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“I don’t like this,” were the first words that greeted Sabo as soon as he stepped through the doors, and the sight of a disguised Koala followed soon after.
In the time it had taken him to finish the meeting with Dragon — a very reasonable half an hour — Koala had already managed to finish putting on the elaborate outfit needed to blend in on Florence, the RA’s tailor flitting around her to make the final adjustments to the garment.
“It’s not that far off of your usual colour scheme,” Sabo noted, looking over the dress before meeting Koala’s gaze in the mirror. “It’s even got some ruffles at the collar, too-”
“It’s a Medici collar and it’s a ruff, not a ruffle,” Koala sighed. “And I’m not talking about the look of it; I’m talking about how it feels! There’s no way I can fight in this!”
“Good thing you won’t have to! It’s meant to be recon only-”
Koala turned around, the skirt of the dress bobbing sharply from side to side as she stared at Sabo, unimpressed. “I’m going in there with you. Of course it’s gonna end up in a bloodbath.”
“...Rude,” Sabo pouted.
“Name one mission you went on that ended up going according to the plan.”
Opening his mouth, Sabo wracked his mind. There’s got to have been at least one, right…?
After a minute, he admitted defeat. While Koala harrumped triumphantly, Sabo turned his attention to a nearby table where another outfit was laid out. It was meant for him, he guessed, and looked far more reasonable than Koala’s . As such, Sabo determined it’d be the perfect solution to their troubles. Picking it up, he pushed it into Koala’s arms.
“Go change,” he said.
“But that’s-”
“Do you want to stay in the dress?”
Koala booked it for the changing room as fast as she could.
The tailor followed after her, clearly not trusting her to take the current outfit off without accidentally damaging it. Sabo snorted, leaning against the now-empty table. It was definitely something Koala would have done, if she thought she could get away with it.
It didn't take long for her to exit, the expression she was now wearing more akin to a cat’s who got the tastiest cream.
“Now this is something,” she said, spinning lightly in demonstration.
Sabo took in her new look appreciatively. She was wearing long boots, tighter than her usual ones and going up way past her knees. The pants bloomed bulbously, leaving plenty of space for hidden pockets which Sabo had no doubt were already filled with various weapons and gadgets.
There was a dark red sleeveless doublet covering her chest, an insane amount of buttons trailing down the hemline, some of them still undone in Koala’s rush to get dressed.
The sleeves of her shirt were the same shade of cream as the pants, bulging out in three bumps before fitting into a leather arm cuff. Or, at least, the right sleeve looked like that, the other one hidden from view by a rich capulet in the same shade of deep red as the doublet, with beautiful golden stitching at the edges and a thick rope tied under Koala’s opposite arm holding it in place.
She was wearing a hat, too, not too dissimilar from her typical one if not for the lack of goggles and a feather sticking out of the top of it.
Giggling in sheer delight, Koala ran through some of her favourite fishman karate moves, demonstrating that her range of motions remained unrestricted.
Sabo doubted that was very historically accurate, but he supposed the tailors took their habits into account when creating the outfits.
“I love this,” Koala stressed, though her expression fell when she looked at Sabo. “But what about the dress? And what are you going to wear?”
Sabo pushed himself off the table, sauntering leisurely towards the changing room.
“You answered your own question,” he winked at her before pulling the doors closed.
The tailor didn’t get too far when it came to packing away the dress, thankfully. They didn’t question it when Sabo said he’d be the one wearing it, either.
Sabo took off his current outfit quickly, fingers undoing the multitude of buttons keeping his vest closed with practiced ease. Soon enough, he was down to just his underpants, turning towards the tailor.
He blinked at the sight of the corset being held up in the tailor’s hands.
“Chemise first,” the tailor said, pointing towards a thin cotton dress.
Moving to grab it, Sabo pulled it over his head, wriggling to make the tight fabric fall the way it was supposed to. Afterwards, he pulled up a pair of stockings, all the way up to his knees.
He raised his arms at the tailor’s guidance, gasping as the corset tightened around his waist and then kept tightening. Sabo was no slouch, but the pressure around his chest-
Felt nice, actually, he found after a moment. The tailor was still tying the strings closed, but the corset wasn’t tightening anymore, keeping a pleasant level of support around Sabo’s torso.
It was sure to be a bitch of a problem for anyone trying to stab him, too, he was sure. Not to mention that the corset would likely keep any torso wounds he did receive nicely compressed, acting like a built-in tourniquet of sorts.
…Sabo would need to ask if there was any way he could get a corset as a part of his regular outfit.
With the corset done, the tailor motioned at Sabo to step into a fluffy petticoat, the pink fabric which was likely responsible for close to 90% of the skirt width Koala had sported previously.
Shifting his hips curiously, Sabo found he quite enjoyed the swishing of the fabric around his legs.
The actual outer layer of the dress went over the top, the wriggling slightly more dignified with the tailor there to help pull the fabric down, letting it fall beautifully over Sabo’s frame.
If Sabo hadn’t seen Koala wearing this dress just moments earlier, he would have assumed it was tailored for him, the same way the other outfit seemed to fit Koala like a glove.
Had it come in blue, he would have already demanded to keep it for his future use, but no, it was the same rich red as the doublet and capulet Koala was currently wearing. It was also sleeveless, even though Sabo could have sworn-
Ah. The sleeves were detachable, apparently. The tailor moved in to tie them into place, the ribbon thin enough to make it disappear when attached properly.
The Medici collar was one of the last things to be added, followed shortly by the thin gold necklace and a thick rope belt around Sabo’s hips, a decorative tassel weighing it down at the front.
He drew the line at the headpiece, though.
“I have my tophat,” he said.
“It’s black,” the tailor raised an eyebrow incredulously. “Not to mention it’s completely out of the right time period.”
Sabo pouted into the mirror, making eye contact with the reflection of the tailor. “But I like it! I like the rest of the dress, I just don’t like the cap.”
The tailor sighed, clutching at the bridge of their nose.
“Just… Go. Leave. Before I change my mind,” they acquiesced eventually.
Grinning, Sabo swiped his top hat off the table, placing it on top of his head as he headed out of the changing room, reveling in the feel of the fabric swishing around his hips.
Koala turned around at the sound of the doors opening, letting out a low, almost involuntary whistle at the sight of him.
“I don’t get why you didn’t like this,” he said, twirling a little. “It feels amazing.”
“Bet you’ll feel differently once you try fighting in it,” she scoffed.
Sabo obligingly looked around, gathering the fabric at his hips as he leveled a kick at an empty mannequin. Equally obligingly, the mannequin fell apart.
“I recon I’ll be just fine,” Sabo grinned. “Come on, let’s get going; I’m excited to try it out in the field!”
