"Chan'er, your noodles are ready!" Gustave announced, carrying over a steaming bowl prepared with extra care for their youngest resident.
"Thank you, Brother Gustave!" Yang Chan accepted the bowl with delighted gratitude, immediately settling down to attack her meal with the focused enthusiasm only children could muster.
"Gustave, where's mine?" Tu Shanyan looked around expectantly, searching for her promised bowl.
"In the kitchen. Help yourself," Gustave replied with deliberate indifference.
"You!" Tu Shanyan pointed an accusatory finger at him, her mouth opening and closing as she searched for an appropriate curse that wouldn't scandalize Yang Chan.
"Hmph!" She settled for an indignant foot-stomp before marching toward the kitchen with wounded dignity.
"Little schemer, I can handle you just fine," Gustave muttered with satisfaction, watching her dramatic exit. Did she really think he was oblivious to her transparent attempts at manipulation through Yang Chan?
"Don't mind the fox," he said, turning back to his other guests with a completely transformed expression. "She's just bored and looking for entertainment."
Before Fahai or Ning Caichen could respond, Shanks' voice carried across the water from the Red Force.
"Hey Gustave! Got anything to eat over there?"
Gustave felt his eye twitch as he realized the wake-up pattern was beginning. One by one, his friends would emerge from their quarters demanding breakfast, forcing him to make repeated trips to the kitchen.
"No!" he called back firmly.
"But I can already see noodles floating in your bowl!" Shanks protested, his exceptional eyesight easily spotting the leftover strands in Gustave's partially finished meal.
"If you want food, get over here yourself," Gustave shouted back with exasperated authority. "And wake up everyone on your ship! I'm not making individual meals all morning!"
He turned to his current guests with an apologetic shrug. "You two can rest here while I handle this situation. I need to wake up the others before they stagger down one by one demanding individual service."
"Of course, Benefactor Gustave," Fahai replied with understanding. "Please attend to your duties."
Rather than climb the stairs step by step like an ordinary person, Gustave simply transformed into crackling electricity and vanished in a flash of lightning.
"Brother Gustave is actually the Thunder God!" Ning Caichen pointed at the empty space with wide-eyed amazement, his voice cracking with shock.
"Brother Ning, Benefactor Gustave isn't a deity," Fahai corrected gently. "He practices thunder cultivation techniques. However, the ability to transform his physical body into pure lightning indicates extremely advanced mastery. Based on the spiritual energy he just revealed, his cultivation level approaches true immortality."
The monk's tone carried genuine respect for such achievement.
"Immortal cultivation?" The concept felt impossibly distant to Ning Caichen—the stuff of ancient legends rather than observable reality.
Gustave systematically roused every sleeping crew member, including Chu Zihang, whose usually disciplined schedule had succumbed to the previous night's extended celebration. The only person he didn't disturb was the Moral Lord, who'd apparently risen even earlier to resume his gaming activities.
By the time Gustave returned to the main deck, he discovered Shanks had already crossed over to the Bamboo Staff and was engaged in animated conversation with Fahai and Ning Caichen. Their expressions suggested the discussion was proceeding quite amicably.
Soon Po and the habitually lazy Red Hair Pirates assembled for their combined breakfast-lunch meal. Gustave prepared noodles for the entire group, accepting his fate as provider for an ever-growing family of demanding guests.
An amusing incident occurred during the meal when the Moral Lord descended for his own food. Fahai immediately dropped to his knees in full prostration—a gesture of such profound respect that it visibly uncomfortable the ancient sage. While everyone aboard the Bamboo Staff showed appropriate deference, few had ever performed such elaborate ceremonial acknowledgment.
After the meal concluded, Shanks approached Gustave with obvious curiosity.
"Where exactly did today's new guests come from?" he asked quietly. "I've sailed extensively throughout the sea, but I've never encountered their style of dress or manner of speech."
"What if I told you they came from another world entirely?" Gustave replied with a mischievous smile. "Would you believe me?"
"Another world? Absolutely," Shanks answered without hesitation.
"You really believe it?" Gustave blinked in surprise at the immediate acceptance.
"I trust my instincts completely," Shanks confirmed with solemn conviction. "My Observation Haki has developed enough to occasionally glimpse future possibilities. Everything about those two feels fundamentally different from our reality."
"Congratulations on your accurate intuition. Follow me."
Gustave led Shanks to the third floor and the Gate of All Worlds.
"This is called the Gate of All Worlds," he explained, gesturing toward the dimensional portal. "It connects different realities across the multiverse. Fahai and Ning Caichen arrived through it this morning. Chu Zihang, Tu Shanyan, even Chan'er—they're all from other worlds."
"What about the old saint?" Shanks asked thoughtfully.
"Master is different. He forced his way through the Gate using raw power rather than being invited."
"That explains how someone who appears completely ordinary can reduce all of us to normal human levels with a casual gesture," Shanks observed. "You're incredibly fortunate to be accepted as a disciple by someone of his caliber."
His voice carried a note of genuine envy.
"Don't get jealous now," Gustave replied with an eye roll.
"Why are you showing me your greatest secret?" Shanks asked after a moment. "Aren't you concerned I might cause problems or spread the information?"
"Worried about you harming me or revealing this?" Gustave laughed with complete confidence. "Even setting aside my master's protection, if Marine or World Government showed up right now, they'd flee in terror after facing Po and me working together."
Such was the assurance that came with true strength. While Gustave had once been cautious about potential threats, his current power level meant virtually nothing in the One Piece world could genuinely concern him anymore.
Shanks stared at his friend's supremely confident expression with mixed admiration and irritation.
"You insufferable show-off," he muttered, though without real malice.
Stay calm, Shanks. Your time will come.
"Besides myself, who else knows about the Gate's existence?" he asked. "I mean from our world specifically."
"Luffy, Ace, Kizaru, and Makino," Gustave listed casually.
"You told Kizaru?!" Shanks looked genuinely shocked. "You revealed the Gate's existence to a Marine Admiral?"
"Not only does Kizaru know about it, he's actually traveled to other worlds himself," Gustave added with amusement.
Speaking of the Admiral triggered a realization—Kizaru hadn't visited for freeloading meals since his trip to the Shin-chan world. Had the notorious moocher actually developed self-restraint?
At Marine Headquarters, Kizaru suddenly sneezed while lounging in his office.
"Someone's talking about me," he mused, then immediately thought of a certain interdimensional restaurant he'd been avoiding.
"Better not think about that troublesome place," he decided with characteristic laziness. "Cross-world complications are such a bother."
His absence from the Bamboo Staff stemmed from pure self-preservation—Admiral or not, he preferred avoiding potential incidents.
"Kizaru has actually visited other worlds?" Shanks demanded with rising indignation. "Gustave, you're being completely unfair! I helped you deal with all that trouble from the Beast Pirates..."
"Enough complaining," Gustave interrupted with a grin. "You want to see other worlds? There happens to be a perfect opportunity available."
Just as they'd been finishing their meal, Ning Caichen had approached with a request—he wanted to return to his home dimension. Despite the Bamboo Staff's obvious comforts, his empty wallet made extended stays impossible.