"I see, I'm glad that Nami-san and Nojiko-san are safe," Sanji leaned against an alley wall while lighting his smoke before his eyes widened, "Wait, does that mean you're the only one with Nami-san, Nojiko-san, and..." he turned to Alvida with his expression turning graceful and calm once again, "Excuse me, Miss. I never got to hear your name. Surely, it'll be as beautiful as your very self!"
"Oh, what a sweet talker," Alvida smiled, "My name is Alvida. Captain, how come you never speak so sweetly or sleep with me as you did with Nojiko and Nami?"
Sanji's jaws instantly spread out wide open while his cigarette fell down on the street. His heart felt like it had turned into a stone and crumbled into dust and the situation became apparent when Brody mused loudly, "It's been two days only. Of course, now that we have a ship and a crew, you can slip into my room anytime you want. I won't mind."
"Eh," Even Alvida did not expect such an answer while Sanji stepped back with a horrified expression.
"Did you think I don't want to sleep with you?" Brody looked at Alvida and questioned rhetorically, "I can get a bit... expressive when I train... sigh, I already miss training after a few days of the gap..."
"Y- You BASTARD!" Sanji roared.
"Sanji!"
A woman shouted from outside the alley as Sanji's anger disappeared in a second and he turned to look at the source of the voice with an ingratiating grin, "Yes~!"
With her pink hair kissed by flames as they flared up in the shape reminiscent of a fire, the woman in a dark red, fur-lined full-sleeved dress stood with the fan in her hand closed. A silver-emerald necklace adorned her neck similar to the diamond-shaped emerald earrings while a golden band covered a portion of her forehead and kept her hair in check. Her fair and sharp features were further accentuated by the bluish eye shadow and a darker red lipstick over her thin lips as her dark brown pupils glared at Sanji.
"I challenge you to a cooking contest!" She demanded with an aggressive scowl as Alvida and Brody looked at one another. Meanwhile, Sanji, starstruck, mewled, "Yes, such fiery passion for a cook~! Please, let me humbly accept your passion in the manner most suited..."
Within seconds Sanji was on his knees while he held the woman's hand only for her to grab a pan from one of the two stunted men and slam it against Sanji, "Like hell!"
*Pah*
Sanji smiled goofily with a trickle of blood escaping his nostrils.
"Captain, do we really need someone like him as our cook?" Alvida questioned. While she was largely unaffected by Sanji's tendencies, she also felt that having other male presence of such lecherous nature may not be right for the crew. This was simply a concern that was raised by being a leader herself for many years.
"Of course, Sanji may look like a pervert who not only broke out of the closet but ran so far ahead of it that he has entered new realms of kink but... his food is the best!" Brody laughed.
"You there," The flame-kissed woman suddenly looked at Brody, "I, Fiery Carmen, have traveled across East Blue to destroy every cook with my skills! For you to dare claim that Sanji's cooking is better than mine is an insult that I shall not bear!"
"When did I say that?" Brody drowned.
"You said his cooking is the best. That would mean his cooking is better than mine to be the best—"
"Sorry, I'm on a tight schedule. Sanji, I'll wait for you in the harbor, alright?" Brody cut her off with a smile and looked at Sanji who snorted, "I'll never join you!"
"Don't be stupid," Brody chuckled, "I want you to meet someone for me, that's all."
"Who?"
"A hot woman."
"Of course!" Sanji shouted with a solemn expression while Carmen looked rightly disgusted and glared at Brody, "You wouldn't even taste my cooking and dismiss me?!"
"Uh... Carmen, right? Do you really cook well?"
"The best!" She claimed while giving Sanji a provocative stare.
"And you want to challenge him?" Brody questioned.
"Yes!" Carmen hissed.
"You know he's leaving for the grandline, right?"
Carmen blinked in surprise and looked at Sanji who nodded in confirmation, "That's right. I want to find All Blue... and that's not in any of the four Blue."
"So, leave those two and join my crew. I'm the captain of Devil Back Pirates, Brody. The man who will become the strongest. So, if you wanna keep on challenging Sanji, best join the strongest crew!" He grinned while Sanji scowled.
"Strongest? Don't fool yourself... Our captain is going to be the King of Pirates." Standing up, Sanji lit his cigarette, "So there never was any competition."
Brody and Sanji stared at each other for a few seconds as the blonde cook felt like he could see Brody's naivety 'melt' away to reveal the real captain residing within who had just been challenged.
"Carmen... remember the name well. Brody of Devil Back Pirates. I need a cook, and you may just need a crew. Oh, and Sanji..." Brody smirked, "I smashed your grave accidentally. Sorry for that."
Sanji's pupils shrunk as Brody walked past him alongside a confused Alvida.
"Oi, you—" Sanji looked in the direction where Brody left only for him to not even look back but it was at this moment that the front half of Sanji's cigarette was cut in half and fell down on the ground.
He wasn't the only one stunned by the mysterious 'attack' as even Carmen realized she failed to see anything. So did Sanji.
"Sanji... Cooking Competition No. 1 is held in the afternoon. Don't forget to show up," Carmen looked at him and then back in the direction where Brody left, "I'll win and prove to everyone that I'm the best cook!"
At this moment... Sanji really couldn't care about the competition anymore.
---
"That's it, men! Row!" Buggy shouted as his men paddled the ship. They weren't far away from Loguetown but as they grew closer, Buggy's expression paled when he made out a fleet of marine ships encircling Polestar Island from a distance. One of the largest ships had a wide, castle-like mansion erected on it with the number 8 marked on its main sail. Many marine units were entirely sea-based and Unit 8 of East Blue was one such group.
Seeing this, Buggy screamed, "Fools! Back, go back!"
Yet, before they could row any further, a sharp gust cut the boat in half, injuring a few while the pirate group panicked instantly. From his experience, Buggy realized that the enemy wasn't around them.
But Above!
He looked up and his pupils contracted wildly as he saw a man in black 'bouncing' in midair.
"A— We surrender!" Buggy screamed!
---
"Ah," Nami blinked and stopped in her tracks as she looked at the sky, "The Wind Pressure is dropping..." hurriedly taking out an equipment, she frowned, "It's dropping too fast... a storm is coming. We should buy everything we need as quickly as possible!"
"Oi... Nami?" A surprised voice attracted the duo's attention as they looked back to find Usopp carrying a large backpack over his back similar to how Nojiko carried a sack since she was full of strength at the moment.
"Oh... it's you? Well, doing alright?" Nami questioned as she did have a good impression of straw hats overall and while only Luffy was too persistent, Usopp was a complete opposite.
"Alright? Handing Zoro the rudder was the biggest mistake! Huff, sigh... anyway, what are the two of you doing here?"
"Shopping," Nojiko smiled, "Did you guys find a navigator yet?"
"Not yet," Usopp groaned as he began walking alongside them, "But we plan to find one before leaving for Grand Line."
As they chatted idly, sharing what they had gone through after parting ways, Usopp's ears twitched as he heard something strange.
"The port and the harbor have been locked down... I was so scary to see so many marines seizing every pirate ship at sight..."
"O-Oi..." Usopp grew still as his eyes widened.
"Usopp! Look!" Nami gasped as Nojiko and Usopp saw a troop of marines rush past the next street with Zoro chasing after them!
The next second, Zoro ran out from the same location with dozens of marines chasing him as he glanced at the trio and shouted, "Oi, you three, run! They are after us and your captain!"
"Idiot! Don't scream at us!" Nami raged as a few marine soldiers instantly branched away while Zoro realized his folly, "Ah, sorry... but run!"
"W- we're dead... aren't we?!" Usopp muttered weakly, his knees growing weak as Nami and Nojiko gulped, too.
"Don't you lay a hand on two of them!!" An enraged shout and a blonde figure in a black suit tore through the small group of marines... and revealed that an even larger number of marines was chasing after Sanji!
"Aaahhh~ Nami-chwan~! Nojiko-swaan~!" Sanji shouted happily as the trio looked at one another, unable to even muster any anger over their eccentric teammates and friends, and ran in the opposite direction without even acknowledging Sanji.
---
There was only one major site of attraction in the east plaza of the Loguetown— The Execution Site.
"So this is the place where the King of all Pirates died, huh..." Alvida muttered while ignoring a Rubber Monkey climbing up the tower. Brody was interested in the execution site for only a second as his gaze was soon attracted to a grey-haired man staring at Luffy climbing up the execution tower. The man wore a jacket strapped with pouches for cigars to be buckled on the jacket and 'Justice' boldly imprinted on the back of it.
"Psst, Alvida..."
"Yes?"
"I found a jacket I like," Brody whispered.
Her gaze fell on the silver-haired man and smiled, "Ho? Looting a jacket from a Marine Captain... that is most likely Captain Smoker we have heard so much about. That really is a good jacket."
"Heh," Brody laughed.
"Oi, Straw Hat!" Captain Smoker shouted out loud as Luffy stopped in the middle and looked back, "What?"
"You... what are you doing here?" Smoker narrowed his eyes.
"Me? I'm going to Grand Line," Luffy grinned before his gaze trailed over to Brody and his eyes widened, "Ah! Bastard! Give me my navigator back!"
Smoker frowned and turned back as well, finding a red-haired olive-skinned man jacked to the boot staring back at him with a dazed, innocent expression. His gaze then fell on a rather scantily dressed woman with a white cowboy hat with a large red plume and a mace in her hand.
"Who the hell are the two of you? I've never seen you around," Smoker instantly questioned as the red-haired youth in a black tank top, grey waistband, and a pair of black trousers announced rather calmly, "I'm Brody, captain of Devil Back Pirates, nice to meet you."
Smoker's expression visibly changed as Alvida continued with a smile, "And I'm Alvida the Beautiful~! Captain's Brody first mate, you know," she winked.
"No, you aren't," Brody shook his head.
"Please," Alvida instantly looked at Brody with a coy expression as he shrugged, "You can decide it with the actual first mate later."
"Give Nami back to me!" Luffy's arms stretched forward when Smoker growled, "Halt, you scums!"
His arms instantly extended with thick fog billowing out of his body and suddenly getting 'fluffy' and 'cushy' to restrict not only Luffy but also Brody and Alvida who frowned.
"Another Devil Fruit?"
"Ugh, gross! What the hell is this?" Luffy struggled against the smoke-like pillowy hold but simply couldn't move as Smoker's head 'formed' above the center of the entire plaza of smoke, "Grand Line? Ruining Kingdom? If you think you are tough sons of bitches then try defeating or forever forget your dreams! This is Loguetown... The Town of End!"
