Wolf Children: One Piece Style- Ch. 4

Ch. 4- Starting Anew

 Luffy is driving a convertible through a long, open road through a vast rice field, where a few gardeners are seen tending to their rice. Some of them looked up curiously before continuing their work. In the passenger’s seat, Nami is looking out the window.

 “So…you found it all the way out here?” Nami asked.

 “Yep,” Luffy said. “I found it on the Internet. It’s perfect! It’s nice and big and it has a wide open yard, and it’s so close to nature, and we don’t have to pay much rent for it! There’s even a big mountain in the woods! Plus, there aren’t many neighbors. We can go wolf without worrying about seeing us!! It’s gonna be great, Nami!”

 “…I sure hope so,” Nami said.

 Suddenly, the car lurched, and Luffy gasped as he steered back in the right direction. Belle, who is sound asleep in the back, didn’t seem to notice at all.

XXX

 “We’re here!”

 Nami gasped when she stepped out of the car…and saw large, but dilapidated-looking old house. It was dusty, there were holes in the roof, and there were vines growing all over the walls!

 “Luffy…I think you might’ve been ripped off,” Nami said. “When you said you found a new house, I thought you meant brand new, not…old and dusty!”

 “Well, why do you think it’s so cheap?” Luffy asked. “The real work starts here. We gotta fix it up, first.”

 “What?!” Nami questioned. “You’re not serious, are you?!”

 “Yep,” Luffy answered as he stood on the porch. “Hmm…there should be a broom around here, somewhere.”

 “Luffy, no way are we doing this!” Nami said. “We-”

 “Hey!”

 Luffy and Nami looked back to see another car pull up, and out of it stepped…a tall, muscular man with light blue hair styled in a pompadour, wearing an Aloha shirt, and a dark blue Speedo.

 “You guys the one’s buying the house?” the man asked.

 “Yeah!” Luffy answered.

 “Oh, my god!” Nami cried. “Don’t you ever wear any pants?!”

 “Pants?” the man repeated.

 “Nami, this is Franky,” Luffy said. “He’s the guy who sold me the house.”

 “Well, Luffy, we’re not staying,” Nami said before she headed back to the car.

 “Wait, what?!” Luffy questioned. “Nami, wait!”

 “You’re crazy if you think I’m gonna stay here and live in that dusty old shack!” Nami said.

 “Nami, we just have to fix it up, first!” Luffy said. “It’ll be perfect!”

 “No way!” Nami said. “Luffy, I didn’t agree to this!!”

 “I don’t blame you for wanting to quit so soon,” Franky said. “Lots of people moved from the city to live in this place, but they just couldn’t handle it, especially after they found out they had to fix the place up by themselves.”

 “Nami, please!” Luffy said. “We have to buy this house! We already put up the ‘For Rent’ sign on our apartment!!”

 “Give me one good reason why I should stay!” Nami said.

 “…It’s for Belle,” Luffy answered.

 Nami gasped silently before she looked to the back seat of the car, where Belle is still snoozing away. Then…she sighed before she looked at Luffy, who smiled at her, and she couldn’t help but smile back.

 “Fine,” she said. “You twisted my arm.”

 “Yes!!” Luffy cheered. “We’ll take the house, Franky!”

 “You sure?” Franky asked.

 “Yep!” Luffy answered.

 “Well…okay,” Franky said. “If you want…I can bring a friend over and we can help you fix it!”

 “Really?” Nami asked. “That’s nice of you! Uh…will it cost extra?”

 “No cost at all!” Franky answered. “To be honest…I kinda like you two, already, so I’m gonna charge you nothing for my services!”

 “Shishishishi!” Luffy laughed. “Thanks! I kinda like you, too!”

 Nami chuckled warmly at this before she looked back at her daughter, who is still asleep.

XXX

 “A new couple moved into the old house in the hills?” asked a tall man with an Afro, a pair of black overalls, and a pair of sunglasses.

 “Yep,” Franky answered. “Said they wanted to have a fresh start, so they moved up here with their kid.”

 “Do they have a job?” asked the man.

 “Dunno,” Franky answered.

 “What about friends?”

 “Dunno.”

 “Well, do they at least have money?”

 “Well, some, but not much in the grand scheme of things. They both had to quit school and their job to take care of their daughter.”

 “I see. Do you think they’ll just give up, like all the others?”

 “Nah…I think these guys have got it made. Iceburg and I are gonna go down there later and help them with renovations and such. It might take a while, but if they’re willing to see this through to the end, then I’m sure it’s worth it!”

 “Good luck then.”

 “Thanks, Brook.”

XXX

 “No way! Where are we?!” Belle asked as she looked around excitedly.

 “This is our new home!” Luffy answered.

 Belle laughed as she ran around the wide open yard, and Nami smiled as she watched her.

 “Wow!” Belle said as she looked at the slanted old shed. “It’s tilted!”

 Then she ran over and saw a colony of ants, marching two and from who-knows-where.

 “Ooh! We have ants for neighbors!” the girl exclaimed as she ran around, exploring her new surroundings.

 “Look at her, Nami,” Luffy said. “She looks so happy.”

 “…She does, huh?” Nami asked.

 “So…you still wanna go back?” Luffy asked.

 “No,” Nami answered. “This is for her. We came out here so…she can have the choice of what she really wants to be.”

 Luffy smiled before he kissed Nami on the cheek.

 “It’ll be worth it,” he said. “Believe me.”

 Nami chuckled and held Luffy’s hand before she kissed him on the lips. At that moment, Belle returned, and they broke their kiss as they looked at her.

 “What do you think, Belle?” Luffy asked.

 “Do you like it here?” Nami asked.

 “I LOVE it!” Belle answered. “Let’s stay forever!!”

 Luffy and Nami both laughed at this.

 “Sure, sweetie,” Luffy said.

 “Hey!”

 The family of three looked up to see Franky and a man with dark blue hair, wearing a brown vest, a black pair of pants, and a white dress shirt.

 “Hey, Franky!” Luffy said. “Who’s this?”

 “This is Iceburg,” Franky said. “He and I are gonna help with renovations.”

 “Mwell, it’s nice to meet you two,” Iceburg said before he and Luffy shook hands.

 “You, too!” Luffy said. “Thanks for coming to help!”

 “No SUPER problem, pal!” Franky said. “We’ll have this house fixed-up in no time at all!”

 “Let’s get started, then,” Iceburg said.

 And so, the renovation work began. It was no walk in the park, though. The house was very big, so there was lots of dust to sweep and vacuum out. The floors were rotted, and there was actually one time Nami’s left leg accidentally fell through. The roof had holes, so the rain easily got in the house, and it took about 5 buckets and about 17 cups to catch the leaks. As the work progressed, though, there became less leaks and therefore less use of cups and buckets.

 There were nights when they had to sleep on the floor, and Nami would wake up, screaming in the middle of the night because she felt something crawling on her hand while Belle just laughed at her mother’s expense. Of course, this only caused Nami to punish her with no strawberries for a week.

 As the work continued, Luffy and Nami found ways to improve the house by getting new doors and windows installed. They even made a measuring wall to see how much Belle had grown.

 Belle herself had found ways to keep busy during the renovation work. She would go outside and climb the large beech tree out back and try to talk to the birds and look at insects. She also found a stray tortoiseshell cat roaming around the property. She attempted to befriend the feline, but her only response was a warning hiss, followed by a swipe of her claws, which thankfully missed the young werewolf. As if to tease it, Belle came out of the grass in her wolf form, yelling “Surprise!” This, of course, startled the cat and Belle would give chase.

 After about a week-and-a-half, the work was finally finished. The house looked better than it ever did. To celebrate, Nami went out to the store in the little town nearby and made barbecue chicken kabobs for her family. However, that still left them with one problem: they didn’t have enough money to buy food at the store, and they still did not have a job.

 What would they do to sustain themselves?

 As the family took a nice hot bath in the bathhouse to relax, Nami sighed to herself.

 “There’s a lot of land, here,” she thought aloud. “I guess this means since we’re gonna start living in the country…we’ll have to be more frugal from now on.”

 “What’s frugal?” Belle asked.

 “It means we’ll have to grow our fruits and vegetables instead of buying them,” Luffy answered.

 Without warning, Belle turned into her wolf form and shook off the suds in her hair, causing Luffy and Nami to yelp and laugh as they shielded themselves.

 “I’ll help you grow ’em!” Belle said.

 “Yeah, me too!” Luffy said.

 “Great,” Nami said, smiling. “How about we call Hanako and see if he can come and visit us, tomorrow? Maybe he can help with the gardening, too.”

“Yeah!!” Belle agreed, happily.

TO BE CONTINUED…