A/N: So, after all this time, I finally got around to updating this story again. Although, to be honest, I don't know how long this surprise muse will last, but I intend to milk it for everything it's worth. Now then, shall I begin?

Happy Meals Make Happy Friends

As it turned out, the 'situation' was diffused rather easily by Patty knocking the man out and throwing him out on his face. The civilians dining in the restaurant cheered as if he had saved everyone, honestly, the guy had a gun with a maximum of 4 bullets, and besides that, numerous people could've taken him out at any time, so there was no real danger to the civilians to begin with; the guy only wanted some food after being left to starve to death. It didn't sit well with Naruto, letting some guy, even one who had previously been waving a gun around, to starve. It was only by the pure luck that he hadn't starved back in the jungle.

But it wasn't Naruto's place to question as he was currently loaded down under no less than 17 plates which he somehow managed to balance perfectly across his body as he flitted around the room, delivering orders. There were other servers, but apparently Zeff had given them all permission to take the day off and let Naruto handle it, well, Naruto wasn't going to complain to one of his idols.

Dropping the last plate off, he noticed Sanji slipping out the side door, carrying several plates of food. Glancing around, he stalked after his fellow blonde chef, peeking out the door as he saw him speaking to the starving escaped prisoner from earlier.

"Here eat it, or you'll die. I can't just give it to someone else now can I?" Sanji said, leaning against the railing, puffing on his cigarette as the man looked at him with tears in his eyes, before scarfing down the meal as Sanji watched with a small smile.

"Hey, that's a really nice thing you did." Luffy said, suddenly popping into the scene, Sanji looking up at the upper floor at the straw-hat pirate. "Join my crew! I'm going to travel the Grand Line, and become the Pirate King!" Luffy declared, causing Naruto to face palm. Let it be known that Luffy never learned the definition of subtlety.

"Can't, I have something I need to do here." Sanji responded, reaching down as the man choked, finally taking a breath as he had finished licking the plates clean, to lift the plates up and toss them over the railing into the ocean.

"The Grand Line, you don't want to go there! My captain thought he was ready for the Grand Line, but we didn't even last a few days before our whole fleet was destroyed by this crazy powerful guy! Your small time crew won't stand a chance!" The man yelled, Luffy ignoring his accusations as he stared down Sanji, who likewise ignored Luffy, heading back in as he opened the door to find Naruto watching him expressionlessly.

"What do you want?" Sanji asked irratedably as he brushed passed the part-timer.

"Personally, I would've gone with more curry, and less rice. And a piece of bread never hurt anyone." Naruto observed as Sanji paused, turning back to look at the blonde with a small degree of recognition. However, the moment passed as quickly as it came, and Sanji frowned.

"Well, it wasn't you, now was it?" He said, reentering the kitchen as Naruto sighed, before heading towards the person calling his name, who just so happened to be his favorite redhead discluding

"So, Mr. Big Man on Deck is working off Luffy's debt as a lowly busboy, huh. Should I leave a big tip?" Nami asked, smiling faintly as Naruto snorted, glancing to the side as Luffy as devouring multiple dishes at once, Zoro attempting to use his loaf of bread as a pillow, Ussop possibly the most well-mannered of the trio as he methodically sliced a steak into identical pieces.

"Nah, keep your beris, you need them more than me, and besides, I've got a plan." Naruto whispered under his breath as he saw a waiter pass by.

Nami smiled, "Who said it was my beris?" Naruto smiled at her joke, before a knowing smile replaced it.

"Well, Luffy's broke as a joke, Ussop's wallet has been swiped so many times already, I wouldn't be surprised if it was full of I. , and Zoro is a pathological borrower and probably owes God knows how much in debts. So it would probably be your beris funding my escape, so I feel inclined to inform you that if you wanted to spend more time with me, all you had to do was ask." Naruto informed the redhead, whose cheeks lit up to match her hair as she looked away, Naruto chuckling under his breath as he walked away to clear a table.

And so it continued for several more hours, until Zeff appeared in the kitchen as Naruto was collecting dishes for customers. As he was waiting, he couldn't help but overhear the conversation going on between the proprietor and his fellow blonde chef.

"So you're telling me several dishes just vanished into thin air? I might expect this from one of the junior chefs, or Fillet Fry," the aforementioned chef popping up from inside a Giant Tuna, before returning to whence he came. "But not you Sanji." Zeff said, crossing his arms over his chest as Sanji grit his teeth, didn't the old man always tell him to feed someone if they were hungry.

He opened his mouth to sharply respond when he was interrupted by an unexpected voice. "Sorry Boss, I wasn't watching what I was doing and dropped some plates, I didn't want you to find out so I toss them overboard. You can ask Sanji, he caught me, but I begged him not to tell you since I didn't want them to be added to the debt." Naruto spoke up, although neither Sanji nor Zeff really believed him as he confessed his supposed crimes while balancing 15 plates across his body without a single one wobbling. Still, both men could see that he was going to take the punishment rather than let Zeff punish Sanji.

"Well, you were right, I would've added them to the debt owed, but since you tired to hide it rather than come clean, I'm going to double the charges. And you're constrained to washing dishes until your buttery fingers improve, understand?" Zeff said, turning on his peg leg as he left the kitchen, Naruto keeping a straight face as he turned, somehow managing to send all 15 dishes skittering across the bar and into the hands of the passing wait staff.

"Well, guess I'm off to the sink." Naruto said as he brushed passed Sanji, who watched the blonde go as he gave off the presence of nonchalance. Sanji didn't know why, but he reached out and grabbed the now deemed dish-washer's arm. Naruto turned back to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Thanks. Stay late tonight, and I'll show you some stuff." He offered as Naruto smiled, nodding as he pulled away to the large sink, turning the knob over fully as it filled up with hot water. Within minutes, the blonde had his hands submerged in soapy dish water, scrubbing away at the used dishes as he tried to keep up with the rapid demand of the cooks. Once again, it seemed he was the only one at his current job.

That night was spent with Sanji demonstrating how to, and then supervising Naruto, how to best cook different kinds of meat, depending on how tough they were. By the time they finish, Naruto was caught creeping back on to the ship by Luffy's trained nose from the various smells of cooked meat.

However, a quick Haki-infused fist put Luffy down for the night as Naruto fell into bed, embracing the hold of sleep.

The morning came all too soon, chasing away the haze in Naruto's brain and the dreams of his friends and crewmates. He stumbled into the Baratie rubbing his eyes as he washed his hands, pulling on a apron as he began running the dishwater into the sink to prepare as the various chefs picked served breakfast to the workers and other chefs, as well as the earlier customers, such as Luffy's crew.

Devouring his own plate with impunity, he began his day's work as customers began to stream in and Naruto fell into the repetitive motions of his duty, the hours slipping by. He was broken out of his daydreams by a hand on his shoulder. Turning he came face-to-face with Zeff.

"Yeah Boss?" The blonde asked; drying his hands as Zeff led him away from the sink.

"A package has arrived for you with your crew." Zeff said, pushing him towards the door. "And when you get back, we need another waiter so you're being moved off dish-washing duty. Hopefully your short stint washed off all the butter from before." Zeff ordered as Naruto nodded in obedience, rushing out the door towards the table Luffy's crew usually occupied.

Par for the course, Luffy had a plate of meat in front of him, seemingly inhaling the food. Next to him, Zoro sat drinking a mug of alcohol, and Ussop was regaling several bystanders with tales of his great adventures. Finally, Nami was absent.

"Zeff mentioned a package arrived for me?" Naruto asked as Zoro pointed towards a box sitting on the floor beside the table. Naruto thanked him, placing the box on the table as he opened it, seeing the message to Chanel he sent came in. He reached it to pick them up, only to be interrupted as the front doors were thrown open.

"Big Bro Luffy, Big Bro Zoro, we got trouble!" Yosaku shouted, capturing the attention of the table, as well as several other patrons of the restaurant. "Big Sis Nami kicked us off and took the ship somewhere!" He continued as The Strawhats jumped to their feet.

"What?!" They shouted, only for Yosaku to be sent flying inwards by a flying Johnny as they hit the ground in a crumpled heap.

The open door was blocked out by a large figure, who stumbled inside to reveal a large man covered in by a ratty cloak, supported by none other than the man whom Sanji had fed earlier.

"Please, help us." The cloaked man said feebly. Sanji and Zeff turned silently back to the kitchen.

"Don Krieg." The man said. "Sanji, you fed me, can't you make some more food for the rest of our crew?" He yelled. Not getting any response, Krieg growled, throwing off his cloak to reveal a large man covered in golden armor as he pointed several guns at the place.

"My crew is starving; I need enough food to feed 50 people, right now!" He ordered as Patty appeared, smiling and bowing before pulling out a cannon and firing it at the man, only for the smoke to clear and reveal him to be unscathed.

Angrily, the armored man punched Patty, knocking him away as he pointed his guns at patty, about to fire when a large bag of food landed in front of him. Looking up, he saw Zeff standing there.

"There's enough food in there for 50 meals. Now go feed your crew." Zeff ordered. Krieg just stared at Zeff before smirking.

"Red Leg Zeff, the famous pirate captain. Rumors have it that you kept a log of your path through the Grand Line. With that, we'd have no trouble getting through it. As soon as my crew is fed, you're going to be taking this place and that log!" Krieg snarled as he turned to leave. "Come Gin, we have work to do."

"That's fine, now that we've fed you, we can beat you." Zeff said simply, not even looking at Krieg as he walked away. As soon as Krieg and Gin were gone, the assembled cooks turned on Sanji.

"Sanji, why would help them? Now they're going to attack the Baratie!" Patty shouted as Sanji puffed on his cigarette.

"I won't let anyone starve." He said simply and Patty lifted up by the collar of his suit jacket.

"What kind of twisted logic is that?" he asked, Zeff interjecting.

"The kind of logic that you can't understand, none of you except Sanji can understand what it is to starve, to be at the mercy of the ocean." Zeff said, and Patty dropped Sanji, who straightened his jacket as everyone began walking outside, the Strawhats following along as they saw that the Going Merry was in fact gone, and Nami with it. In the distance, they could just make out the ship floating away.

"Okay Luffy, what should we do?" Naruto asked before a loud cry cut through the air.

"CAPTAIN, IT'S HIM! IT'S THE SAME GUY THAT TOOK US DOWN LAST TIME!" Was the only warning until Don Krieg's giant ship was split perfectly in two, revealing a small ship shaped like a coffin with a man standing on it, placing his massive black blade back on his back as he floated closer to the Baratie.

"That's him, the World's Strongest Swordsman." Naruto heard Zoro say as two large platform began rising from the water around the Baratie.

"'Hawk-Eye' Mihawk, one of the 9 Royal Shibukai." Zeff said as if discussing the weather as Zoro gripped his swords tighter before calling out his challenge to the arriving swordsman.

A/N: Hey guys, I finished another chapter, although I'm still not really liking my work right now on this story. It's really more to do with the fact that most of this will be very canon until we reach Reverse Mountain and Naruto can be with his crew again. For that reason, I'm kinda skipping some parts since they would stay the same as canon and so you should already know what happened. I'll try to do better as time goes on, but for now just stay with me, kay?