A/N: Let us greet our fifth nakama- I present the next chapter to you. *Bows*
I do not plan, as of yet, to make up a ton of new attack names, though there is one romaji example in this chapter.
I own not One Piece nor the wonderful characters within.
Following a formal and practical introduction to scurvy, its effects and consequently the treatment for it, things calmed down. With their 'Zoro-aniki' present (and no bounties on board) neither Johnny nor Yosaku seemed inclined to start anything.
The incident convinced Luffy and the others of their need for a cook, and with one suggestion from Johnny, they were on their way toward Baratie. Sitting at his workbench in the galley, half to distract himself from drooling over the memory of Sanji's food, Usopp had a thought. He glanced toward the table where Nami was filling out the crew's log book.
"Hey," he said, getting her attention. Given a moment to think, he'd realized that he'd made his first irreversible change as a Straw Hat. Beyond even that, after ten years of hiding it, others knew that he possessed Haki. Nakama or not, it was a shift.
Despite his best efforts, the sniper hadn't been able to kill off his cowardice entirely. He'd been given a second chance, not reborn, and the memories of his 'first round' came attached with all the emotions he'd felt at the time and all those that colored them now. So, of course, a part of his brain had taken 'Haki not a secret anymore' and extrapolated the mildly hysterical conclusion
'I'VE KILLED US ALL!'
… There were, presumably, a few intermediate steps involved in the evolution of that thought process. Panic drastically increased symptoms like Jumping To Conclusions, however, so Usopp remained unaware of what those intermediate steps were.
Outwardly, he managed a much more nonchalant
"Just a heads up, we should probably keep the Haki thing to ourselves. Crew-members-only basis."
"Uh, okay," Nami said, a little curiously. "Why, though? You aren't going to use it?"
Usopp stalled. That was two more questions than he'd anticipated on the subject, at least for the conversation. Not that he expected Nami to jump on his command (the inverse, if anything.) He and Nami had shared, if not the same, then intersecting wavelengths, and something like 'keep a low profile, don't invite trouble' was something the cartographer could parse out from his suggestions without explanation. Had that not always been the case before? Did he do something that had changed that, or would it come with time?
The sniper digressed from those tangential thoughts and hummed, buying himself a few seconds to piece together an answer.
"You remember how all those pirates freaked out when Luffy stretched for the first time?" He asked. "Imagine a similar scenario with marines instead of pirates. Beyond that, picture if I also started casually throwing Haki around, and they start talking…"
"Then we get a lot of attention from people who want to shut us down," Nami said, comprehension quickly dawning on her face. "Yeah, okay, that makes sense."
"I'll use it when it becomes necessary," Usopp added. "And I suspect it will sooner or later, sailing with the future Pirate King."
Nami halfway smiled, chin in her hand.
"You sound like you actually believe that."
"You don't?" Usopp asked innocently.
Nami let out a huff, and the sniper looked back to his workbench, hiding a smirk. Dismissive, sure, but it had not been an outright 'no'. Even the biggest skeptics could be converted into believers by Luffy.
"I have," Nami said after a stretch of silence. "No confidence that those two idiots can keep a secret."
"I dunno," Usopp said. "I don't think we need to worry too much about that."
It was true- despite his habit of broadcasting his status as a rubber man, Luffy only did so after a practical demonstration had made that obvious. And with regard to his crew, the boy captain's default (when he wasn't whining at them) was, well, bragging that they were the best at their respective specialty. He didn't give away specifics, and even if he did, any listener invested in details would have to decipher his unique running babble to glean anything useful.
As for Zoro, well…
"Zoro doesn't really talk to people," Usopp said in response to a questioning eyebrow from Nami. "And Luffy's best at keeping a secret when he doesn't know it's a secret."
Technically Luffy could be trusted to take a secret to his grave- his captain just couldn't be discreet about having a secret.
"Two days and you've figured all that out, have you?" Nami asked with a teasing lilt, one tempered by an undertone of caution.
Usopp played back the past few seconds in his head and barely restrained a cringe.
'Shit.'
Yeah, the confidence in his assessment probably did come off as disproportionate to the length of time he'd known them, Luffy in particular. That Zoro wasn't the most approachable of creatures was readily apparent.
"That's the impression I get," he said, shrugging to affect a casual air. "Luffy does seem to have the discretion and attention span of a five-year-old, doesn't he?"
Nami actually laughed a little at that, and it was music to the sniper's ears. The happy banter of his crew mates didn't feature in his nightmares, only the absence of.
"Regardless, I trust you," he said as the cartographer's mirth settled. "I trust Luffy and Zoro- you'll all do what I can't do, and I'll do what you all can't do."
The sniper felt a poignant sting of fondness for Sanji, and couldn't keep down the smile on his face even if he wanted to.
"We're nakama now." He said simply.
Nami's own smile caught on that note, frustration and something else peeking out before she buried it under her self-sure, vaguely haughty mask.
"I've done just fine on my own up to now," she said briskly, leaning back in her seat and pinning Usopp with a challenging stare. "Without me, you'd all just be drifting without a clue."
"Oh, I don't doubt it." Usopp said earnestly, failing to take any offense to her comment, even smiling in good humor. It was the unvarnished truth, after all. He hadn't expected the strength of her reaction, though, and he wondered at it. He knew Nami was lonely, trying to save her village all on her own, though she quashed outward signs admirably, hence her aversion to overt friendliness. He didn't remember it being such a marked point, however, and wondered if the insecurities she'd confided to him during his 'first round' had anything to do with it.
For the navigator's part, his easy-going reply took the wind out of her sails, and her expression turned thoughtful.
"Oi! Usopp!"
Luffy's call broke through the sniper's musings, and he shelved them for the moment. On his way out (no doubt to indulge some game or a 'super cool' discovery his captain had made), Usopp paused at the door, his hand on the knob. He wrestled with indecision for only a moment before he glanced back.
"Nami, I'm the first to admit that I'm scared of a lot of things," he said quietly. "But I don't think anyone should ever be afraid to ask for help."
He walked out, not giving her a chance to answer.
Nami stared at the door to the galley for several seconds, processing the implications of what she'd just heard. With a silent groan, she pressed the heel of her palm to her forehead. She'd been with this ragtag 'crew' for weeks- literally weeks- and already they'd shaken a core world view she'd held since she was ten years old.
Luffy, who stood an inch taller than her when she wasn't wearing heels, went up against a ten-foot lion on behalf of a dog he'd just met.
Zoro, practically bleeding out an intestine, risked his life that same day to save a boy made of rubber.
Such were not the actions of scumbags and low lives.
Yet they sailed under the same black flags that inspired more hatred in Nami than almost anything else.
Now Usopp, who she'd figured for a homegrown small-village boy with a keen eye and a proficiency for shooting, dropped a bombshell on her with his 'Haki'. Was Luffy ever going to recruit anyone remotely normal for his crew?
(Nami ruthlessly bit down the small voice that included her in that count. She didn't count. She'd never counted, and wouldn't ever. She ignored the faint ache behind her eyes.)
Then, of course, because another freakishly powerful teenager wasn't enough, Usopp left her with that clear, if oblique, offer. For a boy, the sniper was certainly more observant than the rest of the morons on board. Nami didn't waste the energy to figure out how, though he did gain some estimation in her mind for that.
It didn't matter one iota anyway. Usopp couldn't possibly have known. Even if he was in Luffy and Zoro's league, he at least came off as far more sane than the other two- he'd retract the offer and bolt the second she dropped Arlong's name. He'd probably celebrate the occasion once she ditched them.
… So why was she still thinking about it?
Nami sat back with a sigh, her hand unconsciously reaching to her shoulder, where Arlong's mark was carefully hidden out of sight.
She conceded that she couldn't just dismiss someone, kid or not, who could blow up boulders with a pachinko ball. She knew Arlong could take on cannon fire without an issue, but, as she often did, she indulged in a morbid fantasy. That sort of firepower, unexpected and aimed for his eyes. Could even he see that coming, or survive if he didn't?
Nami groaned again. There'd been so many attempts over the past eight years that she couldn't bring herself to believe Arlong was vulnerable to anything short of the sun being brought down on him.
(Could she even bring herself to put those three at risk for her sake?)
Nami let her head fall to the table, caught in a unique dilemma- either she did care about them and stole all they had, or-
Or else, they were just pirates, and what did she care if they were willing to fight a hopeless battle.
She listened to the boys shouting in the middle of some inane argument (it could only be inane if it weren't a cause for alarm, and she'd learned to hear the difference.) She tuned out the actual words traded, reflecting on the days she'd spent with Luffy and Zoro. A fond smile broke out- despite their annoyances, they were genuinely fun to be around, if only to laugh at.
Her smile slipped a little.
'Fond, huh.'
She straightened in her seat, a bit sad and washed over with a familiar resignation.
At least she'd resolved the issue of her dilemma quickly.
"I've never seen your flag before."
Usopp tilted his head slowly one way, then the other. He squinted hard enough as to be in danger of straining something. The sniper had an inkling that he might want to revisit and reassess everything remembered from his first round.
"Who's your captain? Identify yourselves!"
Because this bright-haired Iron Fist Fullbody character didn't ring any bells for him. Usopp did recall, in general terms, the events leading up to Luffy becoming the most inept chore boy in Baratie's history. That particular gem fell into the subcategory of 'stupid things Luffy did' labeled 'hilarious' rather than 'piss-pants terrifying'.
The lieutenant's face? Zilch.
"I'm the Captain." Luffy said, bold as brass with his arms folded. "We just put up our flag!"
Usopp chuckled at his captain's disarming honesty. He'd missed it sorely.
In the time Usopp had that thought, Fullbody mocked the bounty hunting pair. An instant later, said pair had leapt up to fight in response to the slander, only to get thrashed.
"Wow." Usopp commented.
"You guys suck." He said in tune with Luffy.
"N-no." Johnny protested.
"He's just a hair's breadth better than we thought." Yosaku claimed.
Nami noticed the bounty posters that fell from Johnny's coat and scattered across the deck. Usopp saw her expression darken briefly at one photo in particular.
"Recognize someone?" He asked, feigning mild interest at the sight of a too-familiar fishman mug. "Looks pretty nasty."
Nami schooled her features remarkably and, save an odd glance at the sniper, didn't give anything else away.
Meanwhile, the goodly lieutenant's attention was pulled away by a pretty young woman. He raised his fist-
'Oh, iron knuckles, is that all it takes?'
And dismissed the crew at large with a cocky smirk.
"You're lucky I'm off duty," he said. "I've a guest to entertain."
'I give you five minutes with Sanji in the building before you end up stag.' Usopp quipped privately.
"I'll let you go for today."
Usopp sighed and lazily murmured a countdown.
"Three, two, one…"
A silent signal- a thumbs down- once the marine and his date had stepped onto the restaurant's deck sent his men working.
"A~nd they're firing on us anyway," Usopp said dryly. "Pretty banal, Filbert-san."
Zoro looked at the sniper incredulously.
"He just gave his name two minutes ago, how'd you forget already?"
"Did he?" Usopp asked, side-eyeing the swordsman. "Okay, remind me."
The silence that followed, along with the way Zoro broke eye contact, proved telling.
"Thought so." Usopp muttered, paying no attention to the approaching whistle of a ballistic cannonball nor the shouting bounty hunters.
"Zoro-aniki! Usopp-aniki!" Yosaku yelled. "We're taking fire! Why are you just standing there?"
In unison, they both wordlessly pointed at Luffy. Their captain stepped up to the bow railing and braced one foot against it, rolling his left shoulder.
The cannonball smacked into Luffy's waiting palm, and his arm stretched until the momentum petered out.
Usopp watched horror wash over the marines with a face-splitting grin.
"Check it out," he laughed, nudging Zoro. "They understand physics!"
The swordsman was laughing too hard to reply. Luffy grinned, chortling.
"Don't want it," he said, his tone deliberately petulant. "You can have it back!"
Gomu Gomu no Buumeran!
Two seconds later, Filbert's ship lacked a main mast, a mizen mast, and a fair number of personnel.
"Nice shot, Captain!"
"Shishishishi!"
Luffy threw up his fist.
"Okay! Let's go eat and find a cook!"
Zoro followed all too readily while Johnny and Yosaku split off to secure their own boat. Usopp paused, glancing back at Nami. The cartographer stood with a speculative look, regarding the ship Luffy had essentially reduced to a large canoe.
"Something on your mind, Nami?" He asked.
The navigator blinked, broken from her reverie. She huffed and walked past him.
"I just hope this place isn't too expensive is all." She said.
Usopp smiled after her tentatively. He couldn't be certain, but he thought he'd seen something like consideration. He made a mental note to work overtime the next few days and hurried to catch up.
The Baratie- in a word, Usopp thought on walking through the doors, versatile.
Tables were arranged organically rather than in an easily discernible pattern, such that smaller seating arrangements for couples and single customers were afforded a bit more space. An illusion of real privacy, perhaps, though no less impressive for it. The sniper's keen eye noticed a few old, round marks in the floor, not enough to draw attention, but enough to remind him that Sanji's mentor wore a peg leg. Nevertheless, everything spoke of being well cared for, if in a sort of hands-on, slightly gruff way. Table cloths hung softly, none of them stiff, and the decor was such that none would be turned away, nor those with money to burn put off.
Fortunately, nothing about the restaurant was ostentatious or tacky enough to warrant the notice of... 'people' like the Celestial Dragons (Usopp would hate to leave a bad first impression by smiting one of Sanji's customers.)
Nothing in the restaurant sacrificed function for form- nor, as a cursory glance and a whiff of the food confirmed, did anyone allow flavor to suffer for style. Fitting for a place Sanji called home.
And speaking of, a familiar figure, distinct for his gold mop of hair and ever-present cigarette, traipsed into view from the kitchen. Sanji, balancing a steaming bowl in each hand and one on his head, moved with all the casual grace Usopp remembered. Such a display of finesse invariably drew attention, and indeed, even as lieutenant Phyllis boasted his knowledge on the origins of whatever wine he was drinking, more than a few ladies had an eye on the blonde cook.
'Ca~lled it.'
Phyllis' reaction upon seeing the crew was highly entertaining. He caught motion in his periphery in the middle of his speech, and promptly did a double take. His hand jerked with the shocked reaction and wine spilled over his hand before he shouted.
"What are you doing here?! I just gave the order for you to be sunk!"
"Oh," Usopp said in a drawl. "Well, you see Phyllis, there was a minor mishap with that cannonball you tried to give us."
"Our Captain didn't want it," Zoro said. "So he returned it."
"He's a great guy like that." Usopp commented.
"Cheer up," Nami said sweetly as Phyllis' face shaded red. "It's not the same as sailing, but I hear rowing is a great workout!"
Luffy hadn't even paused on his way to a table during the exchange, and with a wink from Nami and a lazy wave from Usopp, they left Phyllis to his meal.
Sanji couldn't fully repress a smirk at the quartet that seated themselves. As a rule, he didn't show favor when pirates or marines came in as customers- both were equally prone to being shit heads. He'd been raised by a pirate himself, after all.
The dressing down the lieutenant had just gotten was pretty funny, though, and for three bums and an angel, they'd been courteous and didn't start trouble. Really, they did the guy a favor, he was spouting off facts on a completely different wine to what he'd been served, and if not for the interruption, Sanji would've had to correct him when he asked for affirmation.
Sanji was doing him a favor too by changing out the wine- reservations were one thing, and Zeff mentioned he asked for something specific, but Fullbody's choice didn't pair up at all with the meal he ordered. A chef's duty was to cater to the tastes of the diner, but wine had to be paired properly to get the most out of the meal. That, and the blend Sanji served was more appealing to the lady. (He'd developed at least a rudimentary sense of such things.)
"I'll arrest you all now, then!"
Sanji frowned- the man had a lady he should be entertaining, never mind that they were in a restaurant. The blonde sous chef swiftly served his soup to clear his hands.
"Sir," he cut in, stepping between the lieutenant and the ragtag crew. "If you've got grievances, you can settle them outside."
Sanji usually didn't get to issue warnings before he tossed undesirables out by their ears- if he had the chance to prevent undue damage to the shitty geezer's restaurant, though, he'd take it.
"You said you wouldn't bully them," the lovely lady noted coyly. "Can't we at least eat first?"
Fullbody's nostrils flared, once, and he eased back into his seat.
"Yes, yes, you're right," he said. "There's no rush."
The shitty lieutenant had the nerve to glare at Sanji after that when his date wasn't looking. As if it was his fault that Fullbody was an ignorant poser, who couldn't keep his ship intact, let alone entertain a lady properly.
'Shitty putz.'
As a Straw Hat pirate, Usopp had not only been accomplice to, but also perpetrated, several reckless and criminal acts.
He voluntarily ventured into the Grand Line, a sea of such insanity that it was simultaneously known as 'Pirate's Graveyard' and 'Paradise'.
He had opposed no fewer than four Shichibukai, though he'd only fought one directly.
His shining moment was when he personally set fire to the international flag of the World Government in full view of every marine stationed to guard the front door to the Navy's World-Fucking-Headquarters.
"Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?!"
Six minutes after he and his nakama found seats, Usopp bore witness to the goodly lieutenant committing insanity which made all of his prior transgressions look rational and quaint.
"You're a simple cook! How dare you serve this substandard garbage to a paying customer?!"
The scene was almost impressive to watch, as if the moment were tailor made to showcase all that made Sanji who he was.
Strike one: Insulting Sanji's cooking, and cooks as a whole.
Felony two: Smashing a table one shared with an attractive lady; thus insulting her via lack of dignity (by Sanji's standards) and potentially introducing her to harm, even indirectly.
And the cardinal sin: Wasting food, Sanji's food, within a ten mile radius of said chef, let alone in full view of he who could leave his shoe print in iron.
'Farewell,' Usopp thought, bowing his head slightly. He paid his respects to the lieutenant's final moments. 'You shall not be forgotten… Phillip.'
"Can money fill your stomach?" Sanji asked.
Phillip got as far as consternation before the well-dressed chef doled out appropriate punishment, the details of which did not bear repeating.
"Two things." Sanji said, holding Phillip up by the collar and blowing cigarette smoke into his face.
"Only empty-headed shit stains insult a cook at sea."
The blonde fixed an impressive one-eyed glower on the bloodied lieutenant.
"And food must never be wasted."
Usopp cast a glance at his crew mates. Nami watched, wide-eyed with a hand over her mouth. Zoro's eyebrow hung the slightest bit higher, and his gaze was keen despite his passively disinterested expression. As for their captain-
"Hm."
Usopp took a sip of water to hide his smile. Luffy looked on with one of his rare contemplative faces.
The scene only got more colorful when another cook, hairy and bearing forearms a third as big as Franky's, joined in.
"What're you doing to our precious customers, Sanji?!"
The blonde cast a flat, disdainful look at his colleague.
"Oh look, it's the shit-chef," he said. "Don't yell out my name like we're friends."
The lieutenant's ultimate fate hung in the balance while Sanji and 'Shit-chef' squabbled. (Usopp was a little annoyed that he'd forgotten as many names as he had. Equal parts amused, though annoyed nonetheless.)
"Patty!"
'Ah-ha!'
"Sanji! What's the damn ruckus?" A gruff voice shouted from the kitchen. An older man, equipped with a chef's hat almost four feet high, stepped into the dining area. His appearance, bordering on silly with his long braided mustache and wooden peg leg, did nothing to detract from the air of rough authority he possessed.
Zeff, Sanji's mentor and inspiration for the cook's black-leg style, did not look amused.
"If you have time to wrack up expenses by attacking clients, use it to get back to work, brat!"
Zeff punctuated his order with a sharp kick to Sanji's face.
Phillip let out a small sigh of relief (which could just as easily have been a coughed up blood clot, hard to tell with his face in such a state), before Zeff rounded on him in the same motion.
"If you gotta complaint to lodge, do it without busting my tables! Now scram!"
Phillip lay sprawled out on the floor, aghast at the treatment he'd received.
"The customer is king!" Shit-chef… er, Patty, exclaimed.
"Only if they share your shit taste." Sanji bit back.
"Did I stutter or something? Do your squabbling in the kitchen!" Zeff barked.
At that moment, the doors burst open, revealing a terrified marine soldier. The patrons all turned to take in this newest development, food almost forgotten in the drama.
Usopp lounged in his chair, thoughts idle.
'I wonder if they've got any biscuits or bread they can bring out while we wait for them to clean up.'
"Lieutenant Fullbody, sir!" He yelled.
Usopp blinked, looking around the room.
'Who- wait… does he mean Phillip?'
"Forgive me, sir! Krieg's Commander, he's escaped!"
"Never a dull moment, is there?" Usopp muttered.
"I definitely hope this isn't an average day for this place." Nami sighed.
Given the way Zoro watched things unfold, the swordsman didn't mind one bit.
"That's impossible!" The lieutenant-formerly-known-as-Phillip shouted. He sat up on the floor.
"He was half-dead of starvation when we found him and he'd not had a crumb since!"
Sanji glared at Fullbody a little harder at that comment.
"I'm sorry"
Bang.
A gunshot cut the soldier's apology short. He slumped to the floor, and behind him, framed in the doorway, stood a gaunt, nearly emaciated man. His face, with dark lines under his eyes and days of untended scruff, was almost grey. That same color dominated his outfit, from his headband to his jacket and pants, a black undershirt completing the mostly monochrome image.
The restaurant had gone quiet and watched him trudge to an empty table.
"Bring me food," he said, voice coarse, rasping and yet demanding. "Anything you've got."
Patty sidled up with a fake 'friendly service' smile that would frighten children, small or not.
"Welcome, asshole!" He greeted brightly, eliciting a jolt of gasping apprehension from the other patrons. "How will you be paying for your meal of stale rice and frog legs?"
"Doesn't matter what it is."
The pirate pulled up his pistol and clicked the safety off, pressing the barrel to Patty's forehead.
"You want payment… Do you take lead?"
Patty's terrifying smile slid right off his face in favor of his marginally more pleasant resting face.
"No money?"
In the next second, Patty's huge hands were crashing down over the pirate's head, smashing the chair in the process.
Usopp's mouth took a downward turn while the other customers cheered for Patty. Cheered for tossing out a starving man.
"Full respect where it's due, Captain," Usopp said, still giving Patty a disapproving frown. "But if that one ends up your choice for a cook, I'm going to veto that vote, hard."
"Seconded." Nami said.
Silence.
"He's not here." Zoro noted, in the tone of voice that indicated he didn't really care.
"Idiot," Nami said with a put-upon sigh. She pressed a hand to her forehead. "Did he get impatient and storm the kitchen?"
Usopp cast a second look around- Fullbody had bolted when his former prisoner walked in, Zeff clopped back to the kitchen.
In addition to their captain, their future cook was also absent.
A brief, very minor pulse of Haki confirmed that Luffy was on a path to intercept Sanji.
The sniper smirked and shrugged.
For the moment, things were on course.