Chapter 10: Recruiting a cook!

Krieg was standing on a floating broken part of his galleon...

"Well, that was a bit of a nuisance but its nothing. We were originally planning on abandoning this ship anyway. So, who cares if it's been destroyed. If we have that boat. We needn't fear even Grand Line anymore. Having that ship will be more effective than hanging a white flag or pretending to be the marines. It'll be a perfect disguise for us."

"B~But Don...! When we go back to the Grand Line, what if we were to come across another monster like that 'Hawk-Eyes'..."

*Bang! The pirate wanted to continue but was instantly shot down by Don Krieg...

"You're still afraid of that bastard!? Do you really think a normal person can just cut down a gigantic galleon!?"

"Wha!? What do you mean by that, Don!?"

Don: "Isn't it obvious that he's got some strange power from a devil fruit!? Devil fruit users, who've only heard of in legends and hearsays... The Grand Line is full of 'em!"

"There's no doubt that the Hawk-eyed man used some strange power when cutting our ship! But 'Red-Legg Zeff' on that ship restaurant, spent an entire year sailing in Grand Line, meaning he must've found some method to deal with those monsters! And that method's written down in his travel log for sure! There might be information on one piece in his log as well."

Hearing it, the pirates began to gain some hope and started cheering,

"As expected from our Don Krieg. So, that's how it was. All we gotta do is get our hands on that log, and all the treasures of this world are ours for taking!"

"Alright, you bastards! Let's take over that restaurant!"

"Yeah!"

Patty: "Woah! They're all fired up to fight too!"

Usopp: "C~Can we fight so many of them?"

"Huh! You all are very annoying..." At that moment, a mocking voice sounded and saw Luffy slowly walking towards Don Krieg.

"I~It's him! That boy who defended that scary attack! D~Don! What shall we do?"

The pirates started shivering looking at the boy who was slowly approaching them with a smile... It's a devil smile!

Don: "Don't worry! He's just one man... And last time might also be a luck. Go and kill him!"

"Yes! He's just one man, let's go and~"

*Bump! Bump!... Before they could attack, the ones who got near Luffy, all fell down and lost consciousness.

"W~What!? Hey, guys!? They fainted!?"

"I~It must be him...! He must've did something! I~Is he also a devil fruit user!?"

The remaining pirates started panicking. Suddenly, Don Krieg shot his cannons on Luffy and bombarded him.

"Haha! That's what you get for acting brave... Boy!"

"Did he get killed? No one wouldn't be able to stay alive with that, right?" The pirates were expecting good results but were soon disappointed when they heard a cold voice.

"You've really done it! Congratulations, you all succeeded in pissing me off! It's really a bunch of ants who don't know how high the mountains are. Well then, lets see if you can last 10 seconds from me... 1...2..." Luffy appeared from the smoke and started releasing his aura little by little making the peoples around started losing consciousness one by one.

"...5! Oh! What... It only took 5 seconds? Really weak." Luffy came forward and looked at Don Krieg who was kneeling on the ground panting heavily staring at Luffy angrily.

"Huh... Huh... You bastard! You think I, the ruler of East Blue, will be defeated that easily?"

Luffy: "Oh really!? Hehe but this title suits you better... The weak ruler of the weakest sea. Let me show you how small you are...!"

Luffy instantly released all his aura making Don Krieg widened his eyes white feeling immense pressure. His gold armour broke, several veins bursted, lost consciousness and finally fell into coma.

On the other side, the peoples on Baratie opened their mouths wide and looked at the scene with popped out eyes.

Sanji: "He's strength is at another whole level..."

Kaya: "Luffy is very awesome and strong!"

Nami: "Maybe if it's him, he can defeat that monster..."

Usopp: "*Gulp! Ok! I give up on trying to surpass him... The gap is so big!"

Zoro: "Hehe! Sure enough, he's the strongest..."

"Bro Luffy is the best!"

Luffy came back to Baratie and said with a bright smile, "Hehe, so I think that's how this ends.."

"Ahh! You're so strong! Captain!"

"Captain! You were amazing out there.."

Nami and Kaya immediately rushed forward and held Luffy's both arms and cheered happily.

"Ok! Ok... Calm down! Who do you think I am..."

"Tch! A womanizer..." Sanji clicked his tongue and walked away. He came beside Gin who was sitting looking at the vast sea.

Sanji: "So, What are you going to do from now on?"

Gin: "When I think about it, there's nothing else that I want to do. I guess before I realised it, Don Krieg's ambition became mine as well... But now I've decided that this time, I'll do things of my own will in my own way. So, maybe I will start a new life with my own pirate..."

"Psh! You never learn, do ya?"

Sanji: "Patty, Carne! Give them the boat we use to go out and buy ingredients."

"What!? Are you retarded!? Why the hell do we have to give a boat to the very pirates that attacked us!?"

"Yeah! How're we gonna buy food if we give them our boat? You numbskull!"

Both of them roared at Sanji but both of them flinched when Sanji shouted angrily,

"Shut up and give the boat already!"

"Alright, you don't have to yell!"

"Damn! He's inherited the owner's legendary kicks! If we're gonna get'im, then our best chance is when he's all injured! Maybe if 15 of us cooks attack him while he's sleeping... Then we just might win him!"

"Maybe!?"

Soon, Gin started loading his comrades on the ship but when he was about to pick up Don Krieg, a cold voice came from his behind.

Luffy: "I don't care how many of them you take away but if you touch that man, I don't mind you sending you with him too."

Hearing the words, Gin suddenly shivered and retracted his hands and said with a bitter smile,

"Ok... The orders from the strong are absolute. It's heartbreaking to think that I can't do anything."

After loading the boat full of people, Gin said goodbye to the others and sailed away. While moving away, Gin looked back at Luffy who was laughing along with his crews and seeing Luffy's smile, he felt chills on his back. That day, he made a wish never to meet Luffy and become enemies with him in this life.

After that Luffy decided to stay at Baratie for a day and leave next morning. He also took 12 million from Zeff in exchange with Krieg whom they will hand over to the marines, he was still in coma. At the early morning, Luffy came out to see Sanji standing at the balcony of Baratie smoking a cigarette and watching the rising sun. Luffy smiled slightly and went towards him and started talking,

"Hey Sanji! So, why don't you~"

"I ain't gonna be a pirate! I'm gonna stay here and be a cook until the day that damn geezer acknowledges my cooking..." He puffed out the smoke and continued, "I can't afford to leave more after something like that happening. The cooks here are completely undependable."

"But I do want to go out to Grand Line in one of these days... But not just yet though."

Luffy: "Are you sure? There are various amazing place out there like 'All Blue', 'Florian Triangle'~"

"Hey! Do you know about 'All Blue'?" Sanji's eyes suddenly brightened hearing Luffy's word.

Luffy: "Yeah! I heard it a little it's said that..."

Soon both of them started talking about the various thing about the sea cheerfully. But they didn't know that someone's looking at them with soft eyes...

Zeff: "Talking with such a stupidly wide grin on your face... Idiot!"

Luffy tried various method to make Sanji join the group. When Sanji was about to be convinced a loud shout came from inside.

"Sanji!! You immediately come in here!!"

Both of them came inside and saw all the cooks looking at Sanji with disgust holding a plate of soup.

Sanji: "What happened guys...?"

Patty came forward, showed the plate full of soup and asked him, "Were you in charge of making this soup?"

Sanji: "Oh! That'd be me! Pretty good, right? I made it especially with~" before he could finish, Patty directly threw the plate of soup to the floor. He said with a disgusting look, "How the hell am I suppose to pass this crap doen my stomach!? What's this pig feed!?"

Seeing it Sanji instantly got angry, "Hey! Does proper human food not suit you, you damn Raccoon?"

Patty: "Ha! This is a pure crap. It makes me wanna puke! Did you put actual shit in this or what?"

Luffy quietly walked on the side where his crews were with a smirk on his face thinking, 'Ok... So they decided to use this technique, well it's good for me'.

Kaya: "Luffy! You came! You know what, Sanji's soup is quite good, I don't know what they're saying. Or am I getting sick again?"

"Don't worry! Let's just watch quietly..."

Sanji already had black lines on his forehead and said coldly, "I'm perfectly confident about my soup. Maybe it's your damn tongue that's~"

*Crash!

"Yuck! Spit! No way we can eat this filth! Just throw it out!"

"Spit! Spit! Eww, terrible! Just terrible!" several cooks also started throwing the soup away.

"The hell do you think you're all doing!?" Sanji roared angrily but they didn't care and started cursing him...

"You being the assistant head chief was always just a shame! It's only because you've been here the longest!"

"I'm sick of your violent ways. If something tastes bad. Then, it's my right to say its bad!"

"Wait! Let me check it..."

Suddenly Zeff entered, acted in a normal way and said taking the soup tasting it. He instantly threw out the plate and spitted out the soup.

"What's with this disgusting soup? Is it supposed to taste like sludge or what!? We'd go out business if we served this to the customers!"

Sanji immediately rushed and held Zeff's collar and roared angrily, "Don't joke with me, you damn geezer! How's this any different from the soup you make!? Well!? Speak up!"

Zeff directly punched on Sanji's face which made the others shocked. He looked at Sanji sharply and scolded him, " Hmph! The soup I make...? Don't get cocky! It's a hundred years too early, for a lil' eggplant like you to be comparing with my soup with yours! I've cooked all around the world!"

"The owner didn't kick but punched him instead..!?"

The cooks around exclaimed. And hearing them, Sanji roared loudly and went out of the room. The surrounding suddenly became quiet and the cooks sighed in relief.

Kaya: "Um... Everyone, I think Sanji-san's soup is quite good if you ask!"

Patty: "Yeah we know..."

"Everyone here knows how great his cooking is. But if we didn't do that, that idiot would never listen to us...!"

Zeff then turned to Luffy and asked, "Hey, kid... Would you mind taking that lil' eggplant with you? Take him to Grand Line... It's his dream."

Patty: "Phew! Jezz, that was more trouble than it was worth, owner Zeff! It was really hard to play along."

Usopp: "Hey, give me another helping of this soup!"

"Me too!"

On the outside, Sanji was sitting leaning against the wall hearing the noise inside with a bitter smile on his face, "I can hear you... You bastards."

Luffy: "Alright! I don't mind... But I doesn't know what he think."

Later, it was time for Luffy's group to leave Baratie.

Luffy didn't see Sanji, he was waiting till the last moment. He still didn't mind If he didn't come as it was his will. But as they were about to leave, they finally heard a familiar voice from a corner.

"Wait! I'll go too! Take me with you."

Luffy: "Sanji...?"

Sanji: "I'll accompany you on your way to becoming the Pirate King. After all, we both have crazy dreams. So, I'll tag along to fulfill mine. I'll be the cook for your ship. Sound good? Or bad?"

Luffy: "Chuckle! You're really an annoying man... Hurry up! We're leaving soon!"

Zoro: "So, seems like our crew is increasing.."

Patty: "Now, you decide to leave on your own? I wanted to throw you outta here with my own two hands. Hmph! I don't like you a bit!"

Sanji: "So... You wanted to kick me out that badly, huh? I heard all your words..."

Zeff didn't even hesitate and said immediately, "Hmph! That's exactly right, lil' eggplant. I've always hated brats. There hasn't been a single day when I didn't regret saving a brat like you..."

Hearing the words from Zeff, Sanji greeted his teeth and said angrily, "Enjoy the few years you have left. Whatever you say geezer, Ha..."

Sanji immediately turned around and walked towards 'Going Merry' holding his bag. He started remembering his past experience at Baratie.

{..."Hey old geezer, this is amazing! So this is the restaurant on the seas!"

"That's right. Even all the treasure still wasn't enough to pay for this ship. So, we'll be working overtime for a while."

"It's fine, since I'll be here to help... Hehe!"

"Sanji, let's say for example, no matter how villianous, escaped convict, whatnot! As long as they come here wanting to eat beyond all else... We'll always serve them food, understand you lil' eggplant!?"...}

But as he was about to stepped on the ship, a familiar voice sounded from behind.

Zeff: "Hey Sanji... Don't catch a cold."

Sanji slightly trembled, he really will miss this old geezer. Tears started flowing down, Sanji immediately turned around and bowed,

"Sob! Owner Zeff!!! I'm eternally grateful for taking care of me for so damn long! Sob! I shall never forget for the rest of my life... The debt I owe you!"

"You bastard!" Sanji looked up and saw all the cooks holding their tears which were already overflowing..

Patty: "Goddamn it! We're gonna be lonely without ya!"

Carne: "Real lonely you hear!? I'll miss you!"

"You're making us cry dammit!"

Zeff was also covering his face trying to hold his tears, "Damn idiots! Men should say their goodbyes silently... I'll miss you lil' eggplant!"

Sanji: "Let's meet again one day! You good for nothing bastards!!"

Soon after, Sanji joined the ship and they slowly sailed away from Baratie and disappeared to the horizon. Zeff was standing at the balcony looking at the disappearing ship with a smile on his face,

"Go brat! Sail around and find your goal!"

On the deck of 'Going Merry',

Luffy: "Alright guys! Let's go sail to the next destination... Conomi island!"

Zoro: "I'm hungry... Let's eat something."

Sanji: "I'll go cook... What shall we have?"

Luffy: "Of course, it's meat!"

"I'll have that too.."

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End of Chapter....

See you guys next time....