Chapter 17: Baratie part 2

Kai walked into the restaurant and saw Luffy eating the food he was supposed to be serving the crew. He saw Sanji kick Luffy in the head "I'm sorry, Nami-swan, I'll do anything for you." Kai sat down at the table and lit another cigarette. "I thought her name was Tangerine? Huh, that's weird." Zoro, Luffy and Usopp nodded as if they were confused too.

"I'll kill you bastard!" Nami went full demon mode and was about to hit Kai when Sanji kicked at his head. Kai caught his foot and whistled. "Not bad kid." He had a big smile on his face under the mask that no one could see. He was proud. Sanji was pretty fucking good for the east blue. He was actually stronger than cannon as he had the goal of saving Reiju like Kai. Luffy was also stronger than normal due to Kai's interference. It wasn't a major difference compared to cannon, maybe like 10% stronger than they should be, but it still made Kai happy.

Sanji narrowed his eyes and said seriously. "Don't be mean to Nami-chan." Kai could feel his smile getting bigger. His brother was raised well, he secretly thanked Zeff again in his heart. "Maybe chivalry isn't dead after all." Nobody here understood the callback but if Moodie was still he she would have giggled. Kai let go of Sanji's leg and grabbed some food from the table.

As he was eating he was glad he had his mask as otherwise everyone would have been able to see his eyes water. Not because the food was bad, but because it was so good. So much better than when he was a kid and Sanji made him, Reiju and his mom food. He was both overjoyed and sad right now. He was sad he didn't get to watch Sanji grow up but both happy and proud of how he turned out. "Mom would be so proud of you Sanj." He muttered so that no one could hear him. (Sanj is not a typo, but something he calls Sanji sometimes.)

After a few minutes he snapped out of his thoughts hearing the crew around him eating and laughing. Just having a good time with everyone. Sanji had joined them in the conversation for a bit before he left to go serve others. Kai noticed Sanji go outside and feed someone who couldn't pay. It was Gin. He saw Luffy walking towards Sanji and flashed away, nobody even noticed he left except for Zoro who narrowed his eyes as he couldn't even see him move. He shook his head and thought he should train more before ignoring the clear red flags that most people would freak out about.

"Join my crew."

"I refuse."

"I refuse your refusal."

Kai was sitting on the roof and almost laughed giving himself away at the classic line. He watched as Luffy and Sanji talked and Luffy asked him about his dream.

"I want to see the all blue…" Kai nodded at this as he had seen Sanji grow up. "And I have someone I need to save." Kai's eyes widened in surprise for a bit before he smiled and shook his head laughing at his own foolishness. Of course Sanji wouldn't forget about his sister. He took in a drag of smoke. "Soon." Then he flashed and grabbed Zeff so they could watch the rest together.

"Then come with me! We'll save your friend and find the all blue! That sounds fun anyway! The perfect goal for the pirate king's chef!"

"Why do you want me anyway?" Sanji asked.

"You make good food!"

"That's it?"

"Also, you're strong and you remind me of my friend. He also had curly eyebrows like you." Sanji's face showed shock for a second before he concealed it. "Who was this friend of yours?"

"His name was Kai. He gave me meat when we met and I accidentally ate a devil fruit! He was really funny. My brothers called him airhead because he was made of air and hated being called an idiot. But he became a stinky marine."

Sanji was in deep thought. That was obviously his brother. He wanted to go with this friend of his brother but he didn't want to leave Zeff. Then he thought about his sister and how he needed to get stronger. He bit down on his cigarette and made his choice.

"I have to ask my dad first. I owe him a lot and I won't leave if he still wants my help. But if you really are my brother's friend then I wanna go with you. Maybe I will even meet him again."

"I don't" Zeff said from beside Kai.

"Are you sure old man? I'm the best chef you have!" Sanji said not missing a beat even though Zeff appeared out of nowhere.

"Oh please. You can't cook half as well as me. What do I need you for?" a tick mark appeared on Sanji's forehead. "Say that again old man! I'm a way better chef then you will ever be!" As the two got into a never ending argument about who was better Kai walked up to Luffy. "You got yourself a pretty damn good chef rubberman. Good pick."

"Shishishi. I know right. I can't believe he's Kai's brother too!" Kai was glad Luffy was only stupid for things that didn't matter because anyone else would be able to connect the dots.

The moment was ruined by a loud crash inside the restaurant as Don Kreig had finally showed up. Kai watched as he saw Luffy run in to fight him. He was excited for the future. Things were just getting started.

Kai watched and waited for Mihawk to show up. He noticed Nami try to leave so he stopped all the wind around the merry so it couldn't go too far. He let it get just out of sight before making it stop in place. Nami was freaking out over the impossible weather and couldn't get the boat to move at all.

He saw Mihawk pull up in his one man boat like the badass he is and smiled. He waited for Zoro to fight him as he wanted to be the world's best swordsman. Kai knew Zoro would lose but didn't stop him. Zoro needed this loss. Just when Zoro lost and let Mihawk kill him, Mihawk finally drew his sword leaving a huge scar on Zoro who passed out. Kai flashed to Zoro and caught him. "He's not too bad right?" He looked at Mihawk who narrowed his eyes. "Strong." Mihawk said as he saw Kai.

"I hope he reaches the top one day. Roronoa Zoro. He does indeed look promising." Mihawk replied to Kai's question. Kai drew his sword and Mihawk felt his own buzz in anticipation. No one present saw anything happen but they all heard a loud noise of metal on metal as Kai and Mihawk were in the same positions.

Kai was smiling under his mask. He could finally test his swordsmanship. He knew he would lose to Mihawk, but that wasn't the point. He wanted to know how far he hadn't fought seriously with his sword other than with Shanks or people who ended up dead. "No haki, no fruits, just swordsmanship. You game?" Mihawk replied with a smirk and nod. They started clashing swords and cuts appeared on Kai everywhere but his mask.

Mihawk was purposely avoiding his mask. After a little while Mihawk pulled back. He recognized the swordsmanship style of Kai. "Who taught you?" Asked Mihawk. You could see the smile on Kai's face through his eyes as he said. "You already know. Right?" Mihawk nodded realizing Kai didn't want Shanks name spoken out loud, but he was also able to confirm his guess.

"You're pretty good, but you're not a swordsman at heart. Let's end it with this strike." Kai nodded at Mihawk, he was losing this fight very clearly as he had yet to even land one hit on Mihawk while he was riddled with cuts. However, if you look closely you could see that all of his cuts were very shallow. He was still in peak condition as a few scratches didn't slow him down. He was happy with the results, he was playing to Mihawk's strengths, Mihawk was right, he wasn't a swordsman, his main strengths were his devil fruit and his haki. He went into this knowing it was a losing battle. However, he didn't mind. He was prepared to lose as he got ready for his final strike.

Mihawk and Kai charged at each other as if they both heard a countdown in their heads. They put their full strength into a head on clash and came out on either side of each other. They both turned around to look at each other and sheathed their respective swords. "Good thing I brought a change of clothes. Wahaha." Kai said looking down at his suit that was sliced up as he had a new cut on his chest it was over his right pec and was about 10 inches long. (I'm not an idiot who forgot he was a logia. He said no fruit in the fight and logias can choose to touch things if they want otherwise they wouldn't even be able to pick up a mug.) He shrugged as he would have a new scar which he didn't care much about as his body was already covered in them and in six months he probably wouldn't even be able to tell which one was from Mihawk.

"I wonder how strong you really are." Mihawk said to Kai. "Wahaha. Who knows. You were right that I'm not a swordsman." Mihawk nodded as he already knew this for a fact. It was just the two of them ever since the start of the fight as Zoro was out cold, Sanji and Luffy were fighting and Usopp was gone somewhere probably cowering in fear. Now that Kai was certain no one was listening or watching them.

"Have you seen ginger recently? I haven't seen him since I was 13." Mihawk nodded and the two of them started talking about Shanks. Kai asked about how strong he was and how he was doing. Mihawk answered his questions and asked about Shanks past and the time he taught them. Kai told him that Luffy's hat was from Shanks, this made Mihawk much more interested in Zoro as he and Shanks had recognized Zoro and Luffy respectively. This only made him more sure of Zoro as he got ready to leave with a smile on his face.

Kai got up and they said goodbye. From the fight to the talk all of it happened in 20 minutes. Luffy and the rest were still a long way off from finishing their fight. Kai turned invisible and flashed behind Zeff. "See you later, old man, I left you a gift." He said as he flashed to his office and left a recipe book of food from other blues and the grand line as well as 50 million belli. Kai had a ton of money as he had snuck onto Skypiea once during his vacation and took some of the gold. Enel didn't even notice him. Fucking casual lol.