Chapter 6

East Blue - Archipelago Americas 

Somewhere in the middle of the sea 

A few minutes ago, she was informed by one of her servants that they had spotted a small boat being pulled by a Sea King. With her interest piqued, she decided to investigate. 

As they approached the vessel, she saw a boy wearing a straw hat who was clearly poisoned. When he noticed her, she heard a sentence she thought she would never hear in her life. 

"Hey lady, you look like a guy I know named Sanji. Do you happen to have an antidote to get this poison out of me?", he spoke in a slurred voice before passing out. 

'Sanji? How does this boy know Sanji?' 

Reiju, apparently showing no emotion, turned to the servants who had accompanied her "Dock his boat and the Sea King at the pier, bring him to my personal lab. He ingested a poison that should only appear in the New World and still hasn't died, which makes him a great test subject." 

Immediately, the servants did as they were commanded. Although Chico tried to stop them, several capture nets and special collars later, he was fully chained, and the boat was docked at one of the piers at the rear of the snail. 

'Good thing these servants have no idea who Sanji is', Reiju thought as she mentally wiped a drop of sweat from her brow. 

After being left alone with Luffy in her personal lab, she approached him before kissing his mouth for several long minutes, sucking all the poison out of his bloodstream. 

Pulling her lips away from his, she said, "Delicious, I love Infernal-Pufferfish poison." 

The only thing left to do was wait for Luffy, who occasionally snored loudly without a care in the world, to wake up so she could interrogate him. 

=Scene Break= 

After about an hour of sleep, Luffy woke up yawning and stretching, "What a good nap." He then reached for his hat, not finding it, he fully woke up before hearing a melodious voice from a corner. 

"Looking for this?" 

Luffy then noticed Reiju sitting in a chair with the straw hat resting on the table beside her. 

"Phew, I thought it was stolen... wait, you didn't steal it, did you?", he asked in fear, quickly grabbing his hat and backing away from her a little. 

"Hmm, why would I steal your hat?" 

"Duhh, because it's my greatest treasure", Luffy looked at her as if it were obvious. 

"It's not very smart to say that to someone who might steal it, is it?", she asked, raising an eyebrow, intrigued by his way of thinking. 

Luffy looked at her with a blank face and his mouth half open, thinking about something before completely changing the subject when his stomach began to growl. 

"Wow, this poison stuff made me hungry. Do you know where I can find some food here, Bubblegum?", he asked, rubbing his belly. 

"Bubblegum?" 

"Yeah, your hair is pink and you're a girl, so it fits." 

"Alright, before I give you food, I want to ask you some questions... uh... what's your name again?", she said, pointing for him to sit in one of the empty chairs. 

Sitting down, Luffy said, "Isn't it a bit rude to ask my name without introducing yourself first?" 

"Oh, right, my name is Vinsmo-/My name is Monkey D. Luffy, the man who will become the Pirate King", she began to speak only to be interrupted by Luffy introducing himself. 

A vein popped on her forehead before she calmed down and said, "My name is Vinsmoke Reiju. Now, my question is, where did you hear the name Sanji?" 

"Alright, alright, but food first. I'll answer while I eat." 

She looked exasperatedly at him before simply giving up and going to get food "Don't touch anything." 

Logically, in a room full of equipment he had never seen before, as soon as she left, Luffy started to mess with and explore the equipment like a curious child. 

She then returned with a reasonable amount of food, only to see Luffy trying to put back an Erlenmeyer flask before starting to inhale the food she brought as soon as he saw it. 

Reiju was slightly dazed, seeing the equipment in her lab all messed up. 

Luffy then began to speak with his mouth full, "When I... asked a friend... where I could find... an amazing cook who could also fight... to join my crew when... I started my journey... he told me that the best cooks in East Blue resided at Baratie... a restaurant ship. Since the place is... a neutral territory for pirates and marines, there are always fights among the customers happening, so the waiters and cooks are always beating up troublemakers... the thing is, among the people that this friend described, there was a guy who caught my attention. Apparently, he is the Sous Chef of the restaurant, but since he argues... all the time with the Chef, you can often see him acting as a waiter in the dining room. My friend described him... as being a tall, fit guy, blonde, with curly eyebrows, similar to yours. His name is Sanji, he fights using only his legs, and he flirts with every pretty girl he sees, and when... I start my journey, I'm going to invite him to my crew if he's cool." 

"And if he refuses?" 

"If I want him in my crew and he refuses, then I'll refuse his refusal", Luffy said as he finished eating. 

She looked at him, doubting his intelligence "That's not how things work." 

"Relax, Bubblegum, everything will work out. By the way, why are you so interested in knowing about this Sanji guy?" 

She narrowed her eyes and replied, "I thought he was someone I knew, but he's not." 

"Whoa, well, anyway, is there more food? I'm starving", Luffy said, not understanding why she was lying about not knowing Sanji, but deciding not to press the issue. 

"You're still hungry even after eating all this?", she asked, surprised at his appetite. 

"How am I supposed to grow up strong and healthy with just this little bit of food? I need more food, Bubblegum, please give me more", thinking she wouldn't give him more food, Luffy pouted and gave her his best puppy-dog eyes in the hopes of getting more food. 

"Alright, I'll bring you a bag of food, just stop being weird", she said before leaving to fetch the food. 

"Yay! I just don't get why she said to stop being weird, I'm not weird", Luffy celebrated the fact that he managed to get more food but found it odd that Reiju had said that to him. 

He instantly stopped thinking about what she said when he saw more food arriving. 

=Scene Break= 

After eating, Luffy turned to Reiju and said, "Well, thanks for the food and for getting the poison out of me, Bubblegum. It was nice meeting you, but I need to go now; adventure calls." 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, handsome", Reiju said, stepping in front of him "I can't just let you go without knowing what your intentions are with my family." 

The gears in Luffy's head began to turn, trying to understand "What's with your family?" 

"You don't know my family?" 

"Should I? I mean, I know your family is evil, but other than that-", he began to think, his head smoking as he tried to remember what her family was besides evil. 

The thing is, the soul that merged with Luffy, like most people, didn't remember the entire One Piece story precisely over time, so Luffy's meta-knowledge of the canon has small gaps, so to speak—nothing too serious, but he doesn't remember some details. 

Reiju sighed, not knowing if this was some new tactic to extract something from her or her family, or if this guy was just plain stupid. 

Losing patience with the games, she decided to lay her cards on the table. 

"Here's the thing, Luffy, out of nowhere you cross my path poisoned with a poison that should only appear in the New World, mention my late younger brother, and still expect me to believe that you don't have a plan or intention regarding a royal family?" 

"Why would I want anything from your family?", Luffy looked at her, confused. 

"I don't know, you tell me: money, information, technology, or you work for someone and want to blackmail me with information about Sanji. What is it?" 

"First of all, I'm going to become the Pirate King, so I would never work for anyone. Secondly, if I wanted money from your family, I would simply steal it. I bet I have more information about the world and its secrets than your family. And technology? Meh, my future crewmates could build cool things like robots too, so I don't need anything from your family", Luffy said, wanting to win this argument as if it were a competition. 

Looking at the boy in front of her, who seemed to have won some competition, she reflected, 'Maybe it was just a coincidence after all.' 

"You're from East Blue, right?", she asked, trying to find a flaw in his story. 

"Born and raised on Dawn Island." 

"And have you ever been to the Grand Line?" 

"No, why? If you're going to give spoilers, then I don't want to hear them", Luffy said, threatening to cover his ears. 

She rolls her eyes and says, "If you've never been to the Grand Line, how can you claim to have so much information about the world and its secrets?" 

"Wow, you got me there, Bubblegum. You're actually a bit smart. But it's a secret. A lot of people said it's not good to share this particular secret with just anyone, so I'll only tell my crew—" 

Luffy crosses his arms and turns his head, determined not to reveal his biggest secret to a stranger until he has an epiphany. He looks back at Reiju, grabs her shoulders, and says excitedly, "I've got an idea! I can't tell you unless you're part of my crew, so why don't you join my crew? You're a good and cool person, and we'll have tons of adventures together." He nods as if this is the best idea he's had in ages. 

Any doubt Reiju had that he was a spy or something like that vanished at that moment. Monkey D. Luffy was just an idiot with a child's mentality. 

"I refuse the invitation, Luffy. You said it yourself, my family is terrible, and I've done horrible things for them. The only decent ones in this family are Sanji and my mother, but she's dead, so it's just Sanji", she says, looking away. 

"I refuse your refusal, and I've already decided. Besides, you're a good person. You cured my poison and gave me food, not to mention you didn't steal my hat when you had the chance. And if there's one thing I'm good at, it's knowing if people are good or not. Oh, and everyone says I'm also good at getting into trouble." 

"Look, there's no way someone like you could be a spy, so you can leave now. Come on, I'll take you to your boat." 

"No, I'm very suspicious, so it's better to keep me here. I'm not saying this because I want to convince you to join my crew. Umm, changing the subject, which island are you heading to?" 

Reiju rolls her eyes and says, "I'm going to the main island of the Americas Archipelago, where the kingdom of USA resides." 

"What a coincidence! I'm heading to the same place, can you believe it, Bubblegum? I think I'll hitch a ride with you, we'll be roommates, and before you know it, you'll join my crew willingly. Muahahahaha", Luffy whispers the last part before laughing like a third-rate villain, unaware that Reiju could hear him. 

Hearing Luffy's childish plans made Reiju roll her eyes before deciding to go back to what she was doing before meeting Luffy. 

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(AN: 2,009 Words) 

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