Bloodlines

Chapter 2

"Here you go. The best wine we have here. Since you didn't specify whether it should be red or white, I gave you red," Liza said as she put the wine glass down in front of the male. It took her a while but luckily, she knew her alcohol well enough to find the best quality wine.

"Red will do, thank you," The male spoke again and Liza smiled at the male, nodding in reply. She found Richard eyeing her and gave him a sharp glare. He quickly scurried off towards a table that called for the waiter and she sighed.

So, they were low on cash? That was a big problem since they needed to pay rent again this month. Hopefully they would get enough money by the end of the month and she silently hoped that there would come more pirate crews with money.

"Your thoughts seem to be troubling you, woman. Any reason for such a beautiful face to look worried?" A gruff voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she glanced back at a pair of golden eyes. She had to refrain from biting her lower lip and managed to smile at him.

"Nothing that concerns a pirate such as yourself but the problem is about pirates. Why they come to a bar and don't pay, astounds me. " Liza let out a heavy sigh while sitting down behind the bar counter in front of the male.

"Maybe you should let them pay beforehand," he suggested. Liza wanted to retort, yet stopped herself before she said anything. He had a point. They could pay her beforehand but it wasn't how she worked. Unfortunately, she'd rather deal with them than ask people for money beforehand.

"Nah, I like beating the crap out of them and I'm not the person to ask for money when I haven't given anything in exchange for it. I'd rather lose money than a piece of my morals," Liza pointed out and the male chuckled in amusement.

"My name's Liza D. Bloodmoore, nice to meet you, stranger," Liza said and held out her hand as she introduced herself. He blinked a few times before he set down his glass of wine. He gently took her hand in his own and kissed the top of it.

"Mihawk Dracule, the pleasure is all mine," Mihawk said and Liza couldn't resist her cheeks tinting. This man was definitely a charmer and she hated that she was a woman. Why were they so weak to handsome men? And why wasn't he wearing a shirt? It was distracting!

"Hey, Liza-chan! Can you check if we still have another barrel of sake at the back? One of the costumers wants to take one with him!" Richard asked and Liza snapped out of her trance, nodding in reply soon after.

"Sure, but he needs to pay for it otherwise it's his head through the barrel!" Liza yelled back and Mihawk chuckled at her threat. "Excuse me, I'll be right back." She excused herself and then entered the back room.

Mihawk took another sip of his exquisite wine, twirling the liquid inside his glass in thought. Bloodmoore...he hadn't heard of that surname before. However, she seemed very intriguing and definitely distracting. Why did she have to wear such a revealing shirt? What made it worse was her beauty.

It was very rare that he met such a woman in his life and she was...different. It was strange. HE had just met her and here he was, already finding her more interesting than he should. There was something about her that he found alluring...

He heard her call out again and watched as she stepped out of the backroom, a barrel on her shoulder as if the weight as absolutely nothing to her. Some of the customers weren't surprised by her actions and it seemed to be a normal occurrence to the regulars.

"Hey! Where do you want it?!" She called and the pirate that asked for the sake was shocked. How could she carry that as if it was nothing? Mihawk also wanted to know that but had a feeling that she was capable of much more than that.