A dark-haired girl looked down on the boy with a gleeful smirk on her face as she leant on her Bamboo Kendo sword as a group of onlooking fellow students laughed, clapped and exchanged bet money. The dojo master sighed, stretching the slight wrinkles he had around his mouth, before readjusting his glasses and swinging his arm down declaring the match won.

"The winner is, Kuina!" he announced as the other kids clapped and cheered.

The girl knelt down over the boy's collapsed form and chuckled, "2000 wins to 0, my game!" She teased playfully before smiling kindly down at him, the rest of the world began to fade out into the background as she spoke.

"You've always been weak, Zoro."

The green-haired teen was snapped out of his dream by his body being roughly shaken by a person to his right. Glancing over he saw Luffy, gleaming with joy and still shaking him like a boy attempting to get an apple fall out of a tree.

"Wake up Zoro!" he exclaimed excitedly as everyone else were gathering their belongings and exiting the bus, "We're he-"

# BONK! #

Luffy clutched his head sadly as a slight bump began to swell up while Zoro began to gather up all of his gear. As the two did so, they were passed by Koby who offered a friendly wave as he exited the vehicle and out into the streets of Loguetown city. The two teens were the last to disembark the bus, when they did the air of the cool evening swallowed them up, the gallery of lights and signs and the chorus of sounds was truly beautiful.

Zoro was about to leave the terminal to go explore the surroundings before his bag was held back by Luffy.

"Hey," he said annoyedly, "What are-" he stopped as Luffy pointed to the rest of the group of students, all gathered together from a platoon of other buses who had dropped them off from other locations down the Grand Line or from the other Blue Regions. They had stopped and gathered around a tall man holding up a sign reading 'Grand Line High Students'.

The man was well built with spiky white hair, stern, glaring eyes and his mouth was in a scowl as his teeth were clenching a cigar. He wore blue trousers, black gloves, a thick jacket which was white with green fur lining the wrists, hem and neck, two more cigars visible sticking out of his breast-pocket which was emblazoned with the school's logo. Standing next to him was a tall, slender woman with straight pink hair extending to her waist. She was wearing dark sunglasses, purple pants and a formal white shirt covered up by a matching purple blazer, the school's logo also on the front pocket. She had a toothpick sticking out of the side of her red-glazed mouth, the way her teeth were gripped around it gave the impression she was used to smoking cigarettes but had more self-respect than to openly smoke in front of students, unlike her compatriot.

The two joined up with the rest of the students, Luffy excitedly began to scan the crowd to see some people. There was the boy with the long nose who it seemed had grouped up with some other odd figures. Standing a couple heads to the left were two teens, one wore a big fluffy white hat with black splotches on it and held what seemed to be a katana with a fluffy hilt over his shoulder. His compatriot was taller and built much stockier with quite a lot of muscle and with although was wearing a white bear ears headband covering his short white hair giving him a much less threatening aura. Closer to the front, Luffy caught the sight of messy red hair sticking up in the air like flames, the rest of the body was hidden but he could tell there was something special about that teen.

Before he could continue his session of people watching, he heard someone cough a little bit away from him, so he turned to see who it was. It was a girl, a little shorter than him though the height was made up from the very tall, red high heel boots she was balancing on. She wore black and white striped stockings extruding out of a red skirt and a white tank top with short red sleeves. He was holding a furled up red umbrella in one hand and a teddy bear wrapped up in bandages wearing a blue hat and a facemask in the other. Her long, braided pink hair was decorated by a plastic crown hairpiece that rested on one of her large tufts. She had soft face, decorated with a button nose, small red lips and big round eyes, she was, for lack of a better term, quite cute, not that Luffy would ever comprehend the concept. His interest was also dampened by the immediate realisation that she was trying to get Zoro's attention, not his. His number two glanced around to look at the girl with a bored expression, and she did a small double take, blushing slightly.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you were someone else," She apologised as her eyes quickly scanned his physique, Zoro, unfazed, said nothing.

"I must say, you're quite cute, what's your name?" she continued.

"Zoro, Roronoa Zoro"

She clenched her mouth shut with her hand to stop the half gasp half scream of excitement from escaping. She apologised hurriedly before speedwalking away and into the crowd, her hand beating rapidly to fan her face.

"Who's that?" Luffy asked through a mouthful of cookies.

"Dunno." Zoro replied nonchalantly as the two teens attention was drawn to the front as the man with the cigar began to address the students.

"Alright listen up!" he said loudly and with a firm tone, "My name is Mr Smoker, and I am a teacher at Grand Line High School. I have been tasked with escorting you kids to your temporary residences, this here is Miss Hina, she'll also be accompanying us, please keep an orderly manner as we walk, I'll be taking role attendance now."

Luffy and Zoro then began to chat, disassociating from the teacher as they waited for their names to be called.

"…Diez Drake..."

"So, where are you staying for our journey at this school?" Luffy questioned as he began to offer Zoro some snacks.

"I'm not… poor, but I took the cheaper option of staying in some other kid's apartment instead of some expensive dorm."

"Same! Wouldn't it be a coincidence if we're staying in the same room?"

"…Jewlery Bonney…" Smoker read out.

"I suppose, what's the building called?" the green-haired teen asked.

"Orange Towers," Luffy replied.

Zoro raised an eyebrow, "Who's the owner of the room?"

"A guy called Buggy."

"No way."

"It's the same, isn't it."

"Yes, it is a weird coincidence." Zoro replied thoughtfully.

"No Zoro," Luffy began, "this is more than coincidence, this is FATE! He declared.

"Don't make me put you into a headlock."

The two continued to talk for a little bit before:

"Monkey… D? -Monkey D. Luffy!"

"Oh here!" Luffy called out, earning him the cold gaze from a fat girl and a blonde boy with a bandaged nose.

There wasn't much after that, when Zoro and a couple other student's names were read out, there was some gasping and chatter but that was about it. With that, Smoker took the lead and Hina took the back as they escorted the group of students towards their dormitories. Despite being in the less central part of Loguetown, the students were still fascinated by the sights of the olden and newer styles of buildings integrated together. From behind forest of metal and concrete, one could faintly make out the sight of the nearby river, constructed to help streamline shipping of cargo in the past, now was a popular tourist destination and home to many locals who owned boats for leisure purposes. The river also fed into the nearby ocean which was a 30-minute train ride from their location.

Luffy glanced around and all over the place, so many delicious looking locations to eat and yet so little time. 'Club Whiskey Peak', 'Baratie', 'Arlong Park', just to name a few names of establishments Luffy could see advertised on the big screens and pamphlets. Large posters, stickers and other assorted decorations were plastered everywhere over street signs, telephone poles and buildings, giving the town a very homey feel.

After about 20 minutes of walking, the group finally approached a large apartment block like building made of four conjoined towers, a large sign over the front entrance reading 'Grand Line High School Dormitories'. Mr Smoker walked over to the door and swiped a key card on a lock pad next to the door, causing the thick (probably bulletproof) glass doors to slide open and prompting the cavalcade to enter inside.

The dormitories had been built within the last 3 decades to account for the number of students that came from further regions. There was a problem however, the school for whatever reason was unable to convince owners of the nearby properties to sell, thus the dormitories had to be built a couple blocks away, to compensate a wide road was built to connect the school and dorms with a safer path.

The lobby was large and took up most of the bottom floor, next to the door they had entered was a currently empty admin desk. Further down the short hall, the path split off as two staircases ran up towards the second floor. Shortly after passing them, the room opened up to what seemed to be a common quarters area, it had several long tables, some plant life, a couple ping-pong and pool tables as well as a coffee and snack station, the walls were thick and there was another set of sliding doors at the other end of the room, through which, another group of students came, this time accompanied by parents. Mr Smoker handed one of the admin workers the list of people who were present and we took them off to his desk where he began to type on his computer.

The room was deafening with chatter and laughter as parents, teachers and students alike began to connect and introduce themselves, Zoro and Luffy just zoned out for a bit waiting for further instructions. Smoker, after being pressured by Hina, finally removed his cigar from his mouth and cleared his throat loudly, drawing all attention to himself.

"Hello all," he began, "this is a big new year for you students, and I hope that you enjoy it, now, for how this will all play out."

He pointed to a large map of the town behind him as he addressed the crowd, "We are currently here," he pointed to a shape on the map, "and the school is over here," he pointed to a larger shaper higher up on the map.

"School will start at exactly 9:00 each morning so you had better be ready to leave by 8:30 as sometimes the walk can take longer than expected. You will go through the carpark safely before going down Reverse Mountain Avenue and just going straight ahead to the plaza around the school where you will enter the school gates."

He waited for a moment to let everyone catch up before he continued, "Each of the students who will be staying at this dormitory will be given a key card which will be linked to a digital file the school has to keep track of your actions, these cards will also be the only way to enter the building or to unlock your assigned room so do. Not. Lose. It!" he finished with a threatening snarl. "If the keycard is unused for five days, the connection will be severed, and you will have to request to get a new one."

"But what about holidays?" a student asked, "or if I'm sick or can't use it."

"Just call the school office, they will freeze the card and all you have to do is to request to have it reactivated."

"Now," he said motioning to the parents, "Grand Line High has a safety and responsibility regulation, 'the school is responsible for any activities that a student may undertake on school property' which means the school and its other dormitories. This means however that we are not liable for anything your child my get into off school property, your child is recommended to give the admin person details of where they may want to go or for how long but do not have to." This sparked a small heat of controversy among parents for certain reasons however should not have been surprising as it was included in the admission letter.

Smoker continued, "For the next two weeks before school, we are responsible for anything your child may get into and as such not allowed to leave the building except for the optional introductory tours of the local area. When school starts, we request you conduct yourselves in a responsible manner."

The controversial policies had spurred up a little chatter though most people knew what they were getting into so didn't say anything. Smoker, sensing he was starting to lose the crowd decided to wrap it up soon.

"Rules:

Boy's dorms are up the right tower-" he gestured to staircase to the right of the building before gesturing to the other side, "-and girls are up the left. We also have a two more dormitories next door and next to that where the older students reside, your key cards will not be able to open any building or room that the system has not assigned you to. No. Entering. Other. Buildings. Or. Opposite. Gender. Rooms. Whatsoever. Do you lot understand me?"

"Yes sir!" the group stated collectively.

"Great, your rooms are provided with basic and safe cooking equipment and there is a student cafeteria next door which is open for 12 hours of the day," he gestured to the back door where there was a large building next to the student car park. "Eating in the common room is strictly forbidden unless you want to help the cleaner over the weekends."

The other teacher, Miss Hina took the opportunity to give Smoker a quick break.

"If you have a car, please register it to your details so we do not mistakenly tow it away. If you need anything, there is a security hotline and a school hotline on the phones in your rooms."

The room began to fill with more chatter, so Smoker cleared his throat once more to draw their attention back to him while he wrapped up. "One more thing, there is security posted around the premises 24 hours a day preventing any late-night break ins or other crises. At 11:00 pm, the doors will lock fully and will be unopenable by your card, if this happens, call the helpline at the door and one of the security personnel will let you in after passing a security check. If you need to know more about our campus, please read more on this pamphlet or scanning the QR code on the poster." He finished as there was a rush of flashes of people scanning the code to check for details.

"When you are ready, students, go to the admin to get you fingerprints, eye scans, and some identity affirming details registered fully to your name, receive your card and go to your assigned dorm. Parents, there is a tea and coffee station behind you if you would like to enjoy yourselves before leaving." With that he put his cigar back in his mouth and began to chat with some of the other teachers as the rest of the people went to the two assigned locations, except for Luffy and Zoro who walked up towards him.

"Huh?" he grunted as the two came up next to him, "What can I do for you?"

"Smokey," Luffy began bluntly prompting Zoro to splutter slightly, "We are staying in an apartment at Orange Towers, how do we get there?"

Smoker sighed as he rubbed his temples, "Always one every year," he mumbled before answering, "First kid, I'm a teacher so I would appreciate it if you were to call me 'Sir' or 'Mr Smoker'" Luffy nodded in response, the man's request not being registered or logged.

"Second, the note stated that you are to go to that location yourself, not go with the dorm group." Zoro glared at Luffy who returned his gaze with a peace sign.

"Here," Smoker offered, "I'll call you a taxi."

...

Zoro paid the extra money for the cab fare before it pulled off into the street and soon vanished from view. He sighed as he followed his friend up the small flight of stairs and in through the small front door. The lobby was small with only a wall of locked mailboxes and a computer which sealed the elevator, Zoro pulled out a crinkled and squashed piece of paper with the code for room #97 which he entered into the computer and prompting the elevator's doors to open.

The two stepped into the small, cramped elevator, the amount of luggage they had with them did not help them either. After a couple of fruitless efforts to get it all to fit into the small metal box, Zoro took the lift up with his luggage and Luffy followed suit when the elevator returned.

A minute later, the duo finally arrived at their designated room, Luffy took charge and pressed the doorbell. There was a short pause before the sound of approaching footsteps could be heard, the door then swung open to reveal a boy, roughly Zoro's age and a bit taller than Luffy.

The person standing in front of them was rather… bizarre, he had long blue hair he had tied up into a ponytail. He was wearing mint-green pants, a red and white striped shirt and a royal cape taken from a cheat costume. Most curious of all was his face, he was wearing mascara and had two white stripes painted over his eyes ending just next to his nose. His nose was large, much larger than a normal nose, it was round, almost ball shaped and was bright red. It was much redder than even Daddan's nose after a new year's eve drinking party, Luffy noted, in fact, he looked like a clown.

The boy stood for a moment, scratching his side as he looked at the two silent newcomers.

"Uh, hello?" he said questioningly, "who are you?"

"I'm-" Zoro began before he was rudely interrupted.

"This is Roro-, Rornah-, this is Zoro-" Luffy introduced, reaching his arm up to rest his hand on the green-haired teen's muscular shoulder, "-and I'm Monkey D. Luffy,"

"Nice to meet you both," the red-nosed teen greeted shaking their hands before gesturing them inside the apartment. "I'm Buggy."

The living room was small with only a kitchen bench, two fridges and a small round dining table to its name. The duo set some of their bags down and had a skim look around the room, the walls had been painted bright red and all over there were posters plastered of circuses, animal shows and photographs of performers and acrobats.

"This is a real clown show," Zoro sarcastically commented.

Buggy reacted with a slight twitch but said nothing, he gestured to a hallway coming off the left of the room with two doors on one side and one on the other.

"The two doors on the right are our sleeping quarters and the door to the left is the bathroom," he stated as right at that moment, one of the doors opened and boy with long black hair hanging off one half of his head and the other half shave stepped out, he was wearing white sweatpants, a sweaty blue shirt and a checkered blue and white scarf. He had a gaming headset on which had a couple stickers of spinning tops on it and held a party sized bag of chips in one hand and a gaming controller in the other.

"You coming back soon Bugg's?" he asked through a mouthful of crispy potato fries, "The game starts in a minute."

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming," Buggy dismissed before returning back to the conversation, "You two will be sharing the last room at the end of corridor, there's a couple of futons in the storage so set up as you please, don't break anything and remember to come out for dinner at 6:00, if you don't, I'll send Richie to get you."

And with that, the clown faced boy went back to the room which had loud music blasting from inside, it was dark except for the lights projected by a large television and from the noises inside, it seemed there were about three other people in there.

"Well," said Zoro plainly as the door shut and loud yelling and gunfire was heard from inside the room, "I hate him."

"Did you see his nose?" Luffy asked, "It was so… red, and round."

"Whatever," Zoro muttered tiredly, "let's just go to our room's, I need a nap."

"You already slept on the bus for a couple hours," Luffy commented as he opened their bedroom door and strolled in first.

"I need a lot of sleep," Zoro claimed as he followed suit and switched on the light.

The room was still small, barely long enough to hold the wardrobe inside, the walls had painted red as well and there was a slight smell of musk and rot. The green-haired swordsman did not enjoy the smell but also couldn't care less as he dropped his bags down by the wardrobe, Luffy on the other hand didn't notice and continued the conversation without sparing a moment.

"Come on Zoro," he said determinately, "we're in a new, exciting city, don't you want to go out and explore?"

"No."

And that was that the two set up their bedding and unpacked their bags, Zoro left his sports bag leaning against the wall while he left his locked case next to his bed before jumping in and zonking out. Luffy took some more effort to unpack his stuff but still left a mess around, he took out his charging cable and plugged into a wall socket and grabbed the latest issue of Shonen Jump manga magazine out of his bag and sat down to give it a read, resting at what he thought would be his new home.