Two Hours of Peerless Culinary Training

Seeing the pirates charging at him, Zoro grinned savagely. "Perfect! I'm really pissed off right now!" As he spoke, he was about to Draw his swords and start cutting people down.

Bang! Nami punched Zoro.

"Hey! What was that for?!" Zoro looked at Nami in dissatisfaction.

"Your companion already ran away." Nami pointed at Aaron, her expression strange.

Aaron was flailing his arms in the air as he sprinted into town, crying out in fear as he ran, "Aahhh~~!"

Well, his voice was a little strange, making the pirates feel as though they were playing a game rather than hunting someone down.

"Seriously, that guy..." Zoro irritably sheathed his swords, ran over to Luffy, and sliced through the cage with two quick slashes.

"Ah! Freedom, freedom! Thanks, Zoro!" Luffy stretched comfortably.

"Alright, now let's send them flying!" Luffy rolled up his sleeves and eagerly stared at the pirates.

"Hey, hey! Stop dragging me! I want to send them flying!" Then Nami grabbed him by the neck and dragged him away.

"Send them flying, my ass! It's dangerous, so we should run!" As she spoke, her feet moved like the wind, and she rushed into town in an instant.

"Hey! You guys! Wait for me!" Zoro was left standing there alone with a dumbfounded expression, surrounded by pirates.

Well, it was not that Zoro reacted slowly. The others were just faster.

"Out of my way!" Without even drawing his swords, Zoro charged through the encirclement like an enraged bull and ran into town as well.

"Those bastards..." Buggy watched them darkly, veins bulging on his face. He said in a low voice, "Go after them! Now!"

"Yes!"

"Wait!" Buggy stopped them again. Rubbing his chin, he gave a sinister smile. "I'm giving you two hours. Loot all the treasure in this town again, then I'll use the Buggy Ball to destroy the whole place!"

"Aaaahhhhhh!!" Aaron screamed as his eyes darted wildly around, slipping and sliding until he soon ran into a dead end at a corner.

His entire body made intimate contact with the wall, and only then did he stop screaming.

Tsk, tsk. Other people braked with their brains. Aaron braked with his face.

Then Aaron suddenly caught a scent. It was fragrant, and very familiar to him. "The smell of hamburgers!"

Aaron closed his eyes and inhaled blissfully, unconsciously following that mischievous scent away.

Aaron kept walking deeper into the island. He did not stop until he reached a lakeside, where he finally opened his eyes.

Aaron looked around.

The lake was perfectly still, gleaming like a polished mirror beneath the sunlight. Lush green grass grew beside it, while tall trees surrounded the area. A gentle breeze carried the lake's mist through the air, dispersing the heat of the blazing sun.

It really was a nice place.

But Aaron was not interested in any of that. He turned and fixed his eyes on a wooden cabin by the lake.

The source of that scent was there!

Without hesitation, Aaron hurried over to the cabin, crouched beside the window, and carefully peered inside.

Whoosh!

A kitchen knife tore through the air and embedded itself directly into the window frame, only an inch away from Aaron's face.

Aaron was so frightened that he fell backward onto the grass.

Hearing Aaron's scream, the person inside gave a surprised "Huh?"

Soon, a man walked over to the window. Looking at the fallen Aaron, his eyes were filled with confusion. "Kid, how did you find this place?"

Aaron looked up.

The man was middle-aged and thin, with a pale complexion and sharply protruding cheekbones. His black-and-white mottled hair made him look somewhat pitiful. Yet in stark contrast to his appearance, his eyes were bright, as though the stars of the heavens had been set within them. His gaze was clear, and Aaron could even see his own reflection in those eyes.

Aaron hurriedly got to his feet, bowed deeply to the man, and only then said, "I'm sorry! I followed the smell of hamburgers here."

"Followed the smell? There shouldn't be anyone within nearly a hundred miles of here. Where did you smell it from?" the man asked in surprise.

"Orange Town by the coast."

"..." The man fell silent and looked at Aaron strangely.

That place was more than two hundred miles away!

...Well, it was impressive that Aaron could smell hamburgers from that far away.

"...What's your name?" the man suddenly asked.

"My name is Aaron. Aaron Copperfield, sir."

"Aaron..." The man repeated the name, then turned and walked inside.

Creak. The door beside him opened, and the man looked at Aaron. "Come with me."

Aaron entered the house. The furnishings were simple: a bed, a table with matching chairs, a cabinet, and a stove. That was the entire room.

A cutting board sat on the table, covered with kitchen utensils—spatulas, ladles, knives, forks, and more. Colorful seasonings were arranged all around it.

At one corner of the table, Aaron saw the mischievous hamburger that had lured him here.

The man walked over, picked up the hamburger, and waved it in front of Aaron. "Was this the hamburger that drew you here?"

Aaron nodded wildly like a pecking chicken.

"..." Seeing Aaron confirm it, the man nodded, then swallowed the hamburger in a single bite and gulped it down in just a few mouthfuls.

Aaron: "..." What kind of move was that?!

After eating, the man went to a corner, took out several sacks, and tossed them to Aaron. "Go make a hamburger."

Aaron opened the sacks and found that they were filled with ingredients for hamburgers. Remembering how the man had provocatively eaten the hamburger, he decisively took the man's words as a challenge.

"Hmph! I accept your challenge!" Aaron snorted, pouted, and glared at the man so fiercely that the man looked completely confused. Then Aaron began selecting ingredients.

Oddly enough, although the ingredients had been stored in sacks, they were all perfectly fresh.

Very quickly, Aaron had chosen his ingredients and ran to the cutting board with them in his arms.

"Pork loin, lettuce, tomatoes, rye bread..." the man muttered.

Aaron placed all the ingredients on the cutting board, then pulled a spatula from his clothes.

Swish, swish, swish!

As sunlight struck the spatula and reflected its cold gleam, the ingredients on the cutting board turned into fragments.

"What fine knife work!" Seeing this, the man's eyes lit up and he could not help praising him.

"Hmph~" Aaron said nothing, merely curling his lips smugly.

Then he used the spatula to shape the minced meat into round patties. He walked to the stove, lit the fire, poured in oil, and tossed the patties into the pan one by one with the spatula.

After frying them for nearly five minutes, he used the spatula to place each patty onto bread slices he had already laid out, every one landing perfectly.

Then he pulled out a bottle containing a white, paste-like substance, carefully squeezed a little onto the patties, spread it evenly with the spatula, added lettuce and tomatoes, and covered them with another slice of rye bread.

"Done!" Aaron stepped aside, revealing three exquisite hamburgers before the man.

"Try them!" Aaron crossed his arms and spoke to the man with complete confidence.

The man said nothing. He picked up a hamburger directly, ignored the heat, and took a huge bite. He chewed it carefully.

"Well?" Aaron asked nervously.

The man said nothing, merely finishing the hamburger in silence.

A smile appeared on Aaron's face again.

It seemed pretty delicious. Otherwise, he would not have...

"Your hamburger tastes like dog shit." After finishing it, the man calmly looked at Aaron, whose smile was slowly spreading.

Aaron's expression froze. Then he glared angrily at the man, his cheeks puffed up tight. "Why would you say that?! Is yours really better than mine? Fine, make one right now and let me—"

"Before that, let me ask you something." The man calmly interrupted Aaron. "What do you think makes a hamburger delicious?"

"What kind of question is that?! Fresh ingredients, plus all my love for hamburgers—that's how you make delicious hamburgers!"

"Wrong!" The man interrupted him again. "Never mind your completely idealistic theory of love. Freshness alone is not enough. A good chef should not be controlled by ingredients. He should control the ingredients!"

"...What does that mean?"

"Among all your movements, only your knife work was somewhat interesting. But only somewhat. You did not put any of your own ideas into the ingredients at all!"

Well then, was that not an idealistic idea too?

"This is not supernatural nonsense. It has rigorous scientific foundations." The man continued, his expression extremely serious. Aaron was completely intimidated and stared at him blankly.

"For example, when cutting vegetables, based on the speed of your cuts, the movement of the air, and the nature of the vegetable cells, with the right technique, you can make the vegetables taste however you want!" Yes, just like gun-fu, making bullets curve had scientific foundations!

"And when frying meat, you only fry it until it is cooked. You do not consider the differences between high heat, low heat, and medium heat at all. The world of flames is so fascinating, yet you still use them like a primitive! You are hopelessly dull!"

Just like that, the man ruthlessly lectured Aaron. Aaron was finally completely convinced. He raised his head and gritted out, "Please, sir, teach me that miraculous technique!"

There it was! A glint flashed through the man's eyes.

He no longer looked as aggressive as before. Instead, he slowly said, "Teach you? This is my signature skill. Why should I teach it to you?"

Hearing that, Aaron lowered his head dejectedly.

"But it is not impossible to teach you..." the man slowly added. "As long as you agree to one thing..."

"Alright, I agree, sir!" Aaron said decisively.

Damn, that was decisive.

"...I want you to find the legendary sea of legend, All Blue! And bring me one of every kind of fish produced there," the man continued.

"All Blue? What is that?" Aaron asked in confusion.

"A sea every chef dreams of. The sea of dreams."

"But I'm only a hamburger maker, not a chef..." Aaron scratched his head awkwardly.

"Are you agreeing or not?" the man snapped irritably.

"I agree, I agree! Master, hurry up and teach me!" Aaron nodded rapidly, a fawning smile on his face.

"Master... Fine. Master is acceptable." The man did not reject the title. Then he said, "Listen carefully. I will only say this once."

Thus, after ten years of training, Aaron finally completed his studies and descended from the mountain. With his miraculous skills, he defeated all challengers beneath heaven and became known as the God of Cooking!

Yeah, that was complete bullshit.

The entire process actually took only two hours, and Aaron completely drained the man dry.

"Aaron, I have nothing more to teach you. Take this spatula as your master's graduation gift."

"But Master, I want to eat one of your hamburgers as my graduation gift."

"Hm? Do you think my hamburgers are so easy to eat? Even if you ate one now, you would not understand its mysteries. When you return, I will make one for you. By then, you should be able to savor its true essence. Now get the hell out!"

"Yes, Master!" Aaron rolled right out. When he reached the door, he suddenly remembered something and turned back to ask, "Master, I still don't know your name!"

"Stephen Chow." Stephen Chow looked straight ahead and calmly smiled as he gave his name with the ease of drifting clouds.

"Oh, goodbye, Master! I'll come visit you when I have time!" With that, he rolled away.

"..." Hearing Aaron's footsteps gradually fade away, Stephen Chow let out a long breath. He grabbed the hamburger from the table and took a huge bite. "That kid is a monster. It took me ten years to learn those skills, and he drained me dry in two hours. This hamburger he made is fucking delicious. Good thing I was clever from the start. When I heard he could smell hamburgers from two hundred miles away, I knew something was off, so I quickly ate the one I made. Otherwise, I really would not have been able to keep this act going."

Then he gazed into the distance, his eyes distant. "I don't even know how many people I've taught by now. I wonder whether that kid can bring me good news. After all, I don't have much time left..." Stephen Chow sighed, sat back down, and silently mixed seasonings.

"My dream cuisine must be completed!"