Prelude to Heading for Baratie

"Luffy! Come with me, quick!"

One morning, the Straw Hat Pirates' activities began with Usopp's shout.

"Hm?" Luffy was sitting on the Going Merry's sheep figurehead. Hearing Usopp call out, he turned his head 180 degrees and looked at Usopp in confusion.

"..." Seeing Luffy like that, with his neck twisted into a knot, Usopp's original enthusiasm was doused like a bucket of cold water had been poured over it. Helplessly, he said, "Luffy, do you know how scary you look like that?!"

Smack!

Luffy turned his neck back into place, propped his head up with both hands, and turned around. "What is it, Usopp?"

"...You threw me off so much that I forgot what I was going to say." Usopp tilted his head and frowned as he tried hard to remember. "Ah, right! Luffy, come downstairs with me!"

Usopp ran up, grabbed Luffy's hand, and dragged him into the cabin before he could even steady himself.

"Aaron! You come too!"

"Gah!" Aaron suddenly stuck out his tongue, rolled his eyes back, and tossed the spatula in his hand aside.

Well, Usopp had grabbed Aaron around the neck and run off with him, and he was moving pretty fast. Aaron's limbs flailed wildly behind him.

"Cough, cough! Nami! Turn off the fire!" As they were about to leave the kitchen, Aaron shouted desperately at Nami before vanishing around the corner.

After turning left and right, they arrived beneath the bow.

"Hey, Usopp! What are you doing?! I haven't finished making my burgers yet!" The moment Usopp stopped, Aaron struggled free from his grip, planted his hands on his hips, and glared at Usopp with an annoyed expression.

Usopp shuddered and wiped away nonexistent cold sweat from his forehead. "Uh... Aaron, you should take a break sometimes. You know, balancing work and rest is the only way to maximize efficiency."

"Is that so?" Aaron looked at Usopp with suspicion in his eyes.

"Really, really!" Usopp nodded frantically. "I may like lying, but I'm definitely telling the truth this time! You have to believe me!"

Usopp was so frightened that he even admitted he was always lying, because he had truly had enough of burgers!

They were delicious, but eating them every day was no way to live.

Even drinking too much water could make someone throw up!

Now, Usopp's face turned green whenever he saw a burger.

"...Fine, I'll believe you this once." Aaron nodded hesitantly, then asked, "So why exactly did you bring me here?"

"Whoa!" Suddenly, Luffy's cry of surprise caught their attention, and both turned to look.

A cannon with a bore roughly twenty centimeters wide stood prominently before them.

"Whoa! That's amazing..." The three cried out in unison, their eyes all gleaming with an intense green light.

It seemed they all wanted to fire the cannon.

After all, guns and cannons were every man's romance!

Well, both mentally and physically.

They looked at one another, then immediately rushed to the cannon, fumbling as they pushed it onto the deck and loaded a cannonball.

"I should fire the first cannonball because I'm the captain." As he spoke, Luffy picked up a match from nearby, intending to light the fuse.

"Hey, hey, hey, Luffy! I was the one who found this place first. Shouldn't I get to fire the first shot?" Usopp snatched away the match and set it aside.

Well, the first shot really was highly significant.

No matter what kind of cannon it was.

Yet while they were arguing, the sly Aaron had already swiped the match. He slowly crawled forward on his stomach, slithering like a snake toward the cannon. After secretly glancing at the two and confirming they were still arguing, Aaron finally turned back with relief and hurriedly struck the match, lighting the fuse.

Boom!

The cannon's recoil knocked Aaron down, and he rolled all the way to Luffy and Usopp's feet.

"You're so sneaky, Aaron!" Luffy looked at Aaron unhappily, wearing the exact expression of a child whose toy had been snatched away.

"Ah... Luffy... Why do you have two heads?" Aaron felt as though his brain was constantly shaking, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

"What nonsense are you talking about? I only have one head! No, you have to make me a hundred more burgers to compensate me!" Luffy did not care whether Aaron was dizzy. He continued berating him... or perhaps he was taking the chance to demand some benefits?

"You bastards!" Before Aaron could say anything, an angry curse suddenly came from below the ship. Luffy leaned over to look and saw a man in sunglasses waving a machete. He asked, "What do you want?"

"Did you fire that cannon just now?" the man asked.

"Yeah. So what?" Luffy replied.

The man did not answer. Gripping his blade, he slowly ran up onto the deck. Once he had steadied himself, he brandished his large sword wildly and charged at Luffy, shouting, "I'll kill you!"

Well, then Luffy knocked him out with one punch.

Luffy carried the man out of the cabin and tossed him onto the deck. "Honestly, attacking the moment you meet someone is way too violent!"

Aaron and Usopp both had several black lines hanging from their faces.

You knocked him out the moment you met him too! That's not exactly civilized! Aaron and Usopp roared inwardly.

"Ugh!" The man woke up. He suddenly sat upright, looked at the three before him, and cursed, "You damned pirates! I, bounty hunter Johnny, won't let you get away with this!" As he spoke, he tried to pull out his forty-meter... forty-centimeter sword and start slashing.

But his sword was in Aaron's hands now.

"What's going on? Where did this man come from?" Nami, who had been studying the nautical charts, heard the commotion outside. When she came out, she found the sunglass-wearing man with writing tattooed on his face and frowned as she asked.

"What happened?" Roronoa Zoro poked his head out from the crow's nest at that moment. He wiped the fine sweat from his face and looked at Nami.

Clearly, Zoro had just finished training.

"Big bro?!" Upon seeing Zoro, the once-aggressive Johnny suddenly stared wide-eyed, as if he had seen a ghost.

"Hm?" Hearing that familiar form of address, Zoro raised his brows and looked down. "Johnny?"

"I can't believe it's really you, Big Bro!" Johnny suddenly became extremely excited. "Big Bro, why are you here?"

"I'm a pirate now. I'm not a bounty hunter anymore." Zoro jumped down from the crow's nest and looked at Johnny. "Where's Yosaku? Weren't you two always together?"

"Oh, right, right, right!" Hearing Zoro's question, Johnny suddenly slapped his forehead. "Big Bro! Please sail the ship to that rock! Yosaku is dying!" As he spoke, he pointed toward a distant rock.

Seeing the direction Johnny was pointing, Aaron felt a little uneasy.

That seemed to be... the direction I fired the cannon in earlier, right? Don't tell me I killed someone... Aaron thought uneasily.

Very quickly, everyone sailed the ship beside the rock and rescued the Yosaku Johnny had mentioned.

Yosaku's complexion was somewhat gray, and he lay there with his mouth open, muttering hoarsely and incoherently.

Seeing Yosaku in that state, Luffy and the others all looked at Johnny with solemn expressions.

This guy was beyond saving. My condolences.

Well, everyone except Nami.

And beneath Aaron's solemn expression was a hint of secret delight: Great! I didn't kill him!

Feeling everyone's gaze, Johnny sorrowfully threw himself over Yosaku. Two streams of hot tears flowed from beneath Johnny's sunglasses as he asked Zoro, "Big Bro! Is Yosaku going to die?!"

Just as Zoro was about to answer yes, Nami spoke first. "Of course not."

Everyone turned to look at Nami. Seemingly oblivious to their stares, she calmly said, "Aaron, go get some oranges from my room."

"Okay." Aaron accepted the order and ran back into the cabin in a flash.

After a while, he ran back out with several large, round oranges in his hands.

"I didn't know you had something so good, Nami!" As Luffy spoke, he reached out to grab one.

Smack! Nami slapped his hand away. "Don't touch them! They're for saving someone." With that, she took the oranges from Aaron, peeled them, squeezed several drops of juice into Yosaku's mouth, then fed him every segment of every orange.

Before long, Yosaku's complexion gradually returned to normal, and he slowly regained consciousness.

"He's awake, he's awake!" Seeing his partner wake up, Johnny was so excited he could barely contain himself.

"I never knew you were a doctor, Nami!" Everyone was amazed by Nami's skill. Luffy touched his hat and laughed loudly.

"It's just simple scurvy. Didn't you know about it before setting sail?" Nami asked as she looked at them.

Everyone shook their heads blankly.

"You don't know something this important?" Nami felt utterly helpless. They did not even care about matters that could cost lives.

"But... I've never gotten sick before." Luffy scratched his head, then asked Zoro and the others, "Have you?"

"No," Zoro answered.

"Me neither," Usopp said.

"I got sick before I was twelve, but I haven't been sick since I turned twelve." Aaron rolled his eyes, thought for a moment, then answered.

"...Are you all monsters?" Nami said helplessly.

Yosaku soon fully recovered. After enjoying a feast of Aaron's special burgers, he was immediately full of energy again.

Johnny and Yosaku stood together on the deck and bowed to everyone. "Thank you for saving Yosaku!" "Thank you for saving me!"

"I didn't know you had known Zoro for so long," Nami said, looking at them in surprise.

"Yes, Boss Lady! We met Big Bro Zoro a long time ago!" The two bowed once again.

"...Why are you calling me Boss Lady?" Nami felt helpless.

"Because you're Big Bro Zoro's companion! Big Bro Zoro's companion is Boss Lady!" The two gave a short explanation that somehow sounded perfectly logical.

While Yosaku had been eating, Zoro had explained to Luffy and the others how he had met Johnny and Yosaku. Since he had helped them resolve some trouble, they had begun treating Zoro as their big brother.

"...As long as you're happy." Nami rolled her eyes, then said to Luffy, "Luffy, we need to find a cook. Otherwise, we might run into situations like Yosaku's again." Then she glanced at Aaron and sighed. "Why are you so strange? Other than burgers, everything else you make is completely inedible!"

Nami had once forced Aaron to cook other dishes, and then—

Well, Aaron either turned them into poison or bombs.

He was strangely hopeless.

"I know," Luffy said. "When we reach the next island, we'll find a cook."

"Speaking of cooks, Big Bro Luffy, I know a place that might meet your requirements." Johnny suddenly cut in.

"Hm? What place?" Luffy asked.

Yosaku continued, "The most famous restaurant in the East Blue—the sea restaurant, Baratie!"