Chapter 11: 11 - The Unwelcomed Customer
Every patron of the Baratie is frozen in shock at Sanji holding a bloodied, beaten Fullbody by the neck. It all happened so fast. Sanji's kicks were so precise yet had just enough power to seriously wound the Marine but not enough to kill him.
"Oh no!! Our customer!!"
You turned to see a familiar muscular man. Oh, it's Patty!!
"Dammit!! Not again, Sanji!! What do you think you're doing to our customer?!" he questions as he walks to Sanji with a less-than-stellar look on his face.
"Can't you see he's a Marine lieutenant??" he gestures to the man the sous chef is gripping by the neck, holding him off the ground.
"You're a terrible cook. What makes you think you can talk to me like that??" Sanji demands in a cool manner, glancing at Patty and still not releasing his grip on Fullbody.
"A crappy cook like you is calling me bad??" Patty continues to stalk Sanji until he's right up in his face. "Restaurants can't exist without their customers; They're our lifeblood. So, we don't wanna hurt them the way you seem to be doing" he lectures.
"But he deserved it" Sanji looks to face Fullbody's limp figure.
"He didn't treat the food or me with respect and he insulted all the cooks" Sanji lets the Marine fall from his grasp and slump to the floor. "So I simply taught him a lesson"
From your spot towards the back of the restaurant, you noticed the same people are still in the entry doorway of the restaurant, simply observing everything. Two of them except one are familiar faces but you just can't seem to remember who.
"You're gonna regret this...all of you" Fullbody growls. "No restaurant should treat its customers like this. I'll shut you down. Do you understand me?? I will shut you down!! This entire place!! This whole restaurant is finished. Do you hear me?!"
You looked at him with a blank expression. He doesn't learn to shut up, does he?? That mouth of his will only gets him killed. You can see the veins popping on the visible side of Sanji's face, not covered by the brushed-over hair on the left side of his face.
"Then maybe I should just finish you off right now" Sanji threatens. He stalks toward Fullbody with the intent of being true to his words. The rest of the cooks try to hold him back from killing the conceited jerk.
"Arrogant assholes like you think they're such big shots. They can push anybody around and piss me off!!" Sanji growls, trying to push past the chefs struggling to hold him back.
"You can't keep doing this in the restaurant every other day!!" A chef holding back Sanji says.
"You're not such a big shot now . . ." Sanji's expression is that of a feral animal bent on tearing apart its prey, no matter what holds it back.
". . .Are ya?!" Fullbody looks ready to piss himself which is funny to you.
Just then, two bodies crash through the ceiling of the restaurant from the second level. It was a familiar straw hat boy and Zeff. You narrowed your eyes at him to get a better look and were shocked. No way. Is that you, Luffy?! You placed your hand on your chin and chuckled. Who would have thought you would meet each other again like this? Not what you expected but it is nice to see the cute little straw hat all grown up over the past 9 years.
The customers look in shock at the two falling through the ceiling.
"What happened??"
"Are they okay??"
Luffy sits up from being crushed by Zeff after they landed. "I can breathe again"
"Boss Zeff, what's happening here?? You didn't hurt yourself, didn't you??" Another chef asked, concerned.
But Zeff just shakes it off and looks up at the hole in the ceiling. "Dammit. My ceiling!! Another thing that's gonna has to get fixed because of you!! This is all your fault, you brat!!"
"How is it my fault?! You attacked me first!!" Luffy exclaims back in Zeff's face as he places his fallen straw hat back on his head.
"Boss!! Can you stop messing around and give us a hand?! Sanji's gone crazy again!!" One of the same chefs struggling to keep the rampant sous chef in check cries.
They both stopped arguing enough to turn and see what was going on.
"Hey, Sanji!!" Zeff calls to the young man. "Don't tell me you went on another rampage in here, you idiot!!"
"Put a cork in it, old man!!" Sanji snarled.
"Oh, now you're ordering me around, huh?? Just who do you think you're talking to?!" Zeff demands. "Do you want to sink my restaurant to the bottom of the sea, you punk?!" Zeff delivers a peg leg kick across Sanji's face.
Fullbody chuckles at the chewing-out Sanji is receiving. "You too!!" The Marine lieutenant starts as he sees an intimidating head chef looming over him. "Get your ass out of my restaurant!!" Zeff gives Fullbody another swift kick but it's much harder than Sanji's.
"How can you deny our motto that the customer is king?!" Patty yells.
"The only Kingly customers are the ones who stomach the slop that you call food" Sanji retorted.
"If you two wanna fight, do it in the kitchen. Understand me??" Zeff orders.
Fullbody manages to sit back up even after the beating he took.
"Lieutenant!!"
You look into the open entryway of the restaurant and see a Marine stagger inside. "Lieutenant Fullbody. We....we've got trouble!!"
Well, this seems interesting. "Wow. This restaurant is crazy" you heard Luffy mumbling.
"Sir, he's escaped!! Pirate Kreig's henchman attacked us and vanished!!" The Marine exclaimed.
Kreig?? The pirate who uses any underhanded methods to win and the Admiral of the fleet of 50 pirate ships?? And these useless idiots were able to capture one of his men??
"He what?!" Fullbody is looking shocked at this new information.
"Well sir, we've already lost seven of our men and the only thing we wanted out of him was a lead on finding Kreig"
"Impossible!! When we picked him up three days ago, he was right on the verge of starving to death and we haven't fed him anything!! Where'd he get the strength?!" Fullbody stresses.
The Baratie customers panic at the very mention of Kreig's name.
"Kreig Pirates!!"
"They're the ones who are said to be the fiercest pirates in the East Blue"
The Marine tries to apologize for his failure but is shot in the back and drops dead.
The patrons were quick to scatter to the back of the building with a good reason. You looked to see a shooter a thin man, of average height, with short scruffy hair, a scruffy beard, and a slight moustache. He sports an open grey jacket with a red serpent design on each side, a green shirt underneath, grey pants matching the shade of his jacket, a grey with a blue striped design on the headband around his head, and two red spherical earrings on each ear.
"It would seem we have a new customer, sir," Patty says to Zeff.
"He'd do well to mind his manners and not start any trouble on my ship" Zeff replied.
You look back at Luffy oblivious to the danger that is currently being felt by everyone else except you and seemed to be elated at seeing another pirate.
From the looks of the situation, it doesn't seem the man wants to cause any trouble as he walks to an empty table and props his feet on top of it. From what Fullbody said earlier, he hasn't eaten anything in the past few days. This seems to be a similar situation you got in when you first arrived here. "I don't care what it is. Just bring me something to eat. No one is making a move"
Patty walks up to the man with a big creepy smile. "Hello and welcome, you damn crook" he greets.
The terrified customers gasp at the bold talk he's giving to the Kreig Pirate.
"I'm just gonna say this one more time, bring me something to eat and make it quick" the man repeats.
Fullbody comments on how Patty was going to get everyone killed by mocking the Kreig Pirate.
"Of course, right away. But might I be so bold as to inquire how you're paying for your meal??" Patty questions.
The pirate responds by holding up the pistol he's carrying since he walked into Patty's face. "Will a bullet be enough??"
"So, you don't have any money then" Patty states then quickly bringing down both his meaty fists on top of the pirate's head, crushing him in his chair along with the table.
"That dumbass, Patty. He broke another chair" Zeff grumbles.
"Woah, what power" Luffy murmurs to himself.
"Sorry, pirate but our policy is to only serve customers who can pay"
You decided to prepare the man something so you silently went to the kitchen. You could hear the customers cheering for Patty's actions against the pirate. Knowing full well how this restaurant treats non-paying customers, he'll just throw him out after the beating. You prepared something small but big enough to restore his energy. And seeing how Sanji treats Fullbody earlier shows you that he deeply cares for his cooking and will take the same actions as you. You finished the dish and placed it on the tray. You spotted a window leading out the deck surrounding the restaurant. You opened it and waited for the pirate to appear.
A few seconds later, you spot Patty carrying the man over his shoulder and dropping on the deck.
"And please never come back," Patty said as he closed the doors. You leaped out of the window and landed quietly a short distance from the pirate. The man struggles, rolling over to try to get up.
"Dammit, if I wasn't so weak from hunger, I'd be inside eating....." But the man's attempts to sit up fall short as he collapses. This time on his stomach. ".....and he'd be lying here"
You came out of your hiding. "Believe me. I would do that as well if I were you"
The man starts and turns his head until he's looking at your shoes, and then his gaze travels up to meet your face. You gave him a small smile to show him that you mean no harm.
"What the heck do you want?? Come to laugh and mock me like the others inside??" He snarls. Understandable reaction. His wild eyes and sneer didn't faze you one bit. "Why would I waste my breath on something so petty?? On the contrary, I believe you could have taken Patty"
He looks taken aback at your faith in his previous statement when he thought you weren't around. "I have been in the situation as you when on the verge of starving to death so eat up" You placed the tray on the ground in front of the hungry man.
His mouth starts to water but he becomes stubborn and pushes the dish away. "I don't need your pity or your charity. So, leave me be"
You know how to deal with stubborn people which reminds you of Ace 9 years ago. He was still a brat before he started to warm up to you back then. You even dealt with them in this very restaurant. You push the tray back in front of him and move to sit beside him.
"What I'm doing isn't pity, it is my code as a chef. Surviving out here in the very ocean isn't easy, especially if you lose food and water out here. It's the main reason why this restaurant even existed in the first place. You got one as well, don't you?? So why don't you just swallow your pride and eat up? I'll force it down your throat if you don't"
The man looks at you in surprise and turns to the food. He grabs it and chows down everything but the wooden plate rind.
"It's good" he sobs out. "I've never received such kindness before. Thank you so much"
You smiled. "It's good, isn't it?? I was worried that it might not be up to your standards"
A small blush appears on the man's cheeks. "I think even if the meal was horrible, a man couldn't say no to that pretty face. Might I be so bold to have the beautiful young chef's name??" You chuckled and rested your head on your hand.
"(First Name), at your service. And might I know yours, tough guy??" You picked up the tray and emptied the dishes.
"It's Ghin"
"Ghin, it's nice to meet you"
"That's a first for me"
You both laugh together before you hear footsteps about to come outside. "Well, it seems someone has the same idea as me. I better get going now before that guy comes"
"Why??" he asked. "Because he may be a hound dog but when it comes to women, he became a different person and I doubt you would want to see that" you replied. "You're a pretty odd lady"
You smirked. "Am I?? I just like to liven things up a bit and watch how it all went down. I couldn't help but be interested" You left him to finish his food and leaped back through the window you left open.
Upon entering the bustling kitchen, everyone greeted you as you ready yourself to get back to work. They started chatting about Don Kreig and Patty and Carne start to argue about whether beating up Ghin was the right way to go about things. Because if Ghin did go and tell Kreig what happened and bring him together with his fleet here, the cooks would be overrun and wouldn't be able to fight them off. The other cooks begin to cheer the two rival chefs on. You decided to interfere before things could get way out of hand.
"Do I need to notify Zeff that you're all slacking off when you should be cooking??" you questioned as you loomed over them. "Please don't tell Zeff, Ms (First Name)!! We'll behave!!" they said in fear. "That's all I wanted to hear"
"(First Name), there are some new customers seated at the North Side closest to the staircase. Can you handle it??"
"Will do" you nodded. You slide down the staircase rails and spot the same familiar faces from earlier at your assigned table. Now that you finally have a closer look at them, it gave out a flicker in your head as you remembered.
[Zoro?! Nami?! No way!! I didn't expect to see them together like this!! What a twist of fate we all are in.] You grabbed your hat to cover a part of your face and walked towards them. You decided to surprise them.
"Are you the waiter??" Nami asked.
"The one and only," you replied as Nami and Zoro shuddered at your voice as if they sense a Deja Vu. The long nose with them is whimpering at your tall figure.
"What will you be ordering??" you asked.
After taking their orders, you turned around, and halfway before you could reach the kitchen, you said, "I didn't think we would meet each other like this, Mochi, Namikan" You're the only one who called them by those nicknames when they were younger. Zoro and Nami looked back at you and stood up in shock.
"Wait..."
"That nickname..."
"Only one person called me that...which means..."
"(First Name)?? Is that you??"
You turned around as you took off your hat and smiled, revealing your sharp teeth.
"It's been a while hasn't it??" you waved at them. Zoro turned away with a red blush and clicked his tongue while Nami looked at you with longing eyes. You knew that she is going through a lot bc of that dickhead.
[I'll make him Shark Fin Soup when I see him again]
You walked back to them and hugged them. "I missed you guys so much," you said.
"Uhm, you guys know her??" the long nose asked, confused by the situation. "Yea, we met a long time ago tho I didn't think Nami knew her as well" Zoro answered. "So why are you guys here together??" you asked.
"We had a minor disagreement with a Marine bigshot who tried to sink us for no reason" Zoro replied. "Wait, you mean that cannonball that crashed into the restaurant earlier??"
"You were there??" The long nose asked.
"I was talking with old man Zeff if it is okay for me to work here until I earn enough. I sensed something came our way so I dodged and hid before it hits me"
"Are you okay??" Nami asked, worriedly. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it, sweetie" you grinned. Nami's cheeks turn pinkish red. You chuckled.
"Now our captain is paying for the damages by working here," Long Nose said. You raised a brow. Since when did Zoro and Nami become pirates in one crew?? You're even more surprised that Nami joined a crew that you knew hated pirates bc of Arlong.
"We'll talk more later once I give out your orders" You waved them goodbye as you walked into the kitchen and gave the cooks the orders. The food is done and placed on the tray within 20 minutes. You noticed another tray filled with (Favorite foods and drinks).
"Which table is this one for, Patty??" you asked, pointing to the second tray. "It's for you. You're going on break" Patty clarifies.
"But-"
"Ni buts. You've been working hard since you got here, unlike the boy in the straw hat" he grumbles. "So you better be sitting down eating that food and enjoying yourself for a bit because you aren't allowed back in here until you finished everything, understand??"
You chuckled. "Loud and clear. Don't go around starting fights here, alright??"
"No promises"
You removed your apron before taking picking up both trays and taking them downstairs along with your hat. You placed your friends' food and your own on the table, setting the trays to the side and taking a seat with them on an empty chair of the table.
"You're gonna join us?? Won't you get in trouble??" the long nose worries.
"The opposite. I've been booted from the kitchen and not allowed back in until I finish this food the chefs were kind enough to make me" you replied. "But enough about that, let's dig in!!"
"Sounds like a plan"
You all started to eat the delicious meal in front of you as you explained to them your history with the restaurant and its owner, including Luffy which surprised them. "So what's with the hat??" Zoro asked. "I can't reveal myself to Luffy just yet so I brought it out just in case. Just don't tell him who I am, alright??" you said. They nodded in reply.
"Chore boy!!" You heard Nami call out. You looked over to see Luffy, decked in chore boy attire, coming down.
"Ack!! What are you doing??" Luffy demands.
"We heard you have to work here a whole year" The long nose now known as Usopp snickers.
"Is it okay if we redraw the flag for our ship??" Zoro teases.
"You're eating all this delicious food without me??" Luffy whines. You chuckled. He still hasn't changed one bit.
"What kind of crew are you?!" he screams. "How could you do this to me?!"
"Hold on, I think that's our business, isn't that right??" Zoro smiles cheekily.
Luffy angrily picks his nose while glaring at Zoro. While the swordsman was too busy laughing, Luffy drops a booger into his water. Usopp and Nami are holding back their laughter, but it doesn't look like they can hold it in for much longer, yourself included.
"Oh, boy. This is gonna be so good" Usopp makes the weirdest face trying not to laugh.
"You know, I have to say the food here really is quite delicious. Good stuff" Zoro picked up the tainted glass of water and slowly raises it to his lips to drink it, making Luffy no indication of knowing what Luffy did. "Yes, it is. I feel bad for ya, but . . . YOU SHOULD BE DRINKING THIS YOURSELF!!"
Everyone at the table burst out laughing as Zoro forced the tainted water down Luffy's throat. The rubber boy's eyes bulged out as he tries to get away but the swordsman had got him by the shoulders, preventing him from escaping. Nami and Usopp lost it and are slamming their hands on the table, laughing, drawing attention from the entire restaurant. You were still laughing but in a less obnoxious way.
Your attractive, melodic laugh enhances your beauty and causes the rest of the patrons to blush as they noticed you. You didn't notice your hat fell out of your head to the ground.
"I can't believe you did that!!" Luffy chokes. "Yeah, well I can't believe you did that" Zoro throws back.
"Oh, that was nasty!!" The rubber boy was rolling on the floor, gripping his throat as if it was poison which was not completely far-fetched. "Oh, gross!!" he spits out.
3rd person POV
Sanji looks up from pouring wine and flirting with the lady at the table he is serving. "Aren't they quaint? I wonder if that's the rest of his crew" he scowls at the current chore boy slacking off before spotting his waitress and Nami still laughing. He ceases his flirting with the woman he's been serving and hands the wine bottle to the woman's date. "Finish pouring it yourself," he says in a daze.
In no time at all, he's kneeling in front of (First Name) again but this time with her hat on the ground. "Oh, (First Name)-koi. Please continue to laugh so that I may hear that angelic voice leave your beautiful lips and you seem to have dropped this" he hands out the hat to her while flirting with his eyes turning to his usual pink hearts and a blush staining his cheeks.
Your POV
Zoro and Nami give the blond harsh glares at his nerve to openly flirt with you. You touched your head for your hat then chuckled and took back your hat. "Ne Sanji. There's no need for you to do that" you smiled. "But thank you"
"You're welcome, (First Name)-koi!!~"
"Eh, (First Name)?? Is that you??"
You turned to see Luffy standing there shocked but happy and without warning, he stretched his arms to your shoulders and now wrapped them around tightly as if you're gonna disappear again. His arms coil around your body but you're not bothered by it as he launched himself and latched himself onto you. If it weren't for your strength, you would have fallen over the chair backward. You giggled as you patted Luffy's head and hugged back. He snuggles at your chest while having tears of joy, very visible to the eyes of everyone. "Surprise, Luffy. How are you??" you said.
"(First Name)!! I miss you!!" he wailed. You smiled at him. So cute ^^
You could hear Sanji flirting with Nami before he notices Luffy latching onto you. "Oi, Chore boy!! Get your hands off of (First Name)-koi!!" he grabbed Luffy and tried to pull him out. "No!!"
"Sanji"
You all turned to Zeff.
"Ugh, stupid geezer" Sanji groans.
"This is an opportunity you don't want to pass up. Why not join them and become a pirate??"
Sanji turns to face Zeff in shock at his words. "I do not need to keep you here in my restaurant" he is trembling in anger at Zeff's statement.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone