One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter Seventy Five [Rewritten]

-Chapter Seventy-Five-

"Fine, you win—how about one more game, huh? Please" Nami practically begged, clasping her hands together as she pleaded for the older man to play another around.

"I never took you for a sore loser, Nami" I raised an eyebrow, confused by the ginger's desperation over losing a simple game of chess. I could understand being competitive, but to get this worked up over a single loss felt rather silly.

"Sure thing, there's nothing better than playing chess against a good-looking girl and getting your shoulders rubbed" the old man grinned, settling back down into his chair as he motioned towards the disembodied hands that were currently giving him a massage before proceeding to set the chess board back up.

"Huh? Hey, you're back—how was the fishing?" I asked, quick to stand and wave the moment I spotted Luffy, Usopp, and Zoro returning.

"It was great!" Luffy grinned as he waved back. "Some catch, huh?" he laughed, proudly showing off the large fish that he and the other two had caught as he seemed to just brighten when I nodded in agreement. "Sanji! Make something yummy again, will you?!"

"Sure, I'm all over it" Sanji nodded.

"Hey, old man" Usopp said. "If there's anything else at all that you'd like to eat or have us do, don't be afraid to speak up, okay? Because we'll be more than happy to do anything you want" he offered with a smile.

"Yep, it'll be no trouble at all, so don't hold back on the requests" I nodded.

"Nah, I think I can die happy now" the old man smile, peacefully closing his eyes as he relaxed back into his chair. "Heaven, I'm in heaven" he blissfully sighed.

"Don't even think that way!" Luffy cried.

"Sure, times are short..." Sanji sniffed.

"But stay positive!" Usopp whimpered.

"No matter how long you've got!" the three cried as they fell to the ground in a sobbing heap.

"I think you're being a bit too dramatic there" I sweat dropped.

"Hey, guys, can we have a word?" Zoro suddenly asked, motioning for the three sulking men to come over to him. Curious, I followed as well and laid myself over the squatting swordsman's back. Wrapping my arms around his neck, I rested my chin on his shoulder and gave him my best smile when he turned his head to look at me with a raised brow. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"You're excused" I grinned, chuckling as he snorted and grumbled something under his breath that I hadn't been able to hear yet still made my grin grow all the same.

"What's that?" Usopp asked, already motioning for the swordsman to get on with whatever it was he wanted to say.

"About that old guy—he's only got three days to live, right?" Zoro asked.

"That's right, only three" Sanji nodded, gaze narrowed in slight irritation before looking away as he lowly grumbled to himself.

"That's what Chopper said" I hummed.

"He's only got three days left to live..." Luffy sniffed, already on the verge of crying once again.

"That's really the only briefest moment in time, isn't it?" Usopp whimpered, roughly rubbing his teary eyes before finally breaking down along with the other two.

"Yeah, very brief," Zoro bluntly agreed, "and in that brief moment, three days had already gone by."

"Really? Huh?" I took a second to think, silently counting the number of days that have passed since Chopper told us the terrible news. "Time sure does flyby—amazed none of us noticed" I whistled in amazement, surprised that it had taken this long for someone to realize that three days had already gone by in the blink of an eye and nothing had changed.