Disclaimer: All the characters herein, with the exception of some random extras, are the intellectual property of Eiichiro Oda and all the companies involved with publishing and production of the One Piece manga and anime. I just twisted 'em a bit.
Spoilers/Warnings: This story will eventually encompass the entire first season of the anime, which is up to about halfway through volume 11 of the manga, just so you know. There's a bit of a spoiler of sorts in this part, but unless you already know about what I'm spoiling, you probably wouldn't pick up on it, so... This is an AU, so many things have been changed/altered/warped to suit my needs. Also, there is some language and violence.
Pairing: None. However, I like subtext, so you can probably find hints of just about anything, if you look for it.
Dedication: To the OP at the fanforall at LJ, for requesting a cowboy AU and spawning this in my brain. Many thanks to Dandy Wonderous for beta-ing.
A/N: Name order for all characters has been westernized. Don't like it? Tough cookies! I do not claim to be an expert on anything involving gun fighting, the old west, or the cavalry. I did some very basic research for some of this, but I probably got lots of stuff wrong. Humor me.
Part 10- The Gentleman Cook
Zoro, Usopp, and Nami slipped through the doors and headed to an empty table in a back corner of the restaurant. The other diners paid them no heed. After the window incident, a quiet group of three was wholly unremarkable.
Several moments later, Luffy emerged from a door in the back in the company of three men dressed in chef's attire. A young man in a suit walked out through the swinging doors to the kitchens with a bowl of soup in each hand and was waved over by one of the chefs, a man with a remarkable mustache. The older man told him something that involved several vehement gestures and pointing at a rather sheepish looking Luffy. The younger man rolled his eyes but nodded in affirmation, then gestured with the soup bowls and headed into the midst of the tables. Luffy noticed his friends and waved, making a bee-line for them.
"Guess you guys saw the window, huh?" Luffy was nervously twiddling his thumbs and studiously avoiding eye contact with Nami.
"How could we miss it?" Nami sighed and massaged her temples. "Don't bother explaining, just tell me how much it's going to cost us..."
"Well, nothing, if I promise to work here for two months without pay."
"So that's what you were yelling about," Usopp deduced with a nod. "Making you work without pay makes sense, I suppose, but two months is a little extreme, don't you think?"
"You gonna do it?" Zoro asked bluntly.
"Well," Luffy replied with a shrug, "I do feel kinda bad for breaking it. I'm hoping I can talk the owner down to less time."
"Should we just leave you here?" Zoro quirked an eyebrow.
"You can't mean that!" Usopp gaped. "That's a joke, right?"
Luffy chuckled at that, grinning broadly. "You can't leave me, I'm the boss!"
Nami groaned. "Not that again! What kind of work will you be doing, anyway?"
"Don't really know," Luffy admitted. "That guy over there in the suit's supposed to show me the ropes as soon as he's done with those customers."
The group all looked over to the man in question. He was currently buttering up the lady at the table, to the apparent annoyance of her companion. Finally he excused himself with a deep bow and made his way over to the expectant band.
The blond man's expression was indifferent until he locked eyes on Nami, then he smiled. He swept up the rather startled redhead's hand, placing a kiss on the back.
"Your radiant beauty brightens the very room. How may I, in all humble servitude, be of assistance?" His slightly English accented baritone rolled off his tongue, smooth as silk.
Zoro snorted and nudged Usopp with his elbow. "And Luffy thought you talked fancy!" Usopp chuckled quietly.
Twin glares from Nami and the stranger were shot at the two. Usopp squeaked and quickly looked away. Nami cleared her throat.
"Actually, I thought you were here to talk to Luffy," she stated, cocking her head in the boy's direction.
"Ah yes," he blinked. He reluctantly turned his focus to Luffy, smile melting away into an expression of mild distaste. "We're quite short of servers at the moment, so we'll start off with that, shall we? You may be begin with your... associates. Take their order and report it to the kitchen staff, then bring them the food once it's prepared. Do you understand?" Luffy nodded. "Would you like me to stay and supervise, or-"
"Hey, waiter," a rather obnoxious voice called from the table to which the soup had just been delivered. The blond's unusually curly eyebrow twitched.
"Excuse me a moment," he offered apologetically. He glided over to the other table, expression darkening as he went. "I believe I informed you, sir, that I am not, in fact, a waiter. I do hope there isn't a problem?"
"My soup is cold."
"It's cucumber soup, sir, it's meant to be cold." The lady tittered behind her hand and Fullbody felt a rush of heat to his face as his cheeks flushed. How dare this man humiliate him?
"I'm not eating cold soup," Fullbody sneered.
"It seems a terrible waste," the suited man's frown deepened, "but I can take it away." Fullbody's companion also displayed a small disapproving frown. The lieutenant's eyes narrowed. He'd show them a terrible waste... With a careless sweep of his hand, he knocked the bowl to the floor. The delicate vessel shattered on impact.
"Don't talk down to me," Fullbody snapped, pushing to his feet. "Is this the sort of service I should expect for my money?"
"If I were you," the other man's tone was dangerous, but Fullbody chose to ignore it, "I would think very carefully before proceeding any further."
Without even a hint of warning, Fullbody took a swing at his opponent's face. His foe dodged easily and the lieutenant was staggered by a sharp blow to his chin. He hadn't even seen the other man's hands move! Belatedly, he realized that was because he had been kicked. A roundhouse kick followed and he was suddenly staring up at a fuming blond man.
"Good food should never be wasted, you ungracious swine," Fullbody's irate opponent spat. He raised one foot for another kick, when a sharp voice cut through the air.
"Sanji! What have I told you about fighting with the customers?"
"He tossed a full bowl of soup on the floor, old man!"
Fullbody staggered to his feet, wiping away a trickle of blood from his chin. "My superiors are going to hear about this!" he threatened.
"Is that so?" the owner asked, twirling the end of his mustache around a finger, smiling sinisterly all the while. "You do that. Here's a little something for the road."
Fullbody found himself sprawled on the floor again as the result of a kick, only this time it had been the owner!
"Lieutenant Fullbody, sir!" a voice called frantically, as a bedraggled soldier stumbled through the door. "The prisoner woke up, sir! He managed to get his hands loose and overpowered the others! He's heading this way!"
"He's already here," a dry voice rasped from the doorway. The soldier hurried to his lieutenant's side, swallowing nervously. A gaunt figure shuffled into the room and collapsed in a chair at one of the tables.
"We've outstayed our welcome," Fullbody hissed to the soldier, tugging at his sleeve. "I say this man's no longer our problem." The two slipped out of the restaurant unnoticed. The crowd was too busy eying the new arrival. Everyone had clearly heard the word "prisoner."
"Isn't this a restaurant?" the escapee inquired gruffly. "What's a man have to do to get food around here?"
The two cooks who had initially confronted Luffy glanced at one another and nodded. They started toward the potential threat, but Sanji halted them with a raised hand.
"I'll take care of this." He stepped forward. "I don't mean to seem rude, but you're upsetting the other patrons. If you'll follow me, I'll see what I can do for you."
The stranger gave the other man a skeptical look, but then eyed the glaring cooks warily. He slowly regained his feet with a slight grimace and followed Sanji through a door at the back of the room. The crowd let out a collective sigh of relief, and the usual soft drone of small talk permeated the room once more.
"I like him," Luffy informed his companions. "Think he'd join the gang, if I asked?"
"Not likely," Nami scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"He is pretty gutsy," Usopp conceded, totally ignoring Nami's disdain. "Did you see how calmly he handled that escaped prisoner?"
"The guy looked half dead already," Zoro countered.
"I guess, but- Luffy? Where are you going?"
"After them," was the simple reply.
End Notes:
Sanji is English because it plays into his backstory. More on that later. (Also, an English accent makes his lines that much more amusing to me, in my head.)
Yes, western Sanji still kicks. He also shoots, but if they're close enough to kick, that's what they get.