Disclaimer: Godzilla and One Piece are the sole properties of Toho Co. LTD and Eiichiro Oda respectively. KP360 claims no ownership of anything save for any OCs, original abilities, and original locations.
The Going Merry is sailing smoothly and the crew was having a great time. Currently, everybody was doing their own thing. Luffy was messing around with what looks like a black canvas, Zoro was taking a Nap, Nami was looking at a map, Gian was writing something in his notebook and Usopp was trying to tell a story.
"It's done!" Luffy shouted as he raised the finished product; it was a painting of a grinning skull and crossbones with his signature straw hat. The only problem is… well, Luffy is not very a good artist.
"Now that there's 5 people in the crew it's time for our own flag! This is going to be our mark!"
"T-that's our mark?" Zoro grimaced.
"Yeah! What do you think? Great isn't it?"
"It's shit." Gian, being the artist that he is, was rather blunt about it.
"A pirate flag is supposed to symbolize death and terror." Zoro pointed out.
"I'm feeling terror, but's it's the terror of his talent…" Nami muttered.
"Here, I'll draw the mark." Gian immediately went over and got out a paintbrush and a new canvas. A few moments later, he presented a hyper detailed painting of what is supposed to be their Jolly Roger.
"Now this is what our mark should be!" upon seeing it everyone let out a scream.
The new version of the Jolly Roger still had Luffy's hat on it, but the skull instead was now an open mouthed monstrosity with fire in its eyes and lightning coming out of its mouth.
"WE'RE NOT USING THAT!" Nami snapped at him.
"But you said death and terror!" Gian protested.
"I didn't say something that would consume your soul either!" Zoro yelled.
"YOU'RE THE DEVIL!" they both shouted.
"Well excuse me for taking pride in my ability to make art instead of doodling."
After a bit, Usopp suddenly came up with an idea.
"Did you all forget about this genius painter?" He pointed to himself "I've had 50 years of experience painting walls! When it comes to something like this it should be a piece of cake! " everybody had their own interpretation of the outlandish lie.
"Wow! 50 years?" Luffy was amazed.
"That would mean you're an old man!" Zoro laughed.
"I bet he has 5-6 grandchildren already!" Nami giggled.
"And he still looks that good too! Tell us your secret! Dermatologists would hate you!" Gian guffawed.
"OI!"
Soon, Usopp was done with the painting. It indeed was a very good one, except that he drew his own mark instead.
"Who told you to make your own flag?!" Everybody shouted.
So Usopp made another one instead, this time it was the same as Luffy's except that it looks much better.
"This is really nice!" everybody praised.
"Alright, I concede." Gian grinned. It really is a good mark.
"Ok Usopp, paint it on the sail!" Luffy commanded.
And just like that, the Strawhat Jolly Roger is born. Very soon, it would be known across the entire world.
Later:
Luffy, Usopp and Gian found some cannonballs in the storage and decided to test the cannon.
"ARRRGH! Why is this so hard?" Luffy cried out. He had been attempting to shoot at an island rock, but no matter what he does, never seems to hit the target.
"I'll get it this time…" Gian muttered. He lit the fuse and the cannon ball shot out. Unfortunately, it went 90 degrees up instead of towards the rock "WHAT THE HELL?! HOW IS THAT EVEN LOGICAL?!"
"Hehe, guess it's up to me to show you two how it's done!" Usopp boasted. After some preparartions, he fired and this time the cannonball landed a direct hit.
"WOW! You hit it!" Luffy and Gian cried out.
"Eh? That actually worked… er I mean, of course! When it comes to marksmanship, I'm second to none!" Usopp gave a shaky grin.
"Nice! Then from now on, you will be our sniper!" Luffy declared.
"But I want to be the captain!"
"I told you! I'm the captain!"
Later, everybody sat around deciding what to do next.
"Before we head to the Grand Line, there's one more position that we need filled." Luffy revealed.
"Yes, it is a rather important position isn't it?" Zoro nodded.
"We have a really nice kitchen here too." Nami said
"Indeed, it is the most important position on a ship. We need a-"
"10 beri he's going to say what I think he's going to say." Gian whispered to Zoro.
"Make it 20."
"- Musician!" Luffy finished. This earned him a collective groan.
"Is that all you think about?" Zoro snapped.
"I thought he'd say something smart for once…" Usopp muttered.
"Don't get your hopes up." Gian sighed.
"But pirates need to sing!" Luffy pointed out.
"We need other things as well Luffy, we can't sing if we don't even have the bare necessities." Gian explained. When he saw Luffy's pout he let out a short sigh, "We can get a musician later."
Before anything else can be said, the crew heard someone land on the deck. An angry voice shouted out as well.
"Come out here you pirates!"
Luffy and Gian ran outside to see a man of average height wearing a blue jacket, a purple shirt, beige pants and a pair of sunglasses staring angrily at them. He had the kanji for 'sea' tattooed on his left cheek and carried a cleaver sword.
"How dare you pirates kill my partner?!" the man then swung his sword, which ended up slicing some of the rails.
"Hey! That's vandalism!" Gian protested.
"Shut up! I will avenge my partner's death! Know that I killed plenty of pirates in my life, and you will-" the man wasn't able to finish before Luffy punched him.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but do not damage our ship!" he yelled as his fist slammed him into the wall."
"Seriously, we just got this! We can sue!"
"What's taking so long, isn't there just- wait, Johnny?" the duo heard Zoro come out of the kitchen and his eyes widened as he saw a familiar face.
"Who dares to say my name with such- eh? Zoro-aniki!" the man, now known as Johnny, got a small surprise.
"Zoro tell your friend he's paying for the reparations!"
"Where's Yosaku? Aren't you two always together?"
Johnny's head drooped at that "Yosaku… was fine until just a few days ago! Then one day he suddenly said he felt sick and his old wounds have opened up again! Lately his teeth have been falling out as well."
Johnny then led them to the edge of the Going Merry, where a boat was shown to be tied to it. Lying on the boat and panting weakly was another man wearing a green jacket with yellow shorts and a red headpiece.
"We were resting on that rock until you guys blew it up." At this Luffy and Usopp started panicking and Gian let out a nervous laugh.
"Wait… let me take a look at him." Nami stepped forward and brought the ailing man onto the ship. Johnny tried to protest but was held back. After a few minutes she sighed and turned to the crew.
"Didn't Kaya give us some citrus?" she asked.
Luffy, Gian, and Usopp, after hearing this, immediately ran to the storage. Soon they came out with bundles of fruit.
"Why can't I hold all these limes?" Gian stumbled with his hands full.
"WHO TOLD YOU TO TAKE ALL OF THEM?! PUT SOME OF THEM BACK!" Nami screamed. She then started squeezing some of the lemons into the man's mouth.
"He's got scurvy" Nami explained "It's a good thing we found him pretty early so he should be better in a few days."
"Is that true?"
"Yeah don't worry, all he needs is some vitamin C."
"Wow Nami you're amazing!" Luffy and the rest of the guys nodded.
"You all should know this to begin with!" she snapped back "And not everyone can heal like you so don't bring it up!" Gian meekly lowered his hand.
A few seconds later Yosaku opened his eyes and stood up straight. "I feel better already!" he declared, and then did a happy dance with Johnny.
"YOU DON'T RECOVER THAT FAST!"
The duo then faced the crew
"Sorry for not introducing ourselves earlier. I'm Johnny-" Johnny said.
"And I'm Yosaku." Yosaku answered as well.
"We are pirate hunters! Zoro-aniki used to work with us, it's a pleasure to meet all of you."
"I'm quite surprised to see you both here, to be honest." Zoro admitted.
"We're more surprised; to think that 'Pirate Hunter' Zoro is now a pirate himself!" Yosaku answered.
"Heh, even I don't know how I got myself into this. But they're an alright bunch."
Later:
Everyone was once again gathered in the kitchen, save for Johnny who is now accompanying Yosaku after the latter fell unconscious yet again hours before.
"Let this be a lesson for all of us, these kind of things are known to happen on a trip." Nami told everyone "So in this case, I believe we need someone that knows about the dietary business."
"I get it, we need a cook!" Luffy finally caught on.
"Has science gone too far? He actually figured something out." Gian chuckled.
"Yeah! Then we'll have plenty of food!" Usopp agreed. At this the crew turned to see Johnny coming into the kitchen.
"If you need any help, I know a place where you can find a cook."
"We're all ears." Gian nodded.
"But it's pretty close to the Grand Line… also from what we heard, the man Zoro-aniki is trying to find, Hawk Eyes, is around there too." Upon hearing this Zoro became determined and Gian's eyebrows went up.
"What's business does he have outside of the Grand Line?"
"I don't know, all I know is that he's around in the area for some reason."
"Well considering our otherwise lack of options, I'd say we might as well risk it. It's up to you Luffy." Gian sighed.
"Yosh! Take us there!" Luffy agreed almost instantly.
The next day:
The Going Merry sailed close to what appears to be a ship shaped like a floating fish. Luffy and Usopp were very excited, and the other members of the ship were rather excited as well.
"There it is everyone! The floating sea restaurant Baratie!" Johnny and Yosaku pointed.
Their excitement died when they saw a marine ship sail towards them.
"W-what? Why are they here?!" Yosaku panicked.
"Don't tell me they're here to catch us!" Usopp was panicking as well.
"They shouldn't be, we haven't exactly done anything quite yet." Gian pointed out.
"This could be trouble…" Zoro narrowed his eyes.
The ship pulled up alongside them and a man stepped out. He had light purple hair and was wearing a striped suit.
"I am lieutenant Fullbody, which one of you is the captain?"
"That would be me!" Luffy waved. Usopp also added his own input, but was ignored.
Fullbody then spotted the two bounty hunters.
"I've seen you guys around before, you two claim to be pirate hunters right? Looks like you finally caught something for once!" The lieutenant sneered.
Johnny and Yosaku, clearly agitated by that comment, were further insulted when the man laughed.
"We'll show you what we're capable of!" the two of them rushed towards him at once, but only a moment later were they lying on the deck battered and bruised.
"This ship is an eyesore, sink it!" Fullbody scoffed and pointed towards the Going Merry before heading into the restaurant with his date.
At this time, Nami noticed a bunch of wanted posters scattered around the deck; Johnny was carrying them before heading off to defend his honor. One poster stuck out in particular, and when Nami picked it up, a very similar chill crept up her spine and she let out a gasp.
The grinning poster of 'Saw Tooth' Arlong, a fishman worth 20 million beri was what was on it. Seeing this again once again reminded her why she was out here in the first place.
So lost in her thoughts she didn't even notice Gian coming up to her.
"Hey, you feeling ok? You've been looking at that like you saw a ghost!" hearing this Nami's head shot up in a fake smile as she crumpled the piece of paper up.
"Yeah! Just fine! Sorry I think I spaced out!"
Before Gian could say anything else, Usopp suddenly pointed in the distance and screamed; the marine ship had pointed its cannon towards them.
"Don't worry, I got this!" Luffy declared as his body swelled up in his Gomu-Gomu no Fusen ability in order to deflect the cannonball. He meant to bounce it back at the ship, but he misjudged the direction and bounced the ball towards the ceiling of the restaurant instead. The result was a huge hole in the roof.
"…Lord… if we can just go one day without our captain starting shit, then we'd be so happy …" Gian sweatdropped as an army of angry chefs surrounded them and took Luffy away.
Soon:
"Here's the one who destroyed our roof!" two of the chefs tossed Luffy towards the head chef of the restaurant. The head chef was a man that's catching up on his age, with a tall hat and a serious expression. His blond colored beard was tied into two long braids. The most noticeable feature about him was his right leg; it was missing and replaced with a wooden peg. His name is Zeff, a former pirate himself now in charge of this seafaring restaurant.
"Ahhh! I'm sorry!" Luffy cried out when he saw the man's prosthetic.
"Oh this? It didn't happen just now, so don't worry about it." Zeff then glared hard at the boy "What did happen, is that you blew a hole in my roof! What are you planning to do about that?!"
"I'm sorry, I don't have any money…" Luffy hung his head.
Zeff smirked "Well in that case, you'll just have to work to pay it off."
"Oh, alright! Sure I'll do that!"
"Judging by the size of the whole, you should be able to pay off your debt in… One Year." All the smiles on Luffy's face was wiped clean off.
"W-w-what?! One year?! But I have an adventure to go on!"
"Well, that isn't my problem."
"How about a week instead?" Luffy pleaded.
"What did you say?" Zeff narrowed his eyes.
"2 weeks then" Luffy tried again.
"I told you already, the amount of damage that you caused should be covered after a year; you don't honestly think you can pay it off in only 2 weeks?"
"Fine! 3 weeks! Take it or leave it!"
As a result of his imprudence, Luffy received a heavy kick from the man.
"You think that it's that easy? That you can just make demands like you own this place?" Zeff growled at the boy.
"I don't care! I waited 10 years to be a pirate! I can't wait another!"
"Hmm… well there is one way." Zeff mused. He had to admit the boy was rather headstrong.
"Oh? What's that?"
"You can pay me with another leg instead!"
"Wahhh?! That's not possible!"
"Then you stay. End of discussion." With that, any further protest was no use.
Meanwhile
Fullbody and the pretty lady that he's with were sitting at a table with plates of food and drink. As they were enjoying themselves, another person walked up and poured them a glass of wine. The man was youthful looking wearing a neat-looking black suit and equally formal black pants. His blond hair was rather long with it covering one of his eyes; the other revealed an eyebrow that ended in a spiral. The man finished pouring the drink, all the while casually smoking a cigarette.
As Fullbody took a sip of the wine, his eyes lit up "This is exquisite! The taste! The fragrance! It's the fragrance of Mitqueo City from up North! The sour and spicy taste, this is Wurzburger Stein isn't it? Waiter, am I right?"
The man didn't answer at first, but when Fullbody went to reach for his spoon, he suddenly found his wrist in a tight grip.
"No… it isn't, sir." the man drawled. He then forced a spoon into the lieutenant's hand.
"Enjoy your soup, don't let it get cold." The man then walked away.
"Oh, by the way. My name is Sanji, I'm the sous-chef not the waiter. We don't have any waiters here anymore." He called back once again, Leaving Fullybody glowering after him with a vengeful expression.
Meanwhile:
"Alright, since Luffy is taking L's in there we might as well go get something to eat while we wait for him, sound good?" Gian proposed, and there was general agreement from everybody except for Johnny and Yosaku, who volunteered to stay behind and look aftet the ship.
"What's Luffy taking?" Usopp asked.
"Don't worry about it, let's go in."
Zoro and Usopp went ahead and Gian was about to go as well, but noticed that Nami slightly lagged behind with a distant look on her face.
"Uhhh… you not hungry or something?" Hearing Gian's voice jolted her back into reality.
"Oh! Yeah! Let's go."
"Do you even know where we're going?"
"T-to the restaurant right?"
"Ok, so you're still with us. But just to let you know, don't let despair consume you; if you do, then you've already lost."
Nami's eyes widened "W-what are you talking about?"
"Heh, you know exactly what I'm trying to say. Your eyes, your actions, they're speak of loss and anger. I would know after all, I've been in the same situation. I've actually noticed it for a while now."
"You don't know anything, don't act you do. This isn't something so simple…" Nami snapped.
"I'm just saying, we can help you. We've been travelling together for some time now; you're family and we would be there whenever you need."
"You don't understand… what I'm dealing with right now. Can we please drop this?" Nami whispered as Gian was about to say something else.
"Fine, I'll give you your space. But I'm telling you. If you need anything, we're right here. You really don't want to hold onto whatever's bothering you for too long." With that he turned and walked towards the restaurant. Nami stayed for a bit longer and then followed. A part of her desperately wanted to accept the offer, but she can't drag them into her mess, she just couldn't.
Later:
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU GUYS!" Luffy shouted while his crew sat at a table. The captain of the Straw Hat Pirates was forced to become a waiter himself in order to pay off his debts. It was just too good of a coincidence for his crew to witness this as well. The 4 of them could barely contain their laughter.
"Hey! I heard you have to be a waiter for an entire year! Does that mean I get to be captain now?" Usopp giggled.
"Can I redraw the flag?" Zoro chortled.
"I guess we'll have to use my flag design after all! Skrehahaha!" Gian almost fell out of his chair.
"Shut up! How can you all just sit here and eat all this good food without me?!" Luffy huffed, then spotted Gian's glass of water. He decided to do some mischief and picked his nose, putting the extraction into the glass with Gian seemingly not noticing. Nami, Usopp and Zoro all did however, and had to cover their mouths in order to not laugh.
"Yep, this food really does look good" Gian raised his glass and seemed to be just about to take a swig "And to tell you the truth, I do feel kind of bad leaving you out of this. After all, food should be SHARED!" swiftly he grabbed Luffy's head and forced the booger-water down his throat. Luffy immediately screamed and started writhing on the floor, choking out "I can't breathe!" repeatedly.
"That was disgusting! For crying out loud we're at a freaking restaurant! Show some class will ya?!" Gian scowled as Luffy's suffering continued. The rest of the crew could no longer hold back their mirth and all erupted in uproarious laughter, which drew the attention of pretty much everyone in the restaurant.
With Sanji:
"What a noisy bunch… looks like they know each other." Sanji frowned as he observed the group. He hasn't really talked to the new waiter yet, but he deducted that they must be part of a crew. Looking further he saw that one of the members of the crew is a pretty orange haired girl.
Before he could do anything he was rudely interrupted by a certain marine.
"Hey waiter! What is the meaning of this?" Fullbody demanded.
"I thought I told you I'm not the waiter?" Sanji scoffed as he went over to his table. He first noticed the pretty girl that accompanied the marine lieutenant. The chef's expression immediately turned more suave "I do have to say you have great taste in company. How about it miss? You and I ditch this poor sod and have some wine together?" This naturally incurred a reaction from the marine.
"Is this what you call service? What kind of restaurant serves bug soup to people?" picking up his soup bowl, Fullbody revealed that there was a bug in the dish. In truth he had put it there himself, but no one needed to know that!
"We don't serve that here."
"Then how would you explain this?"
"I don't know… I'm not an expert on bugs." Sanji coolly answered back. This managed to make the lieutenant lose his temper.
"How dare you?!" Fullbody threw the soup bowl down and it broke into pieces.
Sanji simply bent down and began picking up the pieces.
"If you had picked the bug out, it would've still been edible. This soup took 3 days and nights to make."
"You show such an arrogant tone toward customers? I paid good money for this meal and-" Fullbody never got to finish his sentence when he noticed Sanji sending him a death glare.
"Can money… fill your stomach?"
"What?"
"I asked if money can fill your stomach. Well can it?"
Before Fullbody could even answer he was suddenly struck by a lightning fast kick. What followed was a brutal beat down, curtsey of the sous-chef. By the end of that tirade, Fullbody was bloody and beaten while he was being held by the neck.
"Don't go ruining our food. Messing with a sea cook, is a good way of getting you killed…"
"What the hell Sanji? How dare you rough up our customers?" another voice alerted him as he saw a large burly man walking towards him. This man is Patty, another chef of the Baratie.
"You got a problem with that shitty cook? This man insulted our restaurant and ruins our food. I'm just teaching him a lesson."
"Do you treat all your customers like this? How do you even stay in business? I'll destroy it. I'll destroy this whole restaurant!" Fullbody shouted.
"Then you aren't leaving here alive."
"Sanji! Stop this right now!" a third voice boomed. Unlike before, Sanji actually stopped his assault this time.
"Fighting in my restaurant again? You insolent brat, who do you think you are?" the commanding voice of Zeff was not something to be ignored.
"Shut it, old fart." Sanji got a kick for that.
"And you!" Turning to Fullbody, Zeff's glare was no less severe "get the hell out of here." Fullbody let out another squeak of fear, before he could move, a marine burst into the restaurant.
"Commander Fullbody! We have a problem! Don Krieg's right hand man escaped!"
"W-what?! How?! Wasn't he half-starved to death when we found him?"
Hearing this news the restaurant began to feel uneasy.
"Wow… this place is pretty famous, even Don Krieg knows about it." Gian commented.
"Who's Don Krieg?" Luffy asked.
"Don Krieg is the most notorious pirate in East Blue. From what I've heard the guy has a fleet of 50 ships. If he's coming here, you can expect some action to go down."
"I'm sorry lieutenant! I thought that-" whatever he was about to say next would never be known, as a sudden gunshot sounded. The next thing anyone knew, the marine soldier was lying on the ground.
A grizzled man then entered the restaurant. One look at the man could tell you that he's been through a lot. His grey jacket hung loosely to his frame, and his thin, wiry hair clung to his head band. His eyes were harsh, scanning everyone in the restaurant as he gripped the gun tightly. Despite all he's been through, there was no doubt that this man could be dangerous.
"We have another customer it seems." Patty declared.
"Hmph, he better not cause any more trouble." Zeff dismissed.
"This is a restaurant isn't it? I don't care what it is, just give me something to eat! I haven't eaten in days!" the man demanded, panting ever so slightly.
"Welcome, mere bastard! Do you have any money before hand?" Patty rolled out his usual line. He then found himself faced with the pistol.
"I'll pay you with a bullet, is that ok?"
"So, no money then." The stocky cook simply raised his arms and slammed them onto the man, crushing him to the floor of the restaurant as well as destroying the chair he was sitting on.
"Patty! Watch the furniture!" Zeff scowled.
"Wow, pretty strong!" Luffy whistled.
"This is more than a restaurant it seems." Gian mumbled.
"If you don't have money, then you don't get to eat!" Patty then continued his beating on the weakened man, which ended with him throwing him out of the restaurant. At this, everybody in the establishment save for the Strawhats were cheering.
"That was a bit harsh… most people find will that helping the homeless is a virtue." Gian frowned.
"That man isn't homless, He's one of Krieg's men! If he's fed he'd probably just kill everyone here!" a customer next to him informed him.
"Yeah, well have you seen the cooks here? Pretty sure they can take down an entire army if they wanted to."
While this was happening, Sanji went to the kitchen without a word.
A few minutes later:
"Damn that cook… if only I wasn't so…" the pirate from before groaned to himself as he lay on the outside of the restaurant.
"Hey, you're starving aren't you?" he heard someone and looked up to see Luffy perched on the second floor with Gian. Said man was pointing at a roll of bread, asking if he wants it.
"G-get lost… I ain't hungry…"
"And they say gratitude isn't dead…" Gian mumbled
Just then the door opened and Sanji stepped out with a plate of fried rice and a cup of water. The food was placed in front of the weakened pirate.
"Eat" no other words were necessary
"Get that plate out here! I don't need your pity!" the pirate growled.
"Don't be so hard, eat it. I know what it's like to be hungry" Sanji replied "To me, anybody who's starving is a customer."
"But… I don't have money…"
Sanji sighed "the sea is a cruel mistress, to not have food or water is a terrible feeling. Believe me when I say that I understand those who are starving more than you think I do. If you want to die with dignity I won't stop you, but if you eat you can wake up to a better tomorrow, isn't that right?"
Tears began welling up in the pirate's eyes. He then picked up the plate and began wolfing down the dish as fast as he could chew.
"It's delicious, it's the most delicious food I've ever had in my life! I-I thought I was going to die back there…"
While this is happening, Luffy and Gian watched with a smile on their face.
"I know that look Luffy, go talk to him."
"Yup! I think I just found our cook!"
"Excuse me?" Sanji looked up. The pirate looked up from his meal as well.
"He didn't stutter, he just asked you to be the chef of our pirate crew. It shouldn't be too strange, considering that old guy was a pirate in his life time. He was, wasn't he?" Gian said.
He was, quite an infamous one at that, and so were all of the chefs. I wasn't a part of his crew and he's retired now. Today he owns this restaurant, though most people just come here to see cooks fight against pirates."
"So please don't damage this place much more, because this restaurant is worth more to him than any treasure."
"You hear that? No more cannonballs for you." Gian directed this part at Luffy.
"It was an accident…"
"You guys are looking for a cook still? Your crew must be quite small…" the starving man, who was eating before, pitched in.
"Yeah, we only 6 including him right now." Luffy pointed at Sanji.
"Hey! I didn't say I'd join your shitty crew!" the blond chef shot back.
"Well I want you to join us!"
"I refuse! I have my reasons staying here!" Sanji argued.
"I refuse your refusal!" Of course, Luffy wasn't giving in "You're a great cook, come with us!"
"You can't just-"
"Hey, don't bother arguing, your fate was sealed the moment he opened his mouth." Gian chirped.
"If I may ask, what is your goal of becoming a pirate?" the other pirate, now finished his food, asked from the side.
"I'm going to be the Pirate King!" Luffy declared as adamantly as ever.
"Pirate King? You look quite young, I don't see why you need to go to the Grand Line right now. After all it is only one small part of the world's ocean, so there's much less dangerous places to travel to." The pirate said with a hint of concern.
"Don't worry, we know what we're doing." Luffy answered.
"Look kid, my name is Gin and I'm one of the Krieg Pirates. Our crew headed into the Grand Line a few weeks ago, and we were caught completely off guard. It's far too dangerous." Gin shuddered at the memory.
"Tis what happens to those who do not prepare beforehand. But like he said we actually made some preparations." Gian assured him.
"Well if you think you're ready, then I won't stop you. Don't say I didn't warn you though" Gin sighed "Well, I should be going now. You already went behind their backs feeding me Sanji-san, I wouldn't want to get you into any more trouble."
"Feeding you? I wouldn't know of it." Sanji retorted as he kicked the plate into the sea.
"Thank you Sanji-san, you saved my life. Just a question, do you think I can come again?" Gin asked sincerely.
"Sure, come back anytime!"
With that, Gin set off on a small boat "Thank you again! I won't forget it, ever!"
The 3 waved back before they heard another demanding voice.
"Oi! Get back to work, Eggplant! And you as well new waiter!" unbeknownst to him, Zeff had witnessed everything from behind the door. Not that he was surprised; it wasn't the first time Sanji did something like this after all. Sanji sighed and walked back into the restaurant.
"Ahhh! The old man!" Luffy cried.
"Let him off! I'm having a conversation with my captain!" Gian told him.
"Oh, so you're his crewmate, then you can share his debt, both of you to the kitchen!"
"Yeah just- WAIT, WHAT?!"
Zeff let out an amused smirk while Luffy laughed as Gian crumpled to the floor. Nobody knew just then, that the man they just saved was about to bring a storm to the sea restaurant.
A/N: With the release of this chapter, I want to say a special announcement. As of right now, this story has officially past the 10 000 views milestone. Over 10 000 views! That means more than 10 000 people has seen this story! I'm just really happy that that many people know that this exists.
G: thank you all for the continued support! Your happiness is our gain!
So not much changed with the start of this arc, except for a few extra Gian moments. Depending on what I decide later on, I might actually cut the arc off and have Gian go with the others to Cocoyashi, mainly because I don't know if he staying would actually be meaningful.
G: Why did you do that ending?!
Because you're being a little bitch right now.
G: Fuck you!
But anyways, that's all up in the air right now. I would like some public opinion of whether Gian should stay for the whole of the Baratie Arc or go with Usopp and the rest to Cocoyashi Village. Leave a review or PM me your thoughts! Thank you all again, and thank you all for the continued support!
Leave a review and-
G: No! I will not go through that again!
What, I was going to let you play Super Smash Bros.
G: Oh… alright, that's pretty nice.
… And then you'll run a marathon!
G: Go to fucking hell!