Pirates: How Many Divisions Do the Five Elders Have? The Curly-Browed Chef

Smoker nodded, his expression somewhat grave.

He seemed to have made a mistake.

Would a man who casually gave away medicine worth two million Beli care about a so-called hush payment of one million Beli?

"Wait, Ma Qiao?"

Smoker suddenly realized that the name sounded familiar.

He rummaged around in the pocket of his biker jacket and pulled out a crumpled letter.

It was a letter that Smoker's old friend, Major Kuppas, the previous commander of Loguetown, had sent by News Coo not long ago.

Besides giving him further details about some of Loguetown's day-to-day affairs, Major Kuppas had also mentioned some interesting things he had encountered recently.

"An ace lecturer who understands human nature... So it was him!"

Smoker pinched the bridge of his nose and could not help murmuring:

"So he only wanted to give me the medicine this way while keeping me from feeling guilty?

"As expected of an ace lecturer who understands human nature!

"No wonder he was able to get a special allowance from Marineford.

"But I misjudged him!

"I wrongly thought he was a money-grubbing miser!

"I misunderstood his benevolent heart!"

Brrr~ Brrr~ Brrr~

Just then, the Den Den Mushi tucked inside Smoker's jacket suddenly rang.

"That's right! There's the Den Den Mushi too!

"One Den Den Mushi costs at least 200,000 Beli on the market!

"I was the one who attacked him first without knowing the facts!

"That idiot...

"He... he... he's just too kind..."

For once, Smoker, a grown man, actually felt his eyes redden a little.

But his pride as a man made him immediately bring his expression under control.

"Remember!"

Smoker said earnestly to Tashigi, "Don't bring this up in front of Mr. Ma Qiao. This is the romance between men, so don't say anything unnecessary!"

Meanwhile, the Den Den Mushi with a penguin painted on it was still going "brrr, brrr."

Smoker answered the call, only to hear lively singing, clinking glasses, and cheers coming from the other end.

Old rascal Garp's booming voice followed. "Hey! Smoker, the banquet's already started! If you don't come out soon, the scarf brat and I are going to eat all the meat!"

Smoker stared blankly for two seconds, then smiled.

But he kept his usual stern tone and shouted into the Den Den Mushi:

"Vice Admiral Garp! Is this the time to be holding a banquet? We're hunting Ace! Ace! You really have no sense of priorities... Anyway, please make sure you save plenty of meat for me!"

With that, Smoker hung up and said to Tashigi, "What are you standing around for? We're going to the banquet!"

Tashigi followed her superior in a daze. She hesitated, but in the end, she did not say, "Is there a chance that Ma Qiao-san simply didn't know the market price of that rare healing medicine, and that's why he gave it away so casually?"

I must be imagining things again... Tashigi thought.

"Oh, right."

Smoker suddenly stopped and tossed the Den Den Mushi to Tashigi. "You can look after this for now. It seems to be a multifunctional Visual Den Den Mushi. You can figure out how to use it when you have time."

"Yes, sir!"

Tashigi straightened her legs, saluted, and solemnly tucked the Den Den Mushi into the small pouch at her waist.

A short while earlier.

The sea restaurant Baratie.

This restaurant, staffed by retired pirates, attracted countless diners every day with its excellent, reasonably priced food.

Although the cooks at the restaurant had all been pirates, they were very gentle with paying customers.

But anyone who wanted to dine and dash or cause trouble had better consider what they were capable of.

Patty the chef (pictured) tossed another man, beaten until his face looked like a pig's head, out of the restaurant.

There really were more and more people trying to dine and dash lately.

Patty spat outside the door, but when he turned to face the other, frightened customers, he immediately put on a warmly welcoming smile.

"Welcome! Right this way, gentlemen! No penniless deadbeats allowed!"

Patty greeted the guests enthusiastically, with no trace of the ferocity he had shown moments before.

After seeing to a group of guests, Patty wiped the sweat from his brow.

He suddenly spotted a young blond chef with curly eyebrows carrying a large platter of food made from leftovers and strolling leisurely toward the back door.

"Hey, Sanji! You're doing something pointless again, aren't you?"

Patty grabbed Curly Brows by the collar and said angrily, "You were the one who let that pauper in the other day, the one who only drank a glass of lemonade, weren't you? If this keeps up, when will we ever be able to add an underwater café to the Baratie?"

The young man called Sanji wasted no words. He drove Patty back with a handstand kick, while the platter in his hand remained perfectly steady.

Sanji shook his head. "That person was clearly hungry, but he refused to eat anything. I didn't know what to do about him either!"

"Is that what I'm talking about? I'm saying that pauper took up a seat for nothing!"

Patty wanted to keep shouting, but Sanji was already gone.

On the rear deck of the Baratie's fish-shaped restaurant.

"Hey~ Food's ready~"

Sanji shouted out toward the sea.

Several elderly fishermen hurried over in their fishing boats.

Years of exposure to wind and sun had left the old men's skin unusually dark and rough.

They were fishermen under the rule of the Krieg Pirates, the largest pirate crew in the East Blue.

Unlike ordinary pirate crews that roamed from place to place to commit their crimes, the Krieg Pirates were different.

They had moved beyond the primitive form of roving bandits and evolved into the more advanced form of settled bandits.

Rather than a pirate crew, it was more accurate to call them a lawless kingdom with 5,000 full-time fighting men and 50 warships, occupying dozens of islands and enslaving more than a hundred thousand people.

In that kingdom, ordinary people with no fighting ability had to work like livestock to provide for the pirates' food, drink, other needs, and equipment losses.

The fishermen, for example, had to fish day and night without rest.

Sanji did not care about any of that.

All he cared about was that these old men in front of him were hungry.

He stubbed out the cigarette in his hand, set the platter of mixed leftovers on the dock, and turned to leave.

"This is so delicious!"

"Nom, nom... We've got to eat fast, or Lord Gangplank will get angry if we don't meet our fishing quota!"

"Lord Gangplank isn't so bad. With other pirates, if you don't meet your quota, they'll beat you to death!"

"Water, water! Old Sani, give me some water, quick! I'm choking!"

"Your cooking really is delicious, young chef!"

The old fishermen wolfed down the platter of mixed leftovers.

The ingredients were simple and not even particularly fresh anymore, but in the young chef's hands, they had all been transformed into delicacies, as if by magic.

"Young chef, please wait!"

Suddenly, an old fisherman called out to Sanji. "I know you don't need our thanks, young chef, but after eating your cooking for free so many times, please at least accept this!"

"Hm?"

Sanji turned around in puzzlement.

The old fisherman pulled a sopping wet Den Den Mushi out of his pocket.