Inside Baratie!
The violin played a melodious tune, and customers raised their glasses, enjoying themselves immensely.
Rumble!
Suddenly, a loud rumble came from outside.
Immediately after, the entire Baratie began to shake violently.
"Ah?!"
"What happened?"
"Is it an earthquake?"
The restaurant immediately fell into a panic, and customers discussed ceaselessly.
At this moment, a man in a suit with blond hair and curly eyebrows was serving food to guests. Hearing the commotion, he couldn't help but feel secretly alarmed and asked in confusion.
"Was that… a cannonball just now? That's too exaggerated!"
"Hey! Sanji, go check it out. Don't let those scoundrels cause trouble near my restaurant."
Just then, an old man with a braided beard suddenly poked his head out of the kitchen doorway and roared at Sanji.
Sanji put down the tray, opened the restaurant door, and walked out.
At that moment, he happened to see a pirate ship with a goat-headed bow docked near their restaurant.
Then, the next moment, a man wearing a Straw Hat suddenly stretched his arm and sprang from the ship.
"A Devil Fruit?"
Sanji was stunned by this sight. A Devil Fruit user in the East Blue was truly rare.
"Was that commotion just now caused by you?"
Sanji asked the Straw Hat man who had flown to his side. In the distance, on the sea, there were still burning ship wreckage.
He truly wondered how these guys managed to cause such a huge commotion.
Luffy did not deny it and nodded.
"Yes! It was us."
Sanji didn't mind hearing this, only reminding him.
"I don't care what trouble you cause outside, but you'd best not cause trouble in this restaurant, or I won't let you off."
Luffy smiled, thinking that Sanji's feelings for this restaurant were truly deep.
He asked,
"Are you the chef of this restaurant?"
Sanji lit a cigarette, took a puff, and said,
"I'm the sous chef of this restaurant. You can just call me Sanji."
"I'm Luffy."
After introducing himself, Luffy continued,
"We're missing a chef on our ship. I'd like to invite you to join us."
Sanji looked at Luffy in confusion. Was he inviting someone so casually?
However, he still maintained his gentlemanly demeanor and politely said,
"Sorry, I'm not interested in being a pirate."
Just then, the others also landed one after another.
When Sanji saw Uta and Nami, his eyes immediately turned into hearts, and he was about to rush over.
"Ah… beautiful…"
Bang!
With one punch, Luffy knocked Sanji to the ground.
"Hiss…ah…"
Sanji painfully rubbed his left cheek, which Luffy had hit, climbed up from the ground, and roared,
"What are you doing, you bastard? Do you want to fight?"
Sanji made a stance as if he was about to fight.
"Oh? Captain, does this perverted chef want to fight? Let me do it!"
Zoro suddenly rushed forward and stood in front of Sanji.
"What did you call me, you moss-head?"
Sanji was furious, glaring angrily at Zoro.
Hearing himself called a moss-head, Zoro also became enraged and placed his hand on his sword.
"Nani?! Do you want to fight, you bastard?"
Seeing the two of them baring their teeth and refusing to back down, Luffy reached out and forcibly separated them.
These two were truly incompatible, always fighting the moment they met.
After separating the two, Luffy looked at Sanji and said seriously,
"Don't act so rude towards my crewmates like that again!"
He didn't want to see Sanji constantly leering at Uta and the others in the future. He had to cure Sanji of this habit.
At least not towards the people on his ship.
Then he looked at Zoro again.
"This guy is the chef I found. He'll be our nakama from now on."
Hearing this, Zoro immediately withdrew his hand from his sword and scoffed disdainfully at Sanji.
Sanji ignored Zoro and looked at Luffy instead.
"Hey! You, I didn't agree to join you, did I?"
Luffy smiled.
"You will join."
"I can tell your ambition isn't here at all."
"You must have some greater aspirations, right?"
Hearing this, Sanji was stunned. He didn't understand how Luffy could tell.
But he still answered truthfully,
"I have my reasons for having to stay here. You should find someone else!"
Luffy knew that Sanji was staying there because of Zeff.
Because when Sanji was very young, Zeff lost a leg to save him.
So he always wanted to repay Zeff.
And the way he chose to repay him was to stay here and protect the restaurant Zeff ran.
Luffy didn't say anything more to Sanji but led the others towards the restaurant.
"Sanji, what are some of your signature dishes here? Give us some recommendations!"
Sanji extinguished the cigarette butt in his mouth and followed Luffy inside.
...
While Sanji was introducing the dishes to everyone, Luffy went to the restaurant's kitchen alone.
To persuade Sanji, he had to start with Zeff.
Pushing open the kitchen door, Luffy immediately heard a furious roar.
"You, who let you in? Get out, this isn't a place for guests."
Patty, who looked like a Masira, yelled at Luffy, raising his thick arm, wanting to grab Luffy and throw him out.
Luffy merely waved his hand casually, and Patty's body spun uncontrollably a few times, then crashed into the nearby wall and fell to the ground.
Zeff frowned immediately when he saw this scene.
Was this Straw Hat brat here to cause trouble?
His strength seemed much greater than theirs.
Just as Zeff was wondering how to deal with this trouble, he saw Luffy apologizing to Patty.
"Sorry, Masira, I lost control of my strength for a moment."
If Patty were called Masira normally, he would have immediately gotten angry and fought the other party.
But after that brief contact, he knew he was no match for Luffy at all.
Zeff also realized then that Luffy was probably not here to cause trouble, so he asked,
"Is there something you need?"
Luffy came to Zeff's side and explained,
"It's like this, I found a good chef in your restaurant and want to invite him to become a pirate with us."
"But he said he has some reason for having to stay here, so I wanted to ask if you have any way to help."
Hearing Luffy's words, Zeff immediately guessed who Luffy was talking about.
"Are you talking about Sanji, the chef?"
Luffy nodded.
"That idiot…"
Zeff cursed inwardly.
But he maintained his stern demeanor towards Luffy.
"If you want to invite him, you should talk to him."
"We can't help much either."
Zeff, of course, hoped that Sanji would become a pirate and pursue his dream.
However, he didn't understand Luffy yet and couldn't easily hand Sanji over to them.
And Luffy could roughly guess Zeff's thoughts.
His main purpose in coming to Zeff was to tell him about this matter.
Once Zeff gradually understood what kind of group they were, he would go find Sanji.
"Then I've disturbed you."
Luffy maintained a smile and politely bid farewell.