A/n: Welcome back to the world of 'Making the Grade'!
For those who are unaware, this is not my original concept. The great Supreme-King began writing the original story back in 2012, over a decade ago! Following the adventures of the cast of One Piece as they made their way through a realistic high school setting, I was constantly impressed by how grounded the characters felt as I read his original work. There were character arcs inspired by the original islands of the story, and fun mix-ups to the established formula that made for a great reading experience for any fan of the original works by Eiichiro Oda.
As of 2017 though, the story remains unfinished. And at a cliffhanger of drama as well! Never did I think I would be so invested in drama between the Straw Hats as in the original story itself! I had to see it end, and if not by Supreme-King's hands, then by my own.
As of now, based on the original work and comments left to me by the original author, I have a clear vision for re-writing the series. This will be my own interpretation, but I'm going to try and stay as faithful to what I loved about the original work as possible. Just like the original author all the way back in Chapter 1, I'm writing this story to see how much I've improved as a writer over the years, and I hope not to disappoint.
Hope you enjoy my reimagining!
Edit (5/9/23): Several scenes have been reworked/expanded upon to further improve the chapter, both as a solo piece of storytelling and adding in the foreshadowing required to complete the vision I have set out. Nothing was removed, necessarily, just further expanded upon.
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"He got out of bed earlier, right?" An older man leaned back in his recliner, placing a cup of coffee on the nearby counter as he called out to the kitchen just one room over. As he adjusted his floral button-up and cargo shorts in the thick chair, a much younger voice called back to him.
"Yeah, he just barely beat me to the shower." A young adult called back, packing lunches in brown paper bags labeled 'Garp', 'Ace', and 'Luffy'. He worked on meals in the kitchen, only wearing baggy pants and boots, with a much lankier build compared to his senior in the other room.
Garp, the older man, grumbled to himself. "I don't get why that kid's so excited to start high school with those grades he got last semester. If he expects to do the same as before and still graduate on time, he's got another thing coming."
Ace, sliding the lunch bags to the end of the island-style table, chuckled to himself. "It's his friends, most likely… or maybe he has a secret girlfriend."
The two made eye contact from across the first floor of a moderately-sized suburban household, before bursting out laughing.
"Ha! Although I have some faith in my grandson, he's certainly…"
"Not interested?"
"That's a great way to put it!" Garp took another sip of his coffee, before completely replacing the mug with the day's newspaper, the World Economy News Paper.
"I'm sure he'll find someone crazy enough for him someday."
Within seconds, as though on que, a series of thumps made their way down the stairs of the household, bumping through every nook and cranny they could find.
"I'd rather you not BREAK ANYTHING!" Garp called out from his recliner.
As the clamoring sound reached the kitchen, Ace didn't bother looking away from his phone to alert his brother of the lunches on their table. "Yours is on the left, mine is on the right." The sound of a paper bag being swiped from the table lightly crackled through the room, before their front door burst open.
"Bye!" was called out by the person running through the house, just before the door shut once again. The house quickly became quiet again, the rumbling of the teenager's chaos quickly being replaced with the light sounds of an office fan and the slow simmering of a stove just recently turned off.
.
.
.
"You made sure to check his uniform, right?" Ace called out to Garp in the other room.
"You made sure he didn't take your lunch instead?" Garp casually called back.
.
.
.
Before they knew it, the two were out the door, watching as Luffy just barely missed the school bus. Out in the fresh morning sun, the young teen stood proudly in a stuffy school uniform, accented with his iconic Straw Hat covering the majority of his messy black hair.
The white undershirt, yellow vest and sky blue school uniform coat were surprisingly sharp on the rugged teenager. Despite that, his required gray pants were rolled up just a little bit from the bottom of the legs, as though he were on vacation in the southern archipelagos. Garp also noticed he wore floppy sandals instead of his brown business shoes that were part of the mandated dress code. This wasn't even to mention the large lunch bag Luffy held, pointed outward to face them so that a large 'ACE' written in black marker was clearly visible on the bag.
"Hey! I put an extra muffin in my bag!" Ace called out.
"Oh, crap-! Grandpa!" Luffy exclaimed, glancing at his family, then back at the moving bus, before booking it down the sidewalk.
"Come on, we can get my car!" Said Garp, pointing to a sleek white minivan in their driveway.
"Ah, I'm sure he'll be fine. He's always had a knack for getting himself out of trouble."
"But he's always getting himself into that trouble first!" Garp called back, slamming the driver-side door behind him before snapping the keys into the ignition, letting the engine roar, and taking off down the street. Ace could only see the silhouette of Luffy bolt down the street as their grandfather followed close behind.
"Hasn't even gotten there yet and he's already screwed…" Ace muttered to himself before heading back inside, dejected and muffin-less.
One Piece - Making the Grade
New World!
Grand Line High. One of the biggest private schools in the country, named after the giant mass of cities and towns stretching from Luffy's home of the New World to the southern pleasures of Paradise. Despite being in some of the Northern-most land in the Grand Line, the mammoth of the school was clearly stylized with the oceans, or more specifically Marines, in mind. The main building, only accessible by a steel gate with the country's flag stylized on its front, was a mainly two-story affair of white bricks and ocean-blue accents, the only variation coming in the windows stretching from one end of the face of the building to the other.
Next to the gate and near the parking lot, a giant sign with the school's logo (two waves with a centralized wrench) and its icon (a stoic marine admiral) were big enough to be seen from a block or two down. Next to it, a large gate for people to enter into the main plaza of the school was swung wide open. And to the right of the entrance was the bus lot, where the buses began to park and rest after picking up students until the end of the school day.
Adjusting his backpack as he approached from the right side of the gate, to which a small 'skull-and-bones' keychain was affixed, Luffy pulled open Ace's lunch bag and claimed the last muffin from inside. He had worked hard to escape Garp's clutches, after all. Garp might've wanted to get after Luffy like a maniac, but he couldn't match the dexterity of Luffy on foot, and certainly wouldn't make a scene in front of the school (not for Luffy's sake, but for his own as a respectable member of society).
Due to the whole chase, he was actually a bit ahead of the buses, and knew a certain student would be making their way from a bus eventually. Settling down near a wall adjacent to the front gate and closing his eyes, Luffy prepared for the muffin in his hand to enter his mouth… only for it to disappear by the time he opened his eyes again.
"Huh?"
Luffy glanced over to see a bulky older student taking a bite of his muffin, looking down and laughing at him. His big, red nose and pulled-back blue hair were immediately distinguishable, and from the wrist holding his muffin, Luffy could gleam a couple of golden rings surrounding the logo on his uniform coat, indicating he was at least a Junior. But no matter what he looked like, it didn't really matter.
"MY FOOD!"
"Oh, this?" The student joked, motioning to the remaining half of the muffin before he stuffed it in his mouth. "Mmm…"
"Gross, Buggy! And to such a cute kid as well…" Walking up to Buggy was a small group of upperclassmen, headlined by a tall, slender woman with glossy black hair, and an assortment of pink and white nail polish making her fingernails slightly sparkle.
"Oh, come on Alvida. I was only joking!" Buggy retorted, his mouth still half-stuffed with muffin. "I like to think I'm pretty good at comedy myself. Just look at this young man's smile."
Buggy motioned to Luffy. He wasn't smiling.
"Ugh, why do I even date you?" Alvida rolled her eyes, before walking away.
Buggy glared back at Luffy. "Way to drop the ball, buzzkill." His expression dropped, before flicking Luffy's Straw Hat off his head.
"Augh!" Luffy leapt onto the floor, barely being able to keep it from the dusty concrete below. He was sure there was a scratch or two in his uniform somewhere, but all he could do was take a breath as his hat sat safely in his hands.
"Are you alright?"
Luffy rolled around to see another upperclassman, one with similar black hair to Alvida but wrapped into a sleek ponytail. Tan skin and a more proper disposition set her apart even further. Glaring through wireframe glasses, she showed a light, calm smile down at him, and extended a hand to help him up. As Luffy accepted the offer, and giggled in surprise at the girl's grip strength, he put the Straw Hat back on his head and let out a good laugh.
"Well, I want to give that guy a good punch in the face, but it won't do me any good now." As Luffy planted himself back on the ground, his legs stiffened. "And I might've sprained something. But at least I got my hat back!"
"I see. I'm sorry for what's happened to you, and your hat. The upperclassmen here can be a bit… egotistical, for lack of better terminology."
"?" Luffy glared back at her in confusion, likely not knowing what 'egotistical' and 'terminology' even meant. All she could do was give him another glance over before chuckling to herself.
"I need to go, but if you ever need help with anything, just ask."
"Well alright! Thanks for the hand up, miss…"
"Robin. Nico Robin."
"Thanks, Robin!"
"My apologies… and you are?"
Luffy grinned from ear to ear, putting his hand up to his Straw Hat and adjusting it so it wouldn't cover his face as much as it was. "I'm Monkey D. Luffy, but you can just call me Luffy!"
She gave him one last nod before heading inside, leaving Luffy back alone in front of the wall he'd been initially sitting on. As Luffy settled back down against the wall, he quickly caught another student staring at him from nearby, eyes agape.
Seemingly noticing Luffy during his encounter with Buggy, Alvida and Robin, the girl looked to be around Luffy's age. She sported the same female version of the student uniform that Robin and Alvida had also worn, with her main identifying features being medium-length bright orange hair and bold, brown eyes.
The moment she realized Luffy had noticed her staring at him, she took a deep breath and made her way up to him. Wanting to not be caught off-guard by another food thief, Luffy stood up to match her eyes, which were about at the same height as his.
"You okay?" Luffy questioned innocently. "You've been staring at me for forever. Are you planning on stealing my food too?"
"What? No." She tried to shake off his odd comment, but it almost seemed as though his off-kilter question had made her forget what she wanted to ask. After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, all she could muster was, "You said your name was Luffy? I overheard on my way in…"
"Yeah, and you are?"
She froze, not knowing what to say for a few seconds. Luffy, for his part, let her feel out what she said, noticing her become a mixture of embarrassed and angry, despite not knowing in the slightest what he could've said to bring it about. If anything, the silence from him made her feel more embarrassed, and she spat out, "Not interested in talking to a loser!" before storming off.
The only conclusion Luffy could come to from the encounter was 'Huh… that's a really weird name'.
"He hasn't made it into the building and our little Luffy's already a heartbreaker." Someone spoke out from behind Luffy.
"That's a new world record, if I've ever seen it." Another commented in agreement.
Luffy turned around, and his confusion over the last encounter was immediately pushed to the side. A tall, muscular student with buzzed, green hair and an equally tall, slender student with messy blonde hair and a lollipop in his mouth stared back at Luffy, both with goofy grins on their faces.
"Zoro! Sanji!" Without missing a beat, Luffy ran over to them and tackled them into a massive hug between the three. While Sanji, the blonde-haired student, glanced around during the hug, making sure none of the women nearby caught them in the cartoonishly big hug, the two accepted it from Luffy anyways.
"Glad you could finally catch up." Zoro chuckled to himself as Luffy let go of them. "After seeing your grades last time I wasn't sure you were gonna make it here."
"Garp had to put in a good word for me…" Luffy complained, rolling his eyes. "And if I knew the uniforms would be this stuffy I wouldn't have bothered."
"Don't say something like that!" Sanji wrapped his arm around the first year student, letting a nearly-done lollipop rest in the corner of his mouth as they talked. "The ladies here might be beautiful, but finding good company is really hard." He motioned to Zoro.
"I'm not blind."
"People could be mistaken by the way you navigate this school. It's pretty much a square and you'd have me believe it's some sort of corn maze."
"Wanna talk about blind? That girl Violet wanted nothin' to do with you, and you couldn't see it for over a month."
"You have no idea how women work, do you?!" At this point, Sanji had let go of Luffy and was ready to have a full-on confrontation at the front of the school from Zoro's words. As Zoro likewise glared back daggers and spat insult after insult back, Luffy noticed that the last of the buses were heading into the station by the side of the school.
Just as the last of the students made their way out of the bus and onto the platform, another student with a similar uniform and a scrawny, pointed nose looked across the distance and waved at Luffy.
"Usopp!" Luffy dashed from the arguing duo and off to his friend, whom he similarly engulfed into a massive hug. The two noticed his excitement, arguing still but slowly catching up from behind.
"Wow! Great to see you too, Luffy!"
"It feels like it's been forever!"
"Well, who's fault was it for being grounded the whole summer?"
Luffy looked down towards the ground, dejected. "Don't remind me about the dark times."
"Alright, alright!" Usopp chuckled, before looking up and seeing two looming figures looking over at them from behind Luffy.
"Uh… are these…?"
Luffy burst out into a joyous laugh. "Ah, right! You guys haven't met each other!"
He first pointed to the student with short, moss-green hair. "This is Zoro."
"Yo." Zoro quietly nodded, a shuffle of his body revealing the rattling of Kendo equipment strapped to his back. The only thing Usopp could remember from that introduction was that Zoro would be the intimidating one, with his bulkier figure.
"And this is Sanji."
Usopp immediately took back his only thoughts about Zoro, as he immediately noticed the blonde student sizing him up. With a lollipop in his mouth, he looked like a thug smoking a cigarette, ready to kick the crap out of him at a moment's notice. He needed a way to diffuse the situation, and with a quick glance, he realized that along with his backpack, Sanji had a small suitcase.
"What do you got in that small suitcase?"
"Knives." Sanji coldly responded, although Usopp knew he could've just been confusing being cold with being blunt.
"Oh…"
"And this…" Luffy spun around to face the two upperclassmen. "Is Usopp!"
"Hey…" Usopp shrunk in his spot. He was originally going to regale Luffy's old friends with stories of the duo's time in middle school, but he certainly wasn't expecting such an… overwhelming set of figures to be Luffy's old friends. "It's… g-g-g-great to finally-"
"We should get to the assembly hall." Sanji cut in. "There's supposed to be an assembly when the bell rings."
"Ah… right…" Usopp deflated even further, almost as though his nose was drooping from the lack of oxygen in his body. But as he saw Luffy smile once again in excitement, and his other friends look at him with a respectful sense of eagerness and support, he was sure that Luffy didn't miss when picking out his friends.
"Alright then, fellow friends of the Straw Hat Luffy… let's get going."
Before he even finished the sentence, the other three were already partly into the school.
"Oh, come on!"
~ X X X ~
The school's auditorium, filled with at most a couple hundred students, buzzed with conversation. Not with anticipation, not even in the slightest. Anyone who'd been to an opening assembly starring the principal himself knew to never expect anything but the most awkward, tone-deaf of conversations about the school. It was only after that when people really cared, which was the free time in between the opening ceremony and the first class of the day.
Seeing old friends and preparing for the hell of a year to come was worthy of conversation to many. Stories about the latest movies, break-ups and one-night-stands, the latest trends and the biggest parties of the summer surrounded the Straw Hat crew as they made their way to a selection of four seats in the back.
Surrounding them were people of all shapes and sizes. A tall, slender girl with sharp black hair and a dark demeanor walked with her posse down the center of the walkway just as the Straw Hats began to settle into their seats, causing Sanji's heart to near-audibly flutter. A slim, pale girl with white-blonde hair caught Usopp's interest from across the auditorium, but gathering the required courage to make his way all the way to her, let alone talk to her, was much more than he was prepared for that day. A tall, serious-looking student with hawk-like eyes glared at Zoro from a distance, but neither truly acknowledged each other.
"So, you two get driven here?" Usopp questioned Zoro and Sanji after they sat down.
"Zoro drives, but I give directions." Sanji quipped.
"It's… a pretty rough route to school."
"No, it isn't."
"Shut up, blondie."
As for Luffy, he had noticed that girl with orange hair from before sitting just a few rows down from them. As she looked around, Luffy and her made eye contact. Without hesitation Luffy waved to her with a friendly smile, causing her to slink back into her seat with embarrassment.
"You know what you did to her?" Zoro questioned.
"I did something to her?" Luffy questioned.
"Figures." He muttered back, before sliding into his own chair and beginning to get some rest.
"What does that-?" Before Luffy could finish his thought, the speakers of the auditorium crackled to life. Up on the stage, in front of a cheap stage mic, stood a man in a high-collared leather vest with a pudgy, red nose and wavy, lavender-colored hair. Creepy would be the best way to describe him, with 'unhealthy' and 'unnerving' being close calls.
"Testing, testing." The audio of his voice came out overly-loud, accompanied by a blast of static sending the majority of the students back into their seats, and silencing the rest of them.
"Perfect. Ahem, you may call me Principal Spandam, and I'd like to welcome all of you to another year at Grand Line High!"
Each sentence he said ended with a dramatic pause, almost in the expectation that someone, somewhere, would react to it. After a few more sentences of acceptance and congratulations for the new year, he grumpily pulled out a piece of paper from his vest and began reading what felt as though word for word what was written down.
"Here are the important announcements that you students will need to keep in mind this semester: first of all, the hall monitor program returns for the ninth year running! Please stand up, members of our newest brigade of students against tardiness and general rule breaking."
A collection of older and more cartoonish students stood up from their seats, some obviously taking the directive more seriously than others. The big difference for each of them was their black-and-white colored uniforms, which seemed to be much more professional and sleek than the generic light-blue uniforms the majority of the students wore.
Closest to Luffy and friends, a student stood up brandishing a cartoonishly large and sharp square nose. Without hesitation, the three original friends immediately glanced at Usopp, whose pride had been intact for a whole three minutes before realizing where on his face the trio were all glancing at.
"Oh, come on! It's not that bad!" Usopp tried to mutter, hoping the hall monitor didn't hear him from that distance.
"As the ninth year of our program, I'm pleased you finally get to meet our CP9. Thank you for standing." With an annoyed hand movement, the collective of students quickly sat down. "As for the bulk of our opening ceremonies, we like to offer each of our new students a chance to introduce themselves to their peers."
As though on cue, the piece of paper that Principal Spandam was holding extended into a much larger sheet of paper, in what appeared to be some sort of large-scale attendance sheet. Many of the first years shifted around in nervousness, none more so than Usopp, if just thinking about the idea of having to stand up in front of everyone in the large auditorium.
"First up, Adele…" As the principal began making his way down the list, students began standing up one at a time, quickly waving to their peers in an awkward display, before promptly sitting back down. People clapped, mainly to press the situation to go by faster, but that didn't make it any less nerve-racking.
"Next, Kaya."
The pale girl that Usopp had noticed earlier stood up, and for a moment he'd forgotten he was even in the auditorium, just staring at her. That ended up not being in his favor, as his name was called next, and he couldn't hear.
"Is there an Usopp here?" The principal annoyingly jeered. Usopp shot straight up, red in the face, noticing the same girl giggling along with many others at the lack of attention being paid.
"Alright, alright… next, Nami."
Now Luffy was at a loss for words, seeing the girl who'd confronted him earlier standing up. He wasn't taken aback by her beauty or anything… rather, he really thought her name was 'Not-interested-in-talking-to-a-loser'. He didn't understand why she had thought to lie to him about her name, although maybe she was just confused. Luffy immediately forgave her if that was the case, and waved to her again as she sat back down.
"Luffy!" Spandam called out, initially confused by the pronunciation and calling him 'Luf-fy' instead of 'Lu-ffy'. Understanding what he meant, Luffy casually stood up and basked in the crowd around him, clapping just the same as everyone else. Even Nami glared back, although in a hurried manner, hoping not to catch his eye again.
"Now please, sit down. Next-"
"Wait, what?! I don't get to say anything?"
The entire audience shifted their attention to Luffy, who was the first student to use their moment of standing to speak. Spandam almost did a double take in shock of the kid's courage.
"I'm really going to regret this… Do you have something you want to say to your fellow peers?"
By this point Zoro was shaken awake by Sanji, the trio of friends gawking at Luffy's general courage. Before Zoro could lean in to stop him, however…
"Uh… yeah! I think school is stupid, and I think no one should be required to come here! Set classes, limited lunch, grades! It's all just really dumb! I'm only here to graduate, and that's that!"
While several were grabbing at their seats in tense embarrassment for Luffy, Usopp included, several of the students applauded with actual interest. Luffy was the first person to genuinely reject any of the boring nonsense they'd been suffering through since the opening ceremonies began, after all. While not the reaction Luffy had been expecting, he simply bowed to the crowd in a mocking-of-regal fashion and sat back down, giggling from the unexpected adrenaline of the situation.
Zoro and Sanji still clapped ecstatically as the cheers from the crowd were calming down, almost celebrating the return of their eccentric friend in the process of realizing how big a disturbance he'd made.
"Honest to a fault." Zoro muttered.
"But I mean, of all places? I'm glad he's here, of course, but people would kill to get into this school."
"I'd never have the courage to say that, even if I did feel that way…" Usopp shuddered at the thought of having to say something during his standing-up moment.
"Damn communist…" Spandam tried to mutter, although the comment was loud enough for the mic to catch him. "Now, with all of the freshmen introduced, I hope all of you stay on the edge of your seats for this year's new rules."
The students in the audience audibly groaned, Luffy, Zoro and Sanji included. By that point, Usopp was just along for the ride. The moderately large size of groans echoing through the theater even caught the principal off guard, causing him to throw the hand he was holding his notes down and fully glance at the audience.
"Now look, I know this isn't the most fun-" Before he could fully even react, the hand he'd thrown down had knocked into the stand with his mic, causing the whole thing to begin crashing down. After what had felt like minutes, the microphone hit the stage and bounced off. What could only be described as a terrifyingly large blast of static swept through the audience, knocking out the students who couldn't react in time to cover their ears and waking up the students who had fallen asleep by that point.
Luffy could only giggle at the chaos, hands completely covering his ears.
~ X X X ~
Not even Usopp could get Luffy to laugh in such a boring situation.
Their first class together was 'World History', but even as they sat down, the bold words on the whiteboard 'PLEASE FOLLOW ASSIGNED SEATING' made any attempts at trying to sit near friends during English impossible. While it might have been possible to sit wherever they wanted in an even table arrangement, the seats were set up in pairs, meaning that whoever they sat with were people they were probably going to have to work with for the rest of the school year.
For Usopp's part, he immediately recognized the name 'Kaya' on the seat next to his, and promptly began freaking out. He even checked to see if he could easily remove his nameplate on the desk so he didn't have to embarrass himself in front of her, but not only were the tags applied tightly, they had students' names from other class periods affixed as well.
"Oh, hello…" Usopp looked away from his over-the-top attempts at changing seats to see Kaya, and for her part, she met his eyes and gave him a shy smile before extending her hand. "I l-look forward to working with you."
With any courage he could muster, Usopp grabbed her hand and shook it confidently. "I, too, am looking forward to working with me."
It took a second of silence, with their hands intertwined, for Usopp to realize what he'd said. Usopp grew bright red in embarrassment, as Kaya just giggled in delight at his little antics.
As for Luffy, his partner couldn't have been a worse match for himself.
"Do you have any food on you?" Luffy whispered to a short boy with bright pink hair. "I think I lost my lunch somewhere."
"Sorry, I just buy lunch at the cafeteria-"
"Could you speak up?" Luffy complained, his voice getting louder even as the teacher began talking.
"Aren't you worried about getting in trouble with the teacher?" The pink-haired boy just barely got out, continuously glancing between his seat partner and teacher in an erratic fashion.
"No. I can't get a bad grade for doing what I want, right?"
"Well, not exactly…"
"Then good!" Luffy exclaimed, leaning his head down onto the table as though he were going to get some sleep, eyes glaring at his seat-mate. "You seem pretty pathetic, you know that?"
"Well…" Koby couldn't necessarily deny it, especially when talking to the student that called himself out during a school-wide assembly. If there was any one thing opposite about these two, it would be their courage. Even then, he could have enough self respect about himself if the person he was sitting next to was just your average, run-of-the-mill slacker. "Then what do you want to do? Go home, play video games or something?"
"I want to graduate."
Koby was dumbfounded. "What?"
"I said I wanted to graduate!" Luffy nearly yelled, causing even the teacher to give the two annoyed looks. Even Usopp and Kaya glared over nervously.
"I heard you the first time!" Koby spat in hushed tones, motioning his hands to lower Luffy's voice. "I was just surprised, you know. After what you said in the auditorium, about hating school and all of that, I thought graduation would be the last thing on your mind."
"I do hate school. I hate that it's required, I hate that 'fancy' people get to go to 'fancy' schools like this, while just because you're not that you have to go to some poor school. I don't like much of what they teach, and I don't like most of the people who they get to teach it. Most teachers are jerks! But…"
Luffy adjusted his Straw Hat. "An old friend said I could do it, and that when I did do it I could live any life I wanted to. Because of that, I've wanted to give it a good shot. So that way… even if I don't make it to the end, and I'm stuck in some dead-end job for the rest of my life, I'll know that I gave it my best shot."
"Cool!" Koby exclaimed, almost too loudly. "I want to-"
"Koby! Luffy!" At this point, the teacher wasn't playing games, and their look sank a thousand conversations the two could've been having.
"Sorry!" Koby exclaimed, while Luffy just gave a half-hearted bow of apology. A few more sneers from the teacher, and they were back to focusing on the front board.
The two, almost in sync, then pulled out cartoonishly large textbooks to begin following along to the teacher's instructions. Along with the textbook, Koby had a small, pink notebook with a mechanical pencil attached to its side. Opening up the notebook, Luffy could see in its early pages several sketches of what appeared to be cartoonishly brave marine soldiers fighting over-the-top pirates, with peg legs and eye patches and the like.
"Ooh!" Luffy hummed. "What were those?"
"Oh…" Koby slammed the book shut nervously. "Those were just… doodles I drew. I draw a little sketch to go with my notes every day so I don't forget what day I did the notes. For example, today is my first day at Grand Line High, home of the marines, so…"
Eventually, Koby opened the book up to the page where his drawing was on full display. It wasn't great, but it had a lot of whimsical charm that drew Luffy in.
"Wow! That doesn't look horrible!"
"Thanks…" Koby said, dejected.
"Is this what you want to do?" Luffy innocently questioned.
"No! This is just a bit of fun. What I want-"
The two froze as the teacher silently judged them from the front of the classroom. With finally being pushed to silence, Koby opened his notebook to a new page, and Luffy soon followed by opening up to the right page in his textbook. As the two began to get sunken into their books, Luffy and Koby exchanged one last jovial glance at each other, before letting the conversation officially end and class truly begin.
Maybe someday, Koby would be able to talk about his dreams. But, for the first time in a long time, the thrill of having someone to talk to was exciting enough.
~ X X X ~
Bored. Nothing else could run through Luffy's mind as he slouched on his desk during Math class.
Several classes had passed during the day, and if the only hope to not be bored was to have someone he knew in the class, then he was fresh out of luck. It was only the first day and by halfway through the class the teacher was droning on about equations… or something, Luffy couldn't bother to look up to pay attention.
Hoping to get out a bit of restlessness, he glanced around the room only to realize there was someone he knew: Nami, the orange-haired girl. In the back of the class she sat, but not too far away from Luffy either. It was a big enough class, so with a bit of motivation restored in him, he tried to wave her down.
"Psst. Nami."
A pink-haired gothic girl sitting next to Nami ended up getting her attention for Luffy, Nami herself too stuck on an equation to really notice anything else going on. The girl pointed over her shoulder to Luffy, and when she realized Luffy was waving to her, she immediately began scribbling something in her notebook.
Luffy waited patiently, or about as patiently as someone bored out of their mind could wait, before Nami eventually tore out the page (using as little force as possible, hoping not to make a large sound) and passed it onto the gothic girl. Impressively, the girl thought quickly on her feet (which were adorned with comically rule-breaking pink boots), placing the note on the floor and sliding it a few rows down all the way to Luffy with a light kick. He quickly reached down to pick it up, but hit his elbow on the way up, causing a loud DING through the class.
"Luffy? Do you have to disturb my class?" The teacher called out, finally done with her list of equations on the board.
"What? How was I describing your class? If anything, this desk described my arm!"
"Disturb, Luffy. Even a math teacher like me can catch that, you know." She chuckled. "Alright, alright. Luffy, it seems you got a note there. Would you like to read it for the class?"
"Oh, sure!"
Nami turned pale, the gothic girl began to chuckle like crazy, and Luffy began unfolding the note in his hands. He shook his body in dramatic preparation before clearing his throat, and with a long, deep breath…
~ X X X ~
"So, you got held back from half of lunch for reading a note in class?" Zoro questioned, as a dejected Luffy sprawled himself out across their lunch table. He reached into his pocket, pulled out the note and threw it at his friend.
"What does it say?" Usopp asked, sitting alone on the opposite side of the rectangular table.
"Hm…" Zoro unfolded the paper, only to burst out in laughter.
"What's so funny about that?!" Luffy said. "I only read the note like she said."
"Come on, what is it?!"
Zoro passed the note along to Usopp, and in big, bold letters, the note read:
'SCREW OFF, YOU DUMBASS!'
"Oh." Zoro chuckled even more at Usopp's realization.
"It wasn't that funny when I didn't get to eat!" Luffy complained.
"Didn't you eat your lunch during the assembly?" Usopp countered.
"Oh… well, I'm sure I would've found something to eat if I'd had more time!"
"I mean…" Usopp continues to stare at the note. "I bet the punchline was funnier in class than just reading the note."
"And on top of that, you're getting notes from girls." Zoro teased. "Know what that means?"
"No."
Zoro facepalmed.
Usopp's attention turned sideways when Zoro mentioned girls. "Where's Sanji, anyways?"
"He's just creeping over women by cooking for them in the Home Economics room."
"Aren't rooms like that closed off during lunch?"
"Ask him, I dunno. At least school is halfway over."
"Halfway?!" Luffy complained, louder than before. His two friends chuckled at the extent of his whining, both completely comfortable with Luffy around.
"Ow!"
Luffy glanced up to see Koby, the kid he'd sat with earlier, being tripped by a tall girl just a few tables down. With a few quick glances, Luffy could immediately recognize who was over there picking on him. Or, well, he could've, if he could remember their names. But they were the same jerks who messed with his Straw Hat at the beginning of school!
"Thought you were above this, Alvida?" Buggy questioned, arms behind his head as he chuckled in delight at the young student's misery. Koby in question was now covered in his own lunch, the lunch he was just trying to get back to an empty table.
"When I see someone as pathetic as this brat cross my path, I let my beautiful side out."
Alvida crouched down, picked up the small Koby by his shirt-collar, and showcased a wicked smile.
"I'm sure you remember this one: who's the prettiest girl of all, you pathetic wimp?" She teased, the answer by her tone of voice being obvious.
Koby could only quake in fear for a few seconds, looking at the two looming threats above him. They weren't just your average bullies, at least not to him. Just as he was about to spit something out…
"Alright, Koby… who's the prettiest girl of them all?" Alvida spat, chuckling wildly to herself.
The three were outside of 'Shells Private Elementary', where not a teacher was in sight to stop the sidewalk bullying. While much younger than their high school counterparts, Alvida and Buggy still loomed over the short, scrawny boy shivering in fear. If there was anyone at school that was easier to make fun of than the spineless Koby, then Alvida and Buggy would like to hear about them.
"It's you, Alvida!" Koby tried his best to maintain a cheery tone, knowing full well what would happen if he couldn't maintain it.
"And what's this?" She gestured to her pant leg, where a smudge of dirt sunk into the fabric.
"That'd… that'd be dirt…"
"Of course it's dirt!" Buggy moved around Alvida and swung his knee into Koby's stomach. Losing his breath, the boy collapsed to the floor. "It had to be you who did this to me, since only you and Buggy know how much I hate dirt."
"But couldn't it have-" Koby halted himself mid-sentence, too late to realize he was speaking back to her until it was too late.
Without hesitation, Buggy lifted up Koby from his shirt collar. Alvida gave him a disgusted look. "What were you about to say?"
"Nothing." Koby quickly muttered.
Without hesitation, Buggy threw Koby back onto the ground, spraining his entire back and legs as he collapsed into the sidewalk.
"Wrong answer." Buggy chuckled to himself.
"Want to try again?" Alvida spat back at Koby.
"I w-was just going to say… that maybe it was just an accident?"
"Hah! You think a stain like this was an accident?! You really are incompetent. No matter. It doesn't change how absolutely cute I look today, right Buggy?"
"Of course!" Buggy acted almost as a lapdog for her, following her every whim. It wasn't that he wasn't his own person, but it was obvious the kind of Alvida he'd be dealing with if he didn't do so.
"Alright then. Now that I know it's true…" Alvida squatted down next to the battered Koby on the sidewalk. "Koby, who's the most beautiful girl of all?"
Koby wished he could say otherwise. He wished that he had the strength to fight back against them, or at least the courage to try. But they were both from wealthy families, both loved by many of their peers. They were like pirates, taking but never leaving anything in return. Vultures to prey, just overall ungrateful beings. If there was anything he wanted to do in life, it was to teach people like this a lesson…
If only he was the kind of person who could perform such miracles.
"Who's the hag, Koby?" Luffy spoke out, now standing right next to the bullying pair and their victim.
"Luffy!" Koby exclaimed, both happy and nervous.
"You…" Alvida gave Luffy a general look of distaste, her hatred of being called ugly overshadowing how cute she thought the freshman looked. "Buggy!"
Buggy stood between Luffy and Alvida, taking on a crossed-arm, aggressive stance.
"Alright, dumbass. Let's just keep on walking and-"
"Hey! You're that big-nose that took my food and left me starving!"
Buggy… did not like that. He did not like being called big-nose one bit.
"Well look who's talking, Straw Hat! Don't get in between me and my girlfriend's business with that pathetic wimp while we're busy."
For his part, Luffy was able to restrain himself as Buggy all but spat in his face. As soon as the big-nosed student turned away and prepared to punch Koby…
BANG!
Before he could finish, Luffy landed a one-hit knockout on Buggy, sending him crashing to the floor before he even had a chance. Zoro and Usopp leapt from the lunch table. They weren't going any closer, but they were ready to step in if need be. Many of the tables near them, and some even farther away, were now engrossed in the situation, the brawl going from zero to one-hundred quicker than any were expecting.
"Don't lay a finger on him! He's not a wimp!" Luffy called down to the almost-unconscious Buggy, a layer of fury lining his eyes. "He's my friend!"
"Those don't necessarily-" Usopp began to say, before Zoro covered his mouth.
Alvida glared at him as though he were a barbarian, still confident he wouldn't come anywhere near her. "What about this little ball of anxiety isn't anything but a wimp?"
She leaned in close to Koby, who was still hanging by the collar of his shirt, any lack of oxygen being replaced by the pure adrenaline of the situation. "I'll give you one more chance, pinky. Who's the prettiest girl of all?"
Koby turned to look at Luffy, who gave him a blank stare as the altercation occurred. Luffy only seemed to be stepping in when Koby looked to be in danger or something, so why wasn't he stepping in now?
He thought back to when Luffy was describing why he was still going to school, beyond the fact that he hated it. And he thought back to his own dreams. He wanted to help people, and deal with bullies just like them. And how could he do that when he couldn't even stand up to the likes of her? Maybe he'd need Luffy's help… but it certainly wouldn't put him any farther to stand up for himself before someone else could stand up for him.
"Certainly not you, you ugly hag!"
"You bastard!" Alvida stumbled back, even more shocked then when Buggy got thrown to the ground. Just as she tried to ground herself, an object pressed against her foot at just the right angle, causing her to let go of Koby and fall to the ground, her back slamming right into Koby's smashed lunch.
Luffy and Koby glanced over to see a girl sitting at a table right behind where Alvida was standing, giving herself a satisfying smile before brushing up her orange hair. "If you don't mind, I'm trying to eat."
"Nami!" Luffy laughed out loud at the revelation, but quickly Nami shouldered herself back into a look of discomfort.
"What is going on here!"
A girl in a black-and-white uniform made their way over to the commotion, mainly identified by her sharp blonde hair, bright red lipstick and librarian's glasses. She gave the whole situation a look, nothing looking good for either party. At this point Zoro and Usopp began making their way over, but before they could step in, Luffy answered for himself.
"They were picking on my friend! What else was I supposed to do?"
"Then what did you do to that guy?!" She pointed to Buggy, who was just reeling on the ground.
"Oh, him? He-" Before he could say anything, Zoro and Usopp equally covered his mouth, hoping to save their friend any more face than he'd already ruined.
"Well…" She gave the situation one more glance. "I can see you were probably in the right. I still have to report this… at least five counts of sexual harassment-"
"Kalifa!" Another hall monitor made their way over, this one the trio of friends immediately recognized from the opening ceremonies.
"Other Usopp!" Luffy spat out from the layers of hands covering his mouth.
"We don't look the same at all!" Usopp complained. The student with a nose similar to Usopp realized the joke, and simply laughed it off.
"Do you remember this kid, Kalifa? He was the one who spoke out during the assembly this morning!" She gave him a look up and down, most likely piecing everything together by his hat.
"That seems right."
"I thought that was hilarious!" He extended his hand out to Luffy, who was still being smothered by his friends. "I'm Kaku. I personally don't like studying. I wish I had the courage to say something like that, moreso to the principal."
"Well why don't you?" Luffy spoke out, his friends letting him shake Kaku's hand after realizing it might be better to let Luffy do his thing.
"Ha! Well, I'd like to keep my position, first of all." He let out a big smile, although it seemed more out of respect than genuine. "But anyways… seems you got yourself in a pickle before the day was out, huh?" The two looked over to the general chaos that was caused by the encounter.
"I don't see the problem." Luffy noted. Zoro and Usopp smacked their heads in frustration.
"Quite independent, huh? Well look, I'll make you a deal. I won't write you up about this, we'll deal with these thugs, and everything will be fine. Just don't get into trouble on campus again, and especially in front of Lucci. He wasn't exactly a fan of you like I was."
Luffy thought on it for a moment, but before he could say his peace Usopp took Kaku's hand and shook it. "Ahaha! We'll make sure our friend here doesn't get into any more trouble!"
"For your sake, I hope not. I'll be rooting for you, Straw Hat!" Kaku took Kalifa by the arm and began taking care of the bullies. Without hesitation, the trio, Koby and Nami shuffled away back to their original table, hoping to keep out of sight of the larger incident as more people came upon the bruised Buggy and messy, gross Alvida.
"Well, that could have gone worse." Zoro spoke first, turning to see a happy and smiling Luffy.
"Yeah, Luffy! What got into you?" Usopp responded in turn.
Before Luffy could answer, Koby cut in. "Luffy! Did you see that! Did you hear what I said to her?"
"Knew you had it in you the whole time!"
"I want-" Koby began to say something excitedly, before holding himself back. Even with the rush of adrenaline rolling through himself, Koby still felt awkward as can be vocalizing his desires. Luffy gave him a disappointed look.
"Hey! You still have to tell me what you want to do!" Luffy leaned in, the rest of the table letting Koby feel out exactly what he wanted to say.
As he looked at the smiling Luffy, though, he knew that he could speak comfortably. It was as though a refreshing wave of warmth shot through his body, before taking a deep breath in.
"I want… to be a police officer!" He called out proudly. "I want to be able to deal with stuff like this on my own! I want to have the strength to carry that out, and the courage to see it through!"
The rest of the table gave him respectable looks, before Luffy leaned into the middle and held up his fist, grinning ear to ear.
"That's really cool. Hope you can reach it, desk-mate."
The two fist-bumped, the rest of the table looking on with a general sense of admiration and respect. Things might have gotten a little hectic, but every bit of chaos Luffy got himself into seemed to come back on itself, back to something worthwhile.
"Luffy?"
The group looked down at the table, where Nami was sitting, squirming in her spot.
"Can we talk?"
~ X X X ~
The two leaned against the faded walls of the cafeteria exterior, in a corner near the back where few people were heading. Nami carried an air of seriousness about her, and while Luffy was in a good mood, he respected her more serious demeanor and tried his best to match it. From the few times his family and friends were serious about things, he knew the best way to respect was simply to meet them halfway.
"So, you really don't remember me?" Nami finally spoke.
"Uh…" Luffy looked at her closely, thinking back to the people he's met. Much to his regret, nothing came up. "No, I don't."
"I see…" She leaned against the grimy wall, just enough to get a hold without ruining her uniform. "Sorry for being an ass today. I was just mad that you didn't remember me… but when you stood up for that guy I really understood you weren't doing it on purpose. You're still a cool guy after all these years."
"You were mad at me?" Luffy questioned. "Was that why you didn't tell me your name?"
"My name-" Nami immediately remembered their first encounter, at the beginning of the day. "Ha! Sorry again, it just kinda slipped out. Anyways, I promise I won't bother you again."
Before she could even move from her spot, Luffy stiffened up in confusion.
"What are you talking about? Aren't you gonna sit with us at lunch?"
"What?" Nami was taken aback, just a bit. "You still want me to sit with you after all the confusion?"
"You seem cool. I want you to sit with me and my friends, unless you're already sitting with other people." Luffy confidently said. "Also, you helped out when Koby was in trouble. Now come on, lunch is almost over."
As Luffy began heading back inside, Nami straightened up her posture and realized something.
"Luffy!" He turned back. "Do you want to know how I know you?"
He simply smiled back. "If I don't remember then that's that. Let's just…" He extended his hand. "Start from scratch! I'm Luffy!"
Nami hesitated for a moment, before accepting his hand back. "I'm Nami. Glad to finally meet you again."
Nami, age seven, hunched over against the park bench so that all she could see were her sandals. The rest of the world didn't really matter to her, so why should she look up to take in the view?
"You're in my spot!" A voice loudly called to her, jolting her from her mind. Looking up, an equally young boy in a Straw Hat angrily glared at her, with a few friends of similar ages right behind him.
"That's not how you're supposed to talk to a lady!" A girl with red and white hair said, as she grabbed the Straw Hat boy's ear.
"Well, what was he supposed to say?!" Another boy, with wet, black hair and freckles, responded to her in turn.
"Manners are key for a situation like this…" A blonde boy with a tattered top hat used a mocking classical tone on his friend. "But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't exhausted as well. The seat would be nice, miss."
Their comradery immediately shook Nami out of her headspace, and within a few seconds, she was down and out of the seat. She could barely even acknowledge them, though, too nervous to even give the simplest of responses.
"Oh, you don't have to listen to him!" The other girl spoke apologetically to Nami, pulling the Straw Hat boy over. "Apologize, Luffy!"
"I'm sorry…" Luffy pouted over the apology, obviously not believing he was in the wrong. But, once he looked over to see that clear, empty bench, he broke free of the girl's grasp and leapt up on top. "Thanks, orange-haired girl!" He called out, waving over to her from his spot.
Within a few more seconds, the other three friends joined him atop the large park bench, ecstatically leaping and laughing all along the way. All Nami could do was look away, uncomfortable with how loud and jovial they all were. It'd been a long time since she'd felt like she had anyone to be like that with, as much as she wanted to join them.
Maybe someday in the future, Nami wondered, she could have a group of friends just like them.
"So, this is Nami, everyone!" Luffy introduced Nami to the lunch table, where Zoro, Usopp, Koby, and now recently Sanji, all sat.
"Looks like I came back just in time…" Sanji muttered to himself, giving a quick glance over at Nami before politely bowing down to her and taking her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you, miss."
"I didn't know we were getting a clown for the table." Zoro joked, before taking a bite of his sandwich.
"Quiet, dumbass!" Sanji sniped back, causing even Usopp to shudder a bit.
"We already dealt with one fight today, guys… do you really want to start another one?!" Usopp pleaded with the two, who seemed to only get angrier with each other with just their stares towards each other.
"Are they always like this?" Koby asked, his glares towards them giving off the vibes that maybe he should just find his own table.
"Of course!" Luffy called back, a big smile on his face. "Isn't it fun?!"
Nami gave them all one more look over, before taking a seat next to Luffy. They certainly seemed to be a lot more carefree than her, but maybe… that wasn't so bad. Maybe it was the start of something nice.
~ X X X ~
The rest of the day had gone by quickly, if not incredibly uneventfully. Luffy only had one more class with Usopp and Nami each, and the other class was simply a snoozefest.
Once that final bell rang he dashed out of the school, hungry beyond belief. He knew the location of the school well, and also knew that just on the other side of the street was a small diner in a strip mall. Quickly dashing across the street (and nearly getting cars into several collisions in the meantime), Luffy grabbed the handle of the door before hearing a call from behind him.
"Luffy! Hey, wait up!"
Turning around, he saw Sanji waving at him from the right side of the street.
"Sanji!" Luffy, mimicking a gentleman, held the door open for his friend as the two made their way inside. The diner itself was decently spacious for fitting within a strip mall, with a long set of bar seats lined up along the back near the kitchen. A waitress who looked not too much older than anyone at the high school motioned for them to come sit at the bar, barely any customers filling the restaurant.
"Now, would you two boys want to start with anything to drink?"
Luffy and Sanji sat down at chairs opposite her, the blonde teenager trying his best not to take his eyes off the woman as he slid into a tall chair. Sanji lifted his hand, as cool and casually as he could be, twirled the lollipop in his mouth to the side.
"I'll take your finest coffee, madam."
"Well look here, it seems we've got a gentleman." She smiled with a homely charm.
"I try my best." Sanji spoke, letting out a suave chuckle while trying his best to smile.
"And you, sir?" She glanced over to Luffy.
"Uh…" Luffy thought for a moment, unsure of what to get.
"You're hungry, right?" Sanji asked, Luffy simply nodding in agreement. He quickly glanced back at the waitress. "I hear your burgers are divine. If we could get one of those for my friend, and just put it on my check."
"You got it." The waitress winked before heading back, sending Sanji's heart aflutter.
"Thanks, Sanji!" Luffy profusely bowed to him, happy he took care of the encounter. "Too bad you were barely at lunch today."
"Sorry we didn't get much time to talk before now… when beautiful ladies call, I just can't leave them hanging."
"Hanging from what?"
"That's not… it doesn't matter. Well… what brought you here, and right after school no less?"
"I've never been here before, but I was just starving. I didn't have lunch when lunch was happening, and nobody had anything I could eat for the rest of the day! Even the vending machines weren't restocked!" Luffy flailed around on the bar table, as though a child taking a nap in a restaurant before the meal. "What about you?"
"I started coming here every Monday after school, hoping to get a cup of coffee before my shift at the Baratie. It almost feels comforting to be back here, after the summer break."
"That's the place you work at, right?" Luffy asked, looking away for a moment as a fresh patty was placed on a grill in the back, only to realize Sanji was gone. Worried at first he'd gained the power to turn invisible, Luffy patted the seat next to him only to hear a conversation further down in the restaurant.
"You must be Nico Robin?"
"That would be me."
Luffy went down a row of tables to see Sanji on the other side of a booth, with the girl who had helped him out earlier, Robin, sipping on her own cup of coffee.
"Why, I can't just let a woman as beautiful as you sit alone in a quiet place like this. Allow me to give you some much-needed company."
"I'm just trying to catch up on a book I've been wanting to read all week, and this is the best place in the area to get something to drink before work. If you mind?"
"Absolutely not. I promise not to disturb you for a minute-"
"Oh! Hey Robin!" Luffy called over from behind Sanji, rotating to get a better view from the seat behind them.
"Luffy! Pleasure to see you again. Have you been feeling better after this morning?"
"Yeah! My leg feels better, and I got to punch that guy in the face!" Before Sanji or Robin could say anything, Luffy quickly shuffled over to join them. Now, the only three customers in the diner were all localized at this one booth.
"Sounds most intriguing." Robin, for her part, had moved her book to the side at the notice of Luffy, leaning her head into her hand as though to express rapt interest as he sat down in front of her to continue.
"He was just picking on a friend of mine, and he went down in one punch! He wasn't even worth it!"
"Oh, so that was the commotion I heard about in the cafeteria. You certainly know how to make your entrances, don't you?"
"Yeah… I guess I do!" Luffy agreed with her, not fully understanding what she meant but fully appreciating the sentiment.
Sanji. Was freaking out.
It was incredible that he'd had the courage to walk up and talk to the Nico Robin. It was worth a shot, but rejection was par for the course for a flirt like him. Which then raised the question…
How was Luffy holding her attention better than him? And for what had to be a complete accident?
"You look different… Am I right?" Luffy guessed, observing her closely.
"Yes, actually…" She ran a hand through her hair. "I let my hair down outside of school. Tying it up helps to keep a presentable figure."
"I dunno… tying it up looks really stuffy. I think you look more… of a receptionist now, with your hair down and the glasses." Robin smiled, taking the observation as a compliment.
"Thank you… I'll have to see if I can pull it off sometime during school hours, if you think it looks nice."
Just as Luffy was about to say more, and Sanji was on the brink of passing out, a small buzzing sound came from Robin's pocket.
"Oh! My apologies, but I have to take this."
"Absolutely…" Sanji trailed out, almost loopy from delirium.
"Good luck! I hate phone calls!" Luffy waved the older girl off as she similarly waved to the waitress. The waitress, in turn, brought Sanji's coffee and Luffy's burger to the table where Robin was.
"Was that a friend of yours?" The waitress asked, motioning to Robin in the back as she gathered singles from a sleek, black purse.
"Yeah, was she?!" Sanji finally snapped from his mental state, staring at Luffy with rapt curiosity.
"Oh yeah, she helped me up this morning when a guy tried to throw my hat."
"That's it?!" Sanji exclaimed.
"Yeah, that's it…" Luffy casually spoke back, before grabbing the burger off of his plate and digging in with a cartoonishly large bite.
"Well, I won't keep you two hanging… I'll go and grab all your receipts." The waitress spoke up in between them, before heading off a register at the far end of the counter.
"Do you even know who she is?"
"NOP!" Luffy tried to say 'nope' through a mouthful of burger. Sanji motioned for him to finish his food, and after a few more seconds of chewing, Luffy got it all down. "Nope! I mean, yes, but no? How does this work again? I remember you telling me a while back…"
"A beautiful woman such as her? She's the daughter of Mr. Crocodile, CEO of Baroque Works! It's the steel and manufacturing company that most of the places in this city are built from!"
"That sounds kind of boring. Why would you want to talk to her about that?"
"That's not the point!" Sanji sighed. "Well, whatever. It was probably a fluke anyway a woman such as herself struck up such a good conversation with you."
"That means I'm lucky, right?" Luffy questioned, before grinning and patting Sanji on the back. "Thanks, man!"
Sanji could only hope to change the topic at this rate. "So… have any plans after this?"
"After this… ah! I'm going to hang out with Usopp later. I asked Zoro already but he's going to the gym after school. And you?"
"I think I said it before, but I got a late-night shift at the Baratie restaurant starting in a little bit. Terrible hours for my sleep but the best place in the world to cook."
"Cool! I'll have to eat there sometime."
"Sorry, Luffy. I'll only be able to let you in if you have a beautiful woman accompanying you."
Luffy pondered for a moment.
He was thinking. He was actually thinking. If it was for food he'd think of anything, from the most complex of math equations to the heartiest of literature.
Now, he knew he wasn't the best expert on defining beautiful women. In fact, he was confident in saying he was the worst person to define what 'beautiful' was. It just didn't really matter to him. At best, he knew it meant a lot to people, so maybe… 'beautiful equals delicious'? No, no. Couldn't be. Sanji talked about being beautiful outside of a context with food.
What did he say again… yes! That Robin was beautiful!
Without hesitation, Luffy turned to see Robin heading back through the doors of the diner after her phone call.
"Robin!"
"Luffy, what are you-" Sanji began to speak, but froze in nervousness after looking at Robin once again. His first reaction was to turn away, as though some kind of tragedy was about to unfold in front of him.
"Yes, Luffy?"
"Do you want to get food with me? Sanji thinks you're beautiful, and I want to go to this fancy restaurant, so how about it?"
Sanji froze in fear as the waitress in the back burst out laughing. Robin, for her part, thought about it for a moment. As Robin seriously considered it, Sanji began repeatedly slamming his hand into his face.
"I'm afraid I'll have to decline, Luffy. I'm usually very busy after school, aside from this little time I get. Will I still be able to talk to you during school?"
"I don't see why not!" Luffy spoke back, unsure of what she meant. It was almost as though Sanji could just see the layers of context that Robin thought Luffy was implying flying over him as they spoke. "Thanks!"
She showed a small, relieved smile. "No problem. Now, apologies for taking up your time together, but I have to meet up with my father. Enjoy the rest of your day, Luffy and Sanji." Giving the duo one last nod, she walked over to the cashier to pay for her check.
"Well, I guess I'll have to find some more beautiful woman to ask out." Luffy complained, taking another, smaller bite of his burger before leaning against the table. "Do any girls count? How about imaginary girls?"
At that point, Sanji could only let out a relieved laugh. His friend hadn't changed a bit since they'd first met, and that was worth more to him than he'd care to admit.
"You're a delightful idiot, you know that?"
Luffy thought about the question for a second, thinking that the phrase 'delightful idiot' was contradictory. "Is that good or bad?"
"Good, Luffy. Really good."
The two laughed and talked for a while longer, before Sanji paid the bill and, along with Luffy, made their way out. Sanji waved Luffy off as he began waiting at a nearby shuttle stop for transport to Baratie. Luffy hoped to get a beautiful date someday, and equally so feared for his safety once he went back home to Garp and Ace.
But at that moment, life was pretty good for the teenager with a large Straw Hat.
BTS (Behind the Scenes) CH.1 -
For those who haven't read the original by Supreme-King, this was an adaptation of the first two chapters of the storyline. For the most part, what needed to be there stayed the same: we learned about Luffy, the other four OG Straw Hats, Robin, CP9 as the hall monitors, the principal, and some influential side characters. A lot to take in for one chapter, but I thought that, after shrinking the size of the Opening Ceremonies, that the two chapters would flow into each other much better than before.
What I think was the biggest change: Nami's character. In the original story, we spend a long time trying to understand why Nami's character is mad at Luffy, but she still shows up every now and then. I worried that, if I attempted to adapt the story with that plotline, I would make her too unlikable. So, I gave the audience a bit more to work with. She's known Luffy for a long time, but as you'd expect, Luffy can barely remember what he had for breakfast that morning. I hope you stick around to find out their full backstory, as there's much more to it this time around than the initial story!
Another big scene I added into this adaptation was a small character arc for Koby. Since this is our introduction to this version of Luffy, I needed to make clear where his similarities and where his differences from the Luffy we know are. And if Nami's character is an introduction to the changes made to him so that he can better handle high school drama, Koby shows that (for the most part) Luffy's spirit remains unchanged. It's a bit close to being just a rip-off of the storyline from the manga, but what makes Luffy special to Koby hasn't changed from the original story to this new high school setting.
One final big change I made was to the last scene with Sanji. While the spirit of them running into Robin remains the same, one thing I thought of while working on the Animatic for the introduction was the idea of just how quiet and intimate the scene really could be. We never get a lot of scenes before Whole Cake Island exploring the deeper friendship between Luffy and Sanji, and when I had a voice actor run the line "You're a delightful idiot, you know?", I realized they said it in a much more innocent context than Supreme-King had intended. If there's anything I want to do on my own for this story, it's that I want the Straw Hats to feel like real friends, even though they're in a different world leading different lives to how we've known them before.
And, as risky as it might be, I don't want these to be the same Straw Hats that you know. I think it definitely would be more fun to explore how these characters would have to change in a more realistic setting, as opposed to what stays the same. If I was more focused on the latter, then I could've just written a non-alternate universe story!