The Greatest Swordswoman

Enter the Cook

"Pretty nice ship, Captain." Zoro raised her hand, blocking out the sun as she gazed on the double decked ship in the bay. It was freshly waxed various crew members were bringing food up as stock.

Luffy glanced at the ship she was appreciating.

"I said left, didn't I?" Luffy asked, looking down at his hands to double check. "Yeah, left. This way." He grabbed her arm and pulled her over towards a tiny boat off to the side. It was so small that it barely reached the dock itself, and could seat two people, max. He gestured to the boat proudly. Zoro stared a moment, then started to turn on her heel but was still being gripped by the rubber man.

And thus, their adventures began. Despite their earlier confrontations, Zoro found it pretty easy to get along with Luffy. They both enjoyed food, had goals to become the best, and didn't really care what others thought of them. She also appreciated his strength, as odd of a type it was. He also never brought up what he had seen earlier. He treated her like a swordsman through and through.

Their adventures together landed them two more crewmates pretty quickly. It was obvious that they both lacked any sort of directional skills, so when a sassy girl appeared and called Luffy "boss", he immediately grew attached. She was also a girl with a goal, as well as incredibly smart. She was a bit money grubby, but Zoro could tell she had a kind heart. She made their boat rides very amusing at the least and brought the basic sea survival skills that the other two lacked.

The next addition to their crew was a bit unconventional to say the least. The proud liar, yet excellent marksman: Usopp. Immediately recognized as the son of an old friend, Luffy quickly claimed him as his own. He also was a great companion to Luffy, following along with his more childish ideas.

Zoro had been enjoying their life on the sea so far. They had gathered a unique, but impressive crew so far, and quite a beautiful ship as well. She enjoyed trying to out drink Nami on cool nights and watching Usopp tinker with little inventions as they sailed the sea. She spent most of her time napping, granted, but she felt at peace. With Luffy and his crew, they kept running into dangerous people, which thrilled Zoro. That meant opportunities to test her strength and get stronger.

The next task on their list was to find a cook. Though they were able to stock up pretty well on food, none of them really had a talent for making anything beyond a piece of meat between two pieces of bread. Luffy was happy to experiment though, but after Zoro got food poisoning from eating one of Luffy's "Clam and Jam Fun Hams", they realized their situation was quite dire. So, this brought them to the restaurant on the sea, the Baratie, which was a large ship shaped like a fish.

The crew all gripped the railing, staring at wonder as they approached the large ship. Zoro's stomach growled and Luffy was drooling. It seemed finding a cook was going to have to wait until they all had food in their stomachs.

Their anticipation changed to dread as their Captain managed to piss off the head cook fairly quickly. The restaurant drew many people across the seas, so civilians, marines and pirates alike, all came to this establishment. The cooks were pretty famous themselves, having been former pirates and tough as nails. So the crew of the Going Merry could only watch in exasperation as their Captain inadvertently lobbed a cannon ball at the restaurant and got himself roped into paying for the damages by working it off.

=========

"It's been quite a while, you don't think he's gotta work it off for like a month, do you?" Zoro asked her crew mates as they lazed about on the deck, waiting for Luffy's return.

"Honestly, that's probably exactly what happened." Nami replied, frowning.

"Well, whether that's the case or not... why don't we grab some food?" Usopp suggested to the grins of the other two. They unanimously agreed and headed inside.