A/n: Thank you for returning back to Making the Grade!
I'll keep this brief: we're about to make a big change from the original Making the Grade by Supreme-King. There will be more information about the change in my usual BTS, but until then, just know that because of this change, I'm not going to follow through on the events of a certain character because of it. If I did… wow that would be depressing.
Other than that, we have the crew (minus Nami) going to find a place to eat, but they might be getting a bit more than they bargained for!
Hope you continue to enjoy my re-imagining!
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"How do you get off with such bad taste?" Sanji called out, doing his best to speak over the whiz of the wind flying past them in Zoro's car. He held a cigarette in his hand, held closer to the center of the car due to the wind's ability to quickly and efficiently clear out any inhalation he could get. Bathed in the evening's tangerine glow, Luffy and Usopp relaxed in the back, easily able to hear the expected argument of their driver and his passenger-seat friend.
Zoro was not going to take this lightly. "I just said we could find a nice pizza place. They should be able to split the pizza up however we'd like."
"Luffy would tear through a shared pizza as soon as we got it."
"Is that a challenge?!" Luffy excitedly hopped up.
"No!" Sanji jolted his head back for a second, trying his best to use clear eye contact to dissuade Luffy from further siding with Zoro. "Even on that, why drive all the way downtown just to get pizza? We should try something new!"
Around ten minutes from the school, and away from the direction where all of them lived, the Grand Line's Downtown District was filled with entertainment and nightlife opportunities. With a college campus not too far out of travel, it made for a great space for students of any age to go around and get food, drink, and a night full of laughs. The jagged, protruding mess of smaller buildings and skyscrapers really turned the city into a concrete jungle. Despite its overall messy appearance, when the lights were on and the sun was down, it looked more like a sea of stars than anything else.
"We could try a new pizza place!" Zoro angrily spoke, slamming his hands on the steering wheel, ready to punch them at a moment's notice.
"Come on, you know what I mean, moss-head. You agree too, right Usopp!" Sanji lightened his tone as his focus shifted to the quietest person on their journey, which hadn't usually been the case up until now.
Usopp, up until then, had just been staring out the left side of the convertible, head in his hand as he leaned in apathetically. The weight in his eyes had never been deeper, even though this was one of the few times where he wasn't just continuously acting as though the world were about to end.
The Straw Hats remaining had determined by now something bad had to have happened to Usopp to get him to act like this, but he wouldn't budge on a reason. Even just generally acting fun and casual wasn't working, Sanji could now make note.
"Yeah, sure." He muttered, only just loud enough for anyone to hear him.
"...Alright." Sanji shifted back into his seat, more defeated at not getting through to Usopp than whatever him and Zoro were arguing about. He knew better than to take anything they spat at each other seriously, anyways. "You find anything on your phone, Luffy?"
"No, not yet. Most of these places don't look fun at all."
"I hope your only criteria isn't that it 'looks fun'..." Sanji called back, with a prolonged silence between the two confirming that to be the case.
"Oh, wait!" Luffy called out, loud enough to shock even Zoro out of his meditative drive through the Downtown District. "There's this new place here, only opened a few years ago. It's called Arlong Park, and they have arcade games!"
"Does the food even matter at this point?" Zoro glanced at Sanji.
"Of course not." He shot back. "Now let's have some fun, or I'll kill you myself. Sounds like a plan, Usopp?"
Usopp simply grunted in reply.
One Piece - Making the Grade
New World!
What Nami had learned about Sanji's job was that waiting at a high-end restaurant was difficult work. But even at its most difficult, the pace was mostly self-created. The effort to create a high-speed, high-quality experience was nothing short of admirable, to be sure.
But this was not how Nami's experience as a waitress was going. While the restaurant might've been as big as the Baratie, where Nami worked also had a few key quirks that made it infinitely more difficult.
The biggest one being, of course, the customers. When you're able to sell food for as cheap as the place does, you're much more likely to be flooded with more customers than any sane establishment should know what to do with. It pushes you to be even faster, as you're constantly pressured to be getting people out of tables so that new parties can come right in. At the very least, someone like Sanji could work a bit ahead and have time before the next wave of reservations.
Another big problem: the menu. Several massive pages long, Nami had to learn really quick what could and couldn't be done to items on the menu, as well as keep track of every change she had made in order to not get things mixed up. Most of the time, she would also be responsible for keeping track of who in a massive party ordered what, which only became more confusing as each member would always end up ordering a unique drink and not just ordering water like a sane person would.
To add to that, how are you supposed to remember anything when the weight of what felt like hundreds of people talking and laughing surrounded you at every given moment? Oh yes sir of course I remember you only wanted the lettuce and tomato in your sandwich, despite the fact that toddler three tables down hasn't stopped crying and the couple just next to you is arguing louder than two people in a healthy relationship should, I'll have that and everything else ready as soon as possible.
And even on top of all of that, when you're not dodging the gross drunks hopefully thinking you're several years older than you are as you bring out a full plate of food to a table that might not even tip you, if a busboy missed his shift, then you're screwed.
"Woah!" Nami backed away from the bins of dishes as the other waiter, Hachi, came through with a massive tray full of them, almost running to make sure they didn't fall over. Within an instant they were slammed into the bins, loud enough to where customers nearby might've mistaken him for just dropping the dishes on the floor and shattering them.
"Sorry!" He called out, giving Nami a small salute with his free hand, before putting down the black tray he'd been carrying everything with to the side. "We had a big party, and I just wanted to get it over with."
"You're really working for those tips, I see…" Nami chuckled, and Hachi goofily giggled. They both wore white shirts and black pants, with the base of the shirts being covered by a black apron, a bright red sun logo and the restaurant's name adorning its center. By that point, both had sweat through a good portion of their shirts, the act of being waiters resembling more of a marathon than any job either thought they would have in the food service industry.
"Well, I'm just really-" Hachi halted himself halfway through the sentence, the muscular teenager thinking for a second before coming to a realization, a sly grin covering his face. "Oh no, you're not gonna distract me that easily!"
"Damn it." Nami cursed under her breath.
"Why didn't you just ask that guy out?" Hachi teased as much as a guy of his stature could, attempting to salvage any organization in the dish bin during his jesting. "You're always so blunt with all of us."
"I'm blunt with you guys because you're all assholes." Nami stoically confirmed. "He's my friend, and I don't want to put him on the spot for something I might not even go to."
"Not this again." Hachi rolled his eyes, hunched over the bin.
"You really don't believe me." Nami spoke with disbelief.
"I've never met another person who was more concerned about their grades than Homecoming."
"If I want to reach the advanced courses by next year, I have to do really well now!"
"And you are! You're the smartest person I know!"
"That isn't saying much…" Nami noted the brutish men who also worked with them.
"It says a lot to me!" Hachi defended himself, dramatically welling up with tears in his eyes.
"Wow, you're really good at that." Nami teased.
"You think so? Because I think my voice could be a little more shaky and - hey!"
Nami dodged a playful swipe from Hachi, before picking up a new black tray. "I should get back to work."
"Hey." Hachi grabbed her before she could get too far, his tone cleared of playfulness. "Just ask the guy out, alright? You're overworking yourself."
"Alright, alright." Nami giggled, trying to get Hachi's well-meaning hand off her other wrist. "I'll ask him out the next time I see him. That's alright with you?"
"Of course." Hachi gave her a thumbs up, using the gripped hand and letting her go in the process.
"Perfect. Now I just have to get the next customers-" Nami turned back to face the front of the restaurant, only to be met with a sight so startling that she had to do a double take.
.
.
.
"Wow!" Luffy called out as the four entered Arlong Park.
From the outside, the building was most likely built atop a pre-existing two-story complex, with the front now having a pyramid-like structure going up for another two floors. Around where the windows stopped being built into the front facade, a large Arlong Park was painted on with a red and proud tropical font.
Once inside, the extent that the beach theme pervaded every inch of the restaurant was extensive and uncompromising. From tourist-y beachside knick-knacks to shark skulls sticking out of the walls (themed as worn and wooden to further exercise a relationship with beach culture), no stone was left unturned.
This was all before mentioning the scale of the place, with the first and second floor connected through an open space right in the middle. A large hanging diorama of an extinct sea creature hung from the roof of the second floor, one with such a surprising amount of similarities to the modern-day cow that those who didn't know the creature was real might mistake it for some sort of cartoon mascot. On the right half of the second floor a snug bar was hidden in its corners, and on its left half a decently-sized arcade with free-play options buzzed to life as kids and adults alike took time to play them.
The crowd excited Luffy, to say the least. The others still thought the complex was impressive, but only Luffy had spent any significant amount of time growing up near the beaches by which this place was inspired from. He could clearly tell the amount of love went into the creation of the place, a celebration of a life by the seas at its finest.
"Looks good enough." Zoro comments as the four head to an unattended host's stand.
"And the food even smells alright…" Sanji cockily murmured under his breath.
As Usopp leaned against a nearby wall, unimpressed, and Zoro and Sanji glanced around for a host to take them to a table, Luffy examined the whole of the restaurant with rapt curiosity, until discovering something…
"Hey, is that…" Before the others can do anything, Luffy leaps into the central seating area of the restaurant, booking it through a series of crowded tables to the back doors.
"Luffy!"
"Hey!" Zoro and Sanji quickly follow, with Usopp just glancing over at their antics with a general apathy. Luffy quickly pushed through several tight squeezes, from a family just trying to enjoy a night out to a group of police officers who seem to have come in after their shifts ended, wearing their uniforms simply to get a discount of some sort.
"Aha! I knew it!" Luffy called out, confusing the two on his trail. "Nami!"
"Nami?!" Both called out at once, finally catching up to see a bewildered Nami huddling behind an equally-confused coworker.
"What the…" Usopp murmured under his breath, trying to catch a glimpse from his spot near the front.
"Hi guys…" Nami sheepishly spoke, coming out of her hiding spot and giving them a nervous wave. Too uncomfortable to look any of them in the eyes, and with a hunch to her shoulders, she continued. "What- what's going on?"
"You work here?!" Zoro called out, causing Luffy to make a face that anyone could tell meant he'd only just realized what she was wearing.
"Ah, so this is what you've been up to!" Luffy wrapped his arm around her shoulders and let out a hearty laugh. "Glad to know you haven't just been spending every day after school doing homework."
"What gave you that impression?!" Nami angrily glared at him, upset that so many people seemed to consider her a workaholic.
"Well…" Zoro began, pondering where to start first. "Everything, really."
"That's enough from you." Nami snapped back.
"Oh!" Hachi lightly wrapped his arm around Nami, speaking mostly with curiosity while sliding in a small part of smugness. "These must be your friends, right?" He motioned to Luffy's hat. "And this must be Luffy!"
"Monkey D. Luffy." Luffy proudly called out, as though his name were some sort of elaborate calling card. "Nice to meetcha!"
"Alright, that's enough." Nami spat through gritted teeth. "Now let's get you all settled down-"
"Yeah! Come join us!" Luffy was now mimicking the close holding of Nami that Hachi had been doing, making her even more uncomfortable.
"No! And don't encourage this, Hachi! We'll be dead if-"
"You're caught?"
The trio held close together, along with Zoro and Sanji, turned in surprise to see a tall, muscular man in his forties, wearing the same yellow-and-black shirt that most of the males in the staff seemed to be wearing, along with a casual pair of green pants. His figure loomed over the students (Hachi included), and even Luffy reeled back in what appeared to be some sort of uncontrolled gut reaction.
"Shahaha! You all were shaking around like a bunch of schoolgirls. But I guess that's not far off from the truth! Shahaha!"
"Uh…" Sanji tried to regain his composure. "Are you the owner of this restaurant?"
"What's this?" The man lightly bumped Nami's shoulder, sending in her a shudder that looked more uncomfortable than how she was already feeling. "You mean to say you never talked about me to your friends?"
He gave himself a pompous grin before using his thumb to point at his chin, and his free hand to push back the greasy black hair he held in a band. "I'm Arlong, Nami's father and the owner of this place."
"Wha-?!" Luffy's initial fear of the man turned into a bright, celebratory grin spreading from ear to ear. "Nami! Your dad's so cool!" He moved closer to the man to gesture towards his overall manly physique. "He's got his own restaurant! And he's as big as some kind of monster!"
"Luffy!" Nami hissed at him, bright red and frustrated beyond belief.
"Aww, that's alright." Arlong patted her on the shoulder. "It's always nice to know my workouts are still appreciated by the young'uns these days! Shahaha!"
Nami calmed herself down a bit, only to recompose herself with the presentation of a waitress.
"Well then, let's get you four to your table. I'm sure you must be famished, Luffy."
"I don't know about any famish, but I am hungry." Luffy gleefully confirmed, Arlong laughing harder at the realization Luffy didn't have a single cent of an idea what Nami meant when she said that.
"You have some funny friends there, Nami." His gruff voice softened, before pulling out a black plastic card. Arlong unceremoniously tossed it to Zoro, who caught it in between his fingers without a bit of hesitation. "That's a Game Card. Have fun with our arcade, on the house."
"Free games?! Thanks a lot, mister Nami's dad!" Luffy waved him off before following Nami to a nearby table. Arlong waved them off in return, the only one not to follow them to a table.
"Well, that's someone you don't want to mess with." Zoro muttered to Sanji.
"Yeah. I'm sure Patty would shit bricks if he saw someone like that in our kitchen, and we have Zeff."
The table Nami and Hachi brought the four to was a comfortable booth near the stairs to the second floor's arcade, bright red leather being surrounded by the reddish-brown of the specifically worn wood cut and screwed into the walls beside them. Before the four could even settle into their seats, Nami motioned to the stairs beside them.
"Once you've ordered, we give you a little chip that beeps whenever your order's ready. So that way you can head off to the arcade or bar and know when your food hits the table, fresh and hot."
"Wow…" Luffy murmured, fiddling around with the little gadget Nami had slid into his hands without so much as a proper glance or acknowledgement.
"Then do you have any recommendations?" Sanji motioned to her and Hachi. "Just some appetizers to start out with I suppose, while we enjoy this lovely card from your father."
"Well…" Hachi bashfully spoke, scratching the back of his neck with a bright red face. "I just so happened to get my family's Takoyaki recipe on the appetizer's menu! If you're in for a bit of spice, I'm sure even a chef like yourself would struggle to find fault!"
"Then we'll just have to see. A couple orders of that, then."
"Alright, let's go." Nami spoke crudely, grabbing Hachi's arm before the two stormed off. Zoro and Hachi shared sharp, knowing glances that the rest of the party barely even noticed, before Luffy snatched the black card from Zoro's pocket and began making his way up the stairs.
"Come on, already! Let's have some fun!" He called out, the slap of his footsteps on the creaky wooden staircase too difficult for even a crowded restaurant to drown out.
"Yeah, let's go." Zoro motioned, with all except Usopp following along.
"You coming?" Sanji spoke without even needing to turn around.
"Oh! Well, I just really have to use the bathroom. I'll be right back, so-"
"Just don't take too long, you hear?" Sanji spat, before continuing up the stairs himself. "You stupid liar."
Usopp splashed water on his face, trying to shake out the nerves that had been following him since that afternoon. The blue-hued room had several stalls, but only Usopp stood in front of the mirrors. A panic that he tried his best to hide in front of his friends was only truly showing once he was alone. Sweat burned down his face like the scalding water of the sink, only to cause more sweating.
If there was one thing Usopp could come to a conclusion of after hours of letting the words of Kuro stew in his mind, it was this: he wasn't playing around.
The nonchalant nature of his threat, hidden in a space only the two of them shared, with the reassurance that he would do whatever was necessary to stop Usopp from continuing to hang out with Kaya if he didn't stop the relationship himself. It's not even like they were dating or anything, but despite Usopp's desire to push those feelings aside for the sake of Kaya, her interest in him had only become more obvious.
In this context, the threat held much stronger water than if he were just egotistical. Each word of his small speech to Usopp felt like some part of a choreographed speech, meticulously crafted to get it through Usopp's skull that Kuro wasn't playing around.
And in this respect, Usopp couldn't play around with what he'd said for more than a day. If he did, he could put the lives of his friends and his crush in the hands of a maniac who came off as incredibly smart and capable in the worst of times. At his best… Usopp could only assume Kuro would go through with his threats in complete ease, without a single link to track the crimes back to him.
'Well then… the matter's settled.' Usopp thought to himself. 'I just go back to how things were before a cute girl gave me the time of day. I'll just let her go… to live the rest of her life with a psychopath. He certainly seems to care for her, so I'd just be getting in the way of someone who has everything they need to take care of her…'
The rationalization stuck, even when a small pit began to form at the bottom of his stomach. 'I have friends! And they're strong, and capable, and can handle themselves… but why should I need to drag them into my problems? That's just not good thinking, you know? We're high schoolers, finally! Let's just have some fun!'
He shook the water off of his face, before wiping the remaining droplets off with a paper towel. But no paper towel could wipe away that odd feeling, still stuck in a pit at the bottom of Usopp's chest.
Soon enough, he ran up to the trio playing a game on the second floor's arcade, at the very least pretending to be his energetic self.
"Perfect timing." Sanji said plainly, holding a lollipop to his lips like he would otherwise hold a cigarette. "It's your turn."
Sanji motioned to a 'PUNCH!' boxing machine, which held a large padded ball suspended in air and a digital scoreboard behind it. Underneath was a cartoon poster of a man with an afro punching through to the direction of the camera, which Luffy was having lots of fun trying to recreate the positioning of.
From what Usopp gathered, Luffy held the lowest score at around six-hundred out of nine-hundred and ninety-nine, Sanji coming in second with a close seven seventy-five to Zoro's seven ninety-five. With all of the scores held on a digital side panel, each of them were considerably strong punchers for their age, Zoro nearing the rankings of professionals.
"I would've been in first place if I could've kicked the target instead of punching it." Sanji frustratingly grumbled. "Don't want to hurt my hands, that's all."
"Stop being such a sore loser, blondie." Zoro cockily grinned with pride at his score. He was certainly the most physically built out of the three, but Luffy's was still quite impressive considering how little he took to working out or training of any kind.
"I'll catch up to you yet." Luffy called out, throwing out a punch just like the guy on the poster.
"Come on already." Sanji motioned for Usopp to get in front of the machine, and when he didn't immediately go, Sanji gave him a couple light pushes until he was directly in front.
Hoping to at least not embarrass himself, Usopp took on a form similar to Luffy's over-the-top style and reeled his arm back. With a swift motion, Usopp's arm went SLAM into the ball before being lodged up in the machine's upper compartment, the tallying of his score slowly rising up like a casino machine. One hundred, then two hundred, then….
Two hundred and fifty-six.
"Gyehaha!" Zoro burst out into laughter, as Sanji patted his friend on the shoulder. Luffy wasn't really paying much attention, simply chuckling along with Zoro's amusement. "Couldn't have done worse if I tried: and you certainly did! Gyehaha!"
"Alright then…" Sanji solemnly peered around the arcade, looking at the different types of games they had on display. There weren't a ton of games, as the arcade was more of a supplement to the restaurant than a full-on experience worth traveling out for, but one quickly caught the young cooks' eye. "What about that one then, hot shot?"
The four looked over to a large machine, consisting of two tables resembling host podiums, with two symmetrical targets a good distance away, attached by a metallic plate at the bottom. On the two tables, holsters for what appeared to be airsoft-style guns sat sinking into the stands, and digital scoreboards beside each one. Coming up closer, the two targets revealed themselves to be screens, which could display unique arrangements of objects to be fired at from a moment's notice.
"Give em' hell, hotshot." Sanji patted Usopp on the back one more time. "You're good at this stuff, right?"
"Well, I don't know-"
"Are we doing this or not?" Zoro was up at the 'Player 1' station of the arcade game, gun already in his hand. Swallowing down his nerves, Usopp stepped up to the plate as well.
The first game they could play was a simple series of changing firing ranges. There would be cans on tables, balloons in the sky, and targets in a field as the camera moved around them in uncontrollable ways. Usopp held the gun nervously, the sweat of his hand and the shaking of his arms starting to get in the way of focus once the game had begun.
. . .
"If you ignore my warning, I'll kill all your friends, and then you, in that order." Usopp heard Kuro's voice echo in his mind.
. . .
"Sounds great." Kaya's voice lightly cracked as Usopp began to tell her one of his stories. They were both smiling at each other, Usopp never being able to forget the way her eyes glowed when the two of them were together. "What happens next?"
Usopp remembered that day like it was yesterday. The first time he'd met Luffy, that is.
Luffy and Usopp sat in silence in the detention hall, the first boy's head tucked into his arms with his large Straw Hat covering his eyes. The teacher couldn't care any less, scrolling on their phone at the front of the room.
And Usopp… couldn't feel more bad about the situation.
He'd gotten the kid next to him in trouble, and on the first day of classes no less. Their last year of Middle School was going to be hard enough, applying for High Schools in the area and tough-as-nails classes… and Usopp couldn't help but drag some crazy guy into the mix of his boring life. He didn't deserve to be stuck here, not when all Usopp was trying to do was the right thing.
"Alright! Five-thirty, on the dot. Get out."
The two shuffled down the steps of Shells Middle School, Usopp sulking with his hands in his pockets. As they made it out onto the drop-off for students, he prepared to pull out his headset from his pack, only to hear-
"Hey!" Luffy looked to him, massive grin on his face. "That was fun! Want to hang out?"
"What?"
"Come on!" Luffy called out to Usopp, as the two of them walked out of the middle school together. "We're friends, aren't we?"
Usopp, who'd closed his eyes for a moment, simply to calm down his breathing, opened one of them to aim the gun just right. Right now… he couldn't miss.
'DING!' The machine went off as Usopp hit his first overall bullseye of the game, shocking everyone back into attention. 'DING! DING!' The machine continued, Usopp not failing to miss his mark once since shaking off his thoughts.
"Wow!" Luffy happily cheered as the ringing continued, Sanji just giving his friend a confident smirk. Zoro's cocksure attitude sharpened as he shook the gun around, trying his best to figure out why Usopp was doing what he couldn't. Before he could figure anything out, though, the round had ended.
"So…" Usopp spoke, the first bit of relief in his voice all night ringing in his friends ears like a shining bell. "Who's next?"
After three rounds, Usopp had scored three perfect games against his three very different friends. Zoro even went up again after Luffy to make sure there wasn't something he was missing, but Usopp's aim was steady even through a wave of friendly jeering and yelling.
"Woo!" Luffy cheered in celebration at the final victory, Usopp now fully reveling in his old mood and bowing like a champion.
"No, thank you!" Usopp pointed out into the distance excitedly, pretending to be a celebrity surrounded by fans. "Yes, I will be here all night!"
"There he is." Sanji said, flicking his now-finished lollipop into a nearby bin.
"What-?" Usopp hesitated to fully acknowledge how he'd been acting earlier, shriveling up at the idea of having to fully apologize for the crude way he was acting before. "I wasn't-"
"It's okay, man." Sanji reassured him. "We just don't like seeing you down in the dumps, is all. Don't take it like we're super close or anything, but…" The three friends smirked at each other, and then Usopp. "We all have our own strengths, you know? Sometimes Zoro's… stronger, or you're a better marksman, or anything like that. But we'll always be here if you need anything. You know that, right?"
"Yeah!" Luffy agreed first. "There's nothing we can't do, you know?"
"Well, I wouldn't go that far…" Zoro grumbled. "But for the most part… I got your back."
Usopp beamed, tears nearly falling down his cheeks. "Yeah, I know!"
"Then let's go." Sanji pulled out the device Nami had given them, buzzing with a dim red light flashing. "This thing's been going off for a minute. I just wanted to see Zoro lose again."
"Of course you did." Zoro bit his lip, trying his best to hide his frustration during the overall heartwarming moment.
As the four shuffled down the nearby stairs, Usopp let out a hearty laugh. He knew that the road ahead of him was going to be tough… but if he thought he could just leave Kaya to the devices of some crazy person then he was being the most delusional out of all of them. He didn't know how he could bring his friends into this mess of his without putting them at risk, but he couldn't do this alone if he really was set to prove Kuro planned to kill them all at a moment's notice.
"Oh! Perfect timing!" Down the stairs, Hachi and Nami had just finished putting down several plates of Takoyaki around their booth, steaming and ready for eating. Luffy didn't hesitate to slide into his seat before popping one into his mouth, doing a little shake and dance as the heat of the ball steamed from his mouth as he tried to scarf it down.
"This is delicious!" Luffy called out through a mouthful of the food.
"Really, this is a wonderful recipe." Sanji noted, taking a bite beside the table. "You said this was a family recipe?"
"Yes! Really!" Hachi eagerly held a ball of the food in his hand, showing off the shimmering seasonings coating its fried flour coating. "They just know the perfect seasonings to go along with seafood! My dad even had a couple new mixes of his own, but I could only pitch one to Arlong for the menu…"
"It's nice he'd let his workers pitch ideas for the menu, at least…" Sanji trailed off. "When you work at a place like Baratie, the menu is planned out so far in advance just in case we want to import ingredients fresh for the season. When you're not worried about that though…" Sanji takes another bite. "It's exciting to make a new menu based off of the culture you foster in the workplace."
"Oi." Zoro leaned back in his seat, munching on one of the pieces of Takoyaki as he pointed to Hachi. "Have I seen you around before?"
"I go to the public school not far from Grand Line High, so I'm sure that's what you're referring to…"
"No, not that…" Zoro sized up the other teen. "You do Kendo?"
"I- uh… a good while back, but yeah." Hachi hunched down. "It feels like a lifetime ago."
"Ah. That must be it." Zoro spoke with an air about him that suggested he would have kept the conversation going, but didn't from the reaction Hachi gave. Sanji sized Hachi up in that moment as well, realizing he gave as much of the 'rough-and-tumble' vibes as any other of the adult workers at the restaurant. A lot of the cooks from Baratie came from similar backgrounds, so Sanji knew that it was for the best that Zoro didn't put any more pressure on the topic.
"But-!" Hachi attempted to lighten up the conversation, as it looked like Nami was preparing to leave them to their own devices. "I hear it's great at that school of yours, you know. I ain't exactly top class material, but I bet it's gonna be a wild time when your Homecoming comes around."
Nami shot Hachi a venomous glare, the kind that all but Luffy didn't catch. It was that strong.
"Oh yeah, it's gonna be tons of fun!" Luffy spoke in between one bite of Takoyaki and the next, nearly downing an entire plate of the appetizer on his own.
"Well, it'll be fun once this ridiculous Homecoming Court stuff is over." Zoro added. "I bet all the fancy-ass kids are gonna be spending the rest of the week putting up posters and trying to get every last vote out of us. It isn't the biggest school in the world, so they really put pressure on each vote last year."
"Yeah, Homecoming Court will be fun too." Luffy added before finishing the final Takoyaki of his own set.
"Well, as long as I see our beautiful queen of the school running, then-"
Sanji halted, realizing before anyone else that something was off. "W-What was that, Luffy?"
"Homecoming Court. That'll be fun too."
"What? Like you're running for Homecoming King?"
"Yeah."
The conversation at the table froze, each of the Straw Hats having a unique, yet equally confused reaction to his response.
"Did someone ask you?!" Nami finally blurted out, the one out of all of them looking the most nervous.
"Yeah. Robin suggested it. She said that we'd get to do a bunch of fun stuff if I won, and I was looking for a date anyways."
"You were looking for a date?" Zoro questioned.
"Yeah, Usopp said it'd be more enjoyable if I had a date to the dance."
Zoro and Sanji shot Usopp furious glances, to which he could only nervously shrug in reply.
"So you'd just go with the first person who'd ask, huh?!" Nami asked, red in the face from trying to hide a feeling of insult seeping from her entire body.
"She's super cool! And since it really seemed like she wanted to do this, I didn't have a reason to say no."
That was it for Nami. Without hesitation she took off in the other direction of the table, fuming. Most of them just froze in concern, but when Luffy realized that he'd done something wrong, he slid out from his seat and began to dash through the restaurant.
"Did I do something wrong?! I thought that's how dates work, right? Hey!"
Before he could get much farther, Luffy was halted by a meaty hand resting on his shoulder: Arlong's.
"Think that's enough, boy." Arlong muttered, his voice gravelly enough to still carry weight in the busy restaurant.
"But-!" Luffy began to struggle, only to halt at the sheer weight of Arlong's hand. Without many options, Luffy tried to pry Arlong's hand off of him, only to halt at-
"Luffy!" Nami coldly called from the distance between them, her face redder and more frustrated than before. Several parties were now staring at the altercation, and all Nami could do was let out a breath. "Please… just stop."
Luffy looked on with a sense of tragic confusion, not really understanding why he was in the wrong. He just wanted to comfort her, to understand what he needed to do in order to overcome what she was going through. That was really it, nothing more.
But after a few seconds of reading Nami's face, he could tell that her request was genuine. He backed away from Arlong's grip, letting out a sigh.
"I'll pack you all some sandwiches, then. To go." Arlong spoke with sincere concern, before slowly trodding along the wooden grain of the floor back to the kitchen. Nami herself just kept staring at Luffy for a few more seconds, unable to say anything else, before attempting to walk away.
"That- that's not right!" Usopp called out, startling the other four, especially Nami.
"What?" She croaked.
"I get it. Or, at least I think I get it. But you don't have any right to walk back on Luffy. After he's been here for you like he has. How he's been here for all of us like he has. Just tell us what's wrong-"
"Hah!" Nami let out a sadistic laugh, her eyes sharpening. "What do you all know of what I'm going through?! Apparently even without knowing anything you keep me from what I'm trying to do… or just make it worse! So why should I let you all in, after trying to pull me from it all the time. You don't even know what I want! What can you all do?"
"I don't want to help with your dreams, or anything like that." Luffy said matter-of-factly. "I just want to help you be happy."
For what felt like an eternity, Nami was silent.
Surprising to the rest of them, this only made her angrier, and she bolted into the back of the restaurant. Soon enough, the volume of the customers around them returned, and the four were just left staring out, as though into empty space.
"Sorry about all of that…" Hachi sheepishly apologized, handing Zoro off a bag full of takeout boxes in the parking lot. The four were all strapped in, and Hachi just stood by the convertible with an overall shaky demeanor. "I didn't mean to-"
"You didn't do anything, other than encourage me to look into Takoyaki more." Sanji calmly assured him, taking the bag of food from Zoro and placing it all at his feet. "Thanks for being a good host, and hopefully a good cook someday."
"Well, maybe! Glad to hear I still have a shot, though!" Hachi cheerily grinned, waving them off as the car took off down the lot, the others waving right back.
Once on the street, with the shimmering lights of the night surrounding them, Usopp slid back into his seat.
"Wow! That was intense!"
"And you were really cool back there!" Luffy supported Usopp, slugging him in the arm.
"I have to admit, you did surprise me." Zoro admitted, in a very genuine tone.
"Well, then it's settled." Sanji began. "You're officially the most courageous member of our group, and will be taking care of any threats from now on!"
"Wait- NO!" Usopp began freaking out, causing the others to laugh in response. "I never said anything like that! At least, not without all of your guys' help."
They all smiled. "Wouldn't dream of it."
After a bit of time, Zoro had dropped off Usopp, and then soon after Luffy. Driving back to Baratie, a cold silence sat between them for at least a good chunk of the drive back.
"This is gonna be rough." Zoro finally spoke.
"About which imminent disaster?" Sanji joked. "Luffy running for Homecoming Court, or trying to figure out Nami?"
"Homecoming. Or whatever Usopp's dealing with. Take your pick."
"You're not worried about Nami?"
"They'll figure it out, if the only thing keeping us from her is being able to open up around us."
"You think she's holding something back?"
"I know she's holding something back: she has a crush on Luffy."
Sanji let out a laugh, before slowly realizing that Zoro wasn't joining in. "You're serious?"
"This is why you don't get it, blondie. I just see things."
"Like that stoplight a few months back?"
"Shut it. And you know what I mean. Why else would she have wanted to stick around Luffy so much otherwise?"
Sanji thought about it for a bit, before taking a hit from his cigarette. "You might be right. Then just give her time?"
"Yeah. I think the both of them need to meet in the middle, or some shit. Again, that's not what I'm worried about."
"And if I had to guess, Homecoming's taking your number one spot for things to be nervous about."
"There's just too many variables. We go to a school with a lot of rich, asshole children. If Luffy pisses off the wrong person, then who knows what happens next?"
"And what's up with this Robin chick? She's his new tutor, right?"
"Yeah. Super attractive, so I was waiting for you to find out for yourself."
"Gee, thanks." Sanji sarcastically replied. "Glad to see you have such low respect for me."
"Just as much as any other women at school. But this Robin chick… She's got a history. With what, I don't know, but odds are she's playing Luffy."
"Who would ask Luffy to run with them for Homecoming Court and not be playing him?"
"But for what? I didn't take this Robin girl to be interested in a crown and sash the last time I spoke with her."
"You spoke with her?"
"Once, last year. When they tried to get me to do tutoring as well."
"We can see how that's been going by the slow flattening of your head, you neanderthal."
"I'm being serious."
"And so am I, your head's flatter than a wooden board."
"Ugh." Zoro sighed, putting his attention back to the road.
"But I do agree with you. Me and Luffy actually met her on the first day of classes a bit back." Sanji paused, hoping to be as clear in his assessment as possible. "She looked strong and intelligent, about as much as I'd expect from the adopted daughter of a tycoon. If she really asked him to run, then there has to be some sort of play beyond just getting eyes on her."
"Thank you." Zoro sprinkled in a small portion of sincere gratitude.
"And… you missed the turn." Sanji casually called out.
"Shit!"
Later into the night, as the busy tables of Arlong Park were now empty, Nami sat alone at a high top next to the bar. She couldn't drink any of the alcohol (even if it wouldn't have been her first time) but she still sipped on a to-go cup of pineapple juice as a set of heavy footsteps made their way beside her.
"Are you doing alright?" Arlong's heavy voice called out, almost too heavy to convey any sort of real care.
"Just peachy. It's not like I yelled at any of my friends after getting mad that a guy I know doesn't like me back isn't going to Homecoming with me."
"Yeesh." Arlong spat out, taking the seat next to her. He loomed tall over her, but because they were sitting at a bar, they were side-by-side either way. "It's been a bit since I've heard that you were wrong before."
"Oh, shut up." Nami lightly shoved Arlong's shoulder, which didn't move him an inch.
"I'm serious. You and your mother are the same, truly."
"It's been forever since you two talked, you know?"
"I can still remember the good times, even if I screwed it all up." Arlong admitted, scratching the back of his neck. "I don't take back the person I was though, and I'm glad you seem to get that from me. For the most part, that is…"
"I dunno, I just…" Nami took a deep breath. "It feels like the whole world's on my shoulders."
"You and every other teenager in the Grand Line."
"Then what? Am I just not good at handling pressure, or something? My home life with mom and sis, my dreams, schoolwork, friends… is there anything else I can do?"
"Not really, no." Arlong solemnly admitted. "It's all you got, after all. But the good news is… after carrying a weight for long enough, you just might get stronger."
"...Thanks." Nami was able to get out, before sinking back into her drink. Arlong patted her head before getting up, heading over to the arcade section of the second floor.
One by one, the lights of each arcade game turned off at the flick of their respective switches. Electricity zipped out of each machine, until only one game remained.
Arlong stared at the boxing game for a good moment or two, before pressing the 'ON' button strapped right to its front. The padded ball swung down from the machine's top, and without a second's hesitation, the man barreled right through it.
Nine-hundred and fifty-four shined from the digital scoreboard, as a bright chime burst from a speaker on its side.
Nico Robin sat at a desk, hidden away within a much larger complex. The night raged on, and yet all she could do was hammer away at the work that her father had given her. At least until that point, by which she'd rather do nothing and waste her time than anything else.
The small wooden table had a small drawer on its right side, which was open enough for her to glance at the small notebook within. It was the same one she'd used to make note of Luffy's thought processes and motivations just earlier that day, and she certainly didn't lack insight on his character.
And yet, being honest with herself, the only thing she could wonder was why she were still going through with Kuro's proposal.
"I just thought you'd be interested in a little proposition, if you will. I win, and you win. You'll just have to do something for me first…"
"I'm not interested in deals at the moment." Robin clarified, hoping that by turning her eyes away from the Treasurer that it would be enough of a signal to get lost.
"Let me make myself clear…" Kuro began, a confident sneer covering his voice. "I know you were looking into something last week. Something that only the student records could answer."
Robin quickly glanced back, almost startled. "How did you-?!"
"Doesn't matter. What does matter is… I think I found what you were looking for. A girl, to be precise, who just happens to be going under a different name. You missed some very crucial files that would've aided your success, but don't fret! All you have to do is ask Monkey D. Luffy to run beside you for Homecoming King and Queen, and we'll have a bit of an 'exchange'."
"What? Why Monkey D. Luffy?" Robin genuinely questioned.
"He's… an enigma I need to deal with, to be frank. I have plans, and I don't want him to get in the way."
"An enigma?"
"At first, he might seem average enough." Kuro spoke with a confidence in his words that Robin only saw in the most prepared of men. "But what everyone who comes into contact with that Straw Hat kid comes to learn is that he simply isn't all talk. He's the real deal. Innocent to a fault. Supportive of all those who cross his path with even the slightest hint of goodness in them."
"Then why can't you deal with him?" Robin shot back.
"Because he's friends with someone who, pretty predictably, doesn't like me very much. I'm sure now more than before. In short, there would be no way he'd choose me for some goal over him."
"But he would choose me?"
"If you give him a reason to, that's the hypothesis."
"Your… hypothesis?" Robin sounded doubtful through tone alone.
"Just see for yourself. If you're won over by him… that means I'm right about this, what I'm doing."
"Well, I don't know about any of that." Robin recomposed herself. "But I'll give it some consideration, don't you worry."
"Just don't get sucked into his charms." Kuro warned, before a callous smile was brought to his face. "From what I understand, we're both professionals, no? Just as I'm sure you wouldn't tattle on my crimes the moment we walk away from here, you can be sure that I won't report to any higher body that a generally disgraced student for sneaking a peek at records beyond her access."
"Like I said…" Robin said, a little more cautious of her tone. "Don't you worry."
"And, one more thing." Kuro emphasized this specifically. "This isn't some half-way game. If you decide to do this, I expect you to play along until Homecoming Night. I can't have him get in my way until Homecoming is over."
And now, she'd made her decision, but that wasn't the end of it. Quite the opposite, now she needed to actually run for Homecoming Court. There would be no way they could win, of course, but she was sure that Kuro had already figured that out beforehand.
What really mattered to him, for at least what she could figure, was that they made a statement of some sort. Grand Line High School was very insular, so it wouldn't be as difficult as it would be in a public school to get their names through the lips of the most interesting students in the body.
Whether she liked it or not… this was going all the way to Homecoming Night, and this ride would drag along Monkey D. Luffy until its end. Whether he liked it or not… wouldn't be relevant.
It couldn't be relevant.
BTS (Behind the Scenes) CH.7 -
This is one of the craziest chapters I've written yet! Wrapping up several plotlines while adding on several more, we're on a non-stop track to a confrontation with Kuro of a Thousand Plans!
I hope that what Robin asked Luffy at the end of last chapter wasn't TOO obvious. I knew that if I didn't bring up the fact that Kuro asked her about it then it would've been too hard to give her perspective on learning about Luffy. But I also knew that saying she'd been given a request by Kuro could point to the one thing I'd set up so far: that Luffy doesn't really know anything about dances. Either way, Robin is straight up an antagonist for this first storyline, just like how she is in the manga.
I've also been worried about how the portrayal of Nami will shake up my version of Making the Grade. In the original, there's a clear reason as to why she's frustrated with Luffy, I just never found that reason to be satisfying. I hope that by building out her life in such a way, adding a divorced dad in the form of Arlong to the already major stressors of trying to graduate and get into a good school for the sake of her family will showcase a more realistic pressure to back away from Luffy when she might need it most.
Also, I didn't envision how much of a character arc I would give Usopp this chapter until it actually came around to writing it. I'm almost worried I'm writing in TOO MUCH Usopp, but this is kind of his story, fueled by his antagonist. Until we get to things like Arlong and Crocodile, Usopp needs to grow in order to overcome the threat ahead of him. And he is a threat not to be doubted…
Last but not least… Arlong Park! A wonderful addition from the Hungry Days One Piece High School universe that was one of the main inspirations behind many of the changes I've made so far. While I don't seek to replicate the storytelling of the Hungry Days Advertisements, the aesthetic is a heavy source of inspiration in terms of bridging the gap between 'Pirate Fantasy' and 'High School Slice-of-Life'.
Hope you're enjoying the story!
P.S: The next few chapters will take a bit longer to come out since I'm gonna 'try' and write their first drafts all at once, unlike now where I've been going one at a time (I did plan chapters 5-7 at the same time, but still wrote them separately). That way I can adjust plot points before the story comes out, and that everything through the first big confrontation wraps up everything I've been working on properly.