Trinket of Syzygy | One Piece fanfic

009.

Chapter 9: Hidden Ties

As Quince woke up, it wasn't long before Rogue and Ruby had also awoken. "Rogue! Ruby! When's breakfast?" "Quince... don't wake me up..." as the trio were rising from their slumber, they heard a knock on the door. "Come in." A maid could be seen waiting for the trio. "Good morning, Miss Cassandra would like to take you all to one of Stagna City's finest restaurants for breakfast. We hope you will accept and be ready in an hours time." Quince's face sparkled with excitement, the thought of breakfast crossing his mind. "Is Cassandra always this generous?" Rogue asked Ruby with some curiosity about the woman. "Yeah... she doesn't often have guests and she gets quite lonely. I think she genuinely enjoys having you around so try to be a bit nicer to her." "My personality doesn't clash with her at all. She's better off befriending Quince. After all they're both the in people's faces type." Ruby did let out a slight grin at Rogue's yet again witty remark.

As an hour had passed, the trio met Cassandra once again. She had put on a nice dress and done her hair for the meal. Ruby and Rogue wore their usual attire which luckily for them was formal enough, whilst Quince had thrown on a scruffy hoodie. "Quince, does finest restaurant mean anything to you?" Ruby was visibly frustrated at Quince once again. "Umm super nice apple pies, why you ask?" Ruby sighed "Never mind... nothing can get through to you." Cassandra added on "I'm glad you could all join me! It's rare that I can dine with people." Rogue also added on "I appreciate this and all, but you seem to be all friendly with the ladies at the bar. Why don't you take them with you?" "I would, but they often prefer to just drink and only order bar snacks." Rogue could definitely envision himself doing that and more than once, although he did like a good pub dish at least. Quince then yelled "Let's go! I wanna get some apple pies!" "Quince, they don't serve apple pies there." "Huh?! They're meant to be the finest restaurant! What are they doing?!" As the quartet went to the restaurant, they were seated. A four seat table with two seats on either side. Quince and Rogue seated themselves next to each other whilst Cassandra and Ruby were seated on the other side.

Frisking the menu, Quince got over the no apple pies quite quickly "They have pancakes! I'll go for them!" Rogue also looked at the menu. Upon eyeing down the exorbitant numbers imprinted in the menu at hand, his eyes widened in shock. "Cassandra... these prices... even my bounty hunting couldn't have me dine here..." Cassandra giggled "Come on Rogue, pick something you like." "The smoked salmon dish sounds pretty good. I'll go for that one." Cassandra replied "Do you two drink champagne?" "Booze in the morning? Seems you're not all bad." "Of course it takes alcohol for you to finally open up!" "Shut up Ruby! You're technically our hostage!" "Since when?" "Shut up you two and let my pancakes come!" The trio had all delved into an argument once again.

Food came, champagne came. This was a chance for Cassandra to further discover Quince's achievements "Quince, are you free today? I'd like to spend some time with you this afternoon. Ruby, I'd like to catch up with you as well." Rogue was quite relieved that he got the day to himself "Quince, this evening you're drinking with me. Whole purpose of turning 18, is to break the rules."Cassandra sighed "Quince is a gentleman, he'd never do something so barbaric." "I know, I'll just get him one drink. The man to woman population here makes me a little uneasy, so having Quince around helps that at least." Quince was scoffing some pancakes. Quite a large chunk was in his mouth yet to be digested "Yeah sure! The guys at home kept saying I'd like cider!" Rogue was a little bit surprised, he thought Quince would be less into the idea. Oh well, one less apple pie wouldn't hurt him, or his wallet. Rogue also ate a forkful of his dish "It's good." His cheeks went slightly pink and he tried his very best to keep a neutral expression, but couldn't quite pull it off. "Rogue that's adorable!" "I haven't seen you be this cute!" "Haha! Rogue is so stupid!" "Like you're one to talk!" The wholesome environment once again became a verbal warfare. By some miracle, they finished their food without destroying their breaths fully.