Cat's Got Your Tongue [A Luffy Love Story]

Disclaimer: Any of the characters you do not recognize belongs to me. The rest belongs to the very talented creators of One Piece.

Author's Note: Hi everyone! It's me again, back with another story. I've been addicted to One Piece recently and I couldn't keep myself from writing a fanfiction about them. This one's a Luffy love story, so if you strangely find him annoying, you better go elsewhere. Not to worry guys, I'll still be continuing my other two stories. I am NOT abandoning those :) Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy reading this! Adios!

~*~

“I found her! She’s heading west!”

 Crap.

 I glanced behind me, expecting to see the group of rowdy pirates hot on my trail. Unfortunately, I was right. The scrawny little boy who looked like he had just hit puberty was gesturing for his crewmates to run after me. About eight pirates were running after me now, with the little boy barking orders. For such a young kid, no one would have guessed him to be their leader. He wasn’t your typical captain. He was short- a head shorter than me- and had tousled brown hair. He wore a fancy getup which disgusted me because he looked like he only wanted to become a pirate because it seemed ‘cool’. His men were loud and obnoxious, and listened to their captain’s every word like the good little dogs they were. Honestly, this entire crew disgusted me.

 It wasn’t my intention to be associated with them, but when I saw them harassing the sweet old lady from across the street, it felt like I had no choice but to introduce myself to them. And not in a very polite way might I add.

 Stealing was never my thing, therefore anyone who stole from someone else irked me the most- which is exactly what the rowdy bunch did. While they chased me around town, I managed to snatch away the loot bag that they stole from the old lady. I was on my way to give it back to its rightful owner when the wannabe captain spotted me.

 Just my luck.

 “Oi, give me back my treasure you good for nothing street rat!” the captain barked as he chased after me, his crew trailing behind him.

 Being the mature lady that I am, I turned around and stuck my tongue out at him. Of course, I was only brave enough to do so because I was wearing my cat mask- the mask I often used when I was ‘on a mission’. Otherwise I wouldn’t be caught dead mingling with these low class pirates.

 The captain growled in annoyance at my response. “I’ll catch you, freak!”

 “Try growing your legs out first, pipsqueak! Maybe you’ll run faster.” I hollered back.

 “Why you good for nothing-”

 Before the brown haired boy finished his sentence, I managed to leap onto the nearest rooftop with the help from the empty barrel on the side of the street. Once I was on the roof, I turned around to face the group. 

“Think of this as a welcoming gift from our town to your crew.” I said with a wave before disappearing from their view. 

As I ran farther away from them, I could hear the captain’s frustrated cries, which made me giggle in glee.

 I continued to leap from rooftop to rooftop, using my flexibility to my advantage. They did not call me the cat burglar for nothing.

 Once deciding that I was already a few feet away from them, I stopped in my tracks to take off my mask.

 “Sorry bud, but you messed with the wrong cat today.” I said as I kneeled down and prepared to leap off the rooftop.

 Escaping from the boisterous pirates- that I expected, but landing on someone as I jumped off the roof, I did not.

 “Hey! What’s the big idea?!”

 I groaned and massaged the side of my head as the stranger I accidentally landed on continued to speak.

 “I’m sorry,” I began in a soft voice, finally opening my eyes to meet a pair of ebony colored ones.

 I yelped upon realizing that I was on top of him. I quickly stood up and offered a hand to help him up. He happily took it. For someone who just got crushed by a complete stranger, he seemed happy. I stared at him, taking in his appearance. He had tousled black hair and wore a straw hat on his head.

 “That was some fall!” He commented, dusting off his blue shorts and red vest.

 “Yeah, sorry about that.” I said, smiling sheepishly. Before he could say anything else, I took this time to scamper off. “I gotta go, see you around, straw hat!”

 As I ran away, I could hear him calling for me to come back. I chose to ignore him. I had a strange feeling I would see the straw hat boy once again.

~*~

 “I’m telling you Zoro, she came out of nowhere!” Luffy continued to babble as the swordsman halfheartedly listened.

 “Yeah Luffy, I’m sure she was one special girl.” Zoro muttered, his concentration elsewhere.

 The swordsman had the urge to look for a weapons shop and was hoping to have a quiet, relaxing day browsing through a wide variety of weapons. Unfortunately for him, his rubber captain found it necessary to come along with him.

 “Darn right she is! I even saw her flying across the sky!” Luffy’s eyes had stars in them as he shared this amazing piece of information with Zoro.

 Zoro stopped in his tracks and turned to look at Luffy with a raised eyebrow. “Flying?”

 Luffy bobbed his head excitedly, while Zoro stared at him, speechless. Zoro was certain there was some rational explanation to this girl supposedly flying. He knew his captain had the tendency to exaggerate things.

 As Zoro was about to reply with some witty remark, something caught his attention. There, behind Luffy, was the shop he so desperately wanted to find.

 “AHA!” Zoro exclaimed with a grin. He began walking towards the shop.

 Luffy, who was confused at first, drifted his attention to the direction his crewmate was heading.

 “Eh, Zoro, that place looks boring. Let’s go look for meat!” Luffy grinned toothily.

 “I never asked you to come with me. You can go look for meat yourself.” Zoro replied.

 “Hmph.” Luffy pouted, crossing his arms across his chest. “Maybe I will!”

 Luffy contemplated on whether to go with Zoro or not. He wanted to go and look for meat, but at the same time he wanted to explore the small town. After a few minutes of weighing the pros and cons, Luffy finally decided to go with Zoro, thinking he might find meat somewhere near the shop.

 “Hey Zoro, wait up!”

 Little did the rubber captain know, what was lying behind the door in front of him would shake his carefree world.