"SOOOOOO COOOOLLLLL!!!" Luffy exclaimed. We had only just walked into the arcade, but he was already impressed. I giggled at him and his childish enthusiasm.
"Games — as far as the eye can see!" I stated. I swear, I could see the stars in his eyes as he took in the glory of the arcade. The neon lights blinked all over, making Luffy jump and point. There was also mini golf, but we were going to ignore that. The games is what I brought him there for.
Luffy and I flitted from game to game. We started with some shooting games, which he got a little too enthusiastic about, so we moved on to a driving simulator.
He was all over the place, smashing into walls and running over civilians. He slammed on the gas and brakes too hard, as well as turned way too sharp. It certainly solidified my hard maybe into a hard no for teaching him how to drive my truck.
When it came to the games that required balls to be thrown in holes or hoops of some kind, he was a natural. He didn't miss a single one, and won tons of tickets in the process.
Then we got to a game I was exceptionally good at. Air hockey. I never thought I would beat Luffy in a game that came down to hand-eye-coordination, especially since he had amazing observation haki. But, there I was, beating him like it was nothing. It was the precision that got to him. A fraction of a centimeter was all it took to send a puck too far in the wrong direction, and I was a master at predicting where it was going to go. Not only that, but he would hit the puck a little too hard at times and end up scoring against himself. I laughed as I won for a third time in a row, and Luffy gave me the most unamused look I had ever seen.
Then we came across the game that measured punch strength. I looked at him, concern lacing my voice as I spoke.
"Maybe we should skip this one." I said. He crinkled his nose.
"Why?"
"Because you'll break it!" I said with a laugh.
"Ohhhh, come on, Misaki! Pleaaaaaseee! I promise I won't break it!!!"
"I'm sorry b—" I started, but when I turned to face him, I stopped short. He had clasped his hands together and brought his hands up to his chin. He was giving me the biggest puppy dog eyes in the world. Even his bottom lip pooched out just enough to make me waver. "Lu... I don't think it's a good idea."
"Pleeeeeeaaaaaase!" He begged. I sighed. How could I say no to that face? Nami did always say I was too quick to do what Luffy wanted.
"Ok, but you have to hit it gently. Like knocking on a door." I sighed. This was probably the worst thing to do here with a man with monster strength.
"Gum gummmm"
"LU!!!"
"Just kidding!" He laughed, gently reaching over and knocking on the punching bag, making it slam backwards. Tickets came flooding out as the maximum score got reached. My heart was in my throat from that little joke of his.
"Woaahhh, look at all these tickets!" Luffy exclaimed, ignoring the smack on the back of his head I gave him. "Misaki, you're looking a little pale. Sorry." He said with a grin. That little snicker of his was so contagious, I couldn't help but laugh back.
"You got me for sure, there!" I giggled.
"What's this game?!" He said, bouncing over to a Pac-Man machine. That man had the attention span of a flea.
"That's Pac-Man. Wanna give it a try?" He nodded eagerly. I dropped the coins in and the little jingle started. I went to explain to him what to do and he put his hand up.
"Let me find out for myself." He said excitedly. I sat back and watched as Luffy moved through the maze and immediately got killed by a ghost.
"Shoot. So those guys are bad." He said. Life two. He tried his best but still couldn't get the entire maze done. Life three. He lost, throwing his hand up in the air. "Awe well. Do you wanna play, Misaki?"
"Yeah, I'll give it a go." I restarted the game and went to town.
"Woah, M'! You are pretty good at this."
"Mhmm."
"Oh no! Watch out! Watch out watch out!" Luff said, his hands on my shoulders as he jumped around excitedly, peering over my shoulder. A ghost was gaining on me, but then I ate the power up that made it possible to eat the ghosts. Suddenly, the tables had turned and I was chasing the ghost.
"Look, Lu! It's got an appetite worse than yours!" I laughed.
"I didn't know you could EAT the ghosts! Woahhhhh!" Luffy said, getting his face a little to close to the screen.
"Lu! I can't see. Ah. I died." I laughed. So much for that.
"Are you gonna use your other lives?"
"I think you should now that you know a little more." I said as Luffy excitedly grabbed the joystick and started playing again. He was being a little too rough with the joystick and I kept having to chide him, but in the end, he finally won. Level one. He wasn't that good at it.
Watching his hands shoot to the air as he hollered "WOOHOOOO! I WON!!!!!" was such an amazing experience. It was amazing how, even here, he had a smile that could brighten up the darkest of places.
We moved on to a few more games before finally bringing our pile of tickets to the counter. The guy raised his eyebrows at us.
"Looks like you guys had a good haul today." He said, making us both grin. "You can pick any of the prizes with all this."
Luffy pointed at the mini Pac-Man game, making me laugh.
"I swear I'll get good at it!" He said as the guy handed it to him.
"You can actually get more than that."
"Misaki? Do you want anything?"
I leaned forward and looked around. This arcade had some pretty good prizes. From stuffed animals and pokemon plushies, to even some nice jewelry, mini video games, and some other stuff that I just wouldn't need in the other world.
"Why don't you pick something for me?" I sighed. I really didn't see anything I wanted. Luffy looked around before raising his eyebrows and pointing at something small. I thought he would pick something funny. But it was a a pair of ruby red earrings. Very simple. Actually rather pretty.
"Those." He said softly. "And one of those weird rubbery hand things." He added with a snicker. I knew it.
When we got back to the house, we could see everybody else was home. It wasn't too late yet, so the lights were still on in the house. I parked a little farther out, by the barn.
A slow song came on in the truck before I shut it off, and Luffy grabbed my hand to stop me. He smiled at me and jumped out of the truck.
"Luffy, what are you—"
"Dance with me!" Luffy said, putting out his hand. "I like this song!"
"Luffy, this is a slow song!"
"So?! Come on M'! Dance with me!" He said, smiling. I put my hand in his and he pulled me out of the truck. He held both of my hands and spun me around, making me laugh.
I thought back to all the times we had danced across the deck of the sunny. Never once did we dance to a slow song. The slowest song I had ever danced with him to was bink's sake, and that was still a happy and upbeat song. This song, however, was a slow dance love song.
Luffy spun me, making me giggle. I wished I had a twirly dress on, to be honest. I bet it would have done the most amazing twirl just now. This dance wasn't about a show though. There was nobody around. Luffy liked doing whatever he wanted, and he simply wanted to dance with me. I danced along with him, spinning and moving around the driveway, the truck door left open as it booked out the music.
His smile could light up the night, it was so bright. It made my heart do a little flip. His eyes never left mine. Toward the end of the song, I let go of his hands and hung my arms loosely around his neck. He dropped his hand down to my waist, still swaying with the music, and pressed his forehead against mine.
"I love you." He said, taking a deep breath in.
"I love you too." I swooned, bringing my hand up to his face. He kissed me gently on the nose, making me giggle.
Just then, a new song came on, much louder and much faster, making us jump out of our skin. We looked at each other and laughed. I snatched the keys out of the truck and shut the door.
As we headed in, Luffy grabbed my hand and squeezed it gently. He was giving me the softest expression...
"You guys are literally the cutest." Mom said, resting her hand in her cheek as she leaned against the railing.
"Oh hey, Momma." I said, smiling as Luffy hugged me from behind, further pushing the narrative that we were cute. I couldn't help but hold my breath as his hands clasped around my stomach and his chin rested in the crook of my neck.
"I saw you guys out there." She said with a wry grin. I blushed at her before she continued. "Like I said. The cutest."
Luffy chuckled at her and nuzzled my cheek happily, giving me goosebumps all over. Has he ever hugged me from behind like this? God, it feels good. I rested a hand over his as I noticed something sparkle in my moms eyes. Usually, even a glint meant she had something up her sleeve — but a full on sparkle? Oh Hell no.
"Ok, Momma. We are gonna head to bed now."
"What? We are?" Luffy whined.
"You don't want to spend some time with us?" She said. "We were gonna pull out a board game for you niece."
"A what?" Luffy said as I elbowed him. Her eyes narrowed as she doubled down on me. It was a look that could pierce straight through someone — so long as they weren't as blissfully unaware as Luffy.
"Oh there are plenty. We've got boggle, scrabble, sorry, chutes and ladders, monopoly... we even have twister..." She said. Something tightened in my chest. It was like she was testing a theory or something.
"Actually Momma, I really think we should head off to bed. Plan to get up early tomorrow to be honest." I answered. Luffy still looked a little confused, but he trusted that I had my reasons to say no, and luckily was not arguing with me.
"Oh, that's a shame." Mom said, a little disappointed.
"How did it go? Dealing with that jerk?" Luffy interjected. He must have really not cared about the conversation we were having.
"Oh, I beat his ass six ways to Sunday!" She said, making Luffy laugh.
"You're a badass, Momma J!"
"Damn straight, I am. I hope he takes everything to heart and stops coming around here to bother you two." She said.
"We can only hope." I mumbled.