Chef Sanji, Demon Man Ajin

"The sea restaurant is here~~"

As the self-appointed errand boys, Johnny Joseph, reported, the Golden Merry gradually approached a...

"This really is a restaurant."

Roman looked at the... ship? that resembled a three-story restaurant before him. He had no words.

Was this stretch of sea so calm that even a random piece of wood could go out to sea? Or had this world's shipbuilding technology unlocked some kind of black tech, allowing such a bizarre... thing to appear on the ocean?

Forget it. As a Devil Fruit user himself, he had no right to worry about whether it was scientific.

Hmm?

As the Golden Merry carrying Roman and the others slowly drew closer, a Marine warship emerged from the other side of the sea restaurant.

"Ah, this..."

"Should we avoid them?"

The two Pirate Hunters, Joseph and Johnny, hid by the rail, while Roman, Luffy, and the other "pirates" stood openly on the deck.

"An unfamiliar pirate flag..."

A Marine officer wearing iron gauntlets on both hands looked toward Roman and the others from atop the warship.

"I am Marine Headquarters Captain 'Iron Fist' Fullbody. Who is the captain?"

Though he asked that, his gaze had already settled on Roman. Compared to the other oddly styled fellows, Roman looked much more reliable. However...

"I'm the captain."

Luffy beside him introduced himself with a serious expression. "The pirate flag was only painted yesterday."

"What? Another bunch of idiots with broken brains."

The Marine Captain nodded. So they were just fools who had hung up a skull flag and dared call themselves "pirates."

"Today is my day off, so I'll let you go."

"If I run into you during working hours, I'll throw every last one of you into prison!"

With that, he linked arms with the female companion beside him and headed toward the sea restaurant for a meal. At the same time, he snapped his fingers at the sailors aboard the warship.

"The usual."

—The so-called "usual" meant that when Marines encountered pirates but did not feel like pursuing them, they fired one cannonball as a "warning" to make them retreat. It also spared them from gossip about facing enemies and "not firing a single shot"...

"Hey, hey, hey, this is bad!"

Usopp, who knew nothing of these unspoken conventions, saw the cannon turning toward them and cried out in panic.

"Their cannon is aimed at us..."

Bang!

Flames flashed from the cannon muzzle, and a cannonball as large as a human head flew toward the Golden Merry.

"Watch this, Rubber—"

Facing the cannonball, Luffy leaped onto the rail without hesitation. Taking a deep breath, he suddenly turned into a round, three-meter-tall "fat man."

"Balloon!"

Thud~~

The cannonball sank deep into Luffy's chest. Once its momentum was spent, Luffy immediately bounced it back.

"Here, have your cannonball back~~~!"

Hmm, not bad.

Even a Rubber-Rubber Fruit could be developed in so many ways. It seemed Luffy, as captain, really did have—

Boom—

Pfft!

"Hey, hey, hey, Luffy!"

"Where the hell did you bounce that cannonball?"

He was numb. Completely numb.

The moment he looked away, Luffy had started fooling around again...

The cannonball had indeed been successfully deflected, but the angle had been ridiculously off. It blasted into the roof of the sea restaurant beside them!

"Who? Who did that?!"

Very soon, a group of chefs wielding knives and forks charged out of the sea restaurant aggressively. Though they held only kitchen knives and forks, those human-sized "utensils" could probably kill people just as easily as they killed fish!

"It was him!" x4

"Ahhhhhh~~~"

Betrayed by Roman, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp as a group, Luffy was dragged away by the chefs amid a string of screams. Then...

"Well, since we've run into a sea restaurant..."

Roman rubbed his chin.

"Let's go have a meal while we're here."

"I'm in~~~"

Roman always paid anyway. Who would object to eating and drinking for free?

"We'll watch the ship."

Though Joseph and Johnny were not particularly capable, they knew how to handle themselves.

"Everyone coming and going here is either pirates, Marines, or people making a living at sea. If no one watches the ship, someone might secretly sail it away without us even noticing."

"All right." Roman nodded. "You two stay on the Golden Merry. Keep an eye on that merchant ship behind us too. We'll bring food back for you later."

"Sure. Thanks, Brother Roman."

"There really are ships operating restaurants at sea. How do they even maintain..."

Usopp looked around as he walked and asked.

On the sea, the law of the jungle was displayed in all its brutality. A restaurant could easily run into customers who planned to pay with "bullets" after finishing their meals—!?

Ah, this...

The moment the four entered, they saw a waiter in a suit? beating up a customer!

And that customer was the Marine Lieutenant who had just ordered a cannon fired at them. Iron Fist... what was his name again?

"Hey, hey, hey, they even dare hit Marines... We should probably..."

Usopp instantly lost his nerve! What kind of restaurant was this? It was more like a pirate den...

"Don't panic."

Roman waved a hand.

"Look, there are still so many people in the dining hall... Besides, it's good that some of them ran away. It frees up seats for us."

With that, Roman walked straight toward an empty table. Zoro, who did not care, Nami, who was preoccupied, and Usopp, who was on edge, had no choice but to sit down as well. Then...

"Yo, isn't this Luffy?"

"How did you turn from the King of the Pirates into a waiter after just a few minutes?"

"Ahhh, I've got it so bad, Roman~~"

Wearing his straw hat and an apron, Luffy looked utterly out of place as a "waiter" and naturally sat down.

"That head chef guy... he's the captain of this ship. He wants me to work here for a year to pay off my debt..."

"How can this be? I still need to go to the Grand Line..."

Who told you to bounce cannonballs without any accuracy?

Roman mocked him inwardly, then suddenly frowned.

No, wait!

Maybe Luffy had done it on purpose?

This would let him infiltrate the restaurant while also seeing the people here for who they truly were. That would make recruiting a chef...

No, no, I'm definitely overthinking it.

Rubbing his temple, Roman glanced at Luffy, who had casually sat down. He had to remind him of his current "identity."

"Say, you're dressed as a waiter, right?"

"Shouldn't you be taking our orders, serving tea, bringing food, and stuff...?"

"Captain!"

"Captain Fullbody!"

At that moment, a Marine soldier covered in blood rushed into the restaurant! Marine Captain Fullbody, who had just been beaten up after getting annoyed with a waiter and putting bugs in his food, turned around.

"That... that Krieg Pirates officer... escaped—"

Bang!

With a gunshot, the Marine soldier at the entrance slowly collapsed, revealing a gaunt man behind him.

He wore a grayish-white coat patterned with red snakes, with matching trousers of the same color. Underneath was a green shirt, and a patterned headscarf was wrapped around his head.

After shooting down the Marine who had come to report, the man walked past the beaten Iron Fist Captain and casually found an empty table to sit at.

"Hey, this is a restaurant, right?"

"Anything is fine. Just bring me something to eat..."

Facing this man, who practically had "I'm a vicious pirate" written across his face, a burly chef stepped forward without the slightest fear and asked with a... ferocious smile.

"Customer, did you bring any money?"

?!

Click.

The flintlock pistol in his hand pressed against the burly chef's head.

"Can I pay with bullets?"

Bang!

Yet in the next second, the armed pirate was smashed to the ground by a single punch! Even the chair beneath him shattered into pieces.

"No money?"

The burly chef dropped his "smile" and coldly glanced at the man on the ground.

"Pirates without money won't even get leftovers!"

Bang, bang, bang!!

Punches and kicks flew.

It was another scene of chefs beating someone up, but compared to the earlier beating of a Marine, this time everyone in the restaurant erupted in cheers at the sight of a pirate getting beaten.

"Finish him—"

"Not bad, Chef..."

"Nice one!"

Hmm, not bad.

Roman, watching the show, narrowed his eyes. This burly chef could have served as a squad leader even in the former Silver Light Pirates. But—only a squad leader worth a few million in bounty at most.

Damn it, what kind of chefs were these? They were clearly all combat personnel!

Taking advantage of the distraction, the Marine Captain who had gotten back on his feet quietly crept toward the door, taking the shot Marine soldier with him.

"All right, dear customers, please continue your meals~~"

After throwing the troublesome pirate outside, the burly chef turned and gave a nauseating curtsy. It seemed that only chefs like these could run a restaurant on such a chaotic sea.

"Cough, cough."

The man who had been tossed out like a dead dog felt nothing but desolation. Who could have imagined that Demon Man Ajin, the combat commander of the Krieg Pirates with a bounty of twelve million, would fall so low? Today might very well be the day he died...

Thud.

A plate of fried rice and a cup of water were placed before him. It was the blond, suited waiter who had just beaten up the Marine Captain.

"Eat."

"Ah... th-th..."

"Thank you!"

"It's delicious!!"

Facing the pirate Ajin as he swallowed food mixed with tears, the waiter leaning nearby took a drag from his cigarette.

He was such an idiot, sympathizing with a pirate who had committed every kind of evil. But...

Giving food to the hungry was his creed in life, wasn't it?

"Ha ha~"

Luffy, leaning by the window, grinned broadly.

"Found a great chef..."