Life Cuisine

"This should be the place."

Following the weapon shop owner's directions, Ye Mu found the restaurant he had mentioned without much trouble.

Sure enough, it was shabby and desolate.

It sat on the very edge of Loguetown, with wilderness and forest behind it. The restaurant's building was dilapidated, and its signboard was covered in moss, but he could barely make out four words: Life Cuisine.

"What a strange name..."

But just as Ye Mu was about to push the door open, a foul gust of wind swept over him, accompanied by a vicious shout.

"You damn girl, wasting ingredients again! Die for me..."

Bang...

In an instant, the battered wooden door could no longer bear the strain and shattered into pieces. A figure flew out from the entrance of the restaurant, hurtling straight toward Ye Mu.

But Ye Mu neither dodged nor hid. Instead, he reached out with both hands and caught the flying figure, taking her straight into his arms.

The reason was simple...

Never mind the soft, fleshy feeling of holding her in his arms right now; even the sweet scent of a young girl rushing into his nose was enough to make Ye Mu's thoughts wander. And that was to say nothing of the springy, bouncy sensation coming from those full, round, slender legs under Ye Mu's hands, plus the alluring curves beneath that white chef-girl outfit. Her appeal was absolutely number one.

He lowered his head to look. Her eyes were very cold, giving off an air that warned strangers away.

But her features were simply too stunning to resist, brimming with temptation. It was practically the standard face of a bad woman, stirring in people a desire to conquer her.

And as if to match that aggressively beautiful face, the girl's voice was also extremely cool.

"How long are you planning to hold me..."

Naturally, Ye Mu gave a completely uncooperative answer.

"As long as you're willing, I wouldn't mind holding you forever..."

Smack...

The girl raised her hand and swung it at Ye Mu's face, but she did not hit him. Instead, Ye Mu loosened both hands, and the girl instantly fell to the ground.

"Hmph..."

The girl did not get angry because of it. She rubbed her backside, gave Ye Mu a cold look, then climbed up from the ground and rushed back into the restaurant.

"Interesting..."

Ye Mu followed her inside as well.

Unlike the ruinous exterior, the inside of this restaurant was very clean. Its overall style resembled a huge Mongolian yurt, and the space was large too. There were more than twenty tables, enough to hold nearly a hundred people. Sunlight filled the interior brightly, giving off a very comfortable feeling. All kinds of little flowers and plants had been placed by the surrounding windows too. From the look of it, the owner was quite a caring guy.

Only, the shop seemed a bit deserted right now. There was no one there, except...

Bang...

Another loud crash rang out.

The girl from earlier was now slamming the fragile bar counter hard, questioning a very burly man behind it who wore a frilled apron and had his arms crossed over his chest.

"Stinky old man, weren't you the one who taught me that if you want to make the most delicious dishes, you have to use the best ingredients..."

The man was clearly very angry too.

"You damn girl, what I said was suitable... suitable... Besides, that's no reason for you to waste ingredients..."

"But those cuts of meat weren't qualified at all..."

"What do you mean not qualified? It's clearly because you didn't cook them with care..."

"Stop using those outdated lies to fool people. Ordinary ingredients are ordinary ingredients. No matter how you cook them, they'll never turn into top-tier delicacies..."

"Bastard! The culinary art of our Life Cuisine is to use the cheapest ingredients to make the most delicious dishes... The things I've taught you since you were little, you've forgotten every last bit of them..."

"Tch, I never remembered them in the first place. If you hadn't forced me, I wouldn't want to be some chef or learn cooking at all..."

"Baka! You were born a chef! You were born for cooking! Besides, if you don't become a chef, then when I die, who am I supposed to hand this shop over to..."

"When you die, I'll burn this place down and then go adventure all over the world..."

The owner instantly flew into a rage. The veins on his forehead twisted together as if they were about to burst, and his face flushed red with anger.

"You damn girl! This shop is something your mother and I worked hard together to keep running until it became what it is today, and you actually want to burn it down? You unfilial daughter..."

The girl looked at her father disdainfully, muttering something under her breath, but in the end she did not say anything cruel.

At that moment, the owner also noticed Ye Mu walking in. He gave the girl a vicious glare and said, "I'll deal with you damn girl later..."

As he spoke, he picked up a menu and walked warmly to Ye Mu's side with a smile.

"Guest... what would you like to order..."

But before he could finish speaking, he suddenly seemed to discover something terrifying. Looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar face after the hood had been removed, the smile on his face instantly vanished, and his complexion went pale. Trembling and unable to move, he shouted, "Y-you are..."

The girl immediately noticed that something was wrong with her old man. Once she reacted, she instantly rushed over, blocking the space between her father and Ye Mu. Under Ye Mu's somewhat surprised gaze, one of the girl's hands turned into a knife, and the other into a frying pan. Then she glared fiercely at Ye Mu and asked the old man behind her, "Hey... stinky old man... are you okay? Who is this guy..."

Only then did the owner snap back to his senses. He hurriedly steadied himself, rushed in front of the girl, and blocked her as he said, "No... Freya... don't do anything... It's a misunderstanding... a misunderstanding... I'm sorry, sir... I was just..."

Seeing the old man's incoherent rambling, the girl was a little stunned. Ye Mu, on the other hand, found it somewhat strange. He pulled out a chair, sat down, and asked, "Looks like you recognized me. But am I really that scary?"

The owner forced out a smile uglier than crying and said, "Of course not. Lord Ye Mu, captain of the Sky Pirates, your honored presence in our little shop truly brings glory to this humble place..."

"Sky Pirates... captain... Ye Mu..."

Blocked behind the old man, the girl named Freya seemed to remember something in an instant, and understood why the old man had suddenly become so afraid.

When she thought about how she had almost slapped such a terrifying man just now, lingering fear surged through her. Her cold face turned deathly pale.

As for the Celestial Dragons, Freya, who had been born and raised in Loguetown in the East Blue, did not know much about them. She could not truly grasp what it meant to kill a Celestial Dragon.

But she did understand what it meant for someone's personal bounty to reach 540 million berries on their first voyage, and for the entire pirate crew's bounty to reach 1.42 billion berries. After coming into contact with countless pirates, Freya understood that much.

In fact, in the dozen-plus years she had lived in Loguetown, she had never seen a pirate bounty from the East Blue that high.

And over the past month, the thing discussed most throughout all of Loguetown, aside from the soon-to-be-executed One Piece, Gol D. Roger, was the Sky Pirates—the bunch of madmen who had dared to kill Celestial Dragons.

However, looking at the man in front of her, who was somewhat handsome but otherwise seemed perfectly ordinary, Freya simply could not connect him with the vicious, universally hated great pirates she had seen in Loguetown.

He doesn't seem all that amazing...

Freya thought to herself...