Disguises:
-x-
Late at night, a small band of four marines from Navarone held a floodlight on the Going Merry as they recapped the spooky situation that they were now in the middle of.
"Is what they said about this ghost ship falling from the sky really true?" the marine holding the floodlight asked.
"I don't buy it," the marine next to him insisted.
"But if Navarone is supposed to be this big impregnable fortress..." a third marine pointed out, "How else could it have gotten in here if it didn't fall from the sky?"
"I heard that there wasn't a single crew member on board," the fourth marine said cryptically. "But the table was set for coffee and was still warm. Like people had been there until that exact moment. But that's not all... inside the cargo hold..."
"They found gold?" the first and second marines exclaimed.
"Ssshh!" the third marine shushed them.
"They found gold alright," the fourth marine continued, "Ancient gold dug up from some old ruins somewhere."
"I don't know about you guys but that's the creepiest story I've ever heard," the second marine admitted.
"So... so it really is a ghost ship?" the third marine asked.
"Those poor saps must have been cursed from stealing all that gold," the first marine resolved.
And so the rumors of the Going Merry being a ghost ship continued to spread across the base well into the night.
-x-
Early the next morning, the G-8 Marines began to take action.
"Attention Units 4, 6 and 10 under Lieutenant Commander Drake," Ensign Christopher's voice sounded through the base early in the morning. "Assume battle stations for Yellow Alert!"
In a changing room, one marine was struggling to pull on his uniform pants while another adjusted his tie in the mirror.
"I don't care what kind of ship it is," the marine looking in the mirror insisted. "No one picks a fight with our fortress."
"Hurry it up!" the other marine exclaimed once he'd pulled up his pants. He grabbed the first marine by the collar and dragged him out of the room.
-x-
"Lieutenant Drake's Units 4, 6, and 10 are to report to Control Room 1 in the Central Base," Ensign Christopher's voice continued to sound through the base.
Sanji watched through the grate of a ceiling vent as a group of marines ran down by beneath him.
"I think I know where we are and it isn't good," Sanji said as he stared down at the marines. "If I'm right-and I hope I'm not-then we've landed right in the middle of an invincible fortress that the marines' call Navarone. So what's our next move, Captain?"
Sanji look up from the grate and glared at Luffy who was sleeping soundly in the vent.
"Ugghh..." Sanji groaned in annoyance. He'd grabbed Luffy to keep the Captain from getting into trouble. "As usual... our Captain could care less..."
"On the double men! This is an emergency order!"
-x-
Vice Admiral Jonathan watched from the balcony outside his office as the large marine ship pulled the Going Merry across the water way.
"We'll more the pirate ship to Dock 88 and run a full forensics sweep," Lieutenant Commander Drake reported as he stood behind Jonathan.
"Hmm..." Jonathan hummed to himself.
Knock! Knock! A marine knocked on the office door and let himself in.
Jonathan and Drake turned to face him.
"We have a situation," the marine announced as he held a Transponder Snail. "Sirs, some vessels that are outside the sea gate are demanding entry."
"Demanding?" Lieutenant Commander Drake repeated.
"Due to the State of Emergency, I advised them to stand by," the marine explained, "But..."
"Sir," the voice of one of the marines on the ships outside came over the Transponder Snail. "We barely made it out of that storm in one piece! Please allow us to dock! I don't know how much longer we can stay afloat!"
The marine speaking had his arm in a sling while two marine behind him carried a third across the ship on a stretcher.
"I don't care how badly their ships are damaged," Lieutenant Commander Drake insisted. "There's a possibility that pirates have infiltrated this fortress. So they'll have to find help elsewhere. If we let them in now, it'll cause confusion..."
"Open the gate," Vice Admiral Jonathan interrupted. Drake turned to stare at him in surprise. "Permit their entry. And immediately assign a medical team to them as well."
"Yes sir," the marine with the Transponder Snail replied. He turned and left the office.
"Vice Admiral..." Drake spoke up.
"What a terrible thing it is to be helpless in the middle of the Grand Line," Jonathan sympathized with the injured marines. "Even someone like you can understand that feeling, can't you Lieutenant Commander?"
"Of course I understand..." Drake admitted. His fist was clenched and shaking, "But what about the pirates?"
"I've got the situation in hand," Jonathan told him. "To tell you the truth, its been quite some time since I've gotten this riled up about anything. They can't get out of the fortress so the problem becomes finding them. But why did they even come to Navarone in the first place?"
Jonathan picked up three familiar wanted posters from his desk and stared at the one on top.
"Monkey D. Luffy..." Jonathan mused. That's where he made his first mistake. He focused on Captain worth 100,000,000 berries that was grinning like a buffoon. As a result, he didn't pay enough attention to the sly First Mate giving him the finger and the glaring green haired swordsman worth 80,000,000 and 60,000,000 berries.
-x-
In the gate control room, a large gear spun as the huge metal G-8 Gate to the fortress was lowered to permit the three battered marine ships to enter the base.
"Three ships are coming in!" one marine called out.
"Proceed with caution," another one barked, "We are now at Red Alert!"
"Ready the boarding inspection bridge!" a third marine called out.
Two marines ran along one side of the bridge while a familiar green haired swordsman walked casually along the opposite side.
Zoro wore no disguise. He was in his ordinary clothes with is swords on plain display. It was only through sheer luck that the busy marines that were working the gate hadn't spotted him.
"This base is huge," Zoro thought to himself as he glanced around. He was unconcerned about being spotted and was more worried about the fact that he had no idea where he was.
"Anyway... where the hell am I?" Zoro wondered out loud. "I'm lost."
The massive gate had finally been completely lowered and the three battered ships sailed in.
-x-
Further inside the Marine Base, Nami peeked around a corner as she attempted to figure out where she was. Overnight she'd managed to slip into the base undetected. But finding anything while inside it was another story.
"Who decided that this fortress should also be a maze?" Nami complained. She ducked back behind the wall as three marines ran by. "It's so big I can't even map it out."
Once the marines were gone, Nami rounded the corner and headed off in the opposite direction.
"We have to get out of here," Nami said to herself, "And soon. But the more time that passes the more lost I get."
Nami ran to a green door with a grated window at the end of the hallway and pulled it open.
"Now where have all the others gone?" Nami asked out loud as she slipped through the door.
She found herself out on a balcony that overlooked the water then gasped at what she saw... or didn't see.
"Where's the Merry?" Nami questioned. "The Going Merry's gone! They must've taken our ship and if they took our ship... THAT MEANS THEY TOOK OUR GOLD! NO-NO-NO-NO!" Nami ran along the balcony and scanned the water for any sign of the Going Merry but it was long gone. "Aww! All our precious gold is gone! And after we went through so much to get it!"
Nami sighed and continued along the balcony and blinked in surprise when she saw three battered battleships anchored alongside the central island.
"Battleships?" Nami noted. "They weren't here before."
-x-
"You must be Unit 31," one of the G-8 Marines noted as the marines unloaded their injured men from their battleships, "Report to the building in Block 7."
-x-
"Hmm..." Nami thought out loud. "If there are new ships coming in it means that this place isn't a gigantic lake after all. It is connected to the open sea! I just need to find the guys so we can get the ship and get the heck out of here. Maybe if I disguise myself I could go under cover as one of the marines... find the guys and gather more information. Y/N, Luffy and Zoro have bounties so they're known by almost everybody in the marines... but no one knows what I look like."
Nami was caught up in her musings so she didn't hear anyone approaching until it was too late.
Krek! The door swung opened.
"Aw crap!" Nami cursed. She whirled around to face two strange men.
They were both fairly tall. The first one was big and round with scruffy brown hair and a scruffy beard. He a wore chef's hat and what looked like a fancy cooking uniform.
The other man was taller and thinner than the first. He had dark hair, a thin mustache, arched eyebrows and wore a fancy-looking purple suit with an orange and black striped tie.
Both men carried bags with various cooking equipment sticking out of them.
"This fortress has a terribly lay out," the first man complained.
"It's like a maze," the second man added.
"Excuse me, Miss," the first man addressed Nami, "Do you know where the kitchen is?"
"What? The kitchen?" Nami repeated. These men weren't marines looking to arrest her. She quickly grinned and nodded. "Oh, of course I know where it is!"
"We're the Marley Brothers," the second instructed himself. "I'm Jacob and he's Robert. We just arrived on those ships down there."
"And of course the first thing we do is get lost," Robert Marley continued for his brother.
"I'm sorry to hear that," Nami apologized on behalf of the marines. "I got lost a lot when I first came here. But that must have been at least five years ago."
"Five years, you say?" Jacob Marley questioned.
"Please, take us to the kitchen," Robert Marley requested. "We beg you. It would be such an embarrassment if we had to ask any of the cooks here for help."
"Maybe I can just say 'no'," Nami quickly thought to herself.
"We just came from Mariejois," Jacob Marley explained, "And it wouldn't hurt you to do us one little favor."
"Looks like I can't say 'no'..." Nami realized.
"Please say you'll help us," Robert persisted.
"Of course!" Nami agreed with no real other option. "Sure! No problem!" Nami led the two brothers back into the base and attempted to lead them through a base she knew nothing about. "So... do you two know anything about our little base?"
"We know much about the Culinary Arts but nothing about this fortress," Jacob replied.
"As a matter of fact, we are Marine Chefs," Robert told her.
"Wow, celebrity chefs?" Nami questioned.
"Doh hohoho!" Robert laughed. "My brother and I have been assigned to take over as Head Chefs of this kitchen."
"On Mariejois we satisfied the pallets of officers who expected nothing but the finest cuisine," Jacob continued. "We brothers are far from the kind of cooks who excrete insignificant meals on a base in the middle of nowhere and we must prove to them that we are in a different league."
"Oh give me a break," Nami complained to herself. "I've gotta ditch these arrogant jerks and find a disguise or we'll never get out of here."
She quickly spun around to face the two brothers. "Well! I guess that makes you guys the best!" she exclaimed. She pointed down the hallway they'd just passed. "Now all you've gotta do is go straight ahead and take a right then take two lefts and your first right and you'll be there."
"Okay," Jacob said as they started down the hallway.
"Thanks," Robert replied.
"See ya..." Nami whispered as she snuck off.
The two brothers made it two doors down the hall when they stopped at another hallway. "Wait... is this the first right?" Jacob wondered.
They looked back the way they came but found that Nami was long gone.
"Huh?" the Marley Brothers questioned. They were lost again.
-x-
Nami slipped a marine cap on backwards over her orange hair to finish off her disguise as a marine chore boy (girl). She wore a white and blue marine uniform with an apron over it.
"This'll do just fine," Nami decided as she slipped out of the janitors closet she had found the uniform inside.
"Roronoa Zoro..." Nami jumped in alarm. But quickly realized she was in disguise.
She watched as Lieutenant Matthew led two marines down the hallway right toward her.
"That so-called Ghost Ship actually belongs to Straw Hat Luffy and his crew," Lt. Matthew informed the two men trailing him. "We have been given a secret mission to track down and apprehend the infiltrators. Among them is one who's considered to be extremely dangerous."
Nami quickly grabbed a broom and began sweeping the floor as her disguise's job entailed.
"You mean the Roronoa Zoro?" one of the other marines questioned as they passed Nami. "The famous Pirate Hunter. I hear he uses the three sword style."
"We're going to make him and the others regret ever coming here," Lt. Matthew resolved as the three marines rounded the corner.
"They're going to make me regret what?"
Nami jumped at the sound of the familiar voice.
Zoro walked out from an open hallway and stared after the marines.
"Aw, I'm definitely going in circles..." the swordsman complained.
WOMP! Nami ran over smacked Zoro over the head with the handle of her broom.
"HOW COULD YOU JUST STROLL AROUND A HOSTILE FORTRESS?" Nami yelled.
Zoro turned to face his uniformed assailant. "I am so gonna kick your..." Zoro trailed off as he recognized the marine chore boy that had just hit him. "Oh, it's you."
"YOU'LL GET CAUGHT IN NO TIME IF YOU KEEP WALKING AROUND WEARING THOSE THINGS!" Nami berated him. She reached out and snagged Zoro's swords.
"HEY!" Zoro exclaimed.
"You'll probably get me caught too," Nami grumbled.
They both stiffened when they heard footsteps coming down the hallway.
"Come on Zoro, you've gotta hide now!" Nami turned and ran through the door behind them. They came out on another balcony.
"Wait! My swords!" Zoro protested as he chased Nami out onto the balcony.
Just as they left, two marines walked down the same hallway.
"'Bout time to eat, huh?" one asked the other. They paid no attention to the opened door that led to the 'empty' balcony.
"Yeah, I'm starving," the other marine agreed. They continued on their way.
"Alright, they're gone," Nami announced as she peeked around the door again.
"Ugh... I'm tired of all this sneaking around," Zoro complained. "Tell me again why we can't just fight 'em?"
"You blockhead," Nami snapped, "We don't know where the others are. If we did something like start fighting..."
"Then they would show up," Zoro cut her off. "They always do when there's a fight."
"The Merry's missing too!" Nami argued. "Even if we did fight them, we'd have no way to get out of here."
"Whoa! Would you check out that view?" Zoro walked to the railing of the balcony. "We landed in the dark so I didn't get to see anything. Nice! Hey, if we wait here I bet the others will show up eventually."
"Stop being so stupid and listen to me," Nami instructed as she carried Zoro's swords over to the side railing. "What you're gonna do is stay put because if you go anywhere or do anything you're just gonna get lost." Nami tossed Zoro's swords over the railing into a tree.
"Hey! Stop that!" Zoro shouted as he ran over. "What do you think you're doing?"
Zoro reached over the railing and struggled to reach his swords. Nami grabbed Zoro's arm and spun him around to face her.
"Forget about the swords and listen to me!" Nami ordered.
"Forget..." Zoro sputtered. He looked ready to slug her.
"I'll put this in simple terms for you," Nami said like she was talking to a little kid. "You have no sense of direction. So I'm gonna find the others. Stay here and I'll come back for you."
Nami turned and headed back into the base from the balcony. But was immediately spotted.
"Hey you! What're you doing over there?"
Nami stopped in her tracks and turned to see a large man with a bushy mustache and a red bandana that read 'Group Leader'. He wore a similar uniform with an apron over it which mean he was the head 'chore boy' for the marines.
"Enough slacking off, little missy!" the man berated Nami. "Get back to cleaning!"
Nami pulled the door closed behind her. "Aye-aye sir!" she agreed. She ducked her head down as they passed a marine with black bangs covering his right eye. So she never saw the sly grin that spread across the Marine's face.
"A janitor... is that really the best you could come up with?"
Nami tensed at the sound of the familiar voice. She'd recognize it anywhere. It was the voice she heard in her dreams. She whirled around in time to see a black haired marine headed for the door to the balcony where she'd left Zoro.
"Y/N..." Nami thought to herself but as a Chore Boy she was forced to followed after her 'group leader'.
Y/N in his Natsu the Marine disguise slipped out onto the balcony in time to see Zoro lean over the railing to grab his swords from a tree. Whak! Zoro's fingers tapped the swords and they slid down through the tree and dangled from the bottom of it. The swordsman looked about a second away from jumping over the railing after his swords.
"Need a hand there Zoro?" Y/N called out, alerting the swordsman of his presence.
Zoro spun around as the red eye behind Y/N's fake black bangs glowed. Y/N extended his hand and then pulled back which caused all three of Zoro's swords to fly out of the tree and smack into his chest. Whak-whak-whak!
"Thanks Y/N," Zoro replied. "Please tell me you've got a plan to get out of here."
"Of course," Y/N confirmed.
"Great, I'm in," Zoro told him.
"I haven't even told you what it is yet," Y/N pointed out.
"You don't need to," Zoro said. "Luffy's last two brilliant ideas were to run from the cannon and jump on the squid. Your stupid girlfriend's plan was to throw my swords in a tree and run off. Whatever your plan is... I'm in."
"Even if it involves you sitting in the brig for a while?" Y/N questioned.
"Sure," Zoro agreed. "It'll beat all this sneaking around and hiding."
-x-
"I tell ya what, all those ghost ship shenanigans have really got me beat," one marine said to another as the two walked down a seemingly empty hallway.
"Better get some chow, then get back to work," the other marine decided as the walked off.
Klank! Once they were gone, the grate in the hallway ceiling was removed and Sanji stared down at the empty hallway.
"Ghost ship, huh?" Sanji questioned.
Luffy stuck his head down through the opened hole and peered into the hallway. "Did you find us something to eat?" he asked.
"It sounds like the dining hall is that way," Sanji informed Luffy.
"Dining Hall?" Luffy repeated. He practically dove out of the hole but Sanji grabbed him by the ankle. WOING! WHAK! Luffy's body stretched down and his face smacked on the floor.
"Hold on a second," Sanji called down to Luffy.
"What are you doing?" Luffy complained as he pushed his face off the floor.
"Take it easy," Sanji instructed.
"But my belly needs meat now!" Luffy insisted.
Sanji jumped down through the open vent and crashed down on Luffy. WOMP!
The starving rubber pirate groaned but then started to drag himself down the hallway with Sanji still perched on his back.
"I need meat... meat now..." Luffy groaned.
"He just won't give up..." Sanji complained.
"Who's there? Halt!" Two marines with guns suddenly came running around the corner.
But they found an empty hallway.
"Huh... strange..." one of the marines remarked.
"Just hearing things," he other marine reasoned.
"It's no wonder," the first marine said, "We've all been on edge since that ghost ship landed last night."
"Let's get some grub," the second marine decided.
The two marines continued onward and pushed through a large set of green double doors.
In a closet in the 'empty' hallway, Sanji had his hand pinned over Luffy's big mouth.
"We almost got caught because of you, you dolt!" the cook berated his captain.
Sanji looked up and spotted some cook uniforms hanging over his head in the closet.
A moment later, Sanji and Luffy were now disguised as a pair of marine cooks with short sleeved white collared shirts, blue neck ties, and aprons covering their white pants. Sanji wore a chef's hat and they had stuffed Luffy's signature straw hat into another chef's hat but the wide-brimmed straw hat had stretched the chef's hat so it retain the original shape of Luffy's hat.
"They'll never find us now," Sanji resolved. "We're gonna blend in like chameleons of the kitchen."
"Something smells good," Luffy noted as he sniffed the air.
Sanji walked over to the green double doors that the two marines had gone through.
"I guess this is it," Sanji observed as he opened the doors a crack and peered through into the Dining Hall, "Could be interesting."
-x-
"Hey, I heard that a couple of battleships docked today," Shinpachi gossiped with Billy and a large cook with brown hair.
"What?" Billy gasped. "That means those pompous Marley Brothers will have arrived then."
"Yup," Tom confirmed as he walked by, "As a matter of fact, they should be here any minute."
"First impressions are important," a big brown haired chef stated, "Show no mercy!"
"Yeah!" some of the other cooks cheered.
They went back to their dishes and one of the cooks placed a cut of meat on a skillet.
The smell of cooking meat spread through the kitchen, out into the Dining Hall... and into the hallway...
-x-
"Meat..." Luffy groaned as he immediately picked up his favorite smell. "I smell meat!"
Luffy staggered towards the door and left a trail of drool in his wake.
"Keep it down together man," Sanji scolded the Captain as he looked away from the doors. "Haven't you ever heard the term 'self-control'?"
"Self-co-what?" Luffy questioned with a crazy, hungry look in his eyes. "Never heard of it. Have you ever heard of the terms 'all-you-can-eat meat' and 'unlimited refills'?"
It was too late, Luffy had locked onto the smell of cooking meat and now he couldn't be stopped. Before Sanji could do anything, Luffy barged through the double doors into the Dining Hall.
"NEED MEAT!" Luffy shouted.
And that was how Luffy and Sanji became the center of attention in the Marine Dining Hall.
The Marine Cooks all looked up at the two newcomers.
"So you're the new chefs," Billy noted. "Well, are you the Marley Brothers, or not?"
"Marley?" Luffy repeated.
"Good grief..." Sanji groaned as he rubbed his forehead.
-x-
Krek... The real Jacob and Robert Marley were still hopelessly lost and had just walked into their fourth broom closet.
"What's going on here?" Jacob wondered.
"Beats me," Robert replied.
-x-
Sanji in the Marine Dining Hall:
-x-
Sanji's plan to lay low as cooks had gone up in smoke because of Luffy's impulsive appetite. Now the two Straw Hats stood at the entrance to the Marine Dining Hall and had the judgmental eyes of every cook in the kitchen on them.
"Hi!" Luffy greeted the cooks.
"So you're those arrogant fancy-pants cooks for Mariejois," Shinpanchi noted.
"Huh?" Luffy asked.
Tom slammed down a bowl of vegetables. "You're the guys who said you were doing us a favor by coming out to this crap fortress out in the boonies."
"And you said that we were excreted insignificant meals!" Billy added.
"You've sure got a lot of nerve!" Shinpachi growled.
"This entire kitchen has mistaken us for some other guys," Sanji realized.
"I don't know what you're complaining about," Luffy stated, "And I don't care. Feed me. Give me food!"
That's when Head Chef Jessica made her presence known.
"So you're here." Luffy and Sanji looked through the sea of cooks to see Jessica working two pans on the stove across the kitchen, "The world-famous kitchen snobs who made million berri meals every night for all the big shots at Mariejios."
"Whaaa!" Luffy and Sanji gasped. Luffy gasped because of the meat Jessica was cooking. Sanji gasped because she was a beautiful woman.
"I don't care that headquarters sent you," Jessica continued as she turned to face them. "This is the most sacred place in all of Navarone."
Sanji smiled at the beautiful head chef but it faded when he realized that she was glaring at him.
"If I don't approve of you," Jessica told them as she walked over from the stove, "You will never set foot in here again, do I make myself clear?"
"Yeah!" the chefs cheered.
"Tell 'em how it is Jessica!" Billy chimed in.
"There are no less than one thousand marines stationed at this stronghold," Jessica stated. SWISH! Jessica swung both of her pans and launched the cooked cuts of meat up into the air. "And we show our respect to each and every one of them by preparing their meals with all our might so they can stay strong. In order for us to achieve this great feat we work day and night and we never, even for an instant, lose focus."
Plop-plop-plop-plop! The cooked meat that Jessica had flung into the air landed perfectly on the plates that had been set out and prepared on the two long serving tables in the kitchen.
"We're not like those cooks who depend of expensive food," Jessica insisted. "We rely on skill."
"Please tell me I can eat those!" Luffy requested.
Sanji stepped passed Luffy and approached Jessica as she finished her speech. "Around here we can't forget that great food comes from a special place in all of our hearts."
Sanji lit up a cigarette. "In other words, you would presume to tell me what real cooking is."
"No, I'm not trying to say anything quite as dramatic as that," Jessica replied. "I just want you and your brother to show us that pride you talked so much of. I'll give anyone a chance to prove themselves no matter how pretentious they might be. However, there will be trouble if I think you lack anything at all in skill or attitude. Let me make this clear, unless you satisfy me, you will never be able to call yourselves cooks in Navarone."
"I see, that sounds like a challenge," Sanji remarked then flashed a suave grin, "Mademoiselle."
-x-
A moment later, word of the challenge had spread out to the marines in the Dining Hall.
"What's going on?" one marine asked.
"It looks like the cooks are going to have a cooking fight," another marine observed.
"I've gotta see this," a third marine chimed in. This was made difficult by the fact that all the marines who had been previously seated in the Dining Hall were now crowded by the kitchen window to watch the upcoming culinary battle.
"Is that the chef that came from Headquarters?" someone asked.
-x-
Sanji and Luffy stood next to Jessica as they surveyed the large table full of ingredients that had been provided for the challenge.
"You are allowed to use any ingredients you like," Jessica explained the challenge. "The rules are simple. Each side will prepare meals for one hundred people and the marines themselves will decide the contest winners."
"Whoa," Luffy gasped, "I have no idea what's going on but it sounds exciting!"
"Start whenever you're ready," one of the chefs prompted as he laid out a set of chef's knives for the 'Marley Brothers' to use.
HOOOONK! The big brown haired chef blew into a horn to signal the start of the challenge.
The cooks of Navarone got to work cutting up and preparing their ingredients.
"We can't lose this one, boys," Shinpachi reminded the others as he cut up a fish. "Cook as if your life depended on it."
"Well cook using only the best parts of the ingredients we've got," Tom resolved as he sliced up a large cut of meat and discarded the parts he deemed unsuitable.
Nearby, Billy discarded some below average lettuce and focused on cutting up the perfect ones.
"Huh?" Luffy grunted while Sanji stood silently and watched their competition.
Jessica looked over and saw that Sanji hadn't even started cooking yet. "Is he admitting defeat by not preparing anything?" she wondered to herself.
And that's how it went. Sanji stood silently and watched as the cooks of Navarone made their one hundred meals.
"Finished!" Tom announced.
"One hundred meals," Billy added.
"You like that?" Shinpachi taunted.
"This food looks soo good!" Luffy gushed as he looked over the beautifully prepared dishes.
Whap! Jessica smacked his hand as he reached out for a dish. "KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF!"
"Of course we normally prepare one thousand servings of each meal," Billy boasted.
"And we're fast!" Shinpachi chimed in. "Like sharks darting for prey!"
"That is the essence of being a chef here!" Tom resolved.
Sanji didn't respond. He went over to the table that was filled with ingredients that the Navaroen cooks hadn't deemed suitable to use. He grabbed a large tuna skeleton that still had chunks of meat on it. He picked up a basket of discarded lettuce and broccoli stems. He took the bucket of peeled potato skins. He claimed the dish of meat scraps that the other cooks had rejected.
"How terribly wasteful you all are," Sanji commented as he set the tuna skeleton in front of him.
"What's that guy up to?" Shinpachi questioned.
CHOPCHOPCHOPCHOPCHOPCHOP! Sanji lashed out with a knife in each hand and sliced up the fish bones and leftover meat until it was one bit pile of mush.
"He... can't be..." Tom gasped.
"No way!" Billy exclaimed.
"He's using all of our leftover parts!" Shinpachi realized. "Whoa!"
"First, pulverize the tuna's bones along with its head," Sanji announced. "Next, mix in the guts, add veggie strips and roll the paste into balls."
Sanji rolled up his fish paste and dropped it in a big bowl then dumped the bowl in a large pot. "Then they'll be deep fried."
Sanji went over to the meat and mixed it into another pot, "Oil and fat trim from the meat until it becomes soft and tender provides the perfect complement to a dish made from shellfish."
Sanji took his meat sauce and poured it over his tray of deep fried fish paste balls.
"The bitterness of the guts wets the appetite," Sanji explained, "And the powerful flavor gives to life to a tired body."
Next, Sanji moved on to a big bowl of potato skins and sprinkled seasoning over it.
"This brings us to the preparation of the vegetable dish," Sanji continued to narrate. "The skins of burdock roots and potatoes contain more vitamins and minerals than their insides." Sanji took the seasoned skins and cut them on a board, "Which makes them an ideal nutrient source."
The Navarone cooks and the marines gathered at the window looked on in awe as Sanji the Cook continued to do what he did best.
"Finally," Sanji concluded, "Broccoli stems can be used to create a soft, sweet scented dressing." Sanji took his green broccoli dressing and drizzled it over the vegetable dished that he'd made. "AND VOILA! CUISINE A LA CARTE!"
And just like that, Sanji had succeeded in making one hundred meals using the scraps that his competition has passed up.
"..." Jessica, the Navarone cooks and the marines all stared in silent shock.
"This is a battlefield, right?" Sanji reminded everyone. "It's important that the food tastes good. But more important than that is making sure your food stores last."
"Ah!" Jessica gasped in surprise.
"It doesn't matter if you spend a thousand berries or a million," Sanji resolved, "You should never waste even a single scrap of food. It is our duty as cooks to utilize every bit of our ingredients with love and skill. Just like loving everything about a beautiful woman. A wise old geezer once taught me that."
Sanji stepped back and lit up another cigarette. That was all the prompting that the hungry marines in the Dining Hall needed. They leapt over the divider and converged on Sanji's table of one hundred meals.
"I've never tasted anything so good!"
"This is delicious!"
"Amazing!"
"How stupid of us," Billy berated himself and his fellow cooks. "We tried to impress the famous cook and he turned around and beat us with working class cuisine. We did exactly what we shouldn't have and tried to show off."
"To think that we the cooks of Navarone were picky about the ingredients..." Shinpachi moaned.
"The food here in Navarone is different from the food prepared for the officers of Mariejois," Tom noted. "It's food for marines who live day-to-day. That was Jessica's belief anyway."
"..." Jessica stared silently at Sanji while the marine continued to enjoy his meals. But then something else caught her attention.
"Eighty-six... eighty-seven... eighty-eight..."
Jessica turned around and her eyes widened in surprise. Luffy had taken advantage of everyone being distracted by Sanji's cooking and had proceeded to devour the one hundred meals that the cooks of Navarone had made.
"Eighty-nine... ninety..." Luffy's rubber belly was swelled up to huge proportions as he dumped plate after plate of food into his mouth. "Ninety-one... ninety-two... ninety-three..."
The other Navarone cooks turned and gaped in shock as Luffy ate all one hundred meals himself.
"Incredible!" Billy exclaimed. "Have you guys ever seen anyone with such an insatiable appetite for the food we've made?"
"Ninety-seven... ninety-eight... ninety-nine... ONE HUNDRED!" Luffy grinned happily as he finished off the last of the marines cooks' meals. He suddenly let out a gasp of alarm. "GAAH!"
"Are you okay?" Jessica inquired as she and Shinpachi rushed over to Luffy as he doubled over, seemingly in pain.
"What's wrong?" Shinpachi asked.
"Just hang in there!" Jessica encouraged him.
Luffy shot back up and knocked Shinpachi and Jessica back in surprise as he shouted loudly. "SOOO GOOOOD!" The Navarone cooks face-faulted in shock. "Shishishi! Man, I'm stuffed!" Luffy patted his big belly. "Sa-tis-fied!"
Jessica smiled at Luffy.
"Let's go," Sanji prompted Luffy.
"Yeah, I guess it is about time we leave," Luffy agreed as he got up. Jessica stood up with him. "Thanks for all the food! Sure was good!" The two Straw Hats made for the exit.
"If it had been up to me," Sanji said as he passed Jessica, "I never would have battled a woman as beautiful as you. Until we meet again, Mademoiselle."
"Hold it!" Jessica called after them.
They stopped. "Did you think of something else for me to eat?" Luffy asked eagerly.
"Were planning on leaving me humiliated like this?" Jessica asked. She turned towards the duo. "I won't stand for it. I like your spirit and your appetite." The Navarone cooks grinned in agreement with the Head Chef. "As of right now, you two are part of the team!"
"YEAH!" the Navarone cooks cheered.
"Shishishi!" Luffy smiled and laughed.
Sanji spun around and his eyes became hearts as he started to swoon. "My sweet Jessica! Oh, thank you!"
Somehow, by just being themselves, Luffy and Sanji had not only managed to pass themselves off at the famous snob cooks the Marley Brothers but had been welcomed onto the kitchen staff of Navarone.
-x-
"Aaaahhh!" Vice Admiral Jonathan yawned as he leaned back in a small rowboat that was being paddled by Chief Petty Officer Todd. He sat up and addressed his escort. "If there's one thing fishing teaches, its patience." Jonathan took a telescope and used it to scan the side of his base.
"Patience, right sir, a valuable attribute," Todd agreed "They may be pirates but don't you think they would be hiding some place less conspicuous? This place is in plain sight of everything."
"There are some who would choose to hide when there is no possibility of escape," Jonathan replied as he continued to peer through his telescope. "But among pirates of that caliber it is certain there will be one or two who find the act of hiding cowardly."
"You think so, sir?" Todd asked.
BANG! A gun shot went off. Followed by a loud shout. "RORONOA ZORO!"
Jonathan jerked his telescope to the side just in time to see a green haired swordsman cut down one of his marines with a sword slash across the face.
"AAAH!" the marine cried out as he dropped the ground.
"It looks like we have our first catch of the day," Jonathan observed. "Quick, call for reinforcements. Lieutenant Matthew should be patrolling that hallway with his Units."
"Right away sir," Petty Officer Todd agreed and quickly picked up a Transponder Snail. "Lieutenant Matthew! We've spotted Roronoa Zoro on a fourth floor balcony that should be near your location! He's already taken down one marine! We need reinforcements! Hurry!"
"On my way!" Lieutenant Matthew's voice responded through the snail. "I'll get the rest of my unit to meet me there."
-x-
"We've got their attention," Y/N noted as he clutched the shallow gash that Zoro had given him over his right eye. "Remember, incapacitate. Don't kill."
"Right," Zoro agreed with a whisper.
He turned to leave the balcony but 'Natsu' launched himself at Zoro's legs and grabbed them. WHAP! Zoro stumbled and nearly fell over.
"Hey!" Zoro complained. "Get off!" Zoro lashed out his leg and kicked Natsu away from him. THWAK!
"UUGH!" Natsu groaned as he rolled across the balcony and clutched three sheaths to his chest.
"HEY! MY SWORDS!" Zoro shouted as he was left holding only Wado Ichimonji. The damn marine had snatched all three sheaths off his sash which included his other two swords Yubashiri and Kitetsu III.
BANG! That was when the door burst opened to reveal Lieutenant Matthew and four marines behind him. "Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro! You're under arrest!"
"Like hell!" Zoro retorted. "One Sword Style... LION'S SONG!" SLA-SLISH! Zoro swung his sword and launched himself through the five marines that was crowded in the doorway.
SPLURT! Lieutenant Matthew and his men dropped to the ground.
"Alright you," Zoro growled as he turned back around marched over to Natsu. "You've got something that belongs to me. Gimme back my swords!"
Chink! Zoro turned in surprise to see a hook wrap around the railing.
"Wait a minute... that's a fishing hook..." Zoro realized.
Whirwhirwhirwhir! Zoro followed the line with his eyes in time to see a man with a bushy black mustache and dark orange hair crank the reel of his fishing pole and use it like a grappling hook to pull himself up the line to the railing of the balcony. Tmp!
"Hello," Vice Admiral Jonathan greeted Zoro.
"RAAH!" Natsu surged up off of the ground and tackled Zoro to the ground while he was distracted by Vice Admiral Jonathan. WHAM!
Vice Admiral Jonathan grinned. He'd provided the split second distraction that his marine had needed to catch the notorious pirate off guard and tackle him to the ground.
BANG! The door slammed opened again and another batch of marines from Lieutenant Matthew's unit arrived and instantly aimed their guns at Zoro as they poured out onto the balcony.
Jonathan smiled down at Zoro, "Welcome to Navarone!"
-x-
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!!!