Luffy looked at her. She looked different. Her hair was longer and it was messy from being outside. Her clothes weren't perfect either, going more for comfort and less for looks. But of course, her scarf still sat loosely around her neck. And of course, she looked different in the other way, but he couldn't figure out what to call it. But it was her. It was Misaki.
"Hey."
Before he could get another word out, she was yelling at him. Man, she thinks too much. He rolled his eyes at her, answering her to the best of his ability before he couldn't take it anymore. This was not the way he wanted their first interaction in a month to be.
"Shut up!" He said, pulling her into a kiss. His heart skipped a beat as she jumped into his arms and he couldn't help but spin her around. God, even here, she was so beautiful.
"I missed you." She whispered. Hearing those words were like music to his ears. He wanted to keep kissing her, but he knew they had to talk first. Not only that, but he had to know what all these gadgets were.
_________________________
"What's that?"
"That is a truck"
"And what's that?"
"That's a trailer for moving my horse."
"And what's this?" He said, holding up my phone.
"That's kind of like the transponder snail of this world. It's called a phone."
"And it plays music too? Like a music box?"
"That's right!" And videos and all other sorts of stuff.
"SOOOO COOOOOL!" Luffy yelled. I laughed at his excitement. I honestly didn't think about all of these things and how cool they might seem to a pirate from the East Blue.
"That's not even the best part. My Truck can play music too!"
"No way! How?!"
"Have some patience, Luffy! We are going to be in the truck for a long time!" Luffy puffed out his cheeks at me and sat crossed crossed on the ground.
"But I wanna see now though!" He whined.
"Why don't you help me pack everything up instead? I gotta take this temporary fencing down and put everything in the truck!"
Luffy groaned but he reluctantly got up and began helping me pack everything into the truck.
"If it's going to be longer than two days, why can't we relax for a little while?"
"On the off chance I'm wrong about the timing of things, we need to have him back home so someone can take care of him. And that means—"
"—yeah yeah, I got you. Pack the things in the truck."
As soon as we finished packing everything up, I loaded up Appa and we hopped in the truck. I turned the key and Luffy gasped as the radio came on, playing an old rock song. I turned the volume knob so that the music came out louder, making Luffy grin.
"That's so cooooool!" He yelled.
I laughed and started driving.
As we drove down the highway, I started to regret showing Luffy how to use the radio. He couldn't pick a station, and kept listening to half of a song before flitting to a different one.
"Luffy PLEASE just pick a station already!"
"I just don't know any of these songs!" Luffy said, frustrated. "Are all your songs sang like this?"
I knew exactly what he was talking about. Most of the songs in his world were sang in Japanese and English. And no, that's not what they referred to the languages as. It was hard to explain. But it was also hard to come by any tunes that I had familiarized myself with during my time with the straw hats. The most easiest to find was Bink's sake, but most were drawn from the show, instrumental, or ai generated. Which was a little hard to explain and something I didn't feel like doing.
"I think you might just have to settle with something that sounds good to you, Luffy. I don't really think there is much you'll recognize other than Bink's sake." Luffy looked more frustrated before finally shutting the radio off completely.
"I'm bored."
"I know."
"You can't really move around in here."
"I know."
"This is taking a really long time."
"I know."
"Can you say something other than I know?"
"If you stop stating the obvious, sure!"
"Can you teach me how to drive this thing?"
"Not right now."
"Why not?"
"Cause my horse is in the back."
"So once he isn't?"
"It's a hard maybe."
"Are we there yet?" Luffy whined.
"Luffy!" I snapped. He blinked at me. I felt a little bad, but he had been badgering me for quite a while. It was very rare that he would actually annoy me. Normally, I loved his childish antics, but I hadn't really talked to anyone in three whole months, so I was getting a little overwhelmed.
"Sorry Misaki." He said quietly, looking down at his hands.
"Awe don't be like that, Luffy." I sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little overwhelmed right now and driving takes concentration."
"No, I get it." He said, looking out of the window.
I sighed and started singing. I sang a song I knew he would know from one of Brook's many choices. A grin broke out over his face, and he joined in. It was still slightly off key, maybe even off tempo, but it made my heart skip a beat regardless. His leg bounced as he sang, desperate to dance along to the tune.
Once we were done singing, we both laughed.
"You're as good at singing as ever, Misaki!"
"Thanks Lu... it's been a while since I sang anything."
"Why is that?"
"To be honest, I've been too sad. It was taking so long for you to come get me, I wasn't sure what was happening." I admitted. I glanced over at Luffy. He was looking down again.
"I'm sorry, Misaki. It took longer than we thought, but I had no idea how long it had been for you."
"I never gave up hope, though. I knew if there was any way at all, that you would find it." I smiled, making Luffy grin.
"Hey, you didn't. Uhm. You didn't date anybody while you waited for me. Did you?"
I thought back to what my therapist had tried to push me into and smiled at my own resolve. "Luffy, you are the love of my life. I wouldn't have betrayed you like that. I would have waited forever for you." I glanced at him and put out my hand. He grasped it tight as he chuckled.
"I love you." He said, making my stomach do a little flip.
"I love you too." I said, squeezing his hand.
"Hey Misaki?"
"Yes?"
"I'm hungry."
Oh no.
____________________
"Ok, Lu... we gotta go over some ground rules." Misaki said as she pulled off the highway. "We are gonna stop at this rest stop. There are a bunch of things called fast food restaurants. They are expensive, but they will tide you over. You are not coming in with me."
"What?! Why not?!" Luffy whined. Misaki waved her finger at him.
"Because you eat like a wild hyena and that is NOT normal here! You can eat in the car. I'm gonna go get you a burger and fries so STAY HERE. Don't talk to anyone! Hell, don't even look at anyone. Got me?"
"Yeah yeah, I got you." Luffy said, rolling his eyes.
He watched longingly as Misaki walked to the the big building she had been talking about. He came through the rift because he didn't want to be away from her any longer and there she was, leaving him alone.
When she disappeared through the doors, he peered around the truck for something to do. There wasn't really anything TO do... He tapped his foot. Then he jiggled his leg. Then he knocked a little beat out on the dashboard. Man, she's been in there forever. It hadn't even been a minute yet, but it felt like an eternity to Luffy.
"Maybe a little walk around the area won't hurt." He muttered to himself, reaching for the door handle. But, much to his dismay, it was locked. How do you unlock this thing? He tried pulling harder on the handle, but nothing happened. She opened the door so effortlessly. How the Hell? He tried pushing the door. Nothing. Then he tried yanking the handle again. It snapped back out of his hands, to no avail.
His eyes scanned the truck door for any way to unlock it. He saw three buttons and pushed the one for the window. Nothing happened. Ok, so this one? He pushed another button and a little *chkchk* sound came through the door. Bingo. He pulled the handle and it snapped back against the door. Shoot. Must be the one next to it. He pushed the last button, and it made the same sound. Yes. He pulled on the handle again, except this time he pulled it a little too hard and a piece snapped off in his hands. Shit.
Luffy looked around to see if anybody had seen him break the handle. He desperately tried to put it back on, but it just fell right back off.
"Misaki's gonna kill me." He muttered. He looked up to see her walking back to the truck, with a couple paper bags in her arms. Luffy frantically shoved the broken handle in his pocket and leaned against the door, hoping she wouldn't notice.
____________________
"Hey Luffy, I decided to get some extra food so we don't have to stop again for a bit. But that means you can't eat it all in one shot!
"T-that's great, Misaki!" Luffy squeaked, avoiding eye contact. That's weird.
"Luffy? Is there something you want to say to me?"
"Not at all, M'!" Luffy said, puckering his lips and looking away from me.
"You know you are a bad liar, Lu. Better fess up before I figure it out myself." I said sternly.
Luffy sighed and pulled a the tip of my truck handle out of his pocket. I laughed.
"Damn it, I know you too well. Can't believe that worked." I said, cackling.
"What do you mean? Aren't you mad?"
"No! I'm a little amused!"
"And why is that?!" Luffy said, a little frustrated.
"I turned on the child lock!" I burst out laughing. "You can't open it from the inside even if you unlock it!" I snorted, throwing my hands over my mouth. "Damn it that's funny."
"Child lock? I'm not a child, Misakiii." Luffy whined, blushing at my laugh.
"No, but I had a feeling you were gonna try to leave and I was right."
Luffy looked so done with me, but I just kept laughing. "Are you done?!"
"Come on, Luffy, it's funnyyy." I said, trying to stifle my giggles. I was starting to tear up a little.
"I thought you were gonna kill me!" Luffy spat. I started laughing harder, wiping a tear from the corner of my eye. "Misaki, come on!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I just love you so much." I giggled, making Luffy crack a smile. "I haven't laughed like this in so long."
"Really? You always laughed a lot with me."
"I..." I stifled another giggle "I haven't laughed like this since I've been on the Sunny." I took a deep breath. "Im so glad you're here."