It took a day and a half to reach the Baratie, the wind blowing strong behind them. Everyone stood at the bow as they all stared in awe, Luffy and Usopp drooling.
"The sea restaurant, Baratie!" Johnny announced, arms extended. "So, whaddya think?"
"Wow," Luffy laughed. "It's a big fish!"
And he was right. Baratie was a ship designed to look like a floating fish. It was mostly green, with a white fish head and red accent colors.
Ellis thought the color choice was… an interesting one. Red and green clashed terribly, and reminded her of a certain winter holiday.
To each their own, I guess.
"How lovely!" Nami said.
(Ellis was judging her for that.)
"That's the coolest place ever!" Usopp cheered.
"Just like I told you, right?" Johnny asked.
Then they heard the ringing bell of an approaching ship.
The ringing of a marine vessel trying to grab a ship's attention.
Ellis glanced up to see the Going Merry's flag flying proudly in the breeze.
The pirate flag. With a Jolly Roger in plain view for anyone to see.
For the Marine Vessel pulling up next to them to see.
"Ah!" Yosaku shrieked. "What the–?!"
Ellis threw herself onto the lower deck and pushed past Yosaku standing in the doorway of the kitchen.
Like hell am I going to be recognized for associating with pirates.
"A Marine ship?" Usopp exclaimed. "All the way out here?!"
Everyone else stared as the ship loomed closer. Ellis peeked out from behind the door, peering at it as the Marine ship kept creaking loudly as it approached.
Leave it to the marines to not care for their ships properly. I can barely hear myself think at how loud it's creaking.
"Hey, Luffy," Usopp continued, "they're not gonna start firing at us, are they?"
"Of course the Marines would show up," Zoro bemoaned, gripping on the side rail.
Johnny started not-so-subtly sneaking in her and Yosaku's direction.
Guess he's in the same boat as I am. It's bad business for a bounty hunter like him to be seen fraternizing with criminals.
"But, how did that ship…" Nami wondered.
Everyone was too distracted by the restaurant for anyone to keep an eye out on their surroundings, Ellis thought. Hopefully the Marines are just here to go to the restaurant, too. They might not want the extra work from dealing with pirates when they just want to eat lunch.
Both ships sailed closer to the restaurant as someone approached the side of the Marine ship.
"I've never seen that pirate flag," he said.
Johnny reached the door and peeked out from behind Ellis. "So, do you think he knows you and I aren't a couple of pirates?" He asked Yosaku.
"I'm not a pirate either," Ellis mumbled.
"Uh…" Yosaku whimpered.
The Marine slammed his hand on the railing, the shine on his brass knuckles drawing the eye of Ellis. Or… is that iron?
Is that… surgically attached to his hand?
"I," the Marine boasted, "am Lieutenant Iron-Fist Fullbody!"
Well, that answered my question, I guess.
He lifted his hand into a fist. "But you can just call me Sir."
Was… was that… supposed to be cool?
"You, there! Who's the captain?" He shouted to the Going Merry's crew. "Identify yourself!"
"My name," Luffy stepped up, "is Luffy!"
Then Usopp moved next to him, chin held at a commanding tilt. "My name is Usopp! Got it?!"
Is he still playing pirates? Ellis thought, bewildered. He knows he's talking to an actual Marine Officer, right? They don't take this kind of thing lightly. You know, sailing on a ship under a pirate flag, claiming to be pirates?
Ellis saw Luffy give him a quick annoyed side-eye before stepping forward once more. "We only made our flag the day before yesterday!"
Usopp matched his step. "That's right, Marine! And I drew it!"
This time, the side-eye Luffy gave him was dirty.
"Heh, you did?" Fullbody said with a mocking smirk. "Is that so?"
Ellis ducked right as he turned his gaze at them.
"You two!"
He just missed me! Ellis gave out a relieved sigh. Rip to those guys, though.
"I've seen you before! You're that bounty hunter duo that goes after the small fish, right?"
Johnny and Yosaku took a step out of the doorway in outrage.
"Uh–Well, we–!" Johnny stuttered.
"So, you've finally been caught by pirates," Fullbody said.
Has he never seen the people that pirates have held captive? Ellis thought. They don't let them roam free on their ship, uninjured and unafraid. Able to flee at a moment's notice.
Ellis scrutinized Fullbody.
He seems like he's never gone after an actual threat. No scars, and hair styled like a pretty boy. He's the one that goes after small-fries.
Her eyes drew to his iron knuckles.
I know of marines that've had to get surgical replacements for body parts after a grievous injury. It just looks like he got that iron on top of his fist instead of replacing a permanent disfigurement.
Johnny and Yosaku trembled, whether in anger or fear, Ellis didn't know.
"Well, actually, we–"
Fullbody chuckled. "Well that's a laugh!"
Then a woman stepped out from behind him, holding the crook of his arm like a lady.
Prettyboy, Ellis mentally snickered.
"Hey," the woman said. "Come on, baby, let's get going."
She's dressed in a very nice, probably expensive red dress, hair perfectly styled in a bun with a few strands tastefully framing her face. Not to mention how hard it must've been to keep her makeup from getting ruined, being on a ship and all.
That lady is way out of his league.
"Sure," Fullbody conceded, turning to face her.
He probably came up with a story on how he got his knuckles replaced after taking down some notorious pirate to be able to pick up beautiful women. What a loser.
"Wait a minute!" Johnny exclaimed as Fullbody turned his back, putting his arm around the woman's shoulders.
If the antagonizing party is leaving without getting into a fight, don't drag their attention back at you because of your pride! Ellis mentally shrieked. Live to see another day! Grandstanding isn't a big deal!
Johnny pulled something from the inside of his sweatshirt.
"You think small-time bounty hunters would go after these guys?!" He threw a stack of papers all over the deck.
Ellis eyed the sheets as they drifted to the floor. Well, I'm not the one that's going to clean that up, that's for sure.
She noted that some of them had a red 'X' over them.
Fullbody just kept his back to them, walking away.
He doesn't view us as a threat, and he doesn't want to fight us in front of the woman.
Ellis saw Nami start to move closer to them as Fullbody walked out of sight.
"He ignored us," Johnny grunted.
"Next time he sees us, he better have a little more respect for us," Yosaku said.
Nami crouched at the mess of bounties. "What are these things?" She asked, picking up one in particular.
"Well those are all wanted pirates, Big Sis Nam–" Johnny covered his mouth to catch himself.
Ellis was the only one to see her freeze, to see her face contort into pure hatred and despair.
Johnny cleared his throat. "In other words, if we defeat them, we get the reward money."
Yosaku walked up from behind Johnny, putting his arm on his shoulder. "Pretty lucrative business, huh, Big Sis?"
Johnny covered Yosaku's mouth.
Nami crumpled up the paper, her whole body trembling.
Is… is she okay?
Ellis heard a scraping noise. No, not a scraping noise, more like the sound of a—
"Hey, you guys!" Usopp shouted.
Ellis turned to face the Marine Ship.
"Look!" He continued, "They're pointing a cannon right at us!"
The cannon fired, filling the air with smoke.
"Leave it to me!" Ellis heard Luffy shout. "Now, Gum-Gum…!"
She snapped her head at him right as he got slammed with the cannonball. He was gripping the ship, looking like a deranged human slingshot as he stretched back.
"...Slingshot!"
I hate being right!
Then part of the goat horn he was gripping broke off from the tension, making Luffy change angle as he now turned to face—
Not the restaurant!
The cannonball fired at the restaurant, and Luffy, for the lack of a better term, 'splattered' into the back of the goat figurehead.
They all stared at the smoke wafting from the new hole in the roof as Luffy groaned in pain.
And that stupid Fullbody guy just kept rowing his rowboat closer to said restaurant, as if none of it was his fault.
When employees of the restaurant boarded their ship, the only thing they could do was point at a groaning Luffy. As they dragged him off, all he could do was apologize.
Well, all he would do. He could probably get out of their grasp if he truly wanted to. Or explain what happened.
He did neither.
"So, are you guys gonna clean this stuff up, or what?" Ellis asked the two bounty hunters.
"Y-yes! Of course! Right away, Big Sis Ellis!"
Ellis froze. A twisting feeling arose from her gut as her heart panged. A bruise she almost forgot about.
Big Sis…
It's been a while… since she'd been called an older sister.
Ellis gave a tight, bittersweet smile as the two got to work. She got out a book to read, since it seems like they had nothing better to do. She needed a distraction, and nothing distracted her quite like a book.
They all agreed not to go to the restaurant until things cooled off a bit, so she might as well read one of the classics. Ellis sat at the bow of the ship and opened the cover.
Frankenstein.
After a few chapters, the sound of a hammer brought her back to the world. It seemed like Johnny and Yosaku took the whole cleaning thing a little too seriously, since now they're repairing one of the damaged handrails. You know, the one Luffy swung Johnny into when he first appeared on the ship?
Though it was still his own mess, so I guess it's a good thing he's repairing it. I certainly wasn't going to do it, anyway.
"What's taking Luffy so long?" Usopp asked.
He and Nami knelt by the figurehead, gazing at the restaurant. Zoro sat to the side of them, lounging.
Nami just let out an annoyed, "Ugh."
"Maybe they'll make him work without pay for a whole month," Usopp continued.
"Should've just said it was the Marines' fault," Nami complained, "instead of being so freaking honest."
The conversation lulled.
Ellis felt her stomach grumble
"It's probably been long enough," She said.
Everyone looked at her.
"Things have probably calmed down enough for us to go to the restaurant now. Since Luffy's the scapegoat, we have nothing to worry about, and I'm hungry." Ellis paused, before adding, "Plus, it would be nice to actually eat without fighting Luffy for food, you know?"
"We can totally make fun of him if he is working off the damage," Nami said. "Alright! Let's go eat some food!"
Usopp and Zoro rowed the boat Nami had before they got the Going Merry, toward the restaurant. Johnny and Yosaku's "Hooray hooray!" serenaded them in the background.
Though, when they were mooring the boat, they heard a yell.
"DON'T YOU MESS WITH ME!"
It sounded a lot like that Fullbody dude.
"WAITER!"
He does seem like the kind of dude to scream at retail workers for minor inconveniences, so it doesn't surprise me. At least this time, he doesn't have access to cannons.
Then the sound of furniture breaking in half.
They all stared at the red doors, where the sounds were coming from.
"Here's hoping that asshole got what's coming to him," Ellis mumbled.
As they walked to the door, Zoro stayed in the front, pushing the door open as they all tailed behind him.
Definitely not using him as a human shield, no-sir-ee.
They all paused to take in the scene in front of them.
The woman that Fullbody dude brought with him was on the floor, splayed as if she were tossed to the side.
A table was collapsed in on itself, shattered dishes and spilled food staining the tablecloth and floor.
And, the most eye-catching of all, was Fullbody himself being held in the air by a blond guy in a suit, gripping him at the throat.
"Fullbody…?" The woman said, hand over her mouth in shock as she shakily stood up.
"It's Sanji…" Some chefs stood at the top of winding stairs, staring at the scene.
"What's going on here?" Another chef asked.
All the patrons stared, the atmosphere tense.
"Hm, a fight?" Zoro observed.
Ellis eyed the blood dripping from Fullbody's face, down the blond's arm, and onto the spilled soup.
"Don't ever waste food around me again," he said, a cigarette hanging in his mouth.
Ellis scrunched her nose up as the smell of smoke reached her.
Fullbody's face twitched.
"At sea, if you ever provoke your cook, you're signing a death warrant," the blond continued. "Remember that."
If he's a chef, then why is he smoking? Ellis thought. Doesn't it ruin your taste buds and make it harder to tell what you need when you taste the food you're cooking?
"The customer is alw—" A man walked in from around a corner. "Oh no! Our customer!"
Another chef.
"Damn it! Not again, Sanji!" He stormed over, pointing. "Whaddya think you're doing to our customer?!"
Zoro took this time to lean against the doorway. All four of the newcomers watched the situation with rapt attention.
Is this… normal for him? Ellis thought. I mean, he's living out every retail worker's dream of beating up tough customers, but could he just have anger issues?
"Can't you see he's a Marine Lieutenant?!" The new chef continued.
Sanji clicked his tongue. "You're a terrible cook," he said, turning to look at his coworker. "What makes you think that you can talk to me like that?"
"A crappy cook like you is calling me bad?" He now loomed over the blond. "Restaurants can't exist without their customers. They're our lifeblood, so we don't want to hurt them the way you seem to keep doing!"
"But he deserved it. He didn't treat the food or me with respect, and he insulted all the cooks!" The blond gritted his teeth before releasing his grip, roughly dropping Fullbody to the ground. "So I simply taught him a lesson."
"You're gonna regret this," Fullbody spat out. "All of you!" he trembled, "No restaurant should treat its customers like this. I will shut you down!" He grit his teeth before shouting, "Do you understand me?!"
Bold words to shout at someone that just beat the crap out of you.
"I will shut you down!" He repeated. "This entire place!"
The more he spoke, the angrier the blond got. Ellis could see the veins in his forehead from where she stood.
"This whole restaurant is finished! Do you hear me?!"
Kind of hard not to.
"Then maybe maybe I should just finish you off now," The blond finally cut in.
Fullbody shouldn't be as surprised as he looked. In a world of piracy, death, and murder, is it no surprise for someone to finish off a person that doesn't know when to shut up?
Marines. They have all the audacity, don't they?
Sanji moved to stand over the Lieutenant. Then the chefs from the top of the stairs finally stepped into the action.
"Sous Chef Sanji, stop it!"
As Sanji yelled at Fullbody, the other chefs yelled at him, making it hard to understand what was being said.
Sanji struggled to reach one hand out toward his target. "You're not such a big shot now, are ya?!"
Fullbody's tears mixed with his blood as they trailed down his face, terrified for his life.
Then, something fell through the ceiling.
Well, two someones. One of whom Ellis knew on sight.
Well, I guess that's where Luffy's been this whole time. I was starting to wonder where he'd been since he's usually the one in the center of trouble.
"Oh, boy…" Usopp muttered at the sight of him.
"You could say that again," Nami agreed.
Luffy and the man he fell with stood up. The older chef held his hand against his head in pain, and the rubber boy was gasping for breath.
"I can breathe again," he choked out.
…What where they doing up there?
"Boss Zeff, what's happening here? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?!"
"Dammit!" The old chef bit out, before looking at where they fell from. "The ceiling! Another thing that's gonna have to get fixed because of you!"
If we blamed the Marines in the first place, they could've just paid it off. Now we're all stuck in this mess.
"This is all your fault, you brat!" He continued yelling.
"How is it my fault, you attacked me!" Luffy returned.
"Boss!" The chefs holding back Sanji still struggled. "Can you stop messing around and give us a hand?!"
Luffy and the boss growled in each other's faces.
"Sanji's gone crazy again!"
That got their attention.
"Hey, Sanji!" The old chef yelled. "Don't tell me you went on another rampage in here, you idiot!"
Said blond turned to face him. "Put a cork in it, old man!"
Though he did stop struggling, so the chefs holding him back let go, but still stood around in case he went off at Fullbody again.
"Oh, now you're ordering me around! Just who do you think you're talking to?!" he said. "D'you wanna sink my restaurant to the bottom of the sea? You punk?!"
Zeff kicked him in the face. With his peg leg. That Ellis only just noticed now.
"Just what kind of place is this?" She asked, bewildered.
Fullbody began to smirk.
"You too!" The old chef shouted. "Get your ass out of my restaurant!"
Then he kicked Fullbody in the face with his peg leg.
"What kind of restaurant is this?!" He groaned out, struggling to push himself off the floor. "This boss is a gangster!"
"How can you deny our motto that the customer is king?!" The chef from before, the one to loom over Sanji, shouted.
As the commotion started to settle down a bit, one of the chefs that held back the blond guy spotted them in the doorway and led them over to a table.
"Talk about a dinner and a show!" Nami commented.
"This place is crazy!" Usopp added.
"I just wanted some food…" Ellis whined.
Zoro smirked.
"L–Lieutenant!" Someone shouted from outside. "Lieutenant Fullbody!"
What is it this time?
A Marine ran to the open doorway.
"We–we've got trouble!" He continued. "Sir, he's escaped! Pirate Krieg's henchman attacked us and vanished!"
"What?!" Fullbody exclaimed.
He went to canoodle with a lady at a restaurant while he had a high-priority prisoner on his ship? Is he stupid?!
"Well, sir, we've already lost seven of our men and the only thing we wanted out of him was a lead on finding Krieg!"
"When we picked him up three days ago, he was right on the verge of starving to death!" Fullbody shrieked. "And we haven't fed him anything! Where'd he get the strength?!"
Rage filled Ellis.
He was starving him?! And stopped by a sea restaurant? I could smell the food from the Going Merry, this must've been torture for the guy!
Ellis had to stop and take a deep breath. She needed to be calm.
"Krieg Pirates?!"
Then she took a look around at the other customers. The terror on their faces reminded her that there were normal people on this ship, and there was now a pirate from a notorious crew loose.
"They're the ones who're said to be the strongest pirates on the East Blue…" She heard a customer say.
"I'm sorry, Lieutenant, I—"
A shot rang out.
The Marine fell forward.
The other customers all ran to the walls, leaving her table, Luffy, and the employees of the ship as a man shakily approached.
"It would seem we have a new customer, sir."
"He'd do well to mind his manners, and not start any trouble on my ship." The old chef replied.
"A pirate, huh?" Luffy ruined the mood, hand on his hat.
The Krieg Pirate walked past Fullbody, who did well to keep his gaze away from his escaped prisoner.
Then he sat down at an empty table, putting one foot on top. "I don't care what it is. Just bring me something to eat." He leaned his head back, looking at the group of chefs staring at him. "Come on, this is a restaurant."
Ellis let her eyes trail the blood dripping down his face as he kept up his intimidating stature.
"Hello and welcome, you damn crook!" Sanji's apparent nemesis approached, causing some people to gasp at his words. He had a grin that stretched uncomfortably wide on his face. A clear Customer Service Smile if she ever saw one.
"I'm just gonna say this one more time," the pirate said. "Bring me something to eat and I'll make it quick."
He was starting to look… kind of pallid. And he had a sheen of sweat. He's not looking so good.
"That cook is gonna get us killed," Fullbody muttered.
He's still here? Ellis thought. If I were him, I'd've gotten the hell out of dodge.
"Of course, right away," the cook said, "but might I be so bold to inquire how you're paying for your meal?"
The pirate leveled a gun to his head. "Will a bullet be enough?"
The chef's smile fell into a grimace. "So you don't have any money, then?"
Then the chef slammed his fists into the pirate's head.
"That dumb-ass Patty broke another chair!"
The other customers gasped in delight as the cook beat the shit out of the pirate. Some even started cheering.
Ellis only grimaced.
"Sorry, pirate," the chef said as he stood over the pirate's fallen form, "but our policy is to only serve paying customers."
"Kick his ass, Patty! Show that pirate that we cooks don't screw around!"
There's no need to humiliate him, Ellis thought. He was already a dead man walking, at least give him some dignity instead of making a show out of it.
"Aw, I can hear your stomach grumbling from here, pirate!" The cook continued.
"That was a fart, jerk." The pirate struggled to his knees. "Now listen, I need something to eat now," He choked out.
"We're not getting you anything!" Patty screamed. "So beat it!"
Ellis dug her nails in her palms as she kept her hands in fists.
Patty was now kicking him, and the pirate was just taking it. It was brutal.
But what could I even do?
The Marines literally crawled out of the restaurant in the commotion.
He was just hungry. Not even criminals deserve this kind of treatment–!
"And now, you damn crooks," Patty curtsied with his apron, "if you need anything, just ask, okay?"
People were cheering and clapping and whistling over the poor guy's body before Patty picked him up and carried him out the back door.
Ellis continued to breathe deeply to calm her emotions. Things started settling down, and someone took their orders.
As the waiter walked away, Ellis leaned over the table to the crew. "So, like… we have money, right?"
A/N
3.9k words
Sorry for the wait! Almost everyone in my department quit after we got a new manager, and I've been working my butt off to compensate!
Writing pre-grand line is kind of a drag, but I gotta get those character introductions down so I can get to the good stuff but I just want to write the good stuff!
Anyway, I'm kind of antisocial so I'm bad at like responding to comments, but just know that for each comment I get I'm kicking my feet, twirling my hair, and smiling like an idiot.
(I keep the comments in a separate google doc so I can go back to it and see all of them from each site I post on in one spot to boost my mood)
You guys rock!
(please ignore typoes, I'll get to them eventually lmao)