Aaron's Spatula Functions

"Are there fish-men here too? Aren't fish-men all on Fish-Man Island...?" Aaron lowered his head in confusion as he looked at the tall, muscular figure before him.

"Kid! What are you doing here?" the fish-man asked loudly.

"Ah! Right!" Aaron suddenly slapped his forehead. Looking up at the fish-man pitifully, he asked, "Could you let me use the kitchen? I want to make a hamburger."

"Huh? What are you talking about, brat?" The fish-man stared at Aaron, thinking, This kid came all the way here and knocked on our door just to cook us a meal?

"Could you let me use the kitchen? I want to make a hamburger." Aaron looked at the fish-man pleadingly.

"Why do you need to use our kitchen? Can't you go home and make it there?" This fish-man was still rather warmhearted.

"Could you let me use the kitchen? I want to make a hamburger." Aaron gazed at the fish-man expectantly.

"I know, I know. Why did you come here to make it?" the fish-man said impatiently.

"Could you let me use—" "Are you messing with me?!" The fish-man grew furious and suddenly stomped hard. Dust flew everywhere, and a pit appeared before Aaron.

Aaron shuddered in fright and blankly stared at the pit. Then he looked up and said pitifully, "Could you let me use the kitchen? I want to make a hamburger."

"..." The fish-man felt all the blood in his body rush to his head. He silently raised a hand the size of a wok. "I think you're just asking for a beating!" He was about to bring it down.

"Sabi, what's going on outside? Why is it so noisy?" Arlong suddenly asked.

"Boss Arlong!" Sabi withdrew his hand and turned to look respectfully at Arlong. "This child wants to use our kitchen."

"Oh?" Arlong looked at Aaron with interest, the sharp fangs between his lips terrifying. "Bring him in."

"Yes!" Sabi saluted, then turned and glared menacingly at Aaron. "Kid, come with me."

"Could you let me use the kitchen, I—" "Tell our boss. If he agrees, you can use it," Sabi hurriedly cut the child off.

"Could you—oh, okay! Sir." One moment, his face had been tearful and pitiful; the next, he was smiling brightly at Sabi, making Sabi feel as though his intelligence had been insulted.

Sabi brought Aaron before Arlong, then happily went off to collect his boxed meal.

Hmm... not bad acting. Give him an extra drumstick.

Aaron looked up. A huge, ferocious shark fish-man with knotted muscles sat in a lounge chair. Though he was smiling, Aaron could not find even the slightest hint of amusement in his eyes.

His cold gaze was like that of a predator looking at prey.

"Aaron? Why are you here?" A male and female voice asked in unison.

Only then did Aaron notice Nami standing beside Arlong and Roronoa Zoro, who was tied up. "Nami? Zoro? Why are you here?"

Then he noticed Zoro's bandages. "Zoro? What happened to your chest?"

"This? I got hurt when I challenged Hawk-Eye," Zoro said calmly.

"You were way too careless!" Aaron reproached him. Then he walked over to Zoro, shoved him down, and tore open his bandages.

"Hey! What are you doing?! Let go, that tickles! Hey, hey, hey! Don't mess around! Oh!"

Arlong watched Aaron tear at Zoro's bandages with interest. Tilting his head slightly, he turned his cold vertical pupils toward Nami. "You knew them before?"

"They're the pirates from the pirate ship I just stole. They actually managed to find this place. They really don't know what's good for them." Nami's expression was wildly exaggerated, her disgust plain to see.

"..." Arlong glanced at Nami and looked away. The next moment, his eyes widened as he watched Aaron's actions.

A brilliant blue light blossomed from Aaron's hand and slowly seeped into Zoro's wound. The hideous, terrifying wound was gradually filled with blue.

Zoro felt a tingling sensation spread through his wound. Then, in the next instant, he shouted, "Hey! Aaron! Don't erase my scar too!"

"Huh? Why?" Aaron had indeed been thinking of doing that, but since Zoro asked... "All right, whatever makes you happy."

In less than a minute, the tingling faded, and the pain receded like the tide.

"All right. The muscles inside have mostly healed. Just be careful not to tear the wound open again." Aaron withdrew his hand, wiped the sweat from his face, stood up, and looked at Arlong.

Arlong had already regained his composure. Seeing Aaron look his way, he put on a vicious smile. "What is it, kid?"

"Um... sir, could you let me use your kitchen?" Seeing that smile, Aaron hesitated a little, but still asked slowly.

"Sure." Arlong agreed readily. "Kuroobi, take him to the kitchen."

A burly fish-man stepped out from the side. Two large fins protruded from his elbows, making them look like a pair of wings. His stern expression showed that he was not one for idle chatter.

Hearing Arlong's words, Kuroobi answered flatly. He crossed his arms and glanced at Aaron. "Kid, let's go."

He had seen Aaron's actions earlier and understood Arlong's intentions.

Arlong simply wanted to recruit Aaron.

After all, such healing abilities were extremely rare.

"This is the kitchen." Kuroobi led Aaron inside.

"Thank you, thank you, sir," Aaron said gratefully. Then he impatiently rushed to the stove, lit the fire, and poured in oil.

Then he immediately went to the ingredients, quickly picked what he needed, tossed them onto the cutting board, pulled out his spatula from his clothes, rushed back to the board without pause, and rapidly chopped up the ingredients...

"..." Kuroobi leaned against the doorframe and silently watched Aaron's movements.

Aaron moved faster and faster. Soon, he had made the patties and flicked them precisely into the frying pan with a scoop.

Sizzle!!

Aaron stood before the pan, constantly stir-frying.

Perhaps it was Kuroobi's imagination, but he seemed to see an unusual gleam on Aaron's spatula.

The clatter of spatula against pan, the frying of meat patties, the chopping of vegetables—all the sounds followed a rhythm and grew faster and faster.

Tap tap tap, sizzle, clang, tap, sizzle!

"..." Kuroobi watched Aaron as his speed steadily soared.

One, two, three... countless hamburgers piled up on the board, forming a mountain of burgers. The rich aroma made Kuroobi unconsciously twitch his nose.

Smack!

Only then did Aaron turn off the fire. He stared blankly at the spatula.

He truly could sense a strange power hidden within it. As the creator of that power, he understood the spatula's traits with only the slightest perception.

"This..." Yet precisely because he understood it, Aaron found it somewhat unbelievable. Looking at the hamburgers piled on the cutting board, he called to Kuroobi outside the door, "Um... sir, would you like some hamburgers?"

Already drawn in by the fragrance, Kuroobi no longer hesitated. He walked straight to the cutting board, grabbed a hamburger, and stuffed it into his mouth.

Then he could no longer stop.

Watching Kuroobi, Aaron counted on his fingers and murmured, "One... two... three..." He was counting how many hamburgers Kuroobi had eaten.

Kuroobi ate faster and faster. By the end, he was swallowing them one after another whole.

Soon, every hamburger had been eaten. Looking at Kuroobi's slightly swollen belly, Aaron asked, "Sir, how does it feel?"

"I didn't expect you to have a trick like this." Kuroobi unconsciously covered his stomach, his stern expression completely falling apart. He looked at Aaron in amazement and laughed. "It feels great. I feel like I ate at least twenty percent more than usual, and I don't even feel that full! I feel like I could eat another huge meal after digesting this!... How did you do it?"

"Ahahaha." Aaron scratched his head awkwardly and muttered as he looked at the spatula in his hand, "So it really is like that..."

And the effects of Aaron's spatula: As long as Aaron made hamburgers, deliciousness increased by 0%, ease of digestion increased by 0%, nutritional value increased by 0%, addictiveness... addictiveness increased by 0%. But if Aaron made anything other than hamburgers, deliciousness increased by 40%, ease of digestion decreased by 40%, nutritional value decreased by 40%, and toxicity increased by 60%.

The hardness, toughness, sharpness, and all other attributes of the cookware itself increased by 0%.

...Wait! What the hell was addictiveness? And what the hell was toxicity?! Was he making food or drugs?!

"Hmm... I guess it's all right." Aaron looked at the macho fish-man whose character had somewhat collapsed and nodded hesitantly.

"Ahahahaha, great! What you made was truly great!" Kuroobi patted Aaron on the shoulder. "Come on, go see Boss Arlong with me."

As he spoke, he hoisted Aaron onto his shoulder like a sack and headed toward the pool.

...His character had collapsed a little too much. Could addictiveness mean personality collapse? If so, then it seemed... not bad?

With his head resting against Kuroobi's back, Aaron secretly curled his lips into an evil smile.

He would try it on Zoro next time.

In the distance, the tied-up and soaked-through Zoro suddenly shivered. He vigilantly scanned his surroundings, feeling as though a malicious presence was hanging over him.

"You idiot, why did you jump into the pool?"

Well, Zoro's plotline of jumping into the water to kill himself had already passed.

"Our captain believes in you, so I believe in you too," Zoro said.

"Boss! I brought the kid over!" Kuroobi's booming voice interrupted Nami just as she was about to speak. Everyone turned to look.

They saw Kuroobi smiling at the corners of his mouth, swaggering with his legs spread wide, Aaron slung over his shoulder as he strode toward Arlong.

He looked incredibly stupid.

After setting Aaron down, Kuroobi smiled at Arlong again. "Boss!"

"..." Arlong looked at Kuroobi. If he could not smell Kuroobi's scent, he would have thought someone was impersonating him. How could he have changed so much after just one trip?

"Kuroobi... what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, Boss! I feel great right now! Completely normal!"

No, no, no. The moment you started calling me Boss, you stopped being normal, Arlong silently thought.

"All right, Boss. You guys talk first. I'm going to get the brothers together and loosen up!" With that, Kuroobi rolled his shoulders and walked away.

"Ah! Big Brother Kuroobi, what are you doing?!"

"Don't panic! Let's have a friendly wrestling match!"

"Ah! No, don't!!"

"..." Arlong watched Kuroobi leave, his face darkening considerably. When he turned back to Aaron, however, he wore a friendly smile again. "Did you enjoy using our kitchen?"

"It was all right, sir. Thank you, sir," Aaron nodded and thanked him.

"After all this time, I still don't know your name." Arlong bared his fangs and smiled.

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

"Aaron... what a fine name. Shahahahaha!" Arlong laughed loudly, leaving everyone baffled.

"Then!" Arlong stopped laughing. "Aaron, are you interested in joining our pirate crew and working for us great fish-men?"

"No, sir." Aaron shook his head.

"Oh? Why not?" Arlong smiled, though cold light flickered in his eyes.

"Because I've already joined a pirate crew." Aaron did not notice it and simply shook his head as he spoke.

"What a pity... I can't make things difficult for you either. Shahaha." Arlong laughed, then suddenly stopped and stared at Aaron with bloodshot eyes. "Then I can only kill your captain!"