Sea Restaurant

The Merry's kitchen at dusk.

After a false alarm, everyone sat around the dining table.

Nami distributed the remaining limes to everyone, insisting they eat them to prevent illness.

Luffy, grimacing from the sourness, looked at Nami with admiration.

"Nami, you're amazing! You're just like a doctor, seeing that disease right away!"

Usopp, peeling a fruit, chimed in, "Hmph, I knew you had it in you, woman. You truly are our pirate crew's navigator."

Nami shot them an exasperated glance. "Stop flattering me! If you don't even have this basic common sense, you'll die sooner or later!"

She spread a sea chart on the table, her expression serious.

"We were lucky this time to have someone knowledgeable like me. But if we enter the Grand Line, in that harsh environment, unknown diseases and food shortages will be the most deadly enemies."

"So..."

Nami's gaze swept over everyone. "Our current food reserves and nutritional management have huge hidden dangers."

Ronan nodded and picked up the conversation.

"That's right."

"Our ship is severely lacking someone who can properly combine ingredients, ensure everyone's nutritional balance, and at the same time make delicious food during long voyages."

All eyes instantly converged.

Luffy slammed the table. "I told you! We need a—"

"Shut up! Not a musician!" Zoro slapped Luffy's head, cutting off his word.

"We need a ship's cook!" Nami declared, bringing the matter to a close.

Johnny and Joseph, who were taking big bites out of apples, exchanged glances upon hearing this.

Johnny pushed up his sunglasses and interjected, "Um... if you're looking for a cook, we actually know a good place."

"Oh?" Luffy's ears perked up.

Joseph continued, "Not far from here, there's a very famous ship. It's a sacred place for all hungry men drifting at sea."

"The legendary—Sea Restaurant, Baratie!"

"They say it gathers top chefs from all four seas, and as long as you have money, you can eat the most delicious food in the world!"

"The most delicious food?!" Luffy's eyes instantly turned into the shape of meat bones, and his saliva flowed down like a waterfall. "It's decided! We're going there!"

Ronan, holding his teacup, watched Luffy's excited expression and thought to himself:

It's finally coming... the Sea Restaurant Baratie.

That chef with the curly eyebrows, and... the man with the title 'World's Greatest Swordsman', Dracule Mihawk.

Ronan turned to look at Zoro, who was wiping the Wado Ichimonji.

At this moment, Zoro didn't know that he was about to face the biggest setback, and also the biggest awakening, of his life.

"Zoro," Ronan suddenly said.

"Hm?" Zoro looked up.

"When we get there, perhaps you'll meet someone you've always wanted to see," Ronan said meaningfully.

Zoro froze for a moment, then seemed to sense something. The hand holding his sword tightened slightly, and an astonishing fighting spirit erupted in his eyes.

"Is that so... then I truly can't wait."

The Merry adjusted its course and, in the afterglow of the setting sun, sped towards the legendary Sea Restaurant.

East Blue, a certain sea area.

After a full day of sailing, the waves on the sea seemed to have gentled considerably.

The midday sun poured directly onto the azure ocean, reflecting layers of golden fish-scale iridescence.

In the air, a mouth-watering aroma gradually appeared—

It was a mix of the savory scent of grilled steak, the fresh sweetness of seafood soup, and the malty fragrance of freshly baked bread.

"Slurp..."

Luffy, perched on the Merry's figurehead goat, twitched his nose like a radar, his drool already forming a small river on the deck.

"It smells so good... it's the smell of meat!"

As the Merry sailed forward rapidly, a breathtaking maritime structure suddenly came into view.

It was a ship so huge it was more like a floating castle on the sea.

Its overall shape resembled a giant fish, with bright red fins and a rounded belly.

The ship's bow was shaped like an open fish mouth, also serving as the restaurant's main entrance. A massive mast soared into the clouds, and the decks on either side were as wide as a plaza.

The words "BARATIE" were prominently displayed in huge letters across the ship's hull.

This was the legendary Sea Restaurant, Baratie.

"Whoa—!!"

Everyone on the Merry let out gasps of amazement.

Johnny excitedly jumped onto a barrel, pointing at the giant ship in the distance and introducing it:

"How is it! This is the most famous Sea Restaurant in the East Blue! Isn't it spectacular, everyone!"

"What a huge fish!" Luffy's eyes sparkled with stars, wishing he could just launch himself over with his rubber arm. "If this were edible, how long would it take to eat it all!"

Nami leaned on the railing, the symbols of money flashing in her eyes before transforming into simple admiration:

"It really is quite something. This unique design ensures stability while also attracting customers at sea. The owner must have great taste (and a lot of money)."

"That's so wild..."

Usopp, holding his telescope, looked at the endless stream of diners on the restaurant's deck and the waiters in their neat uniforms.

"Opening a restaurant in the middle of the ocean, far from land, is just a crazy idea."

Ronan stood on the side of the deck, the Zhangba Iron Spear on his back, gazing intently at the Baratie.

It really feels completely different from watching it in anime...

He lamented inwardly.

The scenes in anime were, after all, flat. But now, as this magnificent maritime giant stood before him in reality, the visual impact was unparalleled.

He could even see diners on the second-floor terrace raising their glasses, hear the faint strains of piano music and laughter.

This is where Sanji makes his appearance.

Just as everyone was lost in fantasies of delicious food—

"Boooo—!!"

A dull, heavy foghorn blast suddenly sounded to the right of the Merry, making everyone's eardrums ring.

A massive shadow instantly enveloped the Merry, blotting out the bright sunlight.

Johnny instinctively looked back and was so startled his sunglasses askew, his face turning pale: "Th-This is! A Navy warship!!"

Everyone looked up.

A small Navy warship, about the same size as the Merry, was sailing alongside them with imposing grandeur.

The seagull emblem and the word "MARINE" on its hull exuded a suffocating might under the sun.

Though the dark muzzles of the cannons weren't deliberately aimed, their cold metallic presence was enough to send any small pirate into a panic.

"This is the first time I've seen a Navy ship this close."

Ronan narrowed his eyes slightly, quietly releasing his Observation Haki.

He could sense that there were no particularly powerful auras on this warship; most of the Blood Essence fluctuations were from ordinary soldiers.