Title: I.O.U Treasure

Author: Stormy1x2

Word Count: 4500

Notes: Luffy's left a lot of IOU notes scattered across East Blue and the Grand Line over the years. I was wondering what would happen if anyone ever tried to claim on one of them. :)

Treasure Claims

Strickland Orcas paused in front of the lavish hotel that had been, according to rumour, rented out to the Pirate King and several of his allies for the past week, and was apparently staying at least one more. He'd agreed to be the one, out of his three brothers and him, to run this very important errand, and he was a little bit nervous.

A couple of years back, he remembered a skinny kid in a straw-hat and an open, red vest scarfing down everything their restaurant had in stock – and had then run away, leaving nothing behind but a piece of paper stating 'I.O.U Treasure', signed by Monkey D Luffy, with a childish drawing of his jolly roger scrawled at the end. His brother had been the one to table up the losses and record it in their ledger – a copy of which he held in his hand, along with the note.

Had it been for a single meal, they would have just eaten the loss and be done with it. But that kid had cleaned them out so thoroughly they'd had to close the next day to rush-order new stock – they'd run out of vegetables, fruits, bread dishes and their meat inventory had been – for the first time since they'd opened the restaurant fifteen years ago – zero.

The tally was roughly sixty thousand bellie, and that was rounded down.

When he'd heard the Pirate King was travelling back along the Grand Line in order to let his navigator add islands they'd missed the first time around to her world map, he'd thought this would be a chance to get that money back. After all, the Pirate King was the same Monkey D Luffy who'd signed the I.O.U, right? It was only fair.

He gathered his courage and strode up the main stairs, through the revolving glass doorway and into the main foyer. It was a very large room, with an open bar and seating area on the right, and a more decorative set of lavish sofas and intricately designed wooden tables on the left, leaving the centre as the reception area where a woman behind the mahogany counter was already looking at him curiously. Before he could cross over and ask information about the Pirate King, a series of hooting laughs drew his attention to the bar side of the room.

Said Pirate King was standing on top of a table, doing a version of the can-can with his right arm wrapped around a long-nosed lad, and his left arm gripping the antler of a deer that was stomping its front hooves in its excitement. A metal-nosed man with his bright blue hair in the shape of a beer keg and insanely large shoulders was seated in front of them, enthusiastically strumming a tiny guitar. The rest of the room was filled with hotel patrons – half of them watching with their jaws on the floor, and the rest of the room cheerfully singing along to the tune of 'Binks no Sake'.

He was really there!

Orcas gulped and took a tentative step in the direction of the bar, but there was a tap on his shoulder, and he turned to see the receptionist from behind the counter, now standing behind him. She smiled, her eyes cool. "Can I help you sir?"

Orcas nodded, his gaze darting from her to the Pirate King and back. Debating internally with himself on how to explain his situation, he finally pulled out the ledger his brother had given him, and held it out towards her helplessly. She took it from him, flipped it open, and took in the list of neatly written numbers and the childishly scrawled note tucked partway into the fold of the leather. He was surprised when a knowing look came into her eyes, and she neatly snapped the ledger closed, handing it back to him. "If you will sir, I'll let your party know. You may have a seat in our waiting area." She gestured towards the other side of the foyer at the numerous sofas that were waiting for him.

He opened his mouth to – what? Protest? Fight back? He had no idea what he was doing, but she apparently did, and so he meekly submitted to her gentle prodding and took a seat in one of the couches closest to the central area. He could clearly see across the foyer, and he watched the receptionist walk into the bar, bypass the dancing pirates, and head directly to a pair of young women sitting sedately at a table by the large picture window.

Orcas watched silently as the younger-looking of the two women turned to stare at him, and he dropped his gaze to the floor, somewhat embarrassed, and not sure why. After a few minutes he realized there was an eye in the design of the rug, and he noted absently the detail in it.

Then it blinked.

Orcas shrieked and flung himself backwards into the sofa, yanking his feet off the ground, watching in terror as the eye winked at him and then dissolved into a pair of small pink petals that vanished a moment later.

He heard a merry laugh ring out and he looked up to see the two women both watching him. The dark-haired woman said something to the receptionist and handed her something. The woman smiled, bowed, and then turned to walk back over to where Orcas was still sitting, huddled into the sofa, afraid to move.

"Sir?"

Orcas let his feet touch the ground finally, after double-checking for anymore eyes. "Y-yes?"

"Miss Nico asked me to apologize for startling you. She merely wished to be able to identify you when you visit them tomorrow."

"Visit?"

The receptionist nodded, smiling kindly. "They are celebrating at the moment, and will soon be returning to their ship for the remainder of the evening. Miss Nami is the one to handle meetings such as yours, and has asked me to inform you that she will be waiting for you aboard their ship first thing after breakfast tomorrow morning, around nine o'clock. Their ship is called the-"

"-the Thousand Sunny, I know," Orcas said faintly. "It's the... colorful ship with the lion figurehead, right?"

"Indeed." The receptionist smiled and then handed him a small folder. "Miss Nami was worried you might not recognize them, and tasked me to give you this as well." Orcas opened the folder to see a collection of bounty posters. Sweat began to bead at his brow, and he could feel his shirt sticking to his back at the sight and reminder of such huge bounties. "This way you won't miss them."

He didn't think it was possible for anyone to miss a member of the charismatic and outlandish Strawhat crew. "Thank you, miss."

"My pleasure sir." The secretary bowed slightly, and returned to her post behind the polished counter. No doubt she was watching all visitors carefully, in an effort to spare the hotel any destruction should someone want to battle the famous Pirate King. Orcas pulled his handkerchief out with a trembling hand, mopped his face, and then staggered towards the counter.

"May I have a room for the night? And..." he swallowed hard, and looked back at the gathered crowd. The red-haired woman was drinking and ignoring him, but the dark-haired woman was watching him carefully. He had the strongest urge to be on his best behaviour. "... perhaps a wake-up call? Just in case."

The receptionist smiled. "Of course, sir."

o0o

He had handed his ledger almost meekly to the dark-haired woman he identified as both the lady who had terrified him the night before and from the wanted poster as Nico Robin, who had almost immediately handed it back and then escorted him to what they called 'the lounge'. He had then been left to stare in utmost fascination at the giant aquarium, stocked with a variety of incredible-looking sea creatures, including an elephant-nosed tuna, a large purple octopus, and several smaller and more brightly-coloured fish that darted amongst the sea grass and rocks artfully arranged in the circular tank.

He knelt on the plush cushions that made up the bench seat that surrounded the room, eyes following a small yellow swarm of West Blue Mini-Shrimp, sucking in his breath as a Snub-Nosed Fall Flounder dug its way out of the sand, blinking at him myopically. The mix of seafood on live display before him was every restaurant owner's dream!

He was just pressing his nose to the glass in an attempt to see tiny but fierce Terrier-King – one of the smallest breeds of sea kings out there – that was zipping along the rear of the aquarium, chasing the baby Alabastian Catfish when the door slammed open. He whirled around and saw a rather sexy silhouette posed within the frame, back-lit by the morning sun. "M-miss Nami?"

"Cat Burglar Nami, actually, but I suppose it doesn't make a difference." The woman strode forward and he could clearly see her in the light now – long, orange hair falling in a silky curtain, that unmistakable hourglass figure covered by a multicoloured bikini top and a pair of low-slung jeans that looked like they might fall to an indecent level at any moment. It was at that moment he realized he was ogling the navigator of the Strawhat Pirates and that she was able to control the heavens above when people displeased her.

Orcas slammed his eyes shut, hoping she hadn't seen him gawking like a teenage boy. When he opened them, she was sitting at the centre counter, the one surrounding the mast, and a second body had invaded the lounge. A green-haired young man wearing three familiar swords – Orcas felt his heart rate speed up again as he realized for the umpteenth time he was in the presence of the most famous and dangerous pirates alive, pirates that were on par with the Yonko Shanks, pirates that had reclaimed the title of crew of the Pirate King-

"Would you calm down and breathe, please?"

He focused on Nami and saw her giving him an impatient look, one hand extended. Oh yes, the files! He shakily gained his footing and moved over hesitantly, handing her the ledger. "Should I just stand?" He didn't know what the proper etiquette was here – sit down? Stand? Leave the room so she could analyze his brother's paperwork without an audience? Bow down before her?

Across from them, behind Nami, the young man – also known to Orcas now as Roronoa Zora, pant, gasp, breathe goddammit – had flung himself down onto the cushions and had seemingly passed out.

"No, no, sit down," Nami ordered, eyes already skimming the receipts he'd given her, and waved him towards the free seat across from her at the mast counter. Strickland Orcas shot another nervous look at the defeater of Mihawk, the new Greatest Swordsman in the World napping serenely behind her – he had followed her as her protection maybe? - and gingerly sat down, reminding himself sternly to keep his eyes above chin-level. "I just need to go over your ledger myself to verify everything." She held up the ledger he'd given her, but her eyes never left the paper, rich brown eyes taking in everything and missing nothing. He would expect nothing less from the infamous pirate robber, the Cat Burglar.

"O-of course."

"You don't need to be so nervous," she muttered absently, slender fingers trailing down the ledger, double-checking every notation. "Believe me, you are not the first person who's come to us about this type of situation."

"...oh?"

"At least your numbers look accurate. If I had a bellie for every lowlife impostor and cretin who came sniffing around here, trying to get their filthy paws on more of my money then they were actually entitled to, if they were even entitled at all, I could buy Franky enough Adam's Wood to build three more Sunny's!"

Orcas got the distinct feeling she wasn't even talking to him anymore.

"Yo-ho-ho-ho," came a caroling laugh from outside the lounge. "Miss Nami, honoured guest, Sanji sent me to tell you he shall be sending refreshments down shortly." A bleached-white skull poked his head through the door, smiling widely.

Strickland froze in the face of the animated skeleton that was dancing towards them while playing various snippets from different songs on his violin. He knew the Straw Hat line-up – not only had he refreshed himself the night before with the posters, but just about everyone in the world knew about the certain... eccentricities about several of the members – however reading about a living dead person and seeing them face to face are two completely different experiences. "Uhh..."

"Yeah, that's about the right response," came another voice from behind the skeleton.

Strickland snapped his mouth shut as one of the worlds top marksmen sidled through the door to join them. Sniper King Usopp, his brain dimly informed him, head sniper and best friend of the Pirate King, beloved and protected by the Giants of Elbaff, and recently revealed to be the son of Yasopp, sniper to the world's most powerful Yonko, Red Hair Shanks. And that wasn't even including the strange new religion that had started up in the New World a few years ago that he seemed to be at the head of. "Eeep," he managed, by way of a greeting.

Nami slammed her fist down on the table; Strickland was the only one who jumped. "I am trying to calculate," she seethed, shooting first the sniper, and then the skeleton a dangerous look that promised a great deal of pain. They immediately and obediently stood up straight and zipped their mouths shut, leaving Orcas stunned, and slightly more terrified then he had already been.

What power beyond that over the elements did this woman possess that could cow the living dead and a man believed to be a God?

Orcas did not want to know.

Nami then graced Strickland with a brilliant smile that was in direct contradiction of the murderous look he'd just witnessed first-hand. "Whoever kept your records was meticulous and honest to a fault," she said, closing the ledger and sliding it back to him. "Most records I see have people rounding up to the nearest bellie – your ledger keeps exact tallies, regardless of how large or small the number is. A person after my own heart."

The Sniper King stepped back in apparent shock. "You have a heart?"

A chuckle came from the 'sleeping' swordsman.

Orcas gaped at them in awe. Such bravery...

The navigator ignored them both. "Anyway, everything looks to be in order," Nami said, and pulled a baby Den Den Mushi from... somewhere. Strickland couldn't figure out how she'd been hiding the creature when practically all of her was on display, and he decided any more attempts to determine it's hiding place would lead him into very dangerous territory. "Franky, I'm going to make a withdrawal from the vault so would you please stop any and all upgrades in the vicinity until I'm done?"

"Yo-ho-ho-ho," softly sang the skeleton, turning to look at Strickland with those chillingly empty eyes. "Ever since the withdrawal when Franky miscalculated the pressure one of his weapons could take and left her locked in the vault for six hours after it exploded and took out the power grid, she doesn't allow him to hit so much as a nail with a hammer until she's completed her business."

Orcas nodded numbly as the bombshell Cat Burglar sauntered out of the room, his ledger in hand. He swallowed hard, turning to look timidly at the kindly face of the Sniper – Usopp, he recalled. The skeleton was too surreal for him, and even sleeping, the Swordsman looked like he would cut someone open for disturbing his rest. "So this has happened a lot, she said?"

The Sniper nodded and walked over, reaching for the mast and flicking a little hook up. Orcas blinked as a small dumbwaiter was revealed to be hidden within the post. Three steaming cups of tea and a small bottle of rum sat in a neat circle, surrounding a platter made up of a variety of fruits and cheeses.

The skeleton took a cup for himself, bowed, and then excused himself from the lounge. Usopp nabbed an orange slice and tossed it into his mouth before reaching for his own cup.

Orcas felt his stomach rumble – he'd been too nervous to even attempt breakfast that morning.

Usopp-sama (that was polite enough for an apparent God, wasn't it?) grinned at him. "Didn't have time for breakfast, huh?"

Orcas smiled weakly. "Something like that."

The Sniper chuckled and pushed a cup towards him. "Sanji's tea is the best – it'll relax your nerves."

The restaurant owner took the cup with two hands and a grateful nod. "Do I look that bad?" Orcas found himself asking, even as he inhaled the fresh fruity blend and took a small sip. His eyes widened at the taste exploding across his palette.

"Everyone who's come to us with those I.O.U papers of Luffy's does," he said, grabbing a chunk of cheese for himself. "See, you guys aren't pirates, or Marines – I mean, you're not fighters, in general, so people like you usually have two ways of handling it – either you throw the I.O.U's away, or you come here halfway expecting to be beaten or killed or something." The Sniper grabbed the bottle of rum and tossed it over his shoulder without looking. "Oi, Zoro."

Orcas watched as the bottle fell exactly into the raised hand of the Swordsman – who hadn't even opened his eyes. "Thanks," said the young man. "And yeah, what Usopp said, old man. It's impressive that you made it, considering you look like you're about to piss yourself."

"Zoro!" scolded the Sniper, and Orcas blinked at the two of them.

"You... are not what I expected," he murmured faintly.

Usopp chuckled again. "Yeah, we get that a lot. Drink up, old man. Sanji will be upset if you waste his tea."

Orcas nodded slowly and took another sip, before reaching for a piece of sliced pear. "Thank you."

Less then twenty minutes later, the Cat Burglar returned, a small sack in one hand, his ledger in the other. The ledger got tossed to him immediately. The sack stayed with her for a moment. Orcas thought perhaps she was going to recount it, but that's when the Swordsman sat up, watching her cautiously, and the Sniper sidled over to her, talking to her in a gentle voice.

"It's okay Nami, you can let it go. We'll make it back a dozen times over the minute we spot another pirate group to raid. And hey, remember how we heard rumours that Mad Treasure finally escaped Bonbori-sama's stomach? All the jewels on that ship of his? We'll find it, and stop Luffy from sinking it until we can get a few pried off the sides as well as grab whatever's in the hold."

The Cat Burglar was nodding and – was she sniffling? Orcas watched, dumbfounded as Nami gently held the small sack of belli, cradling it in her palms. "I...I know. It just hurts to give up my babies."

Babies?

Orcas shot a quick look to the Swordsman but he was glaring right back at him, shaking his head slowly. Right, don't comment on the Cat Burglar's over-attachment to her money. He could do that.

"Here," she sniffled, handing over the small sack of bellie. "Sixty-one thousand, four hundred and thirty-two bellie exactly."

Had he been receiving the money from anyone else, as a proper businessman, Orcas would have opened the bag and double-counted for himself. However, he was getting it from the Cat Burglar who was staring at the bag with a crazed, somewhat desperate look in her eyes, and the Greatest Swordsman in the World was gripping the sheathe of his white sword and watching her like he was expecting her to pounce on Orcas and take the bag back by force.

The Sniper looked at him. "Pleasure doing business with you," he said and there was a definite hint of 'get going, you idiot' in his words as he kept one arm firmly wrapped around the woman's shoulders, and not necessarily to brace her up.

Orcas swallowed hard, shoved the ledger into the inner pocket of his coat, and put the sack of bellie in the pocket opposite that. The Cat Burglar's eyes watched his every movement until the money disappeared and then her eyes narrowed.

Orcas did not run but he did exit the room quickly after executing a hasty bow and offering a small 'thank you'.

Outside the lounge, he moved quickly towards the gang plank that had been lowered earlier for him. Before he reached it though, he heard what sounded like a stretching elastic band, and suddenly a blur of red and blue landed on the railing next to his way off the ship. Orcas stifled a whimper as he realized he was looking into the wide-eyed face of the boy king himself, Monkey D Luffy. His famous straw hat rested on his back thanks to the cord that kept it from flying away.

"Your... majesty?" he offered weakly unsure of what the correct form of address was.

The young man wrinkled his nose. "Who's a magic tree? I'm Monkey D Luffy, Pirate King!" He beamed a thousand watt smile at poor Orcas who vainly told his knees to cease their wobbling that instant. "You had one of my papers?"

Orcas nodded numbly.

"How much was it?"

"...S-sixty thousand bellie... roughly..."

The young man whistled and laughed, a surprisingly warm shishishishi. "And no one had to hold Nami down so they could get it from her this time?"

"I believe Nami is growing accustomed to these kinds of visits," said a gentle voice from Orcas' other side. He snapped his head around to see 'she of the flowering body parts', Nico Robin. "Though for her sake, I hope we don't encounter too many of them before we have a chance to raid a pirate ship to restock what she's been forced to give away."

"I don't know what the problem is, we've got lots of money," groused the Pirate King.

Orcas watched incredulously as the mighty Pirate King, feared in all four Blues (though feared might not be the most accurate word) and both parts of the Grand Line, pouted at the Devil Child and plopped himself down on the grass, looking for all the world like a kid throwing a temper tantrum.

"Yes, but you know how she is about giving it away, especially for things we had nothing or little to do with," said the Devil Child, reaching down to stroke her Captain's hair with a fond smile. "This gentlemen is visiting us from East Blue, fairly close to the Calm Belt, correct?"

Orcas nodded automatically.

"I do believe this is from that incident when you were briefly separated from us after our encounter with that young man who fancied himself to be the protege of Shiki, the Golden Lion. It took us two days to find you after that whirlwind picked you up and flung you across the island."

Orcas recalled the young man at the time, battered and bruised, and wailing for meat like the world would end if he didn't get something to eat right then and there. When asked if he was good for it, the boy had responded with, 'I'm always good, what are you talking about?'

Then he had eaten their entire stock as well as a display case of plastic desserts before dropping the note on the table and dashing out the door.

The Pirate King's eyes widened. "I remember!" He whirled around and glared at Strickland Orcas, who cowered and held up his hands protectively. "You made some really nasty desserts!"

Orcas blinked. "Huh?"

"The meat was really good, and even the veggies were okay. I don't like eating them but Sanji says I have to or he'll make me eat nothing but veggies for a month if I leave any behind, so I did and then I saw your desserts but they were really bad!" Luffy shook his head. "Old Man, you should stick to making meat. That was really good."

"Umm..." Orcas looked at Nico Robin who was smiling merrily with her eyes shut. No help there. "Um, Mr King of the Pirates-"

"Luffy!"

"Ah, yes. Um, L-Luffy..." Orcas held out his hands beseechingly. "Those weren't real desserts. They were plastic display models. Our real desserts were in the dessert freezer. They were all we had left after you emptied us out."

"Real plastic display model dessert freezers?" Luffy cocked his head at Orcas before slamming a fist into his palm. "Oh, so they were mystery desserts!"

Orcas looked at Nico Robin who shrugged, and continued to smile serenely at her captain. "Um... yes?"

"I see. Shishishishi!" The young Captain hopped to his feet. "But you got your money now and everything is okay, right?"

"Y-yes, of course..." What else could he say? Nico Robin was still smiling but her eyes were slitted open just enough to issue him a warning not to upset the bubbly young man.

"Good! Thanks for the food, mystery dessert guy!" And with that, the rubbery captain was sprinting headlong across the grass, hollering for 'Sanji' to make him 'some meat that tasted like mystery dessert guy's'.

Orcas wiped his brow. Next time, his brother was doing this. Any of them. He was getting too old for this sort of nonsense.

"Have a safe trip home," said the Devil Child, who was now standing next to the gangway, looking at him expectantly.

Orcas blinked. But she had been standing next... to... he turned his head and saw a second Nico Robin still smiling at him warningly.

Enough was enough. Orcas stammered out a goodbye and stumbled towards the gangplank, almost tumbling down it in his haste. He hit the dock and just kept moving, not turning around until he was safely back in his hotel room, barely sparing a wave to the kindly receptionist who had given him directions that morning to the Thousand Sunny in the first place.

Behind the locked doors, he took the sack of bellie and his ledger from his coat with trembling fingers, and then moved to the courtesy snail phone on the bedside table. He would arrange for a ride back to East Blue, and then call his brothers and reassure them that everything was done and okay and that the next time a situation such as this arose, it would be them doing all of this because his nerves simply could not handle a second visit to the Pirate King, Monkey D Luffy, and his terrifyingly God-like crew.

He made his plans – and then changed his departure for a week from then, after a moments consideration. After everything he'd been through?

He definitely deserved a vacation.

End

Another fic bit I started a long time ago and decided to clean up for posting. I hope you enjoyed! Feedback is always 'treasured'!

[2016-12-11: edited to clear up a few typo's here and there.]