From Pirate to Refusing Red-Hair's Invitation

"You came to the Baratie alone?"

"Yeah."

Garp went on, "Which island did you come from?"

Lin Mo gave him a speechless look.

Is this guy here to interrogate me?

Lin Mo kept drinking and ignored him.

Just then, a blond boy with several bandages on his face, looking as though he had just taken a beating, came over carrying two plates of food.

"Here's your food. Enjoy."

It was nine-year-old Sanji, the future Pirate King Luffy's cook and one of his main fighters.

After setting the dishes in front of Lin Mo,

Sanji turned to head back to the kitchen.

He had barely turned around

when voices that grated on his ears came from a nearby table.

"Why are there carrots in the fried rice? I hate carrots! Something this disgusting shouldn't even exist!"

"Oh, sweetheart, if you don't like it, just throw it away. We'll order another one without carrots, all right?"

The speakers were a lavishly dressed young woman and her ten-year-old son.

Sanji looked over at their table.

One look nearly made him explode with anger.

The boy had dumped an entire plate of fried rice onto the table. He was stirring it around with his spoon for fun, sending bits of rice onto the floor.

Sanji had once come close to starving to death.

He could not forgive anyone for treating food that way.

"Hey!" Sanji marched toward the boy, fuming.

When the boy's mother saw him coming, she said at once, "Perfect timing. We'd like to order again."

Sanji ignored her request. "Do you know how many people in the world are starving? How can you waste food like this?"

The young woman blinked, then frowned. "What are you talking about? I paid for this food. I can waste it however I want. What's it to you?"

"Damn it! So what if you have money?" Sanji clenched his fists. "If you're somewhere with nothing to eat, can money fill your stomach?"

The spacious dining hall

had gone quiet.

Most of the diners had stopped eating.

As if watching a show,

they turned their attention to Sanji's argument with the customer.

The lavishly dressed woman glanced around.

Seeing everyone watching them, she pursed her lips. Then an idea struck her, and she dumped the half plate of fried rice she still had onto the floor right in front of Sanji.

Sanji's eyes went wide.

The woman ground her shoes into the rice a couple of times, then gave him a nasty smile. "You can't stand seeing people waste food, can you? Why don't you eat the rice off the floor? I've already paid for it, so consider it my treat. Don't be shy."

"You..." Sanji trembled with anger.

"Oh my," the woman said, feigning surprise. "What's wrong? Are you all talk? Saying one thing and doing another—how disappointing. From now on, don't demand things of others that you can't do yourself!"

A few people nearby laughed at her words.

Others thought she had gone too far, but none of them spoke up.

Sanji stared at the trampled fried rice. His clenched fists loosened, tightened, loosened again, then tightened once more.

At last, he took a deep breath. "If I eat the rice off the floor, you'll eat all the rice on the table."

The woman narrowed her eyes and stepped on the rice a few more times.

"Fine," she said with a sneer. "If you eat that rice off the floor, I'll eat all the rice on the table!"

"Fine. You said it."

Sanji crouched down, scooped up the trampled rice with his hands, and actually put it in his mouth.

"Mom, is that guy stupid?" The woman's son pointed his spoon at Sanji and burst out laughing. "Hahaha! He's really eating rice off the floor! Is he a beggar? Hahaha..."

Then

some of the customers nearby began to speak up.

"What kind of person bullies a child like that?"

"No way. Is he really eating it? I thought he was joking."

"Hey, lady! He ate the rice off the floor. Time to keep your promise and eat what's on the table, don't you think?"

"Yeah. Eat the rice."

The woman gritted her teeth as she listened to the customers around her. Finally, she stood, intending to take her son and leave.

"Seriously? She made a promise to that kid and now she's breaking it? That's awful."

"Exactly. Her son's right there, too. What a terrible example."

"Come on, eat it. The kid ate rice you stepped on. You only have to eat what's on the table. You've got the better end of the deal."

Their comments kept ringing in the woman's ears.

Furious, she looked at Sanji, who was still on the floor eating the rice she had trampled.

She gritted her teeth.

Then she snatched up the rice her son had dumped onto the table and ate it in a few mouthfuls. Taking her son by the hand, she hurried out, muttering as she went, "What a lousy restaurant. You just wait, you little brat!"

Meanwhile,

Lin Mo ate the two dishes he had ordered with his drink, watching what happened with Sanji.

To many people, Sanji probably had no reason to argue with the woman over something so small.

He certainly did not need to pick up dirty rice from the floor and eat it.

But if Sanji had ignored it, he would not have been Sanji.

Wasting food and hitting women were the two things he could not bear.

So Sanji's actions were just what Lin Mo had expected.

Just then,

Patty came out of the kitchen grinning, carrying a large tray piled with desserts. When he saw what was happening with Sanji,

his face darkened.

He hurriedly delivered Garp's desserts,

then went up behind Sanji, grabbed him by the back of his collar, and lifted him off the floor.

The mother and son who had wasted the food were already gone.

Patty did not know exactly what had happened between Sanji and those customers.

But when he saw the patch of trampled fried rice on the floor and the grain still stuck to the corner of Sanji's mouth, he could make a good guess.

"Let go of me, you bastard, Patty!"

Sanji struggled with all his might.

At nine years old, he was no match for the burly Patty in size, height, or strength.

No matter how hard he fought, he could not break Patty's grip on his collar.

Patty thumped Sanji on the head with his free hand. "You little brat! You argued with customers again, didn't you? How many have you driven away this month? Do you have any idea how much money your antics are costing us?"

Sanji shot back, "Money, money, money! That's all you care about! Can money fill your stomach?"

Patty drove another solid punch into Sanji's head. "We run a restaurant to make money! Without money, how are you going to buy ingredients, you idiot?"

Still scolding him, Patty carried him toward the kitchen. "A little freeloader like you who can't do anything right should stick to washing dishes!"

"Shut up, you lousy cook!"

"Huh? Someone who wants to become a lousy cook has no right to call me one!"

Lin Mo silently watched Patty carry Sanji into the kitchen.

He had come here to complete his check-in progress task.

The Baratie was clearly a restaurant ship for diners, not a place with guest rooms where they could stay.

Unless he got a job here...

After a moment's thought, Lin Mo dismissed the idea.

Getting a job was out of the question. He was never going to work for someone else.

There was another option: talk to Zeff, the Baratie's captain and head chef.

Based on what had happened in Shimotsuki Village,

talking to Zeff might even trigger check-in progress.

With that in mind, Lin Mo ate the last bite on his plate and drank the last mouthful from his wine gourd.

He was about to get up and go upstairs to find Zeff

when

Garp, seated nearby, suddenly tossed a doughnut at him.

Lin Mo leaned aside and caught it easily, then gave Garp a speechless look.

"Hahaha!" Garp roared with laughter. "Nice reflexes, Lin Mo, you little rascal. How about joining the Marines?"

Huh?

He's inviting me to join the Marines out of nowhere?

Just like that?

"No." Lin Mo refused outright and tossed the doughnut back.

Garp caught it with a laugh and took a bite. "Wasting food at the Baratie is against the rules, you know."

Lin Mo had no words.

You're the one who threw the doughnut at me!

Garp kept laughing. "Hahaha! Don't decide so quickly, kid. Give it some thought."

Garp was a vice admiral whose strength surpassed that of an admiral. He might rarely act serious, but he had a keen eye for people.

From the moment he saw Lin Mo, he had sensed that this quiet kid was no ordinary child.

One thing that truly made him take notice was Lin Mo's wine.

Its aroma was not strong, but beneath it lay a faint scent of cherry blossoms and the distinctive fragrance of a brew made from special grains. Garp was certain the kid had been to the Isshin Dojo in Shimotsuki Village.

Garp had once visited Shimotsuki Village on official business and happened to stay at the Isshin Dojo for two days. Koushirou had served him wine brewed with those special ingredients and methods.

When Garp left, he had asked Koushirou for some, but Koushirou had refused to give him so much as another small flask.

Yet this kid had a whole gourd full of it.

Clearly, Koushirou thought highly of him.

The other thing that impressed Garp was the small sailboat moored outside, just big enough for one or two people.

Its design was unique to Foosha Village. Garp had recognized it at a glance.