Chapter Text
Promises were just one of those things where they were really hard to keep. Most notably when they were made to children while you were drunk. Admittedly children should not be around anyone who’s drunk, but in this case they at least had sober people to keep the peace and it wasn’t like he was all that drunk.
Though seemed as though he may have been drunker than he thought. He knew this because of how the room was spinning and how he felt like he was going to vomit. He didn’t because he was pretty sure that if he did his head would explode. So he may have over done it a little. This wasn’t a problem that a little morning rum wouldn’t fix. At the rate he drank, he’d probably have to stay at least a little buzzed until he died so he wouldn’t have to actually deal with a hangover. The best part about being a pirate was that you didn’t have to be responsible. He just wouldn’t tell Benn about this plan. Because unfortunately he was responsible despite being a pirate.
But this wasn’t about him being mildly day buzzed. This was about being a man of his word and showing up for Luffy. He wasn’t quite sure how much fun he’d be while he was nursing a wicked hangover. Maybe he could find a nice quiet game for them to play together. Or rather, something quiet for Luffy to do while he waited for his buzz to kick in and then they could do something.
As surprising as it was the first time to see a child as young as him in the bar mostly unsupervised, now it was mostly just par for the course. He still hadn’t gotten a clear answer as to who took care of him and it seemed as though he’d never actually get an answer. He settled on pretty well everyone in the village took care of him, but mostly it was Makino who took care of him. Who knew there were actual literal cases of the old expression ‘it takes a village’? Asking Luffy only got a shrug before the kid moved onto things he felt was more interesting.
If the kid didn’t want to tell him, then he’d let it be. Though part of him felt inclined to believe that Luffy just didn’t care now that he had cool new pirate friends. Damn, it was going to be really hard to just leave him here. He’s really come to like this kid and at this point he might as well be one of his own. Shanks had to wonder if this was how Roger felt when he had found him. Granted he was older than seven at the time, so it wasn’t completely reckless. Maybe he could come back in a few years and offer the kid a place on his crew.
Nah. He could tell that this kid was going to be something special all on his own. He’d just let him do his own thing when he got old enough. Just that look in his eye reminded him of how Roger was, not to mention he had his same passion and excitement. Nah, Luffy didn’t need to hang around with an old timer like him. When the time came, Luffy was without a doubt going to turn this world on its head just like his captain did.
Unfortunately, just like Roger he was the worst person to be hungover around. Not only was he loud and excitable, but he was also easily bored and looking for something to do. This meant that he as the “responsible adult” (don’t worry, he also found this thought to be hilarious) to find something for him to do.
Because within seconds of him coming in and sitting down, Luffy materialized in and was climbing all over him demanding attention. He knew he had materialized in because there was no way he had snuck in quietly because Luffy didn’t do anything quietly unless he was focusing really hard. And even then he hummed the entirety of the time. One of these days he was going to have to teach people that teaching children black magic was a bad idea. It only lead to the suffering of the poor hungover souls like himself.
“I’ll never get how you always have so much energy first thing in the morning.” He mused, lifting an arm to let the child hang off of it.
“But it’s eleven. I’ve been up for hours. Don’t tell me you’ve been asleep all this time. Wow, you really must be old.” The filterless child stated. That mouth of his was going to get him in trouble one day, there was no doubt about that. He was lucky that he was in a caring (but mostly hungover) mood so he’d let it slide and let the little turd go unnoogied for now. That might change later when it was gone.
Makino peeked her head out from the back room.
“Oh! The usual?” She asked with a bit of a chuckled. And once again Makino had proven to be a goddess sent from on high. A booze bringing goddess. He didn’t even have to answer because she already knew. She was already preparing the rum for him and the orange juice for Luffy. Luffy had his own tab going, and probably has for a while. This gave him an idea.
“Hey Luffy. You know a real pirate always repays his debt. I know that you’ve gotten quite the debt here, and it looks like Makino could use a little bit of a hand. It’s not easy running a restaurant all by yourself, y’know.” He said. Usually repaying a debt to a pirate meant killing some asshole who thought they could best you, but Luffy didn’t have to know that. He watched as Luffy took in all this new knowledge of being a pirate. It almost made him feel guilty for tricking the kid like this. Almost being the key word here. Luffy was going to have to learn at some point that some people were just assholes and you shouldn’t trust everything they say because they’re messing with you.
However today wasn’t the day, as soon Luffy had let go of his arm and run around behind the counter. Naturally Makino found it too adorable to say no, so soon he was being fitted with a little waist apron that had been folded over a time or two so that when he ran around he wouldn’t trip over it. The kid was probably going to trip anyways, seeing as though he only ever really ran anywhere. But hey, it was one less thing for him to trip over.
Soon Luffy was running around with a cloth, scrubbing the floor. Makino had offered him a mop, but Luffy was dead set on doing it this way because he had seen some of the men on Shanks’s ship do it that way. He simply didn’t have the heart to tell him that they were doing it that way because they were being punished for starting pointless fights and making it so they had to get off the last island they were on sooner than they had to as not to get in a pointless battle with Marines.
Also it was funny. His reasoning was mostly for the latter. Being a pirate meant you could also be an asshole to whoever you please, and this was mostly just harmless fun.
Not to mention that karma is a swift and cruel mistress, as when the phone rang, it was Luffy who had answered as he was the closest. And he found it exciting to talk on the phone as it was something that he rarely got to do. And that meant that any hope of him quietly humming in concentration as he scrubbed the floors with a cloth was gone and instead he was now yelling into the transceiver.
“HI! I’M LUFFY! WHO’RE YOU!?” He greeted excitedly. Phone skills were something they were going to have to work on. Volume control was something else. He couldn’t help but wince as Luffy yelled. He loved the kid, but man was he the worst to be around with the tail end of a hangover.
“Hey Luffy. You know real pirates have indoor voices. How else are the parties supposed to get rowdy if you’re never quiet?” Luffy narrowed his eyes, as if for a split second doubting what he was just told. Though it was quickly dismissed.
“She’s right here, I’ll go get her.” Luffy whisper yelled into the transceiver. It wasn’t what he had in mind, but he wasn’t really one to look a gift horse in the mouth. “Makino, they wanna talk to you.”
Makino didn’t seem to have much of a problem with it, finding the behavior cute as she thanked the boy and took the phone from him. He then returned to scrubbing with the same enthusiasm he had before.
It’d probably be something that he’d eventually grow out of. But oh man, it was one of the most hilariously adorable things he had ever seen, and he was going to tell everyone about it. He was glad he was still hungover, because if he laughed, then it would have been all over then and there. This was probably the first time in his life he was going to say this, but thank god he was hungover.