Chapter 6 | "A couple of old friends."

They were all silent as Don Krieg revealed the old cook's past as Red Leg Zeff, the captain and chef of the Cook Pirates. He then went on about taking the retired pirate's journal forcefully since his crew, unlike Krieg's, was able to survive the Grand Line for years.

Luffy being Luffy, made himself known and openly opposed Krieg as the one who'd find the One Piece and become the King of Pirates. Though the boy was dismissed by him, promising that he'd deal with Luffy after he fed his underlings.

"Those who don't want to die can abandon the restaurant and escape. All I'm after are the logbook and this ship." Krieg announced before making his way to his beaten up ship.

As soon as he stepped out, all hell broke loose.

Most of the customers stampeded their way out of the restaurant, leaving a couple of daredevils who looked to be reporters being in the wrong place and wrong time — or, right place and right time, if you think about the scoop they were getting. The chefs shouted questions at the owner, asking him why the hell did he give that sack of food to the ones that would kill them, and why would he defend Sanji — the blond who they accused of being responsible for this whole thing.

"Shut up, all of you!" Zeff raised his voice, effectively shushing them, "Have you ever felt what it's like on the brink of starvation?!"

"What–What do you mean, Owner?" A particular buff chef asked, dumfounded.

"Losing food and water in the grand ocean... Do you know how scary it is? How hard it is?" Zeff looked pained as he said his next words. "The difference between all of you and Sanji is the fact that he knows."

Ah. Scarlett let her gaze drift from the old chef towards the blonde boy smoking on staircase. No wonder he looked familiar. She thought as a particular memory of her voyage surfaced in remembrance.

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FLASHBACK || 9 YEARS AGO

She was nineteen-years old, making her way to the East Blue when she came across a small, lone, rocky island. Normally, she would just dismiss it as it was but a mere rock standing in the middle of the sea with no plants nor game for her to hunt, but then as she got closer, her eyes caught sight of two silhouettes sitting atop of a small clearing.

So naturally, she called out to them.

The two silhouettes revealed to be a man and a boy, who introduced themselves as Zeff and Sanji, respectively. They'd been left stranded on the island for over two months due to an unfortunate storm incident that sunk their ship and the rest of their crew.

She felt for them.

Having been stranded in the sea for over a decade, she knew just how unforgivable the sea, the waves, the weather of Grand Line were.

So she helped them.

She gave them shelter — her boat, though small, was still big enough for an adult, a teenager, and a child to live in. She gave them food and water to replenish their nutrients. She cleaned and dressed their wounds that had started to ooze yellow pus. And she carved out a makeshift prosthetic out of wood for the man's missing foot.

"What are you going to do now, Peg Leg-san?"

"Hm, I've been thinking of opening a restaurant lately, retire from piracy and settle down as a cook."

"Really? Where are you thinking of opening it? Maybe I'll drop by someday."

"You should, Scarlett-san!! I'll cook you the best food you'll ever taste!!"

"Ohh, I'll look forward to that, Swirly-chan."

"Huh, who says I'm going to hire you, brat."

"I'm going with you whether you like it or not, old man! You're not getting rid of me easily!!"

They sailed together for over a month. And it was after they had entered East Blue did Zeff finally deemed it time for them to part.

The last time she saw them was in Logue Town, where they bid their goodbyes — tearily, in Sanji's case.

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Scarlett blinked back into the present when the cooks started declaring that they'd fight for Baratie, that they wouldn't run away from the Krieg Pirate.

"Well, isn't this a nice, dysfunctional family you have there," Scarlett cooed, bringing their attentions on her, including the two cooks she was familiar with. "I'm happy for you, Chef-san, Swirly-chan."

After a moment of them staring at her, Zeff let out a bewildered laugh. "Scarlett-kun." There was an unmistakable fondness laced within his tone, "You really do have an impeccable timing." He remarked, full of humour by an inside joke that they share. It seemed innocent enough to the outside, but the underlying context was a tad morbid if you ask her.

Sanji, on the other hand, flinched at the nickname. The blond stared at her with wide eyes, his jaw slacked enough that his cigarette fell out of his mouth. He stared for a moment at the hooded woman before knitting his curly brows together, "Scarlett...-san?"

"In the flesh, Swirly-chan." Scarlett smiled, not that he could see it through her mask. "Sorry, I didn't greeting you sooner, you grew so tall that I almost didn't recognize you."

Luffy turned to Scarlett, looking both surprised and delighted. "You know them, nee-chan?" He asked, which earned them a shocked look from both of her acquaintances.

"Yeah, they're a couple of old friends of mine."

Her brother grinned widely at that, turning to her two friends with an excited gleam in his eyes. "Were you in Grand Line with nee-chan?!" He asked giddily, if not with a little hint of envy.

"Impossible." The underling Krieg had left, Ghin, breathed with disbelief that had Luffy frowning.

The straw-hatted boy looked like he was about to tell the man off for doubting his favourite sister — she's his only sister — but decided against it when he saw the haunted look in the man's eyes. Instead, he asked, "What happened to you? You said you didn't know anything about the Grand Line even though you've there?"

Ghin swallowed audibly and looked down as he recounted the hellish experience that he had in the past week. "It's still true that I don't know. I don't know if it had been a dream or reality, and I still haven't been able to come to terms with it..." The man admitted shakily, "At the seventh day after we entered the Grand Line, our 50-ship fleet was was wiped out by a single man.

"It happened so suddenly. As soon as this man appeared, he sank the ships one after another. If that storm hadn't happened, our main ship would've been completely destroyed as well."

His statement made those who hadn't been to the dangerous part of the ocean let out a sound of shock. Even some of those who had been there, drew sharp breaths. While the Grand Line was inhabited by some of the strongest people in the sea, to have the ability to destroy fifty ships in mere moments was still a feat on itself.

"It was just so dreadful that I don't want to accept it as reality. I don't want to remember that—... that man's sharp, hawk-like eyes whose glare alone gives one the chill of death!"

Zoro straightened in his seat at the description, shock coloring his features.

"That must be Hawk-Eyes," Zeff spoke up, "That you felt his eyes were like a hawk's isn't proof itself, but what this man did is enough proof that it's him."

"Talk about unlucky." Scarlett mused, recognising the moniker of one of the seven Shichibukais, "People like him usually hang around in the deeper part of the seas. Normally, if you were only a week into Grand Line, you would've only find some civilisation of towns, villages, and even kingdoms, if you're lucky."

"Is it possible that that man had some deep grudge towards you guys?" Sanji questioned. He tried to be casual, but the way his eyes kept straying toward Scarlett showed that he hadn't quite recovered from her revelation.

"We never did anything to him!"

"Maybe you guys disturbed his nap or something of the like." Zeff suggested helpfully.

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

Unaffected by his outburst, Zeff chuckled, "Don't get so worked up, it's just an example. I'm giving an example as to how the Grand Line is."

Scarlett was about to chip her two cents in when she felt a powerful presence tingling at the edge her senses. Posture tensing, she swivelled in place to face the entrance and as if on cue, a commotion could be heard from outside, where the Krieg Pirates are.

At first, they were yelling battle cries, probably making their way over to Baratie. But then their yelling turned into shoutings, about their main ship getting cut.

Through the open door, they could see Krieg's humongous ship broke off into three pieces before starting to sink. The sudden mass of the ship disturbed the water levels, forming small waves that jostled everything in its surrounding.

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When the Pirate Hunter Bounty Duo told them that the Going Merry had been stolen by Nami, Scarlett didn't panic.

Ten years of travelling through Grand Line and New World taught her to always assume the worst-case scenario, so anything that she deemed to be important was secured safely in her waist bag. Instead, she was more interested at the fact that no one else had noticed the stawberry-blonde girl slipping out of the restaurant. That's some skill she has if she was able to go unnoticed by a couple of bounty hunters.

"Did you leave anything important, Kitty-kun?"

Kuro responded by gesturing at the duffel bag by his feet with a deadpan, "Did you really think I would be stupid enough to leave my belongings around the people I don't trust?"

Scarlett snorted slightly at her companion before looking out to where Zoro was facing off against the Strongest Swordsman in The World, Hawk-Eyes. It was obvious that the green-haired man didn't have a chance against the man, what with the teen being so green — pun, not intended. Added to the fact that he hadn't the slightest clue of the existence of haki, which the older swordsman seemed to have realized by the way he avoided using the black blade on his back.

"So this is the one called Dracule Mihawk." Scarlett hummed as the man easily parried all of Zoro's three-sword style attacks with such a short knife.

As expected, Zoro fell prey to Mihawk's overwhelming power. But it was admirable to see the boy kept on with his barrage of attacks despite the obvious disparity in their skills, especially when he took the last strike head on. It appeared that the master swordsman share the sentiment, as he granted Zoro the courtesy of facing against the world's strongest black sword.

"Scars on the back are a swordsman's shame." Scarlett echoed the green-haired man's words, feeling quite a bit of respect as a swordsman herself. "How admirable."

"ZORO!!!!"

Scarlett blinked at the arms stretching over to the two swordsman, not at all surprised of Luffy's action. In fact, she was actually proud of the kid. He had held Johnny, Yosaku, and himself back from interrupting their duel, which meant that he was aware just how important it was for his first-mate.

Though it didn't mean that she'd let her brother get himself killed by an enemy that was not his.

Quickly as she could, Scarlett hurled herself over and stood between Hawk-Eyes and her brother, both looked surprised at her sudden appearance.

Luffy, who was still in the middle of the projectile motion, was swatted away by her before he could reach them and crashed into the wooden panels of Don Krieg's fallen ship.

"Control yourself, Luffy. This man won the duel fair and square, and Swordsman-kun accepted his defeat. He has done nothing to deserve your ire." Scarlett admonished her youngest sibling and quietened his protests with a stern look, "Besides, your first-mate is not dead."

"What?" Luffy immediately sat up, his anger rapidly diminishing at her words. He looked over at where Johnny and Yosaku had fished out their 'Big Bro' out of the sea and brought him over to Usopp in their smaller ship. The boy quickly rushed over there to see the damage his swordsman took.

Sparing her a curious glance, Mihawk side-stepped Scarlett and raised his voice enough to carry over to Zoro, "It's still too early for you to die. My name is Dracule Mihawk! Learn about yourself, learn about the world, and become strong! No matter how many years it takes, I will hold this seat of the strongest and wait for you. Surpass this sword! Surpass me! Roronoa Zoro!"

Scarlett wanted to give Zoro an applause. He had impressed Mihawk enough for the man to say that he'd wait for him to surpass the man. That, in itself, was practically a declaration of faith from the master himself.

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9 Years Ago
Scarlett: "So... What happened to you?"
Zeff: *Sighing* "A huge storm took my ship and all of my crew."
Sanji: "Hey, I'm still here, old man!"
Zeff: "Hah, you're talking nonsense, chore boy."
Sanji: *Puffing* "I am so apart of the Cook Pirates!!"
Scarlett: *Putting her hands on his shoulder* "Yeah, you totally are, Swirly-kun. Now what do we think about fish skewers for dinner?"
Sanji: *Excited* "Oh yes! And, and, and we can pair it with the sauce from yesterday!"
Scarlett: *Smiling indulgently* "You'll teach me how to make it?"
Sanji: *Already pulling her* "Of course, I will. Come on!"

Mihawk: *Declares to wait for Zoro to surpass him*
Scarlett: *Amazed clapping* "Woah, You did it, kid. You did it."

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FINALLY, A FLASHBACK (albeit a small one)!! We're starting to get bits of stories from her past! Well that's interesting, she was the one to rescue Zeff and Sanji? :o

Also, Mihawk is here!!! God, I love him so much.

What do you think will happen next? :>

Next Chapter: "Eyes-san."

J Out!