"And what will we have here, I wonder?" asked the bespectacled butler from his place by the open door.
The tall man had a square head that tapered to a pointed chin. He wore glasses, short black hair combed back, and a black suit jacket. Trousers of a similar color hung over gray and black striped boots. Four gold buttons lay on either side of the jacket lapels, two above and two below. Between them, on either side, was a gold symbol in the shape of three stacked ovals, each tapering from the bottom up, with a hook at the top. A white shirt with a peculiar collar, spiraling protrusions at the edges, and a black tie lay beneath the jacket, with a dark leather belt with a gold buckle around his waist.
"Khaladore! You should knock before entering a girl's room!" Kaya scolded.
Zoro, Luffy, and Usopp paused their conversation about Shanks and Usopp's father after hearing the door open on the other side of the room, all turning in the direction of the voice.
Usopp paled. It was him, the butler, whom he didn't like. Not at all. He hid behind Zoro's larger figure as the butler surveyed the room.
"What the hell are you doing, Usopp?" Zoro asked over his shoulder. He didn't want to take his eyes off the man who had entered through the door. It gave the swordsman a strange feeling. Had he seen his face before?
"Hey, buddy! Who are you?" Luffy asked, getting up to approach Kaya and Nami. He was having a really nice conversation with Zoro and Usopp, and the butler went and ruined it!
"Someone with permission to be here," the man said, frowning, pushing his glasses up with the palm of his hand instead of his fingers. "Unlike someone without permission," he concluded, staring intently at Luffy from under his now-adjusted glasses.
"Khlahadore! You shouldn't speak to a guest like that," Kaya exclaimed. Khlahadore was being very rude. She had never seen him like that.
"But miss, they didn't come in through the front door, so how could they have been invited?" questioned the man named Khlahadore.
Kaya almost backed down, but thinking about her conversation with Nami encouraged her to act. She had thoroughly enjoyed talking with the orange-haired girl, even though it was brief. She wanted to talk to her more. She wanted to talk to Usopp, Zoro, and Luffy. They were staying. She had already made up her mind. "Khaladore, I want to talk to you outside," the blonde girl said, leaving no room for argument, ending the conversation and approaching her butler.
The man sighed and obeyed his master's order, turning and following his figure as he walked away through the door and closed it behind him.
Nami turned to the three remaining occupants of the room. "Does anyone else feel those strange vibrations?" she asked. It just felt a little... greasy, in her opinion.
"You're on a roll today, Witch. I'm with her," Zoro said, walking over to stand by the windowsill and discovering Usopp's smaller form.
Nami stared at the swordsman, who was once again smiling smugly, for what seemed like the millionth time that day.
"That butler never liked me," the big-nosed man chimed in. The tall man had caught him a couple of times, and it had never amused him. The lectures were brutal. And he only did it when Kaya wasn't around!
Luffy stepped away from the door and joined the conversation. "It's weird," said the straw hat boy, approaching the table and taking the chair where Kaya had been sitting. "Whatever. Kaya can handle it." He was his butler, so what did Luffy care if it felt a little strange?
The bedroom door opened again and three heads turned toward it. How fast!
"Everyone's staying tonight," Kaya said happily. It had taken some convincing and telling her she owned the house, but she'd managed it. Her new friends would be staying. Khlahadore still seemed very irritated about it. She knew he had a good heart, but sometimes he could be a little overprotective.
"Sleepover party!" Luffy shouted excitedly from his place at the table.
Nami smiled. She enjoyed chatting with Kaya.
"Should we spend the night here?" Usopp's voice called from beside the bed, his face flushed. "We really don't mind going back to town," he said, with a rumble of thunder in the background.
"SPEAK FOR YOURSELF!" shouted Nami and Zoro with shark teeth.
Luffy laughed. His friends always made him do that. Just thinking about it made him smile more and laugh even harder.
"Nonsense, Usopp," the blonde began. "None of you will be coming back in the middle of that storm. There's plenty of room, and I wouldn't feel right forcing you to leave." She was excited to have people in the mansion; she felt lonely in such a large place. She had Khlahadore and Merry, but... She looked at everyone in her room and smiled. They were a little closer to her age. That's why she loved it when Usopp came over to tell stories.
"Then it's settled," Nami said from the other side of Luffy. "Looks like we're staying the night." She turned to her host: "Thanks, Kaya. I didn't feel like putting my wet clothes back on." Maybe someone else did... She glanced at Luffy. Although, of course, maybe not.
"Yes! Sleepovers are the best!" Luffy said, jumping up from his place at the table and waving his fist in the air.
Kaya laughed with the boy in the straw hat. She was excited too.
Usopp fidgeted nervously with his hands by the bed. He was about to go to sleep at Kaya's mansion. He swallowed. But if the others were staying, he wouldn't be the only one who didn't. He shuddered. It wasn't pleasant walking in that storm.
Zoro pulled his katanas from his belly warmer and placed them by the window before sitting with his back against the wall. Now that he knew he didn't have to move, it was time for a nap. He wished he could take off his wet clothes, but unfortunately, that wasn't possible. He wasn't about to go around showing things to everyone. What kind of freak would do that?
The conversations among the other occupants of the room began to lull him to sleep when, suddenly, a pillow was violently thrown at his face. The swordsman's eyes snapped open in irritation, and he glared in the direction the pillow had come from. He should have known better.
Luffy and Usopp sat laughing next to each other by the bed.
He picked up the pillow and stood up to throw it at the other two kids, Nami and Kaya, who were chatting at the table. "Aren't you a little too old for the prank—?" the swordsman interrupted as he was hit in the face by another pillow.
"See! I told you I'm a good sniper!" Usopp shouted triumphantly after hitting the target.
"Well done, Usopp!" Luffy shouted, turning to grab another pillow.
Zoro's smile turned diabolical as he grabbed the two pillows that had been thrown at him, one in each hand, "You're dead."
Luffy and Usopp hugged each other, their eyes wide with fear. The green-haired boy looked terrifying. He made the pillows he held seem dangerous. The straw hat boy ran toward the table where Nami and Kaya were talking, Usopp right behind him. Maybe they could save him from the evil green-haired boy. He took cover behind Nami's seated figure just as Zoro hurled one of his pillows at full speed. Instead of aiming directly at Luffy, he threw it toward where Luffy was headed. It was a mistake.
Nami saw Luffy running toward her. "Luffy, what...?" Just as the words started to leave her mouth, a pillow slammed into her face. Zoro had thrown it with incredible force. The pillow remained still for a moment before slowly sliding down, accompanied by Luffy and Kaya's laughter. Usopp didn't laugh... He didn't want to get hit. The pillow slid far enough to reveal the navigator's face, and what Zoro saw terrified him.
"You're dead," Nami growled. Time for revenge. "I'll show you what you get for calling me a witch all the time ." After the pillow was thrown at Nami, the room erupted into a five-way pillow fight, with the others forcing Kaya to join in just like Nami, with a pillow over her face.
But the blonde girl didn't care; after all, it was her first pillow fight.
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Hi everyone, what do you think of the story so far? The book has over 300 chapters. If you'd like to download the complete book, it's available on my Ko-fi page. Here's the link: 👉 🤩 ko-fi.com/winterstar01 🤩