SINCE ZORO WAS the only one who seemed to notice her feelings, aside from Robin of course, Nami decided it would be best to make him shut his mouth for good. The events in cafeteria the other day almost made her cry but thankfully, Zoro was there to snap everybody out of their trance.
Nami also found out that Hancock, a year 12, was the leader of the Kuja Clique. It was one of the largest factions in the school made up of only female members and led by the Gorgon sisters, the three Boa's, but Hancock herself mostly oversees everything.
The PA's around the school paged a way too familiar name for them to ignore. It belonged to a certain freckled boy who, as of the moment, was ignoring the summonings of his own name. He lodged down the table while snatching away the book Luffy was writing on.
"Hey!" Luffy blared.
The freckled one grinned. "Doing homework, little brother? That's so not like you."
It was Portgas D Ace, a year 11 at that. He was not wearing his complete school uniform; his shirt's buttons were undone and he recently abandoned the vest sweater. As of the moment, his chest was visible thanks to the undone shirt and the blazer he kept open. His shoes were similar to Luffy's. His pants? Well, he rolled them up a few inches above his ankles and he even had his signature hat hanging from his neck.
At first glance of an outsider, he would certainly be mistaken for a delinquent.
"Leave me alone, Ace. I'm a good student." hearing this, Usopp almost spit out his drink.
Ace pulled up the sleeve on his left, revealing a watch, that had a compass instead of a clock, and a striped bangle which doubled as a floating device when on water. "Good for you, Luffy! Oh, long time no see, by the way! You too, Jinbe!"
Robin, at the end of the table chuckled and felt weird. For some reason she imagined that, in another universe, Ace had suffered a painful death. She knocked on the wooden table. Luffy wouldn't be able to stand that.
Ace tilted his head while he returned his brother's book. "Why do I feel like there's someone missing?"
Franky and Brook exchanged glances while Jinbe kept silent. Not in an awkward manner, but Ace found it to be that way. The latter blinked. "Did something happen?"
"I could ask you the same thing," Chopper blurted out.
"What do you mean?"
Zoro was the one who spoke this time, "Your name was being called for the hundredth time, now."
"Oh, that? Never mind that." Ace chuckled. "Don't tell anyone about this but there's this chic in my year group that always chases my tail! She's also in the student council."
Right after saying that, a female voice reverberated across the halls. "Portgas D Ace!! You're coming with me this instant!"
Ace, and the others, turned to look at the vermillion-haired girl with a bandaid on her left cheek. It was his cue to leave, and so he gave Luffy a rub on the head, making his hair messier. Robin chuckled.
Nami would love to see Luffy like this.
===
"Nami-swaannnn!!!!"
Sanji came running from the other end of the pool holding a mop on one hand and an empty bucket on the other. He heard her sneeze. Even though she couldn't see his right eye through the hair on his face, Nami assumed it also morphed into a heart along with the other.
Nami frowned and held up an arm. "Stop."
The scorching sun was not helping with the work they had to do but Sanji seemed to be unaffected by it. Nami tied her hair up into a ponytail and removed her vest sweater, putting it on her bag, before she removed her footwear. She tucked her baggy socks inside her shoes before she dropped the broom onto the pool and climbed down using the ladder.
Sanji also removed his blazer and vest, but kept his footwear, before leaping in and landing firmly on the tiles of the swimming pool 6 feet under. He caught the broom that Nami had tossed to him.
"Now, we can sta–" she noticed that Sanji wasn't barefoot. "Take off your shoes you idiot!!!"
Sanji twirled all over. "Nami-san's so cute when she's–"
Nami threw the broom on the ground, causing Sanji to regain his senses. "I'm sorry, Nami-san."
Because of a certain trouble Sanji stirred up earlier, he had to clean the pool along with Nami who was somehow involved. She just wanted to get it over and done with, so she started getting to work. Sanji also did, but not before removing his blazer, rolling up his slacks, and trying to get a positive expression from her.
"I wonder what they're doing now," Sanji suddenly blurted out to break the eerie silence. Nami-swan wasn't talking.
She still couldn't forget the encounter the day before, when Hancock had called Luffy her 'future husband'. How? Since when? And why was Luffy not bothered by it? Did something happen during those two years? Had he accepted it already?
"Nami-san!"
She turned to Sanji with a blank face. "H-Huh?"
"I said 'would you like some drink?' I have some in my bag,"
"O-Oh...I'm all good. Thank you," thanks to her daydreaming, she didn't notice it but half of an hour had already passed.
Then they sensed someone approaching. Sanji climbed on the ladders to take a peek, when he saw a certain blonde haired boy along with a girl in a similar hair colour as Nami. Upon seeing the latter, Sanji immediately dashed towards her and held her hand.
"Sanji!" Nami blared angrily as she herself also climbed up to the gutter. "What's– huh? Sorry, but the pool's closed..."
"Oh, we're not here for a midday swim..." the blonde one retorted. "You must be Nami and this gentleman right here is Sanji, am I right?"
The bloke had a complete set of uniform but the vest sweater was replaced by a with a blue shirt and a frilled cravat. His hair was somewhat deliberately covering his left eye but unlike what Sanji was two years ago; his half of the face was still visible. Instead of the regulatory shoes, this guy wore a belted pair of boots.
Nami fixed herself. For some reason, she had the impression that this lad was related to Luffy one way or another though she couldn't say that without actually asking. "Sorry for being nosy, but are you...Luffy's....."
"Brother," he replied firmly, gaining a confused face from Nami. Then the latter and Sanji exchanged glances.
"Brother?!" Sanji inspected the blonde guy. He was lean, muscular and had the same eyes as Luffy but he was missing the freckles and the black hair. He also had a scar on his left eye, which Sanji glanced at. "...Ace?"
He chuckled. "I'm Sabo. Luffy's other older brother." he gestured to the girl beside him. This is Koala."
"A-AAHH?!" Nami let out a squeal, her cheeks flushing bright red. Another one of his brother?! And she's meeting him?! "W-Wait, d-did we do something wrong?"
"No," the other girl, this time, answered. "we didn't get to approach your other friends because of a certain someone," she turned to Sabo with a glare that he nervously chuckled at. "but luckily we found out that you're here in the open doing..."
"Detention," Nami chuckled.
Sanji tilted his head. "What's up?"
"We are inviting students to the homecoming dance by the end of the month or the next," Koala replied and handed them a flyer. "We just need to confirm that you're coming so we can reserve the seats."
"Oh..." Nami and Sanji exchanged glances once again. "w-well...we have to ask Luffy about that, first."
"It's fine, Nami-san."
"H-Huh?"
Sanji smiled to the other pair. "We're going. I'm sure Luffy would love to go the party being organised by his brother."
Koala's face brightened up even more, if that's possible. "Sweet! Then I assume there's..."
"Ten of us," Nami replied.
With that, Sabo and Koala bid their farewell and headed back inside and left Nami wondering what the dance would be like. Meanwhile, Sanji was still doing his noodle dance over Koala who was now out of sight. Then Nami lost track of the time, again.
"Sanji! We're not yet finished!!!"