Chapter 10: East Blue Arc: Protect Baratie! The Great Pirate, Red Foot Zeff!

"Hey, chore boy!" Nami called out, the rest of the group were enjoying their meal when they saw Luffy walk down the spiral staircase.

"You guys!" Luffy exclaimed.

"I hear you have to work for a year here." Usopp teased.

"Is it okay if we redraw our flag for the ship?" Zoro joked.

"You're eating yummy food without me?" Luffy whined. "How could you!" he exploded.

"That's our business, right guys?" Zoro smirked.

"Right..." Sasha held back her giggle when she witness her brother toss a booger he dug out from his nose into Zoro's glass of water.

"Well, it's true that the food here is good." Zoro admitted. "I feel bad for you, but..." he picked up his glass. "Drink it yourself!" he downed the water down Luffy's throat.

"I can't believe you did that!" Luffy snapped.

"I can't believe you did that!" Zoro retorted back.

"I know I shouldn't be laughing, but..." Sasha let her giggles burst from her mouth, with Nami and Usopp following suit.

"How noisy..." Sanji looked up at the direction of the laughter. "Could they be his buddies? Do it yourself." he handed the wine bottle to the male customer he was serving when his eyes noticed the two laughing females. "Oh, dear ocean." he presented a red rose each to Sasha and Nami. "I thank you for today's encounter! Oh, love. I can't bear this hardship. Go ahead and laugh at me. I'm now prepared to be a lowly pirate or devil if I'm with you. However, how tragic this is! There's too great an obstacle between us!"

"Eto..." Sasha blinked. "I appreciate the gesture but..." she flashed the metal promise ring she wore in her finger. to the flirtatious cook. "I"m promised to someone else."

"That obstacle is me, right Sanji?" Zeff questioned. "This is a good opportunity. Why don't you become a pirate with them? You're no longer needed at this restaurant!"

"Hey, you geezer, I'm the Sous Chef here." Sanji reminded. "What do you mean you no longer need me?"

"You often get into trouble with customers." Zeff replied. "You flare your nostrils the second you see a girl. You can't even cook a decent meal, so you're dead weight to this restaurant. That's what I said. Also, the other cook steer clear of you. So go be a pirate or whatever, and just leave this restaurant already."

"If I keep quiet, you just shoot your mouth, huh?" Sanji scowled. "The rest I could overlook, but I'm not going to let you trash my cooking! No matter what you say, I'll say here as a cook!"

"Just what's the meaning of you grabbing the owner by the collar?" Zeff demanded, the blond pulling him up by his uniform. "You idiot!" he sent Sanji flying onto the table.

"Quit screwing around..." Sanji growled. "No matter how hard you try to kick me out, I'll continue to work here as a cook. Now, sorry about that." he straightened the table. "I'd like to make up for it by serving you fruit macedonia, my princesses."

"Thank you, you're so kind." Nami gushed. "By the way, you know... the food you have here is delicious, but it seems a little expensive for me."

"Of course, it'll be free." the love-stuck Sanji assured. "Yours are not free." he turned to Zoro.

"You're too predictable." Zoro sweatdropped.

Four days later...

"With this and that going on, four days have passed." Usopp remarked, the four lounging on the boat they arrived in. "When can we leave here? Is he really going to work here as a chore boy for a year?"

"Something's getting closer." Sasha's danger senses went on high alert.

"What a huge galleon!" Nami exclaimed as Don Krieg's fleet closed in on the floating restaurant.

"You've also noticed it, Zoro?" Sasha asked, the pair taking a better look at Don Krieg's ship after the group watched the crowd of customers fleeing the restaurant.

"Yeah," the swordsman agreed. "It's strange. There's almost no sign on of anyone on board that ship."

In the restaurant...

"This is a good restaurant." Don Krieg smirked. "I'll take this ship. My ship became a wreck, so I wanted a new one. You'll get off this ship after you take care of what I tell you to do. There's about 100 of my underlings still alive on my ship. They're weak with hunger and severe injuries. First, prepare 100 meals and water for them. They're some who've already staved to death. Bring them over immediately."

"Meat Ball of Doom!" Patty took out his bazooka and fired a cannonball at Krieg after the other cooks restrained Sanji. "I might've broken the doors. Owner's gonna yell at me again."

"How dare you serve such a nasty dessert." Krieg growled, unharmed by Patty's weapon. "This is the lousiest restaurant. You're damn annoying!" he revealed the ammunition hidden in his armor and rained bullets at the defenseless cooks. "Don't defy me!" he ordered. "I'm the strongest! Steel arms more powerful than anyone's. A wootz steel-made body that is harder than anyone's and a diamond fist that can destroy anything. I have all sorts of built-in weapons throughout my body. The 50-ship large fleet and 5000 pirate force. I've won all battles in the past. I am the man fit to be called Don!"

"Out of my way, kid." Zeff pushed past Luffy, with a large bag heaved over his shoulder.

"When I tell you to prepare food, all you have to do is obediently follow orders!" Krieg continued his rant. "Don't defy me!"

"There's probably enough for 100 meals in this." Zeff tossed the bag before Krieg. "Bring it to your ship right away."

"Zeff?" Krieg recognized the former pirate.

"If we revive even those on the ship, our restaurant will be taken over!" the other chefs protested.

"If they have the will to fight, that is..." Zeff corrected. "Right, defeated warrior of the Grand Line?"

"You must be Red Foot Zeff..." Krieg gaped. "So you are alive. An incomparable pirate who was a cook and yet also a captain. Red Foot Zeff was a master of kicks who never used his hands in battle. Red Foot Zeff; you're the man who once entered the Grand Line and come back unhurt. There should be a logbook with the full year your journey chronicled in it. Give that to me."

"I can't give it to you." Zeff rejected. "The logbook is the pride of all the crewmen I traveled with. It's too important to give it to you."

"Then, I'll just take it from you by force." Krieg declared. "It's true that I fell from the Grand Line. Even it that's the case, I'm still Don Krieg, the strongest man. It's merely a dark sea route. To sail across it, I had enough power, and forces, and ambition. The only thing that was regrettable was that I lacked information. I just didn't know things. I'll take your logbook. And I'll form a large pirate fleet again and seize the One Piece. And then, I'll stand on top of this Great Pirate Era."

"Hold on a second." Luffy stepped forward. "I'm the one who's gonna be King of the Pirates!"

"Did you say something, kid?" Krieg repeated. "This isn't a game."

"Of course not." Luffy concurred. "I'll to conquer the Grand Line."

"It's no joke, you brat!" Krieg snapped. "It's true that we didn't have information, but a fleet with 5000 men was wiped out in just seven days. That's a devilish sea. There's no way someone like you can sail across it. Unfortunately, I don't find those kind of jokes funny. If you're not going to let it drop, then how about I just crush you here."

"Go ahead if you can." Luffy grinned.

"As you wish, I'll send you to the netherworld." Krieg accepted the challenge and released the gauntlets on his shoulder blades when he felt a slight pressure in the air.

"Gonna fight, Luffy?" Zoro grinned on the stairs, readying his blades. "Need a hand?"

"Zoro, Sasha, Usopp." Luffy blinked. "You stopped by? Don't worry, just watch from there."

"Too bad," Usopp stammered. "But if you say so, what can we do? But if push comes to shove, we'll help you. So, good luck."

"Usopp, your legs are shaking." Sasha pointed out as she headed down to the dining hall.

"Just keep quiet." Zoro silenced Usopp.

"Are they your crew members?" Krieg mocked. "That's quite a small group you have."

"What are you saying?" Luffy snapped. "I've got two more!"

"You counted me, didn't you?" Sanji retorted.

"Stand up, Sanji." Sasha instructed, walking past the blond cook. "No Lesser Vassal Clan of mine is allowed to admit defeat against someone like Krieg."

"You're..." Sanji's eyes widened. This powerful presence... this pure ambivalence... could it.. it can't be her!

"I'll deal with you later." Krieg pulled back, unnerved by the subtle pressure he felt from the seemingly harmless female. "I'll go feed my underlings." he heaved the sack of food over his shoulder. "Those who don't want to die can abandon the restaurant and escape. All I'm after are the logbook and this ship. But if you still wish to be uselessly killed, it's a bother, but I'll bury you into the sea. Know that." that said, he exited the restaurant.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ghin demanded, seeing the rest of the chefs raring to fight. "You saw how powerful Don was, right?

"Hey Ghin, let me tell you something." Sanji interjected. "Feeding someone who's hungry is my morality. But," he righted the fallen table with his leg. "Those we're dealing with are plunderers with full bellies. I won't let you complain even when I beat up your fellow pirates. If someone's going to take over this restaurant, even if it's you, I'll kill them without hesitation!"

"You see?" Luffy beamed at Zoro and Usopp. "He's kinda of cool, isn't he? Ghin, you said you didn't know anything about the Grand Line. Even though you've been there?"

"It's still true that I don't know." Ghin admitted. "What happened on the seventh day after we entered the Grand Line, I don't know if it was a dream or reality. I still haven't been able to come in terms with it. I still can't believe that the 50-ship fleet was wiped out by just one man."

"WHAT!?" Everyone chorused.

"It happened suddenly," Ghin related. "As soon as this man appeared, he sank the ships one after another. If we hadn't been lucky enough to have that storm then, our main ship would've been completely destroyed as well. I don't know how many ships we have left, it was just so dreadful that I don't want to accept it as reality. I don't want to remember... that man's... sharp, hawk-like eyes whose glare alone gives one the chill of death."

"Wha..." Zoro gaped. "What did he just say?"

"That..." Zeff started. "Must be Hawk-Eye. That you felt his eyes were like a hawk isn't proof in and of itself, but what that man did was enough proof that it's him."

"Hawk-eye!" Zoro gripped the staircase bars tightly.

"You know him, Zoro?" Luffy asked.

"He's the man I'm looking for." Zoro confessed. "I went out to sea to meet him."

"Isn't it possible that that man had some deep grudge towards you guys?" Sanji asked.

"Like you guys disturbed his nap or something." Zeff suggested.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Ghin snapped. "I'll be damned if he crushed our fleet for such a reason."

"It sounds so exciting!" Luffy beamed. "That's how it should be!"

"But my goal now is completely narrowed down to the Grand Line." Zoro decided. "That man... I can see that man if I go there."

"Are you stupid or what?" Sanji scoffed. "Guys like you die before anyone else."

"Do you idiots understand the situation?" Patty snapped. "The ship moored in front of the restaurant is the huge Galleon that belongs to Don Krieg. Commodore of the 'pirate fleet'. If you wanna escape from reality, do it after surviving this life-and-death crisis."

"That's kinda of true." Sasha admitted and turned to the gathered chefs. "Now, what do you guys know about Haki?"

"What happened?" Krieg demanded, his crew members were about to launch an attack on Baratie when Dracule Mihawk slashed through the Galleon with his Black Blade. "Cut?" he echoed when one of his men reported that the ship was cut. "This huge Galleon was? That can't be true!"

"Raise the anchor!" Zeff ordered as the floating restaurant swerved due to the massive wave. "Or we'll be swallowed along with the ship!"

"Aniki" Johnny wept as he and Yosaku swam up to the Baratie as the pirate quartet rushed out.

"Are you alright?" Luffy hurried over.

"Where's the ship?" Zoro pressed. "It's gone! What happened to Nami?"

"That..." Johnny sobbed. "I'm sorry, aniki. She's gone. Nami-aniki... she took all the treasure and ran off!"

"What did you say?" the boys echoed.

"Just as I thought..." Sasha frowned. "Nami does have some connection with Arlong..."

"That man is..." Zeff's expression turned to shock when he saw the raft floating towards the Baratie.