Chapter 4

The crew was sat, eating a meal made by Luffy and Nami, a week after setting out from Syrup Village. Luffy spent most of his evening in his room staring at the Devil Fruit. He still wasn't sure what to do with it.

"What are we going to do next Captain?" asked Zoro bringing Luffy out of his Devil Fruit thoughts.

"I'm not sure," he replied, "What does everyone else think?"

"I think there are still some crucial members of the crew that need to be found before we can go anywhere near the Grandline," said Kuro.

"That's a good idea," said Luffy, "We could do with a Chef and a doctor at least. I have heard of an island in the Grandline called Drum Island. They are meant to have some of the best doctors in the world living there."

"Then why don't we check out a sea restaurant for a chef," said Nami, "Ever heard of the Baratie?"

"Meant to have some of the best fighting chefs," grinned Kuro, "Sounds like a good idea."

"Ok everyone, " said Luffy, "Lets get a good nights sleep and make our way to the Baratie tomorrow."

It was going to be another two week trip but Luffy didn't mind as it would give him more time to make a decision regarding the devil fruit.

A couple of days into their trip, Luffy was shocked out of his thoughts by cannon fire. Luffy ran out to the main deck as quick as he could. Looking around for an attacker, he saw Zoro and Kuro praising Usopp for a good shot. Sighing in relief, Luffy walked over to them.

"What happened here?" he asked, "I almost had a heart attack."

"Sorry Captain," said Usopp sheepishly, "Kuro convinced me to test out the cannons."

It's Ok," Luffy chuckled, "How did you do?"

Take a look for yourself," he said pointing at a rock formation that was, now, just dust floating in the wind.

"Good shot," Luffy praised before noticing a small boat coming towards them from the rock formation, "Looks like you've pissed off some people."

Luffy chuckled as Usopp started to panic and worry about being killed by people he almost killed.

"They look familiar," said Zoro, "That's Johnny and Yosaku."

Johnny threw a hook attached to a rope, which Luffy grabbed so it wouldn't damage his ship. Zoro stood by the side so he can stop Johnny from doing anything stupid.

"Big Bro?" said Johnny when he saw Zoro, "What are you doing the ship of Straw Hat Luffy?"

"I'm the First Mate," he said grinning.

"What?" he screamed, "I never would have guess you to become a pirate."

"Me either," said Zoro, "But we are not like normal pirates. We adventure and only take on those that deserve it."

"Oh," Johnny was shocked. He had never heard of pirates like this.

"Where's Yosaku?" asked Zoro, "Is he on his way up?"

"He's ill big bro," he cried, "I don't think he's going to make it."

Luffy quickly jumped down onto the small boat and grabbed Yosaku. Using 'Moon Walk' to get back on the ship, he set Yosaku, softly, onto the deck.

"Usopp," said Luffy, "Run to the kitchen and grab the pitcher of lemon juice I squeezed out this morning."

With questioning his Captain, Usopp ran off to do as asked. He was back in 30 seconds with the juice. Luffy got on the deck and lifted Yosaku's head as he started to give the juice to the man.

It took a minute or two but Yosaku started to cough as he woke up, confused as to where he was.

"What happened?" he asked.

"You're suffering from scurvy," said Luffy, "You need more citrus fruits in your diet."

"Really?" asked Johnny, "That was it?"

"Yep," grinned Luffy, "Now, unfortunately, I am still a pirate. If you don't want me to charge you for my help, you have the option to join my crew."

Both men looked at Luffy in shock. "Why?"

"You're friends with Zoro," said Luffy, "Plus, I need more crew members."

"I'm not sure," said Yosaku.

"Take your time," said Luffy, "You are welcome to stay with us for the time being but if you don't stay, I will charge you for everything."

They both started to sweat, which cause Zoro to, almost, start laughing out loud. He knew his Captain well enough already to know he was joking but it was funny to watch.

They spent the next week and a half getting to know Johnny and Yosaku. The swordsmen were a big help for the crew. They helped to keep the ship clean and kept an up-to-date account of all the cargo. They also wanted to keep a count of all the treasure and cash but that wasn't going to happen unless they joined the crew.

The Baratie came into view at the same time a marine ship pulled up next to them. A man, wearing a suit, was stood on the deck, of the marine ship, and was trying to call up to Luffy on the Galleon.

"Who is the Captain of this ship?" he shouted up.

Luffy jumped onto the railing, "I am," he replied, "What do you want?"

"You're Straw Hat Luffy aren't you?" he asked.

"Yep," said Luffy, "What are you going to do about it?"

Luffy gave a laugh and jumped off the railing and back onto the deck. "Who wants to jump over there and rob them blind?"

Zoro and Kuro gave each other a smirk and jumped onto the marine ship. Taking only 10 minutes, they came back with a couple of bags filled with treasure which put a large smile on Luffy's face.

"Usopp," he called to his sniper, "Sink 'em."

"Aye Captain."

Usopp ran over to the closest cannon and took aim, thankful he kept them loaded. At Luffy's shout of 'Fire', Usopp lit the fuse. The cannonball flew through the air and not only took down the mast but went through the deck and out the side of the hull, low enough to start taking on water. Luffy watched, laughing, as the ship started to sink.

"You're getting much better at that Usopp," said Luffy, slapping him on the back.

They finally docked with a cheer. They were all starting to get hungry. They walked into the restaurant and settled down at a table.

"Order whatever you want guys," Luffy said to Johnny ans Yosaku, "It's on me."

"Thanks," said Johnny, taking a quick look at Yosaku, who nodded back, "Captain."

A massive grin made its way onto Luffy's face. "Welcome to the crew guys. We have a reason to celebrate."

Luffy pulled out a cigar and lit it. He won't admit it but he had got a taste for them after stealing the ones from Captain Morgan.

"My name is Sanji and I am the sous chef but I will be your waiter this evening," said a blonde haired man who had appeared next to Luffy.

Everyone gave their orders but something seemed to change when he got to Nami. "Such beauty," he gushed, "My life is now complete. I can die knowing that I have seen the most beautiful face in the world."

Nami just waved him off and ordered her food. The food was delivered by Sanji with the same kind of attitude. Nonchalance towards the guys and love hearts in his eyes for Nami. Luffy found it quite funny to watch.

"Sanji,"called an old guy from the kitchen door, "Stop flirting. There are customers to serve."

"Alright, you shitty old geezer," he said making his way towards other customers.

Luffy chuckled at the man, he was quite funny to watch but he really needed to find some strong fighters. On the other hand, the food was delicious. There was a burst if flavour with every bite, he couldn't help but savour every mouthful. Sanji arrived at the table when all the plates had been emptied.

"How was your meal?" he asked.

"Amazing," said Luffy with nods from his crew, "Who cooked our food, if you don't mind me asking?"

"That would be me," he said gaining a large grin on his face.

"Good job then," said Luffy, "If you're looking for a new job, I have a space open on my ship."

Sanji chuckled, "Thanks, but no thanks. I can't leave here."

Taking their plates, Sanji walked back into the kitchen, leaving the bill on the table. Throwing, what was definitely an over payment, on the table, the Straw Hats got up and walked out onto their ship again.

Chilling out for the night on the deck, the crew were just having random conversations while lounging on chairs and drinking booze. Luffy was also puffing on, his new found addiction, cigars.

While his crew was chatting around him, he was still thinking about the Devil Fruit in his room. He wanted to eat one but he still wasn't sure what one would be best for him. The thought of having a, currently, unknown Devil Fruit was appealing to him but on the other hand, because he didn't know what it was, he could end up with a very silly power. There was just too many things that was just endearing him to the Fruit and just as many things pushing the thoughts out of his head.

Saying goodnight to his crew, Luffy walked back to his room, cursing Shanks for teaching him how to think.

Luffy struggled to sleep that night as he came up with a decision. He was going to eat the fruit. Getting up from his bed, he walked over to his desk and got the fruit out. He looked at it, following every purple spiral, mesmerised, seeing that each spiral was slightly different from the others.

A knock at his door pulled him out of his stupor.

"Are you up Captain?" called Zoro, "Every one is ready to go for breakfast."

"You guys go without me," he replied, "I'm not feeling too good this morning. Take some cash, it's on me."

"If you're sure," said Zoro sounding worried, "I'll check up on you after."

Luffy heard Zoro's footsteps walking away as he looked back at the Devil Fruit. Picking it up, Luffy gave a deep, nervous, breath. He was ready. It was time. He was going to get an amazing power. This was going to change his life. This was going to change the crew. He really needed to stop stalling.

Another deep breath and Luffy dived in. Grimacing at every bite, Luffy struggled to eat it. The taste was something terrible. The only thing he could compare it too was when, as a kid, he was so hungry he had to eat some dirty, rotten flesh off a dead deer. It was either eat and survive or die. That meal was still better then this fruit.

With a final gag, Luffy finished the fruit and waited. He was expecting some kind of, explosion of power, but nothing happened. He looked around disappointed, thinking he didn't get a cool power, like he wanted. Putting his hands on the table to get up, Luffy stumbled. Looking down to see what had happened, he saw that his arms had disappeared.

He was stood there with a shocked look on his face. Focusing on his arms, he saw them start to appear again from, seemingly, nowhere.

"Can I turn invisible?" he asked himself out loud.

'No,' he thought. If he was invisible, he would have touched the table. Thinking about his fruit, a name suddenly popped into his head. Was this how it worked. Once you ate a fruit, you knew what the name was? Figuring it must be so, Luffy gained a grin. The Wind Wind Fruit. He was a Logia type. His body was made of air and he had control over wind. That would definitely come in handy living on a ship.

He wanted to test his powers. Running outside, he noticed he was much faster than before. Because he was made of air, he no longer had to worry about wind resistance. On the deck, he started to practice with his new powers. He was able to push the wind away and pull it towards him. He was able to completely disappear and found he could even take the air away in small spaces. The one thing he really liked, was when he used his sword to create a sharp blade of wind that he was able to send away from him. He loved his new power.

Everyone came back on board while Luffy was still practicing.

"What is going on?" asked Nami in shock.

Turning to his crew with a smile, "I found a Devil Fruit in our treasure. It was the Wind Wind Fruit. I now have the power over wind. My body is made out of wind too. With the help of the others, Luffy was able to practice some more and find out the current limitations of his new powers.

The next few days were spent practicing Luffy's new abilities, eating amazing meals and trying to convince Sanji to join the Crew. While Sanji wasn't giving in, it seemed as though the rest of the chefs wanted him to leave. They tried to get him to quit by calling him a bad chef and not letting him in the kitchen anymore.

Sanji was started to get frustrated. It was getting to the point where Sanji was spending some time on the Straw Hat ship.

Luffy was woke, one morning, to Usopp shouting for his attention. Luffy jumped up, grabbed his coat and used his new powers, turned into air and appeared on deck with a quick thought at how cool his new power was.

"What's up Usopp?" he called up to the Crows Nest.

Usopp said nothing. He only pointed out to sea with a terrified look on his face. Luffy looked where he was pointing and saw a large battleship with the number 8 on two of the sails. This ship was also followed by ten, slightly smaller, battleships. They came up close and surrounded the Baratie and the Straw Hat ship.

"Straw Hat Luffy," came a voice from the large battleship, "Surrender yourself or both ships will be destroyed."

Luffy used his powers and made his way over to the battleship. Everyone jumped in shock when he appeared in front of them. With a quick look around, Luffy noticed none of the marines surrounding him were in charge. He began making his way across the deck looking for the man in charge. When he finally noticed, he was shocked that he didn't notice the man right away.

He was a very large man with four pink circles on each of his cheeks. He also had a tattoo of the marine logo on his large belly.

"Who are you and why are you here?" asked Luffy.

"I am Commodore Nelson Royale commander of the 8th marine branch," said the large man, "I got a distress call from Lieutenant Fullbody, from this area. He said pirates were attacking his ship."

"Yeah," smirked Luffy, "I sunk him. Do you have a problem with that?"

"I don't care about him," he laughed, "I just wanted more money but you're not worth a lot. I will just have to capture all those cooks and make them work for me."

Luffy gave a laugh and disappeared again. Nelson looked around wondering where the Straw Hatted brat had gone.

That's when he heard it. Large splashes in the water and, what sounded like, wood being destroyed. Looking over to his left, he saw one of his battleships sinking after being cut in half. 10 seconds later, the same thing happened to the next ship.

"What is happening?" shouted a marine as they watched the ships being destroyed one by one.

Nelson looked on in shock. This tactic had never been beaten before. How was one man destroying all of these ships.

"Quick," Nelson shouted to another marine, "Call in to HQ. They need to know what is happening here."

A marine ran off as quickly as they could and fulfil the Commodore's order. It was a minute later when Luffy turned up on the ship once more. After a few seconds of shock, the marines launched in to attack.

Luffy stood there with a grin on his face, watching as every attempt to take him down failed spectacularly. With a laugh, Luffy sent out a blast of air and launched the marines overboard. He gave Commodore Nelson a wave and jumped into the air. Pulling out his sword, he launched several air slashes, completely destroying the battleship.

Luffy went back to his ship, where everyone, including the chefs, where staring at him with their mouths almost to the floor.

"How did you do that?" asked Sanji.

"I ate a Devil Fruit," said Luffy, "I've not had it for long but it's just come natural to me."

Luffy laughed and made his way into the restaurant, with everyone following soon after.

"So Sanji, " said Luffy, "Wanna join my crew yet?"

Before Sanji could answer, Zeff interrupted. "Just go kid," he said, "I didn't save your life just for you to waste it on my dream. Get out there and focus on your own dreams."

Sanji stared at him in shock. He never expected to hear that from Zeff. He really wanted him to find the All Blue. With a determined look on his face, Sanji turned to Luffy.

"If I join your crew," he said, "Can we search for the All Blue on the way to making you King of the Pirates?"

"I insist we look," said Luffy, "What's the All Blue?"

That immediately put a smile on Sanji's face as he went into an explanation of his dream. Luffy listened intently. He loved watching the way people talked about their dreams. He was able to see people's true strength when they talked about their dreams.

They left the Baratie the next morning with Sanji on board. Luffy loved the fact they had an amazing chef at his beck and call. His food was amazing.

The horizon was looking promising for the Straw Hat pirates.