"Luffy": talk

"Sabo": whisper

"ACE": shout

"Gomu Gomu no": the skill's name

'idiot': thinking

<Joyboy>: voice of all things

-Into the story-

"Hey, Sanji! Are you deaf or what? What did I tell you about not beating the crap out of our customers, brat?!"

A large man who had arranged their seats from before came rushing in and called out for Sanji with an annoying voice. Sanji, still holding the collar of the lieutenant, who had been knocked unconscious by the same chef and covered in blood and bruises, scoffed at the word 'Customers'.

"Are you blind, Patty? This guy did't even order anything. He just stomped in here and tried to pick a fight with our other guests."

Patty blinked, tried to process the information, then he decided to leave the problem for Sanji to handle.

"Alright! Do whatever you want with him as long as he's not a customer", Patty said before walking away.

Sanji then walked toward a lady who had walked in along with this idiot, and dropped him in front of her. Sanji then took the lady's hand and blew a kiss on her hand, which got her to feel flutter.

"I'm sorry, my lady! But I honestly think that you can find a better date than him"

Unknown to him, someone who was watching the full scene was very sad. Nami had noticed Usopp's face ever since Sanji walked toward that woman, and the navigator also had noticed how silent Usopp had been since they entered the restaurant. Couldn't stand it. Nami then asked Usopp gently.

"Hey, Usopp...what's the matter?"

"It....It's nothing.....really" Usopp hesitated.

"Stop lying!............Is it because of that chef?" Nami asked again, but with more enthusiasm.

Usopp's face then heated up again as the mention of Sanji, which got Nami to quickly know the answer, then she laughed quietly at him. Usopp was so embarrassed that he decided to scroll up like a ball, and tried to hide himself from them.

"Come on, Usopp! It's okay to love whoever you want to. No one has their right to judge you, anyway". Nami tried to cheer him up.

"But how can I love someone like him? Besides, it's clear that Sanji is into women. There is no way a handsome gentleman like him would fall in love with a coward like me", Usopp tried to reason, tears were ready to fall.

"You two are really meant for each other, which always pisses me off. It's clear that you two are deeply in love, but none of you make a single move?" Zoro rubbed his head to show his frustration.

"W-What did you say? S-Sanji lo-loves me?" Usopp looked at Zoro with shock.

"Yeah, that shitty cook once told me about his little crush. You really need to ask him out, Usopp", Zoro said, while his eye was focused on Usopp.

Usopp then went deep into his mind, debating whether he should ask Sanji out or not. While Luffy was looking at them with a confused look, as he didn't understand what they were saying to each other. Luffy then looked back at Zoro in order to have a better explanation from the swordsman, but Zoro only laughed at him and said it was something he didn't need to care about. Later on, Sanji finally came back to take their orders after he had finished everything with the Marine and let them retrieve them.

However, they were interrupted again by a big sound of the door was slapped open. Sanji was so done with this, he even broke his pen to show his anger. Could everyone just let him do his job without interruption? But then Sanji decided to take a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.

A dark-skinned man who was leaning on the wooden door was seriously hurt as blood and bruises were covered all around his body. Besides, he must have lost a lot of blood because the man was obviously having a high fever from lost blood or because of his infected wound. He then slowly dragged himself over to the nearest table and sat down.

"Bring me some food, anything to eat. This place is a restaurant, right?" The man spoke

Patty once again walked over and headed toward the man's table, clapping his hands together with an awkward smile which he always used to greet his customers.

"Hello, you miserable bastard. I apologize but I must ask. Do you have any money to pay?"

The man suddenly took out the gun clumsily and pointed it toward Patty's head.

"Do you guys accept copper candy?" He smirked.

"So I assume you can't pay then."

Patty then changed his expression, and suddenly smashed the anonymous man's head down on the ground with full force, along with the poor table which he was sitting at. The man then groaned not just because of his wounds, but also because of his hunger. However, he didn't receive any sympathy from the muscular chef, but Patty even kicked him out of the restaurant.

Sanji had been watching the full interaction between them with a neutral face, like it was an usual thing in this restaurant. But then the blond cook walked away with a note full of the crew's order which was written by Nami because she was so done with waiting for their food, and Luffy had nearly reached his limit. The captain was even trying to eat the table.

Not long after, their food had finally been served. Luffy's crew then quickly dug in in order to satisfy their hunger and didn't care about anyone or anything. Not even when the old blond chef with a long hat came out and lectured Patty about his action, and he would put it on the muscular man's paycheck.

Sanji then walked out of the restaurant, but this time a plate of food in his hands, and of course it didn't escape Zeff's notice. He then put the plate down in front of the dying man, not noticing that someone else was watching them from above.

"Come on, eat up" Sanji said while slowly taking a seat beside the man and lighting his cigarette.

The man was looking at the delicious food in front of him, while drooling. But because of his pride, the man quickly turned his eyes away from the plate.

"I do not accept charity, take it away!" he said with difficulty.

"It's not charity, dumbass. To me, anyone that is coming to this restaurant or is hungry is my customer. Pride sure can take you far in this world, but it will never make your stomach full. Don't you want to see another day?" Sanji said while looking at the man.

The man's eyes widened considerably, as if he was just being lightened by Sanji. He then promptly took the plate and shoveled the food into his mouth greedily. The more he ate, the more tears flowed down from his eyes. The sounds of eating and sobbing were then mixed together. Sanji could only sit there, watching the man eat while smoking.

"I....I don't know what to say *sniff*....this is.....this is so delicious.....*sniff*..... I thought I was going to die.......*sniff*....... I really thought I was a goner..." The man said while getting emotional, but his hands didn't stop putting food into his mouth.

A wide grin then spread across Sanji's face, looking at the man who was eating his food deliciously.

"It's so damn good, right?" Sanji said proudly.

"Seems like I have finally found a good chef!" Someone from above said with a playful voice.

Both of them turned to see one of the restaurant's customers sitting on the rail outside of the upper floor, hands still holding a plate full of food, eating casually while still watching them. Sanji quickly recognized him as the kid who was very passionate about food. The kid then spoke up after he had swallowed the food

"Sanji.....right? Join my crew, be my cook"

Sanji then took a few minutes to think about the offer, then he replied

"I'm sorry, but I have to refuse your offer."

"Then I also refuse" Luffy said back.

"What do you mean 'you refuse'?" Sanji asked confusedly.

"I refuse your refusal!"

"You can't do that."

"Of course I can."

"It doesn't work like that, idiot."

"You're an awesome chef, and I like you, so join my crew. Let's go out to the sea"

"No"

"I still refuse your refusal anyway!"

"No matter if you 'refuse my refusal'. It's my decision and it's a no, so take it or leave it", Sanji said with frustration.

"Come on, Sanji!" Luffy whined.

"Why do you want to be a pirate, anyway?" Sanji asked.

"Being a pirate means you can go on endless adventures! Besides, the open sea is the best place to chase your own dream after all. Don't you have a dream, Sanji?" Luffy said sincerely.

"I....I do, but I still have business here, so I can't go with you" Sanji answered.

Luffy then looked down at the ground sadly, while lowering his hat to hide his face.

"I guess....I have to give up. Then, I'll stop making you join us."

Sanji finally gave out a relief sigh because the kid had decided to stop, forcing him to join. But then he felt something was grabbing his shirt which made him freak out. As soon as he saw it was the kid's hand, Sanji became even more freaked out. The cook then tried to take it out, but the kid's strength was so strong, he couldn't do anything.

"OI, IF YOU'VE GIVEN UP, THEN TELL THE SAME TO YOUR HAND, SHITTY PIRATE!"

"Nihahahaha.....Sorry, sorry!"

Luffy then took his hand back and decided to finish his plate of food. Sanji was still scared of the previous event. The cook looked at Luffy like he was some kind of monster. After Luffy had finally done with his meal, Sanji decided to ask

"How.....How the hell can you do that?.....There is no ordinary person can stretch their arm like that?...What kind of monster are you?"

"A rubber one. I ate a Devil Fruit that had a rubber ability", Luffy answered.

Sanji seemed to accept his answer quite easily enough. Well, if he hadn't read a book about the fruit that gained others its power, then he would be shocked by the fact that those overpowering fruits actually existed in this world. The man from before had finally found his strength back, and decided to jump into their conversation.

"Uhm, sorry to interrupt you. My name is Gin, and I want to know if you are really a pirate, then what is your dream?"

"Becoming the Pirate King, obviously", Luffy declared proudly.

"Then you have to travel to the Grandline then" Gin said slowly.

Gin's face became very pale as he was having a flashback about what had happened to his crew not so long ago. Let's just say it was a horrible experience for the poor man. Even though his body was trembling, Gin decided to give the kid a little advice.

"I'm sorry, but you should give up that dream. Give up finding the One Piece. You're still young. If you want to go on adventures, then there are plenty of places for you to explore on this endless sea."

Luffy then looked at Gin seriously, which made Gin shiver. The man sure was strong, but for Luffy you would never deserve to call yourself a pirate if you gave up your dream or because you were afraid of the sea. But the captain could feel sympathy for this man, his crew was really having bad luck on their first week sailing on the Grandline. Out of all things, they ended up facing a bored Dracule Mihawk, the man that was known as the strongest swordsman in this world.

But even if they didn't face Mihawk, Luffy doubted the crew would go far with an overconfident captain like Kreig, who claimed himself to be invincible. Because of that mindset, Kreig would likely piss off some relatively powerful pirate crew in Grandline and get thrashed despite his superior forces. Even if he somehow miraculously survived the first half and arrived at the Sabaody Archipelago. Then Kreig's god complex would likely crash with the so-called Celestial Dragon, and it would also be the end of their journey.

"Gin, what's your dream?" Luffy asked.

"I....I don't know.....all I want is to set sail but......I guess it was already fulfilled" Gin replied.

"Then I guess you can't be on my crew."

This got Sanji and Gin to stare at him confusingly. They couldn't figure out what he meant by saying that. Luffy then locked his eyes with both of them.

"My crew is a crew of dreamers. Your dream is the one that will push you forward and make you stronger. If you can't be stronger, then it will also mean you can't survive. I don't want to be attached to anyone that won't even try to survive. I don't want to lose anyone ever again", Luffy explained.

The captain then dug his hand into his pocket and took out a golden coin, he then tossed it to Sanji, who caught the coin with ease.

"Gin didn't have any money, right? So I will pay for him. Is that OK, old man?" Luffy looked up to Zeff who was watching them on the third floor.

Zeff didn't say anything, while Gin had lowered his head in shame. Luffy then laughed it off and went back inside with his crew. As soon as he went back to the table, Luffy noticed how his crew was looking at him with admiration and respect in their eyes. They must have heard what he had said to Gin and Sanji. Well, it was a good thing anyway.

After a few minutes, they saw Sanji walking back in while his hand was holding something behind his back. As soon as Sanji approached them, Luffy thought the cook would try to hold Nami's hand like in the previous timeline. But to his surprise, Sanji shoved a bunch of beautiful and colorful flowers toward Usopp. The sniper was speechless as he also didn't expect this, his face was heating up because of the flutter.

"Those flowers...are....for me?" Usopp asked doubtfully

Sanji, whose face was turned away from Usopp because he was embarrassed, nodded his head slowly. Just as Usopp had taken those flowers, Sanji decided to turn his head to them and locked eyes with Usopp. His face was the same color as a tomato, even his two ears were also red. Luffy thought this situation was hilarious, but Zoro had put his hand over the captain's mouth to stop him from laughing and interrupting them. While Nami was trying not to scream like a true fangirl she was.

"I'm.....I'm glad you like them.....I planted those myself.......it has been awhile seen we last saw each other, so.......I thought those flowers would be a perfect gift for you" Sanji said nervously

"It wasn't that long really, we still talked over the den den, didn't we? But thanks for the gift anyway, I really like it". Usopp chuckled.

Then the two of them didn't know what to say next, so they stood in silence for awhile. Sanji kept tiptoeing up and down nervously, while Usopp was avoiding the cook's eyes, because he was feeling kind of awkward. Then, out of nowhere, both of them spoke up at the same time.

"Hey, uhm..."

This got them to burst into laughter because of how awkward their situation was. Then Sanji told Usopp to go first.

"I was thinking, since our captain had said that we would stay here for a few days to find our cook. Maybe we could hang out like we used to?" Usopp asked.

"I was also trying to ask you the same thing actually!" Sanji confessed.

"OI, LITTLE EGGPLANT. STOP FLIRTING WITH YOUR CRUSH AND COME BACK TO WORK, KID!", Zeff screamed.

"SHUT UP, SHITTY GREEZER!" Sanji shouted back.

"Guess it's my cue to leave then, see you later!" Sanji said.

When Sanji had finally gone away, Nami decided it was a good time to tease Usopp, which caused the poor sniper to almost pass out because of all the blushing. Zoro also smirked at him and let go of Luffy's mouth, who had fallen asleep because of boredom in the swordman's arms. Usopp and Nami also noticed Zoro's situation, so they turned to tease Zoro, which made the swordsman scream angrily at them.

Two days had passed since the day Gin came to the restaurant. A large ship with the mark of the Kreig Pirates could be seen from far away, and it was slowly approaching the restaurant.