The acts were divided into different crowded trailers depending on their degree of freak, almost as if it was a hospital and the doctors didn’t want any two illnesses to catch and spread. Luffy was assigned to trailer D. It was roughly eight feet by fourteen and consisted of four mattresses, two bunk beds off to one side. That didn’t leave much room but there were also two plastic yard chairs squeezed in along with a thin wooden wardrobe and a tiny oven. The only reason the manchild had managed to locate it was because of the large, red D painted on the side of it. It was here that he also met his next human, for he hadn’t seen much of anyone on his short trip from the main tent or perhaps Nami’s haunting words were just keeping his mind busy.
The man had a long nose, like, a really long nose. Inches, almost half a foot long! It left one with the question of ‘do you kiss your mama with that nose!?’ because it would seem nearly impossible for him to kiss anyone without popping them eye with that thing! Usopp was too focused, too preoccupied with painting the outer wall of his trailer to even notice Luffy.
"Wow!" Luffy proclaimed right in his ear. “You sure are a good artist!” Usopp surely was. It was one of his passions, addition to the show and hobby. Currently he was working on painting a lamb but had stopped midway to brag.
"I know! Isn’t it great!? I learned art from ancient Chinese masters!" It wasn’t much that anyone would ever compliment his art, he wasn’t use to telling exaggerated stories about them. Still, these lies he told, they were all he had. They made Usopp feel happy and important and brave when in reality, he’d never leave this place again… that was the sad, sad truth of it.
Still, the two got along instantly! Luffy was probably the only person in the entire fair that actually believed every word that the long nosed man spoke! They must have been there at least half an hour! Ussop just giving his new friend his entire exaggerated life story! Probably would have gone on for longer too if it wasn’t for Sanji hearing all their noise and coming out of the trailer to see what was up.
The first thing Luffy noticed about the blond was his long legs. The second thing he noticed was that his hair covered one of his eyes and his other eye, well, the eyebrow was the weird thing about it. It was curly, like, a spiral or a tight pig’s tail! Sanji seemed to notice his stare and took it as an invitation to stare back at him.
"You’re the new act, aren’t you?" Sanji asked, not nearly as friendly as Usopp had been. "Word travels fast. You’re the one who got sweet, sweet Nami-swan slapped?" It was a death glare the older man gave to the younger, if only looks could kill Luffy would dead as that morning’s meat.
Speaking of meat, it didn’t take Sanji long to get over his grudge and request the two boys to come inside. Luffy was skinny be on belief and didn’t have much of any muscle either, Sanji must have seen the signs of being under feed all over him. The cook started warming the oven top, getting out a pan from underneath and preparing a simple dish of the super food known to all as eggs. That was one of the many things Sanji enjoyed about cooking, eggs to a rich man were eggs and eggs to a poor man were eggs and eggs to a freak? They were still eggs. They never changed because everyone was a person, they only tasted different depending on how a chef had cooked them.
"You seen Zoro lately, Sanji?" Usopp asked from his spot perching on one of the plastic lawn chairs.
"No." But Sanji couldn’t just leave it at that. He had to add in some nasty remark. "Don’t mention moss head. You’ll ruin the kid’s apatite." The joke was on the chef because there was literally nothing that could actually ruin Luffy’s apatite. He was sitting in the other yard chair, the one besides Usopp.
“Surprised he can even think about eating your shitty food at the sight of your pretty eyebrows.” The new voice, rough and mean, came from a big man standing at the door who looked like he could have been a biker or wrestler. You know, minus the green hair of course.
"Got lost again, huh?" Sanji replied, not missing a beat.
"No! Idiots just painted the place! Could have at least let me know!"
Usopp piped in, only to yelled at by Zoro. Soon, in just a matter of seconds, the three of them were all speaking at the same time. Zoro and Sanji went back and forward with each other, yelling louder and louder to make sure their insults were heard over the other’s while Usopp screamed and panicked, saying that if they broke anything he didn’t want to be the one to have to fix it. Luffy found the entire thing funny and it was his laughter, a knew add on to the afternoon’s chaos, that brought the other three boys to a halt.
Luffy found out that night that he was not nearly the most freaky of the freaks under the shelter of the tent. He heard stories of the other acts, one’s like Chopper who was a reindeer like animal who could heal wounds and speak and walk around on two feet! The kid was literally a monster! He heard about this one robot guy who was actually half cyborg! Another about this guy with an Afro that had been burnt so badly you could see his face! There was these two brothers that spit fire and could use a baton in their performances! This place sounded amazing and that was good. That was what the three men had been aiming for. That was where Usopp came in the most handy, to sugar coat this horrible place they called home.
They didn’t talk about how Chopper was kept in a cage with the animals. They didn’t talk about how the cyborg was so rusty and unkempt it hurt. They didn’t talk about how the skeleton would sing sad songs and cry at night because he missed his friends so much. They didn’t talk about the D brothers, how much the two strong willed boys had to get slashed and punished before they had finally given in to the ring leader. One thing was for sure and it was that Sanji never talked about how Nami got slapped and abused how he couldn’t do anything for her.
The next morning would be his first practice, they knew Luffy would need a full sleep and that if he heard all the horrors that awaited him there was no possible way anyone could have dreamed peacefully.
Arlong was in his office. It was big and spacious, pictures of himself hanging on the tall walls and fish tanks, filled with dozens of dozens of rare breeds, sat on the shelves. Two boys sitting across his desk did not look happy, one of them, the one with freckled, looked very angry and upset infact.
"We don’t need anyone new in our act," he hissed.
"It’ll be perfect! I can see it already, the D brothers! ASL! Brotherly bonds that-"
"HE’S NOT OUR BROTHER!!" Ace, angered, stood in a rage, slamming his fists on to the desk so hard it almost cracked it. Sabo only watched while Arlong only delivered a death glare, one that promised punishment if such careless actions continued.
"Tomorrow is your first practice with him. Now, get out of my office."
