ONE PIECE: Dawn of a New Era

Chapter 44: Strange Man



Leroy continued to sleep inside the booth. His knees bent up as was laid back. His breathing was so light that it seemed like he wasn't even doing so.

Noir came out pretty soon, holding the bar tray over his head easily as he weaved his way between the tables to get to the one he was aiming for, beelining his way over while trading a few greetings with a few regulars, being a typical waiter around here.

The gentleman swept up to the table, his smile popping right back up again… though his mind was certainly in a different place.

He was truly wondering if this could be the crew he could possibly join… Grabbing the sparkling water, he placed it first down in front of Leroy and then continued on with the other drinks, the tea to Kirk, the water to Kale, and the cola to Jeanne.

"So! Have you all taken a good look at that menu?"

He wrapped the tray underneath his elbow and arm, pressing against his side while he pulled out the notepad again, flipped to a new page, and pulled out his pen. Clicking it open, he looked expectantly at the crew.

"If you need another minute, then I can always come back."

"Well, I'm sure we are ready, right?" Kirk said first before glancing down at the menu in his hands and then at the rest of the crew. His eyes met Noir's and he smiled politely.

"May I just have the Chicken Alfredo, please?" He ordered as he handed in his menu.

Noir nodded, taking the menu to tuck under his arm with the tray before writing down the Fishman's order.

"Got it! One Chicken Alfreeedooo..." He mumble a bit as he scribbled down the order before looking up from the notepad, waiting for who was next. Kirk knocking the foot of the Captain

Leroy awoke as he sleepily looked around, sitting up almost as if he was rising from the dead.

Blinking a few times and rubbing sleep from his eyes he twisted around into his seat and sipped the sparkling water, smacking his lips and speaking

"Bring me your favorite thing to cook...Make whatever." He said plainly before resting his hand and head on the table before letting out a yawn

Did he just. Fall back asleep? No he was still awake. But what a strange Request to ask a Sous Chef to just make what they wanted to make

"My... favorite thing to cook?" Noir honestly seemed pretty surprised.

Typically, when people wanted to be surprised by something, they would ask for the house's special or maybe something more general, but to ask for the waiter's favorite thing to make?

Instantly, something came to mind. He was about to speak again but... upon seeing Leroy looked like he was passed out almost immediately after he ordered, a sigh came from the cook. Yeah, no, he took back what he was thinking.

This guy certainly wasn't ever going to be his crew captain "Right away, then." Noir said almost blandly as he scribbled down some more things onto his notepad. This... what did the vitiligo-skinned man say the one with the sashes name was? Leroy? This Leroy guy was weird..

"I'll have whatever he's having. I really don't care for anything on the menu." Kále pointed at Leroy when he spoke, he couldn't choose so he just decided to go for whatever random food item Leroy was going to get.

Noir nearly twitched in annoyance as Kale spoke, frowning further as he said he didn't care for the menu.

"Well, maybe if you learned to read anything besides simple vocabulary, you could find something you would actually like to eat." He shot the rude comment at the swordsmen, just not liking him at all, but still wrote down his request on the notepad.

"I'll be having the Frutti de Mare, and could I get some extra garlic bread with that.", she would ask after taking an extra second to look over the menu. She was a sucker for shellfish and that dish was packed full of it.

"Oh, absolutely, my lady!" Noir quickly put down Jeanne's request, hearts nearly popping into his eyes every time she spoke. It was a beautiful woman with manners! How couldn't he fawn?!

"Extra garlic bread, yup yup! That all will be right out!"

Snatching up the rest of the menus, Noir bee-lined his way back to the kitchen, already sending in the orders for the two who actually chose a meal.

He was going to make Kále and Leroy's dishes by himself.

*

"You alright there, Leroy?" Jeanne would ask, wondering why he was so tired. It wasn't like they were doing a whole lot of stuff on the ship ride here. In fact he was napping before they got to Rose Arbor wasn't he?

Kirk spoke giving Jeanne a cheeky grin. "Wwwwow. He is flirty, like, real bad at it, and isn't smooth at all but his looks make up for it. You think he's cute?" Kirk started to nudge her side playfully while giggling

Before pausing, remembering something. He glanced up at the other two across the table before leaning in to whisper to Jeanne, not really something worth whispering about but it was sorta like gossip and he had no idea if Jeanne wanted to be out of the closet or not.

"Wait, do you like girls? Or boys? I saw how you were looking at those dancers in Mirror Ball~" Kirk teased even further, more of a smug look appearing on his face.

The question caused her to fluster up a little bit. "I mean... uh...", she said burying her face in her hands a bit. "Damn is it really that obvious?", she would say in embarrassment.

"hehehehe. Don't worry! I'm the same. Just- with guys instead." Kirk reassured her.


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