The Daughter of the King (English)

Chapter 16 - The best swordsman in the world

Gin was still sitting on the floor shaking whenhe began to speak, unable to look anyone in the eye: "I'm really sorry. I neverthought things would turn out like this." "You don't have to apologizefor your captain, you wimp," Zeff grumbled. The pirate and the chefslooked at the blonde in disbelief. "Besides, Sanji did the right thing! I wouldalso help a person in need and make sure that he gets something in hisstomach." "But Chef! What are you talking about? Why are you suddenlytaking sides with Sanji? It's all his fault!" Patty protested. "Yes,exactly! He got us all into this mess!" One of the chefs pointed at the man inthe suit. "Because of him, the wonderful restaurant will soon be nothing but apile of rubble!" "Shut up, you idiots!" thundered Zeff. Some of the cooksbacked away in slight shock before the owner continued: "Have you ever had theexperience of almost starving? Can you imagine how terrible it is? Neither foodnor water in the vastness of the sea?" While the old man spoke, Sanji satdown at the end of the stairs and lit another cigarette. "Uh, what...whatdo you mean, Chef?" Patty asked, confused. He took a deep breath before hecontinued speaking more calmly: "The difference between all of you andSanji is that he knows this feeling." The chefs looked at each otherquestioningly. "What does he mean by that?" "What does Sanjiknow about that?" Zeff began to grin slightly before he looked aroundagain and said: "Instead of standing around here uselessly and chatting,you should leave this place as quickly as possible!" The eyes of the Cookswidened. Zeff couldn't be serious! Right? Patty's grip on his weapon tightenedbefore he spoke, "I'll stay here and fight! I can't just let myself be trampledlike that!" "Me too! After all, this is where I work!" "I havenowhere else to go." The chefs' fighting spirit had been awakened. Luffy couldalready feel the joyful tingling in her fingers. How long had it been since shehad been involved in a real fight? Gin couldn't believe what he saw. He slammedhis hands on the ground. "What are you doing?! Haven't you seen how strongDon Krieg is?" "Hey, Gin." Sanji had gotten up and walkedtowards him. "Feeding the hungry is what chefs do. Anyway..." He had puthis foot on one of the legs of a fallen table before kicking it back up andslamming his foot on it. "...now that your captain has eaten, he is nothingmore than a marauder. Whatever I do with your buddies, don't come to me to cry.I will destroy anyone who dares to steal this restaurant! Even you!" By thelast sentence, the chef's otherwise friendly face had twisted into a frightenedmask that you would otherwise only see in your worst nightmares. "Did youunderstand that?" Gin couldn't answer him. The only thing he did was swallowthe lump in his throat. They were really serious. "Hey, you just saved his lifeand then finished him off? How considerate of you, Sanji," Patty said,putting his gun on his shoulder. "Shut up, you third rate chef!"

Grinning, Luffy looked up at her friends andpointed at the blonde chef. "Didn't I tell you he's great?""Who's interested in him right now?!" Usopp shouted in panic. Hestuck his head under the banister. "Let's finally get out of here!""Calm down," Zoro said to him, "Even considering that he's Krieg,he's still under the weather." Suddenly the black-haired woman rememberedsomething and turned her head to the pirate. "Hm? Gin! You said beforethat you didn't know anything about the Grand Line, right? But you were there,weren't you?" There was silence in the air as all eyes turned to him. Gin hadto swallow again before lowering his head. Sweat ran down his face. "The truthis that I don't know anything. What happened on the Grand Line on the seventhday... Was it a dream or was it reality? It's still fresh in my memories. Itwas unbelievable... One man alone...destroyed our entire fleet of 50ships!" Shock and disbelief was written on the faces of everyone present,except for Zeff. "WHAT?!!!" "It all happened so suddenly. He appeared out ofnowhere and started sinking one ship after another. If a storm had notoccurred, our flagship would also have been destroyed. I don't know how many ofmy comrades on the other ships survived. I don't even want to think about whathappened! That man...His gaze went straight through you, like the eyes of a HAWK!""What?!" Zoro shouted. He had gripped the railing, sweat slowly trickling downhis face. Could it be that it was really HIM? The black-haired man looked atthe swordsman confused. What did he suddenly have? "What did you just say?" ButGin remained silent. Trembling just from the memory, holding his head with onehand. "This guy..." Zeff began, "...it must have been the manknown as 'Hawkeye.' The fact that you mentioned his eyes makes me think it'sTHAT man. It sounds like something he would do." Now it was Zoro who began totremble, even if only Usopp noticed. "The man with the hawk eyes." Luffy lookedquestioningly at her first mate. He had to have something to do with the guy."Hey, do you know that guy, Zoro?" Her voice had broken the swordsman out ofhis paralysis. He closed his eyes before speaking, "This is the man I'mlooking for. I traveled across the sea just to find him." "Maybe hehas some grudge against you, which is why he wanted to get even with you,"Sanji speculated. "Not that I know of." "You probably disturbedhim during his nap," the older blonde said. "Stop talking such nonsense!Why on earth would someone destroy our fleet because of SOMETHING like that?" Zeffchuckled. "Do not get so upset. I'm just making assumptions. The weirdestguys hang out on the Grand Line, something like that can certainly happen.""What kind of place is that?" asked Usopp anxiously. "A place where anythingcan happen," the green-haired man answered him. Why did he come along? He couldnow be SAFE on Geko and spend some time with Kaya or the Usopp Pirates! That'sright. He wanted to become a brave warrior of the seas. "Hey, Luffy, do wereally really have to go there?" The straw hat wearer's shoulders shook. Asmall glimmer of hope germinated in the black-haired man. Did she perhapsrealize that it was crazy to sail there? However, his hope was mercilesslydashed with the next words Luffy uttered: "Ahh! My fingers are really tingling!It's going to be amazing, boys!" The more she found out about the Grand Line,the more she wanted to go there. There are certainly countless, excitingadventures waiting for her there and she definitely didn't want to miss them!"Are you completely crazy?! Just think about our safety!" Why does life botherhim so much? What has he ever done wrong in his life, other than lying? "It'sclear to me too," Zoro began, "I've finally set myself a goal. I have to go tothe Grand Line!" Tears ran like streams down Usopp's face. Why had the bot hofthem such deathwishs? Zoro leaned against the stone pillar and crossed hisarms. "This Hawkeye is on the Grand Line. He's hiding out there somewhere andI'm going to track him down." "Tell me...are you stupid?" Sanjiasked after looking at Zoro for a while. "Do you really want to risk yourlife?" "Of course I'm putting my life at risk. But I'm not stupid!I've decided to become the best swordsman in the world and I'm not going to letthat stop me! I have decided to becomethe best swordsman in the world and I won't let that stop me. The only thingthat would be stupid now, Sanji, would be to retreat!" The two looked at eachother. The cook began to understand a little why Luffy had accepted him into hercrew. "Yes, I think so too!" exclaimed the black-haired woman enthusiastically.Zoro had really hit the nail on the head. "Yes, exactly, I think so too! I'mnot afraid of anything or anyone!" said Usopp, unconvincingly. Zoro had pulledone of his swords out of his hamakiri and nudged the black-haired man in thehead with it as he said angrily: "Don't talk such rubbish, Usopp!"Zoro gritted his teeth before turning away and saying: "Nonsense! This juststupid." A small smile appeared on Zeff's face. When this was all over, hewould have a conversation with the Straw Hat Girl. Because of her cook problem.