A Meal

Kizaru's expression remained unchanged. With his sunglasses obscuring his eyes, no one knew where he was looking.

"One kind of person? Hehe, is this what you meant, little brother Gigue?"

As he spoke, he extended a finger, and a cross-shaped golden glow flickered at its tip. Some diners who had turned to look at the commotion were instantly dazzled by the light and shut their eyes.

Akainu crossed his arms and said in a deep voice,

"Borsalino, put away your ability!"

The light on Kizaru's fingertip vanished instantly. He stood up, pressed his palms together, and bowed to the surrounding diners in apology.

"Oh dear, oh dear, I'm terribly sorry, everyone. I got a little carried away."

After saying that, Kizaru selectively filtered out certain unpleasant comments and sat back down as though nothing had happened. When he looked at Gigue again, he froze.

Gigue's pupils were spinning like two vortices, faintly emanating a pulling force.

The longer Kizaru looked, the more instinctively uncomfortable he felt. He withdrew his gaze, unwilling to look into Gigue's eyes any longer.

Akainu noticed the abnormality around Gigue as well, but he did not feel particularly uncomfortable.

Gigue's eyes returned to normal, and he smiled as he praised him.

"That was Senior Borsalino's ability just now, wasn't it? What a dazzling ability."

Kizaru did not pursue that topic and instead said casually,

"Little brother Gigue is an Ability User too, right? What a frightening ability. Can you tell us what your ability is?"

"That's confidential for now. We'll be meeting again soon anyway. How about letting me keep a little mystery, Senior?"

"Haha, of course!"

Kizaru did not mind. Unless an Ability User was particularly famous, the fewer people who knew about their Devil Fruit ability, the better.

Besides, in Kizaru's view, he had only displayed a little of his ability. He had not revealed what kind of Ability User he was, so he had not lost out.

What he could never have imagined was that Gigue was a transmigrator who already knew almost everything about him and Akainu.

After that, they stopped discussing the subject and began chatting idly. Under Gigue's deliberate guidance, the atmosphere became quite harmonious. Even Akainu, who usually disliked talking, took the initiative to say a few words.

Once all the dishes at Kizaru's table arrived, the two tables even shared dishes the other did not have. Akainu painfully parted with one of the two large bowls of white rice he had ordered and gave it to Kuma.

There was also a small episode during this: Ginny's enormous appetite stirred Akainu's competitive streak as a rather chauvinistic straight man.

Although Ginny had not paid Akainu any attention at all, he thought to himself, How could a grown man like me possibly eat less than a "weak woman" who weighs less than half as much as I do?

He completely forgot his earlier words of "Don't eat too much" and began wolfing down the grilled meat on his plate.

After polishing off the final plate of grilled meat, Akainu looked with satisfaction at the stack of dishes before him, then glanced at Ginny from the corner of his eye. What he saw left him dumbfounded.

The dishes in front of Ginny could already be described as a mountain, yet her mouth still showed no sign of stopping as she picked up a huge piece of grilled meat and stuffed it into her mouth.

Gigue and Kuma had long grown accustomed to this. Kuma had already started reading the Bible, while Gigue continued grilling meat for Ginny.

Akainu rubbed his bloated stomach and silently lowered his head, tacitly admitting defeat.

Watching Ginny enjoy her grilled meat so thoroughly, Akainu could not help but laugh at himself. He thought he had truly lost his mind, competing with a girl over something like this.

Rather than feeling disappointed, he instead felt exceptionally relaxed.

For Akainu, who had spent all his time cooped up at the Marine Academy with Kizaru, this experience was truly quite novel.

After eating who knew how many plates of grilled meat, Ginny contentedly picked up a napkin and wiped her mouth. When she looked up, she found Gigue and the others smiling at her.

Two rosy patches appeared on her fair, pretty face. Ginny leaned close to Gigue and said softly,

"Why are you all looking at me like that? The food here is really much better than in the Kingdom of Sorbet, so I couldn't help eating a little more..."

Gigue gently pinched Ginny's little nose and smiled.

"It's fine. If you like it, eat more. There'll be plenty of chances like this in the future."

Kizaru raised a hand and said with a mischievous grin,

"Let me add something. Teacher Zephyr is very strict. Sakazuki and I haven't been out for two months, so you'd better be mentally prepared."

"Huh? How can he be like that..."

Ginny's little mouth drooped, and her future suddenly seemed bleak.

Gigue was just about to comfort her when she suddenly seemed to remember something and exclaimed excitedly,

"It's fine! We have Little Kuma. Whenever we want to sneak out, we can sneak out!"

Kuma cooperatively raised the paw pads in his palm, indicating that he was ready to be called upon at any time.

Kizaru and Akainu noticed Kuma's hands as well. They exchanged a glance, and Kizaru said quietly,

"Another Ability User? New recruits these days are all so frightening!"

When it came time to pay the bill, Gigue grandly slapped an enormous banknote onto the counter and said generously to the clerk,

"I'll cover both tables. Keep the rest as a tip."

Over the years, Saint Garling had sent Gigue no small amount of spending money. As for how much he had sent, it was already an astronomical figure.

Take Kizaru, for instance. Based on the salary he would earn after becoming an admiral, he could work diligently for eighty or a hundred years and still only make enough to reach the smallest fraction of Gigue's allowance.

Not to mention that Kizaru was still only a student. In his heart, he was calculating how many bananas Gigue's banknote could buy.

Sakazuki suddenly spoke with a serious expression.

"Gigue, there's no need to pay for our table. Borsalino said he was treating us this time."

"Sakazuki, you've been talking a little too much today. I preferred the old, quiet you."

"?"

Heaven knew how badly Kizaru wanted to go biubiu at Akainu a couple of times. He looked at the clerk with a strained smile and made a show of reaching for his wallet.

Gigue grabbed his hand and said seriously,

"I've already paid. I'm very happy to have met the two of you, Seniors, so let me show a little appreciation."

Kizaru's hand "slipped," and the wallet that had just emerged from his pocket fell right back in. He gave an oh dear and said,

"Little brother Gigue, there's no need to be so polite. What Senior this, Senior that? Just call us by our names at school from now on! Isn't that right, Sakazuki?"

Akainu watched Kizaru's every movement. He rolled his eyes and turned away, making it clear that he did not know this embarrassing fellow.

After saying goodbye to Gigue's group, Kizaru and Akainu returned to their dormitory at the academy.

Before they had even warmed their seats, someone knocked on the door.

"Borsalino, Teacher Zephyr wants you in his office."