In the restaurant, Nami was carefully browsing the menu when she felt someone suddenly pop up beside her, giving her quite a start.
"Ah! Beautiful lady, I smell the scent of love. As long as I am with you, whether I am whipped by demons or tortured in hell..."
The blond man, Sanji, covered his face. His voice was thick with emotion, trembling slightly as he spoke.
When he reached the last sentence, it was like someone who had been suppressed for a long time finally exploded with all their passion. He stood up with a surge of energy, arms spread wide and a lovestruck grin on his face.
"I have already prepared my startling resolve!!"
???
Seeing this, three question marks slowly appeared above Goku and Nami's heads.
"Who are you supposed to be?" Nami asked with a frown after coming back to her senses.
"Me? I am, of course, the knight who will stay by your side and protect you even at the cost of my life!"
Sanji swayed his body like a supple eel.
"Protect me?"
Nami's eyebrows shot up. Thinking about how they hadn't been able to find a third companion for days, she crossed her arms and a smirk played on her lips, deciding to just roll with it. "Fine. Since you want to protect me, how about you join us?"
"Join you?"
Sanji went quiet instantly. He sized up Nami and Goku for a few moments, pulled out a cigarette, placed it in his mouth, and lit it. He slowly exhaled a cloud of smoke before speaking.
"You don't look like merchants or pirates. What do you mean by joining you?"
Goku shouted before Nami could. "We're going to the Grand Line! Do you want to join us?"
He had been worried about finding a new companion for the past two days. Seeing Nami invite Sanji and Sanji seemingly interested, he excitedly extended the invitation again.
"The Grand Line?"
Sanji didn't seem to expect that answer. "Are you pirates?"
Nami shook her head quickly. "Of course not. We aren't that kind of despicable scum."
"Then why are you going to the Grand Line?" Sanji asked again, taking another puff of his cigarette.
Nami glanced at Goku before answering. "First, to help him find two people who are very important to him."
"And then, naturally, to chase our dreams! Just like our ship, the Dream Chaser!"
'Chasing dreams?' Sanji was taken aback, something crossing his mind as a dazed look appeared in his eyes.
"That's right. My dream is to draw a map of the entire world. Goku's dream is to fight strong people and become even stronger!"
For some reason, Nami had a feeling that this man—despite her first impression of him being quite frivolous—seemed more likely to join them than anyone else they had met.
'But she suddenly felt conflicted. They didn't know this man at all and couldn't trust him.'
'If he actually agreed to board their ship, would they really let him?'
'But she was the one who had just made the invitation! Backing out now would be in poor taste!'
While she was caught in her internal struggle, Sanji slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, his eyes filled with longing. "A dream... Come to think of it, I have one too."
Goku looked at him curiously. "What's your dream?"
Nami stopped worrying and looked on with curiosity, ready to hear his answer. After all, a person's dream reflected who they were to some extent.
Hearing Goku's question, Sanji broke into a pure smile, his image instantly shifting from a melancholy man back to a wide-eyed youth.
"Have you heard of All Blue? It's a legendary sea that contains every kind of fish from the East Blue, West Blue, South Blue, and North Blue. It is a paradise that all chefs dream of!"
Sanji's eyes sparkled, filled with heat, passion, and longing.
"My dream is to one day find this legendary sea! To see this paradise that every chef dreams of with my own eyes!"
Hearing his answer, Nami's mouth fell open in surprise.
Fish from all four seas at once?
Was that even possible?
For that to happen, there would have to be a place where all four oceans meet.
But almost everyone knew that the four seas were separated by the Red Line and the Grand Line, isolated from one another. How could there possibly be a sea where they all met?
She didn't really believe such an ocean existed, but she didn't speak up to argue.
Dreams were inherently difficult to achieve and were the most precious things in a person's heart.
Denying someone else's dream would be no different from denying her own.
Goku didn't think that deeply. After hearing Sanji speak passionately about his dream, he put his hands behind his head and grinned.
"I believe your dream will definitely come true. So, are you willing to join us and head to the Grand Line together?"
Having shared a dream he hadn't told anyone in a long time, Sanji smiled inwardly. 'Why did I say that out loud? Aside from the old man, who else would believe such a place actually exists?'
'They're bound to mock my dream, just like everyone else.'
He had already anticipated the next scene.
However, things developed completely outside of his expectations.
The answer he heard wasn't an argument or a denial of his dream. Instead, it was a sincere validation, expressing the belief that his dream would surely come true!
For a moment, he froze on the spot. Then, he whipped his head around to look at Goku, taking a serious look for the first time at the boy he hadn't paid much attention to until now.
"What's your name?" he asked slowly after a long pause.
"I'm Son Goku! This is Nami! What's yours?" Goku offered a bright smile.
"I'm Sanji."
"Then, Sanji, will you join us? We've been looking for a third companion for a long time," Goku said with a slight hint of frustration.
Then he brightened up again. "But now that you're here, it's great! If you join us, we can finally head to the Grand Line!"
"Mhm! Sanji, join us and become our third companion!"
Seeing Goku invite Sanji so enthusiastically, Nami cast aside her previous doubts and warmly chimed in.
It had to be said, looking at Goku's pure smile and receiving such a heartfelt invitation from a beautiful woman, Sanji's heart wavered intensely.
But in the end, he shook his head and refused them. "I'm sorry, I won't be joining you. You should find someone else."
With that, he was about to ask what they wanted to eat so he could go prepare it.
But at that moment, a gruff voice drifted down from the second floor. "I say, Sanji, this is a great opportunity. I think you should just leave this place with them. You're not needed here anymore anyway."
An old man wearing an exceptionally tall chef's hat, with two distinct braided gold moustaches and a prosthetic right leg, was standing by the second-floor railing looking down at Sanji.
And he was the owner of the Sea Restaurant Baratie—Red-Leg Zeff!
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