(ง•̀ᗝ•́)ง
⏤ ⏤ ✎ .ೃ not much convincing .
(NAME) HAD A big cheeky smile on her face. the reason for it? she had managed to (very easily) convince a certain moss-haired swordsman to guide her down the stairs. with a hand under his arm and another lifting up her dress so she doesn't slip, (name) gracefully walks down the stairs with zoro.
the swordsman looked annoyed, but (name) knew he liked it deep down. he just doesn't want to show it!
hayato was the first one to notice them. his previously joyous state, after trying out a few appetizers with usopp and luffy, turned annoyed when he saw the two of them. he looked unimpressed the very least.
"trying to rub it in everyone's faces, huh?" he snarkily commented, as he continued munching on the snack in an annoyed manner.
"looking good, aye (name)? walking down with your prince charming!" usopp teased when he finally saw the two of them.
(name) let out a small chuckle at his teasing as she let go of zoro's arm. "well, thank you, my love. you can go and have fun on your own now!" she patted zoro's cheek teasingly before skipping over to hayato to try out some treats he saved for her.
zoro had a surprised look on his face. his cheeks had turned slightly red at her nickname and action which quickly faded as he went a different direction to try out some drinks.
the archer scanned the holding area as she munched on some appetizers, taking note of the dim lighting that set the mood. her eyes suddenly caught sight of the.. being? nami was talking to, assuming he was wearing a costume for the event. (name) eventually turned away, not wanting to seem rude for staring.
soon enough, the highlight of the dinner made her appearance. kaya wore a polka-dot dress, in a color (name) couldn't exactly pinpoint on due to the lighting. she watched as kaya switched from being guided down the stairs by klahadore, then to the sheep-man nami was previously talking to.
kaya then turned away after talking to nami and spotted (name). she looked delighted to see the archer's dress. "(name), the dress really compliments your hair color. it goes really well with it."
"i— thank you, kaya! i love yours too, you look really pretty." (name) replied with a smile, feeling giddy that the birthday girl complimented her.
just as kaya was about to continue the conversation with (name), the sheep-man interrupted, muttering words such as matters concerning the transfer of ownership of the shipyard. business stuff.
klahadore quickly interjected after a brief confrontation with zoro. "merry, dear friend, it's always business with you."
"tonight, is about celebration. shall we all move to the dining room?" klahadore offered, using dinner as a distraction to divert the conversation away.
THE GROUP WAS led to the dining hall. merry the sheep-man was seated at the end of the table. to his left was zoro, (name) and usopp. to his right was luffy, nami and hayato. sitting directly across merry was kaya.
the feast started immediately after they were seated, so (name) got food that looked appetising enough to eat. she was a picky eater in a way, she had the habit of judging food by how they looked.
and zoro seemed to notice her picky eater habits. "didn't know you were the picky eater type." (name) scrunched her nose in response, displeased at his comment. "there's a lot of things you don't know about me yet, zoro."
the swordsman shrugged and watched as (name) took a bite of some dish she picked out. he watched as the archer's face lit up in delight as she ate the remainder of the dish she ate. "yummy?"
"yummy!" (name) repeated with an adorable grin and gave zoro a thumbs up.
he forced down a smile (failed terribly btw) and drank his cup of alcohol. zoro started nodding in approval, which gave off the impression that he liked the taste of it.
when the blue-haired lady came around, zoro handed her the bottle of the alcohol and pointed at the dish (name) had eaten previously. "keep these two coming."
sham, the blue-haired lady, made a sound of acknowledgment as she took hold of the alcohol bottle and continued walking.
"i'd love to try the fish tonight." kaya requested after noticing the plate of fish on sham's tray. the blue-haired lady abruptly exited into the kitchen as klahadore took her place and rejected her choices.
(name) shared a skeptical look with hayato and nami. "kaya, it's your birthday. you should be able to eat what you want." nami spoke just as kaya's soup was presented to her.
(name)'s brows furrowed slightly when she noticed the unusual color of kaya's soup. it didn't look like the color a normal soup would be, regardless of how sick the person is. odd..
(name) then noticed usopp looking nervously at luffy, who had interjected the slight quarrel of nami and klahadore. "luffy, isn't there something that you wanted to talk to kaya about?"
"oh, yes! usopp told me that you owned the whole shipyard." the raven started.
"well, actually my parents founded the shipyard, and merry's been running the business since.. well, since they passed." kaya started explaining. (name) took the chance to silently observe the three butlers (?). "but all of that is about to change. tonight, at midnight, i will become the sole owner."
(name) simply narrowed her eyes at klahadore. "ah, well, that's great, because we want to buy a ship from you."
"i see!" kaya looked pleasantly surprised at luffy's explanation as she darted her eyes to usopp. "usopp mentioned that you're sailors."
(name)'s eyes slowly widened, knowing that luffy was going to reveal the actual truth. and he did.
"nope, not sailors. we're pirates!" (name) heard usopp and hayato choke on their drinks as she and nami gazed at luffy in disbelief.
"this ought to be good." zoro whispered to you as he took a sip from his glass.
(name) could already feel herself melting into her chair as luffy began explaining the whole situation to kaya. she instinctively grabbed the moss-haired swordsman's hand, gripping it tightly as she covered her eyes in embarrassment.
hayato was simply blinking with his mouth covered by both his hands, rethinking his decision of joining luffy's crew. "what have i gotten myself into.."
the archer then suddenly felt the table shake and immediately looked up, only to see her captain standing. on the table. she felt the swordsman next to her rubbing his thumb against her palm, in hopes to calm her down.
(name) watched luffy continue his speech as he started to walk across the food to get to kaya. hayato shared a look of disbelief at his actions when he turned to look at his sister, both sighing in unison.
because hayato sat next to kaya, luffy stopped just mere inches away from his plate of food. the older pinched the bridge of his nose as he quietly scooted closer to nami, bringing his plate along.
he then turned to look at his duo partner once more. "we're getting a possible deal for the ship, so bear with it." (name) mouthed to her brother and watched as he nodded and waved his hand at her, in a shooing manner.
the orange duo also shared a look at each other in disbelief.
just then, klahadore interrupted his speech, looking rather furious and irritated. this caused (name) to perk up at his reaction. she watched the entire scene unfold, nodding and puckering her lips awkwardly.
"that went pretty well, don't you think?" luffy was simply met with silence from his crew.
˗ˏˋ ray speaks! 'ˎ˗
hi babies um ik i said i'll update more frequently butttt hahehaggahe when was the last time i actually published something 😘😘
and this is quite short because this is what i wrote the last time i attempted to update.. so next chapter is fresh ykwim 😋😋
anyway guys i might just get a boyfriend soon LOL IDKWNJEISKJXIS
LIKE IM NOT KIDDING YOU GUYS IF I COULD SEND SCREENSHOTS OF OUR CHATS.. hahahshahss you guys won't even believe that we aren't together LOL
pls i wanna get comfortable with him quick so we'd get together soon 🙏🙏
OKAY BYE WHAT THE HELL ILL UPDATE AGAIN SOON I LOVE YOU GUYS (i love my hubbabubba more)