She freed him from the hug and looked at him with eyes full of love and care.
Her expression made Leo feel guiltier. Even though he was denying the fact that he was a low-life scum, but he knew he was. "Please don't look at me like that. I am not your son. Just abandon me, save yourself. Only that way I will not feel like this." He was screaming inside. He hated this feeling, it was unbearable.
"Don't be afraid of them, you just have to treat them as our usual customers. They are little rough, if they said anything to you, or about me, or even if they hit you, you have to endure it. You just have to smile at them. Do you understand?"
Leo nodded at her. "That's my boy." She ruffled his hair. "Go, serve them drinks, I will prepare food."
Leo started serving drinks, the whole time he was very anxious, he was scared of making any mistake. He did his best to not make anyone unhappy, who knows what will happen if he did. Thankfully, except captain Dirk, nobody cared about him, they were busy talking among themselves. Each time Dirk eyed him there was a flash of hatred in his eyes, he hated kids the most.
"Where is that group of perverts? They still didn't come." One of the pirates asked.
"Forget about them. They must be having fun with some little girl. I don't get their taste. Only big breasts and perky ass are the best in the bed." Everyone nodded at this.
When Leo heard this, he clenched his fists, memories of all the little girls in the town were coming to him, but somehow he distracted himself and suppressed those memories. He was scared that if he did not, he might do something which will cost his life. He cherished his life more than anything. "I can't care about them, they are even more stranger to me." He knew he was lying to himself, but the fear of losing his life made this lie believable.
As their talk continued, Leo got more information about them. This pirate group was called, Dirk pirates. Captain Dirk has a bounty of 1 million berries. He couldn't believe even such a low bounty pirate almost made him wet his pants. How monstrous are those high bounty pirates? He couldn't even imagine. "Maybe it's just me who is too weak." He thought to himself.
He had never seen this pirate group in one piece. "That was just manga, it only showed main plot related pirates, marines, and other characters. This is the real world, how many are there unknown characters? Of course, that would be countless." Leo shook his head to break his thoughts. "What am I even thinking? I even don't know if I would be still alive at the end of the day." He put a forced smile on his face and continued serving drinks.
Another important piece of information he got from their talk was that, Marines were chasing them, it's been almost a month since the Marines started their chase. This pirate group stopped here only for a short rest. Leo hoped Marines to arrive here as soon as possible.
After some time, Nejiko came out with the food. When she was serving them, many of them were making vulgar comments on her and some were touching her ass. Even then she kept smiling at them without saying anything.
When Leo saw this he felt ashamed of himself, he couldn't gather the courage to say anything. He was justifying himself by saying, she was just a stranger, he avoided looking at her.
Just then he couldn't help but notice, Crook's hand reaching for her breasts. This was the moment where everything started going down a hill for Leo. He dropped a glass full of beer on Crook. His clothes got soaked with beer, he was enraged. "Fucking brat, what the hell do you think you are doing?"
Leo was terrified like never before. He was so careful until now to avoid making anyone angry, but now he had done something which he couldn't even believe himself. He was looking at his hands as if they were not his, he felt like they acted by themselves. "What have I done?" He was shocked at himself.
Crook didn't mind the beer, but he was enraged by the fact that this brat just ruined his moment.
Leo's mind was jumbled, he couldn't think of what to do next.
The angry pirate made Nejiko terrified for her son, she didn't know how to appease him. She could only think of one thing, she kneeled in front of him. "Please forgive him, it was just a mistake".
But he was too angry to listen to her. "Just a mistake?" He stood up and kicked Leo's chest with his full force.
"Bam!!" Leo flew like a rag doll, and then only to be stopped by the wall. "Thud." He slid down to the floor.
Pirate looked at the shocked Nejiko and mocked her. "Ah. Sorry, it was just a mistake."
Hearing this everyone started laughing. Nobody cared about insignificant mother-son duo, they only cared about how much entertainment they were getting out of this.
Someone said. "That was perfect, vice-captain. I can't stop laughing." And again restaurant was filled with sadistic laughter.
Leo felt as if someone just hammered his chest, some of his ribs were broken, and some of the chipped bone fragments made their way into his lungs, it was painful, his throat choked with blood, so he couldn't even voice his pain.
It was a brutal kick. You can imagine how deadly it would be when an adult kicks a five years old child with full power. And this wasn't just any adult, he was a muscular pirate.
Nejiko was very shocked, she never imagined such a sudden turn of events, she ran up to Leo and held him gently. She didn't know what to do, tears started flowing from her eyes. "It's okay Leo, mommy is here everything will be alright". She knew nothing is going to be alright but she didn't know what else she could say, her heart was breaking into pieces.
Nejiko had decided to endure everything, but she couldn't endure this, he was her limit, you couldn't touch it. She angrily yelled at Crook. "How dare you hit my son?" She felt like tearing this bastard into pieces.
Dirk saw the whole thing, he knew it wasn't a mistake, that brat intentionally dropped a glass to stop Crook from touching her breast. He stood up looked sternly at Nejiko. "What are you yelling for? Do you think we will not kill you two, right here, right now?"
Hearing Dirk, she came back to reality, she was standing in front of the pirates, cold-blooded killers. Even if she want, what could she do to them? She rested Leo against the wall, and then she kneeled in front of Dirk and begged. "Sorry, I was wrong. You promised not to hurt my son."
"Of course, I promised, but only if you know what's better, but I think you don't."
"That was only because my son got hurt, I couldn't control myself. Please give me another chance, I will do anything for it." She continued to beg him.
"You will do anything for it?" He had a wicked smile on his face.
"Yes, I will." Her voice was firm.
Dirk put a chair in front of Leo and sat on it. He tapped his lap and gestured for her to sit on it.
From the first time his gaze fell onto Leo, he had already decided to torture him to death. He hated kids, it was his childhood trauma. This scenario just gave a very evil idea to torture this kid, as this brat doesn't like someone touching his mother, he was going to fuck her in front of him. He couldn't help but feel proud of his own ingenuity.
Nejiko sat on his lap without any hesitation. "That's the feeling." When her soft bottom touched his thighs he exclaimed, and then he started feeling her bottom with his hands.
She felt disgusted and ashamed, she didn't want this to be seen by Leo. "Please, can we do this inside?"
"What are you saying? This is a special service for your kid, we have to do it here." Seeing how firm he was she didn't speak any further, she just closed her eyes.
Leo understood what Dirk was trying to do. "I don't care what you do with her. She is just a stranger to me, she is not my mother. Just don't hurt me any further." He thought inwardly. He was trying his best to deny her. But just then he felt something wet on his cheeks, he felt it with his fingers, there was some watery thing on them. "Ahh... Why am I crying? It must be because my chest is in pain, but why I didn't think of that pain until now." He saw Dirk humiliating Nejiko. "Ahhh… Why does it hurt so much just looking at her? As if my own pain is insignificant in front of it. Why? Why? Why?" He was screaming inside for the answer, he felt the answer was just there but somehow it always managed to escape from his fingers.
Just then he saw Dirk put his hand inside her dress reaching for her breast. This was the moment when the dam of fear which was suppressing his memories broke. Memories flooded in his mind like a tsunami. "Leo, I am making your favorite breakfast." How much she enjoyed making food for him. "Don't go too far from the town." How much she cared for him. "How was your day?" How excitedly she waited for the dinner so that she could hear his outings. "Sweet dreams my child." Her soft whisper was still echoing in his ears. Everything came to him instantly.
He coughed a mouthful of blood, and held onto his head with both hands, and screamed loudly. "Aaaahhhhh…"
Everyone stopped at his sudden scream. Dirk also stopped what he was doing. "Did I just break him? I didn't know this was so effective." He thought to himself.
Leo slowly stood up and looked at her. Finally, he admitted he was the lowest low-life scum. He admitted being her son, but now he knew he wasn't worthy of her love. "In such a short time in the One Piece world she has done so much for me, and what I have done for her? Nothing, that's right nothing. Today she was even ready to put her life on the line to protect me, and I was only thinking of how I could make use of her to save myself. How did I fall so low? Or, have I always been a low life? It just I didn't notice it." He was thinking inside.
He knew today was the day he was going to die, but before that he has to pay his debt to her, for all the love and care she gave him, he had to do something for her. "Let this ungrateful son use his worthless life to save you." He decided to save her by any means.
He thought of a plan to save her, but he was sure that he was going to die that way. But that wasn't the problem, his life was worthless, it didn't matter if he lose it, but the problem was if he died, he was sure that Nejiko was going to kill herself. She was practically living for him, he was her whole world. "How could I solve this problem? If she didn't love me so much this wouldn't have been a problem." Suddenly an idea came to his mind. "Could I do something, so that she would hate me enough to live?" He looked at her, there was an only concern and endless worry in her eyes. "Is that even possible? Anyway, I have to do this to break off our relationship. I hope this works." He prayed inside.