dropped at the sight of that slide. "Holy crap Sabo." Ace said.
"Yeah. Holy crap Sabo!" Luffy echoed.
Koala and Sabo just laughed at them. "Come on boys." Koala said. "Let's go snag chairs." She walked off towards a sunny area next to the diving board.
That's when Luffy noticed something. "Hey guys? Why isn't anyone in the pool? Everyone's swimming down the hill but not up here."
Sabo looked around. "Oh, you're right. Well, don't worry about it. It probably because there aren't enough lifeguards right now. They need at least two per pool and only one of them appears to be here right now. But that's okay. The guy who is usually stationed up here always runs late. I wouldn't worry."
"It'll be okay, Lu. Just means you won't be missing out while we're putting on sunscreen." Ace assured him.