One Piece: Invincible from the Start

"An island..."

Hearing Kuta mutter, Kuina quickly sat up from the deck chair beside him.

She reached a hand out in front of Kuta and said with great interest, "Let me see, Kuta."

"Here, take it!"

Kuta handed the page of the newspaper to Kuina and muttered with a sigh.

"The sea really is amazing. One second, they might still be eating hot pot and singing songs, and the next, they're buried by an island falling from the sky. I wonder who they're supposed to argue with about that."

Kuina took the newspaper and began reading.

As she read, she seemed to think of something and lowered her head in thought.

"What's wrong?"

Kuta noticed Kuina's state and asked softly.

"I think I've seen something similar somewhere before."

"You have?"

"Yeah! I have."

Kuina suddenly raised her head, looking as though she had realized something.

"Oh! I remember now."

Kuta sat up straight. A trace of curiosity appeared in his eyes as he stared at Kuina and asked, "What did you remember?"

"I think I saw similar news ten years ago."

She paused before continuing.

"Once, my father brought home a newspaper after going out to sea. It recorded a story very similar to this one."

"The same island falling from the sky, destroying everything just the same."

She looked up at Kuta, her brows drawing together slightly as her mood fell.

"That was probably right after you came here."

"Oh! So it was ten years ago!"

Kuta nodded. Back then, he had not yet developed the habit of reading newspapers.

"No wonder I didn't know."

He lowered the newspaper and sighed silently before raising his hand to smooth out Kuina's furrowed brows.

"Hey! There's nothing anyone can do about this kind of natural disaster. Hopefully, no one was hurt."

He knew that was impossible, but he still prayed silently.

The sea was simply that unreasonable. Even the East Blue was not free from natural disasters.

Perhaps the little island had been carried into the sky by some ocean current before coincidentally falling onto Corgi Island.

That was how the East Blue was. The Grand Line was even worse; its weather and environment were utterly illogical.

Many pirates and merchant ships that entered the Grand Line were not necessarily killed by enemies.

Most of them were left forever on the seafloor by the sea's bizarre weather and the ferocious Sea Kings.

Kuta shook his head, casting those thoughts aside.

He looked up at Kuina. "All right, all right. If you keep frowning, you'll get wrinkles early."

"How could that happen? I'm only sixteen, and I'm still beautiful. It's far too early for me to get wrinkles!"

Kuina slapped Kuta's hand away, and a smile returned to her downcast face.

"But you, Kuta... You're a year older than me, so you should get wrinkles first. Then you'll be an old man."

"If I'm an old man, then you'll be an old woman. Besides, haven't you heard a saying?"

"What saying?"

"The older a man gets, the more appealing he becomes. And little girls and young women all love older men."

Kuta looked at Kuina's improved mood and said it with a perfectly serious expression.

"Ha ha ha..."

Kuina burst into happy laughter.

Tenderness flashed through Kuta's eyes as he watched Kuina laugh. The corners of his mouth gradually lifted, and a gentle smile spread across his face.

These matters had nothing to do with them. No natural disaster, no matter how great, and no beast, no matter how fierce, could make them stop moving forward.

"Kuta, a huge ship has appeared ahead. It should be the sea restaurant Baratie."

Just then, A-Luo's shout suddenly came from the sky.

Hearing him, Kuta gently set down the cup in his left hand, threw off the little blanket covering him, put on his slippers, and stood up.

He walked to the bow and looked toward the point where the sea and sky met in the distance.

Under the midday sun, the distant surface of the water looked hazy, like steam rising from a steamer.

Through the distorted air, he could make out a huge ship shaped like a fish.

The ship had a three-story structure on its deck, and the outside of the building was painted blue-green.

From a distance, it looked just like a huge blue-green fish.

The sail on the ship's massive mast was not unfurled. At the top fluttered a flag with a red border, a white field, and the two lowercase English letters "bt" printed on it.

He had no idea what those two letters meant. Somehow, they felt like an insult.

It seemed they had been operating in this stretch of sea recently.

When they drew closer, they could see a white naval vessel and more than a dozen small sailing ships of various sizes moored behind the giant ship.

Those small sailing ships were probably merchant vessels passing through.

They parked the Fake Merry beside the naval vessel, furled their sails, and dropped anchor.

Looking up at the naval vessel beside them, they could see sailors resting on it.

The sailors merely glanced at them before ignoring them. As long as they were not pirates, that was all that mattered.

Since Baratie had no direct landing point, they could only approach in a small boat.

They had no choice but to lower their spare boat and row toward the sea restaurant.

Chapter 16: The Customer Is God

The sea restaurant Baratie.

It was said to be the most famous restaurant in the East Blue. Many people came here specifically to taste the delicious dishes prepared by its owner and head chef, Zeff. Even important figures from the Marines came here to eat.

Once here, it did not matter whether you were a Marine or a pirate.

Nor did it matter whether you were a noble or a commoner.

As long as you arrived with an empty stomach, they would make sure you left full.

Creak—!

The somewhat old, heavy wooden door of Baratie let out a low, piercing squeal, covering the soft music drifting from inside the restaurant.

Kuta pushed open the restaurant door and walked in first, with Kuina and the other three from Ahua's group behind him.

The diners inside all looked toward the entrance in unison before quickly losing interest.

Only then did the restaurant's elegant music, the clinking of cups and knives and forks, and the murmurs of conversation rush toward them all at once.

"Welcome."

The moment Kuta and the others entered, a fierce-looking man wearing a pink scarf and resembling Popeye appeared from nowhere.

He stopped in front of them, bent at the waist, rubbed his hands together, and grinned at them broadly.

Patty had noticed Kuta and the others the instant they entered.

Thus, he rushed to them at his fastest speed and welcomed them.

The main reason was that these guests clearly looked wealthy. Patty most enjoyed attending to rich people.

He liked the generosity and extravagance of the wealthy and hated penniless paupers.

Kuta looked at Patty standing before him, amusement flashing in his eyes, and spoke politely.

"I heard this place has the best food in the entire East Blue. We came especially to try it today."

"Could you recommend some dishes for us?"

Patty was slightly stunned by Kuta's sunny expression. It had been a long time since he had encountered such a polite guest.

This was a sea restaurant, and its primary customers were pirates.

It was impossible to expect pirates to be polite, right?

Coming back to himself, a hint of sincerity entered his professional smile as he grinned at Kuta.

"Gentlemen, please come inside first. Allow me to give you a detailed introduction in a moment."

Patty had once been a vicious pirate. Later, he joined the sea restaurant under Red-Leg Zeff and became a chef. Now, he was both a chef and a combatant at Baratie.

Thus, he called everyone "gentlemen."

Patty glanced around to count the number of people, then turned toward the kitchen and shouted, "Five guests entering!"

He then bent slightly and pointed with his right hand toward an empty seat by the window, signaling for Kuta and the others to follow him.

"Five gentlemen, this way, please. The sea restaurant Baratie will do everything in its power to serve you."

Patty reached the round table first and pulled out chairs for Kuta and the others.

After watching them sit down, he took the glasses and lemon water handed over by another chef behind him and poured them each a drink.

Then he stepped back, stood to one side, and said warmly to Kuta,

"Gentlemen, please have some tea first."

"Well, tell us what dishes you have."

Kuta lifted his glass and took a sip of lemon water. It was sweet and sour, and not bad.

Patty took a notebook and pen from his armband and began introducing the menu.

"Five gentlemen, our restaurant serves different dishes every day. It mainly depends on what ingredients we receive that day. Today, we have the East Blue's largest abalone and sea cucumber, as well as saury unique to the Golan Kingdom."

He paused before continuing.

"However... the best ingredients today aren't those. They're a batch of sea fish and lobsters from the Grand Line."

Seeing the longing in Kuta and the others' eyes, a glint of money flashed in Patty's eyes, and his smile grew even brighter.

"So, gentlemen, would you like to try them?"

He said this to every wealthy customer. The ingredients really were excellent; they were just a tiny bit expensive.

Only wealthy gentlemen could afford such ingredients. As for paupers, they were not even worthy of lemon water. Patty was simply that practical.

Ahua had been excited ever since entering Baratie, and now he finally could not hold himself back.

He asked Patty loudly, "Forget about the ingredients for now. Can your manager and head chef, Mr. Zeff, cook for us?"

Zeff had already been a famous chef more than a decade ago.

After opening Baratie, he became the most renowned chef in the East Blue.

Ahua was also a chef, so of course he knew Zeff. He had heard Zeff's name from his Pops more than once.

Although his own cooking career had only lasted about two years and was rather lacking in substance,

that did not affect his desire to truly witness what dishes the greatest chef in the East Blue could make, or just how delicious they would be.

That way, he could work toward that goal in the future.