World-Famous Painting

At this moment, the only thing on the owner's mind was escaping with his life.

A pirate worth 540 million Beli and a vice admiral had appeared at the same time. There was no way they had come here just to chat, right?

If they started fighting, the battle would definitely be earth-shattering. It looked like his shop wasn't going to survive.

But the freezing air had already left him completely unable to move.

Freya looked even worse than the owner.

Only now did she truly understand why her father had become so tense and frightened from the very beginning.

"Th... this is terrifying..."

The Marine before her merely radiated such terrifying pressure that it felt like a mountain crushing down in front of her, leaving her whole body swaying unsteadily. The bone-chilling cold seemed ready to freeze her solid in an instant.

If this Marine was already so powerful, then clearly the pirate couldn't be much weaker.

She had practically been dancing on the edge of a blade just now.

But just as Freya was about to collapse, a warm aura suddenly wrapped around her like an embrace. The cold throughout her body vanished instantly, replaced by a sunlike warmth that left her whole body cozy.

Before she could react, a voice sounded beside her ear, breaking the silence.

"Hey, Marine, if you're not here to fight, then stop putting on such a scary act..."

As his words fell, a warm, scorching current erupted from Ye Mu, clashing head-on with the chill filling the entire room and surging toward the Marine at the door.

"Boom..."

In an instant, two different currents of air collided in the room, both visible to the naked eye.

As the heat and cold crashed together, they actually whipped up a gale inside the cramped room.

But Freya had no attention to spare for that anymore.

Because at this moment, she suddenly realized that the warmth she had felt just now had come from the pirate before her protecting her.

"A pirate is actually protecting me..."

That was more than a little shattering to her worldview.

Throughout all the years she had lived, the pirates she had seen and the understanding instilled in her by the Marines had led her to believe that pirates were absolutely evil beings.

The pirates she had encountered in Loguetown had confirmed this. Not only did they look vicious, but they had also committed arson, murder, robbery, and plunder.

Yet even those evil bastards had bounties of less than a hundred million.

So one could imagine how terrifying a great pirate worth 540 million Beli would be. In the Marines' words, he might truly be an utterly evil criminal.

But now...

Just as Freya was struggling to understand...

A drop sounded beside her ear, accompanied by a chill on her arm.

Freya lowered her head and saw that a bead of water had somehow appeared on her fair arm.

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

"This... this is way too outrageous!"

She turned around and saw her father staring at the ceiling in terror. When she looked up, she was startled as well.

Above her head, on the roof of the restaurant, a thick layer of dark clouds had appeared at some point, accompanied by raindrops pattering down.

The miraculous sight left Freya dumbfounded.

"This... how is this possible..."

Her father, however, understood what was happening and said in shock,

"The Flame-Flame Fruit... the Ice-Ice Fruit... they can actually create phenomena like this? Is this the power of a Devil Fruit of the Logia type? They can actually create weather..."

"He really is a great pirate worth 540 million Beli. And this Marine is terrifying too..."

"Devil Fruit..."

Freya thought of something and asked in a quiet voice,

"Is it something like the ability I have, Dad...?"

But her father had no time to answer her, because at that moment, the cold Marine's voice rang out as well.

"Oh my, who told you I wasn't here to fight? A vicious pirate like you is the primary target the Marines are after..."

The atmosphere seemed to tense up again. The confrontation between their powers appeared to rise another level, and lightning began flashing within the dark clouds overhead, as though a storm was about to descend.

But Ye Mu seemed completely unaffected as he said with a smile,

"If the Marines really wanted to capture me, I'm afraid they wouldn't have sent just one person..."

After his words fell, the two stood in a cold, silent standoff.

Then, as if someone had suddenly pierced a bubble, there was a soft pop.

The dark clouds dispersed, and the tense atmosphere vanished. The entire restaurant returned to its bright, sunny state, as though everything that had happened just now had been a dream.

Under the astonished gazes of the owner and Freya, the Marine before them seemed to have become an entirely different person as well. His terrifying aura faded, and he became lazy and languid, scratching his head as he said,

"Oh my, there's really no helping it... As expected, I can't take you down easily by myself..."

Then he walked in on his own, took out his wallet, and said to Freya and the owner,

"Sorry, I seem to have frightened you two just now. This is compensation for you..."

How could the owner dare accept it?

"N... no need... You didn't cause any real damage..."

The owner waved his hands as he spoke, wearing a "sincere" smile and refusing to accept the Marine's money no matter what.

This left the Marine looking troubled.

Just then, Ye Mu spoke up with a smile.

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

Hearing Ye Mu's words, the Marine's expression became very strange. He looked at Ye Mu, appearing somewhat troubled.

"Just as Borsalino said, you really are a bold pirate."

"So, you're unwilling?"

The Marine shook his head and said lazily,

"Fleet Admiral Sengoku ordered me to capture you, but if I can't capture you, then I'm to monitor you instead. As long as I can keep an eye on you and prevent you from causing trouble, I don't think he'll blame a Marine for sitting together with a pirate... Besides, I'm actually hungry too..."

The moment Ye Mu heard that, he burst into laughter, and his eyes sharpened.

"Hahaha... You're much more interesting than Kizaru. Then let me introduce myself again. Ye Mu, captain of the Sky Pirate Crew..."

The Marine glanced at Ye Mu and introduced himself in turn.

"Kuzan, vice admiral of the Marines..."

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

Seeing this, Ye Mu smiled even more happily.

"This is certainly lively. So, Freya, right? With the future Pirate King and a Marine admiral serving as judges for your cooking competition, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You won't get another chance like this. Will you agree? Hmm!!!???"

Just then, sensing something, Ye Mu suddenly turned his head toward the entrance again. Then he said with a slow smile,

"It's really lively today... Looks like we're going to have one more person joining us..."

As his words fell, a breeze 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 the man, Kuzan frowned and called out his name somewhat awkwardly.

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

The man called Dragon wore a bold smile as he laughed.

"It's been a long time, Kuzan... The public execution of the Pirate King 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 and said with keen interest,

"We finally meet, captain of the Sky Pirate Crew, the utterly evil criminal, Ye Mu."

Ye Mu responded with a smile.

"I didn't realize I was already this famous... So, Dragon, are you interested in becoming the third judge for this cooking competition?"

Dragon removed the green hood from his head and laughed heartily.

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

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

The scene was like a world-famous painting, destined to influence the course of the entire world's future...