Chapter 6, Part 1

"So... hungry..." Jawful comments as he stands looking out into the horizon. It has been several days since the crew has eaten, and it is starting to get to everyone.

"Shut yer mouth," Syrup answers sternly, stressed out for the same reason as the orange monster.

Just then, the crew sees an enormous ship anchored in the middle of the sea with many boats harbored at it. Outside of the entrance to it is a sign that reads, "Le Restaurant en mer". The only word on the sign anyone in the crew understands is "restaurant" but that doesn't stop them from getting the meaning and happily anchoring in order to board said ship. Until they see another ship heading for them, of course. A navy ship...

"Commander! Commander! That pirate ship we spotted near that strange island is heading our way!" one of the marines on that navy ship reports.

"Excellent. Fire at will, men!" the commander orders. Soon, Bullet Bills are being fired at the Blue Ball Crew once more.

"Okay, I've had it up to HERE with this adventuring stuff already!" Waluigi yells as he points at his neck, indicating how high he's had it. The lanky plumber then rushes towards the nearest life boat, yelling, "Every plumber for himself!" However, just as he approaches the life boat, he's shocked to find that there are two stowaways already in it!

Waluigi shouts out to the others, and they all come rushing to the boat to see a Glum Reaper and a Kritters sitting in the boat. The Kritters is unconscious. Jawful looks shocked and somewhat glad to see the two of them.

"Well, if it isn't Glums and Karl!" Jawful remarks upon seeing the two. "What on Plit are you doing here?"

"Uh, guys?" Waluigi interrupts, but is completely ignored.

"Well," Glums, the Glum Reaper answers, "a few days ago, Karl here became seriously ill. I took him to a doctor I knew in the Beanbean region, but ironically, the guy had caught a cold. So, I dragged Karl through town, hoping to find somebody who could help, when I saw you board this ship with that Koopaling, the female pirate, and that lanky guy. So, before you set sail, I managed to stow the two of us away in this lifeboat until I was able to get your help. However, I was unable to get your attention immediately because it felt like you were fighting with a navy ship."

"We were," Jawful replies. "We also crashed on an island inhabited with strange hybrids and some guy that used to work with Waluigi's brother.

"Uh, guys?!" Waluigi tries to interrupt once more, but is ignored again.

"Well, that explains how you didn't see us sooner," Glum comments.

"Hey, wait a moment!" Lemmy yells. "How do you guys know each other, anyways?"

"Oh, these guys used to work with me in the bounty hunting business. Trust me, we used to be the best," Jawful answers. "Now, about Karl's illness..."

"GUYS!!!" Waluigi interrupts a third time.

"Fine, Waluigi. What's the problem?" Syrup asks, as she's tired of his constant interruption.

"Aren't you guys forgetting something?!" Waluigi inquires.

"Like what?" Lemmy asks back. Just then, a Bullet Bill fired from the navy ship hits the ship's mast, causing it to topple over and land on the floating restaurant. "Oh yeah, them. Well, we'll just get inside this restaurant, and figure things out once we're there."

The Blue Ball Crew, temporarily including Glum and Karl (who is being dragged by Glum), jump off the ship and onto the restaurant. The navy ship, not wanting to blow up the place they're about to eat at, cease firing for now. The captain of the navy ship, accompanied by a lovely lady, step off the ship and head inside themselves.

"Well, that was cl-" Lemmy starts to comment, as the navy officer doesn't recognize the crew (having only seen their ship) and ignores them. However, he is quickly pulled away by two mean Toads and is dragged to the captain's room.

Once there, Lemmy is immediately thrown onto the floor. As the Koopaling starts to get back up, he stares face-to-face with the captain of the restaurant.  "ARE YOU THE IDIOT WHO CRASHED A SHIP'S MAST INTO MY RESTAURANT?!" the captain screams at Lemmy.

"Zess T? When did you start a restaurant at sea?" Before getting answer, Lemmy continues, "But yeah, it was me. Sorry 'bout that."

"Sorry?! SORRY?  THAT MAST COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY DESTROYED HALF OF THIS ENTIRE RESTAURANT IN ONE BLOW!!!" Zess yells in a voice filled with so much fury, Fawful would cry.

"Whoa, hold it! You're going to yell my barely-existant ears off! Listen, how about we make a deal? I'll pay you whatever amount you want to fix the place, and I'll just leave you alone. Okay?" Lemmy asks the chef, hoping to get out of this situation as easily as possible.

"Money?! MONEY?! ALL THE MONEY IN ALL OF PLIT WOULDN'T REPAIR THE EMOTIONAL DAMAGE YOU HAVE CAUSED TO ME!" Zess screams once more.

"You don't want money?!" Lemmy gasped, surprized that such an easily-angered character like Zess would refuse a bribe. "Fine, is there anything
you DO want?"

"Well..." Zess replies, finally not yelling anymore, "there is one thing. I want... your eyes!"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" Lemmy bursts, shocked by such an answer. "I can't do that!"

"... Fine, fine," Zess muttered. "I was looking forward to some eyes I wouldn't need contact lenses for, though. How about you work as a waiter in my restaurant and work off your debt?"

"Well, considering my options, that sounds quite reasonable," Lemmy comments. "But, just wondering, how long will I have to work here?"

"105 days."

"... You know, I really don't need my eyes THAT much, now that I think about it."

"No, I think you working is a better punishment for a guy like you. Now, GET TO WORK!"

"Aw, man!" Lemmy mutters as he's escorted by the Toads that dragged him there into the Employees' bathroom to change into some working clothes.

"I wonder where he's at," Syrup wonders as she, Jawful, Waluigi, and Glum sit at a table. Karl is laying underneath it.

"Well, what's wrong with Karl?" Jawful asks.

"Fine, I'll check him out," Syrup replies before beginning to inspect the Kritters. After only a second or two, she grabs Karl and drags him out of the ship, knowing exactly what needs to be done.

Meanwhile, at the table of the navy commander, he and his female acquaintance have recently sat down and begin to wait for... a waiter.  In no time at all, somebody exits the kitchen area of the restaurant and approaches the officials. This particular waiter, a Koopa to be more exact, is wearing a rather tall chef hat and has an apron covering his chest. He looks quite odd, as though he should be making the food instead of serving it.

"Hello, and velcome to 'Le Restaurant de Mer'. Vhould you like to start with zee appetizer, or go straight to zee main course?" the Koopa waiter asks with a rather thick French accent.

At that same time, back with Syrup and Karl, Syrup is busy shoving a bunch of oranges down the Kritters's throat, recognizing what he has as scurvy.

Meanwhile inside, Jawful, Waluigi, and Glum are ordering.

"Yeah, give me the steak, and maybe a bit of the chicken, and-" Jawful starts before being interrupted as the navy captain starts to shout from his table.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THIS ISN'T FROM THE VINEYARDS OF SARASALAND?!" the navy captain yells at the Koopa chef/waiter. Secretly, the captain had requested that a special wine grown from the vineyards of Sarasaland be served with their meal. He would then identify the wine from "merely its taste" at dinner to impress his date.

"I told you, zeese wine was made in Le Forest de Toadwood!" the waiter told the captain with a slight grin on his face. He had given them wine made in Toadwood Forest on purpose, just to see such a high-ranking official squirm in his seat.

"Listen here, you!" the captain exclaimed as he rose from his seat. "You're the waiter; I'm a very, VERY important customer. If you don't give us exactly what we want, I'll-"

"What, call zee entire brigade on moi? Pleeze, it's only le wine!"

The captain then grabbed the Koopa by the neck and dragged him to a corner of the restaurant so his date wouldn't hear. "Listen, you! I'm with a very important 'client', and if even one thing is horribly messed up, it could cost me my entire reputation!"

"Sorry, Moinseur Fancy-Pants! I may be un waiter, but that doesn't mean you can boss around moi like zeese!"

One powerful kick later, the navy captain was sent through his table. Before the waiter could do any more damage, the head chef, a big Koopa with swirly glasses and a red shell, had grabbed him. The navy captain pulls himself to his feet grogily, infuriated.

"This isn't over! I'll send the finest men in the navy, and have this worthless pile of floating wood shut down quicker than you can say Cheep Cheep!"

Meanwhile, inside the kitchen, the large Koopa and the chef/waiter are having a discussion.

"For the last time, Torte, never injure a paying customer! This place isn't like the failing restaraunt back on land that you used to own! Here, it's all about cooking and serving whatever the customers ask. Remember our motto: The customer is King/Queen!"

"Blah, blah. Listen, Kent C, moi don't care what you theek 'bout moi. Torte only cares about himself, mon ami."

"Oh, shut up! You have the worst attitude out of all of us! Even that new guy shows more enthusiasm!"

Kent and Torte turn around, and see Lemmy washing dishes... well, it's more like "dish", as he dropped the rest of them.

"This place literally stinks!" Lemmy complains. "I'm tired, I'm bored, and I want my crew back! I HATE THIS PLACE!"

Kent turns back towards Torte. "Okay, so it's a close call to determine which one of you is more spirited. Just stay back here the rest of the day, Torte, and if things don't change come tomorrow, I'll have to take this matter to Zess T."

Kent leaves the kitchen to return to the customers, and immediately after he gets inside he sees the door swing open. A Koopa who looks like he hasn't eaten in days stumbles in. The Koopa looks quite plain and ordinary, except that there is a red bandana around his neck. And we know of only one Koopa with that fashion sense, right?

"Help... me..." Kooper wails in pain. He's obviously suffering, but Kent doesn't do a thing about it. Not only does he have a grudge against the guy, but he also knows that Kooper isn't too smart with money. The customer may be king/queen, but they're only a customer if they PAY.

"Get out of here, scum!" Kent orders. "We don't feed people for free at this joint!"

"Oh yeah? Well, what makes you so certain that I'm broke? I might have enough to pay, and you just don't know it!" Kooper retaliated.

"Fine. DO you have enough?"

"Depends. Have anything that's less than 5 coins on the menu?"

"No, but there's some fresh sea water outside that I think you could get used to!" Kent tells the broke Koopa before kicking him out. Sad and starving, Kooper starts walking back to his ship. However, he stops in his tracks after a plate hits him in the back of the head.

"Oops. Got to work on moi's aim, oui?" Kooper, without another word, dives on the food and quickly devours it before getting up, looking a bit embarrassed but at the same time downright giddy.

"This may be the starvation talking, but that was the greatest meal I ever had!"

"Thanks. Moi WAS going to give it to ze navy captain, but what can moi say, you were a more worthy cause."

Kooper smiles, stands up, and starts to walk back to his boat. However, before he gets in, he turns back towards Chef Torte. "Just wondering, is it okay if I bring a 'friend' over here to sample your cuisine? He, along with a few other guys I'm travelling with, are virtually starving. They sent me over here to see how good the food with, completely forgetting to loan me enough to buy the food."

"Oui, Koopa. Any ami of an enemy of Kent is an ami of moi!"

Kooper smiles again, steps back onto his boat, and sails away. Torte is about to walk back inside the restaurant, when he's stopped by the Koopaling currently known as Lemmy.

"I bet you're a reallly good cook, huh?" Lemmy asks, drawing a sigh from Torte.

"Shouldn't you be working or somezing?"

"I'm on break. So, how are you interested in joining the Blue Ball Crew?"

"No. Moi does not believe I will be becoming a pirate any time soon, zank
you."

"Are you kidding me?! You almost KO'd a navy captain with your own body, you hate your boss, and I can tell that you want to do something better with your life! Why WOULDN'T you want to become a pirate and get out of this place?"

"Vhell, it has to do with a promise moi made some years ago..."

FLASHBACK

Chef Torte and his Apprentice are sailing a small boat as far away from Marrymore as possible, as the cake they had cooked mere moments ago was now alive and battling a plumber, a cloud, and a doll. However, they accidentally crash on a very small island and barely manage to get out before the boat sinks.

"Zhis stinks," Torte comments. "Ve are stuck on zhis small isle, and zhere's no telling when ve'll be rescued!"

"Don't worry, boss," his Apprentice replies. "I managed to pack two bags of food for us before we left. If we're careful, we should be able to use them as rations until somebody comes and gets us."

And so, the months pass. Torte had made a small hut on the east side of the island, and the Apprentice made one on the west. Eventually, all of the rations in Torte's bag are gone. Hungry, he goes over to the Assistant's hut to see if there are any leftovers.  But when he gets there, he finds nothing except for a single photograph and a near-dead Apprentice.

"Vhat happened?!" Torte exclaims. The Apprentice, with almost the last of his strength, explains that he had purposely wanted Torte to have all the food he had brought. The Apprentice knew that Torte would go on one day and become the greatest chef in the world. If Torte could one day survive and achieve that goal, the Apprentice knew that every pain he would have to suffer through would be worth it. Even if that meant dying in the next few minutes because of starvation.

"But vhat about zat photo?" Torte asks. The photo, as the Apprentice explained, was of the legendary Cheepus Dimandorite (Dimond Cheep), the rarest and more delicious fish in the world. It was fabled that if anyone used it in their cooking, no matter what kind of dish they were preparing, the meal would be one of the greatest any mortal would ever taste.

"That fish lives in the Big Blue, boss. Find it, cook it, and make both of our dreams come true," the Apprentice says with his dying words. Almost seconds after the Apprentice dies, Torte hears the sound of a small boat approaching the island. The chef grabs the photograph, runs outside, and spots the boat in question. The boat in question is being driven by none other than... Zess T!

"Need a lift, bud?" Zess asks as she makes some room on the boat for Torte. Torte jumps into the boat, and they both sail away.

END FLASHBACK

"Ever since zhat day, moi has been working for Zess T. She has told moi zhat she would help find the Big Blue if I helped work on her ship. I don't vant to stay, but if moi is to make those dreams come true, moi will have to," Torte finishes. He then looks back at Lemmy, expecting a response, only to see him half-asleep on the ground.

"Man, those flashbacks are tiring," Lemmy comments as he gets back up.  "Don't worry, I heard everything. And if you really think you'll actually make some kind of accomplishment by doing this, then I'm not even going to try and argue with you."

Lemmy, disappointed that he didn't get a chef on his crew, decides to walk back to the main floor. However, as soon as he gets there, the door is slammed open and the figure of a giant Clubba can be seen!

"Feed... me..." Grubba, not in Macho form, stammers before collapsing on the ground.

Have a Scribble of your own? Email me!
Go back to Lemmy's Scribbles.
Go back to my main page.