Daily Life at Sea, Finding a Cook as a Companion.

East Blue, a certain sea area.

A sheep-headed sailboat was sailing slowly.

On the sails and the pirate flag at the top of the mast, Usopp had drawn a skull mark wearing a straw hat.

The flag of the Straw Hat Pirates had risen over this sea!

Over the course of a few days, the crew had seen all kinds of strange creatures on Rare Beast Island and forged a pirate's friendship with Gaimon, who was stuck in his box.

Interestingly, Chouchou had also gained a bunch of underlings on Rare Beast Island.

Whenever Chouchou let out a roar, the rare beasts that had been about to attack the crew immediately lay down in submission.

Everyone guessed that this ability to make the beasts submit was probably due to the bloodline pressure Chouchou exuded.

Luffy excitedly praised Chouchou for being amazing.

Zoro, meanwhile, shot a deep glance at Can Yue. Since Chouchou's change was entirely due to Can Yue's blood, just what kind of person was Can Yue?

Of course, out of trust for his crewmate, Zoro chose not to seek answers from Can Yue.

~

On the other hand, Zoro and Luffy underwent brutal, pain-resistant training every day, personally administered by Can Yue.

The purpose of this training was naturally to help the two master the technique of Armament Haki coating more quickly.

Although Luffy had barely managed to use it during his fight with Buggy, his success rate with Armament coating had remained low recently.

Forcing Armament Hardening took too long, and the area covered was too small to form an effective combat capability.

The same went for Zoro.

So, aside from targeted training in Luffy's combat techniques and Zoro's swordsmanship skills, Can Yue spent the rest of his time making the two accelerate their Armament Haki body-coating training under the fear of imminent, excruciating pain.

If a hit landed on an uncoated spot, the pain was soul-deep.

Thus, the deck was often filled with the two's cries of agony.

On the day Usopp first boarded the ship, he was so terrified by this scene that his whole body trembled, and he yelled about regretting getting on this pirate ship.

It wasn't until Usopp saw Nami also undergoing ultra-high-intensity physical training every day that he finally understood.

There was a reason the Straw Hat Pirates were so strong.

And the strongest person on the crew wasn't the captain—it was this ridiculously handsome Can Yue.

Sticking to the principle of treating everyone equally, Can Yue tailored a training plan for Usopp based on his traits.

1. Daily physical training equal to Nami's (1,000 push-ups, 1,000 sit-ups, 2,000 squats, 1,000 frog jumps).

2. Every day, he had to shoot down one bird with his slingshot on this vast sea for everyone's dinner. If he failed, he'd also receive the beating training.

However, Can Yue didn't teach Usopp Armament Haki to resist damage; instead, he required him to dodge attacks.

In the first two days of training, Usopp barely spotted a few birds, but because they were too far away, he failed to shoot them down.

The result was naturally another person on the ship howling in pain.

Nami and Chouchou, who hadn't been hit by Can Yue yet, watched this scene with schadenfreude every day.

Today, the sun was bright, the weather was fine, and the wind was fair.

The Merry was sailing across the vast, boundless sea.

Zoro was trying to cut through the metal sledgehammer he'd taken from the Black Cat Pirates. Cutting steel without using Armament Haki—this was the first stage of training Can Yue had given him.

Luffy had just finished reaction training against an opponent, which meant he could still get beaten by Can Yue even while being allowed to fight back.

At this moment, Luffy was covered in bruises, but he was still full of energy, holding a telescope and searching for birds in the sky with Usopp.

"Huh? A News Coo?"

Through the telescope, Luffy spotted a News Coo flying toward them.

Usopp was overjoyed when he heard this. Any bird would do—he didn't care what kind. This determined whether he'd get beaten tonight. He immediately asked, "Where?"

Luffy replied seriously, "Direction 19:59:59!"

"Alright, watch me... Do you even hear what you're saying?" Usopp slapped Luffy on the head.

"Calm down, calm down, deep breath. About eight o'clock direction, right?" Usopp muttered to himself as he adjusted his attack angle.

"Hey, it looks like it's flying toward us."

Luffy watched the News Coo getting closer and suddenly remembered the big meal he'd had when he first set out to sea. Drool instantly flowed from his mouth.

With a rubber snap, he jumped to the crow's nest atop the mast and started scheming.

Usopp told Luffy to be quiet—just wait a little longer.

Finally, this hardworking News Coo encountered the world's greatest malice. Just as it reached above the deck and was about to drop the newspaper, Usopp's slingshot fired.

With a "thwack," the steel pellet, propelled by the slingshot's powerful elastic force, instantly shattered the News Coo's skull, and it plummeted down.

Pitiful, naive, hardworking news bird who earned money for its leader—just like that, it kicked the bucket.

Before dying, it probably felt regret and resentment, but no one cared about that.

Luffy was already thinking about how to cook it. Grabbing its still-warm corpse, he walked into the kitchen with Usopp.

After finishing her training, Nami wiped the sweat from her forehead, carrying the scent of a girl's fragrant perspiration as she slowly walked to the deck and picked up the newspaper from the ground.

"Hey, this newspaper has the news about us defeating Buggy."

"Oh?" Zoro, who had been training in steel-cutting, paused and walked over curiously.

"Can Yue 30 million, Luffy 20 million, me 15 million. Luffy's not bad, but how am I getting further and further from Can Yue?"

Zoro scowled, grabbed his sword, and went off to continue training.

"Wow, I'm 20 million? So Buggy was that impressive in the Navy's eyes?"

Luffy, who was about to bleed the news bird, heard his bounty and immediately ran over, shoving the newspaper into his face.

After looking at the paper, Luffy complained with a sour expression.

"The Navy's unfair. Can Yue is way stronger than Buggy, so how can they have the same bounty?"

While reading the paper, Luffy was still speaking up for Can Yue's injustice.

Can Yue's expression was calm; he didn't care about the bounty issue.

If they wanted to argue, based on the strength Buggy had shown, he was definitely worth more than 30 million. This bounty amount was clearly fishy.

The Navy probably assumed they had used strategy and teamwork to defeat Buggy.

In the future voyages, there would be plenty of people with strength equal to or far surpassing Buggy's current level.

Thinking of this, Can Yue emphasized to the group.

"In the future, pirates worth millions are just small fry, so you all have to train hard."

Luffy and Zoro nodded seriously at that moment.

When Usopp heard that millions were small fry, his teeth started chattering again in fear, and he shouted along with Nami, "From now on, we're counting on you three to protect us."

All they got in return was Can Yue's icy glare, which made Nami stick out her tongue in fright, while Usopp dared not speak further.

Luffy was serious for a moment, then reverted to his goofy mode. "Hehehe, Usopp caught a bird earlier, so we've got meat to eat tonight."

Hearing this, everyone instantly felt their salivary glands kick into gear.

Because that bastard Luffy had finished off all the meat Kaya and Merry had prepared in the fridge on the very first day at sea!

Having gone without meat for days, even Can Yue found himself craving it.

"Hehehe, I'll go cook then." Luffy rolled up his sleeves and headed for the kitchen.

Suddenly, Can Yue recalled the scene of Luffy cooking from his memories—the Sunny had nearly been destroyed, let alone this little Merry.

So he whipped Luffy back onto the deck with a single lash and said coldly.

"If you can't cook, don't mess things up."

"Can Yue, are you going to cook?" Nami thought of this, and her budding heart began to stir again. After all, watching a handsome guy cook—what a blissful thing that would be.

Can Yue snorted coldly. "I can't. Nami, you do it!"

Nami: "...!!!"

An hour later, everyone had finished eating the roasted bird meat.

The poor working bird was now just a skeleton, being gnawed on by Chouchou.

The five of them sat around the table, starting a meeting.

Usopp: "First, the nutrition is unbalanced!"

Zoro: "Second, the captain eats too much!"

Nami: "Finally, no one knows how to cook."

Luffy frowned for a long time, then slapped his head. "Then we have to find a chef!"

Can Yue nodded in agreement. "If we keep going forward, we should find the Sea Restaurant Baratie."

Luffy was overjoyed at this. "Hehehe, agreed! Guys, next stop—the Sea Restaurant, to find a chef as a crewmate."