章 9: An encounter
Tom was lounging on his beach chair as the flying mammy was en route to Baratie. Unfortunately, his sleep kept getting interrupted by Jerry who was trying to prank him.
Having had enough, Tom took out some candy and threw them into the air, which made Jerry chase them. As he was about to go back to sleep, he heard Yuuki shout,
"I see something!"
Pushing himself up with reluctance, Tom went over to see what was sighted. Looking at the big ship which was in the shape of a fish, he let out a whistle,
"Is that it?" (Tom)
"Uh-huh, it has 'restaurant' written on top of it." (Yuuki)
"...." (Tyke)
"Ooh, I wonder how the food is." (Jerry)
As they got closer, they saw that there were quite a few ships that were docked near the restaurant. They went inside after docking their ship and took their seats on an empty table.
Looking around on the inside, it seemed that this restaurant was pretty popular despite being in the middle of the sea and so close to the Grand line.
As the four of them were looking around they were approached by a man in a suit who asked them,
"What would you like to have?"
Looking at the man who had blonde hair, which was covering one eye with swirly eyebrows, Tom asked after giving his suit a look,
"You're a waiter?"
"Well, for now probably."
"What-"
"I'd like to have everything on the menu!"
As Tom threw an irritated look at Jerry who interrupted him, Tyke and Yuuki had finished placing their orders as well. Giving all of them an exasperated look, he decided to eat first as well and placed his order.
"Alright, it might take some time. Are you okay with that?"
"Sure."
As Tom looked at the waiter who just left, his crewmates started talking. Leaving one ear open, he decided he might as well take a nap. But just when he was about to close his eyes, he felt something crash into the restaurant, causing a big tremor.
Looking at the unfortunate customers who spilled their food, Tom chuckled. Soon after the commotion, the chefs came out to apologize for the disturbance caused. Throwing a glance at them, Tom folded his arms behind his head and decided to rest his eyes till their meal arrived.
Soon, their table was filled with foods of all different sorts and they were gobbling down everything when a man who had a scar on his right cheek entered the restaurant alongside a beautiful woman and took a table near the Whisker pirates.
As he sat, he looked at the whisker pirates eating and scrunched his nose. Turning to the lady he brought with her he said,
"It seems they let anyone in."
"Hehe, they're probably just hungry. The little one looks very cute though."
As Tom heard that, he also overheard people recognise him as someone called Lieutenant Fullbody. As he started to think how to best mess with a marine lieutenant, Jerry said to Tyke,
"Tyke-san, she's calling you small."
"..I think she's talking about you."
"No! It's definitely you!"
"...."
As Tyke was speechless at the much smaller vice captain who was trying to enforce his opinion, Tom turned his attention back to his food.
**********
Fullbody decided to ignore the the four who were sitting close to his table, as he had a lady to impress. Closing his menu card he said to the waiter,
"Yes, that would be all. Also, bring your best wine please."
He thought he had set it up well, as he had already talked with the owner about what wine to serve. But unfortunately, he did not know that the owner was busy trying to nurse his injury and trying to force the pirate who had blown a hole in his restaurant to work for him.
So when the time came, he recited the name of the wine he memorized only to make a fool of himself.
"Am I right waiter!?"
"Not even close, sir. Oh and by the way, I am actually the assistant head chef. I'm only temporarily filling in for the waiters who ran away yesterday."
"...."
"Here's your soup, sir. Please enjoy it while it's hot."
As his face was getting red with embarassment and anger, Fullbody heard laughter coming from the table next to him.
"Nyahaha! What an idiot!"
"Hmm yes, this wine, I know of it. This! This is definitely the famed wine from the north!"
As the pink haired man mocked him by imitation, the laughter only grew more. When he was about to blow up in anger, he heard his date ask,
"Are you knowledgable about wines?"
"Ah, well haha.. normally I get them right. My tongue's just not working properly I guess."
'These bastards!'
Fullbody side-eyed at the three who were still laughing at him and excused himself to go to the restroom. Gritting his teeth, he came up with a plan. He would first get back at the waiter who insulted him and then the bunch who were laughing at him.
Walking back to his seat, he smiled. Taking his seat, he slipped a bug that he found into his soup and and called the waiter while causing a commotion.
"I already told you, sir. I'm not a waiter."
"Look here-"
"My, my, what a beautiful lady. A pleasure to meet you, miss. How about we share a glass of wine over there? Our selection of wine is excellent."
As Fullbody saw this waiter ignoring him and trying to take his date away, his anger only grew. Slamming his hand on the table, he questioned the waiter,
"Hey, hey. Is it customary to serve insects in soup in this restaurant?"
"Insects?"
"Look! What is this damn bug in my soup?!"
"Ah, pardon me, sir. Unfortunately I'm not really knowledgeable about insects you see."
"Hehe."
Seeing his date laugh, Fullbody had enough and smashed the table he was sitting at. As he started shouting at the waiter, he noticed a change in his demeanor. Unfortunately he was too late in it.
**********
Tom and Jerry involuntarily shivered as they watched the marine get kicked till he was bleeding. Seeing them shiver Tyke asked,
"What's wrong?"
"N-nothing, we just remembered someone."
Tilting his head at Jerry who answered him, Tyke turned his attention back to the waiter, who identified himself as the assistant chef.
Pretty strong, as he finished his evaluation, a chef came running to stop the marine from getting killed,
"Sanji! Stop beating up the customers!"
"You again, shitty cook? Don't call my name so easily."
The situation only got more chaotic as someone fell from above, making a hole in the process. The new man who was identified as the head chef was pretty weird himself, as he kicked the marine away and admonished his chefs.
'This restaurant is weird.'
Tyke decided to zone out whatever's happening as he felt it was getting too much for him to keep track of and got back to eating.
**********
As Tom was enjoying the chaos that was happening, it was soon interrupted when a marine slammed open the doors of the restaurant and screamed about someone escaping.
"Wow! More things are happening! What is up with this place!?" (Tom)
"Yeah. Aren't there too many events taking place?" (Yuuki)
"Can I order more?" (Jerry)
"...."
Tom and Yuuki looked at the number of empty plates laid out in front of Jerry, who wanted to eat more and were left with not much to say.
"Where does all that food go, you pipsqueak? You'll end up eating away all the money we have at this point." (Tom)
"Tom-san! How can you stop a kid from eating!? How will I grow if I don't!?" (Jerry)
"So you agree you're short?" (Yuuki)
"No! I'm just young! I'll grow up soon!" (Jerry)
As the three were talking and Tyke was engrossed in his world, they all snapped their heads towards the door when they heard a gunshot.
A man walked out from behind the marine, who was shot and took a seat. Leaning back on his chair, he asked to be served food. The chef, who had weirdly big forearms, greeted him with a smile and asked him if he had any money, only to be met with a gun to his face. This made him slam the pirate through the table and throw him out.
"Whoa! The chefs here sure are crazy!" (Yuuki)
"Where'd the waiter go?" (Jerry)
As Jerry couldn't find the waiter who took their order previously, he could only look at the unfinished food left in front of Tyke. Seeing drool come out of his young vice captain, Tyke placed his plate in front of him and said,
"You can have it, I'll get more later."
"Oh wow! You're awesome Tyke-san! Unlike somebody else.."
Seeing Jerry side eye him as he said that, Tom replied,
"You eat too much. Tyke, don't spoil him."
Some time later, as they were waiting for more food to come after placing their order, a table near them was occupied by a party of three. Looking at them Jerry said,
"Oh wow look Tom-san, a walking marimo and a guy with a weirdly long nose."
Tom looked at them and realized they may have heard Jerry, as the guy with green hair had an angry off look on his face as he asked,
"Who the hell are you calling a marimo?"
"Eh, well there's only you right. I think it suits your face well."
"You brat!"
As Tom saw that the guy was about to blow up, his companions said to him,
"Tch tch, Zoro are you really picking a fight with a kid?"
"Wha! He obviously started it! He also called you a long nose, you know."
"Hmm, hmm. He just doesn't know how awesome I am."
Looking at Jerry after he said that, Usopp asked him,
"Boy, what's your name?"
"I don't tell my name to strangers."
"..Ahem, well alright then. Do you wanna know who I am?"
"Not really."
"I am the great captain Usopp! These two here are just two of my subordinates!"
"Oohh.."
""Who the hell is your subordinate?""
While Jerry was getting sucked into the lies that Usopp was telling, Tom looked at Zoro and asked,
"You, do you use all three swords?"
"..Yeah."
"Where do you hold the third one?"
"In my mouth."
"Oh, like a dog?"
"Who the hell are you calling a dog!? What's with you two anyway!? Are you two picking a fight!?"
As soon as Zoro said that, he noticed a change in atmosphere as Tom's expression warped into an evil smile,
"It's good that you catch on, wanna step outside real quick?"
Both the tables grew silent as Tom asked that. The silence was soon broken when a huge tray of food was placed on the whisker pirates' table,
"Oof! Here's your food."
Tom quickly got to work and started eating as he wouldn't have anything left if they waited. As he was eating he noticed the waiter had not left yet. Looking at him, Tom noticed that he was drooling.
Raising his eyebrows, he waved a piece of meat, which the waiter followed with his eyes. Tom looked at the dumb expression the waiter carried and threw the piece of meat in the air, which was soon eaten by the waiter, who had strecthed his neck.
As Tom and his crew were surprised at the inhumane feat, the waiter threw a shit eating grin at them and said,
"Oh thanks! It tastes great!"
And then dragged a chair and joined them very naturally and started eating. Tom deadpanned at him and said,
"What are you doing?"
"I'm eating."
"No.. I mean this isn't your food man."
Just as Tom was about trying to kick the guy away, Jerry said,
"It's fine. As a fellow foodie I'll allow him to join us."
"It's not your decision."
"Shishishi, thanks. I'm Luffy! What about you?"
As Tom watched Jerry cut into the conversation and start introducing everyone to the newcomer, he felt someone approaching and saw it was the marimo from before.
"Oi, let's go then."
Tom looked at him with a disinterested expression and said,
"I'm not interested anymore. You don't look that strong anyway."
"Oi Tommy! Don't insult my crewmate!"
Though initially surprised at someone calling him Tommy, Tom looked at Luffy who was looking at him with a serious expression with his arms folded and asked,
"Your crewmate?"
"That's right."
"You're a pirate?"
"I'm a captain."
Looking at Luffy who was puffing his chest up when he said that, Tom had a puzzled expression. Remembering the dumb expression on Luffy's face Tom flashed a knowing smile and said,
"I see, I see. You're a pirate huh. Good for you."
"???"
Seeing Luffy tilt his head dumbly, Tom's smile only grew kinder as he passed a big piece of meat to Luffy and said,
"Here, have this. You can have more if you want."
Luffy was not one to say no to free food as he immediately dug in. Tom looked at him and turned to Zoro and sighed,
"It must be tough for you."
"...."
"It's okay. I had a foster brother who was similar back home."
"...."
Zoro felt lost, seeing the guy who challenged him a few minutes ago patting his captain on the head and passing him more food, which he was more than happy to eat.
Thankfully, he didn't have to watch the weird scene for too long, as Luffy was still under debt and was dragged away for work.
**********
Tom was relaxing in his beach chair on his ship when Yuuki called for him. Opening one eye, he called him over instead. Walking over with an exasperated look, Yuuki said,
"Tom, look over there."
"What am I looking at?"
Looking at his captain who still refused to get up or even open his eyes, Yuuki palmed his face and sighed.
"That ship, their symbol actually. It's a straw hat."
"Oh."
"..You know, just like the one that waiter was wearing."
This made Tom snap his eyes open and look at the ship which Yuuki told about.
"So.. that guy.. is actually a captain?"
"Probably."
"He.. ate a lot, didn't he?"
"Yeah."
Yuuki saw Tom had started gritting his teeth and muttering something about money. But soon he just flopped back in his chair and said,
"I'll take care of him tomorrow."
"Well, that's okay. Oh by the way, Jerry went over there for some reason."
"...."
**********
Author's note : Holy hell, it's been almost two weeks since the last chapter.
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