"Shishishishi... serves you right for being a bad captain. If you were a real pirate you never would have tried to kill your crew over something so stupid!" said Luffy.
Usopp stared at the downed bodies, then at Luffy. He wasn't the only one. The second the other captain tried to kill his crew, he found himself on the wrong end of a very pissed off Luffy. Unlike before, when Luffy used his devil fruit powers, he seemed to take Kuro's actions very personally and kicked his ass using what looked like almost straight martial arts.
Zoro was looking particularly eager to spar with his captain now. He had acknowledged Luffy as "strong enough to follow" before, but he never thought to tack on "skilled enough to train with".
"How the hell did you do that?! I've never even seen half those moves!" said Nami gaping.
"Shishishishi... Practice and a pair of brothers all too happy to insure I don't get my ass kicked in the real world because they were too busy doing it themselves. That and Gramp's hell training," shuddered Luffy.
Luffy had mastered the six techniques, but she didn't like using them because she preferred to have an ace in the hole. Something her brothers agreed with, even if they were just as quick to master it.
Garp had been so surprised when the first thing they managed to master was the ability to practically fly in the air... though not as shocked as the day he realized Luffy was an absolute demon when it came to martial arts.
Ace was very partial to guns, Sabo for some strange reason had a knack for using a whip, but Luffy? Give her a weapon and it was a hit or miss. Luffy on the other hand excelled in straight hand to hand, which was why she didn't complain overly much when Garp had some of his men teach her what they knew about the subject.
On the plus side, Luffy could now honestly claim to be a "black belt" in bar fighting, much to the laughter of Ace and Sabo.
Luffy noticed the expression Zoro had on his face and snickered.
"Shishishi. If you find us a decent clearing I'll spar with you for a bit," said Luffy. "Or we could see if Nami knows any empty islands nearby. You've been around the East Blue, so surely there has to be some right?"
Nami blinked.
"I know of two within range, but we still need a ship," said Nami.
"I can help with that! It's the least I can do!" said Kaya happily.
She was rather happy the Merry Go was going to have one last adventure, and at least this way she could thank the people who saved her properly!
Luffy grinned broadly when she saw the ship. This was something she had been anticipating since she realized she was following the original storyline.
To say the play fight between Zoro and Luffy shocked the rest of the crew was an understatement. Zoro had a rather interesting gleam in his eyes when he realized how much Luffy tended to hold back in her fights, though it was nothing to what Nami had in her own expression before she hid it.
There was hope in her eyes, hope that maybe Luffy would be able to handle Arlong, who had been her personal nightmare for over a decade.
Though the crew was highly baffled by the fact that the Merry Go had a working freezer. Nami was adamant about the fact that the ship was too old for it to be there and it didn't look like anyone had done any modifications. And yet there it was, plain as day next to the galley where the food could be cooked.
Nami had been around freezers before and had to wonder where Kaya found one that was completely silent. And how much it had cost.
(Luffy would snicker knowingly. If she had known something as simple as a freezer would cause this much confusion among them she would have made it appear overnight, rather than when they were simply exploring the ship. Zero Point Breakthrough was a really useful technique, if you didn't mind being creative about it...besides, she needed her ice cream!)
A few days later...
"For the last time we are not adding bunny ears!" shouted Luffy.
"But Shanks and dad both agreed that it suits you! In fact they were rather adamant about it!" said Usopp.
Luffy glared at him annoyed.
"Straw Hat pirates, not the 'Bunny Pirates'."
"I have to agree...there's no way anyone would take the 'Bunny Pirates' seriously," said Zoro, Nami nodding next to him.
"Thank you!" said Luffy. "Now I was thinking something like this for our flag..."
Her skills at drawing sucked, but it got the point across. At least she could appreciate the now familiar skull and bones wearing her straw hat. It had never meant anything before, but now?
Now she wouldn't trade it for the world.
The smell of something heavenly wafted across the ship, and drew the crew into the galley.
Nami, Zoro and Usopp all fully expected Luffy to be there eating already...none of them anticipated it being the captain who was cooking.
"Morning! Shishishi."
"Why are you wearing an apron?" asked Zoro, because he had to know.
"You can cook?!" said Nami in shock. She thought Luffy knew only how to eat!
"One, it's to keep any splatter from the food or the oil from getting on my shirt. And of course I know how to cook! There's no telling when we're going to get a proper chef and I'm not about to subject myself to someone's idea of food when they can barely boil water!" said Luffy indignant.
Makino had latched onto any chance to pass on feminine skills to Luffy. Cooking had been one of the few things they had agreed on that Luffy would agree to without complaint.
The fact it was also one of the few things Garp wouldn't drag her ass out for his hell training as the three called it was a nice bonus.
Seeing the trepidation on the faces of her crew, Luffy snickered.
"Dig in!"
Nami was the first to give it a try, and the surprised expression on her face made it entirely worth it. This was better than some of the food she had in five-star restaurants!
Zoro was next, though once he got over the shock Luffy could cook he dug in with a gusto.
Usopp had to wonder if Luffy knew how much he looked like a girl wearing that silly apron Kaya had left on the ship. Seriously, it had flowers and everything on it!
"Well?" asked Luffy expectantly.
"It's good," said Nami with surprise, causing Luffy to beam at her.
"I should hope so. Learning how to cook was one of the few defenses I had against Gramps insane training ideas."
Mostly because Garp despaired of his adorable little granddaughter behaving like a 'proper Marine wife' and wanted to encourage anything that was considered a 'feminine quality'. The fact Luffy turned out to be a natural cook and was actually quite good at it was a pleasant surprise. She still had all the recipes Makino gave her as well as her own memories of her last life.
Somehow she had the sneaking suspicion that she would end up fighting over the kitchen once they picked up Sanji. Though really she was curious whether or not the self-proclaimed pervert (who reminded her far too much of that Rock gym leader from the Pokémon series she watched with Lambo, I-Pin and Fuuta a few times...) would register the fact that Luffy was really a girl.
Either way it would be really entertaining.
Docking at the Baratie was interesting, even if they did pick up Zoro's bounty hunter friends. She was still trying to decide if it was worth asking either of them to join the crew.
Sanji took one look at Luffy and promptly dismissed her in favor of Nami. The way he swooned over her made Zoro give him a very odd look...until he noticed the 'smug' expression on Luffy's face.
Then it hit him why Luffy found it all amusing.
If someone like Sanji couldn't tell Luffy was a girl, then neither would the marines or other pirates. Which meant that she was more likely to be taken seriously until she felt comfortable enough revealing her gender.
Zoro snickered when they were on the ship, and shared a wink with Luffy. He remembered all too well Kuina's complaints about being taken seriously and it was easy to see her image in his captain.
Luffy clearly had her heart set on Sanji joining the crew. She knew he was a fantastic fighter and at least she could plan around his fighting style which primarily revolved around kicks.
"So Sanji, interesting in joining out crew? We could use a good chef."
Sanji took a long draw of his freshly lit cigarette. Luffy had spent so much time around Hayato in her past life that she barely noticed the smell outside of a twitch of annoyance.
"Well there are plenty of people with us who are good at fighting. Not sure you'd get many takers though," said Sanji after a minute. "Pirate, marine or bounty hunter?"
"Pirate, though we've just started out and still need to fill out the numbers before anyone takes us remotely seriously as a threat. Not even a bounty on us yet," said Luffy promptly, not bothering to beat around the bush.
It was surprisingly easy to get along with the blond cook. He reminded her a lot of Trident Shamal, except he wasn't nearly as successful as the 'perverted' doctor. It had taken her two years before he dropped the act, though he still lightly flirted with her occasionally.
Sanji snorted.
"You're going to need luck or a miracle to get one of us to join you then," said Sanji.
Luffy smirked.
"How about a bet then?" she asked slyly.
Sanji didn't know of her bizarre luck that went from "chaotic" around adventure, training or anything interesting, to "miracle-worthy" when it came to gambling and things happening in her favor when she needed it.
Sanji looked her in the eye and said "What's the wager?"
"You win, I'll trade you all the recipes I have. I win, you join my crew and agree to share the kitchen," said Luffy.
"What makes you think you have any recipes worth my time?" said Sanji, though she knew he had his attention.
Luffy smirked and pulled out a book she had written of all the recipes she remembered from her old life. She picked the one her intuition said was the best one, and handed it over.
Sanji read over the recipe guide before he blinked. Twice.
"I don't know this one. What's it called?" he asked with open interest now.
Luffy grinned.
"That is a recipe for baked penne with two different kinds of cheese," said Luffy. She held up her little handwritten book. "I have all sorts of different ones in here if you want to swap ideas."
Sanji gave her a long look.
"Why would you need a chef if you can cook?" he asked, curious. He could tell the raven haired teen had some experience in that area.
"I'm the captain and it's rather difficult to keep control over my crew if I spend most of the time in the kitchen trying to keep up with my high metabolism," said Luffy simply. "Special occasions are one thing, but trying to maintain a healthy diet on the seas? That's a bit out of my expertise."
Sanji seemed rather pleased by that answer. At least this kid was well aware of their limitations and wasn't stupid enough to try and pretend they didn't exist.
"Well there is one person who might be interested, but from the looks of it you already have a swordsman in your group," said Sanji after a moment. He also made a face. "However he can barely boil water and the only thing he's really good at is some cold dish called 'sushi'. The last time he tried to cook he nearly set the kitchen on fire."
Zoro perked up at the 'swordsman' comment, while Luffy perked up at the word 'sushi' and 'swordsman' being in the same sentence.
"What's his name?"
"Takeshi," said Sanji. "We picked him up after a Marine destroyed his village and took him in, but he keeps hiding behind this really annoying oblivious act. But he does the chores and has some skill with cooking, so the shitty geezer let him stay on as a busboy."
Luffy nearly vibrated in her seat.
Was it possible her Rain was on the Baratie? At the very least he would give Zoro someone to 'play' with when it came to swords, at least until Squalo showed up.
Because she had little doubt the shark followed Xanxus, if her big brother was here.
"Mind if I had a chat with him?" asked Luffy.
"Wait until the dinner rush is over," said Sanji.
A few hours later...
Takeshi was having a really weird day. When Sanji told him a rookie captain was looking for him specifically, he had shrugged it off. It wouldn't be the first time someone wanted him to join their crew, or for the other cooks to try and push him away so he could 'start living for once' since his parents were killed.
That had sucked, losing both his parents and a little sister to a Marine attack of all things. Clearing out the pirates his ass, there wasn't a single Jolly Roger in the area when it happened!
So when he saw the grinning raven-haired kid with the straw hat, he plastered on his fake smile.
He was not expecting the light head slap.
"Take-nii, what have I told you about smiling when you aren't happy? You know it drives me crazy because I can never tell if you're taking things seriously!" scolded the other teen.
Takeshi froze.
"What did you just call me?" he asked slowly. There was no way.
Takeshi stared in shock when those big brown eyes grinned at him from under that straw hat. There was a familiar warmth behind them. A warmth he had thought lost to him.
"I didn't save you from yourself on that rooftop just for you to go back to pretending everything is okay when you're miserable inside, Yamamoto Takeshi," said the teen.
He felt a gentle nudge from something he had thought was gone forever coming from them, and nearly collapsed in absolute shock.
"Usagi-chan?" he asked, not daring to believe.
"Shishishi. Welcome home, Take-nii," said Luffy, gently touching his shoulder. The familiar warmth of harmony, of coming home to a place where he knew he was loved filled him. It was something he had missed to the point it ached.
To say the other cooks were shocked at the actual smile on his face was an understatement, though there was a sense of relief when they learned Takeshi would be joining the fledgling Straw Hat crew.
He followed Tsunami to the death in the first life, and he saw no reason not to do it again in this one. Besides, Zoro looked like he would be almost as fun to play with as Squalo, once he trained up a bit.
It felt so nice to be able to hug his Sky again, and know he was finally home.