One Piece (Love Story) [Part One]

Chapter Seventy Four [Rewritten]

-Chapter Seventy-Four-

"Now hang on—wait! I'm going to eat it!" the old man assured, owlishly blinking as he soon came to some sort of realization. Looking towards Luffy, he then looked back down at the rubber man's stretched-out arm before screaming in shock. "Ah! What was that?!" he jolted.

"Are you okay, old man?" Chopper worriedly asked, quick to rush to the old man's side when he saw just how shaken he was by Luffy's unnaturally stretched-out arm.

"Don't scare him!" Nami snapped as she struck the top of Luffy's head.

"Sorry" the captain apologized.

"So you ate a Devil Fruit, huh? Speaking of eating" the old man laughed, relaxing after getting an explanation for Luffy's stretched-out arm before he finally started to dig in. "This food, I haven't had anything delicious in ages!" he praised.

"Old-timer, if there's anything else we can do for you, just ask—we'll be more than happy to do it" Nami smiled.

"Yeah, don't be afraid to make any request" I piped up.

"Do you have any particular last request?" Usopp seriously asked, causing the old man to halt in his eating as he stared at the sharpshooter in confusion. Not quite understanding where this air of seriousness suddenly came from.

"No one asked you!" Nami snapped, punching Usopp.

"Quite quick to jump straight to violence, I see" I chuckled, raising my hands in defense once she directed her glare toward me.

"If you like this kind of food, I can make it again for you" Sanji offered.

"You will? Thank you!" the old man brightened. "Yum! It's just so good!" he happily grinned as he continued to stuff his face. "Too much delicious food, it's like I died and went to heaven!" he laughed before suddenly freezing as he dropped his chopsticks.

"What's wrong, old goat guy?" Luffy worriedly asked when he saw the old man grab his chest as he visibly started to shake.

"Oh no!" Chopper gasped.

"Already?!" Usopp stressed, already quick to jump to the worse conclusion.

"Poor thing" Nami whimpered as I felt Zoro take my hand while I covered my mouth and looked away...I wasn't sure if he was doing it to comfort himself or me, yet I didn't care as I scooted closer toward him, giving his hand a tight squeeze in the process.

"Hey, stay with us" Sanji frowned right as the old man loudly swallowed what was in his mouth before giving a sigh of relief.

"Ah, it was so good that I gobbled it down too fast and it got stuck in my throat" he chuckled, unaware of the fright he had just unintentionally given everyone.

"You almost made our hearts stop there, old fellow!" Usopp cried out.

"You had us all worried" I sighed, holding my chest in relief.

"Don't scare us like that!" Nami snapped.

"What a relief, I knew it was too soon for it to happen" Chopper breathed out in relief.

"For what to happen, furball?" the old man asked, blinking as Nami threw one of her shoes at Chopper in an attempt to quickly shut him up.

"Um...nothing, he just meant that it was too soon to stop eating Sanji's delicious food" Usopp nervously laughed as he quickly held up a plate of food. "Here, have some, old-timer" he offered, practically shoving it in the man's face.

"And mine too" Nami added as she held up her own plate.

"And mine as well" Robin gently smiled as she also held up her plate.