Old Acquaintance

"Burp hahaha, 'working' sounds awful. Working is impossible—I could never work a day in my life. This is a transaction."

Gato's merchant mindset from his previous life still deeply influenced him. In his eyes, everything could be traded. Even if he now felt that money could not settle everything, that was only because its value was too low.

There had to be something of greater value that could satisfy every transaction. For example, power?

Power did not necessarily have to be used to kill people. Fighting and killing were so unpleasant. People in the pirate world were famously stubborn. If he were blacklisted by Baratie, he would never get to taste their food again.

Besides, there was someone here waiting for him to meet.

Zeff had once been a great pirate who sailed the Grand Line, after all. Unlike his dim-witted crewmen, he could naturally gauge at least a little of Gato's depth.

"Come with me. There happens to be some heavy work that needs doing."

"What are you idiots still standing around for? Are you trying to run my restaurant into the ground?" After speaking to Gato, Zeff shot the other crewmen a glare.

The crewmen, who were also dressed in chef uniforms, immediately turned nervous and hurriedly slipped back into the kitchen inside the ship.

Seeing Zeff about to leave, Gato quickly called out to him. "Um, is there food before I start working... grrrumble."

"Come on, quit dawdling. Someone has already been preparing it. Once you're done eating, have him teach you how to do it. This concerns serving the next batch of customers."

Who else would be the first to think of cooking for someone who needed food?

Gato smiled and followed Zeff into the crew quarters. He was truly looking forward to the food made by a protagonist's crewmate.

"By the way, what's your name?"

"Gato, Mr. Zeff."

Zeff nodded and did not ask why Gato knew his name. After all, he was the famed chef of the East Blue.

Once inside the ship, Zeff told him not to wander around and said someone would come find him shortly. Then he went off to handle his own business.

Not long after, a young man with a cigarette in his mouth and short blond hair arrived carrying a plate.

"Seafood risotto. Please enjoy."

The newcomer was indeed Sanji. However, he was not yet dressed in the suit he had worn when he first appeared.

Like everyone else, Sanji wore a spotless white chef uniform. His face also looked much more youthful; this was probably Sanji from three or four years before his debut.

He presumably had not yet risen to the position of sous-chef and did not feel comfortable making an exception for himself.

Gato gave Sanji a long look but said nothing more. For a foodie, good food was the most important thing.

"Then I won't hold back. Nom."

Sanji truly deserved to be called a man who had inherited Zeff's teachings. Not only had he inherited superb leg techniques, but he had also perfectly grasped his cooking.

"Mmm, delicious. Nom nom... it's just not enough."

Sanji stared dumbfoundedly as Gato swept through half the huge plate of risotto, then tipped all the rest straight into his mouth, chewed a few times, and swallowed.

No, no. As a chef, it's far too disgraceful for me to let a customer leave without being full. With that thought in mind, Sanji hurried into action.

As expected of a man who trained his legs, he ran incredibly fast.

Even as he ran, he called out, "Wait a little longer. There's more food coming."

"Oh, really? Then thank you very much. A few dozen more plates of this amount should do."

Sanji stumbled, nearly losing his balance.

An hour later, Gato happily finished his meal and let out a satisfied burp.

"Burp hahaha, thank you for the meal. I never thought that after being hungry for just over a day, I'd become this outrageous. How embarrassing."

In theory, Gato could survive on the appetite of an ordinary person. But for a foodie, after experiencing unrestricted binge-eating a few times, going back to food that previously could barely fill the gaps between his teeth always left him feeling unsatisfied.

Fine beads of sweat covered Sanji's face. It was his first time serving such a demanding customer, but Gato now looked utterly satisfied, which made Sanji, as a chef, feel fulfilled as well.

Putting aside the trouble Gato caused, he truly was the perfect customer.

Being able to eat so much food made by a chef was the greatest recognition that chef could receive.

"You sure can eat, kid. It was super delicious, wasn't it?" Though Sanji was already exhausted, he could not help smiling as he looked at the plates that had been picked completely clean.

"Yeah, it was super delicious. It's the first time I've ever eaten something this good!"

Gato thought, This is wonderful. A chef like this, cooking like this—I've never experienced anything like it before. Should I invite him...

"Alright, now that you're full, put on this outfit and come with me."

Sanji led Gato to the stern of the ship and pointed at a huge net being dragged behind it.

"A large portion of our sea restaurant's ingredients are caught fresh on the spot, but the machinery for hauling in the nets broke recently, so we can only use brute force. Good thing you came, or this would have taken far too much effort from us."

"You mean it's almost time to haul in the net?"

"There's no exact time for that. Judge it for yourself first, and when you think it's about time, pull it in. We're all busy and don't have time to help you. If you can't pull it up, then no matter how many fish are in the net, it's useless."

"Got it. Go serve the customers. Leave this to me."

Sanji cast Gato a worried glance.

Although Zeff had told him before they came that any heavy work could be left to Gato, since Gato was incredibly strong.

Sanji had a favorable impression of Gato. In the past, people had all come for Zeff's name, so naturally he was delighted to have someone praise his cooking so highly. That was also why he feared Gato getting hurt.

After all, Gato did not have the explosive muscles of that Popeye-like man, so he inevitably seemed somewhat unreliable. Still, Sanji listened to Zeff. He merely told him to be careful before leaving.

Gato casually tugged at the fishing net and discovered that this really was not work an ordinary person could do. The ropes soaked in seawater were already extremely heavy, and there were who knew how many fish inside struggling nonstop.

It seems about right. If it gets any heavier, I'll have to activate Lightning Enhancement.

After thinking it over, Gato decided not to haul up the net yet. So what if he activated it? Was he really afraid of starving to death in a restaurant?

After cultivating while waiting for an hour, Gato figured it was about time and walked over to the fishing net.

Lightning Release—Lightning Enhancement

After several days of training, his understanding of lightning-based body techniques had grown increasingly profound. When he activated Lightning Enhancement now, a faint layer of blue electricity could already be seen flickering across the surface of his body.

When he had faced the black panther before, Lightning Enhancement had not produced this effect at all. No unusual phenomenon could be seen. But that was because it had been his first time using it, and it had not been powerful enough.

After removing the rope securing the fishing net and winding it around his hands several times, Gato began to exert force.

"Come up!"