The fourth chapter of OP Full Blast: East Blue Bash has arrived!

Damon: Oh, really? I thought it was the last chapter of Lord of the Rings.

...That was a totally random book to choose.

Damon: No, it's not. Tolkien is an awesome author. Unlike you.

Oi...

Chapter 4 start!

The Unexpected Customer!

What the Hell are You Wearing, Lucy?!

Previously on One Piece Full Blast:

The Marine said something else, but I couldn't understand him because suddenly... CRACK! A bullet hole opened in his body and he fell to the ground, the floor covering with blood. Standing behind him and holding a pistol was a man who was so thin, he looked like death itself. It reminded me of the time on the streets when I had nearly starved to death.

"Looks like things are about to get very interesting," I muttered.

A waiter dressed in a simple chef's outfit came over to us and escorted us to a table by the spiral staircase. "Gomen," he said. "We don't mean to cause trouble for you."

"It's fine," I shrugged. "I've been in the middle of craziness worse than this before. In my opinion, this is just a good show. Well, other than the ceiling caving in. That freaked me out."

"That guy is from Don Krieg's ship," I heard a cook say.

Outside of our group, Lucy grinned. "A pirate, huh?"

The man with the pistol stumbled over to an empty table. He wore a white jacket with a red dragon embroidered on either side and a forest green shirt underneath that. His pants matched his jacket. A headband outlined his crown, and he was so thin you probably could've seen his bones if he'd take off his shirt.

I shook with anger. Having almost starved to death myself out on the streets of New York City last summer, I knew exactly what the man was feeling. I gritted my teeth, my face probably red with my rage. I wanted to kick that bastard Marine's ass for making that pirate go through all that. I mean sure he's a pirate, most of whom kill innocent people for the hell of it, but in my opinion, no one deserved starvation. It was just too cruel. You simply don't know what it's like to go for long without food until you've experienced it yourself.

"Another customer has arrived," Patty said, raising an eyebrow.

"He'd better not cause any trouble in my restaurant," said Zeff dangerously.

The pirate put a foot up on his table and hissed, "I don't care what dish you bring, just get me some food." He was bleeding out of a cut above his eye. The man was bruised up pretty badly, like he'd been on the wrong end of a bad fight, but his muscles were pretty huge - - like a big-time weight lifter's. "This is a restaurant, isn't it?"

"No, it's a spa," I said quietly but sarcastically, earning me a hit from Nami.

"Welcome, you damn crook!" greeted Patty with a stupid smile that made his already not-too-good-looking face look uglier.

"I'll only say it once more, so listen up. Bring me some food."

Lieutenant Fullbody narrowed his eyes. "He's gonna kill that cook..."

"I'm sorry, Sir, but we'll be expecting you to pay for your meal here," Patty told him. "Do you have any money?"

The starving man cocked the hammer of a pistol and pointed it at Patty's forehead, murmuring, "Is a bullet enough?"

"So I take it that you don't have any money."

CRASH! Patty slammed his fists down and smashed the chair that the pirate had been sitting in just moments before, having just jumped out of the way in the nick of time. And he was reprimanding Sanji for beating up customers!

Head Chef Zeff was not impressed. "Why, that Patty bastard broke one of my chairs!"

"Wow, what power!" said Lucy, eyes wide.

Sanji smoked his cigar distastefully.

"If you can't pay up, you can't eat!" Patty sneered at the pirate, who was laying on the ground and clutching his stomach, a pained look on his face. Customers and cooks alike cheered him on, while I growled in anger. "Oh, your stomach's growling there, you filthy pirate!"

"That was a fart," said the pirate seriously.

I busted out laughing, attracting weird looks at our table from the rest of the crowd. Hey, the dude was funny! I appreciate good humor.

"You jerk, just hurry and get me something to eat," he continued.

Patty, however, was unamused. "YOU'RE NO CUSTOMER, SO GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!"

Sanji walked off to the kitchen, and I smiled. I'd never liked Sanji too much because he was a perverted bastard who only cared about women, women, and women, but maybe he wasn't so bad in real life. Who knew?

Patty started beating up the starved man, and finally I'd had enough.

"Oi! Jerk Chef!" I called. Everyone in the vicinity looked at me, wondering what I could possibly be angry about. I continued, staring at the especially surprised chef with an even, unwavering glare. "That man is starving. Don't you have any humanity at all? Even if he is a pirate, so what? I'd say a good half, or at least a third of this world's population are pirates." I stood up sharply and slammed my fist against the table. Everyone in the joint jumped, except for the Straw Hats, who just stared up at me in surprise. "JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE PIRATES, IT DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN TREAT 'EM LIKE DIRT!"

Fullbody, who'd been crawling away, looked at me, and a glimmer of recognition sparked in his eye. Maybe he remembered me from the cannonball incident? Anyway, when he recognized me, he immediately crawled away even faster. I mentally smirked.

"What are you going on about?" Patty growled at me.

"No one, whether they be citizen, pirate, or Marine, deserves to starve," I said, narrowing my eyes and beginning to step firmly over to him. I could see Nami panicking and trying to catch my eye, trying to keep me from doing anything rash, but I simply ignored her. "Starvation is a horror that nobody, no matter what their crime may be, should suffer. Until you've been through it yourself, you have no idea just how terrible it is."

Zeff and Sanji raised an eyebrow and blinked at each other. I could tell they had probably inferred by now that I knew this from experience.

"I don't understand," said the chef, crossing his arms and still rubbing his foot in the pirate's face. He frowned at me like I was a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe.

"Then I'll make you," I hissed.

"Oi, Damon-kun, stop!" I heard Usopp cry.

I ignored him, too. As Christian as I was, I couldn't let Patty's insult go without a proper punishment, and he was just asking to get socked in the face. The large chef stepped off the pirate's face and drew up even with me. He was far taller than me, and I was at least five-foot-seven. He had a fair amount of bruises himself, but now that I was up closer, I could see in his eyes that he didn't usually act like this.

Okay, I decided. Guess I'll go easy on him, then.

Patty cracked his knuckles. "Lookin' for a fight, ya damn punk?"

"Bring it, ya damn chef," I returned evenly, cracking my own.

In that moment, it seemed that the restaurant itself held in a deep breath.

Then - -

POW! With one clean punch, I sent the big guy flying into the wall, where he slammed to a halt and slid down, his nose trickling blood. Patty's eyes had rolled back in his head. He was clearly unconscious. My knuckles had red marks on them.

The Baratie was so silent you could here a pin drop.

Suddenly, Lucy fell over laughing, breaking the thick tension. I cracked a smirk at her and turned to the customers, still stunned silent. I smiled, my angry expression now gone. "Alright everyone, please return to your meal!"

"Damon, you baka!" Nami shrieked with shark teeth and a tic-pulse.

I rolled my eyes. "Can it."

I picked up the pirate and carried him over my shoulder outside, the restaurant's customers murmuring and staring at me as I passed. Damn, was he heavy... I groaned in my head. I set him down gently on the deck and sat next to him, leaving the Straw Hats to wonder what the hell I was doing. The sound of the waves rolling in the background calmed me.

The pirate rolled over into a kneeling position and hissed, "D-Damn that chef..." Then he looked at me, confusion in his eyes. "Why did you save me?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but didn't get a chance to because Lucy appeared on the floor above us and said, "Ne, you're starving, aren't you?"

"Sh-Shut up. I'm n-not the least bit hungry..."

"You sure look and sound like it to me," I deadpanned.

His stomach growled, proving my point. I chuckled.

The door opened again to reveal Sanji with a plate of food that looked very... Japanese, including rice and seafood, as well as a glass of water to wash it down with. He set it down in front of the weak man and sat next to me on the railing, smoking another cigar.

"Eat it."

The pirate looked at the plate of food, eyes wide with desire. He gulped hungrily, but said, "Shut up! Go away! This is even worse. I won't accept charity." He looked to the side. "Take it away!"

"It's not charity," I said, shaking my head.

"Yeah. Don't be so tough, just it eat already," Sanji agreed. "To me, any hungry person's a customer."

"I... I can't pay for it."

-GRUMBLE GRUMBLE GROWL-

"The vast ocean can be very cruel," the blonde began. "It's awful not to have any food or water. Just awful... I understand starving people more than just about anyone. I don't care if you wanna die with pride." He gave the pirate a small smile. "But if you eat up now, you'd be able to look forward to a new tomorrow as well as pride truly worth having, won't you?"

My smile grew wider. Sanji was pretty cool, actually.

The starved man's eyes went wide with awe, and then, as if a switch had been flipped, he grabbed the plate of food and started stuffing his face with it, literally crying in joy. "Delicious! It's so delicious! I thought I was gonna die! I thought I was a goner." He shoveled the rice-seafood dish into his mouth.

"When you haven't had a thing to eat in weeks, or even days, your next meal tastes like happiness on a plate, doesn't it?" I said. "Me and Sanji here, we know what it's like to starve."

The chef looked at me in surprise. "How'd you..."

"I'm a psychic," I cut him off.

His jaw dropped. "Eh!?"

"Yummy, so delicious!" the pirate cried happily. "I've never had such a good meal in my whole life!"

"Well, Sanji is the best cook on the seas," I shrugged. Sanji again looked startled, though this time it was probably because he thought Zeff was the best cook. Then he looked back at our friend and grinned.

"You like it, eh?" the teen said.

Above us, Lucy giggled. "Well, now I've found my cook!" And thus the Will of D enters into play. "Hey, aren't you lucky? If he hadn't given you something to eat, shishishi, it'd be all over for you by now! Ne, Mr. Cook, care to join us? You'll be the cook on our pirate ship!"

I raised an eyebrow and looked up at her. "...Why, exactly, are you laughing?" I blinked. "And wait, where did you come from, anyway?"

Sanji's eyes turned to hearts the moment he spotted Lucy... and all the respect I'd just built up for Sanji flew out the window.

"AH, MELLORINE~!" he swooned, kneeling with one hand on his knee. "If I could go anywhere I wanted with you, I would, but alas I cannot! I'm afraid I can't leave this restaurant, this cursed Baratie that is the wall between our love!"

A tic mark pulsed on the back of my head and I stood up and glared at the cook. "OI! DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, YOU ERO-COOK!"

COMMERCIAL BREAK OF... COMMERCIALNESS!

Robin: That isn't a word, Author-san.

Ah, but it is! I made it up in the awesome Dictionary of Me! And where the hell did you come from?! You don't show up until Whiskey Peak!

Lucy: Whoa, a time traveler! SUGOI!

"So, you two're kaizoku?" the pirate said. Lucy had jumped down to the deck and sat on the other side of the railing beside me.

"Hai!" she said happily.

"Then why'd you attack the restaurant?" Sanji wondered in confusion, now out of ero-cook mode since I hit him upside the head for it.

"Ah, that was an accident!"

"My captain was defending the ship and her hand slipped, causing her to fling the Marine's cannonball at the Baratie instead of back at them," I explained to Sanji and our friend the starving pirate, although it looked like they weren't quite following.

"The hell does that mean?" Sanji grumbled. "Anyways, you'd better not do anything else to this place. The head chef here was once a chef on a notorious pirate ship."

"Seeing as how Lucy-chan's Chore Girl? You'd better get used to mass chaos," I told him.

"Ne? So that old man was a kaizoku?" said Lucy, completely ignoring me and looking off into the horizon, as though imagining Zeff kicking the Grand Line's ass. I have to admit, it was a funny vision, imagining that.

"For that jiichan, this restaurant is worth more than any treasure to me, and I'd even give up sailing with a lady as beautiful as yourself," the ero-cook said to Lucy. Another tic mark pulsed on the back of my head.

"Oi, lay off it," I warned.

"And those cooks who came after his fame were once fierce kaizokou. Well, the kaizokou in these parts often come to this place."

"Yeah, this place never seems to lack a dull moment!" the straw-hatted captain laughed happily.

"It's a pretty fun place," I agreed, "if you ignore the jerkish personalities of some of the other chefs. And the random collapsing ceilings."

"Pheh. It's not that bad. I'm used to it," muttered Sanji. "The ceiling doesn't usually collapse. And recently, most of the people only come to watch the cooks and kaizoku brawl it out. But the fighting also scares away all of the part-time waiters."

"Oh, that explains it." Lucy grinned, obviously happy that her small brain had managed to actually figure something out. "No wonder he wants me to work here for a whole year!"

I choked. I'd known it already from watching the anime, but hearing it in real life was something else. "A... A whole year?" I said, my jaw dropping. My eye twitched. "That's overkill..."

"Ne, join us!" Lucy asked Sanji.

Sanji frowned. "As much as I'd love to, I already told you, I can't. I refuse. I have my reasons why I must remain here."

I snorted. "You think that because the jiisan saved your life, that means you have to stay here helping him out and you can't follow your dreams, huh? What a stupid reason. He saved you so you could follow your dreams, you know."

The chef was so surprised he nearly dropped his cigarette. "Whu... How'd you...?"

"Told you, I'm a psychic."

Lucy stretched her neck and looked at him face-to-face, though upside down. "NO! I refuse!" she exclaimed.

Sanji blinked and blushed, because their faces were so close. "...Eh? Refuse what?"

"I refuse your refusal! You're a good cook, so come be a kaizoku with me!"

I shook my head and facepalmed. Lucy logic. Go figure.

Sanji turned and glared at her. Whoa... Sanji glaring at a girl! That's one for the history books. "Hey now, you listen to me!"

"So what's this reason of yours?"

"I already said it, Lucy-chan," I sighed. "You were ignoring me as usual."

"I don't need to tell you."

Lucy pouted in confusion. "Eh? Didn't you say you wanted me to listen to you?" I have to admit, the two things he'd said didn't coincide very well together...

A small tic mark pulsed on Sanji's forehead. "I meant that you must accept my decision!"

"EH? WHAT'D YOU SAY!?" My captain fumed.

"Yara yara," I sighed. That's the Japanese phrase for anything like my, my.

"Sorry to interrupt, but..." the pirate Sanji had saved interrupted.

"NANDA?!" Lucy and her future chef snapped. I sweatdropped.

"I'm part of the Krieg Kaizoku. The name's Ghin. So, you're kaizokou too, eh?" said the pirate, Ghin. "What's your goal."

Lucy smiled. "I'm looking for One Piece! I'm gonna be Queen of the Pirates! I'm headed for the Grand Line."

Ghin stared. "You're still looking for a cook... Your crew must be quite small."

"Yeah. We've got six, counting him."

"WHY THE HELL ARE YOU COUNTING ME IN?" Sanji and I shouted in unison. We blinked at each other.

"You look like decent people, so let me give you a piece of advice," the previously-starving man said. He wiped the remnants of his meal off the corners of his mouth, his look becoming serious. "You'd better not go to the Grand Line. You're still young. There's no need to rush. The Grand Line is only a small part of the world's vast oceans. If you wanna be a kaizoku, there are many less intimidating places."

"A, so desu ka," Lucy grinned. "So do you know anything about the Grand Line, Ghin?"

I sighed and rubbed my head. "As if intimidation would stop Lucy."

Ghin shook his head. His expression grew slowly ashen, as if he was remembering something terrible. "No. I don't know anything about it... Nothing, nothing at all! That's why it's so scary!"

Sanji looked at him dubiously. "Are you really one of the dreaded Krieg's men? I didn't think he'd take such chickens."

"Yup," I confirmed. "He is."

"Krieg?" asked Lucy, confused.

I got up from the railing, leaving Lucy, Sanji, and Ghin to their conversation. "Well, I'm hungry. I'm getting something to eat."

They all ignored me.

Whatever.

When I got back with the other Straw Hats, Nami glared at me and bopped me on the head a couple of times, looking more like a shark than a human. She chewed me out for attacking the chef while Usopp sank lower in his seat, probably hoping the navigator wouldn't suddenly decide to turn her anger on him for some reason.

After Nami's anger faded, she looked at me sadly. "From what you said, it sounded like you were speaking from experience," she muttered.

"I was," I said grimly, nursing the new bumps on my head. "A few weeks after the start of my life on the streets, I ran out of money and began starving. It's... truly the worst experience ever. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."

Things were pretty melancholic after that until a chef/waiter came and took our orders.

"You've got stuffed peppers with sea king meat?" I said, raising an eyebrow while looking at the menu. "Huh. Guess I'll take that, then." Two years ago, stuffed peppers had been my favorite meal, and I was interested to see what sea king meat tasted like. While I was in this world, I might as well go with the flow.

A short while after our food came, and let me just say that sea king meat is 100 times better than any other meat I've ever had, Nami spotted Lucy on the spiral staircase above us.

"Hey, waiter girl!" she chortled.

Lucy stopped walking, blinked, and glared at us. "Oi! It's you guys!"

I had been taking a swig of lemonade, easily the best drink in the world, and spat out the drink in my mouth all over Zoro, who had the misfortune of being sat directly opposite me. He glared at me and said something, but I was so shocked I didn't hear what he said. Because Lucy... Lucy...

Oh, gods, Lucy, why?!

She had on a French maid uniform that had a button down, revealing some of her cleavage. My first impression of her had been correct: She definitely had a sizable chest. I felt my face heat up a little and quickly looked away.

"I heard you had to work for a whole year!" Nami continued. "But, man is that dress kawaii!"

"Can I redraw our pirate flag?" Zoro teased.

I shook myself out of my somewhat perverted stupor, leaned back in my chair, and took another swig of my lemonade. "I wonder how many people you'll have to serve, ne?" And I don't mean that kind of service, people! Minds out of the gutter, honestly!

"W-w-w-what's this?!" our captain gasped in disbelief. "You all stuff yourselves with such great food while I'm not around?! THAT HURTS!"

"Not really, it's our free will," Zoro chuckled.

She stuck a finger up her nose, dug out a booger, and flicked it into his water. "Take that!"

I only barely held back my laughter, as did Usopp and Nami. I think I cracked a couple ribs!

"But I've gotta admit, the food here's great," the swordsman chucked, reaching for his glass and slowly bringing it to his lips. My lungs were threatening to burst with the effort of not laughing. "I feel kinda sorry for ya..." Suddenly, he grabbed Lucy by the neck and forced her to drink the water, a tic mark pulsing on the back of his head. "YOU DRINK IT!" he exploded.

This was simply too much for the three of us. Laughter bubbled out of my mouth, and Nami was laughing so hard she was even slapping the table. Usopp guffawed and pointed at the Marimo and the captain, holding his side. I was literally crying with mirth. Lucy rolled around on the floor.

"YOU, TOO!? WHAT WERE YOU TRYING TO PULL?" Zoro roared.

"My stomach's aching!" Lucy exclaimed.

A few of the other customers near us stared at our table, some of them giving us weird looks and others smiling with us.

"Oh, Mother Ocean!" a familiar voice said. I immediately stopped laughing and a tic mark pulsed on the back of my head, even bigger than Zoro's. "Thank you for arranging this encounter today!" It was Sanji, kneeling down next to Nami, who stopped laughing and leaned away with a startled 'Eh?!,' and producing a rose from who-knows-where. "Oh, my love!" He put his hand into his face and shook it as though in resignation. "Go on, laugh at me. I, who can't bear torture. As long as I'm with you and your beautiful captain, it matters not if I'm kaizokou or a devil... MY HEART'S READY AS CAN BE!" He looked up with a perverted grin, his eyes, or rather eye since his left one was hidden behind his hair, now heart-shaped.

I burst out laughing again. Well, he did say we could laugh at him... Lucy looked like she didn't know what to think, and Zoro, standing next to her, was looking at the cook with bafflement. The hopeless case simply didn't know what picks-her-nose-while-she's-talking-to-you, able-to-fart-the-alphabet Lucy was actually like.

"But this is horrible! There's such a great obstacle between us!" he continued obliviously.

"The obstacle is me, right?" growled Zeff, who stepped up to us, his peg leg tapping against the floor. "Sanji."

The chef's eye immediately went back to normal. "The damn jiisan," he grumbled.

"This is just great," said Zeff. Man was his chef's hat long... "Why don't you just run off and be a kaizoku just like them? We don't need you here anymore!"

Sanji glared at him.

Ouch. That was rough.

TO BE CONTINUED.

And thus ends the fourth chapter of the rising star of fanfictions, OP: Full Blast! Yosha! Let's do this, minnas!

Damon: What a terrible ending. There should at least be a punch line or something...

*Punches Damon*

Zoro: That works.

Johnny and Yosaku: Don't forget to review, follow, and favorite! If you want...

Coby: *cries* WAAAH! I'm not in the story yet!

Damon: GAH! PINK HAIR!

-TheRealEvanSG