#Franky: Remember when you kicked me in the face to protect Usopp? That was very manly and also extremely romantic my boy

[beanghostprincess]

Franky would be one of the first ones to realize something's going on between Sanji and Usopp. Not only because he spends most of the time with the sniper and he gradually starts to sneak out more to be with Sanji, or the fact that he talks a lot about him while they're fixing the ship together. But because the first fucking thing Sanji did when he met him was to kick him in the face and refer to Usopp as "our long-nose". Like, okay, protective boyfriend much? Idk. I think Franky has had enough experiences in life to see when a man is truly in love.

[ezzydantes]

As It Was

Summary: Its been three years to the day you'd rather not talk about (Ace dying in the War of the Best). The Strawhats know to leave you and Luffy be...

Triggers: Death and very dark thoughts

Three years.... it had been three years since you lost the love of your life. The life you had dreamed of with Ace.... was gone the moment he stood between Akainu and you and Luffy.

Flasback

"Ace..." both you and Luffy had said in unison. It caused the dying man to chuckle a bit.

"Always in tune... honestly thought y/n would end up with you, Luffy", Fire Fist struggled.

"Baby quit talking... you're weak right now...", you began but he interrupted you.

"I don't have much time... alot of my organs are gone so this is sheer will... and I can't talk very loud... so listen closely"

He had fallen between you and pulled you both tight into him. "Tell the others... Pops.... my family... our son... and even Dadan... funny how I miss her in this moment... tell them thank you... Luffy, y/n thank you... for loving some one who didn't deserve to live..."

"BABY... you're scaring me. ... it's you... you made a promise to me and Luffy that day.... remember?" You sobbed as you held his side closest to you with every fiber within you. He couldn't die... it was Ace....

"My biggest regret is never seeing Bo grow up or us grow old together y/n.... or seeing Luffy be King of the Pirates.... promise me y/n... you... you... help our baby brother... ", Ace's voice was getting weaker, "And Luffy.... take care of our family.... no matter the cost... thank you both for loving a wretch like me... it was the greatest feeling in the world... having you both... by... my... siiiide.... "

And with that Ace fell slumped inbetween your bodies.... you both called out to him but you felt the loss deep within your soul... he was gone. You couldn't feel his presence anymore.... and at that point your mind fell into a dark cloud. Your body felt like 1000 lbs and you couldn't move.... you couldn't even console Luffy if you wanted to.... your vision began to black out until you realized Jinbe was taking a hit to protect you and Luffy... adrenaline kicked in then as you snatched Luffy into your embrace and ran to the former warlord.

"Jinbe... PLEASE HELP US!" You cried out. And after that all went black....

End of Flasback

Your eyes tore open to the sound of Luffy desperately calling out to you as he shook you.

"Y/N!!" His broken voice shouted. You looked around to see the rest of the crew around you. Your son crying as he was held against Zoro's chest with the green haired swordsman staring at you in concern... fear in his eyes... it was natural. He was your lover now after all and treated Bo (your son by Ace) as his own.

"Y/n... ", Luffy called in between tears... "Don't leave me alone..."

"I'm here... Baby Brother...", you smiled while trying to ignore the tears still coming down your face. You started to wipe them away when little chubby hands did instead.

"Mommy!" Bo cried as he crawled into your lap. The same little arms that always brought you comfort seemed to bring you unimaginable pain. He would never know his wonderful father, Ace.. but he had an awesome team of uncles to include Luffy, Usopp, Sanji, Chopper, Frankie and Brooke... ans the only other man who knew your soul besides Ace.... Zoro. You embraced your son and cuddled him. He was your ground zero in that moment. The Starwhat including your lover knew you needed your son and your younger brother.

"Guys we need some space", Luffy suggested as he wrapped his arms around you and his nephew. They accepted it all except Zoro who stated he would be only a few feet away. He had dealt with you and Luffy before when either one had a moment like this... so he sat in the corner. Watching as Luffy engulfed you and Bo both reassuring you he would never leave you... you cried as hard as you possibly could... unable to move from where you had planted yourself. Luffy picked you and Bo up with ease and asked to stay in the "special room"... one Frankie had built for such occasions.. knowing his crewmates might need a moment to themselves. Zoro immediately stepped forward and pledged to watch the door. You were too tired to acknowledge your lover's loyalty to you and your small group of your pirate family.... but your smile was enough to convince him and Luffy. The Captain carried you to the small room that held a bed and he sat Bo down first.

"I wanna hold you both, Sis..." he admitted as tears came down his face.

"Lay down with Bo between us... yeah?" You looked to your son. The child with his wild hair and freckles ... spitting image of Ace smiled. He gently pulled the two of you into the bed and nestled in. His face towards yours and his hand encircling Luffy's. "Love you Mommy.... Uncle Lu.... ", he whispered pulling Luffys hand around him.

You looked at Luffy who returned your grief stricken face. The two of you wrapped your arms around each other holding Bo between you. Luffy made his promise again.... "I will not die until you two can be free.... "

"Thank you.... Baby Brother....", you cooed as you gently embraced your partial little family.

"By the way... Chopper accidentally told me about baby Zoro....", Luffy teased as he nestled you and Bo to his chest.

"Shuddup" you muttered as you try to pull away. He quickly grabbed the back of your neck and demanded you look at him.

"You know Ace loved you sooo much he'd want you to move on.... let them have their battle over you in the Beyond...", your little brother chuckled as he pulled you close again. "Let me have you and Bo and baby Zoro now..."

You couldn't help but blush as you held your Captain close... making sure not to smother the next generation. "I love you... Idiot..."

You could feel him giggle... your favorite sound in the world besides Ace berating him or Zoro yelling about how hes an idiot but a good Capt ultimately... these boys had stole a special place in your heart... FOREVER... somehow as it was and how it should be....

[gildedmuse]

SWORD: A Kenshi To English Phrasebook

Take Two.

Again, understanding the language of swordsman is all about context. Let's take this situation.

Summation: You remember how you were in hiding from the government for like over a decade? Yeah, hope you retained all those skills. You gonna be needing them.

The premise here is that people are going to come after Robin for her ability to read the Poneglyphs and not just to hang out with Actual Deity Nico Robin, which I think is pretty absurd. Like, of all the reasons to kidnap Robin - and I'm not saying there are none! - the Poneglyph thing is not in my top ten.

...

I've never kidnapped anyone.

ANYWAY, being told that you're about to be the target of some of the richest, most powerful people in the world must be fairly upsetting. Let's see how Robin takes that news.

Oh, that's right. She got that Robin Chill™.

"Excuse me, giant Cat Monster King, I think you'll find these idiots were willing to declare war against the World Government. That's the Government of almost the entire World. I mean, if anything it's going to be amusing to see them try and kidnap me. I wish them luck."

And now we get to compare those reactions.

I love you, but you would kick anyone's butt for almost any reason. You would kick anyone's butt for lunch. If you told Luffy that Zoro was keeping meat from him, Luffy would immediately slingshot himself across this cave and kick Zoro's ass. And like, they are besties. Not gonna save Zoro from the impending ass whooping.

But also I love how everyone knows how real the compliment is because it's Robin saying it. Luffy's usual reaction to compliments is "Hmm? Am I?" But if Robin says it, you know it's serious.

Unless it's about cannibal tribes. Do not trust this woman when it comes to cannibals.

"What? I didn't take that as a compliment. In fact, you shouldn't even trust me to keep you safe. Appro if nothing here are some new karate moves I've been practicing."

Turns out it's really easy to speak Reindeer.

"They can take Robin-san away over my dead body. Except... I'm already dead."

"Yohohoho!"

No, I'm not going to stop.

I was going to say that I love Franky's energy and commitment here, but then I literally always love Franky's energy and commitment. This man does not do anything where he hasn't packed fireworks just to show his level of energy and commitment.

But seriously, because I'm sort of a FrankyxRobin person, I couldn't help but notice that everyone else is like "Yeah, I'll totally protect you" while Franky is over here legitimately announcing to this whole cavern, "Yo, [City Name], I'm Franky and I am here to do anything for Nico Robin! Just anything! Coupon Does Not Expire."

I feel like if the rest of the crew did not think these two were in a relationship they probably do now.

(I'm also pretty cool with RobinxZoro and RobinxNami, not that it's relevant.)

[Oh wait it totally is]

Okay, so first, good energy from Usopp although I think we just witnessed why Franky might have an issue with the "no touching" rule. It's just... It's going to make their relationship very difficult.

Sex, Usopp. I'm saying your Team Parents are having sex.

Second...

I mean... Damn.

Nami rising from a pit of flames. "Look, Robin, I know these losers have all sworn to protect you, but let me just say, I am the only one here with the goddamn balls to commit willful homicide in your name."

"Love you bestie. xx"

Also, is it weird that I'm more attracted to Nami knowing she is full ready to rob a corpse. I mean, I always figured she'd rob a corpse. Survivor types don't tend to get caught up on those types of details. Her, Jewelry Bonney, and Trafalgar Law; they are all pretty prepared to steal off a dead man. In the first two cases, don't even need that solid a reason. Law is probably saving that one for a rainy day. Some point in the future when he needs it to survive.

Nami and Bonney, they see a corpse and their first instinct is, "Does he still have his wallet? Not anymore. Sucker." And that is what I love about them.

And Now For Our Swordsman

Be honest. You didn't realize this was a gif, did you? Like if I hadn't said anything you'd be all, "huh, weird that she choose to make gifs for every other character and then just used this still frame photo for Zoro."

Nope. That is fully animated. That is the entirety of Zoro's reaction captured in multiple sequenced frames. That gif is made up of 24 different images.

Yeah, well, the important thing is the smile.

See, with a couple exception (like screaming it out while bleeding to death of the deck of a ship cause someone was stupid enough to go after a goddamn Shichibukai not even a full arc into the journey) Zoro's reaction when someone (ie Luffy, it's mostly Luffy) commits the crew to something - something that could very easily end in death - this is Zoro's go to respond.

In Kenshi, Cocky Smile = This sounds like it might be incredibly dangerous. Good. I've got your back, captain.

Or, you know, in this case "They could be sending some really dangerous guys. Good. I've got your back, you strange, morbid woman."

Like I said, it's context.

[Look at my girl smile. She's so happy to have these idiots. These idiots are hers. She has adopted these idiots and she loves them and all their idiocy.]

In case your curious about our other swordsman, he's not pictured. Presumedly because his reaction hasn't actual changed from the last scene ie frowny face. Probably because he's thinking about all the possible added dangers Mugiwara-ya is taking on by keeping this woman on his ship and how that might effect his plans for their alliance. Also, he'd definitely would have kidnap Nico Robin should he have acquired all four shiny Poneglyphs and found out she could read them. So, yeah, best to skip showing his reaction in this otherwise really sweet moment.

[neverwatchedonepiece]

603-604: "Launching the Counter Attack! Luffy and Law's Great Escape!" and "Get to Building R! The Pirate Alliance's Great Advance!"

DING, DING, DING! It’s round two. And you know Luffy ain’t playing this time.

Not a huge amount happened over episodes 603 and 604. Still, the episodes were essential. The story needed a transition phase to tie up the plot threads and set everything up for the final push against Caesar.

Everyone is safe inside the lab, the Strawhats are all accounted for (sans Chopper, who is still in Caesar’s lounge), Luffy is in an alliance with Trafalgar Law and - I never thought I’d say this - Vice-Admiral Smoker of the Marines!

Actually, what the hell am I talking about?

Loads of big things happened.

Including this sweet and juicy nugget of off-island context that has me rubbing my hands with glee.

Juicy Opening Reveal Alert!

Attention: Kidd, Hawkins and Scratchman Apoo are discussing an alliance. This is not a drill.

It started out fairly innocuously. I say “fairly”. The Brokers and Dodgy Characters of the OPverse were kicking back and watching Caesar’s madness play out. Pekoms and Tamago had some lines, so I focused in on them.

“How did those big names get caught by Caesar?” Pekoms asked. “So that’s where they are now. What should we do?”

“We wait a bit and see how things play out,” Tamago answered.

This was a teeny tiny scene. But it was interesting. Why? It revealed Pekoms and Tamago know Caesar by name. Maybe Caesar introduced himself to his audience and I missed it, but if he didn’t, then that’s interesting.

After that, the action switched back to Kidd, who had also been watching Caesar’s broadcast. Kidd has earned himself a 470 million bounty, which is impressive. His right hand man, Killer, has a 200 million bounty. Less impressive. Kidd seemed happy Luffy had finally made some moves. He switched off the feed. “You’re not the kind of guy who wants to play an arms dealer, are you Killer?”

Not sure what Kidd meant by that. Does he mean Killer’s not interested in what Caesar has to offer? Or that he doesn’t want to get involved with an obvious head case like Caesar? 

They walked off through their extra edgy hideout complete with gloomy paint job and atmospheric candelabras (lol). They discussed Law and his shenanigans on Punk Hazard. Kidd couldn’t believe they were all there together. He thought Law had lost his mind when he became the World Government’s lapdog. But now... Law was definitely up to something. Kidd does not want to fall behind, so they’d have to make a move too. 

Upon opening the door an explosion boomed them right in the face. It was Scratchman! At first I thought, is this an assassination attempt? Then the camera panned to Hawkins and I thought.... okay, so a team-assassination attempt?

Nope. Killer had called them to Kidd’s hideout to discuss forming an alliance.

This is cool. I like this seemingly random development. Oda has made a good move here showing the other rookies in the Worst Generation are also working hard behind the scenes. They’re in the New World now. The Yonko are a-callin’. If they don’t team up, they’ll be destroyed. (R.I.P. Gangster Pirate dude and dinosaur guy. Still not sure what Urouge is up to.) 

I kind of hope their alliance works a little more smoothly than the Strawhat/Heart Pirate alliance does at the moment. xD

Just Get Out of the Damned Cage, I Don’t Even Care Anymore...

There are a few teething problems but I’m sure Law has now realised that Luffy is a major loose cannon and will learn how to point him in the right direction. Maybe. At some point. In the distant future. (Ahh, that golden moment when Robin and Franky straight up told Law not to turn his back on Luffy because he’ll be off like a rocket, yelling their secret plans at the top of his lungs.)

Law’s cunning plan from the episode 402 cliffhanger was revealed. It was surprisingly simple and dangerous. But then if it’s not dangerous, is it really a good One Piece plan?

Absolutely not.

Law asked if anyone could set the nearby broken ship on fire. Franky obliged.(That fireball was badass, by the way. Just need that on record.) Once the rising smoke had obscured Caesar’s view of the cage, Law revealed his sneaky ruse. While he had freeloaded at Caesar’s house, he swapped most of the seastone chains with normal ones. Law broke free from his and freed Luffy, Robin and Franky.

Once he had failed to convince Luffy to stop cheering like a madman, Law dealt with a spot of business.

Smoker and Tashigi. They knew too much. They knew Joker’s real identity. He had their destiny in his hands. I knew he wouldn’t kill them (not evidence for that, I just didn’t think Oda would go there) but I was not prepared for what would happen next. 

Law unshambled them and struck a deal: he would spare their lives because if they made it back to Marine HQ it would make life difficult for Vergo. In exchange, Smoker and Tashigi were to FORGET everything they had heard about Law and Joker. This was not a favour. It was a condition of their release.

Now, this had me bewildered. Why, if Law is no longer working for Doflamingo, is he still protecting the guy? If Doflamingo goes down, then surely Vergo will also go down and the whole operation will fall to pieces? Unless what you guys hinted at is bigger than I thought and Doflamingo has so many side hustles that some Marines being mad at him is small potatoes.

At any rate, the deal was accepted, despite Smoker’s pride, because of Tashigi’s sense of duty and practicality overcame it. She basically said, “Yes, untie us for the love of god. We need to live because if we don’t, we can’t save our people from Vergo and we can’t rescue Caesar’s experiment kiddies!”

So the deal was done. The neatness of Law’s plan was totally ruined when Luffy bent the bars of the cage and pinged out in a fit of enthusiasm. Then Franky basically turned to Law and said, “Yeah, I’m gonna pass on the plan. I’m off to look after Sunny.” 

Then he farted himself out of the plot.

I think I just made a new sentence there.

Deal done, Law roomed them all to the back door, whereupon the sneaked inside the lab and pulled a Very Important Lever that meant the Fodder Marines outside did not die a horrible, painful death from Caesar’s chemical weapon.

Yay!

And there was this great, dramatic reveal moment. 

Look. Look at this Beautiful Shot

While Luffy, Law and Smoker stood with their backs to Caesar’s bemused minions like total badasses, the poison gas rolled over the island. 

Zoro, Sanji, Brook and Foxfire still hadn’t caught up to the dragon. However, Sanji because super motivated by tits and found a sudden burst of speed. The only thing was, the dragon wasn’t quite good enough on its own. It was tiring too.

Luckily, Nami and Usopp rode up on the back of Brownbeard and caught Brook just as he fell off the dragon. They all leapt on Brownbeard’s back (dragon included) and galloped to the front door.

Which was rapidly closing, as the Marines had all scuttled safely inside!

Indoors, the Marines squinted. What was that white, powdery cloud in the distance approaching at speed? 

It was the rest of the Strawhats trying really damned hard not to die.

Zoro and Kinemon teamed up to slash the doors and force their way in. I thought it was majorly dumb at first (to be fair, so did most of the other characters). But the Fodder Marines patched up the hole with a speed that makes me think they’ve missed their calling and should be flipping houses instead.

Still think the gas would probably seep through those gaps but maybe Caesar’s got some wicked air filtration system going on. I mean, it is a state of the art lab specialising in chemical weapons research.

Have I Left the Stove On?

There was a moment after the Strawhats reunited where the action cut to a shot of the devastation Caesar’s weapon had wreaked across Punk Hazard. 

If you thought the island was screwed before, it’s beyond help now. Utterly Pompeii’d. Every inch of it is covered in petrifying, poisonous ash. There is nowhere on Punk Hazard that is now habitable. Caesar took immense pride in this achievement. Some people just love destroying stuff, right? The only thing that survived outside was a single DDM protected by a bubble for Caesar’s broadcast. 

Brook’s ghostly form confirmed it. Going outside would be a Bad Idea.

Inside, a lot of guns were pointed at the Strawhats and Brownbeard (Brownbeard was just pleased the Marines had remembered his name. Awww...you’re infamous now, Brownbeard. Just like Luffy. Enjoy it!)

Once the plot threads and outstanding issues of the whole reuniting scene were dealt with (Law unshambled Nami and Sanji and also told Smoker not to let his men stand in the way of the pirates), the plan to fight back against Caesar and escape the hell of Punk Hazard began.

As Law had been a guest at Caesar’s Weird Hotel, he knew the layout of the labs. They were in the foyer of Building A. To escape, they must force a path through to Building B, the large central area. There, they would find a gate at the back leading to Building R and a door marked R-66. Behind that door, is a passage to the sea that would be unaffected by any poison gas.

Law declared he’d rather not have to create a massacre, but could only give everyone about two hours. To anyone staying longer than that, Law could not guarantee their safety.

And the idiots still tried to attack the Strawhats, so I don’t have much hope for them.

One of the most interesting scenes here was the one between Zoro and Luffy. While fighting Marines, Usopp updated Zoro on what had happened. Caesar had soloed everyone with his de-oxygenation trick. Even Luffy had fallen for it. Zoro took that hard. He had flashbacks to Sabaody, to everything he had trained for in the past two years. What the hell? How could Luffy just lose like that?

Luffy (who had hatched a secret plan with Robin I know nothing about yet because Oda did let us hear it), was heading for the next room. Zoro caught him before Luffy barged his way through.

“LUFFY! GET A GRIP. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW WORLD!”

And Luffy replied, “YEAH, SORRY. I WON’T LET MY GUARD DOWN AGAIN.”

Then he tried out a hilariously dumb UFO move on the Fodder Marines and Zoro performed a mental facepalm.

I liked that glimpse of the relationship between Luffy and Zoro there. Sometimes, even though Zoro has his moments, he’s always there to give Luffy a kick up the arse and deliver some home truths on occasion. And because Luffy respects Zoro, he will take them on board and acknowledge them. But of course he’ll still have a damned good time and try out dumb moves on fodders because when else can you do that, am I right?

He Did Not Leave The Stove On

In the lounge, Caesar was about to take a special delivery from the Bad News Fairy.

One of the nice things about Caesar is that he is not a total dumbass. He looked at that cage. He noticed there were no petrified bodies clawing at the front door. He *knew* something wasn’t quite right. He asked Monet and Vergo. Vergo actually hypothesised that the Strawhats had broken free and helped the Fodder Marines escape too. But Caesar ignored him.

Then the Bad News Fairy arrived. A minion burst through the door. “Master! All of the enemies have entered the lobby with Strawhat Luffy in the lead!”

You all probably remember Spandam and Enel and those golden freakout faces. Caesar is giving them a run for their money. I love how he can shift seamlessly from twirling round the room in joyful glee, to “wait a minute....” suspicion, followed by shrieking outrage.

Two in-universe hours, Caesar. That’s how long you have.

Can’t wait to see what nasty tricks you’ll pull in your increasingly futile attempts to cling to power in Punk Hazard.

And they will be futile, because if there’s one thing we all know about Luffy, it’s that he always, always learns from his mistakes.

He is going to kick your ass and kidnap you.

At least he recycles?

[foxboymyles]

Pardon My Imprudence [Chp 2]

Note: I have all the text prepared! But I try to get these out in an orderly manner. That way I don’t have to correct a couple chapters in the same day. Some times I’ll be motivated to do so though, so multiple chapters might be released the same day <3 enjoy😊

It's November now. Luffy is ready to go to school, and his dad Shanks approached him with a piece of toast.

"Eat it quick. School is in 10 minutes. You can probably get there in 2 depending on how fast you walk." Shanks said.

Luffy nodded and put on his school uniform shirt, running his fingers in his hair to fix his cowlick. He bit into the toast instead of holding it since his hands were full. Shanks chuckled and kissed the top of his head.

"Have a good day, Luffy," Shanks said, lightly pushing him out the door as the boy walked.

"You too!" Luffy said, his voice muffled from the toast in his mouth.

When Luffy got to the front gate, Zoro was waiting at the gate to walk with him. Luffy smiled and tossed his water.

"You said your sister took all the water bottles so I got one for you!"

Zoro grabbed it and started to loosen the cap."Thanks."

"No problem!" Luffy said, grinning.

Luffy got to his locker, which was coincidentally next to Zoro's. He was getting his books together when they were slapped out of his hand. It was Bellamy's snarky grin that Luffy remembered.

"I'm thinkin' you don't remember when you made a fool out of me in class," Bellamy said, his hand clenching Luffy's shirt collar.

Zoro was ready to punch him when Luffy gave him the signal to not do it.

"Yeah, I remember. The math test."

"Remember the fight, retard. At 5."  Bellamy said, as he slammed Luffy into the locker and walked away.

Zoro helped Luffy up, with an angry look on his face. He got his papers and books and gave him a serious look.

"Y'know I could easily kick his ass if you need me to," Zoro said.

"It's ok, Zoro. I'll do that on my own." Luffy said, grabbing the papers and books from him and putting them in his locker.

Zoro doubted this but let him do his own thing.

...

It was time for the fight. Nami drank her soda while she talked casually to Usopp. Zoro wondered why they were so nonchalant about this fight. Luffy obviously didn't seem like the strong type. There were many people on Bellamy's side, cheering for the snarky kid. Bellamy cracked his knuckles and looked up at Luffy, who didn't seem scared at all.

"You're a strange kid. Usually, when I fight other kids they shrink in fear. But not you." Bellamy said.

Luffy stayed silent and looked at him in the eye. Bellamy smiled and tried to trick him with quick movements. But with a fast fist and a hard punch, Luffy's hit sent Bellamy flying, as his face rubbed into the concrete. Zoro couldn't believe his eyes. This kid actually knew how to fight, and he fought well. The audience paused and cheered for Luffy's easy victory. Zoro went up to Nami and Usopp.

"You're used to him doing that?" Zoro asked, surprised.

"Yeah, of course. He's trying to be a famous boxer right now. He's the top of the state. He just doesn't flaunt it." Usopp said, taking off his sunglasses.

"He didn't tell me he was a boxer," Zoro said.

Luffy smiled back at Zoro and fist bumped him.

"Can I have some of that water?" Luffy asked.

"You might wanna fountain it," Zoro replied.

The boy took a sip and gave it back. Bellamy's friends looked at Luffy angrily and put Bellamy on the bench while he was unconscious.

"Say moss head, do you do anything fitness related?" Nami asked.

Zoro rolled his eyes."I train with katanas. And I'm trying to be a heavy lifter."

Luffy looked at him amazed."Heavy lifting? Katanas? That sounds so cool!"

Zoro smiled. "Yeah. It's not easy though."

"Well, we gotta run. Our friend Franky's expecting us over dinner." Usopp said, walking off with Nami.

"Alright, see you guys later!" Luffy said, waving.

They left as Zoro looked at Luffy for a moment.

"You don't seem like the boxer type." He said.

Zoro lifted up Luffy's shirt. His eyes widened.

"I thought you barely had anything there!" Zoro said, in shock.

Luffy looked again curiously."Oh, yup. Are you talking about my muscle? Shanks said I can't grow that much muscle 'cause of my physique or somethin' like that."

Luffy lifted up Zoro's shirt and observed.

"You got way more muscle than me," Luffy said.

Zoro crossed his arms."Nothing new to me."

Luffy smiled and glanced at the park across the street.

“Wanna go over there and play some ball?” Luffy said, getting a basketball out of his gym bag.

Zoro nodded and went over to the park with him. It was a warm, quiet day like always. You could hear the quiet laughter of children and the soft noise of cars passing by. Luffy shot 5 baskets in a row, as the same for Zoro. They kept up a conversation.

“So who inspired you to do fighting like that?” Zoro asked Luffy.

Luffy threw the ball. It bounced off the headboard and bounced, rolling slowly on the concrete.

“Shanks. Shanks Le Roux, my dad.” Luffy said.

“I’ve heard his name before I met him. He’s one of the famous boxers, right? But then he quit and got into a business career.” Zoro explained briefly, as he motioned for the ball.

“Well, one time I was running to get my ball when I was a kid. I wasn’t living with Shanks at the time, but we were good friends because he was from my neighborhood. I got my ball finally and a guy was approaching me with a knife. I didn’t see it, but Shanks blocked the knife just on time and it got caught in his arm.” Luffy continued. “The doctor had to cut off his arm because the wound was too deep for them to heal it. When he got the job of raising me and my brothers he decided it was better to not get hurt, and he got into Business. He still works out a bunch though.”

Zoro looked at Luffy and smiled. “You’re dad’s cooler than I thought.”

Zoro forgot the ball in his hands and sat on the bench. It was then when a man whose hair was blue with dreadlocks, came into their view. He took Luffy’s hat from his bag and started to run.

“Luffy, he’s got something of yours!” Zoro shouted.

Luffy quickly turned and ran light speed after the man. He tackled him and punched him in the face. The man fell, but quickly took out a knife and smiled creepily.

“This is Shanks’ hat, correct?” The man said, his voice gravelly.

Luffy’s eyes widened.”How’d you know that?”

“Everyone knows it! Just give me the hat! It could be worth a fortune!” He said, poking the knife at Luffy’s neck.

Zoro hurried to the scene and glared at the man.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Zoro said, in a low toned voice.

“Why no-” He asked until Luffy almost punched him. He dodged it but he couldn’t dodge Luffy’s kick, which hit him and made him rub his cheek against the concrete.

The man laughed and looked at Luffy mischievously.

“The name’s Buggy the Clown. That’s my ring name.” Buggy said, struggling to get up.

“You’re a wrestler too?” Luffy said, giving his hat to Zoro.

“Of course. Until your old man revealed the news about me being a ‘scandal’! I had to leave the wrestling career and be a criminal.”

Luffy chuckled.”Shanks never fails to be right.”

Buggy raised his eyebrow, scowling.”What do ya mean by that, kid?”

“I mean, you just tried to kill me there. You don’t make very great impressions, do you?” Luffy said as Zoro tried not to smile.

Buggy blushed and mumbled. “This isn’t over yet, Monkey D. Luffy. I’ll get revenge someday. Your old man’ll be sorry once I get through with you. He slowly walked away into the distance.

Zoro looked at Luffy.”Good thing you got rid of him. I want to speak to you about something.”

Luffy raised an eyebrow and looked up at Zoro innocently. “Yeah?”

Zoro blushed and took a deep breath. “I li-”

“LUFFY!” Ace said, running from the sidewalk to the basketball court.

Zoro glanced at Ace and looked at him in curiosity.

“What’s up?” Luffy said.

Ace growled. “You said you’d be home at 6! And it’s nearly 7:30!”

“Sorry, Ace. Did I miss Sabo’s dinner?”

“Of course you did!” Ace said angrily,”Now come on!”

Luffy warmly smiled at Zoro.”Thanks for hangin’ out with me!”

Ace yanked Luffy’s arm for him to go and they ran back to their house.

Zoro stared at their silhouettes getting smaller and smaller, sighed and sat on the bench flustered.

…

Luffy arrived at the house and Sabo was cleaning the kitchen. The older brother smiled nicely and got the left-overs from the microwave.

“I’m guessing you went out with Zoro again?” Sabo said, unwrapping the foil.

Luffy grinned.”Yup! We played basketball!”

Ace sat down on the couch and deeply sighed. “Why are you so obsessed with this guy?”

“Well he’s real nice. He tried to protect me from Bellamy when he tossed my books.” Luffy said.

Sabo frowned slightly.”I didn’t know Bellamy was doing something like that again.”

Ace grumbled.”I could have fought him better.”

Luffy pouted.”What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean I could’ve given him a concussion! I’d rather have that bastard stay away from that school permanently than hurt you.”

Sabo laughed.”The point was that Luffy’s friend protected him, right?”

Ace blushed turned on the tv.”So what? I can do that.”

Luffy grabbed a plate of left-overs from Sabo and ate like a pig, as usual. “He was gonna say something to me, but you came over to get me.”

Sabo’s eyes widened as Ace dropped the remote. Ace turned to Luffy in shock.

“Don’t tell me he was gonna admit to liking you.” Ace said.

Sabo laughed awkwardly.”Maybe he was just gonna bring something else up!”

“No Sabo, he looked real embarrassed when I got Luffy.”

Sabo suddenly stopped talking and sat on the couch.

Luffy blushed slightly and yelled back.”That’s not true! We…”

“Ah ah ah! No excuses! You have to say no!”

Sabo glared at Ace.”Don’t say that. He can say yes if he wants to!”

“Why are you so soft on him?!? They’ve only known each other for 3 months!”

They went back and forth until Luffy shouted with a hot face.

“I think I love him!”

Sabo and Ace looked at him bug-eyed.

“What?” They said in unison.

“You heard me! When we were carving the pumpkin a while ago- I looked him in the eye and I felt really nervous! My heart was beating really fast! It still does!” Luffy said, stuttering a little.

Sabo smiled and made an aw sound as Ace was struggling to get back in reality. He finally stood up and grabbed Luffy’s phone. Luffy shouted for him to give it back, but he didn’t. Ace called Zoro’s phone.

…

Zoro’s phone vibrated in his pocket while he was eating dinner. Mihawk turned his attention to him, drinking fine wine. Zoro mumbled said he’d be back in a minute and went outside to answer.

“Yeah?”

“Yo, Roronoa.”

Zoro heard it was Ace’s voice.

“What’s up?” He said, curiously.

“Stop swooning my brother already! He’s going off about you like you’re some kinda god.”

Zoro started to turn red.

“What?”

Luffy nagged Ace to get off of his phone and snatched it away from him.

“I’m sorry Zoro- he’s just being-”

“I like you.”

Luffy’s mouth opened slightly. His heart started racing rapidly and his hands slightly twitched.

“Uh…”

“No, I think I love you. I love you. Be my boyfriend.”

Luffy heard this and blushed even more. He smiled and laughed.

“Yeah, I will! So uhm...I’ll see at school?”

“Of course. See you.”

Zoro hung up. He felt like a whole load off his chest was released. He let out a little smile and went back to dinner.

…

Luffy grinned, his face crimson red.

“Well? How’d it go?” Sabo asked, excited. Ace covered his face, ashamed.

“He asked me if I wanted to be his boyfriend,” Luffy said, touching his hair.

“That’s good! I hope you guys stay together for a long time!” Sabo said, cheerfully. Ace sulked on the couch and gave the remote to Sabo. The blonde took the remote.

“Aw, why can’t you be supportive? He seems like a nice guy.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m just worried he’s gonna go around hurting Luffy.”

Sabo chuckled.”Funny you say that when he was the one to protect Luffy from Bellamy.”

“Yeah, sure.” Ace said, gazing at the colors of the tv screen.