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Walking. Walking. Walking. Luffy hummed as he mentally repeated the word over and over again as he did the exact action he was saying in his head. Only half listening to the music playing through his headphones that was drowning out almost all the noise of the busy and over crowded areas that always seemed to be flooded by a never ending ocean of people. Not that he ever really minded that, he was a pretty social person after all. As long as people were willing to be friendly to him then he would be more than happy to be just as, if not more, friendly back. Actually these sort of places were perfect for him. He loved the energy that seemed to always thrum in the air in places with large crowds and loved all the chaos that could erupt at any moment.
But there were definitely times when he didn't mind letting the noise of the crowds fade away to listen to the music on the old mp3 player he found. As he walked over and waited to get on the subway he bounced on his feet as he looked around at the crowd around him. Hm there was a kid crawling under on of the benches. An old woman trying to sneak a peak at the punk girls sketchbook. A girl talking to a tall guy with green hair. Huh, that was weird, she kept trying to step closer to him and she was smiling way more than he was. Huh another guy came up to her other side. What did he look so grumpy about? After looking at a few more people eventually his eyes wandered back to the three. The girl seemed to be standing closer to the second guy but didn't seem to be as happy talking to him as she was the first guy. Weird.
Luffy blinked watching the second guy slip the girls phone out of her back pocket and tilted his head to the side. Finally the train got there and soon everyone was heading in but Luffy could still see the three, even as the first guy tried to walk away from the two. He was also slipping his own wallet out of his pocket and tucking it into his backpack. Wonder why he would do that for. Eh who cares: The ride to his stop was pretty uneventful, no one was really doing anything but sitting or standing in their spots and waiting just like everyone else for the train to stop. Once it did though he happily got up and made his way through the crowd ignoring the disgruntled yells of people he rushed ahead of. He wanted out and didn't really have the patience to wait until everyone messily filed out what more was there to say?
The young raven haired male made quick work of the subway stairs, happily bounding up them to expel some energy and get to the top faster. When he finally did reach the surface a content grin spread on his face as he reached his hands up above his head, stretching up towards the night sky. As much as he loved traveling he couldn't say he was a fan of sitting underground in a dark railroad. He liked seeing the world pass by through the windows, not just a brick wall. As he started walking he looked around and glanced over peoples shoulders to find the time and frowned. Man it was starting to get late, his favorite places to eat were probably closed by now and he didn't have money for anything fancy either. Luffy started grumbling in irritation at his predicament until he suddenly saw a brighter light hitting the concrete and looked up to see a convenience store.
With a wide grin his mood instantly brightened as he rushed in and pulled down his headphones to pull up his hat hanging around the back of his neck. "Hello wel- oh it's you. Haven't seen you around all too much lately kid." The older man behind the counter said giving a familiar and amused smile. "Hey old man! Yeah lately one of the old ladies who's house I pass by suddenly got into cooking. She always makes too much so I haven't needed to buy food for a while!" He said grinning at the older man and letting out a small laugh as he grabbed a cup and started filling it. "Heh sounds like she's trying to put me out of business." "Huh? Why do you say that?" "Nothing it was a joke Luffy.'' With a blank stare that said he didn't get it he turned back to his drink with a shrug. "Alright."
As he walked to the front the hatted teen glanced through the shelves grabbing various items in his hands as he passed by them. By the time he was done he walked up with a rather large load of snacks held up in his arms and he happily dumped them across the counter with a grin. “And a hot dog too! One of the big ones!” The older man could only sigh “How many times do I have to tell you Luffy the hot dogs are all the same size.” “Nuh uh! See that one is totally bigger than the others.” “No it’s not it’s just closer to you.” “You’re just saying that because you want to keep the big ones all to yourself.” That got a sigh and a small groan of frustration in response. “Look kid I’m pretty sure you’re the only one in the entire city who even eats these things so even if there were ‘bigger ones’ no one would be fighting you for them.” The owner said as he pulled down one of the hotdogs and prepared it just the way he knew the teenager liked it, along with a slice of pizza. The kid didn’t ask for it but everytime he walked out with just the hot dog he’d run back in asking for a slice of pizza like it was the most important thing he forgot and getting it was an emergency.
After scanning and adding all the items up on the computer the cashier said the total out loud and Luffy immediately jolted up straight. “What!? That’s way more than it cost last time!” “Well you got more food than last time!” “Nuh uh this is totally the same amount!” “No it’s definitely not, and you grabbed some things that are more expensive than what you grabbed last time.” “No they’re not, you're just trying to cheat me!” “Cheat you?! Why would I be trying to scam money from some kid on the streets!? Who do you think I am?!” “A greedy old man trying to overcharge me and keep all the big hotdogs for himself!” “Luffy!” Suddenly the argument devolved into Luffy making faces at the older man who just looked exhausted by the kids' endless seeming energy. “Okay okay fine how about I give you a discount. It should come around to the same price you paid last time.” The owner finally conceded and in return was given a large 100 watt smile. “Thanks old man you’re the best! Even though you tried to cheat me.” “Watch it or I’ll just put everything back.” He grumbled as Luffy handed him a wad of dollars and loose change from the pocket of his jean shorts.
It took a few minutes to get everything tucked into the bags but soon Luffy was happily walking out of the store, bags clutched in one hand, and his frozen syrupy drink in the other. But his smile fell as a look of curiosity pulled onto his face at the scene playing out before him. Oh it was those three guys from the subway! Why were there police officers here? With a curious hum he walked over still sipping on his drink to watch. The taller guy with green hair was pressed against the police car while the second guy was pointing and saying something like ‘he did it’.
With little regard for any boundaries Luffy tugged on one of the officers' sleeves who stiffened and snapped her head towards him expecting something to happen that didn’t. “Hey what’s going on over there?” He asked and the officer glanced over towards where he was looking before looking back at him. “It’s nothing to see or worry about, just a case of petty theft. Now run along.” But he did not run along. In fact he just looked at her curiously with his head tilted to the side.
“What was petty about it?” “Petty just means he didn’t threaten them as a means of getting it and didn’t take much.” The officer informed to which the girl snapped her head over with an angry and indignant look on her face. “Didn’t take *much*?! He took my phone! Do you know how important a phone is!? All my contacts, photos, and apps gone! Just like that! And you can’t even find it on him!” She cried out angrily. “Look you said he took it on the subway, that’s a very long walk so he probably left it somewhere around here.” The officer said trying to calm the clearly aggravated woman. “He doesn’t have it.” Luffy said as he pulled his lips from his straw for only a brief moment before going back to drinking. “Huh?” “What do you mean he doesn’t have it?” The officer asked now turning to face him. “He doesn’t have it. He didn’t take it.” Luffy said, barely explaining as he looked at his cup and used the straw to break apart some of the ice mounds.
“How would you know he didn’t take it young man?” The officer asked looking at him wearily before Luffy looked up again and glanced around before pointing to the second guy who was standing between the guy on the hood and the girl. “Because I saw him take it.” He said casually and the guys eyes widened as he stuttered and sputtered out that it wasn’t true. “What?! You took my phone!?” “W-what!? No, no of course I didn’t babe he’s lying! Remember my wallet was stolen too!” He exclaimed and Luffy’s brows furrowed as he frowned in confusion. “No it wasn’t, I saw you put it in your backpack.” Now all the officers were eyeing the boyfriend suspiciously as he looked around frantic and nervous.
“Wait wait are you all really just going to believe some kid who just showed up out of nowhere!?” “No. But we will be checking that back. Just to erase any possibilities and doubts.” “What!? No you can’t do that! Don’t you need a warrant!?” “Technically yes we do if you don’t consent to letting us check it. But that leaves us with two choices. You let us check your bag which would be no problem if this kid is really lying. Or we make a big show of stuffing all three of you in the back of the car, driving down to the court house, and you can all wait together for the warrant. We’ll probably have to put you all in the same room, and we’re short staffed so there’d be no one to keep too close of an eye on you.” The officer that had the green haired guy pinned to the car said as he eased up and looked at the boyfriend.
“Ugh enough!” The girlfriend shouted as she ripped the bag off her boyfriends back in a fierce and violent motion that had him scrambling to stay upright. Once it was off she wasted no time opening all the zippers and dumping everything out. Low and behold the wallet and phone sitting on top of the dumped out pile and the girl happily swiped her phone off the ground to check her messages before turning to her boyfriend. “You asshole why the fuck would you do that?!” She hissed out and he scrambled for an explanation while one of the officers pushed him towards the car. “You’re in so much trouble. Sir you’re free to go and we apologize for the mistreatment and false accusations.” The officer said letting the green haired guy go and Luffy hummed starting to get bored. So he continued on his way which happened to cross paths with the green haired guy. As he walked he paused once he was standing in front of the guy, finally able to get a look at his face up close, and without any hesitation he opened his mouth.
“You’re kinda funny looking. But in a good way.”