Chapter Text
Grand Line – one of the biggest and busiest cities in the world. Most people who moved here did it to chase a dream, those who were born and raised here carry themselves differently. Autumn has come and the chilly weather could be felt by everyone. The streets were already full of people – some going to work, others to school, and the lucky ones were just enjoying a nice walk around the parks or a warm coffee with a friend. The ringing of my phone woke me up. I picked it up without checking who was calling me.
“What?” I groaned.
“Hey, there.” The voice from the other end sounded cheerful as always. “How is my favorite niece doing?”
“Shanks I’m your only niece, and this line is getting kinda old don’t you think?” I scoffed at him.
“I just make sure you always know this.” He chuckled.
“Yeah, yeah sure. Now tell me why you are calling me so early in the morning?”
“Don’t you have classes?” He asked sternly.
“I do but not until 1PM. So, shoot, why are you bothering your one and only favorite niece for?” I mocked him.
“I hope you don’t have any plans for tonight as I need some extra help at the bar. There is this new local band that is going to perform tonight and they sold out so fast the bar is going to be full, so I would really appreciate some extra help.”
“It’s not like I really have plans, but still can’t you find someone else to help?” I wasn’t in the mood for work tonight, especially in my uncle’s busy bar.
“If I had I wouldn’t have bother to ask you.” He said and then added. “I will pay you double if you come.”
“Oh you should of start with this.” I laughed.
“I should count on you to come then?” He asked me seriously.
“Yes, Shanks I will be there just let me know what time.”
“Well they will start playing around 10PM so be here at latest at 9PM, okay foxy?” he has been using this nickname for me since I was a kid.
“Okay, see you then. Bye Shanks” I didn’t even bother to wait for his goodbye as I hung up.
I looked at the clock next to my bed and it showed me that it’s 9:38AM so I decided to get up and get ready for the day. I have recently started studying Filmmaking as I took one gap year as I wasn’t really sure what I would like to pursue as a career, but I have always loved filming, so I took the chance and got into a Filmmaking program. With taking the program, I also moved from my hometown so now I live alone, and I love it, even though I miss my dad. But at least I have my uncle close to me.
The love I have for movies comes from my dad. He is quite popular comedian known as – Buggy the Clown. His stand-up shows are always sold out and he knows how to make people laugh. Another thing he is quite recognized for is this big bright fake red nose that he always wears in his shows, and he always tells people how much his daughter hates it. On the other hand, Shanks is not really my biological uncle, but him and my dad are like brothers. Ever since my mother left us, Shanks has been always the one to help my father take care of me. Shanks has been like a second father to me, when I moved to Grand Line, Shanks even invited me to live with him, but I declined his offer as I wanted to start living on my own. My apartment wasn’t big - it was just a one room apartment, but it was perfect for a “broke” student. My dad and Shanks loved to make fun of it, calling it “the foxy cave”, but I didn’t really pay attention to them as they have always loved to tease me.
I decided to not waste my time laying in bed, so I started to get ready for the day – after I brushed my teeth and did my make up, I looked around my messy wardrobe thinking what to wear today. It was already Autumn so the weather can be quite tricky. I decided to go for some sheer black tights, with a denim skirt and a black polo shirt as I added a lot of silver jewelries to the outfit – I finished it off with some knee length black boots and an oversized bomber jacket. I grabbed my bag and I double checked if I took everything with me and the most important thing - my laptop.
I still have two hours left before my classes start so I decided to go to my favorite coffee shop. It was close to my university, a hidden gem for people who like to escape the noise from the busy streets as it usually was not very busy. As I entered, I went and left my bag and jacket in my favorite corner in the coffee shop, exactly next to the big windows as the lighting was perfect there and I loved to just sit sometimes with my back facing them as I just enjoyed the cozy atmosphere of the coffee shop.
“One black coffee, please.” I went and ordered my coffee to the barista, who at this point recognized me as a regular customer. I paid for it as they handed me the coffee and went to sit back down.
I took my seat and opened my laptop as I started to think how I should continue with my script for this week’s assignment. I was so deep in thoughts and work as I didn’t realize I’m almost out of battery. When I opened my bag, I realized that my laptop charger was not there and then it hit me that I forgot it at home.
“No, no, no, nooo” I got up from the chair as I started to look around just in case, but I cursed myself for being so forgetful all the time. “Fuck” I said out loud, a little louder than I intended to. I looked up embarrassed to see if someone heard me, only to see this old woman giving me a disappointed look as she heard me cursing to which I mouthed “sorry”. I saw a guy sitting on the table next to my left side, and noticed he had the same laptop as me so I decided to ask him if I could borrow his charger.
The guy was sitting a little slouched as he was humming to himself as he was tapping with his finger on the table. He was wearing this orange beanie with a set of headphones on top of it, but I still couldn’t see his face clearly as his messy black hair was covering most of it. As I approached him, I gently tapped him on his shoulder. He turned around and took off his headphones as he looked questioning at me.
“Hey, sorry for disturbing you.” I apologized as I finally realized that I was just standing there staring at him without saying anything. “I noticed that we have the same laptops, and mine is almost dead as I forgot my charger home and.. um I was wondering if you don’t mind me borrowing yours for just a couple of minutes.” I awkwardly asked him.
“Oh yeah, sure.” He responded to me immediately with a smile, and I smiled back at him. “There you go, just don’t forget to return it.” He said to me with a little smirk as he was handing it to me.
“I-I won’t, I promise” I said as a little blush appeared on my cheeks and nodded.
My heart was beathing fast when I got back to my table and sat down. I looked up to where the guy was sitting and I caught him looking at me as he continued to hum something to himself. Quickly I looked away, back at my computer as I could feel my cheeks getting warmer with every second I kept on gazing at him. After a few minutes when I finally calmed down and continued to work on my script, I heard one of the chairs next to me moving and someone sitting next to me. I looked up from the laptop screen, and it was him.
“Hopefully you don’t mind.” He said it more as a statement than a question with a little smile on his face, I couldn’t find my words as he was sitting so close and unexpectedly to me, so I just shook my head “no”. “Nice. My name is Ace.” He introduced himself as he gave me his hand for a handshake.
“(Y/N)” I replied as we shook hands. His hands were surprisingly so soft.
“(Y/N), that’s a beautiful name.” Hwrepeated it one more time as to make sure he remembers it.
My mouth got dry so I took a sip from my coffee and couldn’t help but wrinkled my nose and furrowed my eyebrows.
“Is the coffee that bad?” He raised an eyebrow at my expression.
“No, the coffee is alright. I just hate coffee.” I scrunched my nose from the after taste of it.
“Then why are you drinking coffee if you hate coffee?” Ace chuckled.
“That is a question I get a lot.” I laughed. “But – you know what. Honestly, I don’t know, maybe I just want to be “different”.” I raised and shook my hands to my head when I said “different” as I was referring to one of my favorite movies “Fantastic Mr. Fox” but I knew he wouldn’t get the reference or the joke.
“I think I have this thing where I need everybody to think I’m the greatest.” My jaw almost fell to the floor as he quoted the movie, as he did the exact same gesture with his hands.
“No way – no way you got the reference.” I couldn't hide the amazement in my voice. “No one, and I swear no one has ever gotten this reference when I’ve done it.”
“There is always a first.” He winked at me, his charming smile growing on his face.
“Yeah, you are definitely right about that.” I chuckled. Our gazes locked and we shared a laugh. I looked at the time and I saw that I had to get going, as my classes were starting soon. ” Well it was very nice to meet you Ace, thank you for the charger.” I said as I gave him back the charger and he flashed me with another charming smile.
“Happy to help.” He replied. As I was about to leave the cafe, he called after me and I turned around to look at him. “See you around?” He raised his eyebrow in a questioning way.
Instead of replying to him I just did the hand gesture again and he just laughed at me as he shook his head and leaned on the chair.
*******
Walking up to university I couldn’t stop the big grin on my face every time I remembered the little encounter I just had with this guy Ace in the coffee shop. I really hope we could cross paths again as he seemed very nice, and undeniable handsome, so I wouldn’t mind getting to know him more. When I reached the university I saw two of my closest classmates and friends – Nami and Usopp sitting on the couches in the chill aera.
“Hello guys.” I greeted them. “What are you doing?”
“I had an amazing idea for my character final goal but I don’t know how to develop it so Usopp is helping me.” Nami explained to me.
“No one can beat my imagination, so she came to the right person.” He pointed at him self with a cocky smirk as Nami just roll her eyes at him.
“Yeah, yeah. Anyway..” Nami looked at me with mischievous eyes. “Are you free tonight?”
“Sadly, no. I’m helping my uncle Shanks with his bar tonight.”
“No, tell him you can’t. I have a better offer. Our friend Luffy invited us to listen to his brothers band play tonight in this place called “The Red Pirates” so you must come.” She emphasized on “must”.
“Yeah, they are super good. We have been to all of their gigs and those guys are soon going to be big name if they get better at promotion.” Usopp agreed with her. “So you should definitely come with us.”
“Thank you guys for the invitation – but funny enough coincidence, where your friend’s brothers are playing tonight is also where I will be working as “The Red Pirates” is owned by Shanks.” I laughed at the coincidence.
“Ohh, but you will be working it won’t be the same.” Nami whined.
“I know but hey – I can give you some free drinks.”
“Sold.” Both Nami and Usopp said at the same time. I rolled my eyes playfully at them.
“What is the band called by the way? I forgot to ask Shanks.”
“The Neighbourhood. One of the brothers is the vocalist and plays the guitar, the other one is the drum player and there are two more guys. But all of them are very good.” Usopp explained to me. My curiosity piqued. Usopp was producing music himself and he was good at it, so if he says that these guys were good - they were.
“Well I might not be able to enjoy it with you guys but at least I will be able to hear them.” I shrugged.
“Next time they play somewhere you are coming with us no matter what!” Nami pointed her finger at me with a very serious tone as I just laughed at her and agreed. Then we all got up and headed to class as we didn’t want to be late. Walking to class Nami looked at me and smirked.
“What?” I looked at her confused wondering why she was looking at me like that.
“What’s with that grin you have on your face?” She teased me. I haven't realised that I still had it on my face.
“Can’t I be in a good mood without a reason?” I teased her back.
“Of course you can, but there is something in that smile that is telling me that something has happened to you, care to share.” She looked at me with curiosity.
“Maybe, maybe not.” I decided to mess with her a little bit.
“Oh come on, we don’t keep secrets from each other.” She whined.
“But I’m not keeping anything.”
“But you are also not telling us something.”
“Nami just don’t want to see us happy.” Usopp whispered to me, only to get smacked by her.
“If you want to tell me something, say it to my face Usopp.” She hissed at him.
“I think I said enough.” He replied as I could only laugh at them.
As we sat down in class and waited for our professor, Nami and Usopp were having a back and forth as usual. I decided to interrupt them. “Who else is coming with you guys tonight?”
“Zoro – you have met him already. And Luffy and Sanji, but you haven’t met them yet but we will try to introduce you to them tonight.” Usopp informed me.
“Nice, I like Zoro – he is cool.” I said as I have met him already like two or three times. “Nami are you going to be the only girl hanging with them?” I felt a little bad for her, as even though I knew that they all have been friends for a long time sometimes it might suck to be the only girl in the group.
“Maybe – I asked Vivi if she wants to join as well but she already have made some plans so she is not really sure if she can make it tonight.” She shrugged not like she did really care. “I was more looking forward for you to join us – but you chose work over us.” She pretended to be hurt but she wasn’t the best actress.
“Good thing you chose filmmaking and not acting.” I joked with her and we laughed when she pushed my shoulder. We were messing around until our professor entered and the lecture started.
*******
Time passed by quickly and we were done for the day and this week.
“Geez writing scripts is tiring” Usopp announced loudly as we were leaving the classroom.
“At least next week we are in the same group, and we have to do sound.” Nami said.
“Yeah but sound is actually not an easy task guys.” I said and Nami whined. “But I’m interested in what we should base the story on for the sound – I spoke with some people from the second year and they told me last year it was based on some medieval picture where people were portrayed like someone was torturing them.”
“Wait we have to come with a script for the sound exercise as well?” Nami whined.
“Yes, a script based on the picture we will be given so we can create sound after it to match with it.” I explained.
“I don’t know about you girls, but I love working with sound.” Usopp exclaimed happily, his posture relaxed with both hands behind his neck.
“Thanks God you are in our group.” Both Nami and I said. Usopp just laughed at us and he embraced us in a hug.
“What are you two going to do without me?” He cocky exclaimed.
“Probably find someone else to take over your place.” I poked him on the sides and I escaped his embrace. He let a groan as Nami also poked him and he let her go.
“You both are cruel.” He whined as we laughed at him. As we continued to walk and chitchat, I turned to Usopp to ask him how his music producing was going.
“Actually” he started excited. “Luffy’s brother Sabo asked me to help them with producing a new song so I’m quite excited to work on this project with them as believe me when you hear these guys tonight – you gonna become a fan immediately.” Nami agreed with him as she eagerly nodded her head.
“I’m telling you when Luffy first told us his older brothers are starting a band we were all in disbelief as none of us expected them to be so good, and when they dropped their first EP we were all shocked.” It was so strange to watch Nami speak so highly of someone so I guess these guys should be quite good.
“Bro till this day I can’t comprehend how good of a vocalist Ace is, like man really has the talent.” As Usopp mentioned the name “Ace” something in me clicked. I thought of the guy I met earlier today, wondering if it might be the same person. As Nami and Usopp were gushing about how good the band was my curiosity grew more and more with every passing second.
“Do you guys have some pictures or something” I asked casually, but I wanted to see if any of the members was the 'Ace' I met earlier. I remember he was humming and tapping with his fingers, something that musicians do quite a lot even without realising. Both Nami and Usopp shook their heads.
“They don’t have any pictures across any of their band social media." Usopp explained but Nami started to laugh.
“What?” I asked confused of why she was laughing out of the sudden.
“Because they don’t want to be known and get famous for their looks.” Nami continue to laugh. I looked even more confused at her.
“Are you for real? This sounds pretty arrogant.” I raised my eyebrow as I couldn’t imagine the confidence someone must have to say this.
"Don't listen to her." Usopp rolled his eyes and chuckled. "They are going for a certain low profile aesthetic vibe that is why they don't really post themselves."
“Well, Sabo said it himself." Nami defended herself quick.
"Sabo is the least relatable of them all." Usopp laughed out loud.
"True but... even tho I kinda feel embarrassed to say this as I know them for a long time...” Nami started as she got a little blush on her cheeks. “They are very good looking so they should start posting themselves more.” She murmured but we heard her clearly and Usopp started to tease her immediately.
“OHH I’M TEELING THEM THIS” He shout out as he started to run as Nami started to chase him.
“DARE AND YOU WON’T SEE ANOTHER DAY” She screamed after him. I run after them trying to catch up with them.
“Guys stop – wait for me. No one is telling anyone anything.” I caught up to them as we were all out of breath. “Damn all these hours of sitting and editing are starting to catch up to us.” I joked and they laughed. “Can you play something from them, I’m curious to hear them now.”
“Yeah sure.” Nami pulled out her phone to play them to me but Usopp stopped her fast.
“Don’t - let her hear them live fist.” He mischievously suggested to Nami. She looked at him and then at me for a second before turning to Usopp.
“I get your point, but no. So let’s play her one song.” Nami said this Usopp eagerly agree with her, and they both sat me in a middle of a bench – Nami sitting on my left and Usopp sitting on my right side.
“Here put this.” Usopp put his headphones on my head. “Which song do you plan to play to her?” Usopp asked Nami.
“I was thinking of “Cry Baby” as they wrote that one based on one of Luffy’s crushes.” Nami suggested to Usopp.
“I was thinking of “Wiped Out” as it’s one of my favorites – but yeah “Cry Baby” is a good choice.” Usopp agreed. “Play it!”
The song started to play, and the intro reminded me of a nice sunny day at the beach. Then the first verse started.
I think I try too hard
How I look, what I do, what I'm sayin'
I spend too much time explainin' myself
So far, the first verse sounded very catchy. Then the Pre-Chorus and the Chorus started, and I loved the song.
I know I'll fall in love with you, baby
And that's not what I wanna do
I hope you won't ever lie to me
And if you do, I know I won't be your cry baby
Usopp was right about the guy who sings the song, his voice was mesmerizing.
Cry baby, cry baby
We need to cry
And if we do, I know that would be alright
The song finished and I took off the headphones. Both Nami and Usopp were looking at me expecting my reaction.
“Sooo…” Nami nudged me to say something. I looked at Nami, then Usopp before I said anything.
“They better sound as good as in the record when they performed tonight.” Usopp and Nami gave each other a high-five.
“I knew that you gonna like them.” Usopp said excitedly.
“That is good that you liked them now every time them perform you will be tagging along with us as we never really miss any of their concerts.” Nami nudged me.
“But what did you mean by that this song was written for your friend Luffy?” I asked as I would not have ever guessed that this song was written based on someone’s younger brother’s crush.
“Apparently when Luffy was a kid he used to be a big cry baby and Ace and Sabo used to tease him about it a lot and call him Cry Baby, and there was this girl he had crush on, but she was kinda.. you know leading him on so yeah… apparently, he cried over her and that is how the song came to life.” Usopp explained to me, and I just nodded.
“Is your friend better now?”
“Yeah he is fine. He literally forgot about her after a week or so.” Nami brushed it off as if it was nothing.
We sat for a little bit more talking about school when Usopp received a text from his girlfriend Kaya.
“Okay girls I’m leaving you for now. Kaya needs me to help her with something so see you later.”
“Is she not coming tonight?” Nami asked.
“No, she has some plans with her friends, so she is not coming.” He shrugged as he gave Nami and me a hug goodbye. “See you later.” We bit him goodbye.
“So you are telling me there is nothing you can do to not work tonight?” Nami looked at me pleadingly.
“No, I’m sorry Nami sadly not – you know I can’t do this to Shanks especially tonight. But I will be still there – just behind the bar.” I really wished I could of join them, but I can’t turn up on Shanks in the last moment.
“You better make good drinks or else I will complain to the manager.” She joked with me.
“I promise I will make the best once for you.” We both sat for a little bit longer before we hugged goodbye.
******
Before I headed to the bar I decided to go home and change. It took me some time to reach my apartment and as I entered, I took my boots off. I quickly changed to some old jeans and sweater I had. I still had like two hours before I started so I just ate something quickly as I was scrolling around social media. As I was scrolling, something piqued my interest and I decided to check these guys band Instagram, so I went to Nami’s profile trying to find them in her following list. I found them but as Nami and Usopp said they really didn’t have any pictures of them posted, I thought about checking their following list as they were following only four accounts and I guessed it was the band members, but I decided not to – as to surprise myself tonight. I contemplated for a second whether I should follow them or not, but I did anyway. I looked at the time and decided to head to work. I put some comfortable sneakers on my feet as I knew it would be a long night. I grabbed my bag, turned my headphones on and left.