A/N: Apologies for the delay. Got caught up in work. Anyway, Happy reading!
Chapter 13 - The Cook
"This is great! I like it!" Nami cheered as she laid eyes on the Jolly Roger Usopp had just drawn.
"I've been drawing on walls for years!" Usopp boasted, "I'm a man of many talents!"
"This looks like a completely different flag," Zoro said comparing the one Usopp had drawn to the old one Luffy had drawn which Luffy had taken from their old boat before leaving it with Kaya.
"Okay okay, now paint it on the sails!" Luffy said, not wanting to hear them bashing his artistic skills again.
It took hours to finish painting it on the main sail and the four looked on happily at the bright Jolly Roger once the job was done. "Going Merry, the Pirate Ship is complete!"
"Yeaahhh!"
"So now, what do we do about this?" Nami pointed at the flag Luffy had drawn.
"Shred it." Zoro instantly responded.
"Burn it." Usopp followed.
"No, let's keep it as a momento…" Luffy argued but was shot down instantly. 'I wanted to show it to Robin…' he pouted.
"I'm the deciding vote and I choose…hmm…" Nami hummed as if she was thinking hard about it before declaring loudly, "LET'S BURN IT!"
"Yeah!"
"Jerks!" Luffy ran to his room to get a camera and managed to take its picture before the others quickly set it on fire and watched it get reduced to ashes in glee.
"Goodbye, Nightmare Creature," Nami sighed in relief before the topic was forgotten.
A few minutes later, Luffy and Zoro were sparring on deck, Nami was sunbathing on a beach chair, and Usopp was messing with the cannon they had on board.
"Do you even know how to use that thing?" Nami asked eyeing Usopp, "I don't want you messing with it carelessly and blowing a hole in our ship"
"I know what I'm doing!" Usopp snapped offended. "This Great Captain Usopp once fired thousands of can-"
"Yeah yeah," Nami rolled her eyes not listening to him anymore and went back to sunbathing.
"Hmph! I'll show you!" Usopp said as he loaded a cannonball. He struggled to do it but tried to play it off cool before aiming at a faraway rock cropping and lit it.
Luffy and Zoro who were lost in sparring, flinched when a sudden explosion rang from the side of the ship and when their eyes turned towards the sound, they saw a cannonball flying away from the ship.
Luffy was instantly next to Usopp who had fallen flat on the deck trembling and Nami seemed to have rolled off the beach chair and also hit the deck. The cause of the explosion seemed to be the cannon itself. The barrel had split open, resembling the petals of a flower, and fire and molten metal was spewing out of it.
"What happened?!" Zoro came running in a second later just as the cannonball which had been fired exploded near the rock cropping. It wasn't a bullseye as it had grazed the edge of the rock cropping before exploding a few meters away from it and as a result, a tall column of water erupted from the surface.
"IDIOT! WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Nami screamed sitting up.
"I-I-I don't k-know" Usopp stuttered lifting his head up and seeing the damage.
"Alright, alright, calm down," Luffy said as he first lifted the cannon and threw it overboard so that it wouldn't harm the ship anymore. "You used the Buggy balls huh?"
"Ahh…" Zoro and Nami nodded in understanding but Usopp was confused, "The what?"
"They're special cannonballs we picked up earlier, capable of destroying tens of houses with just a single one"
"Wh-" Usopp trembled wide-eyed.
"Well, Imma go rescue them," Luffy said as he airwalked towards the rock cropping and only then did the others notice that someone was screaming on top of it.
"Oh no! I killed someone!" Usopp paled before realizing Luffy was walking on air. "YOU CAN FLY?!"
A couple of minutes later during which Zoro and Nami calmed Usopp down saying 'Yes, he can fly', Luffy returned with two individuals- one unconscious and the other barely conscious.
"Johnny?" Zoro said surprised. "That you?"
Johnny's unfocused eyes barely recognized him, "B-Big bro Zoro?"
"You know him?! Oh no! I killed Zoro's friend?!" Usopp paled even more.
"He's fine. A stray rock hit his head I guess," Luffy said as he studied a wound on his head. "The cannonball only exploded near them, so nothing much happened"
"Here," Nami came with a glass of water and they made him drink it and he finally seemed to relax and regain his senses again.
"Wh-Ow…" he held his head in pain as his eyes studied everyone before falling on Zoro and he gasped, "Big Bro Zoro!"
"Yeah. You okay?"
Johnny widely looked around and gasped when he saw the Jolly Roger. "We're on a pirate ship?! Big Bro Zoro, what are you doing here?!"
Not missing a chance to play a prank, Luffy answered before Zoro could say anything. "We kidnapped him and are now holding him hostage"
"Hah! No way Big Bro Zoro got caught by some no-name pirates!" Johnny fired back almost getting angry.
"Not the time idiot," Zoro chided noticing the unconscious man next to him. "Johnny, what happened to Yosaku?"
He gasped, suddenly remembering his dying friend and looked around frantically before his eyes fell on Yosaku. "Yosaku!"
"I'm really sorry!" Usopp cried bowing towards him. "I didn't know you guys were there!"
While Usopp was freaking out and Johnny explained that Yosaku's condition suddenly deteriorated over the past few days, Nami observed the man and was just about to snap at the idiots when Luffy came out of the kitchen with limes.
"At least one of you isn't a complete moron!" Nami snapped at the others before she made way for Luffy who started squeezing the limes into Yosaku's mouth.
"What's he doing?" Zoro asked and a quick explanation about scurvy and assuring Johnny that Yosaku wasn't dying, Nami again got irritated when Yosaku miraculously got up and started dancing around.
They introduced themselves making cool poses but Yosaku promptly keeled over again bleeding from the mouth which caused Nami to snap again, "Of course that would happen, idiot! Go take rest!" and Yosaku was shifted to the kitchen.
After things settled down, they were all gathered around in a circle on deck. "This should be a lesson for us…" Nami began.
"Good food is really important huh," Usopp mused, "We need someone who can take care of all our nutritional values or we'll end up like Yosaku sooner or later…"
"Right, it's an absolute necessity!"
"Yeah, let's head to Baratie," Luffy announced, "We're gonna pick up our cook there"
"Baratie?"
"Oh! I know that place, Big Bro Luffy!" Johnny perked up, "But are you sure you can convince someone from there to join you?"
"Yep!"
"What's Baratie?"
"It's this amazing seafaring restaurant!"
"A seafaring restaurant?"
"Yes! They have great food there! It's around two or three days sailing from here but it's near the Grand Line, so rough customers frequent that place a lot," he then looked at Zoro and added, "I even heard that the Hawk-eyed man you were looking for also goes there"
Zoro became excited as his hand gripped his sword tighter and soon, they were heading towards Baratie with Johnny guiding the way. Luffy had Usopp firing off cannonballs again with another cannon and normal cannonballs and his amazing sniping ability came to light.
"You actually can do it," Zoro said looking impressed.
"Wow, you're actually a very good shot," Nami added.
"You're great, Big Bro Usopp!" Johnny also chimed in.
"Right? Even I'm shoc-" Usopp began but stopped and stuck his chest out proudly, "Of course, I can! I'm the Mighty Captain Usopp after all!"
"Shishi great! You're officially the crew's sniper!" Luffy patted his back.
"Wha?! I'm not the Captain?"
"As if!" Nami scoffed.
"Well Yassop is the sniper of his crew, you know, so imagine that! Father and Son! Snipers of their respective crews battling it out in an epic showdown on the seas! It would be so cool!"
Usopp's mouth hung open and he stared at Luffy wide-eyed. "M-my dad?"
"Hm? We will meet him one day, you know…"
Usopp didn't seem to have seriously considered the possibility of actually meeting his father and got lost in thought. "Right…" he blankly nodded.
"Well, that's way off in the future though, so you got plenty of time." Luffy left him alone to his thoughts and climbed up the crow's nest to relax.
—
2 years ago, Germa Ship
Luffy collapsed on his back after throwing all he had at Reiju, who easily tanked all his attacks without moving an inch before she lunged and punched him in the gut once, which was all it took to make him go down.
Luffy panted hard cursing himself for being so weak. He was about to force himself to stand back up again to continue training when Reiju laid down too with her head resting on his stomach. "Take a break. We've been going non-stop for three hours straight now"
Luffy tried to protest but he couldn't even move her head off of him, so sighed and agreed. His hand ran through her hair while she softly hummed a song Luffy had taught her as they both relaxed.
"Hey," Luffy spoke up after some time, "Do you want me to tell Sanji about you when I meet him?"
Reiju stopped humming and sighed softly. "Tell him about me huh?"
"Uh-huh"
She stayed silent for a few seconds before turning to face him. "Don't"
"Hm? I don't mi-"
"No," Reiju cut him off sitting up and faced him seriously, "I meant don't make him join your crew"
"…"
"…"
"…why not?"
She hung her head staying silent for a few moments as she reminisced about her childhood. "…Maybe you already know given your uncanny knowledge, but my siblings and I were genetic experiments-"
"Yeah, lineage factors and all that. You were enhanced after you were born. Your brothers were enhanced in Sora's womb"
"…wow, you really do know huh? … Another thing I should kill you for knowing but…" Reiju sighed, "Moving on. Due to reasons, the genetic enhancements didn't take for Sanji. He turned out to be just a normal human… A lot of harsh physical tests were performed on us when we were kids to gauge our strength, endurance and so on, and Sanji always failed… He's a gentle soul who wants to be a cook more than anything. He's not a fighter… You have big dreams and honestly, you're a terrifying individual with how much you seem to know. I don't want him getting caught up in all your craziness and suffer…"
"…The weak version of Sanji you knew was a kid. He wasn't strong then sure, but he is now"
"And how would you know?" Reiju huffed irritably, "You said you've just seen him from afar and never me-"
"Stop." Luffy cut her off, "What's the real reason?"
Reiju averted her eyes cursing Luffy for being so perceptive. "I don't know what you're talking about"
Luffy slowly reached out and wrapped his hand around her neck before pulling her back down on his chest and made her face him. "You're scared of meeting him again huh?"
Reiju stared into his eyes feeling annoyed but ultimately, sighed deeply and nodded as she relaxed on him. "You said that he goes gaga over women. Just like my other brothers… So a part of me wonders if the enhancements did actually work on him too, only he was a late bloomer… If it turns out that he's just like the others now…" she trailed off shifting her eyes towards the ceiling while Luffy gently ruffled her hair.
"Hm maybe there's some subconscious genetic aspect to it, but Sanji's obsession over women stems from Zeff"
"The owner of the restaurant he works at?"
"Uh-huh. And he doesn't just like women, he worships them. Your other brothers would hurt and kill women but not Sanji. Even if a woman was about to kill him, Sanji would never attack her"
"…What the heck kind of chivalry is that?"
Luffy chuckled, "It's something from the age of dinosaurs"
"Hm?"
"Shishi don't worry about it. Anyway, that's not the only thing, is it? There's more"
Reiju sighed as she buried her face in Luffy's chest and continued, "…If he's still the same gentle boy I knew… Would he even want to see me? His childhood was horrible you know. Announced dead by his own father and locked up in a cage with an iron mask on his face. Someone actually had to unlock his mask just so he could eat!… The others and I bullied him a lot too- the kind where he ends up beaten half to death"
"That's a half-truth"
Reiju lifted her head and glared at him, "I stood by and watched and even laughed as he was beaten half to death. That's just as bad"
"…Yeah, that's true"
"See? I later treated his injuries in secret and if he ever tried to reach out to me and talk to me, I always shut him down saying I wasn't on his side. Scolded him if he ever confessed something like wanting to be a cook… Told him that he was weak and I cannot support him in front of others…"
She paused for a while biting her lower lip before continuing, "I helped him escape sure, but that's way too little, way too late…For the majority of the time I was with him, I was cruel or just another bystander to him… Just another member of the family he hates… I'm sure he wants nothing to do with that part of his life and I'm included in that too…"
"You were just a scared little kid"
"So was he. And he was all alone…"
"Well," Luffy sighed, "You're never gonna know unless you ask. You're both on my crew, so you'll have to meet one day and talk you know…"
"…You didn't even consider my concerns of not wanting him embroiled in your craziness huh?"
"Reiju," Luffy grabbed her head and made her face him, "If Sanji's the same as I expect him to be, I'd rather die than go on my journey without him."
They both stared at each other, Luffy with a blank look and Reiju with a peeved look, for a few seconds before Reiju eventually gave up and averted her eyes grumbling. "You're the most selfish person I've ever met…"
"Yes, I am." Luffy smiled as he caressed her hair, "So you want to meet him yourself and tell him huh?"
"Yeah…rather, I want to talk to him without letting him know it's me. If he doesn't want me in his life, I'll have to leave, so I at least want to talk to him normally for a bit"
"Even if that happens, I'm not letting you go"
"…This is not a matter you can butt in on. If it's either him or me-"
"Shut up! I don't care. I want you both, so you'll both be on my crew no matter what"
"Luffy this is-"
Luffy lightly flicked her forehead making her stop. "I promised you that I'll whisk you away from here and show you a good life, so I'll do it. You and Sanji fight or are uncomfortable with each other? I don't care. I'll fix it and make sure both of you are happy."
Reiju stared into his eyes her neck reddening slightly but she scowled at him. "How do you say such cheesy lines without getting embarrassed huh?"
"Stop blushing if it's so cheesy then" Luffy smirked, which only made her face go red, this time out of embarrassment.
"A-anyway," she stuttered going back to the main topic, "I want to first talk to Sanji as a stranger before revealing myself…"
"Sure, I'll call you when I meet him"
"From East Blue? That's not possible"
"Oh right… Whenever the snail connects then…"
"Mmm, thanks…"
—
Present time, Going Merry
Luffy was lying down in the crow's nest reminiscing his time with Reiju while Usopp was play-acting a pirate battle on deck, Zoro was napping and Nami was lounging lazily on a beach chair when Johnny called out for all of them.
"Big Bro Luffy! Big Bro Zoro! Big Bro Usopp! Big Bro Nami! We are here!"
Luffy jumped down to the deck and went to the front of the ship along with the others as they all stared at the big ship that looked like a fish.
"Wow!" / "What a funky design!" / "Looks cool!"
Luffy was looking at the restaurant, excitement bubbling up inside him as he was finally meeting Sanji. As they got closer, admiring the restaurant, a Marine ship crept up on them and no one noticed it until it was already sailing parallel to them. Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku panicked while the other three remained calm as a pink-haired man in a fancy suit and iron bolts on his knuckles showed up on the deck of the Marine ship and noticed the Merry.
"Hmm never seen that Jolly Roger," he said before addressing the pirate crew, "I'm Marine Lieutenant Ironfist Fullbody. Who's your captain? Name yourself"
"Yo, I'm Luffy!" He casually waved introducing himself before adding, "And you can't just call yourself Ironfist. You need to train in the city of K'un-Lun and earn the title"
"…What?" The ones on the Merry became confused but Fullbody paid no attention to his words, thinking it was some meaningless pirate's drivel, and noticed the two bounty hunters.
"Aren't you those two small-time bounty hunters who show up at the office a lot? Hmm….Johnny and Yosaku I think… Finally got caught by pirates huh?"
Johnny and Yosaku took offence at that. "Hey Yosaku, I think we need to teach this bloke a lesson" "Yeah, we can't just let some guy get away with calling us small time." The two said making a cool pose and went to the Marine ship with their swords drawn.
A few short minutes later, they were back on the Merry with beaten and bloody faces. "A-almost h-had him" they muttered in unison while Zoro sighed a bit in embarrassment "What the hell are you guys doing?"
A feminine voice caught Fullbody's attention from inside the cabin telling him that they should go on their date already and Fullbody agreed with a smile before turning back to the Strawhats. "Consider yourselves lucky, pirates! I'm on break today so I'm letting you go. But beware, the next time I see you, you're dead"
Luffy paid no attention to him as he was more focused on Nami. Bounty posters had slipped out of Yosaku's coat and Luffy watched as Nami bent down to pick up a very specific bounty poster, and could sense anger and sadness coming off of her as her hands clutched the bounty poster tighter.
Zoro caught sight of the sad look on Luffy's face as he stared at Nami before he saw Nami and his eyes widened when he saw her trembling fingers clutching the bounty poster with too much force. He looked back up at Luffy who seemed to have noticed his gaze and was looking at him too. 'What's going on?' He asked with his eyes.
'Later' Luffy conveyed and Zoro nodded. Just as they finished their wordless conversation, Usopp suddenly yelled in a panic. "They are aiming their cannon at us! What do we do?!"
The shout also brought Nami out of her thoughts and when she saw the cannon being pointed at them, she felt nothing. She and Zoro watched Luffy sigh lightly and walk up to the railing. They knew he would just kick it away so they were extremely calm but the other three were freaking out.
The Marines fired the cannonball and Luffy just jumped and caught it, the momentum pushing him slightly back but he just somersaulted a couple of times and landed on deck with the cannonball in his hand. Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku's eyes bulged out while Nami and Zoro shook their heads with a sigh thinking the exact same thing - 'When did this become normal for us?'
Luffy threw the cannonball back at their mast, thus breaking it in half and gave them a warning "The next one goes through the hull"
The terrified Marines quickly steered away when Usopp screamed in his face, "How the hell did you do that?!"
Luffy glanced at Nami with a mischievous grin before turning back to Usopp and she instantly understood what he was going to say.
"Well, you just jump first like this and bring your hand up like this, then you wai-" he began but was cut off by Nami strangling him. "Not this again, you bastard!" She shrieked and Luffy started laughing while the others watched in amusement.
"Well, let's go get some food" Luffy announced after she calmed down and soon, they anchored the Merry, took a few minutes to treat Johnny and Yosaku's injuries which they had just gotten from Fullbody, left them to guard the ship and made their way to the restaurant.
When they opened the door, they were greeted by the sight of a blond man in a suit having a confrontation with Fullbody. 'Ooh, the show has already started. Hmm looks like Fullbody just broke the table' Luffy mused as he walked towards them and stood right in front of the action to study his cook while the crew went to sit at a table. Swirly eyebrows, a lit cigarette in mouth, a suit that looked out of place for a waiter or a chef, blonde hair parted to one side… Seeing his face, it was obvious he and Reiju were related.
"If you'd just removed the bug, you could've still eaten the soup you know," Sanji sighed crouching down next to the spilled soup.
"I am a customer! How dare you, a lowly waiter, take that tone with me?!" Fullbody raged with his fists up while his blonde date tried to calm him down but failed. Fullbody attacked Sanji which he calmly dodged before kicking him right under his chin.
Fullbody's date became shocked as she backed away thinking she would get hurt and ended up bumping into Luffy, who was smiling and completely engrossed in watching his cook in action.
"Oh sorry," she apologized but was more concerned with watching Fullbody.
"Bad date huh?" Luffy absentmindedly joked feeling pity for her and that seemed to calm her down a bit as she gave a small sigh. "Well, you tell me. He tried to impress me and when things didn't go as planned, tried to humiliate the waiter by faking an issue, and when that didn't go as planned, resorted to violence… sorry, I'm rambling…"
"Shishi bad date it is then," Luffy chuckled and liking her attitude, wanted to learn more about her. He tried to remember if she ever appeared in the story again but drew a blank and so, on a whim, invited her. "Do you wanna join us?" He asked pointing at the table his crew was seated at, "I've learned through experience that it's better to do something else after a bad date instead of just going home"
The woman was surprised at the offer but considered it looking at Luffy, then at his crew and just shrugged in acceptance as they didn't look like bad people. "Why not? I'm Moodie"
Luffy introduced himself as the two walked to the table his crew were at and took their seat. Before he could introduce Moodie to the others, who were looking curiously at her, Sanji had finished beating Fullbody up and was holding him up by his throat.
"To offend a cook at sea is a fool's mistake. Remember that." Sanji said blowing out a wisp of smoke. "And food must never be wasted…"
At the same time, Patty came out from inside the kitchen and screamed when he saw Sanji beating up a customer. "SANJI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO A CUSTOMER?!"
"Say my name with respect, you crap-cooker"
"Hey look, it's Popeye!" Luffy said with amusement when he saw Patty's disproportionately wide forearms.
"Who's Popey-" Moodie began to ask but Nami hastily interjected with "No, don't!" but sighed knowing she was too late.
"Popeye is a sailor who gets a boost in his strength whenever he eats spinach. He has disproportionately wide arms like that guy"
"…Oh thank god that was short!" Nami sighed in relief while the others, except Zoro, were looking questioningly at her.
"What was that about?"
"He calls people random names all the time," Zoro answered. "You ask who that is and sometimes, he goes into a long long explanation…"
"Yeah," Nami grumbled, "I still remember him going on and on about Doc Ock after we beat Ganzack… I hate that I know who Peter Parker is…"
"What's a Doc Ock?" Usopp asked and Nami snapped at him yelling "Did you not just hear me?!"
"Shishi I'll tell you all about him later, Usopp" Luffy laughed while Moodie giggled seeing the crew's antics.
Meanwhile, Fullbody had just threatened to have the restaurant shut down and Sanji raged "Close us down?! Not if I close you down first!" and went to attack him but the other cooks held him back while trying to calm him down.
"What's going on here?!" A new voice entered the chaotic scene and everyone turned their attention to a man with a very tall chef hat, braided mustache and a peg leg walking out of the kitchen.
"Owner Zeff! You have to stop Sanji!"
"Sanji! Attacking the customers again?!" Zeff growled.
"Zip it, crap-geezer!"
Zeff kicked Sanji in the face without warning before doing the same thing to Fullbody too and Sanji, Zeff and Patty started arguing. A Marine soon showed up at the entrance screaming "Lieutenant Fullbody! It's terrible!"
"This place sure is chaotic," Usopp commented while the Marine told Fullbody that the Krieg pirate they had captured had escaped.
"No one came to take our orders yet either" Zoro complained more interested in filling his stomach.
"This place is known for its fights," Moodie said sighing at at Fullbody who had completely forgotten about her, "Many people come here solely to watch the figh-"
A gunshot sounded suddenly making everyone flinch, the Marine fell forward, and Gin entered looking like a zombie with his sunken cheeks, skinny physique and dark circles under his eyes. It didn't take a genius to figure out that he hadn't eaten or slept for days.
He slowly made his way towards an empty table as everyone watched in silence and plopped down on it with one foot up on the table. "Anything will do. Just bring me some food…This place is a restaurant right?"
Patty went up to him and with a rehearsed smile said "Welcome, you squid-faced bastard"
Luffy silently watched the rest play out as Patty asked if he could pay, Gin threatened him with a gun and Patty bashed his head in while the others in the restaurant cheered. He saw Sanji silently making his way to the kitchen, while Patty threw Gin out and apologized to the customers for the disturbance.
"Whew! That was intense…" Moodie said after things settled down.
"Yeah, I thought that Kreig pirate would start attacking everyone or something" Usopp added.
"Imma be right back. Moodie, order anything. It's on us," Luffy said when he saw Sanji heading out and quickly followed him, not even waiting for a response.
—
"I don't know what to say. This is the most delicious food I've ever tasted in my life…" Gin cried as he devoured the food Sanji had brought for him. "I thought I was a dead man for sure… I'm so grateful!"
"Good, eh?" Sanji grinned and Luffy also grinned watching the two from the second-floor deck. Sanji was leaning against a railing and Luffy jumped down and softly landed on the railing behind him before announcing himself with a "Yo!" which startled both of them.
"Who-when the hell did you get there?" Sanji asked laying eyes on his future captain for the first time.
"Shishi hey Sanji, join my crew!" Luffy smiled wide getting straight to the point.
"Huh? What are you on about?"
"My name is Monkey D. Luffy, Future Pirate King. You're gonna be the cook of my crew"
"…Huh?"
"Yeah, so go pack your bags. You're coming with me"
"The hell you on about, you crap-hat?" Sanji said annoyed, "Even if you are a pirate, you better not start anything here!"
"I'm not. I'm just telling you that you're joining my crew"
"Again, what the hell are you suddenly spouting?!"
"Hmm… Me. Pirate." Luffy said pointing at himself, "You. Cook." He said pointing at Sanji while pretending to cut some vegetables. "Join. My. Cr-"
"Don't make fun of me dammit!" Sanji's leg came at the grinning Luffy who dodged laughing.
"Okay okay, calm down," Luffy placated him and Sanji sat back down with a huff, blowing out a wisp of smoke. "Hey Gin," Luffy waved at him, "Good food huh?"
"Ah, yes" Gin, who was looking dumbfounded, nodded in agreement. "Looking for a cook for your pirate crew I see"
"No no, I found one already" Luffy said pointing at Sanji, who grew annoyed again.
"Oi! Stop it already. Go ask someone else…" He said annoyed before adding, "Though I doubt any of the cooks here will join you. You see, the damn geezer that owns this place used to be a famous pirate, so all the other cooks here are the ones who followed him out of admiration. So, I doubt anyone will consider leaving the old geezer"
"Yeah, they're all so hot-headed, noisy and pirate-like"
"Heh," Sanji smirked, "They sure are. Well, they're perfect to work in a place which is frequented by pirates, I suppose. That's how it is here every day… Waiters are always getting scared and leaving us because of it too"
"Yeah. Well anyway, join my crew"
"I refuse," Sanji flatly stated. "I have a good reason for staying in this restaurant, so I don't want to leave"
"No! I refuse!" Luffy said sitting right behind him.
"Wh-what? Refuse what?"
"I refuse your refusal!"
"Oi! Listen to what I'm saying!"
"I don't care! You're joining my crew and that's final!"
"What kind of shitty way of recruiting is this?! I'll make a fillet out of you if you don't stop!"
"Stop arguing with me!" Luffy said as if he was chiding a child, "I said you're on my crew and you're on it! No more discussion!"
"You insane asshat! What kind of manners did you receive as a child?!"
"None actually!"
"That explains it!"
"You're still joining my crew!"
"Umm sorry to butt in…" Gin hesitantly interjected getting a "WHAT?!" from both men. "Since you're a pirate," he said looking at Luffy, "What's your goal?"
"The One Piece, of course"
"…If you're still looking for a cook, I'm assuming your crew isn't big?"
"He's the fifth" / "Don't count me in!"
Gin sighed, "You seem like a nice guy, so I'll give you a warning. Don't ever go to the Grand Line… You're young still, so don't rush to your death"
"Grand Line really scared you huh?"
Gin trembled closing his eyes and remembering it, "It was a nightmare… I never want to see that place again…"
"You're rather chicken for a Krieg pirate huh?" Sanji commented.
"It's that terrifying…" Gin breathed in horror.
"Well, thanks for the warning but I'm still going. My dream is tied to that place and nothing can stop me from achieving my dream"
Gin sighed standing up, "I see. Well, it's not like I can stop you. Just thought I'd warn you that's all." He then looked at Sanji with a grateful smile. "I owe my life to you. The food you gave me was the most delicious thing I've eaten in my life!"
"Don't mention it"
Gin smiled happily and soon got into a dinghy getting ready to leave. "Sanji! Is it okay if I ever come back again?"
"Any time!" Sanji waved with a smile.
Gin gave a bright smile before he started sailing away thanking Sanji again while the two men watched him go.
"Hey, Sanji…"
"…Yeah?"
"Thank you"
Sanji gave him a curious sideways glance. "What for?"
"Shishi I'll tell you one day," Luffy grinned as he stood on the railing, "Putting the recruitment on hold for now, can you make me something? I'm dying to eat your cooking. It took all my self-control not to lunge at what you made Gin"
"Oh? Heard of my reputation eh? Sure, I'll cook you the best dish ever. What do you prefer?" Sanji asked as he walked back into the restaurant with Luffy following a step behind him.
"Anything with meat!" Luffy replied while waving at Zeff with a smile who was secretly watching them from the second-floor deck the whole time.
—
Luffy followed Sanji into the kitchen but got kicked out with Sanji yelling "I'll bring your food to your table! Go wait!" and thus, Luffy went back to his crew, who were all chatting and laughing along with Moodie.
"I'm back," Luffy announced as he took a seat in between Usopp and Nami. They already seemed to have ordered as food was already present on the table, but he decided to wait for Sanji's dish.
"Where did you go?" Usopp asked.
"To recruit our cook. I found one. Now, just need to convince him"
"Did he refuse?" Zoro asked already guessing the answer.
"Yep. And I refused that refusal"
"You need to stop doing that already, idiot" Nami sighed exasperatedly pinching his cheek.
Moodie, who was looking a bit uncomfortable since Luffy sat down, became wide-eyed watching Nami's display and stared at Luffy with her mouth half-open. Noticing her gaze, Luffy smiled. "What's up?"
"Ah… No, it's nothing" She hesitated a bit but ultimately spoke up, "Just… I heard that you're the captain… and well, I've never seen someone call their captain an idiot with no consequences before"
"This idiot doesn't care about stuff like that," Usopp said and Luffy just chuckled.
"Didn't you hear all the crazy and stupid shit he does just now?" Nami scoffed.
"Well yes, but I thought you guys were talking behind his back. Just badmouthing the captain you know…"
"Hey, you jerks! You were badmouthing me?!" Luffy said looking mock offended.
"Nah, we don't talk behind his back. We just badmouth him in front of his face," Nami grinned.
"…Then why do you follow him as your captain?" Moodie asked cautiously, trying not to offend anyone.
"We still respect him. A lot." Zoro spoke up calmly and the others nodded along while Luffy grinned.
"Fascinating…" Moodie looked at the crew as if they were some exhibits in a museum. "You guys don't seem like a typical pirate crew at all. I was honestly surprised to find that it was you guys Fuldbody talked to earlier…"
"So what do you do, Moodie?" Luffy asked trying to change the topic.
"Oh, I'm an author"
"Ooh, that's nice! What kind of books do you write?" Luffy asked conversationally but became confused at the way the other three reacted. Usopp blushed and shifted in his chair, Nami shifted uncomfortably too, and Zoro just looked away.
Moodie propped up her chin on her hand and with a mischievous smile said "Erotica" and the three's reaction only intensified.
Luffy took it in stride asking "From a man or a woman's perspective?"
Moodie seemed surprised. "Ah… from a woman's perspective," she said as she carefully observed him, who was not at all bothered, unlike the other three.
"Women's perspectives are way better when it comes to erotica" Luffy nodded sagely.
"My, now this is surprising… when I told the others when you weren't here, everyone just blushed and didn't ask any further… but you seem okay? You read erotica? And don't mind admitting to it?"
"Ah, so that's why…" Luffy chuckled understanding his crew's reactions before answering Moodie, "Shishi yeah, I've even play-acted some stuff before"
Nami and Usopp, who were silently eating, choked on their food and Zoro coughed lightly causing Luffy to loudly burst out laughing while Moodie just chuckled.
His loud laughter caught everyone's attention in the restaurant and Sanji, who was just bringing Luffy his food, quickened his pace and scolded him, "Hey! Shitty Strawhat! Keep your voice down will you? You're disturbing everyone else"
"My food!" Luffy forgot about everything else and snatched the plates from Sanji's hands before he could even set them down. He smelled the amazing mouth-watering aroma of the food before he took the first bite… and his head promptly hit the table, alarming everyone.
"Luffy?" Nami shook him with concern and he slowly lifted his head before gobbling everything that was present on the plate in less than a second. He then looked up at Sanji who was surprised by his reaction and seriously said, "Sanji, this is honestly the best food I've had in my life… more please!"
Sanji's face lit up at the compliment and he smiled with delight. "Sure!"
"And oh, meet my crew. And guys, this is Sanji, our cook"
The three members finally getting a chance to change the topic studied their new crew member with interest.
"I told you," Sanji's happy smile shifted to one of annoyance, "I'm not joining your damn crew!"
"Don't care. I've already decided that you are"
Before Sanji could blow his head off, Nami intervened "Don't mind him. He's just like that to everyone"
Sanji finally laid his eyes on the others at the table… well, the female members of the table and his eyes instantly turned into hearts as he spun his way between Nami and Moodie.
"Oh, blessed are the seas for bringing me this fine day! Oh love, I can't bear this hardship, laugh at me if you will. I'm now prepared to become a devil or a pirate as long as I get a chance to sail with two heavenly beauties such as yourselves! Oh, how tragic is my fate that there stands such a great obstacle between us!"
Zoro and Usopp saw the love-struck fool and got irritated, Nami found a target she can use to not pay for the food and Moodie, already having experienced his passes, just smiled.
"Only she's on my crew," Luffy informed him pointing at Nami and before Sanji could comment on it, another voice interrupted him.
"By obstacle, do you mean me, Sanji?" Zeff asked coming up to them.
"Ah the shitty geezer," Sanji huffed with annoyance, doing a complete 180 from the love-sick behaviour he just had.
"Why don't you go with them and become a pirate, you shitty eggplant? This is a good opportunity. You're no longer needed at this restaurant"
Sanji grit his teeth getting more annoyed, "Oi, shitty geezer. I'm the sous chef here. What do you mean you don't need me here anymore?"
"You cause too much trouble and drool over every woman you see causing most guests to get uncomfortable," Zeff began firing off all the grievances he had with Sanji, "You also can't cook a decent meal to save your life. You're just an unnecessary burden to this restaurant and none of the other cooks like you either. Just leave and get the hell out of my restaurant whether it be as a pirate or something already!"
Sanji lost all his cool as he grabbed Zeff's collar "So that's what you wanted to say to me all this time?! I can ignore every comment you made except the one about my cooking. I don't care about the other stuff but don't you dare insult my cooking!"
Zeff also grew angry and flipped him on the table Luffy and the others were sitting at while yelling "How dare you grab the collar of the head chef?!"
Fortunately, everyone at the table had picked up whatever plates they had, so only the table broke.
"Dammit…" Sanji grumbled while Zeff scoffed at him and turned to walk away.
"You can try to chase me away all you want but I'll continue to be a cook here, got that?! Until the day you die!" Sanji yelled at Zeff's retreating back, who retorted with "Hah! I won't die! I'll live for another 100 years!" without turning back.
While Sanji was gritting his teeth and grumbling curses at Zeff under his breath, Luffy happily jumped in, not at all bothered by the tension in the air. "Great! Now you can join my crew"
"As if!" Sanji screamed at him.
"Well anyway, can you bring us more food? I'm hungry" Luffy whined and that calmed down Sanji a bit.
—
"This is gender discrimination! I'll sue you!" Usopp protested clearly irritated by Sanji when he fawned over and even told the girls that their food was free while telling the men that they had to pay.
"Is he really the one you want Luffy?" Usopp asked enraged as Sanji went to wait at other tables, "Seems like just a horny dog to me!" to which Zoro also agreed nodding along.
"Well I won't deny that he seems like a horny dog but I still want him," Luffy said as he finished his tenth plate of Sanji's food.
"Oh please, as if you're any better!" Nami scoffed, "You flirt around all the time too!"
Luffy blinked dumbly wondering who she was talking to before realizing it was directed at him and lightly gasped. "What? Are you saying I'm like Sanji?"
"Yes!"
"When the hell do I flirt like him?!"
"Well, not exactly like him… but you do flirt!"
"…You flirt all the time too," Luffy fired back at Nami, "So you're like him too then"
"Wha?! I do not!"
"You do," Usopp cut in crossing his arms and nodding sagely, "While negotiating prices for groceries and stuff, you always talk sweetly and get them to lower the prices or get stuff for free. You just did it with Sanji too"
"That's a tactic! You can't call that flirting!"
"I gotta agree with her," Moodie weighed in, "Some women show off their cute side or assets while negotiating prices"
"Exactly!" Nami agreed and then pointed at Luffy, "What you do is completely different!"
"No way!"
"No no," Usopp interjected, shifting to their side, "You just randomly flirt with people for no reason. You even brought Moodie over here"
"Hmm…" Luffy crossed his arms and self-reflected. "I'm not exactly flirting though. It's more of wanting to see someone getting flustered and wanting to make them blush. I do it to men too"
Nami and Usopp hummed in unison processing his words while Luffy looked at Zoro, who was silently drinking. "Zoro? Want to add something here?"
"Nope. I'm just enjoying the show"
"Well, I even carried Zoro like a prin-"
The hilt of Zoro's sword hit him stopping him from saying anything more and he grinned having proved his point.
"I did think you were flirting with me when you invited me to join you," Moodie interjected.
"A-ha! See!"
"She's obviously joking wanting us to argue more!" Luffy shot back while Moodie chuckled. And when it looked like it would continue, he put a stop to it. "Stop! I'm ending this topic!" Luffy declared and the topic was dropped.
"So how long are we staying here?" Zoro asked.
"A few days. Until Sanji agrees"
"Are you sure he'll join?" Usopp asked doubtfully, "Seemed pretty adamant about staying here"
"Well, given his track record which is us," Zoro sighed, "I somehow have no doubt that he'll succeed"
"I doubt it," Moodie, surprisingly weighed in too, "They're all so emotionally stunted men"
Luffy's eyes gleamed with interest as he studied Moodie. "You're right about that. I'm surprised you picked up on it"
Moodie also got a glint in her eyes as she studied Luffy in turn. "Well I'm an author after all and I don't just write erotica. I write about other non-fiction too"
"Ah! That explains it. Need a keen eye to observe everything"
"Yes, that's my excuse. What's yours?"
"My brother minored in psychology. So picked up a few things from him," he said with a smile and Moodie nodded in understanding. And Luffy had indeed picked up on it in reality and not solely relying on just the story.
"Uhh…what are you guys talking about?" Nami interrupted confused.
"Well, Zeff really didn't mean whatever he said just now to Sanji. Not sure why, but Sanji feels obligated to stay here with Zeff and help him but Zeff wants him to leave and follow his own path in life. So he's saying all those cruel things to get Sanji to leave," Moodie explained, "If they just said whatever they wanted to say directly instead of acting like emotionally stunted children, they could easily resolve their issues"
Luffy smiled at her approvingly. "You're really good"
"Thanks!" Moodie smiled back, a strange tension hanging in the air as the two stared at each other with interest.
They moved on to other topics and when Sanji came to serve them more food again, Zoro stood up to reach out for a bottle of booze at the other end of the table and Moodie saw the three swords hanging off of Zoro's waist. She suddenly gasped pointing at him. "You're Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, aren't you?!"
Zoro nodded sitting back down and opening the bottle of booze. "Not a pirate hunter anymore. This idiot recruited me"
"Interesting"
"And I was a pirate thief," Nami chimed in.
"And I was the Captain of a Great Pirate Crew back on my home island!" Usopp added.
"Wow. Quite a mixture of talent here… and this is your whole crew?" Moodie asked.
"Yeah. And Sanji too," Luffy said just as Sanji set a couple more plates of food for him.
"I'm not joining!"
"Aren't you gonna recruit more people?" Moodie asked, really interested in the unusual pirate crew.
"Yes, with the Great Captain Usopp here, we'll soon have a fleet of hundreds of ships with thousands of strong men!" Usopp declared but Moodie ignored his words, already having realized he was a pathological liar the moment he had opened his mouth to introduce himself.
"Nope, I want a small crew," Luffy answered. "I want space and freedom. With a fleet or a large crew, it's just too much work and I have to tell everyone what to do and all… ugh, just takes all the fun out of the adventure… And only the best on the Pirate King's crew ya know"
Everyone was surprised by this. His crew was surprised because they didn't think Luffy gave it much thought and was recruiting people on a whim, Moodie was surprised as she had seen many pirate captains and all they wanted was more men to use as canon fodder, and Sanji was surprised as Luffy said he wanted only the best on his crew and he had chosen him.
"Fascinating. So just you five will go to the Grand Line?"
Sanji wanted to protest again for being included but stayed quiet as Moodie was the one who said it.
"Yep! I think that's all I'm recruiting from East Blue. We'll pick up more in the Grand Line" Luffy replied, again to his crew's surprise.
"Do you have a death wish?'" Sanji snapped angrily, "Haven't you heard all the dangers of the Grand Line? You'll just lead them to their deaths… and I don't care about the rest but you can't lead dear Nami-swan to her death!"
"Nah, we'll be fine. You just need a good navigator to traverse the seas there and we have Nami- the best navigator ever!" he said pointing at Nami and she blushed at the sudden compliment, "And we're all plenty strong to take on any enemies"
"You talk as if you've been there," Moodie commented as she finished her drink and so had the rest while Sanji was lingering near their table interested in the conversation.
Luffy was just gonna shrug not commenting on it but Usopp spoke up, "He was! This man here is a residen-"
"Stop" Luffy sighed clamping his mouth shut before looking at the wide-eyed and questioning looks on Moodie and Sanji's faces and sighed again. "You were in the Grand Line?!" Moodie asked a bit too strongly.
"Yeah. Not as a pirate though," Luffy replied calmly getting gasps from both. The two were wondering what to ask first when Luffy stood up. "Well, I guess we should leave," he said and then went to clear the bill.
By the time Luffy finished paying, everyone except Sanji, who had gone to wait at the other tables, were standing at the entrance. He smiled at Moodie about to say goodbye but she interrupted him with a sudden request. "Can you please tell me about your time in the Grand Line?"
"…why?" He usually would have shrugged it off but it didn't look like she was asking out of simple curiosity.
"I'm writing a book showing the differences in the different seas of the world and would love to hear about the Grand Line. In fact, the only reason I agreed to the date with Fullbody is because he said we could talk about this. But you know how that turned out… Please? I'll even pay you if you want!"
"Well, I don't mind but most people just brush off whatever I say as made-up fantasies. You won't believe me"
"No, I will! I had a chance to interview a high-level Marine before too and he said the exact same thing and dismissed me. So, I'm aware that there are some unbelievable things there. Please, give me a cha-"
"Calm down," Luffy chuckled seeing her desperate plea, "I didn't say no. Sure, let's do it"
"Oh thank you! I'll compensate you whatev-"
"It's fine, it's fine. You're a friend, so no need for payments"
Nami almost burst a vein hearing that and wanted to strangle him but bit her lip thinking that she didn't deserve to give her opinion anymore as she had decided that she would leave them soon… which didn't go unnoticed by Luffy.
—
It was evening when they finished their meal and came back to the Merry. Moodie had quickly gone to the Marine ship, packed her belongings, had an argument with Fullbody on the way out (something about him completely forgetting about her when Gin came in) and came to the Merry with a small bag in her hands. She had also changed out of the red dress she had on earlier and was wearing a simple and comfortable pair of shirt and jeans.
Luffy and Moodie settled near the main mast to talk with Moodie holding a book and pen in hand. Usopp sat behind the mast to listen in, Nami sat a bit away pretending to draw her maps but was close enough to hear them, and Zoro was training on deck with an ear open.
"First," Moodie began, "When was the first time you saw the Grand Line and what did you see?"
"It was a couple of years ago. What I saw…" Luffy closed his eyes and a wide smile bloomed on his face as he recalled that memory, "A few cyclones were to my right including water ones"
"Water ones?"
"Yeah, I don't know the correct name but the cyclone picks up water from the sea and basically forms a massive whirlpool above the surface of the water that goes up and up into the sky"
"…Right"
"It wasn't just straight up either. There were a few columns that went straight into the clouds, while others turned and zigzagged, crashing into other columns of water… I saw a Sea King stuck in it later in the day! It was screaming sure, but it looked like a very fun ride!"
"…"
"A herd of Sea Kings that were a thousand times bigger than this ship were just sunbathing near us…"
"I think I have the Cant-hear-about-the-Grand-Line- disease!" Usopp mumbled as he hastily ran below deck.
Moodie took down notes unbothered and continued the interview. Luffy only gave her surface-level information about everything which already seemed unbelievable to her. He told her about some of the islands he had personally been on, their customs and festivals, and what he did there.
The fact that he had been to South Blue also came up and he told her about some of the islands and culture of the islands he had seen. When the topic of devil fruits came up, like all East Blue dwellers, she was skeptical and didn't believe it to be true. He then went on to explain the different types of devil fruits, about sea stone and its effects, along with plenty of examples which just made her more doubtful.
"Are you sure they're real? The stuff you said seems pretty out there"
Nami who had been intently listening to everything added, "Yeah, it's real alright. I was just like you a few weeks ago. But when you see it with your own eyes, it's hard to not believe it"
"Damn… I wish I could also see a user…" Moodie muttered sadly.
"Well, this guy has also eaten one. Why don't you finally show it?"
"You've eaten one too?!" Moodie perked up with surprise before demanding, "Show me!"
"Ahh c'mon, we're playing the guessing game" he said and explained that he wanted to wait until they got out of East Blue and about their little game.
"Please just show me at least. I don't think I'll ever get a chance to see anyone else in my life! Please!"
Seeing her desperate plea, he couldn't say no. "Well alright," he nodded before quickly addressing Nami and Zoro who were watching him intently, "But only to her. You guys will still have to wait until we're at the entrance to the Grand Line."
Moodie cheered while the rest groaned in disappointment and Luffy just laughed in amusement. A minute later, he and Moodie were inside the kitchen with the doors locked and Moodie was bursting with excitement.
Luffy first held her hand and then started walking away from her. Moodie didn't get what he was doing at first but as he walked away, his hand was still holding onto hers and she shrieked in surprise seeing an unnaturally long arm. Luffy quickly launched his other hand to clamp her mouth shut while she stared wide-eyed at him in equal parts horror and fascination.
"I ate the Gomu Gomu no mi which turned me into a rubber human," he whispered after coming closer to her still covering her mouth and she nodded blankly. He let go when she looked calm and Moodie instantly started touching his arm going "Oh wow!"
She played with it for a while pulling the skin, pulling each finger, bending and tying it in unnatural ways. "THIS IS INSANE! HOW DOES THIS EVEN WORK?!"
"Devil fruits are bullshit" Luffy said wisely.
Moodie let go of his arm and asked, "Is it just your arms or…?"
"Nope. My entire body is made of it"
She latched onto his head next pulling and pinching it in every way possible and yelped with shock when his neck stretched. She then targeted his legs and started doing the same thing with fascination while Luffy let her do it, already used to people reacting the same way to his rubber body.
"Well, I sure hope you don't remove my pants or something," he said amused when she started playing with his hips. She instantly let go realizing that she was being rude by basically just fondling his body but his statement left her bewildered.
"That stretches too?" she asked incredulously and Luffy nodded with a chuckle.
"Wow," she breathed no doubt imagining exactly what one would imagine when someone tells them their thing stretches. "How long?"
"As long as I want it… or you know, she wants it…" he said with a grin.
"Wow…"
They were interrupted by loud banging on the door. "Everything okay in there?" Nami yelled.
"Satisfied? Can we go out now?" Luffy asked and Moodie blankly nodded.
The others, including Usopp who had come out because of the loud commotion watched as both Luffy and Moodie came out of the kitchen. Luffy was just smiling like always but Moodie had a flushed face seemingly lost in thought which had everyone dying with curiosity.
And seeing that, Moodie got a mischievous grin. "Ahh… sex must be great when you use your powers huh?" she said dreamily.
Luffy's steps faltered and everyone's mouth hung open. Luffy quickly turned around and seeing the mischievous grin on her face, decided to join in on the fun.
"Yeah, it's pretty great!"
"Man, the girl won't be able to walk for days!"
"Shishis-"
"TELL US RIGHT NOW WHAT YOUR DEVIL FRUIT IS!" Nami shrieked as she held onto Luffy's neck and started shaking him. But alas, only the loud laughter of Moodie and Luffy was heard that day.
—
'Grand Line sounds like an amazing place…' Nami mused as she heard Luffy telling a few stories to Moodie. After the devil fruit reveal, they had gone back to talking about the Grand Line. Luffy didn't reveal too many details, just about some crazy weather phenomena that went on over there, a few devil fruits users, a few islands he had been on and the power structure of the world which included the Marines, the Warlords and the Yonko. He still seemed like he had held back a lot of information though and was just telling Moodie the basics.
The way Luffy narrated his adventures and the different festivals and customs he had come across made her go 'I want to see those places too!'
But ever since she saw the bounty poster of that monster earlier in the morning, she couldn't stop thinking that the time she had spent with Luffy was just a dream that she had to wake up from. That she had to go back to her depressing and hellish life. And she also had another worry about not letting Luffy know about her situation because if he knew, he would insist on coming along and take Arlong down. 'But could he?' was the sole question that was running through her mind for a long time.
Arlong was from the Grand Line while Luffy had just visited the place. Arlong was a Fishman, had a huge crew of Fishmen and on top of that, had a Grand Line monster like Momoo… and on their side was just Luffy and Zoro. She knew she wouldn't be able to do much against them, she didn't think Usopp would be able to do anything against them and she didn't know Sanji enough. So, just two people against Arlong, his huge crew and Momoo.
'Yeah there's no way we can win…' she concluded with a sigh shaking her head and finally decided to run away as soon as she got a chance. It was always the plan but spending all that time with the two idiots had actually made her forget her hellish life for a second there. And now that she had decided to leave, she felt an unimaginable sense of loss.
—o—
Early next morning at around 4, Luffy was relaxing in the crow's nest when he saw that Sanji had woken up and going towards the kitchen. Luffy followed after him and entered the kitchen too.
"Yo!"
"Oh hey… coffee?"
"Yep"
Luffy silently sat on the floor leaning against a counter while Sanji made him coffee while also cutting up some vegetables for the day.
"You always start before anyone else?"
"Mm. I like the quiet in the mornings. It's gonna become messy and noisy once everyone comes, so mornings are the one time I can cook without being annoyed" he said and indirectly gave a warning to not annoy him with the recruitment.
"Shishi okay"
"Why are you up so early?" Sanji asked conversationally as he handed him his cup of coffee.
"Dunno…just am" Luffy shrugged accepting the cup and started sipping it silently while watching Sanji work. He was cutting the vegetables extremely efficiently so that there was minimal waste. Any skins he peeled also weren't wasted and were put in a separate place, most probably to use in some other dish.
And seeing that, Luffy's mind suddenly wandered to one of the lowest points in his life - The time he was enslaved in Mariejois and was being tortured by the Celestial Dragon women and their kids. An event that had happened during his time there popped up in his mind where he had done something bad, which gnawed at his conscience. 'Would Sanji be mad?'
"Sanji…" Luffy said with a soft frown, "I need to confess something"
Sanji sensed the serious tone and saw the frown he had on his face. "To me? Why?"
"You're gonna be my cook… and I did something that goes against your code you can say, so thought I should let you know…"
"I'm not your cook… but go ahead"
"A couple of years ago," Luffy sighed crossing his arms and closing his eyes, "There was this kid, a little girl - maybe eight or nine - who gave me food. She was holding a tray with some sort of soup and bread I think… and I kinda… grabbed the tray, flipped it to the side and then shoved the kid away quite forcefully…"
Sanji's hands paused feeling anger flare up as Luffy had wasted food and also hurt a little girl. "…Why?"
"Hmm well," Luffy gave another deep sigh, "I was in a very bad place. Locked up, starved for months with no proper food… People there were cruel. They liked to torment slaves by throwing food on the ground and taunting them to lick it up like a dog while they laughed… At first, I didn't care. I saw food, I just gobbled it up no matter what or where they threw it and didn't mind the taunting and laughs. But I guess they didn't like that and one day, I chewed a piece of bread and felt needles in my mou-"
The cutting board Sanji was using snapped in two with a loud crack! causing Luffy to pause. Sanji then silently put the knife down and lit up a cigarette before Luffy continued.
"A couple more times of chewing needles and having my gums bleed, I stopped eating whatever they threw at me. I just felt like I would lose something if I ever ate anything they gave me again… I was starving and yet, I didn't pick up a single thing they threw at me…" He awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, "Not sure what I was thinking back then. I could have easily tested the food first before putting it in my mouth… but… I don't know, I just didn't want to lose to them"
"I understand…" Sanji nodded slowly. "Starvation makes a man go mad…"
"Yeah… anyway, one day, a new person visited me and she had a kid with her too"
"A kid in a place like that?" Sanji asked with disbelief.
Luffy gave a bitter smile. "She wasn't the only one. Many kids played with my body… Honestly, the first time I saw kids in that place, I was shocked…"
Sanji slowly nodded tapping his foot and rubbing his chin. "Yeah… guess some kids can be just as cruel…"
"Yeah. Well, the new kid was different. She saw me, studied me with curiosity, asked me why I had so many injuries, asked me why I looked so hungry… but I was silent as always. In hindsight, she was just a kid who was genuinely curious and didn't know what was happening there. But she was wearing the same clothes as the ones torturing me, so I assumed she was the same… Anyway, when I didn't answer, she frowned and soon brought me food. And I threw it away pushing her back… it's only after I did that and saw her terrified and betrayed face did I realize that her intentions were genuine and she just wanted to feed me…"
Sanji blew out another wisp of smoke and the two stayed silent for a while.
"…Did you make it up to the kid?"
Luffy thought back, scenes of chaos and utter mayhem happening all around him during his Second escape attempt in Mariejois, where all the slaves he had freed wanted to kill the kid, who was a Celestial Dragon, and he protected her and also her mother.
"Yeah, I apologized to her a bit later… But it was under utterly chaotic circumstances though, so not sure how much she actually understood…"
"Good then. You didn't do anything wrong…" Sanji said as he discarded the broken cutting board before pulling out a new one and went back to prepping food. Luffy hummed softly and for the first time in a long time, Sanji's mind wandered to his own childhood. 'He was also locked up and had his freedom taken away huh?' A few moments later, Sanji heard himself asking, "What kept you going?"
"Hmm…" Luffy looked thoughtful for a moment before answering, "I'm pretty stupid you see-"
"I have no doubt about that"
"-and my dream is to become the Pirate King, the freest man on the seas. So, the idea that my freedom had been taken by someone didn't even cross my mind and I just kept telling myself and also others that I wasn't enslaved."
"Heh," Sanji chuckled. "That's one way of dealing with it I guess"
"Shishishi you should've seen the faces on the torturers when they kept telling me I was a slave and that I should submit to them, and I just straight-up denied it asking them if they were stupid and kept saying 'No, I'm not'"
A chuckle escaped Sanji's lips at the utter absurdity of what Luffy did, but in the short duration he had known him, he was pretty sure that Luffy was someone who would absolutely say that. The more he imagined it, the more humourous it became and before long, he was laughing out loud, "Dahahaha!"
When he settled down a few minutes later shaking his head, he was caught off guard when Luffy suddenly asked him the same thing. "What kept you going?"
Sanji froze before slowly turning towards Luffy and stared at his face which had an unreadable expression. "…What makes you think I was in a situation similar to yours?"
Luffy just shrugged before looking away and Sanji clicked his tongue internally thinking he had said too much. Luffy was perceptive from what he had seen, so he assumed Luffy had picked up on something from his words and behaviour. When he actually focused on the question itself and thought about the answer, his lips twitched upwards. 'Guess we both had impossible dreams to keep us going eh?'
"Have you ever heard of the All Blue?" Sanji asked before he could think further.
"A bit yeah"
"It's amazing right?! Fishes from all the four Blues all in the same place!"
Sanji's face bloomed into a huge boyish smile as he began telling Luffy all about the All Blue with bubbling excitement. Luffy loved seeing this side of Sanji and he joined in with matching excitement and kept the conversation about All Blue going by telling him about some theories. Luffy even started helping Sanji out with the prepping after some time as the two kept chatting.
"You know one crazy theory I heard. On top of the seas from the four Blues converging at one spot, many sky islands might also be there. That way, All Blue will have fishes from the sky too!"
"Sky islands? Like floating islands in the sky?" Sanji asked bewildered.
"Yeah. So, there might be a massive and majestic waterfall that cascades down from the sky carrying sky fishes into the All Blue too! Just imagine that! How awesome and amazing and magnificent and beautiful would that be!"
"Firstly, that would be MIND-BLOWING!" Sanji exclaimed with shining eyes, "But are sky islands even a thing in the first place?"
"I've heard rumours," A new voice suddenly interrupted the two and they turned to see Zeff entering the kitchen.
"Old geezer…"
"I met people who said they once ate a sky fish when I was in the Grand Line," Zeff said walking up to them and casually started helping in the prepping too. He had been just outside the kitchen listening in the whole time with a content smile on his face as he heard Sanji talking about his dream- their dream, but when Luffy started with his theories, even he had felt excitement bubbling up inside him and wanted to discuss about the All Blue with the two of them too. So, he had finally entered the kitchen and announced himself.
"Yeah, sky fishes are apparently extremely tasty!" Luffy continued as if he was there all along.
"You've heard about it too?" Zeff asked with an excited smile.
"Yeah! I can't wait to go and taste it!"
"Oi, idiot. We don't even know if it's real" Sanji joined in too, feeling happy that he was discussing this topic with Zeff.
"I'll just have to go and see then!"
"Sure sure"
"Another theory I heard," Zeff continued, "That it's an underground valley somewhere around where the Red Line and Grand Line coincide. The water from the four Blues would pour into it, thus creating the All Blue"
"Ehh there won't be sunlight then though" Luffy pointed out.
"That's right," Sanji agreed, "Many species won't even be able to survive"
"Hmm, I guess… But imagine if all the creatures there evolve to survive there and even have bioluminescent skin… how magical would it look with millions of glowing sea creatures illuminating the dark sea!"
"…Whoa…" Luffy and Sanji both breathed out in awe just picturing it.
The theories and discussion kept going and Luffy smiled happily watching the father and son duo talking so animatedly about their shared dream. When other cooks eventually came in, the two immediately stopped as if embarrassed that they had talked to each other without getting angry and Luffy sighed shaking his head.
—
After spending the morning with Sanji and Zeff, Luffy returned to the Merry in the afternoon. Usopp was working on the glider and it seemed to be almost done, Nami was drawing charts, Zoro was training, the bounty hunter duo were resting, and Moodie was writing. Moodie had decided to stay with them until they left Baratie as she wanted to ask for any clarifications from Luffy and also because she enjoyed spending time with them too.
Luffy spent a few hours sparring with Zoro and when evening came, Zoro rested under the mast and Luffy had nothing to do. Suddenly getting a mischievous idea, Luffy sat next to Moodie, who was writing some notes and asked. "You said you wrote erotica right? Do you have your book?"
Nami, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku who were all lounging on deck, and even Zoro who was sleeping against the mast perked up and looked towards him. 'Did this guy seriously just ask to read that kind of book in front of everyone?' That was pretty much the thought that ran through their heads.
"Of course," Moodie grinned and fetched a book from her bag, which Luffy took and just started reading it. Right on deck in front of everyone. They kept staring at him as he read it wondering 'Is this guy seriously reading it in front of everyone?!'
They got even more shocked when Luffy actually began discussing the book with Moodie, who happily responded to him and the two talked about all sorts of 'acts' from the book.
Luffy chuckled seeing the looks on everyone's faces. Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku had gone completely bright red in the face, which didn't surprise him that much. Given the Happiness Punch incident, he thought Nami wouldn't be affected much by it, but she had a flushed face too, although it seemed like half of it was out of anger. Zoro didn't react much and just slept, so to test him, Luffy said 'Oh yeah, I once tied up a girl and hung her sideways from the ceiling too' which caused Zoro to snap his neck towards him and stare at him incredulously.
Seeing Luffy grinning at them, everyone knew he was doing it just to make them all flustered and no one knew if he was actually being serious or not.
Luffy decided to take it a step further. "This position," he pointed at a passage in the book, "I've never done this"
"Really? You're missing out," Moodie smiled, enjoying flustering the others just as much as Luffy.
"Hmm yeah, I can imagine. Want to do it?" Luffy asked and everyone snapped their necks at him.
"Sure!" Moodie grinned and everyone's jaws dropped as they gawked at the two. The two stood up under the watchful eyes of the others as they walked towards the hatch that led to the men's room. Luffy didn't acknowledge anyone as he opened the hatch up and Moodie descended.
"There's no bed here though?" They could hear Moodie ask as she climbed down.
"Yeah, we only have hammocks. We can use the couch." They heard Luffy answer as he closed and locked the hatch from the inside.
"Big Bro Luffy is a player," Johnny said gaping while Yosaku nodded.
Nami just stood up and stomped her foot multiple times on the deck right above the men's room while yelling, "Have some shame, idiot!" before stomping into the kitchen.
Meanwhile, inside the room, Luffy and Moodie were snickering as they heard Nami, while Luffy read the newspaper and Moodie wrote.
"So how long do you think we should stay in here to mess with them?" Moodie chuckled.
"Like a couple of hours?"
"Oh wow," Moodie smiled turning back to face him. "You could go for two hours straight?"
"Shishi sure"
"Want to actually do it?" Moodie whispered sultrily leaning to his side.
Luffy grinned, "The only reason I'm comfortable joking around about this stuff with you is because I know you're into women"
"Hehe, you noticed? How come?"
"Please, it was obvious once I read your book. Besides, the way you look at Nami makes it pretty clear"
"She is really pretty"
"Yes, she is," Luffy agreed nodding before he pointed at something in the newspaper and changed the topic. "I've been meaning to ask, this is you, right?"
What he was pointing at was an article which was signed with her name. He had seen the name 'Moodie' pop up a few times over the years, and the name did seem vaguely familiar to him, so he always read anything by her. It was only when she introduced herself earlier that it finally clicked in his mind as to how he knew her name.
"Yeah," Moodie confirmed, "I'm a journalist too"
"You're quite bold," Luffy said reading the article. It was a critique of how a Marine Captain on an island abuses his power and she had basically bashed the Captain. Some of the earlier articles of hers that he had read were similar too. "Don't the Marines do anything when you write stuff like this about them?"
"They do," Moodie smiled bitterly, "At least I think they do. I've gotten a few death threats before from random people telling me that I should stop writing such stuff but I can't prove that it's the Marines' doing… but who else would do that?"
"No attempts to hurt you?"
"Not yet, no. It's probably because all of it is useless" she said self-deprecatingly.
"Useless?"
"Well, let me explain with an example. There was this corrupt Marine who harassed the people in his town. Taking stuff from shops without paying, collecting 'protection tax' as he called it, imprisoning people he didn't like or those who spoke up against him - You get it. So, my source was one of the people who lived there. I went there, saw everything, collected stories from a few other people, and wrote a piece on it… A few days later, that Marine captain stomped up to the office I worked at, called me a liar… and a lot of stuff happened which ultimately ended with him demanding that I produce proof for all the accusations I made. When I went back to that island, the people I had collected the stories from all changed their tune and said that they had told me that their Captain was great, and called me a liar too."
Moodie paused for a few seconds smiling deprecatingly. "I had to write an official apology in the paper. After that, the Captain looked me in the eye, smiled and told me that I could collect testimonies from other people as many times as I wanted and he would buy or threaten them to change their stories every time… I lost interest in being an investigative journalist then and I began writing books… but still, I can't just stop. I still write articles from time to time"
"So that's why your articles always don't outright accuse the Marine huh?" Luffy nodded. "It's always 'rumours' and 'unknown sources'"
"Yeah, I write something outright accusatory and it'll just be rejected. The guy who runs the East Blue section is a friend, so he's lenient with me, but even he'll lose his job if lets me write anything I want"
"I see…"
"I still try sometimes you know…" she said bitterly, "The date with Fullbody… I was hoping I could get close to him and get some dirt on his colleagues. I endured the repulsion I felt whenever I had to act like I was into him, but I have my limits. Besides, with how violently he behaved back then, I didn't want to continue…"
"Why do you still try though?"
"I don't know… Have seen the evil in front of my eyes and I want to do something about it, I guess. I want to join the Revolutionary Army actually, but I have no idea how to…"
Luffy smiled at her for a few seconds, confusing her, before he got up and got his sling bag that was on the other side of the room. He pulled out a notebook and handed it to her.
"What's this?" Moodie asked curiously. He stayed quiet, so she opened the book and began reading it aloud. "Getyin, Marine Captain on Flint. Is taking money from at least five pirate crews to turn a blind eye when they attack people- Takes half the loot of every pirate raid as payment and pays three of his subordinates to keep quiet. Shares the loot with Marine Captain Millie of the neighbouring island of Lute to keep quiet." She read it as if in a trance and turned a page. "Jiken, Marine Captain on Drite Island. Collects 50% more than what is necessary as Heavenly tribute and along with six subordinates named Char, Fill, Deil, Neil, Mer and Sailet, pockets the excess. Also imprisons people for no reason. Two such instances are as follows-…" Moodie read everything and then turned a page again to find all the transgressions of another Marine. She dazedly flipped pages to find many more Marines with all their corrupt behaviour listed.
She looked back up at Luffy with shock. "Wh-what is this? Is this all real?"
"Yup. And everything is backed up by proof. And by proof, I don't mean just testimonies…" He pulled out a big pile of files from his sling bag and handed it to her. Everything was organized neatly by Marine names, which included paper trails, how much they earn through bribes and payoffs, names of people they paid off, channels they took, and also a couple of slave owners too.
"H-how did you get all this?" Moodie asked bewildered.
"Stole it"
"Stole it?!"
"Yeah, just broke into a Marine Base and looted whatever looked hidden and important. I was close to an aspiring journalist once," Luffy said referring to Serena, "So I know a bit of how exactly paper trails form when money is involved and how to follow them-" 'That was electronic though,' he added in his head. But it wasn't all that different in this world. "If it's a lone person who's mixed up in such corrupt activities, then it's hard to catch them, but if you add one collaborator like subordinates who need to be paid off, neighbouring Marine captains who need to be paid off, footmen who collect money from pirates and citizens, and so on, there's always a paper trail. I just followed it and found all this." Seeing the dumbstruck look on her face, Luffy puffed his chest out proudly, "I'm a great detective right? Right?"
Moodie chuckled seeing how proud he looked and so, agreed with him even though what he said was the basics of how to follow a story. But still, he had actually managed to find so much dirt on so many people, so she was in awe.
"Well, when I didn't find anything, I just beat up a Marine until they confessed to everything… only sometimes though…" he added as an afterthought which only made her astonishment shoot up higher.
"Wow…" was the only thing Moodie could breathe out. "This is… truly amazing…"
"So, do you think this will cause anything if published? Or will it not achieve anything?" Luffy asked getting to the main point he wanted to ask.
"Are you kidding me? Haha! I can't wait to see this blow up! It's gonna be so amazing! Hahahaha! So many Marines, that too, Captains getting exposed all at once?! The Marines will have a lot to answer to! There is proof of money being moved around, so they can't say it's all false either. Not all Marines are bad, so the good ones will investigate it and the bad ones will be exposed!"
"Hmm"
Luffy had stolen and collected everything but he himself wasn't really sure if it would cause any ripples. But Moodie was more aware of this world, so he decided to trust her.
"Do you want all this?" Luffy asked her.
Moodie's excitement died down and she stared at him in shock. "What?! No, no! You must have worked so hard to collect all this! You should be the one to publish this!"
"I don't have the first clue on how to publish stuff in a newspaper and I don't have the patience to find out either. Besides, all this needs to be written in the form of an article and all… I was going to leave it at the doorstep of some newspaper office anyway, but I found you now. Your writing is great and you have the drive, so I'm more than happy to give it to you"
"No no, you have to gr-"
"Moodie," Luffy said in a serious voice as he put a hand on the documents and pushed it towards her, "I really will leave it a random newspaper agency I find if you don't want it. So, yes or no?"
She gulped looking at the serious look on Luffy's face, then looked at the documents before settling her gaze on Luffy's face again. She had learned that Luffy didn't like formalities and pretty much said what was on his mind all the time, so she understood that he was being completely serious here. She imagined the possibilities of everything and slowly nodded. "Yes"
"I'm not sure how it works, but if this does cause a big commotion, people will be mad at you and maybe come after you, won't they? Do you still want it?"
"It's fine, I'm thinking of writing it anonymously"
"You sure? Won't you be losing a lot of fame?"
"Who cares? I get to see all this play out. I'm more than happy with that!"
Luffy nodded with a smile and lifted his hand off the documents. "Shishi good then! You get in any trouble, call me," he said writing down his number, "But I'll be going to the Grand Line soon, so if you can't reach me, call this number," he wrote down another number, "It's a woman called Makino. Just tell her that you're my friend and she'll help you if you're in trouble"
Moodie nodded staring at the numbers and then at his face. "You seem like some secret mastermind… just who are you?"
"The Future Pirate King," Luffy said before adding, "Give me your number too. I'll pass it along to the Revolutionaries and tell them about you"
Moodie froze. "You have contacts in the Revolutionaries?!"
"Yeah" He was planning to meet Dragon in Loguetown, so he would soon have it. 'Wonder how she would react if I said I'm Dragon's son' he thought to himself with amusement.
"Wait, if you know Revolutionaries, wouldn't it be better to give all this to them?"
"I did think of it, yeah, but I've seen that people usually take whatever the Revolutionary Army says with a grain of salt. From what I've seen, the World Government have besmirched their name enough that countries under the World Government usually just dismiss whatever the Revolutionaries claim as propaganda, right? I think they'll just sweep this as lies too if it came from them."
"Hmm, you're right… but still, I'm sure the Revolutionaries have ways to get this out without letting anyone know it came from them"
"Well, I've already decided that all this is yours," Luffy said pointing at the documents, "I'll give your contact to them, and you guys can discuss among yourselves what to do with it"
Moodie stared at him wide-eyed for a second before saying, "You really are some mastermind…"
"Heh…" Luffy leaned back on the couch, crossed his legs, tilted his head slightly and gave a small smirk. "Maybe I am…"
Moodie giggled at his antics before she suddenly lunged at him, threw her arms around him and kissed him all over his face repeatedly. "I've never once regretted being born a lesbian… until right this moment"
"Alright, alright," Luffy chuckled ruffling her hair before they both burst out laughing.
When the excitement settled down, Luffy asked how exactly public opinion and spreading such information would affect the Marines, and Moodie began a long explanation of how the politics worked in the world. Luffy only knew how the world worked on a grand scale with how the Yonko, Warlords and World Government kept each other in check, but on a smaller scale, he had no idea.
Moodie explained a lot of things which included topics ranging from influential people who owned weapon manufacturing factories, to food suppliers. Luffy wasn't overtly interested in it but actively listened to everything and tried to understand as much as he could thinking that it was a nice change of pace.
They spent hours in the room, totally forgetting why they had gone there in the first place. When the two finally came out, it was dinner time already and they only remembered the prank when they saw the others' faces.
Moodie smirked looking at all of them, lingering her gaze on Nami the longest, and said "It was mind-blowing!" with a wink to which Nami scoffed looking away but glared at Luffy from the corner of her eyes.
—
Luffy again spent the next day's morning with Zoro, sparring again. Zoro had improved a lot since he first met him, but he didn't think it would matter much against someone like Mihawk. It went on until Zoro collapsed from exhaustion in the afternoon and Usopp came up to him next.
"Ah, you're done!" Usopp greeted him looking excited.
"Hm? What's up?"
"Here! It's ready!" Usopp declared proudly and presented the completed glider to Luffy, who gleefully took it. He had made it according to Luffy's specification - A wooden central shaft with two wings made out of a thin fabric extending from either side. The wings could be folded into the central shaft itself giving it the appearance of a pole when the wings were closed. When they were extended though, it looked like the wingspan of a bird in flight. A small support bar made of wood extended below the main shaft to support the pilot, making it look like a hang glider. Ropes connected the wings to the support bar through which the wings could be controlled.
It was a crude design Luffy remembered of a hang glider and Usopp had managed to make his own version and a working model of it.
"This looks great!"
"Heehe! It was simple for someone like me! Now, try it! I want to see it in action"
"Yes!" Luffy tried controlling the wings a couple of times and after making himself familiar with it, he jumped and kept jumping.
Moodie who was just writing something saw him going up and up and her jaw dropped. So did a few customers from the Baratie as they pointed at him and soon, a huge commotion formed.
Unbothered by the attention, Luffy jumped high enough to feel strong winds blowing and opened up the wings. The strong gust instantly pushed him back knocking him off balance, so he quickly reacted and moved the glider above his head and positioned the wings horizontally to himself. He flailed in the air for a few seconds trying to gain balance, but something seemed to be wrong as he just couldn't. An idea popped up in his head and he closed the wings, stopped kicking in the air, faced downwards, and fell at a 45-degree angle. He opened up the wings again a second later and he laughed when he felt the winds catching him like a kite.
"IT WORKS! HAHAHAHA!" Luffy yelled as he glided in the air in a downward spiral. The flight was wonky, the controls didn't work correctly, and it didn't glide in the air for longer than ten seconds before he had to kick to go higher, and it couldn't glide upwards either, but it was still pretty good for the first test run. The fabric on one of the wings tore a couple of minutes into the flight and that ended the test run.
He landed back on the deck of the Merry and found that people from the Baratie had come out or stuck their heads out of the window to spectate him, including Zeff and Sanji. "Devil fruit user!" he yelled to all the spectators and most of them gasped.
He ignored their reactions as Usopp happily came up to him while studying the glider. "The wing broke huh? I'll use stronger fabric next time. Besides that, how was it?"
Luffy told him how it behaved in the air, giving a couple of ideas on how to improve it and Usopp ran with it. "Hmm yes, need to string the wings tighter. The wings move too much too huh? Guess that's bound to happen if it needs to be foldable. Is that necessary though?… Hmm, I'll build both versions and we'll see what happens…"
Luffy smiled as Usopp became lost in thought writing down notes and blueprints and knew his glider would soon evolve into something he would use a lot. Moodie came up to him after Usopp left with a questioning look on her face.
"That's not your devil fruit power though?"
"It's not. I don't want to explain to everyone, so just told them that."
"Oh okay. So, how exactly do you… jump?"
"Airwalk. And there's no secret. You just need to get strong enough that you can kick off air"
Moodie gawked at him and took a few minutes to process the reality that someone can become strong enough to just kick off the air to fly, before she came up to him again and said, "Take me flying!"
"Sure"
He scooped her up and after a few minutes of the most exhilarating moments in Moodie's life, they came back down. Moodie staggered, her face flushed and happy, when Luffy noticed Nami looking towards them with envy.
"You want to a ride too?" Luffy asked appearing in front of her and before she could answer, scooped her up in a princess carry and started jumping.
"Hey, I didn't say ye-" she began to protest but seeing the quickly shrinking ships below her, she got lost in the view. He had only given Zoro a ride using airwalk before when they were on Clockwork Island, so this was her first time flying.
"Beautiful right?" Luffy asked as he stayed at a certain altitude and she nodded with a huge smile feeling the old and fast gusts of winds blowing in her face.
"Yeah… Mmm~ This feels so refreshing!"
"Good. You finally smiled," Luffy said and she flinched before slowly turning to look at him.
"What?" She asked putting on a confused face but was panicking on the inside. 'Did he notice?!'
"Your mood's been down…"
'Of course, he fucking noticed! Can't let him know! Can't let him know!' Quickly thinking of an excuse, she got a brilliant idea and scoffed. "Stop flirting, will you? You sleep with some random woman and then you flirt with me a few minutes later. Have some shame!"
'Making stuff up huh?' Luffy sighed internally. "She's more into you than into me, idiot"
Nami slowly tilted her head in confusion. "…what?"
"Hasn't she been winking at you and all?"
"Well, yeah…" 'I thought she was taunting me…'
"She's into women"
"Oh…oh…oh!…so you two…"
"Purely partners in crime who like to tease people"
"…oh…"
"If you read her book instead of being a prude, you could have easily inferred that"
"Don't call me a prude! Even if that's the case, how shameless can you be that you read such a book in front of everyone?!"
"Oh, so it's okay if I read it alone? Do you do that too?"
"Wha?!" Nami blushed, "I do no such thing!"
"Shishishi! How cute"
"Stupid! Idiot! Let me go now!"
"Okay"
"Ahh! Idiot! Don't drop me! Hold me tighter!"
"I'm getting mixed messages here…"
"You know what I meant!"
"I'm a stupid idiot though, so how would I know?"
"Ugh! Don't get smart with me!"
"Oh, now I'm smart?"
"Grrrr!" CHOMP!
"You just bit me!"
"My hands aren't free, so I got no choice… why are you so…chewy?"
"It's just how my body is…"
"That makes no sense… like everything else about you…"
"Thanks!"
"That wasn't a compliment!"
"Shishishishi"
They stayed in the air for quite a while bickering with each other and Nami loved every moment of it. Knowing she had to leave soon, she wanted to spend her last remaining days with him, but he had spent it with Moodie which had annoyed her greatly. But now, she was finally getting a chance and she savored every moment. Luffy catching on to her mood troubled her though, so she decided to leave that night itself, afraid that he might figure out that she was in trouble if she stayed any longer.
—
That night, Nami sighed in relief when everyone went to sleep, including Luffy. She first transferred all the treasure onto Johnny's boat before she got in herself, and with one last painful look at the Merry, she pushed away. 'Bye Luffy, Bye Zoro… I'll miss you…'
She started rowing the boat feeling extremely dejected that she was leaving behind her crew, and realized that the blissful and carefree time she had had with Luffy over the past few weeks had ended.
She was so out of it that it took her an embarrassingly long time to figure out that her boat wasn't moving. When she finally did realize it, however, she became confused and looked behind her, only to yelp in shock to see Luffy. He was hanging off the side of the Merry while holding onto a rope that was attached to her boat.
"L-Luffy…" she stuttered, her mind going blank.
"Hey…" he said softly before pulling her boat back. She just stood there not knowing what to do as he pulled her all the way back and tied the boat back to the Merry. He then silently held out a hand to her and she reflexively took it.
Her mind only started working a few seconds later when Luffy made her sit at the back of the ship before he too sat down next to her. 'What do I do? What do I do?' Her brain went on a panicked overdrive wondering what she should say to make sure Luffy wouldn't learn of her plight. She wondered how this looked from his perspective and she found her answer.
"G-guess you found me huh? Tch!" She clicked her tongue sneering at him, "Well, I did tell you I'm a thief from day one and what we had was just a temporary alliance. It's your fault for trusting me. I was just using you and tricking you this whole time. Just waiting for the day that you'll amass enough money which I can steal and sail away"
"I see…" Luffy nodded slowly. "I'm from a galaxy far far away. I came to this planet to search for a droid that crash-landed here a year ago"
"…Huh?" Nami dumbly blinked not able to comprehend what he was saying.
"Okay, now it's your turn again," Luffy said with a grin.
"…what?"
"Hm? Weren't we telling made-up stories? It's your turn again"
Finally understanding what he was implying, she clenched her fists and grit her teeth, "You think I'm lying?!"
"Of course you are"
Seeing his nonchalant and jovial nature while she was agonizing and despairing over what to do, Nami's frustration levels reached a boiling point.
She lunged at him and grabbed him by the neck of his vest in fury. "Why are you never serious, goddammit?! I just betrayed you! I'm telling you that I used you from the start! I was just pretending to be a part of your crew so that I could steal all your treasure! If I had the chance, I would have stolen your ship too!"
Luffy sighed looking up into the sky not knowing what to do. He had waited for her to confide in him but looked like that wasn't going to happen. He didn't want to make her tell her story if she didn't want to, but it didn't look like he had any other choice as the way things were going, she would leave.
"I know what's on your shoulder," Luffy said looking back at her and she flinched, her eyes trembling. Nami's mind blanked as her whole plan was to not let Luffy find out about Arlong, but if he already knew, there was nothing she could do as he would just come after her even if she ran away. To her credit, her shocked state lasted for only five seconds where she panicked, calmed down, thought about it, saw an opportunity to make him hate her and took it.
She scoffed putting on an irritated scowl, "You saw it huh? Well, no point in hiding it, I guess. That's right. I'm an officer on Arlong the Saw's crew," she said lifting up her sleeve and showing him the tattoo as if she was proud of it, "I was already a part of a different pirate crew even before I met you. All I did was use you!"
"Right"
"…Right?! Right?! That's your response?!" She hissed shaking him and feeling frustrated. She could see that he didn't buy her lies and he already knew that she was somehow involved with Arlong, so even if she successfully ran away, he would still come after her. And make a mess out of everything once he learns what actually happens there, ruining all her hard work.
"Hey, relax," Luffy said looking at her with concern as she seemed to be going catatonic.
And seeing his face, she only felt more frustrated at the total lack of betrayal or anger on his face which she wanted. Instead, all he had was a look of concern and worry as he looked at her and that's when she realized her plan to make him think she had betrayed him would never ever work. "Why are you like this? Are you even a damn pirate?! You know what a pirate does when they see a crewmate running away with all the treasure?! They capture them! They punish them! They hurt them! They kill them!"
"Hey, sto-"
She felt tears prickling her eyes and felt all strength leaving her body as she continued, "You should be mad at me… you should hate me for betraying you… you should kick me off the crew… So, why are you worrying about me? Why do you care so much? Why are you so kind?"
She collapsed on his knees and rested her head his shoulder, knowing she was just prolonging the inevitable. The moment Luffy learned of Arlong, there was nothing she could do that would make sure the two didn't meet.
Only the sounds of the soft waves crashing against the hull of Merry resounded in the air for a few seconds as Luffy felt his shoulder getting wet. Luffy slowly pulled her close and rubbed her back calming her down. "Did you really expect me to believe that you were putting on an act this whole time? You do know it sounds absurd right?"
She sniffled as she lightly nodded her head. 'I don't have any other choice…'
"So, what was the plan? To try to make me think that you betrayed me and make me hate you enough that I'll kick you off?"
Nami gave a small nod, her head still resting on his shoulder.
"Wow, how stupid. As if anyone would believe that… Also, I already told you that all the treasure is yours until we collect 100 million, so you were just stealing from yourself… I expected more from you, Nami, tch tch" Luffy said clicking his tongue as if he was disappointed.
"Shut it, idiot," Nami mumbled lightly punching him in the stomach while Luffy just chuckled. The conversation died down, Luffy waiting for her to continue, and Nami wondering what she should do. She absolutely couldn't think of any alternative reason that would seem believable, so she took the only way possible - to tell him directly not to interfere.
"I need to go, Luffy. I'm leaving the crew"
"If you genuinely wanted to leave, I wouldn't mind. But you're doing this out of desperation, so no. Unless you want me genuinely gone, I'll never leave you. I'll follow you if you leave, I'll chase you if you run… I'll never ever let you go unless you want me to…"
She bit her lip in frustration and her trembling hands grabbed his shirt, her head still down and her face hidden. "Y-You and Zoro… you guys are the first friends I've ever made in my life… and if you follow me, you'll die because of me… A-and I-I don't know what I'll do to myself if that happens…"
Luffy sighed at her stubbornness. "You think it's not the same for me? If I let you go and something happened to you, I don't know what I'll do to myself either. I'll never be able to forgive myself…" He made her lift her head up and saw her tear-stricken face. "You're not alone anymore, Nami," he said using his gentlest voice possible, "You have me, you have Zoro, Usopp and Sanji… so please, stop suffering all by yourself…"
She still stayed quiet, not wanting to drag others into her problems.
"What's your dream, Nami?" Luffy suddenly changed the topic.
"What?"
"You only ever told me that you wanted to collect 100 million. You never told me what your dream is. So, what is it?"
Nami stayed quiet for a few seconds before declaring her dream to someone after a very long time. "I want to navigate my way all around the seas. And when I've seen everything with my own eyes, I want to create a map of the whole world!"
She saw Luffy's eyes light up and just that simple reaction made her heart flutter with pride. Whenever Luffy and Zoro declared their dreams to others, she wanted to tell-no, yell out her dream too. Tell them that she had a dream just as grand as theirs too.
"So you want to come to the Grand Line with me?" Luffy asked next.
"Yes…" came her instant response. "Yes…yes…" 'More than anything else in the world, I want to chase my dream with you…' "B-But I can't…" she said in a broken voice and clutched onto Luffy's shirt tightly, barely able to hold her tears back. "I want to… I so want to… but I can't…"
She recalled all the fun times she had had over the past few weeks. The most fun adventure, the most infuriating and yet, fun conversations, meeting a bunch of bad people and also meeting a bunch of amazing people. A life filled with laughter and joy… A life filled with fun and happy times… Happy times…
A long forgotten memory flashed in her mind - Something she had forgotten somewhere along the way… something Bellemere had told her once…
'…Whatever happens, don't ever lose your strength to laugh… If you can survive and keep on living, then I guarantee that someday, happy times…lots of 'em…will come your way!'
Nami stared at Luffy, realizing that he was the embodiment of that statement, and she couldn't hold back the tears anymore. For the first time in eight long years, she broke down in front of someone other than Nojiko as tears uncontrollably poured down her face and she finally let Luffy in.
In between sobs, she told him about her life as a child, how she, Nojiko and Bellemere were a family, their financial situation, the day Arlong arrived, their lack of sufficient funds, her mother's sacrifice and declaration, her last words, Arlong shooting her right in front of her, Arlong finding her maps, taking her with him, branding her, Arlong taking down multiple Marine battleships like it was nothing, her resolution, her making a deal with him to buy her village back for a 100 million, her trying to unsuccessfully kill him in multiple ways, her miserable life for the next 8 years, how he had turned her wonderful dream into a fucking nightmare…
Luffy quietly listened to her. Hearing it from her own mouth with sobs and sniffles mixed in was way more impactful than just watching it on a screen. The scenes from the flashback also played in his mind, Nami's backstory being extremely vivid in his mind as Leo loved Bellemere. He felt an intense rage build up for Arlong and wanted to beat him to an inch to his death. He calmed himself as Nami finished her story and she also tried to calm herself and tried to bring her sobbing in control.
He put his arms around her, bringing her into a hug and she leaned into him. "You're so strong, Nami… You've done amazing so far all by yourself. Bellemere would be so proud…"
That brought a fresh set of tears and it took quite some time for her to get her emotions back in control. She slowly separated from him wiping her tears away, now embarrassed that she had cried so much and pretty much drenched Luffy's shirt, and she was still sniffling. She didn't even meet his eyes, not knowing what kind of face he would be making.
"So 100 million for him and you'll get your village back," Luffy said and she finally looked up to see his face, which just seemed calm.
"Yes, I'm so close… I almost have a 100 million"
"How much more?"
"Just a little more than 2 million"
"Ah damn, if I hadn't left 5 million of Buggy's treasure, you would have reached your goal huh? That's why you were pinching yourself back then…"
"Yeah," Nami gave a small smile, "I was shocked and thought I was dreaming, so I was making sure I was awake. And then when you told me you had left half the treasure, I realized I was still 3 million short…" 'Didn't feel anger at all though… I thought I would have to continue travelling with you and Zoro and didn't mind it one bit…' she added in her mind. "Black Cat pirates didn't have much. Just under a million. So… just over 2 million left"
"That's fine. We'll get that much within no time," Luffy said thinking Krieg would probably have that much.
"With the way things are going, yeah… I'll just give him his 100 million and then my village will be free and I'll be free…"
Luffy sighed softly. "Nami, you're one of the smartest people I know," he paused before adding, "After me, of course," which made her lightly chuckle and land a soft smack on his head, "Do you really think he'll keep his end of the deal?"
"When it comes to money, he keeps all his deals… so yes"
"Really? He's set up a base on your island and considers you valuable. Do you really think he won't find some loophole to trick you?"
She averted her eyes. "…No, I've seen him. As long as money is involved, he keeps his word"
"Look me in the eye when you say it"
She bit her lip, tearing up again in frustration, not able to lie anymore, even to herself. "… I-I'm too valuable… There's a chance… only a chance!… that he might not keep his end of the deal… But I have no choice but to believe that he will. The only thing I can do is hope. Hope that he'll leave me and my village alone after I give him the money… I can't do anything else"
Luffy gently wiped her tears away, "Not anymore. You have your crew with you now, don't you? We'll just have to fight them"
"NO!" She quickly grabbed him as if afraid he might just go off to Cocoyashi right then, "Y-You don't understand, Luffy! They're Fishmen! You and Zoro might be monsters, but he has a huge crew full of guys just like you and even an actual monster from the Grand Line! You can win against a few, but they'll just gang up on you! You won't be able to fight them all… you will die and it'll be because of me…"
"Okay okay, calm down," Luffy placated her first. 'Guess she still thinks there's strength in numbers…' he sighed internally. "We'll do it your way. We'll go to Cocoyashi, give Arlong the money. If he keeps his word, all good and we can continue our journey. But if he betrays you, then there is no choice other than to fight. Would you really want to spend the rest of your life working under him or fight for your freedom?"
Nami stayed silent for a while going through everything in her head. 'Can he really do it? Beat Arlong if it comes to it?'
After a long time, she finally sighed and agreed while hoping that Arlong would keep his deal. "Okay, we'll do what you said. My way first and if things go wrong, only then we fight. Got it?" She said yanking him.
"Shishi there's the bossy girl I know"
"Idiot…" she huffed but had a small smile.
"You should go to sleep now," Luffy said when he noticed that she was blinking a lot, her eyes wanting to close due to emotional exhaustion. Nami nodded before she lied down next to him using his lap as a pillow. Luffy meant for her to go to her room but he just shrugged and slowly ran his fingers through her hair.
"You know," he began in a low tone, "Back when you were sailing away, I had half a mind to discreetly get on the boat and after you went far enough, I would start saying, Na~mi~," he said her name in an eerie wispy voice, "Or," he then changed his voice to match Gollum, "Go Gollum! Gollum!"
Nami, half-asleep, let out a little carefree giggle that was melodious to Luffy!s ears before she lightly slapping his chest, "Idiot… I would have… killed you…" She drifted off to sleep and Luffy smiled watching her peaceful smile.
Zoro got up stretching his joints as he had sat still listening in on the whole conversation between the captain and the navigator from around the corner. He walked up to Luffy and looked at the navigator peacefully sleeping on his lap.
"Guess I'll sharpen my blades to cut some fish," he whispered having felt his blood boil when Nami had talked about what Arlong had done to her mother and her village. Luffy just smiled and nodded at him. He left and came back with a couple of blankets for the two.
"Thanks," Luffy whispered and Zoro smiled before leaving.
—
Nami slowly opened her eyes and felt someone softly scratching her scalp which honestly felt amazing. Memories from the previous night quickly came back to her and she realized she was sleeping on the deck using Luffy's lap as a pillow and even a couple of blankets covered her up.
She turned to look up at Luffy who was awake and looking down at her with a smile.
"Mornin. Wow, your eyes are so puffy," was the first thing that came out of his mouth and her hand automatically balled into a fist and landed hard on Luffy's cheek.
"You don't tell a girl that the first thing in the morning, idiot!" She said sitting up.
Luffy chuckled as he pulled her into his chest "The sun isn't even up yet. You can sleep more"
She agreed and snuggled into him, making sure ti hide her face.
"Last night…" she said hesitantly. "The things you said…"
"Yes, it really did happen. It wasn't just a dream"
She sighed in relief afraid that it could have been some cruel dream.
"When do you have to be back?"
"Hmm, I'm already running late this time, but a couple more days should be fine"
"Well, okay then. I'll convince Sanji soon, and then we'll go to your place"
"What if he doesn't agree?"
"We'll leave and come back again after we're done with Arlong"
"…After Arlong huh? Hehe… I've spent most of my life thinking about how to get rid of him that I've never thought much about what I'll do after he's gone…"
"Well, you'll have the rest of your life to think about it…"
"Mmhmm… Thanks, Luffy" Nami turned to look up at his face in gratitude… and he again ruined the moment by touching her below her eyes and going "Wow, it's like a bouncy castle" causing her to lash out at him again.
"Idiot!"
—o—
'Where the hell are you, you Kreig bastard?!' Luffy cursed inside his mind, hoping Kreig would show up soon, as he sat across from an irritated Sanji while the rest of his crew, the two bounty hunter brothers and Moodie sat around giggling at him.
"Just drop it, Sanji. It's okay," Luffy sighed.
"No! We're doing this until I get it right! Now, tell me again but explain properly. You can't just say Taco Bell sauce and expect me to make that! What does that even mean?!" Sanji huffed in annoyance.
"I don't know okay?! I just ate at that restaurant! Why the hell would I bother to learn how they made things!"
"Ugh, describe it at least!"
"It was a red sauce"
"Made of tomatoes then?"
"Maybe? It was sweet and spicy"
"That doesn't give me much to work with!"
"Just forget it already. The stuff you make is a million times more delicious!"
"No! You said you were nostalgic about it! And nostalgic food is a wonderful thing. I'm a cook and so, it's my duty to cook it for you. Just describe what an Enchirito is again and I'll cook it"
"I don't know…" Luffy cried. He had just told him about how he missed the taste of an Enchirito and Sanji had latched onto it because Luffy had a wistful look when he talked about it.
Sudden shouts from customers near the windows interrupted them and Luffy cheered. 'Finally!'
"That's Krieg's flag!" / "It's Don Krieg!" The customers screamed terrified.
"Foul play Kreig?! We need to get out of here this instant!" Johnny and Yosaku shouted and Moodie also nodded with them.
"It's okay," Luffy said calmly getting up, "Nami, we need to move Merry a bit away"
"Are you insane?! He's the strongest pirate in these parts!" Yosaku yelled. "We need to sail away, not just move the ship!"
"Calm down, will you" Zoro yawned and while the two brothers started telling how terrifying Krieg was, Luffy and Nami went to the ship and anchored her far from the Baratie. By the time they were done, Krieg's ship had almost reached the Baratie.
"Whoa, that's one huge galleon…" Nami commented as Luffy carried her, airwalking towards the Baratie. "Looks like it's been through a few fierce storms…"
"Yeah, you can say they're Grand Line wounds I guess"
Nami hummed as they landed back on the Baratie where people were panicking and trying to run away. Usopp had also joined the two bounty hunter brothers in convincing them that they should run away once he learned Krieg had 5000 men under him. Things soon got quiet though when they actually saw the shabby state of the ship and people wondered what had happened.
Gin soon entered the restaurant supporting a large man on his shoulders, who was barely able to walk straight.
"Food…Please, give me food…" Krieg's exhausted, weak voice resounded in the quiet restaurant as everyone observed him in confusion. They just couldn't equate the terrifying Foul Play Krieg they had heard about to the sorry state of the man in front of them.
Krieg took another step but he soon keeled over and fell to his knees.
"Don Krieg!" Gin yelled trying to support him, "Please! Don's on the verge of death! He's doomed if he doesn't eat!"
"Ahahaha!" Patty burst out laughing. "This bum is Don Krieg? How funny!"
Sanji, who was sitting with the Strawhats, suddenly got up and walked towards the kitchen, while Luffy observed him with a smile.
Gin yelled in rage that they had plenty of money, but Patty wasn't listening as he laughed at him before asking someone to call the Marines. The other customers cheered and agreed with him yelling things like "This is the punishment for all the crimes he's committed! If we give him food, he'll just attack us!"
"I won't do anything" Krieg begged bowing on his knees, "Feed me and I'll quietly leave… Please, help me…"
Gin teared up as he tried to stop his captain from bowing down but Krieg continued to beg, not that it had any effect on Patty and the others. And that's when Sanji came out holding a plate of fried rice and wine in his hands. "Move it, Patty!"
He kicked Patty out of the way making him go crashing to the floor before presenting the food to Gin. "Here Gin. He can eat this"
"Sanji!" Two voices yelled- one from Gin out of elation, and the other from Patty out of disbelief and anger.
"Thank you!" While Krieg started gobbling up the good, Patty and the other cooks started yelling at Sanji about all the underhanded ways Krieg used to win battles like raising a white flag and then attacking the enemy when their guard is down.
"That two-faced scoundrel is better off dead!"
And as if proving all their words, Krieg, after finishing his food, suddenly attacked Sanji and sent him flying. Luffy sighed while the cooks and customers were horrified.
"Don!" Gin yelled in shock, "This isn't what you said! You said you wouldn't hurt anyone if I led you here! That man saved our lives!"
Krieg didn't care as he grabbed and squeezed Gin's shoulder making him scream in pain while he sneered at everyone. "Ah, that was good food. I feel my strength returning already"
He then looked around the interior of the ship approvingly, "Nice ship. I'll take it!"
Guests started panicking and running away, Gin pleaded with Krieg, and the cooks blamed Sanji while Luffy's table quietly watched. Johnny and Yosaku were panicking, Usopp was fidgeting nervously, Moodie was curiously studying everyone, Zoro and Nami were calm and Luffy looked bored.
"My ship's a wreck, so I'll be taking this one…" Krieg continued and Luffy wanted to just punch the guy's face in and get it over with, but he sighed knowing he would become shackles to everyone's growth if he just took care of everything. As for his thoughts about Kreig, he did sympathise with him as he was starving but the moment he attacked Sanji, the one person who showed him kindness, he became scum in his eyes.
When Krieg demanded food for his hundred men, Sanji started walking towards the kitchen which gobsmacked the other cooks and Sanji was quickly surrounded with the cooks pointing their weapons at him.
"Are you a spy for Krieg, Sanji?! Why are you doing this?!" One of the cooks accused him.
"Go ahead and fire," Sanji said unperturbed and opened his arms wide, "I know that they are unredeemable scum but it doesn't matter. Wondering what happens after we feed them or judging them is too much of a hassle. I'm a cook. No more. No less. I see someone starving, I feed them. That's all"
Luffy grinned nudging Nami, who was next to him. "See? See? My cook is so cool!"
"Yeah yeah," Nami rolled her eyes but she did think Luffy was right.
Patty soon bashed Sanji from behind and a few people held him down while Patty brought out a cannon and shot at Krieg, which sent him flying outside crashing through the door.
Just as Patty thought he had won, Krieg walked back in without a scratch on him saying "This is the lousiest restaurant I've been to…" He then removed his coat to reveal a suit of golden-coloured armour which covered just his upper body.
"You're damn annoying!" Krieg roared pulling out two guns and at the same time, multiple slots in his armour opened up revealing more guns, which shocked the others into panic.
Just before he could start firing though, all the guns sticking out from his armour were ripped out before the ones in his hands were swatted away. Everyone stared dumbfoundedly at the straw hat-wearing man standing in front of Krieg who threw away all the guns.
"Wh-what happened?" Krieg stared at all the empty slots in his armour before looking at the man in front of him. 'Did they get damaged because of the Grand Line?' "Who are you?"
Luffy didn't answer as he walked back to his table and plopped back down not giving him a second glance.
"Hey, you brat!" Krieg growled, "I'm talking to you!"
Luffy rolled his eyes at him and before Krieg could blow up at him again, Zeff came up and dropped a huge bag in front of him. "Here, food for a hundred men. Take it to you men"
"Owner Zeff!" The cooks yelled in shock.
"Zeff?" Krieg's eyes widened, "Did they say 'Zeff'?"
"Owner Zeff! What are you thinking?!" Patty asked shocked, "If we feed all those pirates, they'll only come and attack us!"
"That's only if they have the will to fight," Zeff scoffed before turning to Krieg, "You went to the Grand Line and came back running scared, eh?"
While the cooks were freaking out over how even Krieg couldn't handle the Grand Line, Moodie poked Luffy to get his attention.
"Why do you think he failed? He had five thousand men, so is that not enough to survive the Grand Line even for a few days?"
The rest at his table also perked up and paid attention to the two, also curious.
"Hmm…well, think of a tsunami. Does it really matter if you have just ten men or ten thousand? It'll wipe everyone out regardless. It's the same with Grand Line. You can only survive if you're strong enough to handle it"
"I see," Moodie nodded in understanding.
Usopp spoke up in a trembling voice next "I-Is that tsunami thing just an analogy or d-do you mean it literally too?"
Luffy grinned, "Who knows?"
"Hey hey! Can't we rethink our plan of going there?! It's suicide!" Usopp got terrified and started panicking.
"Quite you," Zoro bonked him on the head.
Luffy turned his attention back to Krieg who was demanding that Zeff hand over his log book and Zeff firmly declined it.
"Then I'll take it from your dead hands!" Krieg roared, "It's true th-"
"Hey!" Luffy yelled getting his attention. "Go feed your crew. They're dying of starvation out there"
Krieg slowly turned to glare at him. "Were you talking to me, brat?!"
"Zeff won't give you the logbook. So, go feed your crew, come back, attack and kill everyone here, and then you'll get the logbook, okay? So get going now. It's really irritating to hear you talk"
"The hell are you saying, you bastard!" The cooks yelled at Luffy in rage.
"How dare you speak to me that way?!" Krieg roared, "I'm Don Kr-"
"Yeah yeah," Luffy sighed, "You're gonna kill me too. Fine, just hurry up will you? Your men are dying out there"
Krieg looked lost on whether to kill Luffy right now for speaking to him that way or whether to come back later. He remembered his guns being pulled out from his armour and instantly decided that he would go and prepare. "Watch your mouth, brat!" He snorted as he lifted the bag of food, "I'm taking this food to my men. Then, I'm coming ba-"
"Just fucking go already!" Luffy sighed and Krieg's eyes twitched.
"I'll kill you first when I come back!" He growled at Luffy before addressing the rest of the restaurant and told them to leave if they didn't want to die before finally leaving.
"Heh, thanks, kid. It really was irritating to hear him talk" Zeff smirked.
"Right? Right?"
"I'm so sorry, Sanji!" Gin cried in shame, "I-I didn't think he would do this…"
"No need to apologize, underling," Zeff said showing no hostility towards him, "Every person in this restaurant acted according to what they felt was right, that's all"
"Owner Zeff! Why are you acting like you're siding with Sanji?!" Patty asked enraged while the other cooks nodded and threw out similar statements.
"SHUT UP, YOU EGGPLANTS!" Zeff roared shutting everyone up, "Have you ever felt what it feels like to be on the brink of starvation?! Losing all food and water in the middle of the sea! Do you know how agonizing that is?!"
He calmed himself down while the rest were confused before glancing at Sanji who had a dark expression on his face. "The difference between you all and Sanji is whether you know it or not…" He didn't comment on it anymore and just pointed to the back of the restaurant, "If you're gonna keep complaining, then just head out the back door"
None of the cooks backed down and resolved themselves to fight, and seeing that Gin became agitated and yelled "What is wrong with all of you?! Did you not see how strong the Don is?!"
"Hey, Gin" Sanji calmly said walking up and sitting right next to the Strawhats' table. "As a cook, I fed them because they were hungry. But the ones who will come to attack now are fully fed plunderers. If they try to take over the ship, I'll slaughter them all without mercy, including you. Got that?"
While Gin was taken aback by the statement, Luffy yelled out to him. "Hey Gin, I'm curious. What exactly did you do to make Hawky chase after you all the way back here?"
"Hawky?" Gin asked confused before his eyes widened, "Y-you know the man who chased after us?!"
"My, I was wondering why the ship looked like it had slashes," Zeff nodded with a smile, "If it's him, that explains it"
"I barely saw him!" Gin yelled terrified as he held his head having traumatic flashbacks, "There was a crazy fog… I don't know. It's all mixed up in my head that I don't even know if it was a dream or not. T-That one man… Just that one man sunk all our ships!"
"IMPOSSIBLE!" Only Luffy and Zeff remained calm while everyone else freaked out that the whole of Krieg's armada of 50 ships was sunk by a single man.
"Y-You know who that is?" Gin asked Luffy, "That man with hawk-like eyes"
Zoro, who was drinking calmly, spluttered out. "H-Hawkeye?!" He then looked at Luffy and connected the dots. "You were talking about Hawkeye when you said Hawky?!"
"Yeah," Luffy said amused, "I was wondering why you didn't react to the name before…"
"You know him?!"
"No no, just know of him"
"Ahh…" Zoro leaned back into his chair disappointed.
"Who is Hawkeye?" Usopp asked.
"He's the man I'm looking for. The Strongest Swordsman in the World"
"He's a Warlord, isn't he?" Nami asked getting a nod from Luffy and a questioning look from Zoro and Usopp, which warranted a small explanation.
Meanwhile, Gin was recounting what had happened to them and saying that he didn't know why Hawkeye had attacked them.
"Maybe you disturbed his nap?" Zeff suggested.
"That's not funny! He murdered our entire crew!"
"I wasn't joking," Zeff placated him, "That's just the kind of place the Grand Line is"
"A place where anything can happen huh?" Zoro smirked. "Can't wait to see it myself. Sounds like a very fun place and the man I'm looking for is also there"
"Fun place?!" Usopp gasped, "Did you not hear one word of what Luffy said?!"
"Stop it. There's no way we're not going there" Nami bonked him on the head while Sanji just stared at each member silently.
Luffy suddenly felt a presence approaching them, so instantly got up and walked towards the entrance.
"Luffy?" Zoro asked also following him along with Nami, Usopp, Sanji, Zeff and Moodie.
There was a loud battle roar from the galleon alerting them that the pirates were ready for battle, but Luffy wasn't even looking at them and just staring into the distance somewhere behind the ship. The others tried to see what he was looking at but the pirates soon started swinging over while the cooks gave their own battle cry.
"Luf-" Nami was pulling his hand when a loud CRACK! drowned out every sound followed by sounds of creaking. Everyone watched in astonishment as the galleon got cut right down the middle, the two halves creaking under their own pressure and breaking apart even more. The sea became chaotic as the galleon lurched and began sinking and while everyone was holding on for dear life and Zeff was shouting to get the Baratie back in control, Luffy and Zoro's eyes were fixed on the man they could see in the distance.
"He followed us all the way out here!" / "He's come to kill us!" The Krieg pirates were screaming in horror while their galleon collapsed and the debris created a platform of sorts in front of the Baratie.
Nami, who was holding onto Luffy for balance, saw him and Zoro both looking in the same direction without moving and found a silhouette of a man sitting on a small boat when she looked too. "Who's that?"
"Hawkeye…" Zoro breathed, his heart thumping in excitement.
"Wow, really?" Moodie asked, having come up to them too.
"You mean that scary guy is here?!" Usopp shrieked.
While the others chattered, Luffy studied the man sitting in the coffin-like boat curiously. His clothing of a red and black ornate coat, the crucifix hanging off his neck, the short beard, mustache and sideburns that all pointed upwards - It made Luffy think of a Spanish Swordsman. And then there were his unique eyes.
"How did he cut that ship in two?" Patty asked, "He doesn't seem to be carrying any weapon"
"It's on his back" Zeff answered.
"What? That sword?! How can he cut a galleon with just a sword?!"
"He can. That's why he's called the Worlds Greatest Swordsman"
The Krieg pirates were despairing and screaming at him asking what they did to him that he was chasing them.
"I was bored." was Mihawk's calm answer, which just enraged the pirates. One pirate pulled out a gun and shot at him while Mihawk causally pulled out the sword on his back and gracefully deflected all the bullets.
Luffy watched as Zoro jumped onto the debris watching Mihawk's swordplay as if he was in a trance. "He deflected it with just the tip of the sword… I've never seen such graceful movements…"
"A sword without grace is nothing but an iron bar," Mihawk said eyeing him and his three swords. The pirates recognized Zoro too and started chattering, but Luffy tuned them all out and just watched his swordsman.
Zoro grinned as he untied the bandana on his arm, "I've been sailing the seas to meet you!"
"For what reason?"
Zoro tied the bandana on his head, "To be the best!" He grinned bringing out his swords, "You said you were bored, right? Let's duel!"
Mihawk looked unimpressed. "A duel? Such a pitiful weakling"
He jumped from his coffin boat and landed softly in front of Zoro. "If you are a fine swordsman, you should be able to gauge the difference in our strengths without having to cross blades"
"Yeah, I know"
"And yet, you challenge me… Is it that you are brave? Or simply reckless?"
"It is my ambition that fuels me," Zoro declared as he put Wado in his mouth, "And a promise to a friend!"
Mihawk still had an uninterested look in his eyes which reminded Zoro of the way Luffy looked at all his opponents. His eyes narrowed when Mihawk reached down for his crucifix necklace and unsheathed it to reveal a tiny knife.
"…what's the meaning of this?"
"I'm not the kind of fool who gives it their all to hunt a rabbit. You may be a swordsman of some renown in these parts, but this is East Blue - the weakest of the Seas." He then made an apologetic expression as he held up the knife, "Unfortunately, I have nothing smaller than this on me"
"Quit mocking me," Zoro clenched his jaw in anger as he charged at Mihawk, "Just don't regret it when you die!"
"You're just a little frog in a well. Time you learned how big the world is…"
"ONIGIRI!"
His three blades were stopped, the momentum completely dissipating as if he hadn't put any strength into it, and Zoro's heart sank. He already knew that in terms of pure physical strength and speed, he was lacking a lot. But still… His eyes trembled as he saw that his opponent had stopped his strongest attack with just the tip of the pocketknife… Was he no match in swordplay either? He was planning to close the gap in physical strength with his swordplay, but Mihawk hadn't even bothered to take out his sword and cross blades with him. And yet. Here he was. Putting all his strength and skill into his attack while Mihawk's hand didn't even move.
'No wait!' Zoro quickly stopped despairing over the situation as he thought about Haki. 'He's definitely using Haki to block my attack…'
Zoro jumped back calmly, surprising Mihawk a bit at his quick switch in emotions, and took a deep breath before lunging at him again. 'I just have to unlock Haki too and we'll be on even ground!'
—
Luffy looked on in pity knowing exactly what Zoro was thinking. He was surprised when Zoro instantly got over his despair of his strongest attack being blocked and started attacking again, but it was clear what he was thinking. He was trying to unlock Haki.
Just telling someone that there is a mysterious force that exists in them, and seeing the feats one was capable of doing using Haki were two completely different things. And Zoro had just heard about it. Luffy was unfortunately nowhere near proficient in Armament, so he had pretty much never used it during the spars with Zoro and the only time Zoro had seen it was when Luffy had explained it and had punched a tree. Observation wasn't flashy, so Zoro had no proper idea of what exactly Haki was, and hence his thoughts of him being on the same level as Mihawk if he just unlocked Haki.
Mihawk seemed to be curious about what Zoro was doing too as he was attacking him with a calm mind. Mihakw pushed him using a bit more force making him fall on his back before asking "What are you trying to do?"
Zoro panted as he instantly got up and focused again. 'Just have to unlock it… just have to unlock it…'
"Zoro!" Luffy yelled halting his thoughts and both swordsmen curiously looked over at him too. "He's not using Haki"
Zoro's eyes widened with shock while Mihawk went "Ah" in realization.
"You thought I was using Haki?" Mihawk chuckled shaking his head. "It would besmirch my name if I used that in a duel against a weakling like you"
And despair finally set in for Zoro. 'It can't be!'
He charged at Mihawk again and all his swings were blocked or deflected by his small knife. And now that he wasn't thinking about Haki, he saw how Mihawk was responding to his attacks. A downward swing got parried away by the tip of the knife at just the exact spot to alter its trajectory to the right. A three-sword strike was intercepted at the exact spot where all three swords met and would be immobilized if intercepted. It was pure and flawless swordplay.
"GRRAAAH!" 'THIS IS RIDICULOUS! IS THE GULF BETWEEN US THIS MUCH?!'
The ferocity of Zoro's attacks increased as his mind became disarrayed, thoughts of his childhood with Kuina, all their fights, their promise, his training, the spars with Luffy - Everything becoming a jumbled mess in his head, which made his attacks like that of a mindless beast.
Luffy watched with a blank look as Zoro lost his cool and kept a watchful eye on Mihawk. He had thought that Zoro would keep a level head since he had kinda shown him that people could grow much stronger, but looks like losing to a toy-like knife was too much of a blow to his pride.
The others were in shock and disbelief that East Blue's strongest was being toyed with.
"L-Luffy," Nami's trembling hands pulled on his shirt, "Do something…"
"It's okay," he said softly, "Zoro's strong. He won't die"
"Strong?" Sanji scoffed, "He's getting his ass handed to him there. You call that strong?"
"Not that kind of strong"
No one understood his words, except for Zeff, who nodded in understanding. "Conviction eh?"
"Uh-huh"
Mihawk, losing interest in the fight itself, just studied Zoro. "What drives you, pitiful weakling? Why are you fighting so hard?" He said which made Zoro attack even more fiercely.
Johnny and Yosaku got riled up yelling "How dare he call Big Bro a weakling?!" and tried to charge at him, but a simple yank from Luffy made them stay in place.
"Luffy!" Usopp screamed, "Zoro will die at this rate! We gotta help him!"
"This is Zoro's dream. No one has the right to interfere" he said shutting down any arguments.
Zoro's reckless and mindless attacks continued and Mihawk got bored and decided to end it. "TORA-GARI!" Zoro's attack was stopped and the toy-like knife pierced his chest. Blood gushed out from his chest and mouth, and screams erupted from the crew and others.
Zoro panted hard feeling the blade in his chest ready to take his life and his body trembling in exhaustion… but he held his ground and stood where he was.
"Do you wish for me to pierce your heart?" Mihawk asked surprised, "Why do you refuse to step back?"
"I don't know… Not really sure myself," Zoro panted as blood dripped out from his mouth, "But I believe that if I take even one step back now, all the promises and oaths I've made up until now will go to waste… and I'll never be able to return to where I'm currently standing…"
"Yes… such is defeat"
Zoro chuckled darkly, "That's why I can't step back…"
"Even if it means death?"
"I prefer death to defeat"
For the first time in the fight, Luffy saw a glint of respect in Mihawk's eyes as he pulled his knife out of Zoro's chest and sheathed it. "Kid, announce your name"
"Roronoa Zoro!" He declared bringing up his swords in front of him and held them such that all three of his swords were at angles to one another.
"I will remember it. It has been a while since I have seen one with such strong will. As respect to a fellow swordsman," he said pulling Yoru out from his back and holding it in front of him, "I shall wield this, the strongest sword in the world, to end your life"
"I appreciate the offer…" Zoro said calmly readying for the final attack. 'The world's strongest… or death!'
Mihawk charged at him and Zoro began spinning the swords in his hands.
"Three Sword Style: Three Thousand Worlds!"
The two exchanged strikes, sounds of swords clashing rang through the air, and the two stood back to back. The two swords in Zoro's hands shattered an instant later and a cut opened up across his chest.
"ZORO!" Nami screamed in alarm as she kept trying to make Luffy help him.
'I lost…' Zoro calmly accepted his defeat, taking out Wado from his mouth and sheathed it with a click. 'Never thought I would lose… So this is the difference between me and the World's Greatest…' Zoro then turned around to face Mihawk and presented his chest to him, spreading his arms wide. 'Sorry Luffy… Guess I won't be able to continue my journey with you… ahh… he already showed me the difference and yet, I lost my cool… is Luffy disappointed in me?…'
"…What are you doing?" Mihawk asked confused.
Grinning, Zoro answered. "A wound on one's back is a swordsman shame"
Mihawk felt excited watching him. The person in front of him had amazing resolve who given enough time could perhaps surpass him. "Splendid!" He praised smiling wide as he began swinging his sword at Zoro.
'So cool…' Luffy also smiled wide, feeling a mixture of pride and also anger that he had to let this happen.
The others, however, were showing a different sentiment.
"ZORO!" / "BIG BRO ZORO!" Usopp and the bounty duo screamed in unison.
Sanji grit his teeth, not able to understand why Zoro was going so far. 'The result is obvious. You were going against the strongest in the world? Why would you cling to your ambition even after realizing your inevitable death?!' "It's simple! Just give up on your ambition!"
"You idiot!" Nami shouted through tears before she raised a fist to hit Luffy to do something but flinched when she saw that Luffy was… Steaming?
There was no time to question him as Mihawk's sword swung down on Zoro, his chest got cut and blood gushed out. Before Zoro had even begun his downward fall, Luffy appeared behind him and an instant later, Luffy gently put down Zoro on the deck of the Baratie.
The bounty duo, who were about to jump into the sea, froze when they saw Zoro right next to them but quickly got over their shock and began treating him along with Usopp and Nami.
"Idiot! Asshole! Stupid!" Nami cursed him out through sobs.
"Zoro! Stay with us!" Usopp yelled.
"Big Bro Zoro, say something!" Johnny and Yosaku sobbed.
Seeing Zoro in good hands, Luffy went back to Mihawk and studied him carefully, more importantly, his eyes. It really was special with the strange concentric patterns. Similar to Im. 'Is there a connection?'
"…Are you so angry that your body is steaming?" Mihawk asked puzzled at seeing Luffy's body releasing steam.
"What? No no," Luffy chuckled, "It's my devil fruit… well, I am angry that you cut up Zoro but you didn't kill him, so that's okay"
"I see. Were you not worried that I would kill your friend? You seemed pretty calm"
"Nah. I knew you would recognize your successor"
Mihawk's eyes widened at that."My… Truly interesting…" He then noticed that straw hat dangling on his nape and got even more intrigued.
Zoro's eyes were unfocused for a while but he slowly opened his eyes and saw Nami's tearful face. He then noticed everyone else trying to treat him and it finally registered that he was still alive. He tried to say something but ended up coughing out blood, which alarmed everyone.
"He okay?" Luffy yelled out.
"Of course not, you dumbass!" Nami screeched.
"But he's conscious!" Usopp answered.
"It is much too soon for you to die, boy," Mihawk yelled out, "My name is Dracule Mihawk. Discover yourself. Learn more about the world. And grow strong! However long it may take, I shall await you at the top! So forge on ahead with your fierce conviction and strive to surpass my sword! Strive to surpass me, Roronoa Zoro!"
Zeff, the only one apart from Luffy who actually understood the sheer magnitude of what Mihawk had just said, was in awe. "To think Mihawk would say such words…"
"What's your goal?" Mihawk asked turning his attention to Luffy who was smiling.
"Pirate King"
"You tread a perilous path," Mihawk smirked, "Even harder than surpassing me"
"Yeah, I know. And I'll do it anyway"
Mihawk nodded liking his answer and confidence.
Zoro, who vaguely heard the words being exchanged between Luffy and Mihawk, had only one thing going through his mind. 'Is Luffy disappointed? Is Luffy disappointed? He must be embarrassed… I lost my cool…' He forced his hand to move, grab Wado and painstakingly pointed it towards the sky.
"Ahh idiot! Stop that. Don't move!" Nami and the others yelled but it fell on deaf ears.
"L-Luffy, c-can you h-hear me?" he managed to mutter through his pants.
"Yeah!"
"Sorry for worrying you… I know… that if I don't become the World's Greatest Swordsman, it'll… only disappoint you, right?"
He spat out more blood causing the others to tell him to shut up, but he held his sword high.
"I SWEAR!" Zoro declared with tears streaming down his eyes, "That I'll never lose again! From now to the day I beat him to become the World's Greatest Swordsman… I WILL NEVER LOSE AGAIN! Got any problems with that, PIRATE KING!"
Luffy grinned wide, feeling ecstatic chills running down his spine. "Shishi Nope!"
"You two make a good team," Mihawk said grinning too. "I suppose you are the one who told him about Haki?" He asked Luffy as he began walking towards his coffin boat.
"Yeah," Luffy answered, walking along with him and their voices were low enough that only the two heard each other. "I'm not from the New World though. Just happen to know a lot of things"
"I see"
"By any chance, do you have Shanks' number on you?" Luffy asked suddenly making Mihawk do a double take.
"Shanks?" His eyes went to Luffy's hat again. "I'm afraid I do not have it on me. I'm positive I had written it down somewhere but it should be somewhere back home… I think…" He trailed off trying to remember.
"Well, give me yours th-"
"HAWKEYES!" Krieg suddenly yelled interrupting their conversation. "YOU CA-"
Luffy quickly soru'd in front of him, kicked him in the face and sent him flying back, before coming back to Mihawk's side. Only Mihawk was able to follow his movement and saw what happened. To everyone else, Krieg was yelling one instant and the next, he was flying back with seemingly no one attacking him and crashed into his broken galleon.
"Annoying," Luffy sighed before looking back up at Mihawk.
"You are quite fast," Mihawk commented looking at his legs curiously.
Luffy tilted his head in confusion. He was fast sure, but fast enough to make Mihawk comment on it? "It's just Soru"
"Hmm, have you not realized it? Considering your strength, you are much too fast for it to be just Soru. Is your devil fruit related to elasticity? That would explain the incongruency"
Luffy blinked dumbly before thinking carefully about it. With just Gear 2, he could achieve speeds much faster than Blueno's Soru in the story, so now that he was adding actual Soru with Gear 2, was he achieving speeds way greater? Even in his normal state, it would be much faster.
"I see" Luffy nodded in understanding, "I haven't actually seen people using Soru, so yeah, I guess I didn't have a reference to judge it. The elasticity of my legs is basically giving me an extra boost each time I kick off the ground. So, the harder and more times I kick off the ground, the faster I can go. Is that it?"
Mihawk nodded. "Looks like you are an instinctive learner. That's great, but you should analyze what exactly you are doing when you have the time. You can achieve greater things that way"
Luffy nodded in understanding. "Thanks!" He said before offering him a pen and paper, which he took but looked hesitant.
"Don't worry. I know you like to keep to yourself… Apart from getting Shanks' number, I'll only call if it's something concerning you or related to you. I could've prevented a tragedy on Whitebeard's crew if I had his number a couple of years ago. So now, I make sure to get everyone's number. Better to have it and not need it rather than to need it and not have it, you know"
Mihawk looked curiously at him. "By tragedy, do you mean how one of their own killed another?"
"Yeah"
"I see" Mihawk nodded and wrote down his number. "You're intriguing"
"Shishi thanks. Here's mine," he said giving him a piece of paper with his number written down, "Call me if you're bored"
Mihawk took it and jumped back to his coffin boat. "Farewell. It was time well spent to come here"
"Bye-bye. Say hi to Shanks for me!"
He used a swing of his sword to propel himself away and disappeared from everyone's sight.
Luffy went back to the Baratie where Zoro had been mostly stabilized and taken inside to rest.
—
Krieg finally got his bearings and stood up shaking his head. He looked around in anger and when he didn't find Mihawk anywhere, scoffed. "That damn coward! He sneak attacked me and ran away!"
While he rallied his men, Luffy sat on the railing waiting for the battle to start when Nami walked up next to him.
"Zoro's okay," She said as she leaned on the railing.
Luffy hummed in response before seeing a solemn look on her face. "You angry at me?"
"Of course, I am, idiot!" Nami slightly glared at him. "What would have happened if Zoro actually died huh?!"
Luffy sighed. "It's his dream, Nami. I pro-"
"Yeah yeah," Nami sighed rubbing her eyes, "I know… and I get it… You guys aren't just playing around when it comes to your dreams. I already knew it… but seeing him almost die… I don't know, just made it real I guess. Zoro made it very clear that he would rather die than let his dream end… and you're like him too. Haah… Why did I have to join up with a couple of suicidal bastards?…"
Luffy grinned while she snapped at him to not laugh about such matters.
Sanji watched the two from behind them with a contemplative look on his face, having heard the conversation. Half his mind was going 'Nami-swan looks so cute when she's angry~' while the other half was thinking about what she said and what Zoro had said earlier. 'Not playing around… Rather die than give up huh…'
He blew out a puff of smoke looking thoughtful before he caught Zeff looking at him with a smirk and he grew annoyed. "What you smiling at, ya damn old geezer?"
Zeff's smirk only widened and Sanji cursed him under his breath. Fortunately, their fight didn't start as the Krieg pirates soon started their attack and the two went away to guard their restaurant while Luffy and Nami just watched. The fins on the Baratie were opened up and a proper platform for a fight formed. Then the Mackerel figurehead of the Baratie detached itself from the ship and it turned out to be a paddle boat with cannons sticking out of its open maw. Patty and another cook called Carne were riding it and shooting cannonballs at the Krieg pirates.
Usopp and Moodie came out from inside the restaurant while the cooks and Krieg pirates fought and joined Luffy and Nami, who were just watching.
"Hey, Zoro's all bandaged up now. He's going to be fine" Usopp said while observing the fight.
"The scar's so long," Moodie added trailing a fine her across her chest, "It looks bad now but once it's healed, it's gonna look really sexy"
"Shishi yeah, it will look sexy alright"
"Idiots! He almost lost his life and you're talking like this?!" Usopp snapped.
"Ehh, you guys just don't get the sheer magnitude of what that scar signifies"
Before they could ask what he meant by that, a tall and ridiculously dressed man climbed up onto the platform. He had a giant circular iron plate on his chest that covered him up to his knees, and a few smaller ones which covered his elbows, kneecaps, shoulder pads, and his hands. And at the centre of each plate was a pearl. It was the aptly named Pearl, the second commander of the Krieg Pirates.
The pirates cheered, and the cooks became shocked when Patty and Carne were taken out like they were nothing by Pearl, but one of the Strawhats had a different reaction.
Nami's eyes glinted and she became excited. "Hey!" She yelled loudly getting Pearl's attention. "Are those real pearls?"
"Hm?" Pearl looked at her and since she was pretty, showed off. "Hahaha! Yes! These are all real pearls! Why? Interested? My face is handsome too, so I guess it can't be helped if you fall for me! Hahaha!"
"That face is handsome?" Nami looked disgusted as she jumped down. "Well, either way, I'll be your opponent! And when I defeat you, all those pearls will be mine!"
Pretty much everyone, except Luffy and Usopp, was in disbelief - the pirates started laughing and mocking her, Pearl and Krieg included, the cooks looked worried, Moodie looked doubtful but seeing the calm look on Luffy's face just observed her curiously, Sanji came up to her to dissuade her…
But Nami didn't care, not listening to anyone, and just walked up to Pearl with her shock staff out. "Oh? Laughing at me huh? You won't be able to take even one hit from me"
"Little girl thinks she can defeat me! Hahahaha!" Pearl and the others' laughter only intensified. Sanji came up to stand in front of her protectively saying something chivalrous but Nami pushed him away before standing in front of Pearl.
"Hahaha! Okay, hit me. Go on, hit me! Hahahaha!" Pearl laughed leaving himself wide open.
"Okay then," Nami grinned as she extended her staff and brought it down on his chest plate. A tong sound of her shock staff meeting the iron chest plate rang in the air but nothing else happened, which caused Pearl and everyone else to laugh harder. Luffy and Usopp were snickering too, except for the complete opposite reason.
"She sure likes this huh?" Usopp commented as Nami waited for two more seconds.
"Yep, she sure does," Luffy grinned and finally Nami turned the dial up.
BZZZZZZZTTTTT!
The iron plates plus him being wet added to Pearl's electrocution and everyone who was laughing at her froze and stared in shock with their mouths hanging wide open. Five seconds later, Nami turned the dial down and a smoking and burnt Pearl fell face-first onto the deck and Nami twirled her staff around and grinned at everyone.
"Who's next?" She asked pointing her staff at them and everyone took a step back gulping in fear. 'God, I love this feeling!'
When no one came, she scoffed and dismissed them.
"Oh, my love! Nami-swan is a goddess!" Sanji spun around singing her praises.
"Instead of that, make yourself useful," Nami ordered him, "Extract all of those pearls from this idiot. They're mine!"
"As you wish, my dear Nami-swan!"
"MEN!" Krieg roared just then, "Don't be scared of that bitch! Just get that staff she's using away from her!"
"Why don't come yourself and take it from me, coward?!" Nami fired back and Krieg glared at her.
"Why you little?! Men, attack her!"
"HAHA! HE'S SO SCARED!" Moodie suddenly yelled joining in on taunting him. "He doesn't even want to take a chance by coming near her!"
Nami chuckled readying her staff just as multiple pirates began charging at her. At the same time, a giant iron-spiked ball was thrown by Krieg directly at Nami. She just saw it before focusing on the pirates coming at her knowing Luffy would take care of it and Luffy did. He just caught it with one hand in midair before landing next to Nami and gently placed it next to her with a grin while Sanji did a handstand before spinning his legs and taking out all the pirates that charged at them.
Immediately understanding Luffy's intention, Nami grinned too before touching the iron ball with her staff and turning the dial all the way up. Krieg, instantly realizing what she was doing, let go of the chain that was attached to the iron spike ball, but he was a bit late to let it go and he felt electricity coursing through his body for a second which made him fall down to his knees.
"COWARD!" Nami yelled with a giggle and Moodie added on the insults too.
Luffy didn't give anyone time to understand what had happened as he picked up the iron spike ball and threw it at the pirates causing a row of enemies to get smashed by it and fall into the sea.
All that had happened in less than five seconds, so the pirates were extremely scared of them who looked like monsters to their eyes.
"Finally joining the fight, you damn coward?" Kreig roared at Luffy as he stood back up.
"…You know me?" Luffy asked surprised.
The cooks, pirates and Kreig looked at him dumbfounded.
"Oi! The hell do you mean? He's been taunting you this entire time" Sanji said shaking his head in disbelief.
"He was?" Luffy asked honestly surprised. "When?"
"When the two of us were talking," Nami informed with a giggle, "He kept yelling at you and telling you that you'll be the first to die. You even talked to him earlier when he was in the restaurant too"
"Really? Well, sorry for ignoring you, man" Luffy said looking at Krieg, "I think my brain filtered out anything you said because you're so annoying"
"That's it! I'm killing you with poison!" Krieg roared as he instantly shot a missile at the Baratie.
'Oh yeah, this guy shoots some poison…' Luffy recalled and intercepted the missile before it was even halfway between Krieg and the restaurant. The missile actually exploded when he touched it and a bunch of shurikens burst out impaling Luffy.
"Hahaha! You fell for the trick!" Krieg laughed but Luffy just landed on a piece of debris and pulled out all the projectiles like it was nothing before looking at Krieg. "Is that it?"
Krieg grit his teeth in anger, realizing that his opponent was strong and the surrounding pirates who were cheering also instantly quietened down. Luffy went back to the Baratie and just as he landed, Gin yelled loudly. "Don't move!"
Sanji and the cooks' eyes widened with shock when they saw Zeff lying on the ground with his peg leg broken off and Gin standing above him with a gun pointed at his head. "Anybody moves and I'll have no problems blowing his head off!"
"HAHAHAHA! GOOD GOING, GIN!" Krieg yelled, thinking he had won.
Sanji scoffed at Zeff, "You pathetic geezer, why are you setting a bad example when we're fighting here?"
Zeff scoffed back, "Hmph! I don't want to hear anything from a little eggplant like you"
"Little eggplant?! Stop treating me like a kid already!" Sanji yelled angrily at Zeff before looking up at Gin, "Gin! Aim that gun at me"
"Sanji… why?" Gin said looking mortified, "All you have to do is get off this ship! Then, everyone lives!"
"No, this restaurant is that old geezer's treasure. I refuse to let anyone take it!"
"It's just a restaurant, Sanji! Why would you give up your life for it?!" Gin pleaded with him.
"Just a restaurant?…" Sanji sighed, 'It's not just that. It's that geezer's treasure. I've already taken away everything else from him… His strength… His dreams… I won't let anyone take away his treasure too!"
"Damn eggplant…" Zeff sighed.
The other cooks became curious and asked him what he meant which lead to Sanji recounting the first time he met Zeff and what happened on the rocky outcropping they were trapped on. From Sanji's ship being attacked by the The Cook Pirates, Sanji yelling "I'm gonna find… the All Blue one day! There's no way I'm gonna be killed by some stupid pirates like you in a place like this!", Zeff and Sanji ending up on the rock cropping without food, starving for a long time, Sanji finding out that Zeff ate his own leg to make sure Sanji had something to eat, learning that Zeff had the same dream too, and Sanji promising that he'll get stronger to help him build his floating restaurant.
Sanji finished his story with his head bowed and a dark expression on his face. "I took everything from him. He gave up his leg so that I could live! He gave up his dream… There is no other way for me to show gratitude for his kindness other than to risk my life for him! So, come at me, Gin! I'll never let you take this restaurant away!"
There was silence for a few seconds before Luffy let out a deep tired sigh. "You self-sacrificial goddamn idiot…"
"Wh-what?"
"He didn't cut off his own leg so that you could slave away under him forever," Luffy said as he walked towards him and flicked his forehead.
"He-" Sanji began protesting but another flick shut him up and Luffy continued, "He didn't save you just so you could die for him. He bet his dream on you"
"Shut up!" Sanji snapped grabbing Luffy's vest. "What do you know huh?! My enormous debt to that old geezer and this ship! You could never understand!"
"Debt? Debt?! If you think you owe him something, are you gonna repay it by sacrificing yourself, you damn coward?!" Luffy said pushing back and making him fall on his butt. His eyes trembled as Luffy grabbed his collar and continued, "Is that what you think Zeff wants? Every day you spend here working under him is you spitting in the face of his kindness! He saved you, a random kid he didn't know, just because you had the same dream as him. And instead of living your dream, here you are talking about throwing your life away and how you'll slave under him for the rest of your life!"
"Hey eggplant," Zeff called out a second later and Sanji slowly turned towards him, "When we talked about All Blue a couple of days ago…" he rested his head on the deck with a smile, "It made me really happy"
"Geezer…"
"Heh, I thought you had lost interest in it because you hadn't mentioned it in so long, but your face still lights up whenever you talk about that place… Someday, instead of stupid and crazy theories, I want to talk about the real thing… with you"
Sanji's face morphed from shock to understanding, realizing what Zeff was saying and Luffy smirked shaking his head. 'Still can't say it outright huh? Guess that's how they are built'
"HEY GIN! BLOW HIS HEAD OFF ALREADY!" Kreig yelled and Luffy, Sanji and Zeff finally came out of their own world and recalled that a hostage situation was in place.
"Oh right… this is going on," Luffy said as he held out a hand to Sanji.
"You forgot? You stupid asshat!" Sanji yelled as he took his hand and pulled himself up.
Gin was still holding a gun to Zeff's head and Luffy sighed. "Hey Gin, you know who the worst kind of people are?"
Gin looked up at him with a distraught face already knowing the answer.
"Yeah, people who betray someone who was kind to them for no reason"
Gin's hand dropped and at the same time, a lead ball came flying in, courtesy of Usopp, and hit him in the temple making him stagger sideways. An instant later, Nami lunged at him with her staff out and thrust it at him. Gin sidestepped her attack being careful not to touch the tip of the staff, but Nami twisted her body and swing it at him. Gin quickly jumped back, putting some distance between them, and Nami clicked her tongue in disappointment knowing she had missed her chance for a surprise attack.
"Gin!" Krieg growled dangerously, "I clearly saw it! You lowered your gun first! Have you lost your mind?!"
"Don…" Gin said, "I'll take care of this man myself. It's the least I can do for him as he saved our lives… You should've left when you had the chance, Sanji. Now, the best I can offer you is a painless death"
"Eat worms, ya bastard!" Sanji scowled at him.
Gin then turned to Luffy. "You too, Strawhat. You should have left"
Luffy didn't answer and just stood with a thoughtful look on his face. Something was bothering him like he was forgotting something important.
"Hahaha! Too scared to even speak, Strawhat?!" Krieg taunted him but Luffy gave no reaction of having heard him.
"Luffy?" Nami walked up to him and shook him slightly. "What's wrong?"
"Hmm not sure"
"You hungry or something?"
"My stomach would speak out if that was the case"
"Hehe yeah. Your stomach growling could probably be heard all throughout East Blue"
"Shishi yeah… Hmm well, let me think for a bit"
"Sure"
While the two were talking casually and cracking jokes, Krieg was still shouting his head off asking who was a better Pirate King material amongst the two of them. And Luffy just continued talking with Nami, completely ignoring him.
"Alright! You've ignored me for the last time boy! Gin, kill that cook first and then we'll wipe everyone out!"
His men cheered, Sanji and Gin started battling, Nami stood next to Luffy watching her new crewmate fight, Usopp and Moodie stood at the railing watching the fight while Luffy stood thinking hard.
When he saw Usopp shooting at Gin from the second-floor deck, Luffy felt like he had missed something. 'Hmm… what is it? What is it? Usopp shooting from a high vantage point…' His eyes slowly widened finally realizing what was bothering him. In the story, Usopp and Zoro leave to chase after Nami immediately after Mihawk leaves, and reach Cocoyashi. He vaguely remembered what lead up to the 'Walk to Arlong Park' but he clearly remembered that Nami stabs herself in the hand to make it look like she was killing Usopp. And why does she do that? Because Usopp gets captured. And why does Usopp get captured? Because he shoots at Arlong from atop a house when he's about to kill Genzo.
'Genzo!' Luffy paled. Now that Nami was here and Usopp was also here, Arlong would still try to kill Genzo, wouldn't he? Luffy hastily checked the time and thankfully, it had been only 30 minutes since Mihawk left, so they should still be good.
Thankfully, the fight between Sanji and Gin was short and had come to an end with Gin bawling his eyes out that he couldn't kill Sanji. Krieg, of course, got enraged and called him a traitor and a weakling.
"Don…Is there any way… any way at all that this ship could be spared?" Gin pleaded tears running down his face. Krieg got even more furious along with the other pirates and Krieg lifted his shield up.
"Okay!" Luffy clapped his hands putting a stop to their conversation. "We have places to be, so I'll end this quickly!"
Before anyone could react, Luffy kicked towards all the pirates and their eyes bulged out in shock when a wind blade originated from his feet.
"He's like Hawkeye!" They paled when the wind blade slashed them across the chest and they fell into the sea. Luffy sent out a couple more Rankyakus and that was that was needed for all the pirates to back off in fear.
Krieg watched with gritted teeth, "You're a devil fruit user too?!"
Luffy didn't answer him as he kicked wind slashes towards him too, and he jumped out of the way.
"MEN! PUT YOUR MASKS ON! EXCEPT FOR YOU, GIN! YOU'RE NO LONGER A PART OF MY CREW!"
Gin looked distraught, and before the still-conscious pirates could even put on their masks, Krieg fired his MH5 poison gas bomb. Luffy just intercepted it halfway and it exploded, engulfing him in a purple gas upon impact.
"HAHAHAHA! THAT WAS POISON, YOU IDIOT! ANYONE WHO INHALES IT WILL DIE IN A FEW SECONDS!" Krieg laughed.
And hearing that, Nami paled, her eyes tearing up. "LUFFY!" No matter how strong he was, the poison would kill him, wouldn't it?
So did the others on the Baratie.
"That idiot!" Sanji cursed gritting his teeth. He had just joined and one of his crew members almost died and then another one was now being poisoned.
Usopp, Johnny, Yosaku and Moodie also cried out in alarm, yelling his name.
Nami dived into the sea without thinking and started swimming towards him. She struck a couple of a pirate and stole their gas masks, hoping that Luffy was holding his breath. But, her heart sank when she heard coughing sounds coming from inside the smoke. Nami swam faster, her heart beating way too fast, and by the time anyone else noticed, she was already halfway towards him.
"Nami-swan!" Sanji yelled in alarm when he finally noticed her and was about to jump in to stop her when the gas started dispersing. The gas soon cleared and they saw Luffy swinging his arms wildly to disperse all the gas while coughing.
"LUFFY!" Nami yelled again. "Please tell me you held your breath in!" She pleaded even though it was obvious he hadn't given how he was coughing.
"Oh hey Nami," Luffy casually waved getting his breathing in control, "Why are you swimming? And why are you crying?"
Nami stared at him dumbfounded at his casual tone. "…Th-that was poison"
"Oh. Don't worry, I'm immune to most poisons"
"…You're immune?"
"Yep. Pretty much only the deadliest of poisons can affect me. Like Magellan's probably…"
Nami silently held a hand out and Luffy airwalked towards her and pulled her up onto a broken piece of debris. She took a deep breath before smacking him hard on the head. "YOU GODDAMN IDIOT! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BEFOREHAND?! I WAS SO SCARED!"
The rest sighed in relief knowing he was safe when they saw Nami hitting him again and again.
"Hey hey, okay stop," Luffy caught her hands as she huffed in anger, "You can hit me all you want later, okay? Let me take care of that first" he said pointing a thumb at Krieg.
"Fine," Nami grumbled. "But your debt just increased by a million for scaring me!"
"I'm in debt? Since when?"
"Since right now!"
"Shishi okay okay" Luffy chuckled as he jumped towards Krieg, who was gaping like a fish mumbling '"Th-That's im-impossible"
"Agree to disagree," Luffy said as he landed next to Krieg and punched him in the face, making him crash into the deck.
Krieg stood back looking furious. "I'M DON KRIEG! THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE-"
Another punch landed in his abdomen and he got his breath knocked out of him. His eyes bulged out when he realized that the wootz steel armour he was so proud of had cracked.
"I-I'm the STRONGEST!" Krieg yelled, more to himself than anybody else, before bringing out his battle spear.
—
Usopp watched Luffy break every weapon Krieg brought out with ease and actually felt sorry for the man. A spiked cape shield - Broken with a punch. An exploding battle spear - Broken with a punch. Projectile bombs - Swatted away. No matter what Krieg did Luffy just brute forced it and took care of it.
The fight was pretty much over and he could see that even Gin - the man who kept saying that Krieg was the strongest - was looking on in disbelief. Usopp sighed in relief that the fight was over but also felt ashamed at the same time. What had he done in the fight? He had been on the second-floor deck the whole time, sniping at the pirates. They were all accurate shots - Pirates standing on debris on the sea lost their balance and fell into the sea. Pirates who had climbed aboard the Baratie and fought the cooks were distracted by his sniping and when they angrily glared at him, other cooks got a chance to take them down. He had sniped at Gin once too, but that was it.
Basically just slowing them down or distracting them - That's all he had done. He knew he couldn't contend with Luffy or Zoro as they almost seemed to be in a different realm, and Sanji also seemed to be a monster like them too. Nami was the only 'normal' person in the crew and even she had an overpowered weapon which helped her stand toe to toe with the other monsters. She was sitting on a piece of debris while being surrounded on all sides by pirates as she watched Luffy take down Krieg, and there wasn't a trace of fear on her face. And here he was, safe on the second-floor deck and for most of the fight, and yet, his legs had trembled whenever someone glared at him.
'If only I had a weapon like Nami too…' Usopp trailed off. He recalled all the different trick weapons that Krieg used. Even though Luffy had taken care of them like they were nothing, they were still formidable to normal people. Projectile bombs, exploding spears, nets ('ooh maybe I could electrify it?') He thought of the Buggy balls and recalled Luffy saying that they could definitely be made smaller - and Usopp's mind raced with possibilities for increasing his arsenal.
—
At the same time, Nami was also looking at all the different weapons Krieg was pulling out and looked down at her own shock staff. 'This is pretty much a one-trick weapon huh?' When she saw it for the first time, the shock staff was an overpowered godlike weapon but now that she had fought a lot with it, she recognized that there were tons of drawbacks to it. Once the surprise factor wears off, everyone would just avoid being touched by the staff and that would be it. If they were strong enough, they could jump back and lose contact with the staff too. 'Would be great if few more features could be added to this weapon… like maybe wires that shoot out that are electrified too? Hmm, Usopp said he was an inventor right?'
—
At the same time, Sanji was watching the one-sided fight along with Zeff.
"Oi, crap-geezer… You want to talk about the real thing huh?" He trailed off blowing out a wisp of smoke.
"You have hearing problems or something, little eggplant?"
"Why you, you stupid geezer!"
The two devolved into a verbal fight.
—
Luffy ripped apart the net that was thrown at him before punching him one last time in the gut and Krieg felt his ribs break as he collapsed to his knees and lost consciousness, while still mumbling, "I'm… the… strongest…"
"Alrighty, that's that," Luffy said before taking off the diamond knuckle gloves Krieg had on his hands. While the Krieg pirates were coming to terms that their captain had lost, Luffy jumped to Nami and presented the diamonds to her.
As soon as she saw it, her eyes shined and the diamonds were snatched from Luffy's hands. She studied it for a few seconds, before breaking into ecstatic giggles. "These are real! It will easily fetch at least a million!"
"Oh? Great then. My debt is already paid off then"
Nami froze, just for a second though, and with an even stare, shamelessly added. "Interest has piled up"
"I had the debt for like two minutes!"
"Yes, Interest rate is 200% per minute. So, you still owe me 3 million"
"Sure," Luffy smiled before saying, "Jokes aside. I think you're missing something very obvious here"
"Hm?"
"You said you were just 2 million short to a 100 mill"
Nami slowly lost her smile and stared at the diamonds in bewilderment before looking back at the Baratie where Pearl had fallen unconscious. "T-those pearls… that many big sized ones… They will easily fetch about 3 million…"
She lost strength in her legs and leaned on Luffy for support, who gently held her in place. "You did it"
"…I did it…" she repeated dumbly, the reality of the situation not set in yet.
"Well, let's go get your freedom back," Luffy said with a smile and it was sweet music to her ears.
"Yeah…"
"Well, since the pearls cover 100 million, these diamonds are for the entire crew then, right?" Luffy said reaching out for them and she immediately hid them away inside her shirt.
"Don't you know that it's frowned upon to request of return of diamonds from a girl?"
"I'm pretty sure it's not"
"Maybe not, but it's very unwise," Nami smirked and Luffy chuckled grabbing her and going back to the Baratie.
—
Luffy quickly made Nami, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku get to the Merry along with the unconscious Zoro and prepare to set off while he took care of things at the Baratie (After Nami extracted all the pearls, of course).
Gin was looking down at the battered form of his captain and just couldn't believe his eyes. Sanji sighed feeling pity for Gin. "You chose to follow the wrong man, Gin," he said just as Gin hauled Krieg over his shoulders.
"I guess so. He was the only one who saw my value and gave me a place in his crew… I was indebted to him…"
"Doesn't mean you have to become his slave, man," Luffy said eyeing Sanji too. "Let me just say this, Gin," Luffy sighed, "Pirate crews aren't slaves for their captains. All your unworthy captain did was collect random fodder he could use. He isn't strong in the least… and you're all too blind to accept that"
Gin nodded solemnly, "I can see that… I think I'll steer my own course in life from now on… Thanks for the kindness, both of you"
"Sure, never come back," Sanji said before telling Patty and Carne to get Gin a boat.
"I hope to meet you again on the Grand Line someday," Gin said as he hauled all the Krieg pirates on the boat along with Krieg.
Luffy hummed but knew he never showed up in the story again. Did he go to the Grand Line again and die? "Hey Gin," he called out before he set off, "If you're really serious about going to the Grand Line, don't half-ass it, okay? You guys used underhanded tricks to win battles in East Blue of all places. You can't even fight head-on in the weakest sea, so if you think any sort of underhanded tactics will help you in the Grand Line, you won't last for more than a battle there"
Gin gulped nodding his head and gave a bitter smile. "We really are weak huh?"
"Yeah. Take care, Gin" Lufty waved at him as he sailed away.
Luffy then turned his attention to Sanji who was sitting down with a thoughtful look on his face. "So, coming with us?"
Sanji glanced at Luffy, then at Zeff, who just stared back at him giving nothing away, before sighing deeply and nodding his head, "You have yourself a cook"
"Shishi welcome aboard!" Luffy cheered, "I would like to give you some time to say your goodbyes, but we have somewhere to be, so make it quick. Don't worry about your stuff. I already packed it all and moved it to the Merry this afternoon. Just get your stuff from the kitchen"
"You did what?!" Sanji snapped but sighed in defeat when Luffy just laughed in response. "I'm already regretting joining you…"
Sanji didn't say anything more as he got up and went to the kitchen under the watchful eyes of the other cooks to fetch his remaining stuff.
Zeff then came beside Luffy. "Hmph! Thank god you're taking away that useless wa-"
"I promise I'll look after your son, old man." Luffy cut him off with a knowing smile and Zeff coughed into his hands before giving a small nod.
"They're such children huh?" Moodie came up to Luffy, having heard the conversation. Zeff quickly left knowing the two would start diagnosing him, which only caused the two to laugh.
"I'm gonna miss you, Luffy," Moodie said with a sad look on her face.
"Yeah, I would offer you a role on my crew, but I don't think you're fit for life on the seas"
"Yeah, you're right. Still, it would've been fun," she said as she hugged him tight.
"I'll pass on your information to the Revolutionaries in a week or so and ask them to call you," he whispered.
"Okay, I should be able to write up a compelling article with all the proof… Thanks, Luffy. Looks like taking you up on your offer to eat with you turned out to be a turning point in my life"
"Shishi, Good luck!"
He was about to separate but Moodie pulled him closer again and whispered mischievously into his ears. "You know, I got an idea for another book"
"Hm?"
"Yep. A book where the protagonist is a devil fruit user with the power of stretchiness"
Luffy's face slowly lost colour, realizing what she was implying. "N-no… Please don't…"
"Hehehe I already have more than half the plot in my mind already," she smirked separating from him and Luffy gulped. 'I-It should be fine right?' From what he had seen, only classical works were really widespread in the world, but any recently published novels were only locally popular and on top of that, fictional genre books didn't spread too much either. 'Yeah, it should be fine…' He concluded but at the back of his mind, he couldn't help but think that fate would play a cruel joke on him.
Sanji finally came out, bringing him out of his thoughts, and walked towards Luffy without looking at the other cooks, who were all gathered and watching him. Patty and Carne suddenly tried to attack him behind, but a leg sweep took care of both of them.
Sanji continued on silently until he reached Luffy. "The ship's not coming here?" He asked when he noticed that the ship was moving away from them.
"I can walk on air"
"…Right, gotta get used to this reality now…"
He then noticed Moodie and twirled around her, "Oh heavens! How cruel you are! We were so close yet we cannot be together!"
Moodie giggled before saying goodbye to him and Sanji turned to Luffy. "Alright, let's go"
"Not gonna say goodbye to the others?"
"It's fine. Let's jus-"
"Sanji," Zeff's soft voice cut him off, "Don't catch a cold"
That stopped Sanji in his tracks and he tried holding it back for a few seconds, but ultimately, the dam broke and the waterworks began.
Sanji faced Zeff and fell down to his knees bowing down deeply as he cried. "Owner Zeff! Thank you for taking care of me for all these years! I owe my life to you! I'll never forget about you! THANK YOU!"
That broke the dam for all the other cooks too and they also started crying.
"You bastard!" / "We're gonna be lonely without you here!" / "Really lonely!" / "I'll miss ya!" / "Damn bastard, making us cry. Dammit!"
"Damn sentimental idiots… Men should say their goodbyes quietly," Zeff sighed while crying himself.
"Well, look at that. Maybe they're not so unemotional after all," Moodie said wiping away a tear.
The ones on the Merry were close enough that they could hear the whole thing too, and Usopp, Johnny, and Yosaku were sobbing too while Nami looked on with a warm smile.
"GOODBYE, YA GOOD FOR NOTHING CRAPHEADS!"
A/N: Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it!
I don't think anyone would be too interested in the small-scale politics of the world which Moodie explains (My take on it anyway). I had written about 3k words about it but felt unnecessary to let it be in the story here. Maybe I'll release it as a side story some time in the future if people are interested.
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