The Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 5

A/N- hi this is just a little not before the chapter addressing a few things. so first off I know I said that this chapter would be longer but unfortunately it won't be. my computer decided to crash and I lost everything. that's what I get for not backing it up. so, I re-wrote as much as I could remember. on top of that I just got out of quarantine but am still having some health issues. I hope you all understand and enjoy the chapter.

The girls and cook had been gone for some time now when the captain decided that they should go out and explore the island as well. Following their captain's orders they all left the ship except for Franky, Brook, and Jinbe who stayed behind to guard the ship. Brook had a new piece of music he was wanting to work on and Franky wanted to tinker around in his shop whereas for Jinbe, he just thought it would be best to have someone who was not occupied with other things on board just in case. With that all sorted out, Usopp, Zoro, Luffy, Law, and Chopper departed from the ship and began walking around the island. While they were walking through the town that was on the island they had stopped and decided to part ways. They were all discussing where they would be and what time to be back at the ship when Usopp spoke up, interrupting their plans "hey, by the way do any of us even have clothes that are appropriate for a wedding?" Usopp asked, causing them all to stop and stare at one another questioningly. "Um...now that I think about it not really" Luffy responded "well maybe we should take care of that before we split" Law said speaking up. The group nodded, heading further into town trying to find something fit to wear.

The town was fairly large so it didn't take them long to find a shop that sold formal wear. The store was fairly large selling suits, dresses, any kind of formal wear that you could think of. Everyone was a little taken aback by everything and none of them knew the slightest thing about formal wear. They were completely lost on what to do. However, as they were looking around in confusion a worker took notice and walked over to the group. "Hello you seem a little lost, can I help you with something?" she asked, catching the attention of everyone. "Um what do you wear to weddings?" Luffy asked, causing the whole group to look at him with some annoyance. This made the employee laugh. "I see" she said with a chuckle "you need clothes for a wedding is that correct?" the group all looked at each other before Law broke the silence "Yes, could you help us?" he asked almost hesitantly. "Gladly, now are all of you guests or is one of you the lucky groom?" she asked, trying to get a sense of what to put them in first. "Oh that's zoro!......I think?" Luffy said, still confused on what exactly a wedding was. "Ok....who is that?" she asked, trying not to come off as rude. Zorro sighed before responding "That would be me". "Congratulations now let's find you all something to wear" she said walking further into the store as the group followed her.

They should have waited. She walked around the store at lightning speed pulling things left and right and throwing them at each of the straw hats. By the time she had finished they were all loaded down with a wide range of things to try. Of course, Luffy was the only one excited and the rest, well......they were nowhere near as excited as Luffy. The exact word they would all use was dred. They were all dreading this. Luckily for most of them it didn't take as long as they thought and it was not that bad. Most of them found what they were looking for fairly quickly. Well, almost all of them that is. None other than the man of the hour was not having fun and not finding anything.

After trying several different things the kind worker who had been helping them decided to dig a little deeper and maybe get a hint of something he might actually be ok with wearing. At least for one night. She approached the swordsman as he was leaving a dressing stall about to give up on the whole matter. "If you don't mind me asking, what will the lovely bride be wearing" she asked hoping to find something to complement what his fiance would be wearing. This made Zoro stop dead in his tracks. What should he say. Should he tell her that there wasn't a bride but another groom? What would she think? The last thing he wanted was to cause a scene but he also wanted to get the hell out of that store. "Uh....probably a suit" he said hoping she wouldn't probe further but he could see the clear confused expression on her face and decided to just give in and tell her. Anything to get him out of the godforsaken store and back to the Sunny. "There isn't a bride....there's another groom" he said hesitating on that last part "and I honestly have no idea what he would pick" he said hoping this was not going to end badly. "Oh ok, then tell me about what you want to wear" she stated, completely unfazed by the conversation they had just had. Zoro was not about to ask any questions and just thought. What did he want to wear? "Well I think I remembered him saying something about wanting something traditional but not old" he said trying to remember back to one of his and the cooks late night conversations about the wedding. "Great! I think I know just the thing" she said, walking off in a hurry and quickly returning with another suit. "Try this one. I think it is just what you and your fiance will like" she said smiling while pushing the swordsman back into the dressing room with the new suit to try on. He could already tell he probably was not going to be comfortable in this just like all of the others that he had tried on but he decided that one last try wouldn't hurt.

Turns out he was wrong. He actually felt comfortable in the suit and liked its design. "Finally" he said with a sigh of relief before changing back into his normal clothes and walking back out to where the worker was waiting. "So how was it? Did you like it?" she asked enthusiastically. "It's perfect" he said and with that they could finally leave the store. After everything was paid for and they were out of the store they were so tired they all just decided to head back to the sunny.

"Man, was it this hard for the girls and Sanji to find something?" Usopp said with a sigh. "I have no Idea and at this point I no longer care" law said clearly not amused. "Hey, what are we gonna do about Franky, Jinbe, and Brook?" Luffy asked, staring in Zoro's direction. "There on their own" he said, only caring about getting back to the Sunny and never having to do that again. He didn't even see what the others had gotten but at this point he could care less. Poor chopper, who was riding on the swordsman's shoulders had passed completely out on their way back to the Sunny leaving zoro to carry his bag as well as his own but he didn't mind. He was very fond of the little reindeer and thought of him like family. Well, he thought of the whole crew as his family but especially their youngest member. Even though they weren't that far from the ship it felt like it took them forever to get back.

When they arrived they were met with Nami yelling at them and asking what took so long to which she got a one word response which was "suits" before they all flopped down onto the grassy deck exhausted. She had better things to do and knew that they could handle themselves so she just let them be and went back to working on her news map. Soon the log posse would be set for the next island and they would be on their way and one more Island closer to the Baratie.