After the turmoil passed, the fried chicken shop's business became as booming as it had been when it first opened.
Everything seemed normal, yet somehow different:
The shop's servers had been replaced by the free laborers Penguin and Shachi.
A chubby white bear had been added at the entrance as a greeter and mascot.
With Luo, an exceptionally efficient assistant chef, the shop's food preparation speed had also reached incredible heights.
And Garen's reputation as a "retired colonel" had quietly spread across the entire island.
No criminal gang dared to cause trouble here again—until one afternoon several days later.
The afternoon sun blazed fiercely, and the lunch rush had long since passed. Only a few customers remained in the shop.
Enel, the cashier, was busy counting the morning's earnings at the counter. Bepo, the mascot, still stood dutifully at the entrance, while Kentucky, the actual shop owner, happily directed the two laborers, Penguin and Bepo, to clean the tables, chairs, and floor.
At that moment, three uninvited guests arrived at the entrance of Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Then the leader, a swordsman wearing a large feathered hat, two markings on his face, and a conspicuous red cape, stopped in his tracks.
This native-looking fellow was Diamante, one of the Donquixote Family's four highest-ranking officers, code-named "Diamond."
Diamante had naturally come here to take the head of the family traitor, Trafalgar Law.
But upon seeing that utterly ordinary fried chicken shop, Diamante found himself somewhat doubtful:
"Are you sure that brat is here, Buffalo?"
"He should be."
Buffalo, a massive man with a strange propeller-like hairstyle, nodded.
"The intelligence says that guy has been showing up at this fried chicken shop every day lately."
"And it seems that he's here"
"As a chef?"
Buffalo voiced intelligence that even he found difficult to