Apis the Girl

"Why, why?!" Apis clutched the blanket around herself, nearly breaking down. "I worked so hard to escape from the Marines, so why did I have to be rescued by a pirate ship of all things? They won't sell me, will they?!" At that moment, an image rose unbidden in Apis's mind.

The men all wore vicious grins. The orange-haired woman held her hands like claws and smiled like a serpent, while at their feet, Aaron, filthy and disheveled, desperately reached out a hand.

...Well, Aaron looked pretty misleading, after all.

What normal child became a pirate?

"No! I have to find a way to escape!" she declared firmly.

Grrr~

"...I should fill my stomach first," she said softly, blushing a little. Then she looked around, and after making sure no one was nearby, she quietly slipped into the kitchen.

The bright moonlight draped the kitchen in a thin veil of white.

Apis warily scanned her surroundings.

After all, this was someone else's ship. Sneaking into their kitchen like this meant she could never be too careful.

And this was a pirate ship. Who knew what kind of torture she would suffer if they caught her?

"That should be the storage cabinet..." Apis muttered when she spotted a large box in the kitchen.

She tiptoed forward and quietly reached out her hand.

Clang!

Before she could touch the cabinet door, the sudden clanging sound made her yank her hand back. She looked around in panic.

"Huh?!" Then Apis spotted a mollusk beside the table, with antennae on its head and a shell on its back. An overturned kettle lay beneath the table.

Clearly, it was the culprit.

After knocking over the kettle, the creature first nervously glanced around. When it saw Apis, it froze for a moment. It studied her carefully, then instantly calmed down. Giving Apis an indifferent glance, it slowly crawled into the kitchen, dug out Aaron's treasured raw cabbage, and began eating it with great enjoyment.

"How strange... Why is there a Den Den Mushi here? And can Den Den Mushi eat seaweed?" Apis murmured in confusion.

Upon hearing her mutter, the creature actually stopped chewing, glared fiercely at Apis, and forcefully said one word: "Idiot!"

Apis froze. She stared at the creature in horror. "A Den Den Mushi... spoke without anyone calling?!"

It was Wo, who had come out to forage for food.

Hearing Apis's scream, Wo shot her another dissatisfied glare and harshly cursed again, "Idiot!"

"Ah!! Great Den Den Mushi, please be merciful and spare me! I only wanted to get a little food—I didn't mean to oppose you!" Pale with fright, Apis repeatedly clasped her hands together, her face full of pleading.

"Idiot!" Wo cursed again.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Apis squeezed her eyes shut and repeatedly bowed in apology. Tangling with a Den Den Mushi monster like this, she could already foresee her miserable fate.

Something like Den Den Mushi hell.

"Idiot!" Wo persistently cursed again.

"..." Apis suddenly felt that something was off. She carefully opened her eyes and looked up at Wo.

After glancing at Apis, Wo coolly said again, "Idiot!"

"...You don't only know how to say that one word, do you?" Apis looked at Wo suspiciously.

Hearing her question, Wo snorted, then said smugly, "Cat!"

"...So you really only know one word." Apis finally let out a long breath and straightened up. "Honestly! You scared me to death!"

Then she opened the storage cabinet. Looking at all the ingredients inside, she took a deep breath, then warned Wo, who was eating raw cabbage on the floor, "I'm going to eat too. Keep quiet. Don't wake up all the pirates on this ship. Once I'm done eating, I'll take you away from here."

Wo ignored her. After silently finishing the last piece of raw cabbage, he stared straight at Apis and revealed a rather malicious smile.

Wo took a deep breath, went silent for several seconds, and then—

"Cat!!!" A shrill cry tore through the darkness before dawn.

"What happened?!" "It sounded like it came from the kitchen!" "Wo!"

The entire Straw Hat crew was awakened.

"It's over..." Hearing the pirates' footsteps rushing toward her, Apis's face went ashen.

"What's the big deal? If you were hungry, you could've just asked me to cook for you. You shouldn't have eaten the ingredients," Sanji said as he tidied the stove. He then poured the soup from the pot into a bowl and handed it to Apis. "Here, miss."

Apis sat in a chair, nervously clutching her skirt with both hands. Her head was lowered, her lips pressed together, and her expression was stubborn.

"What? You're not eating?" Sanji looked at Apis in confusion.

"I won't eat it! You must have put drugs in it, trying to trick me into eating it so I'll pass out, then sell me to slave traders!" Apis said stubbornly.

"But... even without drugs, it seems like we could sell you to slave traders anyway," Aaron said, scratching his head. He did not quite understand what the girl meant. Helplessly, he looked at Wo. "Wo, stop eating my raw cabbage. I'm almost out of ingredients for burgers! Didn't I already prepare food for you? Why do you always come steal my raw cabbage at night?!"

"Cat~" Full and satisfied, Wo could not care less about what Aaron was saying. He lazily called once before falling deeply asleep.

"Honestly..." Aaron looked helplessly at the sleeping Wo and put him into his pocket.

"Hey!" Luffy suddenly cut in. He stared at the soup in front of Apis, drooling heavily. "If you're not eating it, I'll eat it." As he spoke, his hand had already reached out.

"Who said I wasn't eating?!" Apis had been caught up in Aaron's words, thinking that these people really were going to sell her to slave traders and wondering what she should do. But when she saw Luffy trying to steal her soup, she panicked. Picking up the bowl without another thought, she gulped every drop down.

Tch... So Apis's inner monologue had no real meaning. The author was just padding things out.

"It's so delicious!" Apis's eyes lit up after she finished drinking.

"See? Sanji is the cook I recruited! His cooking is really good!" Luffy laughed loudly.

"This may be a pirate ship, but the pirates on board are different," Nami said as she gracefully entered through the doorway, smiling at Apis. "You were scared by the word 'pirates,' weren't you? The pirates on this ship aren't like the ones outside. You can tell, right?"

"It's because Zoro always has that stern face that he scared her. Hurry up and smile!" Usopp said, pulling Roronoa Zoro's mouth upward at the corners.

"What are you doing, you brat?!" "You dare hit me?!" "I'll beat you into a pig-headed mess!"

The two started punching each other in the face.

"Usopp, stop fighting! You can't beat Zoro!" "Zoro, you stop too! Without your swords, you might not be able to beat Usopp!"

Aaron tried to break up the fight from the side.

Yeah... and then Zoro and Usopp fought even more enthusiastically.

"See? They're actually pretty interesting," Nami said to Apis with a smile after watching the whole thing.

"Yeah!" Days after escaping the Marines' clutches, a smile finally appeared on Apis's face.

After the morning incident, Luffy and the others returned to their routine.

Luffy hauled up the anchor by turning the chain, Zoro secured it to the railing, Aaron and Usopp lowered the sail, and Sanji cooked breakfast inside.

"Everyone! Breakfast is ready!" Apis emerged from the cabin door, cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Usopp swallowed as he watched black smoke slowly billowing out from the doorway. "What kind of breakfast could it be...?"

A lump of charred blackness.

The Straw Hats sat around the dining table. A plate sat before each of them, and on every plate was a blackened lump of some unknown substance.

"What is this..." Usopp leaned closer and carefully sniffed it with his long nose, but he could not smell anything in particular. "Sanji, what exactly did you make?!"

"I made it!" Apis said from the side.

"You made it?!" everyone exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, because I wanted to repay you!" Apis said, breaking into a broad smile. "From now on, I'll do whatever I can to repay all of you too!"

"Uh... well, thank you," Nami said with a helpless, strained smile.

"Oh! Thanks! Time to eat!" Luffy led the charge, stabbing a chunk of charcoal with his fork and swallowing it.

"Ahm!" Aaron also swallowed the thing on his fork in one bite. Then he froze completely, smiling stiffly.

"Can something like this really be eaten..." Zoro asked doubtfully as he stared at the black lump.

Bang! Nami viciously stomped on Zoro's foot.

"Eek... ah!!" Zoro opened his mouth wide, and Nami took the chance to shove the entire black lump into it. "Quit talking and eat it already!"

"That was far too rude to say to a lady," Sanji said irritably, shooting Zoro a look. Then he picked up his plate first. "Some dishes may not look like much, but they might taste unexpectedly good. And with me supervising, it should still be edible. Probably." Remembering the kitchenware that had already been ruined, even he was not entirely sure. Still, he took the lead and swallowed the black lump.

"..." Usopp and Nami followed suit and each took a bite.

"..." After chewing for a while, everyone except Luffy developed remarkably expressive faces.

Blue turned to green, then green turned to red. Yeah... it was as though they had experienced a revolution of the world.

They struggled to swallow the final mouthful, then everyone sprang into action, scrambling toward the sink.

Gulp, gulp, gulp!

Each of them drank a huge bowl of water before the sour, bitter, numbing, spicy sensation in their mouths finally faded.

Yeah... four of the five flavors were present. In a sense, Apis was rather impressive too.

"Is it really that bad?" Apis looked at their reactions in disbelief. Refusing to accept it, she tossed a piece of charcoal into her mouth.

"It's so spicy!" Apis stuck out her tongue, sweat pouring down her face. She immediately chugged a huge cup of water. "Ah! Honestly, I think I used the wrong seasonings!"

"Hehe, mistakes like that happen all the time. Just don't make the same mistake next time," Sanji comforted her. Then his expression changed as he turned back. "Hey! Miss made this for everyone out of kindness, so don't leave any behind!"

"Eek!" Zoro and Usopp's faces instantly changed.

"Huh? Is it really that bad? I think it tastes great!" Luffy kept stuffing charcoal from his plate into his mouth.

"You think everyone is like you, a rubber man?!" Usopp said, rolling his eyes.

"No! Aaron, do you think it tastes good?" Luffy poked the frozen Aaron, but Aaron did not respond.

"Ah! Sanji, did you make that cake on the stove? It looks delicious!" Desperate to find an excuse not to eat the charcoal-like food, Usopp racked his brain. His eyes darted around until he suddenly spotted an appetizing cake on the stove, and his eyes lit up.

He hurried over, cautiously sniffed it first, and after smelling a refreshing fruity fragrance, Usopp grabbed the cake and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Cake? I don't remember making a cake these past few days..." Sanji said, looking up in confusion. When he saw the plate Usopp had picked up, his expression instantly changed. "Don't eat it! Aaron made that!"

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

"Wow... it's so good. It's like... it's like... it's like I can see God!" Usopp said blissfully. Then white foam seeped from the corners of his mouth, his eyes rolled upward, and he collapsed limply onto the floor.

"W-W-W-What happened to him?!" Seeing Usopp like that, Apis stammered in fright.

"It's nothing. He was just poisoned," Sanji said calmly. Then he turned to Aaron. "Hey, Aaron! Where did you put the burgers?"

Aaron did not move.

"Aaron! Hurry up and make burgers!" Luffy suddenly slapped Aaron hard on the back.

Thud!

Aaron immediately fell face-first onto the floor, his eyes rolled up, his tongue hanging out, drool pooling all over the ground.

"Whoa! Aaron, what's wrong?!" Luffy panicked, grabbed Aaron by the shoulders, and violently shook his head.

"Lu... ffy..." Aaron barely opened his eyes. Trembling, he pushed himself up with his right hand and shakily raised his index finger.

"Yeah! What happened to you, Aaron?!" Luffy asked anxiously.

"So... so spicy!" Then, like he had run out of power, he suddenly collapsed again.

In the end, he had fainted from the spiciness...

"Hey! Don't pass out, Aaron! Make the burgers first! Hey, Aaron! Aaron!" Luffy shouted.

Meanwhile, Usopp's whole face had turned bluish purple. Yeah... and he wore a bizarre smile.

He was happy too.

After a frantic scramble, Usopp finally woke up.

Otherwise, this story would not be able to continue.

"So your name is Apis. But why were you drifting at sea?" Nami asked.

"I escaped from the Marines," Apis answered.

"Seafood?!" Aaron cried out. Drool began flowing from his mouth again, and he quickly caught it with some paper before it could drip onto the floor.

Yeah... Aaron's mouth had been burned so badly by the spice that his lips were swollen like sausages. He would not be able to speak properly for a while.

"What did you do?!" Zoro asked.

"Huh?"

"If you escaped, you couldn't have gone to the Marines for a visit, right?"

"Are you a really bad person?!" Luffy cried out.

"How could I be a really bad person?!" Apis shouted. Then she lowered her head. "I haven't done anything bad, but the reason... I can't tell you."

"If you can't say it, then you must have your reasons. We don't need to press you," Sanji said.

"Then at least tell me where you're from," Nami said with a smile.

"Ah! I'm from Warship Island."

"Dried liver island?!" Hearing that name, Aaron stood up in shock, his mouth opening and closing.

All the drool fell onto the floor.

.