"We've got the whole place to ourselves."
Alice looked around the dilapidated restaurant, empty enough to feel almost deathly still.
Far from showing any disgust, she sounded delighted.
Of course, the fact that only the three of them had come to this restaurant at mealtime...
...didn't strike Alice as a problem at all.
Lady Alice was simply that carefree, easygoing sort of person.
Watching her, Cui Ciyou had more than once thought to himself:
If the day ever comes when I can travel to the world of One Piece...
Alice, you and Luffy would definitely become the best of friends.
Just like Yamato.
But speaking of Yamato... ah...
When Alice saw the endless sea on the Demon Continent, she got so excited she wanted to jump straight in naked.
I had to tell you, "There are S-Rank monsters in the sea that could swallow you whole."
Only then did you give up on the idea.
And Yamato is the kind of airhead who'd stroll into the men's bath without a second thought.
Come to think of it, you two really are alike.
You're both as purehearted as children.
Caught between amusement and exasperation, Cui Ciyou...
...led Alice and Sylphy to a relatively intact spot and sat down.
The square wooden tabletop had fewer cracks than the others.
Although the chairs let out teeth-grating creaks when they sat on them...
...at least all four legs were still intact.
"Welcome..."
Just after the three of them took their seats...
...a dry, hoarse voice drifted out of the kitchen's pitch-black shadows.
Then a skeleton-like man...
...walked slowly over with a menu.
He was probably the owner.
His face was gloomy, and frightening too.
His skeletal frame was painfully thin.
He was skin and bones in the truest sense, as though a gust of