Beta by Navigator101.
Chapter 6
"What are you guys doing?" Zoro asked after being woken up by a loud boom.
"Testing the cannon I found," Luffy smiled at him, turning his back on Usopp, who was trying his turn on the cannon. "It works great!" He turned back around when Usopp cheered after firing a round.
"And that is how it's done!" Usopp said, proudly pointing at his handy work.
"You weren't supposed to fire at the rocks!" Luffy yelled with wide eyes.
"So, you're saying that you missed the rocks on purpose and were actually aiming at nothing?" Usopp teased. "Don't lie just because you're jealous of my perfect aim. I am, after all, the Great -" He proceeded to put his thumb to his chest proudly before being interrupted by Luffy.
"There's people there," the child-sized captain simply said.
"Wait. What?!" Usopp cried out in surprise then looked horrified as Luffy ran off shouting for Nami to steer them to the rocks because Usopp may have killed someone.
Zoro placed a comforting hand on Usopp's shoulder as the long-nosed crew member turned to look at him with wide eyes. "I killed someone," he said, on the verge of tears.
"You're a pirate now. Man up. It's bound to happen," Zoro said as he looked towards Luffy, who was gesturing wildly at Nami, giving Usopp some privacy if he chose to cry. The swordsman knew how hard it was to take in first kills, especially when it wasn't meant to happen. Then he remembered how he got himself over it. "Let's go to the kitchen and get some tea," though he had liquor instead of tea back then.
The swordsman was in the middle of trying to figure out how to make tea when they heard a commotion on the deck and Nami's scream. They both ran out the door to see what was going on right when Luffy threw the attacker into the wall.
"Jonny?" Zoro asked once he recognized the face of their attacker. "What happened? Where's Yosaku?"
"Zoro-aniki? Yosaku is…" Jonny couldn't finish his sentence as he started crying into his arm but was able to point off to the side of the ship with his other hand.
Zoro and Luffy went over to look and saw a small rowboat with another man lying in it, looking worse for wear. They both brought him up onto the deck as Usopp came down the stairs to help, leaving Nami to steer the ship.
"What happened?" Zoro asked Jonny again, once they were able to bring Yosaku up.
"Three days ago he was still healthy, but then he passed out, and I don't know why," Jonny sniffed. "His teeth started coming out, and his old wounds started bleeding. I didn't know what to do. We took a rest at that rock, and then this ship shot its cannon at us."
"I'm sorry!" Usopp prostate in front of the both of them. "I didn't know anyone was on there! I didn't mean to kill anyone, I swear!"
"It's ok," Jonny sniffed, getting his emotion back under control. "Will he survive, Aniki?" He asked the only person he knew, in hope that there was some way to save his partner.
"You guys are stupid!" Nami said as she stormed down the stairs after hearing everything.
"What did you say?" Zoro growled. "You think that my friend's death is stupid?"
Nami heaved a sigh before ordering Luffy and Usopp to get some lemons from the kitchen. "He has scurvy," she explained when the two came back with as many lemons as they could carry. "If it's not too late, he'll be better in two or three days."
"Is that true, Aneki?" Jonny asked in excitement.
"Don't call me that. In the past, anyone who got scurvy would die. However, the cause of scurvy is the lack of vitamin C, and in those days, ships didn't store any kind of fruits or vegetables on board," she explained.
"You're like a miracle doctor!" Luffy shouted, happy to have someone who could help take care of them.
"I'm not a doctor!" she quickly corrected him. "If you want to become a pirate, you should know simple things like this!"
"I never knew that we could easily get sick like that," Zoro said after putting Yosaku to bed with Jonny watching him.
"Let this be a good lesson. We need a good chef and doctor if you want to continue on," Nami said.
"So we need a good cook," Luffy said with his hand to his chin in thought, thinking it may be hard to find someone as good as Thatch. They do need one though to keep everyone else on the ship alive. He then shrugged it off. He could always call Thatch to teach his new cook how to cook good food.
"Aniki," Jonny said, coming out of the cabins, "if you're looking for a chef, I would like to recommend one place, but I'm not sure that one will join you. It shouldn't take us long from here, but you have to be careful because it's close to the Grand Line. It's a restaurant ship, in other words, a sea restaurant called Baratie."
"Nami! Take us to Barry Tea!" Luffy cheered.
"Baratie, Luffy," Nami corrected before doing as instructed after getting directions from Jonny.
"Aniki," Jonny came back to sit down with Zoro, "what are you doing on a pirate ship?"
"It's a long story, but it was my choice," Zoro said, letting the man know what he wasn't there against his will.
"And," Jonny lowered his voice with a hand cupping his mouth, "who's the captain? The only one wearing anything remotely resembling that straw hat," he pointed to the jolly roger on the sail, "is the kid. Who lets a kid on a pirate ship anyway?"
"The kid is my captain," Zoro smiled knowingly.
"THAT LITTLE GIRL IS THE CAPTAIN OF A PIRATE SHIP!"
"I'M NOT A GIRL!" Luffy yelled out before barreling towards them to grab onto Jonny's coat violently, causing some papers to come out of it.
Jonny looked down at the so-called-captain, and all he could see was a little girl that barely came up to his shoulders in a cute little sundress. The flowers in the straw hat didn't help the image either.
"Okay, young lady," Jonny corrected himself.
"I'm a man!"
"M-m-man?" Jonny stuttered in surprise.
"Luffy is a bona fide 15-year-old male," Zoro grinned. "I'd be careful if I were you. He's a pirate captain and did beat your ass earlier."
Jonny gulped at the reminder.
"What's this?" Nami joined them to see what the commotion was. She bent down to pick up some of the papers that came out of Jonny's coat. She froze as she picked one up and stared at it.
"What's wrong, Nami?" Luffy asked, looking over her shoulder, feeling her fear.
"Those are wanted posters," Jonny went on to explain his profession as a bounty hunter as if she didn't know what they did.
"Hey," Luffy interrupted him, "do you know where this guy is?" He pointed to the wanted poster in Nami's hands.
"That's Arlong, a fishman," Jonny said with a grim face. "You don't want to mess with him. Fishmen are notorious for being far stronger than any human beings. They're very rare in East Blue, so it's no wonder you're interested in him."
"You didn't answer my question," Luffy huffed.
"And I'm telling you that you don't want to mess with this guy if you want to live," Jonny said.
"Nami doesn't like him," Luffy said as if that would make a difference.
"Luffy," Nami said quietly, surprised that he caught on.
He ignored her and continued on, staring Jonny down. "And I forgot that I had to run an errand for Jinbe."
"Jinbe? Jinbe, as in the Shichibukai?" Jonny asked in shock.
Luffy nodded.
"You know a Shichibukai?" Another nod. "How?"
"I just do. Now, will you tell me where I can find him? I need to beat his ass for scaring Nami and run my errand," Luffy crossed his arms in annoyance.
"Luffy, you don't need to," Nami said, wanting to spare the captain from being killed by Arlong.
"No. I need to. Jinbe wouldn't be happy if I told him I didn't run a simple errand for him. Besides, I get the feeling that if I don't beat him up for scaring you, you'd leave," Luffy pouted and hugged her tightly. "I don't want you to leave. I need you here with us. You're the only navigator I want. Please don't leave."
Nami stared at him, wondering how he knew what she was thinking. The longer she looked at him, the more her resolve left her. "He's strong," she argued weakly. "He'd kill you all."
"He won't kill us. I promise. I'm strong, stronger than he is," Luffy said confidently.
"How would you know he's strong enough to kill us?" Zoro asked defensively. "What makes you think we can't beat him up?"
She looked up at the swordsman, looking defeated by Luffy's pout.
"Come on, Nami," Luffy whined. "Jinbe sent me. Armong won't kill me."
"Isn't Jinbe a fishman too? How can you trust him?" Jonny asked skeptically. "He could be sending you to your death."
"Jinbe is a friend!" Luffy glared, defending his friend. "Jinbe is a good person. He sent me because he knows I can take care of Armong."
"It's Arlong," Nami sighed, feeling that she's lost the battle. "I know because," she lifted the sleeve on her right arm to show the tattoo of Arlong's Pirate crew, "I'm part of their crew."
Luffy slowly let go of Nami and sat her down next to him. "Jinbe told me to go check up on Armong and said to beat him up if he's treating people bad. You don't like him. Is he treating you bad?"
She gave a choked laugh. "Bad? Bad doesn't even cover it. He took over our island ten years ago. He killed my mother figure and forced me to join his crew after he found out about my talent for drawing maps. The only way to free my village is to pay him 100 million beli."
"So that's why you're so obsessed with money," Usopp said, nodding as if he knew.
"You're supposed to be manning the helm," Nami deadpanned at him, wiping the tears from her face.
"No need. We're almost there," Usopp pointed ahead of them where the fish-shaped ship with a large sign reading "Baratie" was.
"IT'S A FISH!" Luffy cheered excitedly. He jumped up and was ready to rocket himself over but changed his mind. He made a quick about-turn and sat back down next to Nami.
"What was that about?" Usopp asked. He was sure Luffy would have sent himself flying over to the giant fish.
"What was what?" "Luffy tilted his head in confusion.
"You know…," Usopp made a hand motion that made no sense to anyone until he gave up. "Why didn't you do what you were about to do?"
"Oh," Luffy gave a smile and gave Nami a hug, "I'm staying with Nami, so she won't be lonely."
"That's sweet of you, Luffy, but I'm not lonely," Nami looked at him in confusion.
"I think what he means is, 'You're not alone,'" Zoro said as he got up from his seat to get ready to anchor the ship, but not before laying a quick reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"That's right, Nami, have I ever told you of the time when I defeated 100 fishmen? I was only …"
"What a great crew," Jonny sniffled as he wiped a tear from his face.
-*/
Zeff, the owner and head chef of Baratie, eyed the four young customers that had just entered and taken a seat at an empty table. He eyed the ship and its jolly roger then looked down from his perch on the upper level of the restaurant through their many windows. They looked harmless enough that he went back to watching over the rest of the patrons.
The head chef turned his eyes back to the pirates as they were getting rowdy and were gathering the attention of the more well-mannered customers. He saw Patty, one of his overly muscular cooks, at their table, probably getting their drink orders. Zeff knew he had to go check up on that table before someone, most likely Patty, started an unnecessary fight.
"Do you have yummy salads?" A young voice. Probably the girl that came in with them.
"Of course, we have salads. This is a restaurant. What kind of salad would you like, you damn octopus?" That's Patty's voice. He's probably smiling like always and unknowingly insulting them as usual.
"What did you call our captain?" Male. Aggressive. Probably the green-haired guy with all those swords.
"Zoro, I don't care what he calls me. I just want food."
"You may not care, but I do. You are a captain and should demand respect, Luffy." Luffy. At that name, he turned to drag a blond teenager by the back of his collar with him.
"Hey, you shitty geezer, what the hell do you think you're doing?" the blond struggled to free himself.
"I have a table for you. It's not like you were doing your job anyway. You were just hitting on another lady again," Zeff grumbled. "Patty!"
"Yes, Owner," Patty stopped his arguing to greet his boss.
"Sanji's taking over this table. You take over the rest of his."
"But Owner, that's the whole restaurant!" Patty complained. "Besides, they only ordered water to drink. They probably don't even have money to pay for the food."
"I don't care."
With that, Patty mumbled and sulked his way to the kitchen.
Zeff then turned to address the table, where Sanji was now wooing the orange-haired girl and looked at the youngest. "You're Luffy?"
The change in demeanor was immediate, from tired and hungry to defensive glare at Zeff, causing Zoro to ready his swords. "Lucy," was the curt answer he received. He's a Whitebeard. One could never be too careful. Not that he really cares. He just wanted to eat in peace without having to fight for it.
The head chef smirked, knowing he was right. "Lucy, Luffy, same thing." He then pulled out a picture from his jacket to show the young captain. "You know these kids?" It was a picture he'd taken during the one year he spent in Grand Line, a year before he picked up his own Little Eggplant.
Luffy slowly reached out to pull the picture to himself to get a better look. It was an old black and white picture with three young children. They were wearing large shirts to cover themselves. He couldn't tell if they were wearing pants or not as the shirts they were wearing were too big to tell. The youngest of the three was clutching the shirts of the older children on either side of him with his bony fingers, the only things that weren't covered in bandages.
He knew the children alright, but where did this old guy get this picture from? This was a picture of him and his brothers back when they were first picked up by Pops before they had a home. This wasn't a picture he wanted to see. Ace and Sabo weren't happy. They were scared. They weren't looking at the camera, but their faces said it all.
Instead of answering, he tore the picture into pieces and glared suspiciously at Zeff. Luffy wasn't sure if he should be worried or not. The Pink Bastard had been taken care of, and this man didn't seem dangerous.
Rather than getting angry, Zeff laughed and pulled Sanji away from Nami. "You finally get your wish, Little Eggplant. You can finally cook for one of those brats from that picture you were interested in."
"Huh? Where?" Sanji looked around the table but didn't see anyone who resembled any of the kids in the picture he had found on accident years ago.
"The one covered in bandages is this one," Zeff pointed at Luffy.
Sanji's eyes brightened, and he made his way over to hold one of Luffy's hand in his. "Ah, the tragedy. Don't you worry, young lady, I will personally make sure that you don't leave this place hungry." He placed a kiss on the hand before leaving.
"But we didn't place our orders yet," Usopp said as Sanji left.
"Don't worry. Sanji is the sous chef here. He knows what he's doing," Zeff assured him.
"But Luffy…" Naimi said looking towards Luffy, who was still eyeing Zeff warily.
"I take it you don't remember me. Of course, not. You were still too young. That was the last picture I took before I quit being a pirate. It has been Sanji's dream to feed you three if he ever had the chance. He doesn't like seeing anyone go hungry, especially children."
"So you're family? Friend?" Luffy let go of the glare to look at the older man with curiosity.
"No, more like acquaintances. I wasn't close enough to your old man to be either, but we got along just fine. I've only met him once. He calls from time to time to give me updates on you three," Zeff laughed. He had been worried about those children enough that Whitebeard called to update him. The head chef was pleasantly surprised to hear that the Emperor had decided to keep them. "Now, then, what are you doing here so far from home?"
"Looking for a cook," Luffy said as he bounced excitedly in his seat.
"I take it, then, that you've left to be on your own? I'm actually surprised that they let you go," Zeff said after Luffy nodded. "The last I heard, Edward was saying his children wouldn't let you out of their sight in fear of another disappearing act."
Luffy gave a frown at that. "That was no fun. We always had a babysitter. I'm not a baby, and they're not even sitting. It'd be more fun if they were sitting. They can't follow me that way. Then I left."
"Wait. Let me get this straight. You left home because you were tired of being babied?" Usopp asked in disbelief.
"No. I left because it was time."
"I don't get it," Usopp said as he gave some serious thoughts about what Luffy said.
"Give it up," Zoro said as he stretched and yawned. "There's nothing to understand, other than Luffy is here now, and we chose to follow him."
"You didn't just up and leave them, did you?" Zeff asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Of course not. Do you know how hard it is to get rid of Ace and Sabo? Grandpops had to make them promise to go home after I got my first crew member," Luffy scowled. "Pops even had to threaten them with a year's worth of chore duty."
"In that case, I'll leave you kids in peace and go finish up some work," Zeff said as he left the table just as Sanji arrived.
He placed Zoro and Usopp's plate down in front of them as he went by without acknowledging them. "For you, my dear," Sanji said as he gently set a seafood pasta down in front of Luffy before turning to give the other plate to Nami with hearts in his eyes, "and for the beautiful Miss Nami-san. Bon appetit."
Noticing Nami was not paying attention to him or the food, Sanji turned his gaze to follow hers. As he did so, he noticed the other two guys' gaze were in the same direction as Nami's. His eyes finally landed on Luffy, who was poking her dish suspiciously, rather than enjoying the meal he made especially for her.
"It's not poisoned you know," Sanji said perplexed to the table as a whole, seeing as it was not just Luffy expecting the food to kill her.
"I wonder if poison would make it easier to eat," Luffy mumbled but was heard clearly. No one had time to comment because Zoro, Usopp, and Nami held their breath as Luffy finally took a bite.
"How is it?" Usopp asked.
There was a pause as Luffy finished chewing and swallowed before his face lit up. "It's so good!"
"Of course, it's good," Sanji scoffed.
"Seconds!" Luffy said as he shoved an empty plate in front of the bewildered cook.
He even needed a moment to look at everyone else's surprised face and their full plate that he didn't just imagine it. The kid finished the plate before any of his companions has even taken a bite.
"Uh…okay," Sanji said as he took the plate and walked away to make more food.
"How's your stomach?" Nami asked worriedly once the silence was broken and the three of them started on their own meals. "Are you sure you should be eating more? Oh, wow! This is delicious."
Luffy placed a hand on his stomach as he thought about and nodded happily. "Yup. I'm still hungry and my tummy feels good."
Sanji came out with a few large servings and placed them in the middle of the table for them to share. He figured if the young captain was this hungry, the rest of the crew must be as equally hungry. Being the person that he is, Sanji would never let anyone leave hungry, especially the beautiful Nami.
He was right that the two males at the table had second servings, even Nami had a few extra little bites, but what he wasn't expecting was for Luffy to finish what was left and ask for more. Sanji ended up going back to the kitchen two more times to bring back large portioned plates before Luffy was satisfied. He's pretty sure Luffy ate enough to feed at least ten grown men.
"Luffy," Usopp started hesitantly as he looked towards the stack of plates to the side of their table, "when was the last time you ate until you were full?"
"Hmm, Shells Town," Luffy answered after thinking about it.
"That was two weeks ago!" Zoro said in surprise.
"Why didn't you just eat until you were full?!" Nami nearly yelled in her worry. "Is it because of what happened in Syrup?"
"I wasn't full, but I wasn't starving either," Luffy tilted his head, confused as to what was wrong. "If I ate as much as I wanted, there wouldn't be enough food for you guys. Thatch told me to always make sure there was enough food for everyone."
"Couldn't you have just restocked enough food?" Sanji asked as he cleared the table.
"Nope. We didn't have a cook, so I didn't know how much food to buy," Luffy grinned as he grabbed Sanji by the arm. "Now, we have a cook."
"I'm honored that a cute captain would want me as a cook, but I'm afraid that I will have to refuse as I have personal reasons for staying here… huh?" Sanji trailed off as he noticed the three at the table giving him looks of pity.
He was about to ask them why they were looking at him like that when Luffy turned his head to look out the windows and narrowed his eyes.
"What's wrong, Luffy?" Zoro asked as he was the first to notice his captain's change in demeanor.
"Someone strong is coming," was all that was said when one of the customers who was looking out the window shout out in alarm causing all the other customers to look out also.
"An hourglass on each side of the skull…that flag is…that flag is… There's no mistaking it. It belongs to the ruler of East Blue, DON KREIG!" someone said, causing a frenzy of customers running out of the floating restaurant.
"Don Kreig?!" Patty shouted in a panic. "This is the Don of a pirate fleet with a 5,000 pirate force we're talking about! Why would he come back to take revenge for just one of his subordinate?!"
"There's no mistake. He's really here!" A different cook yelled at Patty. "That's what you get for kicking out one of his men!"
Just as the restaurant cleared of all the customers, the door opened to reveal man holding up a larger man.
"Sorry, can I have some water and food?" the large man said weakly. "Please, give me some water and food."
All the cooks were surprised at how weak Don Kreig looked when he fell to the ground in hunger.
"He doesn't look all that strong to me," Zoro scoffed.
"No. Not him," Luffy answered distractedly. He continued to look out the window, ignoring everything that was going on in the restaurant as Sanji left to make something for the starving pirate to eat.
His attention was brought back to the happenings when Sanji returned with food and a drink. Some of the cooks yelled at Sanji to take the food away, warning him of the kind of person Don Kreig was.
Sanji didn't have time to argue back as Don Kreig finished his meal and attacked Sanji, throwing him into the pillar of the restaurant.
"We need to get out of here!" Usopp whispered from under the table, where he was shaking in fear with Nami.
"We're not leaving without our cook," Luffy said stubbornly as Don Kreig stated he wanted the ship and demanded enough food to feed a hundred people.
The young captain smiled to himself when Sanji said he was going to cook for them after being beaten up by Don Kreig. He even stood up to his fellow cooks when they tried to stop him.
"If you want to stop me, go ahead. I know. He's an incurable villain. I know that much. But that doesn't matter to me. What happens after we feed them, it's too much of a bother to think about. I'm a cook. No more. No less. If there's someone who's hungry, I'll feed them. That's all there is to it. Isn't that what being a cook means?" Sanji said to the cooks surrounding him.
Luffy definitely wanted this cook.
Zeff came back out with a large bag of food to hand over to the pirate captain before Sanji made it to the kitchen.
"Owner Zeff!" The cooks exclaimed.
"Zeff you say?" Don Kreig said in surprise. "You must be Red Foot Zeff. An incomparable pirate who was a cook and yet also a captain. You're the man who once entered Grand Line and came back in one piece. You should have a logbook with the full year of your journey written in it. Give it to me!"
"My logbook, huh? Indeed, I have it with me, but I can't give it to you. The logbook is the pride of all the crewmen that I traveled with. It's too important to give it to you."
"Then I'll just have to take it. It's true that I fell from Grand Line. Even if that's the case, I'm still Don Krieg, the strongest man. The only thing was that I lacked information. I'll take your logbook, and I'll form a large pirate fleet again and seize One Piece. And I'll stand on top in this Great Pirate Era!" The man laughed.
Luffy finally got up from his seat and angrily walked up to Don Krieg. "Hold on one minute. The Pirate King is going to be me!" he declared.
"Back off, kid," Patty yelled. "That's not someone you can take on!"
"This is something I can't back off on," Luffy smiled confidently.
"Did you say something, brat? I can let it pass," Don said dismissively.
"You don't have to. I just stated a fact."
"This isn't a game," the larger captain looked at the smaller captain, confused as to why there was someone as young as this one still in the restaurant when all of the other guests had already left.
"Of course not. I'll be the one to conquer Grand Line," Luffy said confidently.
Don merely scoffed and left with the large sack of food to feed his crew.
After the pirate left, Luffy went up to the head chef. "I want Sanji. If I get rid of that guy for you, can I have Sanji?"
"You want my sou chef?" Zeff looked down at Luffy.
"Sanji's a shoe chef? What's that?" Luffy tilted his head in confusion.
Zeff sighed at the simple mind. "It means he's my second in command."
"Oh, ok. I'm taking Sanji," Luffy said.
"Sure. You can have him," the head chef grinned.
"Hey," Sanji said as he came up behind them. "Don't I have a say in this?"
"Nope," Luffy said as he made his way out the door of the restaurant to wait for the pirates to finish eating.
"You're not going to get them before they finish?" Zoro joined him in leaning against the wall.
"Sanji won't be happy if I did," Luffy said, half listening in to what the chefs were arguing about inside the restaurant behind him.
"Have you ever felt what it's like to be on the brink of starvation?! Losing food and water in this grand ocean, do you know how scary it is?! Do you know how hard it is?!" Zeff lectured.
"What do you mean, Owner?"
"The difference between Sanji and you all is whether you know it or not."
Zoro looked to the side to see Luffy holding his stomach, lost in thought. The swordsman turned his head to look at the sky, having a slight idea of what Luffy might have gone through. "If we have a cook, we wouldn't have to worry about going hungry, right, Luffy?"
"Huh?" Luffy looked up to Zoro.
"You really want that cook, right? So we'll have to make sure to get rid of that bunch," Zoro grinned at his captain.
"Right," Luffy smiled back.
"This is our restaurant! We'll fight and protect this place," the cooks came out to join them.
"Hey, Luffy," Usopp stuck his head out of the doorway, "you said someone strong is coming, and it wasn't Don Krieg. Who is it? Should we be worried?"
"Is that true?" Zeff asked.
"Yeah. If we don't bother him, he won't bother us," Luffy said.
"Are-are you sure?" Usopp whispered in fear. "Who is it?"
"The one who did that," Luffy pointed at the large ship of the Krieg Pirates that was split nearly in half. "And he's coming to finish his work."
Just as he said that a huge shock wave sliced the ship cleanly into two slices.
"Hawk-Eye Mihawk." Luffy introduced.
"Hawk-Eye?!" Zoro said, suddenly standing straight up, looking towards the lone small ship sailing their way.
"You know him, Zoro?" Luffy asked.
"Yeah, he's the man I'm looking for. He's the reason I set out to sea," Zoro said with a gleam in his eyes. "I'm going to fight him, and there's nothing you can do to stop me, Luffy. Don't forget our promise." With that, he jumped off the restaurant to land in front of Mihawk.
Luffy locked eyes with Mihawk, glaring in a way to tell the man to not hurt his swordsman. Not like Mihawk would listen anyway. "Usopp, Nami, go protect Merry with Jonny and Yosaku. That's the safest place to be."
"How is that safe?!" Nami screeched. "That guy could clearly slice a ship five times the size of ours! How can we protect the ship against that?!"
'"Mihawk won't touch Merry. I meant protect her from the pirates. Don't let them take our home," Luffy didn't take his eyes off Zoro and Mihawk as he told them what to do.
Nami and Usopp went to do as they were told as everyone else stopped what they were doing to watch the battle between the World's Strongest Swordsman and the Pirate Hunter Zoro.
Luffy could tell Zoro was angry that Mihawk was using a tiny sword to fight him, rather than Yoru, the large black blade on his back. It was a one-sided battle, just as Luffy had feared. It was too early for Zoro to fight someone from the New World. It took everything Luffy had to not jump in when Mihawk finally stabbed Zoro's chest, but he had promised Zoro that he wouldn't interfere with his dream.
When Yoru was finally drawn and two of Zoro's sword were broken, Luffy could only hope Mihawk wouldn't actually kill his swordsman. He was proven wrong when the older swordsman sliced Zoro's chest without hesitation.
"Zoro!" Luffy cried out before stretching his arms and bringing him towards Mihawk in anger.
"Damn you! Why?! How could you?!" The young captain pulled out his dagger from under his dress to point at the man.
"Are you the young swordsman's captain? I'm impressed that you actually watched it to the end," Mihawk calmly stated to an angry, crying Luffy. "Don't worry. I didn't kill him." Not that Mihawk wouldn't like to fight someone as strong as Luffy but being at the end of a whole fleet of angry pirates wasn't something he wanted to face. His experience against Luffy's crazy ability would make for an interesting fight.
"Huh?" Luffy wiped the tears from his face.
"If you'd calm down, you'd know," Mihawk said as he looked to where Jonny and Yosaku fished Zoro out from the sea, taking him to Nami and Usopp for first aid.
"Zoro!"
"It's still too early for you to die," Mihawk said loud enough for everyone there to hear and hopefully pass on his message. "My name is Dracule Mihawk. Learn about yourself. Learn about the world. And become strong! No matter how many years it takes, I will hold this seat of the strongest and wait for you. Try to surpass me, Roronoa Zoro!"
"Dracule Mihawk?" Luffy said the name slowly, putting his dagger away. "I thought your name was Hawk-Eye Mihawk."
"Anikii!" Jonny and Yosaku cried out when Zoro raised his sword.
"Luffy, can you hear me?" It was weak, but Luffy heard him.
"Yeah!" he answered happily.
"Did I worry you? You need no less than the world's greatest swordsman, right? I will…I will never be defeated ever again! Until the day I defeat him and become a master swordsman, I'll never be defeated. Got any problem with that…Pirate King!"
"None!" Luffy laughed, happy to know his friend will be ok.
"Looks like you got yourself a good crew," Mihawk said as took out a package to hand to Luffy.
"Red-hair asked me to deliver this to you," was all he said before walking away.
"Hey, Hawk-Eye," Don Krieg stopped him before he could get on his tiny boat. "Did you come to take my life, the life of East Blue's ruler, Don Krieg?" Krieg taunted.
"No. You were just something to pass the time, but I've had enough fun. So I'm going home to take a nap."
"What's this?" Luffy said as he opened the package to find a stuffed Sea King, uninterested in what was happening before him.
"You may have had enough, but I'm tired of getting beaten. So die before leaving!" Krieg declared, opening fire from his many mini cannon and pistols hidden in his armor.
"Seems some people never learn," Mihawk said to himself as he made a seawall with one swing of Yoru and disappeared.
"My sea king…" Luffy looked at his soaked toy. "My sea king…You got my sea king all wet!" He glared at Krieg.
"Luffy!" Nami shouted at him. "Don't fight with that thing! Toss it over here!"
He looked up to see that he didn't raise a fist to fight but had held his toy up in the air to fight with instead. He laughed as he stretched his arm to give the plush to Nami, grateful that she stopped him from ruining his gift further.
"And don't forget the treasure. I want everything they have!" The reality was, Nami didn't want any disadvantage in the fight. It's already bad enough that Luffy's fighting East Blue's strongest pirate. Though, she doubts anyone is stronger than Arlong. There was something about Luffy that made her believe her captain would be able to save her and her village.
"Don't turn your back on me!" Krieg yelled out as he fired his pistol, signaling the start of the battle.
Luffy easily dodged the bullet as everyone gave a war cry around him. "All right! Now, it's my turn to have fun."
As he fought, Luffy used his Haki to make sure everyone on Merry and Baratie didn't need help. It was also good to know that his cook was awesome! Luffy was thinking about going to help Sanji when the pearl guy showed up, but luckily, Krieg threw a spiked iron ball right on top of the guy, knocking him out and breaking the foothold the cooks brought out, putting out the fire in the process.
"Watch where you throw things!" Luffy yelled. He wasn't worried. He knew Sanji had gotten out of the way of the iron ball.
When Zeff was taken hostage by someone who snuck up on them, Luffy was taken off guard when Sanji told the pirate to shoot him instead.
"Luffy! Behind you!"
He didn't need Nami's warning to know that Don Krieg was going to attack him from behind, but he was so angry that he didn't care. The young captain could feel his cook's resolve to die to save the old man. Before the explosive laced spear landed on his head, Luffy quickly turned to punch the spear, causing it to explode over his head and breaking in the process. With his other hand coated with Armament Haki, he punched Krieg hard enough to break the so-called indestructible gold armor, knocking the man into the sea.
Luffy then jumped over to land in front of Sanji and grabbed the cook by his collar to pull him to his face, which was very uncomfortable, considering the kid was a whole head shorter than Sanji. "Don't you dare die! You're not allowed to die!" he shouted in Sanji's face.
Sanji screwed his face up in anger and shouted back, "What do you know? What do you know about the significance of the kindness I received? What do you know about this restaurant?!"
"So you're going to die for the restaurant?! Are you stupid or something?!"
"What was that?!"
"Dying isn't something you should do to repay kindness! That's not what the old man saved you for! Being given life and yet dying, is something someone weak would do!" Luffy let go of his hold but still looked straight at Sanji's eyes, his voice softening. "I do know. Grandpops, Pops, everyone in my family didn't want me to die for them. They came to save me when I thought they wouldn't. I waited and waited, and it took them a whole day to find me. They came to get me back. Me, who they saved when I was little, even though they didn't have a reason to. Me! So, YES! I do know! But that's the whole reason why I set sail. It's so I can be the Pirate King to give them freedom because the Pirate King has the most freedom in the world! That is my dream." Luffy looked away with his fists shaking by his sides. "I will fight and fight and fight and stay alive for them, no matter what I have to go through. That's why I won't die."
Sanji took a step back in surprise. Then he saw it. "Hey, your dress is on fire," he said in a daze.
"Huh?" Luffy gave him a confused look.
"Your dress! It's on fire! It must have happened when that spear exploded!" Sanji said panicking.
"Ah! My dress! Put it out! Put it out!" Luffy ran around, not knowing what to do. "Oh!" his hit a fist into his hand as an idea came.
What he did next shocked everyone, as 'she' started to pull the dress over 'her' head to take the burning dress off, now only wearing a pair of shorts with a dagger and a small pistol on each leg.
"SHE'S A GUY!" shouted almost everyone there.
"Of course, I'm a guy," Luffy said offended as he tossed the dress into the sea. "What made you think I wasn't?"
"You were wearing a dress!"
"And?" Sanji said calmly, lighting up another cigarette. "How do you suppose we take care of that?" He jerked his thumb towards the pirate holding Zeff hostage.
"Like this." Luffy then disappeared from their sight, only to reappear in front of the pirate, with his hands on the floor and a foot stopping just an inch away from the man's chin, the force of the kick causing a breeze to go through the man's hair.
The man's eyes went cross-eyed as he noticed how close the gold anklet was from his face, before he fell to his butt.
"But I've already taken down his captain, so he doesn't have a reason to fight anymore," Luffy turned to face Sanji. "Besides, he wasn't serious about killing the old man."
"What do you mean?" Sanji asked gathering his wits after seeing his own move being used by someone who wasn't trained under Zeff.
"I knew The Don wouldn't leave without this ship, so I did the only thing I could think of to get you to leave unhurt," the pirate broke down. "You saved my life by feeding me when you didn't have to." He bowed his head on the floor. "We'll leave now that The Don is out of commission. I promise we won't bother you again." He raised his head to look at Luffy, "To think someone would be able to take down the strongest pirate of East Blue."
"Isn't that because you had the biggest number of pirates? Besides, I was told East Blue is the weakest of the Blues," Luffy stated simply.
The pirate laughed at that as he got up. "Weakest or not, it's hard to believe Don Krieg was taken down when he is considered the strongest. You're lucky he didn't resort to his poisonous gas."
"Poison? I can eat that for breakfast," Luffy waved it off, laughing. Those around them laughed at his joke, except for Sanji, who remembered what Luffy said earlier but kept quiet about it.
All the pirates boarded a small dinghy Zeff provided them. "Since you're aiming for the seat of the Pirate King, I take it you're headed to The Grand Line. Just a warning in exchange for our lives. Be careful out there. There are all sorts of strange happenings there."
Luffy laughed as the pirates sailed away. " The Grand Line, strange?" 'Paradise is like my backyard. The New World is my home.' I think that's what Sabo said. I'm not headed to The Grand Line. I'm going home."
"Luffy!" Nami cried out as she and Usopp ran towards them. Neither one of them were brave enough to leave the ship until all the other pirates were gone. "Put this on, or you'll catch a cold!" she lectured as she handed him a fancy blue dress jacket.
"How's Zoro?" Luffy asked worriedly as he put on one of Sabo's old jackets.
"We bandaged him, but he's in bad shape," Usopp said.
"Nami," Luffy's serious voice had her attention. "How long does it take to get to Armong?"
"It should be about 2 days from here."
"When does he expect you back? Do we have time to wait until Zoro wakes up?"
"Yeah," Nami was in awe at how serious he could be at times and how strong he was. "I come and go as I please, so we can leave anytime."
Zoro woke up the next day in a room Zeff let them borrow with Sanji. He lent Nami his room, so she didn't have to sleep with the guys.
"Did we get the cook?" was the first thing he asked when he woke up.
"Yup," Luffy grinned.
"Hey. I never said I'd go with you," Sanji argued.
"But I won you fair and square!" Luffy whined.
"Go with them," Zeff said as he entered the room. "Like the brat said, he won you fair and square." He gave Sanji a smirk then continued before Sanji could argue back. "Just go with them and follow our dream. Go find All Blue. You won't find it by staying here the rest of your life."
Sanji opened his mouth to say something back, but then, he remembered what Luffy said about following his dream for his family who had saved him. "Fine," he grunted.
-*/-*/-*/-*/-*/
Omake
"So what's the sleeping arrangement?" Usopp asked that night after they set sail.
"Tonight is Sanji, then you, then Nami," Luffy said as he yawned, ready for bed.
"Wait, what?" Sanji asked as he settled into the hammock he claimed.
"Luffy doesn't like to sleep alone, so he switches it up every night," Usopp explained.
"Why isn't that moss head in the equation? And aren't you old enough to sleep on your own? HOW OLD ARE YOU ANYWAY?!"
"Fifteen," Luffy huffed.
"Fif-FIFTEEN?! You look like thirteen tops! Get off and sleep in your own hammock!" Sanji tried to push Luffy off.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Usopp said as he handed Sanji a sheet of paper.
His eyes bulged as he read it. "What the fuck is this, and who wrote it?!"
"His family, apparently," Usopp yawned and turned to his side, away from Sanji. "I don't know about you, but I don't want to watch my own organs get pulverized."
The cook looked down to his side where Luffy had already fallen asleep and just gave a sigh and laid down. A few moments later he shot back up. "Wait a minute!" He then was pulled back down by Luffy, where he continued his triad. "What's a healthy teenager doing sleeping with dear, sweet Nami-san!"
"It's not like they do anything. They just sleep. Besides, he's not all that healthy, if you haven't noticed. Though, I wouldn't have noticed if Zoro hadn't said he hadn't eaten his fill in two weeks," Usopp mumbled the last part to himself.
"NO! NEVER! I WILL NEVER LET THAT HAPPEN! I WILL PROTECT NAMI-SAN'S CHASITY!"
"Shut up and go to sleep!" Zoro yelled at him.
Of course, there wasn't much Sanji could do when Nami smacked him over the head for his overactive imagination.
The next day he learned that Nami was the one who picked the clothes and dressed Luffy everyday, and that Luffy doesn't care what she puts on him. Another thing he learned was that he might not have stocked up on enough food for their two-day trip. Especially with Luffy's pestering of snacks in between meals and snacks. Who the hell snacks after and in between snacks?!
-*/
Meanwhile, on an island just five days away from Conomi Island, a Marine ship was docked to restock. In a private cabin sat an old man in front of his desk took a pause from writing his report to look out his window to watch three teens he picked up from his last stop mopping the deck and grinned sharply.
"Monkey D. Luffy, I'm coming for you," the graying man laughed evilly to himself.
A/N: Sorry for the late post. This just might be the norm now. Sorry!