Days have passed since the decision was made for Rose to distance herself from the captain of the Straw Hats, and she quickly found that the challenge was easier said than done. Aside from when she trains on her powers with Zoro, she has to come up with an excuse almost every time Luffy sees her to turn down his invitation to join in his games.
As time went on, Luffy realized that something was wrong, and grew even more persistent in trying to get her to hang out with him. While he would sometimes succeed in getting her to play in his games with the others, she would always quickly, yet politely, excuse herself before he could find out why she's been acting strangely. That doesn't stop the rubber man from trying to get her to stop distancing herself and find out what's going on every chance he gets.
Today was no different as Luffy searches all over the front deck for the wind girl.
Usopp sees his captain from his fishing spot on the railing. and waves over to him with one arm while he keeps his fishing pole steady with the other. "Hey Luffy, come help me resupply. If we don't get any food soon Sanji might cook us."
Luffy goes to join him before he stops himself and heads to the back of the ship. "In a bit."
The captain heads to the back of the ship where Zoro is lifting weights, but with Rose nowhere in sight. "Hey Zoro, you seen Rose anywhere?"
He shakes his head as he keeps lifting his weights. "Nope, maybe she's inside."
Luffy groans in frustration as he drops his shoulders. "I already checked... I don't get why she's being so weird."
Zoro sighs as he puts the weight down. "All girls are weird, but she takes it to another level, so it could be anything. Do you remember anything you did that might have pissed her off?"
He thinks hard about the things he could have done to make her avoid him, but he can come up with nothing, so he shakes his head. "I don't remember... She's been like this since four days ago. The only thing that happened around that time was..."
He widens his eyes, as if he's figured out why she's avoiding him. "Wait, I know why she's mad! She's mad that I didn't invite her to raid all the food in the kitchen with me and the guys!"
Zoro goes to say something, but he's cut off when he and Luffy hear the sound of laughter being choked down.
Luffy looks around for the source, but only finds the two of them present, along with a few crates and barrels. "Did you hear that?"
Zoro shakes his head as if he doesn't know who almost laughed, but knows exactly who it is. "Must've been the wind. Anyway, I really doubt that she's mad about that."
He looks over at the disappointed captain, and can tell that he won't give up on her. However, even though the rubber man doesn't remember the fight, he's being pushier than usual, so he tries to get to the bottom of it. "Hey, why do you keep asking her to hang out?"
Luffy tilts his head in confusion as if he just asked him something ridiculous. "What do you mean? She's my friend."
"Yea, but you don't act like this around Vivi."
"Vivi's not being weird. Besides, it feels like she's only like this around me..." Luffy answers with a saddened look on his face.
Zoro quietly sighs at the comment and tries to ease his worries. "She probably needs some space. Try-!"
He cuts himself off to the sound of Luffy's stomach growling, and angrily scowls at his captain. "Instead of trying to find Rose, how about fishing to make up for all the food you stole?! We're all hungry!"
Luffy flinches from the angry swordsman, and quickly agrees by going to the front deck to fish with Usopp.
Once he's out of earshot, the swordsman sighs in exasperation. "You can come out now."
One of the lids to the barrels starts lifting up with Rose's scowling face poking out from under it. "I take weirdness to another level?"
"You're the one hiding in a barrel and almost giving yourself away by laughing."
"I can't help that Luffy's funny!"
He sweat drops at the comment before he walks away. "Whatever, I'm going to take a nap..."
Rose nods as she waves at him from the barrel. "Thanks again for covering for me."
He lifts a hand up before he walks off to the front deck.
Once Rose's alone, she sighs from exhaustion as she sits in the barrel with guilt eating at her. She knows that she has to do this to avoid being recruited, but it still sucks for her to do this to her friend. It won't be so bad when they're on land because they'll be moving on foot, so she made the decision to stop doing this at the island. That thought helps her to not give in, especially since they can't be too far from Alabasta right?
Right now, all that's needed is the sign to tell her long it'll take to get there.
"Hey Luffy, quit trying to eat the bait!"
The brunette widens her eyes to the sound of Usopp's voice, then climbs out of the barrel, and looks over the railing to see Luffy and Usopp fishing together.
Luffy groans as he swallows the bait that he was eating. "You ate some too Usopp."
"Just a bit that was stuck to the bottom."
Vivi walks out of the kitchen, then looks over at the boys curiously. "Did you guys catch anything yet?"
The boys shake their heads when they hear some distant quacking over the railing.
Vivi looks over the railing and becomes horrified when she sees Carue tied up at the end of their lines. "AAAH! CARUE!"
Luffy ignores her distress as he looks down at his bait. "Think we can catch a shark?"
Usopp looks down at the duck with hope for a big catch in his eyes. "Not sure, maybe we can catch a sea king."
Vivi furiously growls as she grabs Usopp and Luffy's heads. "STOP FISHING WITH MY DUCK!"
She bashes their heads together, and lets them collapse on the deck. When she sees them reeling her friend back up, she looks out at the ocean, and become surprised to see steam rising from the ocean in the distance. "What the-?!"
The princess runs into the kitchen to get Nami while the boys look at the steam curiously.
"What's going on?" Usopp asks.
Luffy shrugs as he looks over his shoulder to see Vivi gone so he lowers the line with Usopp to keep fishing with Carue.
Rose is astounded by the sight of the steam, and starts to realize that she's seen this back in her world. The more she remembers what happened at this moment, the more excited she becomes when she realizes that she and the others are about to meet her favorite okama!
With newfound enthusiasm, runs down the stairs to get a better look, when Vivi, Chopper, and Nami run outside.
When Nami sees the steam, she calmly smiles. "It's ok guys, it's just steam."
Chopper looks at her in confusion. "How can steam come out of the ocean?"
"Because that spot over there is a hot spot. It's where magma comes out down at the ocean floor from underwater volcanoes."
Chopper looks at her in shock. "There are volcanoes underwater?"
"Yes, there are more volcanoes underwater than there are on land. In ten thousand years, a new island is going to be here."
Now that Vivi knows that there's no danger, she looks at the hot spot with interest. "That's really cool."
Rose nods in agreement. "Do you think it can be a season island Vivi?"
"I'm not sure."
Luffy widens his eyes at Rose's voice, and turns his head just when the steam from the hot spot blows over the crew.
Once the steam clears, Luffy and Usopp look at the end of their fishing poles in shock to see a man wearing a swan jacket, that says 'the okama way' on its back, swan slippers, and a headband, holding onto Carue. "WE CAUGHT AN OKAMA!"
Zoro wakes up from his nap by the mast and looks at the man in confusion along with everyone else while the strange man looks at Carue in complete shock. "HOW DID I GET ON THIS WEIRD DUCK!"
He accidentally lets go of the duck, and starts falling towards the ocean, before Rose uses her wind to catch.
Usopp and Luffy finally reel Carue in, and untie him, while Rose gently drops the crew's newest guest onto the deck of the ship.
The okama looks down at himself, to see that he's alright, then looks at everyone in utter confusion. "What just happened?"
"I used my wind to catch you." Rose says causing the okama to turn to her in shock before he smiles at her.
"Thank you very much. I can't swim, so I would've drowned if I fell in the water."
His stomach starts to growl, so he looks over the group of hosts with a shy grin. "Mind if I have a cup of soup?"
Everyone else looks at him in irritation. "No way! We're hungry too!"
Luffy looks at him in confusion. "You can't swim?"
He shakes his head. "Nope, I'm a devil fruit user. My boat sailed past the steam and I somehow wound up on the duck."
Usopp blinks in surprise. "Really? Which devil fruit do you have?"
He looks around for a moment before he widely smiles at his hosts "Well, since my ship's still looking for me, I'll give you a show as thanks for saving me! Here's my power!"
He walks up to Luffy and pushes the palm of his right hand on his face hard enough to send him flying backwards!
Everyone, but Rose, puts their guard up at the seemingly hostile act.
Zoro grits his teeth as he starts unsheathing his swords. "What the hell are you-?!"
Bon Clay starts changing his face before he raises his hands defensively with a large smile. "Hold on! Hold on! This is all part of the show!"
Everyone looks at him in utter shock to see that he changed his appearance to look exactly like Luffy. "Stop joking around!"
He starts posing while Luffy gets up with his jaw dropped at the sight. "Whoa, it's me!"
The okama nods as he touches his face with his left hand to change back to his normal appearance. "I can change my looks with my right hand, and change back with my left hand. That's the power of the clone clone fruit."
Nami could only stare at the okama as she processes what she just saw. "His voice was completely identical..."
Usopp slowly nods while he watches him with a dumbfounded expression. "Even the physique was the same."
Luffy looks at him with stars in his eyes before he applauds him. "That's awesome!"
The okama softly chuckles before he walks around and pats Nami, Usopp, Zoro, Chopper, and Rose's faces with his right hand. "It's not necessary to punch you either."
He smirks as he turns to his small audience and transforms into each of the people he patted continuously while explaining. "If I touch your face with my right hand, I can imitate anyone just like this."
He stops with Rose's body and reaches for the bottom hem of her shirt. "Along with your bodies t- EEP!"
The duplicate cuts herself off when she finds herself floating in the air by a gust of wind.
The others look at Rose in shock, as she glares at the okama with an embarrassed blush decorating her freckled cheeks. "Reveal anything that I wouldn't and you're taking a swan dive to the ocean!"
Her clone quickly nods as she touches her face with her left hand to cancel the transformation. "Yes ma'am..."
Rose is satisfied by his compliance, and gently sets him back down on the deck.
Once both of his feet are on the deck, he sighs in relief that he didn't die, and gives his audience a happy smile. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that's all I can show you."
Luffy grins in excitement as he stares at him with stars in his eyes. "You're awesome!"
Usopp whistles at the show while Chopper claps for him. "Please do some more!"
The okama can only look at his excited audience with a large smile, before he starts pirouetting in joy. "Very well, if you insist!"
Zoro sweat drops as he takes a seat by the railing. "He changed his mind too quickly."
The girls couldn't help, but watch the okama with interest as he keeps changing into various people that they've never met. "I also have a perfect memory. I've never forgotten a single face that I've touched."
When he changes to a slightly tan man, with long dark hair, and a black beard Vivi tenses up at the familiar look. *That face!*
Zoro scoffs at the show as he closes his eyes to ignore the craziness around him.
The okama transforms back to normal and starts twirling around. "Now how do you like my super special talent?! I usually never show this to people, so you should feel honored!"
Chopper, Usopp and Luffy quickly applaud him as he keeps twirling like a ballerina, then they get up, and join the dance.
Rose couldn't help but giggle at the crazy dance going on, and gets tempted to join them as well. She takes a few steps towards them, but then remembers that she can't be too close with them anymore, so she stops herself and stays back to watch with Vivi.
Vivi grows confused by her behavior, but lets it go to watches the boys dance, and sing out of tune.
Nami groans at the dancing idiots and turns away from them. "Please kill me..."
The navigator pauses when she sees a large swan boat approaching them from the distance, then turns to their guest. "Hey, there's a ship heading our way. Is it yours?"
The okama stops dancing to look at the ship, then widens his eyes, before he jumps onto the railing. "Oh me, oh my! Is it time to leave already? Too bad, but I must depart!"
Luffy, Usopp and Chopper start whining in disappointment because of all the fun they were having. "AWWW!"
The okama keeps his back to them as he smiles with tears in his eyes. "Don't be sad my babies! Separation is inevitable, but never forget..."
The tears stream down the okama's face, as he turns to them with a thumbs up. "Lengths of time means nothing to true friendship!"
The three boys start tearing up with a smile from the sentimental line, and wave him off. "Take care!"
The okama couldn't stop the smile on his face when his boat arrives next to the ship, and he jumps aboard. "Let's go my lovelies!"
His crew quickly nods as they start setting sail. "Yes sir, Mr. 2!"
Everyone on the Going Merry except for Rose widens their eyes in utter shock at the name as they watch him sail away. "MR. 2?!"
Vivi looks at the fleeing ship in complete horror when realization hits her. "That was Baroque Works' Mr. 2 Bon Clay!"
Luffy turns to her in surprise. "You didn't recognize his face?!"
She buries her head in her hands in frustration. "No, I've never met Mr. 2 and Mr. 1 before, but... I did hear that Mr. 2 was a huge okama, and wore a swan coat that said 'the okama way' on his back..."
Usopp, Luffy and Zoro sweat drop at the description. "You should have noticed..."
Vivi starts trembling at the power she just witnessed. "One of those past faces he showed us was my father's. What does he plan to do with his face?"
"If you can change into a ruler then you can do a lot of things." Zoro says while Nami crosses her arms over her chest.
"Luckily, he didn't know that we were enemies. Once he finds out though, he can turn into any of us..."
Rose nods as she watches the departing ship in thought as of she didn't know about him. "At least we know more about what we're up against."
Zoro pauses when an idea forms in his head and starts smirking. "She's right, now we can make countermeasures against that power. I have an idea on how to do it. Someone get the love cook. I'll be right back."
He walks inside to get something while Chopper runs inside and brings Sanji outside. "What's going on here?"
"We found out that one of our enemies at Baroque Works is an okama that can shape shift into us. Zoro said that he found a way to go against it." Usopp says when Zoro walks outside with a black marker and a roll of bandages.
"Good, you're all here." Zoro marks an 'X' symbol on his left forearm and starts wrapping it with a bandage. "This okama can turn into any of us, so he can easily get close to Vivi. If any of us are acting suspicious then we should ask them to show us out symbol. If they only show us the bandage, and can't show the symbol, then we know it's him."
Sanji blinks in surprise at the plan as he lights up his cigarette. "Wow, using two symbols to confirm our identities. That's pretty intelligent, are you sure that you're not the okama?"
"SHUT UP SWIRLY BROW!"
Luffy nods in confirmation. "Yea, it's Zoro."
Usopp sighs in relief while Nami looks at Zoro's arm in thought. "I think this is a great idea. We can set it up when we arrive to Alabasta."
The others nod at the plan as they scatter about for their daily activities.
Rose couldn't help but smile at the turn of events as she walks towards the door in thought. She knows now that they'll be in Alabasta tomorrow, so she needs to go over what she knows about the story arc, and come up with ways to help without messing up anything too much.
"Hey Rose!" The freckled girl snaps out of her trance when she sees Luffy walking up to her. "Where are you going? Wanna fish?"
She looks at him nervously before an idea pops up in her head. "Sorry Luffy, but I gotta go to the bathroom!"
She quickly walks inside before he can say anything. He blinks at how she fled before he sighs in disappointment. He knows that Zoro said that she needs her space, but does she really need this much?
He snaps out of his thoughts when his stomach starts growling. "Food first."
He goes back to fishing with Usopp and Chopper, while not noticing that Vivi and Nami were watching the show from the railing.
"She's been like that since we left Drum Island." Vivi says with Nami looking at the door in thought.
"I'll go talk to her."
"I'll come too."
Nami nods to the idea as they head inside to find the distant wind girl.
Rose starts groaning as she finishes washing her hands in the bathroom then runs her hands down her all the excuses that she could've given him, she can't believe she gave him the bathroom one!
She buries her face in her hands and groans at how fucking awkward she's acting. She can't me more grateful that they'll be at the island tomorrow. At the very least, she's shown that she can be a real of a pain in the ass, so there's hope that he won't bother with her joining him.
She snaps out of her crazy thoughts, when she hears knocking from the door. "I'll be out in a second."
"Good, when you're done come to our room. We need to talk."
Rose widens her eyes at Nami's voice before she quietly sighs. "Ok..."
She hears footsteps leaving from the door and quietly groans to herself as she walks out of the bathroom. When she makes it into the bedroom, she's surprised to see not only the navigator, but also the princess waiting for her.
"Is everything ok with you?"
Rose turn to her attention to Vivi's question, and looks at her in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Nami scoffs as she closes the door behind the wind girl. "You don't need to pretend. I already figured out why you're being so weird around Luffy."
Vivi and Rose widen their eyes at her answer when Rose speaks up. "Did Chopper or Zoro tell you?!"
Vivi looks at her in utter shock. "Those two knew?!"
"Not intentionally!"
Nami chuckles at their surprise before she gives her a small smirk. "No one needed to tell me. It was obvious from the signs: you quickly became buddies with him, then suddenly started avoiding him, you enjoy all his craziness, and you blush every time he hugs you."
Rose knits her eyebrows at the explanation in complete confusion. "Wait, what? How does me getting embarrassed from hugs show you that Luffy asked me to join the crew?"
Nami and Vivi both become utterly shocked at the news that Luffy asked her to join. "WHAT?!"
Rose flinches from their yell before she groans, and buries her face in her hands. "You two didn't know did you?"
"I thought you had a crush on Luffy!" Nami answers while still surprised that she got it wrong.
Rose became completely dumbfounded at the suggestion as a small blush starts decorating her face. "What the-?! How did you come up with that?!"
"Like I said, the quickly becoming friends then suddenly avoiding him, the laughing at his stupid jokes, the blushing-!"
"Ok, ok, I get it!"
The redhead couldn't help but chuckle at her flustered reaction.
Rose quietly sighs in frustration while she runs a hand through her brown hair. "Sorry to disappoint, but it's really not like that..."
Once Vivi calms down, she looks at her in confusion. "Luffy really asked you to join the crew? Why hasn't he said anything?"
"Because he doesn't remember. He asked me when he was drunk after Chopper's welcome party. I didn't want to get in another argument with him about it, so I've been trying to give us space."
Nami widens her eyes at this before she groans. "That idiot... You do realize that you can't avoid Luffy like this forever right?"
Rose slowly nods with a frown. "I know, and I'm sorry for worrying you guys about this. I'm going to let up when we reach Alabasta, and if he actually asks again then I'll just tell him that I can't join him."
Nami couldn't help but burst out laughing at the plan, with the other girls becoming confused.
"What's so funny?" Vivi asks when Nami catches her breath from the laughing fit.
"She makes it sound so easy that it's funny. Whatever, as long as you stop acting like this when we make it to the island then I won't tell on you. We should be there by tomorrow, so good luck."
Both girls can only watch as the redhead walks out of the room with a carefree smile.
Once she's out of room, Vivi turns to the brunette with a nervous smile. "I'm sure she's just kidding about it being too simple."
Rose softly sighs while she drops her shoulders. "No, she's right. This is Luffy after all. It's why I didn't let up in distancing myself. If anything, I should be getting ready for another fight."
Vivi blinks in surprise of her stubborn attitude to not become a pirate. "If you say so, I'm kind of surprised though."
"Surprised at what?"
"That you refused. I know it's not my place to say, but you seem really happy here."
Rose isn't surprised by the observation because she's been nothing but happy about having an adventure with the Straw Hats. Still, she knows it can't last forever, if she wants learn how to travel the worlds through the comet...
The freckled girl can only shake her head to get rid of the thought, and gives her friend a small smile to show that she's alright. "I can't say that I didn't have fun, but I doubt they're gonna need an astronomer on their journey. If Luffy doesn't ask again then it's all the better."
"That's another thing that's weird. He should've asked again or at least said something about wanting you in by now. Even if he forgot that night, he doesn't seem like the type to say things that he doesn't mean even if he was drunk."
Rose could only give her a small shrug about his actions. "Who knows, alcohol can make people do crazy things. Me avoiding him like this probably helped too. In any case, there's no point in going into it. I'm gonna stay here, and catch up on some reading. It usually helps to clear my head."
She grabs a red book labeled 'Rainbow Mist' from the bookshelf while Vivi stares at her.
The princess can only stare at her distant friend for a moment before she starts leaving. "Well, if you need anything just let me know."
Rose couldn't help, but smile as she waves at her while she takes a seat on her futon. "Thanks, I appreciate it."
Vivi nods as she heads out and closes the door behind her.
When Rose was alone, she lost her smile then laid down while opening the book right above her face and started reading. However, instead of taking in the literature, her mind only wanders deeper into her situation about possibly being recruited again.
She knows that Vivi's right, if Luffy was serious about wanting her in the crew, he would've said something. Unless he's going to say that she's in the crew at the last second like what he did with Usopp. Looking back on their fight, he could've still thought that we were at the end of Alabasta's adventure, which can be why he asked her in the first place...
"Shit..." She drops the book on her face, and mumbles into the pages as if she's talking to someone. "I gotta be on my toes for the rest of the adventure... As long as I don't falter it should be fine. After all, if Vivi can refuse their offer to join, then why can't I? What matters right now is to figure out what I can do at the island."
She takes the book off her face and gets up before she stares out the window in thought. It's been over a year since she looked into Alabasta, so she has to take a minute to sort everything out. First, they head to a port town for supplies, then they go to the desert...
She widens her eyes when an idea to get them through the desert appears in her head, and smirks in excitement. As soon as she get to the island, she'll go to town to get 'that' for the journey. As for when they reach the capital, she can find a few ways that to back up the others without messing anything up. She just needs to see how the situation plays out.
She nods to herself on how she can help out while talking under her breath. "Ok, that can work. Once I take care of that, I'll play it by ear with the rest of the battle and try to lower as much of the damage as possible."
She couldn't help but grin in excitement of what's to come, before she looks out the window to see that the sun's almost completely set. "I'd better start that book while I can. Won't be much time to read on the island."
She turns on the light and picks up the book, before she returns to her spot on the futon, and reads through the book until she falls asleep.
It's a peaceful autumn morning in New York City. Except for Rose, who's running through the streets with her guitar case strapped to her back and an angry blonde cop on her tail.
"STOP RUNNING ROSE!" Bobby yells out furiously ,while Rose couldn't help but laugh back at the cop while she runs through the crowds on the sidewalk.
"Hey Bobby, I've always been curious. Did anyone ever stop when you tell them to?"
"SHUT UP!"
She couldn't help but chuckle as she runs across the street, along with the crowd, and gives him a mock salute. "Looks like I got my answer."
Bobby can only glare at the girl, as he dodges the crowds, to see her turn a corner at the end of the block. He quickly followed suit only to see that he lost her. "Dammit!"
He runs down the street, and goes past a small pizza restaurant where a pair of purple eyes are peeking from the large window to see him pass her.
Rose couldn't help but chuckle from her hiding spot on the floor, right under the window, as she takes the guitar case off her back, then looks around the empty restaurant. "Man, that was close."
"Not close enough." Rose widens her eyes at the high pitch voice then turns around to see a pale, slightly chubby, teenage boy sitting right behind her with his scowling face a few inches from hers.
"Ah!" She quickly jumps back, and hits her back on the wall, while she catches her breath. "What the hell dude?!"
The boy adjusts his glasses as he gets up, takes the guitar case to unzip it. "I should be asking you that kid. Didn't anyone tell you that it's rude to run into other people's restaurants before they open? Better yet, aren't you a little young to be running from cops? What did you do, steal something?"
Rose can only glare at the boy as she gets up, and takes the case back before he can open it. "First off, my name's not 'kid', it's Rose. Second, I'm not that young, I'm fifteen. Third, I didn't know the restaurant wasn't open yet because the door was unlocked, and I apologize for barging in. Finally, I didn't steal anything, all I did was street perform without a permit."
The boy can only sweat drop at the listed answers to his questions. "Seriously? All you did was street perform?"
She nods as she looks at the old fashioned Italian restaurant that he works in, and pats her guitar. "Yea, Bobby and I have been on this chase for about three years now. He's really persistent on giving me a ticket, but my policy is to only pay the ticket if he can catch me."
She sees no no one else around, and starts to wonder if he's actually in charge of the place, so she curiously looks at her host. "Hey, aren't you a little too young to be the owner?"
He's surprised by the question, and frown at the intruder."I'm not that young, I'm seventeen. I'm not the owner either."
"That would be me."
Both kids turn to the feminine voice, by the kitchen door, to see a red haired woman in her forties, wearing a red t-shirt and jeans, glaring at Rose. "You really expect us to believe that he chased you just for street performing? You could've stolen the guitar for all we know. Timothy, watch her while I go get the cop."
She starts heading to the door when Rose blocks her off. "Wait, please don't get Bobby!"
The adult scoffs at the request as she crosses her arms over her chest. "Give me one good reason not to."
"I can advertise the restaurant during my performances."
The woman looks at her blankly for a split second before she heads to the door again.
Rose runs up to her to stop her again, before she raises her hands defensively. "Wait, wait, I can prove that I didn't steal the guitar."
She opens the guitar case and shows the owner a copy of the form she filled out to borrow the instrument from her school. "I borrowed the guitar and case from my school. I have to fill this out every school year and every summer with a small fee in order to use it. I'm planning on buying my own guitar next week with the money I saved up."
The owner looks over the form, while Rose opens the outer pocket of the case to show various kinds of change and single dollar bills that can sum up to twenty dollars. "Besides, if I was a thief, I'd be a pretty low profile one."
A small book falls out of the case's pocket without her noticing. When Timothy sees it, he picks it up, and widens his eyes to see that it's a Volume 18 One Piece manga. "Oh my god, you're an anime fan?!"
Rose quickly turns to see him holding her manga. Mistaking his surprise for criticism, she glares at him while she grabs the book. "Got a problem with that?"
"Are you kidding?!" The boy runs behind the counter and shows her his copy of the One Piece manga. "I have like every DVD and manga volume of the series. Where exactly are you in the anime and the manga?"
Rose can only widen her eyes at the older boy's enthusiasm, when she realizes that he's a serious fan. She's never met a fellow anime fan in person, besides her parents, before, so him asking her about her interests is completely new for her.
She awkwardly lets her guard down by looking at her book and giving a small grin. "I'm currently working on the Alabasta arc in both the manga and the anime. I know I'm behind, but I don't want to miss the anime fillers as I go through the series."
Timothy eagerly nods as he puts his copy away, then looks out the window. "I don't blame you! Hey, don't you think the cop that chased you looks like what Smoker would be if he was blonde?"
Rose drops her jaw at the comparison when she realizes that she completely missed it! "Oh my god, you're so right! He's as persistent as the real Smoker too!"
"He's like his doppelganger!"
Both kids start laughing at the realization while the owner looks over the two, and walks to the back room.
When Rose hears the door slam shut, she looks at the closed door in confusion. "Was it something I said?"
He sighs at his mom's coldness and walks over to her. "Don't worry about my mom, she can be scary when you first meet her, but she's nice. The name's Timothy by the way."
He extends a hand out for her to shake which she happily takes. "It's a pleasure, as I said before I'm Rose."
She doesn't want to overstay her welcome, so she picks the guitar case up, and straps it onto her back. "Thanks for not turning me in. I should get going before he finds me."
"No problem, but you sure you gotta leave? We can talk more about One Piece."
Before she can say anything, the owner walks out with a blue t-shirt ,that matches the restaurant's logo that she and her son are wearing, and hands it over to Rose. "You guys can talk about anime as much as you want while you're working."
Rose widens her eyes at the t-shirt in her hand, and realizes she wants her to work here. "What the-?! Wait a minute, I appreciate the offer, but I don't need a job."
"I'd call it paying off your debt to society."
"What? I told you that I didn't steal anything!"
"I believe you, but you came into my restaurant not only without permission, but also before our business hours which is a crime called trespassing."
Rose was completely dumbfounded at the explanation while the owner started smirking down at the shorter girl. "My name's Naomi, and as I said before, I'm the owner of this restaurant. You work today's shift as my own form of community service, and we forget this ever happened. If you do a good job, then I might pay you for your troubles too."
Rose snaps out of her shock, but sees no way out of this without either working or getting into real trouble. She groans in frustration, before she extends a hand out to Naomi. "Fine, but you lost your privilege to get the place advertised by me."
Naomi couldn't help but chuckle before she shakes her hand. "I think I can manage. Timothy, show her around the place before opening up for lunch."
Timothy quickly nods before he raises his hand to his forehead as if he's saluting her. "Okie dokie!"
Satisfied with how things turned out, Naomi walks back to the kitchen to get the ingredients ready.
Rose takes off the guitar case, pulls the t-shirt over her long sleeved shirt, and turns to Timothy in confusion. "You said your mom was nice?"
He casually shrugs at the question, because he's used to his mom's behavior. "In her own way, you don't have any plans or anything today right? If you do, I can talk her out of this."
She shakes her head, and lets her frustration of being blackmailed rolled off her back. "No, it's fine. I was only planning on street performing and heading to the library to borrow the next One Piece volume."
"Well you're in luck, I got the next volume here. I can lend it to you if you want."
Rose widens her eyes at the offer, before she shrugs with a small smile. "We'll see, for now let's get through today."
"Okie dokie!"
Rose chuckles at his high pitched excitement as she starts her new job and friendship with Timothy and Naomi.
Rose slowly wakes up from the dream in the middle of the night and looks around to see that Vivi and Nami are fast asleep in their beds
She doesn't feel tired so she quietly gets up, and walks out of the room in order to go stargazing.
Meanwhile, up on the crow's nest of the Going Merry Luffy is sulking from being stuck on night watch with an empty stomach, because he didn't catch anything.
He looks around for any nearby ships, then pauses when he looks down at the deck to see Rose walking outside. "What's she doing here?"
He sees her looking up at the night sky only to see that the clouds are blocking the view.
The freckled girl can only groan at the blocked view. "Dammit, I hate when clouds are out at night..."
She looks down at her hands then quirks an eyebrow when she comes up with an idea. "Can I really do that?"
Luffy hums in confusion when he sees her standing on the railing and concentrating on the clouds until she manipulates the wind to push some of the clouds out of her way.
Once Luffy sees that she's the one manipulating them, he looks at the moving clouds with stars in his eyes. "WHOA, THAT'S SO COOL!"
Rose pauses and looks around for the loud voice she heard, so he ducks to avoid her gaze. Once she can't find anyone, she shrugs before she goes back to her cloud manipulation.
When she felt herself getting tired, she stopped using her powers to see that she was only able to move a few clouds out of the way. "Not bad for a first try."
She starts smiling as she takes a seat on the railing and looks through the crack from the clouds to see a few of the beautiful stars in the sky.
While she was distracted, Luffy peeked out of his hiding spot to look down at Rose. He still doesn't understand why she's avoiding him. It has to be some kind of girl thing, because after fishing, he tried to go to the girls' room to confront her, but even Nami got mad at him.
He rubs his head from the memory of Nami whacking him on the head. When he got hit, he remembered getting into some sort of argument with Rose, but he doesn't remember anything about what it was about. Maybe that's why she's being weird...
He looks down to see Rose standing back up and slowly walking on the railing as if she's a trapeze artist. He looks at her curiously before he starts climbing down the crow's nest. *What's she doing?*
Rose doesn't notice Luffy's attention as she keeps walking on the railing towards the front of the ship for the fun of it, then quietly chuckles at the dream she had. She can't stop the grin on her face from remembering how she took Timothy's offer to borrow the manga was the start of it all. Once she returned the book a week later, she continued to stop by the restaurant to help out at random times until they gave her a work schedule.
She chuckles at how annoyed Naomi seemed about her visiting, but always gave her work to do when she stopped by. Even though she was first annoyed at being blackmailed, she was grateful to her former boss for doing it. If she didn't, she might not have come back, and had that great friendship with a fellow anime fan like Timothy. In all honesty, she believes that out of all the people in that world, they're the only ones she can't dodge. Until now anyway...
She starts losing her smile at remembering how she left them behind before she shakes her head. She knows that they're ok, but she can't help but hope that they didn't worry. She knows that Timothy believed in her, and she did tell him about the comet coming, so he can figure it out and move on. Naomi however, would never believe it, she probably thought that she finally ran away from Rick the dick...
She quietly sighs at how crazy things could've gotten after she left, before she stops to see that she's almost at the front of the ship where the figurehead is. She takes a closer look at the goat figurehead then smirks at the mischievous idea in her head. *Ok, if this is really gonna be my last night on this ship then I gotta see what the fuss is about.*
She uses her wind to fly up and sit herself down at the top of Merry's head. The smile on her face couldn't be bigger as she looks around at the view to see the entire view of the ocean and sky in front of her. "Wow, that's-!"
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
Rose jumps in shock and falls backwards until she hits her back on the deck. She groans from the fall before she sees a pair of legs next to her then looks up to see Luffy scowling down at her. "What are you doing sitting on the captain's seat?"
She quickly gets up and rubs the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry about that, I was curious about why that spot is so important to you. I can see why though, you can see literally everything from up there. Don't worry, I won't sit there anymore."
He nods at what she said before he grins at her. "Good, what are you doing out here anyway?"
She pauses at the question before she frowns at him, and remembers her plan. "I wanted to take a look at the stars for a bit, but I think I should try to sleep some more. After all, we got a big day ahead of us."
She turns starts to head inside when Luffy blocks her off. "Why have you been avoiding me?!"
She freezes at the question before she shifts her purple eyes everywhere to try to lie. "I-I haven't been doing that..."
"You really suck at lying!"
She groans at the blunt statement, while she scratches the back of her head, and mutters under her breath. "I'm probably as bad at lying as you are..."
"What?!"
"Nothing, anyway, I don't want to talk about it."
He widens his eyes at the refusal to explain herself before he glares at her. "I refuse your refusal!"
She scowls at his stubbornness before she glares up at the taller boy. "Well, I refuse your refusal to my refusal!"
He widens his eyes at the statement when he feels like they had this fight before, and rubs his head. "Why does this feel so familiar?"
Rose tenses up at the question, as she remembers refusing his refusal during their fight, then looks at him nervously. "T-that's because of our argument!"
Luffy looks at her in confusion. "So we really did have a fight? What was it about?"
She quietly sighs while she rakes a hand through her brown hair and looks away from him. "It was something you said when you were drunk at Chopper's welcome party that got me frazzled. I won't go too much into it, because I don't want us to fight anymore. I'm sorry that acting like this made you upset. I'm not going to do it anymore."
Luffy blinks at the apology before he smiles from ear to ear. "Great, I'm sorry we fought too."
She couldn't help but smile back, when Luffy's stomach starts growling. She sweat drops at the captain's stomach before she chuckles. "I take it you came out here to try to find some food?"
He shakes his head. "No, I was here for night watch, but I got an idea." He runs inside and quickly comes out with a pair of fishing poles. "Let's catch some fish while we're here."
She tenses up at the fishing pole, because she doesn't know how to fish, so she takes a step back. "Sorry, I don't think I'm much help with a fishing pole. How about I stay out here with you to practice my abilities, and when you reel something in, I'll catch it."
Luffy nods at the idea before he places one of the fishing rods down, and takes a seat on the railing. Rose takes a seat beside him then looks up at the sky before she practices her cloud manipulation again.
Once Luffy casts his line into the ocean, he looks at Rose curiously. "Hey, what were you thinking about when you were walking on the railing?"
She looks at him in shock before she relazes. "Right, you saw me from the crow's nest. I was just thinking about my friends from back home."
He tilts his head in confusion. "Really? What are they like?"
She quirks an eyebrow at the question, but doesn't think too much about it, so she answers while she looks at the sky. "There's a middle-aged woman, who you should never piss off, if you want to keep your head. If you're on her good side though, you can see that there's a pretty kind person under her harsh attitude."
"Oh yea?"
Rose nods as she chuckles from remembering Timothy. "Her son though is really funny. He can talk about random stories with you for hours, while making sure that you stay surprised at what comes next. Whenever his mom got mad at me for messing up at work, he would help me out with calming her down too. If anything, I can say he's the closest thing I have to a big brother."
Luffy widens his eyes at the comment before he brightly smiles at her. "Really?! I have a big brother too!"
*HOLY SHIT!* Rose becomes mortified, when she realizes that his brother will be in the next arc, before her wind shoots her up into the air!
Luffy quickly stretches an arm around her waist to reel her back down and seats her next to him.
"I thought you got control of your flying. Hey, are you ok?" Luffy asks while Rose pulls out of his embrace while she takes a deep breath.
Once she calms herself down, she gives him a nervous smile. "Y-yea, I'm ok, I was just surprised that you have a brother too... What's his name?"
"His name's Ace! Last I heard he's in a crew called the Whitebeard Pirates."
She slowly nods while she keeps up her smile, while on the inside she's screaming a million profanities. "Is that right?"
Luffy eagerly nods. "Yea, he's really cool. I wonder if I get to see him again."
She hesitantly pats him on the shoulder in reassurance. "I'm sure you'll see him soon..."
He nods with a toothy grin before he goes back to fishing. "Yea, it'll be great to see how he's been."
Rose can only nod at his enthusiasm with a small smile, while she clenches onto the railing to the point where her knuckles are turning white. "I'm sure it will..."
She looks up at the sky and keeps her gaze on the clouds while she processes that she'll be meeting the second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates. Of all the fucking things to forget, she can't believe that she's stupid enough to forget Ace! She has no idea about what she can even say to the man! There's no way that she can talk to him about the war! Maybe, just maybe, she might be able to tell him some things about Blackbeard.
"Hey Rose, are you sure you're ok?"
She snaps out of it from Luffy's voice to see him looking at her with concern. She quickly nods while she waves her hand dismissively. "Yea, I'm fine. Just thinking over some things. Any bites yet?"
He shakes his head as he looks back to the fishing line. "No luck yet... Aren't there any night fish or something?"
She shrugs as she looks down at the ocean. "I'm sure there's some kind of nocturnal fish down there. Just gotta keep trying."
Luffy nods as he keeps trying to catch a fish. Once Luffy's attention is back to the ocean, Rose goes back to practicing her cloud manipulation by pushing them to the side. All the while thinking that only in One Piece will she be in a situation that's this fucking insane. One things for certain, she needs to make sure Luffy and his brother spend as much time together as possible. It's the least she can do to thank Luffy for helping her reach Alabasta.
She slowly nods at her plans, as she continues to practice her powers for the rest of the night alongside Luffy, with both anxiety and enthusiasm filling them up for their new adventure.
TO BE CONTINUED