One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter Seventy Six [Rewritten]

-Chapter Seventy-Six-

"Huh?" we tilted our heads and watched as the old man's grin dropped upon seeing that he had already lost to one of Robin's disembodied arms.

"Well, I'll be..." he muttered in disbelief.

"Looks like we can get the ship back" Robin chuckled as the rest of us quickly gathered around the table.

"Nice" I lowly whistled as I looked down at the chessboard.

"Well, old man, give up?" Nami grinned as the geezer started to nervously sweat, gaze frantically flickering about the board in an attempt to see if there was any move he could make that would help turn things around back in his favor.

"You win" he inevitably sighed in defeat once he realized that he had truly lost.

"Hooray!" everyone cheered, throwing their arms up as a burst of bubbly laughter fluttered past my lips the moment I felt Zoro lift me up in his excitement. Grabbing my waist, he grinned as he hoisted me up—cheering with the rest as he tightly hugged me close to his chest, happily laughing alongside me.

"Great job, Robin!" I happily laughed, clapping my hands together the second my feet touched the ground as I instantly turned to face the older woman.

"Looks like we can always count on you, right, big sister?" Nami widely smiled.

"So, how's tricks with you?" Sanji, Usopp, and Luffy snickered.

"Don't rub it in" the old man sweat dropped as he backed away from the three. We soon jolted, our celebration coming to an immediate halt when he suddenly smashed his hands down onto the table as if he were upset before eventually, he threw them in the air and boisterously laughed. "I've lived for many years, but I've never met pirates as interesting as you! I love you, kids!" he grinned. "Let's have a party tonight and celebrate!" he cheerfully suggested, causing us to cheer in agreement.

-Later-

I sighed in contentment as I comfortably leaned against Zoro, fingers mindlessly scratching the top of Baxter's head which rested in my lap. Sweetly smiling down at him as he yawned, eyelids now drooping as he prepared to doze off.

"Gramps, you really are just like a pirate" Nami smiled as she poured the old man another glass of alcohol. "You sure do drink like one" she remarked, watching in amusement as he downed the drink in one gulp.

"Nami, do you think I'm a pirate?" he curiously inquired.

"Well, that would explain why you could afford to have such extravagant glassware, right?" Nami asked, motioning towards the glass he was holding.

"Can't argue with her on that, they do look too nice for you to have randomly found them on this island when you first arrived" I said, examining my own glass. "Unless there's some buried treasure here you're not telling us about" I said.

"Yes, it does look like it's from a treasure trove" Robin nodded in agreement.

"I see, you're trying to get the old man drunk so that you can make him tell you where he keeps the treasure—is that it?" Usopp asked.

"Well don't spell it out for him!" Nami snapped.

"So, goat man, do you have any hidden treasure? Huh?" Luffy suddenly asked before shoveling all of his food down his gullet in one bite.

"How you haven't choked yet surprises me" I sweat dropped, cringing at the visible lump that traveled down his throat as he swallowed. It was like watching an anaconda swallow prey much bigger than it.