OR, your tuna dies and goes to heaven
"Mihawk..." You grumble. Luffy putting you back on your own two feet before grabbing his hat from you. "He owes me ten boxes of takoyaki!"
"And meat," Luffy adds, putting his hat on.
"And meat!" You confirm, fixing the string of his hat.
He blinks, offering you a wide grin, before looking to the side once your gloved hands left his hat alone. "All right! They want to fight too! I'm getting fired up!"
Don Something looks about ready to get his ass handed back to him-by your captain of course and nobody else. Your gaze dart towards them, scrutinizing but making no move.
"Pops! You promised, okay?" Luffy bounded up to annoy, in your eyes anyway, the old geezer with a really cool beard. "Once I drive them away, I'll quit doing the chores. Okay?"
How come Yusa Tō couldn't have that cool of a beard? That's so unfair. You swore that old man with his shitty taste in hairstyles would be the death of you someday.
"I couldn't ask for more. If you do chores for a year, this place will get messed up."
"All right!"
You step to the side, pursing your lips together. His beard is so cool. Why is it so cool?
"You said you were going to be the King of the Pirates. Are you serious?"
"Yeah, of course! I'll definitely be the King of the Pirates."
It was as if the camera is panning up to the lower half of the chef's face when he grins ever so mysteriously.
"I've come across tons of roughnecks. But you're the first one in a long time who said that so clearly."
How is his beard so cool-You cleared your throat, and maybe your brain full of that really cool beard, and leaned on the railing to play it cool.
...like the chef's beard.
"I heard that you were an incredibly strong pirate." Luffy beams. "Kinda like (Y/n)'s old man, except he was a merchant."
"Ah..." The chef looks up, squinting at the sky. "So that's why you were so familiar. Yusa Tō, was it?"
"Yu...Yusa-Tooooo-Yeah. That guy." You nod, a rush of forgotten memories running through your mind all at once.
You shake your head once more.
"The Kind Merchant." He finalized with a grin, looking proud of himself for figuring it out. "Just for being in the Grand Line for one year and not even reaching half of it, I heard a lot of stories about you. Brat over there-"
"Mademoiselle!" The blond in a suit circles on over to you, hearts floating around him. "It pains me to not give you attention much more earlier, forgive me of my sins, my dearest-"
"-I didn't know it was that easy to spot me." You continued on, turning a blind eye to the blond. "I thought it'd be much harder since ya know, not really giving my name out back then."
"Oh...Even when you ignore me, you still make my heart race!~"
"I liked that man, never knew what happened to him for him to just vanish in thin air." The chef continues, not even batting an eye at the blond that's twirling around with hearts in his eyes. "I try to keep track of his remaining crew members."
You look down, the floorboards of the floating restaurant meeting your gaze.
"Atleast, who was left, anyway." He clears his throat, then, at the sight of your forlorn eyes, "well, I forgot all about the past. I'm the owner of a restaurant now and that's enough for me."
...what a senile old man.
A gunshot sounds across the open area, and someone falls over. Everyone looks to the side, effectively cutting your conversation short.
"Got that, men? Let's go! We'll take over the restaurant!"
"Luffy..." You breathe out as you caught sight of the gun Don Something held in his hand, which he now pointed to his other crew members.
"Yeah," Luffy says, keeping an eye on the purple-haired man, "he pisses me off."
You waved a hand, grinning as you went inside the restaurant to drag a chair out to sit on. You crossed your legs and rolled your shoulders back, the chefs around gawk at your laid-back attitude. "Feeling's mutual. So kick his ass, Cap'n."
"Here I go! Gum Gum..."
Well, it's not like Luffy needed any permission to beat some guys up.
"...Rocket!"
And besides, you can only pray for those poor souls that managed to piss Luffy off.
- ❐ -
...sixty-one fights...
Your gloved finger scratches your cheek, as the foothold that rose from the sea literally caught on fire by the Pearl Man, sweatdropping at his boasting.
...isn't that much, at all.
Due to Luffy hitting the Pearl Guy in the back of his head and causing him to get a nosebleed, the Pearl Guy bangs the two shields together.
.
.
.
"Ah," you clap your hands together the same time Pearly stopped, "he reminds me of the monkey toy."
The chefs who heard what you said turned around simultaneously to wave a hand. "No, no."
Zeff, as you came to know him, suddenly whips his peg leg around, creating a gust of wind to stop the bullets that were on fire from making contact with the ship.
"Something like that is child's play!" He yells out, with his very cool-looking beard and ugh you can not get over that, "ain't that right, Millennial Merchant?!"
"Oi, oi, no need to call me out like that," you drawl, hooking your hands around the back of your neck, leaning further down into the seat, "but yeah, you're a millennium away from being fit enough to sail in the Grand Line."
"Millennial Merchant?"
"What the hell?! That's definitely a divine technique! So Red Leg Zeff is still that strong?"
Your head lolls back as you tried to suppress a yawn; beating up small fries doesn't bode well for your well-being and ego-it was big enough as it is. So maybe Luffy actually did something right in not letting you fight without his permission.
Luffy hits a mace back into the direction it came from, and that was honestly all you got from the past few minutes.
-ah, you spoke too soon.
"Mind telling me..."
A flintlock falls to the ground with a loud thud. You had moved quicker than the stranger that had appeared out of nowhere. Zeff looks back at the commotion, never mind the fact he almost got murdered.
"...why you're tryin' to shoot a man's back?" The stranger's bloodshot eyes were wide, he sputters and struggles against your sudden grip on his arm.
"(Y/n)!" Luffy warns. Your grip tightens even more, shooting the man you held a glare that leaves him trembling even more.
You scoffed before you let go. "Gaahh...I got it, I got it." You kick the gun away though, just to be sure he doesn't try anything, grumbling under your breath as you stalked back to sit again.
The stranger takes one long look at you, determining if you're going to move again, which you were not, Captain's orders. After making sure you weren't going to interfere again, he continues his spiel.
"Please leave the ship without a fight. I don't want to kill you."
The blond in the suit mocks, flicking his cigarette around before putting it between his lips, "leave this ship? Why don't you just go to hell?"
You slink further down in your seat, crossing your arms like a toddler as you pouted. This was unfair. Luffy was unfair. And selfish. Really selfish.
"Man, do you look stupid, you damn geezer. If you needed saving from someone, you can't set a good example for the fighting cooks."
Zeff huffs, disbelief rolling off in waves, as he turns away from the stranger who's standing awkwardly now that his gun was taken away. "Hmph! I don't need a lecture from a little brat."
"Where do you get off calling me a 'little brat,' you damn bastard?! Stop treating me like a kid already!"
Ignored by everyone, you continued to sulk by the broken doorway, mindlessly drawing circles in the air as your soul tries to leave your body.
"If you wanted to fight so badly, I'll gladly take you on. Both you and that shitty pearl bastard!"
"If you want to die so bad, then I'll gladly do the honors of killing you in a refined way..."
The cooks who noticed your soul escaping frantically tries to pull it back down to your lifeless body.
"...is there even a refined way to kill someone?" Your soul asks, and the cooks all screamed in fright.
"Come at me! Both of you damn bastards!"
"Sanji! Are you stupid?! You're gonna die!"
"Why? If you abandon this restaurant, everyone's life will be saved. It's a no-brainer, isn't it?!"
"This restaurant is that damn geezer's treasure!" The blond cook mutters as he stands between his two opponents, "I took everything away from that damn geezer...His power...His dream..."
Your soul stops trying to get into Heaven's Gates, which you weren't even going to be allowed inside, let's be honest here, and slowly floats back down. The cooks all sighing in relief.
"So... I don't want that damn geezer to lose anything else!"
And as your soul approvingly went back to your body, the blond in a suit got his skull squished by the pearl man and wow, this is such a perfect time to squeeze in a little backstory, huh.
Ah...But man...Since when did East Blue get so interesting? Last time you checked, Devil Fruits here were just made-up legends.
"He ate his leg and gave me all the food. So that I can survive! I..." He gets up, the floorboard creaking under his weight. "I can't repay the damn geezer for his kindness unless I risk my life for him, too!"
Too bad the blond cook doesn't quite get it yet.
"Gum Gum Battle-Axe!"
And, as the foothold breaks into pieces, neither you nor Luffy approves of it.
- ❐ -
"The porch broke into pieces?!"
"Gin! Cut off that old man's head!"
"Hey! I haven't hurt any of you! I only broke the porch!"
"You idiot, what were you thinking?!"
You shooed the cooks away with a wave of your hand, your soul successfully back to where it belongs. The cooks backed off with a relieved sigh, recovering from when they looked like they were about to piss their pants.
groooowl
"Oh, man...I'm starving..." The cooks look at each other, sweatdropping at your woeful form while not knowing what to do. I mean, their restaurant is in a dire situation, and yet you're here almost relaxing with not a care in the world.
Technically, it was Mihawk's fault for making you starve. He should've at least left some money to you, in compensation for leaving so suddenly but noo, he was tired and wanted to go to sleep.
Asshole.
"Mustache, which way's the kitchen?" You ask just as Luffy declared he would sink the restaurant down. Hopefully, he does it later when you're not raiding the kitchen for food to steal.
His voice cuts in, having been held up by the collar by the blond cook. "So you're gonna die for the restaurant? Are you stupid or something?"
Meanwhile, Zeff who's kept his back turned to you, shakes his head briefly before pointing at the general direction of what you assumed was the kitchen.
Food, here you come!
- ❐ -
"...steak...yellow-finned fish...chopped pork...chicken fillet..."
You rummaged through the pantry with no shame for the owners and no shame for your actions. In the back of your mind, your sense of morality was trying to get you to step away from the pantry, to think about all those poor, poor souls starving out in the sea with no food to eat.
...in the end though, your growling stomach won and you continued digging through the cabinets.
Truly, what a heinous creature you are. It was almost like you were a pirate.
You snorted, pushing aside a bag of flour to reveal what's behind.
Pirate. You never thought you'd refer to yourself as a pirate in East Blue. You had imagined it to be somewhere in Paradise, at least, but in East Blue? It almost seemed like a joke.
But, as the bag of rice fits perfectly in your gloved hand, you guessed Luffy was no joke.
The ship suddenly trembles and shakes as an explosion sounded off outside, throwing you around if it weren't for your quick thinking skills to latch onto the nearest thing, which happened to be...
"Eh? Canned tuna fish?"
...East Blue's Best Tuna: All Blue Delicacies!
Your grip on the can tightens, and you silently prayed to Davy Jones, before being thrown against the wall.
Atleast you had East Blue's Best Tuna: All Blue Delicacies canned good with you.
You then lose your grip, sending the can flying through a window, shards of glass spraying everywhere upon impact. You gazed at the speck of dot getting farther away from you.
"M-my...tuna..."
Gone was your self-confidence and your will to live.
- ❐ -
Luffy might like a couple of roasted ham, you mused once you've gotten over your canned tuna that probably went to heaven, opening the fridge for said food.
There were more explosions that followed the initial one, but like any normal and sane human being, you ignored it and continued raiding the kitchen. Food the only thing occupying your mind since coming here, at this restaurant, to eat, for Mihawk to pay, to treat you.
The plate of meat cracks under the pressure you're unknowingly letting out.
You shake your head, grumbling, what's done is done. Mihawk wanted to go home after not treating you, and you already moved on from that. You're not salty at all. Nope, not even a little bit.
You went outside the balcony after grabbing a plastic container of what you assumed to be mushroom soup. You're not sure. It was liquid and brown, that's what a mushroom soup is, right?
"Ack! What's with that face?!" Someone screams once you're outside the kitchen. You look up from the container and locked eyes with three people on the second-floor balcony. Two chefs who looked way too out of place in the kitchen and was much more fitting to be inside a fighting ring, and the stranger that tried to shoot Zeff from before.
"What's with what face?" You ask, bewildered at the suddenly horrified chefs.
The chef with a white rope tied around his head points a finger. "Your face! It's sad and confused at the same time! How is that even possible for a human being?!"
The chef with sunglasses drives a punch on his head. "If Owner Zeff heard you talking to a woman like that, you won't be frying any eggs in this restaurant no more!"
"I'm sorry!"
The stranger that tried to kill Zeff looks shocked for the most part, but you're willing to bet it wasn't because of your face, like the other two were fussing about.
"Err...it's okay? I guess..?" You let out confusedly, walking closer to the railings to see what was happening down there. "What happened? Has Luffy won yet?"
Both chefs look stupored but regained their bearings just as fast. But before they could even respond to you, the stranger does so.
"Don Krieg has been defeated...This can't be true. He's the ruler of the East Blue..."
Your elbows leaned on the railings, the plate of meat and the container of mushroom soup(?) in the palm of your hands.
"That man is...that man is...that man is...that man is..."
White Rope Chef furiously points at Don Something who was on the ground, defeated. "Even if you say so, just take a look at that!"
"His proud armor got shattered and he's knocked out." Sunglass Chef doesn't help, and just added more fuel to the fire.
"Take a good look at him." You add your own thought, not looking back if he was even listening to what you're saying. "Take a good look at your defeated captain. And see."
You looked for Luffy in the meantime, finding him beside the blond cook he wanted in the crew. You snorted, was he really sleeping right now?
"Oi, wait underling! If you moved around now, the poison'll pass into your system!"
Poison? What poison? Where did that even come from?
"Don't move around!"
"I'm saying this for your own good!"
"Oi! You're gonna die!"
"Let him go," you weighed the food in your hands absentmindedly, "he has to go to his captain."
The two brutes-chefs, not brutes, get it right-looks between each other, unsure if they should follow you. The stranger though keeps walking away with more refined dignity than before.
Eventually, the two backs down and followed behind the stranger. You look back, just in time to see the stranger punching his captain on the stomach, effectively knocking him out.
"When in the world..."
You shake your head with a smile before resuming to watch everything unfold from above. It's a nice view after all.
The stranger thanks the cook while flinging his captain over his shoulder with ease. The cook replying with a more or less nice way of saying goodbye.
"Sanji-san, when he wakes up, please tell him I said... I'll see you again in the Grand Line."
Oho? Your eyebrows went past your hairline. Ohohohoho?
"When I think about it carefully, that's the only thing I want to do...It seems that Don Krieg's ambition became mine as well before I knew it."
Ohohohohohohohoho
The stranger coughs his lungs out. "Maybe...I can live a few more hours... It's kind of stupid that I'm resolved because I don't have much time left, but this time, I want to do it with my own will...in my own way."
Oho?
"Then there'll be nowhere for me to escape, right?"
...o...ho?
"I've just been running away using Don Krieg's name as a shield. Once you're resolved, you don't have to think about stupid things like fearing your enemy or how to keep from getting hurt...I learned it from that guy."
. . .
"Patty! Carne! Give him the boat used to go grocery shopping!"
"What are you stupid?"
"Why do we have to give our boat to pirates?!"
"What's gonna happen to our grocery shopping?! You idiot!"
"He's right! Let those guys swim!"
"Just bring it out already!"
"Okay, we got it..."
"Don't yell at us..."
Was those two brutes crying because someone younger than them was screaming at them?
You sweatdrop at the threats you overheard when they were walking away, not at all trying to hide their plans.
"If we want to defeat Sanji, we have to do it when he's injured...We'll just gather fifteen people and then beat him up at night!"
"He'll see!"
- ❐ -
You stare at the ceiling with mismatched wood, obviously having been recently repaired by an inept man.
"That's crappy repair work."
"Your captain did that."
"Ah, I see."
You whipped your head around, "he did?!"
Zeff nods, almost solemnly.
"...I don't even want to know why."
A couple of weeks with you gone, and Luffy has already done that much damage..? Just imagine what he could do in two years alone...Davy Jones, you don't even want to think about.
You turn away the shabby repair that was apparently done by your captain to find Zeff digging around his storage closet for something.
He had called you in to talk about something. If you had to guess, it would probably be about the Yusa Tō or the Millennial Merchants. Could be both though.
...There was nothing to hide anymore. So any questions he has, you'll try your best to answer them truthfully.
"The ship that took that Brat and I years ago..." Zeffs speaks up, grabbing something out of the closet. "Was it one of yours?"
He unravels a white cloth, revealing to you the insignia stitched on it.
"Mine?" It's of a world being carried in the shoulders of someone in black thread. You shake your head with a smile. "No. They are their own. I own no one."
He grunts, as if having expected your answer, and folds the cloth neatly to store it back inside again. You stalked to the windowsill to lean on it.
"Thank you." Zeff's voice carries out from behind you, undeterred by your answer. "If it weren't for you, and the Atlas League, I wouldn't have been able to achieve my dream."
You spot Luffy talking to the blond cook below. The latter waving his arms around as if he was telling a magnificent story.
"...And that idiot wouldn't be able to look for his."
Letting a smile creep on your lips, you chuckled. "No problem. It's what I do best."
"Yusa Tō, even if I hadn't even met him, I think he would be proud of you."
Luffy almost falls over but Sanji keeps continuing to tell his tale.
"...I hope so."
- ❐ -
Is this...
Is this what they call...
Favoritism?
You're seated next to Zeff, who's busy handing out soup, by sheer pressure from all the cooks around the two gigantic tables.
Luffy and the blond cook, on the other hand, were seated on the floor. You shot your captain a look but he shook his head and proceeded to eat on the floor.
If that wasn't enough...
"Ha! When it's this bad, it's art now. It makes me sick to my stomach!"
The blond cook was ready to throw hands, but he kept it inside his pockets. "I'm sorry, but I'm really confident about today's soup. There's something wrong with your taste buds!"
"Ugh! This is nasty!"
"I can't eat it!"
"Right, guys?!"
"I can't eat something like this!"
"This is damn nasty soup!"
"I can't eat soup like this!"
"This is terrible! Someone give me some water!"
You slurped your soup up though, proving everyone wrong but they didn't care enough to cover you, continuing with their whole act.
"Goddamn..." You whisper as you shimmy out of your seat, carrying the plate of meat and the container of questionable soup to where Luffy sat against the wall, munching on an octopus.
A plate lays on the ground, broken into pieces when Zeff had thrown it after eating every drop of the soup.
"This is some drama, huh, Cap?" You pass Luffy the plate of meat once he's done chewing. He accepts it with a grin and a quick thank you.
"Don't flatter yourself!" Zeff punches the blond down. "It'll be a billion years before you can give me a lecture on cooking, little brat! I'm a man who has cooked around the world."
Sanji runs out of the room.
"Ah..." Luffy has the ladle of soup over his bowl, gone from his spot beside you. "This soup is super good, you know..."
"We know that." Zeff replies.
"Eh?"
"Sanji's cooking skills are recognized by everyone here."
"It's not bad at all."
"Yeah, the soup is very well made."
"Boy, that was scary...He seriously snapped..."
"Yeah..."
You watch Luffy dry out the pot of soup with the ladle itself used as his spoon. You sweatdrop at this.
"But that idiot won't listen unless we go this far..." Zeff sighs.
You take a spoonful of the soup.
...yummy.
"Say, you guys."
"Hm?"
"You were saying you that you wanted a cook for your ship, right? This isn't a favor that I'd like to ask of you or anything, but would you take that little brat with you..."
You take another spoonful.
"...to the Grand Line? The Grand Line...is his dream."
Man, this soup is really yummy.
"But Owner, you really made us put on quite a show."
"I was worried that he might figure it out 'cause of your bad acting."
"Haha! Your acting was horrible too!"
You watch as the chefs clamor for the pot in Luffy's hands, all of them screaming for more soup. There's some movement outside the window that caught your attention.
It was Sanji, leaning against the door with his head buried deep in his arms.
You smiled and ate more of your soup.
"So? What do you say, kid?"
"No."
.
.
.
"Eh? I thought you wanted a cook for your ship. Or are you saying that he's not good enough for you?"
Luffy picks up the plate of roasted ham to resume eating. "He's good enough, all right. I do want him to come with me. But he says he wants to continue working here as a chef." He speaks while chewing. "Even if you guys ask me to take him with me, I cant."
"After all, being a pirate unwillingly takes all the fun out of it." You pipe in with a spoon inside your mouth.
"So you're saying that you can't agree to it until he tells you so himself, huh?"
"Exactly. More please!"
"Well, fair enough...But who knows if that twisted brat just say he'll go..."
"There's no way he can, since he's an idiot through and through..."
"More please!"
You step away from the door just as it broke down. Sanji wasn't as fortunate, seeing as he was underneath...
"A fishman?"
- ❐ -
You watch the seas around the Restaurant. The islands in the immediate vicinity, last Mihawk checked and said to you, were...
You frowned.
...Arlong.
"Let's go." Luffy walks to you with Yakusabi behind. Nodding, you moved to follow after him.
"Wait." Sanji interrupts. "We both have foolish dreams. In order to achieve my goal, the All Blue..."
You look back. "Hmm?"
"Sanji?"
"Yeah. I'll come along...on your journey to become the Pirate King!"
"What?"
Your eyes crinkle, watching Sanji acting all cool and stuff just for the sake of keeping up a reputation.
"I'll be the cook for your ship. Is that okay or not?"
Luffy jumps up, throwing both his arms in the air. "It's okay! All right!"
"Finally, some good fucking food." You burst out laughing, a gloved hand resting on your forehead as your head shakes.
The images of burnt fish and inedible curries dissipate into the void of nothingness. After months of suffering, you cant finally salvage what's left of your taste buds...
Luffy throws an arm around you to bring you closer, "hear that?! We'll finally have good food!"
"No more unsalted potatoes!" You cheered, going around in circles as Yakusabi joins in as well.
- ❐ -
Besides Arlong, who's there?
You lean on the gunwale with crossed arms, looking up towards the sky.
Arlong is one of the names that remained in your papers even after a decade, with no signs of stopping and no sign of the nearest Marine Base putting out any reports about him of any kind.
Arlong...Arlong...Arlong...
"You don't want to say goodbye?" Luffy asks, bringing you out of your thoughts.
"That's okay," Sanji says as he begins to put down his stuff on the boat.
"Sanji!"
Your eyes flick over to the figure standing against the railing of the balcony. Sanji stills as well, having not expected his name to be called out.
"Don't catch a cold."
And Sanji crumbles. Tears started to pour from his eyes and his lips quiver to try to form a straight line.
You smiled, what a senile old man.
"Owner Zeff!" Sanji yells, dropping to his knees and digging his forehead into the ground, showing his utmost gratitude in the only way he knows he can.
"Thank you for all the damn things you've done for me after all these years! I'll never forget your kindness...for the rest of my life!"
And then...the waterworks.
One by one, all the cooks present bursts out crying with snots running down their noses. Sanji looks up to quite a sight.
"You asshole!"
"I'll miss you, dammit!"
You and Luffy share a knowing look from behind. Both of you nod, agreeing with each other, before turning back.
"I feel sad, dammit!"
"You idiots! Men should part without a word!"
Luffy throws his arms up, breaking the moment, or perhaps adding more to it in his own little way.
"Let's go! Set sail!"
You grinned, pulling Sanji by the hand aboard the boat.
"Hurry!"
Sanji smiles, a big, big, one as he turns around to flail his arms at the cooks he will leave behind.
"I'll see you again, you damn bastards!"
Sanji will for sure be a damn great cook.
- ❐ -
LOG ENTRY
ATLAS LEAGUE
Established by the Riku Kingdom, and acknowledged, but not affiliated whatsoever, by the World Government with its legitimacy.
It is a league compromised of 345 merchant and mercenary guilds, from East Blue to New World.
They follow no one; pray to no gods; bow to no kings and slaves to none.
They are the islanders whose freedom was given back by the gloved hands of the Child of the Seas.
- ❐ -
A/N* so... it's been a month...since i last updated...i can explAIN-
I REWROTE THE FIRST THREE CHAPTERS OK A Y THAT'S LIKE A LOT OF WORDS IM SORRY I'LL MAKE IT UP TO U GUYS
anyways, if u wanna reread it, go ahead, but if not, well here's a brief description:
You and Luffy meet after you exploded a slave transport ship. For weeks on end, Luffy has been trying to get you onboard his crew, but you're hiding from him bc u didn't understand. The rest pretty much goes the same as before.
ALSO HAVE U GUYS SEEN ODE N-😭🤧 if he wasn't dead, he would a HUNDRED PERCENT be a part of ur harem-
EDITS - Added Page One, Apoo, Yassop, and Ulti as Love Interests.
see ya~!
-
Artwork Credits: Eiichiro Oda