Luffywin ficlet #7
Can't decide how I feel about this one. Just a strange little thing I wrote on my lunch break. Original 5, pre-Grand Line.
Players
Luffy doesn't really understand the game, but then he doesn't care to.
"Oi, dumbass, everyone can see your cards." Zoro stops pretending to sleep for long enough to nudge him with his stretched-out foot, and he laughs and curls his body forward over his hands.
It's just... that it's not very interesting...
"You can't put that down." The air from Nami's lazy slap wafts his ear as he ducks. "It doesn't make sense, and I already told you that. You said you could play this game!"
"I can!" He shuffles the cards around, eying them suspiciously from all angles and trying to remember what Nami said last time, or what Usopp said the time before that. Wait - those, those are the same little symbols as those, and maybe--
"Finally," Sanji mutters, and then really looks at the cards in their centre, looks annoyed, and throws his own down with a noise of disgusted surrender.
It's nice and all, that he won, but they're playing for a pile of tacks and not MEAT so it's not as though it matters.
Usopp shakes his shoulder and he looks up from the pack that Nami handed him with the tacks. "You know you have to deal those sometime, right?"
"Oh. Yeah." That's one card for everyone, in the same order each time, though there's a bit of shuffling about when he gives Zoro too many. He fumbles the new cards that are left in his hand, glances, picks, and swiftly tosses them down, the way he's seen Nami do.
She groans. "You don't know how to play this game at all, do you? Do you even want to play, Luffy?"
Ack! "I do!" And he sits up straighter, and snatches the fallen cards back, and tries to think, dammit, because he can do this. He can, and they're gonna make him sit it out if he doesn't try. "Aaaah... ummmm... no... no... yeah! Okay!" He slaps down his cards again, and this time Sanji grunts and takes his turn, so they must be okay.
...They're his nakama, but they're all really dumb sometimes.
They're all so good at missing the point.
It's not about watching the bright, greasy, well-thumbed cards change hands. Who wants to look at those? No... It's the crease on Usopp's forehead and the way he leans so intently into the game, the calculation that glitters in Nami's eyes even though they're only playing for tacks, the way Sanji's lips press down on his cigarette and the way his elegant hands hold the cards, the way Zoro gives nothing away at all...
Luffy doesn't care about the stupid game. It doesn't mean he doesn't want to play it with them.
I've seen the spoilers for Chapter 536 and I don't know whether to stop doing this now yet or not, it was kind of the original point at which I was going to stop. But maybe I should just keep going to see how long I can keep going? :)
Players
Luffy doesn't really understand the game, but then he doesn't care to.
"Oi, dumbass, everyone can see your cards." Zoro stops pretending to sleep for long enough to nudge him with his stretched-out foot, and he laughs and curls his body forward over his hands.
It's just... that it's not very interesting...
"You can't put that down." The air from Nami's lazy slap wafts his ear as he ducks. "It doesn't make sense, and I already told you that. You said you could play this game!"
"I can!" He shuffles the cards around, eying them suspiciously from all angles and trying to remember what Nami said last time, or what Usopp said the time before that. Wait - those, those are the same little symbols as those, and maybe--
"Finally," Sanji mutters, and then really looks at the cards in their centre, looks annoyed, and throws his own down with a noise of disgusted surrender.
It's nice and all, that he won, but they're playing for a pile of tacks and not MEAT so it's not as though it matters.
Usopp shakes his shoulder and he looks up from the pack that Nami handed him with the tacks. "You know you have to deal those sometime, right?"
"Oh. Yeah." That's one card for everyone, in the same order each time, though there's a bit of shuffling about when he gives Zoro too many. He fumbles the new cards that are left in his hand, glances, picks, and swiftly tosses them down, the way he's seen Nami do.
She groans. "You don't know how to play this game at all, do you? Do you even want to play, Luffy?"
Ack! "I do!" And he sits up straighter, and snatches the fallen cards back, and tries to think, dammit, because he can do this. He can, and they're gonna make him sit it out if he doesn't try. "Aaaah... ummmm... no... no... yeah! Okay!" He slaps down his cards again, and this time Sanji grunts and takes his turn, so they must be okay.
...They're his nakama, but they're all really dumb sometimes.
They're all so good at missing the point.
It's not about watching the bright, greasy, well-thumbed cards change hands. Who wants to look at those? No... It's the crease on Usopp's forehead and the way he leans so intently into the game, the calculation that glitters in Nami's eyes even though they're only playing for tacks, the way Sanji's lips press down on his cigarette and the way his elegant hands hold the cards, the way Zoro gives nothing away at all...
Luffy doesn't care about the stupid game. It doesn't mean he doesn't want to play it with them.
I've seen the spoilers for Chapter 536 and I don't know whether to stop doing this now yet or not, it was kind of the original point at which I was going to stop. But maybe I should just keep going to see how long I can keep going? :)