Chapter Text
Luffy and the Straw Hats, as they like to call themselves, ate breakfast together the next morning. Some, like Brook and Chopper, happily enjoyed their meals while others like Zoro and Usopp lazily went through theirs, almost falling asleep as they ate. Nami and Sanji were the ones to initiate and be the driving force of the conversation the group had, first talking about Chopper reaching his 1 million subscriber milestone and Zoro being invited to an international Kendo competition, and then about the mundane things such as each other’s chores and then finally to the food supply they had.
“We need to go grocery shopping as soon as possible,” Sanji told everyone. “It’s been almost a month before we’ve gone.”
“Mm,” Chopper hummed as he ate. “We can do it today. I think Usopp and Luffy are free,” he replied, cheerfully enjoying Sanji’s cooking.
Franky cleared his throat. “Usopp’s going to help me build something super today, so he won’t be available for the day.”
“Same for me, Nami, and Robin,” Brook added. “We have a planned shopping spree today.”
“That leaves Chopper, Jinbei, and Luffy then,” murmured Nami, who looked at the three of them with uncertainty. “The grocery wouldn’t be open until later today, and Chopper already mentioned that he’s going with Jinbei to buy more study books that he needs for university, right?.”
Chopper nodded with a frown. “Yeah,” he said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know that we needed to restock our fridge, but today is really the last day where I can buy those books at a huge discount!”
Luffy chuckled. “It’s fine, I can handle grocery shopping with Sanji well!” He grinned. “Plus, the only thing I’m supposed to do today is come up with another video and stream idea, which I can do tomorrow or the day after. And besides, hanging out with him is fun.” He said all this in the middle of eating with his mouth full of rice and meat.
“That settles it then,” Sanji sighed, laying down his utensils and plate on the sink. “Luffy, don’t forget to wash the dishes and be prepared to go out an hour after lunch.”
He energetically nodded. “Sure thing!” he exclaimed, waving Sanji goodbye as the cook went up to his room, possibly to worry about his culinary studies.
Luffy watched as Robin and Chopper followed, and then Nami and Brook, and then finally Jinbei. Him, Usopp, and Zoro now remain talking to each other at the dining table. Usopp shared about his new project with Franky where they would build a ship on a shipyard that belonged to Franky’s family, and then the plans he had for future videos on his Youtube.
“I need to start streaming soon,” he told them. So far, only Luffy, Brook, Jinbei, and Robin tried it, and Luffy is the only one who has a schedule on it, the rest only streaming on impulse or when they find the time to do so.
“You should!” Luffy exclaimed, almost turning the table upside down as he abruptly stood up. “It’s really fun! And you get to talk to your followers directly and listen to what they have to say to you in real time!”
Zoro hummed, nodding while he ate. “Yeah,” he mumbled. “But you-” he pointed to Luffy. “Need to remember that it’s really time consuming and tiring. Not everyone is as hyperenergetic as you.”
“Mhm mhm,” Usopp agreed. “And you’re not in college anymore, you have loads more time in your hands.”
Luffy made a grumbling noise and pouted. “You’re the one who brought up streaming,” he grunted. “I only said it was fun, since you can do lots of things with it.”
“Ah!” Zoro, then, suddenly snapped his fingers and looked intently at Luffy. “Congrats for getting the Doc on stream yesterday by the way,” he grinned. “Must have felt really relieving to have him finally respond to you on Discord.”
“Oh, the Doc?” Usopp leaned more towards the duo. “Did he appear on Luffy’s stream yesterday?”
“Yeah. Luffy could not stop smiling the whole time.” Zoro chuckled. “You and Franky need to watch it when you go to that shipyard, they played Valorant the whole time, and both of them were surprisingly good at it.”
And, at the mention of the FPS game, Usopp nearly exploded. “Luffy?! Play Valorant?!” he exclaimed, almost choking on water. He glared at the other in pure shock as he tried to clear his chest. “You never told me you played! I could have been your duo!”
Luffy chuckled. “Well, you never asked! And besides, as you said earlier, you were always busy with college. Even if I wanted to duo with you, I really don’t think that you can find time to.”
Usopp scoffed. “Me? Not finding time to do something I am passionate about? Please, tell that to the ship I’m helping Franky make.”
“I think that the ship you’re making is different,” Zoro replied, eating the last piece of meat on his plate. “You were doing that for Youtube while this Valorant thing is just a hobby of yours.”
“Yeah!” Luffy exclaimed. “You never post Valorant gameplay on your channel. You only talk about the lore and the updates on agents with me when we’re out shopping or skating, which, mind you, rarely happens. How am I supposed to know you play and aren’t just really into Valorant lore?”
“You could have asked!”
“Same to you!”
“Oi oi, you two can bicker about the stupid game all you want,” Zoro suddenly interrupted. “But I need to go back to editing a video. See you later.”
“Oh, alright,” Usopp replied. “See you at lunch! Oh and if you still play Valorant you can tell me we can be a duo!”
Zoro laughed. “They never buff my agent, I’m not going back to that hellhole again,” he said. “Thanks for the invitation though, I’ll hit you up if I feel like it.”
Luffy gasped dramatically, with his hand on his chest and a shocked look on his face as he looked at Usopp. “You dare exclude me..?!”
“You already have a duo,” Usopp replied. “Remember? Mister Oh-I-Miss-You-So-Doctor?”
The other paused for a while, before he sighed. “He rarely replies to me on Discord, much less play with me on a game that takes on average 40 minutes for a match to finish.”
“Yeah but he replied to your request to play the game and stream didn’t he?” Usopp told him. “Look, maybe the Doc finally graduated from med school. He’s been studying there since you met him, right? It’s about time he finally becomes one and stops studying.”
“I mean… you’re right,” Luffy mumbled. “But…”
Usopp cut that thought short by aggressively patting him on the back and giving him a thumbs up. “Don’t worry about that, just keep on thinking positive, ok?” he grinned. “You usually don’t worry about small things like this, so don’t worry about it now. You’ll kill yourself over it.”
Luffy looked at him, brows furrowed and with a scowl on his face. “Fine,” he groaned.
“See, now that’s better,” Usopp chuckled, as he walked towards his room. “Don’t worry about it too much, worry about the dishes you need to wash now,” he said. “And if you want to play, just tell me anytime! See ‘ya!” he added, before running to his room, possibly to come up with blueprints for the ship he and Franky would be building.
Luffy frowned as Usopp left. Really, he wishes that things would turn out to be as he said. But he knows better than to expect. The Doc is really busy, and is probably searching for a life where he's a successful doctor and not some recurring guest on Luffy's streams.
He sighed once more. Usopp is right, he shouldn't worry himself to death over this. The Doc is his friend, and he's sure that the feeling is mutual. He doubts that the Doc would just disappear out of thin air.
Though, one thing’s for certain. The used dishes and pans wouldn't disappear if he kept thinking about the Doc. So, he starts to wash them as he turns his brain off.
"Luffy!!" He heard Sanji bang on the bathroom door. "Hurry up! We really need to do grocery shopping now! I still have to finish an assignment!"
"Fucking-" Luffy cursed, before some loud crashes were heard from the bathroom. "Just wait a minute! You were the one who told me to take a shower!"
Sanji gritted his teeth. Yeah, he was the one who told him to take one. He isn't about to be spotted outside with someone who has less than a proper hygiene. "Just hurry up! I've been waiting for more than half an hour now."
And, as if on cue, Luffy opened the bathroom door with a towel on his shoulders and a pair of shorts on. "Alright!" he exclaimed. "I'm done!"
The other looked at him with pure confusion and concern, mixed in with shock and horror as he noticed that Luffy didn't even bother to dry himself before putting on his shorts. "You need to dry-"
"I can do that in the car," Luffy sternly replied, glaring at him before slightly pushing him away as he walked to their garage.
Sanji hesitantly followed Luffy's lead, making sure to take a rug to wipe the water that drips from his hair to their floor. God, if Franky discovers that Luffy entered his car wet… he doesn't even want to imagine it. He just wouldn't tell anyone and hopefully, it dries completely before they go back from shopping.
He drove the both of them to the nearest grocery store, which is a 10 minute drive from their house. The ride wasn't that awkward, thankfully, since Luffy somehow managed to strike up a conversation about what to do to celebrate Chopper and Zoro's achievements.
"I think a mountain hike and a picnic on top of it would be great!" he exclaimed, putting on his shirt. "Robin told me something about knowing a great trail with only a right amount of people visiting, meaning no overcrowding for us."
Sanji nervously laughed. "I think that's a way better option than what Nami suggested we do…"
"Which is…?"
He paused, before humming and replying to the other. "You're better off not knowing. You'll probably insist that we go there instead."
Luffy chuckled. "Is it Sabaody?"
"No, but close," Sanji said, steering the wheel to park the car. "Anyway, we're here. I'm thinking of buying more for your hiking trip and picnic idea. I'm sure the others would love it."
"You sure Nami won't get mad at you for exceeding the budget?" Luffy asked, as both of them left the car and entered the grocery store.
"No, it's for Chopper and Mosshead after all," he said. "Oh and, we'll split up to maximise our time. Turns out, when I looked for things that we needed to buy, a lot came up and our shopping list got a lot longer." Sanji handed out a list of the things that needed to be bought, and it was sure as hell long, just as he described it. "So here's yours and this is mine. I'll mainly focus on the food part while you get the dishwashing liquid, the tissue papers, etcetera. If you need me, just call," he told him.
Luffy nodded in understanding. "Ok," he replied. "See you when I finish this! Bye!"
And with that, the two went on opposite ends of the store.
Luffy started in the cleaning supplies section, hoping to find the things that Sanji listed in the paper.
"Hmm," he hummed. "So we need bleach… laundry detergent… dish soap…" he read out loud as he navigated around the area, trying to look for the right materials without getting too distracted by the freebies hanging around that are just in the corner of his eyes.
Although he's accompanied Sanji and the others in grocery shopping before, no one would ever call him an efficient shopper. This is mainly because instead of going from aisle to aisle and getting the things he needs to buy in the way they are arranged in the store, he instead follows the way the items are arranged in the shopping list, leading to him going to and fro places he's already been, and he does this despite already knowing the layout of the store.
This inefficient process kept on going until he couldn't find an item in the list. He tried asking around for where it might be, but all of them lead him to this exact place where he's sure that the thing he's looking for isn't there. Maybe his vision is somehow ignoring this item's existence, or maybe the employees are just messing with him, who knows. One thing he does know is that he's spending way too much time finding this thing he doesn't even know the purpose of.
Though, he decided to not waste his time and moved on from that single item, until he’s got everything he needed and that thing is the only one left to get. And once he did, he tried to find it again in the same place the staff directed him at, only to still be confused as to if they all really led him to the right place. He continued to stare cluelessly at the same products displayed on the shelves, thinking if what he’s really looking at is the item listed.
Though, his fixation was suddenly interrupted when he heard someone call his attention and ask him to move. Apparently, his cart was blocking the rest of the aisle to other buyers.
“Oh,” Luffy mumbled. “Sorry.” He immediately stepped farther and dragged his cart away from the other buyer.
"Thanks," a slim and tall man quietly replied as he reached out to a relatively small orange box, the same orange box he's been staring at for the past couple of minutes.
Luffy stared in shock as he read the name of this product: Baking soda, the thing listed on the paper that he believed wasn't there.
But it couldn't be, that… thing, doesn't even resemble a soda. And he's certain that the thing this man just took isn't used for baking either. So, to clear his confusion, he asked the other man directly.
He tugged the sleeves of his jacket and asked him, "Hey, is that baking soda?"
The tall slim man faced him, finally allowing Luffy to take full view of what he looked like. He looks foreign, with his tan skin that sported unusual discolouring. He features messy sideburns and a small goatee, and a set of unique golden eyes looked at him horrified.
And then, he found himself staring at this new face for too long.
The other man furrowed his brows at Luffy as he pulled back his sleeve. “Uhm,” he mumbled, averting his gaze from him. “Yeah, yeah that’s baking soda,” he replies before quickly turning the other way around. But before he got his chance to leave, Luffy immediately grabs the man’s black jacket, nearly causing the other to fall due to the sheer force Luffy used. Thankfully though, the other managed to grip one of the shelves.
“Ah! I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!” Luffy stuttered before approaching the other one carefully, thinking of how he could help him. “I’m really, really sorry. I just wanted to ask you something but it looks like you’re in a hurry and-” he rambled as he tried to explain the situation. It’s not everyday he almost injures someone after all.
The other man, though, looked like he didn’t need any of Luffy’s help. He glared at him and clicked his tongue. “It’s fine,” he groaned, standing up on his own and gesturing to Luffy to not approach him. Once he was all fine, he faced him with an irritated look on him and asked, “So, what do you want to ask?”
Luffy uncomfortably shifted. After all that debacle, he felt embarrassed asking such an insignificant question. “You look like you just moved in the city,” he told him. “I’ve never seen you before, and I’m pretty good at remembering faces! My name’s Luffy, Monkey D. Luffy! Nice to meet you!" he proudly proclaimed, with a grin on his face.
The other stared at him, profoundly confused and irritated. “What else?”
“Hm? Oh no, that’s everything.”
The man sighed, as he rubbed his face. “I don’t think that the possibility of cracking my head due to a fall you could have caused is worth that question.”
Luffy nervously chuckled. “Well, wouldn’t it be more criminal if I decided to just bail out after I did that to you, don’t you think so?”
“I suppose it would be,” the other replied. “But that still doesn’t warrant your reckless behaviour. You could have just, oh I don’t know, called me.”
“I would if I knew your name!” Luffy smiled.
“And you wouldn’t leave me alone if you didn’t, would you?”
He laughed. “Who knows? And besides, I’ve already decided I like you!”
The other stared at him, trying to decipher what goes on in Luffy’s head. He’s sure it isn’t his personality. He’s been treating him like he does any other person he’s come across, rudely. Sure, he could be worse but surely, no one would like it if someone refuses their help and accuses them of murder.
Luffy simply chuckled at the frown on the other’s face. “Can’t guess why?”
The other shook his head. “No, I can’t,” he replied. “So would you please just leave me alone to do my own groceries?”
“No can do sir,” Luffy jested, grinning at the other and ready to chase him if he ever decides to run away. “Well, not until you state your name and the reason why you came to this city.”
The man sighed, itched his nape, and looked at the other in defeat.
“Trafalgar. My name’s Trafalgar Law.”