Sea Restaurant

At dusk, in the Merry's kitchen.

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

Nami handed out the remaining limes to everyone, forcing them to eat them to prevent illness.

Luffy grimaced from the sourness while looking at Nami in admiration.

"Nami, you're amazing! You're just like a doctor—you figured out what that disease was at a glance!"

Usopp chimed in as he peeled his lime. "Hmph, I knew this woman had skills. No wonder she's the navigator of our pirate crew."

Nami shot them an irritated glare. "Stop buttering me up! If you don't even know this much common sense, you'll get yourselves killed sooner or later!"

She spread a nautical chart across the table, her expression serious.

"This time, we were lucky to have someone knowledgeable like me around. But once we enter the Grand Line, under those harsh conditions, all sorts of unknown diseases and food shortages will be our deadliest enemies."

"So..."

Nami's gaze swept across the group. "Our current food reserves and nutritional management have enormous hidden risks."

Ronan nodded and picked up where she left off.

"That's right."

"Our ship is seriously lacking someone who can properly combine ingredients, ensure everyone gets balanced nutrition, and still make delicious food during long voyages."

Everyone's eyes immediately converged.

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

"Shut up! Not a musician!" Zoro pressed a palm onto Luffy's head, stuffing that word right back down his throat.

"We need a chef!" Nami declared decisively.

Johnny and Joseph, who were each taking huge bites out of apples, exchanged a glance at that.

Johnny pushed up his sunglasses and cut in. "Um... if you're looking for a chef, we do know a good place."

"Oh?" Luffy's ears perked up.

Joseph continued, "Not far from this sea area, there's a very famous ship.

It's the Holy Land in the hearts of every starving man adrift on the Great Sea."

"The legendary—Sea Restaurant, Baratie!"

"They say the finest chefs from all Four Seas gather there. 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 meat-on-the-bone shapes, and drool poured from his mouth like a waterfall. "It's decided! We're going there!"

Holding a teacup, Ronan watched Luffy's excited expression and thought to himself:

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

That perverted cook with the curly eyebrows, and... the man bearing the title of World's Greatest Swordsman, Dracule Mihawk.

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

Zoro still had no idea that he was about to face the greatest setback of his life—and his greatest awakening.

"Zoro," Ronan suddenly said.

"Hm?" Zoro looked up.

"When we get there, you might meet the person you've always wanted to see," Ronan said meaningfully.

Zoro froze for a moment. Then, as if he had sensed something, his grip on his sword tightened slightly, and an astonishing Fighting Spirit shot out from his eyes.

"Is that so... Then I really can't wait."

The Merry adjusted its course and sped toward the legendary Sea Restaurant at full speed beneath the fading sunset.

East Blue, somewhere in the sea area.

After a full day of sailing, the winds and waves seemed to have gentled considerably.

The noon sun poured straight down onto the azure sea, setting off layers of golden, fish-scale ripples.

A mouthwatering fragrance gradually filled the air—

It was a blend of sizzling steak fat, the fresh sweetness of seafood soup, and the wheaty aroma of freshly baked bread.

"Slurp..."

Luffy lay sprawled over the Merry's Sheep Head at the ship's bow, his nose twitching like a radar. Drool had already gathered into a small river on the deck.

"It smells so good... It smells like meat!"

As the Merry sped onward, a breathtaking structure at sea suddenly came into everyone's view.

It was an enormous ship—or rather, a mobile castle floating on the sea.

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

The ship's bow was shaped like an open fish mouth, which also served as the restaurant's main entrance. A massive mast towered into the clouds, while the decks on either side were as broad as plazas.

Several enormous letters were emblazoned across the hull—"BARATIE."

This was the legendary Sea Restaurant, Baratie.

"Whoa—!!"

Everyone aboard the Merry cried out in amazement.

Johnny excitedly jumped onto a wooden barrel and pointed at the giant ship in the distance as he introduced it.

"Well? This is the most famous Sea Restaurant in East Blue! Isn't it spectacular, big brothers and sisters?"

"What a huge fish!" Luffy's eyes sparkled with stars. He practically wanted to launch himself over with his rubber arms. "If we could eat that, how long would it take to finish it?"

Nami leaned against the railing. A flash of money signs passed through her eyes before turning into simple admiration.

"It really is impressive. This unique design not only ensures stability, but also attracts customers out on the Great Sea. The owner must be someone with excellent taste—and plenty of money."

"That's pretty wild..."

Usopp held up a telescope, looking at the endless stream of diners on the restaurant deck and the waiters dressed in neat uniforms.

"Opening a restaurant in the middle of the sea, so far from land... that's just insane."

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

This feels completely different from seeing it in the anime...

He silently marveled to himself.

The scenes in anime were flat, after all. But now that this towering giant at sea stood before him in reality, the visual impact was incomparable.

He could even see the diners leisurely raising glasses on the second-floor terrace, and hear the faint sounds of piano music and laughter drifting over.

"This is where Sanji makes his entrance."

Just as everyone was lost in fantasies of food—

"Whooo—!!"

A dull, heavy horn suddenly sounded from the Merry's right side, making everyone's eardrums buzz.

A huge shadow instantly enveloped the Merry, blocking out the bright sunlight.

Johnny instinctively turned around. His sunglasses immediately slipped crooked, and his face went pale. "Th-this is! A Navy Warship!!"

Everyone looked up.

A small Navy Warship roughly the same size as the Merry was sailing alongside them with imposing grandeur.

The seagull emblem and the word "MARINE" on its hull radiated a suffocating aura beneath the sunlight.

Though its dark cannon muzzles were not deliberately aimed at them, their cold metallic presence alone was enough to make any small-time pirate tremble.

"It's my first time seeing a Navy ship from this close."

Ronan narrowed his eyes slightly as he quietly released his Observation Haki.

He could sense that there were no particularly powerful presences aboard the Warship. Most were merely the vital-energy fluctuations of ordinary soldiers.