Pi For All {open}

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

The lone boy sat at the table, a bib tied around his neck. Technically there were several things under the bib besides the obvious (being a thin boy's chest and a t-shirt), including what appeared to be a brilliant red scarf and several necklaces that some might refer to as "bling," one of which happened to include a dollar sign in brilliant gold. The boy had just set down a menu and was now looking with completely stern eyes at the server who stood nearby. The woman, dressed in the staff uniform (it involved math jokes and what appeared to be a slice of pie), stared down at the boy.

"You do realize that if you don't break the record... you have to pay for all the food?" she pointed out.

"Of course I understand, woman! Do I look like an imbecile to you?" demanded Laharl, looking up at the woman. To her credit, she didn't take the obvious answer, but instead turned to look down the restaurant. Her manager was standing some distance away, and, having seen one of his staffers with a look that usually went on deer before being run over, he made his way over to where the young boy was sitting. The server leaned over, whispering quickly to the man. While they did, Laharl began drumming his fingers on the table, beating out a little ditty from the Netherworld: "Dancing with Your Intestines Around My Neck." It was a big hit.

"Young man," the manager said, coming over, "you do realize that this is, well, it's something of an eating contest, and you're..."

"A demon overlord," supplied Laharl, grinning widely up at the man. "Are you afraid that I'll eat so much your pathetic restaurant is forced to close its doors."

The man looked annoyed. "No, actually, we're---"

"Bring on the food, serving wench!" demanded Laharl, slamming his fist onto the table. this hurt more than expected, and he was soon waving his hand and trying not to wince too much. "I demand food!"

The two restaurant employees exchanged nervous glances. The server finally picked up Laharl's menu. "You do realize that you're allowed one partner in--"

"Fine, fine, fine," said Laharl, waving off the comment. "You there!" He pointed at some random stranger. "Get over here and join me in this eating contest, so that we might show these fools not to gain the wrath of the great Laharl!"

And all attention went in the same direction as the young man's finger.

[Deleted]

Jasmine had been craving something sweet. Pie, of course, would satisfy her craving. That was why she had come here. She still had enough spending money to by one delicious slice. She had never had any in Agrabah, but she had had one slice before. It was the greatest thing she had ever tasted, and she had tasted some real delicacies.

Suddenly, yelled something. When she looked at this person, she realized he was pointing at her. What had he said? It was something about an eating contest. Did he want her to join him? That couldn't be. She didn't have that much of an appetite.

"You want me to join you in this eating contest? I don't think this is the best idea," Jasmine said. There was no way he could win with her help, she was sure of it.

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

Laharl studied the other person for a few seconds, weighing her up. She certainly didn't look like that impressive of a champion, certainly not the type of person that he would normally approach. There were surely other people to whom he could turn. Besides, she hardly seemed interested.

"Yes, yes, you're right," he agreed, nodding. He slapped the table. "I need a fellow champion! Someone who wants to put away food and shame this place to its very core! You! What about you!?" he'd shifted, pointing at another hapless victim, completely ignoring the person who hardly seemed worthy of his time.

[Deleted]

Luffy had managed to enter the food establishment without causing an extreme ruckus or hoopla, if you will, which was a really big deal for him. This was due mostly to the fact that he was on a mission to find someone smart enough to figure out his problems. Just to be clear, Luffy though himself perfectly capable of figuring things out for himself, but he'd decided that he didn't want to and therefore needed a...partner? A helper? A...crew...mate? Something, or rather, someone to service his needs. Naturally he decided to go somewhere that they served food. He had hoped to find some kind of tavern or something. That seemed like a right place to look, but, having aimlessly ran around for a good long while he found himself entering a pie shop instead. Thats okay, smart people loved pie, everyone knew that. AND there were funny looking numbers all around. Smart people had to be in here. So, tipping his hat to mostly cover his eyes, he sauntered in with as much grace as he could muster and leaned in one corner. He kept his arms crossed and a determined frown on his face, denying any offer of service from the wait staff, though his heart hurt every time someone brought a piece of pie anywhere near him. Focus Luffy, focus.

Then the demon kid came in and started shouting. Luffy grit his teeth, recalling there previous encounter and how he had tried to steal his hat. No one steals his treasure. Now this kid was distracting him from his mission! Why was he even in here?! Only awesome smart people were supposed to be here. With hands balled into fists, Luffy took a step forward. He was three seconds away from charging the stupid scarf kid when it was revealed that he was trying to partake in some kind of eating contest. This changes everything.

Luffy froze mid step, his irritated expression dropping to one of confusion only to be over come by one of his trademark grins in a matter of seconds. His eyes glittered with dangerous excitement. An eating contest. Luffy hadn't lost an eating contest since....well he could remember right now but he was pretty sure it was never. His gum gum powers let him eat and eat until he was a big bloated mess and even then he wasn't likely to claim he was full. The only thing Luffy did better than eating was fighting, so an eating battle was sure to be legendary. He could tear this scarf kid apart while participating in his favorite pass time. YEEESSSS!

Of course, up until Laharl and begun pointing, Luffy had thought that he would be able to compete against him, not with him.

Fine. He had already promised himself that he was going to get to be in this contest one way or another. He would just have to beat up this kid after they won. Well after he won mostly. They weren't working together Luffy was just postponing killing him until after pie okay?!

Taking a deep breath, Luffy tried to look as deadly serious as possible before raising his gaze, dramatically, to meet Laharl.

I'll do it. he said, stealing himself away from the utter excitement that was bubbling inside of him. Pie. SO much pie.

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

Laharl turned, facing down the one being he considered his nemesis. His eyes narrowed into slits, and you could just feel the dramatic tension descending onto the place. It was so thick that you could cut it with a knife. Laharl even shifted his stance backward, his arms recrossing themselves across his chest. A slightly cocky smirk tweaked the edge of his lips as he stared down Monkey D. Luffy. This wasn't some random girl who had piped up that she couldn't possibly do it: this was the guy who Laharl had kicked in the nuts. You just don't forget something like that.

The servers, on the other hand, were staring at the two boys and looking at one another as though they really wished they worked somewhere else, preferably far away from the strange people who kept coming in. Still, one coughed, and gestured toward the menus.

"You think you can do it, loser?" taunted Laharl. He reached his thumb up to his nose, brushing against it in a manner so cocky that roosters died a county over. "Does your hat give you stupid eating powers too?"

Laharl barked a laugh, then turned to plunk down onto a chair, somehow not uncrossing his arms all the while. He stuck a leg out, pushing out a chair for Luffy to take. "Well, what are you waiting for? Take a seat already. I want to beat these stupid idiots, and you're better than nothing."

[Deleted]

Luffy's stone serious expresion managed to hold as he approached the place where Laharl stood. The annoying little kid began to speak, but his words only seemed to harden Luffy's resolve to win this thing. Yep. He said flatly. Of course he could do it. He was the best damn eater in the world and no little jerk was going to convince him otherwise. How old was this kid anyway? Seven? Even at that age Luffy would eat circles around him upside down and under water. Uh, well maybe not underwater. Luffy had remembered the hard way that he couldn't swim and he wasn't itching to try it again. His memories might be fuzzy at the moment, but the helpless feeling that overwhelmed him as he sank to the bottom of the sea was something that he was pretty sure had been burned in his mind over a very long period of time. Right so thats the first rule of this contest: no swimming. Wait, what was he talking about this was a eating contest right? OH YEAH, PIE!

Luffy was about to turn to one of the people nearby and demand pie right away when Laharl called his hat stupid again. Without warning, Luffy suck his nose in the demon child's face and growled violently. IT'S NOT STUPID! he shouted, jabbing a finger in the boy's chest. Right, so with that all cleared up, Luffy adjusted his straw treasure and stood back up. He folded his gangly arms as well and let his expression fall back into one of determined seriousness. He was going to win this contest with or without scarf kid and, more importantly, he was going to eat so much pie that they'd probably have to close this place down.

Grinding his teeth slightly, the teen plopped down int he seat offered to him and only offered a forceful Good. in response to Laharl's intent to beat their competition. He ignored the bit about him being better than nothing. This was not because he was trying not to get upset, but because it didn't make much sense to him. Of course he was better than nothing...anyone would have been better than nothing.

Hey you! Luffy suddenly shot, slamming his fists down on the table. Hurry up and bring me some pie! He demanded. Pie pie ppiiieee he needed it now so bad that he thought he might start trembling if he wasn't given some within the next five seconds.

[Deleted]

"Man, I'm famished." Gary was walking down the street, thoughts racing through his head and a stomach running on empty. He needed something sugary to keep him going, he needed...

Pie.

A pie shop! Gary's usual cocky smile grew twice as big as he spotted the place up ahead. He almost ran inside, his thoughts consumed by that of succulent and delicious pies. But as he walked up to the counter, Gary suddenly realized something terrible: he had no money. Now, the suits had given him a bit of spending money, but the money he hadn't spent already was back in his dorm (which he hadn't really spent much time in), so he was penniless at the moment. He considered going back for his money, but he been planning on saving it for rainy day, just in case. Using on pie, unfortunately, would probably be a waste. He needed a different plan...

"Can I help you sir?" The girl at the counter asked, obviously confused as to why Gary came in looking so eager then suddenly changed to more depressed contemplating mood. Gary searched his surroundings, looking for something, anything that could get him his pie. That's when he spotted to kids sitting at a nearby table. Something about a pie eating contest...

Of course! A pie eating contest! "Yeah, I'm here to enter the pie eating contest," Gary said, as if that was why he had entered this place to begin with. Gary's smug grin returned, and then quickly went away again when the girl responded with, "Of course. Do you have a partner with you?"

A partner? From the sound of it he didn't need one, but Gary didn't think they'd buy him being here for the contest if he went in alone. He wasn't looking to eat that many slices. That's when Gary looked back at the two kids again. Now that he payed more attention, it was pretty obvious they didn't like each other. The solution was simple; invite one of them onto his own "team". Now, which one looked like they could eat more pie...

First, there was the dorky freckled kid with all the ridiculous jewelry on. He didn't look like he could even hold down a couple Oran Berry smoothies, let alone pie. Then, there was the kid with the silly looking straw hat. He looked like a moron to Gary, but with a dumb look like that he had to be special in some way. He'll do.

"Yo," Gary shouted out to the boy in the straw hat, "Guy with the hat. You're always welcome to join my team if you want to enter the pie eating contest. You look like a guy who could eat plenty of pie!" Hopefully, Gary was actually right about this.

Gary, not even waiting for an answer, sat down at a nearby table and got a waiter's attention. "Hey, you! Get me and my buddy over there some pie, chop chop!" The waiter gave Gary a dirty look, but went over into the kitchen anyway.

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

Laharl just smirked at Luffy's anger, almost looking as though he lived off it. Which, in many ways, he more or less did. Anger and frustration were the way demons acted and behaved, after all. The smirking kid again took his seat. "Your hat is to stupid," he insisted, tying a bib across his impressive array of jewelry. He was wiggling into the seat while Luffy took the chair opposite, demanding pie. The staff looked as though they were willing, if not entirely eager, to serve the two young men and begin the contest. It did look like they'd be making their money, since there was just no way that these two scrawny guys could manage it.

Then there was the guy shouting. Everyone paused, heads swiveling to look at the new combatant. Laharl's eyes narrowed and he felt the anger bubbling up inside. "You can't just steal him!" he demanded, slamming his fist onto the table. Shouting was definitely something Laharl did well. he stood and thrust his hand out into a pose that was at least semi-dramatic. "He's my vass--partner now! You can't just call him over and steal him! Besides, look at you!" Laharl made another dramatic turn, this time moving to point an accusatory finger toward Gary. "You're all scrawny and pathetic! I can obviously out eat you any day of the week, you pathetic worm!"

Which, of course, was followed by Laharl crossing his arms over his chest, tilting his head back, and laughing maniacally. The "ahahahahaa" that followed was loud, nearly pitch perfect for a villain in a cheesy video game or film, and obviously well-practiced. Laharl had been able to get more than his share of practice in. "Ignore him," he ordered as he finished, his head whipping to Luffy. He took the seat almost violently, slapping it down. Pie appeared soon after, since the serving staff had been ready for Laharl and Luffy. Others were standing near the kitchen, eying Gary as though wondering how precisely they should get this going.

[Deleted]

Uhh...Luffy was confused. Not that it took a whole lot to confuse Luffy, but the scene was moving way to fast for him to figure out everything that was happening. Luffy was just mentally preparing himself for how awesome this pie was going to be when some weird guy walked in and offered himself as a contest partner or something. Luffy blinked blankly for a few seconds, the wheels in his brain slowly turned as he realized that he was a)in a pie eating contest, b)in a pie eating contest with the weird little guy, and c)he had no idea who this new guy was. Had he know this guy in the past? He wasn't Zoro cuz Zoro had green hair. Could he be someone that he had just forgotten about? Were they friends. What if they were friends? Then Luffy should be his partner instead of the other annoying guy, right? That kid had just called his hat stupid again. Still Luffy had made a commitment that he would be this guys partner, like a promise. Luffy didn't want to break a promise, but he also didn't want to be on a team with a bad guy. Luffy's jaw hung open for a bit, but he closed it long enough to push forth a few quiet and confused words.

Yeahbut I'm that guys partner... He managed plainly, sticking a thumb in Laharl's direction. How was he supposed to be this knew guys partner and the jerk's partner? It just didn't make any sense, understand?!

Speaking of the jerk, he'd gotten real worked up about this new guy and started yelling at him right away. Luffy tried to pay attention, but he was still trying to figure out the partner issue and Laharl's voice kept getting down out by his own thoughts. The new guy sat down and suddenly two words jarred Luffy out of his thoughtful stupor. In fact, they caused such an extreme and violent reaction in Luffy's brain that, without warning, He jumped out of his chair and brought his rubbery fist down on Gary's face. Luffy was abnormally strong, one of the powers given to him from the devil fruit he ate. Thankfully he hadn't put his full force into this particular punch given that he'd tried to stop it halfway through and failed.

UH... Luffy panicked, eyes wide and breathing sharp. Sorry guy! He managed, his mind reeling to come up with the cause of his physical outburst. Then it dawned on him.

Chop chop He had said. Luffy had heard those words before, though not from Gary's lips. In fact he had only ever heard them as a title for some kind of attack that was seconds away from reaching him. There was a man once, Luffy couldn't remember his name at the moment, but there was a man who used to say that all the time. Chop chop, quick escape! or Chop chop assemble! Ugh it physically hurt to have so many jumbled and broken memories buzz around his mind at once. he couldn't put them all together, but he managed to figure that this chop chop guy was a bad dude and, more importantly, he wasn't Gary.

Oops.

[Deleted]

"Scrawny? You're one to talk Freckles! You're as thin as paper, and probably about as smart too!" This was it, no going back for Gary. He had made his choice, and now he was going to have to stick to it. "We'll see who-"

Gary's words were cut short in the kid in the hat without warning jumped out of his chair and swung at Gary. "Gah!" Gary was surprised but still had a little bit of time to see the attack coming. He tried to dodge the fist, but still it was so fast that it grazed his cheek as it swung by. It had barely even touched him and it still managed to hurt like hell. His fist didn't seem normal, this kid was no normal kid, and definitely was not a normal human being. There was something different about this kid, that's for sure. Especially because he apologized afterwards.

Gary thought for a moment about this. This guy is totally off his rocker. He attacks me, and then says sorry afterwards as if he didn't mean it? Hmm... I get it. This guy must be easy to confuse; why else would he be with that dorky kid that he apparently hates? I think I got a plan...

"Dang, watch it!" Gary rubbed his cheek, but quickly regained his composure. "Look, level with me here. That guy's a prick, right? You don't have to eat pie with him, you know. You could eat it with me instead! Either way, you still get pie. I don't know what the punch was for, but we can talk about after we eat, right?"

Just as Gary finished talking, the waiter came back with the pie Gary asked for. "Eat pie with that guy who keeps making fun of your cool hat, or eat pie with me. Your choice buddy."

[Laharl Krichevskoy]

[careful with RP Timeline. This thread happens before the BBQ, which is before the CAUS meeting.]

Laharl was about to start shouting back to Gary, though there had been a pause while he tried to figure out why there had been a mention of freckles. About the time he realized that his new, pathetic human form happened to possess these things, the action had moved beyond trading insults. For Luffy had nearly flown across the restaurant, launching into what appeared to be an attack of some kind. Laharl gaped as the guy he'd fought nearly to a standstill achieved that feat. Clearly someone was getting their powers back a little faster than Laharl (though technically, everyone got their powers back faster than Laharl. It was a hard fact of life).

There was definitely a laugh from Laharl though. He leaned back in his chair, taking the pie from the server. Hey, it wasn't his fight. If the two wanted to duke it out, all the better for Laharl. Though, it did occur to him that he probably needed Luffy more or less together for this contest thing. A quick exchanged glance with a nearby waitress  confirmed this sad fact. The Overlord sighed and turned, seeing and hearing that Gary had moved on to persuasion by this point.

"He's my vass--pie eating  companion!" Laharl yelled, again hitting the table harder than was strictly necessary. "He's sworn to eat pie with me. So just take your loser self and get the hell out of here," Laharl smirked and took a big bite of pie, which he then spoke around as he continued: "befides, our pie if alweady hewe," he swallowed and pointed to the pie sitting at the seat across from him. He was sorely tempted to point out that Luffy's hat was incredibly stupid and lame and that complimenting it was just as stupid and pointless, but just as quickly decided that would be far too much effort.

[Deleted]

Luffy took on expression that looked something like concentration as his brow furred slightly and a frown trailed down one side of his face. He was indifferent to the fact that the guy didn't retaliate. One one hand, he was sorry for hurting him pointlessly, but Luffy also liked fights so he wouldn't have been too upset if a fist came flying back at him. That, of course, didn't happen, though there was a few sharp words tossed his way. Luffy didn't even think to apologize further or try and think how to help with the developing bruise. He's said he was sorry once already and that should be plenty and Luffy was no doctor. He'd barely hit him anyway, it's not like this kid was going to die or anything. Luffy may not be a doctor, but he was pretty confident he'd never killed anyone with a punch like that. That would just kind of be embarrassing and extremely boring. Then Gary started speaking, the first words out of his mouth were "Look, level with me here...

Luffy's brain shut off as if one cue. He'd heard lots of people start rants in similar fashions throughout the years. At least, he was pretty sure he had. There was a girl he thought had often tried to explain things to him using such tactics and almost always failed. This was probably due to the fact that plans and explanations often just confused the rubber man. He'd much rather just be pointed in the direction of the bad guy then run out there and take care of it. Too many words or stories just got jumbled up in his mind and frustrated him. Still, remembering that this didn't seem to be the case with most people and people often hit him if he just ignored them, Luffy adopted an expression of mild interest and nodded seriously every now and again. He was a pro at fake listening, though the words pie kept ringing in his ears as Gary went on. The words cool hat managed to get though too and Luffy flashed a grin before regaining his 'serious' face.

Right. Luffy managed. Pie. He said as his only response to Gary.

The jerk behind him started yelling some weird stuff that drew Luffy's attention back to the table. It was then that Luffy noticed the pies that had been delivered for the first time. It seemed like they had been talking about them for a long time, but now there were finally here. Luffy's stomach growled loudly as he suddenly lunged at the pie Laharl was currently eating.

FINALLY! Luffy shouted and, in one swop, the teen grabbed Harlie's pie with it's tin and all and shoved it in his mouth. His cheeks jutted out unnaturally to accommodate for large plate he was trying to swallow. For a second he looked like he might choke, but his rubber abilities served him well and he soon spit out the tin with only soggy crumbs left of the pie. With a bit of jovial laughter, he pat his tubby and move on to start shoving handfuls of his own pie in his mouth. Whatever the other two people had be arguing about didn't matter anymore, all Luffy cared about was the super delicious pie. He could care less about the contest right now, or the fact that people were staring.