The Baratie roared with celebration! The fish-shaped restaurant groaned and creaked, but it felt more like a victory dance than damage. Chefs swung their mugs around, bellowing "Straw Hat crushed Krieg!" while diners buzzed with excitement about the mysterious red-haired pirate. Plates clinked and clattered as sizzling food and foamy drinks made their rounds.
Luffy had found himself a table and was demolishing shrimp like his life depended on it. "MEAT! MORE MEAT! THIS IS HEAVEN!" His straw hat sat crooked on his head, and that ridiculous grin of his could have powered the whole restaurant.
Daytime Silas lounged against a wooden post, red hair catching the light like wildfire. His coffee had gone cold again—seemed to be a habit of his. *Nakama,* he thought, that word still echoing in his head. *This kid's got a fire that could burn down the whole ocean.*
Just yesterday he'd been a lone wolf, and now Luffy was calling him "my nakama" like they'd been friends forever. *Joined yesterday, and he's already got me wrapped around his finger.*
His sword and gun felt heavier somehow—like they meant something more now. Those tattoos under his shirt tingled with purpose, a promise reborn from the ashes of old pain.
Usopp was still cowering behind stuff, muttering "We're safe! No sea king sashimi!" before promptly tripping over a crate. Sanji swaggered around with his cigarette, juggling plates and winking at waitresses. "Don't trash my restaurant, Gunblade!" Zoro just sprawled in a corner, swords gleaming, grumbling "Too damn noisy" like the grumpy swordsman he was.
Then everything went dead silent.
A shadow cut through the storm—a ship shaped like a coffin, black as death itself, slicing through waves like they were made of paper. Candles flickered on its deck like lost souls, and the sails were stretched tight as a predator's grin.
Someone's terrified voice shattered the quiet: "That's... Dracule Mihawk! The World's Greatest Swordsman!"
The name hit the restaurant like a cannonball. Even the storm seemed to cower.
Usopp practically evaporated behind his barrel. "THE WORLD'S STRONGEST?! WE'RE ALL DEAD!" Sanji's cigarette nearly fell out of his mouth. "A Shichibukai... here?!"
But Luffy? Luffy just tilted his head with that innocent curiosity of his. "Whoa! Strongest guy? That's so cool!"
Zoro's eyes lit up like he'd just found buried treasure. That savage grin spread across his face as he half-drew his swords. *That's my target.*
Krieg's beaten crew scrambled around in panic. "Mihawk?! We're finished!"
Silas felt his heart drop into his boots. *A Warlord? I just joined this crazy crew and we're already dead!*
Dracule Mihawk stepped onto the deck like death itself, his black coat flowing behind him. Those hawk-like eyes of his could probably cut steel, and the massive black sword on his back looked like it could split mountains.
The whole restaurant held its breath. Even the kitchen had gone quiet.
"I followed your wreckage, Krieg," Mihawk said in that ice-cold voice of his. "A whim." His gaze locked onto Zoro. "This... interests me."
Silas's tattoos burned under his shirt. *A Shichibukai! This is way beyond Krieg—beyond anything!*
He saw Zoro getting ready to fight and panic shot through him. "Wait, you green-haired maniac! You're fighting THAT guy?! Can you even use Haki?!"
Zoro snorted. "Obviously not. No one taught me. My master mentioned it once, I think. You got it?"
Silas let out a half-hysterical laugh. "I can't either! What is this?! I just joined and you're gonna die on my first day?!"
Usopp peeked out, wailing "NO HAKI?! WE'RE FINISHED!"
But Luffy? That crazy kid just laughed. "Zoro's gonna be awesome!"
Zoro charged forward, boots thundering on the deck, three swords ready for battle. "Dracule Mihawk! I challenge you!"
Mihawk's lips curved into the faintest smile. "Bold. I accept."
Silas's hand flew to his gun, every instinct screaming to shoot first and ask questions later. *End this madness before it starts!* But this was Zoro's fight. His honor. His dream.
*Damn it, it's his path!* His gun stayed half-drawn, trembling between action and respect.
Luffy stood there watching, complete faith radiating from every pore. *He believes in him,* Silas realized. *That's what nakama means. Letting them fight their own battles.*
The duel began, and it was beautiful and terrible all at once.
Mihawk drew a tiny cross-shaped knife—a insult disguised as a weapon. Zoro attacked with everything he had: "Onigiri!" His three swords carved the air like lightning, but Mihawk deflected them like swatting flies.
"He's toying with him!" Silas hissed through clenched teeth.
Zoro's fury blazed hotter. "Don't mock me!" His blades sang through the air—"Tora Gari!"—a whirlwind of steel and determination. But Mihawk moved like flowing water, untouchable.
The restaurant shook. People screamed. Usopp wailed about sashimi again.
"Your name and ambition," Mihawk demanded, suddenly serious.
"Roronoa Zoro!" came the proud reply. "I'm gonna be the world's greatest swordsman!"
That's when Mihawk drew his real sword—Yoru, black as midnight and big as a small building. Zoro responded with his ultimate technique: "Three Thousand Worlds!"
For one incredible moment, they clashed. Then—CRACK!
Two of Zoro's swords shattered like glass. He staggered but didn't fall. Instead, he dropped his guard completely, facing Mihawk with his chest exposed.
"A scar on the back is a swordsman's shame."
Mihawk's strike painted a crimson line across Zoro's chest. He collapsed, but his voice rang out clear as a bell:
"I'll never lose again!"
"ZORO!" Luffy's shout cracked like thunder. For the first time since Silas had met him, the kid looked genuinely shaken.
Silas's gun was fully drawn now, every muscle screaming to fire. *Protect them!* But Zoro's words echoed—his oath to Luffy, to himself, to his dream.
*His pride... his dream. I can't steal that.*
Mihawk sheathed his sword with a nod of respect. "A warrior's spirit. Surpass me, Roronoa Zoro."
Then he was gone, his coffin ship disappearing into the storm like a dark dream.
As they bandaged Zoro's wounds, Silas knelt beside him, helping Luffy and the others. *I swore to be their sword and gun, but their strength burns brighter than mine.*
His tattoos pulsed with renewed purpose—not just to Luffy, but to this wild, unbreakable family he'd somehow joined.
That's when old Zeff stomped forward, peg leg echoing like a war drum.
"Straw Hat!" he roared at Luffy. "You saved my restaurant. Now get this worthless fool out of here!" He pointed at Sanji, who looked like someone had slapped him with a fish.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU SHITTY OLD MAN?!"
Zeff's grin was sharp as a knife. "YOU THINK YOU'RE WORTH ANYTHING HERE?! GET LOST! We all know you do those silent dramatic acts to look cool for the ladies, you lovesick teenager!"
The chefs joined in like a chorus of chaos: "THAT'S RIGHT! GET OUT OF HERE!" They started throwing kitchen utensils—ladles, spoons, pans—a whole storm of cookware.
"LEAVE! LEAVE! LEAVE!"
Sanji's face turned red as a tomato. "I HATE ALL OF YOU BASTARDS!" But when he looked at Luffy, something shifted in his eyes. That captain's grin was like a lighthouse in a storm.
He straightened up, kicked a stray ladle away, and pointed at Luffy with dramatic flair.
"Name's Sanji! I'll be your cook!"
Luffy's grin could have powered a small city. "YOSH! Welcome aboard, Cool Cook!"
Usopp's jaw hit the deck. "HE'S JOINING?! THEY JUST THREW PANS AT HIM!"
Zoro managed a smirk despite the pain. "About time, curly-brow."
Silas watched the whole scene with growing understanding. *This hate... it's love wearing a disguise. They're pushing him out to set him free.* It reminded him of his own mother, in a way.
Zeff leaned in close to Sanji, voice dropping to a rough whisper: "Go, brat. Chase your dream."
For just a moment, mentor and student shared something warm. Then Zeff shoved him hard.
"I SAID SCRAM! WE DON'T NEED YOU!"
Luffy burst into laughter. "He's ours now!"
The chefs kept throwing stuff, half-laughing, half-crying. Sanji stood up, brushed off his suit, and lit a new cigarette with a defiant smirk.
Silas felt his heart swell. *This crew... they're all completely insane, bound together by dreams crazier than the sea itself.*
"Zoro's gonna be the strongest!" Luffy declared. "And you too, Gunblade Guy!"
Silas grinned, red hair falling across one eye. "These lunatics... guess I'm one of them now."
The Baratie pulsed with life—chefs cheering, diners talking in amazed whispers about the Straw Hat crew's madness. The storm outside kept raging, but inside burned a warmth that no weather could touch.
Silas looked at Luffy's back, saw how that simple straw hat seemed to catch and hold the light like a tiny sun. *Nakama... it's not just protecting them. It's trusting their dreams, no matter how impossible they seem.*
His sword and gun felt right at his sides. His tattoos hummed with purpose. He was bound to this brilliant, impossible kid—the Warrior of Liberation, the future Pirate King—and he'd be their blade and gun through every storm, every battle, whatever the cost.