The Siren Seamstress (One Piece X OC)

🏴‍☠️️[25] Baratie Arc ~ {6}🏴‍☠️️

🏴‍☠️️Ch.25: Sanji & Ula's Deadly Foot Techniques! The So-Called Invincible Pearl?! How Dare You Disgrace a Gem of the Sea!🏴‍☠️️

As the sea cooks—Sanji included but sans Zeff—continue to gawk at Ula's now partial bestial visage, the subject of their attention own gaze is solely focused on the two ships steadily disappearing over the horizon before shifting to the annoying obstacle that's keeping her and her fellow captain from chasing after.

'Just a little longer, Cocoyashi. Please let everyone be okay. I'm going to right the wrongs unfairly done unto you and your village.'

Her stare then narrows into a glare at the grimacing Don Krieg and his horde of unimpressive cutthroats as they stand on the floating remnants of their galleon flagship.

Luffy, on the other hand, is absolutely ecstatic at the battle to come.

"All right! They wanna fight, too, huh?!" He cheers, hanging upside down from the Baratie's deck banister. "Now this'll be fun!"

The rubber boy hoists himself up, now face to face with Head Chef Zeff.

"Okay, Pops! You promised me and Ula, remember? We run those pirates off, then our debt to you is cleared. No more chores."

"'Our debt'?" Ula huffs. "I think you mean 'your debt', Luffy. And I was still the only one working my tail off to pay it, while you were off wasting time heckling with Zeff! Ineffectively, I might add!"

"That's the deal." Zeff answers with his usual gruffness. "There's no telling how much more of my restaurant you can screw up if you stick around. Not to mention the heavy workload you'll bring about for the lass."

Whether he took note of the thinly veiled insult or not, Luffy's reply is still with his usual boisterousness.

"Yeah!" He answers with a chuckle and a playful self-bonk on the head.

"So, kid, you said you were going to be King of the Pirates. Were you serious?" The old pirate turned restaurant owner queries.

"Well, yeah, of course! I'm definitely gonna be King of the Pirates someday."

Ula takes this time to tear her glare away from her soon to be prey. "He's dead serious, Zeff. Luffy's not one to throw smoke when it comes to his dreams."

The stern line of Zeff's frown broadens into an impressed smirk.

"Heh, I've seen a whole lot of pirates in my day. But you're the first to state your desire so clearly and without a doubt."

The smirk keeps even as he shifts his attention to the transformed Ula.

"And I always knew there was something special about you, lass. That there was something powerful hidden beneath that kind, but 'take no crap', exterior. But even this exceeds whatever I had in mind."

"There's always been more to me than just what's on the surface. Most just choose the safety of what's on the outside rather than diving in to see what lies beneath." Ula clarifies. "But even I tend to keep this part of me close to heart, save for a trusted few. So I apologize if this came as a breach of trust."

"From one sought-after pirate to another, I can understand on being wary on who to put your trust into. Especially one who's become the recurring talk of Marine higher-ups and the World News." Zeff reassures.

"Hey, that's right, Pops! I heard that back in the day, you were a pretty awesome pirate, yourself! So, did you wanna be King of the Pirates, too?" Luffy interjects, curious.

Zeff hums thoughtfully, looking to the sky.

"I do my best to forget about the past. I'm the owner of Baratie now, and that's quite enough for me."