Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece
Sorry for the long wait, but this isn't the only story I'm working on. Thank you and hope this chapter isn't too confusing.
X_X_X_X
Cain was 1/4 finished with his plate when Elisha outstretched her plate and blinked her eyes sheepishly like a little girl trying to get something from a store.
"Can I please have some more?"
Cain had to think about that. On one hand he didn't want the other plates to go to waste but he also made the plates for two others and if he just handed them away what kind of cook would he be.
That's when he came up with the idea to slice through half of Eric's plate then lift it out and put it on hers.
"Funny how it's just the two of us here." Cain said having a hint of reminiscing. "It was only you and Eric when I first joined your crew."
Flashback
It was a mid-afternoon on Spider Miles and the island was teeming with crooks, low life's, conmen, and worst of all mafia members. In one of these homes for corrupt people not too hard to find, if a kid can get into it, a younger and smaller Cain was boxing with a man with a beard, goggles, brown shell hat and muscles rippling through his baggy shirt and pants.
Five years Cain spent in prison for something he didn't do and now it finally rewarded him by giving him the robust strength to give his opponent a reason to be as perceptive as he could with his movements.
He tried getting Cain with a right uppercut, but the smaller he was the easier it was to just slid between his legs.
"Little runt!" He shouted.
"Your damn right!"
Cain evaded sliding away every time the man raised his fist and bright it down. All it would take was a leg sweep to knock Cain down except in this boxing match any use of legs other than walking or circling was taboo...
He immediately tried to leg sweep Cain. Next thing he knew the boys' young hands were gripping his leg and he was hanging upside down.
"What?!" The man was thrashing his leg around trying to pry Cain off much to the boos of the crowd.
Their booing and jeering turned to cheers when Cain let go, flew in a spinning, gyrating position overhead, then when he reached the boxers eye level...blew him a kiss followed by a left hook smashed right into his face.
The most amazing part of that trick: he landed on his feet while his opponent toppled to the floor. Thus begs the count—not a twitch from the old probably now dead man.
"Winner!"
X_X_X_X
From hot sweaty unsanitary ring for men who liked seeing kids getting beat to the back of a kitchen, Cain didn't live the easy life of having a mommy and daddy to take care of him.
The restaurant had two waitresses and two chefs including Cain. One of the waitresses, Russian, was very nice but she wasn't as big of a friend to him as the other waitress Canada.
Canada has long black hair flowing down her nape to her backside with two tufts of brown hair sticking out, one eye emerald and the other hazel, a cute little nose, blue dress, one quarter moon earring on her right ear, and croquettes on her feet. Cain was young, didn't like Canada for her beauty, but did like her for her no-nonsense attitude.
While Russian was smiling down on man with dark skin and glasses, she was cleaning a table from a family of four; two fathers, one son and a baby.
She was a beautiful sight to behold when she was alone, because not many knew about her mercurial disorder. If Cain was older, maybe a bit more on the wealthy side...he could-
"Cain, flip those bubbly pancakes before their all black and uneatable!" The owner of the restaurant and fellow chef yelled.
"Sorry sir!"
The chef shook his head, Russian laughed with the mobster until he ordered another cup of coffee, and Canada walked back with all the dirty dishes her smile flitting to a frown. A typical day of being an underage worker.
X_X_X_X
The first thing Cain did when he got home was brush his teeth. The outside frame of the door to his bathroom was a dilapidated mess. His sink was also broken so when he had to unleash the spittle mixed with toothpaste...he put it in his cup which looked like a whole year of rotten milk with powdery residue where he left the toothpaste in for too long.
He also didn't have any water for a shower. He managed to keep healthy by working out excessively, recuperating a little, then sneaking into a neighbors house and taking a shower-turning the water on only to get wet then turning it off when he needed to use their soap on his armpits and groin before scurrying out like a wild animal.
Sixty-eight days of this repeated cycle and nothing changed, until he heard a knock on his door.
'I'm in no mood for this.' Cain thought to himself knowing how much his room stunk.
Cain walked to the door and opened it. In the door was the same old man he fought in the ring earlier today, a bandage over his nose with swollen purple skin visible from the open snot on the bandage.
"You again?" Cain said brusquely. "What do you want now?"
The man growled, gritted before he opened his vile mouth to say stuff only someone with an ego would say.
"You made a fool out of me and I want to make you pay for it!" He roared like an angry dog. "Meet me in that dark creepy alley around the boxing ring tomorrow night so we can have a rematch. No rules, no crowd, just you and me fighting until I finally get my revenge on you!"
"Or look even more ugly." Cain snickered back.
Without any comeback to give the old man left Cain down the hall where another kid saw him and gave him the raspberry. He was more infuriated by the second.
"What a dick." Cain muttered.
Later that evening, Cain slept on the toppled over fridge that stopped working with the backside of a plate as his pillow. He shivered trying to get the sleep he really needed, but crossing his legs pretending they were snakes mating helped him finally relax long enough to get some sleep.
His dreams started with the usual pop-ups: clowns, sandwiches, Marine's with scary faces, girls who thought he was cute-didn't miss that one-until he finally started dreaming about something he wanted ever since he came to Spider Miles: owning both a restaurant and a boxing ring.
Cain started knowing it was just a dream but only for a flitting moment before believing he really achieved his dream of owning a restaurant/ring. This feeling of euphoria made it all the more depressing when he woke up, seeing the insects scatter around in the corners behind his refrigerator/bed.
Most of the day he went straight to the restaurant working early to make up for the hours he spent boxing.
Surprisingly, Russian wasn't at work today. According to Canada she was getting married today...to that guy who goes to the restaurant everyday.
"Why is it the ones who work the least get all the luck?" Cain and Canada said, turning to each other, laughing.
"Yes, which is good for you Canada because it means the tips for you will be greater." The owner scoffed. "But seriously, leaving so soon was just selfish."
That was all they could say about Russian because there were customers flooding in, hungry for some breakfast-probably didn't have time to cook their breakfast for themselves because they had a wedding to attend to.
Cain mostly cooked eggs but he also made some golden rice, crepes, ham and hash browns, sausage sandwiched with an English muffin, and his famous salad with lots of fruit.
Canada was doing a good job putting on a smile despite her behavioral disorder. Although she was good at smiling at the customers, when she turned around that smile turned to a hideous frown, and when she approached the kitchen she feigned nonchalance.
"One of those customers an ex-boyfriend of yours?" The tough manager with a calm and serene mind asked.
"No..." She paused for a moment before an unexpected smile and closed eyes flitted on her. "Most of my boyfriends are gone or dead."
"I'm just saying, your break is in five minutes. Maybe use that time to make faces that scare the living bejesus out of someone instead of in my restaurant."
"Do I get a break in five minutes?" Cain asked, pulling on his left leg like a daughter asking for a toy.
"No, chefs need to work longer so we can finish cooking by the time the waitress returns." He couldn't ignore the painfully big and bulging eyes with a glint of sorrow in them. "Ohh...what the hell? Take a break in five minutes."
Cain cheered in glee. Once he did his five minutes he made a beeline towards the break room full a crowd of customers coming in. The amount of people was a reminder of how hard it is to run a restaurant, because with all the orders they make the chef/owner only makes ten percent of all the meals they order a day. Cain would probably make less when he opened his own restaurant.
Cain walked into a closet with four walls made of masonry boxing him and Canada inside. Speaking of things that were four sided: Cain had an onigiri for his lunch with a box shape instead of a triangular shape and it had dried chunks of mayonnaise seeping out its rice.
Canada was sitting on their bench, her legs stuck together like glue, a book in her right hand while her left had an unlit cigarette. When she saw Cain, she put the cigarette back in her apron pocket.
"Anything wrong with me sitting here?" Cain asked.
"No," she giggled. "It's just illegal to smoke around children. But your always welcome around me, Cain." Midsentence she went from a big smile to a nasty sneer.
Cain sat down next to Canada while she tried to act calm and happy but she she seemed irked and then peeved about something. By the time he took his first bite of his onigiri she'd already made seven different facial expressions from a gookie to a mookie to just gritting her teeth and fuming through her nostrils. Cain finally couldn't take much more of this.
He asked after he swallowed "You really want to have that cigarette?"
She sighed. "No...it's just something that has to do with my father. He is going to do something stupid. If it's not gambling so much it costs him his marriage it's always being competitive with anyone who gives him an inkling of attention. When you grow up I implore you to only think about going to work and going home instead of finding someone to disappoint."
What she said urged Cain to make an inquiry, but he knew when people were distraught the only thing he could do was say something soothing...and then say something hurtful about someone else to make the person hurting feel better.
"I knew a guy whose father tried selling everything his son paid for with his own money...now that father has cancer with only two years left to live and his kids never visit him. I know a father who saved his family from a burning fire, helped his kids through depression and still has a wonderful marriage...he also has cancer with only two years left to live. Fool me once; shame on you. Fool me twice... your dead to me."
Canada was very confused and with a trickle of tears in her eyes she looked at Cain, dumbfounded.
"What?"
"I'm just saying good and bad things happen to people no matter if their deemed good or bad. I should know from how I was raised, but you still have your opportunities open while I'm going to be stuck working two jobs until I die. Please cheer up."
In a strange way, that did make her feel better.
Break was over the moment she started to feel better and she was back trying to make people order food they were overstocked with. And Cain was back being quiet in the kitchen cooking with his boss. He made hamburgers, fish, lamb, meat slices with sliced conache and mikan, and dinosaur racks.
After cooking fifty different lunch/dinner meals for hungry slash lazy customers, he was finally done for the day. He could now leave and face that old sore-loser a second time.
He made a beeline once again when his owner started sweeping the floor and Canada wiping the tables. He followed the pavement outside down the left side and kept walking until he was in the aforementioned alley the bitter old man implored him to go.
Unsurprisingly, he didn't show up alone like the last time. The area was teeming with adults-humans, a few Fish-Men, one Wotan male just as grizzly whitebeard and shaven hair as his opponent, and a three-eyed hazel skin monk looking man wearing an orange tunic with a white scupula and a cowl.
"Bringing a group of friends to a fight your trying to redeem yourself in?" Cain wrinkled his eyebrow with a dumbfounded look before it flitted to a smarmy smile. "You really are chicken-shit."
"Kick his ass, Toronto!" One of the men shouted.
"In due time." The white haired craven said, muffling everyone to show Cain they were loyal to him; piety to him while he moved towards Cain.
Cain cocked his fingers ready for the fight. The man stood before Cain, bowed his head, then took his fighting stance.
"Close your eyes, son. Wouldn't want you to see your own blood on my knuckles."
Cain scoffed. And with that scoff the fighting began, Toronto making the first move aiming for Cain's face with a haymaker! Cain could see where the punch was aimed; easily dodging it limbo beneath his knuckles. He jumped up near the outstretched hand and delivered a right hook to Toronto. Toronto managed to cushion the blow by raising his right elbow-Cain's fist breaking a little of his coracoid in the process.
Through immense pain he retaliated doing a low sweep roundhouse kick. Cain dodged this foot seeing his moves before he made them because of how predictable this old fuck was. Kick after kick, swing after swing, he wasn't even touching the spry boy. However, when Cain dodged too far he bumped into the Wotan. The giant man outstretched his arms and grabbed him from behind!
"Cheater!" Cain exclaimed angrily, wriggling his arms and legs trying to pry free but unlike the old guy...he had a strong grip.
"Cheating? You really expect a former nakama to see his captain fighting and not try to help?" He said.
All the squirming ceased when Cain heard the words "nakama" and "captain". "You are a pirate?"
"I was. I gave all that up to settle down with a nice lady. Raised a daughter too, but that life turned into an entanglement I needed to escape from. First it was gambling and now it's beating the snot out of little shits like you."
A vile smirk flitted on his mouth before he punched Cain in his torso. Left hook than right hook, he repeatedly punched in his insipid pattern even after Cain started coughing up blood. It was at that moment a few of the men started to shudder, but they did nothing to stop him from assaulting Cain.
"I-I y-yield!" Cain stammered in the middle of the violent stupor.
This did nothing to stop him from continuing to wail on the eleven year old. It seemed like his life would be over, he was going to lose consciousness or choke on his own blood any moment now, but then he ceased his fury at the sound of a soft caw.
"Father?"
His punching stopped and for the first time he looked petrified. They all did-his dozens of nakama pirate crew, all completely frozen out of something they weren't expecting. Cain squirmed out of the Wotan's arms and took a peek around him: he saw Canada still in her waitress clothes with a bag of groceries, standing with a baffled face which flitted into a swollen purple cheeks with a full set of teeth showing.
"Just when I think you can't sink any lower...you have the audacity to get into a beef with one of my coworkers."
"Canada...my dear Canada." He said, trying to act all melancholy. "You do not know what is going on so please be steely."
Canada looked at him in the eyes with her swollen red eyes before she snapped her fingers.
"Tell me if I have it wrong: You spent more than one hundred percent of your earnings at the gambling ring, have no experience in honest work so you take up boxing thinking it will be an easy deal given how you spent most of your life at sea fighting to survive, but you lose unexpected to a boy way younger than half your age, contacted your old crew in the hopes of tantalizing him to hand over his earns from the fight, but he still is more than capable of going against you...fearing you might lose again you cheat so you can fight him without him fighting back, and in the middle of that mad rush you forget why you wanted to fight him in the first place so now it's just abusing him."
Canada was unerring in picking up the facts.
Cain now free ran up to Canada and hid himself from the pirates putting his arms on her waist. He wasn't going to lie and say she didn't feel warm, because she did, but he actually was afraid of the man with deranged madness and what better way to stay safe than to hide behind his daughter?
He took some time to ponder what action to take next. He still wanted to throw a fist or two and smash right into Cain's face, but for now the only thing he could do was stare at the eyes of his daughter disdainful of him.
"That emaciated boy is under your care; take care of him until I return five years from now. Seeing that vindictive smile on my own daughters' face...it shreds my heart and makes me want to renew my goal-no, my dream-of becoming a pirate."
"Lads! Today, we sail for islands in search to re-vigor our fleet...and then we come back ready to burn this island to the ground! Hotter than purgatory!"
"Hot than PURGATORY!" They cheered in unison.
With that they ran off towards the harbor to find a boat with big sails and lots of rigging's to sail away on. They hollered at the sky for miles on end...than everything was still and quiet.
"Thank you," Cain said with a tiny trickle of a tear he sheepishly shed.
"For what?" She asked. "I didn't really do anything."
"You know...for being my friend. That restaurant wouldn't even hire me if you didn't tell the manager to 'just let the kid grill some good food'."
"Ooh, that was just me having a bit of fun...and I really like talking to you. It helps me with all the rueful things I feel whenever I think of my father. But if he's really gone...I guess I'm free to do whatever I want without having anything hold me back. So thank you...thank you for making him look like a complete baboon...and thank you for being my friend."