Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece or any of its characters. Although, if Oda wanted to give me Ace, or Zoro, or Sanji, or Luffy, or Law I wouldn't complain. Also, I don't own any books (yet) so titles are purely made up and do not relate to any real-life ones.

Anni's POV

"What?! A secret santa?!"

Nami grinned as the whole crew looked at her in surprise.

"Yup! We're coming up on an island that is famous for gift-giving, and since it's Christmas, I thought this would be the perfect time!"

Although there were mixed reactions, all of us expressed some kind of satisfaction. From Luffy and Usopp dancing around Chopper and I who were jumping up and down in glee, to Zoro who looked on in mild interest.

Getting our attention by shaking a hat, Nami gestured to the little strips of paper inside it.

"All our names have been written on these pieces of paper. Everyone is going to pick one, and that's the person that you have to buy a present for. There will be no trading." she said, looking pointedly at Luffy.

"I wanna pick first!" I said, jumping over the dancing couple. I landed directly in front of Nami and plunged my hand into the hat. Swirling my hand around, I grabbed a strip of paper and looked at the name, hiding it from prying eyes with my hand.

Immediately my face dropped.

'Robin'

I scowled at Nami over Chopper's head as he picked a name and squealed in excitement. She smiled innocently back and mouthed 'no trading'.

"Oh, come on," I muttered to myself.

A frustrated groan came from Zoro as he glared daggers at the paper as if it had personally insulted him.

Nami clapped her hands and announced, "We'll reach the island tomorrow, so think about the gift you want to get for your secret santa."

XxX

As the rambunctious dinner proceeded, I leaned over to Nami and quietly and subtly asked, "What the hell would Robin want?"

Nami batted away a stray Luffy hand. "Hmm, I don't really know. She seems to like reading, so you could get her a book," she suggested.

Thinking back, I realized that yes, in fact, Robin did read a lot. However, I didn't pay attention to the specifics of her books, so I decided on the absolute best, fool-proof plan I could come up with.

Snooping around.

After dinner, I snuck down to the girls' room. Next to the mattress that had previously belonged to Vivi sat Robin's bag of personal belongings. No, I wasn't going to snoop through it, that would be a violation of privacy, and everyone (that I liked or at least put up with) is entitled to that. No, I was going to snoop around it.

I quickly spotted a pile of books next to her bag. Jumping over the mattress, I picked up the one on the top and looked at the cover. It was a book about the history of Arabasta. Sounded boring if you asked me.

The next book was a murder mystery by an author I had heard of. I flipped open the first few pages and realized that I had read the prequel to this one during my time at the bar. Hm, interesting. I remembered that the book I read was particularly gory and dark. I liked it a lot.

I went through the fairly sizable stack of books, most of them being history, murder mystery, or action. There was the odd romance as well. The book at the bottom of the stack caught my eye though. The title read Forbidden Affairs. And it was the exact same yaoi book I was currently making my way through!

I contemplated asking her about it, but I decided against it. Nami would likely overhear, and I could to nobly relate to the threats of our cunning treasurer.

Well, I found somethings we had in common. Murder mystery, action, and yaoi.

Oh! A wonderful idea sprung into my head. The author of Forbidden Affairs had published a second book called Forbidden Destiny and it apparently brought together the three genres that Robin and I evidently had in common.

Not that I thought I could borrow it afterwards, that's preposterous!

Yosh! Plan in mind, I tiptoed out of the room and confidently sauntered back up to the main deck.

XxX

I stood in front of the bookshop, wondering if I had enough money. Nami had been... conservative to say the least. Stingy was how Zoro had put it. I think she almost added more onto his debt, but when he quickly mentioned the season of kindness and apologized, she let it slide. I saw the little smirk he had as she walked away though.

I strode in, a tiny bell jangling as I did so. Immediately the smell of new books caught my attention, as did the gorgeous Christmas decorations. Thankfully, the shelves were labeled so I didn't have to wander around for ages. I found what I was looking for relatively quickly, and brought it to the front of the store to pay.

The cashier, a bored looking girl a few years older than me, smiled when she saw my choice of reading material.

"Is this for you, or would you like it gift-wrapped?" she smiled, adding, "By the way, this is one of the best books I've read in a long time."

I handed the money over, and replied, "If you could gift-wrap it, that would be great. It's a present for a friend." I decided that it would be easier to label Robin as a friend for conversational purposes. "But that doesn't mean that I don't plan on reading it after her!"

She laughed as she wrapped up the book. "Was she the one that told you about this series?"

"Nope. I just found out that we have this in common this morning," I replied. "I found it on my own in a shop when I was looking around."

"That's what happened with my girlfriend too!" the cashier exclaimed, "She was looking around here and found it."

I looked around the store one last time as the girl finished wrapping Robin's present. A thin book caught my eye, and I walked over and grabbed it. Perfect for Robin. I brought it back and paid for it, before popping it in the bag with the other one.

"Bye!" I waved to my new friend at the cashier desk.

She waved back. "Come back soon!"

As I casually made my way back through the town, I spotted a few of my nakama running hectically through the streets. Chopper and Nami were strolling down the street, but when they saw me, they ran back the way they came. A panicked looking Usopp nearly knocked me over, and a sullen Sanji dragged a gleeful Luffy away from the butcher shop.

I leaped onto the deck of the Going Merry (a skill that I had perfected through my time with the crew) to find Zoro sitting smugly on the deck, a surprisingly neatly wrapped present sitting beside him. The present was small and flat, and moved slightly as a gust of wind hit it.

"You're back already?" he asked sleepily, putting a hand over the present.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" I replied. "I mean, how on earth did you buy a present that fast?"

Zoro laughed. "Technically, all I got was wrapping paper."

I laughed at that; everything from what it was to who it was for was implied in that one phrase.

XxX

"C'mon Nami, can we open them now?" I questioned the present-giving-organizer.

Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp were currently line-dancing with chopsticks shoved up their noses and alcoholic beverages in their hands around the pile of presents.

The pile consisted of many different shapes, sizes, and colours of wrapped presents. Mine was in a nice gift bag from the book shop; Chopper's was the size of a pillow; Zoro's was tiny and wrapped in shimmery green wrapping paper; Sanji had left two, one oddly shaped with sharp angles and points, and the other, which was small and rectangular; Usopp's was also rectangular, but much bigger; Nami wrapped something cube-shaped; Luffy's present was by far the biggest, and was almost as tall as his waist and longer than Zoro lying down (a reliable measurement); Robin had put down something rectangular that was wrapped in pretty purple and yellow paper.

It really made a sight to look at as the sun set and the crew bounced around restless. Most of us anyways. I still couldn't persuade Zoro to join in the line-dancing.

Nami clapped her hands to get our attention. She reached down for the first present, which happened to be Usopp's. "The person who receives the present will then give their present to the person it is for. We'll start with Usopp. Make sense?"

We nodded excitedly and watched as Usopp gave the present to Chopper, who ripped the paper off to reveal a large book about horrifying diseases that sailors and pirates get on the sea. He squealed and threw himself at Usopp for a hug.

After, Chopper handed his present to me. Upon opening it, I found a huge bag of marshmallows in many flavours. I hugged the little reindeer and spun him around and thanked him. He might have been a little dizzy when I put him down.

I then handed my bag to Robin. I held my breath as she unwrapped it, and then silently burst out laughing as she read the title of the book. She surreptitiously covered the summary on the back as the jostling bundle of arms and legs that was Luffy and Usopp barged in to see. Her face was a portrait of surprise and happiness, but she toned it down to mild excitement as she genuinely thanked me. I responded in kind, then pointed to the bag.

"There's something else in the bag," I informed her.

Robin reached a slender had into the bag and pulled out Hot Air Balloon Flying For Beginners. This time, the entire crew burst out laughing. I guess the news had spread about my weird dream.

Next, Robin handed her present to Sanji, who nearly swooned as he received an electric blender for the kitchen. After thanking her profusely, the cook handed the two presents he wrapped to Zoro, with instructions to open the strangely shaped one first. I jumped in to intervene when Zoro tried to attack Sanji for giving him a watering can 'for that grassy moss-plant head of yours'.

When he had calmed down a bit, the aforementioned moss-plant head opened the second present. It was a not-shitty quality sword care set. Zoro looked at it in surprise, and mumbled out a thank-you, which Sanji replied to. With no insult! I nearly fainted in shock! (Well, not really, but some things you have to be dramatic about)

Zoro then tossed the tiny present to Nami, who caught it and unwrapped it. She jumped in glee when she took out the money she had given Zoro for a present. Minus the wrapping paper cost of course.

Nami then handed Usopp the strange cube-shaped present. His eyes widened as he opened an assortment of flammable, explosive, and poisonous powders for his slingshot ammunition.

"Where do you think she got that?" I muttered sideways to Zoro.

He leaned towards me and replied, "I don't think I want to know."

The present-giving had gone full circle, but there was still one present left. Or... actually... We all turned to Luffy, who had ripped the shiny red paper off of the last, huge, present and was happily chomping down on the biggest drumstick I had ever seen.

"YOU PICKED YOURSELF?!" Nami yelled in disbelief. "AND YOU GOT THAT?!"

"Mmf." Luffy mumbled affirmatively. "Mah gobt dsust wat Mah wamnpebd."

As Nami continued to stare in shock, the rest of the crew started using their presents, drinking, dancing, eating, and sometimes all four.

"Where do you think he got that?" I muttered sideways to Zoro again.

He leaned towards me and replied, "I don't think I want to know."

Needless to say, the rest of the night passed with much fun, alcohol, presents, and violence. I may or may not have subtly read over Robin's shoulder while eating strawberry marshmallows. Luffy almost ate until he was full, but he still had room for the dessert Sanji whipped up in his new blender after he finished the drumstick. Usopp almost set himself on fire, and Chopper interpreted it as a spontaneous combustion disease. Nami spent the time counting the money Zoro gave her. Overall, I think it was the best Christmas I had ever had.

A/N

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever I missed. I hope you're having a good time! Still no snow for me... and I live in Canada! Honestly...

Feedback is always appreciated!

See ya!