LUFFY BRUSHED UP his ever messy raven hair while he walked down the staircase of the school. His bag, a duffle bag, hung from his shoulder across his body. The soles of his loafer shoes thumped and clicked against the floor as he leaped off the third final step, then he landed rather loudly on the ground.
He recently had his favourite subject so he was eager to get out of the room and now that he was, he couldn't find his friends. That sucked.
If he were Zoro, he would be looking for each of them all over the campus and end up lost, but Luffy was not him; he waited inside the cafeteria while also stopping himself from buying food until one of his friends arrives.
"Luffy!" someone called from behind. It was Usopp. "Sorry I'm late. Woah wait, where's everyone?"
"Dunno," Luffy shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe they're doing something? Schoolwork's been hectic lately..."
"Yeah,"
But from Luffy's reply, Usopp deduced that he was doing not so much hard work yet he was managing to pass his subjects.
There were not a lot of students in the cafeteria; some benches were still vacant and the queues were not that long either. Usopp noted that even the number of students going in the cafeteria was less than usual. He was right, though. Lately, the teachers have been giving out lots of work for them to do and every student was pissed off about it.
Maybe it was the reason why there were not a lot of students in the cafeteria even if it was lunch time?
The two sat opposing each other by their usual spot, with Luffy putting his bag on the table on the side. Usopp brought out the packed lunch he had inside his bag as a certain blond haired girl came to their table. She had a pale skin that was almost the same colour as her hair. Also, she was wearing her uniform, complete with the beige sweater vest and the blazer, properly on her fragile-looking physique.
Luffy blinked a few times as he looked at her. He was trying to remember her name. "Kyla!"
"It's Kaya, actually." she chuckled, her narrow shoulders bouncing softly.
Kaya was the girl back then, two years ago, that Usopp was still friends with. She had been away for a long time because she was sick, but she was all better now. In fact, she was aiming to be a doctor someday.
Usopp stood up from his bench. "Kaya! Come, sit with us!" he turned to Luffy, seeking approval. "That's fine with you, right?"
The strawhat-wearing one nodded with a toothy grin and Kaya thanked him before sitting next to Usopp. But despite having a packed lunch displayed right in front of him, the curly haired youngster stood from his bench and-
"Kaya, do you want to get something?"
The pale maiden's cheeks turned bright pink though it was unnoticeable. "Sure!"
They soon headed to the counter but not without Usopp warning Luffy not to eat his packed lunch, or else. But yes, he grabbed the lunchbox just to be sure.
Anyway.
Luffy pouted as the two went further and furthet from their table. Then he remembered the way Usopp looked at Kaya, and it reminded him of his brother Sabo who was in a relationship with this girl named Koals. He could also very well recall his brother looking at Koala the way Usopp looked at Kaya, and Luffy was not that dumb to pinpoint that maybe Usopp and Kaya were an item after all.
He tried imagining himself looking at that towards other girls but all he could see was Hancock. No, he was pretty sure he didn't see Hancock that way because, first, she was two years older than him and, second, they were just friends. Luffy knew that very well but she was the only one who showed affection for him.
"This sucks..." he groaned and threw his head back, straightening his head in the process. "what are relationships anyway?"
And, as if on cue, a certain orange haired girl with a Log Pose on her left wrist appeared right in front of him. No, not on the table but she was standing by it.
"Nami?" he blinked.
"Well, turns out the workload can be minimised by hacking my way through it." Nami smiled and sighed. "Can I sit?"
"Duh, of course."
She noticed the bags that were on the bench she was planning to sit on so she moved to the side where Luffy was. She could already feel her heartbeat speed up as she moved towards him and sat down. "Where's everyone?"
"Usopp's getting food with Kaya," Luffy answered almost immediately. "the others, however, I have no idea. Honestly, it's a surprise that you, of all people, came to lunch."
She was then looking at him with a death glare. "What does that supposed to mean?"
There were times like this; any of the three - Luffy, Zoro or Sanji, then maybe Franky and Brook - say something stupid or misleading, Nami would come punching the hell out of their faces. Especially when the latter two pull of green jokes? Nami couldn't help but smack them with the baton that Usopp made for her.
And right now, she was resisting the urge to strangle Luffy even though he seemed dismayed having her come to lunch.
"That's not what I mean..." the raven haired boy was sweating beads with his gaze averted. "I'm sorry."
Usopp and Kaya didn't return yet. So, having caught an opportunity, Nami mustered her strength and bravery to speak to Luffy about something 'important'. She turned to him, though not looking at him, with her cheeks a bit pink like Kaya's earlier.
"Uhmm...Luffy?"
He looked at her. "Yeah?"
"This is dumb...I shouldn't be asking this but..." she took a deep breath before continuing. "will you go to the dance with me?"
Luffy blinked for a moment before pouting again, but he smiled after. "Sorry, but I'm already going with someone."
"Y-You are?"
"Yeah. Hancock asked me out, like, two days ago? Three? Dunno, but yeah, I'm already going to the dance with her."
Upon hearing those words, Nami wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole. No, most importantly, she was kind...in pain? She didn't expect the empress to have made her move already.
She let out a chuckle to remove the awkward atmosphere she herself created.
"O-Oh, is that so?" Nami smiled as she asked but the smile was a fake one. It would be a terrible thing to show Luffy that she's disappointed by his answer but she's not surprised.
She should have expected this to happen.
Soon, the two returned to their table. Kaya greeted Nami, and Nami greeted back, while Usopp squinted his eyes at the 'newly arrived' maiden.
"What's wrong with you? You look like you're about to cry,"
Nami, who have taken another deep breath, stood up and threw a fist onto Usopp's face.