When research funding becomes available, ancient customs decree the arrival of a new postdoc in town. And as the newest addition to their lively little corner of the campus makes himself as comfortable as a 'lanky six-foot-something bastard can be' in the best office available, Nami and the other residents of Casa de Sunny might find out that there's more to the mysterious exterior of one Doctor Trafalgar Law than meets the eye.
Or, 'my take on the university AU no-one asked for'.
Will be updated irregularly. Very irregularly. There is an outline but no plan. None whatsoever.
You have been warned. Tags and pairings and such to be updated as things progress. Rated as M for references to alcohol, other references to blatant swearing, and further references to upcoming sexy times. Also updated to AO3.
The characters involved should actually sail the seas with Eichiiro Oda, but I thank him for letting me borrow them for the moment. All mistakes are my own.
This story is the result of a collection of so-called "incorrect quotes" gathered from tumblr, mainly the user incorrectone-piece. The story itself is mainly cobbled together from the inspiration these quotes gives me. Since I have no idea where most of the quotes are from, any help with identifying them is more than welcome so I can give proper credit in the chapters!
When funding for research becomes available, the resulting postdoc is seen as the rightful property of some one or the other of the lucky faculty.
Usually, the candidate is carefully selected from the most promising students at the home university. But sometimes the perfect candidate comes from outside the university's hallowed halls; from another city, or even another country, bringing with them new and exciting ideas.
"Scandal," Usopp nodded sagely, taking a measured sip from his pint.
"Really?" Zoro mused, leaning back in his chair and not really following the discussion around the table, contemplating getting another drink. Or fourth, if we're being pedantic.
"Must be," Sanji shrugged. "It's the only reason."
"Don't be silly," Nami scoffed, as she sat down a pint before Zoro who grabbed it eagerly with a forgotten 'thanks' thrown in for good measure, before slipping into her own seat, cradling her own beverage. "You know fully well that people want to come here because of the quality of education and research. And they sometimes leave their old alma mater because of personality clashes – I know that you," here she pointed at the last member of their little troupe, a young man in a red shirt and a bright hat made of straw, "have changed your thesis topic again and are thus in need of a new supervisor. Again."
"Shishishi," the young man grinned at her, taking a swig from Zoro's pint to an indignant 'Oi!' and a dodged slap to the back of his head. "I just realised that it's much more interesting to do my thesis on how weather impacts the social tendencies of Rove beetles, rather than the social tendencies themselves."
"And it doesn't have anything to do with you now not having to work for old Red-Nose", she asked with a raised eyebrow. Old Red-Nose, or Buggy the Clown, or Associate Professor Baldrick Jester as he insisted he be called, was a well-known terror of the entomology department. His research questions were vague, his lab time limited to the negatives, his supervision non-existent and his temper volatile. A nightmare come true for the poor students roped into his research projects.
"I have no idea what you are talking about," he answered with the fakest look of innocence the drinking hall had seen since Zoro 'promised he just found the table like that, it just fell apart and he had absolutely nothing to do with it whatsoever'.
"Well, whatever the reason, professor Nico has shortlisted the candidates and we'll soon see who will get the best damn office on the campus," Nami said, raising her glass in a toast to limited office space.
Rumours soon started circulating regarding the new office occupant. According to Vivi from international politics, he was to join with his own funding and a research team. Rebecca, younger and more in tune with the grapevine, hotly refuted this, instead whispering about an almost magic touch with publishing and conference acceptance. Shirahoshi, fresh in linguistics, had heard that he even had personal connections to some of the main contributors to the field of forensic entomology – not something entirely impossible in this case, as Nami pointed out that professor Nico Robin, whom he would be working for and who was sitting two tables over from theirs in the café the four of them were currently enjoying lunch in, was one of the main authorities when it came to decaying bodies and bugs. The field really wasn't that big.
The truth, of course, was a little bit of column A and a little bit of column B.
Trafalgar Law didn't come with his own research team, but it was his project proposal that had gotten the department the funding they craved. He did not bring with him a team, just a research assistant in the form of a large polar bear mink. And he did seem to have quite a way with publications, getting his first paper accepted into the Lancet at the tender age of twenty-two. He was, thus, a young man of great renown and even greater academic wealth. He had graduated with stellar results at an extremely young age, before pursuing a doctorate at one of the major universities across the pond.
A postdoc of dreams, in short.
And his first public appearance would be at the annual Halloween Masquerade, a revered tradition of at least the last three years or so, and an excellent excuse for people to dress up, cheer for bottoms up, feel each other up, and lastly, completing the upward trajectory, throwing up. A splendid reason to party, in short.
Everyone was burning with desire to see his mink ('It's a he, not an it, and for the last time Luffy, you can't eat a person, not even a bear-shaped one', said Chopper) and the mysterious wunderkind.
And when he finally entered the party, he quickly drew the notice of everyone inside by his tall stature, dark looks, and the whisper that circulated within a few minutes about the three papers he had published in the last month alone.
Nami had been engaged in a beer pong match with Sanji and Zoro against Vivi and some of her friends from politics who were winning spectacularly, thanks in part to being female and Sanji's inability to behave around what he termed 'the fairer sex' and other people called 'women', but mostly due to their apparent telepathic skills and precision with a thrown ping-pong ball.
Nami was sulking, having missed her last short by a mile, when she noticed the ying-yang of dark, tall human and white, even taller mink at the entrance of the hall. A surreptitious elbow in Zoro's ribs directed his attention as well, resulting in two pairs of narrowed eyes. Sanji, his pale green outfit offset by a bright red bowtie and matching belt, was busy fluttering around the victorious ladies and had thus no time to review the newcomer.
"So that's the geek who got the corner office," Zoro mused, crossing his arms in front of him. This was quite an impressive sight, as he had come dressed as some character from one of those Japanese comic books, red vest hanging open over his bare chest where a, by now somewhat smudged, large scar had been painstakingly painted by Usopp. The muscles in his arms got even more defined as he crossed his arms, and if he would care about such things, Nami could point out at least five people in their immediate surroundings who would gladly have taken him home to divest him of the vest as well as the silly hat he must have borrowed from Luffy to complete his ensemble.
Vivi glanced over, having secured another win for her team. She had lost her towering headgear at some point in the evening, leaving only a linen tunic and goldish jewellery to create the impression of Nefertiti, queen of Egypt.
"Seems to be that way," she mused, tilting her head in contemplation. "Do you think he's single?"
Nami laughed, adjusting the wire that kept her orange pigtails up. She had chosen to go with the flow of Halloween, and come as the slutty version of Pippi Longstockings, her homeland's main literary export. She mainly did it as it was one of the only options available to someone looking for a costume at the very last minute and she had laughed too hard at the suggestion not to take it.
"Only one way to find out. But as we both know which one of us has the guts to actually do something about it, I think I'll just go…" she made a show of putting down her beer and adjusting her cleavage.
Vivi narrowed her eyes.
"Oh no you don't! You managed to sneak off with that cute exchange student from Egypt during the summer party. You are not taking this one."
"But Beebee," Nami whined, batting her eyelashes and pouting. "He was so utterly boring and just kept talking about 'what the fates have in store for us this magical evening'. And you know, his expression never changed, not once! Not even when I–"
"And that's my cue!" Vivi blushed, straightened her dress, threw Nami's wide grin a scandalised but amused look, and glided off, her dress floating around her.
Nami's grin softened into a smile as she regarded her friend approach the dark newcomer.
Zoro shot her a side-eye.
"You are an evil witch, Nami. You know she can't resist a dare."
"Oh yes, I am," her smile morphed back into a full-fledged smirk as she sipped her beer. "But I also know that Vivi has a thing for the tall and dark ones, and I was planning on going home alone for once, so win-win?"
Zoro snorted, clinking his glass against hers. "I take it back. You are, at times, a considerate witch."
"Damn right I am," she answered, downing the rest of her beer. "Please excuse me, I think I saw Kid in a ridiculous steampunk costume with a– is that a mechanic arm? – and I think I just saw something over there I really have to take care of…"
With that, she slipped off into the fray.
And after a while, as is the custom when time goes on and people are having fun, the party was winding down.
Nami had managed to successfully evade Kid for the better part of the evening by being strategically in another part of the room than him, but had still somehow gotten involved in a heated discussion with the mechanics student regarding the best way to hack GPS machines, as she wanted one with Alan Rickman's voice and he wanted one with Carrie Fisher, neither of which were attainable. The discussion only ended with the arrival of Luffy and Kid's best friend Killer, who had dressed in a red mask with matching sci-fi-esque armour, kidnapping Kid for some nefarious purpose involving a bucket and some apples.
Vivi had returned after a while with a resigned sigh and her efforts in vain; the mysterious maven had apparently been too occupied with his mink friend to even notice her tries of introducing herself. Luckily enough, she soon forgot all about her heartbreak when Koza from the department of Sustainability Services appeared. Not dark and mysterious, but fair and striking, he had held a torch for Vivi for some time now, and if Nami's eyes didn't lie, it seemed like Vivi was starting to warm up to him.
The only downside to the party was Trafalgar Law himself.
During the evening, the newest addition to their academic sphere had shown himself to be reserved, haughty, and quite rude. Trafalgar had only talked with his friend, not even trying to get acquainted with the other partygoers, instead opting to stalk around the perimeter of the room. Nami's initial dislike was then sharpened into something more like resentment by an overheard discussion that she had been privy to, quite by mistake.
She had just stood by the refreshment table, minding her own business and deciding if she wanted another beer or if she should stick to water at this point in the evening, when an unfamiliar voice had drifted across.
"–really Law, it's silly to attend something like this just to stand around, sulking. Why don't you at least try to talk to people?"
"Bepo, I really don't want to discuss this further. We've made an appearance, let's just go now."
That must be the mink and the mysterious doctor Trafalgar. The pair stood a bit to the side from her, partly obscured by a large potted plant. At least Bepo the mink seemed inclined to socialise with them and Nami instantly liked him without having exchanged a word with him in her life.
"Just try," she could hear a whine enter into the mink's voice. "It wouldn't kill you to talk to someone. What about her? She seems friendly enough?"
"Her?" The pause was pregnant. "She looks like any basic twenty-something. Slutty version of famous fictional character; how utterly dull. Even if she has the… attributes… to carry the costume, I can't even imagine how boring she has to be. No Bepo, let's forget this sad excuse of a party and go home."
As there were no other people matching that description in the vicinity, Nami had to conclude that Trafalgar Law was indeed talking about her. Usually, she would have stormed right up to him and given him a piece of her mind, but the pair happened to move away and get lost in the crowd before she had time to gather herself for a proper scolding.
Luckily enough, they had made their exit soon afterwards, lifting Nami's spirits as they went, and she then witnessed Kid stalking off, drenched from head to toe and followed by a visibly amused Killer, which just made the ending to her evening so much the better.
There was still some joy left in the world.
Research question: What will it take for me to write a multi-chapter fic?
Methods: An iterative longitudinal process [I will rewrite so much], supplemented with proven coping-mechanisms [lots of tea, encouragement, weird tumblr-quotes, and copious amounts of time], as well as industry-specific writing software [Word].
Results: Forthcoming
Conclusions: [PUT CONCLUSIONS HERE]