Don't Tell Dad I'm Dating the Straw Hat
Ichi: We're Joining the Circus

“Three weeks!?” Nami screeched at the tavern owner. The portly, older man behind the counter cringed at the noise, thankful that the blond man and the one with green hair were able to restrain her from hopping over the bar and injuring him.

“You heard me Miss,” he replied. “The Log Pose is going to take three weeks to set. You might as well get comfortable here.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Nami huffed, jerking her hands away from the grasp of Zoro and Sanji. “How can an island take three whole weeks to set!? That’s unfair!”

“Please, don’t make me bring up Little Garden,” Usopp sighed.

“Don’t fret Miss,” the tavern owner smiled. “The prices of the hotel rooms are very cheap for the three week span. It will only seem like a week to you change purse.”

“Pfft,” Nami scoffed. “Let’s go you guys.” She grabbed Vivi by the wrist and stormed off towards the exit, leaving the men of the crew to their devices.

“Ano… now what?” Usopp asked. The tavern owner cleared his voice and grabbed their attention once again.

“I’m sorry, but I really was speaking in your best interest. We here on this island dislike deceiving visitors because they have to stay here so long.”

“Well, Nami can’t tell the difference between help and a slap in the face,” Zoro grunted.

“What’d you say Marimo-brain?” Sanji sneered, flicking his cigarette in preparation for a fight.

“No! No! This situation is understandable!” said the panicked tavern owner, worried that a clash of the cook and swordsman would destroy his establishment. “I just think that this crew is lucky, that’s all.”

“Lucky?” Chopper asked. “How?”

“We have a side show circus staying on the other side of the island,” the man smiled. “They come every year, always when it seems that the level of outsiders is at its lowest. From what I gather, you seven might be the only outsiders on the island aside from the circus members.” Chopper still looked as if he did not understand, but all that was solved with a cheerful outburst from his captain.

“A circus! How cool!” Luffy cheered. “I wanna go!” He grabbed Chopper and began to run out the door, but Sanji grabbed him by the nape of his vest and kept the boy-captain in the tavern.

“Hang on there,” the blond said. “If you go, you need someone to go along with you.”

“That’s why I’ve got Chopper,” Luffy explained, holding up the startled reindeer.

“Why don’t you all go!” the tavern owner suggested cheerily. “Go on. Tell them that Henk sent you and they’ll let you in the back. This is quite the event, one that should not easily be pushed aside if you have never experienced it before”

“Really?!” Luffy asked.

“Of course,” Henk chuckled. “I’ve known the owner of the circus for years. He’s a good friend of mine. He’s a good man, that Pram.”

“Then we’re going!” Luffy announced seriously. He pointed at Zoro and put on the best serious tone he could. “Even you have to go Zoro! That’s an order!”

“Like I want to go to some stupid circus,” the swordsman yawned. “It’ll be boring.”

“Captain’s orders!” Luffy repeated. Zoro glared at his captain for a moment before shuffling over to the rest of the group in an irritated fashion.

“You better not make me regret this,” he growled. Luffy just happily laughed and rushed out of the tavern, dragging a violently cursing Zoro right behind him.

“Ah, damn,” Chopper sighed. Sanji and Usopp rolled their eyes and walked out in order to find their crewmates, no matter how much Zoro deserved being stuck watching over Luffy. Henk the tavern owner simply laughed as the five disappeared from sight. He picked up the Den Den Mushi from a shelf behind the bar and pressed the call button.

“What is it?” asked a gruff voice from the other end.

“You’ve got yourself some visitors,” Henk said. “It’s the Mugiwara.”

“Mugiwara!?”

“Hai.”

“Thanks.” The other voice hung up his end and Henk smiled broadly.

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“Wow!” Luffy half-gasped. The five pirates were at the circus and it seemed as if the man Henk had not been lying in the least. Once they had arrived, they found one of the brightly painted clowns and mentioned Henk. The clown-man, who was named Moogles, had smiled and led them to a large tent that had a big restriction warning on the front entrance. Inside the tent, there were all sorts of animals and people milling about, everyone one of them brightly dressed or exotic looking to an infinite degree.

“Oh! There are so many gorgeous beauties here!” Sanji swooned as a pair of dancers walked past. They twittered and waved at him, causing the blond chef to go heart-eyed and skip off.

“One down,” Zoro muttered, watching Sanji out of the corner of his eye. He then watched as Usopp and Chopper found themselves gravitating towards the large crocodile and Luffy began to tease a lion.

“I would guess that you are the common sense of the group?” asked Moogles. Zoro looked over at the clown and frowned.

“They’re just an embarrassment, that’s all,” he scoffed.

“Have you worked in the circus before?” wondered Moogles, getting right in Zoro’s face. “You look familiar, that’s for sure.”

“No, no I haven’t,” Zoro cringed, stepping away from the personal space invasion. With every step Zoro seemed to take, Moogles took another to match it. Finally, the swordsman gave up and just stood there, trying to seem as resolute as possible.

“Come with me,” Moogles said, grabbing Zoro by the wrist and running off. Zoro cursed loudly, as it was now the second time he was taken someplace against his will. He tried to get the attention of his crewmates, but had no such luck as they were all still very much occupied with their own little activities.

“This place is fun!” Luffy smiled, giving the lion a large hug. Usopp and Chopper walked over to their captain and the lion as the large animal began to growl.

“Luffy, you better get off his tail,” Chopper suggested. Luffy looked down to see that he was indeed standing on the lion’s tail and carefully lifted his foot to release it. The lion licked Luffy in return, sending the teen into a fit of giggles.

“I’m glad that Kimba likes you,” said a female voice. The three pirates looked over to see a rather tall, thin woman dressed in an exotic dancer’s dress and had beads strewn through her long raven hair. Usopp closed his eyes tight and tried to figure out if he was dreaming or not, but decided that he was not when he opened his eyes and she was still there.

“Well, I like Kimba too!” Luffy grinned. The woman laughed at the sincerity in Luffy’s voice and smiled kindly.

“My name is Elsa. Who may you three be?”

“I’m Luffy!”

“I’m Chopper!”

“I’m the Dread Captain Usopp!” The sniper’s knees began quaking, amusing the woman greatly.

“I can only assume that the swordsman Moogles has in the wardrobe is one of yours?” she asked.

“…and that guy over there!” Luffy announced, pointing over at Sanji, who was still flirting mercilessly. Elsa looked over at the chef and sighed.

“Well, at least I know who to watch out for,” she sighed. Usopp let out a little laugh as the lion Luffy was still hugging began to growl.

“Don’t do that!” Chopper scolded the lion. The beast growled again and Chopper thought for a moment. “I don’t think Sanji would do anything too bad. We are going to have to just trust him.”

“Can you talk to Kimba?” Elsa asked.

“Of course! I am a reindeer!” Chopper said happily. Elsa laughed at herself for not realizing and pet Chopper on top of his hat.

“Wai! Elsa-san! Wai! Elsa-san! Wai! Wai! Wai! Wai!” shouted a small boy, who ran through the tent screaming at the top of his lungs. “Bad news! Bad news!”

“What is it Mike?” Elsa asked, bending down to comfort the small boy, who seemed to be no more than six years old.

“Sai-nii and Kai-nii are sick with a really bad tummy-ache and the throw-ups!” Mike cried, tears and snot streaming down from his face. “Pram-san says that we need replacements to work with Darla-nee or we have no show!”

“Don’t worry,” Elsa said softly, hugging the boy again. She turned towards Usopp and Luffy, with a stern look upon her face. “Can you two help us out? How limber are you?”

“Very,” Usopp said, sticking his foot behind his head as an example. Luffy just bent over backwards and put his head between his legs, completely showing up Usopp. “Pfft. You’re such a show-off.”

“Go tell Pram-san that we have our replacements,” Elsa told Mike. The boy nodded and ran off as fast as he could.

“Does this mean that we’re in the show?” Usopp asked after unsticking his foot.

“Of course,” Elsa said with a smile. “Now, let’s go get Darla and introduce you two to her. She’s the third acrobat in the group.”

“An acrobat!” Usopp sighed happily. “These women are getting better and better!” He then stopped, shook his head and looked over at Luffy and Chopper. “Am I sounding like Sanji to you guys?”

“Yes,” Luffy and Chopper said together. Usopp groaned out of disgust and joined his crewmates in following Elsa to the other side of the tent.

“Darla!” Elsa snapped, looking up at the top of the tent. “Sai and Kai are out sick! These are the replacements! Come down and say hello!”

“Hi there!” returned a sweet female voice. Usopp, Chopper and Luffy looked up to see that there was a teenaged girl swinging around from cords on the high ceiling. Chopper looked back down and covered his mouth, having gotten vertigo just by looking at her.

“Come on! You need to train them!” Elsa snapped. “The show’s tomorrow and from what Mike said, the other two probably have the flu!”

“Coming!” shouted Darla. Those on the ground watched as the teen grabbed hold of a long rope and slid down to the ground. Now that she was in plainer view, the three pirates could see that she was built thin and strong, possessing sky-blue hair that she had pulled back, dark eyes and a bright smile. She was dressed in a violet leotard, gloves and stockings, giving the illusion of her wearing a full body suit.

“Darla, these three are Usopp, Luffy and Chopper,” Elsa explained. “Usopp and Luffy here are going to be Sai and Kai’s temporary replacements.”

“They seem pretty scrawny to me,” Darla scoffed, looking over the two teens critically. “Are you sure they can do the moves?”

“Of course,” Elsa sighed. She grabbed hold of Luffy’s elbow and yanked hard on his wrist. “This one at least ate a Devil Fruit.”

“That will make things a little easier,” Darla said. She gave the pirates another good visual examination and sighed. “I guess they’ll have to do. I’ll meet you guys later. I haven’t eaten yet today. Meet me after lunch.” With that, she walked off, leaving Luffy, Chopper and Usopp to stand there with Elsa.

“You’re one of us now,” Elsa smiled slyly. She too began to walk off, except did not leave in such a rush. “Report to the main tent in an hour; all three of you. Be there, or things are going to be worse for you than if you show up on time.” With that, the woman walked off to wherever she was going and left the pirate trio completely alone in the tent.

“Wow! This is going to be fun, isn’t it minna?” Chopper asked excitedly. “I can’t wait to see what they let me do!”

“Maybe this is a chapter in the diary of the Dread Captain Usopp better left unwritten,” Usopp gulped, looking up at the immense height that was where Darla had been standing. He was interrupted only when Luffy pulled on his arm. Usopp glanced over to see his captain in distress.

“Usopp?” Luffy asked.

“Yeah?”

“Remember that voice we agreed should be in my head?”

“Luffy, you mean your conscious?”

“Yeah, that.”

“What about it?”

“I don’t like it anymore. It sounds like Sanji too. We’re not turning into Sanji, are we?”

“I hope not Luffy,” Usopp said, sounding quite resolute. “Actually, I hope to the gods that we’re not.”

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“Hey, Nami?” Vivi asked as she sipped on her drink. The navigator looked over with an arched eyebrow and a mouthful of cake.

“Mmff?”

“Shouldn’t we have taken the guys with us? I mean, they could get lost or captured or even…”

“Nah,” Nami laughed, swallowing her cake. “Let’s just enjoy this time we have without them arguing in our ears.” She leaned back in the comfortable restaurant chair and smiled. “They’ll turn up eventually.”

“I do hope you are right,” Vivi said, a look of worry plastered upon her face. The ginger-haired woman sighed and shook her head.

“Oh, come on now,” Nami groaned. “They can take care of themselves and Luffy at the same time. Any worrying you’re doing is only going to turn your hair grey and I doubt you’d like that at sixteen.”

“I guess you’re right,” Vivi smiled nervously. “Want to go do some more shopping in town?”

“I like your way of thinking.”