While the rest of the crew was out, Casper had decided to do something special for everyone. It wasn't often that the cook got a chance to go shopping for himself, let alone go shopping alone at all. He had gathered the money given for gifts, plus a little extra from the jar of beli he kept in his room to be used for special occasions, and set out into the town.
The main square was quite beautiful, spacious and well taken care of. The large tree in the middle was a nice touch, decorated with a whole manner of ornaments.
As stoic as the cook had been before, he loved Christmas. Many would believe otherwise, but the older man was quite fond of the holiday. A time to reflect on what was most important in your life, spending time with friends and family, being happy and bonding. What was there not to love?
The carolers were singing, and he recalled his childhood, going door to door and performing for neighbors. He appreciated the music, heading towards the local dairy.
Stepping through the front door, a small bell chimed on the top of the door, and a woman looked up from the front counter.
"Welcome." She pushed her brown hair behind her ears. She looked to be in her forties or fifties, the wrinkles and laugh lines accentuating her warm eyes. Casper appreciated her motherly appearance before looking around, seeing the bottles of milk and dairy products lining the shelves.
"Quite a little shop you've got here." The cook said, and the woman bowed deeply.
"Thank you. My great-great-great grandfather started his business out of the back of his barn, and we've expanded the tradition ever since. Now, we supply most of the island with it's milk."
"Hmm, very interesting." He replied, his cook's knowledge deciding which of the products he needed for his plan. "Are your products family-made or has your business expanded to include machinery?" She shook her head vehemently.
"Oh, no sir. We've still retained the hand-milking tradition. We can accomplish all this," she gestured to the entirety of the store, "with a small staff of eight milking maids and three cheese makers."
"Well, then. Would you possibly have-"
"Eggnog?" She interrupted, and Casper raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, actually. How did you know?" She smiled.
"That's all anyone buys here during this time of year. It's a reasonable prediction." She moved to one of the refrigerated shelves behind the counter, taking out two bottles. Setting them on the counter, she allowed the cook to inspect them.
"These were freshly made this morning, milked straight from the cow and pasteurized last night."
Casper held up the bottle, shining the light through the bottle. "It appears to be very good quality." He commented. She bowed again.
"Thank you. Now, how many would you like? One bottle usually lasts a family of three for a day." At that, he smirked. Placing the large stack of beli on the counter, the woman's eyes widened in shock.
"I'll take fifty."
Being the day before Christmas, it was getting more difficult to find gifts. But the Heart Pirates had found the perfect presents for their nakama and hurried back to the little yellow submarine. The night before, everyone was busy preparing the gifts. Summer was trying to figure out how to wrap Reid's goggles, struggling to make the whole thing look nice when it was such a strange shape. Each time she tried, one of the corners would rip, or the tape wouldn't stay in place. She sighed, running a hand through her hair in frustration. Staring at the infernal thing, she crossed her arms.
"How am I gonna wrap you?" She questioned aloud, leaning against her bed. The past day or so had been pretty hectic, and just this small moment of relaxation felt great. But, it wasn't necessarily a bad kind of busy. She'd still enjoyed all of it.
There were whispered voices that moved down the hall in front of her door. She smirked, wondering who had returned from gift shopping. Everyone was so secretive and it was like a game, who could keep their gifts secret the whole time and who would cave. Summer already knew from several men that Law and Bepo tended to break that rule every year.
The whole Christmas thing…Summer really liked it, at least so far. This was the first Christmas she could ever remember having. All that time sailing between islands in escape of the Marines and the Doctor and Viper, everyone really, she'd never thought to celebrate the holiday. While the town was partying the night away, Summer stayed hidden in the alley shadows as uniformed men passed obliviously.
Realizing she'd started staring off into space, she shook her head and focused on the gift again. Looking at her clock, she saw it was already 8:30 at night. Sighing, she continued the struggle with the wrapping paper.
Penguin and Shachi were walking back from the main square to the sub, carrying wrapped and covered gifts between them. They were one of the last ones to buy their things, and so they were late going back. There was an unusual amount of people milling around, but they attributed this to the late gift-buyers.
"You think everyone will like their gifts?" Shachi asked, and Penguin nodded.
"Oh yeah. They'll love them!"
Their backs to the town, they turned when they heard the tap of a microphone. A man walked up to the tree, which was a raised platform, wearing a fancy suit and topcoat. He looked down at the crowd, spreading his arms out.
"Welcome, one and all, to the Christmas Eve Festival!" He said, and the town people clapped and cheered. The two engineers exchanged a look, ignoring the rest of the speech as they ran back to the sub.
"Guys!" They burst through the mess deck, where a few people were still up. Law sat in his usual seat, drinking coffee. Raising an eyebrow he looked at his engineers critically.
"What has you yelling so late at night?" They pointed towards the direction of the town frantically, unable to sit still.
"There's a festival in the town tonight! Let's go!" The others started getting excited, thinking about the sake bottles just waiting to be consumed. Law shook his head in amusement, wondering where he found half his crew. Sometimes he thought they acted like three-year-olds.
"Alright, alright." He conceded with rolled eyes, and the engineers fist pumped the air. "Tell the rest of the crew, I suppose." He finished, but the men were already out the door. Law would rather be inside the warm sub, drinking coffee and reading medical journals, so he stayed put, letting the crew have their fun.
"Summer-chan! Open up! There's a festival in town!" Summer was jolted awake by the intense banging against her door. Groggily, she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Looking around, she saw the successfully wrapped presents lying on the floor around her. She must have fallen asleep afterwards. The knocking continued and Summer went to answer. Opening the door, she was faced with two very hyper engineers.
"What is it?" She mumbled, hair sticking out in several places.
"We're all going to the festival." Penguin said.
"Festival?" She asked, stretching her stiff limbs out.
"Yeah, you should come. It'll be fun!"
"Have you ever been to a Christmas festival?"
"You can see the giant tree again and people will be singing, and there'll be food-"
"Ok, ok. I get it." She held up her hands, cutting off the endless rambling of her nakama. "I'll go."
"Come on then!" They grabbed her arms and she began to protest.
"Let me get dressed first!"
ns 15.158.61.48da2
