Minami shimawa atakai~
Paina-puru-puru~
Atama boka boka
Aho baka~
"You're phone is ringing-yoi"
"Wait my favorite part is coming!"
Ni-ban!
The blond man never heard this song before and it was sang acapella to boot. The song doesn't even makes sense and it was sang hilariously but he knew that the singer was actually pretty good if only they sing seriously.
Kita no shima wa samui~
Hyakkoi-koi-koi~
Atama buru buru
Aho baka~
Ace sang along to his ringtone before picking the thing up and went outside to talk to the person on the other line, leaving the blond guy with a styled pineapple hair - which he denies profusely, confused. After a few minutes the black haired man came back with a huge grin on his face.
"Okay. Something good happened. Spit it out-yoi." The blond man cross his arms to his chest mirroring Ace's expression.
"Isn't my ringtone awesome?! Oh my baby sister's going here..you're finally going to meet her!" Ace said excitedly before looking at him sternly. "But..behave yourself, okay? I know my sister is cute and all and that's not her fault but Marco..I'm telling you-"
"I know, I know. I won't touch your sister, geez-yoi. Seriously? You and Sabo need to fix that sister complex you know." Marco sighed. Ever since he became dormmates with these two his quiet college life changed. Because they can't even shut up for one second, either they are arguing or gushing about how cute their little sister is or just trashing the whole place.
"Okay, I believe you." Ace replied crossing his arms.
"Anyway, what's with your ringtone-yoi?" The freckled man's face immediately lights up and his cold demeanor was replaced by a fond smile.
"My sister made that song! Isn't she the cutest?!" He gushed then his face turned dead serious. "Why got a problem with it?"
"No..I just thought that it's.." Ace raised his eyebrows at him and before he could continue the door opened revealing the other brother.
"Oh Marco, you're here. How's your trip?" Sabo asked while he was removing his shoes outside the door. It was rare to see Marco with them because he's always on a trip or working somewhere else so this is like one in a bluemoon occasion.
Marco heard the voice and smiled lazily at Sabo. "Well, I couldn't find an inspiration-yoi and tomorrow's the deadline." He sighed and scratched his head. Seriously, this is one hell of an assignment he just couldn't find the perfect photo for the theme.
"Hey! Sabo! Lu's coming over!" Ace said excitedly as he prepared meals in the kitchen. Sabo immediately light up with the mention of his sister.
"Really?! But it's late..I hope someone will at least accompany her.." He sighed and move to his room to change clothes.
"Well, too bad. I guess it's my win." Sabo can't see his brother's face but he knew the bastard is grinning.
"You just got lucky that she picked you.."
"Shut up! Don't be such a sore loser." Marco couldn't help but chuckle at their childishness. Fighting over who their sister is going to call first is just plainly immature. To be honest, he shouldn't be surprised at this since it was just a natural occurrence with the D brothers.
When Sabo come out of the room he sat next to Marco in the sofa, both waiting for Ace to finished what he's cooking so all three of them could eat.
"So, what's the theme this time?" Sabo asked as he flips through the channel mindlessly.
"Ah. It's called The Most Precious thing....for you or something like that-yoi" He smiled and Sabo furrowed his eyebrows at that.
"I know what you're thinking-yoi. Trust me, I want to take a picture of my family very much but come on man it's given that my family is precious to me but I want something new. And heck, everyone's doing it-yoi! I want something unique!" Ace came up with food on hand and put it on the coffee table.
"He's artistic side strike again.." Ace plopped down on the other side of the sofa so Marco's sandwich between the brothers.
"I just really can't find that something..."
"Marco you already trekked the mountains and you still came up with nothing?" The freckled man asked as he munches down his food.
"Well that's the problem and tomorrow's the deadline-yoi." He sighed exasperatedly.
"Just take a picture of this food and put a deep quote in it then bam! its artsy and you can submit it in no time!" Ace grinned at him and Marco hits his head.
"I don't do half-assed things like you Portgas." Before they could even start arguing with each other Sabo interrupted them.
"But seriously, what are you going to do? It's already 7pm and I doubt you could still trek another mountain though." Marco just sighed. Honestly, he really doesn't know what to do. Their work will be exhibitted at the campus tomorrow and the one with the best photograph will win some cash and will be able to work with one of the famous photographer in town. He really wants his best work to be displayed because many scouts and artists will visit and he could be recognized as a photographer, so he can't really do a half-assed work.
"I don't know man, I'll try to look later. I'm tired-yoi" Might as well go with Ace's idiotic plan though. He really doesn't want to do this homework like that but he got no choice at the moment. Before he asked for not-so-stupid-suggestions from Sabo they heard the doorbell rang.
The brothers looked at each other and grinned. That must be Luffy. They raced towards the door and Marco remained on his seat. It's impossible not to know the girl's face since the two brothers always, because like almost everyday they would shove the girl's picture to his face and bragged about how cute she is so; it almost feels like he really knows the girl because of their stories.
He admits, the girl is pretty cute in the photos but what he didn't expect was this. He looked at the siblings' backs and noticed the petite figure of the girl. Huh. Guess she's pretty tiny after all. When he saw how the brothers hugged the girl and twirl her around, he almost felt like his heart stopped when he heard a joyous laughter that's nothing compared to the golden bell.
"Shishishishi." The girl continued on grinning even after her brothers put her down.
They heard a sharp intake of breath and they all look at the blond "This is it.." He mumbled. He saw it. The most precious thing. He can't believe he was actually considering Ace's little idea awhile ago. What the hell is wrong with him?! He saw it now, the smile that's nothing compared to the radiance of the sun. Damn. It's the most precious thing indeed.
Ace and Sabo just stared at Marco. No. They don't like the look on his face, that look indicates that his artistic sense is on and he's pretty much focused on his art interest. Sabo followed Marco's gaze and his face contorted.
"No." Sabo glared at Marco which surprises Ace and then it dawned on him.
"You don't mean.." He looked at his sister. No. Not her. "You can't!" The freckled man shouted at the blond.
"Hey.. hey. I haven't said anything yet-yoi." The girl just looked at him confusedly.
"Who's that?" She pointed at the blond.
"Oh this is Marco he's our roommate. You didn't meet him last time you came over because he's always out doing something." Sabo explained and Luffy introduced herself with her usual grin and they all went back to the living room where they were eating awhile ago.
Luffy saw all the food and her mouth immediately watered. No one could beat her nii-chan's cooking! She sat comfortably on the floor and the brothers didn't even stop her as she gobbled all the food. Marco tried not to stare but it's hard not too especially if a girl this tiny could eat like a man.
Ace asked the girl about her trip to the beach and Marco watched as her face lights up and talks excitedly about her day, spluttering the food everywhere. He noticed how her eyebows furrowed when she's trying to remember something and when she laughed heartily when she talks about a funny story or when she pouts when her brothers teased her. It was fun to watch her change expression from one minute to the next. They locked eyes for a second and she must notice that he was staring so he instantly looked away.
The scene didn't go unnoticed by Sabo, he saw how Marco was observing his sister and he's so frustrated that he can't read anything from that stupid lazy face of his. But he knew that when Marco laid his eyes on his sister, he already picked her as his model but he doesn't know if it's going to be a good thing for Luffy or not.
"You said jii-chan will come over right?" The girl asked as she tried to steal food from Ace.
"Yeah. That's why the school board was in frenzy awhile ago. They thought it was a military inspection." Ace laughed at the thought of the Dean panicking because of the shitty old geezer.
"I don't plan on meeting your grandfather-yoi. We avoided him for years and I don't plan on meeting him now."
"Well, we tried to talk to him about it but he's still stubborn as ever.." Ace shrugged.
Sabo frowned at his brother. He really wished that he would take this thing seriously because not only their life was at stake here, okay, maybe that was a bit of exaggeration but still, Luffy's well being is also on the line. They can't have her new friends to avoid her just because his grandfather is a famous marine official. It happened before and he won't let that happen again.
"I don't know what's going on that old man's head but we need to talk to him not to come here." Sabo said seriously and Ace just stared at him.
"Aw. Why not?! It would be fun to see people shit their pants you know" Ace grinned at them.
"Idiot! Think about Luffy!" Ace looked shocked at his brother's words but then he finally understood.
"What about me?"
Ace and Sabo just shared knowing looks. They can't explain it to her because they knew what she's going to say and it would turn into a fight and Luffy won't talk to them for days and that's not what they signed up for. Marco wants to chuckle at the two's predicament so he tried to offer an escape route which benefits all of them well, mostly him.
"Anyway, Luffy will you agree to be my model-yoi?" Sabo and Ace looked at him wide eyed.
"What's that?" Thanks to Luffy's short attention span she immediately forgot about the topic earlier. The two brothers doesn't know if they should be greatful or kill Marco on the spot.
"Oh. Uhm. I'll take a picture of you while you're doing something-yoi. Well, if you gave me permission." Luffy's face tited for a bit as if considering his proposition and the brothers couldn't do anything because what Luffy wants, Luffy gets.
"Will there be meat?" Marco was taken aback by the question but he remembered that the girl loves meat so much according to his brothers and before he could say anything Ace spoke up.
"No, Lu there won't be-"
"I'll buy you anything you want-yoi so will you agree?" Marco cut him off and Ace send him a glare. Sabo shakes his head it's really easy to bribe their sister.
"Really?!? Yay!" She was grinning widely and it's enough to make Marco smile.
"Well, then let's get started-yoi."
After hours of talking and taking stolen-but-not-really-kind-of-pictures, the girl already left and Marco was so ecstatic that he have an assignment to pass. He looked at the two brothers and he smiled at them. He really wants to hug them right now for bringing their cute little sister here.
"I'm warning you..you better take that promise seriously even if it costs your whole allowance for the month." Marco gulped. Okay so he made a promise to the girl that he would treat her to anything she wants but given how much she eats, he'll really go bankrupt and he have no other choice.
"Relax-yoi. I wouldn't break a promise."
"Good."
"Anyway, I really need to develop this film so I can pass it tomorrow-yoi." Marco was about to walk towards his room but he was blocked by the blond man.
"Why did you pick our sister?" Marco was surprised with the seriousness on his voice. He never heard the man like this before.
"After I develop the pictures, you'll understand." He smiled then left the two, staring at him with confused expressions.
-
The next day, Marco decided to go to class early so he could pick the best spot for his photos that's going to be displayed arrange on the walls of the dressrosa building lobby which is known as an art building. He arrived shortly and went to work then he noticed someone came earlier than him.
"I didn't know you have a girlfriend, Marco." The man with the black long hair, that's tied resembling of a geisha, glanced at his work.
"Shut up-yoi." He muttered and went back to arranging five different pictures, with different sizes, on the wall. It looks like a collage of different smiles and the one in the middle is the biggest photo of the girl laughing. Now, it's perfect.
He was so busy looking at the pictures and contemplating whether there's something missing or whether it's enough that he didn't even notice that Izo stopped working and a lot of people was looking at the photographs on the wall. He only realized it when Izo spoke to him.
"I think I know her.." He looked at the man as he stared at the description box, Title: Laughter// Model: Monkey D. Luffy
"Wait...Monkey D...?" Izo stared at him as if realizing something. "Hold on...I knew it! This is the famous little sister?!?" He asked shocked that the brothers would agree to this.
"Yeah. You don't know how expensive of a model she is-yoi." He replied while scratching his head.
"She's a model?" Izo asked totally confused now.
"No, but I asked her to be my model for this." Marco smiled admiring the pictures.
Izo stared at it and he noticed how other people stopped on their tracks and glance at the picture then go back to what they are doing. There's something really special about it, like it made you happy and warm inside. Well, he knew a lot about the girl because of Sabo and Ace but now he's dying to meet her. I'd like her to be my model too. He thought to himself. He bet that the girl would look cute on any outfit on his drawer. Yep. Definitely going to recruit her.
"I understand what you mean.." He sighed and they just both stared at the photos silently.
"How much? I bet Sabo and Ace didn't get you off easily."
"Just my one month worth of allowance-yoi." He said nonchalantly.
"Wha-what?! Seriously?! And you agreed to it?!" Izo was shocked. His allowance is precious to him because of the precious and expensive clothes that he wears.
"Well, what can I do? I fell in love." Izo stared at him for a bit and before he speak his mind Marco cut him off.
"It's an art thing, okay? So, don't get the wrong idea-yoi." Marco declared.
"Defensive, ey?" The black haired man looked at him grinning. Although he knew that this was just his art genes talking he can't help but tsased him.
"I told you, It's just an art thing-yoi."
"Whatever you say" Izo teased in his sing song voice. "But seriously Marco, you know the rules." He warned and Marco just stared at him.
"You don't need to remind me-yoi." I knew it very well.
They stopped talking as the other students set up their works on the wall. A lot of people stared at Marco's photographs and he didn't know if it was because it's in the center that's why they can't help but stare or was it because of the photo itself.
They all hold in their breaths when their professor, Kanjuro-sensei arrived. He looked around and stopped at the photos that caught his attention and asked them to interpret the meanings behind their piece.
He called four people, Izo included, as they explained their pieces. Then finally, he stopped at the blond man's work. Marco was sweating bullets, he didn't know what to do, he was waiting for his name to get called but none came. The professor just smiled and continued to walked towards the other pieces.
There were murmurs and he can feel that people kept on glancing at him and he knew that they were talking about him. Did he like it? Did he not? This bastard is so complicated, he can't read his expression.
After five more people that got called their professor stood in front of them, "Congratulations for your hard work! C'mon give yourself around of applause! You deserve it!" They all clapped and smiled at each other but the tension was still there.
"To be honest with all of you, I was quite surprised by your photos. Given by the short time, you managed to produce breathtaking photos and with that I gave you all a plus grade!" They all cheered and sighed happily.
"But! To the ten people that I picked you're all going to come with me to the upcoming seminar of the famous painter all over the world, Madam Jora!" They all heard collective groans from the class, Madam Jora is a famous abstract painter and to be able to attend one of her seminars was already a privilege.
"Wait..sir, you only called nine people."
"Oh I did?" He looked up and stroked his chin. "Ah! Because it's the best photo. Congratulations, Marco. You won." They all looked at him dumbfounded.
Well that was anticlimatic. But nevertheless, he was happy to won the first place.
"But sir, he didn't explained his piece.." A random guy protested.
"That's why he won! Because he doesn't need to explain it for me to get it. The beauty of Marco's photograph is because he saw the most precious thing, laughter. We all took it for granted but if you look at it closely, it really is the most precious thing for all of us. The piece was so simple yet so beautiful and deep at the same time. I'm sure you guys could agree when I say I feel warm and happy when I look at this picture. " He smiled as the others nod, they all feel an attachment to the photo when the first time they saw it.
Kanjuro asked him to walked towards the front and he obliged.
"You really picked a beautiful model, Marco." The professor said as he pats his shoulder and gave him his prize.
He wasn't really thinking of those deep meanings when he took those photos but whatever he won anyway. "Thank you." He shake his professor's hand and the class clapped and cheered for him.
Marco went back to his seat next to Izo who's grinning from ear to ear. "Congratulations! Now you got some cash. We need to partaaayyy!"
"I can't-yoi. I need to pay the model fee, remember? Congratulations too, by the way."
"Oh yeah. I forgot I was included in the top ten...Aw damnit! Too bad. Oh well, since you won the first place. I'm sure Thatch will cook something special! I'm going to call him!"
"Do whatever you want-yoi." He chuckled as Izo chatted happily with Thatch as if he's the one who got the first place. Thatch congratulated him on the phone and so are the others. It was funny, they were more excited than he is. He promised that he will stopped by later and gave the phone back to Izo.
"Okay, class dismissed. Classes are cancelled this afternoon, I'm sure you guys read the announcement in the bulletin board. There will be marines that's going to visit the university, and no, it's not a drug bust but still, don't do drugs. It's bad for you."
"But sensei! Why are they going to visit? This never happened before! Are there any dangerous criminals here?"
"No, they are just here for a seminar for self defense and safety precautions. You are all required to attend the seminar in the auditorium. So, make sure you guys don't cut classes. That's all. You may go."
Izo and Marco looked at each other wide eyed. The scary old man is really going here and they have no choice but to meet him, they avoided him like plague for years but now they can't anymore. Marco immediately dialed Ace's number and Izo dialed Sabo's number, when the two brothers answered they sighed in relief,
"Shit just got real."
They heard the brothers, on the other line, groan in unison.
To be continued..
AN: I AM SO SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE I'LL COMMIT HARA KIRI NOW!!!!! =(((((( I'm insanelyyy busy with work and erthanggg..I know, I procastinated and I'm deeply reflecting on that.
I'LL TRY TO UPDATE AGAIN THIS WEEK OKI
ANYWAY, 2.47K READS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANKYOU YOU ARE ALL SO PRECIOUS FOR READING, COMMENTING, VOTING AND ADDING THIS ON YOUR READING LISTS!!! You really love me im so ashamed for not updating sooner. :((((((
P.S. Sorry if u think they are a bit out of character but they have little screen time!!! That's why I haven't fully grasped their personalities. :
I'll definitely make it up to u guys!!!!!!! I'll publish a new fic soon :> so be ready!!!! I hope u still love meh. ^^v