Serious: The Shin Blade pirates Chapter 1 Stranded in margaritaville once again

The sun felt warm upon Alfie's face, and he smiled he could feeling the grains of sand beneath him and they made him uncomfortable, Alfie shifted his weight to try and make himself feel more comfortable as he shifted around he felt better, he didn't want to get up as the ground felt comfy enough for him and had been good enough for him to sleep on that night so why not a few moments more. As the heat picked up and the ground became warmer Alfie found himself rolling from side to side to get away from the heat, as he rolled he felt his head lagging behind him and realised he had a bad headache, Alfie grabbed his head as gently as he could manage which wasn't gentle at all and felt his hair all messy hanging down his face. Alfie didn't mind as no one was here to see him and just continued laying there in the sand. the sound of squawking was hear as a small little black bird flew towards Alfie and landed on a near by tree, Alfie looked up at the bird to see it was a small crow, but every time it squawked he could feel its squawks echoing through his head like a wave of radiation. Alfie shut his eyes tightly then rolled over away from the crow.

the crow swooped down near Alfie's face and squawked a few more times each time more painful than the last, he wanted to hit the bird but couldn't find the bloody thing every time he swung his arm towards the sound it got louder and louder and even pecked his hand a few times. The crow walked around to stand by his face and squawked again, Alfie tried batting it away with his hand again but instead of hitting the bird his hand simply went through the bird, he saw the bird de materialise in front of him then re materialise and heard another squawk. Alfie was growing tired of this bloody noisy bird and sat up quickly trying to frighten the bird off as he sat up he said out loud, "Would you just....argh!" Alfie began spewing forth a concoction of half muttered swear words as his head made contact with the bar then the floor.

As Alfie had sat up he smacked his head on the bar, his eyes flung open as his torso dropped back towards the ground and his hands grabbed his head, he realised he wasn't in the desert instead he was still aboard his sailing pub the Blunt Knife and the sand had been the shards of glass smashed from the night before, it was a pretty wild night, he had gotten so drunk he had trouble remembering any of it. Alfie was hung over and found it unnervingly hot, he then remembered that only a few hours ago he had planned to make breakfast for himself, Alfie sat up again quickly smacking his head once again then moving away from the bar, "My eggs!" Alfie exclaimed as he jumped to his feet despite his head wobbling all over the place, he rushed downstairs to the kitchen where he found 2 eggs cracked in oven with the oven door open and the cooker still on full. Alfie turned the cooker off then shut the door and muttered to himself. "I'll clean it later when it cools down." He returned upstairs to sit down as he sat down and looked around he could see that himself and whoever else the people were who joined him partying that night really had allot of fun that night, before they left. Alfie laid back on the seat making himself comfy, a small crow squawked again and Alfie then realised where the squawking had come from, his eyes sprung open as he saw the bird and then felt limp and shut again Alfie muttered to himself quietly, "I'm Stranded in margaritaville once again."

"Yes sir, i'm quitting my job here today. I just can't seem to find thrill in working for you. This place isn't good enough for me anymore." Ryu was just talking to his boss. It was the same result as what happens at every other restaurant he worked at. Ryu gets tired of serving the same faces over and over again at the same place. He needed a place that was always moving around and saw new people every day. In his mind, he thought about a restaurant ship but that was just silly. It probably hasn't been done before.

As Ryu walked out of the 5-star restaurant he just quit, he began to make his way to the harbor, plagued by his impossible wish.

Alfie rested on the seat for a little while happily trying to overcome his hangover he sat up slowly and went to get a glass of water, as he reached for where the drinks were he found that there were none he looked at the floor to realise they were scattered all over the floor in pieces. "Bloody hell" Alfie drank from the bottle and then wiped his mouth and decided it was time he got up and went to replace the glasses.

Alfie stood up as the crow squawked again he looked at it and said, "Shut up" Alfie exited his sailing pub and was blinded by the bright sun outside, he covered his eyes then walked into town hunched over tasting stale water and feeling like crap, he couldn't bare to open his eyes wide enough to see up but as he walked into town he left his ship docked on whatever island this was, he wasn't sure if he was in the GrandLine or not but he was just happy to be here on land. Alfie could feel his brain stinging and wobbling from side to side with each step he took, he knew that alcohol didn't affect him much when he was drinking but now afterwards it always felt pretty bad, but it was nothing he wasn't used to, Alfie muttered to himself, "No margaritas ever again." He knew this was a lie and he would be drinking them again soon enough but it was still nice to hear himself say never again.

Alfie looked on ahead to see he as still a few miles from the town and tried speeding up his pace until tripped over a rock and landed on his chest, he slowly got back up holding his head, then sat there for a few minutes. he felt like he might be sick but tried to hold it in. After a few minutes he continued to town.

Ryu continued to walk toward the harbor. He passed a drunk on the way but just ignored him. Ryu looked at the town as he walked. Margaritaville, the town was owned by a man named Timmy Duffet. Everything was his; the fast food joints; the bars; the seaside resorts; everything. About a mile from the harbor, Ryu came across a 10B coin on the ground. As he bent down to pick it up, he heard gunshots coming from the Timmy Duffet gift shop he was standing in front of. The culprit was none other than a fat old man in a tank top, flipflops, and a paper bag over his head. He also held a guitar which seemed to double as a gun. in his other hand, he held a bag obviously filled with merchandise.

Ryu picked up the Beli coin. After examining it for a bit, he found it too rusty to be kept. Not wanting to put it to waste, he threw it at the old man. Ryu's special skill of throwing coins fast as a bullet came to use in the strangest situations. The coin hit the old man square in the center of his paper bag mask. The man was immediately knocked unconscious and fell over. Not showing any concern, Ryu just kept walking down the road.

Arriving at the harbor, Ryu looked around at the many ships docked there. A boat with a sign on it that said Blunt Knife Pub caught his eyes. He walked over to it to take a closer look. What he saw was a disaster. There was glass and sick all over the floor and not a single person in sight. Either the place was robbed or there was a crazy party the night before. Disappointed at the mess, Ryu made his way back to town hoping to find the owner of the ship...

Alfie saw a well dressed man pass by him and smiled at him, he must have thought he was ridiculous in his current state but ignored it.

As Alfie reached town he was feeling a little bit better he walked from shop to shop searching for glasses to buy as his one were all smashed to pieces or probably in his back from his nap on the floor. Alfie's back felt a little sore but he didn't mind he could sort himself out once he'd replaced these glasses, he found a small shop with an elderly man at the counter who looked at hi and asked him, "Can I help you?" Alfie looked at the man and smiled then said, "Yeah, I'm, I'm looking for some glasses to buy, not glasses to wear, but glasses to drink from."
"Oh right yes, well we have some very nice glasses just over here if you'll follow me." The old man lead the way to the back of the store where there were some beautifully crafted glasses to drink out of. Alfie smiled at the old man then picked one up to look at, "Wow these are pretty looking, but I'm going to have to decline, in my pub these wouldn't survive 5 seconds, I'll have to take these glasses over here." Alfie put the glass back then picked up a few other glasses which looked tougher and sturdier. "I'll take these if you don't mind."
"Ok right you are sir." smiled the old man as he took the glasses over to the counter and calculated the price of all 12 glasses.
"Right that'll be 32 Beli," Alfie nodded then handed him a 50 and said, "Keep the change." Alfie placed all the glasses in a bag then left the shop and headed back to the ship feeling allot better. As he approached his ship he smiled as the sun seemed better to him now.

Ryu saw the drunk again but this time, it was different. The man was holding several drinking glasses and headed toward the docks. They were the types of glasses that could survive even the harshest storms in the sea. Ryu quickly approached him as he probably wouldn't get such a chance in the future.

"Excuse me, sir. Are you headed back to your ship?"

Alfie looked at the man who was dressed incredibly well walking back towards him again, he was a little bit confused why but thought he probably wouldn't pay much attention to him as he seemed to look at him with a dirty look earlier, Alfie could hear the glasses clinking together and hoped they wouldn't smash, when the man asked him if he was returning to his ship Alfie looked p at the man and could see he as much better dressed than himself and nodded, "Yea I'm heading back to my ship, I've got some cleaning to do, why do you ask?" Alfie was curious why this man was asking if he was heading back to his ship and even more curious why he was heading back the way he'd just come from. Alfie smiled at the man then said to him, "I'm Alfie and can I ask, why are you heading back into town when you only came this way a few moments ago?"

A large man wearing a sheathed zweilhander, large sword, armour plating and a viking helmet over some rather dull clothes strolled down the street casually, with a chimera sitting equally casually on his shoulder. The armoured stranger stroked his big bushy blue beard for a few moments as he stared ahead into space deep in thought, while the small chimera on his shoulder happily shouted; "green socks", at every passerby. The man with a rather violent apperance then strolled past Ryu and Alfie, muttering to himself; "Hmmm I doubt i'll find the work I shall need in this area best find employment elsewhere." "Tick tock.", agreed the chimera.

"I went down to the harbor to look for something. When I couldn't find it, I decided to come back into the town to search. Quite simply put, I believe you have what I am looking for. Judging from the situation, you seem to be the only person I have met between the glass shop and the harbor who has the two things that make up a restaurant vessel; glasses and a ship. I believe you are the owner of the Blunt Knife Pub so I am asking you now," Ryu turned his eyes to Alfie's, "Are you in need of a waiter on your ship?"

Ryu's gaze was serious. He held a coin tightly clenched in his fist as if his life depended on the answer.

Alfie looked the man up and down and realised this was the man from earlier, he listened to what he had to say and nodded, "Yea I am heading back to my ship, I'm the owner of the Blunt Knife and I have got to clean p the mess me and.........yeah I made a big mess last night and need to clean it up. I don't even remember what happened last night apart from I do remember someone smashing a glass over head........which explains why there is so much glass shards on the floor....and probably in my back too. But.....yeah, I would love to have a waiter on my crew, it would be handy to have someone serve people while I'm cooking, its been pretty difficult doing both.

Alfie was completely oblivious to the coin Ryu was holding and didn't know how close he was to being in such pain if he said no but since he said yes, it seems it wouldn't really matter. He smiled at the well dressed man and said, "You look pretty presentable, allot better than me come on you can help me clean up, I have rooms above the pub for staff and a kitchen below the pub for the cooks which so far is just well me." Alfie chuckled a little bit as he walked past Ryu gesturing for him to follow, he was often oblivious to certain traits people were displaying but he wasn't dumb and as much as he could tell this guy Ryu just wanted a job, so he was happy to give him one and have him aboard the Blunt Knife.

As Alfie continued his journey back to his pub the Blunt Knife the glasses clinked together and he could tell these glasses were hard enough to withstand a night at his pub, maybe even two. He smiled then looked back at Ryu and said "Well are you coming with or not?" Alfie felt much better than he had when he woke up and looked up at the shining sun and realised he didn't feel that great yet. Alfie dipped his head feeling the blaze hurt his eyes, he gently shook his head to stop his head from hurting then waited for Ryu.

"Yes, of course." Ryu felt as if a heavy burden had just been lifted off of him. What he was longing for for so long. It may have been silly to anyone else but Ryu took his dream seriously; to become the greatest waiter in the world. He let the coin he was holding drop. It hit the ground and made a soft clang; flipping a few times and landing on its "head" side.

"Oh! By the way. My name is Ryu Ritz. I would like to hear the name of the man I am about to dedicate my service to."

Alfie looked at Ryu and said to him, "Nice to meet you Ryu, a waiter would be useful in the pub. I'm Alfie and I'm currently the bartender, cook and waiter but having you around, it should be a hell of allot easier" Alfie smiled then continued walking towards his ship.

Following Alfie back to his ship, Ryu wanted to strike up a conversation. There wasn't much he wanted to say and a life story would be too much so Ryu just went with something simple. "You know, my dream has always been to work on a restaurant ship. For me, the idea of seeing new people every day is what makes my job as a waiter complete. I find putting a smile on a person who comes for the first time more rewarding than satisfying the same old people every day. It's a feeling that's hard to explain..." Ryu began to ramble a bit which was exactly what he was trying to avoid.

"excuse me for a minute." Ryu reached into his waistcoat and pulled out two medium-sized chakrams. They were well formed and had a bit of a sparkle to them. Ryu took out a handkerchief and polished them up a little. as they walked. It drew the attention of a few passersby but he didn't mind. After all, cleanliness was also part of the food business.

Alfie listened to what Ryu had to say and smiled when he brought out his chakrams he stopped then said, "You seemed like such a nice pleasant waiter until I saw those things, I'm not so sure my patrons would like to deal with a waiter who carries them around with him, in fact I think they might think we're robbing them. You'll probably have to put them somewhere when your serving people, no offence." Alfie then realised Ryu wasn't sure what to say and said to him, "So how did you get into waiting? I mean being a waiter? Its not really something people dream about or anything, I mean I'm only sailing with a pub cause I promised the previous owner I would look after it for him."

"Well, quite simply, I like making people feel happy. I started waiting at a young age. I was new to the business back then but whenever I watched my seniors work, they always seemed to put a smile on their customers' faces. It wasn't because they told jokes; they didn't have time to. It was because they listened to everything the customer wanted to say and brought them exactly what they ordered quickly. Waiters are usually the only employees the customers meet face to face. Customers make judgements based on three main points. First is atmosphere; what they feel. Second is the food. Third is service. Waiters bridge all three of these points together. To make people happy, I have decided to become the best waiter I can be." Ryu looked at Alfie. "What better way to reach out to people than to travel to them?"

Ryu slipped his chakrams back into his waistcoat. Alfie was right, though. He should put them away when serving on a ship. Looking further down the road, Ryu could see the harbor coming into sight.

Alfie smiled at Ryu and said, "Its a fine dream to have but I must say not a normal one." Alfie felt that Ryu's dream was unusual but that's what he liked about him, the fact that he was unusual. As Alfie reached his ship at the harbour he opened the door widely announcing "Well Ryu I'd like to welcome you aboard the Blunt Knife pub."

Alfie had forgotten about the state of the pub and when he opened it he remembered straight away, the pub was still in a ridiculous mess and stunk horrifically, he then looked at Ryu smiling and said, "Oh yeah, I forgot we're going to have to clean the place up. My bad sorry about the mess but yeah.......come on in....if you want. You'll probably have to help me clean up a little before we can open up and start serving people." Alfie walked in and placed the newly bought glasses on the bar and took them out of the bag. He looked back at Ryu and said, "So, um.............where about's would you like to clean up, kitchen or pub, which ever one you do I'll do the other." Alfie smiled at Ryu cheekily.

"I'll clean up the pub. I just need some cleaning supplies." Ryu already saw the inside of the ship earlier when he came down to the harbor. It wasn't a surprise to him that Alfie had forgotten about the mess. Finding a broom, Ryu swept the place up. The broken glass wasn't a problem. Cleaning the vomit on the ground was different. Ryu working in many different places before so it wasn't too bad for him. After taking the garbage out of the pub area, Ryu took a better look at the inside.

(Ant, could you describe the ship a little more? I would like to talk about it in a little more detail in the future.)

(Yea sure I'll put a description of it on the crew page)

Alfie nodded to Ryu then headed down to the kitchen where the egg he put in the oven last night was beginning to smell worse. Alfie gagged a little before he removed the trays and threw them in the sink. Alfie then shut the door and began washing up all the dishes and the trays. Alfie cleaned up all the cutlery then left it all to dry, he then thought of a way to be a nice host and dried two plates and 4 knives and forks then checked in his kitchen for supplies where he found enough food left over for what he had planned.

Alfie fried a few pieces of bacon fried 4 eggs and toasted 4 piece of bread before coving it all in beans and taking a large whiff. This was Alfie's cure to a hangover which hadn't yet gone away. Alfie grabbed the plates and headed upstairs holding the cutlery in his right hand under his plate. As Alfie got up he laid down the two plates and said, "How about some breakfast Ryu?" Alfie then laid down some cutlery for himself and Ryu and tug into his breakfast as quickly as he could.

Ryu took a seat with Alfie and watched him eat. "Yes please. Nothing special. Just some scrambled eggs for me please. Thanks." He leaned back in his chair and took another look around. It was a good size pub and could easily seat a medium sized group of sailors. Of course if the pub was ever attacked, it would need a few more good hands. Ryu thought it over in his mind a little. A small staff was fine but more crew mates would be much better.

Alfie pushed the other plate he'd brought up over to Ryu along with a knife and fork and smiled a messy grin with his lips and moustache covered in food, with a full mouth he replied, "Enjoy" Alfie knew that he hadn't exactly bothered much with presentation on this breakfast but he really couldn't be bothered to present food which looked so great, he would rather make food which he knew was good and eat it up, when the time mattered then he would make it look presentable, Alfie looked at Ryu who didn't seem to want the food he had prepared but admittedly it didn't look great, but despite its presentation it tasted amazingly good just like allot of Alfie's food. He then stood up and walked over to the bar not hearing any glass crunching beneath his feet and smiled, "You did a good job cleaning up here, thanks, would you like a drink?" Aflie removed two of the new glasses he'd bought and poured a pint of his own specially brewed beer, it came out a dark, misty, purple looking colour which admittedly was a little strange for beer, but unlike most other beers this one tasted nice. Alfie then brought two pints of his drink over and awaited Ryu's reaction. He realised he as asking questions then doing things without getting a reply but this was just what Alfie was like and Ryu would get used to it eventually, he hoped.

The food was delicious. Admittedly, its presentation was sloppy but Ryu wasn't a critic of design. Back in the day, he wouldn't refuse to serve a meal if it was not presented well. It would be disrespectful to the cook who made it. If a customer turned the plate down, only then would Ryu return to the kitchen to request a new serving.

Finishing his meal, Ryu wiped his mouth watched Alfie pour his brew. Its color sent a strange vibe throughout Ryu but after eating breakfast, Ryu doubted that anything made by Alfie wouldn't taste good. Ryu happily accepted the glass and took a sip.

Alfie watched as Ryu seemed to enjoy his cooking and when he handed him a beer he understood why he only took a sip instead of a large gulp like so many of his other patrons as the colour was bit odd. But he didn't mind as long as he enjoyed the drink he was happy. This was Alfie's own special brew of beer so he obviously added only ingredients he knew he liked and hoped others liked.

So far everyone who had tried it seemed to love it and had asked Alfie for the recipe but he refused to give it out as he wanted his beer to be exclusive to the Blunt Knife, that way he could get more customers wanting to come to his pub. Alfie then said to Ryu, "So what do you think of my beer Foggen?"

Ryu stared into his cup for a second as if perplexed. He suddenly took the drink and downed it in a matter of seconds. "It's wonderful. The flavor is very... unique. I can't seem to describe it in any way." He would have asked for a second glass but he was pretty full by then. Ryu took his glass and walked back over to the table the two of them ate at. He began to collect the dishes to bring to the kitchen to wash. Looking back at Alfie Ryu asked, "Would you like me to take that glass for you? I feel responsible for washing the dishes. Could you direct me to your sink?"

After a number of failed attempt of barganing with small fry pirates, Victor had failed to even make one of the small time pirate captains re-consider, due to the rather hefty bounty placed on the mercenary's head. "Hmmm looks like were going to have to steal a boat Widdles, how unprofesional.", the blue bearded swrodsman said conversationly with his pet, who pointed out; "Glug glug!", as it motioned to a rather bizzare pub that floated much like a ship. Victor pondered on why would someone want a floating restraunt in the first place, before shrugging and saying to himself; "I suppose we could barter something, good boy Widdles!", stroking the chimera, as he quitely walked into The Blunt Knife.

Alfie nodded to Ryu smiling as he handed him the dishes and cups then said, "Yeah sure it'll be nice to have someone else helping around the place, if you go just behind the bar go through that door you will see two sets of stairs one leading to the staff accommodation which I can show you in a minute if you like, and the others leading downstairs to the kitchen you'll see a pillar in the middle holding this floor up and a counter around the pillar as well as counters all round the edges the sink is.........at the back of the kitchen opposite the entrance but next to the dumb waiter its a long sink like trough that pigs eat out of, actually it was a trough when I bought it but I bought it before any pigs ate out of it, so its totally clean." Alfie then smiled to himself remembering the time he'd bought it, that farmer thought he was mental, but it made a bloody good sink.

Alfie heard the door to his pub open and stood up too see a large viking style clothed man enter with a blue beard and felt his inner salesman take charge, "Hello Sir, and welcome to the Blunt knife I'm Alfie and you look like you could use a drink, how about it mate, A nice sweet manly beer to take the edge off life and all of its problems eh? That sound good to you, wait of course it does what man doesn't like an nice beer eh, I'll you what kind, a wo-man." During all this time he spent speaking he found himself chuckling to his own jokes, pouring the man a mug of Foggen and placing it down on the table in front of the man who'd entered. "Now I know what your thinking, this beer looks a little dingy and odd looking due to color but no need to worry my good man, its perfectly safe and sweet to the taste, try some here." Alfie found himself picking the mug up and offering it to the man before shaking the mug a little and mentioning "First drink's on the house."