Everyday life with the Straw Hats
Authors notes: I just wanted to thank everyone who's been reading my story so far. It's been about a week and I already have 5 followers. That may not be much to others who write fanfics more often, but that means a lot to me. Also, I really do appreciate the reviews. I don't want to sound like someone who just writes to gain reviews, but I do appreciate the feedback and I would like to respond to as many of you readers as possible. The reviews help motivate me to write better and better. And it gives my writing purpose. Anyway, thank you for tuning into this story so far. Now onto the chapter!
Chapter 2: D. For Darling
Luffy stared at Ms. Smith for a few seconds, then at Miia, then back at Smith. Luffy scratched the side of his head. Luffy pointed to Miia's most obvious physical feature.
"You have a snake tail…" Luffy said bluntly. Miia turned her face away, quite embarrassed by his direct statement.
"Oh no" Miia thought to herself. "He's already judging me, at this rate, I'll be seen as a freak and shunned upon by the end of the day."
Luffy's face remained enthusiastic as usual. "That's so cool!" he declared in excitement.
Miia flinched in surprise. "He…thinks my appearance is cool? Does that mean…" Miia started to blush slightly. "He likes me?"
Luffy still remained at the front door. Awe-struck at the Lamia girl and her cool tail. Ms. Smith made a not-so-subtle cough indicating that she wanted to come into the house.
Luffy, after finally noticing the hint, welcomed them in. Smith scanned the room, then smiled, "Nice place! I'll go get some coffee." Smith walked off into the kitchen to retrieve her coffee. While Miia stood shyly behind Luffy, still observing the straw hat boy who seemingly approved of her right off the bat.
"He seems nice enough," Miia thought internally, slithering closer to Luffy to analyze his features a bit closer. "I wonder how he got that scar below his eye?" she questioned. Suddenly she started to have doubts. "Maybe he's just pretending to be nice and accepting while Ms. Smith is here. I really hope this isn't all just for show until she leaves." Miia's anxiety was returning, though she did a good enough job at not letting it show. But everyone could tell she was nervous to say the least.
Zoro spoke up. "Hey, what's wrong? You don't look very comfortable."
Miia replied shyly "I'm fine, this house is very big and spacious, and I have plenty of room to move around. Why would I be uncomfortable?"
Zoro quirked an eyebrow "that's not exactly what I meant."
Luffy looked back at her. "Yeah, you don't need to worry about anything, we're nice! And while you're here, you should try and make yourself at home!"
Her shyness slowly going away, and her hopes starting to rise. "You don't mind that I'm a Lamia? Ya know, part snake?" Miia asked in a still timid tone.
Nami spoke up "what are you talking about? After all the different types of people and places we've seen. You're completely normal by our standards." Nami gave Miia a friendly wink. Trying to assure her everything was all right.
Ms. Smith walked out of the kitchen with her coffee in hand. "I'll stop by later to give you guys the official rundown, but I have a movie…um….I mean a meeting I have to go to. See ya!"
As Smith was about to open the front door. Franky opened it first and began to walk in. then he noticed Ms. Smith.
"Hello, my name is Franky. And it's Super nice to meet you! Your name?" Franky said while performing his iconic action stance.
Smith simply lowered her sunglasses and examined the man, then put her glasses back over her eyes. "My name is Ms. Smith" she began, "and next time I stop by, I would appreciate it if you wore some pants." She finished in a dry tone of voice.
"Pants?!" Franky gasped. "But then I can't feel the breeze between my legs."
Nami just face palmed with a disgusted face.
With that. Smith left the house.
Sanji entered the living room from the kitchen. "Hey everyone, lunch is going to take a little while longer than I thought. So this would probably be the best time to start unpacking and finding your rooms."
"Aaaawwww!" Luffy groaned. "But I'm hungry."
Sanji sighed "fine, if you're that hungry, take this money and go get yourself some meat or something. I saw a butcher shop on our way here. It's somewhere down town."
Luffy grabbed the money in excitement. "Yeah, I get meat!"
Sanji snapped his fingers to get Luffy's attention again. "Hey Luffy, you should take Miia with you. Be a gentlemen! Show her around the town, it will give you both time to get to know each other. I would do it myself, but I'm busy preparing lunch."
Luffy turned to Miia. "Do you want to tag along, we could go have some fun if you want." Luffy asked enthusiastically.
Miia looked at Luffy and smiled. "Yes, I would like that."
–-
Luffy and Miia were on their way to go down to the butcher shop, Nami gave Luffy one of their maps of the city that was originally reserved for Zoro.
The weather was warm, there was a slight breeze that felt great this time of year. Luffy was marching proudly down the street eagerly waiting for his fresh meat he was going to buy at the butcher shop. Miia was slithering beside Luffy, looking at the scenery as they walked. She then looked at Luffy. "Excuse me, but I don't think I was properly introduced to you at the house. I heard your name was Luffy, is that correct?"
Luffy smiled at her brightly, "Yeah! Luffy is my name, and one day I'm going to be king of the...actually, considering my friends and I are under contract, it probably would be best if I told you that another time." Luffy's grin lowered slightly, because he always loved declaring his future role as Pirate King. But this was not the time or place to declare being the future Pirate King, especially on Mariejois.
Miia looked at him in curiosity, but decided to overlook what he was about to say. "If it's important not to say, then I understand. Anyway, my name is Miia, and this is my first time traveling outside of my home town." Luffy and Miia looked at each other for a few moments then Luffy gave her his signature smile. Miia smiled back at him, feeling at ease in his presence. As if Luffy's cheerful expression was able to make all of her anxieties go away. Why did she feel drawn to him even though they just met? Perhaps Luffy just has that effect on people.
After a few more minutes of walking down the streets of the city, Luffy noticed a sign on the front of a small building, it was labeled Chuck's prime meats.
"There it is!" Luffy shouted in excitement, drool already starting to form in his mouth, he could already tell the meat was going to be great from the smell alone.
Miia smiled at Luffy's over excitement, she thought that it was kind of cute the way he got excited for something as simple as a butcher shop.
After ten minutes of waiting for the butcher to cook the amount of food that Luffy ordered, Luffy and Miia were on their way back to the house. Luffy was eating a drumstick as they walked and Miia was eating a complimentary biscuit that came with their food.
"You sure do like food, don't you Luffy?" Miia smiled at him as they walked down the street that led them back to the house.
"You bet! Meat is my favorite kind of food, I'll eat any kind! As long as it tastes good." Luffy said, clearly happy now that his hunger was satisfied. A few moments later, 3 guys walked out of an alleyway and noticed Luffy and Miia.
"What the Hell is that thing?!" the first guy said, looking at Miia in disgust.
"I think it's a snake lady, she looks so weird with that long tail of hers! Ha ha ha." The second guy said, laughing at the sight of Miia.
The third guy looked grossed out and covered his mouth. "So gross, it's hideous! Somebody get rid of that thing!"
They were all taunting her in their own juvenile way. Miia started to get teary eyed, and lowered her head in embarrassment.
"Why do people have to treat me this way?" Miia thought to herself, trying to fight back tears. "I was having such a good day today, I met someone who accepted me for who I was." Miia looked up at Luffy, she was happy that at least he saw her as a normal girl. "And now these guys came out of nowhere and are trying to ruin it." Miia was looking down at the ground, trying to hide her tears from Luffy. Luffy, on the other hand, looked angry, he had a very stern look on his face, the kind he would have right before he got super serious. Luffy walked up to the 3 street thugs in complete silence. He didn't say a word until he was right in front of them.
Luffy pulled back his hat and looked them in the eye. And said, "Do you realize what you did?"
The first street thug says "What's your problem? Dude, get lost!"
Luffy takes a breath, then repeats "do you realize what you did?" this time, Luffy said it more firmly.
"Do you know who you're dealing with? We're the street badgers! You don't want to mess with us!" the second thug stated. He was leaning in towards Luffy.
Luffy sighed, took off his hat and sat it on the ground. "I tried to ask you politely. But you wouldn't listen." Luffy said, a devious smile grew on his face as he cracked his knuckles. "I'll tell you what you did…"
Luffy pulled back his right fist and quickly punched the second thug in the face with all his might. "YOU MADE MIIA CRY!" the thug fell on the ground, rolling in pain.
Before the other two thugs could react, Luffy kicked the first one in the stomach which knocked him to the ground, and the last guy tried to rush Luffy. Luffy responded by ramming his own head against the him, but Luffy coated his head in armament Haki to deal twice the damage.
In a matter of minutes, all three guys were lying helplessly on the ground. Luffy picked up his hat, dusted it off, and put it back on his head.
Miia looked shocked at what just happened, she looked at Luffy in astonishment and asked "Why did you do that?"
Luffy gave her a big smile and said "it's because they hurt your feelings and made you cry. I won't let anybody make my friends cry!" Luffy said it in such a way that was so pure and genuine, with a child-like innocence to his words. Luffy grabbed the bags of meat and they started walking back to the house with no more unpleasant interruptions.
Miia followed closely behind Luffy, she smiled at him and blushed "thank you for caring about me…Darling."
"We're Baaaack!" Luffy declared as he and Miia came walking in through the front door. Luffy was already getting hungry again as he could smell the lunch Sanji had been cooking.
"I know what you are going to ask Luffy, and to answer your question; lunch is ready." Sanji said as he finished preparing the last 2 plates. Sanji put all the steaming plates on the kitchen table and filled each of the glasses with everyone's favorite drink. Apple juice for Luffy, tangerine juice for Nami, chocolate milk for chopper, tea for brook, coffee for robin, cola for Franky, lemonade for Usopp, sake for Zoro, and wine for himself.
"What would you like to drink?" Sanji asked Miia as everyone started to take their seat at the dinner table.
Miia looked at Luffy and gave him a warm smile, "I'll have what darling is having, some apple juice please."
Sanji was confused by Miia's sudden nickname for Luffy, but he decided to just ignore it and he gave her a cup of apple juice.
Miia took her seat right beside Luffy. Miia even scooted her chair as close to Luffy's chair as possible. Everyone started to notice how much Miia wanted to be around Luffy, but they figured it would be best just to overlook it and not make things awkward.
Nami decided to try and start a conversation to break the silence, "so Miia, why did you decide to enroll in this exchange program?" Nami asked curiously.
Miia smiled at the question, "I wanted to see what the world was like outside of my home village, most lamias never get many opportunities to leave their village and see other parts of the world, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to meet new people and make new friends!"
"Have you been enjoying your time here so far? I know it's the first day, but do you think you will like it here?" Robin asked Miia after taking a sip from her coffee.
"Oh yes! This city is really amazing, and the scenery I saw on the way to the butcher shop and back was really beautiful." Miia said with excitement, everyone could tell she was excited to have new people she could talk to and that everyone was so accepting of her. "I'm glad I'm able to stay with such nice people!" Miia finished happily. Miia started to wrap her tail around Luffy's waist underneath the kitchen table. She smiled and said to everybody "I can tell I'm going to enjoy my time here with everyone!"
Miia whispered into Luffy's ear in a seductive tone, "I'm definitely going to enjoy my time with you darling." Luffy looked at her, still chewing his food, but gave her a thumbs up, completely oblivious to her obvious flirting.
After about a half an hour, everybody was finishing up their food and taking their dished to the sink where Sanji was about to start cleaning them. Nami pointed out, "You know Sanji, this house has a dishwasher. You don't have to clean them by hand."
Sanji let out a light laugh, "Don't worry about that, I can get these dishes ten times more clean than any dishwasher, this is my area of expertise." He said.
Luffy noticed that his clothes were a bit dirty, "I'm going to put these clothes in the washing machine and I'm going to take a bath, so be sure to remember that before you come walking in." Luffy headed to the shower room.
As Luffy walked away, Miia was looking at him mischievously, she had an idea, and it certainly involved being in that shower room with Luffy. Miia thought to herself, "Don't worry darling, there's no need to lock the door, I'll meet you in there soon."
The bath water was finally at the perfect temperature, nice and hot without being feeling like he was boiling. He removed his clothes and tossed them into a dirty laundry pile. He slowly stepped into the hot bath and let out a relaxing sigh.
"Aaaaahhhhhh…." Luffy breathed happily. "This is nice, but bubbles would make this even better, and maybe some meat." He reached for the bubble bath bottle and started to squirt some into the tub.
"That's strange," he thought to himself, "I was able to stretch when I reached to grab this bottle, is this some type of special water?" Luffy decided it wasn't worth thinking about now, and that he just wanted to relax. He laid back as the bubbles started to rise up to his face.
He started to close his eyes, but then he heard the bathroom door slowly open. He looked to the entrance to see Miia standing there with a bath towel in one hand. She had long red hair typed up in a bun to keep the water out of her face. She put the towel beside the tub and slowly leaned forward to ask Luffy something.
"Do you mind if I join you darling?" she said softly, her cheeks blushing a bright red.
Luffy had a dumb-founded look on his face, completely confused by this sudden turn of events.
"Why do you want to be in here, Miia? I'm just taking a bath." Luffy said with nervous tone in his voice. Even though Luffy may not be the brightest of individuals, he was starting to finally pick up on Miia's not-so-subtle clues. Before Luffy could say anything else, Miia got into the bathtub with him, it was modified when they moved here to be able to fit many types of liminals. Including lamias.
Miia started to wrap her tail around Luffy's waist as she was leaning closer and closer into Luffy. Luffy's wasn't sure of what was happening, but this was the first time a friend of his was getting this close to him in such a way. unsure of what to do.
"I just want you to know how grateful I am darling, how you defended me from those mean guys on our way home from the butcher shop. That was the first time that anyone who wasn't a lamia accepted me for who I was. You said we were 'friends', but I want to be more than that." Miia whispered into his ears. Luffy didn't understand what she meant by that "more than friends" line. He just sat there, unresponsive. He didn't feel comfortable with her touching him and being so close to his...family jewels.
Miia smiled, "Would you like me to help you feel better darling? I know what I can do to help you relax." She looked at him and gave him a flirty wink. She started to move her hands towards down his chest.
She noticed the scar on his chest shaped like an 'X', "Oooohhh…my Darling has quite the battle scar, you really are a manly man." She said in a flirty tone.
Luffy was really starting to worry on what she was about to do next, as she started to look at his lower body and gave him a mischievous smile, still confused, but feeling nervous by that type of smile she gave him in this scenario.
Suddenly, someone started knocking on the bathroom door. "Hey Luffy! I need a turn in the shower, so it's time to get out!" called Nami from the other side of the door.
Luffy started to rise out of the bathtub, "Okay, Miia and I are just about finished up!"
"What the hell is Miia doing in there?!" Nami yelled through the door.
"Don't know" Luffy answered with a shrug.
Miia looked to be disappointed at the sudden interruption between her and Luffy's "special" bath. Luffy was already drying off and putting his clean clothes on.
Miia says in a tone of disappointment, "Oh darling, we were so close! If only we had a few extra minutes."
Luffy finished putting on the last of his clothes, and replied "Oh well". He walked to the door and started to turn the door knob. He looked back and saw that Miia was still bummed about not being able to finish what she had planned. He smiled and stretched his other arm out to take her hand. "Don't worry Miia, we still can spend the rest of the day doing other things together."
Miia looked up to see his stretched out arm. Miia gasped "Your arm! Why is it stretching?!" Luffy let out a light laugh, and replied "Don't worry about that, I have the ability to stretch any part of my body, I can explain it to you later if you want, but first let's get out of here so Nami can use the shower."
"Any part of your body?" Miia asked with a flirty tone.
"Yup, my whole body can stretch, expand, squeeze however I want, and it doesn't hurt a single bit. Pretty cool right?" replied Luffy with excitement.
Miia definitely liked how he described it, he would make for a great snuggle cushion for her, without fear of harming him. she gave Luffy a warm smile, "Okay Darling, I'll get out of the bathtub and we can do something else." She took his hand and made her way out of the bathtub. Luffy smiled at her and left the bathroom and closed the door so she could get dried off and dressed. Miia thought to herself as she was starting to get dressed, "My Darling is really someone special, and I'll do whatever it takes to be his one and only love. I promise you that, Darling."