A day had passed since Luffy and his crew arrived at Baratie.
They were eating lunch at Baratie just like they had yesterday.
Standing beside them, Sanji poured wine into Nami's glass and spoke,
"This wine goes wonderfully with what you're having, Nami. It's on me, so please enjoy it without hesitation."
"Thanks, Sanji."
"Being called by my name is pure bliss~ I've never met a woman as beautiful as you in my life."
Before they knew it, Sanji and Nami were addressing each other by their first names, and Zoro, who was watching them, spoke up.
"Hey, cook, pour me some of that wine too."
"You'll have to pay for yours; you're not a woman, are you?"
"Playing favorites with guests, huh... Anyway, today's dishes are really delicious."
"Yesterday was good too, but today's is even better."
"I made everything myself. I paid special attention so you'd take even a single bite, Nami."
"Mmm... your skills are impressive."
Sanji, who had been smiling at Zoro's words, looked at Usopp's plate and said,
"Hey, you left some mushrooms on your plate."
"I left them. I once ate poisonous mushrooms as a kid and got poisoned, so I hate mushrooms."
"Do you think a chef would put poisonous mushrooms in his dishes? So finish them all!"
"No, I don't want to!"
"Just try them, Usopp. I'm not a big fan of mushrooms either, but they taste great in this dish."
"Ah, okay, Luffy... they are pretty good."
"From now on, don't be a picky eater, Usopp. The sea is full of surprises."
"A huge wave could wash away all your supplies, and you could starve."
"If that happens, you'll die regretting the food you refused to eat."
"You don't have to paint such a grim picture in such detail, Luffy!"
"You think things through better than that blond, right? You're Luffy, aren't you?"
"That's right, Sanji. I'm Monkey D. Luffy."
"I'm the captain of this pirate crew, and for the record, we don't pillage."
Zoro thought that Sanji's cooking was ten times better than yesterday's and that he wouldn't mind if there was no fighting, only cooking.
"We're heading to the Grand Line, but we don't have a cook."
"Would you join us as a crewmate?"
"The Grand Line?"
"Yeah, that's where we're setting off to."
"…I have to decline. There's a reason I absolutely must work here."
"Not that you want to work, but that you have to..."
Luffy raised one brow, smirked charmingly, and continued.
"Feels like your reason and your instincts are telling you different things, huh?"
"…!"
"Sometimes you've just got to listen to your instincts, you know?"
"Give it up, I'm staying right here..."
"Ooh~ You really won't budge?"
"I-I'd even do it for Nami~!"
"You sure listen to your other instincts really well."
Zoro thought, "Well, Nami is definitely on a whole other level of beauty."
Luffy looked around at the various women dining in the restaurant.
The women wearing makeup donned lavish outfits, and some were beautiful enough to be called bona fide beauties.
Yet Nami, wearing plain clothes that left her arms and shoulders bare and not wearing a scrap of makeup, looked more beautiful than any of them.
Watching Nami like that, Sanji, with hearts in his eyes, spoke,
"Ahh~ Nami, if I could be with you, I'd become a devil rather than a pirate."
"But tragically, there's a huge obstacle between us..."
"Is that obstacle me?"
Suddenly, Zeff appeared and said to Sanji,
"Old geezer..."
"Like he said, be a pirate, Sanji. You're not needed at this restaurant anymore."
"I'm the sous chef here—why am I not needed?"
"You pick fights with customers at every turn, and you flutter your nostrils at every female guest who walks in."
"On top of that, you can't even cook properly. That's why I don't need you here."
"What's wrong with my cooking!"
Sanji grabbed Zeff by the collar and shouted,
"You can dislike whatever you want, but don't you dare insult my cooking!"
"Who the hell do you think you are grabbing your chef like that!"
Thud!
Zeff grabbed Sanji's arm and neck and threw him to the floor.
Sanji lay sprawled on the floor but got up at once and continued shouting,
"No matter how many times you try to kick me out, it's useless! I'm going to be this restaurant's cook until you die!"
Sanji shouted and went up the central staircase, and as Nami watched him, she said,
"I'm sorry he got in trouble because of us."
"Me too. I'll go check on him."
"Luffy, are you going to follow?"
"He is asking to become a crewmate, so I need to show some sincerity."
Luffy said that, stood up, and started walking.
He briefly caught Zeff's eye, then passed him and climbed the stairs.
"Table Three's order is ready!"
"And what do I do about that! There are no waiters here, so take it yourself!"
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, the chefs were trimming ingredients and preparing dishes.
Luffy poked his head through the kitchen door and said to Patty, who was filleting fish,
"Hey, do you know where Sanji is?"
"On the second-floor veranda — he probably went for a smoke.... Wh-why's that scary-looking guest here...!"
Hearing Patty's words, Luffy walked out to the end of the corridor that overlooked the outside.
"A cook who smokes, huh..."
"This is where customers come to eat, but whatever. If the smell of smoke doesn't reach those eating, it's fine."
Sanji stood on the veranda, smoking, and said to Luffy,
"This restaurant is Zeff's treasure, so don't pull any nonsense here."
"That head chef is a former pirate, and the other cooks are so tough no one else would dare hire them."
"Even if a pirate eats without paying, we don't need to call the Marines — we'll beat them to a pulp and set things straight ourselves."
"Lately, customers have been coming just to watch fights. The problem is the waiters get scared and run off."
"I like tough cooks."
"You said you wanted a cook to join, right? Why don't you ask the others?"
"Why don't you just do it yourself?"
"I said no."
Sanji exhaled smoke in the opposite direction of where Luffy stood and continued,
"A guy who says he's a pirate but doesn't pillage — why do you want to go to the Grand Line?"
"Because my goal is to find the One Piece, and become the Pirate King."
"Pirate King, huh... that's a big dream."
"Hmm~ Interesting reaction."
"Usually people either look shocked or laugh — or they hold back laughter because they don't want to get punched, and it shows on their faces."
"But you're neither surprised nor holding back a laugh; you're talking like it's nothing."
"They say the Pirate King found the One Piece, so it really could exist."
"But what I want to find might not exist in this world at all."
"What's that?"
Sanji sat down on the veranda floor, stubbed out his cigarette, and said,
"Luffy... have you ever heard of the 'All Blue'?"
"Hmm..."
Luffy thought, "Actually, I know well — it's that sea Sanji wants to find."
Luffy thought, "Still, I want him to tell me himself — somehow I feel he wants to say it personally."
"I don't know much about it, so could you tell me?"
Luffy also sat on the floor and said.
Sanji met Luffy's gaze, smiled, and continued,
"The All Blue is a sea where every kind of seafood from East Blue, West Blue, North Blue, South Blue, and the Grand Line lives together."
"Think about it, Luffy. A sea stocked with every ingredient from all the world's oceans — that's paradise for a chef like me, isn't it?"
"It'd be paradise for me, too. You could eat dishes made from every seafood in the world there."
"Hahahaha! Exactly! It's everyone's paradise!"
Luffy laughed heartily and said,
"The seas are separated by the Red Line and the Calm Belt, so the All Blue isn't real and lives only in legends."
"But if there were a hole in the Red Line and another in the Calm Belt, there might be a place where they all meet."
"That could be the All Blue, don't you think?"
"Do you really think so?"
"In a world this vast, there could be at least one place like that — it's a world where the One Piece exists, after all."
After a brief silence, Sanji spoke with a gentle smile,
"It's been a long time since I've talked for so long with someone about the All Blue... huh?"
As he said that, Sanji stood up and turned to look outside.
Luffy also got up and looked out, and what he saw was a blue-hulled ship.
He looked at the ship's flag — a white field emblazoned with a blue seagull — and thought, "It's a Marine ship. I haven't seen one in a while."
As the Marine ship dropped anchor beside the Going Merry, Luffy recalled, "Some 800 years ago, twenty kings called the land on the Red Line at the transition from the Grand Line to the New World the 'Holy Land Mariejois.'"
He remembered, "From Mariejois they established an organization known as the World Government and called themselves and their descendants the world nobility, the Celestial Dragons."
He thought, "Beginning with those twenty kings, their descendants the Celestial Dragons still lead the World Government from there to this very day."
He recalled, "The World Government they built has now enrolled some 170 nations and controls most of the world."
He thought, "In a world where most people live on islands, the Marines of the World Government are the ones who protect the seas under the banner of justice with overwhelming force."
Then he noted, "It's smaller than the Going Merry. About thirty meters... a small warship, huh?"
While Luffy pondered the Marine ship, Sanji walked down the corridor and said,
"More guests have arrived, so I should get back to work."
"Feeling any better?"
"I'm feeling better, thanks to you, Sanji. Thank you."
"I'll give you and Nami each a free drink later. See you later."
Sanji went down the stairs at the end of the corridor.
When Luffy saw this, he leaned against the edge of the veranda, then lifted his head and said,
"Those guys — whether it's his old man or my grandpa — raising kids by beating the hell out of them is just insane."
Nami added, "Isn't that so?"
Zeff appeared at the end of the third-floor veranda overlooking Luffy and said,
"For brats like you and that punk, a beating is the cure."
"Long time no see, Garp's grandson."
"You remember me well. You don't seem to remember Sanji though."
"I couldn't forget."
"When I was young, I got nearly caught by your grandfather more times than I can count. And since he said I was his grandson's buddy when we came here together, I can't help but remember you too."
"I was trying not to stand out here, but you noticed right away."
"I used Observation Haki, so I could tell immediately."
"Observation Haki isn't something you simply awaken by having a good sense."
"You have to heighten every sense in your body and have the physical ability to respond accordingly to learn it."
"So you've already become strong enough to awaken Observation Haki?"
"Not to that extent. I learned it earlier than others through a kind of shortcut."
"Why'd you come here? To capture me?"
"How could I dare to capture 'Red Leg Zeff'?"
He reflected, "'Red Leg Zeff' is named for the bloodstained right leg he used against enemies."
He thought, "'The New World' — the latter half of the Grand Line — is so dangerous people say the first half was paradise."
He recalled, "Scale-defying natural disasters strike ships, and battles between pirates with bounties in the hundreds of millions take place there."
He thought, "It was that old geezer who led his crew through that New World and came back still holding that reputation."
Zeff said, "Normally, a pirate's crimes don't vanish over time; the bounties stay."
Luffy replied, "But you got amnesty because Grandpa mediated and you handed over most of your wealth to the government."
Zeff commented, "It was basically a bribe. So when I set up this restaurant with what was left, I was in debt."
Luffy noted, "Grandpa let you off because you never harmed anyone if you could help it, and you never stole food."
"If you'd been another pirate, you'd have gone straight to jail."
Zeff said, "They call it a pardon, but if the Marines really wanted, it'd be easy to grab an old man without a leg."
"So, how about it? Want to give it a try?"
"I refuse. There are so many trashy scoundrels in the world already."
"Even dealing with trash like you, Zeff, would be too much."
Zeff said, "Calling someone straight-up trash... what a rude kid."
Luffy said, "You robbed me, remember."
Zeff replied, "True enough... losing a leg is cheap for the crimes you committed."
Luffy muttered, "...I wish I'd never known."
Zeff asked, "What do you mean?"
After a brief silence, Luffy spoke,
"I'm talking about people's lives—why they committed the crime, what situation forced their hand, whether they had any other choice, and how they still managed to uphold their final line."
Luffy thought of Dadan smiling at him and continued,
"If you never knew, you wouldn't have to suffer with them or agonize over it."
Zeff said, "...Life is tough."
Zeff said, "Living thoughtlessly, without a care in the world—that's the life of the trashy pirates you're talking about."
Luffy said, "By thinking hard about life, you can live a more meaningful life."
Luffy asked, "...By the way, why do you push Sanji so hard?"
"You heard everything that happened on the second-floor landing the first day we came here, yet you beat him up."
Zeff said, "Observation Haki isn't something to be learned for eavesdropping."
Luffy said, "I'm not wrong, am I?"
Zeff said, "You saw it too—the look on his face as he talked about his dream and laughed like an idiot."
Zeff said, "He's too stubborn—only if he grows tired of me will he go search for the All Blue."
Zeff said, "He likes you that much—enough that he would give up the All Blue he wants to find."
Zeff said, "To make him lose his affection for you, you'll have to hurt him a lot."
Luffy said, "...What can you do? If that's what's best for Sanji, then so be it."
Zeff asked, "By the way, why do you want only Sanji among all the cooks to join you?"
Luffy said, "At first, I wanted him because of his cooking skills and his ability to fight."
"But I just changed my mind—I need a comrade like Sanji."
Zeff asked, "Why's that?"
Luffy said, "Because I like someone who can talk happily about his dream. My other crew members are the same way."
Zeff said, "According to what I remember of Garp, you're two years younger than Sanji, who is nineteen this year."
Zeff said, "Why would someone even younger than Sanji..."
As Zeff said this, he saw Luffy turn his head toward the outside of the veranda.
Luffy, his eyes half-lidded and empty, said,
"The boy in me who dreamed of adventure disappeared long ago."
"Ever since I learned how cruel the world is, I've been afraid to venture out."
"But I have things I need to do, so I need comrades like Sanji."
"I feel that if someone who has a dream and wants to go on an adventure is by my side, I can find the courage to venture again."
Zeff said, "...Don't talk like an old man."
Zeff said, "My dream was to find the All Blue, too—but I gave up on it."
Zeff said, "Even so, I've fulfilled a new dream—opening a restaurant in the middle of the sea and feeding the hungry."
Zeff said, "If a dream falls apart, you can fix it and dream it again; if it disappears, you can just dream a new one."
Zeff turned away from Luffy and said,
"I don't know which side you're on... but in the end you made up your mind and came to the sea."
"Isn't that right, Monkey D. Luffy?"
Right after Zeff said that and walked away from the third-floor veranda, Luffy muttered,
"Old guys who've achieved their dreams always talk big like that."
"You must have gone through a process to achieve your dream, and you've probably been hurt along the way."
"But after going through that pain, why would you hurt kids trying to make their dreams come true?"
Luffy continued, looking at the sea with sad eyes,
"Why do you want to make them hate you?"