Usopp stood in front of the soccer goal with his knee’s bent. His job was simple, but arguably the most important one of the game. He felt the tension rising as his once friend, but now enemy, dribbled past his teammates with ease. He never thought this day would come, where Luffy would be his opponent. He thought back to the days where they would work together to try to beat Sanji, but lose every time. All of that was irrelevant now. His enemy was closing in, and Usopp needed to predict where he would kick the ball.

‘He’ll go left.’ He thought.

Luffy kicked the ball with all his might, aiming for the right corner of the goal. Usopp hadn’t anticipated this, but tried to recover. However, as soon as he turned his foot, he slipped and fell in the mud.

“GOOOOOAL!!!” Luffy yelled as loud as he could, his fellow freshman gathering around him. They won 3-0, and he had scored every goal. It’s not that either team was especially good. Most of the kids were actually pretty bad at soccer. Several times, Usopp had to leave his post as goalie, just to get the ball away from Luffy. Unfortunately, it was all to no avail.

Usopp punched the ground, and cursed his existence. He felt hurt and betrayed...but mostly, disappointed. He was disappointed in himself. That is, until a hand reached out to him. The hand of his once best friend.

“Great job, Usopp!” Luffy congratulated him. It was simple, but all Usopp needed for his faith in him to be restored.

He grabbed his hand and stood up, tears spilling from his eyes. “Thanks, Buddy.”

Due to Luffy and his friends' competitive natures, PE had always tended to be a little...dramatic.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m telling you! This ‘S.S.S’ thing is an abomination! So many beautiful senior ladies, and this is what they decide to do with their last year?!” Zoro listened as his friend, Sanji went on about how disgusted he was by the challenge the seniors were doing.

“It’s not like any of them would date you in the first place.” Zoro told him. He really didn’t know why he hung around Sanji so much. All he ever did was annoy him.

"Vivi, Kalifa, Monet...this was the year that I would finally be with one of you…" Sanji whispered as he slumped in his chair. “Maybe this is a sign...maybe there’s a lady in another class who needs me…but I can’t abandon the women who mean the most to me!” He was getting pretty loud.

Zoro decided to just ignore him. What the seniors did was their own business. Though, he did feel a little annoyed at the thought of a certain girl doing this challenge.

The final bell of the day rang and Zoro told Sanji to get lost. He ignored the insults Sanji threw at him as he walked out of the classroom. He made his way over to Perona’s locker and just stared at her.

“Ew why are you looking at me like that?” She asked with a confused look on her face.

“What are you doing tonight?” He asked.

“Nothing…” Perona was starting to get suspicious. Was he asking her on a…

“Can you drive me to the gym?”

Perona mentaly slapped herself, for coming to such a conclusion. Of course he wasn’t going to ask her that.

“You can walk, can’t you? I just remembered I do have plans tonight!” She pouted.

“Watching Black Butler doesn’t count as plans!” He spat back at her.

“It does if you’re watching it with friends!”

“Stuffed animals don’t count as friends!” A few people stared as they walked past them, but they were both too annoyed to notice.

“I’m not driving you...go away.”

“Fine.” Zoro decided to just leave. Perona tried to suppress the small amount of guilt that she was feeling.

But she couldn’t.

“Wait a minute!” She called after him.

“Hah?”

“I’ll drive you if…” she began.

“If?” He repeated.

“If you watch my show with me when we get back!”

Zoro groaned as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine.”

“Yes!! Let me just warn you, the episode I’m going to watch is a little crazy...” She told him as she closed her locker and began heading for the exit.

“Yeah, yeah.” He smirked and he put his arm around her shoulder. They argue a lot, but always seem to make up just as fast.

They didn’t know however, that they were being watched by a certain orange haired sophomore.

~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, I’ve heard rumors about Kaku liking Kalifa even though Kalifa likes Lucci. Also Sai and Baby 5 are apparently a thing? Oh! And Perona seems reeeally close to Zoro.” Nami gossiped as she jumped on Vivi’s bed.

Vivi was fully aware of how often people had ‘secret relationships’, and she didn’t expect any less from her peers during Single Senior Season. That’s why she needed a spy.

“Interesting...I’ll need to look into this.” She realized how nosy she may seem to the average person, but convinced herself that what she was doing was only the best for her classmates. She then shifted her attention to her laptop and searched for something on Crunchyroll.

“Ok what should we watch?” Vivi asked her. Nami and her older sister, Nojiko, had spent countless nights at Vivi’s house. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say they were at her house more than they were at their own. Though, ever since Nojiko had graduated, it was mostly just the two of them.

“Mm something romantic…” Nami answered while attempting to do a flip on her bed.

Her answer confused Vivi. The three girls had very different tastes in movies. Nami would suggest something funny, Nojiko likes horror, and Vivi would pick a romantic one. It kept things well rounded. With romance, However, Nami would usually complain about how dumb the characters were or how the plot didn’t make any sense.

“I thought you hated romance movies.”

Nami smirked as she stopped jumping. “I don’t know...I’ve just been thinking…”

“Thinking?”

“…about a boy…”

“A boy?!” Vivi nearly shrieked as she looked back at her friend. “Who is it?!”

“Hehe guess!”

Vivi rolled her eyes, but decided to play along.

“Ok...is he a freshman? Because I haven’t met any of them yet.”

“No way! He’s an older guy~” Nami told her dreamily as she let herself fall on the bed.

“How about that Sanji guy? Doesn’t he like you?”

“He likes every girl…” She wasn’t exaggerating.

“It better not be a senior, Nami!”

“No...he’s...a little older than that.”

And suddenly, Vivi knew exactly who she was talking about.

“Oh my- Is it Sabo??” Vivi wasn’t surprised. Nami never said that she had gotten over Sabo, but when he graduated Vivi just assumed that she would let go of him. Like she did with Ace. When Nami replied with silence, she took that as a yes.

“Nami, how old are you?”

“16…”

“And how old is Sabo?”

“19.”

“Where is he right now?”

Nami threw a pillow at Vivi and buried her face into her knees.“I already know that ok?! I know he’s too old for me, and I know he’s in college, and I know that he isn’t thinking about me right now, but I can’t help but wonder about what could’ve happened if I had just told him how I felt!”

Oh no. She was shouting. And speaking in run-on sentences. Vivi hadn’t anticipated that it would be this bad. She put her arm around her and squeezed her tightly. “Hey calm down…”

“And plus if I marry Sabo, and you get back together with Ace, we could all move in together, and get a puppy and-”

“Wait what?!” Vivi stood up. “What is this about marriage and moving in together?! And what does Ace have to do with any of this?!”

Nami pouted and Vivi realised that she didn’t even have any tears in her eyes.

She sighed before continuing. “You can’t marry a boy you hardly know, Nami. And I am never getting back together with Ace.”

“But they're brothers! It would just be so cuuute.” Nami whined. “And I know for a fact that he still loves you!” She grabbed Vivi’s phone, opened her messages with Ace, and began reading them aloud.

“On June fourth he said ‘Babe please call me back. Please. I need you right now. Babe.’” She lowered her voice, trying to make it sound like his.

“Ugh! Nami give that back!” She tried to grab her phone, but Nami was already walking out of her room.

“The next day he said. ‘I’m serious. I am so sorry. I made a mistake. Baby please.’”

“Ugggh!” Vivi did not want her to read what it said next. She began chasing Nami.

“On June seventh he said ‘Please Vivi, I need you right now. I am so sorry. Please. I love you.’ Aww! That’s actually pretty cute!” Nami continued dodging Vivi.

“Oh! And then you responded! You said ‘go to he-’ oh...”

She stopped running and just laughed awkwardly. Vivi snatched her phone from her. “Well I stand by what I said before. He’s definitely still in love with you!”

“Nami! I am never, and I mean NEVER getting back together with Ace!”

Nami was a little disappointed but decided to stop pushing her buttons. “Ok! I give up. I won’t bring up Ace anymore…”

Vivi sighed. “Thank you…”

“So let’s just talk about Sabo!”

This was going to be a long night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Luffy’s favorite spot in town was the A Thousand Sunny arcade at the beach. Endless games to play, and snacks with his friends was how he preferred to spend his time. But after an afternoon there, Luffy and Usopp were left with nothing to do. It was 8 PM, and the sun was starting to set, as they sat in the sand.

“So did you meet anyone today.” Usopp asked, not really expecting an answer.

“Hmm well we met that Nami girl, and I guess the kids in our class. Oh! And some weirdo named...Hammock.”

“Hm.” Usopp was only half listening, but the mention of Nami reminded him of something. “You know you owe me like, a hundred bucks, right?”

“Eh?! That much??” Luffy hadn’t really kept track of how much he owed his friends. His grandpa never gave him any money, so he usually relied on his friends whenever they went out.

Usopp realized that he would probably never get his money back.

“Welp. I’d better head home now.” Usopp stood up and dusted the sand off his shorts.

“Eh?! Already??” Luffy pouted as he looked up at him.

“Well yeah, my dad doesn’t want me out late on school nights.” He yawned. “I’m pretty tired too.”

‘Oh yeah. School.’ Luffy thought. He forgot that it was everyday. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yup!” Usopp grabbed his backpack, and fist bumped his friend before jogging off.

“Now, what am I going to do…” Luffy thought aloud. He considered going to the Baratie, but remembered that the chef had banned him. Plus he didn’t have any money. He checked his phone, and saw that he had an instagram notification.

Tsunami has followed you

“Shishi that’s a funny name.” Luffy mused as he followed her back.

In the end, Luffy decided that he would just head home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just as Ace was about to finish studying for the night, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket.

Vivi added something to her instagram story.

He sighed as he clicked on her icon. It was a picture of her and Nami with the words ‘Movie Night’ at the bottom. He wondered if he should reply. They haven’t spoken in two months, and last time they did, it didn’t go down so well. But maybe it was time to give it one more try.

He decided to just be friendly. He knew if he tried anything else, she would probably get mad. He typed out his message and hit send.

Firefist_Ace: looks like u girls are having fun ;)

"Oh crap."

He didn't realize that he typed a winky face, instead of a smiley one until after he already sent it.

Firefist_Ace: oops i meant to send a smiling face :) lol

He wondered if the messages were too weird, but ultimately decided that it was ok. He went back to studying, but after a few minutes realized that he wasn’t able to concentrate. He put his books away and checked to see if Vivi had replied. However, when he opened his instagram DM’s the message was no longer there.

“Huh?”

He scrolled through all of his DM’s, but it was nowhere to be found. He looked up her name, but it didn’t show up either.

“She blocked me.” Any bit of hope he had, was now completely gone. He regreted responding to her story. He should've known things were too weird between them. But more than that, he regretted letting her go, and wished that he could just undo everything that happened at the end of last school year. Now that he let these feelings resurface, he didn’t feel like doing anything, anymore.

“I’m hooome!”

Luffy was back, but he couldn’t bring himself to get up from his bed. All he wanted to do was lie there, and wallow in his sadness.

“Ace! Grandpa! I’m hungry!!”

“There’s food in the fridge, Luffy!” Ace called back.

A few minutes later, Ace’s door opened and Luffy entered with a plate of chicken.

“Where’s Grandpa??” His little brother asked him with a full mouth.

“He has the night shift, bro. He always does.”

“Are you ok?” Luffy questioned as he sat on Ace’s bean bag.

“Yeah I’m fine…” Ace sat up and leaned against the wall. “Hey, did you see Vivi at school today?”

“Who?”

“You know! Long blue hair and dresses like a business woman? She came over a couple of times last year.”

“Oh yeah! Bibi...I think I might’ve seen her.” Luffy thought about anyone he might've seen today, that has long blue hair. A weird guy with a big red nose came to mind. He was yelling in the cafeteria. “She’s really ugly.”

“You really are an idiot, you know that! She’s literally the prettiest girl I know. But she’s not just pretty, bro. She’s so smart, and has her life together and...and I really messed up...”

Luffy cringed at the thought of Ace with this Bibi person, but it's not like he cared that much in the first place. However, he didn’t like seeing his brother so upset. Luffy was never really good at cheering people up, but he knew who was. “Wanna call Sabo?”

Ace grinned at his little brother, and knew that he was trying to help in his own way. “Great idea.”

Sabo was already done with his classes for the day, so despite the six hour difference, the three brothers were able to talk for as long as they needed. By the time they were done talking, Luffy had already fallen asleep, and Ace...felt a lot better.