Luffy x isakai Girl

Bonfire

   Good food, good booze, good company, and good music. These, along with the bonfire itself, were the ingredients to a great bonfire with the family. My mom, brother, sister, father, and a few close family friends all came together for this one. Luffy promised he would behave himself with the food, but a part of me still worried he was going to be a little too much. We had a Bluetooth speaker playing music and everybody brought something for a barbecue. The best part of all was the s'mores we had for the end of the night.

     But first, it was time to reconnect. There were some people I hadn't really spoken with in all this time, and it was long overdue. I flitted around, visiting one person to the next when suddenly, I heard Luffy beckoning me over to him. He put out his hand, with a huge sunshine grin on his face.

  "Come on, M'! Dance with me!" He said, offering me his hand. I hesitated for a moment and he didn't wait for another second, snatching my hands and twirling me around in front of the bonfire. I couldn't help but laugh. I laughed and danced and jaunted along, hand in hand with the biggest knucklehead I knew. By the time the song was over, a bunch of my friends had joined into the fray, hopping along with the music.

    When the next song came on, Luffy slipped away while I kept dancing with my friends. I was grateful to get some time with them, mouthing a thank you as he backed up to the grill, giving me a wink.

         ____________________

     "Are you ready for some food, Lou?"

     "You betcha'! Fill 'er up!" Luffy said with a grin. After stuffing his plate, he moved to go sit down at a table, still making sure to face Misaki as she danced with her friends.

    "I can't believe you got her to dance!" Misaki's mom said, sitting next to him. He looked at her with food chipmunking in his cheeks.

    "What do you mean? Misaki loves to dance!" He said, a little muffled by the food, pondering why her mom would say that.

    "Well... maybe she was just too afraid to dance before. Too worried what others would think."

    Luffy's brow furrowed. He didn't want to go telling someone about their daughter, but Misaki was never worried about such a silly thing. Not on his ship at least. At that moment, Misaki threw her head back and laughed into the sky. Her smile was big and over the top, making Luffy's heart skip a beat. "There it is." He muttered.

    "There is what?"

     "Oh nothing." He said, feeling her eyes on him. That mother was relentless. Her eyebrows hiked up and she continued to stare at him until he finally sighed. "That right there. That's the real her."

     "Ah." Her mother responded. Luffy took a bite of food — a little too big of one. He really hoped he wouldn't have to elaborate too much, but knew he probably didn't say enough.

   "She hasn't been herself for a while." He said, swallowing his bite.

   "No, she hasn't."

   "But there she is! She's right there." A smile curled on Luffy's lips.

   "So you knew her before." She said, plainly. It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

   "For a while, yeah." He said. Something shifted in her eyes before she smiled at him.

   "You know, you've got one Hell of a smile."

   "Hm?" Luffy looked at her, tilting his head questioningly, making her laugh. He took another bite of food.

    "You got that tilt from my daughter." She said, laughing. Luffy snickered at her.

    "I like you... what do I call you?"