Recruitment

For the time being, Gato decided not to think about the Three Body Technique. He would wait until his strength reached a bottleneck before working on something that was merely icing on the cake.

His training had now reached the end of a phase. The breakthrough in the Living Body Technique had used up almost all the energy provided by the Lord of the Coast. If he kept training, he was afraid he might starve to death.

When he trained, he could not feel time passing at all. Training the Living Body Technique required precise control over chakra and complete focus.

Lightning flickered around Gato whenever he trained, and the commotion would likely be even greater when he broke through, so he came to the deck to train alone.

Now that all aspects of his physical abilities had improved tremendously, he felt invigorated by this newfound strength. With the sea breeze blowing over him, his mind became even clearer. Though it was the dead of night, he had no desire to sleep.

So he simply stood on the deck in the wind, considering what he should do next.

He was no longer that desperate castaway struggling to survive. His goal was no longer merely to stay alive.

A desire called ambition began taking root in his mind.

"Gahahaha... Having come to such a wonderful world and been given such an opportunity, wouldn't it be a terrible waste not to become a famous figure known throughout the world?"

Back when Gato was still in China, he had been an ambitious young man. Yet not long after entering society, before he had even gotten a proper look at this dazzling world, he died an untimely death, leaving a breath of resentment trapped in his heart.

Though he had enjoyed himself after becoming a wealthy businessman in his previous life, once the main storyline began, he lived in constant fear. He had been cautious in every possible way, yet still failed to prevent his death from arriving.

Did he have no dreams?

No, he had always had them. He wanted to be someone with a sense of presence. He wanted the world to tremble at his every action. He did not want to die in obscurity.

But cruel reality had always suppressed his dreams. That was not his fault.

Faced with those disasters, there was truly nothing he, an ordinary person, could do. He could only let others manipulate his fate.

Now, he had both the ability and the confidence to walk such a path—a path filled with the astonished, fearful, or admiring gazes of others.

That was right. Gato wanted to become the person with the strongest presence in this world. He had had enough of being looked down upon.

Although Gato had controlled the fates of many people in his previous life, they had all been ordinary people like himself. What was the point in that?

In this life, Gato only wanted to become someone capable of deciding the fates of those so-called upper-class figures. He had had enough of having his own fate controlled by others.

"The world of One Piece, huh? The freest person, and the one with the strongest presence, is the Pirate King, right? Gahahaha!"

Gato roared those words silently in his heart. From that moment on, even his aura seemed to change.

The calculating mannerisms of a merchant might not change overnight, but he was gradually gaining the bearing of a strong man—or perhaps an unwavering resolve to press forward.

This was the spirit he had slowly built up ever since he first came to this world and began fighting for his life. Now that he no longer had to struggle for a living and had made a major breakthrough in strength, Gato finally erupted completely.

It was a change even he had not noticed, because the process had not happened all at once.

He was no longer afraid of fighting anyone.

Or rather, if he even dared to contend with Kaguya, a god, then what "person" was left for him to fear?

"Hm? Who's there?!"

Just as he had declared his ambitions, Gato sensed someone approaching him.

"So it's you, Sanji! You came up beside me without making a sound. You scared the hell out of me!"

"You're the scary one, kid. You killed a monster like that just like it was nothing."

Sanji took a deep drag from his cigarette. He was still very young, yet he had already developed a smoking habit, and he was smoking that cigarette that never seemed to burn down.

Gato looked at him strangely. "Don't joke around. It was only that much. You don't seem like the type to be afraid of it."

Silence fell again. Only after taking another drag did Sanji continue, "Do you know me that well?"

"No. I can just tell that you're a real chef. To you, it was probably nothing more than the finest possible ingredient."

At the end, Gato added silently in his heart, I knew you pretty well in my previous life. You kicked plenty of huge monsters flying.

"Haha, is that so..."

"Do you want to join my crew, Sanji? I sincerely invite you."

"...Why bring that up all of a sudden? Where would you even get a ship?" Sanji was caught off guard, but his expression showed no surprise at all.

"Gahahaha! The heroes of the sea are each great ships themselves—great ships carrying the dreams of countless people."

"I, Gato, want to become such a great ship too!"

A deep light shone in Sanji's eyes as well. He slowly said, "A great ship, huh? It should be able to carry my dream... What a pity. Sorry, but I can't leave Baratie yet."

"Gahaha, so I was rejected? No need to apologize. There's nothing to apologize for in something like this. But if I get my hands on some rare ingredients in the future, I'll ask you to cook them for me. Don't refuse me then!"

After a pause, Gato continued.

"Today, that old man Zeff completely stole your thunder. A chef I hold in such high regard won't lose to anyone!"

Gato was not surprised in the slightest by the rejection. It was still too early.

Even Luffy, whose personal charisma was off the charts, had been rejected when he first tried to recruit Sanji. But Sanji had not had any problem with Luffy. In fact, he had wanted to join Luffy's crew.

He simply could not stop worrying about Zeff and was reluctant to leave. Later, Zeff practically drove him away, which finally persuaded him to board Luffy's ship. By then, Zeff had nothing left to teach him.

The current situation was somewhat similar to Luffy's back then. Sanji had come looking for Gato so late at night, so he must have had some unclear feelings stirring within him. After witnessing Gato's bearing, Sanji had in fact been moved as well.

He still refused because he was worried about Zeff and could not bear to leave. Gato did not press him because Zeff might not help this time.

After all, Sanji was still too young. He had not even become the sous-chef yet, and Zeff could not bear to let him go. His own heir had not yet fully inherited his cooking skills, so how could he possibly allow him to leave his side?

Using force was out of the question. Though he had the strength to do so, Gato had once been a respectable businessman who believed in fair deals.

A person's attitude could be part of a deal as well. If you wanted to kill him, he would kill you. If you treated him well, he would treat you well. Very simple logic.

Besides, while he was not afraid of doing it openly, using force against a chef he would need to rely on in the future was far too dangerous.

Chefs, like doctors, were professions one should not offend lightly on the seas.