People in the One Piece world had freakish constitutions, especially those pirates who played important roles in the story.
By the time Sanji Meow had recovered his stamina by eating his homemade dried fish, Ace and Luffy, whom he had kicked into immobility, had regained their ability to move at almost exactly the same time...
Their recovery was far less complete than Sanji Meow's, but they were covered in injuries, completely unlike the virtually unscathed Sanji Meow.
"So you're a good person, Xie Wen!"
The recovered Luffy munched on the dried fish Xie Wen had given him and, bearing no grudges, declared him a good person.
Ace had recovered too and was also rapidly munching on dried fish, but his expression was rather sour. Clearly, he found it hard to accept having lost to Xie Wen and Sanji Meow.
"I was a good person to begin with," Xie Wen said with a shrug. "Generally speaking, aren't pirates the bad guys in most people's eyes?"
"Oh, right!" Luffy smacked his palm in realization, then grinned broadly. "But I'm still going to become a pirate!"
"You little brat! Still spouting that nonsense!" Garp immediately delivered another Fist of Love.
"That hurts, Grandpa! Why can all of you hurt me?"
"Because you're too weak, of course!"
Garp once again chose to dodge the question, making Xie Wen even more certain that he was deliberately hiding the existence of Haki from Ace and Luffy.
Just then, Ace, who had been silently sulking at himself, suddenly asked, "Is everyone out there as strong as you?"
"Not really," Xie Wen answered honestly, ignoring Garp's frantic meaningful looks. "In West Blue and East Blue, at least, old man Chinjao is the only one I couldn't beat. And if we fought now, the outcome wouldn't even be certain..."