Chapter 3
A few days later at sea…
"It's finished!" Luffy shouted as he held up a badly drawn Jolly Roger.
"Um…Our captain seems to be a little low on the design sense…" Usopp muttered as they stared at the picture.
"Is it meant to be abstract?" Nami asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Well…Pirate flags are meant to inspire terror…and his design is very scary." Zoro stated.
"Do you like it?" Luffy asked, grinning.
"It's terrible." Usopp said bluntly. "Here let me try." He suggested as he took a paintbrush to a clean black flag.
A few minutes later…
"Well, what do you think?" Usopp asked, holding up the now painted sail.
"That's not our symbol!" Luffy and Zoro shouted with each of them giving him one hard hit to the head.
"Here, let me try." Kagome said, taking a can of paint and a brush, along with another blank black sail with her into the storeroom and closing the door behind her with her strong panther tail.
5 minutes later…
"How does this look?" Kagome asked as she reappeared with another design held firmly in her mouth.
"Wow! That's perfect!" Nami exclaimed as Kagome showed them the design.
"That looks so different from the other one!" Zoro said.
"Yeah!, Usopp can you paint this design on the sail as well?" Luffy asked as he stared at their new Jolly Roger.
"Of course! I've honed my artistic ability by painting on peoples walls for years, this is a simple task compared to that." Usopp boasted. "I'm quite the artist you know."
"This looks good but I am wondering how you did it." Zoro said, staring at Kagome. "Last I checked, panthers, even Devil Fruit panthers shouldn't be able to paint at all, let alone this well."
"As you said, I am a Devil Fruit user, so it stands to reason that I would also have a human form, wouldn't it?"
"If you do have a human form, why haven't we seen it?" Nami asked.
"Well…"
"Kagome's shy about her human form." Luffy said bluntly.
"Luffy!"
"Even when I was a kid, I only saw Kagome as a human once or twice."
"Hey! I just remembered something." Luffy said later as they all sat round the dining room table, except Zoro who was almost sleeping against the back wall.
"What's that Lu?" Kagome asked between licks as she preened herself.
"That there's still one position that we still need to fill before we set sail for the Grand Line."
"That's right; after all we do have a fantastic kitchen. Of course, I'd be willing to do it for a price."
"One of the most important members of any crew."
"You think so too right?" Luffy asked.
"Yeah, what this ship really needs is a-"
"A Musician!"
"ARE YOU STUPID?" Nami, Zoro and Usopp yelled.
"I think that's up for debate." Kagome said.
"And here I thought that you were going to say something smart for once." Nami muttered. "Do you have any idea what sailing on the sea's is like, let alone the Grand Line?"
"COME ON OUT YOU DAMB PIRATES!" A loud voice suddenly interrupted. "I'M GOING TO SLAUTER EVERY ONE OF YOU!"
"Oh boy…" Kagome muttered, Who did you *% off this time Lu?"
"Nobody I think, I don't recognise the voice." Luffy said, frowning in concentration as he got up and left to confront their opponent. "Oi! Who are you?"
"That's none of your business!" The man yelled back before drawing a sword and ran at Luffy, trying his best to his the speedy rubber man.
"How many are there?" Kagome asked Usopp and Naimi who had gone to watch through the small window.
"Just the one."
"Then that shouldn't be a problem for Luffy," Kagome announced as she continued to preen herself.
"He's very fast though." Usopp commented.
"Who? Luffy or the other guy?"
"Both, but I think Luffy's much faster." Usopp clarified.
"I've killed many pirates," the stranger's voice floated to them, "A no-name like you shouldn't dare kill my buddy!"
It was then that Zoro suddenly stood up to his feet and pushed Usopp and Nami away from the door so he could open it. "I don't know what you're talking about," Luffy was saying, "but... STOP DESTROYING MY SHIP!"
Zore was met with the sight of his captain slamming a dark haired man with sunglasses and a black sword into the deck. "Johnny?" he asked with a frown. "What are you doing?"
The man jerked his head up from the deck to stare at her. "Big bro Zoro!" he exclaimed.
"Big bro?"
"I never thought I'd see your ugly mug without those other two. Where are Yosaku and Yasha? And what's this about killing a buddy? If anything has happened to Yasha…"
Johnny's lip trembled and he sat up. "Yosaku...Yosaku's sick! Do you guys have a doctor, Big Bro? He really needs one!"
Zoro's frown deepened. "What's wrong with him?"
"His teeth started coming out and his old wounds started bleeding. I-I don't know what to do! We took a rest by that boulder and then this ship shot a cannon ball at us!"
"We're very sorry," Luffy and Usopp apologised, bowing to Johnny.
"I-it's okay," he put a hand on his forehead. "Since you said you were sorry—"
"Are you guy's idiots?" Nami asked with Kaogme standing beside her.
"What did you say?" Zoro asked.
"Miss, I won't let you guys go free if you even dare to make a mockery of my partner's suffering…." Johnny growled.
"Luffy! Usopp! I saw some lemons in the kitchen. Go and squeeze out all the juices from them and bring the juices back here." She ordered.
"R-Roger!" The boys yelled, eager to help after seeing that they had half caused this with Nami following them to make sure that they did the job right.
"Lemons?" Jonny questioned as he watched the boys run off back towards the kitchen.
"Johnny and Yosaku are a bounty hunting team," she answered as if it was unimportant. "Bring Yosaku to the deck," she instructed as she disappeared into the galley.
A few minutes later, Johnny had hauled his friend onto the deck and shortly after Nami walked out of the galley with a bottle of freshly squeezed lemon juice. "You're both idiots," she told the pair before shoving the bottle into the prone man's mouth.
"You know what's wrong with Yosaku, Big Sis? Will he be okay?"
"Please don't call me that." Nami said. "He has scurvy.
"Scurvy?" Luffy asked.
"In the past, it was caused by sailors not eating enough fruits and vegetables with the right vitamin. It was practically a death sentence in those times. It was quite common back then because ships couldn't keep fruits and vegetables over long journeys.
"I've never seen a case of it in real life before," Zoro murmured, examining the sick man.
"If it's not too late he should be fine in a couple of days. Yosaku has scurvy; I don't know how you've managed to sail this long and not know about it. Scurvy is caused by not getting enough Vitamin C. A long time ago, most sailors died from scurvy because they couldn't keep vegetables over long journeys. There shouldn't be a sailor that doesn't know what it is."
"Wow! You're like a doctor Nami." Luffy said.
"Yeah, I always knew that girl was special. My eyes are never wrong." Usopp boasted.
"IF YOUR GOING TO BE SAILING, THEN YOU SHOULD AT LEAST KNOW THAT MUCH!" Nami yelled.
"I'm healthy now!" Yosaku suddenly shouted as he jumping up and started dancing hand-in-hand with Johnny.
"Haha! My partner's all better now!" Johnny yelled gleefully.
The ball of Nami's foot slammed into his chest and held him to the ground. "What part of in a couple of days did you two not understand? You need to rest and get a lot of Vitamin C and then you'll be healthy."
"Yes ma'am!" they quipped immediately. Before Yosaku collapsed again, blood once again flowing freely from his wounds.
"Yosaku!"
"Oh move over." Kagome commanded as she moved forward to sit beside Yosaku's wounds. A moment later and she had placed her paw over his wounds and everyone watched, amazed as a soft pink light enveloped Yosaku's wounds and they stood breathless and the wounds started to heal and in minutes, there wasn't even a scar left.
"Let that be a lesson to you all." Nami said as Yosaku slept of the last of his scurvey down in the boy's room.
"These are the kinds of things we'll have to face from now on." Zoro said.
"Yeah, he would've died if they hadn't come across us." Usopp commented.
"Yeah, you guys seriously need to find someone to think about our diet to make sure that we stay healthy." Nami said.
"When you think about it, being able to cook is one of the most important talents to have when you're out at sae." Kagome said. "I can cook to a degree but I don't know too much about cooking at sea so we're defiantly going to need to find someone who does."
"Alright then, it's decided! Let's go and find ourselves a seafaring cook." Luffy announced.
"Bro!"
"What is it Johnny?"
"If it's a cook that you're after, I know just the place!"
Later…
"So Johnny, where is Yasha?" Zoro asked later after everything had settled down.
"No clue. He took off a couple of weeks ago to look for you."
"Why, he knows I can take care of myself." Zoro said, deciding not to bring up the events that had led to him becoming a part of this crew.
"He said that he was worried about your navigation curse and your ability to cause trouble. So he left to find you."
"And it's been a few weeks since he left you say?"
"Yeah, I expected him to have been here with you. You know how good he is at finding the person that he's looking for."
"Well, I haven't seen him but at least I know that he's looking for me." Zoro said as he sellted down for a nap, stopping all further conversation between him and Johnny.
"Brother Zoro, brother Luffy, brother Usopp, brother Nami, Sister Kagome! We've arrived at the sea going restaurant, Baratie!" Johnny yelled as they finally came close to said restaurant.
"Why am I 'brother'?" Nami grumbled before moving to see the impressive restaurant.
"Well, what do you think everyone?" Johnny asked.
"What a huge fish!" Luffy yelled.
"Wow!" Nami exclaimed
"That's so funky!" Usopp yelled in excitement before they noticed the marine ship sailing up beside them.
"Ah, great. Just what we need. Marines." muttered Zoro.
"Maybe they won't notice us. After all, we're just a ship passing through? What are they gonna do?" Usopp asked as Luffy nodded in agreement. He was right, what were they going to do? Blast them out of the sea?
Later, after a series of weird occurrences, Luffy somehow found himself being dragged to a room by two men in white uniforms. He didn't even know how they had gotten a hold of him. One moment he was standing on his ship and the next he was being dragged through a long hallway on the seagoing restaurant.
When the Marines had attacked the Going Merry, Luffy had sent the attack flying back, only to accidently misfire and ruin a part of the Baratie instead. Suddenly, Luffy was shoved into the room and he now sat in front of a man with straw-coloured hair and light gray eyes. He wore an expensive-looking chef uniform and he also had a funny looking braided moustache and the final thing that Luffy noticed was that he had peg leg and on top of all that, he looked steaming mad.
"…Sir, this young man right here is the one who started the whole fiasco." said one of the guys who had carried him in. The blonde man looked at Luffy as the teen bowed in apology.
"I'm really, really sorry! It was an accident! I didn't mean to do it on purpose! I really am sorry!" the raven-haired boy apologised sincerely. "OH KAMI! YOUR LEG!" he cried in dismayed as he stared at said leg before the man whacked him heard on the head.
"You brat. Don't be stupid. You didn't get my leg." muttered the man. This shut Luffy up as he stopped crying and she looked at the ground. The man then looked up at his damaged roof." You did some serious damage around here. For that, you have a big payment to pay." he said. Luffy scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment
"I won't ask ya to cut me some slack but you need to know this; I'm flat-out broke." Luffy said plainly before the man gave a knowing look.
"Ok then, you'll just have to work for me. Unpaid, for a whole year." he said. Luffy grinned and nodded, his brain taking a few seconds to work out what he said.
"OK. I'll work for you for a whole year…. Wait…."
"A WHOLE YEAR! NO WAY!" He yelled as his brain suddenly caught up with the conversation.
"Are you sure you want to do that Zeff?" Kagome's voice suddenly asked. "Because if you do then your going to regret it very quickly."
"Kagome?" Zeff and Luffy asked at the same time.
"That's my name, don't wear it out." Kagome said as she flew into the room via the huge, gaping hole.
"What are you doing here?" Zeff asked. "And where's your friend, the blonde kid?"
"My friend is currently on another mission at the moment and the reason I'm here is because I'm a member of Luffy's crew." Kagome explained, drawing attention away from her companion before Luffy put two and two together and started asking questions.
"Kagome, you know this old guy?" Luffy asked in confusion.
"Yeah, the people I was sailing with around 10 years ago rescued him and a kid who would be around your age now from a deserted, rocky island in the middle of the ocean." Kagome explained.
"Yeah, and both me and the eggplant are going to be forever grateful to that ship." Zeff said before frowning. "What did you mean 'I'm going to regret it?"
"You do remember my companion's appetite, right?" Kagome asked as she leaned forward, lowering her voice so that Luffy conuld't hear her words.
"Ha! How could I forget? That brat could eat for five kids his size." Zeff said, laughing loudly.
"Yeah, well Luffy's appetite is ten times worse and as far as I know, he can't cook or clean to save his life."
"Hey! I can so!" Luffy yelled.
"Licking your plate clean does not count Luffy." Kagome stated.
Meanwhile, right in the grand room of the Baratie, a waiter walked over to a table with a bottle of wine and he poured the drink to the two customers he was serving. He stood by the two in case they needed anything else. The two people were a man and a woman. The woman was beautiful with pale-blonde hair and the man had purplish-pinkish hair and he wore iron knuckles. The two clinked their glasses and they drank. The man paused and he held his hand up slightly. "This taste… there's no doubting it. It's cider yet grape-like taste… it is none other than the world renowned Crème de Pomme Du Raisin, The cream of the grapes and apples. Correct, waiter?" The man asked the blonde haired man who was serving them.
"No sir, that's completely wrong." said the man after he had placed the bottle on the table and had begun to walk away before suddenly stoping and turning his head a bit, one ocean-blue eye on the iron fingered man." And sir, my name is Sanji, the sous chef of this ship. All the other waiters jumped ship yesterday. Enjoy your meal. The soup taste best when hot." Sanji said as he continued to walk away, a trail of the smoke of his cigarette wisped in the air as he left.
People began snickering as the man's jaw went tight.' That… that bastard! How dare he embarrass me in front of my date! He shall pay!' Fullbody thought angrily. A bug suddenly crawled by and the man stepped on it. He smirked and he clapped his hands two times." Hey, waiter! What is this bug doing in my soup?" he called. Sanji soon walked back over and raised a curled eyebrow before smirking knowingly.
"Well, sir, it seems very obvious. I believe he is doing the backstroke." he said coolly. Everyone immediately began laughing at Sanji's joke but Fullbody suddenly slammed down his full plate of food with white-hot anger. Sanji's look flattened and he had a sudden look in his eye. "That soup… it took three days to prepare and we shipped in the most expensive spices in the world… just for a sick piece of &$%* like you…" he muttered. The man snarled and he threw a punch with his iron knuckles. Sanji easily countered it. It didn't take long for the fight to involve blood.
"Sanji! What the hell are you doing! That guy is Marine Lieut. Full-Body! Why are you fighting him!" yelled a man who was clearly a chef just like Sanji. The chef was very muscular and bald with his scalp was painted a light blue colour. Moments later, Nami, Zoro, and Usopp walked into the restaurant.
Sanji clenched his teeth before muttering "&$%* like this man… don't deserve to taste food as good as ours."
Before the other guy could said anything else, another man suddenly walked in. His hair was granite-gray and it looked as though he hadn't looked after it for several days and he also had a gash at the side of his head. He walked in, sat in a chair, and he placed his feet on the table.
"Bring me some food. Now." The new guy ordered. Everyone stood frozen in their spots, wondering just who the heck this guy was. And if things didn't get any weirder than they already have, they just did. Luffy came walking down the steps with Zeff following down behind them and Kagome in her parrot form riding on Zeff's shoulder.
"What's going on here?" Zeff asked as he and Luffy moved towards Sanji while the man with the bleeding gash waved his hand.
"All I want is some food." he said. The blonde old man raised an eyebrow and he gestured Sanji over.
"Sanji, go and make some food. I don't know what the hell is going on but, a customer is a customer. As for you," the man glared at Full-Body." Get out of my restaurant before I kick your ass into next year." he muttered.
Full-Body glared and he retreated out of the sea restaurant. The man turned to Luffy." Young man, escort this man outside. He needs to eat outside." he said. Luffy shrugged and with Kagome transferred to his shoulder, he walked over to the bleeding man and started helping him to his feet before leading him outside.
Once outside, the man laid down on the ground while Luffy sat on the railing and Kagome sat next to him with Kagome having shape shifted back to her panther form, now sure that she wouldn't scare the &$%* out of the rich customers inside who had probably never seen a panther, let alone a tame panther in their lives.
A little while later, Sanji came out with a steaming plate of rice and shrimp.
"Here, eat up." He said as he placed the food down and he sat down in front of them. "So what are your two names?" Ha asked blankly.
"I'm Kagome and thats Luffy." Kagome said.
"…So you're a Devil fruit user…Miss?" Sanji asked uncertainly, once he had gotten over the shock of hearing a panther talk perfect English.
"Yes and your name is…?" Kagome asked.
"I'm Sanji."
"You're the little eggplant? Wow you sure grew up well." Kagome commented, looking him
"How do you know that name?" Sanji asked suspiciously, his single curly eyebrow eye narrowing.
I was on the ship that rescued you and Zeff ten years ago." Kagome explained before the three suddenly heard sobbing and they turned to see the man with a gash crying and eating his food.
"Really? I don't remember you." Sanji said, frowning.
"That's probably because you were unconscious for most of the time you were on board from malnourishment and dehydration." Kagome explained before she was interrupted by the now sobbing man wolfing down his food almost as fast as Luffy.
"I'm-I'm s-sorry for crying! This food… This food is the best I've-I've ever had in m-my life! I thought I was- I was gonna starve! Arigato! A-arigato so much!" cried the man as he ate. Sanji blew cigarette smoke.
"Don't thank me, thank Zeff. He's the one who told me to feed ya. But, even if he didn't tell me to feed ya, I still would have." said the cook. Luffy and Kagome both gave him a smile.
"Wow, you really are a cool chef and guy, aren't you?" Kagome asked as Sanji just grinned.
"But of course, Miss. Kagome! I always help those who are in need of a meal." he said.
"I'm glad to hear that. 'Cause I'm in need of a chef. Wanna join me?" Luffy asked, butting into their conversation. Sanji just raised his curled brow.
"Huh?" he asked.
"Ya see, I'm a pirate captain and I'm looking for a chef to join my crew." Luffy explained, gesturing to himself and then to Kagome.
"I see." Sanji said as Kagome stared at the both of them.
"You're both pirates?" Sanji asked.
"Yep!" Luffy said bluntly.
"Why did you shoot a cannon ball into the restaurant?"
"That was an accident! A self-defence stray shot."
"A what now?"
"He means that the Navy man you beat up inside ordered his crew to sink out ship even though we did nothing to provoke him. It's just that Luffy lost his grip on the ship when returning the shot and accidently shot it into restaurant." Kagome explained.
"In an event, don't do anything stupid to this restaurant." Sanji ordered.
"This place means a lot to you, doesn't it? Like how you beat up that weirdo." Luffy asked as Sanji nodded.
"Yeah. I like it here. Just as much if not more so than the old man does. He used to be a pirate cook captain before even thinking about owning this place and he takes pride in letting customers of all kinds coming here to eat his food. And that includes pirates. That's pretty much why all the waiters left; they couldn't take it any longer." Sanji explained as Luffy suddenly snapped his fingers in realisation.
"Ah, so that's why the old guy wants me to work for him for a whole year. Oh yeah, so are you joining my crew or what?" asked the raven-haired boy with big puppy dog eyes staring as Sanji shook his head.
"I refuse. There's a reason that I have to stay in this restaurant."
"No! I refuse!" Luffy shouted, stretching his head down in front of Sanji's.
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"I refuse your refusal!" Luffy stated crossing his arms and legs I determination. "You're a good cook so lets be pirates together!"
"Oi! Listen to what I'm saying…" Sanji said moving back from Luffy and staring at him with annoyance clear on his face.
"You'd be wise to just give up Sanji, better men than you have tried and failed to refuse Luffy." Kagome said quietly. "He's not going to give up until you say yes, his brother found that out the hard way."
"So, what's the reason?"
"None of your business!"
"Huh? You just told me to listen to what you say!"
"I'm telling you to accept what I say!" Sanji yelled. "I'm gonna cut you into tiny pieces soon, you damb Straw hat!"
"What did you say! I'm gonna beat you up if you even think about making fun of my strawhat, you jerk."
"Sorry to interrupt..." the three tuned back to the guy with the gash on his head. Kagome was gald to see that the wound no longer bled." Forgive me but, my name is Gin and I am a part of Don Krieg's pirate crew. You say you are pirate captain. Tell me, what is it you are searching for?" asked Gin. Lucy gave her signature grin.
"That's easy. I'm looking for the One Piece. And pretty soon, I'm gonna be searching for it in the Grand Line." Luffy said, smiling while Gin frowned.
"…Given that you're looking for a cook, I'm going to assume that you only have a few members…"
"Yeah, he's the sixth member." Luffy said, pointing at Sanji.
"What are you counting me for?" Sanji yelled in protest.
"Listen, you seem like a nice guy so I'll warn you now; The Grand Line is a place you want to avoid. You're still quite young, you should explore the other seas, you don't need to rush."
"I see a problem with your logic." Kagome suddenly piped up. "Even if we did build our way up, we would still need to go through the grand line. Even if we just wanted to go to South blue, we would still need to go through the grand line." She said, making Gin stop and think about it for a second.
"I see…You know something about the Grand Line?" Luffy asked, suddenly interested.
"No…I don't know anything…I don't understand anything about it at all." Gin said in pure terror. "That's exactly why I fear it."
"You know, for a members of Don Krieg's crew, you're a wimp." Sanji said bluntly as Luffy tilted his head. 'Who was Don Krieg?'
