Bartolomeo

Noki entered the kitchen, where the Marine cooks were busy preparing dinner for the soldiers.

"Rear Admiral, what brings you here?" A Marine wearing a tall chef's hat walked over.

"Oh, I'm just looking around. Since I've only just arrived, my understanding of the base is still limited to paperwork. I haven't experienced it firsthand yet."

"Would you like me to introduce the place to you?"

"No need. Go on with your work."

The kitchen was neither too large nor too small, a medium-sized space.

Noki glanced up and immediately spotted the only female cook in the base.

That should be her.

Noki quietly approached the young woman.

She was completely focused on preparing a dish and did not notice someone standing beside her at all.

"Looks pretty good."

After watching for a while, Noki suddenly spoke.

The young woman was startled by Noki's presence. Turning her head, she saw the man's beautiful face, and a large blush instantly spread across her cheeks. She instinctively jumped backward, only to twist her ankle by accident...

Noki reacted quickly and caught her by the waist. It would have been better if he had not touched her—at the contact, her reaction became even stronger, and she let out an excited cry.

For a moment, everyone in the kitchen turned to look at them.

The young woman finally came to her senses and hurriedly steadied herself. She pushed the man in front of her away, lowered her head, and blushed so hard she could barely speak. "R-Re-Re-Rear Admiral, w-what do you need me for?"

"Uh..."

Seeing her like this only made Noki more certain of his judgment.

"It's nothing, really. I just wanted to ask whether you made breakfast and afternoon tea today."

"Yes! How was it? Did it suit your tastes?" Her eyes were full of anticipation.

"It tasted quite good, but..."

"But what?!"

Noki looked around at the others. He felt it would be somewhat inappropriate to reject her outright in front of everyone, so he changed his approach. "Your cooking style reminded me of my girlfriend at Marine Headquarters. Every time she prepares a lunchbox for me, she makes a heart-shaped decoration."

Girlfriend...

Tereina's expression instantly froze.

The Rear Admiral had a girlfriend...

A girlfriend?

He had a girlfriend?!

What do I do? What do I do?!

I absolutely can't admit that I like the Rear Admiral now, or he'll definitely reject me.

Ignoring the strange looks from the other cooks, Tereina gradually calmed herself. Her little head spun at top speed, and then she said with unusual composure, "Rear Admiral, the meaning of my hearts differs from the meaning of your girlfriend's hearts."

"What do you mean?"

Tereina continued making things up. "A-a heart doesn't only represent romantic love between men and women. It can also represent a subordinate's respect and affection for her superior. The reason I decorated your food this way was to let you experience the warmth of the Loguetown Marines and understand the respect and admiration we subordinates have for you!"

"There's an interpretation like that?"

After thinking it over carefully, Noki found it seemed reasonable enough. Who said hearts had to represent love?

But...

Noki was not stupid. Her reaction just now was far too intense to be mere respect from a subordinate toward her superior.

Still, the little cook already knew he had a girlfriend.

His goal had been achieved.

There was no need to get to the bottom of it.

"If that's the case, then it truly is something to be happy about, to have subordinates who respect me so much. Keep up the good work."

Noki reached out and patted her shoulder.

Tereina's heart pounded wildly.

After Noki left.

The entire kitchen erupted in teasing whistles.

They had known Tereina for years.

They had never seen her care so much about any superior or colleague.

And now she was claiming it was about respecting her superior. Who would believe that?

Tereina widened her eyes and glared at everyone. "What are you staring at? Get back to work!"

As the best cook in the entire kitchen, she had repeatedly participated in Loguetown cooking competitions and earned outstanding results. Her status was extremely important, second only to the head chef.

Seeing her petite, adorable appearance, the cooks all burst into laughter.

The head chef even sighed. "Tereina has reached the age where a young girl starts yearning for love!"

Her face red with embarrassment, Tereina no longer had the mood to continue cooking. She set down her spatula and ran out of the kitchen.

Back in her dormitory.

Tereina buried her head beneath the blanket as the events from earlier replayed over and over in her mind.

"What do I do? The Rear Admiral has a girlfriend, and they even seem deeply in love. Am I really supposed to give up just because I finally fell for someone?"

"No, no. I probably won't meet a better man than the Rear Admiral in my entire life. Even if I have to steal him, I'll steal him for myself. They aren't married yet. Everyone can compete fairly, and everyone has a chance."

"But cooking alone definitely won't move the Rear Admiral's heart. What other advantages do I have?"

Tereina stood before the mirror and fell into deep thought as she looked at her petite body.

In terms of figure alone, she did not seem to have much of an advantage.

Damn it!

Why couldn't she grow a little bigger?!

She could not take the mature route. It looked like she could only go with the cute route.

I hope the Rear Admiral likes girls like me...

Tereina steadied herself and returned to the kitchen. Her cooking plan had only just begun, so she could not let it end like this. After all, whether male or female, sincerity was extremely important in love.

As long as she persisted, the Rear Admiral would eventually come to understand how wonderful she was.

Until she thought of another way to win him over, she would keep at it for now!

After resolving the issue with his fangirl, Noki returned to his room, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep.

While he slept.

The Marines finally ended their exhausting first day of training. After dinner, they each returned to their rooms to rest.

Only Tashigi went back to the training grounds, continuing her sword-swinging practice.

When Tereina saw that Tashigi had not returned to her room for a long time, she suddenly remembered Tashigi saying last night that the Rear Admiral seemed to have accepted her as his disciple.

Tereina could not help feeling a little envious and jealous of Tashigi. On the very first day they met, Tashigi had already formed such a solid connection with the Rear Admiral.

Could she become the Rear Admiral's disciple too?

Obviously not...

After all, her talent in combat was difficult to describe.

Unless the Rear Admiral was also highly accomplished in cooking, but how could that be possible?

Handsome, powerful, and skilled at cooking too?

A man like that only appeared once in a hundred years.

When it was time for his scheduled call with Ain, Noki was awakened by the "Buru Buru" of the Den Den Mushi.

Their conversations were simple. They merely told each other about their daily experiences.

Ain's day had been ordinary as usual, and she was still preparing for her teaching duties.

When she heard about Noki's day, she was calm at first. But the more she listened, the more an uncontrollable jealousy rose in her heart.

Sure enough, bad women had come to seduce her Noki.

Although Noki had rejected her, no one could guarantee that woman would give up because of it.

Just like how Noki had rejected Ain's confessions many times in the past, had she ever given up?

Unfortunately, she was far away at Marine Headquarters and could not go over to protect her man.

If only there were someone trustworthy who could help keep an eye on him.

The moment the thought arose, Ain immediately dismissed it. As the saying went, guard against fire, guard against thieves, and guard against your best friends. Had cases of "the guard becoming the thief" really been rare throughout history?

It was still most reassuring to handle things herself.

But she truly could not be transferred away from Headquarters!

Ain became increasingly frustrated. If she were an ordinary woman, she would probably use threats, cry, make a scene, and force her man to stay away from the opposite sex.

Ain was not that foolish. If she really did that, she would only be giving other women an opportunity to take advantage.

But she could not simply do nothing and endlessly be generous and accommodating.

She remembered the insurance policy Gion had helped her establish before, so she said, "Noki, there's something else I forgot to tell you. Sister Gion recommended some books to me again recently. I couldn't refuse her, so I accepted a few, but I put them all in the bookcase without reading a single one."

Well then!

Noki immediately got angry when he heard that.

That troublesome bad big sister Gion was determined to corrupt Ain, wasn't she?

When he returned to Headquarters, he would definitely have a proper talk with her!

Noki repeatedly warned Ain never to read the books Gion had given her.

Ain did not mention their original agreement at all, but Noki had clearly remembered it himself.

Her goal had been achieved.

Still, this method worked once or twice, but using it too often would only provoke Noki's resentment.

Ain still needed to think of other ways. Having such an outstanding boyfriend was truly a headache!

Life in Loguetown was simple yet fulfilling.

Although Noki had made it clear that he had a girlfriend, he could still enjoy the meals Tereina carefully prepared for him.

He also learned some things about Tereina from others. It turned out that she was one of East Blue's renowned chefs, known as the Second Best Chef of East Blue.

At the East Blue cooking competition held in Loguetown, she had repeatedly taken second place and earned the nickname of eternal runner-up.

First place always went to Chef Carmen, who came from the sea restaurant Baratie, studied under Zeff, and was Sanji's senior fellow disciple.

Tereina hated hearing people call her East Blue's Number Two, because she cared deeply about losing to someone her own age in the field she excelled in most.

Noki thought that when the next cooking competition was held, he might as well teach her a few tricks and help her take first place. It would also count as repaying her for cooking for him for so long.

Meanwhile, Dadi lived up to expectations and found Bartolomeo's trail after four days. He was living in a village in the countryside outside Loguetown.

Upon learning this, Noki immediately decided to head there.

The island where Loguetown was located was enormous. It did not consist of just one town; many small villages were scattered around its outskirts.

As one of the strongest mountain bandits, Bartolomeo controlled nearly all the villages around Loguetown and collected protection fees from them.

Bartolomeo was not a bad person by nature. Unlike ordinary mountain bandits who only knew how to burn, kill, and plunder, he usually just fought other bandits for territory before demanding protection fees from the villagers.

If he encountered a particularly poor village, he would lower the fee accordingly. In short, his business was much like the security companies from Noki's previous life.

He was essentially paid to guard people's homes, except security guards were passive employees, while Bartolomeo forced the villagers to accept his protection.

According to what Noki had learned, the villagers initially did not want to accept Bartolomeo. But as time passed, they discovered that this bandit was quite formidable. With him around, no one dared set foot in their villages anymore, so they gradually accepted his presence.

They even began helping Bartolomeo conceal his whereabouts from the Marines.

After all, the Marines had failed to fulfill their duty when they were supposed to protect the villagers, while Bartolomeo had done the job exceptionally well at a price they could accept. The difference between the two was obvious.

Noki was walking alone along a country path when a group of people suddenly sprang out.

At their head was a woman with short red-and-yellow hair, a lovely face, and a fiery figure.

She wore a dark blue agent's coat, with only thick white cloth wrapped around her ample chest. A thick iron club rested on her shoulder, and a vegetable stem hung from her mouth. Her tone was utterly domineering. "Hey, what's Marine trash doing here? Did we not beat you badly enough last time? Is your skin itching again?"

"You are?"

"I'm Dezaya, deputy leader of Bartolomeo's crew. You look unfamiliar, woman. You're new, right?"

"You said woman?"

Noki wore a brilliant smile. The next instant, he took a huge step forward, extended his index finger, and ruthlessly drove a Finger Pistol toward her chest.

Dezaya immediately flew backward more than ten meters like a kite with its string cut, vomiting blood as she crashed headfirst into the fields.

"Deputy leader?"

The mountain bandits were stunned.

"She defeated the deputy leader in one strike? Is this person a monster?"

"Go get the boss! A powerful enemy has come!!"

Noki allowed the bandits to run back and report. He followed behind them at an unhurried pace.

Bartolomeo was in the middle of relieving himself behind a neighbor's house when he suddenly learned that Dezaya, his childhood friend, had been knocked unconscious.

Although he had never liked Dezaya much, they had grown up together. He could not simply ignore it.

"Tch. Women are such a pain."

Bartolomeo pulled up his pants, shoved his hands into his pockets, and swaggered toward the edge of the village.

From afar, Noki spotted a man with a green rooster-comb hairstyle and knew that he was Bartolomeo, the man with the invincible barrier.

Bartolomeo picked his nose, clearly not taking Noki seriously. He opened his mouth and said, "You're pretty strong. I thought Dezaya was already among the best women out there, but I didn't expect someone even stronger than her."

Seeing Noki's dark expression, his underlings hurriedly reminded him from the side, "Boss, h-he-he's a man! Deputy Leader Dezaya got beaten in one move because she mistook his gender!"

"Do you think I'd be defeated in one move?" Bartolomeo's demon-like face grew even darker.

"Boss is wise and mighty, incredibly strong. Of course you wouldn't, hehehe."

Bartolomeo behaved with complete abandon, directly reaching into his pants to scratch himself. Seeing Noki's disdainful gaze, he said without a care, "Don't like the look of me? Then come hit me if you don't like it!"

As he spoke, he even thrust his head forward.

Noki sensed that Bartolomeo had placed an invisible barrier in front of himself, which was why he dared act so brazenly.

However...

Before the Dark-Dark Fruit, every ability was useless.

Noki opened his right palm, and a black vortex reached forward.

Bartolomeo had not yet realized that his barrier had vanished.

Noki raised his left hand and slapped him across the face.

"Slap!"