Lia & The Casanova Chef

The Sea, The kitchen & The Tenacious Chef

The Sea & The Kitchen

"West.. It's gotta be west"

"Maybe I'm reading it upside down..." I turned the map in all directions till i could pinpoint my exact location. "Okay looks like I'm pretty close.." I fold up my map and continued to row my boat in the direction of my destination. My destination being The Baratie, Home to the straw hats' Sanji Vinsmoke. He's the gentleman of all pirates & the best cook of the sea, Or so i heard... Not a lot of people i know can claim they've seen him before. A pirate with such a big bounty on his head wouldn't ever show his face that often, It would be a death sentence.

My arms felt heavier with each row of the bow, the water resisting the paddle as i pushed through. I started to smell fried fish & oil, it smelt amazing and I was desperate to get there. "UGHHH" I groaned and stopped for a moment, I rubbed my arms- not doing much help. I decided to just stick it out until I at least saw the restaurant. The water crashing against my small boat, my paddles fighting for dominance with the waves. Fishes swam by and fins slapped against the bottom of my boat, The fish out here were lively unlike the one back home in the bay, It will be worth every moment when I get there. The thought of a warm meal & endless culinary knowledge waiting ahead kept her going, The sound of the knife slicing into various food items. The rattling of boiling pots on the stove as a knife scraps against a wooden cutting board, the sounds of home.

I look up from my map into the distance to see my destination- The Baratie. I paddled faster to get to the docks and once the front of my boat bumped against the dock, I quickly threw the rope around the pole & tightened my boat to dock it. "Finally I made it.." I say sighing with relief & putting my brown beaten satchel on one shoulder, stepping out onto the dock and slowly taking in my surroundings. "I made it.." I whispered to myself looking around in bewilderment. Walking pass the tall yellow arched gateway- there stood the green establishment.

I walk in to hear a bunch of talking, plates rattling & silverware scraping against plates. I smelt slow cooking meats & a variety of veggie and potato side dishes, I looked around the restaurant to see all types of people. "How can I help you?" a voice rang out to my left and I whip my head to the side to see a waiter standing in a chef's outfit, I turn towards them & smiled. "Yes, I'm actually here for a server position if you have one" I said politely and as professionally as I could. "Serving huh? A nice girl like you out here? what for?" he asks with genuine curiosity, it's not unusual for him to ask considering it's a pirate's restaurant. "I heard the great chef of the straw hat crew trained here in his culinary arts & I would like to start training as well! I want to be just as good if not even better!" I say with passion in my voice & fire in my eyes.

He looks at me and looks back at the kitchen, then back at me. He points to a singular table that's vacant, "Wait there for a minute." he says and turns away to the kitchen, "Y-Yes!" I say & make my way towards the table- sitting down & waiting till someone addresses me. Soon a large man with braided mustache approaches my table, Stern looking but kind man. "What's your name?" he asked, I sat up straight & gulped, "Lia P-Pinken sir!" "I'm chef zeff, You want to work here because my pupil once did huh?" he asks. I nod, "Y-" he cuts me off- " But can you cook?" he folds his arms in his sides & looked down at me. "Yes! I'll cook right now!" I say standing & rolling up my sleeves, He laughs aloud "Slow your roll girl, You'll be a waitress here from now on. We have a spare room you can move into cause I don't think your boat will keep you afloat back & forth every day." he says and my eyes slowly light up, I bow. "Thank you so much Chef sir!" I say thanking him, "Yeah okay, you're gonna prove your skills at 7 am sharp tomorrow so be ready." he tosses me an apron & turns away.

"pick up a menu, study it and clean up some tables to start."

I scrambled to get my apron on with a smile, "Yes sir, thank you again!" I smiled excitedly as I stretched to get ready to work hard. "Welcome to the Baratie kid." Zeff chuckled & walked back into the kitchen as i picked up a waitress tray & began picking up dirty dishes & greeting hungry customers with a smile.