Chapter 16
The Baratie
For two days the Going Merry sailed the East Blue, north-by-northeast. Their days were relatively calm, towing Yosaku and Johnny's boat as they travelled with them. Yosaku was even free to walk the ship, though he always had a glass of lime juice near him at all times. Maxwell made sure of that, seeing as he was the closest thing to a doctor they had.
Their journey though was at an end, "We're here at the restaurant! Brother Zoro! Brother Luffy! Brother Max! Brother Usopp! Brother Nami!"
"Why ami I 'brother'...?" grumbles Nami. Maxwell was quick to answer her, "We'll you did tell Johnny not to call you 'sis.'" "That doesn't mean I want to be called 'bro' either!"
Everyone else came to the bow to see the Baratie, "What do you think everyone!?"
"What a huge fish!" "Wow!" "That's so funky!" The Baratie was a three story ship with a water level entrance, two balconies, with a fish head bow, two masts, and giant rudder.
"Huh?" Another ship the size of the Merry pulls up along side them. "It's... the Marines!"
"When did it...!?" "They're not going to attack us now, are they?" Luffy and Usopp look at the marine vessel.
Johnny and Yosaku meanwhile hide behind the railing, "Hey! We ain't pirates over here!"
"Ah, someone's coming out!" and a man approaches the side of his one ship, Lieutenant "Ironfist" Fullbody.
"Hmm, never seen that flag before. I'm the Lieutenant of the Marine Headquarters known as 'Ironfist' Fullbody. Who's your captain? Name yourself."
Luffy addresses the marine, "I'm Luffy. I just finished making my pirate flag the day before yesterday!" "And I'm Usopp!"
The bounty hunters laugh, "H-He said the day before yesterday! Haha!" "Ahaha! Good one!"
"Wait a minute, I think I've seen you two before," Fullbody looks over at Johnny and Yosaku. "You frequent the government offices on some business. If I remember correctly you're... small time bounty hunters. Yosaku and Johnny, I think your names were... So you finally got caught by pirates, have you?"
"Hey, Yosaku, I think this bro is sticking it to us." "We'll, we can't just let some guys walk around, calling us 'small time.' This isn't gonna net us a single beli, but I think we oughta teach this kid how to keep his mouth shut."
"YOU COCKY LITTLE YUPPIE!" The bounty hunters jump ships and attack the lieutenant. But they quickly have their lights punched out by Fullbody's iron knuckles, "A-Almost had him..."
"You sure you guys aren't super weak?" Luffy looks down at them on the deck. "The hell are you two doing?" asks Zoro.
"N-No. It's just that that guy's... not too shabby himself." "I-It was a close one..."
"Sigh... You two are a real piece of work you know that?" Maxwell kneel down and starts to heal them.
A door opens on the marine ship and some arms reach out for Fullbody, "Darling, enough beating up on weaklings, let's get going already."
"Ah yes, let's do that." He quickly turns back to Luffy and the others, "Consider yourselves lucky pirates because I'm on break today. I only came here to eat at the restaurant. But consider your lives forfeit the next time you run into me when I'm not off-duty."
"What's all this, Johnny?" Nami looks at all the papers that had fallen out of his jacket.
"Oh those...? Those are just some bounty posters, sis. It's just another type of business. Kill any one of them and you'll get the bounty reward written in the posters." Nami seems to be looking at one in particular, "Is something the matter?"
"Huh...," Maxwell looks at one to. "How'd they get these posters so life like?"
"What? You never heard of a Den Den Mushi?"
Usopp yells, "Ah! Guys, we're in deep shit! The bastards's aiming his cannon at us!"
"What!?" Everyone looks to see a cannon at the marines poop deck.
"Sink'em." "Yes, sir!" *BOOM!*
"Ah! He fired!" Usopp panics. He sees Luffy jump onto the railing though, "Luffy, what're you doing!?"
"Leave it to me! Gomu-Gomu no...," Luffy takes a big breath, "BALLOON!"
Luffy inflates and catches the cannonball with his stomach, "THE HELL!?" Yosaku, Johnny, and Usopp look at the rubber-man surprised.
"What!?" Even Fullbody looked back in shock.
"You can have your cannonball back!" Luffy reshoots the projectile, but misses.
Zoro yells at Luffy, "Just who are you giving it to, you dumbass!?"
The cannonball had hit the Baratie.
...
...
...
Both Maxwell and Nami slap their faces, "Ugh..."
Both Luffy and Maxwell approach the staff aboard the restaurant. The marines kept quiet to hide their involvement too, so there was an uneasy truce, for now.
"Hello, we would like to talk to the Captain about the damages," Maxwell talks to a host.
"Yeah... I threw a cannonball at you guys. My bad." Luffy scratches the back of his head.
"Ah... please follow me," the host said, and leads them to the kitchen. "I GOT THE BASTARDS RIGHT HERE! TAKE THEM TO ZEFF!"
"ARGH!"
"Woah, woah, wait—ah!" Luffy and Maxwell are dog piles and then carried up the ship, eventually coming to a room.
"Sir! We brought the ones responsible for this! These are the perps!" "Now hold on—!" "I'm so sorry mister!"
Luffy then notices the peg leg of Zeff, "GYAAAAA! YOU LOST YOUR FOOT BECAUSE OF ME!"
"Luffy!"
"Ah, your not responsible for this. Boys! Head back to work while I talk with these ingrates."
"Yes Cheff!" Maxwell and Luffy are then left alone with Zeff. It was apparently it was his bedroom and now it had a gaping hole in it.
Maxwell and Luffy explain themselves to the head chef. How a marine ship had fired at them and they deflected it in the wrong direction. They were even able to fit in some small talk as they spoke.
"Oh, so you lost that foot a long time ago..." Luffy looks at Zeff's peg leg, understanding.
"I'm still injured all over my body thanks to you!" Zeff reclines of his bed's headrest, "If you got no money, then you'll have to work it off."
Maxwell brings out his money pouch, "Er...I don't suppose—"
"Keep your gold, Mr. Trevelyan. It was your captain's fault, and a captain is responsible for his crew. Not the other way around."
"Sigh... Very well." Maxwell had been trying to negotiate with Zeff, but the man was a stubborn, and frankly intimidated him.
"So Strawhat, will you work your debt off?"
"Sure thing," answers Luffy. "I'll make it up to you."
"You'll work odd jobs around my restaurant without pay for a full year! Only then will I forgive you."
"One year!?" Maxwell and Luffy exclaim.
"But sir—!"
"Cut it down to just one week." Luffy tries to negotiate.
"What did you say punk? You think you can destroy my restaurant with a cannonball, leave me critically injured, and then make it up by only working 1 week without pay...? You're working one year and that's final! Got it?"
"No! I waited ten years just to finally become a pirate! I'm not waiting another year!"
"Head Chef, perhaps we could—" "Alright it's settled! I'll work just one week and then you'll forgive me!" "—LUFFY!"
"Just who gave you the right to decide!? Take this, Head Chef's Kick of Justice!" Zeff kicks Luffy in the collar bone with his peg leg. It had a lot more force than Maxwell thought it would, and flung Luffy against the broken wall.
"I'm the one who'll desire whether I forgive you or not!"
"Look! You're perfectly fine!" Luffy yells back.
"SHUT UP!" Zeff looks down at the young captain, "Alright, kid. If you're so strapped for time, then I'll tell you a faster way to get out of here." He brings out a saw, "You'll have to leave behind one of your legs!"
Maxwell quickly backs away from the restaurant owner while Luffy just sweat-drops, "Umm... isn't obvious I'm not going to choose that option?" Both Maxwell and Zeff look at Luffy, "Are you a little dumb in the head or something, old man?"
Zeff jumps into the air, "Saying no to this, saying no to that... Don't think you can make it in this world by only saying no, you little brat! Head Chef Drop Kick!" and lands on Luffy into the floor boards.
Problem was, "Ngh?" this also made the floor give way under them, "AHHH!"
Maxwell could only peer over the edge and see Zeff and Luffy went farther than he thought.
"...I'll just head back to the ship then. Yeah, let's do that."
"Wait, so Luffy has to work there for a whole year before he can be let go?" asks Nami.
"Yeah, basically. The owner wouldn't accept anything else." Maxwell had informed the crew of Luffy's indenture. How he's basically stuck on the Baratie for a year.
"And there's nothing we can do about it?" asks Usopp.
"Not a thing."
"Well that sucks," mutters Zoro, "At least the marines left."
Maxwell had seen that as well. Fullbody had left the Baratie all black and blue with his suit dirty, might have been in a bit of a hurry too. There was a ruckus in the dinning hall earlier.
"Well, I don't know about you guys but I'm hungry," says Nami.
Zoro agrees, "Same here. Let's grab a table."
"Wait, wait, wait. Are we seriously going to have dinner while Luffy's stuck there?"
"Yep," sounds Nami and Zoro.
"You're so evil!" Usopp cackles, following them aboard.
Maxwell looks at them for a moment, "...Eh, what the hell," and follows them aboard.
A host smiles without opening his eyes, "Welcome to the Baratie, Restaurant of the Seas. For how many?"
"Table for four please."
The waiter then grabs a few menus and quickly recognizes them, "Ah, it's you guys. Please follow me." They follow the waiter as they walk through the restaurant.
It was certainly fancy place. White walls, lavender ceiling, gold gilding, even the lights were upper class.
"Here's your table," the crew takes a seat, "We're a little short staffed, so I'll be serving as your waiter this evening. Can I get you anything to drink, besides water?"
"Wine, please." "Saki." "We're fine with just water I think."
"To bad about Luffy," said Nami, looking at a menu. "Ooh, this looks tasty!"
"Man... sirloin steak, raw oysters, stuffed lobster... Anyone of these would be good!" Usopp smiles at the choices. Maxwell could only twitch his eyebrow since he couldn't read the characters.
"It's definitely good stuff," Zoro leans back in his chair.
"Here you are gentlemen," the waiter comes back and pours a glass of wine for Maxwell, and presents Zoro with a bottle and cup. "Have you decided on your menus?"
"Er... forgive me... but this writing is completely foreign to me." Maxwell grudgingly raises a hand.
"Oh my." "You mean you can't read?" Nami narrows her eyes at Maxwell.
"Hehe..." Maxwell thinks back, he had been ordering whatever they had been ordering. "Sorry guys. Could one you order for me?"
Nami sighs, "We'll all have the 3 Course Seafood Platter."
"Of course..." the waiter jots down the note, "Would that be with rice or veggies?"
The three teenagers look at Maxwell, "...Vegetables, please."
"...Ok, I'll be right back with your order." The waiter leaves and the Straw hats are left to themselves again.
"So since Luffy's unable to be captain, I hereby nominate myself as captain!" Usopp puffs out his chest with a cheesy grin.
"As if," Nami and Zoro vetoed. Usopp deflates at the smack down.
"Beside Max, was with Luffy the longest. As first-mate, he's the next in charge," Zoro drinks a round of his saki.
"Hmm... I suppose you're right," Maxwell sips his wine.
"Honestly, I wouldn't be sure where to go, as me and Zoro decided to follow Luffy by chance." Maxwell points at Nami, "You are only with us for the treasure." He then points at Usopp, "And you would've been dead 3 days out if you left be yourself." The crew didn't refute his points, but they weren't exactly comfortable about it being pointed out.
"Still... I can honestly say sailing with you guys has been the greatest thing I've ever done with my life." Maxwell puts down his wine glass, "I think we should have a little bit of faith in our captain."
"A little." "Tiny bit." "Minuscule."
Maxwell laughs, "Haha! Agreed." He takes another sip, "As... stand-in-captain, I say we stick around for a bit. Knowing Luffy's luck, he's bound to get back to us sooner or later."
"Alright." "Fine with me." "Well, your not wrong."
He raises his glass, "To the Strawhat pirates."
"Cheers!" They all clink glasses.
"Your food," The waiter lies out an array of options to eat from. Stuffed lobster, raw oysters, grilled steak, a sushi platter, baked potato, and large pot of soup to serve up themselves. "Bon appetit."
"Thanks. Let's eat!" So they dig in, enjoying the delicious food prepared for them. The crew chat and laugh about times before and after they joined Luffy. Some of it was funny, other times amazing, but they all had a good time with their food.
Half way through they do notice Luffy walking by with an apron on, "Ah, the life of an errand boy is tough. Coby must've had a tough time being one too... Hm!? Ack! It's you guys!" The crew decides to tease their captain.
"Hey errand boy." "Heard you have to work here for a year." "Would it be alright to re-draw the ship's flag?" "Sorry Luffy."
"You leave me here to work, AND GO OFF TO EAT DELICIOUS FOOD ALL BY YOURSELVES!? HOW SELFISH!"
"It's a free world, we can do whatever we want."
Usopp and Nami notice Luffy putting a bugger in Zoro's water. "Pfft—Yeah..." Maxwell looks at them all unimpressed.
"But I have to admit, the food here is great," Zoro lifts his glass, making the other shake trying to suppress their laughter. "Don't take this the wrong way, but... YOU'RE DRINKING THIS GLASS!" Zoro forces the water down Luffy's throat, bugger and all.
"Ack! How could you do this to me!?" "I should be asking the same thing!" The others just laugh.
Sanji takes this moment to appear, "O blessed are the oceans for bringing me this fine day!"
"O love! Laugh if you will, at my poor self who cannot endure his tortuous passions!" The man has hearts in his eye, which Maxwell didn't think possible. He was looking at Nami, "As long as I can be with you, I'm prepared to walk across any path, be it the paths of a pirate or a devil! But alas! Tis tragic there is such a great obstacle standing between us!"
"By obstacle, do you mean me, Sanji?"
"Ack, the geezer!" Sanji quickly turns around.
Zeff stood by one of the nearby tables, "It's a good chance. Just go be a pirate. I don't need a guy like you in my restaurant." Everyone at the table looks at Zeff confused.
"What!? Hey, you damn geezer, I'm the assistant Head chef of this place. So just what do you mean exactly when you say that I'm not needed!?"
"You cause too much trouble with the guests, and if they happen to be female, you drool all over them. You also can't cook a decent meal to save your life. You're just unnecessary baggage, holding this restaurant down. And as you probably know, none of the other cooks want you here as well. So whether it be a pirate or something else, it's just better for you to get the hell out of my business."
Sanji grabs Zeff by the collar, "So that's what you wanted to say to me all along, you damn geezer!? Ignoring all your other comments, if there's one thing I won't stand for, it's insulting my cooking! No matter what you say, I'm staying here! Got that!?"
Zeff judo flips him onto their table, "How dare you grab the collar of the Head Chef!" Thankful they all rescued their plates before they dropped anywhere.
"...Damn it!" "Hmph."
"You can try to chase me out all you want! But I'll continue to be a cook here, you hear me!? Until the day you die, at the very least!"
Zeff walks away, unconcerned, "I ain't dying. I'll live for another hundred years."
"Pretty mouthy for a damn geezer, aren't you!?"
Luffy laughs, "Alright! He gave you permission. Now we can be pirat—"
"AS IF!"
Sanji goes back to flattering Nami, having come back with a bottle of champagne and bowl of dessert. "Forgive me for that ruckus just now. As an apology please enjoy this fruit macedonia, and this glass of grand marnier."
"Oh, thank you so much! You're so nice."
"Oh, it's nothing..."
"Hey!" Usopp starts banging on the table. "What about us! This is gender discrimination! I'll sue, you love-crazy cook!"
"I already gave you some tea! You could at least say a word of thanks for that, punk!"
Usopp stands eye to eye with Sanji, "What!? You wanna start something, is that it!? I ain't gonna go easy on you! Get him, Zoro!"
"Get him yourself..." "Mmm, delicious!"
Maxwell can only close his eyes as he tries to make sense of this scene.
"You haven't even cleared away my plates." "But you still have mushrooms left! Finish it!" "I left them on purpose because I hate mushrooms. I was poisoned by one when I was a kid." "Well this one ain't poisoned so eat up, long-nose!"
"Please don't fight just because of me." Nami says it sweet tone.
"Anything for you miss!" "Just who the hell's fighting for you!?"
"By the way, Mr. Cook."
Sanji leans in closer, "Yes?"
"The food here's just a tad too expensive for me."
She's obviously playing him, but he falls for it anyway, "Then it shall al be free of charge to you, miss!"
"Thank you so much!" Nami gives him a hug.
Sanji then turns to Usopp, "You're paying though."
"What!?" Usopp becomes a little steamed.
Eventually though, Sanji leaves them alone walking away like a heart struck fool. "You're a real witch, aren't ya..." comments Zoro.
She giggles, "You fellas better watch out too."
"Ah, this tea's great." Luffy had taken a seat in all the confusion too.
"Ah, Sanji! It's been awhile." "It's good to see you again Roxanne!"
"Damn letch." Usopp and Nami can only sweat-drop at Sanji greeting another customer.
Suddenly Sanji kicks Luffy in the head, "Hey errand-boy! The hell are you sitting around and drinking tea for!?" and drags him away. "Bring out the hot towels when the customers come in."
"Yessir..."
"Well, this is going to be interesting." Maxwell takes a sip of his own tea.