A few hours of sailing with our new ship, I'm already dying of boredom as usual.

I was just watching Luffy designing our pirate flag and just looking at it in amusement while Usopp is acting up and having that piracy-high thing, and then complaining that we should at least show enthusiasm for our new pirate life. I can't blame him, but piracy life is like 70% just drifting on the sea with no excitement, so he can't blame us for not being enthusiastic.

"Done!" Luffy announces loudly that it scared Usopp up a bit as he picks up the flag and turns to show it to the others, "Look! It's our pirate flag! Usopp joined us and now we're a group of seven, so we need to make our pirate flag!" He proudly presents while the others look conflicted as they look at the said 'symbol of fear'.

"…That's our flag?" Zoro is in disbelief and I can say that I'm not surprised by that.

"Yeap!" Luffy grins widely and brightly. He looks so proud of himself.

"Calling him artistically challenged would be an understatement…" Usopp comments while gapping widely.

"A pirate's flag should be the Jolly Roger of death, but this flag is… Well, I guess it's quite terrifying in a sense." Zoro points out, crossing his arms and I can see from his eyes that he's starting to regret his decision to follow Luffy.

"Well, I can say that I feel a little scared, but mostly because of his drawing." Nami adds in with her hand on her chin.

"I did tell him to let me do the drawing, but he refused because, and I quote, 'he's the captain'." I snicker with a smirk. "His drawing skills never changed from a decade ago." I add.

And then Usopp tsk-ing and waving his pointer. "You should've discussed it with me first. Just so you know I'm also an artist." He says with a proud grin.

"An artist?"

"I already have 50 years of experience on murals. When there's an art contest, it's not wrong that I will be victorious." Usopp is surprisingly very confident with that, and it makes me happy that he's proud of himself like that. He needs to believe in his own talents more.

"Amazing! 50 years?!" Luffy.

"That means you should've been an old man." Zoro.

"Not only that, he should have around five of six grandchildren." Nami.

"That's also amazing!" Luffy again.

"Oi!" Usopp did a backhand and we all just snicker from teasing Usopp and his lies, and also for Luffy believing his shits.

Usopp eventually did the drawing for the Jolly Roger, but he ended up making his own Jolly Roger. Luffy and Zoro gave him a hit on the back of his head for that, and he finally took it seriously. Usopp used the actual design from Luffy's original design, but made it better and more polished.

I spot the abandoned, original one that got thrown away in a corner and pick it up. "Do you mind if I keep this one? As a memento." I ask Luffy and he grins.

"Sure! You can keep it!" Luffy replies before turning back to Usopp, telling him to draw the main sail too.

I just smile and untie my sash, replacing it with the failed Jolly Roger and tying it like beach sarong wrap around my hips, while I tie the sash around Flame's neck into a lopsided bow instead. He doesn't seem to protest and just yawns lazily, so he basically approved his current fashion.

For the next couple of hours, we just watch Usopp painting the main sail with the finalized design of our Jolly Roger and once it's done, Takao tied our finished pirate flags and Luffy is practically shining ecstatically.

"Alright! It's done! With this, our pirate ship Going Merry is ready for action!" Luffy announces brightly, as bright as the sun itself.

"I'd say, we're officially a pirate now." I nod with a grin, "All we need is Luffy getting his first bounty, and we're good."

"What do you mean? You already have o—" I quickly run up to Luffy and give him an uppercut, stopping him mid sentence and I calmly walk away as he safely lands on his feet.

"Oi Eris! What gives?!" Luffy fumes in annoyance, uninjured because I didn't use Buso to uppercut him.

"Don't spill shits you're not supposed to, dumbass." I huff with a sharp glare, and that seems to shut him up. Good. It's not the right time for the others to know. They're too weak; it's unnecessary to endanger them.

And just like I predicted, I get 3 pairs of curious eyes and I silently curse Luffy and his either idiocy or naivety.

I sharply turn to look at them and raise my eyebrow, "What?" I snap, and both Usopp and Nami quickly look away and start to do whatever they're doing, while Zoro keeps his eyes on me for a few seconds longer before he shrugs and lays down to take a nap.

This time, I turn to Luffy, who's actually sulking on his special seat. I let out a sigh and walked up to him, my back leaning on the railing.

"Don't do anything rash, Luffy." I start, "We're still in East Blue and our crew is still small and weak. Maybe you and I are strong, but until when are we going to jump headfirst and kill everyone but us? I know you're bad at keeping secrets, but try to keep this one in until we're in Paradise. You're our Captain; we will follow your orders, but try to be wise about this."

Luffy didn't say anything in return, but I know he's listening so we're good.

"Okay, it's lunchtime. What do you guys wanna eat?" I ask as I walk up and lean down to look at the others on the lower deck.

"MEAT!" Luffy immediately announces, and I roll my eyes at that.

"Aye, aye, Captain." I reply with an amused smile.

"I want rice." Zoro.

"I'm fine with anything." Nami.

"I want fish!" Usopp.

"Okay, I'll do my best to satisfy everyone, but I'm no cook so bear with me." I tell them as I jump across to the other deck and enter the kitchen-meeting room. As I stand in front of the kitchen, I brace myself for the incoming battle.

I'm not that good of a cook, but I know how to mix and match between ingredients, so I'm sure it'll be decent enough for the others until we get ourselves a cook. Once the food is done and everyone is gathered by the dining table, all of us minus Usopp are bracing for the next battle of eating while Usopp is looking at us weirdly.

But before he can ask, Luffy's inhumanly fast hands immediately grab his food and shove it into his mouth, leaving Usopp to notice it a little too late.

"Wha—Oi Luffy! Don't steal my food, you bastard!" Usopp exclaims out in annoyance as he tries his best to defend his food, but alas, Luffy is far too fast for him.

The rest of us are just eating our food in silence smugly while doing our best to defend our food from Luffy's grabby hands.

All in all, lunchtime is pretty normal and it's peacefully boring after that. Boring enough for Luffy trying out the ship cannon to hit the nearby coral reef, but I quickly put his plan down.

"There are people there." I say out loud and turn to Nami, "We should go and check on them. They could be in danger."

"Really now? Is this one of your detection superpower speaking?" She asks with her brow raised as she's lounging on her lounging seat and reading the papers, maybe a little sarcastic if I don't know any better.

"Sure is. Let's go there?" I ask and give her my best impression of Luffy's puppy eyes, and she just gives me an unimpressed, half-lidded look before rolling her eyes.

"Fine." And then she starts giving orders for us to sail our ship to the coral reef. Except for Zoro, who's still fast asleep and I'm tempted to kick his head for both his Kenbun training and revenge for not helping us.

Once we're close enough, we manage to spot a small boat roped to the rocks, a half-dead man, and a lively man that's brandishing his sword at us.

"Leave us alone, pirates! Or I will make you pay if you disturb us!" The lively man in sunglasses and the word 'sea' tattooed on his cheek hisses, while we just watch him silently.

"…Should we really help this guy? Pretty sure his friend is a goner too." Usopp whispers to me and I shrug. I mean, we don't have to, but there's no harm in helping a future confidant.

"Oi, Sunglasses man. You okay? Need any help?" I ask him calmly and glance at his dying friend, "Your friend is dying." I add and he bristles.

"Silence, pirate scum! Leave us alone or I will end your life!" He exclaims out, and Luffy of all people laughs in response.

"Good luck ending Eris' life!" He laughs hard enough that he slaps the railing, while the others just watch him blankly. I mean, he can try his best, but I doubt he can get anywhere closer to me.

"Well ain't that rude? Relax my dude, we're just offering you some help for your friend, is all." I try again, but dude just not budging a bit.

"Leave us alone, you fucking pirates!" He yells out as he grabs a pebble and throws it at me. I let it hit me square on my forehead (ow) and just stared at the guy, unimpressed. Meanwhile, I can feel Luffy is actually fearing for the poor guy's life, while Nami and Usopp are just concerned (either for me or the guy, I don't know.) while looking back and forth on me and the guy.

"That kinda hurt, y'know." I calmly say with a huff, gently rubbing on the slowly bruising spot.

But before it can escalate further, I hear Zoro is finally waking up and actually checking on whatever shit is happening at the moment.

"What the hell are you guys so noisy about?" Zoro asks and yawns while scratching on his stomach and everyone turns to look at him.

"Some pirate hunter is picking on Eris, while his friend is busy dying." Nami answers with a shake of her head and an unimpressed look.

"You think it's your pirate hunter buddies?" I ask him instead, thumbing on the said guy. Zoro raises his brow in question as he walks up next to me and peers down to look before his eyes widen in realization.

"Johnny? You're Johnny, right?"

The said Johnny turns to look at Zoro in realization before grinning widely. "Zoro-aniki!"

"Where's Yosaku? Usually he's around." Zoro asks and looks around as Johnny looks dejected at the mention of said Yosaku.

"Y-Yosaku… H-he's sick! And I don't know what to do!" Johnny answers, slowly panicking again while Zoro seems surprised by that before turning to Luffy.

"Luffy, do you mind if they board the ship? They're my friends." He asks and Luffy just shrugs with a smile.

"Sure! I don't mind! Bring 'em up!"

Hearing that, Takao swoops in and transforms midland, scaring the shit out of Johnny as Takao gently holds Yosaku up and takes him onboard. Johnny is just dumbfounded while Usopp lets the rope ladder down for him to climb, before he snaps out of it and quickly climbs up to the ship.

Takao puts Yosaku on the middle deck before he flies off again to the crow's nest, back to his lookout duty. While Johnny is telling the others his tales on how they are friends with Zoro (he beat them up, and then they became buddies. Men in this world surely are bonding in the strangest ways.), and why are they traveling by the sea, before Yosaku suddenly gets sick, Nami approaches the half-dead man and starts examining him, and Johnny is not happy with her way of checking him out but she gives no shit.

I walk up to the storage room and grab two handfuls of limes for Yosaku's treatment. Although I don't know how it works, I'm not a doctor and the people here are much more resilient compared to those in my homeworld, so I'm sure it'll work out fine.

I approach the others with the limes and put them near Yosaku calmly. The others are watching me do my thing as I peel the limes' rinds and squeeze the fruits, letting the juice trickle down to Yosaku's throat and letting him drink it down.

"Well, you're actually responding pretty fast this time around." Nami comments, seemingly a little impressed that I'm not giving a medical hazard problem this time around.

"Unlike Luffy, I read books so I know some things. I'm pretty sure he got scurvy or something like that." I shrug with a smirk.

Nami nods at that before turning back to the others. "Well, you're not wrong about that. Scurvy was practically a death sentence for sailors in the past. It's caused by a lack of nutrients found in fruits and vegetables." She explains, putting her hand on her hip.

"Hoo, I see. That's good to know then!" Luffy replies with a big smile, impressed by Nami's knowledge. "You're like a doctor!" He adds and Nami rolls her eyes in annoyance.

"It's basically the most basic of the basic knowledge when you're going sailing! How can you not know about this?!" Nami responds in disbelief.

I just shake my head and give her a smug grin. "You're overestimated Luffy's knowledge on sailing. He barely knows shit other than rowing a boat. He can't even swim even before he eats his Devil Fruit." I tell her, "but nah, I mostly know things from my first journey entering the Grand Line."

That actually gives an honest shocked look from not only Nami, but from the others too, except for those who live with me for a decade.

"You went to the Grand Line AND returned still in one piece?!" HAH! Title drop. "No wonder you're freakishly strong."

"I did tell you that I went training with my gramps, and gramps took me to Marineford and by extension the Grand Line, so yeah." I shrug, like it's not really a big deal. "I had my fun, but if you think you can just ask me things about my experience there, good fucking luck because where's the fun in that except experiencing it yourself?" I smirk smugly, and that deflates them down.

"But can you at least tell us how your journey was?" Usopp asks, actually desperate to hear the juicy bits.

"It was hell, I'll tell you that. Everyone is crazy strong, and the weather is also in on trying to murder you, so yeah. You'll get stronger gradually once you enter the place as a way to adapt with the place." I answer with a smirk and I can see that his legs are shaking like a newborn lamb. It's pretty hilarious.

But before things get escalated, the previously-half-dead Yosaku abruptly sits up, surprisingly looks far healthier than before and then both of him and Johnny start to dance around.

"LIKE HELL HE CAN RECOVER THAT FAST!" Nami yells at them angrily.

And then they stop to pose that mirrors each other. One hand on their chin and their other arm tucked under the first arm, feet open evenly to their hips, and their face dons a serious expression.

"It is a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Yosaku," Yosaku introduces.

"And I'm Johnny. Thank you for saving my dear partner from the brink of death." Johnny follows suit, "Zoro-aniki used to be one of us as bounty hunters, and while we don't always get together during or after work, we're pretty much buddies and we respect him."

And as expected, Yosaku suddenly starts coughing out blood and falls unconscious again, while Johnny is screaming out his name dramatically. Sheesh, they could be partners for life and tied by marriage, and I won't be surprised to be honest.

In the end, Zoro sighs exasperatedly and says to get some rest already. I guess Zoro is pretty much sick of their shit but still cares enough for them both.

"Let this be a lesson for the rest of you." Nami huffs and crosses her arms under her chest, "That's just one of the many dangers we'll have to face during our long voyages."

"He would've died for sure if Eris didn't manage to detect them. We definitely need someone to think about our diet to see what we need to stay healthy." Usopp nods thoughtfully, "What we need is a 'Sea Chef'."

"If you think about it, that's one of the most important talents to have when you're out in the seas." Nami agrees and she glances at me, "And while we have someone that can cook, it's better for us to get the actual specialist to do it. Eris isn't that suited for cooking, if I can be honest."

A little offended, but I can't deny it as I nod. "Yeah, I'd rather punch and kick people rather than staying in the kitchen. Although I still like cooking and experimenting on it."

"Alright, I've decided! Let's go look for a sea cook!" Luffy exclaims with a big grin, "Eating good food is never a bad thing anyway!"

"Well, if that's the case, we can go look for that sea restaurant called Baratie. We can go and recruit an acquaintance of mine there." I tell him with a smile, as I reminisce about the times I spent with Sanji and Zeff.

"Woah, you went to Baratie, Lil-anæki?" Johnny asks, a little surprised but not too surprised while the rest of the crew start getting pale. "I suppose that's to be expected. You went to the Grand Line, so you must've heard of it at least once."

Anæki? That's new. I should ask him about it later after I beat him up for calling me little.

I kick him in the shin and he screeches out in pain, hopping around like a rabbit while he's holding onto his bruised shin. I just stare at him in boredom while the others are letting out a relieved sigh that I just kicked his shin and not openly murdering him.

"S-so what's up with this Baratie place?" Usopp asks, changing the topic and taking my attention away from Johnny.

"It's a sea restaurant. I don't remember much of the exact location, but all I remember is near the entrance of the Grand Line. Plenty strong people are around too." I answer and take a glance at Zoro with a smirk, "And I heard that that Mihawk guy is seen around the area too." I add.

Zoro widens his eyes before grinning nervously and excitedly. Johnny gulps audibly after he finishes hopping around, while the others are just looking at each other questioningly and shrugging at each other.

"Well then, Johnny-boy. Tell Nami the exact location so we can go there as soon as possible." I tell him and he flinches before saluting.

"Understood, Eris-anæki!"

And while everyone is doing their thing, I grab my writing tools from the Men's room and back to the deck, writing down the event of this afternoon and our next destination and goal. Adding a small doodle of Sanji, I chuckle a bit before gently blowing on it so the ink dries faster.

I wonder if Sanji still remembers me.

XXX

Reaching Baratie took less than two days, and that was with the help of the wind and the sea. It might take much longer if they didn't help, which is much appreciated.

It's a rather slow journey, but it's still better to sail with a goal in mind rather than sailing around aimlessly. Luffy is sitting on his favorite seat, Usopp is at the crow's nest with Takao, Zoro is practicing his Haki lesson on the deck with Flame watching over him, Nami is inside the meeting room, the bounty hunter duo is looking around to find Baratie, and I'm looking at the sea on the back deck while playing around with Deimos and Phobos in the sea.

I can't let myself get rusty while on the low. I need to master both weaponless and with weapon methods of fighting so I can give my enemies the surprise they deserve. I'm not giving them any mercy when the time comes.

Eventually, Johnny and Yosaku called out to us, saying that we're here at Baratie. I hear the others are stirring up and gathering by the front deck, and I take my time to join the others as I can see an approaching ship sailing nearby until it's right next to Merry.

I just look in boredom at the ship and the people on board, while Johnny and Yosaku are busy hiding away from the marines' eyes because they're not pirates. A man with faded pink hair, scarred face, and bolts attached to his knuckles shows up. He points out that he never saw our Pirate flag before, and then he starts introducing himself as 'Tekken no Fullbody' or just Fullbody and asks who the Captain is.

"I'm Luffy." Luffy replies innocently.

"I'm Usopp." Usopp adds and I give him the stink eye before bonking him on the head. He turns and glares at me, but I glare back with a snarl and he wilts down in fear.

I did tell him that if he's being disrespectful to Luffy's position in this crew, I won't hesitate to whip him back in lane. Luffy isn't that strict with his position as the head of the crew and prefers being equal with the rest of the crew, but I'm not Luffy so I'll be the one that does it. It's practically the simplest way to respect Luffy in the crew.

And then the pink guy starts to insult Johnny and Yosaku, calling them 'small time bounty hunters' and accusing them of getting caught by us. The said small-time bounty hunters got ticked off by that and decided that attacking the guy is a good idea, only to get their asses handed by him.

"Wow, you guys are super weak!" Luffy comments easily with a laugh while Johnny and Yosaku seem a little ashamed by their lameness.

"The hell are you two doing anyway?" Zoro shakes his head in exasperation, definitely tired of their shit.

And then a real beaut lady with a nice curvy body and in a dress shows up and starts to flirt with the pink guy. I swear I can see 'gold digger' on her forehead and I visibly cringe in disgust when they're just out there flirting with each other as if no one is around and not watching them.

The pink guy eventually orders his goons to sink our ship down and they're aiming their cannon toward us. Everyone is panicking while I just watch in silence and Luffy is planning something. As the cannon goes off, Luffy sucks in air and inflates himself up, letting the cannonball land on his inflated belly before he repels it back.

Unfortunately his aiming is still as bad as he was a decade ago, so I just let out a sigh and take myself up in the air to catch up with the ball, before I coat my leg with Buso and kick it back to the Marines, blowing the ship up. I gently land back on the deck and turn to the others, who are watching with wide eyes.

"Let's just go. I'm starving." I tell them with a huff. That breaks everyone out to continue sailing to Baratie and leaving the Marines to their bullshit. I also can hear the pink guy spouting curses at me as we sail away.

We anchor down and jump on the deck of the sea restaurant, while Takao and Flame stay behind. I look around in nostalgia with a smile. Well, other than the paintwork being renewed, nothing much has changed. We enter the place and take a seat, while I look around to find that familiar blond hair.

"So where's your friend?" Nami asks, also looking around.

"Hmm, he seems to be in the kitchen. Imma go and meet him." I tell her as I start to walk away, ignoring Nami's warning to not cause any problems. I casually walk up to the kitchen area and enter it, ignoring the other chefs' confusion and annoyance as I approach the familiar blondie who is dealing with a bubbling pot of stew. I also see that his ass is still as flat as a board, so it's definitely him.

"Are you still making stew after years of working here? Old man Zeff should give you some slack and promote you already. Or kick you out." I comment teasingly and he quickly turns to look at me in surprise. I just grin as he blinks and his brain is racking itself up before his eye widens in recognition.

"Eris-kun? Is that you?" Sanji asks in disbelief and I grin wider.

"The one and only!"

Sanji laughs and has the nerve to pick me up high for a hug, but I'll let him as we hug awkwardly because of the height-difference before he lets me go and puts me back down with a bright smile. I can hear the chefs in the room murmuring things about us.

"It's been a while! How've you been? I thought you left for the Grand Line!" Sanji says, "I was a little worried that you didn't survive the journey like that shitty geezer said, but you returned a lot stronger and a little taller than before. Still shorter than me, though." He chuckles as he pats my head while I scowl in return.

"I'll have you know, I've grown a whopping 149 centimeters since the last time we met and I can bet your scrawny ass that I can kick you to next Sunday!" I growl in annoyance, but he just laughs in return and dismisses my threat.

"Anyway, I guess you're here to have more of the best meals in East Blue, am I right?" He asks as he returns to his stew, "Or maybe you're here with friends?"

But before I can answer him, I hear the familiar peg leg footsteps alongside with a normal heavy one, and I turn to see old man Zeff is approaching me and widening his eyes for a moment before grinning.

"Well, I see that the Ebi is back from the Pirate's graveyard." Old man Zeff comments, seemingly relieved and happy to see me despite not plastered on his face.

"Yep! And I'm here with friends! Just give us the best meal and we're good. I'll be waiting at our table." I tell him with a wave of my hand as I walk past him and back into the main restaurant area. I return to my seat with a big smile and the others are pretty curious about my good mood.

"I take it you met your friend here?" Usopp asks and I nod.

"Yep! He grew up real tall and strong, but I can easily beat him up though." I answer and everyone doesn't seem surprised by that revelation. "I ordered the head chef to give us the best meal they can make for us, so all we gotta need is just waiting." I add as I stretch out and feel my spine popping. Ooh that feels nice.

"Who's stronger? Me or him?" Zoro suddenly asks and I give him a weird look.

"Go find out for yourself after he joins us." I answer and he leans back to his seat in silence, seemingly satisfied enough with that answer. Weirdo.

While waiting, everyone is just talking about whatever is on their mind at the moment as a young lady server comes to serve us water. Huh, that's new. I didn't know that they accept ladies to work here. Last time I was temporarily employed here, while old man Zeff and Sanji were okay, the other employees weren't so okay. I admit, I was a little kid back then, so that's probably it.

Other than that, nothing really happens for a few minutes until the double door is opened and reveals the pink guy and gold digger lady from before. The lady looks impeccable like before, while the guy looks like he got constipation as he's slightly stomping to their reserved table.

Once they're seated, the server lady from before approaches them with a polite smile, saying something, before bowing and walking away. Probably taking in their orders or something.

Finally, I can feel Sanji is exiting the kitchen area and back into the restaurant area. I see him looking around and I wave my hand at him when he looks my way. He smiles and starts approaching us before he notices Nami, who's sipping her water peacefully, and starts to switch into his lovey-dovey self. He literally tornados himself in and down to his knee, gently holding her hand and smiling sweetly at her with his cigarette hanging on his lips.

"Oh, such a beautiful jewel Eris-kun brought me today. Pardon my lateness to serve you today, my lady. How may I repay you so?" Sanji questions with a sparkling eye, his other hand on his chest.

Nami, without a beat, just smiles sweetly in return. "Hmm yes, it's such a shame that the famous sea restaurant is taking their time to bring us our orders. Perhaps you can give us some discounts on it?" Nami answers as she peers through her eyelashes.

Sanji brightens up and smiles widely. "Understood, my lady. I will try to convince the Head Chef to do so." He replies with a bow before he stands back up and points at the boys, "You shitheads pay your own bills." He adds and turns to me, ignoring the protests from them.

"So these are your friends, huh? Mind introducing them to me?" I nod and point at Sanji.

"Sanji, Baratie's pretty boy." I point at Nami. "Nami, our soon-to-be-official Navigator." Next is Luffy. "My little brother and also our Captain." Zoro is next. "Zoro, our swordsman." Last one is Usopp. "Usopp, our great liar, and also the sharpshooter I guess." That earns me a protest from the long-nosed. "Oh, and two unimportant stowaways." I point at Johnny and Yosaku. Those also earn protests.

"Oh, so you're that Luffy Eris-kun kept on telling me about." Sanji comments as he looks at Luffy, "She won't stop talking about you once she starts. She even made some kind of journal filled with your charm points. I still have it in my room."

With that, the others except for Luffy nod in understanding and agreeing with him. I pout at that. It's not that bad!

"Sure! I think Eris talked about you, but I don't really remember, so nice meeting you!" Luffy replies with a bright grin. Sanji smiles politely in return and turns back to me.

"Do you want your special parfait, Eris-kun? I've been trying out new variants using your recipe as the base and I'd say it's pretty much a popular dessert in the restaurant." Sanji offers and I widen my eyes in surprise.

"Really? That weird craving I made using whatever shits in the fridge at the time? You guys have weird tastes." I comment and he just chuckles.

"Well, it's true that some ingredients are unusual, but your creativity is enough to intrigue us and remade it better to make it an official menu."

"Well, I'm not gonna say no to nice food, so sure!" I accept with a grin, "Make my original creation and the new variants for our desserts."

Sanji nods with a smile. "Gotcha." He replies as he walks away to approach the pink guy and his lady friend's table, unsurprisingly starts flirting with the lady.

"Your friend seems interesting! You think he'll join us?" Luffy asks me and I internally smirk because he's interested in recruiting Sanji. That way, I don't need to do anything anymore and let Luffy do his thing.

"Hmm, I don't know. He's pretty stubborn, so you need to convince him real good to join us." I answer and he grins widely.

"Well, I'm gonna try it anyway!"

A few minutes later, our orders are flooding in. Everyone is drooling and digging in like barbarians, and especially Luffy. Of course, Yosaku and Johnny don't know about Luffy, so they fall victim to his grabby hands and they all are just shouting at Luffy while the rest of us are just laughing and being rowdy.

I glance around the restaurant as I calmly eat my spaghetti and the other customers are all giving us annoyed and disgusted looks while also murmuring to each other. They look pretty high-end, so that answers my thought. Well, I don't really care about their comfort, so unless old man Zeff himself told us to pipe down, I won't make the others do so.

I hear someone move their chair back and start to stomp their way to our table. I glance and notice that it's the pink marine guy, looking pissed and disturbed.

"Oh hey, the-marine-guy-that-I-forgot-the-name-of. What's up?" I greet him with a polite smile and he just gives me a sour look. The others immediately quiet down and stare at the guy with equally sour looks.

"You're making a commotion in this restaurant and everyone is uncomfortable by your presence. I'm afraid I need to capture you right here, right now." He says with a growl, and I just raise my brow.

"Why's that? We're customers here." I reason out and he scowls in return.

"Perhaps, but you're also pirates. You're disturbing the civilians and as a Marine Lieutenant, it is my duty to capture the pirates." He replies and I narrow my eyes with a scowl as I clench my fists.

This guy…is annoying.

But as I opened my mouth to retort back, a puff of smoke was blown right into Handbody's face. He sputters back with a cough and waves his hand for the smoke, and I do the same and scrunch my nose before turning around to look at Sanji, who's standing behind me with trays on his hand and his head with annoyed face while his other hand is holding on to his cigarette.

"Please don't disturb the other customers, sir. If you don't, I'm afraid I have to remove you from the restaurant." Sanji warns the marine while not looking at him as he's serving our orders and gently putting them all on our table.

"Y-you're that waiter from before! I'll have you know, I'm a VIP customer here and I won't tolerate this rude behavior against me!" Halfbody complains while pointing at Sanji, who's ignoring him while talking to Nami.

"A special service for the beautiful lady."

"My, thank you, Sanji-kun!"

I huffed in annoyance as I crossed my arms. "Are you done with your tantrum? Because I'm starving and I don't like getting interrupted during my mealtime." I ask casually and Hambody looks ready to explode, which he did as he raises his fist.

He's about to slam it down to our table and destroy it and our meals along, but I immediately grab his wrist and stand up to twist it behind his back. He cries out in pain and slaps the floor as I push him down and pin him down with a bored look before I grin widely.

"I suggest you go now before I break your arm in front of these people. That would be a pretty pathetic show for them, right? I'm sure you don't want to hurt your pride even more than getting your ass kicked by someone far shorter than you not only once, but twice by now." I tell him with a manic smile before chuckling as I lean down to his ear, "So I suggest you to run off now with your tail between your legs like a dog that you are." I whisper and blow into his ear as I can feel him shiver in return.

I push myself back up and let him go as I sit back down to my chair. I cross my legs and look down at Fullbody's pathetic form as I rest my arm on my knee and lean my chin on my open palm with a smirk. He's struggling to push himself back up while holding onto his pained shoulder and looking at me with a red face before scurrying away. I don't know if that reaction is from embarrassment, anger, or both, but it's hilarious to see such a big man like him running away like a dog.

I glance at the other customers, who are all watching intensely like they just watch a drama show and flinch when I glare at them.

"Keep your eyes on your food." I tell them in warning. They quickly did so and eventually the awkwardness dissipates away as I turn back to the others with a playful grin.

"Well, that was fun! Nyehehehe!" I laugh heartily, which earns me a hit on the back of my head by an annoyed Nami. Though the boys don't think the same and have the same amused grin on their faces.

"Stop terrorizing the civilians, you dumbass." She huffs and takes a bite to her food before widens her eyes in surprise. "Oh! This is very delicious!" She compliments, and Sanji—who's still around—takes it gratefully with a happy smile.

"I'll be sure to pass it on to the chefs."

"Oi Shanji! Gib me mow phoob!" Luffy exclaims out with his mouth full while his hands are taking bits and pieces of other customers' food so fast that no one really notices it except me.

Sanji scowls in slight disgust. "Don't talk with your mouth full." He says simply before walking away, probably checking on the other customers.

Luffy didn't care about that as he keeps watching Sanji while still munching and stealing food around. I calmly eat my fish dish after finishing my spaghetti and hum happily when the said fish meat just melts in my mouth while the flavor is surfing on my taste buds. Truly, Sanji's food is absolutely divine.

Once we're done dining and back to our ship, Luffy calls us for a quick meeting.

"Yosh everyone, I've decided!" Luffy says with a big grin and hands on his hips, "We'll stay here until we can make that Sanji to join us. I'm recruiting him and we're not leaving!"

Hearing that, I can feel Nami feeling a little nervous. I glance at her and see that she has a neutral expression but crosses her arms defensively.

"And what if he doesn't want to?" Nami asks, raising her eyebrow.

"Well, I'll make him! I'll beat him up if I have to and take him." Luffy answers innocently and she buries her face into her palm for that obvious answer from our Captain.

Zoro—who's been leaning on the mast—laughs in amusement. "That sounds like a crazy idea. I'll go with it." Zoro says with a smirk.

"A-as long as there's no unnecessary battle for us, I'm good!" Usopp timidly replies.

"We'll lay low and let Yosaku gather up his strength back, so we're okay with that too." Johnny says and Yosaku nods. "We hope our stay here won't be much of a problem."

"Let's stay around for a few days then. I'm sure I can try to make old man Zeff convince Sanji to leave the restaurant and broaden his horizon." I suggest with a smile and look at Nami with a tilt of my head, "Unless you have something urgent to do?" I ask calmly.

She pulls her hand off her face to blankly look at me before looking away with a huff, crossing her arms and tracing her fingers on her left shoulder subtly.

"I'm just concerned that I'm wasting my precious time staying around instead of stealing more money." Nami replies in the end and I just smile at her.

"Don't worry. I'm sure it won't take too long." I assure her, "And if it did, you can take Takao along to help you with the treasure stealing." I add.

Takao didn't protest, but he's not happy that I'll make him accompany her.

Nami didn't say anything in return before turning around and walking away, probably back to the Girl's Room. The others give me a questioning look, but I just shrug in return.

After all, I don't need to follow Nami to know that she's anxious about something.

(A/N: This chapter is mostly just the introduction section, so it's mostly dialogue. I like making up weird names for the side-characters. Luffy did influence Eris in a way that not even Eris herself actually notices.

I've decided to update once a month starting September. I've been busy with irl stuff along with my mental health, and I don't like to rush on things like I did in this chapter. So let's meet again in October!

Posted on September 2nd, 2022)