Chapter 3: Introducing Nana, the cook

The island Kandaina was a peaceful place, which made a great place for retirement, but it was also rather a dull place. Nothing interesting ever happens at Kandaina island. It was a small island with even small papulation. Young people of Kandania island often left when they came of age as the island lacked opportunities for a new generation. Nana Hellion was one of the ones who stayed behind. At fifty-five she was too old to follow the youngsters; however, she still has enough varsity to take on any challenge. Nana was the current owner of the town's inn. Her husband died a few years ago and it all her. Ideally, she would have her child help her out, however like many children of Kandania, he left to pursue his ambitions in the big cities. Nana couldn't blame him for that. Her son was a scholar at heart and Kandania didn't even have a decent library.

Alone Nana took on the job of the inn hostess with a gusto that she had in her younger years. Alone she took on the drinking hooligans who dared dine and dash. Alone she took care of all the island visitor and alone she stood in sombre nights drinking and thinking of dreams long forgotten.

" Hi, Granny, Got a room for three?" A young girl voice broke the old women's sombre mood.

" Who are you calling a granny, captain? I only see a beautiful woman." A well-dressed boy interrupted her

" Knock it off you too." A bulky born man with an unsettling face reprimanded the two teen. " Sorry about these two. " Do you have two rooms? A double and a single?"

" Wait why two? Can't we just get one big one." The girl exclaimed and Nana was able to take a closer look at her customers.

" No, You are women right now. I can't possibly have your rooming with strange men" The man responded.

" Jadu? But Jadu isn't a stranger." She gestured at the boy with confusion. The one called Jadu had a smug look on his face.

The man sighed. " fine…I guess it would be better to get one room. however, once our crew is bigger. We are going to separate to girls and boys rooms"

Before the conversation could go on, Nana interrupted them. " A crew? You three are a pirate crew?" They certainly didn't strike her as a marine one.

"What No." " Yes." " Don't know" Each one of them gives a different answer.

" Akura … what do you mean by I don't know? We aren't pirates." Leon asked with an irritated voice.

"…. I don't… I was thinking being pirates sounded cooler than just a sailing crew…Oh, we should get a name." Akura line of thought certainly went on a tangent.

" See Akura definably has the protentional to be a fearsome pirate captain," Jadu remarked with a shit-eating grin.

" Oh, so you are the one who got the pirate idea into her head." Before an argument could break out Nana stepped in with a frying pan and delivered a solid love hit on their heads.

" Ouch." "that hurt " " Goddammit women"

"Simmer down you three." These kids needed to learn some manners. " room number 5. Second floor on the left." She handed Leon the room keys.

"…. Thanks…sorry." Leon couldn't help but feel like a child under her gaze. It has been a decade since someone chastised him. He can't say he missed it.

" it is fine. You can call me Nana-san. Dinner is at sunset." What a rowdy bunch.

The trio gave life into her usually quiet inn. On normal occasions, she would kick out such noisy customers, however, they reminded her so much of her kids and for a while, she wanted to relive such memories. The inn used to quite a noise with youngsters in the past and she felt nostalgic. In a few days Nana found herself being drawn to the kids' own pace.

" Oi, Nana-chan join my crew." An overly chipper Akura asked or more likely demanded one evening.

The sudden question took the old women off guard. " You want me to be a pirate?" Nana sighed. What prompted to ask such a ludicrous thing? It was one thing to ask a regular person to join a crew, but to ask a middle-aged woman like her to do such a dangerous thing how ridiculous?!

" We aren't pirate…..we don't even have a jolly roger…" Akura just wanted to have an adventure and roam the world freely and if that made her a pirate then she was one. " Anyway our ship needs a cook or would suffer eating Leon's bland food?!" She dramatically explained. Having lived on Leon's cooking, she only realized food could taste so good done be a proper chief. Nana's meal was special and felt like an entire adventure of its own and she greedily wanted more. To taste, to see, to feel all things this world had to offer that was her dream.

Akura's excitement was contagious and lit up something inside the old cook. In the island Kandaina nothing new ever happens, but sailing these dangerous seas she would get outside her monotonous in that island. It is a new thing every day and never a dull moment at the wide-open sea.

" Oh, so you only want this old hag for her cooking skills." Nana wasn't much of a sailor or a fighter, she wouldn't be of much use to a future "pirate" crew. " wouldn't a younger sea cook be more useful? "

" No, I like Nana and I want no one else," Akura responded with an unsatisfied pout. Her response was childish and certainly wasn't the best, however it warmed the old women's, lonely heart.

" I guess you got yourself a chef, kid…. You children need someone to keep in line." Nana remarked with an amused smirk.

Akura's crewmates were on the fence about their new crew member. Leon didn't think it was safe for an old woman to accompany them and Jadu didn't want Nana to join. Her personality spilt strict mother figure and he can't tell with these type of women. However, arguing with Akura's decision was an exercise in futility. She was stubborn as mule once she decided on something.

" What a sea that goes around the entire world?!" Akura shouted in surprise.

" Yeah, it is called the Grand line. It is like a giant belt around the globe. It is the most dangerous sea out there." Jadu proudly replied. As the ship's navigator, the thief wanted to flaunt his knowledge of the world. Leon had a general idea while Nana knew the basics so Jadu was surprisingly the most educated among his crewmates. Akura -of course- knew nothing. According to Leon, the teen had the attention span of a child and could barely retain any information.

"There is also the red line is a continent that stretches across the entire globe like this." Jadu roughly sketched a world map. "the grandline and red line interest in two points. One point is reverse mountain the only known entrance to the Grandline and the other is… the location of Fishman island, THE HOME OF MERMAIDS." Jadu couldn't keep the excitement out of his voice. It was everyman's dream to see a beautiful mermaid. It was the ultimate dream of romance.

He was snapped out of his licentious thoughts by a poke in his side. " OI, what is a mermaid?" She repeated in annoyance.

" A half fish half women with captivating beauty," Jadu responded with a lustful smile.

" Isn't just your assumption?" Leon remarked. The appearance of merfolk or Fishman was rare in the blues. A man can go his whole life never knowing about their existence. Jadu's home island was a famous port in south blue so among the crew he knew more about the world outside the South blue.

" For all, you know that mermaid of yours could look like a Dugong." Leon only heard of mermaids as a folktale. Most sailors who claimed to see mermaid usually mistake a Dugong for that mythical creature of legend. " Don't get hang up on children's stories."

" How could you?!" Jadu passionately exclaimed. " You have a definite proof right in your face." He placed his hands on Akura's shoulders' " A heavenly angel is with you and you dare question the existence of mermaids." That ugly follow had a nonhuman woman in his presence for years. He had no right to question other species existences.

Leon sighed in annoyance. " That angel crap again." Akura did have a few extra bandages but other than that she looked completely. He always thought she could pass a human easier than he could. The two of them entered along with argument about their captain's origin and other species that inhabited that world

" honestly, little Aku, look more like a devil than an angel." Nana interrupted the two idiots' silly argument. " But that doesn't matter, right, Aku-chan?" Their captain ever laughing captain looked beefed. Ever the optimist, Akura never really upset much, however when Jadu calling her a nonhuman and implying she was other hurt her. Back at Chickano, she and Leon were the others and she secretly hated that. The last thing she wanted to be others in her crew. The two men seeing their captain's crestfallen expression they attempted to cheer her up in their way.

Jadu was quick to act. Ever the womanizer, he was used to comfort women. " No, my angel. I never want to upset you." He attempted to pat her back but only serve to draw attention to her prominent nonhuman feature and souring her mood even further. In his panic, her stupidly blurted an unwanted compliment. "Your wings are beautiful of course. I never have seen such dazzling red in my life." His usual flirting wasn't making the situation any better.

" Oh shut up" Leon finally rescued him from digging himself any further. " Akura. You look like the bloody devil especially when you go hunting…. I remember the first time you caught the wild bison you scared me shittles with that demonic appearance of yours. God, I remember those bloody claws of yours. Your baby horns were even more terrifying in the dark forest. You are certainly not human and that is just fine, isn't it?" His messy speech sound more like runt than an attempt to comfort someone, however, it certainly did the trick. A wild girl-like her wasn't used to pretty words that Jadu splutter. Leon brutal honest words sunk in more than Jadu's pointless compliments.

Akura giggled. " And you are an ugly ogre. Are you even human?"

" Oh, you are calling ogre. You crippled demonic fairy." Leon harshly responded.

" Who are you calling crippled? You shitty carpenter."

" SHITTY CARPENTER?! I MADE THE SHIP OF YOURS."

" Oh, that nameless ship."

" Yeah right nameless because it's dumb captain didn't give it one."

" oh, we should give it a name." Completely forgotten their earlier insults. " Red ship?" The ship was made with reddish wood and red was always her favourite colour.

" That is a bit plain, captain," Jadu interjected. The bandit was slightly irked that Leon was able to cheer his captain while he couldn't. He took pride in his ability to cheer up women so it was a blow to his ego.

" Red force?" She was still hung on the colour.

" Sound stupid." He certainly didn't want to be associated with a colour.

" Crimson wings?"

" Seriously, captain. Enough with colour naming." The red in her feathers were pretty but aren't the defining feature.

" Hellfire," Nana suggested.

" Hellfire? Why?" Akura dumbly asked.

" I think it would suit our theme quite well. A red fiery hell with a devil as a captain and a bunch of troublemakers as crewmates. I got a hunch, Aku-chan. that name would suit our ship quite well." Nana answered with a knowing smile. This odd captain of there had a rather troublesome talent to attract others and considering the type of person she is. She is bound to attract more trouble to their crew and honestly, Nana couldn't wait to experience some excitement.

The old women wish came true a few weeks into sailing in the south blue. A pirate crew attacked them. Without a proper flag, the pirate assumed they would be easy picking but they were gravely mistaken. Leon with his missive built was up to quickly disposed of most the pirate crew. Jadu robbed them blind in a matter of a moment and their captain played hid and seek with pirates. Well, it was more hid or get hit in Nana's opinion. The old women didn't have to lift a finger during the commotion the three youngsters quickly took care of the rowdy pirates.

That incident was only the start of their journey. The following three years the small crew of four explore the majority of the south blue. They recruited new members to their crew, but none of them stayed long. The Hellfire ship might have its name however the crew had yet to decide their own identity. Where they pirate? An aimless crew sailing the sea? They didn't even have a proper flag. It was no wonder no one wanted to prolong their stay of a ship with unknown goals. Not many people were up for adventuring without some sort of minority reward. The fact they often clashed with pirates and ( Jadu) robed them made them closer to a pirate than any other labelling. It didn't help that only two forces dominated the seas, pirates and the marine. It didn't help that their captain and navigator wasn't really upstanding citizen and often clashed with the marines. So naturally, Jadu and Akura were on board of making a jolly roger and officially becoming a pirate crew while Nana and Leon were against them. Only after a certain event that their crew started taking shape and their existence became known for better or worse. If you asked Akura about that event she would jokingly tell you it was the start of an epic romance between beauty and beast. It was the true beginning of the sea devils and the horror they unleashed on those who ruled the world. For a Devil is truly their worse nightmare.

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