The two misfits awoke that morning, though Zoro had already been up for a several hours doing his morning exercise. The two got changed with Luffy grabbing his straw hat rested the noose over his shoulder so the hat hung off of his back like he normally did when inside. They then walked out into the hazy hallway, planning to grab some microwavable sausages and toast for breakfast, only to be met with a surprise. Richie was up and was busy over the stove this morning, cooking up a pile of hot, fluffy pancakes. The straw-hat boy wondered why for the briefest of moments but switched to just being happy that he could eat some real food.
Luffy sat down, excited and ready to eat while Zoro walked over to the second fridge designated for drinks and grabbed a bottle of Mugicha. On his way back though he noticed a small red toolkit lying on the ground close by, it had a faded icon of a tangerine on the side and had a couple strange-looking tools which were made of random metal scraps.
"Oi," he called over to the boy with the man-like hair, "Is this yours?"
The boy looked down momentarily at the unusual box, only now noticing, he then shook his head and returned to work.
A bead of sweat trickled down Luffy's brow when he noticed the red object, to avoid looking suspicious, he then glanced away to look at the wall and pretended to be interested.
"Hey Luffy," Zoro motioned.
Luffy reluctantly turned to look at him, forcing a smile and his eyes squinted making him look strange.
Zoro, initially, did not catch on.
"Is this box yours?"
"No," Luffy replied, attempting to sound truthful but still had a tone in his voice as if he was lying.
Zoro raised an eyebrow at his friend's unusual reaction and decided to poke him a little more.
"Okay… do you know who owns it?"
Luffy's eyes squinted together as he scrunched up his nose, puckered the sides of his mouth together and glanced to the side.
"No, I've never seen it before in my life," he lied unconvincingly.
"Damn he's an awful liar," the green-haired swordsman thought to himself as Luffy continued to avoid eye contact. Eventually, he sighed in relent and placed it down on the bench, looking directly into his eyes.
"Fine, I'll leave it here." He said before sitting back down and drinking his bottle of tea.
Richie finished the last of the pancakes and put the overflowing serving plate on the table followed by a bottle of syrup and a packet of butter. At that moment, Buggy and the rest of his crew sleepily stumbled out of their room, disappointing the straw-hat boy as he thought he would be able to eat all of them by himself if they were sleeping late.
"Guys!" Buggy announced, sanding up with one foot resting on his chair, "I recently heard tell of a good deal that will get us some money!"
All eyes turned to face the bombastic teen, except for Luffy and Zoro who were just looking at the pile of pancakes, drool pouring out of the straw-hat boy's mouth.
"You see… I heard that there is a nearby shop that hasn't been touched in years meaning-"
"Luffy! Don't eat them all by yourself!" Zoro snapped cutting off the clown-boy's declaration.
The straw-hat boy was already scarfing down three large pancakes, the syrup dripping over his fingers and on the table. Zoro, in an effort to not go without eating also hurriedly joined in and grabbed at some as well. The rest of Buggy's crew saw the large pile of breakfast slowly disappear and they too began to grab and rip potions off the plate. The following mad scramble sent chunks of fresh cake and blobs of syrup flinging everywhere, mostly caused by Luffy who swinging and grabbing his arms so fast they were a blur. He was also stealing other people's portions off their plates before they could eat them, much to their annoyance.
It was then the doorbell rang.
"Hey, Straw-hat," Buggy yelled after accidently swallowing a mouthful he was enjoying, "go answer the door."
Luffy glared at the blue-haired teen from across the table, chewing an overfilled mouthful of cake. "I don't wanna," he replied, his voice soggy with the food he was chewing."
"Do it brat!" the red-nosed boy snarled, slamming his fist into the table.
Luffy reluctantly stood up from the table and walked to the door, the rest of the ravenous pack of hyena's descended on the remaining food on the plate. Luffy opened the door and swung it open to see who needed them this morning, he hoped that it wasn't another complaining tenant, they were always so annoying.
It was the orange-haired girl from last night.
For a moment, Luffy was surprised as he stared at the person who had just entered their house that night completely uninvited.
"What are you doing here?" he finally asked.
"I, um, left toolbox here." She replied meekly, rubbing her arm. All signs pointed to her being embarrassed but Luffy could tell she was acting once again.
"So, um," she deliberately tilted her head away from eye-contact and blushing a little. Her eyes then glanced back to look into his with a light mist to them. "Could you give it back, please?" She batted her eyelashes twice for better effect.
I did not work.
"No," Luffy replied flatly, "you broke in here to steal my food."
A vein popped in the girl's forehead in frustration realising her charms had zero effect on the boy in front of her.
"Come on!" she snapped loudly, "Give it back, it's mine!" her form was now very tense as her teeth ground together as she shook her arm threateningly at him.
"Who's at the door, Straw-hat?" Buggy called from the table leaning over to see, before his eyes lit up at the sight of the attractive woman at the door.
"Hey boys!" he called to his friends mockingly, "Straw-hat's got a girlfriend, Ahahaha!"
"She's pretty cute too," Cabbaji commented, "he's been here for less than a week and already has more pull than you Buggs!"
Buggy was immediately befuddled as his attempt at mockery had now backfired against him. Changing the topic, he called over to the orange haired girl at the door.
"Hey, what're you doing here?"
The put on a cutesy act as she held her hands behind her back and lent forwards slightly with a bright, innocent smile.
"Sorry," she apologised sweetly, "I just need to talk to your friend here, I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all, go right ahead," the clown-boy sighed sarcastically as he turned away.
"Thanks," she giggled, "We won't be too long."
With that, she motioned for Luffy to leave the apartment, so he did so and followed her into the hallway, closing the apartment door behind her. Once it shut, she instantly dropped the façade and angrily turned around to argue with him again.
"Look," she snarled, "I really need that box back. If you're not going to give it back, I swear I will-"
"I won't give it back because you tried to steal my food-"
"Oh, for crying-" the girl growled with frustration before grabbing him by the collar and yanking him down to her eye-level. "I wasn't stealing food from you; I was trying to steal that clown's money!" she covered her mouth as she realised, she had said too much. Luffy's eyes instantly lit up and he smiled warmly at the girl.
"Oh, sorry, I thought you were stealing my food. Okay, you can have the box back." He chuckled.
The orange-haired girl paused out of sheer confusion; her mouth hung agape for a few moments before recentering herself. Luffy excused himself back into the room before he reemerged a minute later with the old, red box in his hand. She stood there blinking for a while before realising he was handing the box to her, so she carefully reached over and took it.
"D-do you want to go chat somewhere else?" she asked him. Luffy blinked a couple times before nodding.
"Yeah, how about the café down the road?"
"Are you asking me out?
"Yes,"
"Oh my, so confident, didn't take you for a romantic~"
"Huh?" Luffy grunted, confused.
The girl's eyes flickered with realisation, he wasn't asking her on a date, he was simply asking if she wanted to go to the café.
"Sure," she sighed, "we can go to the café."
"Yes," the straw-hat boy exclaimed happily, "food!"
...
About twenty minutes later, the two were sat down at the café Luffy liked coming to. The girl had ordered a small tart and a coffee whilst Luffy was dismantling a large mountain of sandwiches. Eventually, he momentarily paused his rabid consumption to talk to her.
"So, what's your name?"
"Hm? Oh, I'm Nami." she answered, snapping out of her thoughts, "What's yours?"
"I'm Monkey D. Luffy!" he grinned before gulping down another sandwich, "so, you weren't stealing my food -which is good- but why were you trying to steal money from Bobby?"
Nami chuckled a bit at his mispronunciation of Buggy's name before recomposing herself and answering.
"I am… a thief, one would say." She began as Luffy raised an eyebrow. "I steal from… not good people-"
"And give to the poor?" Luffy interrupted eagerly through a mouthful of meat and bread, "Like Santa Claus?"
Nami was about to comment on the fact that he was mixing up characters but decided to just move on.
"No-I mean, sort of… but mostly for myself." She corrected. "And word on the street around this place is Buggy and his goons are notorious thugs and troublemakers. They do stuff like mug people, damage property and other forms of petty theft, so I was going to break into their apartment and steal all his money."
"And then I stopped you," Luffy said bluntly, causing a vein to pop in her forehead again.
"Yes, then you stopped me, and you are going to help me steal from Buggy again!"
Luffy blinked blankly at Nami, whose face had shifted into a devious smirk.
"Why?"
"Come on, you heard me, they're not good people and deserve to be kicked in the 'Buggy-Balls' once in a while."
Luffy stroked his chin as he uncharacteristically thought deeply on what Nami was proposing. On one hand, he and maybe Zoro could get kicked out of the apartment if they were caught. On the other hand, he desperately wanted to screw over Buggy somehow. From the moment he had first saw him, he had had a burning desire to drive his fist straight into the clown's stupid face.
"Okay," he agreed, "let's do it!"
Reaching his hand over, they both shook on it, Luffy smiling genuinely through grinning shut eyes while Nami grinned maliciously.
...
The two walked around town for a little, discussing how the operation would go down with Luffy asking to be refreshed on the plan every 10 minutes or so. This was incredibly frustrating for Nami, though she tried her best to keep her composure.
They were about to round a bend before Luffy stopped in place as he listened, Nami stopped too.
"Is that…sirens?" She asked rhetorically.
A slight crease formed in Luffy's brow as he caught a sound he recognised. He said nothing as he sprinted forwards at a speed Nami thought impossible for a teen.
Streetlights and benches flew by as the straw-hat teen dashed down the sidewalk, his hat had already blown off his head and was now handing from his neck by the string. The sounds of sirens and people grew closer, but it was not that he was concerned about.
It was the cry of a dog.
He came upon the next corner of the road and ran across the road, expertly dodging the slowed traffic before screeching to a halt at the sight that beheld him. Two fire trucks stood idly on the road blocking the traffic whilst their crews were working desperately to fight a blaze spilling out of an old building. From a safe distance away, a crowd had formed an arc behind them, pointing, screaming at and filming the unfolding event. Though what drew his attention was the sight of dog in the middle of a street, sitting down and barking and yelping in sorrowful cries at the burning structure.
It was Chouchou.
Some of the firefighters tried to usher him away from the unsafe building but he either ignored them or threateningly growled when they attempted to approach him. Luffy walked over slowly, shuffling through the tight swarm of the crowd before exiting and moving towards the dog.
"Hey kid!" one of the firefighters called out warningly, "what are you- Get back to a safe distance!"
Luffy said nothing as he knelt down besides the wailing dog, ash and tears dirtying his faded white complexion. He noticed that there was some bruising and cuts staining his skin, yet Chouchou did not mind. The straw-hat boy turned to look at the building, despite the rising river of dark red and brilliant orange obscuring most of the building, he could still read the sign which now hung by only a single screw from over the door. 'Pet store' it read.
"Kid," the firefighter said again, coming closer, "I need you to get to safety."
He nodded solemnly and best over, gesturing for Chouchou to come over. The dog obeyed and walked into to his outstretched arms before being picked up and moved back to a safer distance, still whining and barking mournfully at the crumbling remains of his master's memory.
For a few minutes, he just stood there cradling the dog in his arms as he watched the shop burn. Eventually, heavy panting was heard to his right and saw Nami had caught up with him.
"#huff, huff#, you run… very fast." She wheezed, bending over to get support from her knees. She glanced over to the crying dog, and then over to the burning building, and gently patted the head of the dog with a slight understanding.
A small disturbance from an alleyway caught Luffy's attention so he set down Chouchou and walked over to investigate, with Nami following behind. The path between buildings was dark and wet, with only exposed air conditioners, spider-webs and the occasional door to its name. Luffy rounded a corner to see two chuckling figures huddled over, their clothes seeming slightly singed.
It was Richie and Mohji.
"This was an alright score," Mohji chuckled as he counted through a handful of assorted notes, "too bad about that circuit though, that could have been a great hiding spot."
"We might even have been able to sell some of that stuff," Richie added thoughtfully counting through his own pile, "though I -hm?"
"Oi," Luffy called over, "where'd you get that money?"
The two goons waved happily, "Hey Straw-hat, me and Richie just did a raid and made a sweet score at some old pet store."
Luffy said nothing but his brow furrowed a little.
"Yeah," Richie added, "we were attacked but some rabid stray dog though, must have wanted to eat some of the food, so we had to fight it off."
"We might have been able to grab more, but an old circuit malfunctioned and started a fire, so we had to get out of-"
The white-haired teen's jeering ramble was brutally cut off as Luffy slammed him in the side of his head with his arm. The force was incredible, not breaking the bone but still making a chilling crack that echoed around him.
"Argh!" Mohji screamed, hurtfully clutching the side of his swelling jaw, "The hell was that for?!"
Luffy gritted his teeth and cracked his knuckles before looking at him dead in the eye, his expression screaming rage. "You destroyed Chouchou's treasure," he seethed.
Mohji had gotten over the shock and whilst the pain still clung onto him, he stood back up, taking a fighting stance. His shoulders suddenly dropped a little as he concluded that he did not want to fight Luffy.
"Richie, get him!" he yelled desperately, pointing at imposing teen.
Richie leaped to his feet from a sitting position before moving his muscular arm protectively over his face and barged forwards at great speed. Quick as lightning, Luffy stepped to the side just as the charging teen came to him, grabbed him tightly by the front of his clothes with both hands before lifting him up and swinging him over his shoulder and slamming the hulking figure into the ground where he stayed. At the sight of seeing Luffy take someone twice his mass out, Mohji became more panicked. He raised his arms up and grinned nervously as he slowly began to pace away from him.
"Alright… S-straw-hat," he stuttered, "we don't have to go that far, what if we-"
Luffy reached forwards with one arm and grabbed the fleeing teen by the collar and dragged him closer as his fist raised up into a ready position.
"Wait, wait, WAIT!" The white-haired boy squealed, covering his face. Luffy relented momentarily but the look he sent into his soul read "start talking."
"I-it wasn't my idea about raiding the pet store, it was Buggy, he suggested we raid it and eventually use it to hide the boss's special money stash, I didn't mean to do anything, I swear!"
Luffy was unconvinced, "Like how you beat Chouchou to the curb and let the building burn without a concern?" He tensed up his muscles again as he prepared to strike again.
"Wait, stop, please! I'm sorry, I'll give you a cut of the money! Just don't hurt me, please I'M SORRY!" he screamed, begging pathetically to be spared. Luffy's expressing didn't change as he sung his fist.
"'Sorry' is not going to give his treasure back!"
The air grew dusty as the Straw-hat boy drove his fist straight into the face of the stupid teen, before the force drove him into the ground and kicking up a cloud of dust. When it cleared, the two members of Buggy's crew lay in their respective craters, both taken out with ease. He then breathed out and left them behind.
He then met back up with Nami at the mouth of the alleyway, having caught up with him again.
"What's up?" she asked.
"I'm in."
"What?"
"Stealing Bingo's money, I'm in."
Nami grinned cheekily, "I knew you would see things my way."
"Yeah," he chuckled before readjusting his hat, "There is one person we'll have to tell though."
...
"You're kidding, right Luffy?" Zoro asked with a raised brow. He was drinking a beer and resting comfortably on a park bench, with only the sound of some teens playing volleyball nearby. Buggy, and the rest of the gaming crew had decided to take a rest day, Richie and Mohji had obviously gone to rob the pet store and Buggy and Cabbaji had gone to meet up with some friends who didn't live in the apartment but played with them online.
Zoro had his sports bag lying next to him with one of the kendo stick handles sticking out. Coupled with the translucency and clinginess of his shirt and the rich aroma coming off of him, it was clear that he had done a vigorous workout.
"No Zoro, we are going to rob him blind!" Luffy declared loudly.
The green-haired teen turned to look at their visitor, "What do we get if we help you?"
Nami attempted to speak but gagged, the smell coming off Zoro was so repugnant that even at a couple metre distance, she had to hold her nose. "You get… a cut of the profit, what else do you want?"
"Hmm," Zoro hummed pensively as he leant his face against his fist and looked into the distance, "I do want to beat them up… especially that guy with the shaved hair."
"Why him?" Luffy asked, ignoring Nami ticking her tongue and muttering something along the lines of "boys are just meatheads."
"Get this," Zoro began to recount, "He thinks that, just because he is good at playing a sword-type character in that crappy game, he can beat me in a sword fight."
Nami coughed to get their attention so the two stopped and turned to look at her
"If you're done," she began, placing her hands on her hips, "are you in Zoro, or are you out?"
"Do I get to beat up that guy with the dumb hair?"
"I…suppose?"
"I'm in."
She sighed, brushing her orange hair from her face before crouching down on the floor and gesturing for the others to come in closer, so they did.
"Right, now to form a plan. Where does Buggy keep his money?"
Luffy thought for a moment, "In his room. I think it's in a box that looks like a circus-dome-thing."
"A big-top?"
"Yeah, that."
"Okay," Nami breathed, taking a mental note, "So… this is how it's going to go…"
...
By the time they had gotten back to the apartment, Plan A: steal while the crew is absent had failed as they found Buggy was back already. Nami left but promised to be back that night to take part in Plan B which was to rob them when they were distracted (She wanted to do it when they were asleep, but Luffy and Zoro desperately wanted the 'distraction' to be getting into a fight with them).
When they came in, Mohji and Richie were already back, albeit, completely covered in bruises and bandages. At first Luffy thought that there would be a confrontation between him and Buggy though nothing happened. The blue-haired seemed to treat him normally, as in pretend that he did not exist, Luffy assumed that Richie and Mohji were too embarrassed to say Luffy had defeated them with barely any effort. The rest of the day dragged by with only bare-bones conversations and interactions the breakup the silence. Luffy, boredly even began to skim read some of his textbooks as school would be starting in a week.
Night fell and the hour when the plan would commence came closer and closer. Luffy was practically bouncing with excitement, much to Zoro's grimace as it was both annoying and suspicious. Eventually, Richie called everyone out for dinner, so they all filed out as they usually did and sat down at the round table for the unappealing meal. Luffy was about to tuck in when Buggy suddenly stopped him.
"Wait, Straw-hat."
The table's attention suddenly was drawn to the clown-faced teen, he wasn't wearing his makeup today, but his nose did still glisten like it always did. He sat down with his eyes closed and his arms crossed, a tense silence filled the air as they waited for him to continue.
"It has come to my attention that you beat up Mohji and Richie, quite humiliatingly I might add."
The two mentioned teens sheepishly turned away, rubbing their faces in the spots where it was still sore.
Buggy then looked Luffy in the eye.
"I was willing to give you and your grumpy friend (Zoro snorted at that) a couple months to find a job." He stated, before smiling maliciously. "See, everyone here pulls their own weight and helps pay for rent and food, we either rob people or we play video games on our YouTube channel."
He then frowned once more, "I can't overlook this afront to my boys so I'm giving you an ultimatum, now."
Luffy and Zoro listened in curiously, both secretly itching to fight him already.
"One," he began, listing off of his fingers, "You get a job. Or two: you join my gaming channel."
"What if we decline," Zoro asked tauntingly.
"I'll kick you out."
Luffy was undeterred by the threat, but Zoro took it a little more seriously, it would be quite an inconvenience if they didn't have a place to sleep at.
"Oh," Buggy added, "and if you're thinking that I can't do that, I can. The rent plan doesn't include any of you, meaning you are guests in my house, and I can make you leave whenever!" he finished his threat with loud mocking laughter as he stood triumphantly on his chair.
Whether or not there was any truth to Buggy's claim was irrelevant as the dumb duo had barebones knowledge of the law, let alone rental agreements so they both believed him.
"I won't join your channel," Luffy stated, "but if I be on it a couple times before I find a job, will that work for you?"
"Hmm," Buggy mumbled, contemplating the straw-hat boy's proposal, eventually he grinned and extended out his hand.
"It's a deal, that will be good for publicity too! Imagine…" he said, miming a title card in the air, "Buggy the Clown Gaming. Guest starring… would you prefer 'Monkey D. Luffy' or 'Straw-hat Luffy' as your moniker?
"Straw-hat Luffy."
"thanks- Guest Starring 'Straw-hat Luffy'." He announced.
"Now," he said, turning back to look at him and rubbing his hands, "what kind of games are you good at playing? FPS's? MMORPG's? Fighting games?"
"I'm good at the Sora: Warrior of the Sea series." Luffy admitted.
"Story mode or PVP mode?"
"I've completed the first two games story modes with 4 stars, and I'm very good at the Fighting mode."
"Excellent," Buggy exclaimed, "we made the final episode of Sora: Warrior of the Sea 2's story mode recently, what do you say we make a tournament series? About… 5 or 6 episodes about us playing the PVP, and you, Straw-hat, will be our guest star for the series."
"I'm, okay with that," Luffy agreed hesitantly.
"Good! Because you don't have a choice," Buggy laughed triumphantly. Zoro finally piped in, an annoyed expression on his face.
With that, the conversation was over, and they returned to eating dinner, with Zoro and Luffy sharing glances throughout the meal. Afterwards, Buggy's crew returned to the room to set it up for the recorded gaming session while the other two hurriedly entered their room and closed the door behind it. Luffy then dialled the phone number that Nami had given him and waited a few moments before he heard the scratchy sound of it being answered.
"What's up?" she asked.
"There is a slight problem in the plan." Luffy answered.
"What did you do?" Nami snapped back threateningly.
"I'm going to be in Buggy's room, playing video games."
"Why?"
"Not important, anyway, I am going to use this as an opportunity to distract him and his crew while you sneak into the room and steal the money."
"… You want me, to sneak into a room and steal money, while there is a group of people who are wide awake?" She asked incredulously.
"Yes?"
"And I assure you," Zoro added, "we'll be with you, so you'll be safe from most dangers… maybe 40%"
There was silence on the line as the girl thought about the new proposition, Luffy looked at his green-haired comrade who mouthed 'I don't trust her'. Finally, there was the crackling of breathing as she brought the phone back to her mouth and answered.
"Fine, let's do it."
"Haha! Yes!" The straw-hat teen cheered as he pumped the air with his fist.
Zoro rolled his eyes before gesturing towards Buggy's room with his thumb.
"While you two are in there, I'll be here in case you need backup," he stated loyally.
"Don't you worry Zoro," Luffy grinned with a thumbs up, Zoro reciprocated with a confident smirk.
He then gathered himself up and left the safety of his room to enter into the den of the lion… well, the clown, the lion was on the clown's crew.