Pirates: Invincible from the Start

However, seeing that Kuta and Kuina didn't seem very friendly toward Sanji—and even seemed to dislike him a little—he gave up on the idea of letting Sanji go out to sea with them.

After all, dreams

were certainly important,

but finding companions who shared those dreams and got along with each other was even more important.

Sanji rose to his feet, frowning slightly, and glared at Zeff as he shouted, "I'm not arguing with you, so don't push your luck, old geezer!"

"Putting everything else aside, I absolutely won't allow you to insult my cooking."

"Oh! Is that so?"

Zeff looked at Sanji, his eyes full of contempt.

"Then you can prepare the food for the guests at this table today. If you can satisfy them, I'll take back what I said."

Zeff wanted to give it a try. Perhaps if Kuta and the others approved of Sanji's cooking, they would let go of that trace of dislike they had for him.

After all, it hadn't been easy to find someone he considered worthy.

"Then just wait and see."

Sanji shouted at Kuta and the others before turning and entering the kitchen.

Only after Sanji had entered the kitchen did Zeff turn to Kuta and ask, "Well, kid? I'll have Sanji cook for you. If you aren't satisfied, I won't charge you."

"Old man, don't tell me you're hoping this guy will go out to sea with us!"

Kuta looked at Zeff in confusion.

"I'm telling you, the only position left on my ship is for a doctor. There's no room for another cook."

"Of course, a musician would work too. The sea can get a little boring, after all."

It wasn't that Kuta particularly disliked Sanji. It was just that Sanji could only display all of his talent in the Straw Hat Pirates.

He hadn't even brought Zoro along. How could he possibly bring Sanji?

Although he knew that even if he invited Zoro, that guy wouldn't go out to sea with him.

Zoro knew that sailing with Kuta would be safe. Precisely because it was too safe, he wouldn't follow Kuta.

Without the tempering of life and death, no matter how high Zoro's talent was, he would never become the strongest.

Just look at Ahua and the other two now, and it was obvious.

At present, they could still deal with ordinary pirates, but once they reached the Grand Line, if Kuta didn't find Devil Fruits for them, they would completely degenerate into dead weight and tool men.

There were practically no weaklings there.

Kuina had only been able to hold so firmly to her convictions because of the promise she had made with him as a child.

On top of that, he had constantly used cheats to help Kuina train, allowing her to surpass ordinary swordsmen long ago and advance toward becoming a great swordsman.

In conclusion,

there truly was no place for Sanji on his ship.

Yes! It wasn't because Sanji's lecherousness had annoyed him and Kuina a little.

He wasn't that petty!

If he really had to choose someone from the Straw Hat Pirates, he would only choose Chopper.

That guy had a bounty of 100 Beli, fought like he was worth 100 million, could serve as a doctor, and could even be kept as a pet. If they ran out of food, he could also serve as emergency rations.

He was truly the perfect accessory for traveling.

However, Kuta also knew that this was impossible.

In fact, he knew he might not even be able to convince Sanji.

He didn't possess Luffy's kind of charisma. Even if he was willing, Sanji might not necessarily follow him out to sea.

He was quite self-aware about that.

Chapter 19: The Marines' Attention

Baratie.

As the dishes gradually filled the entire table, Kuta and the others, who had long been starving, hurriedly dug in.

It had to be said—Sanji's cooking was genuinely delicious.

At the very least, this was the best food they had eaten so far.

Time rewound several hours.

Not long after Kuta and the others had taken down the Krieg Pirates, something concerning them happened within the Marines.

Marine Headquarters, "Marineford."

In the world of Pirates, this was the central region of the entire Marine organization and the location of the Marines' greatest combat power.

The entire complex had been built for war.

From a distance, it looked like a massive military fortress.

Up close, the fortress appeared even more imposing.

In the enormous circular harbor at the front of the fortress, countless warships of various sizes came and went.

The ships were packed with Marines, and on some of them, pirates could be seen shackled in chains.

Among these pirates, those with bounties in the tens of millions were merely the bottom rung.

One could even see pirates with bounties of seventy or eighty million—or more than a hundred million—figures normally seen only in newspapers.

This was the Marines' daily work: maintaining order across the world's oceans in the name of Absolute Justice.

Capturing pirates.

Because of the sheer number of people, and because the pirates remained unruly even after being shackled, the harbor was exceptionally noisy.

Compared with the harbor's clamor, however, the Fleet Admiral's Office in the fortress's largest central building was unnaturally quiet.

Three people were seated inside the Fleet Admiral's Office.

Sitting in the center was the Marine Headquarters Fleet Admiral known as "Buddha Sengoku" and "Strategist Sengoku," Sengoku.

Sitting on the left was the Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral known as the "Great Staff Officer," Staff Officer Tsuru.

On the right sat the Marine Headquarters Lieutenant Commander responsible for transmitting intelligence, Brannew.

At that moment, Sengoku wore frog-shaped glasses and a hat topped with a seagull model symbolizing the Marines. The long beard on his chin had been tied into a braid.

He lowered his head and stared at the two photographs and the documents spread across the desk, lost in thought.

The photographs clearly showed Kuta and the others.

The first showed the five of them standing along the railing of the Dreadnought Saber, confronting the Krieg Pirates.

The second showed the Fake Merry charging through the gap in the Dreadnought Saber.

"Brannew, tell us about your analysis of the intelligence."

Sengoku suddenly raised his head and spoke to Brannew on the right.

"Yes, Mr. Sengoku."

He walked to a nearby blackboard, picked up a Tact, and pointed at the photograph on the board as he said gravely, "The Krieg Pirates. Their captain has a bounty of seventeen million Beli, and they're known as the strongest pirate crew in the East Blue."

"All right, Brannew. Get to the point."

Sengoku braced both hands on the desk, a sharp glint flashing through his eyes as he calmly interrupted Brannew.

He didn't care about some Krieg Pirates from the East Blue. He was only interested because he had heard that a ship that had just set sail seemed to have a great swordsman aboard.

Otherwise, why would a Fleet Admiral like him personally handle a group of rookies who had just gone to sea?

Did they really think being Fleet Admiral was an easy job?

"Understood, Mr. Sengoku."

Brannew skipped directly over Krieg's bounty poster and pointed to the four photographs beside it. Besides the two on the desk, the other two were close-up photographs of Kuta and Kuina.

However, none of the photographs was very clear. Judging from their appearance, they had probably been taken from high above and at a great distance.

It had to be said: the Marines—or rather, the World Government's intelligence network—was truly terrifying.

Whether by coincidence or not, there happened to be a World Government intelligence seagull near the sea where Kuta and the others had fought the Krieg Pirates.

After receiving the photographs sent by the World Government, the Marines had needed less than two hours to quickly uncover the information on the group.

Brannew first pointed at Kuta's photograph. "Kuta. Near the Goa Kingdom in the East Blue. A student of Isshin Dojo in Shimotsuki Village. He set out to sea a few days ago. His current destination is unknown."

Then he pointed at Kuina. "Kuina. Also originally from Isshin Dojo in Shimotsuki Village. However, she isn't a student. She's the dojo master's daughter."

He paused, then stared solemnly at Sengoku and Tsuru. "Based on the available intelligence, Kuina should be a swordsman, while Kuta... is very likely a great swordsman."

He had no choice but to take this seriously. There were many swordsmen in the world, but there were very few great swordsmen across the entire world.

"Can you determine their destination?"

At that moment, Staff Officer Tsuru, whose hair was completely white and who wore a pair of emerald-green earrings and two gold bracelets on her right hand, leaned forward with both hands on the desk and calmly asked while looking at the blackboard.

Hearing Tsuru's question, Brannew pointed at a map of the East Blue and said, "Judging from their route, they haven't stopped at any island. They've been heading straight toward Loguetown. If nothing unexpected happens, their destination should be the Grand Line."

He paused, then pointed at a photograph showing the Fake Merry.

"Also, since their ship isn't flying a pirate flag, it's possible they're simply traveling for pleasure."

"Hmm!"

Sengoku nodded, then looked at Tsuru and asked, "Tsuru, what do you think?"

Tsuru lowered her head and thought for a while before raising it and replying as she stared at Sengoku, "Based on the intelligence we have, we haven't found anything dangerous about them. My suggestion is to observe them for now. Since their destination is the Grand Line, we'll naturally learn their purpose once they arrive there."

"And with their strength, even if they reach the Grand Line, they won't be able to remain unknown."

"Hmm! Then let's leave it at that for now."

Sengoku turned to Brannew and instructed, "Brannew, send their photographs to all the East Blue branches for now. Tell them that unless this group does anything harmful, they aren't to provoke them lightly."

"Yes, Mr. Sengoku."

Brannew saluted, turned, and left the office.

Only Sengoku and Tsuru remained in the office. Sengoku's somewhat stern expression relaxed as well.

He leaned back in his chair and sighed to Tsuru, "Tsuru, over the past two years, it's become obvious that more and more pirates have been going out to sea."

"Yes. It isn't just the Four Blues. Even the Grand Line has seen a large number of pirates appear, including quite a few extremely powerful ones. The Marines' pressure has been growing steadily over the past few years."

"All right, enough about that."

Sengoku frowned, massaging his temples with one finger as he spoke in a pained tone. "What's troubling me now is that old bastard Garp's grandson, Ace. I heard he went to challenge Whitebeard."

"Yes. That old fool happens to be in the New World right now as well. I hope nothing happens to him."

Tsuru was troubled too.

They were both worried about Garp.

In the East Blue, aboard the Marine warship outside the Baratie, Base 123 commander Colonel Laster was troubled by the situation before him.

"What? What did you say?"

Laster loudly questioned the several Marine soldiers standing before him.

"Mr. Zeff told you to go to the restaurant for a meal."

"The sentence before that. Not this one."

One of the Marines looked confused. "The sentence before that? Um... the sentence before that was..."