Rewind ten minutes.
The party kitchen area.
As lively as it was outside, it was just as busy inside.
Even though it wasn't the actual wedding party, the chefs from Baratie were already working frantically.
Especially after Big Mom and Kaido stopped fighting. The food previously sent out was quickly devoured by them, forcing the kitchen to ramp up production.
"Move, move, move! You idiots! Patty, chop faster!"
As the leading figure in pirate cuisine, Zeff had skill beyond doubt. You could say he was stuck in the first half of the Grand Line, but you couldn't deny the culinary prowess of a chef who trained Sanji.
Beyond personal skill, efficiently running the kitchen was the true mark of a head chef.
And that required more than just cooking ability.
Zeff was multitasking: stir-frying a massive portion of seafood fried rice, monitoring the flame on the roasting sea beast meat, and coordinating every cook in the kitchen.
—Even the local Kuja chefs instinctively followed this old man's commands, becoming cogs in his machine.
The atmosphere was chaotic, everything seemed in disarray, yet under Zeff's direction, there was a strange, underlying order.
Against this backdrop, plate after plate of distinctive, hearty food was sent to the main party hall.
Having learned from his last experience, Zeff had put his kitchen staff through months of intense training. Their preparation speed should have far surpassed their previous levels.
But this time, their 'opponent' wasn't just Naruto.
Big Mom and Kaido were also voracious eaters, with appetites rivaling Naruto's.
Besides them, Yamato was also a formidable force at the table. Her appetite was likely comparable to her old man's.
Due to differences in physique, most strong fighters in the One Piece World had large appetites.
To get stronger, they had to train their bodies hard, which required massive amounts of food for energy.
So the visitors from the Ninja World, like B, were stunned by the eating pace of the pirate powerhouses.
They thought only Naruto was like this… they didn't expect so many others had similarly monstrous appetites.
But the most surprising was Toneri.
He also displayed a surprisingly strong eating speed. While not on Kaido's level, it was definitely 'inhuman'.
—Perhaps it was related to his Hyuga lineage?
Did the Byakugan grant a larger appetite?
That mystery would likely remain unsolved.
Conversely, Naruto didn't eat nearly as much as before.
Not because he lacked appetite.
Quite the opposite.
Ordinary food simply couldn't give his body a sense of 'satisfaction' anymore.
His Otsutsuki instincts and the influence of his fully developed Baku Baku no Mi drove him to consume more energy-rich things.
Like Tailed Beasts, Chakra Fruits… or raw energy itself.
Only thanks to Naruto's 'restraint' did the kitchen barely manage to balance supply and demand.
But that was temporary.
Most of the kitchen staff were ordinary people. Their stamina couldn't match the veteran Baratie chefs or the native Kuja cooks.
Under such intense, continuous work, some soon collapsed from exhaustion.
Zeff saw this.
He sped up his own cooking, but the overall output continued to slow.
'Damn it! I won't be shamed again! A chef who can't satisfy his guests is no chef at all!'
Zeff's chef spirit blazed within him, pushing his aging body to move faster.
Just then, a group of unfamiliar chefs in blue uniforms, led by a short old man in pink, entered Zeff's 'domain'.
"Hmm?"
Without asking who they were, a single glance told Zeff that the old man leading them was very much like himself.
'A formidable opponent.'
The old man in pink also immediately recognized Zeff as the kitchen's central figure.
'This guy has some skill.'
Streusen assessed Zeff similarly.
Streusen, the [Gourmet Knight], was the head chef of the Big Mom Pirates.
Moreover, he was a former crewmate of the Rocks Pirates, the mentor who had guided Charlotte Linlin to become a great pirate.
He was a Paramecia-type Kuku Kuku no Mi user, capable of transforming most substances into edible food instantly.
He was also a skilled swordsman, able to easily slice through an entire castle even in his nineties.
He came to the kitchen because Big Mom wanted sweets.
Meat and drink were every pirate's favorite, but sweets were essential for Big Mom.
Apparently, Zeff hadn't made special provisions, and the main courses hadn't yet progressed to desserts, which had drawn Streusen and his brigade.
Streusen glanced at the collapsed young chefs, then at the empty workstations. He signaled his team.
These chefs, trained under Big Mom's high pressure to cook efficiently and swiftly, immediately began preparing sweets.
Seeing this, the exhausted chefs felt not anger but relief. Some even collapsed on the spot, carried away by others.
They were too tired, more so than during their training.
Of course, not everyone was willing to give up.
The veteran Baratie chefs… including Zeff himself… felt challenged and… slighted.
Not in combat, but in their specialty: cooking.
Adrenaline surged. They prepared to compete with these 'invaders'.
But the Big Mom Pirates' culinary team was no joke.
Though they acted subservient around Streusen, these blue-clad chefs had all been renowned chefs in their own right before being 'invited' to Totto Land.
A master's skill was evident at a glance.
They immediately demonstrated their superior technique.
They showed little respect for the Baratie staff, even taking ingredients from their stations.
"Hey, bastards! That's ours!"
Some of the more hot-headed Baratie cooks, no strangers to violence, were ready to fight.
But the blue-clad chefs ignored them, letting them take back the ingredients without protest.
Streusen didn't get angry… he just snorted contemptuously.
Then, a few flashes of his blade.
Several large trees and rocks near the open-air kitchen were cleanly sliced.
Just as the Baratie chefs thought they were about to be attacked and grabbed their knives and rolling pins, the cut wood and stone transformed before their eyes into evenly marbled chunks of meat.
"A Devil Fruit user?"
Zeff's eyes narrowed. He felt he was facing the greatest challenge of his culinary career.