A World-Famous Painting

At that moment, the boss had only one thing on his mind: run for his life.

A pirate worth 540 million berries and a Marine vice admiral had shown up at the same time. They could not possibly be here for a chat.

Once they started fighting, the battle would absolutely shake heaven and earth. From the look of it, his family's shop was doomed.

But the chill gathering in the air made it impossible for him to move at all.

And Freya looked even worse than the boss.

Only now did she truly understand why her old man had become so nervous and afraid from the very beginning.

"S-so... so scary..."

The Marine before her relied on nothing but the terrifying aura radiating from him, yet it pressed down in front of her like a mountain, making her whole body sway on the verge of collapse. That bone-deep chill felt as if it would freeze her solid in an instant.

If this Marine was already this powerful, then clearly this pirate could not be much weaker.

A moment ago, she had practically been dancing on the edge of a blade.

But just as Freya was about to be unable to hold on, a warm aura suddenly wrapped around her like an embrace. The chill throughout her body was instantly driven away, replaced by a sunlike warmth that spread through her from head to toe.

Before she could react, a voice rang by her ear, breaking the silence.

"Hey, Marine. Since you're not here to fight, stop putting on such a scary face..."

As the words fell, a warm, searing current erupted from Ye Mu, directly opposing the cold that filled the entire room, and surged toward the Marine at the entrance.

Boom...

In an instant, two visibly different currents of air inside the room slammed into each other.

As the heat current and the cold air collided, a gale actually whipped up inside the cramped room.

But Freya no longer had the mind to care.

Because at that moment, she suddenly understood that the warm feeling just now had actually come from the pirate in front of her helping her.

"A pirate is actually protecting me..."

This somewhat shook her view of the world.

In all her years, everything she had seen of pirates, and everything the Marines had taught her, told her that pirates were beings of absolute evil.

The pirates she had seen in Loguetown had also proven all of it. Not only did they look vicious and wicked, but the things they did were arson, murder, robbery, and pillaging.

Yet those evil people had never even had bounties over a hundred million.

Then one could imagine how terrifying a great pirate worth 540 million berries would be. In the Marines' words, he might truly be an extremely evil man.

But now...

Just as Freya could not quite understand it...

A drip sounded beside her ear, accompanied by a cool sensation on her arm.

Freya looked down and saw that a drop of water had actually appeared on her fair arm.

Before she could react, she heard her old man beside her shout in panic.

"Th-this... this is way too exaggerated!"

She turned back and saw her old man staring up at the ceiling in terror. She raised her head to look as well and was also startled.

Above her head, over the roof of the restaurant, a thick layer of black clouds had appeared at some point, accompanied by raindrops falling with soft patters.

This miraculous scene left Freya somewhat dumbstruck.

"Th-this... how is that possible..."

Her old man, on the other hand, came to understand, and said in shock, "The Flame-Flame Fruit... the Ice-Ice Fruit... they can actually create an anomaly like this... Is this the power of Logia Devil Fruits... They can actually create weather phenomena..."

"As expected of a great pirate with a bounty of 540 million berries. This Marine is terrifying too..."

"Devil Fruit..."

Freya seemed to think of something and asked in a quiet voice, "Is it the same kind of thing as the ability I have, old man..."

But her old man no longer had time to answer her, because just then, the cold Marine's voice rang out as well.

"Ah la la, who told you I'm not here to fight? A vicious pirate like you is a prime target for us Marines to capture..."

At that moment, the atmosphere seemed to tense up again. Along with it, the standoff between their powers seemed to rise to another level, and lightning began to flicker inside the black clouds overhead, as if a storm was about to descend.

Ye Mu, however, seemed not to feel it at all as he smiled and said, "If you Marines really wanted to capture me, I'm afraid you wouldn't have sent only one person..."

After his words fell, there was only the cold standoff between the two of them and silence.

Then, as if a bubble had suddenly been pricked, there was a pop.

The black clouds dispersed, and the tense atmosphere vanished as well. The entire restaurant returned to a bright and sunny state, as if everything just now had been a dream.

Under the surprised gazes of the boss and Freya, the Marine before them also seemed to have become a different person. The terrifying aura from just now disappeared, and his whole person turned lazy as he scratched his head and said, "Ah-la-la... This is a real problem. Just as I thought, I can't take you down easily on my own..."

Then he walked in as if nothing had happened, took out his wallet, and said to Freya and the owner, "Sorry. I seem to have scared you a little just now. This is compensation for you..."

How could the owner dare accept it?

"N-no need... There wasn't any real damage..."

The owner waved his hands, a "sincere" smile on his face, refusing no matter what to take money from the Marines.

That left the Marine looking troubled.

And right then, Ye Mu spoke with a smile.

"In that case, Marine, why don't you, like me, become a judge for this cooking contest for free? Consider it compensation for this father and daughter..."

Hearing Ye Mu's words, the Marine's eyes turned very strange. He looked at Ye Mu, his expression seeming somewhat troubled.

"You really are as bold as that guy Borsalino said, pirate."

"So, you're unwilling?"

The Marine shook his head and said lazily, "Admiral Sengoku's orders were for me to arrest you. But if I can't arrest you, then I'm to keep you under surveillance. As long as I can watch you and stop you from causing trouble, I imagine he won't blame a Marine like me for sitting together with a pirate... Besides, I'm actually hungry right now..."

When Ye Mu heard that, he burst out laughing, and his gaze sharpened as well.

"Hahaha... You're far more interesting than Kizaru. Then let me introduce myself again. Captain of the Sky Pirates, Ye Mu..."

The Marine glanced at Ye Mu and likewise gave his name.

"Marine Vice Admiral Kuzan..."

As he spoke, he sat down beside Ye Mu without the slightest hesitation.

Seeing this, Ye Mu laughed even more happily.

"This is getting lively. Well then, Freya, was it? The future One Piece and a Marine admiral are serving as judges for your cooking contest. An opportunity like this only comes once in a lifetime. You won't get another one later. Will you agree... Hm!!!???"

Just then, Ye Mu seemed to sense something. He suddenly turned back toward the entrance, then smiled and said slowly, "Today really is lively... Looks like we'll have to add one more person..."

As soon as he finished speaking, a gust of fresh wind swept in, and the battered door of the restaurant was pushed open once again.

A man draped in a dark green coat walked in.

Seeing this man, Kuzan frowned and called out his name somewhat unnaturally.

"Dragon... I didn't expect you to come here too..."

The man named Dragon broke into a bold smile and said, "Long time no see, Kuzan... The public execution of the One Piece is such a major event. If I didn't witness it in person, I'm afraid I'd regret it for the rest of my life..."

After Dragon finished speaking, he looked at Ye Mu beside Kuzan, his eyes full of interest as he said, "We finally meet, Captain of the Sky Pirates, the most evil man, Ye Mu."

Ye Mu responded with a smile as well.

"I didn't expect to be this famous already... In that case, man called Dragon, are you interested in becoming the third judge for the upcoming cooking contest...?"

Dragon pulled back the green hood over his head and laughed loudly.

"Of course... It would be my honor..."

At that moment, Ye Mu, Kuzan, and Dragon sat in a row.

The scene was like a world-famous painting, one that would influence the future course of the entire world...