Breaking Bad, Aaron Copperfield

"Hey! This is great! He got to eat his fill!" Luffy suddenly shouted, breaking the intimate atmosphere between the two below.

Yeah... it really was just the two of them.

"Hey! Cook, join us! Be the cook on my pirate ship!" Luffy continued.

"Huh?!" The topic changed so quickly that Sanji and the other man were caught completely off guard.

"So you're a pirate," Sanji said, then asked Luffy, "Why did you fire a cannon at our restaurant?"

"That was just an accident! It was self-defense—I accidentally fired it over here!" Luffy said honestly.

"...What the hell?" Sanji rolled his eyes, but did not dwell on it. He sat on the deck with his back against the railing, a cigarette hanging from his mouth. "Anyway, just don't get any ideas about this place. The owner here used to be an incredibly powerful pirate."

"Ohhh! That old man used to be a pirate?!" Luffy asked in slight surprise.

"To that damn old man, this restaurant is his treasure," Sanji continued.

Aaron, however, had not been paying attention to Luffy and Sanji's conversation.

Ever since arriving at this restaurant, he had felt something strange about Sanji.

He kept feeling an odd sense of familiarity from Sanji.

It was not just their shared experiences. It was also the spirit Sanji carried... Aaron felt he had seen it somewhere before.

"Where have I seen it..." Aaron stood to one side with his arms crossed, tilting his head as he thought hard.

He began recalling everyone he had met over the first twenty years of his life.

"Rayleigh, Shakky, Father, Mother, Garp, Makino, Luffy, Ace, Thatch, Dadan, Shanks, Squidward, Patrick Star, Mr. Krabs... Wait, what the hell are those last few?"

Though some extremely strange names had popped into his head, Aaron still remembered that spirit.

"Master..." Aaron murmured.

He remembered.

In Sanji, Aaron saw the exact same fervor Stephen Chow had possessed.

What was he fervent about again...? Aaron thought.

Oh, right, for All Blue!... Would Sanji know about it?

With that thought, Aaron directly asked, "Sanji, do you know about 'All Blue'?"

"Hm?" Sanji, who had been chatting nonsense with Luffy, froze when he heard Aaron's question. Then he looked at Aaron with delighted surprise. "You believe in All Blue too?"

"Uh... I was only asking whether you knew about All Blue..."

"Of course I know about it!" Sanji interrupted Aaron. His originally calm, handsome face completely fell apart, revealing a foolish smile full of yearning. "I've always believed All Blue exists, and I firmly believe I'll find it someday."

Aaron understood what Sanji meant. Slightly disappointed, he asked, "So you don't know where it is either?"

Sanji shook his head. "No one has ever known where All Blue is. Maybe it's on the Grand Line, maybe it's in One Piece. No one knows."

"Then you should join us even more!" Luffy suddenly cut in.

Sanji decisively shook his head. "I refuse."

"Huh? Why? Don't you want to find All Blue?" Luffy asked.

"Of course I do, idiot!" Sanji shot Luffy an annoyed look. "But I have a reason I absolutely must stay at this restaurant."

"Ah!" Luffy's expression became deeply aggrieved as he unreasonably declared, "I refuse your refusal!"

"...What the hell does that mean?" Sanji rolled his eyes again.

"It means I don't accept you refusing me." Luffy grinned broadly. "We'll definitely find All Blue, right?"

"Hey, hey, hey! I will definitely find it, not we! When did I ever say I was joining you?!"

"But I already refused you just now," Luffy said as if it were only natural.

"Does that even count?! Are you an idiot?!" Sanji roared.

"Please forgive me for interrupting your conversation..." At that moment, the man who had failed at acting cool and gotten beaten up instead suddenly spoke. "My name is Gin. I'm a member of the Krieg Pirates... You're a pirate too, right? What's your purpose in being a pirate?" Gin looked at Luffy and asked.

"Of course it's to become the Pirate King!" Luffy bared his teeth at Gin. "My goal is One Piece!"

"..." Gin fell silent for a while before continuing, "I have a piece of advice for you..."

After a pause, he said in a low voice, "You can do anything you want, but never go to the Grand Line."

"Huh?" Everyone was puzzled.

"The Grand Line is only one of the many seas in this world. If you want to sail the seas, you can go somewhere else..." Gin continued.

"From the sound of it, do you have information about the Grand Line?" Luffy asked.

"I don't know. I don't know anything... But that's exactly why it's terrifying." Gin clutched his head, looking as though he could not bear to remember it.

"This Krieg subordinate is kind of cowardly..." Sanji said as he watched Gin, taking the cigarette from his mouth and blowing out a smoke ring.

"Who's Krieg?" Luffy asked.

"Who Krieg is isn't important! Sanji, when are you going to make me a meal? I can't wait to begin my burger training!" Aaron exaggeratedly waved his hands around to draw Sanji's attention.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll make it for you right away. Don't rush me, brat." As he spoke, Sanji got up and prepared to head for the kitchen.

"In that case, I won't disturb you anymore. I've been away from the pirate crew for a long time too, so I need to get back and report in quickly. Sanji, could you lend me a boat?" Gin asked Sanji.

"Of course. The boats are over there." Sanji pointed to the side as he spoke.

"So the errand boy was hiding here! Get your ass to the kitchen already!" At that moment, the old man's vigorous voice came from above.

"Not good! It's the old man!" Luffy looked up and screamed as though he had seen his grandfather.

"My name is Luffy. Starting today, I'll be working here as a general hand. Please take care of me!" Luffy stood with his arms crossed, looking at everyone with great confidence.

Then he sat in a chair, propped his feet on the table, and wore an utterly lifeless expression.

...Like a salted fish.

"If you've got nothing to do, go wash the dishes!" all the cooks, busy as dogs, roared in unison.

Well, leaving Luffy's antics aside for now.

"So, how was it?" Sanji could not help asking as he watched Aaron, who had closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time after finishing the seafood soup Sanji had just made.

What kind of reaction was that? Was the soup bad? Sanji felt a little uneasy.

"..." After a long while, Aaron finally opened his eyes. His face was full of solemnity as he looked up at Sanji. "May I use the stove here?"

"Huh? You can, but you..."

"Thank you!" Before Sanji could finish, Aaron bowed, then walked over to the ingredients and began picking through them. In the end, he selected a piece of raw meat streaked red and white, several washed raw lettuce leaves, a red tomato, and a few seasonings. Carrying the ingredients, Aaron went to the cutting board.

He placed the ingredients on the board.

Then he grabbed a spatula from nearby and began chopping furiously at the board!

Wild yet rhythmic chopping sounds rang out without pause.

Before long, the chunk of meat had become minced meat, and the raw lettuce had been sliced into strips.

Don't ask how lettuce that was already in strips got sliced into strips. I don't know either.

Using the spatula as a rolling pin, Aaron swept and rolled all the minced meat into a ball, lightly patted it into a patty, then scooped it up and tossed it backward.

Tap tap tap tap!

Aaron swiftly ran to the wok, lit the fire, heated the oil, and the patty fell into the hot oil at that exact moment. The instant it touched the oil, Aaron quickly turned the flame up to maximum.

Boom!

Flames shot up nearly half a meter high, but Aaron did not panic. He flipped the wok high into the air, sending the patty tumbling and dancing through the air.

After only two or three flips, Aaron tossed the patty out of the wok. It traced a beautiful arc before landing steadily on the spatula.

After that, as quickly as assembling a puzzle, Aaron took only a few seconds to create a complete burger on the cutting board.

Aaron used the spatula to place the burger onto a plate, carried it over to Sanji, and stood on tiptoe to hold it up. "Please try it."

"...Well then, let me taste your cooking." As he spoke, Sanji took a bite of the burger.

The ocean. Sanji felt the ocean. A massive wave savagely crashed into him, while an intense burst of umami ravaged his taste buds, causing him to lose himself amid the waves.

"Delicious!" Sanji said in delighted surprise. "You actually turned raw meat into the flavor of seafood. How did you do that?"

Aaron ignored Sanji's question and raised his face, asking somewhat nervously, "Would you get sick of it?"

"Hm? What?"

"If you kept eating it, would you get sick of it?"

"Of course you would... Wouldn't you get sick of anything if you ate too much of it?" Sanji was a little confused.

"Is that so..." Aaron lowered his head and sighed. "So I still failed?"

"Hm? Were you trying to make a burger that people could eat without ever getting sick of it?" Sanji asked in surprise.

"Yeah. Is that strange?" Aaron looked at Sanji, his eyes full of matter-of-fact certainty.

Before Sanji could say anything else, the cook who had driven Gin out of the restaurant silently appeared before him, snatched the burger from Sanji's hand, and stuffed the whole thing into his mouth in one bite.

"Hey! Damn it, Patty! That was my food!" Sanji flew into a rage, turning around and grappling with Patty.

"Stop it! Stop it, damn it!" Patty struggled free with all his strength, leapt a large step back, and looked at Aaron with malicious eyes. He gave an extremely "kind" smile. "Hey, kid, can we make a deal?"

"Hm? What?" Aaron asked with interest as he looked at the cook, whose smile resembled that of a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"Your captain is too stupid. He's already broken several of our plates. How about this? Make food for us for free for a few days, and I won't make your captain compensate us for those plates."

"But I don't know how to cook..." Aaron said awkwardly.

"It's fine. Just do it your way." Patty smiled "kindly."

Aaron hesitated, but eventually nodded uncertainly. "...All right."

"Good! The customers at table three need a pudding dessert. Hurry up and make it!" Having received his answer, Patty instantly returned to his bossy demeanor and ordered Aaron around.

"Okay..." Aaron nodded and obediently walked over to the stove.

Patty carefully examined the pudding.

The milky-white pudding, smooth as jade, was wrapped in golden fried batter. A deep-red cherry decorated the top, making the pudding look all the more luscious.

Patty cautiously leaned in and sniffed it. A fresh fruity fragrance mingled with the cream, forming an even gentler and unique aroma that softly caressed his nose.

"Isn't this excellent?!" Patty exclaimed in delight, then slapped Aaron on the shoulder. "All right, kid, hurry and deliver this pudding to the honorable customer!"

Nami and the others, who were eating nearby, suddenly caught a familiar scent. They all sharply raised their heads and saw Aaron walking out of the kitchen carrying a plate. When they saw that there was no burger on the plate, their faces turned slightly pale.

"Why would they let Aaron cook?" Usopp asked, his voice trembling slightly.

"Someone's going to die soon. We need to prepare to break out," Roronoa Zoro said, gripping the hilt of his sword tightly while warily and covertly watching their surroundings.

"Why are you still standing around?! Go stop him from committing murder!" Nami, meanwhile, was the calmest. She spoke urgently in a low voice to Usopp and Roronoa Zoro.

"Uh... Boss Nami, is there something wrong with Brother Aaron's cooking? His burgers are clearly delicious." Johnny and Yosaku, who had only arrived a few days ago, asked in confusion.

"Aaron is kind of an oddball," Nami replied strangely. "Burgers are fine, but other foods... Even if someone watched him hand-in-hand while he made the most ordinary dishes, he would still somehow turn them into..."

"What, horribly disgusting food?"

"...Poison," Nami slowly said.

"...What? Poison?" Johnny and Yosaku asked in surprise. "Do you mean bad enough to make someone throw up? We never knew Brother Aaron had that kind of trait..."

"No..." Nami slowly said, her face full of existential despair. "I mean poison in the literal sense, the kind that causes poisoning symptoms after you eat it. No matter how normal the dish is, even if the ingredients are only simple raw lettuce, once it passes through Aaron's hands, it becomes poison that causes nonstop diarrhea."

Johnny and Yosaku: "..." That trait was a little too brutal!

"Then we need to stop him now! Someone will die otherwise!" Johnny said in panic.

"Don't worry. Usopp has already gone over."

Usopp hurried over to the customer at table three and saw that the man had already scooped up a piece of pudding and was slowly bringing it to his mouth. Usopp shouted anxiously, "Stop! There's poison in the food!"

The customer was so startled that he swallowed the pudding in one gulp.

"It's over..." Usopp's face went pale when he saw that. He could already foresee the outcome of their escape.

"Hm? What did you say just now?" After a violent fit of coughing, the customer forcefully swallowed the pudding and looked at Usopp, his eyes full of confusion.

"He's actually fine?" Usopp could not help asking in confusion when he saw that the customer's complexion remained rosy.

"Fine? Why wouldn't I be fine? I'm perfectly fine, and this pudding is exceptionally delicious!" The customer gave Usopp a baffled glance, then turned his gaze back to the pudding before him.

He scooped up another bite and put it into his mouth.

"Ah..." Usopp wiped away the cold sweat that had frightened him out. "It's really great that nothing happened. I never thought Aaron could make delicious food besides burgers too..."

"Yeah, this pudding really is delicious," the customer suddenly added.

Usopp looked up at the customer. "...Sir, blood is spraying from all seven of your orifices..."

"It's really delicious..." the customer muttered. "It makes me feel like I can see my mother back home again... Ah! Mom!"

He threw his head back and sprayed out a column of blood, then collapsed limply across the dining table.

Usopp: "..." Holy shit, it was poisonous after all?

And it had a delayed effect too?!

You could even make poison that deceptive, Aaron? You're fucking incredibleeeeeee!!

At that moment, Usopp's heart was just like the scene in the next chapter.

Above, howling wind and raging rain; below, towering waves churned in the sea!

To be continued.

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