To say the town of Cibus also known as Cibus Village was packed would be an understatement. Food stalls and restaurants stood at every corner. Kebabs, donuts, you name it, the aroma of food clouded the island.
"This really is the island of cuisine," Shinzo stated, struggling to pull at his boxes.
Paolo hummed. "It's only just one town on the island but they already have so much."
The growl of Shinzo's stomach blended in with the noise of the streets, his blush redder than the tomatoes in the stall they walked past.
Paolo smirked, enjoying his vice-captain's embarrassment. "Should we get some food?"
"I guess so, but I'm only going because you're hungry," he said, flipping his hair defiantly.
Paolo chuckled. "Let's go to Bisset's Kitchen to eat before asking for Aline."
"I said I'm not hungry."
"Yeah, yeah."
.....
The ringing of the bell above the door signaled a waitress to attend to the boys. Taken aback by Shinzo's beauty, a rare occurrence in their small village, the waitress flattened her apron before moving to attend to them.
Shinzo hardly paid attention to her, admiring the home aesthetic of the small restaurant. People ate heartily, some laughing while others just talked happily.
"It's really homey," Paolo said, taking the seat the waitress led them to.
She pulled her hair behind her ear, obviously still trying to get the uninterested Shinzo to look her way. "Our motto is that our customers are our family." She pointed at the menu on the table. "So, what would you like to order?"
"Can we just get rice and curry," Shinzo said before Paolo could talk.
"That's so bland," Paolo mumbled.
Shinzo pulled out a small mirror from the inside of his yukata sleeve. "I had the liberty of checking our finances and it's such a sorry sight that I can't let your dirty hands defile it even more."
"That's a bit harsh."
Shinzo ignored him, turning back to the waitress. "That's all we're getting."
She nodded, her disappointment obvious as she walked to the kitchen area.
The door to the restaurant slammed open, three burly looking men stepping in. They wore red sashes on their waists and had tattoos of a jolly roger that had its crossbones shaped as bows.
All eyes were on them, anxiety enveloping the room. People held their breaths, the thought of sharing the same space as the pirates not in their itinerary. Unlike the others, Paolo and Shinzo didn't bother with them even when they brushed past them.
The waitresses moved back, not wanting to attend to them out of fear while one ran into the kitchen to call someone. They slumped into one of the nearby sits, one of them with a shaved head hitting his hand on the table. "Can someone serve us?"
The kitchen door pulled open, the earlier waitress coming out with a brunette with a sword strapped to the waist of her suit pants, trailing behind them. Paolo immediately identified the girl as Aline Bisset and leaned in to Shinzo. "That's her."
Shinzo examined the girl, her aura not well depicted in the picture. She reminded him of a female lion, beautiful yet deadly. Her gray eyes had a fire, unquenchable by any kind of liquid.
The girl moved towards the pirates, pulling a notebook from her pocket. "Is there anything in particular you want to eat?"
Another one wearing a black beanie smiled, his yellow teeth on full display. "You're pretty cute little lady, how about you?"
The girl pushed up her glasses, her gray eyes glinting with pure indifference. "Unfortunately sir, I'm not on the menu. Anything else."
The man frowned, her blatant disrespect eating away at him. "Don't act smart with me little lady."
"I'm not, I'm only stating facts." She then repeated her question, her voice dripping with nonchalance. "Is there something else you want to eat?"
The bald pirate crossed his arms, obviously not used to being disrespected. "Do you know who we are? We are the great -"
"With all due respect sir, I don't remember asking."
He rose to his feet, towering over her with the goal of intimidation in mind. "You lowly waitress. I'll -"
Being pretty tall herself, his intimidation didn't seem to faze her. "I'm not a waitress. I'm the head chef, Aline. I'm only serving you because everyone else is too afraid to deal with you. Now, what would you like to eat?"
The audacity of the cook startled the customers, the pirates obviously not taking it. Paolo and Shinzo ate the drama up, the confidence of the cook interesting to watch. It wasn't everyday someone acted rude to a pirate, well unless they were crazy which she clearly was.
The bald pirate hit the table, the wood cracking under pressure and inevitably falling apart. "How dare you disrespect us?"
Aline ignored him, her eyes glued to the broken table. "Oi." She kept her head bent low, her indifference clearly broken and leaving a mark of inextinguishable anger. "How much do you morons think this table cost us?"
One of the pirates with a scar on his exposed bicep laughed, kicking the table. "Serves you right for treating us like morons."
The bald one laughed. "Her poor ass can't buy a new one, I'm sure her food is poor quality too."
The three laughed like hooligans, their booming voices bouncing off the walls of the restaurant. The customers felt sorry for the poor cook, their taunts hitting home.
"I treat morons the way they should be treated," Aline said, gray eyes flaming. "Shitty people get shitty service."
"What did you say you flat chested bitch."
What happened next had mouths agape and eyes almost flying out of their sockets. Aline in an instant, knocked them out with the back of her blades. One tried to move his hand to grab one of his blades from his pocket, but Aline stabbed his hand with one of her blades. His tortured scream rung through the ears of the customers, blood dripping from the wound.
Aline glared down at the pirates. "Idiots who don't respect food deserve only death."
Shinzo whistled lowly. "You sure picked a real brute."
Paolo snickered, Aline being more of a gem than he expected. "Ain't nothing wrong with that."