"Hmph."
Zeff looked at Sanji, who was gripping his collar, a cold glint flashing through his eyes.
"You dare grab the owner by the collar? What kind of behavior is that?!"
"Whoosh—!"
Zeff did not even use his prosthetic leg.
He merely twisted his waist sharply, and that arm containing terrifying strength instantly gripped Sanji's wrist before using Sanji's own force against him in an over-the-shoulder throw!
"Boom—!!"
Sanji was flung away like a cannonball.
He traced an arc through the air and, without missing by an inch, slammed heavily onto Ronan and the others' table!
The solid wooden table shattered instantly under the impact, scattering splinters everywhere.
"Swish! Swish!"
At the critical moment before the table collapsed, two afterimages flashed past.
Zoro swiftly snatched up the unfinished bottle of liquor with his right hand, while Luffy rescued the last remaining piece of meat on the plate with astonishing speed.
The two exchanged a glance, then continued eating and drinking as if nothing had happened, completely ignoring Sanji sprawled amid the table's ruins.
"Cough, cough..."
Sanji struggled to prop himself up amid the mess.
Though he had been thrown hard, his inhuman physique meant he had only suffered a few scrapes.
He raised his head and stared fixedly at Zeff's departing back. His voice was hoarse but resolute as it echoed through the entire restaurant:
"No matter how you try to drive me away... I'll always be a cook at this restaurant!"
"Until... until the day you die!!"
This was a son's most awkward, yet deepest confession to his father.
Zeff's steps paused slightly.
He did not turn around. He merely lowered his chef's hat, hiding the flicker of emotion in his eyes as he stubbornly roared:
"Hmph! I won't die! Old Man will live another hundred years!"
With that, he walked into the kitchen without looking back.
"What a... big-mouthed old man!" Sanji spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and climbed to his feet somewhat awkwardly.
"Awesome!"
Luffy stuffed the last piece of meat into his mouth and excitedly patted Sanji on the shoulder, completely failing to understand the sorrow hanging in the air:
"It's great that he approved! Now you can be a pirate! Come aboard my ship!"
A vein popped on Sanji's forehead as he shouted at Luffy:
"As if! Didn't you hear what I just said?! I'm not leaving!"
That afternoon, at Baratie.
Although it had gone through a farce, the restaurant's business remained booming.
After all, to diners at sea, conflicts here were more like entertainment to go with their meals.
Luffy clung to Sanji like a burr. Wherever Sanji went, even when he went to the bathroom, Luffy followed behind him, endlessly muttering, "Be my cook."
Ronan, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp sat by the window, enjoying a rare moment of leisure.
However, that peace did not last long.
"The... sky has gotten dark?"
A customer seated by the window suddenly looked up in confusion.
The bright sunlight seemed to have been blocked by some enormous object, and the entire restaurant was instantly plunged into dimness.
A suffocating sense of oppression slowly closed in along with the encroaching shadow.
"That... that is..."
The customer pointed outside. His pupils trembled violently, and his voice warped from extreme terror. "An hourglass hanging on either side of the skull, flaunting itself before enemies..."
"That flag... there's no way I could be wrong!!"
"It's the East Blue's Conqueror! The Krieg Pirates!!!"
At that cry, the entire restaurant instantly erupted into chaos.
Ronan turned to look outside.
On the sea, an enormous three-deck sailing ship, so massive it inspired despair, was slowly approaching.
It was too huge. The Merry looked like a toy before it, and even the massive Sea Restaurant Baratie appeared somewhat tiny beneath its shadow.
That was the flagship—the Dreadnaught.
It was like a mobile fortress at sea, blotting out the sky and completely engulfing the Sea Restaurant in its shadow.
Although its enormous black sails were tattered beyond repair, the purple hourglass skull flag painted upon them still exuded a fear-inducing Death Aura.
"Wh-why are the Krieg Pirates here?!"
"Run! We'll be killed!"
The restaurant's customers instantly descended into chaos. Screams and the clatter of colliding tables and chairs rose one after another.
Even the chefs, who had been so arrogant moments ago, now wore terrified expressions.
"That's the leader with five thousand troops and a fleet of fifty Pirate Ships!"
Patty's hand holding his kitchen knife was trembling. "Did they come all this way to take revenge for that pirate from earlier?!"
"This is bad, Luffy!"
Usopp's hand holding the telescope shook wildly. He hid behind Ronan, his voice on the verge of tears. "They're on a completely different level! Shouldn't we get out of here now?!"
Nami covered her mouth too, her face pale. "How can that sailing ship... be so huge?"
Zoro placed a hand on his sword hilt, his expression grave.
The visual impact brought by such a colossal thing was indeed no small matter.
But Luffy pressed himself against the window, his eyes wide and round as he let out an innocent exclamation. "Whoa—! It's huge! It's so many times bigger than our Merry!"
He turned to Sanji beside him and asked, "Did Gin come to repay you?"
Sanji lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and tried his best to remain calm.
"I don't think so."
Sanji's sharp gaze swept over the massive ship, his brows tightly furrowed. "Still... something's strange."
"Hm?" Luffy tilted his head.
"The ship he's on... is really wrecked."
Luffy noticed the problem too.
That warship, which should have looked imposing and fit for an overlord, now resembled a gigantic corpse floating on the sea.
Its hull was full of holes, and its enormous main mast had snapped in half, teetering on the verge of collapse.
The railings along both sides of its once-grand hull had been utterly destroyed, while its sails were as tattered as a beggar's clothes.
"It doesn't look like it was hit by cannons."
As someone who made his living on the sea, Sanji saw the clue at a glance:
"If it had been cannon fire, there would be scorch marks and holes from explosions. But the marks on this ship... are too clean."
"It doesn't look man-made either... maybe it ran into a tornado?" Luffy guessed.
However, the instant that colossal vessel came to a stop—
"Bzzzz—!!"
An extremely sharp, high-frequency hum that seemed to surpass the limits of hearing abruptly pierced the sea's tranquility.
Ronan, Zoro, and Luffy, standing at the very front of the deck, had their pupils suddenly shrink to pinpoints.
Within the perception of their newly awakened, still immature Observation Haki, the world seemed to have had its pause button pressed.
Then, two terrifying green streaks of flowing light beyond comprehension, like Divine Punishment—
Instantly sliced through the air, through space, even through everyone's senses, sweeping unhindered across the Krieg Pirates' towering flagship.
Fast. Too fast.
So fast that even the sound was left behind.
"Crack—!!"
Only after those two streaks vanished beyond the horizon did a crisp blast capable of causing ear-splitting pain erupt.
Before everyone's horrified eyes, the three-deck giant ship capable of carrying a thousand people split apart down the middle in an instant, like butter cut by a hot knife!
The enormous mast collapsed, and the sturdy Dragon Bone snapped.
Wood chips scattered like rain, and seawater poured in like a waterfall.
Krieg and his men, already nearly fainting from hunger aboard the ship, were wiped out in an instant!
Before you continue