Crew needs a cook! Zoro meets his idol!

AN: Hope you guys like the story so far.

It was the first night since they got their ship and Nick took the first watch. Being a gentleman, Nick let Nami take the guest room and all the other men were to sleep in the crews-quarters below deck. At the moment, Nick himself was on top of the main mast, in the lookout point. He had a blanket over him while his feet propped up on the side, pillow under his head and looked up to the stars.

"So… What changed for that town?"

Jarvis posted pictures of the village they were just in as he answered. "Thanks to your interference, there no record of anything bad that happened there. Also, according to history, Kaya became one of the greatest doctors in the East Blue. It also says that she got married… to our long-nosed friend."

Nick started to laugh a little, "I had a feeling those two had something between them." Nick then paused as the thought about the idea of Usopp making it back home. "Lets make sure that part of history remains accurate."

"Aye, sir." A few more seconds pass and Jarvis spoke again, "Sir, there is a issue we must address."

"And what would that be?"

"Well… like any other pirate, you must have a symbol. A flag for your men, and woman, to rally behind."

"Oh, that's right. I can't believe I forgot about that, that was my favorite part." Nick then looked down below him, "Well, I guess we can go over that in the morning… when everyone is awake of course. Don't suppose you have any ideas to start with?"

Right then, Nick's glasses showed multiple pirate symbols, "I may have a few."

The next morning, Nick attempted to draw a pirate flag; it looked like a five-year-old drew it. Nick lifted the flag and showed it to his crew with a nervous smile on his face. "Alright, I'll admit it. I am not an artist."

"That's an understatement." Usopp said as he picked up a paintbrush and drew one of his own. It looked a lot better, although the picture looked similar to him. "What do you think?"

Both Nick and Zoro punched between their fists and spoke in unison, "The damn thing looks like you!"

After Usopp recovered from the double punch, Nick instructed Usopp to draw a new symbol that looked similar to Nick's original. The symbol was a smiling skull wearing a black cloth and blue ribbon fedora, sunglasses similar to Nick's and cross bones.

"That's better." Nami said

"Yeah well, I've honed my artistic talents by drawing on the walls of people's homes for years. I'm quite the master artist, you know." Usopp said with a confident smile

"Can you draw the same one on the main sail?" Nick asked while cocking his head.

After an hour of painting, Nami, Zoro and Usopp were flat on their backs exhausted. Zoro was startled by the sound of a cannon firing. He stood up to see that Nick was the cause of the explosion. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Testing our new cannon; either my aim is wrong, or these sights are off by a lot." Nick said while scratching his head. He was aiming at a rock in the middle of the ocean, and missed by, what he would guess, as 10 to 15 feet.

"It's your aim." Jarvis said.

Nick rolled his eyes at that comment. Usopp walked up behind him, "Stand aside my armature captain." He reloaded the cannon and fired again, this time it hit the target that Nick was aiming for before. The rock exploded, showing that Usopp hit the rock.

"Nice shot! And that was on your first try!" Nick said with amazement. Nick then looked to Usopp from behind and started to think, "His front line combat skills are… limited. However, he has great marksmen skills."

Nick then waked up to Usopp and patted him on the back, "Congratulations, your this crew's sniper."

The crew met up in the galley, Nick was eating apples as Usopp gave a lecture on how they were to keep the ship at full capacity. Nick was looking to the kitchen half of the galley and then realized what they needed next, "We need to find a cook!"

They all looked to him, Nami's eyes got bigger in realization of what Nick said. "He's right, if we are to go to the Grand Line, we need someone who their way with food."

"It would come in handy for a long voyage like this." Zoro said in agreement.

Usopp was about to agree when they all heard shouting form outside the ship. "COME OUT YOU DAMN PIRATES! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!"

Everyone looks to one another; Nick finishes his apple and burps. "I got this."

Nick walks out to see who was doing all the yelling to see a man with sunglasses and a face tattoo with a big sword standing on deck. "Who the hell are you?" Nick asks the man.

"Who am I? I should be asking…" He charged at Nick with his blade, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU TO TRY TO KILL MY PARTNER!"

Nick dodged his attack and dodged every attack after that. After a few seconds of fighting, Nick won the fight and Zoro came out to see what all the fuss was about. It caught everyone off guard when he spoke, "Johnny, is that you?"

"BROTHER ZORO!" the man stood up and bowed to him, as he rose back up he spoke again. "Yosaku is…"

Johnny then told the crew that they were at the rock that Usopp destroyed not too long ago, Yosaku was caught in the blast when the cannon hit. Nick and Usopp both apologized for the incident, Johnny was quick to forgive their accident.

Johnny was getting depressed at the thought of losing his partner; luckily Nami knew a way to help stabilize him. At the same time, Jarvis gave Nick some basic info on how to treat such wounds. However, the information was severely limited. "Unfortunately I am not acquainted with all human physiology, but the information I do have is adequate for this situation."

Nick cleaning all of Yosaku's wounds, everyone else was shocked. "When did you become a doctor all of a sudden?" Nami asked with a suspicious look on her face.

Nick only had a few seconds to come up with a good lie that they would believe, "I, uh… I only know how to clean wounds that I've had in the past. Anything else is beyond me."

Jarvis scanned their faces and showed Nick the results: Zoro believed him, so did Usopp, Johnny did too, and Nami still remained suspicious.

"Whatever. Usopp, go get some limes, they'll help against scurvy." Nami said as she rolled her eyes.

After Yosaku made a half-recovery, him and Johnny introduced themselves as the "Bounty Hunter Duo". As they all talked, Nick brought up that they were going to need a cook for their long voyage. Johnny was quick to answer, "If you're looking for a cook, I know the perfect place. Although, getting one to join you is another story entirely."

"So where are we heading?" Nick asked as he put his hands behind his back.

"A restaurant on the seas." Johnny said with a confident smile.

It's been two days since they set out to the restaurant that Johnny talked about. When he said that it was pretty close to the Grand Line, meaning that a lot of heavy hitters come by every now and then. When Johnny mentioned that Hawkeye Mihawk was in the area, Jarvis noticed that Zoro's blood pressure spiked.

Nick was sitting on the Merry's head, while everyone else was either sailing the ship or in the galley.

"Sir, you know that he isn't ready to fight him if he shows up. Zoro isn't strong enough." Jarvis said with a somewhat nervous voice, even for an AI

"It's his fight, Jarvis. It's going to happen eventually." Nick whispered.

"But he's not ready!"

"When I fought my grandpa in the 20-year training, I got beaten over a hundred times. Every time I lost I got stronger. If he does show up, then Zoro will know where he stands with him, and he'll try that much harder." Nick's voice had a hint of hope in it.

"You still haven't beaten him, though."

"That's not the point, Jarvis!" Nick then sounded annoyed.

Back by the galley door, Nami was standing outside, watching Nick. She could only hear that last part when Nick yelled. "Whoever Jarvis is, he must be his partner in whatever scheme they are up to. Whatever the hell he's hiding must be in that case… I wonder how much Arlong would pay for whatever is in there?" Nami's thought was broken when Nick yelled to the crew.

"THERE IT IS!" He screamed to the crew, as they got closer to the fish-shaped boat-restaurant. "The Baratie."

As they were entering the restaurant, Jarvis gave a tiny history lesson to Nick on the history of the Baratie.

"The Baratie, an ocean-going restaurant, founded and run by Captain Zeff; a former pirate captain by the name, "Red-Leg" Zeff of the "Cook Pirates". According to history, he is a retired pirate who spends his latter years being the captain of this sea-restaurant."

Nick couldn't say anything because the rest of the crew was close enough that even if he whispered they would hear it. All he could do was smile at his amazement of such a restaurant in the middle of the sea.

"At the moment I can't find anything else about it, any other information beyond this year about the restaurant is gone. Much like the information about Nami, I'll let you know if I find anything."

As they were seated, from the corner of Nick's eye, he saw a man holding a plate in one hand and one over his head. The man was just a few inches taller than Nick, wearing a tuxedo, blonde hair and a cigarette in his mouth. His eyebrow had a swill like shape and hair was over the left side of his face.

"I'll be right with you all in just a minute. I need to serve this couple over here." The man said as he walked to a couple just a few feet away.

Nick saw the man flirt with the woman at that table; he also said that he was the "Assistant Head-Chef" of the restaurant. As he walked away, the man at that table called him back. He tried to make the server look bad but his insult ended up backfiring. The man sitting then got pissed off and tried to pick a fight with the server. A fight that ended rather quickly, assistant knocked him out with one kick upside the head.

The man he kicked quickly woke up and claimed that he was a marine, and it all went down hill from there. Chefs tried to hold the assistant back from continuing until the Head-Chef beat him up with his peg leg. It was then when a marine burst through the door and warned the other marine that their prisoner had broken out. After which he was hit in the back of the head with the butt of a pistol. The man who hit him walked in and sat down at one of the tables asking for food.

One of the big chefs that was holding the assistant back walked up to him asking if he had any money, when he replied 'no' and pointed a gun at his head, he punched him multiple times and threw him out of the restaurant. As that happened, his gun landed next to Nick's foot.

While all the other customers were cheering at the sight of a pirate getting thrown out, Nick sort of felt bad for him, "Poor guy must have been hungry if he resorted to gunpoint. Either that or he was a savage." He then picked up the gun as Jarvis scanned it, "Sir, the gun is empty. No powder. No bullet." "A hollow threat. He really was desperate."

Nick then saw the assistant grab a plate of food and walked outside. Nick followed, he had a feeling he knew what he was doing, but he wanted to be sure.

Nick walked out to see the pirate eating the plate of food as if it was the first food he had seen in weeks, which was probably true, given that he was a prisoner. He was actually crying as he was eating. "I've never had such delicious food… in my life!" As he continued to eat he thanked him, "I thought I was going to die… I thought it was all over for me…"

"Don't mention it. I'd hate to see a man starve," the assistant said with a smile.

Nick walked up to them and sat on the railing of the boat. "You got a name besides 'Assistant Head-Chef'?"

"Sanji," he replied.

"Just curious… Are you looking for work besides this place?" Nick asked.

"What does that supposed to mean?" Sanji asked with a raised eyebrow. At least that we can tell, given that Nick could only see one eye.

"Well, you see… I'm a pirate captain. And I'm in the process of forming a crew. So far I have good members, however, there is a crucial member that I am in need of at the moment." Nick said as he emphasized 'crucial'.

"You want me?" Sanji asked

"I want you… to be our cook." Nick finished

"Sorry, I can't. I appreciate the offer though." Sanji said as he puffed smoke from his cigarette. "I have a debt to repay from that old geezer that you saw earlier. This place is like treasure to him. And the rest of the cooks who came to work here out of their admiration for that geezer are all hot-blooded and crude enough to be pirates themselves. But it's quite appropriate considering all the pirates that frequent around these days."

"Doesn't seam like you guys have a moment of peace." Nick said with a smile.

"Yeah, but it's a daily routine for us." He let out another puff of smoke, "There've even been some guests lately who come to see the pirates and the cooks duke it out. Thanks to that, all the waiters got scared and ran away."

"Doesn't exactly answer why you said no to my offer." Nick tried to bring back the question, hoping to find out what the 'debt' was that Zeff had on him.

Sanji deflected the statement and it led to an argument between them, it almost sounded childish. The pirate thanked Sanji for the food and said his name was Gin; Nick introduced himself to both of them and said he was going to the Grand Line soon. Gin told him not to, that it was dangerous, and not worth the risk.

After they talked, Gin got on a spare boat that Sanji gave him. They wished him luck and then continued their argument. The argument continued until Nick's stomach growled and caused them to stop. "How about we finished this after a meal." Nick suggested with a half smile.

"Let me know when you and your crew are ready and I'll come and wait on you." Sanji said with a half smile of his own, as they both walked inside.

Sanji came back with their food and had a somewhat theatrical entrance as he served them. Well, theatrics for Nami, the others got what everyone else in the restaurant got.

While they were eating, Jarvis pulled up all he could on Sanji and Zeff; trying to find out what 'debt' he was talking about. "From what I can tell, Zeff was a pirate for only a few years until his ship and a passenger ship were destroyed by hurricane. I don't know exactly how long, but they were stranded on an island for over a month, maybe 40 days. Sanji was with him on the island; they were both later rescued. Not long after, Zeff opened the restaurant and Sanji was with him every step of the way."

At the same time as Jarvis was talking, Nick and the rest of the crew were eating all the food that Sanji served them. When Jarvis finished his research, Zoro called to Nick. "You alright, Nick?"

Jarvis turned off the HUD and Nick looked to Zoro, "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

"You haven't said anything since you sat down." Zoro said while raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just thinking, really."

"About what?"

"Well… I was thinking on hiring that guy who served us."

"The assistant?"

"Yeah, we saw that he can handle himself in a fight, and that he was the one who made this food too. He'd make a good addition to the crew. Right, Usopp?"

They both turned to see that Usopp was actually in an argument with Sanji over the mushrooms on Usopp's plate. They then looked back at each other. Nick then spoke, "Maybe we should ask him later."

Zoro huffed and nodded.

"What about you?" Nick then asked after belching.

"As long as he doesn't piss me off, I don't mind." Zoro said after finishing a pint of alcohol.

Given that Sanji wouldn't leave with them, Nick decided to stay for another day to give Sanji a chance to change his mind. Unfortunately, Nick came up with no luck at all at convincing him to join his crew. Just as he was about to try again, the crew of the Baratie said that another ship was coming. The ship was very large; it had a lot of damage and a pirate flag.

"IT'S DON KRIEG'S PIRATE SHIP!" screamed one of the cooks of the restaurant.

Gin walked in with a large man over his shoulder, begging for food for his captain. Sanji walked up with food to the captain, Gin thanked him. And in an unexpected twist, the large man punched Sanji for what seamed like no reason. Gin protested for his actions, but was silenced when the man grabbed him by the throat. "Nice restaurant you've got here. I'll take it." The man said with an arrogant smile.

Both the Baratie's crew and Nick's crew were caught off guard by this sudden turn of events. Judging by the way this large man was acting, Nick came to the conclusion, "He's Don Krieg, isn't he?" Nick whispered under his breath.

"Yes. I pulled off all that I could find; it would appear that this man is a rather dangerous pirate. His specialty is a rather large arsenal and has a reputation on having a large fleet under his command. From what I can tell in our present day, his fleet is gone."

Before Jarvis could finish, one of the cooks shot Don Krieg with a sort of rocket launcher. When it hit him he was blasted back a few feet and removed his coat to reveal his golden armor.

Just as everyone in the room was getting ready for a big brawl, a loud slashing noise happened outside. When everyone came outside to see what happened, Don Krieg's ship was cut to pieces. Everyone was in shock and watched in complete horror that the massive ship was just destroyed.

A small boat was moving along the side of the wreckage, it had a small sail, and a man sitting in it. The man was wearing black cloths and had a black hat; he was wearing a cross around his neck similar to Nick's. Without asking, Jarvis did a facial scan on the man and a wanted poster posted on Nick's HUD, it showed the same man, and the name was listed, "Hawkeye Mihawk."

Nick's eyes widened when he read the name. The first thing that came to his mind was, "Where is Zoro?" Nick knew deep down that Zoro couldn't take him, but he knew that he would at least try anyway.

Johnny and Yosaku ran up behind Nick, drenched in sea water. Nick didn't listen because he was too focused on Mihawk to listen. Some of Don Krieg's crew started shooting at Mihawk, he deflected every shot with his massive sword.

"He deflected every shot. I've never seen such graceful movements." Zoro said as he walked up beside Nick.

"A sword without grace is no strong sword." Mihawk replied back.

Nick turned to look at Zoro and wasn't surprised to see him smiling. Nick could tell that Zoro admired him, hell, he respected him, and this was the first time they met.

"Did you cut this ship to pieces with that sword?" Zoro pointed to what was left of Krieg's massive ship.

"Yes. I did."

"No wonder... you really are the strongest swordsman." Zoro said with a smile. "Crazy enough, the main reason why I sailed in the first place was so that I could met you."

"And now that you have, what are you going to do?" Mihawk said with an interested look on his face.

Zoro put on his bandana and gave him a 'death glare' and a smile, "I plan to fight you and become the strongest swordsman in the world."

Mihawk smiled and closed his eyes, he started to laugh a little. "You have courage, I'll give you that." he then stood up and walked onto a large platform of floating wood from the destroyed ship. Zoro walked onto the wood as well and drew out his swords.

"Nick there's a problem." Usopp said as he whispered into Nick's ear.

"Whatever it is, can it wait? I want to watch this." He whispered back.

"Nami took the ship and sailed off with everything we own." Usopp whispered back nervously.

Right then, Nick's eyes widened, fists clenched, and grinding his teeth as he slowly turned around and spoke in an angry and scary voice, "What do you mean she took the ship?"

Usopp got scared immediately, Nick then looked to Johnny and Yosaku and realized why they were drenched. "I'm guessing she through you guys overboard?"

Both got down on their hands and knees and placed their heads on the ground apologizing. "Get up! I'll deal with you guys later." he said as he turned around to watch the fight continue.

Mihawk pulled out a little knife from his cross, Nick was caught off guard that the cross doubled as a spare knife.

"Just what're you planning to do with that?" Zoro asked.

"I'm different from those stupid brutes who'd go all out just to hunt a mere rabbit. Though you may be a swordsman of some renown, this is the East Blue. the weakest of the four seas that are separated by the Red Line and the Grand Line. Unfortunately, I do not have a blade smaller than this at the moment."

Zoro started to get annoyed by all these remarks about him, "There's a limit, to just how much you can underestimate me...!"

Zoro then charged at Mihawk at full speed, "ONI GIRI!"

To EVERYONE'S surprise, Mihawk had dead stopped Zoro halfway through his move. Using his little blade, he was keeping all three swords from hitting their target. "This is ridiculous! He stopped my 'Oni Giri' with a little knife."

From the start Nick knew Zoro was outmatched, but he didn't know how far apart they were from each other.

Zoro then removed his swords from the knife and started slashing rapidly at Mihawk. Mihawk at the same time was blocking every blow with ease. Johnny and Yosaku were cheering him on as the fight raged on, Usopp started to sweat at the sight of Zoro being out classed.

As he was blocking every attack, Mihawk started to talk, "What burdens you so? What do you still desire at the extent of your strength, weakling?"

Johnny and Yosaku tried to join the fight, but Nick pulled them back, "This is Zoro's fight, stay out of it you too."

Zoro then made his stance to use another technique against Mihawk, "TORA GARI!"

And before he knew it, Mihawk stabbed Zoro as he was about to finish. Johnny and Yosaku cried out to their brother in arms, Nick gripped his fists again, "Hang in there, Zoro."

As the blade was still in his chest, Zoro then straightened his posture, this made Mihawk curious, "Do you wish for me to pierce your heart? Why do you refuse to step back?"

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure." Blood started to drip form Zoro's mouth as he spoke. "But what i do know, is that if i were to take a step back at all, I would be breaking a promise I made to a friend a long time ago. And that I'd never be able to return back to where I'm standing right now."

"Yes, such is defeat." Mihawk commented.

"Then you know why I can't back down."

"Even if it means your death?"

"I'd rather die than give up on my promise." Zoro said with a bloody smile.

Right then Nick could feel in his gut why he really recruited Zoro; it wasn't just because he was strong and had a dream of his own, he was a lot like him. They both have promises to friends that they'd rather die than let break.

Mihawk pulled out the knife, "What is your name, boy?"

Zoro stood strong and moved his swords in a way that both bottom ends of the hilt were alined. "My name is Roronoa Zoro."

Mihawk then put his knife back in the cross and placed his hand on the massive sword on his back. "I will remember that name, for your strength is not oft seen in this world. and to pay my respect to you as a fellow swordsman, i shall end this dude with my black sword, the world's strongest sword."

The blade he drew was massive, the blade was black and the hilt was a large cross.

They both make their stances for one last attack from each. "Secret technique," Zoro and Mihawk passed each other as they swung their swords "THREE SWORD STYLE THREE THOUSAND WORLDS!"

Two seconds later, the two extra swords that Zoro had shattered like glass, the white one on his mouth remained intact. "I lost... I'm no match for him. I never thought I would lose again. So this is the strength of the worlds strongest." He then sheathed the blade and turned to Mihawk and opened his arms wide.

Mihawk didn't understand what he was doing, "Wounds on the back are a swordsman's shame." Zoro said with a confident smile."

"As you wish." Mihawk said wth a devious smile as he slashed Zoro across his front.

Nick couldn't take it anymore, Nick lashed his arm out and grabbed Zoro and pulled him to them. Nick looked to Usopp and the others, "Tend to his wounds."

He then jumped and hopped on the broken pieces of the ship until he was face to face with Mihawk. "He's had enough for one day, Mihawk!" Nick's voice sounded agitated.

Mihawk looked to Nick and smiled, he seamed to admire what he is willing to do to protect Zoro. "Fear not. He'll live. And I do not wish to fight anymore today."

Johnny, Yosaku and Usopp were trying to stop the bleeding and patch up Zoro. Mihawk turned to them and shouted, "I am Hawkeye Mihawk! It is too early for you to die! Become stronger!Become the best you can be! And when you do, SEAK ME OUT RORONOA ZORO!"

Chef Zeff was surprised by that remark, "To think he would say such a thing."

Mihawk then turned to Nick, "What do you aim for, boy?"

"I plan on becoming the next 'King of the Pirates'." Nick answered with a confident smile.

"A tough road lies before anyone who has that goal. Even tougher than surpassing me." Mihawk said as he smiled.

"That just means it's going to be more fun along the way." Nick continued to smile, he then turned around to see if Zoro was ok. "How is he, Usopp?"

His questioned was answered when Zoro raised his sword to the sky. "Nick... (Cough) Can you hear me...?"

"Loud and clear."

"I'm sorry... for worrying you like that... (Cough) I know... that if I don't become... the worlds greatest swordsman, (Cough) it will only embarrass you...!" He coughed a few times and then took a deep breath. "I SWEAR TO YOU, THAT I WILL NOT LOSE AGAIN! UNTIL THE DAY I FACE MIHAWK AGIAN, I WILL NOT LOSE A FIGHT!" he then started panting, "Are you ok with that, Captain?"

"Not at all! Just remember, Zoro, you can only go up from here." Nick finished with a confident smile.

"I just noticed, sir. He acts a lot like you." Jarvis said.

"I noticed that too." Nick whispered.

"HAWKEYE! Did you come all this way out here for my head?" Don Kreig yelled out to him from another broken part of the large ship. "The head of the infamous roller of the East Blue, 'Don Kreig'!"

Mihawk looked annoyed as he turned to him, "For a while, yes. But I am no longer interested in fighting here anymore."

"Well, that makes it easy for me, DIE!" he screamed as he started shooting all kinds of guns at Mihawk.

All the shots that were going towards Mihawk were stopped when Nick stood in front of the bullets and deflected them all with his iron skin. Mihawk was surprised by Nick's action. "I knew you could have deflect every shot, but I just wanted to get Don's attention." Nick said with a smile.

Mihawk smiled and walked onto his little boat, "Then I leave him to you." Just before he took off he had one last statement for Nick, "Take care of your swordsman, I'm rather looking forward to our rematch."

Don Kreig's armor was able to block all the bullets that were shot back at him, "Who the hell are you?"

"I'm Captain Shepard D. Nick, and I'm going to be the King of the Pirates!" Nick yelled with his arms crossed and a confident smile.

TO BE CONTINUED!

On the next "Marvels of One Piece", "Sanji shows his strength! Nick VS Don Kreig!" I'M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!

AN: Hope you guys like my story so far.

Please review, i would like to hear your feedback!