Chapter 10: Sanji the Sous Chef

Another day, another chapter. And here I introduce our favorite cook of the seas! Just a little warning: there is a little explicit language every now-and-then, this chapter being the first and last for a while. Thought you ought to know.

Chapter 10:

Sanji the Sous Chef

"I got this," Luffy announced as the cannon fired. He stretched his arms out to grab the mast and the figurehead. "Gum-Gum Slingshot!" The cannonball slammed into him, stretching out his arms and legs. His left hand lost its grip and he tilted. The cannonball shot off as he snapped back to normal, slamming into the restaurant.

"Aww, dammit." Zoro cursed.

Luffy was roughly dragged into the restaurant by a couple of angry cooks, Coby frantically following behind.

"Please," Coby begged, the chefs ignoring the rosette behind them. "It was an accident!"

"We don't care," one of the chefs finally grunted. "Someone has to pay for the damages." The group stopped before a plain, wooden door. The other cook, the one that hadn't talked, shoved the door open and threw Luffy in.

"Head Chef Zeff," he stated, as Luffy fell to the floor in an undignified heap. "This is the brat that attacked the restaurant."

"Please," Coby begged on behalf of his rubbery captain as the cooks left with two dismissive grunts. "This is all a misunderstanding. The Marines were firing on us. It was their cannonball."

"Really now?" asked the man inside, Zeff. He was a tall, rotund man with a braided blond moustache, a small beard, and short hair. He was dressed in a regular cook outfit with the exception of his pants being shorts, revealing that his right leg was missing from the knee down and was replaced with a peg leg. His chef hat was so tall that it brushed the ceiling. "And where is the captain of the Marine ship that fired upon you?"

"He and his date are in the restaurant," Coby answered before Luffy could say something stupid. Knowing him, he'd probably say it was their fault and have to work for a year to pay it off or some such nonsense.

"Are you ok, old guy?" Luffy asked before seeing his peg leg. "Oh god! Your leg!"

"Captain Luffy, did you accidently blow his leg off?!"

"Shut up, you brats!" Zeff yelled. "My leg has been like this for years!

"Oh. Good." Luffy went back to normal, knowing that he was not the cause of the man's stump leg.

"Seriously though," Zeff said. "Who's going to pay for the damages?"

"DON'T FUCK WITH ME, YOU DAMN WAITER!" a voice roared from the dining room.

"That sounded like that Fullbody guy," Luffy observed as the voice from below echoed around the room.

"That sounds like Sanji's doing," Zeff sighed at the same time. The three in the room made their exit to the dining room where they found Lieutenant Fullbody, bloody and beaten, being held up by his neck by a blond man in a nice suit. The blond had a curly eyebrow over his visible right eye, the left one covered by his hair, and a lit cigarette in his mouth. The table next to them was smashed to pieces, broken china and spilled soup on the ground next to it. The man in the suit was revealed to be Sanji when one of the cooks yelled at him for beating up an important customer.

"Sanji, you asshole!" a cook with giant arms raged. "That man is a Marine Lieutenant!"

"He disrespected the food and he disrespected me," Sanji spat, as if that explained why he had used the marine as a punching bag. He dropped the man who landed in a crumpled and moaning heap. "And for the last time, I'm the Sous Chef, not a damn waiter." As Sanji began arguing with the other chefs, Fullbody started to crawl away only to be stopped when one of his men ran to the door.

"Lieutenant Fullbody!" the other marine called, not seeing his commander but hoping Fullbody could hear him. "We've got terrible news! The Krieg pirate we'd captured has escaped! We've already lost seven men!"

"What?" Fullbody gasped from the floor. "How? He was on the verge of starvation when we caught him three days ago and we haven't fed him since!"

"I'm sorry, I do-" There was a gunshot and the man collapsed, dead. Behind the body was a man with a smoking flintlock dressed in gray pants, a green shirt under a gray jacket with red sea serpent designs, and a blue and gray striped headband. The man himself was tan and rail thin with scruffy black hair and a scraggly beard from not shaving while in captivity. He also had bags under his eyes and two large bead earrings on each ear. This was Gin, the Man-Demon of the Krieg Pirates.

The murderer limped into the establishment, ignoring the sniffling Lieutenant, and fell into a seat while throwing one leg onto the table to try to hide his misery. The chef who'd yelled at Sanji walked over with a big and obviously fake smile.

"Welcome to the Baratié, ya damn crook. My name's Patty. What can I get you?"

"I don't care," the man growled over the sounds of his empty stomach. "Just bring me food."

"May I ask how you're going to pay for this meal?"

Gin pulled out the gun he'd used to kill the marine and pointed it at the chef. "Do you take lead?"

Patty wasn't fazed by the obviously loaded weapon, but he did seem to get a mixture of excitement and disappointment from the answer. "So you don't have any money?" The chef brought his two huge fists up and slammed them down on the pirate, breaking the chair the man was sitting in.

"Dammit, Patty," Zeff muttered as Patty proceeded to beat the ever-living crap out of the starving man and the crowd cheered him on. "Not another chair." Unknown to either of the fighting men, Sanji had made an exit to the kitchen. Finally, after kicking him while he was down for a good five minutes, Patty threw Gin over his shoulder and carried him out behind the restaurant where he unceremoniously dumped him on the deck. Luffy ran up to the second floor and outside to the top deck to watch what would happen. Coby followed to prevent him from damaging anything.

"And stay out," Patty grunted, wiping his hands. Gin moaned hungrily as the chef walked back inside. Luffy wanted to go down and help, but Coby held him back, warning him that that was 'Man-Demon' Gin of the Krieg Pirates, one of the deadliest men in all of the East Blue. While they were arguing, Luffy insisting that they help while Coby demanded that they let him starve, Sanji came out with a plate of food and a glass of water that he placed in front of the starving pirate.

"Here," the blond chef ordered. "Eat."

"I don't want your charity," Gin spat, turning away from the food he so obviously wanted. The pirate's stomach protested.

"The sea is crazy, isn't it?" Sanji sighed, sitting down next to the dangerous man and lighting a cigarette. "It can mean absolute death if you run out of food. I know what it's like to starve because of the sea and I can't stand seeing anyone go through that, so eat. Survive today so you can defend your honor tomorrow." Gin's resolve crumbled and he dove for the food, scarfing it down like he hadn't eaten in days (which he hadn't).

"It's so good," he cried happily, tears streaming down his face as he shoveled more and more food into his mouth, "but I can't help but think that you're going to get fired because of me."

"Don't worry about it," Sanji replied as Gin finished his food. "This isn't the first time I've done this."

"I like you," Luffy stated before Coby could stop him, making their presence known and shocking both men below. "I'm looking for a cook for my pirate crew and I've decided I want you."

"I'm sorry," Sanji blinked, "but I can't leave. I owe the old man too much."

"So you refuse?"

"Yes."

"I refuse your refusal," Luffy responded, crossing his arms.

"THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS, MORON/CAPTAIN!" the three other men yelled. Luffy remained unfazed.

"Well I'm not gonna leave until I have you on my crew," the teenage pirate captain declared.

"You're a pirate, right?" Gin asked, getting a nod from the rubber-man. "Obviously you're just starting if you're looking for a cook. Let me give you some advice. Stay away from the Grand Line. That sea defies logic and is only a death sentence."

"Well, thanks," Luffy smiled, "but I'm going to the Grand Line no matter what you say. I'm after the One Piece and that's where it is."

"I can't stop you," Gin sighed. "It's your death."

"Here, Gin," Sanji interrupted, untying a small boat. "You can take this to leave."

"Thank you."

"Sanji! Get back to work!" Zeff yelled from somewhere over them.

"I'm sorry, Sanji," Gin apologized. "You'll probably get yelled at because of me." In response, the chef picked up the empty dishes and threw them into the ocean.

"There. No evidence, no problem." Gin balked before falling to the deck.

"Thank you! Thank you so much! I'll never forget your kindness!" As he sailed off into the distance, Sanji, Luffy, and Coby went back inside, the former to work and the latter two to join his crew at their table.

When Sanji met Nami it was... interesting.

"Oh my love!" he'd yelled, kneeling by their table with a rose he'd pulled out from somewhere. "To think that the sea would bring me a beauty such as yourself! I am prepared to become a pirate if it would mean that I could sail by your side! But alas! An obstacle too great to overcome stands in our way!"

"And that obstacle would be me," Zeff had said, watching the interaction. Sanji jumped in surprise. "Go on, Boy. I haven't a need of you in my restaurant any longer, not a crappy cook like you, anyway."

"No way, you shitty old man!" Sanji cursed, rounding on the older chef. "I pledged my life to you and your restaurant, so I'm not leaving. And don't you dare insult my cooking!"

"I'll insult you all I want, brat!" Zeff rebuffed, his fist coming down to leave a lump on the other blond. "I taught you everything you know! You should be more grateful! Now get out of my restaurant!"

"I'm not leaving until you drop dead, Old Man!"

"I've still got another hundred years to go, Runt!" Sanji stormed off, slamming the kitchen door open. "Little punk," Zeff muttered, hobbling off after the younger man.

Little did they know the next week would change Sanji's life.

End of Chapter 10

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-SwordOfTheGods