Joey smiled, watching the sun dip below the horizon. The ocean breeze was blowing behind him, and the orange light danced across the water, creating a dazzling spectacle. Such a beautiful view did not go unnoticed by the sixteen-year-old pokémon trainer- it meant that his shift was finally over.

  He had been surfing across Olivine Bay for most of the afternoon, riding a Mantine that he had rented. It was an exhilarating experience, though Joey wasn't skilled enough to fully control the kite pokémon- instead, he just rode the waves wherever they took him.

  As he approached a Corsola reef, Joey pulled out a scanning device that Professor Elm had given to him. He was hunting for a strange phenomenon called a space-time distortion- they had been showing up rather frequently in areas close to Sinnoh recently. Not much was known about them, except that they were very dangerous- they bridged gaps between time and dimensions, like a tear in the multiverse, and anyone who entered one disappeared forever. They were, as far as anyone could tell, a one-way deal, so most people stayed far away from them.

  The device that he was holding detected the high energy output of the distortions, allowing him to track them down. Under Elm's orders, he had been working alongside his childhood friend Ethan to locate space-time distortions and set up warnings for those dumb enough to stray too close. He found the job to be a bit boring, especially when he didn't see anything, but at least it paid well; now that he was done with the gym circuit, he couldn't rely on battle winnings as income anymore.

  He was broken out of his thoughts when a particularly turbulent tide threatened to capsize him. He shifted his balance to make sure he wasn't thrown off his mount, as the wave sent him hurtling towards a large rock. While he was fairly confident the Mantine could keep him out of harm's way, there was no guarantee that his Raticate's pokéball, which was attached to the saddle, would survive the impact.

  Bracing himself for the impending collision, he was rather surprised when he didn't even come close to the rock- though the situation he was now in was arguably worse. Joey wasn't really one for bold assumptions, but the deep, black space he was in screamed 'inside of a wormhole' to him.

  'Damn it,' he thought to himself. 'I passed right over it.'

  Then the gravity of the situation began to sink in, sending him into a panic attack. This didn't last long, however, as he felt the air around him shift, and color flow back into the world- then, with a 'pop', and a short fall, he found himself surrounded by a blue expanse, which seemed to him much more like the middle of an ocean than the coastal area he was in before.

  After giving himself a moment to get his bearings, he attempted to find purchase on the Mantine he had been riding. This, however, turned out to be a fruitless endeavor, as the spooked pokémon swam away before he could climb aboard. He desperately tried to stay afloat, looking for dry land of some sort, but he was already exhausted after spending five hours surfing. Once again, his mind was in disarray, as he desperately searched for a way to survive.

  Then, in an amazing stroke of luck, Joey spotted a ship, though it was still too far away for him to make out. Deciding he had nothing to lose, he tried flailing his arms around, attempting to get its attention- after about a minute, though he began to sink, unable to muster up the energy to keep himself afloat. The world around him faded into nothingness, and the briny blue waters washed over his limp body.

  'What a way to die,' he thought, as he fell unconscious.

  Joey opened his eyes, sitting up slowly.

  'Huh…?'

  He looked around in confusion, checking out the room he was in. The walls were made of red brick, and he was sitting on a white cot. A pile of junk was shoved to one corner, but aside from that, it was pretty bare, spare a map on the wall that looked vaguely familiar. As he began to wonder where he could possibly be, he suddenly felt the entire room lurch forwards.

  "What the- ah- hell?" Joey said, confused, and a little queasy. Still recovering from the abrupt movement, he was even more shocked to see a man in a black suit walk through the door. A man he instantly recognized.

  "Oh. You're awake, huh?"

  'Black Leg' Sanji, chef (or future chef? He wasn't sure) for the Straw Hat Pirates, was standing in the same room as him.

  Joey was always a devout reader of manga, consistently buying the latest issues of his favorite stories from a small shop in New Bark Town as soon as they came out. He was, in particular, an enthusiast of shōnen, a genre that was mostly comprised of action and superhero adventures. The stories appealed to him because the people in them didn't rely on pokémon; humans themselves were able to take the spotlight, and perform their own amazing feats. It was part of the reason he had asked the Kimono Girls in Ecruteak City to teach him aura powers- he wanted to do cool things himself.

  And thus, he had kept a shelf in his room solely for all the manga he had collected over the years, including all sixty-eight tankōbon volumes of One Piece. So now, face to face with a character right out of one of his favorite comics, Joey was more stunned than anything.

  "Y-you're-"

  "Sanji," the man responded. "I'm the sous chef in this damn restaurant."

  "Restaurant? But didn't it just-"

  "Yeah, that was a pretty big wave. We're going through a rough patch right now," Sanji responded, pausing to puff on his cigarette. "It normally isn't this bad."

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  "Then how…?" Of course, Joey knew the reason why, but he had a feeling he would have to play dumb here. Telling everyone that he fell through a space-time distortion and had come from another universe was bound to get him an instant ticket to the loony bin.

  "It's a seafaring restaurant," Sanju explained, as he checked Joey over for injuries. "It floats on the water."

  Unable to think any other response to this, Joey simply said, "Huh."

  "Alright, I'm no doctor, but you seem fine to me. That means you'll start on cleaning duty tomorrow."

  "Cleaning duty?" Joey asked, confused.

  "We saved your life. The old geezer says you owe us this much," the chef responded, "and really, we need more hands on deck. All the damn waiters have been running off."

  Joey huffed a little, still a bit overwhelmed by... everything, really, but he nodded slowly. "I guess it makes sense," he said, "I'd just pay it off, but I don't think I have any poké on me. Being out in the middle of the ocean, and all."

  "Poké?" Sanji asked. "You can't pay me back with raw tuna, idiot."

  "I- uh-" Joey stammered, his mind once again racing at a million miles an hour. "Sorry, I was thinking of something else. My head still feels a bit fuzzy."

  The man nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense. Get some rest then. Oh, and by the way…" he asked, "What was your name?"

  "Joey."

  "See you in the morning then, Joey. Don't worry- we'll set aside some food for you."

  And with that, Sanji left the room, leaving the bewildered trainer behind.

  'Not only am I in One Piece, then,' he pondered, 'but a different version of One Piece. I definitely remember them using poké as currency in the story I read.'

  He quietly mulled over this for a few minutes, trying to figure out what was going on, but eventually gave up. He shook his head in confusion, then rested his head on the pillow, promptly falling back asleep.

  "All right, rise and shine, maggots! Head chef wants you all downstairs and ready to go in twenty minutes! Get a move on!"

  'What time is it?' Joey thought, opening his eyes blearily. It took him a few seconds to remember the events of the past couple of days, but once he did, he immediately snapped awake, and struggled to get out of his cot.

  It took him a couple of minutes to adjust to walking again, since he had spent at least a day or two bedridden, though slowly but surely, he made his way to a nearby table that his (thankfully dry) clothes were lying on. As he slipped on his plain purple t-shirt, black shorts, and baseball cap, he looked up at the map on the wall.

  'Four oceans, big slab of land running down the middle, Grand Line… yup, everything checks out. It's not very detailed, though…' Joey contemplated, studying it.

  Once he was fully clothed, he walked in front of the thick wooden door, taking a deep breath. 'This is really happening, huh?' he thought, opening it and stepping out.

  He emerged into a corridor filled with people, mostly in cook's uniforms, milling about. A couple of windows were built into the side, allowing Joey to finally take a look outside- though, rather unsurprisingly, all he could see was ocean, stretching past the horizon. As he was straining to get a look at anything other than the stunningly crystal-clear water, one of the cooks walked up to him.

  "Hey kid, you might wanna stop gawking at the view. Zeff'll have your head if you're not down on time."

  "R-right!" Joey responded, pulling himself away from the porthole and heading down the stairs. After a bit of wandering, he finally found the mess hall, where people were spooning oatmeal from a large vat into bowls. He walked over to it, taking one for himself, along with an orange drink that looked like sitrus juice.

  He was heading over to a table when a thought occurred to him- doubling back, he scanned the area outside the kitchen until he found what he was looking for; a menu. He took one back to the table, and began to read it as he ate his breakfast. It helped a little, though it mostly just served to make him more confused. He knew that, unlike his own world, capturing technology didn't exist in One Piece, so pokémon weren't as domesticated, and hunting them for food was much less morally questionable- that explained the low prices for meat… though he had no idea what a cow was, and why steak was made from that instead of Miltank.

  After a little while spent puzzling other this, he decided that it would be easier for him to look at physical examples once he got to work near the kitchen. Taking a deep breath, he set the menu to one side, and focused on his food.

  A few minutes later, Chef Zeff, the big man himself, entered the room. Joey was somewhat surprised to see that his chef hat was just as tall as it was in the manga- how on earth did it not fall off?

  "Alright, listen up!" the head chef said, his voice resonating throughout the room. Everyone immediately stopped talking, turning to him. "We'll open for business in thirty minutes, so be ready! Start making preparations for the breakfast crowd, and get a move on!"

  Almost immediately, people began getting up, heading towards the kitchen to begin the day's work. Meanwhile, Chef Zeff walked over to Joey, and looked down at him impassively. The latter was more than intimidated by the man, but he tried his best to keep a straight face.

  "You there! You're the kid we fished up the other day, right? What were you doing out in the middle of the ocean?"

  Joey's mind rushed as he looked for a good excuse, settling on a simple (and hopefully believable) lie that drew inspiration from a particular scene in the manga. "W-well, sir," he said, steeling his nerves, "I was out sailing, when this girl showed up. She told me some sort of lie about being lost and then, when I went to help her, she stole my ship and sailed off with it before I could do anything! I was left stranded at sea."

  'Thank you, quick thinking skills. And Nami.'

  "Hrmph," Zeff grunted, accepting his explanation. "You know how to use a mop and a broom, boy?"

  Joey nodded.

  "Then go down to the broom closet and grab some cleaning supplies. Go polish up the dining room before we start letting in customers."

  Following Zeff's orders, Joey ran down a nearby hallway and grabbed a mop and bucket of water, wheeling it over to a spacious dining area. The chairs and tables were all pushed off to the side, thankfully, which made his task much easier.

  He sighed, plunging his mop into the soapy liquid. 'From one job to another, huh,' he thought, letting out a dry chuckle.

  This was how Joey began his brief stint working aboard the floating restaurant Baratie.